Arrogant

P 3254 It ain’t rocket science.

/ DVH

Hubby and I are blessed to attend a ‘missionary church.’ Our pastor is a missionary to this country, and his aim is to raise up missionaries for other countries, as well as right here … to go and preach the gospel. He is not concerned about numbers – our numbers can sometimes be few – but his aim is to get the gospel out there and encourage others to take it seriously and start living for Jesus. I think every church should have this aim. My question is today — where are our missionaries from the world-wide church?

I have a few observations to make about this subject. Most denominational, Pentecostal, and Charismatic churches have traditionally sent out missionaries to other countries. However, each group has their own individual slant on the bible. Who cares? As long as they preach the gospel – hallelujah! However, it is so easy to judge a missionary’s prowess by evident spiritual gifts as well as numbers, and a well-formed character comes second. My question is:  how will these people in strange environments respond to difficulties?

Meanwhile, people in the Western world leave their churches all the time and many start a new church to validate their version of doctrine. UM!! We weren’t saved to validate God’s doctrine! He can take care of it by Himself, thank you very much. We’ve been commanded/told to preach Jesus! I’m not trying to be critical because I know the aim is to make our churches grow – because each church wants to see people saved.Their purpose may well be pure, but they seem to think bigger, means better…  and I don’t! Bigger can mean more passengers, not participants.

It is tremendously sad for the world-wide church to be divided over individual interpretations of the bible. God’s wisdom is many-sided or faceted, it says that in Ephesians 3:10 AMP:“[The purpose is] that through the church the complicated, many-sided wisdom of God in all its infinite variety and innumerable aspects might now be made known to the angelic rulers and authorities (principalities and powers) in the heavenly sphere.”  What we see depends on where we are standing. Our finite brains can’t contain ALL His truth, we simply get little revealing glimpses of it.

Here’s an odd example of how misinformation works. A few blind men, found an elephant by accident. They didn’t know what it was. One man found the tail, so he thought an elephant was like moving rope. Another felt the skin, he thought the elephant was like wrinkled paper, etc. My point is this, when it comes to the precepts of God we are all still blind and sometimes, sadly, arrogant with it! I am not more right than you and you are not more right than me. Only Jesus Himself is Truth. But we both have gleaned little snippets of His wisdom along the way. However, we are here to make HIS name great and I’m not sure that can happen easily, when we decide we are here to push our doctrines and agendas. 

Whenever I write this blog, my dearest hope is that the reader will fall in love with His Word and go and look things up in the bible for themselves. My words can only have power in them IF the Holy Spirit kisses them for your ears. Otherwise I am bonging away, doing my best ‘gong’ imitations, hoping someone can hear me. In other words — please don’t follow me, follow Jesus. Here is another version of the above scripture in Ephesians 3 MSG bible, the Apostle Paul is speaking: 

“This is my life work: helping people understand and respond to this Message. It came as a sheer gift to me, a real surprise, God handling all the details. When it came to presenting the Message to people who had no background in God’s way, I was the least qualified of any of the available Christians. God saw to it that I was equipped, but you can be sure that it had nothing to do with my natural abilities.                                     

And so here I am, preaching and writing about things that are way over my head, the inexhaustible riches and generosity of Christ. My task is to bring out in the open and make plain what God, Who created all this in the first place, has been doing in secret and behind the scenes all along. Through followers of Jesus like yourselves gathered in churches, this extraordinary plan of God is becoming known and talked about even among the angels.” 

Paul was a missionary. He and the other disciples set out to follow Jesus’ instructions, and make disciples, not converts. Simon the sorcerer was a convert! This is what real commitment looks like: hundreds of years ago, the 18th century Moravian church sent out missionaries to preach the gospel to leper colonies. These men knew they were never coming back, they would die there. They left behind their own little families, their homes, their churches, and sailed away never to return to their homeland. Such was their devotion to the gospel. At the last glimpse of them they were standing on the deck of the ships that would take them away forever, and cried out until they could no longer be heard: “May the Lamb receive the reward of His suffering!”  Personally, I find that very challenging. That’s character!!

