He always keeps His word.( Psalm 121)

It is sad thing  to say that people don't always keep their word,there are many examples of that,likewise goverments break promises they made before they were elected.But when it comes to God He always keeps His word ,God cannot lie,it is in fact impossible Hebrews 6 v18,'God is not human,that He should lie, not a human being, that He should change his mind. Does He speak and then not act? Does He promise and not fulfil?.' Numbers 23 v 19.When He says He will help us ,He will do just that,what He promises He will do it.The hymn writer wrote,

                                             ' Standing on the promises that cannot fail,

                                               When the howling  storms of doubt and fear assail,

                                               By the living word of God I shall  prevail ,

                                               Standing on the promises of God'

                                                                  Words  R. Kelso Carter

We live in a very insecure world,so many people feel under a threat,everyday many people are afraid of loosing  all their money by the scammers,wars and rumours of war abound. Are you over whelmed by life,failed marriage,loss of employment,loss of health,in the end you just feel lost. I went to bed last night I woke early,could not get back to sleep,worrying about a certain thing.This morning  I read from one of my daily readings,'Be anxious for nothing,but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving,let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God ,which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus'.    ( Philippians 4 v 6-7 )    

                                                   'Don't be afraid,for I am with you.

                                                   Don't be discouraged,for I am your God.

                                                   I will strengthen you and help you.

                                                   I will hold you up with my victorious

                                                  right hand. ( Isaiah 41 v10)

                                                  

                                                            

Perfect timing,planning ,and purpose. ( Isaiah 46 v 9 - 11)

When the angel appeared unto Mary to tell her she was going to have a baby,he said,'For no word from God will ever fail' (Luke 1 v 37). What God says will happen,nothing can stop it happening,in Isaiah 7 v14 we read ,' Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign; the virgin will conceive and give birth to a  son'.The prophet Isaiah prophesied from 739-681 BC, the word He gave came to pass,time does not weaken God's promisies,and so it came to pass.Why the delay? why did it not happen sooner? ,because it was not God's time, Ecclesiastes 3v1 reads,' There is a time for everything,and a season for every activity under the heavens'.Why was I born in 1944? it was God's time,why was I born in Belfast? it was God's place.Why was Jesus born at that time,it was God's time. Galatians 4 v7  reads,' But when the fullness of time was come,God sent forth his Son'.This was a God initiative event ,some people see that many of the things in place when Christ came would enable the spread of the .Gospel.The maiden Mary was God's choice,the place of His birth was God's choice,and the place h His of death was God's choice,and the instrument of His death was God's choice.Our Sovereign God is working out all things in keeping with His will, (Ephesians  1 v11) and let us not forget,it's not over yet.,remember Jesus said 'I will come again'.

                                           

Free indeed. ( Ephesians 2 v 1-10)

 Christmas is hastening on,in many ways it is a lovely time,when we as Christians rejoice at the birth of our Saviour.When the great event happened all those years ago,angels appeared ,wise men and shepherds came.We have lovely Christmas cards with the nativity scenes on them ,it is all very idyllic,but very soon dark clouds would appear over the birth of this child,that caused his parents to leave Bethlehem to escape the murderous  intentions of the paranoid king Herod. Herod give an order that all the children in Bethlehem under 2yrs should be murdered.If Herod had succeeded in killing the Christ  child think of the awful consequences for mankind,to say the least it would have been absolutely awful for all mankind.We must look beyond the Herod's of this world to someone beyond our natural sight,but his works and evil are manifest everyday,he is god of this world,and has many followers and disciples. There are two kingdoms in this world ,the kingdom of the devil and the kingdom of God.John writing of the kingdom on darkness and its power declares,'That the whole world is under the control of the evil one( 1 John 5 v19) David Jackson writes that,'This world is dominated by the devil, who controls it with tyrannical authority,organizing and orghestrating its life and activities to express his own rebellion and hatred against God'. Read the newspapers, listen to the news,read history,that should convince you.But into this world  was born a child called Jesus , which means Saviour,and it John who tells us that,'The reason the Son of God  appeared was to destroy the devil's works'(1 John 3 v 8)No wonder he tried to murder our Saviour, but praise God he never succeeded,and so the gospel goes forth,and men and women who accept Christ are set free from the power of the evil one and brought into the kingdom of God.

                                                         'So if the Son sets you free,

                                                          you will be free indeed.'

                                                                    John 8 v36

                                                  

Let us pray. ( Luke 18 v 1 )

 In 1 Thessalonians 5v17 we read,''Pray without ceasing'',I read an article on the internet,I thought it was very helpful.''Pray without ceasing'','in these words we are being encouraged as believers to maintain a constant connection with God throughout their day. It doesn't mean praying constantly in a literal sense, but rather to be in a prayerful state,and to frequently speak to God''John Piper says''Pray without ceasing means, to stay steadfast, and never give up praying''.Next we read of some ways to help us in our prayer life.

