Disappointments

"Then He came and found them sleeping and said to Peter, 'Simon, are you sleeping? Could you not watch one hour?'                  Mark 14:37   NKJV

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus became disturbed and told Peter, James and John, who He had taken along for back up, to stay where they were and watch and pray. Jesus went further on and became so distressed that He sweat drops of blood (Luke 22:44). When He returned to Peter and the others, they were sleeping, hence His reaction in our text above. In fairness, they still didn't know what was happening so, failed to feel the urgency of it all. He must have been so disappointed at this stage.

In fact, Jesus Himself must have been disappointed with his disciples many times.  Paul also experienced disappointment several times during his ministry, as with the Galatian church so quickly turning away from the gospel (Gal 3:11,20). Let's be honest, Jesus must have been disappointed with us quite a lot since we came to know Him. We let Him down so much but, how loving He is with His forgiveness. People in this world need to adopt this attitude. Bob Gass says, 'It's the attitude with which you approach your problem that largely determines the outcome.' 

How do you react to disappointment? Do you become angry because you feel so let down? And do you use words that you know are wrong because you are so hurt and disappointed? People react in many different ways. But it's our attitude that decides how things are going to go. Look at Jesus' attitude - disappointed? Yes He would have been. Did He have a feeling of being let down? More than likely. But He didn't blast His disciples out. What He was doing in the garden that day, was extremely difficult for Him to approach. It was make or break time and, He was struggling with His humanity. However, He didn't let rip on the others. He knew their hearts and knew, they were confused by everything.

Disappointment can lead us to utter words that we know are wrong. It can lead to arguments and in some cases, break up relationships. But let us not forget, that we're only human and far from being perfect. Think back, you must have disappointed people in the past. How do you feel they felt? It may have been your parents, your family, your bosses or church leaders. Some of these may have held a grudge against you because of it. But, then again, they may have forgiven you instead. And this is how we should react when we are disappointed.

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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When you're undergoing temptation

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

                                                                             Matthew 4:1  NKJV 

After Jesus' baptism, He was immediately led into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. We may think that He had no time to think- no time to prepare, He was just led there. But He knew, and this demonstrates how Jesus was always ready for whatever may come His way. Now the wilderness is a very hot place by day, but can almost be frosty during the nights. Danger lurks at every point not only from overheating and being frozen, but from wild animals, snakes and deadly insects. Not really a nice place to be on your own with no food or drink or camping equipment.

There are lessons to learn by His 40 day stay in this environment. He was faithful in the smaller tasks before God gave Him the greater one of dying on the cross. To be tempted from the divine standpoint, means a positive test; from the devil's standpoint it implies enticement to sin; from Jesus' standpoint it is a challenge from Satan to test God's sovereignty and plan v6. 

Note how the devil speaks to Jesus here, using the word 'if.' This is attempting to place doubt in Jesus' mind. He will also do this to you and I. He endeavours to confuse us and deny the divinity of Jesus. The word 'Tempt' in the English language means to entice people to do wrong. However, the Greek interpretation of this word is Peirazien, which means to test. Therefore, what we call temptation, is not to make us sin but, to enable us to conquer it, just as Jesus could be described as a conqueror or, using patient sacrificial love.

When Jesus was led into the wilderness and fasted 40 days and nights, at the end of this period He would have been exhausted, hungry, thirsty, one moment hot, the next very cold. Notice that the devil waited for the apt time to approach Jesus - 'Now when' v3. He waited until Jesus was at His lowest before He went to speak with Him. He will also do this to us. It is when we are tired, busy or at a low point that we are more vulnerable to attack. However, even though Jesus was at a low point, He used His authority - He would not compromise at all. He used His Father's word. 

Don't think that Jesus was unprepared for what was going to happen, He was. He knew what He had to go through to accomplish God's wishes so, He ensured that He was ready for whatever happened. He knew what He had to do. He was in His humanity and thus, demonstrated weakness that called for angels to come and serve Him afterwards. But, He was still prepared and ready for the task; He knew what lay ahead, and so do we - we know that the devil will try and attack us whenever He can (1 Peter 5:8). So be alert.

