Hindrances. [ Matthew 14 v23 ]

William Cowper wrote ,/What various hindrances we meet, in coming to the mercy seat. Yet who,that knows the worth of prayer,but wishes to be there./I am no expert in relation to prayer, but I have learned the importance of prayer. I rise early in the morning to pray because I know that if I dont those various hindrances will happen, yesterday morning one my sons called in when I was praying,he lives a good distance from where he works,so he comes to my home for a sleep over,he had been working the previous night. Anyway this all made it difficult for me to continue to pray,but I have a shed so I slipped down there and finished my quite time there.Yes there are hindrances when we come to pray,yet as William wrote,they who know the worth of prayer , wish often to be there.Prayer is vital,that may seem obivious,but we need to hear this,to be reminded of it continually,I have learned from experience, that I  need to pray, for I need Him who is my anchor, I need Him who is my best friend.Again in the words of W Cowper,/ Prayer makes the darkened cloud withdraw,prayer climbs the ladder Jacob saw. Gives exercise to faith and love,brings every blessing from above/.
A  prayer...../Dear God help us to see how vital prayer is , that it is not just a haphazard thing,but a vital part of our experience with You, in Jesus name Amen /

Truth and tolerance. [ 1 John 2 v 10 -11]

While on holiday I bought a book on John Calvin,I have known about Calvinism for most of my Christian life ,but I have never read his life. Now I can imagine when one mentions Calvinisim it stirs up feelings,it is the same with the doctrine of the last things, or baptisim.We see those who hold to a different belief on those subjects as our enemies, but I am a Christian long enough to know that this is not so.I went to an evangelical interdenominational Bible college,and I found a group of Christians, who without exception knew the Lord as their Saviour. Many of them went on to serve the Lord on the mission field,to be ministers,and all had the desire to tell others about Jesus,all held fast to the word of God.So today hold fast to those things that are important to you,but be tolerant towards those Christians who differ with you, remember they also belong to Christ, and we must love them, this is not optional.
A  prayer..../ Dear Lord help us to be tolerant towards our fellow Christians who differ with us in certain things, in Jesus name Amen /

Lessons from Esther. [Romans 8 v28 ]

The book of Esther is a very instructive book on a very important subject ,the providence of God,we need always to be looking at life with this in mind.In this book we have an unfolding picture,a queen who disobeyed her husband. An unknown girl Esther is promoted to be queen,a plot to destroy the whole Jewish nation,a godly Jew who reveals a plot that saves the kings life. God is not mentioned in this book,but His providence blazes forth, in His timing and overruling of all the events that take place.It is a book that should encourage every child of God,that God can intervene in the most difficult of situations,situations that can be life threatening, the Jews were delivered ,their enemies were routed. The word of God declares if He is For us, who can be against us[ Romans 8 v31],so let us all trust God in every situation,[ myself included].God can make a way,in relation to promotion,protection, and provision,so today,in the words of that wonderful hymn by W  Cowper./Ye fearful saints fresh courage take,the clouds ye so much dread. Are big with mercy, and shall break, in blessing on your head. Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,but trust Him for His grace. Behind a frowning providence, He hides a smilng face/.
A  prayer..../ Father in heaven we commit our situation to You, trusting in Your overruling providence to work everything out for You childrens good, in Jesus name  Amen /
/I will be on holiday for a week, I  will return to my blog Sunday 20th/

Lets try a peanut.[ Job 40 v 3-5 / Romans 8 v28 ]

