Destination

P 3014 On our trip.

/ DVH

Today, I just want to tell you one story – it’s about a single family. While we were on the road, we heard story after story of dreadful hardship, and it was overwhelming each time. BTW, all the government agencies are totally swamped, the need is so great. By the time we got to our last stop, we were so tired. We went to that destination to drop blankets and food into a men’s shelter. 

As we drove into our accommodation, on the right hand side of our cabin, there was a family. They were packing up to leave. They did not have a car, or even suitcases – everything they owned was in a series of medium sized plastic containers, and they were moving and stacking them away from the unit door. These containers each had labels on them with a person’s name on it. The Lord spoke to my heart and said: “These people are homeless – they have nothing, and nowhere to go.”

It transpired that the managers of the place had given them 4 nights to stay there for free — it had been so bitterly cold they took pity on them. But now this nice couple were caught because they didn’t own the facility, they managed the property for someone else and their employer would not have been happy that they let them stay for free.The family was quite literally moving on and they had nowhere to go. We started to pray. We didn’t even unpack, hubby went to talk to the father. 

Every single thing they owned was in those plastic containers.They also had a tent, and had been previously camping by the river, but it became too cold for them to continue to do that, because the two youngest kids were fairly small. The little girl was about 4 or 5, and still in nappies. the other child about 6 years old. He had a fishing pole and he was practicing casting about, presumably hoping to catch fish. The Lord said: “He is trying to help.” 

Hubby quickly ascertained that they had called some relatives for aid, but they were uncertain anyone would come because their extended families were as financially strapped as they were. Then he told the father that we were giving away blankets and food and asked if they needed anything? The father nodded and told hubby he would take 2 blankets and we also gave them all the food we had for the men’s shelter. Hubby queried the man gently about only taking 2 blankets, and only then he said 4 would be better. 

My dear husband emptied his wallet to provide them with some money, because they had no funds at all. He prayed for them, and hugged the wife, who was weeping and weeping. The little girl was attracted to him, she kept wanting to shake his hand. We’d bought a cute stuffed toy, as a gift for someone, and the Lord indicated it was to be given to her. She was so excited about it, and carried it around.. I’m pretty sure there weren’t many stuffed toys in their boxed belongings! 

We asked them what else they needed etc. and then we went off to the shops to get things like milk and nappies. Plus we also managed to replace the food and blankets we were originally taking to the men’s shelter! Then the little family went and settled down outside to wait. Their husband informed mine that someone was coming along to collect them all … eventually.They had a teenage boy with them who had attached himself to the group. He had just lost his mum, and this sweet couple, who already had a lot of things to deal with, took him in. 

Before we left them, hubby gave the younger children little books. Their mother started reading to them about Jesus right away. The Lord was quite clear with us, He told us what we could do, and what we could not. So we just did what He said, and prayed – lots. Because we were just passing through, we could not solve their entire problem.

The money hubby gave to this family was not spare. We couldn’t afford to buy all that extra stuff either — but almost immediately, somebody put funds in our account and God provided for us – and them! Plus we were also able to witness to the manager and his wife and commend them for their generosity. The family was gone the next day.

Nobody sets out to be homeless, without a job or money, but life happens to all of us. “But You, O God, do see trouble and grief; You consider it to take it in hand. The victim commits himself to You; You are the Helper of the fatherless.” Psalm 10:14. “Rich and poor have this in common: The LORD is the Maker of them all.” Proverbs 22:2. Bye. 👋

P 2971 You can find Jesus anywhere and everywhere!

/ DVH

“My heart and soul explode with joy—full of glory! Even My body will rest confident and secure. For You will not abandon Me to the realm of death, nor will You allow Your Faithful One to experience corruption.” The Lord Jesus is all over the bible! Right here, for instance in Psalm 16:9-10, hundreds of years before the Lord arrived – there is a wonderful statement where we can clearly see His hope in God’s faithfulness. Obedience, hope and faith took our Lord to the cross. And faith in His Father’s Word kept Him there, until God’s plan was completed. Imagine that!

Our Lord has not ever asked us to do anything He has not already done Himself, and He did everything fully co-operating with the Holy Spirit, in obedience to His Father’s wishes… Jesus cultivated and lived in Love, and He didn’t move away from there…He had the Grace of total obedience. I pray for that a lot!. Some of the things that the Lord Jesus did are beyond words. Like this one:

John 13:3-5“Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under His power, and that He had come from God and was returning to God;  so He got up from the meal, took off His outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.  After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash His disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around Him.”

This scripture sets a precedent for each one of us — Jesus showed us two ways to cultivate humility. The first is this …we can deliberately choose the lowest place. I don’t think there is a more beautiful action than this one. The God of the Universe sent His Son to serve mankind and redeem us all, and yet right before his crucifixion occurred, Jesus humbled Himself even further, by washing His disciples’ feet. Astonishing!

