Body of Christ

P 3295 What becomes of the broken-hearted?

/ DVH

Now here’s a question we need to be asking ourselves daily! Many Christians, our very own brothers and sisters in the faith, have wandered off into the wilderness like Hagar did, and sat down under a bush, hoping death will come quickly. Very few have done this by personal choice. Sadly, they know a part of the truth, but not the whole truth. A lot of them gave up on God, because what we told them He wanted was too hard for them to do.

The Lord is re-grouping together the Body of Christ to comfort, support and uphold one another. He always goes after the lost sheep!  We were never meant to be islands. Most of us, despite what we’ve been told, were not meant to be seen, either. I dunno about you but my body has loads of place that are better off unseen, but those unseen parts, do an incredible job helping my entire body to function. 

What we aim at, and want to do as His kids, is difficult. This is why we can’t do anything without Him! But we can’t do anything without each other either. We need to learn from the Merciful One Himself the kind of mercy that will never judge, but instead, it will come alongside and lift up someone who is stumbling or falling. Here’s something from Job 6:14: “For the despairing man there should be kindness from his friend; So that he does not abandon (turn away from) the fear of the Almighty.”   

We have so many broken-hearted people in our midst. People who were taught one thing, only to find out later that the scriptures they were taught didn’t mean what they thought they did! Disappointment grows in that kind of atmosphere. In God’s kingdom there are no failures, or screw-ups – we’ve all been made acceptable by the blood of Jesus! The strength of His blood’s efficacy is not measured by our sin …it is measured by what He did and Who He is!

Sometimes people get stuck and it is not their fault. They’ve suffered much at the hands of many! We have no excuse to remain in sin, but I can well understand that if there is a slight inclination toward judgment in a church, some people may not feel free to confess their faults, because it will label them. Minding one’s own business is a good thing, but not when we can see another person struggling to keep their head above water. 

Jesus is a Man of compassion. He doesn’t throw people away because of their mistakes, the only person He lost, refused to repent. Judas trusted his own judgment, when he was given opportunities to turn around and stop doing what he intended. Listen to this in Matthew 26:25: “Then Judas, the one who would betray Him, said, “Surely you don’t mean me, Rabbi?” Jesus answered, “You have said so.”

We need to get it firmly fixed in our heads that we are not the judge and jury of anyone. He is. Let’s move on past judgment to better things. Stuff happens in people’s lives and it shapes and warps their way of thinking. These precious people, after they become Christians, often go round and round, and never seem to be getting anywhere. Our part in their progress is to love them. And at times, kindly, and reverently point out any sin that could be holding them back from the freedom Christ came to give them. It says this in Isaiah 42:3:

“Take a good look at My Servant. I’m backing Him to the hilt. He’s the one I chose, and I couldn’t be more pleased with Him. I’ve bathed Him with My Spirit, My life. He’ll set everything right among the nations. He won’t call attention to what He does with loud speeches or gaudy parades. He won’t brush aside the bruised and the hurt and He won’t disregard the small and insignificant, but He’ll steadily and firmly set things right. He won’t tire out and quit. He won’t be stopped until He’s finished His work—to set things right on earth. Far-flung ocean islands wait expectantly for His teaching.”

The broken-hearted are the people Jesus came to save. Their hearts can be broken by what they’ve done, or what someone else has done to them. Loving one another means we have an agreement — ‘you put my sin against you under the blood of Jesus, and forgive me, and I will do the same for you.‘ It’s mutual. If we see a brother or sister struggling then we come alongside them and ask them quietly, and gently: “How can I help you bear that burden you are carrying?” We need to pray for them like they are US. There is no room for grudges or spite in God’s kingdom. 

In Luke 9:55, Jesus once said to a couple of His disciples: “ You don’t know what kind of spirit you belong to.”  At that moment they weren’t walking in Grace, they were walking in judgment. Our Heavenly Father, doesn’t batter us into holiness or submission – He wants us to want what He wants because we love Him! We need to treat the broken, the wounded, the wandering, the bewildered, and the lost, all the same way .. with love, compassion and kindness. Because next time it could be our turn! 

Compassion is limitless – Jesus Himself proved that. He prayed for the very people who were killing Him. His compassion leads us into choosing to help the broken-hearted, wherever we find them. We have the privilege of carrying  God’s Love, and it is a love that brings out the best in the loved one without indulging their weaknesses. When my shoulder was broken, I didn’t throw it away, I did things to help it mend – because I need that arm! The broken-hearted need our kindness, and support and we need them. Bye. 👋 

P 3282 Live dead!

/ DVH

“Since Christ, though innocent, suffered in His flesh for you, now you also must be a prepared soldier, having the same mind-set, for whoever has died in his body is done with sin. So live the rest of your earthly life no longer concerned with human desires but consumed with what brings pleasure to God.” 1 Peter 4:1-2.

