Correction

P 2608 My final hidden gem.

/ DVH

This precious gem is about being honest with myself, as well as others. It is a gem that is hidden. Other people may notice inconsistencies, but what goes on in our own heads is only made clear when we speak or act … or both! Sadly, personal dishonesty is a big snare. It happens when we colour our own perceptions in with pretty colours, to hide any spiritual lack or laziness we have chosen to tolerate. Jesus is “…the Way, the Truth and the Life …”John 14:6. We cannot possibly follow Him and not be truthful with ourselves! John also said: “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.”3 John 1:4.

Let me explain. We can convince ourselves that in order to serve God we need to be a/ ready;  b/ equipped;  c/ doing really well spiritually. Rhubarb! It is not good to allow that kind of escapist thinking in our lives. Yes, I know that’s a bit harsh, but just like a child needs correction, or it will make up its own rules …  adults too use evasion far more than we realise – simply to escape from the very reason we were saved.

Now let’s look at a/ being ready. Have you read in the book that Jesus is coming back? To be accurate, actually, He’s ‘coming READY or NOT!’ Ya might wanna Selah that for a second or two. And here’s another nifty thought! The people who said they couldn’t come to the beyond-our-dreams wedding feast – missed out. (Matthew 22.) Just saying … 😶 …You know God doesn’t want you and I to be the whole ballgame, we are part of a team. But the people who don’t join in with the team usually end up on the bench.

On to – b/ equipped. Jesus sent His totally untrained, undisciplined, haven’t-got-a-clue disciples out to do what He did. (See Mark 6:7-13; Luke 9:1-2.) Um … now let’s see what He told them to do … He sent them to raise the dead, heal the sick, cast out demons and announce the kingdom of God has come! Without any training or anything!! Not even a conference! And guess what? They didn’t have the bible either! They simply took Jesus’ word and His Name and went out and did it. Training is only ever useful if we apply it.

And c/ our lack of spirituality. Christians give up their desire to truly embrace the Christian Way of life with the feeblest of excuses. We lack honesty … which is kind of criminal if you think about the fact that we pay incredible attention to appearances! We look at others as being more spiritual than we are, or more qualified, and use that as an excuse. “Oh, those people see angels. They prophesy. They are missionaries. That group over there pray in tongues.” Instead of finding excuses, why can’t we find reasons to try?! The short answer is – we don’t want to, it’s too hard, it is inconvenient. But the Jesus Christ that lives in those other more spiritual people, lives in you and me, and HE has never been, nor will He ever be … inadequate! There are things that we will never experience unless we’re prepared to take a risk. 

EG: there is no need to walk on water if you have a ferry standing by. We will need to walk on water when there is no other way to get to the other side! At the same time there is no need to trust God for food when the supermarket is down the road, and you have money in your pocket. We simply must understand that our lack of total honesty with ourselves is crippling our faith. We would be far better off to say: “I don’t want to,” than we are to say: “I can’t.”  “I don’t want to,” can be repented from! Let’s get that rebellion out in the open where it can be dealt with.

Other people tried evasion and it failed because God didn’t take any notice of their feeble excuses. (Moses, Gideon, Jonah, Jeremiah …I could go on!!) We have plenty of examples in the Bible of people who had huge excuses as to why they couldn’t possibly do what the Lord asked them to do and, you know what? He said … “Do it anyway.” 

Human beings have been making excuses since the garden of Eden! Every time the Lord Himself helped people do what they were asked to do, but there were also times when He said “Use your faith!”  And once or twice He said: “Where did your faith GO?” Why do we leave so much work to a half a dozen people, when what needs to be done needs an army?! An army functions because every man does the job he was given. And experience thrives when we simply turn up and get going! Experience is another way to know Almighty God for yourself.

Christianity was never designed by God to be a part time job. Jesus, Who is our Perfect Example, did not do the work God gave Him to do part-time. Jesus Christ was always ALL IN. He was always on. Honesty with ourselves and others is a hidden gem, it is a key to opening new doors in our faith that have remained firmly shut.  Bye. 👋

P 2479 Learn to live in love.

/ DVH

“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 TPT

“What marvellous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it—we’re called children of God! That’s who we really are. …  … But friends, that’s exactly who we are: children of God. And that’s only the beginning. Who knows how we’ll end up! What we know is that when Christ is openly revealed, we’ll see Him—and in seeing Him, become like Him. All of us who look forward to His Coming stay ready, with the glistening purity of Jesus’ life as a model for our own.” 1 John 3:1-3 MSG.

