Beware of the dog!

When I was out walking the other with my beautiful wife - we came across a sign on the fence of a house that said "Beware of the dog" - well they weren't wrong!

Not just one dog but two - cooped up in the small handkerchief sized front yard - both vicious and snarling and both pretty worked up because we had dared walk past their territory.

We both talked about how terrible it would be to be attacked by wild dogs and how fortunate we have been so far to avoid it - those dogs were indeed ferocious!

It made us wonder why in the world would anyone want to keep such wild animals as pets!

Somehow I just couldn't get my mind off those terrible dogs - they were just so savage - yet those people inside obviously loved them - they could see something in them that we were at a loss to explain!

Seeing those dogs and the absolute hate in their eyes for us as strolled/ran past made me think of hate in the world generally!

The world out there is full of hate unfortunately - and if you are a Christian then a lot of the time that hatred is aimed for and squarely at you.

The world hates Christ - and if you are fully committed to Jesus then it stands to reason that the world will hate you also.

James  in his letter spells it out pretty plainly that we can't be friends with the world an friend with God at the same time - God won't have it and the world will hate us.

James 4: 4 says "Do you know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God."

I wrote a further blog about this very subject in November of this year entitled:- "You can't be in two camps or play for two teams."

Charles Haddon Spurgeon wrote lines along a similar vein when he said quote:- "If you follow Christ, you shall have all the dogs in the world yelping at your heels."

That just about sums it up for me - maybe in not so graphic terms as Spurgeon puts it - but the thought is there - that we make ourselves a walking target when we stand up for and confess that Jesus is our Lord and we are committed to Him.

More than that though - Satan the arch enemy of our Father is out to get us also.

1 John 5:19 says "We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one"

WOW! the whole world! - pretty awesome when you think of it.

Then in 2 Tim 3:1 "But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty"

So again that is pretty plain- God has already told us that we will be hated by all men for His name sake - Satan is prowling around tempting us at every turn - throwing our past sins up at us - telling us we are not worthy to come to Christ - even making us believe that we have no need of forgiveness.

Anything to keep our eyes off God and onto ourselves - that is his aim - to make us backtrack - to turn away from God and to give our allegiance to him and the world.

Paul had the same worries about this very thing. He says this to the Corinthians "But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ." (2 Cor. 11:3).

So what do we do?  If we fully love God and make that love known to others by our actions then the world will resent our commitment for the very reason that it will show them their own sins and iniquities (if I can use that word)

In other words we will become living testimonies to the power of the Holy Spirit to change lives and the world will not like that - they won't want to hear that their lives can be changed.

We will need the bravery and steadfastness of a lion to face the world at large - we need each other for support and assistance - we need our fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord to give us the courage to fight against all the evil powers that Satan will throw at us.

We will need to be brave when we make a definite stand against Satan. We may see our very best friends become our fiercest enemies.

But for Jesus' amazing love we will be, with the awesome help of the Holy Spirit, courageous, brave and true when facing off with our enemy.

As I have mentioned before, we are only passing through here - this world is not our home - Jesus traveled this road long before us - He has won the battle - we need to uphold His standard in the fight and we desperately need to follow in His footsteps.

It is far far better to fight this brief warfare here and share in our (undeserved) reward won by Jesus Himself than to give in to the world and all the dastardly consequences that that will bring for eternity.

Fight the good fight - Jesus has won the battle - we need to hold His standard high and put on the whole armour of our Lord and Saviour.

When you wish upon a star

Disney's all time No 1 Favourite song ever is - "When You Wish Upon a Star" - WOW - magical lyrics and that tune!!!  Man it's no wonder everyone loves it.

So here we go:-

"When you wish upon a star
Makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you

If your heart is in your dream
No request is too extreme
When you wish upon a star
As dreamers do....."

Lovely!!

You know - we all wish!! - we wish for this we wish for that  - and I guess there is absolutely nothing wrong in wishing!

