Through failure comes the strength of God

Often the born again Christian is hammered by his or her own failures in general life which causes them to withdraw from such an active role in witnessing of their Salvation in Christ.
In recent days I have found that the attack of the world, the flesh and the Devil against my witness has been immense and yet coming out the other side of it I see the hand of God still in control.

I ultimately see and know an appreciation of God's longsuffering patience with me a worthless sinner who needs God's strength every moment of the day.
Knowing that it is through my confidence in God and my confession to Him that the only means by which I can survive the taunts of the world, the flesh and the Devil is through prayer:
1 John 1:9 -  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
John is speaking here to the Christian who in repentance of sin has come to the knowledge of sins forgiven but realises that even though he/she is saved from the curse of sin there still is the effects of sin while we continue on this earth.
John wanted the Christian to see that their is a fullness of joy to be had in the close relationship with God through Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit:
1 John 1:4 - And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

Joy for the Christian requires a self examination of how our relationship with God is strengthened.
The Apostle Paul having gone to God in prayer over some 'thorn in the flesh' was given the joy of peace in knowing that God's Grace was so ever powerful to keep him even in days of adversity:
2 Corinthians 12:9 - And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.
Praise God that He sees my weaknesses as something to work with or else I would remain in the depths of despair.

Maybe you as a Christian today have the thought of despair as you fail Him or are not as you should be in your relationship with Him.
Don't despair you are not on your own in this experience.
Allow today to be a starting point of refreshment in His love and care and pray that He will use your weaknesses as light on the Glory trail of some other needy soul.
Remember my last blog was a verse which is so applicable to this thought and underline it for future reference:

2 Timothy 1 verse 7
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

Pastor Peter Skillen 

www.braehillbaptist.org

braehillbaptist@gmail.com

The True believers power over fear

2 Timothy 1 verse 7
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

Pastor Peter Skillen 

www.braehillbaptist.org

braehillbaptist@gmail.com

The Gifts of God

The title to this blog may be a bit misleading because really I want to give a personal thought to what God has given to my family of late.

Over the past four years Anne and I have been the benefactors of four beautiful grandchildren.  They have lit up our lives in ways that are incredible.

I have to praise God for His wondrous dealings that Anne and I have in our own children who in turn have also been the benefactors of God's Grace in these beautiful offspring of their God ordained marriage union:

Gen 2:23  And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. 

Gen 2:24  Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. 

What a treasure we have when God blesses this union with Children.

Children that because of the sin curse may well have defects which God never intended from the beginning of Creation however they still are our children and are loved dearly.

If you have been blessed with children of your own remember whatever the condition that they find themselves in they are still yours, given of God for your blessing.

So cherish them as did the Lord Jesus Christ when He called them to Him:

Mark 10:14 - But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. 

The desire of Anne and I is and has always been for the Glory of God through the Salvation of our kids (and ultimately their own kids as well) through giving by God of His only begotten Son.

God gave His Son that my sons and daughters could be saved from the penalty of Sin

Col 2:14  Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

The debt that we owe to God is immense and we are not worthy of such Love yet in His Love we find Salvation:

1 John 4:10 - Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Pastor Peter Skillen

Braehill Baptist Church

Belfast

www.braehillbaptist.org

braehillbaptist@gmail.com

The Believer and Sin - past, present and future.

Hi all

Just a few thoughts on our relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ.

More and more we as faithful believers are shackled by the thought of our sins before God continuing to be a problem in our relationship with Him.

The very thought of considering what offends God in our lives is a good thing. As we consider God's Word in our Bible we see that it is through our desire and application of its authority that we are progressively sanctified in our lives.

Never on this earth will we be perfectly sanctified. That is reserved for Glory. That time when we reach the heavenly shore when called in physical death or raptured by our Saviour.

John tells us that our acknowledgement of our sin in our lives is essential to bring Joy to the believer.

Consider 1 John 1:4 & 9  

The wonderful thought that God is always who He says He is as 'faithful and just' must bring joy to any faithful believer who is walking in fellowship with Him.

Continuing in the Truth of God's Word brings liberty to those who were once in the darkness of their sin:

John 8:31 - Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; 

John 8:32 - And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. 

God doesn't stop loving the believer who fails Him.  The disciple and Apostle James says:

James 1:2 - My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 

James 1:3 - Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 

When God allows temptations into our lives He rejoices to see the growth that comes as the believer overcomes them through His power. Also as we fail He remains the same so that we may be lifted up again to Him as we come in repentance and confession.

In a daily reading by the writer and commentator F B Meyer I rejoiced in this thought - that no matter how much I personally fail God He is always there to love me and  hold me without applying blame.

Jesus Christ took my blame at Calvary's Cross. Praise God.

See below the full transcript of what I read and I hope it gives you a blessing as it did for me.

THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD'S LOVE

"We have known and believed the love that God hath to us. We love Him, because He first loved us."-- 1 John 4:16-19.

GOD IS Love. Jesus Christ first brought to men the conception that man loves God only because God has first loved him. In vain we search for such an idea in the philosophies of Greece and Rome. The men who fixed this thought in the literature of mankind were followers of Jesus Christ. Might and majesty were the dominating ideas of B.C., but since A.D., we think of Love enthroned in the Divine Nature.

His Love passeth knowledge. We may apply to it the masterly arraignment of Psalm 139. It winnows our rays. It besets us behind and before. It lays on us its gentle restraining hand. It is high, we cannot attain to it. If we ascend into heaven, it is there; if we make our bed in the grave, it is there to lift us to His heart; if we take the wings of the morning, it shines as sunrise; if we pass into the darkness, it makes the midnight shine as the day. It covered us in our birth, it will tend us in old age. How precious it is, and how multitudinous in its expression, no mortal lips can tell.

Even our sin will not lessen that Love. That Peter sinned deeply, who can doubt, but did it put a screen between him and Christ? Nay, for when Christ arose, He sent specially for him. In the garden He restored him, and at the lakeside He taught him that His love would be as acceptable as ever (Mark 16:7; John 21:15).

His Love will not spare. Jesus looked on the young man and loved him! But He read him through and through, and mercifully gave the unwelcome verdict: "Go, sell all that thou hast... and follow Me." He went away sad, and Christ went away sad! But He loves us too well to spare us! God's love is consistent with stern dealings at those things which may cause us to fail of the best.

We believe in God's Love when it seems not so. "We have known," says the Apostle, that "God is Love," unutterable and changeless! But there are times when we have to believe in it, i.e. in the perplexity of life's problems. We are often facing incidents and providences that strike us as inconsistent with God's Love. Then we must believe that the same Love is there. God Is Love, and nothing can reach us save through His Love.

One final reference from me:

2 Cor 1:9  But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: 

2 Cor 1:10  Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us; 

 Past, present and future we as believers are delivered from our sin.

Does that mean we can sin as we want? God forbid.

Let us continue in the Word and bring Glory to God in all things.

Pastor Peter Skillen

Braehill Baptist Church

Belfast

www.braehillbaptist.org

pastor@braehillbaptist.org