Equip

P 3256 Make a decision to be thankful.

/ DVH

Obviously after yesterday, you can see I have so much to be thankful for! But I want to talk about the reason I   made this decision… Life has a way of whizzing by us, day by day by day. In fact, bad things or good things are often an interruption to the ordinariness of life. The problem with living an ordinary life is that you think you are ordinary, and you don’t matter… we become passive, not active.

Almighty God has made us His house! Whether we feel like it or not. That’s not ordinary. It seems to me that we think like this because we have come to believe there is another breed of Christians, a special, elite, gifted group. Super saints, people who have ministries and gifts and hoopla surrounding them. Spiritual gifts are not just for a selective group. We all have them!  Maybe you just haven’t found yours yet? 

In Ephesians 4:8: “Therefore it says,“When HE ascended on high, HE led captivity captive, And HE bestowed gifts on men.” and in Ephesians 4:11-13: “Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do His work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.”

Spiritual gifts are given to build up the body. We have often put an emphasis on this kind of verse in the wrong place. GOD has given gifts to men, so we will become mature in Christ. It is the Giver that matters, not the gifts or the men or women! These gifts have His purposes on them. It is never good to elevate the people God has given them to. Because of these gifts in our own lives, we can see the Lord’s incredible generosity toward all of us and be thankful!.He knows maturity is beyond human beings, so He has given people all over the Body of Christ supernatural gifts to help us move from the natural, to the supernatural, and from the mundane, into the heavenly realms.

Almighty God gave and we receive. Who is greater? The Giver or the receiver? You do the sum. The Body of Christ seems firmly stuck on the gifts, or the ‘ministry.’ He gives gifts to ordinary people to showcase His own extraordinariness! Once He made a donkey talk, and the donkey made good sense! We are not all that — HE is all that! That’s the POV we need to cling to. Mankind is not equipped to handle the kind of fame that can be slathered all over those who are famous. 

By elevating the gift over the Lord, we have put undue attention and pressure on those people who do have a gift. All Peter did when he prayed for the lame man was give what he had, He didn’t say “I have the gift of healing and a word of knowledge for you” He gave what he already had. It came from His relationship with Jesus! When we give thanks we put God back into His rightful place in our lives. He’s our King, brother, Saviour. (James 1:17)

It’’s the Lord that we need to thank, not the men and women who He has gifted! When I hear someone or other did something incredibly dumb, and they are famous, I feel compassion and pity for them. Fame goes to people’s heads – only God can bear it. That’s why the bible tells us: “to make HIS Name famous!” (Psalm 45:17) Anything else can cause chaos, God is always our first thought, not man. Thank HIM for HIS gift, and praise Him for helping us through others.

Thankfulness is a way of life – we can learn it. Step by step. The way into that life is to acknowledge that “without Him we can do nothing permanent.” (John 15:5)  Jesus Himself said that! At the same time we need to live with the reality that we too have been given gifts to benefit the Body, so whatever happens to us has His hand on it. We know we have been blessed because He is a generous God. Giving up the right to approval by man, comes under the heading of complete submission to God, and it won’t always give us a happy ride. There are so many things we can learn through difficulties and hardship, including the fact that the Lord Himself is not fazed by them! That’s why we give thanks.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:18 it says: “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” We are told to give thanks in every thing…if we want to know God’s will for us, here is a big fat clue… GIVE THANKS to Him, no matter what happens. Yeah, I know, it sounds upside down, but ‘God’s ways aren’t our ways…’  (Isaiah 55:8-9.) And faith would not be faith if it was something we could be certain about! Giving thanks changes gears. We stop looking at the problem, and start wondering how the Lord is going to get us out of this one! Sometimes hard things just fade away … sometimes we see a clear solution … that bit doesn’t matter. Giving thanks for all He is and what He is doing right now … changes gears.

It shifts our perspective from earth to heaven because the bible says: “we are seated in heavenly places with Christ.” Ephesians 2:6. Again, this scripture is something the Body of Christ has seen as a bragging point, rather than seeing it as a gift! When what Jesus did for us, was so complete, it seated us with Him! We didn’t climb up there, or earn that place, it was given to us, no matter how spiritual we seem to others. If we continue to read the bible with the accent only on what’s in it to benefit me – we won’t comprehend what He has given us, that we don’t deserve.  We will overlook the opportunity we have to make a decision to be thankful. Bye. 👋

P 3243 Using our faith can be scary.

/ DVH

Are you cheered up yet? Seriously — Jesus told us: “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33. He has a way to overcome whatever is going on in our lives. The Lord may not take the trouble away. Believe it or not, faith grows when we hang on to His goodness, even if it is by our fingernails. I think the Lord means that whatever it is coming at us, He’s already conquered it through the cross. We need a way through, more often than we need a way out!

