A Lesson in controlling self

"Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; 20 for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God."         James 1:19-20    NKJV 

These two verse are probably read over and over by many people but, do they reach the mark; or do they just go over your head? Think about your conversations with people, do you always listen to them or, do you keep chipping in with your own point of view? Sometimes people say things that we don't wish to hear; whether they are right or wrong, we refuse to take it on board and if the subject is pushed, it can end up an argument.

When we are having a conversation with someone, we need be swift to hear, or quick to listen. This means that we need to concentrate and sharpen up our attending skills by listening properly.  Now this takes self control, honour and respect. We may not agree with what the person is saying but, we show them honour and respect by allowing them to get things off their chest, otherwise we can have an argument on our hands. Along with this, self-control is required to keep quiet while they are speaking to us. If we are not in control of our mouth, pretty soon we are going to jump in and say the wrong thing, or the right thing but at the wrong time. This again is where honour and respect play a big part. If we don't take control of our emotions, wrath will set in and angry words may be spoken and our witness goes out of the window. People say, 'count to ten' or 'bite your tongue', however, it is ok to say this but, when we're in the thick of it, this all gets forgotten. 

But it has to be possible because God's word tells us that nothing is impossible (Matthew 9:26). However, it takes training and commitment on our part. If you don't put something in, you can't take it out. We have to practice and train our minds on God's Word. We all want to get our own point of view over; but we may be wrong and we need debates to tackle this. You may not like what someone else says but, if they are right, you need to hear and receive it, or it will go wrong and you'll have a reputation of being difficult to speak with. 

It's the same with God, we talk to Him and He listens until we are finished. However, He doesn't always agree with what we say and this is where friction can rear its ugly head. We can't always expect to be right, especially with God. He won't change His mind no matter how long we argue with Him. 

What are your reactions like? Can you receive criticism or does your back go up and you get the war drums out? Being swift to hear, slow to speak and slow to wrath is all about reactions. It is something that many people have to address and this may include you as well. Don't be ashamed, none of us are perfect, we all have defects but nothing is impossible for God to change. Study these two verses. Play the video back on areas where you fall down on. Perhaps you blew it today. Take a look at the video, analyse where you went wrong and what you could have done better. Then keep doing this, and pretty soon, your coping skills on this subject will improve. However, it won't happen overnight, so get training.

Copyright 2021 Grahame Howard.                                 

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Rest in the LORD

"Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings schemes to pass."    Psalms 37:7    NKJV

We should not fret neither, should we fear because God understands our position. Rest describes a calm surrender. Warren W Weirsbe writes: 'Creative silence is a rare commodity today, even in church worship services. People cannot tolerate silence, but unless we learn to wait, silently before God, we will never experience His peace.'

God has faithfully promised to take care of us when we put our trust in Him and wait patiently for Him; instead of fretting and believing He has forgotten us. This should be a 'rest of silence', as Weirsbe says. When we're silent we avoid coming out with negative words that are a waste of time and will probably negate all of our faith and progress. So, be silent and refuse to moan or complain. All this does is open the door for Satan to come in and say, 'I told you God didn't care and would let you down'. 

In George Home's book, 'Commentary on the Psalms' 1997, he writes:

'If the spotless Lamb of God was silent, before those who were divesting Him of His honours, and robbing Him of His life, "silent" resignation cannot but become one who suffers for his sins'

Therefore, we have a challenge - silence. It is so difficult to remain quiet, even for a moment. Our brain races ahead of our thoughts and instead of controlling our mouth, we let rip with something that would have remained better unspoken. So therefore, we need to practice the art of being silent before God when it is called for. Many is the time when we do all the talking anyway and God can hardly get a word in. So be quiet.

Over the past few days, we have looked at ways to help prevent us being fretful and worrying all the time. We have discussed the first 7 verses of Psalm 37 which covers:

Trust in the Lord

Delight yourself in the Lord

Commit your way to the Lord

Rest in the Lord.

These four topics can act as a replacement for worry and as the Amplified Bible puts it:

'Be still before the LORD; wait patiently before Him and entrust yourself to Him. Do not fret,(Whine, agonise) because of him who prospers in His way.'  Psalm 37:1 Amplified Version

Copyright 2021 Grahame Howard.                                 

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Commit your way to the LORD

"Commit your way to the LORD, trust also to Him, and He shall bring it to pass. 6 He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday."   

