Demonic

P 3210 NEW YEAR’S DAY, is just another day.

/ DVH

“Now, if anyone is enfolded into Christ, he has become an entirely new person. All that is related to the old order has vanished. Behold, everything is fresh and new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 TPT. A whole lot of sweet, sincere people look at a New Year as an opportunity to turn over a new leaf, and begin their life again, choosing to leave something that is bad for them – behind them. We call them New Year resolutions. However, whether you make them or not, it can be good to revise our thinking and behaviour … but not just once a year! 

The-people-who-don’t-know-Jesus-yet only have their will power to cling to, but you and I have SomeOne of substance Who will not only help us — we can cling to HIM! I’ve seen my own will-power in action many times in my life, and sadly I think it’s overrated. Some of these things we think we might be better off without, are not habits … they are strongholds ruled by the demonic. My prayers at this time of the year go a little like this:

“I love you so much Lord Jesus, but You and I both know that there is stuff in my life that has got to go. It needs loads more effort than just my will-power. I will fail without You! I need Your power active in my life and decisions, to deliver me from the things I have willingly embraced in the past. I throw myself on Your great mercy and grace because I know I can trust You to change those things that need changing. I give You permission to get to the bottom of anything I am unaware of, or ignoring. My goal for 2026 is to be more and more like You. Thank you, again and again, for saving me Jesus!”  Amen.

So, what does it mean in 2 Corinthians when the author uses the word ‘enfolded?’ It means ‘to surround, envelop, hold or clasp (someone) lovingly in one’s arms.’  Who wants that? Me! I need lots of enfolding. Being surrounded by the Lord Jesus’ loving arms is more than just a wish, or a dream, it’s a promise. And do you know what? The minute you and I said “yes’ to Him that’s where we’ve landed – right in the middle of those arms that loved us so much, He died for us.

The Lord Jesus loved the world so passionately that He allowed His enemies to pull His precious arms out of their sockets to make room for all of us so He could enfold us. He is so terrifyingly amazing. And the minute the Holy Spirit arrived at Pentecost everything changed. Now we live our lives in the middle of that change – we don’t have to wait, the power to overcome is here. The Love of God, that had been exclusive to the Trinity, was made available to people everywhere, for free. That Love we’ve been given isn’t full of pity or condemnation, but full to the brim and running over with compassion, understanding, and a new way to live.

Here’s a clear explanation of the word ‘pity.’ ’“To pity someone means to feel sad, sorrowful, or sympathetic for their suffering, misfortune, or unhappy situation, often with a sense of looking down on them or feeling superior, but sometimes just a gentle sorrow for their undeserved hardship. It involves feeling bad for them but doesn’t necessarily require action, differing from compassion, which actively motivates help.”

Jesus knows we are all just glorified dust, so instead of lowering His expectations of us, or even eliminating us — He chose to became one of us. Then He paid the necessary price for us to be able to receive the Father’s Love, all day, every day, for free. He chose us and now we freely choose Him and His ways, right back. 

In these turbulent times, let’s remember there’s no room for fear in love. When love is present fear has to leave. LOVE IS SO BIG – FEAR SIMPLY CAN’T STAND IT – it has to get out of town. If we have fear, then we have not yet been perfected in our knowledge of His love for us. Ask to be perfected in His love. Our prayers are powerful, so let’s pray for the spiritual things we need. Unfortunately, waiting for fear to go before acting, is not wise. We must oppose fear with faith in what Jesus did. His love truly, truthfully, accepts everyone. As human beings, we are so helpless without Him. This life is too difficult alone – but we are not alone. We are IN HIM.

If our inner man is not transformed, then the outer man has very little or nothing to contribute, to changing our lives. Our inner yes, accompanied by suitable actions, is so powerful! Our feelings often change with our circumstances, so it is unwise to trust them, so our attitudes can start taking over our actions, because we’ve chosen to sit on the fence, and not actively participate in our own transformation. It is easy to make up reasons why we shouldn’t or can’t love this person or that one. We all have very real earthly reasons. But our higher calling demands obedience, it is not optional, nor can it be re-shaped to suit us!

