Book of Life

P 3425 THINK Bigger!   

/ DVH

At 4.00am I was instantly awake and stuff started downloading into my heart. Then the Holy Spirit said to me: “Tell My people they need to LET ME be bigger.” Then He gave me some examples from His Word to stir our courage.

When Jesus said in Mark 4:39 : “Peace be still” to the ocean, as it tried to drown the disciples … that ocean heard the same VOICE that said: “ Let there be light! “ … so it obeyed. Everything that lived inside the sea came from the Lord speaking, including the sea itself. This world knows His voice. I think there’s a lesson for us in there … if even the SEA is obedient to Almighty God, then what excuse do we have?

We need to think bigger than getting a car park when we need one! This world is in turmoil. The people around us need the peace that passes all understanding and we have it … it is ours. The Lord gave it to us. Give it away! You can always take it back if people don’t appreciate it. That’s in the book too!

When Moses held up his staff at the Red Sea — the same staff that God had transformed from a lump of wood into a snake before his eyes — the bible says: the sea SAW it. “The sea saw it, and fled! “ Then a mighty east wind blew, and the ocean parted. Moses’ staff was nothing, just a bit of hard wood. A shepherd’s staff, used to whack wolves and bears on the head. It was ordinary. Please listen carefully to this bit .. Almighty God took what Moses already had and made it powerful. Ya might want to selah that for a minute or ten. 

After Moses told the sea to part, and all the Israelites were safe, Moses held that staff up again and two walls of water came crashing down on Pharaoh and his army. They drowned. But don’t feel sorry for them, God gave the Egyptians ten plagues to warn them about what was coming. It wasn’t the staff that controlled the sea, and it wasn’t Moses’ power that did it either. When the man of God obeyed what God told him to do, that staff in his hand became a symbol of God’s authority. Now we have His authority too.

When we act upon His Word, day by day as He leads us, it is as if God Himself is standing there with us, backing up our obedience with His power. Let’s look at another scripture in Luke 10:20: “But don’t rejoice because evil spirits obey you; rejoice because your names are registered in heaven.” Jesus was explaining to the disciples their true priorities. Our priority is not power – but power comes from our relationship and the Lord’s recognition of an individual. The people who do things with God, STAND UP!

When His disciples went out and raised the dead, healed the sick, and delivered people from demons … they got very excited. “Jesus called His twelve disciples to Him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.… “ Do you see that? JESUS gave them HIS authority. This is why He says: ‘Don’t rejoice about that stuff, rejoice that your names are in My book of life.’  Jesus knows your Name and He has written it down in His book. it doesn’t matter two hoop-de-doos what that other guy knows. 

However, when the Holy Spirit arrived at Pentecost the disciples were supernaturally given their own authority, by God’s Spirit. Holy Fire hit them! That’s purifying fire. I don’t care if you like tongues, or you don’t … we should just get over ourselves. Tongues is a way to refresh our weary souls when we get overwhelmed. But don’t chase that, or any other thing — chase after being filled, and staying filled with the Holy Spirit. He will tell us where to go and what to do.

Another time some dumb-bunnies ran about using the Name of Jesus, and they threw Paul’s name around too. But the demon said in Acts 19:15: “Jesus I know and Paul I know … BUT WHO ARE YOU?’ Demons recognise the real voice of authority because that Voice threw them out of heaven! Those seven sons of Sceva had no authority at all to throw out the devil. BUT WE DO, because we are His kids and our names are in His book.

Seek His kingdom, first. Chase after loving Him with all your heart, soul, mind and strength! Ask yourself, are you happy with what you have, spiritually? If not, then remember Jesus promised to give us His idea of an abundant life. That doesn’t mean fancy houses, planes, jewellery, cars, or mountains of money — remember how He lived — that’s the yardstick. An abundant life is filled to the top with the love of God. It  has more than enough to give away, because He is a more than enough God!

One day, long ago, Almighty God humbled Himself and came here and became a man. He made Himself just like us. Then He humbled Himself even further and became a helpless infant! He understands what human beings face. When Jesus delivered that demonic man, stuck in the cemetary of Gederah, the demons in the pigs heard the same Voice that cast them out of heaven. Boy, did they leave! As we live our lives in His Presence, we will begin to understand what we’ve been given. We have the same authority Christ did. 

No wonder Jesus said ‘speak to the mountain and it will be moved’ …He made that mountain – of course it will obey Him. Now, the Lord lives in us. So, unless we work for a mining firm and we intend to whimsically move the local mountains around like pieces on a chessboard — we can ask for whatever we need. Otherwise we don’t have the authority of a banana!

