Children of God

P3453 Impossible … right??

/ DVH

“For the perfect Light of Truth was coming into the world and shine upon everyone. He entered into the world He created, yet the world was unaware. He came to the people He created — to those who should have received Him, but they did not recognize Him. But those who embraced Him and took hold of His Name He gave authority to become the children of God!” John 1:9-12. 

I’m pretty sure most people think that they would recognise Jesus if He turned up at their church, but the fact is – He came to His very OWN people, and THEY did not recognise Him. My question is this: why not? Here’s a theory …  they weren’t expecting Him to look like that! He came as an infant. Boy, that sure fooled them. The Israelites expected a King. Battle ready, with soldiers and appropriate equipment … but Jesus went right around what man expected and came as a helpless infant. 

The next surprise was this… He didn’t come to kill off our earthly enemies, He came save them too! He came to represent us, by buying us back from the things that will drag us away from our Heavenly Father. Our Lord wants to woo us with His eternal love. Father God understands that is not good for man to be alone, so He is gathering together a Bride that will one day be worthy of His Son. The Holy Spirit’s doing this, one person at a time.

Jesus’ Bride’s beauty comes from her love for the Saviour. We need to allow the Holy Spirit to go through our lives and wash and iron away every single spot and wrinkle in them with the blood of Jesus, and the iron of adversity. It’s time to take what the Lord said seriously. There is no ‘magic solution’ to this world’s problems, there is only our hearty “yes” to what He asks of us. What if the stuff that is going on today is not about the Lord’s immediate return, but instead it is about this world groaning, waiting for the Sons of God to be made manifest?!

Jesus’ life story is the glorious fulfilment of God’s redemptive story, and He has gazumped satan at every turn. The devil did not suspect one thing, as God’s plan unfolded. Right now, in these times, we spend way much too much time looking at the obstacles and not enough time gazing on our Precious Bridegroom’s loving provision for us. God’s plans are always perfect. Just as Abraham sent His servant out to find and BUY Isaac a wife, the Lord has now sent His Precious Spirit to find the Bride He prepared before time began, for His Precious, dearly- loved Son. Jesus bought us with His own blood. And that includes you, and me. Impossible, right??

His kindness and love, are so far beyond what we can imagine, hope or dream. It seems millions of human beings have totally missed out what He did. And now it is up to us, to spread around what we’ve learned about God’s incredible love. The Holy Spirit does not want to leave one soul behind, so don’t be fooled and leave your part to others – this plan includes YOU! Faith fades away unless it is used.

When you live for a while, you start to realise how many times you’ve heard the same whispers in your head, about how hopeless you are, and why “talking to others” doesn’t mean you are to do it. The enemy rabbits on about how God won’t help you, because you aren’t worth it, and … that other guy’s repetitive junk gives the game away.  But our God does not do that. He has not ever played games with us. His plan is now clear and we are part of it.

Fan the love in your heart into a flame and actively remember everything Jesus has already done for us. Focus on that. The devil hates people using their faith. Just like He hates us giving thanks – he disappears pretty quickly when we do. Recognising Jesus in our times of difficulty makes us stronger, it irons out our inability to be self-controlled and patient. Just like the blood of Jesus washes away sin when it is allowed to penetrate even deeper than our minds, and manifest itself in our actions.

The Holy Spirit is hovering over us, waiting for our ‘yes’ so He can continually bathe us in the light of Christ’s never-ending love for His Bride. Sometimes the Lord’s greatest miracles happen in the middle of a raging storm. But at that moment, the Body of Christ often turns into Peter who said: “… Is that You Lord?”  It seems an impossible dream that God Himself should deeply care for each one of us, and need us to participate in His plan, even though we are broken. 🙌.

“But in our time something new has been added. What Moses and the prophets witnessed to all those years has happened. The God-setting-things-right that we read about has become Jesus-setting-things-right for us. And not only for us, but for everyone who believes in Him. 

For there is no difference between us and them in this. Since we’ve compiled this long and sorry record as sinners (both us and them) and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us, God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity He put us in right standing with Himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where He always wanted us to be. And He did it by means of Jesus Christ.

God sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world to clear that world of sin. Having faith in Him sets us in the clear. God decided on this course of action in full view of the public—to set the world in the clear with Himself through the sacrifice of Jesus, finally taking care of the sins He had so patiently endured. This is not only clear, but it’s now—this is current history! God sets things right. He also makes it possible for us to live in His rightness.” Romans 3.

It’s impossible! But true… Bye. 👋.

P3452 Oh Hallelujah!

/ DVH

“Yahweh’s tender mercies have no end, and the kindness of His endless love is never exhausted. New, fresh mercies greet me with every sunrise. So wonderfully great is Your faithfulness! I tell my soul, “Yahweh is my abundant portion. I need nothing more. So, I will put all my hope in Him.”” Lamentations 3:22-24.

