David

P3454 Remembering Helps!

/ DVH

“…and when He (Jesus) had given thanks, He broke it, and said, “This is My Body, which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way also He took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”” 1 Corinthians 11:24-25 ESV. 

People participate in this scripture in a number of ways – all of them are wonderful and worth doing. From blessing our food and drink daily, to taking communion together, and reminding ourselves that Jesus’ broken body and shed blood makes a way for us to be able to run to the Lord any time we need to, or want to do it! He is here to help us.

Remembering the Holy Spirit is a great daily aim. The thing that stood out to me, in 1 Corinthians were the words … “remember Me.” These verses are a prompt to help us to value our memories of good, moment by moment, during each and every day. I liked that thought. So much crowds in on us during our daily lives, lots of things that demand our attention, it means that Jesus sometimes becomes an after-thought — if He is even a thought at all … and I’m not condemning anyone! Let’s pull our focus off the situations around us, and back onto the One Who is here to help us – the One Jesus relied upon.

Many years go, I had 3 children under 5. Trust me, you are lucky to be able to think at all when you have babies or toddlers. It was over 50 years ago, and yet I still remember the endless  wailing and feeling powerless to help the child! Not to mention the futility of trying to quiet an infant when you have no clue what caused the problem in the first place. New mothers, take this from me, please — these days will pass away and you will look back at them with bitter sweet sadness… especially the part where they hadn’t learned to say “NO!” yet. Whenever you can, enjoy the little ones.

Parenting is not about perfection, it simply requires plenty of  participation. We can’t prevent the lumps and bumps of this life happening to our kids – it’s all prep for adulthood – yours and theirs! One day soon all the intense work that goes into raising an infant will go away, and you are left with raising a brand new human being, with its own will and preferences. Parenting is not as much fun as the magazines pretend it is, and, trust me, we all fail at it – despite our dedicated efforts. Remembering Him helps us keep our cool when we can’t cope with our inadequacies.

I am learning that reflecting on the things that the Lord helps us with — successful times from the past — can often help us get through the things happening right now. David did it in 1 Samuel 17:34-36  “But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God.” Please let us remember, David is talking about two really really bad things … a lion and a bear. This is not a kitten or a cuddly toy!

And he took the past, his own personal experiences with God, and used it to do two things. It gave him courage and confidence for now. And then he used it as a weapon so he could carry out the next thing. Remembering is a very valuable tool, when Jesus Himself asks us to do it. When we are hurting, sometimes we need to be our own cheer squad. Some people enjoy writing a journal, my hubby does it periodically, and it blesses him to go back over the things that the Lord has said, and done, in the past.

Jesus asked us to remember Him when we take communion, when we eat, when we sleep, when we wake up — even as we are going about our normal lives. His Presence goes before us, and comes behind us as we walk this walk of faith. “Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; He will neither fail you nor abandon you.” Deuteronomy 31:8. 

Nothing happens to us that the Lord Himself doesn’t know about. “I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember Your miracles of long ago.  I will consider all Your works and meditate on all Your mighty deeds.” Psalm 77:11,12. It is so beneficial to our faith to remember the things He has done, especially when we feel oppressed,  ill, or even a bit depressed. You know, it is of no use to pretend that Christians don’t struggle with mental disease … that’s what it is …. mental DIS-ease. Something inside our thinking is not helping us, and we are no longer at ease. 

One of the best ways I know to help that, is to phone a friend, or if you pray in tongues do that. And if you are locked in then please don’t beat yourself up. Life may seem to be suffocating you and you do not need “ought to” and “must” sitting on your heart and mind as well. God loves us as we are. If we could perfect ourselves we would not need a Saviour! Maybe we have allowed some squirrelled up ideas about appearances and expectations to put even more pressure on our faith. These things deny our humanity. (2 Corinthians 1:8; Matthew 26:36-46.) 

I urge everyone to cultivate the remembrance of good in your life. Was someone kind? Thank them, and tuck that kindness in your heart, you might need it someday. Remembering helps us to keep on pressing on. Bye. 👋.

P3446 Let’s talk about Psalm 23.

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“Because the Lord is my Shepherd, I have everything I need! He lets me rest in the meadow grass and leads me beside the quiet streams. He gives me new strength. He helps me do what honours Him the most. Even when walking through the dark valley of death I will not be afraid, for You are close beside me, guarding, guiding all the way. You provide delicious food for me in the presence of my enemies. You have welcomed me as Your guest; blessings overflow! Your goodness and unfailing kindness shall be with me all of my life, and afterwards I will live with You forever in Your home.”

This Psalm was written by David, who was a shepherd – so he knew what he was talking about! I sometimes wonder how a plumber or a taxi driver would write it? Moo-ving on … I enjoy watching a Scottish shepherd and his dogs at work on Youtube. The thing that hits me every single time I watch it, is that those dogs never take their eyes off their Master, and he never takes his eyes off the sheep, or the dogs.

David knew all about sheep, that was his job. His part in his large family was pretty minor compared to his big deal brothers who were allowed to join the army and help their Dad run the family property. The blessing of doing unnoticed things well, is a huge asset. It helps form character in us, when we are prepared to leave acknowledgement from others, behind us. It teaches me regularly how needy I am regarding praise!

