Almighty God

P 3497 Cherish what you already have.  

/ DVH

There can be times when what we hear from other people, spiritually speaking, can become incredibly appealing. Some things  sound like a shortcut to where we want to be. Here’s what I know about that — I can’t frame my entire life with the Lord, by other people’s experiences. I am not saying you can’t — I’m just saying it has never worked for me! 

Let’s take Brother-I-have-written-lots-of-books-and-loads-of-people-buy-them … and, your pastor. That book-writing brother indicates that he has found something that helps when you are praying about this and that, and it seems to be very helpful and pertinent to your life. The author indicates that this is the Word of the Lord, to help you. Great. Buy the book. But at the same time, make sure you are listening to what your pastor says week by week, as well. I like to pray: “Lord help me to hear You through my pastor.” We can become overly familiar with someone’s style, and miss the point God wants to make, simply because we already know them.

Where I live, Christians buy loads of ‘help’ books, perhaps that is because they feel like they have no clue how to help themselves. Yet their pastor faithfully preaches whatever the Lord gives him, week after week after week. Who knows what we might hear if we take off our ‘impress me with your wisdom, pastor’  hat, and put on the ‘speak Lord, I’m listening’ one. 

Here’s a fun story … I read it in a book! 🤣… I read about a pastor in South America who preached the same sermon on ‘love’ for months. The exact same sermon. The congregation got a bit ticked off about it so they asked the nice man, ‘Why?’ He said: “You are all still not doing it.” I think that is hilarious, and …very discerning … all at the same time!

Let’s look at what the bible says we are here to do. “So now through the church the multifaceted wisdom of God [in all its countless aspects] might now be made known [revealing the mystery] to the [angelic] rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 3:10. Our God is so incredible, one person cannot express all He is by themselves, yet He can use that one person to correct us. We need to remember, our pastor preaches our daily bread and butter, the author we like preaches the optional sprinkles that go on top.

Your pastor, and the brother with the multitude of books, are preaching to more people than YOU. They are also preaching to angelic rulers and authorities in heavenly places. The bible says there is another audience listening and watching. Perhaps they are the people who have gone on before us, the ones who are cheering for us to finish our race!! BTW, that does not mean your pastor is right, and your favourite author is wrong, or visa versa – it means you and I just got a glimpse into a bigger picture of Who the Lord is.

Here’s the punchline … God’s Wisdom is so-oo-oo BIG we will spend eternity discovering new things about Him every single day. Angels continually fly around His throne saying: “Holy, holy, holy, holy …” over and over and over again, forever!! That’s because they can see something new and incredible about God Himself every single time, from every angle! What they see, compels them to cry out in worship. Is your view of Almighty God getting stretched a little? Good! Our Heavenly Father is not limited by what anyone says or writes. Somebody once commented that the world could not contain the books that detail everything Jesus said!  He is a magnificent subject, but we have iddy-biddy brains!

Your pastor and the guy with the multitude of books, podcasts, and grabs are not at odds with one another, they are simply looking at the glory of God … Who He is … from a different angle! Praise God for it. The more we comprehend just WHO we are serving, the easier it will become to lay aside the things that simply don’t matter. Let’s pray to see Him through the Holy Spirit’s eyes. However, I think the person we need to trust and submit to, is the one we call when the roof falls in and we are staring at the rubble of our lives wondering if we will survive … our pastor.

He’s also the one we need to regularly pray for. If you don’t like what your pastor preaches – then first of all check to see if he is hitting a nerve in you that you don’t want to face! And then pray for him. He is human, and the enemy specifically targets pastors with discouragement and despair. They have become well acquainted with trouble too. Begin to pray that  the Lord will give your pastor, His wisdom, Sunday by Sunday. If you don’t go to a church, then start going. We need to be planted in the soil of His Grace.

The bible tells us not to forsake meeting together  — that means don’t skip church. It says that for a good reason!  We can be easily picked off, distracted or led astray, when we are wandering about, reading this and doing that – flying solo. We need each other. Yes, even longwinded old people like me, who have a story longer than you have time to hear it. We all need to learn patience. Trust me, going shopping on Sunday morning, is worshipping at another kind of church, and I’m very sure that one is not on your side!

It is up to us to cherish what the Lord has given us, and our faithful pastors, and writing friends are gifts from God. Just because they don’t turn up on Sundays wrapped in fancy wrapping paper and bow, that does not mean they are not His gift to us. Let’s actively appreciate what God has given us — He is so much bigger than we think. We need a compass! Bye 👋.

P 3493 Let’s never forget the real benefit.

/ DVH

Hebrews 10:18-23. “Now, when sins have once been forever forgiven and forgotten, there is no need to offer more sacrifices to get rid of them. And so, dear brothers, now we may walk right into the very Holy of Holies, where God is, because of the blood of Jesus. This is the fresh, new, life-giving way that Christ has opened up for us by tearing the curtain—His human body—to let us into the holy Presence of God.

And since this great High Priest of ours rules over God’s household, let us go right in to God Himself, with true hearts fully trusting Him to receive us because we have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean and because our bodies have been washed with pure water. Now we can look forward to the salvation God has promised us. There is no longer any room for doubt, and we can tell others that salvation is ours, for there is no question that He will do what He says.”

