Correct

P 2728 God’s surgery.

/ DVH

Unlike an ordinary doctor’s surgery – in the Lord’s surgery there is no pile of dusty, over-used magazines and books, reporting on useless supercilious things from ages ago. There is just one book and if it happens to be dusty… then we are all in big trouble. 

Christians can become quite used to thinking that our lives are separate – and that each life is only joined together on church occasions, like worship or a sermon! Maybe we’ve temporarily forgotten our destiny. The Lord describes us as a Body. That may seem just like a metaphor, but it is actually a reality! The Lord Jesus is not going to marry a metaphor! The Bride of Christ is described quite thoroughly across the scriptures. ps – it’s US! …you and me – we are His Bride. Pause and think on that one! 

When I was thinking and praying over today’s blog, a phrase from yesterday’s effort kept floating through my heart. ‘One of …our tasks is to personally prove that scripture is active and effective!’ So how do we do that? We let it surgically cut away and remove any stuff we are convicted and convinced isn’t a part of His plan for our lives. Heaps of that kind of surgical stuff is written down in His book. It’s not just the ‘don’t do this bits,’ BTW, it is also the ‘please do that’ ones! The Lord Jesus Himself, gives us lists of the ways we are to live. (Check out Matthew 5) 

So let’s look at some other scriptures. The first is from 2 Timothy 3:16. “All Scripture is God-breathed [given by divine inspiration] and is profitable for instruction, for conviction [of sin], for correction [of error and restoration to obedience], for training in righteousness [learning to live in conformity to God’s will, both publicly and privately—behaving honourably with personal integrity and moral courage]; …”And Hebrews 4:12: “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

The thing I want to make absolutely clear is that the bible is formulated to do more than just inform us. The bible is a book of instructions. Each instruction has a purpose. EG: it says don’t carry cares, so we must not carry cares! It says give all those cares to Jesus – so we give our cares to Jesus and we don’t take them back!

This book is our boot camp. Boot camp, BTW, is the place we send soldiers to, to learn how to discipline themselves and protect themselves, as well as fight! The bible we read daily, is for that purpose. Soldiers also go to boot camp to learn how to look after their equipment and find their place in the army. It’s a very physical place, it’s not cerebral. It is not just a library, although the armed forces have libraries – it’s a place where knowledge is learnt, and applied.

Hold onto your hat – it just might blow off… We dare not pick and choose which bible verses we like, and eliminate the ones we don’t. We have just come through a time in the history of the church where we were cherry-picking verses to suit the current theology. Not a good plan. All of God’s word is good for building up, instructing, tearing down, cutting off and getting rid of stuff. If we cherry-pick things we are in great danger of mishandling our sword. You can cut yourself really badly if you mishandle a sword!

Ya might want to pause and think on that as well! My best advice is to tell the Lord you are not confident you can carry out what He says and then ask for the Holy Spirit’s help. He’s our Helper, and He wrote the book- so He knows how to get us where He wants us. The Word of God comes from the Breath of God ...and … so do WE! Read Genesis. The bible is a fitting vehicle to build up, give us courage, challenge, change and correct us. It displays God’s Love perfectly, in every single book and chapter. Rightly used, it will remove stuff from our lives that can make us fall away, stumble, or be led off into lah lah land. It is not just a book with pretty sayings, it is a living book that lays out the way we need to live. 

It is used to give us confidence, and to build up Jesus’ Bride so she is worthy of His Love. He voluntarily gave His life for us, so it seems fitting to me that we will also voluntarily give up this world’s idea of what our lives will look like, for HIM! Because the bible is about far more than just information, we cannot afford to treat it like we would the dusty magazines in a doctor’s office. We must pay attention and allow it to work on us by applying it into our lives. It is designed to refresh and renew our minds so we will think like Jesus does.

We need to let the sword of God strengthen our arm and cut away any excess stuff that will hinder us from walking with Him. The bible is not given to us for us to agree with it – it is given to us so we will DO WHAT IT SAYS. God’s book leads us into His kind of surgery, so my advice is to read it like He is talking to YOU, because HE IS! 👋

P 2523 “Other’ Centred.

/ DVH

The times we are living in today can automatically create battles in our hearts and lives, because the world around us is very egocentric. This kind of stuff is even deeply affecting our kids!  Our society has become geared to a form of hedonism that is frightening. It seems that the world-wide opinion is —  every single person has the right to have their own way. The line between good and bad has been erased! So I (apparently), can beat you up, and steal your stuff just because I want to be rich. And you can’t punish me or correct me because I have rights! 

