Daily life with Jesus by Grahame Howard

Saturday 3 August 2024

Is it nothing to you?

"Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see!" Lamentations 1:12 CSB

This is a sad book written at a sad time by the very sad prophet, Jeremiah. The Babylonians had attacked Jerusalem and brought an end to the Southern kingdom of Judah. . Many had been taken into captivity, while others had fled for their lives.

Many believers, preachers and teachers, link this verse to the death of Jesus on the cross. Others, deny this, but there is a possibility that the verse runs parallel with the account of the crucifixion. Len Magee, an ex Elim pastor/evangelist, wrote some beautiful songs and one of these was entitled 'Is it nothing to You?' Let's just check the chorus out:

'Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by, that God's dear Son Jesus, should suffer and die? Look and see, look and see an incredible thing, Son of God, on a cross suffering for my sin'

It was a sad time for Jerusalem; a sad time for Jesus on a cross and was and is, a sad time that people appear not to care. Just stop and think for a moment; whether the similarities are true or not doesn't matter to me at all. But the fact remains that the people who passed by Jesus on that terrible cross that day, barely gave Him a glance, only to blaspheme Him. That was so sad. And today, people go about their everyday chores, whether it be work, school, college, uni or play and, many of them never give Jesus a thought that, He suffered so severely on that cross for you and me, so that, if we accept Him as our Lord and Saviour, we can have our sins forgiven and have have eternal life.

There are terrible things happening in our world today. Take Southport, only this week, young children murdered others terribly injured and all they were doing was dancing to Taylor Swift's music. Then there is the protests; the stabbing becoming a daily occurrence. People are frightened to go out on their own even during the day. Jesus heart breaks and He hears those words, 'Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by.' Yes but we can't do much about it, can we? Yes we can. We can pray, pray and pray some more. We can spare a thought for grieving parents, husbands, wives and siblings. Praying costs us nothing. Don't let us be guilty of feeling that, it is nothing to us, we'll just pass by. Let us never walk by on the other side. Jesus would never do that. Pray!

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'

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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Friday 2 August 2024

Count it all joy

2"My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience". James 1:2-3. NKJV

William Barclay gives us insight into these two verses from James:

'Here is a great and uplifting thought. Hort writes: "The Christian must expect to be jostled by trials on the Christian way." All kinds of experiences will come to us. There will be the test of the sorrows and the disappointments which seek to take our faith away. There will be the test of the seductions which seek to lure us from the right way. There will be the tests of the dangers, the sacrifices, the unpopularity which the Christian way must so often involve. But they are not meant to make us fall; they are meant to make us soar. They are not meant to defeat us; they are meant to be defeated. They are not meant to make us weaker; they are meant to make us stronger. Therefore we should not bemoan them; we should rejoice in them. The Christian is like the athlete. The heavier the course of training he undergoes, the more he is glad, because he knows that it is fitting him all the better for victorious effort. As Browning said, we must "welcome each rebuff that turns earth's smoothness rough," for every hard thing is another step on the upward way'

Suffering has a way of emerging when our anointing increases. God will test us to check if we are ready for this. Let me explain, James said that we should count it all joy when we fall into various trials. Why is this? Because, it increases our faith. When God is ready to use us for a particular task, He will give us the anointing so that we can carry this out. This can be seen at Pentecost (Acts 2) when the Holy Spirit fell on the people and it was like dynamite exploding. The disciples, especially Peter, John and James, were transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit and their anointing gave them the ability to be able to do this without being killed or at least imprisoned. Throughout the book of Acts, we see people being healed, set free from demonic control and eventual imprisonment and flogging for Peter and John. You see, Jesus never said it would be easy for them but, He did say that He would be with them always (Matthew 28:20).

Jesus also told them that, without Him, we could do nothing (John 15:5). Hence, the reason that we need the anointing. However, with this, we are tested, but we need to consider it with joy. Jesus isn't punishing us, He is actually blessing us. He wants us to do things for Him and so, He gives us the wherewithal to carry this out and, this is the anointing. Therefore rejoice.

There will always be a stigma to being a Christian. A lot of unbelievers do not like us telling them about Jesus. They may persecute us, ridicule us, in fact, in some countries you may be imprisoned or killed unless you renounce your faith. Look at Peter and John -'we forbid you to speak in this name (Jesus) Acts 4:13-20.

Therefore, be prepared to be persecuted and even hated for your faith. We belong to Jesus so, never let anyone tell you any differently. CT Studd is famous for quoting this: 'If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice is too great for me to make for Him' How does this sit with you? Can you Amen it?

