Angel

P 3281 Doors an windows.

/ DVH

Whenever we can see our loving Heavenly Father at work, it could be a door, OR a window! What do I mean by that? A door opens life up to new possibilities for His plans in your own life – you can walk through it into a new place. A window shows you possibilities, but they are outside your reach. You can see stuff, but only from a distance. One creates action, the other can create despair and frustration… unless you prayerfully use what you see out of the window, to send you to the open door! An open door is not enough – you need the leading of the Holy Spirit and inner peace.

Christians talk about this stuff a lot. They often say that God has opened ‘a door’ for them to do such and such. Here’s what happened to Paul a couple of times … 2 Corinthians 2:12-14: “Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me, I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said goodbye to them and went on to Macedonia.” Yet in 1 Corinthians 16:8&9. “But I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost. For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries.” 

Don’t you just love it? Paul goes to Troas and finds ‘an open door’ but he had no peace.  Plus Titus, his companion in the Lord, wasn’t there. This next scripture from Acts, shows us what happened after that. You and I can see an open door, many times in our Christian lives but, the question to ask is this: is it OUR door, or is it simply a window showing us possibilities. The verse in first Corinthians explains something powerful, something we need to know. A door was open at Ephesus at another time too, and Paul went through it, yet he lingered there, despite the fact that there were many adversaries!

What does that teach us? Here’s my potted version … adverse situations and people don’t mean the door you want to go through is shut! You might want to think on that. Many a fine missionary has run into all kinds of adversity and adversaries, but that did not daunt them. They stayed true to their heavenly calling. The leading of the Holy Spirit is extremely important whenever we want to obey the Lord by “going out into all the world to preach the gospel.” And no peace is a sign that you are there all by yourself. Peace is our umpire! We will end up side-lined in the sin bin if we ignore the umpire! 

Over to Acts 16:6-12 it says: “And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them …” 

Do you see that? It was the right calling —- wrong place —- God redirected Paul through a vision. It seems to me that he saw something through a window, and then the Lord helped him find the right door! Father God is so merciful, He gave Paul that vision to help him go in the right direction. If you go somewhere for Jesus because you believe He called you to go — then first of all, like Paul, take a partner who has the same heart as you! Remember, in 2nd Corinthians Paul didn’t find Titus so he moved on, plus He had no peace. That’s because God wanted him elsewhere and Troas was not the place. 

If we read about this situation in Acts, we can see that the Holy Spirit Himself forbad them to speak in Asia. We simply must learn to follow the Holy Spirit, He will guide us. People have lost their faith doing something God Himself never called them to do. They went simply because there was an open door. Not every open door belongs to us. Prayerfully make sure it is your door! 

Because we are His — Almighty God controls our opportunities. Jesus Himself said this in the book of Revelation 3:7,8: “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the Holy One, the True One, Who has the key of David, Who opens and no one will shut, Who shuts and no one opens.” ‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept My word and have not denied My name.”

Ps did you notice that this church had little power? Having little power does not mean your church is a failure or you have missed it! Keep preaching the gospel and don’t lose your hopes or dreams of seeing the dead raised and the sick healed, keep them. Keep them alive by keeping in the Word. Pray for everyone who needs it… then leave the results to Him. All of those things are promised to people who believe and act on what He says, using His Name. My advice is to keep moving and acting on the Word of God, and always make Jesus the centre of what you do. Even if you went the wrong way – He has another plan for you.

God promises us that if He shuts a door no one can open it, and when He opens one then watch out!  Just because you can see something, that does not mean it is your responsibility – even Paul had to learn to listen carefully to the Holy Spirit and obey Him. The bible tells us that we are to be as wise as serpents and gentle as doves, so please don’t let someone else’s rapidly growing church bring you down from where God put you. Praise God for their increase instead! Numbers don’t matter to the Lord, Jesus started out with only 12 men.

Like I said at the beginning of this blog, prayerfully check to see if what is in front of you is a door or a window. Make sure you wait on the Holy Spirit so you can spot the difference. You can have full confidence based on the book of Revelation that if it is a door God has opened in front of you, no man can shut it. Amen! Bye. 👋

P 3109 Is failure fatal?

/ DVH

Our Heavenly Father will make the wrong way, or even a some kind of upside-down way—into the right way– when our only desire is to please and obey Him! Just remember to turn around whenever, and wherever, necessary and own your own sinful attitudes and repent. That means doing more than saying sorry. OK? Reparation, there’s a word. Back to the point: we can get so scared by the thought that we will get whatever He asks us to do wrong, that we are paralysed into doing nothing.This attitude makes Almighty God too small. Our faith needs to be firmly fixed on what Christ did for us, as well as His goodness, not on our own ability. 

Lately I have been rereading Acts again and I have been so impacted by the way Paul behaved as he went from place to place.There was no sign of the kind of paralysis that comes with fear in Paul. Not only that, but in one of the many shipwrecks he endured, his behaviour and faith in God influenced the unsaved sailors and soldiers around him. Paul wasn’t preaching BTW, he was just living out his life before the Lord, and the other people on that sinking ship! He simply shared with his fellow travellers what God told Him. 

