I have had enough [ Psalm 43 ]

We considered Jacob yesterday ,now let us consider Elijah the prophet we read about him in 2 Kings 17ff. Yes he was a prophet,and a mighty prophet,
he was used by God to  challenge a king,that was no mean thing,for the king could have put him to death, and there times he sought to.Elijah challenged a king and a backslidden nation,he had been so brave and courageous.But there was a woman behind the throne called Jezebel,who sent him word that she was going to have him killed, this became to much for Elijah he fled for his life ,and ended up under a juniper tree, and he prayed for God to take away his life. He had,had enough,he had given up,there was no point of going on,he felt a deep loneliness, and worthless,in spite of all that God had accomplished through him.Yet the fact was God had not forsaken him,God heard his prayer, He fed him and and led him to the mount of God.On that mount Elijah, experienced being in a great storm,and an earthquake,these
elements typified how he must have felt.This was the darkest moment in his experience,and it was at that moment God gentle spoke to him,in a still small voice.It was not a voice of condemnation,a heartless pull yourself together voice,no its very tone was non threatening,and reassuring.Like Elijah we may have come to end of oneself,we want to give up,God understands,and would gentle reassure you that you are not on your own,
and that He loves you,that you are not worthless,that you are precious to Him.
                                    A  prayer.
                              Dear loving Heavenly Father.
                             Drop Thy still dews of quietness
                              till all our strivings cease;
                              take from our souls the strain and stress,
                              and let our ordered lives confess
                              the beauty of Thy peace.
                                 In Jesus name Amen.
                           [Words by J G. Whittier ]

Unquestioning submission. [Revelation 14 v 12 ]

Shakespeare wrote, /Have patience and endure/,the Bible has much to say on those two things,patience and enduring.In the book of Revelation we have patience mentioned a number of times,in 13 v 10 and 14v12,we read of the patience of the saints. These words were written to Christians who were suffering,and the necessity for them to patiently endure,to obey Gods commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.One commentator translates the word patience as steadfastness,he writes the following ,/This does not mean passively bearing things,it means ; it means courageously accepting the worst that life can do ,and turning it into glory/[W  Barclay].We all have need of the grace of God to cope,and endure, whatever trials ,difficulties
come into our lives.Be it an illness,a difficult marriage,loneliness, the slings and arrows of outrageous misfortune.All these and more ,if God so ordains ,in His sovereign purposes,then like our Saviour we bear patiently
and in that process glorify our Saviour.Kiddle writes of'' unquestioning submission to Providence,and trust', yes trust in one who will not suffer his children to shed a needless tear.
                   What though clouds are hovering o'er me
                    And I seem to walk alone,
                    Longing,mid my cares and crosses,
                    For the joys that now are flown,
                    If I've Jesus, Jesus only ,
                   Then my sky will have a gem;
                    He's the Sun of  brightest  splendour,
                    And the star of Bethlehem.
                     [Hattie M. Conrey]  

Moved with compassion .[Matthew 15 v32ff ]

Let us consider the miracle of the feeding of the 4000, [Matthew 15 v32ff ]it starts with Jesus saying to his disciples,'I have compassion on the mulitude'. Whatever   He did ,He did out of a heart of love and  compassion, never acting out of a cold indifference.He had been ministering previously to this multitude,performing many miracles, of healing, they had been with Him three days.He had helped many, but now He was going to feed a multitude,it is nothing to help with many or a few.I pray for many individuals,one group I pray for is my grandchildren,I have 13,I mention them all by name,and I end by asking to save them all.I have compassion on the multitude ,let us not judge,but let us act out of hearts of compassion,to all.They had been there three days,whatever food they may have had was gone,being poor they more than likely never had to much to eat, one never gets used to being hungry.Somehow in the providence of God the disciples found some fish and bread,Possible bread and fish would have been the stable diet of the people in Israel.From this meagre  amount Jesus would perform a miracle,the little we have if surrendered to Jesus, can be a blessing to many. Joseph Scriven only wrote one hymn,/What a friend we have in Jesus/,yet that one hymn has blessed millions of Gods children.
                                        A  prayer.
Dear God gave us a heart of compassion for all who are in need,help us to use whatever resources,we have at your disposal, in Jesus name Amen .