David did what he did well. He knew how to care for his sheep, protecting them from harm, and when they needed a rest, he took them to a green, well-watered safe place. Jesus makes sure we are rested and ready for hard parts of our journey. Some tasks may look very small and insignificant but they teach us to rest. The Lord knows what comes next, and He will provide us with a safe place, right near Him. Jesus Himself taught us about faithfulness – it matters! “He who is faithful in a very little thing is also faithful in much; and he who is dishonest in a very little thing is also dishonest in much.” Luke 16:10.

Psalm 23 tells us we can learn about fear, whether real or imagined, WHILE we are walking through the valley of the shadow of death! Our Heavenly Father often ‘trains our hands for war and our fingers to fight,’ in difficult, dark places, where we want to curl up into a ball and hope we die. Why would He do that? Theory in the Body of Christ doesn’t benefit anyone … but using our faith changes our view of things. The bigger the resistance, the stronger the muscles. Faith is a spiritual muscle – it needs to be resilient, because bad things happen unexpectedly.

We can theorise all we want, but the truth is – when the stuff is going down, and all hell breaks loose, that is THE very best time to practice what we believe. When we feel paralysed by our circumstances, then we can choose to lean on Him. HE becomes our  hope – not our changed circumstances. Our God is training warriors, not Tinkerbell! Later on, David himself became a mighty warrior, but when he was a youth caring for sheep, he had already learnt to fight with God on his side. That’s why he ran at Goliath.

The Holy Spirit, daily walks with us, guiding us, teaching us … He does not leave us. Instead He says: ‘put your foot here, put your hand there … stand on this scripture … do that other thing now.’ Our Shepherd doesn’t only lead us, the goodness of God in Jesus and His Word, glows right in front of us, lighting up the way ahead of us. Today’s Word, from the bible is our light for this day. “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” Psalm 119:105.

The Lord releases His word to show us HIS pathway through our trials. When this happens, He is not punishing us, nor has He forgotten us. He took our punishment, once and for all. We can’t ever be forgotten because He carved us on the palms of His hands! This Psalm also tells us that the Lord prepares a table for us in the presence of our enemies.

So let’s look at 1 Corinthians 11:24,25 it says: “… and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, “This is My body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way also He took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”” This is the Lord’s table! His broken body and His blood willingly poured out for our sake, made a way for us to survive everything that comes at us. In Jesus’ mind what we need is already done, and we have been given His mind. 1 Corinthians 2:16.

Christ’s death and resurrection on our behalf made a way for us to be certain that no matter how things look – God will not fail us. And then the Holy Spirit assures us that God’s goodness and mercy runs after us. He follows up our times of difficulties, to the point where we are so blessed we run out of words to thank Him! We won’t always feel it, instead we choose to believe what Jesus said, and live our lives depending on it. We are His people, and He knows when we need to lie down. Plus He knows the way through anything that comes against us to make us afraid and He will lead us through it.

Psalm 23 is an example of the Lord’s purposes in our lives, it is not just for funerals. It teaches us that He leads, guides, and travels with us every step of the way, every single day. He feeds us with Himself, and blesses us. His all-consuming desire is to walk with us, forever. Bye 👋.

P 3442 Keeping our love ON.

/ DVH

One way or another, I have spent a great deal of my time in hospitals. I am not saying that to gain sympathy, it is simply true. Meanwhile I don’t like them. I feel like someone is going to pop out of the ether, and decide I need this ghastly test, or that. Or maybe some super keen doctor will sentence me to four hours of waiting in a chair. While I try not to mind my life being whittled away by people in white coats. Yeah, I have a bad attitude. The Lord reminded me this morning that sick people go to hospitals, “the fields are white!” He said. “I need more energy Lord,” I said!

Remembering to keep our love ON can be difficult at times, especially when we’ve spent a lot of our lives living the other way. Here’s what Jesus said:  “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.’ Matthew 7:13-14. Yeah, I wish He hadn’t said that too … but He did. The narrow gate needs to be sought and found – it isn’t like the yellow brick road, wide and obvious!

The people who travel this narrow road study LOVE. How it works, what it looks like when we do it. The Lord has said some tough stuff in the scriptures, but when I look at the way I’ve chosen to live in the past, I am so grateful for His wisdom – I need to hear it! It wasn’t that I didn’t try to obey Him, but I know I gave complaining equal footing in my life. A grateful heart is a fantastic blessing, in the list of blessings God has given us. Let’s stop searching for the fake gold of this world, and start digging for the real treasure … Jesus Himself.

However, we will have to fight any Goliaths that have taken up residence in our lives. Those things that bellow and hurl threats of doom and despair at us, and others, through us. He yells that he will kill us, our friends, our families, plus everyone we love, to create fear. Love can’t flourish in an atmosphere of fear. We must trust the Lord to take care of us. David ran at Goliath, but he left his big brothers up on a hill hiding behind rocks! His brothers had a problem … but David didn’t! His faith in Almighty God saved an entire nation that day.

The thing I love about this young man is that he believed in the God Who was with him, when he faced Goliath. We are so much better off than David was, we have the same God IN us. That thing that we think we can’t possibly fight, we don’t ever have to fight it alone. He will be with us. He promised, so let’s choose to believe Him! David was no more alone on that battle field than WE are. Jesus told us that He has given us His power, and we need to believe Him and act on it. Then we can go to our enemy’s camp and take back what he has stolen from us. 

