Chosen

P 3341 There is a bigger reality.

/ DVH

And it is not pie in the sky when we die … it’s right here, right now. Jesus died so we can live like He taught His disciples to live… in our own daily reality with all its ups and downs. When the Lord Jesus says: “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven…”  He’s talking about you and I – here and now. We are the vessels He has chosen. Personally my vessel often feels like it can’t hold water, but when He steps in I find it can hold water and His love after all!

We’ve been chosen to usher in His will, His way. To bring His kingdom into this war-driven world, grasping for fuel, and clean air, and rapidly polluting oceans. And let’s not forget those people who live their whole lives struggling for clean water and food! Man’s greed has reaped it’s reward – for many people it seems like hell is already here. Which is what you get when you put satan in charge, and not Jesus!

As Christians – His Body – we are here to show the world, first-hand, that there is more to this life than the state of the oceans, or the lack of trees, or global warming etc. We are here to show them what God’s love looks like, live and in person, through US. We carry Him with us, everywhere we go. Our power is in our ordinariness. We choose to give others, who don’t deserve it anymore than we did, the kind of love that is patient and kind, full of faith, and does no wrong to anyone. Because each one of us is here to contribute something; then doing nothing, is simply adding to the problem.

None of us are here by accident. The greater the trials and tribulations we have had to overcome, … the greater God will be glorified. Sadly, we seem to think we can just float along going to church, paying our tithes – as well as praying and asking for what we think we need, and that’s that. The unspoken subtext is this: “of course, God knows we are way too busy with our daily lives to live for Jesus!” He’ll understand, He’s God, He’s supposed to be loving, nice and kind etc.

Jesus Christ is our LORD. Jesus says in Luke 6:46: “Why do you call Me Lord, Lord, and you don’t do the things I say?” What we say is not enough, what we DO counts. And there’s you and me with egg all over our faces. We were never meant to be alone, struggling along, trying to be nicer than we really are. He has given us new clothes, inside and out! (Colossians 3:12.) Our inheritance is God’s kingdom, and we, you and I, take it with us wherever we go. But there are times when we look a lot more like the Prodigal Son — who wanted everything, here and now to make his life better.

Our enemy wants us so busy watching our own backs, we stop caring about the poor sod next door who is going under for the third time. I’ve noticed that sometimes the greatest villains in our lives, turn out to be the best soldiers for Christ. Many times I have prayed for someone in my own family who was persecuting me. Did they all get saved? I dunno, there were really stubborn people in my forebears! Don’t give up on people because of their unredeemed behaviour —  our God can bring beauty out of ashes.

Let’s get this clear. He does not have to rely upon us to bring Him glory – HE simply IS GLORIOUS! And transformation in a lost life brings Him glory because only He can do it. Only God Himself can take someone who has lived their lives the wrong way, and transform them in a heartbeat on their death bed. I’ve seen Him do it. We think salvation means God will raise up great marvellous mighty men and women of God to lead us to victory —- yet we still see ourselves as passengers instead of participators. We lovingly sing “it’s all about You, Jesus” and then go away and live our lives like it’s all about US!

Job knew some stuff even in the middle of his personal, heartbreaking disasters. “Though He slay me, I will hope in Him.” Job 13:15 or “I know that my Redeemer lives” 19:25. And Job 1:21:“The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away: blessed be the Name of the Lord.” We seem to think our God is like Father Christmas, and He will bring me what I want when I want it. Let’s take the time to look at this man’s responses. The real blessing is in the way in which Job accepted what happened to him, with such enormous Grace. Yes, Job ended up better off – but that was a byproduct, not the aim!

There are days when I do not like laying down my life for others. I want to bam my renewed mind into a small space, and throw it into a safe place and lock the door! BUT! I have the Holy Spirit inside me and He never leaves me… The Lord Jesus died to give me the power to live a different kind of life – not just to get what I want. By all means let’s pray for bad stuff to go away … and sometimes it will … and sometimes it won’t. That’s because He’s God, and He’s good, and He knows stuff I don’t.

Inside me, where I really live, I know full well my excuses and actions are just emotional pity parties. I can’t afford to choose sympathy over real love. REAL LOVE IS ALWAYS COSTLY. Jesus offered mankind His precious life and death lived in love, and what He did will last forever. There is a bigger reality —you and I are now ‘kingdom people’ – and that will cost us too. Let’s make a quality decision, count the cost and jump in the river … Bye. 👋

P 3193 Chosen to do His will.

