Month: March 2023

P 2204 We all need our brains scrubbed sometimes.

/ DVH

Sometimes reading another version of the bible just kind of blows your mind. Here’s something fantastic that will, hopefully, make your day – from verse 4 of the 23rd Psalm TPT. “Even when Your path takes me through the valley of deepest darkness, fear will never conquer me, for You already have! Your authority is my strength and my peace. The comfort of Your love takes away my fear. I’ll never be lonely, for You are near.”

Oh! The clarity of what this translation says. It makes me fall in love with Jesus all over again! It’s like all my Christian life I’ve seen Him through this gorgeous multicoloured rainbow, and suddenly another new colour flashes into view. Wow! 🤯 Sometimes I just wanna sit down and make camp around a new concept like: 

“…fear will never conquer me, for YOU already have…” When I read that verse I realise how much more I need to be conquered by His love. Please do it Lord! Amen.

That’s what I mean when I go on and on about asking Him to help us read the bible. Otherwise we can easily go into the whole – ‘yeah yeah, I got that part – what’s next?’ … and miss the blessing and the food from our daily bread. Praise the Lord for people who have taken the time to unwrap the Word for us in so many great bible versions. Because some days unwrapping what He is saying to me, personally, can be hard work!

For a little while, just imagine living in a place where fear does not grab you by the throat. The awful fear of losing loved-ones. Fear of illness. Fear of losing our home, job, or even our own lives. Man, I SO want and need to live in the place where Christ has conquered me with His love, so perfectly, that fear can’t touch me. Knowing Christ, is our invitation into places we’ve never even dreamed about – so let’s not just settle for the promises – let’s go after HIM. 

The fact that Jesus Christ came to earth to save us, is a fantastic thing to think about, every single day. And of course, as we approach Easter, our thoughts turn to Calvary and that incredible sacrifice that was made there. Plus the Lord personally proved – Himself – once and for all, that death is never to be feared. What Christ did then opened the flood-gates of heaven. It would be an incredible shame if we rushed in to just grab the diamonds, gold and pearls … and missed Him!  I’ve met so many people whose focus is on gaining this world’s riches – health, happiness, praying troubles away, the sort of fairy-tale stuff that kids read when they were little. Happy. Ever. After.

There are also some well meaning, loving folks, who can’t wait to tell you you shouldn’t be sick, and so obviously your faith is too small! And they want to pray for you. If you stay sick, then it seems that you have some sin or other in your life and that’s not their fault. I call that kind of thinking shallow theology. My faith is big enough to make room for the stuff that makes no sense to me …yet. I totally believe in healing. I’ve laid these liver-spotted hands on other people and they got well. But I also know that the Lord Jesus said … “In this world you will have trouble…” And sometimes the greatest gift we can give Christ in return for all He did for us, is to love Him passionately, no matter what is going on in our lives.

Jesus Christ came to earth to conquer mankind with His love. Now there’s a headline! Just stop and think on that for a moment. 🧐 He came here and lived like us, to conquer you and I with the kind of love that we have only ever dreamt about. And it’s free. He lived His life as a human being to show us we can live this life we have here and now, and win. He was tired, cold, sad, had nowhere to sleep, skipped meals, and was reviled and rejected by the very people He came to reach. Maybe we need to remember that, the next time we try to tell Old Aunt Minnie the story of the greatest love of all … and she keeps interrupting you to talk about what she did when she was a girl! Please don’t give up on Aunt Minnie!!

This verse from the 23rd Psalm reminds me that I need to concentrate even more on being conquered by His love – daily. It’s a priority. “I will always need a fresh revelation of your love Lord.” Amen.  👋🏻

P 2203 It sometimes seems a bit weird…

/ DVH

I have never prayed for TV actors in tough fictional situations…because that’s like, weird. BUT! … I do have a fun anecdote. Years ago I had a friend who was really devoted to soap operas, and she assured me that she prayed for the actors that God would help them out of their scripted troubles. 😶 I have nothing further to say about that except it takes all kinds …! However, it brings me to my point, today. I want to talk about praying for strangers. Now that can definitely feel weird if you have never done it before. Hubby in particular, often prays for people in the supermarket, or in caravan parks or on the street.

So here we go – and these are not rules they are suggestions: first of all, I counteract those weird scary feelings by telling myself over and over – “I’m SO never seeing these people again in my lifetime!”  Yeah. It sounds nuts but it works for me. IF I were more spiritual, I’d probably take authority over the feelings of fear and inadequacy, instead of soothing myself with a stupid platitude. Anyhoo, I ain’t there yet – I’m still working on the fear I get when I am talking to strangers about intimate subjects like heaven and the Lord Jesus! 

