Unshakable Faith. ( Hebrews 10 v 23)

He had at last got everything he wanted ,a son, a special son, promised to him by God,that through his seed all the nations on earth would be blessed.( Genesis 22 v 18)   It seemed that it was never going to happen,he reached the ripe old age of one hundred,and his wife was ninety , the promised  child had still not being born,But we read ,'Against all hope he believed. He did not waver through unbelief......being fully persuaded that God had power to do what He promised.' (Romans 4) Of course we are talking about Abraham,yes father Abraham,that wonderful man of faith,who never give up believing. Whenever God gives us a promise, He will fulfill it,nothing can stop that promise from happening,when He says it ,it is a done deal. God is not a man that he should lie(Numbers 23 v19), no ,He alays keeps His word.,He will never break His word,no matter what it takes,no matter about the difficulties.Like Abraham that great man of faith,we declare that when  He makes a promise,'it shall be done,it shall come to pass'.                                       

                                            'God keeps His promises,His word never fails,

                                            His promises He keeps,right down to the detail.

                                            Promises of  comfort, when trials we face,

                                            Promises of new mercy, and sufficent grace.'

                                                            Deborah Ann Belka.

                                                  

No one is innoncent,and it shows. ( Romans 3 v 10 -23 )

We live in a fallen world,no one is perfect,everyone is a sinner,  do we take that fact it in?,to what extent does this affect the inhabitants of planet earth?.Take 9/11 when  two planes  were hijacked by adherent of Islam and crashed them into the 'Twin Towers'. Lets go further back to Nazi Germany and all the things they did, is there any logical explanation?.Just recently a seventeen old lad  attacked mothers and childen with a knife seriousally wounding and killing those present.Again we ask the question,why?it makes no sense if you leave out the fact that being sinners,with a fallen nature  we will manifest that reality in a mulitude of ways ,some  extremly frightening. The word of God tells us that one aspect of our fallen nature is violence (Romans 3 v 15)Think of how many wars there have been,how many murders have been committed,it appears that for many violence is just below the surface,and can erupt at anytime  for a multitute of reasons.I have touched on one aspect of our fallen nature.In all of us there lies a fallen nature with the potential to committ all sorts of evil.I heard recently that one countries goverment is concerned  with aspects of the Bible ,because of the word sin.Words of a poem by Rudyard Kipling expresses this veiw.

                                           'Ship me somewhere east of Suez

                                            where the best is like the worst

                                            Where there are no ten commandments,

                                             And man can raise a thirst'

Why ? because men love darkness instead of  light because their deeds are evil. Everyone who does evil  hates the light, and will not come to the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.(John 3 v 19 -20)

My Garden ( Isaiah 40 v 29 - 31 )

 I have just come in from my garden,it is lovely to sit in it and enjoy it,and its one the places were I talk to God,and am reminded of a favourite hymn of mine.Some people for whatever reason don't like  this song,but I have always loved it,it's called,' In the Garden',it is about meeting and having fellowship with God. It reminds me of our first parents whom God placed in a garden and met with His children(Genesis3 v8)how wonderful that must have been.My son Brian was speaking as regards communion with God ,having a quite time, and he asked the question ,'where is your garden?',what he was stressing was the importance of meeting with God.Most of my prayer time is intercession,but it also includes worship and talking to God,my time in the garden this morning was very precious and very sweet, I  even sang  part  of that song,here are some of the words'And the joy we share as we tarry there,none other has ever known'.But we cannot always stay in the garden,our Saviour before He faced His ordeal went to a garden to pray,He felt overwhelmed, and we read an angel came and strengthened Him( Lke 22 v 43 ).As we follow Jesus the challenge is great and demanding,we cannot stay in our garden wherever that may be,But as Jesus was strengthened so God will strenthen us in our waiting upon Him ,to face the challenges that we have before us.  

