Faults

P 3486 Jesus is the gift that keeps on giving.

/ DVH

One of the biggest mistakes we can make today, is to allow our own thinking to justify us … instead we need to ask the Lord to help us to see our situations with His kind of clarity. As I see it, Christians seem to vacillate between: “Oh, I am such a bad person” … OR … “I’m trying, I’m doing my best!” That last one sounds like a great answer… but the truth is –  why would we try and try to do our best, when Jesus’ best is available to us? That’s just nuts! 

But as we walk with Him, listening to Him, on purpose — we will discover a whole other way to live. Let’s acknowledge that we might make mistakes— but we should never plan to misuse His Grace. Walking with Him is the entire focus of walking on the narrow way – He is the narrow way. We enter into His kingdom … the one we are told to enter into first! Meanwhile, repentance hasn’t fallen out of the book, it is still there, Jesus Himself taught about it. So is repairing any damage we may do to others. Denial is also a foolish way to try to live a life built on GRACE. It’s the truth that sets us free.

Otherwise we can end up spiritually, living like we have to clean our house in order to get ready for professional cleaners! Boy is that a waste of time, angst and energy. Why try to do the job yourself when it has already been done and paid for? This shows a distinct lack of faith in what Jesus has already done. Let’s get this straight once and forever OK? We are all sinful people. There is no worse sinful, or mostly good sinful people, who occasionally do the wrong thing. There’s just sinful! The people who captured the Lord’s attention were the ones who were prepared to go after Him, and admit their faults, then humble themselves. 

That woman who crawled into a dinner party to wash Jesus’ feet with her tears etc. most likely crawled past the men who had used her in the past! And the woman at the well ran back into the town that could easily have housed her previous four husbands in it! These women did not care what others said, they had found something worth more than position, or ego. Real life. Those Pharisees who turned up their noses and got legalistic with Jesus, had the personification of their rules right in front of them. Yet they yelled at Him for showing mercy because He healed the sick on the Sabbath.

However, the sinner on the cross next to the Lord, saw an opportunity and he took it. This opportunity is always ours to take. Life is short – live for Jesus right now, and keep on doing it day by day. This is an odd thing – the worst sinners often know how to repent better than we do. I sincerely exhort you, please don’t let your pride keep you from bonding with the One Who died to save you. Humbling ourselves helps us with true perspective. It hones our focus. It helps us take His … “…yoke upon us and learn from Him, for He is gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart, and we will find rest (relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet) for our souls.” Matthew 11:29. (Alterations mine.) 

Did you get that? Rest comes from being yoked with Jesus. Walking with Him at the same pace He is going, following His leadership. It doesn’t come from looking inside, it comes from looking at Him, and making adjustments with His help, wherever necessary. Looking inside only muddies the water. We can end up blaming others for our behaviour or endlessly berating ourselves. Neither of those things are profitable. However, the Word of God on the inside is designed to guide our daily thoughts. That’s what renewing our minds means. We exchange our POV for His POV!

The Lord made His participation in that process clear in John 12:49: “For I did not speak on My own, but the Father who sent Me commanded Me to say all that I have spoken …” And in John 5:19,20 we see that He had guidance in everything He heard and did. “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. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all he does. Yes, and He will show Him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed.”

The church is living below the standard Christ Himself set and MET. He has already empowered each one of us to meet that standard. We simply need to totally depend upon the Holy Spirit to lead us. Press in, and remember, that our Lord is not a vending machine. Up until now, we’ve been following rules – not a Person! Now we follow Him, just like the disciples did.

He LIMITED HIMSELF so we can follow Him. Living and dying to self, like Jesus did, is possible. Many people have followed the Lord down that same pathway of dying to self and being resurrected into a new life — while they were still here on earth. Their testimonies to His Grace in action in their earthly lives, are filling up the praises of angels and saints in heaven. 

That’s what happens when you seek His kingdom first. He adds a whole lot of things to us as part of the package. He’s the glorious gift from God that keeps on giving and giving and giving. Hallelujah! Bye. 🙌.

P 3478 Participation and dedication.

/ DVH

“Trust in the Lord completely, and do not rely on your own opinions. With all your heart rely on Him to guide you, and He will lead you in every decision you make. Become intimate with Him in whatever you do, and He will lead you wherever you go.” Proverbs 3:5-6 TPT.

Living like this scripture says needs dedication. However, to be honest with you, when the Lord first brought this subject up with me, I kind of avoided it. I thought living like Jesus did was for the special people – the ones who had spiritual gifts and titles. I was just a bod. A nobody. Someone’s wife, someone’s mother, someone’s daughter. Jesus didn’t buy that little story when I kept trotting it out, BTW.

Due to circumstances totally beyond my control – prior to meeting the Lord, I had never had a life of my own that came from my own choices. I literally went from parental oversight to my ex-husband’s plans, and my own preferences didn’t come into it. My personal choices were framed by a threat of rejection, and that influenced me regarding total surrender. I did not want to give up my choices to SomeOne Else.

Inner rebellion grabbed me – plus I didn’t know how to change. I’d go up the front when the pastor called for the congregation to make a deeper commitment to Christ, and I’d cry my eyes out, then go home and  … wait for God to do His bit.  I had no thought that I would have to change my responses, and attitudes with His help. Or that I had to see my old life through His eyes, and TOGETHER we were going to walk away from the things I did, thought and said before.

