Such Love. [ Romans 5 v 1-8 ]

It is John the apostle of love who wrote, in 1 John 3v1/ Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us , that we should be called the sons of God/. What kind of love was it,it was sacrificial love,we all admire sacrificial love, it is usually manifested out of love of country, family, friends, the difference in Gods love was, it was manifested for His enemies,[ Romans 5v10], strange but true. The purpose of that love,to shower upon us the greatest of blessing, to make us His children, no greater, privilege, or honour could God bestow upon us,a little chorus comes to mind./ Wide wide as the ocean , high as the heavens above. Deep, deep as the deepest sea is my Saviours love.I ,am so unworthy,still Im a child of His love, For His word teaches me,that His love reaches me everywhere/[ Dear God thanks for loving me, I ,who was once Your enemy, I, who was lost and going to Hell,I ,who was bound by sin and Satan,thank You for making me Your child, through Jesus Your Son Amen ]

The grace of God.[ 2 Corinthians 12 v 9 ]

Jesus said follow Me , He said it a number of times in the gospels,and to people day by day, He keeps saying it ,those who are not saved, and to those of us who are saved, what does it mean to follow Jesus?. Yesterday we sang a hymn about following Jesus, the chorus reads,/ I,ll follow Thee O life the giver. I,ll follow Thee suffering redeemer. Ill follow Thee deney Thee never. By Thy grace I,ll follow Thee./ The challenge is this are we willing to follow Him,have we started to follow Him? are we continuing to follow Him?, The fact of the matter it will involve a cost, yes it will, there will be challenges, and it will be ongoing,well here is how we will do it,/ By Thy grace I,ll follow Thee/. It is only by the grace of God can we hope to face the challenge of following Jesus, so today rely not upon yourself but on His amazing grace. [ Dear God help me by Your grace to follow Jesus . Amen ]

More than conquerors. [ Romans 8 v37 ]

Today my wife and I are going to a service of commissioning, a couple we know are being commmissioned to be Christian ministers. What a challenge for that couple, yet God who has called them , will be with them, to help them in all they have to do. God does not give us a task and leave us to get on with it, no, He remains with us to help us, that applies to us all, not just that couple today. If God is calling you today to some particular task,dont be overawed, dont look at your weakness, look to God, He will be with you, to help, strengthen and guide, be assured He will not fail you. Dont worry, God says that to me so often, dont worry, for He knows I do worry, so today, remember ,God is with you, and all will be well. [ Father we are weak, but You are strong, so this day help us, to realize that through Christ Your Son we can be more than conquerors, Amen]

Finger pointing. [ Micah 6 v 8]

The problem with pointing out others failures,is, we loose sight of our own, just yesterday a friend , pointed out something wrong that a professing Christian had done. I found myself saying, judge not ,of course it does not help when Christians act wrongly, it causes a stumbling block, to those who are Christians, and those who are not. Again that is something I am very conscious of ,I am known as a Christian, in work , and in many places, if I sin and do something wrong, my testimony,is ruined, and it will effect so many people. When one throws a stone into water,it has a ripple effect, that is damaging in so many ways,most of all God is dishonoured. So today instead of pointing out others faults ,let us take heed to ourselves,the word of God tells us,/Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. [ 1 Corinthians 10 v12 ] [ Dear God help those Christians who have sinned, to repent and seek forgiveness, and help us all ,to not judge others, and keep us all from letting You down , in Jesus name Amen ]

Old and wrong patterns of thought. [ Romans 12 v2 ]

Here I go again worrying about my future, inspite of all the answers to prayer, all my experence as a Christian, I am sure ,I am not on my own in this, all of us can slip into old and wrong patterns of thought. So what are we to do?. Well we must go to Jesus ,and talk to Him, there is an old chorus cames to mind, I quote from memory, it goes,/ All your anxieties all your cares bring to the mercy seat leave them there , never a burden He cannot bear , never a friend like Jesus/. Next we need to turn to Gods word afresh, to remind ourselves what God says, words like,/ Casting all our care upon Him , for He careth for you [1 Peter 5 v7], or Philippians 4 v19,which assures us that God will meet all our needs ,through His Son. In doing this we will begin to overcome our worries as we let faith arise, and we begin to focus on the One who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or think[ Ephesians 3 v20 ] [ Dear Lord forgive us for worrying, help us to overcome, our natural thinking, help us to focus on You, our great Saviour Amen]

Leave it with God. [ Philippians 4 v 6-7 ]

Leaving things with God is very important, if we have prayed about something, trust the Lord to sort it out, let us not fret or worry, God is big enough to resolve any difficulties, all He asks is that we trust Him, be it a financial need, a problem with our children, our wives or husbands. When we pray about something, we are doing what is most important we are placing it in Gods hands,for Him to act for us. If He wants us to do something , He will let us know, and then we must trust and obey,but often we can do nothing, other than trust . If one reads the Psalms , time after time the writer pleads for God to work on his behalf,what could Joseph do when ,he was accused wrongly, and put into prison ,Genesis 39v20, but we have these words in v21, /But the Lord was with Joseph/. Eventually God moved on his behalf, and brought him out of prison, God did this, so let us trust God to work on our behalf, He will not fail us. [ Father in Heaven help us to trust You to work on our behalf, we leave all our problems in Your hands, undertake for us in Jesus name Amen ]

It will happen. [ Romans 4 v 16 -22]

In Acts 23v 11 Paul is told he would bear witness in Rome, so the word came, but it must have been at least two or three years before that happened, and in that time Paul was attacked, imprisoned,and shipwrecked.When God gives us a word, what He promised may not happen immediately,and we will possible be tested, in some way, Paul was. The word God gives us ,is for our encouragement, it is for us to stand on by faith, when everything is saying it will not happen. Today let us hold on to that promise God has given, look at the difficulties, look satan in the eye,and declare ,/ I believe God, that it shall be even as He told me[ Acts 27v 25 ]/. [Father ,I believe Your word,I believe what You have promised me will happen ,inspite of difficulties,inspite of satan, in Jesus name Amen ]