Fault

P 3464 This is what restoration looks like.

/ DVH

“I appeal to you for my [own spiritual] child, Onesimus [meaning profitable], whom I have begotten [in the faith] while a captive in these chains. Once he was unprofitable to you, but now he is indeed profitable to you as well as to me. I am sending him back to you in his own person, [and it is like sending] my very heart. I would have chosen to keep him with me, in order that he might minister to my needs in your stead during my imprisonment for the Gospel’s sake.]. Perhaps it was for this reason that he was separated [from you] for a while, that you might have him back as yours forever, 

Not as a slave any longer but as [something] more than a slave, as a brother [Christian], especially dear to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh [as a servant] and in the Lord [as a fellow believer]. If then you consider me a partner and a comrade in fellowship, welcome and receive him as you would [welcome and receive] me. And if he has done you any wrong in any way or owes anything [to you], charge that to my account. I, Paul, write it with my own hand, I promise to repay it [in full]—and that is to say nothing [of the fact] that you owe me your very self!”

These verses come from Philemon V10-19. They make it clear that true reconciliation means real repentance and restoration. We don’t know exactly what happened here, but news of it must have reached Colossae because the people there knew what this young man had done. First of all — I just want to mention the bit kind of tacked on at the end: “if he has done you any wrong in any way or owes you anything, …charge that to my account…” here’s the punch line …’it’s me, Paul and I am writing this in person. I will repay you if it is necessary, …but you need to remember that you owe me everything!” Paul stood up for this young man and he put himself between Onesimus and judgment. 

It has been suggested that this young man sinned against Paul perhaps stealing from him, but Paul grabbed hold of God’s grace and went back into ‘love.’ His actions show us what God’s grace, looks like. Undeserved, and unreserved. Now he esteems the culprit highly. Paul knows Jesus and he is acquainted with His Ways so well, that this is his first and only response! In His mind forgiveness means forgotten, and he wants to get on about the business of today – leaving yesterday behind. He is still teaching the church, but now he is leading by example.

Repentance acknowledges a fault, without harping on the point, and it quickly heads toward reconciliation, restoration  and forgiveness. It seems to me that Paul may have wanted to go with Onesimus and act as a go between, to make sure this reconciliation was complete, hence the letter. But he was in jail so he could not do that. He is simply stating the truth, and giving the people at Colossae a chance to digest his words and enter into true reconciliation with this young man as well, and put aside their previous opinions of him.

Sometimes when someone deeply wounds us, we need to take a little while to digest what happened, and how we felt about it. It is interesting that Paul is not looking for a patch over this problem, he is far more interested in healing it. Paul wants this church to move on to a wider place. People are human, they make mistakes, and some terrible mistakes have extremely far reaching effects. It is wisdom to carefully take our time to clear up our own reactions, otherwise we can easily say yes … when our hearts are yelling NO-O-O! That can have terrible consequences.

But I have a word of caution, don’t let your feelings, or even mental or physical pain, keep you from forgiving others. Forgiveness is a spiritual transaction. It is a spiritual thing. I forgive that other person because God forgave me first. We don’t just do that in theory, we do it in practice. (Matthew 18:21) It’s not always easy — 70X7 is a whole lot of practice! When the Lord forgave us from the cross, He released His Grace into our lives in abundance. Now we have something tangible to give away to anybody who hurts us. We have His never-ending Grace constantly flowing toward us, and we can give it away freely, just by using our faith. We now have more than we will ever ever need … Grace is tangible, eternity is resting on it!

Whatever we concentrate on becomes bigger, and it can fill our vision the longer we think on it. So someone else’s sin can literally block out the SON in our own lives. What we need to do is to use the GRACE we’ve already been given, and remember we can’t afford to hide behind excuses. Revising someone’s sin and talking about it with others will just enlarge how we feel about it. We will get sucked deeper into a vortex of despair, anger, and the need for revenge. The reality is, outside of releasing His Grace into our situation, we can end up more stuck than we were before. And we will be ‘punished’ twice, once by the offence and the second time by our reaction to it.

I am not saying that other people’s sins can’t devastate our lives, prayer and support are often needed. But we must choose to change our focus, otherwise we will remain a prisoner of that other person/s sin. Here’s something that helps me – this person who deeply hurt us cannot go back and undo what they did. This is now your story. Like it or not. Now your story is affected by scars. Jesus has scars too. We need to focus on moving past the event — for the sake of our faith.

