146. WHEN WINDS ARE CONTRARY Acts 27:4.

When you set out to do anything for God, The enemy will try to hamper your progress with ‘Contrary Winds” The above Scripture reminds us that if you feel you’re sailing against the wind, you probably are, but, you are also very likely heading in the right direction! In (Matthew 4:1) we read “Jesus was tempted by the devil. Satan never lets up, he intends to achieve his goal which is to get you off track with God. And sometimes he does, so be vigilant, he missed out with Jesus in the desert, but he went back with another tactic and entered Judas at the Last Supper on the night before Jesus died. But of course he missed out again .No, he never gives up, one of his names is the Tempter. That’s his job and mission, so pray and always be aware that he is lurking around and will use anyone, or anything, at anytime to achieve his ambition and take you away from God’s plan for your life. Don’t let that happen, pray through it, engage with the Holy Spirit, And you know what!!, Satan can never remove the Holy Spirit from you. You yourself is the only one who can do that. Why? Because you invited Him into your life and you are the only one who can tell Him to leave. That is something you must always be remember and be aware of. When the Holy Spirit comes into your life, He brings with Him the Spiritual gifts of Wisdom, knowledge and understanding which are not just important in themselves, but so essential in the life of the believer. So when temptation comes, use them, How?You ask. Just take five, Stop and think. Think what?... Who is talking to me? Where is this information coming from? Will it take me closer to Jesus or further away from Him? The answer will soon make itself clear and then you will know how to proceed. Reimar Schultz puts it this way, “Wherever you go today ...Satan will try to get you... If you leave home without your Spiritual armour ON, he will make you fall. If you leave your belt of truth on the hook, your breastplate of righteousness by the door, your gospel shoes under your bed, or if your shield of faith, the sward of the Spirit or the helmet of Salvation are left behind and you say "today I will pray when I get a chance”, you have just given away your victory. Before long the wrong words will come out of your mouth, You will look at forbidden fruits and display an improper attitude. The most foolish thing you can do is to leave home unarmed and spiritually naked. Only a fool says ‘I have no time to pray’ But later he finds all the time in the world to repair the damage his lack of prayer has produced. Just as Truth is the currency of Heaven, so Prayer is the Oxygen of Heaven, and we need to learn to breath it all the time if we intend to make Heaven our home for Eternity. Following Jesus is not a walk in the park...Every good thing in the Kingdom...from Adam onwards has come through men and women who have stuck it out, through the tough times through hot and cold , highs and lows, wars and peace, wealth and poverty. It’s not what we have, so much as what we do with what we’ve been given and the armour of God is one of the greatest gifts made available to us by the Holy Spirit because that armour will protect and defend us at the same time. So make full use of The Armour of God. Make a list of God’s Armour, and stick it on the inside of your bedroom door, Don’t leave your room without reading it each morning.. (E Ephesians 6:10-12) In (Acts 27:10) Paul told everyone on board the ship bound for Rome, “This voy2age will end with disaster and wreckage. Paul wasn’t talking about a little skirmish or a bit of cargo loss, No, this voyage was beset with disaster and much loss. He didn’t speak about a bit of a sea storm, Not at all! The words he used were “Disaster and Much Loss” they were all afraid for their lives… Now, God had told Paul he would not die and that he would witness to Him in Rome, so Paul knew he would end up in Rome one way or another. But, Satan had other ideas. This goes to show us if we truly believe God, our faith will carry us through the greatest storms that will come our way. Paul was destined to strike a fatal blow at the heart of the Roman Empire. So when he walked into Rome with the gospel, Hell shook and all Heaven rejoiced, And we are all Beneficiaries of that little Battle-scared man with chains around his ankles who started to convert many in Rome, and gave us the books of Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians and Philemon. While he was the prisoner of Jesus Christ. These phrases from Acts 27, bring to life more vividly this last journey of Paul’s life. “The winds were contrary… We had sailed slowly… arrived with difficulty...Sailing was now dangerous...A tempestuous headwind now arose… We secured the skiff with difficulty...used cables to undergird the ship… exceedingly tempest tossed...We threw the ship’s tackle overboard… Neither sun nor stars appeared for many days...All hope that we would be finally saved was given up...The stern was broken to bits...The destination is within reach...But not without “much loss.” (Acts 27:43-44) The Centurion wanting to save Paul, commanded that those who could swim should jump overboard first and get to land. The rest, (some on parts of the ship’s wreckage, escaped safely to land. When you keep your eyes on Jesus, you WILL make it in spite of the storm which is raging about you. That’s Guaranteed by God Himself. The Biblical History of the church ends with these victorious words in (Acts 28:14: “And so we came to Rome.” God said it, God did it. Thank you for reading these thoughts on coping with “Contrary Winds”. You will be sure to get them, don’t panic, 2just go to Jesus and pray, listen for the Holy Spirit’s voice and do what He says. Trust your God. – God Bless, Phaline.

