Anger

P 2682 Easy Peasy … NOT!

/ DVH

“For the Scriptures tell us: Whoever wants to embrace true life and find beauty in each day must stop speaking evil, hurtful words and never deceive in what they say. Always turn from what is wrong and cultivate what is good; eagerly pursue peace in every relationship, making it your prize.” 1 Peter 3:10-11 TPT.

Monitoring our words is so powerful and special, when we fail to do it, we can prevent ourselves from finding beauty in each new day!  I bumbled along saying whatever came into my head for years. I was being true to myself – a common theme nowadays – but I was in the wrong spirit, because I was not yet walking in a renewed mind. Jesus Himself talked about that kind of thing in Luke 9:55. The disciples were unhappy because the Samaritans did not welcome the Lord into their village. They wanted to call down fire from heaven to consume this village, like Elijah did and the Lord Jesus rebuked them for saying and thinking like that.

To be honest, it seems to me that the disciples did not fully understand the working of the Holy Spirit. He came to facilitate our new birth, not to exterminate us! Watching what we say means we will always need His full-time help. Today I want to share the little bits I’ve learnt so far as I’ve been walking along with Him. To start with, the Holy Spirit always gives me a warning nudge. What I mean by that is that He knows what I want to say, and He will speak to my heart and say: “Don’t say that,” before I’ve opened my mouth. 

You see it is much too easy to think I’m a big girl now, I can judge and choose my own words and I don’t actually need a filter. But the truth is … I need a full-time filter BIG time! The whole thing about our words is that they are intimately personal. They come from our own private thoughts. The Lord knows my heart and He knows that other person’s heart as well, and He knows what will hurt, and what will heal. He also knows what will send me off into a tangent, or what will build up my faith, as well as theirs. Knowing someone’s heart means knowing their motivation, and inclinations – our God is brilliant at that!

He knows when I feel inclined to bad mouth the other person or try to put them in their place, because I happen to think it is called for.  So unless my mind is renewed, I am sunk … I will actually need to make quality choices to participate in His renewal. In other words – unless what I think, is the way that I act, not just something I say I believe or agree with – I can, and probably will misspeak. That realisation is a ‘woe is me’ moment. The best thing to do after woe is me is to repent … fast! Repent to the Lord, the other person and to anybody else within ear-shot.

We must never forget that our words are powerful. We can speak life or death to someone else, whether they are present or not. That same voice we’ve been given that can raise the dead and heal the sick, needs oversight!  I have struggled with a number of relationships over the years, and I have found that if I give in to self-pity, grumbling or criticism, whether those things are justified or not … I’m definitely going to end up saying something stupid that I will regret. 

It is better to remain silent rather than say something that cements the other person into a role you have created in your own mind, whether they mean to treat you badly or not. We have the power to speak life, this means we need to pull our focus back onto what is “good, right and profitable.” The bible tells us to “let our minds dwell on these things.” So when we let fly and say something unkind etc. — guess what our minds have been doing??  Yeah, I don’t like that idea either.

We have to choose to live this way now, and it cannot be a religious thing, it is a reliance thing. It’s a choice we make for the Lord and the other person. If you can’t trust yourself to say something good, then saying nothing at all, is a truly great idea. However, we are not meant to lie, so how do we say good things about people who have deliberately and sometimes maliciously treated us badly? Glad you asked that question – because I have an answer! We ask the Lord what He wants us to do or say in that moment. We choose to lay aside our own judgment, anger, and hurt, because when we do that, we are also avoiding being judged ourselves. So we either keep schtum or we choose our words carefully with Him helping us.

Just to make things clear, this can be a very difficult thing to do when you are someone who finds out what they think when they say it out loud! I’m an external processor, and telling me to watch what I say is like sending me to the Paris Olympics to enter a relay race. Not happening! BUT … I have a Helper Who knows exactly what I am going to say before I say it so I am learning to rely upon His judgment not my own. I’m happy to do that because the bible says: “lean not on your own understanding …” Win win. Easy peasy … with His help. Bye. 👋

P 2646 “Hope thou IN CHRIST!”

/ DVH

Hope is a sign our faith is healthy. If we are feeling hope-less then our situation has overcome our awareness of how Mighty God is! That’s bad. It’s bad, like not breathing is bad!! It means there is something we need to fix, first with the Lord, and then with others. Other people can be stumbling blocks – especially the ones who see no need to change, or they think they can’t, because they were just born this way! Christ knows how to walk with difficult, dumb people – He did it for three and a half years!

Here’s a revelation – everything God made is good, so if it is NOT good – then it’s NOT God. To clear that up we need to start with ME not the other guy. But sometimes the difference between not good and good is simply time! Just saying is all …

… The truth is clear, we can hang on to resentment, bitterness, anger, lying, hatred as much as we want to, but those things’ll drown ya! You end up snarling and snapping at others. It’s dumb to be lying in the muck and mire when SomeBody paid for you to live an overcoming life!

