D V (Proverbs 3 v 5 - 6 )

In Hebrews 6 v 3,we have the words,' God permitting we will do so',Philip Hughes comments,''If God permits'', ,is something far more than a pious cliche. The point is that the Christian life is in the Lord's hands and all  his planning is subject to the overruling will of God. The principle is explained in a characteristically practical manner by James in his epistle ( James 4 v 13- 15) Likewise I often use the term D V which come from the Latin  Deo  Volente meaning, 'God willing'.   When the apostle wrote ,'God permitting we will do so',he is acknowledging God's sovereignty ,that He is  over all the affairs of life, and the importance of acknowledging that fact. He is also challenging mans proud sinful independence that denies God a place in their lives. Let us face it,  most people seek to keep God out of their lives,of course if it all  goes wrong they are quick to blame God,and retreat into a bitter unforgiving spirit.Let us be clear the world, has been running away from God since time began,his will is the last thing they want in their lives.While this is not so in the Christians life ,many are careless,and still manifest at times that same sinful independence.In Jeremiah 10 v 23, we read'O Lord,I know the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his steps',let us all acknowledge this fact, let us take to heart in the words of Psalm 31 v 15 ,that our times are in His hands.

You big baby. ( Hebrews 5 v 11 - 14 )

Imagine going into an infant school, and there sitting among the little infants was a grown man, and you went over and asked the teacher, whats he doing,well she replies,he has been coming here 25 yrs.She went on to say he is a bright person ,but all he  wants to know is just the basics, I have tried to help him,but he will not move forward . Well it seems a strange little story,so let translate you back about 2000 yrs,to a group of Christians,we read about in the Bible,we call them the Hebrew Christians.They were struggling in their walk with God,even at the point of turning back,from following Christ.They were confused and at the point of even going back to being Old Covenant Israelites  ,back to legalism ,to rules and regulations, turning  back to a religion that would take them away from God, giving up Christ ,the one who is greater than angels,than Moses, than Aaron . One of the problems was they had not advanced in their Christian faith,they should have been teachers advanced in Christian knowledge,but instead they were still babes in Christ.I believe that churches are full of people who have not moved on in the things of God. Hughes in his commentary on Hebrews writes the following, 'The point is, that the beginning  of  our Christian Faith is not a stopping  place; it is the door to progress and the springboard to achievement.' 'ahead of them stretched the road to spiritual maturity'.I wonder are you a big baby?

Not so. ( Titus 3 v 3 - 7 )

Someone said ,'that there's a limit to God's patience and grace,'the question is ,what happens them? the fact is God will act in a way that  he judges   appropriate.One of the worse Kings the Bible was king Manasseh,he ruled Judah for 55 yrs,we can read about him in 2 King 21 and 2 Chronicles 33,the people on the whole went along with him.,it is important to remember that,he did not do the evil on his own.We read that they did more evil than the other nations around them,we read that God spoke to  Manasseh and the people, but they paid no attention ,so God acted against the king and the nation,by sending the Assyrian army  against them,and conquering them. The Assyrians were a very cruel people,Manasseh was taken back captive to Assyria, they put a hook in his nose,and bound him with bronze shackles. Well, it was time he got his comeuppance, the rascal,but the story does not finish there, for we read,that in his distress he sought the favour of the Lord his God,he humbled himself greatly before the Lord, he forgive him,and brought him back to Jerusalem as king.We read that then he knew that the Lord was God,his repentance was sincere, evidence by what he did.When I read this I am amazed,that God did not destroy this man, but He didn't, why?,' because there is a wideness in God's mercy like the wideness of the sea; for the love of God is broader ,than the measure of man's mind,for the heart of the eternal,is most wonderfully kind.' Words by F.W. Faber. One would have thought ,that it was the end of Manasseh, Gods patience and grace,was exhausted,but not so. Jesus our Saviour came for one purpose to save sinners, even people like Manasseh,  can be be forgiven,if they truly repent, and trust in Jesus.

I want to know. ( Romans 11 v 33 - 36 )

Why?, is the question many people ask,as to disasters,and to things that happen in their lives,which they cannot understand. So much of life is a mystery, and yet we want and expect an answer,.consider what our Saviour said to Peter, 'You do not realise now what I am doing, but later you will understand' ( John 13 v 7 ),this could mean that later on in our lives when we look back,and see the bigger picture,we will praise Him,and His providential care over us,that He shut that door, and that He held us back,and that his disappointments were our appointments.We can take this a step further, it is in 1 Corinthians 13 v  12, we read,' For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.Now I know in part; then I shall know fully,even as I am fully known.'It is in Deuteronomy 29 v 29, we read ,' The secret things belong to the Lord our God, in Acts 1 v 6 - 7,the disciples asked Jesus  as to when He would set up his kingdom, he replied,'it is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority'.The fact is there are some things we are not meant to know,we have no God given right to know,but He knows,and he knows best,the main thing for you and I to do, as we we pass through this life,is the importance of childlike trust in our loving heavenly Father,whose ways are  mysterious yet perfect.

