Father

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. 👋

P 2782 We are people of HIS Grace.

/ DVH

The glory of God is more important than our perceived welfare… you might want to sit and think on that sentence for a while. 🤔 I know I did! I have no desire to criticise the church or her servants, whether they are pastors, preachers, prophets etc. But in the last 40 years many Christians have gone right away from our main focus – the Lord Himself. It seems we need to seriously take note of satan’s sin… pride. Our focus needs to be clearly centred around us being God’s servants. It was not above the Lord Jesus Himself to regard Himself as a servant, and He is God’s only Begotten Son! 

I know that the Lord regards each one of us as His brothers and sisters, the bible says so, but that is because even Christ Himself would never dream of elevating His own status above His Beloved Father. Jesus perfectly illustrates that love lifts up its beloved, and has no concern for its own position. Read Song of Solomon and you will perfectly see how love, the Shepherd, treats the Bride – us!

Because of what Christ did and the way He regarded us, we are incredibly precious in His sight, but that is Jesus’ Grace and generosity, flowing toward us,not our right. Our God is mighty, awesome, and above all we can think or imagine. He is the One True Almighty Everlasting God, who made heaven and earth and created everything we can see … …and a whole lotta stuff we can’t! He existed before we did, and eternity will not be long enough for us to plumb the depths of how wonderful, glorious, and how precious our Heavenly Father is! I did not have a father present in my life, so there are days when I am totally wrecked by the fact that God Himself has claimed me.

Unfortunately Father God has been poorly represented in my opinion. He is not some easily fooled fun-loving Grandpa who indulges His children! Many people over recent years, have walked away from their faith, because their faith was in a Santa Claus figure – not Almighty God Himself!  So they quit! Disappointment grabbed them by the throat and choked out whatever faith they had. Presumption is such an ugly condition. It robs us of what His Grace has done for us. 

This meant that when bad things happened in life, and that happens to all of us, these poor souls fell away, wondering why they hadn’t qualified for the benefits advertised! Praise Him, the Old Testament is filled with stories of God Himself making beauty out of ashes. He took inadequate men and women and blessed them with His wisdom and purposes. He is still doing that today, with you and I.

Many preachers still tell us that that was then, and now – we are under a New Covenant. Yes, we are, and praise God for it. But that New Covenant frees us to choose Him for Who He is  … not just for the benefits He lovingly bestows upon His people, day by day. He blesses us, but that is a testament to His goodness … not our entitlement or faith! The bible exhorts us in Psalm 103  “…to forget not all His benefits.”And then that Psalm goes on to list them, one by one. This Psalm reminds us that we can praise and thank Him as the Author of whatever goodness, forgiveness, and mercy that has come our way. And because we know His heart through His book, we can also praise Him for what is still to come.

This Psalm is not a free pass to demand whatever we think we need. It is God Who supplies our needs, and my advice is to have a conversation with Him first. The Psalm is simply telling us where good things come from. Listen to James 1:17. He tells us clearly where blessings come from.“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” If we get so focussed on the gifts and not the Giver we have missed the main event! God is revealing Himself to us, He’s saying when good things happen to you and I —- ITS HIM!

Just yesterday, at our house, there was an incredibly fierce storm. The lightning and thunder were right over our house and the hail was pelting down and I am ashamed to admit that I was afraid. But suddenly, peace swept over me like a river … fear didn’t leave, it simply melted as His greater Grace helped me. I didn’t even ask for it. It just came upon me because God is so kind and good. A gift comes from the Giver’s heart.

We need to stop reading the bible simply to grab at promises that we think He should honour, because we know how good He is. Instead, we are a privileged people who know what they have been given and we are grateful. A people of His Grace. That Grace comes in, and it flows out toward others. Our Heavenly Father is more than just a provider, much much more. He is the love in each one of our hearts, especially when life tests us. Bye. 👋

P 2781 Spiritual delays happen.

/ DVH

John 11:11-15: “After He (Jesus) had said this, He went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.” His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. So then He told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” 

Some answers to prayer are delayed for reasons that only make sense much later! Today I want us to put ourselves into the position of Mary and Martha. Their beloved brother was dead after an nasty illness, and their faith in their Rabbi and friend had been rocked. Even though they sent for Jesus, He deliberately did not come when they thought they needed Him.

