Suspicion

"Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing and perfect will of God."    

                                                                                Romans 12:2   CSB 

Suspicion is built around doubt and mistrust and it can be a major weapon that the evil one uses against us. Suspicion in the positive manner, helps police and other public forces determine a certain truth. Used properly, it is an effective tool in gathering evidence that can prevent further problems. However, used in the negative manner, suspicion can be a killer to friendships, marriages and partnerships in all walks of life.

If a person is suspicious about something or someone, they may go to great lengths to prove they are right, no matter what the cost. Sadly, many is the time when suspicions are proven right and the lies are revealed. As a Christian, once the devil knows that a person is suspicious about something, he will go flat out to provide them with false evidence that is so convincing and from thereon, it is a downward spiral.

Business, marriages and friendships have been wrecked because of suspicion, whether right or wrong. Because something appears so convincing, people may take the wrong side - the devil, and believe this untruth. Suspicion can drive a person to despair because they are so convinced they are right - they cannot see the truth, only the lie.

Paul tells us here to be transformed by the 'renewing of your mind', we cannot do this, it is God's job. When God has all of us and the world has none, God can then do His renewal work of our suspicious and confused mind. He brings our thoughts in line with His own so  that we think Godly thoughts. Paul, further tells us that as we do this, 'the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus'  Philippians 4:7.

If this is you, your suspicions may be right and you need to come to Him now and be guided by God about the way forward. However, they may be wrong and it may be time to come to Jesus and give Him your burdens, thoughts and fears. Allow Him to bathe the wounds of the doubt you have been thinking and help you to have a more positive approach to your daily life with Jesus.

Copyright 2022 Grahame Howard.                                

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Persistence

 Many warned him to keep quiet, but he was crying out all the more, 'Have mercy on me, Son of David.' 49 Jesus stopped and said, 'Call him'."      Mark 10:48-49   CSB    

If there is one thing that will get Jesus' attention, it is persistence. This is how Bartimaeus was this day. He had heard of Jesus and he secured a place  along the road that Jesus would be walking on and, he waited. He may have been there some time, we don't know, but crowds were forming because of the interest in Jesus. 

After Jesus had arrived and Bartimaeus had been persistently calling out to Him, people began telling him to be quiet, but he persisted and gained Jesus' attention. Jesus stopped and had him brought to Him. 'What do you want Me to do for you?' He asked. Bartimaeus told Jesus that he wanted to see and, he saw, because Jesus healed him.

Notice that Bartimaeus was not going to give up, he was persistent. Also notice that, there is no class barrier with Jesus. Bartimaeus was a beggar but he received the same attention anyone would receive. Some people will always try to keep us quiet when it comes to Jesus. To them, He is an embarrassment and, they'll do all they can to stop you. This is seen in the workplace quite a lot; mention Jesus in some environments and you may be warned and then, if you persist, possibly fired. You see, the Name of Jesus is powerful and it can cause conviction to fall on people. They may tend to accuse you of protesting about what the bible says is evil. When doing this, they can be quite hostile in their treatment. But don't let that stop you; you are not there to be an evangelist but a worker. However, you have the right to voice your opinions should you be asked. Don't be put off, or tend to compromise.

Be persistent; also don't ever feel inferior to another person because of your upbringing or the fact that your educational achievements don't match theirs. If Jesus accepts you, that's good enough. Never allow people to intimidate you because you are not as eloquent as the next person. You don't have to speak posh to speak to Jesus; He never intimidates. Remember, He spent time with the deprived, the poor, the lonely and those from off the streets and' He showed them love and empathy. This is why Bartimaeus had the courage to persistently shout out, 'Have mercy on me, Son of David'

Copyright 2022 Grahame Howard.                                

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Breaking News...Blind man receives his sight!

"'Go your faith has saved you', immediately he could see and began to follow Jesus on the road."                                                        Mark 10:52   CSB 

Imagine if you saw the headlines on the BBC or in the daily paper, 'Breaking News...Blind Man receives his sight.' What about another? 'Man turns water into wine'. These are the type of headlines that grab the reader or TV viewer. People will flock to know more.

Over the years, it has been the same for many Christian events, The Toronto Blessing and Todd Bentley in The Lakeland Revival, both in Canada. There have been many more earlier ones. Thousands flocked to these events from many countries. They wanted to know what was happening and they realised that they wanted some of it.