The rules are … there are no rules. These creeping-across-the-world-attitudes are a huge challenge to believers. But at the same time – a life of loving service is such a bright contrast that it automatically impacts people powerfully … even strangers. In other words, the darkness is so dark, it automatically shows up goodness and light wherever it appears! Our struggle is to avoid being conformed to this world’s ways of thinking doing and being … or even worse … hiding ourselves away from the difficulties. You and I can shine at our own house, but that’s the same as hiding your light under a basket! 

“So be very careful how you live, not being like those with no understanding, but live honourably with true wisdom, for we are living in evil times. Take full advantage of every day as you spend your life for His purposes.” Ephesians 5:15-16 TPT

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

Did you get the bit that says ‘use your freedom to serve one another in love; THAT’S how freedom grows…(?)” It seems sad to me that we can often end up fighting in this world for something that Almighty God already freely gave us! It says clearly in the above scripture that the reason our freedom to obey HIM isn’t getting any bigger, is because we are not serving one another. 

I feel so blessed in my life to personally know people who see their contribution to this world as a life of service. They have taught me, by their humility and example, that the way to be like Jesus is to live this life with an aim to be a blessing to others.  I can see their dear faces, in my mind’s eye, as I am writing. These people have no claim to fame – they probably never will! Instead they have laid down their lives so that He can be seen through them.

The people-who-don’t-know-Him-yet have become hardened to the real, lasting important things of this life. They are too busy working for, and wanting what they want. However, when Jesus turns up IN you, His Presence blows their selfishness away. In the Presence of the Lord no man can stand – the Lord is undeniable. The thing is, those people outside our churches do not know there is another way to live this life because WE are not doing our part. Jesus saved them, and we have been told to tell them that!

As Colossians 2:2-4 says in the Message version: “I want you woven into a tapestry of love, in touch with everything there is to know of God. Then you will have minds confident and at rest, focused on Christ, God’s great mystery. All the richest treasures of wisdom and knowledge are embedded in that mystery and nowhere else. And we’ve been shown the mystery! I’m telling you this because I don’t want anyone leading you off on some wild-goose chase, after other so-called mysteries, or “the Secret.”

We cannot live with one foot in this world and the other in His ways. We will just end up going round and round and getting nowhere! If we are to become that ‘love tapestry’  for the world to see and fall in love with, we must choose to become ‘other-centred.’ That’s the way Jesus lived, and He lived that way to show us it can be done! Right here, right now. So today, I exhort you to find one person who really needs His love and ask the Lord to show you how to love them selflessly … it works even better if you don’t like that person, because that involves sacrifice.

Our job is to first of all, repent! … Because it has always been our place to show others the WAY not just talk about it! And secondly, we need to devote ourselves to being carriers of His Presence. We will personally find JOY and FREEDOM there. Being other-centred is a challenge, but we have the precious Helper, Who is willing and able to show us how! Praise God, He is brilliant at it! 👋🏻

P 2502 Watch out for that big tick!

/ DVH

Parable of the Speck and The Log – Matthew 7:1-5 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

Today I want to talk about the reality of not being able to see straight, because we are living with a plank in our own eye! I think that these verses are a fantastic diagnostic tool. When I can’t see properly spiritually speaking, then I go to these verses and I ask questions like: “Who am I mad at Lord?” Or “What am I putting up with that is weighing me down?” Or “Who am I judging?” That last question is a pip, I totally, like ne-v-er enjoy the answer to that one. On a bad day I can actually get a list. Sigh. I think Jesus wants to remind us about how easy it is to try to correct others – and yet our own lives are out of order!

Meanwhile just imagine how a plank in anyone’s eye would weigh them down! You know, sometimes maybe that heaviness that Christians can feel, isn’t enemy attack — maybe it’s our plank collection! 😱 One of the greatest dangers of the Christian faith happens when we read verses like these, and agree with it and do nothing. We put a big tick on it, without checking out our own lives, with the Holy Spirit’s guidance first! Here’s an idea, let’s not excuse ourselves, let’s just repent and get on with it!