You know, I think that Covid did more than make a whole lotta people very very sick. It stole some people’s hope! We gotta watch out for that. Hope is our anchor. Hope holds us steady when the waves of this life get too big for us to cope. Actually, when a boat slips it’s moorings or loses its anchor, it floats away! Hebrews 6:19 says: “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, …””  Hope anchors us into God!! Remember, we hope in what Christ is doing, not in our circumstances changing.

Jesus Christ is our hope anchor. What He did for us, and what His death gave us, anchors us into Almighty God’s kingdom. Jesus took us into the Holy place by what He did. Now we have Him as our priest praying on our behalf, before the throne, and that never ends. The Lord God Himself provided the ultimate Answer – Christ! And He is ever-mindful of our humanity. We are so blessed to have a Saviour Who is God and also a human being – He understands how tough this life is.

Sadly we sometimes forget what we’ve been given and we wander off into the wilderness, wondering where God went. Bleating: “Why is He not looking after me – He promised He would look after me?!”  In those moments we have become imitators of the Israelites in the wilderness… remember, the Good Shepherd always goes after a lost sheep! The Lord always looks after His own, He just has a different timetable than ours. That difference is meant to help us with patience and perseverance, not introduce doubt.

“There’s more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!” Romans 8:8 MSG.

When we lose sight of our anchor, our hope – Jesus Christ the HOPE of all mankind – we are forgetting who we are now. We do not have to grab, grasp, scheme, scream and connive to make life work. Now we trust God and let go of our own ideas, and pay close attention to His Word. His word is our strong fortress, our hiding place, our comfort, and our defensive position. Otherwise, we are running the risk of forgetting Who we belong to! Our strong hope is in what Christ has already done.

“But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God My Saviour; MY GOD WILL HEAR ME.”Micah 7:7. We remain confident that if the answer we were hoping for does not happen, then we remind ourselves that our God has heard us and HE HAS A PLAN. That’s our anchor. Hopelessness takes over when we concentrate more on the problem, than on our ever-present, always loving, constantly praying for us, Saviour. Our problem being solved is a temporary relief –instead we need to refocus on Christ Himself,  He is the Answer. “Hope deferred makes the heart sick.”BUT!!! …“We can do all things through Christ because He strengthens us.”

As we learn to cultivate patience, and wait on the Lord, we will renew our strength. We are given the energy to rise above our problems and keep running the race. We are enabled to keep on walking without fainting. Holding onto hope stretches our faith so the next time we use it, we become aware that our faith has grown. We must keep a watch over our hope, it is the warning light on the overcoming dashboard of our lives. We do not have to live downcast lives …”SOUL, HOPE THOU IN CHRIST!”👋

P 2628 “Don’t You care??”

/ DVH

“Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”  Mark 4:38. Of course you would never say that … and I would never say that either! 🙄 Hmmm… while we are all on this learning curve called life, I believe that there are times when we’ve all prayed, we’ve hoped, we’ve stood on the Word and …. and! … nothing changed. It’s what we do after that happens that matters. Fear makes a poor leader – yet we all know how it feels and what we sometimes do to avoid it!

We had one of those times recently. Hubby and I have been married for 37 years, and there are times, not often, 🙌 – when we disagree. That chaos, of course, is instantly replaced by something spiritual and peaceful…  we sing ‘Kumbaya’ and it is all fixed!! It is a wonder my nose is not in Pakistan by now … Me and Pinocchio, just like that.🤞

So, long story short, we argue just like everyone else. My primary reason for talking about it today, is that the only way for all of us to get to the other side, like the disciples wanted to – Is to be real about who we are and the fact that we aren’t totally transformed yet! I like to throw blame in the bin. However, there are also times when I can miss! … I always was a lousy shot!! That’s when I discover, all over again, that I still need His help and transformation badly.  I too, can get tired of cheerily singing: “I’ve got a new way of living”  … 😊🙌 … and instead I want to have a tantrum.

So I’m praying, with tears, of course! ‘God don’t you care??’ And somehow, in the back of my mind, I can see these 12 guys stuck in this boat going up and down, up and down, taking a violent seawater bath … Now, let’s look at this …Jesus is up the back of the boat taking a power nap. Yeah.I’m pretty sure I would have had a “Don’t you care Lord?” in me too.

Now let’s be clear. The Lord Jesus needed that sleep. He had just delivered an amazing sermon about planting seeds in good places and watching them grow. Of course, the disciples all thought they were getting a horticultural lesson! But the Lord was teaching them how to retain good seed and become fertile ground. Stuff like getting rid of rocks (of unbelief) and weeds (of fear and arrogance) as well as shoo-ing off the birds that want to steal and peck at your faith. (Other people’s anger, and rotten behaviour toward us.) 

These guys had had a great meeting, right before this. They learned lots … they took lots of notes … well, … probably not, … because they would have looked like nerds. Anyway!! The blooming boat starts to sink and things look pretty terrible …!! It’s not just a bit of a splash in the face, BTW, this boat starts taking water in. Boat in water OK! Water in boat NOT OK!! Anyone knows that. The disciples let their KNOWLEDGE of the sea drown out their FAITH.

