Distraction

P3334 Let’s be observers of God’s goodness.   

/ DVH

Ephesians 5:1-2: “Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behaviour from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with Him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of Himself to us. Love like that.”  Jesus said this, He was observant. John 5:19&20: ”Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by Himself; He can do only what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.”

One of the things I enjoyed doing with my kids when they were little was I taught them to be observant. It’s a great skill! I really enjoy watching birds, and I’ve found if I want to see them in action I need to be alert and watch out for the slightest movement around me. In the same way, I’ve learnt that watching out to see what the Lord will do in any given situation, at any moment will keep me alert. Those two scriptures above talk about such a simple way to help our focus, and at the same time, they tell us how to ‘keep company with Him’ daily.

Here’s an interesting scripture from Habakkuk 2:1, it piques my curiosity. “I will stand at my guard post. And station myself on the tower; And I will keep watch to see what He will say to me, And what answer I will give [as His spokesman] when I am reproved.” ‘I will watch to see what He will say to me…’  Habakkuk discovered a different type of language of our Father’s, that does not consist of words. Our God has many languages, and we miss most of them because we only “hear” Him in our own. But this verse shows us there is a whole other way to hear Him … by watching to see what He is doing right now! Did you know that the word ‘watching’ is used sixty-one times in the bible? To see the Lord we must observe what is going on around us and look for His goodness in it. 

So much of our learning in the Body of Christ is passive. We sit, we take notes, we stare out of the window, we say ‘Amen!’ We clap, we dance, we sing, we shake hands with others … But are we listening for the Voice within the voice? Only alert people can hear His secrets. We can listen to the same sermon other people hear, but we can also hear something more, something entirely different. Simply because the Lord has put His NEON highlighter over a few words that totally change our POV.

Imagine what could or would happen if the whole Body of Christ did that? We would have the ‘manifold many-sided wisdom of God to guide us,’ daily. I don’t have all His wisdom, neither do you – but when we get together – we more than double our opportunities to watch and see Him at work. Father God will share Himself with anyone, so let’s be alert and wait, and watch for Him to move. Our God is to be experienced.

At the same time, we watch what He does, because that is the way we learn what we are to do. Jesus was constantly watching His Father to see what He was doing. He tells us that in John. Learning to notice things is a cultivated skill, but anyone can do it. The difference between seeing and really seeing is choosing to pay attention. Sadly this world slathers itself with an attitude of distraction and passivity. So we watch stuff, we listen, we absorb information, maybe we even memorise it – but we are not actively participating in anything we hear, because we are information gathering! Let’s actively take part in an incredible process that means we are always watching out to see what God will do next!

His goodness is all around us. We can see evidence of it every day, the sun came up where I live, did it come up at your house? Let’s value what we see. If it is raining and I am going to the car, and the rain stops – I thank Him for taking care of me … my thought is this… I can slip and fall in the rain. I often look at other people’s faces and see sadness and sorrow, I can’t help them, because we are just ships passing in the night, but I can pray for them. I don’t have to know what’s going on, but He does.

I think Jesus lived His life alert to whatever His Father was doing, because He just loved to watch His Father at work. Some people waste their lives waiting for someone else to make a  mistake, what a tragedy! What a waste of sight!! Any dill can find fault – but can we find the good in a supposedly bad person? That’s real insight! 

Loving people is not hard when we look through Christ’s eyes. He saw the potential for good in a tax collector who climbed a tree. Once, He saw far more than a woman who was sleeping around, when He stopped at a well. She had potential. It was released when Jesus recognised His Father had been working in her life. And Jesus saw fledgling faith in Peter when He said “Come!” He saw His Father stretching that man’s faith into areas Peter didn’t even know about. This man was a fishermen by trade — they know you can’t walk on water! But Peter suspended his earthly expertise when he put his eyes on Jesus and saw what HE was doing! He just did what He saw the Master doing.

Maybe we wouldn’t be as judgey with each other if we learnt to see this world through His eyes. As we see, and watch out for ways to bless people, I believe we will see them through our Father’s eyes. Love gives us eyes to see the good.  And watching Him at work, every single day, helps us do the impossible and leads us to be observers of God’s goodness. Bye. 👋 

P 3331 In but not of …

/ DVH

“Stop imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around you, but be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how you think. This will empower you to discern God’s will as you live a beautiful life, satisfying and perfect in His eyes.” Romans 12:2 TPT.  That’s pretty plain isn’t it? Not much to explain there. And here’s another one, where Jesus Himself is praying for us… “My prayer is not that You take them out of the world but that You protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.” John 17:15-16. 

The thing is, without inward transformation, we are wasting our time and effort trying to capture the-people-who-don’t-know-Him’s attention with our own clever ideas and plans. We need to have the Lord’s guidance, His way to reach out to people. We serve the One Who took people out onto a hillside and they were so captured by what Jesus said, they didn’t even think about eating.

The point made in this scripture is that the Lord knows how to go straight to the heart of the matter, and we don’t. Let’s ask for His help! The bonus is we get to know God’s will for our lives. We no longer live by this world’s standards. The ‘latest thing’ is the ‘last thing’ on our minds! Unless the Holy Spirit kisses what we are doing and tears off the roof, our plans are limited, His are not.

