He holds us closely

If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10 Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me.  Psalm 139:9-10. NKJV

God is everywhere and He knows everything - omnipresent and omniscient. David asked, 'Where can I go from your Spirit?' v7. But he knew that no one can escape God. 'Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? 8If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. 9If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,'  v7-9. David knew that wherever, he would bump into God. He cannot be avoided. He inhabits the universe from top to bottom.

We need to accept and be grateful that, wherever we are, God's right hand will hold on to us V10. There isn't a shred of darkness too dark for us to hide from His sight v11. Just think, with God, the night shines like the day v12. Why is that? Because He is the Light John 8:12. So wherever we are or, whatever situation we are in He is ever-present. 

We can call on Jesus anytime of day or night and He will be there with us. Our pastor may sleep at night, as do the elders and our family and friends but, Jesus is wide awake ready, just in case we want to chat with Him. Many disabled people have emergency call facilities in the form of a necklace round their neck or a watch. If they fall over or become ill, they can press a button and there is a response. As Christians, Jesus is our call centre, we don't even need this because, if something happens to us, Jesus sees all and responds to our aid. Amazing.

These days it is difficult to even get a doctor's appointment, but Jesus' door is always available. But if it is so easy to speak with Jesus, why don't we do it more often? Why do we let things get so bad before we pray to Him. He is always beside us; He is always holding us closely to His side. He doesn't sleep, instead He watches over us just making sure that we are ok.

What a wonderful, loving position to be in. Jesus shows His care for us on a daily basis. Thank you Lord.

Copyright 2025 Grahame Howard. 

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'

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com  

If you would like to contact me, grahame.howard@hotmail.co.uk

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God knows us through and through

O Lord, You have searched me and known me. 2You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off.     P139:1-2  

Just think about that; God knows everything about us, what we think, what we are going to say and stop ourself, what we think of others etc. etc. He knows every last thing about us. Now from one point of view that is encouraging. From another, it is quite scary because, there are things that we would rather not let God know about. But that is impossible, He created each one of us, so He is going to know these things. Just consider that for a moment. When we have committed something that we know we shouldn't have committed, He knows. When we've said something about someone or thought it, God knows about that too. (v4) There is no escape from this.

God has placed a hedge around us. That is great because we know that He is protecting us, From another point of view, it can be unnerving because, this hedge prevents us doing what we would like to do at times. In other words, David was saying that he feels 'locked in, there is nowhere to run and hide.' Jonah must have felt this when he tried to run away from God instead of accepting His call to go to Nineveh. He escaped on a boat; got swallowed by a whale and then spewed up on an island somewhere. He could not escape.

None of us worried about this before we were saved; it just went over our heads. But now, it stares us in the face, we cannot hide from this fact. But why should we? Isn't it wonderful to realise that God loves us so much that He has our back? He watches over every part of our lives.

However, we need to realise that what we do and say, and allow in our hearts, He knows about that too. This may prevent us from doing these things but, also, it may not and we do them anyway. Then this is where the overpowering guilt takes over our lives.

There are things in our lives that we would rather not have - sinful thoughts, bad feelings towards people and sadly for some, adultery. If God knows about these things and yet still loves us, don't you think it is time to own up to them and break free from that locked in feeling that we have. "If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.' John 8:18.

Copyright 2025 Grahame Howard. 

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'

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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Unshakeable faith

"Now if you are ready at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, and you fall down and worship the image which I have made, good! But if you do not worship, you shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you from my hands?”                   Daniel 3:15   NKJV

Some Chaldeans, who were obviously jealous of the status Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego had been given, despite being captives, noticed that they wouldn't bow down to the golden image and reported this to the king. We will always have this type of thing happen when we are in a favourable position in life and people notice that we are given special treatment. Jealousy usually precedes accusation and some people will do all they can to prevent you going further. This may have happened to you. It's not nice but, you must remember that if they did this to Jesus they will do it to you as well.