In the past, I’ve wanted to throw my hands in the air and give up too easily. The giving UP part is not all bad —if you THROW yourself upon HIM—- but sadly, my own impatience, together with fear and negative responses, were keeping my faith under a lid. Faith is not meant to be suffocated – it needs to act and breathe Holy Spirit air. Now I just give everything to Jesus and leave it with Him. That can be a bit hair-raising, because the Lord always has His own timetable, however His kindness toward my growing faith In Him is always lovingly constant. 

The thing is, our Father’s plan is for us to grow up into the fullness of Jesus. “So Christ Himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip His people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” Ephesians 4:11-13.

That prophet, evangelist, pastor or teacher up the front of your church week by week is not simply there to become famous, or have a big church. That person is there to help you, as an individual, to grow to be like Jesus. The criteria for a great leader isn’t whether we like what they preach for not – it’s whether they challenge us week by week into using our own faith! Jesus learnt obedience through suffering. (Hebrews 5:8)  Yet He lived to do His Father’s Will! If that’s not what is happening to us, then we may have stepped into error and stopped listening or reading carefully. We can be deceived into thinking that  we are always supposed to like what the leader says. Phooey. That’s called tickling our ears. 

These things are a tests, and they can prevent us from living by faith. It’s an attitude of submissiveness that matters. We’ve been pampered for way too long. I think we need to learn how to be transformed by our circumstances, and become humble like Jesus was humble. He learnt from His earthly mother, father and teachers. Let’s remember …at the same time …He only made the Universe! His Mum once told Him ‘these people need a miracle please Son … ‘ and He did it.The fact that Jesus wasn’t keen on the idea helps me to realise that doing it is more important than liking it!  The Living Word submitted to earthly parents. Need I say more?

I don’t know why others go gaga over this subject, truly I don’t! For me this is a no-brainer. Sometimes people get into little groups, and then they prophesy criticism and doom over their leaders. You know, our God’s arms aren’t short! (Isaiah 59:1.) He’s still in charge, so unless the leader tells you to throw your kid into the mouth of Molech, or some other idiotic thing – remember, our God can teach us in a wilderness!  We could be amazed if we choose to let His love prevail, instead of our opinions. We gotta stop using the bible as a club to whack people who don’t happen to agree with us, upside-the-head.

Yesterday, we talked about swimming. Today I urge you to think about running, Even when we think we can go no further, our faith is destined for growth. Look at a long distance runner. They train their bodies, stretching them, so that they can go the distance. Hopefully, we are stretching our faith daily, training it to go further than we’ve ever gone before. Meanwhile, there are times when I can feel like I don’t have enough faith to blow my hat off! Let’s be logical for a second – how can I raise the dead when I can’t raise my own hopes? God already knows how to grow our faith, we need to simply take the next step, and that’s in the book. 

The next step might be telling someone you can’t stand that you are sorry that you haven’t been the sister/brother/mother/father/child/friend/believer you could have been! Repentance opens doors that are normally nailed shut. It even opens doors for that other person too! Our whole church society has become risk-averse. The people-who-don’t-know-Him-yet have an excuse, they have reprobate hearts. So they often blame the people who raised them for making them that way! Blame is a waste of energy and good health and it ought not to be so. In God’s world …we run on faith.

Let’s take some responsibility for our own actions. Nobody can change our past, but it is a great pity to let our past decisions run our future actions! The Bride-of-Christ simply must learn to take risks, by following our Bridegroom into the hard places. Following Jesus can be scary – you never know what He might ask you to do next! Bye. 👋

P 2785 “To each one of us …”

/ DVH

In the bible it says that the Lord Himself gave gifts to the church … read these scriptures along with me: “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says: “When He ascended on high, He took many captives and gave gifts to His people… …” 11-13 “So Christ Himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip His people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” Ephesians 4:7-8,11-13. We don’t have to wait for our birthday, or Christmas! Jesus has given us all gifts to help us grow and know Him…NOW!

“There are different kinds of gifts. But they are all given to believers by the same Spirit. There are different ways to serve. But they all come from the same Lord. There are different ways the Spirit works. But the same God is working in all these ways and in all people. The Holy Spirit is given to each of us in a special way. That is for the good of all.”1 Corinthians 12:4-7.

“If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly. Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honouring each other. 

Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all! Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honourable.” Romans 12:7-17.

Today, I want to say, loudly – that, despite how you might feel, you have a gift. Actually you could easily have more than one of them!! But don’t ask me what they are, it took me a while to figure out what I am here to do! This Grace the Lord has given me to help others, has also helped me to feel that I have a place within the Body of Christ.

