Ability

P 2996 Outer space is yelling at you!

/ DVH

“God’s splendour is a tale that is told, written in the stars. Space itself speaks His story through the marvels of the heavens. His truth is on tour in the starry vault of the sky, showing His skill in creation’s craftsmanship.” Psalms 19:1 TPT. Today, we are going to do some pausing to contemplate … off we go …!!

Every now and then it is good to take yourself outside at night, and just look at the stars. And if it won’t wreck your life, or your nightly routine — take your kids too! We all love to watch fireworks, but God Himself has the kind of splendour that is on display almost every single night of the week. Looking up at it opens up our eyes to His incredible creativity. He decorated that sky just like he decorated this earth …for His glory and for our benefit, then He declared everything He made “good.” That’s a really big statement from our God, Who is the ultimate definer of GOOD.

Here’s a fun fact:  the world has a new telescope – the James Webb Space telescope. It is floating about in space above us, and it can see much farther than the old Hubble could. It recently saw a large cluster of what appeared to be brand new stars … Yay! It turned out, on closer inspection to be a cluster of galaxies just like ours! Doesn’t that just blow your mind. It blew mine. 

Sometimes I think the thing that separates us from those ants which are always scurrying about, is the fact that God did not come to earth to save the ants! Did you know it says in the bible:“When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place, what is man that You are mindful of him, the son of man that You care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honour. the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!…” Psalm 8:3-8. It is good to stop and consider what God Himself has made. This kind of pausing is good for us.

Moving on, but still star-gazing …“And the Lord brought Abram outside [his tent into the night] and said, “Look now toward the heavens and count the stars—if you are able to count them.” Then He said to him, “So [numerous] shall your descendants be.” That’s some kind of promise! Have you ever thought about the fact that we, you and I, are sons and daughters of Abraham? God fulfilled, and He is still fulfilling His promise to that patriarch in each one of us,  until Jesus comes back. Here’s another fun fact:  Abraham was not alive on the earth to see that promise fulfilled! And yet there are times when we complain to the Lord because He doesn’t get us a parking space when we need one. 🙄  Sometimes we can be easily distracted by trivia.

It’s called perspective, and we need to deliberately stop what we are doing and get some.  Maybe we can sit and look at the clouds roll by in our lunch break, or watch rain drip off leaves on the trees. Perspective ushers in balance. There have been terrible things in your life and mine that seemed like they were going to end us! The ceiling fell in, or someone did something unthinkable, and we could feel life draining everything out of us.. 

But, here and now, we are sitting  – with me typing, and you reading this dumb blog … teehee – and we are still going. We survived whatever that horrendous thing was, even though it seemed insurmountable at the time. Sometimes things really aren’t as bad or permanent as we think they are  — all we need to do is look at the bigger picture instead of what is happening within our own little tiny frame.  And yes, I do know that sometimes when you stop to smell the roses you can get stung by a bee – or you find that very pretty rose has no scent whatsoever … but nevertheless, pausing is worth it. 

We need to give ourselves permission to pause. And take off all those hats we force on our heads. Maybe we could assess how many of those hats actually belong to us! I have found when I’ve done this, that many of the hypothetical hats I wear, are there because I don’t want someone else to be angry with me, or I feel obligated to put on a Christian face and do the right thing! Now there’s some dumb motivation!! Here’s a thought: that means that somebody else, other than Jesus Himself, is controlling me. It means my faith in His ability to protect, comfort and help me is slipping.

Romans 8:9 states,“You, however, are not in the flesh but are in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.” Have you noticed that the Holy Spirit is never in a hurry, but He is always right on time? Especially when you take the time to look at whatever happened to you retrospectively. SomeOne Else will be up tonight watching over us, no matter what is going on around us or outside, while we are sleeping.

The bible says in Psalm 121:3-4:“He won’t let you stumble, your Guardian God won’t fall asleep. Not on your life! Israel’s Guardian will never doze or sleep.” We need to remind ourselves that the Lord Himself has got me! He will not let go. So this life that presses in on us, actually doesn’t rely upon you, it relies upon Him, and His faithfulness and He ain’t moving! Give yourself a break, and start to inhabit a life that makes room for thoughtful  pauses …maybe there are times we just might hear outer space yelling at us! 🤣 Bye. 👋

P 2969 Hope maintenance.

/ DVH

“Never doubt God’s mighty power to work in you and accomplish all this. He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream, and exceed your wildest imagination! He will outdo them all, for His miraculous power constantly energises you. Now we offer up to God all the glorious praise that rises from every church in every generation through Jesus Christ—and all that will yet be manifest through time and eternity. Amen!”Ephesians 3:20-21 TPT. Jesus is our steadfast anchor and hope, and the bible is hope’s back-up and proof that what we know is true. Finally, our praise and prayers mirror what we hope for! 

You and I need to take the time to protect our own hope. We can’t always just jump in and start out with faith, because our faith can be weakened by circumstances, emotions and trouble. Christ’s birth, life, and death have established HOPE on the earth, permanently.”To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.“ Colossians 1:27.This is not a transitory thing, it is an eternal thing. It is an established, firm, foundational fact. We cling to His incredible goodness. Faith will spring up in us, as we continually maintain our hope in Who He is and what He did for us.

