Elaine Campbell

 '...Let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me' (Isaiah 27:5). Christ is the strength and power of God. He is our Rock of defence and a strong tower whom we can run to and be safe. By our faith in Christ, we attain righteousness - His righteousness. Therefore, we ought to look to Him and take hold of His strength, believing there is no other name by which we can be saved. The Scripture tells us that, "...Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus  Christ" (Romans 5:1). It is Christ that we lay hold of, not ourselves and He shall make peace by the blood of His cross; we then shall see ourselves as reconciled to God and be at peace with Him. We may obtain God's peace by seeking His protection, by submitting our will to Him, laying hold of His strength and in turn be save. God is our Defense and will defend His people, that no weapon formed against them will in no way pr...

 'My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayers unto thee, and will look up' (Psalm 5:3). Our God is awesome, powerful and mighty and is worthy to be praise. You must purpose in your heart each day to start it waiting for His direction. You must lay your requests before Him each morning when you rise up and wait expectantly for His direction. The Psalmist, direct his prayer to God each morning and made known to Him his requests; He wait patiently with expectancy  for God's direction. David, was a man of prayer who trusted the Word of God. He prayed with expectation that God would answer his prayer. Day by day he discovered that the mercies of God were new every morning and how great was His faithfulness. When we know God we will trust in His word, delight in His laws and meditate day and night on its truth. We will experience the joy of meditating on His word as we direct our thoughts toward Him. Each morning when we are awake we m...

 'For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation' (Roman's 10:10). When one accepts Jesus as their Saviour and Lord, it is with their heart they believe and is justified and declared righteous by God - meaning they are cleared of all charges against them. It is our faith in Christ that leads to salvation and it is both personal and internal. It is with our mouth that we express our faith in Christ as a result of what's happening in our heart leading us unto salvation.  We must have a willingness to confess the Lord Jesus Christ and believe in Him by faith, as the One whom God has sent to die for our sins. It is God alone who knows the thoughts and intent of the heart. He knows if our faith in Him is genuine, if we believe in His Son, who died for our sins, was buried and rose again on the third day, according to Scripture. Confession of Christ is as necessary to our salvation as our faith in Him. That is, faith ...

 'By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments' (1John 5:2). Jesus said if we love him we ought to keep His commandments.  A willingness to obey His Word is one of the test of our love for God. In the Garden of Eden, it was not so much the fact that Adam and Eve had eaten the fruit from the tree of life that was the issue, but it was God's test of obedience forbidding them to do so. They completely failed the test. Christ demonstrates His love for the Father by His obedience to Him and  calls us to do the same. Our willing obedience to do His will and a genuine love for our brothers and sisters in Christ, is the test of our love of God. Jesus loved us and gave His life for us; and if we walk in the way of God's love and live a life filled with His love, we would be doing the will of God. We must realise that we cannot do this of ourselves without the power of the Holy Spirit within us. We have to humbly submit to the lead...

 'Seek the Lord and his strength, seek his face   continually' (1 Chronicles 16:11). The Lord Almighty is our refuge and strength. He is our Maker and each one of us are created uniquely for his purpose. It was sin that separate us from God and his presence and through Christ we have been restored to Him. The text reminds us of the importance of seeking God. It is a faithful reminder that our strength is found in him, that our grace is from his loving presence and our hope is in seeing him face to face one day. When we know God we want to be near him and to be in His presence. We should look to the Lord always for direction and not follow our own path. It behoves us to reflect on the presence of God and his glory; to talk of his wondrous love and works in our homes, our place of work, our schools and social gatherings. It is important to speak more of His wondrous work then we do of men's work. We seek and worship the Lord because He is full of joy and strength; because o...

 'Therefore I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me' (Micah 7:7). In Christ we have freedom. We receive the free gift of salvation by faith in Him; being redeemed by His precious blood we have hope of eternal life. Our journey in this world is not an easy one without Christ. We will stumble and fall along the way, but we have to get up and just keep going, allowing the Holy Spirit to direct our steps day by day and hour by hour, looking to Jesus the reason for our existence.  Micah challenged Israel to turn from their sinful ways, their path of destruction and look to God. He warns them of the consequences of not doing so. Christ as called His faithful people to warn the world of the sinful path they are taking, to put away evil and self and look to Him their Saviour before it is too late. We also must be mindful of not falling prey to the enticement towards worldly pursuits and be influenced by worldly and ungodly things of the ...

 'Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you' (Isaiah 35:4). We are living in the last days of earth's history. We see the signs foretold of these final days happening before our eyes. Men's hearts are failing them for fear; leaders and people alike are confused and crippled with fear. Jesus is soon to come! Those who trust in the Almighty God will not fear because Christ is with us and in us. He promised in His Word to strengthen and help us in these times. We are commanded to pray without ceasing, study and search the Scriptures that testify of Him; to get ready for His second coming, calling men and women to their sense of danger of not accepting Him. There are some of God's people who are hasty of heart, inconsiderate of the promises of God or may even be having doubt in the word of God. We are to encourage them to be strong in faith, fear not the ...