The barriers have come down.[ Ephesians 2 ]

It is A. W. Tozer who wrote in his book,/The knowledge of the Holy,/ about God being incomprehensible./Yet here is the wonderful truth we can know such a God,Frederick W. Faber  wrote,/Darkness to my intellect,but sunshine  to the heart/.I am more and more amazed, that I know this incomprehensible God, but I do.My earliest recollections of God was lying in my bed, and realising that God was my Father,this has brought great comfort to me,and has always remained with me. Writing on the birth of Jesus,John Donne wrote of, Immensity cloistered in the womb.The birth of Jesus is a mystery ,God manifest in the flesh, yet in that mystery,we have revealed to us ,a God who is knowable,and personal,in which a child can know Him,likewise an Einstein.The barriers have come down,the only barrier, to knowing Him ,are man made barriers,pride,and human reasoning. The story is told of a child who had a desire to meet with,the great king who lived in a great palace,he made his way to that palace,on his way he met a priest who asked him where he was going,to the palace to see the king,the priest laughed at him,you are only a child a nobody ,no way, will you be allowed into the palace.The young boy felt crushed and sat down by the road and started to cry,as he sat there a young man came along,and spoke to him,why are you crying,the boy told him.Well said the young man I am the kings son, come along with me,and so he took the child's hand,and brought him right into the palace ,and into the presence of the king.God is incomprehensible,but He is knowable through His dear son Jesus,the barriers have truly come down.
A  prayer....../ God of mystery,we thank You that we  can  know You through Your  son Jesus Amen /

Some day the Sun will shine. [ Revelation 21 v 4]

It was Paul that great apostle, and great sufferer for the cause of Christ who  wrote in that great letter to the Romans,/For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time , are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us[8v18].In 2 Corinthians 4 v17, he also wrote,/For  our light  affliction, which is for a moment ,worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory/.Now Paul  suffered suffered a great deal, and yet here he wrote of our light affliction,yet his suffering was anything but light, cp [2 Corinthians 11 v23ff]  In  Romans 8 v18 ,Paul reminds us ,that all the suffering  that  the child of God endures will gave way to the glory of an eternal state,to an exceeding and eternal weight of glory.I read and pray for many Christians who are suffering,at this time,because they belong to Christ, and of course the nature of life brings with it different trials. The story is told of an old Highland woman who had to leave the clean air  and the blue waters and the purple hills and live in the slum of a great city. She still lived close to God,and one day she said, God will make it up to me,and I will see the flowers again.
A  prayer......./Dear God in this fallen world help us to see that some day the sun will shine again, in Jesus name Amen/

Criticism. [ Proverbs 25 v11-12 ]

A lady I know said my daily devotional is starchy,now many of us do not like criticism,I am not sure if I liked what that lady said,but maybe she is right.Whither I can change my devotional to be less starchy I don't know,we will see.We should be open to criticism even though we may not like it,it hits at our pride,and that is something we all have plenty of. Someone speaking of a certain politician said,there goes God but for the grace of God,we smile at this, but there is a lot of truth in those words.I believe we all have degree of wanting to usurp Gods rule,we all have a tendency to be little gods.Thank God for your critics ,yes their criticism may not be valid but it may be,pray about it,ask God as to the truth of it,and if its valid,ask Him to help you to change.
A  prayer......./Dear God  grant us grace to accept criticism,and the humility to change, in Jesus name Amen ./

What if ? [ Matthew 6 v 34 ]

I am blessed with grandchildren,who come and stay with us at times,recently  we went to the cinema to watch a movie about a snail called Turbo.I enjoyed this movie.This little snail receives power to go super fast and he has the opportunity to race in the Indianapolis's 500,but Turbo has a brother whose very concerned for him and he asks Turbo,/What if you wake up tomorrow and your powers are all gone,Turbo replies,Then we will have to make the most of today/ .Lets be honest, we are all ,what if people, to some extent,whats your what if?,finance,changing circumstances,physical,emotional.Our Saviour was well aware that we are a what if people,in Matthew 6, He exhorts us to not worry about tomorrow,in fact He says don't take any thought for it, it is a waste of time.He stresses what we should focus on is a loving God who will care for His children. He points out that God cares for his creation and that we are more valuable than many sparrows[Matthew 10 v31]There is little chorus comes to mind , /Yesterday ,today for ever,Jesus is the same all may change but Jesus never, glory to His name/. The one who was with you yesterday ,is with you today,and will be with you tomorrow,so fear not,trust Him to undertake ,He is faithful.
A  prayer...../Dear God I must confess that I am a what if person,I at times feel concern as regards the unknown tomorrow,forgive me,and help me to trust and not to be afraid, in Jesus name Amen /