We need to remind ourselves about what the Bible says, instead of focussing on what is going on around us or inside us. We ask the Holy Spirit to remind us of the incredible things the Lord has already done in our lives that are good, filled with hope, grace and truth. Verses like those two above, are so helpful, they remind us that God has dominion over everything else that is going on, and He doesn’t just want to answer our prayers — He wants to bless us while He is doing it! He has our best interests firmly established in His heart.

Here is another well known verse that show us ‘hope’s purpose.’“May Your unfailing love be with us, LORD, even as we put our hope in You.” Psalm 33:22. Our hope is an investment in God’s greatness, not in our ability to believe! There are times when we hope for things that are bigger than our faith seems to be. However, God is always good, He will get us there, He will turn our hearts toward Him! Just be honest with Him and ask for His help. When we asked Jesus to save us He made our heart His home. We could be bad at living like that is a reality, or good at it, none of that makes any difference at all to HIS goodness.

Things happen all the time in this life, stuff like —- a loved one is desperately sick, or the job we want to be available isn’t. Maybe we need somewhere safe to live. Of course we pray about such desperate things, but our hope needs to be in WHO He is, not just the answer to our prayers. If our hope is in the answer to our prayers then our hopes can be shattered if things don’t turn out the way we think they should. We must start with the known, the reality, the substance of Who Jesus is — His character, and His attitude toward people like me, we are the people He loves. All of that is in the bible.

Sometimes we desperately hope for things that are beyond our immediate scope of belief. Pray and ask Him to walk you through your failing hope and faith, until you are again standing on His goodness. Things like these are a place for us to continue to stretch our faith IN HIM. Here is an example: it is one thing to believe God can get you to work on time when the trains are late — and totally another to believe He can heal someone who is severely depressed! He can! But we can drive ourselves batty struggling and striving to stretch our hope and make our faith into something it isn’t … yet. When you find a weak place, let Him be your strength.

You and I might have a mustard seed size of faith, and still grow a big tree that will shelter others. The important factor in that sentence is time. We never arrive, we are always in transit in this life – that’s part of the adventure. We need to invest our hope in His goodness, like we invest in breathing or having enough water — not in our ability, or inability to pray. Let His goodness be a fixed point. Then hope will not disappoint you. HE never changes. But our ability to hope in Him answering our prayers might easily be swayed or changed with adverse  circumstances. 

That’s why our hope must be in Who He is. Our thoughts aren’t about things like – did He answer my prayer this week, last month, last year? Our prayer needs to be fixed to the only true fixed point – is Jesus God or not? Can God do anything or not? Anything else leaves us open to being knee-capped by the other guy when we get overwhelmed by whatever is going on. God is good. He gives good answers. No matter how things look now, He’s got this. He’s with you in what is going on. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not yet seen.” Hebrews 11:1. We hang onto our hope in Him, until we hit faith and we return to the certainty of Who He is … now we have substance … we aren’t trying to push faith out, we know that we know Who He is.

Silence from heaven is never final … it means it is faith-stretching time – during that time we need to dig into our hope chest and remind ourselves of Who He is and what He has done for us. Hope maintenance facilitates growing and strengthening OUR faith. We stop using other people’s experiences to push us along, and start developing our own history, our own stories of His grace in action. Then we can’t be stopped. Remember:  “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” Proverbs 13:12 . I believe that hoping in God’s goodness is the key that breathes life into overwhelmed struggling, sad hearts. Bye. 👋

P 2946 Learn to trust Him, no matter what happens.

/ DVH

“I know what it means to lack, and I know what it means to experience overwhelming abundance. For I’m trained in the secret of overcoming all things, whether in fullness or in hunger. And I find that the strength of Christ’s explosive power infuses me to conquer every difficulty.” Philippians 4:13 TPT.

When I read this verse In Philippians, I can see that good or bad experiences can teach us things that we cannot learn any other way. Paul had learnt from the Lord Himself, that everything that happened to him, the good and the bad, the ugly, and everything in between – was an opportunity to be trained in God’s Ways. He learnt to accept His Heavenly Father’s help in every situation. He found that he could overcome whatever came at him, I believe he used the circumstances to train his faith in God’s goodness. 

Faith is not just memorising what God likes in this circumstance or that situation, and doing that to please Him. Faith is knowing that whatever situation we find ourselves in, Almighty God will always do what is right and best for us – despite how it looks from our end. If it isn’t good yet, then we are not at the end. And sometimes the very best end result is that you have come to know the Lord better than you did before the difficulties started! Our society is so geared to fixing things so ‘life works for me,’ and that can creep over into our way of thinking about the things of God.

No matter where we find ourselves, or what kind of day we’ve walked into, the Lord’s is always there with us to help us to overcome whatever comes our way. His strength is eternal. I think that thought needs to be steeped in a bit. OK, you can see that I read that word ‘infused’ in the verse in Philippians, and I thought about tea! Just like some people enjoy a cuppa, and they let the tea bag sit in the boiling water for a while, we need to voluntarily soak in Jesus’ power, His Presence, His Word, and let it soak into us and through us by acting on it. When we let the Word of God penetrate further than our brain, it automatically saturates the rest of our behaviour and attitudes, and, at the same time, it releases more faith in Him and His ability to transform us.

