Faith

P 2514 Stuff we don’t like to think about.

/ DVH

I listened to someone preach the REAL gospel the other day and it made me realise how easy it has become to water down the foundation of our faith. Jesus didn’t make excuses for anyone in His book and He was especially tough on sin, but … He was always kind to the sinner. That kindness is meant to lead us into repentance. It is not permissiveness, BTW.  (Romans 2:4).

It seems we’ve managed to modify His words to the point that we’ve made the bible more, so-called, user-friendly. Hmmm. After watching that man’s sermon, I’m totally convinced we need to rectify that in a big fat hurry! Somehow we managed to gloss over dying to self, living our lives for Him now, and giving our life away for others so we can bring His kingdom to those around us. Those are kind of important points don’t you think?

I cried as I listened to the speaker. The title of his sermon was – “6 popular lies we believe.” And, to make things much worse, I couldn’t argue with even one of the man’s points! Here’s a thought — do you know nowadays we hardly ever talk about hell?  That is a definite destination for some people, and yet we don’t want to talk about it! But hell was made for the devil, not for human beings. Our God wants us with Him! Now isn’t that ← a marvellous sentence? 

Listen to this:“…The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is long suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance., But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” 2 Peter 3:9-10.

And just in case you thought when you read those verses, what’s that in English??… Here’s a more modern version for you: “God isn’t late with His promise as some measure lateness. HE IS RESTRAINING HIMSELF ON ACCOUNT OF YOU, HOLDING BACK THE END BECAUSE HE DOESN’T WANT ANYONE LOST. HE’S GIVING EVERYONE SPACE AND TIME TO CHANGE. But when the Day of God’s Judgment does come, it will be unannounced, like a thief.…”

Jesus talked about this particular day a lot. As a matter of fact He actually talked about hell a lot more than anyone else in the entire book. He preached about it many many times in the Gospels. But …Praise God!! Christ also spoke about heaven nearly 3 times as much as hell. I think that shows us He was far more concerned about us understanding heaven … and how to get there … than He was about frightening people out of their sinful behaviour. Repentance includes understanding, and gratefulness – people need to make informed choices!

The Lord is not really interested in our particular version, or even our doctrine of those above events. He will do what He will do! Meanwhile we have watered those things down to the point of them being almost invisible. Nobody wants to embroider the verses in 2 Peter, on a sampler to hang on their wall so they don’t forget them! Right now we seem to prefer “my God shall supply all our needs according to His riches in glory…”  !!! That thought made me wonder – I wonder what else we have sort of, kind of, diluted? Maybe we have allowed our experiences … or the lack of them … to dictate our faith? Just saying is all … 

So, how about the rich man and Lazarus the beggar at his gate? (Luke 16:19-31.) Now there’s a bedtime story for all!  This bit stuck out at me: “In Hades, where he (the rich man) was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side.” Luke 16:23. This rich man is in hell yet he can see, hear, feel torment, as well as speak, and he has a conversation with Abraham, who is far away in heaven. Side note: did you notice that story is all about ignoring the poor?  We know that Jesus Christ’s death bridged that chasm between heaven and hell.  Phew!!… But does your family? Does mine? Do your neighbours? Do mine? We seem to have minimised the reality of eternity without Christ! 

You and I are passing through this life going to a banquet at the other end … our job is to hand out free invitations to other people who have no idea what comes next. You know, if we were to ask people in war torn countries, I think that they can all tell us what torment looks like!!  … But the never-ending kind? … Only God knows what that looks like, and I pray none of us ever will! 

Here’s another verse to think on:  “But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for Whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.” Philippians 3:4-11.

Let’s aim higher, and include the stuff nobody wants to hear, the things we don’t like to think about! The current popular opinion that somehow “niceness” and “not hurting anybody” will get people into His kingdom is error!! 👋🏻

P 2512 Who’s the Boss?

/ DVH

Part of the reason I think that most Christians have lost their free access to the power of God, is because we thought, or hoped, or maybe even prayed, that He would rubber stamp our grand ideas. I think we meant well … we were simply trying to advertise or showcase the goodness of God to those who didn’t believe. However, the power of God resides in every word that comes out of His mouth. Not our mouth – or even our head! If the Lord kisses an individual’s idea, then that person needs to start praising Him for His goodness toward them. He is under no obligation to do that. Even our faith comes from Him! 

God’s utterly kind consideration of mankind started in the garden. That’s where Eve came from – His kindness. After all, Almighty God was there with Adam in the cool of the evening, so he was not always alone!  Yet the Lord knew man needed someone who was the same, but different. God Himself saw and said:“It is not good for man to be alone …” Nothing is hidden from His sight, not even our needs. He is so good to us that He pays attention to every single detail. Which is why I am happy to say that if I don’t got it, then I don’t need it!

