Co-operate

P 3398 Faith has one primary purpose.

/ DVH

“If you want to be made right with God by fulfilling the obligations of the law, you have cut off more than your flesh—you have cut yourselves off from Christ and have fallen away from the revelation of grace! But we have the true hope that comes from being made right with God, and by the Spirit we wait eagerly for this hope. 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 5:4-6 TPT.

You know I’ve done enough stupid stuff in my life to know that positive talk won’t help me to use my faith and love others. Mainly because whatever you talk yourself into, you can talk yourself OUT OF! Plus satan would be de-light-ed to help me to go the wrong way. Even other people’s reassurances won’t help when my focus goes off – ‘whatever the Lord is doing,’ and lands on ‘what’s in it for me?’

Yesterday I looked at David and his faith-filled interactions with the Lord. No matter what happened in his life, David’s heart stayed right with God – even when he was corrected. You and I are blessed to be able to live that way too, because of Jesus and what He did. So this morning, hubby and I were talking about how much we need to be reminded that God doesn’t love us for what we do or don’t do – He loves us because Love is Who He is. Now we always have a choice in the arena of faith. Do we believe Him or not? Will we let Him make ‘love’ who we are?

If we don’t make that choice to deliberately keep aware of His Grace, we can become so focussed on serving the Lord, and making sure we do everything right – that we forget to enjoy every single day what we have been given. When we live with rules and judgment over ourselves, we are much more likely to give that junk away to someone else: Peter made that clear when he said: “…such as I have give I thee!” Acts 3:6.

His focus in the above scripture, was spot on. He honed in on being a benefit to those around him, not the law. So giving away what he had, meant that he lived aware that he had fresh clean water bubbling up inside him. His faith was always active. I want that, and I’m pretty sure you do too – that’s why we are all taking this journey together. When our focus is on right and wrong, eventually, we will start focussing on, and judging ourselves, and others.

This wrong kind of perspective can distract anyone from the revelation we’ve been given about God’s Grace and what He has done for us. Jesus did not only come to save us from our big or little sins – He came to save and restore our relationship with our Heavenly Father. Sin is the lesser thing, the Lord Jesus’ primary focus is always on redemption and restoration and His love being shed abroad in our hearts – by FAITH. We receive love by faith, and we give it away … using our faith.

When we read the gospels, it is clear Jesus wants us to know what His Father likes and wants from us. And self-recrimination and condemnation of others is not on that list. Micah 6:8 tells us that God has shown us what is good. “He has shown you, O man, what is good;  And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?” 

Adam and Eve lost their fellowship with God; but Jesus, the second Adam, is the Founder of a whole new spiritually-aware kind of people. He came to restore us and exponentially increase our faith, love and fellowship with our Heavenly Father, so that we could begin to know the kind of Oneness that the Trinity enjoys. We cannot have that when we have enmity with one another. Our focus will go off faith and fellowship and love, over onto finding fault with others.

That’s when we decide to protect ME at someone else’s cost. Maybe we don’t like these people because they do this and that, or we don’t like this member of our family because they did so and so. You know, loving people doesn’t have to mean we give them permission to mistreat us, or that we approve of the way they treat others. Loving them means that we use our faith, put them into God’s hands, and live the way He says. 

We can’t afford to embrace the idea that everyone thinking the same way is the criteria for restoration. It isn’t! It can’t be! We don’t all think the same way! Almighty God Himself has to be the One Who unites us.  However, His love is a universal language, and expressing that love, using our faith, as He leads us, can take away barriers. That’s what God’s love given freely to all of us undeserving sinners did! It took away all barriers. We can now enjoy Who He is, and He can expand our viewpoints over and above our prejudices – so that our prejudices… fade … away.

If someone is in error, then we need to remind them from God’s Word what His way looks like. If necessary then we will engage the church leadership in this process. Withdrawing love cannot be the way forward. As we co-operate with the Holy Spirit, and let Him love people through us, we will learn to release our faith as we choose to live in love. Meanwhile Galatians 5:6 says: “And we to whom Christ has given eternal life don’t need to worry about whether we have been circumcised or not, or whether we are obeying the Jewish ceremonies or not; for all we need is faith working through love.” 

The law can’t produce what faith does, in our own lives or in the lives of others. Faith has one primary purpose – to activate our lives with love. Bless you 👋.

P 3331 In but not of …

/ DVH

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

P 3206 “Draw me after you …

/ DVH

“…and let us run together, I will rejoice in You and be glad.” Song of Songs 1:4. This is what happens to us, our Father lovingly draws us after Himself, and before you know it you are running with Him, and He has changed your life and your POV! I have an example from the bible today. Let’s watch what happens when Jesus meets a Canaanite woman in Matthew 15:22-29.  

“A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.” Jesus did not answer a word. So His disciples came to Him and urged Him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said. He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”“Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.”

As you can see from reading this scripture, this woman knows who Jesus is, she calls Him Lord, and she knows His lineage. Get a load of what comes next…  He says nothing. AND!! He ignores her! …  When is the last time you remember reading about the Lord doing that in the Gospels? The only other two times He says nothing, is when He is being tried by the Sanhedrin and He taken before Pilate. This woman is an exception.

 And the story shows us that the Lord can and does make exceptions, but this lady will need her faith. Right here, in this passage, He refuses to interact with her and draws her out …and I think it is to build her faith. We all know that Jesus was sent to the Jews, not the Canaanites, and He literally pushes this Canaanite woman’s faith to be big enough to grasp what she wants and needs. What she wants is a really big ask!  He already has an assignment – and it is not her people! Jesus was sent here to die for all — yet He chose to stay within the boundaries of what His Father sent Him to do.

It is good to know where the ‘edges’ of what you are called to do are. Many people have crashed upon the rocks of presumption, thinking that their ambition would carry them through the sweeping tides of opposition that came their way. We were not called to pick up the anointing of Brother or Sister So and So, who had an astonishing ministry in the power of God, and is now dead to this world. My advice is go after God for yourself. The reward of His Presence and wisdom in your life is more than enough to satisfy anyone! (All those things are free BTW…) … back to the Canaanite lady.

“Healing is the children’s bread.” You’ve heard people say that and so have I. The reality is – Jesus is talking to that woman, in that place, at that time. I think we’ve mistakenly thought that if we do what He did, it will give us the same result. He’s God and He’s CREATIVE, follow HIS lead – don’t try to be someone else, be you! He interacts with people – He is not following a formula. In this passage. Jesus is leading this woman’s faith deeper, and He is brusque with her while He is doing it  He dealt with individuals. We have this dumb picture of the Lord as sweet, gentle and mild, patting this and soothing that. That’s someone’s imagination, not Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God!

The Man Who cleared out those temple courts of the buyers and sellers is not sweet, gentle and mild. At that time He was so filled with the Holy Spirit’s anger and a zeal for His Father’s will, that nobody dared get in His way. Sometimes, you just gotta push!  But make sure HE told you to do it. Back to the story – after insulting this desperate lady, she pushes in to grab at what she wants even harder, by saying something that implies “I don’t care what You call me, I just want my kid delivered! And I know YOU can do it!” 

We know, that Jesus is the Son of God and He saved us, but there are times when we are not quite sure that He wants to help us when we are sick. There is no formula. Press in to God, don’t follow a pattern. He may stretch your faith, but that does not mean He is saying no. Perhaps He is leading your faith into a new dimension. Our ongoing spirituality matters to Him. We need His perspectives on what is going on, otherwise we end up disappointed, and unbelief takes over. 

When I pray about stuff, I like to ask Him to remind me of any scriptures that will help me, and I take note of them. I write them down. Sometimes those scriptures don’t just bring healing in the natural, they also open my eyes to the incredible possibilities that are available to me because I took the time to press in. I often get a whole lot of revelation when I push. I hardly ever ask for one scripture, I usually ask for two or three, because the bible says in 1 Corinthians 13:1: “…every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.” 

The Lord loves to draw us after Him, so we can run together. Our God is not a God Who does not care about what is happening to us. He wants us to know His Ways, so we can co-operate with Him. Bye for today, 👋.

P 2994 Love = great grow food!

/ DVH

“I continue to pray for your love to grow and increase beyond measure, bringing you into the rich revelation of spiritual insight in all things. This will enable you to choose the most excellent way of all —becoming pure and without offense until the unveiling of Christ.”Philippians 1:9-10 TPT.

Choosing to love the unlovely, ushers in growth.However, this will not be a happy little ‘walk in the park’ — it will cost us to learn to love the people who have hurt us, ignored us, and despitefully used us. Especially those people who did it on purpose! That’s the dying to self bit. In the flesh I may want to tell the whole world about the mean things that person did to me. I also want to vindicate myself, as well as give myself valid reasons to live this life as an emotional cripple! That’s called a side benefit BTW.  If I blame ‘you,’ or ‘them,’ then I have no responsibility to change. I can point to other people and say it is their fault I am like this. My sins, errors and missteps become sad, a result of someone else’s unkindness, not my own choices.

Adulthood will not fall on us. Hopefully sooner rather than later, we must choose to grow up and face this life from a mature point of view. Maturity is not about voting, or being able to drink alcohol, or get married. True maturity is taking responsibility for my own actions and responses to whatever has happened to me. Otherwise I am still allowing the person who hurt me to control my life. My own personal choices can take me out of that place of weakness, and place me firmly into God’s place of strength. 

This is why Paul is praying for the Thessalonians to “grow and increase beyond measure.”  Greater offences need even greater measures of love. Instead of sloughing off my responses in my situation onto whoever hurt me … now I stand up, make a choice and let Him take control of my destiny. Because now my aim is no longer just to survive—now I want to learn how to thrive within His unconditional, eternal love.

Living in love, which is the way the Jesus Himself lived, expands my capacity to take more and more of His life, and His ways, IN. If I want to be an overcomer, I must first of all learn to overcome the unnecessary things that tie my life into this world with cords of distrust, anger, bitterness and hatred. Choosing not to excuse my behaviour goes a long way toward changing it. We all know 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 well, but here’s a very different reverse, self-centred view of what Paul said: … 

“Love is not patient because you need to love me! I’m broken, and you can’t expect me to fix my own broken places. My love doesn’t have to be kind because I need people to be kind to me, and my needs are more important than yours. My kind of love is jealous, because I can’t stand for you to get more of anything than I do. At the same time, I’m needier than you! My love totally needs to boast because it makes me feel important and I need to be important, because I have good things inside me that will amaze you, if you would only co-operate with me and treat me kindly. 

Why shouldn’t I talk about you? You don’t appreciate me! When I am seen and appreciated I will be a much better person. Of course I get angry with you, you are constantly showing up my bad side, and I hate you for it. I have lists and lists of things you have done to hurt me. I need to keep those lists! They are my protection against letting you get near me in case you hurt me again. I love it when someone else is mean to you the way you have been mean to me – maybe it will teach you a lesson! 

The truth is what I think and say it is. Because I’ve been hurt, now I have lots of insight into other people’s faults. Why should I protect someone else? I don’t trust other people, they are just out for themselves. My kind of love doesn’t dare hope, it is always scared disappointment is heading my way – again. And my kind of love is too tired to persevere with anything or anyone. Nobody does that for me, why should I do that for them?”

Let’s all pray that this person never ends up in charge of anything!! … Sh-a-ll we? Amen! You know what was really scary, I wrote the above perverted version of 1 Corinthians 13 … so easily. Yikes! None of us can afford to go down that road, we’ll fall into a ditch. Here’s a huge tip to help us on our way — stop waiting for other people to love you and start actively loving them.

Real Love, the God-kind of love, helps us choose His very best way through all kinds of situations. It gives us insight into our own faults and the things that will make us stumble and fall. We simply have to ask ourselves regularly, “Is this love?” And if it is not, then we repent, go back and fix it. That’s not hard to remember! God has a way for things to be done. As we live in His love and give it away to others, we will find we know what He wants us to do. And when we are challenged by love, remember, the result of that challenge is growth. Bye 👋

P 2747 We need Clarity.

/ DVH

Colossians 2:9-14 NIV: “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. In Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through your faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made YOU alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; He has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.”

Oh man, God’s book is such an incredible blessing! I love it when seemingly complex subjects are written with this kind of clarity, that means I can sometimes understand what it is saying. You know, for many years, nobody ever told me that I am now dead. I listened to sermon after sermon about this interesting thing, and that glorious revelation, but how to live my life for Jesus and die to myself, never came up. OR – if it did I was too thick to hear it! I didn’t realise my bit was to die to what I want, and live for what He wants now. As a matter of fact, I thought the people who lived like that were special people – missionaries, pastors, evangelists etc. But for ordinary people like me – we just plodded along doing our best and failing – lots.

The enemy nagged at me: ’You are a failure, you are of no use to Jesus because you can’t live the perfect life. If you are sick it’s your fault, if God doesn’t help you, you must have some undiagnosed sin.’ If I was a donkey the load of weight to get stuff right, that was plonked on my shoulders was far too great to bear!! I was taught about what the right lifestyle looks like, how to pray properly, how to give, what my kids should be like, or how to live with difficult people. The answer was easy – just be nice to them now. HAH! How could I be nice to them when my instant response was to thump them?! 😱 No pressure!!!

Everybody has sinned – including the famous saints we think are perfect because they appear to get it right! They too have fallen short of His glorious ideal Jesus. His Grace is everyone’s equaliser. Sin is sin, it weighs us all down. And no matter how much we perfume sin, or cover it up with nice smiles and pretty responses, and appealing sermons, it still stinks. It smells of death!

After a while, I lost hope, I thought: ‘Maybe I’m just too broken and can’t be fixed.’  That happy little thought did not help me live with the aforementioned difficult people, and it didn’t make me very cheery either. BUT GOD IS FAITHFUL FOLKS… I’m here to tell you that every word in the bible is true, and if we choose to walk with Him, we can be transformed. It’s a process.  People may accidentally mislead you, but His book never will.  So we believe the book and then act on it. This means we will personally see God at work, every single day, when we act on what He says.  Meanwhile, the Beatitudes could keep us all busy for the rest of our lives.  He taught me about dying to self when I started living like His book says — plus, I desperately wanted to love others the way He loves them.

I use what the bible says, like a prescription from the doctor. And followed the instructions. Then I made my first assignment loving impossible people!  Boy does that keep me occupied!!  The book says: ‘all my flesh was put off when I came to Christ and was baptised…’ so I not only believe it,  I am daily living my life like it’s true. I realised that I didn’t have to sin anymore, I was making terrible choices that indulged my flesh! But Jesus paid for me to live free of my old ways and I have a HELPER.

Before anybody gets tangled up in the thought: ‘but I can’t hear the Holy Spirit’ … let’s make it clear. Try listening! Ask Him to help you recognise His voice. Don’t dismiss that quiet voice inside that says:”Don’t say that you will hurt someone.” The Holy Spirit speaks to me inside my heart. When I was a kid I would have called that voice my conscience. It seems I always had a place where God could speak to me, I just didn’t always like what He said! So I ignored it and did what I felt like. I was hardening my own heart by my refusal to listen and co-operate with Him. The truth is you and I are now dead, and we both daily choose to live that way on purpose.

Now, I walk in the power of my own God-given choices. The power of God is active on our behalf when we make that kind of choice. I had so much yuk stuff in my life that I was tolerating, thinking it was normal to struggle. I lived expecting to have to suck all the bad stuff up, buttercup!  I totally hoped my inner thoughts and behaviour didn’t show to others and that would kind of be OK. Hey, I still struggle! But now it is against my own flesh indulging itself, by having hissy fits and excusing its own bad behaviour.

If what you hear in your head is mean, nasty, spiteful, dangerous, and against what the bible says – deal with yourself and REPENT. It’s not somebody else’s fault – it’s ours! Pray and humble yourself. It’s the devil! he picks up on our weaknesses. If what you hear is kind, loving, supportive, helpful and it glorifies Jesus, and it’s IN the book – then that’s the Holy Spirit! Here is my advice on how to die daily — PRAY. Then find something you have never even tried to obey before, use your faith that God will help you, and go and do it.  We lack power because we lack the kind of faith that leads us into obedience.

This probably means we will have to fix things with our neighbour, or our mother-in-law, or someone we don’t much like. Transformation works in us as we do these hard things using our faith. He promised to help us. Believe Him – take Him at His Word. The more we obey His directives, the more our faith becomes living, and the bible will give us His clarity. Bye. 👋

P2734 “Let HIS mind be in us …”

/ DVH

People like the Apostle Paul wrote what they wrote to equip the saints, as well as to promote unity, and maturity. And most times today’s saints are scrabbling about in the dirt fighting over this perceived bit of turf or that pathway, or this verse interpretation, or that application! All our theories are just that – theories. We are more concerned about being doctrinally right, than we are about learning to love people – even when they are difficult.  One day – we will ALL know how wrong we’ve been. In the Presence of the Lord there is no room for anything but worship and awe, so what WE think won’t matter! 🙌 At that point, all our theories and ideas will be less than dust atoms.

The early church had skirmishes with each other and things weren’t always perfect. However I am so sad about the things that are not resolved in our churches today. Our sure foundation is Christ, we cannot build on the rubble of disagreement. Where we fall down is we are not working to restore people when things get broken and God is not pleased with our hard hearts. These men and women in the book could not live without Him – so they did whatever the Holy Spirit said, so they could stay in step with Him and others!  I am not trying to be rude, but YOU are not the Apostle Paul … we know that he had sound doctrine  … and neither am I! Let’s learn to walk in humility toward restoration.

I know so many precious people who are waiting, waiting. waiting for the next move of the Holy Spirit to come. They want Him to fix the mess we have made, because we’ve allowed opinions to become more important than people or God Himself! Human passion does not equal God’s passion. When we throw ourselves on the altar weeping, what do we do after that? Many of us want Him to transform us in a heartbeat, when most of us have had a lifetime to learn how to co-operate with Him! It’s time to repent of wasting the time He has already given us, and start pursuing living the way that He lived. 

Philippians 2:5-8: “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”Humility is not about what we say – it is designed to be demonstrated, frequently.

In these turbulent times I’m personally looking for prophets that will tell us that we need to repent and repair things in our own lives, today – otherwise I’m not very interested in what they say. All I know is that Jesus will come back – one day, maybe soon, maybe not!… And He’s coming back for a passionate people who will die for each other and what they believe. The Holy Spirit is looking for the heart of Christ in all of us. And what we aim at matters. Even if we miss the mark, we need to keep aiming at loving one another, promoting unity, as well as embracing repentance when we are wrong. Humbling ourselves and admitting our faults to one another is part of the way that happens!  

The Lord is looking for the harmony that comes from seeking His Face, personally and corporately. We’ve all been aiming too low, we are aiming at promoting our churches and their doctrines, not Jesus!  The Holy Spirit is the One Who would love to lead us into true unity. His Presence with us, in us and through us will be that Unity. Unity is not just agreement – unity is a heart attitude. Agreements can be broken. Read the book. 

Transformation, for individuals and for all of us corporately, is a process. Let’s choose to participate in that process, voluntarily, every single day, whether we think it is necessary or not. Unity in the Body of Christ does not begin with everybody agreeing – unity is when you or I would die for someone else just because God loves them. I don’t have to agree with their theology!

Day by day, we His help to see and know one another after the Spirit, not just by what is said. Let’s learn patience from Him when people aren’t all they can be. To display kindness and mercy like He would to those who are in need. We will need to live in self-control when someone else jumps all over our toes. Lastly we must consistently practice attentive faithfulness to His ways. As we do these things, the Holy Spirit will help us. Unity is the centre of Christ’s joy. 3 John 4. “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.”

The bible says things clearly. LOVE has to be our aim – our great quest. Love is not just another key – it is the way forward into UNITY. The Holy Spirit knows the way you should go, ask Him to help you walk that way. Let’s all pray for the same mindset that was in the Lord Himself … Bye. 👋

P 2694 Another kind of running.

/ DVH

“Isn’t it obvious that all runners on the racetrack keep on running to win, but only one receives the victor’s prize? Yet each one of you must run the race to be victorious. A true athlete will be disciplined in every respect, practicing constant self-control in order to win a laurel wreath that quickly withers. But we run our race to win a victor’s crown that will last forever.”1 Corinthians 9:24-25.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before Him He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2.

Sadly, some sporting people can be so keen to win acclaim, they cheat. However, the kind of running which is mentioned in this scripture is not a place where cheating will work. In this case – the Judge is now our standard, and there are no rules. We simply co-operate so we can grow to be like Him. This means we follow in His footsteps, because He completed His ‘course’ perfectly. I will still be me, but I need to be motivated and activated by the Holy Spirit, while I am running my race and learning to love Him and others.

I find most people who preach or teach use illustrations, like Jesus did – He kind of set the precedent for us for that kind of story-telling. The thing is, because everything Jesus said are spiritual truths … they are like the Universe — BIG. They are consistently ever-expanding, and constantly revealing new aspects to this new way to live that we didn’t know were there! It is a mistake to just read the words on the page, without consulting the ever-present Author about them. We need to ask questions!  This picture of race-running produces images of fitness, endurance, and a love of running.

I often tell the Holy Spirit, when I am stumped and stalled, even when I am reading the bible: : “I have no idea what that means.”  I’ve found He is a fantastic teacher, He loves to help us with our understanding and application of God’s word. I have no problem admitting that I am incredibly dumb, as well as selfish as I go along,  because … I know the Coach and He loves to help. Plus … He knows the way through or around any obstacle I will encounter. Most of those obstacles come from inside me – because my endurance and will to learn hinder me running at times.

Simultaneously, I love the fact that while I am running this race, I don’t have to compete with you and you aren’t in competition with me either. I’m running in this race to get a crown, and we are not contending with each other over the same thing – because you get a crown too. Plus the people in the stands are on their feet cheering us on. This is a good time to remember that this hard fought crown is perfect for casting down in front of our precious King, Jesus, when we meet Him. 

The illustration in this scripture is talking about what we think of as running a race, but because it is heavenly “running” Paul mentions, it actually refers to the way we choose to live this life we have now, today. So, when I go to the shops, I am running the race. When I go to work I am running the race. When I do the washing, clean the house, look after the family, paint my toenails, watch TV, put out the rubbish, go to sleep … I am still running this race. This race is about how I run, why I run, and the Person I run with.

It is not even about accidental accomplishments along the way, it is far more about my personal aim to stay in step with Him. I have been given a brilliant Coach to help me maximise my potential while I am running. He knows this race, He knows me, He knows my faith, my level of trust, and my love for other people. He will coach me personally to help me rise above the person I was before I met Him. I know I will be transformed along the way. This means that the person who finishes this race, will not be the same person who started it. That’s a big thought.

Young people, old people and everyone in between those two age-benchmarks can run in this race because fitness is not a criteria. SomeBody died to make us fit. The only criteria needed to be a runner, is the desire to be closer to Him. And at the same time we need to stay open to being taught. We are choosing to do all that with humility and devotion to our King. Lastly, all the people running in this race are serious about growth and transformation – they do their best NOT to run haphazardly – because they are in another kind of race. 👋

PS In the interest of complete honesty – some days it feels more like I am plodding along, rather than running!

P 2670 It’s later than we all think.

/ DVH

Romans 13:11-14: “Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarrelling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.”

In these difficult times, we can get extremely busy, and then we forget WHO we belong to. We start acting and re-acting like the people around us. Sadly, their god is often their appetites and misery. Even our own ideas of down-time and entertainment can sometimes wander off into hedonism and violence. Like Paul said – that stuff is not for us. I exhort you to treat entertainment like food, and pray over everything. I believe the Lord Himself will show anyone what is good, or not good in their life, when we ask Him. My own policy is this – when in doubt, don’t!  I have a pretty fertile imagination and so I’ve learnt you can’t un-see or un-hear stuff once you’ve sat around absorbing it!

As for casting off the works of darkness, the things of the darkness aren’t always on TV or in some game …we can easily be distracted by an argumentative spirit, or a bad temper, or a negative or critical attitude. The enemy’s deceptions are not obvious like sexual deviancy or a violent response to provocation! ‘It is the little foxes that spoil the vines…’  Likewise it is the things that we make allowance for, that drag us away from the Lord’s ways. We are exhorted to number our days, because they are few. Actively choose to learn to co-operate with the Holy Spirit, nobody else can do that for you.

The bible tells us clearly what to put off … let’s do that and leave our feelings and needs out of it! Currently practically every generation on this planet is held captive to how it feels at any given moment. Human beings are bigger than their feelings! Praise God, the bible doesn’t just tell us what to put OFF – it also tells us what to put ON. We put on the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords using our faith in His power within us…We do this one day, one interaction with Him, at a time. Basically Paul is saying: ‘Don’t make a space for anything that will entice you away from loving and serving Jesus. The things of this world will drag you under into despair and shame.’ Amen!

Our lives are geared into working hard, so we want to allow for relaxation. And if that pleasure is taken away, then we think the sky will fall, because we instinctively know that we need rest. We get our REST from Christ! Anything else is a poor substitute. Just because there are times when we are not good at achieving that aim, that does not mean we have permission to let loose, and ignore things. Pleasure itself is not bad, but exalting anything over our passion for Him, will result in the Lord ending up in second place. And eventually, if we are not careful, He slides right out of the picture. 

That’s one of the things I truly love about the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They will not force Their Ways on us. We don’t have to do anything! We choose to do it, to remain close to Him, and daily learn more about our new life in Christ. There are times I wish preachers would talk more about falling in Love with Him, because I think the Body of Christ really needs this kind of exhortation. When we love someone we will do anything for them, and abstinence is not painful, because it is a joy to be close to them. Personally, I love to hang around with someone who knows Him much better than I do. I can learn from them how to hold Him up in such a way that my response is pure worship. The more we invest in His life in us, the more His life will flow out of us.   

Our contribution matters – even if it is unseen. Many, many people underestimate their contribution. A loving heart that wants the best for everyone around them, makes a far greater contribution than someone who is caught up in their own needs and wants. To live like Christ did, we must actively, daily, choose to die. Physically, the truth is, we are all dying anyway – we start to die the moment we are born! But if we cling to this life and withhold our loving contribution from others… our true self will die a lot faster!

James 4:14: “How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.” Let’s learn to respect the fact that we are visitors in this life. None of what we have been given belongs to us. As one very far-sighted person once said: “You will never see a U-haul trailer filled with this world’s goods, attached to a hearse!” Only God knows how valuable each contribution is – and how much it affects the people around us. Instead of languishing away under how hard life is – let’s learn to celebrate the fact that now we have the Author of life, living within us. That will involve our active participation. It is MUCH later than we all think.

Bye. 👋

Romans 14:8: “For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.”

P 2659 A listening heart.

/ DVH

Faith is our optimum response to God speaking, whether through the bible, directly into our hearts, or even through our circumstances. The way we indicate to Him that we are listening, is that we stop, then pray over what we heard, (I usually ask for a scripture), and then we do something about it.

I’ve said here many times, I never read in the bible where it talks about repentance, or read something that needs repenting over, without submitting myself to Him and asking Him to show me where I’ve done that. Most of the time I repent anyway – I figure I’m so used to excusing myself, that I need the practice!

We are responsible to act on what we hear. A listening heart is alert, waiting for what comes next. Our response to His promptings, indicates our willingness to co-operate with the Spirit of the Living God. However, our love for Him and others must fuel our faith, not obligation or fear of any consequences. I’ve observed if I set my heart to obey He helps me all over the place! Living this way has taught me that faith is always NOW.

I know you guys are busy people who have busy days. Practically everyone has certain things every day that they need to complete in order to make a living. Simply ask Him into your day. But don’t just do that in the morning, ask and keep on asking! Show Him you are serious. He won’t forget – but you will! And you could come to the conclusion that if nothing happens that day that He did not need you to do anything. If enough days like that line up in a row, we can start to think that this way of life is not for us and go back to doing the same old, same old. 

His Ways are different than ours. For instance, He loves to surprise us. He sent His Only Begotten Son to a cowshed! Paul was off to kill more Christians and he was knocked off his horse when Jesus spoke to him. Peter, James and John were going fishing, and Jesus told them to leave what they were doing and come and follow Him. Matthew was a tax-collector, and he left everything behind him. Our God loves to surprise people. Ananias and Sapphira fell over dead when they lied to Him. SURPRISE!

To have a listening heart we will have to tune out, or turn off other things. The Lord speaks to me some days after I’ve just finished putting this blog online: “Are you going to read the bible?” He says. Now, in my teeny tiny mind, I’ve just written a whole lot of paragraphs dedicated to what He wanted me to say!!… So, I think … time for a rest now. If I am not careful I’ll forget what really refreshes me. HE refreshes me, the bible says so. It also says I am here to serve Him.  

The Holy Spirit reminded me of this parable: Luke 17:7–10 – “But who is there amongst you, having a servant ploughing or keeping sheep, that will say when he comes in from the field, ‘Come immediately and sit down at the table’? Wouldn’t he rather tell him, ‘Prepare my supper, clothe yourself properly, and serve me while I eat and drink. Afterward you shall eat and drink’?  Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded? I think not. Even so you also, when you have done all the things that are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy servants. We have done our duty.’ ” 

Now there’s a reality rush! It kind of stomps all over any theology that says… ‘the sky is the limit … blab it and grab it … God just wants us to have a happy life… just pray trouble away … and if you can’t then there is something wrong with you … that kind of stuff.’ Moo-ving on, v-e-r-y quickly … Meanwhile, I didn’t see that little gem in Luke for years, I don’t know how I missed it. Then one day … I got a reality rush. I was raised in an atmosphere that said God would do anything for me to show me He loved me. Guess what? He already did that 2,000+ years ago, on a cross on a hill. I owe Him everything – He owes me nothing. I owe Him obedience, plus the courtesy of paying attention when He speaks.

