Christianity

P 3285 Practical stuff.

/ DVH

I want to be practical today because I have spent a number of days talking about living in the new life that Christ died to give us. So today I want to talk about how I am learning to live that way. First of all, I refuse to allow things I’ve done, or things other people have done, to remain hidden and unacknowledged. I treasure my relationship with the precious Holy Spirit above everything, so whatever He wants, I do. Pretence shoots honesty in the foot.

Theories cannot change our lives unless we actively decide to participate in them. Most people want to practice the things we are taught, so they nod and smile and go home … and try harder to meet the impossible standard Jesus set for all of us. Over the years I’ve learnt I am not capable of anything but the appearance of good. However, Christianity is not just practical, it is possible. Here’s the good news. Jesus died to give us His power to overcome our enemy, our own faults, as well as this world! And here is the bad …truth, humility and honesty are the highways we need to travel on.

We cannot expect to serve Jesus and maintain the life we already have. The whole point is for US to be changed. This point is the place where so many Christians part company with the Holy Spirit’s Ways. However, we simply cannot live with a foot in each camp, eventually we will slide back into the camp that looks after “me, mine, myself and I!’ “Mankind heads for sin and misery as predictably as flames shoot upwards from a fire.” Job 5:7.

Over to an illustration … I have been at odds with someone in my immediate family, all of my life. We both just saw things differently – we simply didn’t get each other. I tried to avoid dealing with this person by staying in their presence for the shortest time possible. Then the Lord began to challenge me about how I was treating them. The truth was, I treated them like a bad smell! I was polite … and distant. The Holy Spirit can lead us into distancing ourselves from someone for a purpose and a time, but in this case, I just plain disliked everything that person said and did, so I stayed away. I didn’t like being around them – they uncovered who I really was! 

Then He began to challenge me and I saw that underneath my hurt and pain, was resentment, hatred and bitterness. I wanted THEM to change who they were to make ME more comfortable! Anyhoo, they weren’t changing, and as time went on, things got worse. OH, how I hate the land of worse!! So I gathered up my courage and asked Him how HE wanted me to treat them, and His perfect answer sent me into self-pity, tears, and petulance. After all, everybody I knew agreed that I was much safer far away from this person. But HE didn’t. I just need to say, that if you have a problem like this one, then you need to ask the Holy Spirit what He wants YOU to do, and do it – but be guided by what the Bible says!

At that time, Jesus told me to treat that person like I would treat HIM. Sigh. I would have rather swum through shark-infested giant seas to South America, than do that. It seemed to me like I was giving them permission to continue to treat me badly. Then the Lord said this from Psalm 91:15&16 “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. …I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress…” So I crawled up into that Psalm, and clung on to it like a Rhesus monkey and prayed ‘help help!’ At the same time, I banged on my hat of salvation, picked up my breast-plate of righteousness and the sword of truth, and off I went. FYI the sword of the Spirit is not for slicing and dicing the other person – the Holy Spirit guides and teaches us how to use this sword His way.

I recommend tackling this kind of relationship difficulty, with at least 3 Holy Spirit inspired scriptures, that you’ve prayed over – as well as asking Him for His wisdom. After a while of loving on this person the way I love Him, I noticed that they hadn’t changed at all … … but I had! That sore place inside me had become inaccessible because I had stepped into FAITH. Then I realised that so much of what happened when I was with them, I had taken personally – but those things were the result of this person’s mal-formed personality. What I thought was personal viciousness, was their way of getting what they thought they needed. Their humanity was on display, and they didn’t know Jesus so it was the only course of action they had.

As I stuck with the Holy Spirit’s plan, I gradually saw a brand new person I had never met before. I still didn’t much like the way that they did things, but that stuff is not actually my business. I found we could laugh together, and genuinely express love for each other. At this point I want to stress that only someone very close to you can hurt you so badly.  Other people can come along and poke you in the scars you bear from your previous injuries. Don’t maltreat them for jumping on your hurt places.

We call it protecting ourselves, and God says “He is our protection and with Him we will be safe!” I found practicing loving my enemy – in this case a family member – worked best, when I started with the person who hurt me the most! That person could be a spouse, or a parent or a sibling, but the transformation that we personally experience, gives us the impetus to continue living this way. We get to see His power at work in our lives.

Here is a final question: “Have you ever noticed when you are with someone who hurts you, it never occurs to you that you might be hurting them at the same time, because you are way too busy firing arrows at them?” Yeah, I know… bring that up! We can become so entrenched in our own attitudes we can’t see anything, or anyone else. Let’s remember that God’s word is practical, you can stand on it.  Fixing relationships is essential! Bye. 👋

P 3284 We have His deposit in us.

/ DVH

“Everything we could ever need for life and godliness has already been deposited in us by His divine power. For all this was lavished upon us through the rich experience of knowing Him who has called us by name and invited us to come to Him through a glorious manifestation of His goodness. As a result of this, He has given you magnificent promises that are beyond all price, so that through the power of these tremendous promises we can experience partnership with the divine nature, by which you have escaped the corrupt desires that are of the world. 

So devote yourselves to lavishly supplementing your faith with goodness, and to goodness add understanding, and to understanding add the strength of self-control, and to self-control add patient endurance, and to patient endurance add godliness, and to godliness add mercy toward your brothers and sisters, and to mercy toward others add unending love. Since these virtues are already planted deep within, and you possess them in abundant supply, they will keep you from being inactive or fruitless in your pursuit of knowing Jesus Christ more intimately.” 2 Peter 1:3-8 TPT.

When it comes to spiritual matters, like transformation through obeying the things Jesus said, or praying for the sick etc., we can no longer say we can’t do these things. Why not? Because the moment we gave our lives and hearts to Jesus, the Holy Spirit has already deposited the potential for a new life and totally different responses in us. They just need to be exercised. In other words we simply have to cultivate them by saying ‘no’ to the stuff we used to do before. The seed for a Godly life is already in us, we water it with the Word of God and prayer, and throw in the fertiliser of self-sacrifice. Mature people know we can’t always have everything we want and they face their responsibilities realistically, and with God-given determination. (See 2 Corinthians 1:8.)

The same power that enabled Christ Jesus to do what He did, is already in us. Let’s choose to obey Him and let it flow out of us, using our faith. Despite the lies we sometimes tell ourselves, we are no longer under a yoke of slavery. If you think about that sentence it will suddenly hit you how true it is – the more we think about what we do, the more we will realise we choo-oo-oose to do stuff! One of the best things the Lord gave us, apart from the Holy Spirit, and His OWN righteousness, salvation and redemption in our lives, is the power of choice. We can now choose. However, we will face the cost as we lay aside those things that are trying to drag us down. 

What the Lord did at Calvary was tremendous, He did more than die for our sins, He imparted His character, His love for His Father, into us. The potential for transformation is already inside us! Obedience now becomes a matter of using our faith and putting our feelings aside. Who are we going to believe? The Lord Jesus, or that other guy, who loves to throw doubt around. Listen to this: “Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “DID GOD REALLY SAY (??) ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” Genesis 3:1. There you go! Doubt!! Here’s Matthew 4:3: “The tempter came to Him and said, “IF you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”  He uses “if” like this, 3 times.

We simply cannot afford to let satan steal our God-given faith. It is just as real as our eternal salvation. When we let him do that we are not reaching our full potential in Christ – yet! In Christ means standing in a God-given position. We’ve been united with Christ – He chose to do it. This represents a new God-given identity. Jesus took my old ‘self’ to the cross with Him and gave me a new identity, like His. When Father God looks at us now, He sees the blood of Jesus covering all our lives. Just like a foetus is in the mother, we are now in the Son under the blood. The safest place for us to stand is in Him, using our faith to believe that sin is no longer our Master. 

Before we met Jesus sin dragged us around like the tail on a kite. But now, we have the power to ignore its diversions, deception and lies, and live this life, here and now, like Jesus Himself would. We don’t have to give in to the urges and feelings we cultivated before we were saved. The power of God now resides within us. The Holy Spirit came here and He never left! He also gave us gifts to bless other people. Now we don’t have to give in to the temptation to live like we did before. We don’t even have to manipulate others to get what we want, Jesus will supplies those needs now.

We can be loving, patient, kind, long-suffering with others. He promised He would not leave us alone and He didn’t! Let’s believe what the bible says, above our experiences or feelings or the PAST. We have the Holy Spirit, God’s deposit within us. We are attached to the Vine, now we let the sap (the power of God) do its work! It can be hard initially, because we have a lifetime of experiences to the contrary, but keep on keeping on and you will breakthrough into a new place. You are His own child. You share His DNA. Bless you. 👋

P 3283 This is our destiny …

/ DVH

“Now, this is the goal: to live in harmony with one another and demonstrate affectionate love, sympathy, and kindness toward other believers. Let humility describe who you are as you dearly love one another. Never retaliate when someone treats you wrongly, nor insult those who insult you, but instead, respond by speaking a blessing over them—because a blessing is what God promised to give you. For the Scriptures tell us: Whoever wants to embrace true life and find beauty in each day must stop speaking evil, hurtful words and never deceive in what they say. Always turn from what is wrong and cultivate what is good; eagerly pursue peace in every relationship, making it your prize.” 1 Peter 3:8-11 TPT.

Yes, it’s the same scripture again! More to think on. First point to remember … um… not sure how to say this nicely, so I will just say it!  Watch what you say. This is hard for me, mainly because I find out what I’m thinking by talking! However I found a way to do it – I let the Holy Spirit help me – and I’ve learnt to give up quickly, and repent a lot. Boy that last one smarts! I’m pretty sure I haven’t hit humility yet. I think Peter has a wonderful way of describing how to walk in the Spirit. Especially the bit about pursuing peace in every relationship. Pursue BTW, means: go after it …like… chase it!

…And this is how Jesus makes it possible for anyone of us to live like this:  ““And I will send you the Divine Encourager from the very presence of My Father. He will come to you, the Spirit of Truth, emanating from the Father, and He will speak to you about Me. And you will tell everyone the truth about Me, for you have walked with Me from the start.””John 15:26-27. The Holy Spirit has already been sent to us! One of His Names is ‘the One called alongside us to help us!’ … He came to earth at Pentecost and He never left! Now let me list His other qualities. Hang on to your socks it’s a big list.  

Helper / Comforter / Advocate (Paraclete): (John 14:16, 15:26, 16:7);  Spirit of Truth: (John 14:17, 16:13); Spirit of Christ / Spirit of Jesus: (Romans 8:9, 1 Peter 1:11);  Holy Spirit / Holy Ghost: (Matthew 1:18, Psalm 51:11);  Breath of the Almighty / Breath of God: (Job 33:4, Genesis 1:2);  Spirit of Adoption: (Romans 8:15);  Spirit of Grace: (Hebrews 10:29); Spirit of Wisdom/Understanding/Counsel/Might/Knowledge/Fear of the Lord: (Isaiah 11:2);  Eternal Spirit: (Hebrews 9:14);  Spirit of Glory: (1 Peter 4:14);  Spirit of Life: (Romans 8:2);  Spirit of Burning / Judgment: (Isaiah 4:4);  The Promise of the Father: (Acts 1:4);  The Anointing: (1 John 2:27);  Intercessor: (Romans 8:26,27).

You can take a breath now!  Yeah. And He is here with us, right here, right now as you are reading this — and He walks with us to help us be all that God designed us to be. We simply cannot transform ourselves, it doesn’t work! Human beings become proud because we are doing it right, or lose hope because we are lousy at it! We need His transformation – WE NEED A HELPER. And this beautiful Person is here to assist us at any time, in any place, anywhere. Ya might want to just meditate on that!

We can short-circuit His help etc. by choosing to stay in and cultivate, sinful attitudes. The fear of the Lord is with those who are humble. They weep at the very thought of losing His sweet Presence. He has a way of looking at this tattered and torn old world that is beyond our imagination. He sees hope in hopelessness, freedom in captivity, beauty in heartache. He knows the way through anything that is plaguing you. And He will show us God’s way, one step at a time. Why one step at a time? Because He LOVES to walk with us. We are His passion and He is the same Person Who helped Jesus complete His mission … He saw every pain, all the suffering, all the hopelessness, and yet He flowed out through Christ to the needy – endlessly. 

He was so present with Jesus, one woman just touched the Lord’s clothes and she was healed of an ailment she had had for twelve years! He loves 💕TOGETHER — it is His greatest joy, to be one with us. When we begin to function as a Body under His guidance, we will also begin to understand a little bit of what it is like for the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit’s union and unity. They simply never disagree because They all have the same goal.

Jesus clearly told us we were better off with the Holy Spirit, when He left here and went back home to the Father, because the Holy Spirit can be everywhere. We are better off because the One Who lived within Christ, in Him and through Him, can be IN us, and work THROUGH us to bring forth the Father’s will for others.This is why we are called sons and daughters, we now have our Father’s DNA and that DNA brings forth fruit that is good and sweet – it will bring life all around it. This is our destiny, to learn to walk with the Holy Spirit, all the time, everywhere we go. Bye. 👋

P 3282 Live dead!

/ DVH

“Since Christ, though innocent, suffered in His flesh for you, now you also must be a prepared soldier, having the same mind-set, for whoever has died in his body is done with sin. So live the rest of your earthly life no longer concerned with human desires but consumed with what brings pleasure to God.” 1 Peter 4:1-2.

It is good to ask ourselves questions about our own reactions. The thing I have learnt is that you can think you have utterly surrendered to the Lord, and you only want to live for His will — then suddenly something unexpected happens and things that you didn’t know were inside, pop up like daisies! My advice is this, don’t excuse your behaviour, pay prayerful attention to it. Making excuses gives us a back door out of personal growth. It stops us discovering the real issues. These issues are far more likely to be about us, than others. We can make other people’s lives a living hell by refusing to confront our own inner attitudes.

When life stays on a pretty even keel, we begin to understand the normal day by day pressures, and we learn to manage them, by yielding to the Lord, and watching Him do the miraculous on our behalf. But it becomes easy to dismiss some not-so-great attitudes we have as …”that’s just who I am. It’s normal for me.” Ignoring the fact that we have a new normal now, and it isn’t based on our individuality, it is whether we look like Jesus, inside and out.

What comes out under pressure? Love, or temper, and impatience, or a distinct lack of mercy etc. What happens if it is your kid suddenly being bullied at school? satan knows that we will lean on the Holy Spirit to manage stuff coming at us, but what if trouble hits your kids, or your parents, or your friends? Maybe your spouse has to take a pay-cut, or even lose their job. Who are we then? I learnt many years ago, the yardstick we use to measure things must be based on the Word, not on our feelings, or our personal coping skills. The place of equality for all is in Christ Jesus, it is not in our ability to make nice noises under pressure.

For a number of years, Christians clung to what we believed about a group of wonderful verses that tickled our ears and made us feel good about ourselves. Sadly, I believe that has led to a distinct lack of adulthood in the Body of Christ. Pastors are often so busy trying to wipe adult noses, and soothe adult bumps and scrapes, plus sort out their life issues, that they have very little time to do what the Lord wants them to do! The way to maturity is through selflessness.

Years ago, I was a latch-key kid I got into all kinds of mischief because there was no parental eye on me. I was reduced to what I could get away with, rather than what was required of me. Not a good place to be. I realised I could out-think the person in charge and go around the rules! That is not obedience, it is evasion, half-truths and deception. Who are we when nobody is looking over our shoulder? 

Our new life is a new way to live not just a theme. The other day I spoke a little bit about money. I think most people don’t like it very much when money comes into the picture — however, the truth is dead people don’t own their money anymore. When we give everything we have to the Lord, He takes it and that includes the things WE think WE own.

Let’s be clear. This life we are living flows directly against our old one. And we are more familiar with the old way of thinking than the new. Some dear people don’t last, because they give up too soon. The cares, worries and struggles of this world overtake them.The best news ever is that we are NEVER alone! The Holy Spirit is a brilliant strategist and leader, we simply follow His Ways by reading the bible and applying what we’ve read, with His help, into our own lives. Plus we obey His inward checks and prompts. 

Initially that can be scary. But this also is how we find out, for ourselves, that we don’t like apologising, or looking like a daft goose. Human beings don’t like making mistakes or even having them pointed out – the old life rises up within us. We are always going need the Holy Spirit’s help – we can’t do this alone. But He’s not a tap we can turn off or on. He’s a Person! Let’s learn to live in such a way, that we are not distancing ourselves from Him. 

As we let go of the reins and allow Him to guide us through the potholes and bumps, He becomes the driver in my life, and I get to sit in the car as a passenger. But some days I really do think I belong in the boot! Soldiers are trained to obey orders, and as we learn to be obedient and cherish the Lord’s will, we are dethroning the whole me, mine, myself and I, mindset. Most people don’t drift away from faith because they hate the Lord — instead they drift away on a sea of careless indifference, aimlessly floating along unaware they are being  influenced by the changing tides of this world around us.  

Living dead’ means we have chosen to exchange our old way of life for His Ways instead, our faith is in Jesus and it is progressive,  Bye. 👋

P 3281 Doors an windows.

/ DVH

Whenever we can see our loving Heavenly Father at work, it could be a door, OR a window! What do I mean by that? A door opens life up to new possibilities for His plans in your own life – you can walk through it into a new place. A window shows you possibilities, but they are outside your reach. You can see stuff, but only from a distance. One creates action, the other can create despair and frustration… unless you prayerfully use what you see out of the window, to send you to the open door! An open door is not enough – you need the leading of the Holy Spirit and inner peace.

Christians talk about this stuff a lot. They often say that God has opened ‘a door’ for them to do such and such. Here’s what happened to Paul a couple of times … 2 Corinthians 2:12-14: “Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me, I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said goodbye to them and went on to Macedonia.” Yet in 1 Corinthians 16:8&9. “But I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost. For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries.” 

Don’t you just love it? Paul goes to Troas and finds ‘an open door’ but he had no peace.  Plus Titus, his companion in the Lord, wasn’t there. This next scripture from Acts, shows us what happened after that. You and I can see an open door, many times in our Christian lives but, the question to ask is this: is it OUR door, or is it simply a window showing us possibilities. The verse in first Corinthians explains something powerful, something we need to know. A door was open at Ephesus at another time too, and Paul went through it, yet he lingered there, despite the fact that there were many adversaries!

What does that teach us? Here’s my potted version … adverse situations and people don’t mean the door you want to go through is shut! You might want to think on that. Many a fine missionary has run into all kinds of adversity and adversaries, but that did not daunt them. They stayed true to their heavenly calling. The leading of the Holy Spirit is extremely important whenever we want to obey the Lord by “going out into all the world to preach the gospel.” And no peace is a sign that you are there all by yourself. Peace is our umpire! We will end up side-lined in the sin bin if we ignore the umpire! 

Over to Acts 16:6-12 it says: “And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them …” 

Do you see that? It was the right calling —- wrong place —- God redirected Paul through a vision. It seems to me that he saw something through a window, and then the Lord helped him find the right door! Father God is so merciful, He gave Paul that vision to help him go in the right direction. If you go somewhere for Jesus because you believe He called you to go — then first of all, like Paul, take a partner who has the same heart as you! Remember, in 2nd Corinthians Paul didn’t find Titus so he moved on, plus He had no peace. That’s because God wanted him elsewhere and Troas was not the place. 

If we read about this situation in Acts, we can see that the Holy Spirit Himself forbad them to speak in Asia. We simply must learn to follow the Holy Spirit, He will guide us. People have lost their faith doing something God Himself never called them to do. They went simply because there was an open door. Not every open door belongs to us. Prayerfully make sure it is your door! 

Because we are His — Almighty God controls our opportunities. Jesus Himself said this in the book of Revelation 3:7,8: “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the Holy One, the True One, Who has the key of David, Who opens and no one will shut, Who shuts and no one opens.” ‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept My word and have not denied My name.”

Ps did you notice that this church had little power? Having little power does not mean your church is a failure or you have missed it! Keep preaching the gospel and don’t lose your hopes or dreams of seeing the dead raised and the sick healed, keep them. Keep them alive by keeping in the Word. Pray for everyone who needs it… then leave the results to Him. All of those things are promised to people who believe and act on what He says, using His Name. My advice is to keep moving and acting on the Word of God, and always make Jesus the centre of what you do. Even if you went the wrong way – He has another plan for you.

God promises us that if He shuts a door no one can open it, and when He opens one then watch out!  Just because you can see something, that does not mean it is your responsibility – even Paul had to learn to listen carefully to the Holy Spirit and obey Him. The bible tells us that we are to be as wise as serpents and gentle as doves, so please don’t let someone else’s rapidly growing church bring you down from where God put you. Praise God for their increase instead! Numbers don’t matter to the Lord, Jesus started out with only 12 men.

Like I said at the beginning of this blog, prayerfully check to see if what is in front of you is a door or a window. Make sure you wait on the Holy Spirit so you can spot the difference. You can have full confidence based on the book of Revelation that if it is a door God has opened in front of you, no man can shut it. Amen! Bye. 👋

P 3280 It seems like the ‘impossible dream.’