Living in love means that we decide we will live, helped by His Grace, CHOOSING to love others. It’s the place we walk, talk, sleep and play in. We don’t move away from there. If we do, by accident, or on purpose, we immediately repent, fix whatever it is and GO BACK TO LOVE. We are designed to settle down into living a life of love for God and others and we never ever leave that neighbourhood. This is HOW we carry His Presence!

Living in love is not the same as living in today’s carelessly permissive atmosphere. God’s Love disciplines us, as I talked about yesterday. However, we watch over our attitudes and actions without any fear, because we are living aware of the Presence of the Holy Spirit – Who is the ultimate lover of our souls. We will not be afraid because … “(His) perfect love casts out fear” …

If we are afraid to talk to the Lord about anything, then we have not YET comprehended the magnitude of how much He loves us…. how perfect His love is toward us.The bible tells me that fear has to do with punishment and if I have fear, then I have forgotten that Jesus has already taken my sin to the cross. That is not a place of permissiveness, it is a place of great reverence for what we have all been given. I know that He forgave me, so now I can forgive you!

There are many times I may feel that someone has wrongfully accused me or misunderstood my motivation … only the Lord knows if they are right or wrong … but whenever I am in doubt, I ask for forgiveness. Whether I think I am right or wrong, that does not matter. I am protecting and esteeming my relationship with the Lord – not fighting for my own way or rights. I also ask you for forgiveness because our relationship together, matters to Him. I live this life remembering that I gave up my own rights when I gave my life to Him. Now I need to allow Him to do whatever happens in my life, His way.

You see the thing is we are to stay fixed within His love, not just work hard and hope we are getting this life right! Human beings are obsessed with stuff being right or wrong. The question we need to regularly ask ourselves is this …is this love? And to be honest with you, I don’t trust my own response – so I ask Him!! Living in love doesn’t just mean we love others, it also means we need to live this life we have now, knowing we are eternally LOVED by HIM. We are not spoilt brats, we are children of a loving Father Who gives us love freely so we can give it away.

Think of living in love like this, we need to check ourselves. If we start bad-mouthing or complaining or even repeatedly thinking badly about other people … something is hindering the flow of His love into our lives – out toward others. Ask the Lord what has gotten stuck… and deal with it… by choice. Most of the time we probably won’t want to do this, because this world around us says – whatever makes ME feel good is good.  This is where we have to go around how we feel, back into faith. 

The Holy Spirit isn’t concerned about how we feel – READ THE BOOK! It is what we choose to say and do, that gives Him room to move. The feelings come later. When we do this, despite how we feel, we are saying to Father God: ‘I love you Lord, and I welcome Your love, as well as Your correction in my life.’  That is when we are actively loving Jesus, when we choose to die to what we want, or what makes us happy. We are choosing to act like HE DID. Those steps are the beginning of spiritual transformation. 

Living a life of love is dying to self, every single minute of every single day. It is impossible to live in His kind of love and not die! Meanwhile, one person is not better at this than any other, we all need to actively choose to learn to live a life of love. Day, by day, by day.  👋🏻   🥳 Have love-enriched, God-blessed, 2024.

P 2436 Be humble, the Lord loves a humble heart.

/ DVH

“If you readily receive correction, you are walking on the path to life. But if you reject rebuke, you’re guaranteed to go astray.” Proverbs 10:17 TPT. The Lord gave me a key when I was a very young Christian and I’m still learning how to use it. He said this: “If you will hear Me for correction, you will hear Me for direction.” I can personally testify that that word is true. Allowing Him to correct us at any given time, opens eyes that are often blind to the owner’s faults … as well as new possibilities. Being ready to be wrong at any given time is not only a great source of humility … it is a source of amazing God-given strength.

It comes from understanding that we do not know everything. The bible has this great piece of advice in it: “Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise; When he closes his lips, he is considered prudent.” Proverbs 17:28. Personally, I like my son’s translation of that, which is: “Even an idiot looks wise with his mouth shut!” 😂 James 3:13 says this: “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.”  

Humility is rare in today’s world, and, as a result, the people of this age aren’t always wise – you simply have to read the papers to see that! When is the last time you saw a world leader say: “I was wrong, I’m sorry.” When is the last time YOU said it?  Meanwhile nobody enjoys being wrong…including me! But in this wonderful new world of God’s kingdom coming in our lives — we are rarely right— that’s because we are on a journey. Only God is good – remember? Humility always begins by putting Him first.

