Confidence

P 3270 The impossible is easy for the Lord …

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but it is also very challenging to our faith. In the gospel  of Mark 2:1-12, some men tore off a house-roof so they could lower down a paralytic friend in front of Jesus…. Did you get that? They tore up some poor guy’s roof! This hospitable family man offers his home for a meeting and that’s the thanks he gets?! I suppose the man could have used the resulting hole for a skylight…? !

The details we are given in the Word make this story extraordinary. Mainly because I don’t imagine digging a hole in any kind of roof would be easy. But these men were so devoted to their friend, in their desire to get him to Jesus, that they would have done anything. Meanwhile nobody seemed to care too much about what the occupant of the house thought when they burrowed into his nice little house like gophers either. Why not?! Somebody got healed and they all saw it.

 Are we willing to risk possibly offending people in order to bring someone into the Lord’s Presence? (Remember wherever we go, He goes.) The fear of retaliation or offence is very real in our society. Nowadays if somebody tore off a church roof to get a sick person to Jesus, they’d probably sue them for a replacement roof!  Plus they’d grizzle at them — ‘don’t you know how to use a door?!?’ But these friends were undaunted by societal rules, and motivated by love for their sick friend, instead. I’d like to be a friend like that, and boy would I like to have a friend like that myself!

Jesus didn’t really seem to care who He offended. The Lord did not ever set out to be offensive but if that happened, well, it happened. He didn’t even pause to explain Himself, or His motivation etc … He just moved on. His priority was  His Father’s will. How can we possibly imagine how incredibly difficult it must have been for Him to carry out the Father’s will, even when it included His own suffering and death?  

Not to mention the fact that when it came to the time of His death, Jesus did everything He did, without the comforting Presence of the precious Holy Spirit. He was SomeOne the Lord had always known intimately. It must have been so painful for the Father, and the Spirit stand back and not rescue Jesus from such villainous wickedness. But there was a higher purpose. Meanwhile it is not hard to imagine satan firing mental missiles at Jesus while he was tormenting the Lord inwardly and outwardly on the cross.   

Today I want to remember how very much the Holy Spirit loves to help, comfort, and guide. And yet at that point in history, He had to step away. The Father’s Will could only be accomplished if the Holy Spirit didn’t step in. The Lord Jesus did all that He did for us, so we can be sons and daughters of God!  Otherwise the doors of heaven would have stayed shut to the likes of you and I! Jesus chose to do this so we would never have to be separated from the Holy Spirit’s loving kindness, and wisdom ever again. It stands to reason that His devotion to mankind is so huge – HE WON’T EVER LEAVE US. The Spirit of God loves us the way He loves Christ. Imagine that. He freely shares with us  His life-giving ways. If it is not love, then it is not Him. 

The Spirit of the Living God creatively uses the power of love and grace in ways we cannot imagine, over and over again. To one person He says, “consider Jesus” … to someone else He says: “you have been forgiven” and to another He says: “the Father loves you with an everlasting love.” No matter what the Holy Spirit says: there is always  unimaginable, overwhelming love in it. He chooses to meet some people in their dreams, others while they are reading the bible, or through someone else’s books. He met with me in front of a clothes line! His originality is mind boggling.  

Someone else might say what I just said, in a totally different way, and that is just another example of His incredible creativity. He is also out-of-this-world wise. There are so many ways to describe Who He is and what He does – silently -we can easily lose count! That’s why I love Jesus, we can see in Him the things our natural mind couldn’t possibly make up! And the Lord Jesus totally relied on the Holy Spirit’s help – so should WE.

This is Paul speaking to the Ephesians, about the diversity of the things He has for us. 3:8-12: “To me, the least of all the saints, was given this grace: to proclaim the good news of the fathomless riches of Christ to the Gentiles, and to enlighten everyone as to what is the administration of the mystery hidden from the ages by God, Who created all things, in order that the many-sided wisdom of God might be made known now to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places through the church, according to the purpose of the ages which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access in confidence through faith in Him.”

Please do not allow anyone else to minimise the beauty of the One that Jesus Himself chose to entrust with our care. We all matter so much to God, even when our faith is severely stretched, let’s not limit Him. Let’s learn to walk with Him instead. Watch out for evidence of His work in your life as well as around you. Seeing Him at work helps our faith.  He will show us how to repair the things that this life has broken in us, or in our relationships with others. He will tear up and get rid of anything that is holding us back from reaching Jesus, just like those friends tore away the roof in order to get to the Lord that day. Despite challenging our faith, the impossible is so easy to our God.  Bye. 👋

P 3235 We give away what we have.

/ DVH

Now there’s a daunting thought!! Peter and John were off to a prayer meeting when a lame beggar asked for money. “When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” … … “Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.”  Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk…” This story is in Acts 3:3,4,6-8a.

The thought that Peter knew what he had, blows my mind. ‘Lord, please help all of us to know what You have given us in these jars of clay!’ Amen. This kind of confidence in God’s investment in His children can motivate anyone into action. One of our major difficulties in the church at this moment, is we don’t know who we are. People who know who they are, have confidence, they do great exploits. 

Secondly, Peter knew what was really important for this man. It was healing, not money. I mean wow! I counted the gifts Peter used;  two words of knowledge, plus discernment, and healing. Plus let’s remember, that he and John were actually going somewhere else! Think about that. What would be your response if you saw a lame man begging at the side of the road, as you were going off to church? Yeah, I know, bring that up! Sadly I think we’ve turned into a people who gather info and form committees, rather than responding to need. Could it be because we doubt what He told us He has given us?

