Benefit

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 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 3208 Does this stuff sound easy to you?

/ DVH

“For athletic training only benefits you for a short season, but righteousness brings lasting benefit in everything; for righteousness contains the promise of life, for time and eternity. Faithful is the Word, and everyone should accept Him! For the sake of this ministry, we toil tirelessly and are criticised continually, simply because our hope is in the living God. He is the wonderful life-giver of all the children of men, and even more so to those who believe. Instruct and teach the people all that I’ve taught you.” 1 Timothy 4:8-11 TPT.

Christianity is for the brave, for the persevering, for those who know the way to win is to keep on going. We know it is a life-style, not just a collection of nice thoughts. This is the kind of lifestyle that has been trained, and formed by His righteousness. Because of what Jesus has already done, we know that we can keep going, with Him helping us, in the face of difficulty, danger and fear. This is what it takes — so this is what we do. We have been given His ability, so we can get up one more time and go again. It is never a matter of can I keep on doing this – it is about – can I do this one more time?

Our God knows that within ourselves, we are weak creatures addicted to comfort. That’s why He has gone to great lengths to give us Christ’s strength in place of our weaknesses. This transfer of power takes place as we put our feelings aside and believe what the bible says using our faith in His goodness and walk like He did. We face things, including our own inadequacies, we don’t hide from them. When we enter into His righteousness, we enter into training. We volunteer to allow what He has given us to teach us His Way to live and love.

It is good to regularly review the way that Jesus faced life among us. He was human!  He got tired, hungry, thirsty. But what kept Him going was His knowledge of His Heavenly Father’s will. He endured everything like an elite athlete does, so He could complete His own race. He is our living illustration of what devotion to God looks like.The bible explains to us that what we have been given – and what we do with that gift – is like the kind of training that athletes do. 

An athlete who wants to win in the Olympic games, for instance — won’t have many days off. They get up at some ridiculous hour and train, practice and hone their skills, doing the same old, same old, repetitive exercises over and over again. Pushing their bodies and stretching their muscles, in order to increase their endurance. Some of them have to work for a living at the same time as they are training, because even elite athletes do not always have sponsors!

Living for Jesus is like that. Not every day is filled with raising the dead, or healing the sick, or witnessing. Paul had some places he went where people wouldn’t listen to him preach the Gospel. He nearly lost his life many times. Our desire to live for Jesus is going to take this kind of ongoing devotion, the kind that has nothing to do with feelings. It’s so much easier to jump in when the Spirit is flowing and the Lord is actively among us – but who are we when our lives are flat as a tack, and look like they are going nowhere? Who are we when no-one is looking? That’s often what decides the depth of our faith.

What the Lord is saying here through Paul to Timothy, is that religion will wear you out. Even athletes go past their prime or get injured. However, dedicatedly, doggedly, daily following Jesus will give us eternal life right here right now. This is a constant stream that has no end. No matter what our circumstances are, no matter how difficult this life becomes, we have instant access to the One Who made us and paid an incredible price to have us for His own. He’s always with us and He is the source of total reliability in this world. The bible says that God is so reliable He brings the sun up every day. Imagine that! 

We reach into the eternal, when we choose to live out this new life we have been given, using our faith that God will not lie to us. This kind of faith teaches us His ways. Unlike ordinary athletes being trained in righteousness it does not have a shelf-life. Our new life has been given to us freely, in a never-ending stream because of what Jesus did. That’s why the knowledge of what we have been given empowers us to continue. 

Because of this gift we can count on the Lord always being the same toward us, no matter what we did or didn’t do. This righteousness empowers us to be lovers of Jesus, followers of Him, and loyal to our death. Because of Jesus and His power in me, I have said and done things I would never even consider doing if I was left to my own devices. This means I have seen the miraculous on many occasions. I’ve been all over the globe and all around my own country. Praise God because of Jesus, every day is a brand new day. 

However, to live in His righteousness I must give up my own. I can no longer rely upon sounding right, or looking right – I have to cast everything about my life upon the cross and tell myself –  He died for that too. This means I cannot afford to think about entering into presumption. All that I will ever need is mine, but it is always a gift. Meanwhile, I am way too busy being grateful to presume upon His Grace.. 