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'

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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Thursday 1 August 2024

Watch the assumption

13Now Hannah spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk. 14So Eli said to her, “How long will you be drunk? Put your wine away from you!” 1 Samuel 1:13-14 NKJV

A lady named Hannah, was very distressed because she was barren and had pleaded with God to open her womb so she could have a male child. She would then, leave the child (Samuel) with the priest, dedicated to God. The priest, Eli, was sitting there observing her and noticed that her lips were moving very fast but, no sound was heard. He therefore made a judgement on her and assumed that she was drunk. He therefore confronted her about it. Hannah was very distressed about this and told him of her intentions if the Lord would give her a male child.

Assumptions and false judgments are lethal. They have the ability to cause arguments, fights and possibly wars. It is imperative that we get the information right before we charge in causing someone distress. Many have had their lives destroyed by narrow minded people who shoot from the hip and ask questions afterwards. Don't do this. There was a similar incident at Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit had descended on the people in power and they were all speaking in different languages. Some mockers standing by accused them of being drunk. However Peter, who heard this accusation, told them firmly that they were not drunk at all and went on to preach a show-stopping sermon that brought over three thousand people to know Jesus as their Saviour. That was Dunamis power - dynamite Acts 2:1 and (Acts 2:1-41).

How many times do we make assumptions about people. Let's be honest here. We see or hear something and immediately the devil injects false information about them. The press can be terrible for this. Remember this, not everything that you read in a newspaper is accurate. The truth can be expanded somewhat and before you know it, the news has expanded, rather like Chinese Whispers. Gossip can do this. Bob Gass said 'The trouble with gossip is not so much that it is spoken as an intended lie, but that it is heard as if it were the absolute truth.'

We see the police turn up at someone's house and straightaway, we are tempted to think, 'Hello, what have they been up to?' A wife can see her husband chatting with a young lady and convince herself that he is having an affair with her. Total assumption and mostly, totally wrong. We can walk into a room full of people and suddenly, the conversation stops and they look around at you. If we're not careful, we can believe that they were all speaking about us. Again, it is assumption. 20% of the time, they may be but, 80% shows us that they are not.

Learn to control your assumptions;

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'

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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Wednesday 31 July 2024

Gratitude

"Rejoice always, 17pray without ceasing, 18in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you". 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NKJV

How do we express gratitude biblically? Well firstly, we must:

(1) Remember what the Lord has done for us and for all the times, He has made a way when we felt there was no way out of this.

(2) Tell others about Him. When God provides for us, we should brag about it. It's a blessing!

(3) Share the Gospel

(4) Offer yourself as a living sacrifice dedicated to Him

Can you remember the old Chorus 'Count your blessing'?

'Count your blessing name them one by one; count your blessing see what God has done/. Count your blessings, name them one by one, and you will discover what the Lord has done'.

It is true, We often allow ourselves to become discouraged by things that try our patience. This can lead to frustration and before we know it, it almost like we have lost sight of God and we feel guilty that we may have grieved the Holy Spirit. God wants us to be happy, joyful. In fact, truly exhilarating not depressing. We need to pray and thank God more and more. When we know that we have sinned, we need to confess this straightaway or as soon as we can. Some people with a Hyper-Grace teaching would argue with me here, stating they we are already forgiven. We were forgiven when we were saved. There is no need to ever ask for forgiveness again. Well in answer to that, we only need to look at verses such as 1John 1:8-10 where John was speaking to Christians. Why would he write this if they were already forgiven. Bottom line, we need to ask forgiveness, daily.

There is always something to thank God for, even on those dark and dismal of days. Just think, when we face the sun, the shadows fall behind us. But when we turn our backs to the sun, the shadows will be in front of us. The moral of this analogy is, don't turn away from the Son, Jesus Christ Himself. Keep Him always in your sight, where we can walk in the Light, not the shadow.

Have an attitude of gratitude and choose to live your life in enjoyment despite the circumstances that come against us. He has done so many wonderful things for us, including dying in our place, so that we may have freedom. So be grateful to Him.

Perhaps you need to talk this over with Jesus and ask Him to help you put things right.

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'

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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Tuesday 30 July 2024

Directions in life Part 2

"Put away from you a deceitful mouth, And put perverse lips far from you. 25Let your eyes look straight ahead, And your eyelids look right before you. 26Ponder the path of your feet, And let all your ways be established. 27Do not turn to the right or the left; Remove your foot from evil" Proverbs 4:25-27. NKJV

We need to watch our mouths - what comes out of them, how we speak to people. Our words can be like an arrow that can seriously wound the hearer. It can kill a friendship with not much chance of a reconciliation. Our tongue can be deceitful or devious and this is where gossip can evolve. We can begin to moan, grumble, criticise and point the finger at others when really, the finger should be pointed at us because of how we have reacted. Changes need to be made.

We need to put boundaries on our mouths and on our desires. Course language and even the odd swear word is not acceptable. We have to re-train ourselves in order to avoid getting side-tracked into unacceptable behaviour. Nothing kills our witness more than this. Let's remind ourselves about what Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:29-32:

'Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. 30And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamour, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. 32And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you'. It couldn't be any plainer.

