Disapproval

P 3417 Hard questions.

/ DVH

“Then He (Jesus) added, “Now you should go and study the meaning of the verse: I want you to show mercy, not just offer Me a sacrifice. For I have come to invite the outcasts of society and sinners, not those who think they are already on the right path.”” Matthew 9:13 TPT.

That’s a wonderful instruction, we should all do that. Hmmm … so when is the last time someone at your church — or you, asked a street person; or people of a different sexual persuasion;  or someone who has been in prison;  or a devoted gossip; or a liar; or someone with an incurable disease that is contagious;  or a corrupt person;  or someone who follows satan;  or someone who has a faith that is very different than ours, to our churches? You can make your own list, those people are on the list of the people in this world that I came up with.

Right here in the above scripture Jesus Himself tells us to show mercy to them. Then the Lord said the most amazing thing … He came to CALL people like that! Jesus’ death is clearly stated as an action that saved the world – the Grace that was released toward mankind was for ALL. We cannot afford to think of mercy and grace as something that is only available to the people we regard as good candidates, or those who could be worthy in our own eyes … or … even let money influence us. Even if we don’t happen to like these would-be recipients of the gospel or what they currently do or how they live. 

“The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come!’ Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.”  Revelations 22:17. “Whosoever will may come!” The only word that matters is COME!! Salvation isn’t a free gift if we limit whoever may participate in it with our own prejudices. I know this is not going to be a popular subject with everyone, but it is what the scriptures teach, and what Jesus Himself said and did. We are told to invite these people to come, and have mercy on them.

Jesus deliberately touched lepers, He showed mercy to promiscuous people, He ate with people who really enjoyed their food, and a drink … He even supplied the wine once! He ministered to people from an unacceptable country when the opportunity came up. He didn’t seek them out, but He saw real people, human beings — not labels or political preferences or skin colour, or revolting or sinful practices.

He didn’t approve of their sins but He actively loved those people. The religious people of His day took offence at these things, but even those people who took offence at what He said and did, didn’t influence Him! It is a sad sad day when we use God’s Word in one place to cancel out His Word somewhere else. We’d be better off asking Him: “This is what You’ve said Lord so how do we do it?”

I think it is time that we threw open the doors of our churches and let the whosoevers in! Some of those people who want to be saved and come through our doors will be messy. Their lifestyles may not suit us. We need to understand that the Holy Spirit is the One Who finds and calls people, and He is the One Who transforms them. In other words we have to stop thinking that the ‘other people’ who come through our doors have to be our definition of ‘nice.’ It wouldn’t hurt to stop thinking of them as “other people” either! Some of us don’t look so hot anymore, because we have adopted a whole heap of prejudices… 

Let’s allow the Holy Spirit to truly change our hearts and minds. Meanwhile, we must start addressing all of our own prejudices, with true repentance. If people don’t know the way they are living is wrong in God’s eyes, then why can’t we show them His grace so they can experience Him? Disapproval sure doesn’t work! What they do after encountering the love of God is not our concern – we are to love people, we don’t have to like who they are, what they do, or how they live. Jesus is still working on me — how about you? Some people simply bother our theology.

Catching fish is dirty and smelly, and kind of slimy and ugly, I mean no offence when I say that drawing up our robes around us, like a Pharisee would, is not to our credit. I think that’s why Jesus called fishermen to walk with Him. Those men weren’t specialists of the law, or religious men … they made a living doing ordinary tasks. They understood the less elite side of life from personal experience. We must expect all kinds of people come to us to have their lives changed by His Grace – the grace is meant to be daily flowing through us. Our Saviour came here to help everyone.

I’m a whosoever! When I heard God loved me and wanted my heart, I stampeded my way into a church, cheering loudly about what Jesus had done for me, and I probably drove a whole lot of really, really nice folks crazy. I’ve since repented for annoying people with my unbridled enthusiasm for the things of God — but, as it happened I had never heard any of that stuff before. Who knows who we might be, without HIS Grace touching our lives and hearts? 

Let’s choose to minister to the desperate, demon-possessed, broken-hearted, rejected lost souls of this world. Jesus once talked about a wedding feast where those who were already invited begged off – so the master of the feast sent out his servants to compel anyone they found to come in! We don’t have to approve of how others live, but our reactions to other people gives us an opportunity to look good and hard at what we are actually doing. It’s time we asked ourselves some hard questions. Are we fulfilling the Gospel Jesus  preached?  Bye 👋. 

