Father

P 2840 We must remember, we sin against GOD, first.

/ DVH

“Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” Nathan replied, “The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.” 2 Samuel 12:13. 

“And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’”Luke 15:21.

“Against You, and You alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in Your sight. You will be proved right in what You say, and Your judgment against me is just.”Psalm 51:4.

We often talk a great deal about sinning against each other, but today I want to talk about the fact that first of all, any sin is against Him. When we dismiss or disobey His word, our sin is dismissive of God’s holiness. Yes, we need to fix things with others, but we need to start at the top … with Father God Himself. Everyone of our sins had a consequence. And Jesus bore the penalty of those consequences on His body – so we need to treat these things with humility, honestly, reverence and respect. 

Let me be as clear as I can be … Our sins are absolutely, positively, completely G.O.N.E. – gone forever! Thrown into the sea of forgetfulness, with a NO FISHING sign clearly displayed. That sign needs to be read over and over again because guilt and shame no longer belong to us. “Jesus said, “I tell you most solemnly that anyone who chooses a life of sin is trapped in a dead-end life and is, in fact, a slave. A slave can’t come and go at will. The Son, though, has an established position, the run of the house. So if the Son sets you free, you are free through and through.”John 8:34-36.

This means that before we repent and repair things with others, first of all, we need to thank God and His precious Son again, for all Jesus suffered and chose to do for us. Thankfulness, not guilt is now our response – however presumption is not a right response either. We need to treasure our relationship with our Loving generous Father above all else. There is no longer any fear in sin and God’s love has now taken over our way of thinking, doing and being. We live a life of love now, standing by our choices- we are now free to choose His Will, His Way.

We’ve been set free from the demands and focus of sin, to focus upon HIM.  Freedom means we can still sin – however, now, we’ve been empowered not to!! Instead of blame and shame motivating us, we can be confident that we can restore things – simply because Christ’s death on our behalf has empowered us. Now we praise Him for all He has willingly done for us and we go back into happily submit to His will, His way. The point of the ‘get out of jail free card‘ is not carelessness – it is redemption. So we must acknowledge our sin against His freely-given goodness.

Here is another scripture for all of us to think on today:“My little children (believers, dear ones), I am writing you these things so that you will not sin and violate God’s law. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate [who will intercede for us] with the Father: Jesus Christ the righteous [the upright, the just One, Who conforms to the Father’s will in every way—purpose, thought, and action].”  1 John 2:1. The best news ever is this, JESUS is in the throne room praying for us, every single second of the day. IMAGINE THAT! Because of what He willingly did, sin is not the “norm” for us. Our new normal life is in Him. THAT’S WHERE THE POWER TO OVERCOME COMES FROM!

Almighty God does not wink at our sin … it says so in the book!  An exchange took place 2,000 years ago and Jesus Christ became the Lamb Who was slain, forever. It’s part of His title, just like Prince of peace, wonderful wise Counsellor, and Saviour of the World. So when we sin and disobey God, we take ourselves out of fellowship with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, Who is the One Who helps us – and the Son. The One Person Who perfectly understands how hard it is to be human! Dumb move … He knows the way through temptation!

Let’s be clear. God made sure all this stuff was written down, we have a book! Now we do not have to be dragged about by our weaknesses, and weird ideas. Because of what Jesus did, we have a live-in Helper. The Holy Spirit was our midwife! He birthed us and now He is raising us, day by day as we learn to live a life of obedience. God did not just trust our discipleship to ordinary men … Jesus Christ, Who followed the Holy Spirit’s instructions to the letter – is still making disciples! 

We have the bible to show us where we are out of order with His ways and we need to respond to conviction with real repentance. Because when sin happens we stop walking with Him and start hiding from Him. And people don’t just hide by leaving the church, they hide in busyness, and by elevating things that are distractions, or supposed  recreational activities. Dead people don’t need that stuff – they don’t have an opinion or a need. That’s why we rely upon God to meet them!

If we sin, we need to go to our Heavenly Father, first, and confess our faults, errors, lapses, nasty attitudes and selfish ways and He will empower us to overcome. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9. Bye. 🕊️

P 2836 Live under the canopy.

/ DVH

“Above all, constantly echo God’s intense love for one another, for love will be a canopy over a multitude of sins.”1 Peter 4:8 TPT. Let’s get down to business – love, the love of God that we give away … that reality that is described in the bible… is NOT a feeling. Feelings don’t come into it, except sometimes, later on.  Love is an action. Jesus Christ took that action on our behalf. That’s why 1 Corinthians 13 lists qualities we can expect to see in our lives when we walk with Him and exhibit His love. The truth is, I already have this love for you, it is mine, and it is just as real as this computer I am typing on.

Those verses mentioned above are also a promise from HIM toward us. He will be patient, kind, etc. etc. with us. That’s how we will know that whatever we receive, is from Him! If what we have been given doesn’t produce joy – it ain’t Him because God’s love has clothes that it wears! (Colossians 3:12) … Compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience etc. If what you choose to wear for yourself – your behaviour, or what you hear or read does not sound like those things – it is not HIM! Christ is kindness and compassion etc. personified. 

