Richard Dawkins is a very brilliant man, but he is an atheist,as one looks at certain religions one can see how some people reject a belief in God.Yet because there are hateful cruel people in Islam ,and even those who come under the umbrella of Christian.Yet the spurious does not invalidate the truth that there is a God,likewise there are political systems that are cruel
and wicked,but that does not mean we reject all politics. There are Christians and there are Christians,being a Christian means we are to manifest the life of Christ in our lives.Unfortunately we do not always do this,but many do,many Christians manifest lives that are evidence that they have trusted Jesus. Now of course no matter how Christlike we may be,people may still hate us,dislike us,and reject what we believe. Today let
us who know the Lord seek to be the light in the darkness,forgiving others
who have hurt us,helping the helpless,to hurt no one with our actions,or words,and when we can to speak the truth in love.
A prayer.
Dear God in world of distorted images, help us to shine,help us to reflect
a true likeness of Your son Jesus. Amen .
Saturday, 17 January 2015
Friday, 16 January 2015
Who needs suffering? [John 17 v1 - 5 ]
Charles Parkhurst said,/Great faith is exhibited not so much in doing as in suffering/. This is something that we may not want to hear, after all who
wants to suffer? no one,yet consider Him whom we follow Jesus.How did He bring blessing upon us by His suffering.Consider the faith of Paul the apostle that was manifest through his suffering ,CP,../2 Corinthians11v
23ff,/12 v7 -10/Davids life was no bed of roses ,read his life in 1 Samuel 18ff. Consider the lives of the prophets ,Jesus spoke of the prophets who had been stoned and killed [Luke 13 v 34].Consider Daniel and friends who where faced with horrendous ,suffering,also dear old Job,who lost his children,his possessions, and his health[ Job 1 -2]There have been lovely Christian that I have known who exhibited great faith, a brother in my home
church ,lost his lovely wife when they went to Brazil as missionaries. He experienced the same symptoms as his wife and was told he must leave Brazil or he would die,he stayed,and God blessed his ministry in a wonderful way.
Are you suffering ?have faith in God ,trust Him for the necessary grace
to serve and to follow your Saviour.
A prayer
Dear God grant us the grace to rise in faith so that whatever may come our way we may glorify our Saviour Amen.
wants to suffer? no one,yet consider Him whom we follow Jesus.How did He bring blessing upon us by His suffering.Consider the faith of Paul the apostle that was manifest through his suffering ,CP,../2 Corinthians11v
23ff,/12 v7 -10/Davids life was no bed of roses ,read his life in 1 Samuel 18ff. Consider the lives of the prophets ,Jesus spoke of the prophets who had been stoned and killed [Luke 13 v 34].Consider Daniel and friends who where faced with horrendous ,suffering,also dear old Job,who lost his children,his possessions, and his health[ Job 1 -2]There have been lovely Christian that I have known who exhibited great faith, a brother in my home
church ,lost his lovely wife when they went to Brazil as missionaries. He experienced the same symptoms as his wife and was told he must leave Brazil or he would die,he stayed,and God blessed his ministry in a wonderful way.
Are you suffering ?have faith in God ,trust Him for the necessary grace
to serve and to follow your Saviour.
A prayer
Dear God grant us the grace to rise in faith so that whatever may come our way we may glorify our Saviour Amen.
Thursday, 15 January 2015
Live so lightly. [ Job 1-2]
I read of a young Christian couple,they had just had a mortgage,to buy there first home,but they where concerned that material things would not weaken their love for their Saviour.They wrote out a prayer,which they often prayed.
/O God, who has given us so richly of this world's goods to enjoy,help us to live so lightly to them,so wholly to You,that were they all removed tomorrow,we would scarcely notice the difference/
Lets be very honest many of us would find it hard to pray that prayer,
and yet many Christians in the world are faced with loosing all their possessions as they face persecution,have lost their homes and possessions.
So many of us whole tightly to what we have,not appreciating that all we have is just borrowed,it is in Gods hands, as Job declared,the Lord gave,and the Lord hath taken away,blessed be the name of the Lord .[ 1 v 21].His wife had a different attitude,as she goaded him to curse God and die [2v9 ]
I wonder if I lost all would I be like Job,or like his wife?.
A prayer.
Dear God we confess that we appreciate what You have given us,help us not to hold unto them to tightly,in Jesus name we ask this Amen .
