Afraid

P 2752 Welcome banners for the lost.

/ DVH

I was somewhat concerned yesterday when I thought about linking something from YouTube to this page. Not because I am unhappy with the content I shared, but, because … guys …  … as Christians … we can be so religious! I am aware that if something dubious popped its head up from YouTube, that those people who do read my blog could miss the blessing in what I was sharing.

It’s a fact that there are people in this world who have evil lifestyles, that biblically speaking, put them in spiritual harm’s way. We all know that there are things that the bible clearly condemns. But, we can be so intent on getting across our disapproval of someone else’s lifestyle, we omit to pass on His LOVE to the very people Christ was sent to save. Those things are not mutually exclusive.  Love is a spiritual gift given to us by Jesus Himself, to disarm the lost and help the needy.

How can anyone know that God loves them while we are afraid of other people’s sin? We treat it like it is CoVid or something else highly contagious. Yet we are not exempt from sin ourselves, otherwise the Epistles are irrelevant and Paul was teaching and correcting people who were already perfected! Just because we are saved, that doesn’t mean we know everything. We need to be humble when we approach somebody else who has been caught in satan’s trap – and there are plenty of his traps about! Hands up those people who have never ever lost their tempers… I can’t put my hand up either. 

People, as in human beings, need to be loved. When love is in short supply, and hatred and disapproval flourish, they will find love wherever they can. Just like a thirsty man will drink filthy water. Maybe the reason we are afraid to associate with some people is because we are not walking closely with our King. Jesus wasn’t afraid of anything. because our God can deliver anyone from evil – even us! Once a man with many demons (2,000!) sat in his right mind, at Christ’s feet. Instead of ostracising or alienating people, we should be asking ourselves why the love and Presence of God is not convicting them through US – without us even having to say a word.

We have a responsibility for what is happening in this world – WE ARE HIS SALT. Sadly, I think the church has not loved others well. Instead we’ve condemned them, and made their sin more important than their spiritual well-being. There will always be some people who are given over to a reprobate mind – but God can snatch anyone from the fire. He saved me … and I had no idea what holiness looked like – I still struggle, how about you?

Almighty God IS going to snatch some people out of the fire. How? I dunno! But I think it is time we realise that Jesus touched the unclean, and made them clean because He, Himself was clean – inside and out. Plus I think it is a dumb idea as well as a poor game plan, to let FEAR rule our responses. We are running away from our first responsibility – to tell everyone that Jesus loves them – what they do about that piece of spiritual information is not up to us. And just to be clear, I am talking about living a life of love toward the people around us, as He leads us.

In the past, loving Christian families have been tormented and tortured by gossip and innuendo etc. because even though they raised their kids in the fear and the knowledge of the Lord, a member of their family has gone off into a lifestyle that the church feels we can’t approve of. So that entire family is held responsible for something that could happen to anyone. At this moment in time, the world we are living in has a tidal wave of positive reinforcement and approval toward those ungodly lifestyles. Those lifestyles come recommended by a society that loves to indulge the flesh.

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Instead of blaming families, we need to fall on our faces and repent that we have not modelled the love of Jesus clearly enough to those who were obviously searching. I know what it is like to commit yourself to something that you know is wrong – the further you walk down the wrong road the stronger your commitment to it gets, and the harder it gets to back up. People can get trapped by their choices. But our God is so much bigger than than our choices. To most people in this world, God’s love is a theory – we are the vehicles He has chosen to demonstrate that love.

It’s time for all of His children to come on home. We must hang up welcome home banners to the lost. Has any one of us been saved from our sins without God’s love reaching out to us, first?“You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” Matthew 22:39. “God loved us while WE were yet sinners …” Romans 5:8 “Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.”Jude 22,23.  Bye. 🙏

P 2679 Stress – the peace devourer.

/ DVH

This is the dictionary’s interpretation of the word – STRESS: great worry caused by a difficult situation. People under a lot of stress may experience headaches, minor pains, and sleeping problems  As if life isn’t difficult enough!

Here are some of my own thoughts about combating stress. I believe exercise can help. Repetitive gentle stretching and moderate exercise gives my brain more oxygen to work with! Plus I use intentional breathing. I quiet my emotions and thoughts by simply concentrating on my breathing. And a few good night’s sleep in a row can help! Also do something fun to break the cycle of “I’ve gotta be, gotta do, gotta go, gotta help …” Instead prioritise helping yourself to get rid of the stress. Stressful people ain’t fun to be around!!