145. FINDING COMMON GROUND. 1 Corinthians, 9:22.

To influence someone, you must first of all connect with them. And to do that, you must look for common ground. In the above scripture, Paul says to the Corinthians:- “I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some.” Another Bible version expounds on Paul’s words this way. “I am not anyone’s slave, But I have become a slave to everyone, so I can win as many people as possible. When I am with the Jews, I live like a Jew to win Jews. They are ruled by the law of Moses, and I am not. But I live by the law to win them. And when I am with people who are not ruled by the law, I forget about the law to win them. Of course I never really forget about the law of God. In fact, I am ruled by the law of Christ. When I am with people whose faith is weak, I live as they do to win them. I do everything I can to win everyone I possibly can to win them. I do all this for the Good News, because I want to share in its blessing.” When it came to preaching or teaching the truth however, Paul wouldn’t give an inch. But when it came to reaching and influencing people for Christ, he had to remove every roadblock between them and Jesus. And we must be willing to do the same. People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care. Before someone can receive the truth, you have to share “yourself” in such a way as to convince them that you truly love and care about them and this can only be done by finding ‘common ground.’ Whether you are applying for a job, or trying to win someone to Jesus, counselling, advising or correcting someone’s behaviour, to be effective, you must look for ‘common ground.’ Let’s look at some of the qualities that are required. Availability:- Paul writes in (1 Corinthians 9:19) “I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.” Establishing areas of common interest takes time. It also takes effort. It has been reported that to-day a typical business executive has an on-the-job attention span of six minutes. In six minutes a person can hardly get his or her feet on the ground, much less find common ground. Identifying areas you can agree on calls for empathy and a willingness to listen to what the other person has to say. In her book “How to Talk so People Will Listen” , Sonya Hamlyn conveys that most people find this challenging because of the ‘me first’ factor. She writes “Listening requires giving up our favourite human pastime” ie involvement in ourselves and our own self interests. It’s our primary and entirely human focus and it’s where our motivation to do anything comes from. With this as a base, can you see what a problem is created when we are asked to listen to someone else? So what’s the solution? First of all it’s essential to acknowledge and answer the listener’s two instinctive and unspoken questions, which are “Why should I listen to you?” and “What’s in it for me if I do?” Any time you are willing to listen to people, and they really understand how, what you are offering meets their requirements, you are halfway towards your goal of finding Common Ground. To establish “Common Ground” you must be adaptable, Thomas Aquinas said: “To convert somebody, go and take them by the hand and guide them.” You must be willing to move from where you are to where they are, to adapt and try to see things from their point of view. Anytime you are aware of distance between you and the person you are trying to reach, it’s good to search for something in your own background and experience that relates to theirs. Don’t start the process by telling them about yourself, begin by moving to where they are and trying to see things from their perspective adapt to them – don’t think that they should adapt to you. Instead of telling people how you feel, find out how they are feeling. Instead of telling them how you see things, discover how they see things, Instead of trying to tell them what you want, find out what their needs are. Abraham Lincoln said, “When I am getting ready to reason with a man, I spend one third of my time thinking about Moses, and I am not. But I live by the law to win them. And when I am with people who are not ruled by the law, I f what I will say to him and two thirds of my time thinking about what he will say to me. The truth is, you can’t take someone on a journey, unless you are willing to start where they are at. Only then can you truly connect and lead them to where you want to take them. You can know a lot about a person, but still not understand them. More information is not always the answer, in Psalm (42:7) The Bible tells us:”Deep calls to deep” that means, to really know people you must move beyond head knowledge and learn to speak the language of the heart. And that requires great and in most cases self sacrificial love. No, it’s not always easy or pretty, but when it works, I’m sure it will gain you a few more brownie points or should I say stars beside your name in the book of life. I don’t know, but I do know that God has a special place for those who bring one sinner to repentance. They have to see themselves as a sinner before they can repent; You telling them they are, wont help one bit. All you can do at this stage is have a box of tissues handy, Pray the Holy Spirit’s presence and be ready to embrace a new member into God’s Kingdom as they spill it all out. Thank you for reading these thoughts on “Finding Common Ground” I pray The Lord’s assistance and encouragement in all your endeavours in this direction. Remember Prayer and Holy Spirit in-put is of vital importance when taking on the spiritual guidance of another person. So I pray The Lord go with you. God Bless. Phaline. -----------------------------

