Unsaved family

"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household."      

                                                                                Acts 16:31   NKJV  

As you know, this statement by Paul, is taken from the account of Paul and Silas being rescued from prison and the jailor threatening to end his life because of this. One has to be really careful here. The text reads that if someone believes in Jesus, their household will be saved too. Many have received this as the answer to their unsaved family. However, it isn't what the verse is saying and those who have believed this, need to check it again.

Firstly, believing is not enough. Even the devil believes that Jesus is Lord. The difference is though, he doesn't believe in Him and refuses to accept Him because, he believes he is better. Therefore, it is easy to believe in someone or something but, in this case, people need to believe and accept Jesus as Lord. This is what the verse is explaining.

Also, a true believer cannot accept that their family is saved just because they are. Each individual needs to accept Jesus as Lord. It is the only way.

The Amplified Study Bible comments on this verse and mentions the word faith. it lays out the Acrostic meaning for faith as follows:

Forsaking

All

I

Take

Him.                  FORSAKING ALL, I TAKE HIM

This is what faith is all about. We accept Jesus by faith, that He is our Lord. We haven't seen Him but, believe He is there. We walk by faith not by sight  (2 Corinthians 5:7). Our family need to believe it too, and it is by our witness that this is possible. They probably don't read the bible, they view how we live and react and this can help them know if what they see, is what they want. Yes, we can pray for them and, should do but it is what they witness that speaks volumes to them.

Whether it is your children, parents, siblings or any other family member, allow them to see Jesus through your daily living and keep praying for them. The rest will follow.

Copyright 2023 Grahame Howard.                                

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com  

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Brokenhearted

"He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds"  Psalm 147:3   NKJV 

'If there's a God, why does He allow all the hurt?" We've all heard this statement over and over again. Does He care? Yes He does. Why does He allow such pain? I don't know the answer to this and I'm not called to defend Him either.

The natural thing we Christians think, is the need to defend Him against such questions and accusations. I've done it in the past and, I'm sure you have too. The thing is, He is God, He doesn't need us to defend Him because when you try, you'll only make matters worse and still get it wrong. At the risk of sounding hypocritical, all you can do is to give people the gospel, explaining why Jesus died on the cross for each of us and explain where the devil fits into all of this, bringing pain and death. A conversation like this can spark off a lot of contention so, there is no need to go further, making excuses for God. He doesn't need it.

The fact of the matter is, Jesus does bring healing to situations. If you allow Him, He will mend that broken heart and bind up the many wounds that have been inflicted upon you. Why? Because, He does care and He knows what you have been through recently or even years ago. The thing is, you have to be willing to allow Him to do this. To receive such healing, one has to drop the guard around your heart and allow your feelings the opportunity to vent. It may help if you find someone that you trust. This may be a friend, a pastor or someone from the outside, such as a counsellor. The alternative to this is, to shut yourself away and speak with God about it all, but, be prepared to let your feelings go. When you're speaking to another person about what's happened to you, it's easy to hide certain things. However, with God, there is no chance of this as, He knows everything, and He won't take you any further until you've dealt  with what you're struggling with.

Check out our text, it says that, He will heal your broken heart and He will bind up the wounds that have been weeping and are sore. Check out Isaiah 61:1: 'He (God) has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted (that's you), to proclaim liberty to the captives (that is also you), and the opening of the prison to those who are bound (again you). My additions to the text. Therefore, if you are brokenhearted and can't find a way through, then you need freedom because you are bound. You can choose to stay this way or, be proactive and do something about it. I stress, that you need to choose what to do about your condition. God doesn't want you like this. You are either a ticking time-bomb ready to spring on anyone you feel are going to hurt you; or you have internalised the hurt which, rather like a tin of coke, if it is shaken, will explode all over the place when it's opened. Either way, the hurt will come out. Better to do it God's way, hey?

Copyright 2023 Grahame Howard.                                

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Why are you so troubled?

"Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me."  

                                                                                         John 14:1  NKJV

Jesus spoke this to His disciples and it is understandable that they became troubled. They had given up everything to follow Him and now, He tells them that He is going away. He had also said that one of them was a traitor and prophesied that Peter would deny Him and walk away. From their perspective, it wasn't an encouraging conversation. He did though, back it up with a promise that He would come back for them and take them to be with Him. It was though, a shock for them to hear this. Again, this was change entering in. Change forces us out of our place of safety - our comfort zone, and we fight hard to avoid it because, it brings insecurity if we're not careful. Note though, Jesus didn't say that He was going away - permanently; not at all, He promised to return and this was something to hang on to.

