Month: December 2022

P 2104 Our faith needs to be real-er today, than this world around us.

/ DVH

And this world often gets …right up in our faces. I have noticed, in my own life, that one thing piles upon another and yet another until I feel swamped.. It becomes easy to despair. But I’m  learning, to live my life asking for His help.. The only way is to …“Let the peace of God be my umpire.“  What does that mean? It means I deliberately put any problem to one side in my mind, and pray my all-time favourite prayer… “help, help!”  I don’t even pray about what I think the answer might be – instead I just WAIT. I wait for peace inside me. I wait for my ideas and desperation to subside, then I simply breathe and focus on Him.

I have already resolved in my heart any internal issues about what I think I need, because I don’t want to live this life independently. I need Him more than anyone or anything else. This life does not make sense without HIM. I have found independence is overrated, it is what shoots my faith in the foot – the safest place for any difficulty to be, is in His hands. Sad to say sometimes it is easier to flail around looking for immediate relief – but I have learnt that immediate relief from pain and problems feels good, temporarily, but it doesn’t always accomplish the purposes of God. His purpose is to transform our lives and save this world. When we look at what we want, we need to ask ourselves, “Where will that fit into His greater plan?”

In the Old Testament there is an illustration that really spoke to me – it is in Exodus 21:5 – “But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free, then his master is to bring him before the judges, And he shall take him to the door or doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he shall serve his master for life…”’ This excerpt is talking about a servant voluntarily becoming a love-slave. It is part of the law handed down by Moses from God – remember, the law is a good thing, Jesus said so. He didn’t come to change any of it – He came to fulfil it – and He did. Somebody needed to be punished for our disobedience and sin and He volunteered. Jesus became our offering before the Father, forever.

Back to my verse in Exodus 21:5. In those days, like I said, a servant who truly loved their master could choose to remain a slave. This was a lifetime thing, the master put the slave’s ear against a doorpost and put an awl through his earlobe – the awl left a big hole in his lobe that never went away. Choice seems important to human beings, and God is so kind to us, He will not make us do anything. However, we can choose to become His love-slave… And no, He won’t pierce our ears! Fashion already does that!! 😂

Because our choices are so powerful, at any time we can live out our Christian lives in lip-service –  instead of faithful, devoted service to the King. Lip-service is about living this life the way we want to. Being a love-slave is about putting the Holy Spirit in charge and then actively reading the bible looking for things to do, and repenting about the things we don’t. Transformation becomes our way of life. We understand that difficulties are the vehicles that God uses to strengthen our loyalty to Him. Faithful service is not simply doing the things that are convenient to us, it is laying down our lives, minute by minute, like Christ did, to do the Father’s will.

A love-slave lives to do his master’s will. He is so devoted to the master, that whatever his master wants becomes that person’s first priority. Christianity is not only about reading the bible, praying, and serving the church – Christianity is about becoming a loving, living illustration of that bible to everyone around us. To do that, His book has to operate on our hearts, thoughts and actions with our permission and co- operation. 

Remember, co-operation means the Holy Spirit and I do this together. It means I yield whatever I want, or the things that suit me, to live this life He gave me, however He wants. PS: personally, I don’t always like it when the Holy Spirit brings up something that needs to be changed in my actions or reactions  – but afterward… I LOVE IT. He knows how to live my life wa-a-y better than I do! And I adore watching what Jesus does with my teeny, tiny little LIFE/LUNCH – I’ve seen Him ‘feed’ lots of people on the smallest effort from me.

Jesus spoke to some ordinary men He met, men who didn’t even know Him. They became His disciples. He said: ‘Come and follow Me.’Right now, the Holy Spirit is saying that to every single Christian on this planet. He knows the WAY we should go! Just give up your own plans for your life and learn to follow Him. This is how our faith becomes REAL. 👋🏻

P 2103 There’s a difference between truth and a concept.

/ DVH

For instance, faith is living truth, it has substance – faith in God is trustworthy. It is not a theory a concept or an idea. Instead faith is designed to be the way we live. It is definitely substantial – you can stake your life on it – other people have!  “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.” Hebrews 11:1,2.

First of all, faith is always now – ’Now faith is.’…” Faith is not just about yesterday, it needs to be active all the time for it to be the driving force in our lives. If we are going to live by faith, then faith needs to occupy the way we think. EG: I exhort you to go to work using your faith that God gave you that job and He wants you there even if the boss is not happy with you. It is helpful to remind yourself often: “God’s got this and He’s got me!” Honing our focus = using our faith! God uses our faith as a vehicle to manifest Himself to others. 

