Die

P 2672 We either believe what the bible says and act on it …

/ DVH

… or we don’t!And we are deceiving ourselves that agreeing with it is enough!

“God has transmitted His very substance into every Scripture, for it is God-breathed. It will empower you by its instruction and correction, giving you the strength to take the right direction and lead you deeper into the path of godliness. Then you will be God’s servant, fully mature and perfectly prepared to fulfil any assignment God gives you.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17.

We are told in the bible, to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. His book explains that living like that is our ‘good acceptable and reasonable service.’ Every single time we yield our right to do things the way we think we should, over to Him, and obey what He says in the bible instead – we step into living this life, His Way. The way Jesus lived when He was on earth. THAT’S when we are ‘truly presenting our bodies to Him.’ At that moment, because of that choice –  we die.

Praying: ‘I present my body to You Lord, as a living sacrifice,’  first thing every morning, is not worth a hill of beans if I don’t follow that prayer up with reliance upon Him, during normal, ordinary days when other people annoy us! If we keep silent, or we choose to give the other person a soft answer, then we step into the resident power of the Word of God, simply because we are acting on it.

When we choose to obey, the bible stops being a book about lovely theories, and it becomes a part of our inner life – ‘IT HAS SUBSTANCE.’ And that’s how we ‘taste and see that the Lord is good,’ for ourselves. The word of God will work within us, just as surely as it does to save us! Our spirit-man gets bigger and stronger and more devoted to Jesus. Plus the fruit of self-control … and other Graces …  grow. We cannot grow His fruit with our own will-power because to grow His fruit we need the power of His Grace. 

We have nothing in our own mortal bodies that can produce supernatural results – BUT – we always have the Holy Spirit, our Resident Helper, Who wants to show us the way to go. He talks to us when we read the bible. Even when our enemy targets us with distraction, hurt, or a desire for revenge, the bible teaches us to go beyond our own understanding and ask the Holy Spirit what He thinks about what is going on. He knows the Way through everything!

When I finally grasped that doing what the book says is a key, my spiritual life exploded in ways I never expected. But at the same time, I’m still the same old me. I can still use the power of choice to give a sharp retort when someone annoys me! If I struggle with someone else without praying and asking for His help – I know I will eventually react, and run out of patience. But if I follow Him through His processes, step by step, and I ask for a scripture to stand on, that’s when I start to grow fruit. That fruit is incredibly powerful, it will feed others. Now, I am learning to abide in the Vine, doing what Jesus would do. 

A number of years ago, something happened that challenged me to the very core. It shook me. Rejection came at me from a family member in a very painful way, and I was at a loss to know how to deal with it. Eventually I simply had to choose to listen to the Holy Spirit, because I was going round and round spiritually, like one foot was nailed to the floor. When I chose to believe the bible enough to act on it, even though I was afraid – I found that being obedient opened my heart up to Him in unexpected ways. His book came alive… I already knew what was in there simply because of constant revision… but when I acted on it appropriately, as the Holy Spirit quietly coached me, I began to access the power we ALL have to overcome.

Just recently I was blessed to be able to comfort that same person in their time of extreme distress. I found I already had the comfort He had been continually giving me, when I interacted with them. Suddenly I had a supernatural storehouse to draw from, instead of trying to psyche and drag myself along, trying hard to do the right thing. Obedience had led me into the wondrous supply that Jesus Himself had, when He was dealing with mankind. It is a remarkable thing to choose to die to self, because ‘laying your life down for your brother‘ is the greatest love. Jesus said so.

The crux of any matter, difficult or not, is this – we either believe what the bible says and act on it … or we don’t. 🙌

P 2665 His Way.

/ DVH

There is a way to look at this life that will change our thoughts about how we live our lives, today. The Gospels describe this over and over again. They are not talking about a set of rules, they are talking about the way Godly people view their time on earth and what that looks like. These people don’t consider their time here, belongs to them. They consider whatever time they have, to be HIS. Even if we start to want to understand God’s Ways, that thought will begin the transformation process and change how we perceive this life. 

Listen to Isaiah 48:17: “Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, “I am the Lord your God, Who teaches you to profit, Who leads you in the way you should go.” Human beings don’t walk His Way automatically, we need to learn to follow the Holy Spirit and He will teach us the way we should go. Otherwise we will continue to walk in the way which seems right to us! Proverbs 14:12 says:“There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.” BTW that verse is repeated in Proverbs 16:25.

