Matthew 1:18-25

Thankful this Christmas morning that my God would show me the extent of His love. Thankful that He would show me the extent to which this world had wandered from Him, rebellious and selfish humanity determined to have its own way and to be the master of its own destiny. 

What kind of love is this that God, the great and wonderful Creator and Sustainer of the universe would humble Himself, would take on the flesh of a baby, small and vulnerable, helpless and needing a human parent to provide for Him so that I would know the reality of His love for me. But more, so that I would know what humility is - that my God would actually show me humility so that I would understand how to lay aside self, how to surrender my all to the One who surrendered all for me. 

I am so full of love this morning, for my Saviour and for the family that He has blessed me with. I am so grateful that I know how to love them because He has first loved me, so grateful that He has shown me how to live and how to be and how to love - and so so thankful that I will live with Him for eternity, the One who was and who is and who is to come - the King of kings and Lord of lords, Immanuel, God with us.

Psalm 126:5-6

Thank you for praying, the Lord was faithful and though I did not see any results from the gospel message I gave last Friday evening nonetheless I trust that God's Word never returns empty without accomplishing what He desires. We were a small group and I included more of my own personal testimony - somehow that seemed right and so I trust that the Lord has used it. 

I was praying for another message this morning as I will be speaking again next Monday evening at the Imperial Hotel in Stroud; probably to a different group of people all with different needs and different reasons for not believing in the Lord Jesus but nonetheless all needing to hear the truth that Jesus Christ is God and that He came to offer salvation to a desperate world. I was reading Psalm 126 and came to verse 5, 'those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting. He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed, shall indeed come again with a shout of joy bringing his sheaves with him'. I know that this psalm is not really about witnessing to the gospel of Christ but nonetheless it seemed to be God's Word to me for next Monday. Not so much that I would speak about it but that I would put this word in my heart and stand on the truth of it - stand on the certainty that though I might weep at the apparent hardness of the ground or the difficulty in finding the right way to tell the message of Jesus - yet God is promising that there will be a harvest and that I, Ann Absolom, will come again with a shout of joy and I will bring the sheaves - I will bring those who have believed in Christ with me. I will one day see and know that the fields were indeed white and that I did my small part in bringing in the harvest. 

I needed that this morning - needed to know that I was doing what the Lord would have me do - needed to hear Him speak and to again be assured that He saw, that He cared, that He was accomplishing His purposes and that He knew that those purposes were what concerned me. So I am now sitting at my desk looking out at a beautiful frost covered garden and marvelling at my God, my Father - wanting to cry tears of joy that He, the Creator of the universe would have revealed His truth, His grace, His amazing love to me. 

Do you need to know His love this morning? Do you need to store up His truth in your heart? Do you need His grace or His mercy or His forgiveness? Come boldly to His throne of grace and find help in your time of need. Come quickly, do not let the enemy keep you locked up in guilt, in shame, in disappointment or sorrow - come running to your Father and let Him rejoice over you with shouts of joy. He is waiting and He will never disappoint you. He is there and He longs for you to hear His voice and to feel His arms around you. He is here, now, with you by His Spirit and He is whispering, today is a new day - whatever yesterday held for you it is gone. His mercies are new every morning, His grace is a never ending river in which you can swim for eternity and His love is powerful enough to enable you to speak and to live for His glory. 

If you know someone who needs to hear the Gospel, please bring them along next Monday evening and also please pray that I will have the right words and that the Lord will give me the confidence and power to speak His Word without hesitation and with great joy. 

Acts 4:29-31

I will be giving the Gospel on Friday evening at a small café called 'Somewhere Else' in Cirencester. I don't know who will be there, don't know how many or where they will come from. I don't know their circumstances, or if they have any knowledge at all of the Lord Jesus - but one thing I am very clear about is my absolute inability to come up with a convincing word. I can hear the questions forming in my mind - the accusations from the enemy that I won't have enough or be enough or say enough. I can hear him telling me that maybe this isn't what the Lord would have me do - that maybe I should stick to what I know best - teaching believers - and though I know that every single believer who has ever walked this planet has a commission from the Lord to 'go and make disciples' still I am plagued by doubts about the way I am doing it or the place or the time..... 

I'm wondering if I really care about those complete strangers - am I really bothered about their eternal destiny? Do I have the right attitude? Do I love them with the love of Christ and will He really give me what I need to say when I need to say it? And I'm left with a nagging thought - have I prayed enough, have I prepared enough - and the answer comes screaming back at me - NO! 

So I'm left now wondering what I should do - I have no other ideas of what to say - how to explain the truth that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. How will I put over the truth that those who believe in Him will LIVE forever with Him but those who refuse Him will spend their eternity in a place where 'their worm dies not and the fire is not quenched'. How will I do that in a way that they will receive - in a way that will get their attention and draw them to Christ?

So here I am at Acts 4 - and I see that those first disciples had the same thoughts - the same doubts, the same attack from the enemy and they did what I must do - God wrote it down so that I would know what I must do. Now Lord take note of my doubts, take note of the enemy and his taunts, take note of my insecurity and my inadequacy and grant that I, Your bondservant may speak Your Word with all confidence while You extend Your hand to heal the souls of those who hear and signs and wonders might take place through the name of Your holy servant, my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 

Please pray with me and for me - pray that the Lord Jesus Christ will be exalted in that place on Friday evening - that His name will sound forth, that He will be shown to be the glorious Redeemer and Saviour of the world. Pray that I will boldly speak His Word and that His Spirit will anoint that Word with power that everyone who hears might be changed, might be healed, might be brought into the glory of the salvation of God. 

And then, through these weeks as we approach the celebration of the birth of our Lord - pray with me that we might know that '..we all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit'. Pray that the knowledge of that transformation will be our assurance, will be the foundation from which we will boldly speak the name of Jesus and from which we will confidently explain the wonder of His offer of forgiveness and grace. Pray too that in that knowledge His surpassing great power will be manifested in and through each one of us for His glory and our very great joy.

Zeph. 3:17; Lamentations 3:21-23

I'm sitting on the bed in my room at the Torchbearers Bible School in Schladming, Austria. It took me a while to get here as I had to leave home at 3 am for a 7:15 flight out of Gatwick and now I've unpacked, gone for a walk and have spent the last hour reading the Word and talking to the Lord. He has been speaking to me a little in the last few days about prayerlessness. Not that I don't pray, I do, every day, in quiet time and throughout the day as situations arise. But He has been speaking to me about extended prayer, about going beyond my requests and supplications, going beyond even the thanksgiving that should go with it and getting into an area of quiet with Him where He can tell me what He wants me to lift up to His throne of grace. 

Now that's tricky for me as that requires concentration. It means that I cannot allow my mind to just sit quietly and drift off at tangents of my own but that I must really wait on Him attentively. One of the books I'll be teaching this week is Habakkuk and in Hab.2:1 he says that he will do exactly what I am attempting and of course, because the Lord is faithful to His Word, he does hear from Him. 

As I sat then and thought about that and how I would do as Habakkuk did, as I cried out to the Lord for His help and for Him to show me what I should lift up to Him, I remembered my daily reading - Lamentations 3:21-26 and I understood that the writer was so overwhelmed at what had happened to his beloved Jerusalem, that he was weeping almost inconsolably at the destruction that she had brought upon herself, that he was brought to that place of remembering who God is and what He has promised. 

And it was as if God was speaking directly to me - remember Me, remember who I am, when you want to hear My voice remember I have spoken in My Son and He lives in you. I have revealed the secret things to you because you are My precious child. I have given you knowledge of My love and My grace. I have filled you with My truth and now I want you to remember Me in all the moments of your life - to recall the way I have brought you here and to abide in My love for you. Then you will know Me and know My heart and you will know what to bring to Me.

