Getting your own back. ( 1 Peter 2 v 23)

 Romans 12 v 19 -21 reads,'Do not take revenge,my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath,for it is written;'It is mine to avenge; I will repay, says the Lord. On the the contrary ; 'If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty , give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.' These are very challenging words, it points us to what God  says we shouldn't do,and what we should do,in relationship to wrongs we have suffered. The natural man will find it hard  to do what this scripture  says, but even as a Christian we may also find it very hard. The world is full of so much injustice ,bad things are happening all the time, we have a choice,to revenge ourselves,or do what the scriptures tell us to do . It is in 2 kings 6 v 18ff we have a wonderful example  of  Israel not taking revenge on their enemies,and showing kindness to them. When Elisha who manifested miraculous powers,blinded Israels enemies and led them into a trap,the King of Israel asked Elisha ,'shall I kill them?',and he was told no,he was to give them water to drink and food to eat, and let them go back to their own country. Amazing story, what about your story and my story?,it is natural to want to get our own back on those who have hurt us, we have a choice,do we leave it to God to deal with it,or  do we do it?. 

Anything ( John 8 v 12)

 A man called Chesterton said the following, 'When people no longer believe in something, they believe, not in nothing, but in anything'. Yes anything,I recent visited the town of Glastonbury,it is near where a  famous musical festival is held every year.As we walked around the town we noticed that many of the shops where catering for Paganism, such as Celtic traditions,witchcraft,or certain gods.I recently heard a commentator speaking of a famous  football stadium as a place of worship,and people are often asked who their idol is. Of course we are more civilised now, we have thrown of what  people see as the shackles of established beliefs, but that does not mean they don't worship something,as Chesterton rightly said they worship anything.Israel of old often forsook God and turned to idols.I believe there a vacuum in all our lives,but in our fallen state we fill that vacuum with anything but God. This creates great problems for mankind the moral absolutes set by God are thrown out,and replaced  by anything goes, and society slowly but surely slips into a downward abyss,with more and more people being sucked into it. Yesterdays wrongs are now acceptable.Lord denning wrote ,'if religion perishes in the land,truth and justice will also.'and he finishes by saying,'We have already strayed too far from the faith of our Fathers.Let us return to it, for it is the only thing that can save us'.If we keep walking away from the only God as revealed in his word,and was manifest in Jesus Christ,the darkness will increase,chaos will increase,remember what our dear Saviour said,' If you follow Me,you won't have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life'  (John  8 v 12)

I am an author. ( 1 Corinthians 1 v 26 - 31 )

   Just recently I turned 80,there is a lot of history in those  years,there was a time when my dear first wife and I went to Bible college,we believe God was calling us to be missionaries,but God had another plan for our lives.I became a minister ,and served God in that capacity.There was  a time I thought that I would love to minister on the radio it never happened.Seventeen years my so John helped me to get started on doing a Blog,and just recently the thought struck me ,God had given me my hearts desire in reaching out to the world.Now as I said I have just turned 80 ,and today I received a birthday present from my son John,and when I opened it,it was a large book , a daily devotional made up from the devotionals from my Blog,now I am an author. My son told me it took a number of years putting it together ,and it was a work of love.You can get it from Amazon,it is simply called ,'A Daily Devotional', by William A .Heasley, I will not get  any money from this,I just hope it will  bless people.I am amazed at this, and thank God for giving me this ministry. Lessons I have learnt from my experience,God will give us the desire of our hearts,in His time, and in ministries we never imagined. God in choosing me,chose one of those weaklings,He chose an ordinary person,this is not false humility,if He can use me,He can use you, go for it.

Great Jehovah.( John 20 v 28 )

 Scroggie points out that throughout the OT  the name Jehovah has a descriptive  affix,in other words something fastened to it .'Jehovah- Rohi meaning the Lord is my shepherd . Jehovah - Shalom ,the  Lord my peace, Jehovah- Ropheka, the Lord my health. Jehovah- Tsidkneu,the Lord my Righteousness,  Jehovah-Shammah, the Lord my Companion, Jehovah -Nissi,the Lord my Victory, Jehovah- Jireh,the Lord my Provision.David sees God in all of life, such a great God,as the hymn writer puts it ,'How great Thou art'.David was under the Old Covenant ,but we of the New Covenant are also blessed because of Jesus,in Him we have a twofold peace,we have peace with God and the peace of God that passes all understanding, in Jesus we have health that comes from Him,we stand before a holy God in the righteousness of Christ,the Lord,He is our constant companion, through Christ we have the victory,through Christ all our needs are met ,as children of the New Covenant we are truly blessed.Remember all that Jehovah is in the Old Covenant, is ours as children of the New Covenant.

