Behaviour

P 3211 Procrastination.

/ DVH

“Procrastination is the thief of time.” I was taught that saying in my teens, years ago. Here’s the meaning: procrastination is the act of unnecessarily delaying tasks, even when you know it will lead to negative consequences, by choosing less important activities instead. It’s a common behaviour, not just laziness, often stemming from poor emotion regulation, perfectionism, fear of failure, or executive function challenges. While occasional procrastination is normal, chronic procrastination can cause significant stress, guilt, anxiety, and harm productivity and well-being. 

If you are a Christian, this particular attitude can cause doubt, fear, unbelief, and eventually inactivity to grab us. These traits often show up in our thought patterns: “Did God say that?’ “He wouldn’t really want me to do that would He?’ ‘I need to wait to be ready to do what He said.’ ‘He knows I can’t do that!’ ‘There are other people who can do things like that better than me.” ‘I don’t have an anointing to do that!’

That last thought is just plain dumb. We have the Lord’s instructions written down in the bible, signed in Jesus’ blood. It almost goes without saying that none of us are ever ready! I urge everyone to stop looking at famous Christians and let go of the kind of thinking that says, they are our example. Maybe you and I don’t have their anointing but we can still be obedient to our own personal heavenly calling. Besides —Jesus is OUR example, and motivation – not other people.  

Sometimes all I can do in a ‘talking to people’ situation, is to get my feet moving. When that happens it is not because I am disabled, it’s because I’m scared! Scared of someone else’s response, scared of somebody being mean to me, scared of the consequences in my life and in theirs. Maybe I will mess witnessing etc. up! This is a good time to remind ourselves of the things the Lord has done in the past. God fought without-number Midianites with Gideon and 300 men, and He also got Jonah to Nineveh via a whale taxi. Of course He can help us! Here’s something from His book to sort out our excuses. PS … when the Lord says ‘ME” He means YOU too!

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on ME, because the Lord has anointed ME, to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent ME to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendour.” Isaiah 61:1-3.

If we both sit about waiting to feel super spiritual, or hoping to have some wild experience with Him, to signify we have been sent by Him – we will miss the boat. Famous Christians are the exceptions, not the norm. Procrastination can easily steal the time that God has generously given to us, and we will end up at the end of our lives in the land of regret.  

The bible says this in 1 Corinthians 3:15 In the Message bible: “Take particular care in picking out your building materials. Eventually there is going to be an inspection. If you use cheap or inferior materials, you’ll be found out. The inspection will be thorough and rigorous. You won’t get by with a thing. If your work passes inspection, fine; if it doesn’t, your part of the building will be torn out and started over. But you won’t be torn out; you’ll survive—but just barely.”  Um… found out? We won’t get BY?! Torn out and started over?!! Barely survive?? None of that sounds good! 

There is a kind of evasive thinking that can dominate our hearts and minds, spiralling us into fear, as well as hiding from our calling. We can never afford to forget that we are now dead! We died with Him. We’ve been saved for His purposes now – plus we’ve been given gifts to use for His glory, and to benefit other people. None of that has anything to do with our comfort, lives, families, or our careers. When we live our lives for His glory our focus actually changes.

Someone once told me that their boss was so demanding they couldn’t find a minute to talk to anyone about anything, so Jesus was relegated to the back seat…. plus it didn’t seem fair to do the Lord’s work on the boss’s payroll! That kind of sounds OK eh? Except the bible tells us we can ask for anything and it will be given to us, and if we have a need He will supply it. Ask the Lord to make a way, where there seems to be no way! He’s really really good at it. 

I’ve had to face facts, one of them being there is nothing extraordinary about me. I’m everybody and nobody rolled into one older lady! But it’s a New Year and Father God has left us on this earth for a purpose. We need to find out why, and start doing it. Postponing God’s will, together with doing things His way, means we are postponing the very thing that will set us free from fear, anxiety and the spirit of stupid that seems to be extremely prevalent everywhere.

We are called to pray so we can find out what we are here to do. We do not pray to get Father God’s rubber stamp on what we think we should be doing! If HE is not in charge, then whatever we do, it will fall on its head! And produce no fruit! Procrastination is the thief of time, I urge you to watch out for it. Otherwise it will steal your birthright away. Bye. 👋

P 3210 NEW YEAR’S DAY, is just another day.

/ DVH

“Now, if anyone is enfolded into Christ, he has become an entirely new person. All that is related to the old order has vanished. Behold, everything is fresh and new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 TPT. A whole lot of sweet, sincere people look at a New Year as an opportunity to turn over a new leaf, and begin their life again, choosing to leave something that is bad for them – behind them. We call them New Year resolutions. However, whether you make them or not, it can be good to revise our thinking and behaviour … but not just once a year! 

The-people-who-don’t-know-Jesus-yet only have their will power to cling to, but you and I have SomeOne of substance Who will not only help us — we can cling to HIM! I’ve seen my own will-power in action many times in my life, and sadly I think it’s overrated. Some of these things we think we might be better off without, are not habits … they are strongholds ruled by the demonic. My prayers at this time of the year go a little like this:

“I love you so much Lord Jesus, but You and I both know that there is stuff in my life that has got to go. It needs loads more effort than just my will-power. I will fail without You! I need Your power active in my life and decisions, to deliver me from the things I have willingly embraced in the past. I throw myself on Your great mercy and grace because I know I can trust You to change those things that need changing. I give You permission to get to the bottom of anything I am unaware of, or ignoring. My goal for 2026 is to be more and more like You. Thank you, again and again, for saving me Jesus!”  Amen.

