Conscience ( Acts 24 v 16 )

Little Pinocchio did not have conscience,so a little cricket called Jiminy was appointed to be his conscience,but of course he did not always listen to his conscience.Every human being  is born with a conscience, but like Jiminy they don't let their conscience be their guide. David Atkinson has few helpful things to say about having a conscience. He writes the following, ''Conscience is not always a reliable guide to truth, and we have a responsibility to educate our conscience in line with the objective truth, revealed to us by God. But conscience must not be set aside.For the Christian, that call to integrity and personal unity is the call to be centred on the being of God in Jesus Christ. ''         Adolf Hitler had the military swear an oath of unconditional  obedience, the fast majority obeyed ,and because they did not want go against their oath,well you see the result of that.It was possible for the National Socialists of Germany to say,' My conscience is  Adolf Hitler''. It has been said that everybody has their price,and so act against their conscience ..As a Christian I have within me the Holy Spirit,and He will speak to me, and remind me that as  a Christian I am meant to walk in integrity,at all times,according to Gods word and will.,we should not go against this at any price.

Look not to the hills. ( Psalm 121 v 1 )

 Most people have a favourite Psalm ,I think that psalm 121 comes high on the list, the first verse reads ,                          '' I  lift up my eyes to the hills where does my help come from?. ''                      Now why does He mention the hills,a clue to this in Jeremiah 3 v 23 , which reads, ''Truly in vain is  salvation hoped for from the hills, and  from the multitude of mountains , truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel''.There Jeremiah is challenging Israel to turn from their idolatry ,often we read of Israel in contrary to Gods command worshipped God on the high places,but they so easily turned such place into places of idolatry. And so the Psalmist urges the people to not focus on the hills but on God, their  only hope, and ours. I would challenge you today to look to where salvation comes from,and the utter folly of looking else where. Not to Mecca, Rome, Jerusalem ,but to  Christ,He alone ,no one else,nothing else can save  Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved ( Acts 4 v 12 ).                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Hope ( Psalm 43 )

I, was feeling down ,because of a certain thing in relation to my ministering Gods word,or the lack of opportunity,it was really getting me down. So I prayed about it, and I received the following scripture, ''Why  are you cast down,O my soul?And why are you disquieted within me?Hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him,the help of my countenance.''[ Psalm 43 v 5 )The NIV puts it like this,''Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me?, Put your hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, my Saviour and my God'' There are so many things that can get one down, could it be ,that like me  ,you are overcome with a sense of despair,take a look at those words of the Psalm 43, and take hope ,don't  let whatever you are facing cause you to be downcast,or filled with despair ,to despair means the complete loss or absence of hope.,we read as regards Abraham that against all hope, Abraham in hope believed( Romans 4 v 18 )He remembered Gods promise given to him,and so he hoped.in God that He would fulfill  His promise,and He did, so don't despair .

He is not wearing a tie. ( 1 Samuel 16 v 7 )

When Samuel was looking for Gods man, he made a mistake that many of us make, he judged according to appearance, and God told him something that many of us do not take in.Here is what He told him ,'' The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart'',  ( 1 Samuel 16 v 7 ).Consider  the following words ,''He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him''. ( Isaiah 53 v 2 )Who is the prophet speaking of ? Jesus, people despised Him because of were He came from   ( John 1 v 46 ),they despised Him because of His background,( John  6 v 42 ). I love wearing nice clothes, when I go to meet with my fellow Christians,I  put on my nice attire. One morning I was still in my night attire,unshaven, slippers an old cardigan, I looked scruffy, and I said to my wife,what if I went to church like this?, I suppose they may think I am mentally ill,but I am not,I am just dressed different. We all need to break out of our prejudices,whither it is against foreigners,dress code,where people live,what people work at,their lack of education, why? because if we don't we are not seeing people with the eyes of God . The Christ of God saw one thing, peoples need, and He met that need, He calls us to follow in His footsteps,are we willing?

