Attitude

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

/ DVH

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

P 3468 Check out of lukewarm!

/ DVH

“No soldier when in service gets entangled in the enterprises of [civilian] life; his aim is to satisfy and please the One who enlisted him.” 2 Timothy 2:4. 

“Sow seeds of righteousness for yourselves, and you will reap a harvest of God’s unending love. Break up the hard, fallow ground of your heart. For it is time to seek YAHWEH’s favour until He comes to pour out righteousness on you like falling rain.” Hosea 10:12 TPT.

We remain in His teaching when we live the way Jesus would. The bible tells us there is no room for lukewarmness, yet that very state is almost normal today. We have excuses for the way we live that are like the Tower of Babel … they reach up to the sky. But the only thing that is meant to reach that high is our praises! It seems we’ve chosen to forget that we died the day we came to Christ. Dead people have no reasonable excuses, they can’t defend themselves, or criticise others. They can’t do anything!

We can’t afford to wait for this kind of passion to overtake us – our new life in Christ relies upon us choosing to mature and taking every bit of what He said seriously. Nobody else can make us do that – we must do it voluntarily. The thing is, let’s be aware that we can maintain a perfectly even, cheerful outside attitude, while inside we are seething with anger and keeping count of other people’s supposed trespasses against us! Actors count on their ability to deceive their audience with their performance, but we are not actors.

It is up to us as individuals to find and break up the hard fallow ground inside us. Those things are — ‘areas that have become cold, unyielding, and closed off due to old habits, pride, emotional walls, or unresolved pain.’ (Google.) The Holy Spirit loves to help us identify areas where our hearts lack true Godly compassion and mercy. Let’s choose to remember that if the eye suffers, the whole body does. 1 Corinthians 12:26. We no longer have any claim to any kind of judgment, dead people don’t.

Here is a quick test to see if you have anyone in your life that you really can’t stand, and you want to avoid them like the plague. Check out your state of generosity and love levels toward that person. Generosity takes our ‘temperature,’ and we can often ignore it. We are told to ‘do good to those who despitefully use us …’ sadly, most of the time we can settle for appearances, or avoidance, or living our lives removed from others with token, spoken care. Many people have moved from one church to another because they felt lonely in the crowd. Husbands and wives end up treating each other like opposing forces, yet they appear fine on the outside.  

Because of what the bible says, I know that Jesus has redeemed the old me, and the new me would not dream of flinging bad stuff at you! A mature person knows that any differences  are present because that other person is unique … so they don’t withhold love, or doing good to whoever crosses their path. They don’t live with a level of deception that pretends all is well when it is not, and they don’t blame others for their own shortcomings. Instead they find places of agreement, and ‘lose’ the bad memories under the blood of Jesus, and deliberately choose to remember instances where love prevailed.

Breaking up hard ground starts with acknowledgement, repentance, plus reparation … We are even prepared to take the whole blame when it is obvious to you that you have done nothing. Humility thrives. These people care more about winning their brother than winning some squabble! They don’t justify their own behaviour, and blame someone else for what they have chosen to say or do. Humility hates separation and will do everything in its power to repair things. Here’s a great incentive – Jesus lives in each one of us, when we are unkind to each other we are being unkind to Him. Let’s not care about who did or said what to whom, and choose to care about unity instead.

“Your people (that’s God’s own people) will rebuild what has long been in ruins, building again on the old foundations. You will be known as the people who rebuilt the walls, who restored the ruined houses.” Isaiah 58:12. Did you get that? Rebuilding ruins … those things that have been broken for years. But then you, together with the Holy Spirit, choose to rebuild on the foundation of what Christ said and did. We’ve made the mistake of thinking that we must agree with others for relationships to be restored. Instead we agree that other people, whoever they are, are worth the effort because Jesus died for them too. 

We are now “in the service of our King.” That doesn’t ‘turn off’ when we are tired, fed up, or even ill. Let’s not forget what Jesus did for us, and GAVE to us. Otherwise we might forget the reason the Holy Spirit is here with us. He gives us the power to overcome in spite of our difficulties. He isn’t just with us so we can feel good, blessed or comfortable – His sole task is to make us, with our co-operation … like Christ. His goal is transformation, not petting us and patting us so we feel happy, vindicated and okay. 

Like soldiers who obey orders, now we live our lives in obedience to the Lord’s will, His way. There is no room for lukewarm when we daily choose to live like that. Bye. 👋. 

P 3432 Let’s pay attention to who He says I am. 