It's always about Him, always about God. It's not about me or what I do or how I concentrate or how I pray - it is always and only about Him and my worship is simply to remember and recall to mind His compassion and His faithfulness. Yes I want to spend more time in His presence and yes I need to properly discipline myself to enable this to happen without distraction but it will always be Him who does it, always be Him who enables me and always be Him who fills my heart with praise and with prayer and with adoration. 

And then of course the picture on the bedroom wall - a mountain landscape with a Scripture printed on it - and I remembered His word to me years ago, in the midst of my anger and my tears and my wanting to do anything but serve Him in the way He had chosen - when I cried out and asked Hin what do you think of me? His answer came back oh so softly ' I rejoice over you with singing'. 

This I recall to my mind therefore I have hope.

Psalm 93-94

Psalm 93 is such a confident assertion of who God is – He reigns, clothed in majesty…His throne is established from of old and He is from everlasting. Our God is magnificent and powerful, all-knowing, holy and unchanging and there are many days when by His grace and mercy I can proclaim these truths.

But as we head into Psalm 94 we are shown how we actually trust these truths, how we stand on them and do battle against all the enemies that the people of Christ find themselves faced with in this world.

In this world we find ourselves in difficulties and trials, we are opposed by a culture that either denies the existence of God or thinks of Him as irrelevant and inactive. Our world does not want to hear, let alone acknowledge that they owe their very existence to the Sovereign Most High God and that one day they will stand in front of Him faced with the reality of their choice.

In the meantime we are called to stand for Christ, to proclaim Him, to speak and preach and teach His Word. We are called to faith – to the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things unseen; we are called to make the unseen visible as each one of us believes in and receives the promises of God to us in Christ Jesus.

And what are those promises? We are assured of salvation – of justification, sanctification and glorification. We are assured that every single moment that we spend on this planet our God is with us, more, He dwells within us by His Spirit. We are assured that our weakness magnifies His strength and that there is absolutely nothing that we cannot do through Christ who gives us strength. We are assured of victory over the temptations that assail us, assured of peace even in the darkest of circumstances. Assured of His all sufficient grace in our time of need and that He will be present with us in a way that we can actually feel – His presence will go with us so that we need never be afraid of anything that this world can throw at us.

These are but a few of His promises but it is only as we actually lay hold of them for ourselves that the Word is proclaimed not simply in words but in power and in the Holy Spirit and in actual real life evidence of the greatness of our God.

Here in this Psalm the writer draws on the truth of God and actually holds it to himself – in a way he receives the very character of God much as each of us who have believed in the name of Christ Jesus have received His character, His very being by His Spirit within.

He calls upon God to execute the judgment of the wicked that He has promised and he calls upon everyone who can hear the sound of his voice to pay attention – take heed, you senseless..and when will you understand…the Lord knows the thoughts of man, that they are mere breath!

He calls upon God to stand up for him as he stands against the wickedness he sees all around him and God, who has promised that He will always answer that call has been his help. God has indeed comforted him, strengthened, established and refreshed him and the psalmist has actually experienced His blessing.

Listen – when my foot had slipped – the Lord’s lovingkindness held me up; when anxiety and fear threatened to overwhelm me God’s consolations delighted my soul and when I considered the work of the enemy, even his apparent success nonetheless the Lord was my stronghold and the rock of my refuge.

He actually experienced God, felt His presence, knew, in the very centre of his being, that he was not alone that in fact God would never leave nor forsake him. Life may often be lonely, difficult and chaotic but the Lord is on my side, He is my support and His comfort is in my heart.

This is our God, this is the One in whom we have placed our trust. This is the One who has said – you are Mine! This God, this Christ, this Saviour is the One who has promised that He will keep me from stumbling and make me to stand blameless with great joy in the presence of His glory. This God is mine and I am His and I will not be afraid.

The psalmist knew the truth of God and he prayed to God on the basis of that truth. This morning, no matter what you are facing come to God with the truth of His Word, cry out to Him and He will answer.

Psalm 138:3 On the day I called You answered me; You made me bold with strength in my soul.

John 3:30

He must increase but I must decrease. Of course this is John the Baptist speaking to his disciples who are jealous that people are turning from,him and following Jesus, they don't understand who Jesus is and are upset by what He is doing. But John knows that here is the Christ, the Lamb of God who will take away the sins of the world and so he is completely at peace, more, he is rejoicing in the fact that his Messiah has come.

But in this small sentence we have the whole of the Christian life, we have what it is like to die to self - the result of receiving Christ. Here we have the definition of a true believer, one who is growing in the Lord, one who is seeking first His Kingdom and His righteousness, one who knows that they have been crucified with Christ and no longer live, but that the life they live they live by faith in the Son of God who loved them and gave Himself for them (Gal. 2:20). Here is the life of a believer, He must increase and I must decrease.

So ask yourself the question - is this happening in your life? Is Christ increasing? Test yourself - how do you think about your salvation? Do you think of it in terms of what Christ has done for you? Is it all about the peace He gives you, the joy, the protection, the promise of a glorious inheritance? Are you concerned about gaining a full assurance of that, concerned about Him dealing with all your issues, sorting out your problems, leading you into a better place?

Or do you think about salvation as the manifestation of His glory, as the way that His glory will cover the earth. Do you proclaim salvation by filling your mind and your heart with the truth of who Christ is, that He is wisdom and righteousness, that He is the King of Glory and that all you desire is to lift up His name and honour the One who gives Life. Is salvation about you or about Him?

Or in your prayers - are you concerned with the things that bother you - people or circumstances or trials? Do you pray for those you love, for what they need and for the Lord to heal or to bless or to save? Are your prayers concerned with self, with you - or are they all about the revelation of His glory through you, all about Him leading, Him taking centre stage, Him being made known through your life? Are they more about Him than about you?

It is not wrong to pray for these things of course not, Jesus Himself tells us to do so but think about how much time you are praying about you or the things that concern you, rather than about Him and about what concerns Him. Think about how long you spend asking compared with how long you spend in praise and adoration of God.

Are you defensive about yourself, easily hurt or offended? Do you think that might be because you are not decreasing? Are you self reliant and confident that you are working hard for the Lord - do you work out your plans and then ask people to pray that God will give you a hand to fulfil them?
Is life all about you or about Him?

He must increase but I must decrease - is that happening in your life?

2 Cor.5:14

I am busy today finishing up the material for the DT seminar on 22 October - Compelled by Love - and I am finding myself close to tears at the magnitude of this love, overwhelmed by its power and captured by its grace.

If you haven't planned to attend please do think again and decide that you will come along and join with us as we search out the depths of this love, as we lay hold of this wonderful truth that both captivates and compels us to live for our Saviour. We live in ever darkening days, Paul calls them difficult times when he writes to Timothy, and he means times of stress - times when anxiety and fear are ever present, when people will be so afraid that they will be running here and there looking for a way out but unsure of which door to open, which way to choose.

These are the days when we must know this great and compelling love of Christ, days when we must be convinced in the depths of our being that God is for us not against us, that He has promised never to leave nor forsake us, that His love will be a constant companion and that He will fill us with never ending joy as we live for His glory.

Oh how I want to teach this - how my soul longs to shout it from the roof tops - Behold! Here is your God, His name is Jesus and He will lead you home.

Come join us in Cirencester on 22 October - come and hear about His amazing, glorious, powerful, compelling love and receive it for yourself. Lay hold of this great truth and be transformed as you renew your mind with His Word.

