Christianity

P 3338 We will need help!

/ DVH

After 3 weeks of travel … and packing and repacking our car, it finally began to get lighter and lighter around Echuca – and now we have arrived safely home. We dropped off bibles, blankets, and toiletries, etc. and went to so many country towns – now with a big sigh of relief – we are back in our own familiar surroundings again. For those of you who are interested, we’ve traveled approximately 4,100 kms.

Today, I want to look at this scripture: Ephesians 5:6-10,17. MSG. “Don’t let yourselves get taken in by religious smooth talk. God gets furious with people who are full of religious sales talk but want nothing to do with Him. Don’t even hang around people like that. You groped your way through that murk once, but no longer. You’re out in the open now. The bright light of Christ makes your way plain. So no more stumbling around. Get on with it! The good, the right, the true—these are the actions appropriate for daylight hours. Figure out what will please Christ, and then do it.”… “Don’t live carelessly, unthinkingly. Make sure you understand what the Master wants.”

Let’s look at a bit of Paul’s subject: “Figure out what will please Christ and then do it “…  … “make sure you understand what the Master wants.”  This stuff is dead simple when you take the time to read the whole book and put aside your own prejudices, fears and agendas. The bible is a love story. It openly reveals Almighty God’s tremendous passion for humanity. He always has, and He always will love us. His book shows us the lengths He has gone to, to have us for His own children. 

I’ve noticed over the years that many Christians try hard to bam the bible into all kinds of funny shapes to suit themselves, or their church’s doctrine. So they chop out this and put in that. The result is that some bits of Christianity are regarded as much too extreme – while other bits are seen as far too lax in their doctrine. The bible is not a book that is to be used to divide people, or disprove, or approve all kinds of doctrine — there is only One Way — HIS! We are now His co-workers, working for Christ’s will and His good pleasure. So we daily need to ask Him the question: ”What do YOU want Lord?”

What does Jesus want from you and I? Well, Paul tells us in Ephesians 5:6-10&17 – among other places.(!!!) that we are to make our beliefs part of who we are. The way we think, walk, talk, react and interact with others. If someone pinches your coat, then give them your singlet! Almighty God gave us His new life as a gift, and He wants to counsel us with His Eye upon us. We have His all encompassing help, and now we need to change our old way of thinking, step by step, through our obedience, into His Way of doing, being and living. The Old has GONE – the New has come!

Our thoughts are to be conciliatory, open, accepting of whatever He brings across our paths. We are all in His school of life. We gave away our old way of living to follow Him, just like the disciples Matthew, Mark, Luke and John did.  When we gave our lives to Jesus we deliberately chose to live a life of faith. The bible itself teaches us His ways – things like love and faith, submission, generosity and obedience. These things, together with our personal circumstances and situations, are the tools He has given His kids, to train us in His righteousness. We dare not cherry-pick what we believe to suit ourselves —-because when we gave Him our lives, Jesus took them, and He took us at our word! 

Now we are to have a new POV – HIS! Read the book! This life is a gift which has been given to us to hone our hearts until we look like Jesus. We often sing or pray, “Make me like You,” yet we don’t want to give up who I think I am to get there! Things like pride … has to go. This means we will bump into things that give us opportunities to discover that we already have pride! We’ve simply learnt to couch that stumbling block into a nice church-ified language. We put the pride of this life around our neck like a chain of honour. Sometimes we blame our lack of obedience on someone else who hurt us. Jesus did not stop the people who hurt Him from doing it. He knew the Way of real power – submission. Sadly that’s almost a rude, unacceptable word today. 

It has become easy to get offended, but things like unforgiveness – will still have to go. Unforgiveness prevents us from hearing the Lord clearly. It puts us into no-man’s land, where we are fair game to be dragged down into fear, disappointment, frustration, and despair, hatred, revenge, murder. Those things are not just sin – they are in direct disobedience to what God clearly told us He expects from His kids! We are told to love others, not just in theory, but in practice. It’s going to hurt to give up the things we’ve been hiding behind so we don’t have to change.   

Selfishness or self-centredness will also have to go! We are on the Lord’s side now. You and I left our allegiance to the old way, – our selves – that we lived behind us. And we’ve chosen to pick up our total devotion to what He wants in and for His kingdom.  So we obey Him, cherish His truth and love, and put aside this world’s ways of thinking, in favour of fully becoming His child. I don’t care what version you read, that is a really really big ask without the Holy Spirit’s help. Bye. 👋

P 3336 Love suffers long.

/ DVH

“Love suffers long,,,” is from 1 Corinthians 13:4. It seems to me that this kind of love has patient endurance and steadfast kindness. And I think it is easy to see why we can’t fake it. We might manage to control our temper or our impatience for a few times in a row, but, under pressure, we can eventually reach the end of what we can do, and then … we definitely need supernatural help! 

The Message bible says on this subject: “Love never gives up…” So that means we can’t quit on our weaknesses. I know, personally, I can want to give up quite quickly, because I find the urge to be impatient usually comes right on the heels of someone else’s mistake or their bad temper. Sadly I can be very  intolerant of other people’s flaws… whilst I am merrily glossing over my own! …

It’s a set-up. These things don’t happen in isolation, one thing quite often stands upon the shoulders of something else. That can include a lack of forgiveness coming from past situations. The trouble with unforgiveness is that it doesn’t happen overnight it builds slowly. It is like endlessly throwing dirty socks into the corner of the room, sooner or later that smell is gunna get ya!