Jesus has always been popular, just check your bible and you'll see that, wherever he was, He drew a crowd and, rather like Bartimaeus in our text above, they have been healed by being in His presence. This should not only be happening in Worldwide Christian events but, it should be happening weekly in our own churches and Home Groups. As followers of Jesus, full of the same Holy Spirit, we should be creating headlines wherever we are. Not everyone is a preacher or an evangelist but, as a Christian we all know Jesus and He has no favourites, He can and will work through anyone who makes themselves available to Him. What he does in big events, He can do in you as well, your church, your home, your family and friends and your neighbourhood should realise who Jesus is and what he is able to do for them. We see people in the street who may be ill or disabled in some way. Do we pray for them? Yes, it may be quite invasive to just approach them and pray but, we can use the 'silent prayers' as they go by. 

Things will only change in our corrupt world when we bring Jesus into the equation. Certain practices are wrong in our eyes and as Christians, we should make a stand against them. Only then will things really change as we begin to create our own headlines. We won't be popular doing this but, then again, Jesus wasn't at all. He didn't  compromise or water down the Gospel or, put up with things because He didn't want to make a fuss. He addressed what was wrong and, we also, need to let our feelings and our beliefs be known. 

In fact, Make Headlines for Jesus!

Copyright 2022 Grahame Howard.                                

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The Sign Post

"For God loved the world in this way; He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him, will not perish but have eternal life."    John 3:16    CSB 

My wife and I attended a humanist funeral recently and were sad at the lack of hope there. When Jesus is absent, there is nothing to look forward to, no hope at all and it showed. What we heard were just empty words to hungry people. Their hunger came from a desire to find out where their loved one was, now. Sadly, there were no answers, just the normal, 'Well, we'll see him again one day.' This made me think, will they?

The Bible - God's direction to life, shows us very clearly by way of a sign post - Life or Death. There is a choice to make and nothing in between; should we turn to 'Life' or take the road to 'Death'. Some may say when you're dead it doesn't matter, but it does!

Death is final on earth, when a friend or loved one dies, it's over. However, the soul and spirit lives on and, dependant on what they chose while they were alive, will determine on where they will be in life eternal. Our text makes it very clear that if we believe in Jesus, we will have eternal life. However in John 3:18 Jesus says:

'Anyone who believes in Him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned because he has not believed in the Name of the one and only Son of God.'

There is either life or death, hope or despair. This is what we witnessed at this funeral that day. There is a choice to make for each one of us - a sign post to choose from. Which one will you choose? To choose Jesus brings a certainty of spending eternity with Him in Heaven. To deny Him, will result in eternity spent without the people who accepted Jesus, in a place that is totally separated from God, which is known as hell. There will be no way of changing your mind then, it will be too late.

Heaven is where Jesus is, hell is where the devil is. Heaven brings joy, happiness and peace with no more sickness or hurts. Hell brings death and destruction, sickness and terrible fear forever. Surely the sign to Heaven is the one to take, don't you think?

Lord Jesus, I choose to follow You and give my life to You today. Please forgive me my sin and, fill me with Your Holy Spirit and be my Lord and Saviour. I ask in Jesus' Name. Amen

Copyright 2022 Grahame Howard.                                

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Don't be a copy of someone else

"Therefore, be imitators of God as dearly loved children."   Ephesians 5:1   CSB 

Do you know who you are? Better still, does God know who you are? Let me explain. Human nature puts within each of us, the desire to be like someone else. A hero from a movie, sports star or a musical bigshot, to name just a few, can draw us to them and we begin to take on part of their personality. This is why some people begin to dress and look like their hero - curly hair, make up, long hair, short hair or even no hair and rounded off with pierced everything. The problem is, if someone continues like this for a long time, they can forget who they really are and were created to be, because they are gradually turning into someone who they shouldn't be.

The fictional character Walter Mitty was created by author James Thurber. Mitty used to daydream and live out his fantasies believing he was a great war hero on dangerous missions, a pilot more skilled than any other pilot, a famous film star or any other figure that would give him an escape from realism. As funny as the book and film were, the character was also sad because he couldn't be who he should be - himself.

Well renowned Christian author, John Mason said, 'You were born an original, don't die a copy.' These are great words of wisdom. God created you just as you are. The only one He wants you to copy is Jesus. This is why Paul wrote, 'be imitators of God'. He is the only one worth being like. The old Walter Mitty syndrome needs to be cast aside. You are who God created you to be; stop trying to model yourself on another person.