/ DVH

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

Romans 14:1-4 has a bit to say about these attitudes: “Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarrelling over disputable matters. One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

P 3114 We are so precious to Him.

/ DVH

“But I promise you, no weapon meant to hurt you will succeed, and you will refute every accusing word spoken against you. This promise is the inheritance of Yahweh’s servants, and their vindication is from Me,” says Yahweh.” Isaiah 54:17.

You know, sometimes the Lord says extraordinary things in His book. In my thinking, this is one of them. Imagine this —Father God has chosen to make us co-heirs with Jesus! How someone like me ever be chosen for that honour? There you go …here I am back thinking things are earned or deserved …it is SO easy to do!

Today, let’s remind ourselves how much He loves each and every one of us. I’ve read about people who have made incredible contributions to the Father’s kingdom, things that are so much more than anything most people could dream of doing. However, that’s what God’s Grace truly is – it is the great equaliser. Everyone of us needs it, therefore, no-one can be greater than anyone else.  Jesus gave us all that – what a Saviour!

His completed work at Calvary has seated US with Himself in heavenly places. At the same time as being born into His family — this will blow your mind — we’ve also been adopted into the Father’s family. I am not just an acquaintance of God, or His friend, now I am officially HIS KID. What a blessing! So much more than I could ever deserve, You and I are now a part of His very own chosen family. Almighty God, in His infinite generosity, made us His children. After we come to terms with what that means to each of us, what will be our response? I just want to mention that the discouraging thought: “He can’t love me after what I’ve done,” goes right out of the window! Loving parents do not give up on their kids and neither does HE.  

During the course of our earthly lives, Almighty God planted His spiritual seed within us, and when it was time, He harvested it and we were born into His very own family. Now Grace, love, joy, peace, faith etc. are no longer optional extras! Those things are IN OUR GENES! These things are now ours by birthright. When a child is born into a family, part of its inheritance is from its genes – the good, the bad and the ugly. In contrast, adoption means you have no clue about your child’s forbearers. So adoption involves teaching, loving correction, and a watchful eye over the child because its roots are unknown. 

We have neighbours who adopted a disabled baby who had no palate, a cleft lip, plus severe hearing and learning difficulties. Her future in her own country was grim. Feeding her was a nightmare, her misshapen mouth and palate could not contain food. She screamed constantly in the strange environment. plus she had to endure countless operations, and so did her adoptive parents. They suffered with her. Now she is a teenager and she’s in a cricket team that is going to play in the state championship in her age group! Her speech and comprehension are fine, and she eats easily like everyone else! People chose her when she was not appealing – and loved her into life. That’s what the Lord does for us. Praise Him!

Adoption can take a different level of love and work because the child is not of your own flesh. Most of these kids have been rejected. But both a natural parent and an adoptive parent still pass on an inheritance. God Himself chose both methods for us. That’s how much He loves us and wants us. We have been born into the Father’s family, through the Holy Spirit’s work, and then He turned around and chose to adopt us as well! It is as if He wanted to make sure that we know, that we know, that we belong to Him, forever. We have been nurtured by, and now have the DNA of God Himself, within us.

BTW, that means if we come into disrepute – so does He. But when we live our lives day by day, loving Him and showing the love and acceptance He has given to us, to others – He is glorified. That’s our aim. Not a successful ministry or 1,000,000 likes on Facebook, or a very big church! We want other people to see Jesus in us and give Him glory for Who He is and what He has done for everyone. That is part of our inheritance as His twice-loved kids.

We all love the bit in the above verse that talks about no weapon that is formed against will prosper, BUT – do we know, personally, that this promise is also part of our inheritance? When somebody dislikes me enough to shoot at me – then the bible, the instructions given to me from my Parent — tells me to start blessing them. My Dad has given me His book so I know how to live as His child! So, I bless their house, I bless their car, I bless their family and their relationships, I bless them with provision and I BLESS THEM WITH A PURE KNOWLEDGE OF JESUS HIMSELF!!

Why? Because hopefully, my enemies will no longer be my enemies when they encounter Him! The reason they hate me is because they have no knowledge of God in them, when and IF they do, our relationship will change, we will become family. That’s the gospel, the message I have been given to carry. It affects everything around me, and it’s part of my Kingdom inheritance. 