/ DVH

“Now, this is the goal: to live in harmony with one another and demonstrate affectionate love, sympathy, and kindness toward other believers. Let humility describe who you are as you dearly love one another. Never retaliate when someone treats you wrongly, nor insult those who insult you, but instead, respond by speaking a blessing over them—because a blessing is what God promised to give you. For the Scriptures tell us: Whoever wants to embrace true life and find beauty in each day must stop speaking evil, hurtful words and never deceive in what they say. Always turn from what is wrong and cultivate what is good; eagerly pursue peace in every relationship, making it your prize.” 1 Peter 3:8-11 TPT.

Don’t worry, I am not about to break into a chorus from the musical: “Man from La Mancha.” Even though the above verses from Peter seem like the impossible dream! Here, briefly, is the story from that musical: ’It is a funny story of mad but kind and chivalrous elderly nobleman Don Quixote who, aided by his squire Sancho Panza, fights windmills that are seen as dragons to save prostitute Dulcinea who is seen as a noblewoman.’ 

I chose this musical as an illustration today, because we can miss out on God’s blessings, when we discount some tasks as not worthy of our attention. Who would treat a prostitute like a noblewoman? Jesus did on a couple of occasions! And Don Quixote, the addle-pated fictional old guy did too. Many people thought his character was delusional, but others saw it as an illustration of complete saneness in a mad world. You decide. 

We can all have false value systems that are nothing like the Lord’s. It’s important to remind ourselves, that Jesus loved sinners. He loved the people, not what they did! Those people who “fessed up” to their failings out of love, respect and honour for the Lord’s holiness. All of us have sinned, and one sin is not worse than another. Anything that offends God’s holiness is sin. Plus anything that doesn’t come from faith is also sin. (Romans 14:23). 

At one time, Jesus went to a tax collector’s house for dinner and many people were really angry with Him for doing it. Yet the Lord said on another occasion: “I did not come to call the [self-proclaimed] righteous [who see no need to repent], but sinners to repentance [to change their old way of thinking, to turn from sin and to seek God and HIS righteousness].” Luke 5:32. God’s ways are not like ours. His Grace and Righteousness have been given to us purely through His Son’s death. Given for free, but at immeasurable cost.

Here is the point I want to make today – we can sin with our mouths far more than most people do with their actions! We need to remember that our mouths follow our inner attitudes.“Whoever wants to embrace true life and find beauty in each day must stop speaking evil, hurtful words and never deceive in what they say.”  The thing about God’s Word is that it couldn’t be clearer. There is no wiggle room. Anything else is disobedience. We’ve all mouthed off at one time or another, and, hopefully, repented from it. What Peter is saying is this:  if you can control your mouth, your whole body will follow along behind it. It seems to me like James said that too! 

Two things help in this deceitful, sometimes hypocritical battle we all experience. First of all: Renewing our minds. Our thinking needs to change. However, please don’t feel condemned about it. That’s an endless way of thinking that is hard to escape from. Condemnation is not like conviction. Conviction leads to fresh life — condemnation leads to fruitless, self-flagellation. Jesus paid for all our sins. Repent, and then deliberately repair things, and then move on. 

Here’s something that helps me …I do this out of obedience and reverence for Him, feelings don’t come into it.

That is the first step in a process that changes the way we think about other people, ourselves and sin. ‘…repentance is a profound, inward change of mind and attitude toward sin, resulting in a 180-degree turn in direction—away from wrong doing and toward God. It involves sincere remorse (godly sorrow), confession, and an inward commitment to change actions and behaviours.’ 

Secondly: “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”  Ephesians 4:29. That little word “let” shows us that we actually are able to monitor what we say, and edit out inappropriate responses. We will need the Holy Spirit’s help, but this gets easier with practice. However, I think that the ‘monitoring’ process starts with what we take in. If we put garbage in, then garbage will come out. For example: I’ve noticed that if I am around someone who swears a lot, my first thought when something goes wrong is not a good one! This is not that  other person’s fault – I didn’t take the time to rewire my brain with what God says.

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Philippians 4:8. And that brings me to this conclusion:  I will always need to find what’s good in the things that happen to me. God’s good, and He’s in charge of me, so GOOD will be there. I can always ask Him to help me see it because anger, frustration, self-pity etc. can get in the way. Living like this isn’t an ‘impossible dream’ and I am not “tilting at windmills…!” Jesus also once said this: “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26. Bye 👋.

P 3279 If you want to see a miracle … … you are going to have to take a RISK!

/ DVH

I think many Christians are currently living their lives avoiding risks. Maybe they feel they don’t have to take a risk because: “God doesn’t want me to be uncomfortable.”  Hmmm… It’s just you, me and the Lord here. Tell me, have you ever wished someone would move far, far away – ‘cos they bug the daylights out of you? Here’s an interesting thought … you just might need His help with that, it seems like it needs some attention.

Instead of yielding to the Lord, it certainly seems like we are more likely to give in to our thoughts, emotions and passions. Plus…we have given away the power of personal choice, and we tell ourselves: ‘we can’t help it, life is just like this now, it is the 21st century.’ The thing with yielding ground to the enemy is this, …he’s greedy, he wants it all, and he will not stop coming at you. he doesn’t know the meaning of the word – mercy. The more ground he has in your life, the more he can torment you. Take back what he stole from you and give it to the Lord Jesus! The safest place for everything to be in our lives, — is “in Christ Jesus.” Store your family, money, job, etc. up in heaven and give them to Him. Ain’t no rust or moths up there!

