I am special . [John 3v 16 ]

I received an e-mail passed on by a friend which he had recieved called an Irish blessing, which is very lovely, the last part of it ends with these words ./ And may you come to realise in your heart,that in this vast universe, that you are an important part of Gods plan/. I wonder do you realise this?,that what concerns you, concerns God, that you are special, if you are not a Christian ,God loves you [John 3v16] so much He came into this world in the person of His Son, and died on a cross that you may be forgiven, and become His child. And if you are a Christian mybe you need to be reminded also that you are very special to God. Graham Kendrick wrote the following,/Im special because God loved me, For He gave the best thing that He had to save me.His own Son Jesus ,crucified to take the blame. For all the bad things I have done./ Yes thats how special you are to God.[ Dear God thank You that I am special to You, thank You in Jesus name Amen ]

Resurrection. [ John 11 ]

Consider the situation the dear woman had lost her son,he had died [1 Kings 17], many people, mothers and fathers are grieving over the death of a child. So much effort by mankind is taken up to try to beat death, money is poured into these efforts,but the fact is we may beat cancer, but no one will beat death. I will die you will die,and yet in this story in 1 Kings 17, we have a hint of something wonderful, resurrection, Elijah prayed for this child,and he came to life again.Let us go forward to another scene of death, a man called Lazarus had died,he had been dead four days,but into that situation, comes Jesus, who declares,I am the resurrection and the life,he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. Death as to this life is final ,but there is another time coming when the dead in Christ shall rise to enter into eternal glory. Because of Christ we who are Christians need not sorrow as those who have no hope[1 Thessalonians 4v13 ]. [Dear God we praise You that because of Jesus Your dear Son we have hope even when faced with death. Amen ]

Acting like our Heavenly Father.[ Matthew 5 v43-48 ]

Continuing on in 1 Kings 17,we have the death of the widows son ,in her grief she accuses Elijah of making her feel guilty,of bringing to mind her past sins,she saw the death of her son as a judgement. What does one do when people accuse us of all sorts of things?well what did Elijah do, he prayed for her. Our Saviour taught in Matthew 5 v44, that we are to love our enemies, to bless them that curse us,to do good to them that hate us,and to pray for them that despitefully use us, and persecute us. Who said being a Christian was easy, we are being told to act against our natural feelings,to act in a spiritual manner, and as we do this we are acting as our Father in Heaven acts, to the population of this world, day in day out.[ Dear Heavenly Father grant us the grace to act like You in every situation in Jesus name Amen ]

Now ,not later.[ Isaiah 55 v 6-7 av ]

We move on in our consideration of the life of Elijah in 1Kings 17,he is staying at the widows,and then we read that the widows son dies, she sees it as a judgement for her sin, now she does not mention what that sin was. Now let me ask the question does your sin bother you?so many are sinning freely, and yet there is always a price to be paid as regards sin.Sometimes it is only when faced with death do we begin to be concerned about our sin and the consequences . What are the consequences of sin ,judgement, yes even in this life, and most surely in the next,as the word of God reminds us,it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement[Hebrews 9 v27 ]Let us remember there is no forgiveness for sin in the next life, only judgement,but there is forgiveness for sin in this life, behold now is the accepted time, behold now is the day of salvation [2 Corinthians 6 v2]. God can and will forgive your sin, through His son Jesus,why not accept Him now,He will not turn you away, but freely accept and forgive you. [Dear God I acknowledge that I am a sinner,forgive me, I accept Jesus as my saviour now Amen ]

A throne of grace. [Hebrews 4 v14-16 ]

1Kings 17 commences with Elijah declaring that there would be no rain, and so it came to pass,it is in James 5 v17-18 we are told this came about as a result of Elijah praying. I remember reading of a situation in South Africa ,when there was a severe drought, a well known minister met with his church, and they prayed for rain, and as they prayed it began to rain, the minister ,spoke and said let us now give thanks for the rain. We must not see prayer as the last resort, nor should we look on our own weakness as an hindrance to our prayers. The scriptures tells us Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.So pray earnestly,pray with faith, God is listening, and God will answer, so pray , and when He answers give Him the Glory. [Dear God help me to come bodly unto Your throne of grace,in all my weakness, and trust you to hear and answer my prayer in Jesus name Amen ]

Let us pray.[ Psalm 34 v18 ]

Let us continue in 1 Kings 17, three people are saved from death, and then we read, that the son of the woman dies,in some way a strange turn of events. Was God playing with this woman?, she felt that she was being punished because of her sin, she turns on the prophet, asking why he had come,was it just to remind her of her sin.When grief hits us it causes us to think of all sorts of things,we may blame others, or even ourselves. I was told by a friend that it was reported in the newspaper in Ulster how 4 young people had committed suicide ,one as young as nine. One can only imagine what their families are feeling ,they will possible blame God, and even themselves. So today let us lift up our prayers for those who have been effected by such tragedies, there are no easy answers, even though God may get the blame, He is not at fault, but He is the only one that trully knows and understands how we feel, the one who can heal the brokenhearted, through His son Jesus. [ Dear God we lift up to You the families of those affected by the deaths of their children, have mercy upon then , in Your sons name we ask this . Amen ]

Miracles can happen. [ Matthew 21 v21-22 ]

Continuing on in 1 Kings 17, Elijah is sent to a poor widow woman, the situation for her was trully desperate, all she had was little bit of flour, and a little drop of oil. But suddenly she is faced with a prophet,who speaks a word of hope to her, the little she had would be miraculously blest, so that her need,her sons need, and the prophets need would be met. A miracle would take place,the natural would be suspended, and the supernatual would be experienced,I know we cannot make miracles happen,we cannot guarantee they will happen , yet they can happen. With God all things are possible,I look at so many situations and they are trully desperate, naturally speaking hopeless,but then I hear the words of my Saviour, that if we have faith, and doubt not, miracles will happen[Matthew 21 v 21- 22 ] [ Dear God there are so many hopeless situations, that no human resource can change,so dear Father help us to have faith ,for miracles to happen ,in Jesus name .Amen ]