He is always there. [Hebrews 13 v 5 - 8 ]

The Israelites asked a question,/Is the Lord among us,or not?/[Exodus 17v7 ],why should they ask such a question?,they of all people had witnessed Gods power in so many ways. Go forward to Matthew 16v 8-11,here we have our Saviour ,rebuking His disciples for their lack of faith,and so He says to them ,/ do ye not yet understand, neither  remember the five loaves of the five thousand,and how many baskets ye took up/He also spoke of the four thousand. How quickly Israel  appeared to forget what God had done,why? in the disciples case they were rebuked for lack of faith,in Israels case they could only see the difficulty,and this caused them to act in an irrational way.They saw God as an absentee land lord,one who was no longer around,is God only the God of the good times?,is the God of the past not the God of the present,it was Gideon who asked the question,/If the Lord be with us,why then has all this befallen us?[ Judges6 v13],.I wonder are you tempted to ask the same question?.It is so easy to let the cares and pressures of life,squeeze faith out of us,to the point that we gave up.As I thought on this I think the problem with Israel, the disciples, and us is,a wrong concept of what it means to follow God.Let us remember God has not promised skies always blue, no He hasn't,but He has promised to never leave us nor forsake us,He has promised strength for each day, and to be our light in the darkest of valleys,so let us stop our complaining, and trust in one who loves us, with an unconditional and everlasting love.
A prayer..../Dear God and Father forgive our foolish ways, help us to be faithful in the good times and in the difficult time,help us to trust and not complain, in Jesus name Amen./

The sword of the Spirit. [ Hebrews 4 v12 ]

And the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God[Eph 6 v17] Here we have the last piece of the Christian armoury,the sword of the Spirit ,it  is John Stott who points out,the sword is the only one that can be used for attack as well as defence. We are in a war zone the enemy is strong, defeated but not yet vanquished ,and it is the apostle Paul who writes in 2 Corinthians 10v3 ff/The weapons of our warfare are not carnal/ ,this struggle can only succeed by spiritual means,the Spirit of God and the word of God, these are mighty weapons ,with these weapons we can see strongholds ,false imaginations and everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God,cast down. I remember speaking to a young man, a Mormon, I mention that scripture, God is not a man[Hosea 11v9], and I saw a cloud of doubt come over his face. Again I quote John Stott./ Every Christian evangelist, whether a preacher or a personal witness knows that Gods word has cutting power,being sharper than any two edged sword. We must never therefore be ashamed to use it, or to acknowledge, our confidence that the Bible is, the sword of the Spirit./
A  prayer ....../ Dear God we thank you that You have granted us,all that we need to live our Christian life, help us to not neglect, these means which You have left at our disposal in Jesus name Amen /

We are saved.[1 John 5 v13 ]

And  take the helmet of salvation[ Ephesians 6 17 ] could it be that the writer is saying that our salvation is like a helmet that protects us from our enemy,and his attacks.The enemy will  attack us in various ways,consider how he attacked Job,and how he attacked Paul [2 Corinthians 12 v7]. Maybe you are under attack from satan,inspite of all his efforts he cannot  succeed,it is Paul who asks a number of questions,in Romans 8 ,the first one is,What shall we say to these things, that is the things he has been writing about ,that of our justification and glorification.These are two things the enemy will attack us on,for it is an amazing truth that we are justified,even though we are sinners,and it is an amazing thing that we know we are going to glory. As I said in an earlier blog as regards the person who said I was not saved,this was an attack by the enemy.Charles Hodge wrote,/That which adorns the Christian,which enables him/her to hold up their head with confidence and joy, is the fact that they are saved/
A  prayer...../ Dear God we praise You that we are saved,we thank You that the enemy of our souls can not change this, that no power can seperate us from Your love which is in Christ Jesus our Lord Amen /

Be obedient. [ Acts 1 v8 ]

