Beauty

P3453 Impossible … right??

/ DVH

“For the perfect Light of Truth was coming into the world and shine upon everyone. He entered into the world He created, yet the world was unaware. He came to the people He created — to those who should have received Him, but they did not recognize Him. But those who embraced Him and took hold of His Name He gave authority to become the children of God!” John 1:9-12. 

I’m pretty sure most people think that they would recognise Jesus if He turned up at their church, but the fact is – He came to His very OWN people, and THEY did not recognise Him. My question is this: why not? Here’s a theory …  they weren’t expecting Him to look like that! He came as an infant. Boy, that sure fooled them. The Israelites expected a King. Battle ready, with soldiers and appropriate equipment … but Jesus went right around what man expected and came as a helpless infant. 

The next surprise was this… He didn’t come to kill off our earthly enemies, He came save them too! He came to represent us, by buying us back from the things that will drag us away from our Heavenly Father. Our Lord wants to woo us with His eternal love. Father God understands that is not good for man to be alone, so He is gathering together a Bride that will one day be worthy of His Son. The Holy Spirit’s doing this, one person at a time.

Jesus’ Bride’s beauty comes from her love for the Saviour. We need to allow the Holy Spirit to go through our lives and wash and iron away every single spot and wrinkle in them with the blood of Jesus, and the iron of adversity. It’s time to take what the Lord said seriously. There is no ‘magic solution’ to this world’s problems, there is only our hearty “yes” to what He asks of us. What if the stuff that is going on today is not about the Lord’s immediate return, but instead it is about this world groaning, waiting for the Sons of God to be made manifest?!

Jesus’ life story is the glorious fulfilment of God’s redemptive story, and He has gazumped satan at every turn. The devil did not suspect one thing, as God’s plan unfolded. Right now, in these times, we spend way much too much time looking at the obstacles and not enough time gazing on our Precious Bridegroom’s loving provision for us. God’s plans are always perfect. Just as Abraham sent His servant out to find and BUY Isaac a wife, the Lord has now sent His Precious Spirit to find the Bride He prepared before time began, for His Precious, dearly- loved Son. Jesus bought us with His own blood. And that includes you, and me. Impossible, right??

His kindness and love, are so far beyond what we can imagine, hope or dream. It seems millions of human beings have totally missed out what He did. And now it is up to us, to spread around what we’ve learned about God’s incredible love. The Holy Spirit does not want to leave one soul behind, so don’t be fooled and leave your part to others – this plan includes YOU! Faith fades away unless it is used.

When you live for a while, you start to realise how many times you’ve heard the same whispers in your head, about how hopeless you are, and why “talking to others” doesn’t mean you are to do it. The enemy rabbits on about how God won’t help you, because you aren’t worth it, and … that other guy’s repetitive junk gives the game away.  But our God does not do that. He has not ever played games with us. His plan is now clear and we are part of it.

Fan the love in your heart into a flame and actively remember everything Jesus has already done for us. Focus on that. The devil hates people using their faith. Just like He hates us giving thanks – he disappears pretty quickly when we do. Recognising Jesus in our times of difficulty makes us stronger, it irons out our inability to be self-controlled and patient. Just like the blood of Jesus washes away sin when it is allowed to penetrate even deeper than our minds, and manifest itself in our actions.

The Holy Spirit is hovering over us, waiting for our ‘yes’ so He can continually bathe us in the light of Christ’s never-ending love for His Bride. Sometimes the Lord’s greatest miracles happen in the middle of a raging storm. But at that moment, the Body of Christ often turns into Peter who said: “… Is that You Lord?”  It seems an impossible dream that God Himself should deeply care for each one of us, and need us to participate in His plan, even though we are broken. 🙌.

“But in our time something new has been added. What Moses and the prophets witnessed to all those years has happened. The God-setting-things-right that we read about has become Jesus-setting-things-right for us. And not only for us, but for everyone who believes in Him. 

For there is no difference between us and them in this. Since we’ve compiled this long and sorry record as sinners (both us and them) and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us, God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity He put us in right standing with Himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where He always wanted us to be. And He did it by means of Jesus Christ.

God sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world to clear that world of sin. Having faith in Him sets us in the clear. God decided on this course of action in full view of the public—to set the world in the clear with Himself through the sacrifice of Jesus, finally taking care of the sins He had so patiently endured. This is not only clear, but it’s now—this is current history! God sets things right. He also makes it possible for us to live in His rightness.” Romans 3.

It’s impossible! But true… Bye. 👋.

P 3437 He wrote it down. 

/ DVH

As I mentioned yesterday, I believe God calls us, and then we respond. Even when it seems like it is the other way around, we will eventually discover that the Lord has been working behind the scenes in our lives and we have not noticed Him working. The bible tells us His Word not only feeds us, it washes us clean, but we have to let it do what it has been sent to do.

I think the way to get to know our heavenly Father, His Son and Holy Spirit is to watch the way They work in other people’s lives, to see Their compassion and kindness toward ordinary people. It is not enough to read the bible stories, we must let those stories read us, and that means we will probably be convicted along the way. Here are someone’s thoughts as they talked to Him and read His book.

“I wrote it down  I stretched out the heavens, I numbered the sand I gave you the breath that you hold in your hand.  The world cries for answers, but you look away.  Yet My Word has spoken of this very day.  