Jesus isn’t praying for us to live detached from this world, like somehow what’s out there can stop what’s inside us from flourishing!  Our choices do that for us, they are what influence us. We don’t need to separate ourselves from the lives we are here to touch when we’ve decide to make Him our priority. Instead Jesus is praying that we will be protected from the devices of our enemy – who is all around us. Here’s my litmus test for in not of …  Ask yourself what occupies most of your thoughts? 

I have been to churches in many places, that are pale imitations of what this world can produce all by itself. In the end, the productions become more important than the God we worship or the people we are here to reach. Let’s realise that when it comes to production – this world is waa-aa-aa-ay better at it than we are! They’ve got great gizmos to help them make fake things look real.

I think that’s because whatever IS represented by this world is fake. In our churches we want to produce the real thing — but you can’t produce the real thing, from fake roots. Entertainment is by its very nature, anti-what-Jesus-stands-for. He wants to glorify His Father, by what He says and does. He can use entertainment, but He doesn’t need it. We can say we want to glorify God, but I’ve been involved in the production of a number of things in the past and this world does not easily let go of the idea that being bigger, better, brighter, more clever is the way to go! 

Human beings think that doing something well, is going to impress the world and help them to believe in what they are selling. They don’t need to be impressed with us, these people need the King, not our clever, glamorous well-produced rhetoric. Our message doesn’t need any help! It’s in the book and God Himself wrote it. Our God is the God of the Universe, He doesn’t want or need our advertising, He  wants to reach the people around us, with healing, deliverance, salvation and the Good News.

We have been asked to make disciples, followers of Jesus Christ – not groupies. Changing someone’s heart is His job. Ours is to co-operate with the Holy Spirit and make a permanent place for the Lord in our hearts and our churches – then we follow the Holy Spirit’s instructions regarding how we approach others. Our churches are where we meet to glorify Him and give Him the praise He so richly deserves. And all our gifts are to be surrendered and used to glorify Him — our fellowship is sweeter because of Him. 

Our meetings cannot be about “the atmosphere’ either – an atmosphere is easily created and easily broken. What we do is about Him, done for His sake, for His pleasure. We can’t substitute special effects for the anointing – it is far better to get on our faces and find out where we’ve missed Him, than to plough on competing with this world’s idea of a good time.  

To be in not of  means we are totally aware of our surroundings, and we can see and hear the people around us. Their needs, their hopes, their squashed broken lives. It is so easy to segregate ourselves away from the very people the Lord saved us to reach — simply because they do this and that, and that stuff might corrupt us. The hard times that have fallen upon everyone has disproved that theory. People are dying inside – they have no hope.  And guess what we have – HOPE! 

We have the incorruptible One living inside us!1 Peter 1:23 says: “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.” 1 John 4:4: “Little children, you are of God, and have overcome them; for He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” In but not of is about singular focus, not just distraction. I would rather spend 5 minutes with a Spirit-filled person than 5 seconds with someone else’s clever ideas. Bye for now, 👋

P 3269 The Spirit of Truth.

/ DVH

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“And I will send you the Divine Encourager from the very Presence of my Father. He will come to you, the Spirit of Truth, emanating from the Father, and He will speak to you about Me. And you will tell everyone the truth about Me, for you have walked with Me from the start.” John 15:26-27 TPT. When I read this scripture today, the first thing that jumped out at me is the fact that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of TRUTH. It seems to me that our society is in love with ‘grey’ areas, and we don’t live our lives openly and honestly anymore. It means we can easily miss what the Lord wants to say to us, or to lovingly say to others. Purity is about our proximity to the Holy Spirit. We want to create an atmosphere He loves by following His instructions in the Word.

Most people work hard, struggle financially, and engage with the media to relax and escape from the pressures of life. That’s actually called evasion. Postponing problems won’t fix them or get us into a fit state to face them either. We have been saturated in what the media says and thinks. It is full of lies, and I am not just talking about the politicians! Every time we watch a fictional movie we are actively embracing being lied to. It is not nothing, it frames our subconscious thinking! Actors are actually extremely good liars! Even things like reality shows are staged strategically to appeal to our baser selves. We have been reduced to spectators, instead of being participators in this life. It seems we are embracing the spirit of this world, not the Spirit of truth, but we want the Lord of All to fit in around all of it!

I’m not against TV – I watch it! However, true reality is not happy ever after – it’s the dirty dishes, going to work, no parking, a screaming baby, the cat throwing up on the carpet, or an unexpected bill. The bible says things like this:

• But seek FIRST His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. – Matthew 6:33

• Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, with prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. – Philippians 4:6

• Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. -Romans 12:12

• But those who wait on the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint. – Isaiah 40:31

• Whoever DWELLS in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. – Psalm 91:1

What we choose to focus our lives on matters. We can live in fiction, or distraction or in His shelter. Doing both is called double-mindedness. We are blocking our ears to the very Person Who knows what comes next. So let’s just ask the Lord: ‘should I watch this?’  …’What do You think about this show Lord?’ If He doesn’t like it then don’t watch it. Can you honestly see Jesus kicking back in a comfy chair with chips on His lap, and His feet up, watching ‘Bambi’, because He walked a long way and prayed for so many people, and now He needs to chill out? So why didn’t the Lord do pointless things to relax?  

