Serena’s Wordpress Installation

“May you always be joyful in your union with the Lord. I say it again: rejoice!

“Show a gentle attitude towards everyone. The Lord is coming soon. Don’t worry about anything, but in all your prayers ask God for what you need, always asking him with a thankful heart.

“I know what it is to be in need and what it is to have more than enough. I have learnt this secret, so that anywhere, at any time, I am content, whether I am full or hungry, whether I have too much or too little.

“I have the strength to face all things by the power that Christ gives me.

Dear Father God, Today it is hard to fill my heart with all good things. A is having a hard time at school and my dad is facing surgery for brain tumor. F is suffering in her relationship. Please be with all those three, and give them your power to have the strength to face these things. Please give me the strength to give them the love they need. Please forgive me my sins. In Jesus’ name, Amen

Wherever it flows, it will bring life….

This is the stream flowing from the temple, the great building that is Ezekiel’s final vision. The stream is the beautiful bit, I think it refers to our Lord Jesus.

“Wherever the stream flows there will be all kinds of animals and fish. On each bank all kinds of trees will grow to provide food. Their leaves will never wither and they will never stop bearing fruit. The trees will provide food and their leaves will be used for healing people.”

Speaking of trees, this is from Ezekiel 17: “I will take the top of a tall cedar and break of a tender sprout. I will plant it ino a high mountain, on Israel’s highest mountain. It will grow branches and bear seed and become a magnificent cedar. Birds of every kind will live there and find shelter in its shade.”

These beautiful visions follow, and in the case of chapter 17 are intermingled with, terrible visions of destruction.

Dear God, Thank You for planting our family near Your river. Please help us stay as close to You as a tree to its river. You are our eternal stream and You provide everything for us. Help us to trust You, depend on You, love You and love each other. Please continue to grow our faith in You. Please help us teach our children well, and help us be kind to the elderly. In the name of our High Priest, Your Son and our Lord Jesus, Amen.

“Put on all the armour God gives you, so that you will be able to stand up against the Devil’s evil tricks.  For we are not fighting against human beings but against the wicked spiritual forces in the heavenly world, the rulers, authorities and cosmic powers of this dark age.

“So put on God’s armour now! Then when the evil day comes, you will be able to resist the enemy’s attacks; and after fighting to the end, you will still hold your ground.

“Stand ready, with truth as a belt tight around your waist, with righteousness your breastplate, and as your shoes the readiness to announce the good news of peace.

“At all times carry faith as a shield; for with it you will be able to put out all the burning arrows shot by the evil one. And accept salvation as a helmet, and the word of God as the sword which the Spirit gives you.

“Do all this in prayer, asking for God’s help.”

Dear Father in heaven, I ask You to help me to stand for You. Show me how to do it. Please let me sit quietly at your feet, help me be patient and humble to listen for Your voice. Thank You for my faith. Please help it grow. Please watch over my dad. In Jesus’ name, Amen

God takes Ezekiel to the Valley of Dry Bones, and tells him to prophesy to the bones that God will give them life again. Ezekiel does what he is told, and has the vision of the dry bones being restored to life - Ezekiel says there are enough to form an army.

Then God says He will do the same to His people:

“The people of Israel are like these bones. They say that they are dried up, without any hope and with no future. I will put my breath in them, bring them back to life…”

“I, the Sovereign Lord, tell you that I myself will look for my sheep and take care of them in the same way as a shepherd takes care of his sheep that were scattered.

“I will let them graze in safety in the mountain meadows and the valleys and in all the green pastures.

“I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep and I will find them a place to rest.”

Dear God, Thank You for sending Jesus so that we are no longer estranged from You. Please help us depend on You, and the salvation Jesus bought for us. We cannot walk the walk of faith without depending on You, and living calmly in Your flock. Dear Father God, please forgive me all my sins in Jesus’ name, Amen

One of my favorite verses is in here, Galatians 5 verse 22:

“But the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self-control.”

The only problem with this verse is that my soul is also crowded with the vices, in varying proportions. I find it hard to understand - to hope - how the Spirit can live in me when I also have greed, fear and unloving thoughts in there.

