Accuse

P 3173 Dumb things I have done.

/ DVH

Years ago we used to sing this song: “I’m comin’ back to the heart of worship, and it’s all about You. It’s all about You, Jesus. I’m sorry, Lord, for the thing I’ve made it. When it’s all about You. It’s all about You, Jesus.” (Matt Redmond.) That song is so sweet. There are moments when I think we don’t need any more new songs – we just need to pay better attention to the ones we are already singing!

On that very subject, many years ago we used to sing a song that I privately called the ‘Mahatma’ song. I called it that because two of the lines in the song consisted of three words that were easily run together in the rhythm of the melody. It went something like this: “that my heart might cling to you.’  It’s a fantastic thing to say to Him— but, unfortunately, around about the second time we sang it as a group, we began to rush the words together – because there are quite a lot of them! And as a consequence we all enthusiastically sang ‘mahatma’  instead of ‘my heart might.’ Mahatma, for those who have no idea, was a brand of rice in those days.

After a while, I couldn’t sing that song without falling over laughing. In my squirrelled up brain, it has been called ‘the mahatma song’ ever since. My brain is now officially under revision OK? The Holy Spirit is renewing it as we speak! Around the same time, there was also another song where people’s diction wasn’t always what it could be so some loving words became something else entirely! 

It also became a diagnostic tool for me! It too, used to make me fall over laughing. That is, until the Lord had words with me about it! A dear friend of mine years ago advised me: “don’t get taken to the wood shed about things you can fix.” It would have been nice if I had listened, but I giggled on. Sigh, my bad.

Trust me, you don’t want to go there. Especially when you know you are wrong, and the Lord is right. You can argue all you want, the only response is to get on your face!  The Holy Spirit lovingly explained to me that worship leaders pray over the songs that they sing, and my job was to follow the worship leader into worship.This process is not about what I like…it’s about what the Lord likes. Worship is not there to make me feel good. “It’s called submission” He said. ‘Remember the verse that which says submit to one another? Well this is one place where that verse applies.’ 

After I scraped myself up off the floor, I realised I had a superior attitude. I used to sing in a Madrigal group back in the ark – the donkeys were very good at harmony – and it transpired that I had a prideful attitude toward the way music was meant to go. Oh my! Pride hides in the darndest places. Meanwhile, Almighty God has angels who can sing better than any of us — so He isn’t all that bothered about the words or singing. Even if it is off-key, flat, sharp, or it has words that don’t make any sense … that doesn’t matter to Him. 

He listens to our hearts ‘singing and making melody to Him.’ I confess I still smile, a teeny bit, if I ever hear ‘the Mahatma song’ – but now I pull myself together and sing along with everyone else. My actual point is this —sometimes, in my own thinking, the scriptures that correct people often belong to someone else, and the ones that are sweet and faith building are mine! Not selfish or anything! 

‘Submit to one another’ doesn’t just mean people are supposed to submit to ME. It also means I need to submit to THEM. Now there’s a revelation nobody wants. Sadly, back then, I was merrily creating discord with my judgmental attitude. It really doesn’t say you only have to submit to the people you admire, respect or honour– it says each other because it means… each other! A-n-d it also doesn’t say … just tolerate or put up with each other either. Paul puts this great advice into a bigger context. “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” Ephesians 5:21. Even when we are singing!

Yeah that last step is a doozie. We can so easily excuse ourselves and accuse others! And then these things pile up like leaves outside our door, distracting and preventing us from freely entering into His Presence. At this point, we can try to feel better about ourselves by shoving our bad attitude onto the worship leader and blame them for supposedly, doing a bad job, BUT … the reality is, we can’t blame others! Well, we can, but it’s a really, really bad idea!  The problem lies within our own hearts. Meanwhile, I am sure you’ve never fallen down that particular hole like I did – you probably have your own holes instead! Now that I know about this one I am praying to stay away from those dumb things.

