Consequences

P 3131 Don’t give away your peace …

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… 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 3057 This is what obedience looks like.

/ DVH

Acts 9:10-15:“Now there was in Damascus a disciple named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias. And he answered, Here am I, Lord. And the Lord said to him, Get up and go to the street called Straight and ask at the house of Judas for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying [there]. And he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias enter and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight. But Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard many people tell about this man, especially how much evil and what great suffering he has brought on Your saints at Jerusalem; Now he is here and has authority from the high priests to put in chains all who call upon Your name. But the Lord said to him, Go, for this man is a chosen instrument of Mine to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the descendants of Israel; …”

My first thought when I read this verse this morning was this: ‘Oy vey… there are times I baulk at the Lord asking me to do something simple!’ Ananias was a brave and extremely honest man. I love that he told the Lord Himself about his objections. I particularly love the bit where he said:“I could get dead Lord! He’s been killing people like me everywhere.” Ya gotta love an honest man. He was scared and he said so … then he did it anyway.

You know in all my years with the Lord I have never ever had one person come to me about an Ananias-type vision? I’ve never even read a book, or heard a sermon preached about what that man did. It was based on sheer obedience. I’ve had loads of saints come to me, telling me that God said to them: ‘I am going to be a big-wig, an important prophet or a blah blah blah.’ One dear lady once said: ‘God has sent me as a missionary to the rich.’ I managed to restrain my hysterical laughter, and I didn’t even say: “How convenient!”  I was polite, until after she left. Then I prayed for her…. but I was still giggling. I’m a bad bad lady! 🤣

I am also a big fan of this ordinary man, Ananias. I call him the guy who didn’t want to…I like him because that happens to me a lot. Father God tells us we should go on another trip to the back of Burke and … I don’t want to! Nasty things sometimes happen to both of us – before, during and after. Plus I don’t like the inconvenience and the effort, and of course, the discomfort. I really like my own bed, a-n-d I also like to know where the toilet is … especially at 2.00am when I really don’t want to wake up yet! Trying to find the toilet and not wake up doing it, can be quite a feat at my age.

Back to my brother Ananias – meanwhile I have never seen a flannel graph about him! But nowadays, I think he is vastly under-rated. Because he is an excellent example for us. He shows us how to having active faith in God. This man had a truly great reason to not-want-to-do what God told him to do. After all, if you think about it, he could have started a petition. Gathering up signatures under two headings …The first heading being:‘I think God really did say that’… and the other one says: ’Don’t be ridiculous why would He say that?’  Now there’s an  interesting little exercise. But Ananias didn’t do that. He had his chat with the Lord and then he went and did what he was told. That’s obedience. Here’s a big revelation – God did not say FEEL LIKE doing it.

We have most of the New Testament, because Ananias obeyed, despite the looming consequences to his own life. The thing is, blind people can’t write so good… they can’t see what they are writing!! Plus there was no Braille! Paul might have remained blind if Ananias hadn’t obeyed. And so that’s the question I put to myself whenever I am faced with making the same decision to go travelling again. Who will we miss if we don’t go? I know the Lord has back-up, because HE is the back-up for all of us …  but it’s lovely to be there when the Holy Spirit does His thing, and you get to watch Him at work.

I think that’s my favourite part of obedience. Watching Jesus at work in someone else’s life and heart. That’s a private and sacred place, and so you kind of want to tippy-toe around, and not spoil what He is doing. However, the personal result of this course of action means that hubby and I will go somewhere where the toilets and sofas are ten centimetres off the floor, and the beds feel like a rock, plus hubby has to haul me up and down, in and out of chairs. We do all that in the hope that we will get to see the Holy Spirit do something incredible in someone else’s heart. It is a privilege… but it isn’t always fun. Then again — fun can be over-rated.

Doing what the Holy Spirit tells you to do, when you don’t want to do it, is hardly ever fun. Particularly at those times when you are wound up tighter than a grandfather clock;  complaining at someone else and suddenly He gently suggests you take a breath and step down. Or He nudges you when you see someone struggling to carry their groceries. Or perhaps He suggest you help the person who is stuck at the check-out scrabbling for coins, to pay for their groceries. But when He says: “Help them” …it can be hard. Especially when you were counting on that saved money to buy yourself those really cool sneakers!

Obedience looks like that. Hard decisions at difficult moments, when you aren’t even feeling spiritual!  Bye. 👋

P 3055 Don’t wait – move!

/ DVH

“This is why the Scriptures say: Things never discovered or heard of before, things beyond our ability to imagine — these are the many things God has in store for all His lovers. But God now unveils these profound realities to us by the Spirit. Yes, He has revealed to us His inmost heart and deepest mysteries through the Holy Spirit, who constantly explores all things. For we did not receive the spirit of this world system but the Spirit of God, so that we might come to understand and experience all that grace has lavished upon us. 

