Control your thoughts

"The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you."               Philippians 4:9   NKJV 

Paul had just written to the Philippians to instruct them how to control their thoughts. It may be helpful to back up to v8 and read it prayer-fully. He was encouraging them, and now us, to meditate on good and praiseworthy things. In other words, to be in control of our thoughts.

What controls your thought life? What you think about on a regular basis is what will control your life, and what you will become. Hence, if you think about Jesus and a wholesome life with Him, you are more likely to be like Him than if, you think about unwholesome things. Your thoughts can rule your life.

Some patterns of thought, lead people away from the truth and, hold you in captivity. This is why Paul said in 2 Corinthians 10:4-5: For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds. 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ'. When unwholesome thoughts pop into our minds, instead of being tempted to entertain them, we need to take hold of them and refuse to allow them residence. We do this by immediately surrendering them to Jesus.

We are merely human beings and at times, bad thoughts appear reasonable thoughts, and we think about them and as we allow this to happen regularly; we become addicted to them, looking forward to being seduced by the very content of them, whatever they may be. We have to overcome whatever unwholesome thought pops into our heads.

Tony Evans gives an interesting comment here:

If addictive behaviour is present in a person's life, that behaviour is not the stronghold but merely its fruit. Strongholds can only be demolished by the knowledge of God - that is by truth. John 8:32 says, 'The truth will set you free.' When your relationship to the Living Word connects to the Written Word, 'You really will be free' John 8:36. If you're not taking every thought captive to obey Christ and are, instead succumbing to a stronghold, it's because you either don't know the truth or, aren't making use of the truth you know.'       The Tony Evans Bible Commentary

? What would change in your life if you captured your unwholesome thoughts? Do you want to capture your unwholesome thoughts or hang on to them?

Give these two questions your attention.

Copyright 2023 Grahame Howard.                                

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Given back his self-respect

"And he answered Him, saying, 'My name is Legion; for we are many.' 10 Also he begged Him earnestly that He would not send them out of the country v 9-10"               

                                                                                        Mark 5:1-20   NKJV 

This man had lost everything, his family, friends, respect you name it. He had ended up totally depressed and possibly mentally deluded. He claimed his name was Legion, but this was the many demons possessing him. Possibly in earlier life, he had been harassed by Roman soldiers and may even have lost his family through this. He knew what a Legion meant - six thousand soldiers and therefore, because of his demonic state and delusion, he may have felt that this same amount of demons were in him and controlling his life. It's possible that this amount may have taken up residence. We just don't know. What we do know, is that he went around naked, crying out and cutting himself with stones. He was a risk to himself and other people so, they bound him in shackles and chains. However, the demonic force within him, just broke these, they were too strong to hold him.

It's interesting that when he saw Jesus, he ran up to Him and worshiped Him and called Him Jesus, Son of the Most High God. This proves that Satan recognises when Jesus is around. He can see and hear Jesus but, he can't read His mind - what He intends to do, unless Jesus reveals it to him. And there is no evidence that Satan can read our minds either. He only knows what we are going to do when he hears us speak. There's a lesson here to be careful what we say because, he is listening.

The evil spirits begged Him to send them into a 2000 herd of pigs. He did this and the large herd ran off a cliff and were killed in the sea below. This caused the villagers to be angry because, they had lost their livelihood and they begged Him to leave. Before He did, they also noticed that the man was dressed, in his right mind and very much at peace. Jesus looked at this man as he asked Jesus if he could go with Him but Jesus told him to go home, find his friends, tell them about what had happened to him and concentrate on this. 

He did this and, this social outcast, this terribly demon-possessed man who had nothing, was built up and made new. Jesus had given him back his self-respect; He had given him back his life and a commission too. Sooner than take him with Him, out of the country, Jesus gave him a job to do. He lived on the edge of the Decapolis. He therefore had ten cities to visit and tell the people all that Jesus had done for him. His evangelism career began.

And Jesus wants to build you back up again. He knows how you have suffered in life. Why not come to Him now and ask Him into your life or rededicate yourself:

'Lord Jesus, my life has been hard up to now. I need You Jesus, I surrender to You. Would You come and live in my life. Please forgive my sins and fill me with Your Holy Spirit and help me. I ask in Jesus' Name. Amen'

Copyright 2023 Grahame Howard.                                

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How is your faith?

"Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?"    Mark 4:35-41   NKJV 

The disciples had been with Jesus for some time by now and yet, they still lacked faith. They had witnessed Jesus performing great healings and changing people's lives and they had been astounded by it all but, they failed big time on what could be classed as a test.