Psalm 23

Everyone loves this psalm don't they? It is such a comfort in times of trouble, assuring us as it does of the Lord's presence and His sovereign care over us. Yesterday I was reading it over again, resting in its truth and thanking the Lord for who He is and all that He has done for me.

But somehow He led me on in it; I had been praying specifically for several friends who are going through immense difficulty at the moment - friends who are in that dark tunnel that seems to have no end and who are very naturally afraid and so very aware of their lack of control - they are indeed walking through the valley of the shadow of death.

I was remembering a particular conversation and I think that's why the Lord opened my mind and showed me that everyone on the planet is in fact walking through the valley of the shadow of death all of their lives. We each one of us have no control over the circumstances, the trials and indeed the number of days that we will live - each one aware that there is an end for us in this world and that awareness can cause anxiety and fear unless of course the Lord is our Shepherd.

I thought about the fact of my death - that I don't know when that will be, when I will breathe my last breath on this planet. All I actually know is that I have today - that this morning when I opened my eyes I could know that the Lord had gifted me another day and that through this day He would be walking before me. He would lead me beside still waters, He would restore those broken places in my soul - He it is who would guide me in His paths of righteousness because I have put my trust in His salvation and I am called by His name.

And I remembered that the table He has laid before me is not one full of food - no, it is that safe place that shepherds would mark out for their flocks - the 'mesa' lined with flaming torches to keep the wild animals away. He had laid out a table before me and in that safe place I would know His goodness, His loving kindness, His protection and His amazing grace. He had anointed my head with oil - I am His and He is mine and this day and for every day through my eternity I will dwell in His house.

It is wonderful to know this but He asked me this morning 'how will you live today on the basis of this truth?' and I answered - I will live thanking You for today and trusting You for tomorrow. I will live seeking this day to proclaim Your excellence - I will seek first Your Kingdom and Your righteousness and then tomorrow if I open my eyes and see the morning I will live again for Your glory.

Every one of us lives in the valley of the shadow of death. Sometimes we forget or can get carried away by the things we encounter in this valley - we are distracted by the glittering baubles that sometimes line our path, led astray by 5 or 10 year plans. Sometimes our minds are filled up with family and career and success and reputation and we forget that today is the gift from our Lord - today is the day He has given us to magnify His glory and to receive His joy.

It's hard to live like that - day by day - holding His hand and trusting Him for tomorrow - but that is where He wants us because it is there that we find His perfect peace, there that we find that His joy has become our strength, there that we experience His sustaining grace and there that we find the abundant life He died to give us.

So on this new day I have filled my mind with His truth and I have asked Him to teach me how to live each day for Him. I know He will show me.

Psalm 62

How wonderful to read these songs from David's heart and to know that they have come out of the fire, out of the difficulties and trials and tragedies that have marked his life. 'He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I shall not be shaken. David has experienced the peace that passes all understanding, has known the relief of running to His Fathers arms and finding a place of refuge and calm. He can write with authority about his God for he has experienced the power and the loving kindness of a God who has called him and promised him that He will never leave nor forsake him.

Could you write this song? This morning as we seek to worship our Lord and Saviour could we come to Him and say, You alone are my rock and my salvation and I will not be shaken.

I was awake at 3 a.m. and decided to catch up on my Bible reading. As I read I was praying for all those people and circumstances that the Lord brought to mind. There were so many for whom I had no idea how to pray or what to say - simply that I had to lift them up to God and to ask Him to do what was right. I would have despaired had I not known that God knows and cares and that He calls me simply to wait in silence, to wait calmly and rest in the knowledge that He always answers a prayer for His glory to be made known.

And what is His glory? It is who He is - it is a revelation of His infinite love and mercy and grace. A manifestation of His justice, His righteousness, His faithfulness and His power. His glory is Him revealed and that is what I pray for when I ask for His healing hand upon my friend, when I ask for His wisdom to know how to make right a situation I may have messed up, when I cry out to Him to give me the words to pray for those for whom all seems lost.

This morning I read David's words and knew they were mine - and then I wanted to share them and to encourage you to pray them to your Lord. I wanted also to ask you to come Monday evening and join us at DT as we pray - as we come before our Lord with another of David's songs - Psalm 25 - as we cry out to Him for our families, our neighbours, our government and our nation. I wanted to encourage you to join with us in fellowship - to come together in worship and praise and prayer, to share in the remembrance of His great love for us that is found in Christ Jesus and to proclaim His death until He comes.

I know that the Lord is calling us to corporate prayer and to fellowship; I know that He is calling us to it so that we might be strengthened for the days ahead. I know too that He will answer our prayers for He is forever faithful and that we will be able to say with David, .....He is my stronghold, I shall not be shaken.

2 Corinthians 12:9

Our new grandchild, Alexia Grace, was a week old yesterday. A beautiful baby girl, a gift from God to our son and his wife - a child who brought great joy and thanksgiving to my heart, whose birth caused me to praise my God and to worship Him with all that I am and all that I have. She is grandchild number four for us and how I thank God for His amazing grace and blessing upon our family.

As I sat this morning reading His word and talking to my Father, I came across the statement Paul makes in 2 Corinthians, the verse from which I have taken the title for our next seminar on 24 September - 'My grace is sufficient for you' - and I thanked Him that His power would be perfected in my weakness. He reminded me that I need not be afraid, that I could totally trust Him with my new beautiful granddaughter and that He would love her with His overwhelming love.

I know that doesn't mean that there will be no difficult times in her life, that there might be trials and circumstances that she has to face, or that her parents will face, but I knew too that He will call to Alexia every day of her life, that He has put the knowledge of Himself inside of her so that as she grows and matures and reaches adulthood, she might answer Him and call out to Him for her salvation. I was reminded that God never stops calling, that it is His desire that no one should perish but all come to repentance; reminded that He has promised that those who come to Him will never be disappointed, that He will hold them, never forsake them and will bring them to an eternity full of glory and grace.

How wonderful to know that as I trust in Him, as I lean not on my own understanding, as I acknowledge Him, He will make my paths straight. I need not be afraid that I will not be enough, that I might not say the right thing or be the right thing - because He is the all sufficient, all knowing, unchanging Creator of the universe. He is almighty, all seeing God, the One who knows and who cares and who has a plan that is unfolding and will come to fruition in His perfect time.

And yet again I came to that place of peace, that place of calm and rest in Him and I thanked Him for His powerful grace that is always sufficient for our every need.

I will pray for my beautiful Alexia, I will ask the Lords' blessing upon her, that He might makes His face to shine upon her - that she will know deep inside that she is loved not only by her parents or her grandparents but by the One who is Love, the One who has given her life.

Job 28:12-28

Every year I read Job's story and every year I marvel at this man who came at God with his questions and his fear and his cry for mercy and for answers yet still praised Him and knew that the whole universe is in His hands. Many times I have thought that Job didn't understand something - that maybe God was showing him that his faith was based on wrong assumptions or that he was counting himself righteous because of things he did rather than as a state of being. But again and again Job has surprised me with his insight and depth of understanding - Job knew that even his righteousness was no offering to a God who was infinitely holy, infinitely just and who lived in unapproachable light. Job knew that unless God wished to reveal Himself then no man could ever know Him nor stand before Him, yet nonetheless he could do nothing more than speak truth as he understood it and hope that God was not only holy and just but that He was also infinitely merciful and gracious. 

Isn't that really what we think too? We know that God is perfect and holy and righteous and just and true and we know too that if He isn't gracious towards us, if He doesn't show mercy then we are lost and we will be lost for eternity. I cannot tell you how many times I have come on my knees before the Lord and said that same thing - Lord without your grace I am done for, without your mercy and forgiveness I have nowhere to go because even at my best - even the most righteous deed I could ever accomplish would be as filthy rags before you and could never make the way for me to get to You. 