Enough is enough [Matthew 23]

I am just finishing reading the book of Jeremiah, he is known as the weeping prophet,his task was to minister Gods word faithfully,and this he did. At times he struggled,when you consider what he had to do,one can understand his difficulties.The Jews were a people whom God had chosen,they continually backslid, copying the nations around them,by adopting their religions,by  killing the godly.They often ignored God laws, the priests,and so called prophets,and rulers ,committed many evil's,and all the time God  was speaking to them. God would deal with them,by letting their enemies triumph over them, then they would repent ,God would forgive,and deliver them,until the next time. So it continued till it became so bad that God would act in the most severe manner,that is where Jeremiah comes in,Jeremiah continually warned the people that disaster was coming,it appears even at this late stage ,God would show mercy, if they would only forsake their backsliding ways,and turn to Him,but it was not to be. In spite of  God dealing with the northern kingdom Israel,by removing them from the land,the southern kingdom Judah continued on in their evil ways.They took comfort in the fact that they had the temple ,but as is shown in Ezekiel there was a moment when the Lords presence left the temple because of the idolatry's practises taken place in it. The temple had become but a building, and nothing would save them, as they blindly stumbled on,ignoring Gods messenger, and God word, He would act in the most severe manner,yet in His mercy a remnant would be spared,and eventually would be brought back from exile.It appears that God said enough is enough ,and so judgement fell upon a nation,who killed Gods prophets,and continually rejected His ways [CP Matthew 23]
A  prayer....../ Dear God we ask for grace and mercy to be shown to this rebellious world in Jesus name. Amen/

Secular. [ 1 John 5 v 19]

We here the word secular mentioned a lot these days,just recently a judge was quoited in a newspaper, saying that because the nation we live in is a secular society,they must change the way they judge.In other words not on the bases of being a so called Christian country,it  appears to have a validity about it,but I wonder if it has?. We live in changing times, as Christians we do need to adopt,without compromising,while the history of our country is one of deep Christian influence,things have changed. To the word secular I would add sinful,sad to say many leading church people,appear to play down this fact, and that is a problem,because whatever the status of our nation,it is the Christian who is called to be the light,a person I know was spoken to by a minister,and was told they needed light ,not darkness.The word of God tells us that men love darkness rather than light,as we view this secular nation,we see so much darkness,,in so many areas of life.It applies to religious darkness, a Christless religion is a spiritual darkness,and as to those who are secular non Christians,they are in a darkness that will only lead them into a deeper, and deeper alienation from Him who is the light of the world.
A  Prayer...../ Dear God help us to not be fooled by the word secular,help us to see the true state of mankind is darkness,help us always to walk in the light,and to point people to Your dear Jesus who is Light of the world. Amen /

God is not sentimental [2 Thessalonians 1 v 7-9]

 I do not visit my first wife's grave often ,but sometimes I do,I know she is in heaven,on a recent visit I cast my eyes over the hundreds of graves in the graveyard, words of scripture came to mind, they read like this,/For the  Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice  of the archangel,and with the trump of  God, and the dead in Christ  shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air,and so shall we ever be with the Lord  [1 Thessalonians 4 v 16-17].Now these words were written for Christians ,words of instruction and encouragement.,on the other hand the words for the unbeliever, in 2 Thessalonians 1 v 7-9 ,are words of warning to every unbelieving soul,to seek the Lord before it is to late, I wrote in a recent blog, there is a storm coming,and the only way to escape this storm is in knowing Christ as Saviour, no other way,tears will not count,works will not count,God is not a sentimentalist,He has provided a way for people to be saved,any other way is a road to a lost eternity..
A  prayer ..../ Dear God we thank You that through Christ the grave is not the end, yes there is victory in Jesus .Amen /