Author: DVH

P 2412 People need help to understand.

/ DVH

I often really struggle with the concept that the people-who-don’t-know-Jesus-yet, are somehow our enemies or they are in the wrong team. The Bible describes these people as lost  …to me that means they can be found – at any minute, of any hour, of any day, any time at all! Even if people are supposedly our enemies, we are to love them! Now there’s a directive that changes stuff.  Christianity is not an exclusive club, with passwords and incomprehensible language – it’s a whosever-will-may-come-club!

Jesus told us parables about things that have been lost, and then they get found. However, we both know that He’s talking about people, not coins or sheep … ! It is a tragedy when we treat the people-who-don’t-know-Jesus yet like they are somehow inferior to us. No wonder they avoid us like the plague. We need to learn to love who HE loves, and He loves ALL OF THEM. Let’s stop trying to get them saved, so we will feel more comfortable, and share the love of God instead. There ain’t nothing more powerful than His love.

The difference between us and most non-Christians, or non-believers, is simply … His Grace. We know about what He did for all of us, and they don’t!  Grace can totally transform a human heart. “What do we have that we were not GIVEN?!’ (I Corinthians 4:7) In other words, somebody else told us there was another way to live. You or I could be the first person to ever tell another person the salvation story. What a privilege we have – we get to invite people into eternity with Jesus. His GRACE IS WHAT MATTERS – Grace works fine when you use your faith.

The dividing line between “them” and “us” is imaginary and quite useless. It puts a space where there is no need to put one! Personally, I was “them” not that many years ago. Then somebody took the time to tell me Jesus loves me. That sentence changed my life utterly. I don’t know your story, but I know I believed in a God Who was out there, somewhere, for many many years, before I met Jesus Christ personally. Up until that day I had no clue that He was available to be MET. I had never heard the gospel even once. The news that Jesus loved me, before I was even born, and He had a plan for my life, was astonishing. Before that point my own plans were kind of haphazard, and they were not working out all that well! 

I think somehow, we are afraid that if we tell people the cost of Christianity, they won’t ‘sign up!’ We’ve forgotten the whole point is for them to meet a Person, not join a church group. When they meet Him, He’s worth the cost! Prior to meeting the Lord myself, my life was a revolving door with people coming in and going out on their own whims. Then I met SomeOne Who came IN to stay. When you have suffered rejection all of your life God’s acceptance blows your mind.

As I speak to other people about the Lord, I often think of my previous life and I talk to other people with it in mind. Funnily enough, I witnessed to all my family and friends until I was no longer welcome with some of my rellies.. teehee..  Hah! Truth be told I still do that actually – giggle.😂 That’s because some of those people are now closer to the shoving-off point than they were back then, and I figure what the heck? They definitely need to know!! That’s called LOVE.

At this very moment hubby has gone off to share the gospel with a lady who knows nothing about Jesus, and she is part of a small group of people who meet to talk about the Gideon bible. Talk about dedicated! She barely speaks English!! She came here from mainland China. We have given her heaps of stuff to help her on her journey toward knowing Jesus. Her words to my hubby about the Gideon bible were: ‘This is a very hard book to understand.’ I’ll say! That’s why we give away modern versions of His book..

Finally, I want to leave everyone reading this today, with one last thought – “Where are the Phillips who will come alongside others to help them understand what they are reading?” …Just like Philip did with the Ethiopian eunuch. That godly man ran alongside this man’s carriage to help him understand the gospel. Hubby and I will, of course, pray for this lady… but we are not leaving her alone – now the Holy Spirit has her. The most important point hubby gave her today was JESUS LOVES YOU – He wants to be a part of your life. 👋🏻

PS It ain’t rocket science. A child can do it! And our children and grandchildren might have to if we keep dodging out of our own responsibility. It wouldn’t be the first time God has gone right ’round one generation to the next!

P 2411 We are all seed sowers.

/ DVH

Today I just want to share one small story from our current trip – and I have a point for sharing it. We’ve been to a whole lot of places in the last 17 days and we’ve been travelling about like this for 18 years. We’ve literally been almost everywhere! Some places twice or three times. We regularly give away one of the more modern versions of the Gospels. Last night we stayed in a little seaside town. Now, on with my story… 

We’ve previously stayed here before, and on a past trip we went to a much smaller caravan park. Back then it was run by an older man. About 10 years ago, hubby went into this park clutching a bundle of bibles. The older man in reception was delighted to take bibles and they chatted about the Lord for a while. Hubby promised we would come back, in the future, when we could with more bibles. People pinch them – ya-ay! Yay Jesus – You get them anyway!