Many Christians have excused themselves from being activated for His kingdom, on the grounds that they are not worthy, or clever enough, or gifted enough, or they don’t know what they are supposed to do, or they don’t have time and they hope that the Lord understands! However, we all need your contribution. You don’t have to be an evangelist standing on the back of a flat-bed truck, you simply need to live a life of Love everywhere you go, towards everyone you meet, and be prepared to give an account of the hope within you.  That will stretch everyone’s faith and your gift will rise up as a result.

The thing is, this New Covenant we share is an agreement between us and the Lord – it’s a promise that we enter into between Him and us, and it is binding. (Read the book!) Jesus covered our sins with His blood, so we can be free to live the life God planned for us to live … and it is never too late to start. Jesus deliberately provided us with SomeOne Who will always help us and never leave us. SomeOne Who will teach us His ways, and help us with the process of transformation. It’s the Holy Spirit.

One day, not long ago, I woke up and realised that my complete spiritual poverty,  is my strength.🤔 So today, the Lord asked me to remind you of your place in His Body by using His Word. The Holy Spirit wants you to know that there is a place in His plans for you. Sometimes, for a small group of people, that is a place that is seen, and for many, many, many others, they will remain unseen. But He has promised to touch us all in extraordinary ways, with supernatural gifts.. I look forward to the day when the vast, unseen multitudes of ordinary Christians step into what He has for them.

So today, I just want to encourage everybody reading this, He wants you to participate in His plan in the lives of those people you know and influence. He needs you to be you. Who you are, because of His Presence in your life, will reach others. Last of all, I want to use my favourite vehicle, the bible, to pray for you. I am totally convinced He will answer these prayers because they rely upon His faithfulness, not on anyone’s ability.  

“I pray with great faith for you, because I’m fully convinced that the One who began this gracious work in you will faithfully continue the process of maturing you until the unveiling of our Lord Jesus Christ!” Philippians 1:6 TPT. “And I pray that He would unveil within you the unlimited riches of His glory and favour until supernatural strength floods your innermost being with His divine might and explosive power.” Ephesians 3:16 TPT.“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” Colossians 3:23-24. Amen. God gives gifts to each one of us. Bye. 👋

P 2532 There is reading the bible … OR … letting the bible READ YOU.

/ DVH

Psalm 19:10 “God’s Word is better than a diamond, better than a diamond set between emeralds.You’ll like it better than strawberries in spring, better than red, ripe strawberries.”  Now there’s an interesting statement!

One of the best things we can do as the Lord’s disciples is to let His book read us. His Word is like our mirror. Hmmm… First of all, I gotta say that I don’t much like normal, live-in-your-house mirrors, anymore! This old lady that I-don’t-know keeps sticking her head in front of mine and ruining my perfect view of the thirty year old I-used-to-be!! I dunno how she does it, but there she is, liver spots and all, staring back at me! Like I said — not fond of mirrors! I have a strange feeling other people feel like me regarding God’s Word. We don’t like what we see.

As Christians, I think we need to continually remind ourselves that our plans are not His plans. THAT’S WHY WE READ THE BOOK – to find out HIS plan. I read the bible with the Holy Spirit, He’s the One Who knows what I am meant to find out about myself every day! Please take my advice, the mirror of God’s Word is our friend, no matter how old we are. Don’t let the view in it – spoil your reading. Remember, our debt was paid. Confess your faults, repair, restore … and move on … 

The secret of real lasting growth, as well as gaining the ability to hear His voice, is to read what He has said, and then go and live it out – every single day. There are no shortcuts. I read until I find something I don’t know, or haven’t done – then stop and ask myself why not? ‘Why am I not obeying this verse? Am I letting myself off the hook by telling myself that this verse was for back then, not now?’ We need to look for God’s story in His book. His way of doing things is in what we read … “His word brings us light.”

One of the easiest prayers, like E-V-E-R … to get answered is to ask the Lord … “do I do this?”  OR  “how would you like me to obey this one Jesus?” Here’s another brilliant one, for free – “who am I mad at Lord?”  Do take a pencil, you will probably need it. Arguing or making excuses about what we read prevents growth. Just repent etc. Repentance never killed anyone. Obedience to God’s Word is one of the primary requirements Christians are missing today. BTW, this is a CO-operative process! Telling God you agree without finding out the solution and applying it – is a rort.

In other words, when we read the word of God we can’t just leave it with Him without engaging with Him in behavioural change. I guess there are times when we read the bible and think: ”Gee, my auntie, cousin, sister, father, friend-at-church ought to read this, it would do them good.” That’s called distraction! The minute we have that thought we need to ask Him: “what’s in this verse for me, Lord?” We must stop pretending that we have arrived, and enter willingly and gladly into His processes, because they will bring us closer to Him. Despite popular opinion, we will not explode if we find out we are doing something wrong. It is simply an opportunity for change.

