Confidence [Philippians 4 v13 ]

Are you a confident person?, are you brimming over with self confidence?,as I read the Bible I take encouragement that many of the people God choose and used were not very confident people.Take Moses when he was called by God,he made so many excuses,that he might be excused,but God persisted, and brought him through.[CP Exodus3-4]. Gideon needed a sign[Judges 6] Jeremiah told God that he could not speak,saying he was a child[Jeremiah 1v6]. As one reads the epistles the apostles are continually seeking to encourage people,who must have felt anything but confident,faced with so many challenges. The good news is ,God never give up on any of these people,because He knew, that what they needed was a God confidence. I have to remind myself as I am faced with difficulties, and tasks that I have to do,that God will help me.We do not graduate from the school of  God reliance,to the school of self reliance,no ,we will be taught continually that we need to always put our confidence in our Saviour,our natural self confidence, must be replaced ,by a spiritual dimension,that is expressed ,so fully by the great apostle Paul,/I can do all things,through Christ which strengthenth me[Philippians 4 v13 ]
A  prayer.../Dear heavenly Father help us to rely upon Your dear son Jesus in everthing we do this day. Amen.

All about Him. [ Hebrews 12 v2 ]

I was speaking to someone recently about the new Pope,and he said that he heard that he was family man,I pointed out that a priest takes a vow of celibacy.I shared this  with another person and it really made him laugh,now whither he is a family man in neither here or there to me.Ulster protestants have never looked kindly on the Papacy, indeed a well known saying in Ulster is,/no pope here/.Of course I come from the land of Ian Paisley,I used to go and hear him preach,he often pointed out the errors of the Papacy.Error, where ever it is found must be challenged,be it the Papacy, liberalism,or in some so called evangelicalism.I read this of Michael Faradays parents,/When questions of temptation, sin,or example arose in the family, they turned to the Bible for an answer/. We must not be swayed by pure emotion,but by thus saith the Lord,I heard this Pope saying the Lords prayer, and I felt emotion arise, and then he entered into a hail Mary, poor Mary they burden her with so much, expect so much from her,which is contrary to the Bible.Mary was blessed as the Mother of our Lord,but she is not an eternal,omnipresent being,she is Mary, who like every one us, looked to Christ as her Saviour,she is not a co -redeemer,it is only Christ who saves, it is only Christ who mediates for mankind.The words of a modern chorus sums it up,Its all about You Jesus,that's it,it is all about Him, not the Pope,Mary, or whoever, He must take the highest station, and no one must be allowed to rob Him of His glory.
A prayer.../Dear God in this imperfect world guide us by Your Spirit and Your perfect word, in Jesus name Amen /

Are you a sheep or a goat? [John 10 v1-18 ]

My son John was wearing a T shirt and it had writing on it,the letters were Greek,he asked me did I know what it said, I said I didn't,so he told me,/The Lord is my shepherd/.He  wore this to work and a few people asked him what the words meant,one person said to him, so you are sheep to which he replied yes, another person said that he saw himself as a goat,to which my son replied you would not want to be a goat. Now these terms of course are likening people to goats and sheep,when Jesus said He was the good shepherd, He was likening Himself to a shepherd,the people He was speaking to would understand fully what Jesus meant,it was a rural community,sheep,shepherds,goats,they were familiar with. In Matthew 25 v31ff Jesus speaks about when He will come again, and how on that day ,people will be divided into two camps,at His right hand will be the sheep, at His left hand will be the goats.The sheep will be saved, and enter that inheritance, prepared for them,but the goats, will go away into everlasting punishment.Now let me ask you a question, can you say that the Lord is your shepherd?if He is then all is well, if you are not,well as my son said, you wouldn't want to be a goat.
A  prayer...../Dear Lord we thank You for being the good Shepherd,for giving Your life for Your sheep,thank that we can say ,the Lord is my shepherd Amen/

Remember Joseph. [ Genesis 41 v 37ff ]

