Our only hope. [ 1 John 5 v18]

In my study of Johns Epistles ,I read  a very startling statement,  ''that the whole world is under the control of the evil one''[ 1 John 5 v19]There is no place on planet earth where his influence is not felt. In  the 20th century millions and millions of people died in wars and conflict, as many as 50 to 100 million died in such conflicts. The word of God is telling us that the powers of hell are everywhere manifested, and it is a destructive power, there is not one shred of goodness in it. John Stott wrote,'' the world is helplessly in the evil ones grasp, or as David Smith writes,'' the world lies in his arms''. Why is there so much hatred, were so many people do so much
evil?, why the holocaust?, why the suicide bombers?, why so many things we return to what the Bible states, that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. It is frightening ,I hope it at least causes you to  think, but mankind is not made up of innocent people, we are all born sinners, and that means we sin. It is that sinful nature of mankind that the evil one uses to accomplish his evil purposes. [ John 8v 34/44/ 1 John 3 v8]Now although these things are true ,we are told,'' The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil, we can escape from the devil's tyranny by
trusting Jesus as our Saviour. This world of mankind will not get any better
our only hope is Christ, your only hope is Christ.

                                          A prayer.
Dear God we thank you that Christ is the answer, the only answer to the evil
in the world and in our lives Amen

My enemy has appeared. [ Hebrews 13 v 5-6 ]

We have had a dry spell, then we have had some needful rain, but this has brought, an old enemy on the scene, the garden slug. Yes every gardener knows about this little enemy, of course the gardener faces other enemies.
Green fly, the black spot that appears on roses, they must not be ignored
As we face this day as Christians we need to on our guard against our enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil. An enemy is one who wants to do us harm, he may try and pull the wool over our eyes, seek to deceive us.
The enemies  Christians face wants to enslave us, but ultimately wants to destroy our spiritual well being. If we give into him we are only asking for trouble, serious trouble, all that glitters is not real gold, it may be fools gold.
Our enemies may pretend to be our friend, like Judas pretended to be the friend of Jesus, while all the time he waited his opportunity to destroy our Saviour. Here is the important thing we can by Gods grace defeat the enemies of our soul ,in our weakness we can be strong in the Lord.[Eph 6 v10],remember this is a spiritual battle the arm of flesh shall fail us[Judges
16v20] Let us remember we have a Saviour who is with us, when everyone
had forsaken Paul, he declared,' But the Lord stood at my right side and gave me strength''.[2 Timothy 4 v 16].

                           In heavenly armour we'll enter the land
                           the battle belongs to the Lord.
                           When the power comes in like a flood
                           the battle belongs to the Lord
                           When the enemy presses in hard do not fear
                           the battle belongs to the Lord
                            [Words by J. O. Collins]

The historical Christ [ John 20 v 1- 31 ]

Donald English writes as regards the Christ event,''Gospel ,as a world -changing event points to the essential historicity of the Christian good news.....Like the mountains or the landscape, the Jesus events are part of our
historical terrain. We can look back and know that it is there. You may ignore or abuse historical evidence : you cannot erase.'' Yes Christ was an actual person, yet what made those who followed Him go and die for Him?
The fact is, they did, only John lived into an ripe old age, the others died
violent deaths, one was skinned alive and then was beheaded. Why did they die for Him? would you be prepared to die a horrible death for someone
who was a fraud ?,of course not. Those who followed Him knew Jesus
personally, they witnessed the wonderful miracles He performed, they saw Him die, likewise   many others  saw Him after the resurrection, CP .1
Corinthians 15 v 1-11.Where all these people lying?, no, nor was Jesus, He
fulfilled the prophecies made about Him, CP.  Isaiah 7 v14/ 9 v6-7/ 53./
Psalm 22.All this Jesus fulfilled and much more, All these things convinced
the apostles to believe on Him as their Saviour, they believed in it so much
they were  prepared to suffer,and  to die for .Why do so many not believe
in Him, do you  believe in Him?.

                                           A   Prayer.
Dear God thank you for Jesus who was born of a virgin, who lived a Holy
 Life. who died and rose again, Amen.

