Jesus is backing a winner - so are you!

"But he being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into Heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus, standing at the right hand of God."                                    Acts 7:55.  NKJV

Many people from the sporting and gambling world, such as horse or dog racing, stand to cheer their chosen animal on. They hope that they have backed the winner and their excitement is such, that they can't help themselves, they have to stand as they cheer to the finish.

Now hold that thought a moment! Jesus is usually described as, 'sitting at the right hand of the Father.' (Colossians 3:1). Yet, here He is standing and you can almost hear His cheers as Stephen makes his stand prior to his stoning. It is almost like Jesus is shouting, 'Come on Stephen - you're a winner.' Jesus knew Stephen had fulfilled his work and now Jesus was giving him a mighty welcome into Heaven. Jesus had backed a winner and so had Stephen!. It would help you to see this more clearly, if you could meditate on this - see yourself as a witness to this happening. It is brilliant to do this at times. Try it.

For many of us, it is hard to believe that Jesus would do this, but it goes to show that He adores us so much. Many may say, 'Yes, He did this for Stephen, but he was special. He doesn't do it for everyone.' Sorry, but I believe He does and here is why. 'God shows no partiality.' (Acts 10:34, Romans 2:11). God doesn't have favourites; if he did, He wouldn't have allowed His only Son to suffer so much on the cross. Surely, He would have found another way. No, God has no favourites; He stood for Stephen and he'll do it for you too.

Isn't that amazing? You wouldn't get the Queen or any other dignitaries, standing for you, but the King of kings - the one everyone, and I do mean everyone, will have to stand before, will stand for each one of His children. Why is this? Because you're a winner and He is backing you. He's backing you in your work, your marriage and relationships, He's backing you in all you attempt for Him, because He knows that you are wonderful.

What is happening in your life at this time? It may be good or not so good. Whatever is happening, He has a solution to enrich you and a plan to bless you and meet all of your need. (Philippians 4:19). You may need a healing touch from Him, you may need finance to pay a large and unexpected bill or you may need a guiding hand in your relationships. Whatever you need, lay it down before Him; call on Him to answer your need. Claim His promises. He's a winner and so are you!  

Copyriight 2020 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesus@protonmail.com

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This is achievable!

"My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." 

                                                                                                           2 Corinthians 12:9   NKJV

When I first realised that I was heading to university, there were times, especially as the days grew nearer, when I would have done anything - swim the Channel even, to avoid doing this. I was in fear. I was coming out of my comfort zone and the constant nagging in my head, that I wouldn't be able to do it was volatile. I was even offered a job that had good prospects and I felt that this would be a better route to take; anything was better than going to uni. However, deep down I knew it would be ok; that I could achieve this, after all, I had passed all of the preliminaries to get a place there. So I gritted my teeth, found strength from God and went on this new journey.

Fear has a way of disabling us. If we allow it to take hold, it will play on our mind so much, that we'll begin to believe the lies about it all. When a fresh challenge comes our way, many people receive it well at first but later, after further thought and sleepless nights, the worry of it all becomes a massive problem.

Does this sound like you? Are you facing a new challenge in your life and it's beginning to freak you so much, that it would be easier to turn it down - to stay as you are? This is a normal feeling; it would be more of a worry if you were too over-confident. Listen, God is wanting to bless you - all the time. Do you believe He has brought this about in your life? Do you feel that God has given you this challenge? If you believe that He has, then it's going to be ok. If you're not sure, ask Him to give you more clarity. When God has given me these challenges, there has always been a feeling in my heart like it's beating so fast, it'll explode. I've learned to recognise this is God making me feel excited about it all. Maybe you have similar types of indicators. Look for them, learn to monitor them.

If you decide that God is leading you to this challenge, then accept that He will give you all the help that you need. You can do this. You may feel weak, but that's ok, because He is very much stronger. His grace is sufficient to take you through. When you believe this, His strength is made perfect in your weakness. In other words, He will give you the get up and go.

Whatever you're facing today - a job interview, house move, marriage, considering bible college, a new relationship or a place in uni, just accept that your Heavenly Father is for you, not against. He only wants the best for you. Why not pray over this Proverb:

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, (6) in all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.'         Proverbs 3:5-6

Copyriight 2020 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesus@protonmail.com

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Fake news is coming against you

"No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgement, you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is from Me, says the LORD."                           Isaiah 54:17.  NKJV   

If you don't know it already, accusations and fake news is going to come upon you at some stage in your spiritual walk. It goes with the territory. do something wonderful for God and the devil and demons have a meeting to decide what they can do to prevent you going any further.

When I was pastoring a certain church, I received a letter from a solicitor advising me that a woman that I knew very little about, had accused me of spreading lies about her and her male friend. I was totally taken aback but after talking to my regional superintendent, I followed his advice and wrote back to the solicitor, totally refuting these accusations. I never heard from them again. 

Fake news and accusations fly around and they can be received by many as the truth, 'There's no smoke without fire,' type of thing. The devil loves to taint our reputation. This is why we should live our lives in such a way that people who know us, know this type of thing is not true. 

