Doing What God Wants.

The Bible is very amazing. This morning as I was reading 1 John 2 I came across....

"We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands." (v.3)

I have read this before, but this time it jumped out of the page at me. That is how God's Holy Spirit works.

However, back to the point for today.

A witness of God in our lives, is our desire to please Him - obeying Him.

TFTD: Is it your goal in life to please God by obeying Him?

Have a great day.

Peter Clark.

Learn From Belshazzar.

In Daniel 5 we see Nebuchadnezzar is replaced by his son, Belshazzar.

Unfortunately, he gets life, and its relationships very basically wrong - as does many of our own day.....does this remind you of any of our politicians and famous people?

Daniel 5:23 "Instead, you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven"

Also verse 23 "But you did not honour God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways"

Forget everyone else for a moment, what about YOU, do you have this right?

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

We Are Not Alone.

Paul the Apostle had a very difficult time in ministry and he attested to the faithfulness of God.

2 Timothy 4:17

"But the LORD stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion's mouth."

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

We Think We Get It Hard....

Christian families in Uzbekistan face problems when they try to visit worship meting in a nearby city. The main road nearest to the village is at a distance of 20km. They walk to the road and try to stop the bus to go to the city, but if they are recognised as Christians, they are not allowed to travel on the bus. Pray for safety in travel when Christians attempt to meet in fellowship.

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

Being A Shepherd.

There was a reminder in my Bible Reading this morning about the nature of Christian ministry.

"Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care.....serving, not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve...."

1 Peter 5:2

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

Praying For The Persecuted.

Pray for Pastor Ilmurad in prison camp in Turkmenistan. His wife Maya can sometimes visit him and supply food and medicine. He was happy to hear that brothers and sisters worldwide are praying for him. He is doing alright and is respected by many people in the prison.

Please continue to pray for him, for health, energy and spiritual strength. Also remember his wife and family.

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

If We Hear God Speaking....

If we hear God speaking to us....what are we to do?

It tells us in Hebrews 3:7

"Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts...."

That is fairly straight forward isn't it?

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

Describing You?

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

1 Peter 2:9-12

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

Praise Of God.

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvationoready to be revealed in the last time.

That is from 1 Peter 1:3-5

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

Swearing!

Have you developed the habit of swearing? It is easy to start and hard to finish.

James, the one who is always full of practical advice tells us....

"Above all, my brothers, do not swear- not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your "Yes" be yes, and your "No" be no, or you will be condemned." (5:12)

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

The Cosmic Battle.

How will we succeed in the cosmic battle against the evil one?

James gives us an idea in Chapter 4:7-10

"Submit yourselves, then to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up."

The key to all this, is submitting ourselves to God. We can only do that by submitting ourselves to Christ, repenting and turning to Him.

Have a good day,

Peter Clark.

So That They Will Know!

In Chapters 36 and 37 of Ezekiel there are at least six times when God says to his wayward people......

"Then they will know that I am the LORD"

He is referring to His own people and to the nations of the world.

God has a heart for all people of the world to come to know Him and be in a relationship with Him.

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

Disparity.

Leaders of Christian congregations will notice the great disparity between the professions of members of their flocks and their actual lives that they are living out.

As a leader, I feel I cannot say too much because I too have been swept along in the materialism of this age. I cannot in all conscious stand up and say like St Paul, "Follow me in the way I live"

In Ezekiel God speaks these words to His people:

"My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to listen to your words, but they do no put them into practice. With their mouths they express devotion, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain. Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice." (Ezekiel 33:31-32)

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

A Call To Ministry.

It is strange as I think about it, and look back on the very long process involved, but this verse is responsible for me going into full time ministry. I came across it again today and it all happened 38 years ago.

Joel 3:13

"Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, trample the grapes, for the winepress is full and the vats overflow - so great is their wickedness!"

It was the call to "come" that confirmed for me God's desire that I enter theological training.

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

Gospel Plus....

I certainly do not go in for "Christ Plus" - in the sense that we need to add anything to Christ for our salvation, like the sacraments, or any good deeds etc.