He was busy seeking first the kingdom of God. Jesus knew He was here on assignment. SO ARE WE. Prayer, waiting on Him, and reading the bible, etc. takes time and the benefits of making these things a priority often comes later. It is the Holy Spirit’s great joy to help us find our way through the maze of stuff that goes on daily. Seriously there is no such thing as minutiae to the Holy Spirit. He is our Helper. We need to prayerfully cultivate our relationship with Him, by not grieving Him or ignoring Him, when He speaks to us, then turn His instructions into actions.

If we are still giving into grey areas, perhaps we have not taken the opportunities He has given us to hone our listening skills. If we choose to ignore Him, He will go away! Sadly, this world is going to hell – on our watch! If we feel we need to escape from the life we are living, then we need to fast and pray and ask the Lord why? What is making me so dissatisfied with my life? Just be aware that the Lord won’t blame other people for our decisions and actions — He will simply reveal ME to me. I vote we all stop allowing distraction to ‘dull’ our spiritual senses.

We cannot afford to want to live this life both ways. We have already given up our right to live this life however we want. Ananias and Sapphira decided to cheat on their income tax, so they fudged the books. And yes, I know that’s not what the story is about, I am exaggerating to illustrate – not lying! 🤣… Those guys dropped dead immediately.  A bit severe wouldn’t you say? NO! The Holy Spirit was such a treasure to the Apostles and disciples, that they would not tolerate the lie. Pause and think on that. The Spirit of truth is our Treasure, now too.

Valuing the Lord and His Presence is our assignment. We can’t afford to partake of this current society that paints black white, then calls it OK-grey! We need to know, hear and obey the Spirit of truth. He is our most valuable asset. Jesus thought so much of the Holy Spirit’s ministry, He wouldn’t go anywhere without Him …  … and then He sent Him back to help us. Bye. 👋

P 3255 We can easily miss what He is doing.

/ DVH

“…but just as it is written [in Scripture], “Things which the eye has not seen and the ear has not heard, And which have not entered the heart of man, All that God has prepared for those who love Him [who hold Him in affectionate reverence, who obey Him, and who gratefully recognize the benefits that He has bestowed].” 1 Corinthians 2:9                                                                       

“Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides You, Who acts on behalf of those who wait for Him. You come to the help of those who gladly do right, I who remember Your ways.” Isaiah 64:4,5.

The above two scriptures are such a comfort. They tell us how much Almighty God loves us and how He has plans for our lives. He’s so much more generous than we can ever hope or imagine. Somehow it seems kind of sad that He would need to tell us, via the scriptures, to remember to think about Him with loving affection and deep respect! The second part of the verse in Corinthians explains why. We don’t recognise what He does for us every single day. 

For instance, I woke up today. Lots of other people didn’t, but, by the Grace of God, here I sit typing away, doing something I love doing. This is one of many benefits, I can see that the Lord has given to me. I sometimes drive my family nuts because I am very vocal about what I believe! I’ve been loving Jesus and following Him for 53 years, and some of those times have been so very very difficult – but He has helped me through them.

Years ago, when I had a liver transplant, it all happened very suddenly. It was at a time of great massive turmoil, I had just been through a divorce. That morning seemed an ordinary day, the family was off doing their thing and I could barely drag myself about, so I ate a few jelly beans and an apple. Then the phone rang… I had to go into hospital immediately… Somebody else’s life had ended with the same suddenness that my new life was about to begin. I rang my husband, worried because I had just eaten something so maybe they couldn’t do the op! The things you think of at times like that – what I had eaten was the least of my concerns.

That was thirty five years ago. And so began a huge awful, scary adventure. I am typing this by the Grace of God plus a stranger’s unimaginable generosity, at probably one of the worst moments in their lives. Someone they dearly loved had died, and in those devastating moments, they had chosen to help somebody they would never meet.  

Eventually, I woke up in ICU with more tubes and bags of stuff hanging off me than I could have ever managed. I felt like a Christmas tree! Another incredible blessing that God had given me at that time was – I had the three finest liver transplant surgeons in the world operate on me that day. Many doctors came from other countries to learn from these three men. These doctors had travelled all over the world teaching a method founded in the very hospital, that was just 3 minutes down the road from where we were living, I could have walked to it. 

I won’t pretend any of it was fun. But I can remember, in the middle of the flowers on the curtains around my bed talking to me, I told the Lord I didn’t want to go on without Him. And He came!  Jesus stood right by my bed. I didn’t see Him, but I sure did feel His loving Presence. I felt Him there so strongly, that when my poor hubby turned up with his worried face, I kept telling him to not speak because the Lord might go away! I asked Jesus why He had come for someone like me, and He said:“You told me you wouldn’t go on without Me, so I came.”  God’s incredible kindness at one of my most vulnerable moments overwhelmed me – it still does. 

