Just do it again. ( Isaiah 55 v 6 - 7)

 A large advert in a national paper had these words on it,' Just do it Again'.I am not even sure what was being advertised,but those words struck a cord with me.In the Gospels our Lord performed many miracles,John the Baptist performed  no miracles.Are we looking for a quick and fast easy solution to the challenges of life,so we pray for a miracle. We read in days of old, what we call revivals broke in,and we wonder why God will not do it again?.Is not God the God of miracles, 'Surely the arm of the Lord is  not to short to save,nor his ear  too dull to hear' Isaiah 59 v1. Of course God  can do it again, but the reason He did not do it again was because  sin had caused   God to distance Himself from his people . Read the rest of the chapter, things were very bad spiritually, so much so that a gulf had opened between God and them.Until they repented of their sinfulness ,the difficulties would remain, nothing would change.I pray continually that God would build His church,I pray for different denominations,but how can it happen? , when many of them,are voting to accept the unacceptable, in morals and doctrine. We are talking about those  who are supposedly Christians, but as was said to the church in Sardis, Revelation 3 v 1, by  God.'I  know your deeds, you have a reputation of being alive,but you are dead'. God may do it again if,yes if, we repent and seek  Him.

                                                     O Wind of God,come bend us , break us,

                                                     Till humbly we confess our need;

                                                     Then in Thy  tenderness  remake us,

                                                     Revive, restore, for this we plead.

                                                              Words , Mrs . B. P. Head.

The waiting game ( Psalm 40 v 1- 4)

 Of course waiting is not  for many a game,how many road accidents have been caused by people not waiting. I try to be patient when waiting in the queue, and I sometimes finding myself asking the question , why does it appear that in a bank queue people appear take longer ,than I would?Then there are  those who keep us waiting,whats keeping them?, where are they?, do they not know I have to be there in a certain time?.The words of a song come to mind,'Lord won't you hurry',the fact is whither its waiting for whatever reason, we do not like even waiting on God.Yet it appears very important with God, that we learn to wait, it appears that God wants us to learn from waiting, in Romans 15 v 5 ( AV) we read,'Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like minded  toward one another'.God  manifests a patience with those who are his,so we are called to act like him,with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. In the  Tokyo Olympics Reece Prescod who was running in a heat of the 100 meters,was disqualified for a false start,he went off before the starting pistol had sounded. There was king in Israel called Saul ,and like that runner he was not prepared to wait,and he was disqualified from being king.It is vital that we wait  for God's timing,let us not run  before Him, if we do,it could have serious consequences. Often our reluctance to wait is borne out of a lack of trust in God.

Such love. ( Ephesians 3 v 14 - 21)

 There is a little children's chorus which goes,

                                               Wide ,wide as the ocean, high as the heavens above,

                                               Deep, deep as the deepest sea is my Saviours love,                                

                                               Though I'm unworthy, still I'm a child of His care.

                                                For his word teaches me ,that His love reaches me

                                                                         EVERYWHERE

The Love of God truly is amazing, profound, mind blowing ,astonishing, with out comparison, unique,beyond belief, marvellous. These are just some of the words that I feel that emphasises the greatness and wonder of God's love. This Love is manifested  through Jesus,towards a world that is in rebellion, to a world undeserving of any such love.This love spelled out the only hope for lost mankind, the only answer for you and me. The symbol of that love is a cross, before it became a symbol of love,it was symbol of cruelty and suffering, but changed into an alter were Jesus the Lamb of God ,would bear our sins.

                                                          Such love,pure as the whitest snow;

                                                          Such love, weeps for the shame I know

                                                          Such love, paying the debt I owe;

                                                           O Jesus, such love.

                                                           Such love, stilling my restlessness;

                                                           Such love, showing me holiness;

                                                           O Jesus, such love.

                                                           Such love,springs from eternity;

                                                           Such love, fountain of life for me;

                                                           O Jesus, such love.

                                                                 Words Graham Kendrick.