We are so precious to the Lord – the greatest price ever paid, was paid by Him – because He is both our Father and He chose us. Bye ❤️

P 3035 What eternal love looks like.

/ DVH

“The mature children of God are those who are moved by the impulses of the Holy Spirit. And you did not receive the “spirit of religious duty,” leading you back into the fear of never being good enough. But you have received the “Spirit of full acceptance,” enfolding you into the family of God. And you will never feel orphaned, for as He rises up within us, our spirits join Him in saying the words of tender affection, “Beloved Father!” For the Holy Spirit makes God’s Fatherhood real to us as He whispers into our innermost being, “You are God’s beloved child!” And since we are His true children, we qualify to share all His treasures, for indeed, we are heirs of God Himself. And since we are joined to Christ, we also inherit all that He is and all that He has. We will experience being co-glorified with Him provided that we accept His sufferings as our own.” Romans 8:14-17 TPT.

These verses in Romans clearly show us the depth of God’s passion for humanity … we are His. Jesus died to remove every single barrier between us and Father God. It’s like Song of Solomon 2:16 says:“My beloved is mine and I am His…”  That fact is irrefutable and repeated over and over again, throughout the bible. When we give our hearts, minds and lives to Jesus, He accepts what we give Him – what a privilege that is! We can only do this because He made us worthy. Don’t be like Esau and let someone, or anything else steal your birthright.

We belong to our Heavenly Father – because of Christ’s death and the choices He made – not by our own feelings or circumstances. Often our circumstances are far from ideal! What Jesus did for us, the price Father God paid, is where our faith needs to be anchored – not in what goes on around us. He paid a high price to call you His! This earthly life, good or bad, does not change what He said — “You belong to Me and you are Mine.”

We were made ‘good enough’ because of what God Himself did, Jesus paid a debt we could never pay. “But when this priest (Jesus) had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God, and since that time He waits for His enemies to be made His footstool. For by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy, the bible says.” Hebrews 10:12-14. I like that last sentence, verse 14, very much. I am “…being made holy…” That means I ain’t there yet, and …neither are you. However, our imperfections are not the feature film here … His great love is! It would be such a shame to miss out on the main feature because we are distracted by the local news’ highlights!

Jesus did more than simply save us from our sins — it was an exchange. He gave us His holiness – His righteousness, His love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. We simply need to take Him at His Word and act on that Word, daily. We’ve been reborn into His family. The fatherless now have a Father. The orphan has been adopted. In the meantime, we need to be about our Father’s business, too. 

There is a short-cut that will help us find out why we are here, and what we have been chosen to contribute for the Father’s kingdom. People want to find out what their “gifts” are – and the best way to do that is to choose to walk the Way of LOVE.  We deliberately choose to be guided by how Jesus defined love. His  Love lasts. It quite simply can’t run out, because now we have entered into the eternal! It doesn’t care if nobody sees it in action, it hopes for the best in every situation – no matter how negative the situation is. The good news is His Love can’t fail. Our gifts will be manifested when we walk in love.

Sometimes I get stuck in my thoughts about the Body of Christ. I look at Jesus’ Bride and I get puzzled about the way we are going. We do not look like a Bride Who is getting ready for a wedding. Instead we seem to be focussing on the here and now, and not on eternity – eternity is the marriage! We are now eternal beings. Let’s look forward to seeing our Bridegroom — even in the middle of all this stuff down here – the stuff is temporary, heaven is not!

When human beings love someone, our thoughts about them are all positive. However, our flesh cannot define God’s Love nor can we define our worth by our standards. The God of all the universe, Who loves His Son … and loves us –– let Jesus be mistreated, badly spoken about and slaughtered! That’s what eternal love looks like! Now we need to live in that greater reality. Right here, right now. These present light infirmities are nothing in the light of what He died to give us. It seems to me that sometimes we really don’t understand the magnitude of what we’ve been given.

We should never even entertain the thought of not-being-good-enough, even for a second … look at the price He paid to buy us all back! Jesus took our never-will-be-good-enough to the cross with Him …“…having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved…” Ephesians 1:5-7. We are dearly loved, and made good enough by SomeOne Else’s voluntary sacrifice – now we live this life receiving, rejoicing, and giving thanks for God’s lavish love. Bye 👋.

P 2975 What can I do?