I asked Him to help me, because at that time, I thought transformation relied upon what He did. Eventually I came to the erroneous conclusion that because He hadn’t changed this or that in my behaviour, then the things I did must not bother Him. I had blinded my eyes to the scripture and by doing so, I lost my hearing as well — mainly because I kept choosing to excuse myself from any participation! God is so kind, I reasoned – I knew He would understand that my life had not prepared me for this. Well, He is kind and He did forgive me  – but the reality was that I stayed in the same place because of those choices. I was not growing, or maturing – instead it was hard work not to go backwards!

Despite my squirrelled up thinking, Father God never rejected me. Not even once. At one stage I walked away thinking He could not possibly want me now, and I hid. I stopped going to church. Well we all know how hiding from God turns out … thank you Gideon and Jonah! However, the Lord, in His incredible Grace came after me. Father God is so much more faithful than we understand — He does not give up on us. He did not give up on me, and He won’t give up on you either!  

I had no comprehension of how faith works, so when the pastor preached that we were to ‘love others’ I automatically thought of someone I didn’t get along with at all, and I tried my best to love them. I did it using my own strength. Of course the Holy Spirit wanted to help me do what God asked of me, but without His help I failed. All that other person had to do was snarl at me, or be mean, and I would immediately run away like a scared rabbit – and then I went back to complaining about them behind their back. I felt imprisoned by other people’s attitudes which did not change – I had no sense of freedom.

The truth is, I didn’t know what was in my own heart – and I wasn’t sure I wanted to either! It takes pressure to show us what is really in our hearts. Our reaction to pressure is not a whoopsie, or a little error, it is a diagnostic tool. It shows us what’s really in there … hiding away amongst the pleasant smiles and happy little testimonies. Things like judgment can hover away in the background influencing the way we think. Plus, when bad things happen it can be far too easy to complain. Complaining seems normal, because we are human. I had no idea, at all, about how faith works and I took no responsibility for my responses to difficulties. Instead I made excuses for myself. James talks about the real issue, our lack of ability to change ourselves: chapter 3, verses 7-16. 

“This is scary: You can tame a tiger, but you can’t tame a tongue—it’s never been done. The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer. With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very men and women He made in His image. Curses and blessings out of the same mouth! My friends, this can’t go on. A spring doesn’t gush fresh water one day and brackish the next, does it? Apple trees don’t bear strawberries, do they? Raspberry bushes don’t bear apples, do they? You’re not going to dip into a polluted mud hole and get a cup of clear, cool water, are you? Do you want to be counted wise, to build a reputation for wisdom? Here’s what you do: Live well, live wisely, live humbly. It’s the way you live, not the way you talk, that counts.” 

When we choose to merely tackle the outcome of the things we do, we are not tackling the root of these issues in our lives. The truth is, we don’t have to be afraid or ashamed of owning our faults because Jesus took all of that to the cross. Everything. Not some of it … all of it. Now we need to humble ourselves and ask for forgiveness and learn to rely upon Him, and use our faith. Jesus forgave us unreservedly … so we have more than enough Grace to give away, which will flow on, to others.

The only claim to fame you and I have ever had is that we know Jesus Christ personally. The thing is — we aren’t  just meant to ‘know’ Him or say that we ‘follow’ Him. Jesus learned obedience through suffering … and SO DO WE. The same Spirit Who was in the Lord Jesus, is now in us, He wants to  teach us personally, how to follow the Lord, step by step. But that will require participation and dedication. Bye. 👋

P 3439 “To be or not to be…”

/ DVH

“[It is that purpose and grace] which He now has made known and has fully disclosed and made real [to us] through the appearing of our Saviour Christ Jesus, Who annulled death and made it of no effect and brought life and immortality (immunity from eternal death) to light through the Gospel.” 2 Timothy 1:10.

When you get older, death pops up in your thinking wa-ay more than you’d like it to! Seriously. Hey, I read the bible lots of times, I know what comes next … Yet sometimes I am like Elsa in Frozen 2 – digging in my heels because what I see and know here, can be realer than what I know about that other place! When I see Elsa struggling against her destiny, I think that her struggle resembles the calling of the Holy Spirit, in the song  … ”Into the unknown...” Moo-ving on …

Paul tells us in this verse from 2 Timothy, that Jesus has annulled death. Here’s the meaning of the word annulled, I put it in because it offers great insight, plus, I am a big fan of the dictionary. Here’s the meaning of — “Annulled” …it is the past tense and past participle of the verb annul which means to officially declare something legally void, invalid, or as though it never existed.”

Did you get that? Death doesn’t exist anymore, it is officially invalid. Jesus wiped it out forever with what He did for mankind at Calvary. He told the man dying beside Him on the cross that he would be with the Lord in PARADISE that day. Human beings were created to be eternal, as well as being created in His image, that’s in Genesis. You or I might have some weird family trait that means we can roll your tongue over so it is upside down … I can by the way, its my one claim to fame 🤪 …

But that weird trait that found its way genetically through all the previous generations, to me – was a gift from my forebears. Money would have been better, thank you! However, despite our personal inherited genetics, we are made in His image. The point is – we need to practice looking for Jesus in each other – instead of looking for faults.

Here is a quick recap … spiritually speaking …we both look like the Lord, and we can’t die, forever. About now, you may be wondering if I have lost my mind? Probably. But both things are true, and… they are in the book. The bible is our plumb line when it comes to spiritual things. FYI, a plumb line is used for making buildings straight, vertically. They’ve found those doohickeys in Egyptian tombs in 1250 BC. And they still work today. The guys who built the pyramids weren’t stupid, they simply were no match for God’s incredible wisdom. Remember … their chariot wheels fell off and got bogged??? Revenge is never a good plan.

