Not knowing[ Romans 8 v26 ]

Consider the words of Roman8 v26, were the apostle says,for we know not what we should pray for as we ought,now there are two  occasions in which ,the apostle found it difficult to know Gods will.cp Philippians 1 v23/ 2 Corinthians 12v 7-8/   W  Hendriksen in his commentary on Romans ,that Paul like us knew what to pray for in a general way,but not always what to pray for in any particular difficulty or situation. I have gone for situations in relation to Christian ministry,and have not been sure,that the position was for me,so I fell back upon the words of Psalm 47 v4 /He [God] shall choose our inheritance for us/ Healing is another aspect of prayer which I am never sure,it is not just a case of lack of faith,it is not just knowing what to pray. Two people I know of  have cancer, one is a young man in his twenties, the olther a man in his sixties,both are Christians ,what does one pray? ,oh yes I can pray that they may be given grace,peace, a conscious sense of the Lords presence, but for healing, I am not sure. I pray for many situations and people,for salvation, for God would have all men to be saved, I pray that God would supply peoples needs as He has  promised [Philippians 4 v19]. If Paul was humble enough to write that he was not sure what to pray for at times, then I need not feel guilty or condemned because I feel the same.
A  prayer..../Dear Heavenly Father we acknowledge our limatations even in prayer, help us to trust You with our not knowing,in Jesus name Amen /

Light or darkness. [John 1 v1 -14]

In our garden we have solar lights,but we noticed one lot was not giving out any light,,the fixture that powers those lights  had fallen over and was not able to recieve any sunlight. The bible speaks much about light and dakness the Psalmist David declares ,/The Lord is my light and my salvation,whom shall I fear.[Psalm 27v1 ] In Psalm 119v105,we read,/Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path/and in the New Testament we have Jesus spoken of as the true light[ John 1v9]as opposed  who  professed to be light and were not. During His ministry Jesus spoke of the importance of not walking in darkness .  W Barclay points out that Rabbis declared that the name of the Messiah is light, so it when Jesus declared,/ I am the light of the world,[John 8 v12 ],He in fact was declaring Himself to be the Messiah. In John 3 v19, we read, And this is the condemnation that light is come into the world, and men loved darknees rather than light, because their deeds were evil. In considering these things we see Jesus declaring Himself to be God,we also see that He was that long promised Messiah,who gives us an invitation to follow Him and in so doing , be brought out of our darkness, and experience life eternal. We need no longer stumble around in the darkness for whoever follows Jesus shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
A    prayer....../Dear God we praise You for Jesus the light of the world,that through Him we no longer walk not knowing the way to go,no longer  ensnared by Satan and our own dark hearts  ,thank you in His precious name  Amen/

Mankinds greatest problem. [Romans 3 v 10 -23 ]

I was preaching last Sunday ,and my first point was mankinds greastest problem ,the answer is sin, yes sin, modern man has left this out of the reckoning,but scripture declares it continually,and mans behaviour manifests it.  A survivor of  Auschwitz death camp, was asked,what he had learned, his answer was,/ I think Im only sure of one thing, nobody knows themselves/ ,he went on to say,/ The nice person you meet on the street, you ask ,where is North street? and he goes with you, and shows you,and is nice and kind.That same person in a different situation could be the worst sadist. Nobody knows themselves. Sometimes when somebody is really nice to me I find myself thinking, How will he be in Sobibor?[ or Auschwitz].Just recently Anders Breivik was found guilty of murdering all those dear young people, and also planting a bomb, that killed other people.  He smiled when he was told he was sane, and then apologised for not killing more people, yes he is sane ,but he is an insane sinner. The word of God gives a chilling summary of man condtion in Romans 3,and it sums it all up in v23, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,the root of it all is declared in Jeremiah 17 v9, /the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked,/  and then it adds ,/who can know it?/,the words of that survivor fom Auschwitz ,have a biblical truth to them,/nobody knows themselves/. Only God knows the human heart, its potential for evil, and only God has the answer to our greatest need,read Isaiah 53, of the one who was wounded for our transgressions, even Jesus, only through his death on the cross can we be forgiven and changed.
A  prayer...../Dear God thank You that through Your dear  Son Jesus You and You alone have provided the answer ,to mans greatest  problem ,our sinful nature,Amen/

He has promised to do us good. [ Psalm 23 ]