I think parents often find themselves striving to keep their kids lives on an even keel. When kids are on edge so is everyone else! My advice is to let them practice fixing their own problems, instead of adding their problems into your list! I do this all the time. 🙄 Older kids need to be given opportunities to resolve conflict and trouble for themselves – it’s a much needed life-skill. I’d encourage them to ask the Lord to help, but I would also pray for them. The thing is, we often problem solve things for our kids because if they are stressed then they over-stress us and … round and round we go! Pray God will help them and step away. If they are too young to think things through, then present them with two alternative answers to their barrage of questions – tell them the answer is this OR that.

Laughter and humour are great stress breakers. But if you are dealing with another person I recommend that you explain you are not laughing AT them – otherwise war may break out! Watch something you like on TV, that is not stressful. I use Youtube a lot. I put on some Tim Janis or Dappy T Keys and I just listen and watch the pictures! That stuff is like peace on a stick. It’s incredibly peaceful. Or you can listen to music that you like. Sit and read a book and zone out. If you are going to read the bible then read your favourite Psalms. Just don’t read great big swatches of it – it is better to soak, not study. Just read a couple of verses that show you how much God loves you, and regularly pause while reading, to let it sink in. 

People often behave irrationally when they are under stress – it is not intentional – stress has a way of sneaking up on all of us. The thing is, if you are stressed then it is more than likely the rest of your family will pick up on it and they will eventually join in! I believe stress is the cause of more disagreements and strife in our everyday lives than we actually realise. You can’t think your way out of it – because over-thinking got you into it!  FYI, none of us have the ability to solve a whole lot of problems all at once! Just saying …

Stress can tip over into worry when we are unaware of it. The mind winds up and shoots off in a number of directions trying to solve every problem in our universe  – then, quite naturally, our mind objects to being overtaxed because we are not made to deal with a whole lot of problems all at once! I recommend prioritising. Make lists if it helps but remember to cross things off the list once you have accomplished them. Human beings need the feeling of winning, of gaining ground, to help us keep on moving forward. So do celebrate your successes – do it on purpose!

There have been times in my life when I have forgotten what I was stressed about, (good thing!) but then I drove myself nuts trying to remember what I forgot. (Bad thing!!)  At the same time, I have been known to annoy people in my near vicinity with my somewhat over-emphasised problem-solving attempts on their behalf. A problem-solving person may not be what a stressed person needs! I found that out the hard way. Suggestions can just muddy the waters and frustrate everyone.

I have left the best until last. God does not want us to live this life like a frayed end. Please don’t leave the Lord out. He wants IN. He wants to show Himself strong and active on our behalf. I have often made the mistake of thinking that the best way for God to help me, is for Him to solve all my problems. Wrong! God is not our personal problem solver any more than He is our personal trainer! His aim is for us to get through the difficulties holding onto His hand, totally at peace and releasing that peace into the atmosphere around us.

John 14:27 says:“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” How do we enter this peace? There’s this groovy little word called “let,” it means “allow.” When we find ourselves buzzing about like a bumble bee trapped by a window, it is time to realise that we have let ourselves be overwhelmed by the circumstances. Time to stop and pray about letting things go and handing them over to Him. See all the above suggestions … I told you I like to make them!! 😊 Lastly, fix the things you can with His help, but relinquish the ones you can’t. Bye. 👋

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.”  👋

P 2672 We either believe what the bible says and act on it …

/ DVH

… or we don’t!And we are deceiving ourselves that agreeing with it is enough!

“God has transmitted His very substance into every Scripture, for it is God-breathed. It will empower you by its instruction and correction, giving you the strength to take the right direction and lead you deeper into the path of godliness. Then you will be God’s servant, fully mature and perfectly prepared to fulfil any assignment God gives you.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17.

We are told in the bible, to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. His book explains that living like that is our ‘good acceptable and reasonable service.’ Every single time we yield our right to do things the way we think we should, over to Him, and obey what He says in the bible instead – we step into living this life, His Way. The way Jesus lived when He was on earth. THAT’S when we are ‘truly presenting our bodies to Him.’ At that moment, because of that choice –  we die.

