Fierce may be the conflict. [ Hebrews 13 v 3 ]

We were singing that old hymn, ''Who is on the Lords side'', written by Frances . H. Havergal,in our fellowship, when we came to the words,''Fierce
may be the conflict''. My thoughts turned to what I read recently, about a
Christian in India, who lived in Tamil Nadu state. He was  lured out of the fellowship he attended, and found himself surrounded by five men. He sought to escape from them, but they gave chase, he took refuge in a local
church building. The men followed him in ,and killed him with sickles and 
other sharp instruments. This is not an isolated incident, by Hindu extremists, many Christians face harassment and opposition, in life threatening situations. Yes for many Christians, the conflict is fierce, because they follow one who said that He only was the way the truth and the life, and that no one can come unto the Father but by Him[John 14 v6 ].
                                             A  prayer
Dear Lord help those who are suffering for you, comfort the loved ones who
have been bereaved, and gave grace and courage to those who daily face
painful situations, in Your name we ask this Amen.

Stealing [ Ephesians 4 v 28 ]

I went to the store to purchase a audio cd, I  looked in the usual place, but could not find that section, I asked an assistant, who informed me where they were. They were situated  behind the girl at the till, I spoke to her and she informed me they had to be moved because people were stealing them, I did managed to purchase one. Shoplifting is a big problem ,I wonder how great a problem stealing is in our country?. In some Islamic countries people caught steal have hands cut off as a punishment, now I believe that this is cruel, but it makes me wonder if it was practised where we live, how many people would be walking about with no limbs?, not that I would want that.The word of God tells us we should not steal [Exodus 20 v15],in other words it is a sin, it takes many forms, Internet fraud, stealing from the vulnerable, the old and elderly, stealing from employers. Stealing is wrong, but it is a reminder to us all that we as human beings are sinful fallen creatures, we all to some degree, steal from God, instead giving Him the glory we want the glory, and so we become thieves.
                                         A  prayer.
Dear God have mercy upon us thieves, preserve us from the sin of stealing be it another persons husband or wife, or whatever. Help us to see that it is not just an evil thing to do, but that it is a sinful thing , and like all sin it has dire consequences, in Jesus name Amen.

Sin has a price tag.[[Romans 6 v23 ]

Derek Tidball,writes what a famous manager said, his name was Bill Shankly,'' Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I don't like that attitude. I can assure them it is much more serious than that''. As I have been studying the book of Leviticus, the seriousness of sin, is shown to be very important, and we must see this,as DT,writes ,''obedience to God is a life and death matter''. He further writes,'' Sin is not a neutral activity in which we can ever indulge Nonchalantly, it always entails a price....sin has a price tag''. In the book of Leviticus it is clearly spelt out what was required by God, it is summed up in one word obedience. Both in the ceremonial, and in the moral activities, if you disobeyed you would be judged, wrath would fall. God has not changed, He who is holy, He abhors sin, when we sin we are playing with fire, for God we are told is a consuming fire
[Deuteronomy 4 v24 ].In fact there are many places where God judges by fire, and indeed when Christ returns it will involve  a judgement of fire, CP
2 Peter 3 v 7-10,and in that final judgement, we read of death and Hades being thrown into the lake of fire.[Revelation 20v14 ] Many people in the
sexual area seek to rationalise what they are doing ,from a purely human point of view. Instead of realising it is how God views our actions. If you are doing this then beware, you are playing with fire,
                                         A prayer.
Dear God when we go our way, there is a cost, that  road leads to destruction, eternal separation from a holy God, today you would call us to forsake our sin, enter the narrow way, which begins at the cross of our Lord Jesus Amen.
                                       

Anger. [ Colossians 3 v 8 ]

