Don't anticipate. ( Genesis 27 v 41/ 33 v 1ff)

 A man watched his friend a sculptor working on a piece of marble,and he said to him,'I don't know where you are going with that', his friend said to him,'' in time you will''.It was Peter who was told by our Saviour, ''you do not realise  now what I am doing,but later you will understand''.(John 13 v 7) It was the apostle Paul who wrote,'Now I know in part; then I shall know fully' (1Corinthians 13 v12)Life being life, throws so many challenges at us,that  we cannot understand,and we may think where is God taking me in what I am experiencing ?. First let me say ,don't  anticipate the worse, the sky is not going to fall on you , the evil you fear may not happen, I remember reading of a man who had invested money for his company,and he lost it all. Later he was called in to see his boss, and before his boss had time to speak ,he  blurted out,I am sorry about that money that I invested,that went wrong. His boss looked at him and said,''don't worry about that,I have something else I want to talk to you about''. Remember it may never happen.

                                                 'Ye fearful saints ,fresh courage take,

                                                  The clouds ye so much dread

                                                   Are big with mercy, and shall break

                                                   In blessings on your head'

                                                         William Cowper.

Sent by God. ( Matthew 25 v 31 - 46)

Ann was looking after  her husband who had Parkinson disease,he was in the latter stage of his illness, needing total care .Ann is a retired nurse,and both her and husband were fine Christians ,it was a very emotionally and physically time as you can well imagine.She tells there was a day in which she could not cope,her husband needed changed,and she just did not have the strength to help him,they both wept.Then just at that moment the door bell ,two lovely Christians were standing there,they said that they felt they should bring two ready meals for them.But when they discovered what what was happening,they got to work,the lady had worked as carer one time,so she got Ann's husband sorted out,  and did what necessary in the home.I read the following,' Be happy when God answers your prayers,but  be more happy when God makes you the answer to someone else's prayer'.

Strong reasoning. ( Isaiah 41 v 21)

 I read the following story ,about a Christian called ''Holy Ann'',who lived in Canada,she lived to be one hundred years old.    When she was young she worked for a family ,for a very small wage,they treated her very badly.They made her carry water for a mile up a steep hill. At one time there was a well near were she worked,but it had dried up.One night she was very tired,and she fell on her knees and cried to God; and while on her knees  she read these words,''I will open...fountains in the midst of  valleys; I will make the dry land springs of water.''. ''Produce your cause,saith the Lord; bring forth your strong reasons''So Holy Ann produced her cause before the Lord. She told Him how badly they needed water and how hard it was for her to carry the water up the hill; then she lay down and fell asleep. The next morning early she was seen  to take a bucket and start for the well.She was asked by someone where she was going, she told them she was going to the well to draw water, but they told her,that the well was dry. But Holy Ann carried on,and  when she got to the well,it was full of water,and the well never did run dry after that. We can't command God to answer our prayers, but we can reason with Him and use arguments, strong reasons,why He should answer our prayers.

He is able. (Ephesians 3 v20-21 ) 2

We continue to look at Ephesians 3 v 20 ,and John Stott's comments,he writes on the words ,'according to the power that worketh in us'. 'The infinite ability of God to work beyond our prayers,thoughts and dreams is by the power at work within us, within us individually( Christ dwelling in our hearts by faith) and within us as a people  (who are the dwelling place of God by His Sprit) It is the power of the resurrection, the power which raised Christ from the dead, enthroned Him in the  heavenlies, and then raised and enthroned us there with Him. That is the power which is at work within the Christian church. Because of this power there are no limits to what God can do. The power comes from Him; the glory must go to Him'.

                                      'More powerful than all the dark and mighty powers

                                       let loose in the world, more powerful that anything

                                       else, is the power of prayer set ablaze by the fire of 

                                       God and cast upon the earth.'

                                                                   (Torrance)

He is able . (Ephesians 3 v 20- 21) ( 1)

 Ephesians 3 v 20 - 21 ,reads,'Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh within us,Unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus through out all the ages, world without end. Amen.I want to quote John Stott on these verses. He lays seven stages in relation to these verses.

(1)He is able to do or to work,for He is neither idle,nor inactive,nor dead.

(2) He is able to do what we ask,for He hears and answers prayer.

(3) He is able to do what we ask or think,for He reads our thoughts,and sometimes we imagine things for which we dare not and therefore do not ask.

(4)He is able to do all that we ask or think, for He knows it all and can perform it all.

(5) He is able to do more......than( beyond) all that we ask or think,for His expectations are higher than ours.

(6) He is able to do much more,or more abundantly, than all we ask or think, for He does not give His grace by calculated measure.

(7) He is able to do very much more, far more abundantly, that all we ask or think,for He is a God of super- abundance.

God cannot be bought off. ( 1 Peter 1 v 18-19 ) 1

 The first sermon I preached in England was from the book of Micah chap 6 v 8 , it reads ,'He has told you,O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you. But to do justice, to love mercy,and to walk humbly with your God'. Micah ministered during the reign of 3 kings of Judah, 'Jotham , Ahaz, and Hezekiah. Bear in mind that the nation of Israel split in two under the rule of Rehoboam ,Solomon's son, it was  a judgement caused by the sin of Solomon.It is to these two nations that Micah spoke to, telling  them God's judgement was coming, and it did. but their was also a degree of hope,things would change eventually.Micah answers the question,as to what the Lord required from the nation.would multitude of  sacrifices be the answer?, the answer was no. David Prior writes ,' This notion of atonement by means of costly gifts,of virtually buying God off , dies very hard in the human heart'.The Roman Catholic church sought to do this in the selling of indulgence,the more you give the less time you spent in purgatory.a man called Simon in Acts 8 thought the gifts of God could be bought with money, he was rebuked severally by Peter. There is a saying everyone can be bought,but let me assure you, God cannot be bought off.Peter sums it up like this ,'You were not redeemed with corruptible things,like silver and gold,from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ,as of  a lamb without blemish and without spot', (1 Peter 1 v 18- 19)

Are you blind? ( John 3 )

 Have you ever wandered why when you talk to JWs, Mormon's, that no matter what one says from the scripture,they refuse to accept it. Also why did the religious leaders failed to recognise Jesus for whom He was,their Messiah  .In present Israel there is a group of Jews called Hasidic Jews,and most of the men spend their days studying the Torah ,the first five books of what we Christians call the Old Covenant scriptures,they also  fail to  recognise their Messiah?.What is obvious to the Christian, ,is not obvious to them, why can't they understand,why?,but they don't.Paul writing to the Christians at Corinth declares,' And we have received God's Spirit (not the worlds spirit), so we can know the wonderful things  God has freely given us (1 Cor 2 v 12)then he follows it up by saying,'But people who aren't spiritual can't receive these truths from God's Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can't understand what the Spirit means'. (v 14).Our Saviour was faced with people who like the Hasidic studied the scriptures, the Pharisees,the separated ones, the defenders of the Law.This is what Jesus said to them,  You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the scriptures point to me. Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life'.(John 5 v 39- 40). The fact is,it is not enough to know the scriptures,you must know the Christ of the scriptures as your Saviour.

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