Many Christians bumble along, hiding from who they actually are, because they don’t want to change … they don’t think it is necessary. They discount their nasty attitudes behind closed doors, and think public politeness will fool God and others. Sadly I fall down that hole all the time. I was raised to have good manners, and they shoot me in the foot a lot. But true humility owns its faults and then seeks the Holy Spirit’s help to correct them. It loves reparation.

False humility criticises others where the perpetrator can’t be heard. You know good manners is about me looking good to you, humility is about caring how I look to God! Good manners can be hypocritical. We cannot be cleansed from known sin we will not own. Utter honesty and sincerity can be difficult to live by, but owning our faults, humbles us. Sadly we can successfully hide nasty traits from others by calling those traits nice names like — caring, constructive criticism, good manners, and sometimes we even misuse the prophetic…

Paul has that whole idea smashed… “Why not suffer wrong?” He says that in 1 Corinthians 6:7. He’s talking about Christians suing each other, but it is all the same difference! What He means is humbling yourself, and living honestly and truthfully is spiritually beneficial.  Peter says: “Humble yourself, under God’s mighty hand, that in due time He may exalt you.” 1 Peter 5:6. We need to come to the place where what God thinks and what He wants, is far more important to me than my pride, or what you think of me.

When we choose human wisdom we are moving away from the wisdom from above. James 3:17 tells us what this wisdom looks like: “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.” It isn’t about who is right, and can prove it. Or who is wrong and hasn’t got a leg to stand on! What would GOD Himself have to say about our petty spiteful arguments? What are those things doing to our spiritual lives? 

My 96 year old mother has taught me these things by example. She forgives everyone, and speaks well of people, plus she absolutely respects Almighty God. She has always had the kind of attitude that says: “There is no point in holding a grudge, life is too short for grudges.” I have never heard her criticise anyone. My husband’s mother’s response to gossip or criticism is to stop speaking … full stop! She withdraws and won’t be drawn into the conversation. She respects Jesus more than people. It seems to me that senior generation of women has a lot to teach us!

I think humility starts in our hearts. We get it automatically as we understand we cannot possibly live this life the way Jesus did, without asking for His help… because there is too much of ME in the way. A repentant person is one who repairs things quickly, because their relationship with the Lord is far more important than outward appearances. Living this life dead to self is the very best way to follow Jesus – you get to humble yourself in front of others – all over the place! 👋🏻

P 2434 Different food for thought!

/ DVH

“A parable is a tale about a simple, common subject to illustrate a more profound, valuable moral lesson. The source definition of the word “parable” means a placement side by side for the purpose of comparison.” (Dictionary)

Jesus’ teaching is fascinating. He told everyday stories to those listening, to help them understand God’s Ways. And at the same time, every single thing He said was profound. He gave us fantastic life-lessons. Up until this morning, I had never really thought about the kind of teaching He did, when He taught people, using parables. There are over 30 parables in the Gospels …some of them are repeated.

Today, the Lord Jesus spoke into me and said this: “How many of My parables are about the miraculous? In which one do I teach people how to heal the sick and raise the dead?” You know, when I looked, I discovered that Jesus’ parables are about ordinary things and ordinary people and their behaviour toward God and others. They are simply ‘life lessons.’ They are not about ‘how to excel in the miraculous’ – but instead they are about ‘how to live this life we have in a Godly fashion.’ How to love each other, and how to love, revere and respect God first. However, if we don’t live IN the kingdom, how can we expect to bring it with us?? Maybe that’s why Paul told us to seek it first!

We have become greatly enamoured with the miraculous – or the lack of it, in the church today. I think we are in danger of exalting those things above His Kingdom coming in our everyday lives. Yet we will always need a heart that says – God can do anything … nothing is too difficult for Him!  But I think we have put more of the accent on revving up our ability to believe, instead of putting it in HIM – Who He is. Miracles will follow US as we love others the way He loves us …we don’t have to chase them.  Miracles and the ever-present power of God are an expected part of walking with Him in our daily lives. 

In the Epistles, a large amount of emphasis is also put upon growing and transforming our character, plus, how to walk with the Holy Spirit. The Apostles simply repeated what they have seen, heard and learnt as they performed great signs and wonders. They didn’t elevate people who walked in their God-given gifts, or even ask them to come and minister in the miraculous for the purpose of gaining attention to spread the gospel! Instead the main thrust of their individual messages are to encourage and emphasise loving God, loving others well, plus growth, connection and correction.

Jesus Himself took ordinary things that His listeners could easily understand to illustrate Kingdom purposes. As we read the gospels we can see that anyone can walk in demonstrating the power of God, even sometimes those devoid of character. Judas did! But the parables and epistles indicate that our character needs our personal application. The Holy Spirit wants our motivation to be pure Love – and we all need help with that! Jesus made the miraculous an ordinary part of being His disciple.  He sent His disciples out and they simply used His name.