I was born in one of the poorer areas of a capital city in Australia. Everyone I knew worked for a living. And then, when I was fourteen, so did I! I had no clue about God, except that I was taught that He wouldn’t love me if I did the wrong thing. Sadly it seemed like I was forever doing the wrong thing. Living with the threat of hell can kind of put a dint into whatever faith you have. 

Up until I read the bible I had no idea that it said things like we just read in Hebrews 10. I had tried to read it many times but I got stuck in the begat section or the Old Testament stories … they only seemed to come out well if you chose the Lord’s side, but I had no idea how to get on God’s good side. I avoided it because I was positive He was never going to accept me. I had no clue that the Lord loved me, or knew my name — in fact I kind of hoped He didn’t — because I didn’t think we would get along all that well together! Mainly because He is holy and I am not. But nevertheless, Jesus still came after me, and that changed everything.

Even today when I read this: “…sins have once been forever forgiven and forgotten …” it blows my mind. I’ve been given some precious things in my life, but that one gift is beyond my wildest dreams. There are times when I wonder … why would He do that for someone like me? I just cannot comprehend the kind of perfect all-encompassing love that just won’t quit. Yet here it is – in His book. We are not forgiven because we deserve it, none of us do. We are forgiven because our Heavenly Father is beyond our imagination. He is generous, loving, kind and forgiving, and His Ways are perfect. There is no shadow, no turning away in Him. God Himself is pure love and light through and through.

As we keep on reading in Hebrews 10, we discover that not only did Jesus pay an incredible price to have all of us for His Bride, He paid that price so now we can have access to our Heavenly Father at any time. This means you and I don’t have to stand outside His door waiting to be told we can enter. We can throw open that door and run in and yell, “Dad, Dad, Dad, guess what happened to me!”

So when Jesus asks me to repent, why wouldn’t I? I’d want to hear Him even if He whispers! His love came after me and saved me from myself. Let’s think about the kind of people you would love to ask for dinner! Did you know in the bible it Exodus 24:9-11 it tells us that God Himself came to dinner?

“Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel. Under His feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli, as bright blue as the sky. But God did not raise His hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.” 

I mean, how utterly brilliant is that, right?  Then, as if that wasn’t enough, then Jesus Himself did this:

“…that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” 1 Corinthians 11:23-25

And there it is again. Almighty God and mankind, sitting down at a table and eating together, only this time, anyone can join in. Because the One sitting at the head of the table is the One Who paid the price for you and I to be able to come and eat and drink from it. Here’s something else to think about – SomeOne had to die to give us that privilege, and He did it gladly.

We need to learn how to be motivated and saturated in God’s love. Let’s be so soaked in it, that it runs out of us onto other people. I’m talking about His heavenly kind of love that just won’t quit on anyone. All the healing services, retreats and prayer in this world, are no substitute for the privilege of personally coming into His Presence and being received by Him. This is the point of the Gospel. It is not just so we can have access to heaven one day, or get into right house or school … or even have steak for dinner!

Jesus died so we can have ACCESS to our Heavenly Father – whenever we need to and want to. And we are guaranteed that Father God will never be disinterested, busy, or too distracted at any time, to allow us to come to see Him and fellowship with Him. NOT EVER.  We can have this, because He gave us the right to wash our filthy clothes in the blood of the Lamb, knowing that His blood sprinkled everywhere in our lives, makes us clean. Why would we ignore that benefit?

We must never ever forget the real glorious benefit of Calvary. God loves us … up close and personal, and we can love Him back the same way … freely, worshipfully and gratefully. Bye. 👋. 

P 3484 A living sacrifice.

/ DVH

Today I want to highlight two things that are part of our new way to live, led by the Holy Spirit.

ONE: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:1-2 NIV.

Many of us think that worship is singing slow songs, like love songs to Jesus, or about Him — reverently, joyfully and with emphasis. For some it means raising our hands. For others that means kneeling down or standing up. We are told to be filled with the Spirit, singing to ourselves in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs… fantastic, let’s do that! But we will need to change our whole way of thinking if we want to follow Jesus.

Paul talks about the reality of sacrificial living. Let us not be fooled … he says real worship is offering your body as a living sacrifice. That’s your dead, living body! All dead, really dead, never-getting up again DEAD, to the things of this world. It is to be laid upon the altar of “whatever You want, Father God!” That can get pretty grim when it hits close to home. Almighty God is a jealous God, He wants all of us, not just the left-overs.

It looks like Isaac did, when the boy allowed himself to be trussed and tied up like a turkey and placed upon the rough altar his father Abraham had built. Then his own father lifted up the knife to kill him. It’s that kind of “if I die I die” attitude that God sees as worship. Meanwhile, in the Western world, Abraham would have ended up in court defending his abuse of his son! And good luck getting your kid to lie down on an altar. They won’t even let you take their phone away. 😱

I think one of the biggest mistakes Christianity has made is to try to reinforce the things of the Spirit, in the natural world – instead of prayerfully allowing “God to break our hearts with the things that break His.” I don’t much like it – but that’s what our new life looks like. We can’t just teach this, because we have to embrace it as individuals. We need to fall in love with Jesus so deeply, that lip-service just won’t do. That means we will dig, chase, and go after anything that offers us the opportunity to mature, because serving Him is now our purpose.

Mature Christians don’t stand in corners grumbling about each other, other people, or the pastor. They take what the bible says seriously and do their best, with God’s help, to obey it. Even to their own hurt. They don’t offer excuses, blame their parents or their childhood, or even our current society for their choices. They understand the concept of free will and they exercise it by choosing His Way over theirs, simply because the bible says the Lord loves obedience.

