Through it all. ( 2 Corinthians 12 v 7 - 10 )

There are reasons if we are a child of God, that trials,afflictions come into our lives,after all God is sovereign, and as the hymn writer wrote, 'Every joy or trial, falleth from above'. We are not God's playthings ,we are his children, and He loves us,he will not cause us to experience   needless pain.It is in that blessed  book of the Psalms we read,'It was good for me that I have been afflicted', how many of us can say that?,why was he able to say those words?,well here is what follows,'that I may learn thy statutes'.There is gospel song which was very popular years ago,called ,'Through it all',the last verse and chorus  reads,'I thank God for the mountains,and I thank Him for the valleys., I thank Him for the storms He bro't me through.For if I never had a problem I would-n't know that He could solve them, I'd never know what faith in God could do.  Through it all. Through it all, I've learned to trust in Jesus, I've learned to trust in God; Through it all, Through it all, I've learned to depend upon His word'

Amazing ( 1 Corinthians 1 v 18 - 31 )

It is amazing that God met with this man of dubious characters, this man became a child of God, His name means, deceives,and he lived up to his name, cheating his brother out of his fathers blessing ( CP Gen 27 ) that is why his brother wanted to kill him. Yes it was Jacob who was chosen by God to be one whom God would bless with many descendants,who would be granted the promised land,and from his descendants the Messiah would come.and through that Messiah all the nations of the earth would be blessed. ( Genesis 27 v 14 ) Al this would come through this Jacob, Gods ways are past finding out, but Gods ways are perfect. He chooses the poor of this world,( James 2 v 5 ), the foolish,the weak, the lowly,and the despised,that is you and me. None of us can boast, to God alone be the glory,it truly is amazing.

A pillow. ( Psalm 23 v 1 )

I have for a while been suffering with a sore neck,caused by the pillows I have slept on, I have just purchased pillows filled with duck feathers and down,this is third lot of pillows I have purchased ,here's  hoping they will help eradicate my neck pain.In Genesis 28 we read of Jacob who left home in a hurry,because his brother wanted to kill him.He was instructed to leave where he lived by his mother and father,and go to a place called Haran, to his mothers relatives. He  obeyed them and set of  on his journey , on his way  there he rested at a certain place,to sleep for the night.,and he used as a pillow a stone.( rather him than me).During the night things began to happen,he had a wonderful dream from God, in which the Lord spoke to him and promised to bless him and his descendants.  when he  awoke he realised God had met with him.It is significant that God met with this man on his own, Joyce Baldwin writes ,' no longer was the Lord the God of his father,but Jacob's own God'.Remember our fathers God, our fathers Saviour must become our God and Saviour.

Ichabod ( Revelation 2 v 5 )

Recently another denomination  voted to allow same sex marriages, so that makes two,these two denominations have been experiencing a steady decline in attendance.Many of there ministers could be called liberals,in other words they are weak in relation to biblical beliefs .Why has this happened?well the so called ministers have all been trained at the Bible colleges,I was fortunate the college I attended was true to God's word,so the question one needs to ask,are those colleges faithful to God's word, I strongly doubt it. It is a tragedy that so called Christian leaders have run with error.What every Christian must realise that when they fail to be true to God's word,there are  consequences .The Psalmist declared ,''Do not let me stray from your commands'', (119 v 10 ). It is the word of God that is a lamp to our feet, and a light for our path'(  Psalm 119 v 105 ) . We never come to the  place as Christians, where we can  ignore God's word, if we do, we will wander from the truth.One of Israels greatest kings did that,a man endowed with godly wisdom, his name was Solomon, it was he that brought disaster upon God's people . ( CP 1 Kings 11) When we forsake God's word , our epitaph will be ,'Ichabod' , meaning .'God 's glory has departed'.  ( 1 Samuel .4 v  21 )

One Day. ( Revelation 21 v 1 - 5 )

Imagine living in occupied Europe during the 2nd world war,secretly listening to the BBC ,for a hint that the end of the oppressive rule by Germany would end. Imagine being a Christian in a land were you are persecuted,your children are picked on at school,imagine.Imagine all the suffering that's going on ,the terrible injustices ,the sickness,the afflicted the oppressed,the abused,and so on, and so on.We hope the world is getting better,and then we hear the news.As I was on my daily walk these thoughts came into my mind, and I heard myself saying ,one day,yes one day it will all change, for Christ is coming again,the new heaven and earth will replace the present universe,yes one day. On that day sin will be no more,sickness will be no more,injustice will be no more,tears will be no more, one day,yes one day,the words of scripture come to mind,even so ,come Lord Jesus..(  Revelation 22 v 20 )

The biggest liar. ( Romans 5 v 12 )

I wonder who you would consider the biggest liar ever,we can as we look at history,see different candidates, I could think of Hitler,in one of his speeches he said he was not be a threat to Belgium,or Holland,it was lies,as those countries soon found out. When Neville  Chamberlian came back from Munich,having appeased Hitler in order to get a an agreement of peace with Germany, he got off the plane  waving a signed paper,assuring the British public,it gave an assurance of ,'peace in our time', it was a brazen lie by Hitler,as we and the world soon found out.So was he the biggest liar ever?,no the biggest liar ever was Satan also known as the Devil, we read how he deceived Eve ,he as  much as said God was liar ( Genesis 3 v 4 ).Unfortunately Eve believed  him ,and so sin entered the world,with dreadful,awful,devastating, consequences for the whole of mankind.  Remember God cannot lie ( Titus 1 v 2 ),but unfortunately the Devil is still fooling people,  instead of believing God they follow in Eve's footsteps, and you know where that leads to, spending  eternity in Hell with the Devil and his angles ( Matthew 25 v 41 )

A tale of two cities. ( Isaiah 53 v 5 - 6 )

You may not have heard of Sydney Carton ,well he is one the fictious characters from the novel,'A tale of two cities', written by  Charles Dickens. It is set in the time of the French revolution,Sydney is a cynical drunkard,but he falls in love with Lucie  Minette, he tells her ,but she informs him, that she is about to become engaged to a Charles Darnay, he confesses he will always love her and if she needed him to let him know.Charles Darnay was a french noble man, but had renounced his title, he ended up taken residence in England , mean while the revolution breaks out n France,Charles feels he has to return to France,on his return he is arrested and sentenced to the guillotine.Sydney travels to France to see if Charles can be freed, but this came to nothing,so Sydney devises a scheme that would enable him to exchange places with Charles ,who is smuggled out of the country, Sydney goes to the guillotine,before he dies he says,''It is a far, far better thing I do,than I have ever done. It is a far ,far better..rest than I have ever known''.Whither we die by the guillotine,old age,sudden death if we know Christ we can have a sure and certain hope for eternity,a far, far better hope, because of Jesus who took our place on Calvary on that cross.