Dear Father God, I pray to You for the fruits of your Holy Spirit.  Forgive me for the nasty thoughts - and worse, the nasty words - that live there now. Please get rid of them in the name of my Lord Jesus Christ, weed them out and plant Your beautiful fruits. Help me be vigilant each day to seek to be like my Lord Jesus, and be loving, and kind. But please, first, help me grow my faith. I cannot do it without You. Thank You for my Lord Jesus. In His holy name I pray. Amen

And so the book of Jeremiah ends, with the fall of Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar from Babylon. The temple is destroyed and its treasures taken to a foreign land. The king’s sons are killed and his eyes poked out.

Jeremiah also predicts the fall of Babylon, the glamorous kingdom that has overtaken the world.

But the predictions seem to go much further than just the time of 500BC. There are things in here that do not seem to apply to those times.

God promises that He will restore Israel and create a beautiful world of peace and harmony.

Dear Father God, I pray for the coming of the Israel You promise, the one where all who believe in You and Your salvation through Your Son Jesus Christ can live in peace and harmony. Come Lord Jesus come, into Your weary world…. I long for You. In Jesus’ name, Amen

Sorry not to have written for so long. I have been reading each day but have been visiting my family so have not blogged during that time. I will now begin trying to catch up!

The book of Galatians has done a lot to restore my connection with Paul’s writings, as have the comments of my father-in-law. Paul talks here about the importance of focussing not on the law and its requirements, or on being good (although of course that is a fruit of the Spirit) but on Jesus as the fulfillment of God’s law.

We are not saved by our own goodness (although that comes with belief) but by clinging to our Lord Jesus. Then once we are baptised, we will be filled with the Spirit, and goodness will come. But we must continually keep focussing on God and Jesus, and praying and reading our Bibles.

Dear Father God, Thank You for our travels. Thank You for the love of our family, thank You that we have our family and our friends. Thank You for all the time we got to talk to them, learn from them and help them. Thank You for bringing us home safely. Please deliver us safely through the difficulties of jetlag and help us to refocus on our duties to our church family and friends here. Please watch over my dad, please heal him and strengthen him. Please watch over M, who is comforting him. Please also be with N and M, and give them strength and comfort in a challenging time. Please also be with my children, who are missing their family now. Please help them rebuild their friendships here. Please help me with my faith Father. I believe. Help me believe more. In the name of Jesus, my beloved Saviour. Amen

Not a lot to report from these chapters… I feel all of them were a bit of a slog. I hope it’s not a sin to find Paul quite difficult. If it is a sin, Father forgive me. Help me understand what You want me to understand.

Our first healing and wholeness service was last night though and it was beautiful, I felt powered so much by God’s Holy Spirit.

Dear Father God,  Sometimes when I am reading Paul I can see how worshiping You can descend into semantics. Please teach me what I am meant to understand from his writing, and please empty out the doubts and fears that I feel sometimes. Replace those fears with love of You, awe of You, and please continue to give me surges of the Holy Spirit like I got last night, so that I can take that out into the world. In the name of my Saviour and Lord, Your Son Jesus Christ, Amen

“The scripture says, ‘I spoke because I believed’. In the same spirit of faith, we also speak because we believe. We know that God, who raised the Lord Jesus to life, will also raise us up with Jesus and take us, together with you, into his presence. All

“For this reason we never become discouraged. Even though our physical being is gradually decaying, yet our spiritual being is renewed day after day.

“For we fix our attention, not on things that are seen, but on things that are unseen. What can be seen lasts only for a time, but what cannot be seen lasts a lifetime.” 2 Corinthians 4 13-18

Dear Father God, Please help me keep my eyes fixed on You, even in the midst of everything else I need to do. Please help me put You and Your work first. Please let me sow much, and receive a good harvest so You will call me a good servant. Please firstly help me show my family Your way. In Jesus’ name, Amen

Another beautiful psalm, 139, about how God created us… “When my bones were being formed, carefully put together in my mother’s womb, when I was growing there in secret, you knew that I was there, you saw me before I was born….

“Examine me, O God, and know my mind; test me and discover my thoguhts. Find out if there is any evil in me and guide me in the everlasting way.”

Dear Father God, I want so much to seek You and follow You. Please forgive me all the thoughts and deeds which do not seek You and love You in the way I should. Teach me to proclaim You, and to show Your love with my hands and all my endeavours. Please wrap me in Your arms and love me, my Lord. Please help Your suffering creation. Please help the people of Haiti, and please move in all our souls to take better care of Your earth and its creatures. Please give us love for one another. Please be with my mother, and also with K. In Jesus’ name, Amen

Paul talks about seeking love first, before all other things, and then as to gifts we should seek the gift of proclaiming God’s message.