/ DVH

“Nor to give importance to or occupy themselves with legends (fables, myths) and endless genealogies, which foster and promote useless speculations and questionings rather than acceptance IN FAITH of GOD’S administration and the divine training that is in faith in that leaning of the entire human personality on God in absolute trust and confidence)—Whereas the object and purpose of our instruction and charge is love, which springs from a pure heart and a good (clear) conscience and sincere (unfeigned) faith.“ 

1 Timothy 1:4&5: Let’s look at this bit: “…the divine training that is in faith in that leaning of the entire human personality on God in absolute trust and confidence).” Love comes out of allowing God to train us in Christ’s Ways using our circumstances and we respond with our faith. Now let’s ask one of those pesky questions: what, or who do I lean on when life gets uncertain and unstable?

Today I want to encourage you to think about leaning your entire human personality on Him and, at the same time, aim toward trusting and having confidence in His Way of doing things. Leaning on Him means if He moves we fall over! This can be one of those great things that stays a theory. In our minds, we say: “Yes Lord!!” But when He asks us to actually ‘do good to those who despitefully use us’ … well, that’s a whole other ballgame. All that we are must lean on Him!

At the same time we can easily have a skewed opinion of what it looks like to be in ministry. We don’t have to be on a platform to be used – His grace works anywhere! But whatever we do, we need to have His fruit bursting out of it. His fruit is the proof that we are learning to love with His love – not just what we think. There needs to be an accompanying harvest to those theories in our lives. 

This is how faith expresses itself. Theories don’t change lives, actions do. I’ve been in places and situations that looked impossible, but Jesus saved us and helped us to get out. I’m not saying I liked it when that stuff happened, I’m saying that bad things give us opportunities to stand still and watch Father God do what He does best – love everyone, all at once! I’ve had to learn it is OK to be a person who doesn’t know everything. I know I can’t do anything in my own strength, it never goes the way I planned it – I found that out by figuratively falling on my head.

For instance:  the possibility of me learning to weight-lift, or run, skip, hop, kayak, or bicycle in a 100 kms marathon is now remote. Even suggesting that I jump out of a perfectly good aircraft (why would you!) — is well beyond my scope these days. That’s not laziness, btw, that’s just disability, age and a certain amount of respect for gravity! I watch people older than I am do these things and I don’t feel bad. I think: ‘I am stretching myself in a whole other direction … spiritually.‘ Trust me, that is just as intense and difficult as the physical stuff.

If I am going to train for something, then I want to train myself to walk in holiness and righteousness before the Lord. I already know anyone can have access to these things because Jesus gave us HIS righteousness etc – BUT! … those things can be easier said than done. Which is why we need to use our faith, especially as we live in everyday land! He really did give me these things and I need to act accordingly. If you are going to aim at something, aim high … … but I’m still not going to leap out of a plane, parachute or not!!

Here’s another verse. Hold onto your hat! “For the time being no discipline brings joy, but seems sad and painful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness [right standing with God and a lifestyle and attitude that seeks conformity to God’s will and purpose].” Hebrews 12:11. This is how we get righteousness, holiness, and conformity to what He wants. God’s love, the fruit of the Spirit, etc. these things have already been given to us. Done deal! Now we need to walk with Him and submit to the discipline those things will bring into our lives. Think of those things as being like my parcel at the post office. It’s already here within reach, all I need to do is go and claim it using my faith that the PO hasn’t lied to me. 

The Lord’s kind of discipline teaches us His Ways. We can read about those things in the book, but sooner or later we have to respond to them. That’s the discipline part. We pray, and then we do the very thing that seems alien to us. Sometimes it can even seem ill-advised! We turn the other cheek, walk the extra mile, love those who won’t ever love us back, and obediently follow Jesus, and the path He took before us. Here’s a little clue that will help us on our journey. When we do things His Way, we leave our ways behind.  

We are not all the same. Your idea of love might not look like my idea of love, which can lead to conflict between us. Try asking your spouse or your kid what their idea of love looks like – it’s mind-blowing. But HIS LOVE is the standard, not mine or yours. Let’s aim at loving others with His Love. The bible clearly tells me what that love looks like in 1 Corinthians 13. And Colossians 3:14-17 tells me what I need to put on, in order to wear it. However, I have to start with my faith! It takes a great deal of faith to shut-up when you want to shred the person who is attacking you.

Let’s choose what Jesus bought for us at Calvary, and put those seemingly impossible qualities on, using our faith to do it. I step into WHO HE SAYS I AM. Final thought: How am I going to move mountains if I cannot change my behaviour and let Him transform my character? I need the Holy Spirit’s help! By the way, when the bible says trained by discipline, it isn’t a suggestion. Bye 👋. 

P 3424 His Love speaks to us through His actions.   

/ DVH

Our primary goal is to be so soaked in Father God’s love that it overflows onto anyone around us. Love is Who God is, it is His nature. We take in His all encompassing love for us, in the word, in our circumstances – good and bad – and then we let the redeemed good flow out of us toward other people around us. We become like overfilled little buckets that slosh His water everywhere we go. Let’s look at a few times from the bible where people were confronted by His love.