However, Christ Himself gave us the most brilliant synopsis of God’s requirements when He was talking to a lawyer in Matthew 22:35-40 “One of them, an expert in the law, tested Him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” I am gobsmacked every single time I read that. It so perfectly illustrates what life with the Holy Spirit looks like.

So here is my thought for today’s blog  – I am personally aware that we all need the miraculous! … But instead of chasing after the miraculous etc. to validate any ministry, I believe the Holy Spirit wants us to foster a relationship with Him – first. Then we simply do whatever He says, and we will see miracles as we go along. Sometimes there will be a miracle, and sometimes someone else gets a revelation of the goodness of God .. a glimpse into His bigger world. Our job is to love God and love others, and out of that wonderful things will happen.

Please do not misunderstand me, I totally believe in all the active gifts of God. And I believe we need to pray believing that they are present at any time! We need them. I am simply saying that these things should not be the preoccupation of the Church. We are to be pre-occupied with Him! These other things will get added unto us as we seek Him first! Like one of the parables says: “We are the light of the world” – let’s just BE THAT and see what happens! Bye.👋🏻

P 2386 Headlines from today are in the book. “Children will lead.”

/ DVH

Isaiah 3:1-7 “The Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, is emptying Jerusalem and Judah Of all the basic necessities, plain bread and water to begin with.He’s withdrawing police and protection, judges and courts, pastors and teachers, captains and generals, doctors and nurses, and, yes, even the repairmen and jacks-of-all-trades. He says, “I’ll put little kids in charge of the city. Schoolboys and schoolgirls will order everyone around. People will be at each other’s throats, stabbing one another in the back: Neighbour against neighbour, young against old, the no-account against the well-respected. One brother will grab another and say, ‘You look like you’ve got a head on your shoulders. Do something! Get us out of this mess. And he’ll say, ‘Me? Not me! I don’t have a clue. Don’t put me in charge of anything.’”

The Lord gave me one sentence this morning, and that’s the title of today’s blog. I looked up the phrase and found about a billion verses about how to be nice to kids, but I couldn’t find this particular one He put on my heart. However, I have learnt to persevere, plus hubby prayed for me, so I found it. Yay Isaiah! And if, per chance you think that I picked this version on purpose you would be right … but it says the same thing in all the versions. You would do well to go back and read it again because it reads like the newspaper and TV headlines.

I was gobsmacked. I tried to highlight any bits that spoke to me, and I simply couldn’t … all of it was relevant in today’s world. Scary huh?? This is what the Lord said to me: “My heart is grieving and bleeding for your kids.” BTW that’s not just your kids or my kids or even our grandkids – He means the kids that are out there right now, on our streets terrorising our neighbourhoods. We helped put them into those greedy grasping authority-defying attitudes when we refused to discipline them. We got “enlightened” … and decided our kids didn’t need smacking because the little darlings were basically good.

Maybe because you and I went to church and we drew our own kids in a little closer and hid them under the umbrella of ‘God’s kids’ and prayed and prayed for them, scared silly of what might happen to them. You know we can get so busy trying to protect our kids – that we forget about all the other kids who are now running riot in our streets!  BUT … “There is no fear in love …!!!”  Ya might want to think about that one.

Then Big Brother came along and threatened us with child abuse and told us he would throw us in jail if we didn’t stop smacking them. So we let fear rule – and these kids … who don’t know how to control themselves, were loose – doing what comes naturally all over the place. We’ve forgotten who the ruler of this world is! he grabbed them and dragged them down. Those kids are our future. Think on this, satan could not have offered Jesus any kingdom if the other guy did not already own them. We live in enemy territory – that’s why it is a bad idea to make ourselves at home here!

The bible has many helpful hints on parenting. “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6)“Do not withhold correction from a child, For if you beat him with a rod, he will not die. You shall beat him with a rod, And deliver his soul from hell.” Proverbs 23:13-14 “Parents, don’t provoke your children in a way that ends up discouraging them.”’ (Colossians 3:21)

BTW, disciplining in anger is a really bad idea. Both the child and the parent need a time out – the parent needs to work on patience and the child needs boundaries. A child needs to learn that it cannot allow self-expression to rule the family. Being part of something bigger and Godly, is protection not oppression, it is Grace. How you and the Lord work that out for each child is between you and Him.