In the middle of the night, yesterday, the Lord spoke to hubby and told him that he was going to meet someone that day who needed one of his paintings. He gave him a message for that person. We ended up at that same caravan park we’d visited so many years before, again. This time there were only 5 caravans, but hubby faithfully went off with bibles under his arm. There was a different older man behind the reception desk. He told this man that we had been there before, and that, at that time there was another much older man in reception. 

The man behind the desk indicated that the older man was his father, and sadly he had died 5 years ago. He pointed to a photo of his Dad and hubby indicated he was the man he had met years ago. The current caravan park guy said his father had owned and run this little park, all of his life, and he inherited it after his father’s death. At that point, hubby brought out his painting, and said he felt it was for the owner. The older man teared up immediately when he saw it and hubby explained that it is called: “Take the plunge.”  Then he delivered the message God gave him the night before.

It transpired that the current owner badly wanted to retire, but he was hesitant because of filial obligation. The sad thing was, running this park was not something that he wanted to do. He was simply trying to honour his father and his inheritance. He felt trapped there. However after receiving the painting and the word from God hubby gave him, he strongly felt he could sell the business and retire. Father God wanted to set him free to live his own life. This man doesn’t go to church, and has no Christian affiliations. The Lord’s timing is amazing… I don’t want to comment any further on this story, because I wrote about it for another purpose, entirely. 

This is what hubby and I do. We take what God says, and what He tells us to do, out there to ordinary everyday people who have no idea God speaks to ANYONE personally. Most of them have never even been in a church. We say what He says to say, and give things away freely. We don’t push church at anyone. Sometimes we pray for them, then we walk away and leave the results up to the Holy Spirit. These gifts that the Holy Spirit has given you and I are for everyone’s benefit, to encourage, to heal, to guide, to bless. It seems to me things like this are the Lord waving at people saying: “Yoo-hoo I’m real!”  He touches them in ways that have nothing whatsoever to do with us. Our spiritual gifts are not just available to the people who go to church … after all … Jesus healed everyone! He didn’t check out their church credentials. 

Anybody can do this – you just take the gift He has given you and use it wherever He says to do it. We bless these strangers however the Holy Spirit tells us to bless them, and then we are done. We have faith that the Lord will send people after us. They have their job and we have ours. However, we are all, collectively, seed sowers, or witnesses. To have a harvest, the Body of Christ needs to sow seeds in obedience to the Lord’s leading. Actually to even have a testimony, we will all have to face our fears and move way outside our comfort zones!! Jesus moved wa-ay outside His comfort zone for us – it is the least we can do for Him. Bye. 👋🏻

P 2410 Forgiveness means living creatively.

/ DVH

“Live creatively, friends. If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day’s out. Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ’s law. If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived.” Galatians 6:1-3 MSG.

Isn’t it astonishing that living a forgiving, humble, generous life full of redemption – is called living creatively? I must have skipped that aspect of this verse about a zillion times over the years – it simply didn’t register. Does Paul mean we are meant to make-up attitudes and actions? No, I don’t think so. I think he is saying that living a forgiving life is introducing opportunities to create new scenarios, new possibilities … change. Unfortunately, sadly …I think all forms of judgment will close that down! Ya might want to think on that one. 

Did you get that when somebody you know falls into sin we have the opportunity and the power to release change and forgiveness? Yeah. US. We can often think of ourselves as powerless in this life, there are so many other people out there who appear to have way more influence than we have. Yet here Paul talks about our God-given inherent ability to restore someone else by our attitudes and actions, by using the redemptive transformative tools of compassion, mercy and grace. If you truly desire to be like Jesus, this is the way. This is what He did.

Thinkaboudit. That’s real power. Not the fakey-fake stuff, that is here today and gone tomorrow. That’s the rubbish stuff this world admires. We have the power to change forever, for someone else. At that moment of forgiving and helping we are reaching out into eternity – releasing someone else’s destiny. That’s not real shabby is it? Think of the people who are trying to love those difficult people.  Unseen and unheralded, many, many people choose to live in pain – because they are holding on tightly to the promise of breakthrough in someone else’s life. They are using their faith to hold fast to new possibilities. I call that creative thinking as well as creative living!

I think this verse is at the heart of the problems many of us have in our interpersonal relationships. I’ve done it myself … I forgive and forgive and forgive … and then suddenly … ‘Now that’s it! I’m angry. You’ve gone too far!! I’ve forgiven you heaps of times and yet you are still being horrible toward me. How many chances do you want?? I’ve had enough!’ Tragically, self-talk can make or break us at this point. People talk all the time about positive self-talk, yet this particular aspect is ignored. We can self-talk ourselves into hatred and bitterness – not just a poor self-image.