And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace[Ephesians 6 v15] W Barclay wrote the following,   /A soldiers sandals,these were sign of one equipped and ready to move. The sign of the Christian is that he /she are eager to be on the way to preach the gospel to,and to share the gospel with, others.He is always ready to take the news of Christ to those who have never heard it./ This is not only for those great Christians whom we admire,like Wesley.Booth,Billy Graham,we are all called to tell others about Jesus.We may not have the abilities or gifts that they had,but as I heard from a pastor many years ago,availability is the thing.Now of course when many today have no contact with the church,we don't need to go to some far of place with a strange sounding, and a strange language, and culture, we may ,if God calls,no, the heathen are all around us.The lost are everywhere,in are families,neighbourhoods,work places.Our Saviour said we should be witnesses in Jerusalem,Judea, Samaria,be a witness where you are,just be obedient,and who knows where one will be called to , I ended up in England.
A prayer...../Dear Lord Jesus,help me to be available,and obedient ;in great commission of spreading the gospel. Amen /

The shield of faith. [ Luke 17 v 5 ]

Above all, taking the shield of faith,wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked[Ephesians 6 v16 ] In Hebrews 11 we have a list of Biblical heroes,men and women,why are the mentioned?,because they were people of faith. We will not go anywhere in our walk with God unless we go by faith,  my youngest son phoned to say he had lost his job.I sought to encourage him, and I prayed with him,and as I was going to bed,thinking of my dear sons situation, I heard God saying ,trust me,and I smiled, and said I would .What did I do?, I took the shield of faith, I held it up, trusting in God to undertake for my boy.We are told about the enemy coming in like a flood[Isaiah 59 v19],yes we have an enemy, never forget this, but don't be afraid,the shield of faith can quench all the fiery darts he throws at us. Have Faith in God,and His word,the God who delivered Paul in a storm when all thought they would perish , is the God who can deliver every child of God in every situation,I love the words spoken by Paul in the midst of that storm we read about in Acts27,when he told them, that all on that ship would be saved,he declares ,for I believe God,that it shall be even as it was told me[ v25]in other words he was holding up the shield of faith, and so it came to pass.
A  prayer...../Dear God help us to walk by faith,help us when the enemy of our soul attacks us to have faith,and so overcomes his lies and deceitfulness in Jesus name Amen/

Are there any chinks in your armour?. [ Genesis 4 v 7]

And having on the breastplate of righteousness[Eph v14] The breast is the place that is the biggest target for the enemy to attack,modern police wear body armour.Barnes sees this breastplate of righteousness, as that of,integrity,holiness,purity of life,and sincerity of piety.In 1 Peter 3 v16 we are told that our good behaviour will be means of defeating those who would falsely accuse us.When the enemies of Daniel sought to accuse him,they could find nothing to charge him with[6v4]Our Saviour said that we were to let our light shine before men,that they see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven[Matthew 5 v16 ]A godly life will be a shield of righteousness,how many of us have forgotten this, David did,on a number of occasions,and brought shame upon himself,and trouble.We all have particular weaknesses, which if we do not guard against,can cause us great hurt,and pain,as had Cain who was warned,and failed to heed the warning,and it left a mark on him , for the rest of his life [Genesis 4 ] I wonder are there any chinks in your armour?if so be on your guard, if you don't the enemy will take advantage and cause you a lot of hurt.
A  prayer.../Dear God help us to not give evil a place in our lives, indeed deliver us from all evil in Jesus name Amen/

Jehovah-tsidkenu. [ Philippians 3 v9]

Just a further note on the breastplate of righteousness,it seems to me that it has a two fold application,we have dwelt with one, the other is of the utmost importance.Our standing before a holy God depends not on our righteousness,on our good works or religious activities.The righteousness we depend on is of course the righteousness of Christ [1 Corinthians1v30],it is Jeremiah who writes of a coming day in which,Judah/Israel will be saved and be safe, because of Jehovah-tsidkenu,which means ,the Lord our righteousness.So it is in Christ our Lord and His righteousness are we saved and safe,the enemy of our soul will attack us,especially when we fail or slip up, he is called the accuser of the brethren[Revelation 12 v10].Just recently in a conversation with a person who told me  of all his religious activity, and spiritual condition,he made this accusation against me,that I was not saved. This upset me,but then the spirit of God brought to mind the words of Romans 8v33-34./Who shall lay anything to the charge of Gods elect?it is God who justifieth.Who is he that condemneth,?it is Christ that died,yea rather,that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.When the devil comes to God and points to the saints shortcomings God points him to Jesus, who is our acceptance,who is our breastplate of righteousness.
A prayer...../Dear God we praise and thank You for providing a breastplate of righteousness in Jesus . Amen /