confusion

P 3216 Obedience is not an optional extra.

/ DVH

Being obedient is the best way I know to walk with the Lord, and it can prevent a whole lot of confusion. I discovered that I needed to purpose in my heart to simply choose to be obedient. I’ve learnt to read the bible, pray and meditate on it and — do what it says. At the same time, I’ve found as I focus on loving other people, suddenly a whole lot of stuff that I needed, was added unto me along the way. “We have come into an intimate experience with God’s love, and we trust in the love He has for us. God is love! Those who are living in love are living in God, and God lives through them.” 1 John 4:16.

I believe that the depth and purpose we desire to love the Lord, appears when we intentionally, continually apply our dedicated obedience to His Word. Father God doesn’t need our mental agreement with whatever He has said, Jesus and the Holy Spirit agree with Him and that’s a majority right there!! This is what Jesus said about obedience in John 14:15-17. “If you love Me, you will obey My commandments. I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper Who will be with you forever. That Helper is the Spirit of Truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it doesn’t see or know Him. You know Him, because He lives with you and will be in you.”

The Holy Spirit is our Helper, and Jesus specifically asked the Father to send Him to us – to help us to obey the Father. At the same time, the Lord expects us to treat the Holy Spirit with reverence and respect. The Spirit of God is gentle in His heart, like Jesus is, and we need to respect that He will not cannonball all over the place, or even push us along. He clearly knows what truth is, and it is unfortunately quite evident from the above scripture, that a lot of the time, we do not! 

My favourite times with the Holy Spirit happen when He shows me what the truth is, in whatever scripture I am reading. It’s like someone turns the light on when I’ve been sitting in the dark trying to puzzle out what God wants to say TO ME.The precious Holy Spirit will not show us His heart, or what He wants from us, or even share His secrets with us, if we have no desire to be obedient. What would be the point? 

Let’s look at Jesus’ own personal lament over man’s lack of willingness to live their lives close to God. It is recorded in Matthew 23:37, where He says to Jerusalem:“How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” Have you ever tried to cuddle a child that didn’t want to be cuddled? They are all wiggles, arms and legs and cranky with it. That’s what I think about when I read Matthew 23. God wants to love on us, but we want to hold ourselves far enough away from Him so we still have a say. Or we try to wrestle ourselves out of His grasp, as we go as close as we dare to — but no further.

Here are some more specific scriptures about being obedient: 1 Peter 1:14 “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,…” Acts 5:29: “But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.” Psalm 1:1–2: “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night.”  What we think about matters. The problem seems to be this — when we think about obedience long enough — if the change in our life is going to be hard, we postpone it, or try to go around it. 

Human beings keep their minds busy, trying to figure out this life so we feel more comfortable. So we problem-solve. Many times our minds will keep on returning to the difficulty, trying to figure out another answer, because we don’t like the one we have! The Lord has taught me to give things to Him. He told me to put every problem down, at His feet, and refuse to pick it up again. I give my problems to Him and He carries them for me. 

Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” That burden we worry about all night might never happen, and even if it did, what can we do about it? Our King promises to intervene and teach us how to get through things, AS we learn to rest in Him.

Years ago, I kept getting stuck on the way other people I knew were living. What I thought they should do. All that stuff meant I was not meditating on God’s goodness to me! Instead I was whining, grumbling and complaining because my feelings were engaged in things that weren’t anything to do with me. At other times I wanted someone to help me, but I wanted them to do it my way. I didn’t want to consider God’s answers in case I was convicted of sin and I needed to change my attitude. I blamed those other people, because they wouldn’t change their way of doing things, and … make my life easier for me!  Yeah, you heard me! Oy vey!

Luke 6:46: “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?”  I kind of think I might know why we do this… we want all the lovely benefits—but not the training in righteousness. We want a maid, or a butler, or a personal trainer following us about doing the hard yards for us. Jesus did all those the hard yards for us, long, long ago. But now, today, we must enter into the battle of all battles with our old self! The battle to think like He does! 

Obedience is not an optional extra, it’s the narrow way mentioned in Matthew 7! It is designed to reveal His heart to us, and our hearts toward Him. Living for His sake is always a choice, but it is also part of our ongoing salvation. Bye. 👋 

P 3133 Confusion occurs.