Missionaries are sent into this world to preach the gospel into places where it is not preached. They need to be mature in their faith. Enthusiasm is great, but nothing beats a changed character. We don’t go out to grow our churches or push our doctrines, we go to preach Jesus and what He did for mankind. Doctrine confuses people,and the Lord Jesus died to unite us. As His disciples/missionaries we are instructed to tell everyone we know the good news — that Jesus Christ loved them so much, He came here to save them! It ain’t rocket science.🚀 Bye. 👋

P 3110 Wars and rumours of wars!

/ DVH

I have heard so many people lately who think it is the end of times. Is it? I dunno! All I know is that it seems to me that a whole lotta people have bunkered down, waiting for Jesus to come and get us, instead of growing up into the fullness of Christ. Meanwhile it’s just too bad about the poor sods who have no idea what He did for them. Let’s just leave them trying to tread water OUTSIDE the ark! 😱

I know I just mixed my metaphors, but you know what I mean. I can’t see how knowing that Jesus is … hypothetically, coming next Monday, is useful information! Ask yourself this question – what would YOU change about your life and your actions if you knew for sure that Jesus IS coming next Monday?! Now there’s a great diagnostic question if ever there was one! Here’s another one, have you been postponing obedience to a better, easier day? There’s a whole lot of other far more important stuff to go on with, than; “Is it the end of the world?” And that other stuff IS within our power to change.

The Lord Jesus is saying ‘always be ready’ — which is truly exceptional advice. I think He knows what we need to know, and what we don’t, and what’s the point of chasing unicorns when we have work to do? We need to live like Luke 21:36 says: “Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.” This is important because our inner attitudes will no longer be hidden. Right now, the church we go to, may not know we are as sweet as pie when we are with them, and a pain in everyone’s heart at our house!!

Jesus specifically taught us to take note of the times – but He didn’t say write a thesis on it. Look it at this version of Matthew 16:3: “ ... …why can’t you read the signs of the times? An evil and wanton generation is always wanting signs and wonders. The only sign you’ll get is the Jonah sign.” Then He spun around and walked away.”Take note of what is going on and pray. We also need to apply God’s Word to our hearts faithfully, and make sure we let the Holy Spirit keep us humble. 

“But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.“ 2 Timothy 3:1-5.

Yeah, those verses read like the lead story of our news! If WE are any of those things let’s grow up and fix them quickly. There are some days that I would be better off avoiding myself!  Meanwhile I do need to start with me …because so far nobody else came up! BTW, these are fantastic verses to meditate on. It’s like a check-list of heartless, mean, dumb things to do. However, instead of putting a mental tick on each thing mentioned, we need to ask the Lord, ‘Do I do this?’ 

At the same time, don’t let yourself be condemned, because you and I are now “in Christ Jesus” and there is no condemnation in Him. Instead, we need to agree with the Holy Spirit’s diagnosis, and ask Him to help us repent and repair stuff, then go and do it, just do what you can do to fix things. Then, move on – none of us have a guaranteed tomorrow.

Back to my main point. Jesus gave this information to His disciples two thousand years ago. He talked a lot about the end times, but the Lord did it in conjunction with our own behaviour toward others. Yet we keep carrying on like we are supposed to know when this stuff will happen, when the bible clearly says:’No-one but the Father knows.’ See Matthew 24:36. And if the Father did not tell His precious, beloved, always-obedient-to-His-will-SON, Jesus Christ, then WE are not meant to know. Think again! Let’s pray and ask Him to forgive us all, for our arrogance.

However, the “signs” Jesus mentions in Timothy, in Matthew, and Luke – are a wake-up call for us to do something about our lives. We can pray for places where there is war. We can go out of our way to care for others. We can witness. And we can let this life teach us how to love the unlovely – after all, who needs to know the love of God more? I’m talking about those people nobody likes, so nobody wants to tell them anything— just in case they repent and get saved!

We all might want to think about that, while we are contemplating – wars and rumours of wars. Personally, I think we need to use our God-given time on earth well and participate willingly in our transformation. Do you want to be like Jesus and your heavenly Father?? Then …“Love your enemies, do good to those who despitefully use you …” Matthew 5:43-48. After all, that’s our Father’s business.  Bye. 👋

P 3108 HE is our strength.