I wrote it down.  Every line, every page for the humble and the wise, for the young and the aged.  The truth is alive. It will help you to stand. I left you My Word. It’s all in your hands. The nations are trembling, the earth shakes in pain. But still you chase idols and call on My name.  I warned you of kingdoms that rise and then fall. I gave you the prophets to speak. Through it all, 

I wrote it down.  Every line, every page. For the humble and the wise, for the young and the aged. The truth is alive. It will help you to stand. I left you My Word. It’s all in your hands.  You say I don’t see it. You say I can’t know. But My Spirit will teach you if you let it show. Heaven and earth will both pass away, but My Word remains unshaken today. 

I wrote it down, for the darkness, the fight, so you’d walk in the day, not stumble at night. The truth is before you. Don’t let it be banned. I left you My Word. It’s all in your hands… … I gave you the scriptures don’t say I was silent. (The artists are “In God’s World.” It’s a collective. This song is on YouTube if you wish to listen to it..)

This is one of my favourite songs to listen to at the moment. I love the haunting beauty of the words, melody and music, and the fact that what it says is relevant today. Especially the exhortation that the bible is not just any old book that can be read and forgotten. Almighty God wrote His love down on every single page, through ordinary people who didn’t live fancy-schmancy fabulous lives. They simply worshipped and followed our spectacular God. The thing is, I can hear the intense cry of the Lord’s heart in this song.

Our Shepherd wants to lead us… however, it is easy to think that everything He does is going to be spectacular. That does not resemble the Person we see in the Gospels! He didn’t chase opportunities, like we would. He simply moved about with His disciples and helped the people who asked Him, taught the ones that were interested, and healed everyone who came to Him. The bible clearly says in Isaiah  53:2: “He (Jesus) grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him.” 

This means that the Lord Jesus’ beauty came from within! The Holy Spirit was beautiful IN Him and through Him, expressing the love and life of our Heavenly Father. (PS we can choose to look like that, when we daily choose to follow Him.) Jesus looked just like any other Middle Eastern man, so if you weren’t searching for God Himself, you’d pass Him on the street! This obsession with outward beauty is a reflection of the age we are living in, where we think things have to be gorgeous and stunning, to be significant. 

There is nothing more gut-wrenchingly, devastatingly beautiful than that cross! This one event is so beautiful it reaches through time and space to touch us here and now.

Father God tells us that He did not leave us alone. He is with us … every time we read His book … we have the Holy Spirit with us – and His book! The key ingredient is to believe He is talking to YOU when you read. God is far more incredibly wise and creative than we can understand, He can take the pages of an old book and make it food for anyone.

People can get so extraordinarily tied up within the thoughts  that this word means this, and that word means that – which is useful and helpful —- but it is not what the bible’s for! The bible is spiritual MANNA. You EAT it. You treat it like a steak or a piece of broccoli … you simply cut off a chunk and chew on it.

And because digestion begins in the mouth, then you talk about it, question it, research it … that’s what chewing looks like! You ask the CHEF, the Holy Spirit, to explain to you why He chose to make the broccoli into a cream sauce on the top of the steak. Then you wait and listen. Let’s remember to ask QUESTIONS and press in for ANSWERS. “How do I do that?” is a great question. 

Our Father’s reply to us is always about His love for us. Even correction is LOVE. If you truly want to know your Heavenly Father, and His Son, read the book. The Holy Spirit waits for us to open His Word. It is amazing. This book appears to be a pure bright white light – but inside it, there is a rainbow – a depth and diversity of colour, transformation and thoughts. Bye. 👋

P3405 We are God’s poems, in this world.

/ DVH

“We have become His poetry, a re-created people that will fulfil the destiny He has given each of us, for we are joined to Jesus, the Anointed One. Even before we were born, God planned in advance our destiny and the good works we would do to fulfil it!” Ephesians 2:10. 

And you thought you were not all that valuable! You and I are daily becoming a poem, a individual and collective Psalm to the glory, goodness, grace and long-suffering kindness of Almighty God. And if that doesn’t make you smile, then I’m concerned for you! Father God doesn’t make mistakes, so neither of us can be one… and neither can anyone else.

Say this to yourself – ‘God says I have a destiny, because He has given me one. I am not a mistake or a screw up. I’m here for my Father’s glory and honour.’  Amen. Father God is so present and engaged with all of us. Sometimes we don’t see Him because we aren’t looking. There is no task in our lives that is too small. You know, the lug nuts on our car tyres hold the wheels on – they don’t look important, but if they all come off, so does the wheel. Our wheels can start to come off if we believe what we do is irrelevant.  We cannot afford to let our limited human thinking, limit Almighty God.

Because He IS limitless, humanity is still discovering those things that are old news to Him. Yet He has hidden treasures for us in this world, things that we are only just discovering now. We think we are clever when we find them. But just imagine how brilliant Father God is — HE HID IT! My advice is “don’t limit God” — and never think your problems are too big for Him, instead ask Him to help you with them. Remember, He is writing all this down because … your life is a poem.

People are so funny! They ask the Lord for a parking spot if they need one, but they don’t see world affairs the same way. Our lives are governed and planned out for us by Him, and we’ve found, because of Jesus, we’ve met people we would never ever have met. That’s how BIG His plans are for us. There is a surprise at every turn, so we’ve come to appreciate the small things He does. Years ago, we were driving around in the wilderness area of Tasmania. We were in a very remote area delivering bibles when we recognised someone in another car, who had pulled off the road.