Nebuchadnezzar was furious when he heard this and immediately sent for the three boys. Despite being angry, he chose to flatter them and persuade them to see his point of view. Then he made a rather foolish statement: 'And who is the god who will deliver you from my hands?' He might well have said 'No one, I repeat no one, not even God Himself, will be able to rescue you from my power.' It is a foolish person who tries to take God's place, Satan tried this and look what happened to him. 

Another thing that comes to mind is the king's temper. Verse 19 describes that he was livid and his face displayed fury. This led him to have the furnace heated seven times hotter than was safe, and doing this, he lost  some of his mighty men of valour in the process. Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego survived the furnace with no scorch marks or even smell on their clothing. The king also noticed there was a forth person in the furnace who he called the Son of God v25.               

Their unshakeable faith led them through this ordeal. They overcame jealousy, false accusation, flattery and being persuaded to give up their faith and bow to the king. They stood their ground and refused to bow to another god. Their trust was firmly in God, and so He saved them from certain death.

At times, things can be tough, but when we have our trust in Jesus, He will never let us down and, as we see from the furnace event, He goes through these things with us. What a mighty God we serve.

Copyright 2025 Grahame Howard. 

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'

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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In the blink of an eye

"while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal."     2 Corinthians 4:18     NKJV

Things can change quite suddenly! I was watching a soccer match last night and with only half a minute left of play, and the threat of extra time or even penalty shoot outs, things changed. With only seconds to go our side scored making the score 2-1. It was unbelievable. One could sense the crowd's frustration and despair and then suddenly, elation. The team had won with no extra time or penalties.

Things can change so rapidly. Take for example, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego. Because they would not bow down to Nebuchadnezzar's golden image, he had them thrown into an extremely hot furnace where normally, it would be instant death to enter or be near it. Before this happened, they said to the king, 'If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand. 18 But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.'   Daniel 3:17-18. And He did rescue them.

Then of course, there was Daniel who had been cast into a lion's den. Surely this would be certain death. But God sent an angel who kept the lion's mouth's closed over night, and Daniel survived this ordeal. What about Paul and Silas in stocks in a dirty, filthy lower dungeon. They just sang to God while the other prisoner's listened and God sent and angel who broke their chains and every door in the place and set them all free. These examples were all in the blink of an eye, rather like that goal was in the last few seconds of the football game.

Is there any secret to all of this. No, one just needs to have faith in Jesus. He can do anything that He chooses. From a faith point of view, notice that our text for today says "while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.' We look at unseen things. This is called faith. One preacher called this verse 'SUBJECT TO CHANGE and I believe he was right. When we look at things, like these guys in the examples did, we are looking into the faith realm. It doesn't exist yet but in the blink of an eye it can change.

God wants us to be faith people (2 Cor 5:7). Faith people create change wherever they go. They don't look at what is but, what can be. Wouldn't you like to be this way? Well I have news for you. God created you this way and He has given you this blue print to work from - the bible. Digest this verse; pray it in for yourself and act on it and watch the changes wherever you go.

Copyright 2025 Grahame Howard. 

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'

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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He is Able!

"Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,  21to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen."        Ephesians 3:20-21    NKJV

Just think, God is able to rescue us from a fiery furnace; He is able to rescue us from the lion's den. He is able to raise the dead and give sight to the blind and good hearing to the people with a hearing loss. He is able to heal cancer or whatever else may be attaching itself to you. He is able!

However, there is a clause in this statement, Paul says, 'according to the power that works in us.'  Now, He isn't talking about name and claim here; he is saying that, those who truly believe in their hearts that Jesus is able to do these things. He is able to do all that we ask or think and that is superabundance, we are connected to Jesus by the Holy Spirit. We are to believe that He can do all that we ask.

Not everyone is healed. Why? I don't know and can't answer such a complicated question such as this. I don't have to defend Jesus at all. Not everyone is rescued from an impossible situation. Why? I don't know the answer. However, what I do know is that I will never stop asking Jesus in faith for something. I will never stop believing in all He can do. He has performed the most amazing things in our marriage and family but, there has also been moments when He hasn't. Why? I don't know.

What I do know, is that you and I should never stop believing that Jesus is able to perform what we're asking Him for. He is able to perform whatever we ask. If He doesn't, He can still perform what we ask, it just means that He hasn't performed it yet or there is a very good reason that we don't know about. 

