Don't take the easy way out

"Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it"                                Matthew 7:14  NKJV 

It is so easy to take the easy way out of things. This may be to cut corners or just find an easier way to do things. However, it is not always the best route. Let's look further at this:

Jeremian 12:5 says: 'If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses?' And let's not forget Jesus on the cross. He didn't take the easiest route to complete His work for His Father. He knew what He had to do to save mankind, and He did it. He suffered that awful death on the cross; the humiliation of people sneering at Him; soldiers beating Him, pulling out His beard and then nails driven into His hands and feet. He loved you and I too much to cut a corner. He went the whole way - the hard way v14.

It takes dedication and study to become more like Jesus. It takes discipline to be the one who sits there, studies and learns while others are out doing what they want to do. These are the ones that may take the easy road: 'Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction and there are many who go by it.' v14.

The people who enter through the wide gate, are those who claim to be Christian or 'churchgoers' and class themselves as religious. But Jesus was not into religion, He was into people - His people who are called by His name and recognised as Christians. Sadly, there are many, many people who will enter this wide gate believing that one day they'll follow Jesus but, until then, 'there is a lot of living to be done.' But for some, that time for living may be very short. Today is the day, not tomorrow.

It can be very difficult to speak to family members about Jesus if they don't want to hear it. It can cause friction and sometimes, even split families. You can talk about anything and it will spark a conversation. However, mention the name 'Jesus' and their backs can become stiff and they don't want to hear about it. The best way is not to bludgeon them but, let them see Jesus by the way you live. This can speak wonders to them. Then, from thereon, pray for them. 

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, grahame.howard@hotmail.co.uk

Member of the National Association of Christian Ministers

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Watch where the boomerang hits!

"Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with what judgement you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you."  

                                                        Matthew 7:1-2  NKJV

Pointing the finger at someone can be so easy, we do it all the time. It's called judging, and when we judge someone, it springs back on us. It's rather like throwing a boomerang; throw it properly and it will come whizzing back to you. One has to be careful that they are not decapitated when this happens. It is the same with judging someone; point the finger at them in a judging manner and sooner or later it will be turned back on you. It's called the boomerang effect.

How many times have you heard a sermon somewhere and you have thought, 'Hmm, such and such needs to hear this.' There may have been a call to raise the hands for prayer and you look round at this person and see their hands are down. You may begin willing them to raise their hands and go forward. Whatever may be true, you have no right to do this, it is called judging and if you don't want to be judged yourself, stop this. You may think, 'This is so unfair, I know for a fact that they have been up to no good, they're hypocrites.' Wrong, you are. Jesus told us not to judge, so what should you do? Don't judge. Just think for a moment, what are the things that you do that are hypocritical? What if someone was doing this to you? If you have solid evidence that something is wrong with this person/s, then take this to the leadership of the church. Don't speak to anyone else about it - that's called gossip. Just take it to the pastoral team and leave it with them. Your job is done - so forget it.

More than anything, we all need to search our hearts and consider if there is something in our hearts that are either wrong, or need adjusting. Try turning this into a prayer:

 

'Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxieties; 24 and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting'  Psalm 139:23-24

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, grahame.howard@hotmail.co.uk

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

 

 

The temptation of Jesus Final part

"All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me."  

                                    Matthew 4:9  NKJV

Satan begins to show his true colours - he wants Jesus to bow down and worship him, in return he will give Him 'all the kingdoms of the world and their glory'. He couldn't have picked a better place for Jesus for, He is a mountain-climber. Nothing can get in Jesus' way and remain there, and this pack of lies and false testimony wouldn't either. Jesus knew him and what he stood for as well. Jesus having had enough of this, finally rebuked him, 'Away with you, Satan! For it is written, "You shall worship the LORD your God and Him only you shall serve" (Deut 6:13.)