Yet even the Egyptians who chased the Israelites are not dead! They are just not here anymore … unless some museum preserved their dusty bones. However, the inner person is not gone. Your great great great Grandpa is not dead, he is either asleep until the judgment, or with Jesus already. Which is why Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 4:13: “Now we do not want you to be uninformed, believers, about those who are asleep [in death], so that you will not grieve [for them] as the others do who have no hope [beyond this present life].” 

We can’t NOT ‘be.’  We are forever people, and I ain’t talking about the undead! Jesus didn’t just remove death, He introduced into this life, a brand new eternal way to live – right here, right now. That new indestructible life in Him burst out into this world when Jesus left that grave behind Him. 

When we pray “thy kingdom come” we are not just speaking about the truth of a new rule and reign in heaven one day. We are also talking about US – TODAY. We bring His new Kingdom with us wherever we go. Look in the mirror. The kingdom of God is within you. Are you planning on letting that kingdom OUT any time soon? We all know what it looks like, the book tells us – it is empowered by LOVE. 

Eons ago, when I taught Sunday School about this subject I made sure I wore a cardigan. I said this to the kids: “I am alive here and now, right? Pretend this cardigan is part of my body … whoops! There it goes” – then I let the cardigan fall to the floor behind me. “When I die, I will leave my earthly body behind, it will die, but the real me is still alive. My body/cardigan will get old and start to fall apart, but the inside me lives forever.” We can start living forever, now … it is our choice where we spend it afterwards.

When Jesus took the keys of death and hell away from satan, He said this: “I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.” Revelation 1:18. Jesus Christ NOW has those keys. He bought them with His own blood – to let us OUT, not keep us IN. We have a choice, TO BE all we can be! Bye. 👋

P 3431 For the Father and others.  

/ DVH
It is good to remember that no matter what people look like, they need Him.

The more we ask the Holy Spirit for His help in our daily lives, the more we will experience intimacy with God and others. Father God can’t be an afterthought – He must be our only thought. By the way, big long repetitive prayers don’t matter! Just speak your heart to Him, not your head. Intimacy comes from being real with Him and myself. When we read Psalms 86 and 114, we see David, the man and the king, being real. 

We often hang onto the sins other people commit against us, to protect ourselves. Those things can easily hide or even sometimes eclipse, what Jesus did for me. The thing is I can’t afford to be distracted – I desperately need His help. This life chases me with bad news. Even other people’s attitudes can distract me from Him, and my immediate needs can overcome my eternal aims. Let’s deliberately ask Him to help us focus on Him, and what He has done – first. Otherwise I can become blinded by self-interest or someone else’s sins against me. 

Calvary was an incredibly intimate, personal event — Jesus’ life-blood poured out onto the ground! You and I are the people who choose to live knowing that we are not worthy of so much mercy, forgiveness, grace and love, but we have it, because He gave it. Now we live for Him … His way. It is a useful thing to remind ourselves of our King’s freely-given investment in our lives when we are under great stress. It adds to our intimacy with Him. Instead of toughing it out — ask Jesus INTO whatever is going on.

The Lord has shown me what I do to protect myself – is far worse than any perceived slights that the other person has perpetrated against me. Mainly because I am collecting their faults, words and attitudes like stamps! Hugging them to me to protect myself from what these people might do next. You can’t have true intimacy with someone you are hiding from. The things I chew on to protect myself, create a barrier. It is harder to hear the Lord, as well as hear them!

What we fail to understand is that whatever we cling to, to protect us, will actually bind us. The best Person to cling is Jesus. Let’s pick up our own cross – of unrepentant spouses, relatives, friends, and bosses, etc. – and lay aside their sins with over-the-top forgiveness. But don’t just leave a vacuum — say something kind to them instead. “A soft answer turns away wrath.” “We might just win our brother …” When we are tempted to reply in a negative fashion – in the face of extreme pain, lies, cursing, betrayal and spite – our faith is under pressure. Let’s allow the truth of God’s love for us to be our shield.

The Lord Jesus saved the guy hanging next to Him while He was being crucified. He WAS kind of busy at the time … dying from suffocation, and the injuries we inflicted upon Him! … But LOVE WON. When we make love our aim, our quest, and we choose to chase it, anything that is not love begins to stand out.

Perhaps our churches aren’t producing the things that are worthwhile in a way that this world can see them. The people around us can’t see our faith in action. Our voluntary demonstration of the fruit of the Spirit, when we are under pressure, can provide other people with the spiritual substance they hope for. Good works are great, but faith stands up and votes for His way – every single time. Many times, other people can’t see Jesus in what we are doing, because what we are doing fits into our happy little churchified routines. Let’s begin by telling them that the sky may well be falling, but we know a safe place to live.

Maybe we have forgotten how to live this life displaying our faith, day by day, minute by minute! Faith is more than saying to a random mountain: “Go over there!” Faith tells my bad temper, criticism, suspicion, or complete lack of God’s fruit in my every day life —-“you will not rule the way I think or act.” Instead, we say: “I give it all to you, Lord.” Jesus knows firsthand how hard this life is, He can be trusted to be there for me. He will show me the way out of any holes I have dug for myself.

