Bible

P 3194 Fear is our enemy.

/ DVH

Good morning. I wanted to say a little about what happened at Bondi beach here in Australia on Sunday the 14th of December.. I had to wait on and ask the Lord what to say because … I simply had no words. I would like to add my prayers to yours and ask for our Heavenly Father’s comfort for anyone and everyone who has been affected by it. “Oh God our Father, please comfort and care for those who have suffered such incredible losses. Help their hearts, their spirits and their minds. I pray for the injured, their carers, their families, and especially our precious Jewish brothers and sisters. Lord please continue to guide and help the first responders, the police, the doctors, nurses and paramedics. Please help us all and comfort the broken hearted. Oh Lord, I pray the you will give those men and women who lead us Your clarity and wisdom. in Jesus Name,” Amen.

“For God will never give you the spirit of fear, but the Holy Spirit Who gives you mighty power, love, and self-control.”
2 Timothy 1:7 TPT. 

By the Grace of God we all can quote the above scripture and others. Things like this one from Philippians 4:8:: ‘Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things …’  Of course we should only think on those things. But tell me this … are we?? Or are we lying awake at night trying to figure out the things that only God Himself can do? I exhort everyone reading this today to turn your fears into Godly prayers. Use them to diagnose what ails you. 

Let’s actively learn and prayerfully understand these things from the Lord’s point of view, because our own ideas fall apart under pressure. In today’s current climate, I suspect you aren’t doing a great deal better than I am! Cheery thoughts are wonderful, but there are times when our hearts fall down into our socks with all kinds of bad news. That is when we need to do some essential revision with our Personal Trainer, the Holy Spirit. I ask for His love, and wisdom, and a new clean heart all the time.

The bible says: “…His ways are higher than ours.” Isaiah 55:9b. It also says: “His ways are past finding out…” Romans 11:33. Right now, our self-made ladders are daily looking less and less like they are going to be useful. WE.WILL.ALWAYS.NEED.GOD’S HELP. Day or night. We are living through times when we don’t know what will happen next. So instead of waiting to ask for help when things get worse, let’s start out every single day asking Him to help us. And then …’ask and keep on asking’ all day! He’s always there with us, and for us.

The above scriptures are wonderful diagnostic tools. We all know them. They were probably some of the first bible verses you and I memorised after we were born again. However, knowing the words is not the same as deliberately applying the meaning. If whatever we are facing produces fear, hatred, anger, despair then it is absolutely and totally not from God. We need to deal with it and yield to Him. After that we start out by doing anything we know we can do, in consultation with Him. Then we need to let those things go. Hatred nurtured, produces wickedness.

When you or I do not feel empowered, or loved, in our hearts, then whatever is coming at us, is an attack. It is not Almighty God. It’s the other guy!  Meanwhile it’s not our mother’s fault, or our father’s fault, or my spouse’s fault or even so and so’s fault! The scriptures are a sword. A sword is for fighting. Especially at the times when the enemy of our souls bombards our minds with horrendous thoughts. 

Let’s replace these evil thoughts … those rotten, ugly, desperate, despairing thoughts that are continually coming toward all of us … let’s replace them with what He says. There are thoughts that satan tosses into our heads like hand grenades, Let’s replace them with what the Lord Himself says. Our prayer needs to be – ‘Dear God please help me.’ And our ability to cope always comes from reading His word enough to know that we know —that He is FOR us — so if what we hear or think is not FOR US, it is not GOD! 

I have been learning to refuse to debate the ugly stuff that slithers into my brain. When it comes to satan, even debating stuff is a dumb idea. Those things are sent to steal our peace, time and eventually ruin our lives. Let’s channel our grief and anger into prayer, and replace those evil thoughts with what I know about His goodness. I walk about waggling this sword in my hand: “I know You are good Lord, despite what I can see, You are always good.” And I keep on whacking until I pass out, or the other guy goes away. Seriously. 

The Holy Spirit knows how to deal with all kinds of stuff. Let’s ask what He wants us to do, rather than stewing on what somebody else did. There is no need for us to be afraid, because FEAR is not from God. He has accepted us, irrevocably … eternally, Bye. 👋

BTW, we turn the news off. The more we listened the angrier we got. The news does not facilitate love.

P 3193 Chosen to do His will.

/ DVH

In the Holy Spirit’s processes, there needs to be room allowed for those who have weaker faith than we do. They too have so many valuable things to contribute. Actually their weaknesses often expose to us the reality of our own inner value systems – pomposity anyone? This brother or sister can give us an opportunity to identify faulty thoughts within us. They are helping us. Now there’s a reality rush!! Those things that have remained hidden, and untested in our lives, sometimes come out when we bump into someone else who is not on the same page we are. And if we are not aware of what God Himself says, we can end up in judgment. 

Romans 14:1-4 has a bit to say about these attitudes: “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.”

The point Paul is making is that we need to be careful not to judge other people who have weaker faith than ours. Otherwise we are questioning His judgment. It is so easy for us to say: “This person doesn’t do this, and the pastor blah blah blah…” God Himself chooses leaders. The bible says so. Here’s something to think about — sometimes leaders are chosen because they expose what’s wrong in US. King Saul is a great example of that. He was not a good leader, he exposed and personally illustrated cowardice and fear to his armies. But his people liked the way he looked so they chose him for the job. 

On the other hand, David, the King the Lord chose, was a great leader. Two men were given the role, for many different reasons. One of them showed the Israelites their weaknesses, and the other brought out their strengths. Both of those things are relevant when you are marching into battle. And both things were God’s doing. The Lord is not like us! He doesn’t see things the way we do, because we have limited sight and He sees everything. When He says it is not good for us to do such and such … believe Him!