My fav verse says: “I know in Whom I have believed and I am persuaded that He is able…”(That’s in 2 Timothy 1:12)  I know, from experience, that living this kind of life will not be easy, it costs my Lord everything, so it will cost me too, because I am following Him. I’ve been persuaded by what the book says. Jesus gave us everything He had –He left it all out on the field. Plus He overpaid! None of life’s stuff seems easy to me … but like you, I am learning to value the treasure I have been given. 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 3167 Good news.

/ DVH

“Even though you were once distant from Him, living in the shadows of your evil thoughts and actions, He reconnected you back to Himself. He released His supernatural peace to you through the sacrifice of His own body as the sin-payment on your behalf so that you would dwell in His presence. And now there is nothing between you and Father God, for He sees you as holy, flawless, and restored,” Colossians 1:21-22 TPT.

Walking away from Grace like this, seems almost impossible, yet there are times when our ill-advised decisions can slowly drag us away. Jesus did everything for us,now it is up to us to say: “thank You Lord,” and go on to live this life the way He planned for us to live it. This means we will be continually connected to Him, basking in the supernatural peace He has given us — as we love others, and walk, work, and live carrying His Presence with us. Christ’s death was so complete on our behalf, that now there is nothing that can keep us from our Heavenly Father. 

I feel for you, if your own earthly family hates you, and won’t have anything to do with you, but Father God’s door is now permanently open to you. Now you belong to a bigger family than your family of birth. Jesus opened that door for everybody and it cannot be shut …  And to be perfectly honest with you, I think that if anyone who does want to shut the door between Him and them – I believe He will still come after them!! I’ve watched Him do it, so many times. That thought alone comforts me when I think about some people that I love who are wandering around in the wilderness shouting” “there is no God.” 

Here’s another version of Colossians, just because it is so beautiful. Colossians 1:21-23 MSG: “You yourselves are a case study of what He does. At one time you all had your backs turned to God, thinking rebellious thoughts of Him, giving Him trouble every chance you got. But now, by giving Himself completely at the Cross, actually dying for you, Christ brought you over to God’s side and put your lives together, whole and holy in His presence. You don’t walk away from a gift like that! You stay grounded and steady in that bond of trust, constantly tuned in to the Message, careful not to be distracted or diverted. There is no other Message—just this one…”

We can read things like this, smile, and nod our heads, and feel happy inside, as we enjoy these thoughts from the Message bible or the Passion Translation or whatever version you like. But the reality is – we need to absorb what Paul says here into our very beings, not just agree with it. Many Christians wonder why their faith goes up and down like a lift in a tall building. Perhaps it is because God’s Word is not meeting with faith on their end. We need to read it and reread it again and again.Tell yourself: “this is true for me, right here right now.” OR ask the Lord to show you how it is true in your day to day life.

Feelings are powerful, but they are not faith. However, they are easily influenced by our circumstances. We need to live, day by day in the assurance that God’s promises are more than words on a page —they proclaim and usher in life and health into our eternal spirits, bodies and souls. Just take them in, believe what they say, and act on them. Treat them like a letter from a dear dear friend or loved one. Devour them, and then remember to thank Him for what He is doing.

Our response to any scripture needs to be joy. This gospel of Christ is not old news, it’s the only news that is refreshed for us personally, second by second. It is good news!  Think about it. Once you and I were lost in this world’s system of ‘grab everything you can, steal if you have to, lie if you need to’ … and then Jesus came along and said to us: “I choose to die for everything you ever did that is out of line with God’s plan for you.” The problem is, we think we need to understand everything before it will do us good. Just say ‘yes,’ and start acting on what the book says! Faith acts, it doesn’t just nod its head in agreement.

Pausing and thinking about the bible, or simply reading the words, are two very different things. If you only think about eating a banana you can still feel hungry! But if you eat the darn thing, you will benefit from eating it. You might even benefit emotionally – if you happen to really love bananas. But eating it will definitely give you potassium, and other vitamins that will enable you to go about your daily business with energy. The body of Christ is lethargic and it lolls about going nowhere … but we were made for better things!

Digesting God’s word gives our spirit man the energy, wisdom, and discernment, and understanding that we need every single day. That’s because the Word of God is the truth, it exposes our hearts to us, as well as our wrong thinking. It empowers us to live for God’s kingdom now, and take that kingdom with us wherever we go. We are not going to need this stuff in Heaven! We need it here and now! That’s why it is here and now! It’s good news. It’s not for tomorrow, it’s for today! Bye. 👋

P 3166 Judgment kills faith …

/ DVH

… Even when our judgment includes whether Christians can or can’t eat MEAT! Sometimes human beings seem to love to make up rules, especially where there are no rules. These man-made rules tie themselves and others up in knots. But Father God is far more concerned about our attitudes toward each other, than He is in splitting hairs over whether we order a vegetable or meat lover’s pizza! Order both and share. Here are some verses to think on, in Romans 12:1-4&23b. 

“Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarrelling over disputable matters. One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. Who are you to judge SomeOne Else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.”… …“and everything that does not come from faith is sin.”

I cannot stress enough how highly dangerous judgment is to our spiritual lives. We won’t always understand the people close to us, or even the ones that live around us, the way He does. This means we will have no idea how this person, or that person arrived at the way they think, because only the Lord knows their hearts. Drawing conclusions about someone else, is a waste of our God-given time and energy. Yet it is incredibly easy to do!! We simply must learn to celebrate each other’s strengths rather than point out any failures.

Let’s choose to remember what the above scripture in Romans says: not all of us have great faith! Some of us have faith in some areas, and zero to none in others. At the same time, life daily deals every one of us crushing blows, so putting weights on someone else’s feet when they are tired, or sick, or overwhelmed, and still trying to run, is cruel and unfeeling. It seems to me sheer honesty about your own flaws is far more useful! I think we do things like this to justify our own position, or give us an excuse to keep on doing the very thing we should not be doing. This attitude is not worthy of Jesus’ disciples. He was compassion personified when He walked among us – if anybody was right – He was! But He didn’t use what He already knew to make someone else feel small – His compassion set them free instead. 

I enjoy meditating on this next scripture. It is meaningful to me, because I mess up a lot — and I know I need wa-ay more patience toward other people. I really get tested when someone else hurts the people close to me, and then they want authentication for their own aggressive stinky attitudes. That’s like asking me to put a bow on a pile of manure. Not.Gunna.Happen! Isaiah 42:3 says this: “A bruised reed He will not break, and a dimly burning wick He will not quench; He will bring forth justice in truth.” If the God of all the Universe is so particular and watchful over each one of us, let’s do our best, with His help, to remember that our careless words affect others. I don’t care what they said – my real problem is this – how did I reply?

Verse 3 illustrates what walking with the Holy Spirit looks like, He sees the broken, and the broken hearted. He is so gentle, and easily grieved. Nastiness and judgment immediately takes us away from His influence. BTW my theory is this – at the same time that we choose to get uglier about someone else, we can longer see what He sees, and we also get deafer and deafer to Him. But, hallelujah! Heartfelt repentance opens the door to restoration of fellowship with Him and others. Words are like bridges, they can join people together, or break us apart. So let’s ask for understanding to go hand in hand with wisdom. Like Romans says above, we must learn to accept each other in our weaknesses. We need to come alongside others and help, not undermine.

Here’s more from Isaiah, 35:3-5, and it’s a great exhortation for all of us today:  “Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way, say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, He will come with vengeance; with divine retribution. He will come to save you. Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.” Miracles can be side-lined when we sail off into judgment! I believe that our faith in God’s power through us, very much depends on allowing His Word to minister to us first. Then humility stretches out its hand to someone else and says: “May I help you up?” 

Personally, I think it is deadly to faith to look down on one another. Instead, we need to practice, corporately, every time we are together, looking up at Him. We need the practice! Judgment, even when it is unspoken, hinders the flow of the Spirit between us. His freedom IN me, means I’m not scared to deal WITH me first. So when we get alone with Him, let’s ask Him how to fix things in us, first. Remember – our log has to come out so we can clearly see to help someone else with their speck.

Lastly, I cannot recommend highly enough reading the bible purely for your own benefit unless you want to get a word of blessing for someone else. Using God’s word as a club to beat people into submission to your pet theory is ungodly. We are exhorted by Paul to come alongside one another and bear each other’s burdens. Judgment kills faith – but the Spirit always brings life. Bye. 👋

P 3163 Mercy

/ DVH

Mercy seems to me to be the least appreciated spiritual gift! “We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us… …if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully. “ Romans 12:6a&8b. It seems to me that everybody wants to be the resident prophet or a leader! And encouragement, giving or serving, come a bit further down that list of desired gifts. In spite of those attitudes – mercy seems to be the last one.  Um when is the last time you heard or read a sermon preached about mercy? This world would be so much better off if we learnt to embrace God’s mercy for ourselves and others! Mercy has been given to the body of Christ for everyone’s benefit just like leadership or generosity.