P 2897 Peace is our portion.

/ DVH

“And everything I’ve taught you is so that the peace which is in Me will be in you and will give you great confidence as you rest in Me. For in this unbelieving world you will experience trouble and sorrows, but you must be courageous, for I have conquered the world!””John 16:33 TPT.

We cannot survive 21st Century living without His peace.  Injustice pops up everywhere like wild mushrooms, all across the world. Peace is an inside job. Everything around us will try to steal it away. This week we have had a procession of endless, skilled tradesmen parading, banging, clumping, etc. right through our house. We discovered mould in one of our least used rooms. It’s a long story and not worth repeating here. One of my mum’s brand new hearing aids has grown legs and walked away, plus our daughter and grandson are moving in about a month. And our next trip is in 16 days. Not to mention all kinds of malfunctioning arms, legs, heads, backs, knees …a-n-d … we are both preaching this Sunday! 🤣

None of us can afford to rely upon good, positive circumstances to help us feel peaceful. We already have peace within us because the King of peace resides within us. That peace will thrive in an atmosphere of faith as we believe and act on what the Lord has said. It gives us confidence so we can face whatever comes at us from the world around us. Christianity is an ongoing relationship with the Man of peace, Jesus Christ. We learn to live in His peace as we watch and study Him, because He didn’t just teach us what to do, He showed us how to do it, by the way He lived! “Keep turning your back on every sin, and make “peace” your life motto.Practice being at peace with everyone.” Psalms 34:14 TPT.

We need to remind ourselves that we are foreigners, ambassadors of Christ, living in a foreign land where peace is now either enforced or ignored, or labelled impossible. Unfortunately, peace cannot be legislated, otherwise our freedom to choose His way, goes right out of the window. To me that means peace is always OUR choice to pick up or put down. It means we learn to bend with the winds of change and opposition, not just strive to be in control and stay rigid. Peace comes with a great cost to the people who are living any conflict. 

Sadly when there is no positive choice made, there can be no true peace, because the ‘machinery’ of our lives returns to a habitual default setting of agitation and worry. Yet Jesus Himself chose to live at peace in a society that hated everything He stood for, He had no home, His relatives opposed Him, His church leaders wanted to kill Him, He was surrounded by needy people … yet He had true peace, all the time, because He chose to walk with the Holy Spirit and obey His Father. 

The people who lived around Him were superficially content to live within their religious rules, and often those rules actually opposed or destroyed peace for many of them. Rules carry within them the possibility of failure – true peace doesn’t see failure as the end of the story. The Lord was not affected by people’s approval or disapproval, He carried out the things He did by choosing to reflect His Father’s will. He wasn’t looking to win a popularity contest then, and He still isn’t. 

He teaches us in this verse that rest, which is a part of peace, is also our portion. It is OURS. We learn to rest when we choose to put aside our own opinions, and feelings, and aim at His Ways, with His help. As we do that we are mirroring Jesus’ own relationship and trust in His Father. Father God made the supreme effort for us, to come here and reveal His will in Person. God Himself stopped being remote, and hard to access, instead He walked the roads of Israel and its surrounds. Jesus was assimilated into this world so well, that some people identified Him by where He lived as a child. He was known —as Joseph the carpenter’s son from Nazareth. 

If you and I have no peace, then we have somehow left Him out, or left Him far behind us. His peace within us is present to saturate the atmosphere around us. But if we lose our peace, then we need to return humbly to the Source of all peace, Christ, and ask Him to help us live in harmony with Him, and His ways again. When trouble and difficulties bash on our doors or seep into our lives, those things are not a statement about our personal efforts or lack of them. Instead they are simply the result of living in a fractured, unredeemed society. It means we have forgotten who we are and WHO He is! The answer is not to condemn society, instead we are to flavour it … with His qualities.

Peace is a Person. We walk in peace, when we choose to walk with Him. If we revert to our old ways of thinking, then we simply repent and start walking with Him again. Walking with peace means we do not have to carry our own burdens, we turn them over to Jesus and ask Him to deal with them, us and the situation. Peace is our God-given birthright, freely received – part of our inheritance.  Jesus said:“Peace I leave with you, MY peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27.

Jesus gave it to us, so now we have it, just like salvation whether we feel like it or not. Bye. 👋

P 2829 God bless us all, everyone!

