The road is long ( Hebrews 13 v 4 )

We all know the saying of being in a thing for the long haul, in others words we are not going to give up,until we finish the given task.And that is the challenge when you get married its for the long haul till death parts us. Now I know there can be reasons, that one may have to to get out of a marriage,if your husband is abusing you or your child , for your husband is breaking his vows to love you. As one who has been married twice,my first wife died,I know that marriage is a challenge,Shakespeare wrote,''The course of true love never did run smooth'', never truer words spoken,the minister needs to remind all those who are getting married,these wise words. On the road of marriage there  are bumps, potholes, pitfalls,  pain, snoring.On that last one my dear wife says that I am in denial,she could be right.I have had my moments,of  sulking,hurting and stubbornness .In many ways marriage is a very serious thing,as it says ,'not to be entered into lightly , or unadvisedly, but thoughtfully and reverently'.Yes good advice,but unfortunately a lot of people don't give it the thought, they should,the emotions take over..Remember no one is marrying the perfect person,just as their are no perfect churches, there are no perfect people.What has the word of God got to tell us about the marriage relationship Here is a word for us husbands,'Husbands , love your wives,just as Christ loved the church' ( Ephesians 5 v 25 ), think about what this really means, look on the cross.And here is a word for you wives,'love your husbands as Christ loved the church.'.

Rest. ( Matthew 11 v 28 - 30 )

I wonder do you know that Israel was told by the Lord, that when they had entered the promised land,the land they farmed could be used to grow crops for six years,but on the seventh year ,the land had to be rested.  ( Leviticus 25 v 3 - 4 ) When God gave the 10 commandments He commanded the people to rest on the every seventh day of the week,now I am not a strict Sabbatarian ,but I do see the sense in that commandment,we are not machines we need to rest.I know it is good to be busy,but not 24/7,a day of rest is vital to our well being.We hear the words,' burn out',meaning someone,has no energy to carry on, because I was brought up in a one parent family, my mother and father split up, which meant my mother had to do house work,and also earn a living.On looking back it was hard for her,and I cannot remember her having a holiday,but at least in those days people did not work on a Sunday,so that gave her a bit of a rest.We need rest physically,emotionally,and spiritually,It was our Saviour who looked on the people of his day,a people who were desperately trying to find God and please Him . That meant keeping about 3,500 regulations,no wonder they were exhausted and weighed down,so what did Jesus say,''' Come to me,all you are exhausted and weighed down, beneath your burdens  ,and I will give you rest ( Matthew 11 v 28.) are you exhausted and weighed down?, why not come to Jesus today,right now,and find that rest that only He can give you.

Rule keeping. ( Romans 10 v 9 v - 13 )

At the time of Jesus the Jewish religion had become a religion of rules,hand washing rules, in case you had touched something considered unclean,it was nothing to do with hygiene,but like all the religious rules they had be taken very serious.The disciples did not conform to their hand washing rules,and the religious leaders challenged our Lord about it ( Read Mark 7 v 1 - 23 ) There were many rules attached to Sabbath keeping, one was ,if you cut your finger you could bandage it ,but you were not allowed to put ointment on it. There were about 3,500 regulations that the Pharisees believed they ought to observe in order to be accepted with God. No wonder Jesus said how the religious elite loaded people down with burdens they could hardly carry ( Luke 11 v 46 ). .Now is it , not wonderful, that we do not have to obey any of these rules to be accepted by God, all we have to repent and believe in Jesus who paid the price for our sins on the cross, as the hymn writer wrote,'Not the labour of my hands,can fulfil Thy law's demands; Could my zeal no respite know. Could my tears for ever flow, all for sin  could not atone; Thou must save and Thou alone. Nothing in my hands I bring simply to Thy cross I cling'. ( Words by A.M.Toplady)

Implications ( 2 Peter 3 v 10 - 13 )

