Until then. [ Philippians 3 v 8- 14]

I appear to be dreaming more, the other night I dreamt of someone I knew years,as I woke I thought on my past life,as a young man. The fights I got into,that aggressiveness and sillyness,the lonliness I felt,as I think upon the
past of my childhood,I realize if I had only continued to follow Jesus,I did trust Him as a child,went away,came back,went away.What a fool I was,if only,I had not gone away,life would have been better,and I would have been a better person.Yet God was faithful,and in His mercy I came back,and my life changed,oh yes I have had to battle,with mindsets of the past,still am
battling,and by His grace I will continue to battle.Through many dangers  toils and snares I have already come,tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,and grace will lead me home.I am not a prisoner of my past,I do have many regrets,but I am not the person I once was,I am not the person I should be ,but one day,I will be.So until then my heart will keep on singing,
until then with joy I'll carry on,until the day I see that city,until then I'll carry on.
                                          A  prayer
Dear God thank You for rescuing us from our past,for helping us day by day,and the changes you have made in our lives,and for the grace to carry on,until that day we reach that city,to be with our wonderful Saviour. Amen.

Fools. [ Hebrews 11 v 36-38]

There he was standing holding a large board,with a Bible verse on it,he was just standing there.So I went over to him,introduced myself,and he told me that he had been a Hindu. He told how he had become a Christian,he had cancer ,and he tried to take his life,but God wonderfully intervened,and spoke to him,and he became a Christian.So there he was witnessing for Jesus,it challenged me,as it should challenge us all.We are all called to be witnesses [Acts 1 v 8 ],have we forgotten this?,are we neglecting this?. In
Acts 8 we read how the church was suffering persecution,the result was the Christians were scattered everywhere,but they did not retreat ,they preached the word.I read of many Christians who are in prison,and yet they continue to be a witness.When Paul and Silas where thrown into prison,they were a witness,and people got saved[Acts 16v24-34 ] The never ending challenge is to be a witness for Jesus,are we prepared for that. I am sure there are many who looked at that young man and thought he was a fool,yes he is a fool for Christ sake,God needs more people who will be fools for His sake.
                                       A  prayer.
Dear God bless that young man's witness for you,help us all to be witness
for You,even if we are considered fools,in Jesus name we ask this Amen.

Confession time. [Psalm 51]

                       Jesus take as I am,I can come no other way
                       Take me deeper into You,make my flesh life melt away.
                        Make me like a precious stone,crystal clear, and finely honed
                       Life of Jesus shining through,giving glory back to You.
                           [Words by Bryant]
I want us to consider the words of this song,it is a song of confession,a song of desire, it is a song of surrender ,and it is a song with an aim. Song of confession,he writes of his flesh life,that carnal side of his nature,where does our flesh life manifest itself?.The apostle Paul,[yes the apostle Paul],
wrote,/For I know that in me[that is in my flesh]dwelleth no good thing.
[Romans 7 v18].Have we not all felt the power of our flesh life?, I have,
everyday it rears its ugly head.I see what no else sees,nor would I want anyone else to see.But I see,and I know God see's,when our parents sinned
they covered themselves with fig leaves,and then they hid,from Him who see's everything[Genesis 3]. No there must no attempt by any of us to try
a cover up,or to think we can hide from Gods holy gaze. So lets not fool ourselves,and let us not fool around,but lets us come,confessing all to Him
who loves His imperfect,and flawed children.
                                       A prayer.
Holy God and Father,we come just as we are,confessing that we have lingered over fleshy thoughts, impure thoughts even in the most sacred times when speaking to You.We do not always think aright,speak aright,do aright.So often we follow afar off,lingering behind,because of our cold hearts,and weak desires,in your great mercy forgive us,through your Son Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen
  [PS. My computer skills are limited,so please make allowances ,for any faults you may see , when I publish my thought for today,I am not awhere how to put things right,every blessing]





                                                              

Looking unto Jesus .[Hebrews 12 v 1-3 ]