The King of all Kings, and Lord of all Lords was kneeling on the floor washing those grubby, travel-worn feet. (22 of them!) I prayed about this brief episode, and it occurred to me that in the bible it says that the ones who take the gospel of good news everywhere —have beautiful feet. The disciples went on to take the gospel everywhere. I think this was a prophetic action – a statement of things to come. He is everywhere, in the lowest position – except for the last book, then watch out!

Another example I want to mention is at the cross, He submitted to His tormentors without a word.  Speaking for myself I’ve always got plenty of words … sigh! Jesus suffered the incredible pain of utter separation from both of His constant companions, the Holy Spirit, and the beyond words loss of His Father’s Presence for us too. “He Who knew no sin, was made sin for us…”

During His time on earth, the Lord Jesus walked in complete intimacy with both The Holy Spirit and His Father … minute by minute, day by day. I believe this means we can walk with Them like that too. We simply need to put the Holy Spirit’s needs, and ways, above our own. As each one of us eventually approaches death, we can do so with great confidence, because we remember that Jesus has already walked through death’s door on our behalf. He’s waiting for us and we will not die alone, our Saviour went there for us too.

He flung that door open for every human being that has ever lived on this planet. Death cannot hold any of us captive.. I used to explain it to my kids like this – death is simply somewhere else where we can’t see people for a while — like another room. People are not gone. Some will sleep and some are already dancing through the streets of heaven.

The enemy has no right to hold any of us captive to the fear of death because of what Jesus did for us. It goes without saying that we should be spreading this info around to anyone who will listen while we still have the chance! Death is a door not a destination. Even if we have spiritual unhealthy thoughts about hell, let’s remember that Jesus also went there too, and He held a parade when He came OUT!  

And my last example is this:  Jesus’ glory knocked Saul His persecutor to the ground.“As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.He fell to the ground and heard a voice say tohim,“Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” He replied. …” Acts 9:3-8. There is no place we can go that He will not be there with us… He’s the Good Good Shepherd, remember?  Bye 👋

P 2805 Righteousness.

/ DVH

“This gospel unveils a continual revelation of God’s righteousness—a perfect righteousness given to us when we believe. And it moves us from receiving life through faith, to the power of living by faith. This is what the Scripture means when it says: “We are right with God through life-giving faith!”” Romans 1:17 TPT.

Righteousness, means the ability to live, day-by-day in right relationship with God, and others. It is not a static thing – it keeps unfolding and expanding in and through our lives. We need to live valuing what we have been given, and we do that when we live justly, honestly, and faithfully according to God’s instructions from the book. This kind of life is not a dream, or a wish-thought, it is an ongoing process that we enter into with Him. It flows from a continual revelation of what He died to give us.

Jesus Christ revealed, in Person, what righteousness before God looks like. It looks like – praying for lepers, forgiving those who have treated you dreadfully, giving without measure, and loving others, as we honestly wrangle with the hardships of this life. After the Lord went back to heaven, He left behind Him a small group of ordinary men who changed history. However, those men found out everything He told them was true – firsthand – for themselves. Don’t ever be content with knowledge about righteousness – learn to live in it instead. Let the Holy Spirit teach you.

‘Righteousness’ is an old fashioned word that is easily overlooked or ignored in today’s abbreviated language. As we embrace absorbing this incredible, church-ified word into our lives, and we choose to look our lives through His eyes — the way we think is changed. It needs to be. We must move past the try-harder-to-be-a-good-person school into the I-can-never-do-that-by-myself … one! There we will learn that our faith is not just series of idioms we repeat endlessly hoping they are true. We will begin to see what we believe come to life, like the disciples did. We will learn to rise up to be all each one of us was sent here to be.

That’s because the cross was an exchange and not just a destination — we were taken out of this world’s kingdom and made citizens of heaven when we said yes to the Lord Jesus’ sacrifice. Christ’s righteousness, His Godly, right way of living, giving, and dying on planet earth, is available to us. We gave Him our sin, and He gave us His Grace, His place – His position before our Heavenly Father. 

If you pause and take the time to think about it, Jesus was never ever worried that God would not listen to Him when He prayed. He expected to be heard because there was no sin to separate Him from His Father’s will. “Jesus raised His eyes to heaven and prayed, “Father, I’m grateful that You have listened to Me.I know You always do listen, but on account of this crowd standing here I’ve spoken so that they might believe that You sent me.” John 11:41. That’s why we can be trusted to ask for whatever we want – because now we’ve entered into a new agreement with God. We are going to live our lives for His will, His way, from now on.

We too, can have confidence we will be heard when we stand on the simplicity of the gospel and let it daily work on our lives, thoughts and hearts. Now …”In this [union and fellowship with Him], love is completed and perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment [with assurance and boldness to face Him]; because as He is, so are we in this world.” 1 John 4:17. The thing we need to remember is that His righteousness is not permissiveness. Jesus Himself “…only did what He saw His Father doing  etc…” The limitless One chose to limit Himself, as He lived in obedience to His Father’s will. Even to His death. 

