Wednesday, 8 April 2020

Nearing the Day

"Let your eyes look straight ahead, and your eyelids look right before you."
                                                                                                Proverbs 4:25.  NKJV

Time was getting near. Jesus had entered Jerusalem. He taught His disciples; prayed with them and reassured them, even though they were not fully convinced of what lay ahead for Jesus.

However, It was constantly on Jesus' mind. He knew what was ahead. He knew what He had to do and even though His humanity must have kept getting in His way. He determined that He had to do His Father's business and die on the cross at Calvary. He kept His eye on the road ahead, despite the distractions and His endless feelings about it all.He went ahead. It must have been a daunting task as He focused on it, in His personal times of prayer.

Stop a moment and remember the times where you have had to go to places that you really didn't want to go; to do things that you wished you didn't have to. If you remember, it was a daunting and scary time; a time where you would have possibly traded anything not to have to face this. Day and night it had been on your mind. You had sleepless nights and during the day you couldn't focus on anything else. It had taken over everything.

Now multiply this by many, many times, and you may have a fraction of an idea of just what Jesus was going through as He walked towards that inevitable day. People praising Him, others jeering Him and even one of His own, stabbing Him in the back by plotting to betray Him for a fee. And yet, He knew all about it and could have stopped it all in a moment if He had chosen to. But He had a mission to fulfil; and so do we!

The next time you are tempted to throw in the towel and walk away, remember Jesus. Remember how He took the flak; remember how he remained faithful to His Father and His friends. 
Remember Him!

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Tuesday, 7 April 2020

YOU NEED TO PRAY!

"If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land."         2 Chronicles 7:14.  NKJV

 It really couldn't be clearer than that, could it? As a people, we need to humble ourselves - no matter how embarrassing for some people it may be. God responds to humility. We need to pray and seek Him and repent of all the things that we know we have done, that are wrong. God will then hear our prayer, forgive us and bring healing to our world.

 In this Coronavirus time, we need to hear this. People are dying all over the place. It is affecting the young and the old. Even our own Prime Minister - Boris Johnson was taken to hospital and is now in intensive care.

 It is time to face the fight. Yes there are things happening that take our focus, such as people not obeying rules of lockdown and going to beaches and parks. Even a prominent Scottish government officer was caught visiting her second home - twice. Yes it is annoying but let us not lose our focus. While we focus on these matters, other people are dying. We need to pray and seek God's help and mercy. It is getting serious. God is giving us a wake-up call - He is our only answer! Seek Him - NOW!
Let us start here:
The Lord's Prayer

Our Father, which art in heaven,
Hallowed be they name;
Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done,
in earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day, our daily bread,
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive them that trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the Kingdom,
The power and the glory,
For ever and ever, Amen

Come Lord Jesus Come, and help us in this time of need.

Copyright 2020 Grahame Howard












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Monday, 6 April 2020

Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD

"12 The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem 13 took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him and cried out, 'Hosanna, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!' The King of Israel"                                          John 12:12-19.  NKJV

 It was Passover, a week before Jesus was to die brutally on the cross at Calvary. Crowds of people were everywhere. Some were following Jesus, others had heard that Jesus was coming and wanted to see this great figure who had raised Lazarus from the dead. Surely this was the coming conquering king who would set Israel free.

 They lined the road with palm branches and their garments and were shouting, 'Hosanna, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD. In Hebrew, they were shouting 'Baruch Haba, B'shem Adonai', which is translated Blessed is He who comes in the name of LORD. They were welcoming their King, the Anointed One - the Messiah. And they shouted out these praises as loud as they could. It's quite ironic really, because in just a weeks time, many of them would be shouting for His death. Such is man.

 Jesus decided to make the entry into Jerusalem riding on a donkey. This was in line with the words of Zechariah:

 'Rejoice, O people of Zion. Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look your King is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious , yet He is humble, riding on a donkey - riding on a donkey's colt'
                                                                                Zechariah 9:9.  NLT

 This was a deliberate claim by Jesus to be the Messiah. To our world, riding on a donkey was lowly and despised but in the Middle East, the donkey was a noble animal. Many elegant people rode on them. A king came riding on a horse when he was intent on war. However he came riding on a donkey when he was coming in peace. Jesus' action demonstrated that He was not coming as the mighty conquering warrior as they expected, but as the Prince of Peace. However, they did not see this at the time; no one understood.