Stephen was the first martyr of the NT church,of course there had been many martyrs in the OT church.We read of Stephen in Acts7,his death sparked of a great deal of persecution, for the early church,this persecution was laid by a man called who later became a Christian.As to Stephen ,he
was arrested ,and brought before the Jewish authorities,there he preached a wonderful sermon,full of deep spiritual truths,of a people favoured by God,
and yet a people who time after time forsook God, a people who persecuted
the prophets,but it did not stop there,for when the promised Messiah came, they not only rejected Him,they had Him crucified.The more he spoke the more angry they became,It was W.Barclay who wrote, /But Stephen did not see their faces distorted with rage. His gaze had gone beyond time and he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God/ when he said that they rushed upon him and took him out and stoned him to death.Those words are a
challenge to all of us who may be enduring persecution,sickness,difficulties,
even death,like Stephen we must with the eyes of faith,look to Jesus. The book of Hebrews was written to people who where struggling with so many trials,so the writer of that great book,exhorts them, to cast of every hindrance,and to look unto Jesus, who endured the cross,despising its shame,because the eternal glories which he would enter into[Hebrews 12 v 1-2],so the question is for all us,where are we looking?.
                                               A  prayer.
Dear Lord Jesus we turn our gaze to you this day,to your glory,and the glory
that awaits us, Amen.
                                               

Ugly. [Matthew 22 v37-40 ]

I read on the internet of a young girl who was voted one of the ugliest girls in her school this was shown on face book. One wonders why would people do such thing,they maybe think they are being funny,but they are not,they are being cruel.Yet it goes further than this ,they are sinning,every time we are unkind,and hurtful,in anyway we are sinning.An unkind word,and unkind look,a failing to help others in need,a putting oneself before others,To succeed at the cost of anothers well being,to trample down others  ,because we can ,to refuse to help someone in need when
we can.When we gossip and spread rumours about others,all these and more are sinful,we are told to love others,yellow black and white,poor, rich,and
whoever,the downtrodden,the refugee,the vunerable,those who are vunerable,the successful,and the failures.Love others as ourselves,to even love our enemies,to bless them that curse us,to do good to them that hate us,
and pray for them which despitefully use us,and persecute us[ Matthew 5 v44].Going back to that young girl,who was called ugly,will she sin by not loving those who have tried to hurt her?,if she doesn't then she is sinning.
                                           A  prayer.
Dear God who is love,you who loves us all,inspite of the fact that people
are your enemies,help us to love,help us to love,in Jesus name Amen.
.

What is that light? [ Psalm 23]

The days during this time of the year are dark and dreary,the trees are naked
and bare,such are the seasons.Our life is like the seasons,and while we may fly of to sun drenched places,the seasons we experience in our lives can not
be avoided.I know some Christians who are going through seasons of pain,
cancer is ravaging,their bodies,and death looms up.This applies to everyone
no amount of money,no position of power can change this,it is part of the human experience.These seasons of pain are reminders of the extent of sin
on this world.I am convinced that most people even many Christian,fail to appreciate the truly awfulness of sin.Jesus knew,he knew that the only answer,to mankind's awful condition ,was the awfulness of His death on a cross. From the awful darkness of Calvary,light eternal shone forth,hope came,that light would lighten our darkness.The dreary dark seasons of our lives,could be transformed,my son Brian,speaking on the 23rd Psalm v3,as regards walking through the valley of the shadow of death,said where there is a shadow there must be light.What is that light?,well David says,I will
fear no evil for you are with me.The you, is none other than Jesus who is the light of the world,who says to all who trust Him ,I am with you always.
                                Standing somewhere in the shadows you'll
                                find Jesus.
                                He's the only one who cares and understands,
                                Standing somewhere in the shadows you'll
                                find Jesus.
                                And you'll know Him by the nail prints in His
                                hands.

Jesus .[ Matthew 1 v 21 ]

I was at a church meeting and I was told that the former leader was called Manasseh,he came from Africa. Seemingly when Calvin was in Geneva,
all children when baptised had to have Biblical names.A father wanted his
son called Martyn,but the priest baptised him Abraham.I called one of my sons Evan,which would be alright in Wales but we lived in England,and so he suffered,from the other children,making fun of his name.I like my name,William Alexander, now of course ,names usually have a meaning.
Take the name of Jesus ,it means, the Lord saves,my study Bible says,
'Jesus came to earth to save us,because we can't save ourselves from sin and
its consequences.No matter how good we are,we can't eliminate the sinful nature present in all of us. Only Jesus can do that,Jesus didn't come to help people save themselves He came to be their Savior from the power and penalty of sin.' So when you hear that name mentioned remember its meaning,and what that means to you personally.
                                       A  prayer.
                             Come ,Thou long expected Jesus,
                             Born to set Thy people free.
                           From our sins and fears release us,
                              Let us find our rest in Thee.
                                   [Words by Charles Wesley ]