No reason [ John 15 v 18ff]

In  John 15 v 18, Jesus said,if the world hates you,keep in mind that it hated me first.Each day I pray for Christians who are suffering ,I often hear people say , words like this,they are suffering just for been a Christian,as if  this should not happen ,and that it is unreasonable and does not make sense.If you read John 15 v18ff you see that this should come as no surprise,because of what our Saviour taught,and experienced,in spite of all the good He did,he experienced continual hurt,and opposition which ended with Him being put on a cross,He summed it up ,they hated Me without reason[25]. Bruce Milne writes,' Being identified with Jesus makes opposition inevitable' Samuel Rutherford  experienced imprisonment as a Christian ,wrote,' God has called you to Christs side, and the wind is now in Christ's face in this land; and since you are with him you cannot expect the sheltered or the sunny side of the hill' I must confess I have not experienced little persecution or suffering for Christ,but if I do I need not be surprised
 ,because Jesus said it would happen.
                                       A  prayer.
Dear Lord you who suffered the awful hatred ,for no reason,help us not to be surprised if we likewise suffer, Amen.

Greater things.[ Ephesians 3 v 20 ]

Before our blessed Saviour would leave his disciples,one of the things He said ,/I tell you the truth,anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing,he will do even greater things than these,because I go unto my Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name,and I will do it/[John 14 v11-13 ] Now how should we look at these words,can we
do greater things than Jesus?.Well the Pentecostal people would say we can,but most commentators would  would see the greater things,in the future evangelization of the world. In other words in the conversion of souls,as B Milne writes ,/There is no greater work possible than the conversion of the soul/.Now I would agree with that,and yet it seems to me that our Saviour is leaving us with a challenge not only to evangelise,but to
also to believe that we should aspire,to pray prayers of faith,and actions of faith,in other words not to limit God ,[C P.  14 V14/15V7V16].
                                        A  prayer.
Dear God help us not to limit You,we ask that we may see answers to our prayers in evangelisim,answers in relation to difficulties,in relation to needs being met,in relation to sickness,whatever,in Jesus name Amen .

Money [ Matthew 19 v 16ff]

I was watching a program about the Faroe Islands,a small kingdom ruled by
Denmark,although it has a degree of self government.It has a small population,fishing is one of the main means of livelihood.It is a very inhospitable place,it is not a place where life is easy.But they love football,
again the weather does not make it easy,but as  I have said,they love it,not much money in it,yet one of the people being interviewed said  he felt things were going to change,the reason being was money.In 1 Timothy 6 v10,reads,/ For the love of money is the root of all evil/W  Hendriksen, translates it like this,/For a root of all the evils is the love of money/.
Consider it was a love of money that drove Judas to betray Jesus,consider
how many crimes are committed for money. A rich young man when faced with choosing money and the Saviour, he chose money[Matthew 19 v16ff]
It is a challenge to consider this subject,but it must be faced,whatever that means for you or me,I do hope and pray that we all make the right choice.
                                                A  prayer.
Dear Lord help us all to not let money become become something that we love .Amen.

Sad providences [Job 23 v10]

 J. Flavel author of ,/The mystery of providence/,wrote of sad providences,
that  even by the hands of these providences, God will do us good[Romans
8 v28]By these God is but killing your lusts,weaning your hearts from a vain world,preventing temptations and exciting your desires after heaven.
This is all the hurt they shall do to you,and shall that sadden us?/I  have found it so,consider how unrestrained certain lusts are in people.Paul the apostle declared that there was no good thing in his flesh[Romans 7v 18]
That being the case for all of us,God in his mercy,works in our lives,by sad
Providence's,be it through bereavement,poverty,unemployment,and a multitude of other happens.In our unsaved days these things run their course,no new years resolution did much to change us,Often God has to use severe means to curtail out thought patterns. Consider Job and all he suffered,yet this spiritual man,declared,/But He knoweth the way that I take
;when He hath tried me,I shall come forth as gold[Job 23 v10]God is in the
business of changing us,I read this recently,our happiness is not His goal,
rather He works in our lives to make us more holy. Contrary to what people
say as regards holiness,it is a blessed state,it is a happy state,a state of being free.
                                            A  prayer.
Dear God we bow to your will,we ask that you would perfect that which concerneth us,even though the process may be painful, in Jesus name Amen.