What a great God. [Psalm 121 ]

Isaiah 40 is a wonderful chapter, it is written to comfort Gods people, that God had forgiven them,yes He had dealt with them severely,but now they must move on in their relationship with Him.God wants them to get their eyes on Him to see His glory, unlike what man says,and indeed man himself ,they are to consider that what He says, His word shall not pass away[ v8 ].They are reminded of the Spirit of Gods sovereign powers [ 13], also in comparison to God the nations are as nothing. Next, God is not to be compared to an idol, God is spirit [John 4 v24 ], who rules over all, there is no power or being equal to Him[ v22- 24 ]. Israel are to get their eyes of earth bound realities , to where power really is, not only to
look by faith on God but to wait upon Him, and as they do,the result will be, they shall mount up wings as eagles, they shall run, and not be weary, and they shall walk , and not faint[31 ].
Be still and know that I am God,
O,er all exalted high,
The subject nations of the earth,
My Name shall magnify,
The Lord of Hosts is on our side,
The God of Jacob is for us
A refuge strong and sure.
[The Psalter ]
A prayer /Lord we confess that our sight is so often earth bound, help us to be people of faith,
in our everyday life, in Jesus name. Amen ]

All things are possible. [ Exodus 6 v 1-8 ]

I remember a number of years ago a dear brother and his wife struggling to make a go of their business, and they worked so hard,poured in their savings,but things did not pick up.There appeared no hope, yes Christians do sometimes struggle , yes, there are unemployed Christians at this time.I am not being negative ,but being realistic,Christians will experience difficult times, while we are on planet earth, our gardens will not stop growing weeds.We dont have a fairy god mother who will suddenly turn up, and declare , you shall, go to the ball, no we dont have a fairy god mother, but,ah , here is the all important thing we do have a loving Heavenly Father, and that makes all the difference.Coming back to that couple ,I remember giving the brother a word, from Exodus 6 v1, which reads,/ Then the Lord said unto Moses, Now shalt thou see what I will do/.What did He do ?well He did deliver that couple out of that situation, it didnt seem possible at the time, but then we are told with God all things are possible.[ Matthew 19v26 ]
Ye fearful saints fresh courage take,
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break,
With blessings on your head.
[William Cowper ],
A prayer / Dear God with You all things are possible, we look to You to undertake for us in all things, in Jesus name, Amen. ]

Dont despair. [ Romans 4 v 16 - 21 ]

Lets be honest and we need to be,we dont always rise in faith, when it comes to certain problems, that just will not go away, we pray, and pray, and we even have a promise from God. Well it is not something new , one just has to read the lives of Abraham and Sarah, instead of waiting on God , they ended up with the wrong child, Ishmael, born not to Sarah, but to Hagar. [ Genesis 16 ] Inspite of this the promise still stood, mankind cannot thwart the purposes of a sovereign God,the promise will and must be fulfilled.Later on God again tells both Abraham and Sarah that they are going to have that promised child ,wonderful ,but both Abraham, and Sarah laughed [Genesis 17v17/ 18v12 ]. Here is what God said,/ And the Lord said........Is any thing too hard for the Lord?/, and so it came to pass [Genesis 21 v1 ] Whatever the difficulties we may have, no matter how big the problem, if God has promised you whatever it will happen, God cannot lie, He will fulfill His word. Let us not be too hard on Sarah or Abraham, for in the end they won through by faith, and recieved the reward . [ Romans 4 v16-21 / Hebrews 11v11 ]
God can do anything, anything, anything,
God can do anything but fail.
[Ira F. Stanphill ]
A prayer / Dear God help us to discern Your will clearly, guide us by Your Spirit, and Your word , in Jesus name . Amen .

Addiction. [John 8 v 34-36 ]

I picked up an empty cigarette packet, which had a gruesome picture on it, and the words, smoking can cause a slow and painful death, inspite of this warning, many people still smoke, thankfully not as many as used to. When I was young lad I started smoking ,most people smoked,even my mother smoked,and she paid the price of that addiction. Of course people can be addicted to different things,like gambling, sex,food,money,power alcohol and many other things ,inspite of the consequences.Many things people are addicted to, are sinful, in fact our Saviour said, whosoever committeth sin is the servantof sin [ John 8 v34 ].Sin always comes with a cost ,no matter how it is dressed up, one just has to read the newspaper or listen to the news, or look at our own lives,we are all born with a weak nature, a nature that can so easily come under the control of something or other.I believe that Christ will not only forgive us our sins , but He can deliver and set us free, consider the following words that Jesus said,/ If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed [John 8 v36]
Augustus M. Toplady wrote the following.
What though I cannot break my chains,
Or e,er throw of my load,
The things impossible to men,
Are possible to God.
Bound down with twice ten thousand ties,
Yet let me hear Thy call,
My soul in confidence shall rise,
Shall rise and break through all.
A prayer. /Dear Saviour ,we thank You that not only can You forgive sin, but You can also break its power, there is nothing to hard for You to do. Amen.

