A Glance at Philippians 4. Part Four

"and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."                                                           Philippians 4:7   NKJV

A person who entrusts cares to Jesus instead of fretting over them, will experience the peace of God to guard him or her from nagging anxiety, the kind that rips us apart and keeps us awake at night through worry. The peace that we receive is the reassurance that Jesus is on the case - it's in His hands.

Our minds can become a battle ground within us if we're not careful and, God's peace stands guard over our hearts and minds to prevent this. Be careful, if we allow ourselves to dwell on the worry for too long, it will become part of us and it will torment us until we're climbing the walls with doubts and fear. Give it to Jesus as soon as it surfaces.

After all that Paul had suffered - being beaten, imprisoned, shipwrecked and persecuted, he could still be secure in his relationship with Jesus. Why was that? It was because, he had a oneness with Jesus, he was joined to Him; rooted and grounded in a deep, intimate relationship with the King of kings. When we are like this, we experience a tranquility that cannot be explained, even if we try. Though everything is in pandemonium around us, we remain calm and comforted knowing that Jesus is in control, no matter what. This is because, when Jesus is with us, there really is nothing to fear.

Let's just back up for a moment to our discussion about the mind. It is too important to just gloss over it. People allow themselves to get into a fearful state because of what their mind is feeding them. If we have no foundation in Jesus, then the devil can feed lies into our minds that we begin to believe. They are so convincing that they become fact and nothing persuades us differently. We may tell ourselves that it is just imagination but it has so impacted the mind that we become certain that it is the whole truth. Occasionally, let's face it, it may be true. However, usually it is nothing but another lie sent to destroy us, to torment us and tear our lives apart. 

Listen, the devil is a liar; Jesus tells the truth. If you are faced with any issue such as this, then immediately give it to Jesus and let Him deal with it. If you've failed to do this and you're in a bad state, ask yourself who you trust - friend or foe, Jesus or the devil. Then speak to Jesus about this and allow Him to empty your mind of any unwholesome word that has penetrated it. And then praise Him for His kindness.

'Lord Jesus, empty my mind of any unwholesome word that the devil has brought into my life. I recognise it as a lie and with Your help right now, I loose myself from this so that I am free.

In Jesus' Name. Amen"

Copyriight 2020 Grahame Howard

grahamehoward@hotmail.com

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com 

A Glance at Philippians 4. Part three

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God."                                             Philippians 4:6   NKJV

The 'nothing', here really means that - nothing. No circumstance or situation are to be worried over and no anxiety taken on board. Nothing should take the place of our walk with Jesus. Instead, we should take our worries and anxieties to Him in prayer - constantly if required. This should be done with thanksgiving for all He is and has done.

Paul here prohibits the Philippians from worrying and becoming anxious. Instead, he encourages them to commit all things to Jesus, trusting that He will provide deliverance. Some may say that God knows what is bothering us in the first place, so why bother Him with it all. Yes, this is true; but when we do this, we acknowledge just how much we need Him, how much we love Him and how much we depend on Him. This is why we should approach Him with thanksgiving in our hearts. It's our way of standing on our faith and saying to Him, 'Hey Lord, I really trust You. Thank you for taking care of every moment. This is called a relationship.

If we were to stop and look at all the worries and anxieties that come our way, we would be squashed if we tried to tackle them alone. But when we view them through the eyes of the Holy Spirit, they are all achievable. Have you ever been amazed how something, that was so big and frightening, became nothing when you prayed, handing it over to God? He is awesome and wants to take care of everything that tries to hurt us. He is on our side, not against us. Hebrews 13:5-6, and when we are on the winning side, triumphs begin and victory comes.

Are you ready to triumph? Are you ready to be victorious in all you do? Then, do what the Lord tells you. Get on the winning side by giving all fears, anxieties and worries to Him. God is never worried and He wants to teach you how to be the same.

Join Team Jesus

Copyriight 2020 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesus@protonmail.com

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com 

A Glance at Philippians 4 Part two

"Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand."     Philippians 4:5  NKJV

The Lord is at hand. In other words he is near and He is close. In a way, there are two ways of looking at this. (1) He is near to us each and every day of our lives - every hour of the day; and He longs for us to be near to Him as well. (2) As believers, we all know that the Lord is going to return for us and to establish His Kingdom permanently. It is the next thing on His calendar. Therefore, we should live in such a way that it could be very soon - even today.

With this in mind, there is no need to fear. As His children, we are highly favoured and loved. We are special to Him and He accompanies us everywhere we go; He never leaves us. He wants us to adopt the art of having a gentle spirit. We do this by being gracious to people that we meet and having unselfishness, mercy, tolerance and patience. When we achieve this, our gentle spirit links up with the Gentle Spirit - God Himself.