Back to the point. So one man feels OK about eating meat, he does not feel condemned, but the next guy can’t. The point isn’t who is right …the point is, what are WE going to do about the difference? And the answer is we must not to leap into judgment! Bits of Romans 13:1-5 say this:“Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. … … Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.”

It’s not about whoever gleefully eats up all their veggies and who doesn’t – these two scriptures are about an attitude that we can easily allow to flourish within our hearts. And yes, I too have had people in charge of my life who seemed to be complete numpties. The amazing thing was they actually taught me more about myself and who I really am, than the nice guys who loved my ideas and supported them. Ya might want to think on that one!

Some people have weaker faith than others – they can’t do the kind of things someone else thinks is easy. This is not an opportunity to lord it over the person who can’t, and be superior. They are the Lord’s servants — He gets to choose who does what – and He chooses His heroes differently than we do. Who else would choose to make His only Son, the Darling of heaven …into a carpenter? And give His precious Only child into the inept hands of ordinary people? God would that’s Who! Telling the Lord what I think you should do or be, is an impertinence. I’m His servant. If He wants my life for His glory that’s enough for me. And what He chooses to do in your life is none of my business.

We have been given a singular task, and that is to love each other. This has nothing to do with judgment. Our assignment is to love the person whose lack of faith seems to be holding me back from where I think we should go. Here’s a red hot tip:  we can’t do that without the Holy Spirit’s help, most of us are not wired that way! I need rewiring!! Everything in this life is a set-up, heavenly-crafted to convince us that we need Him! If we put our faith alongside the faith that Jesus demonstrated, we are all duds.

So when someone — your spouse, your boss, or your pastor does some knuckle-headed thing, and you knew it wouldn’t work before they did it, but they just plain wouldn’t listen to you – that’s when we have a giant opportunity to learn to bear with those who have lesser faith than we do. And at the same time we need to support them, not criticise them, so that their faith has a chance to develop. So let them eat mushrooms, broccoli and tomatoes, while you knock off a juicy steak! Why would what someone else wants to eat have anything to do with you and I?

To finish – here’s what I’ve learned: One day you are the smart guy and the next day you are the numptie, and what matters has nothing to do with either one. The joy we share is that we have all been chosen by God to do His will. End of story. Bye. 👋

P 3192 The joy at the other end.

/ DVH

In order to move forward into all the Lord has for us, we will need to stop relying on instant answers, and start choosing to enter into His processes. As promised in Psalm 23, the Lord Jesus Himself is our good Shepherd. He wants to walk with us through any and all deep valleys in our lives, and give us what He has personally prepared for us from His own bountiful table. All of this with our enemies looking on, as they watch us, receive His anointing – together with His goodness and mercy. To walk with Him, we will need to put away our own devices, and have faith in what He has said. 

Sadly, I think indulgence has grabbed hold of us and held us fast. The other guy has taken hold of the ball, so to speak, and he is almost in his own end-zone. We’re going to have to push back hard in the Lord’s strength to gain back the ground we have willingly, or inadvertently, given away. Here’s what I have learnt about that — the strength to push back does not come before I need it … it comes as I start pushing, praying all the way! But the joy that comes at the other end of what God has planned, is worth it. I can’t lose, because the 23rd Psalm clearly shows God’s intention for my good.

Jesus and His disciples spent three and a half years together. He taught them as He demonstrated His love in action, and they listened and saw. Even at the beginning of their time together He sent them out to do what they were called to do. HELP OTHERS. Those men could do those things because the Lord gave them His authority! 

Even though they had not yet met the Holy Spirit in Person, the Lord Jesus’ authority alone ushered in miracles and things beyond their own wildest dreams. So they returned and reported to the Lord full of praise and wonder.Let’s pause and think about that — because those blessings have not changed!  We still have that power! But we have allowed this world to distract us from our God-given authorised purpose.

Apart from the cross itself, when all our sins and the punishment for them plus the weight of them fell on HIM— I think, that when Jesus left His disciples behind – He took yet another enormous step of faith. He knew the Holy Spirit so well, He was able to walked away, even into a painful death, Jesus trusted the Spirit of God to look after those men! That is enormous. Human beings can be so proud that we can have a terrible time letting someone else take over something that we have started. However, Jesus is so devoted to His Father’s will, He was prepared to step aside.

The Lord is incredible. His faith is incredible. And the good news is this – Jesus Christ is the AUTHOR and FINISHER of our very own faith! Our faith in the Living Word of God is what changes this world. With one act of total humility Jesus transformed and sealed all of mankind’s destiny. And He knew that the very best Person to help His disciples to remain steadfast after his death, and be obedient to all that He taught them … was the Holy Spirit. These men needed the Holy Spirit’s power to transform them from the inside out …and so do we.  When we obey, no matter what the cost, the Lord is right there, with us. Jesus knows all about COST. We need to be so unafraid that even death cannot stop us.

Obedience is everything. We have underestimated its value in our lives. We cannot taste the wonders of a fully redeemed life without it. Jesus Himself was obedient to His parents even from childhood… Luke 2:51. He was obedient to His Father’s will …Matthew 26:39. He was so obedient, He chose to die because that was what His Father wanted. Philippians 2:8.

Let’s become so intimately acquainted with the Holy Spirit’s ways, and pay attention to Him whenever He speaks – and please remember that sometimes He whispers! In the past we have done Him a grave disservice, because we took one aspect of the Holy Spirit’s Personhood and let it eclipse everything else. The Holy Spirit is power AND FIRE! The Gospels show us His power in action in people’s lives. He was given to us to help us with our God-given right to operate in Jesus’ power. Matthew 28:18. 

