Read your Bible

 

What does a Christian need to equip them for the fight ahead? Faith is a tool in our armoury that is imperative to drive us forward and it feeds our hope, which in turn brings glory to our God. A win-win all around. So what must we do to add to our faith, ignite our hope, whilst fueling our zeal to get on with what really matters, bringing glory to our heavenly Father? The very first place for us to start is to hear God speak to us, and how do we do that? We read our bibles, I cannot stress enough how important this is. It’s the time and place where you allow God to speak to you without any distraction. Just you and Him as the Spirit of God nourishes, comforts and admonishes, whilst the words from the page comes to life and ministers straight into the core of our hearts. It’s rather beautiful, even if at times, we are softened to tears as we seek forgiveness for our sin and folly, those split second choices that speak of death and not life. But the beauty of reading the Bible has such a profoundly brilliant outcome in shaping our minds, as we grow in the statue of Jesus Christ our King. This is what it’s all about, having our minds transformed as we begin to work out what that good, acceptable, and perfect will of God looks like. In order to achieve this objective we must read our bibles. Bible reading is God speaking to us, whilst praying is us speaking to God. Maybe it’s time to start a challenge, a Bible reading challenge, nominate someone to read a book of the bible and then they pass the challenge onto the next person and so on.

 

Christian we need to hear the voice of our heavenly Father, read your bibles, it will add to your faith and ignite your hope. Of this truth I am 100% persuaded, no ifs and buts. I would encourage all to be like little children and allow the Word to simply wash you. The intent must be one of a child running excitedly into the arms of his father where there is safety. Whatever you need to do, set time aside in the day to read you’re Bibles.

“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”

 

Signing off

 

Tyrone       

Rescue in the Storm

 

“Rolling with the punches”, seems to be a common retort from many when it comes to the trial of life. Unemployment is up, Covit is claiming its prisoners and taking lives. Who hasn’t been effected by Covit? Even as I punch these keys I have a mother and sister bedridden from the virus. But we must not be distracted, we must keep our eye on the ball, which is, the will of our heavenly Father. An RPG-7 can stop a moving tank in its tracks but nothing seen or unseen will ever stop the will of our God. Whatever He has determined will come to pass. This is a very simple conclusion that carries tremendous weight. Toe the line or pay the price. But hear is the good news; “Whoever calls upon the name of Lord will be saved…”

 

Many have witnessed the havoc of a tornado and the damage it leaves in its wake, it takes no prisoners. However just as Noah was saved in the ark, so will we be protected from the coming storm, not to say we will all escape the persecution that will follow, on the contrary, its persecution that will confirm our commitment to our God. Some may even lose their lives, others imprisoned and some will be banished like outcasts. Be that as it may, the ultimate result is what will finally matter, we will be SONS OF GOD spanning into the throws of eternity. To be an ally with my great Saviour and to stand alone side Him is the hope I have and nothing will stop me achieving that result. The Christian belongs to Him and we are all covered by the grace of God. Sure I have squandered so much time, even now I wrestle with my flesh as it looks for any opportunity to rebel, I have got to that stage in my life where I hate that which looks to steer me in the opposite direction to the will of God in my life, will I ever arrive? One foot in front of the other and one day at a time. On reflection I have learnt so many valuable lessons along the way, the grace of God brought me through to the other side and now I stand here just as I will then with these words ringing out for all to hear, “but by the grace of God here I stand”. This is the hope I have, to stand on the other side of death with a body like the Lord Jesus’, eternal and forever thankful for the will of God in my life. For the sacrifice of my great Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ who has paid the price for my sin, let that resonate, the struggle is real and yet I still find forgiveness, praise the name of Jesus now and forever more!!!!! There is no greater news out there, how could there be? Let us remember to preach Christ and Him crucified, it’s the last of the flock of God that He is gathering into his fold, the final push before He come to take us home. We all have our part to play, get the message out, it’s time to now become more vocal than ever before, the Lord Jesus is coming, but so is His judgment. It’s time to make a choice, where will you stand? I’ve made up my mind, as for me, I will serve my God and my King and pay Him the homage He alone deserves, for there is no other that has the power to save you from the wrath of God, which will happen, it has been penned into His script and sealed by HIS WILL.