Acts 27. 33-38, 44: “Just before dawn Paul urged them all to eat. “For the last fourteen days,” he said, “you have been in constant suspense and have gone without food—you haven’t eaten anything. Now I urge you to take some food. You need it to survive. Not one of you will lose a single hair from his head.” After he said this, he took some bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all. Then he broke it and began to eat. They were all encouraged and ate some food themselves. Altogether there were 276 of us on board. When they had eaten as much as they wanted, they lightened the ship by throwing the grain into the sea… … But the centurion wanted to spare Paul’s life and kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land.The rest were to get there on planks or on other pieces of the ship. In this way everyone reached land safely.”

Did you get that? I had to read it twice. Paul suggested they stop to eat as the boat was breaking up and sinking!  Does that make sense to you? Hey! I thought long and hard about this, and I think I would have thrown the grain overboard first, to lighten the load. Right?? Or maybe grabbed the nearest plank and hung on to it! Everyone had prayed for land, in the midst of a terrible storm, and they found land and then …the entire ship stops to EAT?Why? Because God said so, that’s why. And He knows what we need more than we do. He told Paul through an angel that nobody would be lost if they just followed His instructions.

Now let’s do a quick recap of the oddball things I remember from the bible. I know I rabbit on regularly about Gideon, but honestly … !! That outcome could never have been predicted. God Himself threw confusion into the multitude of Midianites’ camp and they killed each other? Weird right? I mean who’d’ve thunk it? Almighty God did, that’s Who. Who would think you could find honey inside a lion’s carcass? Our Wonderful God — He’s the boss of bees. What about Paul, who heard,“Go to the Gentiles!” Boy was that not politically correct!

Let’s take Peter who was innocently praying by himself, when God interrupted his prayers with a vision. Peter’s thought bubble: “Hey that’s not kosher, I’m not allowed to eat a camel sandwich!”  Then this man of God took note of what God said and acted on it. Popular is not a kingdom word … influence is.

Here’s another one. Imagine this – a local prophet is told to sleep for one year on one side and then the next year on the other side. Why? Jeremiah was an illustration of what was to come. That’s just one of the many many highly unusual things God asked this man to do. What about Hosea? Go marry a prostitute?? That guy would have rushed off to have had his ears cleaned out. How about Noah? Build an ARK? What’s an ark??There were no BIG boats. yet this man built that ark with seven other people helping him. It took 120 years and he did a whole lot of waiting on God, while he was being obedient. Weird can be normal in His kingdom! We can be so afraid of getting it wrong, we don’t do anything.

We think we can’t possibly go and see Mrs Kerfoops next door who is dying from cancer. Hey – here’s a good thought to bear in mind — when the ride is over most people look for the exit!! Our God is so wonderful, He does not care if people are saved for 5 seconds or 50 years! He loves them all and He wants them to be with Him. So, just pull up your grown-up pants, go to see Mrs Kerfoops and tell her Jesus loves her. If she tells you that she doesn’t believe in all that stuff, blah blah blah, and you feel like a goose for all that effort and angst …remember, even if you get it wrong – when our motivation is to please Him and be obedient, He can use that faith for His glory.

Failure is not fatal – Jesus is a Redeemer by nature. However! failure is not fun, or a great story you can tell everyone afterward. Just remember … doing something beats doing nothing.The results are always up to Him. Maybe Mrs Kerfoops’ last thoughts are about what you said to her, or … maybe not. Step into the Favour of God – not for personal gain, but for service. Somewhere, somehow, the church has lost a lot of boldness. WE WANT IT BACK, please Lord. Amen. Bye. 👋

P 3042 The real and the unreal.

/ DVH

As Christians we dare not live our lives in religion. We have been reborn to live permanently in the reality of Jesus’ death and resurrection – together with all He died to give us. This attitude needs to be present, daily. The Holy Spirit will correct us with His eye on us, then we pray and then we yield. Living with a metaphor – a concept, a mere picture of the truth – means that we will find our metaphorical faith is tested a whole lot, because it does not have its roots in the reality of what Jesus already did!

At the same time, we cannot afford to have untested faith. Otherwise, how will we know whether what we believe is real or a theory? When tests come, and they will!…The first thing to do is check with Him that He is giving us an opportunity to practise what we preach. Then we prayerfully accept the Holy Spirit’s guidance and help, and go forward into doing or saying whatever it is from His point of view. If I haven’t got a clue – I make use of His reference book – the bible.

Cultivating a quiet spirit within, is essential. It can be difficult, but it is not impossible. I know the world around us is like a brass band at full volume, but living in the awareness of the stillness of His Presence will help us triumph over everything else that comes our way. Jesus lived this way – He was peaceful inside despite the outside circumstances. The difference between the real and the unreal, is easily diagnosed by its fruit – agitation or acceptance.

