Do you limit God or yourself?

"For with God nothing will be impossible"   Luke 1:37   NKJV 

DON'T LIMIT YOURSELF

Time and time again we hear Christians say, 'I can't do this.' Your answer from God is, 'Yes you can, My word says, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13. If Jesus is in something, you can do it, if He isn't, it will come to nothing.  When God shows you He wants you to fulfil a particular task for Him, He will anoint you for this task. Now, this may be preaching the Word of God, on a Sunday morning. Anyone who has preached will know that the first time you do it, you are terrified and shake all over. But as you continue to preach, God becomes big inside of you and words flow like life-giving seed. Without Him, there will be very little response; with Him there may be much response where people are prayed for and ministered to. However, again there may be little response, but, a seed has been sown within each listener and at the right time, it will come to fruition.

DON'T LIMIT GOD

'Yes, again and again  they tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel, 42 They did not remember His power; the day when He redeemed them from the enemy" Ps 78: 41-42

Warren W Wiersbe comments on this verse: 

'After this great display of divine power, the people should have been able to trust the Lord in any situation, knowing that He was in control, but they grieved Him, provoked Him and tempted Him to display His anger against them! Human nature has not changed.'

We need to take notice of the very last thing Wiersbe wrote: 'Human nature has not changed.' It's true; the Israelites had witnessed God's awesome power in rescuing them from Egypt. They had witnessed Moses, a man who limited himself initially, transferred into a man of God filled with God's power, taking them through the Red Sea and yet, they moaned, groaned, criticised, wished to return to Egypt and blame God and Moses for all what was happening to them, no matter how positive.

We can be very much the same. God provides for us, protects us gives us His love and the love of family and friends. He provides, homes, education, jobs, cars and a host of technology and still, some of us are still not satisfied.

Don't limit God or yourself. Praise Him for the way He has blessed you and will do again. Thank Him from your heart that He doesn't limit you. He opens the door of heaven and 'anoints my head with oil; my cup runs over.'  Ps 23:5.

Without Him, we are lost; with Him we are blessed

I never like to end without giving someone the opportunity to ask Jesus into their life, or, re-dedicate their life. If that is you, pray this prayer and please let me know:

contact me, CLICK HERE

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

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His faithfulness knows no end

"If we confess our sins. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."     1 John 1:9   NKJV 

This is a verse that we need to underline in our bible and keep within our heart each day. We've all heard the statement, 'God will never forgive you now.' And some of us need to loosen ourselves from this today. It is a lie from the devil. God will forgive you, this is why He died on the cross to take away your sin and declare your freedom. As we saw from our study the other day Lamentations 3:22-23, God's faithfulness His new every morning.

I like what American preacher Jeremy Pearsons says, 'My mistakes may be great, but His faithfulness is greater.' Ponder that for a few moments. We all make mistakes, in fact, some of us make mighty blunders, but God's love is so amazing that He has made a provision for this. He forgives us. This doesn't mean we have free rein to go out and sin 24/7 deliberately. He knows that we are weak and also that we are far from perfect at this time (Philippians 1:6). But He has made a provision for us that one day, we will be perfect and this is something to look forward to. Until then, we keep trying.

We need to change the way we think - the negative stuff and the way we speak to ourselves. Just one negative word spoken to our soul and we have a battle going on. The negative thoughts will always come. Our reactions to them are what we need to change because, the thoughts produce words that come out of our mind and once we have spoken them, they are hard to change. Jeremiah tried this and he was led from depression to hope.  The depressed mind only knows how to speak negative. It finds it difficult to see a future, and if it does, it quickly demolishes this with a word such as, 'Can't', 'Won't'. And then the phrases come, 'I can't see the point, it never works anyway.' I suppose I'll always be like this.' 'Nobody cares anyway.'

Stop the PPW's - 'Pity Party Words'. We all have a cupboard in our mind full of them and use them as a kind of defence mechanism. But after a while, people stop listening to you and the only way out of this is to call on Jesus, apologise for being so negative and receive his healing to your mind. Jerry Pearsons' statement above is a positive one. He is declaring that ,'Yea, I admit that I make mistakes - lots of them, but I have a God who builds me up when I feel so low; and that is all I need.'  'My paraphrase)

So today is a brand new day; you are a brand new person, so go out in the power of the Holy Spirit and make some changes.

I never like to end without giving someone the opportunity to ask Jesus into their life, or, re-dedicate their life. If that is you, pray this prayer and please let me know:

contact me, CLICK HERE

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  

Check it out

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Watch the hypocrisy

 "And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. 3 Then Paul said to him, 'God will strike you, you whitewashed wall. For you sit to judge me according to the law, and do you command me to be struck contrary to the law?'    Acts 23:3-4   NKJV

The term 'whitewashed wall' used here by Paul, meant 'dirty, lying hypocrite.' Quite a strong-term to use against the high priest. However, Paul had not noticed that he was the high priest, possibly because he had been on his travels for so long, or his failing eyesight. One of the popular explanations, was that Paul didn't recognise him because of his behaviour. He didn't live up to the standards of a high priest. In addition to this, it was illegal, according to Jewish law, to abuse an innocent man. Don't forget, at this moment, Paul had not been tried and convicted.

