He is the prize. ( Hebrews 12 v 2 - 3 )

 When Mahatma Gandhi was asked near the end of his life,.'Babaki, you have been looking for God all your life. Have  you found him yet?' 'No', was the reply,  ' I'm still looking.' Gandhi was a great man , but he never  trusted Jesus as his Saviour. He was influenced by what Jesus taught, but never saw Him as the son of God. There are  a number of things that put him off becoming a Christian, many of those who professed to be Christians for a start. It is a pity that he didn't look beyond  them, to Christ Himself, after all He read the Bible, read the gospel's  , why did he not then trust Christ? ,Of course we as Christians should show the reality of Christ in our lives, but it is not always so. There are many fine Christian's, but they are far from perfect, when one becomes a Christian, you are coming into a  church of fallen human beings. Do not let anyone put you off  becoming a Christian, no matter who they are,, remember one of the disciples Judas ,betrayed Jesus for money ,another one denied Jesus, his name was Peter. The history of the church is not a perfect history, but we have a perfect Lord, and a perfect Saviour. Look to Him alone, he is the prize, He will forgive you and save you, He will never fail you , nor leave you, He will always care for you and love you.

Without faith. ( Hebrews 11 v 6 )

 Raymond Brown quotes the following, 'God who made everything out of nothing can do anything', he further says ,'Nothing  whatever is beyond the ability of such a mighty God'. So many of us need to hear these words, I know that miracles happen now and then, but the fact is they do happen, God has not changed, but unfortunately we do ,our  faith instead  of growing ,diminishes ,we are not growing we are shrinking. We may have stopped asking, 'can  God?', to,' God can't', we are like the Israelites who came out of Egypt , they witnessed so many miracles, and yet  a whole generation died because of unbelief. Numbers 14 v 22 - 23. Unbelief is a sin, faith is what God desires, in the words of a song,' Prayer is the key to heaven but faith unlocks the door, ' a man came to Jesus with a request, that He would heal his son, and He said to Jesus ,''If you can'', and Jesus threw that back at him, and said,'' Everything is possible for one who believes''. The man had first gone to the disciples, but they could do nothing, no wonder the man said, ''I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief.'' The good news is ,Jesus did heal the boy,  the failure of the disciple to help that boy was a lack of prayer .( Mark 9 v 14 - 29 ) Remember it is not the littleness of our faith that's a problem. no ,if we have faith as a grain of mustard seed ,answers to prayer can happen, yes even miracles can happen. ( Matthew 17  v 20 -21 )

Five glorious reasons ( Psalms 50 v 15 )

Someone wrote ,'More things are wrought  by prayer than the world dreams of', it was our dear Saviour who said ,that we should always pray and never give up'. I pray  about many things ,and there appears no answer  is coming, I do not know why certain things have not been answered, there  are reason why, God knows, the words that comes  to my  mind is ,'How Long?,. How long will it be before  God will answer our prayers, and the answer is this, in His time .It may be after we have gone  to heaven ,that He will answer, yes in His time, and His word to you and me is simply ,'keep praying'. That is our God given task, ours is not to  reason why, but to keep on praying. But of course that  is only one aspect of prayer ,He will answer our prayers immediate, no long waiting period ,when we are faced with troubles, Writing about Psalm 50 v15 ,which reads, '' Call upon Me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me'', Pastor Mark Altrogge highlights,' 5 glorious reasons to call on God in your trouble'.

                                    1/   It show that our Heavenly Father cares about

                                           our lives.

                                     2 /  It shows how willing the Lord is to help us.

                                     3/  It shows that  God knows we need simple commands. 

                                     4/  It shows that God gives sure and certain promises.

                                     5/  God delivers for His glory.

He finishes of by saying, ''When God says  , call upon Me in the day of  trouble, He intends to answer that prayer''.

Are you sinking. ( Deuteronomy 33 v 27 )

 On one occasion when the disciples were in a boat they saw someone walking on the water, and they were terrified, it was Jesus, who calmed their fears. But Peter said if it is you Lord, command me to come to you on the water. So Jesus said come, so Peter stepped out unto the water, but as he got nearer  Jesus ,he panicked ,and began to sink. Then we read ,' Jesus immediately reached out His hand and took hold of him.' There is a modern song I want to share with you. written by Keith and Kristyn called ,'He will hold me Fast'.

                                        He will hold me fast, He will hold me fast,

                                        For my Saviour loves me so, He will hold me fast.

                                        Those He saves are His delight, Christ will hold me fast.

                                        Precious in His sight, He will hold me fast.

                                        He'll will not let my soul be lost, He will hold me fast.

                                        Bought by Him at such a cost, He will me hold fast.

                                        For my life He bled and died, Christ will hold me fast,

                                        Justice has been satisfied, He will hold me fast.

Trust Him. (Psalm 23 ) Psalm 37

Psalm 37 v  25, reads ' I have been young , and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken ,nor his descendants  begging bread.' David was old and as he looked back on his life he declares God's faithfulness to His children. God is faithful all the time, our Saviour encouraged us , He said that  our heavenly Father will care of His children, ( Matthew 6 v 25 - 34 )But I will share what William Plummer writes on this  verse, 'There  are  in Scripture many general principles stated, which are not universally true,, though they are commonly so, and exceptions to them are rare'. There  many examples in scripture of  God providing for His children. and his children's children. So trust Him child of God  for your needs ,and your children's needs the Lords is your shepherd you shall not want.

Prosperity ( Psalm 37 )

 You want to prosper ?,yes of course you do, well let  us consider Psalm 37  v 3 - 6 tells three things we must do three things,

                                                                 One.

                                   Trust in the lord and do good , Then you will live safely

                                   in the land and prosper.

               .

 Don't just profess to trust the Lord,  show the reality of that, by doing good, ancient Israel failed in this, they did evil, and so  they didn't prosper.

                                                                Two.                                                                                       

                                          Delight  yourself also  in the Lord  ,

                                          And He  shall give you the desires

                                          of your heart.

Consider that word delight , people delight in a multitude of things , but not the Lord, as Christians our greatest delight should be the Lord., the question is He?. Well, if you do ,He shall give you the desires of your heart, in keeping with His will.

                                                                Three 

                                          Commit your way to the Lord . Trust 

                                          also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.

Our ways, means all that concerns us ,commit  everything to God, everything, and He will honour that, all your endeavours, our going out and our coming in, Spurgeon  writes, 'Roll the whole burden of life upon the Lord. Cast away anxiety, resign  thy will, submit thy judgment, leave it all ,with the God of all.

                                                                                                        

                                             

                                             

                                              

Cease from anger. ( 2 ) ( 1 Peter 2 v 21 - 23 ) Ps37

  Let us consider v 7- 8  of Psalm 37 ,'Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him, fret not yourself  over the one that prospers  in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices. Refrain  from anger, and forsake wrath!  fret not yourself, it tends only to evil'. David experienced  harm  from people people who sought to hurt him  ,even though he had done them no harm. The first one was King Saul, time after time he sought to kill David, Saul hunted David like an animal .There  arose an opportunity for David to kill Saul CP 1 Samuel 24, but he didn't yield to the temptation, and he spared Saul's life ,it is Plummer who writes ,'He would  not hurt him, but left  his whole cause with God ,expecting  Him to send deliverance'. In 1 Samuel 25 we read of a man called Nabal who refused to help David ,and insulted him, and David was so angry that he were going to destroy him and his household. But Nabal's wife a wise person ,intervened with the result David ceased from his anger, and spared Nabal and his household.  Let us cease from our mad passions, and sinful anger, and leave God to deal with all such wrongs.