The Lord acted on my behalf in so many things regarding the transplant – the experienced surgeons, plus the nurses  So here I sit, typing this. I’ve lived long enough to see my three children married, plus I now have five grown grandchildren. All of this life we have now, has been an unforeseen benefit of God’s Grace. We had only been married for two years, when I had the transplant, we have now been together for 39 years in July. 

It is incredibly important to our overall health to remember all His benefits. It’s good to write things down, do it! But it is even better to sit with Him and remember.  At the time of that terrible illness I didn’t even dream about having a future. I had no clue about the places I would go to, what I would see, who I would meet – until after all this happened. We’ve travelled over 250,000 miles in this country, meeting ordinary people, giving away bibles, for nearly 21 years.

We can easily miss what the Lord is doing, and has already done, because this life can be one giant distraction. You have your own story of His grace, I hope I have helped you to remember it. Bye. 👋

P 3234 PAIN.

/ DVH

I have been a daydreamer since I was first conscious of my thoughts. Life was pretty tough when I was a child, so daydreaming became an easy, silent, escape route. I quite literally “built a world of my own.” Of course I was the star in that world. Well, they were my thoughts… so why not? This method of escaping reality … which, was at the time, blooming awful… became a habit. 

Sometimes I used to imagine what I could say to the people who were tormenting me. However, I didn’t say that stuff out loud, I was too scared. Let’s be clear —the pain I felt was always present and it was real! I couldn’t imagine that away … whether it was an angry parent, or my siblings, or teachers, or a boss who barely knew or liked me, or anybody else who didn’t like me! The pain of rejection was fierce, and I had been traumatised by it … so I chose to opt out of this life and live a life of distraction instead. Here’s the clanger…Jesus was standing there with me, loving me, while all this escapism went on. He wept with me, and for me, but I was too afraid of HIM punishing me like I was told He would. Man can be cruel.

Over the years I learnt that pain torments everyone, and anyone. However, now I am learning to ask the Lord to help me, when fear or rejection grabs me by my throat. Sin is common to man – we all do it to others… and we all have it done to us. Damaged people do daft things to cope! Pain can drill itself into our psyches, and the person in pain would do anything to avoid it. However, we really do need His help to stop judging each other and realise not one of us is better than another. We are all in pain, but our God has the Answer. PERFECT LOVE.  He wants to pour out that perfect love on us, and out through us, onto other people who are tormented by pain. Kindness is the first step to helping others.

The Lord has a Love that will not criticise or attempt to destroy someone else – His love only wants to do each one of us good. Just because we think we know what is good for us, that does not make us right! We all have limits. If you are suffering and you’ve adopted patterns that hurt others in order to stay safe, go to Jesus – repent, and ask Him for His help and His MERCY. His death brought mercy and grace into this world, for free. He has the power to walk any one of us through trauma and pain. Pain is like a barbed leather whip across the soul. I believe that’s why Jesus endured being beaten by those Roman soldiers — with that awful whip that was studded with nails! For us, to bring us healing.

This happened right before they killed Him, and He took those blows for every one of us. The bible says we all deserve punishment, but Jesus loves us so much He did what He did for us. Now He offers us transformation. It took me years to realise that being ‘fine’ is a lie — everybody’s broken — even the people who used to beat and abuse me. It is a bare-faced lie from our enemy that we are the only ones who don’t fit, and we shouldn’t be here, because we are a mistake. God Himself brought each one of us here. There’s simply no point in arguing with Him! His plans for our lives, are for our good and to give us a good forever future.

I know it can seem very scary to give away your life – but be honest with yourself.  What if Jesus asks you to do something you don’t want to do? Let’s fix that now shall we? HE WILL… but if you ask Him, He will give you the grace to do it. Meanwhile how are YOU doing, all by yourself with the life you are living? The very best way to stop living our lives tormented inside, is to put aside our own ways of thinking, doing, being, and even escaping! And go to the Lord Jesus and ask Him to save us from ourselves. 

Read the Gospels, and take note of the way He speaks to people. We can trust Him, He will not reject us. He is, now and forever, the God Who understands and chooses to stand with us. He chose to die to take satan’s power over us, away – from our thinking, our broken-hearts, our situations, so that now we can live this life free from torment and rejection etc. and live it the way He intended us to live it. Jesus Christ is our living hope. 

“We have this certain hope like a strong, unbreakable anchor holding our souls to God Himself. Our anchor of hope is fastened to the mercy seat in the heavenly realm beyond the sacred threshold, and where Jesus, our forerunner, has gone in before us. He is now and forever our royal Priest like Melchizedek.” Hebrews 6:19-20 TPT. Now we have a true priest Who is just like Melchizedek. Our precious Prince of Peace can’t be bought off, or scared off — unlike many other kinds of priests who have not been trustworthy. He is totally trustworthy! Jesus cannot be influenced in any way – except for our good.

