'I can't do this.' 'Yes you can!' Part 1

"O My LORD, I m not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; But I am slow of speech and slow of tongue."    Exodus 4:10   NKJV

Would you have felt differently? That's hard to answer because, unless you were there, you wouldn't know. However, think back to school, college or uni days. How did you feel when a teacher or lecturer asked you to stand up and give an account of something you had been studying. I think the answer to this would be - petrified. Here this faithful man was tending his sheep, without a care in the world, and suddenly a bush caught fire and spoke to him. Not your everyday occurrence I am sure. 

As DL Moody said 'Moses had spent forty years in Egypt thinking he was a somebody; forty years in the wilderness learning he was a nobody and a further forty years seeing what God can do with a nobody.' And he can do that with you too!

Initially, Moses had been a powerful person in Egypt, but he blew it by murdering someone and hiding their body. After fleeing Egypt, here he was, a lonely old shepherd. But God looks at our potential; He knows what we can do. He saw the potential in Moses. He knew he was a faithful, hardworking man, who would get the job done. The inner voice within Moses, however, was sounding alarm bells. 'I can't do this - I'm a shepherd, get me out of here.' But God wouldn't give up and in-spite of all of Moses' wriggling He was going to have His way here.

We can be very much like this. Someone asks us to do something and, straightaway a feeling of negativity comes upon us and we turn down the offer. Now, each of us is different and we will all have some reason why we can't do what we are asked. What would be yours? If your pastor asked you to preach next Sunday, something you had never done before, what would be your response. You could say yes you would be delighted but as the day grew closer you may back out of it with some excuse. Alternatively, you may turn up to preach and be a bundle of nerves as the pastor introduced you. As you commenced, knocking the glass of water beside you on the floor, your tongue could feel like it's not working. Then rather like Moses had told God, you may suddenly be unable to speak any sense.

We can all go to pieces at times, but, as you give the fear to God, He can find a way through the fear, allowing you to proceed with the task and claim victory. Whatever your fear is today, God can fix it. It is difficult to explain but, when we face mountains such as this, God gives us the dynamite to blast ourselves through. So get ready.

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 2024 Grahame Howard.                                 

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com          

If you would like to contact me, CLICK HERE

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A Love Affair

"Arise my darling. Come away my beautiful one. 11 For now the winter is past - "  

                                    Song of Songs 2:10-11  CSB 

As we read through the chapters which Solomon has written, we unfold a great love story - an affair of the heart. In this Chapter, Solomon describes how the love between a man and woman should be. It begins with a pure love affair which eventually leads to marriage. It contains honesty and a heart full of respect and leads to a great devotion to each other. If a person is not married, then a deep relationship with Jesus can also fill that empty space.  

It can be said that, this is a blue print of how love should be towards Jesus. He does His part on a daily basis but, what about us? We are, or should be, in a loving relationship with Him. He loves us with a deep, lasting passion and never has any intention of hurting us or, letting us go. He has always been around us, even before we became committed to Him. Verse 9 tells us, that He stands behind a wall, gazing through the windows. You see, before we knew Jesus, He would never have forced Himself upon us but, He wasn't far away. He was the other side of a wall; He was gazing through a window just looking adoringly at each one of us. Love makes us want to do this, to be with someone that has captured our hearts. But some of us want the other one to make the first move. Jesus is a little like this. As I have said, He would never force His way into our lives. He wants us to be sure that we want Him

Love such as this, makes us want to leap over mountains and bound up hills. We get our second wind, the feeling of love is so exciting, and with Jesus in it, it is doubly-exciting. He knows our heart and knows that the winter of our life has been a difficult one but, Jesus says:"Arise my darling. Come away my beautiful one. 11 For now the winter is past' 

He knows the pain we have suffered; the heart that has been shattered and He tells us, 'Come and step into Spring. Look the flowers are shooting up; new life is springing up everywhere and the birds are singing about this. The winter is past.'

He tells us to "Come away my beautiful one.' And He is calling you into relationship with Him.

You may have known Jesus for years but, possibly not like the way He wants you to. Yes it has been a rough time but, the winter is past and, it is time to enter into joy with Jesus, the King of kings. What is your answer to His question, 'Come away my beautiful one?' If it is 'Yes', I want this relationship, pray the words below:

Lord Jesus, I realise that the winter is past but I, have been hanging on to it. Please forgive me. I want the kind of relationship that you are offering. So I say 'Yes.' I really want a true and loving friendship with you, so I offer myself to You, today. Amen

And 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 2024 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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The schemes of the devil. Part 2

"Catch the foxes for us - the little foxes that ruin the vineyards - for our vineyards are in bloom."               Song of Songs  2:15   CSB 

This is quite a vivid example of how little things can wreck a relationship. There is a need to identify and catch your own personal foxes before it is too late. There are many kinds of problems that can infiltrate a loving relationship and leave it disturbed or in some cases, utterly destroyed. The lovers here, wanted anything that could cause them trouble, removing. And, this is a good place to start with your own relationship(s).