Mo-ving on … when you pray for the people-who-don’t-know-Him-yet, always use the name of Jesus – not “the Lord,” or “God,” or even “Father God.” Jesus is the Name above every other name and no one else can be saved except through His Name. Next … pray simply. It is not necessary to include the 12 spiritual laws on how to get saved, or 79 scripture references, the person will grow a beard! Or – they will tune out, like you do, when the pastor preaches for too long.  

When we pray for the people-who-don’t-know-Him-yet, this is how I do it – first of all I make it as ordinary and quiet as possible, I don’t make it into a big deal, I don’t close my eyes, or kneel down – I pray very simply: “Dear Jesus, please help George with His problem (state the problem briefly) and make yourself real to him. Please bless George and His family. Amen. “

I do and say that however the Holy Spirit says to do it. The point is not the actual prayer. It’s not an incantation, you are talking to SomeOne the other person can’t see!  The prayer itself is secondary. The point is that you and I walk around in fellowship with the Holy Spirit. He loves to be with us, and He wants to touch that person in front of us. He’s the point. We are carriers of His Presence, the light of God. The light of Christ lives inside us. I can’t outshine a glow-worm by myself!

The problem with doing some of this stuff is that we have over-spiritualised it. When you do that you make praying for strangers hard. It needs to be natural, normal. Please, DON’T ask them to wiggle their ankle if they had a sore ankle and you prayed for their ankle – that’s about YOU making YOU feel better when there is a result. Suddenly you start thinking maybe I’m an evangelist after all!  Look you and I have always been witnesses, that’s everyone’s job description. You can sort that other stuff out with the Lord for yourself, but right now whatever is happening is not about YOU – it’s about the person in front of you, and HIM .. and that’s plenty to go on with.

In my country one of the things people always say after they greet you is “how are you?” I’ve learnt to make their answer my opening. Here’s how that works for me. They tell me after I’ve asked; ‘how are you today?’ … “my big toe hurts … or some such thing.” I figure the Holy Spirit is already working, because like … who tells a perfect stranger their toe is hurting? Then I say something like: “Oh, I am so sorry your big toe is throbbing. That must be awful because you have to stand behind that cash register for hours.” Then I let them talk about it – and at the same time I’m asking Him what He wants. Then I say: “I believe in prayer and healing. Would you like me to pray for your big toe, right now?” 

If they say no. Then I smile, take my change etc. and say have a nice day and leave. If they say yes, I pray quietly and simply. What am I doing? I’m allowing Jesus in me to reach into their lives. Most of the time after I have prayed, they say “thank you,” sometimes they tear up, but I still say “bye … have a nice day … etc. etc.” There are times that we have stood at the check out for a while talking to someone, because people become very open and vulnerable when the Holy Spirit touches their lives for the first time. However we are always aware of the queue behind us who are waiting to get their items checked out! They matter too.  

Meanwhile, hubby and I have looked up after praying to discover there was a different sort queue behind us – more people who wanted prayer! We are not the answer – He’s always the Answer! So we simply carry out His wishes. He does not push, so I do not push. I am seed sowing. I am taking seed from the harvest inside my life and sowing it into someone else’s life. BTW, it stops being weird when you do it often – however, it does kind of stay a bit scary. 👋🏻

P 2202 The safest place in the world…

/ DVH

…is NOT under the bed or an island all by yourself! So please don’t give up on yourself, or other people … too soon. We all have learning curves. However, there is good news. “In Christ Jesus” is the only incredible place of safety and shelter for those who are learning to live in love! “Love is a safe place of shelter, for it never stops believing the best for others. Love never takes failure as defeat, for it never gives up.” 1 Corinthians 13:7 TPT.

But to get to that safe place we will have to give up many things we have become attached to.: like doing what we want when we want, or the power of arbitrarily telling other people what to do. Or always being right and never admitting you are wrong. Or making my world a safe place for me so I don’t have to care about what that does to you! Safety is a strange issue, but the real point is without Jesus a safe world doesn’t actually exist. He is our only safe place, and living in safety in this world is left behind, because the people who live for Him:  “… love(d) not their lives unto death …”  Revelation 12:11

The only way in is the only way out and it’s YOU.

“Came a time in my life I had to be free

From all of the lies that used to be me

And the only way out is the only way in and it’s YOU.

I’ve been waisting my time but not anymore

I’ve been through the maze and it led to Your door

And the only way out is the only way in and it’s YOU.

I spent a lot of time at the crossroads

Getting that lonely feeling inside

Suddenly You stopped the rain, You changed the view

Now every way’s leading to You

Let’s get this thing going, let’s move it along

Let me do all the things I’ve been missing so long

’cause the only way out is the only way in and it’s YOU.”