                                                                                      Psalm 37:5-6    NKJV

The word 'commit' is very interesting and its meaning is to 'throw your burden'. In the Hebrew, the word for commit is Galal, which is translated 'roll'. This describes, in picture language, a camel heavily loaded coming to the end of its journey. When it reaches its destination it does a very interesting thing. To be able to unload the burdens on its back, it has to get down on its knees and roll over. Do you get the point of this? The camel gets down on its knees to unburden itself and, so should we. We need to kneel before the Lord and roll our burdens over to Him. This is underpinned in 1 Peter 5:6-7 where the scripture reads: 'Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.'

God helps us with our burdens in order for us to be better servants and ambassadors of Him. This doesn't mean we can give them to Him and get on with our lives without accepting responsibility for them. When we roll the burdens over to Him, He provides the assistance we need to overcome them. If we entrust our entire life to God, He will act on our behalf with righteousness and justice. 

Worries and cares equal burdens. They cause us to fret and this is where the stress is triggered and the sleepless nights, frustration and irritability is manifested. We can spend much time attending to things that take all of our focus, ruining our days and bringing upset to those around us, when all we need to do is be obedient to Jesus. He tells us in Matthew 6:25-34 not to worry, so when we do, we are disobeying Him. Yes, things do alarm us; they do have the power to disable our whole thinking. However, this is the time when we need to put into action God's Word. Jesus didn't speak empty words; He knows what it is like to tread the road we walk on; He knows the anxiety that comes upon us. Let us not forget that in the Garden of Gethsemane He actually sweat drops of blood. Now that is something He wants you to avoid. So therefore, do what He says and commit your way to the Lord.

Copyright 2021 Grahame Howard.                                 

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Delight yourself in the LORD

"Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart."          

                                                                                             Psalm 37:4    NKJV 

The word translated 'delight' comes from a root that means 'to be brought up in luxury, or to be pampered.' It speaks of the abundance of blessings we have in the Lord Himself, totally apart from what he gives us. If we are to enjoy the blessings but ignore the 'Blesser,' we're committing idolatry. In Jesus we have all the treasures we will ever need, we don't need any other to take care of us. We need to seek the giver, not the gift!

When your expectation of God's movement in your life causes your thinking and desires to match His, you will be blessed. Keith Moore says, 'When you want what God wants, for the same reason He wants it, you become unstoppable.' He desires to bless you more than you could ever wish to be blessed; so enjoy Him. Replace worry, anxiety and envy with a conscious delight in the Lord - living for Him; being sold out for Him on a 24/7 basis. The rewards will be amazing. Expect great things from Him; re-direct your thinking to focus on Him. It takes effort - it's a spiritual workout. Many people go to the gym to workout and have a healthy body. This is good. But, why not consider doing this with your spiritual life - getting into the Word, praying, praising and just enjoying God. It will not only benefit your body, but your spirit as well. 

When we read our text above, there's a tendency to believe that God will give us anything that we want and ask for because He wants us to be happy. However, this verse goes much deeper. When we delight in God, He plants within us godly desires that He delights to fulfil. These desires bring us peace and satisfaction. They also bring us confidence and a boldness to know and declare that we belong to Jesus and nothing can stop us praising and living for Him

Delight yourself in the Lord.

Copyright 2021 Grahame Howard.                                 

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Trust in the LORD

"Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness."   

                                                                                                    Psalm 37:3   NKJV

Whenever I feel that we have exhausted our thoughts on worry and fretfulness, God shows me that there is an ocean more to decipher. So let's continue with this. Let us commence by firstly looking at verse 1 of this Psalm. It reads: Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity.' A fretful heart is not a trusting heart because it lacks joy and peace. 

It can be easy to feel jealousy and envy when other people seem to prosper and not you. Probably you may have been praying for a certain something and yet, nothing has happened yet. However, you see someone else prosper in what you are asking for. This can be anything, perhaps a house, a new car or perhaps someone is promoted at work and they may have taken the position that you have been praying and working towards. It hurts and this can be quite difficult to handle. You may also have been passed over in your ministry and feel just like a substitute on the bench and feel so left out of things.

