Relationship [ 2 Peter v 3 ]

There are three more things that are of vital importance in facing all that life throws at us,now they may sound obvious,but it is often the obvious that we miss. Here they are,Prayer, Bible study,and fellowship with fellow believers,all these things will be a means of grace, which none of us can neglect,and if we do we will suffer.These things involve our relationship with God, and our relationship with our fellow believers, the  Christian life is about relationship,before we came to Christ we really did not have a relationship with God[ Isaiah 59v2/  Ephesians 2 v 12]. Christs death on the cross has made it possible for us to have a relationship with God,when we trusted Jesus as our Saviour,so a relationship began anew.Now we can come into the presence of God in prayer with utter and complete confidence [Hebrews 4 v16 ], the next is the bible and the importance of reading it regularly. There was a time in history that the bible was a banned book ,but that has changed now most of us have the bible,and we have to read it consistently,praying over its pages, and living out its truths in our lives. Next fellowship that means meeting with fellow Christians and having fellowship with them. If we neglect any of those things, we will suffer in our relationship,let we stress again it is all about relationship.
Dear God we thank  You for Jesus though whom we have been brought into a living relationship with You,we thank You that through Him and all Your resources we can cope with whatever difficulties or challenges we are faced with, we  thank You in Jesus name Amen /.

We have the power. [ Romans 8 ]

I have in my garden solar lights and a neighbour has solar panels, they are powered by the sun,now it was our Saviour who said , that we would receive power by the Holy Spirit [ Acts 1 v8 ]. How am I going to cope with life?,by the power of the Holy Spirit,and let me say this ,that every Christian has the Holy Spirit, not just the Pentecostals,but every true child of God.One cannot be born again except by the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will empower us to witness , and to live a godly life.He is called our comforter [John 14 v26 ]. It is Him who will grant us the power to cope [Ephesians 6 v10],in Ephesians 3 v20, we read of the power that worketh in us, that power is the Holy Spirit. In Galatians 5, the apostle writes about walking in the Spirit,of being led by the Spirit, and living in the Spirit.If you do not speak with tongues, it means that you don't speak with tongues,it does not mean you have not the Spirit of God, A clear evidence that we have the Spirit of God is by our fruits[ Galatians 5 v22-23/ Matthew 7 v16 ]As the sun empowers  solar lights and panels so the Holy Spirit can help you and I to cope with the difficulties and challenges of life.
A  prayer...../ Dear God fill us Your Spirit that we will be able to cope with the difficulties and challenges we have to face in Jesus name  Amen /

How can we cope?.[ Joshua 1 v 9 ]

We considered the fact that we all are faced with difficulties, the question is how are we to cope?,well the good news is we can,we may not think so, but we can.The reason I say this is because of what the scripture tells us,and of the experience of many of Gods dear children. How did Job cope with all that he suffered?how did David cope when being hunted and hounded by Saul?,how did Paul cope with so much?.Well you may have heard it before ,but we need to be reminded that we cannot cope in our own resources. It is God and His resources that alone can enable us to cope, and not only to cope ,but be triumphant. Now what resources has God granted us? first of all ,Himself,for has He not said that He is with us always[Matthew 28v 20],consider today that He is with you,and tomorrow He will be with you,and indeed for all your tomorrows He will be with you. We may feel that we are alone,but we are not,we have one with us who will never leave us nor forsake us. In the garden the disciples fled and forsook their Lord,but  their Lord never forsook them,Jonah discovered the wonderful truth,that although he had been unfaithful,God was faithful even in the depths of the sea and in the belly of the great fish.Give not in to morbid thoughts,let not the things of sight blind you to the great reality that only faith can grasp, that God hath said I will never leave you nor forsake you.
A  prayer....../ Dear God I thank You that we are not alone,that You are with us every passing hour,thank You in Jesus name Amen /

Difficulties. [ Job 14 v 1 ]