If that other person does not choose to change, then prayerfully continue to love and pray for them, from a distance — let your inner self be less available to them. However, at the same time, we need to remember that we can often distance people to make ourselves comfortable, without asking the Lord what His plan is! Forgiveness can be so difficult whether we have a real or perceived grievance. It tests our faith. But we have inherited, from Christ Himself, a ministry of reconciliation. True restoration shows our gratitude to God for what He gave us. Bye. 👋.

P 3398 Faith has one primary purpose.

/ DVH

“If you want to be made right with God by fulfilling the obligations of the law, you have cut off more than your flesh—you have cut yourselves off from Christ and have fallen away from the revelation of grace! But we have the true hope that comes from being made right with God, and by the Spirit we wait eagerly for this hope. When you’re joined to the Anointed One, circumcision and religious obligations can benefit you nothing. All that matters now is living in the faith that works and expresses itself through love!” Galatians 5:4-6 TPT.

You know I’ve done enough stupid stuff in my life to know that positive talk won’t help me to use my faith and love others. Mainly because whatever you talk yourself into, you can talk yourself OUT OF! Plus satan would be de-light-ed to help me to go the wrong way. Even other people’s reassurances won’t help when my focus goes off – ‘whatever the Lord is doing,’ and lands on ‘what’s in it for me?’

Yesterday I looked at David and his faith-filled interactions with the Lord. No matter what happened in his life, David’s heart stayed right with God – even when he was corrected. You and I are blessed to be able to live that way too, because of Jesus and what He did. So this morning, hubby and I were talking about how much we need to be reminded that God doesn’t love us for what we do or don’t do – He loves us because Love is Who He is. Now we always have a choice in the arena of faith. Do we believe Him or not? Will we let Him make ‘love’ who we are?

If we don’t make that choice to deliberately keep aware of His Grace, we can become so focussed on serving the Lord, and making sure we do everything right – that we forget to enjoy every single day what we have been given. When we live with rules and judgment over ourselves, we are much more likely to give that junk away to someone else: Peter made that clear when he said: “…such as I have give I thee!” Acts 3:6.

His focus in the above scripture, was spot on. He honed in on being a benefit to those around him, not the law. So giving away what he had, meant that he lived aware that he had fresh clean water bubbling up inside him. His faith was always active. I want that, and I’m pretty sure you do too – that’s why we are all taking this journey together. When our focus is on right and wrong, eventually, we will start focussing on, and judging ourselves, and others.

This wrong kind of perspective can distract anyone from the revelation we’ve been given about God’s Grace and what He has done for us. Jesus did not only come to save us from our big or little sins – He came to save and restore our relationship with our Heavenly Father. Sin is the lesser thing, the Lord Jesus’ primary focus is always on redemption and restoration and His love being shed abroad in our hearts – by FAITH. We receive love by faith, and we give it away … using our faith.

When we read the gospels, it is clear Jesus wants us to know what His Father likes and wants from us. And self-recrimination and condemnation of others is not on that list. Micah 6:8 tells us that God has shown us what is good. “He has shown you, O man, what is good;  And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?” 

Adam and Eve lost their fellowship with God; but Jesus, the second Adam, is the Founder of a whole new spiritually-aware kind of people. He came to restore us and exponentially increase our faith, love and fellowship with our Heavenly Father, so that we could begin to know the kind of Oneness that the Trinity enjoys. We cannot have that when we have enmity with one another. Our focus will go off faith and fellowship and love, over onto finding fault with others.

That’s when we decide to protect ME at someone else’s cost. Maybe we don’t like these people because they do this and that, or we don’t like this member of our family because they did so and so. You know, loving people doesn’t have to mean we give them permission to mistreat us, or that we approve of the way they treat others. Loving them means that we use our faith, put them into God’s hands, and live the way He says. 

We can’t afford to embrace the idea that everyone thinking the same way is the criteria for restoration. It isn’t! It can’t be! We don’t all think the same way! Almighty God Himself has to be the One Who unites us.  However, His love is a universal language, and expressing that love, using our faith, as He leads us, can take away barriers. That’s what God’s love given freely to all of us undeserving sinners did! It took away all barriers. We can now enjoy Who He is, and He can expand our viewpoints over and above our prejudices – so that our prejudices… fade … away.