There is a need to consider where we are going and what we are going to do. When we fall into the trap of grieving the Holy Spirit, we know about it and the feeling is awful guilt. There is a need to copy Jesus. Many of us have made our role model a famous person in the past. However, this will get us nowhere. The only one we should copy is Jesus. We need to live our lives around Him and the more time we spend with Him, the more we will begin to be like Him.

bibleref.com puts it this way:

'This chapter ends with a series of instructions on how to avoid straying into this path of the wicked. Emphasis here is on being deliberate, thoughtful, and careful. Much of the language used involves this concept of paying attention, rather than being careless. Similarly, a person's words and speech should be focused and direct, not manipulative or deceptive. It's notable that Scripture warns against turning from the path of wisdom, regardless of which direction one goes. "Do not swerve to the right or to the left" implies that God's wisdom is already perfect. We can't improve on it, nor can we "do better," even if we're convinced our direction is right' (Proverbs 4:20–27).

And this is your word from Daily Life with Jesus

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'

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

Monday 29 July 2024

Directions in life

"My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings" Proverbs 4:20-23

Solomon gives more wisdom in this chapter. Many people feel that he would have profited by following his own advice at times. Something that we all need to take on board, I think. We all need to practice what we preach.

He tells us to listen properly showing good attending skills. We do this on a one to one with someone, by leaning forward slightly, and feeding back a little of their conversation, such as,

'So, what you are saying is....' This lets the person know that you are listening to them. We need to remember what is said, especially in a counselling session, when a sermon is given or perhaps, a bible study. It is also essential that when we are reading our bible that, we take note of what God is showing us, because His word is good for instruction, teaching and direction.

Hearing clearly to what is being said is paramount to our daily walk with Jesus. If we only hear half of the word, we can make assumptions. When we listen we need to meditate on the word, in fact percolate it, until it is boiling away inside of us. So lock the words in by internalising them. They really are healthy for us. It is almost like God has used Solomon to write a prescription for us. God's word is life and healthy and wisdom is the best medicine going. It safeguards us from life-threatening evils.

Are you open to God's word or, are you too busy? If you are the latter, you need to re-arrange your lifestyle. God must come first. It helps us to guard our heart v23. Our soul is made up of our mind, will and emotions, therefore we need diligence to put this into practice. To be diligent, you must have an earnest and persistent application to an undertaking and this helps us be full of attentive care.

There are several requirements to aim for: You must listen, Read and Study your bible, Concentrate, attend, focus, meditate and internalise so that you are living in Jesus and He in you. When you live it, you will see it.

We'll look at the final part of Chapter 4 tomorrow

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'

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

Sunday 28 July 2024

When you don't know what to do Part 2

"In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." Proverbs 3:6 NKJV

Note the term, 'In all your ways.' This is a key statement for living a Christian life. When we accept Jesus into our lives we, are really making this statement that we choose to live our life fully for Jesus, no matter what. Pleasing God is our aim, as we do this, He in return will please us, protect us and bless us. This is why we need to get to know Jesus intimately. He longs for us to do this and as we do this, the blessing will pour out on us in abundance (John 10:10,)

The text above backs this up with the words, 'He shall direct your paths'. Probably a better way of putting it is 'He will make your paths straight.' NIV. When we are on a straight road we can see what's ahead. There are no sharp bends that may have something round them such as, road works, another car or someone walking along the road. No, usually, a straight path is better. Think about that in a spiritual way. Life has certain surprises that can catch us out unexpectedly. We never know what is round the next corner of life. This is why it is easy to give up when we are endlessly trying to move forward. If we give up too early, the next bend, which may have intended to bring us a reward, may be missed. Alternatively, it may bring us tragedy. It is far better to be on a straight road and the Lord offers this as we acknowledge Him.

God can move obstacles that are in our way and also cut a path through a forest if need be. His ways are amazing. Acknowledging Him, as we saw yesterday, in the Hebrew is Yada, which means having direct intimate contact with God. It centres around having a deep trust in God, one in which we know for certain, that He will not let us down. If we want perfect direction in life, we need to place Him central in our life. After-all, He knows us through and through; He knows the way ahead and, He knows how to get us from A to B when we need it.

Have you any major decisions to make? Are you struggling with 'What shall I do?' Then Jesus is the first point of call. His office is always open and He will give you a warm welcome when you contact Him. Just look back on your life. You have made a few mistakes haven't you? Could this be because you didn't ask what to do? I think we all have. How does it sound to being in direct intimate contact with Jesus? Yes, you have a relationship with Him but is it a deep, intimate relationship, one in which you depend on Him and trust Him 100%. You can have this and there is no application form to fill in either. Jesus has already given you this with His word - the bible.

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'

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