Who are we trusting in? ( Psalm 46 v 1 )

In  2 Chronicles  14-16 we read of a king called Asa who was a very good king to start of with ,he did all in his power to turn the people of Judah back to God,exhorting them to seek the Lord and obey His laws and commands.He removed the false places of worship,he even removed his grandmother from her position as queen mother,because of her idolatry.And when he was faced with a foreign army equipped with many chariots ,and thousand of soldiers,he called  on the Lord and he gave him the victory.After the battle God spoke to him through a person Azariah,and this is what he said,'The Lord is with you when you are with Him.If you seek Him,he will be found by you,but if you forsake Him,he will forsake you'(2Chron 15v 2) Many people from Israel joined him,because they saw the lord was with him.But sad to say it didn't  last, for when another foreign  power attacked his country ,instead of seeking for deliverance from God,he went for help to a foreign king instead of trusting in the Lord.When a prophet challenged him as regards what he had done,Asa became angry with him and threw him in prison,and then he brutally oppressed  some of his people.Then he became very ill,but he did not seek help from the Lord,but only from his doctors,he eventally died.It seems to me that his stubborn will and pride took over,and he would not seek the lord.There is a very simple lesson we can learn from this as  Michael  Wilcock points out,'When Asa trusted the Lord  he was strong; when he did not, he was weak'

Are you starving your soul?

As I opened one of my daily readings ,I read these words,'The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid'  (Psalm 27v1)I am not particularly afraid  of anything at the moment,but have a concern as to people who are trying to lure me into given them opportunity of robbing me I speak of scammers.Coming back to that verse,plus others, they were like medicine to my soul.That started me of on a train of  thought as regards the Word of God, that word that brings peace into our souls,light into our darkness,comfort in our sorrows,encouragement in our struggles,and so we could go on.The scriptures are not just words they are God's words.When we read the Word of God ,He is speaking to us.When we neglect the Word of God we are neglecting  our souls well being,in a sense we are starving our souls,In  that wonderful hymn ,'Guide me ,O Thou great Jehovah',we have two lines that read,'Bread of heaven,feed me now and evermore'.Let us remember what our dear Saviour said,'Man shall not live on bread alone,but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'  ( Matthew 4 v 4)

Don't be fooled.( Lukw 23 v 39 - 43)

 R.C.Sproul said,'A lot of people think that all you have do, to go to heaven ,is die'  I have attended funerals and people think that. Can we assume  that people automaticly go to heaven,even though they have never accepted Christ as their Saviour.The answer is no,no matter how nice a person has been, that will not permit them to enter heaven. Surely  people may say thats wrong,the good people  merit the right to go to heaven ,they are not murderers,or wicked people,All this is based on human reasoning, not what God says, and when one leaves God out of the picture,we loose our way,and that can be very serious. First of all if we leave God out our lives ,then we will not get into heaven,it is not as if God does not want everyone to be saved, (1 Timothy 2 v 4)  And how do we know this? ,look to Jesus dying on the cross,ask yourself why did He died on that cross?,because we need a Saviour. Islam rules out that one needs a Saviour,that's tragic for we are all sinners.Islam is not on their own,many feel that way.But the evidence goes against it,we all our sinners,and what do sinners need? they need a Saviour,and there is only one Saviour Jesus.

                                                     'Come,ye sinners,poor and needy,

                                                      Weak and wounded,sick and sore;

                                                      Jesus ready stands to save you,

                                                      Full of pity,love, and power

                                                      He is able,

                                                      He is willing;doubt no more.'

