Tea and cakes.[ Genesis 4 v1ff]

Police in tea and cakes, council election probe,so read the headlines in our local newspaper,it refers to a local election that took place recently.A candidate bought tea and cakes ,for elderly residents at a sheltered housing complex 11 days before the election. It appears at first glance an Innocent gesture but it is seen as suspect ,was it a bribe?or just a gesture of good will?.  One coming day,all will be revealed,about that event and every event,that ever took place,it is called the great judgement morning when all our actions will be revealed for what they really where.Now of course the judgement will include the living and the dead [Acts 10v42],for the Christian the worth of their work will be judged,as W Barclay points out,/someday our work will be tested, and the test will be carried out by none other than Jesus Himself . CP . 1Corinthians 3 v10 ff. The Christian is saved only by Christ and His finished work,nevertheless good works are as Thomas Brooks declares,/ they are the infallible evidence of our salvation,and eternal happiness/ Works of any kind for salvation ,cannot will not, do not count,we cannot hope to bribe God,or influence God,in any way,on that great judgement day.
A  prayer...../ Dear God help us as Christians to be sincere,in all things,and grant that those who know not Christ to see that while works are important,they will never be important enough to save them,in Jesus name Amen /

A burden [Romans 10 v 13-17 ]

I must confess I carry a burden,that never leaves me ,sometimes this burden has got me into trouble,often I feel I have failed in carrying out that burden, Sometimes I am not sure how I am going to share my burden, one time a long time ago as I shared that burden with my dying mother.It later got back to me that my mother was upset with me,for doing this,yet I could do no other,it is a burden that God has placed in my heart.Everyday I arise very early and bring this burden to God in prayer,I know I can only do so much,yet I feel I have never done enough,and never will,sometime I feel weary with this burden,and wonder what is being accomplished,by my prayers,and my sharing this burden,is it all a waste of time?.Then I have to remind myself that God has given me this burden,and that I must be faithful, yes faithful,for it will be in my faithfulness that I will be judged.I have to remind myself that I am not responsible for others who likewise carry that burden, I am only responsible for myself, although it concerns me when others fail to carry out that burden,and makes me sad.My burden is to tell others about Jesus,
A prayer....../Dear God help us all to see that as Christians we are all called to tell others about our Saviour. Amen /

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/