Many times the Lord spoke to Israel about their lack of obedience to what He told them, here’s one of those times in Judges 2:11-15. To the Lord a lack of obedience means a lack of loving respect toward Him. Their attitude toward Almighty God went badly for the Israelites. Here we see how His Love provided them with an opportunity to change their minds, by heeding His warnings.

“Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals. They forsook the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the Lord’s anger because they forsook Him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.  In His anger against Israel the Lord gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist. Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the Lord was against them to defeat them, just as He had sworn to them. They were in great distress.”

Let’s look at Paul and how his encounter with God turned him around. He already had a passionate, fervent active love for what he had studied and learnt – that’s why he killed off Christians, or prompted others to do it.  Almighty God, Who Paul claimed he was serving, knocked him to the ground and blinded him with a light brighter than any other. This is still a teaching experience. I don’t imagine Paul felt all that good, being blind and all! Right there is where his inward disposition, became an outward condition. He was struck blind by confronting God’s loving and living Truth. During that time Paul’s perspective was changed. Instead, Love handed Paul his destiny — and a revelation of God’s ways. It changed him, forever.

Now let’s look at God’s Love in Peter’s life. We all know that Peter denied Christ three times, and on a beach after supper, Jesus restored him again. Let’s pick that scripture up on the third time in John 21:17: “The third time He said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love Me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love You.” Jesus said, “Feed My sheep.” Right here Jesus speaks into Peter’s idea of love, which was a wobbly theory, that had failed under pressure! The Lord transforms it into something Peter, His appointed leader, can DO to build the kingdom. God’s Love restored him, and handed him, his destiny.

Onto two people who were bible-toting, Holy Ghost believers. They are also an example of God’s love in action. Ananias and Sapphira sold their property, but Real Estate.com sold it for more money than they expected … or something like that…!  This couple believed in giving, but they lied and conspired about how much. You can’t lie to Love Himself and keep the life of God in you! Meanwhile, please note that they were asked to verify the amount individually, so either one of them could have recanted their dead-end plot. That’s how love works! They weren’t lumped together, even though they had colluded together. We know this couple didn’t back down even though Love Himself gave them a chance to change their minds. He spoke, and then He acted. Their destiny was thwarted and the integrity of the remaining saints was preserved.

I want to also include Ruth. It’s dead easy to see what happened to Ruth. She knew what submission and commitment meant. She joined herself to Naomi and would not quit. The other young woman went back to her home and she missed out on the blessing. Almighty God opened a brand new door to Ruth, and gave her another life. Plus He gave Naomi grandkids into the bargain! Almighty God made Ruth an active part of our Saviour’s ancestors. Her dedication was astonishing. When Ruth’s loyalty decided to follow Naomi home, love stepped in and acted for her, and she found a better destiny.

Lastly I want to look at Peter once more, because he saw with his own eyes, the result of Love’s work. On this particular day, God’s Love included those who were automatically excluded. Peter was sent for, supernaturally. The very next day, he is headed toward Cornelius’ house and he is hungry. He goes into a trance, and sees a vision of all sorts of unclean animals and the Lord instructs him to kill and eat them. Peter refuses because his religious training forbids him. Then Love speaks to him in Acts 10:15b. Hoo boy I hope someone is listening right now!! … “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” Peter sees this vision three times, and then the Spirit calls him to recommence his journey again to Cornelius’ house.

Acts 10:34,35. “Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favouritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.” V44-46:“While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles. For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.”

The Spirit of God, took the time to show Peter with his own eyes, what the Holy Spirit wanted to do, and then He sovereignly carried it out in front of the man. I’m pretty sure by now you have my point – God also speaks through what happens to us – good and bad. That’s love. Bye 👋.

P 3367 The Bride Jesus deserves.

/ DVH

One day, we are going to the greatest wedding of all eternity.. We will marry Jesus and be His Beloved Bride forever. This time here on earth is our preparation time for that wedding. Everything has already been prepared in heaven, on the Groom’s side. The Groom is waiting. However, it is up to His Bride to accept all the provisions and alterations that have been provided for her. The Holy Spirit is the One Who is in charge of Jesus’ Bride’s preparations. 

Just recently I’ve noticed that there is an ongoing trend everywhere in our world. There is an attitude that minimises people’s obligations to carry out what they say they will do. We’ve stopped being a people of our word. Excuses are made. When we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, we entered into a relationship, an engagement with the Lord our King, and Bridegroom. It is part of the marriage covenant to allow ourselves to be made ready for this incredible honour.

In today’s current climate I have been puzzled about what seems to be someone’s intentions, and what they— in real time, in real life —actually carried out. There seems to be no difference between INTENTIONS and ACTIONS in some people’s minds. In my opinion, those kinds of attitudes lead to confusion and sometimes even self-deceit. Self-deception occurs when we think saying something sincerely, and doing it, are the same thing. Because we owe Jesus everything – everything is what He should get!