                                             ' For this God is our God for ever and ever;

                                                 He will be our guide even to the end.'

                                                                 Psalm 48 v 14 

Our Guardian. ( Psalm 91 )

 Let us consider further thoughts from Psalm 86 ,v2 reads ,'Guard my life',and of course God did guard Davids life,from wild beasts,fearful enemies,and his fellow Israelites. But we could go further than that,from the moment he was conceived in his mothers womb God preserved him.I am convinced like David I was preserved from my mothers womb till now,I believe I was premature,and as a young lad I was  saved from drowning. Everyone has a destiny,death will come  in God's time for the word of God reminds us ,our times are in His hands,that includes the time of our death.All humanity lives in the shadow of death we can't escape it, God will preserve us until He see's fit.Now I read daily of so many Christians dying violent deaths,the word to them would be, to be faithful unto death (Revelation 2 v10) Many have experienced it,and many more will ,may we remember all those who are living  with that threat hanging over them,may they be given grace to not only to live for Christ but to die for Him .David was not to die as a  martyr, he was chosen to become Israels king,no one and nothing would stop that. God has got a purpose for all our lives ,no one,and nothing can prevent that happening.In Psalm 91 v7 we have these words ,'A thousand shall fall at your side ,but it will not come near you'.

                                                       'Never let us not forget  that our God

                                                                      is Sovereign'

Just as I am. (Matthew 5 v 2) 1

 Psalm 86 is a prayer of  David, a prayer that God would  hear and answer him, he comes with  a right attitude for he declares,'For I am poor and needy'.We are talking about, the man after God's own heart, but the important thing is this,when we come to God, we are still in this body of flesh.Here is what the apostle Paul wrote i Romans 7 v 18,'For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is,in my sinful nature'. He is not exaggerating he considers God  in his total holiness,and then he honestly considers himself.The hymn ,' Just as I am without one plea', was written by a Christian, Charlotte Elliott,who suffered from ill health.One day confined to her home,feeling depressed, useless and lonely,she recalled what someone once said to her,'Come to Jesus just as you are', That inspired her to write that hymn,which has blessed many people.Although it is associated with  evangelistic meetings, someone has said 'It is suitable  for altar calls, and also during Holy communion'. Here are some of the words from this hymn,to unsaved sinners, and saved sinners.

                                 'Just as I am without one plea,but that Thy blood was shed for me,

                                  And that Thou  bidd'st  me come to thee , O lamb of God, I come!

                                  Just as I am,poor,wretched,blind; sight,riches,healing of the mind,

                                  Yea all I need,in Thee to find,O Lamb of God I come!

Without Him. ( Mark 10 v 17 ff)

 Recently a couple won 61 million pounds on a lottery,my goodness that's a lot of money,there are many people who do the lottery.One day a man came up to Jesus ,he wanted eternal life,he was religious,and this is what he asked Jesus,' Teacher ,what good thing must I do to get eternal life? Jesus quizzed him,and then He gave him the answer to his question ,'he was to give away all his wealth to the poor, then come follow Him'. He got his answer, it was plain and simple,but not for him,he was very wealthy, and all that meant must have flashed through his mind,and it was a bridge to far.He didn't say a word,but he turned away and a sadness took hold of him. Was Jesus not asking to much of this young man  after all who wants to be poor, no He wasn't. Jesus loved this young man,but this young man did not love Jesus,or the poor for that matter,so he went away rich in material wealth,but not rich towards God, David Hanson wrote a song,here is a verse from it.

                                                    'O what emptiness without the Saviour  

                                                    Mid the sins and sorrows here below,

                                                    And eternity how dark without Him!

                                                    Only tears and endless woe!

                                                    When I come to die,how would it be?

                                                    O to face the valley's gloom without Him!

                                                    And without Him all eternity.'