Broken

P 3493 Let’s never forget the real benefit.

/ DVH

Hebrews 10:18-23. “Now, when sins have once been forever forgiven and forgotten, there is no need to offer more sacrifices to get rid of them. And so, dear brothers, now we may walk right into the very Holy of Holies, where God is, because of the blood of Jesus. This is the fresh, new, life-giving way that Christ has opened up for us by tearing the curtain—His human body—to let us into the holy Presence of God.

And since this great High Priest of ours rules over God’s household, let us go right in to God Himself, with true hearts fully trusting Him to receive us because we have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean and because our bodies have been washed with pure water. Now we can look forward to the salvation God has promised us. There is no longer any room for doubt, and we can tell others that salvation is ours, for there is no question that He will do what He says.”

I was born in one of the poorer areas of a capital city in Australia. Everyone I knew worked for a living. And then, when I was fourteen, so did I! I had no clue about God, except that I was taught that He wouldn’t love me if I did the wrong thing. Sadly it seemed like I was forever doing the wrong thing. Living with the threat of hell can kind of put a dint into whatever faith you have. 

Up until I read the bible I had no idea that it said things like we just read in Hebrews 10. I had tried to read it many times but I got stuck in the begat section or the Old Testament stories … they only seemed to come out well if you chose the Lord’s side, but I had no idea how to get on God’s good side. I avoided it because I was positive He was never going to accept me. I had no clue that the Lord loved me, or knew my name — in fact I kind of hoped He didn’t — because I didn’t think we would get along all that well together! Mainly because He is holy and I am not. But nevertheless, Jesus still came after me, and that changed everything.

Even today when I read this: “…sins have once been forever forgiven and forgotten …” it blows my mind. I’ve been given some precious things in my life, but that one gift is beyond my wildest dreams. There are times when I wonder … why would He do that for someone like me? I just cannot comprehend the kind of perfect all-encompassing love that just won’t quit. Yet here it is – in His book. We are not forgiven because we deserve it, none of us do. We are forgiven because our Heavenly Father is beyond our imagination. He is generous, loving, kind and forgiving, and His Ways are perfect. There is no shadow, no turning away in Him. God Himself is pure love and light through and through.

As we keep on reading in Hebrews 10, we discover that not only did Jesus pay an incredible price to have all of us for His Bride, He paid that price so now we can have access to our Heavenly Father at any time. This means you and I don’t have to stand outside His door waiting to be told we can enter. We can throw open that door and run in and yell, “Dad, Dad, Dad, guess what happened to me!”

So when Jesus asks me to repent, why wouldn’t I? I’d want to hear Him even if He whispers! His love came after me and saved me from myself. Let’s think about the kind of people you would love to ask for dinner! Did you know in the bible it Exodus 24:9-11 it tells us that God Himself came to dinner?

“Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel. Under His feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli, as bright blue as the sky. But God did not raise His hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.” 

I mean, how utterly brilliant is that, right?  Then, as if that wasn’t enough, then Jesus Himself did this:

“…that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” 1 Corinthians 11:23-25

And there it is again. Almighty God and mankind, sitting down at a table and eating together, only this time, anyone can join in. Because the One sitting at the head of the table is the One Who paid the price for you and I to be able to come and eat and drink from it. Here’s something else to think about – SomeOne had to die to give us that privilege, and He did it gladly.

We need to learn how to be motivated and saturated in God’s love. Let’s be so soaked in it, that it runs out of us onto other people. I’m talking about His heavenly kind of love that just won’t quit on anyone. All the healing services, retreats and prayer in this world, are no substitute for the privilege of personally coming into His Presence and being received by Him. This is the point of the Gospel. It is not just so we can have access to heaven one day, or get into right house or school … or even have steak for dinner!

Jesus died so we can have ACCESS to our Heavenly Father – whenever we need to and want to. And we are guaranteed that Father God will never be disinterested, busy, or too distracted at any time, to allow us to come to see Him and fellowship with Him. NOT EVER.  We can have this, because He gave us the right to wash our filthy clothes in the blood of the Lamb, knowing that His blood sprinkled everywhere in our lives, makes us clean. Why would we ignore that benefit?

We must never ever forget the real glorious benefit of Calvary. God loves us … up close and personal, and we can love Him back the same way … freely, worshipfully and gratefully. Bye. 👋. 

P3461 For those who are suffering.

