Father

P 3350 Reality rush.

/ DVH

Boy, I had a reality rush this morning … And the Holy Spirit’s clarity helped me. I realised that when I can end up saying to myself: “What is good right and profitable often feels like I am lying, because my experiences don’t always back it up.” So I asked Him – why? 

This is what He told me: “Prior to being saved, you were raised with this world’s thinking, this world’s definition of truth. You learnt it from your parents, school, your peers, your job, whatever you read. You’ve carefully, and sometimes unwillingly, learnt the moral values of this world from everything around you. It seems like you are lying because MY TRUTH does not come from the same place that you have been taught. My truth is REAL truth, it comes from the Heart of the Father. For instance, if I say something is clean it is clean, that is what I taught Peter the fisherman. You cannot use this world as a reference point to ‘market’ or ‘modernise’ the gospel. Only My Word is truth.

The body of Christ needs to be diligent and read the bible, so they can see for themselves what real truth looks like, how it works, what it contains. The bible helps us to identify the true from the false. Human judgment leads to error. This world encourages people to have opinions, make their own judgments and to be selective about what they choose to believe. This is WHY Christians need to continually renew their minds to align with what I’ve said in My Word. They need to make My Word their yardstick – not this world’s fashions and opinions. 

Right now you need to know My Word and let it be alive in your day-to-day life, it will change what you do, who you do it with and where you go. There is none of man’s logic in the things of the Spirit, there is only the Father’s truth. When it comes to truth, this world wants to explain away sin, and present excuses. That’s what happened in the Garden of Eden – the woman and the man made excuses for their disobedience. Human beings are guilty of ignoring their Creator, and they have made gods in their own image. gods that allow them to live their lives far beneath their calling as My children. This world’s so-called ‘gods,’ legitimise sin, or excuse it.

The simple answer to sin is repentance, and it is yours for the taking. Acting on what I say in my Word, is obedience. And acknowledging that you are not wise enough to know what I know, is the beginning of wisdom …”

The thought that Christianity can often be a mixture of what we already know and approve of, as well as the truth of His Word, really impacted me. Jesus’ words are truth, and we dare not be dismissive of them because of circumstances, or prejudices. Or choose to let them be flavoured by this world’s trends. The real answer to sin is repentance – that leads right back to God Himself. Let’s daily learn to trust the Holy Spirit, He knows the Way each of us should go, and He longs to help us. 

I sat and thought about the kind of things that are now permissible today, and nobody even blinks anymore, we’ve been desensitised. As His kids we have His authority to speak His truth, in love. We can love the sinner but hate their sin. I also realised that if the truth is not setting us free, then somewhere, somehow we are believing a LIE! Let’s keep praying over the details of our lives. 

And if God says in His Word that we can do something, then we can do it and we need to locate the lie that has told us it is too hard, or ‘it really doesn’t matter because He understands.’ Maybe we have been taught something in our past that contradicts the Living Word of God – Jesus, Himself. Then as we carefully, prayerfully and actively look into His book, we will learn to separate ourselves, by clinging to what He said and repenting  from any missteps or lies we may have believed. We have been blessed with absolutes, not ambiguities, within the bible. 

Personally, I am confused and unhappy about the weird and sometime nasty things labelled ‘fair and right’ by this world today. Many times I have struggled to know how to handle things because I dearly want to walk toward the Narrow Gate — not the wide easy path that often runs willy-nilly beside it. I know that is your desire too. Some things are just wrong – the book says so! That is not said to condemn anyone. My question is: how can we know what God Himself has for us if we are walking down the wide road that leads to destruction? Deception will cloud our view.

Hubby gave me some great feedback today, he’s my editor and he helped me to clarify my own thoughts. “Our lives are a little like code for a computer program. We see the thoughts, the images and the user friendly icons that are displayed on our screen. However, right now – today – God is dealing with questionable inefficient code. We need His updating and reprogramming with HIS pure Heavenly code to fulfil our Heavenly calling. This world produces bad code, bad code can distort the output.“

Let’s choose to put Jesus in charge and obey the things He told us to obey – and leave our ideas about what we want behind us. And become like a little child, willing to be taught His Ways. Like I said at the top of the page, boy did I have a reality rush this morning! May God bless you with a day filled with His Presence and further knowledge of His Ways. Amen. Bye. 👋.

P 3348 Show me the Father…

/ DVH

“Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Jesus answered: “Don’t you know Me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father.” Now, there’s poor old Phil with his socks blown off! 🧦💥🧦! Hang on to yours … OK? Jesus is explaining what seeing and knowing the Father looks like. So now, let’s take a look at John 14:21,23.

“The person who has My commands and keeps them is the one who [really] loves Me; and whoever [really] loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I [too] will love him and will show (reveal, manifest) Myself to him. [I will let Myself be clearly seen by him and make Myself real to him.]” AMP version.

The above verses are a tool. Jesus is showing us HOW to see the Father. Let’s remember, we have been told in the bible, God’s Ways are not our ways. That’s Isaiah 55:8-9. Indeed our Heavenly Father’s thoughts are so far above ours, we are doing Him a grave disservice if we try to bring Him down to our level! That’s because basically, we can’t understand the way He thinks because it is simply beyond us!

However! The Holy Spirit has been sent to us to help us to understand what He is doing and He reveals the Father’s character to us, as we pursue Him and cherish obedience. It is not just that God is wa-a-a-a-y smarter than we can ever be … but He is … it is that His thoughts are based on, and rooted in LOVE, and we don’t speak “love” very well — yet. 