Before I met Jesus personally, if I did meet a Christian during my early years, it did not register with me. The church I eventually ended up spending most of my time in, said stuff that scared me to death. Jesus was coming for me and I was going to get what I deserved and it wasn’t ever going to be good, because everything about me was wrong. The saying –  ‘God loves people,’ was always accompanied by a “but!”

So for all of my childhood, and even until I was a young adult with 2 little kids, the huge human dilemma of sin and what to do with it, held me tightly in its grasp. I knew I was wrong, after all people queued up to tell me so! But I couldn’t seem to do anything about who I was – I had no power to change. I wanted to, but I didn’t know how, and any efforts I made, seemed to make things worse.

Then one day, staring at my clothes line — I met Jesus.  Actually, the truth is, He met me. I was found by the One Who makes my soul sing, and He isn’t scary, not even a teeny weeny bit. He is exactly like Lamentations says — gracious, faithful beyond our imaginings, inexhaustible in His love for us, and His mercy just keeps on rolling over us like those endless waves that relentlessly crash upon the sand. His grace and mercy never ever stops. Hallelujah! 

If someone has taught you to follow a version of Jesus Christ Who is angry with you, hates you, and is never ever going to approve of you, then….Throw. It. Out. He hates sin, because He’s holy and we are not. Our sin prevents  Him from being with us… but He truly loves people. So He chose to become our sin, for our sake. Hell was not made for people, it was made for the devil and his cohorts. Our Saviour deliberately stayed upon that cross until the whole work of buying us back was FINISHED. He gave His life to save all of us, by allowing this world’s filth to fall on Him, so we could freely come to God unafraid of what we’d meet.  

Almighty God doesn’t hate people either – He wants us to live inside His never-ending love, starting now. Nurturing anything God Himself calls sin will eventually drag us away from Him. And telling ourselves “He will understand. I can’t help it” is deception. I’ve heard some people say, ‘I was born this way.’ Me too! We were all born sinners. We all need to turn away from the very things that will choke the life of God out of us. The book tells us what He does and doesn’t like. It’s our choice, but it isn’t an informed choice if nobody tells you the truth.

This is how much Almighty God loves people! He sent His Precious Son to save all of us. God became a Man and paid our debt Himself. He silently stood there and took those awful beatings and allowed them to inflict that excruciating crucifixion of His body, for our sake — without one word of self-defence. Jesus literally pushed you and I out of the way as our enemy, eternal death was coming for us, and said to it: Take Me. Beat Me. Kill Me – instead! And He stayed there in that hard place of denying Himself an escape – until it killed Him. 

Hallelujah! He didn’t stay dead. He came out of the grave they put Him in, and proved He is God. He also proved there is life after death. Read the bible. Start with the Gospels and see how He treats ordinary people like you and I. Especially when we’ve messed up our lives and can’t find a way out. And run far, far away from the people who use Christ and His Words as a stick to beat you up. Jesus Christ proved that real LOVE, the God-kind of LOVE, delivered  people from their sin by being punished for us. He will help us ALL to change, if we let Him.

When I met Jesus, I learnt what faithfulness really means. There is no ‘but,’ or ‘if,’ or any other kind of ‘opt out clauses’ in Who Jesus is. There is no uncertainty about Him being called faithful. “The true meaning of faithful is being steadfast, loyal and completely true to a person, promise or standard.” The Jesus other people told me about before I met Him, was not like that. Now I know that religion, even when it is well-meaning, seeks to control people …TO PREVENT SIN. The truth, the way Jesus Christ taught it, sets us free … we don’t have to sin anymore. God provided us with a way out … and it’s free … 

… but it will cost us everything we think we can’t live without, here and now. Father God gave us everything He had that was precious and incredibly dear to His heart. And now, He asks us to choose to step away from the things we think we can’t live without, and start living our lives the way He taught us to live them, in His book. Sin is like a spider’s web, once you are trapped in it, it is incredibly difficult to get out – but Jesus knows the way out. One of our enemy’s most dastardly ploys is to convince us that we can’t help doing what we do, we were born this way. That is a twisted version of the truth. 

Jesus knows how hard it is to be human and He is compassion personified. I still can’t overcome sin on my own. I need His help daily, minute by minute. The Lord Jesus came here to help us. Can anyone say “Amen and Hallelujah” to that? Me too. Bye for now. 👋.

“For the perfect Light of Truth was coming into the world and shine upon everyone. He entered into the world He created, yet the world was unaware. He came to the people He created — to those who should have received Him, but they did not recognize Him. But those who embraced Him and took hold of His name He gave authority to become the children of God!” John 1:9-12. 

P3382 Ours is an Eternal Love story. 

