Energised

P 3026 Take a bible bath!

/ DVH

Here’s an example of a good long soak from Colossians: “Holy Spirit, please Help me to: 

‘…receive the perfect knowledge of God’s pleasure over my life, make me a reservoir of every kind of wisdom and spiritual understanding. I pray that I’d walk in the ways of true righteousness, pleasing my Father God in every good thing I do. Then I will become a fruit-bearing branch, yielding to His life in me, as I mature in the rich experience of knowing Almighty God in His fullness!

 …I pray that I’d be energised with all Your explosive power from the realm of Your magnificent glory, please fill me with great hope. My heart soars with joyful gratitude when I think of how God made me worthy to receive the glorious inheritance freely given to me by living in the light. God Himself has rescued me completely from the tyrannical rule of darkness and has translated me into the kingdom realm of His beloved Son. 

… How blessed I am when I demonstrate tender mercy! For tender mercy will be demonstrated to me. The Lord Jesus is the divine portrait, the true likeness of the invisible God, and the firstborn heir of all creation. In Him was created the universe of things, both in the heavenly realm and on the earth, all that is seen and all that is unseen. Every seat of power, realm of government, principality, and authority—it all exists through Him and for His purpose!”

That prayer was gleaned from Colossians 1:9-16 TPT and personalised by me. I have found this is a great way to pray for yourself — especially if you have no words of your own. Sometimes I end up praying things I would never ever think of praying – but they are in the book! For instance, for years now I’ve prayed that God would “enlighten the eyes of my heart” according to Ephesians 1:18. I’ve found the scripture comes alive and it is active. And it will also comfort and heal us, as we literally apply it like a healing balm over our hearts.

My spiritual eyes have been enlightened, made brighter, and  they see better, as I focus on what He has said about me. These are the things He has said about all of us — about His love, about our lives, and what’s happening in them. The saddest place we can live in is to know what His Word says – but never ever act like it is true. It is our faith that brings the Word Himself off the page, and now He stands with us, whispering to us what to do next. He speaks to me through the scriptures all the time, it has become my inner reference point.

In the passage above from Colossians, one verse stood out to me: ‘…God Himself has rescued me completely from the tyrannical rule of darkness and has translated me into the kingdom realm of His beloved Son.” One way or another we have all been subjected to tyranny! Some of us from birth, and/or our own sin! Instead of focussing on the human tyrant who perpetrated ugliness against us, now we have been given the power to focus upon the One Who set us free. He didn’t just take us out of tyranny – GOD PUT US FIRMLY INTO THE KINGDOM REALM OF HIS BELOVED SON. 

So when tyranny tries to knock on the door of your heart you can truthfully tell it: “Knock all you want – I don’t live there anymore! My home is with Jesus now, I don’t have to live under your rule.” Almighty God wants us to live under His rule, His wisdom, not the so-called wisdom of this world. The wisdom of God is unchanging, and never ending. Did you get that? His wisdom won’t ever change or end, and God is for us. He won’t take sides, because now we have stepped onto HIS SIDE! On His side we do things the way He tells us, always believing He has everyone’s good in His incredible loving heart. 

It still amazes me that I can suddenly think of a scripture I can barely remember reading. If you asked me where it was, I might say…”I think it’s in there … in the bible… somewhere???” However, my faulty memory does not change His word. “But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: …”Romans 10:8. That verse is also in Deuteronomy 30:14. It’s in the New Testament and the Old Testament… that’s a double whammy!!

His word is in us, whether we know it or not—whether we have memorised it or not. Simply reading it regularly, and thinking about it — is just like soaking in the precious oils that Esther spent six months drenching herself in before she went in to see Ahasuerus, the King. You could smell Esther before she ever walked into a room!

Now, you and I are the sweet fragrance of Christ being shed abroad wherever we go. That means that the people who pass us in the street, going about their business will turn their heads and say, “WHAT was THAT?!?” Hubby and I have seen this in real life. A grumpy, business-like frozen person turns into a puddle simply because Jesus entered the room – He came with us. Thank you Lord!!