These experienced fishermen were frightened out of their wits by the power of the sea and they knew a bad storm when they saw one.  So there were “we’re gunna die” shrieks and shouts … and then they remember that Jesus is up the back of the boat — and — “How on earth CAN HE BE SLEEPING??!!” Just like little kids run to their mum or dad and demand that they fix something that is broken – we too sometimes run to the Lord and drop our faith along the way. We simply can’t work out why He isn’t helping us.

In times like these we need to tell ourselves – one more time  … and press on, remembering that we are stretching ourselves a little bit further.  Do yourself a favour, try not to set false finishing lines. The bible teaches us: “WE STRIVE …WE STRETCH toward the goal …”  that doesn’t mean we always get there! Sometimes knowing where to run TO is everything —  especially when life produces chaos. Even though these men had just learnt about being careful about where to plant the seed of God’s Word, they immediately planted it in earthly fear instead. Don’t we all?!!  

Whatever we think we’ve learnt, is going to be tested. God is not interested in raising up a whole lot of people with fat heads and skinny, dried-up hearts. Pain will overcome our faith unless we cling to the SAVIOUR … not just focussing the result we think we need. It is not about finding the answer or not, it is about: ‘where is MY faith, right now?’ Sometimes my not-so-spiritual-answer is: ‘I dunno! I think it fell right down the well of my unbelief!”

If we want to follow Jesus with all our hearts, even though we know that we do dumb stuff, or sometimes we are oppressed by terrible things – then WE’ve won. Press on… !! We simply must stop throwing away our faith … or even other saints because people make mistakes or they are not perfected yet. None of us are. Redemption is a process. Half the time none of us know what’s IN our own hearts until we get squeezed tightly by circumstances. These fishermen walked with Christ and fear still jumped on them.

The bible wouldn’t teach us how to overcome fear if we didn’t need to learn it. Some awful thoughts attach themselves to Christians like rampaging elephants, crushing the life out of them. Those thoughts do not make us a failure. Hold on … if we can just hold on, and breathe, our faith will come out the other side stronger. When we cling to Jesus in the storm we are doing OK. Remember, the God of all LOVE stood up and HE CALMED THE STORM. We cannot begin to understand the Lord’s aim in whatever is going on in our lives… all we know is that He’s been there before us!

Here’s something to chew on …“the natural mind perceiveth not the things of the spirit.”  1 Corinthians 2:4. So we can’t trust what we think or feel, we must learn, progressively, by pressing in, to trust what He says. We know He cares. It’s in the book. 👋

P 2624 Take positive action.

/ DVH

“Do not waste time bothering whether you “love” your neighbour; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone you will presently come to love him.” (CS Lewis.)

God said that like this, in Colossians 3:2-10: “Set your minds on things that are above …(!!!That’s where the real action is!) “… not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ Who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming.

In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its Creator….”

… “  (12-14) “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”

So here’s my question — WHO gets all this nifty, but really nitty, gritty, hard stuff? We do! You. Me. US! This means I can’t sit about on my hands praying fervently that the Lord will change me … while I keep on doing the stuff the bible says DON’T DO! This is a really good time to remember that the Lord put Jonah in a whale (!!) to get him back on track. So if you wanna be rebellious, then you’d better stay away from SeaWorld!

Seriously, this stuff is a no-brainer. We need to take what Jesus said and make it our great AIM to leave the ugly stuff that will tangle us up and make us fall over, behind us. If you are a fighting person who gets bad tempered at the drop of a hat, then whack your hand over your mouth and vacate the premises. And don’t come back until the urge has left you! Our mouths get us in so much trouble – sadly, I have learnt this truth the hard way. What we say, or sometimes refuse to say … is responsible for so many bad things. If we choose to abuse someone else it will escalate – and unless you are talking to a door, then that other person will retaliate!

No-one wins in an argument. Even if you think you’ve won you’ve lost! When we bad mouth or abuse someone else, we are deliberately walking away from the Lord and empowering the Old Self. Jesus won’t interfere, He wants us to take responsibility for our own behaviour. Honestly, I don’t care what they said — what am I going to do about it? We must stop expecting the Lord to supernaturally intervene, and work on changing our own hearts. HE WILL HELP US but He will not do it for us! Nothing else matters but being with Him.  So put away the things that are going to drag us away from loving Him, worshipping Him, following Him. We cannot serve two Masters. Jesus said that in Matthew 6:24. 

For those of you who are related or married to somebody who loves to pick fights, or someone who gets irritable easily … stop blaming them, and quit engaging with the argument. I don’t care how wrong they are – what is the kingdom of God worth to you? Sadly, for some people it is worth less than their own opinion. We want all the power in the world so we can move mountains, but we cannot deal with the mountains of disapproval, criticism and lust in our own lives? Good luck moving that other mountain Jesus spoke about, if you can’t control YOU.

