Relationships

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"You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does no know, what his master is doing; but I have called you friends for all things I heard from My Father I have made known to you."   John 15:14-15   NKJV

We have a relationship with Jesus. He is our friend; our brother; He is also God. Notice how He no longer calls us servants. He recognises us as His friend. Further to this, He trusts us with all the Father tells Him. We have a special place with Him and it's about time we recognised this. He is our friend and we have a relationship with Him. He even sent His Son, Jesus to die for us. What a friend!

A relationship is the condition of being related and associated. This is certainly true of us. We have been adopted into God's family:

'For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry, ABBA FATHER. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.'  Romans 8:15-16

We are connected by blood - the blood of Jesus that was shed on the cross. We have a connection with Him. In fact, it is a particular type of connection and involvement that we have. He has made it possible that we will share eternity with Him. So therefore, we have a close relationship with Him. What a privilege that is!

You've just read Jesus' words, we are friends of God, we have a deep friendship with Him, one in which He will never leave us; never cast us aside. He will never talk behind our back, gossip about us or be anything but a true friend. 

We have a partnership with God. He is our Father and through Jesus, we have a membership with Him. We are members of the Kingdom of God. 

You may be reading this and thinking that you never had a father. You never had the close father-figure in your life. However, you now have. You have been adopted into the Family of God and you have a Father to beat all fathers. He will never let you down. It may be that you have lost your father, the best thing in your life. God knows how you feel, He really does,  and wants to build you up and heal the hurt. If you'll allow Him too. 

As a Christian, you have a relationship with Your Heavenly Father- a relationship of child to a parent. He recognises you as His friend, no matter what you have done in the past. Through Jesus, you are classed as 'Not Guilty,' and you now belong in the Family of God, and Your Friend - Jesus, will walk beside you wherever you go. That's a promise!

Copyright 2019 Grahame Howard 

dailylifewithjesus@protonmail.com

Persecution

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"Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in Heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."   Matthew 5:11-12 NKJV

Whenever one becomes a Christian there will be a day when persecution comes your way. It is all around us. The devil doesn't like us - at all. Therefore, he will drag up false accusations against us so that our names will be tainted and we will lose our integrity.

One only has to look in Genesis 39 where we see Joseph being enticed by Potiphar's wife for sexual pleasures. Joseph refused and finally ran out of the house to escape from her seductions. However, she grabbed his garment as he fled and then used this as false evidence to accuse Joseph of attempted rape. For this false accusation, he was imprisoned.

Christians all over the world are suffering persecution and brutal crime just because of their faith. In some countries, some Christian men are executed because they will not deny Jesus. Some of the women and children suffer rapes and also death. The world is evil, especially towards the Christian.

We have to be so careful what we do and say, especially about areas such as,  homosexuality. I personally have been accused of homophobia because the bible says that God finds this act an abomination. (Leviticus 18:22/20:13). Note that it says it is the act, God finds an abomination, not the person. God loves the person with all of His heart. And so should we. We are not called to judge anyone, especially because of their choice of sexual partners. They have free will the same as we do. We as Christians, do not have to agree with their life style though. And that is our choice. It is not homophobia, it is down to our faith and our choice. As I say, I was called a homophobic because of my faith. The devil loves to twist things and leads us into problems.

We will suffer persecution as we make a stand for Jesus. If they murdered Jesus, on the cross, they will not stop with us. We represent Jesus. We are His ambassadors here on earth and therefore, it comes with a price.

However, look at the end of the book - we win! And with a great reward too. If you're suffering for your faith at this time, do what the scripture say -Rejoice because great is your reward. 

Copyright 2019 Grahame Howard 

dailylifewithjesus@protonmail.com

Keep on Praising

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"I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth."  Psalm 34:1

This verse means Praising God on a continual basis; not just when things are going well but at ALL times. That's the hard one. It's easy to Praise God when things are going our way. However, when we walk through the storms of life, it's not so easy.

But we shouldn't let life steal our song - that joy and praise. Things do come along that knock our faith but we need to keep on keeping on. Praise is the answer.

