Psalm 23. Part 2

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me."              Psalm 23:4      NKJV 

David begins writing this Psalm in the 'He' mode. However, from verse 4, he changes to a more personal 'You' mode. As he speaks, sings and writes, praising and worshipping God, his writing takes a different route - one of intimacy. An editor would say that this type of writing is classic, lack of experience writing, one in which the author interchanges his writing between 'He' and then 'You' at the next paragraph. However, this is not so, here. David was an experienced man of God, a song writer and author. He knew what he was writing and he couldn't resist speaking to God in the first instance. A time comes in our Christian life, when we develop such intimacy with God that we must be right there with Him.

Note the, 'I walk through the valley of the shadow of death'. When we walk or drive through somewhere, it usually means that we're not stopping; and this was the emphasis here. We all have to die at some stage, but our comfort comes from knowing that we will not remain in the valley of the shadow of death. As a Christian, we will go through this valley and Jesus will go through there with us. He will then take us to one of His mansions in the Father's House John 14:2. We will live forever. There is no fear in death at all. Jesus paved the way for us.

Note also, 'the shadow of death'. Shadows come from light being cast as a reflection. Do you see it? Jesus is with us during the process. He is the light that is being cast on the darkness of death. But it is only a shadow. Death cannot hold us; Jesus is with is. 'What while we're in the coffin? No, He is not there, not at all. However, neither are you. Inside the coffin is your old body. You don't need it anymore, you will receive a new one as you sit in your mansion sharing a Daily Life with Jesus.

Copyriight 2021 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com 

If you would like to contact me, CLICK HERE

Psalm 23. Part 1

"1 The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. 2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. 3 He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake."                                Psalm 23:1-3       NKJV      

God wants to provide us with all that we will need in this life to be able to be happy and peaceful. He cares for us as His sheep and, He will take care of of each of us. Let us take a brief look at some of His provision:

* A shepherd provides a safe environment for his flock, a place where they can rest and eat. They feel safe with him or her. God does the same. We need His care and protection and it is good to know that, He has our back. He will never let us down.

* A shepherd provides rest, refreshment, satisfaction, happiness and peace for his sheep. It is God's intention to provide the same for us. There is so much unrest in our daily lives that at times, we do not know which way to turn. Jesus is there to point the way.

* The shepherd provides restoration from anxiety, weariness and stress. Sheep are very tender animals and do fret at times. God does the same for us. God does not wish for us to be anxious about anything. He is with us. There is no need to flap about things. Give them to Him and He'll take care of the rest.

Sheep are not the most intelligent of animals and need regular direction because they easily become lost. Shepherds have the responsibility to provide rest. They need to provide for their sheep; this includes food, protection and rest. It has been observed that some sheep will never lie down unless their fears are removed. Humans are no different, when we have things on our minds, things that are worrying us, it is never easy to sleep. We pace the house worrying and plotting how we can resolve something. It is much easier to give it, to our Shepherd.

The Lord restores our soul; this includes our mind, will and emotions. Restore means to 'turn back'. The grass can appear greener on the other side and we can become distracted by this. Before we know it, we have wandered away. It's very rare that when a sheep wanders off that it will return to the flock. This is why the shepherd goes out looking for it. 

Someone you know may have wandered off from Jesus by looking at things they can't really have. But He is watching. He will never let them go and, without any force, at some stage He will bring them back into the fold.

The safest place to be in this world, is in the place where your Shepherd is. He knows you through and through. He is gentle, loving and kind, and if anyone tries to hurt you, He will drive them away, as long as you are walking with Him. 

Isn't it wonderful that the Shepherd knows your name?

Copyriight 2021 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com 

If you would like to contact me, CLICK HERE

 

 

                                                                             

'Jesus' is the Password

"I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

                                                                                                     John 14:6    NKJV

Eternal life is available to one and all, but only to those who invite Jesus into their hearts. For years, people have been misled that if we live a good life, we will go to Heaven when we die. This is not true. Eternal life is only available through faith in Jesus. This is why He died a painful death so that He would take our sin upon Himself and declare us, not guilty. To say that we have an open access to heaven when we die, denies all that Jesus did at Calvary. Jesus says this very clearly in our text above, 'No one comes to the Father except through Me.' Again in John 3:18. 'He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not  believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.'

We cannot get away from the fact that, we need Jesus in our hearts to qualify for heaven. We must ask Him into our hearts and confess our sin, otherwise we are lost. Psalm 24 is an interesting text:

"8 Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. 9 Lift up your heads, O you gates, lift up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in."                                                                                                Psalm 24:8-9 NKJV

The King of glory is Jesus, He has the password for heaven. 'For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.' Romans 10:13. The name of the Lord is Jesus, this name is the password. Without this name, we are lost.