/ DVH

There’s an old saying – you can choose your friends but you can’t choose your family. The wonderful thing about Christmas is that we are often forced to confront the people we’ve managed to cleverly avoid all year! Christmas is a fantastic diagnostic tool. 🥳  I’ve found, in the past, that if I thought really hard, I could come up with great reasons as to why we will be unavailable to do the extended family thing. Things like ‘the kids are sick’, ‘my spouse is over-worked and about to have a nervous breakdown’, or … the very least popular one … ‘we’ve decided to have our own holiday this year. Just a quiet one. Sorry!!‘

I do, however, have a word of caution regarding this practice, if your kids see you regularly avoiding people for whatever reason, then you ARE actively teaching them something. Especially if you have lived that way from when they were little to when they are big! You are teaching them that they don’t have to confront the things they don’t like. 🧐 It is a sad fact that kids absorb so much more of what we do, than what we say. Obviously dangerous-to-children people must be supervised or avoided, but at the same time, I learnt that we need to show our kids, by example, how to still love others even when they hurt us or behave badly. You do that by your own actions. And if you mess up, say so. I’ve said so many times over the years.

Back to my point: Christmas with the rellies. Hmmm… so now you have run out of worthy reasons, and you are there, shuddering, or clenching your fists in anticipation of yet again having to talk to Mad Cousin Max. He always manages to hit every button inside you, and smirks at you while he is doing it — because picking on people and finding their weaknesses is his hobby. His all time favourite thing includes jumping up and down on the button inside you marked “failure.” He’s so good at it, or bad at it, that you started praying about managing him last January!! 

The thing is, Max has no clue that people’s responses to him are directly linked to the way he behaves. He thinks he’s a fun person – a stirrer! At Christmas, we have an opportunity to speak God’s life into Max. So I’ve learnt to pray so the Lord can help me find something good about dear old Max, and speak into that, instead of just winging it on the day. Avoidance leads to disaster!! This man doesn’t need our disapproval – he badly needs God’s love and as you are there, you are possibly the best source of that love that poor sod has. However, if Max thinks he is a Christian … then all bets are off! I’m joking OK? …I’m hopefully using humour to make a point – love perseveres.

Let’s look at what Jesus did in a sticky family situation. You will get even more insight if you read from Mark 3:20 …But here’s Mark 3:31-35. “Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call Him. A crowd was sitting around Him, and they told Him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for You.”“Who are My mother and My brothers?” He asked. Then He looked at those seated in a circle around Him and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! Whoever does God’s will is My brother and sister and mother.”

FYI Jesus just enlarged His family to include US. The Lord was not paying anybody back because they said He was possessed by satan, or out of His mind … … see … other people have a Cousin Max in their family too!! Instead He simply included everyone present in His statement. He had been previously preaching to a bunch of people, and He simply continued on with it…despite the interruption from His earthly family.

The Lord persevered with a higher truth, and He used that opportunity to make a deeper point. He told the crowd present: “Anybody who does the will of My Father is My family.” Amazingly Jesus was not drawn into other people’s accusations, He simply went straight to the greater good, and then He returned to ministry for those present. He was there to do His Father’s will, so His Father’s will came first.

One of the ?? joys of Christmas is getting gifts you will never use, from people you-don’t-like-very-much in the first place. The whole, smile and lie your head off routine. At the same time you are prevaricating all over the place, you are trying to remember where the nearest Op shop is… even before you’ve left the party! The thing is, at that moment when you’ve torn off the wrappings, and ended up with lime green, yellow, blue, black and hot pink, argyle socks, is the moment when love can overcome and prevail. I can’t tell you what to say, because I will be way too busy thanking someone else for some dreadful book I’d never want to read… like … EVER!

People who give us opportunities to be grateful for inappropriate gifts are another diagnostic tool. It may mean that the other people don’t know us well enough to buy something we might like … BUT! Maybe … just maybe … that’s because we have been hiding from them for years!  Jesus loves Christmas! But not because it is His birthday, I kind of think when you get to be over 2,000 years old birthday’s don’t matter much!! He loves families and restoration. Let me leave you today, with Tiny Tim’s favourite blessing … “*God bless us all, everyone.”  Bye. 👋

*A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

P 2798 Giving generously to our own hurt.

/ DVH

“Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over [with no space left for more]. For with the standard of measurement you use [when you do good to others], it will be measured to you in return.” Luke 6:38 Amplified bible. Yeah, I know it sounds like I’ve joined the merry band of brothers who live in the land of – ‘I can have whatever I want now, because God wants to bless me all the time.’ This is not what I mean. When Almighty God makes us rich, He expects us to generously share – everything we have comes from Him.