I am just starting to read the life of Michael Faraday the 19th century scientist,like Abraham Lincoln he received  very little education,but like Abraham Lincoln he read a lot,and rose to be a person of great distinction.Our beginnings can hold us back,but they can also challenge us to rise to become greater than our beginnings,granted that those two great men were very gifted, and intelligent ,but the fact remains we can rise above our difficult beginnings. Broken homes,poverty,illness,race,gender,all these things can be overcome,how?.Well there is that natural determination,but I want to show a better way,first of all it is knowing Christ,then we have a great advantage,we are not on our own.We have a friend with us who will help us.Oh yes there must be the struggles,but they are the proving times, the most profitable times,when we learn the lessons that God would teach us,of depending on Him,of the importance of prayer,of the word of God.These things are vital, so many people lessen their grip on these as they progress,we must tighten our grip,stay close to God,He can grant us favour,and success.The important thing on our onward journey, is our relationship with our God,relying upon Him ,trusting Him, and obeying Him,we may not rise to be a great scientist,or politician,we may,but we can rise from the ashes of a difficult beginning,remember Joseph.
A  prayer....../Dear God we praise and thank You, that  You can raise us out of the dust heap of our past,and grant us favour and success through our Lord Jesus Christ Amen /

Amazed. [ John 11v40]

Just this week a problem arose in relation to one of my sons,he had a need,that came unexpectedly,now I so desired to help,which my wife and I did in a measure,but only in a measure. So what does one do?,first of all I prayed earnestly, for he is my son whom I love dearly,   and then I looked to Gods word for a promise,the first promise I received was Philippians 4 v19/But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in Glory by Christ Jesus/. So God spoke but for this to happen a real difficulty had to be overcome, and then God spoke again,/ Is anything to hard for the Lord[Jeremiah 32v27/.So I continued to pray encouraged by the word given,the result was God answered,the need was met,God had been faithful. So what did I do then I thanked God for hearing and answering my prayers, amazed how quickly it was all resolved.
A prayer..../Dear God thank You for Your faithfulness,for prayers answered, for needs met,for difficulties overcome, and for Your perfect timing, in Jesus name Amen /

An evangelical church.[ Revelation3 v 7-13]

I come from Ulster, or Northern Ireland, it is a land that has known a lot of conflict,but it is also a land that is blest,in that, there are  so many fine gospel churches,I was privleaged from a child to come under the sound of the gospel. The church that I attended was an evangelical church in other words a church that believed fervently the word of God.In that church one heard regulary,the gospel. I remenber with a thankful  heart my pastor who is now in glory,preaching, of the night,over 48 yrs ago,entering the church building,and hearing him,and responding to the message,I cannot remember what he spoke on,but I praise God,that I responded, and so my life was changed, for evermore.I was restored to the good shepherd, my dear Saviour Jesus.In that church,I was fed spiritually,it was a  church that stressed the coming again of Jesus, and the importance of living in the light of that glorious event.In that church there was an active childrens work, pointing children to Jesus,for let us never forget that children need the saviour.It was an outward looking church,at times we attempted to reach the lost, by special evangelistic events,by door witnessing,and I remember we manned a bookstall each Saturday outside the church.It was missionary minded church,it supported by prayer,and giving, missionaries, one such man was Freddy Orr, a wonderful man of God, who served God in Brazil.So as I look back I thank God that I come from Ulster and that evangelical church on the Castlereagh Road in Belfast.
A  prayer..../ Dear God we praise You those faithful servants who were true to your word,help us to follow in there footsteps in Jesus name Amen /

Testing,proving. [ 1 Peter 1 v 7 ]

I am sure we all wonder why certain things happen to us, why does God allow allow our marriages to fail through no fault of ours, why we are tempted ?why different  things happen, that we wish didn't happen?.Take the case of Abraham, who was told by God to take the son he loved and sacrifice him,why?.[ Genesis 22],well we read that it was a test. What was the test?we read that it was to see if Abraham feared the Lord,now of course God knows everything about us,for He is God,the trial was also for Abrahams sake,that he may not forget,even in old age, the lesson God would teach him.It is also recorded for our sakes,that we should at all times put God first,whatever the cost.Why does God allow us to be tempted,and tested,if we go to Deuteronomy 13v3, we read ,/For the Lord your God is testing you,to know whether you love the love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all your souls.My daughter in law used to play a little game with the children,she would say how much do you love me,and the children would spread their arms wide, and say, this much?.Sometimes we talk about loveless marriages,how painful that must be, for who wants that,so it is that God desires above all else our love,He does not desire,cold obedience,a rule keeping exercise,a Christian in name only,and He does not desire a half hearted love, no ,He desires us to be whole hearted.If we ask God how much do You love us,He says look to the cross,see my Son nailed to that cross,His arms opened wide,and hear Him say that is how much I love you.
A prayer...../Dear God grant us grace to be faithful,and obedient,and wholehearted in our love for You in Jesus name Amen /