Exercised

P 3395 He is faithful.

/ DVH

“For we have already experienced “heart-circumcision,” and we worship God in the power and freedom of the Holy Spirit, not in laws and religious duties. We are those who boast in what Jesus Christ has done, and not in what we can accomplish in our own strength.” Philippians 3:3 TPT.

We need to learn to use our faith in His goodness, no matter what is going on around us. Heart circumcision occurs when we allow the Holy Spirit to cut away all those things that will make us stumble, lose faith, become discouraged, or forget what Jesus died to give us. We are exhorted to worship God in the Holy Spirit’s power and the freedom we have already been given. We can stay in our old-life chains by choice, but those chains cannot actually bind us anymore! We must push against them using our faith. What binds us is our perception. It simply feels like we can’t do it. Remember satan always wants to illegally imprison us. 

It is always our choice to totally rely upon what the Lord Jesus said and did – despite the hard things we will face as we choose to live that way. Like a butterfly struggles to be free of its cocoon, you and I need to struggle against those whispers that run about our brain telling us ‘following Jesus is futile … it’s all too hard.’ All that ghastly stuff our enemy whispers to us in our darkest moments. Even our day-to-day circumstances can seem to conspire against us.  Like Paul said very succinctly in 2 Corinthians 4:8-10. 

“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.” 

What does this faith walk look like in real life? It looks like these verses describe — daily death to self, and complete surrender. We will have times of despair when we stretch and use our faith to live for Him. It is normal! Jesus suffered that way too. And living a life of love in this unloving world can be hard. But because we don’t just want to pay lip-service to God, then we must, with His help … conquer those things in our lives that want to cloud our view of Him and His will. 

Overcoming is not just about standing somewhere, looking victorious, with our flag lifted high, and light flashing off us everywhere!  It’s far more about that person who is bloodied and bruised and on their knees, weeping before their King. You can tell a seasoned saint, their love is more than skin deep. You and I may not always initially conquer stuff – but now we know where to go! This means we will fight our own thoughts, other people’s comments, our old tendency to sin, and circumstances. Plus other people’s sins against us.

As I have said before, God’s timetable and ours may not be the same, but the secret is to not quit, just because His ways are far above ours. His plans are already in place. When we defer to Him, we will be blessed to see Him do what He loves best – loving on people and setting them free. That includes US! Let’s remember what the bible says – first, last and always. The Holy Spirit’s goal is the total transformation of our hearts, souls, minds and bodies, so we can be in this world like He was.

“Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.” 3 John 1:2. Amen!

The reality is, our faith in His goodness will be stretched. Faith needs to be exercised, but just like physical exercise, it ain’t always fun! We can’t afford to skip reading the bible, praying, or living this life with Him centred in our thoughts. Our aim is to do what He says, so we purpose in our hearts to know and trust Him, no matter how things look. That is the place we choose to stand. And if I flop over, or you flop over in despair occasionally, there will be no judgment. We may have to wait to see what He will do, but in reality, our opinions aren’t worth a bean, be-cau-se … He always has a far better plan than we can imagine.

There can be times when we can’t find the Lord, or hear Him well enough to follow Him, and that is simply because our souls aren’t prospering. This has nothing whatsoever to do with how we feel, even though our feelings may be jumping up and down and shouting at us. Instead it has everything to do with Who and what we are looking at. We’ve been told to fix our eyes on Jesus – He’s the Author and Finisher of our faith. Disappointed eyes see so much less than faith-filled eyes can see. We are to live this life, cherishing His character and what He has done, and we refuse to budge.

Total commitment is essential to survival. Almighty God is not SomeOne Who serves us – it is the other way around – we serve Him. Our Christian walk is all about faith because: “…without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6. Remember Peter was looking at Jesus as he walked on the water, then he looked at his circumstances – and his faith fell over and his body started to sink. 

In the darkest of times we must “hold fast to what …(we know) …is good …” 1 Thessalonians 5:21. GOD IS GOOD, hold onto Him!  With all my heart I believe that there is true spiritual breakthrough in front of each and everyone of the members of His body. Let’s practice using our faith no matter what is going on around us. “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for ”HE WHO PROMISED IS FAITHFUL.” Hebrews 10:23. Bye 🙏.

