God is faithful [ Psalm 37]

Psalm 37 was written  by David when he was old,in it David seeks to encourage the saints of God to trust in Lord,to delight themselves in the Lord, and to rest in the Lord,and to commit their way unto the Lord.He stresses that the wicked ,even though they appear to be prospering, will soon be cut off.  David  declares that the meek will triumph,inspite of the strength of the wicked,God will remove them.David assures Gods children that God will bless the little they have,and that God will uphold His children.He contrasts the atittude of the righteous with the wicked in that they are merciful,and generous.He reminds the child of God that God so orders His childrens ways that even when they stumble ,He will restore and uphold then . David from His experience declares Gods faithfulness,as an old man he looks back,and he declares that he has not seen the righteous forsaken, and that He shall preserve them.He stresses the characteristics of Gods childen that of holiness and obedience, and the importance of being faithful, and to have assurance that God will undertake and prosper.He ends this Psalm with these words, because they trust in Him,
A prayer... /Dear God help us to simply trust You,when faced with people who would do us harm, help us to trust in Your faithfulness, in Jesus name Amen/

Welcome .[ HEBREWS 4 V14-16]

There is an old Irish song which has the following words, /Your as welcome as the flowers in May in dear old Donegal/, but of course, that is if you are Irish. There are places I would not go to, because I know that I would not be welcome,and there are people I dont bother with because they would not want my friendship or presence. If I went to see a football match,I would not  stand with my teams opposing fans ,I would be risking life and limb.It is nice to be made feel welcome,to know that I am accepted and even loved,to sit with a cup of tea and have a chat,about the weather,sport ,family about life in general, and of course talk about the things of God.  One of the wonderful things about being a Christian is that one is always welcome by God,because of Jesus, and only because of Jesus. As a Christiam,although I serve God, I am not a servant I am a child of God [ Ephesians 4 v7 ] ,I am family[Ephesians 2v 19],God is my Father. As a Father He is always glad to hear from us,and for us to spend time with Him,there is always a big welcome sign on heavens door,.
                       Im accepted, Im forgiven, Iam fathered by the true and living God.
                       Im accepted, no condemnation,I am loved by the true and living God.
                        Theres no guilt or fear as I draw near,to the Saviour and Creator of the world.
                       There is joy and peace as I release my worship to You, O Lord.[words by R Heyard]
A prayer....../Dear Father we thank You that because of  Jesus  we are always welcome by You,we will never be turned away Amen /

Rewared.[ 1 Corinthians 3 v 11-15]

One of the things emphasized in the sermon on the mount is doing things secretly,to not be a show of,in  our giving,praying,and doing of good works.The religious people in our Lords day had always an eye for the crowd,they were people pleasers,they wanted people to think how holy they were,how much better they were than others. the fact of the matter is we are all sinners.Our Saviour taught that we should have  only an eye for God, and no one else in all our doing.In is a hard thing to do , for we so want to look good in peoples eyes. But Jesus cuts across the hypocrisy, He challenged continually the falseness of peoples actions when it was wrongly motivated,when people left God out of their doing. He then put two aspects of being rewarded ,that of being rewarded by people,or being rewarded by God.Now what would you choose?unfortunately many choose the former,and our Saviour speaks of that reward like its a damp squib, which it is,because that reward only relates to time ,whereas the reward God gives ,has an eternal aspect to it.I have to  remind you,that the reward given is not salvation,for salvation is not,and cannot be earned,it is a free gift,freely given by God ,to all who believe in Jesus as Saviour.[ Romans 3 v24 ]The reward that the Saviour speaks of, is simply God graciously blessing His people, as He sees fit. Our Saviour said/Thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly[ 6v6]now there are many dear Christian who have served God quitely,and have died ,they were never put on the queens honours list,but they are on Gods honours list.In Revelation 14 v13 ,we read,/Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord...........and their works do follow them/.yes they will be rewarded openly and abundantly.
A  prayer..../ Dear God help us to do all things for Your Glory in Jesus name Amen /

Stay close. [Jude v24 ]

I find myself facing a problem, I can see possible trouble looming ahead , what can I do?, I am concerned I may be drawn into a conflict which I do not want.As a 68year old man I want a quite life,dont we all,as I look back to my youth,I remember so much conflict, coming from a one parent family ,it was seen as important to hold your own,to not be put down.Yet this attitude spilled over into my marriage,and I regret the way I acted ,with my wife and children at times.We carry many things into our Christian life,old ways,deep seeded ways,even this morning while praying,wrong thoughts invaded my mind, thoughts that are inappropriate,and I said to God why do I think these things?.Recently I have challenged myself,to stop having unnecessary arguments in my head,over one thing or another.So what does all this tell me?it tells me I must stay very close to the Lord,all these things remind me of my natural weakness .The words of the old hymn came to mind,/I am weak,/to my dying day this will be so,until the Lord takes me home,it all makes me realize, I dare not take one step without Thine aid,so true.I dont believe I am unique ,we are all weak,we all carry unnecessary lugguage,I am writing this not to discourage you, but to encourage us all to stay close to the Lord.As I have said before, I am a work in progress,as you are,God is changing us,He will perfect that which concerneth us.I love the words of Phillippians 1 v6,/Being confident of this very thing,that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
 A  prayer...../Dear Loving Heavenly Father keep us close to You ,help us to not despair at our imperfections but to trust You to perfect that which concerneth us, in Jesus name Amen /