If someone is in error, then we need to remind them from God’s Word what His way looks like. If necessary then we will engage the church leadership in this process. Withdrawing love cannot be the way forward. As we co-operate with the Holy Spirit, and let Him love people through us, we will learn to release our faith as we choose to live in love. Meanwhile Galatians 5:6 says: “And we to whom Christ has given eternal life don’t need to worry about whether we have been circumcised or not, or whether we are obeying the Jewish ceremonies or not; for all we need is faith working through love.” 

The law can’t produce what faith does, in our own lives or in the lives of others. Faith has one primary purpose – to activate our lives with love. Bless you 👋.

P3392 Wisdom must be sought.

/ DVH

Sometimes we verbally understand, but we still can’t see what Jesus is showing us, because our minds are so filled up with the things of the ordinary life we are living. We listen carefully, but there are times when we can’t hear what the Lord is saying – because we already have a preconceived idea about the subject and the answer. Those things stop us from mixing what we read, or can see, in the bible, with faith. The following thoughts are suggestions by the way, and I hope they will prove to be helpful in the area of gaining wisdom – they help me. The bible clearly tells us in James 1:5-8: 

“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, Who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.” Double-mindedness is sure to shoot any one of us in the foot. To have a single mind, we need to keep our focus on what Jesus wants. He is more important than our own personal, or even denominational principles.

Here are four keys I really like and use, that talk about walking in wisdom. The first is we need to live prepared to say: “I’m sorry.” There is nothing more powerful than a genuine apology prompted by repentance. Some of us say: “I’m sorry” like we are saying: “Would you please pass the salt?” Sadly, that can be merely lip service, not repentance. I believe “I’m sorry” is a heading, under which both people can come to understand one another better. This means we will gain back our brother and learn something … all-at-the-same-time!

My next step about finding and recognising wisdom is this: “I need help.” In the verse above from James, he advises us that we should ask the Lord to help us. Father God Himself is the source of all wisdom. He knows what we need to hear, and how we need to hear it. In my limited experience, many people often go from one person to another asking the same question. It seems to me they are looking for someone to agree with what they think or hope, rather than actually seeking God’s wisdom. God’s wisdom is an arrow that shoots straight at the heart – it does not miss its mark. Man’s wisdom can be corrupted by human agendas.

The Holy Spirit’s wisdom is sound and strong, it doesn’t have to look for a consensus, because His Word can stand up anywhere, despite any opposition. When we count how many people said this, and how many said that, and then pick a winner suiting ourselves, that’s foolishness. Our Heavenly Father’s wisdom is sovereign, and if we want a second opinion about what we think we’ve heard from the Lord, then we need to go and dig about in the bible, or find someone else, a more mature Christian, who knows stuff we don’t yet. Some people have walked with Jesus for a while, and they’ve picked up His wisdom along the way. 

That leads me to my next point, which is this: “I don’t know.” We haven’t “arrived’ anywhere – we are all still in His processes, so we are always going to need to hear His point of view. The bible is a huge book that has so much in it. Give yourself a break, not knowing everything is not a disaster, it’s human. Feel free to ask questions of the pastor, or more senior members of the Body of Christ. Do a word study for yourself.

Most of the wisdom I have personally gleaned, comes from doing things the wrong way first! Sigh. Not knowing in our hearts, or understanding something is not a sin. It doesn’t make us stupid, or, even worse … un-spiritual! We often accidentally misunderstand the Lord and each other. And the Lord is non-partisan – He gives wisdom to profit everyone, not just a select few. In today’s world, knowing things equals power. Our carefully cultivated, deep abiding respect for the Lord and His Ways, is the beginning of wisdom.

Here’s the last one: “I was wrong.” All of us could find ourselves stumbling over this one. It has become very easy to avoid responsibility for our own actions. People move from denying whatever happened, to publicly stringing others up naked, by their toenails … out of pure spite or revenge. We dare not use His truth to prove our own point, unless we are sure He asked us to do it. That’s not what truth is for!

I’ve noticed that other people are so desperate to vindicate themselves they resort to using the media to make a point. Saying things like: ‘It’s not my fault! It can’t be my fault, I will fall apart if it turns out to be my fault. NO! A thousand times NO … I simply must blame you, because I can’t face my own sinfulness and lack of love. ERGO: YOU made me do it. It’s YOUR fault.’

That sort of attitude cannot foster a cohesive and interactive congregation, where relationships can thrive. It can also be why churches have cliques, or why we shop around and try to find someone else who shares our pet answer to life – simply to use their opinions to reinforce ours. In other words, I’ve decided my safety will take precedence over yours, and now we are stuck in a situation that is going nowhere.