I don’t think I will be part of the generation who will solve this serious problem with angry children raging about doing others great harm. But we can pray, because we know our Heavenly Father loves those kids. He put judgment on Jesus, and just because they don’t know that fact, that does not change the reality. We need to treat them like kids who need guidance and instruction and teach them His kind of love. And pray that He will save them from themselves.

We must pray for God to raise up people who will personally pray and love them in spite of their anger and selfishness as well as reach out to them. We must not cede our responsibilities to the state, because the state’s answers are not Godly. The state does the immediate, it rarely thinks long-term – they neither ask for, nor walk in His wisdom. God has a way for these kids to go so they won’t depart from it.  We simply need His wisdom, His way and the saints need to pray.

Let’s start asking the Holy Spirit how He wants us to reach out to other people’s kids in our area. We need God-given strategies. The Holy Spirit knows the way through anything! GOD LOVES THOSE KIDS, and, right now, in this world, WE are His hands and feet. Bye.  👋🏻 🦶🏻

P 2359 Psalm 3.

/ DVH

King David’s song when he was forced to flee from Absalom, his own son: “Lord, I have so many enemies, so many who are against me. Listen to how they whisper their slander against me, saying: “Look! He’s hopeless! Even God can’t save him from this!”  Pause in His Presence. But in the depths of my heart I truly know that You, Yahweh, have become my Shield; You take me and surround me with Yourself. Your glory covers me continually. You lift high my head. I have cried out to You, Yahweh, from Your holy presence You send me a Father’s help. Pause in His presence

So now I’ll lie down and sleep like a baby—then I’ll awake in safety, for You surround me with Your glory. Even though ten thousand dark powers prowl around me. I won’t be afraid. Rise up and help me, Yahweh! Come and save me, God! For You will slap them in the face, breaking the power of their words to harm me. FOR THE LORD ALONE IS MY SAVIOUR. What a feast of favour and bliss He gives His people! Pause in His presence.”

Some times the people we love dearly, the ones who are our family, can do the most damage. It doesn’t even have to be what they say – neglect and abandonment can devastate us. The first point I want to make today is that this kind of scenario is not a walk in the park. We can’t just click our heels and the bad bits will go away. These things severely test us and often challenge our belief systems.They test our resolve to follow Him no matter what happens. 

Some things are a choice, but when it comes to family, those things are the places where we find we are most vulnerable. Family is about history. They knew you when. You knew them from birth…. That kind of history tears at our hearts like very little else, and betrayal from those who are meant to protect and care for us brings deep wounds. My advice is this;  start this process with healing, not rebuking or blaming your self. Ask the Lord Himself to be your Father and help you with the places that are bleeding inside from all that betrayal you feel. 

Don’t make excuses for them, and don’t make excuses for you either. It is what it is. David’s son was trying to kill him to take the throne. It wasn’t a whoopsie, or an error of judgment, it was a deliberate act of betrayal for Absalom’s gain. If you read the story, (2 Samuel 13-37 -15-12), Absalom went about whispering in other people’s ears, trying to turn the people’s loyalty away from David. That is not a mistake, it is deliberate SIN. In Absalom’s case it was jealousy and pride. He was beautiful and popular and he knew it and then pride took over.

Sometimes our family member/s are not simply making a mistake, they have joined their allegiances with destruction. They may call it correction, or caring for you, but because you are maintaining some degree of freedom or other they do not have, they will try to stop you anyway they can. Jesus Himself said this about families in Matthew 10:36 –“Don’t think I’ve come to make life cozy. I’ve come to cut—make a sharp knife-cut between son and father, daughter and mother, bride and mother-in-law—cut through these cozy domestic arrangements and free you for God. Well-meaning family members can be your worst enemies. If you prefer father or mother over Me, you don’t deserve Me. If you prefer son or daughter over Me, you don’t deserve Me.”

Look, if Jesus Himself talked about it, then difficulties like this aren’t totally unexpected. My only advice is grieve for your loss and ask the Lord to heal your heart with His Grace and Love, and then, immediately go on to choosing forgiveness. Some family members will turn around, and others will see your forgiving heart as something that can be used against you. Then you will need grace, grace and more grace. Don’t leave home without it, because Grace can do the impossible. 

Don’t just content yourself with forgiving out of some kind of familial loyalty – ask and keep on asking for His Grace to truly forgive. INSIST. Meanwhile difficulties like this can take time to heal, so keep on believing God is helping you – and don’t quit. Take your focus off the family member/s that are persecuting you, and deliberately give those people as an act of your will, to Jesus. And then keep on doing that each time they come up in your mind – eventually Jesus in you will win.

