Has someone taken your place?

"So Absalom went to Hebron. 10 But while he was there, he sent secret messengers to all the tribes of Israel to stir up a rebellion against the king. 'As soon as you hear the ram's horn,' his message read, 'you are to say, 'Absalom has been crowned king in Hebron."                                                      2 Samuel 15:10-11  NLT

King David's son, Absalom, was rebellious and plotted against his own father. His desire being to take all of the kingdom from David. He was finally killed by David's commander, Joab, who plunged three daggers into him as he hung trapped in a tree by his long hair. 2 Samuel 15:1-29, 2 Samuel 17:24-26 & 2 Samuel 18:9-18.

Absalom had usurped David's authority and would have continued to take complete charge if he hadn't have been killed. This was a bad time in David's life.

Today, people all over the world are being usurped by people who have decided what they have got - they want, and go flat out to achieve this. A good example of this, is a manager in a busy office who, despite being good at his job, has many enemies who are out to take over his role. Rather than support him, they 'back stab' him making his life a misery until he is finally replaced. Pastors may suffer similar things when members of the church disagree about certain decisions and gather support against him or her. Instead of the leadership team supporting the pastor, they end up being carried along with the others.

You may have suffered like this and it hurts. You may be working hard in a job making good progress, with good prospects and all of a sudden someone out of the blue steps up and makes big impressions and even though, they may not have the qualifications you have, they take your place. Sadly, it can happen within a church. You may be in a particular position on the team and you shine in your role. But, all of a sudden, the promises you may have been given are squashed and, you are replaced with no real explanation by someone who has only been in the church a short while. 

This hurts like crazy and you feel you have been treated awfully but no one is listening. Your heart tells you to give this to God, whereas, your mind tells you otherwise and you want to take the matter into your own hands. However, this is not the way. What does God's Word say:

'Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honourable. 18 Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. 19 Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the scriptures say: 'I will take revenge; I will pay them back' says the Lord.   ( Romans 12:17-18 NLT )

Absalom couldn't hide from God; at just the right moment he had his 'Just Desserts'. It's the same with others, if you don't avenge, God will, probably not the way you would have done it, but they will be paid back. Let's not forget, Satan will get his come uppance too.

Therefore, as sad and angry as it makes you feel, pray and give it to God and at the right time, He will repay.

Copyright 2023 Grahame Howard.                                

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com  

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Your protection

"Don't worry about anything, instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank Him for all He has done. 7 Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus."                                                                         Philippians 4:6-7  NLT

How can we achieve this peace of God that 'exceeds anything we understand and guards our heart and mind in Christ Jesus? Well, let's take a look at James 1:2: 'when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.' Difficult? You bet it is but, it is essential that we grasp hold of this truth. Paul himself says prior to our text in verse 4: 'Always be full of joy in the Lord, I say it again - rejoice.' It is so important that Paul repeats himself here. Furthermore, we need to let everyone see how considerate we are. Again, not easy but, it needs to be part of our life. We are also told to stop worrying about anything and everything. Instead, we should tell God what we need and leave it with Him. He will provide the help and support. Then add to this our thanks to Him because, He deserves this.

So this is the recipe for success. Joy - Consideration to people - Living a worry-free life and Being grateful to God. 

This opens the door to God's peace - that wonderful peace that the world can never give us. When we are flowing in His peace, it will guard our heart and our mind from all unrighteousness. Let's face it, we all have those days when we want to throw the towel in and give up; things are just getting on top of us. There is a need to be in control of this type of thing, trouble will come and come again but, being able to take it on the chin and shrug it off, will help find a way through it all.

You say it is impossible to do. You're wrong; nothing is impossible with God. He lives within you and therefore, will direct your way forward if you ask Him. Remember, once you give in to that tormenting voice in your head, that voice that you know is not from God; once you surrender to it, you are on the road to defeat. Don't listen to the lie, this is all the devil knows - lies. You're better than that; don't listen. Instead, find a way to praise God and become joyful, if you do you will have the strength to overcome. 

When you can find joy amongst dire circumstances, you will be able to move forward and be more victorious. These are God's words, not mine so, don't shoot the messenger. I just write and speak what he directs me to do and I need to hear this too. 

The thing is, God has given each one of us the ability to do what He wants us to do:

'I can do everything through Christ. who strengthens me.'  Philippians 4:13. NLT.

And this is part of our Daily Life with Jesus.

Copyright 2023 Grahame Howard.                                

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com  

If you would like to contact me, CLICK HERE

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You have been blessed

"My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life"    John 10:10b   NLT

God offers us life in abundance. Think back to before you knew Jesus - before you were saved and then, look at what you are and what you have since that time. You are blessed.  You may not have won the Euro millions and be super rich but, you are rich in another way - you have the anointing of Jesus Christ, He is your Saviour and you are His child and brother or sister

You may have been penniless before Jesus came into your life. You may also have been unloved, in a doomed marriage or lifestyle or you may have been broken. Now look at you; you are blessed beyond your wildest dreams. You have a future and look forward to it, eternally. No one has really seen heaven and it is impossible to imagine what it is like. We get glimpses of this in the latter part of Revelation but, even then it is hard to comprehend what it all means and how it will all work out. 

