P 2532 There is reading the bible … OR … letting the bible READ YOU.

/ DVH

Psalm 19:10 “God’s Word is better than a diamond, better than a diamond set between emeralds.You’ll like it better than strawberries in spring, better than red, ripe strawberries.”  Now there’s an interesting statement!

One of the best things we can do as the Lord’s disciples is to let His book read us. His Word is like our mirror. Hmmm… First of all, I gotta say that I don’t much like normal, live-in-your-house mirrors, anymore! This old lady that I-don’t-know keeps sticking her head in front of mine and ruining my perfect view of the thirty year old I-used-to-be!! I dunno how she does it, but there she is, liver spots and all, staring back at me! Like I said — not fond of mirrors! I have a strange feeling other people feel like me regarding God’s Word. We don’t like what we see.

As Christians, I think we need to continually remind ourselves that our plans are not His plans. THAT’S WHY WE READ THE BOOK – to find out HIS plan. I read the bible with the Holy Spirit, He’s the One Who knows what I am meant to find out about myself every day! Please take my advice, the mirror of God’s Word is our friend, no matter how old we are. Don’t let the view in it – spoil your reading. Remember, our debt was paid. Confess your faults, repair, restore … and move on … 

The secret of real lasting growth, as well as gaining the ability to hear His voice, is to read what He has said, and then go and live it out – every single day. There are no shortcuts. I read until I find something I don’t know, or haven’t done – then stop and ask myself why not? ‘Why am I not obeying this verse? Am I letting myself off the hook by telling myself that this verse was for back then, not now?’ We need to look for God’s story in His book. His way of doing things is in what we read … “His word brings us light.”

One of the easiest prayers, like E-V-E-R … to get answered is to ask the Lord … “do I do this?”  OR  “how would you like me to obey this one Jesus?” Here’s another brilliant one, for free – “who am I mad at Lord?”  Do take a pencil, you will probably need it. Arguing or making excuses about what we read prevents growth. Just repent etc. Repentance never killed anyone. Obedience to God’s Word is one of the primary requirements Christians are missing today. BTW, this is a CO-operative process! Telling God you agree without finding out the solution and applying it – is a rort.

In other words, when we read the word of God we can’t just leave it with Him without engaging with Him in behavioural change. I guess there are times when we read the bible and think: ”Gee, my auntie, cousin, sister, father, friend-at-church ought to read this, it would do them good.” That’s called distraction! The minute we have that thought we need to ask Him: “what’s in this verse for me, Lord?” We must stop pretending that we have arrived, and enter willingly and gladly into His processes, because they will bring us closer to Him. Despite popular opinion, we will not explode if we find out we are doing something wrong. It is simply an opportunity for change.

The Holy Spirit is always with us. He wants us to win. The more we overcome those sins that we think we can’t help doing – the stronger our faith in His ability to move … in our hearts, on our lives, and through us … becomes. Please do not misunderstand me, we don’t have to be perfect to be used by God to further His kingdom here on earth. But just like getting excess WAX taken out of our earthly ears helps us to hear — getting rid of the things that are holding our faith back from real growth, helps to equip us to do what He sent us here to do!

Too many wonderful Christians have been shot in the foot by unresolved issues! There are things in our lives that we do, that Jesus would not do, and they need to be confronted and submitted to Him. Those things distract us from our primary purpose. To love and serve Him, and others. We can use our energy to avoid change, or we can use our energy to facilitate that change. That choice is always ours.

At the same time we need to remember, sometimes even in our own households, we are the catalyst for change in others. We all have influence. We have been given influence because we belong to Him. Almighty God has brought many people into our lives for the purpose of using our faith to stimulate theirs, and that includes our children. My best advice is to learn to let the bible read you … the results will draw us all closer to Him. Isaiah 59:2 “There’s nothing wrong with God; the wrong is in you. Your wrongheaded lives caused the split between you and God. Your sins got between you so that He doesn’t hear.” MSG. 👋

P 2531 Our place in God’s plans.

/ DVH

1 Samuel 22:20-23: “But one son of Ahimelek son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped and fled to join David. He told David that Saul had killed the priests of the Lord. Then David said to Abiathar, “That day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, I knew he would be sure to tell Saul. I am responsible for the death of your whole family. Stay with me; don’t be afraid. The man who wants to kill you is trying to kill me too. You will be safe with me.”

