Fatal distractions. ( John 21 v 20 -21 )

 Senator John Kennedy  speaking to President Biden,about one of the problems people were facing, inflation,he made a point by giving an illustration as regards himself. He said that when he was young he played baseball,not very well,he could not cope with the curve of the ball, The coach advised him to ,'keep his eye on the ball',  in other words focus on the ball. It goes without saying there are so many distractions in life,and as Christians we should take that advice very serious. Take marriage, being faithful in marriage, I remember listening to dear Chuck Swindle who said  that when he was away from home,and would go and have a meal in a hotel , he would put a photo of his wife on the table in front of him. It  helped him to keep his eye on the ball, to stay focused on his marriage, so that he would not be sucked into a wrong relationship. So many things can distract us in our Christian journey,we take our eyes of the Lord,and that can lead to serious consequences The artist may say my life is painting, an entertainer may say my life is being an entertainer, and we can add many other things.There is nothing wrong with those things and if you are good at them ,you have to give of your best to them. This is what the apostle Paul said,' For to me to live is Christ',(Philippians 1 v21)we should never be distracted from that.Those other things are legitimate, but we must never allow them to takes our eyes of Christ no matter what they are.

But there are restrictions ( 1 John 5 v 14) 2

 We continue on looking at prayer,I started of  telling you that someone prayed for my healing,'receive your healing 'she said.as yet it has not happened ,one may ask the question why?,There are a number of reasons why prayer is not answered,and one of the reasons is this,'If we ask anything according to His will,He hears us', (1John 5 v14),in John 14v14  we read ,'You may ask anything in my name,and I will do it',yes He will ,if it be His will.John Stott tells us that 5 v14 'underlines and explains the restrictions the Lord Himself placed on asking. It must be according to His will'.  The lady who prayed for my healing did not bring that it into it.Again John Stott comments,''Prayer is not an attempt to get God to see things my way and to extract from Him what I  have decided or want. Prayer is submitting my will to His'.We hear  false prophets shout ,' in the name of Jesus be healed',and those they pray for are not.It is very sad because they are exploiting the vulnerable not caring to give them an answer,they are no better that scam callers,they take the money and run. They are even more brazen for they do it openly.There are other reasons why God will not answers our prayers , if their sin in our lives. ( Psalm 66 v 18)Also God may also say ,not now,Abraham was given a promise of a child but it did not come immediately,likewise Daniel's prayers were not answered immediately (Daniel 10 v 12 -13 )

Ask anything. (Matthew 7 v 7)(1)

 I was out with a friend at a cafe run by a church,we both knew some people there,so we went over to say hello,we talked a little.Someone asked how I was keeping,I replied ,and I mentioned a certain physical problems I had. One the ladies said do you want us to pray for you?,I agreed,who knows God may answer their prayer. Now one of the things she said in her prayer was,''receive your healing'', and I wondered what she meant by that,as I walked away, I prayed to God ,and said ,''all things are possible with you ''.As one whose young wife died of cancer,I realise that God does not always heal,and we can broaden this out to prayer in general, here is a scripture that tells us somethings very important in relation to prayer, it is found in John's first epistle ,chap 5 v 14- 15.'This is the confidence we have in approaching God; that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask,we know that we have what we asked of Him'.First we have the scope of our asking ,'anything'.Recently I attended my brothers wife's funeral,I asked that the weather would be kind to us,that morning as my wife and I got off the plane, it was raining very heavy ,and it was cold, but later on the weather changed, and it turned out a lovely day. Yes you can pray about anything,God does hear and answer prayer ,we will continue this next time .

Fools ( John 3 v36 )

 Proverbs 14 v 9 reads ,'Fools make a mock at sin; but  with the righteous there is favour', Charles Bridges wrote,' What! Are there  such, as will count sin a sport? They have never seen the sight, never felt the weight.Look into eternity. It is thought  a grave matter in heaven. It is felt so in hell'. Many make light of their sins, make excuses for their sins,but the fact is as one puts it,God does not excuse sin,but often we do, we say ,that's the way I am ,I can't help,that does not wash with God. Look at the nicest person you know, they are sinners, they may even be fooled ,that they will not go to hell,and indeed you may think that,but they will. That's the awful tragedy,the sheer folly of it all,let none us be fooled,by human niceness. In Psalm 14 v1 we read ,'The fool  says in his heart ,'There is no God'.this could apply to those who  believe they are not  accountable to God,they are practical  atheist, they don't believe God has any claim on their lives,so they live a life with disregard towards God,the Bible says they are fools just as much as those who make a mockery of sin,and they will both suffer the same consequences the judgement of God.

