A reminder. [ Luke 17 v 20 ff. ]

C S Lewis wrote ,/Horrible countries have horrible religions/, take the belief of incarnation, there is a temple in India infested by rats.Now I have nothing againsts rats,[ or India ] one of my favourite characters in the Wind and the Willows is ratty, but of course that is just fiction.Now back to the rats in the temple, people actually believe they are reincarnation of their ancesters, so they feed them , and treat them with what seems reverance, after all one of those rats may be their deceased mother. It all goes to show how far people have wondered from the truth,rats,and it is the truth that will only set people free, of course we in the west would not reverance a rat, or a cat like the ancient Egyptians did, or a wooden idol. The dollar has the words printed on it/,In God we trust/, but I think many Americans ,have forgotten that. Could it be that these times of recession are reminders of our need to focus on our souls needs ,we have gorged our physical beings on so much that is empty, and starved our souls. Not only have we starved our souls, but we have put them in great jeopardy, as we are reminded by the words of our Saviour in Mark 8 v36,/For what shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfiet his soul/.
A prayer...../Dear God of all the earth, of India ,America,Ireland, England ,have mercy and turn the nations to Jesus Thy Son,who died that all ,may be saved. Amen /

Lonliness. [ 2 Timothy 4 v 16 - 17 ]

It is said that one can be lonely in a crowd, mybe you feel lonely today,mybe you are single, mybe you are not near any other Christians,or you have lost your wife or husband. I have never lived alone ,and yet I have felt lonliness, the Bible says it is not good that we should be alone [Genesis 2 v18 ]. I am sure lonliness is more common than we realise,what can we do to help others? ,well we could visit them, befriend them,and indeed pray for them,and mybe in our trying to help others, we will be helped. When people come into our church situations make them welcome, not just initially, when someone is bereaved ,they need long term support, let us show people we care, and that we are there for them, long term. I know that it is not a nice feeling lonliness,but I believe we can experience a deeper relationship with our Lord in those times of lonliness.I want to leave these words with you and pray that the reality of them may encourage you in your lonliness./ For He [Jesus ]hath said,I will never leave you , nor forsake you. [Hebrews 13 v5 ]Andrae Crouch wrote a lovely hymn called /Through it all/, here are a few lines of it./ Ive been to lots of places, and Ive seen a lot faces, There ,ve been times I felt so all alone. But in my lonely hours,yes, those precious lonely hours, Jesus let me know what faith in God could do. Through it all ,Ive learned to trust in Jesus, Ive learned to trust in God, Through it all, Ive learned to depend on His Word/
A prayer.../Dear God help us in our lonely moments, for we do have them, in Jesus name Amen/

Strength enough to give. [2 Timothy 2 v1 ]

We have a slow cooker ,it does a grand job,it cooks meat slowly,and so the meat is usually nice and tender,years ago we used to have a pressure cooker that was quick in its cooking.Now I cant help but think that for most of us life is like a pressure cooker,when we really need to be more like the slow cooker.So many of us are being pushed,and pushed, with the demands of life,trying to keep deadlines,and if we continue like this then as the saying goes,somethings got to give.I observe people stressed out, and my heart goes out to them,and my prayers. An old Puritan William Gurnall wrote,/When you are oppressed with the weight of any duty and service in your calling, improve your trust in Gods power....encourage yourself with that which God said to Gideon. Go in this might, has not God called you? Continue in the work God sets you to do, and His strength will be engaged for you.....Set your needs all before the Almighty. God has strength enough to give./
A prayer..../ Dear God sometimes the pressure of life is overwhelming and we struggle, grant us the grace to cope in Jesus name. Amen /

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 /