Father

P 3118 We need passionate obedience.

/ DVH

“Why do you call Me Lord, Lord, when you don’t do the things I say?” WEB.“Why do you call Me, Lord, Lord, and do not [practice] what I tell you?” AMP. ““So why do you call Me ‘Lord’ when you won’t obey Me?“ TLB. This last one is a doozie! “Why are you so polite with Me, always saying ‘Yes, Sir,’ and ‘That’s right, Sir,’ but never doing a thing I tell you? These words I speak to you are not mere additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundation words, words to build a life on.” Luke 6:46-49.

Over 50+ years ago, the Lord really challenged me with this scripture. He didn’t mince His words, He told me that there was no point in talking to me if I was just going to block my ears to the things I didn’t like or the things I thought I couldn’t do. He reminded me that He is looking for clean hands and a pure heart, and if I was ever  going to be able to do that in my own strength – it would have happened by now! My flesh can get very noisy and complain a lot. Since that time I have learnt that ‘His Way or the Highway’ is not a threat — it is a promise. The Lord promises us to help us to obey Him, it’s in the book. Obedience is the product of faith.

There is so much about our God that we still do not know because we like to pick and choose what we want to do and what we don’t. And then we call that freedom. Phooey. God is not a Pick and Pay! Although we will pay, spiritually, if we don’t pick His way! Sadly, we can be very easily led away by the enemy’s tricks. Let’s choose to clear away some of the painful debris that clutters up our thought life and the corners of our hearts. and become single minded. By that I mean let’s start with the things that Jesus Himself said. And in the OT it says a number of times:“I have hidden Your Word in my heart that I might not sin against You.”  Psalm 119:11.

We also need to decide to do what It says – on purpose. That means we are making an informed, I’ve-counted-the-cost-and-I-am-doing-it-anyway …decisions. Some people say obeying God unlocks blessings in your life – it probably does – but that thought sure is a rotten reason and a big fat insult to everything Jesus did for us, voluntarily! I think we need to choose to obey because HE told us to.

The point is His kids choose to actively learn how to yield. You and I have been given the power to release people from satan’s grip so they can hear and see the Lord for themselvesI We can’t afford to forget the fact that it doesn’t say … “feel like it first!” Unless I am in a coma! … I can choose to forgive anyone!  It is an act of my will. Then I ask the Holy Spirit to remind me about what I’ve chosen to do, because people can continue to be irritating and annoying, so I need Him to remind me that I already forgave them! That eliminates those nasty rumblings inside me when I need to deal with somebody I’ve been angry at before.

Meanwhile, because I’ve lived a while, I’ve observed that most people have no idea about whatever they say or do toward others  —  they are so chock full of themselves and how they feel. You would be astonished at how little others think about anyone else! You are often just an innocent bystander who happened to cross paths, with someone who is utterly clueless about how other people feel. They don’t actually have room, or time to ruminate on their behaviour, maybe they are too busy scarring other people for life!! Yay Jesus, because of You everybody can be healed!!

My next advice is move on from offence, or other people’s sins, quickly. There is nothing to see there, so stop trying to alter someone else’s behaviour and concentrate on your own responses instead. We can change ourselves because we’ve been given the power to change! Change is always dependent on Him, plus our positive response and choices. Those things are made and sustained with the Holy Spirit’s help, which is great because this is His favourite kind of prayer. Reconciliation. 

Deliberate disobedience often needs a revelation of Who Jesus is, and what He did for us. That can straighten out our thinking. And finally we need to remember Who He is NOW, at the right hand of His Father! That thought alone should empower us. When we choose to not hold on to someone else’s sin, or even revisit it, or talk about it, or think about it – we are practising the skill of obedience under adverse conditions, it makes us ‘…strong in the Lord in the power of HIS MIGHT…’

Despite our common war wounds, the Holy Spirit can and will help us with whatever comes out of our mouths. Letting go of someone else’s sin is letting go of judgment. It is incredibly important to treat offence like a poisonous snake. Fix it immediately, and carefully. It will help us grow our faith as well as spiritually prosper in the things of God that are good, just, right. Jesus talks about obedience with passion in John 14:21, 23..“Those who truly love Me are those who obey My  commands. Whoever passionately loves Me will be passionately loved by my Father. And I will passionately love him in return and will reveal Myself to him.” Jesus replied, “Loving Me empowers you to obey My word. And My Father will love you so deeply that We will come to you and make you Our dwelling place.”

Bye. 👋

P 3110 Wars and rumours of wars!

/ DVH

I have heard so many people lately who think it is the end of times. Is it? I dunno! All I know is that it seems to me that a whole lotta people have bunkered down, waiting for Jesus to come and get us, instead of growing up into the fullness of Christ. Meanwhile it’s just too bad about the poor sods who have no idea what He did for them. Let’s just leave them trying to tread water OUTSIDE the ark! 😱

I know I just mixed my metaphors, but you know what I mean. I can’t see how knowing that Jesus is … hypothetically, coming next Monday, is useful information! Ask yourself this question – what would YOU change about your life and your actions if you knew for sure that Jesus IS coming next Monday?! Now there’s a great diagnostic question if ever there was one! Here’s another one, have you been postponing obedience to a better, easier day? There’s a whole lot of other far more important stuff to go on with, than; “Is it the end of the world?” And that other stuff IS within our power to change.