Actions are about someone following through on the choices they’ve made, until the things that have been accepted by both parties are finished, and concluded. But intentions are  based on a person’s communicated desires and thoughts – however they don’t necessarily have to be translated into actions.The general feeling about this concept today, is that intending to do something is the same as carrying it out. IT’S NOT!

Almighty God has always held mankind to our word. He gave us His word and He carried it out. His gracious treatment of humanity is our example of promises given and fulfilled. Jesus’ Bride has a responsibility to be the kind of people who follow through on their promises. What we say at the altar needs to be followed up!  When we don’t, then we need to take the time to confess those things as sin, repent, (which means turn around and go the other way), and allow the Holy Spirit to help us keep our word. 

Father God understands, first hand, (His Son came here!) that because we are human, we can have oppressing circumstances. But the best response if we truly want to be transformed, is to go back to Him and talk to Him about it, not just excuse ourselves. Looking for permission to avoid responsibility, or to cover up things and pretend that they don’t exist, will compromise the very essence of our privileged relationship with the Trinity. 

Jesus paid for our sins, it was a gift, freely given. That means any presumption is offensive in the face of that gift. Gratitude and obedience are the right responses. Jesus won’t hold our sins against us, He has already provided a way for us to deal with our sins and missteps. But that way is not avoidance. Many people have indicated to me about obedience: “I can’t do that.” I cannot agree with that premise. The Lord Himself has provided a way to help us obey, at great personal cost to Himself. The Holy Spirit is here! Obviously we can change – we are simply using our feelings and habits to hide from reality.

The bible is the only way we can actively learn about what our Bridegroom expects from us. Yet we cannot do HIS WILL, His way… without HIS help. We need to learn how to behave like a royal, loyal Bride would. We must determine in our hearts to be steadfast toward our Husband-to-be and grateful for His goodness toward us, above our own negative feelings or fears. I am aware that living like that cuts across our desire for self preservation, and the appearance of looking good to others. Our Groom knows about that! He was innocent and He allowed mankind to punish Him …  yet He said not a word.

My scripture today is not one that is spoken about a lot, so I will leave you to draw your own conclusions about your  responses – just as I need to assess my own. As I have intimated before: I believe the Bride needs to stop cherry-picking scriptures that suit her and read the bible seriously, reflectively, with humility, and then go on to discontinue any course that says””I intend to… one day, when I’m ready.” Instead she must be committed to carry out anything and everything that will facilitate her new role as His Beloved Bride. Humility is our bridal shawl, now we wrap ourselves in everything He did for us.

“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” Luke 18:10-14.

After all Jesus has done for us, don’t you think He deserves a Bride Who will humbly submit to the Holy Spirit’s ministry and preparations with great joy? Let’s be a Bride Who embraces everything the Lord Jesus Himself deserves from us. Bye. 👋

P 3366 It makes you think.

/ DVH

The other day I was listening to someone who made a very strong statement that really impacted me. I did not doubt their sincerity, when they prayed. Instead it utterly challenged me. “I’D RATHER DIE THAN LIVE WITHOUT YOU JESUS!” As usual I asked myself, could I pray that prayer right here and now, and mean it?

Hold onto your hat— my answer was — NO. Sigh. I like to be truthful with you about these things because otherwise we can get caught up in ideals and principles and nothing happens in real life. The thing is, I think I would be scared the Lord would take me up on it. Isn’t it amazing what  we learn about ourselves through the most ordinary, unexpected circumstances? I really did hope that I could come up with a far better answer than that one, and I’m appalled at the things I don’t know about myself until I am confronted by the truth.

The above person’s honesty took my breath away and sent me spiralling into the wrong kind of sadness – disappointment in myself. By the way, my own answer is predicated on the fact that I love my family, I don’t want to cause them pain, plus I don’t think I’m ready to leave yet. Like all that is up to me!  And… … there went my lofty ideas of faith, and following Jesus anywhere … … right out of the window! I’ve been in the valley of the shadow of death several times, and I was too busy praying to live, to even think about that kind of devotion. I am aware that we are to love Him so much that we can’t wait to be with Him.

However, Philippians 1:21 prodded me in the conscience. “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”  This was Paul’s permanent attitude. And eventually I remembered yet another a scripture, “I die daily.” The Apostle Paul faced death all the time, and he did not shrink back from it, instead it propelled him forward into more glorious opportunities to glorify Christ … through using his faith daily. The Apostle Paul, by the way, was a better person than I am, and that becomes increasingly obvious. 

