God loves to surprise us. [ Psalm 30 v5 ]

Life can so often throw up surprises, I am listening to Susan Boyle, a lovely singer ,one who has has become a world star,who would have thought it. As we read the Bible we see surprises all the time, nobodies raised to be kings, a young lad defeats a giant,fishermen, tax collectors raised to be apostles,angels suddenly appearing to people,pensioners having children.God manifest in the flesh in the form of a little baby, now that trully is a surprise,to Mary and Joseph it must have been a big surprise.I like to think of God as the God of surprises,the fact that I have lived for 66years, thats a surprise, I was ever so small when I was born, and when I was a youngster I was rescued from drowning, but the greatest surprise is that I am a Christian,and have been following the Lord for 46yrs. Let hope burn in our hearts today,God can surprise us, financial needs can be met,sickness can be healed,a door into employment can open, God is the God of surprises, so dont despair. [Dear God help me not to despair , no matter how difficult it is, let hope arise in my heart, and help me to trust in You, the God who loves to surprise me, in Jesus name .Amen ]

Never out of His sight.[ Genesis 16 v13 av]

The choice of David is interesting, a young man in an obscure occupation, out on his own ,each day, looking after sheep, no one could have guessed , including himself ,that he was destined for greatness. The only one who knew about this young man was God, His destiny lay in Gods hands , God had a plan that would take Him from the place of obscurity, to be king. Many of Gods choices saints have come from obscure places, places of humble activity, David Livingstone, John Bunyan, and yet God saw them and raised them up,to serve Him. The point of this ,is none of Gods children are hidden from Him , be they in the most obscure of places, we may not be raised to be a king, but we are the children of a King ,Jesus. He has not forgotten us, as the hymn writer wrote, /His eye is on the sparrow , and I know He watches me./ [ Dear God I thank You that You have not forgotten me, that I am never out of Your sight,and that You will always care for me, I pray this in Jesus name. Amen ]

Godlike[ Luke 23 v34]

I was thinking of Joseph how he was carried along by events, in which he had no control over, slavery, imprisonment, prime minister, he had no control over any of those things. Both the bad things and the good things came to him uninvited, the one thing he did have control over was how he reacted. He resisted temptation[ Genesis 39] and he showed a gracious spirit towards those who had wronged him, towards his wicked brothers[ Genesis 50], we do not even read of him getting his own back on the woman who had falsley accused him of rape. He manifested a godlike character, in his forgiving spirit, so it is with us,there will be events that we have no control over, people will wrong us,and hurt us, the challenge is this, how are we going to react?. [ Dear God help me to show a right spirit , when people seek to harm me, help me to be godlike in my attitude in Jesus name . Amen ]

A broken heart . [ Luke 4 v18]

What do you do when your heart is breaking? people have died of a broken heart, now I am not suggesting we should do that, but it is what some people do. I can understand how people give up and die ,a breaking heart cant be fixed with a pill, nothing appears to help, and the pain just goes on.Well I believe there is one who can help, His name is Jesus, He proclaimed,/The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has annointed Me. To preach the Gospel to the poor,He has sent Me to heal the broken hearted[ Luke 4 v18] If your heart is breaking , come to Jesus, ask Him to heal your broken heart, and He will.The hymn writer wrote,/ No one understands like Jesus. Hes a friend beyond compare, meet Him at the throne of mercy ,He is waiting for you there/. [Dear Lord Jesus I bring my broken heart to You, please heal it Amen ]

The Holy Spirit. [ John 3 v 1-8 ]

November is bringing with it strong winds, winds that can cause damage, and choas as the bridge into the county of kent is closed, the result grid lock.Our Saviour spoke of the wind, He likened it unto the Holy Spirit [ John 3 v8 ], D A Carson writes ,/ The wind can be neither controlled nor understood by human beings[ he does mention that this was written before modern meteorology alleviated at least some of our lack of understanding] But that does not mean that we cannot detect the winds effects...... so it is with the Spirit. We can neither control Him nor understand Him. But that does not mean we cannot witness His effects. Where the Spirit works the effects are undeniable and unmistakable/. [ Dear God as we live for You today ,fill us with You Spirit, that through Him and His power, we may be channels only,let us witness His powerful effects on our lives and in those we come in contact with today, in Jesus name we ask this Amen ]

He led them on safely. [ Psalm 78 v 53 ]

This is a special day for me and my family, 30 odd years ago we travelled from Ulster to this country, I had recieved a call from a church , and was travelling there to take up my position as a minister. On the day we were travelling over I read these words in the Daily Light,/ He lead them on safely [Psalm 78v53] ,followed by ,/Behold ,I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.[Exodus 23v20 ]. These were tremendous words for us as we set out on our journey,and they have remained with me ever since.On our journey in our little Morris Minor, there were six of us, we travelled to Scotland , then right down through England, we got a puncture, and had to stop to have the fan belt tightened,drove through London, but we got there . God did trully lead us on safely, he did not fail us, and the journey is not finished yet, for you and for me, whatever the future holds, God will continue to lead us on safely. [ Father we thank You that You are leading us on safely , in Jesus name .Amen ]

Debt. [ 1 Peter 1 v 18-19]

As I opened up the internet I noticed that the UK is in debt to the little sum of 10 trillion pounds, my goodness how on earth did that happen?. Gone are the days when people did not get into debt, debt is a sign of the times, although many people may now begin to change, mybe not, bad habits are hard to break. Hopefully our country can get out of the hole they have dug for themselves, I pray so, as indeed I pray that the many who are struggling with debt may cope. Of course there is a debt that no one can pay, each sin we commit can be likened to a debt, this debt will not go away, and each day it just keeps mounting up,and up, and up, till the day we die. And here is the point we are absolutley unable to pay that debt off, there is no earthly solution, and the consequences of this debt is horrendous. Thats the bad news ,but the good news, there is one who can clear that debt, His name is Jesus, for that is why He came and died ,to save us from our sins. [ Dear Jesus I ask that You would clear my of sin, that debt I cant clear, Amen]