If you preach it, live it

"So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don't follow their example. For they don't practice what they preach."   Matthew 23:3   NLT 

In the world today, preachers and teachers of God's word, are expected to live what they preach and, this is how it should be. They are responsible for showing people the way ahead - the truth and nurturing them forward. Above, Jesus is talking about the Pharisee's attitudes. To the Pharisee, righteousness meant outward conformity to God's law; they ignored the inward condition of the heart. They commanded but didn't participate. Jesus considered them hypocritical, religious dictators and, quite often vipers.

Much is expected from teachers and preachers. James says, 'Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.' Basically, teachers are in a very responsible position. They are responsible for handling God's word and, their example should affect the people they teach. This is living the word. Mind you, this includes anyone who officiates as a leader in a home or prayer group or anything similar. We are all to adhere to the Word of God.

I would take it a step further as well. As a child of God, we should all be ambassadors of Christ. This means when people look at us, they should see Jesus. John Stott, comments in a journal from the CS Lewis Institute on 1 John 2:6:

'First, I think it is important for us to make a general statement, as the apostle John does in 1 John 2:6 "he who says he abides in Christ ought to  walk in the same way as He walked." In other words, if we claim to be a Christian, we must be Christlike.'

                                                                              John Stott, Becoming more like Christ

As we have mentioned many times, the average person in the street, does not read a bible. When they know that we are 'Religious,' they watch how we act, what we say and some will actually say, 'Is that the way a Christian speaks or acts.' In other words, we are the closest thing to Jesus that they normally see, even if they go to a church service. If I may say, many people are on their best behaviour in church but, at home or out and about, they can be very different. This should not be. We should carry the fragrance of Jesus wherever we are and whatever we do. This means when someone cuts us up in the car, instead of tooting the horn and gesticulating to them, we should remain cool. Difficult? Yes it is, but with practice we can do this.

So there it us, we are all accountable to Jesus for whatever we say or do and, at the moment, there is still time to get it right, I hope!

If you don't know Jesus or, have fallen away, why not say this prayer right now:

'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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Never stop thanking Jesus

"in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."  

                                         1 Thessalonians 5:18   NKJV 

God does not provide us with evil things, that is the devil's department. Therefore, we should never thank God for this. However, we should thank Him that He is with us, in this difficult situation. Even this is not easy to do; we have to focus on the fact that God is with us, working towards something in our favour. And He does.

People can falsely accuse us of doing or saying something and, mud can stick. Even though it is not true, some people judge us for this anyway and word gets passed around that we are not one of God's people. Some people believe this because the devil is good at spreading malicious gossip around. And then suddenly, your name can become tarnished. Now, in a situation like this, it would be wrong to thank God for this. You are not a tarnished person so why would you want to thank God that you are. It doesn't make sense. No, we thank God that even though these lies are being spread around about you, God is good and He will bring the truth out of this lie.

We need to remember, that we are dealing with a liar. Jesus calls him the father of lies (John 8:44), and he is very convincing. I've personally been on the end of this several times, and it is not very nice. People's lives or career can be ruined by these false statements. Politicians call it sleaze and it is true. But, let us thank Jesus that, through all of this, He believes in us, loves us and doesn't doubt us for a moment. This is why we can thank Him in these situations. We know that He will bring something good out of all of this. If it happened to Jesus, it will happen to us.

When we know that God is on our side, it gives us the confidence to rejoice, pray and give thanks to Him all the time. People let us down, sometimes intentionally, at other times unintentionally but, Jesus Christ, your friend will never let you down. He is solid as a rock and can be relied on always. Come on, where else could you find anyone like Jesus? It could and will never happen. There is no-one like Him. So in everything give thanks to Jesus - your redeemer!

If you don't know Jesus or, have fallen away, why not say this prayer right now:

'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

Cultivate a Prayerful Attitude

"Never stop praying"   1 Thessalonians 5:17   NLT

We need to cultivate a prayerful attitude. How do we do this? Well, let's admit we can't be in lengthy prayer sessions all of the day and, if you work then you cannot jeopardise your job by taking time off to do this. However, having a prayerful attitude can come in very handy when you need to speak to God. In fact, there may be times when you can pray - quietly, while still doing your job. You see, God is with us everywhere; He's with us if we are at work and, He's with us if we're at home. He's also with us in the supermarket but, you would look strange if you got on your knees and started praying. But this is where praying silently can take place. And don't forget, there may be an urgent time when your life or family member are at risk. You wouldn't go through all the process of official prayer, No, you would shout JESUS!

We don't always need to go through the formalities of prayer - getting on your knees. Using your prayerful attitude, you can just speak with Jesus, telling Him what you need, praising Him or whatever else. We should never stop praying but using our prayerful attitude means we don't have to. Basically, it is just talking to Him, you're mindful that he is with you wherever you are, listening to you and watching over you. When we fully realise this, it's hard not to want to speak to Him.

There are times when we feel too busy to pray. There are also times when we just don't want to pray. Everyone is the same. But for these times, Jesus knows what is on your heart; what has hurt you or troubling you. He knows that you don't feel like praying and He will gently restore you back to want to praise Him. Let's face it, when you've met Jesus, it is difficult to ignore Him for long because He is a part of you. Just tell Him how you feel.

Never fall into the habit of not praying though, we are never too busy to avoid speaking with Jesus because, we have the privilege of having a prayerful attitude; in other words we just can't stop ourselves, we just have to speak with Him. He made us this way, God is our Father, we are His children and the love that we have between us will never fail. Even if you walked away and  ended on the bottom of the ocean, He would still have the ability to speak with you. He can't help speaking and listening to us and it makes sense to do the same. After all, it is to our benefit.

If you don't know Jesus or, have fallen away, why not say this prayer right now:

'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