Start speaking love and approval to the other person. It is extremely hard to argue with someone else who keeps telling you how terrific you are, how valuable you are. It is not lying – that person is valuable to God! When we are angry with someone, we rehearse their faults – why not rehearse their good points?! Life is not a competition, it is not about who wins or loses. It is about life and death. Yours, theirs and the people around us. We’ve been put here to shine His light into a dark place —- not to increase the darkness! Lastly, revenge belongs to the Lord, so do yourself a favour and don’t get in His Way.

Jesus said this verse nobody likes, remember? (Matthew 5:29)“And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for. thee that one of thy members should perish, and. not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.” Imagine what we would all LOOK LIKE if we took that verse seriously! 😱 We need to choose to participate in positive actions with His help. Lastly, “Love your enemies …” — because at the very least you will drive them crazy!

Bye. 👋

P 2599 Under construction.

/ DVH

I often feel like I should have a sign with that saying written on it hung around my neck – in a number of languages! It sure would clear up any misunderstandings. From the moment I wake up, ’til my head hits the pillow every night, my aim is to walk with Jesus, living this life He has given me with His grace going in and out of me, toward others.

But, no matter where we live today, this life seems to have become so much harder than it was before Co-vid showed the world WE aren’t in charge, after all. I remember when the pandemic started, people were rushing about trying to prove that it came from this country or that country, or this lab or that lab. I still can’t figure out why knowing that was so important! That blasted genie was already out of the bottle, what the heck did it matter where it came from? I have found it is neither good or helpful to make lists of reasons why I dislike some people or what they do.

I think that knowing the origin of the disease is a waste of time unless blame and shame happen to be incredibly important! But the media chose to stir up its usual frenzy seeking to prove its case, always looking to blame someone. We have to have a hero and a bad guy it seems!! They even took the time to seek out people who were pro-inoculation as well as those against.

Sometimes I think the media is more interested in starting fights between people, than producing real news – mainly because doing that will create even more angry messes to report on!  I call that stuff fake news.  It seems we prefer cultivating that, so we can maintain a level of anger in our lives toward everyone and anyone in general – perhaps it feels like protection?

Personally, the pandemic has limited my whole life so I have a lot to be angry about!!  I can’t go anywhere without using a mask. My dear hubby chooses to wear one too. Members of my own immediate family also wear a mask whenever they are out amongst the general population, for my sake. Now I call that love! Nobody is making them do this, they are doing it because they want to support and protect me. They don’t make a fuss, or over-explain, they just do it. Those actions have illustrated yet another aspect of what love looks like to me. 

It seems to me that this kind of grass roots, always considerate love, is the kind of love that is no longer common today. Sometimes we think that the best way to express love is to move away from an irritating person, and we can produce a list of reasons why we should! Instead of seeking to find common ground. Or perhaps taking the time to prayerfully ask the Lord for ways to reach out and then continue to persevere. We collect and collate info to prove why we shouldn’t even try. I wonder where I would be if my family thought my needing a mask made me too difficult!  

Like the verse that I’ve used as a header to this blog says: ‘not that I have always reached THAT goal … but on we go!’ (That’s my translation.) So that’s what I want to rabbit on about today:  instead of finding places where we don’t agree, why don’t we find places that we do, and use our energy to work on them?! I had a difficult childhood and it has taken me a long time to be able to truly love the person who hurt me. But now, by God’s grace, I know the joy of finding that the discomfort, and anger, and even the pernickety nit-picking attitude that prevailed in my heart, is slowly subsiding. It has been worth all the prayer and choosing to go after His Grace. 

I will not say my stinky attitude is gone – I am, after all, still under construction, and I can still get irritated with this person – but because of the Holy Spirit’s help … I have INVESTED MORE in finding a way through my irritation — than I have in stoking my anger to keep me safe, and the other person at arm’s length. The result is I now deeply, truthfully care about somebody that I was actively avoiding. I think this is how love works. Right down at ground level zero.  God’s love doesn’t tackle the seemingly justifiable anger, head on, or force the very real feelings down — instead it uses its energy to find a place where we can agree – and it starts there. 

I freely admit it took me a while to find some places where this person and I could agree. But with His help we’ve both found some, I have learnt to laugh and enjoy that other person’s company. Really living in this life consists of maintaining and cultivating relationships and it is up to us to choose to let other people in. Even when they too have signs around their necks that say …”highly toxic, limit exposure!”

So far, I’ve learnt to walk quietly down new pathways, reminding myself that this new life of agreement we have found together, can be a blessing to both of us. Jesus showed me how to make those pathways. It has been a great relief to find that I no longer have to throw myself onto the incredibly sharp spears this person wears for self-protection. Being willing to change even though in my mind – the other person should … because they are “wronger’  than me! Judgment is a huge trap we can all easily fall into. Whether it involves a difficult relative, or the media, everything around us is prompting us to make judgment calls. We will be pushing against the flow of this life if we decide to stop.

