Predictable and unpredictable. [ Psalm 23]

Let it snow ,let it snow, let it snow,these words are swell in a song,but it is not on my wish list,snow is alright on Christmas cards,but it is not my favourite thing.Yet there is not much one can do about it,we can forecast the weather,but we cannot control it,was it Napoleon who told his generals, to leave the weather to him?,well if he did, he was soon brought down to earth,when he invaded Russia.There are things we cannot do much about,like growing old,like dying,like our inability to forecast the future we don't know what the next minute holds for us. The Bible tells us that we know not what a day may bring forth ,life is predictable,and yet is unpredictable,the unpredictability of it can cause us to be anxious,to loose sleep.I am sure we all have moments of anxiety,I know I have,maybe you are feeling anxious at this time,don't feel condemned,but make every effort to talk to your loving heavenly Father,it will make a difference,remember child of God He is your loving heavenly Father. We are told to cast all our cares upon Him for He cares for us [1 Peter 5 v7 ]. All your anxieties all your cares bring to the mercy seat leave them there,never a burden that He cant bear, never a friend like Jesus.
A  prayer....../ Dear loving heavenly Father,help us with those anxieties we have to bring them You,help us to trust and not be anxious in Jesus name Amen /

No harsh severity. [ 2 Corinthians 10 v1 ]

Peter in his first epistle [2 v 11] writes/, Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims,abstain from fleshly lusts that war against the soul/.The first thing that struck me was the graciousness of these words,dearly beloved,Peter the great apostle,speaks with a gentleness to them. This same Peter had denied his Lord,failed Him miserably,had been forgiven,and restored,and recommissioned, was very aware of his own failings,was not adopting and attitude of holier than thou,but as Baxter said,he was speaking as a dying man to dying men .He does not speak to them in a dogmatic overbearing manner , but in a loving pleading way.I use to be a blood and thunder preacher, but I have changed,blood and thunder may scare people,but I wonder how effective it is?.Our dear Saviour wept over Jerusalem, one of the aspects of the Messiah was,that,He shall not strive nor cry,neither shall any man hear His voice in the streets [Matthew 12 v19]. Spurgeon writing on this,/ The wrath of man in hot controversy, the frenzy of wild rhetoric...He disdained such weapons in establishing His kingdom./He also comments on the following verse,/A bruised reed , shall He not break,and smoking flax shall He not quench[v20] He is gentle,and exercises no harsh severity. He bears and forebears with those who are unlovely in His eyes./
A prayer.../ Dear Saviour help us to speak the truth in love,to show a gentle and meek spirit with all men, to conqueror by thy gentleness. Amen /

Easier but smaller.[ John 12 v24 ]

I was watching a film and a mother said to her son, to return home where it would be easier,and he replied,yes easier , but smaller.Easier but small, it is the easiest road that appears more attractive,some teams are content with just being,while others desire to achieve. Many people have chosen the easier way,and so their experience is limited and not fulfilling,but it is often in taking the apparent harder way,that we grow. It would have been easier for Dr .M.L.King to have refrained from leading the civil rights movement, but in so doing he would have been smaller,and America would have been smaller.When M. Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Castle church at Wittenberg, he was not taking the easy way,if he had refrained from doing this, he would have remained just another monk,instead of the great reformer. When people desired to follow Jesus, He did not promise the easy way,He told them ,to take up their cross, to Deny themselves.So many people clammier for instant riches,instant fame,while others strive years to reach their goal,and in that striving they grow,oh yes they may fail in their goals,they may even die in seeking to reach their goals,but there is something in the trying that the easier way can never give.
A  prayer..../Dear Saviour lead us in the way we should go,even if that way is not the easy way, Amen/

Are you an Alien?[ Romans 3 v23 ]

I must confess that yesterday was a black dog day,I was not all sweetness and joy,if I had a dog I may have kicked it ,but then it may have bit me back.There are days not to many when the flesh appears to rule,and not the Spirit, oh yes there are reasons,but that does not make it right. I watched a movie about this Alien who came with the message that they ,his fellow aliens were going to wipe out humanity,because we were so bad,you see they must have been perfect aliens. Now of course I don't believe in aliens,but then many of us act like aliens we judge others as imperfect, the prodigals brother was an alien,he was the goody,his brother the baddy,who deserved only judgement. The bad days remind me that,I am a sinner saved by grace ,it reminds me,how much I need the grace of God, and why Jesus had to come.It reminds me that the best of men are but men,likewise the best of women,there are no exceptions.The great apostle Paul struggled with his imperfections to the point of despair [Romans 7v24 ],but the despair turned to relief, when the light dawned afresh,that he had a Saviour[7v25]. Yes a Saviour,remember,He saved us ,,He is saving us, and He will save us,now let me ask you the question are you an alien.
A  prayer...../Dear God thank You that You will never leave us nor forsake us even in those days or moments when we fail to rise above our fallen humanity, in Jesus name Amen/