So! Let’s recap: we have four less-than-popular attitudes that could limit the possibility of us walking in wisdom as His child, unless we choose to take them in. “I’m sorry,” I need help,” “I don’t know,” “ I was wrong.” These things will all come naturally as we learn to embrace humility. We can easily limit ourselves by working hard to maintain a point of view that is not a reflection of His heart toward others. Lastly, God’s wisdom must be sought, treasured, and applied to ME, first. Bye 👋.

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

/ DVH

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

P 3257 It’s time to get the band back together.

/ DVH

Years and years ago, when I was a much younger Christian, I loved reading instructional Christian books, plus I listened to tapes, music, and videos, everything I could. I was trying to grow my faith. I desperately needed to belong, to feel like a part of the Body of Christ. You know, there’s a whole lotta of odd people out there who really really need Jesus – we all might want to think about that. Back to it … eventually, I realised I was reading the bible and understanding it through someone else’s filter!

The Holy Spirit truly is the very best Teacher, He explains things first-hand – personally! There’s nothing like getting your own revelation from His book. Back then, whenever I read 1 Corinthians 13, I read it through other people’s interpretations to help me understand it. My thoughts were ‘boy do I fail at that!’ No wonder I felt a failure, at that time I had no idea how complete the Lord’s redemption was on my behalf. Like Paul said in Galatians 3:3 MSG bible: 

“Let me put this question to you: How did your new life begin? Was it by working your heads off to please God? Or was it by responding to God’s Message to you? Are you going to continue this craziness? For only crazy people would think they could complete by their own efforts what was begun by God. If you weren’t smart enough or strong enough to begin it, how do you suppose you could perfect it? Did you go through this whole painful learning process for nothing? It is not yet a total loss, but it certainly will be if you keep this up!”

I believed my sins were bigger than what Jesus did. So when I messed up … and I did, a lot … I was shattered. Yeah, I know, that makes no sense at all. The Lord has a whole new kingdom reality for all of us. Sadly, at that time, I just had too much luggage that I dragged along behind me! To top it all off I erroneously believed this kind of stuff was true Christianity, and I was just really really bad at it. 

You see, people in my family or the church still irritated me, and when they were unkind, I wanted to run away, or thump them. Eventually, I became ill. So getting healed became my new focus. I figured I had become sick because I was failing the Lord all the time. I just want to strongly insert the fact that Jesus is not like that! 

But at that time, I jumped into every single healing line I could find, simply because I badly wanted to be well! Instead I just got sicker, and that added a further burden. It seemed to me that I must be a terrible Christian because I was ill in a generation that thought if you were sick it was your own fault! For years I wandered around thinking God had given up on me. And getting divorced did not help that perception. 

I know there are verses that clearly talk about divorce, and yes, I accept them! God definitely says don’t do it! However, He’s also merciful – He explains WHY. Participating in a divorce makes our hearts hard. Even though I repented up one hill and down the other, I had hardened my heart against any sort of redemption by Him. Unbelief is still sin! Works will do that to you. They will cut you off from true redemption and also real gratitude. It’s hard to be grateful when living for Jesus is a whole lot of hard work, and you can’t do it.

I guess I saw Almighty God as SomeOne Who held a grudge, like most people I had met. And I thought I deserved to be rejected. In that process I lost the One Person Who dearly, eternally loved me. At that time, I had no comprehension of unconditional love. If you happen to feel like that, I would like to testify to you that the Lord Jesus is not keeping a score of our sins against us. He can’t, His blood wiped them out!! At the same time, I hadn’t properly personally digested 2 Corinthians 5:19: “…that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting people’s sins against them [but canceling them]. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation [that is, restoration to favour with God].”

It’s pretty hard to go out and tell others about the reconciliation that exists in Christ, when we aren’t living in it! Eventually, through the patience of a dear old minster, I came to see that the Lord Jesus is the One Who knelt beside a woman who was taken in adultery. and He also dealt with the people who wanted to stone her. Once He sat by a well and talked with a woman who had had five husbands … He didn’t give either of these women permission to live like that! However, the Lord altered the course of  both of their lives just by being Himself! The love and power of God is like that – it sets people free. 

I believe the church world-wide needs to go after the Lord’s lost sheep. The bible clearly tells us the Shepherd always does! Those broken, beaten sheep who have wandered away – or maybe they were even shoved out because the church didn’t want to be contaminated by their sin. Let’s ask the Lord to help us to win back our brothers and sisters – mothers, fathers, friends, rabbits and relations. The Body cannot function without ALL its parts. We need to be like Paul and participate in their reconciliation and restoration. So let’s love them OUT of their isolation. Maybe they are ready to repent and come back! 2 Corinthians 2:5-11.

