My hope and prayer [Ezekiel 37 v1-14 ]

Yesterday I brought to you the situation as I see it, I need to remind myself that there is a godly remnant in this country,Elijah had to be reminded of this.[1 Kings 19v18] The word of God also reminds us that that where sin abounds grace can much more abound[Romans 5 v20]. I was reminded of this today when I saw a man whom God saved,a man who  was far from God. That into the most ungodly places God raised up  a people unto Himself, the New Testament church came into being,in places where idolatry,reigned. Ezekiel had a vision of dead dried bones[37] and a amazing thing happened, those bones were transformed by the power of God ,into living beings.This reminds us that no matter how far a  people or a person has turned from God, He if He chooses,God can work a miracle of saving grace. Our nation thinks it needs many things when all it really needs is Jesus,the gospel is still the power of God unto salvation.Is this a false hope?will the nation continue to be deaf and deceived,or will there be a turning to  God who loves them?, my hope and prayer is, that it will be so.
A prayer......./Dear God with You all things are possible ,grant that we may see the impossible happen,this nation and many nations turning to Christ,in His name we ask this Amen /

The hour is dark.[2 Corinthians 4 v4 ]

Loads of money,plenty of buildings but no people,that reflects the situation in a particular group of churches,I know  many fine church buildings but the people who attend are few,and eventually all will be left will be  empty buildings. It is a sad reflection of the situation in this country,I often visit our great cathedrals,and wonder if they are only museums,where tourists visit,places where the remains  of yesterday hero's are . This country has a great and privileged Christian heritage,but this country on the whole has forsaken God,and what I fear is God may have forsaken us as a nation. Now this is not a hand wringing blog,but an honest appraisal of how I see the spiritual condition in our country. Is there hope of things changing?what may cause God to visit this land?that is the question many are asking,will He respond,will He send ,and here is an old fashion word,will He send a revival?. My thoughts turn to the book of Ezekiel ,the prophet of the exile,the message he gave was one of judgement for the nation of Judah,those still left in the promised land, it was grim,nothing would save them from the judgement of God,even if Noah,Daniel or Job prayed. Tomorrow we will consider further on this.
A prayer...../Dear God, You who desire that all should be saved,we bring our nation to You,and all we can ask is for mercy,in Jesus name Amen /

Faith. [Hebrews 11 v 6 ]

In Hebrews 11 v8 we read the words ,/not knowing/,this refers to Abraham, responding to the call of God,and how he stepped out not knowing whither he went.He acted on faith. I believe as Christians we need to be reminded continually of the truth that the Christian life, is a life of faith, as it was for Abraham ,so it is for all Gods Christian, faith in God and His word. This involves doctrine,practice,and acceptance,as the word of God,Habakkuk 2 v4 declares the just shall live by faith,if we shift from this,we move from Gods will.The way of faith means we cannot always understand fully many of the things we believe.Recently a friend told me of a certain minister who spoke of a second chance,for those who die without Christ,when my friend pointed out the scriptural truth that after death the judgement the minster refused to accept this.The solemn truth is we are called to believe what Gods word says not what we think,that means accepting the doctrine of hell,it means accepting that we sinners,and the consequences of rejecting the only Saviour of sinners ,Jesus.
A prayer..../ Dear God help us to understand that we You demand of us all faith, in what You say,and not in what we think,in Jesus name Amen /

I made a mistake, but God spoke.[ Psalm 46 v10 ]

It is a true saying we all make mistakes,well recently I made a mistake,and I was really annoyed,I let a shout out of me, which fortunately no one heard.Along with anger with myself at my making such a mistake ,there was a deep concern as to the consequences of my mistake. So I set out to do something about it, but I was  so angry with myself ,then at a particular moment a verse came into my mind,/Be still and know that I am God [Palm 46 v10]/.The good news is God undertook and resolved the problem and turned things around,it bore in upon me again the importance of applying the word of God into every situation,into every every problem.The scripture that I received was not just an empty platitude ,no it was the word of God, it is God telling us something that is vital for us to hear,and it is vital for us to hold unto it by faith. Through all the anger I felt with myself ,God spoke, and in spite of my anger ,I heard and sang the words to myself, repeated them to myself,and found God to be faithful.
A  prayer..../ Dear God ,in Your mercy help us in our difficulties ,to listen for  Your still small voice in Jesus name Amen /