The biggest clue to living like Jesus would, is in this verse. It is in the word  – GIVE.  Christ gave to his own hurt – it cost Him everything to come here, and everything to die for us! Giving is an indication of our dedication to Him. We need to learn to give without any thought of getting something back. I exhort you to live your life as a giver, give because you love people and you love giving! See giving, money or otherwise, as a moving stream flowing past you, not a static dam! What Jesus did for you and I cannot be repaid, but we can certainly choose to model our lives on the Way He lived. God is generous and He loves and honours generosity.  

Let’s look at Hannah. Her only hope or help to have a child, had to come from God. He granted the answer to her fervent, passionate, ongoing prayers. Hannah prayed …… and prayed … and prayed some more. She refused to be comforted or dissuaded from her prayers. And Almighty God heard her, and she gave birth to baby Samuel. Her integrity meant she did what she said she would, she gave her cherished child back to God. She gave out of her substance, and God gave Hannah three more sons, and two daughters. Plus the firstborn child Samuel, became a great prophet. We cannot out-give God.

In the Western world, people have learnt over the years, to give out of abundance. So if we do not have an abundance, then we pull back on our giving. We are not used to giving to our own hurt, our substance. We tally up our funds and decide what we can afford to give – after we’ve paid off this, and bought some of that. We have learnt to give out of excess. Where’s the faith in that?

Let’s look at another woman who gave generously, out of her own substance. Luke 7: 37: “A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume.”This woman faced man’s disapproval for her act of unbridled generosity. It seems to me, that despite her previous life, her heart recognised Who Christ was, and she literally poured out her life and heart on Him. That’s what giving to God is about. It is not about obligation, or our ‘image’ to others. 

Here’s Jesus said about someone giving to their own hurt in Mark 12:41-44: “Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. Calling His disciples to Him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”This widow didn’t have much, yet she gave all she had to God. Although she didn’t know it, that fact was recognised by the Lord Himself. God loves generous givers – despite their station in this life. This widow wasn’t trying to prove anything, and she had absolutely no idea she was being watched by SomeOne Who totally understood sacrificial giving. —The way we give is an indication of the state of our heart.  

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 9:6-7. “The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”Giving is not just about feeling cheerful or good about what we are doing. It’s about WHY we are giving in the first place. Do we give because we are grateful for everything He has given us? Giving is an outward sign of an inward state of heart and mind. Hannah prayed, then she received, and she gave. She was not reluctant in her giving even though it was costly. The woman with the alabaster jar shattered her future when she broke that jar, pouring the contents over His head. The little widow gave all she had  … giving is meant to be costly.

All these women gave out of their own substance. They did not give left overs, or excess.  What they gave was costly to each one of them. We need to learn to give generously, extravagantly – the way we give what we give matters. It becomes an outward sign of our unseen hearts. When we honour Him with our own substance, the cost is of no consequence. Bye. 👋

“Those who live to bless others will have blessings heaped upon them, and the one who pours out his life to pour out blessings will be saturated with favour.” Proverbs 11:25 TPT.

P 2752 Welcome banners for the lost.

/ DVH

I was somewhat concerned yesterday when I thought about linking something from YouTube to this page. Not because I am unhappy with the content I shared, but, because … guys …  … as Christians … we can be so religious! I am aware that if something dubious popped its head up from YouTube, that those people who do read my blog could miss the blessing in what I was sharing.

It’s a fact that there are people in this world who have evil lifestyles, that biblically speaking, put them in spiritual harm’s way. We all know that there are things that the bible clearly condemns. But, we can be so intent on getting across our disapproval of someone else’s lifestyle, we omit to pass on His LOVE to the very people Christ was sent to save. Those things are not mutually exclusive.  Love is a spiritual gift given to us by Jesus Himself, to disarm the lost and help the needy.

How can anyone know that God loves them while we are afraid of other people’s sin? We treat it like it is CoVid or something else highly contagious. Yet we are not exempt from sin ourselves, otherwise the Epistles are irrelevant and Paul was teaching and correcting people who were already perfected! Just because we are saved, that doesn’t mean we know everything. We need to be humble when we approach somebody else who has been caught in satan’s trap – and there are plenty of his traps about! Hands up those people who have never ever lost their tempers… I can’t put my hand up either. 