TWO: Romans 12 Verses 3,6b-13: “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you…                                                                               … … If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully. Love in Action. Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honour one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.” 

People often want to know what their spiritual gift is, perhaps to validate themselves within the Body of Christ. Sometimes leaders have their own little exclusive club going, and everyone else wants to be a member of the “IN” group. Well, there is no IN group unless we are ALL IN IT!  We are here to serve the Lord and one another, not promote ourselves.

Jesus did not promote Himself, yet He drew huge crowds because His teaching was truth, and healings and miracles followed Him around. He didn’t need an advanced group to prepare things for the Speaker who was the main event. He taught the people in a language they could understand, about their Heavenly Father and how to relate to Him and each other. These people were spiritual people … they already had a history with God. We too can have a history with God and still not be living sacrifices.

A gift is about the generosity of the Giver, not the receiver. Someone once gave me the most ghastly clock I have ever seen … it was all I could do to thank them! I still shudder thinking about it. But for a little while, they stopped what they were doing and thought about me. That’s where gratitude lies, recognising the other person’s effort even when it is way off course. We must let each other learn. There will be a bit of wiggling as each one of us tries to find our place. However, dead people don’t care where you put them.

If we are to lead, then we need to do it as a servant to all, in season and out. These gifts are not there to put in place some sort of pecking order in the Body, they are to be used for the benefit of all. Those who are saved, and the-people-who-don’t-know-Him- yet. The reality is now we must stop living our life, for ourselves, and start living out what we were put here to do. We live this life as living sacrifices to His glory! And choose to live out heaven’s realities down here, where life gets icky and unpredictable. Bye 👋.

P 3481 Our greatest treasure.

/ DVH

Today I want to talk about love – Our Father’s love, and ours. First of all, we are not qualified to decide what love looks like. Almighty God already did that … with the Ten commandments and the subsequent birth of Christ Himself, His example, plus some truly awesome scriptures in 1 Corinthians 13 and Colossians 3!

However, living in, and for His Love, does not always mean we will end up feeling fantastic. Living a life of love sometimes means we will have to back down when we don’t want to, and shut up when we want to defend ourselves. Aren’t you glad I said that?… Me neither! … God’s Love is not like that feeling of floating-around well-being that we get when we think about someone special to us. It is a decision made and carried out using our faith. In other words, even if the other person drives us nuts, the bible tells us in Romans 13:8, that we owe them love. That’s the response, there is no other.

God’s Way of love requires us to live aware of the fruit of self-control, despite our circumstances. Plus we are told to give away grace, mercy and kindness. Let’s remember that self-control won’t just fall on us! It has to be worked in us as we learn to co-operate with the Holy Spirit. Living in God’s kind of love is costly, and I strongly suspect that is why some of us do not want to do it! Let’s look at someone who loved Jesus beautifully and well – this is described in Luke 7: 37&38. Just pause please and notice who is loving Him commendably.

“A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind Him at His feet weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.” 

It would be a huge mistake to simply read the above scriptures as a lovely story about one woman’s attitude to Christ. Because it is in the book, then it is in there to show US something about ourselves. The first thing I can ‘see’ is that this woman took the lowest place in the room. Nobody needed to explain to her that she had been living her life badly …she already knew that … but she did something extraordinary about it. Instead of hiding from the Lord’s pure gaze, she overcame her fear of exposure and sought to minister to Him, out of her love for Him. She had no other motivation in her dear little head other than blessing Jesus!

We need to look closely at any people we know who have a heart like hers, because we can learn so much from them. People like this woman do not think much about themselves, their aim is to bless and minister love and honour to others. They are just grateful to be included! Unfortunately, like the other guests at this party, we can easily be distracted by this woman’s sin, and forget about our own. If you or I were in that room where would WE be? Sitting at the table talking to Jesus? Asking questions? Discussing this scripture or that? Or crawling along the floor trying not to be seen at all, because you want to wash Jesus’ dirt-laden feet and honour Him?

Let’s move down to verse 37, where Jesus says: “Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.” Um! That’s one heck of a sentence! Jesus is using this woman as an illustration of what great love looks like. It is so easy to quote: “Love is patient and kind etc.” or “Clothe yourselves in love.” The theory is easy – however, practicing this kind of humility and Grace, shows up all the dents and dings in our character. Those things we hope nobody else knows. This woman had nothing to lose, nobody respected her anyway – but she did stand to lose big time if Jesus reviled or rejected her.  And that thought would probably keep many of us from crawling along the floor to wash and kiss His feet.

Instead we prefer to say: “I’m this and that – the bible says so. I don’t have to crawl along the floor, Jesus died for me and I’m a new person” …Sigh.  Sadly, for a new person, we can still have a very old, unpleasant attitude! Great love is expressed at great cost. For people with a fear of rejection, it is almost a death threat. Loving others when they hurt you, could leave you battered and beaten down by their treatment of you. But Jesus sees this kind of love and He kindly and gently elevated this woman’s heart attitude by what He said. He recognised her actions, because her actions spoke louder than any words. It brought her forgiveness and a brand new start.