/ DVH

I don’t choose what I am going to write about each day, but I pray about this blog and ask for the Lord to help me to follow His instructions, carefully and prayerfully. Plus I am exceedingly grateful for my beloved praying editor, my husband!  I said that because I want the precious souls among us who suffer daily, to know first and foremost that the Lord definitely had you on His mind this morning.

First of all, I want to clarify what I see as suffering. It includes, imprisonment, hunger, thirst, lacking shelter, and then there is pain — mental, physical and emotional pain, oppression, the pain of never being completely understood. Plus mental illnesses, devastating loneliness, life-altering dependency, all kinds of physical illness, including terminal illness – although I think living in this world is a terminal illness, one way or another! Together with loss and grief. This is not a comprehensive list, so I am hoping you will get the gist of my thought.

My thought is this — Father God hides His most precious treasures in the most unexpected places. We know that He has hidden so much in His Word, and people have spent their lifetime meditating on and studying the bible so they can pass what they have learnt on to others. BUT let’s never forget that PEOPLE are His very favourite treasures and they too can remain hidden. To the world, you may not necessarily be all that important, but to God you are worth everything dear to Him. 

Today, I want to talk about those precious members of the Body of Christ who are suffering from any, and hopefully not all, of the above maladies. I know a little tiny bit about some of these things. I think one of the hardest situations a person who is suffering has to face is the entirely well-meaning, enthusiastic, Jesus-loving Christian, who has no clue about the depth of human misery… so they rave on merrily sharing their positive healing thoughts about this subject. 

Actually, I wish people with those particular attributes would just give me money, because by now I would be so-o-o rich! Instead, the Lord has chosen to bless me with many opportunities to forgive those who have trespassed against me. Many of these dear, somewhat misguided souls have no clue what ongoing suffering does to faith. Especially in today’s current attitudes and atmosphere of ‘everybody should be healed.’ 

So although I am only one person, I want to start out by saluting your courage. It takes so much courage to stand firm in your faith, when something or other is kicking the daylights out of you and it rarely lets you go. On the other hand, there is the kind of situation where the hard bits stop … but you are not sure if they are completely gone or not … so you can’t relax into the Lord’s arms easily. Mainly because you have become hyper-vigilant. This means you often second-guess yourself because you truly don’t know what might happen next! It is hard to know what to do with your faith when you aren’t sure if it is actually in working order.

I try to take the time to comfort myself with thoughts like these:  if I cut my hand it would take a while for the cut to heal, so I will have to be patient during the process. I might need to take extra care of that hand while it is healing. But when it is your heart that is broken, taking care of it means you need to pray over everything you might like to do, instead of just blazing away into the next thing.

When a heart has been damaged by fear, or misguided Christian help, plus medical people who are, after all, still human — the person doesn’t always make good decisions. So ask others for their prayerful support because you really are vulnerable and under pressure. Bad things have happened to you. By the way, that does not mean you are bad, or you have some deep dark secret that needs to be forgiven or fixed. Life happens to all of us and survivors should be saluted, not chastised! You are also allowed to grieve because you have lost your well being.

So what happens if it seems your circumstances won’t, can’t, or don’t change because they depend on someone else changing first? That stuff is also very hard to live through.  At those times I start praying: “Thank you Lord for remembering I am just glorified dust! I need more grace to persevere and remain joyful, and if You don’t give it to me, then I won’t have it!” Amen. I also pray for Him to help me develop through the pain, because I have learnt that pain colours the way I see and hear things, and I can get really offended by stupid stuff when I am not able to listen properly. 

Actually I can get offended by stupid insignificant stuff all by myself!! Forget about pain actively colouring everything in around me! Ho-hum. Here are a couple of verses that may be helpful: Psalm 34:18 “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” Whether we can feel Him or not … the Lord is here with us. God is lovingly drawn to those who are suffering, Jesus demonstrated that. Luke 6:19:  “…and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from Him and healing them all.” Yes. It is His will to heal however, the sick and broken need the Body’s help! 

Isaiah 43:2: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;  and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.” Lastly, cut yourself some slack – He’s God and you’re not! By His grace you will come through this. Amen. 🙏

P3454 Remembering Helps!

/ DVH

“…and when He (Jesus) had given thanks, He broke it, and said, “This is My Body, which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way also He took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”” 1 Corinthians 11:24-25 ESV. 

