Christianity

P 2509 What if Jesus lived next door?

/ DVH

“The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighbourhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish.” John 1:14 MSG

I started to think about this verse this morning and chew over it. Meanwhile, I also like the Passion Translation as well – I put a picture of that one at the bottom of the page. The way John 1:14 reads inspires me. However, in reality, Jesus didn’t actually just move into our neighbourhood – He came even closer … He moved into our physical house! Think about it.

“Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, Who lives in you and Who was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourselves but to God;…”1 Corinthians 6:19. Imagine what life would, or could look like, if we took this verse seriously? The thing is … this verse is actually our new reality. Just because we can’t feel His Presence that doesn’t mean the verse isn’t true – it just means whatever He does is easy to ignore because we can’t see Him. We have to be determined to pay attention to Him, because we want to be dedicated lovers of Jesus.  

Here’s another big thought … your physical home is now His house too! Yeah. This is true whether we are renting or we’ve paid off the mortgage. The reality is, we work and slave and make a life for ourselves by owning things but, we actually own nothing. We can all go ahead and make grand plans for our stuff — that’s called making a will — but most inheritors can’t wait to sell Mum or Dad’s house for the money. Which is, after all, only a piece of paper that mankind has given value to! 

For me those things all come under a heading of “things human beings do that make no sense at all” — spiritually speaking. God says that in His book, like this: “… It’s useless to rise early and go to bed late, and work your worried fingers to the bone. Don’t you know He enjoys giving rest to those He loves?”  Psalm 127:2b MSG. You know, I can almost hear some people saying, “Well, it may seem useless to Him but I will get the sack if I don’t put in the time.” I hear ya! But what it actually means is this – Who are you relying upon? That’s the real point! Now we belong to Jesus, whatever we do, we are now working for Him. He gave us His life and we give Him ours.

Our financial circumstances can change in a heartbeat or overnight – Covid showed us that. This Psalmist is saying it makes no sense to slave your heart out, and sit up night by night worrying over how you will pay the rent or the mortgage. He’s NOT talking about being careless with your responsibilities, or wandering off to bed saying: “Whatever!” … and hoping that will do. He is talking about relinquishment and entering into God’s kind of rest. 

Almighty God’s rest doesn’t take effort. First we pray, and then we just hand stuff over and ask Him to help us do these things under His guidance. Then we carry out whatever He told us to do. It’s in the book, as well as in our hearts. Human beings like to think we are powerful, but the reality is that this life can change in a heartbeat … or the lack of one!

It is important that whatever we have, does not own us. When we are worried about our stuff, then those things own our time, as well as our mental, and physical effort. Maybe someone reading this is renting. You should thank God, that you don’t have to make sure the roof doesn’t leak, and the walls stay upright. That’s the landlord’s responsibility. Owning stuff can push our spirituality aside unless we are really prayerful and careful. My advice is this — hold whatever you have in an open hand. People, house, car, job … remember, we bring nothing here and we take nothing away. God has another way for us to live. He wants us to live trusting Him, not in what we can do. HE has no limitations.

Let’s briefly look at the ordinary people who are on earth right now, who are in the middle of a war or a famine. Everything they thought they owned is gone. All their clothes, mementos, personal stuff is gone in a heartbeat. And they come out of that awful situation grateful if their families survive. There are NO insurance policies in war torn countries. They have to rely upon the goodwill of those in other countries for help with food, medicine, safety. Now these people have to begin this life again … and their sense of safety within their own space etc. is gone. There is nothing like losing everything to remind us we own nothing!

Sacrificial giving is our new way to live, it is part of being His kid. Giving out of excess is a rumour, it won’t happen while we live in a an excessive, greedy society. The sun comes up every day for free! Those of us who seem to be living in some sort of safety, need to live gratefully, and prayerfully, and share with others who do not! You know if Jesus lived next door to us, we would actively see Him helping others. We can easily see Him living that way – it’s in the book! Bye. 👋

P 2507 The time has come to pay attention.

/ DVH

You know, sometimes I wonder if we have been so busy building, or maybe even re-building, our own little kingdoms … not to mention trying hard to look like good Christians … that maybe we have run out of OIL and we didn’t notice. Now satan has boxed us into inactivity. Lemme tell you a thing or nine … that box we think we can see, is a fake. Nothing can hold any of one of us captive without our permission.

Yes, I know it’s been hard at your house, it’s been hard at mine. But the reason it has become so hard is because we’ve kind of let ourselves get soft and flabby spiritually speaking. There have been difficulties flying at us like snow in a snow storm and they have been coming so thick and fast, perhaps we have not been able to stay in overcoming mode. Life got hard when Covid smacked us in the head, praise God – and now we need to wake up, or go under.