Jesus had asked them to take Him over to the other side of the lake (v35), and they obeyed, However, as they were going on their short journey, a great windstorm arose, threatening to sink the boat. Jesus was asleep in the stern so didn't respond to their frightened screams for help. Why didn't He respond? He must have heard them crying out and also felt the raging sea and waves washing over the boat? But He slept. Many believe that He was testing their faith - how they would handle this trauma; after-all, they had witnessed great faith being carried out with Jesus, they had heard His words. Don't forget that Romans 10:17 says: 'Faith comes by hearing and hearing, by the word of God.' And no doubt they would have heard many faith-filled words spoken by Jesus. Therefore, He tested them to see how their faith was growing. And He could see that it was not great.

It's not enough to learn a lesson or be able to teach it, we need to be able to put it into practice and, this is why God allows people to be tested; and this is what He was doing with these fishermen who He dearly loved. The problem was, they had lost what little faith they had and, given into fear and fear will always rob us of the truth. Bob Gass used to say that F.E.A.R is False Evidence Appearing Real. Yes the waves were very real and there was nothing false about them. However, this fear blinded them to the truth - that they were not acting by faith. Their unbelief caused them to be fearful and, fear is the opposite to faith; it caused them to believe that Jesus didn't really care about what was happening to them. They were in the chains of fear.

Jesus, today, asks you the same question when you begin to doubt: 'Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?' Be honest, do you need to improve in this area? What holds you back from doing this? Do you believe what you read in your bible or does it just get forgotten because of the many things that crowd your mind? Perhaps you need to think and pray this area through so that Jesus can minister to you. What you are reading and hearing now should generate faith within you? Does it? It's the word of God. If faith isn't happening for you, then please speak to the creator of faith - Jesus. Bless you.

Copyright 2023 Grahame Howard.                                

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com  

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God is Love - Love is God

'And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him."        1 John 4:16    NKJV 

When you consider it, Love is a perfect name for God. I know John was saying that God is the perfect example of Love, and this is true. However, when we read in verse 16 that God is love, then we can actually believe that He is Love. Therefore, God is Love - Love is God. Part of us would want to call Him Love and I am sure he wouldn't mind because, this is what He is. And we have known and believed in God/Love - the love that He has for each one of us and therefore, we abide in Him and He within us. We live in Love and Love lives in us.

His love is described in scripture but, it is also revealed in the fact that He died in our place - He paid the penalty of our sin. Romans 5:8 says: 'But God demonstrates His own love towards us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.' This scripture wipes out the theory in our minds, that when we have sinned, God won't forgive us. Yes He will because, He is Love and Love forgives, it doesn't keep a record of wrongs (1 Cor 13). It is genuine and loyal and He is faithful to His children. This doesn't mean that we have a licence to sin, not at all; but when we do, He will forgive us (1John 1:9). 

Warren W Wiersbe writes: 'The Old Testament Israelite would look with wonder at the tabernacle  or temple because the presence of God was in that building. No person, besides the high priest once a year, would dare to enter the Holy of Holies, where God was enthroned in glory. But we have God's Spirit living in us! We abide in this love, and we experience the abiding of God in us.'   The Wiersbe Study Bible, (2018) Warren W Wiersbe

Just think about that for a moment; The only person who could go into God's presence was the high priest and that, was once a year. We have His presence within us 24/7. What a privilege! However, do we take this fact for granted. The high priest's visits were annually and the people would have looked forward to this. We feel His presence daily, and it could be so easy to take this for granted. Don't ever allow this to happen. Jesus gave us this privilege so, let us make the most of it. The next privilege will be seeing Him face to face. That will be the privilege to beat all privileges. Until then, let us enjoy the presence of God, in our lives, each and every day.

Copyright 2023 Grahame Howard.                                

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God is pleased with your efforts

"Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labour is not in vain in the Lord."   

                                                                             1 Corinthians 15:58    NKJV 

Paul has just finished telling the brethren that, through Jesus Christ, they have the victory. Now, he tells them that anything they do for Jesus is never wasted - never! We can sit and look around a church and view others really flowing in their ministries. They appear so gifted as they reach out to people. While this is going on, you just sit there and watch. You may think that it would be nice to be able to preach or lead worship like these other people do. You may also have the gifting within you, yet you are never given the opportunity to flow in it. Len Magee, a great Elim pastor, evangelist and musical artist, whose records have gone all over the world in the last four decades, once told me when I was wanting to be set free in ministry: 'A man's gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men' Proverbs 18:16. It was wise words and encouraged me greatly, even to this day.

You see, at times you may feel insignificant in the church and this, may lead to you feeling just like a spare part. Don't ever think that at all. Everything that you do in Christ Jesus is valuable to Him. You may not think so, but when you are speaking to people about your faith and what is happening around you, the people who are listening may receive the answer to what they are searching for, just by what you have told them. It may seem insignificant to you but, it may be power-packed to them. 