We can and do, have mentors, but this doesn't mean we become them; we model ourselves on what they are helping us to achieve and receive their guidance to bring this about. This is why a sports person has a coach. However, the best mentor and coach is Jesus. We are doing it right, when we take on the desire to be just like Him. We begin to know who we really are this way and notice what needs to be changed. We also live in reality. We don't need fantasy and adventure to be happy; we just need Jesus. He is all we need.

When you become more like Jesus, instead of someone else; you'll be surprised how many people notice this and are drawn to you.

Copyright 2022 Grahame Howard.                                

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Do you handle changes of plan, well?

"A person's heart plans his way, but the LORD determines his steps."   Proverbs 16:9   CSB 

What are you like when everything you have planned to do on a particular day, is suddenly changed, no matter how important they were to you? You may think that your diary is set in stone but, God thinks differently, He knows that things can be changed as required, and He can change what He wants to. He doesn't do this however, to wind us up but, because of priority.

When I was working in a busy social work team, my diary would be crammed full of appointments and other important things that needed attention. However, things can change in an instant and all of those important things I had to do, would have to be re-scheduled because of an emergency. Initially, this gave me a problem as I had always been one not to let people down or change situations. But, I needed to change and fast, I had to learn to be flexible.

How do you handle sudden change? Does it cause you stress and panic because you are set in your ways, or are you open to these sudden changes? We know that Jesus never changes (Hebrews 13:8), but He will make sudden changes to our plans where required. He knows what is best for each situation. Life brings changes and we have to learn to live with them to be able to survive. It is similar to the sudden changes to our plans.

Changes to our plans can raise our blood pressure and get our stress level bubbling. But think about it, if we really trust God, would He change things just for the sake of it? If He was testing us, He might, but usually things will change because God has seen a better way - a door has suddenly opened and He wants us to make the most of it. Remember, we make the plans but, God determines what we do about them. He has our interests at heart; He can see things we may miss or He may make a change because of a threat to our lives or ministry. He is ultimately, the best planner of all time and He will never give us things to do, that we're not capable of doing. So stop fretting, trust Him and be a flexible person to a flexible friend.

Copyright 2022 Grahame Howard.                                

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A Word on 'Thoughts'

"We demolish arguments (5) and every proud thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ."   

                                                                                   2 Corinthians 10:4-5   CSB 

As we saw yesterday, our thoughts are built around our soul - mind, will and emotions and we need to keep a constant check in this area. In fact, Paul felt that our thought-life was so important that he told us to 'take every thought captive'. It is vital that we be in control here!

Jesus commented about the nature of Satan in John 8:44, 'he is a liar and the father of lies'. From this, we gain knowledge about the necessity to walk carefully. Satan twists the truth; rather like a serpent, he lies in wait until he is ready to show himself, he then crawls into the situation and attempts to convince us that we have it wrong. You must have had occasions when there is a voice in your head, telling you that this is the way you should go but somehow, it doesn't seem right. It may be luring you into a dangerous situation and you just don;'t have the faith to do it but, you feel guilty because you are feeling this way. These are mind games.

How do we know who is speaking - God or Satan? Firstly, Jesus told us 'Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world' John 14:27. When God speaks to us, there is a sense of peace about it all. When the devil speaks, then there is a sense of uncertainty. You just don't feel happy. When you feel this way, don't do it!

If we feel that it is God speaking to us, we then need to seek confirmation from Him. Proverbs 3:5-6 is ideal for this: 'Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding. (6) In all your ways, know Him and He will make your paths straight.' Notice the part, 'do not rely on your own understanding'. It is vital you seek God's confirmation. 

Satan will:

CONVINCE   He is sweet-tongued and will try to hoodwink you into going his way. Refuse!

CONFUSE    He is experienced in twisting scripture around which, if you are not conversant with  bible knowledge, he will confuse you. Be careful and get some bible study started.

CONTROLS  Once he has accomplished the above, he will control and manipulate you, if you allow him. Don't!

It is imperative to know scripture; without this knowledge, you are like a petrol engine without petrol - useless. Watch your thoughts and learn your scripture.

Copyright 2022 Grahame Howard.                                

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com          

If you would like to contact me, CLICK HERE

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