People spend time praying to become everything the Lord God means for them to be. I want to add that it is also good to pray that we would identify and throw off all those weights the enemy has been laying on us since birth … “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.” Hebrews 12:1. WE do that, God doesn’t do it for us – He does it with us!

We may not feel like we can outrun the Goliaths of this world, but we can definitely learn to outwait them. BTW, “outwait” is a verb meaning to stay longer than someone else, or to wait until a bad event or time finishes.” Perseverance is a vastly underestimated Grace. It comes directly from the fruit of “patience, faithfulness, and self-control.” We have eternity on our side – satan does not, and he knows  it! If we do not faint in our journeys with Jesus — we will win. Don’t look at problems as forever things, once we give them into His hands who knows what He will do with them?

Doing the things we hate is another form of worship, as we do them “as unto the Lord.” Let’s face it, without the Holy Spirit’s help, none of these things are actually appealing. They are easy to read, but it is much harder to motivate yourself to do it. We want to raise the dead and heal the sick, and have a ministry, etc. But Jesus wants us to be bullet proof — He cares about our hearts first. And Paul gave us a list of things that we need to remember to wear. So as we put on the full armour of God, we put on those things are illustrations of the new way we’ve chosen to live now. This is how it works:

‘Always speaking HIS truth;  remembering we have Christ’s righteousness as a gift to clear our path;  at the same time we are always ready to share the gospel;  and our faith guides us and prompts us to act. Together with the knowledge that Jesus died to save us and now we have the Holy Spirit with us.’ Let’s embrace active cultivation, through our own personal choices, and make room for the growth of the fruit of the Spirit. As we “…put on love, which binds …(all the other graces) … together in perfect unity.” Colossians 3:14. We can’t be patient, kind, self-controlled etc. without LOVE leading us. 

Doing things we dislike is a challenge, but there are so many riches that are already in place, waiting for us to draw upon them. So let’s focus on the Lord and His blessings, not our feelings.. Our faith when it is active, will give all these things, substance. They become evidence in our lives of His Presence.  The answer is simple — don’t take your love off … Jesus’ love is always on! Bye. 👋

P 3431 For the Father and others.  

/ DVH
It is good to remember that no matter what people look like, they need Him.

The more we ask the Holy Spirit for His help in our daily lives, the more we will experience intimacy with God and others. Father God can’t be an afterthought – He must be our only thought. By the way, big long repetitive prayers don’t matter! Just speak your heart to Him, not your head. Intimacy comes from being real with Him and myself. When we read Psalms 86 and 114, we see David, the man and the king, being real. 

We often hang onto the sins other people commit against us, to protect ourselves. Those things can easily hide or even sometimes eclipse, what Jesus did for me. The thing is I can’t afford to be distracted – I desperately need His help. This life chases me with bad news. Even other people’s attitudes can distract me from Him, and my immediate needs can overcome my eternal aims. Let’s deliberately ask Him to help us focus on Him, and what He has done – first. Otherwise I can become blinded by self-interest or someone else’s sins against me. 

Calvary was an incredibly intimate, personal event — Jesus’ life-blood poured out onto the ground! You and I are the people who choose to live knowing that we are not worthy of so much mercy, forgiveness, grace and love, but we have it, because He gave it. Now we live for Him … His way. It is a useful thing to remind ourselves of our King’s freely-given investment in our lives when we are under great stress. It adds to our intimacy with Him. Instead of toughing it out — ask Jesus INTO whatever is going on.

The Lord has shown me what I do to protect myself – is far worse than any perceived slights that the other person has perpetrated against me. Mainly because I am collecting their faults, words and attitudes like stamps! Hugging them to me to protect myself from what these people might do next. You can’t have true intimacy with someone you are hiding from. The things I chew on to protect myself, create a barrier. It is harder to hear the Lord, as well as hear them!

What we fail to understand is that whatever we cling to, to protect us, will actually bind us. The best Person to cling is Jesus. Let’s pick up our own cross – of unrepentant spouses, relatives, friends, and bosses, etc. – and lay aside their sins with over-the-top forgiveness. But don’t just leave a vacuum — say something kind to them instead. “A soft answer turns away wrath.” “We might just win our brother …” When we are tempted to reply in a negative fashion – in the face of extreme pain, lies, cursing, betrayal and spite – our faith is under pressure. Let’s allow the truth of God’s love for us to be our shield.

The Lord Jesus saved the guy hanging next to Him while He was being crucified. He WAS kind of busy at the time … dying from suffocation, and the injuries we inflicted upon Him! … But LOVE WON. When we make love our aim, our quest, and we choose to chase it, anything that is not love begins to stand out.

Perhaps our churches aren’t producing the things that are worthwhile in a way that this world can see them. The people around us can’t see our faith in action. Our voluntary demonstration of the fruit of the Spirit, when we are under pressure, can provide other people with the spiritual substance they hope for. Good works are great, but faith stands up and votes for His way – every single time. Many times, other people can’t see Jesus in what we are doing, because what we are doing fits into our happy little churchified routines. Let’s begin by telling them that the sky may well be falling, but we know a safe place to live.

