Departure

P 2942 Obedience is a great healer.

/ DVH

Be-ca-use … as we are going off to do what He told us to do, He can heal us. I’m not just talking about ailments, although He loves to heal those too! I’m talking about the kind of troubles that say: “I’ve been alive a while and people-jumped-all-over-me-with-their-hobnail-boots-on … and hurt me badly..” So many Christians are sitting around with hurt feelings, waiting for God to heal them, so they can do something for the Lord. … Because their mother, father, spouse, kid – has been, or is still being – mean to them. Bin there dun that, the t-shirt was a dud!

We can’t change that behaviour … IT’S IN THE PAST. You can only have so much prayer that even with anointing oil you will slide down walls!! I’ve learnt, through His Grace, to leave the past behind me. Walk on. Like Jesus said,‘let the dead (past) bury the dead! NOW is the hour of salvation.”This is what ‘loving those people who despitefully use you‘is all about … putting the past where it belongs – behind you!

People have done dreadful things to each other, and their kids … Forgive, repent and … get over it. Jacob always had a limp. Some things mark you for life, but let it go and get on with your life. Don’t let someone else’s sin hold YOU hostage! And pray for the offenders, love on them, then … move on. Go out and be obedient to His heavenly vision. You don’t have to dig ditches to serve Jesus, your story may be a blessing to someone else.

I am not talking about neglecting our families or kids, or our family life – I’m talking about priorities. This world has subtly presented the idea that we cannot have fun without being whole. ROT! People had fun before they had electricity. I’m talking about living a godly life in front of your family as an example. Let your kids see that Christians value God’s opinion more than their own, and they value obedience.   

Many loving, fantastic parents put their lives on standby, while their most productive years are being devoted to raising their children, and contributing to the kid’s well-being. Protecting and helping your kids can become a habit that is hard to break — even when the little darlings are turning 55 soon! That person we fuss over is a grown up, by the way. The best way to learn about this life is to live it!

We have carefully cultivated a million reasons why we can’t be involved in that banquet the Lord talked about in Matthew 22:1–14 and Luke 14:15–24… ’I got married. I bought a field. I’m just too busy!’  That banquet story is not just about heaven, it is about here and now. Do yourself a favour, don’t ever be too busy to be obedient to the Lord! That is a slippery slide that leads right out of the building.

Many bits of my body either don’t work, or constantly complain at me, it would be easy to sit in a corner and wait to die. Somebody I love is doing that with their life, even as I am writing this blog. It’s sad. We have no control over the time of our own departure – unless we make a dumb decision to take the matter into our own hands! Our time is in HIS hands. I’m not trying to criticise others for their choices, but that’s not what I call a LIFE.

Hubby and I always have so much fun together on the road, but his back is often pretty dreadful. Sometimes he can’t hear or see as well as he used to, and now his memory falls out on him like money slips out of a purse with a hole in it! I used to rely on his memory, mainly because I can’t remember what I said 5 minutes ago – and the harder I try to locate it, the less successful I am. Hubby is a bit younger than I am. He is younger by … …mind your own business … so now we both have to rely upon God to remind us, because we are both terrible at it.

We go on the road and we drive thousands of kilometres simply to obey God. The Lord has sent us to care for the people that He knows are waiting for someone to come and help them understand what He is all about! Acts 8:26-4O. There are times the people we meet don’t know what they don’t know, until hubby talks to them. Then they cry all over the place.

We spoke to 51 specific people this time – we don’t do thousands! We are just posties for Jesus, on the road bringing others the mail/message He wants them to have. You don’t have to be an evangelist to witness to God’s goodness. And we’ve proved that don’t have to be well either! Everybody likes to go on holidays, just take blankets and bibles with you. Find a homeless shelter or a women’s shelter – sadly there are plenty of those. 

We can waste our God-given time claiming we’re waiting for God to heal us, or for a sign from heaven. Here’s an interesting scripture to chew on about signs …“But He (Jesus)replied to them, “An evil and adulterous generation craves a sign.”Matthew 12:30. We can make excuses and not obey Him, OR we can limp, hop, crawl out there back into this world and just love on people, and see where that leads us. There really are better things than healing – and obedience is a great Healer. Bye. 👋

PS I’d rather wear out than rust out!

