Wordless Wednesday #1

A humbling thought ...

Our former pastor preached last Sunday. He said the following,

The desire of Jesus to have his people with him in heaven is infinitely stronger than his people's desire to to be in heaven with him.

What a humbling, yet tremendous thought. I suspect our desire to be with Jesus in heaven ebbs and flows with the current of life.

Where are you looking?

Turn your eyes upon Jesus, 
Look full in his wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of his glory and grace.

The Unkown God.

We have been in the grip of a crisis in the UK and northern Europe. The air space has been closed and thousands of people have been prevented from returning home, or travelling abroad. All becasue a volcano in Iceland has been erupting and creating an ash cloud which is preventing jet planes from flying. This is what men call, "An act of God", even the insurance companies refer to such events as an act of God. The very same people, especially those in the media who like to tell us there is no God. Well this is a display of how great my is God and shows that He is in control - not men. Will mankind take any notice of such events as this? I suspect very few, if any, will. They will still refer to the event as an act of God, and in doing so they acknowledge his power over creation and yet the will not seek to find out who this God is. How sad.

Spring is finally here ...

... and a pair of bluetits are moving into our bird box. We are all quite excited about our new neighbours ...

Journey with my Saviour

Palm Sunday today - Jesus travelled to Jerusalem on a donkey with the crouds shouting "hosanna". Jesus knew what the next week would bring. We don't know what the next hour will bring, but if we are living with the Saviour we have nothing to fear, it is when we go on our own journey away from the Saviour that our real trouble starts.

All the way my Savior leads me,

What have I to ask beside?

Can I doubt His tender mercy,

Who through life has been my Guide?

Heav’nly peace, divinest comfort,

Here by faith in Him to dwell!

For I know, whate’er befall me,

Jesus doeth all things well.

All the way my Savior leads me,

Cheers each winding path I tread,

Gives me grace for every trial,

Feeds me with the living Bread.

Though my weary steps may falter

And my soul athirst may be,

Gushing from the Rock before me,

Lo! A spring of joy I see.

All the way my Savior leads me,

Oh, the fullness of His love!

Perfect rest to me is promised

In my Father’s house above.

When my spirit, clothed immortal,

Wings its flight to realms of day

This my song through endless ages:

Jesus led me all the way.

Things are sprouting in our garden.

Late last year we decided to start a vegatable patch at the bottom of our garden. Finally this week after much preparation: removing slabs and a tonne of sand, constructing a wall around the edge and filling it with compost and topsoil it is ready for planting.

The vegetabe patch

We have lots of ideas for what we would like to gro, so today I took the youngest two to the garden centre and we bought loads of seeds and some brussel sprouts ... a favourite in our family. Let's hope we have a frutiful year.

I planted out the sprouts today ...

12 Brussel Sprout plants.

Do you need a friend?

I was contemplating this evening how many real friends I have, not how many aquaintances I have. There are mums at school who seem to have lots of friends and stand chatting in groups, some of them have very close friendships. I, more often than not, stand on my own. The Bible says, "A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother." Proverbs 18v27.

Later on I read a short peice by JC Ryle:

... If there is one who wants a friend, let that one behold at the right hand of God an unfailing friend, the Lord Jesus Christ. Let that one repose his aching head and weary heart upon the bosom of that unfailing friend, Jesus Christ the Lord. There is one living at God’s right hand of matchless tenderness. There is one who never dies. There is one who never fails, never disappoints, never forsakes, never changes His mind, never breaks off friendship.

That One, the Lord Jesus Christ, I commend to all who need a friend. No one in this fallen world, a world which we find more and more barren every year we live, no one ever need be friendless while the Lord Jesus Christ lives to intercede at the right hand of God.

I'll stick with that friend - the freind of sinners!

O Happy Day ...

Rejoice in the Lord for he is good.

Some days on earth are happier than others. Today is one of those earthly "happy days". It is easy on such days to remember that "all things do work together for good", it is a prayer of mine that I am able to remember this on the not so happy days too.

There is sunshine in my soul today,

More glorious and bright

Than glows in any earthly sky,
For Jesus is my light.

 O there is sunshine, blessed sunshine,
While the peaceful, happy moments roll;
When Jesus shows His smiling face
There's sunshine in my soul.

There is springtime in my soul today,
For when the Lord is near
The dove of peace sings in my heart,
The flowers of grace appear.

There is gladness in my soul today,
And hope, and praise, and love,
For blessings which He gives me now,
For joys laid up above.

Empty send us not away.

It is good to receive answers to our prayers isn't it. I have been praying especially this week to be feed from the Word of God through the preaching today. Well it wasn't a great sermon, it wasn't delivered in an outstanding way, but there were certainly points to take away and reflect on regarding the spiritual growth of the church.

Jesus, we come to meet

With thee, our Lord and King,

To bow before thy feet,

And here thy praises sing:

Compassion on us have, we pray,

And empty send us not away.

May every worldly care

Be banished from our mind;

May we with profit hear;

And peace and comfort find:

Refresh us from thy word, we pray,

And empty send us not away.

Our strength will soon decrease,

Unless our souls be fed,
We feel our health and peace
Depend on living bread.

Thy gracious hand now, Lord, display,

And empty send us not away.

May all true mourners feel

Their grief exchanged for joy;

Thy love to them reveal,

And all their fears destroy:

That when they leave thy house this day,
They may not empty go away.

May all thy children prove

The riches of thy grace;

Each taste redeeming love,

And see thy smiling face:

So shall we all with pleasure say,

  We are not empty sent away.

                                                                                          S. Barnard

Do angels appear on earth in human form today?

The Bible tells us that angels are God's messengers sent from heaven to minsiter to his people.

I listened to a sermon this week which suggested that angels no longer appear in human form, but are spirits that guide us to God's revealled message in the Bible. I don't see why angel's do not appear on earth today in human form, after all they appeared before Christ's birth in human form and after his death in human form.

I am glad that God's angels minsiter to us today. I believe that they watch over us and protect us day by day in serving their heavenly master.

Fear thou not; for I am with thee

Isaiah 41v10
Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

The text of the best sermon I have heard so far this year! A good "motto" for the year.

Standing at the portal
Of the opening year,
Words of comfort meet us,
Hushing every fear;
Spoken through the silence
By our Father’s voice,
Tender, strong and faithful,
Making us rejoice.

Onward then, and fear not,
Children of the day!
For His Word shall never,
Never pass away!

Francis R Havergal

Are you a saviour?

Whilst listening to a series of sermons preached on the book of Obediah I was distracted by the last verse,

"And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the Lord's".

I first thought how can there be saviours in the plural, I only know one Saviour? ... Well look at James 5v19&20,

"Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins."

and 1 Timothy 4 v16,

"Take heed unto thyself, and unto doctrine: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee."

Does this mean that we can be saviours in the sense that our walk and our attention to the doctrines of Christ will be used of God in the salvation of others?
I find this an encouragement to keep on praying for those lost souls who have a place in my heart.