All those gifts that are mentioned in Romans 12 depend on the measure of faith we’ve have been given by God, but it seems, strangely (!), some things seem to stand out more. I wish I could say I have found a reason why mercy seems to be an overlooked body ministry … but I can’t.  It seems that many Christians want to aim at  leadership or prophetic gifts. Meanwhile I’m pretty sure encouragement flew out of the window years ago. I know about 3 people who flourish in this gift, and one of them is my husband! Encouragement is a transformative gift, the person who encourages others sounds like our wonderful heavenly Coach – the Holy Spirit. And He is always right here, cheering us on.

Has anybody else noticed that each of these gifts are traits of Almighty God’s Character? I mean, how exciting is that? Operating in all or any of them means we will be daily walking in His shoes. So we get to do what He does for US and others. We simply pass on what He gives us, to other people. Meanwhile, maybe mercy seems to be an old-fashioned concept? So let’s look closely at it, because I have this funny feeling we cannot afford to miss out on this gift — bearing in mind what Paul himself said about gifts. He said some body parts don’t seem to beall that special! I think that mercy is incredibly important – it is not just a whole lot of sweet loving old ladies up the back at church knitting socks for the poor!

Here’s a couple of verses to think on: Matthew 5:7: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” In the Message bible it says: “You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘care-full,’ you find yourselves cared for.” Then there is: Luke 6:36: “Be merciful just as your Father is merciful.” See! Here’s a huge bonus! We get to be like Him when we walk in mercy! Last one – Lamentations  3:22-24. MSG: “God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out, His merciful love couldn’t have dried up. They’re created new every morning. How great Your faithfulness! I’m sticking with God (I say it over and over). He’s all I’ve got left.” 

Hah! MERCY IS A GOD-QUALITY! It’s revealed in His enormous daily generosity toward us. He makes sure we have new mercy every morning. I like that. I need new mercy!! I can run out of His qualities even quicker than I run out of toilet paper and toothpaste! I have found that our Heavenly Father hides important truths in quite ordinary places – you have to look to find them. This is why we ask questions, and why “we study hard to show ourselves workmen that are approved by Him.’ It’s not for a pass or fail mark. It’s so we can know Who He is and the riches of His glory that He has already given to us – in the church.

The Lord Jesus’ life was anchored into His Father’s Will and Character. We are to be like that too, simply because we are daily given the opportunity to get to know the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. All three of Them anchor us into the Kingdom of God and His kingdom  is realer than anything else. Because of Their ministry to me, I am learning to think in  ‘scripture’ instead of regurgitating rubbish from TV or man-made concepts.

Meanwhile, like I said before – our God loves to hide things! Half the fun of reading the bible is chasing around going after ‘what He wants to teach me today.’ Our spiritual eyes pop open and we go:”Aha! Now, I get it!” One of God’s Ways is to ‘Sneaky Pete’ things in His book. Translation —- He hides the good stuff in plain sight – but when you ask Him He will give it to you. So this means we are going to need to be diligent to find out what He wants from us – after all we are exhorted to: ‘not grow weary and never give up because eventually we will reap the reward.’

In the Gospels there was a widow lady who badgered a judge into submission, and at another time some guy got bread outside of shopping hours – all that happened because they wouldn’t quit. I’ve learnt to insist. I have found the Lord rarely puts a sign on the stuff that He says or does, He expects us to notice it, to be alert and present with Him. A whole lotta people miss a whole lotta blessings because they aren’t paying attention … just saying is all!

Let’s be clear, mercy is a Way God uses to reveal Himself. He doesn’t have to scrounge around to try to find a good attitude. Every single morning He simply hits the refresh button and mercy is there for each one of us. Feel free to cheer! It’s always the same consistent mercy, on a different day. Mercy is something we can’t earn or deserve, just like our salvation. We have His mercy every day, because it is backed up by His faithfulness. Plus it’s demonstrated wonderfully by Jesus Himself in the bible!

This is stuff we stand on. If I need mercy I know I am going to get it, because it isn’t like a new house, which benefits ME, mercy is something of HIM that will benefit everybody!  People don’t have to get what they deserve anymore – we can give them His Grace instead. FYI you can’t have mercy and live in judgment – one cancels the other out. We have a brand new page every single day, and at the top it says: “God’s mercy toward ME is waiting for me to wake up, it was released and manifested through what Jesus Christ did for me.” 