Praying: ‘I present my body to You Lord, as a living sacrifice,’  first thing every morning, is not worth a hill of beans if I don’t follow that prayer up with reliance upon Him, during normal, ordinary days when other people annoy us! If we keep silent, or we choose to give the other person a soft answer, then we step into the resident power of the Word of God, simply because we are acting on it.

When we choose to obey, the bible stops being a book about lovely theories, and it becomes a part of our inner life – ‘IT HAS SUBSTANCE.’ And that’s how we ‘taste and see that the Lord is good,’ for ourselves. The word of God will work within us, just as surely as it does to save us! Our spirit-man gets bigger and stronger and more devoted to Jesus. Plus the fruit of self-control … and other Graces …  grow. We cannot grow His fruit with our own will-power because to grow His fruit we need the power of His Grace. 

We have nothing in our own mortal bodies that can produce supernatural results – BUT – we always have the Holy Spirit, our Resident Helper, Who wants to show us the way to go. He talks to us when we read the bible. Even when our enemy targets us with distraction, hurt, or a desire for revenge, the bible teaches us to go beyond our own understanding and ask the Holy Spirit what He thinks about what is going on. He knows the Way through everything!

When I finally grasped that doing what the book says is a key, my spiritual life exploded in ways I never expected. But at the same time, I’m still the same old me. I can still use the power of choice to give a sharp retort when someone annoys me! If I struggle with someone else without praying and asking for His help – I know I will eventually react, and run out of patience. But if I follow Him through His processes, step by step, and I ask for a scripture to stand on, that’s when I start to grow fruit. That fruit is incredibly powerful, it will feed others. Now, I am learning to abide in the Vine, doing what Jesus would do. 

A number of years ago, something happened that challenged me to the very core. It shook me. Rejection came at me from a family member in a very painful way, and I was at a loss to know how to deal with it. Eventually I simply had to choose to listen to the Holy Spirit, because I was going round and round spiritually, like one foot was nailed to the floor. When I chose to believe the bible enough to act on it, even though I was afraid – I found that being obedient opened my heart up to Him in unexpected ways. His book came alive… I already knew what was in there simply because of constant revision… but when I acted on it appropriately, as the Holy Spirit quietly coached me, I began to access the power we ALL have to overcome.

Just recently I was blessed to be able to comfort that same person in their time of extreme distress. I found I already had the comfort He had been continually giving me, when I interacted with them. Suddenly I had a supernatural storehouse to draw from, instead of trying to psyche and drag myself along, trying hard to do the right thing. Obedience had led me into the wondrous supply that Jesus Himself had, when He was dealing with mankind. It is a remarkable thing to choose to die to self, because ‘laying your life down for your brother‘ is the greatest love. Jesus said so.

The crux of any matter, difficult or not, is this – we either believe what the bible says and act on it … or we don’t. 🙌

P 2654 Give yourself a break!

/ DVH

Actually, I don’t mean take a holiday – I mean cut yourself some slack. It is too easy to become formulaic in our faith. We think things like: ‘if I do and say this, then He will do and say that.’ It seems like we think the Lord is a vending machine. We stand in front of it, stamping our foot – getting crosser by the minute because we did everything we were supposed to do … and …nothing happened … things stayed the same.  Then we rummage about trying to figure out what we’ve done wrong because God is always active on our behalf and where’s our answer? I dunno … I learnt years ago I am as dumb as the dirt I came from! 

But I do know this … Almighty God is not afraid of inactivity. Between Malachi and Christ’s birth 400 years went by. Here’s something to reflect on — in that time there would have been Godly men and women who died waiting for an answer. Nobody likes that thought! Yet Christ went through everything He did into His terrible death, and His grave and nothing stopped any of it. That shows us that God has greater purposes. We often have to wait for the greater purpose to manifest. Other things simply must be endured, and we will need to learn to do that with faith, grace, and love … However, sadly, those graces will not take endurance off the menu! 