Faith also has EVIDENCE – it is not just a nice hopefully-it-works theory. That’s what other religions look like – all noise with no power. Real faith results in real actions and produces real results – IN us and in this world.. It is actively investing in what we believe by acting on it. Simply saying what we believe without any accompanying actions is not the same thing. No action means what we have said is just a concept, not truth. Acting on our faith totally changes our hearts within us, as well as the world around us. Faith is see-able when you use it. Think about catching a train, when you get ON it, you expect to arrive at your destination. Wanting to give up smoking is merely a concept – refusing to smoke again, is a faith-filled action. When we use our faith, we expect to see something change.

People who want to mature in God’s grace, take the little bit of faith they have, and invest it in Him. And I’m not just talking about money. They live their lives voluntarily giving up having safety and comfort. Instead they’ve chosen to live their lives daily dying to self. They live by the faith they profess, it is not just a concept they trust God and act on what He has told them to do, day by day. They have learnt to appreciate that we can do nothing without the Holy Spirit so they pay close attention to Him. He is so gentle and kind they don’t want to send Him away, so they consider Him, FIRST.

Faith is about taking risks … risks that show others that you love them even when that person treats you badly. When people are mean – and we all are sometimes – faith means we offer them understanding, because their view of this life may not be the same as ours is. James, Chapter 2 says: “Faith without works is dead.” Our faith needs to be used and stretched, so that means we will end up doing stuff that doesn’t always appeal to us and it isn’t always comfortable. Like apologising to someone who provoked YOU. This means our faith is stronger than the person we are engaged with because we don’t need their validation – we already have the Lord’s!

Our God used HIS faith by speaking this world into being. Actually, He spoke and the Holy Spirit went away immediately and created what Almighty God had spoken. The Holy Spirit is waiting for us to speak, and then act. He is longing for us do things using our faith, hope, and love out there, in this world. As we step out in faith, and go and do what He brings to us, we are choosing to learn obedience – He loves to be around obedience. Using our faith shows our Heavenly Father that our faith is not dead. It is about our obedience. It is good to remind ourselves that our God doesn’t work with theories – Jesus is the original action Man! He used every opportunity to display the love of God to other people.

He said: “Consider …(think about – look at – and wonder about) … the lilies…” To show us that worrying and obsessing about the things we have no control over, is fruitless. We need to start reading the bible like a prescription that needs to be followed, not just a description of something that happened long long ago. This book is a practical book – full of practical illustrations of ordinary people, who trusted Him, used their faith and saw God’s great exploits. They can teach us about the ways that the Holy Spirit interacts with people like us. Our bible is a testimony to God’s Grace operating in ordinary people’s lives. 

People heard and saw the Holy Spirit at work on the day of Pentecost. It was seeable, it was heard! At that time He touched ordinary people who were milling about in the streets, and many of them got saved – on the spot. But if our inner hearing is not good, that is still not an excuse to give up and say; ‘Well, that’s not my fault, I can’t hear anything.” I urge you to get yourself your own spiritual hearing aid, by reading, and praying, and rereading His book and asking questions.  Then we need to act upon what we read – then the little bit we have, will lead to MORE. Fortunately, the bible is full of instructions which encourage us to change, and act.

To start with, Christians need to be the most forgiving people on earth, no matter who jumped all over our hearts, and broke them. We are going to choose to bless them.“  …do good to those who despitefully use you” “…Bless those who curse you …” We need the help of the Holy Spirit for that kind of reaction and it takes deliberate, inconvenient practice – because … ’faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things NOT YET SEEN.”  Our faith can’t just be a theory, or a nice comforting thought, it needs to be used to become visible, because it is displaying God’s truth. Just imagine where mankind would be if Jesus Christ had lived His life with a secret faith.

Transformation is part of our job description and using our faith ushers in transformation – that is what makes the difference between truth and a concept – concepts don’t always happen! 👋🏻

P 2102 What kind of soil are we working with?

/ DVH

Mark 5:4-17 “Those tending the pigs, scared to death, bolted and told their story in town and country. Everyone wanted to see what had happened. They came up to Jesus and saw the madman sitting there wearing decent clothes and making sense, no longer a walking madhouse of a man. Those who had seen it told the others what had happened to the demon-possessed man and the pigs. At first they were in awe—and then they were upset, upset over the drowned pigs. They demanded that Jesus leave and not come back. …”

The people in this story were so ticked off about losing their pigs they sent the Lord Jesus Himself away! Imagine what they missed out on!!?? They could have had a revival on the spot! Isn’t it kind of sad, that the pigs mattered to the townspeople more than the actual person who needed deliverance? If that thought doesn’t convict us about missing the mark somewhere, then nothing will! 

