Means ( 2 Kings 20 v 7 )

Last time we considered how God delivered Israel of old,and then they asked for a king,now it was not ..necessarily wrong to ask for a king,as long as he and the country still trusted God.In the nineteenth century,God raised up a people ,who called themselves the Peculiar People.This name was taken from the 1 Peter 2 v 9 in the AV,modern translation have,'God's special possession'.Most of these people were poor farming people,and they were very godly, when these people became ill they would pray for healing,they could not afford doctors , plus the fact that there was very little effective medicine available .God did answer their prayers, and many people were healed,I personally knew one person who had been healed.But gradually things changed,in that immunization came in,and people were required to have their children immunized,against diphtheria,there were those who refused to do this ,believing wrongly that it would undermine faith in God,unfortunately some children died,and parents were taking to court and charged with neglect .Our Saviour said those who are sick need a doctor ( Luke 5 v 31 ) ,God uses means to help us,he used a  pillar of cloud and fire to lead His people through the wilderness ( Exodus 13 v 21ff ),so it is not wrong to use a sat nav,or a map to find ones way.,God has provided the means to guide us.Let  us not despise the means God for provides us, but do not let the means undermine our trust in God, pray his blessing on the means that he uses  to help us,whatever they may be, but  also remember that God is not tied to means.

Our helper ( Psalm 121 )

In  1 Samuel 7, Israel were facing their old enemy the Philistines,things were very bad because they had forsaken the Lord, and turned to other Gods. The word of God tells us if we regard iniquity  in our hearts the Lord will not listen ( Psalm 66 v 18), the result was they were on their own,they could not depend on God to come to their aid.,defeat stared them in the face.. Sin always has its consequences ,for the non-Christian it means that their eternal destiny is at stake, heaven will be barred to them. The Christian cannot sin with impunity,there will be consequences, God is no respecter of persons,Israel faced defeat because of there sin,and they knew it.But things changed they turned back to the Lord,but it didn't stop the prophet Samuel telling them that they had to forsake their sinful ways,So they confessed their sins and forsook them,it is not enough to confess our sin, we must forsake our sin,otherwise it is all fruitless,if we don't ,it is  pointless to look to God for help.Before they went into battle they asked Samuel to keep praying for them,in the hope that God would grant them victory.In mercy God responded ,by granting them a victory,over their enemies.After the victory a stone was erected, and they named it, Ebenezer,which means,'Thus far the Lord has helped us'..If only they had held unto that truth,but shortly after this they asked for a king. They had been delivered by God alone,and yet here they are looking ,beyond Him. The dilemma  that faced Israel of old ,and Gods people today is this ,we can so easily forget the God who delivered  us in the past,and put our trust in something or someone else.

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My times are in your hands. ( Psalm 31 )

Following on from the previous day,as to how we face difficulties,in verse 14 of Psalm 31  ,David declares, ''But I trust in you,Lord'', so often in my times of difficulties,I seem to hear God saying ,these  two words,'Trust Me'.it is so easy fall back on human reasoning,to let faith slip away, like the disciples when they were in a storm ( Mark 4 v 40 ).We often hear the term unconditional love,but what about unconditional trust,are we prepared to trust in God,come what may?,remember He can be trusted.The next thing he says,''You are my God'', yes not some worthless idol,or false God ( v 6 ) ,consider who He is, the maker of heaven and earth, remember that he so loved you that He gave the most precious thing He had ,Jesus,and that Jesus is with  you, and you  need fear no evil. ( Psalm 23 v 4 ) Next David declares v 15, ''My times are in your hands'',I want you to look at the palms of your hands,as a reminder of what God says about you His child,' I have engraved you on the palms of my hands''.These words are spoken to reassure you child of God that he has not forgotten you,that in good times,bad times,all the time He is watching over you, yes even to deliver you.David goes on to say,''Let your face shine on your servant'', Matthew Henry wrote the following,  'When the cloud of trouble hideth the Lords favour, faith knoweth it may shine again, therefore pray through the cloud for the dissolving of it' 'My times are in Thy hand; My God I wish them there; My life, my friends,my soul I leave,entirely to Thy care'.  ( Words by Henry F. Lyte )

Facing difficulties. ( Psalm 31 )

I often hear myself saying, ''its in Gods hands'', lets not fool ourselves,He is in control ,many people are confused by what has come to pass,and surprised that all their plans have gone to pot. Psalm 31 was written by king David,   it appears that David himself was faced with a lot of problems, he speaks of enemies who were seeking to destroy him, he confesses that he is weak and sorrowful,consumed by anguish ,his strength is failing,he feels isolated,forgotten ,people are talking of him in quite whispers,and they are conspiring to kill him .So things looked bleak for David, a dark cloud had descended over him , what would you do if you were him? what would I do?.The difficulties he was facing were real ,very real,they were not made up, again I ask the question ,what would  you do?.I want  you to think about this,for there is a wrong way,of thinking and then there's God way.We will think about this next time,and how David thought about it,there are real lessons to be learned,on how we can  face difficulties.

The tyranny of the urgent. ( Matthew 6 v 33 )

Chuck Swindle said' ,That the tyranny of the urgent,blinds us to the need of what is important'.The world does rush on,so much pressure to get things done or to get were we are going.We are like the White Rabbit in Alice in wonderland ,was rushing to get to tea party,had a watch in his hand and kept repeating,''O dear,O dear, I shall be too late''.Many gadgets have been invented to make life easier for us yet we are still  under  of the tyranny of the urgent. I'm not saying one should neglect anything, but that one should think about what is important. .Now that I cannot get to my local fellowship,I have made a point of  getting a wonderful church service on ,'You Tube', from Chuck Swindles church, I commend it to you its ,called ,'Stonebriar'.I  very rarely missed a church service during my Christian life, because I know how important it is. Likewise how important to read Gods word,to pray,to witness,to help and care  for others,these may seem obvious, but many neglect them. There are so many things that are important in life,it would be a good exercise,to take stock of ones  life,to pray and ask God for  help u,to put the important things in our  lives, in their proper place, and to stop being tyranny driven. If you are not a Christian is it not time, to bring Christ into your life, before it is to late.?.

The underdog ( 1 Corinthians 1 v 18 - 31 )

It  was the EURO final of 2004 ,between Greece and Portugal, Greece were the underdogs by a long way,Portugal had the world class Ronaldo  playing for them,but in spite of that,Greece the underdogs won,1-0  We read in 1 Corinthians 1 v  26 - 27 that God chooses,'foolish things,weak things, lowly things,  despised things,and in James 2 v 5 ,the poor of this world.I have a picture of Christian women praying in  Pakistani,seemingly they are doubly despised for being female and for being a Christian.There are many others one could mentioned,whom one could class as underdogs in this world,those Hindus who are of the low casts, are despised,the world is full of people who never get a fare crack of the whip,underdogs.Here is the wonderful good news ,God loves the underdog,he welcomes them into into his kingdom, with open arms. No matter if you are disabled, poor, uneducated,whatever your colour or race, red and yellow black and white,all are precious in His sight. There is an old Irish song which goes,'If your Irish come into the parlour,there's a welcome there for you,' I don't know about the parlour, but I do know that if you trust Jesus as your Saviour,you will be more than welcomed into Gods kingdom,for in Gods sight there are no underdogs only sinners who need a Saviour.

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.