Ray Martinez.

Jesus is our only hope – He’s the only way out of the trials, sin and suffering of this world, and He is the only way into a new life. We can’t afford to waste our time anymore. It says that verse in Revelation like this, in the Message bible: “They defeated him  (satan) through the blood of the Lamb and the bold word of their witness. They weren’t in love with themselves; they were willing to die for Christ.” I think that we have fallen far far away from that place of being prepared to die for Him. Unless we live somewhere where they love to kill and torture Christians. The people who live under life or death threats have to make incredibly hard choices – every single day. However where I live, we get to choose to die to self – daily, minute by minute.

But nothing in this world we are living in today, is actually truly safe. Talk to the people in countries where war has broken out. One day they were at the supermarket shopping, and now the supermarket is gone and so is their house! Now, it no longer matters if the man of the house keeps putting the tomato sauce bottle, or his dirty socks in the wrong place – there isn’t anywhere to put anything, anymore! 😢 Sigh. When did we become such petty people? This life has serious issues – and safety is an illusion. 

Sadly I feel, humanly speaking, we often make it through the trials in this life, breathing a sigh of relief that whatever was happening to us is now over. And then we go on to waiting and willing our lives to be easy again. I know I do! I hate being stretched. There is a saying from a movie: The Princess Bride – “Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.”  Amen! Preach it brother. Expecting this life to be easy is a childish view of this world. “The rain falls on the just and the unjust.” Everybody has hard times. 

I have been prayerfully reading Psalm 73 for days, and it is the best example of self-centred humanity… like ever! The Psalmist has his crank on because bad people are winning everywhere. When I read it I realised that he is grumpy because other people can do what they like, it seems – and get away with it. He’s mad because these people do not have to face the consequences of their actions. Eventually, he realises that even wicked people die in the end, and they face eternity unprepared. It is one thing to trick a human judge and jury, and plead innocent, and totally another to plead innocence in the face of true purity and truth.

The biggest problems we face today, are the seemingly insignificant everyday decisions we make about the way we act and react toward others. The decision to tell somebody where to go and how to get there, drags us away from our main focus. These are the days of deliverance from evil. Giving yourself permission to have a bad day can be deadly. The only safe place is living in Christ, living a life of laid-down love, for His sake … and dying to self.👋🏻

P 2201 Don’t leave the fun stuff to the so-called experts!

/ DVH

Instead, ask yourself – what am I here on this planet to do? And here is your answer!! Matthew 5:14-16. “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” You and I are here to shine.

So what do I mean – don’t leave all the fun stuff to the so-called experts? I mean doing stuff with the Holy Spirit is FUN, AN ADVENTURE. Take my advice and get over the idea that you can’t possibly talk about your faith to a total stranger. A total stranger is like the easiest person E-V-E-R. You are never gunna see those folks again! Win, win! It’s the easiest way to talk to people. I exhort you to take Jesus with you on holidays. On purpose!

Seriously, buy some bibles/New Testaments/or tracts/ pass-it-on cards and stick them in the car with the kids’ ball games, stuffed toys, and the blow-up floaties for the pool at the caravan park. Yes I know you also have everybody’s clothes, and your food, and a first aid kit … BUT, those book type things really don’t take up all that much room if you think about it. When you do this you are telling the Lord you want Him to come with you …. and you never know what HE will do! … But IT IS guaranteed to blow your mind! 

OK, right – you are busy – you wanna rest. And when you go on holidays you already have a parent in the way-back seat who is deaf, but they won’t admit it. Plus they have a cane, and they grumble a lot.  And they probably want to do sudoko in the car, but the blamed pen won’t work! You also have 2-4 kids and a dopey dog and they all think that your car is a boxing ring. So they repeatedly say: “Are we there yet?” “How much longer is this going to take?” “I want an icecream! You promised!” “He’s sitting on my side of the seat, tell him to move Dad!” Blah blah blah. You know the drill – you’ve bin there already a thousand times. Plus the road is busy, and you and your spouse are wishing you had stayed home … and here I am saying: “take Jesus with you … in your car?? Lady, HE WON’T FIT!” 😱

Aha! I hear ya. But the Lord Jesus is fantastic, He brings peace with Him. “Great! Fabulous, you say! Now, according to YOU, I have to do all this stuff and you want me to be spiritual as well? Have you lost your mind?” Nope. You are right. I don’t have 2+ kids, a dog, and a grandma with a broken pen up the back. But … I have a husband with one hand, cos the other one was operated on, and I can’t drive. And we both suffer from chronic fatigue. And we have to take our own food because we can’t eat out.