It was amazing in Acts. Nobody knew what was going to come next and God came to every meeting. He was their treasure. How He must have loved it!  But people also dropped dead when they lied to God. Someone else died because he spoke the truth and was stoned to death for it. One man, whose name we all know, was going about his business, finding Christians to kill, and God knocked him down, and blinded him. Then, the Lord very kindly revealed to him how truly blind he was. “Please Lord do that for us too!” Amen.

Have you ever asked yourself – what on earth has happened to us? Good. It’s good to ask questions. Even better to start with yourself, like —why aren’t I doing this? Then, we need to move past ‘me,’ to all of us, the church as a whole. But please remember, we can hide ourselves away from our own personal responsibility if we start out by blaming the church, or the pastor etc. In that state, we may never find the answer! But if I start with me, I’m pretty sure I will get plenty to go on with. I have so far!

We can always give away His kindness, mercy, joy, peace, faithfulness and goodness. Because He gives that to us every single day, “Resist revenge, and make sure that no one pays back evil in place of evil but always pursue doing what is beautiful to one another and to all the unbelievers.” 1 Thessalonians 5:15 TPT. 

Did you get that? Paul said PURSUE it.  It won’t fall on us … we will have to run after it. I want to do my best not to waste my time even thinking about revenge. Otherwise I will have no time or energy left to pursue giving other people beautiful things. The beautiful things we do should far outweigh any revenge etc. that we have or an attitude that someone has toward us. Meanwhile, sadly, we are way too smart in the church to call anything revenge—we call it “hurt feelings” instead. That sounds much better doesn’t it?

Except for one little thing the Lord Himself said ..“Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” Matthew 16:24-26. It is necessary to look at what is really at stake, if we decide to  give in to our hurt feelings — or vengeful attitudes. 

People who deliberately do mean-spirited things to us are the splinters in our new life in Him. Some of those splinters really are BIG ones. And we get stabbed purely because we have chosen to deny ourselves and follow Him. Some situations are little splinters that you can feel, but you can’t seem to get rid of  … and every now and then they poke you hard and hurt you again.  And some slivers remain invisible for virtually years, only to stab you in the heart at the least expected moment. One way or another we all pick up, and get stabbed by splinters.

The major difficulty we have is that we don’t yet fully understand Who lives inside us. The Person Who lives IN us is greater than any old splinter. Peter and John definitely KNEW what they had. They had been filled with the Holy Spirit and He brought a whole new way to think with Him. They didn’t form a prayer group, or phone around to find out what everyone else thought. They were both there on the spot, so Peter gave what he knew he had. That’s our issue right there…

We cannot give away what we do not think we have. It’s definitely time we did something about that. Bye. 👋

P 3201 Judgment belongs to God … only HE can be trusted with it.

/ DVH

I Corinthians 4:3-5: “I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.”

To begin with I want to make the point that no matter how sweet anyone appears to be, none of us are perfect. When that statement becomes a reality in our lives, it goes a long way to stopping judgment. Especially if you manage to figure out that you can’t actually see, because you have this blooming great log in your own eye!

Judgment belongs to the Lord, because only He has the wisdom and love, together with the spirit of reconciliation, to see through the lies we even tell ourselves. Jesus loves the truth, and the Holy Spirit is in charge of conviction, not us. What He shares with us will bring clarity into hidden things about ourselves so we can deal with them, together. But we need to be so very careful about even the appearance of judging others, as we can easily misinterpret what we think we can see. The best thing to do when you discern something in somebody else is to pray for them.

Paul’s writings show us that he totally understood something that is essential for our own personal knowledge of God’s kingdom. I believe he understood the way our Father does things. Our Father doesn’t uncover our sins in front of others, instead He wants His generosity and kindness to fill us, and draw us to a place of sincere repentance, without any fear of reprisal or shame. When Paul received all those heavenly revelations, he didn’t take dictation. He was given Grace, from God, to understand and comprehend the Lords intentions toward man. 

This kind of revelation is so helpful – I urge you to ask for it. Once we truly comprehend that only God is good, and the devil is the bad guy – then clarification brings revelation. Being filled and remaining filled with the Holy Spirit means we can’t afford to hide anything from Him. However, the light of God in and on our lives holds no dangers for us. Jesus faced our Heavenly Judge for us and was punished in our place. No crime = no time!Let’s put aside collecting mental lists of do’s and don’ts. Then hopefully we will stop slinging them at each other!

This passage in 1 Corinthians presents us with a good reason to stop that kind of thinking and allow our minds to be changed by His Word. When it comes to judgment, only Jesus knows what is in that other person’s heart. If I am angry or afraid of someone, I can so easily be deceived by my own heart, and run on at the mouth. At the same time I can end up filling up my thoughts with junk … simply because I am convinced I know why someone did, what they did! … But I don’t know and I can’t. The Person Who truly knows what someone else thought or did, pardoned them, by doing what HE did.

I lived in an atmosphere in my childhood, that threatened me with physical and emotional violence when it came to my performance. So I learnt to be deceitful to protect myself. I am now old enough and I know I have been empowered by Him, so I can choose a different response! “I know Whom I believe, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him until that day.” 2 Timothy 1:12.