/ DVH

“The extraordinary level of the revelations I’ve received is no reason for anyone to exalt me. For this is why a thorn in my flesh was given to me, the Adversary’s messenger sent to harass me, keeping me from becoming arrogant. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to relieve me of this. But He answered me, “My grace is always more than enough for you, and my power finds its full expression through your weakness.” So I will celebrate my weaknesses, for when I’m weak I sense more deeply the mighty power of Christ living in me. So I’m not defeated by my weakness, but delighted! For when I feel my weakness and endure mistreatment—when I’m surrounded with troubles on every side and face persecution because of my love for Christ—I am made yet stronger. For my weakness becomes a portal to God’s power.”

Sooner or later everyone’s faith comes under pressure. But the knowledge is not revealed to us to torment us, as Paul explains here in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. Paul is telling us pain has a purpose! God reveals things to us even through pain, so we can work with Him on the gaps in our knowledge of Him and errors in our faith –  together. He will not leave us even when the ceiling falls in. The Lord allows things to help us to learn about our multifaceted blessings. And He wants us to learn to wait for Him. We are not waiting for the solution, we are waiting to hear from Him. Jesus knew how to wait!

There’s nothing like trouble to send desperate people to their knees. Or sobbing on the bed in despair when we can’t find the way out – and we want it to stop, NOW. In those times, ask yourself, can I go one more step? I don’t project the misery I feel into the future, because the thought of endless suffering is devastating. The more we press into what we already know about Him personally — the more about Him and ourselves, we can learn in difficult times. Our God does not cause suffering! He’s a faithful, good, good Father Who wants us to grow up into the fullness of Christ Himself. He is leading us, step by step, into a new, bigger place – just as surely as He led Abraham and Moses into the Promised land.

Whatever we are experiencing can give us a fresh revelation of what Christ voluntarily did. He too, suffered despair, loneliness, loss of love, loss of understanding, depression, anguish, grief and sorrow. He was all alone in Gethsemane, as well as on that cross. And He suffered in ways we cannot imagine. We have a Saviour Who was“… was despised and rejected and forsaken by men, a Man of sorrows and pains, and acquainted with grief and sickness; and like One from Whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we did not appreciate His worth or have any esteem for Him.” Isaiah 53:3.

Jesus suffered everything He suffered, for us – He can show us the way through it. This is what Paul is talking about. He had grown strong enough in His faith to receive correction, and adjustment to his own faith, as well as renewing his thinking. He thought he needed to get out of the thing that was tormenting him, but God graciously granted Paul the understanding that this too was yet another place he could learn to lean on what Jesus did!

Obedience is everything …but we’ve made UNDERSTANDING into everything instead. 

Paul saw purpose. He realised all that knowledge God had downloaded into him, could cause him to be arrogant – and arrogance short circuits Grace! So he chose to endure the harassment of pain and suffering because God showed him there was a benefit – immediately – as well as on the other side! You and I have limitations. We can only stretch so far, some can stretch further than others, but we all have limits. When we reach the end of ourselves – God is still there! His power to overcome is still there! Take a deep breath, tell Him you love Him and you know He won’t let you down. Faith acts, it speaks!

It is a good thing to know that you can’t do … whatever it is … because GOD IS RIGHT THERE WITH YOU IN THAT WEAKNESS. Instead of trying to wiggle out of it, ask Him to help you stay the course, and learn how to trust Him more. Most of the time, I have discovered this sort of ‘adjustment’ is hardly ever about some other person’s actions against me. It’s about me. Maybe I have been blindsided by a wrong belief, or I have not comprehended the fullness of what Jesus died to give me. Let’s remember we all need endurance, we are in a race! By all means tell the enemy to GO! But remember, to ask the Lord: “What’s this about Lord?”

If I can’t endure what is happening to me, that means I am not complete in my faith in that area. Think about Jesus being there, right now, holding your hand. He is praying for you, so is the Holy Spirit. He wants to remind you to learn to rely upon His strength, instead of your own. Maybe you can’t do this – but He can! Don’t look for a plan all laid out and downloaded from heaven – instead take one small faith step at a time.