Paul presents another unique thought right here – next time it could be my turn. It’s funny how the things that someone else does are deeply wounding and offensive, but when I do the same thing, or worse … then I didn’t mean any harm! That thought makes me quite nauseous in its accuracy. I like the realism of Paul’s phrasing …I might be needing forgiveness by the end of the day. Ya got that right!  As soon as I enter into judging you and wondering if I really do have to forgive someone who continually hurts me – I’ve fallen into a worse hole than they are in!

Did you also get the bit where Paul says… stoop down? This poor sinful schmuck is so convicted at this time, he’s on the floor. People living real raw lives often end up there. Life just kind of knocks them down and they can’t get up. Now that is something that I can identify with. Being flat on the floor, unable to stand with sorrow and conviction weighing me down;  because the realisation that I have sinned, by disobeying and hurting somebody else, has flattened me.

I also think many people are often oppressed by the enemy … however they are deceived into thinking his attitudes are really theirs … all that is far more common than we know. Just because it pops up in your brain that doesn’t mean it’s your thought! Take it captive. Sadly, at the same time, attributing mean, spiteful and unkind behaviour to someone who dearly wants to be an obedient child of God, is a total tragedy. That’s your brother or sister down there on that floor. Meanwhile I’ve learnt that holding a grudge or gloating won’t just hurt them … it hurts me. 

Christ’s law is the law of Love and there is no timetable for the law of Love. It doesn’t have an expiry date either. Praise God! Boy am I glad about that!! You know, sometimes we can concentrate on other people’s sins so intently, we put blinders on. We can’t see anything else … including our own attitudes. But Paul sorts that out right here, in Galatians. This is the best remedy for a wrong attitude – help them and hold onto the thought that any minute it might be your turn! Forgiveness means living creatively. 👋🏻

P 2409 Better than … !

/ DVH

““Don’t bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This isn’t a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we’re in. If your child asks for bread, do you trick him with sawdust? If he asks for fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? As bad as you are, you wouldn’t think of such a thing. You’re at least decent to your own children. So don’t you think the God Who conceived you in love will be even better?” Matthew 7:7-11 MSG.

We all know these verses, actually, in some places they have almost been enshrined! This scripture is not about our rights, or what we can gain – I believe it is actually about God revealing Himself. He is explaining that He is far better than any earthly father! Further on, in conjunction with these verses, He makes it clear that He will always give the Holy Spirit to those who ask for Him. He is explaining His total commitment to generosity. Our problem is this … do we believe Him?

Father God is saying if we want something from Him we can ask for it in a direct manner. We don’t need to exchange favours with Him to get His attention … because we already have His favour! Thank you Jesus! These verses are about us misjudging Him on the basis of life-experiences and observations. I want to say that there have been times that God has given me something that looked, to my eyes – like sawdust, or a snake – But. I. Was. Wrong! 

Our God thinks long term. What seemed bad to me at that time was actually a blessing in disguise. Everything depends on the way we view things. We must simply start from the premise … God is always good … otherwise we can fall down endless sink-holes of despair and disappointment. He cannot be our last resort – He must be the place we start, by having great confidence in His nature.

We need to live with the joyous expectancy that He is so much better than our own current experiences, or even our past ones. Living a life of faith means leaving room for our own growth. Always. None of us have arrived. The point is we dare not assess God with human standards. Personally I think we are on thin ice assessing Him AT ALL! Let’s just believe He is Who He says He is, and He will do what He says He will do. Remember our confidence is in WHO HE IS  … His nature … not in getting what we think we want or need – no matter how compelling our story is.

It seems to me that Father God’s heartache is revealed in these verses. It saddens me to think we have reduced any revelation of the Lord Himself into a method to get Him to do what WE want … by quoting Himself back to Him! These verses are not about that. At the bottom of what has been said in Matthew, I hear His disappointment with our response to His goodness. I feel like He is saying: “Surely you think I would be better than you?!” And sadly many Christians would rather trot out their disappointments and illustrations of unanswered prayer, as proof He is not! 

Many times we have even concocted arguments that prove that our request was not unworthy – so why hasn’t the Lord done His part? After all we prayed! I would like to know where is the LOVE the bible talks about in that approach? I mean the kind of love that hopes all things, believes all things and never fails? Those verses in 1 Corinthians 13 are not a one way street – God Himself is describing how He sees love. What it means to Him. This is His standard, if you like, of what LOVE looks like! This is also how HE would like to be treated. Again, He is revealing Himself.  Part of any relationship is seeing the other person’s POV – and acknowledging it by acting accordingly.  

