Favour

P 3197 Christmas is almost upon us.

/ DVH

You can tell that when you step inside a shopping mall. People are buzzing about like bees in a hive, frantically buying gifts for family and friends. It definitely seems official — consumerism is addictive, just like smoking, drinking and gambling. Sadly, you don’t have to have actual money to participate in this particular not-so-merry-dance. Many people put themselves into a lot of debt to create some sort of happiness, even for a day. When life is hard even a little snatch of laughter is valuable. How about we find a way to put a smile on the face of our neighbour!

Here’s something I stumbled across while following Jesus, Psalm 127:1. It challenged me regarding gift giving..“Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labour in vain…”  Man there have been a number of times when I wished that verse was not in there!  I need the Lord to help me with giving gifts. I love giving gifts to people – particularly if they like them. There is something about that surprised happy face when they open their present that just blesses me. I pay very little attention to what I am given – but boy do I love giving!  And little kids are my super-duper favourite people to give to — they rip into the paper, and tear apart the boxes to get at that prize. It’s a joy to watch them. Meanwhile who can afford to buy a teenager a gift today? You almost have to re-mortgage your house!

Wouldn’t it be great if we thought about unwrapping what Jesus has said to us in His book, with that sort of expectation and happiness? Imagine facing the bible like an unknown beautiful gift, all wrapped up and sparkly … instead of a chore that must be performed – otherwise our day might fall apart. What if we couldn’t wait to get at the treasure inside? And, what if seeing one another had precisely the same effect? We might even buy a whole field just to own a precious pearl like that. … now there’s a think spot!

Back to the verse. This verse kind of means I’ve laboured in vain a lot in my lifetime. I’ve gone for the hope of happiness for me, instead of leaning on the discernment of Jesus. When it comes to giving gifts I’m hopeless. I go nuts. Somewhere in my head, I think my wiring is upside down! I am not saying that Jesus doesn’t like presents and gift giving, after all He loved all of us by giving the greatest gift of all – His life. But what I am saying is that it is possible to use gift giving to try to bridge gaps between you and people-you-don’t-get-along-with, and that can often lead to great disappointment. We can sometimes try to use gift-giving to curry favour with particularly fussy friends and relatives – instead of seeking restoration.

Maybe you have recently spent days trying to find the right gift for Great Uncle Bulgaria, and then he just kind of sniffed at your present and said a dull lifeless: “Thanks” as he plopped it on the floor. Your heart sinks into your shoes and you can almost see the sign that says: ‘That one is going in the recycling bin!”  The things we drag along behind us like the tail on a comet. Those things we think we have no say over, and feel we cannot change – except because of what the Lord Jesus did – we can!  Maybe I just need to obtain more trusty book gift-vouchers instead of driving myself balmy trying to find something just right.

There is a plus side to all this to-ing and fro-ing regarding buying gifts at this time of the year.… people smile at you and say: “Merry Christmas.” Meanwhile, it’s just like Jesus to have HIS birthday benefit everyone else, in more ways than one! We’ve found you can end up chatting to people in the lifts, instead of staring at the floor hoping the lift will get to your floor quickly, because you are feeling trapped with strangers. I have this thing with strangers, the nature of who they are to me, means I’m never going to see them again! You can say anything!  Sometimes they even talk back – WOW! 

We love Christmas at our house. My dear hubby is a huge fan, and when you put that together with someone who loves giving gifts, well … Christmas is a busy time for us. We start shopping and planning decorations in August! My fella loves his outdoor lights and he plans them for months. Lights are a lovely way to speak to your neighbours without saying a word. Our manger scene and ‘Happy Birthday Jesus’ lights have been going for 12 years. We also have joy, hope, and peace signs that hubby made. 

Yesterday, my husband and one of our granddaughters went off to take some gifts from our church to the local women’s shelter. Those poor ladies leave behind everything as they literally run for their lives. I’ve left everything behind once, so I understand their pain a little bit. However, in that position, you can’t afford to look back, or like Lot’s wife you will turn into a pillar of salt. Anyway … we have a big pile of assorted gifts to put under their tree. Knowing people care won’t fix everything but it sure helps when you are all alone and scared about what comes next. They were immensely grateful. My hubby likes to talk to the ladies in the office – nobody talks to them.

