A better day is coming. ( Revelation 20 v 1 - 4 )

In Psalm 139 v 13 - 16,David dwells upon God as creator of the human body,he  sees how  God began  the work in the womb,as he does ,his heart is full of praise and reverence,he declares,'I am fearfully and wonderfully made' v 14. It was Augustine who wrote, ''Men go gape at mountain peaks, at the boundless tides of the sea,the broad sweep of rivers,the  encircling ocean and the motions of the stars,and yet they leave themselves unnoticed, they do not marvel at themselves''.Spurgeon wrote,' We need not go to the end of earth for marvels,nor even across our own threshold; they abound in our own bodies'.Many worship their bodies,many neglect their bodies,many abuse their bodies.If only we had not sinned,but we did, in that earthly paradise,and so we experience pain,of course pain is not necessary a bad thing, for it warns us  there is a problem that needs fixing,but  we have not reached the point ,were all that needs fixed ,can  be fixed,we never will, we will never reach that point. When we suffer are we being punished for our sins?,not necessarily we may be,suffering happens ,by a virus, other times by ourselves,and  just to put it simply,that is part of living .It was Thomas who doubted that Christ had risen from the dead ,until he had a revelation of the risen Christ,he  declared ,that Jesus was his Lord and his God.( John 20 v  28  ) There are many aspects of this we could highlight.,one ,. Though he was truly God,in his humanity ,  he manifested a wonderful compassion,for those who suffered, a compassion that was God like ,He felt their pain ,in Christ, God was here intervening  ,by healing ,feeding the hungry,comforting the sorrowing,  Alas suffering will continue, until that time when Christ will make all things new,and usher in a new heaven and a new earth. This has been made possible  because of His death on the cross ,his death enables all who trust him,to have their sins forgiven,which means  they will  enjoy an eternal existence free from all suffering. 

Why Pray? ( Luke 18 v 1 )

I know a man he gets up every day at 5.30 to pray,he also talks to God during the day,and has a time of prayer in the evening,why?,that's a good question.I wonder, if you do pray, why do you pray?.Well this man says he always prays because it is important,for the Christian life is about relationship. He sees God as his loving heavenly Father and loves to talk to him,no better person to talk to,than the one who loves and cares for him the most. He says he loves Him so very much. He seeks to be honest to God his Father,no secrets,no hidden agendas, he knows that God his Father is watching over him every moment of the day.Of course God is a triune God , Father,Son, and Holy Spirit,but he says when you are talking to one,you are talking to all.Much of his talking to God is in interceding for others he says that's very important,for he believes that prayer makes a big difference.He believes God answers prayer,and that nothing is to small or insignificant to pray about,I asked him why he gets up so early to pray,well he said,if he didn't it's more than likely ,it would not happen as other things,other pressures would encroach upon it,and that he would not like that,for prayer is vital to his relationship with God,and his walk with God.He went on to quote a few verses of a hymn,'Prayer is the burden  of a sigh,the falling of a tear,the upward glancing of an eye, when none but God is near.Prayer is the Christians vital breath,the Christians native air; his watchword at the the gates of death, he enters heaven with prayer'. 

I worshipped him. ( Isaiah 44 v 6 - 20 )

''He wasn't a great dad,but I worshipped him'',if fact he was a drunkard,but the lady worshipped him.Everything is a god to a Hindu ,well practically everything,There are even so called Christians who say that they are gods,with a small g ,humanity is good at inventing gods,to many Hitler was god,the Romans called their Emperors a god,likewise the Pharaohs ,and so we could go on,gods there are in plenty in this world. The word of God declares,in Isaiah 44 v 6 'apart from me there is no  God,v 8 ,'you are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me?. No, there is no other rock,I know not one'That means that all other so called gods ,do not exist, people are worshipping a delusion, they are not true. Now you may think how foolish those worshippers are,surely they should know, that those gods are not really gods.But you see it is real to them, that does not make it real,does it really matter?, yes it does,for the worship of those gods is a sin ( Exodus 20 v 2 - 4 ),and that is serious.The lady who said she worshipped her dad ,also loved him.the worshippers of other gods,love them,and would do anything for them,even kill,even die for them.Such love is not only misplaced but foolish and deadly. These gods cannot forgive sins,cannot take one to heaven,or save from hell,cannot free you,the only true God alone can do that,through His son Jesus,

Crippled ( Hebrews 10 v 2 )

