The Goodness of the Lord

"I would have lost heart, unless I had believed That I would see the goodness of the Lord
In the land of the living".     Psalm 27:13   NKJV  

Most versions of the bible omit the italicised part of this verse. The KJV, NKJV and Amplified use it but, others leave it out. Why did the bible translators do this? Italicised words indicate that those words were added by the translators to improve readability and clarity in English, but are not found in the original Hebrew, Aramaic or Greek texts.  One could easily say that this is adding to the text what was originally written and this is true. However, in support of their action, they did provide evidence that this was added to give clarity and understanding by making the text in italics. If we consider that the Amplified provides this text as 'I would have despaired had I not believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD In the land of the living' and created verses in a more understandable way, we can see that this was very helpful indeed. However, some bible paraphrases should be read with caution as they can mislead people.

I for one, am very pleased with the italicised text, I know they're there for a purpose. Take for example our text for today. The CSB version puts it this way:

 'I am certain that I will see the LORD'S goodness in the land of the living.'  But the helpful piece prior to this, gives it that punch, 'I would have lost heart unless..' There are so many times when this has helped myself and others to hang in there when things were getting out of hand. Maybe you can look back and be so grateful that God swooped in and rescued you when times were dire.

What some people miss in this verse is, the fact that David said that God will help us now, while we are still alive. We don't have to wait until we are in heaven. Today is the day of salvation - 

2 Corinthians 6:2. We serve a Living God and He will help us while we are living - in the here and now. We could almost write in our notes, 'What would have become of me if Jesus hadn't come to my rescue?" He came at the right time to help you This verse is a life-saver; it totally reinforces that God will not let us down 'I would have lost heart unless I had believed'. 

What an amazing God we have. He knows all about us - everything, and yet He loves us more than words could ever say. Just think, all the Christians throughout the world, have His attention, He sees them all at the same time. That in itself is breathtaking and far from our limited brain power to be able to understand this fact. He is right there with you at this minute. He sees all and knows all and the words on His lips are, 'That is my boy, she is my girl'

THANK YOU JESUS

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. Just tap in Grahame Howard books.

Sin and Fellowship + SCAM. Part 2

8If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  9If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  10If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.                            1 John 1:8-10. NKJV

Can you remember our Acronym from yesterday?

SCAM  -     Sin continues to alienate many

So let's continue. There are three points that John discusses here:

(1)  When we have spoken to people about Jesus, we have no doubt come across people who dismiss any sign of sin within them. 'I've always led a good life and not hurt anyone', they may say but, they are missing the point, we were born into sin and no matter how good we have been and never hurt anyone, we are still sinful people, if we have not asked Jesus to forgive our sins, then we are walking a thin line because we cannot do anything to take this sin away. Only Jesus can do this and He must if we want to walk with Him and one day live with Him in heaven. We may have read the bible through a dozen times and can quote any verse that is requested of us. However, if Jesus hasn't entered into our lives and forgiven our sin, it's all to no avail.

(2)  As Christians there are days when we completely 'blow it'. The day has been a tough one and all of a sudden you have been so overwhelmed by it all that you lost your temper and may have entered the world of strange languages - ones that we shouldn't get involved with. When this happens - which it will - we are tempted to feel that Jesus will not forgive us now. Stop right there and read verse 9  'If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness'. Now what does it say? That's right, when you confess your sin to Jesus, He forgives you. Satan won't and, what's more he will want you to be barred from ever going to heaven. He'll say, 'You're a sinner'. You can reply with confidence, 'Yes, that's right; but I'm a sinner saved by grace. Jesus has taken my sins away and I'm forgiven!

(3)  We can't ever say that we have not sinned, that would be false and we would be calling Jesus a liar, which is not good. We have sinned and we will do again. Yes, we're a Christian but sin is still able to come upon you, so be ready for this. This is the difference, we know that we are sinners but, better still, we know that Jesus, who lives in us, forgives us totally when we confess this. This is the part that Satan doesn't want you to know. He tries to blind our eyes and cover our ears to facts such as these. 

Don't allow him to do this. He knows every scam in the book, but Jesus has the antidote for each one - His blood and you are His.

If you have asked Jesus to be your Saviour, He has done and will continue to do this when you ask Him to.

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. Just tap in Grahame Howard books.

 

Sin and Fellowship + SCAM. Part 1

 6If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship 

with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

                                                                              1 John 1:6-7    NKJV

Tony Evans writes: 'Fellowship with God is determined by our walk, not by our talk. Only 

as we live fully exposed to the truth of God is the ongoing cleansing work of the blood 

of Jesus activated to reveal, cleanse and empower us to address the sin that has been exposed. Then fellowship with God is maintained and expanded. Failure to do this keeps God's work dormant in the life of the believer. (See 2 Corinthians 3:17-18'

                                            The Tony Evans Study Bible  CSB version

We can go around professing to being a follower of Jesus, preaching, teaching and doing all of the wonderful things that we believe God wants us to do but, but if our talk does not live up to our walk with Jesus, then we are in darkness and nothing will ever last what we say and do. 