I’m not big on “HAPPY NEW YEAR” simply because it  means that we will only think to revise our behaviour once a year, and most of the time, failure is tolerated. We will all fail without Him, but we do not have to be without Him. Only a fool lets his enemy steal everything from right under his nose! I urge you to go to the enemy’s camp and take back what He has stolen from you. Take your clean hands, cleansed by repentance and reparation and go and take that stolen stuff back! Whether you’ve lost work, health, your family, or love, joy and peace. Tell satan to take a hike, you are in God’s kingdom now. Bye 👋

P 2738 Avoid at all cost.

/ DVH

“Jealousy is as strong as the grave.” Song of Solomon 8:6. This was the first scripture that I thought of when I began to think about jealousy. I think each of us may have experienced that things like bitterness, resentment, jealousy, rage, lying, etc. etc. aren’t good for spiritual health. None of these things are great traits to have, for quite obvious reasons. They can tie you up in knots long after the object of that stuff has left this world. I’ve found one thing leads to another and suddenly you are swimming in bad stuff — justifying yourself all the way.

“But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.”James 3:14-16. This scripture really impacted me, it exposed the thought that selfish ambition is a companion to jealousy. And James does not fiddle about, he calls it demonic – and unspiritual. Did you notice that this awful stuff goes right for our jugular? It attacks our hearts. Oh my! James goes on to talk about what real wisdom looks like, but I want to talk about the nasty bits today.

Here’s why. The jealousy bug has bitten me fairly recently. This thing that has happened involves people that are still with us, on earth, so I cannot give you details. However, someone appeared to be stealing something that was actually MINE. I know that intent counts because these people didn’t think it would matter, but unfortunately, when informed of my pain, they wouldn’t stop. That’s when I learnt that the desire to choke the living daylights out of someone who appeared to be stealing something that I know is mine — was sadly much bigger than the idea that I am a person of GRACE. I know I’m not perfect, by any means, but I honestly thought I was bigger inside than that!! Sigh. Reality rush.

Then I discovered why. Jealousy can have roots. This thing had its roots in my childhood. This rotten stuff can hide itself away, as it is actually stealing the life of God within us. It steals energy, focus, plus our very expensive, it cost-Jesus-His-life-to-give-it-to-us … PEACE. Here’s something to think on about that: “A peaceful mind gives life to the body, but jealousy rots the bones.” Proverbs 14:30. As if there is not enough going on inside my skin, daily! Thanks for bringing that up, James! Meanwhile I’ve now learnt from further study that our God is a jealous God. That thought made so much sense to me,if I bow down to, or give in to jealousy, then I am worshipping that thing, not the Lord!

At the same time, I also realised that I was working very hard to do something about my actual bones in the natural, older people have to think about that. I was physically prepared to take medicine, do weight-bearing exercise, and generally move around more to avoid bad bones. Yet, at the same time, I was also shooting all that effort in the foot, by holding onto something I could not change, because – hullo! Jealousy rots the bones!! All because it involved someone else’s behaviour!  That whole thing gave me an excuse to feel sorry for myself.

This stuff all transpired when I became obsessed with someone else taking something from me I didn’t know I valued until they took it! Even more sadly, the people involved had no comprehension of what they were doing – they thought they were helping me! Talk about throwing petrol on a grass fire! 🔥 Have you ever tried to change someone else’s mind when they think they are righteous? You may as well try to hold back the ocean.

I have had so much legally, legitimate stuff to be angry about, that I could have divided it into categories! And all this happened despite me repeatedly disclaiming the idea that the helpful people’s actions were hurting me, not helping. Whoosh! That stuff went way over their heads. It is good to know that it’s only truly helping someone else, if the person who needs the help actually wants it, right? DUH!! 

Sorry. After I wised up, and repented — I told the Lord that if He wants me to have what was being stolen, then HE would have to get it back for me. And then I stuck to that thought. Plus I had to add in repeated forgiveness, because they would keep harping on the so-called fact that what they were doing was good for me – bless them!!… Says she with gritted teeth. 😬  I repented of jealousy, anger, and wanting to whack people. Hmmm …you know, I just gotta say that I think it is a mistake to colour in bad stuff with a pretty pink pencil and pretend it is not what it is. Sin.

