Wicked and unclean thoughts. [ 2 Corinthians 10 v 3- 5 ]

I would commend to your reading the writings by  William Gurnall, an old Puritan,I have three abridged volumes of his works,/The Christian in complete armour,/ I  purchased a daily devotional from his writings and I would like to share with you  one of those daily readings./ Christian, this is inperative for you to realize . When wicked or unclean thoughts first force their way into your mind, you have not yet sinned. This is the work of the devil, but if you so much as offer them a chair and begin polite conversation with them,you will become his accomplice...Your confidence must rest on this fact, unclean thoughts will not stay where the love of Christ reigns supreme. They are panicked by overhearing your conversations with Christ as an escaped murderer would be, upon realizing he has been spotted in town. And well they should be, for your holy thoughts will track down these evil thoughts and kill them on the spot. Both the trial and the sentence will be speedy. Secondly, steadfastly resist sins of the heart,thereby showing where your loyalties lie,....if you cherish Christs presence, declare your loyalty to Him at Satans first knock by renouncing every thought that is not a willing captive of God/
A prayer..../ Dear God help us to resist every evil thought,to not let it take root in our hearts,by Your Holy Spirit may every thought be brought into captivity, in Jesus name we ask this Amen /

Only one answer.[ Psalm 121]

In 2 Samuel4 v4 we read that David lived for 70years,how did he manage to survive?,as a shepherd boy ,he had killed a bear and a lion,he had fought with a giant.As a soldier he fought many battles,was hunted and hounded by Saul,survived a rebellion by his son Absolam,also he appeared to have escaped any life threatening illness,how did he survive?.In 2 Samuel 8 v6/7, we read ,and the Lord preserved David. We can take all the precautions we can, but in the end unless the Lord preserves us, we will not survive.David was very conscious of the fact that God preserved him, in Psalm 121,written by David we read the following,/The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil,He shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this day forth, and even for evermore/.I often feel vulnerable,I marvel that I have driven thousands of miles,that I was saved from drowning as a child,that I have been in many difficulties,faced many testings and temptations, how have I come through it all?well there is only one answer as far as I am concerned,the Lord has preserved me.Dear child of God you will survive, you will be kept safe,you will be brought through ,for our times our in Gods hands.Live not in fear,but trust Your God,who will preserve you,until His appointed time comes when He will call you and me home, and as we stand on heavens shore we will look back in amazement and thankfulness ,and praise God for preserving us.
A  prayer.../ Dear God we bow before You in thankfulness ,for saving and keeping us,and for the promise that You will preserve us unto Your heavenly kingdom,through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen /

True holiness [ Luke 11 v37 ff]

In Luke 14v1 we read,/that they watched Him/,they watched Jesus,they wanted to see what He would do,it was the Sabbath.Strict Sabbath keeping was very important, but they carried it to far,it became a burden and oppressive,state of affairs,in Luke 11v46, our Saviour declared to the religious leaders,/you crush people with unbearable religious demands, and you never lift a finger to ease the burden/.The story is told of a minister of a church that held very strict sabbath rules,he lived beside a lake ,his church was on the other side of the lake,and so he had to drive around the lake to get to the church.One day there was a very heavy fall of snow,that made driving not possible,this left him with a dilemma, how could he get to his church service,so he rowed across.Later the leaders of the church met with him,and accused him of breaking the Sabbath by rowing the boat across the lake .The minister said ,it was the only way he could get to the church to conduct the service,and then one of the leaders, but did you enjoy it.? .Some religious people would squeeze the joy out of life, the Psalmist requested that God would restore to him the joy of His salvation.[[Psalm 51v12].The term worldliness is often used in a distorted way,one of my great regrets was objecting to my wife,who is now in glory, listening to her favourite singer,in the end she sold  her record collection.
A  prayer..../Dear God help us to to be holy,help us not to judge others,help us  not to lay heavy burdens upon people,help us to understand what true holiness means, in Jesus name. Amen/

Women. [ 1 Thessalonians 5 v14 [Support the weak]

