You don't belong here

"They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world."  John 17:16   CSB

When we become Christians, our lives change for the better, we'll never be the same again. Obviously, some things within us take a little time to comply with our new self and, some things may take a life time. But, we are not what we used to be.

Tony Evans writes: 'A ship belongs in the water, but the water doesn't belong in the ship. You are to be in the world, but the world should not be in you.'  When you come to believe in Jesus, you belong to Him and situations change. Whereas you first belonged to the world, the day you signed up to the kingdom of heaven, you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Saviour and you now belong to Him.

Therefore, things have changed. The things you did when you belonged to the world, rather like water should not be in the ship, you should cease living as if you belong to the world. You have moved on; you have changed directions. 

There needs to be changes, you can't have both. But it doesn't mean that you should lock yourself away from everyone and have nothing to do with people. No, there is life out there and, Jesus wants you to be a part of it. 'Yes, but I shouldn't go into a pub any longer, should I?' Why not, just because you are a Christian now, doesn't mean that you should not enjoy yourself. And anyway, unbelievers are there aren't they? Didn't Jesus go where unbelievers went? What about the tax collectors He associated with? What about Mary Magdalene and the many others. Jesus was after changing lives. An evangelist is lost within a church full of believers. He or she, are after the unsaved, so they go where they will find them. The difference is, when you go into a pub, you should go as an ambassador of Jesus - not acting as some unbelievers do, getting drunk out of their head. You are there as a witness and even though your visit there may be uneventful, the people have witnessed that you are 'normal' and this for them, is a step forward.

So get it right, you are not of this world, you are now part of Jesus. Go where Jesus used to go to meet with, and associate with unbelievers. However, let them be changed by your presence, not you being changed back into there's.

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

Lord Jesus, I have sinned   

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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Are you a Forgiver?

"For if you forgive others their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you as well.15But if you don’t forgive others, your Father will not forgive your offences"                     

                                                                  Matthew 6:14-15  CSB

This scripture is common to us all, we all need some help in this area. RT Kendall quotes from his book - Total Forgiveness, 'The first principal of total forgiveness is, that we tell nobody 

what 'they' did to us'.  As soon as someone has done us a wrong, we feel like we want to share this with a trusted friend. But, this is not the way to address this issue, because, it pretty soon gets on the gossip train and appears on News at Ten later on. (You know how gossip works). The problem is, it is difficult not to act in this way; we have been severely hurt or wronged and the world should know about what this person has done to us. The world doesn't have to know at all; only Jesus needs to know as you share this with Him and agree to forgive them. Failure to do this, can get us into grave circumstances with Jesus Himself. Let's not forget that He told us: 'Do not judge, so that you won't be judged'. 2 'For you will be judged by the same standard with which you judge others, and you will be measured by the same measure you use'. Matt 7:1-2. 

So be very careful here.

Do you know that the only place bitterness can live is in your memory? The only power it can have over us, is the power we give it. And what's more, if we don't forgive then God will not forgive us for our daily sin either. Holding  grudges are always a problem where unforgiveness is concerned. Someone may have done you a wrong lately. The thing is, every time you see this person, it reminds you of what they did to you. Alternatively, the wrong may have happened years ago and they have may have moved away, seemingly, not punished for the wrong they did to you. However, your memory reminds you periodically and even though you don't see them any longer, you still feel bitter just at the thought of it all. You may have psychological conversations about them in your head, and this proves that the grudge is still there, rooted so deep. 

Be honest with yourself, isn't it time that you let this go? The guilty party may never know that you are feeling the way you are; they've moved on and, to be brutally honest, so should you. Why? Because it is holding you back. God can't use you while you're feeling the way you are. In a way, you are being a hypocrite, pretending that all is well when, it isn't. The best thing that you can do, is to give it to Jesus right now. If you agree, pray this with me:

Lord Jesus, you know the hurt I/we felt when ...................hurt me/us some time earlier. Lord, I/we have held a grudge against them; I/we have judged them and spoke out about them and I/we have refused to forgive them. Lord, I/we repent of this right now and as I/we forgive them, I/we ask that you will forgive me/us. In Jesus' name. Amen

Now you are forgiven, so move on.

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

Lord Jesus, I have sinned   

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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When you don't want to do, what God wants

"Then He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and began to pray, 42“Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from Me — nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done.”   Luke 22:41-42  CSB

It is, or should be, about God's will, not our own. RT Kendall writes about the times when, 'What you don't want, but God wants, is what you'll get.' Let's not forget that that when we accepted Jesus into our lives, we agreed to do His will, not our own. We gave Him charge of our lives. So, it is not unreasonable when He overrides our will for His own. Asking God for that special thing you require or would like and, finding that He doesn't answer this can be disheartening. But, isn't that what Jesus did with His Father in the Garden of Gethsemane? “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from Me — nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done.”  

