Feelings

P 3349 Real life.

/ DVH

I have a question —  how do you handle the everyday difficulties that frustrate you? When we get back from a mission trip, all kinds of not-so-nice things can happen. Instead of floating about on a cloud of victory, praising God for His goodness in our travels, we suddenly need to cope with unexpected illness or some frustration or other. I like to be truthful about this life, and that’s because our faith needs to be realistic, not glamorised. Trust me, nobody needs to feel a failure for being human – Jesus took man’s humanity in His stride, and kindness and compassion flowed out from Him. 

Let’s remind ourselves that whatever happens that is good, right and profitable, it is the Lord doing what He loves to do, reaching out to people. Personally I definitely need that kind of spiritual exercise!  The deliberately renewing of your mind when you’d rather have a hissy fit … kind. When there are day-to-day difficulties and challenges, it is easy to fall into the trap of over-emphasising the good, diminishing the bad, and deliberately losing sight of the ugly! But we can’t afford to live in the beautifully, hand-painted land of one glorious victory after another, either. That’s not reality … not where I live! 

We are no less His kids just because we can’t cope. Living in victory every moment of every day is just a happy story we tell ourselves because we are desperately longing for  brighter days. We we really need is relief from pain and we’ve forgotten our true hiding place is in Him. “God is close to the broken-hearted,” Psalm 34:18 …But when our feelings are fierce and we’ve been stabbed through the heart, or we are afraid, we don’t often remember verses like that. If you have a friend who will remind you – cherish them.

Today I want to talk about something so simple, sensible, and clearly thought out, it thoroughly blessed me in the middle of a difficult time. I was listening to a very ordinary little old lady (Yes I know I are one!) She was briefly speaking in a YouTube clip. She said this: “Why do we think everything should always be wonderful in our lives, and work so hard to achieve it, when we are actually living in enemy territory?” … … I was poleaxed. She blew my mind. What a wise older lady! The Lord sure has His precious gems hidden away in secret, and when you discover one like this precious saint, they bless you. When I find someone like this I want to adopt them! 

My point is, we need balance. We can’t make excuses for our behaviour when it is less than what we are aiming at,  but we mustn’t beat ourselves up either. Our response is to increase our faith in what He did for us – that’s the renewing our mind bit.  Blame is the enemy’s sharpest tool of discouragement and distraction. The only Person we can ever safely invest in is Jesus – everybody else suffers from harassment, trouble and strife just like we do.

Here’s a verse that doesn’t always suit our version of theology … Romans 5:3-5: “Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, Who has been given to us.” Almighty God does not see our hard times the way we see them. I can become very concerned when Christianity is driven along by our desperate need to be positive. We sometimes try so hard to make gold out of straw! The only Person Who can do that is the Lord … and it is our joy to watch Him do it. 

Every single Christian needs the Lord’s help to manage what comes at them. You and I are not exceptions. When we cannot cope, we need to remember for ourselves, and also remind others that we are human. Let’s remember where our help comes from  – “I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.”  Psalm 121:1, 2. Find a hill and look UP! I’ve found that doing something He asks me to do for someone else, cheers me up when my spirit is flagging. Meanwhile, we need to allow the Holy Spirit the freedom to do what He loves to do – redeem situations. 

Our favourite tiler came and finished tiling our main bedroom floor yesterday, which means we might be moving back into a bigger, more comfortable bedroom soon. We are a bit squashed in a single room. But at the same time, we were able to share the gospel with our tiler friend and his beautiful wife, and they responded so well. They are a Muslim couple, and the very sweet young wife read parts of the bible out loud, to practice her English! I still get misty eyed thinking about it. 

My point is, we all suffer. Sometimes with niggly, messy irritations, disturbing interruptions, or even some sort of unspeakable agony, when life turns into a nightmare. So we pray and pray because we want it to stop; we can pray and ask for His help, and remember that we are living in enemy territory and bad stuff will happen. There is no need to punish or deride yourself for failure, or missteps, or a lack of faith … right when you most need it. This is real life and some days it can be hard to take. Bye 👋 

P 3306 Learning to yield.

/ DVH

“You crazy Galatians! Did someone put a spell on you? Have you taken leave of your senses? Something crazy has happened, FOR IT’S OBVIOUS THAT YOU NO LONGER HAVE THE CRUCIFIED JESUS IN CLEAR FOCUS IN YOUR LIVES. His sacrifice on the cross was certainly set before you clearly enough. Let me put this question to you: How did your new life begin? Was it by working your heads off to please God? Or was it by responding to God’s Message to you? Are you going to continue this craziness? For only crazy people would think they could complete by their own efforts what was begun by God.                                                  

If you weren’t smart enough or strong enough to begin it, how do you suppose you could perfect it? Did you go through this whole painful learning process for nothing? It is not yet a total loss, but it certainly will be if you keep this up! Answer this question: Does the God who lavishly provides you with His own Presence, His Holy Spirit, working things in your lives you could never do for yourselves, does He do these things because of your strenuous moral striving or because you trust Him to do them in you?” Galatians 3:1-6 MSG bible.

You might want to sit a while and think about those 6 verses. Then if you dare, ask yourself some questions … ‘Do I act from day to day like the Galatians did? Does what I think and how I behave, seem more powerful than the Holy Spirit — Who was specifically sent TO ME, to help me? Am I excusing myself from the things I know He doesn’t want me to do and saying: ‘I can’t help it?’ “Our help comes in the Name of the Lord Who made heaven and earth.” Psalm 121:2. Our own welfare depends on forgiving others. We need to surrender and yield.

