Truth. [ 2 John 1 v1-2 ]

I was sitting in an Mc Donalds and I heard a pop song/ Words come easy when they are true/,I wonder is that true?,there are many words that are true, that dont come easy. Even as a preacher there are words I have spoken that have not come easy, but they needed to be spoken,it is easy to talk about heaven, but harder to talk about hell.It must be hard to tell a youngster that they have failed ,or that they are being dropped from the team,or whatever.It is not easy for the girl to tell her boy friend she will not marry him because she does not love him, no, even true words may not come easy.Even telling people that  God is love may not be easy when a disaster has taken place, a famous TV presenter give one of his reasons for not believing in God, was the cruelty he witnessed in nature. So what do we do?,should we stop telling people, or warning people about hell, or that God is love?,I dont believe so, we should obey God and speak the truth in love. Some people dont take in to account the hurt they cause others, as they twist the truth,or even distort the truth. Let us never forget that truth is vital and that Jesus said He was the way the truth and the life[John 14 v6], it does not stop there, He went unto say that no person could come unto the Father but  by Him.
A prayer..../ Dear God in a world were truth is at a minimum, help us to rejoice in truth ,to hold fast to the truth,and in love proclaim the truth, in Jesus name .Amen/

Three things to remember [Joshua 1 v5 ]

What gave Joshua the courage to lead Israel after the great man Moses had passed away?,imagine the challenge that must have been,the people may not have accepted him.Imagine what it must have felt like for the successor to Charles H Spurgeon,or D M L Jones,can any body fill the gap  those great men left?. The answer is no,but then Joshua was not meant to be another Moses,the Lord choose Joshua, to fulfill  His new purpose,a purpose that He would be equipped by God to fulfill.We are not meant to be clones but to be ourselves,someone recently said as they criticised a certain church leader that he was not that bright. He may not be all that bright, but if God has called him, He  knows what He is doing , the fact is Gods ways are not our ways, cp 1 Corinthians 1 v 26-29. So going back to my origional question? what give Joshua courage to lead Israel? and the answer is found in Joshua 1 v 5, God said three things to him.[1]I will be with thee, Joshua wherever you go I will be with you.[2] I will not fail thee,many things may fail you Joshua, but I will not fail you, [3 ]Nor forsake thee,Joshua everyone may forsake you ,but I wont. What God said to Joshua ,He is saying to all His children ,to you and to me,so as we face each new day let us all take courage.
A  prayer...../ Dear God we thank You for this three fold promise ,that You are with us,that You will not fail us nor forsake us, in Jesus name Amen /

Our true friend. [1 Peter 1 v 6-7 ]

Difficulty is our true friend [  E  Burke ] We may have heard someone say I am not the person I once was,as a Chrstian of many years, I would like to think ,that I am not the man I once was. I am still the Billy of old and yet I believe that there is a diffent change in me ,oh yes I know there still is a need for a great deal more change.Often difficulties show us where change is needed,when someone hurts us then we find out if we have changed enough to forgive.If  I am faced with a challenge by God have I faith to meet that challenge?,can I accept criticisim, and not feel threatened?. Because Change is the name of the game although it is not a game,the Christian life is an ongoing process of transformation.One of my favourite vegatables is parsnips,now my son told me that in order for them to develop they need frost, one could imagine the parsnip saying ,as it shivered in the cold, I dont need this, but it does, just like the rose bush needs pruned,just like we need our true friend difficulty.
A  prayer...../Dear God grant us the grace we need to triumph over those difficulties we have to face, in Jesus name Amen /

Difficulties our friend?. [ Hebrews 12 v 2-3 ]

Let us continue to consider the words of E Burke that,/difficulty is our true friend/,first of all we are on a journey,we are as every Christian is,on a pilgrimage,we are strangers here, and like Abraham we are looking for a city which hath foundations,whose builder and maker is  God.[ Hebrews [ 11 v10-16] Now life by its very nature will throw up difficulties,the difficulties the unsaved face and overcome are related only to this life,the difficulties Gods children face, are overcome in the light of eternity. If we are facing difficulties ,moral challenges,poverty,illness,restrictions that frustrate us,or whatever, we must see these difficulties as Christ saw them, as but temporary hiccups,painful though they be.[ Hebrews 12 v2 ].The apostle Paul wrote ,that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory, which shall be revealed in us.I am 68 yrs of age,I may only have 10 more years to live. Those 10 years will pass quickly,is it worth giving in to my difficulties ,in the light of eternity?, of course not,am I going to fall at the temporary difficulties ,in the light of eternity glories?.So the difficulties are our friends in that they,cause us to think of the eternal joys that lie ahead.
A  prayer...../Dear God help us to see our difficulties,as a prompting from You,  to us , in order that we  keep our eyes fixed on our eternal homeland  ,in Jesus name Amen./