I’ve heard many sermons on how much the perfume she used cost, how precious it was to her, etc. etc. But I prefer to see how much the Lord Himself valued what she did as she humbled herself before Him, and the surrounding company. It’s time we began to realistically contemplate our own hearts – instead of excusing stuff. This woman clearly gives us hope that sinful or not – we will be received! When we humble ourselves, we will not get rejection, but Love Himself will see us in our clumsy efforts to bless Him.

His love for us and through us is now our greatest treasure. Jesus is the prize, all we will ever need. In the Presence of His glory, none of us qualify to stand with Him. Whatever we have, has been given to us, gratitude is our only response. Bye. 👋

P3477 Moving house.

/ DVH

“We cross the threshold of true knowledge when we live in obedient devotion to God. Stubborn know-it-alls will never stop to do this, for they scorn true wisdom and knowledge.” Proverbs 1:7 TPT. The bible says all kinds of incredible things that we can barely take in, let alone remember day by day. That’s cause for a pause, right there! Many people like to focus on the negative – sadly the daily news proves that point. Even the words used by the people writing these articles are evocative and negative, all at the same time. However, God’s kingdom is always GOOD NEWS.

The thing is, we were born again to WALK with God – not just sit down comfortably inside the door! The bible was not written as a list of the things we are no longer allowed to do or participate in – it is about how dear we are to Him, and how important it is to Him that we choose to live like His kids. Father God does not have subtexts like we do – His aim is LOVE. When He asks us to obey Him, it is so that we can live in that love and freely give it away. That place is the safest place on this earth. 

Stuff will still happen, but we need to remember, a yielded soul is a catalyst. That soul changes everything around it.  When I choose to cling to what God Himself says, I am not denying reality — I am yielding to SomeOne, greater than I am. He is a far far greater reality. Almighty God made this world, so He knows our place in it. Let’s trust what He says over what I think, or you think, or even what Brother-I-know-everything thinks. We need to forgive him … and move on.

In years gone by, we used to sing a song called “Come and go with me to my Father’s house.” I loved the idea of living in my Father’s house … but sadly, after I went home, it seemed to me that I was leaving behind the loving fellowship, and prayers, plus power of the Word preached. It seemed like I was leaving that behind until next week. Then one day, it dawned on me that I could go to my Father’s house and STAY. What’s more I could choose to live FROM that Kingdom, not the one all around  me. Jesus came here to usher in the Father’s kingdom. Now I follow Him along the narrow way, and I live by faith, in His kingdom, here and now.  

When God told us to seek His kingdom first, it’s because the things we do are meant to come from our place in His kingdom. We live there now – we never have to leave. What’s more, we take His kingdom with US wherever we go! It all depends on the way we look at what was said, and our personal decisions to obey Him. And the Holy Spirit helps us with that too! I think we’ve been looking at many scriptures from a negative reinforcement point of view – instead of seeing these things as a glorious statement of our new position. 

120 people were transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit when the Holy Spirit came upon them, then they went on to live IN and FROM, God’s Kingdom. Their lives were now framed by it, and it occupied their thoughts, their actions. Everything they did was with God’s kingdom in mind. “Silver and gold have I none but such as I HAVE give I Thee.” (Acts 3:6) Peter was already living in that kingdom – so he could give the things of God’s kingdom away! All disciples now had it, and they took His kingdom wherever they went. Jesus Himself said: ‘…the Kingdom of God is among you.’ His kingdom is motivated and supervised by the Holy Spirit. 

What I want to say today is that we need to move away from the kind of thinking that God’s Kingdom is unavailable to us, unless we meet certain requirements. Jesus did that for us. So now we use our faith to live in the reality that God’s Kingdom is already here. It’s already IN you, and me. When we were born again, we left the kingdoms of this world behind, now we are in His kingdom seeking more and more of it. We’ve been taken out of the kingdom of darkness and transferred  into the Kingdom of His marvellous light. 

However a negative bias on any number of verses can change the way we apply them. What I’m talking about means we choose to walk away from vague possibilities into reality – we need to do whatever we can to use our faith. This is why using our power in His kingdom to try to get what WE want is a travesty! Aim at living in His kingdom where love prevails.

Most of us already have so much information about His kingdom, but just like the sensational headlines in the news, we are limited by another agenda. That agenda says, “I can’t change.” The question I want to ask today is: ‘Then why do we have the Epistles in our bible, if we can’t be changed, here and now. Why did Jesus preach change if it was unavailable until we die?’ Like Paul I want to say, “Not that I have l already attained this, but I press on toward the mark..” (Philippians 3:12) Our aims matter. When we surrender them to despair, or destruction we will be the losers.

Some things may seem to be difficult to us, but they are definitely not unattainable. “…Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26) Let’s learn to live from God’s kingdom. What does He say? What does He want from you and I right here, right now? We need to choose to move house and live our lives, from His kingdom, and see for ourselves what that looks like in real life. It’s all in the book. Bye. 👋

P 3472 Don’t leave Him out – He wants in!

/ DVH

Lately it seems to me that we have become so busy creating things ourselves and making money, that we have forgotten the simple pleasure of enjoying everything the Lord has made. Ambition is often applauded in today’s world, but I think contentment is far more valuable than that or money. You have to learn how to be content – Paul tells us that. And at the bottom of a lot of sin today is the sad state of … deliberately leaving God out. Even Christians. We relegate the Lord to Sunday, and a ‘quiet’ time, but true contentment comes from knowing Who is in charge here – every moment, every single day. 