To have a listening heart we need to stay always ON. Even at 3.00am. We simply get up and get into the flow of the Holy Spirit. He is the reason we are still here on this earth. Not our kids, nor our spouses. Not even the daily grind. JESUS is the reason we are still here – we have work to do for His kingdom. Even if He has called us to pray – ask someone who intercedes – it’s work!  Otherwise we can end up kind of sandwiching Him in between breakfast and doing other things. That’s when we start to feel: “That’s done, I’ve done my duty.”

There is no off button for God’s kids. A listening heart is always on, waiting for what comes next. He tells His secrets to those who are prepared to live aware of Him. Ask Him to help you to cultivate a listening heart.  Bye. 👋

P 2600 Let’s be realistic.

/ 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.”2 Peter 1:3 TPT.

Knowing Jesus intimately, introduces us to a new way to think and live. It is a waste of time to try to fit Jesus into our lives the way they existed before we met Him. Let’s be logical, why wouldn’t we need to change?  After all, we needed to be saved! However, Almighty God is not in the panel-beating business! He doesn’t look at us like we would look at a smashed up car and go: ‘Oh dear, that one has a big ding here in the boot’ OR ‘that one took a heck of a whack in the side door.’  Our proximity to Him changes everything. People got healed when Jesus was around – He didn’t have to touch them.

We all need this brand new life. A life devoted to His service, His ways, and His book! We haven’t just accidentally collected boo-boos as we’ve gone along … the truth is we’ve made bad choices. Choices that led us away from His purpose for our lives. We do not need ‘make-overs’ — we need to be transformed. At the same time we need to CO-operate with the Holy Spirit. And everything we will need for that transformation has been given to us, when we admitted our need for a Saviour. We participate in this new life by using our faith.  It works like this – “The bible tells me I have been given Your patience, so thank you for that Grace Lord, now I am going to exercise that patience by acting on it.” 

I need a Saviour every second of every hour of every day of my life. Today, I’m still wrangling with what James said in Chapter 3 Verses 10-12! “Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.” However, I’m not going to go on about taming the tongue today, because I am extremely busy trying to tame my own!

However, this scripture is a diagnostic tool, it shows us how very deeply ingrained sin is in our lives. None of us are not perfected yet! What comes OUT shows us what is still IN there. My advice is don’t excuse yourself – repent! We can make excuses until the cows come home, but that doesn’t do anything. What matters is turning our hearts back to Him and taking those faith steps. It is too easy to swan about telling ourselves ‘I’m not that bad,’ but the truth is – what we do, or don’t do, actually affects other people, and we are going to be held accountable when we don’t walk in love – because THAT is available to us now too. God is not looking for perfection He wants our interaction and participation. 

Salvation has always been an ongoing process. It is a verb not a noun. Nouns name things, verbs describe actions. Sadly, we’ve settled for the name Christian, instead of becoming living illustrations of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We’ve settled for the appearance of good without actually producing it. Meanwhile if someone is mean to us, watch out! 2 Timothy 3:5 “Having a form of godliness,but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”

The power of God has not just been given to us to set captives – other people free! It has been given to us to set US free!! The sword of the Spirit is powerful. We need to know personally how powerful it is by using it on ourselves first. People sometimes waggle that sword around like they are King Arthur, but they have no idea how much damage it can do. If we continue to live this new life unaware, then it is very easy to use a full sized sword on others, and a butter knife on ourselves!

Lastly, here’s a big thought, don’t aim at having a ministry – instead aim at transformation! Your ministry will find you when you go after your true destiny. Our destiny is this: “In this [union and fellowship with Him], love is completed and perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment [with assurance and boldness to face Him]; because as He is, so are we in this world.” 1 John 4:17. Let’s be realistic, let’s aim at the things that last. 👋