Learn to prioritise and be flexible

"When they found Him, they said to Him, 'Everyone is looking for You." v37

                                                                                                        Mark 1:29-49    NKJV

After spending time in the synagogue, Jesus, James and John, made their way to Peter's home. However, when they arrived, Peter's mother in law was laying sick with a fever. Jesus went straight to her, took her hand and lifted her up. Immediately she was healed. Jesus was an important fellow to have around and the mother in law would have been wanting to see Him and cook Him a meal. She would not have missed this opportunity for the world, but here she was sick. But when Jesus took her hand, it was like a lightening bolt hit her and the healing power of God manifested within her. Notice that she didn't just lay there or sit around for a while after Jesus had healed her. No, she got up and served them v31. She believed and received Jesus' healing and so, she was able to get on with serving them all.

By evening time, after finishing a fine meal and fellowship, the door kept knocking and the whole city turned up on the door needing some type of ministry. Imagine that at your place - the whole city, wow! That would have been mind-blowing. Jesus, no doubt resting by this time, got up and healed many and drove out demons, forbidding them to speak because they knew Him.

Jesus was an early riser and much before dawn, He was in a solitary place praying and spending time with His Father. If He needed this, we definitely do. People had been following Him everywhere and he needed to get refreshed and re-energised, like we all need to do. Peter and the others, noticing Jesus wasn't in the house, went out to search for Him. When they found Him, Peter said, 'Everyone is looking for You.' They encouraged Him to go with them and attend to the crowds that were gathering and to the workload that they had planned. But Jesus didn't respond the way they had thought He would. He prioritised v38. Jesus did what His Father wanted Him to do, not what man was wanting. He was about His Father's business. He was focused; He didn't seek popularity, His priority was the Kingdom of God. 

Jesus shunned people's attention at times, He was driven to serve His Father and He was committed to this role. Are you getting the point of all this? Jesus didn't have a rigid, man-enforced diary. He was flexible, He created new ways forward going where the Father directed. His time was limited and He was determined to make every second count. He was busy, but not too busy for people who desperately needed Him. As I've said, He had a flexible diary. He wasn't worried about something distracting Him from what He was doing, if it was genuine. Remember the nobleman who had a dying daughter and asked Jesus to come and heal her. As He did remember, a woman with a desperate need touched the hem of His gown and this led to her own healing Mark 5:21-43. The man could have felt that Jesus had been distracted and wouldn't go with him. However, that day, both the woman and the child were healed. He was open to the direction of His Father.

Are you able to prioritise or are you one of those people who have appointments in their diary and they must be done? There are many occasions when we need to be open to the direction of the Holy Spirit. The diary may contain very important appointments but when the Holy Spirit re-directs your day, that is far more important. Stop being so rigid. Be prepared to change things around at the drop of a hat. Jesus is not chained to a diary full of appointments and He doesn't want you being either.

Be flexible. Be like Jesus. Be Holy Spirit-led and you'll be far more successful!

Copyriight 2021 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com 

*If you would like to contact me, then please send me an email😄

grahame.howard@hotmail.co.uk

It is coming - get ready!

"(43) Go up now, look towards the sea'. So he went up and looked, and said, 'There is nothing.' And seven times he said, 'Go again.' (44) Then it came to pass the seventh time that he said, 'There is a cloud as small as a man's hand, rising out of the sea."

                                                                                                        1 Kings 18:43-44    NKJV

Elijah had proclaimed that there would be a drought for 3.5 years and there was. When the time arrived for this to be over, Elijah prayed again that the drought would end. He took his servant and they went to the top of Mt Carmel and looked out to sea. Elijah asked his servant what he could see and the servant told him that he could see nothing. Several times he asked his servant to do this and on the seventh time, the servant informed Elijah, 'There is a cloud as small as a man's hand rising out of the sea.' Elijah knew it had come and sent his servant, in the chariot to inform Ahab that the drought was over. 

It is interesting to see that the victory came on the seventh occasion, which is a similar thing to Joshua marching his army around Jericho. Remember, the wall didn't fall until the seventh time of walking around. Some people have said that the hand would have been in the shape of a fist and that may be true. What is certain is, what was in the hand. It was the victory factor. This whole example shows us the importance of persistence. Elijah waited for 3.5 years before it was time to pray for the drought to end. He then had to wait a little longer until the hand-shaped cloud rose out of the water confirming that rain was on the way.