There are so many scams around today and people are wary of most things they are 

confronted with. If they witness a Christian who professes to walk in the light but is firmly stuck in the dark, it will take a lot for them to trust people again, who mention things about the bible and Jesus.

Today, God gave me an Acronym for the word SCAM

S  Sin

C  Continues to                  SIN CONTINUES TO ALIENATE MANY

A  Alienate

M  Many

It is only a simple acronym that can help us remember any form of Scams that we come 

across. Identify scams that are from within yourself and adjust these. Sometimes we can tend 

to talk too much and not concentrate on what is happening around us. Satan is only too pleased to expose us; don't forget that he is the accuser of the brethren. He watches your every move and if he can twist what you say or do, he is pleased to help. Be alert.

It is so easy for us to make mistakes or to let ourselves down in any particular way. So be accountable, if you know what you've said is wrong or what you have done is not what Jesus would have wanted, then stop and make amends with whoever you are with. Ask them to forgive you. Remember, we are still undergoing training from Jesus, and we will be until the trumpet blows.

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. Just tap in Grahame Howard books.

You are Chosen and Accepted

"But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light;  10who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy".

Just think back to where you came from before you were a Christian. I've worked with rapists, paedophiles, gang leaders and many more and many of these, I believe, are now Christians and serve in  churches or Christian organisations.  Where society has cast them aside, Jesus Christ has accepted them. Obviously, concerning people who were involved in sexual abuse, they have to be monitored for safety reasons. But apart from that, their lives have changed.

Our text described us as Chosen people, His own special people. Jesus does change lives that is a proven fact. He certainly changed mine. He called us all, out of the pit of destruction that we were in, perhaps the gutter and, rather like Joshua the priest who we looked at last week (Zechariah 3), He cleaned us up, gave us a new set of clothes and sent us on a new road.

Where we were once misfits and people who were an embarrassment to be around, we now have a future and this culminates in being in heaven forever. Wow, that is certainly different. 

If someone would have told you that you were loved, respected, accepted and have a bright future, back in the days, you would have laughed at this. But, you see Jesus is very different. 

He spent time with the misfits of life wherever He went. He went into their houses, spoke to

them on the streets or down a dust, smelly alleyway. Some were male and female prostitutes, robbers, tricksters and drunkards to mention a few. And Jesus paid the price for being sociable as this. They couldn't understand why someone, who claimed to be the Messiah, was spending time with the 'down and outs' of society. (Sorry to use a derogatory statement but it was true). Jesus gave up His life for the deprived and the misfits of society, look again at our text - 

"But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light;  10who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy".

He has given us grace and mercy. He has given us a free pardon and demonstrated that we are chosen people, acceptable in God's eyes and He has paved the way for a bright future. He has given us hope where there was no hope for some of us. He has given us His all and now, it is up to us to show Him how grateful we are to Him, by living as His special, chosen people. 

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. Just tap in Grahame Howard books.

The Pure Milk

"Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, 2as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, 3if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious".    1 Peter 2:1-2.  NKJV

It's time for a spiritual check-up. This allows all of us to look inwards and play the video back on how we have handled being a Christian over the past year or so. It's good to do this because, we can become stuck in clay that makes us sink into despair and wrong type of living. Peter highlighted a few things that we may care to examine:

Malice  This is a desire to harm others or to see others suffer. Can we really do this? you bet we can. What about the times that we see someone we don't particularly like, make a mistake? They may brag about their fancy lifestyle and their success in all they do but then, through one error, they lose their job, prang their sports car or come under scrutiny in the community. If this happens, it can be so hard not to gloat or feel satisfaction. We don't intend to, it just happens, This is just one area that needs addressing.

Hypocrisy  We profess this, that and the other about our Christian life and then negate it by something that we shouldn't do and, one of the people we've been talking to about our faith, is a witness to this. 

Envy  We can tend to be envious about another Christian's success, promotion, wealth, along with a new house and fine furniture to fill it with. Nothing seems to worry them. It's easy to become full of envy, especially if you are struggling with bills and money worries. However, being envious of them will not solve your problems. Thank God for this success instead; God likes this.

Evil speaking (Slander)  Do you feel yourself wanting to talk slanderously about someone? Perhaps they have been up to no good but only you seem to know about it, and this prompts you to spill the beans so that others know too. Don't do it. God will not look upon you favourably if you do. It is not your business;l leave it to God and He will sort it, if it needs to be sorted.

There may be more as you consider your annual check-up. Peter points out a very important thing - 'desire the pure milk of the word'. To be able to survive in Christian growth, it does us good to remember how we approached new life in Jesus when we were saved. We needed to grow, so we attended church and bible studies, we also read our bible, even though we didn't understand half of it. We became nourished in the Word. Sadly, some of us may have stopped doing some of this, going to church once a week like a zombie; hardly remembering any of the sermon. You may have read some bible notes each day but, that was it - you became malnourished.