Nobody knows the Father and Son better than the Holy Spirit. Their relationship is what true intimacy looks like. Their incredible fellowship and love for each other is our example. Intimacy fosters any and all circumstances to bring about the best in others. The Lord Jesus faced His destiny wrestling through what was to come, with prayer, courage, kindness, and a concern for His Father’s will and this world’s future. Instead of His excruciating pain producing murder, anger and rage — He chose God’s Way. He could have cursed us but He saved us.

Love grows when we choose to see the best in someone else. Not just what they do, but who they are. Just like Jesus did. If we need to confront them, we choose to do it in love, quietly, rationally! Don’t do a private opinion poll with other people about whether they were right to do whatever they did.  PRAY – for them, plus everyone else involved, as well as yourself. The body of Christ needs His kind of real love that allows others to learn. Our aim is not to make that other person do things the way we do it, it is to assist others to think like He does.

We want to produce devoted disciples of Jesus Christ. With every single member, big and small, old and young, all of them functioning in their appointed gifts. That’s not just the pastor’s job, it is also ours. Jesus summed it up well, when He explained to His disciples: ‘I only do and say what I see My Father doing and saying.’ He knew the best way to live, was for the Father, and for others. Bye 👋.

P 3413 Let’s not paint on windows of our mind.

/ DVH

Fear, and sin love to paint their tormenting little scenarios in our minds. I like to be positive on this blog, but the bible clearly says we need to ‘know our adversary.’  And one of his best tricks is to make me think that my adversary is … ME, MYSELF AND I!! I am sure you know what I mean – we often forget what the Lord has already done to set us free.

When something bad happens, we can instantly find reasons to blame ourselves. But what really happens is the other guy stands by whispering into our minds, reminding us of our mistakes and faults. Our poor motivation starts with a thought. Then he tempts us with something we think is good that distracts us from the real battle. God doesn’t tempt us. James 1:13: “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God” [for temptation does not originate from God, but from our own flaws]; for God cannot be tempted by [what is] evil, and He Himself tempts no one.” Find the ‘fatal flaw’ and deal with it.

The enemy uses doubt like a spray can of paint while he is trying to twist or cover up the truth. Plus he tries to disrupt our thoughts with temptations, threats or intimidation. It happened to Jesus and it will happen to us, we are not exempt. But, because we chose Jesus we have a way to escape, thank you Lord! Knowing the Word of God is our way to fight! Let’s be alert and aware of the devil’s schemes, and remember how easily we can be outwitted. 2 Corinthians 2:11. “…in order that satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.”

Our enemy will always challenge God’s word. (Genesis 3.) he has no tender-heartedness, or pity in him, so he delights in preying on our ignorance or innocence. And another way he sucks us into his vortex of lies, is to challenge our identity in Christ. (Luke 4:1-13; Mark 1:34.) He tells us those promises in God’s Word are for someone much nicer and more spiritual than we are. Many saints suffer from his whispers that their salvation is not firm.

Our salvation, our turning to Jesus to save us, may not look like Brother-I-got-baptised-in-the-river-Jordan’s grand event. Instead, we simply went up the front and didn’t feel a thing … but we knew we had to make that choice and we did. Our enemy picks at the parts of our faith that are weakened by our own sin, doubt, and sometimes other people’s rejection of us etc. Daily, he prods at us to focus on those things. 

Let’s focus on Jesus, what He did FOR us, and what He is doing IN us, right now. He is our true north! My prayers may not be answered and sometimes yours aren’t either … but that’s not the point. The point is what is your focus today? If we are not clinging to Jesus like a limpet on a rock, we could be making ourselves a target. The devil creates emotional tornadoes everywhere, and we can be easily overwhelmed by those thoughts that hit us upside the head … unless we choose to make the main thing the main thing. JESUS IS ALWAYS THE MAIN THING. “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” James 4:7. We cannot afford to face our adversary unprotected – we have armour! Let’s stand still ready to battle the accuser when he flings lies at us. We do things the way Jesus tells us to do them. He’s the One Who beat satan.

Under extreme circumstances, which we all face, it is good to SING! — “Be filled with the Spirit singing to yourselves, with Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melodies in your heart to the Lord.” Ephesians 5:18,19. Preferably not out loud in a public place, because people will look at you funny and perhaps send for the men in those white coats. I sing in my head, and I recommend that. I find my best fighting scriptures there too. It can be distracting if you happen to be talking to someone else, but it works – stay in listening-to-Jesus-mode, don’t switch off.

The bible tells us to “put on the whole armour of God,” because we need it. Ephesians 6:10-18. The first thing we do after making sure we have our armour on —is to make a stand. Plant your feet. You are a tree planted by God Himself by the riverside, don’t be moved. We have been saved by Grace, now we belong to Jesus. Ask for scriptures to fight the circumstances and feelings … we can’t afford to let ourselves entertain any kind of lie. Don’t worry if the person in front of you is piling up lies like some people pile up the trash – don’t you lie. Your truth is God’s truth, and that’s the bat we use to bash away the lies that come at us. We don’t care about what Sister-I-always-know-the-Answer says. What is Jesus saying, right here, right now – in His book?

Let’s press the refresh button, and remind ourselves that God loves me! Then quickly get rid of any sin that might trip us up, so we can stay in love with everyone around us. Peace is our portion. We live within His peace, and we spread that heart peace around us everywhere we go. As we acknowledge Jesus’ Lordship in our lives, we will get better and better at raising up the shield of faith.

