A Prayer

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Oh Lord, today, I pray that I may do Your will and that my delight may be in serving You. May I love what You love and abhor what You abhor. I ask that You will direct my ways in paths of obedience. May I take pleasure in pleasing You.

I bring to You my sins and failings of yesterday. As I bring them to You I ask for forgiveness. May my remembrance of past follies lead me to ask for more wisdom, wisdom for the days ahead.

As I think of the sad conditions all round the globe, I realise what a mess we’ve made of Your beautiful world. You are not asking us to cope with every calamity but we ask that You will show us the task waiting for each one of us. Show us where our light should be shining.

We bring to You our friends and families, You can care for them with a care we never can.

Finally we ask that the glory of God will cover the earth as the water’s cover the sea.

Amen

Forgiven

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King David made a terrible mess of his life. Committing adultery and then arranging murder was bad even by the standards of his world. By God’s standard, who abhors sin, it was terrible. But when we think of David today, we don’t think of his failures. We take strength from his many psalms and the successes of his later life. His story is not one of failure, it is one of triumph through God’s power.

David wasn’t alone in getting life wrong. Abraham lied about his wife, Moses struck the rock in anger. Gideon doubted God and used a fleece, Elijah became afraid and hid in the desert. And Paul persecuted Christians with as much power and authourity as he could.

What all these people had in common was that they didn’t let their mistakes define their lives. With God’s help and forgiveness they moved on. Our remembrance of these people is success in their Christian life not failure. They are not known as Abraham, the liar, David, the murderer, , or Gideon, the doubter. They sought God’s forgiveness and moved on.

What about us? We all have mistakes from our past. (I certainly have!) But God has forgiven us, we no longer need to carry the burden of our sin and failure. We are thoroughly forgiven.

“Jesus Wept”

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I hardly dare to type these words; they are so profound and deep. The creator of the universe is weeping human tears and showing His human emotions. His tears are for others and not for Himself. Tears are a deep emotion and Jesus weeps for the state of the world and for the fact that death has sway. It is death He has come to conquer.

I wonder if Jesus still weeps in heaven; our world is in such a mess, If He notices the fall of a sparrow, He surely weeps over the death of a child through war. He must shed tears for those in danger and in pain. Oh, that our hearts would break at the troubles of the world. May we never become hardened to sorrow.

It is terrible to hear the above words used as a swear word. It is said by people with no thought of Jesus or the fact of Him crying. Even though there is no thought, the words have still been uttered and James reminds us of the power of words.

I have no control over what people say or think. When I hear these swear words, I always protest and get into trouble for doing so. In vain I try to explain something of the gospel and God’s love. I cannot remain silent. If someone spoke badly of my best friend, I would complain; how much more should I do so when Jesus is spoken of in this way. (well, Jesus is my best friend) May the Lord forgive us.

Lost and Found

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The Bible is full of lost people – The Israelites enslaved in Egypt and then seeking the Promised Land – the Prodigal Son who lost his way from the safety of his loving family. At one time or other we are all lost until we find rescue in Jesus. Life often leads us astray and at other times we are lost by our own wrong actions.

When the Israelites fled Egypt, I’m told they had a journey of a few weeks days How did a journey of a few weeks become forty years? The answer is disobedience What a sombre thought that our wanderings might take forty years in wasted wilderness living! There is a Chinese saying ‘A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.’ What if this one step is in the wrong direction?

‘Prone to wonder, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love,’ from Robert Robertson’s ‘Come Thou font of every blessing.’ . I’m reminded of a chorus by E.H. Swinstead ‘ There’s a way back to God, from the dark road of sin. There’s a door that is open and you may go in. At Calvery’s cross is where you begin, when you come as a sinner to Jesus/’

It’s never too late to be found by God again; He is always waiting and welcoming.

Resentment

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When the Prodigal Son left home, I wonder what his brother’s feelings were. He may have thought ‘Good riddance, he never did any work.’ Any day when the work was particularly heavy or things went wrong he had more bitter thoughts about his brother who was probably having a ‘whale of a time.’ Money to spend on the farm would not have been plentiful as one share had been taken out.

This resentment would have been a daily occurrence as he had also lost his father. Every day the old man was out scanning the horizon. ‘When was his son coming home?’ No longer would there be cozy evenings round the fire, the three men discussing the business of the day. The band of friendship had been broken. Even his mother would be heart-broken at losing a son and the companionship of a husband.

