"Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus." v14
John 20:11-16. NKJV
This is a blog that centres on Jesus Christ - my Lord and Saviour. My aim is to describe how He has helped over the years, together with offering daily teaching and encouragement
Sunday 12 July 2020
Saturday 11 July 2020
Have Amazon got it?
"but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst." v14
John 4:13-15. NKJV
In the past four months or so, during Lockdown, it has been difficult to get essentials from stores. In fact, we have had to queue for ages to find, half of the things we require, are not on the shelves.So some of us have had to shop online and that too, has brought problems when the things we ordered, have not turned up. It's been a time of frustration but, hopefully, this is in the past now.
Quite often we have been tempted to buy essentials from Amazon, and I dare say many of us have done this. They have practically everything we need and can be relied on. Or can they? They may have most things that the average human being needs but not everything. What about peace? Amazon may well give us peace of mind in being able to fill the gap where other stores have failed to help us, but are we at peace? Is the peace of mind everlasting or short-lived until the next order?
Amazon may well have met our needs materially and we are very grateful for that. But it is not everlasting. It is not eternal. We have to keep on ordering if we want to keep the peace of mind. Do you remember the Samaritan Woman at the well? Jesus told her about the water - Living Water, that will never run out:
'Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, (14) but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him, will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. (15) The woman said to Him, 'Sir, give me this water that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.' John 4:13-15
This is the major difference, the world's way of looking after us is stunted, it can only serve us as long as we order. What Jesus offers us is far more permanent; far more reliable and far more beneficial. The Samaritan Woman realised this when she asked Him to give her the water so she wouldn't have to keep returning for more.
We're still not completely out of Lockdown yet, but Jesus has all we need to survive this and whatever else may come against us.
He never runs out of things!
Copyright 2020 Grahame Howard
Do you know the password?
"Lift up your heads, O you gates! And be lifted up, you everlasting doors! And the King of Glory shall come in." v7 Psalm 24. NKJV
In this incredible day of technology, we have passwords for everything; in fact, so many that we forget most of them. But they are vital for opening doors online or in buildings. We can do nothing without them.
Really, it was no different in David's day. He wrote Psalm 24 to signify the ark of the covenant returning from Philistine hands into the Israelites hands. (2 Samuel 6:11-18) It was assumed that when a king approached the gates of a city, a voice would cry out, 'Open the gates.' The reply from inside would be, 'Who is there?' 'It is the king.' The doors would then open.
The term, 'the King of Glory shall come in,' v 7 was fulfilled when:
(1) The ark of the covenant returned to Jerusalem
(2). Jesus ascended into Heaven Acts 1:9-10
(3) And when and individual's heart opens to Jesus as King Rev 3:20
When God is welcomed with open gates and doors, He is pleased to come in. When we draw near to Him, He draws near to us. James 4:8. But this is where the password comes in - Jesus. He is the password; He has the key to Heaven. We'll never make it without the key; we'll never make it, if we neglect the password. The question may be asked - 'Who is this King of Glory?' Our answer must be Jesus.
But we need to clean up our act! We need to change things we know are not fit in the Kingdom of God. 'What things?' You may ask. The things that make us feel overwhelmed with guilt when we've done or said something we know to be wrong. V3-5 says, 'Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place? (4) He who has clean hands and a pure heart. Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol. Nor sworn deceitfully. (5) He shall receive blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.'
It is clean up time! A time for refining our walk with Jesus. We have the password and we have the invitation. If we stood before a king, wouldn't we be clean and spruced up. We need to be more so for Jesus.
Copyright 2020 Grahame Howard
Don't blow your own trumpet!
"God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. (6) Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time."
1 Peter 5:5-6. NKJV
When you've done something for God that you're really pleased with, do you seek other people's praise and approval? We all like to be appreciated and thought well of, so consequently we look for praise from people for what we have done. When we do this, we become a trumpet player, announcing to whoever will listen, our latest feat. This can happen if you preach a sermon, lead worship or perhaps give a prophecy. However, God does not want us to be this way.