However, we could leave behind pain and anguish and give up resentment, when we understand that the reward is a different slant on someone else – and a new, ever-so-slightly improved ME. Being under construction is a great way to live. 👋

P 2582 More on a heart like David.

/ DVH

The Lord said of His servant David, that “this is a man after My own heart”. (1 Samuel 13:14) It seems to me it is comparatively easy to pray:“Oh Lord please give me a heart like David had!”…in a moment of love and passion toward God Himself … with no understanding of what that means!  Will we blame God for not answering that prayer – when we ignore the opportunities He sends our way?

Think on this: if you and I really want a heart like David had, then God Himself will need to send us the kind of opportunities DAVID had! Hearts are formed, they do not fall on us. Here’s quick revision of David’s life — this young man was overlooked in his family. His earthly father forgot he had him and obviously thought the boy was not as promising as his six brothers were!  Did David moan about that? No! Instead he learnt about God in the middle of a pasture doing a job that was beneath his stature. This was where he learnt about soaking in God’s ways. That’s where he learnt to make the Lord his priority. He wrote beautiful Psalms… instead of complaining about his lowly position and the weather.

David chose God’s ways over his own human desires, many times. We all know about his failure and the subsequent consequences, but there were so many other times that David chose to honour the Lord despite his circumstances. His responses to his life were way above most men’s natural tendencies. He did not do that to curry favour with God, BTW, he did it because that was who he was! Soaking in God’s beauty had shaped his heart, and his responses came from that heart of love toward the Father. 

So if WE want a heart like David, then maybe we will have to fight our own Goliath and WIN. We all have Goliaths in our lives, and we often feel ill-equipped to fight them. But David took what he had – which was belief in Who Almighty God is – and defeated his enemy. There may also be a possibility that we will have to honour somebody in our lives just like King Saul, David’s persecutor of 20 years. Simply because that person is God’s choice to shape US… by handing out constant oppression! Maybe our tormentor has been tormenting us for years too!!

Let’s look at David’s response when his little baby boy died… “After Nathan had gone home, the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill. David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and spent the nights lying in sackcloth on the ground. On the seventh day the child died …” 2 Samuel 12:15-18. 

After his baby’s death, David’s servants were reluctant to tell him the little one was gone, but he figured it out. Then he does an extraordinary thing — it seems almost totally incomprehensible. He gets up, washes himself, and asks for food. Why on earth would he do that? You know when I think about his response it blows me away. This man is so concerned about doing God’s will, God’s way, once the Lord’s plan is revealed – He leaves the whole thing alone and goes back into ordinary life, immediately. Boy is that living this life surrendered!  

Much later, David actively sets out to find someone left in Saul’s house … even after Saul and Jonathan had died. He wants to do his enemy’s family good. (Now there’s a grand illustration of doing good to your enemies!) Despite his warrior life, this man of God had such integrity before the Lord. It all sprang from his deep love for God, not obligation, or religious duty. Those Psalms he wrote came right out of his own experiences! Instead of cultivating despair, anger and jealousy – David cultivated a sweet heart.

It may be that we too have lost else someone so dear to us, like David did, when his older son Absalom died. But David was not able to mourn Absalom … imagine that! He’s a leader, his sheep come first! He puts his grief aside, in order to be a good leader and king to his subjects. Funny how God picks ordinary people like that quite often. Think about it.

These are just some ?highlights? After all David’s life was filled with war and betrayal! If we truly want a heart like he had, maybe we are going to need some panel-beating first! That, and a sweet, spontaneous heart-response under pressure. God Himself forges men and women in the furnaces of trouble, pestilence, war, sorrow and strife. We must simply choose to learn His ways, they won’t fall on us.

Here’s my last thought – right after the Holy Spirit fell at Pentecost, persecution for the gospel’s sake broke out. But Father God had a purpose, He wanted the disciples to disperse to spread the gospel further. So, instead of becoming a jolly, happy, worshipping group, who enjoyed their new life together teaching the same things over and over again … persecution and bad experiences are now their teacher.

 We will have troubles and strife in this life, and this means God is working on our hearts. To have a heart like David we will need to be changed. 👋 “Create in me a clean heart O, Lord, and renew a right spirit within me.” Amen!

P 2554 Stuff happens.

/ DVH

I don’t think we should go about anticipating, or expecting trouble. However, if and when difficulties come up, we need to understand that living for Jesus in a corrupt world can put a target on our backs. It may not be our fault the sky just fell in! Yet we will have to respond somehow! Obviously the enemy wants us to live selfish, rude and uncaring lives … but now our sole desire is to do the opposite … so we can sometimes end up in conflict. Things happen. satan targets us, and at the same time he will actively discourage us through others and complicated situations. he can even use something that someone else says to cause more trouble. Anger and worry choke out clarity. 

