Open our eyes Lord. ( Psalm 35 v 10 ) 2

 Here is Jacob ,in his own words,unworthy ,and little,he is afraid of what lies ahead,a vengeful brother, he would show no mercy to him or his family,so he cries unto God ,'Save me from my brother Esau'( Gen32 v 11),Jacob was a man in desperate straits.He reminds me of a man who was going to kill himself,when a voice cried out,'Don't harm yourself,' he went to where the voice came from,and fell trembling at the persons feet and asked ,'what must I  do to be saved?'. and he was told ,'Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved',and he did that (Acts 16 v31)Could it be that you are like that man, and  you feel like ending it all,don't do yourself any harm, believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. That's one very important apect of being saved.Let us turn to another,a life threatening situation recorded in 2 Kings 6 v 15-17. The enemies of Israel where surrounded by enemies,they had come to capture the prophet Elisha, when Elisha's servant saw the enemy forces,he cried out in despair'Oh no,my Lord! What shall we do?' Then Elisha prayed,'Open his eyes Lord, so that he may see,' Then the Lord opened the servants eyes, and he looked and saw the hill s full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha'. God who delivered Elisha ,would deliver Jacob,and can deliver you from the enemies that threaten you ,He most surely can deliver .

                                                     'If God be for us,who can be against us'

                                                                      Romans 8 v 31.

No Giants ( Matthew 18 v 1 - 5) 1

 I want us to consider Jacob at a point when he was scared out of his wits,believing his brother Esau was coming to kill him and his family.( Read about t in Genesis 32.), .So he prayed  to God who had promised to look after him, he declares to God, 'I am unworthy',Jacob speaks for all of us,for we are all unworthy, we have no merits to claim befor God,He owe's us nothing,so it is when we come to God  seeking  His help we  are asking for His mercy to help us. Leupold points out that  ,'I am worthy can mean ,'I am little'.or I have always been little and still am'. I have a book called,'Four Spiritual Giants'. they never said that they were siritual giants.If we were able to ask them  , I'm sure they would  deney they were spiritual giants,and rightly so.It is the humble God chooses,it is the weak that God uses,it is the nobodies that God uses.Their greatness come from God,their strength comes from God,their holiness comes from God.Here is Jacob soon to be called Israel,and he says, 'I am unworthy, I am little,I have always been little,and  still am,'

                                                     'Just as I am without one plea,  

                                                      But that Thy blood was shed for me

                                                     And that Thou bidd'st me ome to Thee,

                                                     O Lamb of God I come!.

                                                           Words Charlotte Elliott.

                  

                                 

Are you being tested? ( Deuteronomy 13 v 3)

 Abraham and  Sarah had to wait 25yrs for the promise child to,be born,the moment of his coming was in God's hands.So when it happened what absolute joy must have filled their hearts,Oh the love that was shown  to that long awaited child. Of course this was not the end of the story,God was to bring a challenge to Abraham,a very extreme challenge . In Genesis 22v 1 we read,'God tested Abraham, this is what he said to him,'Take your son, your only son,whom you love,and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him  there as a burnt offering on a mountain that I will show you'.Just reading those words,I can imagine if I was in  Abahams place it would have taken my breath away.Abraham loved his son,could it be that he loved him to much?. Consider the following words spoken by our Saviour,'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your mind'.(Matthew 22 v37) Could this have been the reason why God tested Abraham?,would he pass the test?,the answer is yes.he would,what would  we do if God tested us?.Remember the words spoken to Peter ny our Saviour,'do you love me more than these'.We often play a game with our Children,and say ,how much do you love Me. and they strertch out their arms ,Let me ask a question how much do we love God?.

                                                   ' The dearest idol I have known,

                                                      Whate'er that idol be,

                                                      Help me to tear it from Thy throne

                                                      And worship onlyThee.'

                                                            William Cowper

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.'