Tuesday 26 October 2021

Giving to God

"Honour the LORD with your possessions, and with the first fruits of all your increase; 10 so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine."       
                                                                                                      Proverbs 3:9-10    NKJV 

A most contentious subject, one that has caused many a heated conversation throughout the years of church life is the practice of giving our money to God and to His work. Some give much, others do not give at all and God does not hold a gun against a person's head to comply. He does though, promise blessings to those who do give.

Giving to God is a demonstration of how much we trust and value Him. He is the source of all that we have and He will continue to provide our needs. It really is an act of worship towards Him. We hold Him so dearly and are so grateful for all He does for us and it becomes a matter of gratitude and thankfulness. As we begin to feel this, we cannot fail to worship Him.

Here Solomon is saying we need to honour God with the first fruits of all our increase. Note the words, 'first fruits', this is our income before we have spent anything. It is the first thing we need to do, not giving whatever we have left. We expect God to give us the best, in return we should do the same. Also note, 'all of your increase'. This reinforces that we should give Him the best, not just what we can afford. Worship gives all.

The work of God covers a multitude of areas. Of course, there is the upkeep of the church and pastor and the many resources that are needed to provide the Word of God. But also, there is the mission field. In parts of our world, people are starving; others are terribly abused; others need schooling. This all costs money. There are many organisations who cater for these areas and need financial support to be able to provide this care. Did you know that you can provide a child with food and schooling and all the other things that they need, just by paying a certain sum to the organisation each month. Then of course there are people with disabilities, even our own soldiers who have been terribly injured in their work. Many of these need finance to provide their care.

This is all part of honouring God with our wealth. He gives to us, we give back to Him and He gives us more so this can continue. It is not a 'get rich quick' exercise, it is demonstration of honouring God, of worshiping Him with all He has given us.

Why not give this some thought and prayer.
Copyright 2021 Grahame Howard
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Monday 25 October 2021

The Blue Print of Life

"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    NKJV 


These two verses say it all. They are our blue print to live by and we need to study and expound every word in order to get the best out of them.

Trust  The Hebrew meaning of this word is to lie down - to put your entire weight on something. Think, when we lie down in bed, we trust that the bed will hold our weight so that we can enjoy a good rest. This is the same type of trust. As we trust in Him, he takes the weight of our problems.
All your heart  He tells us to trust Him completely; He can sustain us, our own understanding can't. He is our rock, our foundation and he has years of practice in guiding His people forward, safely.
Lean  We are to lean on Jesus, not on our own understanding. Lean means to incline towards. So therefore, we lean into Jesus so that we can concentrate on Him and fully grasp what he is saying without the outwards distractions of life. 
Acknowledge Him  We need to consult Him and acknowledge Him in all that we do and are planning to, in fact, everything. We should never turn to and rely on other sources for life's problems. It can be helpful to seek advice from people, but they may be wrong and coming from another direction. Jesus is our source and the first point of call in all we do.
He will direct you  Let us not lean on our own understanding. We are governed by emotions and many times we feel that what we are planning is the right thing to do. Then after a few more moments of thought, we may feel guilty about this decision and begin to change our thinking. Before too long we are so confused that we really do not know what to do. Seek Jesus, He is the only one that is committed and qualified to make the right decisions for us. 

You may be in the place where a decision needs to be made and you may be struggling with this. Others may have given you advice which they felt may be helpful. However some others may have offered conflicting advice, which is never helpful. Really, the best place to start is your blue print. This is a statement of truth, a divine guidance in life. Lay the decision before Jesus and allow Him to show you the way - because, He is the way.
Copyright 2021 Grahame Howard
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Sunday 24 October 2021

Be careful of the company you keep!

"My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent."                   Proverbs 1:10     NKJV 


Tony Evans says, 'Bad company corrupts good morals.'   (Tony Evans Bible Commentary)
And this is very true. We have to be careful about the company we keep. When we associate with people of an impure character, they are going to rub off on us, because we often become like those we associate with on a regular basis.

The wrong type of person can persuade us to fall to the use of drugs, wild parties, alcohol abuse, adultery, perversion etc. Even gossip and criticism can fall into this category. We can be swayed by the wrong company that we keep. Be honest, have you not been in a fellowship circle where prayer all of a sudden can turn into a discussion including criticism, judging and gossip about someone? It is something that we need to be aware of. The wrong type of company can do us no harm unless, we join in with them. Not even the devil can lead a person into sin unless they consent. 