To put you in the picture – King Saul is on one of his “let’s kill David … … plus anyone else who helps him!”… moods. Saul had heaps of ‘destroy that guy’ sprees. Below is my condensed version of one of those stories.. David goes to Nob and asks the high priest Ahimelek to help him, he and his men need food. Ahimelek gives David and his men yesterdays’ shew bread plus Goliath’s sword to help him. It is good to remember, King Saul hates David without any Godly cause. Some people do that you know – it isn’t always your fault.

Meanwhile, I think King Saul is deeply envious, and jealous of David and his popularity and his good heart. To start with Saul’s own son Jonathan loves him and this young man is constantly helping his friend. Back to the story — Saul hears about Ahimelek helping David out and he becomes furious — which actually seems to be the king’s emotional default position (!!)  And he sends for Ahimelek, and all the other priests. There were 85 of these men, and King Saul tells his men to kill all of them. 

But the king’s men are unwilling to strike down priests, so Saul gets Doeg the Edomite to kill them, as well as everyone else who lived in the town of Nob. Apparently Saul also believes in guilt by association. This is where the verses above pick up the narrative. We find out that through the text, that David did not trust Doeg at all. It seems that David’s internal spiritual radar was spot on! 

The reason I want to feature this story today is to highlight David’s attitude. Attitudes are easy to miss when you are just reading things as a story! One of Ahimelek’s sons escapes and runs to David, telling him what Saul has done and David picks up responsibility for what has happened … even though he was not the perpetrator! He literally becomes this man’s city of refuge, taking the man and his whole family in under his protection. I love that! When I read it recently, I started praying the Lord would make me a place of refuge like that for others, so they can come to know Him and His love, better.

It is good to look hard at what happened to Ahimelek. We need to note that none of the people who were assassinated did anything wrong – but they were all destroyed to satisfy the king’s desire for revenge. It can be way too easy to start hunting around for the ‘Sauls’ in our own lives … those people who hate us … when we read stuff like this… Nobody loves everybody all the time! By the way, if you find some people like that in your life – remember to forgive them! 

However, today my aim is to talk about having a heart just like David had toward others. He became the protector of the weak and vulnerable – despite the fact that he was being actively pursued by a jealous, vengeful king. He is innocent of any wrong doing. Under pressure, David is still a righteous man! As Christians, we need to be the sort of people that care enough about other people to protect them prayerfully etc., as well as practically and we need to learn, from the Lord, how to prevail under pressure. You get it that the pressure comes first – eh? Then we get to do the prevailing stuff!

This world has so much injustice today it is easy to be swept up in anger and frustration, and then get overwrought, and start acting, and reacting from our pain. Because of that pain, we can easily switch our focus over toward getting rid of the problem. In this story, and in most of ours, the problem is a person. Yet David had enough wisdom to leave Saul and his machinations to GOD – he just kept actively evading him. This was WHO David was!

IF we take matters like this into our own hands we will miss our calling. We are called to be ministers of reconciliation – not God’s revenge on two feet! Our enemy can successfully distract us from the main thing and … the main thing is to find OUR PLACE in His ANSWER. One of our biggest temptations is to rush in where angels fear to tread and act without wisdom. My advice is wait for our King, Jesus. Our place in God’s plan is to be a minister of reconciliation. There is no greater calling.👋

P 2530 Reverence, respect and esteem.

/ DVH

Further to what I wrote yesterday, I began to pray and think about the elder son in the parable of the prodigal son. His attitude was less than fabulous about all this restoration stuff for his brother. Maybe he was glad the young man left in the first place! It seems to me he was obsessed with works, and he was angry that his brother had not pulled his weight. He was also resentful because he had to make up the difference, while Junior wafted about doing whatever he liked. So he spat his dummy out about what happened, and his Dad copped it. He definitely found an attitude in there amongst all that co-operation!

Luke 15:25-31 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him.  But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours…”

How easy it is sometimes to be the older brother! Particularly when another son is such a whimsical character.  I must say in my life I have been the prodigal, so other people being restored doesn’t actually phase me, I get delighted instead…. A-n-d …that was when the Lord said!!!  … … “Oh really??? So when someone has acted badly toward a person you love, and they choose to forgive them, you don’t get snippy about it?”  At that moment I chose to plead the 5th amendment, and I’m not even American! Yes, I repented. 

Righteo. I can see I’m both guys in that parable. Then the Lord said this: “There are THREE people in that story. What about the father, do you also identify with the father?” O-k-a-ay. On reflection, it seems I can identify with all three characters in this story Lord!  Yikes. This story is a lot more complicated than I originally thought. But as I thought more about it, I found I can also identify with the prodigal’s father, because I too have had one kid that decided it didn’t like me and they went afar off. I am quite familiar with that pain. 