How about we stop shooting the wounded, or leaving our broken-hearted members behind? And ask the Lord if we can be used by Him to restore them instead. Let’s get the band back together. Who knows what God will  do when we embrace others who have gotten lost along the way? Bye. 👋

P 3194 Fear is our enemy.

/ DVH

Good morning. I wanted to say a little about what happened at Bondi beach here in Australia on Sunday the 14th of December.. I had to wait on and ask the Lord what to say because … I simply had no words. I would like to add my prayers to yours and ask for our Heavenly Father’s comfort for anyone and everyone who has been affected by it. “Oh God our Father, please comfort and care for those who have suffered such incredible losses. Help their hearts, their spirits and their minds. I pray for the injured, their carers, their families, and especially our precious Jewish brothers and sisters. Lord please continue to guide and help the first responders, the police, the doctors, nurses and paramedics. Please help us all and comfort the broken hearted. Oh Lord, I pray the you will give those men and women who lead us Your clarity and wisdom. in Jesus Name,” Amen.

“For God will never give you the spirit of fear, but the Holy Spirit Who gives you mighty power, love, and self-control.”
2 Timothy 1:7 TPT. 

By the Grace of God we all can quote the above scripture and others. Things like this one from Philippians 4:8:: ‘Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things …’  Of course we should only think on those things. But tell me this … are we?? Or are we lying awake at night trying to figure out the things that only God Himself can do? I exhort everyone reading this today to turn your fears into Godly prayers. Use them to diagnose what ails you. 

Let’s actively learn and prayerfully understand these things from the Lord’s point of view, because our own ideas fall apart under pressure. In today’s current climate, I suspect you aren’t doing a great deal better than I am! Cheery thoughts are wonderful, but there are times when our hearts fall down into our socks with all kinds of bad news. That is when we need to do some essential revision with our Personal Trainer, the Holy Spirit. I ask for His love, and wisdom, and a new clean heart all the time.

The bible says: “…His ways are higher than ours.” Isaiah 55:9b. It also says: “His ways are past finding out…” Romans 11:33. Right now, our self-made ladders are daily looking less and less like they are going to be useful. WE.WILL.ALWAYS.NEED.GOD’S HELP. Day or night. We are living through times when we don’t know what will happen next. So instead of waiting to ask for help when things get worse, let’s start out every single day asking Him to help us. And then …’ask and keep on asking’ all day! He’s always there with us, and for us.

The above scriptures are wonderful diagnostic tools. We all know them. They were probably some of the first bible verses you and I memorised after we were born again. However, knowing the words is not the same as deliberately applying the meaning. If whatever we are facing produces fear, hatred, anger, despair then it is absolutely and totally not from God. We need to deal with it and yield to Him. After that we start out by doing anything we know we can do, in consultation with Him. Then we need to let those things go. Hatred nurtured, produces wickedness.

When you or I do not feel empowered, or loved, in our hearts, then whatever is coming at us, is an attack. It is not Almighty God. It’s the other guy!  Meanwhile it’s not our mother’s fault, or our father’s fault, or my spouse’s fault or even so and so’s fault! The scriptures are a sword. A sword is for fighting. Especially at the times when the enemy of our souls bombards our minds with horrendous thoughts. 

Let’s replace these evil thoughts … those rotten, ugly, desperate, despairing thoughts that are continually coming toward all of us … let’s replace them with what He says. There are thoughts that satan tosses into our heads like hand grenades, Let’s replace them with what the Lord Himself says. Our prayer needs to be – ‘Dear God please help me.’ And our ability to cope always comes from reading His word enough to know that we know —that He is FOR us — so if what we hear or think is not FOR US, it is not GOD! 

I have been learning to refuse to debate the ugly stuff that slithers into my brain. When it comes to satan, even debating stuff is a dumb idea. Those things are sent to steal our peace, time and eventually ruin our lives. Let’s channel our grief and anger into prayer, and replace those evil thoughts with what I know about His goodness. I walk about waggling this sword in my hand: “I know You are good Lord, despite what I can see, You are always good.” And I keep on whacking until I pass out, or the other guy goes away. Seriously. 

