The death of a saint. [1 Thessalonians 4 v 13 -18 ]

I have just been told of the death of a fellow Christian ,someone I have known many years,he was a minister also for many years of a local fellowship. He poured out his life in the service of God, and I am sure ,his life and ministry touched many lives. The word of God tells us, /Precious in the sight of the Lord, is the death of His saints [Psalm 116 v15 ] , it is Herbert Lockyer , who writes the following./Paul speaks of all believers as being...Saints in Christ Jesus. Thus all true Christians are saints, some are more saintly than others. Every saint is immortal until their work is done, and when death comes, whether early or late in life, it is precious in Gods sight,for the one dying was redeemed by the precious blood of His precious Son- whose death was more precious in the Fathers sight, than all other sacrificial death./We do sorrow for our fellow Christians, but we sorrow not as those who have no hope, for we know that they are with the Lord in heaven. Let me ask you, have you such a hope?, you can have by simple trusting Jesus as your Saviour, believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved. [Acts 16 v31][Dear God we thank You that death is not the final goal for Your children, that through Your dear Son Jesus,we can beat Death, and all that it means. Amen ]

Dont despair, God answers prayer. [Luke 18 v1 ]

In Psalm 116 , we read of a man who had been in deep, deep trouble,, his heart was full of sorrow, he had been at deaths door now what do you do when life is like that?. Well this is what he did,/Then called I upon the name of the Lord,O Lord, I beseech Thee, deliver my soul [v 4 ]. Nothing happened, wrong, something did happen, /I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice and my supplication [ v1 ]/ Thomas Watson wrote,/When we pray to our Father,heaven cannot be blocked up.....A believer lets down the net of prayer until mercy comes/. In Romans 8 v32. we read,/ He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also give us all things./ Again Thomas Watson wrote,/ Prayer has opened prison doors. It has strangled the plots of the enemy, and routed their forces. Moses prayer did more than Joshua,s sword.Does this not encourage us to pray in faith/. Let us remember the prayer of faith is not a vain exercise, cry unto the Lord in your trouble, He will deliver you out of all manner of difficulties. We may think that the things we ask for are to great to be answered, not so, are we not told that the Lord can do exceeding abundantly above all we can ask , or think [Ephesians 3 v 20 ]. [ Dear God we praise You for answering prayer in Jesus name Amen ]

The Trinity. [ Hebrews 9 v14 ]

I believe in the holy trinity, one God in three persons, it was A. W, Tozer who wrote,/ Our sincerest effort to grasp the incomprehensible mystery of the trinity must remain forever futile, and only by deepest reverance can it be saved from actual presumption./ I remember being told many years ago that there was no illustration that could fully reveal to us the trinity, Irelands national emblem, the shamrock is held up to us a symbol of the trinity , mybe it does to some extent, but not fully. Many struggle to grasp the doctrine of the Trinty, because they dont understand it, I have had JWs stand at my door asking, how can it be?,and Mormons throwing ridicule at this doctrine. The fact of the matter is if we could understand, then God would no longer be God, Gods being is beyond our understanding. This does not mean that we have concocted this doctrine up, out of our own heads, no ,the answer to our faith, is clearly taught in the bible,The answer to our struggles is faith, a faith in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, blessed Trinity. [ Dear God we bow in humility as to who You are, we grasp by faith the truth of the blessed Trinity, Father , Son and Holy Spirit, Amen ' ]

Redundant words. [ 2 Timothy 3 v 14 - 16 ]

I was listening to the radio and heard that new words had come into being, and some old words are not now being used , one word not being used was areodrome, this surprised me. They interviewed a man who actually worked at an areodrome ,who took exception to the fact that this word according to Collins dictionary was considered reduntant.As a Christian I am conscious that certain words, like sin, hell,repentance,and conversion are becoming reduntant, or certain phrase like being saved or being born again. And yet it seems to me that these are the very words and phrases we need to proclaim clearly, without fear or favour .We may live in a secular society, but we do live in a sinful world,riots,adultery,murder ,lack of forgiveness,people addicted to one thing or another. Is it alright saying a little bit of what you fancy does you good , when that very thing is destroying you.People may not like to hear those words or phrases ,but they need to, not only hear them but take heed to them, for if they dont ,they will be lost for all eternity.[ Dear God the truths of Your word never change,help us to hold fast to biblical words and phrases , help us never to compromise, in Jesus name . Amen .]