Many people travel long distances to go to places where they think God might turn up. It seems to me that they’ve forgotten, or maybe they didn’t know in the first place, that God actually goes wherever it is they are going – with them! We don’t have to go somewhere to “get” God – He has already “gotten” us! We are, after all, His temple! However, when a whole lot of people get together, we have something that I call a collective agreement to worship and learn about Jesus, and that’s just lovely.

That’s a place the Lord likes to inhabit because it is something He told His disciples: “Wherever two or more gathered together in My Name, there I am in the midst of them.” That same thought is also said in the Old Testament. “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” Psalm 133:1. We are in unity when we deliberately gather together to worship Him and learn more about His Ways. We have a common purpose. But this is not the only way to learn about Him.

Anybody who chooses to use to use their faith to overcome hard things in their lives can learn more about the Way God does things. Those kinds of choices change our perception and our experience of Him. Please be aware, that in any and every circumstance we experience, the Holy Spirit wants to grow His fruit. And never ever forget that one of His fruits is JOY! Our walk with Jesus is meant to produce JOY, actually … ‘joy unspeakable and full of glory!’

So what does that mean? It means if all we do is follow rules and regulations we are not growing fruit. We have to follow our Heavenly GARDENER around to learn how to produce fruit – so we need to submit to the difficulties in our lives with our faith in His goodness, intact. We are not destined to live straightened joyless lives, we are destined to walk, daily, minute by minute with the One Who knows how to grow joy in the midst of suffering and trials.

We can walk with Him far more easily when we actively practice living in His love toward others, through our actions as well as our words. We don’t have to have a list of rules five miles long, we simply need to remind ourselves “Is what I just said or did, LOVE?” It is extremely important to remember that I can’t define LOVE. HE already did that, in the book. If I can define it then I am in charge of it, and I can make up the actions to suit myself.

For instance, patience isn’t just about saying nothing in the face difficulties, it means we are actively supportive and loving toward the one who is learning!  And faithfulness cannot ‘run out of patience’ either!  Its aim is to be true to the One Who oversees every life, not just mine. And self control is the result of loving God more than I love my own opinion or my own way! 

Paul trusted God’s ways over his own. He let the bad things in this life become opportunities to face those things God’s Way. This meant that He was trained to recognise God’s actions by the results in his own life. He saw and learnt what was flesh, what was not, and what was actually real fruit from the Holy Spirit!  And he actively allowed God to infuse every cell in his body with His power and purposes. Bless you, bye. 👋

P 2888 Obedience matters.

/ DVH

Ecclesiastes 8:2-6: “Do what your King commands; you gave a sacred oath of obedience. Don’t worryingly second-guess your orders or try to back out when the task is unpleasant. You’re serving His pleasure, not yours. The King has the last word. Who dares say to Him, “What are you doing?” Carrying out orders won’t hurt you a bit; the wise person obeys promptly and accurately.”

Obviously the ‘king’ referred to in this passage is Solomon, but I have taken the liberty today of extending its jurisdiction — I think it is also about obeying Jesus – our King. Especially as obeying Solomon kind of died-out when he did! I’ve found Ecclesiastes can be a bit of a down-a-later. Boy did King Solomon sound depressed a lot! 

I had to keep returning to the fact that I know that God Himself gave this man wisdom. That meant I had to go and find my trusty spiritual shovel and keep on digging! I won’t pretend it was easy either, I almost needed a blasting cap to get rid of some of those huge humanity-driven rocks that my mind kept putting in the way of what this entire book says. That King took a dim view of life!

The bible is like food. Some verses seem to be more like gravy and mashed potatoes and I think that there are definitely some verses we all ‘like’ more than others! As I thought about it I was not cheered up much by the thought that gravy and mashed potatoes are merely one step away from baby food! So … I went back to the steak and kept on chewing. The more I went over this particular verse, the more I realised that this is the very essence of what we need as Christ’s disciples. OBEDIENCE.

Jesus sent out twelve guys in Matthew 10:1 –“Jesus called His twelve disciples to Him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.” So what happened in Matthew 10:1? The disciples began to use HIS authority. That’s a bit like me writing a letter to the bank telling them that you can operate on my account. You are accessing my account because I authorised you, but you can’t do that by yourself, the bank will call a policeman!

These disciples were deputised by the Lord to be like Him in matters of healing and deliverance, wherever they went. So they obeyed Him, and they saw results that caused them to exclaim and marvel at what they had seen!  But they were still subject to the spirit of stupidity, as well as disobedience. Their characters remained unchanged – remember … Judas was in that group! Jesus corrected their misplaced enthusiasm by reminding them that the greatest thing that had ever happened to them was that their names were now written in the Book of Life. Like I’ve said a kajillion times — God doesn’t think like we do!

However, when Jesus was leaving them for the final time to go back to His Father, He breathed on them: And when He said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “And when He said this, He breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.”John 20:22. Perhaps they received perseverance and the courage to wait, at that moment. The Lord told them clearly to: “WAIT for the power.”  Then Jesus left them all alone in an astonishing manner. They went back to the upper room and hid themselves away again. But they obeyed Him, as they waited … prayerfully.

