Christ

P 2158 Hope.

/ DVH

The Holy Spirit is our guarantee of things to come, as well as our treasure – right here, right now. We need to treat His favour as our greatest prize. The Holy Spirit’s continual Presence with us, is Father God’s gift to us. He is guiding us, teaching us, and assuring us, that we belong to the Lord Jesus, over and over again  That is a far greater treasure than all the wealth in this world. 

One day we will leave our mortal bodies behind and go to be with Jesus forever. So right now, even if our bodies, emotions, or minds betray us, we can rest in the fact that we are not alone, without hope or help. Our help is in the Name of the Lord Who made heaven and earth! Our hope is in Jesus our Saviour, our Redeemer, our Friend. Our hope is in the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us to help us manage this life, from one minute to the next. Our hope is that THEY ARE ALWAYS FAITHFUL… It’s in the book!

2 Corinthians 5:5:  “And this is no empty hope, for God Himself is the One who has prepared us for this wonderful destiny. And to confirm this promise, He has given us the Holy Spirit, like an engagement ring, as a guarantee.” Our hope is not empty, because it is not about feelings, it is about an utterly reliable Person! He is our constant companion. God gave us the Holy Spirit so we could have His hope in the midst of difficulties. Just call out for His help at any time.

The Holy Spirit is SomeOne we can rely on, because He put the sun, moon and stars in the sky. Plus He made you and I inside our mother’s wombs. While we are here on this earth, we are continually assured and surrounded by His Love and involvement – whether we feel like it or not! His Presence in our lives is our guarantee that God is in charge, He’s got you and me firmly in His hands. Like the infant in my picture today.

Things around us can change in a heartbeat but He will never change. There are moments when we desperately need to escape from difficult circumstances, because our flesh can grow tired. However, we can escape despair by remembering WHO GAVE US THOSE PROMISES.  Let’s look at this life through the eyes of faith – the Holy Spirit gave them to us. There is no room for fear in His kind of love, even though we have been attacked on every side, and we feel like all is lost, our feelings are not facts. But the bible is a book full of facts about our God.

The Love of God, and the Presence of His Holy Spirit is so all encompassing, He is all over us, IN us, and around us. So when we use our eyes of faith we can see Him at work. I put the picture above today to illustrate what enfolded means. It means wrapped around, surrounded so carefully you can barely see that little child’s feet – because the parent’s strong hands are enfolding them. The Holy Spirit wraps Himself around us like a cocoon wraps itself around a butterfly. We are safe inside His care. His Presence within us reassures us, over and over again, that we belong to Him now. Always. We are held so completely, so tightly by His Love, that love fills our vision. Remember, what you focus on grows bigger – focus on the One Who has come to be with us here and now and He will never leave us. 

Let His love enfold you, this very second. Then continually practice hiding in that love. Especially when the world misunderstands you, ignores you, or abuses you. We are NOW enfolded into Christ. When Father God looks at us He sees Jesus. V14: “For it is Christ’s love that fuels our passion and holds us tightly, because we are convinced that He has given His life for all of us…” V17-19 “… Now, if anyone is enfolded into Christ, he has become an entirely new person. All that is related to the old order has vanished. Behold, everything is fresh and new. And God has made all things new, and reconciled us to Himself, and given us the ministry of reconciling others to God.”

This is our message of hope – God is not mad at people. The Holy Spirit has come here personally to help human beings every single day to discover more about the God of heaven and earth Who saved them. Our HOPE lies in Christ and everything He has already done for us. 👋🏻  

P 2157 Take the veil off – it’s time for show and tell.

/ DVH

2 Corinthians 3:7-18 “Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!

Therefore, since we have such a hope, WE ARE VERY BOLD. We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away. But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only IN CHRIST is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, Who is the Spirit.”

There are times when I think the reason many Christians act like people who are hiding, a people with a veil on,  because so many great Christian people have crashed and burned in front of the world. There is enormous pressure on the guys in the spotlight. So let’s go back to what Jesus said: “YOU are the light of the world.” That puts all of us in that spotlight.  When we left evangelism to the guys who were publicly known, we put them under intense scrutiny. I don’t think anyone can take that kind of scrutiny. It’s time for us to take off the veil we’ve all hidden behind, and let God’s glory be seen, in us and through us.

