I don't like . ( 1 Corinthians 6 v 12 )

I often wondered what Augustine meant when he said ,'love God and do what you like'.and so recently a person told me something,that threw light on it. A coal miner from Yorkshire  who was  a hard drinker,and  a tough person, got saved,he trusted  Jesus as his Saviour,the result was he stopped drinking,and he was changed,stopped going with his  friends for drinking sessions . Then one day he met an old friend,who  asked him why he stopped seeing him,and stopped going  to the their drinking hunts.So he told him he had become a Christian,so the man, said to him,so now you can't do this, and you can't do that.No its not like that,replied his friend I can do whatever I like. Well said the man, why have you stopped drinking , and his friend said, because I do not like it anymore.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,                                                                                                               he is a new creation, the old  has                                                                                                               gone, the new has come.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      ( 2 Corinthians 5 v 17 )

God is merciful . ( Lamentations 3 v 22 - 23 )

One of the most common words I use when I pray is, 'mercy',it is so important when we approach God, to remember  we are approaching a God who is holy.When we come into His presence  we can only come  by His mercy,and because of Calvary,we can come to a Holy God.We cannot demand anything from God,we can plead ,that in His mercy we may receive  that which we ask.God may choose not to answer, because we have a wrong attitude,We read how God humbles us by His mercy, to teach us valuable lessons (  Deuteronomy 8 v  2 - 4 ). Who stands in need of Gods mercy?, everyone without exception, because we are all sinners, and all sinners are enemies of a holy God.No matter how kind we are on a human level, our relationship with God is flawed. The only way we can have a relationship with God  is by His awesome mercy, and this mercy comes to us through Jesus. Now of course God has not forsaken this world, He is a faithful creator ( 1 Peter 4 v 19 ),and our dear Saviour reminds us that God the Father causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and unrighteous. ( Matthew 5 v  45 ).That is the general mercy of  God to all mankind,of course the many do not acknowledge Gods mercy in anything,instead of His goodness turning them to Him,they deny His existence, and refuse His offer of salvation in His son Jesus,and so will eventually suffer the consequences of their wilful  sinful attitude towards a holy and merciful God.

The record's clear today. ( 1 John 1 v 7 )

The world is in debt ,it is a bit frightening when you hear the sums nations owe, and of course many people our in debt.I am sure if there was such a thing as a debtors prison, as there was in Victorian times, they would be full to overflowing,Charles Dickens father ended up in such a place. There is a wonderful Christian ministry called ,'Christians against poverty', CAP as it is known..Serious as it is to get into debt, the Bible tells us that the whole world is accumulating another kind debt,and its a debt we cannot pay, I am reminding you of the consequences of our sin,every time we sin,our sins our recorded in heaven, in Revelation 20 we read of two books,one was a record of all the sins we have ever committed ,judgement will be passed,and all whose sins are not forgiven, will be cast into the lake of fire , where they will spend eternity.One could call it the book of  death,There is another book called the book of life,all who have trusted Jesus and  received forgiveness of sins,they are no longer as it were in debt , saved from judgement and the wrath of God.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Well, there was a time on earth,in the books of heaven,                                                                            That an old account was standing,for sins unforgiven,                                                                              My name was at the top, there were many things below,                                                                           But I went up to the keeper,and I settled it long ago,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Long  ago, yes long ago, ( I settled it all)                                                                                                  I said the old account was settled long ago,                                                                                              And my record's clear today,He washed my sins away                                                                            And the old account was settled long ago.                                                                                                        ( Words by Johnny Cash )