You may have been waiting for many years for God to fulfil His promise. Up to now, it is still a dream. But, this is not the time to give up on that dream. If God said it is coming, then it is coming, so hang in there. It may have been a dry and very tough time while you have been waiting, a time when you have been tempted to doubt and feel that you got it wrong. But it is coming nearing each day. That 'fist' on the horizon didn't explode with rain straightaway. It got bigger and bigger as it came nearer and then, it rained. This is how it will be with the fruition of your dream. It is near and coming nearing, in fact, you may have a strange feeling that the 'Fist' is on the horizon now. This means it is very near.

Allow me to give you a scripture that is most relevant:

'My beloved spoke, and said to me: 'Rise up, my love, my fair one and come away. For the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtle dove is heard in our land. The fig tree puts forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grapes, give a good smell. Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.'

                                                                                    Song of Solomon 2:10-13    NKJV

In other words, your success is on the horizon. That 'fist' contains the dream and blessing that you have waited for, that you have longer for all of this time. It is coming. The drought is over, spring has sprung and there is a fresh breath of the Holy Spirit coming upon you. Get ready, the dream is about to explode into your life.

Copyriight 2021 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com 

*If you would like to contact me, then please send me an email😄

grahame.howard@hotmail.co.uk

Don't fret, He will fulfil His purpose.

"Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me. You will stretch out Your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and Your right hand will save me. (8) The LORD will perfect that which concerns me."                                                     Psalm 138:7-8    NKJV

Many times you will face adversity as you walk along with Jesus in your daily lives. It goes with the territory and will come from the most unlikely of place and people. When it does, the trouble it causes can be difficult to put up with. But keep on keeping on; you can do this!

Peter says: 'But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen and settle you.' 1 Peter 5:10.

A tool that God uses quite a lot to bring us through to maturity, is 'Trouble' - testing and trials. He puts us through these tests to makes us stronger and to be able to face whatever may come our way. He wants to perfect us - not to turn us into perfectionists - but to fulfil all of His promises and intentions within us. This is why Paul wrote in Philippians 1:6: 'being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you, will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ'. To complete means to fulfil, thus perfecting us. It may not feel that way at the moment but, that is the bottom line.

Let's look again at 1 Peter 5:10. Peter tells us that God will:

PERFECT  He will complete and fulfil all He has promised you - all of it. Just stay focused on Him and don't move from these promises.

ESTABLISH  God will restore everything the devil has stolen from you. Restoration is His business and he's very good at it. You may have hit rock bottom but, you're still here. Just reach out and tell Him that you trust Him and He will support you through this difficult time.

STRENGTHEN  He will give you the strength to cope with anything that comes your way. You may have discovered this already but, things are still a little wobbly. Keep standing - this is important - stand up in the strength God is giving you and refuse to surrender.

SETTLE YOU  God will place your feet on solid ground. If you keep your eyes on Him, the King - Jesus Christ, your friend and Saviour -  He will place His loving arms around you and hold you up until you are able to stand on your own. Don't forget that he is your rock and your fortress (Psalm 91). He intends to fulfil His purpose, to bring you through this rough period. Trust Him!

Copyriight 2021 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com 

*If you would like to contact me, then please send me an email😄

grahame.howard@hotmail.co.uk

The Awakening

"So the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah and the spirit of Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of the LORD of Hosts, their God."                                                                                      Haggai 1:14    NKJV

The temple of the Lord was in ruin while people were living in relative luxury in their panelled houses. God had had enough, 'Consider your ways,' He said (v1:5). It was time for an awakening - a Holy Spirit stir-up with renewed energy and desire for doing the will of God. And it is the same today. God is stirring up the church and saying the same to us, 'Consider your ways.' He will have it no other way.

To stir up means to awaken, excite, to arouse, rise up, get into the action and to open one's eye to what is happening around us today. Take a look around; we have a deadly pandemic killing thousands each day; terrorism, stabbings/murders, starvation, poverty and floods, to name just a few. I believe that we are living in the End Times. Jesus is going to return for His church sooner than later. What will He find?