When others prosper, especially the unbelievers around you, David encourages you to be patient and work to develop a renewed sense of dependance on God, along with a new sense of pleasure in knowing Him. Is this easy? You bet it isn't, it can mean losing your pride, jealousy and bad feeling. Jealousy of other people's success, Christian or not, when you have been praying and waiting for a similar thing can be hard to swallow, but it needs to be done.

Trust grows when a believer's life and soul feed on God's faithfulness in times past. Remember the victories you have had and build a praise theme on these until you have replenished the joy that only comes from the Lord. There is a need to believe and trust in God's promises, that's right, believe not worry and fret. The latter never serves any purpose except to bring upset, anger and frustration to your life.

So, establish your faithfulness in Jesus, live for Him and spread His love around and develop a healthy trust in Him.

Copyright 2021 Grahame Howard.                                 

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God has given us all we need

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ."    Ephesians 1:3    NKJV 

Should we be rich in all we possess in our earthly lives, or are the spiritual blessings God gives us, only meant for heaven. This can be a very contentious subject in Christian circles. We have the faith movements telling us it is God's will for us to be rich and, then again we have the people who disagree entirely and insist that we should be grateful for all that God has given us and not ask for more than we are entitled to. This can be quite confusing for many people, especially for new believers.

Regarding our text above, Warren W Weirsbe, famous for the Back to the Bible series, says:

'God the Father has made us rich in Jesus Christ! When you were born again into God's family, you were born rich. Our Heavenly Father is not poor; He is rich - and He has made us rich in His Son. But too many Christian believers today live like paupers even though they have this limitless wealth at their disposal.'     Warren W Weirsbe

In addition, Tony Evans writes, 'God has already given us all that we will ever need. It is in our heavenly account in the heavenly places; we just need to grab them. But only by operating from a spiritual perspective will you have access to God's kingdom power and provisions to deal victoriously with life in the physical realm'.    Tony Evans

In other words, if we live for Jesus, we will never be short of what we need. In fact, we will be as blessed as He wants us to be. God does not guarantee health, wealth and prosperity to the New Testament believer. The blessings of Christianity are largely spiritual. However, this doesn't mean that we should refrain from praying for a house, good health, success and financial blessing. He has promised to give us superabundance (John 10:10) and, Ephesians 3:20 declares: '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.' But note the 'according to the power that works in us.' Firstly we need to live and walk in faith, secondly, we need to be praying in accordance to God's will. Does God want you to have riches, wealth and a new house etc etc. If so go for it; but you will only know what He wants for your life as you walk each and every day with Him. When you do this, you will be able to pray accordingly and with great conviction and faith and the doors of health, wealth and success will open.

Copyright 2021 Grahame Howard.                                 

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The Author and Finisher

"looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith."     Hebrews 12:2    NKJV

Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith, in fact, as we place Him in the first place of our life, He is the author and finisher of our lives. We could almost have a dialogue with Him that goes something like this:

'(Us)  'Yes, I know that, I've read the book.'

(Jesus) 'Yes, that is true, but I wrote it and, you are in it and will be there at the end.'

(Us)  'Yes Lord, but..'

(Jesus)  'But nothing, you're in the book'.

(Us)  'Yes Lord, but I can't do this.'

(Jesus) 'You can because I know you can, and I wrote the ending of the book that you feature in'.

(Us)  'But I keep letting You down'.

(Jesus'  'Do you? I haven't noticed because every time you ask forgiveness, I choose to forget'.

This dialogue could go on for many pages but, the fact remains that if Jesus is our Lord and Saviour, He paid the price of our sin and placed our names in His book and declared us not guilty. Philippians 1:6 tells us: '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.' Jesus is the author and finisher - the source and perfecter - the completer.

As we keep our eyes on Him, He will enable us to persevere through our development and reach our destiny. How did Jesus reach the finish line of His race? 'Who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God' v2. DON'T GROW WEARY AND GIVE UP. LOOK UP!

In the beginning, God had a plan and put it into action. Jesus wrote the book (the Bible), and the Holy Spirit edited it and still does this because it is a Living Word. The most wonderful thing of all, is that you, yes you, have your name written in the Lamb's book of life if you have accepted Jesus as your Lord. Therefore, stop saying you can't do this and that won't happen. Start confessing Jesus as Lord and living joyfully because you have a place reserved in Heaven. 

Copyright 2021 Grahame Howard.                                 

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com          

If you would like to contact me, CLICK HERE

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