When our relationship with Jesus is how He wants it to be, we are truly connected to Him. We can trust Him to help and protect us. He is able to do above and beyond what we ask and we should never doubt this fact. But He has nothing to prove. He is not like a magician He is Jesus and He can do far more than any other person could ever think about. It is not magic; it is truth and light.

Copyright 2025 Grahame Howard. 

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'

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

We're heading towards the Last Days!

"having a form of godliness but denying its power."    2 Timothy 3:5   NKJV

Are we living in the Last Days? That's a question that we all need to be asking. Mind you, people have been asking that question for centuries, but one can't help wondering because of what is happening in our world today.

Try reading through 2 Timothy 3:1-9 and link this in with situations today. World leaders are all bustling for power. Are they thinking of their people or themselves and the money they can make out of the next deal (v2). People are suffering terribly in their own land because of this power struggle; war, killings and desperately hurting people who have lost everything. 

Then there is the continuous murders on our streets. Young people's live's being taken because some other youth is using his or her power and using a knife to end the other person's life. Even teachers being threatened, and there appears to be no end in sight for this to stop. In a lot of cases, parents don't have any charge over their children (v2) if they use discipline, the child may report them to the authorities. People are mentioning bringing back the death penalty and also conscription where a young man has to serve his country for a short time in the HM Forces. But would this be the answer? Some people are lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God (v4). They may have a form of godliness but that is as far as it goes. 

What can we do to help alleviate all of this? 'If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14.

God calls His people to prayer. Not just for the average prayer meeting but, for the serious stuff such as we have just read. We are in the Last Days and we can't ignore this fact. People all over the world are hurting but the world goes on with its plans to make more money. It is time for Christians everywhere to do something about it. What do we pray?

That God's mercy will prevail. That He will intervene between the nations and bring worldwide peace. If not, that He will help people like us to tell people about Jesus; that they will listen, get saved and tell others too. We are not to panic or become anxious about what is happening worldwide but, we are to make a stand for Jesus and pray that He will hear from heaven, forgive people's sins and bring healing and protection for His people

Prayer is our weapon; we must use it.

Copyright 2025 Grahame Howard. 

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'

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

Soldiers for Christ

"3You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.  4No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.  5And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules."   2 Timothy 2:3-5  NKJV

We saw yesterday how dedicated we need to be to have the fire back in our belly. Today, this is an add-on. Paul talks about enduring hardships of any kind that will come upon us without any notice. He mentions being a good soldier and that may be a strange thing to new Christians. However, we are in a battle and whatever comes our way we need to be able to deal with it. We are soldiers of Jesus Christ and He is our Commanding Officer.

Hardships can be anything :- loss of a job; loss of someone very dear to us, marital breakdown, bankruptcy or loss of good health. There are many more things that can be added and, these are all in the category of hardship. We need to be ready and able to deal with whatever comes our way. 

The word ENDURE means: To carry on through, despite hardships; undergo or suffer: endure an Arctic winter. 2. To put up with; tolerate: I cannot endure your insolence any longer. 1. To continue in existence; last: buildings that have endured for centuries. 2. To suffer patiently without yielding.  The Online Dictionary

As you can see, the word endure covers a great multitude of things and more. Soldiers don't bother themselves with life in 'Civvy Street' issues. They are on duty and have a role to fulfil. To become entangled with life issues can distract them from what their real role is all about. Do you get the message? We, as Soldiers of Jesus, are committed to Kingdom business. We have a:

(1)  Mission and that is to take the gospel to anyone who has never heard it

(2)  Lead people to Jesus

(3)  Offer love and healing

(4)  Bring peace to each situation

Of course we have much more that we need to do but, these are the main areas.

Paul compares this discussion with the example of an athlete. He/she trains and is a dedicated athlete with the desire to win and obtain the crown. As with the soldier, they have endured all of the pitfalls and press on to get this prize and along the way, they bring as many unbelievers with them who will listen.  And it is well worth it in the end.

Copyright 2025 Grahame Howard. 

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'

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