Does anybody reading this have a toddler? You will probably be well acquainted with the: “me do it” stage! It’s a healthy, but annoying sign of independence in a toddler – but it is less than healthy in a grown person. When it comes to spiritual matters, giving up quickly and asking for help is the way to go. Those people who work hard at ‘being Christian,’ are trying to BE what God already says they ARE. I’ve learnt that trying harder without Jesus, leads to even more fruitless effort. Expending all that effort can result in despair. Or even arrogance. Especially when we are dealing with other people who do not have the same strength of will we have. We can end up in judgment quicker than a bee sting hurts!

The Holy Spirit has helped me to manage my feelings and responses on countless occasions when I was interacting with someone who was difficult. I had persevered and anguished over them in my prayers, with loads of tears, anger, frustration and lots of effort. At times, I actually made myself go and see them and I’d tell myself: “It’s the right thing to do.” I dunno why! You would think that bumping into that brick wall would have registered on my Richter scale … but no! I just kept trying harder and falling flat on my face. I not only came up with bruises, I came up angry.  After all, I was doing my best! 

Here is the solution the Holy Spirit gave me within seconds, when I stopped pouting, and complaining, and asked Him for His help: “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider that I have made it my own yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead,…” Philippians 3:13. I was holding on to the way they had treated me in the past, and the past could easily have been last week! I had to forget the past. What they had done, what I had done, and the things I felt. Then yield to Him and move on. I was stuck because I wasn’t forgetting what lay behind me. 

‘You don’t know what they did to me blah blah blah.’ In my life there were many people who had damaged me to the core. So how do you forget that stuff? DELIBERATELY … that’s how. No, I am not kidding. This is a war about our spiritual well-being and the wrong result means our feelings will interfere with our ability to hear the Holy Spirit. BTW forgiving is not the same as trusting the other person. Jesus knew what was in men’s hearts, and the bible says He didn’t entrust Himself to them. (John 2:24).You don’t have to trust those people who hurt you, just forgive them, and start renewing your mind. We have to be Kingdom of God thinkers, not just ‘immediate comfort’ ones.

Then, whenever what happened, pops into your mind, shove it straight out — don’t even entertain it for a minute— and whack at that thought with scripture. The Holy Spirit will give you something. Learning to yield to the Holy Spirit is so necessary as we go about our day. He is our Guide, and He’s the One Who leads us into good works that God Himself has prepared for each one of us. Everything is about making a choice. Drag your feelings and thoughts back to the centre … Jesus. When we treat people consistently differently, they act differently. His mercy is new to everyone every morning.

The Lord suffered so we could have the right to choose to ask for His help — not just be forced into doing it by rules, fear, or obligation. Over a period of time it transpired that yielding my will to His, had enormous benefits in my daily walk. I stopped listening to my feelings, which were kind of ‘over-developed’ and learnt to refer to what the Lord said in His word. My feelings needed to be tamed and replaced by grace, peace and love in what God says about me. Our feelings lie to us, they tell us we can’t, when we have Almighty God resident inside us! And His Son, Who came and died for everyone’s sins. Yours, mine, and theirs.

Once I made up my mind that I wanted to choose His Way over my way, because His way was far far better than mine!! I realised the Lord wanted to do something  deeper inside me. Back then, in my past, my trust had been betrayed as a child, so my idea of HIS goodness, kindness and unfailing love was all messed up.  That was healed as I decided to yield to Him, instead of trying to fix it by myself. I simply surrendered my perceived right to be angry with others, and the Lord proved Himself faithful! Bye. 👋

P 3292 Obey.

/ DVH

All through the bible we see stories about how people obeyed the Lord and what happened next. This is how connection with the Lord works for me. When He speaks to me, He often uses scripture. I actively try not to relegate Him to the ‘back burner’ whenever I am doing something else. And read the bible. Read it when you feel like it and read it when you don’t. The bible teaches us His language. I read the Word, looking for things to do, and I keep reading until I see something that clearly shows me: “Well, I’m not doing that!” Then I pray and ask Him to show me how to do the thing I haven’t been doing.  

I insist. That means I go back to whatever it is in prayer, over and over again until He answers me – He’s Almighty God not an answering machine, so I return to the subject regularly.  But if He doesn’t say anything  — and that can sometimes happen … but it is very rare. Then I deliberately go and read somewhere else like the Gospels or the Epistles and find something I am not paying attention to, and do that. This is what I have figured out… by doggedly seeking after Him and obeying the Word, I am showing God that I am serious about what He says and I want to do it. So when I go ahead and do it, it means that I am practising obedience. Forget about how you feel – satan can keep us in our feelings going round and round. Just do it. 

I truly try not to avoid obeying Him. If I think I can’t do it, or I don’t know how to, then I ask for His help. And I know He will answer me. I have a Helper Who wrote this book. He knows exactly what I need to hear and when I need to hear it, and He also knows what I should do and how I should do it. God already came down to our level when He sent Christ.  Now He wants us to learn to live at His level. We could also call that learning to live in His kingdom. We cannot afford to pick and choose what we obey.   

I cannot stress the importance of obedience enough. It is the very thing Father God brought up time and time again with the Israelites. Psalm 81:13 says: “If My people would only listen to Me, if Israel would only follow My ways…” Isaiah 1:19,20 says :”… If you will only let Me help you, if you will only obey, then I will make you rich! But if you keep on turning your backs and refusing to listen to Me …” Look up Isaiah 29:13: Ezekiel 33:31; Matthew 15:7-9 for more examples. Become very used to handling your bible, whether it is on your phone or a hard copy. As I read what He wrote, I became used to reading about the WAY He does things. That helped me to identify His ‘voice.’