They were waiting to receive the same power the Lord Jesus Himself walked in, although they did not know it. They felt like orphans, but Jesus had clearly told them He was sending SomeOne Else, SomeOne Who would always be with them.  This time it was not just the power to wait, etc., now the Holy Spirit came amongst them and He became the new LEADER. He has never left. Every day He gives US the power to live laid-down lives for Jesus’ sake.  

Those disciples became instant over-comers when the Holy Spirit exploded upon them in that locked upper room. They went in afraid, and came out bold. And it was their obedience to Jesus’ instructions that facilitated what happened. Obedience is not just about participating in a single event – our deliberate choices to obey leads us step by step into facilitating change. We change direction. We line ourselves up with His will and His will positions us for MORE… Always.

At the same time some of us have not yet gotten out of the ‘starting gate’ so to speak, because we feel afraid and so we excuse ourselves from participating in the greatest adventure mankind has ever known – uncovering the Will of God for ME! You and I have been reborn to follow JESUS. He has a plan for our lives and there is no point in asking me to tell you what you should be doing – because I don’t know!!

We walk in our God-given destiny by following the Lord, one step at a time. And every single one of those steps will include being tested to see if we have purposed to obey Him, no matter what happens. What is He telling you? Maybe He wants you to stop picking a fight with somebody or other so you can hear what He wants to say to you! Sin and unbelief cloud our hearing. Obedience matters. Our own faith can be weak, but obedience strengthens our ability to live our lives HIS WAY.

The character of Christ is not an optional extra, given to those who are dedicated to His purposes. We’ve been dedicated to His purposes the minute we were saved. We die, so He might live in us and through us. Step by step, as we learn to obey the Holy Spirit, we will develop the skills we will need to walk in whatever comes next! Bye 👋

P 2879 Avoidance is not enough …

/ DVH

... action is required! “So now we draw near freely and boldly to where grace is enthroned, to receive mercy’s kiss and discover the grace we urgently need to strengthen us in our time of weakness.”Hebrews 4:16 TPT

“And God has made all things new, and reconciled us to Himself, and given us the ministry of reconciling others to God.” 2 Corinthians 5:18 TPT

There is nothing like the bible for good advice. It is the best instruction manual ever, particularly if we refuse to explain away what it says. When we think we can’t do this or that, we need to draw near to Him, and let His mercy kiss us, all over again. Mercy received will change anyone’s mind.

We must always remember Jesus Christ died to give us the power to say ‘yes,’ to His will, His Way. Nothing can take that choice away from us. We have the precious Holy Spirit, Who is with us, in us, and He walks WITH us to guide us. Our faith cannot be in our ability — if we have a brain in our head, we already know we have limited ability! Our faith is in what Christ did. We stand firmly on the Rock Who is Christ Jesus. Because He rose from the dead- we can rise up from our beds of apathy, excuses and indifference into action.

We can spend our whole lives as Christians, avoiding sin, and … that’s not a bad thing, but…!  Yes, we can go through this life avoiding gossip, hatred, etc. etc .but at the same time, we actually have a job to do. The way to conquer those things that can so easily drag us down and under, is to aim at what Christ aimed at. “Loving God with all our heart, soul and mind, and our neighbours as ourselves.”  My advice is that we should be so busy doing stuff for His kingdom, that we don’t even sit down to think about the negatives. 

We know we fall over and fail! It’s because we are human, that we will fail, BUT! … …We have a Saviour Who is more faithful than any of us can ever imagine! We have been empowered by what He did, to choose differently. Just because living for His sake looks impossible, that does not mean we can quit and simply use avoidance to get through all the pitfalls of this life. What Christ did for us demands a positive response! And not just an Amen either.

Let’s just pause, and imagine this with me: one day you and I will stand in the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ’s Presence. Hallelujah! What a day that will be!! 🙌 When He asks us what we did with this new life He gave us, do we really want to say:“I know You died for me. So I avoided that sin, and this and that pitfall, and I didn’t join in with the evil things other men do.”  It’s not a bad testimony… However, daring to take action for the sake of Christ’s Name, is another thing altogether. Dare to believe He really is so powerful that He can empower YOU … 

So, what are we doing with the faith He died to give us? Christ’s faith released incredible forgiveness into this planet. It was so extraordinary, so above and beyond anything that would ever be needed by any one soul at any one time.  And we are here because Jesus has given us the benefits of all that forgiveness and faith! He stood in silence as wicked, jealous, fearful men accused Him of things He did not do. Then they punished Him mercilessly. His last action on this earth was to forgive US all, and He released His Spirit back to His Father. Now, the Spirit of the living God is here, He came here at Pentecost, He wants to walk with YOU and I.

In Ecclesiastes 3:7b it clearly says there is:”… a time to be silent and a time to speak …”  Brothers and sisters, I put it to you that we are living in the time to speak … There may be times when we will say nothing in the face of false accusations, like Jesus did. But where are our faith works? (James talked about them.) Where is “… the reward of His suffering?” Our lives need to be laid down willingly, through our participation in Christ’s mission. Lives laid down in faith, like His life was for us. Don’t be fooled by the devil, your contribution matters.

