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P 3020 The heartbeat of faith is love.

/ DVH

You could say that another way – if your faith is alive, it will have a pulse. The bible talks about this subject in an interesting fashion in James 2:14-17, (which you can read for yourself) but I particularly like verse 18: “But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith BY my works.” Faith makes itself visible by the way it reacts and the things it does. Love never has a bad day.

Galatians 5:6 states: “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love,…”So what we gather from this verse is this:  no expression = no love. Boy, that seems to me to really hit at the heart of what is wrong with our society today! We have become superficial, and we are teaching our kids to be content with superficial things. It is no wonder they are lost! Faith’s heartbeat does not paste on a smile and pretend that something terrible is OK. That’s called deception.

In my country we have a saying: …’some people are all talk and no action.’ And here’s another one…“show us what you’ve got.” If you are rude … and, sadly, Aussies can often seem rude, as well as blunt… the clearest version of that expression is: “put up or shut up.” Sadly, none of the previous statements are all that positive! They mean the person who is speaking to you is looking for substance not just lots of hot, nicely-phrased AIR. Instead of getting insulted, or hurt – start thanking the Lord for exposing places where you are weak. Weak places are a set-up for God’s strength to be perfected.

We Aussies like the sort of people who are the real deal … we can smell a set-up, or hypocrisy a mile off. The thing we’ve learnt after 20+ years on the road is that Australians know Jesus when they see Him, and most of them love Him at first sight. And therein lies the problem with what we call Christianity. We want to be sincere – we mean to be sincere – we try oh so hard to be sincere! But we are trotting about spouting things that make no sense to people who live in the real world. Half the time, I strongly suspect they do not make sense to us either! We nod, and smile at church, and go home as puzzled as we came. A lot of Christian people are so scared of the world around them, that they’ve “pulled their heads in!”  

Many of the saints of God in Australia are in hiding, keeping company with other people who are like them – people who understand the churchified language.They hide in bible studies, prayer meetings, conferences and weekly church. They have a permanent disguise out in the actual world around us. I dunno what the heck we think we are disguised AS … but, in my opinion, all that pretending means we are one step away from not having a pulse at all!  And that is definitely not good.

This next bit sounds like a digression but it isn’t. I’m older, so every now and then we locate the blood pressure machine, and check my blood pressure to make sure it is OK. Meanwhile, because I’m me, then if I’m still talking you can be sure I’m still alive! 

But my point is this: as His Body we need to regularly take note of our spiritual pulse and blood pressure, and check up how long it has been since the last time we shared what we know about Jesus with someone else! Or the last time we  deliberately loved someone – a difficult person, someone we don’t like – using our faith, and spreading His loving kindness all over them? Praying for people is great! Do it. But don’t forget to pray for you!  Ask the Lord what He wants you to do, to show them love – the answer may amaze you!  

Our faith must have a pulse — a heartbeat. No pulse means dead… or nearly dead. The bible clearly teaches us that our faith needs to be continually expressing itself, either through our actions or our words — but most of the time, through both. We don’t have to shove the 12 point plan of salvation at people, all we need to do to keep our faith active, is to stop censoring ourselves, get real – practise repentance — and treat loving the Lord Jesus as part of our everyday life. He’s God! He is not an afterthought! And if you start to think bad thoughts about others – stop! Repent. Ask for His help and keep reminding Him you need it. Be prepared to enter battle over it.

Like I said, it is not just about being all talk, and no action… faith and works go together. So faith goes to help somebody in need, and, at the same time, it tells them that you came because God loves them. Jesus needs to be so much a part of our lives when we are squeezed by bad or scary stuff, only LOVE comes out. We don’t have to have any enemies. Right here, right now – we have the power to genuinely love everyone. Jesus did it! He loved the guy who betrayed Him, and the people who nailed Him to the cross. He didn’t help them do what they did … but He accepted that God was in what was happening and it had a bigger purpose!

Our enemies are our blessing. They show us the holes in our faith and they clearly show us where we lack love. The bible says: “…a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.” Matthew 10:36. Now isn’t that a fun thought? The people we love have the most power to hurt us. This is why the love we receive from Him and give away to others has to be supernatural. The heartbeat of our faith is love. No love means our hearts need to be truthfully examined by His word. The Holy Spirit will always help us! Bye, 👋

P 3019 Get on with it …

/ DVH

Hebrews 12:1-3 “Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, Who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how He did it. Because He never lost sight of where He was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—He could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now He’s there, in the place of honour, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility He plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!”

Postponing our contribution to whatever God is doing right now, leads to eventual non-participation. Life roars along — it almost flies through the air, at times … then it lands on us!  And we can’t easily get out from under it. We all know there is always going to be stuff:  things like opposition, or situations that put pressure on us, and things in our immediate family that need to be taken care of. That’s why verses like these 3 in Hebrews 12 are so accurate, and pointy, all-at-the-same-time! It’s the Message version, by the way.