I want to encourage anyone who feels like they might have the gift of Mercy – PLEASE USE IT. We all need it! What we really lack from day to day, are the heavenly qualities only God Himself provides through other people and their ministries. ‘Lord, please help us all to receive and sow Your mercy wherever we go. And please bring Your appointed ministers of mercy out of hiding so they can minister to and help the Body of Christ .. plus everybody else around them.’ Amen. Bye.👋.

P 3158 Red and yellow flags.

/ DVH

Sometimes in my daily life, I notice the same or similar situations, happening over and over again — so I asked the Lord to show me what and why. He explained to me that we need to stay on the alert for things that seem out of place, when they happen repeatedly. Especially if each time they are about about a similar subject. This repetition can indicate we are ignoring something important. For instance, if you suddenly get a whole lot of people who are rude to you, we can easily think it is enemy attack, but there are times when Lord allows these things because we need to practise forgiving those who trespass against us!

It is like the Holy Spirit is our lifeguard and we have wandered off and we are now swimming outside the flags. Things get difficult when you swim outside the red and yellow flags. Those flags, those interruptions to His flow in our lives, are there for a purpose. Father God loves us – He doesn’t want any of us to drown! Meanwhile if you ever see a double RED flag, then stay out of the water! That’s some useful free lifesaver advice. Even if whatever it is you are doing seems harmless, take notice of the Holy Spirit’s absence, or His kiss upon your day, and stop and ask Him why. When He isn’t kissing something we need to stop moving ahead.

We must recognise, with His help and guidance, to learn to value the kind of obedience through the suffering that denies itself. We deny ourselves, pick up our cross and keep right on following Him no matter how we feel! Father God has a reason for His discipline and chastening, and it is not about punishment. It is about His loving provision for whatever is coming next. He is training us. We need to yield and allow His fruit to grow in the middle of that difficulty. This is clearly spelled out in Hebrews 12:6-11.

“For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.” If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” 

Correction to any course of action is present in our lives to train us. I’ve found, in those times, that things seem to  go on repeat – because we haven’t fully embraced obedience yet. Our God is good He will not let us move on into the next part of our growth, unprepared. Meanwhile, even these things are not always about us, sometimes it is about the damage we will do to someone else if we continue down the wrong road. The Lord forgives us whenever we ask Him to, but we are not on a desert island, other people live around us! We must never forget we are His agents of unconditional love and peace to this crazy world. That means we will be tested on what we think we know, because other lives are tied to ours!

Testing times are about testing our faith in His goodness and compassion and care for us, despite our circumstances. 1 Corinthians 10:13&14 says this in the Passion translation: “We all experience times of testing, which is normal for every human being. But God will be faithful to you. He will screen and filter the severity, nature and timing of every test or trial you face that you can bear it. And each test is an opportunity to trust Him more, for along with every trial God has provided for you a way of escape that will bring you out of it victoriously.” Our way through any test is to believe in His goodness, His personal oversight, no matter what is going on! And then we need to keep on thanking Him for loving us so much that He is teaching us with His eye on us.

I haven’t lost my mind, it’s in the book. Father God is not against us having a life, but He is against us wasting it on the stuff that will not last … and there are times when we all do that! If you read the story of Jonah you will see that God led that man step by step to the place of obedience – Jonah’s feelings about the subject did not matter. Father God had His own agenda – He wanted to save Nineveh! We must rest in the fact that He is wisdom itself, and we are just like Ruth, gleaning whatever wisdom we can around the edge of our own little paddock – looking at our circumstances without complete clarity. But if our purposes and sensibilities cross what He wants done, then I’ve learnt, our purposes and sensibilities will go straight out of the window!

Just like when we swim at the beach — there are yellow and red flags in this new life in the Holy Spirit, they are not threatening flags, they are protective flags. They tell you where it is safe to move forward. When we ignore the Holy Spirit’s red flags in our own individual lives, we are deliberately stepping out and away from His protection. He will wait for us to wake up to our error, repent and turn around. The Holy Spirit has been given to us to help us do everything the Lord brought us into this world to do. It’s incredibly dumb to step away from SomeOne Who only wants our good!