As I said, Christmas is upon us and many families will gather together and celebrate. Yet, whether they actually know what they are celebrating is a whole other ball-game! I pray we all get a chance to tell even one other person that Jesus is not a baby anymore – He’s all grown up and fighting for us! Blessings as you prepare to remember the miracle God gave us all, when He became one of us.Bye. 🥳

P 3154 Understanding is important.

/ DVH

We all know that the joy of the Lord is our strength. But man’s worldly idea of happiness is transitory. That stuff disappears like a badly needed pay check. Plus happiness can also be postponed. People do that all the time. They say things like: “I will be happy when I’ve paid off my mortgage. I will be happy when we finally get the kids married off. I will be happy when my baby starts to walk and talk. I will be happy when I find a job/home/spouse!” This is what I mean about when I talk about postponing happiness.

There is such a benefit to be gained by learning to enjoy every moment we’ve been given. Life is short – let’s not postpone enjoying it, by holding our lives hostage for something we may not get! Living for the future is a futile pursuit – nothing ever works out the way we plan it anyway! In the Lord’s kingdom His joy and peace can, and will, fill and sustain us. It will gently lead us into believing in Him no matter what our circumstances are. 

Knowing this can put a smile on your face – even if you do have to blow your nose, and wipe your eyes for bit! Father God wants us to know His Ways, because He has plans for each one of us. And when He talks to us through His book, He talks to us to usher in His joy and peace. Simply because He loves us. Those miserable, terrible things that seem endlessly to hang around in our lives will eventually come to an end. Especially if we stop waiting for the other shoe to drop, and just enjoy any joy-filled moments that He sends us – no matter how briefly they appear to last. This is how we can learn to prevail over adverse circumstances, by accepting joy in those moments.

Psalm 16:11…”You make known to me the path of life; in Your presence there is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”John 15:11…”These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” Psalm 30:5…”For His anger is but for a moment, and His favour is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.”

Finding joy can take practice but we must learn to grasp hold of it, even in the smallest moments. Those things are honey to our aching souls. Let’s look closely at Psalm 30, verse 5. On the surface this does not seem to be a fun verse. We need to remember Who our Father is when the ceiling falls in! IF and WHEN we take the time to remind ourselves that Almighty God spent all His anger on Jesus, then even in the darkest times that should start up a joy bubble. “Weeping may endure for a night — BUT JOY COMES IN THE MORNING!”Joy needs to be recognised or it will pass us by. 

When we are in the middle of hardship and suffering, let’s remind ourselves that our God is no longer mad at humanity. He has reconciliation toward every single one of us in the centre of His heart. When He says He loves us, it is not just some casual, quickly-passing, uninvolved affection. No! Jesus Christ dived straight into this life, giving His ALL. Our God’s love involves great passion. It took incredible passion and great sustaining grace and purpose for our Father to allow His precious Son to die in our place! Now… joy is our portion. The bible says: ‘He will turn our mourning into dancing …’

The world around us lives with a deep level of despair, because the bad guys seem to be winning. There are people who have the things we think we want or need. But money can’t save anyone from hell ‘cos ya can’t take it with you when you go! This is what God says: “There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.” Proverbs 14;12. There is a worse kind of death than no longer breathing! It’s waking up in the next life, with all the possibilities gone. Eternal life without God Himself in it. The Lord invested Himself in everything that surrounds us – we need to take the time to soak these things in and let them do us good.

Let’s deliberately choose to stop dipping our toes in this world’s way of thinking, being and acting, and learn to think like Jesus did. John 15:11: “I have told you these things so that My joy and delight may be in you, and that your joy may be made full and complete and overflowing.”  Do you want to live a joy-filled life? I do! Joy comes when we choose to listen to what He said. Jesus never focused on Himself, and His needs – He focused on His Heavenly Father’s will – as He spread God’s love to everyone around Him. We will find joy when we stop grabbing and scrambling for our own happiness, and accept the biblical premise that our delight is to do His will! 

We can experience some of our greatest moments when Almighty God paints His love in great glorious colourful strokes across the backdrop of our own personal cyclone. Look for Him in the storms. The Holy Spirit loves to do this — He loves to colour our lives with peace, joy, His faithfulness, gentleness and self control, and He is generous with His paintbrush. Ask Him to reveal Himself right in the middle of the next difficulty that plops on you unexpectedly. 

Understanding God’s Ways will help us to discover new ways to praise and worship Him. “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.” Proverbs 4:7. Bye. 👋

P 3129 Is God trustworthy?

