Dealing With The Wicked.

How do we deal with the wicked - the ungodly person in our midst -the one who wants to spoil etc.

Psalm 39 and verse 1 gives us a clue - true wisdom.

"I said, 'I will watch my ways

and keep my tongue from sin;

I will put a muzzle on my mouth

as long as the wicked are in my presence.' "

Do you see the sense in that advice?

Have a good day,

Peter Clark.

A Special Prayer

We thank you, heavenly Father,

that you have delivered us from the power of darkness

and brought us into the kingdom of your Son:

we pray that

as by his death he has recalled us to life,

so by his presence abiding in us he may raise us to joys eternal;

through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever. AMEN

Our Response To Jesus.

When a large crowd saw Jesus raise the widow's son from death to life they responded....

"They were all filled with awe and praised God." (Luke 7:16)

TFTD: How much awe and praise is there in our lives?

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

Giving.....We Never Loose.

That is true....and what a great thing it is to learn it.

Luke 6:38

"Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap."

What a good reminder.

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

This Is What God Does.

Numbers 22:31

"Then the LORD opened Balaam's eyes...."

Do you remember the account of Balaam's donkey?

It is a great read. It reminded me of God's work on us - He opens spiritual eyes. If He doesn't open eyes, then people will never see anything.

I pray that God might open eyes here in this patch where I am serving.

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

Did We Ever Doubt It?

Psalm 37:28

"For the LORD loves the just

and will not forsake his faithful ones.

They will be protected forever...."

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

Speak To The Rock

Faith is a marvellous thing.

In Numbers 19 and verse 8 God tells Moses, "....speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water....."

That is what Moses is supposed to do..... and I suppose that is what he went off to do.

Isn't that amazing. God asks him to do something that he (Moses) probably thought was a bit ridiculous (or did he?)?

He went off to do it....but ended up NOT speaking to the rock, but striking it (v.11).

That act was revealed by God to be a lack of trust.

TFTD: We must do exactly as God says.

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

Trust, Commit And Be Still.

Trust, Commit And Be Still.

That advice comes from Psalm 37:1-9.

Fret not yourself because of evildoers;

be not envious of wrongdoers!

2 For they will soon fade like the grass

and wither ylike the green herb.

3 zTrust in the Lord, and do good;

dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.

4 Delight yourself in the Lord,

and he will give you the desires of your heart.

5 Commit your way to the Lord;

trust in him, and he will act.

6He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,

and your justice as the noonday.

7 gBe still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;

fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,

over the man who carries out evil devices!

8jRefrain from anger, and forsake wrath!

Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.

9 For the evildoers shall be cut off,

but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.

Trust, Commit And Be Still.

What good advice from our great God.

Peter Clark.

Unquestioning Obedience.

In Luke 5 Jesus calls his first disciples.

He is teaching on the sea shore and has to end up teaching from in the boat, just off shore.

When he is finished Jesus tells Peter to put his nets down into the deep water. Peter knows that they have tried to catch fish all night....without success....and so, why bother?

But Peter, to his credit says, "....because you say so, I will let down the nets"

That is the unquestioning obedience that we need.

have a great day,

Peter Clark.

Looking Back.

The Hebrews are being taken by God into a new life and a new land.

The possibilities were all before them - but the report of the spies discouraged them and they rebelled against God's leadership...

"...Wouldn't it be better for us to go back to Egypt....we should choose a leader and go back to Egypt" (Numbers 14: 3,4)

In the end that is a spiritual problem - rebelling against God's plan of good for them.

TFTD: Let us not do that.

Have a good day,

Peter Clark.

Two Thoughts Taken Together.

This morning I had two thoughts come to me from different sources, but when taken together prove to be very interesting...

From my desk calendar: "My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular" (Adlai Stevenson)

And...

....from C S Lewis "love your neighbour as yourself"

It is good to feel safe when you are unpopular (I am not sure that actually happens mostly) and it is good to be loved by others in the way that they love themselves (I am not sure that actually happens either).

Is it because we live in a fallen world?

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

Walk The Talk

When crowds of people came out to John the Baptist, he warned them.....

"......produce fruit in keeping with repentance." (Luke 3:8)

We all have to be very mindful of not just having a life of talk......but of having a life of action.

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

Where I Am At.

I am sorry, but this says a lot about the situation that I personally am in at the moment.

It shows us that God speaks to our situation when we read His word.

"But when I stumbled, they gathered in glee;

attackers gathered against me when I was unaware,

They slandered me without ceasing.

Like the ungodly they maliciously mocked,

they gnashed their teeth at me.

O Lord, how long will you look on?

Rescue my life from their ravages,

my precious life from these lions,

I will give you thanks in the great assembly;

among throngs of people I will praise you. (Psalm 35:15-18)

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

A Morning Prayer.

Lord and heavenly Father,

you have brought us safely to this new day:

keep us by your mighty power, protect us from sin,

guard us from every kink of danger,

and in all we do this day

direct us in the fulfilling of your purpose,

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Aaronic Blessing.

"The Lord bless you

and keep you;

the Lord make his face shine upon you

and be gracious to you;

the Lord turn his face toward you

and give you peace."

