Stir up that nest

"As an eagle stirs up its nest, hovers over its young, spreading out its wings, taking them up, carrying them on its wings"  Deuteronomy 32:11  NKJV 

The Golden Eagle is an amazing bird, up to 34 inch in length with a wing span of around 7 foot. In flight it is like a mini aircraft as it soars over the sky as if it has all the time in the world. It builds its nest high on a cliff side and usually, the female lays around 3 eggs; 1 brood between February - June.  Its nest is made out of a massive pile of sticks with wool and greenery for warmth. When it is time for the eaglets to leave the nest, the mother does a most strange thing. She starts pulling away parts of the nest and then picks one of her young up and throws it over the side of the nest. The startled eaglet, falls at a great pace. But before it smashes to the ground, the mother swoops down, picks up the babe on her wing and then carries it on its wing, depositing it back in the nest. She will do this several times until the young bird realises it has wings and can fly. When it does, it leaves her and makes its way on a new adventure. The other couple of eaglets have been watching this in terror, but there is more to come. The mother, again pulls away a considerable amount of the nest and the same thing happens with the second eaglet. Eventually it's the terrified remaining eaglet. But this time, the mother pulls the whole nest away and the eaglet falls through. Again the mother swoops down catching it on her wing. But this time, there is no nest so, she flicks her wing and the poor eaglet enters a nose dive again. This is repeated until the eaglet comes to its senses and flies off to freedom.

Imagine if God started pulling the floorboards away in your house. You would get the feeling of terror like the eaglets had. Thankfully, God doesn't do this. However, if He believes that you are ready to train for service, He will do all He can to make this very obvious. You may try to ignore the signs but, He won't give up until you make a decision - Yes or No. He won't bully you into it but, He will give you opportunities to consider. He may call you straight into ministry - it happens and you train on the job. It may not be church-based, He may want you working with people with addictions, with homeless on the streets or some other area. He may give you a secular job but place you as an undercover agent in a hospital, hospice or care home. This happened to me. I came out of main field social work to work in a hospice. They had a strict code of no set religion - it was multi-faith and this could only be applied by a chaplain. I was forbidden to speak of Jesus. However, God wanted different and set me in place to tell people about Jesus, whenever this was appropriate and requested. I had many successes there and it was the highlight of my career before I retired.

God will never force you to give your livelihood up for Him. He will give you the opportunities and if you take them, He will bless this. Therefore, if at this time, you feel like the Lord is pulling pieces of your life apart, consider if He is calling you to serve Him. Over the past 45 years, I have been a soldier, pastor and a social worker. I never thought I would do any of this but, God has a way of leading you into various positions if you are willing. Are you willing? 

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 2025 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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Be an Ovecomer

4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?              1 John 5:4-5   NKJV

Would you say that you are living in victory? Our text above says that whatever (or whoever) is

born of God overcomes the world. Does that sound like you? If not, it should do because when Jesus died on the cross at Calvary, He took our sin and therefore He claimed the victory. And because we belong to Him, we share this victory because He also took our sins and declared us not guilty.

So therefore you are an overcomer; John says here that we have the victory. Through Jesus we have won the conquest. In the Strongs Greek dictionary the word for victory is NIKE pronounced 

nee-kay, Gr 3529 and this victory is known as conquest - the means of success. Therefore, God wants us to be victorious and we can be this by being a Nike person. It's no wonder that the sporting world chain claimed the name NIKE for their goods. Everywhere we look, someone is wearing a Nike product.

Our text continues with being an overcomer v5. Believers in Jesus Christ have the victory; they are overcomers, they are Nike people. So, whenever we meet with an obstacle, we need to remember that we are an overcomer - there is a way out of whatever you meet. We have the victory wherever we are. The victor is standing right beside us - Jesus Christ Himself. There is not a thing that is too difficult for Him to do because He is victorious. And let us remember that He has placed us in this victorious mode too, 'I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me'.  Philippians 4:13. 

You may have sinned today; if so ask Jesus to forgive you and receive this forgiveness. You are an overcomer. You have the ability, through Jesus, to overcome the world. Without Him, you are nothing; but with Him, you are victorious, so start living this way from this day forward.