But here is the fantastic news; whilst the offer still stands; “For whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved”

 

Signing out

 

Tyrone

Everlasting Covenant

 

History has recorded the finished work of the cross, throughout the ages many have suffered death by crucifixion, this is not the work I draw your attention too. The event I apogee is God in the flesh dying on a cruel Roman cross, paying a debt he was guiltless of, then buried in a tomb and on the third day, after that rock had been sealed and guarded by roman soldiers, He rose again from the dead with his glorified body and eventually seen by all the apostles who testified to that truth. They were so persuaded by what they had learnt and seen that all save John were eventually martyred for their faith. For two thousand years the gospel continues to permeate throughout the lands and we now have our part to play. Whilst we have breath we have hope, but more than that, we can impart hope to others. So let us be vigilant until the day  we take our last breath and move from the carnal into the spiritual world of eternity. 

Without a hope people perish, what would be the point of suffering for the sake of righteousness if there was no reward. Believer we have a crown specifically designed for our heads, it will fit no other, whoever endures to the end shall be saved. Let me encourage you with these words…

 

"Yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant." — 2Sa_23:5

““This covenant is divine in its origin.” HE hath made with me an everlasting covenant." Oh that great word HE! Stop, my soul. God, the everlasting Father, has positively made a covenant with thee; yes, that God who spake the world into existence by a word; he, stooping from his majesty, takes hold of thy hand and makes a covenant with thee. Is it not a deed, the stupendous condescension of which might ravish our hearts for ever if we could really understand it? "HE hath made with me a covenant." A king has not made a covenant with me-that were somewhat; but the Prince of the kings of the earth, Shaddai, the Lord All-sufficient, the Jehovah of ages, the everlasting Elohim, "He hath made with me an everlasting covenant." But notice, it is particular in its application. "Yet hath he made with ME an everlasting covenant." Here lies the sweetness of it to each believer. It is nought for me that he made peace for the world; I want to know whether he made peace for me! It is little that he hath made a covenant, I want to know whether he has made a covenant with me. Blessed is the assurance that he hath made a covenant with me! If God the Holy Ghost gives me assurance of this, then his salvation is mine, his heart is mine, he himself is mine-he is my God.

This covenant is everlasting in its duration. An everlasting covenant means a covenant which had no beginning, and which shall never, never end. How sweet amidst all the uncertainties of life, to know that "the foundation of the Lord standeth sure," and to have God's own promise, "My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips." Like dying David, I will sing of this, even though my house be not so with God as my heart desireth.”” (C.H.Spurgeon)

 

Signing off

 

Tyrone

 

Live for God

 

Conflict is part of life, from a very young age we understand the idea behind a clash, a struggle over something as trivial as a sweet. We have all been tarnished with the brush of sin and instinctively our reaction is to retaliate. Even once saved the fight goes, in fact, it intensifies, why? Because our eyes are opened to God’s law and we have had our consciences renewed to remind us of wrongdoing. From here on in, repentance and forgiveness is a way of life for the Christian, if not we may just hear the words given to Cain; “sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is to rule over you, but you must rule over it.”  Do we allow sin to fester and become comatose Christians? We must be on the lookout for all and everything that has been designed to deceive. The Lord Jesus’ very first warning about the time we now live in was this; “And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray.”  (Matthew 24:4) – Understanding sound doctrine is imperative as this is what will be on the deceiver’s radar, to look to punch holes into truth. 