The Lord Jesus is saying ‘always be ready’ — which is truly exceptional advice. I think He knows what we need to know, and what we don’t, and what’s the point of chasing unicorns when we have work to do? We need to live like Luke 21:36 says: “Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.” This is important because our inner attitudes will no longer be hidden. Right now, the church we go to, may not know we are as sweet as pie when we are with them, and a pain in everyone’s heart at our house!!

Jesus specifically taught us to take note of the times – but He didn’t say write a thesis on it. Look it at this version of Matthew 16:3: “ ... …why can’t you read the signs of the times? An evil and wanton generation is always wanting signs and wonders. The only sign you’ll get is the Jonah sign.” Then He spun around and walked away.”Take note of what is going on and pray. We also need to apply God’s Word to our hearts faithfully, and make sure we let the Holy Spirit keep us humble. 

“But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.“ 2 Timothy 3:1-5.

Yeah, those verses read like the lead story of our news! If WE are any of those things let’s grow up and fix them quickly. There are some days that I would be better off avoiding myself!  Meanwhile I do need to start with me …because so far nobody else came up! BTW, these are fantastic verses to meditate on. It’s like a check-list of heartless, mean, dumb things to do. However, instead of putting a mental tick on each thing mentioned, we need to ask the Lord, ‘Do I do this?’ 

At the same time, don’t let yourself be condemned, because you and I are now “in Christ Jesus” and there is no condemnation in Him. Instead, we need to agree with the Holy Spirit’s diagnosis, and ask Him to help us repent and repair stuff, then go and do it, just do what you can do to fix things. Then, move on – none of us have a guaranteed tomorrow.

Back to my main point. Jesus gave this information to His disciples two thousand years ago. He talked a lot about the end times, but the Lord did it in conjunction with our own behaviour toward others. Yet we keep carrying on like we are supposed to know when this stuff will happen, when the bible clearly says:’No-one but the Father knows.’ See Matthew 24:36. And if the Father did not tell His precious, beloved, always-obedient-to-His-will-SON, Jesus Christ, then WE are not meant to know. Think again! Let’s pray and ask Him to forgive us all, for our arrogance.

However, the “signs” Jesus mentions in Timothy, in Matthew, and Luke – are a wake-up call for us to do something about our lives. We can pray for places where there is war. We can go out of our way to care for others. We can witness. And we can let this life teach us how to love the unlovely – after all, who needs to know the love of God more? I’m talking about those people nobody likes, so nobody wants to tell them anything— just in case they repent and get saved!

We all might want to think about that, while we are contemplating – wars and rumours of wars. Personally, I think we need to use our God-given time on earth well and participate willingly in our transformation. Do you want to be like Jesus and your heavenly Father?? Then …“Love your enemies, do good to those who despitefully use you …” Matthew 5:43-48. After all, that’s our Father’s business.  Bye. 👋

P 3108 HE is our strength.

/ DVH

“The extraordinary level of the revelations I’ve received is no reason for anyone to exalt me. For this is why a thorn in my flesh was given to me, the Adversary’s messenger sent to harass me, keeping me from becoming arrogant. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to relieve me of this. But He answered me, “My grace is always more than enough for you, and my power finds its full expression through your weakness.” So I will celebrate my weaknesses, for when I’m weak I sense more deeply the mighty power of Christ living in me. So I’m not defeated by my weakness, but delighted! For when I feel my weakness and endure mistreatment—when I’m surrounded with troubles on every side and face persecution because of my love for Christ—I am made yet stronger. For my weakness becomes a portal to God’s power.”

Sooner or later everyone’s faith comes under pressure. But the knowledge is not revealed to us to torment us, as Paul explains here in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. Paul is telling us pain has a purpose! God reveals things to us even through pain, so we can work with Him on the gaps in our knowledge of Him and errors in our faith –  together. He will not leave us even when the ceiling falls in. The Lord allows things to help us to learn about our multifaceted blessings. And He wants us to learn to wait for Him. We are not waiting for the solution, we are waiting to hear from Him. Jesus knew how to wait!

There’s nothing like trouble to send desperate people to their knees. Or sobbing on the bed in despair when we can’t find the way out – and we want it to stop, NOW. In those times, ask yourself, can I go one more step? I don’t project the misery I feel into the future, because the thought of endless suffering is devastating. The more we press into what we already know about Him personally — the more about Him and ourselves, we can learn in difficult times. Our God does not cause suffering! He’s a faithful, good, good Father Who wants us to grow up into the fullness of Christ Himself. He is leading us, step by step, into a new, bigger place – just as surely as He led Abraham and Moses into the Promised land.

Whatever we are experiencing can give us a fresh revelation of what Christ voluntarily did. He too, suffered despair, loneliness, loss of love, loss of understanding, depression, anguish, grief and sorrow. He was all alone in Gethsemane, as well as on that cross. And He suffered in ways we cannot imagine. We have a Saviour Who was“… was despised and rejected and forsaken by men, a Man of sorrows and pains, and acquainted with grief and sickness; and like One from Whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we did not appreciate His worth or have any esteem for Him.” Isaiah 53:3.

Jesus suffered everything He suffered, for us – He can show us the way through it. This is what Paul is talking about. He had grown strong enough in His faith to receive correction, and adjustment to his own faith, as well as renewing his thinking. He thought he needed to get out of the thing that was tormenting him, but God graciously granted Paul the understanding that this too was yet another place he could learn to lean on what Jesus did!

