Lessons from the ant

"Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and become wise."     

                                                                                       Proverbs 6:6   NLT

The ant is small in size but it is industrious and wise in its ability to optimise its time, skill and resources. It doesn't sit around thinking whether it should do this or that. It has plans, it is a self-motivated, self-starter and it knows where it is going. It can lift up to 20 times its body weight and will not stop to achieve this task. Much of our time is wasted because we don't prepare or plan ahead or if we do, we are easily distracted by things around us. The ant will use its own particular skill to achieve its goal. Unlike us, it will not try to do a plumber's job if it is a bus driver. It thinks and plans each and every step.

Ants are used to teamwork and unity; they know that far more can be accomplished by working together than trying to do things on their own. This is a major problem in the human world today, where some people find it difficult to work in a team and prefer to do the job alone, despite of the time factor. Unity can be difficult to find in today's modern church if everyone is trying to do their own thing and find it hard to come under authority.

Ants also set goals and strategically plan their tasks to the letter. They have seasons of rest to avoid burnout so, store up food for these occasions. We can't expect to do this and go there neglecting our rest and home life, without something snapping. This is where the ant may well be on the winning side, it plans; it knows its own limitations and it knows that it can depend on the rest of the team if needed.

The ant knows where it is going and if anything tries to divert or block their path, they will find another way to accomplish their mission. This may mean climbing over the obstacle, moving under it or going round it. It is determined and nothing short of death or injury will stop it. It is diligent and hardworking and, never lazy and will never quit, never! This also is a great lesson for us. Ask yourself, do you know where you're going? If you do know and set out, what happens when you meet an obstacle? Do you find another way to accomplish it, going over it, under it or round it, or do you give up?

If we strive to be diligent and work hard, our lives will be blessed, physically, spiritually and financially. But it takes determination; it takes vision and it takes that attitude that whatever we meet, it will not stop preventing us achieving our goal for Jesus. After all, He never quit on us; He never gave up or turned back because He couldn't find a way through. No, He took it all and fulfilled His mission for all of us. Now that's something to think about!

Copyright 2022 Grahame Howard.                                 

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Disappointments may be blessings in disguise

"You planned evil against me; God planned it for good"    Genesis 50:20    CBS

Disappointments are around every corner at times. We get all excited about something and then find out it has come to nothing. People disappoint us and let us down and it hurts. You may well have been on the end of this at some time or, may be going through this right now. Let me encourage you. 

Disappointments may be blessing in disguise. Look at Joseph in Genesis 37-50. As a 17 year old, he wasn't ready for God's work, he was still quite immature. He started having dreams which were obviously prophetic but, he wasn't very wise in how he shared these with his brothers. They became jealous and began to resent him as he was their father Jacob's, favourite son. So they ended up selling him into slavery informing Jacob that he had more than likely been killed by a wild animal. 

God had to put things into place so the young Joseph ended up working for Potiphar, an officer of the guard in Pharaoh's army. Joseph was well respected and earned great favour in Potiphar's eyes. Sadly, also in Potiphar's wife's eyes too. She tried to seduce him which he refused and finally because of his rebuffs, she accused him of rape and he was thrown into prison.

Joseph spent 13 years in this prison and although it must have been very tedious and frustrating, he worked faithfully and again earned favour resulting in him taking charge. 

One day, the Chief Cup Bearer and the Chief Baker were put into this prison. They both had dreams - a favourable one for the Chief Cup Bearer, who would be released in 3 days, but not so favourable for the Chief Baker, who would be executed in 3 days. Joseph begged the Cup Bearer to make mention of him to Pharaoh so that he may be released from prison himself, however, the Cup Bearer forgot.

This was a total disappointment for Joseph but, it must be said that he had put his trust - for the first time - in man and, man can't be trusted. Don't lose heart at your disappointments, God hasn't forgotten you. He is just causing detours until things are in place, rather like He did for Joseph. When He is ready, if you have not given up, you will fly. However, look how Joseph handled his situation. He could have hated and resented all of these people for hurting him and letting him down, but he didn't. He was an honourable man and God was about to bless him.

Think of the people who have let you down. You may have wanted to use them as target practice, but grudges can lead to hate and ruin your walk with God. God would sooner you hand it over to Him and forgive them. 'Vengeance belongs to Me, I will repay', says the Lord. 

Do you feel that you need to take action here?

Copyright 2022 Grahame Howard.                                 

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Storm damage?

"Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will hold on to you with My righteous right hand."    Isaiah 41:10    CBS 

There have been a few storms lately with floods, electricity loss, fallen trees, damage to roofs and house and fences smashed down. It has been a harrowing time. We are never prepared for things such as this and when the lights are out, stumble throughout the house searching for candles and matches. 

We also have the storms of life, bereavement, marital breakdown, homelessness, loss of jobs, severe illness and much more. It can all be a wearing down process, one in which we feel alone, frustrated and fearful. However, take another look at our text for today. God does not want us being fearful and anxious. He has promised to help us - to strengthen us and even, hold on to us as we call upon Him. 