It is good to ask ourselves questions about our own reactions. The thing I have learnt is that you can think you have utterly surrendered to the Lord, and you only want to live for His will — then suddenly something unexpected happens and things that you didn’t know were inside, pop up like daisies! My advice is this, don’t excuse your behaviour, pay prayerful attention to it. Making excuses gives us a back door out of personal growth. It stops us discovering the real issues. These issues are far more likely to be about us, than others. We can make other people’s lives a living hell by refusing to confront our own inner attitudes.

When life stays on a pretty even keel, we begin to understand the normal day by day pressures, and we learn to manage them, by yielding to the Lord, and watching Him do the miraculous on our behalf. But it becomes easy to dismiss some not-so-great attitudes we have as …”that’s just who I am. It’s normal for me.” Ignoring the fact that we have a new normal now, and it isn’t based on our individuality, it is whether we look like Jesus, inside and out.

What comes out under pressure? Love, or temper, and impatience, or a distinct lack of mercy etc. What happens if it is your kid suddenly being bullied at school? satan knows that we will lean on the Holy Spirit to manage stuff coming at us, but what if trouble hits your kids, or your parents, or your friends? Maybe your spouse has to take a pay-cut, or even lose their job. Who are we then? I learnt many years ago, the yardstick we use to measure things must be based on the Word, not on our feelings, or our personal coping skills. The place of equality for all is in Christ Jesus, it is not in our ability to make nice noises under pressure.

For a number of years, Christians clung to what we believed about a group of wonderful verses that tickled our ears and made us feel good about ourselves. Sadly, I believe that has led to a distinct lack of adulthood in the Body of Christ. Pastors are often so busy trying to wipe adult noses, and soothe adult bumps and scrapes, plus sort out their life issues, that they have very little time to do what the Lord wants them to do! The way to maturity is through selflessness.

Years ago, I was a latch-key kid I got into all kinds of mischief because there was no parental eye on me. I was reduced to what I could get away with, rather than what was required of me. Not a good place to be. I realised I could out-think the person in charge and go around the rules! That is not obedience, it is evasion, half-truths and deception. Who are we when nobody is looking over our shoulder? 

Our new life is a new way to live not just a theme. The other day I spoke a little bit about money. I think most people don’t like it very much when money comes into the picture — however, the truth is dead people don’t own their money anymore. When we give everything we have to the Lord, He takes it and that includes the things WE think WE own.

Let’s be clear. This life we are living flows directly against our old one. And we are more familiar with the old way of thinking than the new. Some dear people don’t last, because they give up too soon. The cares, worries and struggles of this world overtake them.The best news ever is that we are NEVER alone! The Holy Spirit is a brilliant strategist and leader, we simply follow His Ways by reading the bible and applying what we’ve read, with His help, into our own lives. Plus we obey His inward checks and prompts. 

Initially that can be scary. But this also is how we find out, for ourselves, that we don’t like apologising, or looking like a daft goose. Human beings don’t like making mistakes or even having them pointed out – the old life rises up within us. We are always going need the Holy Spirit’s help – we can’t do this alone. But He’s not a tap we can turn off or on. He’s a Person! Let’s learn to live in such a way, that we are not distancing ourselves from Him. 

As we let go of the reins and allow Him to guide us through the potholes and bumps, He becomes the driver in my life, and I get to sit in the car as a passenger. But some days I really do think I belong in the boot! Soldiers are trained to obey orders, and as we learn to be obedient and cherish the Lord’s will, we are dethroning the whole me, mine, myself and I, mindset. Most people don’t drift away from faith because they hate the Lord — instead they drift away on a sea of careless indifference, aimlessly floating along unaware they are being  influenced by the changing tides of this world around us.  

Living dead’ means we have chosen to exchange our old way of life for His Ways instead, our faith is in Jesus and it is progressive,  Bye. 👋

P 3257 It’s time to get the band back together.

/ DVH

Years and years ago, when I was a much younger Christian, I loved reading instructional Christian books, plus I listened to tapes, music, and videos, everything I could. I was trying to grow my faith. I desperately needed to belong, to feel like a part of the Body of Christ. You know, there’s a whole lotta of odd people out there who really really need Jesus – we all might want to think about that. Back to it … eventually, I realised I was reading the bible and understanding it through someone else’s filter!

The Holy Spirit truly is the very best Teacher, He explains things first-hand – personally! There’s nothing like getting your own revelation from His book. Back then, whenever I read 1 Corinthians 13, I read it through other people’s interpretations to help me understand it. My thoughts were ‘boy do I fail at that!’ No wonder I felt a failure, at that time I had no idea how complete the Lord’s redemption was on my behalf. Like Paul said in Galatians 3:3 MSG bible: 

“Let me put this question to you: How did your new life begin? Was it by working your heads off to please God? Or was it by responding to God’s Message to you? Are you going to continue this craziness? For only crazy people would think they could complete by their own efforts what was begun by God. If you weren’t smart enough or strong enough to begin it, how do you suppose you could perfect it? Did you go through this whole painful learning process for nothing? It is not yet a total loss, but it certainly will be if you keep this up!”