This is not as difficult as you think; we just have to model ourselves on Jesus and not the world. Some people model themselves on a rock or pop idol or movie star. The thing is, they may not only lead you astray, but when they've died out, who have you got then? Allow me to ask, who is your mentor? If it's anyone other than Jesus, sooner or later they will let you down. Never be tempted to place anyone on a pedestal, no matter who they are. The pedestal will fall. We've seen this in the media quite often over the years.

The Lord is near. When we're out and about, He is with us and in a way, He should be seen in our behaviour - what we say or what we do. To compromise and use bad language because we're in a crowd of unbelievers - no matter how small the word is, they're all as big as each other - is a big let down. Once we've said or done it, it disqualifies our testimony. Let's be careful of that one. If this happens to you, the best way out of it, is to repent straightaway - openly, by saying, 'I'm sorry for that, I'm a Christian and it was wrong.' It may be embarrassing to do this but it puts you back on the road to qualifying again. Don't forget who you are representing - Jesus, the King of kings.

Let's never forget that He is near!

Copyriight 2020 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesus@protonmail.com

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com 

A Glance at Philippians 4 Part one

"Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say rejoice."             Philippians 4:4  NKJV

The joy that God gives us is not based on agreeable circumstances but on your relationship with Jesus. This joy means to delight in and take pleasure in. Christians face troubles all over the world but need to rejoice in the trials that they face, because they know God is using these situations to improve their character.

All over the place, we are all suffering the same consequences - Lockdown. The pandemic is a plague that has crept everywhere, and even though there are now vaccines to address this, it will probably be a long time before we can return to what we consider normality.

Tempers flare and frustrations become worse but we have got to go through this. This plague is a killer. Now, who is the author of this? Yes, you're right, the devil. 'The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy.' John 10:10a. He is the culprit that people should be blaming. But be at peace, God has given us a great defence - a secret weapon and that is joy. 'The joy of the LORD is your strength.' Nehemiah 8:10.

It is this joy that we have in God that sees us through each and every situation. This is why the Apostle Paul repeated himself in our text for today. 'Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say rejoice.' Note that it says ALWAYS, not just for blessings or happy occasions. In everything.

This is our way out; our exit, our get out of jail free card. It is our freedom from all problems. Joy is our strength. It fixes those difficult times; it fixes those Lockdown blues; it fixes the pain of separation from our loved ones because of the restrictions, the loss of jobs and everything else. 

Joy is a choice that we have. We have to choose to rejoice through difficult situations, not because we have them. We all have this choice. If we refuse to make this choice, then we have to go through on our own. If we choose to take it up, we will have the strength to face all things. This is why Paul repeated himself. He knew how important it was to rejoice in all things.

What do you think?

Copyriight 2020 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesus@protonmail.com

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com 

A Pseudo Christian

"having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people, turn away." 

                                                                                                        2 Timothy 3:5   NKJV

There are people around who say all the right things in the Christian circle but, it is an outward pretence. They are pseudo - false. The Apostle Paul warns us about such people in 2 Timothy 3 & 4. If you've not read it recently, it is worth a read again.

We can be deceived by such people; after all, the devil is the ultimate deceiver and will do all he can to spread his pseudo truth whenever and wherever, he can. 

Pseudo Christianity goes through the motions of religion but never gives the deity to Jesus Christ. It is selfish and self-seeking. It can consist of unbelief, pride, greed, lust, unforgiveness and gossip. Let's be honest, we can all have these from time to time, but we're looking at a permanent form, the Pseudo Christian.

Just look at the evidence here: the person has a form of godliness but denies its power. Some may gather such a person into their fold because they say what they want to hear, not what should be said - itchy eared people 2 Timothy 4:3. This is serious stuff, because if there is no repentance, Jesus will come and remove their lampstand from it's place. Revelation 2:5. In other words, He will withdraw and His presence will no longer be in that church or that person.

We need to look within ourselves here. I've mentioned that it is serious stuff and it is. Can you honestly, hand on heart, approach the Throne of God and be confident that your place in Heaven is guaranteed? Some may say, no one can guarantee this, but you can. If Jesus has washed your sin away, you have a place in Heaven and you can confidently approach Him. 

But are there any things that are unseen by people, things that you may do or say when you are alone? Really you are not alone, because Jesus sees what you do - all the time. Can you honestly be confident that if you were to die today and stand before Jesus that there would be nothing that He could bring up about you?

Scary stuff isn't it? This is why we have to look within ourselves and if we know we are guilty of something, repent. Can you say this prayer from Psalm 139:23-24:-

'Search me O God and know my heart; try me and know my anxieties; 24 And see if there are any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.'

