Get your attitude right

"Do all things without complaining and disputing, (15) that you may become blameless and harmless children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you shine as lights in the world, (16) holding fast the Word of life."                                                                                               Philippians 2:14-16.  NKJV

Our attitude says it all. If we're not careful, we can begin finding fault in most things we come across in our life. We can dispute what someone says, especially if we're listening to a preacher who we find difficult at the best of times. 

Our remit here, is to be blameless which means to the best of our ability, living without fault. Difficult I know but with Jesus in our lives, achievable. Our text above, also says that we need to be 'harmless children of God.' In other words, we need to live innocent lives wherever we go. 

We live in a world that is perverse and wicked; a world that is full of people who practice, one-up-man ship. This means it's competitive and people want to appear better than the other - at everything. The world is full of sin - adultery, pornography, theft, child and elder abuse, murder, drugs and terrorism, just to name a few. There is attitude wherever we look, so the world doesn't need us to add our bad attitudes to this as well. 

At times, our attitude can be awful. With our mouth we praise God and with our mouth we berate people who we don't particularly like. This has got to change. We are already in a world full of darkness. If we are children of Light (Matthew 5:14), then we need to shine like a beacon; we need to be that light in the tunnel of darkness. 'Yes, but what difference will it make? We're only one person, they won't take any notice anyway.' We don't know what difference it'll make and its up to the people whether they take notice or not. We're called to shine in this dark world, and that's what matters.

One of the things that we can change is our attitude. When we whinge, moan and complain, honestly, we're no different than the world. When people see us this way, there really is nothing to recommend. They'll think, 'If that's Christianity, I'll stay the way I am.'

Do you get the point? We need to be above reproach. We need, to the best of our ability, to live so that people don't have ammunition to point the finger at us. Think, if a light is not working properly, pretty soon the light will fail and the place will be plunged into darkness. In the same way, we need to ensure that our light does not malfunction, by letting our guard down and becoming involved in worldly issues and things that are no good for us.

A good place to start is by changing our attitude. Why not read and pray Phillipians 4:8:

'Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy - meditate on these things.'

Copyriight 2020 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesus@protonmail.com

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com  

         

Robbers of your faith Part 2

"Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me."                                  Mark 10:46-52.  NKJV

Today, we'll look at another example of robbers of your faith. Jesus was on His way to the Passover and this meant walking through Jericho. At this time of year, many gathered on the side of the road as it was the custom that a distinguished Rabbi or Teacher, on making this trip, would preach as they walked along. Everyone was expected to attend the Passover but it was not always possible for this to happen. Therefore, they would wait at the side of the road to try and hear what God was saying through the preacher.

Bartimaeus was probably one of the first to find a place. He had done this many times as it was a good place to do his begging. This time though, he had been told that Jesus would be walking through, someone he desperately wanted to see. What Bartimaeus had was not just a vague desire to see Jesus but a desperate desire. He knew that this urgent desire would be noticed by Jesus. It is this type of desire for Jesus that gets God's attention.

He started calling out repeatedly to Jesus as He walked past, 'Son of David, have mercy on me.' v47. He became so vocal in using this acknowledgement of the Messiahship of Jesus, by calling Him the Son of David, that people near to him, warned him not to do this and to be quiet. The people were berating his faith in Jesus so much, that it became intimidation along with threats. Bartimaeus was adamant, he would not be robbed of this once in a life time chance of meeting with Jesus. Nothing was going to stop him.

It worked; Jesus heard him and called him over. Despite being blind, Bartimaeus shot up and made his way over to Jesus. He knew what he wanted and that Jesus could provide it. Jesus said to him, 'What do you want Me to do for you?' He replied, 'Rabboni, that I may receive my sight.' Jesus replied, 'Go your way, your faith has made you well.' Bartimaeus was instantly healed, and the only way he was going to go now, was to follow Jesus.

Notice once again how the robbers of faith used their intimidation to stop Batimaeus from receiving his healing. He was in faith, but they considered him, just a reject. The fact is, Bartimaeus could now see. He wasn't a reject to Jesus, he was special, the same as you and I. He could easily have been pushed over, beaten or even trod on, before he went over to see Jesus. But he gave that no thought. He knew Jesus had the answer to his predicament and he was not going to lose the opportunity that was there for the taking.