 

Warn them. ( Acts 1 v 8 )

  My wife  opened the letter, and she said the dreaded word, we have been fined,she had  failed to pay the toil charge,we thought we were covered.So we phoned up the authorities to plead our case ,and as we did  we realised we hadn't paid the toil. But here is the good news we were told that we would be let of the fine, and all we had to pay was the outstanding toil charge. We asked why?,and were told is was a warning,if we did it again we would have to pay the fine.We would be foolish to ignore that warning, it would not be the end of the world if we didn't,but let us think about the whole idea of heeding warnings.Some are very serious, to ignore them could cost you your very life.  In ancient times when people lived in walled cities, people were employed as watchmen, they would warn the people if an enemy was coming,if he failed in his job, he would be held responsible for the loss of life.In Ezekiel 33 we read how God appointed Ezekiel to be a watchman v 7 - 9,he was to warn the people as regards their sin,and that they need to turn from their sin to God.If Ezekiel refused to do this he would be held accountable.Hear this dear Christian, we live in a sinful world ,judgement day is coming, nothing can stop it,people need to be warned.When was the last time you witnessed about the only one who can save them from God's wrath,, remember  we are  accountable.

                                             Jesus said ,' you will be my witnesses '.

Perish the thought. ( 1 Peter 1 v 6 - 9 )

 It is David Atkinson in his book on Job, writes, ' There are times when we are tempted to give up on God altogether, or believe that he must have given up on us'. I wonder how I would feel if I experienced  the pain that Job  felt,at the loss of his children,possessions,and health?. His wife told him to curse God and die,then his three friends turned up,and they were not a lot of good,Job  called them miserable comforters.  I am reminded of what Jacob said in the midst of his troubles,'Everything is against me', I wonder if you have ever said this,or thought it?.Contrary to what some people say ,that wealth health and prosperity should be our lot. We look at many of the saints in the Bible, and observe the difficulties they had to face,and through out history  so many lovely Christians suffered a great deal. King David suffered a great deal,in one time of trouble he declared,'My  heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death have fallen on me. Fear and trembling have beset me; horror has overwhelmed me.' and then he declares,'Oh that I had wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest. I would  flee far away and stay in the desert;' Psalm 55 v 4 - 7.He is honest enough to admit to us how he felt, he didn't go around with a forced smile on his face.As we look a David's history we see clearly that God never give up on him,and He will not give up on you or me,never, He has promised us that He will never leave us,and will never forsake us. Hebrews 13 v 5.As for us giving up on God,perish the thought,I heard a preacher say this,'There are no advantages in giving up on God,' none whatsoever,let me assure you ,that on your own it will be harder, take my word for it.

Are you homesick?.( Philippians 1 v 21 - 23 )

 'Since , then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at  the right of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ , who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory'. ( Colossians 3 v 1 - 4 ) I wonder what you think of these words?,or do you think of them ?, often I do long for home.  Richard Baxter who wrote a book called,'The Saints Everlasting Rest', said the following', 'That he noted the difference between his own prayers in times of health in contrast  to sickness , in prosperity versus adversity. Hardship quickened his pace  and heightened his appetite for rest. He felt  a kind of homesickness  for another world and sought God more urgently'. Also writing about afflictions he said,' Afflictions can serve  a most useful purpose in keeping  us from mistaking  this  as our time of rest, If we fall too much in love with the world, afflictions rudely breaks the spell'. May God give us grace to value the things of eternity, more that the things of this world, more than our very lives.

Grace. ( 2 Corinthians 12 v 7 - 10 )

I listened to a Christian couple telling there story, it centered around the death of their young daughter, who ate bread with a sesame seed in it, unfortunately she suffered  from an allergy,the result was she died.As you can imagine this devastated the couple,they had all sorts of feeling, the wife had anger towards her husband,  and deep feelings of guilt.Yes to say the least they were two troubled hurting individuals. but something  wonderful happen. They spoke of going to church,and how that helped,but the wife said something  very   lovely, she spoke of .'The GRACE OF GOD WASHING OVER ME'. that brought a change for the better. The question we could ask , what is the grace of God ?,well it is God extending favour, unmerited favour in relation to salvation, there is nothing any of us can do to save ourselves,so it takes God to extend His divine favour to us,when by faith we trust as Jesus as our Saviour. But it carries on into our Christian life,take the apostle Paul who suffered from a severe physical  affliction.God was not going to heal him,but He told him that His grace would be sufficient for him , what did that mean .?A  dear friend of mine said this,it is''The attributes of God working on the behalf  of the believer,are made available for the believers use''. In other words all God's resources would be available for Paul, and for you and for me .

                                           Through many dangers, toils, and snares

                                           I have already come;

                                           Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,

                                           And grace will lead me home.

                                                Words John Newton