In the midst of trouble, as Christians, we always have something to hang on to and, this is the fact that Jesus is with us constantly 24/7. Troubles will come into our lives, we don't live in Hollywood or Fairy Land, we dwell here on the earth and until Jesus comes for us, we will continue to have things pile up on us, to torment, drain and generally try to make us miserable.

You've probably discovered this on many occasions. Sometimes, you appear to have the troubles of the world upon yourself, where others seem to have none. Don't be fooled by this, the other people you see also have troubles, it's just that they may handle them better than you do or, hide them in a Walter Mitty style life. It's a case of learning to handle things better. Some days it can be chaos: the washing machine goes on the blink, your mobile's dead and you can't find the charger, the electricity goes off and you have no idea why and as you try to start the car, the battery is dead. It's a nightmare, but these things happen and you can't blame the devil for it all. Sometimes, God wants to check your staying power by allowing a trial and no matter how much you rant on, only prayer will change things.

Really, this is the answer - prayer. Whatever is happening in your life, prayer can bring change but, when things like this happen, its the last thing you want to do. But really, it's the only thing you can do, that is sensible. First of all, you need to get God's peace on what is happening. Troubles come but prayer can help bring the peace that surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4:7). Prayer can bring a calming effect to the problem, allowing you to make sense of what is happening and help you make the right decisions to help. All ranting and flapping about will achieve, is upset.

Therefore, don't allow yourself to get in such a state that, you can't cope. Pray and pray till it hurts. Easier said than done? Not really, you know it makes sense!

Copyright 2023 Grahame Howard.                                

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com  

If you would like to contact me, CLICK HERE

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Trials will come but don't fear

"In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 that the genuine-ness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honour and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ..."               1 Peter 6-7  NKJV

If you have been going through many trials just lately, then praise God because He has been testing the genuine-ness of your faith in Jesus and, you're a winner!

It's never easy when trials come along. We get to wondering why God is allowing this and others appear to be doing ok. The devil becomes involved then and torments us into believing that it is our fault - we have let God down so much, He is punishing us. DO NOT BELIEVE THIS LIE, because that is what it is; he is the father of lies and knows no different.

Peter tells us, 'Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, 4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you...'  1 Peter 1:3-4. Jesus gives us a hope but this hope will not fade away like wishful thinking type of hope does; no, this hope is eternal. Jesus gives us the hope that we have eternal life and nothing can take that away from us, it is reserved for us in heaven.

However, just because we have this hope, does not mean that we will avoid trials and temptations. Remember, Jesus allows trials; they are to test us; temptation is what the devil puts in our way to derail us and take us as far away as possible from the truth. We are not alone when we are suffering trials, we just need to ask God to take us through them to the other side, praising Him. It is the same with temptation. We know when this is happening to us but the devil always catches us when we are weak. To give an example, if we fantasise about things we know we shouldn't, pretty soon the devil is going to realise that we have a weak spot and will attack this area and make it a stronghold. We need to prevent this by, knowing our weaknesses and asking God to help us be free from such things. We don't give Satan a foothold.

In fact, we don't give the devil anything, except to resist him in every way. Overcome all things and learn to walk in the Holy Spirit, with our armour on (Remember?)

Copyright 2023 Grahame Howard.                                

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com  

If you would like to contact me, CLICK HERE

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At times, you just don't feel like praising God

"I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth."  

                                                                               Psalm 34:1   NKJV 

Sometimes you just don't feel like praising but, do it anyway. This is not hypocrisy, it is breaking through the barrier that Satan is trying to build around you. If he can get you to stop praising, he knows that you'll soon be in his clutches. So keep on praising. This means you're breaking through a stronghold and making a sacrifice of praise to God.

David wrote this Psalm when he was on the run from King Saul, who was wanting to kill him because he was jealous of his popularity. This forced David to find refuge with the Philistines. However, when they discovered who he was, David had to feign insanity in order to protect himself. 

Did David feel like praising God, probably not but he still did and, even went further by writing this Psalm. You see, we need God, we just can't live without Him. When He lives in our hearts we just can't run away. Jonah tried this but,God still followed him, even into the body of a whale and, Jonah had to give in and pray and praise God: ''I cried to the LORD because of my affliction, and He answered me'  Jonah 2:2 (Read this whole section). 

In a way, God had Jonah snookered, there was no way that he was going to get out of this situation. He may have stunk terribly but he had the sense to call on God, he offered a prayer and praise of sacrifice and God heard and answered him. He had let God down terribly but, God is loving and forgives and chooses to forget when we turn back to Him. Probably, you need to come back to Him. He will accept and bless you if you do.