But here is the most amazing thing - it is this understanding, that I am poor in spirit - that I have nothing to bring to a God who deserves everything, this understanding that God calls good - that leads me to fall before Him and not only ask for His mercy but to expect to receive it on the basis of all that He has said to me in Christ Jesus. 

That is the miracle - that is the overwhelming love of God at work - that He would come and pay my price and that He would reveal that to me in words I could understand and then by power of His Spirit give me life - a life that enables me to come boldly to His throne of grace to find help, and mercy and grace and love, and truth and and.. and...in my time of need. 

Job knew this - he knew that he had a Redeemer who would come to him(Job 19:25), he knew that God's word was His covenant promise - knew that no matter what God is always faithful to His Word, to Himself. And so he continued, even when he did not understand, he continued to proclaim the truth. Here in Job 28 we have just one small section of the truth that caught my eye this morning:

But where can wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?.... 

And to man He said, Behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom and to depart from evil is understanding. 

Read these verses this morning, read them and praise your God who was and is and is to come. Praise Him that though you may not understand all that is happening around you - though the circumstances of your life may not be all that you hoped they would be - praise Him that He is God Most High and that He has chosen to be gracious to you - praise Him that your Redeemer lives and that in the end He will stand upon the earth! 

And praise Him too that it is the 'fear' of the Lord that is wisdom - that the healthy reverential fear of the Lord will cause you to come to Him always on the basis of who He is and never with anything of your own. Only as we understand this will we know the complete freedom that Christ Jesus offers, only as we understand that it is not about me - but rather all about the One who is wholly other, who chose to give Himself so that I might come to know Him. Praise Him that the grace and mercy we receive are not simply His gifts, not separate to Him, but rather the outward expression of His character - and that it is His desire that we might understand and lay hold of the breadth and length and height and depth of the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge that we might be filled up to all the fullness of God (Eph. 3:18-19). Praise Him that He promises that it is possible for you and I to be filled up with Him - filled up with grace and mercy and truth and love! Filled up with the One who is the outward expression of God - the One in whom grace and truth were manifested on this planet! 

The fear of the Lord is wisdom - that fear which causes you to marvel at His love which is freely given to you in Christ Jesus, the fear that causes your heart to sing at the wonder of new birth, at the amazing miracle of salvation that is totally and utterly secure in Christ Jesus. 

DT Stuff

I have spent these past few weeks writing for the upcoming events in the DT calendar and in particular the new 6 week course - From Fear to Faith which will start on 15 September. It has been a joy for me to discover the truth that sets us free and to hear the Lord say to me, 'it is I, do not be afraid'.  Over an over again in His Word we are told not to be afraid and over and over again the reason given is that He is with us. 

I have been listening too - wonderful new songs that are so easy to hear online - songs of praise and deliverance, songs that have filled my heart with joy and caused me to lift my voice to the God who chose me and called me His own. 

Through it all the Lord has reminded me that the life I have is a gift from Him, that every moment of every day is to be spent seeking His kingdom and His righteousness. I have heard Him say, don't waste your life, don't be deceived and do not give in to the work of the enemy of your soul. So this is a plug for the new course and indeed for all the seminars and conferences that we have planned. Set your heart on the things of God - fill your mind with His Word, join with us in sweet fellowship around His truth and do all that you can to stand firm as the enemy attacks. 

Sustained by grace, Compelled by love and Knowing Christ Now - each has led me into the next, each one a beautiful piece of the jigsaw of His Word. Every time I sit to write my mind is flooded by His truth and He makes the connections for me, the words flying off my fingers as I type and His truth making me free at every turn. 

And don't forget to come and pray - to pray for the church and our nation. To pray that believers in the Lord Jesus will know the truth and contend earnestly for it. Pray that each one will decide that the glory of God is worth their time, their energy and their talent. Pray unceasingly and pray with us - pray that His glorious, life transforming Word, ministered by His Spirit will have its way in the lives of all who call themselves believers in Christ.

2 Chronicles 31:20 - 32:8

We might ask why it is when King Hezekiah has been doing what was good, right and true before the Lord his God - why every work he did in the service of the house of God in law and commandment, seeking his God, he did with all his heart and prospered - why then in light of such devotion and faithfulness do we read in the very next sentence that the king of Assyria came and invaded Judah? Hadn't Hezekiah done enough to ensure that God protected them from invasion? Didn't he have a right to expect some sort of special protection? Why would God allow this to happen to someone who was faithfully and quite obviously seeking after God's glory and wanting to lead and encourage others to do the same thing?

This is surely the conundrum - why do bad things happen to good people?

And God doesn't really answer this question - He doesn't give an answer to Job and He doesn't give us an answer here. What we do see is that Hezekiah so trusted his God, so knew Him to be the great and awesome, Sovereign God that he took courage and spoke encouragingly to the people: 'Be strong and courageous, do not fear or be dismayed ....for the one with us is greater than the one with him. With him is only an arm of flesh but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles.

It is only those people who have known God - who have experienced a life spent serving Him, loving Him, obeying Him - only those who have walked with Him and understood who He is, that are able encourage others with the Truth, that can be a light shining in a dark place, can be the seeing eye to the blind. Because of Hezekiah's prior relationship he was able to encourage the people - because he knew God and trusted Him the people relied on the words of Hezekiah, stood firm and were victorious.

Do you know God? Have you walked with Him? Have you consecrated yourself to Him, to His service, for His glorious kingdom? Then know this - God will use you to encourage others - He will put you in situations and circumstances that will enable you to shine like a star in the dark sky. You will be enabled to stand firm and to lead many to righteousness - enabled to snatch others from the fire and to bring peace and joy into the most terrifying situations. Your witness, your testimony will be the manifestation of His wisdom in the spiritual realms and you will hear with the ears of faith the Lord rejoicing over you with shouts of joy.

When your circumstances look bleak, when there is no reason why - trust God, trust His plan and purpose for your life and stand steadfast in His perfect peace.  

Romans 13:8-14; Ephesians 6:10-17

I used to love those 'connect the dots' pictures - still do if truth be told and I find myself doing that connecting as I read God's Word. In these verses in Romans I drew the line between loving your neighbour and the fact that it is already the time to wake up. Somehow the idea that we have been sleeping caught my attention and I remembered those words of the Lord Jesus that we should watch the signs of the times, that we should be aware of what is happening in the world in which we live not simply so that we know but so that we can take action. What action then? Paul says that we are to love our neighbour as ourself - we are to do no wrong to others knowing the time - that it is already the hour for us to awaken from sleep.

Paul says that loving our neighbour as ourself shows that we are awake, that we know that the night is almost gone and that the day is near. He says that those who are awake lay aside the deeds of darkness and deliberately and specifically make a choice to love others - not as a feeling but as an action. They make a choice to do for others what they would want done for them - love is an action not simply a feeling and love's actions are mercy and grace, truth and justice. He says that those who have laid aside the deeds of darkness will put on the armour of light. He says that we must cover ourselves in light not as a blanket but as a suit of armour - why? Because we are in a battle, we are fighting a war and we need protection. What is this armour then? And there my dots made their complete picture - put on the Lord Jesus Christ - He is my armour of light.