God is calling each of us to consider our ways. He is shaking up His church. He is calling us to wake up and stop living for ourselves and live for Him - totally. There are a lot of souls in this world today. They need Jesus. They're hurting, scared and lost. If the church doesn't point them to Jesus, who will? How would you feel if, when you're in Heaven, you meet someone you know who is on their way to hell, because Jesus said to them, 'depart from Me, I never knew you,' and they look at you as they walk by. You may say, 'I know they need Jesus, but what can I do?' Well for one thing, live your life for Jesus. If you do this, you will have an overwhelming desire to tell people about Him.

End times means End Times, the return of Jesus could be just around the corner. Grab hold of this statement. He may come this week and we need to be ready. The church needs to wake up - big time, in fact, we all do. We need to prioritise. What is more important, writing that perfect worship song or preaching that amazing sermon, or planning how people in your family and neighbourhood, can be saved? Great worship songs are amazing and a challenging sermon or study are needed. But what is better than bringing someone into the Kingdom of God; someone who was headed to hell. 

Think about it. God is calling for an awakening; are you willing to be stirred up, excited and willing to give your all for God? If you are, then tell Him.

Copyriight 2021 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com 

*If you would like to contact me, then please send me an email😄

grahame.howard@hotmail.co.uk

When God can't forgive.

"But if you do not forgive, nether will Your Father in Heaven forgive your trespasses." 

                                                                                                            Mark 11:26    NKJV

Be careful to take note of this verse and understand it properly. God is not saying that He won't forgive you but, that He can't. Why? Because you have built a wall around yourself - a wall of bitterness. Someone has hurt you at sometime and it has gone so deep that you won't allow anything to penetrate your wall. Therefore, God cannot forgive you for the trespasses you commit and there is a break in the link between you and Your Father.

God is a loving god. His name is love because, God is Love - 1 John 4:8 +16. He lives and walks in love and he expects that we do the same. But, at times, people do or say things that deeply hurt us and our lives can be wrecked. When this happens, it is very hard to even consider forgiving them. Our whole focus on them can turn into hate. That is an opposite of love and God's heart begins to break. The longer we focus on it, the worse the hate spreads until it is hopelessly out of control.

However, please consider for a moment what happened to Jesus, Very few people believed Him. He was ridiculed and treated like an outcast. He was accused of being from the devil and wrongly arrested and tortured. His beard was pulled out - pull one hair from your face and see how it hurts. He was beaten with rods, spat at, whipped and subjected to hate and hostility. He was eventually, brutally hung on a cross and left to die while people hurled insults at Him from around the cross. However, from the cross, he was heard saying, 'Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.' Luke 23:34.

Jesus knew what it was like to be hurt, abused, betrayed and treated like dirt. Yet, on this day, He knew how important it was to forgive all of the people who had hurt Him. This is why He was able to say from the cross, 'It is finished.' John 19:30. He had fulfilled His mission and sealed it with forgiving His enemies. It was over!

And it will be over for you as well, if you will forgive whoever has hurt you - those who you have harboured hate in your heart for. As you forgive them, it will be over - finished and you will be free. You will owe them nothing and will never be ruled by them again. As soon as you do this, that wall of bitterness will collapse and you will be able to walk over it and move on your way.

Copyriight 2021 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com 

*If you would like to contact me, then please send me an email😄

grahame.howard@hotmail.co.uk

Mercy and grace

"But go tell His disciples - and Peter - that He is going before you into Galilee ; there you will see Him, as He said to you." v7                                                    Mark 16:1-8    NKJV

Mary and some of the others, had gone to the tomb to anoint Jesus' body. It was very early and the sun had just risen. They were asking the question, 'Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?' Now this stone would have been large and very heavy. The setting of the stone in place would have been a relatively easy task, however, once it had slipped into the specially cut groove in the bedrock, it would have been a very difficult task to move, practically impossible for the women to do. But they had a surprise, when they arrived, the tomb was open - the stone had been rolled away and there was an angel sitting inside saying to them that Jesus had risen and gone ahead of them into Galilee.