This is why, like Jesus, we have to be prepared. Jesus knew God's word, so should we. God was watching over Him - He is you and I, as well. In fact, we have everything that we need to survive in this society. We know the devil is not our friend so, we need to live accordingly. He will lie to us. He will try to confuse us, bringing doubt. Let us realise this and be ready for any test or temptation that comes our way. Jesus has given us the blueprint for success. 

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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Your table is prepared

"You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil"                                           Psalm 23:6

To get the full picture of this piece of scripture, it may be a good idea to read the whole Psalm.

This Psalm demonstrates King David's total trust in God. Pastoral in content, reflecting a peaceful confidence in his Father. Written in two metaphors, it describes Jesus as the Shepherd v1-4 and God as the host v5-6.

When we put our trust in God, He will do everything possible to provide, protect and bless us through the darkest of our days. It's good to know that He never leaves us, He is always there v4. As we walk through our dark days with Him, we arrive safely at the other side (1) either a Godly solution to the problem we are in or (2) our arrival in heaven when our life is over. In both cases, we win. At the end of whatever journey we take, God provides a table, which illustrates abundance, satisfaction and everlasting love. No enemy can ever take this away from us.

Whatever we are going through, we should never give up. I know it may sound easier said than done. But at times like this, we have to exercise our faith and remember scriptures such as Philippians 4:13 'I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.' Please note the highlight here. Without Jesus we go nowhere successfully. Don't listen to the devil's lies. Until you reach this holy table, keep walking on. It is there that you will find God's rewards.

Bob Gass said, 'God never said the journey would be easy, but He did say the arrival would be wonderful.' And this is true. Of the two kinds of oil God uses for anointing - the Priestly anointing oil and the Oriental perfumed oil, this oil in Psalm 23 is the latter. This act shows favour and excellent hospitality. God's provision never runs dry. This is why David could write, 'My cup runs over.' When God gives, He gives wholeheartedly. He never cheats on the cheese; He gives abundantly. Probably you have witnessed this in your own life or, you're still waiting. Get ready for when it comes, it will be amazing.

Just think, when you're at God's table - metaphorically speaking, no enemy can touch you, they can only watch and gloat. This is why, in Jesus, we are winners. Remember, Paul said that 'we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us' (Rom 8:37). 

So rest in God's word for today. You are special

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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The Breath of God

"And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit"                                    John 20:22   NKJV

The disciples had locked themselves in the upper room because of fear that, they too, would be arrested and dealt with the same as Jesus; when all of a sudden, Jesus turned up. Closed doors were not a barrier to Him. He gave them His peace and then told them that He was about to send them out. Therefore, they needed the Holy Spirit.

Jesus breathed on them and gave them the Holy Spirit. Perhaps John, in the writing of this gospel, was remembering the creation outlined in Genesis 2:7: 'And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.'

And then of course in Ezekiel 37:9-10 and the example of The Valley of Dry Bones God said

'Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, say to the breath, "Thus say the LORD God, 'Come from the four winds, O breath and breathe on these slain, that they may live.' 10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them and they lived and stood upon their feet, an exceeding great army.

The wakening of life from the dead; in fact, it would be more apt to say 'Awakening. Some scholars and believers, feel that Jesus was anticipating Pentecost and the dynamite power that would hit the whole city. Others believe in the immediate sense, where they would receive the Holy Spirit right there and then. The Old Testament creation began with the breath of God. Now the New Testament creation begins with the breath of God the Son.

It is more likely that Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit on them in preparation to what they and others would receive at Pentecost (Acts 2). Dunamis power would descend on them at Pentecost and, this would have a powerful impact rather like dynamite, where the whole city would be turned upside down. However, we cannot deny that Jesus was giving them a lot of responsibility and they would need the power and wisdom of the Holy Spirit in order to carry this out proficiently. And this would be prior to Pentecost.