So I am on a learning curve. I’ve learnt that jealousy is to be avoided at all cost, because the ramifications to our spiritual life and well-being are not worth it. Bye. 👋

P 2517 The Lord does not think the way WE DO.

/ DVH

1 Samuel Chapter 16 shows us some very interesting things about the way our God, Maker of heaven and earth – thinks. I really enjoy this story, it gives us great insight into the way the Lord deals with human beings. 

But first, please note! … The story goes like this, God did not want His people to have a king – HE wanted to be their King. Meanwhile,Saul is a dud as a king … He’s a king in the natural. following his own understanding.  Well, he kind of would be really because the people chose Saul – based on his height and his good looks. He was pop-star material. Yet he started out his reign out by hiding! Previously, Almighty God had said ‘yes’ to this man and now he’s hiding in the luggage!! We’ve just learnt something about Saul’s character and whether he respected God or not …!!

Moving into verses 2&3 of Chapter 16: But Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.” The Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’  Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for Me the one I indicate.”

People knew enough about Saul to know what he would do if he was crossed. Samuel is the Lord’s prophet and even he’s scared of what this king will do! So the Lord gives him a sneaky Pete way to go around Saul’s murderous ways, and sends Samuel off to Jesse. Meanwhile, Jesse has 7 sons and one of them is going to be king.

Verses 6&7.“When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord. But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

See, the Israelites already picked a king last time based on the way he looked — but God had someone else on his mind — David.  And even the prophet got it wrong!  God picked a shepherd boy, the least in his earthly father’s household. In the meanwhile the Lord has removed his hand from Saul and he is being tormented all the time. The king is a difficult man already, you don’t want to be around him when he is tormented!! Yet God sends David in. Draw your own conclusion on that point.

Verses 15-18:”Saul’s attendants said to him, “See, an evil spirit from God is tormenting you.  Let our lord command his servants here to search for someone who can play the lyre. He will play when the evil spirit from God comes on you, and you will feel better.” So Saul said to his attendants, “Find someone who plays well and bring him to me.” One of the servants answered, “I have seen a son of Jesse of Bethlehem who knows how to play the lyre. He is a brave man and a warrior. He speaks well and is a fine-looking man. And the Lord is with him.”  Did you notice that even the servants knew what was going on? They were on the pointy end of that stick!

Verse 21-23: “David came to Saul and entered his service. Saul liked him very much, and David became one of his armour-bearers. Then Saul sent word to Jesse, saying, “Allow David to remain in my service, for I am pleased with him.” Whenever the spirit from God came on Saul, David would take up his lyre and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him.”That’s because God liked David’s anointed worship!

Now, here’s the interesting part… the guy with the anointing and a good heart could soothe the guy everybody else picked. King Saul went nutso regularly. Everything that happened in the kingdom depended on Who or what was in charge of that man!! Hang on I’m nearly there …

We can learn so much about how the Lord thinks from reading this chapter. He allowed all that stuff to happen. David is snagged into the court every time Saul’s tormentor comes upon him. Later on we find that that demonic spirit tries to kill David over and over and over again! This goes on for 20 years, and God does not rescue David! He leaves the man there in that ugly spot, running away from a demonic force. And David has the anointing – so he can deal with it!  I bet that shook someone’s theology! “There’s a time for every purpose under heaven!” (It says that in Ecclesiastes 3) And in the meantime … Almighty God is growing a KING. He took that young man from a teenager, into being an adult under pressure! He took a shepherd boy who loved to worship and made him a WARRIOR.

Sometimes we try to pray ourselves OUT of the very situations God puts us in to shape our character. He doesn’t think like we do. All those years in between tending sheep and eventually becoming a king, are nothing to the Lord. He is growing integrity in that man!! We need to purpose in our hearts to remember that God’s ways are not our ways. There must have been many many times David doubted every single thing that had happened to him when Samuel anointed him – but he kept his integrity in tact and served God’s purposes well.

Almighty God does not think like we do, that’s why we need to follow the Holy Spirit. God is looking for Davids not Sauls He doesn’t believe in popularity contests – He’s looking for the people who will serve Him no matter what! Bye ⚔️ 👋🏻.