And we articulate these realities with the words imparted to us by the Spirit and not with the words taught by human wisdom. We join together Spirit-revealed truths with Spirit-revealed words. Someone living on an entirely human level rejects the revelations of God’s Spirit, for they make no sense to Him. He can’t understand the revelations of the Spirit because they are only discovered by the illumination of the Spirit. For Who has ever intimately known the mind of the Lord Yahweh well enough to become His counsellor? Christ has, and we possess Christ’s perceptions.”1 Corinthians 2:9-10, 12-14, 16 TPT.

I wish I had understood some of these wonderful truths sooner – so I could have jumped joyfully into the ever on-going journey of full and total surrender – earlier! Instead of merely standing on the edge of it, dipping my toe in and out, hoping that would do. The only thing I got from dipping my toe in, was a truck load of reasons why total surrender was not for me. I became too engaged with the things of this world. My bad!

Sometimes I think the Body of Christ has been so disillusioned by the previous whole blab it and grab it theological movement, our disappointment has led to us standing afar off from the Lord. We are a bit like the Israelites. When Almighty God appeared to be unmanageable and scary, that’s when they told Moses: “You go up the mountain, we’ll stay down here.” Yet, we know darn well it is still our choice to stand so far away. Every now and then, some brave soul makes a bold stand to trust God for this and that, … and when, or if what they pray over doesn’t happen, disillusionment sets in … again!

We’ve seem to have forgotten it’s the thief who comes to steal kill and destroy. And even worse! —- We have forgotten that God is good ALL THE TIME. Let’s learn to look for the good no matter how bad things seem. Instead of wagging the Spirit’s school of learning about God Himself, we all need to sit up front and learn. Just because you or I feel let down or deserted by Him, that does not make what we feel the truth. Let’s stop, read and reread what He has said, and reinforce the wonderful things we know about Him and His Ways. I’m praying for brave souls to step up, and step out, and go on to live in and love on unsaved countries. Our country is an unsaved country! Here I am God send me!

Today I want to lay down a challenge to everyone reading this. There are glorious things about our God that we know nothing about. Those things exist now, and they are there for us, if we just ask. Instead of feathering our own nests, let’s be about His kingdom! Those strategies and secret things are needed right here, right now. I’m not talking about the kind of prayers that will make me more comfortable, because something bad has happened. I’m talking about the kind of lay-your-life down praying that turns the world on its head. These things are not only glorious, they are there to be taken – merely for the price we are prepared to pay to go and get them!

(Isaiah 55:1-6) 

Oh, where are our heroes of the faith? I have known some precious people of God in the past 52 years, and over those years I have seen some of these people persevere and press in, despite their circumstances. Praise God for their faith! But I’m so tired of the same old, same old, slog we participate in daily, week by week, paddling our broken canoes up the fantastic, enormous wild river of God’s love and provision. We need to step up, stand up, and ACT, by participating in what He is doing — instead of hiding away in our little hidey holes of supposed safety and security. 

I also know many dear saints who have been broken by their circumstances, and yet they bravely limp on. But there is a much harder step forward than even maintaining what we have, and it comes from the men and women who know His heart and pray and act on it. No matter what the consequences are.The best things, the most glorious things, are still in front of us, but we will have to put down our ideas of a normal life, and step into the unknown. He’s there, waiting for us. Let’s remember that 11 other men remained in that boat when Peter stepped out of safety into the impossible!

Many generations today chase youth in their attitudes and activities – everybody wants to keep fit. What about spiritual fitness? His ways are so much better than the ways of this world. It’s time to stop hoping somebody else will answer His call, and go ourselves! We need to move. Whether we take our faith to the office, our schools, or some foreign country – if we do not use that faith for more than our own personal gain – we will lose it. Bye 👋

“Yes, remember your Creator now while you are young, before the silver cord of life snaps and the golden bowl is broken. Don’t wait until the water jar is smashed at the spring and the pulley is broken at the well.”  Ecclesiastes 12:6.

P 2974 Wake-up!

/ DVH

Sometimes I think the body of Christ in the West no longer has a song of deliverance, because we have our lives so busy and organised, there is no time to find out what’s really going on around us. It seems to me that a lot of the difficulties we face are seen as an interruption to our own personal definition of how this life should go! We pray ‘deliver us from evil’ and hope that will cover it. What a luxury we have!