Whatever was really happening that day when Jesus appeared to His disciples, on top of their grieving for Jesus following His death, they were now faced with the fact that He had said, He would rise again, and it had happened. And they were truly overwhelmed and probably mixed up about it all. With the days that were leading up to Pentecost, they had to cope with their feelings about this, and then the fact that Jesus would ascend to heaven very soon and, all of this was going to happen before Pentecost.

This brings to our attention that, whatever you may be facing at this time, Jesus is around you; the Holy Spirit is in you and giving you the power to be able to approach whatever mountain or hurdle that may be in your way. With Jesus, you are a winner, a victorious person of God. Never forget this wonderful news.

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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Use your prayer language

"But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit."                          Jude 20   NKJV 

Do you use your prayer language? This means, praying in your own language as prompted by the Spirit. This may be with groaning which cannot be uttered (Rom 8:26) as directed by the Holy Spirit. It may also be praying in tongues, unknown or known to the pray-er. Think about it for a moment. The devil hasn't a clue what we're praying and this can catch him by surprise. We pray by faith in the Spirit. and thus, we build ourselves up. 

Praying in the Spirit is (1) for personal edification and (2) for public exhortation. Speaking in tongues is an indication of the Holy Spirit's presence within the person. For personal edification, speaking in tongues brings us closer to God and seals us with Jesus. As said, it is a personal time with Jesus and can be a time of incredible blessing, especially when there is no-one around. Speaking in tongues edifies the person using this language. Whereas, speaking in tongues in public worship only edifies believers when it is interpreted, so, the worshipper is to pray for the interpretation but, if it is withheld, the person should keep silent unless there is someone who functions in the gift of interpretation who is present (1 Cor 14.5, 28).

Regarding the (1) Personal Edification. Some people spend a lot of time on their own speaking to God in their prayer language (tongues). Some people frown on the use of tongues and it has been a major conflict in churches where there is no freedom in the Spirit. However, one cannot get away from the fact of what it says in the bible. It is part of our worship both personal and publicly. Although, the latter is not used very often in some churches. Whether this is embarrassment or a church rule, one has to decide.

None of this is a problem. If you don't speak in tongues yourself, ask God for this gift. Once you receive it, you may feel that you are speaking Gobbledygook, but don't worry, keep practicing and don't be put off. There is power in speaking in tongues, especially when you consider that Satan hasn't a clue what you are saying. This is why he will try to block you by saying it is not of God and all other accusatory terms that he can throw at you. Take no notice and do it. You will be personally edified and blessed. Make it an everyday occurrence.

The Holy Spirit will never lead you astray. His purpose is always to point you to Jesus. See what it says in John 16:13:

"However, when He, the Spirit of Truth has come, He will guide you into all truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come."

Therefore, get close to Him, trust Him and realise that He is 100% committed to you and to Jesus. Remember the Holy Trinity, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Three separate persons in one = the Trinity'

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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Let your light shine

"Let your light so shine before men that they may may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."     Matthew 5:16   NKJV

The commentary of this verse from bibleref.com says: 'Jesus has described His disciples as first the salt of the earth and then as the light of the world (Matthew 5:13–15). Salt is meant to be salty and becomes worthless if it loses that quality. Light is meant to be seen by those in the darkness. It has no value if covered up and hidden.' 

Note the latter part of this comment, 'It has no value if covered up and hidden.' It is Jesus' desire that we shine for Him wherever we may go, and that is a fair comment. However, it is never easy to carry this out. We come up against many problems that rob us of the desire to shine for Jesus. And once, the light is covered up there's no value.

You may have been frustrated over the time you have been a believer, because the more you try, the harder it becomes. What you want to do, you can end up doing the opposite and your endeavours to let Jesus be seen in you hits the dust again. If this is you, then join our club, we are all like this. We are full of good intentions but there always appears to be something or someone that trips us up. It can be so frustrating that many have thought about giving up their faith 'It's impossible to accomplish, I might as well be like I was; at least I was happy that way.' Were you really happy? Would you like to go back to Egypt - the time before you were saved? See what Hebrews 10 has to say about this:

'For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise: 37“For yet a little while, And He who is coming will come and will not tarry. 38Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.” 39But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul'.