When He suffered for us, He also suffered with us, AS us! He has perfect understanding of what it is like to be human. He knows the Way through to the other side of those things that torment us. He is our Redeemer Who can and will redeem anything. The way through pain is to give it to Him, not to try to work it out for yourself, surrender to the One Who is ‘altogether lovely’ and trustworthy. Please don’t take your pain out on everyone around you, whether they are the perpetrators or not. Salvation changes everyone and anyone.

Pain is vicious, it can destroy everything around it, but Jesus brings healing. “He came to bind up the broken-hearted, bring relief to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed – to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” Amen. Bye 👋

P 3176 Sounds like a laser to me!

/ DVH

“For we have the living Word of God, which is full of energy, like a two-mouthed sword. It will even penetrate to the very core of our being where soul and spirit, bone and marrow meet! It interprets and reveals the true thoughts and secret motives of our hearts.”  Hebrews 4:12 TPT.

Yeah, that last bit is a bit of a doozie! The writer is talking about those inside, hidden-in-our-heart bits we sort of kind of know about, but we do our best to hide them from ourselves, and others! You know what I mean, the things that we suddenly glimpse, and we try really hard to instantly forget them because they look like the Great Wall of China and it’s all too hard! We all know a Godly life is a priority. We must remember that stuff like this is a distraction. The thing is, those hidden things I’ve mentioned, flavour our lives and our points of view …to the extent that we end up seeing bad motivation where there is none. Then we end up trying to escape or debate over the issues of the very things that can transform us.

We know that God’s Word will go straight to the heart of any matter and, at the same time it lays our phoney, self-serving excuses bare. So there we are … uncovered and exposed, feeling lower than a snake’s belly in a wheel rut. Guess what? In those self-discovery moments we must remember that Jesus died for every stinky evasive attitude we have as well. We will lose our way when we stop listening to the cues that the Holy Spirit gives us. He wants to lead us back into true fellowship with Jesus and our Heavenly Father. That’s the only safe place for us. Our God is always for us.

When we choose to allow His Word to work on our hearts, it will do the kind of surgery that will affect our minds emotions and bodies. It can expose errors between what the Lord says, and what we think. It often shows us the way we think is shooting us in the foot spiritually, especially when we choose to take it seriously! His Word takes the doubt out of what we believe because it reveals to us the Way the Lord thinks, and what He wants from us. Plus it separates our way of thinking away from the world’s way of thinking. All that happens because this morning we decided to prioritise His Word – reading it until something strikes us in the heart. Then we choose to go out and act on what we read. 

The acting on it bit is incredibly important. James 1:19-27 exhorts us to not just hear what the Lord says but go out and do it. “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 

For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”

Looking into God’s word and persisting with it, until we identify how to act on it, means we are moving away from being a hearer, into being a doer. We will begin to walk with the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God never theorises – He acts! It is in His nature to be active for us and others. The people who choose to follow Him, act like Him. They know they need His help, because they know themselves clearly enough to realise that they can be deceived so easily.

These people are not driven by emotion, instead they manifest what righteousness before the Lord, looks like. The Word working in them and on them changes the way they react! They truly love the Lord, because they have discovered His love is a love that is like no other. ‘Listening and doing’ people deliberately set aside anything that remotely looks like it might hold them captive. They know that Godly actions bless them and others, as they participate by working with Him. His kids understand Who the Lord is, who they are, and they are realistic about this life. They constantly remind themselves that Jesus died for their inadequacies.

These people James is talking about are never self-deceived because they don’t trust their own opinions – instead they use the bible as their permanent reference book. They are well-aware that life and death is expressed through what they say, so they pray and watch over the way they use their words. Their desire is to bless others and if what is said won’t bless anyone, then they refuse to say it. His kids love to honour the Lord in everything they do, simply because He has revealed His heart to them and they’ve fallen in love with Jesus and the Way He does things. They can never forget that the poor, hungry, homeless among us are our responsibility. 

The Holy Spirit’s leading and freely given understanding are just like a laser, cutting through our wishes and wants, to expose who we really are, but without any fear or shame. Bye. 👋

P 3132 Don’t let money blind you!

/ DVH

“Instead, stockpile heavenly treasures for yourselves that cannot be stolen and will never rust, decay, or lose their value. For your heart will always pursue what you esteem as your treasure. “The eyes of your spirit allow revelation-light to enter into your being. If your heart is unclouded, the light floods in! But if your eyes are focused on money, the light cannot penetrate and darkness takes its place. How profound will be the darkness within you if the light of truth cannot enter!“ Matthew 6:22-23 TPT. 

Well, that all sounds pretty serious to me. Nobody wants to be that blind! Yet money is an issue for all of us – except the billionaires! Just in case someone might think that this scripture’s severe response is just the Passion Translation – here’s another one from NIV …“But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”

This is my take on all of that:  we can put our money under our mattress, in a bank, or even in stocks and shares — nothing wrong with that – those things will give you interest. But they can also go belly-up and you could lose your investment. These words from Jesus are so appropriate. Investing in His kingdom produces eternal results. I love that word ‘stockpile.’When we give to the Lord, we are storing up blessings that can’t be pinched or eaten up by inflation.

