Compromise

P 3307 Count the cost.

/ DVH

Since we have come to know Jesus, our aims for this life have to change. We are no longer living to do what we want to do, we live to do what He sent us here to do to: “Since Christ, though innocent, suffered in His flesh for you, now you also must be a prepared soldier, having the same mind-set, for whoever has died in his body is done with sin. So live the rest of your earthly life no longer concerned with human desires but consumed with what brings pleasure to God.” 1 Peter 4:1-2 TPT. 

Heaven’s help in our growth is essential. I am sorry to say, that in years gone by, the church hasn’t always prepared God’s people to participate in dying to self. We’ve talked a great deal about a free ticket to heaven, and God’s love for mankind, and how His power released into our lives will enhance our lives, but unfortunately, we didn’t emphasise the cost. The bible is clear, and Jesus said it — we simply must count the cost! Let’s not avoid the verses that talk about this subject and accidentally allow His word to be watered down in our daily lives. 

Here’s a useful tip — rationalising God’s Word leads us to a cliff. We can fall off and think we will be OK because God is good and He will catch us, but His aim is to have functional, mature Christians! The Lord’s death was a serious thing and our response should be just as serious. One of the reasons people struggle with their faith today is that they have not counted the cost by deciding to live their life ‘all in.’ They say things like:‘Well, I’ve prayed about my faults and it’s up to God to fix them.” The Holy Spirit requires our co-operation and interaction in this process – He will help us, correct and direct us and prompt us. 

Jesus Himself mentioned several times: “go and sin no more!” Now does it sound like that skill is going to just fall on us? I think we are either all in … … or not. There is no middle ground. That middle ground we’ve embraced is not supported by scripture. The bible forces us to look at our decision-making processes.  And here are some examples of what compromise can look like.

Chapter 14 in Luke is a really challenging chapter. Let’s look at what Jesus said in verses 25-33:“Now great crowds accompanied Him, and He turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after Me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be My disciple.”

Giving our lives to Jesus means that we are going to encounter various difficulties and challenges at different times. However, we can’t avoid making the tough choices. What happens when loving Jesus means we will tick off our parents, friends, rabbits and relations? I have found my true devotion shows up under pressure and there’s nothing like family to turn the pressure on! That’s a cost all of us face, explaining our faith to the people we dearly love, and sometimes being ostracised because of it.

Previous to the above scripture in Luke, the Lord also mentioned a number of scenarios we need to pay attention to – maybe we’ve been invited to a feast by somebody important, and praying for a sick person will interrupt the formal proceedings.The Lord wants us to be mindful, about whether we are influenced by our surroundings, or not. Standing up for Jesus in private is one thing – standing up for Him in public is another. There’s a cost.

At another time the Lord explained that certain guests were invited to the wedding party of all wedding parties, by God Himself – but when they were invited, they said they had other more pressing things to do. So the Master of ceremonies sent His servants out to find ANYONE they could find, and compel those people to come in and enjoy the happy time. We simply can’t afford to be careless and casual about His instructions or invitations. Counting the cost means we will have to choose under pressure.

Above in Luke it talks about counting the cost. This time it is about building a house. It says: let’s make sure we can pay for the house, on the spot, or progressively … before we start. The Lord knew the importance of counting the cost before you jumped into something incredibly challenging and life changing. Better to live in a shack and be able to concentrate on your faith, than skipping being with Him and overworking to pay a mortgage. The cost can sometimes be our own comfort.

Living for Jesus means we consult Him first, and we will take the time to wait for His answer. Then we face the cost personally, and do what He asks us to do. In His very last example, the Lord talked about going to war, and how important it is to count the cost and be aware of your ability to win, before you start. War has long term ramifications. Standing up for Him in the midst of conflict, can cost people their lives. All these things are part of counting the cost. Be aware of it first, because bearing the cost makes us His disciples. Bye 👋.

P 3189 Love looks like something.

/ DVH

At this time of the year, we are reminded that God’s love looks like a baby in a food trough, surrounded by His parents, animals, smelly unwashed shepherds, (no showers out there!) — and glorious angels lighting the sky, celebrating and singing the new baby off to sleep. That was one heck of a birth announcement! The Lord Jesus’ life was ended far too soon by jealous religious people who esteemed rules over love. If that happened to Him, then why are we surprised if unforeseen unpleasant things happen to us? Pure love will be opposed, because it challenges self-centredness. But, at the same time, it goes right around religion and hits people in the heart!

I think God’s Love looks like RISK. Following Jesus is a risky business. Unlike Forrest Gump’s naive, often quoted wisdom – “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get.” I disagree with that thought – MY box of chocolates comes with a list of yummy contents — and so do the Lord’s blessings. My list of blessings are in His book! Mercy, for instance, turns up fresh and new every morning! We are going to have to stay spiritually alert to find His blessings in the middle of this life’s chaos. And we will have to risk what we think we know, to receive from the One Who knows everything. 