At the same time it is good to go on into blessing these folks until you find you really mean it. It’s all a process and an extremely hard one at that. Your job is to watch over your heart and leave the work to the Holy Spirit. Let’s give thanks that we have a Parent Who never stops loving us, and He is totally devoted to the restoration of families. 👋🏻

P 2355 Meekness is not weakness.

/ DVH

I believe the body of Christ has yet to discover the true value of meekness. The One Who rules the world and also made it, was led away by wicked, jealous men and yet He said nothing. He also said nothing when they beat Him mercilessly, and shoved a cruel crown of thorns into His head. He even gave His hands to the men who nailed them to the cross. God’s will was more important to the Lord than His own, even when it involved torture.

These things are Christ’s life illustrations, they show us we need the Holy Spirit’s help all the time, because He knows the way through whatever this life throws at us. There will always be a temptation to retaliate strongly to injustice and cruelty. And … there are also times we respond passively, underhandedly, by trying to control things. That’s not meekness. A meek person accepts God’s will and His timing – no matter the personal cost.  

The word MEEK means “quiet, gentle, and easily imposed on. It is a companion to submission and having a submissive heart.” Bad things are going to happen to all of us, we can’t avoid them, but to have a heart like Christ has, that means everything to a meek person. Bill Mounce, who is a biblical Greek expert, defines the Greek word praus – translated meek or gentle – as: “the positive moral quality of dealing with people in a kind manner, with humility and consideration.”

At the same time meekness doesn’t see someone else’s sins, mainly because it isn’t even looking for them! The whole purpose of this grace is to find out what the King wants, and do that! Anything else is white noise. A meek person will deal with themselves no matter what the other guy is up to, because they take what Jesus said personally, so they remain humble and always available for change. 

Meekness starts and is perfected in our relationship with the Lord, first of all. Accepting His will for my life helps me accept whatever He does with yours. Our God totally believes in each one of us because He sees us one of us through the filter of the cross, but we must not abuse that filter for our own purposes. Instead a meek person is grateful – that Jesus would stoop so low to make us acceptable – that provokes submission, and service to others in them. 

I decided that this would be a good time to say that meekness is a fruit of the Spirit!! In the bible in 1 Corinthians 13 it is called “long-suffering.” In today’s society meekness is the total opposite of what we are being taught is … our rights!!  We discard this particular Grace at our own peril.  When meekness is rejected as weakness people become narcissistic. They say thing like: “My rights and needs must be met so I will take them by force if necessary!” A person Who is meek is more likely to care about your rights than their own.

However meek people are not passive people, they have simply made a decision that walking with the Holy Spirit is more important than anything else – including their so-called rights. A submissive meek heart can be cultivated under the Holy Spirit’s guidance, leading and correction. “All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud but shows favour to the humble.” 1 Peter 5:5.

There are times we can mistakenly think that those niggly little seemingly incidental, unimportant disobedient things we do, have gone away. But in reality they’ve actually turned us inch by inch away from the path He’s put in front of us UNTIL WE CAN NO LONGER SEE THAT PATH AT ALL. It is up to us to keep our relationship trimmed, full of oil and ready to ‘go” when the bridegroom calls for us. Meekness lies down that pathway of clarity, humility and obedience. Independence is a luxury we simply cannot afford. We need Him and we need each other.

Jesus Himself said – in the Beatitudes: Matthew 5:5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” Meek people have great faith. They believe that life can be changed by utterly surrendering to the King, because they have learnt there is NOTHING this King cannot do with totally submitted yielded vessels.  👋🏻

P 2337 Do we value comfort and healing ABOVE obedience?

/ DVH

Are we prepared to follow Jesus no matter what shape we are currently in? There is a trait within the body of Christ to seek healing and wholeness first, because we think we will be in better shape to serve Him. Actually, the bible says we are to seek His kingdom, first. When Jesus died for us, and the Holy Spirit came here to stay with us on earth – the doors of healing and transformation flew open. They cannot be shut. The cross of Christ sealed the most incredible deal mankind has ever seen.

As we walk with Him, using our faith, day by day, endless possibilities open up in front of us. The Lord our God is a fantastic, reliable, all-powerful Healer. The bible says so, over and over again. However, there are people who are very used to having healing available and handed to them through other people’s recognised gifts. Their OWN faith has not prepared them for spiritual opposition or the strength to fight and go get things for themselves. I think the power to grow in our faith is linked to our willingness to go all out for Him. Sadly the children of God have not always fought for the kind of God-given strengths we need to combat all the stuff that comes at us.