James tells us how to deal with trials etc. Start by being glad! (No I am not nuts!) James explains clearly that stuff happening means Almighty God is doing something. The Lord is growing something spiritually. He wants to add to our existing faith, steadfastness. Immovability. The bible says that like this ; “…having done ALL (we can)… (then) STAND.”  Do whatever you can do, and then turn it all over to God. Then wait. Here’s James 1:2-4: “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” Standing still allows steadfastness to develop.

Living this life taking faith-filled risks is a scary premise. It is so much easier to live in the safety of our own known responses. We are personally familiar with our own reactions – changing them means taking a risk. But true faith takes risks even though it doesn’t know the outcome. Following Jesus means we will take every one of those risks, prayerfully. Jesus Himself faced trials, and misunderstandings. He was blamed for things He didn’t do. But He held firm to His faith in His Father’s goodness and committed His way to God. He went through the difficulties knowing God’s purposes would be achieved, and He put those purposes above His own personal comfort.

When trouble strikes and doubt comes at me, first of all I like to go back and check with the King and make sure I am currently doing whatever He wants. I usually ask Him for scriptures, because I don’t trust my emotions or my mind to give me the answer I need to hear. At the same time I am really bad at making good decisions when I am under pressure to get things right. It is good to wait and give yourself some time to calm down, and at the same time, actively listen for what He wants to tell you.

Investing in God in these moments of conflict pays huge dividends! You learn how to stand! My sole aim is to deal with how I feel, before I deal with the problem. At that time can seem like I am in a period of stretching and testing. The temptation is to do something, like explode, worry, or become anxious! Waiting seems counter-productive. But panicky, worried people make emotional decisions that create even more problems. 

Paul offers us an excellent solution.“Don’t be pulled in different directions or worried about a thing. Be saturated in prayer throughout each day, offering your faith-filled requests before God with overflowing gratitude. Tell Him every detail of your life, then God’s wonderful peace that transcends human understanding, will guard your heart and mind through Jesus Christ. Keep your thoughts continually fixed on all that is authentic and real, honourable and admirable, beautiful and respectful, pure and holy, merciful and kind. And fasten your thoughts on every glorious work of God, praising Him always.” Philippians 4:6-8 TPT. Paul is saying we need to go to prayer to get God’s PEACE in stressful pressurised moments. Peace helps us make clearer Godly choices.

Isaiah says this in Chapter 40, verses 28-31“The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall, but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

I have learnt to wait because otherwise the enemy plays with my emotions, and paints scenarios on the screen of my mind. At the same time satan will try to hand me reasons to get mad at other people. Waiting on God renews my strength to resist the devil. The biggest problem I’ve found in these difficulties is some of my reactions are almost automatic. Over the years I’ve cultivated defensiveness and fear to the point where it can overcome me. So I like to begin all processes with repentance. That means I’ve positioned myself to hear from the Lord, and removed any hindrances.

I love the line … “He gives strength to the weary.…” Trials and problems wear people out! If you get enough of them all at once you can feel like you are buried alive and you can’t manage anything that is going on. That is why Isaiah is so smart. He doesn’t try to think or psyche his way out – He goes to the One that he knows Who never gets tired and he WAITS. “In this world, you will have trials … don’t be afraid … everything that Jesus did for us overcame them all.” (My paraphrase.) Like I said, stuff happens! Bye 👋

P 2504 NEVER underestimate the power in forgiveness.

/ DVH

When we forgive others, especially if and when they don’t deserve it …  this means we are His disciples, we are following Jesus. Plus we are living in obedience to the Lord’s commandment to “…love one another ...”  The idea that we cannot forgive people is a lie, it’s from the pit. However, forgiveness is not lip-service. It is a promise that I won’t hold whatever has happened against you again. That’s the WAY Christ forgave us!

Jesus Christ released all the power we will ever need to overcome sin, sickness and the devil from the cross. However, we cannot successfully walk in that power without cultivating a relationship with the Holy Spirit. We receive the power to be transformed, when we receive and welcome Him into our lives. Unforgiveness is not an option to us! This process will kill off the old man in us.

“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All power in heaven and on earth is given to Me…” Matthew 28:18 “But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—He then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” And he rose and went home. When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to MEN.” Matthew 9:6-8. “I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.” Luke 10:19. “But you will receive power and ability when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be My witnesses [to tell people about Me] both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth.” Acts:1:8. The very foundation stone of God’s kingdom is forgiveness!

Forgiving people means you are releasing His power, and His Grace into that situation. It is no different than healing a headache or raising the dead. These things take choices, together with His Grace, particularly if the other person/s have deliberately and consistently hurt you. But Jesus died to give us that power. Now the power of His incredible forgiveness has been released all over this earth – it cannot be stopped! “Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven; whose sins you shall retain, are retained.” John 20:23. 

Unfortunately we also have power from Him to continue to hold people right where they are. If we don’t forgive them, then they will be stuck. Because sin separates humanity from God – the only way to remedy that is to release His Grace into someone else’s life. Maybe they will change, maybe they will not – they have a free will. However we will be changed by doing it –  we will no longer be held captive by other people’s sins. We have been given the power to speak GRACE and LIFE into others. We cannot walk in the power of the risen Christ unless we live in the land of constant forgiveness -.His  kingdom!