That was when I realised that – knowing the pain, and identifying the sin in my own life — are two different things! Boy did I get mad at the kid that left! I’ve also wandered out to the gate, when I could bear it, and looked up the road, but in the end I nearly gave up. I had to learn we can’t stop reaching out to difficult people in our lives, just because they don’t like us. That’s simply avoiding rejection. But the bible says: Love believes all things, it hopes all things … so we now have the greater mandate — restoration. 

He is right of course, I have totally had bad thoughts, plus words out loud, toward others who seem to get away with blue murder. That’s called jealousy … if you are interested. 🙄 The prodigal in this parable was careless and dismissive of his role in other people’s lives and he did not value what he already had, and what his father generously gave him. But, alternately the older brother was obsessed with what other people were or weren’t doing, and whether what he did was being recognised. 

Meanwhile their dear father loved both of these two young men, despite their shortcomings. In my own life I have found that one person’s sin can uncover a whole lot of things that were already there in a number of people – but they were not seen. And sometimes sin provides an opportunity for revelation for everybody!  However, God’s love remains the same. He is faithful and true at all times. 

I didn’t write these last two blogs to condemn anyone, because I know personally that God’s Grace absolutely covers all our sin. Instead my thoughts each time, were centred on not taking His Grace for granted. Like the prodigal did. Or striving to earn it, like the older brother! Which ever role we qualify for, we will always need God’s Grace. However, I can rejoice that there is not one word of condemnation on either young man. Our God is so amazing – He goes straight to restoration. We need to remember that our God is a God of reconciliation and restoration. So if we want to be like Him we must learn His Ways of reconciliation and restoration! It ain’t rocket science.

We need to allow the Lord to move us past the immaturity of our past, into the same way of thinking and doing that Jesus occupied. We are now eternally, gratefully, His. ‘My Beloved is mine and I am His and His banner over me is love.’ This is to be our focus now – and if we fall on our heads, then the Holy Spirit is here to help us. If we do not reverence, esteem and remain grateful for His Grace, that lack can lead us astray. Let’s remember the Israelites, they immediately forgot what Almighty God had done for them, and went off chasing other gods. 👋

P 2529 We must learn to live as Jesus lived.

/ DVH

“Christ suffered and died for sins once and for all—the innocent for the guilty —to bring you near to God by His body being put to death and by being raised to life by the Spirit.”1 Peter 3:18 TPT. “Be very careful then, how you live, not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of every day because the days are evil.”Ephesians 5:15-16.

Jesus Christ lived for His Father’s glory and will. At the same time our precious Heavenly Father provided a way for each of us to live before we were even born. But all of mankind was found guilty of falling short of the standard Christ lived out and set before us. So Father God allowed Jesus to suffer and be brutally murdered for the things we’ve done, even though Christ was utterly innocent. As we live day by day we are covered by His precious blood, from the moment we said yes to having Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. However, I have a word of warning …when we use His grace to live for US …we are squandering our inheritance.

In the bible there is this great parable that almost everybody knows –  it’s about the Prodigal Son.  The thing is:  you and I – if we are not prayerfully careful – can also be that prodigal son! … “Whadda mean lady… I’m a Christian! I’ve been baptised, I go to church, I pray, I talk to God, God forgave me from all my sins.” …Yeah, yeah, hold your horses … I’m getting to it … I didn’t like that thought much either!  

Think on this: the prodigal son in this parable was already a legitimate SON and heir!  He was already eligible to inherit His Father’s riches. But he took everything His Father gave him, and he went off and squandered it all. He used his inheritance to LIVE AND DO whatever he wanted. That younger son went and lived just like the pagans around him. He threw away what was rightfully his, on stuff that was going to gratify him … here and now… 😳

I asked the Holy Spirit: “Lord what does that all that mean?” He said this: “When you use MY GRACE to excuse yourself, instead of repenting and repairing things in your life, you are squandering your inheritance. My Son gave His life to pay for your sins, it was not cheap! My Grace is available to anyone who asks for it, but I have not given it freely to you so you can do what you like, and say what you like, and then presumptuously expect the Precious blood of Jesus to cover it. That’s abuse of a very great privilege.”

Then He asked me this: “When was the prodigal restored?” I said: “The prodigal was restored when he repented. When this young man recognised, in a pig pen, that the son and heir does not belong in a pig pen! He remembered his father’s generous ways toward even the servants of his household. And then he used his faith to go home. He didn’t expect the kind of welcome he got, because unfortunately, he did not actually know his father’s ways very well at all.” 

