Enjoy Him

P3450 Letting the Lord’s colours IN.

/ DVH

Even a few minutes daily, when we are distracted from the busyness of this world, is so good for our souls and mental health. Looking out of the window of a train, or watching a nature program, even watching your children sleep, all these things are free and there for us to enjoy. I love to watch the natural world ticking over doing stuff without my permission, it helps me realise I don’t have to hold even one bit of this world up. That’s SomeOne Else’s job!  

At our house, hubby is putting together a wild garden at the front … the poor man… I get these grand ideas and hubby gets to carry them out! However, he too enjoys what it looks like!! Hubby still has to work but he does it under the Lord’s input and supervision. We have a semitropical garden, so some plants died, because wild meadows seem to do better in cold countries. I’ve put some pictures in today, they are not from our garden, but they were so pretty! That’s what we are aiming at.

In our front yard, we’ve had quails under the front steps, plovers nesting, bin chickens continually raiding the bins – even the cockatoos have a go at that! We have billions of Indian mina birds. They are noisy, conceited little blighters, and they poop on our car. It seems that they like looking at their own reflections. I guess that happens when you have a bird with a brain the size of a pea. 

Plus we have our greatly loved local lorikeets, a blue tongued lizard, frogs and water dragons. Once a praying mantis gave birth in our wisteria, to about a billion little praying mantises. They were so perfect and tiny! We also have butterflies galore, along with blue banded bees, great carpenter bees, and teddy bear bees. The list goes on and on. It’s nearly spring here, it is definitely worth sticking your head out of the window to take a breath and take in the world around you waking up from winter.

Doing that is restful. Sometimes I think that our minds are so busy they don’t seem to know how to slow down and enjoy the scenery along the way. We are too busy rushing from A to B, picking up the kids and dropping them off at C, while we rush on to D and get our shopping done. On a good day we can sometimes go through the whole alphabet! However, this kind of action and activities won’t support us so we are contented happy people. 

Here’s a bible verse to think on at such moments, Genesis 1:31: “God saw all that He had made, and it was very good…” Did you know that the words – “God said it was good…” appears seven times? If He said all He saw was good, then perhaps we need to take note of that and take the time to enjoy it more? After all GOOD is a very big word to Father God! Could it be we have become so caught up in the practicalities of this life, we can no longer enjoy anything that doesn’t have a screen? This earth is the setting into which God Himself chose to put us – we are His jewels.

Jesus told us clearly there is a rest we are to enter into.   He called it HIS rest. “For only we who believe can enter His rest. As for the others, God said, “In my anger I took an oath: ‘They will never enter My place of rest,’” even though this rest has been ready since He made the world.” Hebrews 4:3. This rest is what God Himself did on the 7th day of creation. We’ve made that 7th day about religion, but it was given to us to relax, breathe and enjoy Him. It is symbolic of the way the Lord wants us to live.  If we are not resting in God as we go about our day, then whatever we are doing, we are labouring in vain. Our faith is the key to entering into His rest. We simply believe He has taken care of our lives – the bits behind us, and the bits that are current — plus whatever is coming next!

He made this world for us to enjoy, and He gave us His Son to clear away every bit of the sin and debris that separated us from Him. What Jesus did for us, allows US to rest. Rest is the way Father God thinks, because the work is already done. Out of that rest comes everything else we do. For me that means I step back, take a big breath, and ask for His help, before I do anything and everything. It’s a matter of reminding myself I live in His kingdom now.

We live in His processes – no matter what is going on around us. We are kingdom people! You and I have chosen to live our lives His way. There is true rest when the work has already been done and you get to enjoy what someone else has laboured over. My little wild garden, is an example of the kind of free blessing God has given us. I don’t need to work in it, instead my dear husband works to keep it alive and thriving. That’s what the Lord’s rest is like, we do what He says, and we find the work has already been done! 

Even though we do need to take care of our families, our loved ones, our homes — we must choose to remember that nothing happens to us, or through us, that God doesn’t already know about. Let’s enjoy the world around us, work hard, play, and … do everything from His rest. REST IS IN …. STRIVING IS OUT. Now, we live out our lives in what He did for us, using our faith and following His prompts, living this life His Way.  

