Our greatest need.( Isaiah 41 v 10)

 As Moses was the chosen one given the responsibility in leading Israel to the promised land, God says these tremendous words to him,' My Presence will go with you,and I will give you rest'.in Matthew 28 v20 ,our Saviour said to the disciples and to us, 'I am with you always ,to the very end of the age'. These words grant to each of God's children a wonderful comfort,as we face each day  He will be with us 24/7,fifty two weeks of the year.Whatever trial you may be facing, He will be with you,whatever task you are faced with He will be with you,Let not feelings rule our lives,by faith take hold of this wonderful promise,I recently found myself singing part of a hymn by Annie Hawkes, it is a prayer

                                           'I need Thee every hour,most gracious Lord;

                                           No tender voice like Thine, can peace afford.

                                           I need Thee every hour,stay Thou near by;

                                           Temptations lose their power,when Thou art nigh.

                                            I need Thee every hour,In joy or pain;

                                            Come quickly and abide,or life is vain.

                                            I need Thee every hour, teach me Thy will;

                                            And in Thy rich promises,in me fulfil.

                                                                Chorus

                                                 I need Thee, oh, I need Thee'

                                                 Every hour I need Thee;

                                                 Oh, bless me now my Saviour,

                                                 I come to Thee! 

                                     

                                               

Will we past the test. ? ( Job 13 v 15 )

 It is obvious to me that being a Christian will not guarantee, a life without suffering, in the word of God you see very godly people suffering greatly. Here's the sad thing there are those who preach a prosperity so called  gospel, of course they stipulate,the secret is in giving to God. All that means is you can buy God's favour and of course you can't,Philip Yancey writing on the book of Job says ,' It represents a step beyond the ''contract faith'' assumed in most of Old Testament;Do good and get blessed, do bad and get punished', If we base our faith on a lap sided point of view as regards the OT or even the NT,then what are we going do when trials come upon us? Jacob wrestled with an angel he received a blessing, but he also came  away with a limp for the rest of his life.( Genesis 32 v 22 - 32).Paul was a man of God the greatest of the apostles,and God blessed his ministry ,but he had to live with a thorn in the flesh (2 Cor 12 ).Godly people do suffer,and so we must the facts we will not be excluded from suffering,and that's a fact.Philip Yancey sums up the book of  Job,here is what he says,' It is not about suffering....Seen as a whole,the book is about faith, the story of  one man selected by God to undergo a staggering ordeal by trial.' Most of us have to narrow a view of suffering,no one wants to suffer,and we hide from the truth and believe that being good and doing all the right things well,will preserve us from suffering,but it won't, God declared Job the best man on earth ( Job 1v 8) Yancey writes,'Yet Job suffers the worst  calamities,which poses a test of faith in its most extreme form,'

                                                            'Dear Lord grant us the  grace

                                                             that when you send  suffering into 

                                                             our lives, we will not fail the test

                                                             of trusting you. Amen.'                       

                                                             

Lest we forget ( Luke 22 v 14 - 20 )

 Recently I watched an old war movie ,it was in black and white, and involved,' bomber command', unlike modern movies,it didn't glorify violence,it stressed the loss of many dear young men, and the sadness that brought.It was Winston Churchill who said,''Never in the history of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few''.Those brave airmen payed a great price so that we could  escape a great tyranny,that would have destroyed so much that we  held dear, and love.That old movie I watched had a very important  message, and its this,' lest we forget'.Now turn to another battle ground,where we see a man hanging on a cross, a young man,who is that young man?,His name is Jesus,when He came from heaven, he knew the purpose of his coming was to die on the cross,and in that dying  to wage war against all that 's evil in this world. Against the devil, that being who hates God and his creation,one who hold's so many in his power. Last but not least ,he came to defeat death. He won the victory over them all, but at a tremendous cost,it cost Him everything.Now let me ask you a question why do we keep the 'Lord's tale'?,and I will tell you why,''Lest we forget''.it appears incredible that any of us will ever forget  what Jesus did for us on Calvary's  cross,but sad to say there are those who have.So don't forsake the Lords table ,lest you forget,and wander away from Him who loved you and died for you.

                                                    '  Lest I forget Gethsemane,

                                                       Lest I forget Thine agony,

                                                      Lest I forget Thy love for me,

                                                       Lead me to Calvary'. 

                                                        Words .  Jenny. E. Mussey.