Plus hubby has to get out of the car, talk to strangers, then get back in the car again, drive some more, then talk to more people, give away stuff, and still find the caravan park. Me?? I’m praying. Meanwhile I can’t travel 10kms without getting exhausted – let alone 400 kms per day. Then, when we get there, hubby has to cook our dinner – we don’t eat the same food – as well as unpack the car, and strip and remake the bed with bed-stuff so I can sleep. Then he goes off to talk to our hosts and give them whatever God says, to bless them too! Would you believe this still is his most fav thing to do? Mine too!

I soooo get that you are busy and this is the only holiday you are going to have this year… BUT you have never ever lived until you’ve told a perfect stranger that Jesus loves them so much He sent you to their caravan park to tell them that He loves them and cares about THEIR lives. You see, they also have kids, grandkids, daily visitors, beds to make, rooms to clean, a park to look after, plus the expectation that you and everyone else has that they will make your holiday a happy one. Their lives are busy too. And when we tell them the Lord Jesus loves them and smile at them, we may be the first person in a week who didn’t have a complaint about this, that or the other!  

These people don’t know the Lord. When they are desperate, overwrought, tired and fed-up they go down to the back of the park and sit under a tree. Maybe they have a beer (or ten!) and smoke a pack of cigarettes instead. They do not know that IF they pray, God will listen to them, because their prayers for help do not seem to be answered. But HE did listen … HE.SENT.YOU!

Look, people are not going to grab you by the front of your shirt and demand that you tell them about Jesus. They have no idea where their help is! And we get to tell them that the God Who made heaven and earth sent us to tell them that He has not forgotten them – He loves them. You probably won’t even need the 12 spiritual laws. LOVE WILL DO THE JOB BEAUTIFULLY. Send the kids off to buy that icecream, and park grandma or grandpa under a tree and go and introduce yourself to the people who run the park. 

Nothing is more refreshing or fun than refreshing someone else. Why should our pastors have all the fun?  Most people-who-don’t-know-Jesus think pastors have to talk like that – but YOU … you will surprise them! 👋🏻

P 2200 Wisdom is a Person.

/ DVH

Wisdom is the Person of the Holy Spirit. If we will value His opinion above our own, He will share with us. HE LOVES TO SHARE. The Holy Spirit’s wisdom is not the same as ours. His POV is sin-free! Thank you Jesus! 👏 He only wants to see the Father and the Son glorified. HE HAS NO PERSONAL AGENDA. 

We need to understand that we won’t always comprehend what He says … because most of the time we are pre-occupied with our lives, and we definitely have agendas. Plus what the Holy Spirit says will often cut across our own way of thinking. Sometimes we could turn away His wisdom, because it doesn’t make sense to our minds. But when we choose to pause and listen and obey – then the whole world gets bigger. There is enormous value in PAUSING and WAITING.

We need to value the Holy Spirit’s Presence in our lives above everyone else. He’s here, right here right now. He’s there with you while you are reading this. His desire is for you to go from strength to strength – and He knows the Way through everything you are facing. Here’s something that helps me: just because He did something a particular way last time something happened to us, that doesn’t mean He will do it the same way this time. Stay open to change. Things get clearer and bigger when the Holy Spirit is around – He brings His light, His way of thinking, with Him. Be like the blind man in the bible who said to the Pharisees: “One thing I do know: I was blind but now I see.” John 9:25. We don’t have to know everything because we know SomeOne Who does …and how He lo-oves to share!! 🙌

Even when you are reading the book, never ever think you already know it! I’ve become fairly well acquainted with His book over the years. However, when I started out I had to use the index because I couldn’t find anything!  But from the very beginning of writing this blog – He cautioned me to look up every verse I put here  – even if I think I know what it says.  Why?  Because He expands those verses as I am rereading them for the umpteenth time and suddenly I see something I never saw before. I exhort us all to decide to be as dumb as the dust we all came from. To interact with the Holy Spirit and walk with Him we will need great humility – because He is not self-exalting. 

True humility never assumes – it leaves human knowledge at the door and goes for what is in the book. It asks “what would my Father say?” If that was good enough for Jesus then it is good enough for us! Seriously, don’t put all your hopes in this or that revelation, or some sort of insight, or voices, or dreams, or what someone else said. Ask for His wisdom for yourself. “Ask and keep on asking …” The Holy Spirit opens up His Ways to us as we read His book. Our own human psyche has an agenda, so we must deliberately leave our agendas behind, and focus on the desire to hear from Him, and ask for the patience to go after Him.

