It's your fault, not mine

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"9 Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, 'Where are you?' 10 So he said, 'I heard Your voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.' 11 And He said, 'Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?' 12 Then the man said, 'The woman who You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I ate.' 13 And the LORD said to the woman, 'What is this you have done?' The woman said, 'The serpent deceived me and I ate.'
                                                                                                       Genesis 3:9-13. NKJV

What a catalogue of blame. Adam blaming God and then the woman and the woman blaming the serpent. No one willing to take the responsibility and own up to their failings.
Blame really is the ability to put the responsibility of something onto another person instead of owning up to the problem and putting it right.

Here we clearly see that that the serpent tricked Eve into eating the forbidden fruit. But let's not forget, Adam was standing right there with her. He should have stopped her right there and then. But he allowed her to do what God had said not to do, and he as well, ate the fruit. 

When God asked Adam if he had eaten from the tree, he didn't even admit that he had done this. He blamed firstly Eve, but then he quickly went on to tell God that He had given him the woman in the first place. 'You gave her to me, God, really it was your fault'.  How impertinent was that?

This reminds me of a man who would not accept an invitation to go to church, no matter how hard anyone tried. When finally asked why not, he replied, 'Because my mum forced me to get up early on a Sunday morning, have a bath, put on my best clothes and then go to Sunday school. When I became older, I said that no-one, including my mum, would ever force me to go to church ever again. Really, it's understandable when we first hear this story, but the sad thing is, he is blaming his mum for this. This blame stops him from taking the responsibly for himself and deciding whether to go or not.

We could all come up with similar things that have happened to us- things where we blame someone else for what happened, and this prevents us from moving forward. Young people may have been taught to steal at a younger age by some other child. This may have developed into adulthood and the person may be saying, 'It wasn't my fault. It was so and so who taught me and made me do it.' But, he could have changed this if he had taken the responsibility.

We need to wise up and stop passing the buck. We need to take responsibly for our actions and determine that whatever has happened to us in life, it doesn't have to be a part of us any longer. You can say, 'I pass this over to God. He is great at taking my cares.'

Have you been blaming someone for something that has happened to you? Isn't it time to let it go; to take the responsibility that, whatever has happened, it will not stop me from moving forward with God.

Copyright 2019 Grahame Howard 

dailylifewithjesus@protonmail.com

Know who you are

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"I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me."                                                                   Galatians 2:20 NKJV


Basically, we are saying here, 'I died to the law when Jesus died on the cross. He died in my place on the cross, so it is like it was me up on the cross. He died, and I died to the law when He died.' This comes from the fact that when we are baptised - submerged in the baptismal waters, we symbolically die with Christ, are buried with Him and then risen to a new life in Him. It is no longer we who live, but Christ lives within us. This is why when someone knocked on Martin Luther's door and asked to speak with Martin Luther, Mr Luther told him, 'Martin Luther no longer lives here, only Jesus Christ.'

We die to self and that is the best thing to do. Really, our old life has gone, we have been made new and raised to a new life. This is what Jesus wanted; to die in our place so that we could be free to live a new life, in Him.

For some it is difficult to get their head around this but really, Jesus, chose to take the sin of the world on His shoulders and die in our place, so that we could be free. Pretty good really.

This is the way that we should live from this day forward. We are no longer who we originally were, we have died to that and been raised to a new life in Jesus. Yes, we are still the same person, with the same name but, in spiritual terms, we belong to Jesus, we have taken His Name upon ourselves. We are in Him and He in us.

This is why we should not let trifling things bothers us. We have far better things to do. In Jesus, we have the power to bring people to a knowledge of Jesus too- just like we were once introduced.