His love is pure, holy, accurate, discerning, faithful, patient, joyful, peaceful, kind, good, gentle and it is full of self-control!! Our kind of love is whimsical at best, and it floats about like a cork on the ocean, we can be guided by many things outside of our conscious control. But nothing is outside God’s control! He is a sovereign God with humanity’s good in His mind and heart. That’s something that is so far beyond our comprehension, we are going to need the Holy Spirit’s help – all the time. Otherwise we end up speaking our enemy’s language – hatred and blame.

If we wanted to show someone what our spouse or child or parent looks like, we might show them a photo. Jesus Christ is God’s photo! At the same time, He is incredibly 3 dimensional and far more real than we can ever comprehend. He is God Himself, and a living breathing obedient Human being, Who loves mankind and came here to save and help us understand that Our Father is not like other gods.

When we choose to obey what the Lord says — we will get glimpses into the WAY He does things. Remember, He doesn’t do stuff the way we do it, so some things won’t always make sense to us. The difference between God’s ways, and ours is huge. I think we fail to understand Him sometimes, because satan encourages us to use human logic to understand a Holy God. That’s like using wet spaghetti to tie your shoelaces. You can, but why on earth would you? Our God is a mystery wrapped up in glory and splendour — not SomeOne who can be parcelled up nicely and put in a box.

Jesus came to earth as God personified. He came to save us — as one of us. He was the perfect Person to come here, and the perfect representation of our Holy God. Reducing the Lord to rules and regs is like trying to repackage hot melted butter in the same paper it came in. The Lord Jesus is God Himself with our kind of skin on, and He is a totally, everlasting, smitten lover of mankind. Jesus blew away all of our rules and regs toward His Father, but He carefully kept the Father’s heart in all things perfectly. He did not come to earth to please us – He came to rescue and save us from satan’s wiles.

When we look at Christ sitting beside a well, talking to a women who had been married 4 times, and was now living with the fifth guy — we are looking at God sitting beside her … kindly guiding her, piquing her interest and transforming her life. Almighty God says so many things at once we cannot take them in! God once sat down beside Jonah. The man was complaining about a dead plant that was supposed to be there to give him shelter. Almighty God took the time to explain to Jonah that plants are not more important than people. Nineveh needed saving, and He had chosen Jonah to preach to them. Trying to avoid our destiny is a waste of time and it can have very strange consequences. 

Our God has deeper, more eternal motivations than we can ever dream of — to even begin to know Him we need to obey what He tells us, in His Word, and keep looking, and re-looking at Jesus. We must practise paying attention to the way He did things, toward His Father, and men and women. When we do that we will begin to learn God’s ways. “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful Word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” Hebrews 1:3. 

To us, words are simply a method of communication – to God Himself, they are a way to speak LIFE. Jesus Himself said it: ‘show me the Father,’ means we take the time to deliberately observe His dear Son in action. He expected the disciples to recognise Him by His actions. Jesus clearly says: God looks like ME. Bye 🙏 .

P 3339 Let the children come …

/ DVH

“When Jesus saw what was happening, He became indignant with His disciples and said to them, “Let all the little children come to Me and never hinder them! Don’t you know that God’s kingdom exists for such as these?” Mark 10:14 TPT. I’ve taught this text in Sunday School. The Lord’s exhortation is so precious, He was never too busy for little ones. We had a couple of lovely times with tiny children when we were away, and I thought I would share them here, today. Bearing in mind, that when marriages don’t work out, the kids will suffer as well. As a child I had no father, I know how much Daddys are needed.

Our first encounter was with a young mother and her little girl, who is about 2 years of age. We think they had been homeless, but then the mother found a job for a short while, running the motel. Unfortunately when we met them, that job was about to run out. Hubby always takes a bag of goodies for people, so he took one and a lovely book for a little one. This series talks about Who God is, how He made the world and how He loves children. It’s just right for little ones. 

So hubby gave the little girl one of those books, and the child was so delighted she ran to our door. Her mummy said she could give me a hug and, I have to say, it was the loveliest hug I have had in years. She danced off holding the colourful book beaming all over the place. I cried. Little ones today often want this expensive thing or that, and this dear little girl was so thrilled with an ordinary colourful book! I’m praying for her and her mummy that God will land them in a safe place. People don’t always tell us their stories, and we are just happy to help however we can.

The second incident involved a miracle. OK, many people might not call it that, but they are allowed to be wrong! The place we stayed in was attached to the owner’s garage, and there was a little boy, about 3 years old … and his little brother, who wasn’t walking yet. The boys were outside with their dad raking up the dead leaves. You get a lot of dead leaves in autumn! The child informed us he was going to be a gardener when he grew up! I must say, he did a fair job of sweeping and raking up leaves for a little guy.

The Lord reminded me of this series of children’s books we had brought with us, so hubby dug about in the car and came up triumphantly holding the right bag. I sat down with the Lord asking Him which ones He wanted us to give the two children. My intention was to find two books, one for him and one for his little brother, but I especially wanted pictures with gardens in them, for the 3 year old. I found a couple, there was one I thought would be suitable for a infant, and then I just picked up an odd extra one just to be sure. Hubby went off to give the gifts we always bring with us to bless our hosts. 