I have just bought a book by Tony Campolo called /Let me tell you a story/as the title suggests it is about stories,with a spiritual application,it is easy to read,as a preacher I value stories. Tony tells of, Booker T Washington  praying to God ,he asked God to help him to understand His mind,and God answered, Booker, thats a little too much for you to handle. Lets try a peanut.I smiled when I read this,and yet it is so true,the fact of the matter we cannot grasp fully Gods mind, or Gods ways, we are told this in Isaiah 55v 8-9/ For My thoughts are not my thoughts,neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and  My thoughts than your thoughts./Job who suffered so much had to realize this, Brooker had to realize this, we all have to realize this. We look at our lives at times, and we ask what is God doing?, we look at the world and we may ask the same question.Mybe like Booker you have looked up to God, mybe through tears, and asked for Gods purpose ,and Gods mind ,on what is taking place in your life. Let us all be still before Almighty God,and just simply trust Him, He really does know what He is doing as one day we will see this. [1 Corinthians 13 v12 ]
A  prayer..../ Dear God help us to trust You in Jesus name, for You are to be trusted Amen /

Perfection.[ Matthew 5 v 48 ]

What do I mean perfection, or what does the Bible mean?,well consider the only one who was and is perfect Jesus. He fufilled the  will of God in His life  and death,never once did He step outside the will of God.So right away we see the importance of doing Gods will,in Romans 12 v 2, it is called the perfect will of God,and that is our goal. The Christian life is I believe, a battle of the wills, ours and Gods, and it is ongoing,each new day brings with it the challenge of the will.Of course in doing the will of God our Saviour had to contend with Satan.In the wilderness our Saviour was tempted by Satan,he held out the offer of popularity,personal glory,and power.Tony Campolo writes in his book,/ Choose love not power/,that Christ chose the way of the cross ,the harder way,He would save the world not through power, but through sacrificial love/.Our Saviour manifested a servants heart and challenged us to be a servant to others,so  we could consider being a servant as part of the path of perfection, that we are called to walk each new day. So today let us be seek to be perfect,we may not succeed, but we are called to try, called to follow the one who never failed.
A  prayer.../. Dear God help us to choose Your perfect will today in Jesus name Amen /

Perfectionism.[ Matthew 5 48 ]

I wish I could say I was the perfect son,both my parents are dead, I never got to my know father, as my mum and dad seperated when I was very young. So my mum brought us up at that time there were four of us,so again I ask the question was I the perfect son,did I always do that  which pleased my mother?, and the answer is, wait for it,no. I have regrets , I wish I could say ,no regrets,but I cant.We can all look at our lives and wish we could go back to that place which the poet calls the land of new beginning. Our Saviour lays before us the challenge of being perfect [ Matthew 5 v48 ],it is an exhortation,that must be taken very seriously. We are not to let our imperfectness be an excuse for not trying to reach for the goal of perfection, no, our aim in life is to aim for perfectness,even though we fail,even though we feel it is hopeless.When we fail we are not to fall into a spirit of condemnation , we are told that we are not condemned. [Romans 8 v1 ],what we must do is simple never give up ,never give up,never,why? because I want to be like Jesus who always did those things that pleased His Father.
A  prayer... Dear God help us to rise from our failures and to press on, to the goal of perfection,in Jesus name Amen /

24/7. [1 Thessalonians 5 v17 ]

I am sure you have heard the term 24/7, there is a prayer movement called 24/7 in the book ,Red moon rising,by Pete Greig/ Dave Roberts, they write of the longest prayer meeting in history started by a group of Christians called the Moravians, it lasted for 125years , 24/7. It goes without saying that prayer is important ,but how important?, a good question,consider three words from 1 Thessalonians 5 v17, Pray without ceasing,how do they strike you?,well to say the least, very challenging,mybe they discourage you, for you cannot even begin to imagine praying without ceasing.  It appears to me that the Christian life,is a life that goes beyound any boundries,the law says ,give a tenth, our Saviour taught about a widow woman who give her all [ Mark 12 v41ff], to go the extra mile,to forgive in an unlimited way,for our righteousness to exceed the righteousness, of the religious people of His day[ Matthew 5 v20 ] So again I ask the question to myself and to you, how do you see , those words ,pray without ceasing?we will have to pray about it, and be guided by Gods Spirit.
A  prayer..../ Dear God like the disciples of old we would ask that You would teach us how to pray in Jesus name Amen