Who or what are you trusting?.[[Psalm 121 ]

In Isaiah 36 v5, we read the following,''Now on whom dost thou trust?'',it is a good question,people are trusting on many things,on their wealth,on their power,whatever.It is Spurgeon who writing on trusting God,as the one we should all be trusting in, writes the following,''Oh blessed trust,to trust Him whose power will never be exhausted,whose love will never wane,whose kindness will never change,whose faithfulness will never fail,whose wisdom will never be nonplussed,and whose perfect goodness can never know a diminution. Happy are those who trust in Him, so trusting
thou shalt enjoy sweet peace now,and glory hereafter,and the foundation of
thy trust shall never be removed''
      
                                Leave God to order all thy ways
                                And hope in Him whate'er betide;
                                Thou'll find Him in the evil days
                                Thy all sufficient strength and guide,
                                Who trusts in Gods unchanging love
                                Builds on the rock that nought can move.
                                        [Words by Georg C. Neumark ]
                                                            

Professing and showing Christ. [ Matthew 7 v 15-23 ]

While on  holiday in Malta,I visited a museum,it showed a  grisly history of
that small Island.The tortures that where inflicted upon people by political,and religion authorities, the political involved those who ruled over the Island,it showed the wickedness of  Islam,on Christian slaves,but it
also showed the awful wickedness by the Roman Catholic church.It mentioned the Spanish Inquisition,I noticed a poster on the wall of people being tortured,a religious  priest looking on,it was awful.One asks the question how can those who claim to be Christians,involve themselves in such cruelty?,but they did,even though it was most diffidently wrong.In England people were burnt at the stake,the people who did the burning were
supposed to be Christians,but can it be possible that one can be religious,
and ,for the life of me I don't see what they did can be reconciled to being a
Christian.And yet it brings a challenge to all of us who profess to be  know
Christ,to live lives, that are in keeping with  being his followers.
                                            A  prayer.
Dear Lord we leave to your judgement those who profess to be yours,but we ask that you would help us all to live in a manner that reflects you in everything, Amen.

Holy Spirit. [ Galations 5 v16-26 ]

While on holiday we decided to go to the cinema,considering what was being shown,I choose one,feeling it may a good story to it.It was rated a 15,
and I sensed it may not be suitable,but I over ruled those feelings,and so we went. Sure enough it was totally unsuitable,and after about 10 minutes we
got up and left.My underlying feelings had been right,what caused those
feelings?,I believe it was the Holy Spirit, and He was right as He always is
,again I was reminded again of the importance,of His prompting.We are told
to live by the Spirit,and to be led by the Spirit[Galations 5v 16-18],after all we as Christians,are indwelt by the Spirit.Whereas before we became a
Christian,we did what took our fancy,and would be drawn into all sorts of things,things that were unhelpful and detrimental to our well being.We left the cinema but other young people didn't,what they watched would not have been helpful to them,and effect them.I am not judging them,but am concerned for them.The challenge for us who know Christ,is to not leave ourselves open to wrong influences,be it movies,or whatever,and that is why we need to be  people who are led by the Spirit.
                                    A  prayer.
Dear God,help us to live by your Spirit,and to be led by Him,when He speaks and prompts us,in Jesus name Amen.

Doing good. [ Matthew 5 v16 ]

It was John Wesley who instructed his congregation to,'Do all the good you
can.By all the means you can.In all the ways you can. In all the places that you can. At all the times you can. To all the people that you can. As long as ever you can.'We read in Acts 10 v 38,that our Saviour went about doing good,of course we must stress that nothing we do, can  save us,we are saved by Gods grace.The vital work that saves us ,is the work Jesus did on
the cross,and that alone,we cannot add a plus to His saving work.In Ephesians 2v8-9,we are told that we are saved by grace through faith[in Jesus],not  by works,so that no one can boast.But  it goes on to say we have been created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.So as Wesley said, let us do all the good we can,so that we glorify our Heavenly Father.
                                            A   prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father help us to glorify you in these lives that you have saved ,by doing good works in the name of Jesus we ask this Amen .

We will not sneeze. [Psalm 31 v15 ]

One of my favourite books is the autobiography of Martin Luther King,JR.
along with what he did,which called for such courage,he said so many meaningful things.He had to face so much,to help the Black people of America,he tells how a black demented woman stabbed him,he was rushed to the hospital ,the X ray showed that the tip of the blade was on the edge
of the aorta,the main artery.If  punctured,his life would have ended,one report said if he had sneezed ,he would have died.He goes unto to say how if he had sneezed,he would not have been around to see the Civil Rights Bill
being brought in,and many other things of great importance,and ends by saying',Im so happy that I didn't sneeze,'I believe God raised that man up
for a purpose,and until he fulfilled that purpose he would be preserved. In
Ecclesiates 3 v2,we read ,'there is a time to be born and a time to die',and until that time for us to die,we will not sneeze.
                                        A prayer.
Dear God we thank you that our times are in your hands,and until that time comes for us to die,we will not sneeze,in Jesus name Amen.

Shut and open doors [ Revelation 3 v 7-8 ]

In Acts 16 we read how the apostle Paul and his companions were kept from preaching the word of God in Asia ,by the Holy Spirit,then later when they tried to enter Bithynia,the Spirit of God stopped them[ v6-7] Then Paul
had a vision of a man from Macedonia,begging him to come over and help them[v10] It is a man call A,T,Pierson who writes of double guidance,on the one hand prohibition and restraint,on the other permission and constraint
He goes unto mention examples of this,Livingstone tried to go China,but God sent him to Africa instead.Before him,Carey planned to go to Polynesia in the South Seas,but God guided him to India.Judson went to India first,but was driven on to Burma.Pierson concludes,' we to in our day need to trust God for guidance and rejoice equally in his restraints and constraint's this
reminds me of my own experience,I initially felt God was wanting me to go
to different places,such as Brazil,but God led me to Grays,much to my
surprise,the fact as John Stott puts it ,'some doors close,others open'
                                         A  prayer.
Dear God lead us in the way we should go,shut the doors that we are not meant to go through,and open up the door we should go through,in Jesus name we ask this Amen.

Why?. [Proverbs 3 v 5]

Why oh why do people not accept creation,and accept what one would call
pure scientific view?.Recently I watched a DV of a very qualified man putting across  a strong argument for creation.Again another why?,why do the JWs not accept the deity of Christ?,one has had many conversations with them,and it all appears to be vain,they appear to not want to listen. Oh I know the god of this world has blinded then so that they refuse to accept the plain truths of Gods word. The difference between the scientist/JWs and the Christian is they are rationalist and we are not,I am man of faith,faith in Gods word,faith in God who created all things from nothing. The difference is very simple,one group are rationalist, I am not,They will only accept what
they feel is rational,whereas the Christian enters into another realm,God has
granted by his grace faith to me and indeed all Christians.Without faith one cannot know God, faith means that we trust in the Lord with all our hearts and lean not upon our own understanding[Proverbs 3 v 5]
                                        A  prayer.
Dear God so many dear people choose to wholly  lean upon their own understanding,and feel they are safe,help them to see the road of faith
is best,and that it begins with Christ,and leads to a wonderful destination
Amen.
                   [ I will return to my blog on Tuesday 11th every blessing]