Love also looks like not getting what we want, or even like. I’ve met that one. And afterward I’ve given thanks because what I thought I needed, turned out to be a set-up, wickedly provided by the enemy. If anything distracts us from God’s purposes – it’s a trap! The bible calls such things a snare. Whatever it is called, sometimes not getting what we pray for is a blessing! No matter how good, right and just it seems to us. We can pray for more money ‘cos we need it, or a house, or a spouse, only to find that the picture in our mind looks nothing like the reality. Almighty God saves us from ourselves all the time. Praise Him! That’s what I call LOVE.

Love looks like not giving someone else a piece of our mind …especially when very few people care about what we think! This kind of stuff becomes clearer when other people have misunderstood us. Or, even worse, they have misinterpreted our actions. Love looks a lot more like putting a sock in it, than it looks like starting a war over who said what!  I’ve noticed that our lives today seem to be more about making ME understood – than it is about ME understanding YOU! That’s a swing and a miss… plus it flies in the face of everything Jesus said and did.

I really like this scripture: “You have worn out the LORD with your words. And yet, you ask, “How did we do that?” You did it by saying, “The LORD is pleased with evil and doesn’t care about justice.” Malachi 2:17. Even God Himself – the inexhaustible source of all real love, can get sick and tired of our irrational, petty excuses and miserable attitudes. Love can look like taking the blame, whether it is our fault or not, and then asking the Lord to make the difference – instead of pulling out our trusty broad sword and whacking other people over the head with it. The bible is the very best kind of sword, it will cut people free. But .. it doesn’t injure them on purpose for the sake of winning an argument.

Love does not look like compromise.Tell me one time Jesus compromised what He said to make someone else happy! JESUS the LIVING WORD – is the stone that other people stumble over!  “And another scripture says, “This is the stone that will make people stumble, the rock that will make them fall.” They stumbled because they did not believe in the word; such was God’s will for them.” 1 Peter 2:8. Sometimes we can end up striving so hard to make disgruntled people happy! We can’t upset this group because of this … We can’t afford to upset that other group, because we want something from them…  …but nobody says that bit out loud!  

Adapting the Lord’s’ Word to make others feel comfortable, can cause us to compromise all over the place. That is part of our enemy’s most potent strategies. We can call it love, or inclusion, or sharing, but if we compromise on the little things, without His guidance, then compromising on the big things will get so much easier. Love  always has an opinion – HIS!

Love looks like making hard choices – it is not about what we think we want, or need. How can God bless us when we are so busy grabbing stuff for ourselves? This kind of attitude shows us clearly the actual level of our faith. It means we don’t believe He cares for us enough to provide for our needs. So we finagle our way through things instead of sitting back and saying: “If You want me to have such and such Lord, You will provide it.” And then we let those desires go.

Years ago, when my kids were small, we got rid of the TV. Why? Because every single time I spoke to them, all I saw was the back of their heads! It was the Lord’s idea … so we sold it. We were the only people we knew, who had no TV! My kids found ways to amuse themselves, it was a win, win kind of thing. In our news right now we have an uproar about taking away some things that facilitate wrong attitudes in young children, exposing them to all kinds of danger and misadventure. Many parents are scared of not being popular with their kids, but popularity is not an adult’s priority, safety is!

Love looks like boundaries and it also looks like leadership. It looks like kind and firm responses that care about young lives because maturity can see what will happen down the road. Love could care less about popularity, it wants what He wants. Bye 👋

P 3080 Spring cleaning time!

/ DVH

Spiritually speaking, God’s people need a good spring clean out, regularly. This means we deliberately choose to get rid of any stuff the Lord doesn’t like, and let His love clean and shine up any dirty windows on the inside of us. We can even accumulate things around us that we have been tolerating. This prayer is invaluable:“Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:  And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Psalm 139:23-24. 

Here’s an interesting scripture from the book of Acts 19:19-20.“A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.“ 

The Word of God increased in power as the Lord’s people made it their business to get rid of anything that they had in their homes that elevated or attracted satan. I too, believe we can be spiritually hindered, unless we deliberately take our love for Jesus seriously, and we cherish His presence over anything else. When we make Him King over everything, His power increases in us and around us. Here’s another interesting story from Acts to think on.

“About that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way. A silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of artemis, brought in a lot of business for the craftsmen there. He called them together, along with the workers in related trades, and said: “You know, my friends, that we receive a good income from this business. And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia. He says that gods made by human hands are no gods at all. There is danger not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess artemis will be discredited; and the goddess herself, who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty.” Acts 19:23-27. 

Further on in this story, a riot starts and nobody can stop it!. What I wanted to mentioned here is that God always has someone waiting in the wings. This time it was a man of wisdom. He was a man most people would overlook — a city clerk! But he stands up and speaks his piece and the riots stop and everyone goes home. You must never ever ever think your job is minor. God has people in all kinds of places, people we may not even recognise, but they are pivotal to His plan – He is Wisdom personified, and He does not advertise what He is going to do next.