Nelson,s signal read ,/England expects everyman will do his duty/,and when he was dying he said ,thank God I have done my duty. Nelson was loved greatly by his men, he was a great man,but,yes there is that but again,he was far from perfect. Great men are far from perfect, in Germany Hitler was considered a great man,he was idolised, people gave there lives for him,but he was an evil man, and he brought misery upon million and millions of dear people, the German nation can point the finger at what happened to their nation,cities bombed nearly to extintion, thousand of women raped, yes all that is true.Those things were wrong,but all this came about, because a nation followed one man Hitler, the army swore absolute obedience to him.Now while I am highlighting Hitler,and Germany,through out history there have been many evil leaders, who somehow got into power ,Stalin, uncle Joe, as he was affectionately known,but to those who were close to him, he was Ivan the terrible.Let the nations learn from these events, and let us all be careful who we give our allegiance to,there is one person we can fully give our allegiance to, His name is Jesus, he will not leads us to harm anyone,in fact He has promised to do us good.
A  prayer...../Dear Lord Jesus, we bow before You,we surrender our wills to You, and swear absolute allegiance to You ,we ask this in Your name Amen /

Three things. [ 1 Thessalonians 5 v 21=22 ]

Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil [ 1 Thessalonians 5 v21-22] Here are three things we are exhorted to do,test everything,when I buy  something with a 5 pound note, the person on the till will examine it,to see if it is counterfeit. In Acts 17 v 11,we read how the people of Berea ,heard the word from Paul or Silas, with all readiness of mind, and then they searched the scriptures,in order to see if what they were told was true, yes like them let us test everything by the scriptures. Next we are told, hold on to the good, yes there are many things in all our lives we should get rid of, but there are many good things we need to hold on to. Consider the good things that are being eroded in many countries, faith,honesty,integrity,love of God,love of others,the word of God, let us hold on to that which is good. Lastly, avoid every kind of evil ,in our thought life,and what we say, I find myself praying continually,the words of David [Psalm51v 10] ,Create in me a clean heart,O God,/for  I know that my heart can so easily be affected, with evil, cp Matthew 15 v19,and our hearts condition affects what we say,so avoid every kind of evil.
A  prayer..../ Dear God,help us to test everything,to hold on that which is good,and to avoid every kind of evil, in Jesus name Amen /

A vital ministry [ Romans 12 v 7 -12 ]

A word spoken in due season,how good is it[ Proverbs 15 v23 ] As a preacher it falls on me to speak challenging words,to remind my hearers of sin and of judgement,hopefully I am not judgemental when I speak,because as the old Puritan Baxter said he was a dying man speaking to dying men. I know we all need to be continually reminded of so many things,to be holy,to be watchful,but I am also very conscience that what people need so often is a word of encouragement. Now I believe in getting a word from the Lord,but sometimes those who come to us as individuals, with a word from God,speak with a certainty that is not helpful. In times in the past I have spoken a word of the Lord to someone, and as I think about I wish I had kept it to myself. Usually we cant go wrong with a simple, I am praying for you.,it does not even have to be that,simply listening, can be very encouraging, it was when the friends of Job opened their mouths did they act wrongly , judgeing poor old Job. There is a little verse about a wise old owl, the more he saw, the  less he spoke,the less he spoke the more  he saw,oh that I was more like that wise old owl. I am not saying we should not say anything,but  we need to choose are words wisely, even the wise old owl, sounds forth a hoot now and again.Mybe the words that Barnabas spoke encouraged Mark , to keep following ,and serving Christ, after Pauls harsh judgement Acts 15 v 38], after all Barnabas means ,son of encouragement. 
A  prayer....../ Dear Lord help us to encourage someone this day,by an action or a word ,in Your name we ask this Amen/

The law of love.[ James 2 v 14ff]

I read an article in a national news paper,the head lines read,/Horrific case shows how lucky we are in Britain/. It dealt with a case of an English man who was attacked, the result was he ended up in a coma, I dont want to name the country,but the fact is, if in that country if you dont pay up front ,you will not recieve treatment ,if there is no money then no treatment . A friend of mine recently visited a country in Africa there she witnessed poverty, one lady said she and her children  had not eaten for days.Why was I born in this country?, a country in which I  am so blessed ,I dont know why,but I praise God for all His goodness, the Bible says unto whom much is given ,much will be required of that person[ Luke 12v48 ]. In Mark 6 v37 our Saviour said unto His disciples, / Give ye them to eat/, the Christian is not there to judge the people, but to help them,and care for them. Our Saviour said that the poor we will have with us all the time,He did not say this in order that we would ignor their need , no, He desires that we do good to them, as He did continually,even manifested  miracles,in order to feed the hungry and the poor.So today consider the poor ,and consider how you can help, and so fulfill the law of Christ, the law of love.
A  prayer..../ Dear God help us who have been blessed ,spiritually,physically,and materially ,to bless others, in Jesus name Amen /