Fear is one of satan’s biggest weapons, and he sows it into people’s lives and uses it to create chaos. Here’s a different thought — chaos needs to be fed, and worry does a bang-up job doing it! But if we take the worry and fear fuel away, chaos cannot support itself. Jesus stood in the middle of chaos a number of times and He was not distracted by it. His focus was always on what His Father wanted. He is the perfect example of how we need to live! The Lord Jesus blows me away every single time I read the book. 

Especially when I look at His circumstances. I love the way He responded to other people, including their accusations, as well as their applause. The bible says He was able to do that because: “He knew what was in the heart of men.” (John 2:23-25.) Living like this is risky. It’s like standing in an open field with lots of people firing arrows at you all at once. It seems like one of them is bound to hit you somewhere!  I think we don’t like feeling vulnerable, so we hide from people instead with polite smiles and platitudes. It’s mighty hard to love somebody you are hiding from!  

And choosing to love people that you know will hurt you is a huge risk. It may not be that person’s intention, but it’s like you’ve been in a losing boxing match from the moment you are together. I found an answer that worked in my life when I’ve met people with manipulative, controlling actions  …I decided to do whatever HE told me to do, for HIM — instead of doing it for them. I simply took out the middleman. This gives the Lord the opportunity to take over. Pretty soon I saw this person who threatened my sense of wellbeing, from a distinctly different POV.

Then I found this scripture…“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” Colossians 3:23,24. That took a lot of risk out of meeting with scary people for me. I simply treated them the way I would treat the Lord Himself. You and I are now royalty, and this is the ultimate way we can serve others — just like our Saviour-King did, we give them what they don’t deserve. Jesus gave US Grace. And His Grace changed the whole ball-game. 

Initially, being nice to nasty people seemed counter-productive, it seemed like I was supporting something that was not good? Actually I was letting God’s Word loose in a practical way and, as a result, He did everybody good. The Lord can’t help Himself – He’s just that generous. Risk averted! Living this way is witnessing without saying one word. Eventually the other person will ask you questions, and then you get to tell them! Win, win! People think witnessing is just about talking, Jesus didn’t think so:

“By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.”  John 13:35. Loving one another is one of the best witnesses we can exhibit to this world, and it comes under the heading of ‘hard to do!’ The bond we have with Him is a no brainer, the bond I have with you, can be RISKY. We could end up disagreeing over stuff like doctrine. That’s why treating everyone the same way is the best answer. Love simply never fails! ps love gets easier when you practice it.

Risky living is worth it … even if, or when, it seems to fall on its head. I found the secret in those moment is this, don’t take your faith in God’s goodness back. You and I are in no position to judge exactly what is going on. I have had people tell me that doing this or that for them was a waste of time … only to have them tell me much later that it really touched their hearts, they were just embarrassed! 

We are all too dumb to know what’s good for us. Seeing miracles is a daily event for those who are prepared to take a risk. Some days the miracle is that you don’t feel angry when you would normally want to yell at the other person. At other times, there is lasting reconciliation, yet that relationship looked like it had no hope whatsoever. I’ve learnt to put down my pride and do it His way, using the book. Bye. 👋

P 3278 Who owns what?

/ DVH

You may recall this scripture, it is in: Matthew 19:21-23: “Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.” When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

Boy, Jesus really loves to speak plainly! No wonder angry, greedy, power-loving people plotted to kill Him, He spoke into the very heart of the things that most people embrace. Money is a big thing to all of us. If you haven’t got any, then you need it. Yet at the same time it seems like you can never have enough of it! Sometimes others have more than enough, and they like to give, but they carefully dole out what they can afford to give and not care about. Giving involves a cheerful open heart. We give because He gave us everything, and everything we have belongs to Him.

We have learnt through the bible, that the Lord doesn’t want us to have a grudging attitude. He is teaching us about His kind of priorities. Meanwhile, money is a difficult subject for most of us. Let’s be clear, the Lord neither wants or needs OUR MONEY. He has gates made out of pearls, and walls made out of precious stones, and HIS streets are paved with heavenly gold. Add to all that the fact that He owns the cattle on a thousand hills – the conclusion is – our God is not poor! That’s a good thing to remember!! 

Talking about money is actually never about money or who needs it or who deserves it. That’s works. It is about the state of our faith. This young man could not follow Jesus, because the things he owned, owned him!  When we let the Lord dictate what we do with our money, we are putting Him in charge of our wellbeing. We know that without money and assets, our societies today cannot function. Unfortunately, that line for ‘enough money’ moves away from us. One of the best places I know to test how your personal faith is doing is … money. For fifty years God has shown me His faithfulness regarding finances.

Many years ago, I was convicted about tithing. My ex was not. In the end, after some wrestling with my own conscience, I decided the only money I had that I controlled was my housekeeping money. Co-incidently, our tithe was the same amount of money as the sum I had! So I did a deal with the Lord. I told Him I would tithe the housekeeping money to make up the shortfall. That meant no food was going to be bought that week, plus a grumpy husband. (There is always a risk involved!) In the car, on the way to church… (I keep telling you God is never in a hurry) … my ex suddenly said – without ANY discussion at all: “I think we need to tithe.”  You could have heard my sigh of relief in Pakistan.