It is so easy to become proud and arrogant, only doing what we choose to do not always what God has in mind. We may find ourselves saying things like, 'I'll preach but I'm not sweeping the car park or washing up. I know my ministry,' God resists this type of attitude.
One of the main things God looks for in us, is submission. Submission to Him and to His Word. We should also be submissive to each other not thinking higher of ourselves. A closer look at Jesus will give us an idea of what true submission is. He put others first and was always willing to help when He was asked. He became angry at times, yes, but it was righteous anger, the type that confronted people from making a mockery of the temple by trading in there. He also became righteously angry with the Pharisees, who treated people like second-class citizens. But He also had compassion. Look how he dealt with the young woman who was caught in adultery (John 8). He showed her the love and forgiveness of God. He didn't wag a finger at her, or rule over her, He was just honourable; something she had probably never seen in a man and something that would be life-changing for her.
He was submissive even to the cross, knowing the pain He would suffer but realising there was no other way to give each one of us freedom and a new life. He never once blew His own trumpet. He didn't have to, others did it for Him. They saw His works, His love and compassion and they wanted to be with Him.
Play another tune on your trumpet, such as, 'Jesus is Lord, Thine be the Glory and Amazing Grace'. Allow Jesus to give you His approval, not others. That is the highest honour.
Copyright 2020 Grahame Howard
Thursday 9 July 2020
'God, it's not fair'
12 “Look at these men of arrogance; they never have to lift a finger—their's is a life of ease; and all the time their riches multiply.” 13 Have I been wasting my time? Why take the trouble to be pure? 14 All I get out of it is trouble and woe—every day and all day long! Psalm 73:12-14 Living Bible
Asaph appears to be having a right old whinge at God and what he says, we can easily identify with. There are times when we feel just the same - taken for granted, trod on and left out of things, where others prosper and are thought well of. We can well identify with Asaph's words, 'Have I been wasting my time? Why take the trouble to be pure? All I get out of it is trouble and woe - every day and all day long.' (v13-14) We all go through times when we feel if serving God is worth it, especially when we see people who are not Christians, and don't serve the Lord, living in comfort and prosperity, while we do serve God and at times are scrimping and scraping. We can then easily utter, 'God, it's not fair.' However, our obedience to God is never in vain. Asaph reminds us in Psalm 73:16-19 that we are reaping a harvest in eternity. The rich and yet unsaved, may be having a great time with their wealth and sinful living, but it will all come to an end one day. What they sow they will reap and if they don't reap Jesus, then it's all been in vain and they will spend eternity - lost! As for us, things may be tough at present but be joyful; things will get better and we have an eternity with Jesus to reap.
'Yes but - .' But nothing. Used in this context, the word, 'but', is so negative so try to leave it out of your vocabulary. Only speak words that will build yourself up. (Ephesians 4:29). Phrases such as, 'I'm fed up, bored and can't see the point in anything', are so negative and will only drag you down. Try this kind of approach, 'I'm a bit down today, but God is still on the throne and I praise Him for that.'
Joy is strength. As we praise God and begin to feel good about ourselves, we become stronger and more able to get through temporary setbacks. Things will always come against us, but like David, encourage and strengthen yourself in the Lord. (1 Samuel 30:6-8) God is fair, very fair and that is only one of the many benefits of being His child. Whatever we go through, He walks beside us and wants us to involve Him in this , especially when we come against a problem. Why struggle when the King of kings is by your side?
Copyright 2020 Grahame Howard
Wednesday 8 July 2020
Are you a Mary or a Martha?
"(39)And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard His Word. (40) But Martha was distracted with much serving - "
Luke 10:38-42. NKJV
Lazarus' sisters, Mary and Martha, were opposites. Martha was diligent to the extreme in her house chores; Mary wasn't lazy, she just wanted as much of Jesus as she could get.
Jesus was visiting and true to form, Martha wanted everything in place for when He arrived. When He did, Mary sat at His feet (v39) feeding on all He said. This was a posture of Jewish scholars while listening to the Rabbi's. This, Paul mentioned in Acts 22:3, when he wrote that he was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel.