                                                         'Don't be a fool,be wise unto salvation,

                                                          and trust Jesus as your Saviour.'

Old sins ( 1 Corinthians 10 v 12 - 13)

Spurgeon wrote,'Old sins rise up to torture the memory of the saints even after the deep experience of forgiveness ,and the temptations of Satan assault others with spiritual horrors'. I know an elderly Christian of long standing who said  to me that he was having sexual thoughts, it was upsetting him. The fact is God does not remember our sins,(Isaiah 43 v25 ) when we trust Jesus our sins are completely forgiven. So we must hold fast to that truth,and what a blessed truth it is,don't let anyone especially Satan rob you of that truth,he will try.  It is Paul who writes of life in the Spirit,and thankfully,we have  the Spirit of God,to assist us and help us ,in times of temptation,as Harriet Auber wrote,'And every virtue we possess,and every victory won, and every thought of holiness, are His alone'.God does not remember our sins,,we may try to not remember, but Satan remembers, and he will not let us to forget them. He is pictured as a roaring lion,going about to devour us,so we are told to resist him,to be alert  (1 Peter 5 v 8 - 9). James tells us to resist the devil,and He will flee from us (James 4 v7),that is if we in humility submit ourselves to God. (James 2 v 6).

                                                 'Ask the Saviour to help you,

                                                  Comfort , strengthen,and keep you;

                                                  He is willing to aid you,

                                                  He will carry you through.'

                                                      Words H R. Palmer.

Luck,chance.? ( Isaiah 41 v10 )

 One morning recently I had a bit of a scare,I was in my car and I came to a junction,but there was a problem, people park their cars in such a way, that one cannot  see if it is safe to get out.Well I thought it was clear for me to pull out,and I was just about to do it,when a car zoomed by in front of me,if I had gone out a few seconds earlier,I would have been involved in a serious accident.should I put it down to luck?,or chance?,  no,I put it down to Gods providence, I believe He held me back  so that an accident didn't happen.While a lot of  people are blind to this , I'm not, I believe in God's sovereignty, it means God rules, and overrules in an all the affairs of my life,and in His providence watches over me, His child .I have been driving a long time ,yes I have had accidents,but no harm has befallen me,is that because I am the perfect driver? no it is obvious I'm not, but I have been in God's providence  a protected driver. oh yes I don't know what the future holds,but I know my times are in His hands (Psalm 31 v15 )

                                                    ' Plagues and deaths around me fly;

                                                     Till He bids,I cannot die;

                                                      Not  a single shaft can hit,

                                                      Till the God of love sees fit'

                                                              Words John Ryland

Money and ministry. ( 1 Samuel 12 v 2 -4 )

 A friend told me of a preacher he knew called Billy Richard,whom God wonderfully used,he started with a church with just four people,and it grew ,and it grew to a church with four hundred people.He had a visiting preacher from America who ministered in his church,When he was leaving ,Billy accompanied him to where the ship  was to take him home.Before he left he said to Billy should come to America to  minister God's word ,but Billy said no,as he felt that it was not where God wanted him to be,but the preacher was very persistent, but to no avail. Finally in his efforts to change his mind,he said,''think of all the money you will make'',Billy looked at him and said,''  I feel like saying your money perish with you''.( Acts 8 v 20) It seems so obvious to me that a minister of God should not be in the ministry for money/,like the so called prosperity preachers.One of the qualifications of someone who is a leader in the Church of God was  ,'not to be a lover of money'(1 Timothy 3 v3,/ Titus  1 v 7. 1 Peter 5 v 2) .  God may bless a minister with money that's fine, let me add this ,the church is not to keep the  minister poor, some churches actually believe that,well they are wrong .( Luke 10 v 7 / 1 Corinthians 9 v 13 - 14 ).

                                                'No Christian minister, or Christian,

                                                 should be a lover of money'.