We have not been given a free ticket to do whatever we like! Almighty God is NOT an indulgent Father Who wants to give us everything we think we need in this life, and then we will go on to inherit the next! Father God wants a family, that means every tribe, every tongue. Are we serving our Father in a worthy way that glorifies everything Christ suffered and died to give us? Have we tried and sometimes failed, only to try again — to make sure that His family includes every single member, and that ALL have had an opportunity to belong? If not – WHY NOT? ‘I’m scared’ just doesn’t cut it. Neither will – “that was someone else’s job.”

We’ve learnt on previous occasions that fear must not be a deterrent – fear is to be conquered through our faith-filled actions. Today I have included a quote that I loved, it’s from a Malaysian church: “FAITH IS NOT THE ABSENCE OF FEAR, BUT KNOWING WHO YOUR GOD IS!” And knowing Who He is, needs to be accessible to everyone … that’s why avoiding sin is not enough – action is required. Bye. 👋

“I refuse to be ashamed of the wonderful message of God’s liberating power unleashed in us through Christ! For I am thrilled to preach that everyone who believes is saved—the Jew first, and then people everywhere!” Romans 1:16 TPT

P 2833 It’s not mine, it’s for sharing.

/ DVH

1 John 3:17-18 (NIV) “If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”

The biggest difficulty with this scripture that I can see, is that many of our much poorer brothers and sisters live somewhere else in the world, out of our immediate sight. Or they live under a bridge. OR maybe they go to our church, but they are hiding what is really going on behind their happy Sunday-go-to-meeting  smiles, and we don’t know them well enough to know that what we see, is not real.

There is what I consider to be a huge trap in the Pentecostal church. The secret unspoken rule that says we must always be positive. I love speaking well of others, plus I love looking through the Lord’s eyes at what is good about even difficult situations… I do it all the time, as He leads me…  BUT … we simply must not do this to the point of actively hiding the truth.

Jesus is totally AWESOME. His Ways are incredible, and we need to live our lives, seeking out those ways, daily, some times minute by minute. He told His disciples the truth — all the time — whether it was palatable or not!  And covering up things that need to be in the light is not the same thing as having a positive perspective. How can we comfort one another if no-one knows the depth of our sorrow?

Privacy is definitely important, but please, let’s make the main thing the main thing. I think we need the Body of Christ supporting one another far more than we think we need personal privacy. Jesus spared nothing in His quest to save the world. In the end He hung naked on a cross with soldiers gambling for His tunic. That’s about exposed as anyone can get!

Hubby and I have lived by the thought that ‘if you need it and I have it, then it is yours.’ There is such a danger when we pay lip-service to the things that actually need our intentional devotion. Like I said yesterday, when we do things for His kids we are doing it to, and for, Him. It is up to us to decide to live with more honesty than we are experiencing currently.

Darkness is our enemy – light is our friend. We can easily settle for praying for someone from a distance sometimes, not that this is a bad thing! … But it is if we are doing it instead of actually engaging, helping, and sharing what we have. After all if we pray that the Lord will help them, we are actually asking the Lord to fix something that we can do ourselves.

For example: a brother or sister needs food. We can pray. We should pray! But I have to say apples and oranges rarely fall out of the sky.Although we once found a much needed pumpkin in the middle of a deserted country road!! If I have food and you don’t, then my giving reflects the depth of my spirituality! Back to my point …You or I may not be able to pay someone’s rent, but we can take them a bag of groceries. 

Today I want to suggest that while we are praying, we need to remember to ask Him – “What do YOU want me to do about this Lord?”  We are His hands and feet. BTW, I am not suggesting that He needs us to participate, because our God is the God of the miraculous… However, He will often allow us to be part of what He wants to do, and then we get to see what He does with our obedience, first-hand. It is not about how much we give either, remember, Jesus Himself commended the little lady who only gave two pennies!

In closing I need to be honest, not everyone has been super excited when we decided to help them. Years ago we had Christian friends and we honestly thought that they were struggling. So we did the bunch of groceries in a box drop on their doorstep and watched from a large distance away to make sure they got them: The whole ‘…don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,,,’ thing– from Matthew 6:3.

The people we hoped to care for found the whole thing hysterically funny for some reason or other, and we were finally able to ascertained that things were not as bad as they had been presented. That was an ACE lesson in humility! But this is the only case ever, in the many years we have been sharing what we have. I think we probably needed that jolt to remind ourselves that … ‘…without Him we can do nothing.’  We are learning to follow the Holy Spirit as He leads us. However, the chance of a misfire is not a good reason to ignore someone else’s needs!  

Whatever we have, we have been given, including the ability to make money – so sharing with others is not optional. We’ve found that as He leads us and we give, our Heavenly Father God gives back in ways beyond our comprehension. We have never given to be repaid, we give because we want to be like Jesus, and GOD GAVE US EVERYTHING HE HAD, FIRST. Bye 👋

P 2816 Do great exploits.