“And if the man who plays the bugle does not sound a clear call, who will prepare for battle? In the same way, how will anyone understand what you are talking about if your message given in strange tongues is not clear.”

Proverbs also contains a good verse on being a good messenger: “A reliable messenger is refreshing to the one who sends him, like cold water in the heat of harvest time.”

Dear Father God, Thank You for everything You give me. I have forgotten to be thankful this weekend and have focussed on bad things. Please forgive me. Pleave help me to look for You, and focus on Your love and the gifts You give me. Please bless our healing ministry. Please heal M, please be with N, and O, and please let them know Your love. Please move in the heart of E. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen

Sometimes it is a bit of a slog through Paul, particularly in the earlier chapters of this reading where he is debating under what circumstances you can eat certain kinds of meat, and why women should have their head covered in church.

However, I then arrived at Chapter 12. The following two chapters are among the most beautiful in the new testament.

Paul talks about how we as a church are all part of the body of Christ:

“There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit gives them. There are different ways of serving, but the same Lord is served.

“The Spirit’s presence is shown in some way in each person for the good of all.

“Christ is like a single body, which has many parts; it is still one body, even though it is made up of different parts.

“So then, the eye cannot say to the hand “I don’t need you!” Nor can the head say to the feet “Well I don’t need you.” On the contrary, we cannot do with out the parts of the body that seem to be weaker; and those parts that we think aren’t worth very much are the ones which we treat with greater care.”

Then of course come the chapter on Love:

“I may be able to speak the languages of men and even of angels, but if I have no love, my speech is no more than a noisy gong or a clanging bell. I may have all knowledge and understand all secrets; I may have all the faith needed to move mountains - but if I have no love, I am nothing. I may give away everything I have, and even give up my body - but if I have no love, this does me no good.

“Love is patient and kind; it is not jealous or conceited or proud; love is not ill-mannered or selfish or irritable; love does not keep a record of wrongs; love is not happy with evil, but is happy with the truth. Love never gives up; and its faith, hope and patience never fail.

“Love is eternal. There are inspired messages, but they are temporary. there are gifts of speaking in tongues, but they will cease. There is knowledge but it will pass. For our gifts of knowledge and of inspired messages are only partial; but when what is perfect comes, then what is partial will disappear.

“What we see now is like a dim image in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. What I know now is only partial; then it will be complete - as complete as God’s knowledge of me.

“Meanwhile, these three remain - faith, hope and love - and the greatest of these is love!”

Dear God, Help me to be the part of Christ’s body You designed me to be. Give me Your Spirit, faith and hope so that I can perform work for Your glory the way You want me to. And Dear Father, love me, enfold me in Your arms and love me so I can love others. Please be with K today. And W&M. Thank You for all the amazing gifts You give us Father. Please also give strength to people helping in Haiti. In Jesus’ name, Amen

God’s promises that happiness will come again to Jerusalem finish in chapters 34 with a final flourish: “In these places you will hear again the shouts of gladness and joy and the happy sounds of wedding feasts. You will hear people sing as they bring thank-offerings to my Temple….”

And then the gruesome predictions begin.

Jeremiah tells how he tries to stop the king from total destruction, but for his troubles Jeremiah ends up down a well. By Chapter 39 the walls of Jerusalem are down and King Zedekiah has seen his sons put to death.

Psalm 138 is a psalm of thanksgiving and ends in the lovely chant: His Love is eternal, and the plea: Complete the work You have begun.

Dear Father God, Thank You that Your love is eternal. Thank You that You love me despite the days when I do not love You with all my heart. Please help me to put You first, to love You most and to serve You gladly. Please forgive me for all the times I fail in this. Please keep working on me, giving me Your Spirit and remaking me more in the image of Your son, my Lord, Jesus Christ, in whose name I pray. Amen

Paul kicks of 1 Corinthians with a cracker commentary upon wisdom and faith, which is very timely for me. People write about Christians as simpletons all the time.