Unforgiveness is the Christian’s Kryptonite. It renders us weak, powerless, helpless and hopeless — those things are the exact opposite of everything Jesus died to give us. It literally is like this — unforgiveness nails one foot to the floor and the person goes round and round and round – getting nowhere. If you have noticed you are going nowhere spiritually – ask the Lord:  “Who do I need to forgive?”

I am not talking about chasing rabbit trails, I am talking about anybody in your life that makes you grit your teeth, or want to go hide in a cupboard. Anybody you see as hurting you, or being stronger than you are, is oppressing you. We cannot be oppressed when we are choosing His Ways – our choice to live differently frees us. Now, today, we’ve already been taken out of this world’s kingdom, and translated into the kingdom of His marvellous light. Other people can only hold us captive with our permission.

This is why we need to choose between anger and revenge – and peace and grace. People have been free inside in the worst prisons, because “… those whom the Son has set free shall be free indeed.” The first port of call we have in any given situation is forgiveness. Park there. Don’t move from that spot. I have been forgiving some people who can’t see me at all, yet they think they know me. Unfortunately they have kept right on hurting me for 70+ years – it is possible to forgive in the presence of persecution. The people who practice forgiveness are kingdom people.

Meanwhile, FYI, hating, hurting, manipulating or controlling others is not Godly. When a Christian lives like that, it is a sign that they have not yet had a revelation about the freedom they have been given to choose to live in His kingdom! They are valuing the enemy’s usurped pitiful power, over the real power Jesus gave us freely. Real power CREATES, it does not destroy! It is far more powerful to forgive. Those ugly things in anyone’s life will suck every single bit of joy, peace, and holiness out of our lives like a straw drains a milkshake! Those things destroy families.

“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” James 5:16. Never underestimate the POWER of forgiveness. 👋🏻.

P 2500 Whatever occupies your thoughts will rule you.

/ DVH

“An elder, talking to a child, says, “I have two wolves fighting in my heart. One wolf is fearful, vengeful, envious, resentful and deceitful. The other wolf is compassionate, loving, generous, truthful and peaceful.” The child asks, “Which wolf will win the fight?” The elder responds, “The one I feed.”’ A Cherokee Indian proverb.

It’s kind of a no-brainer really, whatever we invest our time, money, and energy in, rules us. Oh, the futility of allowing ourselves to be pushed about by our anger or appetites. The worst thing ev-er is when someone you trust does something dumb … they are, after all, human beings (!)  … and so you feel betrayed. That’s when what happened starts rolling around in your mind – maybe it even stops you from sleeping. “How could they do such a thing? Didn’t they know that would hurt me? Maybe they even meant too …!!!???”

It seems that perhaps we are starting to build a case against someone else. Meanwhile satan stands at our elbow happily chucking those kind of thoughts, plus reminding us of other ones about that person – even the things we forgot …into our memory bank.. A-n-d, we are grumpy so we refuse to shut the gate to those thoughts because …we’re feeling sorry for ourselves. We’ve been deeply wounded and wronged. It isn’t a misinterpretation, an accident, or a whoopsie – someone actually wounded us. What are we going to do about it?

Unfortunately, then it becomes easy to start what I call – the opinion poll. The opinion poll is when we begin to tell others about what happened to us. We probably start that process out in kind of a sweet-ish, sad way, after all we don’t want others to think that we are bad people! But pretty soon, the sweetness goes out of the window and we are pulling the other person apart like they are a loaf of bread and we’re hungry. Now we really have a case against them because … OTHER PEOPLE AGREE WITH US that they treated us badly!  Maybe you get my drift – you’ve bin there and dun that yourself. No? Lucky you! For those of us who have acted that way … in these moments we are feeding the wrong wolf and doing that will devour US and gobble up our faith.

Here are some scriptures that have helped me escape from that sticky web.. “For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Matthew 7:2.“Create in me a clean heart, O Lord, and renew a right spirit within me.” Psalm 51:10. “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”Philippians 4:8. Right here we have the diagnosis and the cure.

Now is the time to give up rehearsing someone else’s sins and start looking for the good in what happened – before you go down the plug hole and lose several days, weeks, months …?years? … to something not worthy of even 10 seconds of your time. No, I am not nuts … at least I hope not! 😶 But the person who wounded us has exposed a chink in our spiritual, mental and physical armour. They found that chink for us. It was probably accidental, BUT, whatever … it is still useful! Some attitudes are sneaky, they stay hidden. It is absolutely brilliant when somebody else exposes those things for us, whether they found that attitude on purpose or not. It gives us a chance to see what is going on in our own hearts. 

