He will hear your prayer.[ John 15 v 21-28]

Isaiah 62 emphasises the importance of prayer . A. Motyer,/ Our prayers are by His will, in some way are  a vital ingredient in the implementing of His promises/,So we find the prophet prayingv1,but not only the prophet we have in verse 6,others who are given the responsibility of prayer,as A.Motyer writes,/those who would intercede ceaselessly until the full work of salvation and righteousness is accomplished. Those who engage in prayer are the true guardians/ There are different reasons why we pray,to give thanks,praise and worship to God,to make our requests unto God,to intercede with God,for the needs of so many,our families,neighbours,fellow workers,goverments,for all men. For salvation,healings,problems,that wars may cease,that justice would prevail,H.C.Leupold,writes,/ God honours believing prayer and heeds the intercession of His children./We may not be a prophet or a preacher,but God is no respector of persons,do not feel intimidated by your lowliness,but instead have faith in a God who hears  all His childrens prayers.
A prayer...../Dear Heavenly Father,help us to pray believing,in Jesus name Amen /

Seeing it as it is. [2 Peter 3 v 4-13]

I read these words by A Motyer,/Thus we are enabled to see sin as God sees it and to see ourselves in the helplessness He knows besets us/ The fact of the matter is we do not see sin as God sees it,think of how it is effecting this world at present,and how it effects us personally.There are three major things that are in the news, that show how sin is affecting ,this world,in Africa the Ebola out break,it reminds me of the black plague,I saw on TV a dead body,lying on the street,no one would touch it,also a man falling down in the street,no one would run to help him.Then we have the Islamic movement,with their appalling behaviour,then we have the protests in Hong Kong against a regime with an absolutely appalling history,with the guilt of millions and millions of people whom they have murdered.I highlight these three examples to illustrate the effect of sin ,which many do not appreciate
which I do not appreciate fully.Sin is played down in our churches,ignored by our politicians,we often play down its consequences,but God sees sin for what it is,and what it does.His answer is Jesus ,His Son,who would die on a horrible cross ,on which He became a sacrifice for sin.Through this death millions are been saved and eventually will live in a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.[Revelation 21v1./Isaiah 66v22]
A  prayer...../ Dear God open our eyes to sin and its consequences,the effects on this world ,the effects on ourselves,and help us to be faithful to Your word,in Jesus name Amen /

Time versus eternity. [ John 10v 27-30 ]

When its gone its gone,I am not talking about some bargain at the supermarket but time,how do you look on time?. There is a saying that for the old the years pass quickly,and the days slowly,since I started working a four day week it appears to me that time is flying by.For many there are not enough hours in the day,they are so busy,for others the day drags by,they have not much to do,but watch TV.
I heard a phrase recently on the radio which made me think,it went,/the universal tyranny of time /,I wonder what you think of that?tyranny is a strong word,indicating cruelty,being oppressed.It appears to me that time has an unreality to it,but whatever we think about it,nothing will change it. Is time everything?,God we are told has placed something greater in our hearts,something which most people choose to ignore ,in Ecclesiastes 3v11, we read,He has placed eternity in our hearts./.My study Bible reads,/This means that we can never be completely satisfied with earthly pleasures, and pursuits/.As to life ,mankind has a want in them which is never,and indeed can never be satisfied,within are brief lifetime,we run about like headless chickens,we run about with our tongues hanging out seeking that which can never satisfy.No matter how much they are told mankind will continue to seek the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow,and all the time Jesus is saying ye will not come to Me,for the gift of eternal life,the choice is ours,make sure it is the right choice,please.
A  prayer....../Eternal God forgive our blindness,and foolishness,in choosing to focus on time,and the things of time, open our eyes to eternal realities in and through Your Son Jesus. Amen /

Jesus paid it all. [ 1 Peter 1 v 18-19 ]