                                                      'Be aware of God's presence.

                                                      Seek God's guidance.

                                                      Express gratitude.

                                                      Offer petitions,praise and

                                                      thoughts to God.

                                                      Pray in the morning.

                                                      Center prayer around meals.

                                                      Focus on Joyful prayer.

                                                      Pray after making a mistake 

                                                      or error.

                                                      Pray at the end of the day.

                                                      Learn to listen to God'.

What is your mindset? ( 1 Kings 18v21 )

 In Romans 8 v 12-14, we are being instructed,' that we are under no obligation to do what our sinful nature urges us to do'.Our sinful nature will always be with us to the end of our days,you can bet on it. Unlike the unsaved we are indwelt by God's Holy Spirit so that gives us a great advantage,but we still have to resist evil urges,there is no let up ,in overcoming evil.King David unfortionately did not resist his sinful urges,and we know the consequencs, but he recognised what he had done and repented.(Psalm 51).  John Stott  writes of people having a ,'mindset, the' unsaved  In both cases their nature determines their mindset, the unsaved, and their mind will be set on so many  things ,and God won't be part of their lives,they do not to live to glorify God,Often it is to glorify themselves , their mindset is solely taken up with the things of this world,and God is shut out' This has irrespective of earth;y successs, dire consequnces,as one man comments,it is spiritual suicide. Now the Spiritual controlled life has a mindset on things above, of pleasing God,resisting ,not swept along with the goals of this life,they say that there are four main Goals of life,happiness,meaning,success ,and integrity', 'Happiness 'is a very elusive thing..'Meaning', without God there is no meaning, 'Success' ,it was Alexander the Great,who wept that there were no more worlds to conquor,cp Ecclesiastes 1v 12-18.'Integrity'' yes we need people of integrity,but it will not save anyone,standing on our integrity can be a source of pride,that can blind us to our greatest need,Christ.

                       Someone wrote the following' It still remains true that the Spirit-controlled,

                       Christ-possessed man is on the way to life; death is but an inevitable interlude

                       that has to be passed through on the way'.

Who is this Jesus ?( Isaiah 9 v 6)

John 1 v1 reads,'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,and the Word was God'. Who is this Word John was writing about?.We have to turn to John 20 v 31,there John  tells  why he wrote his gospel,''that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God,and that by believing you may have life in his name'. The  term Son of God is equivalent to saying He was God CP John 5 v 18,and in this chapter we have a clear declaration  by Thomas who confessed that Christ was His Lord and His God v28. There are seven wonderful 'I Am's',in John's gospel ,spoken by Jesus which points us back to what God said to Moses Exodus 3 v 13-14.So now let us turn to John 1 v1.there we read the term the ,'Word' this is referring to Jesus v 14 where we read ,'that the Word was made flesh and made His  dwelling among us'.   Verse 1 begins,In the beginning was the Word,and the Word was with God'Hendriksen writes,'This is snother way of saying that Jesus existed from all eternity' , 'Luke's  gospel  starts at the nativity,but John's starts with eternity,' ( Bruce Milne),in John 17 our Saviour is praying to God His Father He says,'And now Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began'. Next we read,'and the Word was God'.nothing can be more clear than that, as regards to our Saviours divinity, but John does not stop there he goes unto to say.'He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made'v 2-3.

                                                     'The great Creator became our Saviour'

He paid the price. ( 1 Peter 1 v18 -19)

 There is a saying ,'Nothing 's free in life' everything comes at a cost, there is an exception if you are a Christian, the gift of God is eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ(Romans 3 v23). We have the word gift mentioned, one does not pay for a gift,if you had to pay, it would no longer be a gift.But there are conditions we must repent of our sins,if we are to be forgiven, and if we are sincere we will be forgiven through Jesus  who died on the cross to save us.On God's side His Son Jesus had to pay the price for our salvation. Think what it cost Christ to come into this sinful world, what he had to gave up,the Bible tells us that He was rich ,yet for our sakes He became poor',(2 Corinthians 8 v 9),none of us would like being poor,but Christ choose to be poor.Now we are not talking about earthly riches,but rather all the fullness of His exsistence in heaven.His coming to planet earth, meant that he choose to humble Himself,not only by taking upon Himself the form of a servant, but by dying on a cross.Yes our salvation is free,but it cost Jesus everything,when on that cross the wrath of God was poured out upon Him.Although He was the sinless one ,His suffering was on our behalf  and .that we do not have to suffer God's wrath,when we trust Jesus as our Saviour. Just think if you are a Christian,you will never  have to suffer for your sins,heaven not hell is your destiny.

                                                   'When I think of all He's done

                                                    and for me the guilty one,can

                                                    you wonder why it is I love 

                                                    Him so'

                                                                                    

                                             

                                 

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