The bible tells us that God’s kind of Love avoids even the appearance of wrong. We call that self-control, and it is a fruit germinated and fulfilled by our relationship with Jesus Himself. We choose to live like this because of the passion we have for Him – He is our Beloved! We limit ourselves in this life for His sake, because He limited Himself for our sake.

Almighty God became one of us and He came here to show us He means us no harm! Now when He looks at you and I, He sees the pure, spotless, innocent blood of Jesus covering our sins. We’ve moved out of sin and darkness into His marvellous light. Which is why it is D.U.M.B./stupid to deliberately keep on sinning. God is so good! When we sin – Jesus is our lawyer/advocate – He points to His blood covering our lives and claims us as His own.

Real repentance is our only way back into the light of love. Ask yourself: ‘Why would I ever choose to move out of His light? What can possibly be more important than walking with Him?’ We can see this world far more clearly in the light. Darkness blinds us to reality. Jesus Christ died to give us His righteousness – so let’s live our day-to-day lives for Him, grateful. Bye 👋.

P 2783 THIS is what I was trying to say yesterday!

/ DVH

Matthew 7:13-20 MSG. “Don’t look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don’t fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires total attention. 

“Be wary of false preachers who smile a lot, dripping with practiced sincerity. Chances are they are out to rip you off some way or other. Don’t be impressed with charisma; look for character. Who preachers are is the main thing, not what they say. A genuine leader will never exploit your emotions or your pocketbook. These diseased trees with their bad apples are going to be chopped down and burned.

“Knowing the correct password—saying ‘Master, Master,’ for instance—isn’t going to get you anywhere with Me. What is required is serious obedience—doing what my Father wills. I can see it now—at the Final Judgment thousands strutting up to me and saying, ‘Master, we preached the Message, we bashed the demons, our super-spiritual projects had everyone talking.’ And do you know what I am going to say? ‘You missed the boat. All you did was use Me to make yourselves important. You don’t impress Me one bit. You’re out of here.”

Hi! Has this ever happened to you? You dearly want to explain to someone how precious Jesus is, and so you waffle and wander about trying to find the right words, bouncing from one incomplete thought to another…But the next day, you read a verse, that you already know … in another version … and boom! 🤯 Lo, and behold it’s all in there!  And you’ve been  rendered speechless again. I landed there today. After all I said yesterday, I found these verses in the Message bible, and it blew me away … again!

God’s Word is like that to me. Some people find reading the bible boring. I have the simplest solution to that malady, start doing what it says. Suddenly you are on an adventure with God. That will change the colour of your day, trust me! We talk about God’s benefits in the church, this blessing, that gift — like we are negotiating business deals – when in reality each promise in His book is an opportunity to co-labour with Him. We have the power to bring heaven to earth, by simply obeying Him.

That’s another reason I love His book – I have my own feeble limited thoughts, and then I read in His book about His love for everyone, some part of me inside, takes a huge breath. His Word is fresh air to our spirits. I think that is why many preachers preach. They have found some fresh air, and they want to share it with everyone who will listen! Meanwhile, if we are so inspired by just a glimpse of Who He is, imagine what heaven is like! 

I sometimes think about all those people who have left this world behind them, and they are now with Him. The trouble with theology is that it divides people and it insists that its POV is the only one. I love this verse in Ephesians 3:10&11 it says:“His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to His eternal purpose that He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.”Manifold wisdom! I like it.

‘That word manifold in the original language means to be multi-coloured. It was used when describing the many colours of a painting or a tapestry in the ancient world. When speaking about God’s wisdom it describing the many angles, hues, and dimensions of God’s knowledge and its application to all things.’ (Google.)

So, in the light of the above interesting remarks, I’ve decided to cling to those words that Jesus spoke once to a dying man, who was hanging right next to Him, the day He died. The verse I mean is in Luke 23:43:“Jesus said to him, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” Well, now, that’s not a bad place to hang your faith is it? 

When we are finally in His Presence, we too will have fullness of joy. Good place for a full stop, right here. I cannot possibly imagine what the people I have loved dearly in this life, are experiencing in the next. I may feel very sad when I think about my own loss of time with them — however, they are way too busy enjoying Jesus and each other! Death is a door, not a destination. 

So, here at the bottom of today’s page I want to leave you with my final thought. We too can experience glimpses of heaven down here, when we choose to live this life dead to what we want and alive to Him. There are no shortcuts in our redemption – we simply need to choose to live it out day by day and let His Word work on us! This often happens right in front of people who have no idea about what we are giving them. But when heaven visits here because of our serious obedience —- Aahhh! Glory!!

That’s the thing I was trying to say yesterday, this life has a purpose, let’s not get distracted by this doctrine or theory. Jesus is longing for you and I to live our lives sold out to His calling. We are still here, to RE-present Him, so others can see and know Him too. Bye. 🕊️

P 2778 Anybody got any oil?