When Christ died, there was a possibility released – an exchange. Our sin for Christ’s holiness, purity and clarity of purpose. We cannot participate in that exchange and still live the same way we always have. We need to purpose in our hearts to progressively put aside OUR ways, and actively go after HIS. For example: Jesus Christ chose to die –  now we choose to die, to our old life, and ways, daily. Our aim becomes what Christ wants … what He would do. So we choose to become even more deeply acquainted with the way He does things through reading the bible, prayer, and our actions. As we seek after God’s Ways, we will stop trying to fit the Lord into and around our existing lives.

When we choose to live this life Christ’s way, dedicated to Him, everything around us changes – because WE change. Heaven accompanies His Ways, and so we begin to release the Kingdom of God right here into the earth. Instant miracles are just one of His ways. Those incredible events are not the only Way God does things. Some things happen in our lives over time, simply because we’ve chosen to die to ourselves. This means that we can see that His Way is a wider and far more encompassing stream to enter. It includes digesting His Word and making it part of us, plus taking the time to continually learn to love, and walk, and live like Christ did … He is our example of how we are to live now because we belong to Him..1 John 2:6: “ …the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.” 

Jesus Christ called Himself the Way. Jesus Christ is God’s living WAY of saving mankind and changing our lives. Christ’s earthly life reveals what mankind can look like when they follow the Holy Spirit and live the way we’ve been designed to live. In John Chapter 14 we have a brief paragraph that shows that even His disciples were puzzled by what He said – they needed revelation. The Lord Jesus kept on talking about leaving, dying, and stuff they didn’t want to know! Thomas actually says that He has no idea about this Way Jesus talks about. Then Christ makes one of the greatest declarations in the New Testament. in Verse 6. “Jesus answered,“I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” 

Interestingly enough, the early church was also called the Way …that term appears at least six times in the book of Acts. It represented a totally different kind of life – a life surrendered to, and dedicated to God’s glory. These saints of old gave up their lives because the Holy Spirit had given them a revelation that there was a better way to live. To me those early stories illustrate the gap between Christians today, and all of those the Christians who lived and died for Jesus’ sake back then.

Sadly, now we seem to live our lives to suit ourselves, and we try to fit God and His ways in around the edges. But those early Christians chose to completely become acquainted with God’s Ways and they followed Him to their deaths. They left their old ways of thinking, doing, and being, and embraced whatever He told them to do. Because of that they spread the gospel to everyone, everywhere they went.

Isaiah 55:8-9 says:“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.” Our task every single day is to embrace the mystery of following Jesus and learning His ways. The bible also tells us in Isaiah 30:21: “He, your Teacher will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will behold your Teacher. Your ears will hear a word behind you, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or to the left.” That’s our aim. Our new life is a new WAY to live. Bye.👋

P 2652 Dead, dead, dead, dead DEAD. All dead!

/ DVH

Romans 7:4-6: “So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to Another, to Him Who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. For when we were in the realm of the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.”

Because I am dead, as a result of my own free-will choices, the law is no longer there to govern me or my behaviour. Instead, I have been given the ability to understand Almighty God’s heart toward sin. Sin separates us … from each other and from the Lord! So now, as I obey the things He tells me to do, those things get written inside my heart.

We simply must get away from the idea that this life is meant to be pain free, carefree and successful… tra-lah-lah, pink rosebuds, rainbows and fairy floss moments… That is a LIE. It leads to disappointment. But because we cherish reading and obey His book, now we’ve changed our minds about difficulties. We come from the place that says that God is answering our prayers to be transformed. By His Grace, we have been given opportunities to make Godly decisions instead, so we can be vessels for His use, to glorify Him. 

Jesus Himself said: “In this world you will have trials …” Did you get that? We WILL have trials! It’s normal! However, you and I are so incredibly blessed, because the Holy Spirit lives inside us – He will convict and convince us of sin, to help us grow. He loves to help us to “…be of good cheer ‘ …(because we have the very same Spirit that Jesus followed) “…He will overcome the world!” That means that Holy Spirit will come alongside me to steer me through those difficulties.