The dangerous area to be wary of is mentioned in Proverbs 1:11, 'Come with us'. This is where we need to have our wits about us because, if we agree to go with the wrong type of person, we are hooked. Solomon here, warns his son about the error of keeping the wrong type of company. Let's face it, a person with a history of alcohol abuse would be rather unwise to go on a pub crawl with a gang of other people. Or if a happily married person let their guard down, falling to the sweet tongue of another person, end up committing adultery. It happens all the time and the danger of these three words, 'Come with us', need to be taken on board, seriously.

'That'll never happen to me,' you may say and I hope it doesn't. However, many have said this and gone on to become enticed into any of the areas that we have discussed. We may think that adultery is far worse that gossiping about someone. However, it is still sin and how do we measure sin, it is impossible?

Let us be wise in the company that we keep and the places that we go; the things we watch on TV or the internet and the books and magazines that we read. Remember bad company corrupts good morals; and then we only have ourselves to blame.
Copyright 2021 Grahame Howard
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Saturday 23 October 2021

'I will never abandon you, no, never'

"Because he set his love on Me, therefore I will save him; I will set him [securely] on high, because he knows My name [he confidently trusts and relies on Me, knowing I will never abandon him, no, never]. 15 He will call upon Me and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honour him. 16 With long life I will satisfy him and I will let him see My salvation."                      Psalm 91:14-16   The Amplified Study Bible 


Sometimes we can wander around in a daze wondering if the troubles we may face will ever cease. Things seem to pile up and as soon as you address or resolve one, another comes your way. You may be feeling this way at the moment. Further to this, it doesn't matter what you do, how well you do it or how faithful you have been, you can end up feeling dishonoured and left out of things by certain people. This can leave you with the feeling, 'Why should I bother?'

Life can be this way at times. It doesn't matter what we do to resolve issues or even make amends with someone; we always appear to be cast aside. This can make us feel surplus to requirements - no longer needed. No longer classed as important.

There is a degree of truth in these feelings. Life is busy and people are intent on meeting targets and multi-tasking. There doesn't appear to be a place left to show someone dignity or respect. It is work, work, work. It can lead to people trying to outdo someone, so they get noticed and take all of the glory, or have better homes, cars and bank balance. There seems to be a lot of competition around, and you may not feel like competing; and you don't have to. 

Take a look at today's reading. The Amplified Bible, brings out the true meaning of the text. This is how God - your Father, feels about you. In His eyes you are special and very loved. He values all you do and knows that you always try to do it well. You may let Him down occasionally, but we all do, and He still adores you. He knows how you feel but, sometimes it helps to sit with Him and tell Him all about what bothers you. You will never find anyone more trustworthy and helpful. He is the one that truly listens, doesn't pick up the 'phone when it rings or keeps looking at His watch while you're speaking, which all shows you, He doesn't have the time. No, He is not like that. He has time for you and what's more, will help you through any crisis or problem that you are facing. 

This morning, Jesus wants to tell you that He loves you more than words could ever say. He is your forever-friend, your bestest buddy, your life. 

Copyright 2021 Grahame Howard
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Friday 22 October 2021

Risk-takers and careful types

 "And Peter answered Him and said, 'Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.' 29 So He said, 'Come'. v28-29                           Matthew 14:22-33    NKJV


Peter was a man who acted on impulse. Many times he acted without counting the cost and thinking things through throughly. Here we see him shouting to Jesus as He walked on the raging sea during a storm, 'Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.' This was a courageous thing to consider but one where he had no idea if it was the right thing to do or not. He just acted on impulse, and then sank under the water.

Peter often acted on impulse but his heart was in the right place. Don't forget that he affirmed unshakable loyalty to Jesus (Matthew 26:33-35) and then denied His name. Jesus however, knew Peter's heart was genuine. Peter fell many times but, he always got back up again. He never gave up. His failures brought him closer to Jesus. Do yours?

Many people act on the emotion of the moment and without counting the cost, rush into the unknown. It is always a risky thing to act on impulse. It can though be exciting as well. It all depends on the type of person you are. There are risk-takers and there are the more careful type. Which are you? The risk-taker will dash into an opportunity and may make a great success out of it all. However, it may also be a great disaster. The risk-taker however, shrugs it off and looks for further opportunities.