The Holy Spirit knows how to deal with all kinds of stuff. Let’s ask what He wants us to do, rather than stewing on what somebody else did. There is no need for us to be afraid, because FEAR is not from God. He has accepted us, irrevocably … eternally, Bye. 👋

BTW, we turn the news off. The more we listened the angrier we got. The news does not facilitate love.

P 3187 The Believer’s Freedom

/ DVH

1 Corinthians 10:23,24: “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive. No one should seek their own good, but the good of others.”

This life can be painful. But here’s an interesting thought – maybe some of that pain is because we’ve been indulging our flesh for years … by doing dumb things like refusing to forgive! I cannot count the people I’ve met who say to me: ‘If I forgive them then it is like I am giving them permission to keep on hurting me,’ OR …“Why should they get away with what they’ve done?”  You escaped punishment – the moment you gave your life to Jesus!

Let’s not go into another new year dragging our past behind us like the tail on a kite. Christmas is a wonderful time of the year, but it can be a total disaster for many people with shattered relationships. And let’s be clear, sometimes these things are not all our fault. But whatever happens tomorrow, my advice is to start living this life, today, the way Jesus Himself told us to do it. We forgive others simply because He told us to do it. The  benefit of this action is we don’t get all those nasty side effects in our own lives from rampant angst.

I am not trying to be light hearted, because I know personally that pain can be legitimate. Rejection, selfishness, spite, manipulation — all those things are real. Those things can produce the wrong flavours in our lives – we have to choose to abstain. There are so many books that have been written to help us spiritually manage pain, but the point is this — while we continue to focus on that pain we are sitting ducks for disappointment. If the pain doesn’t disappear when we are told, or we think it should, then we can begin to doubt that God loves us. 

Then perhaps we will end up saying things like “If God loves me why is this and that so?” Sound familiar? Like the garden of Eden, or the Temptation of Jesus are familiar? I think we have become blissfully unaware that when we live that way, we are reducing Almighty God to our size, with our own unhappy “please explain” attitudes attached. It’s time to remember that the Lord doesn’t have to explain Himself! Yet there are times when He does, simply because of His Grace toward us.

But the sad reality is, sometimes pain and suffering become a great excuse to wander from one expert to another seeking to be healed. Yet under the Lord’s guidance, we could find ourselves like those lepers who were healed on the way to see the High Priest! They simply did what Jesus told them to do. I know people who are still as stuck in the things ‘my Mum and Dad did to me,’ as they were when I first met them. It’s tragic. Here’s some irony for you – when my parents did whatever they did, they scarred me for life … but if I do it myself, then I’m only human!

Life IS hard and true forgiveness is a choice, not a feeling. Focus on today. His kids have things to do! Mountains to move – valleys to flood with His love! We cannot afford to pet and provide hankies for the flesh – the flesh is meant to die. Just don’t go there! It’s all a set up and the people you want to teach a lesson to, will drag you under. Forgive and let things go. If we continually go down the road looking for acknowledgement of our pain, or sympathy or even understanding, we will continue to be disappointed. 

Nobody can change the past, and the future couldn’t be in better hands when we walk with Jesus! I want to go on record by saying that Love is not sympathy – Love is compassion. COMPASSION TAKES ACTION. And by action I don’t mean getting stuck in somebody else’s spider web, I mean the kind of action that forgives, repents, and repairs, and simply moves on to do whatever Jesus sent them here to do. Nobody can make us forgive, that’s what makes it so powerful.

1 Corinthians 10:23,24 is about wisdom. The kind of wisdom that divides the profane from the pure. When I give someone else’s actions preference over the Lord’s will, I am accidentally putting them in charge of my life. No wonder more chaos ensues! None of us can afford to give the person who has already devastated us, anymore room to do it again! 

Our idea of love may seem all squishy and sweet—but LOVE is also a weapon. It’s a biblical secret weapon.Our sacrificial attitudes and servant actions sneak past the bad guy’s armoured guards on the door, and that’s when you can speak into the heart of another person. When we choose to act like Jesus did, then we will see what He saw!

This is God’s strategy at its best. Loving our enemies opens doors into the other person’s life. They may fight us, but they can’t easily fight Him – He knows the way IN! And God’s grace is the most powerful force on this earth – it saved us. When we let His freely-given grace loose in someone else’s life, under His watchful eye, we open the doors to change. For us and them …

Releasing the Lord’s grace toward the undeserving is the most Christ-like thing we will ever do. Put raising the dead and healing the sick, second on your little bucket list – opening doors for someone else to escape satan’s lies, ushers in a new way to live. Be ‘a restorer of streets to dwell in’ instead. There is no freedom like the freedom of not owing anyone else anything but love. Remember, entitlement is a bad look on any Christian, humility looks so much better. Bye. 🥰

P 3067 Rules don’t reign here – Love does.

