Author: DVH

P 3429 GRACE is not an optional extra.

/ DVH

It is often so easy to focus on our needs. The need to be well, or have enough money, or a job, or a house, or even the right spouse to serve Him. When what we actually need is His Grace for wherever we are – right here, right now! Jesus Himself didn’t have any of those physical things and it didn’t bother Him — His food and drink was to do the will of His Father. Paul wasn’t impressed by the fripperies of this world either, and if you look at all the disciples, they didn’t think they needed anything BUT JESUS.

I know about a number of missionaries who don’t have most of the kind of things that we take for granted. However, they don’t feel poor. Actually they’d rather walk with Him, than rely upon stuff. The Lord Jesus gave us His grace when He died for us, now, Grace is the vehicle we step into, and we never ever step out of again!  Because our aim is to follow Him, we choose to apply ourselves to learn this truth. We literally cannot do anything without Him. Salvation is not just asking Him into our lives and walking away, clutching our free ticket to heaven. Grace is the ticket that takes us all the way there. That ‘ticket’ cost our loving Saviour His life.

By now we have learnt that choosing to love anyone is incredibly powerful, and it is even more powerful when we begin to understand the cost of that kind of choice. Our choice to follow Him blesses the Lord Jesus’ heart. We, and millions of other people, who have gone before us, are His reward for all His suffering. I don’t think human beings have the capacity to live the way Jesus did, and maintain it, without the Grace of God freely flowing through their lives.

It takes Grace to love someone who feels so entitled to focus on their own happiness than anything else around them – they see this world in a childish fashion. “What’s in it for me?’ It can be remarkably easy to give up leaning on the Lord, because the spiritual things seem too hard. That’s the point. They were always going to be too hard. Our quest is to choose to learn to love, live, move and have our being in Him, and His Grace helps us achieve that, one step at a time.

‘Grace needs to be viewed not just as a one-time pardon, but as an ongoing spiritual strength, that helps people change and serve others.’ (Google) Loving others in our own strength will eventually produce a conflict of interests, and most of the time, it’s likely that my own interests will win! That’s when Grace Himself leaves, and we are left with ‘me’ in all my selfish glory. Conversely, I can easily get puffed up by how sacrificial I am, even when you clearly don’t deserve it. I can also probably be misled by hardship — but His Grace is God’s gift to me, to lead me into His Ways.

It is, unfortunately, comparatively simple to keep trying to control the world around us, without being a good steward of what lies within. I am of the opinion that we can’t do anything lasting, or eternal, without His Grace. True grace is eternity that has already come, or been invited, into the here and now. Let us not  forget the first few lines of that well known passage in 1 Corinthians 13, “The fruit of the SPIRIT …”   We will fail in our quest if we fail to realise that it’s HIS fruit that will be manifested in our lives. As we learn to co-operate with Him and ask Him to grow it – we will need His Grace to endure and keep on loving others.  

That fruit will be automatically and systematically nurtured as we choose, minute by minute, to stay attached to the vine. Jesus’ Grace holds us there – on that sometimes uncomfortable spot that challenges us to die to what we want. That takes these things out of the realm of what I can do, and puts them squarely into the Kingdom reality of what Jesus has already done. You can’t have both – self interest is not the same His interest, no matter how carefully we use pretty, spiritual words to make it sound better. In those moments, let’s choose to remember that Jesus didn’t care if He impressed anyone with His spirituality or not. Most of His praying was done in secret! 

We don’t need to explain Grace to participate in it. After all, His Grace saved us when we were already sinners. His Grace came and found us. Our job is to give grace a HOME. We were too stupid to ask for it, we definitely didn’t deserve it, so we won’t always recognise it when it comes our way. Nevertheless it is there. Our ignorance, or wilful disobedience, does not negate what God freely gave us. His Grace is the sap that facilitates the fruit of His Spirit to grow in our lives. I can try to change myself until I am blue in the face, and I might even outwardly change my behaviour. But I cannot change my heart. It will deceive me. 

The Grace released by what the Lord Jesus Christ did is far more powerful than we can imagine. Because of it, we need to live our lives gratefully. Grace saved us and it sustains us. We cannot outgrow our need for His Grace in our lives. Grace acts as a moving vehicle, it runs on our faith, and carries us past our perceived limits, into a new way of living. It is an unearned gift that holds us steady, moves us forward, and changes how we see our flaws. The bible shows us what to do and Grace helps us do it.

His Grace runs to meet us when we mess up. It lifts us up from the dirt and grime into a bigger place where we see how much He loves us, far more clearly. It gently washes us clean – again – and it holds us fast in His love even when life tosses us around like a leaf in a storm. We need His Word, plus His Grace, to help us apply it in our lives, all the time. God’s Grace is not an optional extra it is an essential oil, perfuming our lives. Bye. 👋

P 3428 A soldier does what he is trained to do.

/ DVH

“Since Christ, though innocent, suffered in His flesh for you, now you also must be a prepared soldier, having the same mind-set, for whoever has died in his body is done with sin. So live the rest of your earthly life no longer concerned with human desires but consumed with what brings pleasure to God.” 1 Peter 4:1-2 TPT. These kinds of choices are part of our suffering for His sake. We deliberately choose to give up what we want to do, and we yield to what He sent us here to do. It’s a total change of focus. But we can’t live like this by ourselves – we are wrestling against principalities and powers, we need our Commander-in-chief leading us, giving us His Grace every step of the way.