I believed my sins were bigger than what Jesus did. So when I messed up … and I did, a lot … I was shattered. Yeah, I know, that makes no sense at all. The Lord has a whole new kingdom reality for all of us. Sadly, at that time, I just had too much luggage that I dragged along behind me! To top it all off I erroneously believed this kind of stuff was true Christianity, and I was just really really bad at it. 

You see, people in my family or the church still irritated me, and when they were unkind, I wanted to run away, or thump them. Eventually, I became ill. So getting healed became my new focus. I figured I had become sick because I was failing the Lord all the time. I just want to strongly insert the fact that Jesus is not like that! 

But at that time, I jumped into every single healing line I could find, simply because I badly wanted to be well! Instead I just got sicker, and that added a further burden. It seemed to me that I must be a terrible Christian because I was ill in a generation that thought if you were sick it was your own fault! For years I wandered around thinking God had given up on me. And getting divorced did not help that perception. 

I know there are verses that clearly talk about divorce, and yes, I accept them! God definitely says don’t do it! However, He’s also merciful – He explains WHY. Participating in a divorce makes our hearts hard. Even though I repented up one hill and down the other, I had hardened my heart against any sort of redemption by Him. Unbelief is still sin! Works will do that to you. They will cut you off from true redemption and also real gratitude. It’s hard to be grateful when living for Jesus is a whole lot of hard work, and you can’t do it.

I guess I saw Almighty God as SomeOne Who held a grudge, like most people I had met. And I thought I deserved to be rejected. In that process I lost the One Person Who dearly, eternally loved me. At that time, I had no comprehension of unconditional love. If you happen to feel like that, I would like to testify to you that the Lord Jesus is not keeping a score of our sins against us. He can’t, His blood wiped them out!! At the same time, I hadn’t properly personally digested 2 Corinthians 5:19: “…that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting people’s sins against them [but canceling them]. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation [that is, restoration to favour with God].”

It’s pretty hard to go out and tell others about the reconciliation that exists in Christ, when we aren’t living in it! Eventually, through the patience of a dear old minster, I came to see that the Lord Jesus is the One Who knelt beside a woman who was taken in adultery. and He also dealt with the people who wanted to stone her. Once He sat by a well and talked with a woman who had had five husbands … He didn’t give either of these women permission to live like that! However, the Lord altered the course of  both of their lives just by being Himself! The love and power of God is like that – it sets people free. 

I believe the church world-wide needs to go after the Lord’s lost sheep. The bible clearly tells us the Shepherd always does! Those broken, beaten sheep who have wandered away – or maybe they were even shoved out because the church didn’t want to be contaminated by their sin. Let’s ask the Lord to help us to win back our brothers and sisters – mothers, fathers, friends, rabbits and relations. The Body cannot function without ALL its parts. We need to be like Paul and participate in their reconciliation and restoration. So let’s love them OUT of their isolation. Maybe they are ready to repent and come back! 2 Corinthians 2:5-11.

How about we stop shooting the wounded, or leaving our broken-hearted members behind? And ask the Lord if we can be used by Him to restore them instead. Let’s get the band back together. Who knows what God will  do when we embrace others who have gotten lost along the way? Bye. 👋

P 3256 Make a decision to be thankful.

/ DVH

Obviously after yesterday, you can see I have so much to be thankful for! But I want to talk about the reason I   made this decision… Life has a way of whizzing by us, day by day by day. In fact, bad things or good things are often an interruption to the ordinariness of life. The problem with living an ordinary life is that you think you are ordinary, and you don’t matter… we become passive, not active.

Almighty God has made us His house! Whether we feel like it or not. That’s not ordinary. It seems to me that we think like this because we have come to believe there is another breed of Christians, a special, elite, gifted group. Super saints, people who have ministries and gifts and hoopla surrounding them. Spiritual gifts are not just for a selective group. We all have them!  Maybe you just haven’t found yours yet? 

In Ephesians 4:8: “Therefore it says,“When HE ascended on high, HE led captivity captive, And HE bestowed gifts on men.” and in Ephesians 4:11-13: “Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do His work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.”

Spiritual gifts are given to build up the body. We have often put an emphasis on this kind of verse in the wrong place. GOD has given gifts to men, so we will become mature in Christ. It is the Giver that matters, not the gifts or the men or women! These gifts have His purposes on them. It is never good to elevate the people God has given them to. Because of these gifts in our own lives, we can see the Lord’s incredible generosity toward all of us and be thankful!.He knows maturity is beyond human beings, so He has given people all over the Body of Christ supernatural gifts to help us move from the natural, to the supernatural, and from the mundane, into the heavenly realms.