Two men looked through the bars, one saw the mud the other saw the stars,what do you see? the apparent nothingness of life,or the wonder of life ?.A man in the Bible summed up life as meaningless ( Ecclesiastes 2 v 11 ) and yet the same man declares that God has set eternity in the human heart (Ecc 3 v 11).Yes that is what God has done,but what have we done?,why is it that often all we see is the mud,if God has set eternity in our hearts,why is it, that we only see the things of time?.Why has the Rolls Royce of God's creation failed to live up to its creators potential?,why is it  they don't  think ,or act as they should,why have they lost the ability to be amazed,and have a spirit of dullness about them? A minister said to a member of his Church ,as regards her husband who had died  your husband is not in heaven, he is the ground.That minister has lost sight of our Father who art in heaven,and that Jesus requested that all those whom the Father had given Him ,would be with Him in Glory.( John 17 v 24 )The fact is, there is an after death existence  and I can assure you it is not in the ground,it is in heaven or in hell ,we may feel we don't need a God,like Pharaoh of old who declared, ''who is the Lord, that I should obey Him'', ( Ex 5 v 2 ). He was soon to find out that the Lord will not be ignored, and shut out,that is the implications of living without God. God is speaking in these days,make no mistake about it, and when He speaks we better listen.Let us not forget that God the creator, has in mercy so loved this world that He gave his only begotten Son ,that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life( John 3 v 16 ).Wake up to reality ,He is your only hope, trust Jesus ,to ignore this warning ,it bears not thinking about the awful consequences,of turning your back on Gods offer of love,by trusting Jesus.

Questions. ( Ecclesiastes 3 v 11 )

Whats going on,in the world?, I think when we say,whats going on the world?, we are really asking what does it mean? .When people act in bad ways, we are really wanting to know, why the coronavirus?. There are many things in life that are happening and have happened,that leave us puzzled. We know a lot of things,  and yet in spite of all our knowledge we still understand so little. In one sense we could say, that's life ,we just have to live with it,no big deal,we are a tiny planet ,in this VAST Universe ,do we really matter.? does anything really matter?, lets just accept our lot, whatever will be ,will be. At this time much is being made of the world of science,they are the master minds,they will find solutions to all our problems.They are the ones who tell us that this world just happened,and all the beauty of this world just happened.That our wonderful bodies just happened,that the vast number of different species just happened ,that all living things just happened. I am fed up with them trying to convince me of their just happened theory, surely there must be a better answer,why can they not say that they just don't know,or could it be,they do not want to know?.At this time we are all struck with the care being shown by doctors,nurses,and many others,yet why is the coronavirus happening?,could it be that someone is telling us something we have forgotten.I have been to Florence to the Accademia Gallery, and looked at the statue of   Michelangelo's David, what beauty, could it be someone is trying to tell us something, we have forgotten.Why is man so creative?,why are we so inventive?, it just happened,did it?no it didn't just happen, we read that God made man in his own image,this being man, like its creator have a creativeness and many other qualities ,that no other creature has. God is speaking in many ways ,through the tragedies ,and the beauties ,science cannot give us an answer to these things  .

Helper ( Philippians 4 v 10 - 20 )

I am 76 years of age ,I have been following the Lord for 56 yrs , for the last 26 year things have been easier financially,before that money was always very tight.I have also shared with you our times when we were at Bible college and we simply had to literally pray our way through . It was very challenging  ,likewise I have experienced unemployment,like many with little money we had old second hand cars,which brought its own source of trials. I come from Northern Ireland and the bombing,shooting was a constant thing,plus a general strike,a lot of people knew someone who had been murdered. I managed a Christian bookshop,but it was forced to close,due to a lack of trade,plus the competition from other Christian book shops.The greatest  blow was the loss of my dear wife,she died of cancer ,leaving me with four children So why am I telling you this?, because in all these things ,I have found my God faithful,he has been my helper, and He has never failed me.Dear Christian fear not the unknown future,have faith in your God and Saviour,go forward with your hand in his.  God says to you,'' So do not fear,for I  am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help  you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand''.( Isaiah 41 v 10 )

Our Aim. ( Psalm 86 v 12 )

I used to pray for a woman called Twen,who is a prisoner in Eritrea,a friend sent me an email about her,I must recommence my praying for her,here is what was written,''Twen has spent 15 years in prison, because she is a Christian, she was arrested after she attended a prayer meeting. During her time in prison she has faced beatings,and torture. She has used her time in prison to serve others. She has taken their punishment, washed their wounds, and carried them when they couldn't walk. She has had opportunities to escape,but each time she returned to serve her fellow prisoners.Her one request is that God would be glorified in Eritrea.When you read things like this it brings a challenge and it is this,to glorify God,in the good times, and in the bad times,in the easy times and in the difficult times, in the pain free times, and in the painful times.