The circumstances thrown at us in this life are great at st-ret-ch-ing us, so that we can hold more of His goodness, grace, mercy, love and peace etc. inside! And the Holy Spirit Himself will help me change the habits, internal thinking, attitudes, and actions that were in my life before Christ saved me. Sin needs to be put to death when I see it in me. I willingly kill it off with repentance, by humbling myself and admitting my faults … preferably to other people … as well as making sincere reparation.

Now, I ask the Holy Spirit, my precious Helper, to help me. Then I watch out for opportunities to change my responses. I CHOOSE TO DIE because I understand that JESUS CHOSE TO DIE FOR ME. My life is now lived constantly being refreshed and coming alive to the Holy Spirit, and His ways;  as well as putting to death the things I discover within my heart that highlight what the law has revealed to me as SIN. 

With God’s help I am learning what is actually inside my own heart. That stuff has been hidden away as a personal means of protection – but now I know HE will protect me! The Holy Spirit reveals to me when my attitudes and actions are out of order with what Christ would do. I have learnt that the only way to prosper my soul is to let go and believe He is holding everything that matters in my life – no matter what appears to be going on. The Holy Spirit doesn’t send me hard times, — those difficulties are just a part of everyday life!!  Sin has consequences, for all of us – your sin, my sin, everybody’s sin has consequences!

BTW, I am not reaching for the best version of myself, I am reaching toward the goal that Jesus set before me – TO BE LIKE HIM. Jesus Christ’s heart and His attitudes were totally pure. Personally, I can’t trust my own attitudes, thoughts and actions, because my own heart will excuse me, as well as deceive me, and it will probably blame YOU. This can be a difficult process because I don’t much like discovering there are things in my heart that are not pointed toward the Lord. These are the things that I’ve taken the time to excuse and hide, so I won’t feel bad about myself. But I don’t have to feel bad about myself anymore! SomeBody Else paid the enormous cost to give me the opportunity to change and renew my mind and heart. 

However, I will have to apply myself to listening, watching and reflecting on what I do, as well as why I do it. Plus I will need other people to help me, because my own discernment is not trustworthy. It will excuse me. Listening to others is essential because it is too easy to lie to myself and make legitimate-sounding excuses to stay the same, and remain comfortable. It is extremely dangerous to brush aside or not pay attention to anything that I am told. If I brush conviction away, because I am embarrassed or ashamed— I will harden my own heart against the very Person Who came to redeem me. 

If I blame YOU, or my parents, or my upbringing or my spouse, or a garden gnome (!!) for my failures in these areas, I am out of order because the Law of LOVE always applies. I need to keep that uppermost in my mind. . I need to choose to live this life dead, dead, etc. … ALL DEAD … but alive to HIM! 👋

P 2622 Though none go with me …

/ DVH

Here’s a fun(?) fact no-one will like. Even in good relationships or bad ones – eventually, we all die alone. That’s a spiritual truth, as well as a natural one. When someone else we dearly love is not interested in walking in the Way with us, it is very disappointing. We can start to feel like changing stuff is too difficult, because of those other people who are deeply involved in our lives. For example, living this new life of ours exhibiting a spirit of generosity, could threaten someone else’s security levels.

First of all, I want to say that God’s expectations of each one of us is always good. He has the last word, we don’t. We must remember at all times, that HE DELIGHTS IN DOING THE IMPOSSIBLE. He can change anyone’s focus in a split second. Hallelujah!! But what He seems to prefer is that we work together with the Holy Spirit in order to change. (Read the book!) We choose to change the way we live today, because we want to please the Lord Jesus, not necessarily anybody else. We want to live differently because of our own convictions, for His sake, not theirs.

This new way to live becomes firmly established outside of our own normal ‘personal comfort zone.’ That comfort zone is the place where we live every day, and react almost without thinking … because we are not used to being governed by holiness. In every day life we can have good or bad attitudes, so we either expect praise, or we expect to be excused, using our ‘humanity’ as an excuse. But in reality, that’s the way to become lukewarm, and spiritually ineffective. 

It is easy in this life with its many pressures to formulate an image of who we think we are, and think walking with the Holy Spirit is ‘not really for me.’  But as I tackle being changed by Grace, there needs to be a conscious turning away from my old way to live, together with active repentance. I will need to seek the Holy Spirit’s prompting to help me remember that now my priority is walking with Him … not just getting along with you. After all I can easily get along with you if I know you well, and I choose not to bother you! We can all grow very used to letting sleeping dogs lie.