Put on the Lord Jesus Christ - put on the truth of all that He is and all He has done. Put on the belt of truth - the fact that He is God and that He took in flesh so that He could make the way for you and I to get to God. Put on the breastplate of righteousness - His righteousness, His right standing with the Father - put it on and then live it out - be righteous in all your behaviour because that is perfect love, that is love perfected, completed. Put on the helmet of salvation - the truth of His Word, that He has promised that He will never leave, that He has taken up residence in your heart by His Spirit, that He stands at the right hand of the Father interceding for us. Put on that helmet that will protect your mind - put on Christ - put His Word, His promise, His truth into your mind so that all the lies and deception of the enemy have no place to stand. Hold up the shield of faith - your trust in Him but more than that - His faithfulness. Hold that shield close to your heart - let it block and extinguish the flaming arrows of your enemy who comes to steal, kill and destroy. Hold up the shield and know that absolutely nothing can get through it, that you are protected by the power of God, through faith, for a salvation that will be revealed in all its glory at the revelation of your Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Are you connecting dots yet? Can you see how His Word is one long sentence - all of it appropriate, all of it making a picture that will overwhelm you with its beauty and hold you by its power. And do you see that the deeds of darkness can have no place with you - that violence, drunkenness, promiscuity, strife, jealousy - all of the things that our culture is proclaiming as good and normal and to be enjoyed, all of the corruption that is played out every night on our TV screens, on our laptops, iPads and phones - all of the exaltation of human perversion and degradation must be literally laid aside? Do you understand that not only are you not to practice these things but more - you cannot let your eyes see them - that you must switch off - that you must make a covenant with your eyes that you will not look upon evil?

That is the picture that God has put before you - His Spirit has joined the dots and now you must align yourself with God's will. Why? Because the night is almost gone and the day is near.......the glorious day when our Lord and Saviour will come in the clouds and we will be caught up together with Him. That glorious rapture of the believers - the day when we will each stand before His judgment seat and give account for the deeds we have done in the body. the night is almost over, He is coming soon, abide in Him - so that when He appears you may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame.

Join the dots, make the choice and live with joy and full abundance in your glorious Saviour.

Psalm 12: 1-8; Jeremiah 2: 13

The wicked strut about on every side when vileness is exalted among the sons of men.

That is the price of exalting vileness, the price of promoting corruption and evil. Wickedness is paraded before us, wickedness that knows no bounds - perversion and abuse, kidnapping, rape, murder, genocide - lifestyles of evil promoted and lifted up and left unchecked all in the name of tolerance and political correctness.

Will this be the day that we choose to see, the day that we choose to stand - will this be the moment that we cry out to our God - forgive us Father, for we have sinned; have mercy on us for we have hewn for ourselves broken cisterns that hold no water. Forgive us mighty God for we have turned our back on You and instead pursued lives of ease and wealth and health; forgive us O Lord and come quickly - help Lord for the godly cease to be, for the faithful disappear from among the sons of men.

I want to cry today at what we've seen - but I don't think I have any tears. I keep remembering the girls that were kidnapped by Boko Haram - the Christian pastors and their wives who have lost their lives because they refused to bow to a foreign god. I remember the murder of Christians around this globe down through the centuries and in my time the great persecution of Christians behind the Iron Curtain, in China and North Korea, all over the world except in our neat Western backyards.

How has the magnificent gospel of Jesus Christ become associated with health and wealth and happiness? How has it been preached for so long as the key to an indulgent lifestyle where nothing goes wrong, where your children are all beautiful and safe? Where is the cry for our brothers and sisters around this planet who die daily for the sake of Christ - for the sake of His body, the church to which we claim allegiance.

Oh God, forgive me, forgive us, for our indifference and wake us up to the reality of the world that we live in - the cold, hard reality that we have an enemy who is out to destroy us - with guns or with swords or with prosperity. Oh God open our eyes and our minds to the truth that we must stand firm in these last days - that we must pray unceasingly, that we must know the truth and that we must refuse to compromise it for any reason. Oh God help us, for the godly cease to be - keep us faithful to the end that we might proclaim Your glory.

1 Thess. 5:16-18

We live in uncertain times. The world is changing, the ground is shaking and we have no control over the events of our lives. So what's new? Hasn't that always been the case? From the day that Adam and Eve were put out of the Garden of Eden, human life has been dangerous and unpredictable and consequently human beings have always been afraid. Fear of the unknown, fear of the unexpected, fear that binds, fear that enslaves, fear that destroys and immobilises - fear that is always lurking in the shadows of our minds and hearts - fear that steals joy and peace and holds us back from all that God has planned for us.

Satan, the enemy of our souls uses our fear to manipulate and control - if he cannot stop people coming into the glorious redemption and salvation that Christ brings then he will stop their enjoyment of that freedom, steal their joy and consequently their witness to others. Jesus commonly told His disciples not to be afraid and the reason He said this was simple - do not be afraid - for I am with you. It was a repeat of His Father's words to Israel. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; Do not fear or anxiously look about you for I am your God (Isaiah 41:10)I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand. Jesus said - take courage, it is I, do not be afraid; In this world you will have tribulation but take courage I have overcome the world. Over and over again God speaks to His people and reminds us that we are to keep looking to Him, to keep seeking the things above, to set our minds on Him and to trust, that is to lean our whole weight upon the FACT that He is God Most High, the Sovereign Ruler, the Creator and Sustainer of all things and that nothing, absolutely nothing happens on this planet outside of His Sovereign will.

Yes - bad things happen to good people, yes, things do not always turn out the way we hope, yes, we will be sick, yes, we might lose houses and jobs and incomes - yes, times will be hard and trials varied and sometimes seemingly never ending but through it all His word to us is the same - take courage, I am with you - do not be afraid.

How can we do this? How can we live without fear through days that are so fraught with danger and so uncertain? Only by knowing that He holds us in His arms, that He is protecting us through faith ready for a glorious salvation when Christ returns. Only by knowing that no matter what, He has an inheritance reserved in heaven for me, glorious and undefiled, one that is imperishable and will last for eternity. How can I deal with the fear that binds - only by releasing it into the hands of my Saviour. Only by knowing, deep in my soul that He is there, that He cares and that He will see me through.

Now in these days in which we live - now when all around us people are afraid - not knowing what will happen next, unable to see clearly through all that is going on in our world - now is the time for you and me to proclaim the excellence of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. Now is that day for us to declare that I will not fear because my God is with me and He is faithful and will never ever change.

When the enemy brings fear like a flood remember your God and trust in His Word. Cast all your anxiety on Him for He cares for you 1 Peter 5:7. Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving present you requests to God and the peace of God, that surpasses understanding will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus Phil. 4:6-7.

Psalm 136; Psalm 138

I began this morning by reading Psalm 136 - I have to say that the repetition was at first irritating but then I decided I would read the whole psalm aloud and in so doing the tears of joy came as I realised what God was saying to me through His Word. My lovingkindness is everlasting - no matter what happens, no matter who does what to you, no matter how many lies you have believed and how many times they cause a deep sadness in your soul - My lovingkindness is everlasting and you can depend on it. 

I read that line over and over and as I did it seemed to take root in my mind and filter down through all the layers of my soul. His love, His mercy, His compassion, His grace, His truth is everlasting and it is directed towards and in and through me. I am the recipient of His lovingkindness - I am the one on whom He has showered His love, I am the one who has received of His mercy and His grace, the one to whom He has revealed Jesus, the Saviour, the Redeemer of my soul. I will give thanks to my God, the God of heaven for His lovingkindness is everlasting. 

