The Christian hope.( Romans 5 v 2 )

'But now abide, faith,hope .and love',we read these words in 1 Corinthians 13 v 12, William Barclay says that these are the three great pillars of the Christian faith.Let us consider 'Hope'.I heard Billy Graham speaking on ,'you tube',of a conversation he had with Winston Churchill ,and how WC expressed great concern as to the state of the country and hr ask Billy what hope was there.Many people in this world live with no hope. The bible writes of  those who know not Christ as ,'having no hope and without  God in this world ( Ephesians 2 v  12 ) The bible speaks of ,' Christ in you, the hope of glory', ( Colossians 1 v 27), Jesus said I give unto those who trust Him eternal life, and they shall never perish  ( John 10 v 28 ). We will all die one day or another we have a wonderful hope that death for the Christian is a door into Heaven. Make no mistake only those who trust have eternal life, simple because only Christ death on the cross,deals effectively with sin, unforgiven sinners cannot enter into heaven, cannot.W. Barclay states,''the Christian is on his way, not to death, but to life''. The Christian has a sure and certain  hope that helps them face  death, as the old hymn declares,''I have hope that will surely endure after the passing of time.''

Growing faith. ( Psalm 119 v 105 )

Many people are like Thomas who said,''Unless I see'',(John 20 v 25 ),although it may sound different ,they cry out how can this be,not so long ago I spoke to a man on holiday.He had attended a Alpha course. He could not accept  the miracles, to him they were just made up stories that were  not real.In response to what Thomas said, Jesus said ,''blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed'' ( v 29 )That's the challenge  Christians must accept,the way of faith. Selwyn Hughes writes, ''A growing faith comes to see that it is God's world and believes it.As W.E. Sangster said,'not by shutting one's eyes to the apparent contradictions that are in the world but by believing that to God there are none', Faith is always at its best and is most robust when it is faith in the faithfulness of God.When we can see that the apparent contradictions only disguise the  love which burns  in all things, then we are really growing''.For our faith to grow,then we must feed as it were on Gods words  ,seek to understand Gods word,trust Gods word.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         How firm a foundation,ye saints of the Lord,                                                                                           Is laid for your faith in His excellent word,                                                                                               What more can He say than to you He hath said,                                                                                     You who unto Jesus for refuge have fled.

David ( 1 Samuel 28 - 30 )

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Starving Christians. ( Matthew 4 v 4 )

It is surprising and sad that some Christians never consistently read Gods word, and those who do read ,have  so little understanding of it.There are a number of things that we need to avail ourselves to,if we are grow spiritually,read and understanding Gods word,in Acts 8 v 26 - 40 we read how Philip met a Ethiopian who was returning home in his chariot,and was read from Isaiah 53 when Philip asked him the all important question, ''Do you understand what you are leading?''. He confessed that he needed someone to teach him.So for a short time Philip explained what the passage from Isaiah 53 meant,that it spoke of Jesus.The result was this man came to faith in Christ, I read this in one my daily devotions by C.S.Lewis who pointed out' that many people drifted away from their faith because they did not put their faith on the Word of God'. Jesus ,when he was starving after 40 days of fasting said,''man shall live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeded from the mouth of God. ( Matthew 4 v 4 )                                                                                                                                                                               Make Gods word your daily bread.

Fragile. ( Matthew 11 v 2 8 )

Sometimes I feel fragile,it may surprise us to to know how fragile some people are, having worked  with mentally ill people for 23 years, I am conscious that mental illness  can happen to anyone,it is an illness of the mind..We  only see the outside,hiding behind a mask,that gives us the impression that all is well. A sound mind is a great blessing be thankful that you have a sound mind,for  you would not want to suffer from a mental illness.Many people can not understand mental illness,and think people should pull themselves together. In its severest form mental illness,can effect some people so badly, that they become prisoners in their own homes.Many people who are mentally ill hear voices,usually a number of voices,or just one,and usually the voices or voice speaks very negative things to that person,they say awful things,swearing,nothing very nice.Then there are those who have continual nightmares,which effects their sleep pattern,when the person is deprived of sleep,the persons mental illness increases. They may feel that their is always someone trying to kill them, to them it is real,even though its not. Most people who are mentally ill  are not violent,but some are,especially if they stop taking their medication,sad to say that the violence is mainly to themselves,self harm,attempting suicide,and unfortunately succeeding in the latter. I am just trying to give you a little bit of insight to mental illness,let us remember they are people who need to be loved,for God loves them,and so should we.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Dear God have mercy upon those who are mentally ill,bless their dear families                                     as they do their best to support them,likewise bless those who work with people                                   with mental illness in Jesus name Amen.

Live it out ( Ephesians 2 v 10 )

Mary J. Evans writing about and how David acted toward King Saul,he would not harm him,even though the king  sought continually  to put David to death.David was tempted to kill king Saul,but did not yield to temptation. Mary writes the following,''Davids theology was,at least at his best times, not restricted to his poetry but was worked out in his life day by day.''  That is the challenge for all of us,it reminds us of what we are told in James 2 v 18, ''Show me your faith'', there must be from all of us the reality of our faith in our lives,or else our claim to be a Christian is fraudulent.Now I know that not one of us, is perfectly following the Lord, but we must  have that as our aim,if not we are fooling ourselves. Our Saviour challenged his listeners to believe  on the evidence of the miracles He had performed  (  John 14 v 11 ).So the challenge for us  is to be like David, to live out our theology in our lives day by day.

Life beats hate ( 1 Corinthians 13 )

'Life beats hate' is a title of a book written by Anthony Ray Hinton who was wrongly convicted of murder and spent 30 years on death row,where he learned an inspirational lesson,so read the article in a Readers Digest.It goes on to tell us how for the first few years he was consumed by hate, until he      he realised that ''hate was a choice'', and  one he didn't want to make anymore. The choice is not easy but it is the best choice, for all of us,may God grant us the grace to make the right choice.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Jesus prayed on the cross,                                                                                                                                 Father forgive.                                                                                                                                            ( Luke 23 v  34 )