I’ve written about the following situation as an example. My 97 year old mother is now in palliative care, the powers-that-be don’t know how long she has left in this world. In my opinion their guesses will be all wrong anyway, because they don’t know my mum! She’s determined, and strong-willed and she won’t go anywhere unless she is ready. She has had to be this way, all her life, she was her own parent from 5 years of age. We’ve spent ages with her, lovingly explaining when the Lord comes for her, she definitely needs to go when she is called. In my opinion Jesus is the only Person that she will move on for!

The Lord spoke to us about this situation before we left to take blankets etc. into cold places. After all we were going away and, of course I’m bound to be concerned because I don’t want to leave my mum alone in case something happens to her. I’m just being real here OK? This whole thing is not about whether she is coming or going in this life — for me it is about me being there for her when she leaves. She is my sole parent, and I am an only child, so that responsibility falls on me.

That’s when the Lord reminded me of this verse: “He (Jesus) said to another man, “Follow Me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:59&60. 

I’m like: “Well, that’s not the answer I was hoping for!” And suddenly I found a whole lot of inside stuff I didn’t know was there. Things like … how could I even think about leaving her alone at a time like this? Or what will other people say if we trundle off and leave her when she is dying? Obligation hit me like a train. “Good children” are supposed to be there for their parents in a crisis to help them. Meanwhile, for your info, on yet another occasion, the Lord also accused the Pharisees of using the law to avoid their  filial responsibilities – which is why we need His wisdom every single time!

Then the Lord came up with this fantastic thought, He said: “Ask her what she thinks.” Well, she smiled at both of us and said: “Of course you must go!” So, as you know, we did. I had to wrangle with my feelings for a bit, but I eventually went back into His peace. I asked my daughter-in-love to keep an eye on mum and she faithfully went to see her for us. Then I remembered that Jesus had to leave His mother behind when He died. Suddenly that didn’t seem such a little thing anymore. I know that Jesus loved His mother just like I love mine!

You see, our society puts all kinds of expectations on us, and we can be grounded by them. Then we can’t fly like the Lord wants us to, because … well, you know the reasons … but part of us running after Him will mean sometimes we must leave others behind. Otherwise we will end up with one foot nailed to the floor, going nowhere fast. One of the most difficult things to do in the Christian life is to obey God and not let fear of man, or even human consideration for other people stop you – while you are doing it. Of course this has to be done prayerfully, with oversight, or you can end up doing exactly the same thing—for totally the wrong reasons!

The Christian life is full of widely, wildly different alternatives. The only hope we have to make it through these scenarios is to know His voice, and obey Him. Plus I always ask for His voice through the scriptures! I refuse to just listen to voices. satan can disguise himself as an angel of light. When I am in doubt, I give everything back to Jesus and then I make sure I leave it there. The God Who made this world can deal with my inadequacies and fears, and letting go is a good beginning.

However, there are times when we don’t get answers, because we’ve allowed double mindedness to step in. When that happens to me, I try to repent quickly and then wait for further instructions. We’ve seen my mum since we’ve been back, and she was fine about our 8 day absence. She loved the photos we’ve shown her, as well as the testimonies, and even more importantly – she realised she was part of what we did because of her faith that He would take care of all of us. 

I do hope this little testimony helps somebody who needs to know that God can do anything but fail. What we need to do, sometimes, is just get on with it. Bless you! 👋.

P 3018 The Dove.

/ DVH

“For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them:  if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching;  he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.” Romans 12:3-8.

It is the Grace of God that gives us the ability to flow with the Holy Spirit – and the best place to stay is in that Grace. Nothing can, or will stay the same in His Presence! Unfortunately, that is also when it becomes easy to believe a LIE. That lie is that someone has somehow become some sort of expert, a special spiritual person. This thought causes us to elevate some people above others.

My point today is this, we are so badly acquainted with the Holy Spirit’s gifts, the person sitting next to us in church may also have gifts — but their faith has not been activated to even begin to try to follow His instructions! Or even worse, they tried and fell on their head … so now they sit silently by. Feeling like a failure.

So, let’s look at the disciples — those guys who walked around with Jesus every day for three and a half years. Boy was that some intensive conference!! There was a time when they started thinking that they were pretty special and they could use the power of God to get rid of people that ignored or annoyed them. Jesus immediately made Himself really clear. “You don’t know what spirit you are in!” 😱These men even fought over who should have the best seat in heaven. The only human being who ever was all that, is Jesus. The rest of us are in boot camp and ignorance is not bliss.

I want to really stress how important it is to know the Holy Spirit, and watch Him at work in our own lives, as well as in the bible. You won’t see Him capitalised or underlined – but you can see where He has been and what He does – if you choose to look carefully. The Holy Spirit is not some sort of lesser Person that Jesus sent back to help us. He is called our Helper, Counsellor, the One Who comes alongside of us etc., but His beauty, truth, and devotion to Almighty God is beyond comparison. He doesn’t appear to care if He is seen or worshipped or adored. Instead He wants to teach US, and help US to learn to worship and adore the Father and the Son with every part of who we are. 