/ DVH

Romans 8:15: “The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by Him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’”                          Psalm 103:13:“As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.”                                                                                                                                    1 John 3:1:“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are.”

Our God’s love is eternal, and redemption was always part of His plan. This means His love for us will never change. Most people often have no concept of what real love, the kind of love the Father has for us, looks like. Our ideas of love can easily be limited by our earthly experiences of it. 1 John 3:1 throws some light on that. It says ‘behold what manner of love the Father gives’ … behold means look at that love thoroughly and carefully. When we look carefully at God’s love, we can begin to understand His manner/His kind of love. God’s kind of love holds something special for us all inside it. It is a Love that never goes away, despite the unworthiness of the recipient.

Almighty God’s kind of love has no ending or beginning, it is complete in itself, and it is utterly altruistic. “Altruistic means someone is acting out of pure, unselfish concern for the well-being of others. It describes behaviour driven by empathy and a desire to help, without expecting any reward, recognition, or personal gain.” That’s what our Heavenly Father’s Love is like. The bad things that happen to us aren’t sent by Him, they come from our enemy. This is why we cannot afford to live our lives in the soulish, emotional and reactive realm. This world doesn’t produce that kind of love – it is heavenly, straight from the throne.

However, every single time we go into FEAR we will go back into slavery. This what Romans 8:15 is telling us. If we have fear, we are misunderstanding His love. Eventually, under duress, we can begin to be captivated by, and start serving the feelings of fear, instead of serving Him. Fear paralyses us. Fear likes to be protected and kept hidden. It demands to be fed lies and half-truths to keep all of us captive in it. Praise God, that our experiential knowledge of the love of God, personally, and through His word, chucks fear out of the window!

The fear of God which is mentioned in Psalm 103:13 is not the same as this world’s fear, which only bears the fruit of destruction. The fear of the Lord opens the door to further wisdom. Fearing God is not about being afraid, it is about being respectful and compliant in the things He has told us to do, because we acknowledge His Wisdom, His Ways and authority over our lives.  

God has provided for us to live in, and from, wisdom. The Lord’s wisdom is available to us at any time. Because of His incredible loving generosity, He will give us His wisdom whenever we ask for it. The Bible talks about wisdom like this: “For the reverence and fear of God are basic to all wisdom…” This is why our living, breathing, thriving relationship with the Lord matters … as we walk with Him we become aware of Who He is, and how much we need Him. “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, Who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” James 1:5.

When I read scriptures like the ones above, I am reminded of how generous the Lord is toward us – how remarkably rich He is in love. Being rich in love is almost incomprehensible to us – we are used to all kinds of poverty in this life, including spiritually – even though it has never been God’s will for us to be poor. Understanding the Lord’s love means we will develop a quiet confidence in HIM, not our circumstances.

He is reliable, faithful, good – so if I don’t see what I am asking Him for – I remember that James told me that I can ask amiss. Then I ask the Lord where I’ve missed it.  Romans 3:4 “God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar;…” Making His Word our plumb line changes our perspectives, because we begin to understand real truth from His perspective.

Before we were even brought into this world, Father God’s Love was complete in itself. The Trinity worked in perfect harmony, They had such a precious bond of love and unity we can’t even begin imagine it. They did not need mankind … the love They have for each Other is already perfect and complete. Instead, They chose to create us from that love. The bible says: “Let us make man in Our image.” Genesis 1:26. We’ve been created to look like Them – we were born out of Their love.

The Father has given us the freedom to choose to love and obey Him … or not. Sadly, those “no”  choices have released death, destruction and decay, loose in a world that had never even seen an electron or proton out of place. You and I are designed to be like God, like His Son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit in this life to others. We have the opportunity to know His kind of love, and give it away to others while we are still in this life. Our disobedience, ignorance, and disrespect can short-circuit this process.

The Holy Spirit chooses to reside within us, when we give our lives to Jesus. Now we have the capacity to share the same kind of complete and powerful love that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit share. Let’s thank God for His salvation plan incredibly implemented by Jesus Christ His beloved Son. Because of Jesus we are now part of His wonderful Eternal love story. Bye. 👋

P 3317 We get the order wrong sometimes. 

/ DVH

“This is how we can be sure that we love the children of God: by having a passionate love for God and by obedience to His commands. True love for God means obeying His commands, and His commands don’t weigh us down as heavy burdens.” 1 John 5:2&3. TPT.

I think we can get the order wrong when it comes to loving others. We strain and we stretch ourselves, like possessed people in a gym — trying to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear – or in my case, trying to make a thin person out of a fat one! Desperately hoping if we take up planking, sprints, cycling, weight lifting or crunches, we will restore our bodies to the energetic life we enjoyed in our youth. Fat chance! Meanwhile who wants to spend their entire life trying to be something that they are not! Here’s a thought …  

…Why not expend all our energy getting to know the King of all Kings? He knows what our bodies can and can’t do, and He knows those things in each of our lives that are in the way and stopping us from important things like loving Him and loving others. The verse above tells us that loving Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength leads to loving our neighbour as ourselves.