This verse is a magnificent thought, but a terrifying one as well. It is like a spotlight showing up the places where what we think – is different from what we do. In other words, it is easy to say we do this stuff, but can we actually live it? My only answer is “yes” we can — simply because Jesus did it first … but … we cannot do it alone! We’ve been empowered, by Christ’s death into living this life a new way. After the Lord Jesus died, even the disciples wrangled with their feelings of loss, and yet they went back to what they knew … fishing! Human beings without the influence and leading of the Holy Spirit can be loveable, but dumb as a rock when it comes to spiritual things. Those things won’t fall on us, we must go after them. His grace will help us. 

When I was a young Christian, I noticed that there was a level of commitment in a few people that I didn’t seem to have. It was as if there were some sort of line in my mind that I would walk up to, then I’d look over into the other side of it and it all looked too hard for me. So then, I’d walk back to where I came from. That line was called — a total commitment to Christ. I wanted His life in me, but I wanted my own ideas for my life too. I wanted to  ‘make my own choices’ – to be a Christian when it suited me, and walk away when it didn’t. My perception of His benefits  was all about me, instead of Him. Maybe that’s why Psalm 103:2 tells us not to forget His benefits!

I had plenty of friends, rabbits and relations who were quite happy to explain to me that my ideas about Christianity were nice .. but surely I didn’t have to take the whole thing quite so seriously!  And that was the beginning of an odd period in my life where I did the hokey pokey. I put one foot over the line, then took it back, then the other foot  … if you have ever done the hokey pokey … you get it. In the end I became double-minded. I got to the stage where I finally agreed with others. that I should coast along, do nice things when I felt like it – yet I could still be angry with the people who were mean to me, because I couldn’t help it. After all they’d been truly awful and they should know better! I succumbed to ‘poor little old me!’ Self-pity will wreck our faith in a heart beat.

At the same time I was told I had a “virus,” year after year and a lot of people prayed for it to be healed. But it wasn’t healed … because it wasn’t actually a virus! It turned out I needed a liver transplant. Meanwhile, I was in every healing line I could get into, and yet I still got sicker. Then something else unthinkable happened, I was divorced. I knew what the bible said, and I knew what Jesus said … and yet it happened anyway. The ambition to die for Jesus’ sake, fell in the dirt, I couldn’t do it. If I stayed inside that marriage, I would die.

I totally knew I had broken ‘the rules.’ I loved Jesus, but trying harder became impossible, I was too ill. I knew nothing about walking by faith, not by sight. Even though I had carefully memorised the verse! I didn’t actually understand what the New Covenant meant, except in vague terms that definitely didn’t apply to me anymore – because now I thought I was doomed to hell. Folks, religion kills. It murders your faith and it will take your life. Put it down. I exhort everyone reading this to ask the Lord to teach you to walk by faith, otherwise our common enemy will use your circumstances against you.

Even after the transplant, they couldn’t tell me why my liver was so damaged. It just was! Eventually I learnt that a simple very common blood test would have diagnosed what was wrong with me. I didn’t drink alcohol etc. so the medical profession didn’t think to give me the blood test. However, God in His great mercy, didn’t let go of me, just because I let go of Him. He’s like that! This advice in 1 Peter 4 is so incredibly important. Living our lives for Jesus is not an alternate way … it is the only way. God has given us a totally new way to live, step by step, little by little … He calls us to fall in love with His goodness and follow Him. He paid dearly to give us His grace to do it.

I think sometimes, we’ve had our eyes fixed on the wrong application of His principles. In the following verse from Hebrews the Lord is telling us about HIMSELF – not how to get what we want from Him!  “But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” (11:6) We’ve used our faith for years hoping to make our lives more comfortable, telling ourselves God wants us to be healthy and happy. But it actually says … He rewards those who chase after Him and the result is … WE WILL PLEASE HIM … He doesn’t have to please us … He’s GOD!

Take my advice and decide to live your life as good soldier of Christ – don’t wander in and out like I did. Leave behind the ‘stuff’ you’ve picked up along the way. Make that choice. Bitterness, anxiety, and disappointment doesn’t belong in our brand new heart. Neither does lying, hating others, abusing or hurting people. Whatever your excuse is for staying the same – it’s a lie.

A good soldier does exactly what he is told to do, no more, no less. We have been given a wonderful Companion in our daily journeys, He knows how to strategically get us through our battles – don’t leave home without Him.  We need the Word of God, plus GRACE. Bye. 👋

P 3427 Let Him prune you.

/ DVH

Now there’s another happy thought. Most of us, if we are truthful, start backing up and going the other way when we see the Lord Jesus coming at us with the secateurs! Like I said: … let’s be honest!! We look lovingly at some little, hopeful, tender tendril, that has started to grow at the end of what looks like a dead stick on His vine and start to feel ….  a little bit proud of ourselves… ‘Look at what we’ve made … all-by-ourselves!’ And here comes Jesus, snip snip, snipping away. If we had legs in this dumb allegory, we’d run away.

It is unrealistic to continually tell people that our new life in Christ means we will grow a bunch of juicy grapes year after year. Grapes grow best when you prune them. You see, the Lord Jesus is the Master Vine-dresser and He knows exactly when and where to prune so that the vine produces only the best sweetest grapes … and He wants quality, not just quantity. To get that there must be sacrifice and that means even those things that have heaps of potential. All this happens so the sap in the vine will be channelled into less bunches of fruit, and produce better quality grapes in the ones that remain. This happens in winter, when the vine seems to be dormant.