Jesus made perfect [Hebrews 5v 8-9 ]

Edmund Burke said, /difficulty is our true friend/,I wonder what you think of those words,at this moment in time you may cry out,rubbish,or he would,nt have said that if he was going through,what I am going through.I must read uo on Edmund Burke,but let us consider what he said, that difficulties are our true friends. Consider Jesus of whom we read of in Hebrews 5v 8-9 ,/Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered, and being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation, unto all who obey Him/ Now we are not  being told that Christ was imperfect in relation to sin, for he was without sin [Hebrews 4v15],but He came for a purpose to offer  Himself as a perfect sacrifice,yes He was born a perfect human being,but would He succeed were Adam failed?,and the answer is yes,and this meant He had to learn obedience,and that obedience involved suffering.As the Son of God in eternity,the question of obedience never arose, but as the Son of man,suffering was required,in order for Him to be our Saviour, and our great high priest, and this He fully accomplished, on the cross when He cried out ,/it is finished.[ John 19 v30].Coming back to the beginning ,that difficulties are our true friends,can we apply that to Jesus?,we can in a sense,for in overcoming them good came,to a needy world,and in overcoming them Jesus gained as Thomas Hewitt wrote,/Our Lord gained an experimental knowledge of obedience/,so when  His children come, in all their weakness, and failures He fully understands,and is touched with our infirmities[ Hebrews 4 v15]
A prayer....../Dear God we praise You for Jesus who for oursakes faced and overcome every difficulty, and we thank You that He understands us in our difficulties Amen /

True worshipper. [ 1 Thessalonians 1 v9 ]

I have to watch my sugar intake since I became diabetic, at this point I am not on medication, but it may come to that,but I still  like the taste of sweet things,yet I know If  I eat sweets and cakes ,it could cause me serious trouble. I try to be disciplined in my eating but its not easy , eating gives us great pleasure, but pleasure unrestrained becomes a god cp -Philippians 3 v19. I love football,as many do, but for many football and footballers can become objects of worship, inspite of our advancemet socially ,materially, etc, humanity will still idolise something or other. The reason being ,our imperfectness creates in us a want,or a need, the entertainment media, be it comics,books,movies,feed in on this want,and they create,superman,batman, super heroes. But the reality is this, they are but an illusion, have no substance,I make no apology for the fact that I am a Christian,a worshipper, that my worship is in a person called Christ. Someone said to me recently,ah thats what you believe,yes it is , but its a belief borne out of the word of God,that clearly foretold of a coming Saviour,in what we call the old testament,and was fulfilled,at a place called Bethlehem in a babe who would grow to be a man, who would die on a cross to meet humanities greatest need.Our greatest need is to be reconciled to God, and on the cross Christ dealt with the barrier to our being reconciled to God, sin,that foul and flthy thing that blinds us and causes us so much harm. Christ is not just another, no He is unique,and He alone is worthy of our worship.
A  prayer..../  Dear God we thank for the truth of Your dear son Jesus ,who came as was foretold, and died to make us true worshippers of Yourself . Amen/

Stop and let me tell you. [Lamentations 3 v 22-23]

Stop and let me tell you what the good Lords done for me/,these are opening words to an old chorous,they have a nice theme to them. In Psalm 126 v3, we read,/  The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad/,The Bible tells us that every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,from the Father of lights; with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning [James 1 v 17].We do not appreciate enough the fact, that we alive in a fallen world,that means  so much is contrary to the original creation,also there is an evil presence abroad,who to some extent and often to a great extent influences and controls unregenerated humanity,the devil and his henchmen.Let us acknowledge that inspite of  this , God is ever seeking to bless mankind,He desires the death of no one,[ Ezekiel 33 v11]In Matthew 5 45 we read He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.I know there are things that we cannot answer, but I do believe that God is good ,for He has a heart of love, for this whole world[ John 3v16 ].As Jeremiah surveyed the devastation all around him,devastation brought about by sin,He declares rightly,/It is of the Lords mercies, that we are not consumed, because His compassions  fail not. They are new every morning great is Thy faithfulness /[Lamentations3 v 22- 23 ] What has the Lord done for me?,He has saved me, that means I am not going to hell, but it also means I am going to heaven,He has given me hope,He has given me love,He has preserved me, protected me,provided for me.
A prayer ..../ Dear God we praise and thank You ,for all You have done for us,Your mercies are truly new every morning, great has been Your faithfulness, thank You  in Jesus worthy name Amen /