 

In the end, Satan wants your worship and he wants you to bow down to him. That's how it was with the first Adam but, never with the second Adam, Jesus Christ. And not with you either, even though he will make you nice and tempting offers in return. Don't bend the knee to him. It is never worth the price. The authority that Jesus spoke to Satan, can come from you and I too. 'Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you'  James 4:7. Jesus delegated this authority to you and I, against Satan. Make sure you use it. Jesus is the ultimate authority in the universe so, therefore, He deserves your exclusive worship and service.

The battle ended when Satan was evicted by God's authority. Angels then came to attend to Jesus. They not only began to worship Him but also, gave Him the nourishment that He needed. This is part of what angels do, they serve and minister to us. I wonder how many times they have come to you and ministered when you desperately needed it. How they saved you from that accident and rescued you when your were in peril. Just reflect on that for a moment and thank Jesus. It's amazing.

At the end of the day, we all need to worship Jesus for what He has done for each of us and, for the never-ending love and provision that He gives us. He is our role-model. Let us work towards being more and more like Him as each day commences.

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, grahame.howard@hotmail.co.uk

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

 

The temptation of Jesus Part 3

"Then the devil took Him (Jesus) up into the Holy city, set Him up on the pinnacle of the temple and said to Him, 'If You are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written, 'He shall give His angels charge over You.'  Matthew 4:5-6  NKJV 

What a tempter, and what a flatterer Satan is. He challenged Jesus to throw Himself off the highest point of the temple; in other words to commit certain suicide. But He added v11-12 from Ps 91, which said that His angels would take care of Him. Number one, we should never test God; Jesus didn't fall for it and neither should you. I once saw on the TV, some American sect playing around with rattle snakes. They were doing this because Jesus had told us in Mark 16:18, 'they will take up serpents and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them.' Jesus was not telling these people that they could pick up snakes and drink poison, not at all. He was demonstrating that if a snake were to attack them, it wouldn't hurt them. We see this in action in Acts 28:3-6 when an adder attached itself to Paul and he just shook it off without it hurting him. People read too much into scripture and put their own interpretation of it into action. We must be careful of this happening. Don't test God. How do we obey this? Don't test God. Many of this sect died.

When you think about it, Jesus could have proved who He was by doing this, and saving Himself from having to die on that cross. It would be a brilliant way to demonstrate this. However, Jesus was having none of it and neither should we ever change scripture to meet our own desires. Jesus was faithful and He expects the same from us. The only way is up - to Jesus. We can never cut corners even if we think we could get away with it. You wouldn't, because God sees everything.

The devil knows scripture, don't ever think that He doesn't. He knows it but, turns it round to fit his own requirements. He will do all he can to convince you that it is all ok, 'It'll be all right. Don't worry.' But don't test God!

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, grahame.howard@hotmail.co.uk

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

 

The temptation of Jesus Part 2

"If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread."  

                                       Matthew 4:3  NKJV

One can almost hear the taunting and arrogance in how Satan speaks to Jesus. He was actually questioning the provision of God to take care of Jesus while He was undergoing this time in the desert. The desert can be an incredibly hot place during the daytime and practically freezing in the nights. Jesus would have been hot one moment, cold the next and suffering tremendous hunger pains. We don't know everything that was said that day but, we can imagine that the devil was taunting Jesus with such things as, 'I thought God loved You; you're kidding yourself. He doesn't care at all, otherwise He would have fed you, at least.'

To fast is to give up your comforts, such as eating, to fulfil something more important at the time. This is a special time with God, one in which prayer and fellowship is shared with Him. The effort of doing this, shows God that we are determined.

Just look how callous the devil can be with us, 'If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.' Sometimes, some larger stones can look very much like a small loaf, especially when you are in the state that Jesus was. It shows us how difficult it had been for Jesus in His humanity by what verse 11 tells us 'Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.' Note the plural.

Just look at Jesus' reply 'It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.' v4. 

