Like A Little Child?

Jesus says in Mark 10 and verse 15 "I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."

What are the characteristics of little children that we must emulate before we can be a part of the Kingdom of God?

What do you think?


Have a great day,



Peter Clark.

Life Is Dangerous.

I read from Psalm 17 this morning and it reminded me that life is dangerous, BUT God overcomes...

"Keep me as the apple of your eye;
     hide me in the shadow of your wings
from the wicked who assail me,
     from my mortal enemies who surround me." (v.8,9)


Have a great day,



Peter Clark.

Obedience!

Throughout Exodus 39 & 40 we see a phrase repeated and repeated...

".....as the LORD commanded Moses"  Eighteen times.

At the end of that Section we then read.......

"And so Moses finished the work" (40:33)

"....the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle" (40:35)

TFTD: Our obedience finishes with the glory of the Lord.


Have a great day,


Peter Clark.

God Speaks.

God speaks....do we listen?

Today in my readings there were lots of helpful and applicable snippets, like.....

"You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men." (Mark 8:33)

"...whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it" (Mark 8:35)

"....What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?" (Mark 8:36)

"...if any is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him....." (Mark 8:38)


Have a great day,


Peter Clark.

A Psalm For Today.

Psalm 40:6-11

⁶ Sacrifices and offerings
    are not what please you;
    gifts and payment for sin
    are not what you demand.
But you made me willing
    to listen and obey.
⁷ And so, I said, “I am here
    to do what is written
    about me in the book,
    where it says,
⁸ ’I enjoy pleasing you.
    Your Law is in my heart.’”

⁹ When your people worshiped,
you know I told them,
    “Our Lord always helps!”
¹⁰ When all your people met,
    I did not keep silent.
I said, “Our Lord is kind.
    He is faithful and caring,
    and he saves us.”

¹¹ You, Lord, never fail
    to have pity on me;
    your love and faithfulness
    always keep me secure.

God Makes A Difference.

When Moses met with God he was different. God changes us.

"When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the LORD." (Exodus 34:29)



Have a great day,



Peter Clark.

What Bezalel Had!

Bezalel was an artisan set aside by God to work on the Tent of Meeting and the ark of Testimony.

To aid him in his work - God equipped him.

"....and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts..."   (Exodus 31:3)

TFTD: We have the Spirit of God to assist us in our lives too.


Have a great day,



Peter Clark.

Content Of Disciples Preaching.

What did the disciples say, when they were sent out preaching?

I presume they were tutored by Jesus.

In Mark 6 and verse 12 we read this....."They went out and preached that people should repent."

They were calling on people to turn from "sin and death"


Have a great day,


Peter Clark.

"But They Laughed At Him"

In Mark 5 Jesus raises a girl from death to life.

He told the professional mourners "the child is not dead, but asleep" (v.39)

"But they laughed at him" (v.40)

I bet the smile was wiped from their face when the little girl started running around?

There will become a point in time when the whole truth of the gospel will impact on every single person in the world....

...where will the smiles be then?


Have a great day,



Peter Clark.

Nature Obeys Jesus.

In Mark 4 we read of the incident when Jesus calms the storm. He simply speaks to the wind and the waves and they quieten down immediately.

The disciples are terrified and ask "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!" (Mark 4:41)

TFTD: Who is the "climate change" controller?


Have a great day,



Peter Clark.

God Is In No Hurry.

In Exodus while Moses and the Hebrew people are in the wilderness, God calls Moses to go up onto the mountain.

This is what happens.....note how very unhurried God is!

"When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the Lord called to Moses from within the cloud. To the Israelites the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights." (Exodus 24:15-18)

TFTD: Why is it that we expect God to act in our lives immediately?


Have a great day,



Peter Clark.

Isn't It Sad.

I was reading Mark Chapter 3 and we see there that there were some people actively on the lookout for a reason to accuse Jesus.

They find it when he heals a man with a shriveled hand.

Jesus is "deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts" (v.5)

After that....the Pharisees joined with the Herodians and discussed how they might kill Jesus.


Have a great day,



Peter Clark.

Jesus' Priority.

I was reminded agains this morning of the priority that Jesus gave to preaching and proclaiming the Kingdom of God.

"Let us go somewhere else - to the nearby  villages - so that I can preach there also. That is why I have come." (Mark 1:38)

TFTD: Perhaps proclaiming the Kingdom of God should be a priority for us also.


Have a great day,



Peter Clark.

Two Calls From God.

In Mark Chapter 1 we see the first disciples receiving two calls....