What that means to us, is this — sometimes our most unfruitful seasons, our times of great difficulty and trials, are channelling the flow of God’s Spirit in our lives in certain directions. So we can see the tendrils of new growth in good things like worship leading, or preaching … yet the Lord says … ‘I don’t want fruit from those branches, I want fruit from this little nub down here.’ Then the fruit that will remain comes from the branches HE chooses. Maybe that means developing greater service to others, or deep empathy in our lives. We need to listen, step down from the platform, and follow the SAP!

Let’s make sure we are able to clearly identify what is the Holy Spirit’s work, and what is not! Sometimes our own good works can get in the way of what the Spirit of the Living God wants to do in our hearts and lives. We can be so enamoured with what He is doing through us, we don’t even want to know what He wants to do IN US. That little tendril we like so well could have come from a sucker that snuck itself in at the base of the vine. If it is left untended, it will draw all the goodness out of the true vine, and waste it on growing that sucker. Suckers don’t produce fruit – they are parasitical. They steal growth energy from the host. It seems to me that Jesus utterly understood this and lived by it.

I believe this is one of the reasons why the Lord Jesus said in John 5:19-20. “Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by Himself; He can do only what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all He does. Yes, and He will show Him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed.”

And then He said this in John 12:49: “This is because I have never spoken on My own authority or of My own accord or as self-appointed, but the Father Who sent Me has Himself given Me orders [concerning] what to say and what to tell.” The Lord Jesus laid aside His own will to manifest His Father’s will in everything He did and said. Think about it!  He LIMITED Himself. This is what He is asking us to do, limit ourselves to His plans for us, the same way He limited Himself to His Father’s plans. There are more instances where the Lord said the same thing: John 5:19; John 8:28 and John 14:10. 

Jesus prunes away every single bit of growth that will not profit us spiritually, because we need the energy and the zest of His life in us to be protected, and channelled in the direction He has chosen for our lives. This is why Father God gave gifts to the whole church. Because no human being is meant to have to hold up the entire weight of the vine. The Lord sent back His Spirit to help us achieve what He wants from us. 

“However, I am telling you nothing but the truth when I say it is profitable (good, expedient, advantageous) for you that I go away. Because if I do not go away, the Comforter (Counsellor, Helper, Advocate, Intercessor, Strengthener, Standby) will not come to you [into close fellowship with you]; but if I go away, I will send Him to you [to be in close fellowship with you]. “John 16:7.

The Lord Jesus knew what He could do and say, and He also knew when to be quiet. It doesn’t say He didn’t know stuff, the book clearly tells us that He chose to be limited by His obedience to His Father’s Will. We are asked to do the same. Let’s not get distracted by what this life demands that we do. Obviously we need to do normal stuff, like eat, sleep and take care of our families, but in everything we do, we must choose to go where the SAP of the Holy Spirit goes. That requires us knowing and recognising His Ways.

You know, we’ve all probably bought a bunch of grapes in the supermarket that looked fantastic, but they had no taste. For our personal spiritual fruit to be juicy and full of the flavour of Jesus, we must learn to “… throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us …” Hebrews 12:1a. Bye. 👋 🍇

P 3426 Dead is the new way to live. 

/ DVH

In Galatians 2:20, Jesus reminds us what this life is really all about. Paul said: “I have been crucified with Christ [that is, in Him I have shared His crucifixion]; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body I live by faith [by adhering to, relying on, and completely trusting] in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

This getting-dead process can be challenging sometimes. So the reality is, I choose to die to what I want, over and over again. Here’s what that means practically. Someone says something I think is provocative, so I ask for the Holy Spirit’s help, and I say nothing. Despite how provoked I feel, the Lord Himself will give me that soft answer He talks about from Proverbs. I’m just doing what Jesus told me to do, ‘turning the other cheek.’ If people cheat me and they lie to me, I pray a blessing over them until I mean it. In other words, I let the Lord Jesus fight my battles for me. It’s up to Him what happens to people who behave like that, He knows more about them than I ever could.   

This means I have deliberately chosen to live this life dead to what I want, and alive to what He wants. Let’s be clear, I am not talking about being mostly dead, or I wish I was … dead. What I mean is – I’ve chosen to die to the way I used to think about, relate to, and treat other people. Now, I owe them LOVE and I use my faith to trust Father God to help me with that. He clearly told me “that vengeance is His.”  Here is the Good News part of the gospel. Because of Jesus’ resurrection I don’t have to stay dead — now I have a new way to live, right here, right now. TODAY – and the power to do it.

Of course I will need the Holy Spirit’s help to live that way. But He won’t do it for me. I’m not a puppet, I’m a person who makes a choice.. I take a step of faith, and the Holy Spirit helps me to move forward. When I refuse to be angry back at someone else, He gives me something sweet to say to them, that helps to diffuse their anger. Meanwhile, you can’t pick a fight with a dead person, because they won’t say anything back. You could yell at them, if you want to, but … you’d be wasting your time. You’d be better off shouting into a black hole.

Each one of us has to choose to die to what we want, and come alive to the reason Jesus brought us here. But once we do, our thinking begins to change and we start to think like He does. Then the Holy Spirit helps us to use our God-given faith and hope in His goodness, to live a brand new way. It’s the way Jesus lived. We all know His plans are good for us, that’s also in the book! I’ve decided to trust what He said more than I trust what I can see going on around me. We choose to come alive to Christ and His Way of living and leave our past behind us, when we die to self and live for Him.