Let us always remember the Holy Spirit is gentle, kind, and easily grieved by our careless behaviour, so we need to treat Him and His Ways with reverence. Because He will not defend Himself – He will simply GO AWAY. Trust me, we don’t want to find out what kind of stuff we are capable of, if He is not guiding and directing us! He is the source of all Wisdom. And here is the best and biggest clue to His seeing Him at work  — He loves to be around loving people. Whenever He comes, He brings with Him peace, joy, long-suffering, self-control etc. BTW, that’s not just a description of what He does — those things are Who He is!! 

If we ignore the supernatural effects of being around such a glorious, often unobtrusive Person, we are ignoring the very essence of Almighty God Himself. The Holy Spirit at work within each one of us, is why Godly people voluntarily choose to die to self. It’s an incredible honour. We cannot afford to put our focus on the gifts He brings, and ignore the Giver of the gifts! He must not be ‘used’ to bring about what we want. Human beings are so innately stupid we will start to think the marvellous things He does are because of us, and these miracles are happening because of the way we behave.

You and I are destined to be God’s gifts to Jesus’ bride – the Church.  While we are here, our task is to build one another up, stimulate each other’s faith and live a life of love. We are to be good bridesmaids, keep our lamps trimmed, and make sure the entire bride is ready for this unimaginable honour God has given us. It is not about “me” having a big ministry – it is about helping you find yours! That cannot happen without the Holy Spirit’s input. He is our “Resident Expert” on what love looks like, and how we, in turn, can be loving. 

Instead of asking Him for stupid worldly stuff like – should we go to Bali for a holiday, or save for a new car, or send our kids to this or that school?  We need to change our prayers from ‘Please fix this or that’ or “please heal this or that’ or ‘please oversee this or that” …OR even ….dare I say it … “please help me to find a car park!” TO this—- “What can I do for the Kingdom of God today, Holy Spirit, as I am going about my everyday life. I want to please my Heavenly Father, the Lord Jesus and You. Please lead me into the places You want me to be, and help me to say the things You want me to say.” Amen. 

Jesus thought the Holy Spirit’s Presence was so important, His arrival on the earth was the reason the Lord went away! Let’s remain awake and aware of His enormous role in what God is doing and value the gentle wise Dove for all He is. Bye.🕊️

P 3017 Priorities.

/ DVH

““But whether I live or die is not important, for I don’t esteem my life as indispensable. It’s more important for me to fulfil my destiny and to finish the ministry my Lord Jesus has assigned to me, which is to faithfully preach the wonderful news of God’s grace.” Acts 20:24 TPT.“And yet I will show you the most excellent way.” 1 Corinthians 12:28-31… That way is LOVE! Don’t let how you feel about someone else’s behaviour steal away the joy of serving Him.

There is no point trotting about advertising fabulous spiritual gifts if we do not have love. Love for the Lord, love for our brothers and sisters, and love for the lost. Love is a VERB not a noun. It is an action, not a perception or a feeling. For example … “God so loved the WORLD that He GAVE…”  If we want to be like Jesus then there’s the starting point. Love is not enthusiasm, which runs out at the first sign of pressure. Or even charisma – which falls on its head if someone peeks behind your bullet-proof curtain and finds the real OZ. 

Love is not a feeling, it is the way we deliberately regard and treat others. Many people in the body of Christ do not develop their ministry gift because they get stuck in the enemy’s sticky mire of: “I can’t ever love this or that person. I hate them. I hate what they say, I hate what they do. I even hate what they stand for! If you wait a minute, then I will tell you why I hate them, and then you will hate them too!” That boggy mess is worse than quicksand. It is endlessly self-suffocating.

What if someone looked at YOUR life under the kind of microscope you are applying to others – how would you do? “But but but … you don’t get it, they really are evil and they keep on hurting me.” Actually, I DO get it! I have hard-to- love people in my life too! But I gave up keeping score up of other people’s nasty ways. I gave it up because I decided that I love Jesus far more than I hate them! You can always tell when someone else is stuck in their feelings, reasonability goes right out of the window. They simply must vomit all their yuk over you – because it is so poisonous, even THEY can’t keep it down! 

That stuff will drown you quicker than an anvil tied to your ankle when you have fallen into deep water. It will keep you so busy focussing on the other person’s faults, you cannot even begin to see your own. You’ll hear every sermon wishing they were there because …‘they need to hear this!’ Regularly rehearsing other people’s faults in your head – and even out loud – can easily lead to telling them about what you think you can see. It creates anger, and it’s called … judgment. Nobody needs to go down that nasty little rabbit hole trust me!

