Wounded by a friend.[ John 13 v 18 ]

Psalm 15v 3./ or speak evil of their friends [nlt]/,the question is why would a so called friend speak evil of their friend?In Psalm 41v 9,we read the folowing,/Even my close friend in whom I trusted,who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me/.These words were fulfilled in Judas Isariot who betrayesd the Lord for 30 pieces of silver[John 13 v 18]. A Friend who slanders or hurts you is not worthy of the name friend,I remember many years ago being told of one I respected, how he slandered me,I felt so hurt. Yet as I look back on my own life I have listened and been influenced by what others have told me about others. Many people have been destroyed by what so called friends have said about them. William  Penn said../Believe nothing against another, but on good authority,nor report what may hurt another, unless it be a greater hurt to another to conceal it/.In the movie Braveheart, William Wallace is shattered to descover that his prince Robert the Bruce was one of those seeking to kill him,he was the last person Wallace thought would have done this.  Consider how our Saviour must have felt when Judas betrayed Him, such wounds by a friend are not faithful, but rather disgraceful.
A  prayer..../ Dear God grant us the grace,to refrain from saying anything about another,or listening to slanderous reports about another, in Jesus name Amen /

Yes I have a dream.[ Luke 10 v 27ff ]

Psalm15 v 3./nor doeth evil to his neighbour/The term neighbour can apply to those whom we live beside,our dear Saviour give a wider meaning to the term neighbour,in Luke 10 v27ff. Israel was a divided society,the world is full of divided societies,I write from experience, my beloved Ulster is a divided society,religious and politically,the lovely island of Cyprus is a divided society ,so many places are divided by hatered, that can spill over into violence.It will always be so,it is the nature of man to erect barriers,but praise God one day,yes I have a dream,when Chist will make all things new, there will be no barriers,that people who have been redeemed, from every nation kindred and tongue,will live together in perfect harmony,yes I have a dream. Until that day may God help us to see all men as our neighbour,and to love them,help them,and to never do them any harm
A prayer...../Dear God help us to see all men as our neighbour,and to love them,help us to watch our words,that they will be purified, form any taint of racisim,or bigotry, in Jesus name Amen /

The tongue. [James 3 ]

Psalm 15 v 3/ This verse starts ,/He that backbiteth not with his tongue[ av],other translations have,/slander/gossip/,the Message simply says ,/Dont hurt your friend/. The control of our tongue is one of the most challenging aspects of being a Christian. It is James the apostle who deals with it in his epistle,W Plumer quotes Sir Walter Raleigh/ If the divines do rightly infer from the sixth commandment,Thou shalt not kill- scandlizing ones neighbour with false and malicious reports, whereby I vex his spirit, and consequently impair his health, is a degree of murder./He also quotes Beveridge,/I am resolved by the grace of God, to speak of other mens sins only before their faces, and of their virtues only behind their backs/.The fact is, in slandering our neighbours,we are hurting them ,hurting ourselves,and dishonouring our God. . There is a little childrens chorus that comes to mind,/ Be careful little lips what you say,be careful little lips what you say,Theres a Saviour up above looking down with tender love,so be careful little lips what you say/.
A  prayer...../ Dear God help us to by Your grace to honour You with our words in Jesus name Amen /

A forked tongue. [ Ephesians 4 v15 ]

 Psalm 15v 2,/and speaketh truth in his heart/I love old cowboy and Indian movies,,and one has to feel a great deal of sympathy for the Indians,for no sooner had the Indians signed a peace treaty,than the white man broke it. The Indians would accuse the white men of speaking with a forked tongue,in other words they  did not speak the truth in their hearts,they said one thing with their lips,but in their hearts they were saying something else. Let us beware of those who speak with a forked tongue, but also let us not copy them,let us speak the truth with our lips and in our hearts.
A prayer...../Dear God help us to speak the truth ,to not speak with a forked tongue , we ask this in the name of Him who is the way ,the truth , and the life, even Jesus Your dear Son. Amen /

A heart of love.[1corinthians 13]

Psalm 15 v 2, we continue to consider ,/Worketh righteousness/  now this is not just a worldly standard,which is often inconsistant,but a doing right according to Gods word,and will. Also religion can be cover for a mulitude of wrongs,there are many religous people in the world,but religion can be but a front,for all sorts of evils,as our Saviour declared[ Matthew23 in this chapter we have the word woe mentioned 8 times ,aimed at very religious inconsistant people]The greatest conflict our Saviour had was with religious people,this is seen right throughout history,religious people  have acted in brutal and cruel ways,consider the inquistion,and the attitude of many in the world of Islam. Last Christmas, a man flung acid at a Ugandan pastor  causing burns to his face and neck,the person who did it, ran away shouting,[Allah Akbar] god is great.The works of righteousness must be motivated by love or they count for nothing[ 1 Corinthians 13 ],for that is how God works,day after day ,He blesses us, out of a heart of love.
A  prayer.../ Dear God help us in our walk to walk aright, help us to manifest love in all we do, in Jesus name Amen /

Our righteousness filthy rags[ 1 Corinthians 1 v29-31 ]

 Psalm 15v 2../He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness/,so from our walk to our works, but not just our works, but of righteousness. Now when it comes to righteousness we must see that our acceptance with a Holy God is not based on our righteousness,in fact we are told that all,yes all, our righteousness are as filthy rags[ Isaiah 64 v6 ]. Barns in his commmentary on Isaiah points out  ,/The sense is that all our prayers,alms,praises,were mingled with pollution, and were worthy only of deep detestation and abhorrence/.The words filthy rags are seen as leprous rags, or menstruous rags,strong words , but it is vital if we are going to be saved,accepted by God that we fully grasp this truth.For there are so many people who do not see this truth,and take pride in what they do, and feel that they will be accepted by their righteousness.The man who went to the wedding feast in Matthew 22, refused to accept the proper garments provided, and was cast out into outer darkness.The important thing that his story is telling us, we cannot enter Gods presence as we are, for God has provided a righteousness for us , in the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ, in two old testament references we have the term, /The Lord our righteousness[Jeremiah 23v6/ 33v16],in other words it is the Lord Jesus Himself who is our righteousness, this happens when we trust Him as our Saviour.
A  prayer...../Dear God we come to You not in our righteousness ,but in and through Thy Son Jesus, for it is only in Him are we accepted,help us to see how vital this is Amen/

Walking uprightly. [Romans 14 v23 ]

Verse 2 of Psalm 15 ,reads ,/He that walketh uprightly/, the walk of the Christian is very important,it was said of Enoch that he walked with God[Hebrews 11v5 ], and if we are a Christian,we are walking with God.The first thing we see  about Enochs walk ,it was a walk of faith,from the moment we are born again by the Spirit of God,we are called to walk by faith,, in fact we are told , whatsoever is not of faith is sin[ Romans 14v23 ].When I was a young lad I trusted the Saviour,now where I lived it was considered wrong by many Christians to attend places of entertainment, but I Ioved the cinema,still do,but I felt at that time it was wrong for me to continue going to such places,but there was a moment when I went against what I believed was wrong,and went back to attending the cinema. I believe I committed a sin,and this drew me away from the Lord for many years,the point is not about the cinema,or whatever,the point is as NLT puts it,I was doing something I didnt believe was right,so I was sinning.The mark of a man of God is Faith,if we deviate from that path, we are sinning, and God will not be pleased with us.
A  prayer....../ Dear God help us to see that we are called to walk by faith, that when we fail in this we fail,to please You, in Jesus name Amen /