/O God, who has given us so richly of this world's goods to enjoy,help us to live so lightly to them,so wholly to You,that were they all removed tomorrow,we would scarcely notice the difference/
Lets be very honest many of us would find it hard to pray that prayer,
and yet many Christians in the world are faced with loosing all their possessions as they face persecution,have lost their homes and possessions.
So many of us whole tightly to what we have,not appreciating that all we have is just borrowed,it is in Gods hands, as Job declared,the Lord gave,and the Lord hath taken away,blessed be the name of the Lord .[ 1 v 21].His wife had a different attitude,as she goaded him to curse God and die [2v9 ]
I wonder if I lost all would I be like Job,or like his wife?.
A prayer.
Dear God we confess that we appreciate what You have given us,help us not to hold unto them to tightly,in Jesus name we ask this Amen .
Wednesday, 14 January 2015
Bit risky [ Acts 16 v31]
A lady of 101 came to know Christ,she mentioned to her minister the wonders of a person coming to the Lord at 101,he thought for a moment,then said ,bit risky.It is wonderful when we read of death bed repentance,I witness to someone not so long ago,,within a few weeks they had passed away.I can only hope that they had trusted the Saviour before they died.The Bible continually stresses the importance of giving an urgency to a response of the Gospel.Isaiah 1 v18,urges us to come now
We are told ,behold now is the accepted time, behold now is the day of salvation[2 Corinthians 6 v2 ].When it come to salvation it is of the utmost importance that we see the urgency ,of trusting Jesus as our Saviour. There is an old fashion word, procrastination,it means putting of ,we can apply this to jobs half done,I will finish it tomorrow.Putting of to tomorrow is a game we all play,sometimes it can cause real problems,like not renewing ones car insurance. Salvation must never be put of to tomorrow
because of the consequences,of not trusting Jesus,those consequences are horrendous,remember some more convenient day may never come,
A prayer.
Dear God help us all to see that knowing Jesus as Saviour is an absolute necessity ,if we are to be saved from a lost eternity,Amen .
We are told ,behold now is the accepted time, behold now is the day of salvation[2 Corinthians 6 v2 ].When it come to salvation it is of the utmost importance that we see the urgency ,of trusting Jesus as our Saviour. There is an old fashion word, procrastination,it means putting of ,we can apply this to jobs half done,I will finish it tomorrow.Putting of to tomorrow is a game we all play,sometimes it can cause real problems,like not renewing ones car insurance. Salvation must never be put of to tomorrow
because of the consequences,of not trusting Jesus,those consequences are horrendous,remember some more convenient day may never come,
A prayer.
Dear God help us all to see that knowing Jesus as Saviour is an absolute necessity ,if we are to be saved from a lost eternity,Amen .
False religion. [ Revelation 2 v 14- 16]
In the OT we read of the worship of Baal,here is few thoughts on this worship, the word Baal means Master,Lord,Possessor or even husband.
Gordon Bridger in his book writes,that Baal is seen not as a personal,but
rather an impersonal force.Now this Baal was a god of man kinds own making,it is a god that appeared to be suited to the people who followed it.
Baalism was a sexually corrupt religion.
It has touches of Mormonism,or even Islam with their multiplicity of wives,
they had cult prostitutes ,who did not do it for money,but in obedience ,and devotion their god. As I observe Islam it saddens me at what their religion demands of them.
Baalism was a frenzied religion.
You see this in 1 Kings 18,where we see Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal,to pray to their god to send down fire to burn up a sacrifice.So we read they got themselves in frenzy that they leaped upon the altar,they cried aloud,and cut themselves with knives,but to no avail.Consider the prophet Elijahs response, a simple prayer,and fire came down ,and burnt up everything.
Baalism was a cruel religion.
There was the real possibility that they practised child sacrifice,It is sad how cruel some religions are,even those who classed them selves as Christian,were very, very,cruel,the Spanish inquisition is an example of this.
Christianty surely should never be cruel,after all Christ was never cruel.
As regards religion there are many options,unfortunately,as G Bridger
writes ,false religion has no eternal significance,in other words it will
never save.
A prayer.
Dear God preserve us from false religion, no matter how it is dressed up,
in Jesus name Amen.
Gordon Bridger in his book writes,that Baal is seen not as a personal,but
rather an impersonal force.Now this Baal was a god of man kinds own making,it is a god that appeared to be suited to the people who followed it.
Baalism was a sexually corrupt religion.
