Do not give up.[Philippians 3 v 13 - 14 ]

The challenge of the Christian faith is ,as C S Lewis puts it,to become a little Christ, and that trully is a great challenge,we may despair of such a challenge,and say it is to much for any person. John the Baptist said that Christ may increase, and that he may decrease[ John 3 v30 ],now of course it is hard for us to judge, how great a transformation is taking place, but it is not hard to know what is hindering it taking place. It is the hindrances in our lives that we must seek to overcome, and they can be,but it is ongoing, there is no place for complacency, we must be vigilant, we must not fall asleep on the job,for then the enemy of our souls will attack us.[ 1 Peter 5 v8 ] If we fail or fall we must hold short accounts with God, run to Him,not from Him, confess and forsake ,and by Gods grace move on. My dear manager just passed her driving test, she had failed a good number of times, but she didnt give up,we must not give up[ cp Proverbs 24 v16] Remember His divine power has been given unto us to become Christlike ,and this includes the grace we need to rise from our failures, and the grace to go on, and to change.
A prayer......Dear God grant us the grace we to be overcomers, grace to persevere,and grace to change , in Jesus name Amen.

God is faithful. [ Romans 7 v 24-25 ]

Brennan Manning wrote the following,/ The communist who accepts Karl Marx but not his doctrine is scarcly different from the Christian who accepts Christ but refuses to shape his life according to Christs teaching. / Consider for a moment as I will ,what do we struggle with? as I look back on my life even as a youngster I had a temper,that got me into scraps and fights, this followed me into my Christian life, and to my shame into my marriage. So often I grieved the Spirit by uncontrolled rage,and hurt those nearest to me. I also had thought patterns in the sexual area that was not healthy,also at times I would act rashly. I am being honest ,Have I conqured these yes but it is ongoing, I still fail in these areas , I am a work in progress, as we all are. It is not enough to say we cant help it, ,remember what Peter wrote ,/By His divine power,God has given us everything we need for living a godly life/.Whatever our weakness God can help us,if we are honest,and are prepared to surrender to His will in all things, and a humble dependance on God.This is a spiritual battle and we will only know victory on our knees, I leave a precious promise with you , /The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful, He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted,He will show you way out so that you can endure.[ 1 Corinthians 10 v13 ]
A prayer..../ Dear God help us to change, help us overcome those things that blight our lives in Jesus name Amen /

Make a promise, and keep it.[ Psalm 119 v 9 -16 ]

So let us continue to consider how we can be transformed, let us make this journey together,for I am no different than you,I have to be honest also. In 2 Peter 1 v3 we read, /By His divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have recieved all of this by coming to know Him, the one who called us to Himself by means of His glory and excellence./ God has no favourites we are all precious to Him ,but Gods desire for you and I,that we be transformed, changed to be more like Jesus, and He has given all of us the means to accomplish this.Let us move down the passage in 2 Peter 1. Where we are told we have recieved great and precious promises v4, consider how important the promises are for salvation and our ongoing spiritual growth. We get to know the promises by reading the word of God, I observe some saints and they do not read the word of God, if we neglect the word of God we must not be surprised if things dont change in our lives. God has given you and me His word ,we neglect it to our cost,so let us begin to face what lies ahead,by promising God and ourselves, that we are going to read His word.
A prayer..../Dear God help us to read and study Your word the living word of the living God in Jesus name Amen/

Honesty the only policy.[ Luke 17v 17-18]

In Romans 12v 2 we read/,And be not conformed to this world,but be transformed by the renewing of your mind./ I believe in these words we have the key to understand how we can change, and be transformed in our Christian life. Vine puts it like this, / The adjustment of the moral and spiritual vision and thinking to the mind of God, which is designed to have a transforming effect upon the life/If a transformation is to take place, the way we think must be changed,into thinking a different way,if this is to happen we must be honest with ourselves,and we must yield ourselves to the the controlling influence of the Holy Spirit.We must stop hiding behind excuses,stop decieving ourselves, stop feeling sorry for ourselves,stop trying to justify wrong behavior that comes from a natural way of thinking based on worldly ideas. Let me stress again that honesty is not only the best policy ,but the only policy if we are going to change, and be transformed,change can happen only when we are honest with ourselves, and honest to God. The change came in the prodigal sons life when he was honest with himself [cp Luke 17 v 17-18], he then started to act different, like the prodigal we can cause so much pain to ourselves and others, but it is possible that things can change when like him ,we our honest with ourselves.
A prayer...../ Search me O God, and know my heart, try me, and know my thoughts. And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting, in Jesus name we ask this Amen /

The renewing of our mind [ 2 Corinthians 10 v 5 ]

I found myself arguing in my mind with someone,for what they had said to me, I give them a good tongue lashing, the only thing is it happened over 35 years ago. Why I should still remember this and have an argument in my head after so long a time,beats me, but the fact is we do remember . We remember being put down, being humiliated, hurt ,especially by words, we retain so much in our minds,that cling to us. Mybe it will always be so, or does it, much of lifes battles are battles of the mind, it is in Romans 12 v2 ,we read ,/be ye transformed by yhe renewing of your mind,/ I believe these words are very significant,how we think is vital, when we become a Christian,our minds are full of wrong ways,and wrong things, wrong thought patterns.These things need to be dealt with, so that we move on, and be transformed,it will not happen immediately, but it must happen, Gods will for us all is that it should happen.We will think tomorrow how this can happen.

Healed /forgiven [Isaiah 53]

I sometimes tell jokes , this morning while I was cooking my breakfast I thought of one,so here it is / A man goes into a shop picks up a carton of 6 eggs and then proceeds to walk out of the shop, he is stopped by the owner, who asks him to pay,he looks at the owner , and then points to the writing on the carton , free range eggs. Now I told this to my wife and all I got in response was a blank look, I wonder why?, I better keep my day job. Some say our Saviour used humour to illustrate his teaching , I not sure of this, I am sure He must have laughed and smiled, for that is part of being human, for Christ was trully human. What kind of human?, well a sinless human,now that is hard for us to take in, but He was,and had to be, for on the cross He died for sin. The question whose sin?it is in Isaiah 53 v5 we recieve the answer,/But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed./Now these words not only tell us whose sin Christ dealt with ,ours, yours and mine, but it also tells, that the results of this was, we are healed. We often use the term ,sin sick soul , yes the greatest sickness humanity suffers from is their sinful condition, and the only cure is to have our sins forgiven, by Christ.
When I survey the wondrous Cross.
On which the prince of glory died.
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride
A prayer .../ Dear Lord Jesus we praise You for Your death on Calvary , Amen/.

Carried on eagles wings. [Exodus 19 v 4 ]

The account of the Exodus is a wonderul story that has so many lessons to teach us, from start to finish it was a work of God. From the start Moses was reluctant ,and continually the Israelites dragged thier feet,their believing [Exodus 14v31] was soon followed by unbelief [16v3 ], they continued to be inconsistant. The important thing was Gods faithfulness,He literally carried them,put up with them, but above all else ,He kept loving them. To some extent we are like Israel ,often inconsistant, often reluctant to follow were our Saviour leads,now I am not writing this to discourage but to impress upon all our hearts that salvation is of the Lord. Salvation has three tenses to it, past,present and future, salvation from start to finished is a work of God. It is a sovereign work, we have come this far by the grace of God. Our God who brought Israel through ,will bring us through ,He will complete what He stared, and He wii continue to love us.
A prayer ....../ Dear God we praise You for Your faithfulness and love in Jesus name Amen ./