When they are gone ,they are gone. (Psalm 37)

 I would encourage you to read Psalm 37 ,it will bless you,encourage you, and challenge you, it opens with these words ,'Do not fret because of those who are evil, or be envious of those who do wrong;for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away'. In many places the sad fact is ,that evil people appear to prosper.H Lockyer comments on this Psalm are very helpful,here is what he says about these verses,'The word fret means ,'''burn not thyself with anger or grief''. To fret is to have heartburn,which alas! is all to common among us, as we see law-breakers riding in limousines,and obedient subjects walking in the mire. Queen Elizabeth envied the milkmaid when she was in prison; but if she had known what a glorious reign she would have had afterwards for 44years,she would not have envied her.Why envy the wicked when the candle flickers into everlasting darkness?.' The ,'Third Reich',which Hitler said would last for a 1000 years lasted 11yrs,that most evil of evil people, and those evil people who followed  him,are gone , remember evil doer's day will come,and they will be no more,

More. ( Philippians 1 v 21 )

 I wonder do you ever desire a deeper walk with God ?,what would it mean for us to have a deeper walk with God. I am sure it means hungering and thirsting after righteousness , if we do them the Word of God  says we will be filled ( Matthew 5 v 6). I suppose one could say greater trust,as Brennan Manning wrote,'A trust grounded  in faith and hope,He goes unto to write,'I want a relationship with the Abba of Jesus, who is infinitely compassionate with my brokenness and at the same time an awesome, incomprehensible, and unwieldy Mystery'.   The world make gods after their own image,in other words they become the creator,and if they create an idol out of stone,and if one is made out of stone,it will  have a heart of stone.Jesus our wonderful Saviour, who was God manifest in the flesh,had a heart of compassion,a God who gives us hope when there is no hope ,and gives us  strength in our weaknesses. .Let us remember God is faithful, God can be trusted,and God is love,and what He wants from you and me,is that we reflect Him, and to be faithful ,trusting, and loving.

                                                    'More of Thy presence ,Lord,impart,

                                                     More of Thine image let me bear;

                                                     Erect Thy throne within my heart,

                                                     And reign without a rival there'.

                                                          Words John Newton.

Beyond description.( Revelation 5 v 11-14 )

 I wonder am I the only one that who feels lost for words,as regards God and His glory,of course I'm not,I am sure many people feel that,there is a modern song that expresses  this thought,written by Mark Altrogge ,here are the words.

                                               You are beautiful beyond description,

                                               Too marvellous for words,

                                               Too wonderful for comprehension,

                                               Like nothing ever seen or heard,

                                               Who can grasp Your infinite wisdom?

                                              Who can fathom the depths of your love?

                                               You are beautiful beyond description,

                                               Majesty , enthroned above.

                                               And I stand, I stand in awe of You.

                                               I stand ,I stand in awe of you,

                                               Holy God, to whom all praise is due,

                                               I stand in awe of you. 

                                               

Mine. ( Galatians 2 v 20.)

Herbert Lockyer, SR.  Wrote the following,'Martin Luther once said that,''there is great divinity in pronouns''. It is assuring to believe that Jesus came as the Saviour of the world, but this avails nothing to me unless mine is the pronoun of a personal salvation,''Behold God is my Salvation''.I I have witnessed to many people,and often they say to me  ,I'm a ,and then thy go and say a certain denomination they belong to .Or as a young lady said to me, her grandfather was a minister, that's all   very well,but that does not take away from the fact that we need to personally trust Jesus to be our  Saviour. The apostle Paul wrote,' I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself  for me'.  (Galatians 2 v 20)

                                                  Dear Saviour, Thou art mine,

                                                  How sweet the thought to me!

                                                  Let me repeat  Thy name,

                                                  And lift my heart to Thee.

                                                  Mine! mine! mine!

                                                  I know that Thou art mine;

                                                  Saviour, dear Saviour,

                                                   I know Thou art mine.

                                                      Words Anna Hudson.