I could hold a grudge and harden my heart, but I will stop moving forward in God if I choose to do that. But He won’t reject me, because we have a covenant – an agreement signed in His own Son’s blood. Sometimes we can shoot ourselves in the foot, because we can’t possibly know what God is going to do next, so we pick up judgment to defend ourselves. The Lord is not like us! Hallelujah! Now, there’s a good thing to remember. Some responses to circumstances have become so ingrained in our psyche, we do things automatically. We need to deliberately retrain our responses, by allowing His Word to become a part of who we are now.

Judgment in the Christian world can be a fatal flaw. It means that we can no longer get to “know each other after the Spirit “  … because we are too busy trying to duck blows that may or may not come. We can quite easily forget our ministry of reconciliation, and use God’s Word to brutalise others. That sword is for our enemy so we can cut people free – it is not to slice up your neighbour!!  We can’t know what is in someone else’s heart, so acting in wisdom means we need to suspend judgment and extend GRACE. 

We can have confidence that we are already accepted, we simply need to be prepared to become vulnerable. That is a rude word to some people. They avoid vulnerability like the plague. Repentance isn’t a sign of weakness, it is a sign of strength. It’s an honour system. Jesus honoured and pardoned us, so we honour what He did for us, by honouring and pardoning others and suspending any judgment. Sadly, our hearts can be deceitful. They can excuse me — and accuse you —- all-at-the-same-time! 

That’s why paying attention to what comes out of our mouths is the biggest clue to what is going on inside! Our speech, actions and attitudes need to be given our attention – especially the unguarded ones. The body of Christ can be a little like a slow leaky tyre, you want to fix it but you just can’t find the leak. This is a place where we lose touch with the Holy Spirit and HE is the ever-present Wind beneath our wings, let’s plug up them holes! Judgment belongs to the Lord — only HE can be trusted with it. Bye.👋

P 3178 Our thoughts.

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Most despairing attitudes start in our thought-life. However when we take the time to pay attention to what we are thinking, we can exchange those thoughts for Who He is and how much He loves us! His love is the only constant thing this world has! It is a matter of choice, not a matter of proof. Do we believe what He says or how we feel. The more we know what the truth is — the bigger our opportunity is to be blessed, because we have come to know personally, intimately, a greater reality. 

These two seemingly opposite things, like hardship and blessings can co-exist. Pain, heartache, and sorrow, can be present at the same time as our knowledge of Who He is and how much we are loved by Him. Open the bible and find a scripture that helps, and then hold fast to it.  His love is always greater than the circumstances. When these things fall upon us, we need to learn to insist, purely for our own good. The Lord Jesus outweighs the things that come against us to try to drown us in our problems. He is bigger than anything we might face. Yelling ‘help,’ helps me! And no, I don’t always do that out loud!!

When we are under any sort of duress, we need to deliberately read the bible to remind ourselves of His kind of love. At the moment when you feel you can’t – you must! His love is so good, so faithful, so steadfast, that as we read, we will come to a place where we feel the darkness recede … don’t stop there, keep going. The enemy is pushing you, push back! If we fall into something testing or tormenting we know that He will help us. He says so! The Holy Spirit, the One Who comes alongside us, will kiss us back to life again. This is when our faith in God’s goodness has an opportunity to grow. Jesus died to give us that choice!

Faith needs to be tested otherwise it will not have depth. There is a stronger kind of faith that has been tried and tested and come through all kinds of difficulties with even more gratitude and worship. I know people who have this kind of faith. All kinds of hardship are actually fertile ground, fertilised by our surrender and our active faith that He is bigger than anything else. Being tested, and pushing on, can only deepen what we already know about Him! We cannot trust the Lord completely until what we believe has had our beliefs tested and shaken, so that all the unbelief falls off. Then we’ll discover that He is more than able to keep us.

If we choose to continue to follow and submit to Him even when we feel we cannot find our way—we will get through whatever is shaking our world, and come out of the other side – whether the situation changes or not.. Let’s make the immediate choice to look up and see that dear face of His so close to us. He knows all about pain and suffering and sorrow – personally. He understands it is hard – personally! At the same time the Holy Spirit will comfort us, and teach us that we can rely upon the very real fact that He will never leave us or forsake us. 

The Lord is closest to us whenever we feel devastated and alone. We have His promises. The question is, do we believe what He says, over and above what we can see with our own eyes or hear with our own ears? Hebrews 13:5b,6. “Never will I leave you;  never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my Helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?” Did you see what that verse says? ‘So we SAY with confidence …’  At this point I start speaking to my soul, like the Psalmist told us: I tell my soul to ”… hope in God!” (Psalm 42:11.)

Now let’s look at James 1:2-4 – “Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colours. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.” James says that the thing we often desperately want to wriggle out of, is a GIFT. Because under pressure we are forced to face what we lack! When you know what you don’t have, you can target it with repentance and scriptures. Start by identifying what you are feeling: ‘I’m angry;  I’m afraid;  I’m jealous;  I am in despair.’  We no longer need to be afraid to diagnose the places in our hearts that lack — Jesus died for that lack. All we are doing is working with the One Who was sent to help us through!

Finally, we begin to realise that there is even something greater at stake than our immediate sense of comfort or peace of mind. That is God’s Kingdom blooming and blossoming in us. Hebrews 10:35-36 “Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.”  Don’t choke in the hard bits – press through – grab hold of Jesus and hang on!