Almighty God is telling us that we can ask whatever we want with confidence and He will not only hear us but He has the best answer in mind every single time. Does NO mean we will go on to doubt Who He is? Little children hate no, but real people of faith are always looking for better than. And they already know that waiting will stretch them. We must stop chasing His benefits and go after His heart.

These verses are His better than answer. His love is better than any father who tricks or tries to frighten His kid. Almighty God does not play around with our feelings. We definitely need to know Him better than that! The Lord never wants His kids to feel tricked or scared – He wants them to know, in their hearts, that He is so trustworthy they can have complete confidence in His answers. Psalm 39:7 says this: “And now, God, I’m left with one conclusion:  My only hope is to hope in You alone!”Um! …I’m pretty sure our Heavenly Father doesn’t want to be our booby prize!  I think He wants to be our better than … Our constant ongoing hope no matter what!!   🤗

P 2408 Knowing Him is our greatest quest.

/ DVH

Our own private opinion of God’s goodness can make or break our faith. I think that we need to pay more attention to the word forever, in the bible. We can get so caught up in our now, that forever can be overlooked. Almighty God always holds forever in His heart. I said that to accent my next point… He doesn’t see things the way we do, which means whatever He does, He does it with forever in mind.

Our opinion of His goodness matters. When Moses asked to see His face, God answered that prayer by letting His goodness pass by. THE FACE OF GOD IS GOODNESS – no matter how things around us look. His goodness is His incredible passionate generosity toward us.

I love these statements Father God makes, look at what He is saying about Himself – take it in …”I know the plans I have for you plans to give you a hope and a future”…(Jeremiah 29:19) … “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.” (Exodus 34:6-7a) “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and shall He not make it good.”(Numbers 23:19)

Here is a great study to do— look up what Almighty God says about Himself — I highly recommend it. We must stop concentrating on the verses that promise this and that, and begin to understand … as best our peanut little brains can(! )… what the God we love and serve is like. What His priorities are! We will have a lot less disappointment and despair in our lives if we set our hearts to understand what He is doing long-term, rather than critique what He has done, from our POV. Let’s decide that He knows better than we do what we need. He doesn’t need our help to work it out! That’s called faith.

Naturally, Jesus Christ is the most wonderful example of God’s goodness in action in mankind’s lives. We must regularly watch Him in God’s book, interact with people just like US, and we will see His tenderness, compassion and concern. Christ has made it so much easier to understand the nature of God – plus His expectations toward, and for humanity. But we desperately need to stretch ourselves beyond the limitations of me and mine and start applying ourselves toward understanding His incredible forever qualities for us and this world around us.

I find that I need the Holy Spirit’s clear as glass view, the view the Lord God Himself has from heaven. To that end, I’ve learnt to apply myself, concentrate and carefully watch what Jesus says and does, in all circumstances and situations. His response is, and always was, God’s will first. You simply do not see Christ acting for His own benefit. He was always kingdom minded. His own needs were incidental. Jesus listened for the Holy Spirit’s input, His guidance and wisdom and then acted on it. He is our example.

I personally don’t want anymore airy-fairy stuff. The stuff we’ve focussed on for ages, like the grab at this promise and wave that ‘why not me’ banner. Our God is not within us to fulfil our childish fantasies – He offers so much more. Knowing Him well eclipses anything this world can offer. We need to begin by loving what He loves. People. There is nothing like loving difficult people to bring out the ‘God-factor’ instantly — or the lack of it! 

Every single person on this planet has a divine spark, and each one has something of the nature of God to reveal to us – if we look for it. Some people bury that spark under a load of religious or scientific or fantasy-type rubble – but the spark is there.  We’ve personally seen how gentle He is with the ‘bruised reeds’ of this world. There is no greater honour when He asks us to GO in His Name. Um …just FYI… His Name is on the line when He sends each of US! That shows me how much the Lord believes in His kids.  

Hubby and I have watched Him touch people out here on the road over and over again on this trip. People who don’t even think about Him, respond instantly… when they hear His deep loving voice calling to them. I pray for myself all the time out here: “Lord please let the people You want us to talk to, hear Your voice more than my voice.”

Our God’s incredible goodness has restored and retrieved each human being from darkness, danger and devastation. He is quite simply trustworthy and good. However, at this time in man’s history, He is far more than we are letting Him be. We must not reduce Almighty God down to Jehovah Jireh … when there are so many other facets to Who He is. We need to personally look beyond our pain, to Jesus our Elder Brother and our example – He started our faith and He will finish it! Knowing Almighty God is our greatest quest. 👋🏻

P 2407 His mercy is the rock I stand on.