/ DVH

We are not in the Old Testament, under the Old Will – now we live in His kingdom. So rules don’t reign here — LOVE DOES. It is a very limiting thing to live by rules, because there is no freedom to change or explore other possibilities! In the past few weeks I have discovered that the loss of a loved one sharpens your awareness of who you really are. The pressure and sadness bring up things that might remain undisturbed, or even unseen.

People make choices that separate us from one another. So much more of this life can be explored together, if relationships were valued more than privacy. Sadly, my whole culture values privacy! Have you ever experienced getting angry with people who do some dumb thing you advised them not to do, and when it doesn’t work out — they want you to fix it for them?  Boy do I have a word for you today. It starts with RE and it ends with PENT! We are told to bear one another’s burdens so we can carry them to the Lord for that other person, not collapse under the load!!

Recently I found piles of anger, stuffed into previously unknown corners, all over the place in my heart. Apparently, I also have a postponing habit! I see something in my heart, and think, ‘I’ll fix that with the Lord, later!’ Well, later finally came, for me, and it wasn’t a bit like Christmas! I discovered I was sick to death with being asked what I thought, only to find, lo and behold – the other person didn’t like that answer and threw it away. It wasn’t that I wanted things to be done right – I just thought they could have been done better. 

I’m an external processor. I find out what I’m thinking by what comes out of my mouth and sometimes that is a bigger surprise to me than it would be to you! It’s dangerous stuff, trust me. It is amazing how easily my foot gets into my mouth. Especially as in the natural – I can’t even put my own socks on! Stuff started coming out of my mouth that definitely wasn’t true, and so the Lord began to deal with me about my own attitude toward myself. 

I had developed a habit of thinking that if I had said what the Lord told me to say in a better way, maybe things would have turned out differently. In other words I had picked up false responsibility, which meant that everything that went wrong was most probably my fault. It’s taken a crisis for me to see that I am definitely not that clever!! Other factors have come into play.

Individual people that I care about and respect, gently began to suggest that the way I was thinking about myself was not a great way to deal with things. And then another one came along… before you knew it — I had a queue of them, that nearly went around the block! And they were all saying the same thing. They didn’t all use the same words – but what was said had the same theme. The theme was —- “punishing yourself for other people’s poorly made decisions, is unscriptural and a bad idea.”

That’s the problem with honesty … it’s great but it can be brutal when you swing it like a sledge hammer… at yourself.I had developed an ungodly attitude that was disguised as humility. It seemed to be easier to me to be self-effacing, than it was to say to someone else: “But God said.” The Lord explained to me that attitude was not humility, it was negating the gift He had given me. Then I explained to Him that if I didn’t self-efface stuff, people would not only get mad at me, they would find, and use, that big hammer on me, frequently.! He very gently said: “Isn’t that called fear?” I sure didn’t have any answer for that one. Unless you count … UM! 

But that conversation led me to one question – how often does fear stop any of us from obeying Him? I mean, think about it. We live in a world where there are no rules – because we think rules restrict other people’s freedoms. So now we’ve made rules that say that you can’t stop others from being themselves! Does anyone see the irony in that?

In God’s kingdom, wherever we have had rules — He is actively helping us replace them with His LOVE — because Love is the perfect bond of unity. We can’t get to unity with rules because all of us are rebellious – even the nice people! I can’t get to the place where I am not afraid of you, simply because the bible says “don’t be afraid.” Instead I need a revelation of how great His love and acceptance is toward me. Those rules have not been discarded, they have been gloriously upgraded in one life-changing event! Jesus died in our place.

Sadly, I can keep on doing the very things that are preventing me from growing up into God’s plan for my life – by undermining myself. The Lord wants to tell each one of us today, that there are always areas in our hearts that He is working on. At the same time, He is preparing each one of us to be ready for what comes next, because He knows when those even more difficult things will land on us. 

We can miss the opportunities He brings to prepare us, by not replenishing the oil in our lamps. So don’t tell yourself: ‘I’m just broken.’ Our God can mend anything. The rules have been replaced by LOVE and love cannot, and will not ever fail. 👋 

P 3041 Blame and shame …

/ DVH

… the destructive twins. Those thieves take our peace and joy away and leave us with angst and worry. They make poor governors of our behaviour. They can be aimed at ourselves, as well as others. When we are caught up in this way of thinking, we move right out of operating in Grace, because blame and shame thrive on guilt. And guilt distracts us from the reality of our salvation. 