I also know that as individuals we can hold up our own personal change by being disobedient. Maybe we simply refuse to look at things that need transformation, or we feel that change in my life is impossible. Perhaps we even trot out well-worn excuses,…”My family is like this… it’s just who I am … other people are so picky … “  What we are really saying is: “I don’t believe I need to change God… I expect You to change Your mind … OR …You could change THEM!”  We sing songs and read in the book that nothing is impossible with God, but that goes right out of the window when it touches our inner rebellion. We are afraid of change.  BTW, about the excuse:  “My family is like this…” you joined a new family remember? There’s that excuse done and dusted!!

Years ago, I had the dearest friend who used to tell me when she was praying about something really important that she thought God had gone skiing or something because there was no response. What she said was a joke … but, at the same time, it wasn’t a joke … she was referring to the fact that His silence scared her. Rightly so, sometimes silence means NO. The Lord holds the future, and maybe that idea we have won’t hold water in the future He has planned for our lives. 

Jeremiah teaches us that HE “… know(s) the plans He has for us, declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11.So what we think we need, or even want, may not be in the plans He has for us. At other times we simply need to live through our disappointment, and talk to Him about that. Either way, He’s always the Answer! The Lord simply isn’t sharing His thoughts with us at that time. That doesn’t  mean we have committed some dastardly sin – it could mean that we have an opportunity to keep banging on the door. Like the guy in the parable Jesus told. That guy needed bread for his visitors.

This is why I’ve learnt to leave things with Him. I ask Him for revelation, and then expect that when He is ready to share with me, something will pop up in my bible reading, or someone will say something, and my heart will recognise His voice, in their voice. And sometimes the circumstances have already changed, it just took me a while to notice it! I’m a bit slow that way …

My point today is, it is not good to beat yourself up and wonder what you did wrong after you have prayed about it and you still can’t hear Him, or you seem to have lost the path. If you know you did something stupid then fix it. Doing that side-steps a whole lot of angst. At the same time let Him be God and you be you. Mistakes are going to be made! He is perfectly capable of redirecting our paths. “…He will make straight our paths …”Sometimes our mistakes seem to be real clangers … I’ve made loads of them! 

Yet, because He is our wonderful Father, the glorious Creator, the One Who sets us free – He can take our surrendered spirit of disobedience or stupid, and make something beautiful out of it. He made the world out of nothing. Taking our sometimes wilfully shattered lives, and making something incredible out of them, is what He does. Give yourself a break – He won’t give up on you, so don’t give up on yourself.

I’ve found that self-flagellation accomplishes very little, surrender accomplishes far more. It softens our spirits and helps us to remain humble. I pray all the time:  ‘Lord, I want what You want.’ Amen. And then I forgetaboudit until He brings it up. Bye. 👋

P 2637 Be an original.

/ DVH

I sometimes live in the land of stone-cold-tea! I actually get so focussed on writing, I forget to drink it when it is hot. It is the bane of my hubby’s life having to warm up my tea all the time, so I can enjoy it. There are days that I’m such a FUN person to live with. Not. Ho- hum. ☕️ I think my record of tea re-warming is 3 times in a row. Ask hubby!  Any-hoo, the other day I discovered this great little gizmo from China that keeps a cup of tea or coffee hot for hours. I love the creative genius behind that seemingly insignificant invention!! 

I have learnt over the years to appreciate human diversity and our individual ability to see the same thing in different ways. People are truly amazing, and our God made us that way, on purpose. Ya gotta love that!! It also means that when I look at you, I can see Him, in a totally different way. WOW!! It is a shame that religion aims at everyone being the same — yet God celebrates our differences. They are part of His creativity.  In my heart I believe that each person has a unique expression of Who He is to share with the world. In other words we are all richer because He sent YOU here! Thank you Lord – You really do give good gifts!

“God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display His wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 3:10. We have this lovely lady, (she’s God’s gift!), who comes into our house once a fortnight to help us. She cleans the floors for us. I had to give up floor cleaning years ago!  Hmmm. I wish I thought that was a bad thing … but I don’t!! Tee hee. Ya win some – ya lose some. Maybe that’s one of the Lord’s benefits I’m not meant to forget!! 😂  A-ny-wa-y … this lady is the dearest Irish-born-Aussie person and having her around is a joy when you are mostly shut-in. Some people celebrate who they are, don’t they?