Oftentimes, we ask God for something we want and, He gives us something that we don't want, but what He wants. When things are like this, we have to accept His will. Jesus was asking for what He would have preferred - freedom from this task. He agonised over approaching His death on the cross and the effects of His Father's wrath on Him. But, He was prepared to do this and go to the cross. He knew it must be done to take the victory over sin. But what a struggle He had.

Paul echoed Jesus' thoughts in 2 Timothy 4:16: 'At my first defence, no one stood by me, but everyone deserted me.' Paul knew how Jesus must have felt at that time - no friends because they had all deserted Him; everyone against Him, abusing Him and shouting cruel words. Even God at that time, cast His eyes aside because of all the sin that Jesus was having placed on him. But Jesus, knew His Father's wishes and He carried them out to the full.

When you have asked Jesus to be your Saviour, it is no hardship to surrender your will for His. Sometimes, it may feel tough when we desperately want things our way. However, the rewards far outweigh the hardships that we may have to undergo at those times.

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

Lord Jesus, I have sinned   

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

Where is your hope?

"Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again — my Saviour and 6my God!   Psalm 42:5-6. NLT

Are you discouraged and sad today? Why is that? Is there any particular reason for it? Sometimes when God doesn't come up with the goods that we want Him to, it hurts and it disappoints us; we have unmet expectations. This all leads to us falling into depression and sadness. We can become upset and feel let down. But, hold on, when we asked Jesus into our lives, we didn't bargain with Him that we will follow Him as long as He gives us what we want. We didn't did we? No, we were only too pleased and the happiest we have ever been. He never promised that he would give us all we hoped for, did He? No, He just said, 'Follow Me'.

The best way to address the way we feel, is to admit this and look upward towards God. It is hard to deal with something that you don't acknowledge. It is far better to release the pent up feelings to God and tell Him you're 'down in the dumps'. Don't focus on your disappointment, focus on the One who can change this - Jesus. Our scripture today, tells us to 'put our hope in God'. Now this word 'Hope', is not the word that the world uses; it is 'Biblical hope'. It is not wishing, like, 'Oh, I really hope so.' God is not into wishing, He is into good, solid, reliable hope; the type that has confidence built into it. This type of hope is never inferior to faith but, it is an extension of it. So when we biblically hope, we are trusting God 100%.

Therefore, don't be discouraged; what good will that do you? Don't be discouraged, be encouraged. The devil will always turn God's word around. If you say 'Life' he will say 'Death'. Furthermore, everything you believe or say, the devil will twist it into the opposite. This is why RT Kendall says, 'Try to imagine what the devil will do and then, do the opposite.' Of course, this can be difficult at times but, it is worth trying to figure it out.

At the end of the day, if you are going to put into practice what we have been looking at these past couple of days - shouting praise and making a joyful noise to God, you can bet that the devil is not amused and he is going to get you anyway he can. But don't let it stop you praising God or quoting scripture out loud, do it all the more but, remember to put you armour on (Eph 6)

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

Lord Jesus, I have sinned   

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

Let everything that has breath, praise the Lord

"Praise the LORD! Praise God in His sanctuary;
praise Him in His mighty heaven! 2Praise Him for His mighty works; praise His unequaled greatness! 3Praise Him with a blast of the ram’s horn; praise Him with the lyre and harp! 4Praise Him with the tambourine and dancing; praise Him with strings and flutes! 5Praise Him with a clash of cymbals; praise Him with loud clanging cymbals. 6Let everything that breathes sing praises to the LORD!   Praise the LORD!"   Psalm 150  NLT

This is the type of praise and worship that Jesus likes, in fact He loves it. Just imagine if you were to do this in everything you do. Let's look at a few:

Getting up for work on these cold mornings. Realising that you have run out of milk, so it's a dash down to the shop, if you have time, to get this. Cleaning the ice and frost from the windscreen and side windows of your car. Driving down the road with the windows steaming up because of your breath and the change of temperature of you opening and closing the door, On reaching the shop, the delivery of milk has not yet arrived because of the state of the roads. Dashing home and finding someone else has stolen your parking space. These are just the start of your day, are you praising Him yet? 

Eventually, late for work, you drive off and immediately find you are stuck in traffic. There is a gritting lorry up front and, believe it or not, he is stuck on the ice. Fifteen minutes later, you are back on your way, only to find that the roads are grid-locked further on, and the police are advising you return home until the weather is clearer, later on. Are you praising Him yet?

You get home to a joyous welcome, 'The schools are closed, yippee.' shout the kids. At least they have something to praise the Lord for, you think. While the kids settle down to watch the Children's TV Channels, you sit down to try and read your bible and daily commentary. The heading states in bold capitols: LET EVERYTHING THAT HAS BREATH, PRAISE THE LORD. After what you have been through this cold and blustery morning, you feel that you should comment but, you are a good Christian and bite your lips, forgetting that God can read your mind anyway.