/ DVH

So today I’m picking up right where I left off yesterday…. with helpful hints! You can start living for Jesus and following Him, by repenting for living for yourself ….  Meanwhile forget about trying to get other people to join with you … you do it. “Though none go with me still I will follow…” Hmmm. Now I’ve pulled the plug on that great idea – here are some more proactive things you can do!

Get on your face and ask the Lord to please show you, through His word, through your circumstances, and under the guidance of your pastor, vicar, priest – what am I here for? What plans do You have for my life Lord? And then, don’t stop praying until you have an answer. INSIST. Be like that person in Luke 18. Or the friend in Luke 11 —just keep going after the Lord for an answer!  You know, there are people who want to use that kind of prayer to get … things!! That’s so sad….

At the same time as repenting… practice love. Begin with your enemies or the people you know who don’t like you – or you don’t like them! Anybody, the bible tells us, can love the people who love them! But the bible also says: “A man’s enemies will be those of his own household …” Matthew 10:36….Well, will you look at that!

We don’t actually even have to go all that far to find some of our enemies!! This is why, I recommend we start ‘doing good to those who despitefully use you.’ You could be related to them! Bake them a cake. Wash their car. Mow their lawn. Pay for their groceries. Pray for them. Don’t just try it – do it and don’t stop!  Make it a way of life and … expect opposition. Listen to these people even when they are monumentally boring. Did I say that out loud?

Blind Freddy can tell just by reading this blog I can easily annoy people. Good! I’d rather annoy a precious brother or sister into doing what the Lord says — than stand by letting that glorious gift they have been given by God Himself, go to waste! The body of Christ needs each one of us standing in our place, doing what He has given us to do in order to move forward. We’ve been holed up in our personal ditches like the Desert Rats of Tobruk for way too long!

Years ago, when I was a brand new Christian, I experienced all kinds of hatred all over the place. I was so enthusiastic about Jesus. People didn’t just gossip about me – I am not making this up, BTW, they told other people they hated me. And just in case you think I’m some kind of special case, I loathe rejection nearly as much as you do! It was HARD. Nobody taught me how to love people, even the really kind ones around me just kept telling me to tone it down, and avoid the people I was annoying. 🙄 Like you can tone down who you are without His help!

The Jesus I had just met didn’t like their ideas – mainly because I was continually reading His book!  So I loved on those people in practical, costly ways that I am not going to go on about here. I’m not a dummy …the bible tells us to do things secretly or we will miss our reward. Jesus said:“Don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.” Did these people instantly fall in love with me? NOPE. It turns out my reward was being obedient. Was it discouraging and hard? You betcha!

We look at things like loving one another, as if that kind of love is going to fall on our heads — if we just worship enough, or read the bible enough, or witness enough, or be cheerful all the time – good luck with that last one! Actually the closer we get to God Himself, the easier loving one another becomes. LOVE IS THE ATMOSPHERE HE LIVES IN.

So if you want to be close to Him you will have to learn to live in love. Personal preferences fly out of the window in His Presence. The Lord wants us to share the Love He gives us daily, with others. He longs to see His love spread abroad in our hearts, as well as all over the place. Learn to serve people, with no other motive than to be obedient and please Him.

“So if I’m your teacher and Lord and have just washed your dirty feet, then you should follow the example that I’ve set for you and wash one another’s dirty feet. Now do for each other what I have just done for you.” John 13:14 TPT. See? It has nothing whatsoever to do with liking people! Many times I have ended up loving people that I didn’t like – at all! I just followed the prompts. When I read it in the book, I pray until He gives me a way to do it. I also try to choose my spiritual clothes carefully: “You are always and dearly loved by God! So robe yourself with virtues of God, since you have been divinely chosen to be holy. Be merciful as you endeavour to understand others, and be compassionate, showing kindness toward all. Be gentleand humble, unoffendable in your patience with others.” Colossians 3:12 TPT.

Did you get that? Many people thought you and I would amount to nothing, but we’ve been divinely CHOSEN to be holy, merciful, compassionate, kind, gentle, humble and unoffendable! Now that’s mercy right there! This world can keep their corner office, money and popularity, I’ll go after Colossians 3:12 any day! What can I do to be close to God?  I can change the way I live, one loving step at a time.. Bye. 👋 

P 2632 Will you yield?

/ DVH

When I hear that sentence I am transported back to the days of knights and quests etc. I can see some big guy in an overgrown sardine tin suit pointing a lance at some poor peasant’s chest, and the victor is giving the man a chance to continue living.  As I went looking for a picture to use in today’s blog, I discovered that there seems to be an exciting video game – ‘Aerial Knight.’ And the theme of the game is – WE WILL NEVER YIELD. 

Yeah, well that explains a lot! No wonder there is so much suspicion, rebellion and anger floating about in this world. Many people are stuck in an angry stage – they’ve never made it into reconciliation. The whole point of Christianity is yielding! The thing is, now all that ugly internal stuff is outside where we can see it. It seems we took off all the pretty bows, plus the sparkly paper we’ve used to hide a whole lot of garbage, and there is no hiding now from how truly selfish and wilful we really are. 

Jesus Christ has set us an incredible example. He voluntarily gave up His life on mankind’s behalf! Nobody pointed a sword or even an uzi at Him to get Him to do it either. That’s been a huge problem in the church, over the years – in the past, and it still happens today … The church at large has used blackmail, guilt, oppression and misrepresentation to push and manoeuvre people into compliance. Meanwhile, if you don’t happen to like what your group says, then it’s OK to vote with your feet and …go over there. Those people think like I do, so I will be much happier with people like you. 😳 

Christians move churches like other people change their undies, because they can’t agree with what the previous church’s pastor said!  Lunacy!! Where’s that in the bible? Where does it tell us to shop around until we find somewhere we will want to go to church, because it will make US comfortable? Jesus isn’t remotely concerned about our comfort! He will always comfort us, and He helps us to comfort others – but making us happy by saying things we will like and approve of is not on. 

Read the book! The Lord Jesus made everyone around Him uncomfortable by what He said and what He did. It was almost His life-theme – right after redemption that is. He loved upending wrong concepts. I think He is saying:  WILL YOU YIELD? Today. Will you and I voluntarily lay down our lives, the only ones we have? I mean that life that we’ve so  carefully and neatly planned, and put aside our agendas and plans, to live this life HIS way? 

“Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods. Many, Lord my God, are the wonders You have done, the things You planned for us. None can compare with You;  were I to speak and tell of Your deeds, they would be too many to declare.” Psalm 40:4&5&V8:“I desire to do Your will, my God; Your law is within my heart.”

You know, if we think this life is all about our comfort then we definitely aren’t spending enough time with Him! God doesn’t want us to be happy MORE than HE WANTS US TO BE… HIS! The God Who made you and I, is looking for volunteers, but He’s not above giving us a bit of a shove to get us there. He will even push us from behind if necessary! Think about Jonah, or Moses, or Jeremiah.  Pick someone in this book that doesn’t get their life turned on its head by following and listening to Almighty God. You can’t can you?? However, we can limit an omnipresent, omnipotent, almighty God simply by thinking about Him, and His Word, from our human POV. 

Jesus came here to show us what God is like. He chose to become one of us to reveal the Father’s heart to us and then He chose to die to make it possible for us to belong.. He followed His Father’s plan! If He can do it then so can we. In that time He exhibited love like we could not imagine. The Lord talked to and healed people that nobody else would touch. He dealt with demons like they were dandelions. And at the same time, He was totally devoted and dedicated to His Father’s will. Jesus did everything He did, His Father’s way to show us we can too.

When I look at churches today, we are falling short of our glorious ideal … CHRIST.  We’ve underestimated everything about Him and His purposes. The Person Who made eyeballs, whales and platypuses isn’t limited like we are! So when we are interacting with the LIMITLESS ONE — WE, that is YOU AND I — may need to adjust our ideas and attitudes. Jesus did not die to give us everything we will ever want or need in this life. It’s time to think again … 

“These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful.”(Revelation 17:14) Jesus is the Almighty Everliving One, the First and the Last, The Beginning and the End. Learn to YIELD. Bye 👋

P 2534 Not just saved from, we are saved … FOR!

/ DVH

“But you are God’s chosen treasure —priests who are kings, a spiritual “nation” set apart as God’s devoted ones. He called you out of darkness to experience His marvellous light, and now He claims you as His very own. He did this so that you would broadcast His glorious wonders throughout the world. For at one time you were not God’s people, but now you are. At one time you knew nothing of God’s mercy, because you hadn’t received it yet, but now you are drenched with it!” 1 Peter 2:9-10 TPT.