Obedience is everything …but we’ve made UNDERSTANDING into everything instead. 

Paul saw purpose. He realised all that knowledge God had downloaded into him, could cause him to be arrogant – and arrogance short circuits Grace! So he chose to endure the harassment of pain and suffering because God showed him there was a benefit – immediately – as well as on the other side! You and I have limitations. We can only stretch so far, some can stretch further than others, but we all have limits. When we reach the end of ourselves – God is still there! His power to overcome is still there! Take a deep breath, tell Him you love Him and you know He won’t let you down. Faith acts, it speaks!

It is a good thing to know that you can’t do … whatever it is … because GOD IS RIGHT THERE WITH YOU IN THAT WEAKNESS. Instead of trying to wiggle out of it, ask Him to help you stay the course, and learn how to trust Him more. Most of the time, I have discovered this sort of ‘adjustment’ is hardly ever about some other person’s actions against me. It’s about me. Maybe I have been blindsided by a wrong belief, or I have not comprehended the fullness of what Jesus died to give me. Let’s remember we all need endurance, we are in a race! By all means tell the enemy to GO! But remember, to ask the Lord: “What’s this about Lord?”

If I can’t endure what is happening to me, that means I am not complete in my faith in that area. Think about Jesus being there, right now, holding your hand. He is praying for you, so is the Holy Spirit. He wants to remind you to learn to rely upon His strength, instead of your own. Maybe you can’t do this – but He can! Don’t look for a plan all laid out and downloaded from heaven – instead take one small faith step at a time.

We won’t perceive His blessings when we are constantly asking God to bail us out of whatever it is we are stuck in. Trust me, I’ve tried that. It will take as long as it takes, and then finish so suddenly you will have your mouth drop open like a goldfish! But don’t just lay down like Father God is an ogre and you have no power to escape from His dealings. Talk to Him about what He wants you to learn about yourself, the situation, His Grace, and loving others more freely. God understands how vulnerable FLESH is – He put it on and came here! 

Bye.👋

P 3099 Make room – clear away the debris!

/ DVH

Today I want to look at a few verses in Isaiah. “Thunder in the desert! “Prepare for God’s arrival! Make the road straight and smooth, a highway fit for our God. Fill in the valleys, level off the hills, Smooth out the ruts, clear out the rocks. Then God’s bright glory will shine and everyone will see it. Yes. Just as God has said.” Isaiah 40:3-5. Does this sound like action to you? It does to me! I truly don’t think that prayer is the only activity required when you are working with Him to build a highway in your heart for Him to walk on. Part of our job description is to clear away any debris, as well as let the Holy Spirit guide us into making the roads in our lives clear for Him – we must personally choose to engage and …participate.

Hubby and I have had the opportunity to learn a little bit about highway repairs etc. It is a careful, clearing away of what has been left that does not belong there, then the old road itself can be removed, or repaired. Like the scripture says highways work better when they are obstacle free and smooth! My hubby loves these unexpected stops — he happily talks to the workers. We’ve even given away lemonade on hot days. It seems that road building is hot, boring, and repetitive but necessary work – like the work we need to do in our own lives so the King can use OUR LIVES as His highway! We are not demolition crews, we are restorers of the breach. We build streets for others to live in!

I think this world is standing, on tippy-toes at the very edge of something that is so important, so necessary to what comes next, we cannot imagine it. Almighty God is about to do something extraordinary … but I believe He is waiting for US to voluntarily engage with Him. He’s a good good Father, He won’t make us participate but He needs us to be battle-ready. Sadly, it seems to me that many of us look more like couch-potatoes, while others are so engaged with their own business, they haven’t got any time for His. The Lord has His own timing, and it is an error to think OUR timing takes priority over His. However, if we happen to be spiritually sleeping it is so much easier for the enemy to take us out. We need to be ever-ready, standing with our armour on, ready to ‘GO’ when He says ‘GO!’ 

How can we personally participate in what comes next, if we rely on other people to hear Him and wait for them to tell us what to do? All our enemy has to do then, is to take the leaders out. We must engage in the road building process — individually and corporately. It is time for the Body of Christ to realise we are not on some jolly little outing Sunday by Sunday — we live in a spiritual war zone. War zones need road repairs, so help can get to those who need it. At this point in time other people are being killed off all over the place, while we merrily just go about our own personal daily business. My bible says — HIS business IS my business.

Bear with me please, I am not actually changing the subject  – I simply want to further illustrate my point. Our dog is a labradoodle. She’s a totally loveable, good-natured, over-excitable, 13 year old air-head who wouldn’t bite a soul. She still thinks she’s a puppy! She doesn’t walk, she bounces. If you wave her favourite toy about she will jump up and down to play. Her tail constantly goes like a helicopter blade.

Our pooch just burst into the room where I am typing and she was doing her usual morning routine … with the brain … without the brain. Galloping about trying to jump up and down to get hubby’s attention. Hubby quietly put his hand on her head and then he said one word: “Heel!” She jumped up in the air nearly did a somersault, switched sides and sat down looking up at him. What happened? HER MASTER SPOKE. 

Right now, I am not sure the Body of Christ could hear the Lord if He thundered at us – we are so distracted by the cares and worries of this life. If we wait for all those things to disappear first, then the next sound we will hear will be a trumpet from heaven! I know what it is like to be incapacitated, and weak – however, I’d rather focus on what Jesus wants from me, today. It’s about our focus, not the tasks. We can still get ordinary things done and get to know and trust Him … all at the same time. We simply need to make everything Jesus’ business! He wants to build highways through the desert and wildernesses in us, and around us.

Don’t worry about qualifying, the Lord doesn’t need expertise, He has heavenly armies that stand ready at any given moment. Instead He needs our willingness to engage. We all need to choose to be activated. If Jesus needed human expertise I could name heaps of people who qualify for that kind of work because they are smarter than me. Nowadays practically everyone I know is smarter than me! We must turn to the Lord automatically, like my pooch. Let.Him.Lead.You.

Father God will always have our back. And even if we have to do a somersault in mid-air to come down on the Lord’s side – we both know that is the right place! With our eyes lifted UP waiting for His next command. Let us choose to obey Him, and let the Holy Spirit build a highway for the King in our hearts. He will clear away any debris. Once before, long ago, there was no room for Jesus – He ended up in an outdoor building. Let’s not do that again! Bye.👋

P 3094 Let’s smell good!

/ DVH

“God always makes His grace visible in Christ, Who includes us as partners of His endless triumph. Through our yielded lives He spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of God everywhere we go.” 2 Corinthians 2:14 TPT. I mean … WOW!! How about that! Jesus made US, you and I, a part of His endless triumph! Then Paul goes on to say: ‘We will smell like Him to other people, just because we live for Him, know Him, and talk with Him.’ Devotion to Jesus has many forms. Mary released the smell of her devotion to the Lord, it was sweet nard in an alabaster box, she poured it all over His feet. The disciples left everything and followed Him everywhere. 

Here are some other versions of the same verse. “But thanks be to God, Who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of Him.” NIV. “In the Messiah, in Christ, God leads us from place to place in one perpetual victory parade. Through us, He brings knowledge of Christ. Everywhere we go, people breathe in the exquisite fragrance. Because of Christ, we give off a sweet scent rising to God, which is recognized by those on the way of salvation—an aroma redolent with life.” MSG V14-16.

Our Lord Jesus has been captivated by us, by our total surrender to His will, even when sometimes that was done through copious tears and clenched teeth! Yielding our will to His can be hard but our perfume of yieldedness contains myrrh – it is a bittersweet smell – and He knows and loves it.

Because of everything our Lord did for us, now we in turn, reveal and release Jesus’ sweet fragrance to Father God Himself – it benefits everyone around us wherever we go. We don’t set out to do it, it simply happens because of our proximity to Him. His life flows from Him into us, and from us to others. Now that is a really good reason to deal with enmity. All those things that drive schisms between the members of His body. If we are careless or rebellious we will begin to lose our sweet Saviour smell! 

His fragrance thrives on, and exponentially expands with true UNITY. And our unity bursts with His life! It is His beautiful oil of true harmony flowing between us. Oneness is essential to being able to move into all the things the Lord has for us. “How can two walk together unless they be in agreement?” Amos 3:3. Oneness is the vehicle that allows Jesus’ fragrance to be released. The Father, Son and the Holy Spirit are one, and Jesus made it clear, that our priority is to protect and keep unity alive between us.

If we wanted to make any perfume, we’d need a distilled fragrance taken from flowers, carefully mixed and layered together to make a pleasing smell. Then those flowers are crushed, and that fragrance is introduced to an emollient. This is either an alcohol base, or an oil one. The Holy Spirit is the Glorious OIL that carries the fragrance of Jesus out into the community. He wants to be the only perfume that we release, so we can enrich the lives of those who are around us. Not to mention anyone else who crosses our path. We have all probably experienced the sensation of walking down the street and following someone who is wearing perfume.

You know, each of one of us could wear exactly the same perfume but it will have a slightly different result. It all depends on who is wearing it, because our individual body chemistry affects perfume. In the same way – you and I will spread abroad the sweet smell of our depth of interaction with the Holy Spirit. Each one of us will be a bit different to someone else, but the underlying glorious smell is always Jesus!  He makes us smell so good to others because we have chosen to make Him our treasure. 

BTW, please let us remember that the Holy Spirit knows how to handle His own oil – He does not need us to pray it up or down! That’s treating Him like a commodity, rather than a Person. He is also our Treasure. It is His joy to see us delighting in our Heavenly Father’s loving approval. We, however, need to be vigilant and aware of our own shortcomings, because sin interrupts the flow of whatever He is doing. However, it is truly a tragedy when we make God’s gracious gifts into rules. Of course we need to be pure vessels of beaten gold to contain the glory that belongs to the Lord! BUT! Rules stop the flow of His oil, because rules lead to striving. So when things get tough, just remember, we are His chosen vessels, and yieldedness comes at a cost.

Some of us have been stinky selfish nitwits for a very long time! That’s ME not YOU, of course. Selfishness stinks and it ain’t pretty. It doesn’t matter how we feel, or even if we want to yield or not, we need to yield to His will His way, simply for obedience’ sake. Feelings can be overrated and we end up chasing them, instead of running after Him. The purity of doing whatever we do, with all our hearts – as though we were doing it for Him – cannot be underestimated. Obedience ushers in fresh revelation. Jesus did not want to go to the cross, but He obeyed His Father because He utterly trusted Him. I have found my attitude changes after I obey. 

In order to be His sweet fragrance in the world around us, we will need to meditate on everything He did for us. We are free because He paid the cost to give us freedom. Now we need to daily cling tightly to Who He is, and what we know about Him. The Holy Spirit wants to help us with that, so we can smell good! Bye. 👋

P 3093 Think bigger.

/ DVH

“This is love: He loved us long before we loved Him. It was His love, not ours. He proved it by sending His Son to be the pleasing sacrificial offering to take away our sins. Delightfully loved ones, if He loved us with such tremendous love, then “loving one another” should be our way of life!” 1 John 4:10-11 TPT.

Does anyone remember that old joke? Which came first, the chicken or the egg? I think I know that answer! The chicken! God would never leave a little helpless baby chick to raise itself! So what has that got to do with anything? God’s love and His loving provision came first, that’s what. We don’t have to prove ourselves worthy, because, quite simply, we ain’t worthy and without the blood of Jesus over our lives, we never will be! Our Almighty, Omniscient, Ever-present Father loved us first. 

Here is a verse in Jeremiah 1:5: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew  you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” Our God isn’t just talking to Jeremiah — He is talking to each one of us. He’s saying to us all: “You were in My heart before you were in this world. I always had a plan for your life.”  None of us are an accident. Every single human being is precious to God and we all have a destiny – a place in His kingdom. There are no ‘big’ guys or ‘little’ guys – there’s only Jesus!! He not only knows our names, where we live, what He has for us, He is thinking about us daily, all of the time. Every single one of us was born into this world with a loving Father watching over us – whether we had an earthly father or not … Father God was there.

He is the Author and Finisher of our intimate development inside our mothers. Let’s look at Psalm 139:13-18 for a minute, it says: “For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are Your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand—when I awake, I am still with You.”

Only Father God Himself loved humanity enough to take a record of every single child ever born – He knows each baby’s name. This was my conclusion – you were a great idea God had! He was there when each of us struggled to take our first breath. See Ezekiel 16:6: “And when I passed by you and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you in your blood ‘LIVE!…”

We started this life with God pronouncing life into us, and Jesus Himself told us in John 10:10: “…I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”‘Life, life and MORE LIFE.’ Please don’t ever use your life experiences, the good or the bad or the mediocre ones, as a yardstick for how the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit feel about you. They are incredibly passionate about you. The bible itself clearly tells us we are destined to be filled with LIFE. His life. That kind of life is called Zoe. ‘Zoe’ life refers to the uncreated, eternal life of God, the divine life uniquely possessed by God Himself, and He shares that life with us.

We were designed to live our lives, here and now, filled with that life. This is blessing, this gift, is part of the Holy Spirit’s ministry to each one of us. We don’t just yield our lives to Him so we can be guided by His Will, His Way. When we actively live His Will, His Way we are partaking of Father God’s ‘Zoe’ life. Jesus lived on this earth like that. He was so full of life it was almost like sparks flew off Him everywhere He went. 

One time God lifted the curtain between Jesus and His disciples and 3 of them saw what that life in Him looked like – it made them almost speechless. Matthew 17:1-2:“After six days Jesus took with Him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.” It is time to think bigger than just the same old same old life that we plod through day after day. Life is so much more than the mundanities we’ve accepted. Jesus took ordinary fishermen and made them disciples, and those guys turned the known world upside down!

Our Father has so much more in His heart when He made each one of us. I have had this phrase running around in my Spirit for months now. “BIGGER STILL!!” I think it is important to refuse to put a lid on what you think the Lord can do with your life. He’s God! He made a man from dirt, and a woman from a rib, then He breathed His Zoe life into both of them. Everything we can see around us, was once a creative idea that came from within Who He is… But there’s MORE!!…

Here is another way to think about the troubles you face daily:  “Father God is bigger than this thing that keeps coming at me. He can show me the way through everything that is going on around me, as well as the stuff going on inside my head and heart. I’m just going to lay back and let Him be God, and I’ll be a wholly yielded lover of Jesus, on this ride called, life.” Bye. 🕊️

P 3091 Define the word ‘gift!’

/ DVH

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, Who does not change like shifting shadows.”James 1:17.“Ask, and the gift is yours. Seek, and you’ll discover. Knock, and the door will be opened for you.”Matthew 7:7 TPT.

If I were to ask you to define what you think a good gift looks like, what would you say? A happy life, travel, health, a nice house, great kids, plenty of money …a happy wife? Here’s a side note … the bible talks about finding a wife. “He who finds a wife finds a good thing, And obtains favour from the LORD.” God has a whole other take on what He thinks good gifts look like! That cranky wife is His gift to you  – you prayed for transformation!

It seems to me that we have translated the above scriptures in James and Matthew to mean that ‘I’ get to define what a good gift looks like! Good luck with that one. Why? Because only God is good … so He is the only One we can trust to define what good looks like! You might like to put your false teeth back in and chew on that one. God’s idea of good, and ours aren’t always the same. The bible tells us in Isaiah 53:10 that: ‘…it pleased the Lord to bruise Jesus’ – His Son.