The only Person who had a total right to judge each one of us — let us go free. Is this a good time to mention He expects us to do the same for other people? Otherwise we will end up their captives!  Who do we want to serve? The person we hate, who probably hates us, or they are too dumb to know differently – or the Lord Jesus?  It takes a great deal of energy to maintain that kind of hatred and anger. The worst bit about this kind of scenario is that good people get hog-tied into hate, bitterness, resentment, and anger etc. and they can’t even conceive of an exit, because their beloved granddaddy hated those guys too! Now we have a new kind of inheritance – hate and revenge! 

As long as we keep score of the bad things that person does, it will disturb our peace, and we become the other person’s prisoner. Keeping lists is hard work! Chuck that junk in the sea of forgetfulness, where your sins are, and let’s look at what Jesus came to do for us, and in us, and through us instead. He came to set captives free, and give us all life in abundance. That means when we put our dear little head on our pillow we will have a clear conscience. 

Now we are destined to leave behind the sweet smell of Christ – healing, forgiveness and acceptance. We were given that for free from Jesus’ sacrifice, and now we have so much of it, we can give it away. I’ve looked at some people that I quite literally used to run away from, and thought: “You poor schmuck, you can’t help it can you?” I recognised the trap they were stuck in. They think that nasty, ugly person is who they really are! Finding our best selves with His help is a joy-filled way to use our time. Loving someone does not mean you approve of their behaviour. It simply means you are His obedient kid!

I enjoyed the original cartoon movie ‘Mulan,’ where Mulan is fighting the bad guy on the roof and has set him up to get a rocket in his underpants and she says this to herself as she runs away…”get off the roof, get off the roof, get off the roof!”  

My friend. My very dear, dear friend, brother or sister:  “GET OFF THE ROOF!” Any minute now there will be a giant explosion and you will be caught up in it. God is telling you today, you have better priorities. You have places to go, people to meet, things only you can do for His kingdom. And glories to tell about His love and forgiveness … don’t get bogged down in the mud of intolerance and hate. We need your gifts.  Bye. 👋

P 3016 The Kingdom of God is like …

/ DVH

Yesterday, I had the above phrase in my mind. I felt the Lord tell me to look up the scriptures that say … the kingdom of God is LIKE …  … The first thought I had about this subject is that wherever God’s kingdom is present it means He is in charge. So …who rules my life? When we accept Jesus as Saviour and Lord, that means His processes begin, we begin to learn His Ways.

The seed of the life of God within us germinates and inside that seed is the potential for a fully mature tree of righteousness  ‘… that He might be glorified.’  However the growth or unveiling of that seed is a progressive thing. Something we should always seek – first. Maybe we could pray like this: Dear Holy Spirit, Reveal God’s kingdom to me, and for me, as well as through me, today please Lord, Amen.

I noticed that Jesus often described or illustrated His Father’s kingdom by telling His listeners parables, stories. I mentioned one yesterday from Matthew 20. It seems to me that prayerful, meditative reading is one key to unlock the revelation of how His kingdom can rule and reign in each of our lives. Mainly because “Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” So “God’s kingdom is not a physical place – but a spiritual reality and a way of living.” (Thank you Google!)

Here’s a brief synopsis of what the kingdom of God is like in the stories Jesus told. The kingdom is like a farmer sowing a seed;  a man hunting treasure;  a woman kneading dough;  a fisherman casting a net;  a man forgiven a debt;  a wedding guest evicted from a wedding because he forgot his jacket. Or unmarried, pure young women waiting to greet the bridegroom;  or a landowner being generous.

Each one of those individual parables provides us with a story and within that story is a revelation – an unveiling – of a much bigger truth. We can let our pastor do all the work, or we can pursue God and His Ways for ourselves. The word ‘find,’ is sometimes used, as well as ‘hidden.’ We see His kingdom through our spiritual eyes using our faith, and we go on reading to find something to obey. The kingdom of God gives us a new way of thinking which leads us into a new way of living.

“Then Jesus said, “God’s kingdom is like seed thrown on a field by a man who then goes to bed and forgets about it. The seed sprouts and grows—he has no idea how it happens. The earth does it all without his help: first a green stem of grass, then a bud, then the ripened grain.”Mark 4:26-33.

I think the Lord used the illustration of something hidden and ordinary because that intimates there will be a revealing of something unexpected, so a revelation is necessary. When God gives us a revelation those new thoughts rise up from our hearts, into our heads and we begin to think and act differently. What He says becomes our reference point, taking preference over what we think, or whatever we think we already know. One day we are reading away, and suddenly the thing we’ve stared at for ages, not only makes sense – it jumps off the page at us. 

Because this is His Grace in action we have nothing to contribute to this process of growth, just our willing obedience, and love for Jesus Himself. Often this stuff happens when we are not even looking! In His kingdom a single seed produces more seeds. So the kingdom of God is like the potential to change, digested and applied. Bye. 👋.