/ DVH

“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23 NIV.

Imagine that. When you and I got up this morning…. wherever we are in this world … whatever is going on around us … God’s Mercy hit the refresh button! Isn’t that marvellous? I don’t mean to be frivolous, because I know that actually, His mercy never comes to an end. Even the earth we are standing on will one day be gone – but God’s mercy is eternal. Man I like that thought!! There are days at my house when that thought alone gets me out of my bed and puts my wobbly feet back on the floor.

Compassion and mercy do not mean what we sometimes think they mean. Those things are not kind of girly mushy stuff. Strong men show mercy and compassion, daily. This is what the dictionary says that word means: ”Compassion literally means “to suffer together.” … It is defined as the feeling that arises when you are confronted with another’s suffering and feel motivated to relieve that suffering.” Sometimes I like the dictionary meaning and sometimes I don’t. I like today’s meaning a lot because Jesus suffered TOGETHER with us on that cross. That’s how incredible God’s  love is… and how it was expressed toward mankind, forever. 

Let’s not ever let the tense of the phrasing in the bible confuse us. God’s mercy, compassion, His faithfulness and His love are in the ever present NOW. 🙌 My first thought when I read verses like this one is that I don’t deserve it, I never have, I never ever will. That’s the point! Every single morning we have been alive, His mercy was there to meet us.

I was told, that when I was a baby, barely standing up, my birth father used to put me on a chair so I could look out of the window. My father was distracted for a moment and I climbed up, and started crawling along the window ledge, 3 stories up! He grabbed me by the nappy, just in time, as I was about to crawl off the ledge. I consider that to be God’s active mercy to me – as well as my parents. Yet none of us knew it. I am not anybody special, but His faithfulness undergirded me. It undergirds every single one of us. Though men may fail me He will not! 

My infant brother, born a few months later, died of congenital heart failure at 6 weeks of age. I know that that was also God’s mercy. I don’t understand it, or why it happened, and I have nothing else to say about it. Personally, I would have loved to have had a brother … but I know the Lord cannot be anything but faithful and merciful. It is in His nature and I cling to that. Knowing His nature holds us up when the inexplicable happens. We grieve and suffer, but our suffering is not hopeless, be-ca-use — HIS MERCY IS BRAND NEW EVERY SINGLE MORNING!

I was 14 months old at that time, and I spent the next few months trying to find my baby brother. I was caught once trying to pull somebody else’s kid out of their pram by the foot, to see if it was my brother … onto concrete. That was also His mercy!  But at the same time, let’s just remember together that His mercy is not permission to live however we want to. His mercy leads us into repentance and transformation.

At 40 years of age, I nearly died of auto-immune based liver failure. We had moved from Melbourne to Brisbane and found a flat within walking distance, not a half a kilometre (!) of the only hospital in AUSTRALIA who were successfully performing liver transplants. The doctors doing this work at that time, led the world. One of their techniques is still used and it is called the Brisbane technique. I was months from death. Other people died all around me, and yet I am still here 33 years after that huge operation. That is God’s mercy toward me and those who love me. I was away from the Lord at that time, and I know I definitely did not deserve His compassion and mercy – but He gave it to me anyway.

The thing we need to remember above all else today, is this: no matter how we feel … God’s mercy endures forever. Never discount yourself as a failure, or as hopeless, or helpless. God’s mercy is brand new every single morning. When we open our little eyeballs every day, even the day we finally open them in heaven — MERCY will be there to greet us.  Praise Him. 👋🏻

2 Timothy 1:12: “. . . I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day” (KJV). Live this life persuaded!

P 2406 True kindness – not the mushy kind.

/ DVH

The Lord wants us to be kind the way He is kind – He is kind to the sinner, as well as the saint – He shows no partiality. Kindness can open up a heart far better and faster than any probing, or carefully crafted questions. Whenever we think about approaching other people … kindness needs to be our motivation. We need this fruit of the Holy Spirit activated and operating through us. Active in us – means we understand that when God or a brother or sister points out a fault in us, they are being kind. Christians are always ready and unafraid to be corrected, because we own and rectify our untoward actions and attitudes. We have a secret – WE HAVE A SAVIOUR. 

One of the best things to put far from our minds when we are talking to strangers, or friends, is whether they are Christians or not. We need get rid of this isolationist idea that we have one face in church and another outside it. I urge you to simply be the same person at all times. To start with, there will be huge untold benefits —- you will do what you do with sincerity and true kindness, and other people will be impacted.  