When she came to help us last time, she shared the above picture with us. Somebody had carefully chalked thought-provoking things about the Lord on a jogging track. There were a lot more chalk sayings that I could put here!  However, the minute I saw them, I was gobsmacked to see how this person had found such a non-threatening, original way to speak to people. I can’t begin to tell you how much that blesses me. I just adore to see people being themselves and loving Jesus and sharing His truth… all at the same time. 

Each of us has a unique way of expressing His love to others. The thing I have personally learnt lately is this — unless we are doing those things that make us feel a bit vulnerable, we are probably staying within our own comfort zone. That comfort zone is a poorly-made construct that we’ve allowed, it is used to hide us. And it will restrict our efforts to shine for Him if we are not aware of it. So we will have to learn how to be “strong and courageous” — like Joshua said. That’s what faith does. It tackles the difficult things as well as the unknown ones simply because those things can be a tourniquet on the life of God within us. 

We can sometimes hesitate to remove those restrictions that we’ve adopted into our lives because they protect our inner selves. Maybe somebody else thought that was who we are – or who they wanted us to be. Or we can use our weaknesses to our own advantage, because remaining unseen seems safer. But Jesus cheerily says: “Don’t be afraid, death is not your enemy – a lack of real life within you is!”  None of us are finished yet, but the Lord wants us to be established in Him daily, within our ordinary lives. If we yield to Him, we will have enough strength to withstand the bigger storms and dark seasons of this life. The way through difficulties is to trust in Him more than we trust our own judgment. 

I love the way the Lord is been removing those badly made constructs around our lives to expose the great work He has been doing inside… Even when we weren’t looking! Personally, I think if we had seen what He was doing with some of us, we might have meddled with it or tried to help Him! But He works in, and on our hearts in secret and brings out the very best of who we really are, and He doesn’t do His big reveals about us until His project in us is established. Our God is a master builder, and unlike the world around us, He knows how to work with stone to bring it to life! Praise Him!! 

Years ago there was this dumb riddle …”Which came first? The chicken or the egg?” The minute I heard that riddle I thought:  ‘how silly, God would never leave a little vulnerable egg all alone to raise itself!’  Then I realised that my faith is in God’s judgment, not in what seemed right to me. It was meant to be a clever puzzle but my knowledge of Him made the answer into a fact!  BTW, please don’t ask me why that stupid chicken crossed the road? As far as I’m concerned that chook deserves whatever it gets when it is challenging cars! Like I said, be an original, we need your POV.  Bye for today, have a good one. 👋

P 2631 Beware of roadblocks.

/ DVH

There is a possibility in our lives that we can have hidden, (even from ourselves), agendas – things that will inadvertently get in the way of true growth. Sometimes we can get caught up in our minds or emotions with ideas, people or things that we fiercely defend, but we are totally unaware that is what we are doing. Over a longer period of time, we can also learn to carefully avoid some situations because we are subconsciously aware that we don’t cope with them. Likewise, we can steer away from, or even get angry about, some things, purely because there is concealed pain behind them.

Ask yourself this question – apart from Jesus Himself – Who is THE most important person in your life – is there anyone or anything that you strongly feel that you cannot live without? Maybe a person who you value so much, that even the smallest thought of loss can send you into fear or anxiety? If you are a parent, maybe it’s a child …whether it is an adult child or not …  or perhaps a spouse;  or a close friend. Even the thought of any loss connected with these things can send you into an overwhelming downward spiral. If even the very thought of letting go of something or someone sends us into a panic – that is a clear indication something has grabbed hold of us!

You know, the thing we are most afraid of, can sometimes be the greatest spiritual strength in our lives, when we overcome that fear with His help. Always remembering that His help leads us TO DO SOMETHING. Perhaps there is a job we don’t want to lose, or we’ve fixated on finding somewhere safe to live – but this thing, whatever it is, influences every other decision we make. And it may not even consciously register in our minds. In this scenario that person or thing, no matter how normal or insignificant they seem to be, can become a roadblock to spiritual growth. 

When things get tough, and hardship strikes — this predisposition to protect ourselves and hide from suffering, will get in the way of any of the Holy Spirit’s solutions. Simply put, we won’t ask Him to help us with someone or something we don’t want to lose … just in case He takes that thing or person away! Plus we can easily go on from there to make decisions based on fear and pain instead of what the Lord wants. 

