He is watching. (Psalm 10 )

 I heard someone say as regards  ,'Stalin, Hitler, and the like they thought that God was not watching them. In Psalm 10 v 11, we read,The wicked think,''God isn't watching us!,He has closed His eyes and won't even see what we do.With the result that they do not see what punishment is awaiting them, and punishment will await them,that is certain.This does not just apply to the most wicked of people,it applies to all who like them live as if there is no God, who do not feel that they are accountable to a holy God.We are told that after death there is judgement, Hebrews 9 v 27, that includes every person who has chosen to live without Christ. They may not have given  God a thought ,they did it their way, that's become the funeral hymn of the non- Christian.People think that God will not hold them to account, but He will, it will become crystal clear on that day,as judgement is passed.There will be no ambiguity on judgement day,in Scottish courts,a verdict of 'not proven' can be reached ,and the person can go free,not so on Judgement day that will not happen.The very one who could have been your Saviour, the one you ignored, never give Him a thought ,will be your judge.

But I am weak.( Psalm 27 v 1

 What about tomorrow? ,I feel so weak,and God spoke and said,''As your days,so shall your strength be'' (Deut 33 v 25). In Psalm 68 v 35 we are told,'The God of Israel, He is the one who gives strength and power to His people'.If we are Christians let us remember without Christ we can do nothing ( John 15 v 6 ). How did Samson kill a young lion?, how did he do all those great feats that are recorded,was it because he was mister universe? ,no,we read,' The Spirit of the Lord came upon him ( Judges 14 v 6) Did  the apostle Paul accomplish all that he did because  of his upbringing, no he declared,'I can do all things through Christ,which strengtheneth me( Philippians 4 v 13)   Consider his words,''when I am weak ,then am I strong'' ( 2 Corinthians 12 v 12). We  humans, yes even those who are Christians are inclined to boast of what they have accomplished, and take the glory instead of giving God the glory.To enable us or to prevent us doing this God weakens us,with Paul it was a thorn in the flesh, with Gideon, God reduced his army to a pittance,to fight against a vast army,why?,so that they could not boast and say,'My own strength has saved me'.( Judges 7 v 2 )

If I gained the world.( Mark 8 v 36)

 There  is an incident recorded in three of the synoptic  gospels,(Mt  19 v 16-26,Mk,  10 v17- 31 and Lk,18 v18 -27 ) It is about a rich young ruler, who wanted to know from Jesus how could he could obtain eternal life. The law is mentioned , Christ tells him to keep the commandments.Which ones? Jesus mentions six,the last being,' You shall love your neighbour as yourself' ( Leviticus 19 v 18),These words are a summing up of our attitude towards others. Let us also remember that we cannot be saved by keeping the law,(  Gal 3 v10 ff) as we will see. The young man said that he kept the commandments mentioned,so Jesus put Him to the test, and told him,to sell his possessions and to give to the poor,and come follow Him.Sad to say the love of His money won the day and he went away sad for he owned  much property.Anna Olander wrote a hymn called,'If I gained the world ,but lost the Saviour'.

                                                'O what emptiness !-without the Saviour

                                                 Mid the sins and sorrows here below!

                                                 And eternity, how dark without Him!

                                                 Only night and tears and endless woe!

                                                 What ,tho' I might live without the Saviour,

                                                  When I come to die , how would it be?

                                                  O to face the valley's gloom without Him!

                                                  And without Him  all eternity'.

Armchair General ( Matthew 19 v 21 )

 I am reading an interesting book,called 'The Armchair General', written by James Buckley,it takes the reader back to the 2nd world war,and highlights the  decisions that those in power had to make.For instance  Churchills decision to fight on,the author attempts to show what may have happened if he had decided not to fight on,and negotiated with Hitler. So the question is what would you have done if you were in Churchills place?,it is very intriguing, a bit of fun.Of course every day we make decisions, some people try to avoid making decisions,but even that is a decision,the fact is we cannot escape making decisions.A lot of decisions are not very important,others have a measure of importance,then others are very important.The whole subject is as I have said  all very intriguing,as I look back on my life,I suppose I can highlight some of the main decisions in my life, getting married,having children, learning to drive,going to Bible college ,coming to England as a minister,then working as a support worker with the mentally  ill.They are all important decisions,but by far the most important decision in my life,is when I trusted Jesus as my Saviour. That decision has had such consequences for me spiritually,morally, eternally,all bound up in the person of Jesus.You cannot go wrong when you put your trust in Jesus,it is a gain,gain ,gain decision.