His kingdom will begin to be revealed through your life, simply because it is our destiny to bring the kingdom with us. The gospels are not some sort of fairy story with a happily ever-after ending. They end in the death of the HERO. But – His resurrection ushered us into a whole new kind of world. His world has love in its centre and it is filled with hope and faith. OUR world has things in it that can be stolen or broken, but His kingdom is an incredible storage unit, we can deposit our precious families etc. with the Lord, where this world can’t get at them.

Our thoughts are so important, they can turn the ship of our lives into the wind, to be moved by our beloved Holy Spirit – HE knows where we are going and what we will need to get there!  Bye. 👋

P 3142 It’s the Lord’s nature.

/ DVH

“The Lord is close to all whose hearts are crushed by pain, and He is always ready to restore the repentant one.” Psalms 34:18 TPT.  I love the word always in this Psalm. When human beings say always, we often mean – most of the time. But when God says always that’s exactly what He means! He is not into hyperbole or exaggeration. What He says, He means. Whatever He says, you can stand on. Doubt has nothing to give us, but angst. Holding fast is hard, but when we do it, we will reap a great reward.

Oh I pray that everyone grasps this truth and holds on to it tightly. It will comfort you in times when the roof has fallen in. The Holy Spirit will take His Words and unfold them before your eyes, and suddenly the thing you can’t understand, is clear. Let Him expound God’s word to you. There is nothing like God Himself, explaining what He means when you study His scriptures!

It is His truth. Almighty God put His full stop on His truth when He sent us the Living Word, Jesus, so we could see His Word in action. Ask yourself, how did Jesus treat sinners? — With grace, mercy and revelation that leads to repentance. How did He interact with the sick? With compassion, kindness, and healing. How did He minister to the spiritually hungry? With fresh bread directly from heaven. When God says He is close, He means He is close!  PAIN should not be our reference point – He is! 

Choose to believe Him, and remember to thank Him. You can thank Him for being with you, and not leaving, you even if the difficult circumstances haven’t instantly resolved. Focus on how close He says He is. When bad stuff happens, He won’t ever leave us. He takes His Word seriously and He keeps it. When we gave our lives to Jesus we stepped away from the feeling/thought-based world attitude, into His light and that light won’t lie to us. It can’t! Goodness, mercy, love, kindness, gentleness and truthfulness are part of God’s very nature. He does not lie. 

Years ago, I read books about countries on the other side of the world. I heard about them on the radio, and then I saw blurry pictures of them in black and white on the TV! And then one day I got on a plane and went and stood in those places. That one action took many countries out of the realm of my imagination, and brought them into reality for me. 

If you mention places like Germany, or Greece or France, I have memories of golden sun on my face – and some pretty yummy food too! If you say Singapore, I remember the brilliant architecture, sounds and smells. The thing that transports what we know into our personal experience — is FAITH! I ran about like a headless chicken and got a pass-port, and visas, packed my bags, then I got on a plane, and those countries came out of my imagination into reality.. I acted on what I saw! Faith acts on what it has read in the bible.

Our Spirit-prompted, Word-based belief in whatever He says, can take His Word and bring it to life. For those who are interested, I am not talking about believing for a Lear jet or a house with a bowling alley in the basement! I’m talking about God’s true riches. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness etc. But if we choose to treat His book like an information source, we will miss out on tasting the substance of His love, which transforms human beings. Ask for His help, and deliberately practice being loving – leave your feelings out of it.

Faith comes first. That’s when we decide to take a risk regarding Jesus’ truthfulness and Personhood and you and I will begin to have our own personal history with God Himself. The bible says faith comes by hearing and hearing comes from exposing ourselves to His Word— when we feel like it and when we don’t. And if you are sick, sad, or lonely then you probably won’t feel like it. I listen to the bible read if I can’t read it. We need to daily let His Word wash over us and cleanse us from the unbelief and heartache of this world.

Personally, I have yet to say: “oh goodie” when a testing time comes upon me. Nevertheless, I am learning that in those faith-testing times it means that God is taking me deeper still. The deeper the foundation, the greater the stability of the building. Our gracious Father is making sure we won’t ‘shake’ and ‘quake’ like we used to … because what we are standing on now, is firm and secure, and we know it.It’s like David said to Goliath: ‘First I killed a lion, then a bear, so YOU are going down!” Each faith-prompted action and subsequent experience led David into a deeper understanding of God Himself, and more confidence in Him.

Some things have now gone from my head to my heart. That’s because He has written it there! Our hearts are the safest place for that knowledge to be. When things are dark and horrible, that’s when we need to exercise our faith in His never-ending goodness the most. I tell the Lord: “You said You are here, so You are here! You are truthful, and I believe You. Thank You for being here close to me.” Amen.

When we stop trying to use the Lord for our own ends, and we decide that all we want is HIM – then we can tell Him we want to stay close to Him no matter what. That’s when we will see Him in ways we cannot imagine. Sometimes we need to do what David did and remind ourselves of the times when His goodness has upheld us and He helped us push through to victory. No matter how things look — and for many many people today, I know things look terrible, but I exhort you to hold fast.

God has not left you, and HE WILL NOT! Jesus our Shepherd will walk with you in that deep dark valley and use His staff to protect you from everything that wants to harm you. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other. If help doesn’t come immediately He’s telling you He knows you can do it! Remember that His loving kindness is the Lord’s nature — and this too, shall pass… 😢 Bye.

