Do you love me more?. [Matthew 16 v24-25 ]

A dear friend told me of his early Christian experience, how when he told his parents, he had trusted Jesus, they became very antagonistic. They had a
very bad opinion of  Christians, believed them to be all hypocrites. And so started a time severe testing for my friend, as they tried with all their means
for him to give up being a Christian, and this increased when he told them he was going to be baptised, the result was he became homeless for short time. My friend got married to a fine Christian, he went to Bible college, and became a minister. When his parents became old things changed, his mothers attitude softened, and he managed to gave her a Bible. His dad became very ill, and he was able to witness to him,and just before he died, my friend prayed a simple prayer of salvation, and his father became a Christian.While we are to honour our parents, we must honour God first, and while we are to love our parents ,we are to love Christ more.The devil can use our nearest and dearest to turn us away from being a Christian. Even our Lords family thought He was out of His mind[Mark 3 v21 ],the people he had grown up with ,were offended at Him[Mark 6 v3]. Peter rebuked Him for revealing that He was going to suffer and die [Matthew 16 v21-23 ].And of course the religious establishment ,hated Him and crucified Him.

                                       A  prayer
Dear Lord help those who are suffering for your sake, grant unto them the
grace to not give up. Amen

Be honest. [Galatians 5 v22-23 ]

In one of my devotional reading, the writer is ministering on the fruit of the Spirit, there are five qualities ,they are, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.[Galations5 v 22-23 ]
It is Selwyn Hughes who writes'' Most of us[myself included] might
acknowledge that a few of these qualities are operational in our lives.........
To have some without the others is to be a lopsided Christian''. Well join the club, I am afraid that I am a lopsided Christian, it is important to be honest with ourselves, and with God. Honesty is not only the best policy ,for the Christian, it must be the only policy. If we are addicted to some sin ,some habit, some characteristic, that is controlling us,affecting our well being,
affecting our relations with others, and especially with God, then it is time,
 to stop making excuses, stop thinking of self, be honest  ,go look in the mirror, and see beyond the outward, yes I am talking to us ,who are Christians, for we are good at putting on a show.Let us look at the characteristics, of the fruit of the Spirit ,and let us stop fooling around. A great saint prayed, 'make me as holy as saved sinner can be'.

                                         A prayer.
Dear God we thank You for saving us, yes we are sinners saved by your
grace, but Lord we want to progress in our relationship with You, so help us to be honest before You, perfect that which concerns us, that we might be more like our Saviour in His name we ask this Amen.

Perfection [ Philippians 3 v12-14 ]

There are people and they are perfectionist, their gardens must be perfect,
their homes must be perfect, and so on. I do not know how far they may take it, I do try to do my best, I have in my time had to do the decorating in my home, I am not to bad at painting but not at wallpapering, I am not the perfect driver, indeed let me think about it, I am not perfect at  anything. I have just started playing indoor bowls, and I am useless at it, no, perfection does not run in my genes. Now I am Christian a long time so I should be  perfect, always loving, always holy, but of course I am not.'' Selwyn Hughes wrote'', A truly Spirit- filled Christian demonstrates in a balanced way the qualities of  love, joy .peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,gentleness and self control. These are the fruit of the Spirit, [Galatians 5 v22-23 ] I hear myself saying,if only that were true in my case. It is our Saviour who said,  ''Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly father is perfect''[Matthew 5 v48].This is an exhortation, and must be taken seriously, even though we will never attain this perfection till we get to Heaven,There should be a hungering and thirst after righteousness,  striving after that godly perfection. Martyn Lloyd Jones , He writes that there should be a certain likeness of our Heavenly in all His children. It is in that striving after holiness  ,that prayerful crying unto God our father, to do His perfect will.
                                     A  Prayer.
Dear God grant unto us all that desire to be holy as you are holy in Jesus name Amen]

He has made all the difference. [ Psalm 23 ]

I was out shopping, and a young fellow on  the till spoke to me, his face was familiar, it turned out he had for a while attended the church I attend. But alas he was not attending any church at this time, not sure why, but he did mention problems. I found myself  saying,'' Better to have Christ with you, and to not have Him,'' The fact is being a Christian, does not mean ,you will not have problems, the nature of life, involves problems, none of us can escape this reality. Just read the Bible and you find many followers of God
facing sorrow and tears, loss and injustice. But what they did have ,was the presence of Christ with them, and that makes all the difference. In other words we face no problems on our own, his abiding presence, His comfort,
His resources, His peace, His grace, are working for our good .His Spirit
will enable us to cope, and irrespective of the problems He loves us, and will continue to love us. He will remind us that there is a better day coming
that perfect day ,in which we will never have any problems, worries and cares.
                                      A prayer.
Dear Lord we thank you for being our Saviour,Lord, and Friend, we could never have managed without you, you have made all the difference. Amen