Lately, a lot of the time I can barely remember what I did, yesterday, or even said, two minutes ago! 🤪 But I do consider it to be extremely dangerous to excuse myself without checking with the One Who knows me better than I know myself! Sadly, with all this hot weather I’ve been getting my crank-on at the drop of a hat. Sigh. There is nothing like turning up the heat to show up any weakness in a vessel! 

Actually I think maybe the real reason I want to deal with that speck in your eye, is called distraction. A bit like a magician who wants you to look over here while he is doing something else over there! You see, if I look in your eye that helps me to feel like I am doing OK, and perhaps actually getting somewhere. At the same time I don’t have to pay attention to that very large thing that is smack in the way of me seeing my life clearly, because after all, I’m helping YOU!

To be honest with you, the other reason I am pretty sure I don’t like looking in my own eye is because if I actually decide to see what’s in there … then I have to do something about it! Human beings aren’t fussed about being wrong, or even being seen to be wrong – we like to think we are grown-ups now and we know everything. Yeah right. 🙄 Us people can make an art form out of avoidance and evasion. These verses in Matthew expose our hearts, as well as our lack of sight.

There are times that we can get so caught up in proving ourselves not guilty – we totally miss the fact that we can’t possibly see straight enough, let alone help anyone else! At the same time we will immediately become deaf, as well as being partially blind, because the precious Holy Spirit doesn’t like judgment – so He moves away from us. Then, if we are not mindful, we will start to hear our voice over whatever the Holy Spirit is saying to us. Our own voice protects us and our own personal agendas – above His. None of that stuff is a good – trust me.

So I decided that being spiritually deaf and not being able to see properly is a cue, and now I use it as a prompt. I start out by asking: ‘Who am I mad at Lord? etc.” You know, that is so much quicker than going the other… I can’t hear OR see the Lord anymore… route. I decided to ditch the big tick and go straight to repentance and conviction. It’s not fun – but I highly recommend it. We all spend way too much of our time blaming other people for our own sins. Did you notice that the Speaker in Matthew is not speaking illustratively – He is being SPECIFIC.  Perhaps this is a far more of a generic problem than we realise? The bible does say that sin is common to all of us.

The reality is, by the time I have gotten rid of my plank collection, I’m hardly ever concerned about what is in your eye anymore! Your short-comings seem a bit minor in comparison to the major reconstruction that I just went through. My desire to walk with Him, outweighs any desire I have to avoid change.

So I’m ditching the big tick … ✔️ method, in favour of letting the Holy Spirit walk me through His processes. Bye. 👋🏻

P 2421 The saga of the queue.

/ DVH

“For even the Son of Man did not come expecting to be served by everyone, but to serve everyone, and to give His life as the ransom price for the salvation of many.”” Mark 10:45 TPT. BTW, we would be wise to remember that just because lightning doesn’t strike us from heaven – that does not mean that the Lord approves of what we are doing!! It’s not called MERCY for nothing.

It’s verses like this one that convict my heart. You see, I was caught in our car recently, waiting for a half an hour, in 33 degree heat. It happened twice. There were very complicated road works and we were waiting to be given a green light so we could move on. Sadly my response was best not repeated here! I got my crank on. I was hot, hungry and not feeling well … I totally forgot I was not my own, and it was Jesus’ time that was being wasted not mine. 🙄

Let’s just think about the above verse for a minute as it applies to me in that situation. In reflection I realised I was expecting to be treated differently by a bunch of hard-working roadwork guys  … just because I wasn’t well etc. Yeah, I totally lost any kind of realism in those thoughts eh?!? Like they would know what was happening to me while they were digging ditches! 

The thing is – if I want to follow Jesus I’m probably going to go down a whole lot of difficult uncomfortable roads … that may have endless troubles — plus road-works!  However, instead of getting cranky I actually had plenty of time to pray for the poor boiling hot road workers digging away in 33 degree heat!  Rats! I definitely missed that opportunity. 😶 So today I wanted to include something in my blog that cut me to the heart – because it needed to. I urge you to read this like Jesus is speaking to you personally, I did!

I Hear His Whisper … hold nothing back from Me…

“I want to be Lord over every part of your life—over your joys and sorrows, hopes and fears, goals and disappointments. I don’t want you to hold anything back. Beloved, come face-to-face with Me. Stand in My Presence and ask for my Spirit to reveal the areas that you haven’t fully surrendered to Me. It’s time for you to release control of those parts of your life that you’ve held on to.