You and I don’t have to be driven by anything, we simply hold His hand and go where He goes, and enjoy the colours He put in our lives along the way. Bye 👋.

P 3072 Make yours a life well lived.

/ DVH

“Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colours in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:16 MSG.

The person we need to be is the one Almighty God planned for us to be when He created us. Did you know there’s a big difference between the person you’ve become – because life’s bashed you up a bit – and the person God intended when He created you? That difference is our learning curve. I’m older, I’ve bumped into a lot of learning curves. 

You know, old age is not always the drag everybody thinks it is. Old people are way less threatening to young ones when their hair gets white and they kind of hobble about. Old people don’t constitute a threat. If you are really fortunate and your family is kind, now you can tell the same stories over and over again, and not realise you are doing it. While they all listen politely. Now there’s a perk! Meanwhile you might look a bit addlepated. Oh well. 

However! The bible has a whole other idea about who we ALL are! You and I, we are the light. When we walk into a room, that whole room is flooded with His light, because He goes with us. This means that we can tell the difference between this life’s fake stuff and the real. God’s light bulb inside us, is so bright, all the hollow useless stuff shows up instantly. We can waste the time He gave us striving to look cool, or clever, or wise … or we can enjoy Him. You can’t do both. What a great pity it is when God’s people stumble around in the dark when we were made to shine, and give Him glory by doing it.

That verse above tells us the very best and only way to keep our faith alive. We must use it. I can guarantee using it will be extremely inconvenient, and pride will probably fall on its head as we learn to do what the Lord wants. For so many years, I tried hard to be kind and caring – but – people would annoy me and then I’d have to avoid them. In that process I picked up awful attitudes toward other people! Trying is out – doing it anyway is in. 

Hubby and I have been doing peculiar things for years, as the Lord guides us – we don’t think of them as outrageous, we think of them adventures with the Holy Spirit and Jesus. The bible tells us in 1 Peter 2:9 that we have been chosen to be ‘a peculiar people.’  We try to live up to that. So we’ve done things that people said would never work, and sometimes they did and sometimes they didn’t – but every single time we had to use our faith. I keep telling you, eleven good Godly men sat in that boat watching Peter walk on the water. They were safe, but they didn’t stretch their faith!

I walked around for 2 years, about 45 years ago, claiming God had healed my eyesight. I was taught that I could have whatever I wanted, and I wanted to see without glasses. A-n-d … He didn’t heal my eyes. Instead I became stuck down the hole of my own proclamation of healing when I was actually as blind as a bat. Sadly I was far stupider than bats are – they have radar! I crossed busy roads, went on trains, did all the usual stuff, claiming I was healed. Would you like to know the miracle in all that dumb? I was never in danger for a second, not one. Isn’t He amazing??!! My Heavenly Father took care of me in all my stupidity. I repented and went and got glasses again, but I learnt you can huff and puff, but you cannot twist God’s arm.

However, I did learn something else that is very important – God is wa-ay bigger than our mistakes.The smart thing is to jump into His river and let Him steer your little boat. My life, thus far, has not been boring — and neither is the Lord! Bringing out ‘the God-colours’ in this world involves innovation and creativity and a positive attitude. We are the most blessed people on earth – we can’t DIE. When we leave here, we go to heaven. Win, win! Many times we are clinging to the things that cannot last, and ignoring the things that DO. Desperately trying to distract ourselves from who we’ve become in the meantime.

We say stupid things like: “IF God heals me, I will serve Him. Or if God fixes my kid, my marriage, my relationships, my job, then I will serve Him.” Who said we have that option? We serve Him because He is Almighty God! The bible is not an either/or book. Have you read the Old Testament lately? God is incredibly good, but it’s HIS way or the highway. The people who are alive in these times need hope. HOPE is Jesus’ middle Name! Well, it’s one of them, the Lord has a lot of middle Names. (Prince of peace, Mighty God…) !!

“Sing God a brand-new song! Earth and everyone in it, sing! Sing to God—worship God! Shout the news of His victory from sea to sea, Take the news of His glory to the lost, News of His wonders to one and all!” Psalm 96:3 MSG. The God of all the Universe made you to shine. Make a decision to make your life a life that is well-lived, and not just a safe one! Bye. 👋 

P 2950 Not every voice is His.

/ DVH

There is an ad on TV at the moment, that has this poor overwhelmed schmuck at work. You can kind of tell he is brow-beaten down by his job. And other people keep adding to what this guy is supposed to do as he walks by them. So he ends up with post-it notes all over him, computers stuck to his back and arms, and files stuck on him everywhere. He is weighed down by it all, as it gets added to, minute by minute. In the end he can barely drag himself about.

Eventually he goes outside for a break, still dragging himself and all the attached guff with him. He breaks the you-beaut-yummy chocolate bar into two and everything attached to him drops off! … end of story. And no! I have no intention of telling you what kind of magic chocolate bar that is!! Imagine what the sales on something like that could do? The mind boggles.

Back to the blog … Christianity can be a bit like that ad. This Godly person says that great thing, that preacher writes a great book, and we can become weighed down by information that becomes stuck on the outside of ourselves. Adding to the pile of stuck-on-junk by insisting we learn this thing and that principle from the bible. 

My point is not about what we stick on ourselves — my point today is about the weight of ‘the stuff’ we carry about. We personally choose to stick stuff on the outside of us and we let others do it too because we are hoping to become ‘more spiritual.’ We say that God loves each one of us just the way we are – and then we act like we’d better watch out because He is just waiting to catch us doing something we shouldn’t! Fear has no place in faith, or LOVE either. The Lord is not sitting about tut-tutting because this person or that one does not understand Him. He loves the multitudes – their sin, our SIN separates us from Him.

That guy in the ad magically improved his life just by eating a chocolate bar! Now wouldn’t that be nice? But the idea is an interesting one. Because the Godly things we choose to digest, and act upon, become a part of us and we don’t have to drag stuff around with us like the tail on a kite anymore! Anything that is stuck onto us on the outside will drop off under pressure. The aim is for our hearts to change, not just our behaviour.

Isn’t that a great thought? To know what is right and want to do it, empowered by Grace, and standing in perfect freedom. I honestly don’t think we need any more information – we need to start applying what we already know, until it becomes part of us. We’ve become so used to stuffing things into our heads, our hearts have become burdened by the weight of them! Christianity is not meant to feel like a weight.

Jesus said this in Matthew:11:28-30: “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

So when I go to church I ‘listen carefully’ to the pastor, but I am learning from Jesus! I’m listening for what my Heavenly Father wants to say to me, personally…What is He saying to me today?  I’m always looking for His rest because that’s what He said He will give me when I learn from Him! Personally I don’t need any more weight to lug about, because I can find plenty by myself… That’s not a life-skill by the way, it’s dumb.

Our God will always want to share Himself and His knowledge with us. However, this life is not about some exclusive prophets and seers club. ”For His divine power has bestowed on us [absolutely] everything necessary for [a dynamic spiritual] life and godliness, through true and personal knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.” 2 Peter 1:3.  He gives all of us these graces for free to help us to grow and follow Him.

The bible also states…“‘Call to Me and I will answer you, and tell you [and even show you] great and mighty things, [things which have been confined and hidden], which you do not know and understand and cannot distinguish.”Jeremiah 33:3. Our natural minds don’t always understand the things of the Spirit, but that does not mean He is not sharing great and mighty things with us. Just like we need spiritual eyes to see the people around us, we need spiritual ears to hear what God is saying to us. If we listen for rules we will hear rules, if we listen for His love toward us we will hear it. His love by the way, never sounds like permission to do something we know is not-so-good.

At the same time what the Lord says, isn’t always something terribly deep and meaningful, or profound and mind boggling. Almighty God talks “ordinary human being!”  He did that in the garden. We see Jesus do it in the Gospels, the Lord was not condescending to anyone. Instead He engaged with His listeners and He spoke at their level. 

God’s word is like that chocolate bar in the crazy Ad. His word instantly pushes burdens off your back and leaves you free to enjoy Him and your life, despite its ups and downs. Always remember, He is not speaking to the guy behind you or the lady in front of you – He is speaking to you! He wants to speak words of loving affirmation to you. Just be aware that not every voice you hear is His. We can count on the fact that when He speaks to us, He is leading us forward. Bye, 👋.