Check a baby's behaviour, it doesn't need to be reminded that it is meal time and it most definitely doesn't go all the week on just one meal. It devours milk each and every day and it begins to grow. Likewise, you can't expect to survive spiritually if you only have one meal a week (church). You need spiritual nourishment everyday - reading your bible, studying the Word and praying, otherwise you will shrivel up and become dry.

Therefore, on your spiritual check-up, cast aside all the things that you have assessed as wrong and commit yourself to desiring the pure milk of the Word and then if you keep this up, you will notice a big difference on your next annual check-up.

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. Just tap in Grahame Howard books.

Let the word percolate

"But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.
3He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper".

                                                                          Psalm 1:2-3   NKJV

If we percolate coffee, we know that it is not ready until all of the water has dripped through the filter onto the fresh coffee and entered the lower chamber. Then after a short time, the coffee is ready. Bob Gass writes that it is the same with God's Word. We may read it in our bibles, or hear it being preached in church or on TV or radio but, the next thing that we need to do is to meditate on it so that we get the fuller picture of what God is saying to us. This is the part Bob Gass described as the percolating period.

Prior to these two verses, the Psalmist mentions the term, 'Blessed is the man'. He is telling us here that to read and meditate (percolate) on the word is a happy occasion because when we open our bibles and ask God to speak to us, we are blessed - it is, or should be, a happy occasion. God loves it when we are filled with the Word of God because the happiness leads us to joy.  And when we are joyful, we are strong in the Lord. Nehemiah 8:10.

In fact, staying close to God, pushing in to deepen our relationship with Him, brings us both delight. We are then solid as a rock, firmly planted in Him and it is like we receive holy water to refresh us. From thereon. God causes us to prosper in all we do and we are fruitful. As we read God's Word, a verse may pop out at us and we know without doubt that this is for us. But at this point, don't just dash off changing your lifestyle or whatever you feel God is saying to you, Instead, meditate on this word.

Allow the Word God has given you to percolate into your very being. If you receive this in the morning, take the word with you, meditating on it as you go about your day. If it in the evening, again meditate on it and try and focus on it as you drift off to sleep. God wants you to be blessed in all you do and it is down to you to make the first move, and that is reading His Word. Following this, God is on duty to allow understanding to feed your mind and show you what His intentions for you are. But if you don't read, listen and meditate on Him, you may miss it.

Perhaps God has shown you something, if that is so let it percolate your mind, will and emotions - your very soul. Mediate on it day and night until the answer comes. The answer will come but, not in your time-scale but in God's. So be patient and enjoy. 

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. Just tap in Grahame Howard books.

"I'll be back"

"However, the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaven".

                                                                                Judges 16:22   NKJV

Samson made a grave mistake by telling Delilah the secret of his amazing strength. She had been offered a great fortune by the Philistines if she would find out where his strength came from. Surely he would have realised that Delilah was up to something. Time and   again she asked him questions about how he had such strength but he just told her a pack of lies which she believed and she was getting tired of being mocked by him. Finally he gave in and told her that if his hair was shaved off, he would lose his super strength. She arranged for men to come with their money and she lulled Samson into a deep sleep, and the men shaved his head. When he awoke he had no strength and the Philistines over-powered him, putting out his eyes.

Samson had been born and brought up by his Godly parents and the Lord had blessed him. As he grew up he was useful for using his great strength to fight off the Philistines, and as long as he used his strength this way, God blessed him. After a while, he became involved in wild living and finely met up with Delilah, who was his downfall. His strength was taken away and he became a ridicule in the Philistine camp. But one day, he managed to stand near the pillars of a great temple where 3000 Philistine men and woman were watching. He called out to God for one last bout of strength (16:28-30), possibly so he could say, 'I'll be back'.

Samson made quite a few mistakes, especially taking his eyes of God to go his own way. He also became involved with the wrong type of woman, who further led him astray and finally deceived him. There are lessons to learn from this account. Keep God in charge of your life and don't even consider that you can go your own way and succeed. If you do this, you will fail - miserably. Secondly, be careful who you befriend. Delilah was not for Samson, she was out for herself and was only too pleased to sell him down the road to the Philistines. And, don't get too big for your own boots. You cannot take God's place and glory; He will not share this with anyone. Finally, be careful who you trust and what you say to people. This was Samson's downfall, he took his eyes off God and became puffed up with pride. Let us not forget that this would be the second time that a woman had deceived him (Judges 14:15-16).

There is one good thing that came out of all of this. Take a look at verse 22 'The hair of his head began to grow again.' If there is one thing that we need to remember, it is this verse 'Vengeance is Mine, I will repay' says the Lord'  Despite having much strength, when it had gone, he had one thing left - He called upon the Lord (v28-30) and God who is always eager to repay things on our behalf, heard his prayer and gave him back one last chance of strength so that vengeance would be carried out. People can NEVER take God on and be successful. It's the foolish person who tries. Samson was able to say 'I'll be back' for that short time.

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. Just tap in Grahame Howard books.