He came back beaming. Get this — it turned out the eldest boy had been collecting this whole series, and he lacked two books. Those two books we gave him were the only ones the parents couldn’t find for him anywhere! Of all the books we carry, the Lord had highlighted the two this little boy wanted. The ‘extra’ one I tucked in, ‘just in case’ it was not  needed, the child already had that one.. He was so delighted, apparently Daddy was told to read them both at bedtime. I just marvelled at the Lord’s heart toward little children. We had over thirty copies of these books from the series, yet God Himself picked the only two this child wanted, just to bless him. 

That is so like Jesus! He does not need a brass band, He loves to do things quietly, and secretly to bless us. The boy’s parents didn’t appear to have a living faith, they had collected the books because the little boy liked them so much, but they were very interested in what we were doing.

Last one – not quite the same as the other two, but it shows the Lord’s provision for a grown man who has a daughter he doesn’t see much. This one is fun, but it is bittersweet when you think about the pain of the child and the father. Previously, in the car, I had told hubby that he was going to meet a man in this place – most refuges only have women in charge for obvious reasons – and that he should give this man a compass. I was so sure about what the Lord had said! So hubby rolls up with our packets of blankets and …. a man greeted him at the door. It turns out they did have a man there … just one!

Compasses make a great illustrative gift for people who feel lost. Hubby brought this man outside to meet me, because he was thrilled that the Lord was right. I, on the other hand was pretty tired by now so I just blurted out: “God says you need a compass!” The young man stepped back when I said it, and his eyes filled with tears. Then he nodded. “I do!” He said. The Lord really impacted him. Eventually he said that he would take it with him when he picked his daughter up after school, so they could enjoy it together.   

Jesus told us to let the children come to Him, however, it was a great surprise to me to realise that we can help children come to Him simply by giving them something as simple as a book designed to speak to them. Bye 👋.

P3334 Let’s be observers of God’s goodness.   

/ DVH

Ephesians 5:1-2: “Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behaviour from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with Him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of Himself to us. Love like that.”  Jesus said this, He was observant. John 5:19&20: ”Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by Himself; He can do only what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.”

One of the things I enjoyed doing with my kids when they were little was I taught them to be observant. It’s a great skill! I really enjoy watching birds, and I’ve found if I want to see them in action I need to be alert and watch out for the slightest movement around me. In the same way, I’ve learnt that watching out to see what the Lord will do in any given situation, at any moment will keep me alert. Those two scriptures above talk about such a simple way to help our focus, and at the same time, they tell us how to ‘keep company with Him’ daily.

Here’s an interesting scripture from Habakkuk 2:1, it piques my curiosity. “I will stand at my guard post. And station myself on the tower; And I will keep watch to see what He will say to me, And what answer I will give [as His spokesman] when I am reproved.” ‘I will watch to see what He will say to me…’  Habakkuk discovered a different type of language of our Father’s, that does not consist of words. Our God has many languages, and we miss most of them because we only “hear” Him in our own. But this verse shows us there is a whole other way to hear Him … by watching to see what He is doing right now! Did you know that the word ‘watching’ is used sixty-one times in the bible? To see the Lord we must observe what is going on around us and look for His goodness in it. 

So much of our learning in the Body of Christ is passive. We sit, we take notes, we stare out of the window, we say ‘Amen!’ We clap, we dance, we sing, we shake hands with others … But are we listening for the Voice within the voice? Only alert people can hear His secrets. We can listen to the same sermon other people hear, but we can also hear something more, something entirely different. Simply because the Lord has put His NEON highlighter over a few words that totally change our POV.

Imagine what could or would happen if the whole Body of Christ did that? We would have the ‘manifold many-sided wisdom of God to guide us,’ daily. I don’t have all His wisdom, neither do you – but when we get together – we more than double our opportunities to watch and see Him at work. Father God will share Himself with anyone, so let’s be alert and wait, and watch for Him to move. Our God is to be experienced.

At the same time, we watch what He does, because that is the way we learn what we are to do. Jesus was constantly watching His Father to see what He was doing. He tells us that in John. Learning to notice things is a cultivated skill, but anyone can do it. The difference between seeing and really seeing is choosing to pay attention. Sadly this world slathers itself with an attitude of distraction and passivity. So we watch stuff, we listen, we absorb information, maybe we even memorise it – but we are not actively participating in anything we hear, because we are information gathering! Let’s actively take part in an incredible process that means we are always watching out to see what God will do next!

His goodness is all around us. We can see evidence of it every day, the sun came up where I live, did it come up at your house? Let’s value what we see. If it is raining and I am going to the car, and the rain stops – I thank Him for taking care of me … my thought is this… I can slip and fall in the rain. I often look at other people’s faces and see sadness and sorrow, I can’t help them, because we are just ships passing in the night, but I can pray for them. I don’t have to know what’s going on, but He does.

I think Jesus lived His life alert to whatever His Father was doing, because He just loved to watch His Father at work. Some people waste their lives waiting for someone else to make a  mistake, what a tragedy! What a waste of sight!! Any dill can find fault – but can we find the good in a supposedly bad person? That’s real insight! 

Loving people is not hard when we look through Christ’s eyes. He saw the potential for good in a tax collector who climbed a tree. Once, He saw far more than a woman who was sleeping around, when He stopped at a well. She had potential. It was released when Jesus recognised His Father had been working in her life. And Jesus saw fledgling faith in Peter when He said “Come!” He saw His Father stretching that man’s faith into areas Peter didn’t even know about. This man was a fishermen by trade — they know you can’t walk on water! But Peter suspended his earthly expertise when he put his eyes on Jesus and saw what HE was doing! He just did what He saw the Master doing.