Poor old Geppetto  the puppeteer longed so much for a little boy of his own - so he made Pinocchio. Then he wished Pinocchio would come to life - just like a 'real' boy - so he "Wished upon a star."

The rest is history - the "Blue Fairy" the "Song" the little wooden boy coming to life. How marvellous!

But it was brought home to me just recently that sometimes wishing can be dangerous.

Some people seemingly live their lives in a fantasy world - wishing and dreaming and hoping (just like another song I've heard)- happy to float along - never really committing to anything - always dreaming of a 'better' life with more money or better looks or a bigger car or winning lotto etc etc.

Wishing can lead to regrets as well - "I wish I hadn't done that" or "I wish I had said this."

Like Geppetto we look dreamily out of windows and wish upon stars in our lives not really understanding life and missing out on the biggest opportunity of all time.

There is no room for wishing, regrets and guilty consciences after we have come to Jesus  - How amazing is that?

Jesus promises us a guilt-free life, full of His awesome promises, and it's all free - price paid by Him.

But instead of accepting His awesome gift, we prefer something more ostentatious, more flimsy, more flamboyant - we prefer to put our faith and hope in temporal things - things that won't last but will give us a buzz anyway.

A new home, a new car, clothes, jewellery, furniture - all give us temporary happiness and we think - Yes! now I will be happy - My stars have come in for me.

When we do have problems or trials we prefer to consult our friends, employees, financial advisers and yes, even the stars. Anything that will make us comfortable and feeling good - even temporarily!

As long as our positive self-image is well fed and our self confidence and self assurance is at an all time high, for outward appearances anyway, we can manage.

And so we dream/stumble/claw/fantasise our way through life - making do with second best - jumping from one "high" to another - trying not to think too hard about the real issues in life.

Jesus came to do away with all that - this world is only a stop on our way to Heaven.

Peter, that disciple who denied Jesus said in his first epistle 2: 11-12 "Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which wars against your soul"

Then Paul writes in Philippians 3:20 "But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ."

So how about our life here on earth? Well.... God made it for us to enjoy and we definitely live here - there is no denying that!

But it was through our sinful lives that has spoilt God's amazing creation. That is why Jesus had to come to earth, and die to atone, compensate or make amends, if you like, for our rebellion against God.

When we repent, turn away from, be truly sorry for our sins and accept His forgiveness as being the only way to a complete and full acceptance of Jesus being our Lord and Saviour, then we become new People.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5: 17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"

After we have accepted this awesome gift, then we become citizens of Heaven and our new home is there rather than here on earth.

So let's get our mind off earthly things which will give us 'temporary' happiness at best. We can only find true happiness in God - we don't have to go wishing on a star - we don't have to depend on anything this world offers - we can have treasures abounding and unlimited in Heaven.

Changing in a changing world - round and round we go

Faithfulness - an amazing word!

How many times have we been faithful to someone, a project or a pledge?

How many times have we been unfaithful at the same things?

This got me thinking this week as I struggled in my faithfulness to God! - Many times we come back to Him again and again, pledging to be faithful - pledging our allegiance our undying love yet...

It only takes us a second or two to let our eyes wander from our Lord and next thing we know we are trusting on self or others to accomplish what we desire and/or to give us a hand over some trial or tribulation.

It only takes us a second for us to change -  we change our minds - we change our direction in life - we change our jobs - our Churches - and so the list goes on.

People all over the world suffer significant losses in their life and sometimes the world seems to be spinning out of control - so we change.

Sometimes we change our beliefs - things don't go our way - we find it hard to believe that if there is a God why didn't this happen the way I wanted etc. - we are always on the change!

Your know - Our Lord is always faithful - He is changeless - he never turns away from the path of truth and justice - His love and mercy never fail us no matter what we do, think or say.

Even though we don't ever really understand everything that happens in the world or in our immediate circumstances - God is still LOVE- His great love reaches us no matter where we are or what we have done.