It is incredibly easy to think we know what is best for us – but that decision can be formed within the framework of hidden fear NOT FAITH. The assumption that our feelings, or even familiar thought patterns are a good guide, is a lie! The Word of God is our primary, solitary guide. I have seen godly parents put up with abuse, because they feel they cannot live without their fully grown child and the sneaky wrong spirit in that adult child ends up ruling the roost.

Or maybe the parent is afraid of what will become of their progeny and sadly, co-dependency has taken hold. We can sometimes desperately pray and hope: “that Jesus won’t mind, because He understands I can’t help it, I need it to be like this.” Read the gospels … the Lord told one man to leave his recently deceased father behind!

I have also seen sweet Godly Christians hurt others because they refuse to let go of something that should have been left behind them years ago. That has been caused by fear which has been carried forward from childhood pain. It can colour our adult thinking. The thing to do in such situations is to get to the root of the tree by asking WHY?

Why do I feel so strongly that I cannot let go of my child, or spouse etc. and give them to Jesus unreservedly, without any agenda in my heart? What pattern of ungodly thinking is preventing my growth? What fear is ruling my life? How did it start, and what am I still doing now, today, to keep that fear alive? We need to prayerfully identify and deal with these issues under the Holy Spirit’s wisdom and guidance.

Our God is not mean. He is a loving caring Father, who is deeply involved, and intimately engaged in our everyday lives. BTW, this issue is not about disobedience, it is a deep lack of trust. We are not trusting the Lord to take care of those things that are extremely important to us. Sadly we could even be letting fear rule. But our precious loving Father knows us, and He knows the way we need to go to get through things like this. We must follow Him, step by step into relinquishment. It is not good to hold on to other people so tightly that you lose your own God-given freedom!

Matthew 16:19:“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” The Lord Jesus Christ gave His power to the disciples when they were too dumb to know what they were given. That’s how generous to mankind He has been! We can personally prevent any change in difficult situations or even dangerous ones by misusing the power we already have — instead of yielding people or material things to Him and progressively learning to live a life of faith. We need to let go of those things that weigh us down. At the same time by holding on too tightly to someone/something else we have the power to prevent growth and change in that other person or situation.

It is part of our job description to voluntarily choose to live this new life Jesus died to give us, embracing the power to overcome, instead of hiding away from it because it might pinch something from us! Plus always watching and aware of any roadblocks or ‘keep-out signs’ we have inadvertently put up or embraced… because we know those things will steal His new life away from us. Bye. 👋

P 2615 Fighting fear at 3.00am or thereabouts.

/ DVH

We all know this one in some form or another. As we start to get a handle on wrangling fear, fighting with the Lord’s strength during the day, the wretched thing pops up at 3.00am when you can’t sleep. I call it the ‘what ifs.’  

What if this bad thing happens. What if that even worse one does? … What if I can’t cope? … What if I let my family down? First of all – let’s remind ourselves that at 3.00am very few sleepless people cope! These thoughts and many others like them, are a direct attack on our faith. Cheer up! The other guy wouldn’t be attacking our faith if we weren’t actually going somewhere with it. It is time to remind ourselves that …

“… God will NEVER give us the spirit of fear, but the Holy Spirit Who gives us mighty power, love, and self-control.”

2 Timothy 1:7 TPT. Did ya get the word NEVER??! So that clears up any possible suggestion of just who is behind those worries that are nagging at us, no matter what time it is, because it will NEVER be the Lord Jesus. 

Yeah, I know that seems to go without saying … except in those moments when a lack of sleep robs you of your ability to think clearly. But we can learn to fight for our peace. However, this verse is more about Who we have to help us, than about what we are fighting. We have the Holy Spirit Who wants to give us His mighty power, His love for the Lord and others, plus a spiritual gift called self-control. Ya might want to think on that for a minute or ten. 🤔 But not at 3.00am, or there’s a chance that we will get even more awake!