So you decide to do what the scripture is saying; you haven't a ram's horn (not many people have), you also lack a lyre and a harp. But, you do have two cymbals. You race up the stairs, grab them from your office and shoot back downstairs again. CRASH go the cymbals which startles the dog who goes around barking his head off and, your wife, who was in the shower practically slides down the stairs to find what has happened. 'What are you doing?' she shouts above the noise. You tell her that God has told you to praise Him with cymbals and whatever else you can get hold of. She just looks at you as if you're an alien.

I know this all seems like it is out of a sitcom, but my point is, whatever happens throughout our day, there is a need to praise Him. Try praising Him in the shower; driving your car; when you're in the supermarket (minus the cymbals though) in traffic jams or whatever else you may find your self doing - good or bad.

You will really change the atmosphere and this will make you feel so good. 👀 

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

Lord Jesus, I have sinned   

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

Make a joyful shout to the LORD

"Shout with joy to the LORD, all the earth! 2Worship the LORD with gladness. Come before Him, singing with joy. 3Acknowledge that the LORD is God! He made us, and we are His. We are His people, the sheep of His pasture. 4Enter His gates with thanksgiving; go into His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and praise His name. 5For the LORD is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and His faithfulness continues to each generation"  Psalm 100  NLT

The Psalmist encourages us to give a shout of joy to the Lord. Why is this? Because it allows us to vent our feeling towards Him. Can you remember Mel Gibson in Braveheart shouting 'FREEDOM' in the movie. He was declaring what he wanted to happen, their freedom. This part of the movie affected many people and it stirred them up; and this is what will happen to you as you do it.  When we shout, as I've mentioned, we vent our feelings and release all of the pent up feeling of stress, frustration and despair, It is good for the soul.

And when we praise God and worship Him from the heart, we almost burst with the energy and power of the Holy Spirit. We know that joy is good for the soul. We also know that it provides strength for our spirit. Jesus loves us to do this because, He loves to see His children - His warriors exercising their victory. It also totally diminishes the devil and he runs away because of this sound.

When the Psalmist writes 'Come before him, singing with joy', he is predicting what the writer of Hebrews wrote in Chapter 4:16 'So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive His mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. We certainly receive freedom at His throne of grace!

We are His sheep and this means that we are protected, directed and provided with all He has for us. If we stray, He comes and finds us. If we have fell into a deep hole, He rescues us with His crook. If we are being attacked, He will use His rod to drive the enemy away. And we follow Him because, we have found no one like Him. There is none that can give us the love, peace and joy that He wants to offer us on a daily basis. 

Just think, we may have just sinned but, as we repent and tell Him we are sorry, we can hold our heads up high and enter His courts with praise. As we bestow on Him our gratitude, our thanks and our worship and praise, He takes our hands in His and smiles, the finest smile you have ever seen. 

His love is, unfailing; it is faithful and it is eternal. Can we shout Amen to the King of kings. Amen!

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

Lord Jesus, I have sinned   

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

Brokenhearted and Crushed

"The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; He rescues those whose spirits are crushed."   

                                                                            Psalm 34:18  NLT 

Today, you may feel brokenhearted and crushed by life, a broken relationship, loss of someone close to you or suffering because circumstances have attacked you and thrown you to the floor like some rag doll. Now is not the time to turn away from God because you feel that He has let you down. He hasn't, but you may argue that He did nothing to rescue from all of this.

 

Read the scripture above again:"The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; He rescues those whose spirits are crushed." We often wish that we could escape life's troubles and problems. Sadly, these things happen to everyone, saved or unsaved, and somehow we have to find a way through it all. God promises to be close to the brokenhearted. In other words, He promises to be the source of power, courage and wisdom, helping us to come to terms with the hurt. 

Yes at times, He chooses to deliver us from these problems but things such as a death in the family cannot be avoided, sadly this is life. But what He does promise is that He will be with us and wrap His arms around us as if we're in cotton wool, until the pain has gone. Verse 17 says, 

'The LORD hears His people when they call to Him for help. He rescues them from all their troubles.' This is not the time to become frustrated with God because all of this pain has come upon you. This is the time to move towards Him, admitting to Him that you need His help and thanking Him for responding to you. Encourage yourself with this scripture:

'Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. 2This 

I declare about the LORD: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; He is my God, and I trust Him. 3For He will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease. 4He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armour and protection'.  Psalm 91:1-4  NLT

He is your Daddy. What daddy wouldn't do anything to protect his children? He loves you and hurts when you hurt. Move nearer to Him right now and allow Him to put His arms around you. Whatever you face today, Jesus will face it with you and, that is a promise.

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

Lord Jesus, I have sinned   

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