We’ve have made being ‘whole and trained,’ a more valuable attribute than things like ‘servanthood, surrender, discipleship and being a laid-down lover of Jesus.’  The truth is, in our interactions with the Lord, sometimes, like Jacob, we could end up limping! I’ve ended up as sick as you can get in hospital, only to discover there was someone I was meant to comfort, and witness to, that I would not have met any other way. My little story was relevant to them. I am NOT saying God made me sick – but He used it for His purposes. Sometimes, like Sarah we could end up healed and whole, with a whole life scenario that is is just plain impossible. These things serve God’s purposes. Did you get that? His purposes.

Some of the most fruitful transformational words I have ever had are words of correction. I love to see the body of Christ grow in grace and the knowledge of the Lord.  And when we receive what we believe is a prophetic word then we need to take it seriously. BUT, we also know that God corrects His kids, and if we accept His correction with faith – we will also grow – we don’t always have to be babied along. Take whatever God gives your pastor to preach as food for your soul, pray over it and ask the Lord to make it personal to you. We desperately need ‘every word that proceeds from the mouth of God,” because that’s where the power of God is. In the truth of what God Himself says.

Perhaps we are inadvertently waiting for the Lord to swoop in, and zap us, and then we will get an instant spiritual makeover to prepare us for the wonderful things that lie ahead. That thought makes no sense whatsoever to me. This is the God Who we know does things, ‘layer upon layer, line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little.…’ We need to be in agreement and prepared to engage with His processes – complete with His correction when we’ve wandered off into lah lah land.

Otherwise we will limit Him to our own understanding. There are totally sold-out people all over this planet who will follow Jesus anywhere anytime into any kind of danger. My problem is I can’t see where those dedicated people are supposed to be in a separate category to ME.  For those of us who live in the West, we need to make it our great quest to take His Words even more seriously … otherwise ease, and comfort will distract us into the grave and we will have lost the precious time allocated to us by the Lord.  We cannot be distracted by the so-called quest to be READY for whatever He wants us to do – no matter how difficult, or life-changing it seems to be. We need to step out in faith and obey.

We are at the place where we need to be relying upon Him  and His written word more than anything else. Fortunately that is a learned skill – gained by using our faith, followed up by action. Let us not allow the enemy to lie to us that we are not ready, or we are not up to the task. Instead let’s remind ourselves that our God uses the willing! He qualifies hearts that are passionate and sold out to His purposes. He will heal, correct and guide us as we go ahead living out His word, for this world to read in our lives.👋🏻

P 2327 The good fight happens in your head.

/ DVH

“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” II Timothy 3:16-17 NKJV. 

After reading this scripture, I had this totally mad thought. Could this be the reason so many of us are stuck in the same place we’ve always been, with one foot nailed to the ground, going round and round? Mainly because we have not grown beyond the places of assent into action. Is this happening because we are not accepting the inspiration and discipline of scripture to correct us, reprove and instruct us in righteousness? And so we only read and accept the bits we like, rather than we actually read the book to find out where we need to be changed? Yikes! 

I know the bible says “…and forget not all His benefits…”BUT! That’s just one kind of verse. The bible has loads of other verses that are instructions, and it is time we started memorising scriptures that challenge our religious beliefs. Christianity is not a club, or a part-time occupation, it is a monarchy –  a theocracy.  A single Ruler …Christ.

That thought about scared the daylights out of me. Do we really think that simply agreeing with what it says, is the same as doing what it says?  Double yikes … and … an ‘oh my goodness’ thrown in! 😳 I know we can’t make every single change all at once, but we need to start somewhere. Sometimes the Holy Spirit is more willing to help us than we are to be helped. 

Pick something that comes up often in your life and start there. Maybe that could be traits that drive other people close to us nuts, YAY!! We need to be humble and open and pliable enough to go after change. Seek advice, don’t hide from the truth. “Confess your faults to one another that you may be healed.“ Otherwise we are easily diagnosed by James as double-minded. And we will get nowhere because we continue to ignore our own faults.

By all means be encouraged by the Lord from His book, but please don’t let the need for pastoral care overshadow, or eliminate the need to be transformed. We can spend so much time trying to make ourselves feel better over things that actually need forgiveness, or repentance, or reconciliation, or reparation… or all of them! 

We can end up so focussed on ourselves we forget our mandate…which is to love others, by sharing the gospel in all its power and authenticity. Plus living our lives the way Christ would – today. In our own homes, with our families, and the people who really know us – as well as other people we don’t know well. They can’t see through our pleasant exteriors. 