We won’t perceive His blessings when we are constantly asking God to bail us out of whatever it is we are stuck in. Trust me, I’ve tried that. It will take as long as it takes, and then finish so suddenly you will have your mouth drop open like a goldfish! But don’t just lay down like Father God is an ogre and you have no power to escape from His dealings. Talk to Him about what He wants you to learn about yourself, the situation, His Grace, and loving others more freely. God understands how vulnerable FLESH is – He put it on and came here! 

Bye.👋

P 3010 Who benefits? Us or His kingdom?

/ DVH

“We can demolish every deceptive fantasy that opposes God and break through every arrogant attitude that is raised up in defiance of the true knowledge of God. We capture, like prisoners of war, every thought and insist that it bow in obedience to the Anointed One.” 2 Corinthians 10:5 TPT. 

If we take what Paul has said to the Corinthian church seriously, we can see that the Christian life is not meant to be a walk in the park, whistling as we go! There’s a lot of demolition and active transformation that needs to happen in an ongoing, everyday fashion. I believe the New Testament shows us how we can change, what we need to change, and why we should change! The ‘when’ is easy — NOW! If you ignore some behaviour and hope it will go away, you are deceiving yourself. Whatever we hold onto holds us back!

Paul faced a lot of criticism along the way, even from the people he ministered to. Some times people who are very sure of what God has said to them, can appear to be arrogant. It is easy to mistake arrogance and enthusiasm for the anointing of God. Arrogance is when I talk to straighten you out because I already know. It puts me up and brings you down. Encouraging you as we journey together, means I stretch out my hand to you, whenever I might be a help. However, the speaker must always remember: 

“A word fitly spoken and in due season is like apples of gold in settings of silver. [Prov. 15:23; Isa. 50:4.] Like an earring or nose ring of gold or an ornament of fine gold is a wise reprover to an ear that listens and obeys. Like the cold of snow [brought from the mountains] in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to those who send him; for he refreshes the life of his masters.” 

Our God-given place is to continue to live in, and acknowledge our ever-present need for more of His Grace. And we cannot carry that out well if we choose to hide from the very people God sent to help us! Even if they are painful! Honesty with ourselves and others is paramount. I am not talking about being negative, I mean that we are all on the same journey, and none of us have arrived, so pretending we are doing well when we know we are not, is called deception. 

Most people are afraid of correction. They are afraid to admit they can’t perform well, and then they can quickly get caught up in self-effort. It’s a never-ending pattern — trying hard to meet the mark, and failing. The reason I gave that particular method up is because I was a total wash-out at changing myself, I had too many flaws and not enough hours in the day! I have learnt to suspect that my feelings are not a good guideline to where I want to go. However, whatever the Lord says will stand forever — what I feel can be changed by double chocolate ice cream and a piece of cake! 

If someone comes from the place of “I know and you don’t” then they are not yet in a place of humility. That’s a flaw just like any other, often born out of insecurity. As Jesus’ beloved fiancee we need to live in the place of humble surrender, permanently, simply to facilitate the right attitude when we speak to others. I am not just talking about lip-service … we can all say we surrender. But the reality occurs where the rubber of my life hits the road of obstacles and hardship. Or when this life squeezes us so tightly it actually exposes the truth. Life has a very bad habit of doing that! We are afraid to be real because we have not comprehended exactly what Jesus Christ did for us.

More mature people can share with others those things they have learnt along the way, but we had better make sure we are putting what we say into practice ourselves. Even if it looks to us like we will become vulnerable, because we often get it wrong! Like my favourite verse says: ‘Not that I always achieve that aim, but I sure am pressing on!’’…  “ ‘I can’t help it’ doesn’t cover anything … only the blood of Jesus does that!’

“If we [freely] admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just [true to His own nature and promises], and will forgive our sins and cleanse us continually from all unrighteousness [our wrongdoing, everything not in conformity with His will and purpose].”  Our new life doesn’t rely upon us, it relies upon Jesus and what He did. Our aim is to support one another, as we walk forward …together. There are no losers or winners in the Christian life – only participants. 