/ DVH

We can all face issues that seem to be impossible. Today I want to look at those impossibilities from the best possible place. Is Almighty God trustworthy and reliable? He sees impossibility as an opportunity to show us His faithfulness, mercy and love, so we can’t afford to doubt what He has said on the basis of unanswered prayer. 

Romans 4:18-25.“Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, BUT ALSO FOR US, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in Him Who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.”

Abraham’s walk with God, is an illustration that shows us that God can do anything – human reasoning need not apply! This man faced his own inadequacy, and he saw with his own eyes what God told him was going to happen. It was a no contest situation. However, this Godly example for us looked past what he knew human beings could do, to the God Who can and will do anything!  His faith was in God, Who told him they would have a son. 

He gave Almighty God glory for what He had promised to do, be-fo-re He did it. We can get stuck on what we call reality, or reason, if we only look at these senior citizens on the old-aged pension having a child, and miss the entire point. God gave that man what He has promised to give each one of us who choose to follow Jesus – Christ’s righteousness. We have Jesus’ position of favour before the Lord. But we need to remember, the bible says Jesus did not ever take advantage of that favour. 

The birth of Isaac was secondary. The Lord showed us through Abraham our right-standing(righteousness)  with God is free and not earned! Abraham looked at the One Who told him it would happen and believed Him — before the event.  His faith in God’s ability to do what He said He would do, gave Him righteousness with God, and made this man ‘the father of the same sort of faith we have.’  Almighty God initiated what happened — Abraham responded with faith in the One Who spoke to Him — and God was generous. Faith believes we are righteous even when it seems like everything around us  is screaming that’s not possible. My faith is in what Christ did.

Abraham is not just an example of faith in action, he lived in a position of being right with God long before Jesus came to die for us, and God gave that to him – just like He gave it to us. Our hopes can’t afford to be in the answer to our prayers – they are in the Person we ask! Jesus is God’s Answer to mankind’s prayers and when He died He gave us God’s favour, for free. No matter how impossible things seem – our God is trustworthy. Any promise that He gives us is wonderful, but the Character of the One Who gives us that promise is everything. Steadfastly keeping our faith firmly in Him, Who He is – despite any obvious difficulties – is our real promise. 

Never doubt the Lord’s miraculous intervention on our behalf, even if we have been a bit of a dummy and gone the wrong way and chaos resulted. Abraham did! Pray and then hand the mess over to God, and leave it with Him. Follow His instructions, and start to praise God for giving us Christ. Our redemption does not hinge on our behaviour. It hinges on what Jesus did. Everything depends on what we are focussed on, the outcome, or the Person Who provides the outcome. One fosters ‘results’ thinking and the other relationship.

God gave us His Word that we now have Jesus’ righteousness. Now we need to believe that God is good and trustworthy and He will keep His word. Our faith rests on God’s Character and His Word, not in our current circumstances changing. Our faith will stay strong when we put it in Who He is, rather than the answer to our prayers. Father God gave Abraham His Word, and He kept it, but there was a long stretch of time between those two things. But, Abraham’s strong faith in God’s Character led to him being called righteous with God before Jesus ever arrived. Protect your faith it is your most valuable gift from God.

Heartache happens when we presume, or rush ahead and try to get our own answer – like Abraham. Wait for Him. God tells us that He will take care of us from the cradle to the grave, and we need to believe Him. Even if bad things happen to us in our lives or the roof falls in. Do I believe He keeps His Word? Is He good? Is He faithful and true and reliable? Sometimes we can have more faith in the results of our prayers, than we do in the God Who gave us all these promises in the first place!  We need to hold fast to our belief in Him, and His goodness.

One word of caution, it is not wise to use our own enthusiasm to prop up what you know about Him and yourself. We can be led astray by our own passions. (James) Our righteousness before Him, is a gift given to us by Jesus. Cherish it. But hold fast to the fact that He is trustworthy and reliable because that is a greater blessing. Deal with anything that might try to destroy that. Bye. 👋

P 3091 Define the word ‘gift!’

/ DVH

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

P 3087 Mercy.

/ DVH

“How blessed you are when you demonstrate tender mercy! For tender mercy will be demonstrated to you.” Matthew 5:7 TPT.  Oh, let us thank the Lord for that!! This is the kind of verse that can slide by our understanding, yet most of us have needed mercy from someone else at some stage or another in our lives. The Holy Spirit has mercy on us simply because He is merciful by nature. He is not winking at sin – He will convict us the minute we give Him a chance! But His loving kindness immediately welcomes us back into true fellowship when we turn around, face our faults, confess and repair things. 

At times, anyone can quite easily excuse their behaviour like this: ’They did this evil thing and that awful one and it was unforgivable.’ There are times when we seek and search for a short-cut to get us through the things we think we cannot bear, and we forget God has given us the power to overcome sin and the devil. That’s why it is essential to remember that Godly attitudes and actions have nothing whatsoever to do with our feelings – they run on our choices.

However, when we demonstrate mercy to someone else who does not deserve it — we are deliberately stepping out of darkness into His light. In His light we can see what is really going on. We will remain blinded by darkness when we choose to not forgive or hold a grudge. If I stay in unforgiveness, or I refuse to extend mercy to someone else, my emotional reactions or responses have blocked my ears and eyes to that other person’s need, because my own judgment got in the way. 

The dictionary explains that mercy is: “compassion or forgiveness shown towards someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm.“  It says this about grace: “this word is commonly translated as “favour,” which means acceptance and goodwill regardless of whether we’ve earned it.” Those two things are not the same! Mercy goes beyond grace. It loves the unlovely. To do that we must recognise who WE really are, without Jesus.

And that particular point is the reason why a lot of Christians have been shot in the foot and they keep going round and round. Because we forget who we are without Him, and we leave Him behind when we step into unforgiveness and refuse to extend mercy. We start to think: ‘God saved us, but I wasn’t all that bad in the first place, after I don’t deliberately hurt anybody.’  Come again??

We have been saved from sin, and it’s power, because we needed it .God does not have gradients for sin. Ever since the garden of Eden human beings were born in sin, and we dare not trust our own un-renewed hearts.. Eventually, what’s really in our heart will find its way out! We cannot afford to make our own assessments about who anyone is … until we’ve lived this life squashed so tightly into a corner and we feel we cannot escape from it, we will have no idea how we will react. I dunno about you, but I’ve wished people DEAD! I know I’m a sinner, but mercy came to me and drew me back to God, when I had no excuse! And if He ever His took grace to change me and His undeserved mercy back… well … bye bye me!! 

However, when you have a hole shot through your middle by someone else’s sin, those kinds of God-honouring thoughts rarely come up. Some people just won’t quit being mean!  So we are going to need the Holy Spirit’s supernatural power, grace, mercy, plus His strength to continue to give them what He has given us for free. Outright undeserved mercy opens doors that appear to be nailed shut. 

In reality what we think is happening, is probably not what was actually happening. That other person who hurt me was not acting against me – they were simply acting FOR themselves. In other words, there was no intention to do harm. It did not come into their decision making, instead they were self-absorbed. If you do not know you have a Guardian Who is on your side — you will probably mount your own guard and fire away!!

Maybe we think someone like a wife basher or paedophile, a rapist, or a murderer, or a thief is beyond our help. So we choose to withhold grace and shut up our heart of mercy. We think they deserve to get whatever they get, for the way they have acted and the choices they made. I am not making excuses for anybody’s actions — all I want to say is that the person with the greater sin needs the greater mercy. In that moment, I can choose to give it to them. Good place to remember we didn’t deserve what Jesus gave us either.

I like this verse: “But whoever has the world’s goods (adequate resources), and sees his brother in need, but has no compassion for him, how does the love of God live in him?”  I John 3:17. People can be needy because they are spiritually poor! We must continue to sow grace and mercy everywhere and remind ourselves that judgment belongs to the Lord, He is the One Who knows all things and sees all things – not us. He will have mercy and compassion on whoever He chooses. We all deserve hell! Mercy is grace that goes beyond forgiveness, instead of punishment, it ushers in the power of God. Bye. 👋

P 2977 Every promise in the book IS mine!

/ DVH

Here’s a great clue, if we sit about waiting for this promise or that to fall on us, maybe it won’t … or …maybe it will, but it probably won’t always happen the way we think it will!  The promise was never meant to be our focus – HE IS. Every interaction with Almighty God needs to strengthen and stretch our knowledge of Him.

Our God doesn’t like systems. Tell me one time He did the same thing twice! He does, however, repeat what He has said. Someone checked it out and the phrase “fear not” is in the book 365 times! How cool is that? One for every day. Everybody loves God’s promises! Me too. But I’ve also noticed that some of His promises are conditional. Isaiah 26:3:“You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in You.” Obviously cultivating a trusting, steadfast mind will reap a more a fruitful situation…  As you can see, it is good to do more than just read the words!

Over to Nahum 1:7: “The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in Him.”  He’s always the place to go when things go upside down, that’s when we deliberately choose to trust in Him, and hold on! Psalm 84:11: “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favour and honour; no good thing does He withhold from those whose walk is blameless.”

OK. First things first. Because of what Christ has already done for us, we are now regarded by our God as blameless. So this promise is for us. If you lack something you’ve asked for —instead of thinking about God as withholding things from you — or questioning whether you are blameless or not — turn it around. If I haven’t received the thing I prayed for then it is probably not good for me. Let it go!! We are not the best judge of what is good for us – He is.

Isaiah 40:31 “But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”The first place to check when you feel like fainting is where or what have you put your hope IN. Sometimes we accidentally hope in people, or circumstances and those things definitely can’t deliver what God just said.

Some of His promises are applicable because we are engaged with His Kingdom – but all of His promises are activated by faith. Our faith in His goodness is the first place our enemy attacks. Faith gives the Lord’s promises substance …even if we can’t see it yet. However, if the Lord were to put out a guarantee brochure … it would say that He reserves the right to stretch our faith whenever He can see it is the right time to do it.

Accepting His will, His Way, makes complete sense to me. It means I am engaged in building His Kingdom. Trying to build the kingdoms of this world appalls me. Those kingdoms are all about money or power. It’s not that I don’t care about these things, it is more about the fact that money etc. is always coming and going – there is nothing permanent about these things. God’s Kingdom is permanent – eternal … like … forever. Now there’s a plus! So whatever we do in faith for His kingdom, as He leads us, lasts forever.

The bible tells us in Isaiah 43:2: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.” When things get outrageously difficult – HE WILL BE THERE, even if it feels terrible – HE WILL BE THERE.  That’s the promise. Our focus needs to come away from the water, river, fire and flames, and instead we choose to focus on HIM. If we keep on checking to see how that threat is going… we are moving away from our faith in Him, and our fear of being burned or drowned can overtake us instead.

Focus is everything. He wants to be the centre of our focus, our reason to live. Why? Because it is the safest place for us to live. Jesus showed us that. The Jews tried to kill Him before the time for His crucifixion came around and they couldn’t do it. They talked about it … which gave that spirit of murder, power. But they could not kill Him … until it was the fullness of God’s timing … Almighty God has a time for every purpose under heaven, but it won’t always make sense to us. That’s why we need faith.

It is also why we must read His book diligently for ourselves.  Nobody else’s words should take priority over what He says. Chase Him! People have no idea how much fun our God is. Often we simply try to use Him for our own deficits, ambitions and comfort … instead of simply enjoying Him.  Believing in His goodness and mercy IS worship when you are in pain or trouble. God’s love is pure, holy and not self-centred. Everything that happens to us is under His loving gaze. If He allows it, then He will see us through it.

Sometimes the hardest thing to learn is to be real with Him. Remember, Father God listens to our hearts, not just our words. By all means ‘ask and keep on asking…’ And remember HELP is a prayer!! Every promise in His book is mine … because they are HIS promises … and He keeps His promises. He’s the best Father ever. Bye. 👋

P 2898 Wot’s in YOUR way?

/ DVH

As you know, we go away regularly on the road, to give away bibles and other Christian materials. This time, as we’ve been preparing, it seemed that my health was going to be more of a problem than it has been in the past. Yet hubby strongly felt that God wanted us to go to Robe SA, plus a few places along the way. That town is over 2067 kms one way, 4,134 kms there and back! That’s a whole  lot of driving and traveling.  

In the end our only option seemed to be to travel down the inland road, which would take us 10 days –  nearly 20, there and back.  We can only do about 300 kms each day because we both have health issues, plus we always want to allow time to go to talk to people along the way. We had already eliminated flying because neither of us were sure if either of us could manage the long flight. However, we weren’t very concerned about any of it until the time got a lot closer, and by then, it became apparent that physically neither of us would be able to cope with such a large journey. 