Lastly, let the Holy Spirit frame your prayers. Yield to His will His way, daily. And please don’t let satan paint lies on the windows of your mind. They will block out the marvellous things the Lord has given us to see and do.  Bye.🔥.

P 3397 God is our place of safety and shelter.

/ DVH

“Keep me safe, O mighty God. I run to You, my safe place. I said to Yahweh, “You are my Maker and my Master. Any good thing You find in me has come from You.” And He said to me, “My holy lovers in the land are My glorious ones, who fulfil all My desires.” … …The way You counsel me makes me praise You more, for Your whispers in the night give me wisdom, showing me what to do next. Because I set You, Yahweh, always close to me, my confidence will never be weakened, for I experience Your wraparound Presence every moment.” Psalms 16:1-3, 7-8 TPT.

Isn’t this fantastic? I must have read it about ten times. I think because of the pressures we all face daily, it can get very hard to hold onto how loving, generous, good and gracious the Lord is. These verses, by the way, come from David talking to God, after he became an adult. This is not that teenager on the side of the hill watching sheep — this is the man who faced many struggles. I often need to read and reread in the bible the history of other people and their interactions with God. There are people in there who have faced all kinds of terrible trials – yet they chose to have a heart of worship and praise.

Let’s look at the beginning of David’s relationship with the Lord: “And when He had removed him (Saul), he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also He gave their testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after Mine own heart, which shall fulfil all My will.” This is reported in Acts 13:21,22, by Paul.  The Psalm and this testimony are referring to a time in David’s life when he was already king. I don’t know if you ever have these thoughts but when I read those two passages, they blew my mind. Almighty God is telling us — this man, this king … this fallible human being who stole another man’s wife, got her pregnant, and then had her husband killed! … is a man after God’s own heart? It makes me ask: “what was it about David, that brought out that response from God Himself?”

I prayed about why the Lord said this to David, and then I went back to the bible for an answer because I didn’t have one! My revelation for today, was that our Heavenly Father’s heart must be very different from the kind of heart I often see displayed in our churches. We don’t seem to have the same way of looking at things – at all. Father God told David he would pay for his sin, and the baby died. He also had a terrible time with his other sons, who died too. But what I came to understand is that those things did not change David’s heart of praise and worship. I think  he had such confidence in His Heavenly Father’s Love, goodness and faithfulness as well as the Lord’s forgiving nature.

We know from the scriptures that David praised God purely because He is worthy, not because life always worked out well for him. He had the absolute assurance that when God forgives – no matter what it is, you will be forgiven. And that is that. Done and dusted. This king accepted the punishment that God thought was necessary, and at the same time, the Lord kept His good opinion of this man, as we read in Acts 13. His choice to believe in God’s goodness is such a witness. Sad to say, I’m not so sure Christians feel that way about someone who has sinned badly. We are more likely to judge the behaviour, and not the man’s heart. We need to pray over and over again for eyes to see what our Father sees.

The following verse tells us clearly that God chose David because of his heart:  “But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” This statement occurs before David ever sinned, when he was still a young man. My conclusion is this, our hearts deeply matter to the Lord. Without His influence, we can mistakenly accentuate our sins and shortcomings, and ignore the fact that the Lord says clearly that He loved David’s heart. Let’s ask for protection over our hearts to keep them from being broken by satan’s lies. 

I think David is in the bible to teach us what a yielded heart looks like. Because of him, we can see that hearts make mistakes and have to undergo correction, but God’s opinion of this man did not change, because His behaviour was never going to be the criteria! A Saviour was coming … The One Who was sent here to take away the sins of the whole world — and that included David’s sins too. Sin is our enemy, but unconfessed, cultivated and a lack of repentance from sins can slowly drag us away from the only One Who is the Answer. So will fear of recrimination from God Himself.

My conclusion is this: Our heavenly Father uses flawed instruments to bring about His will and good pleasure, because His criteria is not what we often think it is. “Let Him who boasts, boast in the Lord!” His ways are very different from ours. We think pleasing God is simply about behaviour, but Father God is more concerned with the state of our hearts. I’ve added this today because it is such a good prayer:

“Lord, you’re so kind and tenderhearted and so patient with people who fail You! Your love is like a flooding river overflowing its banks with kindness. You don’t look at us only to find our faults, just so that You can hold a grudge against us.” Psalms 103:8-9 TPT. Thank you Lord and Amen! Bye. 👋. PS Good thing to remember, God doesn’t just extend mercy to us, He extends mercy to our enemies too.

P3373 Getting to know Jesus more.  

/ DVH

Colossians 2:2-4:“I want you woven into a tapestry of love, in touch with everything there is to know of God. Then you will have minds confident and at rest, focused on Christ, God’s great mystery. All the richest treasures of wisdom and knowledge are embedded in that mystery and nowhere else. And we’ve been shown the mystery! I’m telling you this because I don’t want anyone leading you off on some wild-goose chase, after other so-called mysteries, or “the Secret.” 6-7: “My counsel for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you’ve been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live Him. You’re deeply rooted in Him. You’re well constructed upon Him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you’ve been taught. School’s out; quit studying the subject and start living it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving.”

Being woven into a tapestry of love kind of seems like a soft, dreamy, gentle thing to do, does it? Well, I’ve done some weaving myself — and a whole lot of clanking, banging and thumping went on. What I was making needed lots of ‘adjustment.’  The thing is as we choose to be woven together, our minds will be renewed simply by the way He chooses to weave us. Just like the shuttle collides with the material, we will bump into each other. It’s what we do about it that makes all the difference.