Some times the lessons we need to learn from the Lord are about the way we view this life.It is not what you see, it is the WAY you see it. That frames everything. What that means is this, if whatever is going on, good or bad, is not important to us, then it is dismissed by us, because it won’t improve OUR lives. We end up tolerating or ignoring things, because we’ve rationalised what we believe, to suit our own world-view. Jesus was pretty clear about what His Heavenly Father’s world view was. People. People. People!! He didn’t seem to care much about personal happiness, instead He spent much more time preaching about personal sacrifice, love and faith. When we presume that our own ideas about comfort is all there is in this world – that hardly ever works out well for other people! 

When I think about this time we are living in – practically everything around us is more important than people! Obscure insects, sharks, koalas, plants, aeroplanes, electric cars, the environment, or even the need for a new road or tunnel – to mention a few things  – these things are regarded as being more essential than human beings! We conveniently forget about the people that Jesus died for, even while we are merrily celebrating HIS birthday. We have also forgotten the people who at this moment are being bombed, starved, frozen to death, tormented, ripped from their homes and families, as well as sold into slavery – world-wide. But that’s OK because we are supposed to be comfy in our own little lives! 😱 It’s time to start weeding and getting rid of rocks.

This life has been reduced to its supposed monetary value, and if you have no value, then apparently this world is better off without you. Unfortunately this kind of stuff has come from the sort of selfishness that has been allowed to reign everywhere. Selfishness produces lousy soil. Spiritual stuff will not grow in it. Human selfishness includes: “my own health and comfort, followed by my family, my friends and my job and my house and my car.” And we get quickly incensed if someone even implies we might sort-of-kind-of be selfish. 

SELFLESSNESS is so rare today, that it is reported by and commented on by the media! Like it is some kind of happy accident. We don’t expect people to be the best version of themselves any more.

As Christians we need to pray, read and DO the bible, and deliberately cultivate good soil in our lives so the weeds and rocks won’t choke the life out of God’s Word and His purposes. Those pig owners had terrible priorities… instead of rejoicing that a human being had been utterly restored, they got ticked off because they lost their livelihood. And yet Jesus sent this very man back to preach to the people who were angry about the drowned pigs! Sometimes I think that our view of the Lord’s kingdom is very badly skewed, especially by our own needs and preferences.

The type of ground or soil, in our hearts, is actually formed by our own choices. Listen to the Lord Jesus talk about the results of bad soil: “…some seed fell on stony ground .. some was choked by the cares of this world.” We simply can’t grow good stuff in bad soil. Any place we have not relinquished to the Lord, is a place where the enemy of our souls can stick his big toe on. And the other guy wants domination! The safest place for us to live is in the place of total relinquishment – then me, myself and I, fall off the list of priorities and we live to serve Him and do what He wants.

Our primary passion needs to be the will of God – that will give us good soil for His word to be planted in. 👋🏻

P 2101 Learning curves

/ DVH


Mark 7:25-30 “In fact, as soon as she heard about Him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an impure spirit came and fell at His feet. The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter. “First let the children eat all they want,” He told her, “for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” “Lord,” she replied, “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” Then He told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.” She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.”

There are a number of things that bless my heart about this story. First of all, this lady knew exactly where her help was going to come from! She also knew how to persevere, plus she was prepared to be humble! It didn’t matter that the Lord Jesus seems to put her into a bad category in human eyes – she wanted His help more than she cared about what He called her, or what other people thought! She went to the Source for herself.

You know, over the last 50 years I must have read this scripture so many times! And as soon as I read it, I kind of mentally “put it on the shelf” – instead of asking questions. Because in my mind, this was written about someone who was in the wrong category. She wasn’t Jewish, she was Greek, and so she didn’t actually belong to the people Jesus came to speak to. She was kind of an ‘extra’ on the biblical set in the gospels. Yesterday I discovered what a mistake I had made. I forgot the golden rule … if it is in there then it has significance to me!

Well… that EXTRA,  was not just an ‘extra’ to the Lord – she got what she asked for! And I entered a new learning curve.