Likewise, giving up on people just because they are not responding to us the way we want them to, is self-centred. You and I don’t have the only way – Jesus Himself is the Way! What we need in awkward moments, is a word of knowledge, or a word of wisdom, or a revelation from our King about how we interact with that person. Here’s a helpful hint:  spiritual things don’t always come with a huge angel and a trumpet! His Voice inside us is so discreet, so gentle, we can miss it.  But there is a way to check out your own hearing— love knows how to be quiet and let the other person speak. Many times we are actually dealing with our own fears and insecurities and projecting them onto someone else. 

God loves them.Ask yourself: ‘why would I annoy or hurt someone GOD loves and expect it will be alright?’  He loves the world, remember? Personally, I would not like to have to explain to the Lord, why I thought brow-beating somebody else was a good plan. Jesus didn’t do it, and neither should we. Our aim is to respond with Grace, Love, Kindness and Peace, and those precious things are enough to keep us busy! Positive things can create teachable moments.

In John 20:11-18, it says:“Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put Him.” At this,she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking He was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have put Him, and I will get Him. Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward Him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!”

Human beings can be so distracted and disturbed by our current circumstances, that we miss Him when He speaks to us  As you can see, from this scripture, Mary was absolutely overwhelmed by grief, and consequently she was unable to see the Lord when He was right in front of her! It is good to ask the Holy Spirit to keep us alert to whatever the Lord Jesus wants to say to us.  

The thing about Mary in this scripture, is that her faith was at an all-time low, and she didn’t expect to see Jesus again. He was dead and gone in her mind. And if He wasn’t in the tomb, then where could He possibly be? The unreality of the situation channelled her thoughts in a specific direction — to a human answer. Somebody must have done the unthinkable and stolen His body!

If I get bewildered or I am full of despair, then I stop and I refuse to move. After that I go back to the beginning and start to pray all over again. But if my thoughts are still as clear as mud, then I put everything down at His feet, and ask the Holy Spirit to take care of it – until I am led, by Him, back into clarity again. Hearing from God is our birthright, it is not a test. It takes faith, but every single one of us has been given the ability to hear our Shepherd. After all, we are His sheep, the people of His pasture!  

Let’s not underestimate the value of PAUSING. Pausing gives me a chance to catch up with what He is doing. It steadies my personal human reaction, and takes me into His space – where there is no panic, no timetables … only Him. Our faith has been carefully designed, by the Holy Spirit, to be active and real, every single day. If we find we are mistaken, then we need to prayerfully replace the unreal with the real. Bye. 🙏

P 2838 Our God is extraordinary in His devotion to us.

/ DVH

Around 2,000 years ago something incredible happened… Almighty God, did something astonishing – He came here personally, and lived among us. The One Who had walked and talked in the garden with Adam and Eve and led Abram to a new land; and talked to Moses from a burning bush – chose to live here, with people. Murderous ones, thieving ones, mean ones, nice ones, lost ones, promiscuous ones, as well as special…people!  Even way back then, the list of people who followed Him — or sadly, ignored Him — started to grow.

This very same incredible God then sent an angel to an ordinary girl who was about to be married. Almighty God sowed His eternal seed into the obedient heart of an honest, ordinary young woman. And that’s when the very first In Vitro-fertilisation occurred! (And WE think WE are so clever!)

The first point I want to make today is that when Mary was asked by God to give birth to His Son .. She said ‘YES’ — immediately. She said… “….I am the Lord’s servant, and I am willing to do whatever He wants. May everything you said come true.” And then the angel disappeared.” Luke 1:38. Right there, in her declaration, we can see something that was perfectly illustrated by Mary’s obedience and humility — the Wonders of God’s Love found a vehicle He could inhabit, for nine months, so He could be with humanity in PERSON. Jesus Christ walked, talked, slept, ate and was vulnerable in our midst.

He did that so humanity could become His people, back then – and now He with US – day by day. You know, God is still looking for a people who will say what Mary said: “Yes. Do with me whatever You want.” I would like to pray that He will be given free reign in all our lives. Amen! Imagine what that would look like! A people totally devoted to Him. But, back then in history, His own people progressively drove Him away. Well, not you and me exactly … but I think we would have if we had been there! 

Man’s greatest sin has always been rejecting the God Who created us in the first place! The people in the bible were just as human as we are, and most of them wanted nothing whatsoever to do with a God of such passion and purpose. They wanted a god they could manage – a god they could tell what to do. Humanity wanted a token god, someone who would judge between other people’s wrong and right actions, and approve of the one who was right – EG:… ME! And severely punish the other person who is quite obviously wrong: YOU! Especially if we don’t like each other, and we have a list of good reasons that have been carefully cultivated. 