Let us do a little self-analysis here. Ask yourself, 'how do I react to life events that knock me sideways? Do they affect my walk with God.' A lot of us can become floored when storms hit us; and let's be honest, often the last thing we want to do is Praise God. However, this is exactly what we should do. Not Praising God for the storm itself, obviously; but for the fact that God is still on the Throne and he will carry us through whatever we face.

Now this is the total opposite to what the devil wants to do. He's a thief (John 10:10.) He's a joy stealer and he will do all he can to rob us of our faith and hope. When we react positively - Praising God, the devil is defeated and has to flee because he can't bear to hear us praising God. He has to flee and fathom out what he can do next to attack and rob us next time.

Whatever, you are going through at this time, offer that Sacrifice of Praise to God (Hebrews 13:15. As you do this, Jesus will meet with you and hold you up and help you through the situation, until all is well.

Make sure you are daily wearing the Armour of God (Ephesians 6:14-18) and continue to stand. He is worth it!

Copyright 2019 Grahame Howard 

dailylifewithjesus@protonmail.com

Deeper into Jesus

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"Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch."  Luke 5:4

Peter and the others, had been out all night fishing, and they had caught nothing. (Luke 5:4-9.) Jesus told Peter to go out again but this time to go into deeper waters. Peter explained, patiently, that they had toiled all night and it had been fruitless. 'Nevertheless, at Your Word, I will let down the net.' As he did, he had the biggest catch of fish, he had ever had. In fact so great a catch that the boat began to sink at the weight of the catch.

You see, God knows best. He saw Peter cleaning the nets and noticed how disappointed, tired and frustrated he was. After all, this was his livelihood. He decided to change this in an instant and blessed him. He can do the same for you too. When we go deeper, God blesses our obedience. He knows best. One word from Jesus changes everything. 

At times, we don't want to do what God is asking. For various reasons, we can't be bothered. Peter may have felt that way too but he went ahead and obeyed and that's the difference.

A Palm tree grow very tall and its roots go very deep - searching for water. It needs this to survive so it goes to great lengths to extend its roots into the deep and then it is rewarded. (Psalm 1). Are you getting the picture? As we go deeper into Jesus, we find all we need. We find a connection with God that will never allow us to be uprooted, barren or blown away.
Likewise, we need to go deeper in order to get closer to God and prosper (Psalm 1:3). 

Probably you have been tired and frustrated with you life, just lately. Disappointment may be uppermost in your thoughts. You may be feeling that your time will never come, nobody cares anymore, anyway. Yes, they do. Jesus does! Get closer to Him, in fact go deeper than you have ever done before. Then as God speaks words of encouragement to you, obey Him and you will benefit greatly.

Copyright 2019 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesus@protonmail.com

Reactions

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"A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger."  Proverbs 15:1. NKJV

This area is covered greatly in sermons, books and bible commentaries. But if we don't overcome it, then God will continue to expose us to this teaching until we do. We all struggle in this area from time to time. Driving behind someone who is driving ridiculously slow can provoke some pretty harsh words from the one who is following.  Trying to overtake and and nearly crashing the car is one kind of anger fallout, to avoid. Then there is the car park. You queue for hours and just when a space becomes available, someone nips in there very quickly. The blood in your body can be bubbling as you mouth off at the other driver and they give you one of those strange hand signals.

Then there's the person in the supermarket queue - the one that's the items of ten only. Someone comes along with a trolley load of shopping and starts passing them down towards the till. No one says anything but inwardly, you are fuming. You start counting how many items she has. When you see she has 25 different bits of shopping, instead of 10, you try catching the cashier's eye, but they're not saying anything. Eventually you keep staring at the customer, really hoping that she is going to be evicted from the store and banned. However, noting happens. Except, that is, she now catches you eye-balling her and rudely asks, 'What are you looking at?' Pretty soon you have a feud on your hands.

All of this could have been avoided if you had used the soft answer option. However, you opted for the harsh word option and things had gone crazy.If you are a Christian, you know that this behaviour is unacceptable; common to us yes, but unacceptable. 