You know, we could easily all be labelled prodigals, if we are using our privileges, our heavenly inheritance, to benefit US. As I have said before, our God is not a vending machine. We are in a relationship with Him, not just a supply and demand arrangement. Our heart’s position toward His Grace and loving provision matters. We dare not take advantage of His Grace by living this life we have been GIVEN, counting on the fact that He will forgive us — without cultivating reverential fear toward His ways. And the Holy Spirit has given us a book full of what His ways look like. 

The prodigal son in this parable had no reverence for his father’s position as the leader of the household. He just wanted what he wanted, and then went and did whatever suited him. His father exercised a tremendous amount of faith in his boy coming home again, as he waited for him every single day. Our heavenly Father’s Love waits patiently for us to realise the error of our ways and come home from the pig pens of this world. And we don’t have to go gambling, or into drug dens, or strip joints to sin against His Grace. We cannot afford to devalue something that was so incredibly costly. Let’s remember – GOD DEFINES SIN – we don’t!

We need to value and treasure what we have been given, every single day. Jesus died to bring us into relationship with Almighty God. He gave us His inheritance. We must not take it for granted that God will fix our messes as we merrily wander along creating chaos. Our mess is our responsibility! We are so blessed because He is faithful, He promises to help us. We need to learn, on purpose, to live this life as Christ lived His — for God’s glory and His will. Babies expect to be waited on and cleaned up, mature adults own their own faults and work toward reparation. Bye 👋

P 2528 Nothing is permanent – even you!

/ DVH

I saw the above photo on a missionary friend’s site recently and it resounded in my heart immediately.  It seems to me that there really is a whole lotta shaking goin’ on — in the Body of Christ — as well as in this world around us.  

The bible says this in Hebrews 12:27: “So don’t turn a deaf ear to these gracious words. If those who ignored earthly warnings didn’t get away with it, what will happen to us if we turn our backs on heavenly warnings? His voice that time shook the earth to its foundations; this time—He’s told us this quite plainly—He’ll also rock the heavens: “One last shaking, from top to bottom, stem to stern.” The phrase “one last shaking” means a thorough housecleaning, getting rid of all the historical and religious junk so that the unshakable essentials stand clear and uncluttered.”

I need to make it clear that I am not here to discuss ‘the end times.’ The Lord has told me that is none of my business and when He tells me “None of your business!”… I listen. I don’t want to waste whatever time I have chasing stuff that has nothing whatsoever to do with me. But I do want to say this, we ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ about wars, earthquakes, volcanos, and tsunamis but what we really ought to pay attention to … is what happens … when Almighty God speaks!

I mean, did you get what that scripture in Hebrews? It says His voice at one time shook the earth to its foundations … but the next time … !!! … He is also going to rock the heavenlies! The God of heaven and earth is going to shake this world out of its complacency and chaos, and … we don’t know when!  While we are here, we still have a promise to keep: “Your new life for my old one Lord.” …’The life I now live I live by faith in the Son of God Who died for me.”(Galatians 2:20)

Lately, the thing I have noticed is this, the current earthly disastrous events are often somewhere else. So most of us  are viewing that kind of upheaval and chaos from a distance. But there will come a day when nobody can stand off and wonder what that is like, because it will be our house that is shaking! Now that will really touch us where we are at! It is one thing to have the world shake 10,000 kms away and entirely another to have it shake at your house.

All I feel about the difficult times ahead is that the Lord is deeply grieved about every single one of the people who have already perished, and the ones who will perish, without any knowledge of Him, in the future. Most of them have never ever been told that Jesus loves them and died for their sins. And, this is happening on OUR watch. Now there’s a sobering thought. How can we continue on in our comfortable lives without caring for those among us who have no idea about what could be just around the corner? 

I know we’ve kind of relegated this stuff into “some-day land” … but for the people who have died recently – in the past week, month, or year;  without anyone caring about their eternal destiny — it mattered! We can be so busy making sure we are “safe” and our families are “safe” – we forget our main directive is to GO and tell others! We are all called to be witnesses of what God has done in and through our lives. 

Instead we collect verses that comfort us, like some people collect postage stamps, and we vaguely wonder why we are not growing. Maybe it is because we’ve missed the fact that our primary mission is not about being healed or trained … it’s about going!! Our primary aim is to love the Lord with all of us, plus love and care for the well-being of others, whether they are friends or enemies. It is way too easy to see the current road statistics and think: “Whew! Not my family.”