You may be a victim of this at the moment. Firstly, don't worry, God knows your heart and that's all you need. Give it to Him and allow Him to vindicate you. When these type of things come our way, remember that, no sickness, no circumstance and no problem that rises against you can successfully bring you down. God has set His Word in place for each one of us to stand on. Whatever happens, this weapon will not prosper. The tongue that accuses you falsely, you can condemn. This is your right as a child of God. In Jesus we are the righteousness of God - a redeemed sinner, accepted and saved by grace.

Don't be the underdog any longer. Don't you think its time to accept that you're the head, not the tail? (Deuteronomy 28:13). Don't allow the evil one to push you around. Rise above his lies and taunts. Don't be afraid. He just wants you to fret and worry; to be weak and unproductive in your walk with God. Don't allow this.

The devil has powerful weapons which he will use against you given the chance. But when you're kitted out in the Armour of God, no weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgement, you shall condemn.

Copyriight 2020 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesus@protonmail.com

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Why did you give up?

"You were running the race so well. Who has held you back from following the truth? (8) It certainly isn't God, for He is the one who called you to freedom." 

                                                                                                               Galatians 5:7-8.  NLT

Things can be going so well at home, in a job or even at school when, all of a sudden something happens to bring about a great change. Something or someone comes along and causes a hindrance and it can completely obstruct our way forward, that we feel like giving up. Has this happened to you? This is not the time to give up; it is the time when we should stand up to the situation and when we've done all we can, keep standing. (Ephesians 6:13).

Things come along in life that are sent to 'floor' us. It can be intimidation; someone can take away all of our confidence that we feel inadequate and unable to perform well. Intimidation robs our faith - our very will-power and renders us deactivated.

We may feel that someone is more educated and eloquent than us, and if we allow ourselves to be affected by this, we feel unable to function properly. Hindrances can delay our progress. I can remember years ago, when I went to interview for a place in university. As I sat before the faculty, their academical skills and their line of questioning became quite daunting and could have affected my responses to their comments, if I had allowed it to, which I didn't. But it was only by the grace of God that I could do it and secure a place there.

And this is the bottom line - God. You may have been running so well in your Christian life, but all of sudden you have come up against a hindrance. This may seem like a mountain, but as Christians, we're mountain climbers aren't we? It may also feel like we have come against a giant, but that's not a problem either, because in Jesus, we're giant killers. Nothing can stop us - only ourselves.

When we allow intimidation or any kind of hindrance to come upon us, it is like we are allowing these to chain us up. But as Christians, we don't do chains! The only chains we allow are the ones's with a cross that fit around our neck. Other chains fall off in the name of Jesus. (Acts 16:26).

God is speaking to you right now. You may feel inadequate, intimidated or just worn out with trying to do your best. Firstly, your best is good enough, receive that. Now get back up, praise God and ask Him to give you a fresh anointing. It's not over yet so don't give up.

'Lord Jesus, I have felt so intimidated just lately; my confidence is spent. I feel like I'm a square peg trying to fit into a round hole. But I come to You right now an ask You, by Your grace, to re-charge me with the energy of the Holy Spirit; so that I may get back on the road to serving You every day of my life. Thank you. In Jesus' name. Amen

Copyriight 2020 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesus@protonmail.com

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Flesh v Spirit

"For those who live according to the flesh, set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. (6) For to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace."   Romans 8:5-6  NKJV

One of the biggest detrimental factors here is our thoughts. What we think and dwell on. We can allow fantasy to rule, allowing our thoughts to take us where we know we shouldn't be going. These thoughts promote wrong desires - desires that can so easily lead us astray. We may try and deny that we don't think such things, but they just bounce back and drag us down further.

Casey Treat says, 'When your mind agrees with your spirit, you're spiritually minded; but when it agrees with your flesh, you're carnally minded.' This is how we now the difference, but will we admit or deny it?

Dr Caroline Leaf advises:  'ADMIT IT - QUIT IT - BEAT IT.'  Basically, this is saying that we need to change our focus.

Let's be honest here, it isn't as if we don't know what we are doing, what we're thinking and concentrating on. We know! We may try and sweep it under the carpet but it is still there. We're just deceiving ourselves. Like a fish we are hooked and the devil reels us in. Therefore, we need to admit that we have a problem here. We have to be willing to admit that the problem is leading us astray and be willing to quit it. That's a difficult one because straightaway our flesh will try to convince us that we need this. But do we need it? Isn't it just that we like it and don't want to give it up?

To beat the problem, we're going to have to be honest with ourselves and willing to allow God to set us free. He won't just do it for us - that's a cop out. We have to be willing to admit the problem first of all and then follow God's direction so we can be free. But, we must realise that it won't be easy; we have to do our bit.

No addiction is easy to quit! Yes, wrong thinking is an addiction. We can't live without it; we need it so we are addicted. That's the bottom line. Once we're willing to accept this, we are on our way to success.