I want to pause and look at the other side of this coin. Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Paul said that one too!) I don’t have to get there by myself, instead I need to use the faith He already gave me to believe what He said, because I am actually already dead in God’s eyes. Jesus took me to the cross with Him. Right! If I am already dead, then where do these snippy snappy remarks I find coming out of my mouth keep coming from?! It seems that I am living this life unaware of what was already done on my behalf. I’ve gone back to looking at this life as MY life, not His.

I cannot afford to sit on my hands and say to myself: “I prayed about my lack, so I’ve done my bit – over to you God.” That’s not relinquishment it’s fatalism! Nor can I, or anyone else around me (!), afford for me to sit about and wait for Him to ‘fix’ me. The underlying thought in that kind of mindset is this:  ‘it is not my fault if I don’t change, because I prayed about it!’ It’s faith PLUS works. Actually in my opinion – it’s faith THAT works … all the time! My dedication to Him happens through my own choices, every day, from minute to minute. My bit is to turn whatever happens to me over to Him, and ask Him to show me what He wants me to do about it. Then I choose to do it, deliberately. That’s when I die … a teeny tiny little bit. But it grows.

I do not have to prove to Him that I love Him and want to be with Him, by I choosing His will over my own. Actually – the reality is this – HE already did that for me. And what’s more Jesus did that before I was born! If our enemy can’t get us to stop following Jesus, then he will beat us up over every misstep and mistake we make, until discouragement falls on us and we give up. BUT, even giving up can be a new beginning place. When we run out of effort, God is stronger than we can ever be and He will help us.

Instead of praying for me to die if I can’t love Him the way He deserves … I can start, right here, right now, to participate in that thought by choosing to die, in the little everyday things that irk me. ‘Not my will, but Yours, Lord.’ Living this way builds my spiritual trust in Him for bigger things.

Here’s an example of what that could look like: Someone is rude to me, instead of retaliating with a snappy reply, I take a breath, and ask for the Lord’s help and then I give a soft loving answer. I show the person who doesn’t seem to deserve it, kindness, instead of judgment. I can’t do this in my own strength, especially if I happen to meet 2 or 3 people in a row who get on my nerves… I know I will run out! However, when I run out of effort, that means I am eligible for HIS benefits because: ‘His strength is made perfect in weak people.’

Now I have discovered a way to walk minute by minute with Jesus. I am participating in His Grace for myself and giving it away – all at the same time. I will spiritually benefit from that participation and so will others. I don’t have to pray: “I’d rather be dead than live without You Lord,” I can show Him my devotion to that concept by appreciating what He did for me first, and then I can choose to deliberately pass on that GRACE exercising my faith, to everyone around me … even the grumpy nasty ones – every single day. If you let it, this blog will make you think. Bless you Bye. 👋

P 3319 Human beings are so fickle!

/ DVH

I was reading Psalm 74 yesterday. Some of the Psalms are almost a litany of complaints against the Lord, which seemed to be the Israelites’ automatic response to a lot of their immediate situations. Meanwhile I was captured by the attitude of the writers. These complaining attitudes also exist in Psalm 44, (74), 79, 80, 83 – and finally Psalm 89. That attitude is there throughout practically every book of the Old Testament. It led to tension and practically no trust! It seems to me that we often have no real knowledge of Who we are dealing with….

Almighty God Himself put the Israelite people where they were – He even gave them someone else’s land. (Read Abraham’s story) Meanwhile, He’s Almighty GOD so He can do that — after all He OWNS the earth!! … Just saying is all. Yesterday hubby gave a lovely aboriginal lady one of our coffee books, and she was talking about what she believes. The Lord asked me to write something at the beginning of the book we gave her. What He said to write really impressed me: “This is the great Southland of the Holy Spirit.” It’s always good to remember we own nothing. Ownership is an illusion.

Back to the Israelites, they wanted an easy road. Don’t we all? We try to figure out God’s ways and get all excited because we think we have worked out a way to get Him to do – this and that … And if we just do this — (pray lots, pray the right prayers, hold up the bible and remind Him of what He said in it, read the bible all the time, or join a worship group/intercessors group) — then He will do that. And we collect facts to back that idea up! Rots of ruck on that thought.

If we read the bits we don’t like much, we can discount that theory. The Israelite people saw Almighty God as SomeOne Who was in their lives to fix things. Like the temple;  or their enemies;  or this or that captivity;  or their unhappy lives;  or even their lack of fine cuisine! They seem to have no clue that God is G.O.D… unfortunately that also meant they had no real ongoing fear of the Lord! Eventually they made a huge list of rules to keep God happy and hoped that would do.

Father God is not a sugar-daddy, or our own personal assistant, or even Father Christmas! He is the Almighty all-knowing, ever-present, everlasting Father of us all and He owes us nothing! We are here to learn that we owe Him everything – including every single bit of our loyalty! It seems to me that this attitude of privilege is not just restricted to our current generations, it’s been an ongoing attitude, off and on, inside and outside the church for thousands of years.  