Read the book. Then watch Him, in your mind’s eye, walk about amongst those large, never-ending unruly crowds … He never got impatient with them pressing in on Him, or getting in His way, or even when they interrupted Him as He was about to do something else. Kindness and compassion are the very scent of the Father that Jesus carried with Him.

Those people who truly hate God, don’t want to read His book. They don’t want to know Him. We give the bible away a lot, and some people refuse it. However, not all of those people actually hate Him, some are afraid of the book. They are afraid of conviction etc. that’s why they don’t want to read it. They think they can’t change their behaviour to suit Him.  Isn’t it tragic that some Christians think that way too? We have a powerful ally – a HELPER!!

On a happier note about giving away the bibles, we sometimes return to the same places on our many journeys, and we find we need to give out more bibles, even though we already gave away plenty the first time we passed by!  People have pinched them. It’s probably the only time I approve of thievery, because true conviction lies within that book. Over to You, Lord.

Living under His canopy means living this life the way Jesus would, as a fit Bride for the Lord Himself.  My Saviour had to leave this earth to validate His vow to me, and He poured His own blood all over the heavenly mercy seat. I needed that mercy so badly!!!  Praise God, that Christ’s blood was complete and final. No bull, sheep, dove would need to be sacrificed ever again. Almighty God has provided the perfect, finalised agreement between Him and mankind forever. In effect, when we stand under that canopy of what Jesus did for us, we are reminded of our pledge to marry Him. 

A canopy is a place of agreement. Two people vow to be true to each other, before God, under an object that covers them both. How fortunate are we to have the blood of Jesus Christ, as our canopy. His blood not only washes us, it covers us. When God looks at us He sees His dear Son’s blood. Now, we can stand firmly in our place under that costly canopy. I will not be excused from the practicalities of living a life on earth, instead now I can embrace them, knowing the One I love best, lived for God every second, of every minute, of every day. He did it  and now I know it can be done with the Holy Spirit’s constant help! 

If I hurt you, then part of my agreement with Jesus is that I will repair the damage, by asking for your forgiveness and changing my behaviour. I will probably need to spend my lifetime, changing my behaviour one way or another, but only with His active guidance and help. To do that I must choose to live in constant fellowship with Him, and obey whatever He tells me to do. I have found that sheer obedience has opened doors in my life and heart that were forever nailed shut in my eyes. I can take no credit for those things, He did it all. I just followed His prompts and along the way of obedience, my heart was changed. Boy was I surprised!

All the gold, precious jewels, and metals this world has ever seen cannot provide a better, more beautiful place to stand with our Beloved Saviour... than under that canopy of His sacrificial love. Jesus died to make us all like Him, so we can love God the way He loved His Father – by being obedient. The Lord was incredibly obedient …unto His death. All of the joyous, enthusiastic singing, praising, worship, and dancing we can do, does not substitute for the sheer gritted teeth “YES” of obedience that flows voluntarily from our hearts.

You and I now live under that canopy. Bye.👋 “He escorts me to the banquet hall; it’s obvious how much He loves me.”Song of Songs 2:4.

P 2834 Clear out the cupboards.

/ DVH

In order for our lives to be transformed, God has given each one of us so much help. We have His book. Full of the Lord’s dealings with others. Plus the ongoing Presence of the Holy Spirit. Who is always active to remind us of what our Father has said.

However, when I want to follow the Holy Spirit, that means I am going to have to learn how to WAIT for His answers, and learn to trust that the Lord knows what’s going on.  At the same time I will need to believe that Almighty God is bigger than any of my immediate problems. I need to choose to change my behaviour, as well as my reactions, to facilitate and undergird my new belief. I cannot enforce that decision I’ve made upon you — because you need to learn for yourself! This means I will be stretched even further because I’m not living in a vacuum. 

Living this way is part of God’s ongoing process for us. It isn’t always easy, but it will teach me patience and perseverance, and draw me closer to Him and the Way He thinks. As I digest how He thinks, by doing what His book says, I will need His help – right from the minute I open my eyes every single day. Meanwhile, Father God doesn’t want me to learn  how to wait just because He likes to take His time … actually the bible says that ‘He is quick to answer us…’Father God wants me to learn how to wait, because I will renew my spiritual strength and because of that, I can resist any temptation to give up easily. We have His book full of His Ways to use as a prayerful reference point.

Today, I want to look specifically at something difficult that Jesus said. Matthew 18:21-22 gives us a tough illustration.“At that point Peter got up the nerve to ask, “Master, how many times do I forgive a brother or sister who hurts me? Seven?” Jesus replied, “Seven! Hardly. Try seventy times seven.”  When I read this I chose to do the Math – that means every 2.9387755102 minutes in a day, if someone were to sin against you or I, over and over again, the Lord is saying to us – we still need to forgive them. Let’s round that number up to someone sinning against us every 3 minutes, all day. It is easy to see His point when we do the Math! Nobody would want to forgive someone if they sinned against them that often and consistently. I’m pretty sure that the person sinning against us might even run out of the energy to sin with those numbers!!