Living by faith ( Philippians 4 v 19

Living by faith as I said brought its challenges, to get enough  enough to feed us on ,often I prayed those words we all know,yet may not know what it was like to have no food, in ones home,' give us this day our daily bread'. God met our needs ,there were times we received gifts from an anonymous donor, one man in our church used to give me two pound most weeks,small but very important. A friend in the church had a caravan which she allowed us to have a holiday,we wondered why there was swelling on the ceiling ,we soon found out,when it rained.A friend came and picked us up to bring us home, her name was Helen ,and she left us some shopping,another need met. The fees for college were reasonable, I was not living in ,but we had no money, but God provided,and when we finished ,we did not owe anything.I sought not to ask people for money, but we prayed ,and as our Saviour said,'ask and you shall receive.During one college recess I did voluntary work in the south of Ireland, doing personal evangelism, it was a step of faith,I had to leave my wife and children at home,when I came home my wife Eileen told me, how one day there was no food in the house  ,by faith she took a shopping bag out, trusting God to fill it ,as she went out the door, a friend came with a gift..

Reckless faith. ( Hebrews 11 v 8 )

One of my boys has just received a call to the ministry,it means leaving a well paid job, for a lesser paid job. I was speaking to him on the phone ,and he mentioned the day before the church  was going to meet and pray and anoint him, he was becoming a bit anxious,but the next morning he felt a peace.He mentioned the words of a song that spoke to him,called 'Reckless love'. Then I spoke to him about reckless faith, what do I mean by that?,well I thought of my calling, how I left my job to go to Bible college.I had no grant ,I had no money ,I mean it, I had no saving.I had then three children,and so started a reckless faith. Humanly speaking it was reckless thing to do,but for 4 years we lived by faith,trusting God ,and of course our faith was tested. It was a reckless thing to do , based on a reckless faith in a God who calls us to trust Him.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   His call we obey like Abram of old,                                                                                                         Not knowing our way, but faith makes bold,                                                                                             For though we are strangers we have a good guide,                                                                                 And trust, in all dangers, the Lord will provide.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        (  John Newton )                                                     

I am blest ( Hebrews 13 v 5 - 6 )

I often wonder as regards the words of an old hymn ,which says,'now I'm happy all the time', I wonder can any Christian honestly sing those words.Are we not being deceptive?, but we want win people to Christ,so we sing ,'now I'm happy all the time'. But we are are not happy all the time, but what I can genuinely say,I am truly blest all the time. Why is that? because Christ is my Saviour ,and that makes all difference,in sad times,the hard times, the difficult times. We all have those times, I know this wonderful truth whatever times I am going through, He is with me,and I can assure you from the bottom of my heart,that He makes all the difference.His love never changes,He will never leave me ,I stress the word never . He is my anchor, my rock, my shelter in life's storms,my  comforter in sadness,my  guide, my protector,my provider,and He is my best friend, as I said I am blest.

Preserved ( Psalm 31 v 15 )

                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Plagues and death around me fly;                                                                                                             Till He bids, I cannot die;                                                                                                                           Not a single shaft can hit,                                                                                                                           Till the God of love sees fit.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            (  Words by John Ryland  )                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Because of the evil the Midianites had done C P. Numbers 25, we read  in chapter 31,that God commanded Moses to take vengeance upon then , he was told to  send into battle a thousand men from each of the tribes of Israel.This was done, and the Midianites were defeated, the officers over the army came to Moses,to offer a thanksgiving offering, because of the 12,000 Israelites who had  gone into battle, not one had perished. The  Lord in His sovereignty had preserved them,what a miracle,12 ,000 and not one had died, no wonder they offered a thanksgiving offering.When I was little boy,I remember so well,I was drowning, and was rescued, like those 12,000, God in His incredible mercy preserved my life.  I am now 74 years of age, how have I survived till now?,by eating certain foods going to bed early, no ,the answer is ,God.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    You will not fear, the terror of night,                                                                                                           nor the arrow that flies by  day,                                                                                                                 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,                                                                                           nor the plague that destroys at midday.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         A thousand may fall at your side,                                                                                                               Ten thousand  at your right hand,                                                                                                               But it will not come near you.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              ( Psalm 91 v 5 - 7 )