Outrageous Grace. [ Ephesians 2 v1-10 ]

Years ago I knew a lovely Christian lady, she was married to a man, who physically abused her. Saturday night was when he came in drunk, and beat her, it was a regular occurrence, later he became involved with another woman. Then he became unwell, was taken to hospital, and was dying, now they had three sons, one was a Christian, he became my friend, who was respected by all who knew him, even by his father. He visited his father in hospital, and shared with him the gospel, told him how he needed to trust Christ,his father said, I will do what you say son, and he did. We must never forget that Christ came into this world to save sinners, yes the drunkards and the wife beaters and those who are unfaithful. In the words of a Christian song,it is outrageous grace, and of course amazing grace.

                                              A prayer.
Dear God  we thank You for your amazing and outrageous grace that saves
sinners, through our Lord Jesus Amen.

Peace. [ John 14 v 27 ]

Recently I became very anxious ,did not know what was going to happen in
relation to a certain thing. Yes I prayed but found it hard, but I still managed to pray, when I had finished praying I sat down to do my thought for the day, the anxiety left me, and I felt peace. I often think about the apostle Paul
and all the things he had to cope with, He understood that one can so easily
become anxious,so inspired by the Holy Spirit, he wrote the following, when he was in prison,

                                    Do not be anxious about anything,
                                    but in everything, by prayer and
                                    petition, with thanksgiving, present your
                                    requests to God. And the peace of God,
                                    which transcends all understanding,will
                                    guard your hearts and your minds in
                                    Christ Jesus.
                                              [Philippians 4 v 6-7 ]

Clay jars [ 2 Corinthians 4 v 7- 18]

As he looked out at the what had been the path before him, all he could now see,  everything was covered with snow, and he felt panic taken hold of him.Then he heard the guide who had been  leading ,saying, keep your eye on me, and walk were my imprints are in the snow.  Often in life we feel panic filling our hearts, we look for a way forward, seemingly in vain.The
apostle Paul describes us as earthen vessels,jars of clay, I like those words
for it reminds me how fragile we all are, how prone we are to panic, and to despair. Now what I love about the apostle Paul, he tells us how it is,read
what he wrote, of the trials he suffered, never do you read of him saying, 'I don't need this'. He declares ,'Therefore we do not lose heart.Though out-
wardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day'.[2 Corinthians 4 v16] That inward renewal came from God, Paul wrote
be strong in the Lord and the power of His might[Ephesians 6 v10]As earthen vessels need to be filled with that power day by day. But we also
need to remember that we have a guide, even Jesus, so let us fix our eyes, [super glue our eyes] on Jesus.[Hebrews 12 v2].

                                              A  prayer
Dear God you know how fragile we are, easily upset, you know, so help and guide us in Jesus name Amen.

Justified. [ Romans 4 v 3 ]

'The just shall live by faith', so reads the scriptures, we read these word in [Habakkuk 2v4/Romans 1 v17/Galations3 v11/ Hebrews 10 v38.]So they are very important, when Martin Luther, read these word, it transformed his life, and so began the reformation. When the power of Rome was challenged to reform, they refused to bring the church in line with the scriptures. Which they still will not do , ' The just,' who are they?,well they are those who have put their faith in Jesus, to save them. In Romans 5 v1,
we read,'' Therefore ,since we have been justified through faith,we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.'' Now it is important we do not add anything unto those word, like good works,  I stress nothing ,it is
totally by faith in Christ that we are saved. It is not a church that saves us,
it is Christ, in Him alone, if one is not  trusting in Christ alone for salvation, then one is not saved. So what are you trusting in ?.

                                         A  prayer.
Dear Lord we praise you for saving us, that it is not I, but you who save,
                                           Amen.

Openness [ James 3 v13-18]

I have been thinking   about a certain situation, and it causes me concern,
because I believe it is not being done openly, and honestly. It appears to me
that the person in charge is manipulating the situation in a clever and underhanded way. Now the goals he is aiming at, are not evil, or wrong
but the manner in which he is doing this ,leaves me feeling uneasy. Yet it appears that there is nothing one can do about it, but that is the way it is in the world, but it should not be in the church of Christ. In the church of Christ we do not want those  who manipulate us, we want people to be open and honest with us with no hidden agenda. So what does one do? that is the question, we can challenge what is happening  in a way that is peace loving, impartial and sincere[James 3 v17].Most important in all things we should
pray, that Gods will may be done, for that's the most important thing of all.

                                               A prayer.
Dear God help us to open and sincere in all our deals, to remember we are not second hand car dealers, in Jesus name we ask this Amen.

Troubles. [ Psalm 55 v 22 ]

Recently two ladies who are Christians, deeply impressed  me how they coped. Their dear husband suffered, and they ministered, to them, until they went to be with the Lord . I heard recently about a dear Christian who was in a hospice ,who also manifested a wonderful reality, of Christ. In the word of God we have people being delivered out of trouble, sickness, and so many different trials. But we have many who had to endure trials,David,
Job, Stephen, Paul, John, and many others. Yes the others ,who were torture, faced jeering and flogging, were chained and put in prison. They were stoned, sawed in two, put to death by the sword ,went about in sheepskins, and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves, and holes in the ground.
[Hebrews 11 v35ff]A dear person I know, who is suffering a lot wrote the following prayer.

                           Dear God I  don't ask you to make my life
                           easier, but I ask you to give me the strength
                           to face all my troubles. Amen.


                                     

Daniel prayed [ Chapter 6]

I purchased a DVD, simply called Daniel, I have not viewed it yet, what a wonderful man he was. A  man in exile away from his beloved Israel. He had three wonderful friends, friends who did not drag him down, like Daniel they were also in exile, they were all bound together by their faith in God. They had to take a stand and that stand put their very lives in danger, Daniels three friends were thrown into a fiery furnace, Daniel was thrown into a lions den. They all survived, it does not always happen like that, but it can, miracles happen now and again Most of the apostles were martyred, our Saviour was murdered, likewise Stephen[  Acts 7].But then we have those who survived, God is sovereign, and our Lord knows what is best. remember He has a plan, for all our lives. Daniel was a man of godly habits, habits he would not surrender to anyone. Prayer was one of the  his key habits, and it got him into difficulties. His enemies sought to stop him from praying, we need to follow his example. How important is prayer  to us?, is  it, our vital daily breath. In Daniel 6,a law was passed forbidding anyone to pray except to the king, if they disobeyed,they would be thrown into the lions den. I wonder what you and I would do in that situation?. How important is prayer, Bible study, attending your local church ?.  It was important to Daniel, he risked his very life, left everything to God, the challenge for all of us is to make the right chooses

                                   Standing by a purpose true,
                                   Heeding God's command,
                                   Honour them, the faithful few,
                                   All hail to Daniel's band

                                   Many mighty men are lost,
                                   Daring not to stand,
                                   Who for God had been a host,
                                   By joining Daniel's band.
                                  
                                   Many giants, great and tall,
                                   Stalking through the land,
                                   Headlong to the earth would fall,
                                   If met by Daniel's band.

                                   Hold the gospel banner high,
                                   On to victory grand,
                                   Satan and his host defy,
                                   And shout for Daniels band.

                                   Dare to be a Daniel,
                                   Dare to stand alone,
                                   Dare to have a purpose firm,
                                   Dare to make it known.