Jesus went on to tell us a parable that we all wish we hadn’t read – the unforgiving servant. Personally I don’t think that the Lord’s point is even remotely about how many sins and how often – Jesus was telling Peter if he wanted to be forgiven then he needed to have his reference point changed. It’s not about numbers … because of His Presence in our lives, we are changed. It was all free to us but it was incredibly costly to our Lord.

Through these verses I believe the Lord wanted to show Peter that human beings cannot forgive others without God’s help, and oodles of His GRACE.  Jesus was exaggerating to illustrate His point. He became sin — so we can become the righteousness of God. We were given forgiveness for free from the Lord, but it was incredibly costly to Him. Now we give it away to others for free, but will cost us, just like it cost Him. Our gratitude expresses itself in showing mercy to others, when they don’t deserve it either.

One of the things that can definitely hobble us spiritually from acting like His kids, is our unwillingness to forgive the way we’ve been forgiven. People sometimes say that they can forgive easily, but they can’t forget. Personally I think if we can still remember what happened, that will probably have the worst effect on our forgiveness factor! Those two things can’t go in the same equation, because one shoots the other one in the foot. So why am I writing about this today? Because some of us are going to have families descend upon us as we move toward Christmas. Family can, and often does more damage than anybody else. 

Our families don’t always consist of beautiful Godly people who always get it right. After all, WE belong there, and that fact alone just plain ruins that idea! Jesus is saying to us we need to live a lifestyle of forgiveness… and let past hurts and injuries go. Why? Because the greatest power on earth is released when we forgive, it’s GRACE. Some of Christ last words spoken from the cross were: “Father forgive them for they know not what they do…” When He said that … God’s Grace started raining down upon the earth out of all proportion to whatever would be needed for all time.

Grace moves mountains. It heals the sick, it restores our souls, it changes our circumstances. It opens up things that have been shut down and left to fester, so they can heal. Grace is the AIR of His kingdom. We can’t afford to count how many times that dumb person we know did whatever they did – because when we do that we step out of Grace, and literally stop breathing in the Spirit. God takes no pleasure in our grudges. So we need to clean out our spiritual cupboards asap. Then we will be amazed at how differently we can view the people who are around us. We all need to: “learn the unforced rhythms of Grace…” Bye. 👋

P 2830 Be a blessing to others.

/ DVH

Matthew 3:1-6. “Another time Jesus went into the synagogue, and a man with a shrivelled hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched Him closely to see if He would heal Him on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the shrivelled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent. He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.”

I know I have talked about this scripture quite recently, but the really really cool thing about God’s Word is that it is like a kaleidoscope — it has a tremendous capacity to present so many different truths in new ways, so we can see something remarkable each time! As I was chewing these verses over, I saw something I hadn’t seen before. In the face of overwhelming opposition- including the very real prospect of death – Jesus still chose to do good. He remained true to His nature in the face of great danger. He understood His purpose in this life, and knew that He could not be killed outside of His Father’s timing.

It is one of this life’s little ironies that although living like this is a great place to live, that means we often don’t know what comes next! Meanwhile, we have been instructed to pray for the sick so they can be healed etc., and to love others. We are His care-takers who happily pray for the people around us, and share their joys, sorrows and suffering. We care for the lost, lonely, displaced, ignored, rejected people of this world – things we can only do by drawing on God’s incredible Grace. 

Many people might have whispered to the disabled man: “Could you come back next Tuesday and I will pray for your hand then? We’re in the synagogue and we mustn’t disturb what God wants to do here today.” You know, He’s God, He does not have to fit in with our timetables. His will has perfect timing. That’s because the immediate is not a problem to the Lord, He knows the end from the beginning! That’s a powerful thing to know and it can change everything else about our lives.

There is a problem with paying lip-service to the status quo … it accomplishes nothing, except to increase our cowardice. It magnifies our errant thoughts that God did not stop us from doing this or that, so it must be OK. Jesus didn’t care about what anybody else was going to do with what He did. He knew what His Father was doing in that moment, so He did that, despite the consequences. Sometimes His Father’s will didn’t include the appearance of safety!

Our God’s eye is always on the sparrow … in this case it was the man with the withered arm. So that man became Jesus’ primary goal, and he was healed. Jesus Himself said in John 9:4, “I must work the works of Him that sent Me while it is day; the night cometh when no man can work.” Challenging the Pharisees also became part of that process – yet again God was giving them a chance to let their hearts be softened. Dismissing someone else’s pain is a terrible flaw. It hardens our hearts toward God, and the Holy Spirit’s tender kindness.

Father God has a plan for each of us. This is one of the things we pick up from reading the scriptures … it means we can confidently sit back in the boat and let Him steer … but living like that will require our constant humility … and probably a whole lot of interruption! Because we know our purpose in this life, we can stare opposition in the face and tell it to ‘go away.’ Jesus Christ knew His purpose on this earth, He knew He had been sent here.  At the same time, He also knew that offence was going to lead to His murder, but He lived for what God gave Him to do day by day.

Our lives, right here, right now, are to be used for the glory of God, not for our own comfort and personal satisfaction. I exhort everyone reading this to learn to find your joy in whatever He gives you to do, rather than what this world says you should be doing. Life can become very boring doing the same things, day by day by day, but when we follow the Lord … this kind of thing happens: “The seventy returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name!” Luke 10:17. 