We do not draw back; we will never surrender. Jesus Christ is our Saviour and He stopped at nothing to save us but, we need to learn a few things yet. Things take time. You are a work in progress and you may make lots of mistakes but, that doesn't mean you should throw the towel in. It is another lesson to learn.

Let's look at Thomas Edison. He spent ages endeavouring to create the electric light bulb. One quotation says: In response to a question about his mishaps, Edison once said, “I have not failed 10,000 times—I've successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work'. Whether this quotation is correct or not, it demonstrates that Edison had a problem but, refused to give up until he shone. And this is what we need to do. We may not be shining continually just yet but, we will not give up. we have tried ways that do not work but we will get there. Keep running!

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 

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Beware of False Teaching

"For a time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers, 

4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables."   

                                                                    2 Timothy 4:3-4   NKJV 

Today I want to bring to your notice the term Hyper Grace Teaching. You may have heard of it as it is widely used by several world famous preachers with massive churches:

'The term hyper-grace has been used to describe a new wave of teaching that emphasises the grace of God to the exclusion of other vital teachings such as repentance and confession of sin. Hyper-grace teachers maintain that all sin, past, present, and future, has already been forgiven, so there is no need for a believer to ever confess it. Hyper-grace teaching says that, when God looks at us, He sees only a holy and righteous people. The conclusion of hyper-grace teaching is that we are not bound by Jesus’ teaching, even as we are not under the Law; that believers are not responsible for their sin; and that anyone who disagrees is a pharisaical legalist. In short, hyper-grace teachers “pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality” (Jude 1:4) and flirt with antinomianism.

Jesus’ words to the seven churches in the book of Revelation strongly contradict the idea that Christians never need to repent. To the church at Ephesus, Jesus said, “Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place” (Revelation 2:4). Jesus rebukes five of the seven churches and demands repentance from them (Revelation 2:4, 6, 20; 3:3, 15–19). Far from believers being unaccountable for their sin, they must answer to Jesus for their disobedience (see also 2 Corinthians 5:10).

Preachers of hyper-grace doctrine discount the Old Testament and the Ten Commandments as irrelevant to New Testament believers. They even teach that Jesus’ words spoken before His resurrection are part of the Old Covenant and no longer applicable to born-again believers'. 

GotQuestions.org 

Regarding our text, William Barclay makes a comment before hyper Grace teaching had become popular: 'Any teacher, to this day, whose teaching tends to make men think less of of sin is a menace to Christianity and a menace to mankind.'               The Letters to Timothy by William Barclay

Again, the well-known bible teacher RT Kendall also calls this type of preaching Hyper Grace Teaching and writes: 'At the heart of hyper grace teaching is the belief that there is no need to confess your sins - no place of repentance is in order in the Christian life; all sins are already forgiven and washed away by Jesus' blood at the cross'

When you consider the state of our world today, it is not difficult to realise that Satan is at the heart of the pain and heartache. He even twists scripture to read as he wants it to read and if we are not wise and alert, we can easily fall into the trap of this false teaching. I am making no judgement here but purely pointing out the facts. 2 Timothy 4:3-4 cannot say it anymore clearly. The preachers that are bringing this new wave of teaching, are very successful and popular people. They have massive churches but just ask yourself, 'What is this doing to the church today?' I have had a couple of people who I have known for sometime, talking to me about how wonderful this teaching is. They told me- 'There is no need to repent and confess your sins and there is also no need to pray The Lord's Prayer anymore; we're already forgiven.'

Can you see how easy it is for the devil to convince people about this teaching? When you are in conversation with fellow believers, listen carefully to what is said, also listen to what the preacher is saying as well. I say this, not to make you paranoid - far from it. I say it because, as a teacher myself, I feel I have a duty to speak the truth to you.

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