At that hour I personally need all the mighty power I can get, thank you Jesus! My brain turns into a washing machine. Strangely, that reminds me of something … old person’s ramble alert … many years ago, there was this ad on TV with a cute kid in it who is probably now in his 60s … if not dead. This kid says: “Guess whose mum’s got a Whirlpool?” I dunno about a fancy washing machine, but sometimes it sure feels like a whirlpool in my head! How about you? PS they don’t make Whirlpools any more – they cost a fortune even back then. Let’s mo-ve right along from useless trivia that no-one cares about … 

… And just look again at that terrific verse. At all times, in all places, sometimes even despite our lack of obvious spirituality… God GIVES US the Holy Spirit. I’m going to say that again because maybe it didn’t quite sink in  … our GOD GIVES US THE HOLY SPIRIT!! Now here’s the Gift Who keeps on giving! And He is totally unearned or deserved. At 3.00am very few people feel spiritual, but we know that our God will always help us. Ask for help! ← I’m just going to let that sit there so we can both think about it.🤔 🧐 

Here’s another weapon suitable for the 3.00am screaming meemies …“because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you. ”So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my Helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”Hebrews 13:5b-6. Whatever is trying to pinch your sleep is between you and our precious Helper, the Holy Spirit, He’s the Person God has given us to be our Friend forever. He is always there. Other people. and the spirit of stupid they are currently swimming in, don’t belong splashing about inside our heads! Remember, distraction from the real point is the enemy’s biggest tool. he tried that on Jesus … and it didn’t work on Him, either. 

Psalm 34:15-18: “The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open unto their cry. The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.”← Did ya get that word all? So you and I can’t actually be an exception because all means ALL!“The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.” Which is why we repent about anyone we are angry with, even if it IS 3.00am. 

Despite the old fashioned bible version above, I urge you to fight against fear for your right to sleep and be at peace, be-ca-use … “…  to His beloved one He giveth sleep.” Psalm 127:2. You are His beloved one – sleep belongs to you. Hmmm. At 3.00am it seems that I speak King James English. Meanwhile there is no truth whatsoever to the rumour that I am that old!  Bye …👋

P 2578 BECAUSE …

/ DVH

1 John 4:17-19: “This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love BECAUSE He first loved us.”

Some words in the bible need greater attention than others. Today when I woke up, ‘we love because He first loved us …’  was rattling about in my mind and heart. My first thought was this… maybe we have that concept in the wrong order? We can easily get stuck on we must love, as a directive, instead of focussing on the fact that we have been given something that we don’t deserve. And not only that … we have been given so much of it we have plenty to give away! … I think that that thought changes the ballgame!!

When we engage with the things in our lives that we know are not God’s will or even His ways, the correct and most fruitful response, is repentance, NOT shame or guilt etc. What’s the difference? Shame comes from the devil, it drove Adam and Eve away from Almighty God in the garden. But knowing we are loved will always draw us back toward Him, BECAUSE He is the answer. That sort of response shows us whether we are afraid, or not – if we are afraid we have believed a lie! 

When a little child breaks a toy, it runs and takes that toy to the parent to be fixed. In a good parent/child relationship the infant is not afraid. Instead it has confidence, it knows love will fix it. That attitude is our yardstick. As Christians, we are compelled by His love to be drawn back into fellowship, with Him, and each other. No matter what it takes. Meanwhile we can’t say we love God and hate our brother BECAUSE those two things are incompatible!  However, after real repentance and reparation, our sin is now under Christ’s blood. It has been dealt with BECAUSE it hinders fellowship and our love relationship with Him. It’s hard to love and feel guilty all at once!

The way we live now is about our attitudes and motivation, not rules or fear. We don’t have to flimflam, deny or obfuscate about our sins either — now sin is not our focus! We live differently because we LOVE Him. The reality is this, whatever we choose to take into our own lives, we will eventually give out. If we take in greed, avoidance, shame or guilt for some action or other, then we will give that out to someone else. Let’s remember that our God will never use us to give out stones or snakes to people in need, He is a good good Father. 

Freedom is now ours. God’s Love gave us that freedom, and it is Christ’s eternal legacy for all of us. When we step away from freely giving away that kind of love to others, we step out of that freedom. At the same time if something pricks our conscience, and we dismiss it and do not deal with it, it becomes sin. It’s disobedience! The same thing happens when the Lord asks us to do something but we don’t want to do it. Disobedience to the Holy Spirit’s leading can block our ears to God’s guidance.

So, if we read the bible and think: “Nope, nothing in there today for me!” Then we simply must keep on reading — BECAUSE seekers find things. Sometimes we might tell ourselves “God understands blah blah blah.” That’s called rationalisation and denial. Today, right where you and I are – we’ve  been given a new heart that is soft toward God, and His ways, but we can harden that soft heart by ignoring Him. We can fool ourselves that it will be OK … but inside, the Holy Spirit is jumping up and down and waving His arms saying: “Wrong way go back.”

