Our most precioue possession. [ Mark 8 v34-38]

I wonder what you consider your most precious possession? well I believe the most precious possession we have is our soul. Consider what Jesus said,/ For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul [Mark 8 v36].Imagine ,if it was possible for you or I, to possess all the gold,silver,diamonds, money,oil, food etc, to be wealthier than Bill Gates, to see winnning the lottery as chicken feed. to be sitting on this mountain of possession, you have it all,you have your dream house, your dream wife / husband, you can satisfy every whim, and fancy. Jesus said if you have all that, and you lose your soul,its of no value because your soul is the most precious thing you possess, to lose it, means an eternity in Hell, to be shut out fr0m the presence of God, to be in that place where there is no reprieve, no early release.What we need if our soul is going to be saved and not lost is first of all to recognise our great need of Jesus ,to embrace Him as Saviour , to value Him more than anything else .[ Dear Lord Jesus forgive my blindness in not valuing my soul, as you value it,I ask that You would save my never dying soul Amen ]

Withheld from sinning. [ Matthew 6 v13 ]

In Genesis 20v6, we read,I also withheld thee from sinning, words spoken to God to a king, these words remind us how God can preserve us from sinning, although spoken to an heathen king, they have meaning to us who are following Jesus.In 2 Thessaloians 3v3 the apostle writes,/But the Lord is faithful, who shall etablish you, and keep you from evil/,in these word we are again reminded how God is preserving the way of His saints.[ Proverbs 2v8]We are all very weak and vulnerable, only God and His power can keep us ,the devil is active,the flesh our fallen nature is so prone to folly, and the world appears so alluring, who is sufficent?. The great apostle wrote,/ Not that we are sufficent of ourselves,.... but our sufficieny is of God/, yes he was the great apostle, but he also was chief of sinners,who ever we are, it matters not,as to our standing, we are not sufficent of ourselves to overcome all the evil temptations,that besets us . Our responsibility is to put our trust in God, to cry unto Him continually,and if we do He shall preserve us from all evil. [ Father be Thou ever near me to , keep me from sinning, preserve my way this day in Jesus name Amen ]

Chastening. [ Hebrews 12 v 5 - 13 ]

In revelation 3v19 we read ,/As many as I love , I rebuke and chasten/,no child likes the rod, no Christian enjoys being disciplined, and yet right throughout the scripture, we have the truth, of a loving heavenly Father,that chastises His Children. Why does God chasten us His children? because we need it, in Christ we are accepted by God,but there so many things in our personality, in our nature ,that are not acceptable.We all without exception have those bad habits, and tendencies that ,we cannot see,or refuse to see, but God see,s, so God deals with them.Jacob had his cheating, Moses had His temper,David had his lack of control, Peter had his rashness. Like them we all have something, no matter who we are, so God our Father, in love will chasten us, simply because we need it. [Dear Father, I admit I dont like being chastened, so today help me to accept the truth that ,that I need You to chasten me, because You love me, I ask this in Jesus name Amen ]

Trying or trusting. [ Romans 6 v23 ]

I try to edit my blog, but I find I usually miss something, it annoys me for I want to do it perfectly, and I realize it can be off-putting to my readers.I assembled a chest of drawers yesterday and did it perfectly,I also papered a bedroom, not totally pleased with the result. I also study for every sermon I preach, and when I preach it I am very conscience, when I make mistakes, I try for excellence continually, but fall short of it ,so often, but I will keep on trying.The Bible reminds us that no one lives a perfect life, no matter how much they try, and there are many who do try,there are even some ,who feel they do live a perfect life, but they dont. The word of God tells us clearly, that all,[ yes all ,that means you ,and me] have sinned and come short of the glory of God .[Romans 3 v23 ]. This is why Jesus came, He did live a perfect life,and His sacrificial death is what saves us, we can only be accepted by God, when we trust Him, and stop our futile efforts in trying to save ourselves, its not trying its trusting.[ Dear Lord Jesus,I give up my vain efforts to save myself, and trust you completly to save me, Amen ]

Willing. [ Luke 22 v 39 -46 ]

Words from the past come to me, am I willing to be willing?, it is a very important question, for so often there is a reluctance to be willing. In 2 Corinthians 8 v12, we read,/For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to what he hath not/. There is a church I know , and a friend and I offered to talk to them on personal evangelisim, they were not happy with that,they were not willing to be willing. Churches, and individual Christian so often are not willing to be willing, and its only if we are willing to be willing , will we move on , in our Christian life,if we dont the result will be, we will become like a stagnant pool. The Christian is meant to be ever moving on, growing in their relationship with their Lord, this will never happen if they are not willing to be willing, so today are you willing to be willing?. [Dear Lord so often I fear the changes, and the challenges of the Christian life, not only fear them but resent them, help me to be willing to be willing, to accept Your will for my life, Amen ]

Leadership [ James 3 v 1 ]

I was having a conversation with some Christians from Africa ,they were telling me about those in leadership who exploited people, these so called ministers of Christ. They preached a so called prosperity gospel, now I believe God does prosper His people,but it is not by exploiting the vunerable ,and lining ones own pocket.One of the qualifications for leadership, is not being a lover of money [1 Timothy 3v3], it is so easy to exploit the role of Christian leadership, and to take advantage of the vunerable, and many are doing this. The challenge of Christian leadship is to feed the flock of God, not to starve it,to care for it ,not to wound it, to sacrifice for it ,not to exploit it.There is coming a day in which those Christian leaders, who have exploited their position, will stand before Jesus,[ as we all will] and they will address Him as Lord,only to hear the solemn words from Him,/ I never new you, depart from me, ye that work iniquity[ Matthew 7 v23 ] [ Dear God we ask that you would raise up leaders in your church,who will not exploit your dear chidren, in Jesus name we ask this Amen ]

An overcomer. [1 Corinthians 15 v57 ]

I found myself singing when I was praying, /For the Lion of Judah shall break every chain , and give us the victory again and again. For the Lion of Judah shall break every chain and give us the victory again and again/. The Lion of Judah is of course Jesus, when one thinks of a lion we are reminded of strength, today we may be feeling our weakness, feeling the hot breath of sinful passion,feeling the pull of the world,experiencing the onslaught of the enemy of our souls.Let us remind ourselves where our strength lies ,in Jesus the Lion of Judah, in His strength we can know the victory, again and again, so let us lean upon Him , rely upon Him, He will not fail us, He shall give us the victory , again and again. [In the mighty name of Jesus the Lion of Judah, we ask Father that you would grant me to be an overcomer, Amen ]