People participate in this scripture in a number of ways – all of them are wonderful and worth doing. From blessing our food and drink daily, to taking communion together, and reminding ourselves that Jesus’ broken body and shed blood makes a way for us to be able to run to the Lord any time we need to, or want to do it! He is here to help us.

Remembering the Holy Spirit is a great daily aim. The thing that stood out to me, in 1 Corinthians were the words … “remember Me.” These verses are a prompt to help us to value our memories of good, moment by moment, during each and every day. I liked that thought. So much crowds in on us during our daily lives, lots of things that demand our attention, it means that Jesus sometimes becomes an after-thought — if He is even a thought at all … and I’m not condemning anyone! Let’s pull our focus off the situations around us, and back onto the One Who is here to help us – the One Jesus relied upon.

Many years go, I had 3 children under 5. Trust me, you are lucky to be able to think at all when you have babies or toddlers. It was over 50 years ago, and yet I still remember the endless  wailing and feeling powerless to help the child! Not to mention the futility of trying to quiet an infant when you have no clue what caused the problem in the first place. New mothers, take this from me, please — these days will pass away and you will look back at them with bitter sweet sadness… especially the part where they hadn’t learned to say “NO!” yet. Whenever you can, enjoy the little ones.

Parenting is not about perfection, it simply requires plenty of  participation. We can’t prevent the lumps and bumps of this life happening to our kids – it’s all prep for adulthood – yours and theirs! One day soon all the intense work that goes into raising an infant will go away, and you are left with raising a brand new human being, with its own will and preferences. Parenting is not as much fun as the magazines pretend it is, and, trust me, we all fail at it – despite our dedicated efforts. Remembering Him helps us keep our cool when we can’t cope with our inadequacies.

I am learning that reflecting on the things that the Lord helps us with — successful times from the past — can often help us get through the things happening right now. David did it in 1 Samuel 17:34-36  “But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God.” Please let us remember, David is talking about two really really bad things … a lion and a bear. This is not a kitten or a cuddly toy!

And he took the past, his own personal experiences with God, and used it to do two things. It gave him courage and confidence for now. And then he used it as a weapon so he could carry out the next thing. Remembering is a very valuable tool, when Jesus Himself asks us to do it. When we are hurting, sometimes we need to be our own cheer squad. Some people enjoy writing a journal, my hubby does it periodically, and it blesses him to go back over the things that the Lord has said, and done, in the past.

Jesus asked us to remember Him when we take communion, when we eat, when we sleep, when we wake up — even as we are going about our normal lives. His Presence goes before us, and comes behind us as we walk this walk of faith. “Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; He will neither fail you nor abandon you.” Deuteronomy 31:8. 

Nothing happens to us that the Lord Himself doesn’t know about. “I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember Your miracles of long ago.  I will consider all Your works and meditate on all Your mighty deeds.” Psalm 77:11,12. It is so beneficial to our faith to remember the things He has done, especially when we feel oppressed,  ill, or even a bit depressed. You know, it is of no use to pretend that Christians don’t struggle with mental disease … that’s what it is …. mental DIS-ease. Something inside our thinking is not helping us, and we are no longer at ease. 

One of the best ways I know to help that, is to phone a friend, or if you pray in tongues do that. And if you are locked in then please don’t beat yourself up. Life may seem to be suffocating you and you do not need “ought to” and “must” sitting on your heart and mind as well. God loves us as we are. If we could perfect ourselves we would not need a Saviour! Maybe we have allowed some squirrelled up ideas about appearances and expectations to put even more pressure on our faith. These things deny our humanity. (2 Corinthians 1:8; Matthew 26:36-46.) 

I urge everyone to cultivate the remembrance of good in your life. Was someone kind? Thank them, and tuck that kindness in your heart, you might need it someday. Remembering helps us to keep on pressing on. Bye. 👋.

P 3441 We carry His Presence …

/ DVH

…and that is a privilege. This life is not meant to be a drudge, slogging on from day to day, only to get up the next day preoccupied with the same problems that occupied our thoughts yesterday! Or perhaps something new pops up and that takes over. 

We can be kept so very busy trying to get to a place where we can obey what He asks us to do, that in the end, we do nothing. Instead we are always waiting. Always in transit but never arriving. The minute we said “yes” to Jesus, the things of this world became secondary. Our primary goal now is to love and serve Him and others. Let’s actively learn to let Father God take care of us. He will look after ‘matters concerning us.’ I spent years trying to figure out which bit was my bit and which bit was His! Finally I thought … “You have the lot Lord, I can’t manage this juggling at all, I keep dropping things.”