/ DVH

“When my coming draws near, heaven’s kingdom realm can be compared to ten maidens who took their oil lamps and went outside to meet the bridegroom and his bride. But the foolish ones were running out of oil, so they said to the five wise ones, ‘Share your oil with us, because our lamps are going out!’ “ ‘We can’t,’ they replied. ‘We don’t have enough for all of us. You’ll have to go and buy some for yourselves!’ “But he called back, ‘Go away! Do I know you? I can assure you, I don’t even know you!’“That is the reason you should always stay awake and be alert, because you don’t know the day or the hour when the Bridegroom will appear.”Matthew 25:1, 8-9, 12-13 TPT.

I have heard this scripture preached about nineteen ways to the dozen … So much so, I can talk about the bridegroom, or the ten maidens, or the oil, or the lamps/containers, or living ready. You know it seems to me … and I could be oversimplifying a tad – that if we make sure we have a good oil supply, everything else will fall into place! At this point, I need to say that I see the Oil of the Spirit as God’s Love, released freely, to bless other people.

That thought kind of reminds me of something that happened to us ages ago when we were on one of our road trips delivering bibles. My story is not about oil, however, it is about petrol, but it was God’s Love that helped us! When you travel vast distances in a car, petrol stations become very important. Anyway, we were stuck in the back of Burke, literally! And the only petrol available was not the type of petrol our car needed. We eventually did the sensible thing, after freaking out(!) We asked the Lord what He wanted us to do about it. After all, they are His bible trips!  Yet, our love for Him, was greater than our fear. 

On the inward journey to Burke, the town with the wrong petrol, I had developed a nasty ulcer on my side. It kept getting bigger and bigger. As it got bigger, so did my rotten lousy attitude. I got grumpier and nastier toward my poor hubby as we travelled through miles of grain fields, with no hope of  help. No doctors or chemists. We had nothing on us to treat this wound, so arriving at our next destination was really important on a number of levels. God’s woman of paste and flour (me), kept explaining to her hubby, in a tearful angry voice, how he had no right to bring her out to the middle of nowhere when he knows how sick she is: blah blah blah, whinge whine whinge.  Between the petrol lack and the lack of a cheerful, supportive spouse, my hubby’s prayer life improved mightily! I eventually calmed down and joined in with him … after thoroughly repenting, of course.

When we set out, the territory ahead of us was just plain heavily-treed bush, filled with wild pigs and goats wandering about, and quite a number dead on the road. A road train and a beast aren’t really a fair competition. (See picture above.) We knew when we began the journey, that we definitely did not have enough petrol to get us safely to the next town. The needle was in the red.  So for 200kms we both tried extremely hard not to look at the petrol gauge! That’s the whole point of walking by faith, you don’t know what comes next…and it’s often scary! For all we knew we could end up camped by the side of the road waiting for someone to realise we were missing. As we travelled along, deliberately-not-looking-at-the-petrol-gauge, we noticed how very few cars were going in the other direction! That was not a comforting thought. 

Eventually, hubby said in an astonished whisper: “I think that there is more petrol in the tank now, than there was when we started out.” Boy that popped my eyes open! I leaned over and looked. He was right. The petrol gauge needle was up higher than when we started. We knew how much we needed, and we didn’t have it, and … now there was more. To make a long story much shorter, by the time we got to our destination – we had more petrol in the tank than we did when we started out!  BTW, the Lord healed the ulcer – which was still bad – a couple of hours after we arrived, it disappeared.  

I think that the church’s largest problem today is that She quite often runs out of oil. And our biggest enemy is indifference. The pastor or priest, or leaders might have oil, but most of the people in our congregations don’t! These women in Jesus’ story in Matthew are not leaders or religious folk. They are simply attendants waiting for the Bride and Groom to appear … and so are we! What this story Jesus told teaches me, is that WE – that is YOU and I – have a responsibility to make sure we have a living, lively, life-giving relationship with Holy Spirit! He’s our motivation and our source. We look to Him to supply our needs.

He is always ready to be our supplier. Human beings can run out of LOVE –  because they don’t know they will need it until they need it!  However, Almighty God Himself stands ready to supply our every need. We need to ask for fresh supply of His love, His oil, daily!  Then walk with Him. Stop expecting the leaders to be your only supplier and get your own relationship with Him. The Spirit of God will help us survive the next crisis at our house! The Body of Christ cannot afford to run out of oil. So, we need to ask … and keep on asking. Then we step out in faith and do what He says! The Holy Spirit never shuts down His supply of Love and that is exactly what we need. He is with us 24/7. Bye. 👋

P 2596 There is no hole too deep.

/ DVH

Psalm 16:1-11MSG: “Keep me safe, O God, I’ve run for dear life to You. I say to God, “Be my Lord!” Without You, nothing makes sense. And these God-chosen lives all around—what splendid friends they make! Don’t just go shopping for a god. Gods are not for sale. I swear I’ll never treat god-names like brand-names. My choice is You, God, first and only. And now I find I’m Your choice! You set me up with a house and yard. And then You made me your heir! 