The missing piece. [ Galations 6 v 14 ]

You have heard of the missing link,well I am not going to write on that as one who believes in creation I dont believe there is a missing link, but I did hear a wonderful sermon , it was all about Christ,and I really enjoyed it. But it had a missing piece, it covered His diety, birth, life, His death and resurrection,but it did not really touch on his death on the cross ,which was a sacrifice for sin. I found this strange , for without this sacrificial death , we are all lost, without sin being dealt with,only judgment awaits us in the end,that means not heaven but hell.The cross is not just some symbol ,not just an ornament, when we speak of the cross, it is the cross of Christ ,yes many people died on a cross,but the cross of Christ ,and the shedding of His precious blood,was an atoning death, on that cross ,Christ the sinless one became my substitute. Without the death of Christ ,there is no message of salvation, no forgiveness, no hope,without that missing piece, the jigsaw of salvation is incomplete.
By the cross of Jesus standing,
Love our straitened souls expanding,
Taste we now the peace and grace,
Health from yonder tree is flowing,
Heav,nly Light is on it glowing,
From the blessed Suff,rers face.

Here is pardon,s pledge and token
Guilt,s strong chain forever broken,
Righteous peace securely made,
Brightens now the brow once shaded,
Freshens now the face once faded,
Peace with God now makes us glad.
[ Horatious Bonar ]
A prayer /Dear God we thankYou for the cross of Christ, and all it means for a world of sinners
in Jesus name. Amen .

Ye would not. [ Acts 16 v31/ Isaiah 45 v 21-22 ]

Isaiah 30v 15 reads, /For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, in returning and rest shall ye be saved, in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength/. What a wonderful word from God, often it has spoken to me, and blessed me,God was saying this to His people, the Message puts it like this,/ Your salvation requires you to turn back to Me, and stop your silly efforts to save yourselves. Your strength will come from settling down in compete dependance on Me/. Now it appears to me a straightforward statement, a wonderful statement and yet a challenging statement, and unfortunately Israel did not see it like that,or accept it, or obey it, for God says,/ and ye would not/.You see they felt threatened by Assyria, so instead of trusting in God they went to Egypt for help,the application of this is very simple. First if you are not saved, who are you trusting to save you? is it self ?,many think that by living what they think is a good moral life, or by being religious, or whatever, they will be saved. Its all nonsense we must do what Gods word says, cease from self, and trust totally in Jesus. Next application is to believers, let me ask you, will you do what that verse says?, mybe you are facing difficulties, financial, personal problems,and you are looking for your help in others, instead of relying on your God and Saviour, yes He uses others to help us,but let Him tell,and prompt them to do so.
A prayer / Dear God we so often have our eyes on others instead of You, help us to see that if we are to be saved we must trust only in Jesus, and we who are Your children help us to keep our eyes firmly on You, in Jesus name. Amen .

A great leveller. [James 2 v 1-9 ]

We rightly recoil at the Nazis who saw other groups as inferior, and treated them despicably, but the fact of the matter is, mankind has always practiced discrimination in so many ways. Many native Australians were treated badly,likewise the American Indians,it was said by one American politician, that the only good Indian was a dead one, and he meant it. We all know how the black population were treated in America, and how black people were treated in South Africa. Some one wrote about a certain time in history, that everyone was a racist.My own nation were considered inferior and treated as such, in India there is still a lot discrimination , with abuses on the Dalit people or untouchables as they are better known.Sad to say Christianty has not always been true to its teaching which clearly teaches that any sort of discrimination is totally wrong. It is said by someone that the Jews believed that for God so loved the Jews , not the world . All this is contrary to what Christ taught, and why He died, He died for all, of whatever social standing,regardless of race,or colour,the Christian message is a great leveller, we are all sinners [Roman 3 v23 ]and we all need to accept Christ as our Saviour.
For God so loved the world,
that He gave His only Son,
that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish,
but have everlasting life. [ John 3 v16 ]
A prayer /We thank You that You love everybody,help those people in this world who are discriminated against, and grant that we who are Your children, will have heart like Yours, in Jesus name .Amen.