Read the bible carefully for yourself, and find somewhere where a man told God what to do, and how to do it, and it happened. “No one can tell God what to do or accuse Him of doing evil. He has always been praised for what He does; you also must praise Him.”Job 36:23-25. I found in my search for such a man, that Abraham bargained with God for Lot, and the city of Sodom and Gomorrah and God graciously listened. And Jonah was as cheeky as a man can get, but His attitude did not stop what God wanted to happen from happening – Nineveh was saved! And still God reasoned with that man. Moses ended up talking to Pharaoh even though he told God he couldn’t speak. The Lord let Aaron speak until Moses grew into the job! Our God can take a maladjusted man and make him into a great leader – He did that with Gideon. But with all these great men, Almighty God’s hand held them up!

The great Patriarchs in the Old Testament, knew enough to work with the Lord under His instructions. Moses knew the value of listening to Him and doing things the way God said. So much so, this great man refused to move forward without Him! These men, who had wisdom and understanding, as well as an established relationship with God, often learnt that kind of obedience by utterly messing up their lives first. Moses killed someone. Abraham treated Sarah like a bag of candy – he passed her around to save his life a number of times. Even Job learnt WHO is in charge the hard way. It is, I believe, an enormous error to think that we can organise God to do things our way.

Oh! If we could only enjoy what we have been given! He is a God unlike any other, Who watches over us, comes to live in us, came to earth to save us, and deeply cares about every single little detail in our lives. Independence is overrated! Total dependence upon the Spirit of the Living God is to be appropriated and cherished forever. Amen!

Sadly, submission is not a popular topic in this world – human beings are incredibly busy fighting for their own rights. Everybody  thinks if they yell loud enough and make a good enough logical case that things should change in their favour. I cannot imagine anything more frustrating or fruitless than going along banging into the Lord’s will, and getting up and doing it again! We show our ignorance and lack of maturity when we start to think that being saved means we are the boss now. WE do not have the omniscience and omnipotence of Almighty God – Who knows the end from the beginning … and all the bits in between.

Having said that: we can, and we should command the things of this world that are out of order to come into order – but that needs to be HIS order, not ours. I think that is why Jesus rebuked His disciples in Luke  “…  but the people there did not welcome Him, because He was heading for Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” *But Jesus turned and rebuked them. Then He and His disciples went to another village.” Luke 9:53-56.

In another version it says that like this: *“Jesus turned about and rebuked them, saying, You know not what manner of spirit you are of. The Son of man has not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” It is plain from reading the book that we cannot be trusted with that kind of power. Mostly, because we don’t know if we are in the Spirit or not, half the time! Yet those men watched, walked, slept and ate, for three and a half years with Jesus Christ, God’s Son. And they still said and did the dumbest things!! Using our own understanding got us into this mess in the first place. The most blessed place to live is the place of freely submitting to His will. Like I said: Independence is overrated!

Who is the boss? Here’s a verse to think about:“Why do you call Me LORD, and you don’t do the things I say?”

Luke 6:46. 👋🏻

P 2511 Keep an eye on your thinking.

/ DVH

Yes, I know, that title sounds dumb! However, our thoughts are actually far more powerful than we realise. They are the tugboats, or anchors leading to stuff that can sink, or drag our little ships off course. Things may seem harmless in our minds, but eventually big thoughts demand expression. Often we think about how angry we are, before we jump into telling the other person that we are mad at them. 

Perhaps we want to explain our POV to someone, and we are hoping that they will finally understand us. Fat chance. If you find yourself thinking up your own reply before the other person has finished explaining their POV – you’ve fallen down a big hole and stopped listening. Plus you may even become defensive. A peaceful mind is a huge blessing and Jesus gave us His peace.  His peace is part of our inheritance! It is ours by faith. It isn’t just a matter of somehow controlling our emotions, it is about cultivating our God-given ability to keep our minds focussed on His kingdom. We need to realise our responses are still our choices – even the ones that are made on the spot.

The bible says this: “As a man thinks, so shall he be.”Proverbs 23:7. Our own mindsets are gateways to either the kingdom of God, or the kingdom of darkness. Murder, coveting, stealing, adultery etc. etc. all happen in a person’s thoughts, long before they ever commit the crime. People do appalling things, and we are bombarded and saturated by their ugly actions even in social media. Personally, I agree with the bible, we can’t just get rid of grumpy nasty thoughts, we have to choose to replace them with better ones.(See 2 Corinthians 10:5.)

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”Philippians 4:8. Replacing thoughts with things that don’t lead you off a cliff, is a skill. You can learn it. I am currently learning from the Holy Spirit to ask Him – “What do You want me to understand about what just happened?” He has shown me it is easier to let your mind dwell on kingdom things when you find the good. Often what is good about these potentially explosive situations is this — I can learn something about my own inner responses that I didn’t know. Or I realise my frustration is coming from powerlessness and I yield to Him. He’s not powerless!