Maybe we have forgotten how to live this life displaying our faith, day by day, minute by minute! Faith is more than saying to a random mountain: “Go over there!” Faith tells my bad temper, criticism, suspicion, or complete lack of God’s fruit in my every day life —-“you will not rule the way I think or act.” Instead, we say: “I give it all to you, Lord.” Jesus knows firsthand how hard this life is, He can be trusted to be there for me. He will show me the way out of any holes I have dug for myself.

Nobody knows the Father and Son better than the Holy Spirit. Their relationship is what true intimacy looks like. Their incredible fellowship and love for each other is our example. Intimacy fosters any and all circumstances to bring about the best in others. The Lord Jesus faced His destiny wrestling through what was to come, with prayer, courage, kindness, and a concern for His Father’s will and this world’s future. Instead of His excruciating pain producing murder, anger and rage — He chose God’s Way. He could have cursed us but He saved us.

Love grows when we choose to see the best in someone else. Not just what they do, but who they are. Just like Jesus did. If we need to confront them, we choose to do it in love, quietly, rationally! Don’t do a private opinion poll with other people about whether they were right to do whatever they did.  PRAY – for them, plus everyone else involved, as well as yourself. The body of Christ needs His kind of real love that allows others to learn. Our aim is not to make that other person do things the way we do it, it is to assist others to think like He does.

We want to produce devoted disciples of Jesus Christ. With every single member, big and small, old and young, all of them functioning in their appointed gifts. That’s not just the pastor’s job, it is also ours. Jesus summed it up well, when He explained to His disciples: ‘I only do and say what I see My Father doing and saying.’ He knew the best way to live, was for the Father, and for others. Bye 👋.

P 3399 For parents of kids of any age. 

/ DVH

Back when I was actively involved in mothering my kids, I noticed that doing bible studies, taking time to pray with them, plus other Christian activities, were all great – but the most powerful impact by far – came from displaying my OWN FAITH. They needed my faith to be worked out daily in front of them. I was their witness to Jesus, in good times and bad. It was not just what I said, or taught that mattered — my actions and reactions did. They were learning about Jesus as they watched me trust Him.

Our living faith needs to be visible to our children – otherwise it becomes yet another theory. If that is difficult and you are constantly wrestling with your faith, then let them see that. Let them see you turn to Him for His help. I learnt, that you can’t just teach your kids and expect that they will somehow ‘catch’ Christianity like a cold, or farm out your responsibility to a Christian group. You get to sow the seeds in their hearts.

If you want to raise them to believe in Christ and all He did for us, you will need to make a quality choice to demonstrate your faith in front of them – in good times and bad. Meanwhile being positive all the time, creates pressure on a child. They feel things very keenly, it is far better to be real. Saying: “I’m not coping with God’s answers right now,” sets the stage for them to still go to God when they are not coping too!

Today I want to share a testimony – I hope it illustrates my point about visible faith adequately.  When my three children were very young, they wanted a swimming pool, but we couldn’t afford it, and so the kids were greatly disappointed. They were just little kids, so they wanted one anyway. On one very hot summer’s day they came to me and presented their reasons for wanting a pool …their Dad was at work at that time … and I knew darn well it was going to be an uphill battle.

So that day, I tried to pass the buck off onto the Lord, and suggested that we all pray together and ask Jesus for a pool instead. Anybody can see I had a wonderful attitude about this. Not. It wasn’t a very long prayer, and then I sent them off to have fun under the sprinkler. Later … that very same afternoon … my sister-in-law rang me. “We have something we want to pass on to your family,” she said – “It’s a pool!” We have just built an in-ground pool at our house, and we no longer need our above-ground pool anymore.” I nearly fell over. I mean, I couldn’t believe it! That instant answer to prayer floored me.

Then she uttered the magic words; … “Of course the kids’ uncle will come and install it properly, no charge at all.” My brother-in-law installed pools professionally!! Wow!  I told her, I would call back after I had talked to her brother. He said; “OK. ” All we needed to do was buy some sand and chlorinate it. My brother-in-law worked so carefully to install that pool, the guy was a master at what he did. The kids kept running in and out watching him, they were so excited. A week later they were swimming in it, and it had been  installed professionally! 

Jesus cares about childish faith. All the teaching in the world can’t give your child your faith. But you can help them to grow their own, by inviting them to pray with you, and then leaving the results with Him. The Lord is so kind, He lives way above our human limitations and restrictions, He simply doesn’t see them. Meanwhile my kids all knew that pool came from God Himself!

I exhort you, please don’t let your own fears, spiritual struggles or concerns stop you from visibly using your faith to encourage your children. Teach them there are times God says no – but because He is God, and He knows everything — He will have a reason for it. Many times since then my kids and I have had to pray for something they desperately needed, and the Lord kindly provided for them. I want to testify that those things stick with them.. 

Let’s quickly look at the prodigal son in Luke 11. This young man remembered what he had already seen in his own home years ago …. “When he came to his senses, …” He remembered what he had seen his earthly father do, and it prompted him to take a chance and go home!

My adult kids have their own living faith now. It is expressed differently than mine, but they have fought through their own disappointments and troubles to a better place, and  strengthened their own faith as they learnt to walk with Him themselves. Faith can create memories, just like it did for the prodigal son. David did that too – when he ran at Goliath, he had the memory of God helping him to kill a lion and a bear.