We wanted SomeOne who would bestow lavish gifts on us, and make us feel good about ourselves. So eventually, we thought hard, and came up with a god that we made up, to worship at Christmas. He looks a lot like that overly rotund guy who appears everywhere, and he has a long white beard, and a bright red fur-laden suit, and a red hat. He was invented by clever men to steal away real faith from our kids – and cleverly introduce disappointment at the same time. As well as successfully sell stuff!

Unfortunately, the truth is that somebody manufactured this apple-cheeked person for marketing purposes! This jolly permissive person doesn’t intrude on the way we live at all. He conveniently only appears once a year – and big plus! -he  doesn’t want anything from us … except that we worship mammon, wherever and whenever we can! The god of this world disguised in bright red, who wants to buy our affection by giving us everything we want. Yeah, that one! I’m not a santa fan if you didn’t guess it already.

My second point is this: we rejected Almighty God and eventually killed Him … but because He is the only wise God, our Saviour, He made His death a vehicle that we can personally choose to embrace. We can be totally restored, back into fellowship with Him.  Just like Mary, we too can have – God on the inside. You know, It would have been so easy for this innocent girl to think that huge angel was a dream or the result of a fish pizza! She stood to lose a lot of credibility by her obedience – that answer changed her whole life. Who says obedience isn’t costly?! But the very Presence of God Himself inside her womb, overtook her fears and she obeyed – despite the personal cost. 

Our God also loves to give His people gifts. He gave us the greatest gift of all time when He sent His Son here, to earth to die for us.  But He knows that anybody can be robbed and ruined by indulging their appetites – so the gifts He gives us are not just for the person who receives them– they are for others. Our Heavenly Father is, and always has been, EXTRAORDINARY in His devotion to us all. Praise Him! 🙌

P 2832 Get ready to be stretched.

/ DVH

Years ago, a young fellow who had no family and would have been all alone for Christmas, joined us for Christmas lunch.  And when he started in on his third helping of a heaped plate, we started to suspect something was amiss. In those days we didn’t know a lot about the munchies, but the evidence spoke for itself, so we sort of kind of figured it out. The sad part was his everyday behaviour was often all over the place, even though he was part of the leadership team, yet nobody had ever noticed that this poor kid was hooked on Marijuana!

Did you know that in Proverbs 11:25, it says: “A generous person will prosper; Whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.” Today I want to present what I think could be an interesting idea. Ask someone who lives a lonely life, to Christmas lunch. Have you ever prayed: “Lord please show me something I can do for You?” Well, asking someone you don’t know very well to join you and your family for lunch at this time of the year could open a door to deeper relationships and possibilities, and it just might stretch you … all at the same time. Plus, bonus buy, everyone could make a new friend.

Over the years our family has learnt to have an elastic house. One year a young person slept on a fold-away-bed in our lounge, because his family had chucked him out. This dear young man could break things better than a compactor, but he was the most sweetly natured person. Eventually, after he left us, he matured, he married and now he is a plumber. Only heaven knows why his folks chucked him out – he was a great kid! Having him live with us was totally inconvenient, we lived in a tiny cottage, and we had to move his bed whenever we wanted to watch TV!  Plus at that time I was as sick as I could be. The immediate years post-liver transplant were not fun. But helping out people who were virtually homeless brightened up all our lives. Living an extra-ordinary life is challenging, but the rewards outweigh the negative bits. Especially retrospectively. 🤣

The thing we’ve noticed is that we can’t afford to let our own circumstances, govern our generosity. Back then, our lives were made so much richer by the people who came to live with us … even at the worst of physical and financial times – by God’s Grace we all managed. Father God is not trying to interrupt our carefully planned existence … He wants to enrich us. Other people and their unusual ways of thinking, being, and doing, will stretch us and bring us out into that bigger place mentioned in Isaiah 54:2.“Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.”

We can pray that scripture for ourselves, and then wait for Him to do it for us until we are blue in the face, but the truth is, WE must learn to stretch our tents open and take risks… It is blatantly obvious that this kind of stuff is supernaturally natural, because Jesus Himself told us that when we do these things:“…for the least of these…”we are doing them for Him! Hands up anyone who wants to minister to the Lord? OK, you have your instructions. 

Just settle in your heart that it will be inconvenient, and put stuff away if you don’t want it broken! Actually, the surest way to discover the things that we are unreasonably attached to, is to have someone else break them! I learnt that the hard way!!  BUT … no matter what, we cannot lose, because of what we win… “Everything … everything … EVERYTHING … works together for our good, … for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose.”

His purpose is to find willing vessels to fill with the Holy Spirit’s love and power! He doesn’t need experts — Jesus Himself chose ordinary  fishermen, a taxman, a former prostitute to be His followers  I mean, did you ever ask yourself Who taught Peter to speak like he did  in the book of Acts? The Holy Spirit did! The Lord is not looking for perfection – He doesn’t have to, He already is!

Like I said before, we will have to stretch ourselves to find His purpose for our lives. Remember, Jesus was homeless,  because there was no room at the inn. To me that means that you will never know who you could be taking in! Maybe a homeless angel, or a lost kid whose life was so painful he had to smoke his way through it. 