So I will quote Paul, as it is good to know this is not just a problem of now:

“For God in his wisdom made it impossible for people to know him by means of their own wisdom. Instead, by means of the so-called “foolish” message we preach, God decided to save those who believe. Jews want miracles for proof and Greeks look for wisdom. As for us, we proclaim the crucified Christ, a message that is offensive to the Jews and nonsense to the Gentiles.

“For what seems to be God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and what seems to be God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.”

Later Paul says: “The wisdom I proclaim is God’s secret wisdom, which is hidden from mankind, but which he had already chose for our glory even before the world was made.”

Dear God, Thank You for my faith. Thank You that occasionally, through the cracked mirror of the world, I can feel You and You touch me. Please keep my faith strong. Thank You for all the worldly comforts You have given me, and most importantly my family. Please watch over all those I love, and let them know Your love. Please protect them and keep them. Love them as only You can. Please also be with the people of Haiti and help us help them to overcome this horrible tragedy. In Jesus’ name, Amen

At last Jeremiah starts talking about God’s eternal love for His people, and better times ahead.

“The Lord says… I will show my concern for you and keep my promise to bring you back home. Ialone know the plans I have for you, plans to bring you prosperity and not disaster, plans to bring about the future you hope for. Then you will call to me. You will come and pray to me and I will answer you. You will seek me and you will find me because you will seek me with all your heart. Yes, I say, you will find me, and I will restore you to your land. I will gather you from every country…”

and again: “They will be like a well-watered garden; they will have everything they need.”

Also God talks about His new covenant: “I have created something new and different, as different as a woman protecting a man.”(Jeremiah 31, verse 22)

And what could be more different than the Son of God being born in a stable? And what could be more strange than a King, who becomes a servant and allows himself to die for his subjects?

Dear God, Thank you for the amazing life You give us. Please help us to appreciate that life, and use it the way You want us to. Please help me to be obedient to You, and joyful when I am. Please watch over M, and P, and thank You for my healing team at church. Please bless our work with Your Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

It has been four seasons in one day in my soul today. My faith is low, like my Christmas candle, and the angry feelings in my soul have been out to bite. Jeremiah isn’t really a balm for my soul today, except for this verse:

“I will give them the desire to know that I am the Lord. Then they will be my people, and I will be their God, because they will return to me with all their heart.”

And the refrain from Psalm 136 - His love is eternal.

Dear eternally-loving Father God, I need You. Please come to me. I am filled with the desire to know You, but filled with fears which I cannot name. Please plant and watch over my faith, please build me and keep me standing. Please help me do Your work. But first, please hold onto me today while I am weak, and please don’t let me go. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

Paul finishes his letter to the Romans with these lovely words: “Be wise about what is good, but innocent in what is evil. And God, our source of peace, will soon crush Satan under your feet.”

Proverbs has some gems too: The lazy man stays at home; he says a lion might get him if he goes outside.

Don’t take advantage of the poor just because you can; don’t take advantage of those who stand helpless in court. The Lord will argue their case for them.

Dear God, Help me to be wise about what is good, but innocent to evil. Please help me cling to the robes of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Without Him, I am nowhere with You, and without You, I am nowhere at all. Please fill me with Your Holy Spirit, and show me Your way. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

Jeremiah is hard going - God does not break up his anger at the Israelites with promises of the time when all will be well again.

So each chapter is a slog. I need to read some New Testament again.

Still, Jeremiah does contain this lovely promise:

“I will bless the person who puts his trust in me. He is like a tree growing near a stream and sending out roots to the water. It is not afraid when hot weather comes, because its leaves stay green; it has no worries when there is no rain; it keeps on bearing fruit.”

Dear God, Please help me alway put my faith in You. Please give me faith enough to do that. I cannot do it by myself. Please heal M, and continue to heal P. Please give N strength, and help me to do Your will. In Jesus’ name, Amen

Jeremiah continues with God becoming evermore furious with Israel. They are worshipping other gods and doing evil to each other - then thinking they can make it right by offering sacrifices. It comes through clearly here that what God wants more than anything are the two Commandments given by Jesus : love God with your whole heart, your whole mind and your neighbour as yourself.

Still, I also read another classic psalm - one which I have up on my wall for my boys to learn.

Psalm 133: How wonderful it is, how pleasant, for God’s people (Some translations say brothers, so I use that one for my boys) to live together in harmony!