Numbers 6:24 - 26

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

Prayer A Priority.

Prayer was a priority for Jesus. I was struck again by the emphasis that Jesus' life puts on prayer.

Through Chapters 3 and 4 of Luke we see Jesus finding places and times for prayer.

We see that Jesus needs that connection with His Heavenly Father.

So do we.

TFTD: Why not use today as the day that you renew your prayer life with our Heavenly Father?

Have a good day,

Peter Clark.

It Is Not Easy.

Mary visited Elizabeth before the births of their boys.

Elizabeth proclaimed, "Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished." (Luke 1:45)

It is not easy to believe that what God says will be accomplished - that is where our faith and trust comes in........but the end result is.....blessing.

How good is that?

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

Never Ending Story

The angel Gabriel when he comes to Mary to tell her of God's plan, says about Jesus...

"..... his Kingdom will never end" (Luke 1:33)

This world will end....everything will end, except Jesus' Kingdom.

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

A Great Need.

"Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?"

Romans 10:13,14

David's Experience.

Psalm 32:7

"You are my hiding place;

you will protect me from trouble

and surround me with songs of deliverance."

I have been wondering what this means. It is obvious that we all get into trouble of one sort or another.

When we are with God, He is our hiding place, or refuge, or stronghold. We are in a place where we cannot be touched, especially when we are in a place of trouble.

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

Forsaken By God

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mark 15:34)

Even Jesus felt as though he had been left out of God's plans.....when rationally, he knew very well that his heavenly Father had not forsaken him.

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

Remember To Do This.

"Be strong and take heart,

all you who hope in the LORD."

Psalm 31:24

Martin Luther on Prayer.

"Our dear Lord, who has given to us and taught us to pray the Psalter and the Lord's Prayer, grants to us also the spirit of prayer and of grace so that we pray with enthusiasm and earnest faith, properly and without ceasing, for we need to do this; he has asked for it and therefore wants to have it from us. To him be praise, honour, and thanksgiving. Amen. (Martin Luther)

Innocent Jesus.

If someone were monitoring your life - to find something wrong - how successful would they be?

"The chief priests and the WHOLE Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death, BUT THEY DID NOT FIND ANY." Mark 14:55

How good is that?

Keeping in mind that these Jewish leaders were desperate to get rid of Jesus.

Have a good day,

Peter Clark.

Jesus Is Coming Back.

I have been hearing some very depressing material about our future world under Islam.

We have to remember that God has everything under control. I was reminded of that this morning....

Mark 13:32 "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert. You do not know when that time will come...."

At some stage, Jesus is going to come back and finish up the world as we know it. We are to be ready for that.

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

The Essence Of Our Message

1 John Chapter 1 helps us to get to the bare bones of the message of the Gospel...

“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son purifies us from all sin.”

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

Eye Witnesses

I was reminded this morning as I was reading 1 John 1 that the Scriptures are eye witness accounts. I think that we tend to forget that.

Verse 3 says “We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us……(v.5) this is the message we have heard from him and declare to you….”

That is a great thing to be reminded of.

Peter Clark

Appeal To History, Himself And Holiness

In Leviticus 11:45 God reminds His people of two things - their history, himself and His holiness...

"I am the LORD who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God: therefore be holy, because I am holy."

We need to be reminded of the same three things:

God has a history with us - he has called us, loved us protected and cared for us.

God has a relationship with us - He has created us "to be his God"

Because He is holy, we are to be holy also.

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

An Encouraging Psalm.

This was my Psalm for today (28:1-9)....

To you, O Lord, I call;

my rock, be not deaf to me,

lest, if you be silent to me,

I become like those who go down to the pit.

2 Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy,

when I cry to you for help,

when I lift up my hands

toward your most holy sanctuary.

3 Do not drag me off with the wicked,

with the workers of evil,

who speak peace with their neighbors

while evil is in their hearts.

4 Give to them according to their work

and according to the evil of their deeds;

give to them according to the work of their hands;

render them their due reward.

5 Because they do not regard the works of the Lord

or the work of his hands,

he will tear them down and build them up no more.

6 Blessed be the Lord!

For he has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy.

7 The Lord is my strength and my shield;

in him my heart trusts, and I am helped;

my heart exults,

and with my song I give thanks to him.

8 The Lord is the strength of his people;

he is the saving refuge of his anointed.

9 Oh, save your people and bless your heritage!

Be their shepherd and carry them forever.

The Lord Doesn't Like It....

In Proverbs 6:16-18 we read of six things that the LORD hates, seven things that are detestable to him.

What are they?

*Haughty eyes

*A lying tongue

*Hands that shed innocent blood

*A heart that devises wicked schemes

*Feet that are quick to rush into evil

*A false witness who pours out lies

*A man who stirs up dissension among brothers

TFTD: Here are 7 behaviours that we would do well to stay away from.

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

Called To Mission

This is a prayer from the Australian Board of Missions Prayer Diary:

God of mission, you call us into relationship with your Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Help us to participate with him in seeking the lost, and drawing all people into your heavenly kingdom.

Grant that we may be so filled with your love, that we too may love extravagantly, forgive all slights, rejoice in the success of our neighbours and make faithful use of our talents.

This we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.