Let’s be clear: when I finally realised what DEAD means I did more than just have a thought, I actively took my life and its problems, and prayerfully handed it all over to Him and then I refused to pick them up again. My problems were often people, and the way they had treated me. So I gave up my right to be protected from people who didn’t care a hoot about how I felt, and started practising Love, I chose to change my focus from making them happy to loving them. I was rotten at it and I needed His help. Love does not mean you have to give in. Love means you listen to Him – FIRST. Let the Lord draw your boundaries.

Now, I take my thoughts captive and hand them back to Him. If I end up ruminating over something or other, then I repent and give it back to Him, and ask the Lord to redeem everything. We cannot afford to live in partial surrender. We will spend most of our time trying to figure out which bit is His and what’s ours! Total surrender is the only way to go, otherwise we can be distracted from our main purpose.

Jesus reminded us of that purpose in Mathew 22:37-40.“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

We need to remember our God-given purpose. Love Him first, then love others. That’s because we can’t actually love others unless we meditate on how much He loves us! We are His disciples, we distribute the bread that has been broken in His hands and we give it to the hungry all around us. He was broken for all of us.

If the Holy Spirit had not come at exactly the right time, the disciples could easily have wandered away, and maybe set up their own ministries based on what they saw Jesus do, around them and through them. They too needed the power of God to fall on them. The Holy Spirit released in them the same clarity, courage and purpose Jesus  had. When you read the Epistles etc you don’t hear the Apostles talking about how this or that difficulty occurred last week. Their focus is on Christ, crucified, dead, buried, and resurrected. 

They didn’t care if their parents smacked them too much, or someone bullied them, or stole their money etc. They had better things to do! All this prayer for healing of our inner selves can waste a perfectly good life. Stop living in the past. Be like those 10 lepers!  They were totally healed as they went. Thank God for what He has already done in you, and keep asking Him for more. Then go out and love on other people. Ask Him to help you recognise in yourself anything that could distract you from His primary purpose of loving God and others. 

Back to the Lord’s disciples. It would have been easy to walk about grandly despatching this snippet of information, and passing on this new revelation. If they did that they would have become a brand new breed of Pharisee, Sadducee or Teacher! We don’t need labels, or chains of honour, we need the Holy Spirit. Forget ministry, that will overtake you when He is ready. Those twelve men could have sat back and said, “We were His friends, we saw Him do incredible things.” And lived off that for the rest of their lives..

But they didn’t. They were the ones who had walked with Him and talked with Him and learnt from Him … and He said …“GO!” … So they went. They sought out lost people who didn’t know what Christ had given them, and they daily gave away what they had. They died living that way. 

It makes me want to weep. We sit in our comfy houses in the Western world, and drive our nice cars to church, and pray that Almighty God will make our lives happy and the lives of our families happy. And when they aren’t the way we think they should be, then we pray for Him to make the trouble go away. HE is the centre of the Universe … we aren’t. We aren’t even a blip on the Richter Scale. 

We’ve been given the privilege to carry His Presence with us wherever we go. Leaving the Holy Spirit behind, ignoring Him and His directions is incredibly risky. One day we could wake up and think: ‘maybe the bible isn’t true, maybe it is just an old book with sweet metaphors about niceness.’  People do not often lose their faith in one gigantic explosive event, it is more likely they will lose it little by little and walk away. It’s called compromise. Value His Presence and His love for you, and others, daily. Bye. 👋. 

P 3434 A quality decision.  

/ DVH

“Christ’s resurrection is your resurrection too. This is why we are to yearn for all that is above, for that’s where Christ sits enthroned at the place of all power, honour, and authority! Yes, feast on all the treasures of the heavenly realm and fill your thoughts with heavenly realities, and not with the distractions of the natural realm. Your crucifixion with Christ has severed the tie to this life, and now your true life is hidden away in God in Christ.” Colossians 3:1-3 TPT.

There is a way we all need to go … Proverbs 22:6, I think a description of that way appears in Colossians 3:1-3. That way means we don’t just die to self – we live this life resurrected, striding into a brand new life, where Jesus rules – right here, right now. This happened to each one of us when we gave our lives to Christ. He has kept His part of this covenant, and now it is up to us to keep our part.  Our part is an assignment. We choose to take Him with us wherever we go. 