Have you ever wondered how so many precious people, who ARE truly Christians, including different denominational  groups – live their lives spiritually eliminating each other? In other words they think their theology is righter than the other guy’s. Maybe they even think they have the ONLY access to knowing what the Lord wants! 😶 Hmmm. There is a story that illustrates this point rather well. It is about two blind guys trying to tell each other what an elephant looks like. One is carefully feeling the tail, and the other the elephant’s ear and SO they start to argue. Both are right, a-n-d also wrong! The revelation always depends on where you are standing! 🤔

Back to these verses in Mark, I noticed something. This woman’s faith was her own, it was in Christ Himself.  There was no theological POV involved. Most times when I went somewhere for prayer, my faith was in the famous guy preaching or praying for people. I figured that God gave that man a gift so He could give me the healing I needed. In other words my theology was awry – I was not applying myself to find out for myself. 

However, that is not what happened here! This woman’s faith, humility, and boldness … took her somewhere. To Christ Himself. She didn’t just get an audience with Him because she humbled herself and persevered … she also got an answer. Then Jesus changed her circumstances. I realised that whatever is said to me, I need to run it by the Lord, first. We can all have our little theories as to why this and that happened but the reality is God can teach us through any situation. Our biggest fault is thinking we already know because somebody else told us. We cannot have second-hand faith – our own faith needs to get a work out interacting with Him and the bible.

This story reminded me of the verse: “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrews 4:16. I discovered, that a lot of what I thought I believed, was actually what someone else had experienced and believed, and then they told me, through a book, or at a church meeting. Then I adopted that POV for myself, because I liked what they said and they had scriptures to prove their point! I didn’t pray over it, or ask the Lord how He wanted ME to apply it – I just kind of stuck it in my heart-book of great things I really want to believe. In effect, I had second-hand faith!

This dear woman’s faith was absolutely in Christ. My faith was in another human being, not the Lord. Because I had no personal revelation of what God was saying to me – I was basing what I believed on someone else’s revelation! That’s when I realised that this is a really big learning curve – deliberately choosing to know this stuff for myself.  Assuming what we already know is all the truth there is, is a trap. We need to be open to be taught by the Holy Spirit whilst renewing our own minds through reading the bible for ourselves. 👋🏻

P 2100 Stre-tch-ing times.

/ DVH

My first comment today is in the form of a question. “How can we know what we truly believe, if we haven’t been tested?” Yeah, I know! Bring that up! 🙄 I don’t know about you, but I always hated exams. Instead, I loved assignments. But exams? Nah! Not-so-much. Sigh. The idea of testing of any kind gives me butterflies. 

Here are some verses we might sometimes like to quote at other people … a-n-d … we hope that somehow those verses won’t apply to us! (Fat chance.) “You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.” Deuteronomy 8:2. BTW, I know that verse is in the Old Testament, I would just like to mention that those O.T. pages are still in my bible – how about yours?  If “…every promise in the book is MINE…” then so are all the instructions and corrections! Jesus completed our salvation – He didn’t eliminate the need for it! It’s a process – ya might want to think about that one. 🤔

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; see if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the WAY everlasting.” Psalm 139:23.24. There are loads more verses like that one! Our Heavenly Father loves us so much that He gave all He had – everything He truly valued and loved – to buy us back. All of that is free but … it will cost us everything too. Vastly simplified, the difference between the Old and the New Testament, is JESUS CHRIST – He died for us, and sent back the Holy Spirit to HELP US to live our new life for the Father’s purposes. 

Now, let’s leap over to the NEW Testament and see what that says. “….but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts.” 1 Thessalonians 2:4. Here’s another one:  “…each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire,andthe fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work.” 

The fire of God tests us. I’m pretty sure that nobody will like it… but difficulties and hard times are doing something useful – they show us where our hearts really are. Even life itself tests us. Are you ready for this verse?: “…knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.” James 1:3. Yeah, good old James, he always says what nobody wants to hear. Ya gotta love that guy!

Remember the parable about the old and new wineskins? The reason the old wineskin burst is because it was longer flexible. A new wineskin is stretchable. It adapts and stretches during the fermenting process. Personally speaking, I am no longer young, stretching in the physical, emotional, or spiritual realm is not my idea of having fun! I just want to relax and enjoy my old age. I think that was what got to Moses in the end – we know He wasn’t DEAF or BLIND – the bible says so! But perhaps …he was just plumb worn out. Dragging a million or more people around with you will do that you know! So will living to be 120! 

Life itself is hard. Sometimes we get so busy trying to make this life work for us, and the people we love – we forget that we are SomeOne Else’s servant now. Perhaps we even passionately pray for “More Lord, more of you Lord.” Well, I think He looks at that prayer and says – “Where the heck do you think you are going to put the MORE? You are barely able to stretch enough for what you have already been given!”  We desperately need to become flexible and put down our own theology and ideas. Some of that stuff has set like cement inside us! 