Does this sound familiar? If so, what should you do about it? I heard of a vicar with a reputation for having a short fuse, who blasted off at a young couple. This vicar was driving home from various appointments when this couple cut him up and slow-timed him all the way. He was livid, and shouted at them, sounded  his horn and repeatedly flashed his headlights at them. But this made no difference. After shouting abuse at them again, the couple gestured at him rudely, slowed down even more and turned into the vicar's drive. He was horrified as he followed behind. He then realised that this was the couple who were getting married in his church in a few weeks time. He told me that he had to do some quick thinking to quieten this down. But alas, the damage was done and he had used the harsh word syndrome instead of the soft answer one.

Don't be like him. Allow the Holy Spirit to help you overcome this area. It is not good and paints a bad picture

Copyright 2019 Grahame Howard 

dailylifewithjesus@protonmail.com

You can do this!

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"O taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him.:  Psalm 34:8

I was in a shop the other day when I saw a sign that I felt was quite profound. It said:
'If you don't try, you'll never know.' This made me think of the above scripture. You have to taste God - try Him out. Unless you do, you'll never know how good He is and what He can do in your life. It's rather like if you buy a new chocolate bar because someone told you how tasty it is. Unless you taste it yourself, you'll never know if what they're saying is true. I used this phrase as an example when I was doing an essay, years ago. The person who marked it, wrote over my essay, 'Jesus is not a chocolate bar.' The thing is, I never said he was, but I have used this lots of times when I've been describing how one has to taste and see how good God is, and it's worked every time. I wrote this on my essay and sent it back, but I never received a response.

At this time, you may be swamped with questions such as"

What is God asking you to do?
What is available to you but it is so scary if you went for it?
Shall I go for this new job?
Shall we move house to another area?
Am I being called to the ministry of Jesus?

You nearly always have a choice but what shall it be? It's easier to stay in the comfort zone but at a later date, you may regret not taking the opportunity. It is so scary. However, do you trust God? Your answer may be, 'Yes, but..? That word 'but' can be so negative and debilitating. It causes chaos to our thinking. If you're going to go for it, you really need to analyse this word; try and work through the fear it brings up, and move forward.

Dare you take the risk? If God is in this, you know He will not let you down. He's opened a door and no one can close it (Revelation 3:7-8) Why not taste and see how good God really is and GO FOR IT. It may be the best decision you've ever made.

Copyright 2019 Grahame Howard 

dailylifewithjesus@protonmail.com

The Future

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"Let not your heart be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am you may be also. And where I go, you know, and the way you know."  John 14:1-4 NKJV  

This is the future but with God, time is eternal, there is no measure of it at all. It just stands still. Read about this in 2 Peter 3:8: 'But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.' When we die, time has finished for us. For those who are left behind, time still goes on and they miss us. For us, we have entered into eternity. Time has ceased. It's an amazing thing.

Jesus has gone before us and is preparing a place for us to live. Now it only took 6 days to create this world and it's a pretty good place to live; what about Heaven? Jesus has been preparing this for some two thousand years. It must be truly amazing! It'll be everything that home is intended to be, and more. Home here on earth is a special place for us; there's usually no place like it. Home is the place that homeless people long for. That place of security; that special place. they long for this, and many never seem to find it again.

Jesus will return. there is no doubt about that. It is fact! 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 says: 

'But I do not want you to be ignorant brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again , even so, God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you, by the Word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from Heaven  with a shout, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then, we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.'

The words, 'caught up', actually mean rapture. This word is not in the bible but it means that the church - His people, will be caught away to Heaven, firstly the dead in Christ and then the living - all who have trusted in Christ and who await His return.

Some will be seized; snatched away; caught up in the air. The Lord's coming will have a three fold announcement"

(1)  A loud Shout
(2). The voice of an archangel
(3). And the trumpet of the Lord.

There's a three fold promise:

(1)  The dead will rise
(2). Those who are alive will be caught away
(3). We'll be with the Lord forever

Don't you just want to be there? It will be a glorious day and don't forget, we should be preparing for it now. It could happen any day. No one knows, not even Jesus, when that day will come. We may be talking with someone and all of a sudden, be snatched away to be with Jesus. It may sound ridiculous, but trust me, it's the truth and it will happen.

Are you going to be prepared and ready? It can only happen to you if Jesus is your Lord. Please don't get left behind. It'll be too late then.

Copyright 2019 Grahame Howard 

dailylifewithjesus@protonmail.com