This person is famous, they are on Australia-wide TV all the time. We turned around … because God said …”Turn around” and we went back and gave this guy a bible. We chatted briefly, and then left. To be honest I am not sure he appreciated what we gave him all that much, but he was very gracious about it. At the time, we were the only two cars on that road! For the next few years of his life, this particular man had more trouble than Job did. Did he use that bible? I dunno!! We sure prayed for him! I know we were part of a much larger plan from the Lord to get his attention, we became a part of the poem He is writing over that person’s life.

That’s the secret to recognising your destiny as the Holy Spirit writes your ‘poem.’ Please don’t ever think you have to be the whole ball-game … Eg … the batter, the pitcher, the short-stop, the umpire … instead, wait in the dug-out for your turn. God will call you when He needs you. When He wants me to say something, He says: “You’re on!” Most of the time I don’t even know what to say, but it isn’t ever about what I say — it’s about carrying the One Who I am walking with. Peter recognised the eternal quality that was in Christ, when he said to Jesus “… You alone have the Words of eternal life.” So whatever Jesus says, has LIFE in it.

Part of our daily focus is about paying attention to the process of being re-created. Poetry is about the little phrases just as much as the big ones, so let’s seize any seemingly minor opportunities and follow them through. Sometimes when the Lord does stuff, He doesn’t need a brass band! The Holy Spirit loves to speak in whispers, nudges, and thoughts. Be encouraged and follow the thread and do what He says. The Holy Spirit and our Lord Jesus are with us to help us with our daily lives. Remember, Jesus is the Living Word, if anyone knows what to say – He does!

You and I are poems that are destined to glorify Him. One day we’ll be dead and gone, but the Holy Spirit will continue to write poems over people’s lives until Jesus comes back! It is in God’s incredible nature to appreciate beautiful things, but His idea of beauty is not the same as ours. We see beautiful things as an arrangement of features and physical attributes – the Trinity sees beauty as an inside job. Mother Teresa was stunning – a glorious loving poem written to God’s glory!

Finally, let’s remember that we are not our own, anymore. SomeBody bought and paid for us. “We were purchased with a preciousness…” 1 Corinthians 6:20. Verses like these are written right throughout our very own Psalms to remind us of Jesus’ grace and obedience toward us. It is our destiny to be a Love poem to Him. Bless you. 🙌

P 3368 The Sameness of Days.

/ DVH

Here’s a hypothetical scenario: you are strolling through the streets paved with gold — you gotta love God’s building materials, gold on the footpaths and precious stones in the walls and gates! WOW! … Any-wa-ay… here comes Jesus, and He is chatting with Abraham, and He looks at you with a twinkle in His eye, and you know you are going to get to spend some time talking with Him. Hmmm … So then would you say: “Sorry, Jesus, I‘m kind of busy. I promised I would get some fish for dinner. I’ll catch You later?”

One of the things I have noticed about this life is that because one day follows another, we can get caught up in the ordinary things we must do, and miss the beauty of being given yet another day to walk with Him. Yeah I know, we will be with Him in glory one day. But living out each day walking with Him in the little things we do that must be done, can be beautiful too. His Presence affects everything. Don’t wait for Sunday, be with Jesus now! Let Him IN everywhere, and watch how your world changes.

I know quite a few missionaries around the world. They are living each day for Him. Laying their lives down, simply because they love to serve Him. They have work to do too and it is not always glamorous. This idea is not just for ‘special’ people. We can live like that. Sadly, our lives here in the West are often about the same doo-doo, on a different day. So walking and following our Master can become yet another chore. Yet another thing we have to pack into the hundred and one things we need to get done.

Some of us wake up hoping today will be a better one than yesterday. Others have very little money for food, and they have to choose between paying the rent and eating properly. Some work for ‘the man’ in some mindless job, that is nothing like the things they  hoped for when they were young. Their dreams have kind of evaporated and one day follows another with alarming regularity, and we get stuck in what I call – the sameness of days.

The disciples spent three and a half glorious years following Jesus around, copying what He did, and seeing extraordinary things happen right in front of their eyes. They  heard about their Heavenly Father in ways they never even dreamt about. Maybe we hope that somehow we can become like those people who live for Jesus, and do those things too …. one day. This morning the Lord poked me awake and said this: “You can walk with Me the same way they walked with Me. Even after I left they lived their lives with a constant Companion who taught them My Ways all the time. You can live that way. I promised to be with you.” 

So, let’s live this life, the one that does the same things over and over again, with HIM as our focus, and not the next task. Often our ordinary lives distract us from our real purpose to love and serve Him, and others. If He calls you to pray for your family at 3.00am and it’s cold and you are still sleepy — you can either roll over and tell yourself that wasn’t Jesus! After all He knows you have a big day tomorrow and you need your sleep. OR!!!… You can climb out of bed put on something warm, make yourself a cup of something or other, and tell the Lord: “I’m here Lord. I’m listening.”

Obedience is like a plant, it needs to be cultivated. Initially it can seem like a tiny, little, scrawny half-dead thing that can never possibly grow and it won’t accomplish much. But the real secret to obedience is consistency. In the big things and the small things. Just because we already know how to do it, that doesn’t mean the Holy Spirit can’t offer us a new perspective. Let’s learn faithfulness in the little things. 

So, what happens when you crawl out of bed at some ridiculous hour and go and sit on a chair, and maybe open your bible? You get to spend some one on one time with Your King. That’s what! Meanwhile, 3.00am is not some magical hour. What makes it wonderful is that the God of the Universe called you, and you came! In the West we are so results oriented, so seemingly time poor, that we miss out on incredible opportunities to just be with Him. If we want to carry His Presence we need to be with Him.

