Faith

P 2101 Learning curves

/ DVH


Mark 7:25-30 “In fact, as soon as she heard about Him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an impure spirit came and fell at His feet. The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter. “First let the children eat all they want,” He told her, “for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” “Lord,” she replied, “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” Then He told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.” She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.”

There are a number of things that bless my heart about this story. First of all, this lady knew exactly where her help was going to come from! She also knew how to persevere, plus she was prepared to be humble! It didn’t matter that the Lord Jesus seems to put her into a bad category in human eyes – she wanted His help more than she cared about what He called her, or what other people thought! She went to the Source for herself.

You know, over the last 50 years I must have read this scripture so many times! And as soon as I read it, I kind of mentally “put it on the shelf” – instead of asking questions. Because in my mind, this was written about someone who was in the wrong category. She wasn’t Jewish, she was Greek, and so she didn’t actually belong to the people Jesus came to speak to. She was kind of an ‘extra’ on the biblical set in the gospels. Yesterday I discovered what a mistake I had made. I forgot the golden rule … if it is in there then it has significance to me!

Well… that EXTRA,  was not just an ‘extra’ to the Lord – she got what she asked for! And I entered a new learning curve.

Have you ever wondered how so many precious people, who ARE truly Christians, including different denominational  groups – live their lives spiritually eliminating each other? In other words they think their theology is righter than the other guy’s. Maybe they even think they have the ONLY access to knowing what the Lord wants! 😶 Hmmm. There is a story that illustrates this point rather well. It is about two blind guys trying to tell each other what an elephant looks like. One is carefully feeling the tail, and the other the elephant’s ear and SO they start to argue. Both are right, a-n-d also wrong! The revelation always depends on where you are standing! 🤔

Back to these verses in Mark, I noticed something. This woman’s faith was her own, it was in Christ Himself.  There was no theological POV involved. Most times when I went somewhere for prayer, my faith was in the famous guy preaching or praying for people. I figured that God gave that man a gift so He could give me the healing I needed. In other words my theology was awry – I was not applying myself to find out for myself. 

However, that is not what happened here! This woman’s faith, humility, and boldness … took her somewhere. To Christ Himself. She didn’t just get an audience with Him because she humbled herself and persevered … she also got an answer. Then Jesus changed her circumstances. I realised that whatever is said to me, I need to run it by the Lord, first. We can all have our little theories as to why this and that happened but the reality is God can teach us through any situation. Our biggest fault is thinking we already know because somebody else told us. We cannot have second-hand faith – our own faith needs to get a work out interacting with Him and the bible.

This story reminded me of the verse: “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrews 4:16. I discovered, that a lot of what I thought I believed, was actually what someone else had experienced and believed, and then they told me, through a book, or at a church meeting. Then I adopted that POV for myself, because I liked what they said and they had scriptures to prove their point! I didn’t pray over it, or ask the Lord how He wanted ME to apply it – I just kind of stuck it in my heart-book of great things I really want to believe. In effect, I had second-hand faith!

This dear woman’s faith was absolutely in Christ. My faith was in another human being, not the Lord. Because I had no personal revelation of what God was saying to me – I was basing what I believed on someone else’s revelation! That’s when I realised that this is a really big learning curve – deliberately choosing to know this stuff for myself.  Assuming what we already know is all the truth there is, is a trap. We need to be open to be taught by the Holy Spirit whilst renewing our own minds through reading the bible for ourselves. 👋🏻

P 2100 Stre-tch-ing times.

/ DVH

My first comment today is in the form of a question. “How can we know what we truly believe, if we haven’t been tested?” Yeah, I know! Bring that up! 🙄 I don’t know about you, but I always hated exams. Instead, I loved assignments. But exams? Nah! Not-so-much. Sigh. The idea of testing of any kind gives me butterflies. 

Here are some verses we might sometimes like to quote at other people … a-n-d … we hope that somehow those verses won’t apply to us! (Fat chance.) “You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.” Deuteronomy 8:2. BTW, I know that verse is in the Old Testament, I would just like to mention that those O.T. pages are still in my bible – how about yours?  If “…every promise in the book is MINE…” then so are all the instructions and corrections! Jesus completed our salvation – He didn’t eliminate the need for it! It’s a process – ya might want to think about that one. 🤔

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; see if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the WAY everlasting.” Psalm 139:23.24. There are loads more verses like that one! Our Heavenly Father loves us so much that He gave all He had – everything He truly valued and loved – to buy us back. All of that is free but … it will cost us everything too. Vastly simplified, the difference between the Old and the New Testament, is JESUS CHRIST – He died for us, and sent back the Holy Spirit to HELP US to live our new life for the Father’s purposes. 

Now, let’s leap over to the NEW Testament and see what that says. “….but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts.” 1 Thessalonians 2:4. Here’s another one:  “…each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire,andthe fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work.” 

The fire of God tests us. I’m pretty sure that nobody will like it… but difficulties and hard times are doing something useful – they show us where our hearts really are. Even life itself tests us. Are you ready for this verse?: “…knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.” James 1:3. Yeah, good old James, he always says what nobody wants to hear. Ya gotta love that guy!