144 KEEP YOUR HOPE ALIVE. Hebrews 6:18.

Hope, as the world sees it, is a maybe, perhaps or even wishful thinking, 0r just wishing for something to come true. But, True Spiritual Hope is Faith filled believing it will happen. Hope combined with faith is...”Having met all the required conditions” expecting something so desperately, that despite all evidence to the contrary, you keep believing God for it. And the remarkable thing about it is that the act of True Spiritual Hoping produces a strength of its own. When Cornell University conducted a study on the effects of hope, Dr Harold G Wolff reported that people with hope can endure incredible burdens. One group comprised of twenty five thousand solders imprisoned during World War11, who were subjected to forced labour, bad food and filth, of which many died, while others showed only slight damage. Subsequent interviews with survivors revealed a far-above-average ability to hope! How were they able to keep their hope alive? It was discovered, By drawing pictures of the girls they planned to marry, designing their future homes and organising business management seminars. Hope not only kept them physically well, but mentally active and alert it kept them alive! This is why Paul describes hope in (Hebrews 6:19) as “A strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls, connecting us with God Himself.” John Walker says, “I have struggled with my weight most of my life. I’ve dropped weight and put it back on. I’ve tried every diet and made up some of my own. I maintained a friendly battle with weight until I became extremely ill, and for a year was unable to walk any further than the mailbox. Needless to say I gained more weight than ever and found myself facing a huge challenge. I needed to loose more pounds than there are days in a month. With age nipping at my heels...it wasn’t as easy to drop the pounds as it used to be, and I found myself feeling hopeless – the kind of hopelessness that makes you think ‘what’s the use?’ I may as well not even try.” No doubt you can relate, not necessarily to the weight issue, but to the hopelessness. Maybe your in a stressful marriage, or facing health issues that have you thinking “What’s the use?” or in a frustrating job...or facing a difficult family situation...or wondering if you will ever get good enough grades to graduate...or dealing with the death of the most important person in your life. or struggling through so many failed attempts to have a child. Here’s the truth; We serve a God of Hope, and it’s a Hope that wont disappoint (us). It’s not based on feelings; It’s rooted in a relationship with the ONLY ONE who can be trusted above all others. “We wait together for this unseen hope, knowing the God of hope will not abandon or disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by The Holy Spirit.” We are not talking here about your love for God, but of His love for you. You see ...our relationship with God changes according to our moods and feelings, but not His. His love is always the same; deep, strong, constant and unchangeable in content. That means, when we pray with expectant Hope and trust, He will come through for us, even if it takes a bit of time because He is waiting for other matters or situations to line-up with His Will. Also timing is very important to God, Why? Because a gift given too early or too late is not appreciated and therefore, will not be recognised as such if the timing is wrong and the appropriate acknowledgement and gratitude will not be forthcoming. So pray, with expectant hope and trust, knowing that God will work for you, not for who you are, but for who He is,”The Fountain of Truth and reliability.” I haven’t counted them, but, I understand there are 3,573 promises in the Bible, that’s more than 10 promises for each day of the year. When you know which of those apply to your current circumstances and you fulfil the conditions that go with them, you can (according to John 15:7) literally begin to pray God’s promises into existence in your life. Will your prayer be answered overnight? Some will, others wont. But… as (Hebrews 6:12) tells us,“be like those who through faith and patience will receive what God has promised”. The most powerful prayer you can pray is.. when you remind God of His promises.”Lord You promised in your word that you would… and today I am praying and believing you for it. Here is how to pray, “1. when you need Guidance and direction (Psalm 32:8) “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with my eye. 2. When you need deliverance from a situation or to be set free from a habit. (Psalm 50:15) “Call upon me in the day of trouble, I will deliver you and you shall glorify Me.” 3. When you need the strength to stand: (Isaiah 41:10) “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will uphold you, with my righteous right hand.” 4. When you don’t have enough to meet your needs. (Philippians 4;19) “My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” If You spend time every day meditating in God’s Word, each time a need arises, you will know which one of His promises to claim in prayer. Read (2 Peter 1:4). When you begin to pray Scripturally-based prayers, you will get the answers you NEED. And here is Why Because, The Bible is God’s Word, and He always keeps His Word. Here is how to pray, 1. When you don’t have the answer (Jeremiah 33:3) “Oh God hear me as I pray Your Word as you gave it to Jeremiah your Prophet. “Call to me and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” 2. When you are worried and under stress, remind God of the promise He gave His beloved apostle John in (John 14:27) “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” 3. When you need spiritual insight. (John 16: 13) “When He, The Spirit of Truth has come, He will guide you into all truth, for He will not speak of His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; And He will tell you things to come.” 4. When you need power for service (John 14:12-14) “He who believes in me, the works that I do he will do also; And greater works than these will he do because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do...that The Father might be glorified in the Son. 5. (Ezekiel 34:26) When you need God’s blessing on your endeavours; I will make them and the places around my hill a blessing; And I will cause showers to come down in their season; There shall be showers of blessing.” Once you see the results of praying God’s promises, you will never pray any other way. Thank you for reading these words on “Keeping Your Hope Alive”. Spiritual Hope only stays alive if it’s used with Faith, and Faith only stays alive by daily Scripture reading, understanding and meditating. Understand this God is not Santa Clause, or a Magic-man, No! He is God Almighty Who loves you with an everlasting love and wants you to spend eternity in Heaven with Him. And the only way that can be achieved is by you getting to know Him personally through The Bible. Please make a commitment to do that, even if only for a few minutes each day, you will be surprised at the results it produces in all areas of your life. Short prayers of HOPE will make you aware of God’s permanent presence and will give you immediate connection with Him anywhere at anytime. Because my sight is fading in these advancing years of my life I find my trust and faith-filled “Hope” are more necessary than ever, but you know what!!... my Hope filled prayers and blessings are also forthcoming and answered more quickly. So get in there and pray with spirit filled Hope, faith and trust, then watch God reward you for your confidence in Him. God Bless. Phaline. --------------------------------

143 GOD IS INTERESTED IN YOUR FUTURE,NOT YOUR PAST. Colossians 2;14

Paul tells us in the above Scripture “Jesus cancelled the record of the charges against us... by nailing it to the cross.” The word cancel means to remove, to neutralise or offset something. Have you ever got most of the way through a project and wished you could start over again? Just suppose you were painting the lounge in your home, then you stepped back and looked at the colour on the sample chart. On the wall however, it doesn’t look the same. You wish you could redo it. Many people feel that way about life, as one author describes it; I’ve made so many mistakes. I wish I could just wipe them out and start my life over again. Failures, problems, bad decisions, we have all suffered from them. But some of us can’t let go of the past. We are so afraid of repeating the same or similar mistakes that we fall into the same old pit again, then, get disillusioned and throw the baby out with the bathwater. That’s when we let our past ruin our present opportunities, and we start living like frightened rabbits, we live in a constant state of fear, regret and low self confidence; continually lamenting, “If only I hadn’t done this or that, or if only I had just made these changes,” we repeatedly second-guess ourselves and remain tormented by painful memories. “I blew it, and I’m going to be paying for it for the rest of my life. What will people think of me.” Thoughts such as these plague many of us. Don’t despair, Pray the Holy Spirits presence, listen for His advice and promptings to you in your situation. Make a choice to look up, not down. You may choose to carry guilt, but you really don’t have to! The moment you put your trust in Christ, He cancels the record of your past. Actually, you no longer have a past, you only have a future! You can once and for all, lay down your great burden. All that heavy load of guilt and shame, all those hurts, memories and mistakes. Jesus takes them all away, they were nailed to His Cross. In (Isaiah 43:25) God has promised to “Blot out ALL your sins and never think of them again.” And you must do that too. And when they come back to haunt you, repeat a prayer like this:-”Thank you Jesus for taking all my sins, all my shame, all my hurts. Thank you for dying on that cross for me, and allowing me to live the resurrected life you bought for me with your precious blood. Dear God, Please send your Holy Spirit to teach, guide and protect me. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.” A sincere prayer spoken to your Saviour will touch God’s heart and remove all your guilt and shame, you will be able to approach God like a child approaching his/her Dad’s arms with the confidence, love and security they know they can find there. Have you ever watched children drawing on a slate, if they make a mess of it, they just wipe it out and start again. This is how God handles the mistakes you and I have made, He wipes the slate clean and says… in (Jeremiah 31:34 “I will remember their sins no more.” This has to be one of the most wonderful statements in all the entire Bible – that God chooses to forget. When you admit your sins and ask God to forgive you, He cancels your past. He chooses to forget your errors, your wrongs, your mismanagements and your failures. If you died tonight, stood before God and asked Him about a sin you committed yesterday, He would say “What sin?” When we deny our sin, we deny God the joy of forgiving us. When we try to excuse our sin, God permits the consequences to become so painful; that we will want to turn