We sing:  ‘In Your Presence Lord, is fullness of joy” and then go out and live like He is not there with us. He promised to be with us!! And feeling like Jesus is with us, is not worth a hill of beans. As my daughter says: “Feelings ain’t in it.” We can live this life dragged about by our feelings, or simply choose to live it with our focus on His faithfulness. When we do that, we are living out what we pray for! 

Jesus Himself is talking here in Matthew 28:20.: “Teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you all the days (perpetually, uniformly, and on every occasion), to the [very] close and consummation of the age. Amen (so let it be).” Hebrews 13:5: “Let your character [your moral essence, your inner nature] be free from the love of money [shun greed—be financially ethical], being content with what you have; for He has said, “I will never [under any circumstances] desert you [nor give you up nor leave you without support, nor will I in any degree leave you helpless], nor will I forsake or let you down or relax My hold on you [assuredly not]!”

Don’t let the sameness of each day rob you of the joy of fostering your relationship with Him. We have been given such a privilege. Bless you, and have a good one! Bye 👋.

P 3283 This is our destiny …

/ DVH

“Now, this is the goal: to live in harmony with one another and demonstrate affectionate love, sympathy, and kindness toward other believers. Let humility describe who you are as you dearly love one another. Never retaliate when someone treats you wrongly, nor insult those who insult you, but instead, respond by speaking a blessing over them—because a blessing is what God promised to give you. For the Scriptures tell us: Whoever wants to embrace true life and find beauty in each day must stop speaking evil, hurtful words and never deceive in what they say. Always turn from what is wrong and cultivate what is good; eagerly pursue peace in every relationship, making it your prize.” 1 Peter 3:8-11 TPT.

Yes, it’s the same scripture again! More to think on. First point to remember … um… not sure how to say this nicely, so I will just say it!  Watch what you say. This is hard for me, mainly because I find out what I’m thinking by talking! However I found a way to do it – I let the Holy Spirit help me – and I’ve learnt to give up quickly, and repent a lot. Boy that last one smarts! I’m pretty sure I haven’t hit humility yet. I think Peter has a wonderful way of describing how to walk in the Spirit. Especially the bit about pursuing peace in every relationship. Pursue BTW, means: go after it …like… chase it!

…And this is how Jesus makes it possible for anyone of us to live like this:  ““And I will send you the Divine Encourager from the very presence of My Father. He will come to you, the Spirit of Truth, emanating from the Father, and He will speak to you about Me. And you will tell everyone the truth about Me, for you have walked with Me from the start.””John 15:26-27. The Holy Spirit has already been sent to us! One of His Names is ‘the One called alongside us to help us!’ … He came to earth at Pentecost and He never left! Now let me list His other qualities. Hang on to your socks it’s a big list.  

Helper / Comforter / Advocate (Paraclete): (John 14:16, 15:26, 16:7);  Spirit of Truth: (John 14:17, 16:13); Spirit of Christ / Spirit of Jesus: (Romans 8:9, 1 Peter 1:11);  Holy Spirit / Holy Ghost: (Matthew 1:18, Psalm 51:11);  Breath of the Almighty / Breath of God: (Job 33:4, Genesis 1:2);  Spirit of Adoption: (Romans 8:15);  Spirit of Grace: (Hebrews 10:29); Spirit of Wisdom/Understanding/Counsel/Might/Knowledge/Fear of the Lord: (Isaiah 11:2);  Eternal Spirit: (Hebrews 9:14);  Spirit of Glory: (1 Peter 4:14);  Spirit of Life: (Romans 8:2);  Spirit of Burning / Judgment: (Isaiah 4:4);  The Promise of the Father: (Acts 1:4);  The Anointing: (1 John 2:27);  Intercessor: (Romans 8:26,27).

You can take a breath now!  Yeah. And He is here with us, right here, right now as you are reading this — and He walks with us to help us be all that God designed us to be. We simply cannot transform ourselves, it doesn’t work! Human beings become proud because we are doing it right, or lose hope because we are lousy at it! We need His transformation – WE NEED A HELPER. And this beautiful Person is here to assist us at any time, in any place, anywhere. Ya might want to just meditate on that!

We can short-circuit His help etc. by choosing to stay in and cultivate, sinful attitudes. The fear of the Lord is with those who are humble. They weep at the very thought of losing His sweet Presence. He has a way of looking at this tattered and torn old world that is beyond our imagination. He sees hope in hopelessness, freedom in captivity, beauty in heartache. He knows the way through anything that is plaguing you. And He will show us God’s way, one step at a time. Why one step at a time? Because He LOVES to walk with us. We are His passion and He is the same Person Who helped Jesus complete His mission … He saw every pain, all the suffering, all the hopelessness, and yet He flowed out through Christ to the needy – endlessly. 

He was so present with Jesus, one woman just touched the Lord’s clothes and she was healed of an ailment she had had for twelve years! He loves 💕TOGETHER — it is His greatest joy, to be one with us. When we begin to function as a Body under His guidance, we will also begin to understand a little bit of what it is like for the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit’s union and unity. They simply never disagree because They all have the same goal.