Please don’t settle for an encounter with God – capture His heart and walk with Him! Think bigger. Start thinking about what your life will be like with Jesus showing you daily what to do next … Bye 👋. “… but the people who know their God shall prove themselves strong and shall stand firm and do exploits [for God].” Daniel 11:32b.

P 2888 Obedience matters.

/ DVH

Ecclesiastes 8:2-6: “Do what your King commands; you gave a sacred oath of obedience. Don’t worryingly second-guess your orders or try to back out when the task is unpleasant. You’re serving His pleasure, not yours. The King has the last word. Who dares say to Him, “What are you doing?” Carrying out orders won’t hurt you a bit; the wise person obeys promptly and accurately.”

Obviously the ‘king’ referred to in this passage is Solomon, but I have taken the liberty today of extending its jurisdiction — I think it is also about obeying Jesus – our King. Especially as obeying Solomon kind of died-out when he did! I’ve found Ecclesiastes can be a bit of a down-a-later. Boy did King Solomon sound depressed a lot! 

I had to keep returning to the fact that I know that God Himself gave this man wisdom. That meant I had to go and find my trusty spiritual shovel and keep on digging! I won’t pretend it was easy either, I almost needed a blasting cap to get rid of some of those huge humanity-driven rocks that my mind kept putting in the way of what this entire book says. That King took a dim view of life!

The bible is like food. Some verses seem to be more like gravy and mashed potatoes and I think that there are definitely some verses we all ‘like’ more than others! As I thought about it I was not cheered up much by the thought that gravy and mashed potatoes are merely one step away from baby food! So … I went back to the steak and kept on chewing. The more I went over this particular verse, the more I realised that this is the very essence of what we need as Christ’s disciples. OBEDIENCE.

Jesus sent out twelve guys in Matthew 10:1 –“Jesus called His twelve disciples to Him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.” So what happened in Matthew 10:1? The disciples began to use HIS authority. That’s a bit like me writing a letter to the bank telling them that you can operate on my account. You are accessing my account because I authorised you, but you can’t do that by yourself, the bank will call a policeman!

These disciples were deputised by the Lord to be like Him in matters of healing and deliverance, wherever they went. So they obeyed Him, and they saw results that caused them to exclaim and marvel at what they had seen!  But they were still subject to the spirit of stupidity, as well as disobedience. Their characters remained unchanged – remember … Judas was in that group! Jesus corrected their misplaced enthusiasm by reminding them that the greatest thing that had ever happened to them was that their names were now written in the Book of Life. Like I’ve said a kajillion times — God doesn’t think like we do!

However, when Jesus was leaving them for the final time to go back to His Father, He breathed on them: And when He said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “And when He said this, He breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.”John 20:22. Perhaps they received perseverance and the courage to wait, at that moment. The Lord told them clearly to: “WAIT for the power.”  Then Jesus left them all alone in an astonishing manner. They went back to the upper room and hid themselves away again. But they obeyed Him, as they waited … prayerfully.

They were waiting to receive the same power the Lord Jesus Himself walked in, although they did not know it. They felt like orphans, but Jesus had clearly told them He was sending SomeOne Else, SomeOne Who would always be with them.  This time it was not just the power to wait, etc., now the Holy Spirit came amongst them and He became the new LEADER. He has never left. Every day He gives US the power to live laid-down lives for Jesus’ sake.  

Those disciples became instant over-comers when the Holy Spirit exploded upon them in that locked upper room. They went in afraid, and came out bold. And it was their obedience to Jesus’ instructions that facilitated what happened. Obedience is not just about participating in a single event – our deliberate choices to obey leads us step by step into facilitating change. We change direction. We line ourselves up with His will and His will positions us for MORE… Always.

At the same time some of us have not yet gotten out of the ‘starting gate’ so to speak, because we feel afraid and so we excuse ourselves from participating in the greatest adventure mankind has ever known – uncovering the Will of God for ME! You and I have been reborn to follow JESUS. He has a plan for our lives and there is no point in asking me to tell you what you should be doing – because I don’t know!!

We walk in our God-given destiny by following the Lord, one step at a time. And every single one of those steps will include being tested to see if we have purposed to obey Him, no matter what happens. What is He telling you? Maybe He wants you to stop picking a fight with somebody or other so you can hear what He wants to say to you! Sin and unbelief cloud our hearing. Obedience matters. Our own faith can be weak, but obedience strengthens our ability to live our lives HIS WAY.

The character of Christ is not an optional extra, given to those who are dedicated to His purposes. We’ve been dedicated to His purposes the minute we were saved. We die, so He might live in us and through us. Step by step, as we learn to obey the Holy Spirit, we will develop the skills we will need to walk in whatever comes next! Bye 👋