Let the searching gaze of My Spirit into the secret caverns of your heart. There are situations and people that I will gently bring to your remembrance. It’s important that you don’t push such a thought back down but acknowledge it and bring it to me. 

Any pain, fear, trust issues, bad habits, wrong attitudes, or areas that you’re still holding tightly to must be given to Me. They are not yours to control. I love you, and I will lovingly correct you and draw you into the place of safety, where you can lay these things at My feet, once and for all. It’s time for you to rise to a new level of freedom.” Written by Brian Simmons and Gretchen Rodreguiz

Sometimes stuff simply ‘gets’ at us. And before we know it, we are reacting – without asking for any help, or Grace. And then we end up wondering where our peace went! That’s a good time to remember Jesus’ OCEAN OF GRACE and His MERCY FOUNTAIN.  We get there by way of repentance but we don’t have to go either place via the road of shame! I can’t apologise to those particular road workers, who had no clue I was cranky at them. But I can repent and ask for the Lord’s help to change. After praying I found a whole lot of stuff inside that I had no idea existed. Including pride and resentment, plus entitlement … because I’m often ill… poor me! I was reminded again, that my time is His time and He can spend it how He likes. 

Secondly my comfort – or not, is now in His hands. I repented and spoke a blessing over the men working so hard to make the roads safer for everyone, and revised my attitudes. Being ill and tired is no excuse. Actually I’m doing my best to give up excusing myself, it’s a waste of time. I want to go straight to: “What’s the problem here Lord please?” 

The thing I’ve noticed is that if I am being truly honest, I also must leave behind that sickly sweet little voice – that comes from inside ME. It’s definitely not the Lord! That voice is soooo sympathetic and it says things like: “That’s OK, you can’t help it, you have a lot to deal with.” You know, not every voice we hear is the devil. Sometimes it’s just OUR FLESH! Yikes! 

Like I’ve said before, deception comes from careless choices, and there is no other place for that junk but the cross! I want to close by saying it is worth reflecting on the fact that Jesus came to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many and He always had time for everybody – even when He was dying! So it’s no big deal if I’m asked to give a half an hour of my time, for a few hardworking road makers. 👋🏻

P 2313 Obedience mixed with faith is the key.

/ DVH

“This is how we can be sure that we love the children of God: by having a passionate love for God and by obedience to His commands. True love for God means obeying His commands, and His commands don’t weigh us down as heavy burdens. You see, every child of God overcomes the world, for our faith is the victorious power that triumphs over the world. So who are the world conquerors, defeating its power? Those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.” 1 John 5:2-5 TPT

Can you see the correlation between loving God and obeying Him? However, obeying God and loving Him will seem to be a burden, without the Presence of the Holy Spirit – teaching us, leading us, guiding us through things. If it is hard, then you are doing whatever it is in your own strength. It WILL hurt because these are the times we die! Jesus said “My yoke is easy my burden is light…”  Heaviness and hardness come from trying to obey the Lord or working things out, in our own strength. 

We are never alone, so there is no reason for us to despair. Despair and disappointment = slogging away by ourselves. Those things are a signpost that we have gone OUT of the Spirit and INTO the flesh again. Jesus sent back the Holy Spirit to help us. Ask Him to help you. Our job is to make Him welcome, and to defer to and depend on Him. That can be hard to do when we have spent our whole lives thus far trying to be independent, making our own decisions etc. It will take a whole lot of yielding to Him. That means using our faith.

I know there are people who feel they cannot hear Him. Hearing God needs faith, plus a strong knowledge of what He says in the book. However you don’t have to wait 50 years like I did! Find something Jesus says in the book that you don’t do and DO THAT! Get the wax of inactivity and lack of attention out of your ears – go and do what it says. Help the poor, forgive that person who bugs you so much that you can’t remember why you are mad at them in the first place.

The bible is a living book. Not only that, when you read it the Holy Spirit makes it personal – He uses those words to exhort, encourage and correct us.. Many times I hear people giving out rot-your-teeth-they-are-so-sweet-prophetic words like candy. Feel good words. The Holy Spirit CORRECTS US with His eye on us. He is not a flatterer. He speaks truth, and there are definitely times we won’t like it! I know I don’t!  He encourages us, but He does not indulge our slothfulness in the ways of Christ.

