For His sake. [Psalm 29 ]

Psalm 29v2 reads ,/Give unto the Lord,the glory due unto His name,worship the Lord,in the beauty of holiness./These are words penned by David,the man who had killed a lion,a bear,a giant, never appeared to loose a battle, ruled over many nations,acquired great wealth.Unlike so many he never looses sight of the fact,that God should receive the glory, due to His name.Are you gifted? are you rich, have all your children come to know Christ?,are you being used in Gods service,have you recovered from an illness?give unto God the glory due unto His name Next David declares, /worship the Lord,/ look at this world observe how so many, worship false religions,fading glories,fanciful ideas, the words of this godly man, challenge the folly of mankind to worship the Lord .The word worship has the meaning of being worthy.only the Lord Jesus is worthy of worship.Next we are not only exhorted to worship the Lord,but to worship Him in the beauty of holiness.It was JcRyle who wrote a book called holiness, I remember reading it,but that was a long time ago, I forget what he wrote on holiness,could it be that many of us have forgotten the importance of holiness?,have we forgotten that God declared ,be ye holy[Leviticus 20v 7],this is the daily Christian goal,we may never fulfil it fully,but till the day we die we are ever seek that goal, and God will honour our sincere efforts.Finally consider how he describes  a holy life,it is a thing of beauty.
A  prayer....../Dear God we give unto You the glory due to Your name,we worship You alone,grant us grace each day to be holy, for Jesus sake Amen /

The good shepherd [John 10 v1 -18]

I do love the Psalms, just reading them refreshes my soul,what is your favourite Psalm? it is not surprising to confess that mine is Psalm 23, I wonder why?. The Psalmist emphasises the Lord ,who provides,who guides,who restores,who is with us,who blesses us,.As I pointed out, it is all about the Lord and knowing Him,I get concern when people say I am a whatever,and I always feel like challenging that statement. David the writer of the Psalm was a Jew,an Israelite,now in the context that was important,but one could be a Jew an Israelite and not know the Lord.Please do not be satisfied with I am a whatsoever, no,David said the Lord was his shepherd. This means he was not trusting in tradition or nationhood,or family connections,no he was trusting in the Lord.Now of course the Jew could and does say the Lord is my shepherd,but he does not mean the Lord Jesus,oh no,he means something so different.He does not mean the one who was wounded for our transgressions,not the one who bare the sin of many,no he does not know that Lord. One may say the words,the Lord is my shepherd,but not have the true meaning of those words.In John 10 Jesus tells us that He is the good shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep,that is the shepherd of Psalm 23,can you really say the Lord is your shepherd?
A  prayer..../ Dear Lord Jesus,thank You for being my shepherd,and all that this means, Amen /

No slacking.. [ 1 Timothy 6 v 11-12 ]

God is sovereign but that in no ways takes away from the important truth that we are responsible for our actions,we need balance,when people over emphasise a particular doctrine,to the exclusion of the whole then they become imbalanced.We are called to pray but we are also called often to be the answer to our prayers,a dear brother I know ,was challenged by his father,as regards the needs of children,he is now the director of a wonderful children's mission.Wesley prayed but Wesley went,and worked ceaselessly till the day he died in telling people about Christ.The challenge is to be a doer of the word, what does Christ want us to do?,when God has something to be done,He  chooses a person to do it.Oh yes it is a risky business,but it is a risk worth taking.it starts of small and then then it opens up into something bigger,We do not know where it may lead,but if we be in Gods will He will guide us,we may stumble at our beginnings,God will use our stumbling to teach us,much more than  our successes.David when he was successful ,fell grievously[2 Samuel11], it was when Uzziah became strong he fell [2 Chronicles 26 v16 ]Yes God is sovereign but we are responsible to obey and serve Him,we are responsible to guard  our hearts and lives,no slacking,till the day we die
A  prayer......./Dear God help us to not slack in our service,help us to strive after holiness, in Jesus name Amen /.

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 /