‘Search me O God and try me and see if there is any wicked way within me.’ Psalm 139:23&24. Half the time, we don’t know what we don’t know, and even though ignorance is bliss, it ain’t an excuse either.  Bye.👋

P 2938 The benefits of walking with God

/ DVH

“God will continually revitalise you, implanting within you the passion to do what pleases Him.”Philippians 2:13 TPT.

“Above all, constantly echo God’s intense love for one another, for love will be a canopy over a multitude of sins.” 1 Peter 4:8 TPT. “You were God’s expensive purchase, paid for with tears of blood …” 1 Corinthians 6:20a.

The bible itself urges us ‘to forget not all His benefits.’ in Psalm 103:2. Anyone can see what’s wrong with this world, but the people with real vision, His vision, can see the potential to do good in the midst of the chaos. What a benefit that is! We’ve personally discovered in our travels, that all this trouble and strife has opened up other people’s hearts to a point where they are happy to share their sorrows, suffering and disappointment with complete strangers. So we get to pray with them … what a benefit!

Our God is so precious, as we go along through this life choosing to walk with Him, living His Way instead of our own  — our wrong way of thinking, even our superficial thoughts, fall off. It is as if we switch focus, and we start to become singular in our devotion to Him. That does not mean we exclude others, like we are in some sort of exclusive club — it means our hearts are stretched and pummelled by the Word of God into a bigness we never even dreamt about! His servants don’t have to try to be better, kinder, nicer – they just are! Now we look for the good in others because it delights us to find it. That kind of observational skill benefits everyone!

People who live like this wouldn’t dream of wasting their time on pettiness, or hiding their faults from others to save face. Imagine the energy someone wastes trying impress others, when we all know full well, WE aren’t all that. Self realisation is a huge benefit! Yet another benefit of walking with Jesus every day, is humility. I stop being afraid to tell you I’ve failed, or I can’t do it, or I have no idea what to do next … instead I ask you to pray for me! Sometimes I pray:  “I can’t wait to see what You are going to do with this mess I’ve made Lord! Because I know You make all thing new.” Sadly, sometimes our level of pretence is preventing us from going deeper with Him. But we have the incredible benefit of His ongoing forgiveness covering us, because Love Himself adopted each one of us. The benefits abound!

Often human beings are the sum of their choices and history. But, we aren’t stuck there. Instead we daily benefit from walking with Jesus. And that means we become more and more honest – because we are living in proximity to honesty Himself, and His goodness rubs off on us. So if someone corrects us, or points out a fault, we have the inner freedom to be grateful because they have given us the opportunity to look at ourselves through their eyes. But what if what they say is not true? My advice is to let God fight for you. Our King cares about what we care about, let Him take care of you. Now there’s a great benefit to thank Him for!

Our feelings make a very poor, inaccurate guide – the benefit of reading His book is that it diagnoses our inaccurate world view every time we read it. He gives us His wisdom so we know how to avoid pitfalls. Wisdom is an incredible benefit. Over the years, I’ve met so many people who underestimate who they are IN God. Anyone who is prepared to live acknowledging their lack, can have wisdom. Just ask Him! Wisdom is a benefit with eternal ramifications. I don’t have to try to give God glory for what He does in my life, because I spend my time watching Him snatching me out of this trap and that stupidity! I am eternally grateful that He continually saves me from myself. 

Before I met Him I had nothing worthwhile to give to others. This is another benefit I’ve learnt – God gives us gifts to use to benefit other people. We are living beneath our heavenly calling when we verbally pull other people apart like wild dogs snarling over their breakfast. God’s gifts to men are to benefit others not to pull them down so we look equal to, or even taller than they do. We dare not use His gifts to benefit ourselves. What do we have that He didn’t give us? And when you have Him you have everything you will ever need. Maximum benefit right there!

God’s Word has also been given to us to diagnose what’s wrong in our hearts and lives, and His Word pulsates with the power to heal. It has not been given to us to accuse ourselves, or others. That’s how the other guy operates. We are to build one another up, and we exist now, to live this life for their benefit, like Jesus did. To do that we will have to see them through His eyes. Because our eyes and ears have been trained by trouble, strife and sorrow in this world – we can do so many unnecessary things to protect ourselves. However, when Jesus came and died, He threw His living body/blanket over each one of us, just like Boaz protected Ruth when she was vulnerable. I can’t afford to take my eyes off everything He has done for me. He sustains me in difficult times.

