You need to spend time with Jesus

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing".            John 15:5    NJKV

Habakkuk was a Godly man but one in which He felt He knew better than God. God had told him that He was going to use the Babylonians  to destroy Judah and then take all of the people -  men, women and children into exile. Habakkuk was beside himself with worry and the feeling of injustice towards God. Therefore He told God  this and then waited for an answer.  When the answer came, Habakkuk was not pleased again with the answer. God told him to write it all down (Habakkuk 2:2-3) so that the Jews may see this, but there was no negotiation with this, 'It will surely come' v3. 

Habakkuk wanted everything now and felt God was wrong in making him wait. But, no matter what, without God on His side, he could do nothing. This is something that we need to take on board. We don't always like God's answer, we feel that it should be a better answer. But no amount of whinging is going to change His mind. What we've got, is what we've got, period. 

One vital principle that God said was very important, especially to the Christian today. We need to write things down. Whether this is in our 'Quiet time' or 'Devotians' whatever you may call it. This is crucial for our survival because, when we don't spend quality time with Jesus, His words come to life 'for without Me you can do nothing'. I've rushed to drive to work without breakfast because my day is so busy. But, this was all to no avail, I've ended up not having the success that I had expected. Nowadays, I don't do anything without spending time with Jesus.

Why do we need to do this? Because there are things that Jesus can see that we can't. He knows the pitfalls and the things to watch out for. In my days as a social worker, I was often in court with one of my cases. This can be a tricky thing to do. especially when you have one of the top barristers opposing you. Rather like Habakkuk, I realised, that I could not do this successfully on my own. I needed Jesus.

What about you, do you spend time with Jesus at the beginning of your day? If you don't, work towards doing this - daily. There is always enough time, even if we have to rearrange our day. You may have appointments to keep, if they are important and can't be changed, then they must be fulfilled. But can't you make time for Jesus prior to these meetings. I really cannot emphasise this any more, you need to set aside a time to be with Jesus. 

You really cannot do anything without Him.

f you don't know Jesus or, have fallen away, why not say this prayer right now

Lord Jesus, I have sinned. I ask you to forgive me and be my Lord and Saviour. Please come into my heart, fill me with Your Spirit and give me a brand new start today. In Jesus' Name. Amen

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com  

If you would like to contact me, grahame.howard@hotmail.co.uk

Member of the National Association of Christian Ministers

Why not order my Daily Commentary from Amazon - Paperback or Kindle Check it out. Just tap on Grahame Howard books.

If you would like to contact me email grahame.howard@hotmail.co.uk

Copyright 2026 Grahame Howard. 

We are representatives for Jesus

"But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth.  9Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds,  10and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him",       Colossians 3:8-10   NKJV 

Christ is the image of God. He was with God in the first place, all things that were created were created through Him and for Him (Col 1:16). He was there at creation and, He will be there when He creates a new world and, because we belong to Him, we will be there also.

A representative of a company is an important person. He or she represent this company and by their presence show the prospective buyer the companies image. If a bad image is presented, then there will be no sale because the buyer has little faith in what the company are selling. Likewise, as Christians, we are conformed to the image of Christ and when people see us, they should see Jesus. If they don't, then there is something wrong with what we are presenting, not what we are representing. Therefore, we need to get our lives right.

We carry Jesus with us everywhere we go but this doesn't mean that people can see Him, or feel His presence. It is what we present to them that they witness and that can be good or not so good. The New Living Translation puts it this way:

'But thank God! He has made us his captives and continues to lead us along in Christ’s triumphal procession. Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume. 15Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing. 16To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume. And who is adequate for such a task as this?'    2 Corinthians 2:14-16

As I said earlier, we carry the fragrance of God to whoever we meet. Now what they see, determines how they will react. Many people totally refuse to talk or accept Jesus. This is their choice. These fall under the category of receiving the smell of death and doom. Others feel this fragrance and are attracted to it and the results may be that they are saved. It's interesting to see the people  who are pershing. Satan has blinded their eyes so much that they are almost scared to even talk about salvation. Others, are open to the gospel and receive our presence well but, they may not be ready yet. However, once they have had the Word implanted into their hearts, the seed that has been sown will begin to grow and then, they may come to know Him.