When we don’t listen to what He has told us, the result is we get spiritually deafer – we don’t recognise Him when He speaks. Ignoring something because we don’t like it, or we don’t think we can stop doing that, makes us deaf.  We are much better off seeking His help to obey, because we have an onsite Helper, and Jesus Christ totally understands humanity! He has personally experienced the difficulties men and women face. At the same time we need to learn to tune into His frequency regularly. Then obey. 

Our own personal store house filled with His Word will help us to manage what is going on inside.  When I don’t know what to do next, I ask Him to show me the answer in His Word. Immediately something (a scripture, a part of a verse) springs into my mind and heart, and I take the time to go away and look it up. When you or I do that we are showing the Lord we value what He says. And where it is necessary, I step out in faith. Sometimes He gives me insight into my own behaviour. Broken hearts do dumb things, and Jesus is our Healer. The more we value what He has said in the bible, the more of it we will actually store up inside us, particularly when we do what it says.  

People fail to hear the Holy Spirit because they are not paying attention to His language. The bible is written in His language. If I went to China to live, I would expect to study the Chinese language in order to be able to live peaceably, side by side with those people. If I want to live, walk, talk, and enjoy Jesus’ company I will need to speak His language. We speak His language, when we choose to obey Him purely because we love Him. This kind of love is not gooey or soppy, it is productive!

I want to finish with a testimony. As a Christian I have tried to live the way I described above — so when I found a verse in Exodus 20:3, the 3rd commandment, I asked the Lord —do I have anything in my heart or house that You don’t like? Please note that I did not assume innocence, I asked Him, instead. Immediately I felt there was something in an old handbag of mine. I went through all my bags. Nothing. So I went through them again, searching carefully. This time I held each one up to the roof and said: (Not proud of this) “SEE, nothing in here!”Silence. My immediate thought was I made all that up! 

As I was putting the bags away again, I felt something lumpy on the outside of the empty bag.  So I looked into it again, nothing inside, yet I could feel something from the outside. Stuck between the lining and the outer bag was something I had picked up years before I met Him.I knew instantly when I saw it, this was what He had referred to. I threw it away. Peace returned. God wants to guide us with His eye on us.  Take what He points out to you seriously. Obedience is everything, don’t make excuses for yourself, just do it.  Bye. 👋

P 3287 The past.

/ DVH

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” Isaiah 43:19. Here is another good reason to leave the past behind us, it’s in Galatians 2:20. “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” AND 2 Corinthians 55:17. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” Living in the past robs us of who we are in Christ, now. 

I think the above verses are a catalyst for any of our thoughts about our own personal sin. In the Message bible it says this: “So roll up your sleeves, get your head in the game, be totally ready to receive the gift that’s coming when Jesus arrives. Don’t lazily slip back into those old grooves of evil, doing just what you feel like doing. You didn’t know any better then; you do now. As obedient children, let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God’s life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness. God said, “I am holy; you be holy.”

I seem to recall a line from some dumb movie I have watched: “The past is so-o-o ov-er!”  Have you ever been on a merry-go-round? You aren’t actually going anywhere at all. But the sensation of movement, the colour, the music, the excitement make it seem like fun. Unless you suffer from vertigo, then I’d give it a swerve. We need to take the time to escape from the kind of mental merry-go-round that holds us captive to the past and robs us of everything that Jesus died to give us. Human beings can easily get stuck in the land of remorse and regret. That can take us off the playing field, with our head in our hands. Vanquished.  

Let’s get free from the web of our past deeds, even if what happened was only yesterday! Move on with Him into Grace. Count your blessings that you have a Saviour Who loves you. At the same time, presumption is not the answer either. Simply accept responsibility for what you did, and grieve over your sin, then repent and repair things and re-establish relationships where necessary. Then …Let. It. Go. Jesus died for that too. It wasn’t someone else’s fault, it was yours … so do whatever you can to fix it, then put it behind you. 

Peter tells us to be holy. Now there’s a tall order if ever there was one. To start with we would never turn the TV on again, because even the ads are offensive — they are definitely not holy! But one of the ways to live in the peace that holiness produces, is to leave your past behind you. I’ve had to do that, and it is not easy. The past is like a familiar itch that creeps up on you, and pounces when you least expect it. Then you scratch at it to make it go away, and that always makes the stupid itch worse!  It could be a sight, a sound, a feeling, and suddenly you are back down the same old hole, feeling guilty again – as well as hoping the Lord doesn’t remember what you did.  He doesn’t.  Your problem is YOU do. 

This is where the bible is a sword, and remorse and regret are our enemies. Those things distract us from the brand new, bright roads that lead us to know more about Him. Never discount what Almighty God can do in us and through us, simply because we are His. Majoring on the past is a bad plan, it’s flawed. That’s because we are minimising the Lord’s power in us to overcome – sin, the world, the devil. 

Overcoming is not like getting zapped into some super hero’s suit and suddenly having powers! Overcoming happens one step at a time. But it can’t start or go anywhere from what we’ve done, it starts and ends with what Jesus already did!! The real question is this —-is what the Lord Jesus did at calvary complete? Or can what you’ve done somehow cancel that? 

