Fri, Jun 30th - 6:37AM

Ramblings about Grace

Returning from our holidays I thought it was time I started putting pen to paper!

Reading an interesting passage today about God's dealing with the 'enemy'.   I was pleasantly surprised to see the attitude of a captured slave in her new surroundings actually helping out her captors!   In 2 Kings 5:1ff  the passage tells about a slave girl who tells her mistress about the power of God's man in Samaria.  After an initial mistake the man,  Naaman eventually reaches Elisha who tells him what to do in order to be made whole & totally cured of his leprosy, that awful wasting disease. 

The proposed action sounded a bit simple to Naaman, funny how God works are usually so simple whilst we expect the opposite & often make it so hard for ourselves. So Naaman in his anger goes away with nothing, muttering under his breath, I can just see him now!  How human he is. 

Again it was his servant who came to his rescue & he was cured.

The realisation of God's people in lowly positions of service is very plain to see here, first the captured Israelite slave & then the servant to the great warrior. A man of great standing in his own country, but in God's eyes a need to be met. God's grace is bounding here, to the young girl, whom I have no doubt was given an higher rating with her employer than before, to the servant of the warrior, who I am sure had an easier life after the healing took place & of course to the healed man himself.  He became God's man because of this.

To us in modern life it also points to where people are in need there you will find God. So where are we when our neighbour needs God?  Are we to busy running to meetings, forming committees or just above listening to peoples' needs?

I once met the man who led a team in the discovery of a cure for leprosy, I did not realise this until I heard his funeral eulogy.  He was that type of man, a real servant, who called me 'Brother Stuart'.  With his support I wrote a column on the local paper with a team of others, where we told simply about the message of Jesus. This when he was in his nineties!!!

Servants are like that, humbly working in the background, making great strides in their work for the "Master"   May we all learn to be servants & work to the glory of the Kingdom of God.

To work for the Master is Awesome

Love in His Name  Stuart

Thu, Jun 8th - 3:52AM

Even Further Ramblin's

Readings one of my favourite Psalms today,  Ps. 103  I have heard preachers go on about this & wax lyrical about the devotions of David who authored this under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  David was a great King, like every else who came after him & Saul who preceded him, he made a few mistakes along the way. After it was brought to his attention by Nathan his "Seer", or consultant I suppose he would be called in todays political age, he did all he could to make amends for what he had done. Adultary & murder might have been his downfal. He had taken another man's wife & then in order to further his lusts he sent the woman's husband to the front line of battle where he was sure to be killed.

So after his repentance see also Ps 32 & 51.  David was even stronger for the Lord, the Lord had forgiven him much & so he loved much.  Praise the Lord O my soul all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Have you ever started a worship prayer like that?  Not a supermarket list of wants, but praise with all my inmost being!

Forget not all his benefits, imagine that we can ever forget the benefits of being a redeemed follower of the Lord?  The benefits are many, not least is the forgiveness of sins, I know we have all heard this before, but we do forget, we do sometimes wonder where we are before the cross & that is not what God wants for each one of us.  Verses 3-5 make it abundantly clear, like the prodigal's father our God forgives without being asked, we ask because we need, not God.  Our wrongdoing has already been forgiven, his blessings are available to us if we avail ourselves of his ability. Friends I know that it is easy to get carried away, to use the cliches of the church talk, but it is all here within this Psalm.

The evil one sometimes pays us visits & tries to put us off by reminding us of our past mistakes, our past way of life. Here God is reminding us through this Psalm that not only has he forgiven us but that he has removed  them as far as the East is from the West. That sounds pretty easy to say & quite glib sounding.  Have you thought just how far that is?  If I go West from Scotland I come to America & the East is still there, if I go to the West coast then the East is still there. Going on to Hawaii  & the East is still there it has not really moved from when I started my sojourn!  When I have reached Honk Kong & Singapore know in the UK as the Far East, the East is still there where it has always been. Travelling on round the globe & back to Britain the West is still over there & the East is still as far away as ever!!!

That brothers & Sisters is how far our God has removed our sin, so when the evil one comes visiting us next time do not be slow to remind of these facts. God has forgiven our sins in Jesus Name, as far as the East is from the West.

Verse 17 reminds us of the time scale of his love, from everlasting to everlasting, can you imagine how far that is?  It really is awesome God actions for us are exactly the same for us as for David, we are forgiven in exactly the same way & he loves us in eaxctly the same way.

So be encouraged, be available, be assured of the victory that was one at Calvary.

Love in His Name  Stuart