The heart of compassion God has for us

"Since the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil, he must not reach out, take from the tree of life, eat and live forever. 23 So the LORD God sent him away from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken"  Genesis 3:22-24.  CSB 

I am sure that you are all aware of how Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate the forbidden fruit from the tree of life in the middle of the garden. The results were disastrous, bringing sin into the world for all mankind eternally. God was annoyed but, I think more disappointed and sad than anything. But, the thing is with God, He always has another plan and will always have one.

As dismayed as He was, we see this loving God, making clothes out of skins for Adam and Eve. He cared that they were naked and may be cold as they left the garden. This shows how loving and kind He is. This young couple had no life skills, so their Father made them what they would need. This gives us a glimpse of who we belong to, who we worship and love. 

God was sending them out into the world to make their own way. They could have lived in the garden forever but if they ate from the tree of life again, in their sinful state, they would have brought upon themselves a state of eternal condemnation, forever trying to hide away from God. God really did them a favour here; and as heartbreaking for God as it was, He had to let them go.

This is the way God feels about us on a daily basis. He loves us so much, that His heart breaks when we commit any kind of sin. Yes, He is disappointed but He is more upset. Our eternal freedom, cost Him His one and only Son - Jesus. Max Lucardo says: 'God would give up His only son before He'd give up on you.' Every time we sin reminds God of what He gave up on our behalf.

All the more why we need to have a grateful attitude. God could wipe us off the planet in a blink of an eye. Yet, He loves us so much, He gives us another and another chance. This is what He did for Adam and Eve, Are they in heaven now? Yes, I believe so. Just the fact that God was so loving towards them and didn't punish them there and then, proves - to me, that they are in heaven.

And one day, you will see them and all the other heroes of the Word, David, Elijah, Peter and many, many others. It will be a party to beat all parties when we are together. But, we need to keep our eyes on Jesus until then.

Lord Jesus, I have sinned and I ask you to forgive me and be my Lord and Saviour. Please come into my heart, fill me with Your Spirit and give me a brand new start today.

In Jesus' Name. Amen

Copyright 2023 Grahame Howard.                                 

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com          

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You need a day off

"On the seventh day God had completed His work that He had done, and He rested."             

                                                                                    Genesis 2:2.  CSB 

God rested on this, the seventh day, which was about to be known as the Sabbath. He did this to give us a model to adhere to. If God needed to take a day off then you definitely do! He wants us to enjoy all He has provided for us. We live in an action-packed, stress-filled world, one in which we meet competition and huge challenges. There's always something that needs doing and very little time to do it in, let alone find time to rest. Notice what Jesus demonstrated when He and His disciples got in a boat to get away from the crowds Mark 6:31-32. 

We need time for our family, our hobbies and for ourselves; yet trying to take a day off seems one of the hardest things to do at times. We get people ringing us with a problem and we feel that we should drop everything and attend to them. If we don't we begin to feel guilty that we haven't helped them. Work wants us to go in and work on a project that needs to be finished by the end of the day. If we turn this request down, we worry that we may lose our job or the promotion that we have been after.

Let me tell you something from experience, the person who rang you for urgent help, will find that help elsewhere if you can't make it. They will survive. Your work place will find another way to reach this urgent deadline; they too will survive and they will understand you need time off, but if they don't they're not worth working for anyway. Relax, everyone is entitled to at least one day off a week. If you don't make the use of some free time now, you may live to regret it later on.

You are one person. As we've seen, God, who is mighty and powerful, needed some time to relax and see His handiwork, so do you. Let's not view this wrong though, God didn't need to rest; He wasn't tired or worn out like we get. No way, Hosea. God was writing a blue print for us to work by; an action plan which included all the things that we would encounter in our earthly life: work, leisure, family, healthy life style, exercise -all these things and more and we need to take notice of what He is saying to us.

Many people reach the end of their life with regret. They wish they had spent more time with family, with their hobbies, holidays etc. We only have a certain time here on earth, so, ensure that you prioritise. Your family are precious, so honour them, no job is worth neglecting them. And this goes with your health too. Take care of yourself and relax when you can. There is so much more you can get out of your life if you think about it.

Lord Jesus, I have sinned and I ask you to forgive me and be my Lord and Saviour. Please come into my heart, fill me with Your Spirit and give me a brand new start today.

In Jesus' Name. Amen

Copyright 2023 Grahame Howard.                                 

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com          

If you would like to contact me, CLICK HERE

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Ensure you make the right choices

"The rain fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew and pounded that house, and it collapsed. It collapsed with a great crash."    Matthew 7:27   CSB

This man had chosen the wrong foundation to build his house on. He chose sand instead of a rock and he paid the price for this, drastically. We have to live by the choices that we make and, sometimes, those choices are not good ones. This may be where you are at this moment. There are ways out of these choices but, they need to be thought through seriously so that it doesn't go wrong and you are in a worse state than you were before. The only sound way to do this is, with God's help and direction. Initially, you may have rushed in blind and now you're paying the price. Seek God's help and He will direct you to the right way Proverbs 3:5-6. 

There's a story that Tony Evans tells about the time he had a crack in the internal wall of his house. He had builders in time and again but the crack kept re-appearing. Finally, it was found that the problem was not with the wall but, a shifting foundation. The moral to this story is, don't address the symptom address the source. There may be symptoms indicating something is wrong but, where are they coming from; we need to find the source to address it properly.

How are you doing in the decisions you have made just lately? Have they worked out well or are there problems that don't seem to go away. What is the source? Have you borrowed so much money that it is getting impossible to pay it back? Go to the source and which is probably the bank and talk this through. In this day of high debts and problems caused by the pandemic, there is more understanding where loans are concerned. If you fail to do this, then you will have a major problem because the bank will move to recover that debt. Approach the source and negotiate.