Our cup is full of His benefits, pressed down and running over.Psalm 103:1-2 “Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy Name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits:…”  Bye. 👋

P 2854 Set your heart.

/ DVH

Colossians 3:1-12: “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, Who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.”

Praise God, living for Christ is now our new life! Our ONLY life. The thing to remember is this, when we surrendered our lives to Him we didn’t just give up sin – we gave up whatever we want in this life! Now we daily live for His purposes. Hello! That means goodbye to our own personal agendas. You and I were ransomed by what Christ did. SomeBody paid the most expensive price ever paid, so I can belong to Him and partake of His kingdom. This means I voluntarily gave my plans for my life away. Now let’s move along before everybody’s hair falls out, and find out what comes next.

“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.”

Paul is explaining to us the things that we no longer have to indulge in. Meanwhile, I think it is fascinating that he calls greed – idolatry. This part of the above larger scripture today, makes it clear that these are the things we must no longer tolerate in ourselves. You know, sometimes people are so busy thinking about other people’s sins, against them, or life in general, they don’t pay attention to the stuff they are doing. Ignorance is not an excuse – we have His book! Instead people excuse themselves, and accuse others.

After this happy little list, Paul goes on from actions into attitudes – the kind of things we need to watch out for. Warning signs that show us we have wandered off our chosen pathway. Personally, I’ve found Colossians 3 has enough to keep me busy for plenty of lifetimes!  But here’s more …“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”

We don’t just take off the stuff that will spoil our faith – we put on Godly things so that there is no room for ungodly things. Paul doesn’t just feature what not to do, he is telling us what we are to choose now, plus how to do it. He is talking about that word that we all know and love … CHOOSE. God chose us, now we choose HIM! The Lord will not do this work for us, however, He will help us overcome our reactions and attitudes. But without forgiveness, none of this stuff works!  

Why is it necessary to continue to persevere with people? The roots of the tree of unforgiveness go down very deep in all our lives. Continuing in love will expose the very roots of our own personal hurt. As we persevere and bear with each other, especially when we choose to love someone who jumps all over our stinky attitudes, we will learn more about how and why we have so much unforgiveness in the first place! Win, win!!

While we are still in this world we will have to deal with our own faults and fatal flaws etc., as well as other people’s sins against us. How we do that matters. I like to remember one of the last things Jesus said from the cross, while He was dying an agonising death: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Luke 23:34. Many people have no clue what effect their seemingly innocent defensive remarks have on others. What our Lord did at the very end of His earthly life is a good principle to follow – forgive and do it quickly. 

Releasing forgiveness seems to allow the other person to continue to do whatever they like, but the reality is – it puts that other person into His hands. When God deals with people, they cannot wriggle out of whatever they have done. Read the book! The bible teaches us that …”The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9. We must remember God’s AIM! Plus, changed people are about their Father’s business and sin has to go because it renders us blind and deaf.

Finally, here’s something I have learnt by living, I probably have no idea how abrasive I sound to someone else – only I know the turmoil in my heart – that other person is too busy dealing with their feelings to care about mine. Our God is thorough. Both parties benefit when forgiveness is allowed to reign.  We are in the voluntary process of learning to set our hearts. Bye for today 👋.

P 2803 Choices.

/ DVH

All our lives we have been influenced by our own choices. Even if we choose not to choose – that’s still a choice! Yeah, I know irony central!! We are the people God Himself has chosen to represent Him, so we need to choose to do things the Way He does things. We have come into agreement with what He says and He will not enforce His will upon us. He will not take over, instead, the Holy Spirit has been given to us to lead us.

Jesus made choices while He was here on earth. “I don’t speak on My own authority. The Father who sent Me has commanded Me what to say and how to say it. And I know His commands lead to eternal life; so I say whatever the Father tells Me to say.”John 12:49-50. My point is this, we all know SomeOne, personally, Who knows how Jesus would choose if He was in our situation! He wants to help me, so I need to choose to rely upon the Holy Spirit’s guidance and wisdom. Look, you can make a cake with a fork and a whole lot of effort, but if you know you have a mixmaster you will do it far more efficiently and thoroughly!

