The Bible.[ 2 Timothy 3v15 ]

When Israel became two nations after the death of Solomon ,who caused the split [cp 1 Kings 11v 9ff],one of the nations under Jeroboam, set up false worship,[cp 1 Kings 12v25ff]. In doing this they did something that many people have done, added to the what Gods word taught,it started with these words, Jeroboam thought to himself. From his human reasoning he led the nation down a very slippery slope, which ended in the nation being judged severely by God[ cp 2 Kings 17]. What have Islam, Mormonism,and Roman Catholicism, got in common, they have all added to Gods final revelation,the word of God the Bible. This is a very ,very, serious matter,because it has such a profound affect upon millions, and millions of people. How vital it is to stand for truth as revealed in Holy scriptures,if we are going to be saved,the Bible alone will make us wise unto salvation [2 Timothy 3 v15 ]. Those who add other, so called revelations ,are leading people astray, leading them to a lost eternity, let us not be lured into error,by leaning upon our own understanding, and straying from Gods word ,the Bible. [ Dear God of truth, help us to hold fast to Your finished revelation,the Bible ,in Jesus name .Amen]

Words. [ Psalm 19 v14 ]

I felt convicted I had said something I should not have, alas, once you speak words they cannot be recalled, you cant delete them . I spoke words and felt an uneasiness in my spirit , the Holy Spirit was at work,of course I could ignor His prompting, but in doing that,I would grieve Him, He would not leave me,but in some way ,He would remind me. So really its best to respond to His prompting, confess ones sin , learn from it ,and move on. Consider all the rash words spoken,all the fifthly words, the hurtful words, the lying words. One of my favourite poems is the ,/The Ballet of Reading Jail, by Oscar Wilde, it is about a man who was going to be hung, why?,The man had killed the thing he loved, and so he had to die, but then Oscar goes on to write,/Yet each man kills the thing he loves, by each let this be heard,some do it with a bitter look, some with a flattering word./ May we watch our words today,to all we come in contact with, and especially with our nearest and dearest, we dont want to kill the thing we love. [ Dear God forgive our wrong words, help us to speak healing words, not hurtful words,may the words that we speak today glorify You, we ask this in Jesus name Amen ]

We have a choice.[ Matthew 16 v 24 -27 ]

Jeremiah is my favourite prophet ,I wonder why? , for he lived in difficult times, experienced a lot of abuse,his ministry was not heeded ,by his fellow countrymen. And yet God preserved this wonderful book, to bless countless millions of people, Jeremiah is dead but his ministry speaks on, a verse from this book comes to mind, which is food for thought, and its this,/[10v23] O Lord ,I know that the way of man is not in himself, it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps/.The great truth that blazes from these words is Gods sovereignty, not something we can fully understand, but must be embraced by faith. We may argue with Jeremiahs words,but that will not change them, I did not choose where I was born, my parents,my circumstances. But I have a choice,I can trust God,or I can turn in on myself,and turn from God, or I can simply ask God to help me in that place He has placed in, and trust Him. It is the Christ of the cross who says to us all, follow Me,it is trully the way of the cross that leads home.[ Dear God help us to trust You, not to become bitter,or turn in ourselves,but rather to turn to You, in Jesus name Amen ]

To pray properly. [ Luke 18 v 1-9]

In my job we are required to do mandatory courses,on our Pc ,usually they are not to bad, but the latest one was difficult,most of my colleagues found it difficult to do. I read the material, colleagues tried to help me but in vain, so last night I attempted this on own pc, I lifted up my hands and prayed, and I did it first time. Prayer was answered there and then,praise God, that is one aspect of prayer,that immediate answer, but often we have to persevere in prayer. Richard Sibbes wrote,/To pray properly is no easy matter. To pour out your heart and soul before God, to believe He hears and will come to help you, to pray in faith, and to wrestle with Him, to strive for a blessing and hope against hope, being delayed, yet waiting for Him until He comes, this is exceeding hard to be done./ We may today recieve an immediate answer to our prayers, we may not, but keep on praying to the God who will answer .[ Dear God teach how to pray, help us to pray, and grant us grace to not give up in our praying, in Jesus name Amen ]

Strife or striving. [2 Corinthians 10 v1 ]

There are two words that come to my mind, Strife and striving, they appear very similar but they are not,but many Christians fail to see this. Strife has the meaning of ,anger, conflict,bitterness,discord and trouble. While striving has at its meaning ,making every effort,strain, struggle,trying hard,of bending over backward. Now let us apply these words into our Christian life,in Philippians 2 v3 ,we have this exhortation,let nothing be done through strife. Think of the word nothing ,today in your marriage ,in your family,in your driving,in your church, in your ,you get the picture.When we think of striving, consider the following, in 2 Timothy 2 v24, The servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men. So today we are faced with a choice,to cause strife, or to strive to be gentle to all men. [Dear God help us to be controlled by Your Spirit, so that we bring harmony,and healing to those we come in contact with, in Jesus name Amen ]

Let go. [Philippians 3v 13-14 ]

I recently watched a movie about a man and a dog based upon a true story,the basis of the story is the loyalty of the dog to its owner. Everyday the dog would go to the train station with its master,he would go to his place of work ,the dog would then return home,then in the evening the dog would return to the station to wait for its master. Then one evening he never returned, he died,yet the dog from that moment on, still returned to the station, until the day it died, and outside that station there is a statue erected to that dog. I enjoyed the movie, but on reflection, I thought,would it not have been better ,for that dog to have moved on, to have accepted the death of its master. Often we are so like that dog, we refuse to move on, we hold on to so many things , instead of letting go of the past, the death of someone we loved dearly, let us ask the question to ourselves,what am I holding unto, that is affecting my life and my relationship with others, and my relationship with my Lord?.[ Dear God help us all, to let go , and to move on, in Jesus name. Amen ]

The end is coming [ 2 Peter 3 ]

I am sure most of us are firmilar with the cartoon, of the man carrying a placard with the words on it that read,/The end is nigh/.no one takes it very serious. Well there are those who do think that the end is nigh,or could be, scientist, I have just read a little article on the internet of five ways the world could end.Here they are ,solar storms ,pole shift,super volcano eruptions,global warming,and lastly ,meterorites and asteroids. So this a cherry thought to start the day, the end is nigh, I do agree that the end of the world as we know it ,will come to an end.The Bible tells us of a new heaven and a new earth,in the book of Isaiah 65v17, we read,/For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and in the book of Revelation 21v1, we read,/And I saw a new heaven and a new earth,for the first heaven and the first earth, were passed away/. There is much that one could write on this subject, the most important thing connected to this event,is the coming back of Jesus.Now we dont know when this will happen [Acts 1v7 ], the main thing ,is to be ready, by knowing Jesus as your Saviour, when we do ,all will be well. [ Dear God we thank You that we have nothing to fear, whatever the future holds, be it the end of the world as we know it,or the end of our lives ,if we know Jesus as our Saviour Amen ]