The Holy Spirit will help our families remember what they have seen Him do, right at the moment when they need it, and that’s for kids of any age. Bye.👋

P 3398 Faith has one primary purpose.

/ DVH

“If you want to be made right with God by fulfilling the obligations of the law, you have cut off more than your flesh—you have cut yourselves off from Christ and have fallen away from the revelation of grace! But we have the true hope that comes from being made right with God, and by the Spirit we wait eagerly for this hope. When you’re joined to the Anointed One, circumcision and religious obligations can benefit you nothing. All that matters now is living in the faith that works and expresses itself through love!” Galatians 5:4-6 TPT.

You know I’ve done enough stupid stuff in my life to know that positive talk won’t help me to use my faith and love others. Mainly because whatever you talk yourself into, you can talk yourself OUT OF! Plus satan would be de-light-ed to help me to go the wrong way. Even other people’s reassurances won’t help when my focus goes off – ‘whatever the Lord is doing,’ and lands on ‘what’s in it for me?’

Yesterday I looked at David and his faith-filled interactions with the Lord. No matter what happened in his life, David’s heart stayed right with God – even when he was corrected. You and I are blessed to be able to live that way too, because of Jesus and what He did. So this morning, hubby and I were talking about how much we need to be reminded that God doesn’t love us for what we do or don’t do – He loves us because Love is Who He is. Now we always have a choice in the arena of faith. Do we believe Him or not? Will we let Him make ‘love’ who we are?

If we don’t make that choice to deliberately keep aware of His Grace, we can become so focussed on serving the Lord, and making sure we do everything right – that we forget to enjoy every single day what we have been given. When we live with rules and judgment over ourselves, we are much more likely to give that junk away to someone else: Peter made that clear when he said: “…such as I have give I thee!” Acts 3:6.

His focus in the above scripture, was spot on. He honed in on being a benefit to those around him, not the law. So giving away what he had, meant that he lived aware that he had fresh clean water bubbling up inside him. His faith was always active. I want that, and I’m pretty sure you do too – that’s why we are all taking this journey together. When our focus is on right and wrong, eventually, we will start focussing on, and judging ourselves, and others.

This wrong kind of perspective can distract anyone from the revelation we’ve been given about God’s Grace and what He has done for us. Jesus did not only come to save us from our big or little sins – He came to save and restore our relationship with our Heavenly Father. Sin is the lesser thing, the Lord Jesus’ primary focus is always on redemption and restoration and His love being shed abroad in our hearts – by FAITH. We receive love by faith, and we give it away … using our faith.

When we read the gospels, it is clear Jesus wants us to know what His Father likes and wants from us. And self-recrimination and condemnation of others is not on that list. Micah 6:8 tells us that God has shown us what is good. “He has shown you, O man, what is good;  And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?” 

Adam and Eve lost their fellowship with God; but Jesus, the second Adam, is the Founder of a whole new spiritually-aware kind of people. He came to restore us and exponentially increase our faith, love and fellowship with our Heavenly Father, so that we could begin to know the kind of Oneness that the Trinity enjoys. We cannot have that when we have enmity with one another. Our focus will go off faith and fellowship and love, over onto finding fault with others.

That’s when we decide to protect ME at someone else’s cost. Maybe we don’t like these people because they do this and that, or we don’t like this member of our family because they did so and so. You know, loving people doesn’t have to mean we give them permission to mistreat us, or that we approve of the way they treat others. Loving them means that we use our faith, put them into God’s hands, and live the way He says. 

We can’t afford to embrace the idea that everyone thinking the same way is the criteria for restoration. It isn’t! It can’t be! We don’t all think the same way! Almighty God Himself has to be the One Who unites us.  However, His love is a universal language, and expressing that love, using our faith, as He leads us, can take away barriers. That’s what God’s love given freely to all of us undeserving sinners did! It took away all barriers. We can now enjoy Who He is, and He can expand our viewpoints over and above our prejudices – so that our prejudices… fade … away.

If someone is in error, then we need to remind them from God’s Word what His way looks like. If necessary then we will engage the church leadership in this process. Withdrawing love cannot be the way forward. As we co-operate with the Holy Spirit, and let Him love people through us, we will learn to release our faith as we choose to live in love. Meanwhile Galatians 5:6 says: “And we to whom Christ has given eternal life don’t need to worry about whether we have been circumcised or not, or whether we are obeying the Jewish ceremonies or not; for all we need is faith working through love.” 

The law can’t produce what faith does, in our own lives or in the lives of others. Faith has one primary purpose – to activate our lives with love. Bless you 👋.

P 3397 God is our place of safety and shelter.

/ DVH

“Keep me safe, O mighty God. I run to You, my safe place. I said to Yahweh, “You are my Maker and my Master. Any good thing You find in me has come from You.” And He said to me, “My holy lovers in the land are My glorious ones, who fulfil all My desires.” … …The way You counsel me makes me praise You more, for Your whispers in the night give me wisdom, showing me what to do next. Because I set You, Yahweh, always close to me, my confidence will never be weakened, for I experience Your wraparound Presence every moment.” Psalms 16:1-3, 7-8 TPT.