/ DVH

Matthew 25:14-30 TPT: “It’s also like a man going off on an extended trip. He called his servants together and delegated responsibilities. To one he gave five thousand dollars, to another two thousand, to a third one thousand, depending on their abilities. Then he left. Right off, the first servant went to work and doubled his master’s investment. The second did the same. But the man with the single thousand dug a hole and carefully buried his master’s money.“After a long absence, the master of those three servants came back and settled up with them. The one given five thousand dollars showed him how he had doubled his investment. His master commended him: ‘Good work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.’ “The servant with the two thousand showed how he also had doubled his master’s investment. His master commended him: ‘Good work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.’

“The servant given one thousand said, ‘Master, I know you have high standards and hate careless ways, that you demand the best and make no allowances for error. I was afraid I might disappoint you, so I found a good hiding place and secured your money. Here it is, safe and sound down to the last cent.’“The master was furious. ‘That’s a terrible way to live! It’s criminal to live cautiously like that! If you knew I was after the best, why did you do less than the least? The least you could have done would have been to invest the sum with the bankers, where at least I would have gotten a little interest.“‘Take the thousand and give it to the one who risked the most. And get rid of this “play-it-safe” who won’t go out on a limb. Throw him out into utter darkness.’”

When I read this passage today some things stood out, so I have highlighted them. It always seems to be important to me to place the things the Lord highlights into context. So let’s look at this one the way it happened in the first scripture where it says: “…according to their abilities…”

The servants’ master had taken into account each man’s ability when he handed out the money to be invested. That would be so foreign in today’s society. Grading people into categories would be a no, no. It might even be considered demeaning, and in some instances it could be taken very personally. However, these few words show me that the Lord doesn’t ask us to do anything that we can’t actually do, as we operate in His grace.. And at the same time, He may not test you the same way He tests me, because He knows our frames, He knows how far we can stretch.

The second thing I noticed was this: that man who buried his portion of the money was capable of far more effort than he gave his master. I don’t know if he was lazy, or he underestimated himself, but the point is – he could have done better, if he had just overcome his fear. Instead he was underusing what he had been given.

If we translate this parable into what our part in God’s kingdom looks like  — which is what Jesus intended — then that third servant did as little as possible because of fear. Yeah, I know, that sort of clarity sucks doesn’t it? It’s actually so clear we cannot deny it. Jesus was pointing out to each one of us that fear is never an excuse. This master points out that living in fear and evasiveness is a terrible way to live …Like the man said, nobody else is limiting our capabilities – the reality is that we are doing it to ourselves! I thought about it like this: our next miracle may be right around the corner of us taking a risk, and being obedient to whatever He has told us to do. 

Jesus Himself once used the phrase: “the least of these…”  Not everybody is born with excess talent oozing out of their pores. Whatever we want to do with our lives for His kingdom — we will need a calling, some talent …PLUS .. a whole lotta hard work. Many people like to skip that last bit. Devotion to the task is part of the prerequisite for a kingdom person. Our devotion to Him translates into action on His behalf.

Jesus was God Himself, personified, but He still had to live this life like every other human being. The exchange with our enemy in the wilderness proves that He did not use the Holy Spirit’s power to get things for Himself. He refused to turn a stone to bread – even when He was hungry. What I mean is this – Jesus knows man’s limitations personally.

You know I would much rather try, and fail … than sit and hope heaven will fall on me and motivate me. It is easier to steer a moving vehicle than a stationary one. The Lord is a Redeemer – He can take all the bits of our lives that seem useless and make something glorious out of them.  God can take a man who was killing Christians and make the greatest Christian theologian this world has ever seen. Paul!

Redemption is transformation on steroids. It is outside the realm of our thinking, or our efforts, because our thinking is too small and our efforts cannot be sustained. In His kingdom, redemption is normal. If we are going to invest our lives for His sake, then we need to expect that we will continually undergo the process of redemption. That man who buried his master’s money needed his mind renewed!  So do we, because: “ … the people who do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.” Daniel 11:32. Bye. 👋

P 2785 “To each one of us …”

/ DVH

In the bible it says that the Lord Himself gave gifts to the church … read these scriptures along with me: “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says: “When He ascended on high, He took many captives and gave gifts to His people… …” 11-13 “So Christ Himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip His people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” Ephesians 4:7-8,11-13. We don’t have to wait for our birthday, or Christmas! Jesus has given us all gifts to help us grow and know Him…NOW!

“There are different kinds of gifts. But they are all given to believers by the same Spirit. There are different ways to serve. But they all come from the same Lord. There are different ways the Spirit works. But the same God is working in all these ways and in all people. The Holy Spirit is given to each of us in a special way. That is for the good of all.”1 Corinthians 12:4-7.

“If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly. Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honouring each other. 

Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all! Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honourable.” Romans 12:7-17.

Today, I want to say, loudly – that, despite how you might feel, you have a gift. Actually you could easily have more than one of them!! But don’t ask me what they are, it took me a while to figure out what I am here to do! This Grace the Lord has given me to help others, has also helped me to feel that I have a place within the Body of Christ.

Many Christians have excused themselves from being activated for His kingdom, on the grounds that they are not worthy, or clever enough, or gifted enough, or they don’t know what they are supposed to do, or they don’t have time and they hope that the Lord understands! However, we all need your contribution. You don’t have to be an evangelist standing on the back of a flat-bed truck, you simply need to live a life of Love everywhere you go, towards everyone you meet, and be prepared to give an account of the hope within you.  That will stretch everyone’s faith and your gift will rise up as a result.