Yesterday hubby went a few doors down to check up on an older man in our neighbourhood. This man was so grateful that someone was aware of his presence, as he lives alone. Lots of people may notice stuff, but not many get up out of their comfort zone and go and check for themselves. Hubby and the old man had a great conversation. Meanwhile, we sent out about a dozen Christmas cards to the neighbourhood etc. and we’ve received just one back… but that single card was filled with so much gratitude. Our job is to be like a radar operator, we send out a spiritual “ping” and we wait to see if somebody will respond!

Opportunities to serve the Lord and the people around us, are everywhere. Unfortunately this world requires us to always be in a hurry, plus we have constant day-to-day anxiety about the next thing that must be done … so we sometimes miss, or we don’t follow up the Holy Spirit’s leading. Actively showing others that their lives have meaning to God by investing your time in them, is one clear way to communicate God’s love.

Our aim is to be like Jesus. He did what He was asked to do – despite the personal consequences and threat to His life. Our purpose is to share the Father’s love in whatever way comes naturally to each one of us. I have found it is important to be sure that my communication is personal, because remote control does not communicate the same depth of affection the Lord has for people. Today, I want to bless you to be a blessing to others, Amen.🙏

P 2825 We are weapons that are forged in the fires of adversity …

/ DVH

Many Christians like to think that we are doing our best when we just meander along, picking up this new thought and putting down that old one — hopefully teaching our own kids … but probably not very worried about other people. We pray, and then we secretly blame God if He doesn’t send us revival! Be your own revival. To be a Christian is to be a true revolutionary! These passionate individuals see hatred as an opportunity to love others!  Meanwhile. loving and caring for those that hate you, is contrary to what humans want to do – of course it’s radical! 

In most countries today there are not many practising Christians. And by practising, I don’t mean going to church week by week. I think we’ve been reduced to a remnant – how else can we explain the excesses of the West in the face of the total deprivation everywhere else?! We’ve learnt over years of inactivity to pay lip-service to things that need our total devotion. When Jesus said: “Follow Me” – He wasn’t talking about a parade!  

Christianity is not designed to be a religion. Jesus is the way we live and breathe and learn to love others – even the ones that wish we were dead. We cannot call ourselves Christians, if we have not learnt to OVERCOME — things like our own penchant for sin, our greed for the things of this world, as well as our own personal trials and tribulations. We must learn to handle bad times the same way as good ones looking to Jesus Who is the Author and Finisher of our faith.

It seems to be that what we believe has not affected the entirety of our lives. Instead we plaster over the things that need to be purged, including those personal attitudes that Christ Himself preached against. Sadly, when we water down what we believe for our own benefit and convenience, we are watering down the power of God at the same time! We need to remember, we are either on fire, or the fire is slowly dying, or it has gone out! A tiny bit of Christianity that makes us feel safe will not do, we must be completely immersed in the things of God. And what we say has to be exhibited by our lifestyles. His love always becomes incredibly real in the fire of adversity.

We’ve been reborn to take what this world thinks, and stand it on its head. We don’t just saunter along smiling at everybody, waving cheerfully, holding a banner for Jesus and putting up cute pictures of scriptures over our sink! What we believe needs to be lived out – day by day by day. We are His living bibles, to be read by everyone else around us, we are not just nice polite people! Instead, Christians live real lives filled with real problems, and a lot of those problems are totally insurmountable without God’s help … so we are learning how to utterly RELY upon Him.

Our faith is nothing without the power and Presence of God. All we have to offer others presently, is pie in the sky when they die. God cares so much more about all of His kids, than the trite things we present to others. He is not an absent God Who benignly, and absent-mindedly smiles down on His sometimes AWOL, naughty children. That is insulting to the Holy Spirit, Who is ever-present. He longs to be our ever-present help in time of need, not the spare tyre on the back of yet another brand new vehicle! Instead of working ourselves up into a lather trying to demonstrate His power – we need to daily die to self and demonstrate HIS LOVE instead.

I think the reason people aren’t coming to Jesus is because our ideas of witnessing have made Him seem weak. We present Him as a baby, or God on a cross unable to come down. Or even SomeOne Who can be contained by a church building!  WE ARE HIS ALTAR – our hearts are His home. Our contribution to this world is that we know the God of all Hope! We need to talk about Who He is. He’s the Almighty, ever-present, always holy, always with us, Father. The God Who knows everything about each one us. Who freely gave us His own Son to pay for humanity’s wilful sinfulness.

We must not be afraid when the fire around us, and in us, heats up, and life becomes unbearable. That’s when the truly great weapons of war are forged … IN THE HEAT OF THE FIRE. He promised to be with us when we walk through the flames. (Isaiah) The biggest enemy we face, is not the other guy – it’s us – as we lead lukewarm lives at the cost of someone else coming to know Christ. God’s Love cries out daily to be demonstrated.“But God demonstrated His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8. 