People, as in human beings, need to be loved. When love is in short supply, and hatred and disapproval flourish, they will find love wherever they can. Just like a thirsty man will drink filthy water. Maybe the reason we are afraid to associate with some people is because we are not walking closely with our King. Jesus wasn’t afraid of anything. because our God can deliver anyone from evil – even us! Once a man with many demons (2,000!) sat in his right mind, at Christ’s feet. Instead of ostracising or alienating people, we should be asking ourselves why the love and Presence of God is not convicting them through US – without us even having to say a word.

We have a responsibility for what is happening in this world – WE ARE HIS SALT. Sadly, I think the church has not loved others well. Instead we’ve condemned them, and made their sin more important than their spiritual well-being. There will always be some people who are given over to a reprobate mind – but God can snatch anyone from the fire. He saved me … and I had no idea what holiness looked like – I still struggle, how about you?

Almighty God IS going to snatch some people out of the fire. How? I dunno! But I think it is time we realise that Jesus touched the unclean, and made them clean because He, Himself was clean – inside and out. Plus I think it is a dumb idea as well as a poor game plan, to let FEAR rule our responses. We are running away from our first responsibility – to tell everyone that Jesus loves them – what they do about that piece of spiritual information is not up to us. And just to be clear, I am talking about living a life of love toward the people around us, as He leads us.

In the past, loving Christian families have been tormented and tortured by gossip and innuendo etc. because even though they raised their kids in the fear and the knowledge of the Lord, a member of their family has gone off into a lifestyle that the church feels we can’t approve of. So that entire family is held responsible for something that could happen to anyone. At this moment in time, the world we are living in has a tidal wave of positive reinforcement and approval toward those ungodly lifestyles. Those lifestyles come recommended by a society that loves to indulge the flesh.

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Instead of blaming families, we need to fall on our faces and repent that we have not modelled the love of Jesus clearly enough to those who were obviously searching. I know what it is like to commit yourself to something that you know is wrong – the further you walk down the wrong road the stronger your commitment to it gets, and the harder it gets to back up. People can get trapped by their choices. But our God is so much bigger than than our choices. To most people in this world, God’s love is a theory – we are the vehicles He has chosen to demonstrate that love.

It’s time for all of His children to come on home. We must hang up welcome home banners to the lost. Has any one of us been saved from our sins without God’s love reaching out to us, first?“You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” Matthew 22:39. “God loved us while WE were yet sinners …” Romans 5:8 “Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.”Jude 22,23.  Bye. 🙏

P 2702 Christians are no fun …

/ DVH

…and we should be! …  Proverbs 17:22: “A joyful cheerful heart brings healing to both body and soul…“I’m not talking about frivolity or carelessness with our faith, but honestly … sometimes we can be no fun at all, and at other times we are just plain too earnest. I know this is obvious so please pardon me for saying it, again! … but as Christians we should be the happiest people on earth! We are not meant to be the fun police, because we have the joy of the Lord as our strength! When I look at church people sometimes I think boy do we all need to do some joy/strength training! When was the last time you had a good falling-on-the-floor-belly-laugh? 

No, I have not suddenly lost my mind – I can prove it.  I can still spell antidisestablishmentarianism backwards, so yup! … my mind is still working. OK! OK! I actually can’t spell that stupid word backwards but I know someone who can … does that count? We can all do with a large case of the sillies. As Christians we are meant to be the most optimistic people on the planet! We know the Saviour, personally, and whether you or I woke up with more pain than we care to admit, or our spouse was even more grumpy than usual – we have His joy inside us. Guess what? HE’S NOT SAD like … EVER. He won! We are now on the winning side.

We went away for a little holiday recently and we took bubble guns with us. That’s bubble guns not bubble gum OK? Bubble gum is nasty stuff, you can’t get it out of your hair! Have you ever had a bubble duel? I mean right in your face, loads of bubbles everywhere — hundreds of them? I double-dare anyone not to laugh at so many bubbles you can’t count them. Do you know how much it cost us to have a bubble duel? We got change from $15. Priceless. Look let’s get rid of our serious dignified faces and have fun. Remember fun? Last week part of our family stood on our balcony and watched bubbles go everywhere, and the next day – we did it again and we fell about laughing again.

It is my 97 year old mother’s birthday today. We took balloons and presents and … bubbles to her party. There they were, the oldies in the old folk’s home, lined up like life was already over, and we brought out the bubble guns and fired away. Bubbles everywhere. We took a fantastic photo of my mum looking like Popeye with one eye shut and bubbles all over her – but I can’t put it here because she just might kill me. She doesn’t read my blog, but she’s my mum – she will know!!  Mothers always do.