Disappointment grabbed hold of them. These two women had seen and experienced Who He was for themselves in the time they had known Him – they knew He was their deliverance – that’s why they sent for Him!  But the Lord had a bigger plan. Experience is only a good teacher when it reinforces that there is nothing Jesus cannot do. At those times we have to press through the hard bits, to conquer our fear and hopelessness.

Back to the two sisters. Their precious brother was now dead. Dead always looks hopeless. Let’s be real, shall we? 3 whole days had gone by – the man was not only dead, He was buried! They knew Jesus was from God and it seemed as if He had let them down … on top of that He was also a dear friend of theirs, they needed His comfort. Days of mourning had passed and still Jesus did not come. This happens to all of us.

Lazarus is a fantastic illustration of God’s ability to do the impossible. What happened to this man shows us something amazing. First of all, Lazarus resurrection proves that dead is not dead! You might want to stop and think about that. The people we love, who are no longer with us, are not dead, they are just not here anymore. I’m so sorry for your loss and suffering, but, even in the middle of our grief, we must take the time to remember that Christ is our living hope! Right here in this story, Jesus shows us that not only is He God, He has power over life and death. Weeks later, He would do the same thing Himself! 

The thing is that human beings often react to the circumstances. And if they are sudden or dire, then we throw up our hands and let our hope slip through our fingers. The time is upon us when we need to be the most hope-filled people on this planet! Yes, suffering is real and it is dreadful, and one way or another we will all meet the nasty side-effect of living and dying on planet earth – but we cannot afford to let go of our hope that God can work all things together for our good. Our hope is always in Him! It is not in the immediate circumstances, no matter how they seem. Grief is normal, and He’s still good. He’s holding tightly to you, in the middle of your circumstances.

Whenever we give things to Jesus, He takes them. Now, our faith is attached to His faithfulness, not to an answer. We have a book filled to the brim with how faithful our God is! In the daily grind, or especially in desperate moments, we need to learn that no matter what happens to us or around us, the Lord is still in charge. He has not forgotten us. Disappointment dogs our footsteps when we misplace our faith. Our faith is in Who He is, not in the answer to our prayers. Every single thing He does is good!  Never ever let go of your hope in His goodness.

“He is the Rock; His deeds are perfect. Everything He does is just and fair. He is a faithful God who does no wrong; how just and upright He is!” Deuteronomy 32:4. We need to trust Him. And my best advice is  …we can practice this skill on those little ordinary things that irk us from day to day. Then if the roof falls in – we will have a platform of faith to stand upon … that is the evidence of those things we can’t see yet! His goodness, His provision in Christ is our sure foundation. When difficult things don’t resolve quickly we know we have an opportunity to stretch our faith in His goodness. We may need bigger faith some day down the road.

Fear of change can paralyse us, especially if we only look to the things we can see. Take Mary and Martha, after what they thought was the end, Jesus came…and He had a much bigger plan! His plan was not just to raise Lazarus from the dead … It was to give God glory! If we let our circumstances dictate how we regard our Heavenly Father, and His precious Son, and our wonderful Friend, the Holy Spirit – we run the risk of giving in to fear, disappointment and losing our hope. Hope is not meant to disappoint us, it is meant to lead us into greater things. Our hope is not in the answer to our prayers, it is in the goodness of God.

Spiritual delays happen. But because He is the greatest Father this world has ever seen … we can seize hold of His goodness in whatever circumstances are pressing against us and keep our hope alive. Bye. 👋

P 2771 The kingdom of God.

/ DVH

In Isaiah 55:8-9 the Lord said: “My plans aren’t your plans, nor are your ways My ways, says the LORD. Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My plans than your plans.” That kind of clinches it eh? Because it can’t get any plainer than that! We have not got a clue how God operates, and without the Holy Spirit’s help we never will … He is far too complex for us to understand. Aren’t we blessed that He reaches down to us, and shares how He wants us to participate? The Lord has plans for everyone’s good – not just mine. His plan is to save the world … one person at a time … and He wants to use us to do it.