At the end of our life, we will all stand before Jesus and give an account of our life. If we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, we will be admitted without question. If we haven't, no amount of bargaining with the Lord will help. Read Matthew 25:31-46 to get an accurate account of this. It is so important you do this.

To sum up, Jesus is the way, He is the truth and He is the life. He is also the one who will allow you or refuse you entry into His kingdom. Accept Jesus as Lord and you are home and dry. Refuse to do this because you think you are saved already, and you will regret it for eternity.

Why not be certain about your future destination and pray this:

Lord Jesus, I recognise that you are the way into heaven. You have the password and it is 'Jesus'. I confess my sins right now and ask You to come into my heart and be my Lord and Saviour. Please fill me with Your Spirit now. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

You are now firmly saved. Welcome

Copyriight 2021 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com 

If you would like to contact me, CLICK HERE

He is the Life Part 3

"I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."           

                                                                                                            John 14:6    NKJV

Jesus said in John 10:10, 'I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly'. Now this means, that Jesus just doesn't give us an ordinary life, not at all. Instead, He offers us a superabundance, excessive, overflowing, more than enough, extraordinary life. The root word for abundantly is 'beyond'. So therefore what He offers us is beyond measure, it exceeds the limit of our thinking. Just take a look at what Paul writes in Ephesians 3:20: 'Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us'.  

Jesus offers us, more than enough in life. Now, this is not only financial blessing. That's part of it, as we honour Him with our money, He will pour a generous measure back to us. But He offers life to the full. Just think back how much he has blessed you since He came into your life. Think back 20 years or so and see what you had in comparison to today. He blesses us and takes care of us.

Jesus wants us to enjoy our lives. He wants us to be happy and live our lives to the full. He sends opportunities our way that may bring us wealth or a better level of living. He brings us people who love us, people who care. To walk with Jesus is life - life to the full. Spend a lot of time with Him and you will see that He is good company; He has a sense of humour and he is a great friend. Jesus always goes beyond measure for each of us. We only have to look at His suffering on the cross to realise this. He gave His life, in full, so that we could live our lives in full.

But there is so much to life than we could ever imagine. One day, we will find this out as we walk towards Him and hear Him say, 'Well done my friend, you served me well.' There is an eternity that we will be able to spend with Him. We'll look a little closer at this tomorrow, but until then, consider this: Jesus Christ, our friend and Saviour is life, has life, is offering life in abundance and promises you and I a life that can be found nowhere else. 

If your life is pretty mundane, why not try giving Jesus all you have and allowing Him to make a difference in you. As I said earlier, we'll look a little closer at this tomorrow.

Copyriight 2021 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com 

If you would like to contact me, CLICK HERE

 

He is the Truth. Part 2

"I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."            

                                                                                                            John 14:6    NKJV

I dislike lies, how about you? Some people will say, 'It was only a little lie, it doesn't matter.' Yes, it does matter and, yes, it was a lie. You cannot water down an untruth, it is full lie.

Jesus was and is, full of truth. He never lied - ever, it's the devil who does that. We can rely on what the Word of God says, it is the total truth; and, when God makes you a promise, even though you may have to wait for a long time, it will happen. People have waited for many years for the fulfilment of a promise of God. Usually, God will say 'Yes', but He tends not to always say when. We just have to be patient, knowing that He cannot lie.

The great missionary to China, James Hudson-Taylor once commented about Mathew 6.33 by saying, 'If we can only wait right up to the time, God cannot lie; God cannot forget. He is pledged to supply all our need.' And God did, Hudson-Taylor may have had to wait for his needs to be fulfilled, but God never let him down, and what's more, He won't let you down either. Jesus is not only true, He is the Truth. 

I heard of a minister who was invited to preach at a church fifty miles away. Now this minister was a man of faith and received very little by way of remuneration from his church. He was a newly qualified Pastor. He agreed to the invitation but was so short of cash that he wondered how the small amount of petrol in his car, would get him there and home again. He set off. Halfway through the trip, the car began to jerk as it was running out of petrol. Just there on the side of the road, there was a garage. He slowly jerked on to the forecourt and a guy came out to administer the petrol. The Pastor asked the chap to fill the car with water. After a little deliberation, the man did so. The Pastor got to his knees and said to God, 'Lord, you once turned the water into wine; please now, turn this water into petrol. He then, stood up, thanked the chap for his kindness and got into his car and drove off. He not only got to his preaching venue but he returned safely home, all on water that had been miraculously turned into petrol.

I've told this story many times and it is true. However, I have received very skeptical comments. However, one cannot get away from the fact that, Jesus Christ is the Truth and His Word to us is the truth also. If it is in His Word, then it is true and He will perform it.