Isn’t this fantastic? I must have read it about ten times. I think because of the pressures we all face daily, it can get very hard to hold onto how loving, generous, good and gracious the Lord is. These verses, by the way, come from David talking to God, after he became an adult. This is not that teenager on the side of the hill watching sheep — this is the man who faced many struggles. I often need to read and reread in the bible the history of other people and their interactions with God. There are people in there who have faced all kinds of terrible trials – yet they chose to have a heart of worship and praise.

Let’s look at the beginning of David’s relationship with the Lord: “And when He had removed him (Saul), he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also He gave their testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after Mine own heart, which shall fulfil all My will.” This is reported in Acts 13:21,22, by Paul.  The Psalm and this testimony are referring to a time in David’s life when he was already king. I don’t know if you ever have these thoughts but when I read those two passages, they blew my mind. Almighty God is telling us — this man, this king … this fallible human being who stole another man’s wife, got her pregnant, and then had her husband killed! … is a man after God’s own heart? It makes me ask: “what was it about David, that brought out that response from God Himself?”

I prayed about why the Lord said this to David, and then I went back to the bible for an answer because I didn’t have one! My revelation for today, was that our Heavenly Father’s heart must be very different from the kind of heart I often see displayed in our churches. We don’t seem to have the same way of looking at things – at all. Father God told David he would pay for his sin, and the baby died. He also had a terrible time with his other sons, who died too. But what I came to understand is that those things did not change David’s heart of praise and worship. I think  he had such confidence in His Heavenly Father’s Love, goodness and faithfulness as well as the Lord’s forgiving nature.

We know from the scriptures that David praised God purely because He is worthy, not because life always worked out well for him. He had the absolute assurance that when God forgives – no matter what it is, you will be forgiven. And that is that. Done and dusted. This king accepted the punishment that God thought was necessary, and at the same time, the Lord kept His good opinion of this man, as we read in Acts 13. His choice to believe in God’s goodness is such a witness. Sad to say, I’m not so sure Christians feel that way about someone who has sinned badly. We are more likely to judge the behaviour, and not the man’s heart. We need to pray over and over again for eyes to see what our Father sees.

The following verse tells us clearly that God chose David because of his heart:  “But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” This statement occurs before David ever sinned, when he was still a young man. My conclusion is this, our hearts deeply matter to the Lord. Without His influence, we can mistakenly accentuate our sins and shortcomings, and ignore the fact that the Lord says clearly that He loved David’s heart. Let’s ask for protection over our hearts to keep them from being broken by satan’s lies. 

I think David is in the bible to teach us what a yielded heart looks like. Because of him, we can see that hearts make mistakes and have to undergo correction, but God’s opinion of this man did not change, because His behaviour was never going to be the criteria! A Saviour was coming … The One Who was sent here to take away the sins of the whole world — and that included David’s sins too. Sin is our enemy, but unconfessed, cultivated and a lack of repentance from sins can slowly drag us away from the only One Who is the Answer. So will fear of recrimination from God Himself.

My conclusion is this: Our heavenly Father uses flawed instruments to bring about His will and good pleasure, because His criteria is not what we often think it is. “Let Him who boasts, boast in the Lord!” His ways are very different from ours. We think pleasing God is simply about behaviour, but Father God is more concerned with the state of our hearts. I’ve added this today because it is such a good prayer:

“Lord, you’re so kind and tenderhearted and so patient with people who fail You! Your love is like a flooding river overflowing its banks with kindness. You don’t look at us only to find our faults, just so that You can hold a grudge against us.” Psalms 103:8-9 TPT. Thank you Lord and Amen! Bye. 👋. PS Good thing to remember, God doesn’t just extend mercy to us, He extends mercy to our enemies too.

P3377 Psalm 54:1-7, and Matthew.   

/ DVH

“Save me, O God, by Your name; And vindicate me by Your [wondrous] power. Hear my prayer, O God; Listen to the words of my mouth. For strangers have risen against me. And violent men have sought my life; They have not set God before them. Selah. Behold, God is my helper and ally; The Lord is the sustainer of my soul [my upholder]. He will pay back the evil to my enemies; In Your faithfulness destroy them. With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to You; I will give thanks and praise Your name, O Lord, for it is good. For He has rescued me from every trouble, And my eye has looked with satisfaction (triumph) on my enemies.”

Psalms like this one make me smile. David is saying: “Git ‘em God! Git ‘em good!” Yet his confidence in the Lord’s timing stands out like a beacon. The Heir apparent, God’s anointed, approved and appointed King, David, was constantly on the run from King Saul, the reigning King. It was a long time after this that David prayed this Psalm that God Himself gave David two opportunities to take Saul OUT! He could have killed Saul twice, but… he… didn’t! (1 Samuel 24 – the cave in En Gedi and 1 Samuel 26 – the camp in Ziph.)

This shows us that an apparent opportunity, does not mean it is God’s intention for something to happen! King David had a heart toward God and he knew God’s Ways. I think He wanted what God wanted, over and above what he personally wanted or thought he needed. He spent somewhere between 7 to 13 years running and hiding all over the country-side from King Saul. 