Now we need to digest and embrace the fact that the Holy Spirit is also a purifying fire. We may feel the heat of that fire, as He purifies our yielded lives, but we will not be burned. We will be spectators kept safe in the secret place of the most high God. Don’t be afraid of His ‘Holy Fire’ – God’s dealings in our lives. This has been given to us to purify us, our motivations and aspirations. Because of the Holy Spirit’s ministry we will end up the best version of ourselves… so much better than we ever thought or dreamed about!  All we will care about is God’s kingdom and seeing that kingdom come into the lives of others to set them free. 

The joy always comes at the other end. It came when the disciples saw, with their own eyes, that the Lord Jesus was not DEAD. Psalm 30:5. Press on, beloved of God. He wants us to be bigger, more well-armed and informed, as well as  purified for His purposes. There is nothing in this world like the joy we feel when we see His kingdom in us, on us and around us, and it is flourishing! Bye. 👋

P 3191 Find reverse!

/ DVH

The wonderful thing about walking with Jesus is that when I apply His attitudes to my own life, with His help, I can daily learn from the Holy Spirit, how to die to self. I can always chuck my car/my life into reverse and change direction. Why would any of us want to remain in a pig pen, when God Himself has given us access to the Kingdom of His love – through His Grace?

Initially, I learnt that it is much easier to push dying to self aside, than it is to tackle it. In my own strength, I cannot do it. The reality is, I need to use my faith in His goodness, and start doing what He said in the book, using my own power of choice. There are no short-cuts. This life is our battlefield and our enemy is relentless. So if we get knocked down, we pick ourselves up and go again.

Let’s humbly confess our utter poverty of spirit to the Lord — “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:3. The bible says being poor in my own ability to conquer the things that pop up in me – is a blessing! Now, I need to ask the Holy Spirit to lead me through the maze of thoughts and feelings that I have constructed internally. I’ve picked up attitudes and ways of thinking that are not from Him. So I need to come out of denial, into the reality that … without Him I’m sunk. Jesus Christ is truth personified. I was saved by Him, for Him. This means those things that drag me about can be conquered —I can change! I can live as His child right here, right now, in this world. God gets all the glory when I trust Him!

However inside my thoughts and emotions, I may have been already set up by my previous circumstances to become a seething mess of anguish, frustration and disappointment in myself and others. So my best choice is to pray fervently for relief and I have put the prayer “Please help me Lord” on repeat, minute by minute day by day! What if things don’t change? Should I assume I am the one exception to the rule? Of course not. I choose  to accept postponement, and allow my faith in Him be stretched.  Accepting NO, not now, is still a faith step.

We were not saved by Him to fail. The Lord Jesus and all He did, made this new life of ours, goof proof. Meanwhile – freedom from sin, is not permission to sin!  We cannot live as over-comers if we try to find the means of overcoming inside ourselves. Our permanent choice is to believe In HIS power within us.  When we discover somewhere in our lives where we are not using our faith, we ask for His help to tackle it. The Holy Spirit has a road-map out of anything. If you are sick you could end up taking pills because He told you to do it.

Sin is not just our actions, it also comes from our own inward cultivated attitudes. Jesus said this:“If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off.” Matthew 5:30. Sometimes these attitudes and thoughts are so entrenched within our beings it will feel like cutting off a hand! But because of what Jesus did for us, we do not have to sin or make excuses for it. We have been given His power to walk away. He walked away, we can too.

We simply have to relearn how to live. That’s what the bible is for, to teach us how God Himself wants us to live. 1 John 1:9 says: “IF we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Jesus is utterly faithful – He can be relied upon to carry out His Word, because He is the Living Word! And now He is alive, in us! Every interaction with the Lord, is an interaction with His Word – here and now. We are writing our own stories of victories in Christ! Our lives will be transformed when we take whatever God Himself says, as truth and act on it, despite how we feel.

His love toward all of us is well and truly established in the bible. It was established before time began, and it will continue on into eternity.  When I choose to follow Jesus: “…the blood of Jesus continually cleanses me of all unrighteousness” – see 1 John 1:7. Lemme say that another way…AS I confess my sin and choose to follow Him, and not my feelings, I will be continually cleansed of my unrighteousness before God. This is how Jesus lived!

“But IF we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin.”  Keep living in the light of His Word, and His blood will cleanse us. Sin has been dealt with. It has no power over us. That stuff that niggles and nags at us, is our old nature. Our feelings can lie to us and tell us some things are too hard and we can’t do it. Don’t you believe them!

Let’s take steps of faith, and put our feelings to one side, and do what He told us to do in the book. The way to get rid of a muddied view of this life is to live humbly, admitting our faults to one another and not excusing them. Let’s choose to forgive, and put aside the fact that so-and-so was bad to me when I was little.  Leave the past in the past. At the same time, I will have to capture those intrusive thoughts that have been sent to remind me of what they did, and conquer the feeling that I can’t help what I am doing.

Our new-life-focus is about staying attached to the Holy Spirit, doing things HIS way, This life is a series of choices, often made on the hop –  IF we stuff up and make the wrong choices, we throw ‘our car…our lives’ into reverse, repent and restore the Lord to the driver’s seat and drive on! Bye. 👋

P 3190 Who colours your world?

/ DVH

“So above all, guard the affections of your heart, for they affect all that you are. Pay attention to the welfare of your innermost being, for from there flows the wellspring of life.”  Proverbs 4:23 TPT.  When I hear that scripture I think of a little man in a guard’s uniform marching up and down with a big gun on his shoulder. Behind him is a door, with a sign on it and it says:“No entry without permission – Joe Blog’s mind.”  Suffice to say, I have a very vivid imagination! 