P 3131 Don’t give away your peace …

/ DVH

… to anyone! Cherish it. “And everything I’ve taught you is so that the peace which is in Me will be in you and will give you great confidence as you rest in Me. For in this unbelieving world you will experience trouble and sorrows, but you must be courageous, for I have conquered the world!”John 16:33. Peace is a Person, Jesus! He’s the Prince of peace – Who brings with Him a stable unfettered state of mind, so we can serve God and focus on what matters to Him.

What drags us away from the kind of peace that Jesus is talking about here – is the ordinary stuff that is unrelenting, and it flies at us daily. “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not LET your hearts be troubled or afraid,“John 14:27. We now have the power to not LET things get to us. Most of us deal with stuff every day. Kids don’t pick up their toys, or they disobey, or they talk back. Bosses have agendas, and many times they can have unrealistic expectations. Spouses don’t always understand what we are trying to tell them. 

We need to recognise that when human beings are living under pressure they say and do stupid, careless things!I Ask the Holy Spirit to – ‘Please help me to learn to live in peace – under fire!’ Jesus will teach us, as we read His Word, day by day, so we can have the inner resources to combat the thief. We all know where our help comes from! Our reality does not exist outside the Lord Himself. His Words in our heart comforts and upholds us, particularly as we choose to cherish and act on them. God has us in His care, and He knows what He is doing.

Those God-words from Him to you, daily, are powerful, they will pull down strongholds in our lives, when we let them. Don’t let your perception of yourself, or even your family history,  limit you. Now we are in a new family, a new kingdom. We can do things we’ve never done before because of HIS GRACE in us. Throw away family traits – unless they are Godly. Peace is an inside job. Let’s stop excusing our own shortcomings and face them squarely, instead. A lack of peace inside, is an indication that we need to pause and ask the Lord to show us what has caused our peace to leave … and then fix it.

Sometimes we lie to ourselves by soft-soaping the scriptures – like the one that says Jesus understands us in our weaknesses – Hebrews 4:15. Of course He does! That is why He is the perfect High Priest! But we can’t rely on excuses and continue to tolerate the very things that take our awareness of His Presence away from us. Which means we must face the truth and the consequences that our attitudes have had in our lives and the lives of others. Then repent, repair and move on because these things steal our peace away.

Let Jesus protect you. Be wise when you relate to difficult people, but always be prepared to be open and honest about yourself and your failings. Say: “I’m so sorry but I don’t cope with things like that. I need the Lord to help me, please pray for me.” Hiddenness can lead to a loss of peace because the Holy Spirit loves truth and unity, and when we hide ourselves to save face, or protect ourselves- He quietly leaves. No peace there then!

My next point is – over-thinking things, which can lead to anxiety and stress. So many times I have tossed and turned instead of happily sleeping, while I’m trying to figure out a good way to approach a difficult person. Or trying to think up ways to manage a hard day that is rushing at me. My advice is to give these things to Him, then leave them alone. At first it feels neglectful, because we are so used to worrying out answers to problems!

However, now we are engaged in peace maintenance, so we let the Prince of Peace take care of everything that clutters up our minds. “You will keep in perfect and constant peace the one whose mind is steadfast [that is, committed and focused on You—in both ]inclination and character], Because he trusts and takes refuge in You [with hope and confident expectation].” Isaiah 26:3.

Busyness is a thief – yet sometimes we can’t help but be busy. Jesus Himself was often busy! Crowds came and came, demanding this and that. Unfortunately the cares and worries of this world demand everybody’s attention. Mark 4:19 says:“… but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.” Peace can be choked out by worry. I’ve found it extremely helpful to let go of these things by naming them, one by one.

We can think of prayer as taking many hours, and we know we have no time. But the truth is He already knows what is bugging you and HE wants to help you. Sooooo many times I have discovered He has a better way to carry out what must be done than I have. Remember, in the bible, we have two instances of Jesus Himself helping fishermen to FISH! We have given Him our lives, so we need to let Him organise them. That does not mean we do nothing, but it does mean we will enjoy His company through the day. 

Prayer is an attitude of surrendering our hearts to Him, deferring to His wisdom. It isn’t always WORDS. Think of the Lord Jesus as SomeOne Who is glad to be an intimate part of your life, SomeOne Who wants you to do much more than slog through your busy days. He wants to be with you. Imagine that – the Perfect One longs for your company.  His Presence within us is our peace.  Let that peace be your umpire. Bye. 👋

P 3122 God sees.

/ DVH

In some places in the bible (Ezekiel and Revelation) all sorts of creatures are mentioned. They have eyes everywhere, in places we don’t even like to think about. To me this is a picture of the incredible depth of sight our Heavenly Father has – He sees ALL! Those creatures’ eyes mentioned in those books reflect Hebrews 4:13: “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” Our Heavenly Father knows what is happening in your life right now, how hard it is for you.

Nothing is ever hidden from Him. And as we walk through this life toward complete wholeness and holiness in Christ – that thought should not make us afraid – it should turn our hearts to the Saviour. We need to remember what Colossians 3:3 says:“For [as far as this world is concerned] you have died, and your [new, real] life is hidden with Christ in God.” We don’t have to hide anything from Him when we choose to live our lives for Him. Let’s continually allow the Holy Spirit, to guide, correct and teach us His Ways, and continue to remain hidden by what Christ did for us. Because of what He has already done, we know that we can trust Him and His Word. 