Need a soul doctor ?. [ Isaiah 53 v 4-5 ]

When it comes to the human condition spiritually, it can be seen as being  sick. It  is the prophet Isaiah who gives a graphic description of the nation of Israls as being dire, here is what he said, chapter 1 v5-6.
                               Your whole head is injured
                                and you whole heart afflicted
                                From the sole of your foot
                                to the top of your head
                                there is no soundness
                                only wounds and welts,
                                 and open sores,
                                 Not cleansed or bandaged
                                  or soothed with oil.
Jeremiah describes man's heart as being ,deceitful above all things, and beyond cure.[17 v9]. We hear the phrase ,''He/ She, is sick, to describe a person who commits awful things Our Saviour spoke of the religious leaders as being blind, [Matthew 15 v14]. There is an old phrase comes to mind, that sums up humanity's, condition ,that of being a sin sick soul . Now no earthly physician can deal with that sickness, of course people do not appreciate their awful condition spiritually . But when they do there is only one who can heal, the sin sick soul, that is Jesus. It is interesting the account of the lady healed in Mark 5,the word healed in v23,could also mean be saved. Likewise in verse 27 the lady,'' if I just touch his clothes[Jesus],I will be healed, can mean ,'' I will be saved''. So in the words of an old hymn, reach out to Jesus and He will, ''Heal your wounded broken spirit''.
                                     A  prayer.
Dear Lord Jesus we thank you ,that you are the only one that can heal and save our sin sick souls, Amen.
                              

                           











                               

Still my heart has Thee. [ 1 Samuel 30 v 6]

Just a follow on from yesterdays reading as regards the disciples in the storm with Jesus in Mark 4 v35-41,and further comment by Donald English.
''At the personal level there is a deep lesson to be learned from the stilling of the storm incident. For the disciples it should be enough to be with the Lord, whither life's seas are running smoothly or not. Forms of Christianity which encourage and promise a life of continual success, excitement and growth
will not only lead to frustration and despair; they actually point the disciple
towards the wrong goal in the Christian pilgrimage. It is enough that Christ
goes with us on our journey. We do not judge his care for us, nor the state of our discipleship, by the roughness of the seas over which we sail.' We rejoice in the Lord', not in our current circumstances, as Paul made clear to the Philippians [ Phil 3v 1 ]

                       When from my life the old time joys have vanished
                       Treasures once mine , I may no longer claim,
                       This truth may feed my hungry heart, and famished;
                       Lord ,You Remain Here, You are still the same.

                       When streams have dried, those streams of glad refreshing-
                       Friendships so blest, so free;
                       When  sun-kissed skies give place to clouds depressing,
                       Lord, You Remain Here, still my heart has Thee.

                       When strength has failed, and feet, now worn and weary,
                        On happy errands may no longer go,
                       Why should I sigh, or let the days be dreary?
                        Lord, You Remain Here, could you more bestow?

                       Thus through life's days-whoe'er or  what may fail me,
                        Friends, friendships, joys, in small or great degree
                       Songs may be mine, no sadness need assault me,
                        Lord, You Remain Here, Still my heart has Thee.
                                      [Words by J. Danson Smith ]

  

Peace be still [ Mark 4 v35-41]

Writing on the calming of the storm in Mark 4v 35-41,Donald English writes the following, but let me remind you of the background,'' Jesus was in a boat, asleep when a severe storm arose ,those seasoned fishermen in the boat became very alarmed, went to Jesus and woke Hip up with the words,'' don't you care if we drown?' 'Jesus arose and stilled the storm, and challenged their lack of faith,  they were terrified at this, and wondered just who Jesus really was.'' D .E. writes,'' They needed him to do things; he wanted them to trust him. His very presence amongst them was all they needed to survive'' So let us put ourselves in the disciples situation, and ask the question, can we , are we prepared to trust Jesus in every circumstance,  are we going  panic or are we going to trust him?, what's our answer?

                             Master the tempest is raging,
                             The billows are tossing high,
                             The sky is o'ershadowed with blackness,
                             No shelter or help is nigh;
                             ''Carest Thou not that we perish?''
                             How canst Thou lie asleep,
                             When each moment so madly is threatening,
                             A  grave in the angry deep.

                             The wind and the waves shall obey My will,
                             Peace ..........be still.
                             Whither the wrath of the storm -tossed sea,
                             Or demons, or men, or whatever it be
                             No waters can swallow the ship where it lies
                             The Master of ocean, and earth, and skies,
                             They all shall sweetly obey My will;
                             Peace be still, Peace be still,
                             They all shall sweetly obey my will,
                             Peace ,peace , be still.
                              [Words .....Mary A Baker ]