Those dark and dismal days before Jesus, was lived with no hope, no future and nothing really to look forward to. Sometimes it was painful to live those days and it was hard to see other people, living successful lives but yourself lonely and lost. In those days it was like you had no one who cared; you may have worked very hard but, all to no avail. Your wage was swallowed up in paying bills because you were so much in debt. The worry of things made you feel ill and you were constantly visiting the doctor. It was awful.

Then, all of a sudden you received a feeling of peace about everything and deep down, you knew all was going to be ok. You hadn't a clue how this would work but, you were filled with a sense of hope and a feeling of, 'Everything's going to be all right.' And all of a sudden, He was there - Jesus. He came to you in His own special way and although the problems were still with you, it didn't matter. It was almost like you were hearing a voice that said, 'Don't worry, I'm here now, just turn to Me and say a prayer, I will do the rest.' You may well have heard this or something similar, you don't really know because your head was in a whirl of excitement and anticipation. 

Since that wonderful time when you met with Jesus, life has been different - not always full of beautiful roses in a garden, but much better than before. You have a meaning in life; you are a somebody - the child of a King and He has filled your life with abundance because, He loves you.

He will continue to bless and look after you as you walk with Him, so just spend some time just thanking and praising Him for all He has done in your life. Once you were lost and now, you have been found by Jesus.

 Copyright 2023 Grahame Howard.                                

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com  

If you would like to contact me, CLICK HERE

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Wasting resources. Part 2

"The older brother was angry and wouldn't go in."  Luke 15:28   NLT

Today, let us look at the reactions of the older son. It would be easy to judge the guy but, come on, wouldn't you feel like this in his place? When you think about it, there must have been a tension between them before this all happened for him to fly off the handle in such a rebellious way. Yes, he would have been upset because his brother had left him with all of the work and taken part of the inheritance and squandered it. That is understandable. But, we see here a deep anger issue and stubborn behaviour that his father couldn't talk him out of. 

He let rip to his father about all he had done for him - never refusing his orders, working long hours, faithful and hardworking. He even had a dig at his father that, the fattened calf was brought out for this 'Son of yours,' yet he wasn't allowed a young goat to BBQ with his friends. There was a 'It's not fair' attitude about him. He was hurt, bitter, angry, rude, judgemental, childlike and dishonourable to his father.

The problems here were twofold:

(1)  God's grace can bring division at times

(2)  The hard-heartedness of the older brother

(1)  Whenever God is at work, some people are not happy with the result. 'What, this chap is coming to our church, you don't know what he is really like?' No we don't, but God does and if He is happy for someone to be saved and go to church, what is that to do with anyone else? 'There are people playing in the town square; they're singing hymns and speaking in a strange language, and they are also lifting their hands to Him. It's so embarrassing' Isn't that great; they did this at Pentecost and it's how the Holy Spirit affects people. There will always be contention wherever God is doing a work. But the wonderful thing is, when a person has walked away from God and then, returned to Him in repentance. That blesses God and should do others.

(2)  It is concerning when someone has such a hard heart that he or she are annoyed about someone coming back to their Father. Things need to change when there is dishonour and rebellion in any situation. We should respect our parents, our wives and husbands and our family. We should also be like this with whoever we meet. We may not like what some people do but, there is a place for challenging certain things. However, this should be done with grace not anger. 

There is a need to guard our reactions. If you have a short fuse, you need to deal with this and quickly. Sometimes we have to accept things that we do not approve of. Probably, someone may not approve of you but, still accept you. We can never please everyone but, we can give it our best shot.

Copyright 2023 Grahame Howard.                                

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If you would like to contact me, CLICK HERE

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Wasting resources

"A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living."   Luke 15:13   NLT 

The title 'The Prodigal Son' is only used in Luke and by the KJV and NKJV, all of the others refer to him as the 'Lost Son' which is probably more appropriate. However, 'Prodigal' fits the way he acted. He carelessly and foolishly spent his money on wild living. He was reckless and wasteful. Perhaps today's crude word 'Waster' would fit his profile. Whatever, he was determined to do what he thought best in a selfish manner by, demanding his father give him his inheritance. His father obeyed but would have given him about 25% of this, leaving the other 75% for his brother who was older. The inheritance could be paid prior to death but with the premium shown here. When the younger had what he wanted, he left on his adventure.

It's so common for a young person to want to 'flee the nest', after all, there is a big wide world out there wanting to be discovered. However, it's not always wise and the young person can take a tumble as our young lad did here. When his money had run out because of his extravagant lifestyle, he was homeless and broke, and all he could do was try and find work. He broke all the rules by lowering his standards by working for a pagan pig farmer which would have made many Jews look aghast. He had fallen so far.