The genuine article [ John 1 v 1-13 ]

I saw this watch for sale, at our local market,I liked the look of it,it was inexpensive,so I bought it,to add to my collection of watches. One day when one of my boys was visiting ,he said that's an Armani watch,and so he looked at,and sure enough,it had all the marking of an Armani watch. So I had acquired a watch worth possible a couple of hundred pounds,for a few pounds,or had I?.Well it just so happens my oldest boy had an Armani watch, so I compared my watch with his, and it was obvious, mine was a copy,it wasn't a true Armani watch, it wasn't the genuine article.Now I didn't buy it because it was an Armani watch I bought it because I liked the look of it,it makes no difference to me one way or the other,after all it is only a watch.But when it comes to being called a Christian ,it is absolutely vital that we are the genuine article,being a Christian goes further than having a name.It goes further than going to church,it goes further than praying,it goes further than being born into a so called Christian country,or family,it goes further than a label. Jesus said to a very religious person,you must be born again[John 3v7],as we have born physically,so Jesus tells us we must be born again,or from above.[3v6].  In John 1 v12,we are told how we can experience the new birth,/as many as receive Christ to them gave He the right or privilege to be called a Christian,a child of God.
A  prayer.../Dear God help us to examine ourselves as to whither we are  in the faith or not in Jesus name Amen /

Looking beyond time.[ Revelation 21 v1-5 ]

With singleness of purpose and undistracted by all that is going on around them,their gaze is firmly fixed on Him who is the Christians goal and prize, Jesus, so writes Hughes in his commentary. We are exhorted as run this race to look unto Jesus,is it not so that so often we are distracted by so much of many things.Yet the starting and finishing of this race is dependant on Him,for without Him we can do nothing,in looking to Him,we will not be lulled into a false sense of forgetfulness,and the idea that ,only Christ had to suffer,yes Christ did have to suffer,so it is, that is ,the pathway of  His followers. Forget about the stupid so called prosperity gospel,we will not be carried to the skies,in flower beds of ease.I can here some say I did not sign up for that,well may be if that is the case, you signed up under false pretences.The cross was why Jesus came, that goal was fixed in eternity,Jesus never lost sight of this,[nor should we ],but He saw beyond the cross,beyond His pain,to the joy set before Him. So it is we are exhorted to look beyond our personal trials,to the joy that is set before us,we will struggle if all we have is suffering ,if we only view the things of time. The apostle Paul reminds us in 2Corinthians 4 v16ff ,/That is why we never gave up.Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and wont last very long. Yet they produce  for us a glory that vastly outweighs them, and will last forever.
A prayer...../Dear God help us to see beyond our difficulties to the joy that we will enter into,in heaven,in Jesus name Amen/

The sin that so easily besets us.[ 1 Corinthians 11 v31]

Not only to lay aside every weight,but we are challenged,as regards the sin that so easily besets us,and the question is,what is our besetting sin.Is it covetousness?,is it taking the Lords name in vain?, is it in the sexual realm,are we feeding into it, on the inter-net?.Is it gossipping?,is it judging others?,is it cheating in some way?,is it idolatry?,is it unforgiveness?.So we could go on,as I write this,I must ask myself,what is my besetting sin?,we all have something,well is it not time that we stopped.and started being more honest to ourselves,and to God.It appears to me if we don't deal with them our Saviour will,for His will for everyone of us is holiness , make not little of little sins,God doesn't. Consider the word easily,it gives the idea of us being comfortable with it,of us not really facing up to it,of tolerating it, making excuses for it,maybe of rationalising it,instead of judging it by Gods word. Proverbs 14 v 9, tells us that fools make a mock of sin,they make light of it,don't take it as something that needs to be taken serious,well we have to remind ourselves how serious God takes sin. Hell is full of people who didn't take sin serious,did not consider its consequences, and let us never forget there is always consequences in relation to sin,first in relation to God,and in relation to ourselves,most people who do wrong hope they will never be found out, but when it comes to sin we are told ,be sure your sin will find you out.[ Numbers 32v23 ]
A  prayer...../ Dear God help us to be truly holy,grant the will to deal with our besetting sins, we ask this in the name of Jesus Amen/