Our God doesn’t care about man’s logic. Man’s logic is easily influenced by greed and need. Remember what happened in the garden:  “…the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom … “ (Genesis 3). Eve sinned when she valued her opinion over what Father God said. Obedience matters. Think about every bible story you ever read, they don’t make sense to the human mind. 5 loaves and 2 fishes to feed thousands? Ridiculous! “Hey, let’s climb out of a perfectly good boat and walk on water???” I mean … the bible has loads of stories that are wa-ay out there … 😳 Almighty God does not think like we do. It’s not that He thinks bigger – He thinks in an incredibly comprehensively Way. He has everyone’s good in mind, not just yours. 

His wisdom needs to be esteemed – not only must we value it – we must not discard it just because it doesn’t initially make sense to us!  File the stuff you don’t yet understand under – “things I will understand one day” – and leave them there. I drag them out every now and then and ask again. We must learn to make His wisdom our treasure. I exhort everyone to read the bible like a treasure map. Humanity reads the stories in the book, and sees advantages, short cuts – “Oh, if I do this, then God will do that, because He did that for Fred and Mary. SO!! … if I do that, then He will do it for me too.”  

Beware of the ‘SOs’ – our God is incomprehensible. He rarely does the same thing twice. (Read the book!) There are no short cuts, but there is only always MORE. Ask for His wisdom. And please don’t just ask for wisdom when you’ve run out of your own ideas, instead walk with Him, be led by His wisdom, all the time! 👋🏻

“Wisdom cries aloud in the streets…” Proverbs 1:20; Proverbs 4:5-9; James 1:5; Luke 21:15; Ephesians 1:17.

P 2199 We give too much importance to agreement.

/ DVH

But we do not give enough importance to our faith-filled actions! In this life it is what we DO that counts. Here’s an example: Parable of The Two Sons – Matthew21:28-32. 

“What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’“‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.“Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.“Which of the two did what his father wanted?”“The first,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.”

Let’s look at the disciples. They personally walked around with the Lord for three years, and still managed to come up with loads of stupid remarks and mistakes. Christianity is not about learning so we can quote things and be right, it is about our hearts. Sometimes, so-called enlightened people can be so pompous and big headed. 🙄 A big following does not make anyone right. I don’t care how many ‘likes’ you have … that can also mean you are simply tickling people’s ears. Saying what they want to hear.

BUT “The Lord looks at our hearts.” Whose opinion do we value? HIS or theirs?? And that scripture ought to put the fear of God into us!  Jesus Himself said: “But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Matthew 7:14. The above scripture is an example of what that small gate looks like … popularity is not always a sign of the Presence of God. People love to feel stuff, but changing their ways … not so much! Obedience matters to God not just agreement! The above parable highlights that.

Christianity is not about being right, it is about learning to obey simply because we love Him. Jesus taught people about the Father and His Ways using parables. It is way too simplistic to think that a parable is just an interesting story with a nice point and fourteen sub-points. Ask yourself, what is this parable teaching me about the WAY God thinks? A parable is a revelation of the heart of God. It is the Holy Spirit jumping up and down. He’s whistling at us – “I’m over here!! Wrong way – go back!” God is explaining Himself to us and we’d better take the time to listen to more than just the stories. What are we? 3??? 😳

The Lord does not care how we feel about it, He is saying that the one who does whatever He asked in spite of how they feel is the one who is OBEDIENT – loves ME –  in some versions. That is not a line we want to miss. Our faith must be active. He said that tax collectors and prostitutes got it right! Why? They were humble, teachable … they knew they were sinners. When John preached “repent,” they were cut to the heart. They stopped sinning and turned to God for His forgiveness. 

Seriously, it is time we stopped making excuses for attitudes that we absolutely know the Lord does not support at all … and started working on our hearts with His help. Here’s a verse that will change your life: Psalm 139:23-24 KJV “Search me, O God, and know my heart: Try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.” 

Otherwise God could do what He has already done before – He might go right around US, and go on to a new generation. He is looking for obedience, not spiritual highs and theories. It is indicative of this age that we literally throw away the thing we do not like – in favour of a theology that supports the “give me give me” theme. How terrifying. It is well past time to be serious about our faith. The bible clearly tells us what that kind of faith will look like – and if we try to pretend we have it, we are doomed to fail. Because when the pressure comes on, we will have nothing but hot air to stand on.

The biblical standard is always too high. That’s why Jesus came. To meet it for us. Only the ones living by the kind of faith that says, “He can transform even ME” –  will survive those things that are yet to impact our lives. Please don’t just say yes, and do no! Tell Him you can’t, and follow the Holy Spirit – read the book. 👋🏻

P 2198 Let’s talk about what faith isn’t.

