Gods loving sovereign power. [Jeremiah 31 v 3 ]

If God is not sovereign,God is not God,so wrote R.C.Sproul ,I often mention the sovereignty of God,often preach on it,because it is very,important. Important for each child of God to see beyond their difficult circumstances,beyond their tears,beyond the powers that be, beyond the chaos in the financial world. We continually need to remind ourselves that Gods word declares that He reigns and rules, and overrules in all the events of life.Those men and women in Gods word were often faced with life threatening situations, consider David, Daniel,Esther,often times the nation of Israel were conquerored and exiled. I read of so many dear Christians who are suffering untold misery at the hands of religious fanaticism ,and evil goverments,life for many is very painful. It could be that you are experencing undeserved suffering, life can be very unfair, but God is fair,and He is sovereign, and He would say to you, hold on my child joy cometh in the morning, so wrote David[Psalm 30 v5 ].We may not understand the here and now but God does,and at the center of His plans is His people,whom He loves,with an indescribable intensity.a love that would never cause His child an needless tear.
In all His holy, sovereign will,
He is I daily find,
Too wise to be mistaken still,
Too good to be unkind.
Though I cannot see His goings see,
Nor all His footsteps find,
Too wise to be mistaken, He,
Too good be unkind.
Hereafter He will make me know
And I shall surely find,
He was to wise to err, and O,
Too good to be unkind.
A prayer. /Dear God help us to trust in your loving sovereign power , in Jesus name. Amen ]

Nothing lasts for long. [Psalm 90 ]

Im suffering empty nest syndrome, so wrote Tom Utley in one of our national newspapers,it is the effect of the last of his four chidren leaving home,I am sure many people suffer from this.He went on to descrlbe how it felt as his wife and him drove away from university, having just said goodbye to their son, his wife put on a CD the first one that came to hand, it was by,Joni Mitchell,s Chinese Cafe, the words went,
With the kids nearly grown and gone
Grown so fast,
Like the turn of a page,
We look like our mothers did now,
When we were those kids age,
Nothing lasts for long,
Nothing lasts for long,
Nothing lasts for long.
It is true nothing lasts for long,in Psalm 90 we are reminded of the brevity of life [v10 ] , and then we are told,/So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom/. So many live for the hear and now,they dont listen to their hearts,only to their heads,and the fact of the matter is head knowledge alone is not enough.The words of that old Psalm reminds us that nothing lasts for long, in the light of this reality,we need trully to be wise. To seek the Lord Jesus while He may be found, and to call on Him while there is still time,yes nothing lasts for long as regards this life, but as to the next life, we all possess a soul that will never die,so let us be wise and trust Jesus to save us ,the alternative is grim.
A prayer /Dear God help us to grasp the reality that as to this life nothing lasts for ever,but as to eternity thats a different story, help us to accept Christ as our Saviour,and to live for Him, in Jesus name we ask this. Amen.

The Sabbath. [ Romans 14 ]

I have read on the inter-net that one of Scotlands rugby team, Euan Murry is refusing to play on Sunday,it reminds me of a certain other Scots man who did a similar thing, his name was Eric Liddel. Eric also played Rugby and of course was a fine runner, winning a gold medal in the 400m. I wonder what you think about this? I personally respect them both, I am not a strict Sabbatarian, Euan like Eric is following his conscience,according as he understands the word of God. Let every man be fully persuaded in their own mind so declares Romans 14 v 5 .I try not to undermind anybodies Christians faith, I respect what this dear brother is doing, and pray that through his stand opportunities may arise to witness about Jesus, who is our perfect Sabbath rest.[ Matthew 11 v28 ]
Standing by a purpose true,
Heeding God,s command,
Honour them, the faithul few,
All hail to Daniels band.
Dare to be a Daniel,
Dare to stand alone.
Dare to have a purpose firm.
Dare to make it known.
A prayer / Dear God help Euan as he takes his stand, help us all to be people of Biblical
conviction, in Jesus name. Amen./

A mere adjective. [ John 1 v 29 ]