The wise counsel God gives when I’m awake is confirmed by my sleeping heart. Day and night I’ll stick with God; I’ve got a good thing going and I’m not letting go. I’m happy from the inside out, and from the outside in, I’m firmly formed. You canceled my ticket to hell—that’s not my destination! Now You’ve got my feet on the life path, all radiant from the shining of Your face. Ever since You took my hand, I’m on the right way.”

Isn’t this a terrific Psalm full of good advice? It is a testimony speaking about living life His way. When I read this today, it reminded me of a fantastic testimony hubby and I have from years ago, and today I thought I would share it. Many years ago my husband was working full-time as a clinical nurse. One day he was walking an older gentleman back from a procedure, when the old man slipped and started to fall. Hubby reflexly rotated to try and catch him before he fell and my dear fella badly injured his back. Thank the Lord the old man was unhurt.

Long story short, hubby went into months of agony with countless steroid injections, back braces, scans, X-rays, and saw many, many doctors and specialists. The diagnosis was grim, he had worn away the disc between L4 and L5 and the bone was rubbing on the bone, producing constant excruciating pain. The pain was never going to go away, plus he had to take pain killers for months and months… Meanwhile the pain killers messed with his head.

At the same time the hospital kept trying to prove there was nothing wrong with his back, and they were not at fault. Work Cover insurance ignored us. Eventually we were informed that because we had fallen far behind in our mortgage payments, the bank was going to take our house, within the month. It was an awful, awful time. Even back then I was not well, and we had no other resources to fall back on. This went on over eighteen months.

You know, in order to see a miracle, we must need a miracle – they are not just entertainment! … We loved our house and we were going to lose it through no fault of our own. The lady from work cover consistently said that hubby would NEVER receive a pay out – even though everybody knew that he had been injured through work – meanwhile we had endless rounds of appointments talking to people who continued to say: “no help for you!” We kept praying, sometimes complaining, and sometimes with little or NO faith.

Months later out of the blue, this lady called us again. She said: “I’ve got some news for you, I don’t agree with it, but they have taken your case to a higher power.😂 So they have agreed to pay out your superannuation.” Hubby was still on the phone with this lady he had talked to for months, but his knees hit the floor and he cried out: “Thank you Jesus!”  I heard him from the kitchen! Meanwhile, we knew who the ‘Higher Power” was!

The pay out was a bit more than we needed to get rid of the mortgage once and for all. But in order to get this payout we had to go for financial counselling, because it was hubby’s superannuation – so we agreed. The morning of the appointment a word from the Lord dropped into my heart. He said: “Render unto Caesar that which belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to Him.” OK, we didn’t know what that meant but … we took note of it. Everybody at the financial counsellor’s offices was lovely to us. ‘Would we like a cup of tea? The parking’s  free. How can we help you?’

So in we go to see the consultant. The nice man began explaining how he could save us even more money, with a bit of creative accounting we could avoid paying any taxes on the money we received. He said this earnestly, insisting that it was legal! God reminded us of what He’d said, and both of us knew immediately what that meant. No wriggling out of doing what was right. We had to pay the taxes, $18,000 – $20,000 … a fortune to us. And we thanked the man sincerely and explained we were Christians, so we wouldn’t be depriving the government of their tax.

It was hilarious. The mood in his office changed instantly. The nice man couldn’t get rid of us quickly enough, well we did give testimony about how we got the money in the first place! He probably thought we were going to preach at Him! Especially when we explained that we also needed to tithe on this money. So, we didn’t GET a cup of tea. Nobody gave us a voucher for the parking, In fact they couldn’t get rid of us fast enough. Meanwhile we laughed all the way down in the lifts!

When we arrived home that same day … true story! We had a letter in our letter box – it was a cheque for the exact amount of money we needed to pay the tax!  (We tithed on that too!) God is never any man’s debtor. Praise the Lord!! 🙌 There is no hole too deep that the Lord Jesus cannot find us, there is no difficulty He cannot get us out of.

ps Hubby had an operation shortly after all this … but that’s another testimony. Bye 👋

P 2575 Part of witnessing is giving away the map!

/ DVH

Christianity can seem a bit obscure to the rest of the world from the outside. WE know that it is not a secret IN-club with special passwords, music, codes, actions, and rules! But the-people-who-don’t-know-Jesus think what we believe is simply another opinion in the many ideas and religious practices that exist today. They do not understand what makes our belief system different from any other.  It is like a foreign language to them.

Meeting Jesus Christ can sound more like a mental exercise, rather than a spiritual encounter. I think that what we believe is often full of old-fashioned words that make no sense to other people. Think about it, what does ‘saved’ mean? ?? Talking to others or handing them a tract is good, but it is not enough.  It is up to us to take the time to digest His word by acting on it. Then the power of the Holy Spirit can speak through us, for Himself. Hubby and I have discovered something wonderful – they know HIS voice when they hear it.  We don’t need more knowledge WE need HIM to speak to them for Himself – through US.