P 2441 Faith steps are essential.

/ DVH

“IF the Spirit is the source of our life, we must also allow the Spirit to direct every aspect of our lives.” Galatians 5:25 TPT. And here’s the NIV version: “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” And the last one, the MSG bible: “Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives.” 

We must always remember, salvation is not a one off – it’s an ongoing, active, co-operative process. You see, the problem is that we think that because we have been given an option, a choice, we can still opt out of obedience and it will make no difference to our walk with Jesus. Just because the owner of the vineyard is absent that does not mean we can do whatever we like! We can ignore His directives, but we do that at our own peril. This is why…

It is the Spirit of God Who leads us and inspires us, and when we ignore Him, or whatever God is saying to us, we are actively rejecting Him. We are telling Him we don’t want His help. Remember Samson?  That guy wanted what he wanted, and due to God’s investment in his life, he could get most things without any consequence. Boy, is this man’s life a cautionary tale! He shows us that disregarding the Lord’s instructions can have dire results. We can walk with the Holy Spirit and experience His power through our lives, and if we are not careful, we can see His power flowing through us as His approval of WHATEVER we do. Our God doesn’t take His gifts back – He’s not an Indian giver.

Samson was accustomed to the power of God being with him in whatever battle he faced. Then he got careless. A beautiful woman wore down his resolve and he disobeyed God’s instruction not to cut his hair. Because of this Samson lost his connection with the Holy Spirit … and he didn’t even know it.  Like I said – a cautionary tale! Judges 16:20; “Then she called out,“Samson,the Philistines are here!” When Samson awoke from his sleep, he thought,“I will escape as I did before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him.“The ‘she’ in this story BTW, is Delilah, who would not stop until she rendered him helpless! …To return to the most important line in the whole story … SAMSON DID NOT KNOW THAT THE LORD HAD DEPARTED FROM HIM. Pause and think on that! 

Sincere repentance is great, do it! But making allowances for our pet sin(s) is not! We are treating the Holy Spirit badly when we act like that…He will leave AND WE WILL NOT KNOW IT – Samson didn’t. The Holy Spirit is not like a plane or a train! He does not announce His departure … He just quietly … leaves. This BTW explains the people you know who claim they are definitely Christians but they stay the same day after day, year after year. There are people who pay lip-service to God but they are not fooling Him. Transformation is always our own personal choice, and our responsibility – it is our response to Christ’s sacrifice. He will ALWAYS help us if we will just take a step of faith. 

Friendship with the Holy Spirit is to be desired and sought after. Those people who like to appear righteous, however, are living in presumption. All we ever need to do is ask for His help. Um… you and I cannot be independent and walk with the Holy Spirit, all at the same time. HE. WILL. LEAVE. The very purpose of being saved includes actively relying upon Him. Here’s another news flash … the Lord’s silence does not mean that He agrees with us.

Almighty God is always looking for us to use our faith. Ask for His mercy and grace, and then stop doing whatever it is that you know you should not be doing. Leave the room. Stop thinking someone else is going to make the difference and use your own faith. Nobody is making anyone do that stuff, and SomeOne, oh so precious, is right there, wanting to help you overcome.

We are saved to walk by faith and serve Him, and that always includes our transformation. When we tell Him “I can’t” –  our unbelief in His power to SAVE us from ourselves, will be our downfall. Tell Him, “I can’t, but I want to, please help me!” – and then do something differently. The Holy Spirit will show us the way through any trouble, one step at a time. Otherwise we are parking our lives in the middle of satan’s freeway. Change is hard but necessary – God has work for each one of us to do.

However simply praying God will change us, and then walking away and still acting like our mean old sorry self is not the way to be changed. Nobody else is going to put their hand over anyone’s mouth to shut them up when they’ve wandered off into giving people a piece of their mind. Our choice to disobey is our choice. Faith steps are not optional they are essential. Bye.👋🏻