Even as a much younger man, David proved himself to be brave, so his refusal to kill Saul was not cowardice. On the contrary his reverential respect for His Heavenly Father, meant David simply refused to touch the Lord’s anointed. The strangers he is talking about in Psalm 54 that want to kill him, could have easily been mercenaries sent by SAUL. 

The Lord always has a better plan than you and I. But His plans can be long-range. Sadly we can often only see to the end of our own noses, and we want instant relief from difficulties, not transformation. Change takes time, and we can grow ‘weary in the well-doing.’ Adjusting how we respond, plus co-operating with the Lord, can give us a brand new perspective. That answer is continually on the cards for our lives. This is why we need His guidance to get us through the time in between.

There are times when it looks like God is not answering our agonised, tearful and despairing prayers. We may feel overlooked – it seems like He has thrown us to the wolves and gone on holidays. This is the best time to hold fast to the FACT that He is always good and He ALWAYS has a bigger plan. Our part in that plan is to hold onto Him and believe He will get us through whatever is going on. That is not easy! Saul went for the immediate answer, kill the guy who is your opponent. But David let God Himself deal with the problem. We have to learn to take the Lord at His Word, grab His hand and hold on.

This brings me to my second scripture – where God is at work in a different way. Our faith in the Lord’s goodness is the only viable life raft in a stormy sea. Let’s look at what happened to Peter after he began to sink into the water, as he was walking on it. This verse shows us God’s goodness in the land of the living … or the-almost-drowning!  In Matthew 14:22,23 – it seems like the Lord is scolding Peter – yet this man’s doubt and fear seem perfectly natural.

In the Living Bible it says this: “Instantly Jesus reached out His hand and rescued him. “O man of little faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt ME?” That little word ME is so valuable!! I can almost hear the Lord saying: “Do you think I would let you drown to teach you a lesson?” Then the Lord put Peter safely back in the boat because that is what Jesus is like. We can all act like Peter at one time or another, we too can become suddenly suspicious of Jesus’ motivation toward us, and we look around us to see if there is anything else there that can help us to cope. Sadly, the things around us cannot help us! Let’s press in and show our faith in Who Jesus is and honour His goodness, instead.

Whenever we stop and turn to face the wind and the waves, we are simultaneously taking our eyes off the Answer. Jesus is our Answer. Peter teaches us that crying out when you are afraid you are going under, isn’t dumb, it’s what we need to do. The man’s faith just needed to grow and mature beyond his hope of adventure. And King David teaches us that God always has a plan, but it may not always suit us or line up with our timing.

Sometimes OUR idea of faith is way beyond what we can actually manage to do, and at other times we can stretch further than we think we can. Failure is not an option with the Lord. He will deal with our enemies, and/or save us from our own decisions. He will always get each one of us back to a safe place…because that is what LOVE looks like. Psalm 54 and Matthew teach us that. Bye. 👋

P3332 Where have all the encouragers gone?

/ DVH


“Let the inner movement of your heart always be to love one another, and never play the role of an actor wearing a mask. Despise evil and embrace everything that is good and virtuous. Be devoted to tenderly loving your fellow believers as members of one family. Try to outdo yourselves in respect and honour of one another. Be enthusiastic to serve the Lord, keeping your passion toward Him boiling hot! Radiate with the glow of the Holy Spirit and let Him fill you with excitement as you serve Him.” Romans 12:9-11 TPT.

The Apostle Paul did not write this stuff simply to impress people with His literary style. I believe he was giving the church a list of instructions as well as teaching them the way to walk with Jesus day-by-day. We skip over verses like these at our own peril. They are not just positive suggestions, they are life and health to us and they need action … digesting.

We have inadvertently allowed our feelings to get in the way of what Paul is saying here. This means we can end up avoiding Sister Mergatroid because we don’t like the way she is raising her kids – or the way her husband always takes over at testimony time. Whatever! You fill in the blanks. We need to continually remember that personal opinion, and the right to have one, died when we gave our lives to Jesus. Dead people don’t have opinions – they are far too busy accessing the new life Jesus promised us... live in the resurrection not the grave clothes!

Our new life is an example of what Jesus can do with people, who are living in ordinary circumstances. There is something quite astonishing about normal people living a life totally sold out to Him, yet we’ve become used to special people doing it. Maybe we have failed to comprehend the fact that the “old has passed away, behold the new HAS come.”  This is not just a form of adaptation to a different way of life – that very life has come to live in us now!

So now our job is to use our faith and walk out what we have been given. The unknown, unseen church-goer has far more effect upon the community than they realise. It all starts with the way we treat each other, and floods out from the church into the way we treat other people. Because we always rely upon His wisdom, we don’t look down on anyone. We have His Grace to see potential, not faults — so we take the time to speak into someone’s potential – and let go of criticism.

When my kids were small I did all I could to help them see that their one little life matters. Somewhere in that relatively short time of influence, I had to learn to let go of prodding and pushing, plus speaking good – and I had to watch them make mistakes. They became His people … not just my kids. They have their own way of expressing their faith. He’s their Father — and in my observation, fathers are great at speaking encouragement. They help us to have the ability to take a risk so we can grow, plus they offer us steadfast love, comfort and affection, when things don’t go so well.