                                                   'Blessed assurance Jesus is mine'

A stimulant .( Psalm 55 )

 I think it was Brooks the Puritan who wrote that God often drives us to the place of prayer,by thorns.So often Israel was driven back to God by the difficulties they faced,difficulties created by their backsliding ways. We see this in the times of the Judges,in which we read that,' every man did that which right in his own eyes' (21 v25).Think of King David ,consider his turbulent history ,one trouble after another,this was the pattern of his life, even to his old age,when his son rebelled against him.Along with that pattern of difficulties he had another pattern,prayer. Most of the Psalms were written by David, and many of his Psalms are asking for protection, and deliverance from his enemies.When the enemy was at the gate what did Hezekiah do?,he prayed ,consider that wonderful prayer in 2 Kings 19 v 14 - 19.Yes he was driven to prayer,the difficulties we face are as it were a stimulant for us to pray,and to pray more earnestly. I leave with you a part of a prayer from the,'The valley of vision'.

                                          'Send your Spirit who is the searcher of my heart,

                                           to show me more of my corruptions and 

                                           helplessness,that I may flee to Thee, cling to

                                          Thee,rest on Thee,as the beginning and end of 

                                          Thy salvation.May I not vex Him by my

                                          indifference and waywardness, grieve Him by

                                         my cold welcome,resist Him by my hard rebellion.

                                         Answer my prayers, O Lord for Thy great name's

                                         sake.'

                                            

                                        

                                          

Greater love.( Romans 5 v 10 )

Some people you do remember ,Sam Jackson was one of them,he was older than me,although he was brought up in the same street that I lived in, I didn't really know him when I was young.I don't even know what he worked at,but he was a Christian, he married a girl called Lila,and they had four children, I taught one of them in my Sunday school class.Sam was one of the leaders in a young peoples work in the church ,and then one weekend he and the young people went to the Mourne Mts. It was the next day I  heard  ,there had been a fatal accident,it appears that in a attempt to save his son from falling,he fell to his death.That was a very heroic thing to do ,our lovely Saviour said,'Greater love has no one than this;to lay down one's life  for one's friends',(John 15v13)I believe Sam did that in saving his son, he showed that greater love,but there is a greater love than this, when a person lays down his life for his enemies, that 's what Jesus did on the cross CP Romans 5 v 10.The fact is, before we become Christians we are God's enemies Jesus came into the world to save sinners- of whom I am the worse',said Paul (1 Timothy 1 v 15) .He did that for Paul , and He will do it for you ,even though you are His enemy, and ungodly ,turn to Him ,all of us were God's enemies,we were ungodly,  unrighteous,sinners,His death on the cross ,was, and is, the greatest manifestation of love ever shown. It was the apostle Paul who wrote,'God demonstrates His own love for us in this;while we were still sinners,Christ died for us'.

The sovereignty of God (Psalm 103 v19 )

Although books like Obadiah are small, they still the word of God,that goes for books in the NT,and they should not be discounted as having no value. In 2 Timothy 3 v i6 we read,'All scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching,rebuking, correcting,and training in righteousness'.It is Gordon Bridger writing on Obadiah says that we will find three great truths in that book to encourage us; (The sovereignty of God ) (The judgments of God) (The triumph of God)Let us consider the first one God's sovereignty,people struggle with this truth,but if God is not sovereign,then He is not God. Gordon Bridger asks the question,' The sovereignty of God; who is really in charge?'. Here is three quotations,'God is in charge of history. He is the mover in history'.(Motyer). 'Yahweh is sovereign in the history of the entire world, and freely exercises His will therein.( Baker) . Wars are not stirred up at random,but by the secret influence of God. ( Calvin).In Amos 3 v 6, we read,' 'When disaster comes to a city, has not the Lord caused it'.I have said ,and I  will say it again,the sovereignty of God is a great mystery,in other words we can never fully explain it.Like so many things taught in God's word we have to take them by faith, even in eternity we never full grasp this doctrine .I met an old friend recently as I read God's word,'And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God',(Romans 8 v28 ).Whatever we are going through now,or whatever we will go through later,hold to unto that promise from our sovereign God.