So, what does it mean in 2 Corinthians when the author uses the word ‘enfolded?’ It means ‘to surround, envelop, hold or clasp (someone) lovingly in one’s arms.’  Who wants that? Me! I need lots of enfolding. Being surrounded by the Lord Jesus’ loving arms is more than just a wish, or a dream, it’s a promise. And do you know what? The minute you and I said “yes’ to Him that’s where we’ve landed – right in the middle of those arms that loved us so much, He died for us.

The Lord Jesus loved the world so passionately that He allowed His enemies to pull His precious arms out of their sockets to make room for all of us so He could enfold us. He is so terrifyingly amazing. And the minute the Holy Spirit arrived at Pentecost everything changed. Now we live our lives in the middle of that change – we don’t have to wait, the power to overcome is here. The Love of God, that had been exclusive to the Trinity, was made available to people everywhere, for free. That Love we’ve been given isn’t full of pity or condemnation, but full to the brim and running over with compassion, understanding, and a new way to live.

Here’s a clear explanation of the word ‘pity.’ ’“To pity someone means to feel sad, sorrowful, or sympathetic for their suffering, misfortune, or unhappy situation, often with a sense of looking down on them or feeling superior, but sometimes just a gentle sorrow for their undeserved hardship. It involves feeling bad for them but doesn’t necessarily require action, differing from compassion, which actively motivates help.”

Jesus knows we are all just glorified dust, so instead of lowering His expectations of us, or even eliminating us — He chose to became one of us. Then He paid the necessary price for us to be able to receive the Father’s Love, all day, every day, for free. He chose us and now we freely choose Him and His ways, right back. 

In these turbulent times, let’s remember there’s no room for fear in love. When love is present fear has to leave. LOVE IS SO BIG – FEAR SIMPLY CAN’T STAND IT – it has to get out of town. If we have fear, then we have not yet been perfected in our knowledge of His love for us. Ask to be perfected in His love. Our prayers are powerful, so let’s pray for the spiritual things we need. Unfortunately, waiting for fear to go before acting, is not wise. We must oppose fear with faith in what Jesus did. His love truly, truthfully, accepts everyone. As human beings, we are so helpless without Him. This life is too difficult alone – but we are not alone. We are IN HIM.

If our inner man is not transformed, then the outer man has very little or nothing to contribute, to changing our lives. Our inner yes, accompanied by suitable actions, is so powerful! Our feelings often change with our circumstances, so it is unwise to trust them, so our attitudes can start taking over our actions, because we’ve chosen to sit on the fence, and not actively participate in our own transformation. It is easy to make up reasons why we shouldn’t or can’t love this person or that one. We all have very real earthly reasons. But our higher calling demands obedience, it is not optional, nor can it be re-shaped to suit us!

I’m not big on “HAPPY NEW YEAR” simply because it  means that we will only think to revise our behaviour once a year, and most of the time, failure is tolerated. We will all fail without Him, but we do not have to be without Him. Only a fool lets his enemy steal everything from right under his nose! I urge you to go to the enemy’s camp and take back what He has stolen from you. Take your clean hands, cleansed by repentance and reparation and go and take that stolen stuff back! Whether you’ve lost work, health, your family, or love, joy and peace. Tell satan to take a hike, you are in God’s kingdom now. Bye 👋

P 3182 Gold can be found by a smart seeker.

/ DVH

Here’s a fairly common family scenario – it’s early, you just got up, and you have 40 things to do before you leave for work, and suddenly the dog throws up in the lounge. When you’ve dealt with all that, plus getting kids off to school — you pray, and hope that somehow, something from reading the bible might fall into place. Meanwhile you are actively looking for encouragement, because you are already stressed!

The following parable gives us an example of adaptation, doing what we know realistically, we can do, rather than stuffing too much in, hoping we will somehow slide by. Remember, we are not reading for the sake of learning or understanding it, we are reading the bible trying to find something to DO. Our aim matters. I have sometimes read 3 words, and had enough food to keep me chewing on it all day. We are aiming at digesting truth so that our behaviour changes. Jesus is explaining that even a crook knows how to make the best of a difficult situation!

The following parable seems very puzzling, because it appears inconsistent with everything else Jesus teaches. This manager is a lazy crook and a bad servant, and yet the Lord is commending him. But this manager knew how to survive in difficult circumstances. I think sometimes we give up too soon, and so we adapt our aim to facilitate our TIME, instead of making HIM our priority. So we aren’t aiming for food—instead we are settling for soothing our conscience. 

In Luke 16:1-13 MSG Jesus said to His disciples, “There was once a rich man who had a manager. He got reports that the manager had been taking advantage of his position by running up huge personal expenses. So he called him in and said, ‘What’s this I hear about you? You’re fired. And I want a complete audit of your books.’“The manager said to himself, ‘What am I going to do? I’ve lost my job as manager. I’m not strong enough for a laboring job, and I’m too proud to beg. . . . Ah, I’ve got a plan. Here’s what I’ll do . . . then when I’m turned out into the street, people will take me into their houses.’