At our home group we were discussion Isaiah 53 v 1-3 ,which is a great Gospel invitation,it commences by declaring,/ Ho every one that thirsteth,come ye to the waters,and he that hath no money,come ye , buy and eat, yea come,buy wine and milk,without without money and without price/. This is an invitation  for sinners to be saved ,to come to Him,who promises to satisfy our deepest need,and the question one may ask ,what is our deepest need?. Our deepest need is to know Jesus ,who alone can satisfy our hungry and thirsty souls, the hymn writer put it like this,now none but Christ can satisfy.Look out ,and we see a world that is starving spiritually,a world that is drinking from water from wells,with buckets that have holes in it. Jesus says if we ask Him he would satisfy our deepest need[ John 4 v14 ]. But the verses in Isaiah  declares,come buy,well what is offered has a price on it,we cant buy it,we have no resources to buy what is being offeredNow I want you to imagine a young lad going to the cinema with his dad,his father askes him to order the tickets,this he does,and then he is asked for the price to be paid,and he points to his father and says ,/He will pay/So it is  as a sinner when we come to God, we point to Jesus and say He will pay,as the old hymn puts it /Jesus paid it all/.
A  prayer....../God and Father we thank you for your Son,who paid the price for our salvation. Amen /

The altogether lovely One. [Isaiah 53 ]

Certain Greeks came to Philip and asked to see Jesus[John 12 v21]it is not recorded that they did see Him,what would they have seen?.We have no pictures of Jesus,often he is depicted as a very attractive man by many in the film industry.It is to the book of the prophet Isaiah we have a description of Jesus the Messiah,here is what he wrote./For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,and as a root out of a dry ground,he hath no form nor comeliness,and when we shall see him,there is no beauty that we should desire him[53 v2]A . Motyer writes,/The servant [Jesus] was not therefore, noticeably well built,impressive,handsome......with every appearance of being a man among men, and not outstanding at that..it was not easy to believe that He could be the Lord come to save/His suffering made it hard also for the Jews to believe He was the promised Messiah cp52v 14.Again A. Motyer writes,/His suffering caused revulsion,......so that those who saw Him stepped back in horror not only saying,is this the Servant?but is this human/I finish by quoting what the apostle wrote in 1 Corinthians 1 v 22ff/For the Jews require a sign,and the Greeks seek wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified,unto the Jews a stumbling block,and unto the Greeks foolishness./
A prayer...../ Dear God we bow humbly at your feet,we praise You for Jesus the altogether lovely one,for who He was and is,and for what He did on Calvary for us sinful human beings. Amen /

God is considerate. [John 21 v 1-13 ]

We have had a dry spell of weather,so it means we have to water our garden plants,but yesterday someone did it for me God,and I thought how considerate He is,and I didn't need to ask Him. I wonder do you ever think how considerate God is?.I am still working in a job I love even though I am seventy . It used to be when one reached 65 one had to retire,but God granted me the option of working on indiffently, financially this has been a big help.My car needed repaired,the garage had no courtesy cars available,and then one came up,again God being considerate.In John 21 we read how the disciples had been working all night, and when they came a shore,the Lord had prepared a meal for them,and then He served them,how considerate He was.We often used to sing ,be like Jesus,in the home and in the throng,well we can be ,by being considerate to others,in our homes ,in our jobs,in our churches,let us not always wait to be asked,or reminded,take the inititive
A prayer....../Dear God we thank for being so kind and considerate,help us to follow your example in Jesus name Amen /

Be ready. [ i Peter 3 v15-18 ]

My wife and I were out shopping ,when we suddenly and unexpectedly found ourselves being interviewed for channel four news. The interview lasted about 4 mins ,later in the evening we saw
ourselves on  TV ,me, giving an opinion,for about 8 seconds. I must confess when I was asked an opinion on a certain political point, I was not sure what to say.As I have written ,it all happened suddenly,and unexpectedly,it is in 1 Peter 3 v15, we read the following,/be ready always to give and answer to everyman that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you,with meekness and fear/.Now not many people do ask me for a reason for the hope that is in me,but if they did what would I say?./W Barclay/One of the tragedies of the modern situation that there are so many church members,
who, if they were asked what they believe could not tell anyone/. Next James points out if we gave an answer to the question,it must be in a spirit of meekness or gentleness,we are not out to beat the person in an argument,or to destroy them,but with an attitude that will correspond to what it means to be a Christian.Then W Barclay states,/The only unanswerable argument for Christianity is a Christian life. A saint as someone has said ,is someone whose life makes it easier to believe in God/
A  prayer....../Dear Father in Heaven,help us to be faithful in telling others about Jesus,grant that our lives may in some degree reflect the message, in Jesus name Amen /