Feelings

P 2775 The best kind of knitting.

/ DVH

“He Himself carried our sins in His body on the cross so that we would be dead to sin and live for righteousness. Our instant healing flowed from His wounding.” 1 Peter 2:24 TPT. This verse shows us that Christians have been totally restored in God’s sight through Christ’s selfless act. When Jesus said: “It is finished …”  — the exchange of His life for ours was complete, signed in His own blood, forever. When He rose from the dead He proved, once and for all, that He had the authority and power over death. He authenticated His claim.

You and I don’t have to be trapped, or sucked into sin anymore – because Christ’s death has taken us out of the kingdom of darkness and put us firmly into the Kingdom of God’s marvellous light. This is a fact, it is already established in heaven. Our job is to believe Him and start spreading this good news around. God is not angry with mankind – SomeBody else PAID for our sins. We are to introduce, and display God’s kingdom, down here, in Christ’s absence. However, we have His Presence, the Holy Spirit –inside us. He is always with us to help us accomplish the things He tells us to do.

God said way back in Genesis, that the sun, and the moon and stars, were put into the sky for a sign. They are there to exhibit His faithfulness. Human beings know that the sun will come up again tomorrow, but before that happens it will disappear temporarily, and night will come. In the same manner, we know that we are as eternally saved, today, as we were yesterday. The sun and the moon are there to remind us that what God has established cannot be changed, until this world passes away.

As Jesus’ followers, we really do need to make sure we understand what Christ did for us. When He died – we died. Even if we don’t feel any differently, we can no longer legally be held captive to death anymore. Our old life is gone. We’ve been given a new life and that means we no longer have to sin. Sinning was part of our old dysfunctional life. Now, we can choose to operate in His power and overcome our old ways. Christ’s death gave us the power of choice.

Before Christ did what He did for mankind, people were trapped by their proclivities, heartaches, family habits, and lacks. But we’ve been taken OUT of that life and given powerful, eternal choices. Our sole thought now, is how do we live this new life the way HE would?  We gave away our old way of life, when we said yes to Him. We serve Him now. Christ died voluntarily, and now we serve Him voluntarily. Simply because we love Him and we are grateful to God that His Son saved us from the previous life we were trapped inside. Now we live in freedom – one decision at a time.

We useour faith in His truthfulness and goodness to believe that we are free from the impulses and attitudes that bound us in the past. That’s why we read His book, so we can see His faithfulness and truthfulness in action, with other people who are just like us. We probably won’t feel any different when we begin to live like this, because it will take a while for our feelings and thoughts to come into line with what the bible says. We don’t have to live in that old kingdom where feelings and circumstances run our lives anymore! Instead, we choose to obey what we read in His book. Jesus Himself taught us that this is the way God has chosen to release His Kingdom into this world.

“When someone curses you, bless that person in return. When others mistreat and harass you, accept it as your mission to pray for them.”Luke 6:28 TPT. This verse from Luke shows us that the way Jesus did things is not at all like the kind of response we would expect in this world. When somebody’s sin, or their attitudes against us come up in our minds, we need to take those thoughts captive … Why? Because what God said is the greater reality! Then we act upon His Word, rather than our feelings. The Kingdom of God has a language, a culture, a way to treat others that is foreign to this world. We are now ambassadors of that Kingdom. That is our mission. To bring heaven down to earth.

The language of heaven is LOVE. Love recognises no boundaries, no faults or sins, no personally inflicted pain and hurt –love loves others, simply because He received us, first. His love is powerful! It has an ongoing effect in the lives of those who receive it. That love motivates and propels us forward into serving others. Even people who hate us. By choosing to live a life laid down for His sake, we gain continual freedom to release the power of God in extraordinary ways. As we walk in this kind of selfless love, the Body of Christ will grow. It is knitted together. Bye. 👋

“From Him the whole body [the church, in all its various parts], joined and knitted firmly together by what every joint supplies, when each part is working properly, causes the body to grow and mature, building itself up in [unselfish] love.” Ephesians 4:16.

P 2764 Don’t be afraid to fail.

/ DVH

“A person may have many ideas concerning God’s plan for his life, but only the designs of God’s purpose will succeed in the end.”Proverbs 19:21 TPT. In other words, we don’t have to plan our lives – we can simply let the Lord do it for us! Our society is really big on personal success stories – but when we live a life of faith, it can be easy to become afraid that we might have missed God. So we wander off, despondent, out into the wilderness. Feeling ashamed of our fear. Maybe, we even feel protective over the Lord and His good Name, because if we make a big mistake we could bring dishonour to Him, and His Ways.  