Jesus clearly told us we were better off with the Holy Spirit, when He left here and went back home to the Father, because the Holy Spirit can be everywhere. We are better off because the One Who lived within Christ, in Him and through Him, can be IN us, and work THROUGH us to bring forth the Father’s will for others.This is why we are called sons and daughters, we now have our Father’s DNA and that DNA brings forth fruit that is good and sweet – it will bring life all around it. This is our destiny, to learn to walk with the Holy Spirit, all the time, everywhere we go. Bye. 👋

P 3270 The impossible is easy for the Lord …

/ DVH

but it is also very challenging to our faith. In the gospel  of Mark 2:1-12, some men tore off a house-roof so they could lower down a paralytic friend in front of Jesus…. Did you get that? They tore up some poor guy’s roof! This hospitable family man offers his home for a meeting and that’s the thanks he gets?! I suppose the man could have used the resulting hole for a skylight…? !

The details we are given in the Word make this story extraordinary. Mainly because I don’t imagine digging a hole in any kind of roof would be easy. But these men were so devoted to their friend, in their desire to get him to Jesus, that they would have done anything. Meanwhile nobody seemed to care too much about what the occupant of the house thought when they burrowed into his nice little house like gophers either. Why not?! Somebody got healed and they all saw it.

 Are we willing to risk possibly offending people in order to bring someone into the Lord’s Presence? (Remember wherever we go, He goes.) The fear of retaliation or offence is very real in our society. Nowadays if somebody tore off a church roof to get a sick person to Jesus, they’d probably sue them for a replacement roof!  Plus they’d grizzle at them — ‘don’t you know how to use a door?!?’ But these friends were undaunted by societal rules, and motivated by love for their sick friend, instead. I’d like to be a friend like that, and boy would I like to have a friend like that myself!

Jesus didn’t really seem to care who He offended. The Lord did not ever set out to be offensive but if that happened, well, it happened. He didn’t even pause to explain Himself, or His motivation etc … He just moved on. His priority was  His Father’s will. How can we possibly imagine how incredibly difficult it must have been for Him to carry out the Father’s will, even when it included His own suffering and death?  

Not to mention the fact that when it came to the time of His death, Jesus did everything He did, without the comforting Presence of the precious Holy Spirit. He was SomeOne the Lord had always known intimately. It must have been so painful for the Father, and the Spirit stand back and not rescue Jesus from such villainous wickedness. But there was a higher purpose. Meanwhile it is not hard to imagine satan firing mental missiles at Jesus while he was tormenting the Lord inwardly and outwardly on the cross.   

Today I want to remember how very much the Holy Spirit loves to help, comfort, and guide. And yet at that point in history, He had to step away. The Father’s Will could only be accomplished if the Holy Spirit didn’t step in. The Lord Jesus did all that He did for us, so we can be sons and daughters of God!  Otherwise the doors of heaven would have stayed shut to the likes of you and I! Jesus chose to do this so we would never have to be separated from the Holy Spirit’s loving kindness, and wisdom ever again. It stands to reason that His devotion to mankind is so huge – HE WON’T EVER LEAVE US. The Spirit of God loves us the way He loves Christ. Imagine that. He freely shares with us  His life-giving ways. If it is not love, then it is not Him. 

The Spirit of the Living God creatively uses the power of love and grace in ways we cannot imagine, over and over again. To one person He says, “consider Jesus” … to someone else He says: “you have been forgiven” and to another He says: “the Father loves you with an everlasting love.” No matter what the Holy Spirit says: there is always  unimaginable, overwhelming love in it. He chooses to meet some people in their dreams, others while they are reading the bible, or through someone else’s books. He met with me in front of a clothes line! His originality is mind boggling.  

Someone else might say what I just said, in a totally different way, and that is just another example of His incredible creativity. He is also out-of-this-world wise. There are so many ways to describe Who He is and what He does – silently -we can easily lose count! That’s why I love Jesus, we can see in Him the things our natural mind couldn’t possibly make up! And the Lord Jesus totally relied on the Holy Spirit’s help – so should WE.

This is Paul speaking to the Ephesians, about the diversity of the things He has for us. 3:8-12: “To me, the least of all the saints, was given this grace: to proclaim the good news of the fathomless riches of Christ to the Gentiles, and to enlighten everyone as to what is the administration of the mystery hidden from the ages by God, Who created all things, in order that the many-sided wisdom of God might be made known now to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places through the church, according to the purpose of the ages which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access in confidence through faith in Him.”

Please do not allow anyone else to minimise the beauty of the One that Jesus Himself chose to entrust with our care. We all matter so much to God, even when our faith is severely stretched, let’s not limit Him. Let’s learn to walk with Him instead. Watch out for evidence of His work in your life as well as around you. Seeing Him at work helps our faith.  He will show us how to repair the things that this life has broken in us, or in our relationships with others. He will tear up and get rid of anything that is holding us back from reaching Jesus, just like those friends tore away the roof in order to get to the Lord that day. Despite challenging our faith, the impossible is so easy to our God.  Bye. 👋

P 3261 What are we walking toward?

/ DVH

If you and I want to see other people, (Christian or not), the way Jesus sees them, then we will need heavenly eyes that can see beauty in the midst of a pile of ashes. And even if we are in mourning, we are still able to find His JOY. We will sincerely praise Him, even when we feel lower than a snake’s belly and people are after us! What we need is the kind of Love that does not falter ... please don’t settle for less!  And the way to get these heavenly things, the things that money cannot buy, is to be obedient to the things Jesus taught us to do.

“This love means living in obedience to whatever God commands us. For to walk in love toward one another is the unifying commandment we’ve heard from the beginning.” 2 John 1:6 TPT. The reason we are so separated as a Body is thatwe are not walking in Love toward each other! Do you have anyone in your life that you want to run away from them? Me too. Some people scare me. But John tells us that God’s Love causes us to walk toward one another. That isn’t a suggestion, it’s an instruction – we need to use our faith. 