 Jesus enters our lives bringing peace. He takes away the hurt, the confusion and the fear. He is our peace and wants to demonstrate this to us on a daily basis. He doesn't Lord it over us, although He would be very entitled to. Instead, He comes to us and humbly offers His friendship; a friendship that can mean so much in troubled times such as we are living through at this time.

 He knew what lay ahead for Him - pain, abuse, torture and then murder. However, He refused to shy away from this because He loved you and me so much. Therefore, He made the journey to Jerusalem listening to all of the false praises from people who would jeer and laugh with the others, as He died in agony on the cross in a few days time. 

 Isn't that one act, worth saying 'thank you,' and giving your life to Him?

 Copyright 2020 Grahame Howard








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Sunday, 5 April 2020

Failure can lead to success

"But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use, have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil."
                                                                                    Hebrews 5:14.  NKJV

 The word, 'use', can be recognised better by the word, 'practice'. Solid food is something that we recognise as we become of 'full age', or more mature in God's Word. This is never easy and takes quite a lot of practice. In fact, if we're honest, we never stop practicing to become a more mature Christian, because we mess it up on a regular basis. Failure can come quite easily in a Christian's life; but as we become more mature we learn to deal with it.

 Kenneth Copeland says:

 'Failure is an acceptable part of success. Don't receive failure; count your attempts as practice. This way you'll succeed.'

 In other words, practice makes perfect. Thomas Edison was famous for his many quotations. One that comes to mind here, is:

 'I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.'

This was a comment he made many times as he was perfecting the electric light bulb.

 Many, many times we determine that we are not going to make the same mistakes again. Instead, we are going to learn by them. We often say things such as, 'I'll never do that again.' But mostly we do and we end up in the depths of despair as we consider ourself a total failure. 'I'll never get it right.' Well you're wrong. You will get it right because God says so:

 '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

 What God is saying to you today is, 'You're not a failure - keep pressing on. Never give up. I will get you there.' 

 God doesn't make total failures, He creates people who may take some time to get it right and who make many mistakes along the way, but learn by them until they get it right. 
So, you're not a failure, but a magnificent work in progress!

 Copyright 2020 Grahame Howard














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Saturday, 4 April 2020

Is this the end?

"8 Be sober, be vigilant, your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world."
                                                                               1 Peter 5:8-9.  NKJV

 Just for the moment, ask yourself, 'Could this be the end? 'Is Jesus about to return and God is giving us all a wake-up call?' It's food for thought. Yes, we know God is greater than the Coronavirus ; we know He can blow it away with one puff. But the answer to this is quite uncertain.

 Yes, we have all the scriptures pointing to God protecting us and I believe everyone of them. However, if God has decided this is the end, then there really is nothing we can do to stop the rapture.

 Whatever the answer is, we need to get into position. If you're a Christian, then you are a Soldier of the Living Army of God and He has called you up. You're on active service. As I see it, there are two main routes that we need to recce:

 ROUTE 1
Pray and keep praying. Put on God's Armour and continue to stand. (Ephesians 6). If the Coronavirus is a major attack from the enemy, then take possession of it. Hit it with every prayer that you have within you. Refuse to give up. Refuse to get sick. Refuse to surrender and Refuse to doubt. You are covered in the blood of Jesus. remember that!

 ROUTE 2
Tell people about Jesus - your friends, your family, neighbours, the milkman and whoever else. If this is the end, Then they need to know Jesus, otherwise they're lost. This is not a game - it is serious. Each one of us has the ability to bring people into the Kingdom of God. If they die without Jesus, they'll be eternally lost.

 My purpose in writing this is not to panic or scare anyone; the Coronavirus has already done this. No my purpose is from God. I strongly believe God is wanting everyone of His people to become aware of the present circumstances. This is the biggest attack on the human race since WW2. Whatever the outcome is to be, we just don't know. What we do know is God is saying 'BEWARE THE ENEMY IS AROUND'(Paraphrased from above).

 So whatever is going to happen, get on your knees and pray like you've never done before. Get your lives right before Jesus and be filled with His Spirit.
Say this pray with me now, even if you've said it many times before:

 'Lord Jesus
I surrender my life to You and ask that You will forgive me all of my sins and be My Lord and Saviour. Fill me with Your Spirit now.
In Jesus' Name. Amen'

 Now will you please share this piece with as many people as you can. May this Word go viral as it reaches the world, bringing Salvation and Peace.

