Whispers of Eternity. [ Isaiah 42 v 1- 3 ] ]

There was Elijah,going through a rough time,totally discouraged wanting to get out of all,he felt a failure. He found himself under a tree,exhausted,full
of fear. We would not like people to know that we feeel like Elijah at times, I must confess there are times when I feel a lot of like Elijah,I am not happy all the time.Now as I started to write there was Elijah,he had moved from the tree to a mountain [1 Kings 19v1 ff ],and there God spoke to him,not with a thundering voice.One of my favourite movies is the wizard of Oz ,Dorothy and her three friends travel on the Yellow brick road,and arrive at Oz,were they are ushered into the presence of the wizard of Oz,well they don't see him,but by golly they surely hear him, as he thunders at them,frightening them.Well God did not thunder at Elijah and frighten him,no he spoke with a gentle whisper,yes a gentle whisper.I read these words,whispers of eternity,that is what Elijah heard,whispers of eternity.It is the great prophet Isaiah who prayed for God to rend the heavens and come down[ Isaiah 64],He did come down in the form of a little baby,and in that little child we have ,whispers of eternity.I remember a colleague,telling  me she had prayed to God ,she was not a Christian,and she said nothing happened,the Jews prayed for a sign,God is the God who so often speaks in a gentle whisper,and that whisper is a whisper of eternity.
                             Our blest Redeemer ere He breathed,
                              His tender last farewell,
                               A guide a comforter bequeathed,
                             With us to dwell.
                              And His that gentle voice we hear,
                              Soft as the breath of even,
                               That checks each fault that calms each fear,
                               And speaks of Heaven.
                                 [Words by Harriet Auber]

Count your blessings.[ James 1 v17 ]

Start up companies are rebooting the quest for clean energy's holy grail:
fusion,when one reads a little about what it means,it appears a step to far,and yet who knows.Man has been endowed with a wonderful brain capacity to invent and discover. Looking back on my life,I have witnessed
so many amazing things , things I could never imagined.I just have to look around my home, my wonderful TV,and the amount of channels I can receive,my computer.Think of the advances in science,in ,sat naves,the treatment of the sick.Also the standard of living that many of us enjoy,is way beyond what our fore fathers could ever have imagined.Man has advanced in so many ways ,and much is good,but in saying man,we appear to have forgotten,the one we owe it all to,even God. In James 1 v17
we read,/Every good gift,and every perfect gift is from above,in other words it is God who has blessed with so many good things.
                   Count your blessings, name them one by one,
                    Count your blessings,see what God has done,
                   Count your blessing,name them one by one.
                     And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.
                                 [Words by Johnson Octman]

13 Billion sins.[ 1 John 1 v 7]

I wonder if we could count the many sins we have ever committed,this may appear a silly thing to write,but think about it,it is not possible,considering
the wrong words we have uttered,the wrong thoughts,the wrong,I am sure
you get the. idea. Well of course God knows,he as it were has a record of
every sin we have committed,nothing is hidden from Him,with Him there is
no exaggerating,he see's it as it is.It is perfect record of our imperfect lives,
yours and mine,we may say, so what no ones perfect,very true,but it would surprise us to really see how imperfect we all are. This is not very happy reading I know,and what is even more serious, sin will be judged by Jesus.
What I am writing is bit like what many people say about news,there is no good news.But there is for we are told, that the blood of  Jesus Christ
cleanseth us from all sin [1 John1 v7 ],now consider that I had  committed
 13 billion sins, surly there would be no hope for me,13 billion sins, that's a lot,surly all that awaits me is judgement,but consider those words in 1 John 1v7,the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from All Sins. No matter how many times we have sinned,people  may have given up on us,they may think the worst of us,after all 13 billion sins.That may be so but God has not given up on us,he will forgive all our sins,for He is merciful.
                                        A  prayer.
Dear God you know how many sins we have committed,even it was 13 billion sins ,you will forgive us all our sin when we trust Jesus as our Saviour, Amen.