When I was doing my ministerial training many years ago, we used a course that was called Evangelism Explosion. This course was designed for people to knock on people's doors or speak to them in the street, asking them questions about God and Heaven. One very important one was, 'If you were to die today and go up to Heaven and be asked by the person on the gate,"Why should I let you into Heaven, What would you say?' It would be no good to answer, 'Well I've always been good and led a quiet life.' It would also be no use in answering, 'I've read my bible through twice and been to church all my life.' That also would be no good. The only answer that would be acceptable to God, would be, 'Because Jesus is my Lord and Saviour. He has forgiven my sins.' That would open the doors into Heaven.

We need Jesus. We need to say, 'I have been crucified with Christ.' We need to wise up because, one day, we are going to be asked some question such as this when we die. Can you honestly answer, 'I have been crucified with Christ. He is my Saviour and He has forgiven my sin.' Honestly, can you answer this? Are you certain that you will go to Heaven? You can be, but only if you know Jesus.

If not, use this prayer:

'Lord Jesus, pease forgive me my sins. I ask You to be my Lord and Saviour; to fill me with Your Holy Spirit and be my friend. Amen.

If you have said this. You are born again. Please let me know.

Copyright 2019 Grahame Howard 
dailylifewithjesus@protonmail.com

Will I ever get it right ?

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"being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you, will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ."     Philippians 1:6. NKJV

When God starts something, He finishes it too! If there is a beginning, there will be an end. Look at this verse again. He has begun a good work in you and He will complete it. 

Spurgeon says:

'Where is there an instance of God beginning any work and leaving it incomplete? Show me for once a world abandoned and thrown aside, half-formed. Show me a universe cast off from the Great Potter's wheel, with the design in outline, the clay half-hardened, and the form unshapely from incompleteness.'

This work in us will not be finally complete until the day of Jesus Christ, or in other words, when we go to be with Him. Until then, we're a work in progress. No matter how hard we try to perfect our failings, we will always be unsuccessful. We should though keep trying and never give up.

We'll still mess things up now and again. For some of us, that may be every day. But some works in progress are harder than others. Think of jobs we do. Sometimes it all fits in place, yet at other times, it can be very difficult indeed. But we don't give up. We continue until the job is complete and that is what God does with us.

This very morning, we may have blown it big time. We may have lost our temper and said some unsavoury words. We may have had an argument with a neighbour or spouse, or perhaps, a fellow motorist complete with those strange hand gestures that we can do at such times. But whatever we may have done, we're still a work in progress and God gives us His Grace to try again, forgiving all we do.

Don't think that you're the only one who can't get it right. We're all the same at times. Don't forget there's the 'Behind Closed Doors Syndrome.' I call it that because we often seem fine and upstanding Christian people in church or the community. But when we're home, behind those closed doors, we can become more relaxed and unguarded. This may be when the real 'us' seen. Gents, ask your wife about that. I'm sure she'll have something to say about it.

Joking aside, we're all like this at times and we're all works in progress. We'll get there though and when we do, we'll be perfect. But there's not a chance we'll be like that until then. 
So accept yourself for what you are; try to make some changes, yes, but don't beat yourself up in the process.

Copyright 2019 Grahame Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesus@protonmail.com

Are you burying your talent?

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"And to one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. But he who had received one, went and dug in the ground and hid his lord's money."                              Matthew 25:15-18.  NKJV

A talent was not an ability (though this parable has application to our abilities), but a unit of money worth at least $1,200 in modern terms, and likely much more. “The talent was not a coin, it was a weight; and therefore its value obviously depended on whether the coinage involved was copper, gold, or silver.” (Barclay)

Although this parable refers to money and the looking after and investing of it, I would like us to look at the talent that we are more familiar with - our gifting and talents. The two have quite close similarities.