Yesterday in London Mrs Thatchers funeral took place,a lady admired by some, disliked by some,our first women Prime  Minister.That appeals to me, as one reads history, women have been treated so unfairly,it is women who suffer most in war,it is very painful to read,but how can it change?, I must confess I do not know. Continually we hear of women suffering, being forced into the sex trade,the terrible scandal in India,the abused women in their homes,and so it goes on. So today I give thanks for one women, who overcome so much ,and became Prime Minister, and who left her mark in history. Today let us pray for the dear women in this world who are suffering,in their homes, in their workplaces,in religious oppressive countries,of women who have been raped ,and suffered so much,and so we could go on.Let us pray for single mums, let us not judge them, leave that to a compassionate God,who loves them.
A prayer ...../ Dear God we lift up our voices to You for the many women who are struggling with the burdens they have to bear,for the many women who live in fear,of the many women who have suffered abuse, and neglect,in Jesus name we ask that You will help them . Amen /

Do we need tuning? [ 1 Samuel 13 v14 ]

Before David comes on the scene we are told what type of a person he would be,it is revealed to us at a time when Saul is beginning to show his hidden weak character,and is told that his reign as king would not continue.Remember none of us are indispensable,we can be replaced,and indeed will be replaced , as Saul was, even the great apostle was conscious of this CP  1 Corinthians 9 v27.There was a belief at one time that the Kings of England felt that they could do what they wanted,they believed in the divine right of kings, but they were wrong as Charles the 1st found out.Saul was the Lords anointed, but he acted in ways, that offended God, and so was rejected,and replaced by a man after God own heart[1 Samuel 13 v14]. This was the type of person that replaced Saul,a man after Gods own heart,what does it mean to be a man after Gods own heart?.Well I believe it means that his heart was in tune with Gods,in an orchestra every instrument must be tune,if they are not, there will be discord.One of the first things I did when I started playing the guitar, was to buy an electric tuner,I had to tune it every time I used it.Davids heart was in tune with Gods,no discord,let us ask ourselves, is our hearts in tune with Gods?
A  prayer....../Dear God grant us the grace to be people whose hearts are in tune with Yours in Jesus name Amen /

He behaved honourably. [ 1 Samuel24 v 16-17 ]

Let us continue with David the man of God,David was to be king Sauls successor,but Saul was more interested that his son Jonathan would succeed him. David was a warrior and God granted him favour in all his endeavours,so much so that he became a national hero,and they sang songs about his greatness.This is what they sang,/Saul hath slain his thousands ,and David his ten thousands[ 1 Samuel 18 v7],this did not do David any favours, from that moment,Saul became his enemy.Saul knew that God had chosen another person to succeed him[1 Samuel 13v14/15v26]. Saul should have bowed to Gods will,but he didn't,instead he went on the rampage,possessed by the desire to kill David, and oppose God will. So how did David act?, well he never once tried to overthrow Saul,  there were times that he had opportunities to kill Saul , but he didn't,he acted in an honourable manner.When Saul died in battle David was  genuinely filled with sorrow and composed a song,[2Samuel 1]in his honour,in all things he behaved honourably. Two other very important lessons are to be learned in all this,leave God to deal with those who would try to harm us, we are told to leave God to deal with them [Romans 12 v19-21] The next lesson we learn is God will fulfil His purposes for us, the word had been given,David would be anointed as king[ 1 Samuel  16],Gods purposes for David could not be stopped,inspite of Sauls threatening,it came to pass [2 Samuel 5 v3 ]
A prayer ..../Dear God Help us to act in a God fearing honourable way at all times, in Jesus name Amen /

Harden not your heart. [Hebrews 3 v7-8 ]

David was a man of God ,and one of the characteristics of this godly man  was his willingness to listen to God and respond to it in a proper manner.I think of two  occasions when he David did this,the first  we read about in 1 Samuel 25,  in this chapter we read how a man called Nabal offended David,and initially he responded by setting out to destroy Nabal   and his whole household .But Nabals wife Abigail intervened,she met David and spoke to him,and David listened,he sees Gods in it and acknowledges that God had used Abigail,to stop him from doing an evil act. The next occasion I want to highlight is when David had sinned [1 Samuel 11-12 ],he had committed adultery,and murder, by this time he was king,maybe he felt he was above the law,but the thing he had done displeased the Lord. Nathan was a prophet, and acted very bravely,he spoke to the king ,the word he had from God and David listened,and repented,CP Psalm 51,and God forgave Him.The word of God declares if today we hear Gods voice we are not to harden our hearts[Hebrews 3 v7-8],David could have done this,but he didn't,if he had not ,he would have ended up as another Saul,rejected by God.
A  prayer...../ Dear God help us not to harden our hearts when You speak to us,help us to appreciate it is always best to listen and obey,in Jesus name Amen /