The thing is, this New Covenant we share is an agreement between us and the Lord – it’s a promise that we enter into between Him and us, and it is binding. (Read the book!) Jesus covered our sins with His blood, so we can be free to live the life God planned for us to live … and it is never too late to start. Jesus deliberately provided us with SomeOne Who will always help us and never leave us. SomeOne Who will teach us His ways, and help us with the process of transformation. It’s the Holy Spirit.

One day, not long ago, I woke up and realised that my complete spiritual poverty,  is my strength.🤔 So today, the Lord asked me to remind you of your place in His Body by using His Word. The Holy Spirit wants you to know that there is a place in His plans for you. Sometimes, for a small group of people, that is a place that is seen, and for many, many, many others, they will remain unseen. But He has promised to touch us all in extraordinary ways, with supernatural gifts.. I look forward to the day when the vast, unseen multitudes of ordinary Christians step into what He has for them.

So today, I just want to encourage everybody reading this, He wants you to participate in His plan in the lives of those people you know and influence. He needs you to be you. Who you are, because of His Presence in your life, will reach others. Last of all, I want to use my favourite vehicle, the bible, to pray for you. I am totally convinced He will answer these prayers because they rely upon His faithfulness, not on anyone’s ability.  

“I pray with great faith for you, because I’m fully convinced that the One who began this gracious work in you will faithfully continue the process of maturing you until the unveiling of our Lord Jesus Christ!” Philippians 1:6 TPT. “And I pray that He would unveil within you the unlimited riches of His glory and favour until supernatural strength floods your innermost being with His divine might and explosive power.” Ephesians 3:16 TPT.“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” Colossians 3:23-24. Amen. God gives gifts to each one of us. Bye. 👋

P 2764 Don’t be afraid to fail.

/ DVH

“A person may have many ideas concerning God’s plan for his life, but only the designs of God’s purpose will succeed in the end.”Proverbs 19:21 TPT. In other words, we don’t have to plan our lives – we can simply let the Lord do it for us! Our society is really big on personal success stories – but when we live a life of faith, it can be easy to become afraid that we might have missed God. So we wander off, despondent, out into the wilderness. Feeling ashamed of our fear. Maybe, we even feel protective over the Lord and His good Name, because if we make a big mistake we could bring dishonour to Him, and His Ways.  

First of all, God is not scared of the wilderness – Jesus went there on purpose! Secondly, He can protect His Own Name. Our job is to use His Name with reverence. The Lord has sent many a great person into a wilderness to test them. My advice? Stop! Climb under the shadow that is cast by the Cross and …breathe. Quiet your soul.  Make yourself a cup of something you like, and just sit. The busyness of your mind won’t help you. The third thing is this, remind yourself that He can look after His own Name, and remember to repent for being faithless. Then ask the Holy Spirit to stretch your faith in Who He is, and how big He is,  and go and do whatever He told you to do. Feelings are the antithesis of faith.

Now if what we want to do is sheer, wilful disobedience – then we need to humble ourselves immediately, repent and remember to resist the devil. Our Heavenly Father is the Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things ON the earth and in the sky – He can get us out of any dumb place we walk into. Keep your focus on Him and use your energy to block your ears to satan’s lies. Then start bringing into your mind the many people in the bible who got it wrong — just don’t use that info to continue on into further disobedience! Loads of people missed God’s will and it is recorded in His book. The Lord rescued them simply because He is a good God and He loves His kids. We need to believe in His goodness! 

Meanwhile anybody who doesn’t want God anymore, will not give a flying fig whether He wants them, or not. Simply bear in mind that we are exhorted not to test Him. That’s called honouring and reverencing Who He is! Remain humble, and let Him work those disobedient things you chose to do, together for your good. And do what you can to make things right with the people you’ve hurt. Get down on your carpet, and stay there until you completely comprehend the mistake you’ve made. Some times disobedience comes from FEAR, we feel we must control things. Repentance is always good, but we need to be delivered from fear.

Here are some names of other wayward people, to help you with your search … try Gideon, David, Samson, Jonah, and Peter. Human beings make mistakes, we are famous for them! Sometimes they are huge, life changing ones. God is ALWAYS bigger than OUR mistakes. Listen:“For I am the Lord, I change not; …” Malachi 3:6a. His attitude of redemption will not change until Jesus finally rolls up the world. Our loving obedience is the sweetest gift we can bring to the Lord, but let’s remember that we are not perfect, we can be sincerely wrong – often! 

And … sometimes … even wilfully wrong! I’ve gone on both of those roads, and the Lord is so faithful, He still stayed with me, He does not give up on His kids. Otherwise, why do we pray so hard for our loved ones who have wandered off? We inherently already know that He is good! Remember the story of the lost lamb? The Shepherd valued that lamb so highly he left his other valuable sheep and went looking for the little lost one. He’s a good shepherd!