At this point it is tempting to simply repent, and forgive the other person, as well as actively remembering not to ruminate over the incident. BUT! In my experience ignoring revelation about who we really are is dumb. We all have our weaknesses, and if we can stand back with the Holy Spirit (LOVE HIMSELF), by our side, and let Him show us if there was truth in what was said or done … we will gain something to be thankful for!  At the same time, we can ask the Lord to heal that actual wound He helped us uncover, so we can feed the ‘good wolf,’ some good food. Somewhere in the past, we probably believed a lie and we needed the Lord to expose that lie and … heal the wound. 

My point today is, whatever occupies your thoughts rules you. Hubby said that like this to me yesterday: ‘Let’s pretend someone hates the colour brown. They won’t wear it, can’t stand it, avoid it, and actively dislike others who like that colour… Those people do not realise that BROWN is now ruling their lives, it has become their god.’  I laughed heaps, and because it was such an accurate scenario I was inspired to pass it on. Yeah. Now there’s more food for thought! 👋🏻

P 2399 Forgiveness and obedience are our best weapons of choice.

/ DVH

Forgiving others and obeying the Lord’s wishes has become our life’s work. Those two things go together. So much so, that when He shows us something as we read the bible we need to immediately ask Him: “What would You like me to do about that Lord?” And then we go and do it – using our choice not our feelings.

Initially, when the Holy Spirit checked me about stuff I was doing that wasn’t good, I didn’t like it very much. He said things like: “You have resented this person’s influence in your life, you need to start appreciating them.” That meant I had to practice taking my stray thoughts captive, and at the same time I had to stick my hand over my mouth instead of bad-mouthing someone I was mad at. Sadly, I am still not always successful at that… 

But the first thing I learnt about myself because of His instruction – was this: I had been using my thoughts and my words as a pressure valve! Anger and resentment built up inward pressure that I needed to deal with. After all your mouth is right there and it works and everything (!) and so I often used my words to cope with bad things that happened, or perceived slights and injuries caused by someone else. After a while I realised I had a really big lists of stuff (aughts) against other people (any). Bad plan BTW, keep your forgiveness lists short. “And when ye stand praying, forgive if ye have aught against any, that your Father also who is in Heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” Mark 11:25 ASV.

This is how it plays out:  let’s say you can’t stand your Uncle B. Maybe Uncle B was kind of not nice to be around. Every time you saw him as a kid you wanted to run away, or you hoped your parents would rescue you, but they were too busy socialising instead. Now, because you are an adult, when you see Uncle B. you can run for the hills, or you can even avoid family gatherings, because he is going to be there. Maybe you want to protect your kids. You don’t want them to feel like you did around him.

Here is what I have learnt. Forgiveness is harder to find for old wounds – you are going to need lots of God’s GRACE to do it. Perhaps you are also angry with your parents for not protecting you, a-n-d … you probably wouldn’t pass Uncle B. a fire extinguisher if he was on fire 🔥 … so that would be something else you need to work on. You are stuck with not only your need to forgive others, but your own past childish judgment. 

Unless you make a start by forgiving your parents for their neglect, you can easily slip into assessing what they did. It is unfortunately easy to judge our parents retrospectively and vow that we will never do that stuff to our kids! It’s a no-brainer that you will also need to forgive Uncle Bob, BTW. And you are definitely going to need help with that!! Here’s my first point. We cannot do lasting spiritual transactions, without the Holy Spirit – He knows every single detail and how to get us free. We have to start with God’s Grace and guidance to navigate past any mine-fields. (Mind-fields.)

I can’t tell you exactly what to do because every situation needing forgiveness is different … but I urge you not to postpone or avoid forgiving someone as a way to defend yourself. Neither should you avoid repentance just because it seems the other person won’t change. We cannot hinge our transformation on someone else’s behaviour! That supposed knowledge of their sin is a snare sent to trip you up. Ask for His Grace, and keep right on asking while you continue to follow Jesus. Keep praying: “I want to do what You said Lord, and I need help.” 

Unconfessed sin and a lack of repentance is a place for satan to stand in our lives. satan is a legalist, and he will use it against us – he will distract us with things that are of no consequence – while we are ignoring the thing that is tripping us up! Instead we need the Lord’s Grace and His way through. We cannot live the Christian life and experience victory if we don’t make the practice of obeying the bible a living breathing part of our lives – instead of just a using it as reference book.  

Forgiving someone does not mean we are giving them permission to continue to abuse us. Rather forgiveness is a statement, an intentional declaration, that we know that God has a bigger plan. Romans 8:28 says: “And we know [with great confidence] that God [Who is deeply concerned about us] causes all things to work together [as a plan] for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to His plan and purpose.”

His plan and His purpose is to lovingly transform us. Sometimes He will rescue us, and sometimes He wants us to act in faith, like Jesus did. I have observed as I have followed Him and embraced His purposes, that His plans for my good blow my mind. I would never have understood those plans, if I hadn’t decided to die to the way I think, obey what He said, and let Him be Lord.  

Here is my last thought for today – our God does not speak to us contrary to His word – His word is immutable – it will not change over time. Choosing to forgive, plus knowing the Word of God and choosing to obey it, is our best defence weapon. 👋🏻