You know, the material on a loom doesn’t get to say anything about where it goes and how it looks. It is up to the Master Weaver to decide the best relationship between the colours, and which thread should go in which direction. He drafts the pattern and then He guides each piece into place. There’s a lesson in there somewhere! It reminds me a lot of the bible, written by 66 authors under the oversight of the greatest Writer of all time, the Holy Spirit.

I love to read the bible with others who are looking for new ways to discover things about Jesus, stuff that I don’t know yet. We need fresh insight every day. One of the things I’ve learnt when I study His book, is that I have to stop periodically and turn the sentences I am reading, around. I pray and then I look at them hard. What does it actually say? What doesn’t it say? How does that verse fit into the framework around it … the other verses near it? Just like weaving, it’s the way the verses go together matter.

In the same vein, the secret to true healthy digestion is that it begins in the mouth. What we say about what we read matters. Let’s read it… s-l-o-w-l-y. When we read the bible paying attention to what we read, no words are wasted, all of them will point us toward knowing Him. I want to treat the bible like the best chocolate, and let it slowly dissolve in my mouth … that’s where our tastebuds are, BTW. Rushing through the bible reading to compete our daily quota won’t give anyone much insight. If we are going to find any treasures and mysteries within, we will need to take our time. Try reading it like a letter from someone you dearly love – because that is what it is.

The Holy Spirit is so magnificent He can take a single bible verse,  and it will mean one thing to you, and another to me, and yet we will both be right! That’s because the bible is personal, hand-delivered, mail. Knowing overall what the bible says is our best back-up.  Our God does not contradict Himself. This means the best Person to help you interpret the bible is the One Who wrote it. You and I have the Author sitting right next to us so we can ask Him: ‘what does that mean?”

In my case, I almost immediately remember another verse from somewhere else, or something from His Word that I read earlier and that throws light on what I am reading now. I do my best to let the bible interpret itself. Why? Because as well meaning as we all are, we can misinterpret the meaning according to our own needs, and preferences, or even our church affiliations. Even brilliant scholars have already established opinions.

Also, I always ask questions. If I don’t get an immediate answer, I won’t just forget about it. Instead I repeatedly go back and ask Him again and again. I’ve learnt to insist and persevere – the Holy Spirit loves it when you chase Him! Our God is a God of revelation, but we won’t find pearls on the ground, we will have to dig for them. Because we are part of a weaving, other people may have insights that open up some of the puzzles for us.

Meanwhile, it’s good to want the Holy Spirit to know that you are serious. We all want to know Jesus, even when what we find out doesn’t actually suit us. The next step is to deliberately look for ways to apply what we’ve read in our daily life. We want to live it, see it, taste it, touch it, experience it – live and in person at our house! His kingdom is inside us. Remember to pray the scriptures over yourself, because that is yet another way to get to know Him. Remember, His disciples knew Jesus for a while, yet He surprised them over and over again. 

The Trinity will always be a mystery to us. But together, we can examine that mystery through reading what has been written, and learn more than we would learn by ourselves. We can easily fall into a hole when we do not value His Word enough.  Especially if we are embarrassed about who we are and we want to hide our faults away with a pleasant face and pretence. Pretence invites deception.

Getting to know Jesus means more than gathering information about Him, or what He does etc. When we know Him personally,  it is to our own benefit to allow His life in us to flourish, by living out the gospel in our day-to-day lives. Then we will discover that He wants to come everywhere and anywhere with us.  Bye. 👋

P 3355 What love can’t do.

/ DVH

Love can’t be an obligation, because when it is, it loses its power! Love won’t make us do anything – we must choose to apply ourselves and obey. I hear such lovely people – sincere saints – they are so sweet … yet they keep praying AMISS! They think they are being honest, but God’s kingdom coin of the realm, is LOVE. The only truth is HIS truth. 

People pray: “Dear Lord, please help me to obey You and love this or that person” Amen. Great prayer, sweet prayer… useless prayer! If I have just offended you, then please forgive me! But this kind of prayer is evasion. We wipe our hands and say: ‘Well, I’ve prayed, and now it is up to Him.’ Then we keep on doing the same old same old, grizzling behind people’s backs, listing their faults, keeping hatred alive. And we wonder why nothing changes. 

The kingdom of God does not work like that. Read the book. We are the people that His Son made free, and when we voluntarily give up that freedom to bless someone else, despite their behaviour toward us, we are acting like His kids. His kingdom will flourish within us. ‘I want to’ is not the same as ‘doing.’ It’s wish praying. Real prayer has legs, feet, arms, hands and heart. In order to SEE a difference, we must BEHAVE differently. 

We can’t know what loving our enemies looks like unless we choose to love those who despitefully use us. Loving our enemies is not about being fake … it is about stepping out in faith and living like Jesus said, despite our feelings. While we are concentrating on what others are doing our own hearts are at risk. Personally, I have found the way I treat other people changes the way they respond. But I must start from poverty of heart, and then do whatever He tells me to do. Love can’t and won’t make us. Almighty God will sometimes offend our minds to reach our hearts. 