I think the poor are so poor, they have no time or energy for pretending, they are simply trying to survive. From a distance, it is easy to be put off by how they look … but God sees people clearly, He knows exactly who they are. We’ve found that poor people don’t need to be convicted of sin, when they are confronted with His Loving holiness, they know. The poor are easier to save than middle class people who think they are mostly pretty OK. 

Christianity is neither a hobby or a part-time job … it’s a life well lived. It’s a life lived the way Jesus would live it. I exhort you to begin to stretch your home and take in someone who might have Christmas dinner alone – or maybe even a bed for somebody who needs a safe place to sleep. That’s the way to get elastic houses. Bye. 👋 

P 2826 Anybody can choose to come.

/ DVH

Luke 2:8-20 “And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; He is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Matthew 2:9-12: ”After the Wise Men had listened to the king, they went on their way. The star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them. It finally stopped over the place where the Child was. When they saw the star, they were filled with joy. The Wise Men went to the house. There they saw the Child with His mother Mary. They bowed down and worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasures. They gave Him gold, frankincense and myrrh. But God warned them in a dream not to go back to Herod. So they returned to their country on a different road.”

Matthew 2:3-5a “When King Herod heard about it, he was very upset. Everyone in Jerusalem was troubled too. So Herod called together all the chief priests of the people. He also called the teachers of the law. He asked them where the Messiah was going to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied.“

I wanted to give three different examples from the bible today of 3 different types of people that sought out the Christ child shortly after His birth. Let’s look at them one at a time… 

First – the local shepherds going about their normal routine. They were doing what they had always done, day after day. I call this group … the smelly people. Not many bathrooms out in those hills, and no shower stalls either! These men lived their lives outside the camp, providing for those who lived inside the cities. 

“What was life like for shepherds in Jesus’ time? They were in daily contact with dirty, smelly sheep, their manure, their blood from cuts and scrapes, and the insects that buzzed around them. All of this meant that shepherds were almost never clean enough to worship with God’s people in God’s presence. So they were generally treated as outsiders.” (Google) The very first people outside of Mary and Joseph, that were chosen by God to worship His Son were unacceptable by their society’s standards. That makes me think! How about you?

Group number two: the kings! Or astrologers, depending on which interpretation you look up. Personally I think a king can also be an astrologer. These three very rich, brilliant men were most probably Gentiles and unbelievers, they were the intellectuals of their day –  they may have been Persian. Matthew 2:1-2.“Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judæa in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is He that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen His star in the east, and are come to worship Him.”

These Magi are powerful, but little-known strangers. They were so important, and so unusual, that King Herod himself heard that they were in his area and he sent for them. Their gifts for the Baby were not just prophetic, but extravagant. And yet these important, learned men were prepared to lower themselves, and go to a little house on an ordinary little street to find Jesus, the newborn King, and worship Him. They came to worship an infant.

“The Magi recognized God’s special presence in the baby Jesus. Astrologers like the Magi believed that a special or unique star (like a comet or meteor shower) in the sky was a sign that a Special Person with special significance in history was being born.”. (Google… again!) These men didn’t smell bad, their clothes were refined and beautiful, instead they smelled of spices and perfumes, and they rode everywhere. Most people in those days had to walk. 

Last of all came King Herod. He obviously believed the prophecies the Magi gave him, he knew what he was doing , otherwise why would he have ordered the death of so many tiny male children? Matthew 2:16: “When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.” 

This man was powerful, but he was threatened byan infant, yet he already had everything that most people would have dreamt about! He was chosen to be in that powerful position by Rome, and that meant he had whatever he wanted, when he wanted it. A palace with servants, fine clothes, perfumes, baths, great food and wine … Plus he had a powerful place in the community. But his response to Jesus, was to kill Him, because he saw the little baby as a challenger to his authority under Rome. Herod could have chosen to protect this child, instead he chose to try to destroy Him. I think that this was his opportunity to bend his knee, and he chose to oppose God. 

Three different groups of people, three different responses.  Right from the beginning, at the birth of Jesus – anybody could come to worship Him. Some travelled a few miles, others travelled for days, and one never left his throne but he was told too! Here we have three different responses to the King of heaven and we see what Jesus Himself taught us:  the poor are welcome, the rich must bow their knee … and the proud are doomed … unless they repent.

God has room for everyone at the cross – the choice is always ours. Everybody deserves to hear, no matter how they choose to respond.“The [Holy] Spirit and the bride (the church, believers) say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take and drink the water of life without cost.” Revelation 22:17. 👋

P 2820 Christmas is coming …

/ DVH

and the older I get, the quicker it comes! I like to think about Christmas as a time when I can love on my family, friends and neighbours etc. You know, if you can’t eat the yummy food, then there ought to be something you can enjoy! I love giving gifts … it’s my happy place.

