Loving and fearing God.[ Acts 5 v1-11]

I called in to see a friend yesterday,and he mentioned about some well known evangelist who had fallen into sin,this evangelist , who has since repented of his sin ,said that when he was sinning ,he still loved the Lord but he did not fear Him. One cannot stress enough the importance of having a fear of God,in these days there is a lack of balance,people major on the love of God, and exclude the fear of the Lord. In Psalm 111v10, we are told that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, our Saviour stressed the importance of fearing God[ Matthew 10v28],in Nehemiah 5v9 we read of walking in the fear of the Lord.Crudence in his concordance ,writes the following on the fear of the Lord,/ The fear of God ,means that reverance for God which leads to obedience because of ones realization of His power, as well as of His love to man /.[ Dear God help us to see the importance of having a proper attitude towards You, in Jesus name Amen ]

Blaming God. [ 2 Timothy 2 v24-26 ]

I was in conversation with someone yesterday, who has had a rough time in recent days,she was sharing with me a present difficulty, the difficulty of being patient. I said to her that one of the greatest lessons I have had to learn was patience, then she asked me how I managed that, I said by the grace of God. She was annoyed at my answer, as she is not a Christian, one senses she is carrying a lot of hurts,and possible blames God for many things. There are many people out there who are hurting,and are blaming God,we need wisdom and patience in dealing with them, and to pray much for them, only God and His grace,can help these people.[ Father in heaven ,we ask that You would have mercy on those people who are blaming You for their hurts,people who are resentful and angry, we ask this in Jesus name Amen ]

Praying all night. [ Luke 18 v1 av ]

In Luke 6 v12 we read how Jesus spent all night in prayer,Barnes in his commentary says a number of things about this,he points out that the Jews had places of prayer built in various places. This may have been one it may not have been, let us all have a place where we pray. Again Barnes points out that ,that this time of prayer was at a time of great importance,and so Jesus prayed much , are we facing important decisions in our lives ,follow Jesus example,pray much.Our Saviour was ,divine yet human, yet He prayed, so must we, we may not pray all night but we need to pray. To pray all night may appear strange to some,and yet the natural man will spend all night in drinking,clubing, etc,in the times we live, there is a greater need than ever to pray ,yes even all night.[ Dear Father help us to to pray, to spend more time with you , for we need Your guidance,and blessing, in Jesus name Amen]

Cumbria, Why ?. Proverbs 3v5. av]

One of the questions asked following the tragic happenings in Cumbria ,was, why did God allow it to happen?,the minister who was asked the question, said he struggled with that question also. As we look at history ,we see many tragedies, in fact everyday there are, tragedies, and the same question could be asked, why?. For the non Christian it is an accusation, a reason to not believe in God, for the Christian it is a challenge to trust in the God we know ,who is sovereign, and love. Both His sovereignty and love are great mysteries, but as a Christian, I believe them to be true, The Christian life is a life of faith, it is not based on our understanding, but on faith in a God who has revealed Himself to us, by His Spirit,and His word . God is not duty bound to tell us everything, [ Deuteronomy 29 v29 av ], but we are duty bound to trust in the Lord with all our hearts, and lean not upon our own understanding.[ Proverbs 3 v5 av][ Almighty God we thank You that You are sovereign, and love,we ask for the grace to trust in You,even when we are hurting over things we do not understand, in Jesus name, Amen ]

Burdened [ 1 Corinthians 9 v16 ]

Do you ever have a burden on your heart?, well I do , it is a burden for the lost,those who know not Christ as Saviour. I know I should witness to them ,and I do try, but I feel so inadequate. I look at our nation and I see a nation that appears to have chosen the broad road that leads to destruction,so what can one do? , well one needs to pray ,to go ,and to tell. We need to rely on the Holy Spirit, to be filled with His power, His wisdom, to realize that in ourselves we can do nothing, but in Him we can do all things, there is a line of a hymn that comes to mind ,/Use even me/. Here is the wonderful truth God can use even us, we must not make excuses , we must obey, our Master and Lord, and be His witness, and as we do we will discover that He will use even us . [ Dear God help us to witness to others with our lives and our words, for Jesus sake, Amen ]

Emmanuel [Matthew 1 v23 ]

Emmanuel, which means God with us,[Matthew 1v23] think what that means,we have such a companion with us ,who is human yet devine. One who is all powerful, one who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or think, and yet one who is touched with the feelings of our infirmities. We have all we need and more in this person called Jesus,friendship,we all want friends, well we have one in Jesus, one who will never leave us or forsake us, one who will stand by us when all others have forsaken us. One who will guide us in the right way,one who will stand by and defend us, against all our foes, He is for us ,so who can be against us, He will be with us in our failures to encourage us to not give up.He will be with us to bless, He will open doors that no one can shut,He will give us strength in our weakness. He will cause everything to work together for our good, He is Emmanuel, God with us , He is Jesus our Saviour.[ Dear Lord Jesus we thank You, that You are with us, and all that this means, Amen] [ I will be on holiday for a week]

Happy ever after. [ Revelation 21 ]

I have just finished listening on audio, the book by Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit, Charles Dickens was a great writer, a superstar of his day. It was not the easiest book to follow but it was enjoyable,and for the main characters in the book it ended happily ever after. I like nice happy endings, I am sure most of us do,but life is not a book written by Charles Dickens,we cannnot guarantee a happy ending,and yet if we are Christians we know that there will be a happy ending. When will that be ?in eternity, when as a child of God we leave this earthly scene, an earthly scene that is damaged by sin, an earthly scene in which none of us are in control. The vision glorious for the child of God is for an eternal glory, a glory that is so wonderful, that even Charles Dickens could not describe it, an eternal glory in which all things will be made new and perfect, untouched by sin, or satan.[ Dear God help us to see beyond this fallen world, to that vision glorious, of an a new and glorious eternal future, when all things will be new , in Jesus name , Amen ]