As we saw from yesterday's reading, foxes are very sly and cunning. They creep into situations to catch their prey. This is why people who have chickens, need to make sure that they are secure and safe. Marriage is an institution that the devil loves to attack and destroy if he has the opportunity. Therefore, husbands and wives need to ensure their  behaviour is in line with God's wishes, after-all, He is the one that brought you together in the first place. There should be no secrets because, the devil will take these and dramatise them, adding bits and pieces so that there is something there, which is not. If you watch any soaps on TV, you will see this in action where a partner doesn't tell their spouse about certain things. This is really a recipe for disaster. There should be no secrets between man and wife unless it is for family reasons, such as planning a birthday etc.

Please accept that the devil is real and he doesn't like you. In fact, you are an enemy so, if he can, he will strive to disable and disarm you. Just the fact that he classes you as his enemy, puts you on a higher level than him. He has no part in the Kingdom of God, he will never enjoy eternity. You will and so, he is jealous and will lie about you, falsely accuse you, criticise and gossip about you and if he can. destroy everything that is precious to you. Wise up; make sure that you catch these little foxes, if you don't, they will eat everything you have.

As a bit of a country bumpkin, I love wildlife, especially foxes. But I'm wise enough to realise the damage they can cause if they have the chance. And this is why we should be aware of the little foxes that creep around us, our marriage and family and far beyond that. As we have to be wise with an actual fox, we also need to be wise with the little ones that can really cause us problems. So be careful here.

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 2024 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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The schemes of the devil

"Put on the full armour of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil."                    

                                          Ephesians 6:11   CSB 

Have you ever considered the fox? It is a small, cunning carnivore who lives near people's dwellings or perhaps farms. It is a master of hunting small game and it often relies on trickery and this is why it is known as being sly. One of its victims is usually rabbits. It creeps into situations, slowly making its way towards its intended prey. When the rabbits realise there is a fox about, many of them scatter. However, there is usually one that remains because curiosity takes over. The fox uses  a strange ritual that is known to many contrymen as 'Charming'. The fox all of a sudden will start chasing its own tail, leaping about as if it is mad. Little by little, the fox is getting closer to the rabbit, who is so interested in this that it doesn't realise the danger it is in until, it's too late and the fox pounces and races off with its prize. The fox has used its skill of distraction.

Now put this into the context of the devil and his schemings. Satan distracts us quite often by taking our minds off Jesus and onto fear. He'll convince us that something is wrong and encourage us to worry and fret about something. This may be our health, our jobs, family problems and a host of other things. He'll keep this up giving us sleepless nights so that we become snappy or edgy with the people we love. If we don't realise what is happening, he will force us into a corner so that we don't know if we're coming or going. Don't allow this! Recognise this for what it is. I agree, not everything is the devil's fault but if something distracts us from our walk with Jesus. You can be sure that he is about somewhere in it.

We need to wise up - all of us. No one is perfect and if we're not carefully focused on Jesus we can be easily distracted. We can be tempted to spend more money than we can afford. Those little plastic cards come in handy when we need something that we haven't the cash for. We can be tempted to drink more alcohol than we intended because we are having a great time out somewhere. We can then make a fool of ourself or get picked up for drinking and driving. We can be tempted to forget that we are in a relationship and fall to the flattery of the opposite sex. And there is so much more that can befall us when we slip to the schemings of the evil one.

Be in control, I'll say it again, be in control. It is so important because, if you're not, you can easily set yourself up for disaster. Just think, wherever you are, there is a fox-like situation around you. So be careful where you tread; be careful and wear your armour all the time and, be sure to walk in the Spirit.

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 2024 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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Don't try to do more than you can handle

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,"     Genesis 1:1   CSB 

Have you ever noticed the way God worked? He did things systematically. He didn't try to do everything at once. He concentrated on one thing or group of similar things before He went on to the next. He could have thrown everything together at once but, I fear that would have been too confusing and after-all He had all the time in the world. His desire was perfection and He gave us a wonderful demonstration of doing things properly instead of rushing things and getting them wrong. God created what was perfect, it was man (Adam and Eve) that ruined it all.

God gave us the template of how to live and work on His earth. There is no profit in dashing here and there trying to do things at top speed or try to multitask. It doesn't provide anything but great mistakes and burnout. Someone once said, 'A man who chases two rabbits, catches neither,' Think about that statement. When startled, rabbits have a tendency to run in all different directions and as this old saying goes, if someone sees two rabbits together, they are going to run away different routes and it will be impossible for the person to try and capture either one, unless he is incredibly agile. In the way that one rabbit is enough to focus on, then it is the same for doing things. We can only give our best when we concentrate on one project.

It's the same with people. It's impossible to try and have a conversation with someone who is with you, and try to carry on a conversation with someone else on the telephone. Neither receive dignity from this and the way is paved for possible mistakes. Read Genesis One and see how God handled the great task of creating the world, the animal kingdom, human beings and a host of other things. Try and take on board His dedication, His peace and His commitment to carrying out this mighty work. Try and re-produce this dedication in the work that you carry out on a daily basis. In my youth, I worked on an industrial assembly line for a short while. It was chaos. There was no time to think let alone talk. It was stressful and many mistakes were made. Imagine your life like this. Sometimes we live in a similar way, trying to spin all the plates, trying to please everyone and ensuring that all that you have is accomplished. Sooner or later, living life like this, something has to give and it is usually your health. 

Make a decision now that, you will still continue to work hard but it will be more structured and stress free and, sensibly planned out. You want the job to be done properly, the person you are working for wants the job done properly and, guess what? God wants it done properly as well. So, re-schedule your life.

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 2024 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