When you face anxiety, remember that you are a child of God, no matter how you may feel. You have the power to overcome fear and your situation when you apply His word to your life, remembering that He is always with you and will never fail or forsake you. Be careful though, because of the enemy within - your mind. It is unhelpful and will do whatever it can to get you to deny everything that God promises. It will convince you that there is a better way, that you haven't the time to stop and pray, things need to be done now. Get your thinking in line with the word of God, get your mind aligned with God. Check out Isaiah 26:3:

'You will keep the mind that is dependent on You, in perfect peace, for it is trusting in You.'

If there is no peace within, there will be no peace around. There will be storms but, they can be managed when you have peace within and face the storm head on with the power of Jesus. This is a time when the world fails to have peace, this can be evident because of the panic that sets in all around. But it is the peace of God which surpasses all understanding and guards our heart and mind in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7) that helps us through.

Whatever you are facing at this time, get the peace of God within you now; refuse to fear, refuse to doubt and learn to trust in Jesus. The storm is for a moment, He can help you through it if you allow Him to hold on to you, and you to Him.

Copyright 2022 Grahame Howard.                                 

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Head knowledge v Heart knowledge

"Jonah was greatly displeased and became furious"         Jonah 4    CSB 

When Jonah saw that the people from Nineveh had repented and that God had forgiven them and decided not to destroy the place, he was angry. In fact, he was furious. Once again he stormed off from God's presence to a piece of waste ground out of the city and prayed God would take his life. Basically, he was saying to God, 'I knew this would happen, I knew you would forgive and give them another chance. It's not fair.' He didn't want God's grace to fall upon Nineveh; they were wicked and deep down he thought they would refuse God and be destroyed. When they chose God, he again rebelled.

It may be difficult to understand Jonah's reasoning but, be honest, are there people whose salvation would make you become angry? Think of the worst of the bunch, would you want them to have a place in heaven, in your church or even in your home group? How would you feel if God acted this way towards you? 

Was Jonah waiting for the Ninevites zeal for God to fade so that God would send a Sodom and Gomorrah experience on them? It's possible. How much he would have loved to say to God, 'I told you so, a leopard doesn't change its spots.' Jonah only saw the negative circumstances. He was more concerned about the loss of his plant (v7-9) than he was about the salvation of this city's inhabitants who could go to hell. He may have had God's Word in his head and mouth but, he didn't have God's heart and this is a problem in the world today. Divisions cause church splits and broken lives because people have the knowledge of God in their head but lack this in their heart. We need heart knowledge, all the colleges and study books in the world cannot give people this, we need a spirit-filled, power-packed, explosive-generated experience of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Only then will our hearts be full of knowledge. 

How is your heart? Have you head or heart knowledge; only you know this but be encouraged because, Jesus is your best friend and He wants to help you - and me also, to be changed more deeply into His likeness. Jonah's first prayer in the belly of the fish was from a broken heart, the second one at Nineveh was from a heart of anger. He may have felt peer pressure from his friends back home who hated the Assyrians. He cared more for his reputation than people's lives. 

But we are the people of God, the only reputation we want is that we belong to Jesus and will spread His love wherever we are and whenever we can. Some may not like this but, God will.

Copyright 2022 Grahame Howard.                                 

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What a difference obedience produces

"The Word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time. 2 'Get up! Go to the great City of Nineveh and preach the message that I tell you. 3 Jonah got up and went to Nineveh according to the LORD's command."                         Jonah 3    CSB

What a major difference to Jonah's last call to obedience. This time he got up, got ready and began the three day journey to this great city. Just think for a moment about the difference God makes in a person's life. When a person meets with Jesus they are changed; they are not perfect by all means but, the changes are evident. What a difference God makes to our situation, we can be in the deepest of problems but a call to Him can bring total rescue.

Jonah was full of God's power as he began to preach out God's message. (By the way, God's message changes things, our own pre-fabricated message, the one with little sign of the Holy Spirit, does very little. Ensure you have the power behind you). Jonah had this message of fire and it spoke directly to the people of Nineveh. They believed; a fast was proclaimed and they put on sackcloth. (Sackcloth is a coarse fabric made of goat's hair which was worn to express grief, sorrow and repentance). The king of Nineveh reinforced this proclamation and issued a decree that they must honour the fast, and call on God, repenting of their wicked ways, 'Who knows? God may turn and relent; He may turn from His burning anger so that we will not perish' v9. God showed them tremendous grace by giving them a window of forty days to get their house in order, the result being that He relented and gave them a chance.

As we know, earlier Jonah had rebelled against God and ran away, the result being that He ended up in a place he didn't really want to be, - in a huge fish. When we disobey God, refusing to do what He asks, we too, can end up in our own personal fish - no job, no money, things going wrong all the time and problem after problem. It doesn't always end this way but it might. If you refuse to do what God wants, you may even miss out on major blessings. God will not change His mind but, He can adjust to changes in a person when they repent. He can also get you through something that you find impossible.