In some countries in this world a mother chews up food for an infant and gives them the food she has chewed up — because infants can’t eat lumpy hard stuff, they can choke on it.  This is quite literally what Christians do when we witness. We hand others our own pre-digested spiritual food. (Chewing is part of digestion!!)  We tell them what we’ve seen, and what we personally know about Jesus. What we believe is not about knowledge, anybody can spout knowledge – it’s about our own personal relationship with Him. That’s what we share with others. That’s what a witness does, they tell what they’ve seen, from their own POV.

If someone asked me how to get to the city from my house I would say: “You can take a train, or a bus, or drive the car, or even walk.” You and I are the people who hand out the proverbial spiritual timetables and maps!  We are not the journey … JESUS is the journey. The bible is their Jesus’ map. Give them a map and talk about Jesus, as YOU know Him. Tell them what you’ve learnt from praying, reading, researching and digesting the map info. Brevity is helpful. This is their moment. Encourage them to ask questions. Say “I dunno” if you don’t know, and don’t be embarrassed by it. Forget about your credibility and reputation – take a risk. Witnessing is about taking risks.

Jesus’ disciples didn’t always understand Him and what He did, so not knowing everything shouldn’t stop us! There were some times that the Lord explained Himself, and other times that He didn’t. He loved to say things that turned what people thought, upside down .. it was actually right side up, but that’s a moot point! We need to translate what we read, into actions, and go on to act on it, in ordinary everyday situations. Then what we believe becomes current and alive. The bible is an action book, not just a study-’til-you’ve-memorised-it book. You don’t have to be articulate. I often ask the Lord – ‘how the heck do I say that?’ 

Our bible is a Holy book purely because the Holy Spirit kisses it for us, in ways we cannot comprehend. But we are the beneficiaries of His wisdom and power. He reveals our own road map, (the bible), so we can see the Lord Jesus in any situation. He translates the bible to us, every single day in such a way that it stops being fancy old-fashioned words on a page, and instead, it is the source of His life in us. We do this for others just like we would explain to them how to get to the shops! 

Doing what it says is simply the very best way of digesting the book. We are kind because the book says be kind. Even if we don’t feel like being kind, then we ask Him for His help! Living like that leads us into receiving fresh insight about God and His Ways. Simply analysing what we read aids comprehension, but it does not make the book part of you – your life and your experiences. Obedience does. Our lives become the witness.

Like I said before, the disciples asked questions. When what Jesus told them did not make sense they asked Him questions. Now, these men had prayed for the sick and seen them get well, they’d cast out demons, and seen all kinds of miracles —  but when they didn’t understand what Jesus said – they asked Him about it. We gotta stop long enough to ask questions and wait for His insight. “The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom.Though it cost all you have, get understanding.” Proverbs 4:7. We don’t just need to know what it says – we need to know how to become what it says! He will tell us how to apply what we are reading into our own lives. We must move from knowing into experiencing. Then we have something that is living to share with others. 

We can answer other people’s questions simply by drawing from what we’ve learnt from our own personal experiences — without any dry theology attached to the answer. Jesus is the Way to God. He’s the map, the journey and the destination. Tell them what happens to you when you take the map and follow it. It doesn’t rely upon human skill – just willingness. The Holy Spirit will help us, He will speak to their hearts – we just tell them what we’ve seen, heard and know about Jesus. And don’t forget to give them a map! Part of witnessing is giving away the map! The Holy Spirit will work on them even when we are not there. 👋

P 2561 Anonymity can be a great blessing.

/ DVH

When you were a kid did you ever wish you had a cloak of invisibility? I did! Especially when an adult was coming at me with something in hand to punish me. Whether I was wrong or not …I truly felt I needed that cloak!. Unfortunately my mouth let me down a lot and I usually managed to say some dumb thing, or argue with my parent, and that resulted in even more discipline! I just kept digging holes with my mouth instead of remaining shtum. Kids have limited wisdom! 

However, that is not my reason for talking about anonymity today. In my opinion, fame is fleeting. The people who pat you on the back on the way up, will kick you in the tush on the way down! Fame is not always what it is cracked up to be, you only have to read the news to see that. Famous people are subject to a great deal more criticism and critique – the word jealousy springs to mind.

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

Fame is not only overrated, it is most definitely NOT OUR aim.“For even the Son of Man did not come expecting to be served but to serve and give His life in exchange for the salvation of many.”” Matthew 20:28 TPT. So let’s get this sorted … the One Who saved the world, did not aim at fame, or power, or notoriety … Jesus Christ aimed at elevating Almighty GOD when He saved US – not Himself.  Which may well be the reason that most kids today know way more about Star Wars, Harry Potter and Pokemon than they do about the Lord Jesus!