And then I read on to Psalm 138 and the two connected in my mind - I will give You thanks with all my heart and I will praise You before all the idols of men, all the false religions, all the things that people worship - I will praise You with all my being because I have known Your lovingkindness - I have received of Your grace. I will bow before my Lord and Saviour, I will gladly ask Him to be in charge - to guide and direct and control my life. I will continue to thank You all the days of my life and I will put Your wonderful Word into my mind knowing that by it You will bring about a renewal in me, by it You will conform me into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. I will praise Your name and give thanks to the One who called me out of darkness into His marvellous light, the One who heard my cries and answered with His salvation. I will praise and thank Him for all His answers to all my cries - thank Him that not one goes unanswered, that through it all He hears and He cares and He acts. I will praise the One who gives me strength and courage, who enables me to go forward, trusting in Him. The One who made me bold with strength in my soul. I will yet praise You for You are worthy of all that I am and all that I have and more. 

One day the whole world will see Your glory and will bow before You. One day You will be exalted and the whole earth will proclaim Your glory. One day You will come as as King of kings and Lord of lords and I will come with You. Until then though I walk in the midst of trouble You will revive me - though trials and tragedy come my way I will trust in You and know Your peace. Your right hand has saved me and yet will deliver me from the final enemy that seeks to fill me with fear. I will not be afraid, even of death for I know that You have overcome - You are the mighty conqueror and You will accomplish all that concerns me. 

Your lovingkindness is everlasting and You will finish what You started; Your lovingkindness is everlasting because the Lord Jesus Christ is everlasting - Your promises are all yea and amen in Him. As long as He lives, Your Word will stand and He is the Word, the eternal God, seated at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. He is the God Man, the Word who became flesh, the One who lived and died and rose again - the One who defeated Satan and sin and death and offers me glory and everlasting, abundant Life. 

Have you believed in the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you cried out to Him and received His lovingkindness - His grace and His mercy and His forgiveness? Then this is your Lord, this is your God - this is the One who will never let you go, the One who will finish what He started in you, the One who will accomplish what concerns you. Give Him thanks for His lovingkindness is everlasting. 

Psalm 130

I trust in the Word of God - I wait for it, I hope in it. My hope is not wishful thinking because it is anchored in the character of God. He who promises is faithful - He is righteous and good - He will never disappoint and He is not a man that He should lie. I can be sure of Him and sure of His promises to me and because I am sure I go out with singing, go out to each new day with confidence, unafraid to face each situation and circumstance. What can man do to me if my God is for me? Of what will I be afraid when the great Creator God has promised eternity to me? Why would I bother about the things of this world if my inheritance is glorious, if it is reserved in heaven for me, imperishable and undelfiled? 

Out of the depths I have called to Him and He has answered my cry. He has redeemed me, forgiven me, purified and restored me. I am already glorious in His eyes and am being made more glorious as each day passes - as I choose to renew my mind with His word. No longer do I worry about my sins, trusting in His forgiveness and in His marvellous salvation. No longer am I afraid to try in case I might fail, no longer afraid of mistakes knowing that my loving Father is encouraging me, causing me to continue to trust in His grace which is always sufficient for me. My mind and my soul are filled with awe at the mercy of this holy God - filled with a desire to live for His glory - to decrease that He might increase - to live to proclaim His excellencies. 

And so I wait and I hope and I trust - I cry out to Him, come quickly Lord Jesus - put an end to the horror and the abuse, to the corruption and perversion that knows no bounds. Come quickly Lord Jesus - take Your stand upon the earth - be exalted as King of kings and Lord of lords and oh Lord until You come, help me to walk worthy of the calling with which I have been called even as I trust that You who began this good work in me will see it through to completion on the day of Christ Jesus.

2 Samuel 23:11-12

I'm just reaching the end of 2 Samuel and have been struck again and again at the life of David - trying to understand the times that he moved in and why he did what he did. I'm conscious that the line in Judges sums up the world David inhabits - 'every man did what was right in his own eyes'. Even though David is the King - even though he is a man after God's own heart - still wickedness and evil abound - still people live for themselves. 

I have been thinking along those lines for a while now - seeing in David's day the picture of our today. The King has taken His place - He is seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high - He has defeated death and Satan, defeated every foe, every dominion, every authority - He rules and reigns and one day He will actually stand on this planet and impose His righteousness but until then we inhabit a world where every person does what is right in their own eyes - a world of trial and trouble, of pain and sorrow - a world of wickedness and horror, a world where man's inhumanity to man knows no end. 

What then shall we do, those of us who know and love our King, how then shall we live for His glory - how will we show that Jesus Christ is Lord and Saviour, that He is God Most High? How will we make a difference in this world, how will we hold fast until He comes? 

This line caught my eye this morning and it reminded me of something I heard a few years ago. In the middle of a list of David's mighty men here is a description of one of them and what he did when faced with an enemy that seemed so strong, when all the people around him were running away.. ' but he took his stand in the midst of the plot and defended it......and the Lord brought about a great victory.

This is what each of us must do - we must take our stand in the midst of the plot - we must take our stand in our home and our neighbourhood, in our town and in our community. We must stand for the Lord, stand up and be counted. We must make it known that we belong to the King of kings - that He is mighty and victorious and that He really does deliver us. We must make it known that He offers forgiveness and cleansing, that He loves with an overwhelming love and that He strengthens those who come to Him. We must be clear and sure of what we know - able to articulate it and to give an answer to those who question us. We must stand firm and actually live what we say we believe. We must love with His love, show mercy as He showed mercy and above all we must be full of grace and truth just as He was. 

Make no mistake there is a war that rages around us and we must take our stand on the plot on which we have been placed. We must understand that our enemy is mighty and he wil come in like a flood but that we serve a victorious King, One who has gone before us, who will stand beside us and who guarantees that we will know success as we stand for Him. 

We must fight with the sword of His Spirit, the word of God. We must make that Word the very fibre of our being as we literally put on the new man He has created for us and lay aside the old man that is constantly being corrupted and conformed to this world. 

Shammah the son of Agee a Hararite - a man who made his choice to stand in the midst of his plot and fight - a man through whom the Lord brought about a great victory. Will you be that man?. 

Colossians 1:9-12

Working together for the cause of the gospel is not always easy. Even though each one understands the truth and wants to go out and follow the Lord's commission to make disciples, still sometimes when we do it together the enemy finds a way to undermine the work. 

Paul writes here to a church that he has heard about - a faithful church,a loving church, a church that is bearing fruit not only in conversions but also in the lives of each believer - the fruit of the Spirit that is becoming more evident as they grow in their understanding of the grace of God in truth and he tells them that because he has heard a good report of them he has not stopped praying for them. Why? How come he feels the need to pray? 

We find the answer in his prayer - he prays that they will grow in their experiential knowledge of God's will so that they will live worthy of the Lord. He prays that as they do they will please God in every respect, they will bear fruit in every good work and that will increase their knowledge of God. But that is not the end - he goes on because he wants them to attain to more - he prays for their strengthening by the Lord's power so that they will attain steadfastness and patience. We might have expected something else - something that sounds more exciting, more appealing but no, he prays that they will grow to such an extent that they will be cheerfully patient with each other and long suffering in every circumstance. 

How amazing that is - this is the end result - this is what he asks the Lord for on their behalf - why? Because he knows that ministry is difficult - that human beings have issues and baggage and that the enemy uses it all to slow down or even stop the work of the gospel, the work of discipleship. 

Working together for the cause of the gospel always presents trials BUT Paul is confident that God will answer his prayer and will work in each one, chipping away at the edges, molding and shaping them into a fitting temple for the Lord, into a body of believers who will so shine in their community that they will be recognised for their joy and perseverance, their patience and steadfastness - no matter the difficulties they face in their fellowship with one another.