The thing is, all of us need as much help with our minds as we can get. Our minds need to be renewed — on purpose, daily. This must happen simply because we are continually being bombarded with worldly propaganda minute by minute. Just recently, I was dragged into a conversation that centred on something I wouldn’t normally talk about. I actually internally, disagreed with the speaker. The trouble was this person was a guest in our home so I had to choose between being rude to a guest, and exercising good manners, or bailing out of the conversation. 

You guessed it – I went the easy way, and then I felt really bad about it. I repented of course, but I was disappointed in myself. However, it gave me a chance to reflect on something I might normally brush aside. How do you go about giving someone else a loving refusal to their ideas, when what they are saying goes against what you believe? I know that the Holy Spirit has a way through this kind of difficulty, if we simply choose to stay in His Presence. Sadly, I flunked that test, this time, I fell right in!

The scripture above from Proverbs actually gives us a great clue about this kind of scenario – it isn’t what comes out that is the problem – it’s what is already IN there! Somewhere, somehow, I have not been guarding what my heart loves, and so the wrong issues got in. In computer-land, if your programming is bad, then the results won’t be great either. So, what do I need to put IN to reprogram my inner opinions with His Word? His word, duh!

Now the issue is no longer about what anybody else said, but what I have been inwardly holding onto. Well, there’s a yucky thought — but it is worth exploring. I don’t want ‘all that I am’ to be affected by opinionated stuff that I may have thought was important in the past. I want everything I am to be affected by the Lord and what He wants in my life, right here, right now.. BTW, I do pray about my speech being “winsome” during the day, but sometimes my opinions have a mind of their own. They have a tendency to pop out unannounced!

My starting place for things like this is always repentance, there is nothing else like it for clearing the decks of detritus and junk we don’t need. Then with the Holy Spirit’s help, I am going to need to pay attention to what I am holding onto from the past, that is not scriptural. That’s when the fun starts! Because I will need to hold the line the Holy Spirit and I have just drawn, with His help and lean on Him. Holding the line, is not as easy as it sounds, things or thoughts attack us unexpectedly.

“God tells the truth, even if everyone else is a liar!” The Scriptures say this … “Your words will be proven true, and in court You will win Your case.” Romans 3:4. In my heart I know that when I go with God’s opinions, then He will stand with me and His Word will prevail. But first, I will actively need to embrace what He thinks and throw out my own opinion. Otherwise I can say goodbye to His spring of living water bubbling up inside me, as well as out of me, toward others.

When I choose to be judgmental in any situation — instead of excusing myself, and pushing those thoughts back under that ’things I hide from myself’ blanket in my mind… I will have to face the truth. Whether I meant to be critical or not, somebody else could misunderstand me and I can lead them astray. (Romans 14.) My sin is not what I said or didn’t say – my sin is this: I can lead someone else astray with my opinion. I must pray that ‘…God’s word in me becomes more powerful, and more to be desired than fine gold!’ (Psalm 19:10)

The Lord has showed me that leading people astray:  “…is not (MY) calling. (I) will lead by a completely different model. The greatest one among you will live as the one who is called to serve others, because the greatest honour and authority is reserved for the one with the heart of a servant. For even the Son of Man did not come expecting to be served but to serve and give His life in exchange for the salvation of many.”” Matthew 20:26-28 TPT. That’s my calling!!

It is clear that I am called to be a servant to others, the way Jesus was a servant to me. And only HE can help me fulfil that aim. So now, my question becomes this, how can I serve this person who has opinions that resemble actual things I too have thought or said in the past? Are they best served by my re-enforcing a worldly opinion? No. This is a place for my silence and loving acceptance toward somebody else who doesn’t know any better.

Whenever I find somewhere that I have not yet been transformed, I cannot afford to go into shame, but rather I need to pray and ask Him how to put what I know to be true, into practice — instead of just agreeing with it as a theory. We can allow the world around us to colour us, BUT!!… the reality is we have the power to bring His true colours into this world where others can see them. Bye. 👋

P 3189 Love looks like something.

/ DVH

At this time of the year, we are reminded that God’s love looks like a baby in a food trough, surrounded by His parents, animals, smelly unwashed shepherds, (no showers out there!) — and glorious angels lighting the sky, celebrating and singing the new baby off to sleep. That was one heck of a birth announcement! The Lord Jesus’ life was ended far too soon by jealous religious people who esteemed rules over love. If that happened to Him, then why are we surprised if unforeseen unpleasant things happen to us? Pure love will be opposed, because it challenges self-centredness. But, at the same time, it goes right around religion and hits people in the heart!

I think God’s Love looks like RISK. Following Jesus is a risky business. Unlike Forrest Gump’s naive, often quoted wisdom – “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get.” I disagree with that thought – MY box of chocolates comes with a list of yummy contents — and so do the Lord’s blessings. My list of blessings are in His book! Mercy, for instance, turns up fresh and new every morning! We are going to have to stay spiritually alert to find His blessings in the middle of this life’s chaos. And we will have to risk what we think we know, to receive from the One Who knows everything. 

Love also looks like not getting what we want, or even like. I’ve met that one. And afterward I’ve given thanks because what I thought I needed, turned out to be a set-up, wickedly provided by the enemy. If anything distracts us from God’s purposes – it’s a trap! The bible calls such things a snare. Whatever it is called, sometimes not getting what we pray for is a blessing! No matter how good, right and just it seems to us. We can pray for more money ‘cos we need it, or a house, or a spouse, only to find that the picture in our mind looks nothing like the reality. Almighty God saves us from ourselves all the time. Praise Him! That’s what I call LOVE.