It's all about allowing our thoughts to come into line with our spirit. If the flesh tries to intervene - which it will, give it the red card; kick it out of touch and refuse to allow it to take root. You can do this; we all can, 'If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.'  John 8:36

Copyriight 2020 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesus@protonmail.com

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com  

Jesus is alive, not dead

"Why do you seek the living among the dead?"                          Luke 24:5.  NKJV

At times, I believe that we act like Jesus is not alive; He can't do this and He can't do that. We believe deep down that He is alive, but our actions don't always bear witness to this. Non-believers don't believe that Jesus is alive at all, many refuse to consider that He ever existed.

Andrew Murray ( not the tennis player) in his book, 'Jesus Himself,' writes: 

'A dead Christ, I must do everything for, a living Christ does everything for me. This is the difference between a dead Christ, who women went to anoint and a living Christ'

Once a person has met with the living Christ, they know about it. They will never forget it. When Jesus had been crucified and laid in the tomb, women went to prepare His body with spices and such, but the tombs was empty. Two angels spoke with Mary and asked, 'Why do you seek the living among the dead?' It's recorded in John 20 that she said to the angels, 'they have taken away my Lord and I do not know where they have laid Him.' v13. As she turned around, there was another man there but she didn't know who He was; not until He spoke. She then realised that it was Jesus. v14-16.

It was a similar thing on the road to Emmaus. Two men were walking along discussing what had been happening, when Jesus joined them. They didn't recognise Him at first because, 'their eyes were restrained so they did not know Him' Luke 24:16.

Jesus is very much alive and there are possibly many times that He comes amongst us and we never recognise this fact. We need to recognise, that wherever we go, whatever we do and whatever situation we find ourselves in, He is right there beside us. When we say the wrong thing, the Holy Spirit gives a feeling of remorse. When we sense His presence, we can feel an amazing excitement, so intense, that it can be very difficult to speak.  He never leaves us.

There are many days when we feel inadequate; when we have a feeling of woe, doubting anything could take place. But we serve a living Christ, not a dead one. His Word tells us, 'I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.' Philippians 4:13. If we doubt, we may go without. We need to keep ourselves focused on Him. He is exciting; He has plans for us and can certainly change a situation for you.

Don't ever believe that Jesus is not around. He is, in fact, He is reading this with you at this moment. There are things He wants to do in your life; there are things He wants to say. Allow Him to. Grab hold of the excitement, relish in it, fly high in it. Your Jesus is alive and well - very much so.

Copyriight 2020 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesus@protonmail.com

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com  

Heavenly Bodyguards

"What are you seeking?                                                            Genesis 37:15-17.  NKJV

Israel called Joseph to himself one day and asked him to go and check on his brothers and the flocks of sheep they were tending. Joseph agreed and set off on the journey. Now this sounds like a normal and reasonable request for Joseph to do, after all, being Israel's favourite son, he did little else. However, there was one problem, the brothers were in Shechem and that was an 85 mile walk. It didn't appear a problem to Joseph, but how would you have felt, having to walk that distance?

On reaching Shechem there was no sign of his brothers but a certain man came up to him and asked, 'What are you seeking?' (v15). Quite a strange thing to happen don't you think, a certain man meeting him in the middle of nowhere. Where did he come from? Joseph wasn't phased though and replied, 'I am seeking my brothers. Please tell me where they are feeding their flocks.'(v16). The certain man replied, 'They have departed from here, for I heard them say, "Let's go to Dothan".(17).

Now Dothan was a further 15 miles away, making the trip 100 miles each way. Rather like a marathon but again, it didn't seem to bother Joseph. He set off finally meeting them there.

Now the amazing thing in this passage is, who was the certain man? Where had he come from? How did he know about the whereabouts of Joseph's brothers. Joseph had spoken to him as if it was perfectly normal, he didn't appear to wonder about all of this. But when you study the situation, it doesn't appear to be a normal thing to have happened. many believe it was an angel and I tend to agree. 'Are not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister to those who will inherit salvation?' (Hebrews 1:14). In addition to this, Psalm 91:11 says, 'For he shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.' 

Think, how many times have you been in situations where angels have turned up and all seems ok? Many times I would think, but you never realised it. And according to Psalm 91:11, we have at least two angels assigned to each of us. Amazing! A recent example for me was on 21st October 2017 when I was rescued from drowning in the sea during Storm Brian. I was walking on the beach one moment and wrestling in deep water the next. I was unable to get out because of the surge which kept dragging me back out to sea. All of a sudden, a lady appeared from nowhere and pulled me out. I didn't know her and have never seen her since. I believe that she was an angel.

I am sure that you have similar testimonies but one thing that I want to reinforce, is that you are surrounded by angels. You can't see them but they're there. There's no need to ever be fearful again; during problems, God will release these angels as you call on Him. Don't call on the angels, the route is through Jesus.

They are around us in every situation and I do mean, every situation. You have Heavenly bodyguards.

Copyriight 2020 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesus@protonmail.com

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com