And if you have ever lost your money because of adverse circumstances, then I think the word ‘thief’ is the first one that comes to mind! But when we put that money into the Lord’s work, we are putting it outside the reach of this world, into His kingdom, and at the same time we are releasing His kingdom to bless others. I like that. God’s bank contains multiple points or avenues for blessing, that this world can’t touch.

Meanwhile, who knew moths and rats and rust like to eat money? Not me! I do know rats and squirrels like to gnaw on wiring, now there’s another strange but true – and totally irrelevant fact! But the important bit is this …what we do with our money can have big ramifications on our spiritual lives. It can lock us in, and prevent us from letting in the very light that will transform us. But holding back is not good, you might even say it is like trying to see with your own hands over your eyes.

Revelation sometimes needs the right circumstances to flourish, and generosity is one of them. It takes faith to let God manage your money, and that faith opens our spiritual eyes to even more revelation about His loving kindness, goodness and mercy toward us, in other areas and arenas of our lives. It helps us focus on His kingdom, not this world.

This thought directly points to something Jesus said:“I have given them Your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.  My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that You protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth.” John 17:14-17. It is part of Jesus’ directive to be in this world not OF it, so what we do with our money matters.

As you can see Christianity is not meant to win popularity contests – instead it is a totally different lifestyle. A new way of thinking. Things like giving to the Lord’s servants, His pastors, missionaries, teachers, evangelists;  plus helping and caring for the poor – including widows and orphans. God counts all that as giving to Him. He has taken up the cause for the poor, and He wants us to take it up too.

When we do that with our hard-earned money we won’t lose it. The Lord promises to return it to us in many, many other ways. In our household we’ve found that money comes back toward us to help us in a time of need. It also ushers in revelation from His Word when we read it or need it. Giving in faith releases a deeper understanding of what Jesus wants from us and for us. It’s a kingdom activity.

Giving away money that we rely upon, means we are making a choice to focus on His kingdom, His priorities, and His Way of thinking. It is another way to learn how to walk by faith. I have a fun thing to share that we do  about this subject. Before hubby and I go to the shops, even just to walk about, we always pray: “Dear Lord, help us to walk away from anything we do not need, and to find the things we came here for, and not to waste any of YOUR money.” Amen.

Every single time we come home we find that either we have spent no money at all – or we only bought what we went there for! It’s hilarious. At the same time we end up having God-encounters with people. Talk about spending money being a distraction! Whether we have lots or none, money can take up way too much of our thoughts.

I want to urge everyone reading this today to take the Lord seriously when He talks about money. It doesn’t have to be a lot of money. I realise many people have very little available finances, but I cannot recommend sacrificial giving more highly, as a way to learn to walk by faith. Don’t let money blind you! Bye. 👋

P 2982 Dig and insist.

/ DVH

“Stop dwelling on the past. Don’t even remember these former things. I am doing something brand new, something unheard of. Even now it sprouts and grows and matures. Don’t you perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and open up flowing streams in the desert.”Isaiah 43:18-19 TPT.

Sometimes when we hear verses like those two above, we can hear it as a prophecy for the whole church. I’ve heard it quoted that way many times. But we also need to remember that God has always His eyes on each and every sparrow, so when we read verses like these we need to ask Him: “Lord, how does this apply to me, please?” We always need to personalise what is said … and then action it. 

Today, I want to concentrate on the fact that these two verses are for YOU, right here, right now. Our glorious Father, God, takes the messes we make in our lives and transforms them so wonderfully, that we don’t recognise them any more. He is so brilliant at it, I have had to pray: “And dear Lord please put a big sign over what You have done because I’m a bit thick and I will probably miss Your answer otherwise.” Sad but true. 

It is a fact of life that we can easily prejudge how our answers to prayer are supposed to look. I know I am stating the blooming obvious, but the Lord can do more than one thing at a time! Because Jesus paid our debt for us, it is His prerogative to answer however He likes. After all His answers are always for our good and far better than anything we can think up! They just don’t always look the way we think they should.

That’s why we need eyes to see Him at work. They really matter in instances like these – I ask for ‘His eyes’ all the time. The thing is, if what He does is ‘brand new,’ then our chances of knowing what it is in advance are most likely zero! However, the way we tell that it is His work is that it GROWS, and it produces life, and more life. Plus when that life flows out, away from us, it does other people good.

In this brief passage we also learn that dwelling on the things of the past is d.u.m.b. stupid. But we do it. It seems we have this inherent desire to find someone else to blame for our behaviour and reactions – read Genesis.  Adam and Eve passed blame about like we would pass the salt!  We blame our parents, our schools, our jobs, our friends, society etc. Nobody talks about personal choices any more. Death to self has always been difficult.  Even when it seems like there is no choice … taking a default position is still a choice. 

This is why we desperately need to renew our minds, so we can think and see things from His point of view. Otherwise we self-protect! Our own personal point of view can often be clouded by the past, and a hidden dominant sense of self. In another version, the above verse is written like this: “SEE,I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” This verse is the utter joy of our faith and life. The old is gone, the new is here. God says ‘SEE” … because most of the time we miss it!