If you want the Holy Spirit to go places with you, then GO WHERE HE WANTS TO GO! Consult Him. Ask Him questions.“Where do You want me to go? How do I do that? What do you want me to say? Help!?” We can joyfully spread His fragrance around when we soak-in, take-in, act-on and enjoy His Presence. Pray the scriptures over your life. You will come out much cleaner than you went in! Bye. 🛁

P 2427 Forget needing a sandwich!

/ DVH

“Then the disciples began to insist that Jesus eat some of the food they brought back with them, saying, “Teacher, you must eat something.” But Jesus told them, “I have eaten a meal you don’t know about.” Puzzled by this, the disciples began to discuss it among themselves, “Did someone already bring Him food?” To clarify, Jesus spoke up and said, “My food is to do the will of Him Who sent Me and bring it to completion.”” John 4:31-34 TPT

Now there’s a tasty lunch: ‘My FOOD is to do the will of Him Who sent Me!’ Hubby sent me this scripture yesterday … after reading it himself. We sometimes do that. We like to swap any scriptures that grab us. This one, plus what hubby said he saw in it, blew my socks off! Meanwhile … I don’t actually wear 🧦 (… just saying is all.) 

Here’s what hubby said to me: “What if ‘doing what He says’ is the very thing that is meant to sustain our lives today? NOW?” As you can see, I thought what he said was incredibly important… Meanwhile … I’m still thinking on it … that’s a really big mind-blowing thought! Sometimes the Lord just has to shift our gears and turn us in another direction to reveal Himself further. Like C.S. Lewis said: “Higher up and further in!”  PS … isn’t it interesting that this revelation came after I talked about … ‘MORE Lord,’ yesterday? 😶

However, my immediate response was this: ‘I’m sure I couldn’t say that!’ It was the word ‘sustain’ that grabbed me by the throat. Then I came up with questions. What does sustain mean? What actually refreshes me so much it is like food to me? Is doing what God wants my primary mission? I love to obey Him when He prompts me to do something, and it blows my mind and heart to watch Him at work … but … sadly no – at this stage I don’t think I could say it is food and drink to me. Because food and drink, like Jesus said, sustain life.

Jesus Christ never had to ‘try to be spiritual.’ As it says, at that particular moment, He was simply hungry. You know, I don’t think the Lord ever shifted His focus from God’s will the whole time He was on earth! Jesus was never distracted by this life. And at that moment, when He was talking to that lady at the well, that fed Him in a way that blows my mind. He was so specific later on when He talked to His disciples. He called that simple interaction, food. He wasn’t even obsessed at all, as we often are, with getting another soul into the kingdom! Jesus didn’t do that. He didn’t have altar calls, or a show of hands. He let the truth loose to speak for itself. 

Imagine walking through this life, with all its twists and turns, so full of the life and love of God, when things bump into you – you spill that life and love everywhere. “Do me like that please Lord!” Amen!

Back to my point. What the Lord said to His disciples wasn’t a metaphor either! Jesus meant real food. He was energised and satisfied in His flesh by something He did in the Spirit. Doesn’t that just blow your mind? What a wonderful consequence to doing the will of God … We know that He walked minute by minute with the Holy Spirit, wherever He went. They flowed together to please the Father and impact mankind. 🤯 !

You know, when I look at some of the marvellous saints who have gone home before me, I stand rebuked by their strong faith and purpose. I can see there were many who have since died, who were definitely sustained in this life by what they did in faith. Their lives were lived in pure dedication to making His Name famous. People with hearts like the Moravians. Who left homes and families behind in this life to serve Christ in the darkest places on the earth. They had such devotion to Him. The very thought of those actions is astonishing to our hedonistic society – Jesus is more of a hobby, than a lifestyle. 

When I look at the Christian world around me I see many people who want to make a profit, as well as – making His Name famous and His will known. In my opinion, because we are the people who follow and want to serve Jesus Christ, we would be so much better off to be FED by what the Lord asks us to do – before we ever go on to those … “other things that He said would be added unto us!”

Instead we can easily end up living this life expecting Him to serve us, and as a consequence, sometimes we are disappointed when the outworking of our faith doesn’t meet our expectations. So here’s my conclusion, and it turned out to be an outrageous pun. At the very least – that verse is FOOD for thought! Bye. 👋🏻