A word for everyone.[ John 3 v16 ]

The scripture is a ford,wherein,tis said. An elephant,shall swim ,a lamb may wade, so wrote the poet Francis Quarles [ 1592 - 1644 ]. I believe what we are being told is that for one thing we do not need to be afraid of the word of God,no matter how limited we may be.Also we are not to big in intellect , so many people think they have all the answers, when in reality they have none. People of this generation feel they have outgrown the Bible, or believe it has no place in a so called modern society,how wrong they are. When I was young we had childrens meetings, sundays schools, when ordinary people,guided by the Holy Spirit,would teach Gods Word. In that beloved city of my birth Belfast ,there where Gospel meetings , people believed that message ,and their lives where changed for ever. I believe that the troubles would have been worse, because the influence of the gospel kept many people from getting involved.The word of God and its message is for all,exclude yourself from it to your cost. [Dear God thank for Your word , a word for everyone, a word of life, a word of hope, a word of salvation through Your Son Jesus. Amen ]

Ordinary people. [ 1 Corinrhians 1 v 26 - 31 ]

He was considered only a farmer , as were many of his fellow soldiers, ordinary people of no good social standing, yes he and others were despised for being ordinary, coming out of the common people. He was Oliver Cromwell, and they were the new model army, those who despised them were the royalist,led by Charles the first. At the battle of Naseby 1645 this so called ordinary person led the calvary, that played a decisive role in the the defeat of those royalists, and this ordinary person rose to become Lord Protector of England. Let none of us feel down and let none of us be put down because we are ordinary, consider the following, /Not many wise according to the flesh, not many noble are called. But God has chosen the foolish things....the weak things...the base things.....the things which are despised. [NKJV ] Being a nobody in Gods eyes makes no difference, He does it for a number of reasons, one, that He will get all the glory, next as the Message puts it,/ to expose the hollow pretensions of the somebodies/. And lastly, God can use us nobodies,we see this throughout scripture and history,[as long as we dont get swelled heads]. [ Dear God we praise You for choosing ordinary people like us, for making us Your children, and even using us , may we always be grateful and humble for such love and mercy bestowed upon us in Your dear Son Jesus our Saviour. Amen ]

Stigma removed. [ ` Chronicles 4 v 9- 10 ]

Whats in a name? I have a friend and his wifes name is Happy, I read today of two people, one called, Gladness, the other called Merry, my name is William, although I get Bill usually.There was a man in the Bible called Nabal ,[1 Samuel 25 ], one wonders what his parents were thinking about, for his name means fool. It is a mystery to me why anyone would call their child fool, but here is the point, he actually acted the fool, and nearly brought disaster upon his household.Consider how many people, who are not called fool, yet act as fools,and bring disaster upon their households.There was another man in 1 Chronicles 4v 9-10, called Jabez, his name meant sorrowful,it related to his mothers having a very painful birth.So Jabez was lumbered with a name that reminded him and everybody else, of the pain he had caused his mother , what a stigma to live under. But Jabez was determined to rise above that stigma, and so he prayed a wonderful prayer,mybe you are living under a stigma, a family history,mybe your own actions have brought a stigma upon yourself, what can you do?. Well you can do what Jabez did,pray and yes you can pray his prayer,or pray a prayer of your own, God answered his prayer, be assured, God will answer your prayer. [Dear God inspite of my name, my history, my background I ask that You would bless me, and prosper my life and my endevours in Jesus name Amen ]