/ DVH

When I was much younger in the Lord we used to sing a song that went like this: “I’ve found a new way of living, I’ve found a new life divine, I’ve got the fruit of the Spirit, I’m abiding, I’m abiding, abiding in the Vine.” The trouble was we had the theory… but we weren’t changed and we didn’t produce the fruit. In the end up we kind of doubted Almighty God because nothing happened no matter how sincerely we sang it! Singing the song happily over and over again made no difference. Sadly we didn’t even wonder if that song needed our careful, attentive follow-up. 

So on we sailed, bubbling along thinking that saying it was as good as doing it, and many wonderful people fell right off the Vine, malformed and undernourished, because singing a song probably won’t change anyone’s rotten attitude. Please don’t get me wrong, I think that song is a gorgeous statement about a wonderful reality – the trouble was my generation never did get to the reality! 

Meanwhile we were still privately and secretly, grumbling at, gossiping about – our spouses, kids, Christian friends, rabbits and relations and our neighbours! Everybody chose to forget that –“out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” Which means if that stuff is coming out, then it is IN THERE. And yes, I don’t much like that idea either.

There is nothing wrong with singing songs like the one above – but it is our hearts that need transformation, not the worship lists! Worshipping and praising God in song is brilliant – do it! Sing to yourself in the shower or the car. The bible says this: “Don’t drink too much wine. That cheapens your life.Drink the Spirit of God, huge drafts of Him. Sing hymns instead of drinking songs! Sing songs from your heart to Christ. Sing praises over everything, any excuse for a song to God the Father in the name of our Master, Jesus Christ.” Ephesians 5:18.  

Start by drinking in the Spirit of God, as you step out to obey Him. How many countless times has God’s great MERCY stopped us from overstepping ourselves? Praise Him! But we still need to revise any methodology that supports fake attitudes and responses, and get busy dealing with our own internal issues.

“Beloved ones, God has called us to live a life of freedom. But don’t view this wonderful freedom as an excuse to set up a base of operations in the natural realm. Constantly love each other and be committed to serve one another. For all the law can be summarised in one grand statement: “Demonstrate love to your neighbour, even as you care for and love yourself.” But if you continue to criticise and come against each other over minor issues, you’re acting like wild beasts trying to destroy one another!” Galatians 5:13-15 TPT.

When awful thoughts fly through my mind, I need to grab God’s butterfly net (the Word) on purpose! And capture the junk, then transform it by doing whatever He tells me to do. The reality is, what He says is current, not something I just cherry-picked out of the book to suit my feelings. I remember the Lord speaking to me about my nasty attitude toward one of my parents, I called it defending myself, however, God called it disobedience!

He has clearly told us in His book, to honour our parents that it may be well with us. I’m pretty sure complaining about them to everyone within earshot doesn’t qualify! Instead of spending my time thinking how to avoid family members who drove me bonkers, I had to pray that He will show me how to obey Him and bless them… “bless those who persecute you and despitefully use you …”  We don’t have to deny the injury someone does to us, we simply need to choose a different response. That’s what love does.

That’s when He told me this person’s love language was time spent with them … and I needed to give them time… which was the very thing I didn’t want to do!  It took me ages to realise that doing it, didn’t mean I had to love it! God could care two cents about our feelings, they change on the wind. I cannot praise the Lord enough for taking the time to deal with me over issues like this one.

I had no guarantee any time I went to see this person that they wouldn’t stab my bleeding heart all over again whenever I saw them. But again, the Lord showed me something else that helped me. This person had no idea, not a thought in their elderly head that they were hurting me. They were simply manipulating situations to get what they wanted. It wasn’t personal!

We need these kinds of revelations for the people around us who drive us up a wall. Humanly speaking, we are not equipped to deal with massive abuse or rejection, and so we retreat or lash out. There’s another way. We need to remind ourselves that if what we read or sing does not lead us into action, we are wasting our time. Confusion occurs when we just sing or say things, we need to act on what He has told us in His book. Bye. 👋 

PS. Singing helps lifts our spirits so we can obey Him willingly.

P 3095 Trust can be cultivated.