It is not humility when I say on this blog that Jesus helped me with this and that – it’s a fact. If I try really really hard to be what He has already given me for free, well — that’s when the trouble starts! I begin to lose my sense of His Presence with me, because my excuses for my own bad behaviour fill the air around me! The only Person Who can resurrect a dead person is Jesus. When He does that He makes them sweeter. Trying to resurrecting yourself and hold on tightly to being right, is a waste of time and energy. Whatever we try to do by ourselves doesn’t amount to a hill of beans. We will just wear ourselves out doing it, as well as becoming jaded, and losing hope. Give up. Die to self.

It is easy to tell when I have wandered off and given up living for Him – I want my own way. Day by day living His way is always a choice. Sadly, I can get offended before the poor schmuck with their foot in their mouth has finished their sentence. I am not at all nice to be around, especially if I try to change myself. I get mad at other people because they annoy me and they want their way. The safest, sweetest place to live, is to live this life using the faith He gave me. Then my priorities change. My focus needs to be on what He did. Not what I have or haven’t done. Like I said yesterday, “nothing can ever separate us from God’s love” — we have proof of that. Jesus died to make that statement eternal.

Many Christians cheerfully sing 🎵 “We are here for You, Jesus…”🎵and then everyone goes home and lives this life we have been given, for themselves again – often using heaps of energy to be ‘nice’ to people who aren’t ‘nice’ to them. Day by day, we are so focussed on our plans, our lives, our ideas, our success, our happiness, our money … plus our wellbeing. That isn’t the deal… not the one in His book! The deal is — He died for us — so now we live for Him. Meanwhile dead people don’t have aims, or opinions.

We don’t have to sit around, impassively, waiting for this stuff to fall on us. We need to aggressively choose to live this life of LOVE He provided for us and act it out. We take faith steps, and take up this new life He has given us. Let’s run, and choose to use our faith to do things His Way, for His kingdom’s sake. And read and re-read His book, daily refreshing our memory about what He has already said.

Choose to live a life of Love, it’s the outworking of our inward faith. Dead is the new way to live – because the Lord’s kind of new life can only blossom and bear fruit in dead people, who choose to live this life, His way. Bye. 👋

P 3425 THINK Bigger!   

/ DVH

At 4.00am I was instantly awake and stuff started downloading into my heart. Then the Holy Spirit said to me: “Tell My people they need to LET ME be bigger.” Then He gave me some examples from His Word to stir our courage.

When Jesus said in Mark 4:39 : “Peace be still” to the ocean, as it tried to drown the disciples … that ocean heard the same VOICE that said: “ Let there be light! “ … so it obeyed. Everything that lived inside the sea came from the Lord speaking, including the sea itself. This world knows His voice. I think there’s a lesson for us in there … if even the SEA is obedient to Almighty God, then what excuse do we have?

We need to think bigger than getting a car park when we need one! This world is in turmoil. The people around us need the peace that passes all understanding and we have it … it is ours. The Lord gave it to us. Give it away! You can always take it back if people don’t appreciate it. That’s in the book too!

When Moses held up his staff at the Red Sea — the same staff that God had transformed from a lump of wood into a snake before his eyes — the bible says: the sea SAW it. “The sea saw it, and fled! “ Then a mighty east wind blew, and the ocean parted. Moses’ staff was nothing, just a bit of hard wood. A shepherd’s staff, used to whack wolves and bears on the head. It was ordinary. Please listen carefully to this bit .. Almighty God took what Moses already had and made it powerful. Ya might want to selah that for a minute or ten. 

After Moses told the sea to part, and all the Israelites were safe, Moses held that staff up again and two walls of water came crashing down on Pharaoh and his army. They drowned. But don’t feel sorry for them, God gave the Egyptians ten plagues to warn them about what was coming. It wasn’t the staff that controlled the sea, and it wasn’t Moses’ power that did it either. When the man of God obeyed what God told him to do, that staff in his hand became a symbol of God’s authority. Now we have His authority too.

When we act upon His Word, day by day as He leads us, it is as if God Himself is standing there with us, backing up our obedience with His power. Let’s look at another scripture in Luke 10:20: “But don’t rejoice because evil spirits obey you; rejoice because your names are registered in heaven.” Jesus was explaining to the disciples their true priorities. Our priority is not power – but power comes from our relationship and the Lord’s recognition of an individual. The people who do things with God, STAND UP!

When His disciples went out and raised the dead, healed the sick, and delivered people from demons … they got very excited. “Jesus called His twelve disciples to Him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.… “ Do you see that? JESUS gave them HIS authority. This is why He says: ‘Don’t rejoice about that stuff, rejoice that your names are in My book of life.’  Jesus knows your Name and He has written it down in His book. it doesn’t matter two hoop-de-doos what that other guy knows. 

However, when the Holy Spirit arrived at Pentecost the disciples were supernaturally given their own authority, by God’s Spirit. Holy Fire hit them! That’s purifying fire. I don’t care if you like tongues, or you don’t … we should just get over ourselves. Tongues is a way to refresh our weary souls when we get overwhelmed. But don’t chase that, or any other thing — chase after being filled, and staying filled with the Holy Spirit. He will tell us where to go and what to do.

Another time some dumb-bunnies ran about using the Name of Jesus, and they threw Paul’s name around too. But the demon said in Acts 19:15: “Jesus I know and Paul I know … BUT WHO ARE YOU?’ Demons recognise the real voice of authority because that Voice threw them out of heaven! Those seven sons of Sceva had no authority at all to throw out the devil. BUT WE DO, because we are His kids and our names are in His book.