We cannot fight the enemy of our souls with will power. Mankind’s first entanglement with him ended badly … remember?? We need the Holy Spirit’s wisdom and help to manoeuvre our way through the stuff that can go right back into our childhood. Impatience starts early in children when they want something and they don’t want to wait. Many times I’ve noticed that without God, most of us can’t suffer very long!

I believe in forgiving people and putting the past where it should be, behind us. Don’t let the enemy ruin your future by leeching away your obedience, while you weep and mull over your past. People can get bogged down in past injustices, and other people’s very real sins against them. Use that time to practice looking for the good instead and don’t forget to pray.

Let’s not leave the real race to go and try to fix something we can’t change. Whatever happened to you back then was terrible, it was SIN let loose on a little kid. But that sin is definitely is not bigger than God’s grace is. We cannot face this world, and the state it is in, without His Grace. We need Him guiding us through the minefields of our own damaged thinking and emotional wounds. Being patient with people who treat us badly, exercises our faith so we can tackle the next bit … loving those who despitefully use us.

Either we take His Word seriously, or we don’t!  Unchecked, eventually we will end up blaming our impatience etc on someone else, which very nicely relieves us of the responsibility to ask Jesus to help us! Taking responsibility for our own actions is the first step into spiritual maturity. Other people may do things to me – but, because of who I am now, I don’t have to let my responses to their actions, limit me. Good place to stop and think. 🤔

Feel free to pray, I subscribe to the idea of fixing anything at any time immediately, when you remember it. Don’t let the enemy make a case against that other person – that’s fatal to living in love. Impatience will take over and if they sneeze it will annoy you! It’s time to put those things away, otherwise yesterday, is stealing today and tomorrow. 

That means we have His love over us and His book to teach us. That’s the best focus. We can learn to take our thoughts captive, when we don’t hold them close to us. I often tell “torment” to take a hike. That thing hangs around wounds and pain and pokes at them.

When we make what Jesus said the plumb line, then the things that are out of line in our own lives, start to show themselves. You know, suffering long is something the Lord faced daily. The disciples were just ordinary men, they all had different ways to earn a living, plus they were just human beings, not holy men. But Jesus was patient with them while they were learning. He will be patient with us too.

Under the Holy Spirit’s guidance these ordinary people were transformed. Jesus had renewed their minds for 3 and a half years teaching them, instructing them, then what they saw and heard and experienced next changed them, forever. They all encountered the Holy Spirit and He renewed their minds to what was real and important. I bet they all had opportunities to get impatient while they waited for the Holy Spirit, Who was unknown to them, to come.  

Love suffers long, is first in a long line of stuff we simply cannot produce by ourselves, not just because it is too hard, but because it requires maintenance. At the same time, blaming other people for our impatience is fruitless. Literally! Instead this is a good place to see our spiritual progress IRL We need to see these imperfections so we can remain humble and pliable in the Lord’s hands. 

Love is patient, it suffers wrong, because it’s mind is on something far more important – maintaining and giving away God’s love with our Resident Expert’s help. Thank you Holy Spirit! 👋 Bye 

P 3335 ONE THING LEADS TO ANOTHER.

/ DVH

“This gospel unveils a continual revelation of God’s righteousness—a perfect righteousness given to us when we believe. And it moves us from receiving life through faith, to the power of living by faith. This is what the Scripture means when it says: “We are right with God through life-giving faith!”” Romans 1:17 TPT.

Father God had a plan for mankind before He ever spoke the words …”Let there be light…”  I really like the picture below because the bible says: “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God …” John 1:1. Jesus Christ is the personification of this written Word and we too, will be transformed into living testaments for God’s glory. Father God gave us His perspective of what this life is about … and He sent us the best example to show us that there is no other way – Jesus is the Way!

Unbelievable Grace was released the day Jesus chose to die, but this action was planned by Father God, from the beginning of time, so that you and I would learn to live using our faith. And that faith would grow so big in us, we would use it to live this life, day by day, minute by minute, here and now. Our faith is not just to be used to get us out of trouble, or sorrow or strife— our faith is a WAY OF LIFE. Pressing us deeper into relying totally on Him, no matter what our circumstances are. “The just shall LIVE by faith.” Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38.  

Like the scripture above in Romans says …our faith is not just meant to be an occasional exercise – we are to live there. Everything that was done for us will be continually revealed to us, over and over again. There are golden threads of heavenly wisdom that criss-cross our lives enriching them with His value, depth and colour. Jesus’ righteousness has been freely given and sent to keep us moving forward, deeper and deeper into our Heavenly Father’s love. His love is about WHO HE IS. 

We dare not take advantage of His generosity by doing whatever we like and thinking: “That will be OK, everybody does it.” That’s called presumption, and it is holding us back from the depths of His love. Sticking our heads in the sand and hoping no-one (like the Lord) will notice that we are not being transformed, is futile. The first person to notice transformation should be ME and hopefully my spouse etc.

In our struggles to maintain our personality – which is a selfish concept from this world – we are hurting other people. “Love does no harm.” The Lord’s love has been freely given to us and we need to gladly share it with anyone … including our enemies! Not living by faith will restrict our spiritual breathing. Faith is a road not a one-time destination. But we can so easily stop at the knowledge, and not move forward into the actions that appropriate the POWER to live like Jesus did.

Living by faith produces that power. The more we obey Him in faith, the more we increase God’s power in our lives to overcome our own peculiar foibles, this world’s temptations, and the devil’s wiles. We must keep moving. Moving ON… Christianity is not meant to stand still, or rest on the laurels of things that have been revealed in the past. There will always be new mountains to explore, new rivers to cross, and other oceans with new worlds that have brand new beginnings on the other side of them.

Stopping that loving way of life moving forward is fatal. Whether we are a church group, denomination, or a single soul following Christ for themselves, there is no arrival place this side of heaven. However, our faith down here is designed to be mobile – tested, sometimes weighed and measured, as we willingly choose to live in love and experience the Holy Spirit’s transformation. 

Jesus left this earth so He could leave behind a group of people who were so enabled by the Holy Spirit they would do what He did and more. God’s righteousness, so freely extended and given to all of us, is the vehicle that makes this forward movement possible. As we obey, using our faith, we will stop going round and round, wasting our time doing the same dumb things over and over, and start fulfilling our personal destiny. Our destiny is to love others the way He loved us. Forget grubbing around in the dust looking for this gift or that ministry – let’s go for what God Himself says is GOLD. A love that will die for each other.

Then we’ll become like pure spring water leaping into this life over all the rocks and barriers that a life on earth has constructed in us and around us. We bring that joyous life and loving to others, no matter what tribe, tongue or creed they have. The thing is – it has to be real. We can’t fudge transformation or even try to maintain it. All this holier than thou stuff that goes on in our lives is an impediment to the real. I’ve seen the real, it is tangible, life-giving and powerful!

Many saints want God’s power without transformation, and that is as dangerous as giving a lit stick of dynamite to a little kid to chew on. The kid doesn’t know what it is playing with! … Nor the danger it is in. Without a Christ-like character being developed in us, we cannot be trusted with Holy things, because our minds and hearts can easily be corrupted. The good news is this:  we are all standing on the same ground. No-one is better at this than someone else. If we are still breathing on this earth then we are still in His processes and He promised to finish what He started!

The Good News is, the more you live this way the more you fall in Love with the One Who paid the ultimate price for you! Remember, one thing — using our faith – leads to another — living by faith. Bye. 👋

P3334 Let’s be observers of God’s goodness.   

/ DVH

Ephesians 5:1-2: “Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behaviour from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with Him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of Himself to us. Love like that.”  Jesus said this, He was observant. John 5:19&20: ”Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by Himself; He can do only what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.”

One of the things I enjoyed doing with my kids when they were little was I taught them to be observant. It’s a great skill! I really enjoy watching birds, and I’ve found if I want to see them in action I need to be alert and watch out for the slightest movement around me. In the same way, I’ve learnt that watching out to see what the Lord will do in any given situation, at any moment will keep me alert. Those two scriptures above talk about such a simple way to help our focus, and at the same time, they tell us how to ‘keep company with Him’ daily.

Here’s an interesting scripture from Habakkuk 2:1, it piques my curiosity. “I will stand at my guard post. And station myself on the tower; And I will keep watch to see what He will say to me, And what answer I will give [as His spokesman] when I am reproved.” ‘I will watch to see what He will say to me…’  Habakkuk discovered a different type of language of our Father’s, that does not consist of words. Our God has many languages, and we miss most of them because we only “hear” Him in our own. But this verse shows us there is a whole other way to hear Him … by watching to see what He is doing right now! Did you know that the word ‘watching’ is used sixty-one times in the bible? To see the Lord we must observe what is going on around us and look for His goodness in it. 

So much of our learning in the Body of Christ is passive. We sit, we take notes, we stare out of the window, we say ‘Amen!’ We clap, we dance, we sing, we shake hands with others … But are we listening for the Voice within the voice? Only alert people can hear His secrets. We can listen to the same sermon other people hear, but we can also hear something more, something entirely different. Simply because the Lord has put His NEON highlighter over a few words that totally change our POV.

Imagine what could or would happen if the whole Body of Christ did that? We would have the ‘manifold many-sided wisdom of God to guide us,’ daily. I don’t have all His wisdom, neither do you – but when we get together – we more than double our opportunities to watch and see Him at work. Father God will share Himself with anyone, so let’s be alert and wait, and watch for Him to move. Our God is to be experienced.

At the same time, we watch what He does, because that is the way we learn what we are to do. Jesus was constantly watching His Father to see what He was doing. He tells us that in John. Learning to notice things is a cultivated skill, but anyone can do it. The difference between seeing and really seeing is choosing to pay attention. Sadly this world slathers itself with an attitude of distraction and passivity. So we watch stuff, we listen, we absorb information, maybe we even memorise it – but we are not actively participating in anything we hear, because we are information gathering! Let’s actively take part in an incredible process that means we are always watching out to see what God will do next!

His goodness is all around us. We can see evidence of it every day, the sun came up where I live, did it come up at your house? Let’s value what we see. If it is raining and I am going to the car, and the rain stops – I thank Him for taking care of me … my thought is this… I can slip and fall in the rain. I often look at other people’s faces and see sadness and sorrow, I can’t help them, because we are just ships passing in the night, but I can pray for them. I don’t have to know what’s going on, but He does.

I think Jesus lived His life alert to whatever His Father was doing, because He just loved to watch His Father at work. Some people waste their lives waiting for someone else to make a  mistake, what a tragedy! What a waste of sight!! Any dill can find fault – but can we find the good in a supposedly bad person? That’s real insight! 

Loving people is not hard when we look through Christ’s eyes. He saw the potential for good in a tax collector who climbed a tree. Once, He saw far more than a woman who was sleeping around, when He stopped at a well. She had potential. It was released when Jesus recognised His Father had been working in her life. And Jesus saw fledgling faith in Peter when He said “Come!” He saw His Father stretching that man’s faith into areas Peter didn’t even know about. This man was a fishermen by trade — they know you can’t walk on water! But Peter suspended his earthly expertise when he put his eyes on Jesus and saw what HE was doing! He just did what He saw the Master doing.

Maybe we wouldn’t be as judgey with each other if we learnt to see this world through His eyes. As we see, and watch out for ways to bless people, I believe we will see them through our Father’s eyes. Love gives us eyes to see the good.  And watching Him at work, every single day, helps us do the impossible and leads us to be observers of God’s goodness. Bye. 👋 

P3333 There’s great value in resting.

/ DVH

We’ve been actively resting in the past four days. After the intense chaos of making many deliveries and having lots of positive interactions;  by God’s grace we found a quiet spot on a farm stay, and we’ve done nothing – apart from eat and sleep. We needed it. Neither of us are 23 anymore! There is one thing I’ve noticed about God’s kind of resting, the more you do it, the more you want to — plus you start to feel better.

Resting from our labours here, BTW, consists of me falling asleep several times during the day, as well as sleeping for 7 or 8 hours per night. Hubby nods off regularly and then quietly snores, and then … he wakes himself up with the snuffly noise. It really is better that he wakes himself up – the alternative is that I whack him on the arm and say “Honey you’re snoring again.” OK! You got me, I don’t whack him alright? But-I-do-sometimes-think-about-it!

Rest is something the bible tells us that we are to enter into. In other words, it’s a place where you leave everything else outside the door, take the Lord’s hand, and just be content with the fact that He is in charge. It is God’s gift to us, and He made it clear that rest is available any time, any place. It means that everything else fades into the background. When we are away on a trip, we even like to cut down on extraneous noise from the TV and stuff, and just sit. Sometimes we don’t even talk, or pray. We just let the quietness sink in. At the same time we do restful fun things — hubby trots about taking brilliant photos and I get to see them.

Resting in the Lord, can get even deeper… it’s in the scripture. It’s a place where we leave the results and the work to God Himself. In my opinion this is one of the most challenging ways to use our faith. It’s not the Lord’s fault, it is just that we have spent our lives doing the next thing and the next, and then suddenly we realise we have stumbled back into trying harder and harder. Pushing ourselves to make things work. Meanwhile other people start to give you the pip, because you are tired of wrangling and managing stuff, and nothing is simple anymore. 

God’s rest is the place where you don’t have to make things happen. Here’s my point today — this kind of rest is part of our birthright. The secret is to live in the hustle and bustle of this life without constantly engaging our emotions and our minds. Step back into the Lord and breathe, and defer to His wisdom, simply because we love to walk with Him, even in ordinary things.

I can almost hear a mother somewhere yelling at me: “If I don’t make my kids get out of bed and go to school they won’t do it. They won’t do their homework either!” I really dislike those happy happy pictures of tidy little smiley kids smartly marching out of the door, dressed properly. It’s a wonder they don’t have sunbeams coming out of their ears! In most homes this time of the day is a bun fight – making sure this kid has this, and that kid has it’s socks on, plus leave the house yourself! This is not the kind of rest the Lord is talking about in the bible, His rest is internal. Your kids may not want to go to school, etc., but you can still be at rest in Him. He’s ultimately in charge of your well-being, and theirs. It’s the place to say: “HELP, LORD!”

You can choose to be upset with them, or cry out for His Grace and patience for those moments. We don’t have to lose our cool because the little darlings won’t co-operate. Often we willingly give up our internal rest and peace, because we are deceived into hoping and thinking, that worrying or shouting will work … because nothing else seems to! However, God’s idea of rest is stepping back momentarily and leaning on Him. When, and if you can – remember, humour helps. He organised a couple of million grumpy Jews to get up every morning to a ready-made breakfast … your kids are a piece of cake!

His rest inside of us flows out of us as His peace toward other people. Deal with you, and then deal with them. The whole gotta be, gotta do, gotta go, gotta get it right thing – falls away as we focus on His bigger picture. He’s God and He won’t let us down no matter how it looks, simply because He is so-o-o faithful. I call this stuff my faith work out. It’s the place where all the worst cases scenarios smack you in the head and you can’t think clearly anymore because your mind is filled with scenes and thoughts of “what if.” There are no “what ifs” in God’s rest – there is only the bigness of Who He is. 

We enter that rest by focussing on Him and deliberately choosing to momentarily lay everything else at His feet. I think this kind of incredible stillness was inside the Holy of Holies in the Temple. Any other noise stayed outside. So did agendas. You can be present with the Lord and still do the things that need to be done. It’s good to remember YOU and I are now the Holy of Holies. Father God produces the kind of quiet comfort that releases an atmosphere of safety. Nothing bad can happen in His Presence, He’s just too awesome. 

As we learn to cultivate the Holy Spirit’s Presence by living our lives His Way – we will find our confidence in Him grows. Jesus lived like this. He lived in God’s grace and assurance that He was at the right place at the right time — doing what His Father wanted Him to do. Jesus’ confidence in His Father’s Will allowed the people around Him to experience God’s loving kindness easily. This rest means we cease from our labours and lean on Him and there’s great value in it. Bye. 👋

P3332 Where have all the encouragers gone?

/ DVH


“Let the inner movement of your heart always be to love one another, and never play the role of an actor wearing a mask. Despise evil and embrace everything that is good and virtuous. Be devoted to tenderly loving your fellow believers as members of one family. Try to outdo yourselves in respect and honour of one another. Be enthusiastic to serve the Lord, keeping your passion toward Him boiling hot! Radiate with the glow of the Holy Spirit and let Him fill you with excitement as you serve Him.” Romans 12:9-11 TPT.

The Apostle Paul did not write this stuff simply to impress people with His literary style. I believe he was giving the church a list of instructions as well as teaching them the way to walk with Jesus day-by-day. We skip over verses like these at our own peril. They are not just positive suggestions, they are life and health to us and they need action … digesting.

We have inadvertently allowed our feelings to get in the way of what Paul is saying here. This means we can end up avoiding Sister Mergatroid because we don’t like the way she is raising her kids – or the way her husband always takes over at testimony time. Whatever! You fill in the blanks. We need to continually remember that personal opinion, and the right to have one, died when we gave our lives to Jesus. Dead people don’t have opinions – they are far too busy accessing the new life Jesus promised us... live in the resurrection not the grave clothes!

Our new life is an example of what Jesus can do with people, who are living in ordinary circumstances. There is something quite astonishing about normal people living a life totally sold out to Him, yet we’ve become used to special people doing it. Maybe we have failed to comprehend the fact that the “old has passed away, behold the new HAS come.”  This is not just a form of adaptation to a different way of life – that very life has come to live in us now!

So now our job is to use our faith and walk out what we have been given. The unknown, unseen church-goer has far more effect upon the community than they realise. It all starts with the way we treat each other, and floods out from the church into the way we treat other people. Because we always rely upon His wisdom, we don’t look down on anyone. We have His Grace to see potential, not faults — so we take the time to speak into someone’s potential – and let go of criticism.

When my kids were small I did all I could to help them see that their one little life matters. Somewhere in that relatively short time of influence, I had to learn to let go of prodding and pushing, plus speaking good – and I had to watch them make mistakes. They became His people … not just my kids. They have their own way of expressing their faith. He’s their Father — and in my observation, fathers are great at speaking encouragement. They help us to have the ability to take a risk so we can grow, plus they offer us steadfast love, comfort and affection, when things don’t go so well.

We need more encouragers. People who help us believe that our breakthrough is our birthright. Encouragement is a spiritual gift found in Romans 12:8: ‘that empowers individuals to inspire, comfort, and strengthen others, bringing hope to the church and everyone else.” This gift is greatly underestimated. It has the ability to stand someone up on their feet so they can go again. It doesn’t push, or look down upon someone, instead it leads and instructs.

One of the Holy Spirit’s Names is “Encourager.” As an Encourager He helps people to find the faith to go on when everything inside them wants to give up. Our collective task is to keep our focus on what He says about us, because the Lord Himself is so reliably generous with His praise and love. This world has damaged many Christians, who have eventually fallen through huge cracks of disappointment and discouragement. Mainly because theyt have misinformed expectations and they are not met. Encouragement is about lifting them up again.

When you can’t find something encouraging to say, ask the Lord – He knows what that other person needs to hear. At the same time, you will be using your faith and you will see Him in action, for yourself. Sadly, there are also times when you have to be your own cheer squad. For one reason or another someone else is not available or you feel like you can’t hear the Lord. That’s when it is good to go to the bible, and read uplifting verses out loud. 

God’s Word strengthens us when we are weary, lost, or broken hearted. At the same time it is important not to deny whatever is going on, we live in a real world with real pain and human needs! These things are not just about sin, they happen because they are a part of life. We can be sidetracked if  we focus on how we feel, above what He says. Faith chooses to believe what Jesus said, despite these times. After all, acknowledgement is not the same as approval.

Let’s read the bible, and remind ourselves that these verses were written for US, for this day, for these moments. Encouraging ourselves in the Lord is important and it is also extremely helpful. David did it. Remind yourself that you are not a bad Christian, you are in a battle and our enemy is relentless. However, …”The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working].” James 5:16b. Bye. 👋

P 3331 In but not of …

/ DVH

“Stop imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around you, but be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how you think. This will empower you to discern God’s will as you live a beautiful life, satisfying and perfect in His eyes.” Romans 12:2 TPT.  That’s pretty plain isn’t it? Not much to explain there. And here’s another one, where Jesus Himself is praying for us… “My prayer is not that You take them out of the world but that You protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.” John 17:15-16. 

The thing is, without inward transformation, we are wasting our time and effort trying to capture the-people-who-don’t-know-Him’s attention with our own clever ideas and plans. We need to have the Lord’s guidance, His way to reach out to people. We serve the One Who took people out onto a hillside and they were so captured by what Jesus said, they didn’t even think about eating.

The point made in this scripture is that the Lord knows how to go straight to the heart of the matter, and we don’t. Let’s ask for His help! The bonus is we get to know God’s will for our lives. We no longer live by this world’s standards. The ‘latest thing’ is the ‘last thing’ on our minds! Unless the Holy Spirit kisses what we are doing and tears off the roof, our plans are limited, His are not.

Jesus isn’t praying for us to live detached from this world, like somehow what’s out there can stop what’s inside us from flourishing!  Our choices do that for us, they are what influence us. We don’t need to separate ourselves from the lives we are here to touch when we’ve decide to make Him our priority. Instead Jesus is praying that we will be protected from the devices of our enemy – who is all around us. Here’s my litmus test for in not of …  Ask yourself what occupies most of your thoughts? 

I have been to churches in many places, that are pale imitations of what this world can produce all by itself. In the end, the productions become more important than the God we worship or the people we are here to reach. Let’s realise that when it comes to production – this world is waa-aa-aa-ay better at it than we are! They’ve got great gizmos to help them make fake things look real.

I think that’s because whatever IS represented by this world is fake. In our churches we want to produce the real thing — but you can’t produce the real thing, from fake roots. Entertainment is by its very nature, anti-what-Jesus-stands-for. He wants to glorify His Father, by what He says and does. He can use entertainment, but He doesn’t need it. We can say we want to glorify God, but I’ve been involved in the production of a number of things in the past and this world does not easily let go of the idea that being bigger, better, brighter, more clever is the way to go! 

Human beings think that doing something well, is going to impress the world and help them to believe in what they are selling. They don’t need to be impressed with us, these people need the King, not our clever, glamorous well-produced rhetoric. Our message doesn’t need any help! It’s in the book and God Himself wrote it. Our God is the God of the Universe, He doesn’t want or need our advertising, He  wants to reach the people around us, with healing, deliverance, salvation and the Good News.

We have been asked to make disciples, followers of Jesus Christ – not groupies. Changing someone’s heart is His job. Ours is to co-operate with the Holy Spirit and make a permanent place for the Lord in our hearts and our churches – then we follow the Holy Spirit’s instructions regarding how we approach others. Our churches are where we meet to glorify Him and give Him the praise He so richly deserves. And all our gifts are to be surrendered and used to glorify Him — our fellowship is sweeter because of Him. 

Our meetings cannot be about “the atmosphere’ either – an atmosphere is easily created and easily broken. What we do is about Him, done for His sake, for His pleasure. We can’t substitute special effects for the anointing – it is far better to get on our faces and find out where we’ve missed Him, than to plough on competing with this world’s idea of a good time.  

To be in not of  means we are totally aware of our surroundings, and we can see and hear the people around us. Their needs, their hopes, their squashed broken lives. It is so easy to segregate ourselves away from the very people the Lord saved us to reach — simply because they do this and that, and that stuff might corrupt us. The hard times that have fallen upon everyone has disproved that theory. People are dying inside – they have no hope.  And guess what we have – HOPE! 

We have the incorruptible One living inside us!1 Peter 1:23 says: “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.” 1 John 4:4: “Little children, you are of God, and have overcome them; for He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” In but not of is about singular focus, not just distraction. I would rather spend 5 minutes with a Spirit-filled person than 5 seconds with someone else’s clever ideas. Bye for now, 👋

P 3330 Jesus is the Hero not us!

/ DVH


2 Corinthians 3:4-5: “Such confidence we have through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

Our life is now, today, not tomorrow. Tomorrow literally never comes. So, today our life is about relinquishing our own personal power, and gratefully receiving His power into our lives to help others and overcome sin. Now there’s a big thought! The Holy Spirit is our Resident Expert in all things spiritual, which is why we choose to defer to Him, even if at the time, it makes no sense to us. Obviously the bible is our yardstick in all things, but learning to practically trust the Holy Spirit is essential if we want to walk with Him.

In the Lord’s kingdom we are children, His children. He loves our obedience – especially in the face of our own logic. I’ve learnt over time, that things will eventually make sense, and we will learn patience in the process… bonus buy! I wish I had the space here to recount the times I have badly messed something or other up — and then, when I realise my sin, I repent, and ask Him to redeem the mess I made. Some of the most brilliant answers to prayer I have ever seen, come from those moments! Don’t be afraid of getting things wrong as you walk with Him – Jesus is a Redeemer.

The Lord’s wisdom and clarity are astonishing. When I am writing this blog I often can’t think of a good, clear, simple way to explain many concepts that seem exceedingly complicated to me. I don’t just want to write my ideas here, I like to do my best to write things that will give other people insight into Who the Lord is. So I pray, and He literally hands me the sentence I couldn’t find.

Often a particular sentence, a word, or a phrase pops up and I know it didn’t come from me. It suddenly drifts through my mind and as it does that it occurs to me that isn’t the kind of thought I would have. Even when I get stuck reading the bible, I ask Him to help: “I just don’t get that Lord. Would You mind explaining it to me please?” And He does.