from it, but when we confess our sin, The Bible says in (1 John 1:9) “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteous.” Every thing we do has a consequence, The word “consequence” literally means “ to equalise or pay back” Good for good, and bad for bad. and in both cases you will get back more than you’ve put in. This is a natural law, which even Jesus spoke several times about in Scripture. The more you give, the more you will get back. The more good we do, the more good will be done for us...When we withhold doing good for someone or do them harm, or evil, it will certainly come back on us, sometimes twice as badly. This is a natural law like the law of gravity. Think about it!! The Prodigal son broke his Father’s heart, squandered his inheritance and ended up in the pig pens. But his is a comeback story! His turnaround began with these words, (Luke 15;17-18 ‘When he finally came to his senses ...he said to himself “I will go home to my father and say ‘Father I have sinned.” And what his father did for him, God will do for you today. In (John 19:30) we read one of Jesus’ final declarations from the cross before He died. “It is finished.” That phrase comprises just one word in Greek “Tetelestai” meaning ‘Paid in full’ It was a word merchants wrote on an account l when it was paid, similar to a receipt to indicate that the transaction was completed. It was also the word stamped on a document announcing that a prison sentence had been commuted. Jesus paid the price in full for every sin you and I have ever committed! And that’s why (Romans 8:1) tells us “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” Your sins and mine are fully paid for by Jesus Christ. The question is, If God forgets your sin the moment you confess it, don’t you think you should forget it too? How long do you think about a bill that’s already been paid? Don’t you forget it the moment you’ve paid it?.Similarly, Since Jesus has paid our bill in full, we don’t need to remember it any more. When Paul, wrote to Timothy (Timothy1:15) he once described himself as chief among sinners. When he wrote (Philippians 3:13-14) he wrote “Forgetting what was behind...I press on towards the goal to win the prise for which God has called me Heavenwards.” We can short-circuit God’s power in our lives by not trusting that He has truly forgiven us, or by deciding not to forgive ourselves. Why? Maybe it was the way we were raised, maybe our parents told us “I forgive you” but they constantly brought it up. The Good News Is, Your Heavenly Father is different from your earthly parents. When He forgives your sin, He expunges your record, cancels your past, can’t remember it, doesn’t talk about it, will never bring it up again. So today accept His forgiveness. And if you need to, forgive yourself and move on. Thank you for reading my thoughts on God’s Interest In Your Future. I hope and pray you trust in His faithfulness to bring us through this crazy world into His everlasting Kingdom. God Bless. Phaline. -------------------------------

142. PRAYER CHANGES EVERYTHING .Exodus 32:13.

If you are not sure prayer can change the situation you are in right now, Read the story of Moses interceding with God not to destroy the Israelites because of their idolatry and the golden calf; Moses tried to get God to change His mind… saying in (Exodus 32:11,13-14 “Remember the solemn promise You made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. You promised that someday they would have as many descendents as there are stars in the sky and that You would give them land.” So, even though The Lord had threatened to destroy the people, He changed His mind and let them live. Moses was on his face before god one minute and in God’s face the next, For the lives of his people, he was on his knees, pointing his finger, raising his hands, crying tears, tearing his cloak and wrestling like Jacob at the brook. Notice how Moses prayed. First, he reminded God of His covenant promises. He stood on THE WORD.! If there is one thing that will get God’s attention and cause Him to respond to your needs, it’s standing on HIS WORD. God’s Word in the situation is always God’s Will on any matter. (1John 5:14-15) tells us “ We are confident He hears us whenever we ask Him for anything that pleases Him. And since we know He hears us when we make our requests, we also know He will give us what we ask for.” You and I are similar to electric wire through which God’s power and presence can flow into any situation, and by praying we are turning on the switch. So instead of complaining about the mess we find ourself in, we need to start praying about it. Look up the relevant Scriptures and hold them up to God in prayer. The Bible says in (Hebrews11:6) “Without Faith it is impossible to please God.” God’s greatest desire is to be believed. You and I can pray regularly and ritually and even feel closer to God as a result, yet not truly expecting Him to answer our prayer, or for the circumstances to change. I will give an example here: (Hypothetical) We’ll say I have a daughter who is living a life of prostitution, She is doing very well with high level, influential clients, has a beautiful home, car and wardrobe. She Is well paid, and gets taken out to all the finest Restaurants shows etc. Yes, she’s doing very well for herself and can see no reason why she should change her life. Now, what does a parent do? Yes, get down on your knees, beg and plead for your child, and remind God of His promises, acknowledge Him as the only solution to this predicament But, when a house is on fire, there’s no point in just praying that God will put