Jesus Christ spent His entire ministry ministering to the sorrowing, sick, suffering and ignorant – how can we dare to do any less than He did? Let’s remember, that despite our personal inadequacies …WE are the cavalry! Just like that remnant army that Gideon led, I believe the day is coming when the Holy Spirit will lead a remnant army who are empowered by Him, to usher in the greatest revival this world has ever seen.

Right now, we need to start telling the people around us what the Lord has done in our own lives … and remember, the results are always up to Him. The poor and the downtrodden are currently living in this world without God’s demonstrated love, mercy or grace … because His love inside us has not moved our butts to take a risk, and go and visit them!  Jesus took the greatest risk of all – HE TRUSTED US.

There is no point waiting until our kids are raised and our house is paid off to OBEY. None of us have a guaranteed hold over tomorrow, because nothing is permanent. Our enemy is running rampant, killing people off one way or another. Saints, we are looking inward instead of outward. Jesus Christ is WITH US … LET’S GO!👋

Mark 16:15: “He (Jesus) said to them, “go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”

Matthew 28:19&20: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.”

P 2527 It can be hard to change …

/ DVH

“And never let ugly or hateful words come from your mouth, but instead let your words become beautiful gifts that encourage others; do this by speaking words of grace to help them.”Ephesians 4:29 TPT.

I think I was almost born talking – a born communicator. Evidently I could sing every song on the radio at 12 months old, and I said the usual stuff long before that!. But after I started talking, it was apparently quite difficult to shut me up.  I was labelled a chatterbox, and it seems to me, that I also arrived here somewhat opinionated! 

An-y-way … words are very important to me. I’ve always loved to read and I enjoy writing as well, so my vocabulary is regularly stretched. However, when words are used badly – it irritates the living daylights out of me!  In my generation, good handwriting, spelling and grammar were … everything. I am sure you can imagine how well I have taken to this age of texting and abbreviations! 😳 I have had to make myself to adapt, but there are still days that I don’t like it much…

This penchant for accuracy has been a thorn in my side for years. Back in the ark I can remember saying to my kids: “You can do such and such …but you may not!” It seems that I may have been a bit of a pestilential mother. But the world kept turning, and then everything I knew, or I thought I knew, turned upside down. We entered the Year 2000 and some things that used to matter in our society didn’t matter any more. Colour me somewhat unimpressed!

Some days I think the Lord might be falling off His chair laughing at me, because now words are the very things I can easily forget from day to day! I can forget what I was going to say right in the middle of a sentence. Boy is that humbling for the grammar queen!  Have you ever noticed how the Lord loves to take the things we think we know, and use His Word to puncture that fat little balloon we have inflated inside us — permanently?  Well, some of us probably deserve that shiny little pin-popping exercise, because we were being snobbish fatheads in the first place. 

One of the biggest problems was that I could, most of the time, out-talk my enemies. Now that sounds good … but it is totally unscriptural!  Unfortunately, in those days I kind of knew how to go for the jugular too. Then the Lord began dealing with me on how I was avoiding facing my own mess, but blabbing away about other people’s sins. Matthew 5:29: “Let’s not pretend this is easier than it really is. If you want to live a morally pure life, here’s what you have to do: You have to blind your right eye the moment you catch it in a lustful leer. You have to choose to live one-eyed or else be dumped on a moral trash pile. And you have to chop off your right hand the moment you notice it raised threateningly…”  I have learnt one thing through this life-time adventure – there IS no out-talking Almighty God! He is the Living Word and He has the last word, and there is no doubt He is always right. 

It has been a huge challenge for me to only let beautiful words come out of my mouth. BUT … here’s the kicker folks … Father God sometimes very graciously lets His power come through my words when I am talking to others. All those years of tormenting myself because I knew I talked too much, and I was way too sharp with other people in some situations … and the Holy Spirit took the very thing I thought I could never change and … CHANGED IT… and now He is using it. 🙌 Please do not misunderstand me, I really did try to keep my mouth shut, because I knew I could do a lot of mischief with it … but most of the time, until He helped me — I failed miserably. 

Eventually I chose to surrender, and I learnt to yield. At the same time, I confessed my faults, even to my enemies, and I went to the altar, where I cried buckets …But the solution was dead simple. I just had to learn to stick my hand over my mouth, repent, and at the same time cry out to the Holy Spirit to help me. I also had to learn to say the words “I was wrong to say that, I am so sorry…” … repeatedly! Of course, I choked on that lot as it was coming out. It was  humbling! You know how it says in the bible that “God gives Grace to the humble and He resists the proud?”  Hmmm. Almighty God knows exactly HOW to humble each of us! He’s great at it!  My advice is take your faults seriously –early!

