Force yourself.[ Psalm 37 v 25 ]

Make a choice to be spiritual, what I mean is simple this,dont let your thoughts control you, when negative thoughts come in, force yourself to focus on Gods word. When you find yourself thinking about the economy, or your own personal finances ,force your mind to remember that the Lord is your shepherd and you shall not want. As you consider what may lie ahead, and you dont know how you will manage, remember there is one with you, who will not fail you. When you find yourself worrying, remember what Jesus said, /Your heavenly Father knoweth[Matthew 6v32 ],yes He knows and will undertake,He is after all your Father, and will care for you His child. It is so easy to run with the negative, millions do ,everyday, but this day let us stand ,and having done all to stand ,on Gods word,to look up by faith and believe that all will be well.[ Dear God I confess that often I let my thoughts dwell on so much that is negative,help me to break this bad habit, help me to get into the habit of dwelling on You, of continually reminding myself, that You will never fail me, in Jesus name Amen ]

Be prepared. [ Hebrews 9 v27 ]

Yesterday I was told of a man aged 40 who suddenly died and today I see on the internet a footballer in his twenties died in his sleep, both these deaths happened suddenly. The fact of the matter death is not just for old people, nor should we think it is, we know not what a day will bring forth, the lives we have are in one sense very fragile.We live in an age that seeks to ignor death, instead of preparing for the event,we live careless lives,the poet wrote,/Ask not for whom the bell toils, it toils for thee/. We read these solemn words in Amos 4v12,/ Prepare to meet Thy God/, the question is ,are we prepared?,and the next question is ,how can I prepare?. Well there was a thief who was hanging on a cross , and he acknowledged his sinfulness, and then he cried to Jesus, and Jesus who was also on a cross,saved him, not from death, but from a lost eternity. [ Luke 23 v 39-43 ]Be wise if you are not saved ,call upon Jesus, and He will save you, He will answer your cry, here is a prayer you can pray./ Dear Lord Jesus I acknowledge that I am as sinner, forgive me all my sins ,and be my Saviour Amen /

He understands [ Hebrews 4v 14-16 ]

Often we misunderstand people, and often we are misunderstood,but here is the good news, Jesus understands, yes He does, in fact the hymn writer put it like this ,no one understands like Jesus. How can He possible understand?,well we are told that He was tempted in all points like us, yet He did not sin[Hebrew 4 v15], in other words no matter what we are faced with He understands. There are things we feel that no one understands,no one we can go to,we feel isolated, insignificant ,if you feel like that, go to Jesus He understands, He will listen, He will not laugh at you,and tell you to pull yourself together.Whatever difficult pathway you are on Jesus understands because as W Barclay wrote, /The best person to give you advice and help on a journey is someone who has travelled the road before you.....Jesus is the perfect high priest because He is perfectly God, and because He is perfectly man. Because He has known our life He can give us sympathy, mercy and power/. [ Dear God thank You ,that You understand how I feel, others may not ,but You do, I bring my situation to You, help me in Jesus name .Amen.]

Me, a saint. [Philippians 1 v 1-2 ]

I have many names ,William Alexander Heasley ,unlike some I like my name,although I thought recently my surname should have been Holmes ,my mothers maiden name, in fact when we were young some people called us Holmers. This was because my mum and dad seperated when we were young, and so I and my brothers/sister, identified with my mums side of the family.So what is my other names, here goes,/son, brother,uncle,nephew,father,neighbour, support worker,friend,husband,cousin, preacher,oh yes Christian, child of God, saint. My goodness saint,people who know me may easily say ,I am no saint, but I am, Vine describes saints as all believers, it does not apply to people of exceptional holiness, or to those who have died,in 2 Thessalonians 1 v10,saint is used of all believers,it has the sense of holy ones. That is very important for if we are a holy one, then we are expected to be holy, holy in thought,in word in deed[ 2Peter 3 v11].Of course we need to remind people that we are saved only through anothers righteousness, Jesus the holy One.[Acts 3 v12-16 ].[ Dear Father in heaven help us to be holy, to never stop trying, no matter how many mistakes we make , in Jesus our righteousness name we ask this. Amen ]

Legitimate things.[ John 21 v 15-17 ]

Ignatius wrote,/ All the things in this world are gifts of God, created for us , to be the means by which we can come know Him better, love Him more surely,and serve Him more faithfully. As a result, we ought to appreciate and use these gifts of God insofar as they help us toward our goal of loving service and union with God. But insofar as any created things hinder our progress toward our goal, we ought to let them go/. Often it is not the blatant sins that hinder us in our relationship with the Lord ,it is the legitimate things, and when they do then we must ,as Ignatius wrote, let go of them. I was in a charity shop , and a lady spoke to a friend, about her church,the friend replied, that she was not attending so much as she was busy.When we who are Christians start talking like the non- Christians , then that becomes a problem,we are letting legitimate things hinder our relationship with our Lord, and we should let them go.[ Dear Lord Jesus help me ,to let nothing hinder my relationship with You,help me to let go of anything that is coming between You and I. Amen ]

Just scratching the surface.[ Luke 10 v25-37 ]

The story of the good Samaritan has much to teach us, that we have to be inclusive in our attitude of all mankind,our country is full of people from many countries, and many resent this. As a Christian I am called to love all people, as God does, of course this goes further than different nationalities. The story of the good Samaritian would have challenged those Jews who heard it, as they did not like them, and had no dealings with them [John 4 v9 ]. This Samaritan showed love, with out conditions, he recieved nothing from that person he helped, he just helped him.Everyday God helps billions of people ,He feeds them, protects them,He just loves,and out of that love ministers to them. Billions of people will not give a thought for God today, they will just recieve, deneying Him ,even hating Him, and saddest of all rejecting His son Jesus, but He will keep on loving and helping them. It is hard for us to help people who dont appreciate us, and what we do for them, who never say thank you, but the challenge for us is to act like our Saviour.[ Dear God when it comes to loving others ,I confess I just about scratch the surface, so help me today to be a good Samaritian, in Jesus name we ask this Amen]

What would Jesus do ?[ Matthew 7 v1-6 ]

It is so easy to judge people, to judge situations, and we all do , even though our Saviour told us not to [Matthew 7v1-2],yet we do.Our Saviour said ,Judge not according to the appearance,but judge righteous judgement [John 7 v24 ],we often judge people and situations,by what we see with our eyes,failing to appreciate the hidden reasons, the unfortionate thing is we are often not interested in why people act in the way they do. A friend of mine left his wife,and I know Christians who judge Him,continually run him down,of course he should have stayed with his wife, but who am I to judge, and condemn. The safest and loving thing to do is pray for others in their failings, not finger point, or gossip,walking humbly with our God involves a humble spirit,an attitude, that there by the grace of God go I. As we face this day ,and come into contact with people , let us ask the question ,what would Jesus do?, what would He want me to do, what would He want me to think?. [ Dear Lord Jesus help me to be more like You in all things .Amen ]