We all live somewhere:  maybe we have a job and kids, their school stuff — this thing and that to do. We are so busy that we simply must continue to do things to maintain the rhythm of our lives.  Unlike our brothers and sisters in conflict areas all over this world… today more than ever, Christians are living their lives like a people who have forgotten Who He is, and what He has done, and what we OWE Him! Instead we sing “Live for Jesus” then go home and live for ourselves. We spend our  precious time here maintaining the things of this world.. 

I wonder what happened in Lazarus’ life after he came out of that tomb? You see this man knew, first hand, what it was to die … and then be given a new chance at this life. Are you sure your ‘new life’ is making a whole lot of difference? Maybe we need to become more acquainted with other people’s suffering and sorrow, instead of wallowing around in our own disappointment… all because we missed out on the brand-new bargain TV on sale! Our wonderful God is so much BIGGER than the Person we’ve made Him out to be. We see Him as SomeOne Who is supposedly hanging about waiting for bad things to happen to us  – so He can bail us out of them!  We serve HIM, it says so in the book.

After all, this is Almighty God we are talking about, and I don’t think it is appropriate to fit Him in around the edges of our already well-established lives, do you? I know, we have plans, things we aim at … but what about His plans? Did He just save us so we can go to heaven in the sweet bye and bye? Or does He have something for us to do with this new life He has given us?

How can we ever know the sweetness of His deliverance from hell and death, when we are often too busy, or scared, to be obedient and take a risk?  The Lord needs a people who are prepared to take risks all over the place just to bring glory to His Name. We cannot have our cake and eat it too – we must DENY ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him. That kind of life is never going to be convenient, the time is never going to be right, and … obedience is not an optional extra!

Here’s something to rattle everyone’s cages: “Don’t look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easy going formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don’t fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires total attention.”  Matthew 7:13. MSG. I wish someone would tell me why we all work so hard to be on the wide road of ease, when the bible is quite clear, that road is the wrong road. This life is not meant to be easy!

Jesus Himself also said this, through Peter in I Peter 4:12.“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal which is taking place to test you [that is, to test the quality of your faith], as though something strange or unusual were happening to you.” They are a big part of this new life we’ve been called to embrace. They are not interruptions to the routine of our household, even though they sometimes seem like that! They are opportunities to stretch and strengthen our faith.

Hardly any of us are interested in being missionaries to Africa, or an Asian country, or our local suburb! Most of the time we can barely manage the day to day difficulties that pop up regularly — those things that keep us distracted from our main purpose. Our main purpose now is to live for Him not just survive! Did Jesus settle down in a little flat somewhere in Jerusalem and hold bible study meetings every third Wednesday? He did not! He fought for us and died and then He left us in charge. Boy does HE know the meaning of faith!!

If this world is a mess then it is because the church has been silent for far too long, because we are afraid of the consequences of speaking out. We need to faithfully pray for those dear brothers and sisters who are living in conflict areas all over this world. Those people who are still faithful to their heavenly calling. These people face horrors beyond imagining, simply because they have chosen to follow Him! These are the real heroes of the faith today. They live by faith daily. And they are not just victims of geography either … Unlike us, they are unable to think ‘ aren’t we lucky because we live somewhere safe?’  

The Bride of Christ in the West is enjoying an enormous indulgence – we are asleep in the light. Sadly we’ve sometimes been known to pitch a fit if we can’t get eggs at the supermarket this week. It’s time to wake up and do the things God previously planned for all of us to do.“My old identity has been co-crucified with Christ and no longer lives. And now the essence of this new life is no longer mine, for the Anointed One lives His life through me—we live in union as one! My new life is empowered by the faith of the Son of God Who loves me so much that He gave Himself for me, dispensing His life into mine!”Galatians 2:20 TPT. Bye. 👋

P 2901 Walking in love means …

/ DVH

… that I will probably never get my own way! According to 1 Corinthians 13, this kind of heart attitude is now my NEW priority… Now I will need to rely upon God to help me be patient in the middle of unpleasant circumstances. The Lord has promised He will help us. There is no reason to be envious of your fruit, because I’m way too busy growing my own! At the same time I will cultivate a caring concern for your well-being, while I’m putting my own needs on His altar. Also I no longer want to keep records of all the dumb things you’ve done!

Pardon me a minute, now I need to dash off and look in His mirror, (His Word) and see if there is any chance my reflection there backs up what I just said! Meanwhile, fake fruit looks a lot like the real deal nowadays, until you take a bite out of it! Here’s an interesting side note: fake fruit is too shiny. Just like those fake plastic smiles we slap on when somebody has stepped on our heart for the 15th time and we lie and tell them, “Oh I’m OK, really!” It’s a wonder that my nose isn’t longer than Pinnochio’s. Why do we do that? Here’s my answer … a lack of humility. An aversion to correction and connection, plus I’m deathly afraid you will continue to tell me the truth about myself … and… I don’t want to hear that, thank you!