In church services, many hold back from going forward when there has been a prophetic word concerning a certain condition or a call for salvation. They know that they should go forward, and they want to, but they're frightened. Someone may laugh at them, or point the finger. The enemy may have mentioned to them, this is all a con. 

We should always take the chances that God gives us. One day we may run out of chances. Bartimaeus knew that this was probably his only chance, it may be yours. Take that step towards Jesus, despite what others may say or think. Receive your healing, let Jesus commission you to preach that Word, or even make that step towards working for Jesus. You'll never know if you allow people to hold you back.

 Copyriight 2020 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesus@protonmail.com

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com  

Robbers of your faith

"(39) Why make this commotion and weep? The child is not dead, but sleeping. (40) And they ridiculed Him "       

                                                                                                           Mark 5:21-43.  NKJV

Wherever you go, there will always be at least one person who will ridicule your display of faith. You see, the devil is the author of lies, deceit and ridicule. He has come as a thief to try to, steal, kill and destroy whatever God is doing. (John 10:10). So it is understandable that he will use who he can to cast doubt, humiliation and intimidation on what God is leading you to do. Just stop and think for a moment, you will have met at least one of these people. The devil uses them to rob people of their faith.

In this passage, we see three examples of this in action. Firstly, in verse 31, we read, 'But His disciples said to Him, "You see the multitudes thronging You and You say, Who touched me?' Now this brings it home to us, even the ones we trust and associate with, may bring doubt to what you're doing. The disciples were not deliberately trying to rob Jesus of His faith, not at all; but through their logical reasoning, they were doubting Jesus had read the situation properly. People that we're close to may do this to you. They may be genuinely in covenant with you, but they still try to convince you that you have it wrong. Take Jesus' example. He ignored the doubt and did what He had to do; and the woman was healed.

Again in verse 35, we see Jairus waiting for Jesus to come to heal his daughter. Suddenly, some people from his house, come telling him not to bother Jesus any longer, his daughter had died. This had the power to totally destroy Jairus. Jesus seeing this, said to him, 'Do not be afraid, only believe.' In other words, don't listen to the robbers of faith - trust Me.

Finally in verses 39-40, we see the professional mourners outside of Jairus' house, ridiculing Jesus because He had told them that the young girl was sleeping, not dead. One can almost hear them laughing and sniggering at such a statement. However, this didn't stop Jesus, He went into the house after clearing out all of the doubters, and raised the young girl back to life. Note that Jesus would not have doubters around Him as He performed this miracle. They were already laughing at Him; to attempt to do ministry in such circumstances, would have been difficult.

You too, if not already, will come up against the doubters - the robbers of your faith. Do not let them intimidate you. They use very convincing words and if you're not careful, they will make you feel inadequate and you'll lose all of your confidence. Don't let them do this. You have a ministry. You may not be a leader in a church but Jesus has given you a commission. Fulfill it, despite the comments that come against you. Refuse the intimidation; you do not need their approval because you have God's. That's all you need, so do what he has called you to do.

Copyriight 2020 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesus@protonmail.com

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com  

Walk in the Spirit

"I say then, 'Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. (17) For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.'   

                                                                                                       Galatians 5:16-17.  NKJV

We try so hard not to let God down but, despite all our efforts, we end up letting Him down anyway. What can we do? Answer, keep on trying, never give up. Don't lose sight of what God is doing within you, He wants to bless you every way He can.

When we grieve the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30), we'll be the first to know, and that is fact. We have an overwhelming feeling of guilt and sadness - a strong heaviness. From one point of view it's good to know this as it confirms we belong to Jesus; if we didn't belong to Him, we wouldn't care. However, from the other side of the coin, it is not good to know that we have grieved the Holy Spirit and hurt Him deeply, because then, we have a feeling of being alone, like the Dove - the Holy Spirit, has flown away, as I mentioned in my commentary entitled The Dove on 6th September 2020. 

https://dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com/2020/09/the-dove.html

We need to start developing a sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, so that we will do nothing knowingly to grieve Him or bring Him displeasure. First of all, let us try to:

(1) ACKNOWLEDGE THERE'S A BATTLE GOING ON. In other words, be mindful at all times, that as a Christian you are a target of the enemy - the devil. He will do all he can to rattle your cage.