“Then he went at it. One after another, he called in the people who were in debt to his master. He said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’“He replied, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’“The manager said, ‘Here, take your bill, sit down here—quick now—write fifty.’“To the next he said, ‘And you, what do you owe?’“ He answered, ‘A hundred sacks of wheat.’“He said, ‘Take your bill, write in eighty.’“Now here’s a surprise: The master praised the crooked manager! And why? Because he knew how to look after himself. Streetwise people are smarter in this regard than law-abiding citizens. They are on constant alert, looking for angles, surviving by their wits. I want you to be smart in the same way—but for what is right—using every adversity to stimulate you to creative survival, to concentrate your attention on the bare essentials, so you’ll live, really live, and not complacently just get by on good behaviour.”

This sneaky manager, found a way to gain something to benefit him despite his circumstances. He did what he could to survive. Reading paragraphs in the bible when you have no time may not help you survive spiritually. Why not read just one or two verses, and chew on them, and find something to do in them, and then do it. Fresh bread from heaven, doesn’t have to be a whole loaf, it can be a small slice instead! Valuing God is about looking for what He wants to say to you personally, rather than treating Him like a chore you must perform. I consider going over and over the things that I don’t really understand, extremely valuable. So I pray ‘please help me understand this Lord,’ and I keep on doing that until I get an answer. 

I was impacted by these two verses – V9-11:“I want you to be smart in the same way—but for what is right—using every adversity to stimulate you to CREATIVE SURVIVAL to concentrate your attention on the bare essentials, so you’ll live, really live, and not complacently just get by on good behaviour.” See what I mean? When you are having “a day’ and it is not a good one, doing something is better than doing nothing at all. Even though doing nothing is far more tempting! It is much easier to say: ‘I’ll catch up tomorrow,’ When we do this we’ve missed the point, it is not the amount of scripture we read that matters – it is the attention we give to it while we are reading it. It’s the chewing that matters.That plus the actions we deliberately choose to carry out, to bring what we’ve read to life in our lives.

This steward was lazy etc. but he did something and it saved him. He didn’t get his old job back, but at least two other men would have been quite happy to employ him because he helped them out! Meanwhile his old boss received a benefit as well. Before, when this manager did what he did – his old boss wasn’t going to receive any payment at all!  We all need to be smart and prioritise the right things. You don’t have to read 12 chapters, so long as you keep putting what it says into action!

Even a little bit of God’s Word, when you act on it to digest it, will keep you going spiritually. We make friends with unrighteous mammon when we are realistic about what we can actually do and still prioritise our relationship with Him. Jesus Himself said: ‘every word’ that comes out of God’s mouth has power in it.’  We are better off to take in the little we can digest, rather than bite off huge chunks that get relegated into never-never-land and simply add to what I call ‘overall knowledge!’ Stuff that lies about in our brains and doesn’t benefit us because we didn’t give it enough attention. Make your situation work for you. With reading comes digestion.

The Gospels and Epistles are great places where we can find stuff we can do. Read and reread and then insist in your prayers that you want more than lip-service. Gold can be found by a smart seeker. Bye  👋

P 3171 Love Himself is the conqueror!

/ DVH

Have you ever noticed that Jesus was an immediate Advocate for people who could not speak for themselves? His defence of the wounded, scarred and sinful people is such an example to us. In the Gospels we see Him heal, teach and deliver people, but He also countered the criticism that battered them. There are many instances of the Lord intervening on behalf of someone who quite literally didn’t have a leg to stand on! 

Meanwhile, Jesus didn’t pay attention to their sin – He simply poured out God’s loving acceptance onto those people the world rejected, and He presented them with the truth. The truth itself can change lives. Jesus spoke to the sick, lepers, prostitutes, thieves, and law-breakers, people with multiple marriages etc. … all those people that His society rejected.

We don’t seem to have any real answer for people who sin today. Now it seems our society has legislated the world to be quiet and call sin normal, instead. However, the Lord Jesus didn’t pay any attention to behaviour – except the behaviour of the so-called religious. He always went to the person who was trapped in sin or sickness, and He went round their baggage and touched their hearts. The reality of His love saved them. 

I just want to briefly mention that Jesus interacted and loved on Judas right up until the moment when that man betrayed Him. Now, let’s look at what He said at a dinner party at Matthew’s house – 9:10-13. “While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with Him and His disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked His disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”He sought out the sinners!

I think He saw both sin and sickness the same way— as the things that spoil God’s wonderful creation … US! He still wants to touch everyone around us – through us. Unfortunately, we are the ones, the people in church, who are preoccupied with sin. We gossip about it, fuss over it, and lecture it, and think about ways to get rid of the people who do it. Our answer seems to be – if you can’t be like ME then you can’t belong here! Jesus is the Answer, and the Answer is always bigger than any question!

When someone goes fishing, they don’t expect the fish to jump into the boat and be already gutted, scaled and cleaned! That happens after the fish are caught. We have put so many rules in place any people who, for one reason or another, live with sin, find it intimidating to come to us. Especially as 83% of couples cohabit before getting married, and one in three people have an unhealthy attachment to alcohol and one in twenty Aussies have a substance abuse problem! One in three Australians have also cheated or considered it, with 20% admitting to having cheated on a current or former partner. One third of all marriages statistically, will end in divorce.

When the people-who-don’t-know-Him-yet start being drawn into our churches, we will know for certain that they are looking for very real answers – because they have very real problems! Jesus died for everyone’s sins, but in our churches, we can often turn our noses up at other people’s lifestyles – because we don’t do that kind of stuff. How realistic is that? He cares for and upholds the lives of all men and women – it’s their sin that needs dealing with not the people. Sin was taken care of at Calvary – our job is to give them that good news! Maybe through adverse appetites and previous experiences (without Him!) they have been trapped by their own desires and lifestyles. Now we tell people – ‘you don’t have to live like that anymore, let me introduce you to the Answer.’