Maybe we wouldn’t be as judgey with each other if we learnt to see this world through His eyes. As we see, and watch out for ways to bless people, I believe we will see them through our Father’s eyes. Love gives us eyes to see the good.  And watching Him at work, every single day, helps us do the impossible and leads us to be observers of God’s goodness. Bye. 👋 

P 3324 Part-time Christianity doesn’t work.

/ DVH

Ephesians 3:4-13 MSG.“As you read over what I have written to you, you’ll be able to see for yourselves into the mystery of Christ. None of our ancestors understood this. Only in our time has it been made clear by God’s Spirit through his holy apostles and prophets of this new order. The mystery is that people who have never heard of God and those who have heard of Him all their lives (what I’ve been calling outsiders and insiders) stand on the same ground before God. They get the same offer, same help, same promises in Christ Jesus. The Message is accessible and welcoming to everyone, across the board. This is my life work: helping people understand and respond to this Message. It came as a sheer gift to me, a real surprise, God handling all the details. When it came to presenting the Message to people who had no background in God’s way, I was the least qualified of any of the available Christians. God saw to it that I was equipped, but you can be sure that it had nothing to do with my natural abilities.

And so here I am, preaching and writing about things that are way over my head, the inexhaustible riches and generosity of Christ. My task is to bring out in the open and make plain what God, Who created all this in the first place, has been doing in secret and behind the scenes all along. Through followers of Jesus like yourselves gathered in churches, this extraordinary plan of God is becoming known and talked about even among the angels! All this is proceeding along lines planned all along by God and then executed in Christ Jesus. When we trust in Him, we’re free to say whatever needs to be said, bold to go wherever we need to go. So don’t let my present trouble on your behalf get you down. Be proud!”

What a great teacher this man is! Paul really encouraged me with this passage, he puts everyone on equal footing and includes the people who-haven’t-met-Him-yet, as well as each other. There are no rock-stars in Paul’s theology. Jesus Christ is all in all and He is everything! It’s such pure brilliant revelation. This man of God definitely found his heavenly-calling – it was to help everyone he met find God and understand His Ways. Then he says something that just blows me away. “I couldn’t have done what I do without His help. I wasn’t equipped to do this job.”

Paul was brilliantly equipped to preach the gospel to the Jews, he knew the law inside and out. Yet God sent Peter – the fisherman – whose only qualification was that He loved Jesus – to the Jews … and Paul went off to the Gentiles. Do you see that? Neither man was well-equipped to “argue God’s case” to the people they were sent to. God’s qualifying feature is WE CAN’T DO IT.  So if you know you can’t do it, then you are half-way there! The other half is knowing the Holy Spirit and His ways, personally. 

If you feel like you are a failure because you may have done dreadful things, but you have the revelation that God is redeeming you, day by day, then you are equipped. That’s called humility BTW! Paul consented to the murder of Christians, and that horrible thing became one of his greatest assets. It helped to keep this man humble. Everywhere he went, people knew what he had done. He even had problems with the Lord’s disciples because they knew his reputation for murder! 

Don’t let the past dictate your future. Our God is brilliant at do-overs and He does them so well, they stop being do-overs and become new beginnings.  Please don’t give up on yourself when you fail either, go to Jesus and begin again. I tell myself daily: “Just one more time. I need to get up one time more than I fall down!” He’s the God of second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth chances etc. He won’t give up on you, so don’t you give up on your faith in His goodness.

Paul knew he was ill-equipped for the job God gave him, but His faith in God’s goodness was bigger than the things that happened to him along the way. Having a big faith IN GOD matters. The trouble is, most of us scrounge about trying to make our faith bigger. Set your EYES on our big God! Did you know that there are 3,600 types mosquitos in this world, and there are over 25,000 -35,500 kinds of fish, and 90 species of whales. Does our Father sound limited to you? 

The only thing that can limit God is sitting right above your shoulders. That 28-35 cm bit of skull, brain and flesh, can distort our thinking and deprive us of our part in Jesus’ plan for our lives. That’s why the bible says: ‘renew your mind’ … it needs renewing!  Have you ever caught yourself thinking something and then you suddenly realise you still have a childish view of reality? We all do it. Things happen and we get stuck. Our brains are definitely not perfect. 

But His love is. That’s the bit to remember. That’s what kept Paul going through so many trials and tribulations. Plus the wonder and joy that he discovered as the Holy Spirit revealed God’s plans for mankind. This greatly admired and learned man found out he knew nothing, and he accepted his ignorance with great joy, because it meant he could rely upon our God even more! We have nothing to contribute but ourselves and a total surrender to Him, daily. Part-time Christianity doesn’t work! Bye. 👋

P 3323 Follow the thread.  

/ DVH

Last night we stayed in a Motel room that was the worse for wear. The tiles were coming off the bathroom wall, and it looked like there had been a fire in the room at one time. It was however, immaculately clean. Yet, today we are staying at a resort-type place on the Murray River, right on the border of NSW and Victoria. Here’s the fun bit – the room with the tiles coming off the wall was only $AU9 cheaper than the resort. Go figure! 😂 

Life on the road is like that, and we have learnt not to concern ourselves about small things, because getting upset means we will most likely miss the blessing. Letting in anxiety also uses up heaps of energy, and we are running low on that at the moment. 1,250 kms in 5 days, 360 things given away! If we did a rocket imitation we could have driven the distance in 2 days. But then we would not have had time to stop for the people who turned up in front of us. We’ve had 6 or 7 close encounters of the God-kind, not to mention being blessed by these people just because we met them.

