I will not die. ( Psalm 118 v 17 )

 Often David was in dangerous places,were death threatened,Psalm 118 is about such a situation, in v11 he writes of being surrounded on every side by enemies, like a swarm of bees.In the midst of it we have him declaring God as his helper,he likens what he is going through as a chastening of the Lord .It did not include him dying,in fact he declares in v17 ,'I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the Lord has done'.Herbert Lockyer writes the following,' The Psalmist was cheerfully assured that no arrow  could carry  death between the joints of his harness  and no weapon  of any sort could end his earthly sojourn . The time of his departure had not come.and he felt immortality beating within his bosom.Is this not true of all who have been kings and priests unto God? They stand unharmed till their last sacrifice has been presented to Him.'He finishes by saying,''No bullet will find its billet in our hearts till we have finished our allotted period of activity''.

                                           'Plagues and death me fly,

                                           Till He please I cannot die;

                                           Not a single shot can hit,

                                           Till the God of love sees fit'

                                                 Words . John Ryland.

The giant killer ( 2 Peter 1 v 3 - 4 )

 When you read of a giant killer, you immediately think about David, the young lad who killed Goliath,but we read of one of Davids mighty men Benaiah ,who also slew a giant of a man 1 Chronicles 11 v 23 .We don't see many giants,there are some basket ball players ,that are very tall.But the giants that David and  Benaiah had to face were not involved in sport, no they were mighty warriors,enemies of God and his people, they had to be faced and slain,so that's what David and Benaiah did. Giants still stalk planet earth ,they have different names,it was dear old John Bunyan that godly man who wrote a wonderful book called ,'Pilgrims Progress'.in the book we have two Christians,Christian and Hopeful, on a journey to the Celestial city, unfortunately instead of keeping to the straight and narrow,they wandered of it and became captives, of Giant Despair,and were imprisoned in Doubting Castle,there they suffered a great deal,there appeared no way out,death awaited them.But things changed,for Christian discovered he had a key  called promise,which they used to escape. Christian on their way to glory can so easily be taken captive by Giant despair,Giant of lust,Giant of pride, Giant of unbelief.Those and many other giants that can take over our lives,and destroy us,it need not be so,for God promises in His word, to deliver us and set us free.

                                             ' It is for freedom that Christ hath set us free.

                                              Stand firm, then. and do not let yourselves

                                              be burdened again by a yoke of slavery'.

                                               

He will not fail you. ( Psalm 27 )

King David was in exile in the land of the Philistines,King Saul been hunting David to kill him,time after time he had escaped his clutches,but there came a time when David had,had enough,and he thought to himself, 'One of these days I shall be destroyed by the hand of  Saul.The best thing I can do  is to escape to the Land of the Philistines' 1 Samuel 27 v 1.While in the land of the Philistines he and his six hundred men,plus women and children lived in a town called Ziklag. During that time he and His men were away from their family, when they returned to their horror Amalekites had raided Ziklag, they burned  it down,took all the women and children captive,and went on their way.This seemed to be the last straw ,it caused them great sorrow, but Davids men also felt great bitterness towards him, and talked about stoning him. What do you do when you are face with such a situation?.The first thing David did was,'he encouraged himself in the Lord his God 1 Sam 30 v 6.then he inquired of the Lord what he should do.v 8.and the Lord told him what to do.This he did,and rescued all the wives and children.These are written for our learning, if you are in difficulties even great difficulties,encourage yourself in the Lord, and ask Him what you are to do,. He will not fail you.

Very serious ( Luke 16 v 19 - 31 )

I was listening to a a former atheist talking about becoming a  Christian ,he was a  qualified scientist ,he spoke of attending church thinking all he would hear  about was  sin and hell, instead he heard about love.I had not time to listen to anymore of what he was saying, I hoped that is not where  he stopped,I hope he went unto realise, that like or not,that we have accept that sin and hell are realities,that we have to accept. We cannot water those things down,they are to serious to do that,I remember hearing  about a Christian who was a passenger on the Titanic,he did die ,but before he did ,he swam around telling people about Jesus that they may be saved.Church history is full of people who endured so much ,in order tell people about Christ,who can save them. think of what Christ suffered in order for them to save them..People are grossly ignorant  of spiritual things, I am not ignorant of spiritual things, I know what the Bible teaches,as regards unforgiven sin,dying without Christ is a very, very, serious business.

                                                  ' Come to the Saviour make no delay'.

Trust in man , can never. ( Proverbs 3 v 5 )

 It was Napoleon who said that God was always on the side of the biggest battalion ,one writer pointed out that it was a dictum he lived to regret . When he invaded Russia he had an army of about 600,000 men, when he returned to France, he had 35,000 soldiers. Writing on Psalm 116 v 8,    which reads ,'It is better to trust in the Lord than man..... than princes, Herbert Lockyer comments,''Good it is to trust  in Jehovah'', 'It is better in every way to trust in the Lord to help us , because it is wiser , seeing He is more able to help us than the best of  men, who are only frail men at best.It is also safer to have Him  as the object of confidence,because we are always secure in His hands. Trust in man can never produce a sacred  calm of spirit, and sanctity of the soul, as the Lord can in the hearts of those who trust in Him'.

                                                  'Trust in the Lord with all 

                                                         of your heart'

Are we growing? ( John 12 v 21)

 I see now that winter is ending, although to be truthful it has been a very mild winter, one of mildest I can remember.My Geraniums have come through practically unharmed, and I have just notice that the row of small bushes are beginning to grow,and of course the grass  has also needed cut, looks like summer is on its way,or so it appears,we will see. I wonder what season are you in,for I think our life span has it seasons, I suppose I am in the last season,winter.the signs are there ,my memory is not as good as it used be,but still reasonable,and of course I am on some medication,but thankfully nothing to serious. Of course getting old does not mean one should stop growing spiritually,I wonder how we judge that?, we cannot go to the doctors to find the answer ,so where do we go to assess our spiritual growth?.Suppose we could ask a friend, who has known us many years,or ones wife.But of course the word of God ,will tell us,the qualities of spiritual growth. There are many scriptures that help us,guide us, and challenge us in relation to spiritual growth ,here are a few, Matthew 5-7 / 2 Peter 1v 5-8 / Galatians 5 v 22-23.The aim of it is, that we should be more like Jesus .Romans 8 v 29.

                                                                ' Keep growing'

Not distant. ( Ephesians 2 v 11 - 13 )

Psalm 116 is a lovely Psalm,it is known as the,'Pronoun Psalm', examples of pronouns ,I,Me, and You. The first two verses, have 6 pronouns, 3 as regards himself,and 3 as regards God. Other people see it as the,' I   Psalm', it reminds us that a relationship with God is very personal ,it not just a religion,one of going through the motions,nor is it a distant relation.There is a lovely hymn which emphasise that closeness with God through Christ,I not to sure who the author was, for two are mentioned ,'Horatius Bonar, and Catesby Paget, Here are some of  the verses.

                                                   '  By nature and by practice far-

                                                     How very far from God!

                                                     Yet now by grace brought near to Him,

                                                     Through faith in Jesus blood.

                                                     So near, so very near to God,

                                                     I cannot nearer be;

                                                     For in the Person of His Son

                                                     I am as near as He.

                                                     So dear, so very dear to God,

                                                     More dear I cannot be;

                                                     The love wherewith He loves the Son,

                                                     Such is His love for me'.