Tired of waiting [James 1v 4 ]

I am reading the book of  Malachi , the last of the OT prophets,then there would be a gap of 400 years until God would send His messenger John the Baptist,who would prepare the way for the Lord.This is the messenger of the covenant[3 v5]even Jesus the Messiah,this was the hope of every God fearing Israelite ,in Luke 2v25-26 we have the godly Simeon,who had been assured by God that he would not die until he saw the Lords Christ,declaring, /Lord ,now lettest Thy servant depart in peace,according to Thy word, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation/. Consider how long Israel had to wait until the promised Messiah came,year after year, hoping praying,for Him who deliver mankind.It is said that wheels of God grind slowly,yes they do,apply that into your situation now.God has given you a promise it appears it will never happen ,no sign of change,dont despair,God will fulfill His promise to you,but in His time,we are told in Hebrews 12 v1 /to run with patience the race that is set before us/.We live in a very, very ,impatient society,think how many wrong decisions are made because of impatience,how many accidents are caused by impatient drivers.We all without exception need to be patient,in our daily lives and for Gods purposes to happen,and to follow the example of King David who declared,/I waited patiently for the Lord, and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry/.
A  prayer...../ Dear God help us to be patient in Jesus name Amen/

Faith beyond reasoning. [ Daniel 4 v 34-35 ]

A friend of  mine who comes from Ireland usually watches the RTE news on the internet, but he said he was going to stop watching it,because what he heard was upsetting,people being murdered.I can appreciate how the things we hear on the news can upset us,I am upset when I heard about the child in Wales being abducted. I am upset when I hear of suicide bombers,of Christians being persecuted,of a father who killed himself and his two children. I know the reason ,this world is a fallen world,and often it is a very cruel world,a sad world,an uncertain world.If I stopped there I would never watch the news,or read a paper ,but I know someone who is greater than all my fears,a sovereign God, a sovereign Saviour. It was A.W. Tozer  who wrote a book called/ faith beyond reason/,today as you look at the news you may despair,that is understandable,you may be upset,but as a Christian I have by Gods grace been granted faith,faith that sees a rainbow through the rain. By faith I know God is on the throne ,that He is working all things after His will, faith declares God is in control.Yes we will be upset at much we see on the news,but let us not despair, that all is lost,that all is pointless, and useless,no it is not so,let faith arise, faith that goes beyond our faulty reasoning. Consider the words of Isaiah 40 v22, /It is He that sitteth upon the circle of the earth,and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers/,I finish with the words of the apostle John ,/The Lord God omnipotent reigneth/[Revelations 19v6 /
A  prayer...../Dear Lord Jesus You said there would be wars and rumors of wars,but You also told us to be not troubled,for all power is Yours in heaven and upon earth,thank You that You are in control Amen /

We cannot bargain with God. [ Luke 18 v 9 -14]

Mankind appears to me to manifest different extremes,last night 4 thieves tried to steal my neighbours camper van,a little child in Wales was abducted this week,a famous personality who is dead,whom everybody liked, it appears was a child abuser. Yet that same personality raised millions for charity,and worked as a volunteer porter in a hospital,many cruel people are loving fathers,the Germans who worked in those concentration camps, were good family men.Hitler loved his dogs. To some extent we are all capable of doing good,a lot of people do,but we are also capable of doing wrong,there are no perfect people.The famous personality was a religous person,mybe he thought the good he did would outweigh the bad that he did,mybe that was his motivation in doing good. Many feel that the good they do, will somehow cause God to overlook,the bad they have done. The question is this ,are they right?, and the answer is,wait for it,no, the wrong things we do are what God calls sin,and no amount of effort on my part can remove my sin. Am I saying that no matter what good I do it does not count for anything in Gods eyes,yes ,because no one is saved by their own merits,no one ,not the pope,or the queen,or mother Teresa,or Gandhi,or you and I. We cannot bargain with God,or have a trade of,I was speaking to someone today,who got into debt,which  he could not hope to repay, so he declared himself a bankrupt.God declares us all bankrupt spiritually.We are but beggers we are all without exception like the lost son, who simply declared, /Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son[Luke 15 v21]/but there is more,we must  simply trust in Jesus, the Saviour,of the spiritual bankrupt,and when we do ,we are forgiven ,every sin we have and will ever commit.
 A  prayer...../Holy God we bow before You and acknowledge our sinfulness, and praise You for Jesus the saviour of sinners Amen /