Let us continue on the theme of being crippled inside, in this fallen world which we live in ,so much wrong is committed,we could fill a library many times over with the sins that people commit. They can be divided up by the victims and perpetrators,many people don't appear to have any qualms about the wrong things they do, but there are people and they are crippled by guilt.We  may feel guilt in areas of life ,blaming ourselves as to what we should have done in certain situations,could be that it  wasn't even our fault,but we feel it was and so we live with guilt. Let us remember that guilt is for the wrongs we have done,not for the wrongs done to us.Guilt can cripple us,and even destroy us,it can cause us to become depressed.Here is a wonderful message the wrongs that we have committed,the sins we have committed can be forgiven by God,and with that forgiveness we can be free from guilt.But the devil who is called the  accuser of Gods children  ( Rev 12 v 10 ),God when He forgives sin chooses not to remember them anymore,but the devil takes delight in reminding us of our past evil deeds.He will seek to remind Gods children of former sins,we need to remind him, of what God has done,that He has forgiven us our sins,as far as the east  is from the west so far has he removed our transgressions from us .( Psalm 103 v 12 ) An old hymn goes,'When first o'whelmed with sin and shame. Burdened with guilt and full of fear,yet drawn by love to venture near. pardon I found,and peace with God. In Jesus' rich atoning blood'.

Crippled ( Matthew 6 v 14 - 15 )

John Lennon wrote a song called 'Crippled inside', one of the verses go,'You can go to church and sing a hymn. You can live a lie until you die.One thing you can't hide,is when  your crippled inside'.I wonder what you think about these words.  What can cripple us inside ?,unforgiveness can most definitely to this, it may surprise us if we only but  knew how crippled many are ,because they are harbouring unforgiveness yes even within the Christian church.It is something that can eat away at us. Take divorce,it is relateivley easy to get divorce,but often what follows is a lifetime of unforgiveness,we remain cripples.We hear that they are bringing in a no blame divorce,but often someone is to blame,there are innocent parties,and they are crippled inside, and often in their conversation,or demeanour  it shows.I want to face you with a choice,a choice that if you make the right choice,you will no longer be crippled inside. , it is summed up in one word, 'Forgive'.When Jesus was lying on the cross,he said these words ,'Father forgive them',

The Soul. ( Matthew 16 v 25 - 26 )

Many of us have heard of soul music, here is the question ,what is a soul?,I have often quoted Matthew 16 v 26, from the AV,which reads ,' For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole, and lose his soul'.Professor Andrews in his book ,'Who made God', sees the soul in relation to the mind,he writes of a dualism,that of brain and mind, He writes,'Since the mind of God exists without any material substrate so,logically,does the mind of man, so he writes that man's mind( or soul or spirit) lives on after death of the physical'.  It is an intriguing idea, it was C.S.Lewis who said the following,'we don't have a soul ,we are a soul',again a interesting statement, it is the Message that hits on that idea,it reads,' What kind of a deal is it, to get everything you want but lose yourself'. The translation that William Hendriksen  uses reads, 'For what good will it do a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life, or what shall a man give in  exchange for his life'.It is W H,who comments on this,'was our Lord thinking of the offer which the devil once made to him ?( Mt 4 v 8 -9 ) Whatever you may think of  all this,let us not miss the seriousness of what our Saviour is saying,the importance of making the right choice, and the consequences of making the wrong choice.

Have you forgotten ?. ( Luke 17 v 26 - 28 )

I read of a monastic order , who were sharply aware of the fragility of life,and of their dependence on God  from whom they believed all sustenance and welfare came.   These two things never enters the mind of so called modern man. Most have never given a thought how fragile life is, and  that they are depending on God for anything. William Ernest Henly sums up modern mans attitude to life,'I am master of my fate,I am captain of my soul'.A certain poet called Robert Burns wrote, of the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray. The vast majority of people before the coronavirus had booked holidays ,planned to get married,planned for this and that,none of us , for one moment never thought that anything would interfere with our plans. Why should we think otherwise?,we are the master of our fate,captain of our souls,or so we thought,it may be ,that we still think this,fools that we are.In Proverb 27 v 1,we have a timely reminder as regards the uncertainly of life, it reads,'Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring'.Our Saviour told a story of a rich farmer, ( Luke 12 v 16 - 21 )  he was no different than most people , he had come into what in essence was a lot of money,so he was planning to live the good life,take it easy,eat ,drink,and be merry.Like so many people who go and live , wherever  skies are not cloudy all day.  God called this farmer  a fool and told him he was going to die that night,he forgot that life was fragile, and that no one can escape the inevitable ,God and eternity. . Here are very solemn words from Psalm 9 v 17,' The wicked shall be turned into hell,and all the nations that forget God'.Let me stress to whoever you are, the importance of seeking the Lord Jesus now,before it is to late,because life is fragile.