Copyright 2020 Grahame Howard











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Friday, 3 April 2020

The 'if' word

"If You are the Son of God.."                 V 3 of Luke 4:1-11   NKJV

 Satan has the audacity to approach Jesus and say to Him, 'If You are the Son of God.' If he is disrespectful to Jesus, you can bet your bottom dollar, he will be the same to you, probably worse.

 In this passage, Jesus had been led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After Jesus had fasted for 40 days, the devil came to start the temptation. Note, the devil will always come at your weakest moment (remember Eve as she looked at the forbidden fruit in Genesis 3). Jesus must have been very hungry after such a long time and the devil came with the tempting words, 'If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.' To most people, this would have been hard to resist. Jesus was no different, remember He was in human form. 

 Think back to the times when you have been at your weakest and the very thing you want, or even crave for, is offered on a plate. It's not easy to resist; but Jesus used the Word of God to deal with this, 'It is written.' This is why it is so very important to read our bibles. If we don't know the Word, how can we use it when we need it?

 Here the devil uses the word, 'if,' three times. In verse 3,'If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.' Again in verse 6, 'If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down.' Finally in verse 9, he uses the word differently, 'All these things I will give You, 'if' You will fall down and worship me.' 

 The word, 'if' can imply doubt or probably, as used here, 'since'. Used towards Jesus both would have been disrespectful. One would have been stating, 'I doubt that You are who You say You are.' The other, a very loose term of, 'Since You claim to be the Son of God.'

 This very small word can pack a very large punch. Many of us are tempted to say, 'What if this happens?' or 'What if I pray for him and he isn't healed?' It's a word that we would benefit from using sparingly. It is similar to the negative part of the word, 'but'. 'Yes, I will do that, 'but,' I'm not sure it'll work.' When we speak doubt, we do without! 

 If you use the 'if' word lot, try changing how you say something. We need to choose our words wisely, 'For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.'  Matthew 12:34. Make the abundance positive by using God's Words that forge a way forward, not words that negate any form of faith that you have been taught.

 Copyright 2020 Grahame Howard







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Thursday, 2 April 2020

Where did the baskets come from?

"And they took up twelve baskets full of fragments and of the fish."
                                                                                    Mark 6:43.  NKJV

 We often read the account of Jesus feeding the five thousand. We are also familiar with the fact that, the disciples gathered up twelve baskets full of leftovers. We are used to reading this and probably don't give it much more thought than that. However, where did the disciples get the twelve baskets from? There's no mention of them having them prior to this feeding taking place.

 Looking deeper into the Jewish people's lives, we find that every Jewish man, carried a basket with him, wherever he went. The Romans often made fun of the Jew and his basket. The basket, which was made out of wicker was shaped rather like a narrow-necked pitcher which then broadened out to make a bigger space. There were two reasons that the Orthodox Jew carried one of these baskets; firstly he carried his own food supplies in the basket. This ensured that he would be eating ceremoniously and clean and pure food. Secondly, many Jewish men at the time, were accomplished beggars and they would place their begging proceeds into this basket. This could well be the reason of the phrase, 'a begging basket.'
The reason there were twelve baskets was obvious, there were twelve disciples. It was into their own baskets that they gathered up the fragments of food so that nothing would be lost.

 From this account, we see that Jesus does not want things wasted. He knows that wastefulness, does not glorify God, especially when there is so many famines throughout the world.
Jesus not only supplied the five thousand people with much-needed food, but He also gave back a harvest to the young boy who had given up his lunch in the first place and then supplied His disciples with the food that they needed too.

 In Jesus' supply, He takes great care that all His people are catered for and demonstrates that as we, 'Seek first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, all these things will be added to you." (Matthew 6:33). Furthermore, in John 10:10, we're told that He gives abundantly, not only with a full life, but also with everything we will ever need.

 Whenever, we find ourselves in need - our money is running out and we have large bills to pay, we're short on food and clothing and the car also needs taxing, try and relax. Then seek God with these needs. He is committed to you and as you seek His help, praising Him all the time, He shall provide all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19).
Therefore, if your basket is empty fill it up with praise and watch Him supply!

 Copyright 2020 Grahame Howard















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