Lesson number one, whenever we are faced with an enormous task to do, don't panic and don't doubt. God is able to move the situation out of the way if we ask and trust Him. Nothing is too difficult for Him and what is more, He is very willing to help. We become bogged down by worry and defeat otherwise. Have you ever been burdened by something, to find out later that it is now ok? That's Jesus. What is the stone in your life that is blocking the way?

The beautiful part of this message is the statement from the angel, 'But go tell His disciples and Peter' This latter part of the statement is a special message for Peter and for us too. It was an assurance of forgiveness and restoration. Peter was singled out by the angel because of Jesus' special concern for him. Peter had denied Jesus to save his own life; in other words, he had given up on Jesus by lying and insisting that he didn't know who He was and had never followed Him. And yet, Jesus thought not of the wrong Peter had done Him but the remorse that Peter was now feeling. He was a broken, wreck of a man, a person who had walked away from his friend. 

Lesson number two, it's never over until it's over. Jesus is our forever friend; our second chance friend, a friend that sticks closer than a brother. Whatever you may have done or said, it's not the end of the world when you place it into God's hands. Your heart may have hardened up but. He can roll the stone away from it and turn it into a fresh heart full of the Holy Spirit. You may have walked away from Him, but the Prodigal returned, so can you; and when you do, He will run to you, throw His arms around you and welcome you back. He will hold nothing against you, in fact, you will be classed as not guilty.

Don't be frightened to come and tell Jesus that you are sorry. Don't be embarrassed to admit to Him that you need help; the stone is too heavy to move. He is able and very willing.

Come now: 'Lord Jesus, there are many things that bother me and they are difficult to cope with. But there is one major issue in my life - a stone that needs to be rolled away. Please help me. I give my life to You this day.Please forgive me my sin, fill me with Your Spirit and be my Lord and Saviour from this day forth.

In Jesus' Name. Amen.

Copyriight 2021 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com 

*If you would like to contact me, then please send me an email😄

grahame.howard@hotmail.co.uk

How are your reactions? Part two

 "Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man."                                                                             Matthew 15:11    NKJV

As long as we refuse to respond to anything that comes along, we are ok. But this is an impossible action. We are built to react. Stick a pin in our finger and we get a reaction. We have to learn to overcome the things that trip us up.

Take for example car parking. We like to park our car in a particular place, especially outside of our home. When someone abuses this and parks in our place - after all, we own the road - we can begin to become upset or even angry if it is done on a regular basis. 

What about someone sitting in 'your place' at church? This is unforgivable; 'how dare they'. Once again frustration, leading to anger can take over and these negative thoughts are transferred to our, 'I'll get you for this', file. 

Then of course, what about the person who borrowed something off you, nearly twenty years ago and hasn't returned it? Nearly every time you see them it is lodged within your mind that they have something of yours and never mention it. You don't like bringing it up; they borrowed it in the first place so at least, they should bring it back. Once again, it is placed in your, 'I'll get you for this' file.

For some people, these things are very important and take their peace away. But does it really matter? Does it? Are they worth losing your peace over? If you answered, 'Yes' you need help. Joking aside, when we are in possession of a 'I'll get you for this,' file we are keeping a record of wrongs. Scripture tells us, 'Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful, or proud or rude. It does not demand it's own way. It is not irritable and it keeps no record of being wronged. 1 Corinthians 13:4-5    NLT.

When we have a file of people's wrongdoings, we're harbouring a grudge and over a time, the grudge can turn into a root of bad thinking - a bitter root. It spreads and before too long we begin speaking these grudges out, probably only to ourselves at first but also within the home, later we can speak outwardly about being wronged. We begin to judge and criticise and it is like the presence of the Holy Spirit has left us and we are in a mess.

Stop and think for a moment; are you harbouring a grudge against anyone? Have you a, 'I'll get you for this', file? If so, empty the contents out now before God. Give Him the issues and follow His directions. He may want you to seek forgiveness from someone. Then again, He may just want you to repent and then lose the file forever. This is so important; you cannot continue pretending there is nothing wrong. If you have an issue with someone, deal with it, forgive them and then move on.

Don't allow words from the pit to proceed out of your mouth ever again. (Ephesians 4:29). You are a Son or Daughter of the King. Act like it!

Copyriight 2021 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com 

*If you would like to contact me, then please send me an email😄

grahame.howard@hotmail.co.uk