First of all, God is not scared of the wilderness – Jesus went there on purpose! Secondly, He can protect His Own Name. Our job is to use His Name with reverence. The Lord has sent many a great person into a wilderness to test them. My advice? Stop! Climb under the shadow that is cast by the Cross and …breathe. Quiet your soul.  Make yourself a cup of something you like, and just sit. The busyness of your mind won’t help you. The third thing is this, remind yourself that He can look after His own Name, and remember to repent for being faithless. Then ask the Holy Spirit to stretch your faith in Who He is, and how big He is,  and go and do whatever He told you to do. Feelings are the antithesis of faith.

Now if what we want to do is sheer, wilful disobedience – then we need to humble ourselves immediately, repent and remember to resist the devil. Our Heavenly Father is the Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things ON the earth and in the sky – He can get us out of any dumb place we walk into. Keep your focus on Him and use your energy to block your ears to satan’s lies. Then start bringing into your mind the many people in the bible who got it wrong — just don’t use that info to continue on into further disobedience! Loads of people missed God’s will and it is recorded in His book. The Lord rescued them simply because He is a good God and He loves His kids. We need to believe in His goodness! 

Meanwhile anybody who doesn’t want God anymore, will not give a flying fig whether He wants them, or not. Simply bear in mind that we are exhorted not to test Him. That’s called honouring and reverencing Who He is! Remain humble, and let Him work those disobedient things you chose to do, together for your good. And do what you can to make things right with the people you’ve hurt. Get down on your carpet, and stay there until you completely comprehend the mistake you’ve made. Some times disobedience comes from FEAR, we feel we must control things. Repentance is always good, but we need to be delivered from fear.

Here are some names of other wayward people, to help you with your search … try Gideon, David, Samson, Jonah, and Peter. Human beings make mistakes, we are famous for them! Sometimes they are huge, life changing ones. God is ALWAYS bigger than OUR mistakes. Listen:“For I am the Lord, I change not; …” Malachi 3:6a. His attitude of redemption will not change until Jesus finally rolls up the world. Our loving obedience is the sweetest gift we can bring to the Lord, but let’s remember that we are not perfect, we can be sincerely wrong – often! 

And … sometimes … even wilfully wrong! I’ve gone on both of those roads, and the Lord is so faithful, He still stayed with me, He does not give up on His kids. Otherwise, why do we pray so hard for our loved ones who have wandered off? We inherently already know that He is good! Remember the story of the lost lamb? The Shepherd valued that lamb so highly he left his other valuable sheep and went looking for the little lost one. He’s a good shepherd!

The Apostle Paul was a murderer – God used that man’s crimes against His kids, the Jewish nation, to show Paul how big GRACE is, and how comprehensive Christ’s death was! God’s Goodness can do amazing things. We underestimate its value at our own peril. It is nothing to do with us or whether we are appealing or not – it’s HIS Grace. It’s the goodness of God that put an angel with a flaming sword, at the entrance to the Garden of Eden. I believe that angel was put there so Adam and Eve could not get back in again, and eat from the tree of eternal life. Mankind would have been eternally lost if we had eaten from that tree.  

Sometimes our confidence can be in our own ability to perform whatever God has asked us to do. Forget that idea. Remember, our God knows what is coming next! Jesus reminded His terrified disciples in the boat in the middle of a storm, that He had already told them they were going over to the other side. And … they did go to the other side – eventually! He didn’t tell them there would be a storm in the middle, because His purpose was to go to the other side. Besides, a bunch of them were fishermen they knew how dodgy that lake was. That’s the time faith grows.

We must put our confidence in GOD ALONE. Anything else we can come up with, is just wood, hay and stubble. One day that stuff will be gone. Our ability to perform – or not! Simply doesn’t come into it. God has used a donkey on other occasions. It is not good to be so proud of who you are, and what you can do spiritually, that you stop seeking His wisdom, His Ways. Let’s continually live to seek to know Him better. We cannot even afford to rest on our spiritual gifts …  instead we rest on WHO He is.