It all comes down to how we are living; are we living for Jesus or ourselves. We can't have both, we have to make a choice. If you want people to see Jesus in you, start getting your life in obedience to what Jesus wants. People will notice, that's for sure.

If you don't know Jesus or, have fallen away, why not say this prayer right now

Lord Jesus, I have sinned. I ask you to forgive me and be my Lord and Saviour. Please come into my heart, fill me with Your Spirit and give me a brand new start today. In Jesus' Name. Amen

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com  

If you would like to contact me, grahame.howard@hotmail.co.uk

Member of the National Association of Christian Ministers

Why not order my Daily Commentary from Amazon - Paperback or Kindle Check it out. Just tap on Grahame Howard books.

If you would like to contact me email grahame.howard@hotmail.co.uk

Copyright 2026 Grahame Howard. 

The God-Screening Service

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future".         Jeremiah 29:11   NIV

Things may not have been going too well just lately. Perhaps, some of our plans have failed and we've been left disappointed. Let's just stop there and reflect. Are the plans that we have been making our own or, are they of God? There's a big difference here. Many plans fail because we leave God out of the process, and we need to change this.

Proverbs 3:5-6 says 'Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; 6In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths'. Now, we either believe that or we don't. Some people like to make their own plans for the smaller, not so important parts of their lives. But, everything in our lives is important to God, we should always have that in mind when we make our plans because, He may have something better. He may also want to protect us from something that would cause us harm if we went ahead on our own plan. The emphasis in the Proverbs 3 statement is the word 'All'. Everything needs to go through the God-Screening Service.

God wants to prosper us and give us hope and a future. He is ordaining the best for our future, so let Him. As we saw yesterday, the world doesn't like us and may try to harm us if necessary. In their eyes, we may be an after-thought and second best. Our family may even do the same. But in God's eyes, we are not an after-thought, we are constantly on His mind and He'll never consider us second best. We are the elite. So stand tall in this knowledge.

We may be falsely accused of something, wrongly imprisoned and/or be utterly abandoned by the world. We may stumble at times but, let us keep our eyes on Jesus and He'll prevent us from falling. Check out Jeremiah 29:12-14 and let it soak in:

'Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.  13And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.  14I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive'.

This is so encouraging, we should always read around well known scriptures so that we don't miss important bits. As we call on God, He will listen and as we seek Him with all of our heart and this means the difficult times when we don't really feel like praying. However, as we breakthrough that barrier, we will find Him and He will take action. He's always listening but, He wants to know that we trust him and love him more than anything else in the world. He must be No1, when He is, He will come through for us.

Let us ensure that we run everything through The God-Screening Service so that our plans mirror His. That makes sense!

If you don't know Jesus or, have fallen away, why not say this prayer right now

Lord Jesus, I have sinned. I ask you to forgive me and be my Lord and Saviour. Please come into my heart, fill me with Your Spirit and give me a brand new start today. In Jesus' Name. Amen

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com  

If you would like to contact me, grahame.howard@hotmail.co.uk

Member of the National Association of Christian Ministers

Why not order my Daily Commentary from Amazon - Paperback or Kindle Check it out. Just tap on Grahame Howard books.

If you would like to contact me email grahame.howard@hotmail.co.uk

Copyright 2026 Grahame Howard. 

You're not popular in most places

“If the world hates you, understand that it hated me before it hated you".  John 15:18.  CSB

No one likes to be disliked but, when we learn that we are hated, that really goes deep.

The world hates us because we belong to Jesus, they hated Him first. Jesus chose us to come out of this world and serve Him, if He hadn't have done, or if, we had refused, they would have loved us too. We are so fortunate because, with Jesus we have a bright future; it is bright because, Jesus is the Light. Because of this, whenever we are in the presence of the people who hate us, the Light that we carry challenges the darkness within them and they don't like it at all.

I'm not saying that everyone who doesn't belong to Jesus, hates us. Many people love us, especially our families, but, they just don't, or won't understand the life we now live, and this can be a challenge to contend with. There are many lovely people out in the world that are nice to be around; most accept us for what we believe without persecution. This gives us the opportunity to speak about Jesus, hoping that they will feel the love of Jesus through us, and want the same. 