My poor hubby has to do absolutely everything. My contribution is to move things one at a time toward the door, then fold the dirty towels for the cleaner, and …. I do my best to stay out of his way. He’s kind of a skinny blue and grey blur that rushes in and out, packing the car. We’ve also given away 3 bags of blankets, 30 blankets in all, plus toiletries and bibles. But we have 7 bags and loads of extras to go, yet. 

One of the roads we traveled on is known as the worst highway in our state. We agree with that assessment BTW. Road trains of 3 trailers or more, were hurtling along swaying and bouncing all over the bumps. It ain’t boring!! But on one of those bad back roads – the Lord picked it – we met a Muslim man and his wife and shared Jesus with them.

In our very elderly motel, we met another Muslim couple, and hubby told these two young people about the Lord’s love for them too. They told us they were so lonely, because nobody in the country town talks to them. They even wrote us a thank-you-for-coming letter! Please pray, there are so many lonely people out here. A lot of the churches have closed, and there is limited support and a huge need.

Hubby sometimes has a hard time with me, not just because I am disabled, but because the Lord tells me stuff and he – poor sod – gets to do it for me. But there is a side blessing for him – he gets to talk to people, face to face. He loves that part. I honestly think he really was born to do this, it comes so naturally to him. I have to gird up my loins and pray like mad, or the words fall out of my brain. I can forget what I am saying in the middle of a sentence when I am tired!

We met one guy through a series of God-sent miracles, and  the Lord said to me: “Tell him he needs a compass.” We sometimes have compasses to give away, they often have a profound message for people. So, there he was, a youngish tough looking guy, and I blurted out: “God says you need a compass!” And as I handed it to him – he said, with tears in his eyes. “I’ll say!” What I’ve learnt from things like this is that the Lord Himself picks the people He wants you to interact with. This young man needed straight talk. Tee-hee, being older has its perks, old ladies can pretty much say whatever they like, so long as it is caring and sweet and fluffy. I like to take advantage of that.

We don’t have to individually be the whole ballgame. Jesus is the whole ballgame … He’s the ground, the sky, and in the players etc. Plus the Holy Spirit is the best Coach and our Father is the team’s owner! The Lord wants YOU to be YOU, but that doesn’t mean you are destined to sit in the bleachers watching on, while the game of life progresses. Too many precious saints are in the cheap seats thinking they don’t belong on the field because of this and that. The past is gone. It’s time to pick up a ball and bat and join the game – it will take all the members of our team to help us win, and you definitely have a part to play. The Lord has something planned for you that will knock that baseball out of the park and bless you at the same time.

When I was a teenager I wanted to be a journalist/reporter. Much later in my life, God gave me my dream. He kind of turned it upside down and tweaked it a bit, but now I ask questions and write things down. I listen and then obey. Now I write for Him. Like I’ve said before – it ain’t rocket science. America just sent 4 astronauts around the dark side of the moon, and they discovered something amazing – the earth is not just fragmented bits floating about in space. You might think it is, the way we all act! He made our earth with love, it was never His plan for people to chop it up in pieces. 

Today, together, we can each do our bit. Some of us trundle down dusty roads to meet the one person who needs to hear about Jesus, and some of us will have a conversation with a stranger in the supermarket. Some teach Religious Instruction in the schools, and some talk to people on the train. There’s an interesting bit of a verse in Genesis 24:27:  “I, being in the Way…” The no-name guy who said that ends up being an integral part of the story.

I think none of us need to continue to sit on the bench or in the bleachers. Let’s decide to live our whole lives in His WAY and get our head in His game. I hope to see you there, and you might see me. We’ll both be following His thread. Bye. 👋

P 3317 We get the order wrong sometimes. 

/ DVH

“This is how we can be sure that we love the children of God: by having a passionate love for God and by obedience to His commands. True love for God means obeying His commands, and His commands don’t weigh us down as heavy burdens.” 1 John 5:2&3. TPT.

I think we can get the order wrong when it comes to loving others. We strain and we stretch ourselves, like possessed people in a gym — trying to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear – or in my case, trying to make a thin person out of a fat one! Desperately hoping if we take up planking, sprints, cycling, weight lifting or crunches, we will restore our bodies to the energetic life we enjoyed in our youth. Fat chance! Meanwhile who wants to spend their entire life trying to be something that they are not! Here’s a thought …  

…Why not expend all our energy getting to know the King of all Kings? He knows what our bodies can and can’t do, and He knows those things in each of our lives that are in the way and stopping us from important things like loving Him and loving others. The verse above tells us that loving Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength leads to loving our neighbour as ourselves.

We often get that thought the wrong way round. And so we end up trying so hard to love Sister Susie and her kids, or Brother Erwin and his! Sister Susie, BTW, is the church’s best source of unsolicited information, and Brother Erwin’s kids do wheelies and burn outs in the car park!  Unless each one of us is transformed by God’s Grace, we simply won’t easily get along – we are all too different.

We often throw the word ‘Grace’ about like confetti at a wedding, Oops! Sorry. I meant rice at a wedding! Instead of polluting the world with teeny-weeny tiny bits of paper, now we are cultivating rice paddies in front of our churches! So we can’t throw confetti anymore, the mad conservationists have objected to it. I’m with Charlie Brown … good grief!!

A while ago when we noticed the temperatures rising, we started focussing on saving this world – um! Didn’t the Lord already do that? What about taking care of the souls that are rapidly leaving this earth? Sometimes we have different priorities. Try telling a starving person to recycle the wrapper on food, when they haven’t eaten for days! Personally, I think people are far more important than anything else. So how can we agree? We are all like grumpy porcupines trying to find a way to get close to each other. BTW, if I think you are nuts that’s not going to help!!

Let’s use the time we have in this world to love Jesus, and others. That will help us learn His Ways, and out of that will flow those rivers of living water that we would all like to have living inside us. The sad truth is — I probably can’t love you, easily. And a couple of hours of effort each Sunday won’t cut it!  I can easily smile at you, and pretend to listen to your conversation, while I am waiting for a space to say something I think is better than what you just said! But after ten minutes of trying to talk to each other like that, somebody’s going to probably want to leave.

Our God knows us all, each and every one of us, and He loves us as individuals, dearly … and … glory of glories …He has chosen not to see what unpleasant people we can be. And He loves us in our humanity. I have learnt that Love can’t be legislated! Let’s go to Him, day by day with our little empty cup of “I can’t be bothered” and “Why would I care about them?” And instead, receive a full to overflowing cup of acceptance, repentance, patience, love, grace, etc. which we then freely give away to each other. And if my cup gets bumped, and I lose some Grace just because I’m moving about, then I go back to Him and say “More Grace please Jesus, thank you.” Amen.

If my cup is empty then what can I give you? I have to go to the Source, the Lord Himself, and replenish what I have lost. You don’t find any of those graces lying about in the street, and you can’t go to a shop and buy them either. But as we voluntarily give Jesus our love, our obedience and time, and He gives us His nature in abundance back – then our cups will overflow again.

Spending time with Him is an investment in our new life. Think about it. What did the disciples have to give the Lord? Fishing advice? He knew how to fish better than they did. Maybe their experience, or their sparkling personalities? I.Don’t.Think.So. Those men gave up their whole lives to follow Him and receive from Him. Receiving from Him, is as important as giving. 

Just think about being Mrs Peter, or Mrs John, or Mrs Andrew for a minute. They had to sacrifice everything to let their husbands follow the Lord. Our TIME is all we have. I may not have tomorrow, but I do have NOW. So like Paul, let’s choose to say, “I will!” ‘I will read the bible and I will sing songs to Him. I will pray for others and I will pray for me’…“ I will talk to Jesus on the bus, at my desk, in the car, in the shower, in my bed – at every opportunity. It’s all an act of our will.

God is a Father Who loves His kids! When I began to think about this, I realised I too understand that people are irreplaceable. I am a parent, I could not replace even one of my children, their partners, or my grandchildren with someone else, anymore than I can fly. Although I have been tempted occasionally! The reality is, the people I know and love are irreplaceable to me. Almighty God is a w-a-a-y better parent than any of us could ever ever hope to be.

YOU are irreplaceable to Him. He loves us so much He sent Jesus here, to show us His heart toward each one of us. Let’s not get the order wrong anymore, love God first, and then – you can love others. Bye. 👋

What fills our hearts comes out, if we spill it.

P 3289 Be yourself. You are here for a purpose.

/ DVH

Yesterday, I was inspired again by Reavo, who produce the dearest little 3-4 minute clips on YouTube. Can anything good come out of Youtube? You bet – you just have to be discerning. Here are some of their titles; ‘Your love is stronger than my faith.’ ‘ His mercy reaches far ahead.’  ‘I thought my hands were holding on, but You were holding me instead.’ These people have made a sweet and beautiful little felted world, delicate and unthreatening, and they sweetly illustrate the love of God toward others.

I love the way these precious brothers and sisters think. It isn’t good to be someone who looks at stuff and says …”Oh those guys are from such and such a church, and we don’t agree with their theology.” Let’s look at that carefully, shall we? Luke 5:5-7: “Master,” replied Simon, “we were working hard all night and caught nothing at all. But if You say so, I’ll let down the nets.” When they did so, they caught such a huge number of fish that their nets began to break. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them.” Those men in the other boat weren’t following Jesus, they were simply other fishermen – Peter shared the blessing with others. Jesus Himself said He had other sheep we don’t know about! 

Here’s a thought: let’s give judging others a big rest, and stop looking at our differences and spend more time looking at HIM! Now there’s a worthwhile project .I have no clue about Reavo’s theology, but the Holy Spirit on the inside of me loves them. And I believe gentleness is vastly under-rated! These little snippets of love don’t preach at viewers, they visually illustrate what God’s love looks like in the nicest way. A whole lot of work goes into each one, and I especially love the producers for finding their own way to preach!

There’s also a fantastic young man on YouTube. He has the gift of joy. He travels about to various shopping centres and dances. (Mostly hip-hop)This dear fellow walks up to perfect strangers with all kinds of bright, catchy, recorded music playing. Meanwhile, let’s not get our knickers knotted about who is playing and singing what – instead look at what he is doing! He is using his own enthusiasm and the rhythm of dance. He is not dancing to show off – although he is great! He reaches out to perfect strangers, takes their hand and gets them to do their thing to the music. I don’t know what denomination this man belongs to, but I can see the Lord in him.