Seek His kingdom, first. Chase after loving Him with all your heart, soul, mind and strength! Ask yourself, are you happy with what you have, spiritually? If not, then remember Jesus promised to give us His idea of an abundant life. That doesn’t mean fancy houses, planes, jewellery, cars, or mountains of money — remember how He lived — that’s the yardstick. An abundant life is filled to the top with the love of God. It  has more than enough to give away, because He is a more than enough God!

One day, long ago, Almighty God humbled Himself and came here and became a man. He made Himself just like us. Then He humbled Himself even further and became a helpless infant! He understands what human beings face. When Jesus delivered that demonic man, stuck in the cemetary of Gederah, the demons in the pigs heard the same Voice that cast them out of heaven. Boy, did they leave! As we live our lives in His Presence, we will begin to understand what we’ve been given. We have the same authority Christ did. 

No wonder Jesus said ‘speak to the mountain and it will be moved’ …He made that mountain – of course it will obey Him. Now, the Lord lives in us. So, unless we work for a mining firm and we intend to whimsically move the local mountains around like pieces on a chessboard — we can ask for whatever we need. Otherwise we don’t have the authority of a banana!

Please don’t settle for an encounter with God – capture His heart and walk with Him! Think bigger. Start thinking about what your life will be like with Jesus showing you daily what to do next … Bye 👋. “… but the people who know their God shall prove themselves strong and shall stand firm and do exploits [for God].” Daniel 11:32b.

P 3424 His Love speaks to us through His actions.   

/ DVH

Our primary goal is to be so soaked in Father God’s love that it overflows onto anyone around us. Love is Who God is, it is His nature. We take in His all encompassing love for us, in the word, in our circumstances – good and bad – and then we let the redeemed good flow out of us toward other people around us. We become like overfilled little buckets that slosh His water everywhere we go. Let’s look at a few times from the bible where people were confronted by His love.

Many times the Lord spoke to Israel about their lack of obedience to what He told them, here’s one of those times in Judges 2:11-15. To the Lord a lack of obedience means a lack of loving respect toward Him. Their attitude toward Almighty God went badly for the Israelites. Here we see how His Love provided them with an opportunity to change their minds, by heeding His warnings.

“Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals. They forsook the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the Lord’s anger because they forsook Him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.  In His anger against Israel the Lord gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist. Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the Lord was against them to defeat them, just as He had sworn to them. They were in great distress.”

Let’s look at Paul and how his encounter with God turned him around. He already had a passionate, fervent active love for what he had studied and learnt – that’s why he killed off Christians, or prompted others to do it.  Almighty God, Who Paul claimed he was serving, knocked him to the ground and blinded him with a light brighter than any other. This is still a teaching experience. I don’t imagine Paul felt all that good, being blind and all! Right there is where his inward disposition, became an outward condition. He was struck blind by confronting God’s loving and living Truth. During that time Paul’s perspective was changed. Instead, Love handed Paul his destiny — and a revelation of God’s ways. It changed him, forever.

Now let’s look at God’s Love in Peter’s life. We all know that Peter denied Christ three times, and on a beach after supper, Jesus restored him again. Let’s pick that scripture up on the third time in John 21:17: “The third time He said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love Me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love You.” Jesus said, “Feed My sheep.” Right here Jesus speaks into Peter’s idea of love, which was a wobbly theory, that had failed under pressure! The Lord transforms it into something Peter, His appointed leader, can DO to build the kingdom. God’s Love restored him, and handed him, his destiny.

Onto two people who were bible-toting, Holy Ghost believers. They are also an example of God’s love in action. Ananias and Sapphira sold their property, but Real Estate.com sold it for more money than they expected … or something like that…!  This couple believed in giving, but they lied and conspired about how much. You can’t lie to Love Himself and keep the life of God in you! Meanwhile, please note that they were asked to verify the amount individually, so either one of them could have recanted their dead-end plot. That’s how love works! They weren’t lumped together, even though they had colluded together. We know this couple didn’t back down even though Love Himself gave them a chance to change their minds. He spoke, and then He acted. Their destiny was thwarted and the integrity of the remaining saints was preserved.

I want to also include Ruth. It’s dead easy to see what happened to Ruth. She knew what submission and commitment meant. She joined herself to Naomi and would not quit. The other young woman went back to her home and she missed out on the blessing. Almighty God opened a brand new door to Ruth, and gave her another life. Plus He gave Naomi grandkids into the bargain! Almighty God made Ruth an active part of our Saviour’s ancestors. Her dedication was astonishing. When Ruth’s loyalty decided to follow Naomi home, love stepped in and acted for her, and she found a better destiny.

Lastly I want to look at Peter once more, because he saw with his own eyes, the result of Love’s work. On this particular day, God’s Love included those who were automatically excluded. Peter was sent for, supernaturally. The very next day, he is headed toward Cornelius’ house and he is hungry. He goes into a trance, and sees a vision of all sorts of unclean animals and the Lord instructs him to kill and eat them. Peter refuses because his religious training forbids him. Then Love speaks to him in Acts 10:15b. Hoo boy I hope someone is listening right now!! … “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” Peter sees this vision three times, and then the Spirit calls him to recommence his journey again to Cornelius’ house.

Acts 10:34,35. “Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favouritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.” V44-46:“While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles. For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.”