Sadly, there are many people who think they can still have this AND that error, or bad habit in their lives, and it doesn’t make any difference to their level of commitment. People can be deceived into thinking they can make excuses for ungodly attitudes, and still follow Jesus. As soon as self-deception enters the ring, human beings will be KO-ed out, because we have become double-minded. The point is we cannot abuse the blood of Jesus, which is an incredibly precious thing, to excuse our unwillingness to learn and be transformed. And that’s a life-time goal not a one time event! 

Whatever we say at the altar, needs to be followed up with prayer and deliberate choices. This life we have chosen is not easy. It has many things in it that we think we value – things, or even people we think we cannot live without. Those things need to be given to the Lord along the way, in order to keep walking after Him. These things don’t always have to be bad either, but we don’t want ‘that will do,’ we want everything laid down for His sake. The secret, as I see it, to knowing the difference between what is Godly or not is this – who benefits – US or His kingdom? Bye. 👋

P 2896 Relinquishment.

/ DVH

Jesus is portrayed in the bible, as our Shepherd, He is called the Good Shepherd. At the same time, many of us have what we might call lost sheep in our families. I have them, and like you, I often weep over greatly-loved people who have chosen to leave our Saviour outside of their camp — because they don’t wish to hear what He wants to say to them, and they don’t want to live a life of laid-down love. It’s their choice, a choice that can break our hearts, but that choice is sometimes made because of great pain, deception, anger and disappointment.

It is tempting to think that if we just manage to give that person the right scripture from the bible, they will be set free. But God has put incredible value on the power of our own personal choice, this means He respects their choices, so it is clear we need to do that too. The answer to this pain, is relinquishment! Plus choosing to remind ourselves that He is faithful.“For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.” 2 Timothy 1:12. Yes, you and I will suffer but –”…love suffers long…”  And incredibly, He is always faithful – even when we are not!

No amount of human persuasion, or application, can do this work as beautifully as He can. He knows how to open up hearts, and we don’t. Jesus once called ordinary fishermen to follow Him, and He said He would make them fishers of men! I mean — hullo?! What the heck does that mean? But, those men got up and left everything they had ever known immediately and went on the road with Him! Some people’s lives were transformed just because He walked past them. These people we care deeply about need HIM, not us. Our job is to continue to show them love, however He tells us to do it..

When you read the gospels carefully, you will see that Jesus hardly ever repeats whatever He does. He had an individual answer for each individual. He knows the way into someone’s heart. I’ve seen His light break into a life many times – however, you and I don’t have the power to do that, unless He helps us. We are mortal, and we have the power of persuasion — EVE shows us how badly that can be used. It can seem like God is in no hurry to answer desperate prayers like these – take heart – He knows how to woo and win someone, with His unfailing love. 

I want to point out that Jesus was taken outside of the ‘camp’ — outside the walls of Jerusalem — to be crucified. So whatever shameful, dreaded location your friend or family member is living in, it will not bother Him. He’s seen it all. The most horrible actions and attitudes people are capable of – betrayal, murder, envy, fear, lust, cowardice, wickedness – all of it.  Even those people who hated Him, paraded past Him … right in front of Him as He was dying. Yet He was doing what He did for their despicable attitudes too. Our God is not afraid of sin. He.Took.Care.Of.It. He knows the depravity within human hearts, but – we can follow the scarlet thread of His redemption right throughout the bible from Genesis to the Gospels and beyond them.

I would like to go over the faithfulness of our God in these matters because time sometimes dims our hope. Jesus told us clearly In Luke 15, in three different ways – that He seeks the one lost sheep, one lost coin. And He waits patiently at the gate for His lost kid to come home. Those stories lead me to this conclusion: lost people are extremely important to Him! That’s why He sends us out to find them.

The Israelite nation was rescued by Him at least ten times. They tested His love, and His right to be their God, over and over again.They were rebellious, abusive, arrogant and stiff-necked, plus easily deceived, and yet they were still very precious to Him. We all know you can be furious with someone and still love them! However, His faithfulness knows no bounds, which is why we should never question or abuse it.

