Your prayer has been heard.[ Habakkuk 2 v 3]

In Luke 1v37,we read,/For with God nothing shall be impossible/,I wonder what you think about  these words?.In this chapter we read of two childless women,one married,the other nearly married. An angel visits the husband of the married one his name was Zechariah,and told him his prayers had been answered,now it may have been that he had stopped praying,because he felt that he and his wife Elisabeth were passed the age of childbearing.There may have come a moment when he thought it was not Gods will,he had resigned himself to never having a child.Yes sometimes we have to do this,painful though it may be,and we have to stop pursuing our desire,however noble it may be.It is then we have to bow to Gods will, and accept that our Heavenly Father knows best, remember whither it is yea or nay ,Gods will is best. In this case it was a delayed yea,again remember God works to His own timetable,and in that waiting time,He is accomplishing His perfect will in our lives. So a  day came  when Zechariah the priest was performing his religious duty,and a angel appeared unto him,and told him that his prayer had been heard,maybe Zechariah said to himself ,what prayer?.The angel continued, his wife Elisebth was going to have a child and he was to be called John,now you would have thought that Zechariah would have been jumping around with joy. Instead he is full of unbelief, and is rebuked by the angel,Zechariah was a Godly man,but he was not perfect,God still granted his request,but chastised him,it was not permanent,we are told,/He will not always chide,neither will He keep His anger for ever [Psalm 103 v9]
A  prayer...../ Dear God help us to accept Your perfect will for our lives,whither it be yea or nay,in Jesus Name Amem/

The mystery of His wisdom. [ 1 Corinthians 13 v12]

There are so many things we don't understand,one is the wonder of salvation,and the wonder of  Gods providence in bringing us to Himself. William Gurnall wrote the following,/The plan of reconciliation excels the creation of heaven and earth./.to such an extent,/to cause both angels and saints to admire the mystery of His wisdom,power, and love in it-from now through eternity/.It is the apostle who writes,then shall I know[1 Corinthians 13v 12]. Again let me quote W. Gurnall,writing of that time when in heaven all Gods children will be gathered,he writes,/At that time we shall see how the seas of unbelief were dried up and what rocks of impossibilities were cut through by the omnipotent grace of God, before a sinner's peace could be secured.We shall learn how the Father worked,to bring it all to completion. Surely we will be swallowed up in adoring the abyss of His wisdom,who laid the foundation of all this peace according to the eternal counsel oh His own will. As the sun exceeds the strength of our natural vision, the glory of Gods peace will stretch beyond our capacity to understand it/
A prayer...../Dear God we bow in humility at the mystery and wonder of Your providence,in bringing us to Yourself, through Jesus Thou Son .Amen /

If we dont? [ Revelation 3 v 14-22]

We would all agree that no one is perfect ,and that is why there are no perfect churches,recently our Pastor ,asked us during the morning gathering,to tell him the good things in relation to our church.the folk responded in a positive way,we are a friendly church,I would say we are a generous church,someone mentioned the food,we have a fellowship meal once a month.In the book of Revelation our Saviour speaks to seven churches,He mentions the good things,but for a number He points out the bad things,lack of love,error,deadness,lukewarmness,and materialism.These things where not written to cause trouble in His church, we have to much of that ,the result is ,we are left with empty buildings. First of all our Saviour loves His church,His words were not meant to destroy these churches,is, it not true,where there are differences,love often is left outside the church.Next our Lord speaks openly to the churches,again how many devious things are hatched in secret by church members ,and then they strike.Next our Saviour wants the church to reflect  Him,His  desire for every church , that they may listen and respond to what He has to say,we all need to be listening to what our Saviour has to say,even if  it is a challenge ,to change,if we do, then we will be blessed ,if we don't.
A  prayer..../Dear God bless our local church,grant that we may not cause trouble,grant that our leaders,within the church,may be lead and guided by Your Spirit,and together may we walk in Your perfect will,in Jesus name Amen /

Safe and secure from all alarms.[ Psalm 46 ]

Proverbs 18 v10 reads,/The name of the Lord is a strong tower,the righteous runneth into it and are safe/A name is more than a means of identity,when those who know me think of me they remember who I am,I remember being asked to do a task by my manager,it was important,she said she asked me because I was dependable.So when we think of the name of the Lord we are reminded of who He is,but also His character,and all that His name stands for. Here we are being told that His name is a strong tower in other words ,in Him we will find security,and a place of safety. Consider what that means for you as a child of God ,though the earth be removed,you shall not be moved,you shall be safe,why?,because the Lord of hosts is with you,the God of Jacob is your refuge[our fortress and High Tower] Selah[pause ,and calmly think of that/AV] Proverbs 18v10,is an exhortation to the righteous those who are not depending on their righteousness but the righteousness of Christ[ 1 Corinthians 1 v30],for all those who are not saved there is no strong tower,especially in the day of judgement.If you are a child of God,you can lean on the everlasting arms, safe and secure from all alarms.
A  prayer..../Dear God help us to always see that in You and in you alone we are safe for time and eternity,through Jesus Your Son Amen/

There arose a great storm. [Mark 4 v35ff]

I have mentioned before about the severe weather our country is experiencing,last night and this morning the wind is howling outside,the forces of nature can be very powerful and fearful.As the disciples found out when they where in a boat,we read,/there arose a great storm[Mark 4 v37],the result was the boat filled with water.They thought they were all going to perish,with one exception,Jesus,He was with them,and he was asleep,in their panic they woke Him,they judged Him,accusing Him of not caring. They appeared to have forgotten what Jesus said as they set out on their journey,/Let us pass over unto the other side [v35]/.Remember difficulties,storms will not hinder, Gods word to us,it will be fulfilled,let faith focus on His word .Also let us not think that our Saviour does not care about our difficulties,not so,He is always focused on all that concerns us.I look back on so many situations,one time comes to mind,it was when our car got a puncture,and I had no means of changing the wheel,it was in the country,in the dark of night,my wife and four children were in the car.A man drew up from nowhere and loaned me the tool to change the wheel. Another time, again at night, our car broke down , a man stopped and took us home in his car,in those days there were no mobile phones,but there was prayer,and there was Jesus,looking after us,as He is looking after you,so fear not the storm,He will not fail you.
A  prayer..../ Dear God help us when we are in the storms, not to fear,because You are with us, and will not fail us, in Jesus name Amen /

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 /