The Spirit of God, took the time to show Peter with his own eyes, what the Holy Spirit wanted to do, and then He sovereignly carried it out in front of the man. I’m pretty sure by now you have my point – God also speaks through what happens to us – good and bad. That’s love. Bye 👋.

P 3423 Our destiny is to fulfil His plans.  

/ DVH

“Through our union with Christ we too have been claimed by God as His own inheritance. Before we were even born, He gave us our destiny; that we would fulfil the plan of God Who always accomplishes every purpose and plan in His heart.” Ephesians 1:11 TPT. 

Christians think a lot about finding their destiny. It is like we think if we can find it, we will give our lives more meaning. But our lives already have incredible meaning – we are made great because of the One we love, Who loved us first! God Himself chose to make US part of His plans for this world. And we can be transformed into a people who totally love Jesus and live to serve Him. The thing is, we can’t live our new life in Christ if we do not love Him, yet that love can’t be based on feelings, it must be based on obedience. Feelings are a bonus, not the point. 

I’ve learnt that along the way, things will be asked of us in this life, that could make us fall and stumble. Then we can quite quickly become like a lost sheep, caught in a thicket — held fast by our inability to pay attention to what is really important. That’s how sheep get lost. They wander off, eating this and that, forgetting where the rest of the flock is. Even if we do wander away, God promises He will find us. Jesus is the best Shepherd, He doesn’t want to lose one sheep!

The saddest part is this, we can lose Him – this life can steal away our passion for Him. We can get so busy trying to survive, we forget the Giver of Life. We are distracted away from our purpose, and eventually we become a sheep that doesn’t want to be found. Even the wolves are happy with that scenario, they gain another breakfast. 

To fulfil His plans we will have to let go of our own. “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies …”  John 12:24.  I think it’s the thought of dying that puts so many people off wholeheartedly following the Lord. They want this life to be the way they dream it will be. The marvel of that is that our Heavenly Father, doesn’t change His mind about us. Can you believe it? Human beings quite happily walk away from anything that doesn’t suit our agenda, yet the Lord picks us all up, heals us, dusts each one of us off and throws His great Love all over us. He proves to us over and over again that our worth comes from His love for us, not what we do, or what we say. 

Consistently and repeatedly in the bible, this happens to all kinds of people — in the Old and New Testament. In His book we can see Almighty God persevering with so many people who don’t want to be a part of His plans, or they think they need something else other than what He is offering them. So much so, the obedient people stand out! Like David, Ruth, Abraham, Paul, Peter, Silas, Jeremiah etc. These people show us it can be done, we can walk with God, daily, and be used by Him to change this world for the better.

Our destiny is not our destination, it is merely the way God designed us to complete His overall plan for saving mankind from themselves. To be honest with you, I am personally comforted by Moses and Abraham’s ages. I just love the way the Lord rewrites history, by His GRACE — with people like Sarah, the woman who laughed at God’s plan and then denied she did it. In 1 Peter 3, Father God says that Sarah, who laughed, is our example of what submission and true inward beauty is meant to look like.

Now there’s a rock to throw into the pool of women’s rights eh?? Her destiny was to submit to Abraham even though what God said was so impossible in her eyes, and she thought it was hilarious. Our destiny is inextricable fixed into His faithfulness, so when we doubt His faithfulness, our inner world will wobble. When everyone else gives up on us, the Lord chases after us even harder and we can see that He personally rewrites our stories. Bathsheba is indirectly on the list of Jesus’ ancestors!  

When we think there is no hope at all — then that is the time that very real vital soil of His faithfulness begins to bear fruit. Then our hope grows in the God Who saves us, no matter what we do. God does not woo us with riches, or property or fame, He woos us with Himself. Who He is, and what He has done. When we sink into that kind of love, the love that does not change, we find our destiny. Father God simply won’t walk away … His never ending love for us goes deeper and deeper into the fabric of our lives.

Our destiny is not ministry, or gifts, or promises, or prophecies, or even fruit … but all those things are included… our destiny is to be His, and understand that we are the focus of His love. We can be so transformed by the Father’s all-encompassing love and His Son’s sacrifice, and the Holy Spirit’s faithful perseverance, that we are utterly changed by His generosity toward us. Out of that comes what we do. 

Here’s Romans 8:31-35, &37: “What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since He did not spare even His own Son but gave Him up for us all, won’t He also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for His own? No one—for God Himself has given us right standing with Himself. Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and He is sitting in the place of honour at God’s right hand, pleading for us. Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean He no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?” … “NO, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.” 

THIS is our destiny, to glorify Him, forever. Bye. 👋

P 3422 The bible.

/ DVH

I think the version of the bible is less important, to me this book is a springboard into hearing from Him. It’s His Word and He can take His Word and touch our hearts however He chooses to. The Lord makes a lot of statements in the bible that sound wonderful, but unless we choose to act on them, as the Holy Spirit brings a verse to our minds — we can easily forget them again.

The scriptures are given to us to be life and health to us — food for the weary soul. Let’s look at Jeremiah 31:25 TPT: “For I will refresh the weary soul and satisfy all those who have given up on life.” Here are a few more versions. Amplified bible:  “For I will [fully] satisfy the weary soul, and I will replenish every languishing and sorrowful person.” The King James version: “For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.” Last one, Easy-to-read version:  “I will give rest and strength to those who are weak and tired.”