We often get that thought the wrong way round. And so we end up trying so hard to love Sister Susie and her kids, or Brother Erwin and his! Sister Susie, BTW, is the church’s best source of unsolicited information, and Brother Erwin’s kids do wheelies and burn outs in the car park!  Unless each one of us is transformed by God’s Grace, we simply won’t easily get along – we are all too different.

We often throw the word ‘Grace’ about like confetti at a wedding, Oops! Sorry. I meant rice at a wedding! Instead of polluting the world with teeny-weeny tiny bits of paper, now we are cultivating rice paddies in front of our churches! So we can’t throw confetti anymore, the mad conservationists have objected to it. I’m with Charlie Brown … good grief!!

A while ago when we noticed the temperatures rising, we started focussing on saving this world – um! Didn’t the Lord already do that? What about taking care of the souls that are rapidly leaving this earth? Sometimes we have different priorities. Try telling a starving person to recycle the wrapper on food, when they haven’t eaten for days! Personally, I think people are far more important than anything else. So how can we agree? We are all like grumpy porcupines trying to find a way to get close to each other. BTW, if I think you are nuts that’s not going to help!!

Let’s use the time we have in this world to love Jesus, and others. That will help us learn His Ways, and out of that will flow those rivers of living water that we would all like to have living inside us. The sad truth is — I probably can’t love you, easily. And a couple of hours of effort each Sunday won’t cut it!  I can easily smile at you, and pretend to listen to your conversation, while I am waiting for a space to say something I think is better than what you just said! But after ten minutes of trying to talk to each other like that, somebody’s going to probably want to leave.

Our God knows us all, each and every one of us, and He loves us as individuals, dearly … and … glory of glories …He has chosen not to see what unpleasant people we can be. And He loves us in our humanity. I have learnt that Love can’t be legislated! Let’s go to Him, day by day with our little empty cup of “I can’t be bothered” and “Why would I care about them?” And instead, receive a full to overflowing cup of acceptance, repentance, patience, love, grace, etc. which we then freely give away to each other. And if my cup gets bumped, and I lose some Grace just because I’m moving about, then I go back to Him and say “More Grace please Jesus, thank you.” Amen.

If my cup is empty then what can I give you? I have to go to the Source, the Lord Himself, and replenish what I have lost. You don’t find any of those graces lying about in the street, and you can’t go to a shop and buy them either. But as we voluntarily give Jesus our love, our obedience and time, and He gives us His nature in abundance back – then our cups will overflow again.

Spending time with Him is an investment in our new life. Think about it. What did the disciples have to give the Lord? Fishing advice? He knew how to fish better than they did. Maybe their experience, or their sparkling personalities? I.Don’t.Think.So. Those men gave up their whole lives to follow Him and receive from Him. Receiving from Him, is as important as giving. 

Just think about being Mrs Peter, or Mrs John, or Mrs Andrew for a minute. They had to sacrifice everything to let their husbands follow the Lord. Our TIME is all we have. I may not have tomorrow, but I do have NOW. So like Paul, let’s choose to say, “I will!” ‘I will read the bible and I will sing songs to Him. I will pray for others and I will pray for me’…“ I will talk to Jesus on the bus, at my desk, in the car, in the shower, in my bed – at every opportunity. It’s all an act of our will.

God is a Father Who loves His kids! When I began to think about this, I realised I too understand that people are irreplaceable. I am a parent, I could not replace even one of my children, their partners, or my grandchildren with someone else, anymore than I can fly. Although I have been tempted occasionally! The reality is, the people I know and love are irreplaceable to me. Almighty God is a w-a-a-y better parent than any of us could ever ever hope to be.

YOU are irreplaceable to Him. He loves us so much He sent Jesus here, to show us His heart toward each one of us. Let’s not get the order wrong anymore, love God first, and then – you can love others. Bye. 👋

What fills our hearts comes out, if we spill it.

P 3301 Our love of God = love of others.

/ DVH

“This is how we can be sure that we love the children of God: by having a passionate love for God and by obedience to His commands. True love for God means obeying His commands, and His commands don’t weigh us down as heavy burdens. You see, every child of God overcomes the world, for our faith is the victorious power that triumphs over the world. So who are the world conquerors, defeating its power? Those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.” 1 John 5:2-5 TPT.

Do you see that? We don’t obey because we must — we obey because we want His goodness, mercy and love to win! I love the bit that says we can overcome the world simply because we believe the gospel. Our belief in Jesus, as God’s Son, is our victory. Plus our chosen obedience is another outward illustration of how much we love our brothers and sisters. We are not just a clump of disconnected people who happen to worship together Sunday by Sunday. We are the living breathing Bride of Christ Himself. 