Hiding our sins from others gives the enemy an opportunity to shoot us at the worst possible moment. Our sin is gone, not disguised. Many Christians hide their sins because they hate to be seen to be wrong —I dunno why?!?! We have been permanently set free and we are now open to be led by Him. Honesty means humility. Win win! However wearing a nice veneer leaves no room for acts of faith. The Holy Spirit loves all things to be open. Hiding our sin from ourselves and each other, is a sign of pride. But a humble heart gladly repents and makes reparation. If we are not careful we can treat being changed like it is our enemy – transformation into His likeness is always a JOY. 

Meanwhile pride is the stuff that will make anyone fall over quicker than a runner who trips on a shoelace. The bible says:“It is the kindness of God that leads us to repentance.”Here that verse is in the MSG version:“You didn’t think, did you, that just by pointing your finger at others you would distract God from seeing all your misdoings and from coming down on you hard? Or did you think that because He’s such a nice God, He’d let you off the hook? Better think this one through from the beginning. God is kind, but He’s not soft. In kindness He takes us firmly by the hand and leads us into a radical life-change.”Romans 2:4.

Isn’t that version a hoot? Because if we are truthful, sometimes this is exactly the way we think. We think He will be kind to us because … because… “I can’t help it. I had a hard life and my parents were mean to me … blah  blah blah… I hate my job and it’s not my fault… blah blah blah. Because my spouse is mean to me and my kids don’t listen to a word I say… I know God understands that when I shout I don’t mean it….” … This sort of attitude denies the power of the cross. Be real! Admit your faults – then you can get on with living life His Way instead. Being fake excludes the power of the Spirit.

God’s idea of kindness includes discipline. “The Lord disciplines those He loves.” God loves us but He won’t put up with our stuff. The stuff has to go! It is stopping us from being all we can be. His huge, very real love, challenges anything and everything that will stop us from growing up into the fullness of Christ. Any parent will tell you that it knows their kid’s potential, and when the little darlings go on and on about ‘it’s not my fault, the teacher is so mean to me!’ An engaged parent will see through that. And so does the Lord. Everything is an opportunity for us to know HIM better … this side of heaven.

Here’s what I’ve learnt – we can only avoid change for so long, and then the Lord kind of squishes us into a corner where we have to look at whatever it is … and despite our pretty pictures of a God Who is more like Santa Claus – He won’t let us out! This is when He is being incredibly kind to us. He never demands that we succeed – instead He wants our participation, our willingness to engage with Him in His processes. And that has nothing whatsoever to do with simply agreeing that what we are doing is not Godly! We need to learn to apply God-given answers and deal with ourselves. Real faith grows with application and demonstration.

Godly kindness will open doors that have been slammed shut by pain, betrayal, anguish, grief, and hopelessness. Human kindness will eventually get fed up, and give up! God’s kind of love perseveres. Its only requirement is that it is genuine. And there is nothing like staying real, to release the sort of kindness that heals and impacts someone else’s life. Kindness means forgiveness is always ready to make an appearance – it doesn’t demand a penalty because it knows the penalty has been paid.

In the kindness of our God, our faith and beliefs are open to anyone… so we need to be open, generous, truthful and considerate with other people, no matter how they treat us. That’s how we spread what He did for mankind around, and it is what true kindness looks like. 👋🏻

P 2405 Without God it’s impossible!

/ DVH

““I tell you, love your enemies. Help and give without expecting a return. You’ll never—I promise—regret it. Live out this God-created identity the way our Father lives toward us, generously and graciously, even when we’re at our worst. Our Father is kind; you be kind.” Luke 6:35 MSG.

Yup! Loving our enemies is impossible without the Holy Spirit’s assistance … His help. BUT, at the same time, we need to remember, the Holy Spirit knows the way through anything. Time and time again hubby and I have watched the Lord get us out of some disaster, scrape or hard time. Some of the time that stuff was absolutely our fault – we went the wrong way, said something stupid, or missed an opportunity. Some of it was just life! It happens!! We have learnt through personal experience, that the Lord can turn anything around. Some things might take longer than others, but we both know He will do it.

