Remember Him. [ Isaiah 53 ]

This is remembrance Sunday , when our country remembers those who give their lives in battle,my grandfather Holmes fought and was wounded in the battle of the Somme. This country has been involved in so many conflicts,and are involved even to this day in Afghanistan.Our Saviour said there would be wars and rumours of wars[ Matthew 24 v6 ], and so it has been, and so it will be,of course there are a number of reasons why this is so. As a Christian I remember a battle that took place over 2000 years ago, when a solitary man went into battle against the powers of hell,against sin,and that last great enemy ,death. That man of course was Jesus,and only He could defeat the powers of darkness,if He failed then those evil powers would have destroyed Gods creation,every human being on earth would have ended up in hell. But praise God He didn't fail,but he had to pay a terrible price ,He had to suffer untold pain and agonies,both physical, and spiritual,for in his death ,He bore the awful punishment for sin,which involved a depth of suffering we cannot never imagine.Who of us can understand the words of Isaiah 53 v 10,/Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush Him, He has put Him to grief /. In that crushing God poured His wrath upon Him, that it may not be poured out upon us,so today remember that warrior Jesus, who won the victory ,for all who trust in Him.
A  prayer.../ Dear God  we with grateful hearts remember Jesus our Saviour ,and would simply say, love so amazing so divine demands our souls our lives , our all Amen /

Failures.[ 1 Peter 5 v10 ]

The successor to the present Archbishop of Canterbury has been chosen, his name is Justin  Welby,he was speaking on TV,and I was listening intently.He did mention the Lord Jesus and I am sure he loves Him, but he is the leader of a Christian group,of such diverse ideas.It is so easy to be critical and as an evangelical, to dismiss the whole thing,as unbiblical, and making no difference. What I  would encourage every Christian to do is pray, for this brother,and for the Anglican family. Well this brother did say something that I found meaningful,/ The grace of God is greater than our biggest failures/. We all know something about failure,as parents, husbands/ wives,the list goes on, well take on board what Justin said, for it is true. It is no accident that the hymn Amazing Grace is so popular,and will continue to be, for it reminds us all of a God of grace who is ever reaching out to all men, for in a real sense we are all failures.
A prayer...../Dear God, us failures come to you and ask for grace through Your son Jesus Amen /

Liberating love. [ I John 3 v1 ]

A group called Manford and sons, sing a song with the following words in it,/Love will not betray,dismay or enslave,but will set you free/.The sellers of drugs,be it tobacco,or whatever are only interested in one thing money,those who push the sex trade are only interested in money. Those who are involved in child abuse are only interested in self gratification,and so we go on,love is none of those things. If we want to see love in its fullest ,and total manifestation, we see it Jesus,we see it in his humility,forgiveness,kindness,and his sacrificial  death. All this was borne out of a love that is incomparable,and indescribable,and we can experience that love when by simple faith,we trust Him as our Saviour.That Love will always want what is best for us,it will never hurt us, never cause us to feel betrayed, and will set us free from the chains of selfishness,when one experiences this love, one will never be the same, this love will always bring a change for the better,always. The cry of so many is ,I want to be free,and yet they enslave themselves in so much that is destructive.God in His son Jesus in love can truly set us free,we can, let me repeat this, we can experience freedom through the love of God in Jesus.
A  Prayer...../ A  prayer....../ Dear God open the eyes and hearts of people to Your great liberating love in Jesus Amen/  

Animal cruelty [ 1 Corinthians 2 v 9 ]