I have another question to consider today: are we taking His exhortation to show mercy as a suggestion, or embracing it as heaven’s way to live? Holiness comes from our chosen proximity to Him, not from following rules. Rules point to sin, and sin is the thing that Jesus dealt with! God’s been panel-beating me for 50+ years and I still keep finding snarky nasty thoughts and attitudes that don’t belong in His kingdom! Here’s an idea: why don’t we drop the whole “them and us” attitude and instead let’s all just be human beings who need His Grace! I’ll give it to you, you give it to me and we will all get along together. Maybe we could have a dinner party like Matthew did, and invite those people-who-don’t-know- Him-yet. Now where have I heard that before?

At the end of the parable of the wedding feast, these words occur… “The lord said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.” Luke 14:23. When we find people being drawn into and coming into our churches and gatherings because they feel compelled to come, we are standing on the threshold of something incredible. But, every single day our job is to give people a taste of His unconditional love – even those who are unloveable, unwilling to change. Or maybe even sometimes they are impossible to know! We all need it. Let’s stop telling the ‘Wind’ where He needs to blow and stand ready to be blown over by Him ourselves!!

Bonus buy: Loving difficult people changes us! That’s why it is good to bless those who despitefully use you or persecute you. Those people often reveal ourselves to us, and we don’t deserve His love anymore than they do. Jesus, and His love, will always be everybody’s conquering hero! Bye. 👋

P 3165 Learning to be satisfied.

/ DVH

“I’m not telling you this because I’m in need, for I have learned to be satisfied in ANY circumstance. I know what it means to lack, and I know what it means to experience overwhelming abundance. For I’m trained in the secret of overcoming all things, whether in fullness or in hunger. And I find that the strength of Christ’s explosive power infuses me to conquer every difficulty.” Philippians 4:11-13 TPT.

Trouble can train us – if we will just choose to listen to Him and trust in Him. We cannot afford to waste our energy running about like headless chickens looking for an exit. May I suggest that we use our energy going after Jesus instead? He’s always the Answer! Let’s learn to recognise and accept the Lord’s correction and  discipline. That stuff isn’t always fun when it is happening, but it is sent to train us in righteousness, and peace, as well as leading us into a real, viable, lively fellowship with the Holy Spirit. His correction and discipline helps us sort out our motivations. People love to hear things from Him that they want to hear, but will we listen to what we don’t want to hear?

Today many human beings think correction and discipline are bad things – which is why we have decided that smacking children is a no-no! Unfortunately, now we are reaping the whirlwind …and so are the poor kids! I’m not talking about randomly whacking your kid simply because you had a bad day, and YOU are out of sorts. I am talking about the careful and thoughtful, considered hand-of-reason being applied to the seat of learning. Kids need to learn how to monitor themselves, under your loving supervision. And with some children, saying “stop” won’t do it! Life has penalties. If you pinch a car you go to jail. It is better to teach little Agnes or Angus how to restrain themselves, when they are small. However, I admit some do learn quicker than others!

Discipline when it is too strong, and it is done for the wrong reasons, can let the enemy in and have an adverse effect. Things like: “now you have ticked me off,” are not the right reason to whack your kid. That’s because at the bottom of that sort of discipline it isn’t about monitoring the kid, and leading them into making better choices. Instead, the reality is, you are trying to create a carefree, easier, happier environment for you! The point of discipline is to learn to monitor yourself – your own behaviour – with God’s help. So prayer needs to accompany discipline – pray with your child, teach them to repent. Model it in front of them. The bible is clear, discipline and correction are part of God’s love in our lives. They are His wisdom entering into our lives through our circumstances, lovingly exposing where the enemy of our souls can get at us. 

On that loving note, just to clarify another thing: God doesn’t make anyone sick. He does not and will not “send’ sickness to us to teach us something! However, He will take all that bad stuff and make it work together for our good, as we let Him do it! Bad things happen because satan is loose – he hates people. So if you blame yourself for illness, then you may have fallen right into satan’s cleverly laid trap. Our God loves to reason and interact with us in every aspect of our lives … He especially loves it when we talk with Him, personally. So we need to turn to His love and wisdom, and ask Him what this or that is all about, and always pray for healing! 

Whether we receive healing on the spot or not, is far less relevant than our ongoing attitude toward Him. We can’t afford to let a lack of healing stand in the way of real growth. Holiness has the smell of sacrifice on it. In the past when the Israelites wanted to restore their relationship with God, the Jewish people had to have a specific beast or bird killed, and then it was burnt — skin, feathers and all! If you have ever been to a tannery you will understand that it wasn’t the sweetest smelling BBQ in town! Let’s stop thinking that God only likes what WE like, otherwise we are shrinking Him down to our size — and that’s BAD.

If we choose to look at the Lord through the eyes of fear, we will find there is plenty of that to go around! In the Old Testament, there is the odd example of God smiting someone. But King Hezekiah once turned his face to a wall and prayed for deliverance from a fatal disease, and God heard his prayer and the king was given more time. Time to change his ways, perhaps? Let’s stop looking at prayer as a one-stop-shop and start looking at the Holy God we are talking to!! Maybe He has more than one thing going on at the time, and because we are mortal we simply don’t get it. 