Here is my point for today, this life is constantly taking bites out of us – our response to those bites is a much better thermometer or diagnosis, than even any reflection could be. Instead, now we want to make His Word flesh in our lives – that happens when we do it to obey Him. Living like Jesus’ told us to, means we learn to be quiet when someone else is utterly wrong and we can prove it to them but instead we choose not to do that. We won’t even brag about the fact that we’ve resisted temptation, because we know, that the Holy Spirit helped us through it. 

Let’s be clear — it is not our behaviour that is at fault – it’s our belief system. We use our experiences to validate what we believe, instead of His Word. This side of the cross we need to believe in His love IN US more than we believe the lies that flourish around us. I can’t do anything without Him, because I know I will dive straight back into looking after ME. I can make pretty good excuses for doing that. Sadly, sometimes we keep right on using our own understanding, instead of acknowledging Him in all our ways.

We must continually revisit truths from the bible. looking for things for us to apply into our lives. Jesus did all this work for us, all by Himself, at Calvary …once and for all! If I give you a brand new house with everything you ever personally wanted or needed in it, and you still chose to continue to live in falling down rented digs – because you are too proud to say “thank you” — whose fault is that? The Lord has already deposited everything we will ever need to be transformed, in our forever account.We just need to learn to live in forever, instead of the immediate. Otherwise the immediate takes over.

Romans 4:20–25: “Yet he (Abraham) did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised. This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, but also for US, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.” 

Those words: ‘fully persuaded that God had power’ …matter. We’ve met SomeOne Who is not like anyone else we’ve ever met. He doesn’t just tear up any record of our sins, at the same time, He deposits His love, righteousness, goodness, compassion, mercy, loving-kindness etc. inside of us. We already have whatever we need for this way of life. Jesus did not just empty out the bad, He is in the process, with our co-operation, of loading in the good. Abraham believed God and He acted on His belief, and God said: Now that’s righteous.”

Now we choose to stop doing things the way this world does them, and we ask Him how He wants us to handle everything that comes our way. Loving others is our permanent focus. Instead of asking the Lord to make you patient, (generic wish thought) you and I ask Him – ‘Who am I being impatient with, Lord?’  (Specific attitude check.) And we don’t argue with whatever He suggests, even if it happens to be someone we can’t stand! We go to them and humble ourselves. If we wait for that other person to deserve it … it will never happen! 

LOVE ACTS. It is unafraid of the consequences. Walking in love means my whole life changes! Bless ya 👋

P 2853 Be real.

/ DVH

Hi! You know, there are times that we like to quote the verse “with God all things are possible …” especially when we need the Lord to do something impossible on our behalf! Being real means we see Him change impossible things in our lives, every single day. Yet, most of the time, we merrily roll along ignoring change, hoping the guy who annoys us will change instead! We only drag out our faith first thing in the morning and last thing at night, as well as on Sundays, and maybe for prayer meetings. OR we crank it up for those desperate times when the emergency bell is clanging away in our lives, and something has happened that we can’t fix!

Ticking off spiritual boxes is a way to appear to be spiritual. Many Christians seem to be totally unaware that we are knee-deep in practising living with the appearance of goodness – without embracing the substance of the kind of change that will transform us. And consequently, we affect the lives of every one else around us. Unfortunately living like that is like a great looking apple that’s been in the cool store too long. On the outside it looks fine but inside it is all brown and inedible. Real fruit is startling in its sweetness with every bite.

We can get by with hiding our faults from other people by going to church regularly, giving to the poor, never swearing, always being seen to do the right thing … but the truth is …if what we are doing is not coming from our hearts, then we actually need the kind of repentance that is followed up by change — not play-acting. Here’s an astonishing and amazing thought: GOD LOVED US WHEN WE WERE YET SINNERS! Pretending, or keeping up appearances, is a waste of whatever precious time we actually have on this earth. His love will never withdraw from us – actually most of the time, we withdraw from Him. Humbly admitting our faults to each other clears up the idea that we are somehow perfect. It is a much safer place to stand.

My point for today is that we always need to be real. Let’s not live our lives pretending to be something we aren’t just so we can fit in. Be yourself, warts and all. Let the One Who has changed men and women’s hearts since the dawn of time operate on your heart. One of the most valuable graces we can embrace – besides repentance, and obedience – is honesty with ourselves. The truth is, we don’t have to be afraid of sin anymore, because Jesus paid it all! So now there is no reason to hide. Hiding from His love is counterproductive – the power for us to change comes through receiving His unconditional love and forgiveness, and then giving it away to others. If we hide we short-circuit this process.