It is important to give the Lord His place, and if we don’t, then repentance is the best way back. Sometimes the pride of life overtakes us, and the idea that our best is not ‘good’ enough, can be difficult to swallow. But the truth is, unless we totally lean our lives, unreservedly, unashamedly and wholly on what Jesus Christ did for us — we are wasting all our energy and passion. It becomes incredibly easy to repent when you realise you haven’t just done wrong – you ARE wrong!  As Christians we do our best to avoid visible sins, and that can fool us into thinking we are getting things right – those thoughts start us on a downward spiral into works and pride. Gratitude is the best attitude. And genuine repentance, keeps us under the blood of Jesus.

In this life, we need the Lord … every single second of every single day. I am not intimidated by that thought, it blesses me. God knows the way I should go, I can trust Him. We are so fortunate to know Him. Blessings are not a sign of His approval, they occur simply because He is a generous Father and He loves to give.

The bible says so “ … so that you may [show yourselves to] be the children of your Father who is in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on those who are evil and on those who are good, and makes the rain fall on the righteous [those who are morally upright] and the unrighteous [the unrepentant, those who oppose Him].” Matthew 5:45. 

God is good to everyone! We are His ONLY because of what Jesus did. If you are far from Him, and still breathing, then it is never too late to turn around and go home to your Heavenly Father. Jesus is a Saviour – He saved us from ourselves and our idea of what is right and wrong. It is time for every single one of His children to come home. It doesn’t matter how much dirt you’ve accumulated along the way – Jesus’ blood washes all of us clean.

Repent. Fix whatever you can, but come home. Your Father is waiting at the gate, looking down that road you ran off on. He has prepared a celebratory garment for you to wear and He wants to throw a huge party —- simply because you are irreplaceable to Him. Ask Jesus and the Holy Spirit to help you leave behind the pigpens of this world, and go home. The Lord wants to help you, you just need to ask … and then start taking faith steps.

We don’t have the power within us, without His help, to overcome our passions, proclivities and preferences. Like Adam and Eve we can easily be deceived by satan, and self-deceived into thinking that the Lord approves of what we are doing, or have done. Repentance means turning around and going the other way. That’s hard. It takes a huge effort to shake off the dirt of this world, because it thinks self-promotion and self-importance are the pinnacle of this life. People’s idea of right and wrong changes with political climates and popularity.

The church has made a god in her own image when she moved away from what the bible says, into popular opinion. Human beings have fooled themselves, believing that what we know today, and have experienced, goes far beyond what God planned when He wrote the bible. We think we are bigger than God Himself … until something goes wrong and we can’t fix it!  What we are saying is this: Almighty God is old-fashioned, we are now smarter than He is, and we know more than He does. That is blatantly untrue …when we are dead and gone we will be forgotten — but His Word remains forever.

We’ve all been saved by the Grace Jesus Christ extended to each one of us, when we didn’t even know, or care that He did it! All WE could do, was acknowledge what He had already done. My prayer for all of us is that every single day is filled to overflowing with the knowledge that:  you have never been more loved than you are right here right now.. 

Never ever doubt that you will be joyfully received by God. However the past needs to become the past. We are now living in a time of Grace, and Almighty God has postponed judgment in the hope that all of us who need to do it, will turn around and come back home. Those who have known Him and those who have not, yet. Grace does not smile on our faults, it has covered them with the most expensive substance known to mankind… Jesus Christ’s BLOOD! Please don’t leave the Lord out of your life, He wants to be IN everything. Bye.👋.

“Beware that no one distracts you or intimidates you in their attempt to lead you away from Christ’s fullness by pretending to be full of wisdom when they’re filled with endless arguments of human logic. For they operate with humanistic and clouded judgments based on the mindset of this world system, and not the anointed truths of the Anointed One. For He is the complete fullness of deity living in human form. And our own completeness is now found in Him. We are completely filled with God as Christ’s fullness overflows within us. He is the Head of every kingdom and authority in the universe!” Colossians 2:8-10 TPT.

P 3471 God’s welcome sign is always OUT.

/ DVH

“You can pass through His open gates with the password of praise. Come right into His Presence with thanksgiving. Come bring your thank offering to Him and affectionately bless His beautiful Name! For YAHWEH is always good and ready to receive you. He’s so loving that it will amaze you— so kind that it will astound you! And He is famous for His faithfulness toward all. Everyone knows our God can be trusted, for He keeps His promises to every generation!” Psalm 100:4-5 TPT.

Version 2: “Shout with joy before the Lord, O earth! Obey Him gladly; come before Him, singing with joy. Try to realize what this means—the Lord is God! He made us—we are His people, the sheep of His pasture. Go through His open gates with great thanksgiving; enter His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and bless His Name. For the Lord is always good. He is always loving and kind, and His faithfulness goes on and on to each succeeding generation.” Psalm 100: 4-5 TLB.

I’ve put two versions of this Psalm up today because it is  helpful to read verses in different versions. It helps clarify the Lord’s meaning. Meanwhile, I think the language in the Passion Translation is so welcoming and positive, who wouldn’t want to be that person? Our biggest mistake when we read the bible is to be swamped by the words the writer used. That can lead to skimming over any old-fashioned terminology that we don’t quite understand. In both versions of this Psalm, the theme is the same – as we praise and give thanks, the Lord’s gates open wide!

