Tag: Christ

Day 33: Be blessed!

Is Britain still a Christian country?
This was one of the questions in the 2011 census for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It was the only question that was voluntary and 4 million people left it blank.
Was that because they did not know?
Was it because they did not care?
Was it because they were offended by it?
Ignorance, apathy and offence have continually battled with Christianity and will forever do so.

Is Britain still a Christian country?
Depending on who you listen to regarding the census is dependent on the answer. For some the census shows we still have a firm Christian heritage. For others the fact that the percentage has dropped is unsettling and is more wishful thinking than factual. At the present rate of growth and decline, by 2035 there will be more British Muslims than British Christians and by 2050 at least as many Hindus.

Blessed is the nation whose God is The Lord, v12.

In 1871 Queen Victoria opened one of our nations most exquisite and treasured of buildings, The Royal Albert Hall. Around the outside frieze, there is a message:
Thine O Lord is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine. The wise and their works are in the hand of God. Glory be to God on high and on Earth peace.

Is our nation still hearing such a message?
I wonder, if our nation were building this amazing building today whether such an inscription would be used?
I wonder, is our nation is Christian?
And so I wonder, is our nation blessed?

Let us pray for our nation today.

Day 32: Be blessed!

This is a Maskil. The meaning is probably something like, “to understand and to memorise.”
So understand this and remember it:

YOU ARE FORGIVEN!!

On November 26, 2008, a gang of terrorists stormed the Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai, India. After the carnage had left 200 people dead, a reporter interviewed a guest who had been at the hotel for dinner that night. The guest described how he and his friends were eating dinner when they heard gunshots. Someone grabbed him and pulled him under the table. The assassins came striding through the restaurant, shooting at will, until everyone (or so they thought) had been killed. Miraculously, this man survived. When the interviewer asked the guest how he lived when everyone else at his table had been killed, he replied, “I suppose because I was covered in someone else’s blood, and they took me for dead”
(Ravi Zacharias, Has Christianity Failed You? p. 42; )

Day 31: Be blessed!

When facing the stones and rocks being hurled at you, Acts 7:59
When its your last breath as you are being crucified, Luke 23:46
When you pray “Take this cup from me” or “Free me from this trap” v4.
When you have become an object of scorn and disgrace because of your weakness, v9-12.
When the song is not a lullaby but about dangerous enemies v15.
When feeling all alone, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?v22; Mark 15:34.
There is one thing to say to the One who preserves the faithful, v23:-

INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT, v5

Even in the clutches of the evil one where he is grasping at you, he is not holding you. You are not in the hands of the enemy. Whatever the enemy, it is not in control of you.
No, God is in control. He has you. You are in His hands.
In the darkest hour of Jesus life maybe he spoke the whole of Psalm 31. We do know he quoted from it at least.
From your place of the cross today speak it out.
From the place of disappointment, anxiety and hurt.
From the pain and weakness, say it out loud!
INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT