Fear

P 2539 Fear must never stop me.

/ DVH

1 Samuel 23:1-3,4-5,9-13. “When David was told, “Look, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah and are looting the threshing floors,” he inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I go and attack these Philistines?” The Lord answered him, “Go, attack the Philistines and save Keilah.” But David’s men said to him, “Here in Judah we are afraid. How much more, then, if we go to Keilah against the Philistine forces!…  “

First of all I want to point out today, that before David did anything, he went and asked the Lord …  It is essential that we learn to live by this game plan, because it is incredibly important to seek His kingdom first. Talking with the King ushers in His kingdom!

The next thing that popped up when I was reading this story, was the fact that David’s men were afraid to go when this battle opportunity occurred. They definitely did not want to go to Keilah, because they thought they would be even more afraid there!  These men were men of renown, they were known as ‘David’s mighty men’ … this was no rag-tag army filled with misfits and left-overs! Yet they were afraid before they obeyed, right where they were staying!

Fear is never a sign to quit. Fear is a sign we should press in to God! One of my favourite sayings is “do it anyway!!” I usually end up in a wrestling match with myself but, in the end, I’ve been doing it anyway for the past 50 years. Fear is not a good outcome indicator. But faith defeats fear and … … does it anyway.

Verses 4&5“…Once again David inquired of the Lord, and the Lord answered him, “Go down to Keilah, for I am going to give the Philistines into your hand.”  So David and his men went to Keilah, fought the Philistines and carried off their livestock. He inflicted heavy losses on the Philistines and saved the people of Keilah.”

As you can see, these guys went and WON —by God’s Grace!  They put their feelings to one side and obeyed. This is an essential thing to do when He tells you to do something you are downright scared about. Fear has kept so many of God’s precious kids from His blessings. There are blessings galore that are waiting to be heaped on us, they will fall on us because of our simple obedience. To start with we will be more free than we were before! So:  we need to go and speak to that person…. or go and do what He keeps telling us to do. If we need it in writing then read the book…!!

Verses 9-13 “When David learned that Saul was plotting against him, he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod.”  David said, “Lord, God of Israel, your servant has heard definitely that Saul plans to come to Keilah and destroy the town on account of me. Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me to him? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? Lord, God of Israel, tell your servant.” And the Lord said, “He will.” Again David asked, “Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me and my men to Saul?” And the Lord said, “They will.” So David and his men, about six hundred in number, left Keilah and kept moving from place to place.”

David’s mighty men experienced fear, but they were not afraid without a good reason. We, too, often have plenty of good reasons! These guys had already tangled with King Saul and his wicked ways, plus his deceit, so they definitely had good reasons to be afraid. That man was a slippery customer! But they followed their leader as he was following God — and God saved them and the town of Keilah as well. They accomplished their objective despite their fear and the circumstances. Our God is like that. He loves to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat! Remember the cross.

He is the same God Who says in: Isaiah 61:3 TPT “… to strengthen those crushed by despair who mourn in Zion– to give them a beautiful bouquet in the place of ashes, the oil of bliss instead of tears, and the mantle of joyous praise instead of the spirit of heaviness. Because of this they will be known as Mighty Oaks of Righteousness, planted by YAHWEH as a living display of His glory.”  We are His righteous oaks … … whether we feel like it or not!

Jesus died to give us these things, but we dare not just cherry-pick the bits we like. We all want the flowers, the joy, and the new garment, but to get them we need to go through the crushing, and ashes, and heaviness!  Meanwhile our feelings have nothing whatsoever to do with WHO HE IS. How can we learn to trust Him if we let fear rule our lives? He loves to snatch victory from defeat. The guys who look the least like the winners, the ones who start out fearful, and those who dare to believe Him  – WIN!

The following verse is also worth thinking about because it points to the fact that He is MIGHTY:  “You build Your balconies with light beams and ride as King in a chariot You made from clouds. You fly upon the wings of the wind.”  Psalm 104:3. TPT. Our God is not weak and wobbly, There is nothing too difficult for Him to handle – including our fear. Bless you. 🥰

P 2522 Throw away your fear of failure.

/ DVH

I think that we need to tone down our need to learn, and ramp up our doing what we already know! There are times when we’ve measured our Christian faith by our faithfulness in attending church.  However our allegiance, as I said yesterday, is to Christ first – fellowship comes second. We cannot ever afford to let our fear of failure decide what we will and won’t do.

Today it is easy to wander from one church to another – or even not go to church at all anymore – purely because of this conceptual error — “they don’t meet my needs!” I can’t see in the bible where it says the church is meant to meet MY needs. I know there is a verse that says: “My GOD will supply all my needs …” 😳 However we are clearly told not to forsake meeting together. Plus the church is His BODY, so good luck with going somewhere and leaving your hand home!  Meeting together in church is more about loving each other, and/or … learning to love each other!! … than it is about having MY needs met. The essence of the Christian faith is about Him meeting other people’s needs through ME … If we feel we are not up to that then we haven’t been doing our homework again! 

We will fail in our primary mission to reach the world, if all we do is to go to church Sunday by Sunday with a personal expectation that the church is there to meet our needs! When we think like that we start looking for criteria … proof about where they should be meeting our needs and eventually, why they are not doing it. That thought makes church into a support CLUB. Yet the bible says we are an army. Many things seem to be an easy excuse to avoid going out to talk to the-people-who-don’t-know-Him-yet! That also includes the thought – what if we mess up – and we get it wrong? We have a Saviour Who is a Redeemer! I can personally testify that He can save and transform anybody. We simply need to step into His process with the idea that He cannot, and won’t ever fail! That’s what faith looks like!

That principle of agreement fails us when we apply it to something that needs US to take action. We must deliberately choose to engage in the process of our transformation. I cannot tell you how many times people have said to me: “WelI I prayed about that …!!” As if it is now the Lord’s will or fault when they stay fleshly! He won’t do it for us! As His body we need to make hard choices. Christians go to so much trouble to give the appearance of good, and we seem to have forgotten that we will answer to the Lord, not to the people around us. Let’s remember some people will never hear the gospel if we do not vanquish our personal fears.

Hubby and I have been on the road for Jesus for nearly 19 years. In that time we freely admit that we have done some dumb bunny things. Too many to repeat here! Plus we’ve been tested as a couple over and over again. Living like this has tested our relationship. It’s no fun fighting in the middle of nowhere …  if you don’t drive. I’ve had to learn to swallow my pride, and get on with repentance, plus pray like mad. And sometimes even phone home for prayer as well! 

Boy, all those things will humble you! Especially when you are supposed to be a “missionary” and you have unfortunately swapped your God-given peace for being opinionated! It can get very quiet in our car in those times. Being human is not an excuse to avoid what He told us to do. Read the gospels. Those disciples were pretty ordinary when Jesus sent them out, but they still raised the dead, delivered people from demons and ministered healing!

Hubby and I have also had many learning curves simply because of the difficulties we encounter. Things like packing well so we don’t need something that is right up the back of the car when we get to an overnight destination. We’ve learnt tired people fight easily. That some toilets, beds and lounge suites are always going to be too low for adult people with wonky knees – so get over yourself and stop complaining! A-n-d … petrol will always be expensive. How else will the petroleum executives be able to travel first class everywhere around the world if we are not overcharged? 😂 Plus the accommodation will very rarely look like the photos. Too bad if you believed the pictures … they were taken by someone who crawled right up into the opposite corner of the ceiling. They wanted to make the room look bigger!

On the road, reaching out in His Name has helped me personally find out who I really am. Bonus buy! I can actually look pretty good in my own home, because I can hide my occasional grouchiness there, because … WELL …everything suits me there. But on the road nothing suits me anymore! Boy is that a litmus test. Using your faith stretches you and reveals stuff you don’t know is there. The biggest plus of all is that it throws you back upon the Holy Spirit to lead, guide and challenge you. We need to throw away our fear of failure and just do what He told us to do.  👋

P 2510 Striving to enter His rest.

/ DVH

I think about rest like this … I do whatever He tells me to do, and He will do the rest. Meanwhile, resting in God is not about doing nothing. Resting in Him means we are trusting Him to help us, and get us through whatever is happening to us, and around us. We need to remind ourselves constantly that He’s in charge, no matter how this life looks, and that will give us confidence.

At the same time, we will have to fight the devil to maintain our peace and our assurance that God is always good – in spite of the circumstances we can see around us. Every time I am tempted to pick up and worry over whatever it is that I am obsessing about, I remind myself that He is now in charge of my life. My life is no longer my own. SomeBody bought me! And for HIM, Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world, you and I weren’t cheap! We were definitely not on sale, nor last year’s reduced price model!

This world is so obsessed with surviving … it is pushing us to strive to make sure that we become rich, beautiful, skinny, empty … corpses. We are supposed to work incredibly hard to market ourselves, YET, the King of all glory loves us simply because we are His. Why would anyone do that stuff to themselves? Yet we take untold questionable pills, exercise until we drop, and pinch, punch and pummel our bodies to somehow make them last forever. That’s just nuts! We already have forever, HE gave it to us. Why would you work for a gift? You accept a gift, that’s part of rest! This life is temporary.

Dying to self is the only way to live like Jesus did on this planet. It helps us see this life from His perspective, and it gives us, freedom. We simply give up our right to say what we will do, or where we will go, or who we will love, or where we will live … and then live the way He tells us to live … plus … love all the people He sends our way. Meanwhile, if you can’t do that …neither can I! That’s why we need to strive to enter His rest. We have to fight against sin, this world, our flesh and our enemy. Almighty God’s love is the reason we are all still here, because His Grace has kept us here. Rest is about Who we trust. Who we want to be in charge of our lives.