Almighty God says this in Malachi 3:10: “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.”  He invites us to test Him about this matter, by making sure whatever and whenever we give, we are generous. Generosity is not a legalistic thing, it quite simply bubbles over. If we hesitate about how much money can we afford to give, we will lose the spirit of what the Lord is saying here. The barn is meant to be full. That’s excess, not need. Because it’s not about the money! It is never about the money, or the goods and things we own. It’s about whether that stuff owns us!

When we get things sorted out, faith-wise regarding money, we are standing in a place where God can teach us in a concrete, seeable fashion about faith. It is always about our faith. Diagnostically we can tell what state our faith is in, if we look carefully at how we prioritise our finances. I want to leave you with one last scripture — it’s in two places in the Gospels –  Mark 12:41-44 and Luke 21:1-4.  Let’s look at Luke: “As Jesus looked up, He saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

The point the Lord is making here is that He loves sacrificial giving. Giving out of excess is still giving, but Jesus Himself commented on the sacrifice this woman made. The amount is irrelevant, it was the fact that this widow gave all. Don’t concentrate on the money, look at her heart! This is what faith requires – ALL. We simply can’t afford to live this life using part-time faith. To start with, it will become more and more difficult to try to figure out which bit is His and which bit is ours! We need to give up everything to follow Him, or the devil has a place to stand on in our hearts, and he will torment us. It’s the same with sin, whatever we tolerate gives our enemy room to plague us with doubt, unbelief and indifference. 

Many people make scriptures like these about money. Money is simply a byproduct of an attitude we can secretly have about the Lord. That attitude is often steeped in fear. If we look at our need, we will end up with greed. We have chosen to follow SomeOne Who did not care about material goods. What makes us think we can follow Him well, if we are obsessed with them? The big question today is: Who owns what?  Bye. 👋

P 3277 The Lord cannot let you down.

/ DVH

“The Lord is my light and my salvation;  I will fear no one. The Lord protects me from all danger; I will never be afraid.

When evil people attack me and try to kill me, they stumble and fall. Even if a whole army surrounds me, I will not be afraid; even if enemies attack me, I will still trust God. I have asked the Lord for one thing one thing only do I want: to live in the Lord’s house all my life, to marvel there at His goodness, and to ask for His guidance. In times of trouble He will shelter me; He will keep me safe in His Temple and make me secure on a high rock. So I will triumph over my enemies around me. 

With shouts of joy I will offer sacrifices in His Temple; I will sing, I will praise the Lord. Hear me, Lord, when I call to You! Be merciful and answer me! When You said, “Come worship Me,” I answered, “I will come, Lord.”Don’t hide Yourself from me! Don’t be angry with me; don’t turn Your servant away. You have been my help; don’t leave me, don’t abandon me, O God, my Saviour. My father and mother may abandon me, but the Lord will take care of me. Teach me, Lord, what You want me to do, and lead me along a safe path, because I have many enemies. Don’t abandon me to my enemies, who attack me with lies and threats. I know that I will live to see the Lord’s goodness in this present life. Trust in the Lord. Have faith, do not despair. Trust in the Lord.”  Psalm 27 GNB. 

In order to maintain our faith and sanity, we need to regularly and deliberately stop and take the time to remind ourselves of Who He is, and how very much He loves us. Meanwhile, who are we to fellowship with SomeOne like Almighty God, and dare to call Him “Father?” Thank you Jesus!  How constantly and consistently He seeks to protect us and comfort us. He is not a God Who stands afar off. (Psalm 10:1) The Lover of our soul, Jesus, is our dearest Friend Who sticks closer than a brother.(Proverbs 18:24) We are so incredibly blessed!

Sometimes the things we need to do and the places we need to go to, can be overwhelming. Plus the people  who often crowd in on us, and don’t always contribute anything positive! And so we forget God is our ever-present help in time of need. These are the times to press in to Him. God sits on His throne and laughs at the threats and posturing of His enemies. So we have nothing to be afraid about, because the Lord has us in His care. We are the apple of His eye, His people, His sheep. He is the good Shepherd Who protects and guards His sheep against all attacks and threats. In difficult times, we need to tuck ourselves under His Wings, where there is shelter. If you feel besieged and under threat, run to the Lord, and hide yourself in His goodness. 

I like to take the time to reaffirm my faith and trust in His goodness. Please understand this action is not an immediate EXIT strategy. Instead I am making a decision to deliberately enter into His rest. Focussing on His goodness helps the process of watering and fertilising the seeds of my faith, even at a time when I am raw and unsettled. That’s what faith looks like. It isn’t always pretty, or powerful.  However, our Mighty powerful Lion of Judah will come to our aid as we fix our eyes on Him and not what is going on around us. The point is, our faith is in WHO He is, not just in changed circumstances or how we feel or react to them.  

Our Heavenly Father cannot let us down because He has chosen to be bound by His own promises. He wrote them down! This means we cannot forget them and we can be encouraged in the dark night of our soul to trust Him when it seems impossible. It is His integrity that is at stake here. That’s why the great patriarchs and mighty men of the past, held Him to His Word. The Lord delights in the kind of faith that holds Him to His Word! This faith is not based on feelings, but it can be influenced by HISTORY … our shared history with Him.