We must not be ashamed of, or hide the gospel. That’s kind of doing what Moses had to do back in Exodus and it is no longer necessary – the glory of God was destined to shine through us. Yes I mean today!  Ya might want to pause and think on that for a lifetime or so. 🤔 Moses had to hide his face way back then, because his face was shining with the light of God’s glory and the Israelites might have worshipped him! Today, our job is to be used by the Holy Spirit to unveil that which has been veiled in the past. We don’t have to have a veil over what we believe. We are destined to bring His revelation of His LOVE into this world. Do you want a ministry? THAT’S a ministry! 

We’ve been given a love that suffers long, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things etc. etc. – now we get to give it all away. It is our time to be who we are IN Christ Jesus and to shine with His glory! To do that we need to become fully acquainted with how He works, Who He is – and start deliberately, daily following Him. We don’t need to be a paid-up member of that club to start now – its a choice… SomeBody Else paid our fees. The people-who-don’t-know-Him-yet may have a veil over their hearts, but knowing Jesus removes that veil for us – hiding our light under a basket isn’t in it!

Walking with the Spirit of God is not some sort of special ‘club’ that only a select few can belong to. The Spirit of the Living God rejoices over each and every single one of us. We can’t be born again without Him. He is the One Who guides, teaches, and transforms us into Jesus’ likeness, as we live each day to obey Him. Transformation is not a one time event, it is a daily walk made by our choices, with the help of the One Who went before us.  None of us will come out of that walk alive, instead we choose to die to ourselves. The Body of Christ needs to unveil the gospel, bit by bit, as it has been worked inside US. This means that the world can see it – live and in colour, through us! And if that scares you – then rejoice! Your heart is doing just fine – it is a good thing to have a holy fear of Holy Things. 

In the years gone by, we told everyone around us about our own particular brand of Christianity, and most people said: “Thanks, but no thanks!” The bible explained that would happen, some people are happy to have veiled hearts that don’t want to learn – that’s not our business. Our job is to proclaim, to shine – not to convert. Happily God has no problem speaking to humanity, and He knows how to reach us all. The point is – PEOPLE NEED TO SEE JESUS in and through us. God’s glory is His goodness – the people around us need to see the goodness, the loving kindness of our God, through us.  We become living bibles. Walking, talking, living, showing and reflecting His glory, His love, to others – as a way of life. Even our responses to life’s difficulties make a difference.

So start cheering immediately if you can’t do that, because neither can I! Only ONE PERSON COULD – but praise God – JESUS CHRIST WAS ENOUGH!  Listen to this: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Yay! 🥳🎉 We can’t do this by ourselves, we have a Helper. The Body of Christ must rise and shine – it’s time for show and tell. 👋🏻

P 2149 We just gotta learn how to love like this….

/ DVH

… SO … I suggest we make love our aim, and daily pray for the Lord to give us His strength to live that way, because His strength is made perfect in our weaknesses. Plus we can use all the help we can get! The other day I was watching a non-Christian fictional story about a surfing manufacturer’s beginnings. I shan’t bother you with the plot, except it was set somewhere that hubby and I have been to, and we’ve seen those particular waves. Sooo cool and incredibly beautiful – just like jade jelly. 😊 

Anyhoo, back to the film. There were these two brothers who loved each other deeply … it took half the film to establish that fact. And one of them is out surfing in a surfing competition and the other is watching in the crowd on the beach. Man that surf is so-oo bad … it is like … out there!!  And the surfing brother gets dumped by this massive wave, and he does not come up. He is drowning. 

Instantly his older brother starts running. He strips off his outer clothes and he leaps into the incredibly dangerous surf to go and rescue his brother. A crowd of people are watching the surfers and someone yells at him -“What do you think you are doing man? You’ll die too. That’s nuts!” The older brother hits the water and yells back: “THAT’S MY BROTHER OUT THERE!”  …  … I cried! That whole scene hit me right in the spirit;  because that’s what God Himself did for all of us. Ya might want to stop and thank Him for it.

