A jouney of faith. [Hebrews 12 v2 ]

On a visit to a cathedral I spoke to a young man,I asked him, when did he come to know Christ?,he replied,/I am still on that journey/.I thought that was an interesting answer, I am still on that journey,
in other words he was seeking, he did say the minister was helping him.This man was making a conscious effort on his journey to faith,he is full of doubts,uncertainties,questions,the journey will not end when all these are answered,it will end when he simple exercises faith.You see there will always be the unanswerable,be it about creation ,suffering,and so on,I have been following Lord for 50years I still have questions,that are still unanswered,this will never change.The people in the Bible were the same as you and I Iikewise many great Christians,when Bishop Ambrose ,mentor of Augustine,lay dying ,was asked whither he feared facing God at judgement,/We have a good master,he relied with a smile.I learn to trust God with my doubts and struggles by getting to know Jesus/.
A  prayer...../Dear heavenly Father we come to You in simple faith in Your son Jesus,help us as we journey to heaven,to focus on Him ,in whose name we ask this Amen/

Father forgive. [ Luke 23 v 34 ]

Recently while on holiday I visited the city of Coventry and its cathedral,it is really two cathedrals,
the old and the new.The old is but ruins,a result of being bombed in the second world war,by . Most of the industry of Coventry was in the centre of the city,so the cathedral
was not spared. They recovered from the ruins,two pieces of charred wood,nailed them together so making a cross,they placed it in the ruins,and on the wall behind this cross ,they put the words ,/Father Forgive/.This reminded me, that at the centre of the Christian faith,there is a message of forgiveness,for all,God is the forgiving God,he desires to show mercy,in fact He delights in it.The gospel is a message of forgiveness.The words Father forgive,come from the words spoken by Jesus,from a cross,on which He was being nailed to,by wicked men. Let us never loose sight of the truth,that we who have been forgiven,need to forgive,and desire forgiveness for all.
A  prayer...../Dear God we worship You with thanks given for the fact that You are the forgiving God,help us who are Your children,to always desire the forgiveness of all mankind,in Jesus name.Amen/

The price of change.[Isaiah 6 ]

One of my favourite movies is Gladiator,and yet the gladiatorial games where ghastly,men fighting to the death,in the name of entertainment. One day a man felt God telling him to go to Rome,he was a  Christian hermit,called Telemachus,he found himself at the games,and was horrified to witness the slaughter that went on,horrified he rose from his seat,and tried to stop two men killing each other.They tossed him aside,but he kept coming back,the 80.000 crowd became angry,throwing stones at him,but he kept coming back,to stop the killing.Then the command rang out,for him to be put to death,a sword flashed in the sunlight,and Telemachus was dead. Suddenly a hush fell over the stadium, Rome at that time was nominally Christian,and they realised a holy man lay dead.From that day on there were never anymore gladiatorial games.A godly man had to pay the price for this to happen,so it is ,if this world is going to change,if wrong is to challenged,if people are going to be saved,there is a price that has to be paid,are we willing to pay that price?
A  prayer...../ Dear God help us to be willing,to pray the price,for things to change,in this sinful world,in Jesus name Amen /

Mine twice. [1 Peter 1 v18-19]

In Isaiah 44v22,we read/ I have blotted out,as a thick cloud,thy transgressions,and as a cloud, thy sins,return unto Me,for I have redeemed thee/. The story is told of a young lad who made himself a little boat,he was delighted with it,so he took it do a local river to sail it,he had it on a piece of string.Well he accidentally let go of it,and he lost it, as it sailed out of sight.He really loved that little boat,and so one he saw his boat for sale,in a second hand shop,so he went in and bought it.As he was leaving the shop in delight he said to the little boat,you are mine twice,I made you,and I bought you.Like that little boat ,God made us,but we sinned,and God lost us, we where truly lost,yet all the time God loved us,and so He did a wonderful thing,he paid a price to buy us back,that is what redemption is about paying a price.Now all the gold and silver of a thousand worlds could not buy us back to God,no,the price that He paid,was the precious blood of Christ,which he shed on the cross.One day every dear child of God will stand before Him,and He may say ,you are mine twice,I made you and I bought you.
A prayer..../ Dear God  we bow humble before You,and give unto You thanks for redeeming us,through Jesus precious shed blood, Amen /