Before his audience even know it, they are dancing, in public … some of them quite badly! But they are laughing and having so much fun they don’t care how they look. It’s just so precious to watch. Kids join in, and so do elderly people, who probably haven’t danced in years! This young man doesn’t preach, he doesn’t hand out leaflets, he doesn’t take money … he has simply made the joy of the Lord his strength, and you can see it.  He walks, lives and dances WITH JOY. He also talks about Jesus freely and naturally in interviews. Most people do not know the Lord Jesus is FUN. More’s the pity.

Our churches can get so busy instructing people, we can easily forget that the Lord saved them to BE with them. Jesus is a people-person. There is always a sparkle of life in His eyes. There are many ways to read the things the Lord said in the Gospels, but it is very good to look at what is written, and see hope all over it, and not just instruction. When Almighty God entered into the Garden of Eden, every evening to walk and talk with Adam and Eve, He didn’t go to lecture them. He went to BE with them! If we read the Old Testament carefully looking for what each person said in their conversations with the Lord … we will find that Father God related to each person in His book, differently. 

Our differences are a poem to His creativity. The Lord doesn’t want clones – He loves uniqueness simply because HE is unique. Please stop focussing on looking like everyone else and just be yourself. Not the self maybe your care-givers wanted you to be, or the unrealistic person that you wanted everybody to love. The real you, warts and all! We are all human and vulnerable, and liable to make mistakes, but we have the best gift of freedom this world has ever seen. Jesus deliberately came to give us the freedom to be better than we are, so now we are free to stop being self-obsessed, and we can choose to become other centred! Life is far more fun that way. 

Here’s an odd thought. Why didn’t God just make man and take him and her straight to heaven? Why did He put them in the garden? I honestly think the Lord wanted this couple to enjoy what He made. We need to be the happiest, fun-nest people on earth, despite our circumstances. Start to use who you are to love other people! Don’t try to be someone else. You woke up today. 150,000-170,000 other people didn’t. “This is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.” Be redeemed, transformed, a-n-d …yourself. Sin is no longer a part of you, you are here for a purpose, and that purpose is not to drive other people crazy!  Bye. 🤪

P 3275 On being an arrow …

/ DVH

“These heroes all died still clinging to their faith, not even receiving all that had been promised them. But they saw beyond the horizon the fulfilment of their promises and gladly embraced it from afar. They all lived their lives on earth as those who belonged to another realm. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.” Hebrews 11:13.

The people who are spoken about here in Hebrews … are our illustrations. That is a long list – which could definitely surprise you, if you take the time to read the whole chapter! Those people lived this life, their only life– looking forward to forever … instead of living for here and now! They did not have fun, fun, happy, happy lives. Instead they chose to live using their faith in the God Who said He would save them. They took Him at His Word. Plus these people in Hebrews kept themselves open to correction and they just kept pressing on. Their faith in Him filled their vision. These people saw this life as something they would pass through to something better. 

They were often isolated from their family, or friends because of their beliefs – and they suffered all sorts of hardships along the way. They were misunderstood, some of them almost daily! All of them were Jewish, except for Rahab, the Canaanite prostitute — her obedience and faith saved her and her family. These men and women were identified as God’s own Chosen people. Simply because of their witness.

We should not be surprised when life gets difficult and we think we can’t cope. It can be deadly to our faith if we forget to keep our eyes on eternity. We can become so used to maintaining the here and now, that forever seems like a dream, and today’s worries entangle our feet and root us into the immediate! But that is not the way these folks lived. Eternity was realer to them than this daily grind.

Actually, forever is a part of what we believe. We will have the joy of being with the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit endlessly. None of this floating in and out business, like the good and bad times we stagger through  sometimes is in this life – in heaven we will be living totally aware of the Trinity, and the saints who have gone on before us. We will be changed. Oh I feel such gratitude for the fact that we will ALL be changed to be like Jesus I know I need changing. 

At the same time we have not been asked to simply put up with this life, while we wait for the end of it. Father God has asked us to spend the time we have, using our minds and hearts to become a highly interactive and well defined arrow. Day by day, the way we live, and the way we interact with others, needs to point to Jesus. Arrows point to other things! 

We are not undercover brothers and sisters, we are His family. Love is now our primary language. We are purpose-built to enjoy living for Jesus right here. Heaven is not just available for a select few …. anymore than hell was made for people!  It is God’s desire is for ALL to be saved. And we are His chosen arrows pointing the way to salvation. It’s impossible for me to ever choose one of my children, or grandchildren, that I don’t want to see, or be a part of their lives. And Almighty God’s a much better parent than I am!

Meanwhile, do remember to spare a thought for mothers. Children can be difficult, trust me!! Daily there are more and more criticisms of parenting that seem to pile up. And many adults don’t seem to remember that somebody fed us, sheltered us, rocked us to sleep, and made sure we didn’t fall off a cliff! There is so much criticism about, it is far too easy to focus on what parents did wrong. If you are still here then someone did something right! 

Arrows choose to point to the good in things around them, or in the best thoughts about bad situations.They don’t point out other people’s faults, or sins – these ‘arrow’ people know they are here to help others become more acquainted with the Love of God. They have made it their mission to be a source of that Love, while they are still in this world. When you fire an arrow the idea is to hit what you are aiming at! Those long-forgotten saints in Hebrews 10 made it their business to aim at following God and honouring Him with their substance and their lives. 