/ DVH

Proverbs 16:3:“BEFORE you do anything, put your trust totally in God and not in yourself. Then every plan you make will succeed.”TPT. “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and He will establish your plans.” NIV.“Put God in charge of your work, then what you’ve planned will take place.” MSG. This is one of the very best ways I know that shows us how ‘to taste and see that the Lord is good.’

Please note the ‘before’ aspect of the first scripture! It makes it clear that the first place we need to go to is to Him. His ways are above ours, and He knows the future, so trusting Him is pure wisdom. We can tie ourselves in knots over something big like: ‘who should I marry? OR where shall I live?’ — But those things are not necessarily the best place to learn trust. A day-to-day experience of the Lord’s personal guidance, with His eye upon you and your life, is far better. Plus taking the time to notice what He has already done!

Trust is learnt through daily application, not just life-changing decisions! Our thirst to know what comes next can lead us astray. Our daily lives flow better as we learn to live guided by Him. Plus allowing the Lord to correct us and then deliberately acting on His correction, transforms our hearts and minds, because that too involves trust. It softens any hardness that may have calloused over our hearts in our relationship with Him, and others. Plus it introduces opportunities for humility. It’s hard to be proud when you know you need to  go to someone else and confess your faults!

My advice is this – start out the way you mean to finish. God can redeem anything, even our missteps, and He will — but, unfortunately, whatever we carelessly end up doing, can hurt other innocent people and their faith. There is so much wisdom in learning to trust Him and WAIT for what He wants. Let’s forget about taking a survey! By taking a survey, I mean asking six people to give you their feedback on something that totally affects the direction of your life. You could quite easily get six different answers! Or 3 for and 3 against! Neither of those options will grow anything but uncertainty. Trust is like a plant, it needs to be deliberately cultivated and nurtured and cared for, from day to day. 

We can misplace our trust, because we are not first honouring the One Who is always trustworthy with our actions. In order to cast all our cares upon Him so He can make our paths straight, we need to know Him, and His ways first! Regular prayer and reading the bible is a reliable way to expose us to the way the Lord thinks. Otherwise presumption will lure us away from the purposes of God Himself. The best way to cultivate trust is to be more prepared to hear ‘NO!’ or ‘wait,’ than ‘yes.’  Uncertainty is not postponement, it can be God saying wait. 

“There’s a time for every purpose under heaven.” Ecclesiastes 3:1. King Solomon learnt this lesson the hard way. With so many wives etc., not to mention all the children who called the king ‘Dad’ – it’s a wonder he could cope at all! But God Himself personally told this king not to marry or take foreign wives who worshipped other gods. Unfortunately, He did not trust God’s judgment over his own needs and wants.The result was catastrophic. He let his appetites rule his obedience and he treated women like sweeties in a sweet shop – “I’ll have one of those, and one of those etc. …”  Many people today are searching, and searching for the kind of permanent, idealised love from others, that only God Himself can provide. 

Trusting the Lord when everything seems to get harder and harder can be exhausting. This is when we discover how much of our lives the Lord really has under His supervision. I’ve learnt, in those harassing times, to simply lay it all down and let everything go. Let Him be God, and you just be you – that sad little exhausted puddle in the corner. “I can’t do this” is a useful prayer. Just like “help, help.” My premise is this, if we want to follow Him all day every day, then we need to live yielded lives – all day every day! And don’t forget repentance, it clears away any cobwebs. 

Trusting God means I WILL choose to take His Word over mine and that means what I want will die a little. It means I learn to shut my mouth whenever my insides are shouting – “vindicate yourself, you are being misunderstood again!” Another way to learn trust is by letting Him vindicate you. The bible clearly tells me He will vindicate me in Psalm 37:6-8. “He will vindicate you in broad daylight, and publicly defend your just cause. Wait patiently for the Lord! Wait confidently for Him! Do not fret over the apparent success of a sinner, a man who carries out wicked schemes. Do not be angry and frustrated. Do not fret. That only leads to trouble.” 

It is far better to trust the Lord to vindicate you in any circumstance. Anything that tries to push or prod us along is not God. HE leads. If we misplace trust by trying to work things out, or we chase after someone else’s opinions, or we are guided by our own appetites, that will lead to further distrust and confusion. Trusting God is like stepping out of our little boat onto the sea – it is essential that we keep our eyes on Jesus — not on whatever is going on around us! Our Heavenly Father is utterly trustworthy, and learning trust is a hands-on experience. Bye. 👋

P 2912 Great bible advice.