Sadly, at least half of Christianity, at this moment in time, are not even trying to participate in His plans. We pray for His kingdom to come, and then we go out into the world and try to further our own kingdom instead! It is impossible for someone to live in two kingdoms. We are either living for His, or living for ours. And the sad fact is this – we postpone participation in His kingdom, in favour of organising our own. BTW, age does not factor in this reality, Moses was 80 when he started living the life God planned for Him. 

It seems like Almighty God is looking for “Onward Christian soldiers” but most of us want: “The Happy Song.” So, what do we do with the fact that we seem to like “The Happy Song” better? Here’s what I think — I think we can have the Happy Song AND Onward Christian soldiers, when we have learnt to stop allowing this world be the source of our happiness. And we make Jesus, together with obedience, our source of inspiration and action, instead. How do people know I am an Aussie? When I open my mouth! Kingdom people have a different focus in their conversations.

The bible says in Matthew 6:33 “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Seek His kingdom first. That’s not hard to understand! There are apparently 46 scriptures that point out a facet of what God’s kingdom is like. Obviously I can’t list them here, but looking those verses up is worthwhile. If we are going to aim at something it will help us to know what it looks like! We are told to seek His Kingdom first, after that comes the righteousness that only Christ’s death and resurrection can give us. And after that we use our faith and believe what His book says … and …we step out using our faith. Participation in that process means we will get our needs met. 

Most of the time, I have observed when we pray, we feature our own needs. That’s backward. Start with the Kingdom. Seek the kingdom first. Pray like this: ‘Your kingdom come in me,’ OR… ‘I‘present my body as a living sacrifice.’ OR …’Your will, Your way, Lord.’ When we start with His kingdom, a whole lot of unnecessary stuff falls off instantly. It means we’ve put down our little list of needs and wants, and started to focus on Him and what He wants. We need to remember Christ’s position before His Father is now our position. So we live this life, the only one we have, like His kingdom is more important than ours … because it is. Our needs are temporal, His kingdom is eternal.

Here are a few examples of what His kingdom looks like in action: a/ righteousness, peace and joy. We can have these 3 things in the here and now, because they are part of living our new life IN Christ. b/ Being spiritually helpless and ignorant doesn’t cancel His kingdom – it gives us access to it. c/ His kingdom is activated by faith, not knowledge or wealth. d/ It’s a treasure and it’s often hidden. e/ The kingdom of God starts out small but then it grows. f/ It blossoms in us as we embrace it. g/ In His kingdom HE is the ruler. h/ This kingdom is not just a place per se, like heaven! His kingdom comes in a ‘people’ wrapping. You and I, we are kingdom carriers. i/ Final one for me, the kingdom of God is a treasure – it must be sought, dug for, paid for by surrendering every bit of our lives to the King.

Remember, His kingdom is now within us but it needs to be released through us by our obedience to His word. The Holy Spirit is our Helper, He will teach us which way we should go, and how to serve the King. So if we go to school, or work, or to the shops, etc. He goes there with us.  We carry the kingdom of God – what a privilege! Jesus wants to be wherever we are, because He loves us and…He wants to reach the people all around us.. Seeking His kingdom is like seeking the King – the rewards are out of this world. They are priceless. Bye. 👑

P 2766 Contentment.

/ DVH

God is so good. He’s a good, good Father. He loves it when we sing songs, and preach sermons that talk about Him, and Who He is. … but He loves it even more when we go out from church, and live this life – the only one we have(!) – like we belong to a good good Father!  A Father we trust. A Father who has plans for us. Hope-filled plans for a future that we can embrace because He is in it. Those plans include our total transformation – we end up being the “ME” I was designed to be. Paul says this in Philippians 4:11: “Not that I speak from [any personal] need, for I have learned to be content [and self-sufficient through Christ, satisfied to the point where I am not disturbed or uneasy] regardless of my circumstances.”