Here is one of the things that can often hurt us – we are resisting His will! The Western church has become complacent. She only wants the things that suit Her – She likes being comfortable and having enough. We must pray to be pliable and stretchable and prepared to live by faith. For some of us that will mean we leave our place of birth and go and live some place else where we can be of service to Him. That happened to people in the Old Testament, and people in the New. Read the book. Bye. 👋🏻

Luke 12:49: “Jesus said to His disciples: ‘I have come to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were blazing already!”

P 2099 Christianity is about giving

/ DVH

Giving to the homeless poor has diminished here in our city, as everyone around us is facing difficult times. However, it will not be a very Merry Christmas in a lot of homes of all shapes and sizes all over our world this year. Not to mention those people in other countries who are suffering far worse than we can even imagine. Think about having Christmas in the dead of winter, with no heating, no food, no help coming, and covid banging on your door. It is time to do more than pray for them.

I am delighted to say, our little home church is filled with people with such generous hearts, despite their own personal needs. I think generosity and spirituality go together! We started a campaign in November this year to collect canned, and packaged goods as well as toiletries, and little gifts, and ended up with three huge bags/boxes of stuff. Here is my dear hubby’s report of what happened when he went out to give these things away.

“Everyone I spoke with was incredibly grateful for any help at all. The tireless welfare workers told me stories about the people they meet and try to help, every single day. The poor always suffer when times are tough. This year there are ordinary working people plunged into situations of despair by their lack of finances.They can see no end to the circumstances that have overtaken them. 

As I was busy donating some of these goods and gifts to the disadvantaged, I met Ally who works in Yulu-Burri-Ba, Wynnum. She was so grateful for all the things we donated for indigenous families who are struggling here in the Moreton Bay region. Most of these things go to Aboriginal women and children, who have been deserted or abused by their partners and they end up with nowhere safe to go.

There is also a big increase youth homelessness in our particular area. One of the workers told me that some of the youth she has talked to, deliberately resort to reoffending because they get free food and board in youth detention. How tragic! There are also a great many families with single parents, who have kids of all ages, struggling to make ends meet plus they can’t find finances for their next meal – the exhorbatent rent payments, power bills, and the price of fresh food has overwhelmed them.

The cost of these things we regard as essentials has forced many people into homelessness – along with their children. The things that have been donated will go to families who sometimes cannot find food for their next meal …literally. They end up at social welfare weeping in despair and in dire straits because they never expected their lives to go like this. Well, who would? Nobody plans to be homeless!  The hard part for the welfare workers is that in the past few years donations have greatly dropped off – so they have nothing to give them.Hampers of food and simple necessities are a great thing to give. 

On my way home, I went to a men’s shelter to drop off another food and gift package. I met Peter and Brian – two totally different men from different backgrounds and circumstances. These men had no families. They were incredibly grateful for the food and toiletries supplied by our church, they couldn’t wait to shake my hand! These guys were  especially thankful that somebody cares about them, and remembers them.  It was good to be able to remind them that God loves them, in person, in a concrete way.

I also took another huge box of the church’s donations yesterday to a place that helps homeless youth and single parents with kids. These beleaguered people are running away from dangerous domestic situations. I had to call to say I was coming. (You have to call ahead for security reasons). And the supervisor was blown away by the generosity of the church at such a desperate time for so many. We took food, toiletries and gifts. 

These two young women, Renee and Lauren, were so excited to receive things to help and explained some of these broken, battered families go into very bleak settings – with the bare necessities etc. but none of the extras we take for granted. They had to leave their “stuff” behind. Imagine an empty room, with no tree or decorations – no presents and no food. We included some Veggie Tales DVDs and bookmarks and small table decorations. I told them that is such a privilege to help in any way we can..”

Back to me again! Our God-given generosity opens doors for the gospel – hubby talked to a lot of people we would never have met. There is no need for preaching when we love others in ways that they can see and understand – it is time for the church to go outside their doors and love on people who are desperately hurting. Bye  👋🏻

P 2098 I got the power!

/ DVH

Mark 2:6&7 “Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” So. Here’s MY answer – WE CAN, the Body of Christ. Jesus Christ died and gave us all the power to forgive others.

First of all that forgiveness opens our hearts to the eternal – and then it releases His loving Grace toward other people. When we forgive others unconditionally, we can use that authority to tell our enemy to take a hike. I usually ask the Lord is there anything else He wants me to do about what happened and whoever hurt me. You know, sometimes forgiving others, is more about my own pride and hurt feelings than the other person?. It is humbling to give up your right to protect yourself from someone who repeatedly hurts you. The good news is we always know the end of THAT particularly difficult story of pain and suffering – because it’s also HIS story!!  And that makes all the difference.