When you just think about that last paragraph, it's enough to praise Him for but, you have so much more in your life to give thanks for. Just think what you have and praise and thank Him for this. There are people in certain countries where praising God is dangerous, even just being a believer, but, they still praise Him. I read recently about a Christian family in North Korea. A bible was found in their house and the two parents and their two year old boy were sent to a labour camp for the rest of their lives. Just think of that and realise that even though this has happened, they will still paise God.

We have so much to thank and praise God for. Make it a No 1 priority in your life.

Copyright 2023 Grahame Howard.                                

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com  

If you would like to contact me, CLICK HERE

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A :Listening Role

"This book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success."  

                                                                                     Joshua 1:8  NKJV 

Yesterday, we looked at the Leading Role, today let's look at the opposite side - The Listening Role. Listening is quite a skill and one in which we have to perfect if, we are going to be something in life. Quite a few people, do not listen properly, they either hear what they want to hear or are distracted by things around them and only hear part of what is being said. Eve was like this in the garden; when in conversation with the serpent, she told him God had said that they must not eat the fruit of the tree and then she added, 'nor shall you touch it' (Genesis 3:3). God had not said the latter bit, Eve added this because she had not listened properly. We must beware of this.

As God told Joshua, we must read and meditate on the word daily. Meditate, means to make utterings to ourselves as we read the text. The Jews around the wall in Jerusalem

do this and also nod their heads, rocking their body. This is called 'Davening.' There is something about reading the word and under our breath, speaking the word out. It seems to fit into our minds much better.

We do have to be aware that whilst we are spending time in the Word, that there will be distractions - telephone ringing, knocks at the door, children demanding attention etc. etc. We therefore do need to discipline ourselves to this. Pick a time that is just yours. 

When we are easily distracted, it may be useful to ensure we are wearing the full armour of God especially, the  helmet of salvation (Ephesians 6:17). In battle, the helmet was a protection for a soldier's brain and therefore it can help protect our mind and our thoughts, thus overcoming distraction and the tendency to drift off. We too need to fill our minds with God and His Word and then, meditate. Remember, when you are born again, you do not have the Armour of God on, you personally have to put this on as Paul says in Ephesians 6:11: 'Put on the whole armour of God that you be be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.' It is your responsibility to ensure that you are wearing it each day of your walk with God. It comes down to discipline and making it a regular habit. 

When God speaks to you, write it down; don't rely on your memory and try to remember it later. You may get it wrong. Write it down straightaway and then meditate on it. Take note that God, told Joshua in the latter part of our text verse: 'For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.'  (Joshua 1:8).

Therefore, it is your responsibility to do the same.

Copyright 2023 Grahame Howard.                                

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com  

If you would like to contact me, CLICK HERE

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A Leading Role

"Moses, My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving them - the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses."  

                                                                            Joshua 1:2-3   NKJV 

One of the hardest things to do is, to be a leader - to take on the responsibility of a team or a company. Another hard thing to do, is to take on this role following someone's departure. People are people and many don't like change, and one of the things they dread is the 'New broom syndrome.' This is where leader's come in and make so many changes practically overnight, probably too quickly and, as I say, people don't like change.

Here we see Joshua being given the task of taking over from Moses. What a position to be in - to replace a giant of a leader. This must have given Joshua some fear. We see this as God tells him to be strong and very courageous and not to be afraid or dismayed. I think anyone in Joshua's place would be apprehensive about this task. 

When new leaders come in, whether it be in a church setting or a secular one, people don't know what to expect and may have the attitude that says, 'We've always done things this way, there's no need to change things, it has worked well for ages.' But there comes a time when things need to be changed and this is where the 'New broom syndrome' comes in.

I remember a pastor some years ago, who was sent to a very problematic church. They had eaten so many pastors in the past and were reluctant to change. This pastor called a meeting, asking everyone to be there. He spoke very clearly and with authority saying, 'Right, I am your new pastor and this is what we are going to do. I want all of the elders and deacons to stand down. It's time for a change.' He went on to outline what he was going to do and ended with, 'Now, everyone who does not agree with my plan, I would like you to leave the church, right now' About 75% of the people left and he looked around and said, 'Right, now we can build our church.' And he did, he built it into one of the most powerful churches in the area.

This leader was not afraid to make changes. He new where the problems were coming from and he wisely wormed them out. This is the hallmark of a good leader. He was there to shepherd and so he got rid of the wolves.

When you are faced with new leadership, in the church or at work, give the person a chance, and room to work and you'll find that you will make progress. As for yourself, if you are a leader, respect the people and get alongside of them. As you do this, you will find that many of their fears will diminish and you too, will make great progress. 

Copyright 2023 Grahame Howard.                                

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com  

If you would like to contact me, CLICK HERE

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