This should be our prayer for one another - that wherever the Lord has placed us, in whatever fellowship or church or ministry - that He would have His way, that we would so grow in our knowledge of His will that we are enabled to not only bear with one another but to do it with joy so that everyone can see that these are people who really love one another, who choose to submit themselves to one another, who decide that they will consider others as more important than themselves and that there is nothing, absolutely nothing that they will allow to interfere with the work of the Lord through them

John 7:43

Jesus presence always causes division. Here those in the crowd are taking sides, some knowing He is the Christ, the Messiah, others not sure and some wanting to seize Him and all through the gospels we see the same thing - Jesus separates and He divides. I was thinking about this earlier this morning and particularly about the divide that He causes in marriages, in families, amongst friends and even in individual hearts. My family is divided - some have believed in the Lord Jesus, chosen to receive eternal life, trusted that He is the way the truth and the life and that no one comes to the Father except through Him. Some know that He is God - that He has made it possible for those who receive Him to become children of the living God - they have been born again, new creations, covered in the righteousness of the One who knew no sin but became sin on their behalf that they might become the righteousness of God in Him. 

And that's me of course - I have put my trust in Christ - given Him my life and asked Him to use me in whatever way He sees fit for His glory and for His kingdom. But still He divides - He causes division in my heart because each day I must choose where and when and what I will do with the time He has given me. What shall I listen to or look at - how will I respond in each situation and will I choose this morning to let Him sort my priorities, let Him lead and direct my path, let Him be God and me not. 

Separation and division - the laying aside of the old self and the putting on of the new. The moment by moment remembering that I am not my own, I have been bought with a price so high it often defies imagination - the moment by moment remembering that God so loved the world - that He so loved me - that He gave His only Son to set me free. 

Separation and division - the battle of the Spirit against the flesh, in all its forms, subtle and not so subtle. The standing against the anxiety and fear -choosing to believe that the battle is the Lord's and that He has promised that I will overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved me; choosing to believe that He will cause all things to work together for my good because I love Him and have been called according to His purpose. Separation and division as I stand against the enemy of my soul who whispers in my ear that I am not enough, that I will never be what I am supposed to be, never pray enough, never know Him or love Him well enough - that really I am simply not what I should be and not what He wants. 

The presence of Jesus always causes division and separation and how wonderful that is - how amazing that He would show Himself to me in all those tiny things - that even as I choose to put my trust in His Word, that same Word is right this moment piercing as far as soul and spirit and is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of my heart, able to speak into my heart and tell me - do not be afraid, I am here and I will never ever leave. 

I have been separated by God for Jesus - He came and I heard His voice and He has caused a division - between me and darkness, between me and Satan, between me and sin and oh how grateful I am, how full of thanksgiving for His amazing grace. 

1 Samuel 3: 1

....and word from the Lord was rare in those days and visions were infrequent. It's easy to see why if you flip back a few pages and read the last sentence in the book of Judges: In those days there was no King in Israel; everyone did what was right in their own eyes. 

Israel knew God, He had revealed Himself to them in signs and wonders and in His Law. They knew His greatness yet they would not bow to Him as their King preferring instead to do their own thing. This is the human condition - this the truth of the human heart, that even though men know that God exists, though they know the truth still they want to be in control, still they want to go their own way - still, in the words of our time they continue to 'do it my way'. 

Now fast forward to 2016 and make the comparison to what is called 'the church'. What do you see? You see a vast organisation full of people who refuse to bow the knee to the Lord as their King. Why? Because every man does what is right in his own eyes......and wants to do it 'my way'. We see an ineffective witness, a light that has been covered, a Jesus who has been brought down to the level of man, a Word from the Lord that is rarely heard because those who are supposed to speak it are instead embracing the futile speculations and philosophies of man. You see a group of people intent on meeting their own needs or at best the needs of their neighbours at the expense of loving God with all their heart, soul, strength and mind - you see an organisation that has the name 'church' but not the heart for God, an organisation but not a living body. 

And then, just as I began to feel discouraged, I remembered - the Lord God set His plan in motion before this world began; His purposes will never fail, He will accomplish it all in His own perfect time and He knows those who are His. He has promised that those who seek Him will always find Him, that He will complete what He starts, that nothing, absolutely nothing can separate us from His love that is found in Christ Jesus. I remembered that those who believe in the Lord Jesus, those who have been born of His Spirit, those to whom He has given a new heart and a new name will never perish, that He will honour those who honour Him, that they need never be anxious or afraid but instead can cast all their cares on Him because He cares for them. I remembered that He is protecting them through faith ready for a glorious salvation that will be revealed in the last time - when the King of Kings and Lord of Lords will return to rule and reign and all His holy ones with Him. Oh what joy - what absolute amazing joy - that believers, that you and I are a part of the living body of Christ - that we will be with Him for eternity - that one day there will be no more pain or sorrow or tears and that until then we can be salt and light on this planet, we can represent Him, we can lift up His name and live for His glory and as we do angels rejoice and He is rejoicing over us with shouts of joy! 

1 Samuel 3:1 NASB

[1] Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the LORD before Eli. And word from the LORD was rare in those days, visions were infrequent.

Luke 22:42-44; Philippians 2:5-8; Romans 5:15-19

And here it is in all it's wonderful glory - Jesus, our representative, the second Adam, submitting His will to that of God the Father. Here it is, the pain and the horror and the knowing what will come - the prayer and the plea - Father if You are willing, take this cup from Me, yet not My will but Yours be done. Here is Jesus, knowing the cost of of submission and obedience yet not considering equality with God a thing to be grasped, but humbling Himself, even to death on a cross. Here is the way back - here is righteousness offered, here is grace, costly, painful, amazing grace freely offered to you and to me. 

Can you see the plan and the purpose of God - can you see His powerful grace? Can you see that even at the moment Adam and Eve disobeyed because they wanted to be like God, even then He had prepared the Saviour, even then He had provided the way back to Him through the obedience of the second Adam, the perfect Man, the wonderful, magnificent, glorious Lord Jesus Christ. 

And can you see the result - that those who put their trust in Him, those who believe in the person and the work of this Man, this God-Man - Jesus Christ will now and forever be considered righteous in Him, will now and forever reign with Him in a glorious Life that will never end. Do not be deceived, if you have put your trust in Him then you have both received the righteousness of Christ Jesus and will be made righteous in Him. 

Do not be deceived, will the God who has planned this from the beginning, the God who knew even as Adam sinned that He would bring you into His family - will He now not freely give you all things? If by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in Life through the One, Jesus Christ. Do not be deceived, do you think that the God who planned all of this doesn't know who you are and what you have done? Do you think that He who did not spare His own Son would now go back on His promise to you? 

Have you received the Lord Jesus Christ? Is He your Saviour? Do these words fill you with joy and a desire to press on to know Him better and love Him more? Then do not be deceived - do not be afraid, set your eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith; set your eyes on Him, drink in His Word, feast on the Bread of Life - make Him your prize and your goal and your heart's desire and He will transform you into the image of our wonderful Lord. Oh do not allow any other voice to whisper in your ear - set your heart and your mind and your eyes on Jesus - make Him your Treasure and hear Him speak to your soul - well done, well done My beloved.

Judges 6:14-16; Luke 22:31-34

22nd April 2016 …

Go in this your strength....I will be with you. Isn't that God's word to us all? Hasn't He promised that those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, those who put their trust in Him, will receive the Holy Spirit, will have God dwelling within them? Gideon is afraid and so aware of his own inadequacy, his own weakness; he knows that he is unable to do what God is calling him to do and so he tells the Lord as much - 'what me, no there must be some mistake, not me'. 