The essence of who we are now, is IN CHRIST JESUS. God did that for us. His love was squeezed so tightly, that even when the world chose to reject Christ  – all that came out at that moment was even MORE LOVE. That’s our  hope and our aim too. ‘No matter how tightly we are squeezed, dear Jesus, let pure love come out!’ Amen. God loves us because it is His nature – He IS pure Love. But pure love is not permissive, nor is it wishy washy – read the book!

I know one place where anyone from any circumstance, crime, or foul attitude can go, where they will always be welcome to live.  His door is always open, and the lights are always on, and there is love and acceptance in our Father’s house! Even for the vilest sinner. They can exchange their old life for His new life. He died and took my place, my punishment – so now I choose to die and take HIS PLACE. Our FATHER did everything He could to snatch each one us from the fires of hell — and it cost Him dearly. He had to watch His beautiful, godly, pure and holy Son die, covered in our filthy sin.

Contentment in God is acquired as we voluntarily choose to learn, for ourselves, that He is enough. It is not second-hand knowledge. True contentment is about trust. Trust is built into our lives by taking faith risks, and watching Almighty God redeem things that we thought were unredeemable. He doesn’t actually need our help – He simply enjoys our company in those adventures!  That’s because nobody thinks like you, nobody loves like you do. Your uniqueness is His treasure. We can wander along through this life thinking only we know what is good for us, and what will make us happy and produce contentment. BUT true contentment is found by living in Christ’s transforming Grace.

Learning to love like He does is our destiny. There is a higher love than human love. It is the kind of love that sees everything that you and I can become. That kind of love wants to work everything that happens in our lives for our own good. Which is why I pray, all the time, that the Lord will redeem stuff that crosses my path. I pray:’Change me please.” OR … “Please give me the Grace to live through this like You would Jesus.’ I never know which answer I’m going to get — sometimes it’s both. PS — He’s God, HE can do that! I have learnt over time that I like His way better than my way. My way means I might get what I want … but His way everybody benefits.

1 Timothy 6:2c -8. “These are the things you are to teach and insist on. If anyone teaches otherwise and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, they are conceited and understand nothing. They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain. But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.”

Paul is talking to a young pastor, Timothy, he pastors the church at Ephesus. Paul’s teaching him that contentment can be learnt, and it is a sign of God within us. Those awful things Paul describes in these scriptures we hear about every single day in the news!  However, we understand that Godliness can’t be bought, or sold, because SomeBody Else, Jesus Christ, already bought it for all of us. Our response to this truth, makes all the difference to our ability to live in contentment. Hallelujah! You and I can both learn to be content – Paul says so.

Almighty God is our ‘enough.” He cannot disappoint us. Deuteronomy 31:8 says:“And the LORD, He it is that goes before you; He will be with you, He will not fail you, nor walk away from you: don’t be afraid or dismayed.” And that’s what true contentment looks like. (That’s my version BTW). Bye 😌

P 2755 This is our life now.

/ DVH

Love God first. Love other people well, preach the gospel, and DO the great commission – don’t just agree with it. (Leviticus 19:18;  Luke 10:27;  Matthew 22:36–40;  Mark 12:28–31.) There is no compromise – this is what Christianity looks like.  We live our lives taking what the bible says seriously, and act on it – our job is to tell and demonstrate to others that there is another way to live. This means we refuse to excuse ourselves – we repent and repair instead! Even when we don’t think what the bible says applies to me, then we pray over it anyway. Our God-given reality is clear – SomeBody ALREADY paid for our right to live in His kingdom. He transferred us out of this kingdom into His. We are now citizens of heaven, right here, right now — whether we live like it or not. Our task is to bring heaven down here, by the way we live our lives. 

Of course all that seems impossible, because we know that we cannot change ourselves. We’ve personally learnt  that what we think looks good, ends up with us eating the wrong fruit! Adam and Eve checked that one out. Jesus’ death has already delivered us from rebellion into obedience — so now we have been given the right to choose to produce His fruit! Things like reading the bible, doing what it says, using our faith, not relying upon our feelings – those things help us eat from the right tree and they grow great fruit. That’s the tree of Eternal life. We were given eternal life when we said yes to Jesus saving us. Now our obedience pulls that life, His kingdom, into this world’s reality using our faith. It’s gloriously simple.

