The Scapegoat.[ Leviticus 16 v 15-22 ]

The term scapegoat is taken from the Bible,it relates to the day of atonement when sacrifices would be made for the sin of the nation,a number of animals would be sacrificed.Now of course the sacrificial system was never meant to be permanent,cp Psalm 40v6-8.  The sacrificial system was a type of Christ,who would be sacrificed,and it his sacrifice that dealt with sin once and for all.cp Hebrews 10.When animal sacrifices where being made ,Israel would be pointed to the coming of the Messiah, the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world cp John 1 v29. Now on the day of atonement two goats would be brought,one would be slain as a sin offering,its blood with the blood of a bull would be taken into the holy of holies and sprinkled on the mercy seat or the atonement cover.Then Aaron would go to the other goat,lay both hands upon the goats head, and confess all the sins of the nation,then the goat would be taken, and released into the wilderness. The actions on the two goats remind us of two aspects of Christs sacrifice, the first goat in its death reminds of our sins being forgiven for without the shedding of blood,there is no forgiveness of  sins.Next the second goat that carried the sins of the people into the wilderness , reminds us of the removal of sin,and  that when our sins are forgiven through Christ, they are gone, never to be remembered against us anymore.
A  prayer......./Dear God we humbly thank You for Jesus,who through His death on the cross,effectively, dealt with sin. Amen/

Lost her soul [Matthew 16 v26 ]

A young woman was arrested for murdering a number of people,the report on the TV showed her as a lovely child  but she became involved in drugs,and it was down hill after that. A photo of her  showed a young woman who looked scary,her sister who was interviewed ,said her sister had turned into a monster. One person who had known her, said ,she had lost her soul,those words struck a cord with me,she had lost her soul.Our Saviour reminds us that our souls are the most valuable thing we have,worth more than all the world.[Matthew 16 v26]. Lenski in his commentary writes the following on this verse,/The Jews are keen in regard to finance,well here is the whole matter reduced to a simple question of profit and loss. Write on the credit side of the ledger, the whole world,and then on the debit side,the life,the man himself,and the profit is nothing. Yet Satan needs no such price to buy men's souls,all he needs is a little piece of this world/ There is an old hymn which reads ,have you counted the cost if your soul should be lost ?well have you?
A  prayer  ..../ Dear God we pray for that young woman ,have mercy upon her,we ask that you would help us, not to be blinded to the cost of loosing our souls, in Jesus name Amen /

Help our unbelief. [Mark 9 v 20ff]

Sometimes I feel like that man in Mark9v20ff who had a child who was demon possessed,who when challenged by Jesus as regards faith,cried out, and said with tears,/Lord, I believe help Thou mine unbelief/.Now earlier this man had brought his child to the disciples, they could not do anything,they had failed,possible because of a lack of spiritual preparedness,could it be that they had grown careless, after all they where Jesus disciples.Let us remember that we must whoever we are,continually rely on the Lord,and continually seek the Lord,let us remember the days of self reliance are gone,and if we turn again to those days we will fail. As to the man he was learning an important lesson,the followers of Jesus will fail us,will not at times be able to help us.,people look to Popes, Archbishops,ministers, but sometimes they disappoint us, W Barclay writes,/The Church may at times disappoint us,and Gods servants on earth may at times disappoint us. But when we battle our way face to face with Jesus Christ,He never disappoints us/ When he came to Jesus he was faced with a challenge ,did he have faith,his response was two fold,he had faith but it was not perfect,but here is the important thing Christ granted his request.
A  prayer...../Dear Saviour help us not to give up in despair when Your servants fail us,forgive our weakness in so many areas,especially in relation to faith Amen/

Holiness [Psalm 51]

In Leviticus 10v10 ,we read, / And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy,and between unclean and clean/.now we no longer have a sacrificial system, or food laws,but the principal for the child of God has not changed. In chapter 11, we have the words,/Ye shall be holy,for I am holy/,these word are repeated twice [v44-45 ] What does it mean to be holy? what do you think it means?,it has nothing whatsoever to do with what we eat,let us go to the heart of the matter,,Jesus said,/out of the heart of men,proceed evil thoughts,adulteries,fornication,murders,thefts,covetous,wickedness,
deceit,lasciviousness,an evil eye, blasphemy,pride,foolishness. All these evil things come from within,and defile a man[ Mark 7 v21-23] So today let us watch our hearts,for holiness starts in our hearts.
A  prayer....../Dear God create in me a clean heart,and renew a right spirit within me in Jesus name Amen /