For some people walking that extra mile with a headstrong loved one, can turn out to be a difficult thing, fraught with angst and missteps at ever single turn. However, this is a lifelong way to live and die daily, and we can’t do it hoping the people we care about will get His point quickly. The reality is in order to achieve our new aim of living for Jesus, no matter what happens, one of the biggest costs will definitely be our comfort. Read the book. Comfort was always the first thing to go!!

Sadly, some people we care about may never get the point of transformation because they aren’t even looking at these areas. Why not? I dunno. Not a clue. They just don’t seem to think they are doing anything wrong. Walking in the Spirit seems to be for other, more spiritual people, not them! I have noticed that by the time people reach some age, or milestone, or other life circumstance, they start to think that they cannot change – this is now who they really are. Their perceived personhood has become established. That’s not what the bible says, BTW! Moses started his new life at eighty!

In some other instances, I know that people pray sincerely and constantly about change, but then they just leave it at prayer — and when nothing happens, they assume that God does not have a problem with them about such things and so they just settle back into … being comfortable. We simply must move past agreeing with God’s Word into actively living it out! This is where choosing to deliberately live a life of love facilitates transformation. 

Actually I’d say changing our way of life, from trying harder, to following the Holy Spirit while living a life dedicated to loving others — no matter how they behave — go hand in hand! One thing does not work without the other. When His love starts to flow out through us it is attractive to other people. One of the best things we can do when we decide to live a love-filled transformed life is to ask for His help and fix every single bad relationship we can, and then leave our past behind. If stuff comes up, then we repent, repair and … move on. “If possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”Romans 12:18.

Even if I were on a desert island, all by myself, my walk with Jesus would still be my own responsibility. I don’t have to be tripped up by what you do or don’t do, or what you say or don’t say. My aim is to please Him, and decide to live a life worthy of my own calling. That’s what following Him looks like. Bye. 👋

P 2492 The power in our choices.

/ DVH

Someone recently challenged me about how anybody can continue to do kind, loving things for people who are deliberately not sweet to us. To start with, if we do not tackle this kind of situation with our faith, we will fail. This scenario needs the Lord’s supernatural power, not willpower. This person asked me if I was asking them to lie – because they did not feel kindly toward the people involved, and they would be lying if they took the path I indicated. At the same time they thought that perhaps they were giving the person/s involved permission to stay the same, and keep on being horrible to them. First of all, we need to remember our flesh will complain at us – it doesn’t want to die.

Mine complained at me, yesterday, at 4.00 am! I couldn’t sleep because I needed to get up and make some notes about my thoughts. Hubby chose to get up with me, and I felt very guilty for depriving him of sleep. But he said something really interesting regarding the very early hour. He reminded me of this story: Jesus came walking on the water to the disciples while they were rowing their arms off in the middle of a huge storm, in the fourth watch of the night. Apparently Jesus doesn’t think 4.00am is too early!

The Lord actively encouraged me then, through my husband, despite my tired body, and despite my feelings of guilt – hubby is as tired as I am most of the time! He could easily have been grumpy at me for waking him up way too early, but he chose to respond lovingly, to support me. Feelings can be grossly overrated and motivated by other circumstances, or previous attitudes that are yet to be redeemed. I think that God wanted to teach me something. When I talk about choosing to love others who are unkind to us, I am simply repeating what the bible says. Actually, I personally hardly ever want to … “do good to those who despitefully use me!’  I do those things and follow His word as a choice. We are challenged daily with choices.

Christianity is full of these seemingly ordinary choices, to say no to ourselves and yes to Him. I love walking around with Jesus helping me, so, for me, it is not a hard choice. Hubby chose to walk with the Lord at 4.00am and that led to him reassuring me from the bible. He was blessed and so was I. If we make the wrong choices, it definitely becomes much harder to step away from those choices and go back to following Him. In those moments we will have to fight our own feelings and thoughts.

We may have to choose to suffer by making those hard choices … SO GRACE CAN BE RELEASED. Grace is undeserved by its nature, so releasing it must be motivated by our Love for Jesus and His Ways. However,His Grace changes everything! It enables us to see things that were not seen before. When you or I get into a bad situation with someone else, somebody is going to have to release grace – which is undeserved favour – in order to de-escalate that situation. We cannot do this kind of thing without the Holy Spirit helping us, and giving us His Word and His Grace. The thing is we will often feel nothing – OR still be very angry at the other person. It’s a sacrifice – you will die to self when you do it.

When we choose to love the people who aren’t loving us, we are entering into the Kingdom of God, and living by His edicts – instead of by this world’s ideas. That choice ushers us into a different arena. Now the things of this earth fade into the background, because something far more wise and powerful has come on the scene. I have found when God explains Himself it blows my mind. For example, for years I have looked at those two men hanging beside Jesus, dying on their own crosses and thought – ‘ Well, at least one of them was saved.’ But then the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said: “TWO men were saved but only ONE responded to Christ.” 🤯 God thinks differently than we do!

I was also reminded by the Holy Spirit that Jesus did not want to go through with His sacrifice. (Dare I say He did not feel good about what was going to happen?) We have an example in the garden of Gethsemane where He makes it very clear He did not want to go ahead with His appointed assignment. But He carried it out, and He let other people do to Him what they did, because of the greater good. Love was going to win – it always wins! This was, quite simply, the only way to redeem us. The innocent had to suffer.

We are given opportunities every single day to suffer for LOVE’S SAKE. Life is about those daily choices! We can enter into transformation in those moments, as we choose to believe what the bible says, over how we feel or what we think. Here’s what I’ve  learnt — 4.00am feels way too early to be awake …but when God is in it, suddenly it is not too early. Continuing to love others when they are spiteful or mean to me, often feels wrong. But the reality is, it is a CUE to release the Grace God gave me when Christ died in my place. That choice changes our view of what is really going on. Bye.👋

P 2490 Do you pass the litmus test?

/ DVH

‘“So I give you now a new commandment: Love each other just as much as I have loved you. For when you demonstrate the same love I have for you by loving one another, everyone will know that you’re My true followers.””John 13:34-35 TPT.

Okey dokey … let’s look at these two verses in some sort of context. Jesus has just deliberately washed His disciples feet to illustrate what ‘love one another’ means. He has an interesting interchange with Peter, who clearly doesn’t get what is going on… and He washed everyone’s feet, including Judas’ feet too. I think, in that moment, the Lord Jesus was loving those who despitefully used Him. That thought is important in this blog today, the next time you want to brain or maim somebody for hurting you – ask yourself … Could I kneel down in front of them and wash their feet? Believe me, that thought sorts stuff out on the spot. Remember, Jesus is always our example!! 

And just in case you think that this stuff doesn’t really apply to you … or me, the Lord actually says this in verses 15 and 16.:“I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the One who sent him.” And there’s that sorted! This attitude of humility and love applies to all of us. Never forget, forgiveness is our way of life now. Forgiveness is also the way we pass on Grace from His Kingdom to others … who don’t deserve it any more than we did!  Lacking love means we are stuck somewhere in unforgiveness.

Back to my own thoughts: And so Peter continues on his merry way of somehow saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. Man! I identify with that guy! … And so he organises John … who is not quite so subtle about making sure WE all know that Jesus loves him best, in the book he wrote 🙄…  and then John asks the Lord about who it is.  I want to pause here and reflect on how very little we actually know about ourselves. All of these guys are just human, even though they were involved with miracles. They all have their faults. Remember the two disciples who wanted to be sure their position in heaven was fixed so they sent their Mum to ask the Lord about it? 

I often wonder if Peter is scared, at this point, that somehow the betrayer  IS actually him because he seems to make lots of unforced errors! Maybe that is why he prompts John to ask the Lord?  Sadly, eventually he betrays the Lord too. We never can tell what any of us will do under pressure until we are right in the middle of it. Isn’t Jesus wonderful? The Lord speaks to Peter about what he is going to do next and warns him about it. That warning has always fascinated me – was the Lord trying to warn Peter, and prepare him for his biggest mistake? I think that that warning was love in action.

Many of these 12 disciples are subject to public rebuke and learning during their time with Jesus. We should not be surprised when He corrects US too. James and John learnt about rampant ambition from the Lord Himself and Peter shows us all that mistakes aren’t fatal, but cultivated disloyalty to Jesus is a trap that leads to despair. Maybe because we stop thinking about what we are doing to others, and focus on ourselves. Jesus takes our disloyalty to others as if we are disloyal to HIM, because we are His family now.