P 3015 ‘The Lord loves a generous giver.’

/ DVH

We all know the above verse, it is one of many verses that get dragged out whenever the cost of living gets higher than the pastor’s wages! Actually, I think the real issue about money is this: people work hard for their money. Unless they are aware of their own inner attitude, they don’t see the money that they earn as coming from the Lord Himself. 

Let’s look at what Almighty God thinks about money – Jesus is speaking: “For the kingdom of heaven is LIKE a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.“About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right. So they went.“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’“‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.“ He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.

“When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’“The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’ “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’”

I believe this parable shows us what God thinks about money. Money is a tool for generosity! You know, our God is so rich that the streets of heaven are paved with the purest gold, and precious jewels are the walls and gates. He asks His people to give because it is good for US, as His kids, to be generous too. PS God doesn’t need our money, but the pastor and his family just might like a new pair of shoes every 9 years or so! 

The above parable is about generosity. Jesus is explaining God’s generosity to the people around Him using a story that will challenge them. “Well, that story is unfair” – we cry – “why wouldn’t the guys who came late get paid less, or the guys who worked all day get paid more!” Because it was the OWNER’S money! Sadly most human beings still half kill themselves trying to get more and more money and aim at things that are beyond our reach. We put our sense of safety in our money, in our ability to earn. When it comes to money we all forget Who promised to take care of us. God made the Israelites rich and they were escaping slaves!

The biggest mistake Christians can make regarding their faith, concerns money. I’m sure you have loads of places etc that you love to give, but ask yourself this: who, in your own mind and heart, OWNS whatever you have? That’s the real issue. Sometimes the things we own – own us. BTW, I am not talking about selling everything, giving all our money away and sitting on a street corner – I am talking about deliberately setting ourselves free from the love of money. And that includes the idea that we need it. God will supply all our needs – so if we don’t got it we don’t need it. Tell Him what you need.

Here’s a bigger thought – make the Lord Himself your money manager! He’s been managing our money for years – we pray and ask for His help whenever we need it. So give whatever you have to Him and then deal with the fear of not having enough .😳 We know we must pay our bills so how do we give to others hilariously? “Let giving flow from your heart, not from a sense of religious duty. Let it spring up freely from the joy of giving—all because God loves hilarious generosity!” 2 Corinthians 9:7. Giving flows out of a full heart, so we need to deal with our hearts first. Instead of hoping one day that that awful fear we have in the back of our mind about not having enough, will go away!!

Some of the best givers I know live like all of their money is the Lord’s. They do not give out of excess, they simply give as the Lord tells them to give. This means they need to use their faith to live. Like I’ve said before, giving is a win-win situation! Think about that little widow lady in the temple who took her two small coins, all she had, and put them into the coffers. And Jesus commended her for it, right in front of His disciples.

What we do with our money is an issue of control, and when we follow Jesus, He is in control. If and when we want to deepen our faith, it is going to cost us. And that, in my opinion, is the reason most of the church is idling along in neutral, going nowhere much. Our God dearly loves us! It’s His nature, He can’t help it! But we can choose to go to our graves stuck in the mud and mire of a “gimme gimme gimme” world. Sadly, the line for ‘having enough’ always moves away from us. Think about it. Bye. 👋.

P 3014 On our trip.

/ DVH

Today, I just want to tell you one story – it’s about a single family. While we were on the road, we heard story after story of dreadful hardship, and it was overwhelming each time. BTW, all the government agencies are totally swamped, the need is so great. By the time we got to our last stop, we were so tired. We went to that destination to drop blankets and food into a men’s shelter. 

As we drove into our accommodation, on the right hand side of our cabin, there was a family. They were packing up to leave. They did not have a car, or even suitcases – everything they owned was in a series of medium sized plastic containers, and they were moving and stacking them away from the unit door. These containers each had labels on them with a person’s name on it. The Lord spoke to my heart and said: “These people are homeless – they have nothing, and nowhere to go.”

It transpired that the managers of the place had given them 4 nights to stay there for free — it had been so bitterly cold they took pity on them. But now this nice couple were caught because they didn’t own the facility, they managed the property for someone else and their employer would not have been happy that they let them stay for free.The family was quite literally moving on and they had nowhere to go. We started to pray. We didn’t even unpack, hubby went to talk to the father. 

Every single thing they owned was in those plastic containers.They also had a tent, and had been previously camping by the river, but it became too cold for them to continue to do that, because the two youngest kids were fairly small. The little girl was about 4 or 5, and still in nappies. the other child about 6 years old. He had a fishing pole and he was practicing casting about, presumably hoping to catch fish. The Lord said: “He is trying to help.” 

Hubby quickly ascertained that they had called some relatives for aid, but they were uncertain anyone would come because their extended families were as financially strapped as they were. Then he told the father that we were giving away blankets and food and asked if they needed anything? The father nodded and told hubby he would take 2 blankets and we also gave them all the food we had for the men’s shelter. Hubby queried the man gently about only taking 2 blankets, and only then he said 4 would be better. 