God gives each one of us talents to use. Now for some, these may be the gift of making money or becoming and accomplished artist, photographer, singer, musician or actor. Just to name a few. Many people flourish in this gifting and become very popular and even wealthy. They discover that they have  a particular talent and go to full lengths to make this happen. Universities, colleges and other training complexes are full of these type of people. The ones who recognise their talents and are determined to bring it about. 
I was listening to an album the other day and the singer and composer of the song - Randy Edelmann, sang: 'While the other boys were out playing with their footballs, I was home banging on the keys; but it took me right where I am, this is me, playing the piano.' (Copyright Randy Edlemann.) Basically, what he was saying was that he knew he would be a popular singer, writer and musician and therefore, instead of going out all the time with his friends, he practised until he was good enough to be a star. That is using the talent that we are given.

Others may be like the person in our text, who was very cautious with what he had been given and instead of biting the bullet like the others, and investing it, buried it in the ground and just left it there. What are your talents? We have a natural flair for something but do we use it. Many people sing on Karaoke nights and are very good, but that's as far as it goes. they do no more. Many people have been given breaks in life but have decided against going ahead with the chance that has been offered. Others know what they want and are the ones that we see in the media or in the local news, prospering in some business or other. Many others talk about using their talent, but that is all they do, talk about it.

Again I ask, what are your talents? Are you using them or have you buried them for some reason or another? God gave you this talent and will open the door for you to be successful with it, whatever the talent may be. Don't look back on your life when you're elderly and be sorry, wishing you had done what you know you should have. It'll be too late then. Many elderly people look back on their lives with regret, thinking, 'If only I'd have done that.' We all have talents and probably we all tend to bury them at times. But you, know that there is this burning passion within you to do something. You know what this is, but how? Give it to God, He is great at opening doors.

Don't join the many people who look back with regret. Do it now!

Copyright 2019 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesus@protonmail.com

Seeking approval

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"For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ".  Galatians 1:10.  NKJV

Some people are born with super-thick skin and have the innate ability to resist seeking the approval of others. Yet there are those of us who’ve struggled with people-pleasing most of our lives. We sometimes forget the most important stamp of approval comes from God.  

Seeking people's approval about what we do can be a form of insecurity. We need to be wanted; to be recognised and be accepted. Therefore, many of us do things just for this sake. If we preach a sermon, the temptation can be to await appreciation from people afterwards. If we don't get it, it can hurt our pride. We may even be tempted to tone the sermon down so that it doesn't offend anyone. 

In certain circles, we may hide the fact that we are a Christian so that the people we meet don't think that we're weird. This can happen very much in families where the rest of household are unbelievers. We can therefore be tempted to not speak about our faith. This can also follow us to school or our place of work. People may find out that we're a believer and ridicule us for it. That can be unpleasant so we avoid letting them find out.

Some of us may spend our life trying to please a supervisor at work. We may go in earlier than we should and stay way behind time after work. To a degree doing things over our work schedule is very commendable but not, if we're trying to be a people-pleaser instead of a God-pleaser. We have it back to front. God wants the first place in our lives not people.

Many people are shy and don't put themselves forward for things. They hide behind others and stand in the corner on their own while others are in conversation. Does that sound familiar? I can be a little like that. Some of us need to be the centre of attention and will make sure that we're heard above anyone else. We need the attention. 

God understands all of this and wants to work with us to help us be more secure in all we do. He doesn't want us striving to get noticed; doing things that will make us look good to other people. He wants our attention and He wants us to be honest with Him; to be honest with ourselves. I believe that if God were to write you and I a song, the chorus would go something like this:

'You're accepted, yes you're accepted, you're accepted by the one that matters most.'

Just say these simple words for a moment. Let them settle all over you and into your heart and mind; in fact, your very soul. You are accepted by the one that matters most. Say it out loud to yourself. Write it down somewhere that you'll see it everyday. Stick it up in the kitchen. You don't need anyone else's approval, you have His. You don't need to be insecure any longer, He will build you up as you spend more time with Him. And you don't need to hide your faith away, embarrassed about what others will think about you. Who cares what they think, anyway? It's what God thinks and says about you that matters. 
And He says, you're accepted by the one that matters most.