His part will stand forever, whether people acknowledge it or not. Ours depends upon us believing what He said and acting accordingly – using our faith. Everything we read in the bible points to this brand new life that is ours for the taking – Jesus gave it to us when He died in our place. Why live in the defeated ruins of an old life, when the new life He died to give us is ours for the taking?

Our daily need for His help, and His freely-given input, turns into a yearning that encourages and motivates our faith to keep on pressing on, and in. We want Him. Not rules, not religion, but Him. Anything else pales into insignificance. There can be times we feel listless, plagued by an unwillingness to yield to Him, and we sometimes give into it. That stuff isn’t just disobedience — it comes from a lack of real focus about what is actually going on... God Himself is wooing us! This is the next part of our chosen adventure with Christ. He stands at the window, oil dripping from His nail-scarred hands, waiting to be asked into each and every moment.

We cannot afford to ignore the things Jesus said, they are our life-blood. Our spiritual life and health depends entirely on what He did for us, and our choice to believe the things written in His book are true. Otherwise we will pick and choose what we want to believe, and be led about by all sorts of distractions that will tickle our ears, and continually lead us nowhere. We might even become faddish, and look ridiculous to the world around us. 

Whenever God is truly present, conviction has to follow because His holiness challenges our humanity. Conviction is not about yelling at people for being sinful, and threatening them with a ghastly final destination – it also not just about going the wrong way — conviction means we are wrong! We can’t be right without His input. Deep down most people already know that their way of life is broken – they either don’t care, or don’t want to change, or they don’t know how to change. 

The reality of the Presence of God Himself, and His holiness, will convict many people of sin. As Christians, we simply have to do our bit, and release His love everywhere we go. Without the Holy Spirit’s leading, and His comforting Presence and help, God’s people can easily slide toward defining  themselves by their ability to keep rules … or not. Only very honest souls will own their inability to reach the Christ-like goal. The reality of the Presence of God Himself, and His holiness, will convict many people of sin.

As Christians, we simply have to do our bit, and release His love everywhere we go. Without the Holy Spirit’s leading, and His comforting Presence and help, God’s people can easily slide toward defining  themselves by their ability to keep rules … or not. Only very honest souls will own their inability to reach this Christ-like goal.

The Holy Spirit revives our faith as He leads us. Our faith was not design to drag along behind – always waiting for a sign, or proof, or some sort of approval. What matters in this process is the room we give Him in our lives. Some people can spend 60 minutes quality time with the Lord day by day, and it is enough to fuel their ministry. Others progressively fall in Love with A PERSON and they refuse to let Him out of their sight! The Holy Spirit longs to draw us into the same sort of depth we see in the Apostles in Acts.

We are all in the same battle. We daily fight to let Christ be everything to us, instead of simply our back-up in times of trouble. Freely loving Him is our reward – we don’t care what this world offers us, or what we think we might gain in the next. Jesus wants to reside/live/inhabit our lives, today. Imagine the honour! The King of glory quietly calls us to walk with Him. His Presence is not a merit badge tribute to our spirituality, He is our beloved Lord and Saviour – Who is closer to us than our heartbeat.

But we must deal with our own pride, our need for autonomy and self-importance. And make a quality decision to live in His resurrection life, listening to Him and loving others. Bye 👋.

P 3429 GRACE is not an optional extra.

/ DVH

It is often so easy to focus on our needs. The need to be well, or have enough money, or a job, or a house, or even the right spouse to serve Him. When what we actually need is His Grace for wherever we are – right here, right now! Jesus Himself didn’t have any of those physical things and it didn’t bother Him — His food and drink was to do the will of His Father. Paul wasn’t impressed by the fripperies of this world either, and if you look at all the disciples, they didn’t think they needed anything BUT JESUS.

I know about a number of missionaries who don’t have most of the kind of things that we take for granted. However, they don’t feel poor. Actually they’d rather walk with Him, than rely upon stuff. The Lord Jesus gave us His grace when He died for us, now, Grace is the vehicle we step into, and we never ever step out of again!  Because our aim is to follow Him, we choose to apply ourselves to learn this truth. We literally cannot do anything without Him. Salvation is not just asking Him into our lives and walking away, clutching our free ticket to heaven. Grace is the ticket that takes us all the way there. That ‘ticket’ cost our loving Saviour His life.

