Perfect peace,[ Israel 26 v 3-4 ]

Isaiah 26 has a title over it in my Bible, /A song of praise to the Lord/, and the opening words are very instructive, inspiring and comforting, and the chapter ends with the restoration of Israel. The nation of Israel would experience a tremendous lot of suffering throughout their whole history,and for the godly remnant these words would be treasured as they embraced them by faith. As members of the true Israel [Galations 6 v16 ]we will be called upon to suffer for righteousness sake, we should not expect to be carried to heaven on flowery beds of ease. The apostle Peter declares, /Beloved do not be surprised at the fiery trial, when it comes upon you. [1 Peter 5 v16 ],important words, the question is this,how can we cope?. It is in Isaiah 26 we find the answer,to knowing Gods peace, and Gods strength,/You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock/.
Drop Thy still dews of quietness,
till all our strivings cease,
take from our souls the strain and stress
and let our ordered lives confess
the beauty of Thy peace.
[John Greenleaf Whittier ]
A prayer / Dear God grant unto us strength and peace this day, in Jesus name, Amen.]

Weariness . [ Jeremiah 20 v 9 ]

It was George Whitfield who said that he was not tired of Gods work , but tired in it,we can appreciate these words,of course George was a great preacher, and much in demand. The word of God tells us, not to be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not .[ Galations 6 v9 ] The great prophet Jeremiah had his moments when he felt weary, we read him saying in 20 v9,/ Then I said , I will not make mention of Him, nor speak any more in his name, / things had become so difficult that he was determined to say nothing, he was called to be a prophet but he felt like never preaching another sermon. It is no easy thing to preach especially if we see no results, how many hundreds of sermons I have preached, with no visible results, one could be tempted like Jeremiah to give up. Then we read Jeremiah saying, / but his word was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones,/ and then he declares,/ and I was weary with forebearing, and I could not stay/. When one is called to preach Gods word,then it is nigh impossible not to preach it,the great apostle Paul declared woe is me if I preach not the gospel. [ 1 Corinthians 9 v16] It will always be the case for those called to preach, to not preach brings with it a great weariness, that is hard to endure.
Lord , fill Thy servant,s soul today
With pure seraphic fire,
And set his tongue at liberty,
And grant his soul,s desire.
[Daniel Herbert ]
A prayer /Grant to Thy servants who minister Thy word, grace to proclaim it, in Jesus name
Amen /

The Daily Light . [ Psalm 119 v105 ]

We all have favourite things, I have a favourite author, favourite hymns,songs, movies, food and many other things.One of my most favourite books is a book called, Daily Light, first published in 1794,it is a daily reading, and it is made up ,of scripture, there is a morning and evening reading.A godly man , Samuel Bagster and his family put it together. This little book has been such a blessing to me and to countless others, I love it in the AV , I bought my son John a copy ,and he mentioned recently how it was a blessing to him. So often this little book has brought me a needful word, of guidance, or encouragement, I remember on the day I was coming to England to be a minister, travelling in a little Morris Minor car with my four children, and of course my dear wife, I read the following. /He lead them on safely[Psalm 78v53] , this was followed by,/Behold, I send an angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared[ Exodus 23v20 ], and praise His name ,He did just that.
A prayer /Dear God thank you for those godly people who were guided by Your Spirit to
write godly literture, that comfort and bless Your people, in Jesus name. Amen ./

A fear I have.[ Galations 2 v 1- 21 ]

I attend a local church , so what, everyone should attend a local church , but I have a fear, and its this, causing trouble,causing division. I wear a little cross around my neck,but if I go to preach somewhere,and it may appear to be a problem, I will take it of. If I am asked to preach at a church, which holds a different veiw than what I hold, say on prophecy, I will try not to cross them. Now of course I hold clear veiws on Christian doctine, on hell,salvation, the Trinity, the Word of God. I am an evangelical ,all right I try not to be an obnoxious evangelical there are a few about. But coming back to causing trouble in a local fellowship, how can one avoid doing this? our Saviour said blessed are the peacemakers, yes we should seek to be a peacemaker, we should be prepared to yield on secondary things , but when it comes to vital truth, like Luther I declare, here I stand I can do no other.Let us never forget that the reformation was not about secondary things.
A prayer /Help us to see what is vital truth, to not yield on it,help us also to be willing to yeild
on those things that are secondary, in Jesus name. Amen /

.Blessed are the dead [Revelation 14 v13 ]

I have just heard of the death of two lovely Christians, one was a missionary,this lady served the Lord with her husband in Brazil,in what was known as the green hell. The other person was a dear brother who was ill for a good while,he used to work in the shipyard, before he retired. His name was Jackie, before he became a Christian he gambled. He said that the basic sin of gambling was its covetousness, I am sure there is something in that. Jackie served his local fellowship,he was a helpful brother.I am indebted to Jackie for a kindness he showed me , when I was a student at Bible college, he used to faithfully give me two pounds each Sunday. Only two pounds yet God used that to help my little family, always remember little is much if Gods blessing is upon it.What these two people did will be remembered by those they helped, both saved by grace, but both of them did perform those good works which God had prepared for them to do. [Ephesians 2 v8- 10] In Revelation 14 v13 we read,/ Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the Spirit, they are blessed indeed, for they will rest from their hard work, for their good deeds follow them./
A prayer. /Dear father we thank You for those dear Christians who have served You faithfully, we praise You that, their labour, was never in vain ,and they have now gone to their reward,and to live with Jesus for all eternity. Amen ./

The answer to sin. [ Romans 5 v 8 - 11]

Energy is one of the main things in life, energy to run the power stations,energy to run our cars, what a transformation came about with the use of steam, it kicked of the industrial revolution. Then electricity kicked in, and then atomic energy, and what a can of worms that opened up, an energy that could destroy this whole wide world,just in case you may be worried remember ,as the song goes,/ He,s got the whole wide world in His hands/,mankind may do a lot of damage to this planet , but this world will come to end , and it will, but in Gods time. There are so many things that could destroy us , the devil, but we cant put the blame entirely on him, we are ,our own worse enemies, we fail to recognise our condition,which is the cause of so much pain, and destructiveness. What is our condition?we are sinners,that thing called sin is to be taken serious, but thankfully God has come up with the solution,to forgive us, free us through His Son Jesus. A prayer / We thank You for Jesus Your Son the answer for us sinners . Amen /

Not perfection but yieldedness.[ 1 Corinthians 2 v 1- 5 ]

I noticed in my last blog I left out some words in the prayer, sometimes I think I am by my sell buy date. One of the things God has tried to teach me is this, especially in relation to my preaching, I am not there to perform, I am there to minister,there is a big difference between performing and ministering. One of the greatest and most effective evangelist , I know of was a man called W.P. Nicholson ,this man was used mightly in the salvation of thousands of souls in my dear homeland. He had a homely if sometimes vulgar deliverary in his preaching. Speaking of the devil, he said, /The devils a dirty old pig/, I remember hearing him say about someone kissing a person who smoked, he said it was like kissing an old cow/.God used that man in a remarkable way to bring revival to Ulster, my own dear grandmother made a decision for Christ after hearing him preach.I know we should do our best when preaching ,seek to manifest an excellency at all times, true and all that this is, God does not require perfection, but rather a yieldedness to Christ.


A prayer. /Dear God help me to always do my best in my service for You,but dear God help me to realize that it is not by might nor by power, but it is by your Spirit that will make the difference. in Jesus name . Amen . /