Judas cultivated his own disloyalty in an ongoing fashion. He kept right on pinching money, and money appears to be the source of his downfall. Eventually the Lord forgives Peter for his personal betrayal of Himself. However, Judas sinned against the group, and he knew exactly what he was doing when he put Jesus into the enemy’s hands. He’d totally missed all the lessons of love that Jesus carefully taught them, day after day for three and a half years.

Truly loving others is the best diagnostic tool I know of – and most of us miss it. Just because we think we can’t love this person or that one, that does not excuse us from participation. It’s a commandment. It’s not a suggestion, or a great idea – Jesus Christ commanded us to love one another. And when we read what the disciples wrote eventually in all of the Epistles … we can see that they are now saying the same thing  too … LOVE MATTERS. Not ‘tolerated’  ‘like,’ or ‘admire’ – but love. When we don’t love others we become preoccupied with ourselves – my feelings, my hurt, what YOU did to me. We lack obedience and humility. That’s a dangerous place to live. To be like Jesus, we must live this life the Way He did – we cannot be our own reference point.

Christianity is for the devoted. People who truly believe that Jesus Christ IS the Son of Almighty God and He came here and died for their sins too. These people actively believe and practice the fact that the new birth transformed their lives, before, during and after it happened. So much so, that they don’t live for themselves anymore. They choose to die to what they know, and feel. Other people will betray us, and … maybe we will also betray them. So when Jesus tells us to love one another, these people fall on their faces and confess their utter lack of love, and ask for the Holy Spirit’s help. And when difficult people turn up in their lives they know that God is giving them someone to practice on!

Loving one another is the best litmus test we have. In my own life it shows me I’m not “done” yet! I just might live to be 150 years old at this rate. However along the way, I’ve definitely learnt not to hold grudges and to forgive others when they sin against me. However, there are still some people I simply cannot love without lots of prayer and His help!! So feel free to pray for me and … I will pray for you, too. Bye 👋🏻

P 2449 About the gifts of the Spirit …

/ DVH

“Every believer has received grace gifts, so use them to serve one another as faithful stewards of the many-coloured tapestry of God’s grace.”1 Peter 4:10 TPT. I have gifts that were given to me, so do you. The point is — what are we doing with them? Peter is telling us to use our gifts for others, they are not for our own self-serving purposes. When we use those gifts the right way, people don’t see US — they see Jesus! That tapestry we are all weaving reveals the Lord Himself.

I don’t have God-given gifts to help me feel better about myself, or to help make me important to my church. No. Those gifts are for others, they keep me humble and obedient to God’s Word. Because Jesus Christ died for me I have an opportunity to live and die for Him. Jesus means everything to our Father, and that means He gave up everything to purchase my life, by His Own dear Son’s death. He did it for all of us because He loves us that much. What a glorious generous Father we have!

Christ’s death and subsequent resurrection is the place we need to build our life on— that is the heavenly reality and we are to live this life making it part of our earthly reality. We don’t build our lives on gifts, or fame — but on Christ and what He did for us. That way the storms of this life will not be able to knock us down. Building on sand means I am building on the things of this world, and they will pass away. But when I build on what Christ did for us, that will stand forever!

Let’s look at Isaiah 11:2&3 – He’s talking about Jesus Christ: “The Spirit of the Lord will rest on HIM—the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—and He will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what He sees with His eyes or decide by what He hears with His ears;…” 

We can see these words in action in the Gospels, in Christ. He was so wise and so dedicated to His Father’s will. When Jesus dealt with a woman who was adulterous, He did not decide by what He saw or heard from others – He listened to the Spirit. The Spirit of God knows what is in the heart of a man and only He has the wisdom to see through the things human beings stumble over. Jesus walked with the Spirit of God, in Wisdom, so He didn’t give permission for this woman to continue in sin, or tell her she couldn’t help it, He gave her forgiveness and a new beginning.

Today I am talking about spiritual gifts… and you could ask, what am I doing in Isaiah? Everyone knows that spiritual gifts are a New Testament concept! They are mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10. And …Romans 12:3-8! Yes, they are;  but Isaiah is pointing us to the One Who was coming, long before He came. He is our example in life and death. Our Leader. He is the illustration of God’s purpose in the Holy Spirit’s Presence in this world. Jesus is the One Who is the Author and Finisher of our faith. As we follow Him, and grow to be like Him, the gifts will follow us.