We can fall into doubt and unbelief when we don’t know what the Lord says about something. And then our choices can get muddied and muddled. That’s where the bible, as well as prayer need to be our first choice. We cannot leave out the ministry of the Holy Spirit. He is the Person Jesus deliberately chose to send back to His people to help them. After choosing Christ to save us – the Holy Spirit is the BEST CHOICE to help us grow. He can be everywhere, at all times, all at once. We have SomeOne Who now lives within us, and He will help us make the kind of choices Jesus made, and He will give us the strength to carry them out!

In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit was ON certain individuals to carry out the Father’s wishes. In the New Testament, the Holy Spirit is now IN us. He flows through us because of our choices! I have a great sadness in my heart when I think about the doctrine that says that the Holy Spirit is all about speaking in tongues. He is so much bigger than a heavenly language, which, BTW, is for an individual’s benefit. I have no opinion either way about whether anyone else should speak in tongues. I refuse to major on this issue because I believe it is a personal choice. The Body of Christ has inadvertently majored on minor things, and it has separated us. Obedience to His Word needs to be our first priority.

However, in my opinion, speaking in tongues is a Holy Spirit aid. Doing this helps me get my own thoughts out of the way. Let us say I have an argument with Mrs Kerfoops down the road. She’s a bit of a nasty old biddy. When I pray for Mrs Kerfoops using my mind, I could easily pray for her attitude toward other people to change – I might even do that with great passion and fervour! But when I pray in tongues the Holy Spirit prays His truth from within me, through me. So I could end up praying for the lady like this: “Ke-yesus se min Abah  etc.etc.”  

If I were to translate that, and translation is part of speaking in tongues, I could be praying like this: “Jesus please help me to love Mrs Kerfoops like the Father does.”  And YES! I can also just pray that in English! Like I said, it’s a choice!  “Then what am I to do? I will pray with the spirit [by the Holy Spirit that is within me] and I will pray with the mind [using words I understand]; …”1 Corinthians 14:15 AMP. I need to remember that the Holy Spirit knows Mrs Kerfoops better than I do – He knows how to pray for her perfectly. After I’ve prayed as He leads me … that’s when something from His word that I already know, rises up within me, and helps me pray the way He wants me to pray.

So, instead of praying from my mind: ‘change her because she annoys me!’ – I choose to let Him guide me. The Holy Spirit speaks Armenian, Icelandic, Pakistani, and every known language on this earth. He also speaks in the tongues of angels. Sometimes my squirrelled-up thinking gets in the way of what He wants. I have found that speaking in tongues helps me to pray for bigger things than I could possibly think.

It is a common thing for human beings to excuse their own behaviour, and accuse other people about theirs. The fact that it is common, doesn’t make it Godly! I know this from personal experience. When hubby and I argue, it is often because I have lost my Peace somewhere, and I’ve just plain run out of Grace. As peace is like a RIVER and Grace was released by what Christ did at Calvary. What I need is already within me – IN HIM. I just need to access it through my choices. There are times, sadly, I don’t want to let go of my own opinion, I want to make my point instead! Yeah, I know … awful ain’t I?

The Holy Spirit is a Person Who is activated in and through our lives by our choices. Let’s look at using our faith. The bible says: “Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not yet seen.” (Hebrews 11) I will give my own personal faith substance when I choose to act on what I’ve read in the bible, or whatever I feel the Holy Spirit within me is saying to me. That prayer takes whatever I am praying and turns it into an action. That’s what gives my faith substance – ACTING ON IT.  Christianity is not a faith of theories, it is a faith of choices. It is up to us whether we make those choices or not, but many people will judge what we believe, by the way we live. 

