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
Monday 27 July 2020
Sunday 26 July 2020
Don't fall short
"Pursue peace with all people and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. (15) looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble and by this many become defiled." Hebrews 12:14-15. NKJV
How do we fall short of the grace of God? We hold on to things such as:
UNFORGIVENESS. Someone hurts us and causes us much pain and heartache. In return we harbour unforgiveness towards them. At times such as this, we need to remember that, if we don't forgive, neither will God forgive us. (Mark 11:25-26). It's a dangerous place to be in.
RESENTMENT. We can tend to resent certain people, especially those who have hurt us, and we begin to hold a grudge. Every time we see them from thereon, the grudge gets bigger.
DESIRE TO GET EVEN. To be able to survive in this world, life has taught us to stand up for ourselves. If someone does us a wrong, then we need to get even with them. Many battles are fought over trying to get one back on someone who has hurt us.
BITTERNESS. If we're not careful, when all of the above are not addressed and dealt with, bitterness springs up. It begins small but eventually becomes unmanageable, the root is so deep.
We are all prone to these areas. As soon as something like this begins to take hold, we need to deal with it immediately. If we don't, it will take hold of us and taint our walk with Jesus. Thankfully, Jesus knows how difficult things can be, the difference being, He didn't fall into it. Every part of Jesus showed grace to all He met. Hebrews 12:3 says, 'Consider Him who endured such hostility lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.'
Jesus took it all and still produced grace to all who hurt Him. We may be tempted to think, 'Yes, but He was different, He was God.' Yes that's true but He was still human at the time; He bled and He showed emotion. The difference was He demonstrated hesed -God's mercies, goodness and peace, wherever He went. He showered people with hesed, therefore, His Father honoured Him and gave Him the ability - the strength, to carry out His mission.
And He will do the same for us, but we need to deal with these four areas: (1) Unforgiveness, (2) Resentment, (3) Desire to get even, (4) Bitterness. It's not easy to shrug these areas off, but it is achievable with Jesus' help. Let's all give it a go!
Copyright 2020 Grahame Howard
Saturday 25 July 2020
Submission
"Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you."
James 4:7. NKJV
Basically, submission can be classed as giving in, or accepting the situation, yielding or surrendering. From one point of view, it is rather like weakness - we can't do it without help - and that's it in a nutshell. As Christians, we daily need God's help because if we try to go it alone, we'll fall flat on our face. The enemy loves to tempt us to go it alone. He does it to make us have the, 'I don't need anyone' syndrome. This is why we need to resist him and we do this by submitting to God. When we do, the devil flees. When we trust God from a humble, surrendered heart it disarms the devil. He can't understand it.
CS Lewis in his book, The Screwtape Letters, is warning some of his junior demons and says, 'We are never in greater danger than when they look around and all traces of God have forsaken them, yet they still choose to obey Him'.
This is classic submission. We give our all, our everything to Him, and we are blessed and reassured that whatever happens in any day, He will take care of it. I like what E Stanley Jones says, 'Surrender to Christ or you surrender to chaos'. When you stop and consider this, it is very true. Many times we become involved with something and rush at it without even consulting God in prayer. And many times, it may go wrong. This may be something that you need to manage better.
Galatians 2:20 gives us a great example of being submitted to Jesus:
'I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.'
By accepting this, we confess that our old lives are dead and we are now alive in Jesus, submitted to Him in such a way that He takes control of everything and can be seen in us wherever we go.
Actually, it's a good verse to confess every morning. Confessing we are alive in Jesus and our old life is now dead. Do you know that dead men don't react? It is true and a great example of how we should be living for Jesus - No Attack - No Defence - No Reaction. We are in Jesus and He is all we need!
Copyright 2020 Grahame Howard
Friday 24 July 2020
Zip the Lip
"Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers." Ephesians 4:29. NKJV
Are you a grumbler? I think it is something that we are all susceptible to quite often.When things get on top of us and catch us unawares, we can turn into a whinger. We need to watch this area because, a glance in Exodus 16 & 18 shows us that grumblers died in the desert. A humbling thought. They were never satisfied with what God gave them. 'Well, that's different,' you may say. But it's not; our bodies are Temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19) and it is so easy to grieve Him (Ephesians 4:30). Therefore, we need to be aware of that.
A corrupt word is when something is decayed and rotten; so when we speak a word that isn't becoming of a person of God, we may be uttering decay. How do we do this? Well telling jokes is one way. We can be tempted to use graphic language to attempt to make the joke funnier. When we're in certain company, it is so easy to drop our guard and allow ourselves to 'fit in' with the crowd. It isn't about 'fitting in' with the crowd, but 'standing out,' in the crowd; that should be our goal.
We don't have to live such sanctimonious lives that we shut ourselves away from all but Christian people. If we did that, how would people get the opportunity to hear about Jesus? But we do need to be an example. This is when people see there is something different about us. One of the biggest problems are our words - what we say and how we say them. When we are not in control of our mouth, we can tend to criticise, moan or even say unkind words to people when they upset us. Take for example, when we're driving. Someone cuts us up, drives erratically near us or even honks at us. If we're not careful, a barrage of unedifying words can be spoken and once out, they can't be taken back.
Does what you say build people up? Do you bless them when you speak? Does what you say build you up? After all, you're a hearer of your words too. It's an area that perhaps we all need to work on. Oftentimes, we need to zip the lip until we can allow something good to come out.
Let us be aware that, 'Death and life are in the power of the tongue and those who love it, will eat its fruit.' (Proverbs 18:21).