Father God looks through the difficulties and pain to the overall end result. Jesus’ death meant salvation for all of us! He will use every bit of our journey through hard things – to grow, and diagnose and transform us. I believe human beings cannot discern good, because our minds are saturated with bitterness, resentment, troubles, worries and strife … as well as the so-called pleasures of this world! Somehow all that stuff skews our thinking, and we end up focusing only on the things that we think are advantageous to US, and not on the overall benefit to everyone. 

While our minds are in defensive or offended mode – we cannot easily see whatever is going on in that other person. We’ve been emotionally and mentally distracted, and we will be clouded by our own self-interest. Maybe a nasty attitude in another person is a demonic influence. Maybe it’s a habit, or maybe they are in nine kinds of pain!! But because we are prepared for pickiness, or fight, or flight, that means we are not in a prayerful position to receive heaven’s download about the situation.

The Holy Spirit always has a contribution to make … a gift.  A word of knowledge, some insight, a word of wisdom for every scenario. If we concentrate on how we feel – our anger, loss or pain, we probably won’t see or hear His answer, or we will reject it! And that means the broader deeper blessing is missed. We sometimes trot off feeling relieved when we manage to avoid a grumpy person. But, in truth, we have only postponed change – for me, for them, for the situation. Part of being transformed means we will need to yield to His wishes, His way, even though at the time it feels like the last thing we want to do.

He says this in His word: “No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; He’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; He’ll always be there to help you come through it.” I Corinthians 10:13. Did you see the gift in that sentence?  Yeah yeah, I know you think you’ve had times when you’ve been pushed too far, but the punch line is this — Almighty God thinks you can do it! He believes in you! Here’s another gift to think on:“Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.” Psalm 27:14. You know, the bible says that waiting on God renews our strength. (Isaiah 40:31) 

When we start out prayerfully trying to resist any kind of temptation, we may feel weak and not capable of what we know we need to do. But waiting for Him, pulls our focus out of the normal mixmaster mindset that rattles our brain. Waiting allows us to breathe – to find our peace. This is also a gift! Suddenly all the mind-cloudiness etc. lifts and we can begin to see spiritually. When we stop rattling our brains about “this or that or some other solution” and just sit in silence, and wait for Him! The same way we might wait for a friend in a coffee shop. We will quickly find that silence is another gift.

“My soul, wait in silence for God alone, For my hope is from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, My refuge; I will not be shaken. My salvation and my glory rest on God;  The rock of my strength, my refuge is in God.” Psalm 62:5-7.

This answer is a gift to us. In reality the Lord is saying to us:“this is the way walk ye in it!”He is showing us another way to get through difficulties – and that’s another gift! God daily gives us good gifts and if all we choose to see is this whizz-bang spiritual gift, or that special ability, we will miss seeing Him in our day to day ordinary life.

We need His definition of the word GIFT not ours. Prayerfully ask Him to help you to see and recognise Him, as He is active in your life. He showers us with blessings every single day! If you want to settle for a car park when you need one, then … have at it! But there is more! If what you receive is just perfect, then it is Him. Bye. 👋

P 3083 Adaptability.

/ DVH

““Learn this well: Unless you dramatically change your way of thinking and become teachable like a little child, you will never be able to enter in.” Matthew 18:3 TPT.

Back when my kids were little, once a year I took the three of them, separately, off into the city to buy an individual ornament each for our Christmas tree. Those individual journeys included a visit to the Christmas theme park on Myer’s roof, a ride on something or other, plus a joyous inspection of the Myer windows. Then we wandered around the Christmas shop together choosing this year’s ornament. Finally they had a yummy treat, and a return long train ride home, with lots of time to talk. 

However, even though fun was on the agenda, I knew I was there to teach them how to be responsible caring people, whilst preserving as much of their childhood fun as I could. So somebody else, (me!), cleaned their clothes, and decided what they would eat, and I looked after them when they were sick etc. Unfortunately, once they started to grow up, things became more difficult. They didn’t like this and they wouldn’t eat that. Their ‘teachability’ and ‘adaptability’ levels dropped clear away as they grew older. 

I discovered today, when I spent time meditating on this verse from Matthew, that I personally have no idea how to be a child when I am with the Lord. After all children trust their parent to get things right! But that kind of freedom was absent from my own life, because I don’t think I actually knew very many carefree moments. I’m not complaining BTW, I simply lived with a distinct lack of the kind of freedom a happy child enjoys. So it continually clouded my view of the way the Lord sees me. 

And let us be clear —the Lord sees us as His children, as well as seeing us as His people. It dawned on me that I need my thinking transformed in this area as I have a limited human reference point to draw upon. I strongly suspect that I am not the only pickle in this barrel, many other people have had limited childhood experiences too! But is this what this verse is all about? Is it just the idea of being taken care of without even noticing? Or being able to play anywhere you want, whenever you want? I came to believe this verse is all about our inner attitude toward God Himself.

So I did further research and decided to look at children in other countries. And lo and behold, in the midst of war, starvation, and suffering, I saw that if a child can play, it will. We’ve all seen pictures of children playing in bomb sites, or in the dust and dirt of a refugee camp. I came to the conclusion that childlikeness is an inner attitude – it is not formed by our outward situations. It seems to me that Jesus is talking about the way we approach this life. Things like wanting to learn and being adaptable to change.

Those children in refugee camps etc. don’t want to be where they are, they would probably like a nice little safe house to live in, but their circumstances have taught them to ADAPT.And as I have aged, it seems I have become less adaptable. That attitude, plus life’s ongoing difficulties, trials and heartaches can actually keep me from the very place Father God wants me to live in! He wants me to remember that I can always be confident in Him, despite my inner or outward circumstances. 