It is like the precious anointing oil running down from Aaron’s head and beard, down to the collar of his robes. It is like the dew on Mount Hermon, falling on the hills of Zion. That is where the Lord has promised His blessing - life that never ends.

Dear Father God, Thank You for Your amazing generosity to me and my family. Thank You that we live in peace and can visit parts of the world and have each other. Thank You that the boys got to play so well together this morning. It was a joy to me, just like it is a joy to You when Your children are good to each other. Please help me - us - to love You more. Please help us to love our neighbours better too. In Jesus’ name, Amen

Paul’s letter to the Romans continues with a passionate attempt to explain how Christ’s resurrection has made us at peace with God, if we just believe and are baptised.

These chapters also contain some of the most comforting words for Christians who feel beleagured by doubt or sin:

“I am certain that nothing can separate us from his love: neither death nor life, neither angels nor other heavenly rulers or powers, neither the present nor the future, neither the world above nor the world below - there is nothing in all creation that will ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Proverbs has these pearls: “Listen before you answer. If you don’t you are being stupid and insulting.”

“What you say can preserve life or destroy it; so you must accept the consequences of your words.”

Dear God, Please help me always to speak to preserve life, never to destroy it. Help me in all things to work joyfully for you. Thank You that You always love me through Jesus Christ. Amen

The beginning of Jeremiah aches with God’s pain that the people He created, who He led through the desert, had turned to idols of stone and wood.

“They have turned from me, the spring of fresh water, and they have dug cisterns, cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all.”

It’s easy for me to think: ‘Oh, I wouldn’t do that’, but then I looked how easily beguiled I am by things of metal mixed with a bit of electricity, like computers and televisions, and I feel renewed sorrow at how easily I am distracted from the Father who created me, and loves me and wants me to love Him back.

So tonight I will pray the Prayer of Humble Trust, Psalm 13:

Lord, I have given up my pride (tried to)

and turned away from my arrogance (ditto)

I am not concerned with great matters,

or with subjects too difficult for me.

Instead I am content and at peace.

As a child lies quietly in its mothers arms,

so my heart is quiet within me.

Israel, trust in the Lord, now and for ever.

Amen

These chapters are good to read at Christmas, containing some of the key prophecies about Jesus, the suffering servant who came to wash our feet and wash our sins by dying for us, thus putting us right with God when we believe in him and are baptised.

“My devoted servant, with whom I am pleased, will bear the punishment of many and for his sake I will forgive them.” Isaiah 53v11.

The chapters also promise big things for Jerusalem:

“Your people will rebuild what has long been in ruins, building again on the old foundations. You will be known as the people who rebuilt the walls.”

We are given instructions on how to live in order to please God: “Share your food with the hungry and open your homes to the homeless poor.”

My faith is that the first part of the prophesy has come true. There is much argument about whether the the prophecy about Jerusalem referred to those days, or days to come. I hope they are for days to come, and not too far away:

“”The finest wood from the forests of Lebanon will be brought to rebuild you, Jerusalem.

“You will be like a beautiful crown for the Lord. No longer will you be called ‘Forsaken’. .. Your new name will be ‘God is pleased with her’ and your land will be called “happily married.’

We are told to remind God of this promise: “Remind the Lord of His promises and never let Him forget them. They must give Him no rest until He restores Jerusalem.”

Dear Father, I know that You have gloriously fulfilled the promise of sending Your suffering servant to save us from our sins. Please now listen to our cries and come to rebuild Your perfect Jerusalem. Come back, for the sake of those who serve You, for the sake of the people who have always been Yours. In the meantime, my magnificent Father, thank You for caring for me and my family. Please make this a beautiful Christmas which shows and reflects Your glory. And until the day You do come back, please give us oil in our lamps….. In the name of the light of Christmas, the light of the world, Your son Jesus Christ, Amen

Isaiah talks more about how God will punish Babylon for persecuting Israel:

“I was angry with my people; I treated them as no longer mine; I put them in your power and you showed them no mercy.”

Isaiah tells of God longing for Israel to come back to him, and of how He will send a saviour who will redeem the whole world.

Psalm 122 is about how much God loves Jerusalem, and I hope it is a prophecy of how one day Jerusalem will one day be restored to peace and order.