I read this today,'' Anger doesn't help'', the fact is anger is often wrong, and very destructive. There was an old movie ,called,'' Look back in anger'',well
I can look back and see so many times I was angry. Now Jesus was angry, but it was righteous anger[CP Mark 3 v1-6],I wish I could say that the many times I have been angry was righteous anger, I get angry at some things, the
injustice that people perpetrate on others, the weak the vulnerable. I am not going to confess to you those outbursts of anger that I have shown, but I do know that often it was not right, and I had to seek forgiveness. In Ephesians
4 v26 -27,we read,'' In your anger do not sin, Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold''. Yes we all
feel anger at times,but the danger is, where will it lead us?, and our enemy can use it to cause us much harm. Many people are doing many things ,
wrong things, because they are not only angry, but out of control. Out of control anger can easily destroy, can easily ruin us, If we are prone to angry outbursts, and out of control,then we must seek God to help us, to change,
for the truth is ,anger doesn't help.
                                         A  prayer.
Dear Lord help us as regards our anger, help us not to make excuses, but to face up to the wrong, that comes from our anger, and grant us grace to repent, grace to change and be like our Saviour, who when they hurled insults at Him, He did not retaliate,when He suffered, He made no threats
Instead  He intrusted Himself to Him that judges justly,Amen

It is impossible.[ Matthew 16 v 18]

I recently saw a movie called ,''Silence'', I did not realise what it was about,
but when I viewed it, I discovered it was about a moment in time when Christianity  was introduced into Japan. Many professed to be Christians. But the powers that be ,sought to eradicate it, which to some extent they did, with much cruelty. I was sharing this with one of my sons, and he said that their is a museum in Japan, which has a collection of  Samurai swords,
it was discovered that a number of them had, Christian symbols on them. It
reminded me of the times that Elijah the prophet lived, when a weak king
reigned, who had a wife called Jezebel. She was a heathen ,did not believe in Israels God. Not only did she not believe in God, she had many of Gods servants killed. The situation was so bad that Elijah the prophet thought that he was the only one left.[ 1Kings 19v10],but it was not so, God told him that there were seven thousand who were still faithful followers of God.[  v18 ] The history of Gods church ,from beginning to this present time, has been that of persecution, but no matter how the powers that be, try as they may, they will never be able to eradicate Christs Church.
                                        A prayer.
Dear God we bring before You, those countries where persecution of your people is taking place. Help your dear people not to despair, to be faithful
yes even unto death, in Jesus our Saviours name we ask this Amen.

Punishing evil.. [ Luke 23 v 39-43 ]

Let us continue to look at the subject, of God punishing evil, we highlighted
 the Israelites actions towards the inhabitants of the promise land. God used
Israel as His instrument to bring His judgment on those inhabitants. He uses
whatever He wants as His instrument, to punishment, whoever He wills. He used water, fire, sickness, and people to bring judgment upon those whom he wills. It appears that judgement can be avoided if only people genuinely
repent and seek His forgiveness,[ Jonah 3 v10].The case of King Manasseh
is a wonderful example of a very ,very wicked king, whom God dealt with, by having him taken captive, taken to Assyria with a ring in his nose, bound by bronze  chains. In his captivity he turned to God and humbled himself, the result God forgive him and restored him as King[ 2 chronicles 33 v1-17]
Yes God will punish sin, but He will also forgive the sinner, no matter how evil they have been ,if they but turn and seek forgiveness. We must never take forgiveness for granted, a man called Heinrich Heine said,'' God will forgive me, that's His business'', that is His business, but it must never be taken for granted, never. There must be a genuine seeking of God ,a godly repentence, we are not playing trivial pursuit.
                                           A  prayer.
Dear God we thank You that there is forgiveness when we ask Jesus, to save us ,when we sincerely, and humbly come to You Amen.
in Jesus name Amen
                                       

Punishing evil. [ Romans 1v18 ]

Is it wrong to punish wrong doers?, most of us would agree that wrong doers deserve punishment, that is why we have prison's.  Now another question do you  think it is wrong for God to punish people because of their sin?. Well it appears He does, He destroyed the ancient world by sending a massive flood.[  Genesis 7/19 v12ff.  Acts 5 v1-11]Now there are those who have problems accepting, that God punishes sinners. I know there are those
who judge Israel for destroying the inhabitants of the promise land, we read about this in Joshua. They equate what they did as genocide , so they liken it unto Hitler and his destruction of Jews, or what happened in Rwanda. But
the fact is Israel acted on Gods command, it was not something they thought
up themselves .[CP Joshua 6 ]Why God had Israel destroy the inhabitants of
Canaan was a long delayed judgement foretold by God to Abraham [Genesis 15 v16].Many years would pass before this judgement would take place. Instead of repenting of their evil they grew more and more sinful. and so judgement fell.
                                       A  prayer.
Dear God forgive us for judging You and your righteous judgments in Jesus name Amen.