Are we really sinners? [ Romans 3 v23. 6 v23]

A report claims that in America that goods worth 13 Billion dollars are stolen from shops every yea,13Billion dollars is a lot of money, this is carried out by shop lifters. The commandments tell us not to steal,but then who is listening one may ask?.I wonder how many people are committing adultery,how many are cheating on their tax returns,how many are being violent,how many are abusing others.Are Americans any worse that the British,or the Germans?, think of the awful Volkswagen scandal,or North Korea's cruelty to its own population.I  could go on pointing out nations sinful tendencies,as with nations so it is with individuals, consider our thought life,how easy it is to think sinful thoughts,our Saviour ,said adulterous thoughts are the  same as the deed,both are sins.[Matthew 5 v27-28] How is our thought  life?,what about the sins of the tongue,the unclean words ,hurtful words,the gossip we engage in,peoples character we have slain with our words.Need I go on?,well  I could, but all I will say ,Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,that means you,and it means me,in fact it means everybody.
                                      A prayer.
Dear God our sins are many,but through Jesus they can be forgiven,Amen

Persistence and boldness. [ Luke 11 v5 - 13]

In Luke 11v9-13,our Lord speaks about prayer,he tells a parable ,not all
parables are difficult to understand,some were,and of course there was reason for that CPMark 4v10-12.One the lessons in the passage in Luke ,
which Jesus illustrates is to have holy boldness, and persistence in our prayer life,to not give up.The parable tells of a man who needed something,
and even though it was the middle of the nights,he goes to his friend ,and asks for help,which he eventually receives.Many people do not persist in their prayer life,and so fail to receive an answer.In v9, we have three words used by our Saviour,ask,seek and knock,the emphasises is to keep on asking,keep on seeking,keep on knocking.The result will be, God will answer,prayer is not for the faint hearted,Jesus said that we should always pray and not give up[Luke 18v1ff],again that passage stresses the boldness and persistence,that is rewarded.L .Morris ,writes the following,/Jesus does not say,and does not mean that, if we pray,we shall get exactly what we ask for.After all,'No' is just as definite an answer as 'Yes'.He is saying that true prayer is neither unheard nor unheeded,it is always answered in the way God sees best/
                                          A  prayer.
Dear loving Father teach us how to pray,to not give up,and yet to accept
that your answer is best inJesus name Amen .

Intolerance [ Luke 6 v 26-36 ]

As a Christian there are things I will not accept as being right,if I was to voice these things I would be labelled as being intolerant.Yet we are all intolerant to something,we are intolerant to violence within marriage,to smoking,to unsociable behaviour,and to many other things.There is nothing wrong with being intolerant,but I know that there can often be a wrong
intolerance, Religious people can be very intolerant,likewise  political
movements,both groups can manifest a violent intolerance to those who differ from them,beheading,and condemning people to gas chambers. When I declare that there is only one way to God,that is Jesus,because that's what He taught [John14 v6 ] people get offended, and even become intolerant,at
my belief in Jesus,as the way,the truth,and the life,and that no one can come unto the Father,but by Him. As a follower of Jesus the Bible tells me that to simply say I am Christian,can be like waving a red flag,before a bull.It is reckoned that there are 100,000 Christians in concentration camps in a
certain country,we say just for being a Christian,well it often goes with the
territory. Today let us not shy back from declaring that we are Christians,or from telling others about Christ,because we may be considered intolerant.
                                         A  prayer.
Dear God help us stand for Jesus,to identify with Him,to be faithful witnesses Amen

What translation ? [ Psalm 119 v11 ]

I love  the Authorised Version of the Bible,it has served Gods people well,yet I do feel it obscures the truth at times.Now that is not the AV's fault, but the fact that it was written and translated during the reign of King James ,over 400 years ago.I have a anniversary version and many of the words are spelt differently ,the word book is spelt booke,this is just one example.Now I understand peoples concern as regards the word of God anything that may appear to undermine  Gods word.Yet the fact remains that the word of God must be readable to the people of now.Now having said that I do not want to discourage you if you just use the AV,as I said I love the AV and thank God for it.J.I.Packer writes,/Some people people feel swamped by so many new versions,and by a natural if irrational reaction are resolved to trust none of them,but stick to the King James version of 1611/.He suggests we should use a number of versions , he includes the AV,
among them,this is what I personally do.I am driven by a desire to understand Gods word,I have read the whole Bible countless of times,but it goes deeper than that,commendable though that may be,to understand Gods
truth is vital.Jesus spoke to people who treasured Gods word but failed to
understand what they read [John 3 v 10]. Whatever translation we may use
may we read it regularly,memorise it,seek to understand it,believe it,and live it.
                                         A prayer.
Dear God we thank you for your word,that reveals Jesus to us,and instructs
us in righteousness,in Jesus name Amen .