Dear God, I pray for peace in the Holy Land. I pray that You will restore Your Holy Land to the magnificent and lovely place You talk about throughout the bible- where the lamb and the lion will lie down together, and children will play near snakes without coming to harm. I pray for this peace across Your world. I pray that You will come, Lord come, into Your grieving world and create Your kingdom here. Please help me be a faithful worker for You until that day comes. In Jesus’ name, Amen

Some lovely promises from God in these parts of Isaiah. Chapter 44 is beautiful:

“The Lord says, ‘Listen now, Israel my servant… I am the Lord who created you; from the time you were born, I have helped you. Do not be afraid; you are my servant…

“I will give water to the thristy land and make streams flow on the dry ground. I will pour out my spirit on  your children and my blessing on your descendents. They will thrive like well-watered grass….”

The Proverbs in these chapters also have some gems. Here are a couple of my favorites:

15v 33 “Reverence for the Lord is an education in itself. You must be humble before you can ever receive honors.”

13 V 17: Unreliable messengers cause trouble but those who can be trusted bring peace.”

Dear Father God, I love You. Please help me love You more. Please move throughout our world this Christmas so that we all see anew Your love, peace, joy and kindness. In Jesus’ name, Amen

These readings are strongly concerned with praying for strength when you are tired…

Psalm 119 is a constant prayer that God will not let the psalmist’s hope die: “Give me strength, as you promised, and I shall live; don’t let me be disappointed in my hope!”

Isaiah 35 retells the story of Hezekiah, who was attacked by the King of Assyria, who sent servants to mock God to the men on Jerusalem’s walls. God sends a rumor that Assyria itself is being attacked, the King returns home and is killed by traitors. So Hezekiah’s faith is maintained, but then he falls sick and almost dies.

Isaiah himself tells Hezekiah he is to die, but Hezekiah “turned his face to the wall and prayed ‘Remember Lord that I have served you faithfully and loyally and thtat I have always tried to do what you wanted me to’ And he began to cry bitterly.”

So the Lord commanded Isaiah to go back to Hezekiah and tell him he has 15 years longer.”

As the reading ends: “But those who trust in the Lord for help will find their strength renewed. They will rise on wings like eagles; they will run and not get weary; they will walk and not grow weak.”

Dear God, Thank You for caring for me, for keeping me strong in the midst of all the challenges and little hurts of life. Thank You for caring for my family, my husband, my mother and fathers, my children and my siblings. Please create in me a clean heart, take away all my angers and bitternesses and replace them with Your Holy Spirit and its fruits: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness… I love You my Father. Please help me love You more. In Jesus’ name, Amen

I love Luke’s story of the two thieves who hung either side of Jesus as he died on the cross.

One of the thieves joins the soldiers in mocking Christ. The other tells him to stop: “Don’t you fear God? You received the same sentence he did. Ours, however is only right; but he has done no wrong. And he said to Jesus: ‘Remember me, Jesus when you come as king.’

“Jesus said to him, ‘I promise you that today you will be in Paradise with me.”

At Christmas, it is good to remember why Jesus was born into the world: to give us hope and to die as atonement for mankind’s sins, to bring us into peace with God.To show us God’s love, His amazing kindness, His love for us and the path back to Our Father.

Dear God, Please let me stop the commercial madness and focus on You. On Your love. Your kindness to me. Help me see You in every thing of beauty, in every act of kindness. Thank You for all the gifts You give me: my faith; my family; my health. Please help me to be faithful to You and obedient, and please let me do it with joy in my heart. In the name of my Lord, my Jesus, Your Son, Amen

Jesus urges people to remain faithful in prayer and life. I like this one about a widow.

“There was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that same town who kept coming to him and pleading for her rights, saying “Help me against my opponent.” For a long time the judge refused to act, but at last he said to himself ‘Even though I don’t fear God or respect man, yet because of all this trouble this widow is giving me, I will see to it that she gets her rights. If I don’t, she will keep on coming and finally wear me out.”

Jesus continued ‘Now will God not judge in favour of his own people who cry to him day and night for help? Will he be slow to help them?’

Jesus also visits the hated Zacchaeus, and attracts more gossip from the Pharisees for associating with sinners.

But Zacchaeus, a taxcollector who has been robbing the people, is overjoyed, and vows to pay back four times as much as he took.