Meanwhile, back to the surfing saga, the older brother saved his sibling, of course … because it was fictional! And I started to think that it was a shame that lately, the only illustration of the power, strength and steadfastness of Love, the way God sees it, had to be fictional. Why are Christians settling for jovial, pleasant and nice, when there is more? One of the most deadly things we can do to our faith is to be comfortable and safe, and yet we all strive for that end. 🤔  

Lately I’ve been watching the rocks cry out in some of the story lines that have come up in whatever I’m reading or watching. I’ve come to the conclusion that this world’s rocks are now shouting at the top of their lungs, because we are very bad at communicating what love and faith look like to the people-who-don’t-know-Him-yet! We are often all talk and no action. And so the Lord has to use the-people-who-don’t-know-Him-yet to teach and inspire US. Have we forgotten the story of the Good Samaritan already?? You know, Jews looked down on Samaritans, I think that’s why the Lord Jesus picked them for an illustration! Sadly, when we make Christian movies, we don’t seem to be able to produce stuff with strong, pithy story lines, so we end up looking weak, soft, soppy and wobbly. 

More’s the pity. We have the greatest story of all, and it’s true. As we both know, Calvary’s story is not about Jesus looking like some kind of a softie! Christ was a strong powerful man that strode into that temple with only a whip in His hands and scared the greed and avarice right out of those money lenders and closed down their miserable businesses. It was a real man who faced that cross, and bore all that pain, and still loved the people who did it to Him! We simply must stop thinking of the Lord Jesus as a nice man with blonde hair and blue eyes in an oversized nightie. He held His own with fishermen. Meanwhile I don’t know too many people who could have kept up with His schedule for three and a half years!

Back to my point! That surfing movie I watched illustrates the kind of love the Lord Jesus is looking for from us. The kind of love that would run unreservedly into danger, without thought, because our brother or sister in Christ is in danger. We just gotta learn to love each other like that. That’s the place where your problem becomes my problem – where I care about your soul, and your life, more than my own safety and reputation. We won’t be able to keep people out of our churches when we love like that. 

John 15:12-13. “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 13:34&35 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” 

Can you see that the way we love each another is the very best kind of advertising – ever! We cannot pretend this kind of love because it is HIS KIND OF LOVE. And we can’t skip over the process, either. Father God has been so generous to His family. Most of us have interesting  (??) immediate earthly family members we can practice on. Because if we can’t love our families of origin then the church family is in big trouble.

And yes, I know personally from my own experience, that most of us have origin family stories that would blow anyone’s mind. Moving on… we must always remember that He’s the God of the impossible. He simply loo-oo-oo-oo-oo-ves 💕 doing stuff we think He can’t do. 💕 Just to prove us wrong … teehee. 🤣 Let’s start each new day asking Him to be strong in us in the area of loving, because we are all weak there. 👋🏻

‘Lord, please give us all Your kind of love. A love that is willing to die for our brothers and sisters. We are not good at Your kind of love Lord and we need Your help, thank you. Amen.

P 2144 The Faithful One.

/ DVH

“We all experience times of testing, which is normal for every human being. But God will be faithful to you. He will screen and filter the severity, nature, and timing of every test or trial you face so that you can bear it. And each test is an opportunity to trust Him more, for along with every trial God has provided for you a way of escape that will bring you out of it victoriously.” 1 Corinthians 10:13 TPT

Our God is so faithful, HE LOVES US … whatever happens to us is not proof of His love or even a sign that He is angry with us. He put all His anger on Christ. He loves mankind because He says so – in the book! Here is one of my favourite verses: “If we are faithless, He remains faithful [true to His word and His righteous character], for He cannot deny Himself.” 2 Timothy 2:13. 🥰 Unfortunately we can be faithless, often … and we are!  What makes you and I the same as everyone else in this world, is the blood we all have coursing through our veins. Colour, size, age, sex, race and religion none of that matters because we are all human. Human beings assess things by performance, but we dare not assess the Lord that way. We must learn to take Him at His word! 

The above verse tells us the Lord God Almighty IS always faithful – let us pray that we will begin to understand just how faithful He is! Just like our blood is a part of humanity we have in common, His faithfulness is a part of Who He is!  He is faithful through and through. Those qualities we sometimes think of as passing human characteristics, are permanently, FOREVER, HIS! Love, joy, peace, etc – these things are not whimsical, or seasonal, or subject to change with Him – our God is always the same. Hebrews 13:8: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” And Malachi 3:6: “For I am the Lord, I do not change; …” 

We need to do more than nod our heads or even say Amen to verses like that. They are not just there to cheer us up when we feel down. They are there to reveal His heart. We must start living our lives treating whatever He says, in the book, as the truth, because it is. HE CANNOT CHANGE. When we try to elevate humanity up to His level, we are running the very real risk of lowering His status down to human standards. Jesus is God, and He is like us – but Almighty God is like no-one else.

And I’m just going to let that statement sit there by itself because we must do more than simply agree with it. We need to start living our lives depending on how permanently dependable He is. Our lives have become more and more unstable because the things we’ve stood on – or gave our attention to – started to wobble. Misunderstanding the Lord God’s motivation means we are in danger of attributing Him with our human characteristics. Even though Christ came as one of us – He did something human beings cannot do – He was purity Personified. After that He chose to become sin. In these matters we cannot trust our own understanding. The mysteries of our God are beyond our understanding … and that’s a good thing!  

We need SomeOne wiser, kinder, more loving, and more committed to us, than we can ever be to each other – otherwise we are sunk. We will all be stuck in a rut of trying to be better people and failing. Whether I like you or not, or you like me or not, we need to start to know and see each other after the Spirit. “So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.” 2 Corinthians 5:16. In other words I begin to see the Holy Spirit active in you, and you see Him active and working in and ON me. That will not happen when we spend our time trying to impress one another with our spirituality. Rather it happens as a byproduct of working together for a common cause as we submit to His ways. 

When we actively look for and take particular notice of the signs of His faithfulness in our lives, and store all those things in our hearts –  like a squirrel stores up nuts for the winter – we will begin to know one another after the Spirit! The power of God is not a reward for good behaviour, or super spirituality. As we let the Holy Spirit develop who we are, we will be transformed to look like Jesus. Jesus didn’t have to try to do this or that – HE JUST DID IT. It is time to deliberately transfer our trust, from what we think, see and know, into simply trusting in WHO He is. 

We must put aside the prayers of “please fix this and that thing, or everything that matters to me Lord” and start to pray: “Why am I here Lord, what is Your purpose for my life?” Whether you or I are the head pastor or the janitor – all those things are up to Him. The things that are weighing heavily on each of our hearts will be: “…ADDED UNTO US … as we seek His kingdom FIRST.” He cannot be anything else but faithful to us, and He is looking for us to be faithful to Him in the midst of a faithless generation. 👋🏻

P 2142 Some verses from Romans 8.

/ DVH

The way we live our lives now, is explained in Romans. Today I’ve highlighted some verses in Romans 8, starting with verses 3-4: “For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” 

The reality is, that each one of us needs to progressively learn how to walk in a manner that does not dismiss, alienate, or send away the Holy Spirit. 🕊 HE. IS. OUR. FRIEND. OUR COMPANION. And like Jesus, He is gentle, unobtrusive, and lowly in His heart. It is a sad thing if we continue to live in the flesh, when we’ve been reborn into a new life in the Spirit. We cannot make excuses for not living in this new life, that Jesus died to give us. It was, after all, free! The bible is the Manufacturer’s instructions – we need to read it looking for things to do for others, things to teach us about His Ways.Things to direct our focus away from this world, into learning about His focus for mankind. Our main priority now, is to stay connected with the One Who is here to help us. Obedience will keep us connected.