However, let’s not also deify the words, I think that would be a mistake. The point of the words is the Subject — Almighty God Himself! Words are simply the vehicles that open our eyes to Who He is and how much He loves us. The Holy Spirit is the One Who takes those words and makes them pertinent to each one of us, day by day. He gives us the Lord’s Grace to act on them, and uses them to challenge, and encourage us. We have access to the glory of God Himself as we meditate on and chew over what He says to us from day by day.

The encouragement and confidence we get in return for our spontaneously joyful attitudes, can become the very thing that sustains us during our mostly ordinary days. Especially as we pause in His Presence, and allow His words to sink in. This is what is meant to happen every single time we pick up the bible. Reading His Word is like going to our Father’s house to thank, praise and worship Him for all He has done for us. Studying the bible is not a chore when you see it from the point of view of messages from the Lord’s heart to ours. “God wants to see ME, His doors fly open when He hears MY praise.” Forget the worship leader with the great voice and skills – He loves your singing, gratitude and love toward Him. He is, when all is said and done — a loving FATHER, proud of His kids.

As I read this Psalm today, the thing that blessed my heart was the realisation that when I spend time with Him, I am never an interruption, or an afterthought or even unknown. He won’t ever say to the Holy Spirit … what’s-her-name again? 😊 The thing about any kind of praise and thanksgiving is that it aligns my heart with what is already going on in heaven. I am joining in with something far bigger than myself! These words may have been written by a man, but it is the Holy Spirit speaking, that’s why this person chose to remain anonymous. The Speaker wants us to see Almighty God, not just their words. 

All of us can tune into our Father’s heartbeat immediately, especially when we make those two things – thanksgiving and praise – our starting place. No matter what else is going on in our lives or how affected by circumstances we may be, those gates and our own personal love and reverence for the Lord, opens our heart when we praise and thank Him for loving us. We know that we are always welcome at His house because the bible tells us so, over and over again. He loves to see us! It is easy to praise and thank the Lord as we discover how He feels about His children. Here’s a word of advice, don’t just read to find information or instruction, ask the Holy Spirit to help you find His heart!

Heaven is the most important place in this world or any other, and when you and I remember His goodness to us and enter His courts to enjoy His Grace, Mercy and love – we are transformed by what we receive there. Praise and thanksgiving are incredibly easy when you get rid of entitlement. Suddenly everything the Lord does for us, becomes an undeserved gift. A heart of gratitude can sustain us through so many difficult circumstances. Like the Psalmist says: “We need to be prepared to be amazed by His responses.” 

Our God is not removed from humanity, that’s why Jesus came here, to illustrate by His life and death the lengths our Heavenly Father went to, so He could have all of mankind for His own people. This is yet another place to pause and give praise and thanks. The good news today is:  “YOU ARE ALWAYS WELCOME AT MY HOUSE. You can give your praise and thanksgiving to Me, in person, in My Presence! You will find I am always so happy to see you.” Amen. Bye.👋.

P 3469 What a Saviour!    

/ DVH

“In many separate revelations [each of which set forth a portion of the Truth] and in different ways God spoke of old to [our] forefathers in and by the prophets, [But] in the last of these days He has spoken to us in [the person of a] Son, Whom He appointed Heir and lawful Owner of all things, also by and through Whom He created the worlds and the reaches of space and the ages of time [He made, produced, built, operated, and arranged them in order]. He (Jesus) is the sole expression of the glory of God [the Light-being, the out-raying or radiance of the divine], and He is the perfect imprint and very image of [God’s] nature, upholding and maintaining and guiding and propelling the universe by His mighty word of power. When He had by offering Himself accomplished our cleansing of sins and riddance of guilt, He sat down at the right hand of the divine Majesty on high, …” Hebrews 1:1-3. Amplified Bible.  “For the rule and authority over all things has been given to Christ by His Father; except, of course, Christ does not rule over the Father Himself, Who gave Him this power to rule.” 1 Corinthians 15:27. 

Like I’ve said many times before, God’s ways are not our ways. The Lord has been revealing Himself constantly for over 2,000 years, through His various servants, but now, on our side of Jesus’ history … He has chosen to reveal Himself through His own dear Son, Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus came here and showed us what was in our Father’s heart toward mankind. So when we see Christ being kind to sinners, that’s God Himself doing it through His Son. That’s Almighty God healing the sick, delivering people from evil … He’s doing it, in Person.

The bible says something so extraordinary in these verses. Jesus Christ Himself ‘is the sole expression of the glory of God [the Light-being, the out-raying or radiance of the divine], and He is the perfect imprint and very image of [God’s] nature, upholding and maintaining and guiding and propelling the universe by His mighty word of power.’ Here’s my translation of all those words, if we want to know what Almighty God is like then look at His Son … Jesus came here to show us what our Father is like. The Holy Spirit’s power guided Him, sustained Him, held Him up, and Jesus is now our example.

God’s Word is so powerful it makes sure the earth doesn’t bump into anything, as we rotate our way through the days, years and seasons. Almighty God loves this planet, and the people in it – He called all of it good. You know, if God had fingerprints, they would be the same as Jesus’ fingerprints, They are so close to each other. We don’t understand Oneness, we think it’s just about agreeing. Actually, it is hearts blended and beating together so completely they have exactly the same purpose. That purpose is for our benefit. We need to get some of this kind of thinking out of our heads, and into our hearts. We are so loved – all that He did for us shows us that.