“…a man’s worst enemies will be right in his own home!” Matthew 10:36. Are you cheered up yet? Me neither. ☹️ However the truth of that remark has not escaped me. Even our families and friends won’t always get the way you and I are choosing to live. Many times I have had a family member tell me in a caring way: “You don’t have to be that serious about what you believe.” My inward response is … in a pig’s-eye I don’t!  Anything less than that kind of commitment and I will end up like that Simon and Garfunkel song …”Slip sliding away…”

So here’s a more comprehensive version of the above scripture from the Message bible: “Don’t think I’ve come to make life cozy. I’ve come to cut—make a sharp knife-cut between son and father, daughter and mother, bride and mother-in-law—cut through these cozy domestic arrangements and free you for God. Well-meaning family members can be your worst enemies. If you prefer father or mother over Me, you don’t deserve Me. If you prefer son or daughter over Me, you don’t deserve Me.”Yeah that one is definitely a down-a-later.  My first and only warning about that version is this — don’t even start looking for the people in your family who may turn out to be your enemies. In this case … ignorance is bliss! 

So how does this stuff track out? How do we know how to handle things? Family members may say they want this or that for your own good. But under that lovely phrase is a clue that they too, have an agenda. They think if you become a missionary to Afghanistan some bad guy is gunna get you, and if that happens it will cause everyone pain… including them. Even Christ’s family members opposed Him and made it harder for Him to do God’s will …EG His mother and His brothers …read the book!

The following remark is an awful thing, but it is totally true, we don’t know what we don’t know about ourselves, and others — until we are tested. Meanwhile our family/enemies may not want to kill us, maybe they just want to control us … for our own good. Sadly the spirit of control will take us immediately out of the realm of faith. Our God will not share His servants with anyone.

Now back to the meat of my subject, love your enemies. I rejoice that the Lord has given us this kind of stuff to do because it is impossible. The natural thing to do with someone who doesn’t like you… is avoid them! However, everything is possible with Him. So right away, when this happens we have an opportunity to grow our faith. But first you need to ask Him for His guidance, read the book, then listen to His prompting and after that you literally follow the prompts.

BTW I’ve noticed that a selfless attitude won’t fall on us – we have to submit to the Lord, then the enemy will flee. Unlike the Israelites with their enemy encounters, our enemies rarely have armour on or rush at us, so they are more likely to sneak up on us. 

Personally I just think it is best to treat everyone the same. Love them all. That works for me! Sorting out people into categories and picking out which one hates me sounds like a very negative pastime. So I think doing good to those who despitefully use us can be applied across the board. In my experience sooner or later even the people we love appear to be enemies temporarily! It’s the response bit that matters, not identifying the wrong-uns. That road leads to judgment.

We are responsible for our own reactions, and at the same time that means we need to acknowledge when we are utterly wrong and out of God’s order, and repent and repair wherever we can. We need His help because without His help loving our enemies is impossible. 👋🏻 

P 2404 Really loving others is costly.

/ DVH

“It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows. For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That’s an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then?” Galatians 5:13-15 MSG.

God’s idea of freedom verses ours is another one of those things that seem to be in opposition. In reality it is available to the tough, those who will persevere, and the utterly committed. I believe the Lord wants us all to live a life free of the oppressions that drive and devastate people, and spoil relationships, and break- up homes. That sort of life is truly our witness, not just our words. There is an incredible freedom in living out the truth, and His Word is the only truth. When we willingly exchange our ideas of truth and freedom for His TRUTH, from the bible, everything looks different. 

And we’ve actually exchanged human glasses for heavenly vision. This is what renewing our minds looks like. It is more than being able to quote the bible. It is allowing ourselves to become a living bible. We are no different to the thousands of men and women of God who lived this way right after Christ died. They gave everything for the gospel. And they had the same Holy Spirit we have!  Reading the bible and simply agreeing that what is in it is a good principle, or a nice thought, or a good way to live —will not set us free. In God’s kingdom there is no compromise. He gave everything and He asks us to do the same. That includes exchanging what we esteem as truth, for real truth, HIS TRUTH. 

This means mental agreement is not enough, practicing what it says is. We might think – but I will not be ME anymore if I follow what the Holy Spirit says. GOOD!! The idea is to die to who we think we are, and all the stuff we’ve grabbed at in this life to achieve that image in our head – and trust in what Christ did for us instead. The Holy Spirit is not an add-on. He is essential to our new life in Christ. He knows what Jesus would do! If we lean toward making excuses for our own behaviour, or attacking other people to defend ourselves, we are immediately walking into satan’s territory. I believe obedient hearts attract the Holy Spirit’s Presence.

satan is the prince of the power of the air. he loves to distort words, meanings, looks, attitudes into negative things. We need to see other people from God’s perspective. He can use our prayers, our kindness, self-control, and love to bring out the best in others. We have a choice … we can live on the fringes of what the Lord says, or we can change the way we view people to His way, and practice obedience. I have people in my life that are not always supportive, but the Holy Spirit has asked me to see those people through His eyes. I owe Him my obedience.