We are interconnected, as well as dependent upon each other – what happens to one, happens to all. Just try hitting your finger with a hammer and wait for the rest of your body to explain to you how it doesn’t like that very much!  Plus, this thought is also a good thing to remember, the next time the lady next to you is a bit pitchy in her singing, and her kid has the fidgets. 

“Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. They have lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.”  Colossians 2:18,19. “He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.” Ephesians 4:16. 

To be healthy as a Christian we need to be connected to Him and that leads to interconnection. When there are disruptions or difficulties – we need to realise that in the body of Christ, I could be an eyelash and you could be a toe, or even maybe something internal. So we will see this world from a very different POV! When I discovered this verse … I understood that JESUS makes the body fit together and my job is to support and help the other parts to do what they are here to do, with His help. 

I don’t have to make sense of other people’s rationale, I simply need to pray for them, and love them. I read another verse that says: “Above all, have fervent and unfailing love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins [it overlooks unkindness and unselfishly seeks the best for others].” 1 Peter 4:8. Simply put, that verse means the kind of love that is ‘a deep, and fervent love. Together with the kind of forgiveness that will overlook faults, reduce conflict, and promote healing in our relationships — rather than amplifying mistakes.’

What we lack most of the time, isn’t about exercising patience, restraint or perseverance, it is God’s love flourishing in us, expressed through us. That kind of unconditional, always patient and kind love, has the power to change someone else’s life, without even speaking a word. And if we do speak, because of His love whatever we say, will be one of those “apples of gold in settings of silver” I am always rattling on about. (Proverbs 25:11) Instead of out and out correction, let’s focus on what the other person does that is praiseworthy, full of grace, and positive and uplifting. And tackle the sin, not the person. Focussing on what’s wrong pulls anybody down into a defensive position. But God’s Word enables, it lifts up! People are happy to stand up in the light of His love, because His love won’t ever lead to despair. 

We can miss out on His wisdom and benefits, when we use the word of God like a hammer instead of a sword. A sword can cut people free of restraints. A hammer does damage. This is why our meetings together are always incredibly important, because then we have a chance to build up each other’s faith. We can exhort each other into the greatness of Who He is – rather than stare at ‘what a failure I think I am.’ Our commonality is in Jesus. If I love Him and you love Him, then we have that in common. But our primary goal is to love Him first. 

When we love each other, we are loving Him. Each person in front of us has been made in His image  “… Let us make man in Our image…” Genesis 1:26. I may need to pray and look carefully at the other person, yet even though His image is there, sin may cloud it. But when we choose to live our lives belonging to Him, His image is there. Living in Love is not just a theme, it becomes everything we do, simply because we want to stay close to Him and each other. I try to focus first on the Lord, on what He says, not just on the other person. When He is in the place that belongs to Him, everything else falls in behind that. 

We can sadly, quite easily forgo loving each other, staying with ‘like’ instead of ‘choice.’ But when we find the Lord in that other person, and focus on Him, then we can love them. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, …” Matthew 6:33. These other things will follow. Bye 👋

P 3299 fall in love with God’s word.

/ DVH

“When You speak to me, I devour every word. Your word brings me such boundless joy. The endless delight of my heart is in knowing that Your beautiful name is attached to me, O  Yahweh, Commander of Angel Armies.” Jeremiah 15:16 TPT.                   “But those who embraced Him and took hold of His Name He gave authority to become the children of God!” John 1:12.

I treasure the people God put into my life who have taught me to love His Word. Their passion for the bible ignited a fire in my own heart that still burns to this day. The thing I have observed over the years is that if I get lax and do not treasure His Word regularly, even the bits I have kept close to my heart seem to melt away, quietly, unseen. Suddenly it seems I can’t remember even the things I knew by heart. 

The bible says: “I have hidden Your Word in my heart that I might not sin against You.” Psalm 119:11. God’s word treasured, will keep us from sin … the kind that is accidental, or done on purpose. His Word is our yardstick. Taking any verse out of context, is dangerous. Do I get it right all the time? … Nope! The only thing I can say for sure, is that I know the Holy Spirit is right every single time. Human beings, not-so-much. The bible itself says: the Word of God is like … “an apple of gold in a setting of silver.” 

Father God loves to speaks things into being. In other words, whatever He says to us is not only possible, it’s a true word for us. However, these words are a teeny glimpse into our future, not a signed certain certification. We are still responsible to prayerfully steward and centre that word we were given upon His written word and maintain our obedience. I often urge people to hide His Word in their heart …but then I say, ‘don’t start selling T-shirts, yet!’ I have sadly seen too many dear people wander off into lah-lah land thinking they had already attained what was said to them. Prophetic words are future-centred. They are something we nurture, not run with. 