It has become much too easy to forget how to really live this life we have been given. Busyness and business take over! But we are here to be other-centred. We’ve been born again and now we’ve become a part of ushering in God’s kingdom, here and now, into this world. The self-centred things of this life lose their charm, because when you walk with Christ, you can’t wait to see what He is going to do next! The bible says:“Taste and see that the Lord is good”You and I are meant to be this world’s Godly taste test. 

It is extremely sad when fear is allowed to rule His people. The fear of failing Him, the fear of loss, the fear of not being good enough, even the fear of dying! But NOW, right here, right NOW, today — we are to live this life, the only one we have from another kingdom. Jesus Christ’s death took mankind OUT of the kingdom of darkness and INTO the kingdom of His marvellous light. And our lives are now the light switch for so many people!

Like Esther said in His book, once long ago: “If I die I die!” That’s what His rest really looks like. The bible doesn’t say how Esther felt about it. She just fell back into the arms of the ‘God Who saves!’  She knew how to rest – she left it up to God to see if she was going to survive – because other people’s lives were at stake. In Christ, we are a dangerous people. That’s why our enemy throws stuff at us all the time. That ‘stuff’ is batting practice. We pick up the bat of His Word, plus our faith in our Coach, and do things the way He says to do them. Just like Esther did. It takes effort to walk in faith, that’s what striving is. When I feel like I can’t do this anymore, I ask Him to help me with my effort! 

Our belief system is not just nice and comforting — IT IS POWERFUL. That power written about in His book does not just apply to an anointed few … it is here for all of us. Access to that power comes alive when we choose to love others, exercise forgiveness, exhibit generosity, and treasure to-geth-er-ness. There is NO LAW against those things because they are so far above the things of this world. We will not learn to raise the dead, if we do not learn how to raise our hopes! Rest is not just about knowing we are going to heaven when we die. It is about us fighting the good fight, bringing His kingdom down to earth, right here, right now in our own lives.

God’s kingdom has a higher aim. A greater calling. It desires to impart His reality not just a theory. Our God is real and we carry Him with us, every single place we go. The point is, we need to let Him out!  Striving to rest is about allowing Him to do what He wants with our lives. Instead of us choosing what we feel like, or want to do. We get out of His way and let Him do what He does best… love and save people through us. Bye 👋

P 2499 Our yes works in every circumstance.

/ DVH

Fear is one of those ghastly things that tries to batter many of us daily into submission. It starts out for me, by painting pictures of disaster in my mind, and hammers at me from every corner that God does not care. Then it tells me that He is not going to help me because I don’t deserve His help. All of that is a lie! 

God is love! We all need to have complete confidence, no matter how things look, that our GOD IS also GOOD. Plus – it also goes without saying that He is not the author of fear. However, any one of us would be foolish if we underestimated our enemy. satan knows our weaknesses and he plays on them. The safest place to fight that battle is to live this life yielded to Jesus … no matter what else is going on. When we yield to Him we are saying ‘yes.’

The Lord wants to turn those weaknesses of ours into strengths, so this is how we fight our battles … we refuse to entertain the things our enemy insists will be an outcome of some situation or other, and start to concentrate on what the Lord Himself says about Who He is, and what He says about us – IN THE BOOK. The bible is the most fantastic sword ever, it has His wisdom in it, and on it, and this book adapts and becomes appropriate in any kind of situation. 

The thing is – at the same time the Holy Spirit will also use that sword to change our mindset. Using His sword and holding fast to Him to deliver us, actually transforms our minds. It is like this: something happens and we are tempted by those circumstances to think that God does not care about us. So we ask the Holy Spirit for scripture/s, then we aim that scripture at satan – just like Jesus did in Matthew. Lastly, we insist that His word is truer than how we feel, or the things that are coming against us. 

Our King will put a sword in our hands and then that word comforts us, and it tears UP/down the enemy’s lies! We will gain trust as individuals as we see our glorious King acting on our behalf. Our minds need to be infused with the reality that nothing beats King Jesus. Our aim is not about getting some specific outcome – the real answer is no matter what happens – He’s got this. We know that He will WIN whatever happens!! He already won 2,000+ years ago! The wisest course is to surrender every bit of the trouble, and hold onto WHO HE IS.

At the same time, the Holy Spirit is using that sword to separate us away from the thinking patterns we’ve formed in our lives – the things that have convinced us that things are never ever going to change. Our Father is always waiting for our cry of help, no matter how feeble that cry might seem to us. He is always with us to deliver us. If we are not delivered on the spot, then that means one of two things. The first is He knows that by stretching your faith, it will grow.

“Be assured that the testing of your faith [through experience] produces endurance [leading to spiritual maturity, and inner peace]. And let endurance have its perfect result and do a thorough work, so that you may be perfect and completely developed [in your faith], lacking in nothing.” James 1:3-4. This stretching of our faith produces the kind of endurance that will stand in any circumstances. No athlete can run a successful race if he does not build up his stamina. We need to learn from the Holy Spirit to use the difficult things as opportunities to build up our spiritual stamina. Meanwhile, inner peace is not too shabby, thank you Lord!

To get a test-i-mony sometimes you have to go through a test! None of us can avoid growing! That is why we need to seize every single opportunity to push through how we feel, then finish off the fight with the circumstances, and our feelings, by quietly waiting to see what He will do in our behalf.  Waiting is part of the Lord’s process. It renews our strength and helps us get a different view of what is going on. 

The second thing is that these places are where we get to be like David who knew, from experience, that God was going to back Him up. We must ‘taste and see that the Lord is good’ – for ourselves! … and stop just taking someone else’s word for it. Our biggest problem right now is this – in the past, this life has loomed larger than our experiences with our God’s Grace and Mercy. We’ve been babies expecting someone to pick us up and soothe us … but right here, right now we are learning to reverse this error. NOTHING IS BIGGER THAN GOD and as we yield to Him, we leave Him room to move. We want His will His way!

Sometimes we pray for deliverance from evil, but Father God is giving us an opportunity to grow, to go deeper. We need to be able to discern the times, even in our own lives. Even if we feel weak and helpless, you and I are on our way to victory!! God promises to renew our strength and … I am sooooo never going to get sick of saying this … “His strength is made PERFECT in our weakness.” WIN-WIN! 

As Christians if we stand still – we stop to fight the good fight in our head… We don’t have to run away… because our side already won. The greatest gift we can give the Lord is our availability, and satan wants to scare us out of standing in our God-given place. Let your yes to Him be continuous. 👋🏻

P 2479 Learn to live in love.

/ DVH

“We have come into an intimate experience with God’s love, and we trust in the love He has for us. God is love! Those who are living in love are living in God, and God lives through them.” 1 John 4:16 TPT

“What marvellous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it—we’re called children of God! That’s who we really are. …  … But friends, that’s exactly who we are: children of God. And that’s only the beginning. Who knows how we’ll end up! What we know is that when Christ is openly revealed, we’ll see Him—and in seeing Him, become like Him. All of us who look forward to His Coming stay ready, with the glistening purity of Jesus’ life as a model for our own.” 1 John 3:1-3 MSG.

Living in love means that we decide we will live, helped by His Grace, CHOOSING to love others. It’s the place we walk, talk, sleep and play in. We don’t move away from there. If we do, by accident, or on purpose, we immediately repent, fix whatever it is and GO BACK TO LOVE. We are designed to settle down into living a life of love for God and others and we never ever leave that neighbourhood. This is HOW we carry His Presence!

Living in love is not the same as living in today’s carelessly permissive atmosphere. God’s Love disciplines us, as I talked about yesterday. However, we watch over our attitudes and actions without any fear, because we are living aware of the Presence of the Holy Spirit – Who is the ultimate lover of our souls. We will not be afraid because … “(His) perfect love casts out fear” …

If we are afraid to talk to the Lord about anything, then we have not YET comprehended the magnitude of how much He loves us…. how perfect His love is toward us.The bible tells me that fear has to do with punishment and if I have fear, then I have forgotten that Jesus has already taken my sin to the cross. That is not a place of permissiveness, it is a place of great reverence for what we have all been given. I know that He forgave me, so now I can forgive you!

There are many times I may feel that someone has wrongfully accused me or misunderstood my motivation … only the Lord knows if they are right or wrong … but whenever I am in doubt, I ask for forgiveness. Whether I think I am right or wrong, that does not matter. I am protecting and esteeming my relationship with the Lord – not fighting for my own way or rights. I also ask you for forgiveness because our relationship together, matters to Him. I live this life remembering that I gave up my own rights when I gave my life to Him. Now I need to allow Him to do whatever happens in my life, His way.

You see the thing is we are to stay fixed within His love, not just work hard and hope we are getting this life right! Human beings are obsessed with stuff being right or wrong. The question we need to regularly ask ourselves is this …is this love? And to be honest with you, I don’t trust my own response – so I ask Him!! Living in love doesn’t just mean we love others, it also means we need to live this life we have now, knowing we are eternally LOVED by HIM. We are not spoilt brats, we are children of a loving Father Who gives us love freely so we can give it away.

Think of living in love like this, we need to check ourselves. If we start bad-mouthing or complaining or even repeatedly thinking badly about other people … something is hindering the flow of His love into our lives – out toward others. Ask the Lord what has gotten stuck… and deal with it… by choice. Most of the time we probably won’t want to do this, because this world around us says – whatever makes ME feel good is good.  This is where we have to go around how we feel, back into faith. 

The Holy Spirit isn’t concerned about how we feel – READ THE BOOK! It is what we choose to say and do, that gives Him room to move. The feelings come later. When we do this, despite how we feel, we are saying to Father God: ‘I love you Lord, and I welcome Your love, as well as Your correction in my life.’  That is when we are actively loving Jesus, when we choose to die to what we want, or what makes us happy. We are choosing to act like HE DID. Those steps are the beginning of spiritual transformation. 

Living a life of love is dying to self, every single minute of every single day. It is impossible to live in His kind of love and not die! Meanwhile, one person is not better at this than any other, we all need to actively choose to learn to live a life of love. Day, by day, by day.  👋🏻   🥳 Have love-enriched, God-blessed, 2024.

P 2471 “My God is my protection … and with Him I am safe.”

/ DVH

Some strongholds can occur in our lives as protective mechanisms that we’ve employed and embraced to keep us safe. Here’s a thought … if we are protecting ourselves, then there is no need for the Lord to protect us! The Holy Spirit will quietly leave when we lean on our own devices, because that is not the Way He operates. He loves openness, submission, truth … HE LOVES THE OPENHEARTED WAY OF LOVE…which suffers long, believes all things, hopes all things, does not take offence, confesses its faults freely without prompting and is not afraid etc etc.

I think many of us have accidentally created strongholds to protect ourselves from perceived danger. But Jesus did nothing without consulting His Father first. Imagine what that might look like if we practised that! Christmas often stirs up mindsets we really don’t need but Jesus understands families – He had one. PS He didn’t always agree with them either! He understands the kind of help we need from those who have known us all our lives. Let Him be your protector. But also … ask Him to care for everyone, not just you and yours, but even those who are not easy to get along with.

A lot of people don’t know that they have strongholds … so here’s a couple of scriptures to think about today. The disciples had been out, at Jesus’ command … healing the sick, raising the dead, etc. And they are jubilant, because what the Lord said to do when they got there… worked!! Yaaaaaay! And suddenly they get a bit puffed up. Boy I’ve seen some people fall on their faces over that one. Here’s the bit I’m talking about …

Luke 10:19-20 “I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” ← That last bit, right there, is called perspective. A-n-d … here is some more perspective …Luke 9:53-55 “…but the people there did not welcome Him, because He was heading for Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” But Jesus turned and rebuked them…” In another version the last part expands that to this:“But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT MANNER OF SPIRIT YOU ARE OF! For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them…”

Jesus is saying: “That is not the Holy Spirit, be-ca-use …He’s not like that! I came to save the lost. So if they look LOST, then I’m here for them!!” The disciples clearly exhibit the fact that their judgment was clouded by something other than the leading of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps it was clouded by the stronghold of self-importance and success or maybe even fear? A stronghold may be logical, and look like righteous self-protection, it could even seem like loyalty. Loyalty can be misplaced, and come from a wrong spirit.

Jesus was always showing the disciples His priorities. Making sure that we take notice of things like this, in the bible, is how we start to learn the way Jesus thinks! He is saying:“You are saved, be happy about that … but they are not. Don’t let your self-importance or fear, or even misguided loyalty, cloud your motivation.”  We can easily have the kind of strongholds that say: “If you aren’t on my side, then you have to be a bad guy!” 

Christians can agonise over the fact that we want to hear from God. Well, all through the Gospels Jesus is telling us and demonstrating to us, over and over and over again  … “THIS IS HOW GOD THINKS.” How does the Lord treat the poor, or sinful, or proud, or disgraced, or rude, or mean, or even people who think they are important? It is all in there, in the gospels. Everything we need to know about what He thinks is in there!! He’s never ever motivated by anything other than love.

Because of what He did for us, we don’t have to be too proud to admit our faults. Casually dismissing strongholds in our lives is like tying weights around our ankles. We can’t flow with the Holy Spirit. Instead we need to confess them to Him, repent to others we may have hurt, and ask for His help and deliverance. Then, seize the day! Today is always the best day to get free. He is our deliverer from those things we have employed to protect ourselves from people we are afraid of.

Because Jesus Christ is now our protection, our aim needs to be staying connected with everyone. Not in an obsessive way, we simply do it to obey Him. Let’s tear down, or discard any strongholds that prevent us from running freely, and practice trusting Him with the people around us who don’t understand who He is … yet. 👋🏻

P 2460 Never underestimate the power of choice.

/ DVH

Yeah, I know I rabbit on about choice all the time. However, I have a good reason to do that. Our minute by minute choices determine the intimacy of our walk with the Lord as well as others. I want to highlight the power of choice today, because many people are under the impression that if they just pray about something – that is all they need to do. I disagree. First we choose, then we carry whatever it is out.

I totally believe that Father God always hears our prayers. I think that He hears the prayers we never even say out loud.  His love is so incredible, He cares about the unspoken things that tear at our hearts, but they are unseen by other people’s eyes. In that place human heartache has no words – the bible calls that ‘sighs and groans too deep for words…’

It seems to me that this is why He says:“Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you …” Seeking His will above everything and everyone else in our lives, positions us to be under His Government. And boy, is HE a fantastic governor! His government is far more than just provision – there is shelter from the storms of this life when we choose His will, His way. He sent us the Holy Spirit to help us carry out Godly choices. The Holy Spirit is poised, ready and waiting and longing to help us … because He loves each one of us dearly and He wants us to win! Jesus relied upon the Holy Spirit, and so should we, if we want to follow Him. 

The Holy Spirit IS Jesus Christ Himself, with us – He is literally standing right at our elbows, waiting for us to ask Him to help us out of our learnt patterns of disobedience, and fear, as well as the stupid messes we make. And all that takes is the humility to choose to ASK. Jesus told us that He left this world so the Spirit could come to be with us, and convict us of sin. We know that He will help, guide, comfort, counsel, instruct, and support us. However, the Holy Spirit in us, is also the Lord’s deposit upon us for our eternal future – His Presence in our lives assures us we belong to Jesus now. We need to treasure Him, and obey Him, plus walk with HIM – that is also a choice. 

Because we long to be His obedient people, we cannot afford to rely upon our own choices, no matter how small they seem. We daily need the Holy Spirit’s help to make kingdom choices. Yesterday our kitchen sink tap started leaking into the cupboard under the sink. What a mess! We could have thrown up our hands and cried: ‘Oh no, more bills!” But we chose to ask the Lord what He wanted us to do about it. Because of that choice hubby was able to witness to a young plumber. Our choices can hinder our growth or encourage it. They invite us into our destiny or close the door.

Right at the beginning of mankind’s interactions with God, and the wondrous world He made … the one Adam and Eve lived in… Everything was lost by that one bad choice. Genesis 2:16–17: “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Death came into that garden. God gave Adam a reason not to eat from that particular tree, but they both went ahead and made the wrong choice. They were tempted to doubt God’s truthfulness and they fell into sin! They thought what they could see was all there was, because that fruit looked and smelt good!

The devil wants us all to think that our choices do not count. he whispers: ‘You are no-one, what you do doesn’t matter.’ Or he says: ’Who will know? After all this or that need is so great, God will understand.’ I know about that particular rabbit-hole, I’ve fallen down it myself … sadly, many times. I ended up in Alice’s wonderland, where nothing made sense – until I chose to acknowledge my sin and repented. 

We cannot afford to put aside the kind of faith-filled obedience that demonstrates that God knows better than we do. In reality without faith, nothing can actually make sense. Let’s face it, it made no sense humanly speaking, that Adam and Eve could eat from any tree but that particular one! But immediate gain overtook caution … and they fell in. In our own lives that is also true.

Here is some advice: ‘choose God’s way from His Word, quickly, and stick with it despite any opposition.’ And there will be opposition, from our flesh as well as our enemy! I think we can easily blame the devil when the real point is, we either don’t want to, OR our flesh is weak and it is crying out for whatever it wants. That means our flesh has become used to being indulged.

When we are not walking with the Holy Spirit we can make really bad choices that affect tomorrow… and tomorrow … and … tomorrow. That’s how our eyes are blinded by our needs, and the overwhelming desire to sort out our own lives. We start to focus on the immediate, instead of the eternal. The power of choice is huge, and we cannot miss God if we are guided by His Word, as well as the good advice of mature saints … plus the desire to obey … above everything else. Never underestimate the power of choice!  Choose life.👋🏻

P 2447 We need to learn His Ways –

/ DVH

He already knows ours!!Judges 7:1-7 “Early in the morning, Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) and all his men camped at the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh. The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against Me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’ Now announce to the army, ‘Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’” So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained.  But the Lord said to Gideon, “There are still too many men.

Take them down to the water, and I will thin them out for you there. If I say, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go; but if I say, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.” So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the Lord told him, “Separate those who lap the water with their tongues as a dog laps from those who kneel down to drink.” Three hundred of them drank from cupped hands, lapping like dogs. All the rest got down on their knees to drink. The Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the others go home.”

The first thing I want to say, is that it is extremely important to:  a/ make sure you don’t miss any of the details when reading scripture;  and b/ today, take particular note of the fact that Gideon eyeballed every single man as he drank and there were 10,000 men! There were 22,000 cowardly custards BTW! Our God is always in the detail! Human beings love to run on and start planning how to make what God says work.

Maybe like this? … “Oh so the lappers stay, and the cupped hands guys go? Hands up all the lappers.” But Gideon had to listen to God for each individual man’s involvement. All 10,000 of them! God’s answer to prayer and Him helping us, doesn’t look like we think it will. I cannot begin to count how many times that has been my experience. My advice is this – don’t get ahead of Him – you’ll miss the blessing. HE’S THE BLESSING. 

When you are about to fight an army that is called, by reputation, ‘without number’ … eliminating fighting men does not seem all that clever. And that’s the bit I want you to take away today – the Lord does not do things the way we do them. HIS WAYS ARE NOT OUR WAYS – HIS WAYS ARE PAST FINDING OUT. I often wonder why people drive themselves nuts trying to figure out and plot the way that the Lord is going to do something or other, in the light of a story like this one. He exhorts us to wait for Him.

His ways are so far above ours! I urge us all to read the book looking carefully at the details, He reveals Himself there. Otherwise, it can seem out of touch and pretty weird … that He would even think of saving a whole city with an evangelist who spent his entire preparatory time for preaching, in the belly of a whale! Maybe getting swallowed up, helped with repentance and obedience.  

Let’s look at the New Testament to see if things like this are any different from the stuff in the Old… sh-a-ll we? How about feeding thousands of people from 5 loaves and 2 fishes … Now you and I don’t see that every other Friday at the fish shop do we? Or how about making a brand new eyeball out of spit and dirt? Granted, it was Jesus’ own spit, but … … you get my drift. You know I figure the Lord was there when Father God made man in the first place, so He knew all about how to make people’s spare parts out of dirt! 

What about walking past a pool, which was specially set up for sick people to congregate around, and yet the Lord went there and healed just one man! Where did ‘He healed them all’go?? We need to learn to laugh at ourselves and our pitiful attempts to understand what He is doing and WHY! To know Him better, and stand in awe of His awesomeness, we must begin to notice the details in the book. We can’t just cherry pick and choose the bits that suit us and our own understanding – which, BTW, we are not supposed to lean on (!) … when we read the bible.

You know, the bible says God Himself laughs!! Psalm 2:4 “He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The Lord shall hold them in derision.” I thank God that I have an Advocate standing right by my Heavenly Father’s right hand explaining the way human beings think. No wonder the Lord laughs! We make such hard work out of everything!

Finally, have you ever reflected upon why the Lord God chooses such unusual methods of operation? Why was that snake allowed in the garden? What can I learn from that?? Why stick Jonah in a whale? Why take trumpets and lamps into a battle, or march round the city for 7 days in silence, and then shout!  Why pour gallons of water over an altar that is meant to be set on fire? God’s ways are past finding out … we need to stop trying to finagle Him into bringing about the results that we think are going to be great, AND instead start listening to Him. Let’s follow His implicit instructions, obey what He says and learn how to trust Him instead. Learning to listen… another great key.  Bye👋🏻

P 2445 Have you got the wrong driver?

/ DVH

“Love never brings fear, for fear is always related to punishment. But love’s perfection drives the fear of punishment far from our hearts. Whoever walks constantly afraid of punishment has not reached love’s perfection.” 1 John 4:18 TPT. Now that’s what I am talking about … having the right driver! Pause and think on: ‘love never brings fear!’ 🧐 

Today I want to talk about allowing the Holy Spirit to drive the ‘car’ of our lives. It is good to stop and prayerfully assess what is behind some of our thought processes regularly, because all kinds of sneaky Pete things can hide in places that we cannot see. Unfortunately, sometimes we can take our thoughts very casually. The answer of course, is to run our thoughts by Him.

After we have given our situation to Him – the secret to overcoming those things, is to LEAVE THEM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT. Refuse to pick stuff up again – unless He gives you specific instructions. Then you should carry them out! Tell yourself: “That’s that thing I gave to God and He is acting on my behalf.” Once you have handed stuff over, don’t start trying to figure it out. Leave it with Him. That’s what trust looks like. Make room for time with the Holy Spirit when you are reading the bible, that’s how we renew our minds. Simply reading the bible does not do that. Pray, wait for answers, and then act on what He says. If He says do nothing – then do nothing. 

You know, most of us learnt our thinking patterns before we met Jesus — little babies do not have filters that can keep out fear. Fear can also be handed down from one generation to the next. Things like over protective parents, absent parents, disinterested parents — all these things can create situations where fear will take advantage of us. Obviously parents try very hard to avoid those kinds of scenarios – I know I did! But kids pick up on the darndest things and what frightens one will make another one laugh. Fear is sneaky, it takes advantage of innocence and trust and our minds go spinning off into mental situations that actually don’t apply. 

Like the above scripture says: the antidote to fear is His LOVE. I cannot stress enough how important it is for His love to go from being a theory, or even a pretty thought, into being something we can cling to when the whole world is madly swinging and swaying and nothing seems to be where you want it to be. His love needs to undergird everything we know and do… because God’s love is always constant and He loves us consistently. The river of His love flowing toward us never ever alters. We must get rid of the idea that answers to prayer prove His love toward us. His love is established by what He did when He sent His Son Jesus to die. It is clearly documented for all to see in the bible.

Fear can be a paralysing emotion. For years, certain bodily symptoms would send me into fear. Fear of pain, fear that I would not be able to escape from it.  Even fear of being trundled off into hospital!  Sometimes fear can even be ruling our lives;  yet we can be totally unaware of it. Someone might say: “I am not afraid of heights” … But they don’t go anywhere near the edge when they are in high places, or look down. Another person might have more than enough money to manage their lives comfortably, but they live in severe restricted conditions and refuse to spend a penny unless they absolutely have to. That’s FEAR!

If we are afraid, and we know it, the antidote for that malady is to ask, and keep on asking, for a real revelation of the love of God. Make this subject for study, every time you read the words “God loves you” …highlight them. MAKE A LIST. Read it often. Keep deliberately adding to those revealed truths you have. We can never have enough insight into how powerful and all encompassing God’s love is.