Bad things have been egregiously attributed to His Character. Like calling disasters “an act of God!” with absolutely no regard to our personal contributions to our own fate! The Lord has given us FREE WILL, and we often respond to Him like we would to the wrong order supplied by McDonald’s! “Lord, why haven’t You fixed this and that in my life? Don’t You care for me anymore?” … OR … my personal UN-favourite …”Isn’t my life hard enough?” What a whiny group of spoilt fuss-pots human beings can be! We throw blame around like confetti, nattily avoiding responsibility

It’s a testimony to the Lord’s great Grace that He doesn’t drown us all, like He drowned everybody but Noah and his family.  Now there’s a cautionary tale we seem to want to forget! But God made a promise and HE doesn’t break His promises. His promises REST on WHO HE IS not how He feels. Seven people followed Noah onto that ark… before the flood came. They did more than just receive the Word of the Lord, they acted on it.  I wonder what can He do with our undivided affection, attention, trust, obedience and loyalty?

Let’s not underestimate the value of our own faith. Somebody else may be watching you, while you are following HIM. Sadly, we can often be fickle and whimsical in our devotion to Jesus, turning it on and off like a tap. However, He is always there for us. Let’s remember that Almighty God has forever on His mind. Bye 👋.

P 3315 A monument to a dead past.

/ DVH

“We LOOK AWAY from the natural realm and we focus our attention and expectation onto Jesus Who birthed faith within us and Who leads us forward into faith’s perfection. His example is this:  Because His heart was focused on the joy of knowing that you would be His, He endured the agony of the cross and conquered its humiliation, and now sits exalted at the right hand of the throne of God!”  Hebrews 12:2 TPT.

Jesus, because of His love and passion for us, endured the kind of things that make us shudder when we read about them,  Now HE is our example of what we are aiming at in this life. Let me put that this way: ‘Because our hearts are focussed on knowing He is ours, now WE are learning to endure like He did…’  God wants us to leave behind those things that cripple us, and choose to refocus. We have focussed too much on other people, it’s time to put our focus solely on Him!

When we are hanging around with Him, we are relating to SomeOne Who is so perfect, and so beautiful, His Presence promotes a desire for personal change. Especially when Who He is begins to saturate us. I think I am a nicer and totally different person than I was before I met the Lord – simply because I met Him and He has impacted my whole life.

Before I met Jesus I held grudges. I could only see someone else’s faults. I didn’t even bother to look for their good side. Back then I could be cynical at the drop of a hat and make it sound funny, but there was a sting in the tale of that scorpion. Leaving that behind me was a hard attitude to break, because it had become a defensive weapon. The Lord and His Word have helped me leave that kind of past behind me. But first I had to learn TO LOOK AWAY FROM the things that I had adopted to define myself, and look toward Him instead. I had to see ‘ME” through HIS eyes. 

That junk I had picked up to protect myself, was like a pile of filthy laundry sitting in my heart. It came from my own rotten attitudes and other people’s sins against me. Their actions against me continually weighed me down. Plus I kept going back and digging around in the ugly stuff other people did, and concentrating on how bad it was back then, and my own revulsion of what ‘they’ had done. This meant that I could not see beyond that pile of dirty laundry. 

That stuff grew and grew until it filled my vision. The people involved became evil in my eyes – they did bad things to me and somebody needed to pay, so I picked them!! I had no clue SomeOne else had already paid before I was ever born. I focussed on the BAD and it influenced me and I happily excused my own abhorrent behaviour. I used my own knowledge of their flaws to influence other people against them … and told anyone else who would listen to me about their abuse. “Love covers a multitude of sin …”

I couldn’t see the Lord, yet He was always there, standing behind that giant pile of dirty laundry. However when He wanted to talk to me about the person I was furious at, I wanted Him to take my side— agree with me, and authenticate my rotten attitude. Why didn’t He punish these people for doing such terrible things to me and ruining my life? The incredible truth is, He never gave up on me. Eventually, I understood that the people who hurt me were as trapped as I was. Their behaviour had tainted their personhood, and as the years went on, they became defensively stuck too.

That’s when I realised that the Lord didn’t approve of what had happened at all — Instead He was asking me to forgive others and move past it. My new life in Him, was going to be so much bigger than that pile of dirty laundry I kept staring at — and He wanted to lead me out of captivity into a much bigger place. The more I edged around the horrible pile of ‘aughts against any,’ by randomly throwing forgiveness on the top — the clearer the world beyond other people’s sins against me, became. I am an adult, so it was time for the wounded child within me to grow past anger and revenge and step into a brand new mature life. My new life was worth much more than a pile of dirty laundry! 