However, I confess I dearly love it when people give me scriptures, because then I can put what was said into a context and pour over it with the Holy Spirit helping me. His Word is my joy. These precious words are the  things that are our Heavenly Father, our beautiful Saviour and the Holy Spirit are daily speaking personally to us.  Some days those words are desperately needed, simply because they contain so much comfort. God’s comfort is far bigger and more comprehensive, than the comfort of a friend or a relative. His words have power in them, so we need to receive them and prayerfully act on them. Lastly we are so blessed, we fall over ourselves thanking Him.

One word from God can change the way we view a situation – things can go from hopeless despair, to joy – just because the Lord said something about it. We are told to hide His Words in our heart, in Psalm 119, and hold tight to them. However, it is not our responsibility to help God make them come true. Rather they become our reference point as we move forward prayerfully, carefully. Many times, with other people supporting us. God’s Word is a map, leading us on, letting in little brilliant shards of His light, plus exposing new attitudes, and things to conquer, helping us to find a better version of ourselves. At the same time, there is always more of Him to know, and love.

Loving His word means we are treasuring Him, and because the Holy Spirit wrote it, we have a sure foundation we can stand on. However, it is essential we do more than believe what we are reading. Let’s read it actively looking for something to do, looking for the places where we can pray and ask Him to help us change an inner attitude or action. Please don’t excuse yourself from obedience. That is a fatal error, and we cannot afford to be sidetracked by things like this. We put our feet firmly on the road of obedience, and watch and see what He will do with that singularity of purpose. The power of God’s word to comfort us will wash over us as we simply read, but the power of transformation lies in doing what He says – and not just when it suits us!

We can easily think of giving our whole lives to Him, at an altar, or in a special time of fasting and prayer – but our demonstration of inward yielding needs to be worked out daily in our lives. Father God is looking for fruit, and you can’t get fruit from a picture in a book. We have to grow fruit, day by day – by watering, fertilising, weeding.  Loving His Word, immersing ourselves in it, helps us to see what He wants, and then that Word provides the impetus for us to go ahead and act on it. 

We also have Jesus’ Name and we have been given authority to use it for other people’s good. When we pray in His Name, we are not just using some formula to ensure that God will pay attention to what we are praying —we use His Name because we understand the power of that Name. Heaven and earth bow to His Name!  After we have allowed His power to work IN us, then we will experientially know that it truly sets people free, because it set us free. We use His Name because we know Him, and He knows us. 

Acts 19:15: “And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?”   We are on a journey to intimately know the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. When we use the Name of Jesus with the same authority His disciples did, we are expressing deference toward Him.  Lastly, falling in love with God’s Word means we know who we are and Who our God is. Acts:17:28 says:  “For in Him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also His offspring.” Bye. 👋

P 2715 Learning to love means learning to obey.

/ DVH

“This is how we can be SURE that we love the children of God: by having a passionate love for God and by obedience to His commands. True love for God means obeying His commands, and His commands don’t weigh us down as heavy burdens.”1 John 5:2-3 TPT.

Because we love the Lord — we need to consistently remember that to Him, obedience is everything. Seriously, I know I flog this concept almost to death, but it is the truth. The way to show the Lord that we are utterly and totally HIS — despite any current circumstances — is to read His book and deliberately find the things that He has asked us to do, or not do – and then act accordingly. In His book God is imparting His heart and His will for our lives. I believe that we particularly need to pay special attention to those things we haven’t done before! Those things that we quickly read around, or glance at, hoping it doesn’t apply to us! 

While all this is going on — we simultaneously need to bear in mind one of the prerequisites to participating in everything the Lord has for us, is that we don’t care if we look like an idiot to other people! We will definitely die to self when self doesn’t get a say! Daily we understand that because we have chosen to follow Him, this way to live is part of the cost. Remember, He will not leave us, we have the joy of His Presence every minute of every day. Today and every day, our love for the Lord looks like obedience.. At the same time loving God also means we love His kids, in ways that they can see and experience. ‘Not just in words, but in deeds …’ 

Here’s a fun story from this trip. Hubby had toddled off to buy himself a pie in a country town we were passing through … when a much older lady walked by our car. She read the sign on the car door: ‘You are God’s happy thought.’ She smiled at me, then she carefully read the licence plate on our car. She waved, I waved, and she walked slowly back to her own car. Meanwhile hubby came back with his pie and the Lord said to me: “That licence plate says ‘Love looks like something.’ She read it. So what does love look like to her?”  🤪 Quick as a flash I told hubby what had happened, I held his pie for him and he chased after the older lady and he gave her a bookmark. She immediately wanted to pay for it and he said told her it was free. Love looked like a free bookmark to her. She waved happily at us as we left. Sometimes that’s all it takes.