'Whitewashed wall' means to have covered up dirt and cracks on a wall by whitewashing over them. Initially, after application, the wall will look good, but as it dries, the cracks and possibly some of the dirt will come back to the surface. Paul was calling Ananias a hypocrite for commanding other people to do this abusive action knowing full well that it was wrong. Paul was quick to apologise for using this term towards the high priest, but he had made his point. The high priest, who had a reputation for being despicable, had not lived up to his calling, and later on would have to flee for his life because of his known sympathies with Rome. The Jewish guerrillas found him hiding in an aqueduct at Herod's palace and killed him. (The Wiersbe Study Bible)

There are many times that we, as Christians fall into the trap of hypocrisy. If we're not in control, things can come out of our unguarded mouth, or we can do things that we shouldn't. However, we need to guard against having someone notice this behaviour in us. Let us not forget that we are, ambassadors of Jesus Christ. People notice our behaviour and speech and they can be very quick to judge and criticise. 

Sadly, Christians are targeted and persecuted in many areas of life and in this day of political correctness, WOKE and other areas one has to be careful what we say. That doesn't mean that we should be doormats, being walked all over. When we need to stand up to speak for our faith, we should do so. But we should also guard from getting a reputation as a 'Holy Joe', because then, no one will take us seriously.

I never like to end without giving someone the opportunity to ask Jesus into their life, or, re-dedicate their life. If that is you, pray this prayer and please let me know:

contact me, CLICK HERE

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  

Check it out

 https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B084G9S4FD/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i2

 

 

I've let God down again

"Through the LORD'S mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning, great is Your faithfulness."    

                                                                                    Lamentations 3:22-23   NKJV

Another day unfolds and you are plagued with the way you let God down yesterday. You didn't mean to, it just happened - again. And now you are living with an almighty guilt upon your shoulders. One question, did you ask God to forgive you last night? If your answer to this is, 'Yes', then you are free from this, whatever it was. God has forgiven you. But you say, the guilt is still there, 'He can't have forgiven me totally'. Then stop for a moment, what is our text for today saying? Well, firstly it is saying that we have a God who is full of compassion - He loves us so much and because of this, we are not consumed - eaten up in our sin and written off. Secondly, He is faithful; every single day His faithfulness is immense and His compassions never fail. Thirdly, why should Jesus have gone to the cross and died for our sin if, He is not going to forgive us, or He will only forgive some things? He died for our sins and even though we let Him down most days, He is still faithful to us and forgiving.

Warren W Wiersbe says, 'Unbelief causes us to look at God through our circumstances, and this creates hopelessness; but faith enables us to look at our circumstances through the reality of God, and this gives us hope.'  The Wiersbe Study Bible

When we have let God down - and we will most days, as we confess our sins, we must believe that God has heard this confession and forgiven us. And we must forgive ourselves as well, otherwise we will keep thinking about it and saying, 'I'm sorry' over and over again. Paul mentioned this in Philippians 3:13 when he said, 'Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead.' We need to confess our wrongdoings to God and then, forget them because this is what He chooses to do. If we don't, we are literally saying that His Word is not true, that He doesn't forgive.

Our soul is made up of our mind, will and emotions. If we act in a negative way our soul will rubber-stamp this and we will make it official in our lives. Give your soul some positivity and start allowing it to build you up instead of keeping you down on the floor.

I never like to end without giving someone the opportunity to ask Jesus into their life, or, re-dedicate their life. If that is you, pray this prayer and please let me know:

contact me, CLICK HERE

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  

Check it out

 https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B084G9S4FD/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i2

 

 

Jesus is coming back

"In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you."  John 14:2   NKJV

This is one of the most inspiring verses in the New Testament. It is full of encouragement and, when we read verse 3, we find that Jesus, after preparing a place for us, will return and take us to be where He is - our home in heaven. We don't know what this will be like but, one thing we do know, Jesus will be there and we will be living in a mansion. Until then, He is preparing the place for us..

You see, what a lot of people don't believe is the ‘Coming back for us' bit. Many of these are Christians; they have allowed their minds to be so filled with religiosity, that they find it difficult to comprehend that Jesus Christ is alive today, and one day, He will return. The thing is, will they be ready for this? Will you be ready for this? 

What will that day be like? Will it be flashing lights and thunder like we have never seen before? We just don't know. We are given a picture in Revelation but many people find that book very difficult to understand. Keeping it simple, the Father will tell Jesus that it is time to go, 'Party time!' It will be for some who believe. For people who don't, it will be a nightmare, one in which they will not be a part. We will be gathered up by the angels while the unbelievers will be left behind. We may be at work or in the supermarket and suddenly, we will not be there. All people will see is an empty shopping trolley but we, will have vanished from their sight. It's quite scary because, the people who witness this, will be the ones that will be left behind. Make sure that you are not one of them. 

When Jesus returns, this will be the Rapture - the gathering of His Saints. There will then be seven years of tribulation where the devil and the anti-christ run amok with the unbelievers who remain there. They will suffer terribly but there still may be a chance for them until Jesus returns again with His army, and this will include us. He will finish the devil off and will rule on the earth with us for 1000 years.

There are many explanations of the tribulation, some believe we will have to go through the whole of it ourselves, others we'll suffer half of it. But for me and for many, many others, we will miss the tribulation and while this is all going on, we will be with Jesus, in heaven.

Are you going to be there? If you have made Jesus the Lord of your life - your Saviour, you will be. Make sure you do this, there is a prayer that follows. You can then enjoy living in a mansion.

I never like to end without giving someone the opportunity to ask Jesus into their life, or, re-dedicate their life. If that is you, pray this prayer and please let me know:

contact me, CLICK HERE

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  

Check it out

 https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B084G9S4FD/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i2