Love looks like not giving someone else a piece of our mind …especially when very few people care about what we think! This kind of stuff becomes clearer when other people have misunderstood us. Or, even worse, they have misinterpreted our actions. Love looks a lot more like putting a sock in it, than it looks like starting a war over who said what!  I’ve noticed that our lives today seem to be more about making ME understood – than it is about ME understanding YOU! That’s a swing and a miss… plus it flies in the face of everything Jesus said and did.

I really like this scripture: “You have worn out the LORD with your words. And yet, you ask, “How did we do that?” You did it by saying, “The LORD is pleased with evil and doesn’t care about justice.” Malachi 2:17. Even God Himself – the inexhaustible source of all real love, can get sick and tired of our irrational, petty excuses and miserable attitudes. Love can look like taking the blame, whether it is our fault or not, and then asking the Lord to make the difference – instead of pulling out our trusty broad sword and whacking other people over the head with it. The bible is the very best kind of sword, it will cut people free. But .. it doesn’t injure them on purpose for the sake of winning an argument.

Love does not look like compromise.Tell me one time Jesus compromised what He said to make someone else happy! JESUS the LIVING WORD – is the stone that other people stumble over!  “And another scripture says, “This is the stone that will make people stumble, the rock that will make them fall.” They stumbled because they did not believe in the word; such was God’s will for them.” 1 Peter 2:8. Sometimes we can end up striving so hard to make disgruntled people happy! We can’t upset this group because of this … We can’t afford to upset that other group, because we want something from them…  …but nobody says that bit out loud!  

Adapting the Lord’s’ Word to make others feel comfortable, can cause us to compromise all over the place. That is part of our enemy’s most potent strategies. We can call it love, or inclusion, or sharing, but if we compromise on the little things, without His guidance, then compromising on the big things will get so much easier. Love  always has an opinion – HIS!

Love looks like making hard choices – it is not about what we think we want, or need. How can God bless us when we are so busy grabbing stuff for ourselves? This kind of attitude shows us clearly the actual level of our faith. It means we don’t believe He cares for us enough to provide for our needs. So we finagle our way through things instead of sitting back and saying: “If You want me to have such and such Lord, You will provide it.” And then we let those desires go.

Years ago, when my kids were small, we got rid of the TV. Why? Because every single time I spoke to them, all I saw was the back of their heads! It was the Lord’s idea … so we sold it. We were the only people we knew, who had no TV! My kids found ways to amuse themselves, it was a win, win kind of thing. In our news right now we have an uproar about taking away some things that facilitate wrong attitudes in young children, exposing them to all kinds of danger and misadventure. Many parents are scared of not being popular with their kids, but popularity is not an adult’s priority, safety is!

Love looks like boundaries and it also looks like leadership. It looks like kind and firm responses that care about young lives because maturity can see what will happen down the road. Love could care less about popularity, it wants what He wants. Bye 👋

P 3188 His will His way.

/ DVH

Let’s imagine, or even try to stretch our imaginations a bit, and think about being fourteen or fifteen years old, unmarried and pregnant. You just happen to live in a society that at the very least, would shun you … but at its worst …it just might want to stone you to death! You know you are pure and innocent, but other people won’t see it that way. And you have to tell your fiancee that God Himself made you pregnant!  That would have been some conversation with him and her parents!

Now that Christmas is coming toward us at warp speed, I thought today was a good day to think about these two young people and what they had to face to carry out Almighty God’s calling over their lives. While we whinge and whine when the Lord asks us to mow our neighbours lawn! Or maybe He has asked us to be nice to our in-laws? We make lists about these presents and that food, but there are some among us that can’t wait for all the hoo-haa to be over! 

It seems to me that back then in Bethlehem it was a different, far-less-indulgent time. People often faced the consequences of their actions on the spot! God Himself chose this inexperienced young couple, for an honour the likes of which this world has never seen before — or since! Praise Him they both had integrity, character and a shared devotion to His will. They chose to obey HIM despite the hardship it involved. Imagine managing a faith test like Mary and Joseph had to face …in a very religious society to boot. 

The Roman occupying forces demanded that everyone, including Mary, who was pregnant out to here (!) ← → had to return to their place of their ancestor’s origins. Meanwhile, our census turns up in the post and people moan about that! Joseph himself was from David’s genealogy, so this young couple had to go all the way to Jerusalem. Which, BTW, was hardly a leisurely stroll to the local shops!  All this happened so the citizens could be counted and to make sure that the appropriate taxes would be paid to the Roman Government. And we think our lives are hard!! 

That donkey we see in all the so-called Christmas pictures, was probably something tradition made up, just to make a pretty picture out of a long and difficult journey. Mary and Joseph weren’t rich people, and while this young couple may have travelled within a caravan of people, simply because there was a possibility of bandits along the way — in that 129-145 kilometre week-long journey, it is more likely that they walked.… All that happened just so they could pay more tax to an occupying army! 

Let’s think about Mary for a moment… the last month of a pregnancy is not the greatest time to go on a bush walking tour! It must have been incredibly taxing for her, as well as disappointing to be in labour, and have no safe shelter at the other end. Plus she had no family on hand to help either of them with the process. I’m writing about this today because we have a tendency to mentally glamourise our picture of the birth of Jesus, without taking into account the reality of the situation. 

When we do that, we can minimise the pure faith of this young couple who were simply being law-abiding citizens doing what was asked of them!  But their obedience meant that they were walking straight into unknown hardship. And at the same time — they were also walking straight into God’s will for them. Funny how that happens sometimes, isn’t it?