Today I want to briefly look at a woman who threw herself down on the floor at Jesus’ feet, at a dinner party. To start with – she wasn’t invited! And for her efforts the rest of the crowd judged her, plus they judged the Lord as well! But like I said before – HE looks at hearts! “She has been forgiven of all her many sins. This is why she has shown me such extravagant love. But those who assume they have very little to be forgiven will love me very little.”” Luke 7:47 TPT. The result of diminishing our sin is this: we miss out on understanding how much love HE gives us and how much worship He deserves!


Dismissing sin’s very real consequences produces ongoing bad results. To start with, we lose gratefulness. This dear woman did not care what others thought, she knew she needed to be right with God more than she needed their approval! She poured out all she had on His feet in repentance, and total adoration. And the Lord saw her and received her. Her honesty gained her an audience with the King and a chance to worship Him. Who doesn’t want that?

Here’s something I have learnt, over the years … Instead of spewing out my anger or withdrawing from people who hurt me …kindness, mercy and forgiveness opens amazing unseen new doors. Those doors lead to refreshing changes, and deeper relationships. Instead of minimising our faults, and accenting someone else’s sins against us – releasing loving forgiveness takes us out of any hot-headed drama and puts us squarely back into His kingdom.

It will cost us, of course. Worthwhile things are costly – just like that alabaster box. But our transformed attitudes in those moments become like that perfume that was released to the Lord. Jesus is not concerned with sin anymore – now He wants us all to move on into the freedom that flourishes in His Father’s kingdom. When I set you free, I get freedom too, whether you pick up your share or not! Learning to be real about who we are, plus who we are not —removes the weights and burdens we’ve tied on ourselves.

“Those whom the Son has set free, shall be free indeed.” These people will be free to enjoy who God made them to be. We can pick up a lot of dumb stuff in this life, and some of it comes from when we are too tiny to block it out. Let God Himself heal you and reveal how He sees you. Learn to be real. Nobody else can do YOU like YOU can! Bye. 👋

P 2848 Risky living.

/ DVH

To be a risk taker means that we choose to take hold of whatever courage we do have and use it. Jesus taught us that our faith needs to only be the size of a mustard seed – and a mustard seed as you can see, is a very little seed. ”For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew 17:20-21. I think a major flaw in the way we use our faith is we wait for some feelings, like confidence or assurance, to come first. And sometimes we need to work on our stinky attitude because that is the mountain we are currently facing! Risk takers put their feelings to one side and act on what the Lord told them to do regardless of the consequences.

A risk taker sees the bible as God’s instruction manual, complete with all sorts of interesting stories about Almighty God intervening in the lives of His kids. Take Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego … Meanwhile fancy calling your kid those names!! Teehee. Moving on … these three men’s faith changed the destiny of a king, and saved their lives. This is what they said to the king in Daniel 3:8:17-18 “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and He will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if He does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”

Right there … “even if He does not…”…  that’s the tip of the spear of their faith. They threw that faith spear into the heart of a King and it pinned him to the wall. Look at what comes next:  “Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and shouted, “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!” These three men and their collective faith changed that king’s attitude, he was watching to see if they had been delivered!  The power of their testimony overcame the enemy and they released their faith through what they said, then they let God be God. At the same time they got to walk around in that fiery furnace with Jesus … well, it says a fourth man … but I think it was Him! They came out of there not even smelling of SMOKE.

Hubby has this saying, I love/hate it. “If you want to see a miracle you are going to have to need a miracle first.”Think about what that means. I love what he says because it is true, I hate it because I like life to be easy. Therein lies the problem. We all want to see miracles without getting chucked into a fiery furnace! You know if you put gold into a furnace, all the impurities trapped within the gold, come to the top and you can skim them off. That action produces pure gold. The impurities can be seen clearly when the gold is fluid, they float to the surface.

We can see what is really going on in our hearts by our reaction to difficult, awkward, dangerous, unsettling  circumstances. Just like the process of gold refining – our anxieties, fears, short-comings, and lousy, cranky attitudes come to the surface under the pressure of opposition and trouble. What we often do in those times is to wait out the trouble, or try to deal with it, so we can get to the end of whatever is going on, and exit the problem and go back to ?normal?. Instead, as much as we are able, we should take note of our impurities and give them to Him, and ask Him to deal with them. And yes, I do know that is hard when you are going through stuff, but confession is good for us!

Jesus, our primary example of faith in action, did it too. The Lord said this in the garden of Gethsemane:“And after going a little farther, He fell face down and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible [that is, consistent with Your will], let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.” Matthew 26:39. He prayed the same kind of prayer that those three men prayed facing the furnace. Jesus exercised TRUST … to the death! Some people call this prayer the prayer of relinquishment. Actually, I pray it all the time. It is my “hands off” prayer. I give the situation to Him, like our three faith heroes did when faced with a fiery end, and then I leave the results to Him. 

