God Hears And Responds.

PSALM 18:1-6

I love you, Lord God,
    and you make me strong.
² You are my mighty rock,
    my fortress, my protector,
    the rock where I am safe,
my shield,
    my powerful weapon,
    and my place of shelter.

³ I praise you, Lord!
    I prayed, and you rescued me
    from my enemies.
⁴ Death had wrapped
    its ropes around me,
    and I was almost swallowed
    by its flooding waters.

⁵ Ropes from the world
of the dead
    had coiled around me,
    and death had set a trap
    in my path.
⁶ I was in terrible trouble
    when I called out to you,
but from your temple
you heard me
    and answered my prayer.

Fair Dinkum Serving.

Matthew 20:25-28

Jesus called them together and said, "you know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave - just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

TFTD: That is a great pattern for us, isn't it?


Peter Clark.

Life Is Short.

It appears that even a long life is short!

I read this today,

"Man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. He springs up like a flower and withers away, like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure." (Job 14:1,2)

TFTD: Life comes and goes so quickly.


Have a great day,



Peter Clark.

I Wouldn't Want To Spend Eternity There!

Job 10:21-22

"....the place of no return,
     to the land of gloom and deep shadow,
to the land of deepest night,
     of deep shadow and disorder,
where even the light is like darkness."


Have a great day,


Peter Clark.

A Prayer For Sunday.

Lord God, whose blessed Son rose in triumph and set us free: grant us the fullness of life he promised us, that through the Holy Spirit our hearts may possess him whom our eyes cannot see, the same Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN.

Have a great day,


Peter Clark.

Confidence.

If we have the LORD in our life, we have all we need.

I was reminded of this today from Psalm 16:8

"I have set the LORD always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken."

Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

Being Truthful,Even When It Is Inconvenient.

Psalm 15:4 reminded me of this today...

".....who keeps his oath....even when it hurts"

We are to be truthful, even when it hurts US or SOMEONE ELSE.


Have a great day,



Peter Clark.

The Best Question Ever.

I wonder....what is the best question that has ever been asked?

We see interviews on the television and hear them on the radio.

Every now and then the person being interviews says "that's a very good question"

It give them a little extra time to construct an answer.

Jesus said in Matthew 16:25 "For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a person if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?"

That is a good question isn't it. What good is it really if we own great heaps in this world (and it will all last for 50,60,70,80 or perhaps 90 years, but lose out on eternity (which lasts longer than forever!)

TFTD: Really, what is the point of that?



Have a great day,


Peter Clark.

Our Testimony.

There are some words Psalm 13:5,6  that I would love to be able to say that they are my everyday, ongoing testimony...

"But I trust in your unfailing love;
     my heart rejoices in your salvation.
I will sing to the LORD,
     for he has been good to me."

TFTD: In 2013 let us try and match up our behaviour with our words. Let us try and reduce our "hypocrisy gap".

Ha e a great day,


Peter Clark

Not Much Control...

We have limited control over what goes into our mind.

We can be selective in what books we read and what movies and television we watch.

But we do not have complete control....some things better left outside, sneak in.

However, we do have complete control over what comes out of our mouth and heart.

Jesus said,

"What goes into a person's mouth does not make him "unclean",  but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him "unclean". (Matthew 15:11)

"But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a person "unclean". (Matthew 15:18)

TFTD: Be prepared and filter what goes into your life.....put a stopper on the unclean things that come out.


Have a great day,



Peter Clark.

Hearts And Lips In Sync!

Jesus recognised it in the people he saw around him.

Hypocrisy!

Hearts and speech being out of tune.

Matthew 15:8

"These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me."

TFTD: We have to fight against hypocrisy in our lives.


Have a great day,



Peter Clark.

Are You Ever Tempted....

Are You Ever Tempted....to big note yourself? Talk yourself up? Claim achievements for yourself that rightfully belong to someone else?

In Genesis 40 the cupbearer and baker to the King of Egypt have dreams that they do not understand.

They claim that there is no-one to interpret the dreams.

Joseph says, "Do not interpretations belong to God?" (v.8)

Joseph could have easily taken all the credit, but he always attributes to God the interpretation of dreams.

TFTD: Shouldn't we be giving the credit to God for the goodness He displays in our lives.


Have a great day,


Peter Clark.

What Can I Do?

A question turned up in the reading of the Psalms this morning (11:3)

"When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?"

We see the foundations being eroded all around us and we feel helpless and hopeless to do anything about it.

The very next verse is "The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD is on his heavenly throne...."

God is sovereign and in the end He is going to deal with all evil.


Have a great day,



Peter Clark.

A Parable Of Pastoral Ministry.

Matthew 13:24-30

Jesus told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
The owner's servants came to him and said, "Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?"
"An enemy did this," he replied.
"The servants asked him, 'Do you want us to go and pull then up?"
"No," he answered, 'because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn"

God Is Always There.