It can be extremely difficult to personally let go of a precious person and not preach at them. We can waste all our time and our tears and anguish over someone who is trapped by deception. BUT! — giving them to Jesus is the very best answer. Think about it. Anything and everything that was ever given to Him – He blessed it. He either multiplied things in an astonishing fashion, or He transformed them with the power of His always-present LOVE. He knows how to bring “…beauty out of ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness…” because He is supernaturally faithful. “The Lord will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever;  Do not forsake the works of Your hands.” Psalm 138:8.

Our task is to choose to keep loving those who cruelly and despitefully use us, and that can be an extremely hard thing to live with, especially if they are someone close to us. Sadly, if that person is angry with God, then they will be angry at you for believing in Him. This is part of the fellowship of His sufferings.Don’t stop praying for those you love, and don’t stop believing that your faith is valuable. God gave His only one-of-a-kind Son to us. There is no sacrifice that is greater than that one – He understands how big a sacrifice this situation is to you.

Remember, the Lord is their Shepherd too. Keep on praying for them, and then give them back to Him. Talk to Him about your pain, and let Him heal you. Relinquishment is the best pathway. Bye 👋

P 2844 Into these times!

/ DVH

“But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. …”2 Timothy 3:1-17.

“If we are faithless, He remains faithful— for He cannot deny Himself.”2 Timothy 2:13. WE SERVE A FAITHFUL GOD. That fact never changes. He is looking for people who will believe in His faithfulness. Sadly, the verse above in Chapter 3, reads like today’s news! How scary is that? And then Paul says to Timothy “… avoid such people!” I mean really? HOW? Join a nunnery?? That’s the thing about the bible, it has contradictions in it, and we desperately need our Helper to sit with us and explain His book. He’s the Author and He knows what He wants to tell US as individuals. Don’t just read what others think … ask Him yourself … then insist.

Our bible is a unique book – it’s not just full of instructions, it is chock full of God’s words, there on the page for you and I, every single day. What I hear Paul saying is this: “don’t pick up this world’s ways of thinking, doing and being.” And my thought bubble goes like this: “I will definitely need to hang around with the Holy Spirit, more than I hang around with this world’s ideas of what life is meant to be like.” Speaking for myself, that’s a tall order! I am stuck inside all day – and I’ve exhausted all the Big Bird meets Bambi movies. Sigh. One thing is for sure, I can’t do anything He wants without His help.

I permanently need His assistance for my mind to dwell on things that are good right and profitable. However, at the same time I have also discovered that a lot of supposed ‘Christian stuff’ makes me cringe. It’s like eating a terribly sweet icy pole … total brain freeze! Sadly, I have come to the conclusion that Christians can’t make Spirit-friendly movies unless they are being led, step by step by Him. And I don’t just mean that He inspired the movie maker – I’m talking about Him inhabiting what is said and done right throughout the movie! Otherwise our clever ideas make the church look weird, and a le-etle bit soft, and wimpy …! We need His power present, everywhere. In every industry, place of employment, schools, hospitals, trains, planes and automobiles! And love is the vehicle we travel in. 

At the same time, when Jesus shows up people are instantly affected by His Presence. I’ve seen that happen with my own eyes. Our job is to invite Him to come with us. Then we listen, then we obey!  People start crying their eyes out. They say: “I don’t know why I am crying.” And we tell them: “That’s Jesus, He’s here, He wants to talk to you because He loves you.” Neither of us are clever, or insightful enough to touch and reach the lives of the people we meet everyday. That’s the very thing Paul is talking to Timothy about – we must see, for ourselves, that this world is in a desperate way, but not condemn it. We must reach out. We need His guidance, direction and help – because our God cares about everyone.

I think Jesus is saying to all of us today: “Don’t go anywhere without ME.” The Holy Spirit is our filtering system, so we need to learn to run everything by Him. I believe that through these verses the Lord has given us a glimpse into this world’s future, to help us understand the times we are in. These times have not taken Him by surprise, Paul wrote about them nearly 2000 years ago! Are we in the end times? I dunno! I’m not that smart. I just know that my life will end one day, and I want it to count for His kingdom. 

I may never meet some of you guys this side of heaven, but I write this stuff in the hope that you can hear His voice through mine, and that will make you thirsty and hungry for more of Him. Living this life from day to day, going nowhere – except for making money – is the total pits. I exhort everyone I meet to yield to Him because that’s the way forward. In my heart I know that the coming generations are going to go so much farther than my generation will ever go, and do things I have never even dreamed about. Remember, the darker the darkness, the more HIS light shines. 