We have God’s Word, which is our sure foundation. That’s the firmest ground this world has ever seen. We can stand confidently on what He did. Accessing our feelings won’t help. They will lie to us and dig up a thousand reasons why our particular sin is the worst one ever. We need to read the bible, then make a list of scriptures that clearly show us that what Christ did. Don’t skip repentance!  Make the time … you’ll thank me later!  Calvary was complete. There are no codicils, no add ons. He died once for all.  

These verses tell us that even more grace is coming toward us when Jesus appears again. Our sin cannot possibly stand in the face of the incredible, momentous GRACE Christ released on our behalf. What God has done is fool-proof, even if you or I are the fools involved! Deal with the past, then leave it alone and let it be. Fight the urge to try and figure out how you could have done stuff better. Make things right, then move on. Bye. 👋

P 3264 Running over.

/ DVH

“Yes, God is more than ready to overwhelm you with every form of grace, so that you will have more than enough of everything —every moment and in every way. He will make you overflow with abundance in every good thing you do.”       2 Corinthians 9:8 TPT.

Grace is a precious gift from our Heavenly Father given to us, to reconcile mankind to Himself. This Grace was given to us, for us, and for others. It was unbelievably expensive. Jesus came to earth and died to provide us all with an unlimited supply, forever. It is good to remember that Grace goes hand in hand with MERCY. It doesn’t matter who we are, or where we come from, or what someone else has done, or left undone, God’s Grace is freely available to every man, woman, or child ever born, it begins to transform lives around us as it flows through us.

God’s Grace is like a river in full flood, it refreshes every dry thing around it for miles! Here are some ways God’s Grace will transform us in our day to day lives. Saving Grace… the Grace that washes us clean from all our sins;  operational Grace  … the Grace we need to accomplish something He has asked us to do;  forbearing Grace … that’s the kind we need when someone else is driving us up a wall;  enabling Grace, the kind we need when we are overwhelmed by our circumstances;  plus extraordinary Grace… the Grace we have been given to  believe what Jesus said, when everything coming at us tells us it can’t happen. This Grace leads us into more faith. BTW, this is not by any means, a comprehensive list of the attributes of Grace!

Grace is the vehicle we deliberately climb inside when we accept the fact that Jesus died for my sin. My point today is — don’t ever step out of the vehicle!  Stay inside Grace!  I am going to need Grace all the time, for me and for you. Almighty God Himself, in the Person of Christ, has freely supplied it. I can’t trust myself because my old nature will rear its ugly head when I least expect it, and I will hurt someone. Praise God! He is not stingy. He showed us that when He gave this world His only Son to heal, deliver, transform and save us all. 

Jesus didn’t just sort of, kind of, only just scrape through overcoming the evil that we have participated in. No! He triumphantly overpaid. Our God has so much Grace, the bible describes Him as being rich in it! It is important that we realise that we cannot afford to entertain any idea that who we are, or what we’ve done, could ever even make a dent on the incredible deluge He poured out on all of us. Our reconciliation with our Father and each other is a direct result of Jesus’ actions.

Ephesians 2:4-10. “But God’s mercy is so abundant, and His love for us is so great,  that while we were spiritually dead in our disobedience He brought us to life with Christ. It is by God’s grace that you have been saved.  In our union with Christ Jesus He raised us up with Him to rule with Him in the heavenly world. He did this to demonstrate for all time to come the extraordinary greatness of His grace in the love He showed us in Christ Jesus.  For it is by God’s grace that you have been saved through faith. It is not the result of your own efforts, but God’s gift, so that no one can boast about it. God has made us what we are, and in our union with Christ Jesus He has created us for a life of good deeds, which He has already prepared for us to do.”

We can easily lose sight of the power of Grace when we aimlessly wander over into our own strength. Speaking for myself it can be much too easy to think: ”Oh, now I know what the Lord wants,” and toddle off and do it by myself. However, I discovered that the bible says: ‘His strength is made perfect in weak people,’ so my own strength is no longer an asset. Especially if I want to enjoy the fullness of His Grace! Grace is as tangible in this world, as heaven is. Let’s cherish what we’ve been given as the best thing we have, use it, and be thankful for it. 

There are times that when we want or need His overflowing Grace, but we discover we must wait for it. Waiting on the Lord renews our strength, stretches our faith, and thankfully it reminds us we can’t do anything without Him!  This position is not about just sitting around staring at the ceiling waiting for something to happen. Waiting for Grace is an active thing, that involves the faith we already have in Who He is. We deliberately invest and fix our heart into and on Jesus’ character. 

I’ve found that knowing what I can’t do is an enormous blessing. Asking for His help with anything and everything is not a sign of weakness – it is a sign of respect for what He has said and done, as well as what we have already seen Him do. When we ask for more of His Grace we are honouring Him, because we are asking for more of Jesus’ love, life, kindness, patience etc. to manifest itself in our lives toward others. This means we see Him as the Answer — to everything.

Our earthly limitations are just opportunities for God to make Himself real to us in a way we haven’t seen before. We have no comprehension about what the Lord can do with an ordinary life — one that is totally surrendered to Him and His Ways. I have experienced this in a small way, personally. When I refuse to listen to my hurt feelings, and indignation about how someone else treated me, and instead I choose to ask for and extend Grace to them, with the Lord’s direction and help — that’s when everything changes – especially my stinky attitudes. 

Grace is powerful. It is a mistake to reduce the meaning of it to something that HAS saved us. It did. Grace is a powerful weapon to overcome our inner and outer enemies when we rely upon it the WAY Jesus did. When we choose to embrace what the Lord means by Grace, it is life-changing. Grace is like a river in full-flood when the banks of that river start running over, affecting everything else around it. Bless you. Bye 👋

P 3260 Always our choice.