I’m just going to let what I just said lie there, to stare at us both for a minute or two. 👀 Why? Because we both know it but we don’t get it!  If we did this world would be very different by now. You and I have been translated out of this world with its value systems, proclivities, ugliness  and actions, because those things don’t belong in God’s kingdom.  Now we are citizens of another kingdom! Our hearts are His holy place now, when we chose His way, He goes everywhere with us. Almighty God’s kingdom has sacrifice at its heart. Christ came here to help us when we least deserved it, and He demonstrated for us, how that kingdom works.

If we were to go and permanently live in another country, we can choose to become citizens of that country. That country’s rules and regulations now govern us and we are no longer governed or influenced by where we previously lived. God’s kingdom is like that. It is not a part-time, depending-on-how-I-feel-on-the-day way to live! Instead it is our new way to live, right here, right now. Christ’s death moved us into His kingdom!  Now we are called to demonstrate that kingdom by the way we live, here and now. To love Him first, then others. Obedience is not optional – it matters.

We have been strategically placed into the middle of grumpy, dissatisfied, selfish, ungracious people who get right up in our faces and tick us off. However, our responses to their provocation will govern where we live. In His kingdom we have been given the ability to see these people through His eyes. Obedience opens our eyes to a whole new way to live and see others – I don’t care who you think somebody is – once you see them through His eyes it will change how you relate to them, forever.  We are now citizens of heaven who live as ambassadors for our homeland. Pray your house will be a little bit of heaven to everyone who comes into it.

God’s kingdom can always be found wherever people need it. You and I are the seed He sowed into our surroundings, and our job is to grow and manifest His kingdom there!  My advice is to repent if you haven’t been living this way, and fix the stuff you can – then pray over everything and give it to Him. Pray that the Lord, Himself will redeem everything in your life. Because God’s kingdom is not common where we live, we will act and react differently than everyone else does, as we prepare ourselves to demonstrate His love to others. 

Here’s today’s question: which kingdom are you and I cultivating every single day? His or ours? To love God with all of our hearts we need to start cultivating our awareness of His kingdom within us. WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE, HOW IT SOUNDS, WHAT IT DOES. That’s why we read the book, to identify and spread His kingdom. ‘The kingdom of God is already within you …’ Jesus said that in Luke 7:21. I don’t have to strive to blow my nose, once I know how to do it I just do it! Christians have believed a lie – we are not powerless. Day by day we are taking back the ground the enemy has sown into our lives, and the lives of others around us, as we choose to live like Christ would.

Another question … If His kingdom is IN me then why do I keep doing the stuff I regret or hate? Because we are used to making our own choices. Plus, God’s kingdom is not accessed by knowledge, it is accessed by faith. Faith causes us to act – to love the unlovely, to care for the poor, to yield to Him. Say to yourself when you feel lost or overwhelmed, ‘Christ only did what He saw His Father doing. What are You doing now Father God?’ Then do what you see the Father doing. Trust me, I’ve been living like this for a while and I end up doing a whole lot less yelling and correcting;  now I spend most of my time simply loving others. Loving others despite how they are acting changes things – me, them, and the circumstances. God’s power is released when we act in faith.

Our old life of sin can spin us off into tangents, chasing things that don’t matter. Father God got rid of sin so He could be with us, day by day. When we use our faith to do what Jesus would do, His Presence in us opens doors we can’t even see. I have found if I don’t know what to do, I ask for a scripture. I do this all the time. To my amazement I start accessing a storehouse of scripture I have stored up inside, without even trying! Stuff that I don’t even know that I remember, comes out.

Romans 8:14 TPT“The mature children of God are moved by the impulses of the Spirit. “ The Holy Spirit is the wind in our sails – He is everywhere, for everyone, all at the same time. Oh, how I love watching Him and what He does with my feeble efforts. He does everything so beautifully, fitting together the broken pieces of my life in ways I cannot possibly imagine. I’ve seen Him do it. Here are my last few thoughts, love the Lord first, then other people, and tell others how His Presence in you has changed your life. Always remember, you’ve moved – you are a citizen of heaven now – this is your life now! It is your destiny to bring heaven down here to earth.  Bye… 🙌

P 2713 Learn to BOW low.