Because the Lord died in our place, and He was utterly innocent, we can clearly see the enormous power of forgiveness. There are many times when we too, will be innocent of any wrong doing. Those are the times to remember that when we forgive others, we are releasing the power of forgiveness – the power of God into the perpetrator’s life. It’s called GRACE. Grace is UNDESERVED – and it is given at great cost. Jesus did not deserve what happened to Him, yet He gave up His life, and His own authority to do the will of the Father. That’s our job now, too.

After His death, Jesus went to hell, where He stripped the enemy of his authority over mankind – forever! Then Christ was resurrected. And now, because He freely did that, WE have the authority and the POWER to forgive. He gave it to us. (Ps you hardly EVER feel like it – it’s always an ongoing choice!) What Christ did at that time, paved the way for the Holy Spirit to be with, and IN, every man woman and child who was ever on this planet. By taking away sin, Jesus released the Holy Spirit to do us all good. 

In John 20:23 it says: “If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” That’s power! We need to live our lives aware of how important forgiving others IS. We are now HIS peacemakers. I mean, think about it, who on earth would want to be a rabble-rouser or a grumpy, unforgiving person, when you can be HIS peace maker??  😳 The peace makers get a blessing – they get to be called the children of God! Wow. We cannot lose for winning. 

When you and I want to follow Jesus and live like He did, this is what our new life looks like, day by day. And some people are going to absolutely love us 💕 and … others are … not! Meanwhile we all know that the ‘nots’ can have loud voices and be pretty hard to take. That’s when I forgive them and start praying that the Lord will save them. 

Our enemy isn’t people – it’s the devil on their back. They’ve been lied to! We must make an effort to learn how to discern our enemy. Remember, now, we have a choice. We don’t have to forgive people – we GET to forgive them, He gave us the power to do it. And we get there the same way Christ did – we die – to self. It’s not a law, it’s His GRACE. When we choose to forgive others who don’t deserve it, we are taking the same authority Jesus Christ Himself had, and using it the exact same way HE WOULD. We have the power to change people’s lives – by releasing forgiveness and the Grace of God to do them good.

I bless anybody who hurts me, by accident or not. I bless the daylights out of them … right up one hill and down the other! 😂 I just keep doing it! I bless their kids, if they have some … I bless their finances, I bless their health, I bless their relationships, I bless their jobs, and I bless their spirituality with more understanding! I ask the Lord to bless them MORE THAN He is going to bless me! And that gets rid of the spirit of competition right there! 

Doing this has become a litmus test for me – if I can’t bless someone, then I’m still mad somewhere and I go back to the Lord and ask Him to show me what’s in the way so I can get rid of it. We have the power to set people free. That power can affect someone else’s eternal POV as well as their journey here on earth. Very few people are born into this world evil. Most people-who-don’t-know-Him-yet are just trying to find their way, make a few bucks, and raise their kids. They don’t know any better, and unless we forgive them, and tell them otherwise, they will stay there – locked inside their sinful ways.

“BUT I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; …” Christians get to do this daily. Could anything seriously BE more fun than blessing the guy who is driving you nut, and knowing you are sending the HOLY SPIRIT after them. God gave us this power for good. First of all, WE get free, and secondly there is reconciliation all over the place. I’ve been blessing some people for thirty, forty, fifty years – but God’s gunna get them!  ‘He knows a way where there seems to be no way -He works in ways we cannot see.’

My faith is not in other people. My faith is in the One Who came after me. TWICE! I know He is faithful – I want to use the power He gave me for other people’s good. Starting with my enemies. 👋🏻

P 2097 Love will always win

/ DVH

“Love never brings fear, for fear is always related to punishment. But love’s perfection drives the fear of punishment far from our hearts. Whoever walks constantly afraid of punishment has not reached love’s perfection…” 1 John 4:18-19.

Whenever we recognise that we are afraid, we need to ask the Holy Spirit where it is we need to repent, and/or, where we need His healing love to touch us. Fear is a flashing signboard … it calls our attention to something that is wrong somewhere. There is only one good sort of fear, and that is the reverential fear of the Lord! Other types of fear are flung at us by the enemy, they become opportunities to learn more about ourselves and the Lord. Remember, fear always comes from the other guy. Use his attacks to alert you to the bigger reality of God’s Love.