Martha didn't do anything wrong, she was just distracted from Jesus by her work. She also wanted Jesus to tell Mary to help her. Martha's biggest problem was not Mary, it was herself. She was becoming irritable because she felt she had so much to do and Mary wasn't helping her. The thing is, Mary had learnt what to do, 'sit at Jesus' feet.' Hardworking Martha, still had to learn this.
At times, we can be so absorbed in what work needs to be done that we miss out on what Jesus wants of us. Many times, He just wants us to sit at His feet and learn, be encouraged and built-up. However, guilt can kick in as we feel that we should be doing this or that and the work takes first place.
There is enough time in every day for every purpose. (Ecclesiastes 3) and it's a matter of getting the balance right. Obviously, if we have a job, there are time commitments and we need to be there to fulfil our task. If we're at home, then perhaps there may be a degree of freedom in our schedule. It's just a matter of fine-tuning.
The warning signs are - if you are becoming irritable and stressed out because you have so much to do, and the workload is taking you from time with Jesus, then you have it wrong. You need to re-group your thoughts. Ask Jesus to show you the best schedule for your day.
Copyright 2020 Grahame Howard
Tuesday 7 July 2020
There may be trouble ahead
"And Noah began to be a farmer and he planted a vineyard. (21) Then he drank of the wine and was drunk and became uncovered in his tent." Genesis 9:20-21. NKJV
After all the mighty work that Noah had performed for God, the last thing you would have thought, that he would go and blow it. But blow it he did. It just goes to show, that no matter how great a work we do for God, we are still susceptible to sin and that sin can lead us to do things we never thought we'd do. Here Noah, after the work of the ark, has settled down and started farming. With this, he has constructed a vineyard and thus, his 'brew your own days' have begun. Noah either didn't know the strength of the alcohol that he had made, or he had begun to enjoy it and decided to go a little further each time. This particular day, Noah has become so intoxicated that he has passed out. His son Ham goes in and finds his father crashed out and naked on his bed. From there, whatever happened we don't know. What we do know is that he went out and told his two brothers about this. Shem and Japheth took a garment with them and walking in backwards, covered their father's shame. Later 'Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done.' (9:24) He then cursed Canaan, who was Ham's son. Why would he do this? David Guzik comes up with a couple of suggestions:
'It may be Noah was abused sexually by one of his sons or relatives. (Ham?) Other's think Ham's only sin here was in seeing Noah's drunken, uncovered state, and that he made fun of him, mocking him as a father and as a man of God. The Hebrew script literally says that Ham,"told with delight", what he saw in his father's tent. He determined to mock his father and was undermining his authority as a man of God. As Noah knew what his younger son had done to him, this seems to indicate that whatever happened to Noah, it was more than one of his sons or grandsons seeing his nudity. This explains the strength of the curse.
David Guzik Enduring Word
Whatever happened that day to Noah, was of his own making. He took his eyes off the Lord and took an evening off. This all goes to prove what I wrote the other day, about the Christian Walk. We don't step from Egypt to the Throne of God. There's a wilderness in between and that contains giants, and that's where the problems begin. We have to watch every step we take. We can't afford to take time off from our faith. Relax yes, but not at the risk of leaving Jesus out of the equation. He needs to have the central part of our lives - every moment, of every day.
Sadly, we will blow it at times. As careful as we may be, there will be times when we drop our guard; we're human beings. However, if we train ourselves to avoid certain areas that we know are our weaknesses, we will be better placed. We all have weaknesses, and we know where we can let ourselves down. So, avoid them. It would be unwise for someone with a major drink-related problem to frequent a bar. There would be too many temptations. In the same manner, we too should avoid the areas that we know are our weakest. It just makes sense.
Thank goodness, we have Jesus who we can turn to and either ask for help, in our time of need, or confess that we have blown it and receive forgiveness. Where would we be without Him?
Copyright 2020 Grahame Howard
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