BTW, I said ‘praise God’ because we have been in a time of shaking. Christianity is not designed to be an established routine:  with Church on Sunday, bible study on Monday, prayer group on Thursday etc. Christianity is about an Army. An army can accomplish very little half-asleep on its feet! Our job is to defeat the enemy and our side already won – because the King of glory is in us.

I am greatly cheered by the story of Gideon. It starts with a guy whose faith is about a quarter of an inch high, yet he became the God-delegated leader of 32,000 men. Then the Lord Himself whittled those men down to 300. 😱 Almighty God carefully walked that man into such an incredible place. He did that to show Himself strong to His children. Meanwhile, if anyone had told Gideon that’s where he was going, I think he might have freaked out!! However this man draggled along, willingly and sometimes unwillingly, following God’s instructions, step by step – despite his own fears and misgivings.  

In my heart I know that right now, we are in a time like it was back then for Gideon. Almighty God has a way through our apathy and inactivity – He hasn’t caused it, but He will definitely use it! However, we will always need the Holy Spirit’s leadership. Father God has given us the Holy Spirit to help us with difficult times, as well as our own weakness. “And in a similar way, the Holy Spirit takes hold of us in our human frailty to empower us in our weakness. For example, at times we don’t even know how to pray, or know the best things to ask for. But the Holy Spirit rises up within us to super-intercede on our behalf, pleading to God with emotional sighs too deep for words.” Romans 8:26 TPT. 

Praise God, right at this moment, the Holy Spirit is praying for all of us, and boy does HE know how to pray! Hallelujah! The bible tells us that when we are weak, then He is strong. Nevertheless, our obedience is essential. Gideon had to obey God and send men home, some of them for the most ridiculous reasons. Father God also called Gideon a mighty warrior, and that was something he would never call himself. Our God sees us differently than we see ourselves. He has no problem with faith! He knew what Gideon could do when he was empowered by the Holy Spirit.

You and I may feel that we have little to offer the Lord … we can’t preach, or teach, or prophesy, or heal the sick, or raise the dead… or so we think! But Gideon shows us that an obedient, weak person in God’s hands has far more power than they can imagine, because God is on their side. You and I are never alone. We walk with the One Who made the moon, stars and universe. We know His Name and He knows ours. 

Our problem also has never been about power, He gave us power. Our problem is about per-cep-tion. Just like Gideon. He had no idea Who he was dealing with, but as he was led along by the Holy Spirit, that man saw miracle after miracle. The God of miracles is waiting for you and I to rise and be strong in the Lord, and in the power of HIS MIGHT.  If Christians started to live their lives the Way Jesus lived His, purely for our Father’s will … we’d see what Jesus saw …transformation, souls saved, and miracles. 

It isn’t who we are – it is WHO WE KNOW. The time has come to pay attention and begin to practice taking faith steps. His power is let loose through our obedience to Him. Bye 👋

““Ask, and the gift is yours. Seek, and you’ll discover. Knock, and the door will be opened for you.” Matthew 7:7 TPT

P 2506 What is God’s love language? God’s love language is obedience.

/ DVH

“Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.”1 John 3:18.“Whoever has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me.”John 14:21. BTW, let’s not get stuck on ‘but I can’t do that – I get it wrong all the time.’ Yeah me too. Jesus gave us something to aim at – the results come with practice … plus denying yourself and taking up your particular cross and following HIM.

There has been a lot of talk in the past about our own individual love languages … this one means this and that one means that. Yay! They are all very useful when we are trying to relate to one another. However, when it comes to Almighty God, He has ONE love language. Obedience. Funnily enough, if you practise obeying Him, you may not need to know your own love language – you’ll be too busy getting DEAD.

Anyway, this stuff isn’t all that hard to remember is it? Actually, it’s dead 🤪 easy — the problem seems to be about applying it … not understanding or remembering it! Let’s look at what Jesus did while He walked amongst us – after all, He is our Role-model. Oh! And my plan is to jump all over the current theory that Jesus obeyed so that we don’t have to. Rhubarb.

“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:5-11.

You see, first of all, that’s a whole lotta words, and unless we take the time to pull those words apart, and even check on some of their meanings, we can easily read, blah blah blah blah! nice thought …And we conclude — isn’t Jesus ace!? Of course He is!! Thank you Lord for doing that for us. Big sigh. All done now for today, nice thought that one… praise God!! I got that part. And so we move on to the rest of our day, doing what we’ve always done   … 😳

EXCEPT! It actually says at the beginning of that passage … “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus …“ In Philippians we are being exhorted to think about others the same way Christ thought about us. So we’d better pay attention because there are some pretty big obedience issues in there. Remember, our premise today is … what is God’s love language (?) and … I decided it’s obedience. But He said it first.

There are times when we read those words that we have not comprehended that when the Lord walked those dusty roads, and sometimes slept beside one, or ate nothing for dinner, or sat on the side of a hill for hours teaching people etc. etc. … He was obeying God. When He let men do those awful things to Him before He died… He was obeying God! Yeah, I know, that kind of jumps all over a lot of our current theology eh? He did all that to show us how to live – so we’d better pay attention. Because any minute now a TEST is going to show up!

Once, long ago, 120 people waited in an upper room because … Jesus Christ told them to do it. And that obedience changed their lives. We can so easily concentrate on the external vi-si-ble things: like fire falling on their heads, speaking in tongues, preaching a fantastic sermon about salvation. But what happened at Pentecost started with obedience. You wouldn’t want to be some guy that asked to be excused the day before all that happened, would you? You know that guy, the one that got married and bought a cow and had to get back home to take care of them and he couldn’t go to a wedding? Yeah him. Disobedience comes with big risks… just saying is all …

Now, let’s go back to looking at Jesus – because He is the best place to look! “For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.” Romans 5:19.“Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?” Romans 6:16.

Because we are pursing righteousness – and getting DEAD to self in the process … then that stuff is going to require our active obedience, not just our agreement. We could all agree that the sun is purple but that won’t change the reality and could bring on the men in the white coats to help us out!! Our agreement isn’t worth a load of old washing if it is not backed up by truth. FYI, truth is in the book – not the latest Christian doctrine, fad or fashion!

“Whoever says “I know Him” but does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in Him …” 1 John 2:4. Yeah, I wish He hadn’t said that too. But He did! Not liking what the Holy Spirit wrote down doesn’t change a thing. Let’s go back to James and that mirror we would rather forget about. “Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.“James 1:23,24. This dumb schmuck has forgotten what a mirror is for!!  

Here’s another one to chew on as I leave for today: “And to love Him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbour as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” Mark 12:33. Our Heavenly Father sees our deliberate, dying-to-self obedience as LOVE. Now there’s great motivation – when we obey Him we are showing Him our love.  Just FYI, SomeBody else did that first, remember? Bye. 👋

P 2505 We will live a glorious life – when we live for His glory.

/ DVH

“Pray like this: ‘Our Beloved Father, dwelling in the heavenly realms, may the glory of Your Name be the centre on which our lives turn. Manifest Your kingdom realm, and cause Your every purpose to be fulfilled on earth, just as it is in heaven. We acknowledge You as our Provider of all we need each day. Forgive us the wrongs we have done, as we ourselves release forgiveness to those who have wronged us. Rescue us every time we face tribulation and set us free from evil. For You are the King Who rules with power and glory forever, Amen.”Matthew 6:9-13 TPT.

‘May the glory of Your Name be the centre on which our life turns…” Now that’s a big prayer! It is also a really really really big thought. Sometimes I wonder if we are not seeing the kind of revival this world needs, because we’ve forgotten WHO we are here for! Please don’t misunderstand me… I love praying for the salvation of souls, and the cessation of hostilities in this world etc. – but if we are not living this life, the only one we have – for His glory – then I believe we are living our lives too small.

If we look at the Lord’s prayer carefully we will see that inadvertently, over the years, we have made that prayer about us. About us living right, doing right, having enough food to eat etc. Even yesterday I wrote about the importance of forgiveness… which is still about us. Sometimes we get so focussed on getting our daily bread, we forget what that bread has cost Almighty God. Plus the lives that have been sacrificed so we can read His words in person.

When I read the above phrase … about His Name being the centre of our lives … and I really looked at it, it hit me that most of our prayers are stuck in the give me, help me, save me mode. I wonder how many times we pray “thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven …” as kind of a nice hand-off. A tiny acknowledgement, a tipping of our hypothetical hats, or even a passing recognition, that the only reason Jesus came to earth was to save and bless us!

Reality rush. Christ came to earth to fulfil HIS FATHER’S WILL. It may seem like a moot point but God initiated this whole thing in our behalf. We would not be in this world without His Divine choice and intervention – and that’s the actual real reality – it is definitely not an add-on!  So today, my first question is: are you and I actively living for His glory? Or are we putting one foot in front of the other, making the wheels go around, to actually build our own hopefully Godly, kingdoms?? Because there is a difference. Just Who are we living for? What would change in my life if I decided to live purely for His glory until I leave here? What about yours?

I think living for His glory is the key to His kingdom coming here on earth as it is in heaven! I do not believe the Lord will ever begrudge us our daily bread, and all kinds of joy in this life – the scriptures make that clear. But I do think that we could see so much more change, in us and around us, if we lived this life so that He will be glorified in us and through us! I want to point out that Jesus is our example and that is exactly how HE lived. Everything He did was for His Father’s glory. And He saved us so we can now go on to fulfil the Father’s purposes.

I remember listening to someone singing an old song, a while ago, and they misrepresented it on purpose, for an illustration. They proposed that the song “it’s all about You Jesus” would be more accurately portrayed if we actually sang “it’s all about ME Jesus.” See, we don’t actually say any of this stuff out loud, but ask yourself – is this the way I live from day to day?

How many times do I ask myself:  “what is it that YOU want Lord?” And then sadly we go off from our time with Him and drift away from the real answer, because life is too hard  … and after all Jesus knows what this life is really like, and … we are only human! Every single time we make a decision like that one, we are reducing the Kingdom of God into a one-stop supply shop!

He deserves better. Our service for His kingdom needs to be a joy. Laying down our lives is our privilege not a tough task we can barely manage. Think about this, Almighty God has waited over two thousand years for a people who will love Him enough to follow His ways no matter what the cost is personally. A people who will see His incredible love for them, and go on to live inspired lives, and return that kind of love back to Him. I think the Apostles … Paul, Peter, James and John etc. deeply understood that. They stopped living their lives for themselves and they went on to live and die to bring Him glory... and they considered that a privilege.

And this seems like a good place to leave this blog today … Bye … 👋🏻

P 2502 Watch out for that big tick!

/ DVH

Parable of the Speck and The Log – Matthew 7:1-5 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

Today I want to talk about the reality of not being able to see straight, because we are living with a plank in our own eye! I think that these verses are a fantastic diagnostic tool. When I can’t see properly spiritually speaking, then I go to these verses and I ask questions like: “Who am I mad at Lord?” Or “What am I putting up with that is weighing me down?” Or “Who am I judging?” That last question is a pip, I totally, like ne-v-er enjoy the answer to that one. On a bad day I can actually get a list. Sigh. I think Jesus wants to remind us about how easy it is to try to correct others – and yet our own lives are out of order!

Meanwhile just imagine how a plank in anyone’s eye would weigh them down! You know, sometimes maybe that heaviness that Christians can feel, isn’t enemy attack — maybe it’s our plank collection! 😱 One of the greatest dangers of the Christian faith happens when we read verses like these, and agree with it and do nothing. We put a big tick on it, without checking out our own lives, with the Holy Spirit’s guidance first! Here’s an idea, let’s not excuse ourselves, let’s just repent and get on with it!

Lately, a lot of the time I can barely remember what I did, yesterday, or even said, two minutes ago! 🤪 But I do consider it to be extremely dangerous to excuse myself without checking with the One Who knows me better than I know myself! Sadly, with all this hot weather I’ve been getting my crank-on at the drop of a hat. Sigh. There is nothing like turning up the heat to show up any weakness in a vessel! 

Actually I think maybe the real reason I want to deal with that speck in your eye, is called distraction. A bit like a magician who wants you to look over here while he is doing something else over there! You see, if I look in your eye that helps me to feel like I am doing OK, and perhaps actually getting somewhere. At the same time I don’t have to pay attention to that very large thing that is smack in the way of me seeing my life clearly, because after all, I’m helping YOU!

To be honest with you, the other reason I am pretty sure I don’t like looking in my own eye is because if I actually decide to see what’s in there … then I have to do something about it! Human beings aren’t fussed about being wrong, or even being seen to be wrong – we like to think we are grown-ups now and we know everything. Yeah right. 🙄 Us people can make an art form out of avoidance and evasion. These verses in Matthew expose our hearts, as well as our lack of sight.

There are times that we can get so caught up in proving ourselves not guilty – we totally miss the fact that we can’t possibly see straight enough, let alone help anyone else! At the same time we will immediately become deaf, as well as being partially blind, because the precious Holy Spirit doesn’t like judgment – so He moves away from us. Then, if we are not mindful, we will start to hear our voice over whatever the Holy Spirit is saying to us. Our own voice protects us and our own personal agendas – above His. None of that stuff is a good – trust me.

So I decided that being spiritually deaf and not being able to see properly is a cue, and now I use it as a prompt. I start out by asking: ‘Who am I mad at Lord? etc.” You know, that is so much quicker than going the other… I can’t hear OR see the Lord anymore… route. I decided to ditch the big tick and go straight to repentance and conviction. It’s not fun – but I highly recommend it. We all spend way too much of our time blaming other people for our own sins. Did you notice that the Speaker in Matthew is not speaking illustratively – He is being SPECIFIC.  Perhaps this is a far more of a generic problem than we realise? The bible does say that sin is common to all of us.

The reality is, by the time I have gotten rid of my plank collection, I’m hardly ever concerned about what is in your eye anymore! Your short-comings seem a bit minor in comparison to the major reconstruction that I just went through. My desire to walk with Him, outweighs any desire I have to avoid change.

So I’m ditching the big tick … ✔️ method, in favour of letting the Holy Spirit walk me through His processes. Bye. 👋🏻

P 2501 Keep in step with the Holy Spirit.

/ DVH

There is one sort-of-kind-of good thing about making mistakes – it is a great leveller. I can’t look down on you, you can’t look down on me, be-cau-se … we are actually in the same boat!  “This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to ALL who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and ALL are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”Romans 3:22-24. I am utterly crazy about that word ‘ALL.’ 🥳 I don’t have to compare myself with you, I simply need to pour my love and energies into walking with the One Who saved me. What we have now, praise you Jesus … is the fellowship – the friendship of the Holy Spirit to help us. Don’t leave home without HIM!

Every single human being is included by that little word “all.” The idea is not to waste your energy over what you have done wrong – repent, and then repair – and then go on to focus on walking with Him, by staying in the light. When you wake up, ask Him to walk with you today. Ask Him to check you if you wander out of His light. Our God loves our obedience. Personally, I have observed He is so sweet and kind, He loves it even when we try – failure is not the issue – continuity is. Even when you are falling asleep at the end of the day – repent and repair, and then embrace Him.

I think the Christian life is hardest for perfectionists. When you give these dear people a list of stuff they could or should do or be, or even not be, they drive themselves batty trying to hit the mark every single time. And they beat themselves up when they don’t. I wanna grab them by the shoulders, and say: “Mate, where’s your faith? Just stay in the light. Confess your sin, let Him wash you and stay in the light of the Holy Spirit. He’s perfect – YOU ain’t …”  Striving produces either defeat or pride.

There are works that James mentions in chapter 2 of his book. These kinds of works begin and end in faith – not our own effort. So we ask ourselves, what we are focussing on right now? If the only thing we are focussing on is getting things right, then we’ve missed the point. Our focus is to be on following the Holy Spirit everywhere, prayerfully discerning what Jesus wants. Living this life with an unreachably high standard cannot eliminate us from God’s love – it will just make our lives appallingly hard – and then we will give up on ourselves, and walking with Him, too soon.

Surrendering to Him is the key. When I live this life surrendered to His will, I give up my will and place it under the direction of SomeOne else – Jesus Christ! He proved how much He loved me when He died in my place. At the same time I am believing, despite my circumstances, that the Person I have surrendered everything to – is trustworthy. That’s the daily battle we fight. DO WE TRUST HIM to do what He said He will do?“Without faith it is IMPOSSIBLE to please Him …” we need to stop hoping faith will fall on us, or God will give us a sign, and simply act on our faith. Faith will give what we do substance.

Because Jesus has already been punished for my sins I do not have to be afraid of being wrong. Our Lord is a Redeemer – He works miracles with very little!  He can take 5 fish and 2 little loaves of bread and feed thousands.   Instead I want the Holy Spirit to make His word personal to me, while I am reading it. That’s why I talk so much about reading the bible. We need to have the Word of God flowing in and out of our lives. To do that, it needs to be present in our minds and hearts. The Holy Spirit will use His word to check us when we move away from what He wants.

Finally, I want to remind you that this is what Father God says in the book about any flaws in us. ““You are altogether beautiful, my love;there is no flaw in you.“- Song of Solomon 4:7. That’s what we look like now, because of the blood of Jesus over our lives. “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:8–9. Well there’s a hallelujah!

OH, if we would only let go of our preconceived, or even badly taught notions, that our God is limited by who we are and what we do, and use our energy to learn to walk with the Holy Spirit instead!  The bible says: “Ah Lord God! Behold, Thou hast made the heaven and the earth by Thy great power and outstretched arm; and there is nothing too hard for Thee.” Did you get that? Nothing!!  You and I are not too hard for God – He has already dealt with our sin. 

Meanwhile comparing ourselves with ourselves, and others, is a waste of time.  Let the Word of God live in you, by acting on it. And remember our destiny is to keep in step with the Holy Spirit! 👋🏻

P 2499 Our yes works in every circumstance.

/ DVH

Fear is one of those ghastly things that tries to batter many of us daily into submission. It starts out for me, by painting pictures of disaster in my mind, and hammers at me from every corner that God does not care. Then it tells me that He is not going to help me because I don’t deserve His help. All of that is a lie! 

God is love! We all need to have complete confidence, no matter how things look, that our GOD IS also GOOD. Plus – it also goes without saying that He is not the author of fear. However, any one of us would be foolish if we underestimated our enemy. satan knows our weaknesses and he plays on them. The safest place to fight that battle is to live this life yielded to Jesus … no matter what else is going on. When we yield to Him we are saying ‘yes.’

The Lord wants to turn those weaknesses of ours into strengths, so this is how we fight our battles … we refuse to entertain the things our enemy insists will be an outcome of some situation or other, and start to concentrate on what the Lord Himself says about Who He is, and what He says about us – IN THE BOOK. The bible is the most fantastic sword ever, it has His wisdom in it, and on it, and this book adapts and becomes appropriate in any kind of situation. 

The thing is – at the same time the Holy Spirit will also use that sword to change our mindset. Using His sword and holding fast to Him to deliver us, actually transforms our minds. It is like this: something happens and we are tempted by those circumstances to think that God does not care about us. So we ask the Holy Spirit for scripture/s, then we aim that scripture at satan – just like Jesus did in Matthew. Lastly, we insist that His word is truer than how we feel, or the things that are coming against us. 

Our King will put a sword in our hands and then that word comforts us, and it tears UP/down the enemy’s lies! We will gain trust as individuals as we see our glorious King acting on our behalf. Our minds need to be infused with the reality that nothing beats King Jesus. Our aim is not about getting some specific outcome – the real answer is no matter what happens – He’s got this. We know that He will WIN whatever happens!! He already won 2,000+ years ago! The wisest course is to surrender every bit of the trouble, and hold onto WHO HE IS.

At the same time, the Holy Spirit is using that sword to separate us away from the thinking patterns we’ve formed in our lives – the things that have convinced us that things are never ever going to change. Our Father is always waiting for our cry of help, no matter how feeble that cry might seem to us. He is always with us to deliver us. If we are not delivered on the spot, then that means one of two things. The first is He knows that by stretching your faith, it will grow.

“Be assured that the testing of your faith [through experience] produces endurance [leading to spiritual maturity, and inner peace]. And let endurance have its perfect result and do a thorough work, so that you may be perfect and completely developed [in your faith], lacking in nothing.” James 1:3-4. This stretching of our faith produces the kind of endurance that will stand in any circumstances. No athlete can run a successful race if he does not build up his stamina. We need to learn from the Holy Spirit to use the difficult things as opportunities to build up our spiritual stamina. Meanwhile, inner peace is not too shabby, thank you Lord!

To get a test-i-mony sometimes you have to go through a test! None of us can avoid growing! That is why we need to seize every single opportunity to push through how we feel, then finish off the fight with the circumstances, and our feelings, by quietly waiting to see what He will do in our behalf.  Waiting is part of the Lord’s process. It renews our strength and helps us get a different view of what is going on. 

The second thing is that these places are where we get to be like David who knew, from experience, that God was going to back Him up. We must ‘taste and see that the Lord is good’ – for ourselves! … and stop just taking someone else’s word for it. Our biggest problem right now is this – in the past, this life has loomed larger than our experiences with our God’s Grace and Mercy. We’ve been babies expecting someone to pick us up and soothe us … but right here, right now we are learning to reverse this error. NOTHING IS BIGGER THAN GOD and as we yield to Him, we leave Him room to move. We want His will His way!

Sometimes we pray for deliverance from evil, but Father God is giving us an opportunity to grow, to go deeper. We need to be able to discern the times, even in our own lives. Even if we feel weak and helpless, you and I are on our way to victory!! God promises to renew our strength and … I am sooooo never going to get sick of saying this … “His strength is made PERFECT in our weakness.” WIN-WIN! 

As Christians if we stand still – we stop to fight the good fight in our head… We don’t have to run away… because our side already won. The greatest gift we can give the Lord is our availability, and satan wants to scare us out of standing in our God-given place. Let your yes to Him be continuous. 👋🏻

P 2498 Transformation is an ongoing process.

/ DVH

1 Samuel 10:6&7 “The Spirit of the Lord will come powerfully upon you, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person. Once these signs are fulfilled, do whatever your hand finds to do, for God is with you.”

We can choose to walk away from our birthright. King Saul did. These two verses from 1 Samuel are a great example of how someone who was anointed by God and totally transformed, could still go on to be corrupted by the very power he was given. King Saul shows us that sin is a choice – and this man made very bad ones. Almighty God gave this king many chances to repent. But eventually, the Lord withdrew His hand on the man’s life and the demonic took over. You can read the whole story in the bible. King Saul is the perfect example of a man who was transformed and continued on with his life – in the flesh.

Today, I just want to highlight the fact that our God does not give up on people, but His patience with man’s careless sinfulness does have a limit. Saul illustrates that. He was made King by God’s grace only. Meanwhile, presumption is not faith, surrender to the Lord’s will is faith. See Genesis 6:3. It is up to us to choose how we live after we are saved – but God’s greatest desire is to walk with us. I know I rattle on about this, but our ongoing transformation is essential for whatever comes next! King Saul valued the power he was given, over the opportunity to be continually transformed.

Yes, I know – we are blessed to be alive on the other side of the cross, because Jesus paid our debt for us. But Christ did not go through that tremendous ordeal simply to allow us to remain the same. He came and died for our sins, and we now have the power to overcome them. We need to live in love, and for love, not for ourselves. Transformation is now our aim. Voluntary transformation provides immediate humility. “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” Mark 8:36. King Saul is an example of someone who did not take the opportunity to be continually transformed – instead he used the power he was given for his own purposes.

We have been given the power to choose to turn away from this careless attitude that says we can do whatever we want, because He will forgive us. Nor are we supposed to assess how we are doing with the Lord by His answers to our prayers! We have been born again to inherit an attitude of humility, love and service. We inherit this from Christ our big Brother. Almighty God didn’t save us to allow us to go our own way with a handy get-out-of-jail-free button. Let’s not get puffed up by our own self-importance. “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.” Galatians 2:20.

King Saul forgot that he was chosen by God, to be king, it was not his birthright! His lack of humility, together with his jealousy, arrogance and rage, pulled him away from the very One Who could have helped him with his new role. Our God wants us to trust Him, daily. We use our faith, every single day, to allow Him to remove those things that will destroy us. We already have evidence He is incredibly trustworthy, by the written fact that when we didn’t deserve it, He came and saved us. We must not betray the Lord’s trust by mis-using His good nature and grace to fulfil our own agendas. This was Saul’s mistake. 

Our God is not a back-up to our imaginings or ambitions – He is the main event. His will, will always be the main event! He saved each one of us so we can voluntarily walk with Him into a totally new life. This means that transformation is meant to be part of our focus. The new birth is an invitation into knowing Almighty God, here and now in our daily lives. He will help each one of us leave the past behind, so we can step into a future where we are a loving blessing, from Him, to everyone around us.  

Overcoming our own old sinful nature, is part of the great adventure we have in front of us. We daily move forward with the Holy Spirit’s help. Transformation is an ongoing process, it is the outworking of the new birth in all our lives. 👋🏻

“May my only boast be found in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Him I have been crucified to this natural realm; and the natural realm is dead to me and no longer dominates my life. Whether a man is circumcised or uncircumcised is meaningless to me. What really matters is the transforming power of this new creation life.” Galatians 6:14-15 TPT

P 2496 Choose the Faith Highway …

/ DVH

“When you’re joined to the Anointed One, circumcision and religious obligations can benefit you nothing. All that matters now is living in the faith that works and expresses itself through love.” Galatians 5:6 TPT.

If we want to gain the benefits of everything Jesus did, we need to stop ticking those little boxes that make us feel like we are OK — simply because we go to church and tithe and know the bible. We dare not treat what the Lord did to save us all, as a get-out-of-jail free card. Right here, right now, is the time we have been given to start learning to live in love, using our faith. Living by faith is not just for the preacher on TV, or your pastor or some super-spiritual person we know. It has always been the Body of Christ’s new way to live.

Walking with Jesus, and living our lives for Him, is supposed to change the way we live, as well as our nature. We begin to learn to live this life, loving others, because this is now our destiny. Our destiny has nothing to do with being identified as a Christian, or a prophet, or an evangelist or something or other with a fancy-schmancy title – instead we are here to make HIS NAME famous. Our God-given destiny is to be transformed to be like Him. “This is how His love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.” 1 John 4:17

Let me put that this way: because we are now Jesus’ disciples, that means we are now choosing to learn about His Way of life. NOW we follow the Lord and His way of thinking and doing things the way His disciples did. The disciples in the Gospels, illustrate for us that we are allowed to learn — however when they did get stuff wrong, Jesus corrected them. These men, on one occasion got so enthusiastic about the power they were given, they wanted to call down fire from heaven on people who wouldn’t listen. In those circumstances, they totally missed the point!

I believe we are missing the point today as well. We are not here on earth to maintain the status quo, and then rock on into heaven at the end. Those continual learning experiences around us, are for us, and they are meant to humble, as well as transform us. Humility needs to be our favourite overcoat. Being famous, or always right, is not a badge of honour or excellence. We cannot live like that and achieve eternal results. Plus as we change, we will give the Lord glory – because everything He does in us and through us is glorious. These things have been written down in the bible for our benefit, to help us to live a new loving by faith life. 

The reality is that we have been saved to lay down our lives for others. Jesus Christ didn’t die on the cross just to get humanity into heaven. He died to get sin out of the way so WE can live here in this world, by faith, loving others, like He did. Jesus died to get heaven INTO us – here and now!  After all He did not deserve what happened to Him so why would the Lord waste His time talking about transformation, if we can do whatever we like, whenever we like? Our aims, matter. Christianity is not a patched-up, part-time religion, it is a full-time relationship with a Person.