If we want more insight into His Ways and thoughts, we need to make what He has already said, our priority. When we read His word in faith believing that He will speak to us, today— even if we are reading somewhere that seems more boring than somewhere else—He will speak to us. It is our expectancy/faith … that is the key to opening the door to fresh revelation.

And if I don’t get anything from what I am reading the first time, then I read it again. Then I read it out loud. Then I read it in another version. I have been known to read five or six versions to fully understand what He is saying to me. Insisting is the best kept secret. And sometimes we will have to break through a wall of unbelief we have constructed, to release our faith! 

Yeah, yeah I can hear someone up the back saying: “That’s alright with you lady, but I have to go to work most days and look after my family, etc. I don’t have all day!”  And that’s the problem, Jesus is not your first priority, dealing with any immediate needs is. That happens to me too! In other words the Lord is an add-on. Whatever bashes on your life and says: ‘Fix me now’ is a distraction. He must be our first thought even if someone is bleeding out! (Help!) We can’t afford to fit God in around our routine – we will deal with whatever happens far better after we look to Jesus—otherwise everything goes Kaput! 

If you follow the “I’m very busy” thread of logic back to its source, you will find that Jesus is not our first priority. This kind of attitude is not intentional, sadly what we have failed to realise is that Christianity is not a part-time commitment. Many people make excuses for their lack of engagement with the Lord. (Matthew 22:1-14.) Our failure is not the issue —our priorities are. We cannot afford have a part-time faith in a full-time hell-bent world! Try having a part-time faith the next time your ceiling falls in on you, it doesn’t work. “For me to LIVE is Christ …!!!” 

We need Him like we need air, and in order to get ‘our daily bread’ we need to dig and insist.The Lord spoke to me  today from that one word…“SEE!” Because I didn’t ‘see’ right away…but now I do.  Bye. 👋

P 2890 Further to yesterday.

/ DVH

Hubby and I occasionally talk about what I’ve written in my daily blog. During our discussion today we talked about various adverse scenarios. Did you know that any of us can lose the MAIN battle – which is fighting the good fight for the Lord – simply because we are trying to make a point? Making a point is a distraction. That point will quite quickly be lost in time!

Here’s a question:  is it really more important that we are understood by someone else – or does Jesus totally deserve the reward of His suffering? ← That’s the real battle! Our needs will be supplied by Him – but we can’t see the good stuff when we are snarking around growling at other-people-who-don’t-suit-us. And the reward of His suffering is to see everyone saved. We can’t con God. He is not impressed with who is right, or who thinks they are innocent, and who is not. We have been given the revelation of His Grace, in the book, that alone makes us responsible to spread it around.

There is a much greater, constant war going on over the souls of those men and women living all around us. The other guy can waste our God-given time fighting with our spouse, our kids, our parents, the pastor … whoever!! But there are people who do not know what Christ has done for us. They are dying without being told about His Love for them. An ambassador exists to represent, publicise and extoll the virtues of his home country.

What does it matter lady, if your husband leaves his dead socks on the floor? It’s those little foxes that spoil the vineyard of your love and obedience to the Lord! Maybe your house-mate won’t take out the garbage? So what? And what does it matter so much that your wife’s idea of tidy, is to drop whatever it is where she stands? You have hands, and your wife is not your mother. Work on your own responses to them, not the other person’s actions.

We can easily waste the life God gave us going on and on over things that have happened in the past — things nobody can change unless they have a time machine!! Do the schmuck who hurt you a favour, will you? That person who wrecked your life when you were little — let ’em off the hook! The only person captive is YOU. You are stuck somewhere, like a record, going round and round what happened in your mind. Repent, forgive, and …move on. Have you ever done or said something so terrible but you couldn’t take it back? I have! 

Our enemy clouds the very real issues surrounding us. he makes the daily stuff about being understood, or making a point, seem to be incredibly important in that moment.“Seek ye FIRST the Kingdom of God…” Is what is important. We are wasting our time hoping that the other person will hear us, understand and change. The point is not for the other person to change – it’s for US to change. Lemme put that another way, when we stand before the great white throne do you think Jesus is going to ask you why you didn’t change your spouse?!! He’s looking for us to love impossible people, by spreading around His Grace, that’s what HE did!

These little every day skirmishes we try to dodge, or even indulge ourselves in when we feel rejected, dismissed, or looked down on – can actually prepare us for the REAL wars when they suddenly hit us! Have you noticed that people don’t announce wars? They are instigated by stealth movements, done that way to surprise the people who are to be conquered. The element of surprise throws the other guy off. 

Think about this for a minute: our enemy suddenly throws an accident in our path, or someone gets dreadfully ill, or a job is lost. Terrible things happen to people every single day. Just ask the people in the countries currently at war, they can give you a billion reasons why they can’t forgive the other guy! We need to practise forgiveness daily, or we have nothing to give the guy who utterly shatters our lives! Learning to fight those daily battles for His kingdom in us IS our boot camp — these things prepare us for the things we may not know about, that will turn up unannounced.