If you can say something good - then say it. If you can't, then zip your lip until you can!
Copyright 2020 Grahame Howard
Thursday 23 July 2020
Stand Your Ground
"O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you." V16
Daniel 3. NLT/NKJV
Nebuchadnezzar had built a golden image that stood ninety foot high by ten feet wide and he had commanded everyone to bow down and worship it. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused and the king was enraged. He threatened to throw them into the fiery furnace unless they obeyed him. "And then what god will be able to rescue you from my power.' V15.
The young men told him, 'God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning, fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand.' v17. Note that they said, God was able to deliver them but they added that He will deliver them from the king's hand. Basically, they were saying, 'God will deliver us, but if He doesn't save us from the fire, He'll save us from you, O king'. They knew that they may have to be thrown in the fire but they had the faith to know that, somehow they would be ok. They trusted God.
God is just as able to deliver you from whatever fire you may face. Trust Him - He is able and very willing to help. However, you might have to go through the ordeal. But, take heart, He'll be with you. Bob Gass wrote, 'When God doesn't deliver you immediately, he'll be your thermostat in the furnace.'
Notice that Jesus was with them. The king saw a fourth person in the fire (3:25). He said that He was like the Son of God. This was a Christophany - a preincarnate appearance of the Messiah. He was with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fire and He will be with you too, in whatever situation you find yourself in or have to go through.
As scary as some situations can appear, there really is no need to worry about anything at all. Things may get hot when you make a stand for Jesus. Some say, 'when you play with fire, you'll get burnt,' but when you make a stand for Jesus, He will recognise this and not one hair on your body will be singed and there will be no smell of smoke either.
You may be in a difficult situation at present, but don't compromise your faith. Don't let anyone make you do what you know you shouldn't do. Make a stand, whatever the cost and Jesus will be right beside you.
Copyright 2020 Grahame Howard
Wednesday 22 July 2020
Take the right way
"But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's delicacies nor with the wine which he drank Daniel 1:8. NKJV
Daniel refused to defile himself with the king's meats and wine. It was a forbidden act for a Jew. He therefore humbly requested that he and his three friends could have vegetables and water instead. After a ten day trial, it was accepted that this was an acceptable diet for them. (1:15-16).
Charles F Stanley says, 'We should never compromise. Godly obedience begins with absolute commitment to honouring God above all else. When we purpose in our hearts to put God first, then the particular temptation or challenge cannot control us.'
This was quite a dangerous thing for Daniel and his friends to do. They were captives in a hostile country with a domineering king. This could have been a fatal issue for them. However, God was with them and Daniel was trusting Him in his new governmental role as an advisor to the king. He knew that trusting God meant looking beyond what we can see, to what God sees, (Romans 4:17 and 2 Corinthians 5:7). For us to serve God properly, we too need to walk by faith and not by sight. Sometimes, the things we see are not very nice and can appear quite daunting. This is where our faith kicks in.
When we have an attitude such as, 'I can do this;, then nothing can stop us from fulfilling what we set out to do. We may not accomplish everything we hope for but we'll be that much further ahead than when we started. It's having that, 'get up and go', that counts.
We've probably all had times when we've been close to rock bottom - when things have not gone our way. But be thankful that you're still here and have another chance to get it right. God is right beside you, but you must determine that you will never compromise; you will never go against what you believe. Stand up and make a declaration - 'I'm going to conquer this. I have God beside me and nothing can stop me from trying to get back on my feet - I'm a winner!'
Don't go the way of the world; go the way of Jesus. He knows the road ahead and if you will only let Him, He will show you the way too!
Copyright 2020 Grahame Howard
Tuesday 21 July 2020
Your Faith Part 2
"Do not be afraid, only believe," Mark 5:36. NKJV
Why didn't Jesus comfort Jairus when people from his house came to tell him that his daughter had died? Because fear robs a person of faith. Jairus had come to Jesus fully assured that Jesus could and would, heal his daughter. Jesus didn't want him to lose that faith. Instead, He challenged Jairus to remain faith-filled.
Regardless of our circumstances, God will always urge us on to faith and away from fear. This can be seen in His comments to the woman with the issue of blood. 'Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be healed of your affiction.' (v34). Also, in the example of the wind and the waves obeying Jesus, He said, 'Why are you so fearful?' (Mark 4:40).
Be aware, faith offends many people. When we talk about faith stuff, they look at us as if we're crazy and an alien from another planet. They have no concept about Jesus healing people today, let alone, raising them from the dead. But it happens. When they hear about this, they try and explain it away coming up with many reasons why a certain thing may have happened. These people will rob you of your faith. Avoid them, they're doubters and robbers of faith. We get an example of this in Genesis 3:1. The serpent said to Eve, 'Has God indeed said that?' This left Eve confused and these people will do the same to you. Keep a wide berth.
Faith and fear can never operate together, they're opposites and repel each other. Before we can really trust Jesus, we have to decide to put away fear.
Jesus said:
'ONLY BELIEVE'
(1) Don't try believing and being afraid at the same time. Doing this, fear will take over.
(2) Don't try to believe and figure it out at the same time. You'll never do it, fear will take over.
(3) We have to trust Jesus when everything around us seems hopeless. If we don't, fear is released.
Oftentimes, it all appears daunting. It's not easy hanging on to your faith when all around you is crashing down; but it really is the only way if we want victory.
Whatever is happening in your life, take Jesus' words to heart. 'Do not be afraid, only believe.'
Copyright 2020 Grahame Howard
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