Don't leave God out

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"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths."  Proverbs 3:5-6

How often do we leave God out of our everyday lives? We go on holiday and we may be tempted to not talk or listen to Him in great depth - having a week off from God situation. We may have something pressing that we need to sort out. We may think that we know the answer to this so we refrain from consulting with Him about this in the first place.

And yet, the above scripture says, 'In all your ways acknowledge Him - .' Being a Christian means just that; we are supposed to consult Him in everything. Not because He is some imposing boss who demands to know what we are planning. No, not at all. It's because He knows the way forward - in everything and He so much wants us to make the right move and the right decision.
However, if you're anything like me, I start off with good intentions but because I live life in the fast lane, I need to be doing and getting on with things. Sometimes, I haven't the time to stop and see if what I intend to do is the right thing. I just assume that it is. And that, is the problem!

Rushing into something, rather like a bull in a china shop, is counter-productive. The only thing it serves is picking up the pieces of a wrong decision, which may be costly. I expect that I'm not the only one here. When we ignore the advice to 'Lean not on your own understanding,' we're heading down the wrong path. I have lost count of the times that I have been driving and think that I know the route. I have thought, 'I don't need to switch on the Sat-Nav and I don't need to bother God with such a trifling question of where to go. I know the way." Wrong, I have soon found out after several wrong turns, that I don't know it all, but God does.

It's the same with our lives. If you imagine God as a 'Spiritual sat-Nav,' just for the moment. When we tune into Him, by prayer, then he will give us the directions of where or how to go.  If we don't tune into Him - by not praying, we end up in a diabolical problem at times.

It's far better to ask Him the way forward. It saves many a headache.

Copyright 2019 Grahame Howard 

dailylifewithjesus@protonmail.com

Don't get puffed up

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"Then the seventy returned with joy saying, 'Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your Name.' And He said to them, 'I saw satan fall like lightning from Heaven. Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in Heaven.' 
                                                                                                          Luke 10:17-20.   NKJV

When we do something for God and it works out well, we are pleased - in fact blessed and ecstatic that things were great, and it was us that did it. However, we must remember who we're serving - God, not us. He deserves the Glory not ourselves. We just need to be grateful that He uses us and that is all.

It's so easy to want praise ourselves. When we've preached or led worship or done some other work for God, we almost stand there expecting people to come up and say, "Well done - that was excellent etc etc" Or perhaps, "you led us to the throne of God today, with your worship." If we don't get it, we can become a little upset or demoralised. In other words, we begin to feel puffed up and expect the credit.

It wasn't wrong for the seventy disciples to be joyful for what they had accomplished. However, we need to remember that satan became puffed up in Heaven and wanted to take over from God, until he was evicted. Jesus was just gently reminding them that the main thing is that their names were written in Heaven and that was their reward. 

It's natural, when we're serving God to feel good about it. We wouldn't be human if we didn't feel that way. However, taking the Glory that God so deserves is not. Be joyful and grateful that God use us, yes, but let us remember that He trusts us to do the work He has chosen us to do, and that is all. Let's give Him the Glory and be grateful that our names too, are written in Heaven.

Copyright 2019 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesus@protonmail.com

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