My dear husband emptied his wallet to provide them with some money, because they had no funds at all. He prayed for them, and hugged the wife, who was weeping and weeping. The little girl was attracted to him, she kept wanting to shake his hand. We’d bought a cute stuffed toy, as a gift for someone, and the Lord indicated it was to be given to her. She was so excited about it, and carried it around.. I’m pretty sure there weren’t many stuffed toys in their boxed belongings! 

We asked them what else they needed etc. and then we went off to the shops to get things like milk and nappies. Plus we also managed to replace the food and blankets we were originally taking to the men’s shelter! Then the little family went and settled down outside to wait. Their husband informed mine that someone was coming along to collect them all … eventually.They had a teenage boy with them who had attached himself to the group. He had just lost his mum, and this sweet couple, who already had a lot of things to deal with, took him in. 

Before we left them, hubby gave the younger children little books. Their mother started reading to them about Jesus right away. The Lord was quite clear with us, He told us what we could do, and what we could not. So we just did what He said, and prayed – lots. Because we were just passing through, we could not solve their entire problem.

The money hubby gave to this family was not spare. We couldn’t afford to buy all that extra stuff either — but almost immediately, somebody put funds in our account and God provided for us – and them! Plus we were also able to witness to the manager and his wife and commend them for their generosity. The family was gone the next day.

Nobody sets out to be homeless, without a job or money, but life happens to all of us. “But You, O God, do see trouble and grief; You consider it to take it in hand. The victim commits himself to You; You are the Helper of the fatherless.” Psalm 10:14. “Rich and poor have this in common: The LORD is the Maker of them all.” Proverbs 22:2. Bye. 👋

P 3013 Our God is incredibly generous.

/ DVH

When the Lord comforts us, He is also giving us something we can pass on to someone else who is in need. Almighty God is so incredibly, over-the-top generous, He doesn’t only give us what we need, He gives us more than enough, so we have plenty to give way!!

“All praises belong to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. For He is the Father of tender mercy and the God of endless comfort. He always comes alongside us to comfort us in every suffering so that we can come alongside those who are in any painful trial. We can bring them this same comfort that God has poured out upon us.” 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 TPT. I’m a conduit, a channel. You are one too – all of God’s children are conduits of what He has given us.The secret to thriving in His Ways is not to own anything! I don’t just mean that literally, I mean whatever we have is always available to help someone else. Time, love, compassion, faith etc… as well as practical things.

We give away what we have already been given, because sharing is now part of our new nature. We don’t have to squirrel stuff away for another day, because we already know that:“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.“ 2 Peter 1:3. As the bible says what we have is: “…pressed down and running over…” This means we will always have more than enough! We simply have to be flexible and divide between our needs and wants. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” Psalm 46:1. God loves His kids. Each one of us is precious to Him – He covers, guides and protects us.

We get comfort from Him, through other people, and through His Word, plus other people’s prayers for us – and then we give it away. I have found that right along with comfort we also get “hope” when ours has started to wobble and get wonky under duress. The next time something dastardly happens to you, instead of hunting about trying to find Him, just remind yourself that He is right next to you. The bible says that like this: “He ALWAYS comes alongside us …” That means we can bank on it. Don’t feel around to see if it is true, remember Peter — he got out of the boat and stepped onto the water, and LET GO, and then he did the impossible. 

Believe God is with you because He is. If your difficult situation has not gone away, then He knows that together you and He can get through it. Ask Him to show you the way through. Some things are meant to be endured with patience because that’s how you get the fruit of long-suffering love. We cannot afford to consult our feelings when the ceiling of our life just fell in. Our feelings will react. It’s normal.  Read the book – Jesus had feelings! But … they were not in charge of His responses. 

The society we live in makes feelings way more important than they ought to be. In years gone by people elevated the brain. It seemed that knowing stuff was going to help us through any crisis. Information proved to be a dud, because our knowledge kept changing along the way! If we elevate our feelings over our faith we are missing out on His generous flow of wisdom and comfort that constantly comes our way. God wants us to win. Everything He has done is to help us win in this battle called ‘life.’

We are the people of His Spirit, so feelings and knowledge take a secondary place in our lives. They are still there – after all we are not stoics, beating our feelings into submission! We simply relinquish how we feel and whatever has happened, to the Holy Spirit. Jesus told us to pick up and wear the yoke He wore. His yoke was obedience to His Father in every circumstance. He saw the “Yes” of God and He saw the “No” and the result was the same – He continued to glorify God. We simply can’t afford to let our feelings stay in control of our lives or reactions. Cry if you have to, yell if you have to, but yell out to God for His help to walk through whatever has happened. 