Drenched! What a word that is. It means – ‘wet thoroughly; soaked.’ I think that this word illustrates that we have been totally saturated in His Love … forever. When I think about what Jesus did for us, in spite of all of our wilful ways, it still blows my mind. I’ve done some stuff I’m not proud of in my life, and now it is under His blood, thank you Lord!  Thank God He is so much wiser than I will ever be, He saw our sins and dealt with them over 2000 years ago.  🙌

However He did not simply save us from all our sinful appetites and proclivities, He saved you and I for His purposes. There is a world of difference right there — between from and for. It is one thing to be rescued, but it is entirely another thing to be rescued … for a purpose, and in this case, you and I were rescued for His higher purpose!  We’ve been given a calling, identity and purpose. Feel free to cheer!!

I cannot begin to imagine how God would want to take ordinary people and call us kings and priests. However, I think that someone like King David is a great illustration of that fact. It worked in his life like this. David was no-one. In the pecking order of society in those days – he was way down the bottom. Yet he was chosen, by God, to be king. We need to remember that this young man had no birthright to that throne. But he was still chosen to lead Israel. 

Now, if we take my illustration over into life in the 21st century … sometimes our hearts aren’t in the best order, maybe not always on the up and up? … So Almighty God sent His Son to change our hearts forever. The power for us to change the way we think and act toward Him, and others, was released on that cross. And the proof that Jesus Christ Himself had the power to do that for us – is seen in the resurrection and the arrival of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. The best thing we can do, is to let Him do what He wants with our lives. After all, now we know that the bible lays that change out like a map! 

The thing is, we must actively choose to come out of the darkness all around us and stand there in His marvellous light – daily. That clear holy light can be very daunting – nothing can hide there, trust me! But because Jesus gave mankind HIS standing as a free gift, we have been given His power to overcome and His purity. His exchange changed everything. Now, Almighty God’s calls us His very own. And that’s worthy of praise! 

So it is easy to think we are sort of, kind of, OK – but that is because in this life, we are not standing next to absolute purity and total dedication to God’s ways and will. If Jesus Christ walked into our space and time in all His glory and splendour – we’d be on our faces in a split second! In our world today, there are people I know that are incredibly genuine in their love for Christ, but they don’t particularly see themselves in a good light. As a matter of fact, they hardly see themselves at all! They are way too busy gazing at Him and enjoying the view! It seems to me that gazing at Him is the best place to be. 

Our God honours mankind because of Christ. He now calls us His treasure. How could any of us be worthy of that? In order to appreciate what God did for us, we must lift our eyes up — from the one who is being blessed — us … to the One Who is doing the blessing… the Lord! Grace bent down and lifted you and I up into a place we will never deserve. In order to stand in that place we need to focus on HIM, not just our little lives. Focussing on ourselves just sets us up for a fall. Focussing on Jesus sets us up for adoration.

We must stop giving any room to our sins. And instead look at the One Who delivered us. Because of Jesus we’ve been saved FROM that person we used to be. Not because of what we do, or who we are – but because of His incredible generosity. Love Himself looked down on mankind from that cross. Today, we need to remember that we’ve been saved FOR a higher purpose – we’ve been given the privilege of reflecting His love into our world. Let’s not be a muddy MIRROR. 👋

P 2442 What are we wearing?

/ DVH

“So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offence. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.” Colossians 3:12-14 (MSG) 

First of all, please don’t go past that word ‘chosen’ in the first line of this scripture. We’ve been chosen to be these people, who choose to dress like this. It’s not a requirement – it’s a blessing! Feel free to pause and thank Him. 🙌 Jesus loves thank You. Meanwhile it’s good to meditate on the fact that we were chosen for something. The way I’ve heard some people talk about Christianity, it is as if we were chosen to be the people who don’t do lots of stuff. Christianity is not a list of dos and don’ts … it is about walking with Jesus. We get to walk with Him like His disciples did thousands of years ago.

The first bit of clothing I like to put on is … my under wear. Yeah pass the sharp stick so you can poke out your eye! I’m talking about beginning with gratefulness. I find gratefulness helps me to prepare for what God wants me to wear today. I want to be clear right at the beginning of this blog. I could end up getting changed spiritually speaking a number of times during a day – depending on what happens at my house and which quality I need most at any one time! There are times I am careless, and I end up repenting because I haven’t chosen to wear what the Lord chose for me … I was too busy feeling sorry for myself, or something similar. 

