Look up (Psalm 121)

 A.W.Pink said,'Remember dear reader that tomorrow will bring with it tomorrow's God',so why do we worry and fret?.Could it be that we take our eyes of God and focus just on the difficulty ,and we forget how He helped us in the past.Could be we are seeking for help in our situations at a horizontal  level,remember  what the Psalmist said in Ps 121 v1-2 ,'I lift up my eyes to the mountains,where does my help come from'. He does two things irrespective of the enemy of souls was saying to him,or what others were pointing out to him,the doom  and gloom merchants,nor does he look inward , no he looks up, he didn't look downward in despair,child of God  I  exhort to you look up.He then says as he looks up, he see's the mountains,how awe inspiring they are,but they are not as awe inspiring as the one who made the mountains ,and so he declares  my help comes from the Lord,the maker of heaven and earth, everything now falls into place. When we bring God into our dire situations, everything will fall into place

Adopted.( 1 John 3 v1)

In the book,'The Valley of Vision',I read,'O sovereign Lord,Thou art the Creator-Father of all men,for Thou hast made and dost support them; Thou art the special Father of those who know and honour Thee'. There  are two groups of people mentioned those have not trusted Jesus as Saviour, they are notconnected to God spiritually,God is a faithful creator,so He  causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good,and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous'  (Matthew 5 v 45 ) But the unrighteous our outside the spiritual  family of God,and receive no benifites spiritually,they cannot have a relationship with God who is Spirit.They are shut out from God while they live ,and when they die.All this can change  when one trusts Christ as  Saviour, then we are granted the right to become children of God,not born of natural descent,nor of human decision or a husbands will,but born of God ( John 1 v 12-13) The Bible speaks of the Christian being adopted brought about by the Spirit of God, ( Romans 8 v14-17 )that means we who were not  a people are now the people of God( 1 Peter 2v 10).Did we merit this ?no,it came about by  God's umerited favour.

                                                      'I'm accepted Im forgiven,

                                                       I am fathered  by the true and living God.

                                                       I'm accepted, no condemnation,

                                                        I m loved by the true and living God.

                                                        There's no guilt or fear as I draw near

                                                        To the Saviour and Creator of the world,

                                                         There is joy and peace

                                                         As I release my worship to you, O Lord'  (Words  Dave Bilbrough)

                                                         

                                                  

Them bones.( Epherians 2 v 1- 10)

In Ezekiel 37 the Lord brought  Ezekiel into a valley of dried bones,and he asked him a question,' can these bones live?.The bones repersented the spiritual deadness of the people of Israel,yes they were spiritually dead.What applies to to Isreal,applies to the unsaved of every nation ,all without exception are dead spiritually (Ephesians 2 v1),all unsaved can be likenend unto dead bones. As one watches sporting events with vast mulitudes of people looking on, what  does one see? most are dead bones. We must look with spiritual vision most people are  spiritually dead bones,every day I pray for dead bones.I see  people who have natual life ,but no spiritual life,and I hear the words that God spoke to Ezekiel,'can these bones live?'.Yes with God all things are possible Matthew 19 v26,So let us consider further what God said to Eezekiel,'Prophesy to  these bones and say to them,'Dry bones,hear the word of the Lord,this is what every preacher has to do,but we all have the same respomsibility.The word of God is vital ,for it will bring life and salvation,the natural creation came into being by God's word,so likewise  the new creation will come into being when the word of God is spoken.(1 Peter 1 v 23)Ezekiel obeyed God, the result was those very dried bones came to life and stood up on their feet ,a vast army'.Yes those dead dry  bones can live,with God all things are possibly,so let us be faithful and speak the word of God , and we will see those dead bones coming to life.

Habakkuk ( 3 v16ff)

Habakkuk the prophet reverently brought his concerns to God ,he spoke to God as to why He was not dealing with the sinfulness of Judah ,violence and injustice was rampant,and God did not appear to be doing anything .Habakkuk was a contemporary of Jeremiah who bravely challenged the kings as to their failures in not standing  for righteousness .One had to be brave to be a prophet ,for they had to tell the people not what they wanted to hear,but what they needed to hear.Habakkuk wanted action by God, it apeared to him that wasn't happening. When God did answer him,he had problems with that, judgement was coming in the form the army of the Babylonians,a very wicked and cruel people. Habukkak  was puzzeled with God's answer as to why he would use such  wicked people,When like Habakkuk we  complain to God,we want answers,you may hear what you don't want to hear.When Habakkuk considered the awful devastation that was coming,it overwhelmed him, ( 3 v16) but them his trembleing turned to praise and joy,for the Lord would be His strength (3 v19)There are times when like Habakkuk we wonder why,it appears to us that God is not doing anything,but He is. God's ways are not our ways,He knows what He is doing,also his answer to our why's as I have said, may not be what we want to hear,it may overwhelm us,but like Habakkuk the sovereign Lord will be our strength.