Here are some other things I’ve found useful. Refuse to watch things on TV that affect you. Some things on TV give me an opportunity to get sooooo mad, and for me the news is one of them. Personally, I think the news is biased and shaded to increase its appeal. It is also often so sensationalised it gives us an opportunity to become angry at other nameless strangers and their behaviour. 

It is extremely difficult to think loving caring thoughts toward people who deliberately hurt others! If you’ve ever found yourself shouting at the TV you will understand what I mean. It is far more helpful to pray for the people who are involved. Including the perpetrator.  Governing our thoughts is part of the leadership of the Holy Spirit in our lives. “And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” Matthew 24:12-13.

Finding the good can become a way of thinking. Immediately you feel annoyance rising, that is a cue to submit yourself to the Lord. The Holy Spirit loves to help us obey the Word of God, that is why He is here! Even though this world often thinks and behaves badly, our lives do not have to be about these things that appear in front of our eyes every single day. Instead our focus can be fixed on thanking Him for helping us. He will share with us what He sees, so we can pray. Plus we can ask Him how we can be part of releasing His answers into this world. 

Our world is overwhelmed by sorrow, and obsessed with wickedness, and man’s idea of righteous indignation. We don’t have to subscribe to, or ingest that stuff to pray about it. Sometimes my prayers are really brief. “Dear Jesus please redeem that situation, thank You,” Amen.

“But the mind of the [Holy] Spirit is life and [soul] peace [both now and forever]. [That is] because the mind of the flesh [with its carnal thoughts and purposes] is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God’s Law; indeed it cannot.” Romans 8:6. This verse is also part of our answer. If we expect mankind to rise up into higher attitudes and thoughts, without being changed. That is like expecting a heatwave in the middle of a snowstorm. It’s a great idea but it is not gunna happen! 

WE are His catalysts for good in this world. As His representatives it is imperative we keep our eyes on what we are idly thinking about. I repent all the time. I want to continually walk with the One Who loves the sinner, even though He hates the sin. Bye for now, 👋🏻.

P 2510 Striving to enter His rest.

/ DVH

I think about rest like this … I do whatever He tells me to do, and He will do the rest. Meanwhile, resting in God is not about doing nothing. Resting in Him means we are trusting Him to help us, and get us through whatever is happening to us, and around us. We need to remind ourselves constantly that He’s in charge, no matter how this life looks, and that will give us confidence.

At the same time, we will have to fight the devil to maintain our peace and our assurance that God is always good – in spite of the circumstances we can see around us. Every time I am tempted to pick up and worry over whatever it is that I am obsessing about, I remind myself that He is now in charge of my life. My life is no longer my own. SomeBody bought me! And for HIM, Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world, you and I weren’t cheap! We were definitely not on sale, nor last year’s reduced price model!

This world is so obsessed with surviving … it is pushing us to strive to make sure that we become rich, beautiful, skinny, empty … corpses. We are supposed to work incredibly hard to market ourselves, YET, the King of all glory loves us simply because we are His. Why would anyone do that stuff to themselves? Yet we take untold questionable pills, exercise until we drop, and pinch, punch and pummel our bodies to somehow make them last forever. That’s just nuts! We already have forever, HE gave it to us. Why would you work for a gift? You accept a gift, that’s part of rest! This life is temporary.

Dying to self is the only way to live like Jesus did on this planet. It helps us see this life from His perspective, and it gives us, freedom. We simply give up our right to say what we will do, or where we will go, or who we will love, or where we will live … and then live the way He tells us to live … plus … love all the people He sends our way. Meanwhile, if you can’t do that …neither can I! That’s why we need to strive to enter His rest. We have to fight against sin, this world, our flesh and our enemy. Almighty God’s love is the reason we are all still here, because His Grace has kept us here. Rest is about Who we trust. Who we want to be in charge of our lives.

It has become much too easy to forget how to really live this life we have been given. Busyness and business take over! But we are here to be other-centred. We’ve been born again and now we’ve become a part of ushering in God’s kingdom, here and now, into this world. The self-centred things of this life lose their charm, because when you walk with Christ, you can’t wait to see what He is going to do next! The bible says:“Taste and see that the Lord is good”You and I are meant to be this world’s Godly taste test. 

It is extremely sad when fear is allowed to rule His people. The fear of failing Him, the fear of loss, the fear of not being good enough, even the fear of dying! But NOW, right here, right NOW, today — we are to live this life, the only one we have from another kingdom. Jesus Christ’s death took mankind OUT of the kingdom of darkness and INTO the kingdom of His marvellous light. And our lives are now the light switch for so many people!

Like Esther said in His book, once long ago: “If I die I die!” That’s what His rest really looks like. The bible doesn’t say how Esther felt about it. She just fell back into the arms of the ‘God Who saves!’  She knew how to rest – she left it up to God to see if she was going to survive – because other people’s lives were at stake. In Christ, we are a dangerous people. That’s why our enemy throws stuff at us all the time. That ‘stuff’ is batting practice. We pick up the bat of His Word, plus our faith in our Coach, and do things the way He says to do them. Just like Esther did. It takes effort to walk in faith, that’s what striving is. When I feel like I can’t do this anymore, I ask Him to help me with my effort! 

Our belief system is not just nice and comforting — IT IS POWERFUL. That power written about in His book does not just apply to an anointed few … it is here for all of us. Access to that power comes alive when we choose to love others, exercise forgiveness, exhibit generosity, and treasure to-geth-er-ness. There is NO LAW against those things because they are so far above the things of this world. We will not learn to raise the dead, if we do not learn how to raise our hopes! Rest is not just about knowing we are going to heaven when we die. It is about us fighting the good fight, bringing His kingdom down to earth, right here, right now in our own lives.

God’s kingdom has a higher aim. A greater calling. It desires to impart His reality not just a theory. Our God is real and we carry Him with us, every single place we go. The point is, we need to let Him out!  Striving to rest is about allowing Him to do what He wants with our lives. Instead of us choosing what we feel like, or want to do. We get out of His way and let Him do what He does best… love and save people through us. Bye 👋

P 2509 What if Jesus lived next door?

/ DVH

“The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighbourhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish.” John 1:14 MSG

I started to think about this verse this morning and chew over it. Meanwhile, I also like the Passion Translation as well – I put a picture of that one at the bottom of the page. The way John 1:14 reads inspires me. However, in reality, Jesus didn’t actually just move into our neighbourhood – He came even closer … He moved into our physical house! Think about it.

“Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, Who lives in you and Who was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourselves but to God;…”1 Corinthians 6:19. Imagine what life would, or could look like, if we took this verse seriously? The thing is … this verse is actually our new reality. Just because we can’t feel His Presence that doesn’t mean the verse isn’t true – it just means whatever He does is easy to ignore because we can’t see Him. We have to be determined to pay attention to Him, because we want to be dedicated lovers of Jesus.  

Here’s another big thought … your physical home is now His house too! Yeah. This is true whether we are renting or we’ve paid off the mortgage. The reality is, we work and slave and make a life for ourselves by owning things but, we actually own nothing. We can all go ahead and make grand plans for our stuff — that’s called making a will — but most inheritors can’t wait to sell Mum or Dad’s house for the money. Which is, after all, only a piece of paper that mankind has given value to! 

For me those things all come under a heading of “things human beings do that make no sense at all” — spiritually speaking. God says that in His book, like this: “… It’s useless to rise early and go to bed late, and work your worried fingers to the bone. Don’t you know He enjoys giving rest to those He loves?”  Psalm 127:2b MSG. You know, I can almost hear some people saying, “Well, it may seem useless to Him but I will get the sack if I don’t put in the time.” I hear ya! But what it actually means is this – Who are you relying upon? That’s the real point! Now we belong to Jesus, whatever we do, we are now working for Him. He gave us His life and we give Him ours.

Our financial circumstances can change in a heartbeat or overnight – Covid showed us that. This Psalmist is saying it makes no sense to slave your heart out, and sit up night by night worrying over how you will pay the rent or the mortgage. He’s NOT talking about being careless with your responsibilities, or wandering off to bed saying: “Whatever!” … and hoping that will do. He is talking about relinquishment and entering into God’s kind of rest. 

Almighty God’s rest doesn’t take effort. First we pray, and then we just hand stuff over and ask Him to help us do these things under His guidance. Then we carry out whatever He told us to do. It’s in the book, as well as in our hearts. Human beings like to think we are powerful, but the reality is that this life can change in a heartbeat … or the lack of one!

It is important that whatever we have, does not own us. When we are worried about our stuff, then those things own our time, as well as our mental, and physical effort. Maybe someone reading this is renting. You should thank God, that you don’t have to make sure the roof doesn’t leak, and the walls stay upright. That’s the landlord’s responsibility. Owning stuff can push our spirituality aside unless we are really prayerful and careful. My advice is this — hold whatever you have in an open hand. People, house, car, job … remember, we bring nothing here and we take nothing away. God has another way for us to live. He wants us to live trusting Him, not in what we can do. HE has no limitations.

Let’s briefly look at the ordinary people who are on earth right now, who are in the middle of a war or a famine. Everything they thought they owned is gone. All their clothes, mementos, personal stuff is gone in a heartbeat. And they come out of that awful situation grateful if their families survive. There are NO insurance policies in war torn countries. They have to rely upon the goodwill of those in other countries for help with food, medicine, safety. Now these people have to begin this life again … and their sense of safety within their own space etc. is gone. There is nothing like losing everything to remind us we own nothing!

Sacrificial giving is our new way to live, it is part of being His kid. Giving out of excess is a rumour, it won’t happen while we live in a an excessive, greedy society. The sun comes up every day for free! Those of us who seem to be living in some sort of safety, need to live gratefully, and prayerfully, and share with others who do not! You know if Jesus lived next door to us, we would actively see Him helping others. We can easily see Him living that way – it’s in the book! Bye. 👋

P 2508 People who have authority have great power.

/ DVH

Yesterday, I had an early early appointment to go to an out-clinic at a major hospital. I hate going there. That particular hospital and I are not friends, because I have had some very nasty things happen to me, inside it. Plus I’ve met very grumpy, uninspiring staff! And yes … I have repented and forgiven them. Things are so unhappy in there, to cheer the staff up at Christmas, I give the clinics I attend, chocolates.  

I was kind of grizzle-praying at the Lord about it – I know you would never do that  — but, sigh, sometimes I do. An-y-wa-y … as I was …… praying, the Lord interrupted me, and told me if I gave the whole thing to Him, He would give me a testimony. So I shut up … and gave the appointment to Him.

First of all, we were seen immediately and that never happens. Unfortunately you also never see the same doctor twice, and this one had a Uni student following him around. That fully qualified doctor empowered me by the way he treated me. Instead of the usual brick wall you meet in the hospital… I think I met someone who actually liked people and his job. 

Anyway, at the end of our short time, I told him that in 36 years of attending there I had never ever met one doctor, or nurse, or care-giver who cared enough to ask about my personal comfort: This nice man actually asked me: “How have you been? Do you think, that the medicine you are taking is helping you?” I was gob- smacked … going there often feels like an assembly line: this guy sees my liver, that one oversees my endocrine system, this one my skin, and on and on. No-one asks me how I am. Rather it is like facing a health test, and it seems like I’m failing that all over the place.

Then this very nice doctor utterly surprised me, again. He said, after looking carefully at my chart with all the various clinics, I attend on it: “With all the difficulties you have, you need to be kind to yourself and take it easy on yourself. You have a lot to contend with.” I was totally blown away again. Nobody in 36 years has actually verbally paid any attention to how my health affects my well-being! Colour me astonished!!

They have, in the past, offered me counselling for depression …which would mean more time at that hospital(!) Hah! Like I would say yes to that!! So yesterday, I was so empowered by this nice man’s attitude, I spoke up. I did that mainly because the young student medic was sitting there. I thought it wouldn’t kill this young fellow to learn that people like to be treated like people, not like one sausage in a string of sausages! You know, people with authority can lend you their power, by the way they treat you, and that is an essential part of healing too.  

After the appointment, I spent quite a while thanking Jesus for all that He did. He promised me He would surprise me and He did. When He surprises me, it hardly ever looks like I think it will!  Meanwhile, hubby went to get the car, and left me in my chair by the front door. And then another patient came in. He was incredibly morbidly obese, and it broke my heart. I’m sitting in my chair, NOT looking at him, weeping away behind my mask. (Masks are great for that stuff, they are good for praying in tongues too!) I did both.

I still have tears in my eyes when I think about him. At once I started praying and I will keep on doing it until the Lord takes him out of my memory. This dear man sat down. I immediately noticed that his very very large legs were purple, and his poor tummy was so big it reached the floor from a sitting position. I just sat, and prayed, and discreetly cried for him – I can’t imagine how that man copes in such a judgmental opinionated world.

Outside on his way to get the car, my husband was having his own adventure. He encountered a tormented soul who was screaming at some security guards. They were trying to calm him down, and he was becoming more and more violent and agitated. So hubby started praying for the man as he went quietly by, and slowly this guy started to calm down. It occurred to me, who would pray for all these tormented, and often tortured, very ill patients, if people with faith weren’t around?

As Christians, we are a people with great authority and with that authority comes His great power. This means we can change the atmosphere around us – even when we are learning. You know sometimes we can only actually walk in compassion, through identification. Bye. 👋

P 2507 The time has come to pay attention.

/ DVH

You know, sometimes I wonder if we have been so busy building, or maybe even re-building, our own little kingdoms … not to mention trying hard to look like good Christians … that maybe we have run out of OIL and we didn’t notice. Now satan has boxed us into inactivity. Lemme tell you a thing or nine … that box we think we can see, is a fake. Nothing can hold any of one of us captive without our permission.

Yes, I know it’s been hard at your house, it’s been hard at mine. But the reason it has become so hard is because we’ve kind of let ourselves get soft and flabby spiritually speaking. There have been difficulties flying at us like snow in a snow storm and they have been coming so thick and fast, perhaps we have not been able to stay in overcoming mode. Life got hard when Covid smacked us in the head, praise God – and now we need to wake up, or go under.

BTW, I said ‘praise God’ because we have been in a time of shaking. Christianity is not designed to be an established routine:  with Church on Sunday, bible study on Monday, prayer group on Thursday etc. Christianity is about an Army. An army can accomplish very little half-asleep on its feet! Our job is to defeat the enemy and our side already won – because the King of glory is in us.

I am greatly cheered by the story of Gideon. It starts with a guy whose faith is about a quarter of an inch high, yet he became the God-delegated leader of 32,000 men. Then the Lord Himself whittled those men down to 300. 😱 Almighty God carefully walked that man into such an incredible place. He did that to show Himself strong to His children. Meanwhile, if anyone had told Gideon that’s where he was going, I think he might have freaked out!! However this man draggled along, willingly and sometimes unwillingly, following God’s instructions, step by step – despite his own fears and misgivings.  

In my heart I know that right now, we are in a time like it was back then for Gideon. Almighty God has a way through our apathy and inactivity – He hasn’t caused it, but He will definitely use it! However, we will always need the Holy Spirit’s leadership. Father God has given us the Holy Spirit to help us with difficult times, as well as our own weakness. “And in a similar way, the Holy Spirit takes hold of us in our human frailty to empower us in our weakness. For example, at times we don’t even know how to pray, or know the best things to ask for. But the Holy Spirit rises up within us to super-intercede on our behalf, pleading to God with emotional sighs too deep for words.” Romans 8:26 TPT. 

Praise God, right at this moment, the Holy Spirit is praying for all of us, and boy does HE know how to pray! Hallelujah! The bible tells us that when we are weak, then He is strong. Nevertheless, our obedience is essential. Gideon had to obey God and send men home, some of them for the most ridiculous reasons. Father God also called Gideon a mighty warrior, and that was something he would never call himself. Our God sees us differently than we see ourselves. He has no problem with faith! He knew what Gideon could do when he was empowered by the Holy Spirit.

You and I may feel that we have little to offer the Lord … we can’t preach, or teach, or prophesy, or heal the sick, or raise the dead… or so we think! But Gideon shows us that an obedient, weak person in God’s hands has far more power than they can imagine, because God is on their side. You and I are never alone. We walk with the One Who made the moon, stars and universe. We know His Name and He knows ours. 

Our problem also has never been about power, He gave us power. Our problem is about per-cep-tion. Just like Gideon. He had no idea Who he was dealing with, but as he was led along by the Holy Spirit, that man saw miracle after miracle. The God of miracles is waiting for you and I to rise and be strong in the Lord, and in the power of HIS MIGHT.  If Christians started to live their lives the Way Jesus lived His, purely for our Father’s will … we’d see what Jesus saw …transformation, souls saved, and miracles. 

It isn’t who we are – it is WHO WE KNOW. The time has come to pay attention and begin to practice taking faith steps. His power is let loose through our obedience to Him. Bye 👋

““Ask, and the gift is yours. Seek, and you’ll discover. Knock, and the door will be opened for you.” Matthew 7:7 TPT

P 2505 We will live a glorious life – when we live for His glory.

/ DVH

“Pray like this: ‘Our Beloved Father, dwelling in the heavenly realms, may the glory of Your Name be the centre on which our lives turn. Manifest Your kingdom realm, and cause Your every purpose to be fulfilled on earth, just as it is in heaven. We acknowledge You as our Provider of all we need each day. Forgive us the wrongs we have done, as we ourselves release forgiveness to those who have wronged us. Rescue us every time we face tribulation and set us free from evil. For You are the King Who rules with power and glory forever, Amen.”Matthew 6:9-13 TPT.

‘May the glory of Your Name be the centre on which our life turns…” Now that’s a big prayer! It is also a really really really big thought. Sometimes I wonder if we are not seeing the kind of revival this world needs, because we’ve forgotten WHO we are here for! Please don’t misunderstand me… I love praying for the salvation of souls, and the cessation of hostilities in this world etc. – but if we are not living this life, the only one we have – for His glory – then I believe we are living our lives too small.

If we look at the Lord’s prayer carefully we will see that inadvertently, over the years, we have made that prayer about us. About us living right, doing right, having enough food to eat etc. Even yesterday I wrote about the importance of forgiveness… which is still about us. Sometimes we get so focussed on getting our daily bread, we forget what that bread has cost Almighty God. Plus the lives that have been sacrificed so we can read His words in person.

When I read the above phrase … about His Name being the centre of our lives … and I really looked at it, it hit me that most of our prayers are stuck in the give me, help me, save me mode. I wonder how many times we pray “thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven …” as kind of a nice hand-off. A tiny acknowledgement, a tipping of our hypothetical hats, or even a passing recognition, that the only reason Jesus came to earth was to save and bless us!