The Holy Spirit is always with us. He wants us to win. The more we overcome those sins that we think we can’t help doing – the stronger our faith in His ability to move … in our hearts, on our lives, and through us … becomes. Please do not misunderstand me, we don’t have to be perfect to be used by God to further His kingdom here on earth. But just like getting excess WAX taken out of our earthly ears helps us to hear — getting rid of the things that are holding our faith back from real growth, helps to equip us to do what He sent us here to do!

Too many wonderful Christians have been shot in the foot by unresolved issues! There are things in our lives that we do, that Jesus would not do, and they need to be confronted and submitted to Him. Those things distract us from our primary purpose. To love and serve Him, and others. We can use our energy to avoid change, or we can use our energy to facilitate that change. That choice is always ours.

At the same time we need to remember, sometimes even in our own households, we are the catalyst for change in others. We all have influence. We have been given influence because we belong to Him. Almighty God has brought many people into our lives for the purpose of using our faith to stimulate theirs, and that includes our children. My best advice is to learn to let the bible read you … the results will draw us all closer to Him. Isaiah 59:2 “There’s nothing wrong with God; the wrong is in you. Your wrongheaded lives caused the split between you and God. Your sins got between you so that He doesn’t hear.” MSG. 👋

P 2285 Ambassadors for His kingdom.

/ DVH

We all know this song, some of us probably learnt it way back in children’s church…“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Matthew 6:33. 

So what does it mean to seek His kingdom first? In most instances, it means when His kingdom comes, that means MY kingdom will GO!  We are Jesus’ delegated ambassadors in this world of ours. We are here, in this time, and in this place, to be living examples of the kingdom of God in action. In effect, any sort of ambassador is a walking, talking, active representative from somewhere else.

And if you find that thought daunting, or even a little bit overpowering, then you are in exactly the right place. It is not in us, as human beings, to bring His kingdom everywhere we go, by ourselves, but when we walk with the Holy Spirit, we go, wherever HE goes. The Holy Spirit takes the kingdom of God everywhere. He simply cannot help it. It is His nature.

Some earthly ambassadors serve abroad, and they take advantage of their power and position in their new community. This can also be true in the kingdom of God too. It is up to us how, where, and IF we serve His kingdom wherever He has called us to be. Our King is not a despot, He does not demand that we must serve Him, that choice is always ours. But we owe it to the King of Kings not to forget for a minute Who we re-present – and to keep in mind how we represent Him. 

It is a tragedy when we see salvation as the end point of our interaction with Almighty God, and put aside the reason we were saved – we were saved to serve Him, and others. If all we do with what we have been given, is use it to serve ourselves and our own agendas, then we have not understood the gospel. So who do we serve? The people around us, families, friends, strangers, whoever comes across our path. 

Jesus told a large number of parables about servants serving their Master – either well, or badly. And the point of each one was that when their Master was missing, there were some servants who did not carry out His wishes. How we carry out what He has given us to do, hinges on the talents, gifts and abilities the Lord has given to each one of us. But it is up to us to activate them and use them for the good of the rest of mankind. 

In effect, we should not treat the check-out girl in the supermarket any differently than we treat Brother ‘Everybody-knows-his-name!’ We should be the same person in our homes, even under pressure, that we are in our churches when we are smiling and saying ‘good morning’ to each other. God did not promise us a safe life, but He did promise to protect us. The lack of perceived safety in situations, is a poor excuse for disobedience. He promises all of us wisdom, guidance and provision among other things.

Jesus also spent a great deal of time teaching: ”the kingdom of God is like …” So we cannot say we do not know what His kingdom looks like because Christ described it over and over again. Read the book! If we miss doing what He asks us to do, then we need to repent before Him and others, and that’s what keeps us humble. In the past we have spent way too much time trying to make ourselves feel comfortable, trying to fix our past, and organise the future so we will be fit to serve Him. We work hard to be fit for the Master’s use but never actually get around to doing something.

It is the Holy Spirit’s role to equip us, along with His gifts operating in our churches. This demonstrates to me, that in the main we have not comprehended our role in His kingdom. Every single gift is important because each gift facilitates others. Our role is to obey Him as He leads us through His word, His inner voice and our circumstances. The bible doesn’t come with an opt out button if it doesn’t suit us. Not applying it to our lives is rebellion. 

When we look at Moses, Gideon, Samson, Ezekiel, Amos, Jeremiah and other prominent figures from His book, we can quickly see that obedience puts us in a position to succeed in our earthly role for His kingdom. We cannot pick and choose what we want to obey and what we don’t, because that is like standing with one foot in His kingdom, and one foot in the enemy’s kingdom. That will divide our mind and hearts, and blur our God-appointed roles.

It is a privilege to be an ambassador for Christ wherever we serve. Our main aim should be to seek and serve His kingdom, not build our own. Bye 👋🏻