This is why an intimate relationship with our Father is important. If we only give God importance in our lives according to our immediate needs, then we could eventually fall away. Because sooner or later our prayers will appear to be unanswered! Instead, let’s bow to the superior knowledge and sight, of the Great I AM. That knowledge is revealed in the bible. Our God sees everything, and He is a mighty JUST God – WHO LOVES US. If we sin, He already has an Advocate praying and pleading for us at His right hand. His own dear Son. Jesus is utterly trustworthy. He never held anything back from His Father in His entire earthly life, and He poured His life out for each one of us!

God’s measuring tools are not the same as ours. We cannot afford to use our own measuring stick, because we can end up deceiving ourselves with excuses … and blame. That’s why Christ came – to provide us with a Saviour Who has personal experience of His Father’s love. He showed us what obedience and humility looks like …and He had perfect confidence in His Father’s Word. On top of all that, He also had understanding about the pressures of this world! The Holy Spirit will reveal what is in our hearts to us, if we let Him. He knows everything. He gave us these scriptures and then lived them out in front of our eyes.

This why our bible reading needs to become more than just a cursory reading. We already know that it can become a diagnostic tool, and reveal to us our own hidden attitudes and actions. It also shows us the works He prepared for us to do, before we ever arrived here. Human beings like to fool themselves. We hide things, even from ourselves, because we don’t like to be wrong …instead we can end up blaming others.

Exhibit A … Genesis 3:12. Adam blamed GOD HIMSELF. “… the woman YOU gave me … ” Hiding ourselves from Him is foolish, and we are only fooling ourselves. We are like little children, who love to play hide and seek, they have no comprehension that the person who is seeking — is not really gone! God knows and sees exactly where we are and what is really going on.

In Ezekiel there is another example of what God knows and what man doesn’t. Most of us know this story so I will just give a brief overview today. The Holy Spirit whisked Ezekiel away in the spirit, to a valley filled with skeletons – dry bones. And then He talks to Ezekiel about them. These people are totally DEAD. The scene is a powerful picture of what life without Almighty God, and Jesus Himself looks like. Important people come and go in this life – famous ones, clever ones, but, in the end – we will all end up dry bones. But, because God sees and knows all, it doesn’t have to stop there!

The Spirit reveals to Ezekiel that valley of utter, permanent destruction, seemingly permanent oblivion. But God can see potential even in dry bones. He can raise up an army from a valley that has only known death for years!  Ezekiel 37:9.“Then Yahweh said to me, Prophesy to the breath. Yes, prophesy, son of man. Say to the breath, ‘Lord Yahweh says: Divine breath, come now from the four winds. Breathe on these lifeless bodies, so that they can live again.’The Holy Spirit asks Ezekiel a hard question in this chapter: “Can these bones live?” Verse 3. Ezekiel is no dummy — He gives a GREAT answer, filled with humility and hope! “…only YOU know Lord…” Then the Mighty Spirit of God commands the prophet to prophesy and command life to come back to those bones again!

I want to encourage everyone who has loved ones who-don’t-know-Jesus-yet — or loved ones who have wandered away — to be like Ezekiel — speak His life to the dry bones. God has given us the power to shift things that appear to be fixed. Sometimes situations like these, loom over us like huge mountains in our lives. But Jesus once said: ‘Speak to the mountain and tell it to move.’  The Lord once told the sea to be still! Prophesy to the Divine breath – the Holy Spirit. Let’s start praying for our friends and families: “Holy Spirit come. Breathe on these empty, lifeless bodies so that they know true life as His children, and become part of His army.”

God sees and knows what is happening around you. Sometimes instead of lying down under circumstances, we need to stand up and prophesy what God says: “And consider the example that Jesus, the Anointed One, has set before us. Let His mindset become your motivation.” Philippians 2:5 TPT. Amen. Bye 😘💨💨💨

P 3113 How it works.

/ DVH

I woke up with this thought jiggling about in my brain, so I had to get up to write it down. “When you have confidence in the power source, you do not have to pray for the tool to work.” Let’s look at that sentence through a less than perfect illustration:  Every time you get into your car to go out, maybe you pray about safety etc. but you don’t have to pray that the car will work. You expect your car to work. You put in the key into the ignition, turn it and away you go. (Let’s just pretend that everyone’s car works OK – it’s an illustration, right?)

I cannot put any faith in myself to transform me. I must lock my faith onto the One Whose passionate desire is to see me changed. The same faith that saved ME, will change ME!  Our feelings or experiences sometimes will lead us astray, they say: “God won’t help me, He can’t change me.” Why do we feel this way? Because we are looking at the car, (myself), not the power source – the Holy Spirit! (Romans 12:2) We can lose our hope and faith, simply because this world is anti the things of God, and bad things happen to us and we think we can’t change our responses. 

Suddenly we are sad/mad/grumpy/tired and the people around us are not co-operating with our desire to walk with the Holy Spirit. They don’’t want to provide us with a serene peaceful atmosphere. They are not supposed to, we are the ones who yield to Him and give Him room. (Ephesians 5:18-20) This is why we spend time with the Lord Himself, and read His Word. The bible is fuel for the power of God to flow through us. It will clean out the spark plugs, and keep our whole engine CLEAN. (Acts 10:15) Focus on the connection, not the outcome.

Maybe at your house some mornings, one kid can’t find his shoe, and another is still being prodded into getting out of bed. Serenity comes from within us, because HE IS our peace!  And then that peace flows out from us into the world around us. It won’t come from circumstances, it comes from within us. So if the kid won’t get out of bed, etc. we can still be at peace, because our surroundings have nothing to do with our day. We know the Peaceful One, He lives INSIDE us.(John 16:7) We talk to Him and ask Him how to deal with this kid. You and I are in a process of learning to trust the Holy Spirit – HE is the source of the power to overcome.  