The Apostle Paul was a murderer – God used that man’s crimes against His kids, the Jewish nation, to show Paul how big GRACE is, and how comprehensive Christ’s death was! God’s Goodness can do amazing things. We underestimate its value at our own peril. It is nothing to do with us or whether we are appealing or not – it’s HIS Grace. It’s the goodness of God that put an angel with a flaming sword, at the entrance to the Garden of Eden. I believe that angel was put there so Adam and Eve could not get back in again, and eat from the tree of eternal life. Mankind would have been eternally lost if we had eaten from that tree.  

Sometimes our confidence can be in our own ability to perform whatever God has asked us to do. Forget that idea. Remember, our God knows what is coming next! Jesus reminded His terrified disciples in the boat in the middle of a storm, that He had already told them they were going over to the other side. And … they did go to the other side – eventually! He didn’t tell them there would be a storm in the middle, because His purpose was to go to the other side. Besides, a bunch of them were fishermen they knew how dodgy that lake was. That’s the time faith grows.

We must put our confidence in GOD ALONE. Anything else we can come up with, is just wood, hay and stubble. One day that stuff will be gone. Our ability to perform – or not! Simply doesn’t come into it. God has used a donkey on other occasions. It is not good to be so proud of who you are, and what you can do spiritually, that you stop seeking His wisdom, His Ways. Let’s continually live to seek to know Him better. We cannot even afford to rest on our spiritual gifts …  instead we rest on WHO He is.

We are in the process of learning to live this life, the only one we have, to learn His ways and follow our leader, Jesus. The Holy Spirit is using everything to get us ready for heaven. so don’t be afraid of failing… some of the very best humans fail … failing can make you a kinder, nicer, more compassionate, tolerant human being. Bye. 👋

“Before you do anything, put your trust totally in God and not in yourself. Then every plan you make will succeed.” Proverbs 16:3 TPT

P 2676 Judgment makes us blind and deaf –

/ DVH

… to God and to each other! In the beginning Adam and Eve chose to do what seemed right in their own eyes. What entered into them when they ate from that tree, was the knowledge of good and evil. That meant that they left the wisdom of God behind. Sadly, this was also when humanity lost the privilege of His Presence and suspicion arrived on the scene. After that, influenced by satan, we opted for our own thinking and rationale. The miracle was Almighty God did not utterly reject all of us, because He is never caught unaware – He always had a bigger plan. Over time, human beings walked further and further away from Him. And the further away we walked, the more we left HIS wisdom, His dear Presence, behind. In that garden, living in the Spirit came naturally. Our disobedience changed that.

I think the ongoing result of this action is that we have all lost the ability to see Him, clearly. We’ve become deaf and blind toward His Ways, and we can’t see each other, either! However the clearer we can see Him, the clearer and closer we will get to each other. In our current world we have chosen to live by our own judgment and this means most of us have rejected Him. This attitude is devastating in its overall consequences. Look at it like this – broken people come to their own conclusions. Often because of our own battered sinful past, we unconsciously analyse others, then we reject, avoid or persecute them. Eventually we make those conclusions into life actions and give those actions some sort of great sounding purpose that makes sense to us!

If someone in my life was cruel to me, inside my heart I may have carefully laid some early warning signals that mean if anybody even remotely sounds or looks like that person who hurt me — I will avoid or punish them. In effect, I am passing judgment on that other person without even thinking about it. It is as if I see others through a screening system that filters out the people I consider to be my enemies. I do not look for GOOD in others, instead now I am looking for DANGER. We can end up judging our brother by a standard that came from fear and the ever-present need for revenge.

Because I am human, and my human wisdom is faulty, in order to protect myself, I can easily learn to apply judgment to oversee whatever I think. Sadly when I do that, I am allowing the people who hurt me, or caused me to be afraid, or misled me, to continue have power over me – whether they are present or not! At the same time I have been blinded to my own sinful attitudes by fear and judgment. I can no longer see others the way God sees them, because my own judgment is exalting itself over His wisdom. Over time I will use my logic, and incidental observations to prove to myself that my judgments are right, and that those other people really are dangerous to my own well-being and they should be avoided. 

Hebrews 4:12 says: “For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Only God Himself knows our intentions –only He can rightly divide them using His Word.  I think the answer to this particular interpersonal difficulty is to ask the Lord to help us see other people the way HE sees them. Otherwise we are in constant danger of living in judgment, and that judgment will cloud our view over everything else. And at the same time it neutralises our understanding of His wisdom. That other person may have no clue that the way they behave is ‘pushing your buttons.’ Their own brokenness and faulty judgment causes them to act this way without them being aware of it.

Sometimes we can attribute motivation to other people’s behaviour, but it isn’t true discernment or a clear view of their actions, it’s a fear response. And at other times people may even employ demonic strategies because they feel a lack of personal control in their lives will be catastrophic. It goes without saying that demonic strategies are not only unnecessary, they are definitely likely to lead us into all sorts of temptations! Like …  Adam and Eve … or Cain and Abel. After all the Lord warned Cain he was in danger of crossing a line. Instead, we need to remember that we have a Redeemer, Who runs to our aid. He cherishes us all and He will always impart the wisdom from above. In order to see and hear His Ways – now we must put away personal judgment, and let the word of God change us. 

1 Corinthians 2:6-9: “Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him”— these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit.”  👋