A cult. [John 14 v6]

 Following Jesus ever day by day,so goes the old hymn,and that's the challenge,there can be no days when this is not so.What does that mean for
us today?,being faithful,how vital that is in our Christian life,faithful to truth
,yes truth,we may change with the years,but truth does not. There is a world famous evangelist,who I respect,but am concerned that he may in his old age, is loosing sight of being faithful to truth.His son took exception to Mormonism being classed as cult.He said that using such terms is name calling,of course name calling is wrong,but the fact of the matter is they are a cult. Their religion is based on a falsehood the book of Mormon,the Christ they believe is not the Christ of the Bible,likewise many other things which they believe.
   Now in writing about this ,I am not nit picking,I am concerned that if we
are not clear on this,then the issue becomes unclear,people are drawn into
something that will not take them into heaven but to hell,it is as serious as that.
    I do not hate Mormon's,Moslem's,JW's, etc,but I do hate the error which they teach,my heart,and prayers go out to all mankind,that they may come to know Him who alone is the way the truth and the life,even Jesus.
                                       A  prayer
Dear God of truth as revealed in Your word,have mercy upon those ensnared in false religions,and deliver them,and bring them into Thy
kingdom, in Jesus name Amen.

Eugenics. [ Acts 17 v 24- 31]

In the 1930s America was infatuated with the pseudoscience of eugenics ,the science of improving a population by controlled breeding
in such a way as to increase the occurrence of desirable mental and physical characteristics. Now many in Britain were taken up with this also,but we will stick to USA,it is Laura Hillenbrand who writes the following ,/with its
promise of strengthening the human race,by culling the unfit,from the genetic pool. Along with the feeble minded,insane,and criminal,those so classified included  women who had sex outside of wedlock[ considered mental illness],orphans,the disabled,the homeless,epileptics,blind,
masturbators.Some eugenicists advocated euthanasia,and in mental hospitals,this was carried out on scores of people, forced sterilisation
 was carried on about 20,000 people.
     We sit in judgement on the Nazis who considered Jew's sub-human,
likewise the Japanese who considered the Chinese sub-human,but it
appears that many other nations considered much of humanity as sub-human.
      All this is far removed from Gods teaching,which teaches that,everyone is made in the image of God,and are precious in his sight,and it is in, we read ,that God loves the world[ Jn3v16].That means all the world, feeble minded,disabled,etc,all are precious in His sight.Jesus died for
the whosoever,that means you and me,whatever our condition.
                                         A prayer.
Dear God we praise for your non discriminatory love ,that reaches out to all,with the wonderful promise of forgiveness through accepting Jesus as Saviour,Amen.

Agape [1 Corinthians 13 ]

 We have a cushion with words from 1 Corinthians 13 printed on it,as I was having a time of waiting upon God,my eyes focused on the following,/Love beareth all things, other translations read,love bears up under anything and everything,or it bears everything with triumphant fortitude. George Matheson,who lost his sight,and who was disappointed in love,wrote in one of his prayers that he might accept Gods will./Not with dumb resignation but with holy joy,not only with the absence of murmur, but with a song of praise./a writer adds to this by saying,because a fathers hand will never cause his child a needless tear.
      The Christian life brings with it a unique challenge,in a marriage  that is difficult,with child that is rebellious,and so the list goes on,and in all the
challenges,we are called on to love. That special love which we Christians call agape,a love we undeserving people have received from a loving God.
This love is manifested when we look on Christ,nailed to cross,we must make much of that love,but we are challenged,likewise to manifest such love.
     So today Jesus is calling us to bear all things ,in love,even if it means a cross.
                                   A  prayer.
Dear Lord we confess that to bear any difficulty is hard and yet You are challenging us to bear all things in love,help us by your grace to face this challenge Amen.

Shaddai. [ Isaiah 54v 7-8]

