Destructive

P 3115 Obedience is action.

/ DVH

We sometimes kid ourselves about stuff in our lives that we cannot seem to overcome and say: ’God will understand.’ Yes He does, praise Him! The Lord knows we are all just glorified dust. But that is not our cue to merrily go on our way, and do nothing about whatever our problem is. His understanding, comfort and compassion are not His permission to continue down that road.

Jesus bore those weaknesses of ours upon Himself on the cross —He totally identified with us in our weaknesses … and then He overpaid. He took those things on Himself so we can live free of them! When something is already paid for, you don’t have to pay for it, again. But ignoring our flaws, weaknesses and ongoing battles with sinful attitudes, means we are postponing the power of God in and through our lives for everyone else’s good. A part of our inheritance is to be able to overcome sin with His power.

Hypothetically, if Abraham had just said “Yes,” to God and he didn’t start walking and following the Lord to the Promised land – he would not have had an heir from his own body! Those steps he took were obedience in action, and each one increased the patriarch’s faith. We must choose to step into our God-given inheritance, and live like Jesus did, by faith. Obedience reveals our inheritance. It is fatal to faith to cling to our weaknesses like they are some sort of excusable behaviour. Some of that junk we’ve been cultivating and giving into for years is destructive to US and others.

When things get hard in our lives, it means our Father knows we can get through them with His help — He strengthens us against the things that try to paralyse us. He stretches our faith so we can face what comes next. Have you ever wondered why somethings that used to flatten you are no longer that powerful in your life? Almighty God had mercy upon you and helped you. We can never do any of this by ourselves. The Holy Spirit wants to help us… He longs to help us! Let’s learn to ask for His help to do things His Way, because His Ways are higher, and far more fruitful than ours.

Instead of asking for what we think we need, we can practice asking Him for what we actually know we all desperately need – transformation. Let’s not pray to get out of trouble, and instead we need to pray He will help us go through! Then when we need help, we will be tuned into Him. We have His promise that He will be right there, with us, coaching us through our wrong ideas and thoughts into a new way to think. 

He will never cross our will, because our Heavenly Father God has respect for the man He made. He made us in His image – sin has spoilt that image! His kind of love allows us the freedom to choose to act like His kids and be a part of His kingdom …or not. However, His love is not based on indulgence, it is based on what Jesus did for us. “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, Who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the Name which is above every Name” Philippians 2:5-9.

We need to choose to learn from the Holy Spirit, our Personal Trainer, our Father’s Ways of thinking and being and doing. At the bottom of most sin is the way we think. And sadly, we sometimes think that we already know things! Try agreeing with conviction when it falls on you, and then follow Him into a better place! We can easily think we know ourselves better than He knows us! So we cry and beg the Lord for more time or more strength — when the bible clearly says He is happy to give His strength to weak people, and there is a time for everything – including change.  

Isaiah 45:9 has something to say about all that: “Woe to the man who fights with his Creator. Does the pot argue with its maker? Does the clay dispute with him who forms it, saying, “Stop, you’re doing it wrong!” or the pot exclaim, “How clumsy can you be!?” Good luck with wrestling with God about stuff that needs changing. Jacob tried that and walked away limping! Think of Samson, or Jonah, or the Israelite nation! Let’s remember that although our wonderful Father sent His Son to die for our sins, Christ’s death was not permission for us to remain the same! 

Our part in all of this, is to be grateful for His help, and stay obedient to our Heavenly calling. Because of what Jesus did for us, now we have His unlimited FAVOUR. We need to cherish that favour. The stories in the Old Testament are there to teach us what rebellion looks like, and how it doesn’t work out well for the people who are rebellious! The Father’s heart is revealed to us, through those OT stories. They make it clear what He likes and wants from mankind – our loving interactive companionship. 

