He loves us failures. [ Jeremiah 31 v 3]

I have started to read the book of Judges, it has different themes to it,Israels continual unfaithfulness, this is highlighted in the following words,/ And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord/.This is followed by the Lord delivering them into the hands of their enemies,then we have a period of Israel being oppressed. Next we have Israel turning to the Lord ,crying unto to Him, for deliverance, God responds by sending a deliverer.What amazes me is God continual faithfulness, there is never a place in the book of Judges that God gives up on Israel,inspite of their repeated failures,He just keeps on being faithful inspite of their unfaithfulness, why?, yes why?,because, they were His, and He loved them,He loved them to much to give up on them. Many people may look at me and think ,my He is such a man of God, a preacher, a fine Christian,but I know how weak I am, and not only that, God knows, how often I have failed Him,70 times 7,plus,and as I write these words I ask the question why has He not given up in me ?,and then I hear Him whisper to heart,because you are mine and I love you.What applies to me applies to me applies to you dear child of God, He loves us failures,nothing can seperate us from that love, even our continual failures.

A prayer...../Dear God we are utterly amazed at Your amazing love,You know the worst about us yet You dont give up,You just keep loving us, we praise and thank You in Jesus name./

Pain can be redeemed [ Romans 8 v28 ]

Lastly we think of pain that can be redeemed, and like Philip Yancey I will point you to my life verse, Romans 8 v28[ av ] And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God. The all things means what it says, yes even the bad pain, the greatest example of this is the cross on which Jesus died, that was surely bad pain, an innocent person being crucified. And yet God had a redeeming purpose in that death,good has come out of it,mulitudes of people have and are being saved, from a lost eternity. God always works at a redemptive purpose, this is Gods truth, it goes without saying that when we are in the storm of bad pain, we struggle to accept the truth of Romans 8 v28. I believe this verse with all of my heart, often with tears, I have looked at this verse,wondering how good can come of my painful experience, but I believe it will.I finish by quoting P Y./ Romans 8 v28 is an affirmation that whatever things may come our way- and for Paul these meant manifold hardships- all can be redeemed to work for our ultimate good/

Dear God help us to have faith in the truth that You are in control,and are working all things for the good of Your children, and for Your glory in Jesus name Amen /

Pain that is bad.[ Job 1-2 ]

Yesterday we considered pain that is good, but then then there is the bad pain,we hear of it every day on the news, I recieve material from missions, informing me of so many things that people are suffering ,that could be classed as pain that is bad. So many dear people are experiencing awful things,grinding poverty,abuse, injustice, the list goes on and on. Why? , yes why we ask?, so much suffering, mybe you are asking this question,mybe you are, or have, experienced things that are really bad, and you lift your eyes to heaven ,and you ask why Lord, why did my child have to experience such pain?why ?.Now this is the pain that is bad, why?, well the cross on which Jesus died, was for a reason, and on that cross He asked the question,why? and the answer is,we live in a sinful world, a fallen world, and because of this we will suffer and experience pain that can be classed as bad. There is no gurantee that any of us will escape things that can trully be labeled ,pain that is bad,tomorrow we will consider how God can redeem even that bad pain.

A prayer..../ Help us to see that the reason that people suffer pain that is bad, is because we live in a fallen world in Jesus name we ask this .Amen /

Pain.[ Proverbs 27 v 6 ]

How does one begin to write about pain,the dentist does his best to eradicate it,we can buy medication ,for all sorts of pain,none of us want to experience pain.We are told that there is no gain without pain,and there is truth in those words,but we would still want the gain without the pain.Philip Yancey who had written 3 books on pain, was asked, what he had personally learned about pain?. He replied, / Pain is good. Pain is bad. Pain can be redeemed/. How can pain be good?, well Philip uses the illustration of a peson who has leprosy,this disease destroys the nerve ends,so they dont feel pain,with the result they injure themselves without knowing it, the result is they suffer severe effects, like the loss of fingers ,and toes.Pain is telling you there is a problem,if we ignor it there can lead to serious consequences, we can think this through at many levels, so today let us give thanks for the pain that is good.

A prayer..../ Dear God it seems strange to thank You for any sort of pain ,and yet we do, the pain that tells us something is wrong, in Jesus name Amen./

Anger. [ Colossians 3 v 8 ]

Many years ago I remember my best friends father stubbing his toe on a piece of furniture, and then kicking it afflicting more pain on himself, we tried not to laugh. This came to mind this morning while doing a blog and I pressed the wrong button, which meant I had to repair the damage to my blog, I felt so frustrated that I banged my hand on the table in anger, and of course the computor and the table cried out in pain, of course not, the only one was hurt was me.The Bible has so much to say about uncontrolled anger, take Moses who was very meek,yet he had his moment of anger [ cp Exodus 20 v 7ff]. He paid a price for that moment of anger,many of us pay a price for our uncontrolled anger, my friends father suffered double pain, and I have a sore hand. There usually is a price to pay for anything that gets out of control,if we are continually getting angry ,we are more than likely injuring others , mybe even frightening others,it could be road rage, whatever it is, we need to stop it,begin to see it for what it is, wrong.We need to say more than sorry, we need to repent, we need to stop it, I need to stop it, how?, by the grace of God.

A prayer..../Dear God grant us the grace to have control over our emotions ,in Jesus name Amen /

You dont bring me flowers anymore [ Psalm 147 v 3-6 ].

Barbra Streisand sings a song ,called,/ You dont bring me flowers anymore /, it is song about love fading, lessening, cooling,not speaking, distancing . Of warmth turning to coldness,of closeness turning to distance,of desire turning to distaste,none of it is very nice. I am sure what I am writing applies to so many these days, and many are feeling sad, feeling vulnerable, insecure,and afraid, along with anger. If you are going through this experience , try to not let it destroy you,and dont blame God, it is not His fault, God gets the blame for so much that is not His fault. These things come with the territory,we live in a fallen world, but in the midst of all our hurts there is one who cares and understands, His name is Jesus, He knows what it is to be rejected ,and unloved ,He has experienced the hurts, and as He looks on his creation ,He is still recieving them, but He justs keeps on loving, and loving, so go to Him today,if you dont know Him come to Him, if you do know Him dont turn away from Him .

A prayer.../ Dear Jesus in all my need I come to You , help me .Amen /

Chariots of iron. [ Hebrews 11 v 32 - 35 ]

The children of Israel were in the promised land but in order to have their allotted piece of land they had to conquer it, the children of Joseph came to Joshua,they wanted more land the valley of the Canaanites ,but the Canaanites had Chariots of iron. In other words they had the superior technology,so that was that, no it wasnt,the land was theirs, God had promised it to them, they were not rising in faith, they were looking with the natural sight,but Joshua wasnt ,he tells them, for thou shalt drive out the Canaanites,though they have iron chariots, and though they be strong. [Joshua 17 v 16 - 18 ] Has God given you a promise?, are you holding back because of the chariots?,in my life I have faced many chariots of iron, and have learned that if we are to overcome them ,it must be by faith in those promises God has given. So today go forward by faith, drive out those chariots of iron, you can ,for if God be for you, can who can be against you.

A prayer..../ Dear God help us ,to not let fear rob us of those things, You have promised us, in Jesus name Amen /