Peaceful Trust. ( Psalm 37 )

 In one of Agatha Christie's novels ,Hercule Poirot the private detective and a girl called Deirdre were going through the contents of a room of an old lady who had been murdered. They spoke about the things she had kept,Poirot mentioned how those things she kept, spoke to that lady of old memories .Deirdre agreed but said ,'that she never kept anything'.Poirot replied,'that's because you look forward, not back', she replied,'I  don't know that I look back anywhere,I mean today's usually enough,isn't it,?'  It was our Saviour who said,' So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring it's own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today'. Someone passes the following comments, on those word,'Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes'.

                                                         'No profit canst thou gain

                                                         By self -consuming care;

                                                         To Him commend thy cause; His ear

                                                         Attends the softest prayer.'

                                                                 John Wesley

                                                        

Creativity. ( John 1 v 9 - 13 )

 I was walking around a store, I was not going to buy anything, just  looking,so many things I found interesting,like kitchen utensils,glassware,and I was filled with admiration at humanities creativity.I looked at the design of things,many things which we all take for granted, not given those things a second thought.I have been to art galleries, looked on Michelangelo's statue of David,things of beauty that we admire, reminding us of the wonderful creativity  that's all  around us everyday.Our wonderful God has given the gift of  creativity to those He created in his own image. Humanity can create so much that's wonderful, but the negative side is ,we create an awful lot of things that are awful, who created that virus?.Consider the weapons of destruction,they are the things that nightmares are made of. We cannot escape the fact that humanities fallen nature takes over in some way or other,the creative artist may be a pervert, a child abuser.We all admire the gifts of of those who are very creative,but as people they may have dark hidden secrets, the dark side of our nature is always ready to take over in a destructive way, towards ourselves ,and towards others.There is only one remedy for all of us, we need to turn back to the one who created us, and lost us,but is now come  to save us, His name is Jesus, by whom all things were made. 

What am I?. ( Luke 12 v 16 - 21)

 An ancient Greek called Horace said,' We are just statistics, born to consume  resources',are we just a statistic?,it is a good question.This little planet appears to be getting smaller as the population of the world increases ,  in 2019 it was 7.674 billion (2019). Mind blowing and of course we are all  consumers,but is that all there is to our existence?.The mass murderer Stalin said,' A single death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic.' But the fact is a million people  are a million individuals,and each death is a tragedy.When God said he loved the world,he was not thinking of them as a statistic, no, he knows everyone of those 7.674 billion people intimately. Yes we all are consumers, but is that sum total of life?,our Saviour warned us  that life does not consist in the abundance of our possessions (Luke 12 v 15 ).This world which God has entrusted to us ,is being stripped bare, by its inhabitants,who want more, not because of need, but because of greed.If we leave God out of the reckoning ,then all we become is a meaningless statistic,with a heart that just cries out for ,more ,more ,more.Yet if we listen we can hear the whispers of Jesus saying, 'What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you?    What could you ever trade your soul for'. (Mark 8 v 36- 37)

Lost (2)( Colossians 1 v 13 - 14 )

 How few people know that they are lost, but many feel lost for all that,it is alright singing the words of an old song,' I know where I'm going', but do you,were are we all heading?. It was Shakespeare who wrote,  

                                                      'Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player

                                                      That struts and frets his hour upon the stage

                                                      And then is heard no more. It is a tale

                                                      Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

                                                      Signifying nothing.'

Is that it? is that all life signifies?, nothing, we are all a freak meaningless accident,being lost leads us  nowhere,we don't know where we are,or where we are going. What is the answer?,is there an answer?, it was John Newton who wrote,'I once was lost but now am found'.what brought the change?, Jesus, without Him there is no meaning,there is a future but where will that future be?.Writing to Christians, the apostle Paul reminded them that before before coming to Christ,they were without hope and without God (Ephesians 2 v 12) It was Jesus who said ,that He had come to seek and to save that which is lost ( Luke 19 v 10).Millions can testify that Christ brought forgiveness,freedom from sinful bondage,hope and purpose, and meaning into their lives.I look at so many people and  I say  to myself ,if only they knew Christ,if only.