He sent His Son to teach us it would be a battle: “… surely this time they will respect My Son…”!!! (Matthew 21:37) So let’s not play in the devil’s dirt, just because we can’t be bothered fighting him off! We need to take the Lord seriously, because He first took us seriously. My catch-cry is this: obedience needs action. Bye. 👋

P 3041 Blame and shame …

/ DVH

… the destructive twins. Those thieves take our peace and joy away and leave us with angst and worry. They make poor governors of our behaviour. They can be aimed at ourselves, as well as others. When we are caught up in this way of thinking, we move right out of operating in Grace, because blame and shame thrive on guilt. And guilt distracts us from the reality of our salvation. 

If our enemy cannot get us to sin, he wants to keep our minds so focussed on our shortcomings, or someone else’s quirks, that we can barely spiritually breathe. The more we allow these thought patterns to rule the less we will love ourselves or others. I have come to the conclusion that who I really am is the person who comes out when I am squeezed by circumstances. That thought has helped me enormously to be realistic about my actions and attitudes, without being obsessive. Instead I confess my faults and He heals me! I don’t have to be afraid to admit my shortcomings, because the Lord has taken care of them. Now I can happily give thanks because of the Grace He releases to me, and through me. 

Sadly, everything we say and do can be disguised to look good to others, by using our own good manners. However, those things do not come from the fruit of the Spirit, but from our own will and our own personal sense of how this life is meant to work. I often spiritually fall over someone else’s lack of manners, because mine were dinged into me from birth! Those things immediately send me spiralling off into judgment. Good manners are great, but spiritual fruit is permanent. It can be eaten. That fruit slowly ushers in spiritual growth, health and transformation, and when you take a bite out of it, it won’t bite you back!

We have His help, always. But we can become so used to acting, or even reacting, without any thought, we can miss those crucial moments to yield. The Holy Spirit is our 24/7, on the spot, Helper. He wants to help us transform our inner attitudes so what comes out is really IN there! Sadly, in many congregations it is almost easier to give a performance of good, than it is to face our short-comings realistically.

If you have lived most of your Christian life on a steady diet of religion, trying to manufacture in your own strength what our kingdom lives need to look like — that can be an enormous weight. We can feel such a failure all the time, because all we can see is fault. Blame and shame love to jump on that bandwagon. So if I feel down, you must have done something wrong, so it’s your fault!! I have discovered that the more I oppress my true self, the more likely I am to hide my faults, and focus on yours.  It is like a being on a merry-go-round I cannot get off! Now I have an image to keep up! 

Letting God into our intimate thoughts and inner self can be incredibly daunting. Some of us don’t let anybody in there! Instead we have constructed ‘devices’ to distract ourselves from paying attention to what is going on inside. Maybe we are afraid of blame or shame. That’s often when our awareness of what Jesus did for us has become dim, and remote— then we try to hide from the One Who already loves and knows us. Jonah is a brilliant example of that kind of thinking in action! He hid in the bottom of a ship because the Lord’s idea did not appeal to Him, he blamed God Himself for wanting to save Nineveh. Yet Paul has several instances where he openly admits they had one idea, and the Holy Spirit had another! It’s OK to be wrong, just be honest about it.

For most of us God’s Love is a strong concept, yet to be deeply experienced. It is not a deep seated reality. We can devotedly read the bible with this awful feeling that we will always fall short, and sadly that can lead to blaming and shaming ourselves, or even to putting others down, because they seem to be successful, and we’re not. At the same time, some of us have learnt to be really great actors! That’s why I love reading the gospels, because the disciples foibles and dumb attitudes give me room to be myself – real, inadequate and normal. I know I need a Saviour!

Religion blames and shames people, and that produces fear, rejection, and pain for everyone involved. The Pharisees and their mates didn’t understand where the Lord Jesus was coming from, and yet they knew the bible, backwards, and inside out. They were the leaders, so they made a visible practice of knowing everything  from every direction. Just like they did back then, a religious bent can colour the way we look at His Word, and affect how we live our lives and regard other people. Blaming parents seems to be a national past-time! ‘They smacked me too much, or they used shame to govern me.” Blame is blame no matter why or where we aim it. I comfort myself that I had a childish mind back then – but I don’t have to have one now!