By now we have learnt that choosing to love anyone is incredibly powerful, and it is even more powerful when we begin to understand the cost of that kind of choice. Our choice to follow Him blesses the Lord Jesus’ heart. We, and millions of other people, who have gone before us, are His reward for all His suffering. I don’t think human beings have the capacity to live the way Jesus did, and maintain it, without the Grace of God freely flowing through their lives.

It takes Grace to love someone who feels so entitled to focus on their own happiness than anything else around them – they see this world in a childish fashion. “What’s in it for me?’ It can be remarkably easy to give up leaning on the Lord, because the spiritual things seem too hard. That’s the point. They were always going to be too hard. Our quest is to choose to learn to love, live, move and have our being in Him, and His Grace helps us achieve that, one step at a time.

‘Grace needs to be viewed not just as a one-time pardon, but as an ongoing spiritual strength, that helps people change and serve others.’ (Google) Loving others in our own strength will eventually produce a conflict of interests, and most of the time, it’s likely that my own interests will win! That’s when Grace Himself leaves, and we are left with ‘me’ in all my selfish glory. Conversely, I can easily get puffed up by how sacrificial I am, even when you clearly don’t deserve it. I can also probably be misled by hardship — but His Grace is God’s gift to me, to lead me into His Ways.

It is, unfortunately, comparatively simple to keep trying to control the world around us, without being a good steward of what lies within. I am of the opinion that we can’t do anything lasting, or eternal, without His Grace. True grace is eternity that has already come, or been invited, into the here and now. Let us not  forget the first few lines of that well known passage in 1 Corinthians 13, “The fruit of the SPIRIT …”   We will fail in our quest if we fail to realise that it’s HIS fruit that will be manifested in our lives. As we learn to co-operate with Him and ask Him to grow it – we will need His Grace to endure and keep on loving others.  

That fruit will be automatically and systematically nurtured as we choose, minute by minute, to stay attached to the vine. Jesus’ Grace holds us there – on that sometimes uncomfortable spot that challenges us to die to what we want. That takes these things out of the realm of what I can do, and puts them squarely into the Kingdom reality of what Jesus has already done. You can’t have both – self interest is not the same His interest, no matter how carefully we use pretty, spiritual words to make it sound better. In those moments, let’s choose to remember that Jesus didn’t care if He impressed anyone with His spirituality or not. Most of His praying was done in secret! 

We don’t need to explain Grace to participate in it. After all, His Grace saved us when we were already sinners. His Grace came and found us. Our job is to give grace a HOME. We were too stupid to ask for it, we definitely didn’t deserve it, so we won’t always recognise it when it comes our way. Nevertheless it is there. Our ignorance, or wilful disobedience, does not negate what God freely gave us. His Grace is the sap that facilitates the fruit of His Spirit to grow in our lives. I can try to change myself until I am blue in the face, and I might even outwardly change my behaviour. But I cannot change my heart. It will deceive me. 

The Grace released by what the Lord Jesus Christ did is far more powerful than we can imagine. Because of it, we need to live our lives gratefully. Grace saved us and it sustains us. We cannot outgrow our need for His Grace in our lives. Grace acts as a moving vehicle, it runs on our faith, and carries us past our perceived limits, into a new way of living. It is an unearned gift that holds us steady, moves us forward, and changes how we see our flaws. The bible shows us what to do and Grace helps us do it.

His Grace runs to meet us when we mess up. It lifts us up from the dirt and grime into a bigger place where we see how much He loves us, far more clearly. It gently washes us clean – again – and it holds us fast in His love even when life tosses us around like a leaf in a storm. We need His Word, plus His Grace, to help us apply it in our lives, all the time. God’s Grace is not an optional extra it is an essential oil, perfuming our lives. Bye. 👋

P 3360 Keep looking at Jesus.