Faith is defined in the dictionary like this:“complete trust or confidence in someone or something.” That’s when I took a good look at my own measure of faith and I decided that my somewhat oppressive childhood was no excuse. I can’t hide in what other people did to me, because now – today! – I have a choice. I can’t even hide in what some people continue to do to me …because my confidence is in GOD HIMSELF, not in my circumstances or other people’s actions. Whether I am damaged by this life, or ill because of my body’s weaknesses, I can still choose to live in complete confidence that God is with me, and for me, and He will finish the work He started in me.

That’s what childlikeness looks like. It is about trusting in  SomeOne Who is greater than I am – even when I don’t understand what is going on. Every single thing that happens to me does not always have to be assessed by my understanding because my understanding is broken! Unless I believe that God Himself means to do me good, when things look bad – I will start to lose my childlike attitude and trust. 

Wonder of wonders, my glorious Father has given me a book that gives me detailed descriptions of how He feels about me, (and many many other people) so I need to put my faith in His written word, more than I put it in whatever is going on around me. Children trust their parents to fix things – while they go on with what they are doing. In the end, I decided to pray to be more adaptable … how about you? 👋 

“Energise the limp hands, strengthen the rubbery knees. Tell fearful souls, “Courage! Take heart! God is here, right here, on His way to put things right And redress all wrongs. He’s on His way! He’ll save you!” Isaiah 35:3-4.

P 3075 Hope is for today!

/ DVH

“Rise up in splendour and be radiant, for your light has dawned, and Yahweh’s glory now streams from you! Look carefully! Darkness blankets the earth, and thick clouds covers the nations, but Yahweh arises upon you and the brightness of His glory appears over you! Nations will be attracted to your radiant light and kings to the sunrise-glory of your new day. Lift up your eyes higher! Look all around you and believe, for your sons are returning from far away and your daughters are being tenderly carried home. Watch as they all gather together, eager to come back to you!” Isaiah 60:1-4 TPT.

We cannot afford to postpone promises from the Lord into the future. The tense in the above passage from Isaiah is present tense. The future, in the natural, can look pretty bleak! However faith is a daily walk, so believing God and what He says, needs to become an every day occurrence, not just an emergency vehicle we jump into and try to use when bad stuff happens. This life is a giant disappointment for many people. They had hopes and dreams and then the ordinariness of every day life has ground them into the dust.  Postponing our HOPE into the future, is not a viable option. When our faith is low our ability to cope grinds to a halt. 

Jesus is the solution! You and I are hope carriers. Our hope is never exists in an absence of trouble. This is earth – bad things happen here – what matters is our response. Listen to what Jesus said:“I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace. In the world you have tribulation and distress and suffering, but be courageous [be confident, be undaunted, be filled with joy]; I have overcome the world.” [My conquest is accomplished, My victory abiding.]” John 16:33. AMP. Abiding means more than existing, it means thriving in the face of difficulties, by choice. It means holding onto hope when you have no earthly reason to do it, simply because of the truthfulness of the One Who said what He said.

In this world tribulation and distress and suffering fly at us from all angles. Meh! Nobody wants that stuff. Unfortunately we can’t just package up our lives as an overall time period, and set our faces into living for hope and peace in the sweet bye and bye! Of course there is peace in heaven – the Father, and Son are there. But down here in this life that we live in from day to day … sometimes from minute to minute … we need to learn to live out the things He asked us to do, despite the degree of difficulty it can take. Like Jesus said, we aren’t sweating blood, yet. That’s why the Holy Spirit is here with us, we need Him!  WE are not the Answer – He is! 

When conflict happens at my house I ask Him: “What do you want me to do with this Lord?” Half the time the Lord says this – far more politely than I would! “Shut up now.” I’m really bad at that, so I choose to leave the room and go and pray. There are also times when I waste my God-given time being a cry-baby and moaning my head off about how hard life is, and how difficult people are… blah blah blah. That’s when I feel the Lord waiting patiently for me to get over myself. Then He brings me round to viewing what I actually do already have, differently.

Now I have become so excited about the incredible way the Lord fixes things. It can often seem to take years, but boy! When He is done with what He is doing, it really is FINISHED. It is a total joy to watch Jesus’ work. He does stuff I would never even think of, because He knows the end from the beginning, so He knows how it will all go and work together for everyone’s good.

Have you ever have an argument with someone else inside your head? Me too. The thing is, in that made-up scenario, I will probably look wise, and patient – and the other person will most likely look like a cranky dummy! In my head, they will fall at my feet and beg my forgiveness. Let’s now quickly return to the real world! That’s the place where nothing turns out the way we try to choreograph it. We need the ultimate choreographer – Jesus Himself. 

I have seen glimpses of heaven revealed on earth, when I changed my response and began to use my faith and treat the person I was mad at, like I love them like crazy! That is a huge faith step – and for a while I kept falling off it!  Now I treat them like I would like to be treated. I give the other person the benefit of the doubt, and stopped defending myself, and instead, I have decided to believe for the best in them. It is much harder to fight with someone who comes over to your side and silently stands with you! You don’t have to agree with people to love them – that idea is devilish misinformation.

