Are you burdened ?.( Matthew 11 v 28 )

At times problems come into our lives,it may be to with family, friends,illness ,and the burdens lay heavy on our hearts.One of my sons is having difficulties, and its lying heavy on my heart. This morning I took my wife's breakfast up to her,and  as I entered the bread room , I was met with a Christian song  playing on TV,an old song I am familiar with it, the title is ,'Burdens are lifted at Calvary', it ministered to my heart,it was a God sent reassuring message for me, I will share it with you, and pray it will be a blessing to you, words are by, John.M. Moore.

                                                Days are filled with sorrow and care,

                                                Hearts are lonely and drear;

                                                Burdens are lifted at Calvary,

                                               Jesus is very near.

                                               Cast your care on Jesus today,

                                               Leave your worry and fear;

                                               Burdens are lifted at Calvary, 

                                               Jesus is very near.

                                               Troubled soul,the Saviour can see,

                                               Every heartache and tear;

                                               Burdens are lifted at Calvary,

                                              Jesus is very near.

Basic things. ( Psalm 100 )

 Dale Ralph Davis  writes about small mercies,this is what he wrote,' I like Luther's 'Small  ' because it keeps me from  escaping this 'basic level' of thanksgiving. When he deals with the (' I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of  heaven and earth'), he asks, 'What does this mean?' His answer is couched in terms of a male householder in Reformation times;.....So here is what the creed means;

I believe that God has created me and all that exists, that he has given and still preserves to me body and soul,eyes, ears, and all my limbs, my reason and all my senses; and also clothing and shoes, food and drink,house and home,wife and child, land,cattle, and all my property; that he provides me richly and daily with all  the necessaries of life, protects me from all danger, and preserves and guards me against all evil; and all  this out of pure paternal divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness of mine; for all which  I am bound to thank, praise,serve, and obey him. This is most certainly true.' 

Let us not forget the basic things, like like a glass of water,a cup tea or coffee,a bar of soap, toothpaste, and so on, and lets give thanks for them.

The Messiah. ( John 18 v 36/ 20 v 28)

 Our Saviour had many confrontations with the leaders of his day,one of the most significant took place when our Saviour  asked the Pharisees ,'What do you think about the Messiah?Whose son is he?. 'The son of David ',they replied.He said to them,' How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ''Lord''? For he says,'' The Lord says to my Lord; 'Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet''. If  then David calls him ''Lord'', how can he be his son?' Matthew 22 v 41- 45.William  Hendriksen points out a number of important things about this passage of scripture, Jesus made no objections to being called ,''Son of David'' C P Matthew 9 v27 /15 v 22/ 20v 30/ Mark 10 v 47- 48/ Luke 18 v 38-39. Son of David was acknowledged to be the title used for the Messiah, of course the Jews understanding of Messiah related to this  world, he would destroy their enemies,and set up a Millennial Kingdom,and they with him, would rule over the kingdoms of this world. WH writes,' The earthly ideas attached to the concept'' Son of David'' or ''Messiah'' must be removed, CP, John 18 v36. The time has arrived to prepare the audience for the idea that the title''Son of David'' means more than was generally realized.The Pharisees  must learn that David's Son is also David's Lord. Not only is he a man; he is also God!'.One writer says this,'Those who listened had the awed and uncomfortable feeling that they had heard the voice of God, and for a moment, in this man Jesus, they glimpsed the very face of God'

The have nots.( Proverbs 28 v 27 )

I was watching a movie about a rich couple befriended a very poor person, they let him live with them, and there is a moment in the movie when he is shown his bedroom. The lad looks a bit overwhelmed, and the wife of the couple says to him,'I  suppose you never a bedroom before?'.he replied,'no I have never had a bed of my own'. For many the real world is made up of children ,who have never had a bed of their own,never had a pair of shoes,never had clean water to drink, never had new clothes to wear,never had a home to live in,never tasted chocolate. Never had someone who told them that they loved them,and have never heard about the love of Jesus. Such is the world that we lived in,we glibly speak of the haves and the have nots, and that's that. We who have, neglect the poor to our cost, we will be the poor ones, remember we are not saved by our good works , but the evidence that we are saved,is our good works,as James says we are to show our faith by our good works. ( James 2 v 18 )

/,he replied

Request Denied. ( 1 John 5 v 14 - 15 )

 He wrote many of the Psalms, he was king of Israel,a man after God's own heart, his name was David, but God refused hie request ,to be allowed to build a temple (1 Chronicles 17). In 2 Chron 28 v 3 David tells us why,he was a warrior, and had shed much blood.David never showed any resentment as regards his request being rejected.God said his son Solomon would build it, so instead of feeling hurt or getting angry he provided all that was necessary for his son to build the temple.The fact is God will not always give us what we request,it is important for us to see this. I wanted to be a missionary,God did not grant me my request,in hindsight I understand  that His will must prevail, not mine. I know so very little ,I do not always know why God says no,but it is important,to accept it as I have said ,His will must prevails. Even though Davids request was a noble admirable request it was not in God's will to grant his request.It did not mean that He did not love David, for it is obvious that He did, He was not rejecting David ,he was rejecting His request. Let us turn to one dark night in a garden were a lonely figure lay prostrate on the ground,and He was praying with such an intensity that he sweated as it were great drops of blood.He was facing suffering greater than what any other human would ever face.Here is what He prayed,' My Father , if it is not  possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done'.Someone has said every true prayer has at its heart, those words,'your will be done', his name was Jesus.

Peaceful Trust. ( Psalm 37 )

 In one of Agatha Christie's novels ,Hercule Poirot the private detective and a girl called Deirdre were going through the contents of a room of an old lady who had been murdered. They spoke about the things she had kept,Poirot mentioned how those things she kept, spoke to that lady of old memories .Deirdre agreed but said ,'that she never kept anything'.Poirot replied,'that's because you look forward, not back', she replied,'I  don't know that I look back anywhere,I mean today's usually enough,isn't it,?'  It was our Saviour who said,' So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring it's own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today'. Someone passes the following comments, on those word,'Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes'.

                                                         'No profit canst thou gain

                                                         By self -consuming care;

                                                         To Him commend thy cause; His ear

                                                         Attends the softest prayer.'

                                                                 John Wesley

                                                        

Creativity. ( John 1 v 9 - 13 )

 I was walking around a store, I was not going to buy anything, just  looking,so many things I found interesting,like kitchen utensils,glassware,and I was filled with admiration at humanities creativity.I looked at the design of things,many things which we all take for granted, not given those things a second thought.I have been to art galleries, looked on Michelangelo's statue of David,things of beauty that we admire, reminding us of the wonderful creativity  that's all  around us everyday.Our wonderful God has given the gift of  creativity to those He created in his own image. Humanity can create so much that's wonderful, but the negative side is ,we create an awful lot of things that are awful, who created that virus?.Consider the weapons of destruction,they are the things that nightmares are made of. We cannot escape the fact that humanities fallen nature takes over in some way or other,the creative artist may be a pervert, a child abuser.We all admire the gifts of of those who are very creative,but as people they may have dark hidden secrets, the dark side of our nature is always ready to take over in a destructive way, towards ourselves ,and towards others.There is only one remedy for all of us, we need to turn back to the one who created us, and lost us,but is now come  to save us, His name is Jesus, by whom all things were made.