Before Christ died – the Holy Spirit came and rested on various people at various times for different purposes. However, He was not sent to just anyone … He came for a purpose. Isaiah describes Christ and His ministry, long before Jesus left heaven and came here. This Old Testament prophet is making it clear where the gifts we have today, came from… They came from the One Who was sent back to help us – the Holy Spirit … the Spirit of the Lord … That is the place to start when we think about spiritual gifts. We look at Jesus Who is our example. We don’t covet gifts simply for our needs or to feel important, instead we covet the Presence of the GIVER, like Christ did.

Jesus healed the sick, He raised the dead, He cast out demons. All this and more happened because of the Holy Spirit’s guidance and Presence within Him. Jesus Christ loved the Holy Spirit more than people. Whenever He chose what to do, He chose according to the Holy Spirit’s guidance. Even His brothers and mother could not sway Him from obeying the Spirit. Currying favour with other people can be a stumbling block in our walk with the Holy Spirit, and we need to love His Presence more than anything, or anyone else. Humility is His favourite language. 

We can spend way too much time concentrating on ‘what gift is mine,’ and not enough time focussing on the Giver! And sometimes we can even let those gifts make us seem important. But Jesus Christ cherished the Holy Spirit’s company, and that’s the way we are to walk with Him too. God’s grace manifests itself toward others through those gifts. Because of the Holy Spirit’s Presence, they flow into us … and they  flow out through us. The gifts are not a lake, they are a RIVER. The flow is more important than the results.

To operate in the gifts of God we need to be intimately acquainted with the Holy Spirit in us. He is the same Spirit Who lived in Christ. Now He moves through us, as we actively learn to co-operate with Him. It is His power that empowers us to do what we do for the building up of the saints, and the releasing of God’s Grace into this world. BTW, the Holy Spirit will be friends with ANYONE who is prepared to obey and cherish Him. Don’t seek the gifts, seek the GIVER. – the gifts will find you!  Bye. 👋🏻

P 2383 Love is not the same as … ‘Like’.

/ DVH

And love doesn’t look like tolerating others, either. Yeah, I don’t like those two sentences much myself.  But Jesus gave us clear directives about love… 1 John 3:16  “By this we know what love is: Jesus laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.”  

Matthew 5:44-47 ““You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’ I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the supple moves of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives His best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the loveable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that.”

John 15:12, KJV. “This is My commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.” – Love is a great subject to study because it will definitely give everyone plenty to pray over and act on. It is like most things in the bible if you apply them into your life you will know about it!! Jesus said, ‘love your brothers, love your friends, and love your enemies,’ and none of that is easy. Especially when we take into account that the people who can hurt us the most are probably not our enemies! 

Here’s some stuff that has helped me to cope with dealing with people who are a black hole where love is concerned. First of all I remind myself that I don’t have to feel like it, to do it. Love is a verb not a noun – it’s something I do, not something I feel.  I deliberately bring to my mind that … ‘I can do all things through Christ because He strengthens me!’  So I ask for His strength, then I do whatever He says in the book. Take emotions out of your effort and obey instead.

In my experience feelings always come later. Sometimes MUCH later. I have people in my life that I have been loving for years, I wish I could say that living this way changed them —- but it hasn’t – not so far. Instead it is changing me. I simply need to learn to fight disappointment and resentment and as I did that, I learnt about self-control. This became another way to invest my life in the kingdom of God. And it also showed me stuff I did not know I had – until the resentment etc. bubbled up!

When you make a big effort in your own strength toward people and they flick it off like it is nothing, it takes real dedication to continue to love them. I discovered I didn’t want to make that kind of effort for careless people, because I quite quickly ran out of dedication … But when I did it for Jesus — my expectations and motivations changed. So now I do whatever I do, for HIM. I do this to obey Him. I stopped putting hope in someone else to get it right. Because Jesus is my hope, my anchor and my source of strength – I’ve learnt to put my hope in Him, not others.

This means I’ve learnt to love others literally ‘under orders,‘ and now I do whatever He tells me to do. Often a bible verse pops into my head. Previously, I had become used to being motivated by need, or human affection, or some other feeling, but there were also times that Lord asked me to do something sweet for someone else at a time when I had no desire to do it. Choosing to love in the face of lack or need is powerful. When the people you love don’t love you sacrificially, you can suddenly find a whole lot of anger you didn’t know you had!