/ DVH

Faith is not just praying about something and leaving it with the Lord … and doing nothing about it yourself. Faith is an arrow that turns into an action. True faith is doing what Peter did, he had to swing his own legs over the edge of that boat. Then he had to get his balance, stand up, and start walking. Jesus didn’t come to the boat and take the man’s hand and lead him out onto the water! Peter had to make those moves for himself. Faith isn’t a theory, or an unproved thought – it has fruit – you can see it. “Faith is the substance …“

So don’t just think or pray about seeking forgiveness from that person you don’t like, or the one you keep hurting … go and do it. Keep on doing it until YOU change. We can ask the Holy Spirit for mercy and grace and ask Him to prepare our way – but then deliberately – on purpose – GO! After that, keep asking for grace to see and interact with that person differently – don’t just avoid them. And if you mess up again, then ask for forgiveness again. Forgiveness has nothing to do with shame, it is an acknowledgement of my own sin. It is a positive move, despite our feelings, because we are getting something we’ve lost back. Peace! Faith has feet it is not motivated by shame.

We make the biggest mistake ever if we think that when we pray about something, that is all we have to do. It is useless to pray that the old lady down the road can manage her money well so she can eat! Pray, then go and do whatever the Holy Spirit tells you to do, like take her a box of groceries, regularly. God’s ways are practical. But there is always a step of faith to be taken – it’s hard because it is not our nature – yet. Faith leans on His understanding (the stuff in the book). Faith won’t stop.. . until it sees a change in me. Faith is not self-deception, it doesn’t have to hide because it freely admits its own faults.

We probably won’t feel like we’re doing anything at first. We may even feel stupid. However, walking and stepping out of the boat requires our participation and the Lord does not do that for us. Our faith steps activate God’s kingdom, because His kingdom thrives in an atmosphere of faith. Remember, if we don’t ‘like’ someone it may take time for the Lord to open our eyes to see them the way He sees them. Faith is not afraid to get things wrong, it thrives on the Saviour’s loving acceptance. So it does not avoid people just because something is awkward.

When we are angry with someone, the Bible is clear. We go to them. And if they are angry with us, we go to them. Either way there is an action required to step into what God wants us to do. We will not see the kingdom of God in operation while we pass all the responsibility for our transformation, over to Him and do nothing. Faith never thinks the kingdom of God is someone else’s responsibility. If I can see it then it is my job.

Gideon had a set of difficult tasks to complete before he saw an incredible miracle. God coached this man’s faith. His story makes us aware that faith often requires us to do the very thing we would rather not do – like going into the enemy’s camp to win! Our pride and theories have to go down, and Christ’s servant humility has to come up. It takes a humble person to disregard what they think, in favour of doing what the Lord says. Faith will not hesitate to do the hard thing because it lives to see Jesus glorified.

When the Lord comes back for us, He will be looking for faith – that means faith is something that can be seen. It is not airy-fairy – it has concrete actions. Prayer is just the beginning of activating our faith. It is a conversation with the Holy Spirit about the thing we probably don’t want to do! We simply ask for help to do things His way. Like Gideon we would rather round up thousands of troops – but God spent that time eliminating the human answer. Faith doesn’t hesitate to step up into the fight because it knows our side already won.

This is real life, bad things happen. Faith needs to be constantly stretched, otherwise it may not be big enough when we really need it. We need our faith working right now, today. Faith is about being obedient when we just plain don’t want to, and doing it simply because He said so. Faith is not telling the Lord what He should do for us, it is asking Him what He wants US to do for Him! 👋🏻

P 2197 Sometimes my biggest enemy is ME!

/ DVH

It’s really easy to blame satan for this and that thing that happened to us, he makes a great scapegoat when I’m too lazy to do stuff for myself or I want to make excuses. I’m not talking about feeling sorry for the devil – forget that! What a waste of time. So what do I mean by what I said? There is an old saying; ‘the devil made me do it’ – well that excuse is wearing a bit thin when it comes to Christianity. 

The reality is that human beings make poor choices – read the book. What the bible teaches us is the reality! You and I are who we are in our worst moments … so let’s thank God for Calvary. The devil can’t MAKE US DO anything anymore – now we have a choice. SomeOne died to give us the victorious power to make those choices. Because of Jesus Christ and what He did, we have another option, we can live in another kingdom now. So, LET’S LIVE THERE.

The problem seems to me to be that we wanna live in that kingdom AFTER we die – but for here and now, we just wanna paddle about in the mud and play in the stuff that the enemy has spread around here on earth. Pigs play in mud, not people – especially not our King’s Kids! And compromise is a deadly enemy of the truth. Compromise takes our eyes away from what we can do here and now – and renders us useless in this world spiritually speaking. satan is overjoyed to distract us from our real purpose until we are dead. And getting DEAD is something human beings have very little control over.