My dear hubby is like the star of Bethlehem – he points the way to Jesus all over the place. Literally! Well, he doesn’t shine like he’s swallowed a light bulb, but we have plenty of those shining away on our front lawn. We have lights that look like bees, hummingbirds, butterflies, deer, mushrooms, flowers etc. … we go for the ‘nature’ look. And in our windows there are three exhortations for the world around us: “Peace” “Hope” and “Joy.” Christmas is not just a holiday at our house – it’s an annual event. 

Our family comes around to our house, year by year, and helps him … I’m the cheer squad, OK? They weed this, and string lights around that. We can’t be seen from the stratosphere or anything … But I have a feeling hubby wouldn’t mind that much. I just go along for the wild ride and enjoy every minute. I also commiserate with him, over every dead string of solar lights from last year – thank you Jesus for cheap shops!

Honestly, I think hubby would put strings of lights on every blade of grass if he could! At the same time he has written  out a Christmas card for all of our immediate neighbours and invited them to pop in and bring their kids to look at … … even more lights inside! I think my husband’s new name from the Lord might be: “sparkle happy little star.” At this moment I am looking at a giant Christmas tree, and every bit of furniture in the room has something that lights up, or plays a tune, or looks like a glitter bomb. 

You know there’s an old song that goes like this: “Jesus bids us shine like a pure clear light, like a little candle burning in the night, in this world of darkness,so we must shine … you in your small corner, and I in mine.” Ya gotta love those old hymns. Those guys way back when knew how to exhort people. Right now, hubby is shining away, loving every minute of it, even though it hurts his bad back. In 2020 he was sick but he still put up the lights on that Christmas when Co-vid sent everyone inside. There is something so neighbourly about Christmas lights.

And my hubby knows how to celebrate. That’s my message for today. Do you know how to celebrate? Or has life ground you down to a shadow of your former self and your happy little star brightness has dimmed? (Talk about mixing my metaphors … hooley dooley! Sor-ry!!) Meh! Meanwhile, I want to ask you to think about who or what turned your lights off? … Sad and annoying things happen to all of us. Somebody dies, somebody gets ill, someone else loses a job, or a house – bad things happen to good people all the time.

Bad things happening to you does not make you a bad person, and it does not mean the Lord has given up on you either. Stuff happens, it’s life. I knew someone whose favourite saying was: “Stuff happens and then you die.”  It’s a great summation but a very bad premise. We need to deliberately focus on what’s good, what’s right, what’s profitable  and let our minds park on those things. Otherwise those bad things can blow up like a balloon and eclipse everything else around us. I feel like this year has been full of those lousy balloons for many people. Let Christmas remind you that He’s still, and always, the perfect Saviour.

Now here’s something that cheered everyone up who was present back in that day. “To the paralytic man lying helpless on a bed, Jesus proclaimed,“Be of good cheer”Matthew 9:2. To the frightened Apostles battling the tempestuous sea, Jesus appeared on the water, declaring, “Be of good cheer”Matthew 14:27. (C. Fronke.) Either Jesus is heartless – and that’s not possible – OR He knows something we don’t know … yet. Jesus was not exhorting these people because they weren’t coping – He’s the Answer! The Answer came on the scene. Today our Knight in shining armour isn’t miles away – Jesus walks with us and talks with us and He will help us saddle up and ride on. 

You and I must choose to cheer up, no matter what is currently going on, because right now, we are in such great company – the Lord Himself is WITH us!  Many of the people who have gone on before us lost their cheerfulness temporarily too … let’s not let the bad things eclipse the good ones. Let’s think on things like this: “And the angel said to them, Do not be afraid, I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you;  He is the Messiah, the Lord.” Luke 2:10-11. Bye 🌟

P 2684 FIRE.🔥

/ DVH

Daniel 3 – An excerpt from the GN Version V21-25: “So they tied them up, fully dressed—shirts, robes, caps, and all—and threw them into the blazing furnace. Now because the king had given strict orders for the furnace to be made extremely hot, the flames burned up the guards who took the men to the furnace. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, still tied up, fell into the heart of the blazing fire. Suddenly Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement. He asked his officials, “Didn’t we tie up three men and throw them into the blazing furnace?” They answered, “Yes, we did, Your Majesty.” “Then why do I see four men walking around in the fire?” he asked. “They are not tied up, and they show no sign of being hurt—and the fourth one looks like an angel.…”

Just briefly to recap, these three men were thoroughly bound and thrown into an incredibly hot furnace, through no fault of their own, simply because they refused to bow down to a huge statue of the egotistical king. My point today has come from this story. Sin will tie us up and leave us bound. Our own sin, or even other people’s sins against us. However the fire of God comes to burn away everything that is holding us fast into the past. We need the fire of His love to burn away our bondages. 

This is why it is imperative that we forgive other people quickly. The longer we stew on our offences the deeper the roots of those offences drive themselves down into our hearts, minds and emotions. If we are not careful we can end up with a full grown tree that has a root of bitterness, plus all kinds of other junk. Îf you have ever pulled up some sort of a real tree you will know that they are very hard to get out of the ground once they are established!