I have learnt to be satisfied with praying about any situation, so I give it to the Lord, and then I leave it all with Him. This one action has created trust in me. Like I said: sometimes God is doing something else! After I have prayed, I walk away. And if I happen to get caught up in thoughts like: ‘what if’ or ‘maybe this or that,’ then I give everything back to Him and walk away again. What I am saying is this: ‘I trust you Lord to have the best answer and I am not going to mess around trying to fix something I can’t fix.’ If He tells me to repent of this or that, I don’t argue, I repent. If He wants me to apologise and make reparation, I do that.

He’s Almighty God and I believe He has the very best answers for me. I don’t always understand them …but my mind is like the size of a speck of dust in comparison to His infinite wisdom. When it comes to smarter than me – HE WINS! Let’s learn to be satisfied, and then release things, to Him. Then we can watch what He will do when we yield. We just might learn to be content, no matter what. Bye, 👋

P 3151 Good fruit.

/ DVH

The Lord wants me to talk about this particular subject one more time… so here we go …it seems to me that all those things I have been talking about in the past few days, are actually tied together. So IF we find we are reluctant to forgive someone else, it definitely means something, and we need to look at that particular situation very carefully. To begin with it means Jesus just slipped out of our focus!

We need to understand that the people who love Jesus know when they are wrong, because the Holy Spirit whispers to them! Plus the scriptures jump out at us and convict us. At the same time, any one of us can feel beaten up by negative circumstances. I think it is about vulnerability — we don’t want to make ourselves vulnerable to anyone we feel we can’t trust. 

That, BTW, is why it is a good plan to give difficult people to the Lord and leave them with Him. We can be so incredibly disappointed or hurt by someone else’s actions, that it seems like we can’t let things go. Especially when the other person has not acknowledged our pain, or asked for forgiveness. Or they keep on doing the thing that started the mess in the first place! That’s when our decisions need to kick in.

This kind of negative reaction shows the importance of redemptive power in all our lives. If you can get stuck on how you feel about what someone else did — then imagine how stuck they are in your mind, when we constantly see them through the filter of their past deeds/misdeeds! Here is something I use to check on my forgiveness metre. If someone’s name causes me to grind my teeth, either inwardly or outwardly, this means I have something that I need to get alone with the Lord to fix.

Seeing anyone through that kind filter can lead to a highly volatile situation — where our bad history with a person outweighs anything good, and everything they say and do has another meaning to us! The result is we are distracted and we don’t have to look at that list we are silently compiling against them. At the same time holding on to that list can be oh, so useful to prove our point about how mean they are!

All of us can easily find reasons, or excuses for our behaviour… whilst analysing someone else’s attitudes or what they have said. Meanwhile, our enemy is delighted to drag all kinds of stuff out periodically, to ?help? us remember when that other person does something we don’t like again. 

This is why forgiveness needs to be based on choice. We need to make a quality permanent decision that following Jesus is the way we have chosen to live, and then we must choose to protect that decision! In a nutshell becoming a Christian means we have given up the right to make lists! If we end up avoiding people, then we probably have a list somewhere – tucked away in our psyche. It took me a long time to realise that keeping a list of other people’s sins is not true protection. It’s a trap!

The worst thing about keeping lists, is that this trait can start in childhood, as a result of imperfect parenting. Childish assessments are not accurate, because they come from a brain that is not completely developed or matured! When we hold something against someone from our past — I’ve noticed that anybody else who even remotely sounds like the people we are offended with — ends up thrown into the same pile. Pretty soon that pile gets so high, we can’t see or hear God over it. 

Let’s remind ourselves that our stated aim as followers of Jesus, is to be the people who forgive and release others on the spot .Otherwise that little niggle in the background of our thoughts quickly becomes a whirlpool. Then we have no idea why we are going round and round instead of moving forward. Our God is incredibly kind, He won’t let us move forward while we are dragging stuff behind us like the tail on a comet.

Let’s realise we cannot afford to relinquish our God-given right to be free from captivity – simply because we want to choose to be angry at someone else! Being mad at someone is still captivity! Almighty God is more than able to protect us, we don’t need to protect ourselves anymore. Let’s not fall into the trap of holding a grudge to keep ourselves supposedly safe. “My God is my protection and with Him I am safe.” Psalm 18:2.

Meanwhile there can be a gap between believing, and living that way – it’s time to close those gaps. There are times when we end up chasing healing, which is another subject altogether. Healing can be another little side eddy to get stuck in — it can become an excuse we use to hide from God and others. Our healing is in our proximity to Jesus, stay with Him and watch what He will do with you. To be perfectly honest with you, sometimes I look at people and think:“Aren’t you sick of going round and round yet?” Now I need to repent!!

The belief that Father God is always for us must stay at the forefront of our minds. Even when it seems that everything we hoped for and loved is facing extinction. That’s what dying to self is like. “Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But IF it dies, it produces many seeds.” John 12:24. Dying to self opens us up to the things we can’t see.

Our God is devoted to His harvest coming out of our lives. Namely – FRUIT.  And we can’t hang on to grudges and stuff and still produce good fruit. Instead we will bring forth diseased produce, in our own lives and in the lives of others. Bye 👋.

P 3129 Is God trustworthy?

/ DVH

We can all face issues that seem to be impossible. Today I want to look at those impossibilities from the best possible place. Is Almighty God trustworthy and reliable? He sees impossibility as an opportunity to show us His faithfulness, mercy and love, so we can’t afford to doubt what He has said on the basis of unanswered prayer. 