So looking at all that, what can we do when we are full of sorrow, tired and weary? We’ve learnt that we need to REST and be REFRESHED by the fact that God has given us His Word. He will help us find answers. He will take care of … whatever it is! What the Lord is doing is far beyond our scope of our limited imagination most of the time. His timing is totally perfect, but it simply doesn’t always scratch where we are itching, when we are tired and sad. But He is still doing something.

I think the secret is this – don’t pre-decide how the answers to your prayers will look. When we do that, we can utterly miss His answers to our prayers. Resting on what He says in the book, is our faith at work. Fussing and fretting about what we can do about things when we are already worn out, is a misuse of our God’s freely given resources. Take a big breath, look up and give it all to Him and wait for Him.

The Holy Spirit is our primary resource and His Word is our reference book. If we start looking at other people, and comparing or judging what’s happening to them, we are living under the misunderstanding that we are all supposed to be in the same spiritual place at the same time. We aren’t. We learn His ways by walking with Him individually. This is the God who makes enemy armies fearfully run for their lives, when no-one is actually there!  What one verse means to me, may not be what it means to you.

It is so important to value the cross. Every now and then go back to it in your mind, and remember what He did for you. What He did then, He is still doing! And don’t forget that empty tomb either. Our faith is founded on these events. The bible teaches us how to live and respond to difficulties, based upon a war that has already been won. He won it for us.

If we don’t feel ‘fully satisfied,” like Jeremiah said, then don’t blame yourself, someone else or even the Lord. Instead ask for eyes to see what He IS doing. He’s God … He can do trillions of things at once. Maybe we are missing what He is actually doing because we are too busy meditating on our unhappy circumstances. Let’s choose to be singleminded about these things. Focus on what His book says. That’s a skill we can cultivate, and it involves trust. For our faith to be real it has to be tested. The bible tells us how to face and move through those tests.

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:2-4. 

This verse reminds us that God is always doing something. At the very least, He’s testing our faith in His goodness. He wants us to know that when our faith is tested we are developing perseverance. So we decide to rest. That means we stop trying to figure it out by ourselves and just WAIT. We are on God’s assembly line and our tested faith will produce perseverance, but we need to hold fast to what He said in the book. Let’s allow Him to finish what He has started.

We are faithfully waiting and looking to see God’s goodness in the land of the living. (Psalm 27:13) Sometimes we can miss the answers to our prayers because the Lord is doing something so much bigger than we could ever hope or imagine. The thing to remember is that we are also doing something, when we choose to trust Him and His Word, instead of running about like a headless chicken. The Lord says: “That trouble is the exercise that will strengthen our faith muscles.”

The bible is a spiritual document. That kind of thing is often hard to read, but we are so blessed … we have the greatest Lawyer ever, praying for us, helping and teaching us. He understands the law and He operates freely in GRACE. This means He knows how to plead our case for us. Let Him. Bye. 👋

P 3421 Get rid of that!  

/ DVH

To begin with today, I need to explain an Aussie word that can have entirely another meaning in other countries – otherwise someone’s hair might turn grey and fall out. “Piffing – primarily functions as the present participle of the Australian slang verb “piff”. It means throwing, hurling, or discarding something vigorously or carelessly.”I need to explain this word because I am planning to use it, and its other meaning is not a good one! 

There are things in our lives that we find are extremely difficult to discard. I’m not going to name anything, because I think that’s for all of us as individuals to go away and figure out for ourselves. But I pray this prayer regularly and I have seen extraordinary answers to it: “Dear Lord is there anything in our house that You don’t like? Please help me find it.” Amen. After I prayed that prayer I have found lots of things the Lord didn’t like, and I did not know they were there! I chucked them out.

Just like we do spring cleaning in our homes, we need to do regular spiritual cleaning. Let’s assess if and why we think we need something or other so badly, and why that habit or action is so hard to discard. Hence my use of the word PIFF. Which can be also translated as “chuck.” (I thought it was a bit much to put piff in the title, someone might take offence!)

There are things we do, or that we treasure, or even stuff that is laying about somewhere in a cupboard hidden, that the Lord may not like. And without being too obsessed about it, you and the Lord can have a great time, finding and removing such items. I have. Once I found something yucky I didn’t know we had and the Lord helped me locate it supernaturally. Doing such an ordinary thing with Him, helped me to learn how to listen, and it improved my faith at the same time!  When I am in doubt, by the way, I chuck it out anyway, or I prayerfully choose to stop doing it.

Moving on to two stories from the past: As a child, my son happened to be incredibly untidy – he has since grown out of that. I’ve heard stories about untidy kids who pile everything they don’t care about on their beds and the mother has to go rummaging about to find the washing etc. Not in his case. He chucked everything… and I mean everything … the things that he didn’t want, or want to be seen … under his bed. Eventually, the bed grew lumpy from the crowded floor under it. It didn’t bother him, but it sure did bother me because I had to clean it up just for hygiene’s sake. 

I got so grumpy. If that poor kid could have run away to avoid these not-so-happy situations, I think he would have, but it seems he liked us all too much. I became very sick of tidying up underneath his bed, so one day I threatened him with a smack for every item I found. 1st lesson learned … never promise something you can’t possibly deliver! Hmmm. Before someone thinks of me as a child beater, back in the ark it used to be legal to smack your kid. Read the book! Any-way, when I got to item 110!!! I fell about laughing. I would have had to beat that kid to death to make good on my threat. He was laughing, probably from relief, and a fairly good time was had by all.