Not how, but who. (Psalm 121 )

Let me ask you a question,'Got any rivers ,you think are uncrossable?,got any mountains you can't tunnel through?, well have you? let's remind ourselves of this truth,'God specialises in things thought impossible,  He'll do for you,what no other can do'.As I look back on my life of 76 years,how have I come this far?,only one answer ,'God',no one else,so many dangers in life,survival of the fittest,no , when I was born I must have been premature,for when a neighbour saw me, she wept,because I was so small. Our living Saviour declares, '' I hold the keys of death''( Revelation 1 v 18),if  you or I,are going to survive the dangers in life, it will be because He will's it. Power belongs unto Him ( Psalm  62 v 11) ,oh yes many of God's people are suffering,struggling ,and facing many difficulties, if that is what He has willed for their lives, he will not forsake their in their dark hours,and He will ,rest assured,  bring them through to Glory. ( Hebrews 2 v 10 ) In the mean while, let us trust our God and Saviour ,to undertake for us,to get us across those rivers that appear uncrossable,and to get us through ,the mountains that we can't tunnel through .A family was facing difficulties, and the youngest son ,came the father, and asked him,'Father how are we going get through , he looked at his son ,and said,'Son its not how, but who. That is the  right answer to the question , our God ,the God of the impossible.

Words ( Romans 8 v 28 )

I wonder do you think the following is true?,'Sticks and stones may break my bones but names, will never hurt me'.When I was a lad,indeed  for most of my life ,I had prominent teeth, I am sure you know what happened?,some people used to call me,'buck teeth'. I remember an old lady who took an unbridge  at me,saying very hurtful remarks about my teeth, ,and I felt very angry, That's not a problem now ,as  those teeth are now gone,still it hurt at the time.In families abuse,can take different forms, one of them is words,yes words,were a child can be put down,made little of, that they are told that they are  of no use,that they will never amount to anything.The result is they grow up feeling unloved,and a failure,because of words ,hurtful words,imprinted in their memory,and they cannot erase them.We are all sinners in a real  sense failures,for sin is a failure in Gods eyes,but God loves failures,yes He does. When He saves us failures,he makes us his children, we become somebodies,with a wonderful future,in time and most of all ,in eternity. It will amaze you, as it has me,just how much God will care for us,help us, favour us,and bless us,yes we may fail in certain things ,but by his grace we can rise above our failures, through Jesus, his Son.

The power of gravity. ( Romans 1 v 16 )

Why do we not all float of into space? the answer is gravity, gravity is defined this way,'The force that attracts a body towards the centre of the earth, or towards any other body having mass'. Near a town in Northern Ireland called Omagh,in the county of  Tyrone, there is a hill that is called a magnetic hill,what is unusual about this is,if you park your car at the bottom of the hill  ,with the engine turned of ,and the hand brake of, your car would be pulled up the hill,it is caused by the power of gravity. In Colossians 1, we are  told that Christ is the image of the invisible God,for in him all things were created, and in him all things hold together., and that all the fullness of God dwells in Him ,this is Jesus we are talking about.One who is truly God and truly man,in his earthly existence we see his divinity,when he spoke,when he performed miracles, and his unique knowledge,of people he had never met.We see his humanity in his physical limitations,he was weary,sad,and even as regards to his  death,we are told of that death that he was crucified in weakness,yet he lives by God's power ( 2 Cor 13 v 4 ) We marvel at the power of  gravity, ,but in Jesus we see the power behind it all ,Jesus ,by Him all things were created and by him all things  were created and are sustained and held together(Colossians 1 v 16 ff). but the power  of Jesus goes beyond creation,to the power of salvation. I listened to a man speaking yesterday his name was Ron,he told of a life that was out of control,a life controlled by drugs,he was continually being put into prison, many times he nearly died through overdosing with drugs..There seemed no way out of this nightmare of a life,until he met Jesus,and accepted him as his Saviour.When that happened two things took place ,one, forgiveness, two,he was empowered to overcome the power of sin.