Godly patience. [ Habakkuk 2 v1- 3 ]

As I was out walking, I noticed that the traffic was heavy, and then I heard some impatient person ,pump their horn.  It is Donald English, who writes,
''Spare a thought for the prophets who obediently spoke out but never saw the fulfilment of what they prophesied. Patience in Christians is part of our
response to the sovereignty of God. Only He knows the time, place and circumstance for things to happen in our lives.Often because we know some of the context we think we know it all. How often the moment must have seemed right to the prophet. But God knows better, the best answer to some of our prayers is 'wait', and sometimes 'no', not because God does not love us, but the time and circumstance are not just right. In a 'go-getting' instant
culture we do well to cultivate the Christian quality of patience,over against
the constant pressure for success, results and fulfilment.''

                                         A  prayer.
Dear God forgave us for being impatient, help us to believe that what you say, will come to pass , in Jesus name Amen.

GOOD NEWS.[ John 3 v16 ]

I am starting a study on the gospel of Mark, and suddenly the meaning of the gospel ,came home to me afresh, it means ,''Good News''. It goes without saying ,that there is so much bad news, so it is nice to hear good news. So we turn to the gospel, the good news, it is good for many reasons, God loves us . Are you feeling unloved?, so many people do, for many reason,rejection, abuse, betrayal, loneliness, and so it goes on. ,That liar the devil is saying to you ,your unlovable, your a failure, no one could love you. Lets stop right now listening to the devil and all his Lie's. My mother used to say you can never trust a liar, well you can't, she was right, so why do we listen to the lie's of the devil?. The good news to us all ,to you, spoken by Him who cannot lie, I love you, well you may say, how do I know you love me?.Let Him lead you to a hill far a way, to a special person hanging on a cross, his name is Jesus, and hear God speaking, that's how much I loved you, for that's my son hanging on that cross, that's how much I love you.

                                       A  prayer.
Dear God we praise you for the good news that you love us, in spite of how I feel, in spite of what that liar the devil tells me, thank you in Jesus name Amen.

Love and hate.[ 1 Corinthians 13 ]

In 2 Samuel 13 we read of Amnon a son of David who fell in love with his half sister. He ran with his desire, like him we will all have hidden  wrong desires, especially within the sexual realm, we can run with them,and
suffer the consequences, or we can by Gods grace resist them, we always have a choice. Well Amnon made the wrong choice, he lured his half sister
into his bedroom ,a friend had given him that advice, instead of seeing it as wrong ,he followed it. I knew a person who confided to a friend about the difficulties in his marriage, his friend advised him to get a mistress, he did
not follow that advice, and stayed faithful to his wife. When Amnon's
half sister, Tamar came into his bedroom he raped her. then things changed
we read that the love he had turned to hate, and he had her thrown out of his home. From one extreme to another, so many marriages these days turn
from love to hate, and divorce takes place, and they fight over the spoils,
and the children. Christians are not exempt from this, if only they were.
Let us pray for those effected by divorce, and for people who are trying to
keep their marriages together.

                                           A prayer.
Dear  God have mercy upon those who are having difficulties in their marriage, you know how love can turn to hate ,grant that this may not happen, for hate is a painful and destructive companion, in Jesus we ask this Amen.

Free at last. [ John 8 v 34- 36 ]

John tells us something that is very disturbing,''  that the whole world is under the control of the evil one''.[1 John 5 v 19].Yes one has just to read the history of the 20th century to appreciate what John writes. I thought on the darkness that mankind so readily embraces , to appreciate the darkness that is in this world. Who knows how dark it will become, who cares?, and yet God has not forsaken this world, and He causes good things to happen. For we read,'' For we know that we are children of God, and that God watches over His own[1 John 5 v 1],and keeps His own safe. Although Gods people do suffer, ultimately they cannot be destroyed.[Romans 8v 23ff] It is John Stott who writes,' There is no third category everyone is therefore either 'of God' or 'in the evil one'. There is no third category''
It is a very dark and awful state to be in, Yet here is the very, very good ,
news. ''The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work.
[ 1 John 3 v 8]We read these wonderful words of hope spoken by Christ,
'The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed  me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners, and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed'.
[Luke 4 v 18]Whatever pit ,whatever strangle hold the devil has on a persons life, Jesus can set them free.

                                           A  Prayer.
Dear Lord Jesus we thank you that you came to set us free from sin and the
devil,Amen