The fullness that belongs to every single one of the Lord’s kids will always seem out of reach if we continue to wrestle with religious stuff. God loves real people who make real mistakes!  I have noticed a couple of things about blame and shame … if you have lived with it in the past, those terrible twins seem to nag at you in subtle ways in the present, and you are more likely to fall into that pattern of thinking again, as well as reflecting it to others, especially under pressure. Let the oppressed go free – them and me!! Praise God for His Grace.

Bye. 👋

In Romans 1:16 Paul declares,“I am not ashamed of the gospel,”and Isaiah 54:4, which promises, “Do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame.”And 2 Timothy 1:12: “But I am not ashamed, for I know Whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.”

P 2613 Make it your aim to speak life to others.

/ DVH

Part of living as a member of God’s kingdom, is to love and respect Him, as well as others by the way we speak to them. Our society is pretty free with its opinions – we tend to throw them around like we are sowing wheat. As His representatives, we don’t tear things down, we build them up.

Today, it seems to me that the news services go out of their way to highlight difficulties. In fact every day, with astonishing regularity, we seem to have some catastrophic circumstance or other that is impossible to solve, and it is always some authority figure’s fault! That’s when opinions fly about like leaves on a blustery day. The Lord has been repeatedly teaching me that what I say matters. Words are meant to be tools that shape His kingdom in front of someone else’s eyes. Speaking life is not just about communicating, it is actively breathing His life into others using words. 

Because we are His kids, the bible tells us we have His authority to speak to other people in such a way that they will go away from meeting us, lifted up, or challenged, or comforted. I am not always sure I get that bit right, but … I repent … then I press on…!!  Speaking life means that I am communicating with someone else so that they feel empowered. They want to do or try something they have never done, or tried before. They feel loved, not rejected. Encouragement is a great gift — I urge everyone to ask for it. It can lift someone else up when they are in despair, and help them so they can move forward.

However, I am not talking about flattery, that is temporal at best. Flattery can be really deceptive and destructive. Flattering someone often means I have an agenda, and I am trying to sell them something. But speaking life is about speaking out something that is good, right, and pure. These words are containers of His love. It is often something sweet that our Heavenly Father wants to say to us, or someone else. Personally, I have found when the Holy Spirit says to me: “Say this to that person” – it seems like I am simply taking dictation, as there is a spiritual component to it.

He whispers something to me, and I simply pass that on to the other person. It may be about how well they are doing their job. Or their friendly face. Just simple things. A lot of the time it comes out in my own words. It is not the same as prophecy, but it can contain elements of that in what is said. As an observer, it definitely seems to me like more oxygen comes into the room and I think that’s because Jesus always inhabits what He says! People stop being aware of their failings and become aware of His kingdom because His Presence blows the irrelevant things away. 

This quality has been illustrated wonderfully for me when my hubby talks to complete strangers. First of all they seem to be attracted to Him. I see them look up and instantly smile. Secondly, because what he says is not religiously framed, they accept it immediately. I think it looks like they actually feel God’s grace on hubby’s words.

Human beings can have all kinds of theories about Almighty God  – but there is no denying it when He steps into a room. His people know Him … even if they aren’t His adopted people yet!! They are still His… “Delightfully loved ones…  ”  That verse goes on to say: “…if He loved us with such tremendous love, then “loving one another” should be our way of life!” 1 John 4:11. That’s great advice!

Hubby says that speaking out encouragement is like giving people courage. I like that idea – who doesn’t need courage? Some days I need it to get out of bed! What he says to strangers is personal, real and almost tangible. They often reply: “How could you possibly know that?” Then he says: “I don’t, but HE (points to the ceiling) does.” You know,  I have never seen the Presence of God make people anxious. I’m not saying it can’t happen, but I haven’t seen it. Our God IS love. When people encounter His unconditional love – there is no need for fear or striving – their heart has found HOME. 

Our daily task is to grow into that kind of generous, unrestricted love. That’s the only real assignment we have every morning. After that we simply pass on what we’ve been given. There are no agendas, no subtexts, we take the time to be His conduit toward that other person, as we relax into the fact that He loves us and them. … Then we just follow His instructions. Our words have power in them, they can build someone up – or leave them flat.