Old age. (Psalm 37 )

They  say the camera doesn't lie, and I suppose a lot of  people wish it did. I had a photo taken of recently and it brought home to that I am 79 but I look 79, I'm an old man, what can we say about old age, has it got  advantages?,old age can be a blessing it can be a burden. King David in his old age wrote a lovely Psalm and this is what he had to say,'I was young and now am old,yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread',  (Ps 37 v25 )Like David I look back on my life and I can testify to God's faithfulness,how He has never forsaken any of His children, and that includes me,I have been so conscious of His presence with me.Yes I can look back and rejoice that God has been with me,and  I can also can look forward with wonderful assurance that He will still be with me.  So in this Psalm David encourages  and instructs His children to not fret when evil people seem to prosper but to simple trust and delight in God  and he will not disappoint. We are to be still before the Lord rest in his presence, there is no point in worrying( Matthew 6 v 19ff) One day in the fall of 1874, in a flat in Lower Manhattan, a blind woman answered a knock on her door. On opening the door, she felt some folded paper being pressed into her hand by someone who left without a word. It turned out to be ten dollars. The woman had not had the money to pay the rent, and so had prayed for the Lord to supply her need. And here it was.So it was later that day Fanny Crosby wrote.

                                       'All the way my Saviour leads me,what have I to ask beside ?

                                        Can I doubt His tender mercy, who through life has been my guide?

                                        For I know , whate'er befall me,Jesus doeth all things well.'

                                                 ( I am indebted to R .Davis for the story)

It's not the end ( 1 Corinthians 15 )

If your  are like me and you've suffered the lost of one you loved dearly, well if you haven't, the thing is it will happen,and that brings with it a lot of pain.The pain will ease but it will always be there,when your not expecting it, and you will shed a tear. We all live in the shadow of death hanging over us , when death will happen we don't know, there is nothing we can do about it.What a great comfort to know that the one you loved is in heaven, it is tremendous source of comfort.As I wept a tear recently ,I heard myself saying ,'it is not the end'.Remember this statement is not based on nonsense or  false sentimentality,but on the solid word of God, and a historical person called Jesus, who said,' I will die , but on the third day I will rise again', and you know something wonderful He did just that.His death was foretold in scripture (Isaiah 53),likewise His resurrection (Psalm 16 v10), hallelujah, yes praise the Lord.Because He lives, everyone who trusts in Him will  live also,no ifs or buts,yes it is not the end

                                                     ' Because He lives we shall live also' .

Obstacles ( Matthew15 v 21 - 28 )

 While on holiday recently,in a charity shop,I managed to strike up a conversation with a man,I asked him  I wonder if you wouldn't mind me asking him a pertinent question, 'do you know the Lord as your Saviour?,' He replied that he had been brought up as a JW, but he left that,he went on to say he went to an Anglican church, but he left it because the minister was abusing young people.He then joined another church not Anglican,but they were to political,so he  left that.He raised different questions, which I did my best to answer.He mentioned that his wife was a nurse,who turned from a belief in God ,because of all the people she saw dying. He spoke about faith in a trivial way but I assured him it was far from trivial,but I sensed that this was still seeking God, in spite of all all the obstacles he had encountered.For most people there are obstacles which they have to face if they want to know Christ,so it will always be,let us remember that obstacles are not there to put  one off, coming to Christ,they are there as a test,in which we must show how much we want Christ ,how much do we value Him,well then tell me, how much do you value Him?.

Possible suffering ( Philippians 1 v 29)

R.Davis in his fine commentary on Luke's gospel writing on the death of John the baptist who was executed  by Herod Antipas comments,' It shows us that sometimes there is no 'fulfillment' in ministry, we are being shown that John had to bear the cross before the cross.Luke  who recorded this isn't  implying that being Jesus servant always leads to this, but he is saying it can and may lead to this? The Bible never hides the hard  stuff in the small print. You could face this,you must be ready for this, in life under the gospel,' Many years ago as a young married man with a young family,my dear wife and I sought to serve the Lord, we had in mind being in missionary service,with a mission called the,'Acre gospel mission'.they worked in the interior of Brazil,a missionary we knew served the Lord there, his  dear wife had died when they first went out.he said it was known as the green hell.Knowing this we were prepared to go ,even though we had four young children, so we applied to the mission,but we were not accepted. Reading the history of missions,many did go,and paid a heavy price. As a Christian I have never suffered for  my faith,but everyday  I pray for those who are suffering. Yes we may suffer but we may not ,if we are called to suffer may God grant us the grace to remain faithful to Him,who suffered greatly for us.