Jesus Christ was kind and caring toward everybody. He even warned His enemies – the people who would eventually kill Him, and they too were given an opportunity to change. Right here, right now, you and I no longer have to fear. Jesus loves us perfectly. So now – TODAY, we can go through that door/gate that Christ’s broken, resurrected body provided, into our Heavenly Father’s Presence. Because our personal debt has been paid. We start to remember that we need to live forgiving lives, and now we give away for free what we got for free. 

Psalm 100:4 tells us how to come into His Presence.“You can pass through His open gates with the password of praise. Come right into His Presence with thanksgiving. Come bring your thank offering to Him and affectionately bless His beautiful Name!”

I exhort you to never forget, whenever you feel you have hit a road-block, (spiritually speaking,) to look at the cross and start praising God for every single thing He did there. The stuff you already know and the stuff you don’t know, yet.Then start listing what He has done in your life already, and keep on going, until you are smiling.That is what “forget not all His benefits” means. It means make an effort to remember them – remind yourself  … on purpose! Some days that can be a big effort. So start to thank Him for your family, friends etc. – the nice ones, and… the not-so-nice ones. That’s called blessing those who hurt you!

I have no idea why we think … and most of us do! … that complaining a whole lot about other people is going to help them improve … or …  maybe, make us feel better. Another dumb idea from the pit. I dunno about you, but doing that doesn’t help me at all – it just magnifies the problem. But praising and giving thanks, opens the door/gate into a totally different perspective. It is easier to access love when you turn the tap of criticism, disappointment and despair OFF.  

Sometimes our generic complaining attitudes mean we actually cannot see any good because we have been overcome by the bad. At that moment my advice is to read the bible aloud, so your ears can hear something other than bad stuff. Preferably the Epistles which are full of totally brilliant things. Then ask for His help.The Holy Spirit will not do things like this for us. Instead we need to remember that WE are the ones with the power to turn things around. That’s why it sometimes seems so hard!

Seriously, we cannot use our badly chosen attitudes to duck out of our own responsibilities. We simply have to choose to change. Jesus died to give US power, over sin, this world and the devil. It is useless to ask the Lord Jesus to redo the things He already did! What He did was once and for all, and permanent. Ask Him for the courage to do things differently. Then begin by thanking Him that He loves you. His love is never negated by our bad attitudes..

My advice is this: we need to deliberately carry our own cross, and embrace whatever that means in our day-to-day lives. The cross is an instrument of torture and death – so it will hurt. But we are to live with the hope of total spiritual resurrection, every single day. Whatever we get into – HE can get us out of it. His love came to each one of us and brought us into a whole new dimension – where love always wins. 👋🏻   

P 2096 Our hope is in Him

/ DVH

“And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Romans 5:5 “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He Who promised is faithful.” Hebrews 10:23 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” Romans 15:13 “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, …” Hebrews 6:19 

Sometimes, Christians put their hope in things, or situations, or even other people  As nicely as I can put this, that’s a dumb idea!  Don’t do it. You will end up disappointed. Other people are bound to disappoint us. Let me put that another way – everybody has choices because God Himself allows us all to choose. Unless we all walk minute by minute with Jesus, then our selfish self will pop up and have its selfish way. The only place for our hope to be is IN Christ.  In what He did for us.

I want to address just one of the above verses, the one in Hebrews 6: “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul …” Our soul, mind, will and emotions need an anchor. Otherwise we will be tossed and stretched by circumstances and difficulties. Our feelings can easily betray us and sometimes we can’t even figure out why or where we went off the track. We need a strong anchor! The Lord Jesus Christ is that anchor. What He did and Who He is. We must stop analysing other people’s, or even our own behaviour, and hold fast to the Saviour’s sacrifice for them and US – instead.

We need to let the Holy Spirit – Who is our resident expert about ALL things in this life – help us. He does all things well. Don’t just sit looking at your disappointments and sorrow, stick your head out of a window and look around – look at His work! The Holy Spirit will always point us back to Jesus.

What this scripture in Hebrews means is that Christ Himself is our hope, and the Holy Spirit confirms this truth to us in our hearts. HOPE IS A PERSON not a doctrine. Jesus is an historically proven Person. We do not hold fast to our POV, or someone else’s theory or doctrine – we hold fast to Christ. If He is not Who the bible says He is, we are all sunk, because we are now simply that committed to following Him. He is our sure foundation and the Saviour of this world. 