It’s time to do more than idly talking about Him when the subject comes up. It’s time we showed our enemies His love, like they are our best friends. We need to stop using prayer for release or an escape vehicle, and pray for the Grace and courage to walk through the flames – untouched. ‘We are weapons of His warfare, and those weapons are not carnal but mighty to the pulling down of strongholds.’ 2 Corinthians 10:4. People are dying every single day and they have no knowledge that this life is not all there is. 

We have to become His swords, forged in the fires of adversity, so we can cut off other people’s chains and set them free, like Jesus did. Bye.🔥

P 2814 Never EVER forget how much He loves you.

/ DVH

I have found out when life ambushes us, and hard things, or difficult situations – or even other people, add to our pain – it is easy to forget how truly loved we are. The presence of pain does not mean we are not loved! Almighty God dearly loves all His people. To fully comprehend how much, instead of reading the Old Testament as a collection of stories, look for how patient He is with Israel. I honestly believe Israel’s inability to remember that they were His chosen people and what that was meant to create for them… caused Father God untold pain! Look for the precious things He says to this nation – if you listen carefully you can hear His heart breaking because His love is lying at their feet — unappreciated. 

“For the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel has said this, “In returning [to Me] and rest you shall be saved, In quietness and confident trust is your strength.”But you were not willing, …”Isaiah 30:15. “Thus says the Lord: “What wrong did your fathers find in Me that they went far from Me, and went after worthlessness, and became worthless?”Jeremiah 2:5. Humanity’s sin has broken God’s heart and we have that fact clearly illustrated even medically at Calvary – Jesus died of a broken heart. This verse is from the New Testament: “He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him.” John 1:11. These people did not know their God even when they met Him!

It is no use to say to ourselves that we would not have done that. Sin is common to man. We have all had times when we have been so self-obsessed we would not have offered the Lord Himself a room or a bed. Remember what He said? ‘When do you these things for the least of these you are doing them for ME.’ He comes to each of us each day, just to remind us how much we are dearly loved by the Father, the Son, and by the Holy Spirit, our precious Messenger of Love.

The bible tells us our God loves everybody, all kinds of people, old, or young, or wise or foolish, grumpy ungrateful people. We merrily quote “God so loved the world that He gave…”but we forget to add to that thought that it COST HIM to do it. That’s what love looks like, and this is how God expresses His love – sacrifice. What Jesus did for us was free to us, but it cost Him His life to do it, and it cost our Heavenly Father to allow it to happen. He’s a FATHER … and He’s a good good Father! We are the apple of His eye and love is His primary motivation.

Meanwhile, don’t waste your time feeling guilty, or ashamed, or inadequate – instead stop thinking about yourself at all — and give the Lord your sincere, heartfelt appreciation! He did everything He did because He loves us. As human beings we often associate love with getting what we want when we want it, or when we think we need it.  Sometimes people just want the easiest and most fun answers! We link love with feelings of comfort and ease or feeling special – but God’s love is eternally linked to a cross and an empty tomb. 

In my opinion we need to get our heads around the fact that authentic love always wants the best for the other person! Guess what! God sees you and I as the best, so He gave us His best. We are so precious to Him, He is longing to marry us to His Son. And He is very satisfied with the bargain He made by giving His Son’s earthly life in exchange for our eternity with Him.  You and I might worry over Aunt Minnie or Uncle Fred because they are not ‘saved.’ Imagine how HE feels. The Lord Himself knows them intimately. He gave them that cheeky smile, and those sparkly eyes and He longs to talk to them. They are not strangers to Him – they are His beloved.

We have clear descriptions of what God’s love looks like in 1 Corinthians 13 and Colossians 3. That kind of love is the love Almighty God Himself chose to clothe Himself in when He came to earth. His precious Son, His chosen human personification, had no soft, stylish baby clothes — Jesus was wrapped in swaddling clothes. Strips of cloth – the baby clothes of the poor. That tiny little precious infant slept on straw, have you ever even sat on straw? It’s not something you’d want for a brand new infant! I encourage you to never ever forget how much He loves you – it is more than just nice scriptures – it is a fact!  Bye. 💕

“What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since He did not spare even His own Son but gave Him up for us all, won’t He also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for His own? No one—for God Himself has given us right standing with Himself. Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and He is sitting in the place of honour at God’s right hand, pleading for us. Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean He no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?

(As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.)” NO, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, Who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed,nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:31-39.

P 2813 Avoid stumbling blocks.

/ DVH

Matthew 23:1-3 “Now Jesus turned to address His disciples, along with the crowd that had gathered with them. “The religion scholars and Pharisees are competent teachers in God’s Law. You won’t go wrong in following their teachings on Moses. But be careful about following them. They talk a good line, but they don’t live it. They don’t take it into their hearts and live it out in their behaviour. It’s all spit-and-polish veneer.”

And onto  …Matthew 23:8-10: “Don’t let people do that to you, put you on a pedestal like that. You all have a single Teacher, and you are all classmates. Don’t set people up as experts over your life, letting them tell you what to do. Save that authority for God; let Him tell you what to do. No one else should carry the title of ‘Father’; you have only one Father, and He’s in heaven. And don’t let people maneuver you into taking charge of them. There is only one Life-Leader for you and them—CHRIST.”