BECAUSE God made Himself incredibly vulnerable, by becoming a man, living here with us, and dying for us so we can be with Him forever — now our response comes from a place of love and devotion to Him and His Ways. Now His unearned or deserved love for us motivates our love for others. 👋

““So I give you now a new commandment: Love each other just as much as I have loved you. For when you demonstrate the same love I have for you by loving one another, everyone will know that you’re My true followers.”” John 13:34-35 TPT

P 2542 Take the lid off …

/ DVH

When I was way younger – ( ie:12 years old) – I was forced by the existing school system to make a choice between the Arts, History, Science, etc. – and the business world. I loved all those former things passionately – outside of a business POV, English and Maths were also fascinating to me. But sadly, someone else chose my career path for me. 

Practically speaking that meant I had two more years at school trapped in a world that operated in opposition to everything I loved learning and doing. I remember looking with longing at those who went into art, while I trudged off to book-keeping. To this day, I still follow up all sorts of stuff on Google because I am extremely curious about the world around me. FYI, I have NEVER ONCE looked up business studies! 😂

Among the many things I had to learn to do in those days, was typing. I loathed it. That particular skill intimidated the daylights out of me. I have very poor hand to eye co-ordination, and that meant that physically regulated things like sport and typing were torture for me. My hands visibly shook every single time I faced a typewriter – of course that was hilarious to all the other kids in the class! After I left school, I was sent to work in a bank, and daily there were even more torments, because every single day I confronted adding machines, sorting machines AND typewriters. Things with KEYS on them! Aauuugghhhhhh!! 🙄

HOWEVER, today, over 60 years later … I am sitting here typing away without looking, or even thinking about it — because of a skill I gained – that I didn’t want! … back then.  At that time, and for years later, I let that fear and ineptitude intimidate me. My point today is this:  it is incredibly easy to think that WE are the only people who know what is best for us, but actually – only GOD knows what we will NEED. And there are days when you can learn stuff from other people too!  However, in my flesh, back then, the whole idea of typing of any kind, was an abomination.

At school, we used to have speed tests as a competitive way to improve our typing. I don’t like competitions, I turn into Wylie coyote – I get completely flattened by a downward speeding anvil! My point is this: the very thing that flattened me and weighed me down, was actually the first of many opportunities I had, to learn to embrace difficulties and learn from them. Plus it gave me room to try to tackle the things that I thought I wasn’t good at. But I inadvertently, and ill-advisedly used up all my energy by being afraid and actively hating the task!

Years, later I had to walk back from that place I chose for myself. Since then God has also given me plenty of opportunities to deal with the pile of animosity I had against the person who forced me to do something I despised! And at the same time, I know I have learnt something, retrospectively … I am much bigger and braver inside than I think I am. Jesus and I are a majority – as I let Him lead me.

My point in relaying this story today is that it is oh! sooooo easy to limit ourselves! But this new life we have been given can teach us about our old selves, if we let it. Gideon found he was far bigger inside than he ever imagined possible when God became His coach! You know … you and I, …we have a live-in Coach! The Holy Spirit will walk us through the hard scary bits, step by step – if we just keep our eyes on Him, and follow His instructions.

Perhaps we need to stop telling ourselves that we can’t do this and that – and start taking the lid off our perceptions.  Living with a list of things we can’t do hanging over our heads, indicates that we are also actively removing possibilities from our lives that could bring us joy! How do we know what we can do with Christ’s very own Spirit residing within us? (Philippians 4:13.) Maybe, here and now, it is time to drag out all those dusty dreams we had about serving Jesus way back when. Personally, I think the Body of Christ has self-limited itself long enough.

It is time to remember that Peter, James and John were just ordinary fishermen with no particularly spectacular skills. Perhaps they were even forced to do that kind of work because it was the family business. Yet, there were some days when those experienced men couldn’t even catch fish! But under the Lord’s leadership and the Holy Spirit’s power they did extraordinary things – they even caught fish they didn’t know were there!!  So can WE. If we just ask for His help and take the lid off. 👋