I'll do it my way( James 4 v 13-17 )

In James 4 v13 -16  There is a challenge to the blatant presumptuousness and blindness of people who are taken up with the affairs of life ,ignoring the uncertainty of life,and ignoring God.They make their plans without giving a thought for God, it is Alec Motyer who writes the following,'We overlook frailty (a mist) v14, and ignore the fact that even the small print of life is in the hands of a sovereign God(if God wills) It is a presumption that we are masters of our own life,so that we need to do no more than decide and, lo and behold, it will happen like that.It touches ability ; and trade and get gain. Of course we shall succeed if we want! We can do it'.James rebukes them ,instead of them bringing God into their affairs they boast in their arrogant schemes,ignoring the fact that all such boasting was evil. It appears he is challenging professing Christians who should have know better,does not the scripture tell us that we should acknowledge God in all our ways (Proverbs 3 v6 ) It was Fanny Crosby who wrote,

                                              'Hold Thou my hand! so weak I am and helpless,

                                              I dare not take one step without Thy aid;

                                              Hold Thou my hand for then ,O loving Saviour,

                                              No dread of ill shall make my soul afraid'.

William Cowper. ( Psalm 40 v 1- 3 )

 William Cowper was befriended by John Newton and he lived with John and his wife for a number of years,John was the minister at a place called Olney in Buckinghamshire. They were very close friends and William helped in his ministry,and they worked together  in writing a hymn book for the church at Olney. One of the hymns John wrote  was,' Amazing Grace',and one of hymns William wrote was,'God moves in mysterious ways',they are both ,two of my favourite hymns.William was one of the most widely read English poets of his day,he had a wonderful grasp of the English language. He used to take part in the prayer meetings at the church and people loved to here him pray.John said ,' Of all the men I heard pray, no one equalled Mr Cowper'.He was a very shy man so it was quite a task for him to pray publicly, and he confessed ,' that his mind was always greatly agitated for some hours preceding'. Yet he like us  had been taught and was convinced,that,'Satan trembles when he sees,the weakest saint upon his knees'.Never underestimate the power of prayer in dealing with the enemy of our souls,prayer is the most wonderful gift God has given to us His children,don't neglect it,don't underestimate the importance of it.

                                                 'Prayer makes the dark'ned  cloud withdraw,

                                                 Prayer climbs the ladder Jacob saw;

                                                 Gives exercise to faith and love,

                                                 Brings ev'ry blessing from above.'

                                                         Words W. Cowper.

Seek God. ( Isaiah 12 v2 )

 In Psalm 143 v 8,David prays,'Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life' he is in difficulties,he  writes of his enemies pressing in upon him,so much so that he is overwhelmed v 3-4. Sometimes we are brought into situations that overwhelm us,David was a very brave man,he had faced many difficulties in his life,he was hounded and hunted by King Saul, his was in continual danger,Saul was relentless in his attempt to kill him. How did David react to all the trials  he experienced,well the scripture records that he turned to the only one who could help him  ,'God'.So he seeks Him,not in a trivial way v 6 reads,'I lift my hands to you in prayer,I thirst for you as parched land thirsts for rain'.Here is a man who is in desperate straits, he acknowledges his unworthiness v2, God owes no one any favours no matter who they are,Yet we are encouraged to seek God in our difficulties , to all call upon Him in the day of trouble that in his mercy He will help us.As His children we are assured of His care and protection His word tells us He will come to our aid as He came to Davids ,time after time.

                                           'His love in times past forbids me to think,

                                            He'll leave me at last in trouble to sink;

                                            Each sweet  Ebenezer I have in review

                                            Confirms His good pleasure to help me

                                            quite through'

                                                         Words John Newton.