Heavenly Minded . ( Reveation 2 v 1 v 4 ) 2

When Paul writes that we are to set our hearts on things above,where is Christ is seated, and that we are to have our minds on things above,not on earthly things,he is writing to Christians,to not let earthly things draw them away from God.It was the devil who offered our dear Lord all earth's kingdons,and their glories if only he would worship him,but the Lord refused ( Matthew 4 v 9ff) So we must not be enticed by what the devil  offers,and we can be,we can soon leave our first love Jesus ,for lesser things.Charles Swindoll writes the following,'When we fully comprehend the tempory and tentative nature of the current age,wise Chriatians seek to invest time in eternal matters'. Believers must always keep a balance ,'and not be enslaved to marriage, mourning, merrymaking,msrketing, and material things' ( 1 Corinthians 7 v 29-31) 

                                         'Remember all that we see with our natural

                                          sight is temporal,let them  not cause us to 

                                          loose sight of the eternal glories that shine

                                          afar.'          

Heavnly Minded ( Colossians 3 v 1-2) 1

There is a saying ,that being to heavenly minded,has the affect upon us ,of making us, no eatthly good ', Is that true? so I wonder why we are exhorted,'To set our hearts on things above,where Christ is ,and to set our minds on things above,not on earthly things'.(Colossians 3 v 1- 2) We must be a heavenly minded people,it is not that the things of this world are not important,but they should not be the all important think.The non -Christian sets their hearts and minds totally on things of this life with hardly a thought for God, He is relegated to a very minor place in their lives,they don't involve Him in their decision making, planning,or whatever,Being heavenly minded does not mean  we don't care  for this world and it's inhabitants, and its suffering.What evidence have I to show that this is true?.So here is some of the evidence,'The Salvation Army,The Medical Missionary News,Stand by Me,the Missionary Aviation Fellowship,These are all involved in giving help  to thousands and thousands of people,I believe they are only the tip of the iceberg.being heavenly minded will not take us  away from helping and loving people.

Humility. (Philippianns 2 v 5-11)

  There should never be any false humility in our Christian lives,one example of false humility was the character in Charles Dickens novel 'David Copperfield' ,Uriah Heep, he is remembered by the words,'I'm ever so humble',of course he was  anything but that, he is described as having a false humility,but one who was bitter and vengeful,a demonis character.That's a extreme example,or is it,Hitler boasted that the Third Reich would last a thousand years,it lasted 12 yrs, King Nebuchadnezzar full of pride  boasted of all he had done ,God immediatley dealt with him,and humbled him (Daniel 4 v28 ff. But of course pride is not only found in the great and mighty,we are all prone to be proud,proud of our accoplisments,and our possessions,our gifts,and a multitude of other things. The first sermon I preaced when I came to England  was Micah 6 v 8, 'He has shown you,O mortal , what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? . To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God'. We are told,'God opposes the proud but shows favour to the humble (James 4 v 6) And it was John Bunyan in his wonderful book 'Pilgrins Progress,wrote of the valley of humiliation,he went on to write.

                                            'He that is down needs fear no fall,

                                             He that is humble, no pride,

                                              He that is humble  ever shall 

                                               have God to be His guide'.

Failure ( Proverb 24 v 16)

 Richard Nixion visited J F.Kennedy after the failed attempt by Cuban exiles to overthrow the Castro goverment,it is remembered as the Bay of Pigs invasion.R. N,described Kennedy as being very agitated, RN said as he listened to him he realized that this was a man who never experienced failure,this was the first time he had experinced  the firey ordeal of failure. Failure comes to all of us ,often more than once, Failures can be devastating,a failed marriage,a failed career,a failed driving test, a failure in not being able to have children,and so we could go on .Someone has said that failure is not fatal,but for some it feels that way. There are plenty of failures in the Bible,but God didn't give up on them,take Peter ,he failed big time,but Christ did not give up in him. read John 21v 15- 17 ). The important thing to remember is that none of God's children are perfect,the next important thing to remember is, not to give up,that can be a  bigger failure None of us like failing,when I was young I didn't like vegetables but vegetables are good for us.Romans 8 v28 tells us that God causes everything to work together for our good,yes even failures.God our great teacher wants us to learn valuable lesson,like pricking the bubble of pride,that exsists in all our hearts,so that we may be more humble , and be less independant and more dependent on our Saviour,also we can have a deeper appreciation for those who fail and be more sympathetic towards them..