So today, I want to encourage others to pray over the very thing that they have anguished over, and spent their life feeling like it can’t possibly change … and, instead, give it to God and ask for a practical solution. It can be hard to do, but it could be as easy as taking the your hand and putting it over your mouth. It was for me! 👋🏻

P 2526 Some thoughts on what maturity looks like.

/ DVH

To begin, I need to say that I do not think the things I have mentioned here indicate a place of arrival, rather they are personal sign posts. I wrangle every single day with all of these things… but I refuse to lower my aim just because these things are hard! Becoming like Jesus to other people means everything to me.Today, I have added in my own thoughts as well, but I think that this is one of those times that I need to let God’s word speak for itself. 

It is also good to look carefully at Jesus in the Gospels to see how God’s Grace operated. How HE took it in and breathed it out. Maturity sees Grace as the coin of the realm, they freely give Grace away and they also receive it in. Romans 8:29: “For God knew His people in advance, and He chose them to become like His Son, so that His Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” Mature Christians have walked way past being dead to sin, that’s a no-brainer! Instead they are so alive they challenge you by the way they live.

Galatians 2:20 TPT “My old identity has been co-crucified with Christ and no longer lives. And now the essence of this new life is no longer mine, for the Anointed One lives His life through me—we live in union as one! My new life is empowered by the faith of the Son of God Who loves me so much that He gave Himself for me, dispensing His life into mine!”

I think we all have a need to mature in the Western World, because, sadly, immature people follow fads as well as people — not Christ Himself. Ephesians 4:14 ”…so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.”  The Body of Christ will grow in spiritual maturity, by learning to persevere through the trials and challenges of our life. Mature people are humble because life itself and the Word of God has taught them, who they really are, without the Holy Spirit’s help. 

James 1:2-5 “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. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”  Trials are an opportunity to stretch and grow our faith!

Mature believers seek to live a life that is Spirit-filled — that is, they learn to be aware of and listen to God’s Spirit, who lives within all Jesus’ followers. Romans 6:11-14 says: “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to Him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.” 

These people Paul talks about understand that sin is a choice and the more anyone gives in to it, the harder it becomes to resist! So they “…present their bodies as a living sacrifice …” instead. They want what the Lord wants. They may not always know what that is … but they will take the time to wait on Him to find out! These people are a generous people. They not only share, but they make sure that their love is demonstrated not just talked about. Their only desire is to please the Lord above everything and everyone else. 

Mature people will quickly admit their faults and their lack, but they also know exactly where to go to repent and be filled again. Ephesians 4:32: “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God has forgiven you.” Forgiveness is never an optional extra to these people, it is a way of life. This means they do not judge others either. They know how to repent and admit that they were wrong, because their aim is Christ’s likeness not vindication. So they always repent quickly, then usher in real restoration, and go back into relationship again. Psalm 15:4:“They keep their promises to their neighbours, even when it hurts.” 

Philippians 4:11&12. “I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.”  These saints have found their contentment in knowing God Himself, and the Lord and His Presence in their lives is all they want. They never have to pray – they simply want to talk to the Lord because they love to be with Him. Maturity will refuse to define what other people’s love should look like, it accepts what the other person gives them with His Grace.

Lastly, in order to grow spiritually and mature in our faith, we must draw near to God, because we cannot mature on our own. Without His personal input into our lives – our works and efforts are worthless.

Bless you and bye for today! 👋

P 2525 Go after more!

/ DVH

Be self-motivated. Jesus Christ surrendered His will and His life for us, and now we voluntarily surrender our life —- the only life we have been given, to Him. We cannot afford to compartmentalise the Lord of all glory, into a designated time, place and space! The bible says: He is our all in all. We have the power to make that word, that God Himself spoke —- flesh… By doing it. Devotion to Christ is not an over-the-top concept – it is the reason we were saved!

“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. 

This verse is telling us how we can please God, and smell good to Him. Forget Chanel, or Yves St. Laurent … death-to-self smells good to God. His only Son sacrificed His life, to give US life, and that pleased the Father. ‘Our lives are no longer our own, we’ve been bought with a price – paid for with a preciousness that is out of this world.’ Our own personal response to that incredible gift and invitation, matters.

After that we step through the door of deliberate obedience, into the world of the Holy Spirit. Those of us who may have been StarWars fans will know that famous line Yoda spoke. “Do or don’t do. There is no try.” Isn’t it amazing how the rocks cry out sometimes? There is no “try” in dying to self. We choose, we don’t try.  “We (deliberately) set our minds on the things above …” Colossians 3:2. In Christianity, there is no try. The thing is, it is way too easy to bail out of ‘trying’ when it gets too hard. We need to trust God with everything we have, because He gave us everything He had.