Over the years I have come to notice that we kind of look down a bit on our faithful Sunday School teachers, or Religious Educators in schools, as being a bit old fashioned. But these people know all about anonymity. Most of us won’t have a clue about what they do, week by week, so the children of these times can find out that the Lord’s Name is the name of a wonderful Person … not just a swear word. Today I want to take the time to remember those who faithfully serve. It seems to me that most of the time nobody notices what they do. 

You know who I mean. Brother So-and-so, who faithfully puts out the chairs week by week and is always up for a letter box drop to let people know where your church is. Or Sister-I-forgot-her-name who calls up younger Christians regularly to make sure that they haven’t wandered off the path. She also goes to the hospital to visit people as well calling into homes. She prays for the saints that are sick, and sincerely asks them if she can help in any way. She’ll probably hand you a cup of tea or coffee next Sunday!

I find it fascinating in a world that is obsessed by fame that these quietly achieving servants of God go virtually unnoticed. Because these people are the ones who actually understand they are not here to be served, they are here to serve. Oops! I think I said a bad word. That would be the word … SERVE. In this blab it and grab it, everything belongs to me lifestyle, where my service has to be noticed or I won’t do it — we are incredibly fortunate to have any people who still think that following Jesus means serving others. Because I strongly suspect the idea of serving the Lord and others nowadays, means other-people-are-supposed-to-serve-me and make my ministry famous. 

Many people want to be like the characters in the “Cheer’s Bar” on TV,  we want to be where everybody knows our name! Well I want to point out that if we are following Jesus, then those steps always go down. Not up. They will lead us on an excruciating journey like the one HE had — carrying something that weighed 165lbs (75kgs) on bloodied torn open shoulders and back. Not to mention a horrendously painful headache! Let’s think about carrying that lot up and down through a large city to a hill outside it, where the people we pass by yell abuse at us. 

Even when we arrive at our destination, we will be flanked by known thieves. Our reputation is in the bin. People jeer as they see us, because human beings have an incredibly perverted sense of winning when someone else appears to be losing! Humility is lost on most people. Yet while Christ was suffering excruciating pain He still breathed out forgiveness. That’s real service. We are called to be laid-down lovers of Jesus – that means, my kingdom go – His kingdom come.

Today, more than ever, we need to follow Christ into serving mankind by demonstrating His love to people who will never deserve it. And anonymity can be a blessing. 👋

P 2514 Stuff we don’t like to think about.

/ DVH

I listened to someone preach the REAL gospel the other day and it made me realise how easy it has become to water down the foundation of our faith. Jesus didn’t make excuses for anyone in His book and He was especially tough on sin, but … He was always kind to the sinner. That kindness is meant to lead us into repentance. It is not permissiveness, BTW.  (Romans 2:4).

It seems we’ve managed to modify His words to the point that we’ve made the bible more, so-called, user-friendly. Hmmm. After watching that man’s sermon, I’m totally convinced we need to rectify that in a big fat hurry! Somehow we managed to gloss over dying to self, living our lives for Him now, and giving our life away for others so we can bring His kingdom to those around us. Those are kind of important points don’t you think?

I cried as I listened to the speaker. The title of his sermon was – “6 popular lies we believe.” And, to make things much worse, I couldn’t argue with even one of the man’s points! Here’s a thought — do you know nowadays we hardly ever talk about hell?  That is a definite destination for some people, and yet we don’t want to talk about it! But hell was made for the devil, not for human beings. Our God wants us with Him! Now isn’t that ← a marvellous sentence? 

Listen to this:“…The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is long suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance., But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” 2 Peter 3:9-10.

And just in case you thought when you read those verses, what’s that in English??… Here’s a more modern version for you: “God isn’t late with His promise as some measure lateness. HE IS RESTRAINING HIMSELF ON ACCOUNT OF YOU, HOLDING BACK THE END BECAUSE HE DOESN’T WANT ANYONE LOST. HE’S GIVING EVERYONE SPACE AND TIME TO CHANGE. But when the Day of God’s Judgment does come, it will be unannounced, like a thief.…”

Jesus talked about this particular day a lot. As a matter of fact He actually talked about hell a lot more than anyone else in the entire book. He preached about it many many times in the Gospels. But …Praise God!! Christ also spoke about heaven nearly 3 times as much as hell. I think that shows us He was far more concerned about us understanding heaven … and how to get there … than He was about frightening people out of their sinful behaviour. Repentance includes understanding, and gratefulness – people need to make informed choices!