 

We must find grace to get through our challenges and we will face judgment in one form or another. But I would much rather be judge for doing what is right in the eyes of my heavenly Father. We all have the same example to follow and anything short of that is inadequate. When sin knocks, I wonder how many of us actually realise the ultimate reason behind it. An aid in conforming us into the image of Christ. It’s an opportunity to help us find grace to overcome and bring glory to our heavenly Father. If and when we get this truth impregnated into our minds we will start to grow, if not, at the end of our days, we will at best, still be babes in Christ.      

 

Here is Paul’s instruction; “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.” (Romans 6:1-14) 

 

Read that a few times and let the Holy Spirit settle you on these truths, but have the intent of the will of our Father in mind and it changes everything, praise God! Put him first and whatever sin is driving you to feed will be seen through different eyes.

 

Pay attention; “For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.”  It’s all about the will of the Father!

 

Let me end off like this, those who die with Christ to the Glory of God the Father will also live with him, what a hope we have…

 

Signing off

 

Tyrone  

transformation

(Psalms 143:10)  “Teach me to do your will, for you are my God!”

 

How often do we pray “thy will be done?” and yet when it doesn’t seem to line up with what we have imagined, we are perplexed. Or when we strip it down do we really mean, “my will be done”, just so long as I end the prayer with “your will be done”. It’s the understanding of alignment, look at the columns I have penned, perfect alignment, all it took was a click of a button and it snaps into place. Now that how we need to learn to pray, with perfect alignment. My will perfectly aligned with the will of my Father. I know that the Spirit within is perfectly aligned, it’s just my mind that gets in the way. Why? Because it was originally a slave to sin. So what needs to happen? The solution is simple, but not easily applied; “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2) – There is a part of us that does not want to let go of the world, we all have something drawing us in. The part that gets in the way of “thy will be done”. Let’s use the Covid pandemic as an example, we pray “please remove it”, when in fact God has allowed it to happen and its here to stay. Or we pray “heal that person” when in fact they have now reached the end of their allotted time here on earth. Think on the upcoming tribulation that the world will face, it was scripted by God before the foundations of the world, it will happen! So, no matter how much praying we may do to stop those events in their tracks is futile. A good example would be Peter trying to stop the high priests servant Malchus from arresting the Lord, he cut off his ear and it’s the Lord’s rejoinder that we need to value; “So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?”” (John 18:11) – The Christian must follow and find grace to drink the cup that they face. Do you see the difference in approaches? We always jump into our heads and we make rash decisions on what we think is best and therefore we want a certain outcome to happen. YOU’RE WILL, not necessarily God’s will. The man Jesus was the master at this, he was all about the will of His Father. Thank God he is gracious with us all, our minds need to be cranked into gear to understand the importance of this lesson. “Renewing of our minds to coincide with the will of our heavenly Father”. Everything and I mean everything else in our lives is just a means to get us to this end; “thy will be done!"       

 

Life teaches us so many lessons in our secular worlds that we must learn to treasure, and when viewed correctly they will point us heavenward...

 

Teaching a child to hone a skill, we give them a box of coloured crayons and a colouring book, and at fist there is just splurges of different colour randomly celebrating their excitement, but eventually they begin to colour within the lines and at their peak there is no breech. This is a lesson we will value if we begin to differentiate between wills. At first we are all over the place with our prayers and then as we mature we  begin to mimic the Lord’s Prayer in the Garden; “And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”  (Matthew 26:39) 

 

In conclusion, instead of spending so much time trying to change a situation, let us rather learn to apply our minds though the opportunities within the calamity to bring God the Glory. If God has ordained something, only the fool would try to overturn His will. And yet throughout the ages Satan has aligned individuals to do exactly that, to try and thwart the will of God. Now that is an impossible task. My prayer Father is this, “thy will be done” and help me find the grace to endure whilst conforming my mind into accepting with gladness whatever I need to go through so that you may be glorified, Amen and Amen!

 

“To the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.”

 

Signing out

 

Tyrone