Almighty God gave and we receive. Who is greater? The Giver or the receiver? You do the sum. The Body of Christ seems firmly stuck on the gifts, or the ‘ministry.’ He gives gifts to ordinary people to showcase His own extraordinariness! Once He made a donkey talk, and the donkey made good sense! We are not all that — HE is all that! That’s the POV we need to cling to. Mankind is not equipped to handle the kind of fame that can be slathered all over those who are famous. 

By elevating the gift over the Lord, we have put undue attention and pressure on those people who do have a gift. All Peter did when he prayed for the lame man was give what he had, He didn’t say “I have the gift of healing and a word of knowledge for you” He gave what he already had. It came from His relationship with Jesus! When we give thanks we put God back into His rightful place in our lives. He’s our King, brother, Saviour. (James 1:17)

It’’s the Lord that we need to thank, not the men and women who He has gifted! When I hear someone or other did something incredibly dumb, and they are famous, I feel compassion and pity for them. Fame goes to people’s heads – only God can bear it. That’s why the bible tells us: “to make HIS Name famous!” (Psalm 45:17) Anything else can cause chaos, God is always our first thought, not man. Thank HIM for HIS gift, and praise Him for helping us through others.

Thankfulness is a way of life – we can learn it. Step by step. The way into that life is to acknowledge that “without Him we can do nothing permanent.” (John 15:5)  Jesus Himself said that! At the same time we need to live with the reality that we too have been given gifts to benefit the Body, so whatever happens to us has His hand on it. We know we have been blessed because He is a generous God. Giving up the right to approval by man, comes under the heading of complete submission to God, and it won’t always give us a happy ride. There are so many things we can learn through difficulties and hardship, including the fact that the Lord Himself is not fazed by them! That’s why we give thanks.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:18 it says: “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” We are told to give thanks in every thing…if we want to know God’s will for us, here is a big fat clue… GIVE THANKS to Him, no matter what happens. Yeah, I know, it sounds upside down, but ‘God’s ways aren’t our ways…’  (Isaiah 55:8-9.) And faith would not be faith if it was something we could be certain about! Giving thanks changes gears. We stop looking at the problem, and start wondering how the Lord is going to get us out of this one! Sometimes hard things just fade away … sometimes we see a clear solution … that bit doesn’t matter. Giving thanks for all He is and what He is doing right now … changes gears.

It shifts our perspective from earth to heaven because the bible says: “we are seated in heavenly places with Christ.” Ephesians 2:6. Again, this scripture is something the Body of Christ has seen as a bragging point, rather than seeing it as a gift! When what Jesus did for us, was so complete, it seated us with Him! We didn’t climb up there, or earn that place, it was given to us, no matter how spiritual we seem to others. If we continue to read the bible with the accent only on what’s in it to benefit me – we won’t comprehend what He has given us, that we don’t deserve.  We will overlook the opportunity we have to make a decision to be thankful. Bye. 👋

P 3243 Using our faith can be scary.

/ DVH

Are you cheered up yet? Seriously — Jesus told us: “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33. He has a way to overcome whatever is going on in our lives. The Lord may not take the trouble away. Believe it or not, faith grows when we hang on to His goodness, even if it is by our fingernails. I think the Lord means that whatever it is coming at us, He’s already conquered it through the cross. We need a way through, more often than we need a way out!

In the past, I’ve wanted to throw my hands in the air and give up too easily. The giving UP part is not all bad —if you THROW yourself upon HIM—- but sadly, my own impatience, together with fear and negative responses, were keeping my faith under a lid. Faith is not meant to be suffocated – it needs to act and breathe Holy Spirit air. Now I just give everything to Jesus and leave it with Him. That can be a bit hair-raising, because the Lord always has His own timetable, however His kindness toward my growing faith In Him is always lovingly constant. 

The thing is, our Father’s plan is for us to grow up into the fullness of Jesus. “So Christ Himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip His people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” Ephesians 4:11-13.

That prophet, evangelist, pastor or teacher up the front of your church week by week is not simply there to become famous, or have a big church. That person is there to help you, as an individual, to grow to be like Jesus. The criteria for a great leader isn’t whether we like what they preach for not – it’s whether they challenge us week by week into using our own faith! Jesus learnt obedience through suffering. (Hebrews 5:8)  Yet He lived to do His Father’s Will! If that’s not what is happening to us, then we may have stepped into error and stopped listening or reading carefully. We can be deceived into thinking that  we are always supposed to like what the leader says. Phooey. That’s called tickling our ears. 

