Painful memories.( Hebrews 4 v14 -16 )

It could be because I'm old, I feel more emotional , and feel past hurts past sorrows,but recently two elderly people whom I know died, and the dying process was painful.When my first wife died I grieved,  thereafter one tried not to dwell on ones loss,but every now and again, the memory resurrects itself, and its painful. I suppose it will always be that way. In Psalm 25 v7, David wrote ,'Do not remember the sins of my youth,and my rebellious ways'.but of course when God forgives us He chooses not to remember our sins, in Jeremiah 31 v 34 we read these words  spoken to Israel ,'For I will forgive their wickedness and will  remember their sins no more'.So it is when we trust Jesus our sins are forgiven there is no remembrance of them (Hebrews 10 v 17 -18). Of course we will always regret our sins,but we should never live under the guilt of them, but rejoice in the grace of God that brought us to Ghrist. Coming  back to where I started as regards the bad memories,the sad memories ,the hurtful memories. That's where Christ our great high priest comes in,Hebrews 2 v 18 reads ,'Since He himself has gone through suffering and testing, He is able to help us when we are tested'.Someone has written,'Through His sufferings Jesus Christ  identified Himself with man'. Because He experienced so much suffering He understands what we are going through, no one suffered greater,look at the cross. And so as we can come to Him in all our difficulties and painful memories,He is more than able to help us and to bring us through.

                                                     'No one understands like Jesus,

                                                      Every woe He sees and feels,

                                                      Tenderly He whispers comfort

                                                      And the broken heart He heals'.

                                                             Words J W. Peterson.

Brokenness ( Psalm 31 )

 What a wonderful  world we live in,and of course it is,but we live in a broken world,and you don't have far to look to see its brokenness, in the street I live in I see brokenness,broken marriages and with that brokenness comes a lot of pain. A neighbour who is disabled,whose son never visit her,yet she was a good mother,then there is her grandchildren who will only help if she gives them money.Then their is a elderly mother,who has infected her children with hatred,towards a certain person.Another neighbour  whose mother is an alcoholic and the pain she has brought to her family. Brokenness comes to us in different ways,death of a love one, being violently attacked,robbed,addictions,rejection,so one could on.Think about wars,the wars may finish but for many the brokenness continues,yes we live a broken world,but there is hope in the God of hope, King David had many traumatic experiences,being hunted like a criminal ,by a king who wanted him dead,a son who  led a rebellion against his father to kill him,and become king.He recorded how he felt in his times of trouble.In Psalm 31v12 he writes,'I am forgotten as though I were dead;  I have become like broken pottery'. He further speaks of people whispering and,terror on every side, of those conspiring to kill him and take his life v 13.What can one do in the brokenness of life,here is what David  did,he turned to the only one that could help him ,'God'. This is part of what he prayed,'But I trust in you,Lord; I say,''you are my God''.If you are a Christian and you feel so broken,turn to your God ,He is the one who heals the broken hearted (Psalm 147 v3 )

God will lead . (Proverbs 3 v 5-6 )2

 Now lets consider Proverbs 3 v 6, 'In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths'.our dear lord is not there just for emergencies,we need to consult Him,acknowledge in all our goings and doings,till one gets up in the morning,till we go to bed at night.Share everything with him,hold nothing back,our dependence  on Him ,must be total,as the hymn writer says,

                                                    ' Lead us heavenly Father, lead us

                                                      O'er the world's tempestuous sea;

                                                      Guard us, guide us,keep us ,feed us,

                                                      For we have no help but Thee.

                                                                J.H.Newman.

Here is the promise, if we obey the exhortation,He shall direct our paths,not  just path,but paths, all the different paths we take in life,no matter how difficult they may be. We can take God at His word ,he cannot lie ,Titus 1 v 2. He will keep His word;you can depend on it.Charles Bridges writes,' God loves to be consulted.Therefore take all thy difficulties to Him, Be in the habit of going to Him in the first place- before self-will, self pleasing,self wisdom, human friends,....Before any of these have been consulted go to God at once'.

                                             'He lead them on safely,so that they feared not' 

                                                                     Psalm78 v53.