it out, No! YOU have to ring the Fire Brigade and get them there. You and I have to DO something and sometimes that something means sacrificing your own relationship with that child (That’s what Moses was asked to do) to get them back to God. And that’s a very hard thing to do. But, rather than do that, many parents will turn a blind eye to their children’s elicit relationships without confronting the situation with God’s Word; Thinking they will loose their child if they challenge him/her. How much faith did Moses have? How much faith do we really have? That, is measured by how much we trust God?..We read, ”Without Faith it is impossible to please God.” and James tells us “Faith without works is dead” So, Is your faith Dead 0r Alive? To keep anything alive and growing, (from relationships, plants tools etc) we have to maintain, feed and use them regularly, the spiritual world is no different, ‘if you don’t use it you loose it.’ I have discovered the more one uses God’s gifts the more He enhances them. I’m not bragging, but take a look at some of my earlier writings, and compare them with these later ones, I believed God and trusted Him that He could use someone who was then 87 years of age and almost blind to write these teachings, use a computer, get them on a blog and send them round the world. No, that hasn’t been my doing, but, that’s what God can do with the little measure of faith I’ve been given, so what can He do with you younger ones who are fully sighted and much better equipped than I. Pray for Faith. “Lord I believe, help my unbelief.” show me how to trust you more, show me how to put you first in ALL things even with my family. Remember this: We cannot receive God’s best until we are willing to give Him our most valued. Yes, it’s hard, very hard, but God is never outdone with His generosity, love and peace. So to experience God’s best, trust Him with your best. Peter had been put in prison and sentenced to death, and his execution was scheduled for the next day. So the church prayed all night for his release. And miraculously it happened. God put the guards to sleep, opened the cell doors and prison gates and sent an angel to guide him out of the prison. He set Peter free. He answered the prayer of the church. Yet when he (Peter) appeared on the doorstep of the believers house where they were praying, they couldn’t believe it; A servant girl told everyone, “Peter is standing at the door!”They told her she was out of her mind, but when she insisted, they decided, “It must be his angel” Even the early disciples struggled to believe that God would hear their prayers. Yes, even when the answer to their request was knocking on their door, they still hesitated and we do that too. We all struggle with prayer. We forget to pray, and when we do remember, we rush through prayer with quick, insincere words and our thoughts disperse like a flock of birds, are you wondering why this happen?, Well, you can pray and connect with God anywhere at any time using your own words, and God has promised to answer you, so what is the problem? I believe, we often take God for granted, or treat Him as an automatic switchboard, press button 1.for urgent, press 2 For express delivery, press 3 for your preferred colour etc!! we wouldn’t admit it, but that’s what many of us do, and then wonder why our prayers are not answered. We need to realise the incredible power and potential of the seriously praying believer, (2 Corinthians 10:4 tells us) “our weapons have power from God that can destroy the enemy’s strong places.” Do you believe that? do you realise and understand that when your prayer truly touches God’s Heart, You are a Satan evicting “Atom Bomb”? and things happen!. God puts up His “hands off” sign and that’s when Satan has to leave the area of your prayer. So don’t just pray, believe God for the answer then talk and act like you believe Him!! by doing what needs to be done. If we believe God is worthy and anxious to answer our prayer, then surely we should be prepared to give Him the time, perseverance and uninterrupted concentration of our sincere prayers, When Jesus said “Go to your room and shut the Door” , this is exactly what He was talking about. Practise being alone with God, take nothing but your Bible, God will often speak through Biblical stories, parables, Scriptural events, visions or even words in your head. If you only have 10 minutes or 30 tell Him so, but sit there and ask Him to speak to you. The mere fact that you are prepared to spend time with Him alone will speak volumes to God. Don’t worry if nothing happens the first few times you try this, keep doing it once a day or once a week, God may be testing your faith, and sometimes, God waits before He answers you because He is working on both ends of the line. At the same time; He is working on the thing you prayed about, and He is also working on getting you ready for it. And often the second thing takes longer than the first. As the old Hymn says”Oh what peace we often forfeit, Oh what needless pain we bear, All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.” So don’t get down hearted, one day you will hear God’s voice I promise you. Just take the time effort and the measure of faith you have been given and offer them to God and see what He does with it.! Remember these 2 things, 1. Practise makes perfect, 2. Satan will try to stop you from spending time alone with God. Don’t let him do that. Thank you for reading my thoughts on how “Prayer Changes Everything” It really does! But only if we are prepared to do our part. May God Bless His praying people. Phaline -----------------------