                                               'We go in faith, our own great weakness feeling,

                                                And needing more each day Thy grace to know:

                                                Yet from our hearts a song of triumph pealing;

                                                 We rest in Thee,and in Thy name we go.'

                                                                Words  Edith G.Cherry

 

I am rich ( 1 John 3 v1)

 There was a moment when a person said to  me ,'you are poor',it was true in relation to my financial situation.This was when my wife and I were at Bible college.People may have said we were very naive in me leaving my job ,with a wife and three children to support,with no savings.Looking back I can appreciate why they would think that,but the word of God tells us, 'that God has chosen those who are poor  in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith'. Yes that person was right,we were poor financially,but we were rich in faith,and God honoured our faith.Let us consider 2 Corinthians 8 v 9,'But you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich,yet for your sake He became poor , so that you through His poverty mignt become rich'.This verse tells us two things about Jesus,He was rich,where was he rich? in His heavenly kingdom,in John 17 v5,He  speaks of the glory He had with the Father before the world began.Then we read that He became poor when He came into this world not to be born of rich parents,or to live in a palace,but to be born into a poor family,why?,the answer comes in the next part of 2 Cor 8 v9,'So that you through His poverty you might become rich'.When a person trusts Christ ,no matter about their lowly status in life, they becaome rich,they become Children of God,with all the blessings that brings.

                                                        Once I was clothed in rags of my sin

                                                       Wretched and poor lost and lonely within

                                                       But with wondrous compassion

                                                       The king of all kings in pity nnd love

                                                       Took me under His wings (Words Gaither)

We need Him. ( Acts 17 v 24- 31)

 I heard someone say,'God needs us more,than we need Him', imagine a person who professes to being a Christian minister saying such a thing.The fact is God does not need anything,that man who said that doesn't know God  as revealed in His word.God has no needs,none whatsoever, but what is very evident we need God.He desires that we love Him ,obey Him,and worship Him,that is what is required of us,and it is only by the grace of God can we do this,remember what our Saviour said,'apart from Me you can nothing' (Jn 15 v 5) In Acts 17 v 24-25 we read,'The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands,as if He needed anything. Rather He himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.'God does not need anything from us,but we need Him totally for our existence. Saying God needs us more than we need Him,is making ourselves God,and believing that satanic lie, made to Eve (Genesis 3 v 4)When it comes to salvation many are deluded into thinking,that they don't need God to save them,blind pride is at the root of it all.The word of God tells us clearly our exsistence and our salvation is depended on Him.

The add on's. ( Psalm 119 v 128)

I heard someone say ,I love Catholics but I hate Catholicism,one could add to that by saying,I love Motmons but I hate mormonism,I love Jehovah witnesses,but hate Russelliam ,you get the picture.Our Saviour came because He loved people but He came to destroy and deliver people from false  religions.I notice that our king has visited the Vatican,to meet with the Pope,and to pray with him.There will be a lot of people would say that's wonderful, but is it?,a good question,as an Ulster man am I just being bigoted, the answer is no.Let me remind you of the five bases of the Reformation,'vScripture  alone/Grace alone/ Christ alone/  Faith alone /to the glory of God alone.In all those points the Roman Catholic Church are found wanting,One famous theologian was asked what would stop him being united with the  Roman Chatolic Church? he simply relied ,'the add on's',as regards scripture they treat church teaching,tradition, and the Apocryphal, on a par with scriptures.Which they are not,anything added unto scriptures will take us  away from the truth. As regards salvation they teach that faith in  Christ alone is not enough to save us,for them it is Christ plus works that saves/.Their teaching on Mary is no where to be found in scriptures,they call her mother of God,God does not have a mother,she was the mother of his humanity, they teach she was sinless,yet she said,'my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,in other words she needed to be saved. The adds ons will always be a barrier ,I do hope so,I have just touched on some of the errors of Catholicism.