To God be the glory.[ Galations 6v 14]

When a football manager picks his team, he picks the strongest team, and in time he will let go those he considers his weakest players, if I was a manager thats what I would do. When God chooses He chooses those considered weak, those considered foolish,those who are despised,[1Corinthians 1v26-28], strange choice one may say,from a human point of view yes, but not from Gods point of view. Why does He do this? that He may recieve all the glory, and that those who are chosen will never boast, we are so quick to rob God of His glory.The old hymn puts it like this./ boasting excluded, pride I abase, Im only a sinner saved by grace/, there will be no boasting in heaven, only gratitude to an all loving and kind God, who choose us .[ Dear God we give You all the praise and honour, and glory for saving us through Your dear Son Jesus. Amen ]

Asking. [ Proverbs 9 v10-12 ]

That night God appeared to Solomon and said,What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you, [2 Chronicles 1v7] I wonder if God spoke those words to me what I would answer. First of all God is not a genie, many people thing He is a being who has to give us what we want, no, He does not. But if God said to you, what He said to Solomon ,what would you ask for?well Solomon didnt ask for weath or health, or power, he asked for something more important than those ,wisdom and understanding, and God granted his request.I do ask God for many things, our Saviour tells us to, Luke 11v9,there is nothing wrong with asking for different things, but more and more I see the importance of following Solomons example, of asking for wisdom and understanding. Life is very complicated, often we do not know what to do for the best, we have to deal with situations and circumstances that are often beyond us, the answer is very simple, ask God to grant unto us wisdom and understanding, in James1v5 we are told , God will grant them unto us.[ Dear God we thank You for all Your blessings , for the many answers to prayer, today we ask that You would grant unto us , the gifts of wisdom and understanding, in Jesus name. Amen]

That they may see.[ Luke 10 v29-37]

While in hospital a doctor and others came round to examine me, the doctor snatched my notes, from a colleague, he then went on to shake my hand ,an introduced himself to me, and then examined me. I dont remember his name or much of what he said, but I do remember his rudeness with his colleague. I wonder what people remember about us? I remember a pastor who used to say ,they are watching. I wonder what my colleagues in work will remember me for? what will my children remember me for?, and so we could go on, it is very challenging, our dear Saviour said,/that they may see[Matthew5v16. av]/. A holy life is a loving life, holiness has got a very bad press,think of the so called holy people of Islam,or of holy Joe,s everywhere, they are so often far from loving, and then think of our dear Saviour, what a contrast, He was never rude or unkind, He was and is everything we should be. [ Dear Saviour forgive us for our failings, and grant us the grace to trully reflect You in these lives of ours, to those who are watching us, and with all we have contact with .Amen]

My special friend.[ John 15v13 ]

Last night a friend visited me, we meet up once every two weeks for fellowship and a time of prayer, we discuss different issues. Friendship is very important in my life ,I have had a number of friends in my life, I value friendship, to me it is important. I have a very special friend He sticks closer than a brother, who encourages me, he tells us when I am wrong, He never leaves me, He guides me, provides for me, speaks to me, forgives me, chastises me, and in all this he there for me, and here is the most important thing He loves me unconditionally. Above all else He did something uttterly wonderful ,He died for me, I was lost in sin, going to a lost eternity, and this friend of mine ,was willing to lay down His life for me, I am proud to have such a friend, he will never do me any harm,, and when I die , I will fear no evil because He will be with me, and He will take me to heaven, His name is Jesus.Do you know this friend? if not why not simply ask , Him into your life, and when you do ,He will be your friend.[ Dear Lord Jesus we thank You that You offer Your friendship, to all, help us to open our lives and hearts to recieve You . Amen ]

Beyond the intellect[ Hebrews 11]

The Christian life is a life of faith, read Hebrews 11 ,there we have a list of heroes who had faith in God who is invisible. I noticed two letters in the Times from two ministers of religion, both appeared to be siding with Richard Dawkins the atheist. One of them was making a case for being moderate ,the other was making a case for evolution, both were challenging the fundamentalists. What is a fundamentalists?, I suppose it is someone who believes the Bible to be true,the Bible is the finished work, as opposed to science which is not. The Christian is one who has faith, in a God who made all things, who entered into time in the person of His Son, who was born of a virgin, I wonder do those two ministers believe that?. The key thing is belief/faith, we are not scientist,we are simply people who believe. Billy Graham the great evangelist, writes of his struggles with many unanswerable questions, as regards science and so on, but it came to a point when he prayed,/ Father I am going to accept Thy word, by faith. Im going to allow faith to go beyond my intellectual questions and doubts, and believe in Your inspired Word/.[ Father in heaven we come to you with all our limitations,questions that appear to be unanswerable, and ask that we may have faith in You and Your word, in Jesus name. Amen ]

The unexpected [James 4v 13-17 ]

I suddenly found myself in hospital Monday evening and most of Tuesday, I had a problem with my gall-bladder, I am now home ,feeling a bit sore, hopefully on the road to recovery,it was my first time to be ommitted to hospital. In Proverbs 27v1 , we read,/ Dont brag about tomorrow since you dont know what the day will bring/,it is James in his epistle who expands on this, 4v13-17. James tells us, we should recognize the uncertainty of life,and we should humbly rely on God, we should say if the Lord wills , we will live and do this or that. If one is not saved then please take into account that life is uncertain, and trust the Saviour, remember there will be no second chances in eternity. If we know the Saviour let us live as if today was our last day, and if we were ushered into eternity, we will not be caught out, in some aspect of our Christian life.[ Dear God we confess that we fail to recognize the uncertainty of life, and fail to walk with a humble attitude towards You, forgive us and help us to bring You into all of our lives, in Jesus name. Amen ]

God moves in mysterious ways.

There are so many things we dont understand, and this often applies to the ways of God, we often wonder what is God doing?. Think of Job and even the apostle Paul ,they suffered so much. Take Job why did he have to suffer?, after all he was such a godly person, we can accept it when the wicked suffer, but when that loving wife,or husband suffer, we struggle to come to terms with it, and wonder why God allowes it to happen after all He has the power to stop it happening, this is one of the reasons that many struggle with a faith in God. To many it appears that such a God, is cruel, now there are no easy answers, from a personal point of view, I dont know all the whys,Job never recieved any answer, as to why he had to suffer, in the end , he bowed to the will of God, and stopped arguing.William Cowper who suffered from mental illness, wrote that magnificent hymn, /God moves in a mysterious way/, yes Gods ways are mysterious, so if you happen to be suffering ,or someone you love is suffering, and you are struggling,/ Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust Him for His grace/. [ Dear God we bow to your mysterious will for our lives,we ask for the grace we need, to cope with suffering wherever it may come. in Jesus name. Amen]