141. WHEN GOD SPEAKS. FINDING GOD IN YOUR BIBLE. Proverbs 2:4.

Studying your Bible is a bit like prospecting for gold or silver, it involves two things. (1) You must look for it. Solomon writes in (Proverbs 2:4-5) “If you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand...and find the knowledge of God.” Simply stepping into a mine and glancing all around it, just wont cut it, If you want to get the gold or silver that you know is there, you have to search for it. Any gold miner will tell you that ..“gold doesn’t strike you - you strike gold. “ The purpose I have in doing these writings each week is to whet your apatite for scripture, You know there are truths in there which will lead you to God’s wisdom, commands and promises; which will encourage you to read your bible everyday. According to the Barna Research Group, only 9 per cent of Christians read their bibles on a daily bases. The question is are you one of them? Or, do you only read God’s Word when there’s nothing else around worth reading or listening to, or your phone is on charge!! You must dig into it. Worry it, tease it Prayerfully to get the right answers to questions that will inevitably arise. The Spirit of God will speak to you, Why? Because you are doing exactly what God told you to do, you are “Searching for Him with all your heart, mind, soul and strength” and obedience to God will ALWAYS bring results. The story is told of a man who loved to study the Bible. Every time he found something he didn’t understand, His friend Jack would pop into his mind, Jack was a great student of Scripture, who seemed to ooze Biblical wisdom. So whenever our friend would encounter something he didn’t quite get, off he’d go to Jack. Until one day, when he actually heard the Holy Spirit speak to him saying, “Why don’t you just ask me, after all I’m the one who teaches Jack.”!! ‘ For my part, I know this... God isn’t playing “Hide and seek” with us, or crouching somewhere in the pages of Scripture to make it difficult for us to find Him in the Bible, No! His Word is plain, positive and progressive, and as you intensify your searching He will grow your understanding and knowledge of Himself. Then you will get to a point, (as I did) where you’ve had enough of knowing about God and are now getting to love Him and want to have a personal, intimate relationship with this God that you know so well. Anyone we love, we first had to get to know them. Why? To see if they were worthy of our confidence, our personal thoughts, our trust and our love. And God fulfils all those categories and more. When you feel let down, misunderstood, unable to express yourself adequately and completely lost; God is your only refuge, He understands, your loneliness, your fears, your inability to cope, your need to be loved, by someone; and He provides all that. For you, when you need it most. But this can only be achieved by having a deep, trusting personal relationship with God. Which comes about only through Daily, Communication with Him. I hear you say, “But I pray everyday, sometimes several times a day” Answer:- Yes but when do you listen to God? One of the main ways God speaks to us is through His Word. If we don’t Hear it, see it, or speak it, we will never know what His Will is for us because we are so busy talking, that we don’t have time to listen and take in what He is trying to make known to us. or i get through to us. Expect God to reveal Himself to you, Look for and dig into His Word and He will show Himself to you in several ways. Like many other Christians I regularly have this intimate experience with God, because we have taken the time, put in the effort and sought God with all our Minds, all our Hearts, all our Souls and all our Strength. This is what He told us to do to find Him. and God is true and faithful to His Word. We found Him and you can too . President Woodrow Wilson once said, “I am sorry for men who do not read the Bible each day; I wonder why they deprive themselves of that strength and pleasure? it is one of the most singular books in the world, for every time you open it, some old text which you have read several times before suddenly beams with a brand new meaning and significance. There is no other book that I know of, which is true of that, there is no other book that yields its meaning so personally that it seems to fit itself so intimately to the very Spirit that’s seeking it’s guidance.” Yes, God’s Spirit speaks personally to the spirit of the person who seriously searches His Word. If you want to get the most out of your Bible, take a note of these 7 questions, keep them inside the front cover of your Bible and refer to them prior to your readings.;- 1. Is there a warning here for me to heed? 2. Is there a promise here for me to claim? 3. Is there a particular or potential sin that I need to deal with? 4. is there a command here I need to obey? 5. Is there a lesson to be learned here? 6. Is there a principle here to be applied ? 7 Is there an example I can follow. Before completing your study time, refer to your list again. As you ask yourself these seven questions, Keep a journal to write down the answers God gives you, and you will be amazed at the wisdom you glean. And thrilled at the success of principles you learn. Your anxieties will begin to lift, your mind will clear and you will experience peace. In (John 1:1) we read:-”In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. And the Word was God” The more you read your Bible, the more of God’s presence and power you will experience. You may even adopt this old advertising slogan. “Don’t leave home without it.” (Your Bible). Whether you are an old Christian or a young one or just investigating, don’t make a decision without referring to your Bible. Get the whole truth before you commit. Thank you for reading my thoughts on “Finding God in your Bible” Without asking you wont get, without seeking you wont find without knocking, the door wont be opened. To you. But when you do ask, seek and knock, everything else will be added to you as well. That’s a promise from Almighty God Himself. So read your Bible everyday, and hear what God has to say to you personally. May God Bless us all with His Word “The Bible.” Phaline. ----------------------------