You may have a sickness that has been giving you problems for quite a while. Don't you think you need to get this checked out while you can? You have the symptoms but you need to find the source but, you won't get it by reading medical books, checking the internet or listening to well-informed but unskilled people. Go and find the source.

There's a plumbing job in the house that needs attention and you know that you are not capable of doing it. But, to save money, you make the choice to 'give it a go' and attempt this yourself. After a while, you realise that you made a mistake by choosing to do this; the is very obvious because you are standing in three feet of water. What was a cheap and simple enough job to an expert has now turned in to a major task that will cost you quite a bit of money. Why, because you were not skilled enough to go to the source and trace the problem from there.

Good choices are dependable foundations and perhaps you need to remember this fact.

Lord Jesus, I have sinned and I ask you to forgive me and be my Lord and Saviour. Please come into my heart, fill me with Your Spirit and give me a brand new start today.

In Jesus' Name. Amen

Copyright 2023 Grahame Howard.                                 

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com          

If you would like to contact me, CLICK HERE

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Live a carefree life

"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   CSB

When are you going to grasp hold of the fact that Your Father - God, does not want you worrying, at all. Look at today's reading above; God is with us 24/7 - every hour, every day, every week and every year. If you really trust Him, what is there to worry about? Let's look at this:

FEAR   God very clearly assures us that He is with us, all the time. He never goes away. He may allow you to handle a certain thing that you're struggling with but, He will give you the knowledge and the power to do this. There is no need for fear.

AFRAID  Again, He mentions not being afraid because He is our God and will not allow you to suffer. You are in Covenant with Him, you signed a contract with Him by asking Jesus into your life. He counter-signed this, by shedding His blood on your behalf on the cross. The contract is binding.

STRENGTHEN   as you include Him in everything you do, He will give you the strength to be able to cope and handle all situations. He will not allow you to be bullied at school, Uni or at work. If you're in this situation, don't be tempted to handle the situation yourself, give it to Jesus; He will soon sort the bully out, but probably not the way you think it should be handled.

HELP YOU   You may have a lot on your plate, whether it be at work or at home. He wants to help you and, will if you ask Him to. He is your friend, this is why He loves to be with you. Friends help each other and He is the greatest friend you will ever have. Therefore, ask Him to help you.

HOLD ON TO YOU   I like this one. Whatever you find yourself involved in, He will hold on to you. Not because He has you chained up - not at all. He broke the chains off you when He died on the cross and you became born again. He holds on to you because you're precious and He doesn't want you getting lost in this sinful world. Think about it, whenever you are feeling lonely and lost, Jesus is holding on to you. 

HIS RIGHTEOUS RIGHT HAND   His hand, holds your hand. God's hand has hold of you, and He will continue to hold it for all of your life, until that day when you walk into His Throne Room in heaven. 

Therefore, there is a lot to be said about living a carefree life. There's no need to worry; Jesus told us not to in Matthew 6, and so, worry needs to be a thing of the past. God's intention is to be with you during your life time and then, to take you into His heaven. What's so worrying about that?

Lord Jesus, I have sinned and I ask you to forgive me and be my Lord and Saviour. Please come into my heart, fill me with Your Spirit and give me a brand new start today.

In Jesus' Name. Amen

Copyright 2023 Grahame Howard.                                 

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com          

If you would like to contact me, CLICK HERE

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Just don't say it!

"For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is mature, able also to control the whole body."   James 3:3:2. CSB 

What we say and how we say it is an ongoing problem. This is why, teachers keep on preaching about this area and will have to carry on so doing, until we all get it right.

The tongue can be used to speak good things or speak evil. Most of the time, we have little control over what we say and, this is what needs to be changed and, quickly. The words we speak are like dynamite; in one way we can blow people apart, in another, we can win thousands for Jesus. So we need to have control over this dynamite. 

Our greatest enemy is our mouth and what comes out of it. Therefore we have to give our lips to God so that, He will give us life. Time and time again we speak that word too many and 'POW" the wrong kind of dynamite is ignited. To prove it, what about that telephone call you made to the person who upset you today? You were warned not to do it, but you knew best. Or perhaps, you were more subtle and sent the message via email packed full of punch. With both of these examples, dynamite was used to bring mayhem to the recipient. But now, you regret it, don't you?

When you have had these type of conversations with somebody, were you in control of your mouth? Did you stumble in what you said? Because this will determine the way ahead with this person. That little muscle in your mouth - the tongue -  has the power to speak good or evil; it has the ability to bring about devastation, destroying relationships all over the place. So, you must be in control. The outcome will be dynamite destruction or dynamite power. Check out Proverbs 15:2: 'The tongue of the wise makes knowledge attractive, but the mouth of fools blurts out foolishness.' A wise person is one who thinks before he speaks. He doesn't spout off in a frenzy and say words that can never be taken back. On the contrary, the words he speaks are well thought out and full of wisdom. This person knows the errors that can be caused by shooting from the hip. This person is mature and has leadership qualities. The person who blurts out words without thought can expect nothing but contention.

Be honest, which one are you:

(1) The one who shoots from the hip without thinking

(2) The wise person who thinks before they speak

God wants you to be mature in all you do or say so, if you are of the negative side of things, what are you going to do about this before it is too late and the dynamite has blown everything away from you, leaving you on your own?

Lord Jesus, I have sinned and I ask you to forgive me and be my Lord and Saviour. Please come into my heart, fill me with Your Spirit and give me a brand new start today.

In Jesus' Name. Amen

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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