Remind me. ( Luke 15 v 11-31)

I sometimes wonder what my life would have been like if  the Lord had not intervened ,I know my thought pattern was taken me in a wrong way,anything that takes you away from God,is the wrong way, no matter how legitimate it may appear.In the Irish song  ,'The Mountains of Mourne', a young lad in London writes to his sweetheart in Ireland,of those who where digging for gold in the streets,that's what they told him,so he started digging ,but for all that he found there ,he might as well be,where the mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea. So often in ones life we are chasing after the gold  at the end of the rainbow ,like those who where digging for gold in the streets,we discover all we have is fools gold Thanks be to God when I found Christ  or He found me, I found true riches,the words of a hymn come  to mind .                                         

                                      'I sighed for rest and happiness, I yearned for them, not Thee;

                                      But while I passed my Saviour by,His love laid hold on me.

                                      Now none but Christ can satisfy, none other  name for me,

                                      There's love and life and lasting joy, Lord Jesus found in Thee'

            'All things were changed when I found Jesus,I found the meaning of life, and I found direction.' 

             'Roll back the curtain of memory now and then,show me where you brought me from and where 

               I could have been, I'm only human and so I forget so remind me,remind me,dear Lord.'

                                                               ' (Words Dottie Rambo),dear Lord

Mighty God ( John 1 v1 )

I often get frustrated when speaking to JWs ,and often think, is it worth while trying to reason with them?,for when it comes down to it ,they are not really interested in what one has to say. Their main aim is to convince you that they are right,and what we believe is wrong. I not so good at discussing with them, I remember speaking to two young girls, I was touching  on the deity of Christ, I quoted from Isaiah 9 were we have a Messianic prophecy, which declares that He is the Mighty God, Now of course you must remember that they are instructed as to how answer as to  these passages. One of the young girls said that He was not almighty,had she a valid point,no she hadn't,there are many Scriptures  that  declare God to be mighty CP Deut 10 v17/Neh 9 v32/Isa 1v 24,and in Isaiah 1 v24 we have God declared to be Almighty and Mighty. So when we read that the Messiah is Mighty God  it means just that.

                                                  'And He will be called Wonderful

                                                  Counsellor ,Mighty God ,Everlasting

                                                   Father,Prince of Peace.'

                                                               Isaiah 9 v 6 

                                                                 

Our wonderful bodies. ( Psalm 139 v 13 - 18 )

  Psalm 139v14  reads,'I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made', Scroggie calls the body 'This wonderful machine,' it truly is ,one could be overwhelmed in trying to take in all that is involved in  our bodies .Here are a few of the amazing contents of our bodies ,their are billions and trillions of cells,There are 10 different systems in our bodies,here are some of them,'Digective/ Immune/ Nervous// Reproductive/ Respiratory,Urinary.Yes we have a wonderful body. The point I would make is this,it could not just have happened,it is impossible.the so called being  evolution is a poor answer indeed no answer as to life on planet earth.Let none of us be blinded by the blinded scientists,who refuse to consider what the word of  God declares ,that God made us.R. C. Sproul wrote the following,' According to scientific materialists,''human beings , like everything else,are merely complex material systems,and are therefore no more,in essence,than extremely clever animals'' Christians, on the other hand,believe that human beings are a union of body and soul and that they are in the image of God,with intellect and will''.

God did it. ( Genesis 1v 1 )

 I will continue considering  the big lie,evolution, I have been thinking much about this subject,I want to start at the beginning, in other words when things came into place.There must be a cause and effect,did everything come into being by chance?,we will look at that.What is chance?let us consider what it isn't,it is not a being,in other words it has no power to do anything,to attribute chance as having casual power or any power is as one person said ,is to, 'suffer rocks in ones head'.Chance describes what may happen,or what may not happen,it has no power to make things happen or not happen.It is also said that time and chance have no being and consequently they have no power.As  the late, R .C. Sproul said,'The fatal flaw of the chance  scientists is they impute real being to the name chance',and they also do that to time.There are those who speak of self creation,which is a nonsense for as R.C.S ,writes,' For something to create itself,it must be before it is.this is impossible.'As I look at the universe,and how this little planet earth is situated, and all the variety of life within this planet it cannot just have happened.As a Christian I believe in a God the only God who created all things,who brought all things into being by the word of His power..