Forgiving others. ( Matthew 18 v 21-22 )

 A friend of mine bumbed into his ex-Pastor and his wife,he was no longer in the ministry because of his mental illness.When my friend spoke to them they said they no longer believed in God,the reason , people in the church he pastored had been unkind to them. So instead of forgiving those people they forsook God.it appears to me, that was a strange and foolish thing to do.The movies entertain us by showing people wanting revenge on those who have hurt them,very rarely does it show people forgiving those who have hurt them.Yet that is the very thing Jesus says we should do, in Matthew 6 v 14-15 we read,' For if you forgive other people when they sin against you,your heavenly will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their sins,your heavenly Father will not forgive your sins.'I believe those words are a tremendous challenge to us all. I pray for many people who are suffering terrible things by very wicked people, What are they supposed to do?,forgive.Looking back on my own life I have been hurt ,treated unfairly ,as maybe  you have,what are we to do? the answer is very  simple and challenging,we are to forgive.

                                               'Unforgiveness will drive us away from God

                                                Forgiving others will draw us closer to God'

                                                   

                                                

                                                     

God's complex plan. ( John 13 v 7 )

Yesderday we thought on  ,'God incomprehensible',yes God made us in His image ,that image reflects God to a degree,but in no way does it reflect God's fullness,because we are  not god's,The Bible tells us He is Spirit that He is not a man,Christ one of the divine beings in the Trinty ,was a man,but He was also God,he became a man in order to redeem us on the Gross,but it did not diminish in anyway His divinity,in other words He never stopped being God, John 1 v1/ Colossians 2 v 9. Now consider God's complex plan,in relation to our lives,we read in Romans 11 v 33ff 'Oh, the depths of the riches  both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways are past finding out! For who has known the way of the Lord?.' Isaiah 40 v 28,reads,'His understaning is unsearchable'.God declares ,'For my thoughts are not your thoughts,Nor your ways my ways,says the Lord.For as the heavens are higher than the earth,so are my ways higher than your ways,and my thougjts than your thoughts'.Isaiah 55 v 8-9.God's ways are complex and we struggle with that,yes people say ,if He is God then why? yes why?.Sometimes we get some light on His ways,but often we don't,and that's when trust takes over, a great example of this is seen in the book of Habakkuk .God gave him  a vision of coming judgement on Israel by the ruthless Babylonians, for their sins. In the end  he Had to Trust God, Habakkuk 3 v 17 -17 -18.God has a plan it is a complex plan,and so the challenge comes to all of us that we are to trust in the Lord with all our hearts,and lean not upon our own understanding,I will finish with a verse of scripture that has being been a blessing to many of Gods children,

                                       'And we know that all things work together for good

                                        to those wholove God,to those who are the called

                                        according to His purpose.'

                                                                    Romans 8 v28.

God Incomprehensible ( Psalm 86 v10 )

 It is A.W.Tozer who wrote in his very profitable little book  called ,'The knowledge of God', 'Why we must think rightly of God'.I wonder when you think of  God,what comes into your mind?  The god's of this world are made in man's image,but the God of the Bible is incomprehensible we can never fully know Him,it is beyond us,but we can know God,and in the most personal way,when we come to know Christ as our Saviour.Recently when a group from the church I attend met one morning for a breakfast fellowship.We shared different things,one brother said there was a time when he could not figure out how God could possibly hear all the millions of prayers coming to Him ,at the same time. But God can and does,not only hears bur answers our prayers.We can carry that on further,He knows everybodies thoughts,He see's everyone ,nothing is hidden from Him,He is the great inescapable one, God declares  in Jeremiah23 v 23-24 ,'I am God who is everywhere.........I am everywhere in  heaven and in earth'.Who can explian that great mystrey of the 'Holy Trinity'. it is impossible to understand the unchangeableness of God, that God is eternal,he always exsisted,he has no beginning and no ending and so we could go on.We can know God, I know God,hopefully you know Him.As I said at the beginning  when we trust Jesus as our Saviour,by simple faith,and we must continue to follow Him in simple faith,believing only what has been revealed to us from His word,and not stray from the revealed truth they're in.

                                                 'Dear God teach us to know that we

                                                  cannot know,for the things of  God

                                                  knoweth no man,but the Spirit of

                                                 God. Let faith support us where reason

                                                 fails,and we shall think because we 

                                                 believe,not in order that we may believe.

                                                                  In Jesus' name.

                                                            'A prayer by A.W.Tozer'

'                                 

                                                 

                                                 

Have faith in God. ( Psalm 46 v 10)

 Let us look at the prayer that Jacob prayed in Genesis 32 v 9-12, he says to God,'But you have said ,''I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea,which cannot be counted'.He is saying hear I am and possible going to be annihilated by my brother,but you have said,you will bless me and prosper me.He is an honest man telling God he is afraid,so really he was asking God to honour His word and to save and deliver him.And so it came to pass,for we read in chap33 when Esau came he ran to to Jacob embraced him,throwing his arms around him and kissed him,Instead of hating ,he showed that he loved him,this was a wonderful answer to prayer,God was faithful as to what he had promised Jacob .Although Jacob had been very afraid,he sought God believing what God had said.Do not let feelings rule your life,(but let me add ,don't ignor if you feel unwell, go and see your doctor),but don't let feeling rule your life, feelings have a place in our lives,but so has faith,faith in relation to salvation, faith in relation to God's care ,protection and provision.Don't let fear drive you away from God, let it drive you to seek God in prayer, and as it did with Jacob .

                                                    'Teach me ,Lord, to understand

                                                     Even in the darkest night,

                                                     When storms are high and seas are wild,

                                                      Thy way is right.'

                                                                N R.Perry

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