Reality rush. Christ came to earth to fulfil HIS FATHER’S WILL. It may seem like a moot point but God initiated this whole thing in our behalf. We would not be in this world without His Divine choice and intervention – and that’s the actual real reality – it is definitely not an add-on!  So today, my first question is: are you and I actively living for His glory? Or are we putting one foot in front of the other, making the wheels go around, to actually build our own hopefully Godly, kingdoms?? Because there is a difference. Just Who are we living for? What would change in my life if I decided to live purely for His glory until I leave here? What about yours?

I think living for His glory is the key to His kingdom coming here on earth as it is in heaven! I do not believe the Lord will ever begrudge us our daily bread, and all kinds of joy in this life – the scriptures make that clear. But I do think that we could see so much more change, in us and around us, if we lived this life so that He will be glorified in us and through us! I want to point out that Jesus is our example and that is exactly how HE lived. Everything He did was for His Father’s glory. And He saved us so we can now go on to fulfil the Father’s purposes.

I remember listening to someone singing an old song, a while ago, and they misrepresented it on purpose, for an illustration. They proposed that the song “it’s all about You Jesus” would be more accurately portrayed if we actually sang “it’s all about ME Jesus.” See, we don’t actually say any of this stuff out loud, but ask yourself – is this the way I live from day to day?

How many times do I ask myself:  “what is it that YOU want Lord?” And then sadly we go off from our time with Him and drift away from the real answer, because life is too hard  … and after all Jesus knows what this life is really like, and … we are only human! Every single time we make a decision like that one, we are reducing the Kingdom of God into a one-stop supply shop!

He deserves better. Our service for His kingdom needs to be a joy. Laying down our lives is our privilege not a tough task we can barely manage. Think about this, Almighty God has waited over two thousand years for a people who will love Him enough to follow His ways no matter what the cost is personally. A people who will see His incredible love for them, and go on to live inspired lives, and return that kind of love back to Him. I think the Apostles … Paul, Peter, James and John etc. deeply understood that. They stopped living their lives for themselves and they went on to live and die to bring Him glory... and they considered that a privilege.

And this seems like a good place to leave this blog today … Bye … 👋🏻

P 2504 NEVER underestimate the power in forgiveness.

/ DVH

When we forgive others, especially if and when they don’t deserve it …  this means we are His disciples, we are following Jesus. Plus we are living in obedience to the Lord’s commandment to “…love one another ...”  The idea that we cannot forgive people is a lie, it’s from the pit. However, forgiveness is not lip-service. It is a promise that I won’t hold whatever has happened against you again. That’s the WAY Christ forgave us!

Jesus Christ released all the power we will ever need to overcome sin, sickness and the devil from the cross. However, we cannot successfully walk in that power without cultivating a relationship with the Holy Spirit. We receive the power to be transformed, when we receive and welcome Him into our lives. Unforgiveness is not an option to us! This process will kill off the old man in us.

“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All power in heaven and on earth is given to Me…” Matthew 28:18 “But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—He then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” And he rose and went home. When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to MEN.” Matthew 9:6-8. “I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.” Luke 10:19. “But you will receive power and ability when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be My witnesses [to tell people about Me] both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth.” Acts:1:8. The very foundation stone of God’s kingdom is forgiveness!

Forgiving people means you are releasing His power, and His Grace into that situation. It is no different than healing a headache or raising the dead. These things take choices, together with His Grace, particularly if the other person/s have deliberately and consistently hurt you. But Jesus died to give us that power. Now the power of His incredible forgiveness has been released all over this earth – it cannot be stopped! “Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven; whose sins you shall retain, are retained.” John 20:23. 

Unfortunately we also have power from Him to continue to hold people right where they are. If we don’t forgive them, then they will be stuck. Because sin separates humanity from God – the only way to remedy that is to release His Grace into someone else’s life. Maybe they will change, maybe they will not – they have a free will. However we will be changed by doing it –  we will no longer be held captive by other people’s sins. We have been given the power to speak GRACE and LIFE into others. We cannot walk in the power of the risen Christ unless we live in the land of constant forgiveness -.His  kingdom!

Unforgiveness is the Christian’s Kryptonite. It renders us weak, powerless, helpless and hopeless — those things are the exact opposite of everything Jesus died to give us. It literally is like this — unforgiveness nails one foot to the floor and the person goes round and round and round – getting nowhere. If you have noticed you are going nowhere spiritually – ask the Lord:  “Who do I need to forgive?”

I am not talking about chasing rabbit trails, I am talking about anybody in your life that makes you grit your teeth, or want to go hide in a cupboard. Anybody you see as hurting you, or being stronger than you are, is oppressing you. We cannot be oppressed when we are choosing His Ways – our choice to live differently frees us. Now, today, we’ve already been taken out of this world’s kingdom, and translated into the kingdom of His marvellous light. Other people can only hold us captive with our permission.

This is why we need to choose between anger and revenge – and peace and grace. People have been free inside in the worst prisons, because “… those whom the Son has set free shall be free indeed.” The first port of call we have in any given situation is forgiveness. Park there. Don’t move from that spot. I have been forgiving some people who can’t see me at all, yet they think they know me. Unfortunately they have kept right on hurting me for 70+ years – it is possible to forgive in the presence of persecution. The people who practice forgiveness are kingdom people.