These things are a tests, and they can prevent us from living by faith. It’s an attitude of submissiveness that matters. We’ve been pampered for way too long. I think we need to learn how to be transformed by our circumstances, and become humble like Jesus was humble. He learnt from His earthly mother, father and teachers. Let’s remember …at the same time …He only made the Universe! His Mum once told Him ‘these people need a miracle please Son … ‘ and He did it.The fact that Jesus wasn’t keen on the idea helps me to realise that doing it is more important than liking it!  The Living Word submitted to earthly parents. Need I say more?

I don’t know why others go gaga over this subject, truly I don’t! For me this is a no-brainer. Sometimes people get into little groups, and then they prophesy criticism and doom over their leaders. You know, our God’s arms aren’t short! (Isaiah 59:1.) He’s still in charge, so unless the leader tells you to throw your kid into the mouth of Molech, or some other idiotic thing – remember, our God can teach us in a wilderness!  We could be amazed if we choose to let His love prevail, instead of our opinions. We gotta stop using the bible as a club to whack people who don’t happen to agree with us, upside-the-head.

Yesterday, we talked about swimming. Today I urge you to think about running, Even when we think we can go no further, our faith is destined for growth. Look at a long distance runner. They train their bodies, stretching them, so that they can go the distance. Hopefully, we are stretching our faith daily, training it to go further than we’ve ever gone before. Meanwhile, there are times when I can feel like I don’t have enough faith to blow my hat off! Let’s be logical for a second – how can I raise the dead when I can’t raise my own hopes? God already knows how to grow our faith, we need to simply take the next step, and that’s in the book. 

The next step might be telling someone you can’t stand that you are sorry that you haven’t been the sister/brother/mother/father/child/friend/believer you could have been! Repentance opens doors that are normally nailed shut. It even opens doors for that other person too! Our whole church society has become risk-averse. The people-who-don’t-know-Him-yet have an excuse, they have reprobate hearts. So they often blame the people who raised them for making them that way! Blame is a waste of energy and good health and it ought not to be so. In God’s world …we run on faith.

Let’s take some responsibility for our own actions. Nobody can change our past, but it is a great pity to let our past decisions run our future actions! The Bride-of-Christ simply must learn to take risks, by following our Bridegroom into the hard places. Following Jesus can be scary – you never know what He might ask you to do next! Bye. 👋

P 3240 Come up higher.

/ DVH

Sometimes we can become so earthly-minded we are no longer of any heavenly use. It seems to me that the church has become distracted by the cares and worries of this world. At the same time, it kind of looks like we expect Almighty God to enter our world and meet our needs here and now — He already did that. The thing is, He has higher priorities and I don’t think that it is His priority to make sure His kids have a cushy life.

Let’s take what the bible says seriously, and start making investments and withdrawals, using that book as our guideline. Then we can begin to bring His kingdom down here where the truly needy live. Truly needy people are the people-who-don’t-know-Him-yet! Personally, I think telling people Jesus died to make them rich and prosper, is an abomination! 

None of Jesus’ disciples settled down into living in a grand house, in the ‘burbs, with everything they needed on tap. Instead they hit the road, and trusted Jesus to meet their needs. BTW, I am not saying, sell your house, go and sit on the curb and wait for Jesus to come back, but I am saying  – He is our priority. His agenda is now our agenda. We have given our lives to Him, so we can’t afford to let this life dictate what happens to us, through us and around us. 

As kingdom people, our destiny is to bring light and hope into the darkness. We may have to punch a hole in the darkness sometimes. The author of the book of Daniel punched a hole, and it took a while for the answer to come. Yet this man kept waiting for the Lord to do what He loves to do for all of us. Redeem the situation. Jesus loves to redeem situations, as well as relationships. It’s faith that gives us the impetus we need to pray, and keep on praying as we wait for Him to answer.  

Sometimes a believer’s problems can be a wrong attitude. Especially when we want to use God to make this life, our own earthly life, better. This world is a sewer. You can’t see the kingdom of God in a sewer, unless God Himself called you in there! This means we can’t afford to steep ourselves in the gunk that goes on around us – we need to soak in the Word of God to stay clean! We are called to be IN this world and not OF it. That means this world is not alive in us.

We can use our spiritual energy up by trying to praying our way out of this and that. But the bible says we are already more than conquerors, because of what Jesus has done. Let’s focus on that instead, and deliberately make sure all our relationships are based on the kind of love Jesus gave us. And when things are difficult, and “stuff” happens – while we are in the middle of it – let’s look for someone we are there to help, to witness to, to care for.

We seem to have given up on fulfilling the Great Commission. Sadly, we’ve become so involved in human affairs, we’ve forgotten our mandate. My advice is this – tell the Lord your needs, and choose to walk with the Spirit of God. Our faith is not designed to be like a credit card that is whipped out for use when we need it. Our faith is like an atmosphere that surrounds us. We live there, in good or bad seasons, we choose to focus on our glorious God being in charge. We comfort ourselves that He is doing what He set out to do … we just can’t see it yet. So we pray for steadfastness in trials and the ability to rest while He’s doing whatever He is doing. It is going to be for our good, we just can’t see it yet.