If we really understood the things we say we believe, inside, where it counts, we would ACT differently. Nobody would have to tell us what is good and bad, because the same Spirit that was in Jesus, would be guiding us from the inside. We definitely don’t want the Holy Spirit to quietly leave … if He leaves us it will be devastating. We will be left to our own devices … and that is not good! Let’s stop pretending to be what we’ve already been given and live this life differently because of what Jesus did. He did these things before we were born!

The same God Who sent Jesus here to help us, is now IN us. We give Him our lives and He is now the occupying Owner. We have been freely given the power to choose  —  so let’s choose to do whatever He asks us to do, simply because our relationship with Him is so valuable we can’t bear to walk away from, or without Him. That’s passion. Our constant prayer now, is for the Lord to stay with us and help us to walk in total fellowship with Him. I pray I will never be too busy to care about what Jesus thinks, because He is all I want to think about!

Jesus didn’t forget one thing that was necessary to reconcile us with God. He did it ALL – and all means all! His eyes are on you and I even in these times, wherever we are, despite all the ruckus going on around us. He is loyal to mankind. But the question is … are we loyal to Him? Father God is not distant, or far away from us. He deliberately came here, as a man, and lived the same kind of life we are living, so we can have SomeOne we can see, and follow.

People follow Marvel/DC comics and their movies with far less incentive! They also follow pop groups, sporting heroes, and music stars — and some of those people have such filth coming out of their mouths their momma should have washed their mouths out with soap … many, MANY times! Jesus told us: “By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles?” Don’t be surprised if you choose to eat bad fruit and end up with a tummy ache! These people are blind guides …trying to sell us something. We can end up in ditch.

“But we are certainly not those who are held back by fear and perish; we are among those who have faith and experience true life!” (Right here, right now!) Hebrews 10:39 TPT. How can that be? He did the work for us, purely for LOVE.  Love Himself will lead us into the Ways of Love! There is no room for fear anymore, even if we step out of love – we can repent and go right back in again – because His sacrifice has made our new life possible. What a Saviour! Bye. 👋.

P 3467 Our Joy needs to break out.

/ DVH

“Celebrate with praises the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has shown us His extravagant mercy. For His fountain of mercy has given us a new life—we are reborn to experience a living, energetic hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. We are reborn into a perfect inheritance that can never perish, never be defiled, and never diminish. It is promised and preserved forever in the heavenly realm for you! 

Through our faith, the mighty power of God constantly guards us until our full salvation is ready to be revealed in the last time. May the thought of this cause you to jump for joy, even though lately you’ve had to put up with the grief of many trials. But these only reveal the sterling core of your faith, which is far more valuable than gold that perishes, for even gold is refined by fire. Your authentic faith will result in even more praise, glory, and honour when Jesus the Anointed One is revealed.” 1 Peter 1:3-7 TPT.

Did you see the bit at the beginning that says ‘celebrate?’ when I read that, I do it. Why? Am I pushed along by some sort obligation? NO! It’s an opportunity, not an obligation. I have just been reminded of how wonderful our Heavenly Father is, and how much He has done, and He will do, and is doing, right now in my life … and yours! That’s a really big reason to cheer wouldn’t you think? When I am in public I cheer inside. My “Yaaaaaaay Jesus,” can get a bit loud and I would probably scare other people. People find it hard to feel loved when they are scared. 

Did you get the bit where it says that His mercy is a fountain? That’s not a trickle, or a few squirts here and there, a fountain shoots water high up into the sky, and all over itself. It splashes anybody walking near it. Fountains remind me of freedom. There is nothing like running, leaping, flowing and bubbling water to illustrate that point. At the same time our hope isn’t just laying around, lethargically. No, our hope has energy it, moves  and gathers momentum. It is ALIVE. Well, of course it’s alive! JESUS CHRIST IS ALIVE forevermore and He is our living hope. Hallelujah!

The Holy Spirit says that… “We are reborn into a perfect inheritance that can never perish, never be defiled, and never diminish. It is promised and preserved forever in the heavenly realm for you!” If you ain’t smiling by now you are officially DEAD. Peter is telling us that our God is our constant guardian, so nothing can get into my life, that He and I can’t deal with. I hold fast to that. OK. Are you ready now? We just got to the jumping bit. Gird up your girdle Gertie … the Bride of Christ is going to get happy.

The whole world around us has been waiting for this … “For [even the whole] creation (all nature) waits expectantly and longs earnestly for God’s sons to be made known [waits for the revealing, the disclosing of their sonship].” Romans 8:19. The people around you are waiting for you to stand up and be His kid! We can sit about feeling sad because we don’t have this or that, or choose to get bogged down in the things that we haven’t done that we ought to have done … etc. Repent and repair stuff! And then we can go back to cheering and jumping, because Jesus took all our sins on Himself, voluntarily.

I like the way the bible acknowledges that trials do happen, that tells us they are normal, and we can be temporarily held by them. But there is a plus, the bible also reminds us that these times reveal how our faith is currently doing in spite of the strains and stresses. Our faith is subject to the difficulties of this world, just like everyone else on the planet — whether they-know-Jesus-or-not!

The idea that we are supposed to never have difficulties, or, if we have them, then somehow God is mad at us … is unscriptural. Jesus said:  “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33. Trouble is normal. It’s not the yardstick – but it is normal. The point of trials is to have PEACE in the middle of them … not just avoid them, escape from them, or pretend they don’t exist. It is always helpful to know the point!