He eventually came to his senses and decided to go home to his father and repent. Off he went practicing what he would say on the way. As he neared his home, his father spotted him and ran and hugged him. Sometimes, as we read this scripture, we're tempted to believe that the father had been standing and looking for him all this time. This would have been impossible but, he would have been looking every time he went outside with a hope in his heart. That hope was fulfilled as his son repented. However, his father was so happy he didn't give him chance to say all of his practiced confession. The father was more interested in throwing a party to celebrate his coming home. This I believe is how God feels when each of us return to Him when we have walked away by backsliding or coming to Him for the first time. He is overwhelmed with joy and doesn't even give you the time to say everything, because He knows what you're going to say anyway. All He's interested in hearing is, 'I'm sorry Lord.' Then the joy begins.

Our conclusion and learning curve here is:

(1)  Watch the selfishness of want, want, me, me

(2)  You can't make it without your Father no matter how hard you try

(3)  The outside world will take you for a ride

(4)  Repent when you need to and confess the mistakes you have made

(5)  Realise that God knows best, you don't

Tomorrow we'll look at the older brother’s reactions 

 Copyright 2023 Grahame Howard.                                

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com  

If you would like to contact me, CLICK HERE

Member of the National Association of Christian Ministers

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Mr or Mrs/Ms Grumpy

"The mouths of fools are their ruin; they trap themselves with their lips"   

                                                                                 Proverbs 18:7   NLT 

What's your attitude like? Is your glass half full or half empty? Do you find fault in everything? Well done, you qualify for the award of 'Mr or Mrs/Ms Grumpy' You have earned this title by what people see in you. Does this make you feel proud of such an accolade, or do you even find fault in what you're reading? Things need to change, don't you think?

The type of person we're looking at today, are the one's who moan about the weather as soon as they wake up, whether it is hot or cold. Then they'll find fault in the toast ('I never did like this bread.)' They moan about the amount of work they have to do today and declare they hate the job. Then they say something like: 'Someone had a BBQ last night, the stink of fire is all over the house. Why do people have to have them?' They look outside and discover that someone has blocked their drive in and it will be difficult to get the car out. Moan, grumble, moan.

It's no different as they go out to the shops later on: 'Look at all these traffic lights, why do they have to dig the road up every five minutes, can't they do the work at night?' They then notice that there are about eight work personal standing around drinking tea and only one is working. 'Look at them, just look, they should be sacked.'  More moaning.

Ephesians 4:29 says, 'Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.' Just look at those last five words, 'to those who hear them.' Excuse me, but when you or I are speaking in such a way, aren't we also the one who hear what we say? Yes, and what's more, these negative words are not encouraging at all, they are ready to tear us down. In fact, if we continue to speak like this on a regular basis, we will have no one left to speak to, we will be Mr or Mrs/Ms Grumpy turned into Billy No Mates. Don't you think it's time to get ourselves sorted out? 

You can do this by learning to think differently and determine to only speak positivity. It will take some practice but it will be worth it. Wouldn't you sooner be known as Mr or Mrs/MS Nice Guy? Then it is down to you to change. God will help but, you will have to do the hard work by gradually renewing your mind (Romans 12:1-2).  Remember the old saying, 'Rome was not built in a day,' but it was eventually built so, give yourself time to be re-built in your speech.

Copyright 2023 Grahame Howard.                                

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com  

If you would like to contact me, CLICK HERE

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Fools rush in

"The wise are cautious and avoid danger; fools plunge ahead with reckless confidence."           

                                                                                  Proverbs 14:16  NLT 

The term, 'Fools rush in where angels fear to tread' is a famous saying and, many feel that it comes from the bible but, it doesn't. It was actually penned by Alexander Pope, an English poet and translator, in 1771 for his essay Criticism. It is though worth considering because of the wisdom of the words.

How many times do people rush in and make rash decisions without even, praying about things or giving it careful consideration? Many have suffered the consequences of this type of thing. Therefore, it is worth taking our text above, on board. It says, 'The wise are cautious' This is the name of the game. In all we do, we need to act in wisdom (Proverbs 3:5-6). Being hasty is a recipe for messing things up. We should always count the cost of what is ahead.

It is foolish to just rush in blind. We need to look at the bigger picture. If God is in it, it will be successful. But, you'll only find this out if you spend time with Him, seeking His advice. Many have fallen by the wayside by acting in a hasty manner. 

Ask yourself, 'Am I hasty?' 'Do I tend to rush into things and seek advice afterwards?' If this is you, then you need to slow down and exercise more wisdom and patience. Think, if it is God that put this into your mind, then you won't miss out. He expects you to count the cost and seek His favour before you act. This is wisdom.

I've a feeling that many reading this have made a similar mistake. If that's you, you may still be suffering the aftermath of it all. All you can do here, is put it down to a bad choice, learn by it and get back on the road again. There was an American test pilot who crashed many times but still survived and refused to give up or fear. His motto was, 'Get back into the cockpit of the bird who bit ya.' He refused to give up on his mistake, he picked himself back up, and tried again. And this is what you need to do, but, ensure you don't rush in and also make sure God is in it.

You may have made some foolish mistakes but, learn by them and remember that God loves you.

Copyright 2023 Grahame Howard.                                

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com  

If you would like to contact me, CLICK HERE

Member of the National Association of Christian Ministers

Why not order my Daily Commentary from Amazon - Paperback or Kindle 

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