I also learnt the wisdom of Colossians 3:23 … “…whatever you do, do it with all your heart as though you were doing it for the Lord and not for people.”. That phrase ‘and not for people’ really resonated with me. The Lord explained to me that when I did things for others, hoping they would appreciate my efforts, I was doomed to fail because I can’t ever control other people’s responses. But when I do whatever HE asks me to do, I learn obedience… plus I ‘die’ to self in the process. I am renewing my mind. 

Obedience always brings us closer to Him. The Lord Jesus was obedient.  Loving by choice is not easy, but it sure beats the heartache of ‘trying hard’ with people who have no idea how much they are hurting you! Love is not the same as human emotion – whether it is ‘like’ or ‘tolerating’ – it’s an investment in someone else as the Holy Spirit Himself leads you. 👋🏻

P 2315 The Way ahead, is dead.

/ DVH

If we want to see God’s way ahead of us in this life then loving the people who hate us – is actually the way to go.  Meanwhile we are going to need His ‘eyes of faith’ to see that pathway. And I don’t care if those mean, unpleasant people are Christians or not. If we want God permanently making His home in us, instead of Him just being a Sunday visitor, then we need to make the Holy Spirit our new BFF and let Him change our lives accordingly. 

The bible tells me that I have been saved, delivered, and changed, but unfortunately … none of that can show up in who I am, without me choosing to change. Long ago, I had a huge expectation of what Christians should be like. Now that was a crushing blow. In the church I met people who were supposed to be nice … but … actually they hadn’t got that memo yet, so they were sometimes nice and most times NOT! Some of them were meaner than the people out in the streets..

Meanwhile the difference between who the bible said I was supposed to be, and who I still was, was wider than Bass Strait! These new lovely people of God stuffed me full of information, bible studies, prayer groups, conferences, but the gap between what I read about who I was in the book, and who I really was IRL, or even who I was supposed to be, was ginormous …to say the least.

Eventually I actually realised I was never going to fit in, because the Lord made me into the kind of person who wanted to know … why not? If it was in the book, then why weren’t we doing it? Why did we not make the poor a priority when Jesus clearly told us to? Why didn’t we pray for the sick? How could Christians live a life of pretending to be nice – when they could be mean etc. at the drop of a hat, and then smile at you next time …without ever asking for forgiveness?!  

Disappointment and discouragement dogged my footsteps for years. I would try my best, get provoked by circumstances, then fall flat on my face, cry for a bit, get up and … try again.  … I had no idea that Christianity was to be gloriously lived by totally transformed people –  not just better actors than me! Also I was ignorant of the fact that I now had my own personal Guide, Helper and bible translator … If I just paid attention to what He said instead of merely reading the bits in the book that made me feel good!

I did not understand that transformation is not just about trying harder.  Or even about praying about stuff and if God did not answer my prayer to be a sweeter Christian, then that was not my fault. That was on HIM. AFTER ALL I HAD PRAYED, I had asked … and if He didn’t answer me, then maybe my behaviour didn’t bother Him, or He just hadn’t gotten around to that stuff yet. Fat chance. 

In a nutshell I pushed away my own personal responsibility to co-operate with the Lord and humble myself enough to tell others that I did not know how to live the kind of life Jesus did. Privately I was of the opinion, given my current circumstances – that I probably never would make it.  Nobody told me that in order to be changed I would have to give up my right to live my life my way and do it HIS way instead. When I finally realised this truth, I hit another snag. I HAD NO POWER TO CHANGE because I had been feeding my flesh for wa-a-ay too long.

The way through stinky attitudes is death! Death hurts. We cannot bury these things and hope no-one will notice. GUESS WHAT? They will notice!  Christians can’t come out of following Christ alive. We need to get honest and admit we are not special spiritual people, but human beings who have cultivated wrong attitudes and habits that need to be killed off with His help. Jesus suffered and struggled with this truth and we do too. WE MUST DIE!

The way ahead is death to self, and living for Him and others. “You shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And your neighbour as yourself.”  Good luck with living that way by pretence and effort. Good luck with praying it falls on any of us out of the sky. WE DIE DAILY, or we ain’t dead at all. Read the book. 👋🏻