That is why today’s blog is called risky living.  I would like to acknowledge that my title is also the title of one of the great-books-I’ve-read. “Risky living” by Jamie Buckingham. He is one of my all time favourite authors. Sadly don’t go looking for this book, because all his books are now out of print. That book would benefit this generation heaps.

Dear Jamie is with the Lord now but I loved his writing because he was so honest about his failings and his humanity, as well as being crystal clear about how good God is … despite how dumb we are! God is faithful, as I said yesterday, He has given us people who are gifts! Jamie Buckingham was such a gift to me. He taught me that when I gave my life to Jesus, now my life is about furthering His kingdom. not my own.

Even my personal comfort is subject to His will. It is an important truth and we should choose to learn not to be tossed about by fiery trials. “Friends, when life gets really difficult, don’t jump to the conclusion that God isn’t on the job. Instead, be glad that you are in the very thick of what Christ experienced. This is a spiritual refining process, with glory just around the corner.” 1 Peter 4:12 MSG. Bye, 👋.

“Praise be to the LORD my Rock, Who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle.” Psalm 144:1.

P 2840 We must remember, we sin against GOD, first.

/ DVH

“Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” Nathan replied, “The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.” 2 Samuel 12:13. 

“And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’”Luke 15:21.

“Against You, and You alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in Your sight. You will be proved right in what You say, and Your judgment against me is just.”Psalm 51:4.

We often talk a great deal about sinning against each other, but today I want to talk about the fact that first of all, any sin is against Him. When we dismiss or disobey His word, our sin is dismissive of God’s holiness. Yes, we need to fix things with others, but we need to start at the top … with Father God Himself. Everyone of our sins had a consequence. And Jesus bore the penalty of those consequences on His body – so we need to treat these things with humility, honestly, reverence and respect. 

Let me be as clear as I can be … Our sins are absolutely, positively, completely G.O.N.E. – gone forever! Thrown into the sea of forgetfulness, with a NO FISHING sign clearly displayed. That sign needs to be read over and over again because guilt and shame no longer belong to us. “Jesus said, “I tell you most solemnly that anyone who chooses a life of sin is trapped in a dead-end life and is, in fact, a slave. A slave can’t come and go at will. The Son, though, has an established position, the run of the house. So if the Son sets you free, you are free through and through.”John 8:34-36.

This means that before we repent and repair things with others, first of all, we need to thank God and His precious Son again, for all Jesus suffered and chose to do for us. Thankfulness, not guilt is now our response – however presumption is not a right response either. We need to treasure our relationship with our Loving generous Father above all else. There is no longer any fear in sin and God’s love has now taken over our way of thinking, doing and being. We live a life of love now, standing by our choices- we are now free to choose His Will, His Way.

We’ve been set free from the demands and focus of sin, to focus upon HIM.  Freedom means we can still sin – however, now, we’ve been empowered not to!! Instead of blame and shame motivating us, we can be confident that we can restore things – simply because Christ’s death on our behalf has empowered us. Now we praise Him for all He has willingly done for us and we go back into happily submit to His will, His way. The point of the ‘get out of jail free card‘ is not carelessness – it is redemption. So we must acknowledge our sin against His freely-given goodness.

Here is another scripture for all of us to think on today:“My little children (believers, dear ones), I am writing you these things so that you will not sin and violate God’s law. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate [who will intercede for us] with the Father: Jesus Christ the righteous [the upright, the just One, Who conforms to the Father’s will in every way—purpose, thought, and action].”  1 John 2:1. The best news ever is this, JESUS is in the throne room praying for us, every single second of the day. IMAGINE THAT! Because of what He willingly did, sin is not the “norm” for us. Our new normal life is in Him. THAT’S WHERE THE POWER TO OVERCOME COMES FROM!

Almighty God does not wink at our sin … it says so in the book!  An exchange took place 2,000 years ago and Jesus Christ became the Lamb Who was slain, forever. It’s part of His title, just like Prince of peace, wonderful wise Counsellor, and Saviour of the World. So when we sin and disobey God, we take ourselves out of fellowship with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, Who is the One Who helps us – and the Son. The One Person Who perfectly understands how hard it is to be human! Dumb move … He knows the way through temptation!

Let’s be clear. God made sure all this stuff was written down, we have a book! Now we do not have to be dragged about by our weaknesses, and weird ideas. Because of what Jesus did, we have a live-in Helper. The Holy Spirit was our midwife! He birthed us and now He is raising us, day by day as we learn to live a life of obedience. God did not just trust our discipleship to ordinary men … Jesus Christ, Who followed the Holy Spirit’s instructions to the letter – is still making disciples! 