(2) ADMIT YOU'RE POWERLESS AND SUBMIT TO GOD. We are powerless without Jesus (John 15:5) and it is God's desire that we walk in the Spirit; but we need to be tuned in to Jesus.

(3) EXERCISE SELF-DISCIPLINE. Be honest with yourself, you know the difference between right or wrong. You know it is dangerous to become involved with things that are unwholesome. Therefore, stamp it out of your lives.

(4) REMEMBER, IGNORING THE CONSEQUENCES BRINGS DISASTER. Denial is the wrong route to take. Telling yourself that, 'it'll be all right, no one will know,' is a recipe for disaster. Many people have done this and lost everything. It comes down to living for self. 

Just like Regular Soldiers need to exercise to keep up their fitness, we too, as Soldiers of Jesus, have to do the same. Living for self has to be exterminated. I rather like what Bob Gass writes about self:

S.E.L.F

(S)  Surrender to Christ daily

(E)  Empty yourself of anything that hinders you from doing His will.

(L)  Lift up your heart to Him

(F)  Feed on His Word                           Copyright 2010 Bob Gass The Word for Today

Jesus knows it's a struggle, so He is with us every step of the way. Thank God for that!

Copyriight 2020 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesus@protonmail.com

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com  

Don't leave it until tomorrow

"Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth." 

                                                                                                              Proverbs 27:1   NKJV 

"Leave it until tomorrow. I'll do it then." How many times have we heard this; or how many times have we said this, or similar? Procrastination rules at times. We tend to put off doing something, because it doesn't appear important to us at the time.We can be prone to delay a task because of lots of reasons. I was brought up with the rule, 'Never put off until tomorrow, what can or should be done today.'

It can be something small, rather like a gardening job or it may be something quite important. With the gardening job, if it is raining 'tomorrow', it is then delayed further, until it becomes quite urgent. With the more important issues, delaying something until tomorrow could mean the job never gets done. You see, we never know what tomorrow may bring. Sadly, for some, they may not have a tomorrow, so delaying something important such as vital paperwork, including preparing or signing a will, may promote big issues for those left behind.

Stop and think for a moment, hasn't Lockdown taught us anything? The Coronavirus Pandemic, spread so rapidly and Lockdown came basically overnight, that there wasn't much time to prepare or contemplate the predicament. One moment it was a daily forecast of what had and would be happening, the next, panic as everyone was forced to comply with the guidelines and the legal restraints. We're still not out of this awful problem as the virus looks like causing further deaths and greater restraints on what we had taken for granted as our normal way of life.

It's time to wise up; we don't know what tomorrow will bring for any of us. Many people are gambling with their salvation. Some believe that they will be going to Heaven when they die -'everyone does' they say. How wrong they are, and what a shock it will be for those who defer until tomorrow, their chance of eternal life.. Putting this off until tomorrow may be too late.

Unless we ask Jesus Christ to come into our lives, repent of our sins and live for Him from that moment, we are livng on a chance - it's like spinning a coin. The gamble is too risky; much too costly as it will be too late to change our minds when we die. Today is the day, not tomorrow. Tomorrow may never come because we do not know what each day may bring. 

Are you certain of salvation. If you were to die today, would you have a place in Heaven? It would be guaranteed if you know Jesus as your Lord and Saviour. If not, you will not make it. Hard words I know, but I didn't write them, the Holy Spirit did. (John 3:16-18). To be certain of your place in Heaven and an amazing time prior to that with Jesus, pray this with me:

'Lord Jesus, I ask You into my life. Please forgive all of my sins, I'm sorry Lord. Would You please fill me with Your Holy Spirit and be my Lord and Saviour from this day forth. Amen.

Now determine to live for today - one day at a time!