Let’s look at Jonah, God told this prophet “Go to Ninevah.” Now Jonah had a fatal flaw, he hated Ninevites so he said “No!” And off he goes, on his …‘I’m running away from God tour’ – and he ends up on a ship that’s going to sink in a huge gale. He’s asleep at the bottom of the ship. There’s probably not much conviction there yet … eh? This is where Jonah begins to turn around, and God starts to teach him something …  Jonah’s NO! has consequences on other people’s lives! He is God’s man, the pivoting point. The crew of the ship will drown right along with him because of his disobedience.

When Jonah realises he is the cause of the situation, he selflessly volunteers to be thrown overboard. This has a huge  impact on the crew – they all get saved. Two things worth noting here:  we can mess things up so badly it looks like we have ruined other people’s lives. But our Saviour is a Redeemer and He works everything together for good. When we act according to His purposes, He releases His kingdom. He cares about everyone’s lives, even the people we don’t like, who have hurt us badly. God doesn’t take sides – He only has one side …HIS! His side is pure, right, just, and wise.

Now let’s look at Jesus Who tells His disciples to “Go and heal the sick, set the captives free, cleanse the lepers and raise the dead.’ These guys don’t know up from down, and the Lord just told them to do something they know they can’t do. They’ve seen Him do it, but that’s different. We can’t love other people without Him helping us any more than we can raise the dead. It’s ALL faith! The Kingdom comes wherever the King is welcome. What did the disciples have to do? They had to do more than pray – they had to GO and DO what Jesus said. He gave them a job, and they had to go and do it. Our ‘job’ is to love others, including our enemies.

Everything rests on how much we trust Jesus’ WORD. We show Him we trust Him when we live this life the way He told us to. And when God says to forgive people, it’s not a suggestion, He’s teaching all of us HOW to enter into His Kingdom and LIVE THERE. We can’t just pick and choose what we want to do. In His Kingdom, people don’t hold grudges. Unforgiveness, disobedience and rebellion cannot inherit the kingdom of God. 

Repent, ask Him to show you what you need to DO, and obey, and then leave it with Him. It’s a choice. It is not about giving other people permission to sin, and it is about not letting their sin cause a response in us. If someone in your family of origin, or friends  used to beat the living daylights out of you, or abused you physically, or derided you with words – you probably won’t much feel much like loving them. We can’t afford to act on our feelings. Almighty God is always doing more than one thing at a time. While He is transforming us through our obedient actions, He is also reaching into someone else’s life because our obedient actions release HIS GRACE.

Acting on what the King says ushers in His kingdom. Love can’t make us choose to change. We need to yield to the Lord and act. Let’s choose His Way, and cherish it – it won’t just fall on us. We simply can’t wait for the Lord to do what He has already told US to do. Our faith has to have biblical action. We get a pure heart when we choose to have our old ways renewed, but He won’t make us- it’s our choice. Bye. 👋

P 3344 Do we love others well?

/ DVH

My dear hubby came up with a great thought for today. When the Lord told us to love one another – it was a COMMAND, not a suggestion. ‘I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you too are to love one another.’ John 13:34. Boy I can sit and soak in that one for a while. Loving others is not an optional extra, it is the reason we are still in this world – our great QUEST. (1 Corinthians 14:1) 

Here is a question I ask myself regularly: “If I were to be taken to court, could I be found guilty of loving others? Is there enough evidence?” Truthfully, it can depend on the day. But questions like this one can leave me flatter than a cane toad hit by a semi-trailer. Look, I don’t want to know my real answer, anymore than anyone else would, but it is essential that we all understand that a lack of love matters to God. We are looking to walk in His Ways, not ours. Our own way of thinking often excuses us, and accuses the other person!  Some of us have not come any further than the playground at school – we whine: “They started it!”

Well, let’s start today by looking at our responses to other denominations. The bible says in Matthew 25:31-33: “All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on His left…”  So what qualifies somebody to be a sheep and not a goat? If you read far enough in this passage you will find it all depends on how we treat the poor and needy! Verse 40 says this: “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of Mine, you did for Me.” Jesus identifies Himself with the poor, and He is motivated by compassion and love – most of the time we can easily be motivated by partisan attitudes.

The reality is we know we are guilty of merely tolerating other denominations and their doctrines – by secretly thinking our little group has the skinny on God and what He wants.  But is tolerating others the same as love? Self-examination under the Holy Spirit’s supervision is a useful thing. It can lead us out of self-deception into repentance. Getting rid of unloving attitudes will make loving others with His love easier. It starts by asking for His help and … ends in repentance. There is only one thing that can separate us from other people – our own inner prejudices and attitudes. People have to be taught to hate, little ones don’t care who you are, and where you are from.

The disciples walked around with Jesus for three and a half years. They listened to every sermon, saw every miracle and  yet we can see that they had unChrist-like ideas. They all needed to undergo transformation and the Holy Spirit did it at Pentecost. They needed a new heart and so do we! What WE do and think about, it is what matters. In the example below, the people who were bound by satan got free!  Well Hallelujah!!

So here are two verses, in Luke 4:49,50: “Master,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in Your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us.” “Do not stop him,” Jesus said, “for whoever is not against you is for you.”  It is so easy to make Christianity an exclusive little club. We really must stop categorising other Christians as wrong, or right. Because our differing doctrines are ruining the actual message! Christianity is sometimes like the somewhat divisive doctrine about speaking in tongues. Here’s what I think – if you can, then please DO IT often. But don’t make it a merit badge!

A lack of love can also occur when we stop tending the garden of interpersonal love. We can spend too much time concentrating on the other person’s faults … a-n-d … not enough dealing with our own. Then weeds disguised as attitudes and behaviours start to appear, and choke out the beautiful blooms of love in a marriage; or in the love between a parent and child; between siblings; or even in the church. 