We need more encouragers. People who help us believe that our breakthrough is our birthright. Encouragement is a spiritual gift found in Romans 12:8: ‘that empowers individuals to inspire, comfort, and strengthen others, bringing hope to the church and everyone else.” This gift is greatly underestimated. It has the ability to stand someone up on their feet so they can go again. It doesn’t push, or look down upon someone, instead it leads and instructs.

One of the Holy Spirit’s Names is “Encourager.” As an Encourager He helps people to find the faith to go on when everything inside them wants to give up. Our collective task is to keep our focus on what He says about us, because the Lord Himself is so reliably generous with His praise and love. This world has damaged many Christians, who have eventually fallen through huge cracks of disappointment and discouragement. Mainly because theyt have misinformed expectations and they are not met. Encouragement is about lifting them up again.

When you can’t find something encouraging to say, ask the Lord – He knows what that other person needs to hear. At the same time, you will be using your faith and you will see Him in action, for yourself. Sadly, there are also times when you have to be your own cheer squad. For one reason or another someone else is not available or you feel like you can’t hear the Lord. That’s when it is good to go to the bible, and read uplifting verses out loud. 

God’s Word strengthens us when we are weary, lost, or broken hearted. At the same time it is important not to deny whatever is going on, we live in a real world with real pain and human needs! These things are not just about sin, they happen because they are a part of life. We can be sidetracked if  we focus on how we feel, above what He says. Faith chooses to believe what Jesus said, despite these times. After all, acknowledgement is not the same as approval.

Let’s read the bible, and remind ourselves that these verses were written for US, for this day, for these moments. Encouraging ourselves in the Lord is important and it is also extremely helpful. David did it. Remind yourself that you are not a bad Christian, you are in a battle and our enemy is relentless. However, …”The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working].” James 5:16b. Bye. 👋

P 3274 We already picked a side.

/ DVH

A while ago, you and I decided to be on the Lord’s side and the following scriptures are about what that looks like. Our lives are not meant to be the same now. Our God is the God of the angel armies —— it says so in the bible. So, let’s look at what being on God’s side looks like! Get ready to chew on a heap of scripture:

Elisha and his servant in 2 Kings 13:18…  “Go, find out where he  (Elisha) is,” the king ordered, “so I can send men and capture him.” The report came back: “He is in Dothan.” Then he sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. They went by night and surrounded the city. When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?” the servant asked. Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. As the enemy came down toward him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, “Strike this army with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness, as Elisha had asked.”

If you ever went to Sunday School as a child, you would know this story. I taught SS for many years, the kids loved this one. I picked it today because it clearly shows what faith does. First of all — faith can see what is unseen by human eyes.That’s no small thing. Elisha’s servant was full of fear, but Elisha’s faith in God meant he was not ruled by fear, or even what he could see in the natural world around him. He saw the kingdom reality. We all need spiritual eyes. Ask for them. Spiritual sight will help us defeat our enemies instead of flailing about getting nowhere. 

Now, let’s look at David’s life, when he kills Goliath in 1 Samuel 17:37… “The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine…” on to 1 Samuel 17: 45-47… “David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.” 

This is what great faith looks like. It draws on its previous experiences with God’s goodness and grace and aims that knowledge at the mountain in faith’s way. We can read these accounts of God in action and His men and their obedience…  and enjoy them and rejoice …OR, we can go much further, we can use them to edify and build up our faith in the God Who did them! I think we aim too low,  because we do not want to face disappointment if things don’t work out the way we hope they will. We need to read these stories to build our faith up. Holding fast to things like:  if the Lord did that then what will He do now?

We are not here merely to preach the gospel, we are here to dem-on-strate the gospel. And if we are bad at doing that then we need to get on our faces and ask the Lord where we are missing His will. The bible says: “And these signs will accompany those who believe: In My Name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”  Mark 16:17. 

Jesus Himself said this in John 14:12: “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in Me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” Please note, just because some stories are in the Old Testament that does not mean we should assume those miracles were only for then – our God, the God of the angel armies, is with us! 

Jesus Himself testified to His Father’s army of angels when He said in Matthew 26:53:  “Do you think I cannot call on My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?”  That’s approximately 72,000 angels! Jesus also referred to His Heavenly Father as the “Lord of hosts!” And look at this scripture in James 5:4 …  “Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.” We have God’s ear, we need to pray for those who cannot pray for themselves.

Our God will fight for us even before we ask Him to do it. When what is coming against me is too much for me to cope with, I ask the Lord to fight for me. Sadly we can sometimes lack experience of God’s goodness because we have not purified our motives. Here’s James 4: 2&3. “You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” 

James shows us what can be wrong with our motivation. Here’s a useful prayer: “Jesus, is this what YOU want or is it just something I think I need?” Amen. This scripture is a diagnostic tool. It explains where we can lose the blessing of progressively learning how good our God is! We shouldn’t give up or cede the ground to our enemy, our quest is to take back the ground from him. he has no right to stand anywhere in our lives. We need to pray, and check that our motives are pure. 

When we gave our lives to Christ – He took them. We’ve already picked a side! A position that we now stand in. The Lord God Almighty expects us to act like His kids and come confidently to the throne of Grace, to receive help in our time of need. That help is not just some sweet words we read in His book – that help is Divine Intervention into our circumstances. I pray for help all the time, because I need help … all the time! Bye. 👋