The verses above show us how our enemy’s traps work. Some ‘iffy’ or doubtful things can become established in people’s lives when they are careless. Greed reared its ugly head too! Demetrius the unofficial leader, pitched a fit because his profit margin was going to go down!  There are times when accommodating stuff the Lord does not like, will interfere with our walk with the Lord. It becomes too easy to rationalise away the effects of compromise. I think it is good to occasionally go right through our houses and pray over what we have.

Every single time I have done this I have had a personal breakthrough, it is like spring cleaning my heart. We all know that the devil is not worth bothering about, but his agendas can cloud our walk with Jesus. We belong to Him so everything we have is His. So if the Lord doesn’t like something, then it is good to spiritually spring clean and get rid of it. That includes books, DVDs, Cds, video games – any doubtful items given to us by someone else that we have kept so we won’t hurt their feelings. Or stuff we thought – that will be OK, God won’t mind – but we didn’t ask Him.

My motivation is to make people aware that satan is sneaky – he will infiltrate our houses with his rubbish. Seemingly harmless stuff that just feels a bit “off.” I can’t tell you what might offend the Lord at your house, I can only suggest you and He go through your home together and let Him lead you through this process. At the same time I do not mean we should all go on a witch hunt. We all accumulate junk, all I am saying is that it is valuable to check with Jesus about the things we have collected, accidentally or not. Obviously this is something that needs prayer. I personally have this policy, ‘when in doubt, chuck it out.”

As we walk with Him, day by day, our main aim is to do more than just give Him lip service. The bible clearly says that this was one reason why the Lord was angry with Israel. Their repentance did not go beyond their mouths and that lassez faire attitude was totally their choice. They said YES to God and then went away did NO! Father God wants our hearts to be wholly His, and this is why we live our lives undergoing transformation. His desire is for us to go from strength to strength and glory to glory. That won’t happen by itself. It happens as we value Him above everything else.

The place to begin is revealed by our responses to difficulties, when our attitude is wrong, it will colour our tolerance levels. Ask Him to search your heart and show you any wicked way within you, then repent and do something about it. We need to do some spring cleaning. Repentance without fruit is like that fig tree story – it holds lots of promise but there is nothing substantial on it.  Bye. 👋

P 2926 Compromise.

/ DVH

To die or not to die — that is the REAL question! One of the saddest deceptions that has gone vastly unchallenged today, is the idea that if we don’t want to die to self, then that will be OK. The logic behind that thought is this – after all Father God loves us, and He understands how hard it is for us – so we don’t have to be like … totally sold out to Him. He understands that we are only human! 

Yeah, that’s right, Jesus gets it. After all He took on our form and walked through this world, sinless. BUT! Jesus got His power to live an overcoming life, from His ongoing obedience and connection with the Holy Spirit. We always retain the power of choice, but the reality is, God knows the right way for us to go,so why the heck would you want to go any other way?? Obedience shows trust. Jesus obeyed His Heavenly Father – to the death!!  The bible says: “There is a way that seems right to a man but at the end of it is death!” Proverbs 14:12. Dying to self is not the same as losing the life of God in us to deliberate sin.

Everything about my natural man will try to protect ME, myself and I – and from personal observation, we are blooming good at it too! Not only that, but I can protect me, and make you look like a ruffian and then go on to prove you are dead wrong from the book! But the bible is not a club it is an implement of freedom.  And our inward, and often unseen choices, can undermine our spiritual life. We can’t afford to lose the Holy Spirit for a minute. We need Him daily – all the time. Temptation is waiting around every corner. When we choose to hide, or pretend, that’s when the precious Holy Spirit leaves us, quietly, unobtrusively. Sadly we won’t even know He has gone. Then our own vain imagination takes over …and boy! …  Is that a scary thought!

Jesus offered us a new way of life, not an alternative lifestyle. He said ‘this is the way walk ye in it.’It is extremely dangerous to try to walk, and/or balance our lives between those two worlds of total surrender and commitment … and living like Christianity is an optional extra – something I take part in when it suits me!  We cannot look after me and serve Jesus. We must leave looking after me to Him!

So the answer is simple – give up the power of choice, stop being double-minded and live this life like God is bigger than you are, and He knows what is best. We have a big book full of examples of what He can do with people who obey Him. Simply follow Jesus and see everything else as a distraction from that chosen path. Living like that is how we will learn to be in this world the way He was, because He was here to do His Father’s will. The Lord Jesus was always about His Father‘s business and that’s our mandate too. 

He told a lot of parables about people who went off and did their own thing. Stories about when the master of the vineyard etc. was busy or went missing. Those were not good stories for the people who chose to do their own thing, and they did not have happy endings. The safest way to choose is to choose to follow Him unreservedly. And because He is humble in His heart, that road will lead us down. Lower still. Less recognition for us, and more recognition for HIM.  