Our God disciplines and tests the people He loves, for their benefit. He wants us to share in His holiness. Those God-sent ‘flags’ are in our lives for a purpose. Things only get harder if we ignore them. The secret is to stop, wait, consult the Holy Spirit, and don’t proceed until the sea is calm again and the flags are green. Bye.👋

P 3108 HE is our strength.

/ DVH

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bye.👋

P 3091 Define the word ‘gift!’

/ DVH

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, Who does not change like shifting shadows.”James 1:17.“Ask, and the gift is yours. Seek, and you’ll discover. Knock, and the door will be opened for you.”Matthew 7:7 TPT.

If I were to ask you to define what you think a good gift looks like, what would you say? A happy life, travel, health, a nice house, great kids, plenty of money …a happy wife? Here’s a side note … the bible talks about finding a wife. “He who finds a wife finds a good thing, And obtains favour from the LORD.” God has a whole other take on what He thinks good gifts look like! That cranky wife is His gift to you  – you prayed for transformation!

It seems to me that we have translated the above scriptures in James and Matthew to mean that ‘I’ get to define what a good gift looks like! Good luck with that one. Why? Because only God is good … so He is the only One we can trust to define what good looks like! You might like to put your false teeth back in and chew on that one. God’s idea of good, and ours aren’t always the same. The bible tells us in Isaiah 53:10 that: ‘…it pleased the Lord to bruise Jesus’ – His Son.

Father God looks through the difficulties and pain to the overall end result. Jesus’ death meant salvation for all of us! He will use every bit of our journey through hard things – to grow, and diagnose and transform us. I believe human beings cannot discern good, because our minds are saturated with bitterness, resentment, troubles, worries and strife … as well as the so-called pleasures of this world! Somehow all that stuff skews our thinking, and we end up focusing only on the things that we think are advantageous to US, and not on the overall benefit to everyone. 

While our minds are in defensive or offended mode – we cannot easily see whatever is going on in that other person. We’ve been emotionally and mentally distracted, and we will be clouded by our own self-interest. Maybe a nasty attitude in another person is a demonic influence. Maybe it’s a habit, or maybe they are in nine kinds of pain!! But because we are prepared for pickiness, or fight, or flight, that means we are not in a prayerful position to receive heaven’s download about the situation.

The Holy Spirit always has a contribution to make … a gift.  A word of knowledge, some insight, a word of wisdom for every scenario. If we concentrate on how we feel – our anger, loss or pain, we probably won’t see or hear His answer, or we will reject it! And that means the broader deeper blessing is missed. We sometimes trot off feeling relieved when we manage to avoid a grumpy person. But, in truth, we have only postponed change – for me, for them, for the situation. Part of being transformed means we will need to yield to His wishes, His way, even though at the time it feels like the last thing we want to do.

He says this in His word: “No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; He’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; He’ll always be there to help you come through it.” I Corinthians 10:13. Did you see the gift in that sentence?  Yeah yeah, I know you think you’ve had times when you’ve been pushed too far, but the punch line is this — Almighty God thinks you can do it! He believes in you! Here’s another gift to think on:“Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.” Psalm 27:14. You know, the bible says that waiting on God renews our strength. (Isaiah 40:31) 

When we start out prayerfully trying to resist any kind of temptation, we may feel weak and not capable of what we know we need to do. But waiting for Him, pulls our focus out of the normal mixmaster mindset that rattles our brain. Waiting allows us to breathe – to find our peace. This is also a gift! Suddenly all the mind-cloudiness etc. lifts and we can begin to see spiritually. When we stop rattling our brains about “this or that or some other solution” and just sit in silence, and wait for Him! The same way we might wait for a friend in a coffee shop. We will quickly find that silence is another gift.

“My soul, wait in silence for God alone, For my hope is from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, My refuge; I will not be shaken. My salvation and my glory rest on God;  The rock of my strength, my refuge is in God.” Psalm 62:5-7.

This answer is a gift to us. In reality the Lord is saying to us:“this is the way walk ye in it!”He is showing us another way to get through difficulties – and that’s another gift! God daily gives us good gifts and if all we choose to see is this whizz-bang spiritual gift, or that special ability, we will miss seeing Him in our day to day ordinary life.

We need His definition of the word GIFT not ours. Prayerfully ask Him to help you to see and recognise Him, as He is active in your life. He showers us with blessings every single day! If you want to settle for a car park when you need one, then … have at it! But there is more! If what you receive is just perfect, then it is Him. Bye. 👋