140 DEALING WITH S.T.R.E.S.S GOD’S WAY. Luke 12;25

King Jehoshaphat heard that he was to be attacked by three different armies. Talk about stress! You need to read his story which you will find in (2 Chronicles 20) and follow his example. When life gets overwhelming; just take a look at his response. By using the word STRESS we can learn the following lessons.-:-- S = is to SEEK God’s guidance, (2 Chronicles 20:3) “Jehoshaphat set himself to seek the Lord” years prior to this, when his father King Asa faced a similar threat, He had responded by collecting all the silver and gold from the temple and his palace then used it to bribe one of the raiding kings to defect to his side. That only solved the immediate problem - but not without negative consequences. Although the invasion endeavour was abandoned God became very angry at king Asa’s reliance on another king to help him conquer his enemies. See (2 Chronicles 16:1-9) So He pronounced Asa’s punishment for the rest of his reign. “In this you have done foolishly; therefore from now on you shall have wars.” there are always consequences to the decisions we make, (good or bad) He would live with the stress of constantly being at war Because he had not sought God’s council So for this reason, his son decided he wasn’t going down the same road as his father!! Do you stress out attempting to figure out a solution instead of finding out how God wants you to handle it? Think of the last major problem you faced. Did you rely on the opinion of other people or, your own ideas or’ was your first thought to seek God on the matter and see how He wants you to deal with it. (Jeremiah 29:13) reads God’s promise this way”You will seek me and find me, WHEN you search for me with all your heart” So first talk to God about it. SEARCH,SEEK and then FIND. T = TRUST what God tells you. (2 Chronicles 20:17) “You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves and stand still and see the salvation of the Lord… Do not fear or be dismayed; Tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.” God’s way of resolving our problems can frequently go against our logic, maybe that’s why we are hesitant to approach Him in certain matters. Why would God instruct Jehoshaphat’s army, (which was clearly no match for three armies,) to show up prepared for a battle they were not intended to fight? It didn’t make any sense at all. Many times God will tell us to position ourselves to deal with a demanding task or problem which we feel quite inadequate to handle. But our challenge is to obey Him and position ourselves to win. How do we do that? (1) You position yourself when you choose to go to university, even though you haven’t been a top achiever at high school (2) You position yourself when you resign from your job at God’s urging and start a new business, even though a long line of clients or customers are not waiting in the wings. (3) You position yourself when you sit at your computor each day to write a book you have always desired to write without a head full of knowledge, but with a heart full of faith that God will join you there with His word His , understanding and His knowledge. God’s instruction is to position ourselves for victory. He wants us to show up, so that He can show himself strong on our behalf. See (2Chronicles 16:9). R= REMEMBER: Past victories, notice how King Jehoshaphat prayed, (2 chronicles 3:4) “Are you not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of the land before your people Israel, and gave it to the descendents of Abraham your friend forever.” If God has ever performed a miracle for you or someone you know, He can do it again. So read His Word which will strengthen your faith by recalling His great deeds and achievements (E) =EXALT: God above the problem. (2 Chronicles 20:3-4) “O Lord God of our fathers, are you not God in Heaven, and do you not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand you.” In his anguish Jehoshaphat asked rhetorical questions, that exposed how big his God was when compared to his problem. Sometimes it’s difficult to look past the problem, especially when the reality of it is so close and clear. You need to try and blind yourself to the problem itself, and put God in its place with all His Magnificence, Glory and Power. Do you get the idea? S =SOLICIT: The prayers and support of others, in (2 Chronicles 3-4) we also get that Jehoshaphat proclaimed a fast throughout all Judea… They came to seek the Lord. The King didn’t ask the people for their opinion but for their prayers, because sincere prayer is what moves the heart of God. (S) =STAND: on the promises of God, When you do, you can say like the Psalmist in (Psalm 119;143) “As pressure and stress bear down on me, I find joy in your commands.” I believe that’s God’s formula for reducing and eliminating STRESS all we have to do is use it. Yes, there are many other ways. But I recommend you try God’s way, first if for no other reason but that it’s free. And you might even benefit in more ways than the one!! Thank you for reading these words on dealing with Stress “God’s way”.I truly hope they help. God Bless Phaline. -----------------------