/ DVH

“We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God’s original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in Him and finds its purpose in Him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And when it comes to the church, He organises and holds it together, like a head does a body.                                                                                                      He was supreme in the beginning and—leading the resurrection parade—He is supreme in the end. From beginning to end He’s there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is He, so expansive, that everything of God finds its proper place in Him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of His death, His blood that poured down from the cross.”                                 You yourselves are a case study of what He does. At one time you all had your backs turned to God, thinking rebellious thoughts of Him, giving Him trouble every chance you got. But now, by giving Himself completely at the Cross, actually dying for you, Christ brought you over to God’s side and put your lives together, whole and holy in His Presence. You don’t walk away from a gift like that! You stay grounded and steady in that bond of trust, constantly tuned in to the Message, careful not to be distracted or diverted. There is no other Message—just this one. Every creature under heaven gets this same Message. I, Paul, am a messenger of this Message.” Colossians 1:15-23 MSG.

When we look at Jesus Christ we see God’s original purpose for mankind … minus sin and its effects. Sin couldn’t make Christ do anything because His love and devotion for His Father was greater than anything else. Instead He set us a perfect example. Our sin has a habit of colouring in everything around it. So when we focus on our sin, or their sin, or the government’s sin, we cannot effectively keep our eyes on the Lord!

Personally I think that judgment is a terrible stumbling block for everyone, but the Lord Jesus died to remove that and all other stumbling blocks way… once and for all! We can find our place in this broken world when we drag our gaze away from other people’s sin and look steadily at the One Who gave us His place. Looking at sin skews our focus.

This is a great passage of scripture above, because it encapsulates the things that Jesus has willingly done for us. People rattle on and on about recycling, and saving the planet, but one day everything broken and dislocated will come together in Christ! His greatest achievement is the total restoration of mankind with its Creator— not just to where Adam and Eve were—we have been restored to be like Him in this world, and that starts right here, right now.

Boy if that doesn’t make anyone happy then I don’t know what will!! We don’t have to be qualified to live this way, we simply need to yield to Him no matter what is going on around us. The good, the bad and the … oh! my goodness! Our first step is total surrender – the next is to choose to live under His guidance, His Way. Don’t hold anything back, whatever we hold back can still be influenced by sin … that’s why we must give it all to Him. He is the Restorer, the Redeemer of everything. 

Jesus has already taken us out of the kingdom of darkness that surrounds us and we are now a part of the kingdom of His marvellous light. “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a [special] people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies [the wonderful deeds and virtues and perfections] of Him Who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.” 1 Peter 2:9. I don’t care what you do for a living, this is our real job now. To live in, and reflect the light He died to give us into this world around us. The darker it gets, the brighter that light shines.

Our dedication to living in His light (described in the book) causes darkness to run away … This is the real Good News – not some other form of religion! Religion has rules and regulations, but our Saviour’s Good News just helps us to live this life, with all its positive and negative experiences, well. And the source of our happiness never changes, because Jesus never changes! 

As Christians we cannot afford to focus on what this world thinks, we need our focus to be singular, on what He said. Day by day we get to know Perfect Love in an ever increasing measure. Jesus demonstrated His perfect love by what He did. We demonstrate our love for Him and others by what we do and say. However, perfect love is hardly ever a feeling. Perfect Love is a series of ongoing chosen actions that will cost us something to participate in them. God hasn’t taken away our freedom to choose – instead He has given us something better, something worth choosing! 

We can’t afford to rely upon feelings, because they will slowly sink our little lives into the mire that surrounds us. Instead we need to make what happens to us less important than what Jesus Christ did for us. Our focus is not on some pie in the sky when we die theology – because Jesus already did everything for us. It’s done! He said it way better than I ever could: “IT. IS. FINISHED.” Done and dusted. The Lord Jesus Himself purchased our freedom,- He paid with His own blood. It cost Him His life. Now we have been given the freedom to choose to live His Way. Don’t misuse the freedom He gave you. Meanwhile, there is no need for us to work hard for something that is already paid for. 

We choose to live with His pure focus in this life – right here, right now. Let’s shift our focus off the immediate stuff around us and lift our focus up to the eternal. Then we will progressively exchange every bit of the darkness that assails us, for what He has already given us. This new life is a life of forgiveness and love. Right now… right here … we are learning to cherish His light. Every single day. I urge us all to keep looking at Jesus, He started our faith and He will finish it. Bye. 👋

P 3359 In which I talk about Elephants.

/ DVH

I have been ill one way or another for the past 50 years, I have a cranky immune system. Why? I dunno. Loads of people have prayed for me. I imagine if I asked people-who-are-much-smarter-or-more-spiritual-than-I-am they could probably list some sin or unbelief in my life that has caused this stuff. All I know is it stretches my faith daily. 