/ DVH

“IF you bow low in God’s awesome presence, He will eventually exalt you as you leave the timing in His hands.” 1 Peter 5:6 TPT. Now here’s the rub, we cannot ‘bow low’ and have a secret expectation that at the end of our so-called humility we will be exalted. I think we’ve been reading many, if not ALL scripture promises, with the expectation of ‘what’s in it for ME’ — and we can become disappointed when we think that God has not honoured His promises. Bowing low is not necessarily a physical position – it is the position of an undivided heart.

Those verses we grab for our own benefit are revealing something to us about Him – and we are missing it. Yeah. And aren’t you glad I pointed that out?! For instance, the verse: “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you”tells us something about the Lord and what He is looking for from us – our participation. If we want to be close to the Lord we will have to go after Him first. I call this type of verse the “if” verses. If I do this then He will do that. And just who is in charge of that scenario?

In the past, many well-meaning people wanted to be seen and heard, perhaps because in their mind, it meant that others would hear or see what the Lord wanted to teach others.. They believed that meant that they would have a bigger stage to stand upon to speak His truth. Wrong! “For honour does not come from the east or the west or from the desert. But God is the One Who decides. He puts down one and brings respect to another.” Psalm 75:6,7. Recognition for us is God’s choice, not ours. We dare not manipulate others or even take advantage of situations, no matter how great the cause seems to be. Manipulation is not His Way.

Almighty God is interested in a great deal more than just our promotion and fame! Our new way of life is a spiritual way of life, it is not showy or competitive. Popularity or influence are not worth a hill of beans to the Lord. The Holy Spirit is the only influencer with a pure motivation, and we must learn to follow His Ways. It’s always our hearts that matter .. not popularity or influence. We can have thousands of followers on Instagram, or Facebook, and still have an impure ambitious, or even perhaps a needy heart. Philippians 4:19.

If I put one drop of poison into a glass of fresh, pure, spring water – would you still drink it? A pure heart wants what He wants and they are prepared to die to see that He gets it! That’s called devotion. But general applause, or even the size of any one congregation does not matter to the Lord. Jesus had hundreds of people who volunteered to be His disciples – yet Almighty God told Him to choose twelve. And one of them was not going to make the cut! 

Jesus trusted His Father and the Holy Spirit’s choices, that the men He chose would be the ones who spread the Word about God’s incredible love far and wide. And they did. Judas was the only one of those men with a divided heart. We are not told why he was like that, we are simply told that he handled the money somewhat carelessly. This is what I mean when I talk about having a divided heart – one of our regular prayers should be about not having one!

We cannot afford to let even little sin reign, even if it seems to be in a good cause … because sin will eventually drag us under and flavour everything around it. However, we always have a Way Out of sin. “You are my dear children, and I write these things to you so that you won’t sin. But if anyone does sin, we continually have a forgiving Redeemer who is face-to-face with the Father: Jesus Christ, the Righteous One”. I John 2:1. Silently waiting for our spiritual abilities to be “discovered” is still an agenda! Our only aim needs to be to that others see Him.

‘Bowing low’ is our way of life. It means whether others think we are right or wrong – we bow down to the Lord’s wishes and let Him exonerate us when He thinks the time is right. People with a heart like this don’t care if our only service is putting out the chairs at church! We do what we do with all our hearts as though we were putting out chairs for Jesus Himself!

I have known totally devoted, utterly beautiful chair-putter-outer-ers! 😂 They did not see this task as a tiny task, and it was not menial to them. Instead they prayed over each chair that each person who sat on it would be blessed, healed, delivered and discover more about Christ. They treated that  task like the pastor treated His sermon – as devotion to Almighty God!“Whatsoever you do, do it with all your heart as though you were doing it for the Lord.” This BTW, is now one of my new all time favourite verses!

Let’s remember that pride took lucifer out of a realm of honour, and put him into the unenviable place of being a permanent enemy. And the best thing we can do when we discover any sort of pride is to humble ourselves before God, and others, as well as confess our faults. The true diagnosis of a proud heart is that they have secret agendas.  They have a desperate need to always be right, and other people’s needs are secondary to their own.