Obey what He tells you to do. We can do nothing without Him, and fear will restrict us from stepping into this new life He died to give us. That includes fear of punishment, fear of loss, fear of error, fear of missing out , fear of being cheated or mistreated, fear of losing self… all of these things can rob us of the certainty that God loves us so dearly and nothing can separate us from His kind of love. 

We must not beat ourselves up when we are afraid – that’s called compounding the felony!! It is a huge mistake to tolerate fear, and hide from what it does to us internally. The verse above gives us the diagnosis of where we are with fear: “Love never brings fear, for fear is always related to punishment. But love’s perfection drives the fear of punishment far from our hearts. Whoever walks constantly afraid of punishment has not reached love’s perfection.” Keep walking toward His love, and choose the right driver for your daily walk with Him. Bye. 👋🏻

P 2437 Kindness without measure …

/ DVH

“God’s love is meteoric, His loyalty astronomic. His purpose titanic, His verdicts oceanic. Yet in His largeness nothing gets lost;  Not a man, not a mouse, slips through the cracks.” Psalm 36:5-6(MSG) Why on earth would anyone follow someone else? I mean seriously! Our God’s love is bigger than anything we can imagine or think. He is out-of-this-world loyal to every single human being, and none of us will ever earn it or deserve it. His purposes and loving kindnesses are so huge and comprehensive that they are beyond all our imaginings, and our wildest dreams.

And … He never ever loses sight of even one of us, every minute of every day, all day, every day. Our Father even knows when an ordinary little bird falls to the ground! All this is because Jesus Christ came here in human flesh and lived among us. Now human beings cannot say that Almighty God does not understand humanity. He understands from within what happens when we are happy, sad, embarrassed, hurt, crushed or we feel humiliated or can’t cope … and He does all that, even better than we can, imagine that! SomeBody Who knows you better than you know yourself. 

In my lifetime I have had several occasions to look at the things I’ve said, or done, and wonder: “Where the heck did that awful stuff come from?”  Yet Father God knew those things were in there, inside my heart, long before I found out. He never excuses my sin – the precious blood of Jesus covers me. We are all naked before Him without any excuse, and He took the most precious Person He has, and covered all of us. Father God does not wink at any sin … He doesn’t have too, He legally and legitimateIy took care of it. Personally, I am so greatly impacted by His incredible kindness toward me, because I know it is so totally undeserved.

In my lifetime so far, I have been appalling to other people. When situations pressed me hard, what was hidden inside came outside! Despite knowing Jesus and doing and saying all the right things for years – those things did not comfort me when I was so incredibly sick I might die. Instead I was angry, because this life hadn’t given me an opportunity to feel loved, fulfilled, or happy. Under that overwhelming, internal pressure, things like hatred, disgust, rage and indifference to other people’s pain came out of me so strongly it scared me. That’s when I knew, that I knew, that I KNEW … that I do absolutely really need a Saviour. I looked hard at myself and I didn’t like what I saw. And I had been saved for years. God was good to me – He showed me my real self.

But I also saw, in a fresh way, that our God is incredibly loyal to us. The bible is filled with real-life stories about people who severely tested His loyalty  – in the Old Testament and the New. But He consistently and constantly extended Grace to them, He allowed them to learn. Those few verses in Psalm 36 above remind us that He is not just a kindly old man in the sky, who remembers us at Christmas and maybe on our birthday … Or even SomeOne Who only loves us when we do well. No! Now I know in person: “The Lord is on my side, I will not fear. What can man do to me?”Psalm 118:6. 

Listen to this verse, it will blow your mind: “But, as it is written, ‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love Him’ – these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God” (1 Cor. 2:9 NRSV). Thank you Lord for the Holy Spirit.  Without His Presence with us, and within us, as He opens our eyes and ears to God’s endless possibilities … we might faint, or fail along the way. I very nearly did, but He caught me. And in time He stood me up again on my wobbly legs and taught me how to walk with Him in Spirit and truth. Not just lip-service and angst and entitlement. You know, when you think you are already a pretty nice person – Grace and Mercy do not mean so much to you.

BUT the bible says: “God sheer mercy and grace:  not easily angered,He’s rich in Love.”  Psalm 103:8. WOW!  Again, Almighty God’s never ending love is our personal proof that love overcomes everything else. Because of my own experiences, I do not understand why Christians don’t cherish mercy and grace more. After all, most people want it for themselves when they know they are doing something awful — but I just don’t get why we don’t readily give His mercy and grace away to other people. Christian or not. It seems we’d rather hang onto the bad things … more. satan sure does mess with our minds.

Here’s a news flash for anyone reading this blog today — and this means you! HUMANITY DOES NOT DESERVE MERCY AND GRACE …no matter how nice we think we are!! Like EVER. Oh, but there is a fountain, that bubbles and bursts with Jesus’ life that constantly flows over us … That fountain of life, grace and mercy cost Father God everything He held dear. But in His heart He gained so much more, you and I. Speaking for myself, I know now, personally, that I am not worth it! But boy am I grateful. Bye. 🤗