Back to my car illustration: You don’t have to feel like your car will start, you know it will. Even a little fuel will start your car! Despite our outward circumstances—His power is ignited when we obey because we love Him and value His Presence. And we will gain confidence that His ways are higher than ours. That’s when we can develop confidence in His work in us because we have done it over and over again. Practice helps confidence. 

The Holy Spirit wants to be our constant companion, He does not want to leave us, even though we can be wilful and become deaf to His promptings. (Romans 8:9) All we need to do then is to repent and ask for His help. The bible clearly tells us He will be with us and He will help us – we simply use our faith to grab hold of what His book says. Then take a breath, and act like He would, using our faith. We co-operate with Him. 

We don’t have to flog ourselves to death trying to be something God has given us for free. That’s just dumb!  The question is not: ‘can I do this?; The real question is: ‘Do I believe He will help me?‘ (Psalm 46:1) He’s the power source. YES He will… because we have His promises in writing! Don’t focus on the lack inside you, focus on the abundance in Him. Christ died to give us His power to overcome this world. That power is so strong it brought Him victory over death, He came out of the grave and His word tells us He will help us.

Jesus tried several times to warn His disciples about the stuff that was going to happen to Him – they didn’t believe Him, or even try to store those thoughts up in their hearts – maybe because they didn’t like the thoughts! That led to their faith failing them. (Mark 14:50) Let’s stop looking at our immediate circumstances, and pray for eyes to see what He is actually doing. We will find more faith than we ever thought possible, when we stop trying to fix ourselves, and simply engage with the Holy Spirit at the moment of impact. Choose to change your response and act like the power to change is there, because it is – His book says so! (Acts 1:8)

We do not have beg or plead with God to help us, His Word tells us that we can have confidence in Him.(1 John 5:14) We choose to believe what He says, over what we think or feel, and then we act differently. Testing situations are never about: “can God help us? ”OR: “Will God help us” HIS power to help us is already here! The Holy Spirit came to earth over 2,000 years ago. HE’S now HERE, and active on our behalf. My faith is in the One Who made those promises. That same faith that saved us, has the power to change us. Turn the key, the power is already there.

Overcoming is the result of our deliberate choice to obey His Word under any and all circumstances. Now we read the bible to learn how the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit act, and what They value. The bible is not a list of instructions, it is a list of prompts! Obedience will open the floodgates that disobedience erects.That is how it works. Bye. 👋

P 3083 Adaptability.

/ DVH

““Learn this well: Unless you dramatically change your way of thinking and become teachable like a little child, you will never be able to enter in.” Matthew 18:3 TPT.

Back when my kids were little, once a year I took the three of them, separately, off into the city to buy an individual ornament each for our Christmas tree. Those individual journeys included a visit to the Christmas theme park on Myer’s roof, a ride on something or other, plus a joyous inspection of the Myer windows. Then we wandered around the Christmas shop together choosing this year’s ornament. Finally they had a yummy treat, and a return long train ride home, with lots of time to talk. 

However, even though fun was on the agenda, I knew I was there to teach them how to be responsible caring people, whilst preserving as much of their childhood fun as I could. So somebody else, (me!), cleaned their clothes, and decided what they would eat, and I looked after them when they were sick etc. Unfortunately, once they started to grow up, things became more difficult. They didn’t like this and they wouldn’t eat that. Their ‘teachability’ and ‘adaptability’ levels dropped clear away as they grew older. 

I discovered today, when I spent time meditating on this verse from Matthew, that I personally have no idea how to be a child when I am with the Lord. After all children trust their parent to get things right! But that kind of freedom was absent from my own life, because I don’t think I actually knew very many carefree moments. I’m not complaining BTW, I simply lived with a distinct lack of the kind of freedom a happy child enjoys. So it continually clouded my view of the way the Lord sees me. 

And let us be clear —the Lord sees us as His children, as well as seeing us as His people. It dawned on me that I need my thinking transformed in this area as I have a limited human reference point to draw upon. I strongly suspect that I am not the only pickle in this barrel, many other people have had limited childhood experiences too! But is this what this verse is all about? Is it just the idea of being taken care of without even noticing? Or being able to play anywhere you want, whenever you want? I came to believe this verse is all about our inner attitude toward God Himself.

So I did further research and decided to look at children in other countries. And lo and behold, in the midst of war, starvation, and suffering, I saw that if a child can play, it will. We’ve all seen pictures of children playing in bomb sites, or in the dust and dirt of a refugee camp. I came to the conclusion that childlikeness is an inner attitude – it is not formed by our outward situations. It seems to me that Jesus is talking about the way we approach this life. Things like wanting to learn and being adaptable to change.

Those children in refugee camps etc. don’t want to be where they are, they would probably like a nice little safe house to live in, but their circumstances have taught them to ADAPT.And as I have aged, it seems I have become less adaptable. That attitude, plus life’s ongoing difficulties, trials and heartaches can actually keep me from the very place Father God wants me to live in! He wants me to remember that I can always be confident in Him, despite my inner or outward circumstances. 