If I continued to let that stuff torment me it meant I was losing the life I had NOW – today. These people were broken, and I had let grief and anger drag me from the past into the present. It tormented me. I had to learn to say: ”I’m not going to let those things torment me anymore.” In the end the other people didn’t actually change — I DID! I walked out of that prison of bad focus. However, if I even accidentally looked back, the pain would rush toward me like a river. So I regularly asked the Lord for healing and kept right on looking straight ahead, doggedly forgiving others as this stuff came up.

Just like Lot’s wife I had to turn away from the things that dragged me down, or I too would turn into a pillar of salt! A monument to a dead past. Other people’s attitudes were their business and not mine. This stuff still pops up unexpectedly on my radar occasionally, and I take my feelings to the cross and leave them there – I do it because Jesus told us to do it. The benefit is peace in my own life. I left regret, self-pity, sorrow and suffering behind me when I realised the only person I was hurting when I kept on going over what had happened …was me! I had been rubbing salt in a raw wound wondering why it would’t heal, but Jesus healed me when I wasn’t looking as I moved on following Him.

Let’s all look away from the past and leave it where it belongs – behind us. Destroy those monuments of your past! Or perhaps you are currently listening to the Lord Jesus and daily choosing to leaving your past behind you too. God bless you … and WELL DONE!!  Bye 👋.

P 3313 Blockages to love.

/ DVH

“Beloved children, our love can’t be an abstract theory we only talk about, but a way of life demonstrated through our loving deeds. We know that the truth lives within us because we demonstrate love in action, which will reassure our hearts in His Presence.” 1 John 3:18-19 TPT. There is little power in loving people who love us – the power of God is in  loving people who hate us.

Do you need reassurance of His Presence in your life? Are you living a life of humility and love toward everyone around you? If, like me, your answer is sometimes, then that’s where we can begin. I start by asking myself, why am I not doing this all the time? What is blocking His love through me toward this person? Today I want to talk about unforeseen blockages to love. Because anybody with a lick of sense knows that when we are angry, unforgiving, or in unbelief, those things block the love of God through us.

‘It’s the little foxes that can spoil our vines.” (Song of Songs 2:15.)  So let’s look at some. If we do not choose to consciously remain connected to our source, Jesus — with the help of the Holy Spirit — we will rapidly lose our faith to continue in love, etc. with other people. That’s when we make the mistake of thinking that love is a feeling. James is so helpful! He makes it clear that God’s love includes actions. (James 2:18.) Let us call loving others using our ‘faith,’ and this will help us clarify what happens. Feelings follow faith. 

Instead of begging the Lord for more love toward whoever is a thorn in your side, start by asking Him to increase your faith! None of us will have a problem with other people and their behaviour, if we stop waiting to feel something, and simply see love as an act of obedience. Without His help we will find barriers. Somebody, somewhere is bound to do something that ticks you off! 

The atmosphere in this world is geared to how we feel and it’s anti-biblical. Abraham did not feel like killing his son, his preparation was an act of sheer obedience and faith. Those are the words we need to remember when we think about LOVE. The Lord Jesus did not feel like dying for mankind, LOVE empowered Him to do it. Never ever forget you have an enemy, who is delighted to help you misread other people’s actions.

We all have Aunt Minnies or Uncle Clarences in this world (names altered to protect their identity 🤣) – and they are bound to get up your nose because … they are broken! It’s like a game they play. BTW they do this to everyone else around them too. These people can’t figure out why other people don’t enjoy their company. They practically double-dare you to love them. The only way you are going to be able to get through to difficult people is to refuse to play their game, and deliberately do things the way the Lord tells you to do them. Let’s choose to go to the Source first, and spend time remembering what God’s love has done for you.

His Love looks like something these people don’t even know they need – unconditional acceptance – and that does NOT mean we are putting a rubber stamp on their behaviour! Instead we are choosing to separate their behaviour, from them … the person God made. Then we act on what He says in the book. They are no longer in charge, anymore – now we are under His orders. He knows the Way in. I can’t tell you what to do, or how to do it, but I urge you to be prayerful and do what He says- for Him, not for them. I call that worship! We are ‘presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice.’ That takes faith, and it is why love needs faith to operate. Faith calls things into being that are not there and that includes love when you feel you have none!

Let’s start with forgiveness, and go on to asking for healing for both parties, then ask the Lord how to turn your prayers into actions. It can be as simple as giving Aunt Minnie and Uncle Clarence their favourite coffee or tea, when they arrive unexpectedly at 5.30am and it looks like they plan to stay for the day! 😱 When any attitude of ours remains unchanged, it can quickly become a bad attribute that seems like it is sealed in with cement. However, God can melt mountains like wax, so a wrong attitude of the heart will simply melt in His Presence. That’s why we go after Him first. HE needs to come with us.