Meanwhile, FYI, hating, hurting, manipulating or controlling others is not Godly. When a Christian lives like that, it is a sign that they have not yet had a revelation about the freedom they have been given to choose to live in His kingdom! They are valuing the enemy’s usurped pitiful power, over the real power Jesus gave us freely. Real power CREATES, it does not destroy! It is far more powerful to forgive. Those ugly things in anyone’s life will suck every single bit of joy, peace, and holiness out of our lives like a straw drains a milkshake! Those things destroy families.

“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” James 5:16. Never underestimate the POWER of forgiveness. 👋🏻.

P 2503 What to do when the roof falls in …

/ DVH

First of all, let’s be totally clear … I’ve had way-too-many-roof-fallen-in adventures. The following are a series of helpful hints I have found that are useful. They have helped me, and sometimes they have even stopped me from laying on the floor sobbing. However, there are definitely times to lay on the floor and sob;  so give yourself room to weep over any catastrophe, loss, or injury of any sort! Don’t be so spiritually stoic you bury your feelings.  “There’s a time for every purpose under heaven … … a time to weep.”Ecclesiastes 3:4a.

Pray. Yeah I know, most of the time we start out by trying to minimise whatever the damage is – but we actually need the King of all Glory running disasters – not us. Plus we should call someone else asap, and rally the troops …the praying people we trust. The bible says:“From the end of the earth will I cry unto Thee – when my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” Psalm 61:2. Amen.

Basically that verse is saying, no matter where I am, no matter what has happened to me, He is my ever-present help. Call on His Name. Yell, ‘help help Jesus!’  There is a place, right beside our precious Saviour, that is so much higher than whatever it is that has just happened to you. Do take a blanket, you may need to intentionally live there a while! We want to stand right next to Him, right next to His heart, so close we can hear Him breathe. There is peace in the middle of a storm next to Him. This is a good time to not pray once, and then quit – “…pray without ceasing!!”Amen.

And let people pray for you. This means saying yes to anybody who asks you, ‘can I pray for you?’ When we are overwhelmed with trouble, we need all the prayer we can get. This is not the time to avoid Sister Susie who prays two hour-long prayers! Let SS have at it. Also, when the problem is way to big for you to handle, and that includes fielding all the caring, multiple phone calls, I suggest you appoint a ‘point person.’ Someone you trust, who can organise food, help, rides, baby-sitting, give-out limited updates, and whatever else you need. 

Keep saying to yourself, “God loves me. He’s got this, it hasn’t surprised Him…”“For our light and momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal glory that is far beyond comparison. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.’”2 Corinthians 4:17. “Please fix my eyes on you Lord!” Amen.

Next I recommend reading the Psalms. Seriously, reading the Psalms and listening to spiritual songs, is like sweet clear water in a desert place. It’s a place where somebody else had words that were spoken out of great pain – as well as worship. In times of trouble we may run out!  At the same time, we need His Word to inspire, revive and refresh us … not instruct us. That’s a big tip for anyone who is trying to help someone else when that person’s life has just imploded. The idea is this: the wounded person is almost drowning, they need someone else to offer them a life-preserver, not a life lesson! And I really don’t care whose fault it is that their ceiling fell in! 

Let’s just get them to the hospital … to Jesus, first! Pray in tongues if you don’t know how to pray, and you are able to do it. The overwhelmed parties are also going to need people to help them, practically. I have seen mighty gifts of the Holy Spirit manifest themselves in my own terrible times. Some of us have no idea that practical help is also spiritual. Stephen and Co in the book of Acts chapter 6, show us that practical help is spiritually beneficial. 

Now to things that don’t help at all. If the wounded saint doesn’t want to talk, then don’t push them. Privacy can become very important when you already feel incredibly vulnerable, because your life just fell on its head. As their friend we need to simply pray as the Lord leads us, and if we get any insight – don’t share it, write it down instead. If they do want to share, just listen. Don’t problem solve unless the person asks you to. 

Sometimes a difficult matter can become much clearer after the event. But blame, or supposed fault, will not help at the point of impact. Love looks like support, not a lecture. If you don’t know what to say, then say nothing, or …“Weep with those who weep.” Romans 12:15. Someone’s life, or family disaster is not an appropriate place to be wise … it is a place to be supportive. 

Please note:  these things work inside the church and outside it. I pray the Body of Christ realises our greatest gift to the-people-who-don’t-know-Him-yet is to treat them like we would like to be treated. Pray for anyone who needs it, love on them, help them! Father God does not see two categories — those who are saved and those who are not. He sees His kids! Some of them are lost, and some have come home, but they are all HIS. Bye. 👋