Sometimes we think we know everything – but we DO nothing! We all need to start treating what Jesus said as instructions. He is teaching us how to build our house on the ROCK. (And I don’t mean Dwayne Johnson!) Storms come, and our internal spiritual houses start sinking or floating away. When that happens, don’t just wait for the troubles to go away – ask the Holy Spirit :“what am I missing?” Go after the answer – otherwise the next flood could be the storm-of-the-century … and what a mess we will have.

Our God is not mean. A good parent prepares His child for for the difficulties of this life – what comes next. We must hold fast to God’s unchanging hand, despite the chaos around us. Our faith is for today. It’s for the boss with unrealistic expectations, so we can genuinely smile and ask Him: ‘how are you doing?’ It’s for the spouse who is scared to bits little Johnnie is going off the rails – but they don’t want to burden you with their fear, so they snap at you instead. Or your teenager who goes even more quiet than usual and you’ve tried every window door and chimney of their human house … but you can’t get in. HE CAN HELP YOU – ask Him. Just ask and keep on asking.

Don’t dismiss the Lord’s seemingly simplistic answers either, the Holy Spirit has keys to every single heart. His answers won’t be church-ified – they could be as simple as buying someone an icecream. Or skipping rope together in your backyard. Remember, the bible is a doing book, not a theological tome! We must all learn to mix our faith with obedience. 👋🏻

P 2306 Authenticity verses His plans.

/ DVH

Our society insists on authenticity, even when that particular state of mind bumps into someone else’s life. Somehow then my authenticity can and often seems to override or negate yours. OR it wants to!  People can always build a great case for themselves and I can definitely build a better case for me! 

I believe with all my heart that the Lord wants us all to be authentic. BUT, He wants the real us, not just the person we think we are – or even what we want or hope to be … The person we try so desperately to hide – who is actually sinful, careless, self-centred one. Or maybe even a demanding twerp who is stuck somewhere between two and five years of age … and never wants to grow and change – they just want power!  

Growing up, or maturing, is a part of authentic Christian development. It’s the moment I stop blaming you for my own short-comings and responses, and begin to understand that not only am I not perfected yet – I ain’t ever gunna get there unless I start acting like God is real and He can do exactly what He says He can! 

Meanwhile, I am responsible for any ugliness inside me, and you can’t make me do anything. You might just give me appealing opportunities and choices, but Jesus actually died to give me a free choice. I have a Saviour Who is daily constantly imparting and infilling me with His new life. To get that new life – I will have to give up my own perceived right to live MY life MY way, and stop trying to manipulate your life to make ME comfortable. Wouldn’t all that be loverly? 😳 

I have a great diagnostic tool that will clarify these issues. When you read the bible or Christian books or articles etc. and they talk about people’s faults – do you know people who fit these descriptions given, and they instantly flood your mind? Or – do you fall on your face crying out to God that you know what you just read fits you and you need His help to repent? Maybe then another sort of list pops into your mind … a list of people you have sinned against. None of that will kill us!

Do you listen carefully to your pastor’s sermons, mentally wishing your mother, brother, cousin, neighbour was here today to hear this … ? Ah-huh! Oh yeah, you gotta a case of extreme religious-itus. The only cure, is genuine I-gotta-fix-this-now repentance. 

That kind of revelation always opens the door to real transformation. Unfortunately, I can choose to put my own shoulder against this revolutionary door to try to shut it again! Or even try to board it up, a little, just to keep it ajar, to let in a little light… and no more. People stuck in these thoughts can also get fixated on ‘its not fair’ …PLUS …we can all drift off into …’what’s blatantly obviously wrong with YOU.’

It is just so much easier to see how someone else can and should change, instead of me personally choosing change with His guidance and help! To gain real God-given authenticity I will have to lay down my plans for me and my life… and pick up the plans clearly laid out in the bible. However it is way too easy to use God’s book, selectively, to prove our own POV. What takes actual courage is to let His book read us, feed us, and correct us. The Lord is so tired of the ‘where is that thing You promised in Your book’ prayers. He is looking for saints who will lay down everything – simply because they want to see His kingdom come, and His will be done – so HE might be glorified. 

Here’s a really big thought – if I choose to change, then the way I see you will begin to change too. Instead, I will get His POV – and Jesus doesn’t see you negatively. Lastly, if being authentically ME means I am stomping on you then I missed the part where I need change and prayer more than you do. 

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” 👋🏻