Copyright 2019 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesus@protonmail.com

God is so good

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

He truly is so good to all who trust in Him. Have you tasted how good He really is yet? You see it is so easy to feel that God is some great figure in the sky, who is unapproachable. But that is the wrong view of Him completely. He is interested in all that we do.

Rather like parents love to hear what their child has been doing at school and see the pictures they have drawn, likewise, so is God interested in our day and what we have been doing during it. He's our Father which in Aramaic is pronounced Abba Father which literally means Daddy.  (Romans 8:15). He is our Daddy and He wants to be recognised as such. In fact, he loves us more than our own parents could ever love us, even though that may be difficult to imagine. Yet it is true.

He's interested in the large and important things in our lives; but He's also interested in the smaller things too. I have been searching for a particular vinyl album for some years now but it had always evaded me. The other day, I saw it in a store but sadly, when I went to purchase it, it had gone. I couldn't believe it. It was understandably, quite disappointing. However, the very next day, my wife mentioned a record store that I had never noticed before, so we visited there. Guess what, I found it. It was the only one in the store and was a limited edition with a picture disc. How great is that? God knew that I wanted this album but He wanted me to have the best and waited until it was available. When it was, He led me to it. This is how good God is and how much He is interested in the less important things, to others, but important to us.

We need to see Him as our Daddy, more and more but not at the risk of forgetting that He is God and should be treated as such. He is not Santa Clause, but He is our friend. It is so heart-warming to realise that the God of the Universe, the God who created us and the world we live in, wants to spend personal time with each of us.

Have you tasted and seen that the LORD is good? He wants that personal relationship with you, right now. Why not spend some quality time with Abba Father - Your Daddy.

Copyright 2019 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesus@protonmail.com

"I can smell Fire"

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"When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven , as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance."  
                                                                                                    Acts 2:1-4. NKJV

Let's check out the phrase, 'With one accord.' It basically means 'together', or in fellowship. The Greek is a word called Koinonia, Which means being so together in fellowship, that the believers are cemented to each other and to the Lord Jesus. That is true fellowship at its best.

They were enveloped with the Holy Spirit - a rushing mighty wind that completely swept over them with such a great power that they had never known before. Also tongues of fire fell on to each one of the them - the fire of the Holy Spirit, again so powerful that they began to speak in tongues - strange languages to what they were used to. Roger Vines, author of The Vines Expository Bible, writes: 'Where the wind of God blows on a church, the walls of resistance topple, and that church is well on its way to becoming great.'

The fire of the Holy Spirit, cleanses and purifies the church. It burns up the dross and the pride. We've heard of the fire of God, as seen here, falling on many places and God is getting ready to send an even greater fire on His people and He wants us all to be ready for this. Look at the phrase again in verse one, 'they were all of one accord in one place.' They were joined together, supporting each other in true unity. Things happen in our lives when people get their lives together in such a way. When people are in harmony with each other, and with God, the Holy Spirit can work wonders and church meeting places flourish.

David Guzik says:  

'They were gathered together sharing the same heart, the same love for God, the same trust in His promise, and the same geography. Before we can be filled, we must recognise our emptiness; by gathering together for prayer, in obedience, these disciples did just that. They recognised they did not have the resources in themselves to do what they could do or should do; they had to instead rely on the work of God.'

The people were there, ready and waiting and were devoted to each other. They had experienced the Holy Spirit, but what was about to happen to them would be a life-changing experience, a purification with power that would lead them for the rest of their lives serving Jesus - the Baptism of The Holy Spirit. This is what God wants for us all. He promised to send it to us. However, to be filled in such a way as these early Christians were - with fire, we have to be in a similar place - of one accord. God cannot fill an unclean vessel. It's time for us all to get our lives right with Him. Because the Fire of God is coming, that life-changing, rushing wind of the Holy Spirit is about to fall. May it fall on us.

Get ready, it is coming!

Copyright 2019 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesus@protonmail.com