Romans 4:18-25.“Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, BUT ALSO FOR US, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in Him Who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.”

Abraham’s walk with God, is an illustration that shows us that God can do anything – human reasoning need not apply! This man faced his own inadequacy, and he saw with his own eyes what God told him was going to happen. It was a no contest situation. However, this Godly example for us looked past what he knew human beings could do, to the God Who can and will do anything!  His faith was in God, Who told him they would have a son. 

He gave Almighty God glory for what He had promised to do, be-fo-re He did it. We can get stuck on what we call reality, or reason, if we only look at these senior citizens on the old-aged pension having a child, and miss the entire point. God gave that man what He has promised to give each one of us who choose to follow Jesus – Christ’s righteousness. We have Jesus’ position of favour before the Lord. But we need to remember, the bible says Jesus did not ever take advantage of that favour. 

The birth of Isaac was secondary. The Lord showed us through Abraham our right-standing(righteousness)  with God is free and not earned! Abraham looked at the One Who told him it would happen and believed Him — before the event.  His faith in God’s ability to do what He said He would do, gave Him righteousness with God, and made this man ‘the father of the same sort of faith we have.’  Almighty God initiated what happened — Abraham responded with faith in the One Who spoke to Him — and God was generous. Faith believes we are righteous even when it seems like everything around us  is screaming that’s not possible. My faith is in what Christ did.

Abraham is not just an example of faith in action, he lived in a position of being right with God long before Jesus came to die for us, and God gave that to him – just like He gave it to us. Our hopes can’t afford to be in the answer to our prayers – they are in the Person we ask! Jesus is God’s Answer to mankind’s prayers and when He died He gave us God’s favour, for free. No matter how impossible things seem – our God is trustworthy. Any promise that He gives us is wonderful, but the Character of the One Who gives us that promise is everything. Steadfastly keeping our faith firmly in Him, Who He is – despite any obvious difficulties – is our real promise. 

Never doubt the Lord’s miraculous intervention on our behalf, even if we have been a bit of a dummy and gone the wrong way and chaos resulted. Abraham did! Pray and then hand the mess over to God, and leave it with Him. Follow His instructions, and start to praise God for giving us Christ. Our redemption does not hinge on our behaviour. It hinges on what Jesus did. Everything depends on what we are focussed on, the outcome, or the Person Who provides the outcome. One fosters ‘results’ thinking and the other relationship.

God gave us His Word that we now have Jesus’ righteousness. Now we need to believe that God is good and trustworthy and He will keep His word. Our faith rests on God’s Character and His Word, not in our current circumstances changing. Our faith will stay strong when we put it in Who He is, rather than the answer to our prayers. Father God gave Abraham His Word, and He kept it, but there was a long stretch of time between those two things. But, Abraham’s strong faith in God’s Character led to him being called righteous with God before Jesus ever arrived. Protect your faith it is your most valuable gift from God.

Heartache happens when we presume, or rush ahead and try to get our own answer – like Abraham. Wait for Him. God tells us that He will take care of us from the cradle to the grave, and we need to believe Him. Even if bad things happen to us in our lives or the roof falls in. Do I believe He keeps His Word? Is He good? Is He faithful and true and reliable? Sometimes we can have more faith in the results of our prayers, than we do in the God Who gave us all these promises in the first place!  We need to hold fast to our belief in Him, and His goodness.

One word of caution, it is not wise to use our own enthusiasm to prop up what you know about Him and yourself. We can be led astray by our own passions. (James) Our righteousness before Him, is a gift given to us by Jesus. Cherish it. But hold fast to the fact that He is trustworthy and reliable because that is a greater blessing. Deal with anything that might try to destroy that. Bye. 👋

P 3123 God Has Set Things Right.

/ DVH

Romans 3:21-26: “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.”MSG.

There are times we need to read, and reread, about what Jesus voluntarily did for us, otherwise we can become a bit offhand and take for granted what we have been given – the incredible cost our sins incurred on Jesus. Gratitude is a powerful tool against presumption. Not the absent-minded “thank -you Jesus” kind, but the kind that stands in wonder at what actually had to happen so we could be restored into God’s family, forever.

Righteousness isn’t something to be glossed over, because it is an anchor point of what we believe. Sadly, we can often work extremely hard to explain away our sinful attitudes toward ourselves—and others. Day by day, we privately struggle with this bad attitude, that nasty temper, and an attitude of neglect toward loving others the way He loved us. Instead we hide those things behind a happy smile, and we try to modify our behaviour according to our own efforts, Christianity calls that works. But works don’t WORK! So today I just want to pause everything, and look at something we all think we know: but I believe we have yet to appropriate the glory of what we have been given. We haven’t paid it enough attention.

God has given me something of Himself that makes my relationship with Him, and YOU work. He gave us the same status in His eyes that He has given Jesus. This incredible blessing was here before I got here, and it will continue to change this world long after I leave it. The Lord wants us to enjoy that gift He has given us, every single day. It is a totally restored relationship with Himself. However, problems of perception crop up, and old attitudes and habits drag us away. We might even live this life aware of what we have been GIVEN—but we are utterly lousy at giving it away to other people when they have hurt us. Yet, OUR SIN KILLED CHRIST. That is the thing that balances out what they did! … “that which is not love, is SIN.’