Reading the bible without the Holy Spirit is tedious and boring, reading it with Him is like slowly unveiling a puzzle as it fits together. “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better.” Ephesians 1:17. We will never understand His Word with our hearts, if we simply analyse it with our heads.

I’ve been reading the bible for over 50 years so I guess I am familiar with the overall gist of it. But I still need the index every now and then to find stuff! I know what I am looking for is in there, somewhere, but I often dunno where! Thanks Google. However, I also know it is His thought when it simplifies something that seemed so complicated that I couldn’t understand it at all …

One of the most frequent things the Lord says to me as I read His Word is this: “What doesn’t it say?” Here’s another one: “What would it look like if i did what it says here?” Man I love/hate that last one. I love it because He is going to show me something about Himself I haven’t seen yet, and I hate it because I know that somewhere, somehow, I’m going to end up taking a risk. Believe it or not I am not a risk taker by nature. 

I once went to Niagara Falls, but I skipped going over them in a barrel, the second I looked at them! Man that’s a whole lot of water!!  No risks for me! I am often aware that I’m not other people’s taste when it comes to speaking – because I’m too blunt, but I don’t much care if I hurt your feelings to reach your heart. Yeah I hear the irony!! I totally love the Body of Christ, but my first priority is that I want Jesus to have the  reward of all His suffering. We can be part of that reward for Him when we value what He says above what we think and act on it.

I have definitely fallen in love with the way Jesus thinks about people. When I have trouble with someone I ask Him to help me to see them through His eyes. People are His favourite subject, no matter how they look, or what we think is wrong with them. He doesn’t SEE race or creed, He sees people who need His love. Our Western selfishness and sense of entitlement is tragic. We scrimp and save and work so hard for the things that do not last. And we can easily ignore the eternal because it doesn’t jump up and down and demand our attention.

Paul says this kind of stuff so beautifully in Philippians 4:12&13: “I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” I’m still learning … especially not to complain when things aren’t easy.

As I am typing this today, I know He has something for you to do, that no-one else can. That’s why you are here. Please don’t let searching for fame and recognition take up your precious time. Be you, and let Him have His way in your life, you will fall in love with how gentle and kind He is. We need to quit hero-worshipping anyone else but Him!

Once when I was back-slidden I ended up talking to a junkie about the Lord Jesus. He said: “I know you love Jesus because I can see Him all over you.” This dear muddled up young man was wrong. The Holy Spirit was all over me because He loves that man and He quite simply can’t help Himself – He will use a donkey if that is all that is available. Jesus is the Hero, not us. Bye. 👋

P3329 Vindication is God’s business. 

/ DVH

Ephesians 4:25-32: “What this adds up to, then, is this: no more lies, no more pretence. Tell your neighbour the truth. In Christ’s body we’re all connected to each other, after all. When you lie to others, you end up lying to yourself. Go ahead and be angry. You do well to be angry—but don’t use your anger as fuel for revenge.                                                                                    And don’t stay angry. Don’t go to bed angry. Don’t give the Devil that kind of foothold in your life. Did you use to make ends meet by stealing? Well, no more! Get an honest job so that you can help others who can’t work. Watch the way you talk. Let nothing foul or dirty come out of your mouth. Say only what helps, each word a gift. Don’t grieve God. Don’t break His heart. His Holy Spirit, moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for Himself. Don’t take such a gift for granted. Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.”

The premise we need to note over everything else that is said here – is the IMPLIED “YOU!” WE need to listen and act. When the bible says ‘you’ – it doesn’t mean your spouse, family member or your boss. It would be so nice if everyone read the bible and took what is in it seriously … but the only person we have to work with is ourselves. The real question is this, can we live His way and not walk about with ‘a holier than thou attitude?’ True humility is our friend. Anyone can agree with the bible’s principles, and then skip submission to what it says – but other people have to live with the pain of our mistakes.

Submission ushers in humility and love. Boy is that kind of thinking at odds in today’s society. People want to avoid responsibility for their own actions. Plus we can get very busy defending our own rights. Seriously, we need to reconsider the way we live with the Holy Spirit and each other. Is He that important to you or not?  The spirit that seeks to enforce our own rights is not from Him. How can you die daily if you want your own RIGHTS? If Jesus had enforced His rights, we’d all be in the soup. There is a far better way to live that honours Him. 

The secret is to revere the Holy Spirit, and cherish His company. Let’s love Him and His ways more than we like our own. Think of that like this, there are things you probably wouldn’t say to a dear friend. Like: “Yes, those pants do make your butt too big!” We don’t say those things because we don’t want to alienate our friend, whose company we value. The Holy Spirit needs to be valued more, not less. Maybe this is made more difficult because our obedience is voluntary and we must make a choice. I’ve found that the Lord will vindicate His own – if we get out of His way and stop trying to manipulate things in our own favour. “Why not suffer wrong?” 1 Corinthians 6:7b.

It is easy to vomit icky stuff all over someone else. Anybody can have trouble with anger, but the bible is clear, anger can lead us into far worse situations when it is not dealt with asap. Our emotions are not the best guideline of spiritual reality, because they are based on our often faulty reactions to situations. Personally, I think it is better to respond than react, and asking questions can prevent misunderstandings. If we value the Holy Spirit’s companionship and opinion above our own, this kind of change is normal. He is delighted to be our companion, advocate, counsellor, guide, and teacher. 

I need to be clear that I don’t know everything and I definitely don’t have the corner on what the Holy Spirit thinks and does! However, I think it is important to choose to learn to grow and be challenged by His Ways. Otherwise we can grieve Him, and then our best way through trouble leaves with Him! Openness about our personal attitudes is a key to allowing His Will to prevail. It keeps us in fellowship with Him. Who we are at any given moment can easily be a reaction to what has happened to us so far in our lives. Good things, bad things.

Many of us still live our lives protectively – and we are afraid to change. It takes courage to admit you can’t fix yourself and then trust God will take care of you. Why not seize any opportunities to give a different response? The Lord knows everything, and we can benefit from His wisdom. Why not choose to value His oversight over our own knowledge? We have a book full of what He thinks.

Our desire needs to be to live to please the Holy Spirit, first, and then to love and encourage our brothers and sisters. We cannot afford to keep on demanding that our way is the only right one. “His ways are perfect” …  … nevertheless, mine ain’t! Humility will flourish and grow as we know our place before the Lord, and learn to honour and prefer one another. Let’s protect our relationship with Him over everything else. It isn’t a matter of who might win … because it isn’t a competition. We all win when we allow Him to fight for us.

This is why what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13 is essential. His love is our great equaliser. It will sort the chaff out from the hay in our own lives, and allow us to see what God’s Ways clearly look like! When Paul describes these qualities, He is making it clear what love is, and what it is not. Love is the thing that must take precedence. I ask myself: “Is this or that love, the way Jesus would define it?  I don’t need my own faulty definitions, I already know I can be too selfish and self-centred to answer clearly. However, this kind of question gives me clarity when things are unclear. 

People sometimes tell me that they can’t hear the Lord. Try letting Him correct you with His eye on you! Let’s choose to embrace LOVE and leave trying to wriggle out of things on a technicality behind us. Vindication is His business. Bye. 👋

P 3327 Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.

/ DVH

Today we hit the coal face of life in country Victoria, and NSW. It became personal. So many of the people living under threat, are women, who have had to run for their lives, grabbing their young kids, and taking little or nothing with them. A young mother we met today is a mum of a 2 year old. Just pause for a moment and try to imagine a life like hers. These women face rage and beatings almost daily. 

They are quite literally running for their lives, and they want better, safer, peace-filled lives, just like we do. Safety is a real human need and yet these people are forced to live with far more fear than we can imagine. They are scared that their partner might come home violent – tormented by uncontrollable anger, drugs or alcohol. Out here, where we are, this sort of scenario is in plague proportions — one of the helpers we met in a major country town said that: they had spent a whole year’s budget for 260 clients: but now they are currently looking after 596 clients and it is only APRIL! 

I have no answers, but I do know that we have been designed by God to love others, that means we can’t just stand by and watch, or wait for some sort of government to fix this. Governments want votes and not many voters live on farms! This is a nightmare of huge proportions, and sadly symptomatic of the way we’ve chosen to neglect farmers. Whether it is drought, or floods, it doesn’t matter – both lead to hardships at a level we simply do not face in the cities. 

Now the current political situation world-wise, means that diesel is at outrageous prices. We passed many petrol stations in our 2,400 kms to get here that were closed. No petrol, no diesel signs were displayed out front. We also travelled through usually bustling towns where nobody was in town, except when necessary. You could have fired a cannon down the street and hit no-one. 

Our farmers need  diesel in order to plant the food we enjoy in the cities. No diesel, means no tractors, no harvesters, no planters, no watering systems, NO harvest. Plus no petrol means no fertilisers either. Big price rises in food for everyone! Currently our farmers get paid 70c per litre of milk. It sells for around $1.85. The bulk of that charge goes to our supermarkets.

“Petroleum, specifically natural gas (methane), is crucial for fertiliser production, acting as the primary raw material for hydrogen needed to create ammonia via the Haber-Bosch process. It provides the energy for high-temperature/pressure manufacturing and aids in the production of phosphorus/potassium fertilisers. This dependency makes fertilisers fossil-fuel intensive, contributing to greenhouse gas emissions, and links food production costs to oil prices.” (Google)

There is no value in blame. Whoever has done, or not done whatever is needed is irrelevant. Now we need to work together to help those at the bottom of the pile, the people who were already badly underpaid. The real question is what can I do? You know the most impactful part of travelling around like we have, hasn’t been the blankets, toiletries or the bibles, although everything was received so gratefully – it was the fact that we came in person to show them we care. 

We must pray! Then we need to turn our prayers, into actions. If you can’t go yourself, then find organisations that are already there, and make donations. Remember the Good Samaritan. He personally put the wounded man on his own donkey, poured his oil and wine into the man’s wounds, and paid for him to be cared for until he was well again. Luke 10:25-37.

“On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?” 

“In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. 

Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ “Which of these three do you think was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” 

I think it is time we realised that biting the hand that feeds us is sheer shortsightedness. Our farmers need us to appreciate them and support them, and I pray the Lord will give all of us plans, and strategies to do so. Bye 👋 PS. One of the things the farmers have to face seems small to us, but it is their connection with the outside world – the internet fell over in the area we are staying in this morning.