But we certainly have to add to the "Gospel" as it is preached to us.

Hebrews 4:2

"For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith."

Our trust in Christ needs to be the result of those who hear the gospel preached.

It is not just enough to hear it, we need to respond to it.

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

Advice For All.

Short and simple - from Hebrews 3, verse 1.

"Therefore...... fix your thoughts on Jesus....."

What does that mean for you (and me)?

Reading your Bible....praying.... consulting....meeting with other Christians etc.

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

Following On From Yesterday....

I need to say more....

God in Joel Chapter 2 calls on people....

..... to "return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning. Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love..." (v.12-13)

TFTD: Have you "come back" to God?

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

A Description Of Life Without God.

I came across a description of life without God this morning in Joel Chapter 1.

It speaks of despair - of vines being dried up and fig trees withering.

The overall picture is one of dryness.

And then it says....

" Surely, the joy of mankind is withered up" (v.12)

To me, that is a great description of life without God.

The passage then goes on to call people back to God - to repentance.

TFTD: I hope "withered up" does not describe your spiritual life.

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

What Is Faith?

The is a good definition in Hebrews 11:1

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

Keep On Keeping On.

Thats what we need to do - keep on going.

Don't be tempted to give up your faith.

Hebrews 10:36

"You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised."

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

We Can Live Forever.

In Hebrews 2, verse 9 we can make sense of the death of Jesus.

"....so that by the grace of God he (Jesus) might taste death for everyone"

there is a substitution operating here.....Jesus died eternally in our place so that we don't have to (die eternally).

As it says, "he tasted death for everyone" - for all those who would put their trust in Him.

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

Bible Distribution

From one of my prayer diaries:

"Iran: Pray for Iranian authorities, who recently seized 6,500 Bibles in an attempt to block the spread of the Gospel. Pray that God will work through this circumstance and the confiscation of the Bibles. Give thanks that the bible tells us "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him who have been called according to his purpose"

(Romans 8:28) Pray for Christians in Iran, that God will strengthen their faith in the face of persecution.

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

The Message Hasn't Changed!

John the Baptist said it.

Jesus said it.

Ezekiel hundreds of years before said it....

"Therefore say to the house of Israel, "This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Repent! Turn from your idols and renounce all your detestable practices!"

Ezekiel 14: 6

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

Fantastic!

How great is Jesus?

Hebrews 7:25

"Therefore he is able to save completely those who come toGod through him, because he always lives to intercede for them."

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

Times Never Change.

Ezekiel 12:1-2

"The word of the LORD came to me: Son of man, you are living among a rebellious people. They have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious people."

This could be describing our present society, couldn't it?

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

"A Sure Bet"

That is what people say about a "certainty".

I know a "certainty" when it comes to God....

He always gives us what He promises.

We see that was true for Abraham in Hebrews 6:15,

"And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised"

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

A Bad Place To Be.

4 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.

This is a sobering warning from Hebrews 6:4-6 .

If anyone turns their back on God, who have previously understood the love, grace and faithfulness of God, it is far worse from those who act in ignorance.

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

"Are We There Yet?"

Have you heard that, travelling in the car with children?

In 2 Timothy 4:3 Paul writes to Timothy and makes the statement, "For the time will come..."

For what?

3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound1 teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

What is Timothy to do?

5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

The Universe Expanding!

Jeremiah 51:15

"He made the earth by His power;

He founded the world by his wisdom

and stretched out the heavens by his understanding."

Over the last couple of years, there have been discoveries that the universe is expanding outwards. In fact, one of our scientists received a Nobel Prize for stating as much, and acknowledging that we don't understand why!

Are you ready...I will tell why that is happening!

Do you notice that reading from Jeremiah, the italics are mine. God is "stretching" out the heavens - expanding the heavens.

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

Gossip...How We Love It!

Proverbs 26:20

"Without wood a fire goes out;

without gossip a quarrel dies down."

Have a great (gossip free) day,

Peter Clark.