So let’s quickly look at our spiritual clothes.  The first five attributes set us up, so we know how to wear the next ones. “Compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline.”I put these on by asking for them. To start with I know I haven’t got these things inside me, but I have found that being disabled is a fantastic teacher… if I let Him help me. So I ask the One Who is perfect in these things for help. My prayer goes like this: “Holy Spirit I can’t do this day unless You help me, please.” Otherwise I’m sunk. I will get judgmental at the drop of a hat, and kindness becomes something I expect other people to give me! 

Sad sack stuff sometimes bubbles up inside first thing in the morning:  ‘Poor me, I can’t do stuff for myself anymore, blah blah blah, woe is me.’ I can get on quite a roll rattling on about those things I think I lack … until the Lord clears His throat … so to speak. However, as the day goes on I don’t always register that I don’t have these precious qualities – until I am tested. And by the time I get to the test, if I am relying on my own strength, it’s often too late!

I just want to say that I’ve learnt that phrase — “too late” is very hard to come back from. By the time I’ve gotten stuck in: “Poor me, it’s too hard, I’m so weak and I don’t want to deal with my own feelings …”  I may as well go back to bed and start that day all over again. I get stuck there otherwise, and there’s my day gone!  Moo-ving on to nicer things like …“Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offence. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you.” 

Have you ever noticed that your temper is the first thing to go, especially when you feel guilty? Me too. Rapidly followed by comparison …EG. “What I did is not as bad as your response was!!” That’s a dumb plan called … ‘let’s quickly shift the focus and blame onto the poor schmuck whose only crime was being in the room at the time!!’ The reason the scripture says be quick to forgive an offence is … if I’m not quick, I will miss my opportunity to escape and then I end up vomiting all over whoever is around, instead. Plus I can end up digging holes all the way to hide from my own chosen attitude. I’ve met people whose lives look like opal mine-fields – they spend so much time avoiding stuff that needs to be changed. These people spend so much time in avoidance they don’t actually get anywhere. 

Which is why those last two lines of Colossians 3 are so brilliant.“And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.” Love is my short-cut thought. Like Paul said .. it is an all-purpose garment.  I have no time to analyse my short comings according to Colossians 3 some days, so I go straight to LOVE AND PARK THERE. “Is it love?” If not repent. If yes, then thank the Holy Spirit for His help. The thing is, I never want to hear Him say: “What IS that you are wearing??” 😶

P 2388 His will is always our priority.

/ DVH

Matthew 22:1-14 “Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come. “Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’“But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.”

“Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not DESERVE to come. So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless. “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

At this time, Jesus was preaching to the spiritual leaders and the crowds about a King who was holding a wedding feast. Astonishingly, at that moment, the Master of that feast was standing right in front of all of them inviting them all to think differently about God Himself. I think the Lord was giving the religious leaders who were listening, a chance to understand, that although they thought they were so right with God, they were actually rejecting Him in favour of their own more self-important made-up chosen ways! They are the people saying NO in this parable! They are the invited guests who are too busy with their own lives to respond to the honour. He is saying, if they are not careful, the little people, the so-called bad, less-spiritual people that they look down upon, will actually be the ones who end up at this feast – not them. Because the religious people will exclude themselves.

All of these different types of spiritual leaders had presumably come to check out His theology. They enjoyed a prominent spiritual position before God and man, and they were revered because of their place in that society. In His parable, the Lord is saying that they’ve used their privilege to avoid going to the feast – even though they had the invitation first. Because what they wanted, and deemed important, was more important than honouring their agreement. The Master of the feast is always more important than anybody invited to it! However, these men were so entrenched in what they had embraced, they couldn’t see Him and spent all their time trying to catch Him out.

Now, if anyone ought to know about the things of God it should be them! These guys studied the truth for a living … yet they still missed it when the Truth was standing in front of them. They did not see the value of their invitation to be His chosen people, and they blew it off. Even though the food, everything needed was all ready for them, and the Master of the feast would have to waste it … they still said no. Their religious ideas had grown so big, so all encompassing and powerful, that they thought their theology was more important to them than what He was saying. Just to be clear, the feast is actually God Himself, knowing Him … and He was standing right in front of them. But their pride in what they knew, said they knew better. They were too greatly invested in proving Him wrong and themselves right!