Jesus made His aim clear in John 10:10. “The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance [to the full, till it overflows].” Bye.👋

P 2391 Peace thieves.

/ DVH

It’s the little foxes that spoil the vines. (S of Songs 2:16.) And it is the little things that niggle and nag at us, that steal our peace. Today I want to talk about somethings I’ve noticed that steals MY peace. I hope this helps you as well. 

Unforgiveness is a thief – it steals peace, and it is destructive to relationships. It colours the way we see things – it maximises bad things and makes good things totally disappear. It is very easy for our faith in mankind to be battered, but in my observation that happens because I have let my focus on the Lord fade, and now all I can see is the mess in front of me. That blocks my view of other things … especially good things! And when somebody else is involved it becomes wa-ay too easy to dump the blame on them.

It is amazing how quickly I can forget my own missteps, and excuse them as whoopsies, whereas if someone else does something dumb toward me, I immediately suspect a dire plot to overthrow my spiritual life and ruin my day. And guess what? I am right!! There is a plot … but I am mis-identifying the source. It isn’t you! It’s the other guy. Nobody can make anybody else be snarky, that’s a choice – but the enemy of our souls is a master of setting all of us up for a fall. As well as pointing out other people’s failures and stupidity.

Then we start to think of the other person as our enemy and begin collating evidence to prove this is so – so that we can stay where we are and remain unchanged. IF WE ARE NOT CHANGING WE ARE NOT LIVING A SPIRITUALLY CHALLENGING LIFE. Here’s a red hot tip – people hate to change! Which is kind of sad because transformation involves change.

First things first, chuck out any evidence-against-others-files that you might holding onto! That stuff will shoot anyone in the foot faster than Wild Bill Hickok can draw his rifle. It is one of satan’s ploys … and it can only be defeated by reminding ourselves the temptation to SIN IS COMMON TO MAN. (1 Corinthians 10:13) I am a part of mankind so that remark applies to me as well as you. 

At times like this it is way too easy to think …‘That’s because they are not in tune with the Lord like I am … they have a wrong attitude.’ 😱 Hello pride – time for you to leave now! When I start to hear myself think like that …that’s when I realise I am circling the drain. My focus has come off the Lord and onto me and my feelings and whatever dumb thing you did accidentally, or even on purpose. I need to throw my car into reverse …pronto. I find humbling myself does that pretty quickly.

Now I have to start praying right away, instead of checking out my hurt feelings, and then I remind myself that I don’t forgive others because they deserve it, I forgive them because He forgave me first and I definitely don’t deserve that. I need to remember that this life is not perfect – instead it is about perfecting me … and to tell the truth … some days I just plain don’t like that idea!  So some things ARE my fault, not yours.

Here’s another little fox under the X-ray! What comes out of my mouth. Look, I know people have gone on and on about that, and to be perfectly honest with you I hated what they said because I am an external processor. I don’t often know what I think until it comes out of my mouth. It took me 50 years to pay attention, but I nowadays I agree that what comes out of our mouths does matter. To start with we can easily end up agreeing with those destructive thoughts about someone else’s behaviour. 

…That’s like getting ready to pour concrete. First you dig a hole, then you put in formwork, then you pour in the concrete and wait for it to set. Concrete is a permanent thing. I want to suggest that we don’t need to permanently think badly about other people. It makes it too hard to change your mind. Suddenly the other person has to prove themselves to us, to get back our good opinion of them.  In my observation, satan is delighted to get all of us saying the dumbest stuff to each other and about each other – he hates harmony. Let’s not help him!

Here’s what I have learnt … if I speak kindly and thoughtfully about someone else it encourages the Holy Spirit to hang around with me because He likes it. That’s a HUGE plus. The Holy Spirit knows good stuff about that other person that I haven’t even noticed and He’s really happy to share. I don’t have to make things up, with His help, I will get new eyes. I have personally proven in my life – this can be a learned skill.

We need to identify and deal with the peace thieves that invade our lives and our homes …a good place to start is to blame the enemy, not the person, and deal with satan, first. 👋🏻