Are you burdened?[ Matthew 11 v28 ]

As I was carrying someones  shopping yesterday which was heavy,the words of our Saviour came to mind,/Come unto Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest [Matthew 11 v28 ] Jesus in saying this spoke to men's heart, and to their condition,He saw the grinding poverty,the oppressive religion, the weary hearts who struggled with so much..There is still a great deal of poverty in this world,and oppressive religion,in the west we may not experience grinding poverty or oppressive religion,but people are still carrying heavy burdens,the burden of broken relationships,of broken dreams,and broken hearts.Hear the word of Jesus ,come unto Me,cast your burdens upon me,I will help you,oppressed by sin ,and Satan,Jesus says come unto Me,I will forgive you and set you free.As you read this you may be asking is this true can Jesus really help me?. The answer is yes, untold millions have found Jesus to be a Saviour,who forgives ,and heals the broken hearted.The hymn writer,wrote, I came to Jesus as I was weary,and worn and sad,I found in Him a resting place, and He has made me glad[H Bonar]
A prayer....../ Dear God we praise and thank You that in Jesus,burdens can be lifted,and broken hearts can be mended. Amen /

Fridge magnet [ John 4 v 4ff ]

We have a fridge magnet with the words, /give give give give me/ on it,our prayer life can be like this,although it is legitimate to ask God for what we need,some people thing it is wrong to ask God for whatever,it is not, Cp  Philippians 4 v6./Matthew7 v7.Those words on the fridge magnet appear to have a selfish ring to them,and selfishness is never an acceptable attitude in Gods eyes.Selfishness blinds us to the needs of others ,we loose sight of the fact that we are not the centre of the universe.It has with it, I am all right Jack attitude . It was William Booth the founder of the Salvation Army who sent a telegram to a gathering of Salvationist,with one word on it,/others/.Let me stress again that it is not wrong to ask God for whatever,but it becomes wrong when we are asking with the wrong motives and reasons.When I think of the words on the fridge magnet it reminds me of the words of our Saviour to the woman at the well,[John 4] when He said,whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again [v13 ].In saying this He was reminding the lady and us,that no matter how many pairs of shoes we buy,and no matter how many of anything we buy , we will not be satisfied, only He can  meet the deepest need of our hearts.
A  prayer...../ Dear God so many of us forget so easily that only Christ can meet our deepest need, grant us grace to embrace our Saviour and all His fullness. Amen /

We cannot comprehend. [Job 37 v5]

As we come to the end of the book of Job ,both Elihu and God challenge Job as to his limited knowledge as regards creation and God Himself,and in chap40v4 ,we have Job's response,which reads/,Behold I am vile ,what shall I answer Thee?I lay my hand upon my mouth/. In his response he acknowledges two things,his sinfulness,/I am vile/,surely not,did God not praise this man?, yes He did,but Job was a sinner, we have a very limited knowledge of our sinfulness,the Bible mentions godly men and women,but the best of them where sinners,we need the Spirit to reveal our true fallen nature, and believe what Gods word declares,  cp Romans 3 .and what Jeremiah says in  17v9,that the heart is deceitful above all things,and  desperately wicked,and then he adds for good measure,,/who can know it?.Job was not exaggerating in what he said,in fact it seems to me he did not go far enough.The next thing he acknowledges is his saying to much and saying the wrong things,we need to put into practise a control on our words.A lady I know told me of the former pastor of her church,who would not answer right away,but would wait for a short time,and then speak.We speak so often of things we do not know  ,instead of letting our words be few,we speak a multitude of words,and these words are not always edifying to those who hear.,we need to watch those words.
A prayer...../ Dear God forgive us our pride which results in foolish thoughts,and foolish words,foolish attitudes,in Jesus name Amen/