The Body of Christ is here to be salt and light — to lift everyone around us up higher, by the way we regard others. It is not lying to speak to the good in someone else who has been anything but good to you! It takes faith. We have the power to speak things into being – ask the Lord to show you what He sees in those people. Let’s stop rehearsing other people’s sins, and start looking for why they are here, and speak into that… … encouraging them into those things. 

In the last century, my age group made a mistake, we started exalting ourselves. Telling ourselves that we were  this or that and quoting verses from the bible to prove it to ourselves and others. It was a lot of hot air. Forget being the head instead of the tail – Jesus is our Head! I do not care if I am a toenail in the Body of Christ, I’m just glad to be included! Jesus is the only One Who is all this, AND that. We are here to encourage and bless and uphold others. We don’t need to big note ourselves spiritually. 

What stands us out in this world needs to be His GRACE and LOVE operating in us and through us. Let’s  decide what kingdom we want to live in, here and now – HIS kingdom is the Higher Place, living like He lived. We dare not call ourselves successful unless we are living to help others, because loving one another has become our priority. Let’s put our prayer, faith and energy into that. Bye 👋.

P 3236 We too can be dazzled by the WRONG side of Jordan.

/ DVH / Leave a comment

This is what I noticed the other day, when I read Numbers 32:1-22. When the Israelites came to the Jordan river, two tribes chose to stay on the east side of that river. They decided the land suited them there. However, Moses insisted that their fighting men had to come with the rest of the larger group, to defeat the people on the west side, and help them get rid of those enemies who lived on the other side of Jordan, in the Promised Land . 

Let’s be clear, the land these two tribes wanted was on the east side of the Jordan river to the Promised Land.These tribes wanted to stay there because they could settle down, spread out and make new lives. They preferred the land outside the Promised Land, it was more convenient, and invited prosperity.  

“The Reubenites and Gadites, who had very large herds and flocks, saw that the lands of Jazer and Gilead were suitable for livestock. So they came to Moses and Eleazar the priest and to the leaders of the community, and said, “Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo and Beon— the land the Lord subdued before the people of Israel—are suitable for livestock, and your servants have livestock. If we have found favour in your eyes,” they said, “let this land be given to your servants as our possession. Do not make us cross the Jordan.”

Moses said to the Gadites and Reubenites, “Should your fellow Israelites go to war while you sit here? Why do you discourage the Israelites from crossing over into the land the Lord has given them? This is what your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to look over the land. After they went up to the Valley of Eshkol and viewed the land, they discouraged the Israelites from entering the land the Lord had given them. The Lord’s anger was aroused that day and He swore this oath: ‘Because they have not followed Me wholeheartedly, not one of those who were twenty years old or more when they came up out of Egypt will see the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob— not one except Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua son of Nun, for they followed the Lord wholeheartedly.’ 

The Lord’s anger burned against Israel and He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until the whole generation of those who had done evil in His sight was gone.“And here you are, a brood of sinners, standing in the place of your fathers and making the Lord even more angry with Israel. If you turn away from following Him, He will again leave all this people in the wilderness, and you will be the cause of their destruction.”

Then they came up to him and said, “We would like to build pens here for our livestock and cities for our women and children. But we will arm ourselves for battle and go ahead of the Israelites until we have brought them to their place. Meanwhile our women and children will live in fortified cities, for protection from the inhabitants of the land. We will not return to our homes until each of the Israelites has received their inheritance. We will not receive any inheritance with them on the other side of the Jordan, because our inheritance has come to us on the east side of the Jordan.”

Then Moses said to them, “If you will do this—if you will arm yourselves before the Lord for battle and if all of you who are armed cross over the Jordan before the Lord until He has driven His enemies out before Him—then when the land is subdued before the Lord, you may return and be free from your obligation to the Lord and to Israel. And this land will be your possession before the Lord.” 

This section of scripture hit me between the eyes. It showed me that we too, can camp on the wrong side of the river – where the work has already been done, and we know we will be comfortable because it suits our needs. But we don’t appear to give two figs about what the Lord has told us He has given us. He gave us a Promised Land filled with everything the Lord Jesus did for us. We need to be the grateful people who want to live in the Promised land and are more than willing to fight for it. These tribes, Reuben and Gad, didn’t care about the others, because they had already got what they wanted, space for their flocks etc.

Sadly, I think this is also true of the Body of Christ today. Many of us have settled on the wrong side of Jordan –  because where we are, and what we have, suits us. I’m talking about our faith. So we stay home and do nothing. We don’t want to lose our sense of safety. There are those in this world who need our help, but few want to be part of the solution, because they might lose something! We haven’t got a dispute about land, etc., per se, instead, our dispute is about comfort and where we want to settle down and be comfortable. Plus what we choose to believe. 