Maintaining a fresh touch. [ 1 Corinthians 15 v 31]

I have just started reading that wonderful book written by Solomon,Proverbs,here we have book of profound wisdom,Solomon was a man of God,son of Israels greatest king David.Yet even in his great reign ,he acted as a law unto himself at times,accumulating foreign wives, horses silver and gold[Deuteronomy 17 v16-17],this action would come back to bite him.In spite of this God blessed him,in so many ways.In many ways his was a glorious reign,but then we read in 1 Kings 11v 4,/ For it came to pass,when Solomon was old,that his wives turned away his heart after other gods,and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God,as was the heart of David his father/ From a glorious reign to inglorious reign,he became a shadow of what he once was.Many of the kings were like Solomon they sought God and then they departed from Him.which spelt disaster for the nation.// It is possible for the best year of our life,the best experiences we have enjoyed,the best victories,we have won,and the best service we have rendered,to be swallowed up by times of failure,defeat,dishonour,and uselessness in Gods Kingdom.//[Streams in the desert] We must not live with yesterdays blessing,but we must maintain a daily walk with God,as one writer puts it,to maintain a fresh touch from God.
A  prayer..../Dear God help us to see the importance of not living on past blessings,help us to maintain that daily fellowship with You,in Jesus name Amen /
    [ I will return to my blog on Sunday the 7th, every blessing]

Praise. [ PSALM 150 ]

In Psalm 150 we have the word praise mentioned 13 times,how important is praise in our lives?it should be important.I am very conscious that I do not praise God enough. The Israelites praised God for His deliverance's,but in their difficult times they complained,don't let the difficulties you are experiencing rob God of His rightful praise.Anyone can sing when the sun is shining,but we turn to mourning in the dark and dismal days,very few of us sing Gods praise in the rain. God is worthy of our praise,the world praise so many things,that are not worthy of praise.Surely God alone is worthy of our praise, we may know this,but how hard we find to practise it, often when we meet fellow Christians and they fail to praise God,I include myself in this,the problem takes the place of praise.Of course we don't want just words,there is a popular songs which goes words have all I got,God looks on the heart,and it is heart filled praise He desires,and deserves.Why not all of us take up the challenge of praising God more,and when we do this,we will be glorifying Him.[ Psalm 50 v23]
A  prayer....../ Dear God so many things crowd in upon us,and so we forget to exercise  praise  to You who truly is worthy of praise,we ask that You may give us a heart to praise You,in Jesus name Amen /

The secret is surrender [ 1 Chronicles 29 v 5 ]

In Psalm 147 v 10-11,we read,/He delighteth not in the strength of the horse,He taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man. The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear Him ,in those that hope in his mercy/
These may sound strange words to us,so what are we being told?,well the horse,and the strength of a mans legs speak of man's natural power.When Samuel came to choose a new king,he had to be reminded that God looked on the heart,not the outward appearance [ 1 Samuel 16v7],and the least expected person was chosen,David,a man after Gods own heart.Now of course God will use and choose whom He will,but His choice is so different from ours,He chooses the foolish things of this world,the weak things of the world,the base things of the world,things that are despised[1 Corinthians1 v 27-28].Why ? that no flesh should glory in His presencev29.Christianity came into being through weakness, a man hanging on a cross [2 Corinthians 13 v4].Christianity is not based on human abilities,but rather a reliance on God,and His power,that does not mean we wont have abilities,but we must  make sure that they are surrendered to Him.
A   prayer  of consecration......./All that I am and have,Thy gifts so free,
                                                   in joy,in grief through life O Lord, for Thee.
                                                   And when Thy face I see,my ramsomed soul shall be,
                                                   Through all eternity,something for Thee....Amen.
                                                        [Words by S.O. Phelps]