We are in the process of learning to live this life, the only one we have, to learn His ways and follow our leader, Jesus. The Holy Spirit is using everything to get us ready for heaven. so don’t be afraid of failing… some of the very best humans fail … failing can make you a kinder, nicer, more compassionate, tolerant human being. Bye. 👋

“Before you do anything, put your trust totally in God and not in yourself. Then every plan you make will succeed.” Proverbs 16:3 TPT

P 2754 A most valuable tool.

/ DVH

One of the most useful tools in my interpersonal toolbox is the one that says: “my response is my responsibility.”  I have found it can be much too easy to blame the way I am responding, or reacting, onto someone else’s actions. Maybe someone ticks me off, and instead of doing something (prayerfully) about it, I let it go because I am busy and I don’t have time to poke about in my feelings, or sort out your not-so-nice attitude toward me. What’s inside me, that has been stored up – so to speak, and it will eventually come out … usually at another person!

Unfortunately that kind of neglect buries any difficulties – it does not clear them up. Buried things have a tendency to rot away and stink! The next time you do something that ticks me off, I will have a less tolerant attitude toward your actions. If you keep on bumping into my ever increasing irritation, eventually – I could feel justified to snipe back at you. However, there is no ownership in those actions. I have unrealistically, farmed out my responsibility for my emotions onto you, because I am expecting you to pull up your socks and stop ticking me off! 

The only person in charge of the way I respond is ME! I would be far better off handing my irritation over to the Lord, and asking Him to help me with it, instead of stuffing it down inside me … making it a time bomb waiting to go off. I don’t have to say anything to you unless He says I should… I simply talk to Him and ask Him to adjust my inner ‘dial’ so that I am not so sensitive to the argy bargy stuff that happens in this life. I ask Him for more love and less impatience, and could He please show me what is actually going on inside me?

Babies are a perfect example of uncontrolled emotions. They cry and crank, mainly because they don’t have any language for how they feel. So someone comes and picks them up to soothe them. We have a society full of people who do not know how to handle their own emotions and soothe themselves. They keep waiting for someone else to do it, or they will throw blame everywhere. These people shrug off their own responsibility to manage their anger, rage, whinging, weeping, irritation and plonk it onto the people who are annoying them. It might be the wife and kids, it could be the government, or a neighbour, but I can guarantee that if you ask them, it  will always be someone else’s fault they are angry, full of rage, or sad etc. It will never be their fault. 

This life has bad things in it. People do truly dreadful things to each other and they are not only not sorry – they’ve let the aforementioned storm inside them build up to gigantic uncontrollable levels. We need to learn, with God’s help – how to manage our own responses and reactions. 

Repentance and ownership of my own flaws and faults must be like breathing. The bible clearly tells us that we don’t have to feel bad, or even less than somebody else;   because we know Jesus died for ALL our sins. And I’m not better than them either. I am not perfect myself, and, despite my feelings, I am not as excessively fragile as I think.

God put a fighter in all of us – we are designed for transformation, so we will have to fight our own human inclination to retaliate. I need to use His weapons of warfare. Those weapons I choose will transform my inner life so that it is not a litany of other people’s faults playing over and over and over again. That’s why I read the Bible, I am looking for Him, plus my own sin, not yours!

Today I want to look at those two men who were crucified right alongside Jesus. One man was bitter, the other became bigger. That second man was also suffering but he made hard choices at an incredibly difficult time. BTW, they both deserved their punishment.  

Luke 23:32, 33: “Two others, both criminals, were led out to be executed with Him. When they came to a place called The Skull  they nailed Him to the cross. And the criminals were also crucified—one on His right and one on His left… … 39-42 “One of the criminals hanging beside Him scoffed, “So You’re the Messiah, are You? Prove it by saving Yourself—and us, too, while You’re at it!” But the other criminal protested, “Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die? We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when You come into your Kingdom.”

Ownership of our own faults is imperative to becoming a mature Christian. We must transform our self-talk by digesting the bible. Instead of dismissing ourselves as innocent, we need to remind ourselves that there is nothing that happens to us that is not Father-filtered. We need to ask for more FAITH to overcome our human inclinations. 1 Corinthians 13 is not a dream … it is a reality, ready to enter our lives, if we live prepared to press in and value the tools He has given us. If I truly want to be free I will deal with ME. Bye 👋

P 2717 Let the Holy Spirit teach you how to add.