                                                       Without Christ there is no meaning.

Lost (1 ) ( Matthew 9 v 36 )

 I could not find it, a sense of panic  was beginning to set in,were did I last have,it?.  What was I looking for ?, you probably have guessed,it was my wallet, with two bank cards in it, well silly Billy that I am, I found it, panic over, and then I uttered a thank you to God In this age of technology ,why can't they invent something that would help us at times like this?,who knows they may .Loosing a wallet or whatever can be stressful ,mobile phones are another problem ,and so we can go on. There used to be a place called a lost and found department, they may still exist,one of the major themes in the Bible is taken up with that very thing. That which is lost and that which is found, the lost is humanity,consider, we all from day one ,are classed as being lost.You may have someone say to you,'are you lost?'. Well let me ask you, are you lost?, you may think , what a silly question,but its not.for the bible tells us,'We're all like sheep who've wandered off and are lost',( Isaiah  53 v 6).This wandering off  is a deliberate act by humanity, of  us going away from God. A favourite song comes to mind,'I did it my way ',these words sum up humanities lostness, no longer do we acknowledge God's way, or want  God's way,so the result is, we are lost. Do think about this, we will continue this next time.

                                                            No one is truly wise; no

                                                            one is seeking after God.

                                                                  Romans 3 v 10.

Just do it again. ( Isaiah 55 v 6 - 7)

 A large advert in a national paper had these words on it,' Just do it Again'.I am not even sure what was being advertised,but those words struck a cord with me.In the Gospels our Lord performed many miracles,John the Baptist performed  no miracles.Are we looking for a quick and fast easy solution to the challenges of life,so we pray for a miracle. We read in days of old, what we call revivals broke in,and we wonder why God will not do it again?.Is not God the God of miracles, 'Surely the arm of the Lord is  not to short to save,nor his ear  too dull to hear' Isaiah 59 v1. Of course God  can do it again, but the reason He did not do it again was because  sin had caused   God to distance Himself from his people . Read the rest of the chapter, things were very bad spiritually, so much so that a gulf had opened between God and them.Until they repented of their sinfulness ,the difficulties would remain, nothing would change.I pray continually that God would build His church,I pray for different denominations,but how can it happen? , when many of them,are voting to accept the unacceptable, in morals and doctrine. We are talking about those  who are supposedly Christians, but as was said to the church in Sardis, Revelation 3 v 1, by  God.'I  know your deeds, you have a reputation of being alive,but you are dead'. God may do it again if,yes if, we repent and seek  Him.

                                                     O Wind of God,come bend us , break us,

                                                     Till humbly we confess our need;

                                                     Then in Thy  tenderness  remake us,

                                                     Revive, restore, for this we plead.

                                                              Words , Mrs . B. P. Head.

The waiting game ( Psalm 40 v 1- 4)

 Of course waiting is not  for many a game,how many road accidents have been caused by people not waiting. I try to be patient when waiting in the queue, and I sometimes finding myself asking the question , why does it appear that in a bank queue people appear take longer ,than I would?Then there are  those who keep us waiting,whats keeping them?, where are they?, do they not know I have to be there in a certain time?.The words of a song come to mind,'Lord won't you hurry',the fact is whither its waiting for whatever reason, we do not like even waiting on God.Yet it appears very important with God, that we learn to wait, it appears that God wants us to learn from waiting, in Romans 15 v 5 ( AV) we read,'Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like minded  toward one another'.God  manifests a patience with those who are his,so we are called to act like him,with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. In the  Tokyo Olympics Reece Prescod who was running in a heat of the 100 meters,was disqualified for a false start,he went off before the starting pistol had sounded. There was king in Israel called Saul ,and like that runner he was not prepared to wait,and he was disqualified from being king.It is vital that we wait  for God's timing,let us not run  before Him, if we do,it could have serious consequences. Often our reluctance to wait is borne out of a lack of trust in God.