                                                        

                                                       

Fear God .( Luke 16 v 19-31)

 Last time we considered v7 of Psalm 121,'The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil,and praise God He does,let us'thank Him for  looking after us, especially from evil that could destroy us. The verse does not stop there,for it goes on to say,'He shall preserve thy soul',how important is our soul? our Lord Jesus said,Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.Rather ,be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell',( Matthew 10 v28)We place great value on our bodies,and so we should,unfortunately the majority of people stop  there.They put all their efforts into preserving their bodies to the exclusion of their souls.Our  Saviour reminds us that our souls are eternal and to neglect them has grave consequences and He mentions what that means.Barnes  writes the following,'Men hath no power to injure the soul,the immortal part. The body is a small matter,in comparsion with the soul ,Temporal death is a slight thing, compared with eternal death; but to fear God, who can destroy both soul and body forever in hell'.

Preserved. (Psalm 121)

 A man I met recently told me he read Psalm121 everyday,I can appreciate that,because it is a wonderful Psalm.I often pray the words of v7,which reads ,'The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: He shall presetve thy soul'.I was caught up in a scam recently,believe me anyone can get caught up in a scam. I was just to pay for somthing,but I drew back,I could just as easily gone through with it, but I didn't,I believe Lord answered my prayer,and preserved me from  those evil scamers .His word is true ,He will preserve us from all evil.I am 81 yrs of age,I have done a fair amount travelling,and God has preserved me,how have I  lived this long?,the answer is God, preserving me,remember our times are in His hands Psalm 31 v15.One writer say's ,it conveys the belief and all events within it are in God's control'.

                                                     '  All the way my saviour leads me:

                                                       What have I to ask beside?

                                                      Can I doubt His  tender mercy,

                                                      Who through life has been my guide?

                                                      Heavenly peace ,divinest comfort,

                                                      Here by faith in Him to dwell!

                                                      For I know whate'er befall me,

                                                      Jesus doeth all things well.' (Words Fanny J. Crosby.)

The hidden things. ( Genesis 3 v 8)

 There are two verse I  would us to consider,the first one is Numbers 32v23,and the second is Luke 8 v17, the first has these words in it ' You may be sure that your sin will find you out'  we read of a man called Achan,who disobeyed the Lord by taking something he should not have taken,and in the end his sin was found out,and he suffered for it as God judged him.Joshua 7 v 18-25.A person on the internet comments, 'This verse is a reminder us that sin has consequences,and cannot be hidden forever ,'Hidden sins will find us out.' Let us remember that hidden sins are not hidden from God ,who sees all things,and knows all things,and  will judge all things.The next verse Luke 8 v17 was spoken by our Saviour ,it reads,  'For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed,and nothing concealed that will not be known or be brought out into the open'.Those  things that are hidden within us,are the lies we have told ,the dirty deeds we have commited .Judas Iscariot is the prime example of what our Saviour is talking about.he pretended to be following Jesus,he possible thought  ,that there was a pot of gold coming to him,at the end of his life instead all he recived was to take up his cross.I know a pastor who had immoral hiddeness in his life,but the hiddeness was discovered,he lost his job ,his reputation,and has brought shame on his family.I write this with great sadness,although you do not know him,do pray for him and his family,don'tt judge.

Beware of the devil's trap (2 Corinthians 2 v11)

 In 1 Timothy 3 v 7 Paul warns those who desire to be leaders in the Church ,of the danger of falling into the devil's trap,also in 2 Timothy 2 v26  he mentions this again. Our first parents fell into the devil's trap when they heeded what the devil said,since then the devil continues his evil actiivity  luring people into his trap.The unsaved are very vunerable in being  sucked into his trap ,through there sexual desires,there are millions of people are trapped in pornography,others are trapped into delusional thought patterns as regards gender.Others he catches through their pride there is a a spirit of pride in all of us,and the devil knows that,and he takes advantage of that.Wherever the devil see's a weakness,he will take advantage to trap us and bring us under his destructive power.There are Christians who in their hurtful pride  hold unto unforgiveness ,this makes them prisoners,so they will live with that,it is very painful to live with.Even the most Godly people can be lured into the devil's trap,people like David,and his son Solomon ,they both were caught in devil's trap,David escapted by his repentance,there is no evidence that Solomon did.