Those people did not miss the mark. Their faith was firmly fixed on God and what He said, not on this life going on around them and their part in it. Here’s something I have found useful. If I am focussed on what is going around me, then I am probably not giving my faith in His love and kindness toward me, the attention it deserves. The “arrow” of our lives gets turned away from our destiny a little bit at a time, as we allow the imposing confounding things of this world to turn our eyes away from Jesus. We simply can’t look at those two things at the same time, we will end up cross-eyed! 

Which is another word for not seeing anything clearly. When your vision becomes cloudy, stop and ask the Lord to show you what has inserted itself between you and Himself. Following, by its very nature, means we are looking at the Leader. And arrows have a purpose. They give us direction and show us where we move onto next. Bye👋

P 3264 Running over.

/ DVH

“Yes, God is more than ready to overwhelm you with every form of grace, so that you will have more than enough of everything —every moment and in every way. He will make you overflow with abundance in every good thing you do.”       2 Corinthians 9:8 TPT.

Grace is a precious gift from our Heavenly Father given to us, to reconcile mankind to Himself. This Grace was given to us, for us, and for others. It was unbelievably expensive. Jesus came to earth and died to provide us all with an unlimited supply, forever. It is good to remember that Grace goes hand in hand with MERCY. It doesn’t matter who we are, or where we come from, or what someone else has done, or left undone, God’s Grace is freely available to every man, woman, or child ever born, it begins to transform lives around us as it flows through us.

God’s Grace is like a river in full flood, it refreshes every dry thing around it for miles! Here are some ways God’s Grace will transform us in our day to day lives. Saving Grace… the Grace that washes us clean from all our sins;  operational Grace  … the Grace we need to accomplish something He has asked us to do;  forbearing Grace … that’s the kind we need when someone else is driving us up a wall;  enabling Grace, the kind we need when we are overwhelmed by our circumstances;  plus extraordinary Grace… the Grace we have been given to  believe what Jesus said, when everything coming at us tells us it can’t happen. This Grace leads us into more faith. BTW, this is not by any means, a comprehensive list of the attributes of Grace!

Grace is the vehicle we deliberately climb inside when we accept the fact that Jesus died for my sin. My point today is — don’t ever step out of the vehicle!  Stay inside Grace!  I am going to need Grace all the time, for me and for you. Almighty God Himself, in the Person of Christ, has freely supplied it. I can’t trust myself because my old nature will rear its ugly head when I least expect it, and I will hurt someone. Praise God! He is not stingy. He showed us that when He gave this world His only Son to heal, deliver, transform and save us all. 

Jesus didn’t just sort of, kind of, only just scrape through overcoming the evil that we have participated in. No! He triumphantly overpaid. Our God has so much Grace, the bible describes Him as being rich in it! It is important that we realise that we cannot afford to entertain any idea that who we are, or what we’ve done, could ever even make a dent on the incredible deluge He poured out on all of us. Our reconciliation with our Father and each other is a direct result of Jesus’ actions.

Ephesians 2:4-10. “But God’s mercy is so abundant, and His love for us is so great,  that while we were spiritually dead in our disobedience He brought us to life with Christ. It is by God’s grace that you have been saved.  In our union with Christ Jesus He raised us up with Him to rule with Him in the heavenly world. He did this to demonstrate for all time to come the extraordinary greatness of His grace in the love He showed us in Christ Jesus.  For it is by God’s grace that you have been saved through faith. It is not the result of your own efforts, but God’s gift, so that no one can boast about it. God has made us what we are, and in our union with Christ Jesus He has created us for a life of good deeds, which He has already prepared for us to do.”

We can easily lose sight of the power of Grace when we aimlessly wander over into our own strength. Speaking for myself it can be much too easy to think: ”Oh, now I know what the Lord wants,” and toddle off and do it by myself. However, I discovered that the bible says: ‘His strength is made perfect in weak people,’ so my own strength is no longer an asset. Especially if I want to enjoy the fullness of His Grace! Grace is as tangible in this world, as heaven is. Let’s cherish what we’ve been given as the best thing we have, use it, and be thankful for it. 

There are times that when we want or need His overflowing Grace, but we discover we must wait for it. Waiting on the Lord renews our strength, stretches our faith, and thankfully it reminds us we can’t do anything without Him!  This position is not about just sitting around staring at the ceiling waiting for something to happen. Waiting for Grace is an active thing, that involves the faith we already have in Who He is. We deliberately invest and fix our heart into and on Jesus’ character. 

I’ve found that knowing what I can’t do is an enormous blessing. Asking for His help with anything and everything is not a sign of weakness – it is a sign of respect for what He has said and done, as well as what we have already seen Him do. When we ask for more of His Grace we are honouring Him, because we are asking for more of Jesus’ love, life, kindness, patience etc. to manifest itself in our lives toward others. This means we see Him as the Answer — to everything.

Our earthly limitations are just opportunities for God to make Himself real to us in a way we haven’t seen before. We have no comprehension about what the Lord can do with an ordinary life — one that is totally surrendered to Him and His Ways. I have experienced this in a small way, personally. When I refuse to listen to my hurt feelings, and indignation about how someone else treated me, and instead I choose to ask for and extend Grace to them, with the Lord’s direction and help — that’s when everything changes – especially my stinky attitudes. 

Grace is powerful. It is a mistake to reduce the meaning of it to something that HAS saved us. It did. Grace is a powerful weapon to overcome our inner and outer enemies when we rely upon it the WAY Jesus did. When we choose to embrace what the Lord means by Grace, it is life-changing. Grace is like a river in full-flood when the banks of that river start running over, affecting everything else around it. Bless you. Bye 👋