Copyriight 2020 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesus@protonmail.com

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com  

Don't let the praises stop

"Therefore, by Him, let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name."                                Hebrews 13:15.  NKJV

When things are going well for us, we can praise God fully from our hearts. It is no hardship, it just flows from within us. However, when things are not so good, it can be like wading through mud, we just do not feel like praising. Thoughts such as, 'I don't want to praise God, I'm not in the mood; in fact, I don't even want to go to church today, or ever again’

Praise should never be governed by our emotions. God is worthy of our praise whether we feel like praising Him or not. This is where the term 'sacrifice' comes in.

The Greek word for sacrifice is thusia which comes from the root thuo, a verb meaning to kill or slaughter for a purpose. Praise often requires that we 'kill' our pride or fear or anything else that threatens to interfere with our worship of the Lord. However we may feel on any given moment, we should never allow outside distractions or upsets to prevent us giving God what He deserves - our praise, respect and worship, in fact, ourselves. If we don't re-direct our focus, the problem will consume us.

You probably know that it is easier to do things for God when all is going well in our lives. We feel good about it all. But it is when things are not going so well, but we still do them that the sacrifice is made. We don't feel like praying, but we still pray. We don't feel like praising and worshiping God, but we still do it anyway. When we do the things that we really don't want to do, it pleases God and honours Him and we receive blessings.

Don't forget that we are subject to attacks from the evil one. I like what RT Kendall suggests about times such as these:

RECOGNISE.  Are the thoughts we have from God, the devil or are they our own?

RESIST.  Stand up to the devil

REFUSE  to think what he accuses you of. Quote scripture, sing hymns or chorus'. When the devil reminds you of your past, remind him of his future.             Copyright RT Kendall

So we are to recognise where the thoughts are coming from. If they are preventing you from prayer or praise, they're not from God. Are they your own thoughts? This may be due to tiredness, stress or any particular worries. If so, give them to God. Ignore any thoughts that come from the devil, you'll know the difference. We follow a winner - Jesus Christ, not a loser. Offer your sacrifice of praise to God wherever and whenever you can. Don't let anything or anyone stop you!

Copyriight 2020 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesus@protonmail.com

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com  

You need to put in, in order to take out

"Then the devil left Him and behold, angels came and ministered to Him" V11  

                                                                                                    Matthew 4:1-11.  NKJV

Jesus had won a battle; He had resisted the devil's temptations and the devil had run off. James tells us clearly, 'Submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you.' (James 4:7). And this is what had happened.

We can either surrender to Christ or we can surrender to chaos. As we surrender to Jesus and resist all of the evil one's schemings, he will turn away from us and run. Be careful to note though what Luke 4:13 says, 'Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him, until AN OPPORTUNE TIME!

We need to be aware that the devil will not give up; he will come back at an opportune time - a time when we're not expecting him to come; a time when everything seems to be going wrong and we are at our weakest. Be aware and ready (1 Peter 5:8). Learn from the meerkat's behaviour and be watchful and very alert.

As I mentioned earlier, Jesus had won this part of the battle but note how He had done this. He recognised Satan's mode of attack - lies and deception, and He counteracted all of his comments with, 'It is written.'. Jesus disarmed these tactics, triumphing over the situation (Colossians 2:15). 

Let's not forget though, that Jesus was in the flesh, He was just like you and I. Let's face it, when we have had a bad time with attack after attack from the evil one using someone or something to wear us down, we feel shattered. How was Jesus feeling after this encounter? He had been face to face with Satan; He was tired, hungry and possibly cold. And then he had to undergo such an onslaught as this. It's no wonder that angels came and ministered to Him.

Note though, the angels didn't come until after the event. It was something that Jesus had to do - alone, the same as suffering the pain and humiliation of the cross. Let's be aware, on both of these occasions, He could have called for their help, they were there, ready.

Angels are invisibly present around Christians and are appointed by God to minister to believers (Psalm 91:11-12). As we call on God, He releases His angels to come to our aid.

However, the concluding factor here, is that Jesus used God's Word to combat all the devil threw at Him. I make no apology to say again that we have to read and know God's Word. We need to learn and study because you can't give out what you haven't put in. No deposit - No return. Rather like a bank account, if money is not deposited in, you can't make a withdrawal when you need it. Do you get the idea?

Copyriight 2020 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesus@protonmail.com

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com