Christ is our anchor. We can’t limit or hold to ransom the awesomeness of our God by trying to appraise His answers to our prayers. Our faith has to be in the fact the Lord is doing something … at all times… even when we can’t see what it is! The Lord Jesus Himself put His own faith in His Father’s plans. Please don’t hold fast to an idea that Jesus will get you a nicer house, 10 cars and a Lear Jet! We are here in this world as messengers to speak His eternal hope to the nations. This life is not about our comfort. It is about allowing HIS incredible eternal life down here, to flow through our own little lives. The best bit is that we get to live in a taste of eternity down here! 🙌

Now – this day – we have been given His Spirit, His life flowing through us … we are carriers of His joy, His love, His hope, His goodness, into this world filled with sorrow, heartache, atrocities and despair. We are now His witnesses. Because we are being changed, now we can tell others they too can live a life of love and transformation. And all these wonderful outcomes are IN Christ. It’s all in the bible, read the book!

God’s goodness sent Jesus here at exactly the right time – so we could see a living example of His goodness and His good will toward mankind. Jesus Christ died and rose again. That is our hope.We must never forget all God’s benefits, BUT … His benefits aren’t the reason why we follow Him.. Brothers and sisters, do not stop short of the goal. Remind yourself constantly, that Jesus’ Name is above every other name and He completed His earthly mission so –  HE IS OUR HOPE – today, right now. Who HE is and what He did, is our anchor. Bless you and bye. 👋🏻

P 2095 EVERY word that comes from God Himself.

/ DVH

“But Jesus replied, “It is written and forever remains written,‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by EVERY word that comes out of the mouth of God.”  AMP. Today I want to talk about words of power. For a long time now, Christianity has been guided by, listened to, and studied carefully, what this verse calls:  ‘bread alone.’ The word of God has great bread for us to eat. It is about what other men heard and learnt from God and wrote down. Sometimes it is the memories of other people’s interactions with Him.

Some of us who have been around a little while, are beginning to know the bible quite well.  We use it as a reference book. But, at any given moment, the Holy Spirit can take the ‘bread’ in His book and kiss it, then it becomes ‘every word that comes out of the mouth of God.’ What we want, what we need to grow and mature is the specific – every words. Let me explain this by using the bible – because the bible is the best book to explain itself! 

In the story of the Samaritan women (John 4) Jesus and this dear lady-He-never-met-before, have a very ordinary spoken exchange by a well. The Lord asks for a drink and she points out that He wouldn’t want a drink from her. Then Jesus shares with her ‘a word from God that came from God’s mouth -a word of power.’This word He shares appears to be out of the blue and off the topic. He speaks out a deep thought. 

(V10)“Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and Who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water.” That one word Jesus spoke, begins a conversation that peels open her whole life and their conversation changes her. Some people would call something like this a word of knowledge. For the purposes of today’s blog, I will call it a word of power. This word had power in it to change her life. The Lord is telling her there is an everlasting, better kind of water. 

Let’s go to another example. In the Gospel of Luke we are told about a Centurion who asks Jesus to heal his servant who is ill. This centurion says to Jesus, “Lord I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my servant shall be healed” (Luke 7: 6-7) This man understood that when a man with authority speaks, those words have power in them.

Next example: Jesus is moving about amongst crowds of people in Luke 8:43-48. A little lady has a specific need so she comes up behind the Lord to touch His garment. She does not want to be noticed because she’s not meant to be there – the law says she is not allowed out with the problem she has. Jesus perceives someone with faith touches Him and asks: ‘Who was that?’ Then He says this to her: “Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.”

What I want to say today is that we can read the bible and get information, but when we touch the heart of God or His heart reaches out to us through His Word – the bible goes from being BREAD to being A WORD FROM GOD. Don’t misunderstand me – ALL bread is good – but a word from God spoken to you or me, has His power in it to accomplish whatever He wants to do in us and for us. Psalm 107:20, Jeremiah 30:17 says “He sent His word and healed them.” Isaiah 55:11: “My word, which comes from My mouth, is like the rain and snow. It will not come back to Me without results. It will accomplish whatever I want and achieve whatever I send it to do.” We need to go beyond being satisfied with ordinary everyday bread, and go after the individually spoken words from Him. Those words that jump off the page and speak to our hearts – not our heads. I exhort us all to go and find examples where this happens for yourself. 

I exhort you to look for the WORD the Father or Jesus gives you as an individual. We pray: “speak to me Lord” whenever we read the bible – but what we want, what we need, isn’t just information. We need His words of power. Those words, when we use them as a shield and sword will transform our lives. I exhort you today, don’t be content to accept stories from the book – go after a word from God Himself. Bye 👋🏻