The God of all comfort. [ Isaiah 40]

The words of Isaiah 40 are spoken to Israel,they where words of  comfort,they where prophetic words,to a people who would endure much in a coming day.During Isaiah's time they experienced war,and in a coming days,destruction and exile. The words spoken have a twofold application, for present trouble and future trouble,it appears to me that we need both. One of the great ministries intrusted to any minister of the word is a ministry of comfort, God tells Isaiah to comfort His people. The word spoken would be the word of God,so it was a special word,nothing comforts the child of God like the word of God. Isaiah contrasts the things of creation,such as grass and humanity,here today,gone tomorrow,but says Isaiah, the word of the Lord shall stand for ever[v8].Let us stand on the word of the Lord for ever,it is sad when we read of ministers who no longer stand on the word of the Lord.There is so much in Isaiah 40,spoken to a people who would go through so much,they are pointed to the greatness of there God,all things are as nothing  compared to Him.,all things.The chapter ends on such a comforting note.The everlasting God,He is not a time lord,no He is the everlasting Lord, He neither faints ,nor grows weary,His understanding is infinite. Yet for all His greatness, he has a kindness about Him,He giveth power to the faint,and to them that have no might, He increaseth strength. If we wait on Him , like eagles we shall mount up, He shall renew our strength,so that we shall run and not be weary,walk and not faint.
A  prayer..../ Dear God we thank You for the wonderful comfort you gave us from Your word,and for the promise of renewed strength in Jesus Name Amen /

Glory land. [ Revelation 21 v1-5]

Laurie Stockwell was a sensitive young  Englishman, who flew with bomber command  in the 2nd world war,at one time he had been a conscientious objector.In writing a letter to his mum he raised the question as what had changed him?talk of brutality,human suffering,atrocities, had not had any great effect on him.He confessed that he realised that all human beings where capable of committing ,such evil. The reason for fighting was that the dark threat, bearing down upon Western civilisation might be defeated.He went on to say that he was fighting that one day happiness may again rule the world[I am quoting from Max Hastings book ,/All hell let loose/.] There are somethings I can identify with in what Laurie said, his insight into human nature ,none of us are without sin,and all of us are capable of sinning in the the crossest manner, read Romans 3. Laurie said he was fighting to return happiness to this world,now of course we live in a fallen world,and so we can be robbed so quickly of the happiness we desire.So it is as a Christian soldier, I am in a war to defeat sin and Satan,that men and women may be brought into Gods Kingdom,those who are in that kingdom have a wonderful future . The words of an old hymn tells us,/There's a land beyond the stars,Glory land ,bright Glory land. Beyond the sunset's crimson bars,A land of peace without alloy, of  joy beyond all earthly joy. And nought its calm can ee'r destroy,Glory land, bright Glory land./
A  prayer..../ Dear God we thank You for Jesus the Saviour of sinners, and the hope of Glory which He has placed in our hearts, Amen /

God tapping us on the shoulder. [ Job 42 v1-6]

It has been a very wet winter here,not particularly cold,we have also experienced very strong winds,and in some parts of the country, severe flooding. This sort of weather pattern appears to be coming more regular,the government are coming under attack for not doing more preventive measures. It goes without saying for all our advances in so many fields of life we cannot control climate,storms will always come,I do not like wet and windy weather,or snow,but that wont stop  these things happening, This reminds us , human beings,of our limitations, not only as regards the weather,but in relation to our health,wealth,our authority,our possessions,and so on.We are not sovereign beings, Napoleon supposedly said to his generals,let me deal with the weather,as if he could, like so many despots,he discovered as Hitler found out,God is sovereign. Mankind in their pride live as if there is no  God ,and that somehow governments,scientists,will solve everything,they wont,nor can we, the more we know the less we appear to know.Storms,uncontrollable events,personal difficulties,it appears to me that it is like God tapping us on the shoulder. 
A prayer.../ Dear God forgive us for our pride,and sinful independence,it is sad that we need storms and uncontrollable events ,to humble us and reminds us of Your presence and Sovereignty, in Jesus Name. Amen /