All those old people, who had been plopped in front of the TV for the day, plus the staff came clustering around her chair and us, and we gave away chocolates. Everyone was smiling. Some came out of their rooms and joined in. I imagine most days are pretty much the same in the old folk’s home. Well yesterday wasn’t. Our mob arrived and took over. I have never been more proud of our family. 

All my life I have done my best to do the right thing – so I wouldn’t get into trouble. Hah! Now I give my Mum cheek all the time, and she can’t do anything about it! She’s stuck in a wheel chair from old age, and she can’t run after me anymore. Talk about healing!! 😂  Do you know the really interesting bit? She laughs her head off now, instead of getting furious with me. Sometimes we can be restrained by our own inner caveats. If you get whacked round the ear-hole enough times you learn “don’t do that,” and something inside gets stuck and you leave important parts of your self behind. 

Hubby contributes to our hilarity all the time. He tells blooming terrible awful Dad jokes. Man those jokes are on the nose. They are corny and not funny but everyone groans, and … then they laugh, but sometimes that comes out as a large sigh. You know Jesus never once said: “Go and preach the gospel, but don’t you have any fun doing it!” We treat this world like it is hostile to the gospel and His love. I’ve been out there – it isn’t! Most people aren’t anti-God, they just haven’t met Him yet! Maybe we have failed Him as His representatives by walking about with serious faces and the idea that what we believe is made of glass. Love may be patient and kind, etc etc. but it can also be FUN. Remember fun? Remember when you favourite thought wasn’t watching TV, or playing video games? Live like that.

Everywhere we go, we have been commissioned to take LOVE with us. And let’s remember that Jesus Himself is JOY personified – so, as His family we will represent Him badly if we have no joy. It’s time to show the world that loving God is the most fun thing ever. Christians should be lots of fun … not black holes of disapproval. Of all the people on this earth, we are the ones who don’t have to be plastic. We can be ourselves and we can be fun! 🤪 👋

P 2677 Looking for the good.

/ DVH

“Love is a safe place of shelter, for it never stops believing the best for others. Love never takes failure as defeat, for it never gives up.”1 Corinthians 13:7TPT. I highly recommend speaking life into whatever you can see that is good, and of God in other people. It is God-honouring to tell the people we know, what’s good about them. So today, I wanted to follow up yesterdays’ blog with something positive we can hopefully all do.

I am not talking about flattery. I believe we need speak real things, positive things, things that will help others feel encouraged and loved. You can be used by God to create a safe verbal shelter for the people you care about — and who doesn’t need that?! Flattery is also deceitful. It can’t build anything because it has a rotten foundation. Often the motivation behind flattery is to gain advantage over someone else.

I love this verse from Song of Songs 4:7: “You are altogether beautiful, my darling;  there is no flaw in you.” Oh, the things the Lord says! This whole book is about a love story and worth reading just from that POV. The bride/beloved in it, is not flawless, the Shepherd is talking about the way he sees her. On the other hand, unfortunately, the Shulamite woman can see her flaws clearly. Some of them are even physical, but the Shepherd sees so much more than she can see. When we look through LOVE we can see so much more. It is interesting to note that if we have a physical flaw, sometimes we cannot see beyond it.

The Lord rebuked me recently about the way I view myself and He said something that was so accurate I laughed out loud. It seems I avoid mirrors. If there is one in the room I look away from it, or even down. Apparently, I am ashamed of the way I look … so … I don’t look at me unless I have to! This attitude shows me a place inside, where I need His loving, caring touch. I know I need to let His Love into my mind and heart, or I will just pass that shame on to someone else in my own speech. 

The way the Shepherd in this book speaks to his bride, as well as about her, is a wonderful example of love building the other person up! Song of Songs is a fantastic illustration of the power of words to transform a life and develop LOVE. The Shepherd’s love spoken out, freely deposits that quality into the Shulamite’s life, and she does the same for him. That love transforms everything it touches.

This principle, prompted by the Holy Spirit, and activated in our own lives, can empower someone else to be bigger and more positive than they are. The other person discovers life is not about outward looks, or talents, it is about loving and being loved. In my opinion, there is a whole other person inside most of us, just waiting to come out. But we’ve learnt early on in our lives that freely expressing ourselves, and being ourselves, led to disapproval – so we quit.