Now, relax and listen to see if God reveals anything. If He does, repent and know that you can be confident of a place in Heaven.

Copyriight 2020 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesus@protonmail.com

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com 

You will bow the knee

"Now when He said to them, 'I am He', they drew back and fell to the ground."

                                                                                                     John 18:6   NKJV

How many men would it have taken to arrest Jesus? Two or three at the most? Here we see a detachment of troops - possibly 500 men, officers from the chief priests, the Pharisees and of course, Judas. They really must have been unsure of who they were dealing with and were not wanting to take any chances. This in itself, is worth noting. They recognised that Jesus was a man of power and they were not going to take any risks.

Jesus' use of, 'I am He.,' revealed Him as God and all of them fell to the ground, overcome by the awesome power of God.They hadn't got a clue what was happening to them. Jesus demonstrated His power and proof that, no one can take Him on and win. They had come to arrest a meek peasant and instead, they were met by the majestic person of God.

Without realising it, they had to bow the knee before Jesus, King of kings and Lord of lords. In the chaos of this happening, Jesus could so easily have taken total control and brought them into the Kingdom there and then. However, He knew that He must be obedient to His Father's plan. There were far more that needed to be saved from sin than these few.

It is comforting to realise that, whoever is against us and how much they may hurt us, they cannot have the final victory. Jesus will win and they will have to bow the knee to Him. He will also prepare a table before us in the presence of our enemies. Psalm 23:5. We will have the victory at a banquet before them. Jesus will make sure of that.

There are plenty of very evil people in our world today. They kill and maim people, drug and traffic them to faraway countries, never to be seen again and to be used as sex slaves. Terrorists kill innocent people, there are rapes. The list is endless and God's heart breaks. But the day will come when they will have to answer for all of this. There will be no escape for them, unless they repent beforehand. They will be taken to the very Throne of Jesus. There, they will have to bow the knee and confess that Jesus - the Name above all names, is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:9-11.

It will be too late for them to repent when they're before the Judgement Seat of Jesus. They will be judged and taken away to everlasting hell. These people just do not realise the risk that they are taking by taking on Jesus Christ. He is unbeatable, and no one will ever get the better of Him. No one.

Let us ensure that we keep our hearts right before Him at all times..

Copyriight 2020 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesus@protonmail.com

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com 

Give and receive

"And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, 'They have no wine.'" 

                                                                                                               John 2:3-8.  NKJV

It is good to re-visit scriptures from time to time because, there is so much we can learn from them. Each time it can be different. Here, Jesus, His mother and disciples are at a wedding in Cana. Disaster begins to form when they run out of wine. Mary says to Jesus, 'They have no wine.' After a short deliberation, Jesus tells the servants to fill the large stone jars full of water, right up to the brim. They do this and draw some off and take it to the master where it is found to be the finest of wines. The day is saved.

We later see Jesus surrounded by a multitude of hungry people. However, there is no food. Jesus speaks with Philip, who puts on his accountant's head and informs Jesus that it would cost a great fortune to feed all of the people. (Lack of faith). While this is happening, Andrew joins the conversation informing Jesus that there is a lad there with five barley loaves and two small fish. (Suggestion of faith). Jesus, obviously speaks with the young chap and takes the small amount of food, thanks God for it and instructs the disciples to distribute the food to the people. The food has been multiplied and there is more than enough for all of them and no doubt, much left for the young lad too. (A harvest) John 6:1-11.

What had happened in these two events? Well, Jesus took what they had given Him and He multiplied it. And He is doing the same today. Let me tell you, it is impossible to out-give God. It can't be done. The more one gives Him, the more he gives back. Many people today are fearful of tithing. They hold back and then wonder why God holds back too. It is our duty to give God His share of what we receive. Some people say a 10th or 10%. However, if you give  God what He is owed, say for instance a 10th, of your income, this is called a tithe; anything over this is an offering and God will honour you and give you back a harvest on this one.

Many don't like this type of discussion and close down. I felt like this when I was first saved. If you're on a small income, it may seem impossible to tithe a chunk of it. 'How will we manage?' Very well actually, if you haven't found out already, then try it. However, don't fall into the category of robbing God of what He is owed. Read Malachi 3 to get an idea on this.

Everything we have, God gave us in the first place; our wives, husbands and children to name a few. They are on loan to us. Just think of all the things that God has given you. Then think of all He wants to give you as well. The bottom line is, 'we want from God and He wants from us'. It is a two-way circuit. He doesn't need the money, not at all. He just wants to see how much we trust Him with what He has given. Also, He wants our brothers and sisters in ministry to receive a decent living too, and this happens when we give our money.

Think about it. What God gives is good. But you've got to be in it, to win it.

Copyriight 2020 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesus@protonmail.com

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com