Plus, our middle daughter, Kylee, and her son Jed, suddenly had to move house. The house they’d lived in for 11 years is going to be sold in June/July. She is a single mother of a 14 year old teenager, and she is homeschooling him, plus working 3 jobs. Fortunately recently she cut those jobs down to 2 – otherwise we might have to clone her!! Like a lot of other people today, she has to work very hard just to pay the rent, and put food on the table. And right at the time she had to move, and one part of her back-up team was about to trot off and leave her! She also can’t afford time off, she will still have to work as well. That’s the trouble with money trees, you over-pick them or they die!

Parents like to fix things. To be completely honest I personally probably jump in and ‘fix things’ without always praying first! Ho-hum. Because we want to help our daughter, it seemed that we couldn’t go on this journey at all, unless we went at some other time. Fortunately hubby hadn’t booked anything yet, so we prayed and the Lord confirmed our choice – March. Meanwhile, while we weren’t looking God had already taken care of ‘what concerns us’, as He promised He would in the bible! Our daughter and grandson have found somewhere to live, praise Him! I think, that when we make arrangements in our own strength, driven by worry and concern, God laughs. 

However, it seemed to us like we were between a rock and a hard place at the time! Over to my point: After this complication I gave it all up – my plans, plus all the bits and consequences to the Lord, and shut the door between me and the whole thing, very quickly. Then I left it alone. The next morning I continued to read the bible in my normal place, Mark – about the Lord’s death:

Mark 16:1-3“When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?” …

Did you get that? It is easy to miss. These dear women had not planned ahead, they were already on their way to do what they set out to do. It was their final act of Love for the Lord. And it suddenly occurred to them they were not going to be able to GET IN. Now let’s read verse 3.

“… But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away!”  The pressure on these precious women had immediately come off. God removed the impediment, right out of the way, and they didn’t even pray or ask for it … because they didn’t even think about it until they were nearly there! How good is God?!

Boy, that scripture hit me so hard … right between the eyes…. I realised that I had to use my faith and step out, despite the impediments. Yeah, can you believe it? After all I’ve written here! Then He spoke to me in my heart: “You can go on the plane, I have removed that stone.” That stone was unbelief I’m thinking!! The Lord patiently explained to me that travelling by plane actually meant only 2 hours of discomfort, against 10 days of tiring, uncomfortable car travel.

When you look at it like that — it’s an easy peasy choice! The minute we heard from the Lord: “Go by plane” — every single thing fell into place. We had favour everywhere we booked – especially with the plane bookings! People bent over backwards to help us, because God Himself was working on our behalf.  

I want to finish today by saying this — there will always be a stone, a rock, a canyon, a river, an ocean, a boulder the size of Uluru in our way, when we decide to choose to obey Him! Whether we remember to ask for His help or not, God is still faithful. Stuff happens …all of the time. We can choose to do things with Him, or without Him – but with Him is so much better! And sometimes, because Jesus is GRACE personified, as we make a decision, He takes the impediments out of our way.

He is waiting for our ‘yes’ … …so wot’s in your way? Bye. 👋

P 2866 Priorities.

/ DVH

In the Beatitudes, Jesus may as well have said this: When your life is less than this world’s idea of successful, and filled up with the sort of things other people avoid — (don’t panic) — blessings from our Heavenly Father will still be coming toward you. He indicated that there are much bigger, more important things to look at – God’s kingdom.

Luke 6:20-23 “Looking at His disciples, He said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man, “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.”

The Lord is teaching us that some of the things we try desperately to avoid can spiritually be a good place;  because poverty or difficulties of any sort makes us aware of and desperate for His riches, the things that last.  His provisions, His Way of life. Now in the natural, we all avoid poverty. Maybe some of us actually think we are poor, but we have so much more than we have realised. Here’s that question thing I like to do. Do you have a bed to sleep on? Have you  food to eat? When it rains do you have a place you can shelter?Jesus is explaining that LACK is not the worst thing that can happen to us because it can open the door to His provisions, His kind of blessings.

For years and years my thoughts were more about what I didn’t have – and that definitely included the concept of being a “good Christian.” I was focussed on the negative. I didn’t think I was a very good parent. I fretted about whether I was making attractive, tasty nutritious meals for my family. Or making sure my washing, and my home, were clean because someone was bound to notice. I totally missed the main point! I had a home, I had washing, I had food, I had a bed etc. I had a family! I was already rich and I didn’t see it. I let the enemy steal away my blessings by letting him inflate the importance of other things.

