A Hymn about Prayer by William Cowper

By William Cowper (1779) 

What various hindrances we meet

In coming to a mercy seat;

Yet who that knows the worth of prayer,

But wishes to be often there.

Prayer makes the darkened cloud withdraw,

Prayer climbs the ladder Jacob saw;

Gives exercise to faith and love,

Brings every blessing from above.

*Restraining prayer, we cease to fight;

Prayer makes the Christian’s armor bright;

And Satan trembles, when he sees

The weakest saint upon his knees.*

While Moses stood with arms spread wide,

Success was found on Israel’s side;

But when through weariness they failed,

That moment Amalek prevailed.

Have you no words? Ah, think again,

Words flow apace when you complain;

And fill your fellow creature’s ear

With the sad tale of all your care.

Were half the breath thus vainly spent,

To Heav’n in supplication sent;

Your cheerful song would oft’ner be,

Hear what the Lord has done for me

One Small Step

‘Five decades ago tomorrow, Neil Armstrong stepped onto the powdery surface of the moon in humankind’s first ever journey from one world to another’ Source - New York Times Friday 19th July 2019

This is a quite amazing statement in so many ways. Firstly, it’s true. Neil Armstrong was the first human to go from earth to the moon. What a celebration of the intelligence and tenacity of mankind! The planning, skill, relentless attention to detail and investment that made this trip possible was outstanding. 

The world’s longest sea crossing bridge

In October 2019 the BBC reported, ‘Chinese President Xi Jinping has officially opened the world's longest sea crossing bridge, nine years after construction first began. Including its access roads, the bridge spans 55km (34 miles) and connects Hong Kong to Macau and the mainland Chinese city of Zhuhai. The bridge cost about $20bn (£15.3bn) and should have opened in 2016. Construction has been dogged by safety issues and at least 18 workers have died on the project, officials say’.

Secondly, NASA’s space scientists were ecstatic at the safe landing on Mars of the InSight probe. After a journey of more than 6 months at 12,000 miles an hour, it had to decelerate to 5 miles an hour in 8 minutes to effect a safe landing. Images of Mars were captured very quickly by the InSight probe and transmitted to the NASA Mission Control Centre. The distance between Mars and Earth has been bridged. 

These two projects illustrate the rapid advance in technology and the successful missions accomplished. In contrast to modern technological achievements of this nature it is sad to note the decline in social behaviour; the world is degenerating, morally, at a rapid rate. 

A BRIDGE TOO FAR  

The title over this paragraph is reputed to have been said by Lieutenant General Frederick Browning to Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery in September 1944 concerning the proposed seizing of the Arnhem bridgehead over the Rhine River. Before the operation started the comment was made ‘I think we may be going a bridge too far’. In total 35,000 troops were used in the operation; many of them were air lifted from the UK. The object of the operation was to push the German forces from the Netherlands back into Germany. This was in preparation for the final push against the SS to defeat the third Reich with the objective of ending the war by Christmas 1944. Major General Robert Urquhart was in charge of the 1^stAirborne Division that fought in the Battle of Arnhem during Operation Market Garden and he led 10,000 men to take and occupy a position outside Arnhem. Bad intelligence informed them that they would receive little opposition but they subsequently were confronted by a SS Panzer division and battled for 9 days losing four fifths of their men. Only 2,000 men returned to the UK and they saw no further action in WW2. A friend of mine, the late Mr Chris Peters of North Cornwall was a Transport Driver and was deployed in an airdrop of equipment over Arnhem. His son informed me that after they had dropped all the equipment over the dropping zone the pilot took evasive action to avoid the flak. So severe was his action that it caused the crew to be violently sick. Operation Market Garden failed and truly it became ‘a bridge too far’.

When visiting Israel in 2008 the guide of our tour told us that the locals refer to the Land of Israel as ‘the Bridge’. This is an apt description of the location and function of Israel between Africa and Europe/Asia serving as a land bridge between these continents. The Tigris and the Euphrates rivers in Mesopotamia attracted many people to build cities there. Similarly Egypt with its River Nile supported other people and cultures. The Bible records movement of Nationals from North to South through the land of Israel to make war against Egypt. Assyria did this in the days of King Hezekiah and on their return from Egypt stopped outside Jerusalem threatening King Hezekiah to submit and become a tributary to Assyria. King Hezekiah presented this matter to the Lord (he prayed) and that night one angel destroyed 185,000 Assyrian solders. All of these past events are a picture of a future events at the Battle of Armageddon.  

We read in 1 Timothy ch2 v 5-6 that there is ‘one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time’. Jesus Christ himself is that mediator.  He is ‘the Bridge’ between God and man and the only way for sinners to come to God. Earlier we were thinking of the bridge built in China and that a number of lives were lost in building that massive feat of engineering. Jesus sacrificed His life to provide a bridge for sinners to get to Heaven. There is no other way; He only can be that bridge for all who will come to God.  

Many people believe that their way of getting to Heaven is their self made ‘bridge’ of good works.  They think that their good deeds will outweigh their bad deeds and that God will smile favourably upon them and accept them into Heaven. Sadly that way will fail. The scriptures say in Proverbs chapter 14 verse 12 ‘There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death’.

The only certain way of a home in Heaven is to know the Lord Jesus Christ, as your personal Saviour. He only can reconcile a sinner and bring them to God.

Written by a guest blogger 

The art of self deception

Have you heard the story of the bank robber named McArthur Wheeler in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who was told that if he rubbed lemon juice on his face, he wouldn’t need to use a mask to avoid detection, because his face would be invisible to the cameras? This is not a joke it’s true! He bought a Polaroid camera and a couple of lemons, squeezed them and applied the juice to his face. He then pointed the camera at his face and clicked, rotated the camera and clicked. What he finished up with was a photo of the ceiling but no image of his face and fully believed that the lemon juice did the trick.