So, I have decided to comment on the second scripture Matthew 23:8-10 first — the Apostle Paul also very carefully addressed the issue of people choosing one person over another to follow —- because that situation happened to him. (1 Corinthians 1:10-17)  The point is, we follow Christ, and we remain open to correction. Meanwhile, we also do our best to remain in an attitude that is flooded and guided by love.

There are ordinary people who have extraordinary gifts and these were given to the Body, and made available for all of us. These supernatural gifts, are to lead, heal, and demonstrate His love to everybody around us. But please remember – HE is the Giver. Each one of our leaders is a gift. There is no room in Christianity for cult followers. Nobody is right all the time! We will always need each other.

And every single member has something to contribute. However, some people have quiet unobtrusive things to do and some don’t. Actually, I think the hidden people should rejoice. There is nothing like praise, notoriety and excitement to puff up somebody’s head. Walking in step with the Lord, unsung and unseen, is one of the safest places on earth – as long as other people can see Him through you. Sadly, Christianity today seems to have created an environment of Christian super-stars. We love people’s theology, their gifts, and the excitement that surrounds everything these people say and do. 

But, the truth is, each one of our own day-to-day lives needs to mirror and demonstrate the scriptures. Otherwise that is dangerous for us – and the people around us. There is only One Who is perfect and it is not Brother or Sister-everybody-knows-their-name!  It is the Lord. He alone is worthy of worship and praise. If we are not careful we can become quite faddish – suddenly, this preacher is IN and that one is OUT.

I love fresh insight, it means that I can see the Lord in a brand new way, and that’s good for my spiritual health – but we are not, nor should we ever be, an exclusive club, with human heroes in charge. Laziness on our behalf, has caused us to encourage others to hear for us. We all need the skill of personal hearing, otherwise we will not have the complete picture of the glory of Jesus Christ to present to this world.

The second stumbling block, is in Matthew 23:1-3. What the Lord mentions here is the precious fruit of a life lived for Him. It is not good to be a Pharisee, spouting this and explaining that – and not allowing the Word of life and hope to work IN us. I know from experience that whatever I write about in this blog, the Holy Spirit challenges me time and time again – “Are you living what you say?” I hate it when that happens but of course it is good for me. His people need to be especially careful because the utterances of God can be heady and so profound we can pretend that understanding stuff is the same as living it. IT ISN’T.

Let’s remember, the Pharisees, Sadducees and the Teachers of the law look like the bad guys in the gospels from our POV in time. But they were actually revered and esteemed in their own time by the people around them. Their mistake appears to be that they thought they were above the law – simply because they knew it so well. Anybody can fall into that trap. Knowing what the bible says and doing what it says are two very different things. 

One of those things has a huge cost. It means you choose to die, daily. Plus you get to deal with loads of stuff that other people merrily ignore, and the same people will probably jump all over you while you are doing it. That’s is not fun. I decided long ago, whatever He gave me to do, I would do it as He empowered me and led me. So my faith gets a good work-out every single day. But if or when He tells me to stop, then I will. None of us want to end up a stumbling block to the people Jesus dearly loves. Bye for today, 👋

P 2804 Thoughts from a Grannie.

/ DVH

Jesus is speaking to His disciples in John 14:15-17:“If you love Me, you will obey My commandments Then I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth, Whom the world cannot accept,because it does not see Him or know Him. But you know Him, because He resides with you and will be IN you.”

Christians all have a live-in … Counsellor; Comforter; Baptiser; Advocate; Strengthener; Sanctifier; Spirit of Christ; Spirit of Truth; Spirit of Grace; Spirit of Mercy; Spirit of God; Spirit of Holiness; Spirit of Life. And just because we cannot always hear or see Him at work, that does not mean He is not with us! He is FAR bigger than our measuring sticks, but unfortunately, He sometimes falls off our radar because … HE IS NOT LOUD.

This world we live in today likes to loudly feature what we can see, feel, touch, taste, and experience – it quite gladly shows us demons … … but refuses to acknowledge Almighty God! When SomeBody or something does not line up with our instantly focussed, darkly-imagined world, those people fall under suspicion and doubt – they are accused of trying to steal someone else’s fun away. They are restricting someone else’s freedom to express themselves. I think that’s when and why, we end up labelling things … without consulting the Creator’s greater knowledge. 

The reason Christians choose to get to know the Lord every single day, is because the Holy Spirit reveals the truth of the Word of God to us as we read it. He reminds us, over and over again, that Father God loves us dearly – He teaches us, step by step, that we are part of something far greater. At the same time, He is also praying for each and every human being, every second of every minute of our lives. I have learnt that the kingdom He comes from is so much bigger than the world I inhabit – so I have learnt to refuse to be limited by the things I don’t yet understand! I will be prayerfully careful with those things, but I refuse to be limited, because I have a limitless Father!

When I only look at my own limitations, or the limitations of the people around me, and I choose to be guided by them, I cease to grow. That’s when I have put ‘fitting into the status quo’ above ‘growth.’ Loads of people do that. Life kicked them in the teeth when they have tried to stretch, or extend the edges of their thoughts and now they are looking for safety more than adventure. Here’s what I have observed … safety becomes a BOX that limits my God-given possibilities. 