Fast forward to Peter, strong,courageous Peter making promises that he won't keep - really believing that he will never run, never turn away from Jesus, that he is eminently capable of leading the disciples, really the one that Jesus would naturally choose to be His second in command. 

Can you see yourself in either of these two men? Aren't we all here or somewhere in between? Don't we all start by looking at ourselves, no matter how deceived we might be about who we are and what we can or cannot do? And isn't God's answer the same to us all - don't look at yourself, look to Me - 'I am your strength - I will be with you'. Whatever you think of yourself, whatever you may or may not be able to do - the work I have called you to is impossible except for Me. 

I love the way that the Lord speaks to Peter, I love that He knows exactly what will happen and that He has already forgiven Peter, already poured out His grace, already provided all that Peter will need beyond his fear, beyond his betrayal. I love that Jesus understands, that He sees and that He cares. I love that He will be Peter's strength, He will be his Rock, He will be all that Peter will need, all that he will ever desire; I love that He will be with him always, even to the end of the age. 

Jesus tells Peter here - when you have turned, strengthen your brothers. Do you see it? Only after Peter has hit bottom, only after he has seen the reality of his human inadequacy, only after he has failed will he be able to strengthen his brothers. Why? Because they will need the Lord's strength, not Peter's, they will need to see the reality of his failure and the glory of Christ. 

That's what the Lord is showing all of us, be real with each other, be honest - do not be afraid to speak of your failure but make sure you proclaim His grace. Don't tell me how well you are doing all of the time, don't give me the record of your achievements - tell me what Christ has done in your life, speak to me of His greatness, His grace, His mercy and His love. Tell me how you reached your end and then you felt His hand lift you up. Speak to me of your need for your Saviour and how He has never ever let you down. That is what will strengthen me, that is what will build my faith, that is how the Lord will minister to me through you. 

2 Cor. 12:9 'And He has said to me, My grace is perfected in weakness. Most gladly therefore I would rather boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may dwell in me'. 

Psalm 86

15th April 2016 ….

I have often wondered whether my prayers are too much about me - not that I am asking for things or for immunity against all the worlds sickness and evil but that I am so often asking the Lord to draw me closer, to give me wisdom and insight and knowledge so that I might correctly proclaim His excellence, so that when I speak or teach I do not lead anyone down the path of error - so that I always and only speak what He would have me say. 

Today my prayers ran along those same lines - O Lord, help me to be the wife, the mother, the sister the friend that I need to be so that those I love come to see You in me, come to know the truth that You are the great and holy God and that You care about each one of them. But as so often happens lately I finished feeling that perhaps I should focus out more - focus on the 'big' and 'important' things - the things that would make this world a better place. And then I read Psalm 86 and it was as if the Lord came so close and said 'well done My child, well done, you are speaking with me in exactly the way I want you to - you are listening to My Spirit and being led by Him and I promise to answer your prayers'. 

Look at how David opens, 'incline Your ear to me O Lord, and answer me for I am afflicted and needy'. It was for himself that David prayed - he wanted God to listen and to answer but he wanted it as a sign to those around him, a sign that would show them that God is mighty and does wondrous things - that He is so mighty that He can even change someone like me. He asks the Lord to teach him and show him how to walk in truth; he asks for God to unite his heart because he knows his own fickleness and his tendency to distraction. He thanks the Lord and knows that God will answer because he knows that he is loved by the One who is Love and that he is now and forever delivered out of darkness into the marvellous light of God's kingdom. 

And all I could do was say thank You. Thank You for answering my prayer and my doubt, thank You for showing me that I can come to You with anything and everything because You love me and want to hear any and all my prayers. Thank You that You are leading me to pray for closeness and I can know that You will always answer that prayer. 

Praise You Lord for You alone are God and worthy of all that I have and all that I am - and thank You Father for teaching me Your way and uniting my heart to fear Your name. I love You Lord.

Prayer

9th April 2016:

I've been coughing almost constantly for three weeks, the doctor prescribed antibiotics but they didn't make a scrap of difference and I have grown very tired by lack of sleep and the chest infection that started everything off. It seems that this is happening to me every year to varying degrees and I suppose that I know what to do when it hits - rest, rest and more rest! I thought I might spend the time profitably by studying, writing for various upcoming events or at the very least praying - something that somehow always gets left til last - almost an add on as it were - a kind of after thought or a bullet that I fire up to the Lord when I need something. 

That indeed is what He has been talking to me about these last few weeks - I must admit I have been slow to listen, or maybe just too tired and there have been tears when I realised how little I actually sit and talk to my Lord, how often I rush through with my list of requests. It has been a battle to make sure that my physical weariness hasn't translated into guilt and shame and spiritual condemnation but through it all I know that my Father has been calling me to Himself - calling me to understand that my relationship with Him can be directly measured by my prayer life. 

So I'm sitting here this morning and I have been praying - for all those people I know that do not know Jesus, for those who do but are going through tremendous trials at the moment - for the persecuted church around the world - for the horror and the terror and the wickedness to just stop and for the Lord to return quickly. But maybe even more than that I have been praying that the Lord will lead me and give me the words that He wants me to pray - that He would guide me into His presence and that I would be actually listening to His Spirit and talking to my Father about the things that He wants me to bring before Him. What a task that is - what a gift and how long it takes. I can't just rush in and out again and off I go into my day - I must sit and wait and listen and read His Word and then ask Him to show me what it is that I should bring before Him today. 

And I find myself asking Him to not let me waste my life - that I would be always aware of the reason that I am still here on this planet - that I would not allow myself to be caught up in the things of this world - even the good things - but that everything I think and do and say would be for His kingdom and His glory. And then I realised that He has given that to me to pray because He actually wants to do that for me - He wants me to know the great joy of not wasting time, the peace that comes from knowing that I am in the centre of His will and the overwhelming torrents of His great love which He pours out in and through me. 

So today though I am still not completely better - all is well with my soul. Today though I am still coughing and still tired I know that He is here and that I am with Him. Today, though there will probably be tears - there will be much joy as I spend this day with my Father. 

Easter

I have been thinking about Easter…

How it is not really 'good' Friday until Sunday - how we won't really, truly know until we see Him face to face on our resurrection day. Meanwhile we wait and we hope - we live in the in between - we have His promises that we have been born again, that heaven is waiting - that it is glorious, that He is there now preparing a place for us. 

We are given tasters of joy and peace by His Spirit who lives within us but the tasters are found amidst a life that is often difficult and hard, relentless and tiring. We are asked to trust His Word that He will rise on the third day and that we will rise with Him and we are encouraged to put our trust in that - to believe that He is now - in the time between Friday and Sunday - causing all things to work together for our good, that He is for us and that in the end we really will rise with Him and live for eternity in a place without pain and sorrow and tears.

But it is all unseen, it is a confident hope, but hope nonetheless. That is what makes it faith - that is what makes it so difficult for those who need to see and touch and taste and feel.

It is still Saturday and the voices along our path cry out on the darkest days 'really, are you sure - wouldn't it be easier simply to stop and give in? The voices cause us to ask 'why me' and to question His love and His compassion. But we look back and have decided to put our trust in the One who died in our place on Good Friday - we believe that He is God, that He paid our price, that He made it possible for us to walk through Saturday into a glorious Sunday. We have decided to trust and to wait and to hope in the Lord and as we do we hear His soft small voice call out 'well done beloved child, well done - I am rejoicing over you with singing'.

It will always be Saturday whilst we live on this planet - Saturday with its trouble and trial, it's pain and its doubt but Sunday is just around the corner - hang in sweet and precious child of God He is waiting to greet you with open arms.

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