These two tribes wanted to settle for something God had not given them, but Moses made it very clear — they would have to fight alongside their braver brethren or lose what they had chosen, because God Himself would fight against them. The battle for real faith, living faith, the kind of faith that loves and lives a life like Jesus did, is still in front of us. He won for us! But we are not doing our part! It seems we like to go to places where we hear stories of other people’s victories, but then we want to return to the safety of the place we’ve called our own, where ‘our kind of faith’ suits us. We cannot afford to decide we know what our inheritance is – God has decided that.

Let’s learn to fight our enemy together, so Christ can have the whole reward of His suffering. The battle belongs to the Lord, but – we cannot, or dare not abstain, simply because we think that fighting will ruin what we have already decided is right for ‘our lives.’ There is so much more on the other side of Jordan, so let’s not settle for what we think is comfort, or even be blinded by the immediate,  let’s press on for personal victories!  Bye 👋

P 3221 Let’s have some Clarity.

/ DVH

I Corinthians 12:4-13 MSG. “God’s various gifts are handed out everywhere; but they all originate in God’s Spirit. God’s various ministries are carried out everywhere; but they all originate in God’s Spirit. God’s various expressions of power are in action everywhere; but God Himself is behind it all. EACH PERSON IS GIVEN SOMETHING TO DO THAT SHOWS WHO GOD IS: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people! The variety is wonderful: wise counsel; clear understanding; simple trust; healing the sick; miraculous acts; proclamation; distinguishing between spirits tongues; interpretation of tongues.

All these gifts have a common origin, but are handed out one by one by the one Spirit of God. He decides who gets what, and when.You can easily enough see how this kind of thing works by looking no further than your own body. Your body has many parts—limbs, organs, cells—but no matter how many parts you can name, you’re still one body. It’s exactly the same with Christ. By means of His one Spirit, we all said good-bye to our partial and piecemeal lives. We each used to independently call our own shots, but then we entered into a large and integrated life in which HE has the final say in everything. (This is what we proclaimed in word and action when we were baptised.) Each of us is now a part of His resurrection body, refreshed and sustained at one fountain—His Spirit—where we all come to drink.”

I love this version of 1 Corinthians. I personally think it is worth reading it several times. Clarity is a wonderful thing! We should never ever doubt that our Heavenly Father has a purpose for each and every one of our lives, He says so, right here. Believe Him! That’s what faith does. He tells us here that every single gift is needed. Unfortunately this is also where our enemy loves to lie to us. he whispers to our hearts that our presence, our gift is useless and it won’t be missed. Perhaps he tells you it won’t matter if you aren’t here. he’s a liar BTW. But we both already know that!

I wonder if the problem is this, we aren’t valuing those people who are unseen, and that is the very reason why some of us seem to be floundering about not doing very well? Many valuable unseen and seemingly unimportant parts are missing. Perhaps all the visible parts are starting to get worn out, and misfiring? Simply because some of us are not in our God-given place doing what He sent us here to do. He planned our lives even before we arrived here, and each one of us has something to do that no-one else can. Even though our presence can seem insignificant in the light of this world’s aims and judgments … there are no insignificant people.

Our neighbour died last week. He wasn’t old, but he wasn’t all that young either. However we knew him and we cared for him. I cried and cried. And initially I didn’t have a clue why I cried so much! Then I realised that this world seems a little poorer now he isn’t in it. I will miss him walking by our house on his way to his. He didn’t seem to contribute much outwardly, yet:   “…the death of one man diminishes us all.” Just because our world has stopped valuing ordinary individuals in favour of bright shiny talented people, that doesn’t mean it is true! Because God Himself sent you and I here, we are here for a reason. 

Let’s just spend a few minutes thinking about YOU, and your body and how it works for you even when you are not aware of it. Your health relies upon things inside you that you will, hopefully, never see! All of those things – some of them are big, but most are small – ticking away doing their various God-appointed jobs. If one of them misfires or ceases to perform, the rest of your body will tell you about it pretty quickly. Here’s today’s thought: maybe the Body of Christ needs YOU to do what God put you here to do so we can fully function. 

Thirty-six years ago when I had a liver transplant I began to realise just how important my liver is! It’s a funny-looking filter that nobody talks about. Health professionals worry and puzzle over hearts, and lungs, and limbs, too much fat here, not enough there — but actually our body ceases to function normally when our liver is diseased or injured. They don’t know why mine needed to be replaced. It just kind of lost heart and gave up. Let me tell you when it did begin to lose function I felt it. I was quite young but I just got slower and slower and sicker and sicker. Actually, I think the Holy Spirit used our body in this scripture as an illustration, because it is personal, and some bodies can be problematic.