Jesus told us to be like little children, and healthy little children are curious. They start out in this life asking: “Why? Wat dat? How?” But instead of fostering that curiosity, human beings made a great big container and they named it school and instruction – and now we plonk these precious bundles of natural curiosity into it, hoping against hope that “school” will teach them… something – anything .. that means they can make a living some day. We are not trying to make decent human beings – just societally functioning ones.

Unfortunately, school rarely teaches most children how to think, instead they teach them how to learn. That channels most people’s thinking processes into established streams. It takes a very brave inquisitive child to push against these established schools of thought. Many children who refuse, for one reason or another, to be ‘streamed’ are labelled today with man-made diagnoses, that limit their ability even further to become who they are to God. If we want to go higher than the status quo – our aim should to be lift them higher than we’ve already come.

Sadly with these non-conformist kids we say: “something is wrong with that kid, so we will give it a great big name that means this kid is a dud who won’t do what it is told, or is too dumb to learn.” We limit them with our fear and labels. Oh, we do it nicely, because we’ve learnt to practice our PC, so we pat the kid on the head and say: “Poor baby, this one was born broken.” And then we use them as a statistic to prove our ideas are right.

Maybe in our societies today, the dollar has become more important than our kids, So instead of teaching them how to explore our world safely, we stick a lid on them and tell them this is all there is, that only a few people can grow up to be special. You can make great clones that way. However … God made us all individuals for a purpose. We each have a role to play in His plans for this world – and it won’t necessarily just be on the sporting field, stage or TV! 

What we call education, steals away His purpose, under the guise of things we must know to survive. It has stolen away faith from many, and labelled it ‘a minor need in some individuals who are already weak.’ It does not see faith as something that opens doors, it sees it as an enemy. It is our job, as parents, and grandparents, aunties, and uncles etc. to foster our children’s interest in this bigger world of faith. That bigger world is HIS world. And you can give your children a far better start in this life if you teach them how to really SEE – spiritually. Don’t expect our schools to do it, it’s our job to teach them about that bigger world, which is far realer than this one. 

Instead of just teaching them to digest facts and information that can be proved or disproved – let’s teach them about His kingdom. Let’s tell them what that looks like. Help your kids to see that words on a page in His book, can expand into dreams, visions, and a greater reality that will bless everyone, not just themselves. And that’s this Grannie signing off for today! Bye. 👋

P 2802 Don’t live like an orphan.

/ DVH

You know, orphans have to find their own way, they have to do everything for themselves. They do not belong to anyone. They have no family, no family to support them and back them up. You and I, we are no longer orphans!… Not only were we re-born into God’s family … then … God Himself adopted us. We must learn to make Him welcome in our hearts!“But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the right [the authority, the privilege] to become children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name—…” John 1:12. 

First of all, being adopted by God is a wonderful privilege, it is not a right – and secondly, that privilege becomes ours AS we choose to receive Him. BTW, that word ‘become’ stands out like a sore thumb to me. Christians have not arrived anywhere … yet. While we are still here on this earth, we are becoming …! We are learning His ways, that’s why we read the book. We have entered a life-long process of transformation. We daily walk with the Holy Spirit because we want to look like our Older Brother Jesus. At the same time it is no small thing to be eligible to use His Name – that’s part of our adoptive inheritance. His Name has authority here on earth, as well as in heaven.

Ephesians 1:5 says:“He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will.” Our adoption was always God’s plan. He let humanity have its head … and look where that landed us! Then He personally provided a perfect way back to Him. Almighty God has a plan for each of our lives. He’s a good good Father. He demonstrated how much He loves humanity when He sent His only One-of-a-kind Son here to live, and die, among us. Father God’s plans are always so much better than ours, but human beings have a cultivated, internal independence that often refuses to yield.

God will not take us over – He simply wants help each one of us reach our full potential – just like any good father would. A son or a daughter is an heir – whether they were adopted, or born into a family. The mistake we have made in modern Christianity is to think that being born again, plus being adopted, means that we can have whatever we want. He wants voluntarily yielded vessels for His kingdom. You know, our precious Father is not a despot running a conglomerate, handing out favours to a special few.  He is our ever-loving ever-living Heavenly Father. The One Who made heaven and earth, Who is worthy of praise and glory and honour – every single earth-bound day of our little lives. He gave everything for all.

In the absence of our Father’s Presence on this earth … as His kids, His heirs – we have been delegated to act like He would.  A true son or daughter represents His Father. So we are here to serve, like Jesus served. Even if we LEAD other people, we are still serving. Jesus wasn’t showing off His power when He healed people, delivered them, or raised the dead. Even when He multiplied food, He did that because… “…the people were hungry and they would not have made it home without food!”Jesus is an illustration of how much the Father loves us and cares about our lives.

The Lord disapproved of religious people because they misled others — often for their own benefit. You and I are here on this earth, right here, right now, to pour out His Love on others. Because we are no longer orphans we have a confidence that can willingly share. This is the love that we received when He adopted us. We need to tell others that they can be adopted too. Our whole aim is to love and serve people the way He loved and served us. There are no bright stars in His kingdom – most of us are NOT automatically relegated to be minions! The only star in His kingdom is Christ!