Romans 8 tells us this amazing truth:-

"Who then shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness or danger, or sword?"

Now that's a RIPPER of a verse - how plain is that - NOTHING can separate us from His Love - because???

GOD IS CHANGELESS!

His mercies and faithfulness are eternal along with His love which makes our Heavenly father so so special - His forgiveness to our seemingly never-ending sins sometimes overwhelms me.

As God is now - that is how He was in the beginning and as He is now is how He will be for eternity.

Generation after generation - constantly the same - yesterday, today and forever.

Where we fail Him constantly - he never fails us - He loves us so much He made a plan to bring us to Him so that our sins would be forgiven - that plan 2000 years ago sent Jesus to Calvary to die as our punishment - so Jesus took our punishment so that we can live forever with Him.

When I dare think of what Jesus went through for me - when I think of those nails in His hands - it makes me weep - My sin virtually held Him there - My sins hammered in those nails - My voice can be heard among that crowd  to "crucify Him."

And yet, I can so easily turn away - turn away from the one who saved me - turn away, knowing what He did for me that day - I can be so sinful and yet...

He calls me back - which is so awesome.

Stuart Townend wrote a ripper of a song called "How Deep the Fathers Love for us" - It expresses my own question so well - How come I got to gain from Jesus' horrendous death? - to be honest I don't know but Praise God I do get to share Jesus' reward! - How awesome is that!

The song in part says this:-

"Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom"

Sin died that day along with Jesus - Satan was defeated - death is dead - the clincher of course was Jesus' resurrection - when He rose again, He vanquished death, never to reign again.

Oh yes! I know - we still sin! - Of course we do - whether unwittingly or deliberately, we sin! - The thing is that we know when we do - Jesus' Holy Spirit is there prompting us and bringing us back to true repentance.

We need to claim the forgiveness that Jesus is offering and also be prepared to give everything to God.

Way back in the late 19th and early 20th century there was a young man called Judson W. VanDeVenter. He had given his life to Christ when he was 17 years old and he was a pretty solid musician and became quite famous.

Life for him was looking on the up and up but inside he knew things weren't quite right - He knew he hadn't handed everything over to God - his music came first.

That knowledge hit him one night when he was conducting a choir - That night he surrendered his life entirely to God and wrote the hymn "I Surrender All" - the words say it all - "All to Jesus I surrender - All to Him I freely give."

He went on to become an amazing full time evangelist and continued to hand over all of his desires to God.

God is ever Faithful - his mercies are new every morning - His love is eternal - His compassion's never fail.

He has promised that He will never leave us - (Hebrews 13.)

God is eternally, just, wise, gracious, faithful and tender.

So don't go banging your head up against a brick wall - repent of your sins - surrender all to Jesus - Yes! Satan will still come knocking sometimes with a gentle little whisper showing you all his bag of sweet temptations then sometimes he comes with a battering ram slamming into your door, regardless....

Keep your eyes on the goal, don't dwell on the past, keep looking to Jesus - and He in His grace and glory will take care of all the rest!

Unhappy Campers!! Not happy Jan!

Life is just not fair - why do the 'nice' people nearly always finish last?

Life can be a lot like that - the wicked prosper while the 'nice' people always seem to be dragging around the bottom of the list when it comes to being blessed. Or so it seems.

Jeremiah complained to God about the same things in his book chapter 12: 1-4. It is good old Jerry's plain talk to God in his prayer time.

He starts off with praise to God - admitting that God is righteous and always is so when he brings a case to Him.

God is righteous! - He is fair and just - His ways are not always our ways.  But we have to have reliance in Him and on Him if we are to trust him in the way that he commands us to.

Poor old Jeremiah starts complaining to God about the injustices of the world - -He asks the same old question that we have asked ourselves - if not to God directly - "Why do the wicked prosper?"

I guess if we are brutally honest we have all asked a similar question.