It is also incredibly useful to remember that participating in sin makes us deaf, and it takes our God-given sight away. So-o-o-o … when we can’t hear or see … then our personal obedience guidance system is broken, and we did it to ourselves. It means we need a spiritual check-up. My advice is to pick up the bible and start reading – God Himself will speak to us as we read – we need our faith-bank in Him built up to full. Personally I think if we do not esteem and decide to participate in what we have been given by Him, we will end up living in the shadows of this life. Always striving for something we can’t find, and never being satisfied and content with what we actually have. We’ll eventually become pale replicas of the person-we-could-have-been. Imagine how much bigger we can be, when we simply walk with Him, minute by minute, day by day. 

Let’s look at something that I think illustrates my point. There are over 2.13 million species on this planet. Now how do you think they got their names? They didn’t come with name tags! The bible says Adam did it … ‘so God created all the animals and the birds and He brought them to Adam to see what he will call them and “whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name.”’(Gen. 2.19) I’ll bet that was a long, day, week, month, year! Maybe Adam actually had the use of 100% of his brain … instead of our mingy little 11%. We’ve been restored to a place higher than Adam’s place. We live in total fellowship with the God of the universe. He doesn’t have to visit us, anymore. We are now His temple!

However, that happened to Adam before he and Eve chose control and a snack, over God’s will. Humanity lost more than living in a fabulous garden! We lost the beginnings of a relationship that was normal, natural and part of Adam’s daily life. However, mankind’s total restoration from sin was incredibly expensive. Because of Christ and what He did for us, now, we have the privilege of spreading love, life and joy around everywhere we go instead of doing the everyday humdrum stuff that drives us all crazy. Hey! Your shadow just might heal the sick!! 

Human beings can contribute to this world in ways we have never even thought about. Forget going into space. We know the Maker of heaven and earth – the One Who made those stars.  And we’ve been chosen to carry His Presence into a world that has no purpose … except for a self-aggrandising one. We can introduce others to the meaning of life. What an honour. Count me in Lord!

My bones creak some days, and my ankles swell up from time to time, plus I lack energy, and I don’t always sleep well at night … BUT – I know that I carry Jesus’ Presence with me everywhere I go! So do you. It’s a choice. Unlike the old Testament, we don’t have to ‘blow smoke’ to hide ourselves so we can talk to God, and hopefully He will talk to us. Those days are gone! He wants to be in every part of our daily lives.

Sin is no longer a problem because now, we have an Advocate … a King’s Counsel, for the plaintiff, standing right beside the throne. Jesus Christ speaks PEOPLE. All He has to do is to point to His scars and we are completely restored. Ask yourself today, are you your own worst enemy? Nothing can keep us from the Love of God in Christ Jesus … nothing but our own choices. 👋🏻

P 2196 The danger of judgment.

/ DVH

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” Matthew 7:1-5.

Other people’s flaws are not anyone else’s playground for entertainment. However, in today’s current society, other people’s actions are spread around like peanut butter and jelly! You can’t watch the news without being informed of this or that person’s dreadful behaviour – their condemnation is often the headline! I have noticed that when things are retracted, because they were wrong – the retraction is always teeny tiny and glossed over. 

Lately I’ve noticed that judging our pastors and leaders has also become almost a national sport. Plus we criticise other denominations like somehow our truth is better than, or more right than – what they believe. I noticed recently that one very prominent church has hit the headlines again – and my first thought was: “Oh you poor things. Dear Jesus bring your truth into this mess. Amen.” I have to be honest, my next thought was: “I am so glad I’m not anyone noteworthy, sadly I have plenty of things I’ve done and I would hate to have those things paraded around in front of the world!” 

These things are hardly ever put into context. Jesus did not condemn the woman caught in adultery – He gave her protection from her accusers and a new way to live. We must never forget that the power of life and death is in the tongue. Christians have the power to speak life and hope into despair and devastation.We don’t need deliverance – we just need to stop doing it! Let’s treat any knowledge we have as a point of prayer. I think people judge others because they feel powerless. However, …“To whom much is given, much is required.”  I love an old OLD song by Stormie Omartian – “I’m believing for the best in you …” 

What I hear the Lord saying in Matthew 7, is that if we can see it, then we can definitely pray for it. And maybe we even have IT ourselves. Before you prepare a rope to lynch me for saying that, I just want to mention that sawdust comes from wooden planks! Our eyes can get gritty because we have done the same thing, though perhaps not on such a grand scale. Or … maybe nobody found out? Therefore we can recognise the other person’s plank because we know what it feels like personally. Again, another good reason to pray! That knowledge should promote kindness, forgiveness and empathy – not judgment. What’s wrong with them is also wrong with us.