We are not powerless. We are now citizens of His kingdom. Some things in our lives are more stubborn than burnt-on grease on the bottom of a frying pan! So it will take perseverance and choice to shift them. It will also take devotion to the stated end game;  and the end game is transformation. At the same time, as we concentrate on working out our salvation day by day – we need to be helped by the Holy Spirit. His input helps us see, understand, and appreciate truth, and He inspires us to go after it. He helps me to make the kind of choices that lead me after God’s ways. Our choices matter. Bye. 🕊️

P 2668 Shame, the disqualifier.

/ DVH

Over the years in my Christian life I have observed that if I let shame in, then the result is I stop trying to hear God and avoid Him instead! Plus I leave off reading the bible and skip church. None of that stuff is good! I’ve disqualified myself because I am feeling bad about something I have done, or I am contemplating doing. Shame creates a need to hide. Adam and Eve did! It is a fact of life that every single person on this planet has down times. Times when our attitudes are not at their optimum, when life is not one glorious victory following another.

Shame is a tool of our enemy to send us spinning off in the wrong direction. We end up looking at ourselves, as well as how we feel about what we have done etc. – instead of looking at the Lord – Who is the Author and Finisher of our faith. The saddest thing is this – sometimes shame has its roots in real sin – sin that needs to be confessed and repented about. Confession clears away any reason the enemy has to accuse us and cause even more shame.

There are many people in our churches who go regularly week by week, and they are in all kinds of pain, because they are carrying shame, for things done in the present or the past. Perhaps they don’t want to do something that they keep on doing, but they just cannot find a way to stop. Or they are ashamed because they are not doing what they think they should be doing. Feelings demand a whole lot of work and energy. We can end up in an emotional washing machine, getting more and more agitated, drowning in our own despair.

Shame is a cloak. A substitute for conviction, which leads to repentance. Some times shame has been thrown over a person in the past, by someone they regard as an authority, and this other person gave the one who is ashamed, strong logical reasons why that cloak should be worn. That, BTW is a sign of control. Anybody who tries to control us is not on the Lord’s side, whether that person seems to have good motivations or not. Shame has its roots in fear. It can’t grow good fruit, its roots have not gone down deep into LOVE and acceptance.  

The bible tells us to ‘agree with our adversaries quickly’ –  that way we can also quickly repent, and instantly dismiss shame. When we come to Jesus we are given freedom, there is no control. However, shame may also do it’s best to separate us away from the very One Who came to redeem us. It will cause us to hide from Him. We can even end up living a life that is a lie, pretending we are fine when we are not, and hiding our true selves from everyone around us.The sad thing is;  we have no reason to be ashamed because we have His promises in writing!In 1 John 1:8-10 and 1 John 2:1-2 it says:

“If we claim that we’re free of sin, we’re only fooling ourselves. A claim like that is errant nonsense. On the other hand, if we admit our sins—simply come clean about them—He won’t let us down; He’ll be true to Himself. He’ll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing. ..”1 John 2:1-2 says this: “My little children, I am writing these things to you, so that you do not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”

The most important thing about these few verses is the fact that forgiveness always rests on the Lord’s Character and His Character is perfect! It is in Christ’s Character to tell the truth – and the truth is, we have already been forgiven. The second most important thing in my opinion, is this: honesty and confession are the only way to go. It’s not the most comfortable approach, but it is the only one! When we let light pour into the darkness we no longer have to be ashamed, we simply need to be honest and confess our faults to Him, and to others. Because the Lord Jesus Christ is our God-sent, God-given Lawyer! He is our Defence Attorney before the throne of God. He won’t give us a character reference – instead, HE SIMPLY POINTS TO THE CROSS. You might want to sit and stew on that for a while. 

Our part in this process is to be honest with Him, and ourselves, and use our faith to believe that He does not lie and we are not some kind of mad-exception to His poured out love. Shame must never be our cloak – Christ’s BLOOD IS ALWAYS OUR CLOAK.  If we accidentally crawl out from underneath the Lord’s provision of forgiveness, then we need to repent quickly, make reparation where necessary and move on. Let’s not let shame disqualify us from living a brand new life, free from the past, and our own sinful stupid decisions. Bye. 👋