The unscrupulous always seem to prosper in the world - the drug lords, the crime bosses - the fraudsters - the corrupt politicians - the liars - the violent offenders, the welfare and compensation cheats and so the list goes on. They always seems to be able to hold the 'get-out-of-jail-free' card. They seemingly go from strength to strength.

It just doesn't seem to be fair!  Whereas the so called 'nice' people of the world pay their taxes and try to always do the right thing and what happens? They get slandered, unfairly accused, evicted from their homes, suffer illnesses, lose their jobs, have marriage break ups etc - It's just NOT FAIR!

Even Godly people seem to be downtrodden - unable to speak their minds.  If they dare try to - they are  shouted down as being bigoted, unreasonable, homophobic, racist, sexist and other horrible, untrue and hurtful names - anything to silence them in the world.

Why is it so?

Well, looking through the Bible heaps of others felt the same - way way back though the Old testament. Habakkuk was one along with Jeremiah and Daniel.  The Psalms are full of  "Why Lords?" There just doesn't seem to be answer.

I guess we can't really give an honest answer - Although God assures us, through the life of Jesus, that He does care and He keeps reminding us so.

Jesus told Pilate at his "trial" that it was no good looking for His kingdom here on earth - if they did think that and if his kingdom was here - then His servants would have fought for Him and he would not have been given over to the hostile Jews and he would not be standing before Pilate.

No! He said His Kingdom is from another place - and we know where that Kingdom is - Heaven.

So Jesus Himself didn't think of His home here on earth at all and he implores us that we should do the same.

Jesus didn't care about what other people had - He didn't hanker for their riches and homes - He said himself that he had nowhere even to lie down - amazing!

Satan is always on the lookout for others to join his band of merry men - he strolls around the earth looking to see who he can recruit.

He has his bag of temptations with him - and loves to show us how badly off we are and how good our neighbours are faring!

So it is for Satan's own benefit to encourage his followers prosper? - after all they can recruit even more people for him!

Romans chapter one has heaps to say about what will happen to the Godless - and it aint pretty - read it for yourself.

What a dark place to be YUK!

God on the other hand - keeps saying to us that there are better times ahead - and for eternity!

Our home here on earth is only temporary - Jesus himself confirms that - No He didn't want to go to Calvary - the very thought of it chills you to the bone.

Jesus died on the cruelest and evilest creation of mankind - spawned from the depths of hell itself.

Through all of His suffering He knew that His home was with God for eternity - He had an awesome Job to do and he was the only one that was able to do it.

He didn't look back and ask 'why?' - he didn't want what others had - he gladly did what He had to do and kept His eyes firmly fixed on the goal.

Let's not waste time looking and envying, asking questions and getting depressed over foolish and Godless even wicked people so-called "prospering" in this world - they are actually doomed.

We certainly have an obligation to pray for these sad lost folk - that God will give us a heart of mercy and grace - that we will be able to see that God's way even if it is hard here on earth, is actually the only way.

Satan, and I'm afraid many other prosperous people will all suffer the same fate - eternal separation from God -  ETERNAL separation - sounds pretty final to me.

Let's be content with what we have - what we have been blessed with - Look to the Saviour - Keep Him close because if we don't Satan will only be too happy to snuggle up to  us if we let him.

1 Samuel 17:47 says "For the battle is the Lord's".  God, He himself will claim the victory over everything and everyone.

 So let's not get all hot under the collar about what and who is prospering and how 'unfair' it all is.

Our God is ever faithful - He is still on His throne - we don't have to look to the world for our satisfaction.

Our God knows our needs and wants - he understands what we are going through - our trials, our troubles, our illnesses, our griefs - in fact everything.

Our job is to remain faithful to Christ who remains ever faithful to us - He is the one we must keep our eyes on - His home is going to be our home - we are only passing through here - visitors in time.

Let's keep our eyes on the goal and not on our 'prosperous' neighbours.