/ DVH

“Surrender your anxiety. Be still and realize that I am God. I am God above all the nations, and I am exalted throughout the whole earth.”Psalms 46:10 TPT. Well this verse in the Passion version gives us a lot to think about! I love the order in it. First we voluntarily give up anxiety, and then after we’ve surrendered everything, we are to be still and remember Who He is, and all He has done. I’m a fan of clear instructions, they make this life easier. BTW it doesn’t say you will feel differently! The bible is full of those kinds of faith things – it endlessly blesses me.

Living this way actually provides us with opportunities to plant, water and fertilise the fruit of the Spirit. Self-control, for instance. We need that particular fruit badly today. In our homes, in our relationships, in our countries  – we ALL need this fruit. The fruit of self-control actually germinates through recognising opportunities, and following His instructions, pray, and then application. It’s what I call an obedience fruit. It is like love, patience, kindness, goodness, and faithfulness, more fruit that begin to develop in the heat of obedience.

Self-control is actually more than just not saying or doing stuff, it is resting in what Jesus did so thoroughly we allow God to bring His peace in the place of worry and anxiety.  Hand everything over to Him, piece by untenable piece. And then, make a decision and take the time to be still, and simply think about what HE is like …what Jesus did for us. 

There are so many things the Holy Spirit does, and most of the time, we don’t even see Him working. When things go crazy inside our hearts and minds, and outside in the world around us, we need His perspective.

“For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”2 Corinthians 4:17-18.

When I am upset and anxious, I read a Psalm. I need to say at this juncture that I’ve found reading great chunks of the bible just causes further confusion and angst for me. However, music helps me too. But I try to spend time reflecting on Who He is and what He has done for all of us. I’ve learnt you can’t BAM the truth into place, but you can settle your heart, so you can YIELD and He can put His beauty in there. It is a battle, not a walk in the park! Battles like these don’t make us sinful – they show us our weaknesses and our need for His comfort.

Jesus is speaking in these verses in Luke to His disciples about the turbulent times ahead of them: “But before all this, they will seize you and persecute you. They will hand you over to synagogues and put you in prison, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of My Name.  And so you will bear testimony to Me. But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict.” Luke 20:12-15.

Even in extreme circumstances, we are exhorted not to worry! Imagine that … easily said … not easily done! It is a fight against our own carefully cultivated instincts and it takes practice and trust. It can seem weird when you just let go. Strangely, worry can make us feel like we are doing something – if we can just find the right answer! That’s a lie. We can’t add one minute to our lives with worry and anxiety.  

Instead of having to give their testimonies in hard places – those men mentioned in Luke are going to be imprisoned. Kings and governors, are going to demand an explanation for what they believe and the One they serve. And the Lord virtually says to them: ‘Don’t worry about it! I’ll be there!! I promised to be with you so I will be there! I’ll tell you what to say and when to say it. What you say will be so amazing and full of wisdom your enemies won’t be able to say a thing.’ Imagine the fruit on that path. And we think our lives are hard. 

I’m comforted by the fact that Jesus once said this:  “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, unless you repent [that is, change your inner self—your old way of thinking, live changed lives] and become like children [trusting, humble, and forgiving], you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:3. AMP.

Children trust and that is to be our response too. Let go, and look up at Jesus, and let Him take care of it. Do what you can see, plus the things He tells you to and then …let go.Unfortunately in these moments, the voice of personal experience is very loud and it can be a huge distraction. We need to become humble enough to lay our own personal experiences to one side, and believe the bible is truer than what we’ve known and experienced. 

We have to deliberately throw off our old ways of thinking and make a decision that Jesus is able to do what He said He will do, and He will do it for ME! Now the winds of chance, challenge and change cannot blow us around any more. Instead we are gently blown, by the Spirit of the Living God, onto His pathways. We learn His ways, and we start to experience Him for ourselves. 

The bible offers us all kinds of good advice, when it is treated with reverence, and applied into our lives. It shifts our focus off the things of this earth and pulls us into seeing what is happening in His kingdom. The things we cannot see. Bye. 👋