However, there are many people who are hand-picked by Satan who will go flat out to try and make our lives a misery. Many take up residence in a church and complain about the pastor, the sermon and everything else. There mission in life is to split the church, get the pastor out of office because he says things they don't like and keep a great record of wrongs. They will spread rumours in the congregation and try to get people to agree with them. They do this because, they hate Jesus and, if you get in the way, they will hate you too. It's a lonely life being a pastor at times, especially if these type of people have stirred up so much dissension that they have believed what is said and, the unfortunate pastor has little support. If this is you, stand your ground. Let the people continue to see Jesus in your day to day communication with them. Don't give up, Jesus knows all about it and, He's the only support you'll ever need.

You may meet this type of persecution in your work or perhaps your neighbourhood. Don't shy away from it and don't ever be rude to someone who says something nasty to you. Rise above it; think how Jesus would handle this type of thing and do the same. The fact of the matter is, people will hate you because of your association with Jesus. Just the mention of His name winds people up. Why is that, because it's the name above all names and it has the power to make every knee bow and confess Him as Lord and the  power to raise the dead to life. 

Be grateful that you are hated so much, like Jesus was. It proves you really know Him.

If you don't know Jesus or, have fallen away, why not say this prayer right now

Lord Jesus, I have sinned. I ask you to forgive me and be my Lord and Saviour. Please come into my heart, fill me with Your Spirit and give me a brand new start today. In Jesus' Name. Amen

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com  

If you would like to contact me, grahame.howard@hotmail.co.uk

Member of the National Association of Christian Ministers

Why not order my Daily Commentary from Amazon - Paperback or Kindle Check it out. Just tap on Grahame Howard books.

If you would like to contact me email grahame.howard@hotmail.co.uk

Copyright 2026 Grahame Howard. 

You're a Fighter, get on and do what Jesus has told you!

"This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says to all the exiles I deported from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5“Build houses and live in them. Plant gardens and eat their produce. 6Find wives for yourselves, and have sons and daughters. Find wives for your sons and give your daughters to men in marriage so that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there; do not decrease. 7Pursue the well-being of the city I have deported you to. Pray to the Lord on its behalf, for when it thrives, you will thrive.”8For this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Don’t let your prophets who are among you and your diviners deceive you, and don’t listen to the dreams you elicit from them, 9for they are prophesying falsely to you in my name. I have not sent them.” This is the Lord’s declaration".                         Jeremiah 29:4-9   CSB

God spoke an important message to the Israelites that day. They had been sitting around waiting to be released from exile and were not really thriving as God wanted them to. They had also been misled by certain prophets within their camp. Therefore, they needed awakening. God wanted them to establish the presence of God within the place; while they were waiting and sitting around doing nothing, He wanted them to make something of their life in Babylon. 

They were not called to just sit around twiddling their thumbs and talking about it, God wanted them to be proactive and build houses, families and make the most of their stay there. They were to be industrious and build gardens and businesses. Also God wanted them to find wives and husbands and produce children to carry on the work. He didn't want them to intermarry with other cultures but, to begin the process of married life between themselves.

As Christians, we don't just sit and wait for our passage to heaven, God expects us to work and encourage other people to take a decision to follow Jesus. For some churchgoers, they have been going to church once a week and possibly the odd mid-week meeting and then, they have not been involved with Jesus for the rest of the week, not even reading their bible, if they have one. Listen, God is shaking His church up. People who have accepted Jesus into their lives, are called to be 24/7 people of God, not part-timers. It is time to understand God clearly. He is calling His church to act on His Word. There is no time to just sit around doing the odd bits and pieces. The time is here for us all, to stand up, make ourselves noticed and bring in the harvest for Jesus.

Up to this present time within your church, you may have felt that you are a nobody, going nowhere and not really valued. That is a lie from Satan. In Jesus' eyes, you are a warrior, a fully signed up person of God and, He is waiting for you to take a step forward. He's not going to pick you up and put you in the harvest field, He's already done that when He saved your soul. So what are you waiting for?