We have the bible to show us where we are out of order with His ways and we need to respond to conviction with real repentance. Because when sin happens we stop walking with Him and start hiding from Him. And people don’t just hide by leaving the church, they hide in busyness, and by elevating things that are distractions, or supposed  recreational activities. Dead people don’t need that stuff – they don’t have an opinion or a need. That’s why we rely upon God to meet them!

If we sin, we need to go to our Heavenly Father, first, and confess our faults, errors, lapses, nasty attitudes and selfish ways and He will empower us to overcome. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9. Bye. 🕊️

P 2830 Be a blessing to others.

/ DVH

Matthew 3:1-6. “Another time Jesus went into the synagogue, and a man with a shrivelled hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched Him closely to see if He would heal Him on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the shrivelled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent. He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.”

I know I have talked about this scripture quite recently, but the really really cool thing about God’s Word is that it is like a kaleidoscope — it has a tremendous capacity to present so many different truths in new ways, so we can see something remarkable each time! As I was chewing these verses over, I saw something I hadn’t seen before. In the face of overwhelming opposition- including the very real prospect of death – Jesus still chose to do good. He remained true to His nature in the face of great danger. He understood His purpose in this life, and knew that He could not be killed outside of His Father’s timing.

It is one of this life’s little ironies that although living like this is a great place to live, that means we often don’t know what comes next! Meanwhile, we have been instructed to pray for the sick so they can be healed etc., and to love others. We are His care-takers who happily pray for the people around us, and share their joys, sorrows and suffering. We care for the lost, lonely, displaced, ignored, rejected people of this world – things we can only do by drawing on God’s incredible Grace. 

Many people might have whispered to the disabled man: “Could you come back next Tuesday and I will pray for your hand then? We’re in the synagogue and we mustn’t disturb what God wants to do here today.” You know, He’s God, He does not have to fit in with our timetables. His will has perfect timing. That’s because the immediate is not a problem to the Lord, He knows the end from the beginning! That’s a powerful thing to know and it can change everything else about our lives.

There is a problem with paying lip-service to the status quo … it accomplishes nothing, except to increase our cowardice. It magnifies our errant thoughts that God did not stop us from doing this or that, so it must be OK. Jesus didn’t care about what anybody else was going to do with what He did. He knew what His Father was doing in that moment, so He did that, despite the consequences. Sometimes His Father’s will didn’t include the appearance of safety!

Our God’s eye is always on the sparrow … in this case it was the man with the withered arm. So that man became Jesus’ primary goal, and he was healed. Jesus Himself said in John 9:4, “I must work the works of Him that sent Me while it is day; the night cometh when no man can work.” Challenging the Pharisees also became part of that process – yet again God was giving them a chance to let their hearts be softened. Dismissing someone else’s pain is a terrible flaw. It hardens our hearts toward God, and the Holy Spirit’s tender kindness.

Father God has a plan for each of us. This is one of the things we pick up from reading the scriptures … it means we can confidently sit back in the boat and let Him steer … but living like that will require our constant humility … and probably a whole lot of interruption! Because we know our purpose in this life, we can stare opposition in the face and tell it to ‘go away.’ Jesus Christ knew His purpose on this earth, He knew He had been sent here.  At the same time, He also knew that offence was going to lead to His murder, but He lived for what God gave Him to do day by day.

Our lives, right here, right now, are to be used for the glory of God, not for our own comfort and personal satisfaction. I exhort everyone reading this to learn to find your joy in whatever He gives you to do, rather than what this world says you should be doing. Life can become very boring doing the same things, day by day by day, but when we follow the Lord … this kind of thing happens: “The seventy returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name!” Luke 10:17. 

Yesterday hubby went a few doors down to check up on an older man in our neighbourhood. This man was so grateful that someone was aware of his presence, as he lives alone. Lots of people may notice stuff, but not many get up out of their comfort zone and go and check for themselves. Hubby and the old man had a great conversation. Meanwhile, we sent out about a dozen Christmas cards to the neighbourhood etc. and we’ve received just one back… but that single card was filled with so much gratitude. Our job is to be like a radar operator, we send out a spiritual “ping” and we wait to see if somebody will respond!

Opportunities to serve the Lord and the people around us, are everywhere. Unfortunately this world requires us to always be in a hurry, plus we have constant day-to-day anxiety about the next thing that must be done … so we sometimes miss, or we don’t follow up the Holy Spirit’s leading. Actively showing others that their lives have meaning to God by investing your time in them, is one clear way to communicate God’s love.