/ DVH

“Yes, God is more than ready to overwhelm you with every form of grace, so that you will have more than enough of everything —every moment and in every way. He will make you overflow with abundance in every good thing you do.” 2 Corinthians 9:8 TPT. Amazing isn’t it? Here it talks about the clear reality that God has given us so much Grace that now we have more than enough to give away. It’s in writing, in Jesus Christ’s WILL and WE benefit. 

Everybody likes abundance. I do too! But I wonder how often we are tested on that particular concept … ?? It feels to me like I’m tested daily to be honest! If you are tired, ill, young, old, especially or you don’t have what everybody else appears to have… all that stuff we think we need. Those things we seem to be missing out onwill come and sit on us and camp there. Removing our God-given view of the eternal. The problem is, for years we have thought that Almighty God is here to indulge US! 

Look, I’m very happy for the Lord to ‘supply all my needs according to His riches in glory‘ … Whoo-pp-eee!! Yes, please! But IS THAT what this verse is actually about? Hmmm. Please note it says… ‘according to HIS riches in glory.’  Our Heavenly Father’s idea of riches is totally different than ours! Jesus is rich in all of the Graces that this life needs… and… I am not … a-n-d … neither are you. Not unless we start to use our faith. 

He has infinitely more Grace than I can ever imagine, and He won’t run OUT… e-v-e-r.  So, because I am now in Christ Jesus — I don’t have to run out either! That’s what Calvary did for all of us. When we choose to follow the Lord and obey Him, we are potentially rich in the things that last. The thing we need to ask ourselves is this, are we appropriating what we have been given? Or do we bleat ‘it’s too hard ‘ like a lost sheep waiting for the Shepherd to come and rescue us all the time.

Have we become so busy with earthly riches we’ve forgotten all of His benefits for us? “Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul, and forget not [ONE OF] all His benefits” – Psalm 103:2 AMPC. It’s all a done deal! He has already given us His Grace, now we can’t afford to let our hearts forget what He did! The Lord could care less about worldly wealth. He knows it can disappear in a heartbeat. Let’s list some of His real benefits. 

1. He forgives our sins. (Matthew 6:12)

2. He heals our diseases. (Exodus 15:26)

3. He redeems our life from destruction. (Psalm 34:22)

4. He crowns us with loving kindness and tender mercies (Luke 15:11-24)

5. He satisfies us with good things (James 1:17)

6. He renews our youth like the eagles. (Isaiah 40:31)

7. He executes righteousness and judgment for all the oppressed. (Matthew 11:38-30).

8. He makes His ways and His acts known to us.

Stop for a minute and just breathe. You and I, right here, right now, have access to Jesus’ own unlimited supply of His Father’s Love, the Holy Spirit’s wisdom, salvation, redemption, a brand new heart, plus a new way to live. And… AND!! … HEAVEN IS OURS!  Are these benefits or what? Let’s not ever forget that we have Grace, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-control … These things now belong to us. Why on earth should we worry about money, etc. when heaven belongs to us? Jesus died so we can have all this heavenly stuff that changes our lives, here and now. 

So how do I get it? Glad you asked me that!  “Don’t bargain with God. Be direct. ASK for what you need. This isn’t a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we’re in. If your child asks for bread, do you trick him with sawdust? If he asks for fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? As bad as you are, you wouldn’t think of such a thing. You’re at least decent to your own children. So don’t you think the God who conceived you in love will be even better?” Matthew 7:7-11.

A.S.K… Ask, and then A.C.T. — it’s a piece of cake. We’ve all been given faith – now we need to use it to enter into the riches Jesus won on our behalf at Calvary. Does anybody out there think that they will need love, joy, peace, patience, etc. IN HEAVEN?? Me neither. We need it down here! What the heck are we waiting for? We cannot afford to have His heavenly riches as an add-on to earthly ones. The earthly riches will distract us, and cause us to forget the heavenly ones. And, before you know it, how we feel becomes more important than loving others. 

We need to use our faith not our feelings. We can lose our peace because we are struggling with, and for, the things that do not last. Bad move. I’m with Joshua — smart guy Joshua! … He stayed behind in the tent of meeting and learnt stuff from God Himself, personally. He received wisdom and heavenly priorities in that tent! “But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:25. Joshua made a personal CHOICE. He chose to do things God’s Way. It was permanent and irrevocable – he didn’t forget God’s benefits. 

We can continue to scramble around in the dust like a chicken looking for worms, and forget to use our God-given blood-bought ability to fly high — OR we can fly like eagles and renew our strength. It’s always our choice. Bye. 👋

P 3237 Always remember WHO He is.

/ DVH

“Look at the splendour of Your skies, Your creative genius glowing in the heavens. When I gaze at Your moon and Your stars, mounted like jewels in their settings, I know You are the fascinating artist who fashioned it all! But I have to ask this question: Why would You bother with puny, mortal man or care about human beings?”  Psalms 8:3-4 TPT. Because HE LOVES US! That’s why.

In John 13:23 we are told this: “One of His disciples, whom Jesus loved (esteemed), was leaning against Jesus’ chest.” I want to say this before I say anything else today … If safety is something that you treasure, then what John said shows us that being right here next to Him, is the safest place in all the world. The Lover of our souls, our Beloved, will keep us safe – in spite of whatever is going on around us. 