                                                  

A searching question. ( 1 Peter 5 v 7 )

I mentioned recently about a storm of  one's  own making,now lets consider another storm,we read about it in Mark 4 v 35 - 41,Jesus had been ministering to the multitudes,when He had finished, He told the disciple,to get into a boat to go to the other side .Easy  peasy, plain sailing,he would be with them, nothing could  go wrong..I wonder is that what you thing?.Well I am afraid you are going to be disappointed, for a big storm that threatened to swamp the boat, and to the disciples it looked like they where going to drown and what made it worse,Jesus was asleep,so they go to Him in their panic,and wake Him up. and say to Him,''Teacher, don't you care that we are going to drown?.Im sure that many people think like that when they are in the storms of life ,do you?.Today I listened to a  recording of a 102 yr old man ,called George Bev Shea,and a much younger man singing  a lovely old song,and it touched my heart,I think it answers the question,does Jesus care when we are in the storms of life,it was written by Frank  E. Graeff.

                                                     Does Jesus care when my heart is pained

                                                     Too deeply for mirth or song?

                                                     As the burdens press, and the cares distress,

                                                     And the way grows weary and long?

                                                     Does Jesus care when my way is dark

                                                     With a nameless dread and fear?

                                                     As the daylight fades into deep night shades

                                                     Does He care enough to be near?

                                                     Oh yes He cares, I know He cares

                                                     His heart is touched with my grief;

                                                    When the days are weary, and the long nights dreary,

                                                     I know my Saviour cares.

A stubborn brute ( Romans 2 v 5 )

 There are people who get fixed ideas ,like the earths flat,or a person in the cults,no matter what one says to them they will not change. I heard of a famous atheist who said ,'even if one could prove there is a God, he would not believe. ' Consider how tremendous things our Saviour did,and the wonderful words he spoke ,but all to no avail,they just would not believe. There is a saying that goes',Convince a man against his will, and he remains of that opinion still'. This stubbornness comes down to the will, that's the fortress of men and women's hearts,their wills, that are captivated,by their fallen nature, and Satan's power..The sad thing is they will refuse to believe in Jesus. It reminds me of an Irish song, sung by Val Doonican, about a donkey ,that was entered for the half mile race,but it refused to move,They attacked it, shoved it, smacked it,but it would not move one bit,as the song says, they may as well have tried to push the town hall down,all the donkey did was eye them, and openly defied them.In the end they all carried the stubborn brute ,and believe it or not it won the half mile race. Its an amusing little song, that's all it is, but the fact is that mankind's stubbornness is no joke and has serious consequences, We read in Genesis 6 v 3,   God's Spirit will not always strive with man,and shortly after this we read God saying, ''I will destroy man''. v7.

                                                ' Come to the Saviour make no delay'

What is an Evangelical? ( Ephesians 2 v 8- 10 )

 An article on the internet points out five Solas (alone) Scripture alone/Grace alone/Christ alone/ Faith alone/ To the glory of God alone.We have looked at scripture last  time,and that everything written ,taught, and preached by Godly people ,must be based on scripture. Now faith is not a work it is a gift,it is the instrument by which through the grace of God we are saved ( Ephesians 2 v 8) .The term grace  teaches  us  clearly that our works have no part in saving us,the Roman Catholic Church disagrees with that, and placed a curse on  those who ruled out works.We look at the difficulties that the early church had from those who believed that faith in Christ was not enough to save us ,in Galatians 2 v 11, we have the  apostle Paul challenging those who were trying to add things unto the Gospel.If we are saying that there must be a plus on the means of Salvation,we nullify the finished  work of Christ.As one has said,'You can't earn grace, otherwise its not grace, not a gift'.Do works play any part in our salvation? the simple answer is no Revelation 21 v 6/ Romans 4 v1 - 6./Isaiah 55 v 1- 2. The question you may ask,where does works fit in?,after all James appears to say that we are saved by faith and works CP James 2 v 14 - 26, is he contradicting what the apostle Paul teaches, no he is not ,Paul is teaching from a judicial  point of view,while James is writing from an evidential point of view.James 2 v 18 declares,'Show me your faith'.I know of many people who are involved in so many ways ,doing good works, but none of them are doing them ,to be saved,good works should come naturally to every Christian.