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.

Don't let your faith waver

"He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God,  21and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform".                        Romans 4:20-21.  NKJV

Picture the scene. You have asked God for something or He has given you a promise. You know God doesn't lie and you're certain that God is in this, yet, nothing seems to be happening. A few weeks or months down the line and still, there is nothing. What do you do? If you are as certain as you can be that God is going to do this for you then don't go around saying things like, 'It's never going to happen - God's let me down. I knew it was too good to be true.' Saying such things as this means that you have negated what you asked for or what you believed God would do.

All through the Gospels, Jesus talks about things such as, 'Your faith has made you well.' Mk 5:34, or He noticed people's faith and people were made well; take Peter's mother in law for instance (Mk 1:29-31). Faith impressed Jesus, He expected His disciples to have it. Look at His reaction when He had fallen asleep on the boat and they were stuck in a storm. The disciples, being terrified, shouted out to Him, waking Him up. He said to them 'Where is your faith?' (Luke 8:25). He expected them after being with Him so long, to have faith. He expects the same from us.

When we are making a stand of faith, everything will come against us to make us change our mind. People we know may scoff at us, others may think we are crazy. If we continue to listen to this negativity, we can become affected by it and give up. DON"T DO THAT! Our faith should never waver and we must be fully convinced that what God has promised us He will perform.

At this point, you may be standing on your faith for something and you have been tested by people saying unhelpful things. Your own mind may now be playing tricks on you. So fall back on the scriptures that you know and start preaching to yourself. Try this one, 'And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart". Galatians 6:9. Personalise it as 

a prayer and make it a part of you. Jesus said to Jairus 'Do not be afraid; only believe' Mark 5:36. Don't give up, look up.

Jesus expects us to have faith. He expects us to live it, walk in it and never lose our faith whatever we face. Sometimes we can face the most diabolical of moments, we really need faith then. Don't live without 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. Just tap in Grahame Howard books.

Wait on the Lord

"I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, And in His word I do hope".   Psalm 130:5   NKJV

One of the most difficult things to do, is waiting for God to move in our life. He'll promise us something or, we will ask Him for something and in our humanity we expect Him to deliver the same day. He doesn't work for Amazon Prime; they may deliver the same or next day, but God won't. In this fast day of living, we have become used to things being done quickly. We order something and we expect it the same day. We can call into McDonald's and grab a carry out or go to the supermarket and get a ready meal - Ding -  and it's ready to eat. Things are not like this with God.

He will not be rushed. He knows that many mistakes are made by rushing around getting fast service. He can and will do things extremely quickly in an emergency but usually, He plans, assesses and puts things in place for us before He says 'Yes'.

 

Note what the psalmist says in our text, 'I wait for the LORD, my soul waits.' Remember that our soul is made up of our mind, will and emotions. So firstly, we have to overcome our thoughts (our mind). Our thoughts can cause us to have all types of worry, fear and negativity. If we're not careful, our mind can tell us to forget this waiting, 'It's just a waste of time this waiting.' 

This can lead us to the second stage - our will. If we have a strong will, we can begin to make our own way instead of waiting for God to answer us. 'Time is short, we can't afford to wait like this, we want things now!' We can't afford not to wait as many have found out in the past. Rushing in like a bull in a china shop will not do any good, in fact, it may bring us much sorrow. 

Then we come to the last stage - our emotions. - If we are not careful we can allow ourselves 

to become worried and fearful. We can start looking at the negative side, such as, 'If we don't do this now, we are lost'. That is a lie from the pit. The devil will use the three stages of our soul to do things that we're better off without. He can cause us to panic and fret and get in such a state that we don't know if we're coming or going. 

However, if we train ourselves/our soul to wait on the Lord, God will give us a hope - a biblical hope, that will help us overcome all of the negatives we may have been having. The negativity 

is coming from our minds so, use the Word of God to cast it out. We have a hope in God that the world could never have. So use this hope, build upon it and learn to live with it each day.

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 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.