Sin isn’t just about murder, or running away with your receptionist or swearing!! It is also about not forgiving someone from your heart. (Matthew 18:35) And guess what? The Holy Spirit knows our hearts … so we can’t hide our stinky attitudes under the heading of: ‘Things I have to do, but I haven’t got around to them yet!’ Plus, good luck hiding unforgiveness under the rug of: ‘I’ve been too busy.’ 😶 When we think like that it tells the Holy Spirit His Presence is not all that important to us. He. Will. Leave. And we are NOT GOOD without Him.

Our task is to find out what He likes to do, and start doing that. So with His ever-present help, we follow His leadership into Christ’s footsteps – because the Body of Christ is going somewhere. However, we cannot begin our journey of faith without continually taking faith steps. We will get to know the Holy Spirit when we cherish Him and obey what He tells us to do. If it is in the book and we are not doing it, then we need to change. Our God is for us and wants to be constantly with us, but He cannot walk with us, if we do not want to be with Him enough to lay aside all the things that weigh us down. These things are clearly explained in the bible – obedience is never an optional extra.

Our awareness of sin is lessened the further away we go from His Presence. But our awareness of other people’s sin heightens when we’ve wandered away from listening to Him. The secret is to let the Holy Spirit govern our lives and show Him – by doing whatever He asks us to do – that He is the greatest desire of our heart. Compromise is our enemy. On to Verse 5: “Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.” 

This new way to live is about focus, and the Holy Spirit will help us focus on Who He is, and what He is doing in our lives right now – as well as our part in what He is doing in this world. Read the Old Testament, and watch what happened when ordinary men and women obeyed Almighty God! This morning I was typing this, and He said: “Eat your breakfast, it is going cold.” So I ate my breakfast, and guess what? It was going cold. I have seen, with my own eyes, the amazing things that He will do with obedience. Start by repairing broken relationships, and begin to use the time you have been given well.  Human beings often do useless stuff that whittles away the God-given time we have. 

BTW, when the Holy Spirit talks about rest in the bible, He is talking about us resting in everything He has already done for us through Christ’s sacrifice. And there are things in this life that He will do through us – but if we don’t do them, then they won’t get done. We have the power to give away forgiveness to those who don’t know it is available.That’s a BIG responsibility. We are, after all, ‘co-labourers with Christ.’

Like verse 5 says, our flesh does not please God, so we dare not rationalise the things of God away. Verse 6: “The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.” Let’s turn that coin over shall we? Who or what is in charge of us and our minds? That’s what governed means. It is when the Holy Spirit calls to us – so when we are reading the bible and one verse catches your attention – then stop. Treat it just like He is speaking directly to you. Give Him your attention. He loves it when we give Him time. Ask Questions. Look up other verses that relate to whatever it is. Prayerfully look for ways that verse applies to you.

Lastly, Verse 8: “Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.” Why not? Because He is a Spirit!  We are now born again spiritual beings who temporarily have bodies. We were always going to die before we met the Lord, but now we leave here and go to be with Him. Living this life with an awareness of the Holy Spirit makes sense. Obedience helps our spirit man to grow and mature. My flesh can easily be obsessed with what makes me temporarily happy! But because of Christ, my spirit man is now attached to the Holy Spirit. I need to continually make Him welcome, by obeying the last thing He asked me to do. 👋🏻 

P 2141 Mercy and compassion

/ DVH

You and I know all about mercy, it’s that thing we sometimes want from the Lord  when we need Him to be compassionate toward us! Even though there are times when we actually don’t want to give those things to other people. One of the hardest things about being human is that we think we have very good reasons to be hurt, angry, bitter and resentful. And, sadly, if you were to ask us, we can tell you all about what happened to us because we have a list. Hmmm. What part of that sentence sounds biblical? 😶

Today, I want to talk about two important Godly Graces. They are personal expressions of the Love of God in action. Please feel free to pray that God enlarges the boundaries of my own tent in these things because I will always be grateful for more. My own heart desperately needs this kind of stretching and exercise. When you are older and ill – you can easily get wrapped up in your own needs. However, mercy and compassion are God-qualities – they are His Grace in action for those who are undeserving, and those who are trapped. They have nothing to do with the health and well-being of the one called to minister to others. The body of Christ today needs these qualities because they are so powerful – they can heal other people’s hearts quicker than we can say: “Be healed in Jesus’ Name.” 