Note how evil the devil can be. He knew Jesus was suffering severe hunger pain and took advantage of His condition by taunting Him in this weak condition. This is what he does to you and I. He is constantly watching us to see if we will give him a way in through the hedge of protection that we should have around us (Ps 91). And if he can find away in, he'll come and tempt us with all sorts of things that he knows we need or crave for. He will make it so easy to take part in things that we know are wrong but at the time, seem quite pleasurable. Be very careful and do what Jesus did. He challenged Satan with God's Word. This is our weapon that the devil does not like. v4 

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, grahame.howard@hotmail.co.uk

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

 

The temptation of Jesus. Part 1

 "Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil."     

                                          Matthew 4:1  NKJV

Have you just noticed what happened here? It was God's idea that Jesus should go out into the desert to be tempted by Satan. Check it out 'Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.' Now this seems very strange; going back a verse, God is saying, 'This is My beloved Son, in whom I'm well pleased'  3:17.  Now He is sending His beloved Son into a danger area. But it had to be done, the first Adam was tested in the garden and gave in to Satan. This second Adam - Jesus, went into the wilderness to defeat Satan so that He can escort us back to the garden. Have you ever thought about that? God spent all His time creating a beautiful, peaceful garden and He was very pleased with this. Adam messed up and was evicted along with Eve. This place is still empty and, no doubt, still beautiful and peaceful. One day, we may be there and see it for ourselves. Nothing is wasted with God. With this happening, it would be the way God intended it to be in the first place. Do you feel that we will go there at some stage? It is food for thought. Wow, something just jumped in my spirit.

God was demonstrating the superiority of Jesus. God also does this with us when we are tempted. He wants us to show our superiority over the devil. Remember 1 John 4:4 'Because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.' We tend to forget that when we are in dire situations. Jesus lives within us. He is in you whatever situation you are facing at this time. It may seem impossible but, not with Jesus, He can overcome any problem you may face. Never worry.

God sent Jesus into the wilderness in offensive mode, not defensive; and He wants this for you to. You have no need to defend yourself, you have Jesus with you and you are wearing God's armour. This means that you are on the offensive. You are going into battle with victory in mind.  You need to remember this when you feel snookered by problems. You feel that there is no way out but, there is and His name is Jesus.  Cast your cares on Him and move forward 1 Peter 5:7.

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, grahame.howard@hotmail.co.uk

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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Directions through the Word

'My son, give attention to my words"    Proverbs 4:20-27   NKJV 

Imagine that you are sitting in on a university lesson for one session and you are preparing to write an essay on a certain subject. It is not as easy as you would think. Firstly, you would have to:

GIVE ATTENTION   In other words you would have to pay attention to what the tutor is teaching and take accurate notes. This would mean that you would have to concentrate in order to be able to write about the why's and where for's. 

LISTEN   There would be a need to listen carefully in order that what you writing is correct. You would need to reference who had said what you have written and why. In addition to this, you would need to give a critical analysis about your text, giving at least another person who disagrees with this theory you have written and again, why. This could include yourself - how would this make a difference in your life or not at all. This is only for starters, there would be much more criteria in order to make a good argument that comes to a great conclusion. 

I hope you can see, just how important the art of listening is. In our text above, Solomon gives some great reasons why paying attention to detail is so important. It is a skill that we should all learn and it needs to be ongoing. God's word is active - alive, and each time we look at it, something different comes out of it. He tells us to keep our heart with all diligence v23. in other words guard it, because it is life to us. It is also a vital reference point for the issues of life. Out of our heart come good or bad things so, we need to keep it in good shape and, once again, this is where God's word comes into operation. Our heart can easily be poisoned if we are not careful. Wrong words from wrong sources can contaminate this reference point filling it with data that can spill out bad fruit.

Our walk with God is very dependent on what we put into this reference point, therefore, we should always give it care and attention. It dictates what we think and speak, what we look at and how we process this in our minds. It also determines where our feet take us. We are in charge of it not the other way around.

CONCLUSION   There is a need to spend time with the one who is teaching us - Jesus and to do this, our time must be His. We need to read His word; we need to make accurate notes of what He says and we need to put it into action. It is a learning process that will take us all of our lives. So we better get started now.

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, grahame.howard@hotmail.co.uk

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