This righteousness we’ve received is free, but it will not free us if we insist on grabbing hold of our neighbour, or spouse, and demanding they recompense us for their sins. Free is free. And like the unforgiving servant in the parable Jesus taught – we are happy to receive pardon, but not super excited about giving it to others. They hurt our feelings so they should PAY. This means we hold onto resentments, past hurts, and act accordingly toward the person who hurt us. We have cleverly constructed reasons for this deceitful behaviour – and we take polls with other people to make sure we have a consensus to say that our behaviour toward them is only natural, because of what happened to us. Other people’s actions should not interfere with our responses – we have been given the power to respond differently.

So we distance ourselves from others for our own protection. When we do that we negate Love’s power to overcome every obstacle. We are happy to be forgiven, but when something bad happens we misuse what has been given to us, to make ourselves feel comfortable. We inwardly declare the other person has now crossed the border into the land of “too much,” and they’ve nullified our need to give away something that was freely given to us. I just want to point out that the overriding premise of this gift is that we will always give it away whether the other person deserves to get it or not! It is an essential part of receiving righteousness, to give it away freely. We didn’t deserve it either! We don’t just receive righteousness we have to give away righteousness.

We can quite quickly rabbit-on about the power of God being sent to change our lives and the lives of everyone around us, but the truth is God cares more for action than He does hot-air. Saying this, and singing that won’t even remotely change us, unless we ask for His help to transform our selfish, self-centred mindsets that choose to withhold love from others. The truth is, we can be stinkers too, in some circumstances – and we don’t ever deserve His righteousness or forgiveness either. It was a gift.

When we move IN and OUT of the flow of His righteousness to satisfy our own agendas, we are postponing  opportunities to learn to love others the way He loves us. Then the desire to maintain a pious appearance begins to take over our efforts. Yet that is why righteousness and forgiveness were given to us freely in the first place  – so that His LOVE can prevail. Love is the language of His kingdom, and it can’t be faked, it must be learnt. This life isn’t just about ME being free, it is about ME setting YOU free no matter what you did. Our God has set things right, forever. Bye. 👋

P 3118 We need passionate obedience.

/ DVH

“Why do you call Me Lord, Lord, when you don’t do the things I say?” WEB.“Why do you call Me, Lord, Lord, and do not [practice] what I tell you?” AMP. ““So why do you call Me ‘Lord’ when you won’t obey Me?“ TLB. This last one is a doozie! “Why are you so polite with Me, always saying ‘Yes, Sir,’ and ‘That’s right, Sir,’ but never doing a thing I tell you? These words I speak to you are not mere additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundation words, words to build a life on.” Luke 6:46-49.

Over 50+ years ago, the Lord really challenged me with this scripture. He didn’t mince His words, He told me that there was no point in talking to me if I was just going to block my ears to the things I didn’t like or the things I thought I couldn’t do. He reminded me that He is looking for clean hands and a pure heart, and if I was ever  going to be able to do that in my own strength – it would have happened by now! My flesh can get very noisy and complain a lot. Since that time I have learnt that ‘His Way or the Highway’ is not a threat — it is a promise. The Lord promises us to help us to obey Him, it’s in the book. Obedience is the product of faith.

There is so much about our God that we still do not know because we like to pick and choose what we want to do and what we don’t. And then we call that freedom. Phooey. God is not a Pick and Pay! Although we will pay, spiritually, if we don’t pick His way! Sadly, we can be very easily led away by the enemy’s tricks. Let’s choose to clear away some of the painful debris that clutters up our thought life and the corners of our hearts. and become single minded. By that I mean let’s start with the things that Jesus Himself said. And in the OT it says a number of times:“I have hidden Your Word in my heart that I might not sin against You.”  Psalm 119:11.

We also need to decide to do what It says – on purpose. That means we are making an informed, I’ve-counted-the-cost-and-I-am-doing-it-anyway …decisions. Some people say obeying God unlocks blessings in your life – it probably does – but that thought sure is a rotten reason and a big fat insult to everything Jesus did for us, voluntarily! I think we need to choose to obey because HE told us to.

The point is His kids choose to actively learn how to yield. You and I have been given the power to release people from satan’s grip so they can hear and see the Lord for themselvesI We can’t afford to forget the fact that it doesn’t say … “feel like it first!” Unless I am in a coma! … I can choose to forgive anyone!  It is an act of my will. Then I ask the Holy Spirit to remind me about what I’ve chosen to do, because people can continue to be irritating and annoying, so I need Him to remind me that I already forgave them! That eliminates those nasty rumblings inside me when I need to deal with somebody I’ve been angry at before.

Meanwhile, because I’ve lived a while, I’ve observed that most people have no idea about whatever they say or do toward others  —  they are so chock full of themselves and how they feel. You would be astonished at how little others think about anyone else! You are often just an innocent bystander who happened to cross paths, with someone who is utterly clueless about how other people feel. They don’t actually have room, or time to ruminate on their behaviour, maybe they are too busy scarring other people for life!! Yay Jesus, because of You everybody can be healed!!

My next advice is move on from offence, or other people’s sins, quickly. There is nothing to see there, so stop trying to alter someone else’s behaviour and concentrate on your own responses instead. We can change ourselves because we’ve been given the power to change! Change is always dependent on Him, plus our positive response and choices. Those things are made and sustained with the Holy Spirit’s help, which is great because this is His favourite kind of prayer. Reconciliation. 