If our enemy cannot get us to sin, he wants to keep our minds so focussed on our shortcomings, or someone else’s quirks, that we can barely spiritually breathe. The more we allow these thought patterns to rule the less we will love ourselves or others. I have come to the conclusion that who I really am is the person who comes out when I am squeezed by circumstances. That thought has helped me enormously to be realistic about my actions and attitudes, without being obsessive. Instead I confess my faults and He heals me! I don’t have to be afraid to admit my shortcomings, because the Lord has taken care of them. Now I can happily give thanks because of the Grace He releases to me, and through me. 

Sadly, everything we say and do can be disguised to look good to others, by using our own good manners. However, those things do not come from the fruit of the Spirit, but from our own will and our own personal sense of how this life is meant to work. I often spiritually fall over someone else’s lack of manners, because mine were dinged into me from birth! Those things immediately send me spiralling off into judgment. Good manners are great, but spiritual fruit is permanent. It can be eaten. That fruit slowly ushers in spiritual growth, health and transformation, and when you take a bite out of it, it won’t bite you back!

We have His help, always. But we can become so used to acting, or even reacting, without any thought, we can miss those crucial moments to yield. The Holy Spirit is our 24/7, on the spot, Helper. He wants to help us transform our inner attitudes so what comes out is really IN there! Sadly, in many congregations it is almost easier to give a performance of good, than it is to face our short-comings realistically.

If you have lived most of your Christian life on a steady diet of religion, trying to manufacture in your own strength what our kingdom lives need to look like — that can be an enormous weight. We can feel such a failure all the time, because all we can see is fault. Blame and shame love to jump on that bandwagon. So if I feel down, you must have done something wrong, so it’s your fault!! I have discovered that the more I oppress my true self, the more likely I am to hide my faults, and focus on yours.  It is like a being on a merry-go-round I cannot get off! Now I have an image to keep up! 

Letting God into our intimate thoughts and inner self can be incredibly daunting. Some of us don’t let anybody in there! Instead we have constructed ‘devices’ to distract ourselves from paying attention to what is going on inside. Maybe we are afraid of blame or shame. That’s often when our awareness of what Jesus did for us has become dim, and remote— then we try to hide from the One Who already loves and knows us. Jonah is a brilliant example of that kind of thinking in action! He hid in the bottom of a ship because the Lord’s idea did not appeal to Him, he blamed God Himself for wanting to save Nineveh. Yet Paul has several instances where he openly admits they had one idea, and the Holy Spirit had another! It’s OK to be wrong, just be honest about it.

For most of us God’s Love is a strong concept, yet to be deeply experienced. It is not a deep seated reality. We can devotedly read the bible with this awful feeling that we will always fall short, and sadly that can lead to blaming and shaming ourselves, or even to putting others down, because they seem to be successful, and we’re not. At the same time, some of us have learnt to be really great actors! That’s why I love reading the gospels, because the disciples foibles and dumb attitudes give me room to be myself – real, inadequate and normal. I know I need a Saviour!

Religion blames and shames people, and that produces fear, rejection, and pain for everyone involved. The Pharisees and their mates didn’t understand where the Lord Jesus was coming from, and yet they knew the bible, backwards, and inside out. They were the leaders, so they made a visible practice of knowing everything  from every direction. Just like they did back then, a religious bent can colour the way we look at His Word, and affect how we live our lives and regard other people. Blaming parents seems to be a national past-time! ‘They smacked me too much, or they used shame to govern me.” Blame is blame no matter why or where we aim it. I comfort myself that I had a childish mind back then – but I don’t have to have one now!

The fullness that belongs to every single one of the Lord’s kids will always seem out of reach if we continue to wrestle with religious stuff. God loves real people who make real mistakes!  I have noticed a couple of things about blame and shame … if you have lived with it in the past, those terrible twins seem to nag at you in subtle ways in the present, and you are more likely to fall into that pattern of thinking again, as well as reflecting it to others, especially under pressure. Let the oppressed go free – them and me!! Praise God for His Grace.

Bye. 👋

In Romans 1:16 Paul declares,“I am not ashamed of the gospel,”and Isaiah 54:4, which promises, “Do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame.”And 2 Timothy 1:12: “But I am not ashamed, for I know Whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.”