Commandment

P 3207 He goes where you go.

/ DVH

Here are a few scriptures that Jesus Himself said regarding His role in this life. John 5:19: “For I have never spoken on My own initiative or authority, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment regarding what to say and what to speak.”  We have been given a new mandate. We are to do what He did. And in John 5:19: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by Himself; He can do only what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” We walk with Him every day, just like He walked with the Holy Spirit. Where He goes, we go. Where we go, He goes.

In these verses the Lord Jesus is teaching His disciples Who they should always rely upon. Our personal intimate connection with our Heavenly Father is essential. Jesus died to give it to us, in other words, it was worth His life to give us this privilege. We all need to think about that carefully. Everything the Lord said and did was said and done for a reason, and we are part of that reason. He also did what He did to glorify His Father, but that is for another day.

Over the years Christians have sincerely tried to make Christianity a bit easier, more manageable, even simpler – because most people today are busy people. But that just eventually means our faith has to fit in around everything else we have to do. The result of that kind of thinking is that we end up grappling with things we should simply give to Him. We get bothered about all sorts of things that He will gladly bear for us. Busyness, worry, sadness etc. bothers our sleep. Those heavy things change our moods and twist our emotions. It is better to choose to die self… than try to fit our faith in God into our already busy lives. My advice is to put Him first.

I often remind myself, when I am caught between a rock and a hard place, that I can do something or other for just one day. Sometimes just for the next minute! Relating to the Lord needs to be our priority. I am not talking about fasting all day and all night for 40 days and 40 nights — and/or praying all day and all night for 40 days and 40 nights! I am talking about a minute by minute intimate relationship with our Heavenly Father, His precious Son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. 

They have done absolutely everything to facilitate our ability to relate to Them. It’s finished. That work is done! Now it is over to us. We are not an afterthought to Them. So let’s not let the Trinity be an afterthought to us. At the same time, it is not wise to pick up guilt, shame etc. simply because we are busy. Treat them like a red hot poker  – put them down. We need the same approach to our Father that Jesus had. His purpose, no matter what He did, or what came at Him, was to serve His Father’s will. Our purpose changes our priorities.

Let’s go quickly to the Old Testament to look at Jonah. The scriptures are full of so many stories of individuals that God Himself interacted with to impact their lives. You might say Jonah is a ‘one off,’ but the truth is — he’s also a great example of God dealing with an individual. Boy did Jonah have adventures! He was thrown overboard in a ferocious storm, and then God sent an uber-whale to pick him up! Then God grew a vine to shelter him and to teach him about what was going on through a physical illustration. He speaks to each one of us in many different ways.

These stories about others, are in His book as an illustration. Some people lived successful Godly lives and some did not. Let’s look at Israel. In 1 Corinthians 10:6-11. “Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.” We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. We should not test Christ, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel.”  Every decision to sin, takes the Lord out of our focus, and eventually, out of our thoughts.

The Lord utterly loves and values you – there is no-one else like you in this world. I don’t care if  ‘nobody knows your name,’ or if you’ve got 2 million followers on social media! You can give Him something nobody else can give Him… your love and affection, your way of looking at this life, your heart reaching out to Him every time you think of Him — even if it’s just for a brief moment  Just turn your head and smile, the Lord knows what you are doing … and He loves it.  

The greatest person in His kingdom is the least – so nobody is unimportant! Jesus did not look, or talk down to anybody. And whenever we look at Him, walking, talking, healing and interacting with people — we are seeing our Heavenly Father in action. The Lord Jesus came here so He could look each one of us in the eye, and we could see God’s love in His eyes. Now we show that love to others, because He lives inside US. 

Your thoughts;  your heart;  your life; your family — all these things matter to Him. Maybe in your life it seems like nobody ever really listens to your heart. Yet in the Lord’s eyes, you are valued and valid, simply because you are His. It is His love for each one of us that validates us. Not what we’ve done – or what we wish we hadn’t done. The fact that He, the God of all the Universe and beyond, Who made heaven and earth, loves us…That’s what validates us. Remember, He walks with us now, He goes where you go. Bye 👋.

P 2818 More Treasure … Part 2.

/ DVH

“Jesus answered him, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with every passion of your heart, with all the energy of your being, and with every thought that is within you.’ This is the great and supreme commandment. And the second is like it in importance: ‘You must love your friend in the same way you love yourself.’”Matthew 22:37-39 TPT.

Let’s put this verse in context. An expert in the law went to speak with Jesus. This man was a serious God-fearing sort of man – but his ultimate aim was to test the Lord’s right to claim who He said He was and do what He was doing. Chapter 23 of Matthew shows Jesus interacting with the religious leaders of the day. These men regarded themselves as the keepers of the true faith, so they stood against anything that appeared to be new. They took their faith very seriously.

We need to remember that Jewish people, even today, are living the way they do to please God and they’ve been living this way for centuries! I found that they have 613 commandments in their faith, and these precious people do their best to obey them … to the letter of the law. That’s devotion. I am not going to comment on what I think about the way they live, I simply want to point out that Jesus took all those commandments from that time, and summed them up in TWO.

It must be very clear to anyone reading this blog that I am not an expert in these matters, as a matter of fact I have no information about what laws were current in those days, I just simply want to say this – I guarantee you that what Christ said — covered them all!  Please do note, that the Lord said the second commandment He gave was like the first. This is my point today, He gave that second commandment weight and importance by what He said in that moment. 

I wanted to write about heavenly treasures today, because I think it is an error to push our families, or the even people around us to one side, and simply say: “I’m going after God first.” Paul himself said we’d be better off not married because marriage produces divided loyalties! When we go after God we may be doing our best to obey the first commandment, but if we are not careful we could be going after the letter of the law – but not what is at its heart. Using the bible to prove any point is like using God’s word as a sledgehammer. His Word is like pure clean water and soap – it is not an implement to bash people. Remember, at the heart of God’s law is always LOVE. And we have a great checklist in 1 Corinthians 13 – so we know what love looks like, and what the Lord Himself is looking for! 

I said all that to explain that we can’t use obeying God as an excuse to dodge our responsibilities. EG: If your kid has blood pouring out somewhere then that kid needs to be your priority. Nor can we gloss over our responsibilities as a spouse or a parent, by making prayer meetings, etc. more important than they are. We cannot let rules discount genuine human needs. And yes, that means we must ask the Holy Spirit to help us …all the time. Sometimes, we may even need to protect our spouse from themselves, because they may say, in a spirit of co-operation … even though they are ill: “I’m OK really – you go.” Think about this subject like this, who on earth can compete with this statement: ‘God told me.’ (??)

I like that word ‘neighbour’ better than ‘friend’ and in some versions it says ‘neighbour.” You can choose your friends, but you can get stuck with your neighbours. Obviously, one of those two things will test us more! And now might be a good time to remember that the word ‘love’ is a verb not a noun! Love looks like something. It looks like food to the hungry. Being included to the lonely. Comfort for the grieving. Undeserved kindness. Love doesn’t have to constantly look after itself because the Lord watches over those who live in Love.

Love also looks like a listening ear, and a big box of tissues to the heartbroken. We must learn to treat people as valuable, because no matter how broken they are – they are incredibly valuable to Him. We don’t get to choose who God will love and redeem … that’s His job! Jesus put a price on mankind that was extraordinary – we are worth His life! His choice increased every single human being’s value.

Faith is personal. That means somebody else can’t give it to you, all they can do is give you an opportunity to embrace it. Everybody around us, on the bus, in the shops, at the beach, at school, at work – every single person is a  treasure to God.  That’s why Jesus emphasised loving our neighbour like ourselves. And I think that’s why He told the story of the Good Samaritan … but that’s for another day. Bye. 👋


“If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates (works against) his [Christian] brother he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.” 1 John 4:20.

P 2697 Half-heartedness. (Matthew 6:24)

/ DVH

“Love the Lord your God with ALL your heart and with ALL your soul and with ALL your mind and with ALL your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31.

“Put your heart and soul into every activity you do, as though you are doing it for the Lord Himself and not merely for others. For we know that we will receive a reward, an inheritance from the Lord, as we serve the Lord Yahweh, the Anointed One!” Colossians 3:23-24 TPT.

It is easy to see why we might want to avoid confronting ourselves with verses like these, because they cut us to the core. Some verses are clearly directional, challenging and costly. Here’s free advice from me — don’t ask yourself IF these verses apply to you. ASK THE HOLY SPIRIT – He’s our personal Resident Expert. In my experience we can excuse ourselves from the hard bits in the bible much too quickly. That is when we will totally miss the greater blessing that is contained in HIS ANSWER. Obedience brings its own reward.

On a good day I can kind of wrangle up loving support for my neighbour, but loving God with all of me often defeats me. When I’m worshipping God in church maybe I have feelings like that, but living this out, all day, every day —  I know, for sure, in my own strength I can’t do that. I believe with all my heart that half-heartedness flourishes simply because we do not know the Lord intimately. We need to know His Ways. Time after time the Lord accused the Israelites of not knowing His ways. That happened when they stopped obeying Him and did what was right in their own eyes.

We know that what Christ said in Mark 12 above, was in the context of some sort of open forum. Jesus was engaging with the leaders who were the religious experts of His day. In a previous verse, V24, the Lord says this: “Jesus replied, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?“  These Jewish leaders had lost the power of God because they kept choosing to define Who He is to suit themselves. The result was that they had a spiritual veil over their eyes. They kept the letter of the law but missed His Spiritual direction behind it. Meanwhile the scriptures and the power of God are meant to go together. They are an arrow pointing us to a new way to live — IN CHRIST. He is God’s Answer to salvation, transformation and our sin.

You and I cannot raise this kind of passion for God, all by ourselves. But we were given it! … Christ died to give me His passion for His Father, as well as a love for His Father’s Ways. This was clearly demonstrated by Jesus’ hard fought victory on the cross. Christ not only loved this world, HE LOVED HIS FATHER so much that He died to bring about His Father’s dearest desire – mankind’s restitution and reconciliation with Him. This means I can see Almighty God through new eyes – His! Christ died to give this to me. I use those new eyes when I read the bible, I hear it like it is God Himself speaking to me.

So I let go of my old life, including who I think I am, as well as any religious formulas, and I choose to lean on and follow the Holy Spirit instead. I allow the bible to renew/change my mind/thinking by co-operating with what it says. To live in the new I simply have to let go of the old. We cannot love God with all our hearts when our hearts have a divided loyalty. Christ gave us all of Him, so now we live this life giving Him ALL of us! Our whole heart needs to commit to this new way to live. Because of what Jesus did for me, now I am free to do it. To love God with all I am, and serve Him in everything I do. I show God this, by being obedient. 

“I have been crucified with Christ. it’s no longer I that lives, but Christ Who lives in me. And the life I now lead, I lead by faith in the Son of God Who died for me.” Galatians 2:20. This verse means I leave my old manipulative, self-seeking way of life behind and I minute by minute, choosing to follow Jesus. Christ died to save me and give me the same power He had to overcome when He walked the earth. Now I choose to live my life the way He lived His.

If I temporarily lose focus, then I need to repent, repair and move on. Father God has good plans for my life. Things I could never imagine or dream about. However, my new choices may sometimes seem costly, simply because I am not a zombie! Instead I am a wilful human being, who is voluntarily laying down my own plans. But I have been given His power to obey and follow Jesus, and I use my FAITH in His goodness, His faithfulness to do it. I read what it says and I do it. Living like Jesus did is not a mystery! I simply read, listen to the Holy Spirit, and obey however He tells me to do it. Jesus died to give us His connection with the Holy Spirit. John 16:7.

When I daily see and discover our heavenly Father – and His loving help and concern for me – through the Holy Spirit’s eyes — my desire to love God with all of me, becomes a process of ongoing surrender. However, I don’t have to carry the weight of getting things right any more. I simply follow the Holy Spirit’s prompts and OBEY Him. I leave half-heartedness behind me and now I’m learning obedience – God’s love language.👋

Ref: Matthew 6:24; Revelation 3:16&17;  Deuteronomy 28:1-14;  1 John 2:3-6; and Romans 8:1-39.

P 2678 Love has the last word.

/ DVH

“This love means living in obedience to whatever God commands us. For to walk in love toward one another is the unifying commandment we’ve heard from the beginning.”2 John 1:6 TPT. Did you get that phrase ‘walk … toward’? Love always comes towards us – from Him, and in my interpersonal relationships. That’s because it never turns back or gives up! You know, I have found it helpful to read 1 Corinthians 13 looking for things that I am expecting, or anticipating development about, in my own life — instead of seeing them as things that I don’t have! 

When I see these qualities as things I don’t have, I will give up the fight to be transformed far too easily. That’s when I stop repenting and start justifying myself. Big mistake. Huge! Think about it like this – when I work hard to justify myself, then I can be proven wrong, corrected, shamed, by someone else who is more motivated than I am!  For some people this life is a competition, they cannot bear to be wrong, it is as if they think they will shatter if they are wrong. That’s just dumb. 

We are ALL wrong!”…as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” Romans 3:10-12. I hope that this is clear that if we are ALL wrong, then there is no room for competitiveness. Suddenly I am standing on an even playing field. The only person who can stop me from moving forward into His love, and even more love, is me. I need to exercise my faith … what you do is none of my business. Paul himself says this: “My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.” 1 Corinthians 4:4.

Love is always waiting for us, because it is in the Lord’s NATURE to love. Now all the impediments are gone.  All I do is this, I ask the Holy Spirit to help me to repent and grow past my current attitudes and actions. At this point I don’t do nothing ← there’s a double negative for ya!! … I exercise my faith and step out and do the opposite of what I was doing before  … and I do it, on purpose. And I keep doing that believing that He will help and empower me. Remember the Holy Spirit wants me to win.

When I let Jesus justify me – I can live this life assured. I have proof of what He said, and Who He is in writing in the book. My enemy might have a million reasons why I’ve failed, but I don’t have to allow myself to be cemented into any of them. If satan points out my sins, then I agree with him and repent immediately. Repentance takes the ground out from underneath our enemy. Here’s another scripture: “Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison.”Matthew 5:25NKJV. 

The prison mentioned here is the one we end up in, when we are tormented unnecessarily from something we’ve done or said … that we know we should not have done … or said! Real repentance is the key that opens THAT jail door. We never plan to sin, but if we do, we repent, to the person and the Lord. Admitting we are wrong, humbling ourselves, puts us in a position to receive from Him. It is only shameful when we decide to hide our sin away – that shows we don’t understand what we have been given. Why would you stay locked in a jail when you have the key in your own pocket? The Holy Spirit is the ‘angel’ Who will swing open the door of our own personal jail – just like He did for Peter, in the book of Acts.

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”1 John 4:18. This verse is not an accusation, it is a diagnosis. The response from us to this verse needs to be – “Lord, I need to know and understand Your love more deeply, because I know I’m still afraid I’ve blown it! Amen.”  “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” 1 John 2:1, 2. God has even taken care of the possibility of sin in our lives. The reason we don’t want to sin, isn’t FEAR. We don’t sin because we know His Love, and we value that above anything else that might come up in our lives. HE becomes more important than any sin.

I can’t look at the sun and the moon at the same time. One will blind me to the other. I will have to shift my focus off me and my difficulties onto the Son, the One Who is the Answer to all of them. When I go there, I am overcome by the light of His love for me, simply because I’ve shifted my focus. The way I help myself to do that is to regularly read His love letter to me – I read the bible looking for His love. There are times when I will also find instructions, but if I need love because I’m drowning in difficulties and sin … then I read it looking for love. 💕 Love has the last word. 👋

P 2504 NEVER underestimate the power in forgiveness.

/ DVH

When we forgive others, especially if and when they don’t deserve it …  this means we are His disciples, we are following Jesus. Plus we are living in obedience to the Lord’s commandment to “…love one another ...”  The idea that we cannot forgive people is a lie, it’s from the pit. However, forgiveness is not lip-service. It is a promise that I won’t hold whatever has happened against you again. That’s the WAY Christ forgave us!

Jesus Christ released all the power we will ever need to overcome sin, sickness and the devil from the cross. However, we cannot successfully walk in that power without cultivating a relationship with the Holy Spirit. We receive the power to be transformed, when we receive and welcome Him into our lives. Unforgiveness is not an option to us! This process will kill off the old man in us.

“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All power in heaven and on earth is given to Me…” Matthew 28:18 “But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—He then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” And he rose and went home. When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to MEN.” Matthew 9:6-8. “I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.” Luke 10:19. “But you will receive power and ability when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be My witnesses [to tell people about Me] both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth.” Acts:1:8. The very foundation stone of God’s kingdom is forgiveness!

Forgiving people means you are releasing His power, and His Grace into that situation. It is no different than healing a headache or raising the dead. These things take choices, together with His Grace, particularly if the other person/s have deliberately and consistently hurt you. But Jesus died to give us that power. Now the power of His incredible forgiveness has been released all over this earth – it cannot be stopped! “Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven; whose sins you shall retain, are retained.” John 20:23. 

Unfortunately we also have power from Him to continue to hold people right where they are. If we don’t forgive them, then they will be stuck. Because sin separates humanity from God – the only way to remedy that is to release His Grace into someone else’s life. Maybe they will change, maybe they will not – they have a free will. However we will be changed by doing it –  we will no longer be held captive by other people’s sins. We have been given the power to speak GRACE and LIFE into others. We cannot walk in the power of the risen Christ unless we live in the land of constant forgiveness -.His  kingdom!

Unforgiveness is the Christian’s Kryptonite. It renders us weak, powerless, helpless and hopeless — those things are the exact opposite of everything Jesus died to give us. It literally is like this — unforgiveness nails one foot to the floor and the person goes round and round and round – getting nowhere. If you have noticed you are going nowhere spiritually – ask the Lord:  “Who do I need to forgive?”

I am not talking about chasing rabbit trails, I am talking about anybody in your life that makes you grit your teeth, or want to go hide in a cupboard. Anybody you see as hurting you, or being stronger than you are, is oppressing you. We cannot be oppressed when we are choosing His Ways – our choice to live differently frees us. Now, today, we’ve already been taken out of this world’s kingdom, and translated into the kingdom of His marvellous light. Other people can only hold us captive with our permission.

This is why we need to choose between anger and revenge – and peace and grace. People have been free inside in the worst prisons, because “… those whom the Son has set free shall be free indeed.” The first port of call we have in any given situation is forgiveness. Park there. Don’t move from that spot. I have been forgiving some people who can’t see me at all, yet they think they know me. Unfortunately they have kept right on hurting me for 70+ years – it is possible to forgive in the presence of persecution. The people who practice forgiveness are kingdom people.

Meanwhile, FYI, hating, hurting, manipulating or controlling others is not Godly. When a Christian lives like that, it is a sign that they have not yet had a revelation about the freedom they have been given to choose to live in His kingdom! They are valuing the enemy’s usurped pitiful power, over the real power Jesus gave us freely. Real power CREATES, it does not destroy! It is far more powerful to forgive. Those ugly things in anyone’s life will suck every single bit of joy, peace, and holiness out of our lives like a straw drains a milkshake! Those things destroy families.

“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” James 5:16. Never underestimate the POWER of forgiveness. 👋🏻.

P 2490 Do you pass the litmus test?

/ DVH

‘“So I give you now a new commandment: Love each other just as much as I have loved you. For when you demonstrate the same love I have for you by loving one another, everyone will know that you’re My true followers.””John 13:34-35 TPT.

Okey dokey … let’s look at these two verses in some sort of context. Jesus has just deliberately washed His disciples feet to illustrate what ‘love one another’ means. He has an interesting interchange with Peter, who clearly doesn’t get what is going on… and He washed everyone’s feet, including Judas’ feet too. I think, in that moment, the Lord Jesus was loving those who despitefully used Him. That thought is important in this blog today, the next time you want to brain or maim somebody for hurting you – ask yourself … Could I kneel down in front of them and wash their feet? Believe me, that thought sorts stuff out on the spot. Remember, Jesus is always our example!! 

And just in case you think that this stuff doesn’t really apply to you … or me, the Lord actually says this in verses 15 and 16.:“I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the One who sent him.” And there’s that sorted! This attitude of humility and love applies to all of us. Never forget, forgiveness is our way of life now. Forgiveness is also the way we pass on Grace from His Kingdom to others … who don’t deserve it any more than we did!  Lacking love means we are stuck somewhere in unforgiveness.

Back to my own thoughts: And so Peter continues on his merry way of somehow saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. Man! I identify with that guy! … And so he organises John … who is not quite so subtle about making sure WE all know that Jesus loves him best, in the book he wrote 🙄…  and then John asks the Lord about who it is.  I want to pause here and reflect on how very little we actually know about ourselves. All of these guys are just human, even though they were involved with miracles. They all have their faults. Remember the two disciples who wanted to be sure their position in heaven was fixed so they sent their Mum to ask the Lord about it? 

I often wonder if Peter is scared, at this point, that somehow the betrayer  IS actually him because he seems to make lots of unforced errors! Maybe that is why he prompts John to ask the Lord?  Sadly, eventually he betrays the Lord too. We never can tell what any of us will do under pressure until we are right in the middle of it. Isn’t Jesus wonderful? The Lord speaks to Peter about what he is going to do next and warns him about it. That warning has always fascinated me – was the Lord trying to warn Peter, and prepare him for his biggest mistake? I think that that warning was love in action.

Many of these 12 disciples are subject to public rebuke and learning during their time with Jesus. We should not be surprised when He corrects US too. James and John learnt about rampant ambition from the Lord Himself and Peter shows us all that mistakes aren’t fatal, but cultivated disloyalty to Jesus is a trap that leads to despair. Maybe because we stop thinking about what we are doing to others, and focus on ourselves. Jesus takes our disloyalty to others as if we are disloyal to HIM, because we are His family now.

Judas cultivated his own disloyalty in an ongoing fashion. He kept right on pinching money, and money appears to be the source of his downfall. Eventually the Lord forgives Peter for his personal betrayal of Himself. However, Judas sinned against the group, and he knew exactly what he was doing when he put Jesus into the enemy’s hands. He’d totally missed all the lessons of love that Jesus carefully taught them, day after day for three and a half years.

Truly loving others is the best diagnostic tool I know of – and most of us miss it. Just because we think we can’t love this person or that one, that does not excuse us from participation. It’s a commandment. It’s not a suggestion, or a great idea – Jesus Christ commanded us to love one another. And when we read what the disciples wrote eventually in all of the Epistles … we can see that they are now saying the same thing  too … LOVE MATTERS. Not ‘tolerated’  ‘like,’ or ‘admire’ – but love. When we don’t love others we become preoccupied with ourselves – my feelings, my hurt, what YOU did to me. We lack obedience and humility. That’s a dangerous place to live. To be like Jesus, we must live this life the Way He did – we cannot be our own reference point.

Christianity is for the devoted. People who truly believe that Jesus Christ IS the Son of Almighty God and He came here and died for their sins too. These people actively believe and practice the fact that the new birth transformed their lives, before, during and after it happened. So much so, that they don’t live for themselves anymore. They choose to die to what they know, and feel. Other people will betray us, and … maybe we will also betray them. So when Jesus tells us to love one another, these people fall on their faces and confess their utter lack of love, and ask for the Holy Spirit’s help. And when difficult people turn up in their lives they know that God is giving them someone to practice on!

Loving one another is the best litmus test we have. In my own life it shows me I’m not “done” yet! I just might live to be 150 years old at this rate. However along the way, I’ve definitely learnt not to hold grudges and to forgive others when they sin against me. However, there are still some people I simply cannot love without lots of prayer and His help!! So feel free to pray for me and … I will pray for you, too. Bye 👋🏻

P 2456 Whose kingdom are we building, ours or His?

/ DVH

I asked myself the above question this morning, as I set out to write this blog. Despite the fact that we all like the easy way, the really great transforming things in the Christian life will not fall on any of us. Transformation takes choices, and there are no short cuts to a well-formed character. We need the Holy Spirit to kiss us — plus loving, listening, obedient hearts to His will. That will also take God-purposed choices. Many Christians want to know what their ministry is – but they have not learnt to love others. Ministry not motivated by His love, becomes a chore.

Our desire is to love and trust Jesus, but without God-motivated actions, we will wander along, mostly building our own little kingdoms. There is no other way, we need to choose to die to self bit by bit, day by day.  That means choosing to say nothing in the face of criticism, or being kind to someone who could care less about us. Instead we ask the Holy Spirit to help us. Because He will. The good news is … that’s how we get to know Him! 

Jesus Christ steered His way through this life accomplishing so much more than we can ever understand or imagine – and He did it all so now, today, we can be free to follow Him. He was incredibly passionate about His Father’s kingdom coming! He spent alone time with Father God, then He chose to be where hungry, sick, demanding people were, so He could pray for them as well as preach. He chose to obey.The only thing that can stop you and I right now is our will to change. We can’t turn back from it, we must press on.

Learning to yield to Him and His ways is part of ushering in His kingdom. But at the same time, we cannot be constantly distracted by the earthly things around us that don’t matter. People matter. When we let money or stuff become more important than the Lord, we’ve gone the wrong way. Making promises at the altar will not get us out of our self-absorbed ways, but paying attention to the Holy Spirit’s leading, will. Jesus is eternal, so is His kingdom.

Upholding our own little kingdoms, at the expense of other people all around us who are suffering, is not following Jesus. Loving Him means reaching out to others, simply because God has been good to us, and we want them to know His active goodness through us. At some stage in all our lives we met Him, face-to-face, figuratively or literally.  So now we know that we know, that the people around us need Jesus too. They need that much love and acceptance. The Lord dripped every single drop of His love and acceptance all the way down that cross, onto the ground beneath it – for every human being – even the evil ones.

In today’s world, it can seem like we have forgotten how to share and be there for each other. Human beings were not designed to live alone. Remember Genesis 2? The Lord God Himself said, right after He created man – “It is not good for man to be alone.” God called a whole lot of things good: but ALONE-NESS was not one of them! Reach out to those who will have no Christmas unless we include them. Spread forgiveness around because we have so much of it to give.  

There are times, in this modern world, when we can be so busy minding our own business we lose sight of the person who is in deep pain and sorrow standing right next to us. Their pain is our pain. Have we forgotten that we are quite literally, engaged to be married to the Healer of all Healers. We cannot afford to ever lack His OIL in our lamps! Political correctness has taken over from the kind of love that Jesus gave away for free. He made room for everybody.

We need to throw away our theology and just love people.

At the same time, because we are part of the Body of Christ, every single member is important. We cannot afford to lose anyone. So please take time to send that text, and make that phone call. We must persevere with people, even the difficult ones – and yes, I have some of those!  One day when we look back on this life we were given, the things that will matter are the relationships we had – the love we freely shared. 

Many people have been incredibly traumatised by this world, so they might take a bit of effort on our part. But loving others is the reason God saved us. Learning to love and include others takes effort, patience, forgiveness and time. Ask yourself, what have you invested your time in this year – your kingdom, or His? 👋🏻

“This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” John 15:12.

P 2434 Different food for thought!

/ DVH

“A parable is a tale about a simple, common subject to illustrate a more profound, valuable moral lesson. The source definition of the word “parable” means a placement side by side for the purpose of comparison.” (Dictionary)

Jesus’ teaching is fascinating. He told everyday stories to those listening, to help them understand God’s Ways. And at the same time, every single thing He said was profound. He gave us fantastic life-lessons. Up until this morning, I had never really thought about the kind of teaching He did, when He taught people, using parables. There are over 30 parables in the Gospels …some of them are repeated.

Today, the Lord Jesus spoke into me and said this: “How many of My parables are about the miraculous? In which one do I teach people how to heal the sick and raise the dead?” You know, when I looked, I discovered that Jesus’ parables are about ordinary things and ordinary people and their behaviour toward God and others. They are simply ‘life lessons.’ They are not about ‘how to excel in the miraculous’ – but instead they are about ‘how to live this life we have in a Godly fashion.’ How to love each other, and how to love, revere and respect God first. However, if we don’t live IN the kingdom, how can we expect to bring it with us?? Maybe that’s why Paul told us to seek it first!

We have become greatly enamoured with the miraculous – or the lack of it, in the church today. I think we are in danger of exalting those things above His Kingdom coming in our everyday lives. Yet we will always need a heart that says – God can do anything … nothing is too difficult for Him!  But I think we have put more of the accent on revving up our ability to believe, instead of putting it in HIM – Who He is. Miracles will follow US as we love others the way He loves us …we don’t have to chase them.  Miracles and the ever-present power of God are an expected part of walking with Him in our daily lives. 

In the Epistles, a large amount of emphasis is also put upon growing and transforming our character, plus, how to walk with the Holy Spirit. The Apostles simply repeated what they have seen, heard and learnt as they performed great signs and wonders. They didn’t elevate people who walked in their God-given gifts, or even ask them to come and minister in the miraculous for the purpose of gaining attention to spread the gospel! Instead the main thrust of their individual messages are to encourage and emphasise loving God, loving others well, plus growth, connection and correction.

Jesus Himself took ordinary things that His listeners could easily understand to illustrate Kingdom purposes. As we read the gospels we can see that anyone can walk in demonstrating the power of God, even sometimes those devoid of character. Judas did! But the parables and epistles indicate that our character needs our personal application. The Holy Spirit wants our motivation to be pure Love – and we all need help with that! Jesus made the miraculous an ordinary part of being His disciple.  He sent His disciples out and they simply used His name.

However, Christ Himself gave us the most brilliant synopsis of God’s requirements when He was talking to a lawyer in Matthew 22:35-40 “One of them, an expert in the law, tested Him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” I am gobsmacked every single time I read that. It so perfectly illustrates what life with the Holy Spirit looks like.

So here is my thought for today’s blog  – I am personally aware that we all need the miraculous! … But instead of chasing after the miraculous etc. to validate any ministry, I believe the Holy Spirit wants us to foster a relationship with Him – first. Then we simply do whatever He says, and we will see miracles as we go along. Sometimes there will be a miracle, and sometimes someone else gets a revelation of the goodness of God .. a glimpse into His bigger world. Our job is to love God and love others, and out of that wonderful things will happen.

Please do not misunderstand me, I totally believe in all the active gifts of God. And I believe we need to pray believing that they are present at any time! We need them. I am simply saying that these things should not be the preoccupation of the Church. We are to be pre-occupied with Him! These other things will get added unto us as we seek Him first! Like one of the parables says: “We are the light of the world” – let’s just BE THAT and see what happens! Bye.👋🏻

P 2383 Love is not the same as … ‘Like’.

/ DVH

And love doesn’t look like tolerating others, either. Yeah, I don’t like those two sentences much myself.  But Jesus gave us clear directives about love… 1 John 3:16  “By this we know what love is: Jesus laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.”  

Matthew 5:44-47 ““You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’ I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the supple moves of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives His best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the loveable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that.”

John 15:12, KJV. “This is My commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.” – Love is a great subject to study because it will definitely give everyone plenty to pray over and act on. It is like most things in the bible if you apply them into your life you will know about it!! Jesus said, ‘love your brothers, love your friends, and love your enemies,’ and none of that is easy. Especially when we take into account that the people who can hurt us the most are probably not our enemies! 

Here’s some stuff that has helped me to cope with dealing with people who are a black hole where love is concerned. First of all I remind myself that I don’t have to feel like it, to do it. Love is a verb not a noun – it’s something I do, not something I feel.  I deliberately bring to my mind that … ‘I can do all things through Christ because He strengthens me!’  So I ask for His strength, then I do whatever He says in the book. Take emotions out of your effort and obey instead.

In my experience feelings always come later. Sometimes MUCH later. I have people in my life that I have been loving for years, I wish I could say that living this way changed them —- but it hasn’t – not so far. Instead it is changing me. I simply need to learn to fight disappointment and resentment and as I did that, I learnt about self-control. This became another way to invest my life in the kingdom of God. And it also showed me stuff I did not know I had – until the resentment etc. bubbled up!

When you make a big effort in your own strength toward people and they flick it off like it is nothing, it takes real dedication to continue to love them. I discovered I didn’t want to make that kind of effort for careless people, because I quite quickly ran out of dedication … But when I did it for Jesus — my expectations and motivations changed. So now I do whatever I do, for HIM. I do this to obey Him. I stopped putting hope in someone else to get it right. Because Jesus is my hope, my anchor and my source of strength – I’ve learnt to put my hope in Him, not others.

This means I’ve learnt to love others literally ‘under orders,‘ and now I do whatever He tells me to do. Often a bible verse pops into my head. Previously, I had become used to being motivated by need, or human affection, or some other feeling, but there were also times that Lord asked me to do something sweet for someone else at a time when I had no desire to do it. Choosing to love in the face of lack or need is powerful. When the people you love don’t love you sacrificially, you can suddenly find a whole lot of anger you didn’t know you had!

I also learnt the wisdom of Colossians 3:23 … “…whatever you do, do it with all your heart as though you were doing it for the Lord and not for people.”. That phrase ‘and not for people’ really resonated with me. The Lord explained to me that when I did things for others, hoping they would appreciate my efforts, I was doomed to fail because I can’t ever control other people’s responses. But when I do whatever HE asks me to do, I learn obedience… plus I ‘die’ to self in the process. I am renewing my mind. 

Obedience always brings us closer to Him. The Lord Jesus was obedient.  Loving by choice is not easy, but it sure beats the heartache of ‘trying hard’ with people who have no idea how much they are hurting you! Love is not the same as human emotion – whether it is ‘like’ or ‘tolerating’ – it’s an investment in someone else as the Holy Spirit Himself leads you. 👋🏻

P 2312 As He was in this world so are we.

/ DVH

The most important question we can ever ask ourselves is this – WHAT DOES LOVE LOOK LIKE TO GOD? The bible clearly defines what His love looks like to mankind, but how does the Lord God, Maker of heaven and earth, define love – the love that flows from US to Him?

Jesus said in Matthew 22:35-37 “ One of them, an expert in the law, tested Him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’” That original commandment was given by God Himself to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 6… sadly, in 6,000 years they hadn’t gotten very far had they? Have we?

Our daily question needs to be: “Holy Spirit how can I do that? How can I love God truthfully with all of me?” Many people might answer this question like this: “by loving each other, by serving Him, by reading the bible, through worship, praise, prayer and fasting.” All of these things are great. Do them with the Holy Spirit’s help and guidance! However Jesus Himself said in John 14:15-31 GNT – “If you love me, you will  obey My commandments. I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, Who will stay with you forever. He is the Spirit, who reveals the truth about God.’”

It is just like the Lord Jesus to ask a question and give us the answer … all in the same sentence. To truly LOVE GOD – WE NEED HELP! We need the One Jesus specifically sent back to earth to help us. With the Holy Spirit’s help, obedience to His commandments is the way we show God we love Him. When God’s very special, One-of-a-kind-Son came here from heaven, that’s what He did. Christ modelled that kind of obedience all the way through His life, and on through death, into resurrection life.

We are living after the time that Jesus first breathed on His disciples, and told them to receive the Holy Spirit. And then they went out and obeyed Him, and did what He did and saw the same results. Here’s food for thought – Jesus breathed on Judas! Judas did this stuff too, even while he was pinching money from the common purse! We must stop thinking that the people Who have miraculous gifts are somehow holy. Holiness comes from GOD Himself so we need to learn to let Him flow through us, using our faith. His presence in us, with us, and through us, as we obey Him, will do the changing.

The gifted ones among us were given something from HIM – they simply had the faith to pick up their God-given gifts! That’s God’s glory healing someone, not Brother Everybody-knows-my-name. That guy can’t heal a banana without the Holy Spirit’s help! So let’s quickly look at Stephen… who waited tables … he had the gift of helps. “Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people.” Acts 6:8. 

That’s the key to who Stephen was right there, he was – ‘full of Grace!’ How do you get this Grace? You live your life openly and honestly, acknowledging your faults and flaws, repenting, fixing things, and receive His forgiveness —and then you give that away. “…freely you have received, freely GIVE!” If Jesus Himself could do nothing without the Holy Spirit – then without Him WE are sunk. But the other side of that coin means if Christ lived that way as a man, then so can we. 

What we all need, what we must cry out for – is what occurred in ACTS 2 … after the Holy Spirit came to stay there were only DEAD MEN WALKING in the church. His Presence changed them – they valued His Presence above all else. The Body of Christ needs to be changed – and we’d all better get a wriggle on too! 

There were no schizophrenic Christians back then … people with one foot in this world and one foot in the next. They surrendered everything for His sake. Before Pentecost, they were all over the place, but they came out of that encounter with the Holy Spirit resurrected. Their old man, their old way of life was DEAD. Paul died on the road to Damascus, the resurrected new man went on from there.

Our struggle in this life is to die daily …one decision at a time. It’s a choice and Christ died to give us the freedom to make that choice. Together we must learn to constantly rely upon the Holy Spirit.  Time to wake up church and chase after your destiny. “…as He was in this world SO ARE WE!“ 👋🏻