However, His fire comes on our lives to burn off these bondages – even the ones we have willingly embraced. It doesn’t matter how we got into the furnace, He will get us out! He will not leave us there. Because the fire of His Love and passion for us is always upon us.But we will need to walk WITH Him through those flames.The hotter the fire the quicker and more productive our new found freedom is going to be. When those three men came out of that furnace, everyone’s life changed— for the better!

I want to remind us all of something Isaiah said. “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.”  Isaiah 43:2. I believe that Isaiah 43:2 is a visual example of what Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego experienced. They were thrown into that fire and it was not their fault. However, SomeBody Else was in there with them, and in that place they were released from all captivity. The fire set them up with a new way to live.

At any given moment we can be thrown into some sort of ‘fire’ by life’s difficulties. Everything is fine, and then suddenly you are standing there watching your life disintegrate, with the fire’s intense heat all around you, and you don’t know where it came from and you don’t know why it has happened! That fire may have been sent by the enemy to destroy us, BUT God will use it to burn off all our bondages. However, our responses to any temptation to run away, can thwart the fire’s purpose. Always remember, God does not send these difficulties, He uses them to take us to a new and safer place, so we can stand in the blazing fire of adverse circumstances and not be afraid.

He promises to always be with us. That’s the first and only place you need to nail your faith to the wall. Not whether we will get out or not, not why we are in there, or even what we did to get in there, but the fact that He promised to be with us! We cannot come to harm when He is there with us. His rod and staff are there to comfort us. He’s setting the table in front of our enemies for a brand new feast. That cup He is holding for us to drink from, is overflowing with His goodness, His love, His compassion, and His deliverance. 

Drinking from His cup of suffering, and sorrow will always taste bitter initially, but as we yield to HIM, these things will do us good. BTW, yielding is not the same as giving up! The more we drink from His cup and share His suffering, the more we will understand what He has done for us, and what we have been given. We will benefit if we choose to stand in the fiery furnaces of this life WITH HIM by our side. His perfect love will throw out all fear. Pray for ‘endurance, until He accomplishes in your heart whatever He wants for His glory.’ 🙌

“Beloved friends, if life gets extremely difficult, with many tests, don’t be bewildered as though something strange were overwhelming you. Instead, continue to rejoice, for you, in a measure, have shared in the sufferings of the Anointed One so that you can share in the revelation of His glory and celebrate with even greater gladness!” 1 Peter 4:12-13.

P 2678 Love has the last word.

/ DVH

“This love means living in obedience to whatever God commands us. For to walk in love toward one another is the unifying commandment we’ve heard from the beginning.”2 John 1:6 TPT. Did you get that phrase ‘walk … toward’? Love always comes towards us – from Him, and in my interpersonal relationships. That’s because it never turns back or gives up! You know, I have found it helpful to read 1 Corinthians 13 looking for things that I am expecting, or anticipating development about, in my own life — instead of seeing them as things that I don’t have! 

When I see these qualities as things I don’t have, I will give up the fight to be transformed far too easily. That’s when I stop repenting and start justifying myself. Big mistake. Huge! Think about it like this – when I work hard to justify myself, then I can be proven wrong, corrected, shamed, by someone else who is more motivated than I am!  For some people this life is a competition, they cannot bear to be wrong, it is as if they think they will shatter if they are wrong. That’s just dumb. 

We are ALL wrong!”…as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” Romans 3:10-12. I hope that this is clear that if we are ALL wrong, then there is no room for competitiveness. Suddenly I am standing on an even playing field. The only person who can stop me from moving forward into His love, and even more love, is me. I need to exercise my faith … what you do is none of my business. Paul himself says this: “My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.” 1 Corinthians 4:4.

Love is always waiting for us, because it is in the Lord’s NATURE to love. Now all the impediments are gone.  All I do is this, I ask the Holy Spirit to help me to repent and grow past my current attitudes and actions. At this point I don’t do nothing ← there’s a double negative for ya!! … I exercise my faith and step out and do the opposite of what I was doing before  … and I do it, on purpose. And I keep doing that believing that He will help and empower me. Remember the Holy Spirit wants me to win.

When I let Jesus justify me – I can live this life assured. I have proof of what He said, and Who He is in writing in the book. My enemy might have a million reasons why I’ve failed, but I don’t have to allow myself to be cemented into any of them. If satan points out my sins, then I agree with him and repent immediately. Repentance takes the ground out from underneath our enemy. Here’s another scripture: “Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison.”Matthew 5:25NKJV. 

The prison mentioned here is the one we end up in, when we are tormented unnecessarily from something we’ve done or said … that we know we should not have done … or said! Real repentance is the key that opens THAT jail door. We never plan to sin, but if we do, we repent, to the person and the Lord. Admitting we are wrong, humbling ourselves, puts us in a position to receive from Him. It is only shameful when we decide to hide our sin away – that shows we don’t understand what we have been given. Why would you stay locked in a jail when you have the key in your own pocket? The Holy Spirit is the ‘angel’ Who will swing open the door of our own personal jail – just like He did for Peter, in the book of Acts.