One of the biggest mistakes we can make is to believe the enemy’s lies. Importance does not have to come with bells and whistles, trumpets and a parade. Maybe seeing you just going about doing what you do, helps someone else keep on walking from one day to the next. Perhaps your kindness reminds them this world isn’t all that bad. Sometimes what makes someone important is that we suddenly find we don’t like living without them. 

If you don’t know why you are here, then ask the Lord to show you. Just by simply living, we are changing the world around us. Especially when we offer to help someone, and we notice that they are alive and struggling like we do. Clarity is a very valuable asset, it helps us to see and appreciate each other. Bye. 👋 

P 3201 Judgment belongs to God … only HE can be trusted with it.

/ DVH

I Corinthians 4:3-5: “I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.”

To begin with I want to make the point that no matter how sweet anyone appears to be, none of us are perfect. When that statement becomes a reality in our lives, it goes a long way to stopping judgment. Especially if you manage to figure out that you can’t actually see, because you have this blooming great log in your own eye!

Judgment belongs to the Lord, because only He has the wisdom and love, together with the spirit of reconciliation, to see through the lies we even tell ourselves. Jesus loves the truth, and the Holy Spirit is in charge of conviction, not us. What He shares with us will bring clarity into hidden things about ourselves so we can deal with them, together. But we need to be so very careful about even the appearance of judging others, as we can easily misinterpret what we think we can see. The best thing to do when you discern something in somebody else is to pray for them.

Paul’s writings show us that he totally understood something that is essential for our own personal knowledge of God’s kingdom. I believe he understood the way our Father does things. Our Father doesn’t uncover our sins in front of others, instead He wants His generosity and kindness to fill us, and draw us to a place of sincere repentance, without any fear of reprisal or shame. When Paul received all those heavenly revelations, he didn’t take dictation. He was given Grace, from God, to understand and comprehend the Lords intentions toward man. 

This kind of revelation is so helpful – I urge you to ask for it. Once we truly comprehend that only God is good, and the devil is the bad guy – then clarification brings revelation. Being filled and remaining filled with the Holy Spirit means we can’t afford to hide anything from Him. However, the light of God in and on our lives holds no dangers for us. Jesus faced our Heavenly Judge for us and was punished in our place. No crime = no time!Let’s put aside collecting mental lists of do’s and don’ts. Then hopefully we will stop slinging them at each other!

This passage in 1 Corinthians presents us with a good reason to stop that kind of thinking and allow our minds to be changed by His Word. When it comes to judgment, only Jesus knows what is in that other person’s heart. If I am angry or afraid of someone, I can so easily be deceived by my own heart, and run on at the mouth. At the same time I can end up filling up my thoughts with junk … simply because I am convinced I know why someone did, what they did! … But I don’t know and I can’t. The Person Who truly knows what someone else thought or did, pardoned them, by doing what HE did.

I lived in an atmosphere in my childhood, that threatened me with physical and emotional violence when it came to my performance. So I learnt to be deceitful to protect myself. I am now old enough and I know I have been empowered by Him, so I can choose a different response! “I know Whom I believe, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him until that day.” 2 Timothy 1:12.

I could hold a grudge and harden my heart, but I will stop moving forward in God if I choose to do that. But He won’t reject me, because we have a covenant – an agreement signed in His own Son’s blood. Sometimes we can shoot ourselves in the foot, because we can’t possibly know what God is going to do next, so we pick up judgment to defend ourselves. The Lord is not like us! Hallelujah! Now, there’s a good thing to remember. Some responses to circumstances have become so ingrained in our psyche, we do things automatically. We need to deliberately retrain our responses, by allowing His Word to become a part of who we are now.

Judgment in the Christian world can be a fatal flaw. It means that we can no longer get to “know each other after the Spirit “  … because we are too busy trying to duck blows that may or may not come. We can quite easily forget our ministry of reconciliation, and use God’s Word to brutalise others. That sword is for our enemy so we can cut people free – it is not to slice up your neighbour!!  We can’t know what is in someone else’s heart, so acting in wisdom means we need to suspend judgment and extend GRACE. 

We can have confidence that we are already accepted, we simply need to be prepared to become vulnerable. That is a rude word to some people. They avoid vulnerability like the plague. Repentance isn’t a sign of weakness, it is a sign of strength. It’s an honour system. Jesus honoured and pardoned us, so we honour what He did for us, by honouring and pardoning others and suspending any judgment. Sadly, our hearts can be deceitful. They can excuse me — and accuse you —- all-at-the-same-time! 

That’s why paying attention to what comes out of our mouths is the biggest clue to what is going on inside! Our speech, actions and attitudes need to be given our attention – especially the unguarded ones. The body of Christ can be a little like a slow leaky tyre, you want to fix it but you just can’t find the leak. This is a place where we lose touch with the Holy Spirit and HE is the ever-present Wind beneath our wings, let’s plug up them holes! Judgment belongs to the Lord — only HE can be trusted with it. Bye.👋