I don’t always find other people’s suggestions, even though they are well intentioned, all that helpful. Because these not-quite-so-helpful souls go home and do ordinary stuff, and yet I still need help going to the loo! I realise that others are trying to be inspiring by telling me to declare this, and remember that verse from the bible. It’s all good! But when I am in the middle of a physical battle, I can’t pick stuff up, I am too busy fighting my overactive mind, feelings and symptoms, and I feel condemned if I can’t do it.

I truly believe Jesus has the Answer so I go to Him minute by minute for the strength to manage this kind of weakness. At the same time, I can use all of His life in me that I can get, when my own life is sitting on me! Unfortunately, another problem with ongoing chronic illness, is that you can get used to it — and sadly, you don’t have to like it to get used to it. One of my least fav feelings is the one that says: “Here we go again!” I’m doing OK today, BTW.

I want to take the time to encourage others who happen to be sick or broken. The people who love and desperately need Jesus day in and out, just to get out of bed every morning. It takes courage to choose Jesus when it seems like there are no wellness benefits- yet. I salute you. So does Paul in 2 Corinthians 11:16-33, and 2 Corinthians 12:8-10. Without the Lord’s help, chronic illness can become the overriding flavour of any life. 

You will have to fight against the idea of giving in to it, and grab hold of your courage to fight that same battle one more time. I believe I have discovered a small but helpful secret to surviving with elephants…what we focus ON, fills our minds and emotions and it filters down right through our everyday lives. A person with a disability has to fight harder, but I’ve learnt to comfort myself with the thought that God loves me dearly, sick or not.  Plus I strongly resist the urge to fling blame and angst about. Instead I put my sights firmly on Him and keep on following Him.

It’s extremely profitable to look for some good in life – especially if you are laid aside. That attitude can become a refuge in itself. Two sentences have helped me: “Oh well,” and “God is always good, no matter how it looks.” God is still good when everything looks BAD! I want to be clear, these two things are not an exit sign, they are simply a way to keep my spirit man, who isn’t sick (!) energised and active.  

So I say: “oh well” and postpone any plans when things get icky. It’s become a spoken cue to shift my focus back onto the Lord, and off some painful thing or other that has forced itself on me. What we pay attention to, fills our vision. Bad stuff can happen to anyone, and ‘oh well,’ reminds me I’m in great company. Otherwise self-pity grabs me by the throat and I start circling the drain. Then I’ve just lost an opportunity to rely upon Jesus, as well as renew my mind to think like He does. The Body of Christ focusses on healing, but we need to focus far more on the fact that Jesus SAW sick people!

Problems come disguised as ordinary every day incidents that are easily solvable for most people …but when they land on the chronically sick and disabled they become distractions to keep us busy elsewhere …so we will forget who we really are! When praying for myself shows no visible signs of relief, then I choose to pray for YOU. Otherwise pain and illness can take over my thinking, and block out the reality of Who He is and what He has done for all of us.

The other thing I hang onto is: “God is always good.” I say that out loud, and I’ve learned to treat it as a lifeline. Then I resist evil, focus on Him – and I have peace instead of turmoil. When we use the truth of the bible as our plumb line, it steadies and focusses our inner thinking. This means we can pick up on whatever the Holy Spirit wants to give us, so we can fight the enemy’s insinuations with it.

Sometimes, realistically speaking, we may have to gird up our loins, and do everything we can, including ignoring our battered feelings.  In those moments, it helps me to keep going when I remember what the Lord has already done in my life. I’ve learnt to let the little things that might otherwise go unnoticed, become my focus. I give thanks for the small things! Even if we don’t know how to fix ourselves—let’s face it if we did we would do it! We can still always go to Him and ask for His help and healing. Believing ‘God is always good,’ switches our focus.

Chronic illness means some people around us, are running this race set before them with a handicap – and some are barely holding on. Perhaps other people don’t realise how much courage it takes to hold fast to what is true, in the face of the lack of answers to fervent prayers. The Body of Christ needs everyone, including the lesser, unseen parts, so we must stand with the chronically ill and keep remembering them in our prayers. “I was sick and you visited Me.”

I vote we support the person and stop ignoring that elephant, because love looks like something – a prayer, a real hug, tears, even a sandwich! Let’s not make someone’s healing more important than comforting the person themselves. Bye. 🙏

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 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. 👋