The bitterness was growing day by day and erupted on the day of the lad’s return. ‘You never even gave me a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.’ Luke 15:29. One could almost feel sympathy for the older brother!. But bitterness and resentment are insidious traits, they build up to a boiling point. Could we gradually be having these feelings, bit by bit, without realising it. Resentment is a bitter enemy.

Ascension Day

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This is the day that Jesus left His earthly home and ascended back to heaven, What must the disciples have thought! They had just asked the question ‘Lord, at this time are You going to restore the kingdom to Israel?’ Acts 1:6. As we would say, they just didn’t get it. Jesus was standing among them and then He wasn’t. Since they’d been following Jesus they’d witnessed many astonishing things. This would have been pretty high up on the list.

They would have looked at each other in amazement and bewilderment. Then they might begin to remember some of the things that Jesus had said to them. Slowly they probably began to understand a little bit. They had a few weeks to wait for the Holy Spirit to descent on them. Gradually they would remember His words.

This small band of men were the beginning of Christianity. These frightened men would receive the power to become strong and fearless. For over 2,000 year their message has been spread right round the world to billions and billions of people who have believed it and some have died for it. We pray that under God’s guidance we may do our bit to become part of that growth and expansion.

Deep Roots

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‘Blessed is the one who looks on the Lord ……. They will be like a tree planted by water.’ Jeremiah 17:7-8

Like so much of my country at the moment we are experiencing a drought, the country is crying out for rain. My small plants and flowers have died, the birds are continually drinking from my bird bath. The tree in my neighbour’s garden is flourishing. It’s leaves are green and healthy, there is no fear of it dying. This is because the roots go down deep to the underground water level.

‘It does not fear when the heat comes, its leaves are always green.’ verse 8. Again this is as result of the deep roots, it receives continued moisture. ‘It has no worries in the year of the drought and never fails to bear fruit.’ again verse 8.

Our souls are like the thirsty trees and plants. We need the refreshment of God’s love. The world will only bleed us dry, it will not give to us at all. Our sin will strip us of spiritual refreshment. The Bible is one of our forms of spiritual food and our source of strength. It contains words of encouragement, correction and love. In reading through the book of Psalms nearly every psalm sets us up for the day ‘My soul faints with longing for Your salvation but I have put my hope in Your word.’ Psalm 119:8

Individuals

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And God said, ‘Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds.’ Genesis 1:24

At the time of creation God made so many wonderful things for us to enjoy, a wide variety of animals, birds and living creatures. He gave us flora and fauna in a varied abundance. He must have thought we’d get bored if we only had one type of apple to eat each day. There is such a variety of fruits, plants and vegetables found all round the world. I read that nearly two thousand new plants are discovered each year.

Sometimes we need to look at the larger picture of eternity, we need to look past our small niggles and problems as we are made to be with Him for ever and ever. He knows the needs of each one of us and knows us by name. That name of ours is written on His hand. How wonderful!. We are nor just a number to Him, we are a beloved name.

Pride

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‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your mind and with all your soul.’ Matthew 22:37.

Many of the ills and troubles or this world can be put down to pride. Our God is a jealous God, He requires to have first place in our hearts. He will not share His sovereignty with others. Anything we love more than God is idolatry. Without Him we can do nothing, we are nothing. With Him in control of our lives we can achieve all that He has planned for us.

Various dictators in this world think they have no need of a god and will not move over to let Him have His rightful place. During history dictators have come and then gone, God goes on for ever. I’ve just been reading the life of The Heavenly Man who along with many others was terribly persecuted in China. Their sufferings are almost unbelievable. In China the power of communism had to be supreme. The claim that God is the only way is a threat to their power.

Before we shake our head in dismay, think of our own situations. Do we know of churches where the worship leader thinks he is more important than the preacher? Are there leaders who lord it over others? Is there sibling rivalry in our own families? ‘I’m more important than he is.’ Jesus showed the glory of true humility. He has rightly been called the Servant King.

Barnabas – Son of Encouragement

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It is so exciting in Acts 11 to read how the Early Church grew and of the work of many of the disciples. Barnabas is one such disciple. To be known as the Son of Encouragement is a lot to live up to. It was revolutionary to go to preach to the Greeks and he received criticism for doing so. At first the gospel story had been for the Jews only. It was not welcome for Barnabas to do this.

He went even further and travelled to Tarsus to look for Paul. He felt his presence would be a great help in the work of spreading the gospel. In the event the two men spent a whole year in Antioch, preaching and encouraging the people.

The story finishes with a lovely little touch. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch. Acts 11.20 And today more than two thousand years later we are still known as Christians and proud to be known as such. We have the name of our Lord and Master.