We will probably fall over and mess up a bit while we are learning these things, but the reality is the choice to remain on His road leads to life – and more life. That’s the abundant life that Jesus talked about. The Lord is so sweet, He will be very patient with us while we are learning. He will correct things “…and teach and guide us with His eye upon us.” But we simply can’t live this new life without HIM, because we will fail, get discouraged and fail again … just from sheer disappointment! There is no middle ground – that’s just something someone made up so they could live with a foot in each world! 

In today’s permissive climate this is definitely not the time to go skipping through the daisies doing whatever we like, and expecting the blood of Jesus to cover it! The blood of Jesus is incredibly precious, so we must not ever misuse it. We can’t afford to misunderstand and mistake God’s incredible Love for us as permissiveness. We dare not tell people that they simply need to be saved – without telling them they need to be changed – by His Grace and their own obedience! 

We need His wisdom to negotiate our way through all the things that will come against us. Personally I have found in the face of difficulties, it is best to immediately, verbally, yield. Tell Him you want His will, His way – no matter what. We are never alone, praise God, we have an Advocate Who understand what it is like to be human! Jesus prays for us all the time. After I do that stuff, I hand everything over to Him and I do nothing until I get further instructions, mostly from His book. Otherwise it is way too easy to be dragged about by the wind of this doctrine, and that clever theory/idea. 

At the same time we need to remember our aim is love, so when we fall short of love, we are falling short of what Christ would do. But when I am dead to self, and I have no agendas anymore, who I love is no longer up to me – it’s up to Him. Dying to self is not an optional extra … it’s the point! He died so we can have the power to live this life His Way. That’s what disciples do, they represent their Master’s wishes. Anything else is compromise. Bless you, 👋

P 2914 Jesus lives in us.

/ DVH

“The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighbourhood.”John 1:14 “ …and yet the world didn’t even notice… …  they didn’t want Him.” John 1:10b; 11a. Imagine that. Jesus walked down their streets and at that time people didn’t even notice that God Himself had come into their world! That thought made me wonder what would happen if the Lord in me affected the people around me enough that they know that the King is in residence here – ‘here’ being inside me!

I like big spiritual thoughts, and … I kind of hate them, all at the same time!… They stretch me out of complacency. I am of the opinion that we have become so lukewarm that, at best, most unsaved people think of us as nice people. Kind people. Maybe even helpful people, or those people who are a little bit nutty and weird and go to church on Sunday. That led me into thinking how I can move on from being seen as a nice, kind and helpful person, into being a whole lot more like Jesus Who walked on water. The One Who condemned the Pharisees and their religious antics, and forgave obvious sinners! The One Who cared for those who were completely lost.

The bible is meant to be a challenging book. It isn’t just designed to be a soothing consolation prize when things get hard at our house. When we read the bible, we are feeding our spirits the kind of spiritual power that can and should transform our neighbourhoods. Speaking for myself, what I do, most days, will hardly blow up my letter box! His book is designed to be so solid inside us it will affect our outsides, as well as our immediate neighbours. Hopefully, not always adversely! I have noticed the only publicity about people of faith that I’ve seen lately is when Christians do something that this world regards as incredibly naive, idiotic, and harmful.

Yet Jesus lives in us. And the point I want to make today is that it is about time we let Him OUT! Where I live even our Christian government representatives compromise. They rationalise that being in power means they can influence others and do good over time. Personally, I think we have all compromised. We want to live our lives normally, and look like everyone else … only nicer!

The true Christian life has become an add-on. Maybe we tried to follow Jesus, prayed for people, helped them, maybe even saw some people healed … but somehow … it wore off! How can the power of God wear off?!? Maybe we are not living the kind of dedicated-to-Jesus lives that will attract … or repel people immediately. Good place to stop and think.

The people around us will not hear the good news easily from add-ons! Most people today could care less what someone else believes, they are too busy living their own lives, trying to scratch a better life out of hard work and a mostly good attitude. And the Body of Christ has so little OF HIS POWER – we scarcely make a dent on their lives. If what we do every single day is meant to represent Him, then we are all sunk.

It seems we represent Him when it is convenient, and most of the time, not at all, because ‘God understands that is hard for me and it never seems to be convenient.’  Sometimes I think we have so little of God’s power we could barely blow a hat off, let alone raise a roof or a ruckus. Compromise is flourishing. And yet the need for a Saviour in this world has not changed. It has, in my opinion, gotten even greater! When Jesus said:“The fields are white with harvest…” He wasn’t even  IN His own neighbourhood. I think the fields are ALWAYS WHITE, we just stay inside, curled up in front of the TV and try not to notice.