I do not want to be negative but I think the positive thoughts movement grew out of disobedience to His word. We made up a god who would always understand us, always be on OUR side. How on earth can that work? Plus He is supposed to give us precisely whatever we want! Where does the bible say that? Joshua asked the Israelites this question:“Who is on the Lord’s side?”That’s the only side that matters, by the way … not yours, hers, his, theirs – God’s side! And if we are on His side then we need His help to act like Jesus would. Maybe instead of constantly collecting promises, we can look at what He says as instructions!

It is not up to us to sort other people out. We are here to preach the word, in season and out of season. We are to live out what He said, in front of the very people who deny He is Who He says He is. Every single time we choose to forgive and release people from our expectations, etc. we release the power of God’s grace into their lives. Why waste your energy fighting? Time is short and a larger life awaits us. The bigger battle is raging all around us. Let’s us our faith and grow. May God bless you as you serve Him, bye.👋

“If a ruler loses his temper against you, don’t panic;  A calm disposition quiets intemperate rage.” Ecclesiastes 10:4.

P 2780 Sin has no power over us.

/ DVH

We need to change the way we look at sin. Sin is not just what we do, or don’t do – it is giving into how we feel. Our feelings will lie to us. The reality is in the bible! Jesus Christ conquered sin – He killed it and its consequences, stone dead. Did you get that? Our inheritance here and now, is life, life and more life!  Of course none of us deserves that. We never will, obedience and gratitude are the only response. Meanwhile we can’t possibly live this life, here and now, without His guidance and help, and Father God thought of that too – we have the same Holy Spirit Jesus had to help us. The good news is – Jesus became a man and He knows the way through the mire around us.

Instead of looking at our difficulties as mountains to climb, lift your view higher – look at the One Who did everything for us. Can you trust Jesus? Is He a Man of His Word? He has climbed all the mountains we will ever face, before we were born. We simply need to walk with Him day by day, and keep our eyes on Him. Then we follow Him up the mountain of our own fear, doubt and unbelief conquering it …step by step. As we walk with Him, we learn to rely upon Him. Sadly, our unrealistic fear of failure can keep us from doing anything lasting in this life.

Ask yourself, if everything depends on our performance, in order qualify to for such a love, then WHY would Jesus have to die? Why would our Loving Heavenly Father put His ONLY Son through all that! The work for our total restoration has already been done. We must simply learn to fight, day by day, all the things that our flesh has learnt to value above Him! Then we can hear and see Him at work, in our lives, and in the lives of others.

We need to stop wasting our energy, thinking that being a Christian means we have to get everything right, all the time … and put on a good show. Now, today, we have a wonderful Helper Who has come to help us and prepare us for our wedding. Jesus Christ came to each one of us to woo and court us — now we are engaged, promised to Him. We are a part of His Bride. Christ loves His Bride – she’s everything He ever wanted, and more. He loves her so much He wants to be with her, every single minute of every single day.

Has the Holy Spirit ever nudged you and said: “Don’t watch that TV program or play that video game?” And then maybe, you rationalised what He said away and watched it anyway. Afterward you felt terrible! However, the answer is dead simple. Don’t do it! Obedience in these little things is like training your body in the natural – that spiritual exercise helps our spiritual fitness. Look, if you obey and it wasn’t the Lord, what have you lost? A dumb TV show or video game? H-e-l-l-o!!  Isn’t His life within you worth more than entertainment?

Like I said yesterday, we don’t need to have faith in our faith, our faith is IN HIM. Who Jesus is! Is He Who He says He is, or not? Is He kind, loving, generous, faithful, gracious, forgiving? … Does Christ love us so much He died to be with us forever ….or not? Tell me something He can’t do!  Even being dead didn’t stop Jesus. How can we go on, day after day, turning a blind eye to personal sin, when sin is like a blindfold. The result is we can’t see or hear Him clearly anymore. In the bible what pleases God is obedience. Read the book! The Israelites failed to obey Him. So- let’s learn something from that … sh-all we?

The Lord has promised to be with us. We can eliminate ourselves from the flow of the Holy Spirit’s river in our lives, when we dance around, pouting like a child refusing to surrender its favourite toy. Love watches over us and His love is our prize.  It’s His choice to be with us. Jesus longs to see His Father, and our Father, glorified in all our lives! So, let’s stop getting on with our lives day after day, dumb as rocks – with our hands over our eyes. Distraction wastes a precious thing we have to give Him – our time! So does living this life believing we can’t help it. That’s why we have the book, to diagnose sin, and we have the Helper to guide us around it.

Christ’s death took all the power sin had and killed it. DEAD. We do not have to sin anymore. We can look that rubbish in the face and choose to deny ourselves, pick up our cross and follow Him. When people are in love …the relationship comes first.  Don’t let this temporary life with its temporary pleasures blind you to what He has for you. Sin has no power over us anymore. Bye. 💕

Romans 6: 6-11.“We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with Him. We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and He will never die again. Death no longer has any power over Him. When He died, He died once to break the power of sin. But now that He lives, He lives for the glory of God. So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.”Amen.