In the Old Testament smelling good to God included slaughtering and burning dead sheep, or a bull, a goat, or a turtledove. In my opinion, blood smells terrible. It has an ugly tinny metallic smell – ugh! Death smells even worse! Imagine the flies!! This was not a quiet gentle scene, with angel singing, and a holy hush! And yet our God loved it. “It is a burnt offering, a food offering, with a pleasing aroma to the Lord.” Ephesians 5:17.

His own precious Son, hanging, dying a terrible, painful death was pleasing to Him – Almighty God looks through pain to the holy results. We simply must stop making a God after our own image by deciding that of course He will like what I like! He is not there to please US – we are here to choose to please HIM. 

And the real truth is, we still sometimes don’t know what He likes, because we are still learning. His book, the bible, keeps unfolding itself before our very eyes day after day after day!  That’s why Jesus said “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled.” Matthew 5:6. We all need to go to church hungry and thirsty for more of God. 

Many people in our churches are now sitting back in their seats, arms folded, double-daring the poor pastor to say something they haven’t already heard! It is almost like they think God is lucky that they came there at all! Hebrews 2:1 says: “For this reason [that is, because of God’s final revelation in His Son Jesus and because of Jesus’ superiority to the angels] we must pay much closer attention than ever to the things that we have heard, so that we do not [in any way] drift away from truth.” My advice is to pray that we will always listen with our hearts open, even if we have heard some things before … maybe the pastor is not preaching new stuff because we are not doing what he has already taught us! Let’s selah that thought…

These pastors preach to inspire us to greater things. Their desire is to see us grow up into Christ Jesus’ likeness. Otherwise they are simply running a spiritual day-care centre. Sunday after Sunday after Sunday. With spiritual babies yelling play with me, feed me, make me feel important! No wonder these wonderful people, who are gifts from God Himself, can get fed up and quit the ministry! Yet Sunday after Sunday it can be so easy to thank this person for their sermon:  and still go home and kick the cat, yell at our spouse, and chastise our kids. And we kid ourselves that Jesus understands how hard it is to be us! 

We all need to mature. And maturation takes more than attending church meetings, bible studies, prayer meetings. It takes SELF-WATERING, plus the cultivated curiosity to get to know all three of the Trinity better. They are not just our ‘Suppliers’ of answers to prayer, or even wise life information. We have been saved to interact with the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. 

The Christian life is more than going to church Sunday by Sunday – it is a way to live. If we only ATE once a week we would rapidly starve. Most Christians are malnourished with some of the most brilliant meals in the world, right at their finger tips. We must grow up into the fullness of Christ. We will never realise our dreams for more, sitting about hoping it is going to fall on us! …  It is time to go after MORE.  👋🏻 Jeremiah 15:16.

P 2524 This natural world has to yield to the spiritual one …

/ DVH

“Once your life was full of sin’s darkness, but now you have the very light of our Lord shining through you because of your union with Him.Your mission is to live as children flooded with His revelation-light! And the supernatural fruits of His light will be seen in you—goodness, righteousness, and truth.” Ephesians 5:8-9 TPT.

We need to deliberately determine in our hearts, to actively cultivate our relationship with Jesus – on purpose! We do that by regularly reading the bible, and going to church. And also when we pray  – which is talking to Him – referring to Him, and deferring to His will, His way. This is how we make Him a part of everything – we come into UNION with Him. I talk to the Lord all day long. I include Him in everything.

One thing makes all the difference to daily living constantly aware of Him, so I can be obedient. I lay my life down at His feet, deliberately. I have made a quality decision to live this life dead to what I want.  And that includes revenge on anyone who has hurt me. Then I ask Him for His help. I pray things like “You’re in charge, Jesus, please do whatever You want Lord, whatever You decide will be exactly what I need.” I pray like this even when things look awful. Or I’m scared. Or I can’t see anyway through something.

I don’t lie! I tell Him that I am scared etc. … but I probably won’t tell YOU! I’ve found that talking about fear or anger etc. makes those things bigger. It brings temporary emotional relief, but not permanent heart change. Over time Jesus has helped me to normalise my thoughts into His kingdom thinking. He taught me that I sometimes panic unnecessarily. I can scare myself by projecting even more bad thoughts into unknown or difficult situations, based on my previous experiences. So I’ve learnt to yield to Him all the time, not just once every morning. Day by day I accept whatever happens during the day, as my training with the Holy Spirit – because He is my Coach. One of my all time fav prayers is: “How are you going to get me out of this Lord?”