Obviously, I would warn about doing such a thing yourself, unless, of course, Jesus had specifically told you to do so, like the Pastor. One thing though, Grasp hold of the fact that, Jesus is exciting, He is amazing to walk with. He is wonderful to trust. And, He will NEVER let you down.

Copyriight 2021 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com 

If you would like to contact me, CLICK HERE

He is the Way. Part 1

"I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."             

                                                                                                            John 14:6    NKJV

Let us explore this verse over the next few days. It carries a powerful message and one, that is often skipped over as we talk to people about Jesus. They need to know the fuller impact of this message. It contains a message of life or death.

This is Jesus' sixth I am pronouncement within this gospel. It is three-fold; Jesus is the way to the Father; He is the truth about God and He is the very life of God. The way that He leads, reveals this truth and opens the way for life eternal. Let us break this down into three areas:

The Way

Jesus is the way, not just the way, but the only way. We can often ask someone for directions to a place we need to visit. Many may give us a fairly accurate direction to this place. However, others may not be so sure. 'I think you can turn right down the road, no hold on, turn left. That should bring you to the back of the place. I should ask someone again when you get there.' These type of directions are hopeless and have us driving around in circles with no certainty that we will arrive where we should do.

We need certainty and Jesus offers this. He knows the way to Heaven and will show us the way if we ask Him into our lives. But also, Jesus is the way to other things. He knows the way to fix something in the house or garden. Oftentimes, we are faced with some kind of problem and we struggle to know what to do, or how to do it. Jesus knows the way how to do it. I have often mislaid my car keys and have searched the place from top to bottom with no success. That is the time that I have said. 'Show me where my car keys are, Lord.' And within seconds, He has led me to a coat pocket or drawer where I left them. I would have saved much time and frustration if I had asked Him in the first place.

He knows the way to fill in an application form for that special job you want; He also knows the way to act if someone has committed a fraudulent act against you. He knows the way to a good solicitor that you need and he knows the way to talk to your boss when you need a raise or possible promotion. He knows the way.

Some may think that much of this is not the way we should be with Jesus. That is so wrong. Jesus wants to be the central part of our life; He wants us to give Him the small things as well as the larger ones. He also knows when you're struggling in your Christian walk. He knows when you try and fail. All you have to do is ask Him the way to overcome this.

Copyriight 2021 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com 

If you would like to contact me, CLICK HERE

 

Do we just sit and let it happen

"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

If you are not familiar with the account of Stephen, can I encourage you to read Acts 6 & 7 so that, you can see what a shining example he was. So shining in fact, that Jesus, who since He  ascended into heaven sits at the right hand of God, is reported here as standing. Such was His excitement at the courage of this young man that He couldn't contain Himself. He had to stand and cheer him on. Charles Swindoll comments on this by giving an example of what Jesus may have been shouting to Stephen: 'Come on home, sweet Stephen. Come on home, dear servant of mine.' Obviously, we have nothing to back this up, but Jesus was standing and was possibly excited about it all; and furthermore, Stephen was His disciple, dear to His heart, so it does make sense that He could have said something similar to this.

Stephen did great signs and wonders among the people. He was full of faith and the Holy Spirit. Certain people didn't like this. You'll find this out for yourself if you do something for God, whether it be to preach, teach or just tell someone about Jesus. People don't like it and will stab you in the back. They did this to Stephen and falsely accused him of blasphemy; they even paid people to back this up to the Sanhedrin. Stephen gave a full account of the whole scriptures to date and even accused them of murdering Jesus on the cross. He was sentenced to be stoned, such was the rage of the people.

However, this was not a legal trial, it was more like a lynching. It was true that a person could be stoned for committing blasphemy, but the Sanhedrin had no rights to put anyone to death. Just like Jesus suffered trumped up charges and a very unfair trial, Stephen underwent a similar experience. Total injustice.

There comes a time when we, as Christians, have to make a stand for Jesus. There is a lot of injustice in this world and, no doubt, in the area where you live. Abortions for one thing, we cannot get away from the fact that it is murder and we need to be standing against this. Christianity cannot fully be taught within schools, it has to be multi-cultural, and yet, alternative sex can be taught as a satisfactory lifestyle. There is no discipline in schools and very little in certain homes, because smacking a child is a no-go area and you can be fined and receive a visit from Social Care. This is one of the reasons that there is so much violence on our streets. Come on, isn't it time that we spoke up about certain things? Isn't it time that we stopped thinking that someone will do something about it. Isn't it time that we got down and prayed about all that is going on instead of just the everyday issues that the church building needs?

Jesus made a difference. Stephen and the others also made a difference. Does it stop there?

What about: 

If My people who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways , then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.'    2 Chronicles 7:14.

This is a good place to start!

Copyriight 2021 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com 

If you would like to contact me, CLICK HERE