Tackling your nemesis is impossible without the One Who made them in the first place! In God’s enormous Grace, the Holy Spirit shoots people in the heart when they aren’t looking because He wants them for Himself. Watching this process happen is so much fun! The best bit is afterwards, old Auntie M and Uncle C don’t remember being changed, they think they’ve always been a nice person. My advice when this happens is this -, don’t correct them. Be kind to yourself, don’t poke the dang bear! Leave people in their ignorance. That’s called GRACE. Hilarious. And WE get to exercise OUR faith. Win, win.

Only God Himself knows what other people need, He may ask you to supply what they need, and, at the same time, what they actually need may surprise the living daylights out of you! Try telling the grumpy person that you love them, and give them a hug when they are being horrid. THAT lets the air out of their tyres!! Our God is so good, so loving so kind, He allows ALL OF US to forget how horrid we have been – to Him and others. These injuries and things can become unforeseen blockages to releasing His love. When we follow His instructions, we get to exercise our faith and they get to experience His love. 

Love always looks like something, and the Lord’s love looks like a waterfall of Grace, over the people we wish we didn’t know. Let’s remember, NONE of us deserve it. Bye. 👋

P 3309 Anxiety.

/ DVH

Charles F Stanley wrote the following. I hope it is helpful: “Anxiety is a problem we all will deal with at one time or another. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said: “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”(Matt. 6:25-26)

The Greek word for “anxious” in this passage means “distracted.” It’s a word that refers to uncertainty. That’s what anxiety produces in us. It gives us a feeling of, what’s next? It’s a feeling that the rug has been pulled out from underneath us and we have no idea if we’re going to fall, how hard, in what direction, or onto what.

The word “anxious” is also translated as “worry” in the Bible. For many people, worry has become a way of life. If that describes you, I encourage you to read again the words of Jesus. His words are not a suggestion—they’re a command. You may say,“I can’t help feeling anxious, I’ve always been a worrier.”I’ve heard that from many people through the years. My response is, “Yes you can.”

There’s nothing about a circumstance that automatically creates anxiety. Anxiety occurs because of the way we respond to a problem or troubling situation.Your ability to choose is part of God’s gift of free will to every human being. You can choose how you feel. You can choose what you think about, and you can choose how you will respond to a circumstance. It certainly isn’t God’s purpose for you to feel anxious—He doesn’t allow situations in your life so you’ll have anxiety. 

The Father may allow a situation in your life to develop stronger faith, grow and mature, or change a bad habit or negative attitude. But God doesn’t set you up for anxiety. He’s always at work to bring you to a place where you’ll trust Him more, obey Him more fully, and receive more of His blessings.

You can fall into a downward spiral of anxiety, or you can say: “Father, I bring this to You. It’s beyond my control. I feel helpless in this situation, but You have the power to change what I’m facing. You love me perfectly, and I’m trusting You to handle what concerns me in the way You see fit. I know whatever You’ve planned for me is for my good. I look forward to seeing the way You choose to express Your love, wisdom, and power.” Amen. Friend, this is the way of peace—the road out of anxiety and worry.” 

Back to my little bit for today! I think this is the stuff that haunts most people. I put these thoughts by Charles F Stanley on my blog today because so many people are under siege from the things he talks about. His writing is clear and concise and he said it a whole lot better than I can! My motivation is this:  whatever it takes to help someone else get free is useful!  

This mini-sermon was particularly helpful to me, because we are preparing to put far too many things inside our car and even more stuff on top of it!— And still fit us, in it! Plus we will end up talking to a whole bunch of strangers. All this happens as we are travelling over 3,600 kms in the middle of a petrol shortage with prices through the roof. Some generous people have already helped us out financially with the extra burden of the cost of petrol. But my point is this: hubby and I are not exempt from anxiety either, it’s an ongoing battle for all of us.

I do have one helpful hint that works for me. If anxiety and worry start to build and I end up mentally knitting, I phone a friend or text someone. I don’t always tell them the problem, I simply ask them to pray. God knows what I am concerned about. I can fall into worse trouble when I talk about the difficult stuff, it actually kind of magnifies the problem in my mind. I might end up looking for sympathy instead of explaining that I simply need to hold fast. I have to pick my battles. Sometimes there are some things I can’t solve, but I can pray.

I’ve learnt that as I relinquish my anxiety about the things that bother me, I am far more open to His passions than my own. It’s not hard to love a God who values human beings so much, that He died for them. I think anxiety is a bit like a snowball rolling down a steep hill, it gathers momentum as it rolls on, and on. You can’t stand in front of it, it will squash you flat! The important bit is to know where and when that snowball begins in your life, so you can stop it at the top and jump all over it to disperse the thoughts.

The bible says in 2 Corinthians 10:5 …  “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”  Anxiety is our enemy’s lies on steroids.  We can pay attention to the incessant ugly noise or give our attention to the One who lives inside us. Yes, it is a battle, many, many times – but Mr Stanley offers great advice, I intend to take it. Bye 👋.