If you want to be blessed, remain in obedience

Copyright 2022 Grahame Howard.                                 

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Try praying from the belly

"As my life was fading away, I remembered the LORD and my prayer came to You, to Your Holy Temple"                                                                 Jonah 2    CSB 

If Jonah could pray from the belly of a huge fish, this proves that we too can pray from anywhere - on a walk, in the gym, at work, in the shower, everywhere. Jonah needed to do this to get back in fellowship with God. Sometimes it takes traumatic circumstances before we even consider this.

Things had gone seriously wrong for Jonah, through his own fault; he had been totally disobedient and rebellious to God's calling and had run off in the opposite direction. This is always unwise. If we have made a commitment to God then He will take us up on the offer, this is part of the deal - living for Him. Jonah disagreed with this, until he had spent a few days in this smelly fish; he then changed his mind and prayed:

"As my life was fading away, I remembered the LORD and my prayer came to You"

Sometimes we have to reach rock bottom and sink below the surface; lose everything and become swallowed up with problems. In this situation, it is a sure way to remember how things were and call on God to rescue us.

God calls us to obedience. He will not change His mind or His Word. He expects us to adjust to it and as we obey or repent, He adjusts to our circumstances and helps us back on our feet. Jonah had to learn this and, so do we. He spent 3 days and 3 nights inside this fish until he came to his senses. 

In Matthew 12:38-41, we see that the Pharisees and scribes demanded a sign from Jesus that He was genuine. Jesus told them that the only sign He would give them was the sign of Jonah the prophet and there was a comparison of Jonah being in the fish 3 days and nights and He being in the grave for the same length of time. Tony Evans comments on this:

'When Jonah came out of the fish, he carried a message of repentance to Nineveh. God would show compassion on Nineveh through the symbolic death and resurrection of a prophet. But in Jesus Christ He showed mercy on you and me by the actual death and resurrection of the Son of God. Indeed then, "something greater than Jonah is here" Matthew 12:41'

                                      Tony Evans, (2019) The Tony Evans Study Bible. Holman

Indeed, something is greater here than Jonah and His name is Jesus Christ, your Lord and Saviour. Don't wrestle with Him or His directions, He always wins. Just make obedience to Him upper most in your life. I remember and old army joke, 'If you can't take a joke, you shouldn't have joined up.' It's true, you accepted Jesus and told Him that you would obey and follow Him, so, there really is no more to say on this.

Copyright 2022 Grahame Howard.                                 

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The God of Second Chances

"The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai. 2 Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because their evil has come up before Me. 3 Jonah got up to flee to Tarshish from the LORD's presence."    Jonah :1-17   Christian Standard Bible

Jonah heard the call from God to go and preach to the City of Nineveh but, instead, turned tail and grabbed a boat which was on route to Tarshish. Jonah would have been aware of the people's reputation there; they were violent and would torture, murder and leave the body on display in the streets. He would obviously have been afraid or concerned at least. He also resented the townsfolk being saved because of all this. Nineveh was also a great Assyrian city, and he felt if they were to repent and escape God's judgement, they could eventually attack and conquer Israel.

So Jonah ran off to Tarshish - away from the LORD's presence. But as they usually do in these circumstances, things began to go wrong as soon as the boat sailed. A great storm hit them threatening to cause them to sink. The petrified pagan sailors started to throw things overboard and eventually considered that Jonah was the reason for all of this. The captain challenged Jonah to pray to his God, which he refused. When they all discovered that Jonah was fleeing from God, they panicked and after speaking with Jonah, threw him over the side. They even prayed that God would forgive them for such an act. At once, the water calmed and all was well. A big fish swallowed Jonah and swam off. 

We can't just runaway from God; He will do all He can to bring us back to Him and this, is what He did with Jonah. Like Jonah, we do not know what is best, only God does. Jonah was rebellious, judgemental, fearful and disobedient. In this time of backsliding, he became very sulky and began to feel sorry for himself because he couldn't get his own way and just refused to speak with God. We can shout and stamp our feet, scream, swear and refuse to read our bibles but, God is still in control and waits for us to calm down. He will have His way. Jonah wouldn't pray so God caused the pagan seamen to pray and they witnessed the power of God and a miracle. I often wonder if they began to believe from this point. I believe it was possible.

God could have pulled the plug on Jonah but He didn't, instead Jonah had a trip in the stomach of a whale. Think about it, that must have been a foul and smelly place to be. God really has a sense of humour. However, this was all Jonah suffered because, God is the God of Second Chances. He never gives up on us

Just stop and think for a moment, can you relate to Jonah's behaviour? Have you been like this, even a little? Do you need a second chance. Say this prayer:

Father God, I know that I have blown things in lots of ways. Please forgive me and rescue me from the belly of this fish. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit and give me a second chance to serve You. In Jesus' name, I ask. Amen.

Copyright 2022 Grahame Howard.                                 

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com          

If you would like to contact me, CLICK HERE

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