We have been exhorted, with His help, to grow suitable, sustainable fruit… the fruit of the Spirit called “self-control.” That fruit grows in good times and in bad, as we ask for His help to watch over our inner lives.. As we yield our will to Him, and follow His instructions from the book, we prepare the ground for good fruit. Fruit takes time, so we need to be ready to persevere. That allows His fruit in us to ‘set.’ The very first year our mango tree appeared to have fruit, it got all these happy little nubs on it and we got so excited … fruit at last … then they all fell to the ground! The fruit had not set – it had not been successfully pollinated. God will pollinate our feeble attempts at faith, with more faith, because He is generous!

Our knowledge of Who He is, and the Way He does things, needs to be established in an ongoing fashion in our hearts, otherwise we will continue to flounder about like a fish out of water. We were born for this life. He chose us to be His, before the foundation of the world. Did you get that? He picked us to be His children before there were trees, stars, oceans, dry land, good food to eat! And Father God is incredibly generous, He will give us everything we need for a Godly life. So we can complete the works He sent us to do. If you don’t got what you think you need, then you don’t need it! Believe in your Father’s generosity – He believes in you. Bye. 👋

P 3012 Here’s a good aim.

/ DVH

And a great scripture for today: “Don’t stop! Keep on singing! Make His Name famous! Tell everyone every day how wonderful He is. Give them the good news of our great Saviour. Take the message of His glory and miracles to every nation. Tell them about all the amazing things He has done.” Psalms 96:2-3 TPT. 

So here is our friend David again, prophetically declaring the praise and person of Christ and His divine message of salvation. That man blows my mind! I love the way David operates, he comes from a place of active devotion.  Wherever we go, hubby and I want to tell the people we meet that God Himself sent us, and then we tell them how much Jesus loves them!

However, in today’s crazy society talking about our precious Saviour can be difficult to do. Always remember when the truth turns up, and the truth is IN YOU so the darkness wants to flee! Praise is more than singing on Sunday – it is a way of life. That’s why we need to come from the place of living in His love – nobody ran away from Jesus – not even once! He didn’t have to chase anyone, they ran after Him!

Today more than ever, with the Holy Spirit’s help and prompting, it is up to us as believers to make His Name great. To me that means He is as much a part of my thoughts and conversations as my husband, kids, grandkids. friends and church family! The bible clearly says: “Taste and see that the Lord is good…” — I’ve always thought that means if someone takes a bite out of me, all they should get is a mouthful of Jesus! Not that I have achieved that goal yet … but I press ON! Why? Because we all have a high calling and that calling is more than just words, it is a way to live. We live to illustrate the life that is in us, daily.

We may look like everyone else, but now we are executors reading out Christ’s will. That’s why the bible is called the NEW and the OLD testament.  A testament is a will, a legal document. Now here’s a good time to give thanks that we were born on this side of Calvary!! Jesus’ Will includes healing, restoration to God, restoration of human relationships, grace, mercy, goodness, kindness …etc. That means we get to tell every human being we meet that God is not mad at them, Jesus Christ died in their place and God can’t wait to meet them, in person!! 

The thing we have found is that this life continually presses in on everyone – misdirecting and distracting us with sorrow, suffering, misunderstandings and adverse events and grumpy other people. We can waste our time waiting for someone else to apologise to us, or to understand us — but the reality is – if YOU AND I can simply introduce His Grace into any conflict. His grace will transform everyone and everything. Like the clouds in the sky which can seem to hide the ever-present, ongoing presence of the sun. It is part of our new life to show and tell others, that the Son of all righteousness died in their place too. He’s not gone from this world, now He is inside His kids.

I think the awful things we daily face can be covered by “Love suffers long …”  The reality is, I stop focussing on what you said, or I said, or whatever happened, or even defending myself. If you misunderstand me, and I deliberately focus on talking to the Holy Spirit and ask Him what to do next. He knows the way through everything. But that does not always mean He will vindicate me. It simply means He knows the way through whatever unhappy incident I have been trapped in. In any situation, the Lord Himself needs to win—NOT us!

We can fight so hard to be understood, instead of fighting the huge amount of temptations we are assaulted by that bring out human selfishness. So as we go, we live listening for our next instruction from Him. Here’s something that works for me – I stop assuming that other grumpy guy wants to destroy me and throw myself upon Jesus and His Grace. When I do that I am letting Him fight for me. Who wants to make a guess about that outcome? Everybody wins. Even if the other guy continues to be mean, they are fighting Jesus now, not me. I’m safe, hidden in Him, spectating!

I just keep handing everything back to the Lord, then having done all … I stand. I wait to see the goodness of God take over and when it does, I let Him keep building it through me and my words. Here is a tip that helps me to make His Name famous in my little corner of this world …start speaking kindly about, and toward, other people – no matter how they act toward you. Find something good about them and say that. Make it the way you think about them. Live your life so other people will end up praising Him!