It is so easy as we look at others to loose sight of the truth that they have difficulties to cope with ,Job had his looses,David had his Saul,Paul had his thorn in the flesh. In a sense no matter how great a person may be, no matter how godly,we are all without exception in the same boat.James reminds us that Elijah was a man,but he did so many powerful things,no, God did many powerful things in response to  his prayers. We must always give God the glory and remember that the greatest evangelist ,are but men,honour them but don't idolise them. Now says James, Elijah was subject to like passions as we are,in other words he had difficulties to deal with, just like us. So let let us not envy them,pray for them,and let us not think of any saint of God that they are  immune from difficulties. I used to have a book called  I think,/The crook in the lot/written by I think, Thomas  Boston,and in this book he pointed out that we all have to contend with something, that's difficult. This is so true, now having made that point the question is how can we cope, with those difficulties?,well  how?,we will consider this more next time
A prayer.... / Dear God help us to see that we are all faced with difficulties , that none are excluded from them,let us envy no one because of their apparent prosperity in Jesus name Amen /.

Alone. [ Genesis 2 v18 ]

Imagine being on your own,you never have a visitor,if you have children they never bother with you,your neighbours never bother,the only phone calls you receive,are from sales people,and the only mail you receive is junk mail. The fact is you are alone,really alone ,although there are people all around you,you live in a prosperous country,but you are poor when it comes to friends. This can apply to many people,to the old,sick,poor,they have no one,they are alone,I have never been in that situation,but there have been times in my life when I have felt alone,yes really alone.In my case God did send people along to be my friends, I can see them now as I go down memory lane,and I thank God for everyone of them. Today let us remember the lonely those people who are on their own,those people we rub shoulders with,and if we can let befriend them,pray for them,yes they may be Christians, but they still can feel lonely, the word of God tells us it is not good for man to be alone i[ Genesis 2 v18]. A dear brother in the Lord was ill receiving treatment, I phoned him regularly, and he said to me that I was like a pastor to him,all I did was phone,no I did more than that I cared for him.Consider the importance our Saviour puts on caring,He declares,/Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren,ye have done it unto Me[  Matthew 25 v40 ]
A  prayer...../Dear God help those dear people who are alone,use us to befriend them in some way in Jesus name Amen /

Our name. [ Acts 11 v26 ]

I have a favourite radio program called ,Desert Island Discs , a guest is invited to appear on it,and they are asked to choose 10 pieces of music they would have ,if they where marooned on a desert island.  The guest also talks about their life's experience ,a recent guest was the opera singer Noah Stewart,who was born in Harlem, New York,in fact he sill lives there.Noah asked his mother why she had named him Noah, and she replied,/ Noah was a great man,and did great things/. I suppose she had named her son Noah, that he would be like Noah,a great man , and accomplish great things,and so it is,Noah has achieved greatness within the world of opera.We may not be called Noah , but we bear a wonderful name, as John the apostle puts it,we are called the children of God[ 1 John 3 v1],we also bear the name Christian.Should this not,inspire and challenge us, to greatness, now of course the greatness of Gods kingdom is not defined by earthly success or fame,but in servant hood, in love,in sacrifice.This is all to be found in following Jesus, and seeking to be like Him,the Christian should be Christ like.
A  prayer...../Dear God help to bring honour to our name,for Jesus sake Amen/

Never to busy. [ Mark 10 v49 ]

We continue on in considering our Saviours ongoing ministry,right to the point of His death,we thought on the blind man Bartimaeus, and determination to be healed by our Lord.. Now our Lord was on His way to die at Jerusalem ,He knew what that would involve,and here is this man Bartimaeus, calling for Him,yes his need was great,but Jesus had a task that was great,the salvation of the world. He humanly speaking had every right to ignore this one individual,but He didn't,those around Jesus thought He should not be disturbed. Then we read , Jesus stood still,Jesus was never a driven person,no He was always in control,oh that we were more like Him,we are driven people,instead of being a led people, instead of being in control.Now Jesus stood still, may God help us to be still and know that God is in control,whatever situation Jesus found Himself in,He was in control, be it in a storm,or in a debate,or in going to Calvary,He was not filled with anxiety,nor to busy to help the needy.We may be faced today with difficulties, pressures,yes even death,don't panic,be still and know your God, all things are in His hands,don't think He has not heard Your cry,or is to busy to stop and help You. The words of a song comes to mind,/Oh know, he never would say He is  to busy today,He is only a prayer away.
A   prayer....Dear Lord we thank You that You are always available for us Amen /