This means the way we treat each other matters: “But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My master is taking his time in coming,’ and begins to beat the servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk,..” AMPC. We dare not mistreat any of the people Christ died to save! Before Christ came and negated the power of sin, we were powerless to change our self-centred behaviour. Now, because of everything He did and said, we have been given the power to live this life differently. That’s what faith does, it chooses to respect its freedom by laying down its life for others.

There are human beings all over this earth who do not know that they have been set free from sin and death, and they are living their lives as orphans – struggling and straining to make the best of their time here. Cheating, stealing, hurting others to gain things.  (BTW, FYI, death is a door … not an ending! Jesus showed us that.) Most orphans have to learn to fend for themselves. But in a family, one member looks after another. Jesus loves us because we are His family. How many Christians have been fooled into living like they have no inheritance? HE is our inheritance. All that He did and is.

Don’t live your life like an orphan, there is more to this life than having enough money, power, position etc. We have been given His power to usher in change, simply by choosing to love other people into His kingdom. SELAH. 🤔

P 2799 Father God gives to us.

/ DVH

“Give, and it will be given to you. …” Luke 6:38 AMP. I don’t think I have ever felt led to do a ‘follow up’ to something I have written before — but today I strongly felt to continue yesterday’s exhortation, because I believe there are two sides to the coin of giving. We give, and the Lord responds to us, by blessing us, personally, or through other people. However, we need to take note that He does not always respond, in kind.

It is a tremendous blessing in the first place to give, but we also need to understand that His blessings may not come back to us in the form of money etc. That’s the receiving bit of this equation. If we happen to need money, then it is natural to assume God will bless us where we have a need… But I have not found that is always true in every circumstance. Let me explain, using the three women from yesterday’s blog. 

Hannah gave up her first-born son and that child was a gift from God to her. Children are a stated heritage from the Lord, and Hannah had 5 more children after Samuel. This restored her stature within her community! God totally transformed her circumstances. That little widow woman with the two coins did something so spectacular that Jesus used her as an object lesson to His disciples, and it is recorded in the bible, but she knew nothing about it. But we know that God has a soft spot for women who are alone. Now, her giving is an example for all of us, two thousand years later.

The lady who broke her alabaster box for Jesus, received forgiveness for her sins, and Jesus commended her even further by telling His disciples that what she did was going to be remembered and recounted generations past their life-times! Mark 26:7-13. “Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”This woman’s act was so spectacular to the Lord, He memorialised it!

Sometimes when God blesses us in return, we can utterly miss what He does because we are looking for something that we think we need. The bible says: “…give and it shall be given to you …” Here’s a thought …. maybe we need favour more than money! The Lord can sometimes give us favour with other people, and unless we have spiritual eyes we will miss His response and we won’t thank and praise Him for it. The Israelites were given so much favour when they left Egypt they literally looted the place — with the Egyptians’ freely-given permission!

Today I want to highlight, yet again, that God’s ways are not our ways. Our loving Father loves to bless His kids because He’s a good good Father! If we stretch our faith to see beyond our immediately perceived needs, and remain aware of what He is doing, it can help us to ascertain what shape His blessings are taking this time.This means we cultivate eyes to see whatever blessings come our way, as coming from HIM.

Hubby and I have occasionally experienced upgrades to something far more expensive than we can afford. I truly believe when that happens, that the Lord is blessing us – with His blessings pressed down and running over. It all depends on how you look at things. People have given us stuff over the years – things we never asked for or even knew we needed, but those things turned out to be an unforeseen blessing when we regarded them from a different POV. Like I said yesterday, the river of His blessings flows through our lives … it is a river not a dam! If we hold on too tightly to things, we will end up closing our spiritual eyes to what He is doing – NOW.

There have been times when hubby and I were given an undeserved discount on a large, unexpected bill. That’s favour. Everything depends on the way we look at this life. Other people have come and helped us when we were both unwell. That’s favour. Our dear neighbour next door has mowed our front verge, which is huge BTW, for years! Favour!  The bible tells us that the Lord Jesus Himself enjoyed favour:  “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.” Luke 2:52. The Pharisees etc. didn’t have spiritual eyes so they could not see the favour of God on Him. Mary, Jesus mother was called highly favoured by the Angel Gabriel.

Psalm 41:1-3 talks about blessings that are not monetary: “The favour of God keeps my enemies from defeating me.” But unless we are vigilant and living aware of His goodness, we may not see how God Himself is blessing us by keeping our enemies at bay. Living a life filled with gratitude for all He has done, and is still doing in our lives — will lead us into walking, day by day with His Spirit. As we live with internal peace, when the rest of the world around us is in chaos, then that peace is His gift to us. He is blessing us. If we have less money than we did before, but we are still managing … we are blessed.

I will finish with this thought, the more you SEE His blessings, the more your life will be enriched, despite your circumstances.  Ask for eyes to see Him at work, because Father God is always giving to us! Bye. 👋