Our God is fantastic at multi-tasking. Boy is He terrific at it!! He can take my desire to be obedient and transform me, as I act on it. And at the same time He will use my obedience to break into other people’s lives and bring about change there too. The thing we need to hold onto is that it will take as long as it takes. There is no magic formula. Ask for help, do what He says, keep your ears open and your heart humble … and be obedient … and remember flattery will not do. We are not buttering other people up – we are in process with God learning to live in the truth. The best words we can ever learn in this process are: “I’m sorry please forgive me.” Whether we did something to warrant those words or not. Read the book!

Sometimes we are like little kids who are planting seeds. We plant the seed, and a day later we are disappointed because we can’t see any growth! Changing adults who are set in their ways, and used to defending themselves, can take time. In our eyes, it is often the other person who is wrong, or maybe wrong-er than us. It is that view we must change.

We are committing ourselves to learn LOVE. It will take time, compassion, and loads of humility as well as repentance. It’s a process … not a magic formula. Truly loving others is always costly – it cost Christ His life. 👋🏻

P 2403 Step away from religious ritual.

/ DVH

“I suspect you would never intend this, but this is what happens. When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ, you fall out of grace. Meanwhile we expectantly wait for a satisfying relationship with the Spirit. For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is somethingfar more interior: faith expressed in love.” Galatians 5:4-6 MSG

I like this version of those verses, because most people don’t intentionally set out to become religious. We are initially attracted to the welcoming, living, breathing,  redeeming Saviour — and then time, and a lack of inspiration wears us down. Pretty soon, unless we address the idea that church is meant to be there for me, to help me, and teach me… religious duty will take over. We can’t blame the pastor! Our own expectations when we go to church matter. I exhort you, go to church to be with Him and the Body of Christ.

Perhaps at times we are speaking for the Lord, but not listening to Him. The Holy Spirit knows how to have church, the early church waited for Him because Jesus’ instructed them to wait, but the good news is this — we don’t have to wait for Him, He’s already here!! He never left. We simply need to constrain Him to come and stay with us, collectively. Our desire to be with Him will attract Him. Instead of blaming the leaders, let’s you and I go to church hungry for Him, more of Him.

I don’t think this means we need to put on a better show than Radio City Music Hall, or a some sort of Rock concert – that’s just window dressing. I think we resort to window dressing because a lot of the church is addicted to feelings. The real truth is, we want Him to come and be with us all… Like the men on the road to Emmaus we need to urge the Lord to come further with us, eat with us, and be with us. We need to change our expectations of why we go to church.

What we need to know, more than anything, is how to make Him our priority.  If wooing the bridegroom is not paramount in our thoughts and actions … then there is a chance we are being religious. When He comes to our gatherings people are convicted, healed, transformed, built up and encouraged into action – because He is present. The bible totally proves that our God loves to be around mankind – He created opportunities to interact with us. However, we have become so addicted to having our own needs met, we’ve left behind the thought that church is about Him.

I am also not talking about prophetic utterances or words from the Lord. Prophetic utterances are often for US. We spend so much time trying to build us up that we’ve forgotten to make the One person Who can do it in a heartbeat – welcome! The Holy Spirit needs to be our new Best Friend. You and I meet with Him daily, in our own homes, and circumstances, but when we get together that is our opportunity to become part of a collective longing.That longing is not about knowing about Him – we want to be with Him because He loves to be with us.

A good sailor will tell you that they watch to see what the wind is doing because they know they need the wind to fill the sail so they can progress. We need to watch and see what the Holy Spirit (the Wind) is doing and then do that. Following Jesus is not some sort of chore. It only seems to be a chore when we get stuck on ritual. Religion is not what we are aiming at, unless it is pure religion. James talked about that … looking after widows and orphans, plus keeping a watch over our tongues.

Church is about meeting with Him and not simply about making us feel good. We go there to learn how to love Him with all our heart, mind, soul and strength – and our neighbour as ourselves. But God comes first, because … “without HIM we can do nothing!” So, I go to church … not just for my needs, but for HIS and yours. Church should never just be a weekly activity. But please don’t quit going there–just change the reason you go!

I don’t think Christians are being religious on purpose. But His Grace is not prevalent or present, when we leave Him and His wishes out. The key to this passage is at the end of it – faith expressed in love. I love Him and that means I love you. No matter what you wear or how you sound, I am more concerned about you than me. If love is not present, the Lord is not present – because LOVE is a hallmark of His Presence. Bye. 🤗