I read on the Internet about a orangutan in Borneo that had been shot a 100 times with an air gun, the poor old thing was rescued by conservation workers, and has survived her ordeal,although she is blind,she will be looked after for the rest of her life. It saddened me to read of such cruelty,by human beings inflicted on a animal,I do make a distinction between and animals.Animals our only there for time they don't have an eternal aspect to them,they are animals,purely and simple. Humans are made in the image of God, they are special,but unfortunately we do not always manifest that in our lives.There is a lot of good things in this world,but who knows when evil will erupt,in its most destructive force,and then we see that aspect of mankind's fallen nature that is so terrible.Even as Christians we can still be capable of evil deeds ,and so it will continue, until time will cease to be. The only hope for fallen man is the gospel of our Lord Jesus,through His atoning death He can transform us, and change us, for any person who  is in Christ  becomes a new creation. I am far from perfect, but one day I will be,one day I will no longer sin,no longer have the capacity for cruelty or evil. Until that day happens we can know victory over sin if we rely on Jesus and the grace of God.
A  prayer....Dear God we thank You for seeing as we really are,not through rose tinted glasses,but as sinners in desperate need of Your saving grace in Jesus Amen /

Waiting [ Proverbs 13v12 ]

I would like to stress again the importance of waiting,and the importance of patiently waiting for the answer to our prayerful desires.Consider the time between Genesis and Calvary,one may ask why did God not act sooner?but He didn't. He did have His appointed time,as John points out in his gospel in relation to Jesus death[ 7v30/8v20],there we read how His hour had not come,but in/ 12v23/17v1,/ we read Jesus declaring His hour had come. God will answer our prayers and fulfil His word in His appointed time,there are many reasons why this is so.on our part it is often vital that we grow spiritually.God will perfect that which concerns us by causing us in our waiting to trust Him, and to learn patience,God works in us ,that we will manifest to this world lives that which will glorify Him. In Proverbs 13 v12 we read of hope being deferred, now the word deferred means putting something off until a later time, Gods later time will come. So in the words of that great hymn by Katharina Von Schlegel,/ Be still, my soul, thy God doth undertake,to guide the future as He has the past. Thy hope,thy confidence,let nothing shake, all now mysterious shall be bright at last. Be still,my soul the waves and waves and wind still know,His voice who ruled them while here below/.
A  Prayer...Dear God help us learn the lessons You are teaching us in our time of waiting,in Jesus name Amen /

Waiting. [Habakkuk 2 v3 ]

After I passed my driving, I was thrilled how God  had helped me, but I had no car ,nor could I afford to buy one, yes we prayed, but we had to wait. Prayers are often granted after a time of waiting, this waiting can be a trial,it requires prayerful patience. When Jesus was told that Lazarus was ill He did not immediately rush off to  Bethany,no He waited and permitted Lazarus to die. That may appear cruel,or at the very least inconsiderate,,but not so ,Jesus always acted with a God purpose,remember the words of Habakkuk 2 v 3,/though it tarry, wait for it. Mary and Martha had waited ,oh ,He is bound to come, one can imagine them looking ,time and time again,hoping He would come,but He didn't and Lazarus died, and quickly,the body was placed in a tomb. Jesus if He came would be to late,or so it appeared to Mary 11v32,but waiting was all part of Gods plan and purpose,as the sisters would soon discover. Now what about that car,well one day a widow women pulled up beside me as I walked to church, and said I could have her little Morris Minor, yes delay was not denial.
A   prayer ...../ Dear God grant us the grace of patience,knowing that delay is not denial, in Jesus name /

You will see the glory of God. [John 11 v40 ]

Many years ago my then wife Eileen encouraged me to take driving lessons,our resources were very limited ,we could just about afford 10 lessons. I completed those lessons ,but just before I had finished them I put in for my test,we could not afford any more lessons,my driving was not very good,so much so that when I told my instructor ,he advised me to not do my test. I had received a promise from God that He would help me, so I went ahead with the test. On the day of my test I was very nervous,my wife and children were praying at home for me,and the Lord I believe give me favour with the man who was testing me, and I passed. What a blessing that was,when I was thanking God, I received this verse,/ Said I not unto thee, that if thou would est believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God/[John 11v40 ]I had passed my test but I had no car, and no money to buy one, but that's another story I will share that with you later.
A  prayer ..../ Dear God we thank You for helping us in so many ways,we thank You will continue to help us and we wll see Your glory, in Jesus name Amen/