Daily Light reading (morning)

Praise the Lord of hosts, for the Lord is good, for His mercy endures forever. God is our refuge and

strength, a very present help in trouble. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in Him I will trust. Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord, the shield of your help and the sword of your majesty. As for God, His way is perfect;the word of the Lord is proven. He is a shield to all who trust in Him. For who is God, except the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God?

If anyone loves God, this one is known by Him. The solid foundation of God stands, having this seal.

The Lord knows those who are His, and let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity. The Lord knows the way of the righteous but the way of the ungodly shall perish. You have

found Grace in My sight and I know you by name.

Following Jesus  Matt.8:18-27.
'I will follow you.....'  The Scribe must have meant it, so many of us decide to follow Jesus.
'The foxes have holes...' Jesus promises nothing, only Himself. Christianity is not a bed of roses, full of endless bliss. Another said, ' let me bury....'. They all had something on their minds.
Jesus said, ' No one having put his hand on the plough...  Lk.9:62.
Following Jesus is not always being in a Church meeting singing our hallelujahs... Sometimes we find ourselves in a storm or a test to take. Sometimes we are ridiculed, falsely accused or have a cross to bear. They did the same to Him and will do the same to you. They said to Him on the Cross, ' If you are....'.
He told His disciples 'Go to the other side'. No mistake. They paid little attention to His word.
So do we often, while following Him.
They were experienced fishermen, yet frightened, but He was in the boat with them. They cried,
'we are perishing'. He promised, ' I will never leave you nor forsake you'. They were men of little faith. Do we have a mustard seed of Faith? God put us in a school down here. to prepare us for Heaven.
Paul and Silas, following Jesus, landed in a Jail but praised God and found deliverance. The three boys found themselves in a furnace, obeying God, but God came down to be with them.
The frightened disciples learned a lesson to remember forever.
It's not pleasant when going through difficulties, but when on the other side we will be better persons for God.

Reflections

Sex

A taboo subject in the Church.

We need to discipline our natural desires and in this respect, sex is an area which causes great concern to many Christians. There can be no doubt that the sex urge in life is one of the strongest 

urges there is, and unless  we know how to control it then we will not be able to live abundantly.

The sexual drive is a God given power. There is no shame in it - only in the wrong use of it. Every 

normal person has a degree of sexual desire and we must decide right away not so much what it is going to do with us but what we are going to do with it. The sexual desire harnessed in the right way

can add a great deal of new interest to life, but if it is controlled then it becomes a sinister power that 

brings deterioration and decay to human personality.

Sexual drive tones up our lives and gives fire, life and sparkle to our beings. It is the creative urge, but bear in mind that physical creation is not the only area in which it can operate. It can function as creativity in other levels of our being as well. It can be creative in the realm of the mind in producing new ideas, new thoughts and new insights. Some of the greatest work in the world has been accomplished by people who denied the normal outlet for sexual desire on one level, have expressed it on other levels. This is not suppression but expression on a higher level. It is restrained in one area only to be let loose  in another. It has been said before, but it will  bear repeating here. The wrongly sexed are those who strongly serve.