The Lord’s very Presence has been reduced into being something that is supposed to thrill us, Sunday by Sunday! He didn’t come to produce juicy feelings in us, the Lord Jesus Christ came here to save people. He left us behind so we could do what He did – and He specifically sent us the power to do it. To have the power of God present in our lives, we need to live this life, the only one we have, DEAD to what we want, and ALIVE to what He wants. We must stop hiding. I think we actually know we are not all we can be, instead we need to go after Him and His mission for each one of us. Witnessing is everyone’s mission.

I’m just going to say this out loud, and hopefully we will both be challenged by it. We have become a lukewarm people and lukewarm people get spat out!  We must change, because ... Jesus lives in us — and WE NEED TO LET HIM OUT!  Bye. 👋

P 2877 Suffering is a door.

/ DVH

The bible tells us that the Apostle Paul had something or other wrong with him, health-wise. Meanwhile there has been much debate about what it was … I mean … who cares… really??  Any-way, the man asked God three times to take it away. My point is this: Paul asked God to take it away! Three times!! There’s nothing wrong with wanting to change your circumstances when hard times have overtaken you. Paul did that!.

Be comforted, there is no judgment from me, if you want to put up your hand and say; “Enough please. Point me toward Your exit, Lord.” I pray that myself.  Amazingly, in those times, I feel like I can’t take any more – but … meh! I’m still here talking about it! That ought to tell me something!

Back to the Lord, God told Paul this in 2 Corinthians 12:9 and it provides us with a clue as to where He is coming from: “But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” We need to understand, from our heart, that weakness is not a fault, it is an asset in God’s kingdom! Boy, if most of us managed to absorb that info it would help us daily, mightily. 

It’s OK to not cope and feel weak and overwhelmed! Because when we are weak we are in a prime position to experience the power of God in, and on our lives. Of course we will need God’s opinion about how He wants you or I to respond to our own personal current awful circumstances — but at the same time, just remember … … the Apostle Paul wrote nearly half of the New Testament, so he wasn’t a small character on this stage. Paul was one of the people that God specifically chose, to write about what he was learning and experiencing first-hand as he followed Jesus. 

You know, speaking for myself it is way easier to write down an acceptable faith answer, than it is to live it out! But it seems to me that Almighty God wanted Paul to understand personally the depth of Grace that He has released toward each one of us, and so He allowed many things in Paul’s life that human beings aren’t keen on. And God said ‘No!’ to Paul’s escape prayer. NO is an answer! By the way, ‘no’ means we can’t say that God didn’t answer us, we are now stuck, simply because we didn’t particularly like that answer! 

We need to pray that we will continually grow in our understanding of what Christ’s sacrifice did for us. He did it so we can be called Sons and Daughters of God. To me that means that sacrifice is a part of our new life in Christ. The bible says: We are now capable of MORE, and that’s why Christ died – to give us more! He died to give us access to His kingdom, right here, right now, so we can live this life like He did.

I can see the enemy’s subtle hand in a lot of Christian articles produced today. They have been written by Christians in all kinds of genuine pain and distress, who need answers to their suffering. Actually, my personal experience is that the more I walk with Him, the less I will care about what you are doing… I have my hands full already with the dumb stuff I do! These articles have called some sorts of behaviour this specified thing, and other kinds of behaviour something else. They excuse the judgment that flows from such things,, as “protecting ourselves.”Understanding, or analysing other people’s behaviour, doesn’t remove pain, it can actually increase judgment. 

Gird up your girdle, Gertie, I’m about to take down some myths that have no references in the bible. My bible says: “My God is my protection and with Him I am safe.” Psalm 18:1-2. My point is this, IF He is my Protector in some circumstances and not in others … because apparently in those circumstances I can protect myself from the bad people … How will I know where His protection ends and my self-effort begins? Meanwhile please notice the word ‘effort’ – grace doesn’t flow through efforts, it flows through unconditional love. 

Maybe our first and only question needs to be: “How can I continue to live in love while this is going on please Lord?” Christianity is not meant to be a part-time, hokey pokey way of life. We are either IN and walking forward, or OUT, sliding backward. Living any other way slowly removes His power to change out of our lives. It pushes transformation to one side. Then some of us go round and round achieving nothing and going nowhere. Please note: I speak from experience!

The power of God to overcome the trials of this world is free to people of faith, BUT, that does not mean we can turn it on and turn it off. Instead we now have a new focus, we choose to serve others at the pleasure of our King. Christians need to remember that if the Holy Spirit doesn’t like what we are doing then He will vote with His feet. He.Will.Leave! There is no room for compromise in the bible. You either do what He says or you don’t. It is a very exacting book.

Paul’s response to his suffering is a wonderful key for us, when suffering impacts our own lives, it’s a door. He found something to focus on that increased and stretched his faith. This man understood that being powerless in the face of adversity is not the end of things … it can even be the beginning of a new way to think. Bye. 🤔

P 2729 Jesus believes in us … isn’t He wonderful?

/ 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.”AMEN!!! Philippians 1:9-10 TPT.

I think that there are places in God that Christians have yet to discover, let alone explore. We have been prevented from even seeing them, or comprehending them, by our own lack of devotion to walking in grace and love toward each other as well as the rest of the people on this planet. It is an easy thing to dismiss walking this way as something that is too hard, or unattainable for ordinary people. By believing that, we are hobbling our own spiritual lives, because we are not actively pursuing love toward Him, and others. We need to let this thought spur us into action. Otherwise we are settling for the appearance of grace and love, instead of pressing on into the real deal. The real deal is the only thing that will change this world.

And if you’re wondering why I felt bold enough to write that first paragraph it’s because at this point in our history – it seems to me that the world around us is changing US, more than we are influencing them. And that is a tragedy. The people-who-don’t-know-Him-yet living around us, should know that we have chosen to love Jesus. Today I doubt most people know what any of us believe. We’ve lost our singularity of purpose because we are presenting so many differing faces to the world.

At the same time, I wonder if we have applied the dubious ointment of compromise much too liberally, everywhere we go. I don’t see Jesus Christ talking about compromise at all in the book. It never seemed to come up! I think we are missing the mark, because we have voluntarily become so bland and invisible, our salt has lost its savour. Instead we are applying this world’s methods of dealing with difficult things.

In rare circumstances someone does stand up and object to this, or they might speak out about that. However, the Bible clearly says they will know we are Christians by our love for one another, not by our protests. Our primary question and quest today, should be – how do we love the people around us the way He would? People are leaving this life daily, falling by the millions off the cliff of death. They follow one another simply because they don’t know there is another way to live and they think they can’t avoid the inevitable. Nobody has told them that underneath us ALL are the Everlasting Arms! How can they know if nobody tells them …??

Our commitment to Christ means we are to be committed to Him, and His mission, as much as He is to us. We must remember that He died for what He believed.Thank God Jesus made it past the Garden of Gethsemane and went on to face the cross and conquer it! Let’s not make any bones about the reality – it looked like He lost but He WON. He smashed it!  … Eternally! Sometimes our lives could look like His did  – full of sacrifice and pain – but Galatians 6:9-10 it says: “So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit. Right now, therefore, every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit of ALL,, starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith.”

The church today, has inadvertently become all talk, and sadly, not much action!  I think the main reason this situation exists is because each one of us leaves the work of the ministry to a precious few — instead of ALL of us devoting our lives to the cause of Christ. That’s why we were saved, to lend a hand to the person next to us, who is probably  about to fall off that cliff. The thing is, we’ve been lied to, our enemy has whispered to us that ‘we can never change, it’s all too hard, it will be alright. God won’t mind, He understands we are weak  … and busy’ — and we believed him! Like Paul said better than I ever can – let’s not let Jesus have died for nothing! (Galatians 2:21.)

Jesus never intended for following Him and learning His Ways to be the only thing His disciples ever did.  Listen to His first words to the very first two disciples: “As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. Come, follow Me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed Him.” Matthew 4:18-20. Can you see it? Right after they were called to follow, they were informed of their mission. Their mission was not just to follow – it was to lovingly reach out to others. Here’s a red hot tip folks – the mission hasn’t changed.

Sadly some people get saved at the altar, but they don’t make it past sitting back down on their seat again. Please … go out the door and bring others in. Talk to them, tell them what you know about God and His Love for us. We don’t need fancy illustrations or words, we just need to tell them what we know for ourselves, what happened to us. By all means pray, but then put your feet into your prayers. Jesus believes in us, He trusted His message into our hands and that’s what grace and love looks like. Bye 👋

P 2458 Compromise is the enemy of true passion.

/ DVH

“In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 17:6)  I am reading Judges at the moment and I came across this interesting verse in Judges 17. Briefly that chapter goes like this:  a mature son pinches his mum’s money, then owns up to it. Then the mother who cursed the thief,  blesses her son. She dedicates some of that money to building an idol.

It’s a strange story. 😳 The son then makes his own little church, complete with one of his own sons as a priest. 😳 (He’s not a Levite or anything!) and sticks that newly made, nicely silvered idol into the new church, together with a whole lot of other idols. Then a real Levite is passing by so the son is replaced because now they’ve got a real one and a real Levite is better than someone you just called a Levite!

I shan’t bother to go on about it any further except to say it gets much worse from there – this family starts a trend of personally hiring Levites! Anyway, I’m reading and looking, and mumble praying, then I looked the chapter up in other versions and it was no easier to understand in them either. I’m like: “What’s the point here?” Eventually, after prayer, here’s what I came up with – without strong leadership people do stupid stuff! (I’m simplistic …OK?) 

Well then, what’s the point in that story for my life? I instantly thought of Colossians. You know making up your own private version of how to live the Christian life has never been, and will never ever be  — in it!  There is no assurance outside of the blood of Jesus – which means … “as He was in this world so are we ...” And Colossians 3:5 says: “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.” That means what I want is irrelevant. Well, yay. Merry Christmas!!  So how can that be??? Because you’re dead, you’re dead, you’re dead! That’s how. You died with Christ.

Think of NOT bothering to die to self, like this … you tell yourself that you will get around to taking the bible seriously, but … you don’t. – and change gets harder as you get older! Instead you watch a TV preacher who tells you that you don’t have to be that serious about God because He loves you and wants you to … be happy! Then you find a bunch of other people that agree with you. After all, you tell yourself, that God-stuff in the bible is only outdated suggestions given for another time. You comfort yourself with the idea that God understands you are doing your best. Besides, you just hired your own priest who will continue to tell you stuff like that … just like the story in Judges!

In the verse in Colossians the Lord is reminding us that we personally have control over what we choose. ‘Consider’ means … think about it!!  Our appetites are not meant to rule us, that’s what these verses in Colossians say. Nevertheless, people-type appetites can sure try hard some days! Nobody talks about this stuff, but it needs to be said so we can steer our way through the mine-field this life throws at all of us. Yes, I know you think you are coping OK with watching porno movies because after all, you still go to church. Yes, I know, everybody else does it because this holy, purity thing is too hard in these times … rah rah rah! 😱 Jesus had a barely-robed woman thrown down at His feet … and He saw her need, not her disarray.

Okay, moving on into  …coveting. In times of need and lack, coveting starts rearing its ugly head. It is hard to say “…my God shall supply all my needs...” when your family is hungry and they are gunna have a lousy Christmas. Plus the guy next door just bought a boat for his family for Christmas, and he had his house painted, to boot! 

An impoverished person can get stuck wondering why God doesn’t help them… and then temptation strikes again. Governing our needs and wants, is never a walk in the park – it is an ongoing, ever-present battle. Whether we need a fan for the heat, or a house to sleep in — this world’s current lifestyle constantly nags at us that our life would be so much better with that creme or this gizmo! 

The biggest temptation I think we face in these kinds of circumstances is that we are tempted to doubt God’s goodness toward us, because we don’t like feeling uncomfortable. And maybe our own personal theology says that Almighty God doesn’t want us to feel uncomfortable! So we bought a book that gave us 53 verses that prove we don’t have to be uncomfortable! It is essential that we understand that our faith needs protecting. Which is why we watch what we read and see, and hear, as well as the places we hang around in, so we can look after our faith.

Christians have been redesigned to be human beings who know Jesus Christ personally and treasure His Presence above their own comfort and pleasure. If we are stuck wrangling with something or other, like sex or coveting or selfishness:  that means that Father God is encouraging us to trust Him in a new way. He is taking our relationship with Him deeper. Compromise is way too easy. Making up what we think can tolerate, is indeed, the enemy of real passion. 👋🏻

P 2404 Really loving others is costly.

/ DVH

“It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows. For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That’s an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then?” Galatians 5:13-15 MSG.

God’s idea of freedom verses ours is another one of those things that seem to be in opposition. In reality it is available to the tough, those who will persevere, and the utterly committed. I believe the Lord wants us all to live a life free of the oppressions that drive and devastate people, and spoil relationships, and break- up homes. That sort of life is truly our witness, not just our words. There is an incredible freedom in living out the truth, and His Word is the only truth. When we willingly exchange our ideas of truth and freedom for His TRUTH, from the bible, everything looks different. 

And we’ve actually exchanged human glasses for heavenly vision. This is what renewing our minds looks like. It is more than being able to quote the bible. It is allowing ourselves to become a living bible. We are no different to the thousands of men and women of God who lived this way right after Christ died. They gave everything for the gospel. And they had the same Holy Spirit we have!  Reading the bible and simply agreeing that what is in it is a good principle, or a nice thought, or a good way to live —will not set us free. In God’s kingdom there is no compromise. He gave everything and He asks us to do the same. That includes exchanging what we esteem as truth, for real truth, HIS TRUTH. 

This means mental agreement is not enough, practicing what it says is. We might think – but I will not be ME anymore if I follow what the Holy Spirit says. GOOD!! The idea is to die to who we think we are, and all the stuff we’ve grabbed at in this life to achieve that image in our head – and trust in what Christ did for us instead. The Holy Spirit is not an add-on. He is essential to our new life in Christ. He knows what Jesus would do! If we lean toward making excuses for our own behaviour, or attacking other people to defend ourselves, we are immediately walking into satan’s territory. I believe obedient hearts attract the Holy Spirit’s Presence.

satan is the prince of the power of the air. he loves to distort words, meanings, looks, attitudes into negative things. We need to see other people from God’s perspective. He can use our prayers, our kindness, self-control, and love to bring out the best in others. We have a choice … we can live on the fringes of what the Lord says, or we can change the way we view people to His way, and practice obedience. I have people in my life that are not always supportive, but the Holy Spirit has asked me to see those people through His eyes. I owe Him my obedience.

Our God is fantastic at multi-tasking. Boy is He terrific at it!! He can take my desire to be obedient and transform me, as I act on it. And at the same time He will use my obedience to break into other people’s lives and bring about change there too. The thing we need to hold onto is that it will take as long as it takes. There is no magic formula. Ask for help, do what He says, keep your ears open and your heart humble … and be obedient … and remember flattery will not do. We are not buttering other people up – we are in process with God learning to live in the truth. The best words we can ever learn in this process are: “I’m sorry please forgive me.” Whether we did something to warrant those words or not. Read the book!

Sometimes we are like little kids who are planting seeds. We plant the seed, and a day later we are disappointed because we can’t see any growth! Changing adults who are set in their ways, and used to defending themselves, can take time. In our eyes, it is often the other person who is wrong, or maybe wrong-er than us. It is that view we must change.

We are committing ourselves to learn LOVE. It will take time, compassion, and loads of humility as well as repentance. It’s a process … not a magic formula. Truly loving others is always costly – it cost Christ His life. 👋🏻

P 2357 Love is about choices – not feelings.

/ DVH

Hubby and I just celebrated our 36th wedding anniversary a couple of months back. I still think he is the nicest and best man I ever met. But SOME DAYS … that’s a choice not a feeling!  And I’m pretty sure he shares that sentiment with me. 😂 Not as often, of course – ‘cos I’m MUCH nicer than he is! Okay. That’s a joke. Haha!!

What I mean is this – some days we have to choose to love each other, because we don’t always understand the other person’s POV. I so-o don’t man-speak and he has no clue how to speak female, so we collide. Because we are both quite passionate people, there are times we collide loudly. No fun is had either side in that collision. People make times like that about individual issues – points of differences – you won’t get anywhere that way, trust me. The real ‘issue’ that needs to matter in those moments IS THIS: who is gunna repent and ask for forgiveness first? Sigh. It is usually him not me – he’s way better at saying ‘sorry’ than I am. It’s mega-annoying. 😡

I said all that to say this:  just because we disagree and feel horribly abused, misunderstood, and uncomfortable – that does not mean we quit the marriage or give up on the relationship. It simply means we have temporarily lost our common ground – and one, or both of us, has dug their heels in and refused to compromise or even listen to the other one. My particular fault in these matters is that I always have a point, plus I absolutely loathe not being listened to! 

People often say sagely: “Marriage is about compromise.” Phooey!! Marriage is about CHOICES. I choose to forgive because it’s in the bible! That’s true wisdom. At that moment when I am no longer feeling like my precious hubby is the nicest man in the world – I still have a life-mandate to fulfil. I promised to follow Jesus and He is offering me a new opportunity to choose to follow Him and die to self. These moments are the little foxes that spoil the vineyards of a husband and wife’s love for each other – we need to seize those moments for the Lord’s sake. The power of agreement opens doors that will not open any other way – we need to cherish and protect it.

If I choose to stop fighting the current issue and instead ask the Holy Spirit to help me keep my mouth shut, I will accomplish two things. The first is establishing His Lordship and the second is an opportunity for the Lord’s wisdom to prevail instead of chaos. I may have to insist about these two choices … and, to be fair, I quite often fall into the trap of seeking to be understood – instead of working to see the other person’s POV. However, even if what is happening makes no sense to me – it makes sense to the Lord – I know He can guide me through it.

It is extremely difficult, but not impossible, to lay aside your claim to be right – when you do it for the Lord, and not just for the other person. When you lay down your arms for His sake, whether you are right and they are wrong, THAT IS WHEN JESUS’ LORDSHIP PREVAILS! In that moment I have yielded my control back to Jesus and the Holy Spirit because I love Them more than winning or being right. Meanwhile, do not be fooled – those moments are hard. The other person may not have the same view of Lordship you have.

Here’s what I have observed – it only takes one person to turn things around … but that Person needs to be Him! Get a load of this scripture: “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) At this point you could be thinking that you don’t ‘hate’ your spouse – yeah! But at this moment you are not in the middle of some dumb argument that you both feel it is imperative to win!! You can hate anyone given enough provocation trust me. Plus spouses often know each other so well they can lean all over each other’s buttons. In the middle of an argument neither of you are working together!

One of our biggest faults as Christians is that we try to wiggle around what He said in the book so we come up with a hundred reasons about why this particular verse does not apply to me. We all hate to be wrong and in those moments we forget about the One Who hung on that tree for our sake, so we would have the power to resist temptation. Please remember this line: It is not about winning a point or an argument, it is about losing the Holy Spirit’s Presence and YOUR PEACE. We have a choice. Selah. 😶 👋🏻