Christians have the capacity and the power to speak life – Jesus died to give that to us. His truth was always tempered with mercy and hope. Everything He said contained within it the power to bring about transformation and security in love. BTW, I’m not talking about being fake, rather, ask the Lord to show you accurate things to say that encourage other people to see themselves through your eyes. This involves taking note of things that are often not easily seen. We glorify God when we notice His Ways in others.

The amazing thing is, you and I don’t have to be perfectly healed and totally whole to live this way. And the even greater bonus is that speaking out life actually increases our own faith. It takes faith to speak out kindness and love when what you are receiving from that person is anger, apathy or indifference. People don’t have to yell at you for you to know they are suspicious of you and your motivations – you can kind of guess….

Lastly I would like to include a short word of warning from 1 Corinthians 3:16: “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.” If I use my words to destroy you and I don’t repent for what I’ve done, I am actively cursing you. I am destroying God’s house! Not to mention the harmony that is meant to exist within that house!  Words matter. They are more than a means to communicate, they are the building blocks that open a way to build a place for God Himself to live in!

I exhort you to start praying the Lord will show something good, upright and beautiful about someone who inhabits your world. At home, at work, in your church. Let’s begin to look for the good in others and tell them. Bye. 👋

P 2395 Talking to other people.

/ DVH

There was a time when I had to sort of prime myself into speaking to someone else about the Lord Jesus. Fear of rejection and disapproval from them… as well as thoroughly annoying someone else to the point where they might punch me on the nose …  held me back! However, the Lord has been teaching me that when my focus is on how I feel, or what is happening to me etc. I am not walking in, or focussed, on His Love. Actually I am probably more focussed on self-preservation! His Love is ‘other’ centred. My faith needs to be focussed on the other person – not how I feel. That’s what witnessing is about.

It is my opinion that many people do not witness because it IS scary and it seems intrusive. In today’s PC world, proselytising is a big fat no-no. Now that’s a word you don’t see very often any more – proselytising – it means: convert or attempt to convert (someone) from one religion, belief, or opinion to another. That is not our aim. Our aim is to release the love of God, Who we know personally, into someone else’s life. 

When I witness, I want to do so in a natural fashion, telling others about what Jesus means to me. That’s it. We are not trying to change someone’s mind, we are introducing them to a whole new world they don’t know about. That thought is this – people are precious to God, and He personally did something about the things that stop us from enjoying His love. ← And that would be a full stop right there!

We don’t have to give other people the 24 spiritual laws, or argue them into His kingdom. Most times if we argue with someone we are talking to their mind, or their emotions. What we want is to release the kindness, love, compassion and wisdom of the Holy Spirit INTO their lives – so He can do what He does far better than we can!  I’ve personally watched the Holy Spirit go right round someone’s brain and hit them in the heart. Countless times. How does that happen? I simply say or do, what He tells me to say! And, big clue here, what I say is hardly ever complicated. “He loves you” is not complicated! 

Our part in this kind of life is to stay close to the Holy Spirit! He’s the Wind! He knows when to blow on someone else’s life – or not. Sometimes we may not need to say anything. Just living an ordinary laid-down life of love says it all. What do I mean by that? It means that I live my life believing that He is exactly Who He says He is, and I put Him and His wishes first. He is in charge of everything about me, because I asked Him to save me. I gave up my right to run my own life my own way when I said: “Yes.”  Now my only aim when I talk to other people, is to let the Love of God shine through me, however HE wants to do it. That love comes from Him, through me, to them.

The second thing that always helps me to talk to others, is this – learn to listen. When you are talking to someone because the Lord set it up – our life experiences often don’t matter. Let them talk about theirs. Just listen and don’t sermonise or judge. Let Love rule! Learn to listen with your heart not your head. Talk about Jesus as you know Him, personally.   

I know this sounds a bit daft, but talk about the Lord like you and He just had a coffee, and you were chatting together. Hopefully you have actually been just chatting with Him, because you were praying and studying the bible today!  Be reverent and respectful, about Who He is and what He did, but let people see your own personal relationship with Him. He’ll tell you what to say and what not to say. If I were talking to someone else about any friend of mine I might say: “Oh my Friend Jesus said this to me the other day.” That’s what I mean by natural.

Most people in this world think Christians follow rules that other people can’t, or don’t want to follow. They have no idea that we have a relationship with the greatest Person in the Universe and beyond. They need to know that our relationship with Him is personal – He is the God Who is always there. Sometimes, when I am giving away my bookmarks, I say: “Jesus asked me to give you this. He picked this one for you.” Because He did! He told me give that particular person that bookmark. Time and time again I am amazed at the other person’s response.