Deliberate disobedience often needs a revelation of Who Jesus is, and what He did for us. That can straighten out our thinking. And finally we need to remember Who He is NOW, at the right hand of His Father! That thought alone should empower us. When we choose to not hold on to someone else’s sin, or even revisit it, or talk about it, or think about it – we are practising the skill of obedience under adverse conditions, it makes us ‘…strong in the Lord in the power of HIS MIGHT…’

Despite our common war wounds, the Holy Spirit can and will help us with whatever comes out of our mouths. Letting go of someone else’s sin is letting go of judgment. It is incredibly important to treat offence like a poisonous snake. Fix it immediately, and carefully. It will help us grow our faith as well as spiritually prosper in the things of God that are good, just, right. Jesus talks about obedience with passion in John 14:21, 23..“Those who truly love Me are those who obey My  commands. Whoever passionately loves Me will be passionately loved by my Father. And I will passionately love him in return and will reveal Myself to him.” Jesus replied, “Loving Me empowers you to obey My word. And My Father will love you so deeply that We will come to you and make you Our dwelling place.”

Bye. 👋

P 3112 Bob the Builder just won’t do.

/ DVH

“If God’s grace doesn’t help the builders, they will labor in vain to build a house. If God’s mercy doesn’t protect the city, all the sentries will circle it in vain. It really is senseless to work so hard from early morning till late at night, toiling to make a living for fear of not having enough. God can provide for His devoted lovers even while they sleep!” Psalms 127:1-2 TPT

Psalm 127 has impacted me, because in the past, I was one of the wrong kind of builders, labouring in vain to make sure my ‘house’ looked good, ran fairly smoothly, and everyone in it was kept happy! I wanted to be a good witness for Jesus – and I failed.That’s too much weight for any human being — that’s why Jesus told us to give HIM our burdens! I had no idea that labouring in the flesh, together with maintaining positive talk – without any real substance to it— meant God was not building what He wanted, because I was in His way!

The real blessing of Jesus’ redemption is that it takes the mess we’ve made and utterly renews it, through asking for, and receiving the Grace of God into our lives! DAILY. Truthfulness with ourselves matters, and real intimacy with Him will bring us face to face with our own humanity. Back then, I prayed and waited, for my new life in Christ to fall on me …and … everything stayed the same. Actually, I think I got worse! At the same time I constantly felt that my life should be easier now, because Jesus was in it! That was what I was taught. But change doesn’t come from osmosis – it comes from obedience. 

I have always been rotten at being fake, but now it seemed like God Himself expected me to do it, so I gave it my all!! It was kind of a ‘fake it ’til you make it ’attitude. However, my poor behaviour was my own responsibility and I was lousy at changing me. It was years before I realised that there was far more power and grace released when Jesus died and rose again, than I had ever dreamed about! I’ve learnt that transformation comes when I obey what I am reading, whether I like it or not!  He died to give me that power too! Prior to that I thought if God loved you enough —.He would do it for you. You can just imagine the kind of conclusions I came to, when He didn’t!! Building a house involves work. We are going to have to build it brick by brick with His help and oversight, one step at a time.

I want to strenuously make the point that none of any of my fakey-fake attitude was the Lord’s fault! The teaching I had at that time made it sound like transformation was easy, you prayed, you woke up and you were different. You went to church regularly, prayed, read the bible, and … you were different. I did all those things and then… I learnt to hide my faults!  Transformation happens when we give a different response. The bible teaches us what kind of responses God is looking for, and the Holy Spirit has been sent to help us.

Father God is longing to get our attention. He isn’t going to use a trumpet or a donkey – He wants us to believe He really is that good and what Jesus did is complete. This means He points something out, and He shows us a way to overcome it, using HIS power – not our own strength. It is better, if we can’t be honest with ourselves or Him, to make that the subject of our prayers. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you to be real with Him and honest with yourself. We can spend our Christian lives aiming our prayers at the leaves on the tree of our life, instead of going straight to the root of what is causing us to slowly die, spiritually, and lose hope.

In the end, I decided to only read the bible, instead of the hundreds of books in the Christian bookshop that made big promises, and delivered nothing but even more information! That stuff didn’t work for me. Reading other people’s books was like watching someone else make a sandwich, eating it, and expecting that I would get the same benefit they did! What I was aiming at was their revelation and Father God wanted to give me my own!! 

The things I write here have been written on my own heart through my own interactions with the Lord. I know that He wants to talk with you too. But please don’t follow ME, follow JESUS. There’s been way too much piggy-backing going on in our faith. If I follow someone else’s ideas and thoughts, instead of Jesus, I will end up with their limitations! There is no quick fix to transformation, because we have unfortunately cultivated weeds in our lives. We will always need Him to identify them and help us to pull them out.

Our journey with Jesus is personal. I can share with you, you can share with me, but until both of us admit that ‘without Him we can do nothing!’ …  then we are building a house that cannot stand. Jesus doesn’t want CLONES – He wants you to be you, and me to be me. The Holy Spirit was very particular when He made us both. He put things inside you that no-one else has. Now the Lord wants to express Himself through you to others, simply because you know Him and you know you are dearly loved by Him.

We don’t need Bob the Builder – we have the Master Builder, the Standby, the Precious Holy Spirit Who knows the way He wants you and I to go. Yes, we will repent of sin – often. Yes, there are truths we cannot, and must not avoid, because we all need transformation. It comes as we realise how much He loves us. Meanwhile we owe each other compassion for our frailties and disobedience, not judgment. We need to read His book and then act on what we read. And we continually ask for His help. That’s how you build the house. Read Matthew 7:24-27. Bye 👋.