Until the next cleanup. I want to add that our son wasn’t being naughty, he just had better things to do in his little boy-world than clean up his room. I was talking to his paternal grandfather about this situation. He was a fun person, and this particular day he volunteered to oversee the clean-up. The kitchen was a distance from our son’s bedroom and yet I could hear them both laughing uproariously from the kitchen sink. I snuck up to see what all the fun was about.

There was Grandpa, sitting on the floor with the boy, picking up things from a huge pile on the floor and asking him if he thought he still needed it. If the answer was yes, it went on a pile on the right, if it was no … then Grandpa said: “Piff it!” loudly and chucked it over his shoulder. Of course the piff it pile was loads bigger than the keep pile simply because the kid wanted to see Grandpa chuck the thing over his shoulder! I crept away lest I spoil such a happy memory for them both. 

I realised that this is what the Lord wants me to tell you, today. When we get rid of the things that are clogging up our relationship with Him, we are making room for other more important things He wants to give us. In my son’s case it was a lovely memory he made with his Grandfather. God enables us to leave behind any weeping and wailing over loss, because the One Who loves us best knows what is best for us. Whether it is some habit that controls us, or something, or someone we feel we cannot live without. 

Many times in my Christian walk since then I have culled our DVDs, books, music etc. among other things, and these times have become precious memories of how much God loves me. So … piff it, or chuck it , or just plain get rid of it – it doesn’t matter. If He doesn’t like it, then gone is good! Bye 👋.  

P 3420 Let’s imitate Christ. 

/ DVH

We won’t all walk with God at the same pace, at the same time. But I believe we will one day, and I hope I’m still here to see it, because it will be a glorious sight! Spiritual harmony is a beautiful thing. The more life throws bitter lemons at us the more we chase after Jesus, we want to respond the way that He would. That’s what imitation looks like. Our primary goal is this: “Whatever it takes for that other person to see Our Heavenly Father loves them, I will give.” Very ordinary, normal, but truly extraordinary people have died for that cause.

It is extremely damaging to our faith to follow Jesus and avoid the saints, simply because we happen to think they are poor examples of Christ. We are all in differing stages of our spiritual development and we need to remember that our choices control our actions. However, there is a huge difference between gently pointing out someone’s error, OR, choosing to pontificate over their weakness.  Next time it could be our turn to fall over!

Learning to love those people who really really irritate us is a lifelong lesson. In the natural it is much easier to fight with them, and then keep our distance afterwards. Let’s make it our great quest to learn His Kingdom Ways of loving the unloveable – imitating the Way our Father loves us. He doesn’t love us because we are so special, or so appealing, He loves us because it is in His very nature to love. Therefore we need His nature to become our nature, and that’s often a process. It’s a process we are all IN!

“Be imitators of God in everything you do, for then you will represent your Father as His beloved sons and daughters. And continue to walk surrendered to the extravagant love of Christ, for He surrendered His life as a sacrifice for us. His great love for us was pleasing to God, like an aroma of adoration—a sweet healing fragrance.” Ephesians 5:1-2 TPT. Paul said that. Personally, I have learnt to see there is great value in paying attention to my choices, they can lead me away from following the Lord.

It seems to me that human beings can’t easily live this way, unless we choose the lowest road of surrender and devotion to the Lord Himself. Jesus has already done all the work necessary for each one of us to live a changed life. He looked through the cross and saw all of us dying in our sins, and had compassion on us. He did what He did on behalf of His Father’s great love, to glorify, honour, and fulfil His Father’s plans. It was for our good. Real love involves correction not simply harsh confrontation. And petting and patting down the things that will ever-so-slowly turn us away from Him – is fruitless.

Paul tells us this:“ …  just as I please everyone in all things [as much as possible adapting myself to the interests of others], not seeking my own benefit but that of the many, so that they [will be open to the message of salvation and] may be saved.” That’s 1 Corinthians 10:33. Immediately following on from that comes 1 Corinthians 11:1: “Imitate me, just as I imitate Christ.” Sometimes, those Chapter divisions can be more of an interruption to a whole thought, so it is good to keep reading a little further!

We are to be imitators of good…. “Imitation involves a careful observation, and a precise study of the act or action of the mentor…” (Wisdom Hunters). I translate that like this —   follow Jesus, and do what He did! The conformity to Christ’s Ways is what matters, not the methodology. I know some saints who have learnt from their own experiences, that whatever they do in their own strength, pales into insignificance to what God Himself can do through their willing surrender. So they seek His Ways above anything else. I call that wisdom!

Paul also says: “Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.” Philippians 3:17.“What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you…” He writes that in Philippians 4:9. Paul believes in this kind of imitation – look, learn, and practice.

This kind of imitation is not like the knock-off handbags you find on a street stall – that’s called forgery! But if we were to take the right kind of the best leather, and treat it the same way that famous manufacturer does, then that becomes an imitation. An imitation becomes a fake when it deliberately misleads and lies to you, and tries to trick you into believing it is something it is not. Our imitation of Jesus must not be fake. It needs to come from our hearts, containing a sincere desire to please HIM.

Jesus gave us some examples in the Beatitudes, Matthew 5:40,41: “And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well.  If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.” So we are to be overgenerous when people get narky at us. Otherwise we can be dragged into some sort of court, not only letting the bad guy win — we will also end up really really cold, with sore feet!

It is costly to follow Jesus and it is about time we stopped pretending it isn’t. But the benefits far outweigh the cost. Following Him means we are daily choosing to walk with Him, His Way.  To imitate that Way of living, we choose to live this life not holding onto things. Let’s purpose in our hearts to care more about other people, than stuff. Bye. 👋