“Salvation has come this house today,” says Jesus, “The Son of Man has come to seek what has been lost.”

Dear Father God, Please help me to follow Your paths, and teach my children about You. Thank You for everything You give me. Please help me to use it well, like the wise stewards in the parable, to Your glory. Please continue to feed my hope, my faith, my love and my joy. In Jesus’ name, Amen

I was thinking while I was reading all these chapters, that sometimes I forget the majesty of the Lord, because I haven’t “seen” His works. Then I remembered that I have, so today I am going to begin my own psalm. This is just the beginning, so it is certainly no exhaustive list, and please forgive me if I focus on things that to you might seem tiny. To me they are huge.

Oh Lord, my Lord,

You who guided me through a frightening childhood,

Who kept entering my life in song and school, when earthly love felt cold,

I love You. Help me love You more.

My Lord who loves me despite the fog of mean thoughts that often clouds my head, who cleanses me whenever I ask,

Who dresses me in the heavenly clothes of his child,

You have been there when no-one else was, You made strangers knock on the door with just the right help, when I was frozen with inability to cut through the petty bonds of life.

You taught me love again, as an adult, love that is human and cracked and flawed through the pains and thousands of tiny cuts of life. But it is still love, and through it You have shown me Yourself. I can’t wait to see You one day fully, when You establish Your kingdom once more on earth.

You gave me my husband, my children. You helped me and my parents repair our relationships.

When I was despairing at feeling alone in my church family, You caused some to come up with a kind word…..

That’s it for now…..

Dear Father, You are amazing. You heal me everyday, whenever I ask, and I thank You for always being by me when I am lonely and sad. Thank You for my church, my healing team there. Please help me to always remember to seek You first, Your kingdom, and not to worry about money or food. Help me to remember to trust You always. Please forgive me my sins, which are sadly still plentiful. Thank You for Jesus who died so that I can be forgiven anyway. Please show me and my family and my countries Your mercy. In Jesus’ name, Amen

All the lovely parables about the lost son and the lost sheep are here….

The lost sheep is found, like the sinner who repents, and “I tell you,” says Jesus, “there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine respectable people who do not need to repent.”

And the parable of the lost son who runs off with his father’s inheritance, spends it on partying and prostitutes, then falls into destitution.

When he decides to come home and beg for a job as one of his father’s servants, the father sees him a long way off: “he ran, threw his arms around his son, and kissed him.”

“His son said, ‘I have sinned against God and against you. I am no longer fit to be called your son.”

But the father kills his best calf, and organises a celebration, leading to jealousy from his elder, loyal son:

“He was so angry he would not go into the house; so his father came out and begged him to come in. Bu the answered his father, ‘Look all these years I have worked for you like a slave. What have you given me? Not even a goat for me to have a feast with my friends! But this son of yours wasted all your property on prostitutes, and when he comes back home, you kill the prize calf for him!”

The father replies that everything he has belongs to his elder son: “But we had to celebrate and be happy, because your brother was dead, but now he is alive.”

Dear Father God, Please help me be a good child to You, faithful and by Your side. I know I am often not, and that I have wasted large parts of my life in my own service. Please forgive me for that, and help me be faithful and fruitful for You. Please show me the work You want from me, and give me Your Holy Spirit to do it. In Jesus’ name, Amen

These verses of Isaiah’s talk of God’s anger at Jerusalem, for its arrogance.

“You store water by building a reservoir to hold the water flowing down from the old pool… but you did not looks to its Maker, nor did you have respect for Him who fashioned it long ago.”

And there is much that sounds again like our times: “You arrogant men… You boast that you have made a treaty with death and … you are certain that disaster will spare you when it comes, because you depend on lies and deceit.”

But God also talks about how one day all will be well again: “Here on Mount Zion the Lord Almighty will prepare a banquet for all the nations of the world, a banquet of the finest wine and richest food. Here he will suddenly remove the cloud of sorrow that has been hanging over all hte nations. The Sovereign Lord will destroy death forever.”

Dear Father God, Sovereign Lord, We look forward to this day, when You send Jesus back to us and prepare a feast on Mount Zion for all the peoples. Please help us to work together for that day, to bring the good news to people that You love them and that You have beaten death. Please show us what we are meant to do and say to be faithful servants, to keep our lamps burning, until that day. In Jesus’ name, Amen