Remember the parable about the old and new wineskins? The reason the old wineskin burst is because it was longer flexible. A new wineskin is stretchable. It adapts and stretches during the fermenting process. Personally speaking, I am no longer young, stretching in the physical, emotional, or spiritual realm is not my idea of having fun! I just want to relax and enjoy my old age. I think that was what got to Moses in the end – we know He wasn’t DEAF or BLIND – the bible says so! But perhaps …he was just plumb worn out. Dragging a million or more people around with you will do that you know! So will living to be 120! 

Life itself is hard. Sometimes we get so busy trying to make this life work for us, and the people we love – we forget that we are SomeOne Else’s servant now. Perhaps we even passionately pray for “More Lord, more of you Lord.” Well, I think He looks at that prayer and says – “Where the heck do you think you are going to put the MORE? You are barely able to stretch enough for what you have already been given!”  We desperately need to become flexible and put down our own theology and ideas. Some of that stuff has set like cement inside us! 

Here is one of the things that can often hurt us – we are resisting His will! The Western church has become complacent. She only wants the things that suit Her – She likes being comfortable and having enough. We must pray to be pliable and stretchable and prepared to live by faith. For some of us that will mean we leave our place of birth and go and live some place else where we can be of service to Him. That happened to people in the Old Testament, and people in the New. Read the book. Bye. 👋🏻

Luke 12:49: “Jesus said to His disciples: ‘I have come to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were blazing already!”

P 2093 We all need to quit hiding in the dug-out and get into the game!

/ DVH

I have discovered over the years that I have this penchant for saying things out loud that other people don’t like to say because they are too busy being polite! Being po-lite dun killed off a whole lotta really really sweet folks who had a job to do for the Lord. 😳 And I ain’t talking about flower arranging! Sometimes, you just gotta say it how it is!

So many fantastic people over the years have given up trying to be themselves, because they couldn’t handle the opposition from the very place that was supposed to nurture them! The Lord Jesus LOVES His Bride … He sees her through His eyes of faith and love. A whole lot of people have ended up hiding from each other, mainly because they’ve been clobbered by OUR side one too many times. I’ve found that all of us just want to belong, and I suspect many of us secretly feel like giant failures. The Lord Jesus is the most wonderful fiancé… . It is time to let love cover a multitude of sins and move on to the real work – sharing His love with everyone around us.

Here’s my little tuppenny theory: these dear, difficult and awkward, sometimes annoying people that have been coming to our churches Sunday by Sunday, for years (!)  – despite them feeling alone, rejected, alienated and overwhelmed. They need to be seen differently. Perhaps it is time to realise that we have been blessed with some people who are incredibly loyal to Jesus – despite the opposition they have faced. Ya might want to pause and think on that one! 🤔

Our churches have been straining out gnats and letting camels through that dratted sieve for way too long. When anyone goes fishing, the fish don’t jump into the boat, all nicely cleaned and filleted. We need to accept each other. We have all been re-designed to grow in GRACE. Some of us are slower than others, but none of us do that just sitting in church, patiently listening to sermons – we grow by going outside the building, and stretching our faith! We all need transformation. May people have given up being REAL because they are so busy trying hard to be a good witness.  

Maybe some people in our congregations are a different kind of gift! They are here simply to annoy the living daylights out of others, because the Lord wants to show each one of us that we are not perfected yet! We gotta stop beating each other up, and start practising compassion on those amongst us who are struggling. Personally I have people in my life that I simply can’t talk to without asking for His help first. It is never good when Christians are scary.

Christians have been told by very enthusiastic leaders that if we just shape up, live right and sound right and look right, then God will be able to use us. I wonder how Balaam’s ASS managed that? Or how it worked out for Jonah, the whale mail specialist. The Lord accepted us before we even knew He was there. Let’s get this clear, being able to pray for the sick and raise the dead is not a sign of perfection. The Holy Spirit has given the Body of Christ  gifts. 🙌 Meanwhile, miracles are totally a part of everybody’s new DNA – we all get to do this stuff. Miracles are not a prize for getting Christianity right! Jesus hated it when people fussed over the supernatural and ignored opportunities for spiritual growth. He did what Father God told Him to do and walked on.

Our focus has slipped from Him to US. Do I like the singing – how was that sermon did it met my needs? The cross of Christ changed everything – now we are here for Him. The church is definitely not all that – but Jesus is! He always WAS! We’ve let our own immaturity govern the way we approach other people, as well as the rest of the world. The Body of Christ is not a club with an exclusive membership. We are a bunch of broken, ornery, sometimes imperfect people, who found out, by happy accident, that Almighty God truly loves all kinds of people! That’s what we must shout from any platform we have

I believe in miracles, and praying for the sick, and seeing people saved and set free – but you cannot convince me that one person is more valuable to the Lord than another. The people in the Old Testament that are featured were all leaders. But when we get to the New Testament, you see an ordinary man and a slip of a girl, fulfilling God’s purposes. The Holy Spirit is teaching us something from the first sentence in Matthew … you and I live in the time of nobodies doing great exploits. God is simply looking for hearts that are devoted to Him. Instead of praising or elevating men and women, because of gifts – we need to focus on the Giver Who gave them.

I don’t care how spiritual we think we are, ordinary people need to stop hiding and climb out of the dug-out and find somebody to help, and then start praying for and helping them. Share His love. Meanwhile, God’s love doesn’t need thousands of dollars to keep the ministry wheels turning – Jesus walked everywhere! 

His unconditional, overwhelming Love transforms people –  telling other people – that is our mandate. 👋🏻