We don’t have to like those people who continue to abuse us or treat us badly … Jesus Himself did not say: ‘Thank you very much for pulling out My beard and pushing the crown of thorns onto My head causing Me excruciating pain.” He simply said nothing and surrendered His body to their torture.. Saying and doing nothing is sometimes the best course of action. Suffering often doesn’t have words.

We need to pray for our enemies and those who despitefully use us, but that does not mean we walk around with a target over our hearts, minds, emotions and bodies. Jesus died for their sin too, so we don’t have to bear it by ourselves anymore. Your sin, my sin, their sin, anyone’s sin – just don’t carry it around any longer. That’s a burden that will weigh you down, and keep you from loving others with His love. Give it all to the Lord. Put it down and walk away. Repent if you need to, ask for healing because you need it – but walk away and refuse to worry it with thoughts.

When Jesus Christ said: “It is finished,” He meant FINISHED. Allowing yourself to be battered by satan’s lies will keep you from learning to love, and love is what lasts. This life is passing away … you can’t save others… but He can. Loving others well, means we love like Jesus did — not with indulgence, but truth undergirded by His love. Bye. 👋

P3332 Where have all the encouragers gone?

/ DVH


“Let the inner movement of your heart always be to love one another, and never play the role of an actor wearing a mask. Despise evil and embrace everything that is good and virtuous. Be devoted to tenderly loving your fellow believers as members of one family. Try to outdo yourselves in respect and honour of one another. Be enthusiastic to serve the Lord, keeping your passion toward Him boiling hot! Radiate with the glow of the Holy Spirit and let Him fill you with excitement as you serve Him.” Romans 12:9-11 TPT.

The Apostle Paul did not write this stuff simply to impress people with His literary style. I believe he was giving the church a list of instructions as well as teaching them the way to walk with Jesus day-by-day. We skip over verses like these at our own peril. They are not just positive suggestions, they are life and health to us and they need action … digesting.

We have inadvertently allowed our feelings to get in the way of what Paul is saying here. This means we can end up avoiding Sister Mergatroid because we don’t like the way she is raising her kids – or the way her husband always takes over at testimony time. Whatever! You fill in the blanks. We need to continually remember that personal opinion, and the right to have one, died when we gave our lives to Jesus. Dead people don’t have opinions – they are far too busy accessing the new life Jesus promised us... live in the resurrection not the grave clothes!

Our new life is an example of what Jesus can do with people, who are living in ordinary circumstances. There is something quite astonishing about normal people living a life totally sold out to Him, yet we’ve become used to special people doing it. Maybe we have failed to comprehend the fact that the “old has passed away, behold the new HAS come.”  This is not just a form of adaptation to a different way of life – that very life has come to live in us now!

So now our job is to use our faith and walk out what we have been given. The unknown, unseen church-goer has far more effect upon the community than they realise. It all starts with the way we treat each other, and floods out from the church into the way we treat other people. Because we always rely upon His wisdom, we don’t look down on anyone. We have His Grace to see potential, not faults — so we take the time to speak into someone’s potential – and let go of criticism.

When my kids were small I did all I could to help them see that their one little life matters. Somewhere in that relatively short time of influence, I had to learn to let go of prodding and pushing, plus speaking good – and I had to watch them make mistakes. They became His people … not just my kids. They have their own way of expressing their faith. He’s their Father — and in my observation, fathers are great at speaking encouragement. They help us to have the ability to take a risk so we can grow, plus they offer us steadfast love, comfort and affection, when things don’t go so well.

We need more encouragers. People who help us believe that our breakthrough is our birthright. Encouragement is a spiritual gift found in Romans 12:8: ‘that empowers individuals to inspire, comfort, and strengthen others, bringing hope to the church and everyone else.” This gift is greatly underestimated. It has the ability to stand someone up on their feet so they can go again. It doesn’t push, or look down upon someone, instead it leads and instructs.

One of the Holy Spirit’s Names is “Encourager.” As an Encourager He helps people to find the faith to go on when everything inside them wants to give up. Our collective task is to keep our focus on what He says about us, because the Lord Himself is so reliably generous with His praise and love. This world has damaged many Christians, who have eventually fallen through huge cracks of disappointment and discouragement. Mainly because theyt have misinformed expectations and they are not met. Encouragement is about lifting them up again.

When you can’t find something encouraging to say, ask the Lord – He knows what that other person needs to hear. At the same time, you will be using your faith and you will see Him in action, for yourself. Sadly, there are also times when you have to be your own cheer squad. For one reason or another someone else is not available or you feel like you can’t hear the Lord. That’s when it is good to go to the bible, and read uplifting verses out loud. 

God’s Word strengthens us when we are weary, lost, or broken hearted. At the same time it is important not to deny whatever is going on, we live in a real world with real pain and human needs! These things are not just about sin, they happen because they are a part of life. We can be sidetracked if  we focus on how we feel, above what He says. Faith chooses to believe what Jesus said, despite these times. After all, acknowledgement is not the same as approval.

Let’s read the bible, and remind ourselves that these verses were written for US, for this day, for these moments. Encouraging ourselves in the Lord is important and it is also extremely helpful. David did it. Remind yourself that you are not a bad Christian, you are in a battle and our enemy is relentless. However, …”The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working].” James 5:16b. Bye. 👋