The bible clearly tells us that Father God does not keep score of our blunders and sinfulness, because our debt has already been paid by Jesus. That glorious, terrible event is part of our shared history with God.  He chooses to focus on the freedom His Love bought us. All He sees when He looks at us, now, is His dear Son’s blood. That blood is as fresh in our lives today, as it was when it was willingly shed back then, at Calvary. That’s why we need to choose to voluntarily repent quickly, and repair things. Our desire is to stay under the blood of Jesus.We rely upon the Lord’s costly provision and His truthfulness. 

We have no reason to deliberately nourish sin in our lives anymore. It has no power or authority over us! Jesus took the devil’s power away from him – all he can do now is deceive us. But because we love our Father’s Word and joyfully obey Him, we can live a brand new life filled with His love and purposes. We’ve chosen to be dead to what we want, and alive to what He wants. And now we embrace the power of the cross in our lives from day to day. That power delivers us from evil as we embrace His life in us! 

Like the Psalmist says: stuff still happens. Our enemy has not given up on trying to deceive us, but we are so blessed! We have the truth to set us free, and uncover the lies we are being fed. No wonder the Psalmist is joyful and can’t wait to worship God! His knowledge of the Lord’s goodness and His ways are His greatest comfort in times of trouble. We have God’s Word written down, signed in the blood of Jesus. He will do what He said He will do, and more. He cannot let us down – His faithfulness is legendary.Bye. 👋

P 3276 Jesus is our life now.

/ DVH

We live “… in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left;  through glory and dishonour, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors;  known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.” 1 Corinthians 6:6-10.

Paul carefully describes the way we are to live …from our core … out. I know the immediate response to reading something like this is to distance ourselves from it, by making excuses for our private, secret personhood, or past  circumstances. But our lack of obedience, cannot excuse us — nor does our inbuilt ineptitude for spiritual things. That’s because all transformation takes, is surrender. This is a quality decision you refuse to back out of. The thing is we can’t keep any sin like a pet, feeding it, sheltering it, and making room for it. 

We have given the Lord our lives, so we don’t belong to us now. We died! So we do not have to have those things imprisoning us anymore. We have gained His life and it has been designed to flourish in us. No matter what mess we have made of our lives – nothing is too difficult for Him. Meanwhile it is dangerous to project how we feel NOW, into the future …because feelings shift and change. God Himself and His Ways are the only certain things we can afford to embrace, because they are written down in His book!

We can try to live in both worlds but that pathway of self-control is an illusion. The truth is everybody is “fine” until something incredibly hard happens. We simply can’t hold onto the things Christ is offering us, and still have this world at the centre of our attention. We need empty hands! Grace is free but it was incredibly costly. Our love for the One Who paid such a price, demands a response — and our response needs to be total surrender. Partial surrender does not work. Trust me, I’ve tried it. You will make yourself a target with so much time-wasting guff, you can barely keep your head up above water.

Jesus has taken every single sin and burden off us, when He embraced those things upon Himself on the cross and took our punishment for them. We cannot atone for our own sin, now we live as grateful recipients of His Grace. Praise Him over and over again for the incredible Grace His death released that day. It was over abundantly more than we could ever hope or dream. Yet we cannot begin to attain anything like 1 Corinthians 6 without the Grace of God thundering through our lives, transforming the way we think, act, and speak. And we need to allow Him to do it.

Let’s choose to be all in, now and forever. That’s a quality decision that we will choose to honour for His sake. Not because Christ will reject us – He won’t – this side of judgment day. But because sin is slippery, uncontrollable stuff that seeps into our very thinking. It will come out of our mouths when life squeezes us tightly. It will slowly but surely lead us away from the very Person Who saved us.  The bible says in Galatians 2:20:“I have been crucified with Christ [that is, in Him I have shared His crucifixion]; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body I live by faith [by adhering to, relying on, and completely trusting] in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

The reality is, we simply must choose to become alive to Father God’s Ways. And then start by using our faith  and acting on those choices. It’s a done deal —Jesus took us all to the cross with Him. Now we choose to live — daily, minute by minute, honouring that decision by following His Ways with all of our substance. If He wants us to give, then we give. If He wants us to pray for others, then we pray for them. If He wants us to go live somewhere else, then we do that. If He wants us to speak, we speak. And if He wants us to be silent, then we are silent. His Grace is available to those who want Him to help them. We are ruled by what we embrace.

Our God promises to meet all our needs … so we don’t want to go about demanding our rights. We gave them away when we said ‘yes’ to Jesus! Now, we choose to submit to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ God’s Holy Son. And WE CAN TRUST HIM. We will never ever deserve what He did for us, even for a nano-second. Our grateful, obedient response means that we choose to follow His instructions in the Bible, because we have ingested the way He thinks, rather than the way this world does. 

He has becomes our reference point — not our own comfort. How can we do this? We choose to live with forever in mind, as we honour God Himself with our obedience. Jesus is our life now. We are still in this world, but we are no longer a product of what this world thinks and does. Now we follow the One Who produced life, life, and more life. Bye. 👋 

“So then, prepare your hearts and minds for action! Stay alert and fix your hope firmly on the marvellous grace that is coming to you. For when Jesus Christ is unveiled, a greater measure of grace will be released to you. As God’s obedient children, never again shape your lives by the desires that you followed when you didn’t know better. Instead, shape your lives to become like the Holy One who called you. For Scripture says: “You are to be holy, because I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:13-16 TPT.