That day was long and arduous but we kept on smiling as we remembered that dear lady. The Lord has taught me to look for the good. Basically what the Holy Spirit said to me was this — ‘This life IS difficult. And IF you only enjoy it when everything goes the way you want it, you will waste a lot of the time you have been given by being miserable. FIND THE JOY I send you in every day and you will win.” So now I’ve made it my quest to find the joy!

It’s good to remind ourselves that God’s kids aren’t just the people who go to our churches or attend other denominations. His kid can be an enemy who keeps on hurting you! He wants you and I to reach out to them – this is how we learn to love the unlovely. His kids are also people you and I have never met before. We met Steven, a former Chinese national who owns a motel. Hubby gave him a pen and a keyring for his lovely wife. The dear man was worried the keyring was too expensive, but hubby reassured him it was a gift. The result was Steven heard the gospel for the first time, ever. And we left him with gospels for his motel – we are hoping to see him on the way back home. 

When I think about it, I am not sure that we have taught our kids that following Jesus will probably mean that this life will have battles sent to destroy their faith. We cannot keep teaching the popular theology that says the Lord is supposed to make our lives happy all the time, and expect our kids to take our faith seriously. They will become disappointed when they discover it is not true. In our efforts to be fair and reasonable to all and sundry, we have lost the kind of absolutes that matter eternally. 

We can end up failing the Lord if we don’t take His command to love Him and others seriously. At the same time we need to love and tell the people in our particular corner of this world about Him! What we preach will never win popularity contests, and it will not lead us into a quiet life of ease. We will find our rest in Him, alone!  But when we said yes to Jesus we said yes to a different kind of life. A life of sacrifice and love for those who do not deserve it. It’s part of the cost of obedience.

Learning to love others through obedience is tough, but fruitful. However, if we have a part-time God there is a chance we will never know what shift He is on! Bye … 🤪 👋

P 2545 Living this life revitalised.

/ DVH

Read this like the Lord Himself is speaking to YOU! —“My beloved ones, just like you’ve always listened to everything I’ve taught you in the past, I’m asking you now to keep following my instructions as though I were right there with you. Now you must continue to make this new life fully manifested as you live in the holy awe of God—which brings you trembling into His Presence. God will continually revitalise you, implanting within you the passion to do what pleases Him. Live a cheerful life, without complaining or division among yourselves. For then you will be seen as innocent, faultless, and pure children of God, even though you live in the midst of a brutal and perverse culture.For you will appear among them as shining lights in the universe, holding out the words of eternal life.”Philippians 2:12-16 TPT.

Our wonderful Father has not asked us to do those things that are impossible, without Him walking with us. He has simply asked us to follow Christ, and live like Jesus lived. For others. Jesus paved the way by His death and resurrection, for us to be so sold out to God, and everything He wants, that everything else fades away … Instead of using our faith to make our own lives better all the time, we need to begin to use our faith to allow the Holy Spirit to transform us to be like Christ – one faith step at a time. It really is that simple!

As we begin to aim at what Father God wants, we will continually be revitalised. Doing what His Father told Him to do, even when He was exhausted, revitalised Jesus! (The Woman at the well.) Obedience is the key. The Body of Christ must stop listening and merely agreeing with what we read, and start obeying it. So what if we mess up? JESUS IS A REDEEMER. Let’s choose to live our lives dead to what we think we want, and alive to what He wants, as He reveals it to us through His word. All that takes is total commitment. He totally committed to us, now we need to be totally committed to Him.

I have lived this way for many years. I literally cannot “do” my life. Last night I counted myself fortunate to sleep 5 hours. I can’t possibly ‘go on the road’ for Jesus in 6 weeks! It actually got much harder for both of us, when I broke my arm. However, right now, my only aim is to get in that car on the day we leave —- the rest is up to HIM. For all of us to live this way, and go deeper, we will need to value our relationship with Jesus more than we value our own comfort, plans and agendas. Peter, James, John, and Paul had ordinary stuff to deal with too! So did a whole lot of other people whose names we hardly know. We are the generation who are laying the foundations for the people coming after us.

You and I can pray our kids will follow Jesus, but when we set an example by the way we live, that is part of the answer to our own prayers. These young people will need to know Him personally in their own lives to help them through their darkest days, and their hardest choices. They need to see us survive and still thrive under very difficult circumstances … because this world is not getting any easier. People everywhere are daily facing harder stuff than we can imagine. We can’t do any of this without the Holy Spirit’s help … we need Him like we need air. He gives us HIS life. That’s what revitalises means. 

For nineteen years hubby and I have followed the Holy Spirit’s leading. It was sometimes right, sometimes wrong – sometimes fun and some times not!  And we went wherever He said to go. Which means we’ve been some scary places! Places with bars on windows, gangs roaming the street, people hiding from bikies. That is kind of scary stuff for an old lady. I’d rather be sitting knitting in my nice chair, in my nice little house, thank you. We’ve tried to quit, but His love for people will not let us quit. Yet, after I broke my arm last year, we still managed three trips! So many things have happened to us that should have stopped us, but … He simply will not let us quit. Always, always — He says to us; “Who will tell them that I love them?”  