It is even better when we choose to stand on the Lord’s side and just love everyone else involved. What if withdrawing love from someone who seems to want to hurt us, is the devil’s itinerary? Jesus kept Judas in His followers until Judas chose to leave. He gave that man the opportunity to be with Hope personified, Peace like a river and never-ending Truth! We cannot look at, and stare at this life, and still see Jesus. Obviously, if someone else is abusive, we will need the Lord’s guidance, but … what if we let love reign instead of hate, antagonism and suspicion?

The bible tells us our light has already come, because Jesus Himself is our light. We don’t have to run about, looking for light or seeking after light like demented loons, because we choose to acknowledge that we already have the light IN US. Our hope is in His Word! Do we think Jesus will stand by what He said or not? We are talking about NOW, not one day – we won’t need that stuff in heaven – we need it now!

The Gospels and the Epistles clearly tell us that Christ IN us is the truth — this means that we can continually make a withdrawal on the deposit God Himself has put inside us. Now we have a choice to believe, every single time we are tempted to doubt. Jesus’ death and resurrection gave us the freedom to choose. Sin can’t make us its slave, because we already have the greater One inside.  

This is not some weird doctrine – it’s in the book! And I am not talking about always getting what I want, I am talking about us having what He wants us to have. Let’s live in His hope, today! Bye. 👋

P 3072 Make yours a life well lived.

/ DVH

“Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colours in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:16 MSG.

The person we need to be is the one Almighty God planned for us to be when He created us. Did you know there’s a big difference between the person you’ve become – because life’s bashed you up a bit – and the person God intended when He created you? That difference is our learning curve. I’m older, I’ve bumped into a lot of learning curves. 

You know, old age is not always the drag everybody thinks it is. Old people are way less threatening to young ones when their hair gets white and they kind of hobble about. Old people don’t constitute a threat. If you are really fortunate and your family is kind, now you can tell the same stories over and over again, and not realise you are doing it. While they all listen politely. Now there’s a perk! Meanwhile you might look a bit addlepated. Oh well. 

However! The bible has a whole other idea about who we ALL are! You and I, we are the light. When we walk into a room, that whole room is flooded with His light, because He goes with us. This means that we can tell the difference between this life’s fake stuff and the real. God’s light bulb inside us, is so bright, all the hollow useless stuff shows up instantly. We can waste the time He gave us striving to look cool, or clever, or wise … or we can enjoy Him. You can’t do both. What a great pity it is when God’s people stumble around in the dark when we were made to shine, and give Him glory by doing it.

That verse above tells us the very best and only way to keep our faith alive. We must use it. I can guarantee using it will be extremely inconvenient, and pride will probably fall on its head as we learn to do what the Lord wants. For so many years, I tried hard to be kind and caring – but – people would annoy me and then I’d have to avoid them. In that process I picked up awful attitudes toward other people! Trying is out – doing it anyway is in. 

Hubby and I have been doing peculiar things for years, as the Lord guides us – we don’t think of them as outrageous, we think of them adventures with the Holy Spirit and Jesus. The bible tells us in 1 Peter 2:9 that we have been chosen to be ‘a peculiar people.’  We try to live up to that. So we’ve done things that people said would never work, and sometimes they did and sometimes they didn’t – but every single time we had to use our faith. I keep telling you, eleven good Godly men sat in that boat watching Peter walk on the water. They were safe, but they didn’t stretch their faith!

I walked around for 2 years, about 45 years ago, claiming God had healed my eyesight. I was taught that I could have whatever I wanted, and I wanted to see without glasses. A-n-d … He didn’t heal my eyes. Instead I became stuck down the hole of my own proclamation of healing when I was actually as blind as a bat. Sadly I was far stupider than bats are – they have radar! I crossed busy roads, went on trains, did all the usual stuff, claiming I was healed. Would you like to know the miracle in all that dumb? I was never in danger for a second, not one. Isn’t He amazing??!! My Heavenly Father took care of me in all my stupidity. I repented and went and got glasses again, but I learnt you can huff and puff, but you cannot twist God’s arm.

However, I did learn something else that is very important – God is wa-ay bigger than our mistakes.The smart thing is to jump into His river and let Him steer your little boat. My life, thus far, has not been boring — and neither is the Lord! Bringing out ‘the God-colours’ in this world involves innovation and creativity and a positive attitude. We are the most blessed people on earth – we can’t DIE. When we leave here, we go to heaven. Win, win! Many times we are clinging to the things that cannot last, and ignoring the things that DO. Desperately trying to distract ourselves from who we’ve become in the meantime.

We say stupid things like: “IF God heals me, I will serve Him. Or if God fixes my kid, my marriage, my relationships, my job, then I will serve Him.” Who said we have that option? We serve Him because He is Almighty God! The bible is not an either/or book. Have you read the Old Testament lately? God is incredibly good, but it’s HIS way or the highway. The people who are alive in these times need hope. HOPE is Jesus’ middle Name! Well, it’s one of them, the Lord has a lot of middle Names. (Prince of peace, Mighty God…) !!

“Sing God a brand-new song! Earth and everyone in it, sing! Sing to God—worship God! Shout the news of His victory from sea to sea, Take the news of His glory to the lost, News of His wonders to one and all!” Psalm 96:3 MSG. The God of all the Universe made you to shine. Make a decision to make your life a life that is well-lived, and not just a safe one! Bye. 👋