There are even times when the-people-who-do-not-know-Jesus-yet, can display them. We must stop thinking that God only speaks to this world through the church. Ordinary human beings who don’t know Jesus, leap into the ocean to save a stranger, sometimes they die trying, or they run into burning buildings and save other people’s lives, every single day! The bible says that the Lord once used a donkey, and a whale to save people! Our God loves human beings so much even dogs and dolphins have miraculously saved lives. That is how important these Graces are!  

Mercy and compassion aren’t just about feeling sad for someone else’s suffering, or even trying our best to help them. Those feelings can occur when we have distanced ourselves from the people we know who are suffering. Instead mercy participates in situations, not caring about its own welfare – it runs into danger or difficulty for the benefit of others – even the people who hurt us. ‘Mercy is forgiveness shown towards someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm.’ (Dictionary definition.) Hate kills, mercy and compassion bring life.

Compassion isn’t just about thinking: ’oh you poor thing,’  Actually that’s called pity. Compassion has feet on it! “Compassion literally means “to suffer together.” Among emotion researchers, it is defined as the feeling that arises when you are confronted with another’s suffering and feel motivated to relieve that suffering…” (Dictionary) The bible says that Jesus Himself always had compassion for the suffering people around Him and He showed them mercy. IF we allow our bad circumstances to teach us, over and over again, that we need His Grace, then we will receive something that is real to give away.

The Lord wants these qualities to flow out of our lives like an endless river of His Love  expressed through us. Meanwhile this also means that whatever He does for any of us, is done through His endless mercy and compassion. That love is not forced or coerced – it is given freely to us – and we have been reborn so we can give those things freely to other people. We are no longer of this world – we have qualities they often don’t have! Mercy and compassion voluntarily run toward suffering. These two things in the church are often represented by giving money, or time, but Christ came to us in Person. 

Sometimes I think we would rather pray at a distance than go to the bedside of someone who is desperate and suffering. We can get so obsessed about using His miraculous power to show others how spiritual we are, we forget that we have been given this power to bring healing, reconciliation, kindness, mercy, forgiveness, and compassion to others. Those things are not mutually exclusive they are inter-reliant upon each other. Helping someone else who doesn’t deserve help, as He leads us, marks US as His people. Taking other people’s pain personally is part of flowing in His love.  

Mercy and compassion are incredibly powerful – those qualities led to feeding thousands of hungry people, on two occasions. Mercy even forgave a sinful man hanging next to Jesus – while Christ Himself was suffering incredible pain! Any Christians who represent Him have eyes to see, and ears to hear – they always see or hear the one with a need. And in the Lord’s personal earthly ministry – those qualities in Him, also responded to the suffering of the friends and family around the patient, or the one tormented.

The point I want to make is that the closer we get to the Lord, the more mercy and compassion will leak out of us onto everybody around us. They are HIS qualities, not ours. Hang around the cross! We will find loads of mercy and compassion when we hang around it. Jesus loved, and died for the people who killed Him. That’s pure mercy. Forgiving people who do not know they need to be forgiven is not about obligation – it is a quality that flows from a heart filled with love – that heart treasures what it has been given so much, it can’t wait to give it away.. And it is the same with compassion. Compassion stooped down to write in the dust for a woman who had no hope of a reprieve, and Compassion walked across the city, to the mat of a man who had lain ill for 35 years. 

These qualities are part of the activities of love in action, and they are seeable. They are not just a passing sad feeling, or hoping someone feels better – they are love in action. Mercy and compassion engage in the disease ridden soil of mankind’s sin and the results of it – with the aim of bringing healing. With no strings attached. 👋🏻

P 2111 Yes YOU!