Resting in and on, the Lord Jesus, is our great privilege and quest. Forget ministries, or human importance, or platforms, or even other people’s admiration, this particular disciple picked the best place to be — listening to His heartbeat.  We will miss so much of Who He really is when we are too busy to listen to His heartbeat.

It is important that we understand that our God, our Heavenly Father, the Great and Wise Omnipotent, Omnipresent Everlasting God of all the ages – is to be listened to, and revered and obeyed, not just quickly passed over or ignored!  We must learn to put our easily influenced feelings aside, to stop and remember the God – Who made everything we can see – loves me! 

The fact that He loves all of us with a love that will never die, does not mean we can simply flick away our responsibility to pay attention to everything He has said. We can’t ever afford to cherry-pick our responses or use His beyond-our-ability-to-understand, Grace, against Him… by telling ourselves: ’God loves me, He understands, He won’t mind.’ That’s misusing the Grace He has given us. This ever-present, always living and loving Grace has been released into our, lives. Yours and mine, as a gift. It was incredibly costly.

I think that deceit has wrapped the Christian church in its blanket, and we are becoming hard of hearing and blind to what is actually going on around us. I urge us all to pray  —  and then go and do!  Don’t ever let the size of the task discount you from participating. The bigger the test, the greater the victory.  Instead be truthful and sincerely tell the Holy Spirit: “I can’t do this, please help me!”  Amen. 

We need to remember, that we are not dealing with a god made in our own image, we are dealing with the One Who placed the stars in the sky…with His fingers!!! And despite what we tell ourselves, or this world tells us, we are His people.  Whenever we are ill, or infirm in one way or another, we truly find out how frail we are, often helpless against the darkness that presses in against us without Him. The answer is simple —never do anything without Him!

Let’s stop our solitary focus on me, my situation, my health – or lack of it, my family, my poverty – and start gazing at Him. Gazing at Him is another form of worship. Worship is not just singing songs on Sunday—it is the way we live. When we know, from our own personal interaction and experience, that our God is bigger than anything we can think or imagine – we can more easily rest, be at peace, and let Him do the work. BTW, rest does not mean we sit on our hands and do nothing. It means that we know we can do a whole lotta somethings, because we are utterly relying upon Him! 

God can do anything, with anyone, no matter how inadequate they feel. The bible shows us that. It is filled with men and women who would never have made it without God helping them. Instead of wrongly using His Grace to excuse our non-participation in His kingdom, let’s choose to rely, rest and depend on that Grace to help us do the things we are here to do. Everything the Lord asks us to do, we simply cannot do without Him. 

You may not have my difficulties, Some days, I have to ask Him to help me get out of bed or go to the loo! But the reality is I have been blessed so many times because of the Way He loves and helps me. Over and over again the Lord Jesus surprises me with His goodness. Plus He never does the same thing twice. Bonus buy!

The daily opportunities to serve Him and others that the Lord puts before us, will always be bigger than we are. Stretching us is part of His plan. My advice is to start cheering right away!! Take it from me that this means we are going to see the goodness of God operating in a way we’ve never seen before. And that … is simply ev-ery-thing!!

Because our God is so big, and so mighty, plus His creativity is inexhaustible … routines or methods won’t pass this way of thinking on, it is a LIFESTYLE. We choose it, and then we hold fast to it, despite everything else that happens around us. Jesus gets all the glory because what happens is undeniably impossible. He is so much more glorious, caring, kind, creative and wonderful than we can ever imagine! Bye.👋 

“Yahweh, You are my soul’s celebration. How could I ever forget the miracles of kindness You’ve done for me?” Psalms 103:2 TPT. Amen. 🥰

P 3228 Let’s not miss our highest calling.

/ DVH

Instead of blaming another human being for our behaviour, and holding our own desire to change hostage to someone else’s desire to change – why don’t we pull up our grown up pants and deal with ourselves at the source of our own anger and need? We cannot afford to let anybody but the Lord Himself to be in charge of our feelings, because He’s the only Person we can truly trust. Our highest calling is to believe He is good, when everything around us and attacking us, is bad! It’s time we realised complaining, or boo-hooing doesn’t work.

The Israelites got into all kinds of trouble when they accused the Lord of treating them badly. They said He wasn’t doing things the way they thought a god should. BTW, that happened right after the Lord had just walked them all safely through the bottom of an ocean, killed all their enemies, brought water out of a rock, fed them angel food, plus nobody got sick, and their clothes didn’t wear out!! It’s a bad move to be an ungrateful, critical child of God. It shows a distinct lack of knowledge of Who He is, and it is incredibly important for us to know and trust Who He is.

Meanwhile, because of His love for His Father and humanity, Jesus deliberately ‘put skin on’ and came here and made Himself vulnerable to us. He had human needs, yet He ended up with a bunch of disciples who also totally missed the point of why He was sent here in the first place! Nobody else understood His mission. A wicked king beheaded the only person who understood living His kind of life. Things were so bad for Jesus that when Peter said: “Truly, You are the Son of the Living God,” the Lord knew that it had to be the Holy Spirit speaking through Peter, because Peter was just plain clueless.

Jesus had to rely upon His Father guiding Him internally, just like we do. Everyone else around Him was too busy with their own needs and wants. Why do you think — at the end of an already-busy-filled-with-people-grabbing-at-Him day – Jesus then went out and climbed up a mountain? Maybe He simply wanted to worship God, and have some real spiritual input and company … and we think we are lonely! Imagine being absolute purity and innocence, and having to deal with all kinds of people by choosing to live in never-ending Grace. The Lord did not spend one second in His Father’s Presence complaining about anything. Let’s thank Him for His self-control and patience.