He often reminds me of some scriptures, and then I have something I can hold on to. But I have come to understand that in those difficult moments — I am confronting my own fears. Those things I have allowed to remain in my life because it seemed to be too hard to deal with them when they happened. Jesus always does over and above anything I could ever hope for… every single time. And it never ever looks like I think it will … the Lord knows the very best way through anything. I remind myself that the SPIRIT Who lived in Christ Jesus now lives in ME! (Galatians 2:20) He guided Jesus and He will guide me too.

“… Your (Our) mission is to live as children flooded with His revelation-light! And the supernatural fruits of His light will be seen in you—goodness, righteousness, and truth.” Ephesians 5:8-9 TPT. Love is an action not a feeling. We forgive those who trespass against us because He said to do it – that’s called faith in action.  When you and I bring the bible’s teachings — the supernatural thoughts and actions of Jesus into any natural situation, the natural world has to yield to the spiritual one. 👋🏻

P 2523 “Other’ Centred.

/ DVH

The times we are living in today can automatically create battles in our hearts and lives, because the world around us is very egocentric. This kind of stuff is even deeply affecting our kids!  Our society has become geared to a form of hedonism that is frightening. It seems that the world-wide opinion is —  every single person has the right to have their own way. The line between good and bad has been erased! So I (apparently), can beat you up, and steal your stuff just because I want to be rich. And you can’t punish me or correct me because I have rights! 

The rules are … there are no rules. These creeping-across-the-world-attitudes are a huge challenge to believers. But at the same time – a life of loving service is such a bright contrast that it automatically impacts people powerfully … even strangers. In other words, the darkness is so dark, it automatically shows up goodness and light wherever it appears! Our struggle is to avoid being conformed to this world’s ways of thinking doing and being … or even worse … hiding ourselves away from the difficulties. You and I can shine at our own house, but that’s the same as hiding your light under a basket! 

“So be very careful how you live, not being like those with no understanding, but live honourably with true wisdom, for we are living in evil times. Take full advantage of every day as you spend your life for His purposes.” Ephesians 5:15-16 TPT

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

Did you get the bit that says ‘use your freedom to serve one another in love; THAT’S how freedom grows…(?)” It seems sad to me that we can often end up fighting in this world for something that Almighty God already freely gave us! It says clearly in the above scripture that the reason our freedom to obey HIM isn’t getting any bigger, is because we are not serving one another. 

I feel so blessed in my life to personally know people who see their contribution to this world as a life of service. They have taught me, by their humility and example, that the way to be like Jesus is to live this life with an aim to be a blessing to others.  I can see their dear faces, in my mind’s eye, as I am writing. These people have no claim to fame – they probably never will! Instead they have laid down their lives so that He can be seen through them.

The people-who-don’t-know-Him-yet have become hardened to the real, lasting important things of this life. They are too busy working for, and wanting what they want. However, when Jesus turns up IN you, His Presence blows their selfishness away. In the Presence of the Lord no man can stand – the Lord is undeniable. The thing is, those people outside our churches do not know there is another way to live this life because WE are not doing our part. Jesus saved them, and we have been told to tell them that!

As Colossians 2:2-4 says in the Message version: “I want you woven into a tapestry of love, in touch with everything there is to know of God. Then you will have minds confident and at rest, focused on Christ, God’s great mystery. All the richest treasures of wisdom and knowledge are embedded in that mystery and nowhere else. And we’ve been shown the mystery! I’m telling you this because I don’t want anyone leading you off on some wild-goose chase, after other so-called mysteries, or “the Secret.”

We cannot live with one foot in this world and the other in His ways. We will just end up going round and round and getting nowhere! If we are to become that ‘love tapestry’  for the world to see and fall in love with, we must choose to become ‘other-centred.’ That’s the way Jesus lived, and He lived that way to show us it can be done! Right here, right now. So today, I exhort you to find one person who really needs His love and ask the Lord to show you how to love them selflessly … it works even better if you don’t like that person, because that involves sacrifice.

Our job is to first of all, repent! … Because it has always been our place to show others the WAY not just talk about it! And secondly, we need to devote ourselves to being carriers of His Presence. We will personally find JOY and FREEDOM there. Being other-centred is a challenge, but we have the precious Helper, Who is willing and able to show us how! Praise God, He is brilliant at it! 👋🏻