We'll use the time and make the most of our days - we'll do the work and renew our minds. We'll pray and study and learn and pray - we'll know the truth and be made free. Day by day, beholding Him, as in a mirror, we will be transformed from glory to glory!! Hallelujah what a Saviour !

In Matthew 24 Jesus explains to His disciples what they can expect to see happening in the world before He comes back. As we read through this chapter it is both comforting and alarming at the same time, yet Jesus calls us who follow Him to trust His promise, to trust His Word and to know that when He comes back to earth a second time it will be in power and with great glory v 30.

My heart was heavy this morning thinking through all that I have been hearing in these past few weeks; things happening inside the professing church, things that cause the name of the Lord Jesus to be maligned, things done and said by people who call themselves Christians yet trample the Lord's name underfoot.

A few days ago I was reading 2 Chronicles 27 and came upon this: 'So Jotham became mighty because he ordered his ways before the Lord his God'

I've just returned from a European City Tour by rail - Vienna, Budapest, Prague and Berlin - four beautiful cities with the effects and memories of recent history everywhere you look. it was a chastening experience

I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.....what an amazing statement David makes here and how often I could say the same thing!

This was my prayer this morning; O Lord deliver me, protect me, be my stronghold, my refuge as I seek to live Your way - as I seek to speak Your truth into a world that is overrun by the schemes of the enemy of my soul.

Praise your God - speak about who He is and all that He means to you - speak out His Word and tell of His mighty deeds. He is the Lord and highly to be praised and in that praising you will experience His presence. God inhabits the praises of His people - when you praise there He will be!

'As for God His way is blameless; the word of the Lord is tried; He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him. For who is God, but the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God, the God who girds me with strength and makes my way blameless?

Let all those who take refuge in You be glad Let them ever sing for joy; And may You shelter them, That those who love Your name may exult in You.

Look up the definition of the word 'praise' and ask yourself the question - do you praise the name of your Lord? Do you express admiration of and speak highly of the Lord Jesus? When you speak His name is it to 'rave about' go into raptures about', 'proclaim in awe and admiration'?

What an amazing proclamation of the glory of the Lord we have in Psalm 29. An incredible shout of praise to the indescribable Sovereign God.

Have you believed in, have you trusted, have you given your life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Then He has put a new song in your mouth and it is a song of praise. Are you singing it out – are you sharing that song with those around you – it’s a song of joy, a song of thanksgiving, a song that will cause others to see the Lord and to put their trust in Him.

I was thinking about that this morning as I sat with the Lord, reading through as I always do and asking Him to show me something else, something I hadn't seen before, something that was applicable today.

I'm off to Israel today for a week, invited by an organisation from the US called Museum of the Bible. The museum, currently under construction in Washington DC is due to open later this year and will be 430,000 square feet over eight floors providing an 'immersive and personalized experience as visitors explore the history, narrative and impact of the Bible'.

Isn’t it amazing that the first line in this Psalm explains so much - the fact that God is our refuge and strength shows us that we are not immune from troubles and problems. The abundant life that Jesus offered us is not a troublefree life.