Listen to this from: Matthew 41-43 “The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will weed out of His kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. THEN the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

We will shine with the light of His glory, one day. That’s why we need to let His light and LOVE transform our lives here on earth. Loving others is not an optional extra – its a disciple-making process. Meanwhile, feel free to pray for more Iove, I do that all the time!  But after that prayer — we need to expect that extra difficult people and circumstances are going to turn up in our lives to give us an opportunity to practice that love …using our faith. 

We can’t get to the kind of faith that embraces love on the try-harder highway. Transformation comes as we daily, consciously yield to His will, His way, in our everyday circumstances. That takes faith. Because – “It’s not by might, nor by power, but by MY Spirit says the Lord.” 👋🏻 

P 2492 The power in our choices.

/ DVH

Someone recently challenged me about how anybody can continue to do kind, loving things for people who are deliberately not sweet to us. To start with, if we do not tackle this kind of situation with our faith, we will fail. This scenario needs the Lord’s supernatural power, not willpower. This person asked me if I was asking them to lie – because they did not feel kindly toward the people involved, and they would be lying if they took the path I indicated. At the same time they thought that perhaps they were giving the person/s involved permission to stay the same, and keep on being horrible to them. First of all, we need to remember our flesh will complain at us – it doesn’t want to die.

Mine complained at me, yesterday, at 4.00 am! I couldn’t sleep because I needed to get up and make some notes about my thoughts. Hubby chose to get up with me, and I felt very guilty for depriving him of sleep. But he said something really interesting regarding the very early hour. He reminded me of this story: Jesus came walking on the water to the disciples while they were rowing their arms off in the middle of a huge storm, in the fourth watch of the night. Apparently Jesus doesn’t think 4.00am is too early!

The Lord actively encouraged me then, through my husband, despite my tired body, and despite my feelings of guilt – hubby is as tired as I am most of the time! He could easily have been grumpy at me for waking him up way too early, but he chose to respond lovingly, to support me. Feelings can be grossly overrated and motivated by other circumstances, or previous attitudes that are yet to be redeemed. I think that God wanted to teach me something. When I talk about choosing to love others who are unkind to us, I am simply repeating what the bible says. Actually, I personally hardly ever want to … “do good to those who despitefully use me!’  I do those things and follow His word as a choice. We are challenged daily with choices.

Christianity is full of these seemingly ordinary choices, to say no to ourselves and yes to Him. I love walking around with Jesus helping me, so, for me, it is not a hard choice. Hubby chose to walk with the Lord at 4.00am and that led to him reassuring me from the bible. He was blessed and so was I. If we make the wrong choices, it definitely becomes much harder to step away from those choices and go back to following Him. In those moments we will have to fight our own feelings and thoughts.

We may have to choose to suffer by making those hard choices … SO GRACE CAN BE RELEASED. Grace is undeserved by its nature, so releasing it must be motivated by our Love for Jesus and His Ways. However,His Grace changes everything! It enables us to see things that were not seen before. When you or I get into a bad situation with someone else, somebody is going to have to release grace – which is undeserved favour – in order to de-escalate that situation. We cannot do this kind of thing without the Holy Spirit helping us, and giving us His Word and His Grace. The thing is we will often feel nothing – OR still be very angry at the other person. It’s a sacrifice – you will die to self when you do it.

When we choose to love the people who aren’t loving us, we are entering into the Kingdom of God, and living by His edicts – instead of by this world’s ideas. That choice ushers us into a different arena. Now the things of this earth fade into the background, because something far more wise and powerful has come on the scene. I have found when God explains Himself it blows my mind. For example, for years I have looked at those two men hanging beside Jesus, dying on their own crosses and thought – ‘ Well, at least one of them was saved.’ But then the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said: “TWO men were saved but only ONE responded to Christ.” 🤯 God thinks differently than we do!

I was also reminded by the Holy Spirit that Jesus did not want to go through with His sacrifice. (Dare I say He did not feel good about what was going to happen?) We have an example in the garden of Gethsemane where He makes it very clear He did not want to go ahead with His appointed assignment. But He carried it out, and He let other people do to Him what they did, because of the greater good. Love was going to win – it always wins! This was, quite simply, the only way to redeem us. The innocent had to suffer.

We are given opportunities every single day to suffer for LOVE’S SAKE. Life is about those daily choices! We can enter into transformation in those moments, as we choose to believe what the bible says, over how we feel or what we think. Here’s what I’ve  learnt — 4.00am feels way too early to be awake …but when God is in it, suddenly it is not too early. Continuing to love others when they are spiteful or mean to me, often feels wrong. But the reality is, it is a CUE to release the Grace God gave me when Christ died in my place. That choice changes our view of what is really going on. Bye.👋