“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.”1 John 4:18. This verse is not an accusation, it is a diagnosis. The response from us to this verse needs to be – “Lord, I need to know and understand Your love more deeply, because I know I’m still afraid I’ve blown it! Amen.”  “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” 1 John 2:1, 2. God has even taken care of the possibility of sin in our lives. The reason we don’t want to sin, isn’t FEAR. We don’t sin because we know His Love, and we value that above anything else that might come up in our lives. HE becomes more important than any sin.

I can’t look at the sun and the moon at the same time. One will blind me to the other. I will have to shift my focus off me and my difficulties onto the Son, the One Who is the Answer to all of them. When I go there, I am overcome by the light of His love for me, simply because I’ve shifted my focus. The way I help myself to do that is to regularly read His love letter to me – I read the bible looking for His love. There are times when I will also find instructions, but if I need love because I’m drowning in difficulties and sin … then I read it looking for love. 💕 Love has the last word. 👋

P 2571 He isn’t here …

/ DVH

Matthew 28:1-7 “After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.  His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow.  The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; He has risen, just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay. Then go quickly and tell His disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see Him.’ Now I have told you.”

I love that line uttered by the angel who was sitting in that empty tomb. “He is not here; …”   My first thought was – “then where is He??”… And the Lord smiled at me and said: “EVERYWHERE!!”  My second thought was that God left that angel there to talk to those women ... he waited for them. Makes you think doesn’t it? Nothing happens to us that is outside of His gaze – the Lord is prepared for any circumstance.  

Man those things are mind boggling. And what Jesus said to me made me think. We want to advertise Him as being at our church Sunday by Sunday but He’s not limited by time and space anymore … HE goes where the Wind blows. Let’s pray: ‘Please Holy Spirit, blow on me!’  Amen. With that end in mind, perhaps we should start asking HIM where He is going to be today? … Instead of expecting Him to automatically turn up where we are. Maybe we need to be more sensitive to His desires? Couldn’t hurt!! Moving on …

These two ordinary little women may have been scared, but they were still able to talk to, and listen to the angel without falling over.  All they cared about was finding the Lord! Unlike those big burly guards installed by Pilate’s order, together with the religious oversight. Those soldiers were scared spit-less by the same angel and promptly fell down as if dead. Knowing Jesus personally makes all the difference. We may be awed sometimes, but we will not be totally overwhelmed. Supernatural stuff should be praiseworthy but normal to you and I. We know HIM. 

Here’s another fun thought:  the disciples, who followed Jesus day after day, promptly forgot everything He said when He died. They were so overcome by grief and fear, they were not expecting His resurrection.  But Pilate, who handed the Lord over to the religious leaders, made a point to put guards on the tomb – because he remembered that Jesus said He would rise again! So they installed guards to make sure nobody could pinch the body and tell everyone He was resurrected. Now there’s the rocks crying out! The non-believers remembered!

Once you and I know for sure for ourselves, that He is risen – then our next job is to go and tell others. I remember the day when the Lord impacted my life, the first thing I was told to do was to tell somebody. So I rang the pastor’s wife and she about came right through the phone at me she was so excited. After that I told everybody! I wasn’t trying to be a smartie pants – I was just so excited because I knew that I knew, that God loved me. I had encountered something real, something worth talking about.

I dunno why many people think that telling other people about what happened to each one of us is hard, I really don’t. It seems to me that most of the time we do our best to avoid it. But it is the most natural thing in the world to talk to others, when something incredible happens to us. Especially when we discover what we thought was a theory turns out to be a reality! If we are asked to tell others about what is going on with our spouse, our friends, our kids, our parents, even our teachers, our fav past-time … we can easily say something! But when it comes to our faith – it seems we instantly get shtum. Why is that so?

Maybe somewhere over the years, other people have made a great big thing about what you are supposed to say or do when passing on the good news that that tomb was empty, and Jesus is alive, today. The further we walk away from our initial encounter with Him – whether we believed the book, or saw Him in Person –  the harder it seems to get. You know, those two women did not have a speech prepared. They were so joyful they simply related what they saw. That’s all our job is! Not to preach at others, or bash them with our church’s theological thoughts … we just need to tell them what happened to us. Nobody else has a testimony like yours.

We all have a story and Father God will pick the people who need to hear it. Not everybody will yell: ‘yippee can I do that too?’ It’s the Holy Spirit’s job to save them – and it’s our job to tell them what we know… I think the simpler we keep our explanation of what happened to us, the better! Something like: “Believe it or not, Christ isn’t dead, He’s alive and I’ve met Him.”  We are meant to be salt – not the whole stew! We are here to make them thirsty… the rest is up to the Lord. 👋