The first is calling them INTO the Kingdom of God - "The Kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news" (1:15)

They arrive there by "repenting" - turning their lives around to head in God's direction and "believing" all there is to believe about Jesus.

The second call is a call to GO OUT into the world - to follow Jesus and to "fish for men" (1:17)

TFTD: These are exactly the same two calls on our lives.


Have a great day,


Peter Clark.

Jesus' Resurrection.

The reading set down for today includes the reaction of various disciples to seeing the resurrected Jesus.

The guards were afraid to see the angel.

The women were afraid.

They were also filled with joy.

The women worshipped Jesus when they saw him.

The disciples, when they saw him - worshipped him - but some doubted.

TFTD: What a range of emotions, reactions and experiences.


Have a great day,


Peter Clark.

Much Needed Advice.

"Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today.....The LORD will fight for you, you need only to be still."

Go LORD...there is so much in my life and ministry that I have no control over - the LORD has - all I need to do is to be still.

Not easy....but I think I can do that.


Have a great (still) day,



Peter Clark.

Do This.

Hebrews 3:12-14 came up as the reading in our morning prayers today.

"My friends, watch out! Don't let evil thoughts or doubts make any of you turn from the living God. You must encourage one another each day. And you must keep on while there is still a time that can be called "today". If you don't, then sin may fool some of you and make you stubborn. We were sure about Christ when we first became his people. So let's hold tightly to our faith until the end."

TFTD: We have to be prepared in the "good" days for the "bad" days around the corner.


Have a great (trusting) day,


Peter Clark.

Please Pray For Secret Believers.

There is a great need for us to be praying for a breakthrough in countries of the Arabian Peninsula.

Pray that secret believers will grow in number as they find each other, have fellowship and that they will receive an urgent desire to share the gospel with their countrymen.

Pray for their protection as they do so.



Have a great day,


Peter Clark.

A Prayer For The Speaker.

"May the words of my mouth and the 
      meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight,
O LORD, my Rock and my 
     Redeemer."

Psalm 19:14

God IS In Control.

I read this morning....

"The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil." (Matthew 13:41)

There are some shoes that I definitely would not like to be in!

Have a great day,


Peter Clark.

God Continues To Care For Us.

In the Book of Exodus we see the Hebrews struggling under slavery in Egypt.

They cry out to God....

"The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them."  Exodus 2:23,24

TFTD: God hears and sees our pain and suffering and is concerned about us. Remember that.

Have a great (reassured) day,

Peter Clark.

A Prayer For Today.

God who wonderfully created us and even more wonderfully restored our humanity: strengthen us by your Holy Spirit to triumph over suffering and death, and grant us eternal joy; through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN

Keep Watch!

The clear message from today's reading is to keep our eyes open for the return of Jesus.

He is coming back, and we have to be ready - expecting His return.

The reading was from Matthew 25 and verses 1 to 13 - the Parable of the Ten Virgins.

You know the story - they were to be waiting for the bridegroom and some of them had not been prepared and brought enough oil to keep their lamps burning for the whole time.

Some run out of oil and try to scrounge some from the others - the ones who came prepared.

They have to go away and find some oil.

While they are away the bridegroom comes and they miss seeing him.

TFTD: The message for us is in the last verse....

"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour."

Have a great watching day,


Peter Clark.

Being There At The End.

In this life it is important that we not only start well but finish well.

Jesus told his disciples in Matthew.....

"Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved." (24:12,13)

Have a great day,


Peter Clark.

God Holds Everything Together.

Today I read in Job Chapter 34 and verses 14 and 15...

"If it were his (God's) intention
     and he withdrew his spirit and breath,
all mankind would perish together
     and man would return to dust."

TFTD: That is what God is going to do one day when he finishes with, and rolls up the world.


Have a great day (until then)


Peter  Clark.

What God Has Done For Me.

This morning.....Psalm 18 it struck me, that on my becoming a Christian many years ago, I was opened up to the world in a whole new way.

This verse says it all...

"He brought me out into a spacious place;
     he rescued me because he delighted in me"

There are three things here worth dwelling on...

1.     We have been take out into a more spacious place - being given great understanding, with a world   view that "makes sense" of everything.
2.     We have been rescued from the shallowness that make up many lives. We have also been rescued from an eternal absence of God.
3.     We are "delighted in" - by God - how good is that.


Have a great day,


Peter Clark.

A Special Prayer For Today.

Loving God, your Son came to seek and to save the lost,
and was baptised with sinners:
grant that we, who have been baptised in his name,
may reach out in love to those in need
with the mercy of Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you, for ever and ever. AMEN.


Have a great day,


Peter Clark.