When we sow an earthly seed, we poke it into the ground and walk away. The same thing is true spiritually. All over this world seeds need to be sown. The Lord told me once: “You can’t have a harvest if you don’t sow seeds!” Witnessing is simply sowing seeds. Most earthly seeds are pretty insignificant. They often bear very little resemblance to the final product. But that seed has potential. Talking to other people in a natural fashion about what you believe is planting a seed with potential. 👋🏻

Acts 1:8 (NIV) “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

P 2332 Our perceptions can limit our expansion.

/ DVH

Almighty God’s goodness, faithfulness, loving kindness, mercy, grace, love, joy and peace does not, and will not ever, depend on our perception. He IS all those things and more … simply because it is Who He is. Now there’s a good place to stop and cheer! 🥳 I have learnt during my life so far, that the ability to laugh at yourself is invaluable. Christians can be a bit ridiculous and intense, as well as ever-so-slightly pompous at times – if we are not careful we can suck all the spontaneous fun out of a room with a well placed raise of the eyebrows. 

We can also take ourselves way too seriously. I think we need to enjoy this life we’ve been given more. We can end up trying so hard to appear godly and pious, we give the impression that following Jesus is no fun at all. We should never be ashamed to share our faults and missteps with everyone around us, including our brothers and sisters – who knows what that kind of honest freedom could produce? 

How will others know what Christ did FOR US, if we are so busy trying so hard to look right all the time – without the Holy Spirit’s help. Trying to look good all the time, uses up way too much energy. No wonder we have no extra energy to witness and love on people. Keeping up that kind of appearance is exhausting. Conversely, some of us turn into undercover agents, and work on that sort of attitude so hard that the people around us don’t know we are Christians at all. We just ooze disapproval instead.

Today I decided to share some of the dumb things I have done in my lifetime. You know appearing to be the goods is exhausting, and when you get older you need all the energy you can find just to manage the stuff going on. Being changed from the inside out is the thing, it makes the supernatural normal!  

Hmm … back onto my point …I’ve done so many dumb things – it’s hard to pick. 😂 I once tipped a whole bottle of Shalimar perfume down the drain. I was utterly convinced that very expensive stuff was of the devil … so glub＄glub＄glub＄… down the drain it went. What was I thinking? I thought holiness was about being minutely careful over every little detail. I had no idea back then that holiness has already been imputed to us through our relationship with Christ. 

In other words holiness is about WHO we choose to hang out with, not just how paranoid we are about sin. How we look is mostly irrelevant, Who He is and what He has done for us is the main thing. Meanwhile down the plug hole went the Shalimar. Sigh. My drain smelled gorgeous for weeks! Retrospectively, my poor ex had heaps to put up with. 

Then there was the time I was utterly convinced that God was going to heal my severe short-sightedness. What a laugh-riot that was. I smashed my contact lenses convinced I needed to prove to God how serious I was in my belief that He heals today. You ain’t gunna believe the next bit … for two whole years I went about blind as a bat … doing all the normal things I always did. Fortunately, I didn’t drive back then! 

But I crossed roads, chopped stuff with big nasty knives, looked after my little kids and other people’s kids etc. caught buses, took trains, and carried on pretending that any minute now, praise God, I was going to be healed! Our wonderful Father protected and looked after this ding-bat and her kids, in spite of my theological blooper. I also told everyone else I was healed. Naturally, it was blatantly obvious to everyone around me I wasn’t. SO, what happened? A dear friend gently pointed out that not only wasn’t I healed … I was living dangerously. So, I cried heaps, swallowed my pride, confessed my fault and put my glasses back on. Then I apologised to everyone, and I put it all behind me.

I said all that to say this: at that time –  my perception of Who God is and what He will do, was skewed. I took the word of other people who had experienced His healing, and had actually been healed, followed their steps, and stood on that. Let me be clear, testimony from others can inspire and encourage us but we cannot stand on it. When we stand on things like that, we are trying to piggyback our faith on someone else’s belief – instead of using their faith to springboard us into a deeper relationship with Him, by praying over what the Bible says for ourselves. 

Our perception is incredibly important, it can limit our God-given expansion – we can waste the time we have, trying to be someone or something else! To get a bigger perception we must take His word seriously, wait for His personal input, and let Him expand our view of His kingdom. Be yourself – everyone else is taken!  👋🏻