These trials expose how our faith is doing, because our faith  is incredibly valuable to Almighty God. When we have faith we are choosing to reveal Him in a faithless world. Even more importantly our faith gives our Heavenly Father, God, the glory He deserves. Our faith guards and progressively reveals our full salvation, which is now, and … also … not yet. Our living faith, the faith that has been revealed by troubles and trials, gives the Lord glory, honour and praise, and we have to celebrate what we have been given. And look at that … we have arrived back where we started. We started with celebration and expanded into eternal glory and honour for the Trinity.

One day we will totally understand what we have been freely given and what a party we will have! Some people think about heaven as a quiet peaceful place, but maybe that is simply because they need a lot of peace and quiet down here… However these verses in Peter indicate that there might be also be a whole lot of jumping and shouting going on as well. The good news is, we won’t get tired of doing it, because every time the Spirit of God turns and moves, there will be a fresh revelation of the Father’s love and grace toward us all. “Divine revelation is dynamic not static.”  

All of this and far more, is ours. I think it’s time for joy to break out in our hearts and lives, simply because … while we were all sinners … He saved us.  We can have joy because He has us and we have Him, forever. Bye.👋. 

P 3466 Our new life is an adventure.

/ DVH

Spending time with the Lord can quite easily become just a habit. It is a good habit … BUT… the reality is, I don’t choose to spend time with my husband out of habit. I love him, and I enjoy his company, plus I also totally appreciate the way he looks at this life. We need to see our Heavenly Father and think of Him that way too, because Jesus Himself instructed us to call Him “our Father” in Matthew 6:9-13, and Luke 11:2-4. You can’t do better than that! He dearly loves each one of us. What more can we ask for?

In Genesis it accentuates that ‘God Himself is our shield and great reward.’ So let’s think about a shield and what it does. First of all it means the Lord is between us and trouble. Nobody should hold a shield at arm’s length, away from their body, and expect it to protect them! A shield is meant to cover your whole body, all the vital parts, Father God wants and needs to be that close to us. Over in Ephesians 6:16 it explains what the shield it is for. “In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” We put out all kinds of fires in our lives as we choose to hold up our faith-shield of His love for us.

Our faith in His Word and His goodness will always be our shield. We can’t manage this new life of ours without it, so trying  to live any other way is folly. I’m a literalist … When God tells me I am safe behind the shield He gave me … I believe Him. What He says, in His book, is my point of faith. That is based on the fact that I know our God does not lie. The things that are sent by the enemy to maim or kill us, need to crash into this shield, before they ever get near to us.

Behind us and around us stand our brothers and sisters. When we are together we are a tightly knit army. We all have a God-given shield, along with other defensive and protective things, also listed in Ephesians 6, these things are designed to keep us safe and active. I’m not big on this thing means that … blah blah blah. I like to take the Lord God at His Word. I believe the bible was written for dumb people – and I know I ARE one.

“After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” Genesis 15:1 NKJV. “My God is my protection and with Him I am safe.” Psalm 18:2. It seems to me that we have a quorum – here are a whole lot of verses which say that Father God’s desire is to protect me, the Holy Spirit and the Lord Jesus agree with Him, and I join in with “YES!” Done deal.

“Lord, in my place of weakness and need, I ask again: Will You come and help me? I know I’m always in Your thoughts. You are my true Saviour and hero, so don’t delay to deliver me now, for You are my God.” Psalms 40:17 TPT. Amen. Often our basest desire is to protect ourselves from other people’s barbs, and perhaps that kind of response has been cultivated from our own personal experiences. You know, other people don’t always mean to poke you in the ribs with a dagger, maybe you stumbled and fell on it by mistake, and you have misunderstood their motivation. Good place to stop and think.

Let’s err on the side of caution, and give our brothers and sisters in Christ the benefit of the doubt. If we don’t learn to do that, or practise forgiving even the deliberate jabs we can snidely aim at each other — then we will become an army of ONE. Father God will still be my protection –  but when we act like cranky numpties and get mad at the brethren – we lose the protection on each side of us, in the front and at the rear. An arrow can kill you just as dead from the side or behind. Ya might want to think on that too for a bit. It could be a good time to mend some bridges.

Just like knowing my husband has been a huge reward in my life, so knowing Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, climbs way off the charts. Knowing our Heavenly Father gives me access to all kinds of things I can never ever know on my own, but now I have His book, revealing Who He is to me. This book features a different perspective that changes depending on my viewing angle and circumstances.

The bible is like a prism, one way we see red, another blue, the colours are inexhaustible and so are the possibilities. He is our precious Helper, He knows exactly what I need to see when I am reading it. And He will teach us and help us translate what we read into comfort, instructions, deeper meanings and application for ME – just because I asked Him to help me. I read my bible believing He wants to speak to me!

Father God Himself will always be our greatest reward, so now we have daily access to an abundant love that does not depend on our actions. SomeBody Else freely and gladly paid for us to have this freedom, plus our ongoing knowledge of His kind of love, depends on our willingness to interact with Him. Because my sin before Him is forgiven and forgotten, I can relate freely, honestly without fear of rejection – in His eyes that is a done deal. Father God is my shield, shelter, my great reward, my ability to see further than I can with my own eyes. 

He is the supplier of everything I will ever need. This life is an adventure with Almighty God, you never ever know what He will do next. Take the time to read the Old Testament, if you happen to need proof. Bye.👋.