.Here’s another dumb thing we can sometimes do. We dash about with hurt squirting out in every direction like a ruptured aorta, but at the same time we start recruiting other people to agree with us that our troubles are not right, and we shouldn’t have to put up with it! We grab at man’s sympathy over God’s love. There’s another bad idea! The Israelites did a whole of of mumbling and complaining … look where it got them. It is better to go to your Heavenly Father, and ask Him for the Grace to bear with whatever it is going on in you, or around you. Doing this stuff on our own is sheer lunacy. Human beings are not equipped to “love their enemies and do good to those who despitefully use us…” we will always need His HELP.

It seems to me when we were in Christian nursery school  learning the truths of God, we skipped right by, ‘please help me” into … “ME DO IT!” His Grace is our spiritual air, just like thankfulness is part of our worship. Here’s a prayer that I pray often, “Lord please help me because that person is driving me crazy! I desperately need your Mercy and Grace.” Amen. There is no shame in asking! God has provided, and we praise Him for His Grace!  If we need food or water or somewhere to live, we ask Him for that. We also need a constant flow of His Grace and Mercy to survive in a time like ours. There are a million self-help books to prove to us that we are in the right, but only the Lord’s Good Book to convict us of our own sin!

In my opinion this is why so many Christians are living mediocre lives. They try so hard to be faithful to God, but what they have been taught does not line up with their own personal experiences and failure gets to them. They don’t love Him any less – that’s still faith! In the middle of some of the worst trials any of us will ever see, they dearly love Jesus, and they do their best to do what He says. Amazing! But why work at it when the work has already been done! Let’s all make sure that we put our faith in His goodness, not in happy results. That’s where the Israelites missed it.

The truth is we don’t always need Him to change our circumstances, but we do need Him to change us. When our theology doesn’t match up with His Word, then our theology needs to change. Without our passionate devotion to obedience, we are doomed to live in disappointment when that lands on us. Following Him includes dying to self, and putting our own personal comfort behind us. Let’s shake off all the snares that so easily entangle us and move on past the first floor. He has work for all of us to do. Trusting Him despite the circumstances is our highest calling. Bye. 👋 

“Carefully consider all that I’ve taught you, and may our Lord inspire you with wisdom and revelation in everything you say and do. But make Jesus, the Anointed One, your focus in life and ministry. For He came to earth as the descendant of David and rose from the dead, according to the revelation of the gospel that God has given me.” 2 Timothy 2:7-8 TPT 

P 3223 Joy cometh …

/ DVH

I spoke briefly about joy, yesterday. I think this blessing can be kind of elusive, because many people chase after pleasure as a substitute for it. We need God’s JOY – it’s our STRENGTH! Pleasure, however, is a bit like sand, it falls through your fingers and disappears into the void! The bible tells us in Psalm 30:5 that JOY “comes in the morning.”  I have experienced that! Joy is an expression of our God’s own nature. However, joy comes into focus as we continue to notice Who He is and what He is doing – no matter what time of day it actually is! 

Loving and knowing Jesus means knowing and loving and living in … JOY! I want to exhort you to grab hold of His Joy when it comes on you. Seize those times when pure joy floods your thoughts, because this is an exquisite part of our Lord’s Grace toward us and He is strengthening you for what lies ahead. We need to let Christ’s Joy re-energise us when we are feeling flat, motivate us forward when we are tired, and just plain make us laugh at ourselves and this crazy old world. That’s the secret of living with joy – it doesn’t care about appearances, it values the nearness of Jesus instead. 

Another of the secrets to finding the Lord in whatever is going on in your life, is to believe and revise what He has already told you. Jesus Himself said: ‘Don’t be afraid, I will be with you always, even unto the end of this world.’ Don’t just nod your little head and smile at that scripture. Yes it is a nice scripture, yes it seems comforting, but it can’t comfort you unless you apply it. I read it, reread it and then I go out and believe He is with me, even if I don’t feel a blooming thing. His word is more solid than the earth beneath my feet. Let’s stick a big flashing sign over our hearts that says: “Welcome here Lord Jesus!”

God’s Word does not flourish in our lives because of our feelings, it flourishes in an atmosphere of faith. And we get faith by hearing what He is saying to US, personally, as we read it. So grab your bible when you feel flat, and read a Psalm. I read until I find something that cheers me up! To be fair, sometimes I might read quite a few Psalms, but that won’t kill me. “The entrance of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple.” Psalm 119:130. Hey look at that! I qualify! I figure that I will definitely need His light to be able to see His joy! 

Knowing Jesus loves us, should constantly usher in joy. We can waste the time we have been given trying desperately to find joy in other things – people, places, situations – but this world’s joy is situated in things that are temporary and hollow. Many people are so addicted to feeling happy they never actually find real joy! Real joy lasts. We can seek outward distractions instead of His Presence, but He is inside us, because we belong to Him. “But what does it say? The Word (God’s message in Christ) is near you, on your lips and in your heart; that is, the Word (the message, the basis and object) of faith which we preach,…”  Romans 10:8. Deuteronomy 30:4.

Joy can most certainly make us laugh, but it isn’t just laughter. I think joy can be limited by us. For instance, joy will break out when we talk about Him to people who-don’t-know-Him-yet. Our joy is a living companionship with a Person, not just a feeling. And we can’t lose Jesus quite simply because – glory of glories – He refuses to leave or give up on us! Stop for a moment and ask the Lord to reveal Himself to you through joy. Ask Him to help you to recognise it when He answers you. 