The careful types, are the thinkers. They want to count the cost of it firstly before they make a commitment. This is sensible but, they can also lose out, if they think about something too long. Their procrastinating may lead them to miss the opportunity all together. 
Peter was a risk-taker, where Thomas was the careful type. We are all different and there is no right or wrong way. Successful business people take risks, whereas many others only talk about it.

We do though, need to find a balance and counting the cost is a sensible place to start. When these times come upon us, it is always helpful to place Jesus right in the middle of the situation. He will guide us what to do. But the final decision is very much up to us and that can be a difficult one. We have to live with the decision we make.
Copyright 2021 Grahame Howard


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Thursday 21 October 2021

The window into your heart

"Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" v34             
                                                                                               Matthew 12:33-37    NKJV

When we open our mouths and speak, we reveal what's deep inside - whether good or evil. This needs to be watched. It is almost like God has a tape recorder, recording all that we say. We will have to account to Him, for every idle and careless word that we have uttered v36. We will be justified by them or condemned.

Just for a moment, let us imaging that God does have a tape recorder. What does He hear when we speak, what comes out of our mouth? Through the window of our heart, what does he hear and see? It is concerning that we will have to give an account for what we have said - judgemental words; critical words, angry words and the bad-mouthing that we can become involved in from time to time. 

If this is the case, and it most certainly is, then we need to take control now before it is too late. The process calls for addressing the heart by devoting it to God business v33. We need to make our tree of fruit good and not evil. We need to place treasure into our hearts. We can so easily let our guard down. I call it, the 'Behind Closed Door Syndrome'. When we are out and about in influential  company, we would probably be on our guard ensuring that the words we speak are suitable. However, when we arrive home, we seem to let our guard down and say what we really mean, regardless of whether we are criticising or judging another. This should not be.

We should be the same at home as we are in public; God sees us wherever we are and He knows what we are really like. It is time to roll our sleeves up and do the job properly. We need to allow the window to our heart be spotlessly clean. It is clean up time because it is a daunting thought to have to stand before Jesus and give an account of all that we have said and done wrong.

Psalm 19:14 says:

'Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.'

It is never too late to change, to repent of all we have said and done wrong. God is a loving God and He daily gives us grace. It's a learning process and some of us take longer to learn things than other people do. However, don't leave it too long.
Copyright 2021 Grahame Howard

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Wednesday 20 October 2021

Jesus may bring division

"Do not think that I come to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword."  v34                                                                             Matthew 10:34-39    NKJV


These words from Jesus are very strong and almost carry a contradiction; after all, Jesus says in John 14:27 'Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.' What then is He saying here? Jesus is showing us that to follow Him is costly. There will undoubtably be division between family and friends; workmates and neighbours. We all have choices, we may choose Jesus but others, decide not to, and this is where the hostility can begin.

Families have suffered separation because of one member becoming a Christian. Couples have separated from their marriage and workers have been and still are, persecuted for their faith. It is  division and can therefore become a warfare situation. David Jeremiah says:
'Christ ultimately came to earth to bring peace, but when people choose to follow Jesus, they will often face division and conflict, even within their own households. To choose loyalty to family over loyalty to Christ disqualifies  a person from being one of His disciples' Luke 14:25-27.

We all have choices and the choice to follow Jesus must be a commitment, nothing short of that. People may try to change the choice that we make by using convincing conversations but we must not be swayed by all of this. Jesus looks for dedication. This is why He said that He did not come to earth to bring peace but a sword. A sword slices things apart; it separates and divides and this is what the Word of God actually does. This doesn't mean that we have to be hostile to unbelievers, definitely not. We are to show them the love of Jesus whenever and wherever we can. Jesus would expect us to love them, forgive them but never argue or fight with them.

Bur we have to bear our cross, and the is what it means. The world around us - friends, family and neighbours etc may be hostile towards us; they may disregard us but this is all about us carrying the cross of Jesus Christ. Jesus carried His cross to Calvary where He died a terrible death for each one of us. He had commitment and dedication and He looks for this in each one of us. The price of following Jesus can be costly - Jesus demonstrated this. However, we should never consider giving up or renouncing our faith - never! We belong to the King of kings.

Copyright 2021 Grahame Howard


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