The Way. ( John 14 v 6 )

Before the followers of Christ ,became known as Christians, they where known as followers of the way.( Acts 9 v 2 ) It inferred  that they where followers of Jesus,and that as Jim Wallis writes,''Their faith produced a discernible lifestyle , a way of life. Christian belief became identified with a certain kind of behaviour''.I attended a prayer meeting recently ,on of the leaders of that church, acted very ungraciously towards two young Christian ladies. Now he was not feeling well, and I am not judging  him,for it is easy to do what He did,but the question is this,will he apologise to those two girls, will he ask for their forgiveness?.As a follower of the way,he should, I hope he will,the fact is we will at times say or do something we shouldn't ,it is how we respond that is important, for after all we are followers of the way.                                                                                                                                                                                       Selwyn  Hughes                                                                                                            'The Way is the way unqualified.It is the way to do everything,                                                                to think, to feel,to act, to conduct oneself in every possible                                                                      circumstances. It is the way written into everything, the only                                                                 way that works. All alternatives to the way turn out to be ways                                                               to ruin. There are many wrong ways, but only one right way.                                                                   Life, to me, is one long corroboration of that fact.''

Cold logic ' ( Psalm 73 )

Job had three friends they are usually called Job's comforters,although they did not brign him much comfort.Writing on Eliphaz, David Atkinson comments how he infers Job's suffering was caused by his wrong doings,in other words,he is saying ,that Job was reaping what he sowed.Now of course that is true in many cases, but the fact is Job's suffering was not because of his sin. As DA comments'',Eliphaz is replacing theology with causal  logic. He is taking  a right theological principle and turning it on its head in a way which is both wrong and unfair'' He goes on to write,'' Eliphaz has left faith in the living God in favour of logic, he fails to distinguish between earthly and heavenly perspective.'' Many people are disciples of Eliphaz, they try to fit things like suffering into their mindset, instead of seeing that many things cannot  be explained by our logic.We are children of faith ,faith in a God and  a Saviour we cannot see,and whose ways are past finding out. Again DA comments on Eliphaz writes,'' The moral universe of  the gracious all- sovereign Creator God has been replaced by a smaller universe of natural causes,and material values.

W.E. Henley. ( Psalm 17 v 5 / 107 v 7 )

''My head is bloody, but unbowed.beyond this place of wrath and tears, looms, but the horror of the shade. And yet the menace of the years ,finds and shall find me unafraid,it matters not how strait the gate.How charged the punishment the scroll. I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.''  So reads words from one of the most famous poems ever written,it is called ,'Invictus,',this poem has touched the lives of many people,Nelson Mandela was one of them .One person said it was memorable evocation of Victorian Stoicism,the stiff upper lip.We can think of many people who faced trials, that would have crushed many, with a firmness that was truly remarkable.As a Christian I believe that we are not masters of our fate,we are not the captains of our souls, There is a higher power,a sovereign God who is over all and working all things according to His will,whither people acknowledge it or not. The Lord Jesus taught us to pray,''Your will be done,'' ,and as to facing trials and tribulations of life with a stiff upper lip, many of us have quivering lips.All the disciples fled and forsook Jesus , I am no different, you are no different ,so as to life, and all my goings and comings, I trust it to my God and Father,to lead ,guide and even prosper. And as for facing trials with a stiff upper lip, I will face them prayerfully,praying for the necessary grace to endure,and glorify my God and Saviour.                                                                                                                                                                                                            Lead me gently home. Father,                                                                                                                    Lead me gentle home,                                                                                                                                Mid life's darkest hours, Father,                                                                                                                When sad trials come.                                                                                                                                Keep my heart from, wandering,                                                                                                                Lest my feet should roam;                                                                                                                          Lest I fall upon the wayside,                                                                                                                      Lead me gently home.                                                                                                                                 ( Words....W.L. Thompson )