Just don’t be afraid to share what you know about Him with someone else. Who knows what that person will remember if their ceiling falls in and this life betrays them? Our trembling little faith-steps give the Holy Spirit something to work with! Maybe they will remember someone telling them that God loves them so much, in moments of quiet desperation. We’ve been born here, into these times, to be blood-bought containers of His love, visible illustrations, of His love in action. We show other people, what Love looks like, what Love sounds like, what Love acts like.

These are the days we can give glory to Him… wherever we are, whatever we are doing. Christ was GRACE under pressure – He died for us so we can be grace to others, no matter what is going on around us.

Bye …👋

P 2611 The way forward.

/ DVH

The first thing I want to say today, is this: without the Holy Spirit’s help – and He is available to each and every one of us – we cannot overcome sin and inadequacy by ourselves. Self-talk is not the answer, that’s this world’s answer! Confession, repentance, and humbling ourselves is the only way to thrive and survive in the Christian life. 

Jesus Christ LET Himself be humbled in the most extraordinary ways. Purity, blamelessness, grace and love hung dying on Calvary and He did nothing to deserve the appalling treatment He faced. We all know He only ever did humanity good. So if we meet ugliness from other people, we should not be surprised or offended. Jesus said that in John 13:15-17: ”I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”

So let us not be arrogant and imagine ourselves as somehow superior to the world around us, just because we happen to know something they don’t.“What do we have that was not given to us?”1 Corinthians 4:7. Here’s a useful thing I’ve learnt … When I stopped trying to outtalk others, or even organise people into suiting me, and I accepted that only God Himself can change people … I began to see other people in a totally different light.

Before that, my judgmental attitude blocked my view of them, even though I had God-given spiritual eyes, my own judgment clouded them. At the same time, I became more and more blind to my own sins. Plus I couldn’t see other people’s needs or understand them. Instead I saw myself as far more needy and unable to change than they were, because of my difficult background. That’s called pride … … think about it!  

I felt entitled to be angry with the other people because they were not helping me. It was their fault I kept falling over, their meanness made me stumble. Yeah, I know wunnerful attitude eh?  I’m not writing this stuff because I am proud of it! Spoiler alert!… I still fall over. Especially when I am tired, sick, or out of sorts!  Like Paul, I’m not there yet, but I continue to aim at transformation. Sadly, if you poke me hard enough, I probably will snarl at you. Sigh.

What that means, is this, in those moments I have totally forgotten that MY debt has been paid in full.  I’m living like an unsaved person instead of a redeemed one! If I am wrangling with guilt and shame over the way I spoke to someone, I need to remember that Jesus paid for my sin. (He paid for yours too!)  Now, my problem is no longer about my sin, it is … what am I going to do about it? Will I shrug my shoulders, and walk on and hope my awful attitude will disappear— or humble myself, repent and let the Lord discipline me?

When I fight for myself to prove myself ‘not guilty,’ or to justify any other nasty thing, or attitude, I am voluntarily walking out of the new covenant. That covenant is my agreement with God that the blood of Jesus will save, cleanse and change me. Unfortunately, at the same time, I am also choosing to put myself into harm’s way, into enemy territory, because I am stepping out from under the umbrella of Christ’s atonement, and now I am trying to shelter from the enemy’s onslaught with my own reasons, anger, excuses and inadequacies! 

The bible tells me to follow my Saviour down the same road He took. I suffer wrong because I am following Jesus. He suffered wrong and said nothing! Even if I truly think I am right, and I can prove it, I must make a choice to let go, and let God vindicate me! Reconciliation is my priority, not vindication. Vindication is the Lord’s work. My advice in a conflict is this —let LOVE be your default button. Not the kind of love that is portrayed on TV, but the kind that is in 1 Corinthians 13, and Colossians 3!