Our aim is to be like Jesus. He did what He was asked to do – despite the personal consequences and threat to His life. Our purpose is to share the Father’s love in whatever way comes naturally to each one of us. I have found it is important to be sure that my communication is personal, because remote control does not communicate the same depth of affection the Lord has for people. Today, I want to bless you to be a blessing to others, Amen.🙏

P 2792 Speak life.

/ DVH

Tell everyone you know, saved, or not: “God has a purpose for your life;” or, “The God of the Universe and beyond loved you w-a-y before you were born.” My helpful hint for today is to practice speaking His destiny into the people around you – everywhere you go. Stop and make the effort to tell somebody they are doing a good job. Even when they mess stuff up, pick the time when they do stuff right and point out what they did that was a blessing to you. 

We have the power of life and death in our tongues. Here’s Proverbs 18:21 GNB: “What you say can preserve life or destroy it; so you must accept the consequences of your words.”God gave us this power, so it is essential that we use it for good. Half the planet is racing about joining this social media outlet or that, because they are looking for their destiny, their place in this world.. God has a plan for every single one of them! Human beings need acceptance and approval, even if they are doing ordinary jobs. We must look for the good in this life, and lift someone else’s spirit by telling them what we have seen. And yes, I mean your spouse and kids! Keep your marriage friendly, tell your spouse what they did right! 

Sometimes people express their uniqueness badly. They take most if not all of their clothes off, behave appallingly, or have lingering doubts about their sex or personhood… or worse, they don’t like who they are. So they can end up doing awful stuff simply because they feel life is in opposition to them. They live their lives based on: “every man for himself!’ This is why we can’t possibly start to relate to people by choosing to focus on their SIN. We need to start with WHO they are in HIS eyes. God loves them. Living this way may take lots of practice, because it’s a new way to think! His way. Meanwhile, ask and keep on asking for His GRACE – you will need it!

Like I said yesterday, opportunities to dislike situations or people, will fall on us everywhere we go. It doesn’t take talent to be a critic but it definitely takes talent to recognise someone else’s good points! Gracious, generous actions are getting so rare nowadays they make the news!  We need to be dedicated to His Ways and walking in His love, to even begin to see what’s good in other people.The people around us may seem ordinary, but they are extraordinary to Him. He has a plan for their lives, He wants to bring out the best in every single person we meet.

Remember, Jesus called local fishermen to be His disciples. He wasn’t looking for clever people, religious people, or popular people. What about Zacchaeus? Like he was Mr Popularity – the tax guy! Even one of the women who followed Him had a dubious past. And let’s not forget Jesus chose Judas! Father God sent His Son to ordinary human beings just like us. Sadly this world is choosing every day to qualify or eliminate people because they don’t have His knowledge and expertise. Let’s remember, He made them, He knows why they are here and who they can be. 

But the one thing that makes every single person ever born, extraordinary, is the ONE WHO CHOSE TO LOVE US! We are made precious because the most Precious Man of all Eternity loves people! Read the book. Here’s Paul. He wrote this to the Galatian church: “I’m obviously not trying to flatter you or water down my message to be popular with men, but my supreme passion is to please God. For if all I attempt to do is please people, I would fail to be a true servant of Christ.” Galatians 1:10 TPT. 

As you can see, flattery or pleasing people is a waste of time, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be used by God to truthfully speak life into someone who has no idea of who they really are in His sight. Everywhere we go. This encapsulates what I want to say today – Christ is IN US. So, we can be the thermometer or barometer and fit in — OR, we can be the thermostat instead and lift the mood and atmosphere around us, and introduce a touch of His life to others.

God is good to all of us whether we deserve it or not. ‘The rain falls on the just and the unjust alike…’ Here is a great reason why we are to live like this. It’s  from Matthew 5:43-48 in the Amplified bible: “…so that you may [show yourselves to] be the children of your Father Who is in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on those who are evil and on those who are good, and makes the rain fall on the righteous [those who are morally upright] and the unrighteous [the unrepentant, those who oppose Him].” Our motivation as His Kids can easily be revealed to the-people-who-don’t-know-Him-yet, and living like that is tied to the way we treat the people around us.

Speaking life to everyone around us ushers in His kingdom. I learnt that when I expect bad things, that means I can only see bad things, and those bad things definitely outweigh everything else! I had selective sight, because I chose to put blinkers on. But when I began to expect to see good stuff, I saw it, even if it was only faintly there. It changed everything. Now my view has changed permanently. There’s an old saying:”If you are looking for trouble, you are going to find it.”  We can have our Father’s Eyes — my advice is to stop looking for the bad, and speak life instead. Bye 👋