Be ready 24/7 for Jesus to use you; tell Him that, and then, be willing to carry out His commands when He does. You are a fighter. You are a warrior. You are a fully-paid up member of Team Jesus. Now, that's the way to go!

If you don't know Jesus or, have fallen away, why not say this prayer right now

Lord Jesus, I have sinned. I ask you to forgive me and be my Lord and Saviour. Please come into my heart, fill me with Your Spirit and give me a brand new start today. In Jesus' Name. Amen

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com  

If you would like to contact me, grahame.howard@hotmail.co.uk

Member of the National Association of Christian Ministers

Why not order my Daily Commentary from Amazon - Paperback or Kindle Check it out. Just tap on Grahame Howard books.

If you would like to contact me email grahame.howard@hotmail.co.uk

Copyright 2026 Grahame Howard. 

Please make a stand

Where will this end???? 

After hearing Mark Carney thinks that posting the Lord’s Prayer violates policies and is hate speech, I ask all Christians to follow my lead and post the Lord’s prayer.

I declare my faith publicly. Jesus said, "Whoever denies me here on earth, I will also deny before my Father in heaven." Matthew 10:33

This is the best challenge I have seen on Facebook. So if you love Him and you're not ashamed, please join me on this faith challenge!

Matthew 6:9-13:

Our Father Who art in Heaven, 

Hallowed be Thy name. 

Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done, 

On Earth, as it is in Heaven. 

Give us this day our daily bread

And forgive us our trespasses

as we forgive those who trespass against us,

Lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever and ever,

Amen.   

        

 (copy & paste)

After all we are a Christian country whether a believer or not

AMEN!🙏

🩷

'It doesn't make sense'

“Master,” Simon replied, “we’ve worked hard all night long and caught nothing. But if you say so, I’ll let down the nets.”                     Luke 5:5   CBS

Sometimes, the things we feel Jesus wanting us to do just don't make sense. This was one of them. The disciples -  professional fishermen, had been out all night and caught nothing. While they were washing their nets, Jesus sat in Peter's boat and asking him to pull out a little from the shore, started  teaching the people who were standing around listening. After He had finished, He told Peter to put out into the deep water and let the nets down.

Peter, a hardened and efficient fisherman, who was already tired and frustrated from the overnight trip, began to complain to Jesus and attempt to tell Him a few things about fishing rules. However, something stopped him; possibly it was the glint of hope in Jesus' eyes, we don't know but he relented and they. all set off again in search of a catch, or in Peter's opinion, probably a waste of time trip. However, Peter wasn't too sure, there was something about how Jesus had spoken to him.

As they got out into the deep, Peter was amazed and absolutely shouting with excitement. The catch they had made was enormous, so large in fact the nets began to break and they had to shout for the other boat to come to their rescue. As this was filled, it began to sink. But Jesus reassured them that all was well.

Peter learned a lesson that day, he saw that sometimes, we can't do what we think and be successful, we need Jesus to be there with us and anoint our actions. We don't know it all. What Jesus tells us, may sound crazy and literally, may contradict everything we have learned in life, however, He knows best. We only have to look through our bibles to read about the Red Sea parting to let the Israelites through to safety. And then, water turned into wine, Lazarus and many others raised from the dead. As Smith Wigglesworth once said, 'If God said it, I believe it and that settles it' What Jesus said to Peter that day settled it and He will do for you as well.

Many times, the world believes that Christians are crazy. I don't mind that; I'd rather be crazy and see Jesus work miracles through me than, miss out on what He wants to do.

What do you say to this. I hope there is an Amen to it because, Jesus may just be getting ready to send you off on one of His missions. Amen? Amen.

If you don't know Jesus or, have fallen away, why not say this prayer right now

Lord Jesus, I have sinned. I ask you to forgive me and be my Lord and Saviour. Please come into my heart, fill me with Your Spirit and give me a brand new start today. In Jesus' Name. Amen

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com  

If you would like to contact me, grahame.howard@hotmail.co.uk

Member of the National Association of Christian Ministers

Why not order my Daily Commentary from Amazon - Paperback or Kindle Check it out. Just tap on Grahame Howard books.

If you would like to contact me email grahame.howard@hotmail.co.uk

Copyright 2026 Grahame Howard.