When I think of giving birth the way Mary gave birth I shudder. I gave birth to three kids in a hospital. In one of them we couldn’t find a nurse. In another, women were giving birth in the corridor! But I had medical attention close to hand. All Mary had was Joseph. This young man was a carpenter – what did he know about giving birth? Mary was all alone, in pain, and her husband knew bupkis. There she is giving birth to God’s precious Son, her own Saviour – in a cave or animal shed. All because prophetically, they are clearly demonstrating that this world did not even want a Saviour. God’s will can put us into difficult situations through no fault of our own.

So much happened to them in the process of bringing Jesus into this world. I think their response is so beautiful – unrelenting devotion. After all that, this life was not finished with throwing hardships at them. They finally got settled as a family, only to have to escape from a jealous despot who wanted to kill all the Jewish baby boys so he could be the only king on the premises. So, off the little family goes again. This time they are running from persecution and the fear of death — simply trying to find somewhere safe to raise their little son. No wonder Joseph baulked at returning to their hometown, when it was finally safe again – their lives had been in chaos for months.

Jesus Christ was born under all these difficult conditions simply to fulfil prophecy. His life, birth and death identified Him with everyone. Including the poor, weak, homeless, unwanted, rejected, persecuted, marginalised people of this world – not in theory, but in practice. Jesus and His parents had to live minute by minute with stress and strain and hardship.. Nobody asked either Mary or Joseph if they thought they could handle all the persecution and fear that lay ahead, it simply happened to them. 

Let’s pray that we can grab hold of all the courage and clarity that has been made available to us because of what Jesus did. I wanted to talk about the things this couple faced, simply because we too can face awful, difficult situations regularly and we feel oppressed by them.Things can seem insurmountable. We can easily baulk at all those things we face, and wonder why God would let such hard and bad things happen to us. He didn’t spare His precious Son!  

In the bright joyous light of Christmas, we also need to deliberately remember the things which can turn us away from our devotion to Him. We won’t always understand why some things happen, any more than that young couple did. But we need to choose to look for the good in the middle of trouble and strife. Right now, we are training our spiritual senses to be aware of the very real spiritual war going on all around us.Let’s remind ourselves that some people are hoping for a decent meal in their Santa sack, plus somewhere safe to sleep – instead of being rudely awakened by vicious godless men with machetes.

What does it matter if our little Franco or Zelda does not get some you-beaut fancy electronic gizmo for Christmas? That temporary pleasure is something that will be probably pronounced boring and discarded in a week! The most precious gift ever, has already arrived, and He completed His heaven-sent assignment to the letter. Jesus Himself, is our proof that our God is out-of-this-world generous in His gift-giving. And instead of complaints, moaning and groaning, rebellion and disobedience — let’s also remember that two very ordinary people were brave enough to follow His will, His way. Bye. 👋

P 3187 The Believer’s Freedom

/ DVH

1 Corinthians 10:23,24: “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive. No one should seek their own good, but the good of others.”

This life can be painful. But here’s an interesting thought – maybe some of that pain is because we’ve been indulging our flesh for years … by doing dumb things like refusing to forgive! I cannot count the people I’ve met who say to me: ‘If I forgive them then it is like I am giving them permission to keep on hurting me,’ OR …“Why should they get away with what they’ve done?”  You escaped punishment – the moment you gave your life to Jesus!

Let’s not go into another new year dragging our past behind us like the tail on a kite. Christmas is a wonderful time of the year, but it can be a total disaster for many people with shattered relationships. And let’s be clear, sometimes these things are not all our fault. But whatever happens tomorrow, my advice is to start living this life, today, the way Jesus Himself told us to do it. We forgive others simply because He told us to do it. The  benefit of this action is we don’t get all those nasty side effects in our own lives from rampant angst.

I am not trying to be light hearted, because I know personally that pain can be legitimate. Rejection, selfishness, spite, manipulation — all those things are real. Those things can produce the wrong flavours in our lives – we have to choose to abstain. There are so many books that have been written to help us spiritually manage pain, but the point is this — while we continue to focus on that pain we are sitting ducks for disappointment. If the pain doesn’t disappear when we are told, or we think it should, then we can begin to doubt that God loves us. 

Then perhaps we will end up saying things like “If God loves me why is this and that so?” Sound familiar? Like the garden of Eden, or the Temptation of Jesus are familiar? I think we have become blissfully unaware that when we live that way, we are reducing Almighty God to our size, with our own unhappy “please explain” attitudes attached. It’s time to remember that the Lord doesn’t have to explain Himself! Yet there are times when He does, simply because of His Grace toward us.

But the sad reality is, sometimes pain and suffering become a great excuse to wander from one expert to another seeking to be healed. Yet under the Lord’s guidance, we could find ourselves like those lepers who were healed on the way to see the High Priest! They simply did what Jesus told them to do. I know people who are still as stuck in the things ‘my Mum and Dad did to me,’ as they were when I first met them. It’s tragic. Here’s some irony for you – when my parents did whatever they did, they scarred me for life … but if I do it myself, then I’m only human!

Life IS hard and true forgiveness is a choice, not a feeling. Focus on today. His kids have things to do! Mountains to move – valleys to flood with His love! We cannot afford to pet and provide hankies for the flesh – the flesh is meant to die. Just don’t go there! It’s all a set up and the people you want to teach a lesson to, will drag you under. Forgive and let things go. If we continually go down the road looking for acknowledgement of our pain, or sympathy or even understanding, we will continue to be disappointed. 