   The Almighty hath dealt very  bitterly with me,declares Naomi,but the question is this, was she bitter?. It is a good question,it is D Atkinson who
points out that the word used for Almighty is Shaddai,and that in Genesis17 v1, God reveals Himself  as  God Almighty.He reveals Himself as the God
 who can transform man's helplessness into blessing,for mans good and His glory/.
    Again what  D A. writes,/ It is as if Naomi is saying,/ You can see the bitterness I have experienced,the famine,the bereavements,the questions,the partings,the apparent hopelessness,but I know God as Shaddai,and I can leave the explanation, and even the responsibility,for this bitterness.
    We  only can rise to this by faith,or we can let the bitterness blind us,
control us,if we do this every day will be called lemon day.So whats it to be?,only you can answer this question,if we choose to let the bitter things
make us bitter,we will never move on from it,we will be stuck in that groove for the rest of our lives,it will in fact be a life sentence.
      Let us turn our thoughts towards Shaddai,the one who can transform
our helplessness into blessing,for our good and His glory. He understands how we feel ,not only understands but desires to bless us, There is a hymn
 written by the blind preacher George Matheson,it reads, Oh love that wilt not let me go,yes He loves us even in our bitterness, Matheson goes on to write,/O  joy that seekest me through pain. I cannot close my heart to Thee.
I trace the rainbow through the rain.And feel the promise is not vain. That morn shall tearless be./
                                            A prayer.
Dear God our Shaddai,we come to you,and ask for Grace ,to not become bitter,when experiencing bitter things,in Jesus name Amen.

Every joy or trial. [Job 2 v 10 ]

  I was visiting a friends home,and my friends wife had made marmalade, a
preserve made usually from oranges It is a favourite with people in this country, especially at breakfast time,on toast.Well I tasted some of my friends wife marmalade,but it was bitter,it appears she had added lemon to the marmalade,I do not like bitter,my taste buds prefer a less bitter taste.
   I am reading the book of Ruth at this time,and of course one of the main characters in the book is Naomi. Now she is a lady who experienced a great
deal of suffering,having to leave her home,live in a heathen land,her husband died,and then her two sons died.She returns home after a period of 10years,and when she returns,the folk there ,asked,are you Naomi?,and she replied call me not Naomi[  meaning pleasant] call me Marah[which means
bitter].
    Then she gives an interpretation , / For the Lord has dealt very bitterly with me,/she did not put her suffering down to chance but to a sovereign God. Every joy or trial falleth from above,traced upon our dial,by the Sun of Love,so wrote the hymn writer.It was the godly Job who declared,shall we
receive good at the hand of God,and shall we not receive evil,and then it adds,in all this Job did not sin with his lips.[ Job 2 v10]
                                       A  prayer
Dear God  we thank You that your will is perfect even though it may mean
a painful experience Amen.
    

The dark side. [ Isaiah 50 v 10 ]

It is David Atkinson who writes of the dark side of Gods providence-that some of our pains seem unbearable,some of the circumstances so unjust,
some of our questions stay without answers./ A local couple I know lost there sixteen year boy,a lovely Christian lad,another couple I know lost their only boy doing a paper round.Many Christians are been wiped out by
Islamic groups,and so we could gone on,these are the dark sides of Gods providence.
   I  feel that these things are not dealt with by many ministers,and in some ways these things are Gods mysterious ways,which we may this side of
eternity never fully understand.This little verse touches on this......
                               Not till the loom is silent
                                And the shuttles cease to fly,
                               Shall explain the reason why
                              The dark threads are so needful
                               In the weavers skillful hand-
                                  As the threads of gold and silver
                                In the pattern He has planned.
  D Atkinson writes of Naomi[ in the book of Ruth],who suffered s great deal, he writes , / Faith,we are to learn from Naomi,sometimes means a willingness to leave such questions in the mystery of God,in the confidence that in the brighter days he has shown Himself  trustworthy/.
                                       A  prayer.
Dear God grant us grace to trust You in the dark times in Jesus name Amen.
                  

Providence [ Romans 8 v28 ]

 I am thinking these days on the providence of God,and how important it is never to loose sight of it..David  Atkinson in his commentary on Ruth,says a number of helpful things,as to Gods providence. He contrasts the worlds view of things,whose eyes see only the flow and counter-flow of events and experience's,their minds can discern no pattern or meaning ,they have lost hold of,or never reached out to grasp,the hand of an unseen God who rules all,plans all, and whose purposes give meaning to history both on world and individual level.
    He continues,/Christians  have believed that God not only created the world so that we His creatures are dependent on Him for our exsistence,He also sustains and rules  His world, so that we are continuously dependent on Him for life and breath and everything.
    Now it is a wonderful truth,that as Christians we need to hold unto to,if we do we never feel that Jesus fails,but that He never, never fails.If we truly believe in Gods providence as revealed in scriptures,then we as  David
Atkinson says,we will believe that God cares, rules,and provides.
                                         A  prayer
Dear God we worship You,we rejoice in sovereign power ,in working all things according to Your will,and for the good of Your people, in Jesus name Amen