Now, you and I — who were never going to be a part of that elite group without Christ’s sacrifice — have been temporarily given their place. Let’s be clear, MAN cannot dictate the terms of any agreement between God and us. Almighty God does. And if He says ‘come’ we come – and if He says ‘GO,’ we go! Otherwise we are acting like we are in charge and we are not. Actually, when we think we are in charge, satan takes advantage of us! As outsiders, we have now been compelled by His love to be His honoured guests at that bridal supper. He personally sent the Holy Spirit to bring us in! We’ve been given brand new bridal garments washed in Jesus’ blood – because our own clothes will not do. 🙌

Our Heavenly Father God wants His house full of people who are glad to be included, and they are rejoicing because they know they are so blessed to be asked to His feast. In the mean time …let’s not ever forget how easily we can exclude ourselves, like these religious men in Matthew did. We must not use good-sounding excuses … they show the Lord our hearts, and reveal our lesser priorities. We’ve been invited to live the Way Christ lived this life. He is our priority. We must not ever make our personal priorities bigger than His. His free Grace is not permission to do what WE want.👋🏻

P 2295 Let’s choose our clothes wisely.

/ DVH

There is no limitation on our understanding of God’s Word. What limits us is our actual desire to seek out what He wants to say to us. Plus some things actually need repeating because … we don’t get it.

Currently I am reading Exodus again. Every now and then I try to read my way right through the whole Bible. I don’t put a timetable on it, because stuff happens, and then you get out of order – so I just go along as I can. And I will get there when I get there! Today I was totally captivated by the description in Exodus 29, of the first high priest’s robes. 

This description is so complex and beautiful it is worth a serious look. The Jewish nation’s whole history is literally all over these garments that the high priest wears as he represents his people to God. Plus, Almighty God makes a statement about how He feels about His chosen people, with these specially designed garments.

Now hang onto your hat, because we are going to pass by a few scriptures quite quickly. Isaiah 61:10: “I will rejoice greatly in the Lord, My soul will exult in my God; For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.” 

In Exodus 29 Aaron is getting ready to clothe himself in special garments of God’s design. Just like we do, right now, and every single day, no matter what we are doing. The Lord has things we are to put on by faith. Using the power of CHOICE. Even as we raise our kids, go to work, go shopping, go to college, and do our daily chores etc. we decide, minute by minute, whether or not to choose these spiritual garments using our faith. These beautiful garments belong to us – Jesus bought and paid for them with His life’s blood.

In Romans 3:10 the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous— not even one.”  No-one means NO-ONE… So, in a nutshell, from the worst sinner to the one who studiously avoids even a whiff of sin … we are all on a level playing field. You might take a long pause and think about that. Part of God’s provision of salvation is that level playing field for all.. We’ve each been washed in His blood, and given His power for personal transformation –  for free. 

From the person that you struggle most with in this world, to the person who does the worst thing you’ve ever heard of, if THEY choose to embrace what Jesus did for them from their heart, and give their lives to Him, they have the right to receive that garment of righteousness, just as much as anyone else. This garment of righteousness is a great equaliser. It has been specially made for each one of us, because it fits each one of us in our individuality, it has a design suited to our circumstances.

Just like Aaron had to put on those specifically designed garments before he could even think of approaching God, these faith-based, specifically designed, spiritual garments/circumstances bring about our transformation into Christ’s bride. We can go in and out to the throne of Grace and spend time on the mercy seat. Their application depends on our choices. Christians are saved —but we all need transformation.… We are transformed by daily choosing, using our faith to die to what we want. Then we pick up His garment of praise, or patience, or choosing to learn LOVE etc. Whatever the Holy Spirit hands us in the middle of our learning curves.

And all it takes is the knowledge that we have already given our life away. His life for ours. “He spoke and said to those who were standing before him, saying, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” Again he said to him, “See, I have taken your iniquity away from you and will clothe you with festal robes.” Zechariah 3:4. This verse in Zechariah shows us that we quite literally cannot, and must not return to our old life, because it has been stripped away! 

Why would we wear this life’s garments of defensiveness, pettiness, bitterness, unkindness, and a distinct lack of goodness etc.— when we have brand new handpicked  garments, waiting for us? Garments that help define us into our God-given roles and destiny. Those precious things that will always bring Him glory and praise. LET’S CHOOSE OUR CLOTHES WISELY. 👋🏻