Bowing low is not just an outward action, it is an inner stance of our hearts. Bless you as you serve our King! 👑

P 2708 Why would we limit the LIMITLESS ONE?

/ DVH

Let’s fervently pray for our understanding of Him and His ways to be stretched instead! Why would we settle for other people’s limited views when we can go after and know HIM personally. My best and only thought is kind of a small one – and most probably a big fat understatement! When someone asks me what God is like, I say: “He’s like Jesus!” That’s because Jesus clearly told us in John 5:19 that:‘He only did what He saw His Father doing, and only said what He heard His Father saying.’ 

Also Hebrews 1:3 it says: “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.”From those verses alone, I learn that Christ is indeed God stepping into time and limiting Himself to our ways. It blows my mind! At the same time, Jesus walked this earth and still lived within our normal human limitations, except HE lived a totally limitless life. Nothing stopped Him – nothing took Him by surprise. Read the book and keep on reading it. It will blow your mind, it always blows mine!

Our Heavenly Father speaks to us in many ways. He has so many more ways to speak than human beings realise. God speaks the languages of angels, as well as every human one – past, present and future! Even the sky shouts to us daily about Him. Plus the stars sing out His praises. Psalm 19:1 “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork.” Job 38:7 “ …while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy …”

His Love speaks a language that doesn’t always have words, and His idea of faith reaches beyond mere human understanding into the supernatural. My point is – we are chasing after SomeOne unknowable, without help. We need revelation from His Word and the Holy Spirit. I think we can easily succumb to over-reaching if we think we can define Him without His help! Our finite beings are too small to understand the incredible complexity of Who He is..🙌

Today I want to talk about our limitless Heavenly Father, from this POV … we need to understand our side of this glorious endless relationship. There are times that we can think this prayer, or that question has remained unanswered and become disappointed with Him – although we probably wouldn’t say that out loud! It is imperative for us to understand that Almighty God always answers us … HE JUST DOESN’T ALWAYS USE WORDS! Continually pray for eyes to see and ears to comprehend His Answers – because even His silence has a purpose!

Sometimes our understanding of His Ways etc .can come later, perhaps retrospectively. But in order to walk with Him and grow, our faith in His goodness must conquer our doubts and disappointments. Otherwise we will impede our progress in our faith, and we may never reach our full potential. Jesus died to give us the capacity to be stretched and transformed, not because He finds us unacceptable, but because our personal and even learnt inclinations, limit our understanding of Who He is and How much He loves people.

The very best mutual language, the one that will always be understood, by Him and us, is LOVE. That’s why it is imperative that we learn how His kind of love works. How it functions  – what it produces. When we begin to uncover the mysteries of LOVE we will begin to understand Who He is.  I know I rattle on about that over and over again – but knowing His Ways is an important key to defining the way WE need to live.“How can two walk together unless they be agreed?”

We can’t walk with Him and be restored into the innocence and purity we were always meant to have – unless we put aside those things that weigh us down. Both personally and corporately, we are currently limiting ourselves. We allow a few men’s insight to rule many churches, at the cost of broadening our base by going after insight for ourselves. “In order that the many-sided (multi-faceted) wisdom of God might be made known now to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places through the church,…”Ephesians 3:10. BTW innocence and purity were restored to us at the cross. It is time for us to fight this world’s definition of wisdom and freedom – and return to the simplicity and power of the cross. 

One of the things we will need to put down is accepting religious doctrine as representational of ALL of His truth. You and I are the only people who can limit the size and function of our faith. When we deliberately choose to learn to love as He loves, all sorts of barriers will blow away, our eyes will be opened;  and then we will look at others with the joyous word “brother” on our lips! 

This is when we will begin to “know one another after the Spirit”instead of eliminating others because of their beliefs. Only God Himself can take the muddle of our denominations and personal proclivities of faith in Him, and bring it into a cohesive whole. Defining God separately is a waste of our time … we must start learning what His love looks like and begin to fervently pray that we walk in it, toward each other. Why would we settle for a limited edition god when we can know the LIMITLESS ONE?  Bye. 🙏