There is no lasting value or even any transformation in just admitting our faults and praying over them, and then leaving the transformation to Him. We simply must engage in the process. I’ve found that once the Lord highlights some fault of mine, opportunities to yield to Him and act in faith – pop up like daisies. I am not always thrilled by this, but I have also discovered that obedience and transformation leads to greater revelation and deeper commitment to the King.

I’ve also learnt that I need to actively, prayerfully, continually, revise my behaviour – especially when I find my thoughts start feeding me a diet of other people’s faults. Have you ever noticed, when someone is being provocative and contrary, how easy it is to remember the last time they offended you? Our enemy is delighted to run these things by us when we feel weak or vulnerable. Take heart — this means the Lord is giving us strength training.

I don’t know how we can ever think we can fight satan when we have difficulty fighting temptations. God sent us a round-the-clock, available at any second, Helper. Instead of denying the faults we have, we need to use these things as an opportunity to diagnose, repair and bring healing into our lives and the life of someone else. We are fighting for other people’s right to hear the good news for themselves. Of course our enemy wants to distract us at any turn, we have been given the power to usher in new beginnings for others. Ya might want to think on that. 🧐

P 2271 Our God does not say ‘WHOOPS.’

/ DVH

He doesn’t even think it. Let’s look in the book shall we? “He offers a resting place for me in His luxurious love. His tracks take me to an oasis of peace near the quiet brook of bliss. That’s where He restores and revives my life. He opens before me the right path and leads me along in His footsteps of righteousness so that I can bring honour to His name. 

Even when Your path takes me through the valley of deepest darkness, fear will never conquer me, for You already have! Your authority is my strength and my peace. The comfort of Your love takes away my fear. I’ll never be lonely, for You are near. You become my delicious feast even when my enemies dare to fight.

You anoint me with the fragrance of Your Holy Spirit; You give me all I can drink of You until my cup overflows. So why would I fear the future? Only goodness and tender love pursue me all the days of my life. Then afterward, when my life is through, I’ll return to Your glorious Presence to be forever with You!” Psalms 23:2-6 TPT 

I suggest that we put aside whether the Passion Translation is a proper translation or not… and just jump into these words, and sit in them like it’s a nice hot bath tub full of bubbles. 🛁 We dare not look at the Bible just for instructions or correction – there are times when we need to soak in the meaning of His words.  So here’s what I think, jump on in today and enjoy. 

Our Heavenly Father’s words toward mankind are thoughts and plans to give us hope and a future. The most important thing we can do is to remember, God has a purpose in everything. However every time we see a negative purpose in what the Lord is doing, we are taking a club and battering our faith all around the edges. Our Heavenly Father is where all goodness comes from, He doesn’t do bad. Right now, this particular plump chicken is in a meadow of His choosing, sitting down. He led me here via my recent staircase accident. Sometimes I get so busy trying to make my life have meaning, I forgot my life already has meaning … I AM HIS! 

It is important that some facts about our Heavenly Father’s personage and character are clearly established in our minds. God is good and He is for us. There is no ‘but’ in that sentence! Jesus Christ came and died to give us a place in His Father’s heart, His love is toward mankind – there is no race, colour, creed, or age, or state of health that will exempt us from the blessing of enjoying His love – only our own choices nullify that.            

“He offers a resting place for me in His luxurious love…. That’s where He restores and revives my life…” When we forget how kind the Lord, we end up doing the next thing, one foot after the other, and we can easily lose our focus on His everlasting goodness. If our enemy cannot get us to sin, and focus on that, creating distance from God – then he will do his best to distract us with circumstances. The thing to do is to hold fast to His goodness – it is almost like a central pole in a giant marquee that holds everything up.

The Lord does not ever say, “Whoops”, because unlike you or I, He doesn’t make mistakes. People are God’s crowning achievement … you are not a mistake. Every single aspect of our lives is under His gaze. If we sin, He knows the way out. If we get lost we just have to yell ‘help’ and He will come and find us. Remember that story about the lost sheep? He only means us good. So we can say with confidence, no matter how it ‘looks’ – His love, His patience and all those other wonderful things described in 1 Corinthians 13 are always coming toward us like waves on a seashore. 

Sometimes the very best thing we can do is to rest in those words. Nothing in our lives is meaningless. If we continually keep ourselves too busy, then we will miss out on the little wells of silence and comfort that are given to us so we can face the next barrage that comes at us. He does not say ‘Whoops’ because everything about us is under His jurisdiction, protection and gaze. Bye 👋🏻.