It is obvious that many people all over this world don’t have the things we have — but let’s not stop there, because if we stop there we will be giving into guilt… Let’s move on and see that not having stuff is the very best place to be. Jesus just said that! He said LACK makes us eligible for greater things. No, I am not talking about a bigger better bed, or fancier food, or a fantastic car etc. I’m talking about every day lack as an opportunity to prioritise what is really important – spiritual fullness.

The quest for more can overwhelm what we already have. Knowing God personally, intimately, is the most important thing any of us will ever do in this life. It is what we are here for. I’m just going to let those remarks sit there so we can all think about them! 

God’s kingdom is ours when we are poor in spirit: EG. when we are hungry for the things that last, or reduced to tears about how pathetic our lives are, or saddened by our many attempts to somehow please God and gain His favour. It’s definitely sad – but we’ve missed the real reason – because in those moments we have forgotten we are rich! We already have His favour. We are kingdom dwellers, even we lack material things or when other people hate us – we are rich in the things that last.

Here’s my end thought today, Jesus repeated this theme again in Luke 10:41,42.: “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”The most important thing we will ever have, or participate in is His kingdom. We cannot be poor when we have Jesus in our lives. Our God is with us, and we are forever rich. Let’s check our priorities – Him first, last and always! Bye. 👋

P 2856 Ruth.

/ DVH

Yesterday, I realised something about the book of Ruth that I had not seen before…. Ruth’s loyalty to Naomi is worth looking into. “But Ruth answered, “Don’t ask me to leave you! Let Me go with you. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be My people, and your God will be my God. Wherever you die, I will die, and that is where I will be buried. May the Lord’s worst punishment come upon me if I let anything but death separate me from you!” Ruth 1:16-17. 

Ruth is talking to her husband’s mother, and just look at her loyalty …it prevails to the death! …She is handing over her own life for… wait for it … her mother-in-law!  Ruth and Orpah’s loyalty was a highlight of their relationship with their husbands’ mother. After all the younger two women  were from another ethnic group – the Moabites. God loves loyalty, because He is loyal! I just want to add something interesting I discovered when I went looking for pictures of loyalty – practically all the pictures I found were of people with their dogs! What does that say about humanity eh?

Back to these two young women, who had travelled with their husbands, their father-in-law and mother-in-law to another place, then … after all the men died, they followed their mother-in-law back toward her homeland. Ruth refused to leave Naomi. We need to take note of the depth of her loyalty. Almighty God is loyal to US in an even deeper way than Ruth was to Naomi!

He has always been that way, every single thing He has ever done was for mankind’s benefit. He did these things at a horrendous personal cost. Let’s face it, after all the years of disobedience and heartache from the people the Lord called His own – He could have started all over again, with a new group of people! But He didn’t. He didn’t because He promised He wouldn’t!  And we have a rainbow to remind us.

The Lord gave His Word that the Israelites would be His people and He would be their God. Then, in the fullness of time, that Word from God which had been handed down from one generation to another, gave these people access to God Himself, through Christ. God’s Living Word. Jesus Christ manifested Himself in the flesh and came and lived among them. Meanwhile, Jesus’ great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, grandmother was Ruth! 

God promises in His word to visit His favour upon His people to a thousand generations. For all you and I know – we could be the great great great great great etc.etc. grandchildren of His promise too! Some of us may be from Ruth and Boaz’s line. What do they say nowadays? 6 degrees of separation between each of us and there’s a rumour that that has shrunk to 5 degrees, because of social media. Excuse me while I roll my eyes!!

So listen to what He says to YOU personally today, displaying His loyalty: 

“Let your character or moral disposition be free from love of money [including greed, avarice, lust, and craving for earthly possessions] and be satisfied with your present [circumstances and with what you have]; for He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!]” Now that doesn’t sound like the Lord plans on deserting ANY of us does it?

And BTW, for those of you who have legal minds and would like to check that out in the book … that verse is in Hebrews 13:5 in the Amplified Version and it appears in another form in Deuteronomy 31:8;  and in Jeremiah 31:3. The Lord’s loyalty to us is not just solid, it is eternal. Now that’s true loyalty. Let’s be loyal to Him the way He is loyal to us!! Bye 👋.

P 2799 Father God gives to us.

/ DVH

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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