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.