The fact that the Lord says we will be judged the way we judge others, ought to scare the living daylights out of us! Yet we nod our heads and agree with the bible, and then toddle off to dismember this person or that relative – usually behind their backs. It is as if we lack the spiritual ability to see other people the way the Lord does. Yet we ARE the light of this world. We don’t lack light – sight should never be a problem for us! Jesus is saying don’t use the light we have to hurt people –use it to help others. Nothing will separate us faster from the precious Holy Spirit than judgment. “Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.” Proverbs 16:24.

Personally, I want and need mercy, loads of it, every single day. Judgment is the most dangerous thing a Christian can participate in … Always remember, human beings judged Christ – anybody can be wrong. 👋🏻

P 2195 No time for a Nanna-nap!

/ DVH

“But you, beloved brothers and sisters, are not living in the dark, allowing that day to creep up on you like a thief coming to steal.For you are all children of the light and children of the day. We don’t belong to the night nor to darkness. This is why we must not fall asleep, as the rest do, but keep wide awake and clearheaded.But since we belong to the day, we must stay alert and clearheaded by placing the breastplate of faith and love over our hearts, and a helmet of the hope of salvation over our thoughts. He gave His life for us so that we may share in resurrection life in union with Him—whether we’re awake or asleep.” 1 Thessalonians 5:4-6, 8, 10 TPT.

The bible says His word is ‘a lamp to our feet and a light unto our path.’ And the Message bible says this: “By your words I can see where I’m going; they throw a beam of light on my dark path.” Christians do not lack light – we actually can’t! Jesus is the light of this world and we are in Christ – it’s not EVER dark where He is. You will always have plenty of light when you hang around with Jesus.

Sadly, sometimes what we do lack is the will to go and sit in the light and learn from Him! We need the Holy Spirit’s help to stay awake and alert in these overwhelming times. Ignoring why we are here is sleeping. Unfortunately human beings are not inherently good, despite popular opinion  – they are often uncaring, self-centred, independent creatures who want what they want when they want it. And if you don’t believe me read a newspaper or look at social media. Those things will quickly convince you that without Christ we are all helpless and at the mercy of our own appetites!

But because we live in the light – living there means His light will convince us that darkness cannot oppose us. Turn a light switch on when it is pitch black – darkness doesn’t leave grumbling and complaining – it is simply gone. Part of the way we shine His light out there into the darkness is to actively engage in learning His ways from the Holy Spirit. How to love others – our family, the people at work or school, our neighbours, so it is incredibly important that we see other people through His eyes. We get our Father’s eyes through living in obedience. His eyes are full of compassion. Otherwise our eyes are full of our own needs and our problems. Living in the light means we are learning to unconditionally accept the person in front of us. We can’t ever do that without the Lord’s help.

As we go about in this world, it is easy to see that many people have become so used to the darkness – that the light in us, and coming from us, hurts their eyes or they are afraid of it so they hide from it. But there are others who are drawn toward the light because it resonates deep within them. In today’s careless self-centred world, we cannot afford to be asleep on the job because who we are is always on display. People watch us  simply because we are standing in His light. 

Alert people keep their faith going even when it is opposed on all sides. If they have to hang on by their fingernails, they hang on! They tell themselves, “God has got this. These circumstances did not surprise Him. He has a plan, His plans are for my good and my future. I cannot afford to see my circumstances through the white noise this world produces, even though it is all around me – I must look at this life through the Lord’s eyes not my own.” These people stop holding onto what they think they must have or need, and let everything go – other people’s sin, the absence of real love everywhere etc. simply because walking with Him is more important than anything else.

Our personal faith is far more incredibly valuable than we realise, and we access and use our faith when we choose to love others, no matter what is going on in us and around us. Faith is a belief that our God can and will only do all of us good whether we know it or not – because He is good. We need the kind of strong faith that protects our hearts. The kind of faith that covers our heart with the belief that He loves and cares for every single person individually – no matter how things look, or how we feel.

Our faith hides in, and depends upon His goodness. It hides us from the deadly attacks of the enemy. It creates an atmosphere that is alert and notices whatever the Lord is doing. Our faith looks for good even within the bad. Our faith believes in Him, His Character, His never-ending kindness, goodness and love. And it shields our hearts by reminding us of everything He said in the bible. Our faith is not in circumstances or people, it understands other people fall victim to their own lack of faith in His reliability.

Lastly, His hope comes directly from our belief system –  it understands that HOPE is a Person. Christ. Our hope relies upon what He did. We cannot afford to gain hope from works, or even experiences – our hope is in Him. Sleeping in the light is wasting the time God gave us all. Just because things have become darker outside, that does not mean we can afford Nanna naps! The light shines brighter in the darkness. 👋🏻