We can miss answers to prayer, when what happens doesn’t look like we think it should. “So keep being alert and ready at all times. For I promise you that the Son of Man will surprise you and appear when you don’t expect Him.” Luke 12:40 TPT. I know this verse is about the second coming, but because it’s in the book it can also be speaking to each one of us, today! 

True Joy has freedom for us in it, even if the person experiencing it is in jail. Paul said—from jail!—“Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.” Philippians 4:4. Joy crosses man-made boundaries and laughs at them as it skips merrily on its way. Joy contains the pleasure of God’s love for us, even when it is face to face with pure evil. Stephen’s face was radiant as they were stoning him to death in Acts. He wasn’t just happy, he was —-JOYFUL.He was looking right at his Heavenly Father, and His Son, Jesus.

My advice is this, don’t try to put a lid on spontaneous joy, because it will break your lid and move away to where it is welcome and free to do what God sent it to do! Sometimes people try to organise the Lord, and create a joyous atmosphere. Let’s let Him take care of stuff like that – I’ve read Genesis 1 … the Holy Spirit is good at atmosphere, trust me! I ask Him for more and more joy, because the bible says His joy is my strength, and who doesn’t need strength every day?

Parts of Isaiah 61 say this about who we are and what we are here to do: “The Spirit of God has sent me …to care for the needs of all who mourn in Zion, give them bouquets of roses instead of ashes, Messages of joy instead of news of doom, a praising heart instead of a languid spirit. Rename them “Oaks of Righteousness” planted by God to display His glory. They’ll rebuild the old ruins, raise a new city out of the wreckage. They’ll start over on the ruined cities, take the rubble left behind and make it new…” Lord let “… Your joy go on forever.” 

Do yourself a favour, and chase after JOY, it is such an important part of our daily lives – it’s a reality, not a feeling, a gift not a chore. Bye.  👋

P 3212 Four immobilising traps.

/ DVH

How do I know that God loves me? It’s in the book, over and over again. His Love does not have to be felt — it is best dem-on-strat-ed — not necessarily felt!  Feelings come and go, they are often subject to outside influences. I am not saying don’t have them, but I am saying don’t let them run your life!

Experiences with God are precious, but they are not meant to guide us. That’s the book’s job, and the Holy Spirit’s territory. Experiences are meant to follow us, not lead us! “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you…”  We do what He says – and then we experience His joy, or peace, or rest for our souls, or a boost in our faith etc. Personally, I think the Lord loves it best whenever we do everything using our faith, and we choose to stand firmly on His Word. “The just shall LIVE by faith.” (Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, and Hebrews 10:38.) 

BTW, when God Himself says something in three scriptures – we’d better listen! Our feelings are unreliable. This is one of our enemy’s sneakiest ploys to get us to continually live in the land of  “I don’t feel anything.” We must constantly remind ourselves that God has already demonstrated His love – Jesus came here and lived and died for our sake. Let that be enough. 

The second stumbling block that can stop our spiritual progression in our faith, is when we focus on the past. Listen to what God says about that subject: ““Stop dwelling on the past. Don’t even remember these former things. I am doing something brand new, something unheard of. Even now it sprouts and grows and matures. Don’t you perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and open up flowing streams in the desert.” Isaiah 43:18-19 TPT. When we choose to personalise scriptures like this one—verses that point us in His direction—that means we’ve decided God’s Word is true. We are putting some skin in the game, and demonstrating our love and faith in Him, even in the face of difficulties. The past cannot be changed by revision, it can only serve as a sign post, a warning for the present and the future. And we can repent and put it away.

The third stumbling block is fear of loss. Obviously any sentence that includes fear has nothing whatsoever to do with the Lord! The only fear that is acceptable to the Lord is called “the fear of the Lord.” The bible tells us: “…the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Proverbs 9:10. Fearing God makes us wise, not afraid. Meanwhile, living this life fearful about what God might take away from us, is from the enemy, it is not from the Lord. The Lord is like a surgeon, cutting away the things that will cause us to stumble. He adds. He does not take away. The only thing He has taken away is our sin … and that was at great personal cost.

The last thing I want to mention today seems to be a current trend. I call it somnambulism – the sorry state of “being asleep in the light. ”I’ve used that odd word deliberately. It literally means — walking around asleep! No wonder we crash into other people all the time if we are not properly spiritually awake!

Instead we let God’s Word flow by us, while we are listening to the preacher/speaker in church —without allowing it to wash off the mud, dirt and the cloudy film this world puts over our eyes. That leads to a sort of nether state, where we are more asleep than awake. We are not alert enough to release His life wherever we go – the oil that prepares us to be His Bride is the same oil of God’s life in us, as described in:

Matthew 25:1-13: “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.“At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’

“Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 

The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’“‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’ “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.“Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’“But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.”

We simply can’t afford to go through this life half-asleep. That’s called sleep walking! We need His oil to flow through us, all the time, enlivening us to whatever the Lord is doing now. Both of these virgins fell asleep, but one group was not prepared for any delay. The preparation the wise virgins made for any eventuality, placed them in a prime position to keep ready for the groom! We can’t afford to live our lives not ready for whatever comes next. 

Let’s live the Word, by walking it out. We dare not allow these four things to circumvent God’s will for our lives:  like chasing experiences; or being haunted by the past; or living our lives afraid of what we might lose. Or not  preparing well. I think we are now living in a time when we need to practice being alert. Bye. 👋