The Lord is not really interested in our particular version, or even our doctrine of those above events. He will do what He will do! Meanwhile we have watered those things down to the point of them being almost invisible. Nobody wants to embroider the verses in 2 Peter, on a sampler to hang on their wall so they don’t forget them! Right now we seem to prefer “my God shall supply all our needs according to His riches in glory…”  !!! That thought made me wonder – I wonder what else we have sort of, kind of, diluted? Maybe we have allowed our experiences … or the lack of them … to dictate our faith? Just saying is all … 

So, how about the rich man and Lazarus the beggar at his gate? (Luke 16:19-31.) Now there’s a bedtime story for all!  This bit stuck out at me: “In Hades, where he (the rich man) was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side.” Luke 16:23. This rich man is in hell yet he can see, hear, feel torment, as well as speak, and he has a conversation with Abraham, who is far away in heaven. Side note: did you notice that story is all about ignoring the poor?  We know that Jesus Christ’s death bridged that chasm between heaven and hell.  Phew!!… But does your family? Does mine? Do your neighbours? Do mine? We seem to have minimised the reality of eternity without Christ! 

You and I are passing through this life going to a banquet at the other end … our job is to hand out free invitations to other people who have no idea what comes next. You know, if we were to ask people in war torn countries, I think that they can all tell us what torment looks like!!  … But the never-ending kind? … Only God knows what that looks like, and I pray none of us ever will! 

Here’s another verse to think on:  “But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for Whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.” Philippians 3:4-11.

Let’s aim higher, and include the stuff nobody wants to hear, the things we don’t like to think about! The current popular opinion that somehow “niceness” and “not hurting anybody” will get people into His kingdom is error!! 👋🏻

P 2397 There is a WAY to walk.

/ DVH

“In light of all this, here’s what I want you to do. While I’m locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to travel. I don’t want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don’t want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences.” Ephesians 4:1-3 MSG

Don’t these few verses in Ephesians really nail the issues facing us all? Firstly we need to find our road, then we walk … and then, well, I’m sorry Apostle Paul, but some of us aren’t UP to running … so we take the car! … But … good thought! 🚕 Meanwhile, if we happen to think what OUR pastor says is tough… reading the bible is revolutionary.

Hubby and I have to carry 8 chair raisers when we go on the road, because modern chairs seem to be made for three year olds to use as a climbing frame… Or for people with much younger knees. Not for older people whose knees are mostly ageing nicely. Older people have knees that go “Snap Crackle and Pop” like Rice bubbles. We carry these chair raisers because getting me out of low set modern furniture is like watching Captain Ahab try to drag Moby Dick out of the water. 🐋 It’s. Not. Pretty. 

We also carry heaps of pillows with us, because most places don’t have that many, and I currently need to sleep almost sitting up. I used to sleep on my right side until …  …🤕💥!!! In our travels over these 17 years, we have found all sorts of amazing, hard-as-a-rock beds! Piously, I sometimes remind myself that Jesus Himself slept by the road …then my evil twin self reminds me that He was 40 years younger than me at the time!  

We carry more water in our car than the local dam, because I can’t drink tap water without getting some bug or other. Yes, I use my faith, and yes I’ve tried drinking the tap water 🙄… a-n-d … previously I’ve gotten Giardia, as a bonus buy! So now we use avoidance, because Flagyl antibiotics ain’t fun, they create other worse things. Immune-compromised people have to learn to compromise, and God didn’t make no stupid people!

The first thing we do when we get to our destination, is pray and ask the Lord what He wants us to do for Him where we are. Amazingly, time and time again He tells us separately, what He wants us to do, and then when we share … it’s the same! That gets me every single time. 🙌

The manager of this establishment, a young lady, was delighted with the butterfly keychain we gave her. And hubby gave her two of his pictures – she also took bibles. We had a lovely conversation about her finding a guy like the one in hubby’s painting … the picture is above. Apparently this surfer appears to be her type. And as she said … you never know…?? Meanwhile, a surfer in a red T shirt? Good luck with that —-that’s like sticking a sign on saying ‘free shark bait.’

After that we settled in, and later, as we were having a shower … the toilet exploded. Well… it didn’t really explode … but it did a good job of trying! It started spraying and belching its contents all over the room, all over the floor and up the walls. I was in the shower at the time and for some reason … it must have been the Lord .. we both found this sight hilarious, as we took shelter and watched… Until we had a brain-wave and put down the toilet lid! The splatter hit the mirror four feet away!

The plumbers on the bobcat digger outside, had done something dumb to the plumbing. And our unit, and the one next to us, were affected. The poor manager was so upset because she had distinctly told them not to DO anything to the pipes. Fortunately… neither of them were surfers with long hair in a red T shirt. It seems there are slim pickings for cute intelligent guys in this town! 😱 Meanwhile that smell definitely lingers …

The way to walk with the Holy Spirit, is to take faith steps. And yes, sometimes things will test your faith.  These steps come one at a time. You say yes to going when He asks you – that’s step one. You pray and make plans, and wait for His input, that’s step two. You go prepared to bless people however He says – step three. And then stuff happens and you face some test or other – that’s step four. And, step five, you tell fear and grumpiness to go take a hike! And the last and final step is give thanks you weren’t sprayed with toilet water! There’s a WAY to walk.👋🏻