Sadly, we think if we can’t do that, then that’s OK, God will understand it’s a bit too hard, especially when we promise to try harder next time. John, BTW, doesn’t say TRY, he just says do it. Because doing it is what obedience looks like and Jesus has provided us with the power to participate. Many earthly relationships are shattered because we believe a lie. The lie is that other person is too hard for God to change. Here’s a thought, maybe we need to change, and when they meet with a transformed ‘me’ then perhaps the other people will change their responses! There is nothing like mixing things up a bit!!

Jeremiah says in 32:17:’Ah Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! There is nothing too difficult or too wonderful for You—“  When we read the above scripture we can see that our reality is not what Jeremiah said! Our belief system is faulty. We cheerfully sing … ‘Nothing is too difficult for thee’ … and then go out and act like what we just sang isn’t true. Um,,, that’s called hypocrisy.  FYI, saying one thing and doing another is called … hypocrisy. We are much better off to be honest with the Lord and talk about it with Him with an open bible in front of us. Just be honest and tell Him ‘I don’t want to.” Then repent for disobedience. The Holy Spirit wants to show us the way forward, and if we wait for Him – He will help us.

Any negative responses in us can be triggered by fear, or anger, or thinking we are not strong enough, as well as …just plain old rebellion! This can include: “Why should they get away with hurting me?” Because our sin hurt Him! He paid, in full so now we CAN be obedient if we use our faith instead of our faulty imagination. The reality is: “I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13. That means I can love you even though outwardly you are pricklier than the ‘jumping chola cactus’ pictured above. That’s a cactus that apparently grabs you if you even remotely brush by it. Looks nasty doesn’t it?? OW!! I know quite a few chola cacti people – boy, are they a challenge! 

The point is this: If Almighty God Who made the heavens and the earth says I can do it, then I can do it. Not because I am clever, and not even because I can be obedient … although that helps! But because He said so!  We can’t afford to pick and choose what we decide we will believe. We need to go back to: ‘HE SAID SO,”Let’s repent and go at it again… and again… and again. Always remembering that God looks at our hearts and He helps us when we act in faith. The Lord knows when we don’t want to do stuff, but He is happy when we value what He values. 

Jesus didn’t shirk away from doing the hard things, just  because human beings can be hard to love. He continued to lovingly walk toward those who were going to destroy His life. Because we want to be like Him, we need to participate in the things He did. The difference for us is this— SomeBody else went down those roads to give us His power to overcome those very things that seem to be impossible. Now, we have His strength available to us to help us to do the very things we don’t want to do. Jesus didn’t run away from the cross – however, He was honest about how He felt about it. 

Hey! Personally I get up tight when I have to go to the dentist, eye doctor or the hospital etc. I ask people to pray for me or I can’t  go in the right spirit. I want to approach the staff wherever I go with love, not fear. Hope not despair. I can’t afford to let some nasty imagined outcome, spoil my day. We need our peace it keeps us going.This is what happens when we learn to value what the Lord valued – we keep our peace!

Walking toward each other is always going to be hard. Human beings have a way of pecking at each other’s faults like grumpy chickens. And the further we are away from some people, the better everyone looks!  Walking toward each other seems dangerous, but it means we are prepared to take a risk. Let’s start walking with Grace Himself guiding us, and trust the Holy Spirit to get us through what happens next. The love bit comes later. Bye. 👋

P 3253 Be an invisible servant.

/ DVH

My dear hubby shared this with me recently. I think it is good advice: “Rule with the heart of a servant. Serve with the heart of a King.” Now there’s something to chew over! Jesus is our King, and He came quietly as a servant of all mankind. A good King knows His power and uses it, discreetly and wisely. At the same time, this thought also forced me ask myself some hard questions. How do you get a servant’s heart? I believe our King and how He lived, is my example. We are here on earth, at our King’s pleasure. And a King lives to serve those around Him, for their benefit, not His.

“When you do something for someone else, don’t call attention to yourself. You’ve seen them in action, I’m sure—‘playactors’ I call them—treating prayer meeting and street corner alike as a stage, acting compassionate as long as someone is watching, playing to the crowds. They get applause, true, but that’s all they get. When you help someone out, don’t think about how it looks. Just do it—quietly and unobtrusively. That is the way your God, who conceived you in love, working behind the scenes, helps you out.” Matthew 6:3

For me that means I have to let go of any sense of entitlement. BTW, that word entitlement means:  ‘the belief that one inherently deserves special privileges, treatment or rights.’ In today’s world we seem to have the sort of thinking that pops up and says:“That’s not right, they ought not to treat me like this. Blah blah blah.” Everybody today is running about boo-hoo-ing about being treated badly! Perhaps if you don’t understand what privilege means, it can hurt to willingly put these things down. People killed the King of glory, why should our lives be easy? 

Some of the sweetest saints I have ever known – you wouldn’t even know their names. They weren’t rich, but they were born givers. My husband’s Grandmother – Mama – was a beautiful servant, through and through. Love poured out of her eyes toward others. In her eighties she used to go and visit old people who didn’t know Jesus on the bus! She moved in a Word of knowledge and had no clue she was doing it! The world is poorer now she is no longer in it. Another Chinese saint I’ve known, would never hesitate to find a way to bless somebody else. He blessed people he didn’t even know, and he took wonderful care of his family. He too is with Jesus now. 