In a recent book by P. Yancey,he writes of what C. S. Lewis said,/We writers are not nouns, we are mere adjectives, pointing to the great noun of truth/, and Philip goes on to say,/ thousands have come to know and love that Noun including me/.I am sure you know who they are writing about, well we read in John 1 v29, these words spoken by John the baptist,/ Beohld the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world/.John was but and adjective pointing to the great noun of truth, Jesus. Today have I been an adjective pointing to the great noun of truth?, I so often feel I am not a good adjective, I point people not to Jesus but to other adjectives, and if I am doing that, then I am failing,to do what I should be doing. Our words must be adjectives, likewise our actions, and our attitudes.our whole lives must be one big adjective, pointing others to the great noun of Truth, even Jesus.
It,s all about You Jesus,
And all this is for You,
For Your glory and Your fame,
It,s not about me,
As if You should do things my way,
You alone are God,
And I surrender to Your ways.
[Paul Oakley ]
A prayer /Dear Saviour help us to be adjectives pointing others to You. Amen /

Rewards. [ 1 Corinthians 3 v 11 - 15 ]

I recieved flowers today, not from my wife, but from a grateful mother,whose son I helped, I was also given a compliment from one of my clients.It is nice to recieve these things, I dont just work for a wage, although it is important, I trully like my job, I see it as a ministry God has given me. The scripture says do all to the glory of God, and if we do then of the Lord we will recieve a reward.In the last chapter of Revelation 22v12, we read our Lord declaring, behold ,I come quickly, and my reward is with Me. It is to recieve thanks from people, yet how more wonderful to recieve from our Saviour ,His reward , and well done, a reward that is described as incorruptible. [1 Corinthians 9 v25 ]. Eternal life is a free gift [Romans 6 v23 ] but as we serve our Lord,here ,we will be rewarded, even the smallest of things we do for another, will be rewarded [Matthew 10 v 42 ]. There are many times one may not recieve any thanks from those we serve, what we do, may go unnoticed ,unappreciated ,dont fret, dont worry,your Saviour and Lord in a coming day, will declare, well done good and faithful servant.
Stand up, stand up for Jesus,
The strife will not be long,
This day the noise of battle,
The next the victors song.
To him that overcometh,
A crown of life shall be,
He with the King of glory,
Shall reign eternally.
[G. Duffield]
A prayer. /Dear God help us serve you,to work for You,till that day when by Your grace
we recieve Your well done, we ask this in the name and for sake of Jesus. Amen/

Pray for them.[ James 5 v 16 - 18 ]

I remember a dear Christian lady who prayed much,sometimes I would ask her to pray for someone and , she would get annoyed if I would not devulge the persons name. We dont need to know all the details to pray,prayer is not an excuse to be a busy body,nor is it an excuse to satisfy our curiosity.We must respect peoples privacy,we live in a time when privacy is not respected, when cameras are everwhere, everyone is fair game, no matter how much this affects them,or their families. Everything has to be exposed,and it is,but should it be?,I dont think so,even if the person has acted foolishly, I am glad people dont know about the things I got up to in my youth.Thankfully they never will, you see the reason I came to Christ was because I was a sinner. And even as a Christian, as a father or husband, I regret some things I have done, only God knows and thats the way it should be.Although God does know ,He will keep it to Himself ,because I confessed my failures, all the wrongs I have ever committed, He has forgiven me.So coming back to prayer ,lets us begin to pray for those whose apparent wrongs have been exposed, people who have acted wrongly,or have appeared to act wrongly, let us pray not as their judges, but as those who are just as human as they are.
Lord teach us how to pray aright,
With reverance and with fear,
Though dust and ashes in Thy sight,
We may,we must draw near.
[James Montgomery ]






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Grant me. [Philippians 4 v 8 - 13 ]

I noticed that a few trees leaves are beginning to change , you see I love the summer,and so I ask the question, why can it not be summer all the year round?. I know it cant be so ,I suppose that is why people move to sunnier climes, but then I love this country, I have have been for holidays in different countries, but I do like coming home.In the end wishing will not make any difference, reminds me of that prayer ,which is good to be reminded of, it is called the serenity prayer.
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.