Faith is defined in the dictionary like this:“complete trust or confidence in someone or something.” That’s when I took a good look at my own measure of faith and I decided that my somewhat oppressive childhood was no excuse. I can’t hide in what other people did to me, because now – today! – I have a choice. I can’t even hide in what some people continue to do to me …because my confidence is in GOD HIMSELF, not in my circumstances or other people’s actions. Whether I am damaged by this life, or ill because of my body’s weaknesses, I can still choose to live in complete confidence that God is with me, and for me, and He will finish the work He started in me.

That’s what childlikeness looks like. It is about trusting in  SomeOne Who is greater than I am – even when I don’t understand what is going on. Every single thing that happens to me does not always have to be assessed by my understanding because my understanding is broken! Unless I believe that God Himself means to do me good, when things look bad – I will start to lose my childlike attitude and trust. 

Wonder of wonders, my glorious Father has given me a book that gives me detailed descriptions of how He feels about me, (and many many other people) so I need to put my faith in His written word, more than I put it in whatever is going on around me. Children trust their parents to fix things – while they go on with what they are doing. In the end, I decided to pray to be more adaptable … how about you? 👋 

“Energise the limp hands, strengthen the rubbery knees. Tell fearful souls, “Courage! Take heart! God is here, right here, on His way to put things right And redress all wrongs. He’s on His way! He’ll save you!” Isaiah 35:3-4.

P 3077 God has a different value system

/ DVH

Life is a funny thing — day after day we can try so hard to appear to be so together – spiritually, physically, and emotionally. We can unwittingly perpetuate deception, when we tell ourselves that we must continue to try harder — because we don’t want to let the Lord, or my family, or the church, or my job, down. Maybe the real truth is that we don’t want to be vulnerable in front of other people, because we don’t actually trust them! Or perhaps we think we will be judged if our humanity shows. 

Have we accidentally believed the lie or the hype that says God’s people are meant to be already perfected, getting everything right all the time? After all we want to be a good witness for Jesus! However, He’s the burden bearer – He is NOT the one who overloads us!! Day by day we are on a road. We are sojourners… travellers, learning as we go – like Abraham did. That learning does not stop while we are here. Religion likes the appearance of doing good, but that stuff will create frustration with yourself and others. 

In contrast, the bible account of Abraham’s life reveals His humanity. This man followed the Lord step by step from an old life into a new one. That new life was God’s own design, not his!  Abraham’s mistakes became stepping off points into what God actually wanted in the first place. The man’s faith in God’s ability to bring him through the difficulties he faced, increased as he simply kept putting one foot in front of another and obeying what the Lord told him to do.

When, if EVER, did our salvation rest on us? Our God only made the world, without our prayers, and without us to advise Him! He is and He always will be, His own incredibly wise counsel! What on earth makes us think we can fix ourselves? We desperately try to find the right person to pray for us, or the right prayer to pray, or the right scripture to quote over and over again. The Lord knows we are dust! Thinking point:  dust is just everything around us, broken down, worn down by time, into teeny tiny particles. Only God Himself can take dust … or dry bones … and make it live again! 

I think our worst problem is that we have made Almighty God too small. We have our gimme doctrines of wanting this and wanting that, and expecting Him to cough stuff up, as we accidentally call presumption, FAITH. We are settling for the appearance of looking good, or being nice people, instead of pressing in for complete restoration healing and transformation. I can’t fix anyone … not even me!  We are all broken one way or another!

Our loving Father God is always seeking US. He has our good in His heart because HE IS GOOD. Jesus didn’t set up a tent, and say: “…if you want to be healed come to My tent meetings!” He went out amongst the people and ministered to them wherever He found them, and most of the time, they found Him! That’s what our God is like! Always seeking us, always wanting everything to work together for our good – that’s His purpose! Our holy, sometimes self-serving, clusters are keeping real seekers out. What we are basically saying is to be saved means you will look like US! Doesn’t that line scare you…just a little bit?

The bible reveals God’s thoughts: ”Jesus says, “If you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit,… ”John 15:5. Our problem we need to learn how to remain in Him, especially when stuff happens! Grapes don’t go wandering about looking for better nutrition or a stronger place in the vine – grapes are stationary. They are totally dependant upon the POWER OF THE SAP TO KEEP THEM. That place is the place where we live.

Remaining in Him means I trust Him no matter how things look. It is hardly ever about whatever is actually going on, most of the time this life is about Who is in charge here? Even bad things come to an end, one way or another. The reality of Jesus in our lives, is in the presence of His peace. He stood up in a storm and told it to shut up and it did. Boy do I pick Him to be my best friend! I wanna be like Jonathan – he knew how to pick best friends! Meanwhile we must remember, we are all in transit. Think on this as an aim for your life: “But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:13 MSG

The sooner we realise that we are not capable of figuring things out so that they work perfectly, every single time — the sooner we can get about the business of simply following Him, step by step, like Abraham. Jesus Christ is God’s first-born of many sons and daughters, but even Jesus didn’t PRESUME on His unique position. His faith was in His Father’s ability to carry out whatever Almighty God wanted, whenever He wanted it.

If we want to live in peace with people around us, then we must learn to trust God no matter what else is going on. Jesus didn’t take sides in conflicts –  all He cared about was His Father receiving His due glory, and His will being done. The people who love their God and do great exploits look like this: “For God makes all the decisions here. God is our King. God runs this place and He’ll keep us safe.” Isaiah 33:22.

Trust the Lord. His ways are not our ways, and His value system is not like ours. And if you know you are broken, don’t be ashamed – we ALL are. Some of us just hide it better than others do. Bye. 👋