The fact is this world owes you and I nothing. It certainly doesn’t owe us a huge house, a fancy schmancy boat, four cars in the garage, and a holiday in the Maldives or skiing holidays in St Moritz! I was born into a society where these things are available to a third of the population, I didn’t earn this benefit, I was simply born in a blessed country. So that means I can share with others. 

It helps to reflect on the fact that every one of us here arrived in this world the same way — helpless and naked! 

Sadly, right after we arrived in this world, we began to learn its arrogant ways. We craved recognition, appreciation, power, so-called beauty and position while so many other people can’t find food, water, safety or shelter. People stumble over money all the time. Money is a tool, not an end product. 

The thing is, our Saviour came here as a servant, and He has graciously given us a choice to be His obedient servants too. So our faith needs to be demonstrated as well as preached! We need more Christians with Jesus’ servant Kingly heart — some powerful Christians who will stand up for the oppressed. All this worldly stuff is unnecessary trimmings. Nice to have but easily lost – and BTW, that actually includes other people’s good opinions of us. The only opinion that matters the most  is HIS.

We must never reign as Kings despotically – doling out favours, rather than blessing anyone who crosses our path. We are told to have the same heart in us that He had in Him. That means we don’t mind getting our hands dirty or going without. Christians need to joyfully, willingly, bow their lives to His glory, and demonstrate His love for others everywhere they go. It helps other people to see Who He is! In our great quest to serve Him, the lower we go, the better we serve. Christians aren’t all that! Jesus is all that! And more! Much more! I’ve heard so many odd proclamations from enthusiastic people who think the bible grants us special privileges. We have been given the privilege to die for our Saviour’s sake, if necessary – everything else is fleeting, or cheap, crass, unfruitful advertising. 

We are only powerful people because we have been GIVEN His totally undeserved Grace – and we were given that to GIVE IT AWAY. Reverence and respect are a by-product of love and submission. We are blessed, we will always have the ear of our King Jesus. You and I don’t have to make an appointment and have to wait to speak with Him – He has promised us He will always answer us.  Not because we are all that, but because HE is so faithful! He keeps His word! 

To serve with the heart of a King means we know and partake in the power that has been given to us by the Lord and we use it for the benefit of others, without prejudice. As Christians let’s choose to do what the Lord wants, because He is trusting us to have His best interests at heart. His best interests aren’t in the stock exchange – it’s PEOPLE that He loves. We choose to live this way to glorify His Name. When we see something wrong, we know we have the power to stand up for good, and intervene without violence or name-calling. When a King knows He is right, He serves His office with humility. 

Our dearest aim is to be an invisible servant, serving the Lord Jesus, our brothers and sisters, and everyone around us. So that He will receive all the glory! Amen. 🙏 

P 3229 YOU are His House.

/ DVH

“Here’s the one thing I crave from Yahweh, the one thing I seek above all else: I want to live with Him every moment in His house, beholding the marvellous beauty of Yahweh, filled with awe, delighting in His glory and grace. I want to contemplate in His temple.” Psalm 27:4 TPT.

It is so easy to read lovely scriptures like this one and think of God’s house as being somewhere else. Like in  heaven, or at church, or bible study, or in our worship times. Let’s look carefully at this next scripture, which I’m sure we all know very well, however, I’m not positive we are actually applying ourselves to live it out. “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, Who is IN you, Whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your bodies.” I Corinthians 6:20.

Yeah! Sobering thought. We, you and I … are now HIS house! If we want Jesus to ‘hang with’ us, we need to make His house a place He would like to inhabit. And we’ve gone about doing this the wrong way in the past. God loves the things that last. “Faith, hope and love,’ that’s what we are aiming at. His temple is not just some hypothetical glorious ideal, far, far away from us. This verse clearly shows us we are individually responsible for the state of His house. Knowing this is the beginning of change, but it won’t actually change the way we think, until we digest it and grab hold of it and act on it. Holy-Spirit guided action can, and it will. “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.” 1 Corinthians 4:20.

I can’t tell you what that will mean to you, but I can tell you a few of the kind of things that have affected me, and none of them are about what I eat, or what I watch on TV, or read etc! The first one is something that I call: “feeding the doubt.” FAITH! Doubt happens when I start ruminating over anything that isn’t working out the way I thought. The thing is, God’s temple is dedicated to Him and what He wants, so what I think I need or want, pales into insignificance. His Will His Way needs to be my permanent motto. And our God loves faith. So I repent. 

I may not think I have done anything wrong, but I choose to actively trust the Holy Spirit to know what HE likes. It’s His house, so I want His desires. I need to stir up my faith and talk to the Lord about His goodness to me. Then I ask for His help to remember those times when I have trusted Him, and I’ve seen Him graciously do the miraculous in my life. All those little things that don’t matter to anyone else, but they have impacted me greatly. Remembering His goodness is a great active sword. Whenever my faith falters, I need to stop, and reestablish the fact that He is good.

The next is to actively keep my HOPE in His goodness alive, in a primary place in my heart. Because without that hope, I will start trying to solve my problems by myself. His hope is my anchor. Hope anchors me into the bedrock solidity of His never-ending-always-present love. Otherwise I can float about being affected by the wash of someone else carelessly speeding past me. Now I keep on doing whatever my day brings up, I go over everything good in my life that He has given me, and thank Him for those things. I can also thank Him for saving me, and continually washing me with His Word.