Nobody can change the past, and the future couldn’t be in better hands when we walk with Jesus! I want to go on record by saying that Love is not sympathy – Love is compassion. COMPASSION TAKES ACTION. And by action I don’t mean getting stuck in somebody else’s spider web, I mean the kind of action that forgives, repents, and repairs, and simply moves on to do whatever Jesus sent them here to do. Nobody can make us forgive, that’s what makes it so powerful.

1 Corinthians 10:23,24 is about wisdom. The kind of wisdom that divides the profane from the pure. When I give someone else’s actions preference over the Lord’s will, I am accidentally putting them in charge of my life. No wonder more chaos ensues! None of us can afford to give the person who has already devastated us, anymore room to do it again! 

Our idea of love may seem all squishy and sweet—but LOVE is also a weapon. It’s a biblical secret weapon.Our sacrificial attitudes and servant actions sneak past the bad guy’s armoured guards on the door, and that’s when you can speak into the heart of another person. When we choose to act like Jesus did, then we will see what He saw!

This is God’s strategy at its best. Loving our enemies opens doors into the other person’s life. They may fight us, but they can’t easily fight Him – He knows the way IN! And God’s grace is the most powerful force on this earth – it saved us. When we let His freely-given grace loose in someone else’s life, under His watchful eye, we open the doors to change. For us and them …

Releasing the Lord’s grace toward the undeserving is the most Christ-like thing we will ever do. Put raising the dead and healing the sick, second on your little bucket list – opening doors for someone else to escape satan’s lies, ushers in a new way to live. Be ‘a restorer of streets to dwell in’ instead. There is no freedom like the freedom of not owing anyone else anything but love. Remember, entitlement is a bad look on any Christian, humility looks so much better. Bye. 🥰

P 3186 Here comes the Bride.

/ DVH

Sometimes I think that we are praying for the wrong thing! Let me explain: we can spend so much time praying for our spouses, our kids, our friends, etc. to change, when the person who needs to change is ME! It’s a waste of our time trying to pin our grumpy responses and attitudes on someone else – our responses are our responses! Aren’t you glad I said that out loud?  

I think we may need to be reminded that salvation is an ongoing process and none of us are there yet! However, that does not mean we should throw up our hands and give up on the process. The Lord’s processes are part of the ensuing transformation. In order to be His bride, we must participate and do things His way.

I read something that someone or other wrote about seeing a butterfly struggling to exit from its cocoon. They decided to help the poor little critter out, and carefully used a pen-knife to cut the hole a little larger. The butterfly emerged quickly and flapped its wings in the sun. The ‘helper’ was ecstatic – he had helped the little creature to evolve! Then the butterfly keeled over dead. The struggle to emerge was part of a very necessary strength it needed to fly. 

We are like that butterfly! There is only so much help we can get for ourselves from others — or even give to someone else that will actually help them. The struggle to emerge is part of the process and there are no shortcuts. We can and must pray for each other, but in the end we all need to make those wise choices to learn for ourselves. (Matthew 25:2) This process of learning what I must and must not do, is part of all of us realising that we can’t achieve a thing without the Holy Spirit’s help.

We can spend so much time focussing on what’s wrong with other people, or society, or our uncontrollable difficulties, that we forget that we too are more than capable of making huge mistakes. Our everyday contribution to this world counts. The point isn’t just about trying to avoid mistakes – the real point is it that it is ME that needs prayer! There are no perfect people here! It is my actions or lack of them, and sometimes my reactions, that need to be changed. 

We can waste our whole lives blaming other people for the things we’ve chosen to embrace, and we can even call it ‘protecting ourselves.’ But the reality is protecting me is His chosen job! “The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my Saviour; my God is my rock, in Whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety.”  Psalm 18:2. Why do I need to defend myself against you, if He is my protector? The best course of action for me in the middle of trouble is to run to Him. It’s called personal responsibility.

I desperately need to get that particular verse in Psalm 18, out of my head into my heart, quickly! Most of us   need our minds daily renewed in an ongoing fashion. And sadly, sometimes I treat the Lord like He is ‘other people.’ Most of my life, other people were not fun to be around. I suspect I’ve had that situation in common with practically everyone who has ever lived on this planet! 

However, deep down, know I’m not some helpless little hurt one, who needs to be petted and patted and soothed, The bible says I’m Jesus’ chosen Bride. Right here, right now. Grey hair and wrinkles and all!! Imagine the honour of that! He wants to marry each of us. In His eyes, we are His beloved forever — and that’s exactly how He thinks about us! 

We must not let ongoing difficulties and pain hobble us away from choosing to grow. We need the pioneering spirit that led our forefathers through hardship – instead of an attitude straight out of the pit, that says: “I can’t” ... when HE specifically says we can!  (Philippians 4:13) This life is not our fight, SomeBody already won for us, now we need to practice following the Lord through the hardships and sins that oppose us. 

The Lord is so good to us! In His eyes we are not some kind of pests who give in to weakness and use that idea as an excuse to avoid transformation. His focus is on our future together. He quite simply can’t wait to marry His Bride! Read Song of Solomon! And while you are in the book, take a look at Matthew 23:27.

“How often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would have none of it!” Jesus, our Bridegroom, wants to protect us! Let’s not be like those who gave up before they reached the goal and they ‘would not!’ Let’s choose to believe what He has said about HIM and US. And daily we are learning, and waiting for our bridegroom to come through for us. Full of the Holy Spirit and love for Him. 

Let’s not bail out on change! We need to LIVE READY to embrace it when it comes..You know, Esther spent 6 months in all kinds of smelly stuff to get her ready for her one night with the King. And we have eternity to look forward to!