That question breaks my heart. The people who do not know Him are a vast OCEAN. I’m just a little strangely bent teaspoon! I know hubby and I cannot make a dent in those numbers. We can’t afford to look at numbers. Instead hubby and I look back at the faces of those people we’ve already met, who actually heard His voice through what was said. The point of this new life we have been given isn’t just to save US. It is to be a light in the darkness to everyone around us. To do that we have to go, and in go-ing we are always revitalised.

Hubby and I have been privileged to see the light of Jesus dawn on the faces of so many people we’ve spoken to. Suddenly, they know Jesus is REAL. He’s alive – no tomb could hold Him! Our Heavenly Father is their DAD and people know LOVE when they see Him and hear Him. They don’t need platitudes, or rules — they need HIM.  👋

P 2479 Learn to live in love.

/ DVH

“We have come into an intimate experience with God’s love, and we trust in the love He has for us. God is love! Those who are living in love are living in God, and God lives through them.” 1 John 4:16 TPT

“What marvellous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it—we’re called children of God! That’s who we really are. …  … But friends, that’s exactly who we are: children of God. And that’s only the beginning. Who knows how we’ll end up! What we know is that when Christ is openly revealed, we’ll see Him—and in seeing Him, become like Him. All of us who look forward to His Coming stay ready, with the glistening purity of Jesus’ life as a model for our own.” 1 John 3:1-3 MSG.

Living in love means that we decide we will live, helped by His Grace, CHOOSING to love others. It’s the place we walk, talk, sleep and play in. We don’t move away from there. If we do, by accident, or on purpose, we immediately repent, fix whatever it is and GO BACK TO LOVE. We are designed to settle down into living a life of love for God and others and we never ever leave that neighbourhood. This is HOW we carry His Presence!

Living in love is not the same as living in today’s carelessly permissive atmosphere. God’s Love disciplines us, as I talked about yesterday. However, we watch over our attitudes and actions without any fear, because we are living aware of the Presence of the Holy Spirit – Who is the ultimate lover of our souls. We will not be afraid because … “(His) perfect love casts out fear” …

If we are afraid to talk to the Lord about anything, then we have not YET comprehended the magnitude of how much He loves us…. how perfect His love is toward us.The bible tells me that fear has to do with punishment and if I have fear, then I have forgotten that Jesus has already taken my sin to the cross. That is not a place of permissiveness, it is a place of great reverence for what we have all been given. I know that He forgave me, so now I can forgive you!

There are many times I may feel that someone has wrongfully accused me or misunderstood my motivation … only the Lord knows if they are right or wrong … but whenever I am in doubt, I ask for forgiveness. Whether I think I am right or wrong, that does not matter. I am protecting and esteeming my relationship with the Lord – not fighting for my own way or rights. I also ask you for forgiveness because our relationship together, matters to Him. I live this life remembering that I gave up my own rights when I gave my life to Him. Now I need to allow Him to do whatever happens in my life, His way.

You see the thing is we are to stay fixed within His love, not just work hard and hope we are getting this life right! Human beings are obsessed with stuff being right or wrong. The question we need to regularly ask ourselves is this …is this love? And to be honest with you, I don’t trust my own response – so I ask Him!! Living in love doesn’t just mean we love others, it also means we need to live this life we have now, knowing we are eternally LOVED by HIM. We are not spoilt brats, we are children of a loving Father Who gives us love freely so we can give it away.

Think of living in love like this, we need to check ourselves. If we start bad-mouthing or complaining or even repeatedly thinking badly about other people … something is hindering the flow of His love into our lives – out toward others. Ask the Lord what has gotten stuck… and deal with it… by choice. Most of the time we probably won’t want to do this, because this world around us says – whatever makes ME feel good is good.  This is where we have to go around how we feel, back into faith. 

The Holy Spirit isn’t concerned about how we feel – READ THE BOOK! It is what we choose to say and do, that gives Him room to move. The feelings come later. When we do this, despite how we feel, we are saying to Father God: ‘I love you Lord, and I welcome Your love, as well as Your correction in my life.’  That is when we are actively loving Jesus, when we choose to die to what we want, or what makes us happy. We are choosing to act like HE DID. Those steps are the beginning of spiritual transformation. 

Living a life of love is dying to self, every single minute of every single day. It is impossible to live in His kind of love and not die! Meanwhile, one person is not better at this than any other, we all need to actively choose to learn to live a life of love. Day, by day, by day.  👋🏻   🥳 Have love-enriched, God-blessed, 2024.