It has touches of Mormonism,or even Islam with their multiplicity of wives,
they had cult prostitutes ,who did not do it for money,but in obedience ,and devotion their god. As I observe Islam it saddens me at what their religion demands of them.
Baalism was a frenzied religion.
You see this in 1 Kings 18,where we see Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal,to pray to their god to send down fire to burn up a sacrifice.So we read they got themselves in frenzy that they leaped upon the altar,they cried aloud,and cut themselves with knives,but to no avail.Consider the prophet Elijahs response, a simple prayer,and fire came down ,and burnt up everything.
Baalism was a cruel religion.
There was the real possibility that they practised child sacrifice,It is sad how cruel some religions are,even those who classed them selves as Christian,were very, very,cruel,the Spanish inquisition is an example of this.
Christianty surely should never be cruel,after all Christ was never cruel.
As regards religion there are many options,unfortunately,as G Bridger
writes ,false religion has no eternal significance,in other words it will
never save.
A prayer.
Dear God preserve us from false religion, no matter how it is dressed up,
in Jesus name Amen.
Tuesday, 13 January 2015
Sucked in. [Joshua 7 ]
There is a little children's song which goes,/Be careful little eyes what you see,there's a Saviour up above, looking down with tender love . So be careful little eyes what you see/ The eye is called the gate to the soul,or simple the eye gate,it was that man of God who made covenant with his eyes in relation to not look upon girls,the A V, adds that,why should I think upon a maid ?[31 v1].The looking may seem innocent enough,we can easily say there is no harm in looking,but as Job well knew there can be.If we look on certain things our mind,heart can be effected.There is a song which goes,just one look that's all it took,David the man of God,the man after Gods own heart looked on a naked lady,and he descended into being scoundrel.Achan[Joshua7] looked on material riches,then he coveted them, then he took them,and brought disaster upon the nation,his family,and himself.People can get into so much trouble by simple looking and then running,.How many people have gone into car sales room,just to look,and they end up buying a car,they did not want,or need.
So let us take to heart the words of that little chorus, /Be careful little eyes what you see,/,remember it only takes one look.,and we end up like
David,or an Achan,or in debt.
A prayer.
Dear God help us to keep a guard on our eyes,help us to not be sucked into
lust,and all that,this means in Jesus name Amen .
So let us take to heart the words of that little chorus, /Be careful little eyes what you see,/,remember it only takes one look.,and we end up like
David,or an Achan,or in debt.
A prayer.
Dear God help us to keep a guard on our eyes,help us to not be sucked into
lust,and all that,this means in Jesus name Amen .
Monday, 12 January 2015
A lovely word. [ Isaiah 9 v6]
I was just reminded of a lovely word while studying it is mainly used in the OT. it is Shalom it means peace. / Shalom means more than a ceasing from hostilities, or the ending of a conflict. Shalom is a word that conveys wholeness. It embraces peace with God, and wholeness in relation to him,it
conveys harmony in our relationship with other people,and peace within ourselves./[ G .Bridger]
Let us be honest, so few know such complete wholeness,is it possible?
one would like to think so.This peace must come from God and Him alone,it begins when we embrace the Prince of peace, Jesus.It is Vine who points out that Shalom is often rendered salvation,[ Gen 26v 31/41v16]
hence the peace offering is called the salvation offering. The wonderful thing that Christ sacrificial offering on the cross did was deal with sin,
until that happened peace with God was not possible. This happens when we trust Jesus as our Saviour,as we read in Romans 5 v1 .Therefore being justified by faith,we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
When that happens then truly we experience Shalom, wholeness,that peace that passeth all understanding.
A prayer.
Dear God we thank that we can know peace through Your son Jesus .Amen
conveys harmony in our relationship with other people,and peace within ourselves./[ G .Bridger]
Let us be honest, so few know such complete wholeness,is it possible?
one would like to think so.This peace must come from God and Him alone,it begins when we embrace the Prince of peace, Jesus.It is Vine who points out that Shalom is often rendered salvation,[ Gen 26v 31/41v16]
hence the peace offering is called the salvation offering. The wonderful thing that Christ sacrificial offering on the cross did was deal with sin,
until that happened peace with God was not possible. This happens when we trust Jesus as our Saviour,as we read in Romans 5 v1 .Therefore being justified by faith,we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
When that happens then truly we experience Shalom, wholeness,that peace that passeth all understanding.
A prayer.
Dear God we thank that we can know peace through Your son Jesus .Amen
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