Brides start out as ordinary girls, and hopefully they are transformed into a bride through the love of the man they are marrying. Getting married is a process and we can’t skip the process because we know that our King is more than worthy of a beautiful Bride! The bible clearly tells us we are not to have a spot or wrinkle in our wedding garments, and our preparation is under the supervision of the Holy Spirit, Himself. I refuse to be afraid even though fear and his cohorts regularly bash on my door. I know I have a bigger purpose than marking time until I die and go to be with Him. 

Our wedding garment is a garment that has been dipped in His blood and it is spotless. The love of our Heavenly Bridegroom did all that for us! “He did this to present the church to Himself in splendour, without spot or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and blameless.” Ephesians 5:27. We cannot dry-clean or wash ourselves – instead we need to live and act on the knowledge that the work has already been done for us – by SomeOne Who adores each and every one of us. 

Now we live this life, the only one we have, using our faith daily. Believing in Who He is, and What He says and what He has already done for us. We want to be ready for whatever comes our way, because we know we going to a wedding! Here comes His Bride and she’s no coward! Bye. 👋

P 3185 A road map for your day.

/ DVH

“Let every activity of your lives and every word that comes from your lips be drenched with the beauty of our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One. And bring your constant praise to God the Father because of what Christ has done for you!” Colossians 3:17 TPT. “Walk in the wisdom of God as you live before the unbelievers, and make it your duty to make Him known. Let every word you speak be drenched with grace and tempered with truth and clarity. For then you will be prepared to give a respectful answer to anyone who asks about your faith.” Colossians 4:5-6 TPT.

After reading those two scriptures I felt a bit like a sheep! Drenching here and drenching there. Then I looked up the word ‘drenching’ and I found out that doing that to the sheep gets rid of internal parasites. Hmmm. Perhaps I need this drenching stuff, because it is beneficial to my new life in Christ. It is way too easy to pick up internal parasites. You just have to drive in peak traffic and all that internal stuff starts coming out of your mouth! For these two scriptures to have power in our lives we need to hone our focus, with the Holy Spirit’s help. I think about it like this– will what I am going to say help that person to feel loved? Love is my aim. 

Did you notice the conditions under which all of these lovely attitudes toward all kinds of other people transpires? Colossians 3 v17 is talking about those activities, plus our need to focus on the Lord Jesus and all He has done for us. And verses 5-6 of Chapter 4 is talking about walking in His wisdom, as well as letting the people around us know about Him … It also clearly mentions that we will need His grace to do it … I’ll say! 

I definitely need truck loads of grace, I ask for it all the time.

It is easy to see how conflict occurs – one person can have a different version of truth than someone else. This scenario will probably end up in collision. It means we need a common denominator, or we will end up arguing about our differences.Instead we need to find a place of agreement, so why don’t we agree with His VERSION of the truth. When we agree about our love for Jesus, that brings Him back into focus. It is not helpful to talk our different theologies or our behaviours. This why those two verses are good together – they show us where our focus needs to be.

OK. So HOW do we spread abroad the love of God into our family’s lives first of all? We do whatever we need to do, in a quiet way under His guidance – no matter what the job is, or how difficult or irrelevant it seems. Our lives belong to Him so we deliberately choose to follow the Holy Spirit!  We can get into a quandary when we try to live for us and for Jesus …all at the same time, because a divided heart won’t get us where we want to go. It seems to me that I need to be aware of every word that comes out of my mouth or I will end up circling the drain. Part of being daily transformed includes being careful what I say.

This life makes it blatantly obvious to me that I need a Saviour, and the Holy Spirit’s help. My own methods are broken. Praise God Jesus died to give me His methods so I am not powerless in the face of adversity! I can now, bless and praise God immediately for giving me a new nature simply. I just need to choose to live like He did, preferring others, and living aware of His Father’s Love for Him. Love is the oil that throws light into our everyday thoughts and actions.

Because I walk with Jesus, that means that the people closest to me will not get my worst behaviour! In fact, if I follow the Holy Spirit around in my own life and I can practise learning to process what I think, without even saying a word. His Grace flows more freely when we deliberately choose to take the lowest place. And the Lord Himself will guide me into activities that are His choice for me. And He will help me deal with the ones that bring up those pesky parasites we were talking about before.

We need to remember, that the scripture in Colossians 3 talks about letting. Letting means allowing! We allow the Holy Spirit to keep our focus on Jesus, and guide us into whatever He has for us to do today. Plus we allow Him to correct us as we go along. In reality, our focus has to stay on Him, because we can’t do a thing without Him! That’s when praise starts – when we become witnesses to what He is really doing. 

Our own little list of‘things I have to do’ will have to be surrendered to Him, simply because we are now letting Him guide us through each day. That’s what ‘dead to self’ means. I am no longer just a homemaker, or a mechanic, or a computer expert –now I am an ambassador for the King. That’s my title. That’s my Job! And it is by my own choice. That’s also when interruptions stop being a pest, and become His heaven-sent opportunities to change my responses. He can change me, or someone else – it doesn’t matter –because my focus in everything is on Him.

Now we are daily learning to rely upon Him and His Grace. I have a glorious Person Who is active, and helping me, and He knows exactly how to get me through the bumps of this life. I intentionally stand in His Grace and remember all this stuff that is going on around me, will never have the final say. Jesus does! However, if we choose to run with our own little lists … well, that’s when those pesky parasites come up, and they usually bring tanks and rockets with them! I need-to-be-drenched-with the Holy Spirit, continually, on purpose.

Who we are outside our house, depends on who we are inside our house. Part of overcoming daily difficulties is that we watch over our immediate focus, then it will become natural for our conversations to be about our faith in the One Who is helping us … minute by minute. That’s the road map from Colossians. Bye.👋