In Psalm 96 David’s exuberance toward God Himself is almost explosive. This man had honed his focus so his whole POV came from a place of praising God and continually focussing on what the Lord had done and was going to do. Like us, David had not met Jesus in the flesh. He simply lived the life he had to make God famous. Praising God is how we live, not just what we sing on Sunday. Now there’s a good aim. Bye. 👋 

P 3011 He is a Merciful Father.

/ DVH

“Lord, You’re so kind and tenderhearted and so patient with people who fail You! Your love is like a flooding river overflowing its banks with kindness. You don’t look at us only to find our faults, just so that You can hold a grudge against us.” Psalms 103:8-9 TPT. This Psalm was written 1100 years before Jesus was born. Imagine that! Just spend a minute drinking in the knowledge of Grace that exists in David’s words. He had such a clear, wonderful picture of Who God is. Almighty God was this man’s singular focus. Not sin. Not what he did, or what I did, or even what some Philistine did! His focus was on God Himself. David knew God and His mercy so clearly.

It would be an utter tragedy if we became so obsessed with our failures, that we cannot see, or imagine the Niagara Falls of our Father’s Grace falling, falling, falling into our lives, day after day after day. Let’s always remember to thank Him for it! He’s such a good good merciful Father! We must continually chase after Him, longing to know more about His goodness and mercy toward us, until it fills our thoughts and eyes. If we look at our failures, we will end up obsessing over them and letting those things rule us. That is that kind of stuff that makes people hide from God.

What we need is balance. The ability to see His mercy-in-action in our own lives and yet not presume on it.  To do that we rely upon what the bible says and the Holy Spirit’s help and guidance. His singularity and purity of mind and heart is like our compass, pointing us to true north. So we press on hoping to be more like David, he treasured our God with so much passion. Let’s leave our sinful attitudes and actions at the foot of the cross and praise God He didn’t given up on us!

The letters in the Epistles were written so we can understand the comprehensive everydayness of God’s divine intervention into our lives. Like the people who followed Him then, we lay aside the weights that try to attach themselves, and keep thanking Him for His goodness. Always remembering we are never ever going to deserve anything He has done for us. The pressure to perform is a weight. These saints knew, firsthand, that they could not have done what was done without our Father’s Divine Love, plus His incredible intervention. They marvelled at what they were allowed to see and take part in – their joy, suffering, miracles and troubles. 

That’s the starting point for each one of us, giving thanks that He loves us. We cannot move past that. Then we will begin to understand our role in His plan and receive power from Him to do the works He has prepared for us to do before we ever arrived into this world. I like to cultivate, fertilise and weed the seed beds of my life with His totally engaged oversight. When God puts His finger on something, then it is important and it needs to become a priority … not a postponement. He does this with loving mercy, not accusation.

I often think about all those other people-today-who-don’t-know-Him-yet. The people who worship so-called gods that have no power to help their followers to change the very things that have driven them to find someone, or something, greater than themselves in the first place! And, how I love the Lord Jesus so much for coming here and illustrating what LOVE looks like in a Person. 

Mercy is a greatly underrated virtue, today. Many people think it means we go soft on someone who has terrible attitudes and actions. Actually, mercy means we don’t kill them for what they’ve done, we forgive them instead. But mercy is not about standing against a wall for someone else’s target practice – that’s giving that person the opportunity to abuse Grace. It is not just bad for you – it is bad for them! Grace was expensive. We need the Holy Spirit’s guidance to help us live in it and administer it. Jesus persevered with those who persecuted Him, but He did not excuse their behaviour. Mercy is no-one’s free ticket to punish someone else.

Our God is full of mercy:  “… that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting people’s sins against them [but canceling them]. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation [that is, restoration to favour with God].”2 Corinthians 5:19. If you want to know more about what His mercy looks like in action – read the book. Bye for today, 👋.

ps For those who have asked about our trip: on this trip we gave away— nearly a hundred blankets. Plus donated tinned food, toothpaste, deodorants, baby clothes, baby bottles, nappies, toys, handmade bags, children’s books, bookmarks, pens, paintings, thank you cards, blocks of chocolate for the maids, prophetic words, plus nearly 300 bibles. That’s approx. 678 things in 8 days. We could have given away so much more, but our car was stuffed full, and we tied more to the roof! We had countless conversations talking about what we believe – many of the people we spoke to, wept. 

There are governmental agencies doing their best, but the funds are incredibly low for the sheer volume of misplaced, abused and over-looked people out here in the country. We met a worker in Nanango who had been a police officer for years. She had to give it up because of post-traumatic stress disorder. She looked at us with eyes filled with tears and said:“I couldn’t take the dead and abused children anymore. It nearly finished me. I couldn’t even talk to my husband about it for a year.”  Please pray for her, now she helps the homeless – you cannot stop a mercy gift and she has one!

The church needs the kind of mercy that stops seeing broken people as just someone we are meant to harvest for God’s kingdom and purposes, and simply see suffering human beings instead. 🙏