Jacob is told to "go up to Bethel and settle there...." (Genesis 35:1)

He does as he is told and his testimony is this.....

"...God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone." (v.3)

God is not "in the distance" but there, close to us...for when we call upon Him.


Have a great day,



Peter Clark.

Authority Over People.

As we read through the Gospels we cannot help but be struck by the way Jesus has authority over people.

We see that he has authority over nature in episodes like the calming of the sea.

We see that he has authority over sickness and death, like in the raising from the dead - Lazarus.

In my reading today, I see that he has this amazing authority over people.

Jesus sees the tax collector, Matthew sitting at his table and simply says to him, "Follow me".

And Matthew does.

How good is that?


Have a great day,

Peter Clark.

The Single Purpose of Life.

The Scriptures are very clear....

After death, we will be treated by God, how we treated him in this life.

The single purpose of life!

Matthew 10:32 says this....

"Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven."

Have a great day,



Peter Clark.

Whom Should We Fear?

"Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28)


Have a great day,



Peter Clark.

Keep On, Keeping On.

In life - it is not how we start, but how we finish.

Jesus says, in Matthew 10:22 ".....but he who stands firm to the end will be saved."

Stick with your relationship with Jesus, right through....to the end.

You will not regret it.


Have a great day,



Peter Clark.

Giving Birth To Evil.

Do you know anyone who is evil?

There is a description of an evil person in Psalm 7:14

"He who is pregnant with evil,
     and conceives trouble gives birth to disillusionment."

...."being pregnant with evil"!

It is a good description, isn't it?

Always being ready to use each and every situation for their own evil - causing discouragement and disillusionment.


Have a great day,


Peter Clark.

The Men Were Amazed.

In Matthew 8:23f Jesus calms the storm.

After he does this (in full view of the experienced fishermen that he was with) they exclaim....

"The men were amazed and asked, "What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!"

A little while after this, Jesus heals two demon possessed men. The reaction of the people of the town too, were overawed by Jesus.....

But they had an entirely different response....

"Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region." (Matthew 8:34)


Have a great day,



Peter Clark.

Phew!

Abraham was a man of great faith - a great man of great faith!

In Genesis 22 we see him obediently taking his son to be sacrificed (although he seemed to know all along the way that God would provide a sacrifice).

But he continues on - even to the "11th" hour....

Until..... "Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram fought by its horns" (Genesis 22:13)

He must have been very pleased to see that.

We often don't see God at work because we are too impatient for action ad so we step in and do what has to be done.


Have a great day,


Peter Clark.

What I Do...Not What I Say!

"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. BY THEIR FRUIT YOU WILL RECOGNISE THEM."

The fruit of our life is very important.


Have a great day,



Peter Clark.

Good Advice.

Matthew 6:25

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear......But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

Have a great day,



Peter Clark.

Money In Perspective.

Matthew 6:19-24

Treasures in Heaven

¹⁹ Don’t store up treasures on earth! Moths and rust can destroy them, and thieves can break in and steal them.²⁰ Instead, store up your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy them, and thieves cannot break in and steal them. ²¹ Your heart will always be where your treasure is.

Light

²² Your eyes are like a window for your body. When they are good, you have all the light you need. ²³ But when your eyes are bad, everything is dark. If the light inside you is dark, you surely are in the dark.

Money

²⁴ You cannot be the slave of two masters! You will like one more than the other or be more loyal to one than the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

The Men Of Sodom.

Here I go starting the Bible again for this year.

In Genesis 13 I read of Lot, living amongst the cities of the plain "pitched his tents near Sodom".

Bad move...

Verse 13 of Chapter 13 "Now the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the LORD."

Have a great day,



Peter Clark.

The Difference We Make.

What sort of difference do we make to this troubled world in which we live?

Jesus said, "You are the salt of the earth";   "You are the light of the world." (Matthew 5:13,1`4)

Did you realise how important you are in God's scheme of things?


Have a great day,



Peter Clark.

The Difference The Messiah Makes.

The Old Testament Prophet Isaiah spoke of the coming of the Messiah in these words. This was the effect that he was to have on people...

"....the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned."   (Matthew 4:16)

Is that how it was for you?

Have a great day,



Peter Clark.

The Powerful Jesus.

Matthew Chapter 3:11-12

"He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

Wow!


Have a great day,



Peter Clark.

Praise God For Our Wives.

God knew that it was not the ideal, to be alone, but to have a mate.

"The Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."(Genesis 2:18)

Let us thank God for our wives and husbands.


Have a great day,


Peter Clark.

Blessed Is The Person...

Psalm 1...."Blessed is the man.....

.....his delight is in the law of the LORD"

A good start to the new year.


Have a great one,


Peter Clark.