Jesus died to reconcile us to Almighty God, however, we still have choices. We can choose to step away from His Ways when we make our feelings, our needs, more important than His following Him! This means we can avoid being changed, and we will lose the ever-present ongoing war toward total transformation! Eventually guilt will drag us down and away from the light of God’s transforming love. And then shame makes us hide from the only One Who can help us – the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is the Person Who helped Christ through His life on earth and the crucifixion, He is totally well equipped to help us through our bad days.

The way forward is described in Micah 6:8“But He’s already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women. It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbour, be compassionate and loyal in your love, And don’t take yourself too seriously—take God seriously.”  Bye👋

P 2520 Where’s your storage unit?

/ DVH

“But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when His righteous judgment will be revealed.” Romans 2:5. Yeah, this is one of those verses we rush over hoping it doesn’t apply to us, right? 😳 Personally, I think it is important to get the Lord to search our hearts regularly, and make sure we are storing up good stuff, not just clinging to the bad by default. That includes hoarding grudges, other people’s mistakes, plus the things that have been deliberately, even maliciously, done against you. 

Life is too short to live like that. Things can change in a heartbeat —- nothing is certain. Right now, on the other side of the world in Iceland, people’s homes and contents are being incinerated by a rogue volcanic display. They are powerless to do anything about it. My question today is this: what have we saved in our personal heart-storage unit, that is actually being carelessly facilitated by our day-to-day behaviour? Moving on …

“Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.  Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.”

1 Timothy 6:17-19.

I get why some people aren’t thrilled with the bible, it is so totally chock full of absolutes! Things like these verses for instance! However in comparison to a lot of the world we live in today, in our country we are rich. We have somewhere to sleep, food in the fridge or cupboard, and our kids can go to school. God hasn’t asked us to go without these things, however … I believe the scripture shows us that He IS asking us to think about others and SHARE. He calls that, “good deeds.” I am not saying that we shouldn’t own anything, but what I can hear the Lord saying is that NoBody, as in no thing … but Jesus Himself … should OWN US!If we can’t live without it – it owns us!

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.” Matthew 6:19,20. And right here is the reason why it is not good for our things to own us!  This world has many ways of siphoning off our things and finances. Giving to Jesus is storing wealth up in heaven. Plus it is also a fantastic kind of pest control … that way we will eliminate rats and moths – stuff that winkles away our money without us realising it.  We just give everything we have to the Lord and leave it there. Let Him be in charge of our stuff. When we begin to understand that we actually own nothing, then nobody can steal from us.

Just FYI, I think it is important to protect and treat the things God has given us carefully and responsibly. However, this verse is actually talking about storage, where to put stuff … and … where not to put it!  Almighty God is not against us having things — remember He gave the Israelites land they did not plow and houses they did not build! He’s a generous God! BUT …“Speaking to the people, Jesus continued, “Be alert and guard your heart from greed and from always wishing for what you don’t have. For your life can never be measured by the amount of things you possess.”” Luke 12:15 TPT.

Coveting and greed will distract us so fast we can easily forget our calling! Again, the Lord’s focus is talking about the state of our hearts, not our stuff. So many people in this world do not have their basic needs met. EG: fresh water, food, somewhere to safely sleep etc. Just because these terrible things haven’t happened to us, that does not mean we can hide ourselves, or insulate ourselves against other people’s needs … the bible even tells us clearly in Isaiah not ‘to hide ourselves from the needs of our own families.’ Isaiah 58:7.

It is not in our mandate to assess whether people deserve help or not, our place is to simply help those in need. In particular, widows and orphans. Our God is very protective over widows and orphans and the homeless poor. Exodus 22:22; Deuteronomy 10:14-18;  – there are heaps of verses in Deuteronomy! Psalm 68:5-6; Jeremiah  22:1-3;  1 Timothy 5:3-8; 9-11; 16;  James 1:27; and Acts 6:1-4. 

BTW, a widow in the biblical sense is not necessarily someone whose husband has died, she can be a married woman whose husband has deserted her. An orphan can be someone who has an absent father, not just parents who died. Our wonderful God has a heart for the lonely, the downtrodden, and the supposed rejects in our societies. When we care for people like these, we are using the right storage unit. We are storing things up in heaven. God sees what we do and He takes note of these things. Ya might want to Selah that for the rest of your life and let it become a Way of life. Bye. 👋