Trust ,( Proverbs 3 v 5 -6 ) 1

 I love all the Bible and there are two verses that I have found both helpful and instructive, Proverbs 3 v 5 - 6. 'Trust in the Lord  with all thine heart, and lean not to thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.' What wonderful  words they are even more wonderful if we put them into practice. It commences  with trusting the Lord, how do we get saved? ,by trusting the Lord Jesus as our Saviour. It is not hard to do that ,a child can  do it,in fact we are told unless we become as little children we can never enter the kingdom of  heaven. ( Mt 18 v3) Trusting Jesus for your salvation  is the beginning of our relationship with God, but it does not stop there.The words of a hymn by Edger Page come to mind,'Trust as the moment fly,trusting as the days go by,trusting Him whate'er befall,Trusting Jesus that is  all'. But next it says ,'with all thine heart,it demands no half heartedness, no wavering between two opinions ,remember He is the only one we can fully trust. Next it says ,' and lean not to thine own understanding'.Charles Bridges writes,''Our trust must not only be entire; it must be exclusive, no other confidence, no confidence in the flesh (Philippians   3 v 3 ) We will look further at verse 6 next time.

Home ( Hebrews 11 v 13 -16 )

 Recently I  went home to Ireland,that's my home of the past,then I  returned to England my home of the present,so that's it, no!.One day God knows when, I will go to my future home,its called heaven,I often think about heaven,and although I have never been there I feel homesick for that home.I  think with sadness of the many  people who will never know the unspeakable joy of heaven.Before Jesus went home to heaven He said ,''I go to prepare a place for you''  ( John 14 v 2),there He is preparing  a place for a prepared people,all those who are his, all those He purchased with His precious blood. In 2 Timothy 4 v 9,we read of a man called Demas, he is mentioned in Colossians 4 v14 and Philemon v24,  he was a fellow worker with Paul, but  there came a point when he stopped being his friend and fellow worker,why? because as Paul says in 2 Tim 4 v 9, 'he loved this present world'.Yes there is always reasons for giving up as a Christian,love of this present world, suffering,persecution, being hurt by a fellow Christian, and so we could go on.We forget that all the glory of this present world is temporary,not permanent,in contrast to heavens eternal glories. As regards suffering we are told,that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory  that will be revealed in us (Romans 8 v 18) I often imagine that as I enter heaven , I will hear my Saviour say,welcome home Billy,well its just a thought.

I love you. ( Galatians 2 v 20 )

 I was praying ,and I found myself saying,' I'm your Billy', and I am His Billy, I am not just one of the crowd,no,for my relationship with God my heavenly Father is very personal. What applies to me applies to every child  God,you are His Liz,Sam,and so on.I recently met up with a cousin,and it was a good while since I saw him,and I said,'and you are?' ,it was Brian.I do not know why it is but many of us old people have  a problem remembering peoples names. But not so with God he never forgets His children's names, in fact He never forgets us in anyway, we not just a number to Him,we are His children.It is the apostle of  love who declares, 'See what great love the Father has lavished on us,that we should be called the children of God! and that is what we are'. (1 John 3 v1 ) It is the blight of some family relationships that the parents have a favourite, such was the case of Jacob,and what animosity that created within that family. Consider the words of Peter spoken to gentiles,I now realise how true it is that God does not show favouritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears Him and does what is right.'  (Acts 10 v34 - 35 )And so when I said in my prayer ,''I am your Billy,'' I can imagine God would reply,'You are my Billy, and I love you, and I love all my Children.

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Don't worry. ( Philippians 4 v19

 One of the most popular birds in our country is the Robin,with its red breast,to my very great disappointment I rarely see one in my Garden. Recently while on holiday I purchased a hand - crafted coaster,with a Robin painted on it,well I thought at least I will have a Robin to look at everyday,well ,'sort of'. Why am I writing this?,to remind us of what our Saviour taught as regards God our Fathers care ,for His children, He said look at creation,consider how your heavenly Father feeds the birds,if He does that,remember you are more valuable than them,In essence what He is saying don't worry ( Matthew 6 v 25 - 34 ). Even though He said those lovely words,we do worry. There is a little ditty that goes,'Said the robin to the sparrow; why these anxious human beings rush about and hurry so.''. Said the sparrow to the robin,'' I think that it must be, that they have no heavenly Father such as cares for you and me''.