P 3069 Our true purpose.

/ DVH

The more we live our lives focussed on our God-given purpose, the stronger that purpose becomes. Jesus Christ’s purpose is now our purpose. We inherited His calling. So now we are here to destroy the works of the evil one, and present God’s goodness to a world that already has a very bad definition of goodness!! However, if what we believe is an extra, or an add-on, then we will have very little grace to give away to others. Meanwhile whether the other people deserve what I am giving them or not, is Jesus’ territory not mine!

In really difficult circumstances, each one of us can experience a bankruptcy of faith, and end up doing the opposite of what we know to be true. Simply because the external and internal pressure can appear to get bigger than our knowledge of His Grace toward us. So we need to access His Love and Grace daily, because the bank of suck-it-up-buttercup, will fail! Sadly, when I try to deal with stuff in my own strength, that is often when I end up giving someone else an unwanted piece of my mind. Nastiness is such a waste of time, however, knowing our true purpose helps us to hone our spiritual attributes and instincts.

The Lord Jesus wants us to go to Him when we need His Grace, His Love, His Faith, because He has more than we will ever need! At the same time He also longs to lavish His love on us daily. Plus He wants us to grow up into His likeness – that’s our true purpose.

His help also includes whatever we need when we are dealing with other people. Other people can stretch our faith mercilessly, and when our faith is being stretched, it becomes harder to access His Grace and Love. That’s the growing edge. It helps me to remember that no matter what else is going on, Jesus’ love was always “on” so His Grace is essential in everything we do.

Grace helps me realise God doesn’t take sides – He is for all of us. I have no idea how He does that! Instead I go with the thought that He’s God, and so He can do the impossible! Sadly I often need a whole lot of roadwork to get there. However, He is so gracious, He will answer my prayer for help – even if it is half-hearted!

I don’t know what circumstances will present themselves today, unexpectedly… or when I will need His Grace to disarm fear, rejection, resentment etc. in myself. or from someone else. Grace is a great equaliser. However I don’t distribute His Grace like a powerful person would bestow a favour – instead, grace becomes a part of who I am, and giving it away is normal. I have learnt from experience, that if I tell Him I need it, He will always give it to me. I just need to  to ask Him! If I can control ME, by staying in the Grace of God, then I don’t need to control YOU!

My Faith in Who He is, and what He did for us all, is  an important foundation to anything that happens. My faith won’t be built up if I am not using it – because it needs to be stretched, and exercised – bit by bit. Meanwhile, five cents worth of faith probably won’t be all that useful when the sky is falling! I like to start my days by acknowledging that I need Him. He says He will supply everything I need, so that means I go right past my own efforts to look good, or feel justified, and focus on HIS CHARACTER instead.

That’s the only sure thing in the middle of chaos. Who He is. My own needs or irritations can easily cloud any issues, but fortunately, His Character is unchanging! If I choose to only use my faith like I am just renting it, or borrowing it – I will quite quickly find out I’ve sprung a leak! I must take ownership of my own faith! Faith is not faith when it is not owned, or used – instead it is more like wishful thinking. Faith needs to be visible and demonstrated. That demonstration pulls faith from the realm of the unknown, into this known world.

Our loving actions toward others can display our faith better than our words ever could. This also means I will choose to not put my focus on spiritual gifts, but rather I choose to focus on building Grace, Love, and Faith into my life as He leads me. Those other things will get ‘added unto me’ when I choose to concentrate on living a life of love, not self-centred defensiveness and anger. 

The need to change often appears in the form of a difficult problem, a destructive person, an impossible situation, or when things suddenly seem to be going upside down. Finding the Lord’s eternal attributes in those moments means I must deliberately decide to yield to Him. What I mean by that is this — I give up! I stop trying to find a solution, or an exit, or an excuse for my cranky attitude, and instead I wait for Him to lead me through the drama in front of me. Instant solutions are over-rated, sometimes all we learn from them is self-justification and presumption.   

Love is the kingdom we deliberately choose to live in. Grace is Jesus’ coin of that realm, and using our Faith to get those things, is the way to access whatever we need to fulfil His purpose in our lives. Bye. 👋

“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 are going public with this, as public as a city on a hill…” Matthew 5:14-16.