This last thing that affects me is equally important – loving other people extravagantly. This bit is where we counteract what other people do. If I do good things for a return, I am expecting a benefit from this world. My hope will be shattered. When I do the things, He asks me to, as He leads me, especially for people who don’t deserve it – It becomes extravagant LOVE. This can sound impossible, especially if the person/s involved aren’t super-duper sweet guys. In other words, we aren’t exaggerating when we say we can’t love them, because they are, humanly speaking, not nice folks.  

Actually, loving not-so-nice people extravagantly is actually easier than loving the people that you deeply love, who have treated you badly. The more invested we are in the person, the harder it gets to be obedient. We can think up lots of excuses to opt out of obedience, when someone we love mistreats us. Things like thinking they should know us better, or give us their best behaviour all the time.  How realistic is that?? 

The reality is, people are human beings. Some things – even if they seem easy to you – can be hard for others. This is the time we need to remember that people will let us down, but the Lord never ever will. We have to switch our focus off them, onto Him. They can’t do everything we need – but Jesus already did!  Loving extravagantly means we lavish love on others, even when it is undeserved. This is the kind of love that blows people away. It’s not just nice, or kind, it is over-the-top love, the kind Jesus gave away all the time. 

Loving others extravagantly reaps a harvest. “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9. I call this kind of verse, the kind of verse we try not to memorise because it seems too difficult to practice! The bible has loads of those. The ones we skip and hope God isn’t looking. Because we are His house – we actually don’t have that luxury. Remember, right here, right now – you are His house. Bye. 👋

P 3222 Consider …

/ DVH

Over the years God has taught me that focussing on what I don’t have —or what I can’t do, or even who I am not— isn’t helpful. We can be tricked into thinking that we have good reasons for believing bad things, including the times when life came and sat on us and we were too tired to get up. In those moments it is imperative that we keep our eyes fixed on Him. Not just because He can change our situations, but because as we choose to focus on Him, we are lifting our eyes out of the immediate, into the eternal. 

Maybe one of your kids seems to have gone off the rails;  or your marriage isn’t all you would like it to be;  or you live your life alone. Or perhaps your job makes you dread getting out of bed every single morning. If we concentrate on our problems, that can make them seem bigger than everything else, and the difficulties can quickly become the centre of our focus. Particularly if whatever it is, is not resolved right away. The Lord told us to ‘Come to Him’ …because He wants us to live in His rest, and peace is part of our birthright.

When life turns into a dystopian fair ground ride, and it whirls and lurches from one bad thing to another – my personal answer goes like this. Go outside and look around you, or go and watch the ocean. Just SIT. Leave your worry beads behind, and let this world and its beauty minister to your heart. All that other junk will probably still be there, after you give yourself a time out, but doing that will help you see things differently. After a while I begin to notice everything else is still going on. The world is still turning, the bees are doing their thing, the ants theirs. This world hasn’t stopped just because something has stopped me in my tracks. Acceptance is a gift available to anyone – it just takes practice.

Father God and the Lord Jesus Himself said this many times in different ways: ‘consider the lilies…consider the great things the Lord has done for you … consider what He says … consider how short this life is … consider the generations that have gone before you.’ Father God spoke to Abraham and asked this man to consider the stars, because Abraham’s view was too small. Almighty God needed a man who would look beyond his own lifetime and believe in His goodness even in the future. Abraham became that man … God taught him, experientially, that His plans are perfect.

This kind of expanded viewpoint is our birthright. At Pentecost this kind of vision was planted in the heart of the disciples by the Holy Spirit Himself. Their expanded view of God’s plans drove those men out into the streets … and beyond. Yet, here and now, we seem to be living our lives looking down all the time, concentrating on our own little patch of this life. We must stop, and consider the world around us. Particularly in times of trouble. And then we need to look up. You and I are part of a greater thing than any religion – we are part of His heart and He is ALL of ours. 

The kingdom of God is the main thing. And if we allow ourselves to be distracted and dejected by the stuff that comes at us daily, we will lose our vision. We are not here to build our own little kingdoms, complete with house, car, happy kids and extended families. That’s called advertising. It’s a dream manufacturers sell us so we will spend our money… so they can have even bigger houses, fabulous holidays, cars and boats and fulfil their own dreams! They are selling us empty, useless dreams prompted by greed. I urge everyone reading this to step out of that filthy hedonistic self-absorbed stream, and head straight for the river of God and jump in.

There is peace, joy, love, and … yes …answers, solutions, resolution in His purposes. Consider what Jesus said in John 10:10: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Our God loves us, He does not want us to live unhappy lives, or miserable existences, He knows that true joy in this life is IN JESUS … not people, situations or things. Somewhere, somehow, somebody(!?) looked at verses like this one and saw what the Lord said as gaining “ things“. It is not about things, it is about a new way to live. There is a different kind of life to be lived where Jesus is everything and this world is just the scenery.

Our abundant life begins when we stop considering this world from our POV, and start looking at it from HIS. Jesus had no material possessions, they divided up the few clothes He had at the foot of the cross. But Paul said this about our faith, and how it is designed to function: “Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith; Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2. 

Jesus looked through His cross and saw you and I, and billions like us, perishing in our sin. We were all going to hell because of the way we were living. But He said: ‘Not on My watch you aren’t,’ and headed straight for the cross. Stop. Think about it. You and I are that JOY that was before Him. Imagine that! The Co-Creator of this world has that much love for us. This life is a blink, it’s nothing. It comes and goes in the daily drudgery of making it work. But we can live in His Kingdom, right here, right now. Consider that. Bye. 👋