Nothing you say or do in Jesus, is wasted. Remember: 'But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ' ( Cor 15:57). You have the victory because Jesus Christ lives within you. You don't need to be a well known preacher, musician, evangelist or pastor for God to use you. God can slip a word into your mouth that can change someone's life forever. All you need to do is : to be open to God, and, secure in your walk with Him:

BE OPEN TO HIM.  Read your bible everyday, let it sink in. Ask God for certain explanations and the Holy Spirit will enable this. Spend as much time as is humanly possible, without neglecting important things such as your marriage or friends/family, children, your job and yourself. 

BE SECURE IN YOUR WALK WITH GOD  God loves you. He has no favourites. You're as special as any other child of His. Receive that and be confident in all you do. You are victorious in Jesus, so live as that.

Too long have you been in the wings; it's time to come on stage now and take your place as a fully-fledged person of God. Stand up and go for gold!

Copyright 2023 Grahame Howard.                                

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com  

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Don't be tormented by Fear

"There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment."  

                                                                                1 John 4:18   NKJV 

Jesus has perfected His love within us, love has been made complete. Therefore, because of this, we can have the confidence in the day of judgement. We will all stand before the judgement seat of Christ; but don't think of it as a trial to determine our salvation but, as Jesus' opportunity to evaluate our Christian life - what we've done and how we sought to minister to people in love and to receive certain rewards for our obedience. This gives us the boldness and confidence to minister for Jesus knowing that, one day we will see Him face to face.

As I've said, Jesus has perfected His love within us. It may not feel like this at the moment but, don't forget that He is the Author and the Finisher of our faith. He looks at the finished product (Philippians 1:6). He's working on us. However, there are things that can get in the way of our progress and that is - torment. We all have things in our past that haunt us or, there may be things in this present time that upsets us or the future may be a threat to us. This can all torment us and lead us to constantly have fearful thoughts of what may happen. Listen, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you do not have to fear the past, present or future. Whatever it is, when you came to Jesus and asked Him to forgive you, He took all of these things away and gave you a free pardon - you were forgiven and your past has been taken care of. 

You may have fears about the present and your future, if so talk to Him about this and He will put your mind at rest. He does not want you being anxious about anything. There is an old slogan - NO FEAR HERE, adopt this, put signs up in your home if you have to, put it on your mobile, on Facebook or stick a sign up in your car. Incorporate this in your prayer life, especially when a worry is trying to torment you. Jesus - your Perfect Love, has cast out all fear because it causes torment and He doesn't want any of His crew members to be living in such a way. If you believe the worry, pretty soon you'll be overcome by it. Refuse right now to allow this to take root.

Torment is from the very pit of hell. It is horrible and wrecks people's lives; and this is the way the enemy wants you to live. You can never have the victory if you succumb to it. But Jesus has given you the victory: 'But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ'  1 Corinthians 15:57

Copyright 2023 Grahame Howard.                                

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com  

If you would like to contact me, CLICK HERE

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We can’t see Him but - He's there!

"No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us"                              I John 4:12    NKJV

None of us have ever seen God but we know He is there. It's true that many have had visions of Him such as Paul in 2 Corinthians 12, and others, myself included. But none of us have met Him in the flesh. However, this is where our faith comes into action. By faith we see what unbelievers can't see. We know God is here with us - we talk and listen to Him but, we do that by faith because - we know beyond all doubt that Jesus is alive! The world can't comprehend this and consider us mad. But, I would sooner be mad for Jesus than mad without Him.

Romans 4:17 is an astounding verse, it reads: God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did' This is the faith that we need to grab hold of; this is the way God wants us to live. We speak to things that don't exist and they do. This is the whole truth of physical healing, we lay hands on people and though healing is not there - yet, we believe that it exists, so therefore, we speak healing to that person. Some may say, 'Yes, but I've prayed for people and they were not healed.' I know this, it's happened to all of us but, that should never stop us. I've no real answers to the times when people are not healed; that's down to God. We should be obedient to God's Word and we go ahead, no matter what.

In 2 Corinthians 4:18 we read: 'while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things that are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.' With faith, we always look at the things which are not seen, such as healings, lack of finance, jobs, people's lives etc. When we look at the things that are seen we sink. Look at Peter when he walked on the water. As he looked at Jesus, he was ok. However, when he took his eyes away and looked at the swelling waves, he sank (Matthew 14:29-30).

We are called to walk by faith not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7), and this is the message today. We have not seen Jesus, but we know that He is there. When we pray for people or situations, the answer is not there in the natural but, we focus on the supernatural and call in the things that do not exist. This is what faith is all about and when we are committed to God, that is all we need. He takes care of the rest. 

You may be a faith person - living it and not walking by sight. Then again, you may struggle in this area. The thing is, it is Jesus' teaching; there is nothing suspicious about this. You may have been warned off this subject because of the so-called faith teachers who are constantly asking you to send money to them. That is not Jesus, He is faith and He wants you to be as well. Read the Gospels and watch as Jesus uses this wonderful gift.

Copyright 2023 Grahame Howard.                                

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com  

If you would like to contact me, CLICK HERE

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