/ DVH


I read a lot, and listen to stuff on YouTube, so I’ve heard a number of people over the past few years talking about the fact that Christianity needs another big revival. I agree! We sure do. We’ve lost way too many precious people, plus there are some of His sheep that have wandered off, and now they are stuck in thorn bushes etc. Not to mention the great people out there in our world who have no idea at all about who Jesus actually is!

I love that people faithfully pray for revival, but today I have a challenge for everyone reading this blog. Do more than pray!! Put feet on your prayers. The way to grow, is to use and str-e-tch our faith, and we all need bigger stronger faith. It’s nearly 2023, so it seems to me that this is the time to grow and look for bigger challenges. 😳 I also want to say that we need to stick our hand up and volunteer, remember, the Lord gives us a choice. The next step to that is to watch out for His opportunities. People who need approval can find witnessing hard … self-consciousness gets in the way. That stuff is normal. It takes a lot of practice in this area to conquer fear. Covid carried off so many people who did not know that Jesus saved us from ourselves and nobody told them that this life is not all there is!  Right now this world seems to have no hope – Christ is the hope of the world!

You will have guessed by now, what my heart beats for, I want to see the Lord Jesus get the reward of His suffering in my own generation. However, the more I thought about this, inside my heart I could hear Him whispering to me: “YOU be the revival.” My first thought when He said that to me was: “Me?? I don’t have some super fantastic gift of teaching, or preaching, or healing or miracles. I’m older and disabled. I sit on a chair all day! What can I do?”

I have some really really good advice for you, never EVER tell Almighty God what He can or can’t do with you.NE-V-ER. Don’t eliminate yourself from the Great Commission on the grounds that you are busy working, or at school, maybe you have an office job, or you are a farmer, or you have to look after your babies etc. etc. After my conversation with Him, the Holy Spirit immediately reminded me that He once made two people out of dirt, and a donkey spoke for Him – so He laughs at our perceived limitations – remember, He is limit-less. Was MY face red! 😡 A whole lotta people in the Old Testament underestimated Him, read the book – see where that got them!

Feel free to underestimate yourself, but never ever underestimate what God can do with one single person.Think about Billy Graham or Reinhard Bonnke before you go down that plug hole. 😂 Meanwhile, don’t ask me what you can do – ask HIM! I asked that question once, fifteen years ago, and I’ve been making bookmarks, pocket calendars, coffee table books, DVDs ever since… a-n-d … loving it! I have never ever had this much fun in my whole life before. I highly recommend following the Holy Spirit, He is so fantastic to be with, and He has the best ideas.

Let’s look at this biblically. Andrew, Peter, James and John, they were simple fishermen. The Lord Jesus simply changed what they fished for! Maybe some of the other disciples were fishermen too, we are not told. But Matthew was a wealthy business man. Simon was a man of politics. Judas was a thief – however, he still went on the road with Jesus and saw all those miracles. Paul was a Pharisee, as well as a politician. Zacchaeus collected taxes. These were all ordinary working men who already had jobs before they met Him. BTW, ladies, don’t feel left out, there were women who supported what Jesus did, financially. Mary Magdalene, Joanna, whose husband was a politician, and Susanna are specifically mentioned in the bible.. Our God needs witnesses to His loving kindness. We are all called to be witnesses of what we’ve seen and what we know about the Lord personally.

Some people have a very specific, wonderful God-given gift, however – many of us don’t. But stop and think for a moment, what would happen if we were an ARMY of volunteers? Now that’s a whole other ballgame. What if we began to think like a functioning army of foot soldiers? Ordinary people who don’t think that all the work belongs to the generals! We’ve had enough great teaching to change our hearts over several life-times! We are ALL sent ones, so now is the time to rethink our lives and ask Him to help us find our place in the ranks. Ask Him: “What can I do to further Your kingdom here in my own little bit of this world, Lord?” 

Passion for Jesus simply comes from obeying what He told us: “Jesus came up and said to them, “All authority (all power of absolute rule) in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations [help the people to learn of Me, believe in Me, and obey My words], baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always [remaining with you perpetually—regardless of circumstance,and on every occasion], even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20. 👋🏻