/ DVH

The principle of addition in the Spirit is a wonderful thing to learn, under the Holy Spirit’s guidance. That knowledge will save and help us from going under or giving up when storms, or even the wiggly daily annoyances of this life, hit us. 

Our Christian life is not just about survival, it is about overcoming. The word overcoming means conquering; subduing. By His grace, we conquer and subdue our old nature. Christianity is not about changing other people – it is about the Holy Spirit being charge of ME, my old nature. We can overcome anything when our knowledge of Who He is is bigger than whatever nasty attitude we have fallen into again. We simply turn our heads and instantly look to Him and ask Him: “Help Lord, please forgive me. How are You going to get me out of this mess this time?” 

As we read His book and take faith steps, we learn, experientially that God does not desert His kids ever. Even when He was teaching the Israelites about Who He is — He did not take His eyes off them. Our God is a promise keeper. He loves to keep His promises – and He has promised to never leave us. It is dangerous to put our feelings in charge of our circumstances.

Difficulties can occur if we only memorise promises that talk about making MY life better. We need to go on from that immature POV to understand Who He is, and what He wants from us. Knowing Who He is, is far more important than escaping from the trials of this life, because His faithfulness will hold us steady in contrary winds. We can walk with Him through minefields and His Presence will guide, teach and comfort us.

We need to know the Lord personally, and intimately. We can’t do that by pasting someone else’s testimonies and teachings over our lives. Under stress those things will fall off. Instead we need to ADD personal knowledge of Him into our way of life. This means we will continually, carefully be watching every word in His book for clues about what the Lord wants from ME. That is the seed bed of our faith.

When things drag on and on, and in this life sometimes they do … we use those unwanted opportunities to do what 2 Peter 1:5-8 says:“And beside this, giving all diligence, *add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We can short-circuit the Lord’s processes in our lives by choosing not to use our faith and follow the Spirit’s guidance – step by step into a new way to live.

Every test, every trial, every harmful circumstance has an opportunity within it to learn how to add ONE GRACE to another! Every single one of us needs this kind of addition in our lives. The things we read in the bible are not just words on a page – they are the personal revelation of His progressive sequences, with the goal of transformation at the other end. Instead of looking at all those words as a jumble of sayings, we need to start asking: ‘What does that mean Lord?” ‘How can I make this true in my life?’ ‘How does this scripture apply to me?’ This kind of personal revelation is the most wonderful thing – it will help us to personally have confidence in Him.

That means that the next time we want to give in and give up, we won’t!  Instead we will ask for help to make it through our lack so we can continue to add the things that will last. In the above verses we learn that we can add – by being consistently true to Him and using our faith to do it – we add greater knowledge of the Lord and His ways. As we take faith steps toward Him. That kind of deliberate obedient movement will get rid of extremes and help us gain restraint (choice).  Restraint can lead to patience;  and if we press in and keep on going we will arrive at godliness.

Godliness is not just a series of actions, but inner transformation. We will stop blaming others for our missteps and repent, repair and move on. The Lord wants us to learn that making bad selfish choices will not discount us from becoming an overcomer – but hiding from our stinky attitudes will!  At the end of all this adding we find we have been enriched by His benevolent, generosity – especially toward those in need or in disfavour. Plus we gain leniency toward other people’s sins against us. This whole thing is an ever-expanding process, not an arrival place. This means we trust Him to get us through every single issue we face. (And NO! I am not there yet, either! I panicked about something just last night!)

Knowing the Lord’s Ways teaches us that if we haven’t arrived at good yet, then whatever is going on is not over yet!  Our God has goodness in every single aspect of His nature. Even when He punished the Israelites for their appalling behaviour it was to help them – to bring them back under into the safety of His sheltering Love. Let’s use His book to prove His goodness in our lives, daily. There is nothing stronger than a personal testimony about God’s Grace in action in my own life! We all need to learn how to ADD. Bless you. 👋

P 2701 ‘You’ve got mail!’

/ DVH

“So, dear friends, don’t let this one thing escape your notice: a single day counts like a thousand years to the Lord Yahweh, and a thousand years counts as one day. This means that, contrary to man’s perspective, the Lord is not late with His promise to return, as some measure lateness. But rather, His “delay” simply reveals His loving patience toward you, because He does not want any to perish but all to come to repentance.”2 Peter 3:8-9 TPT.

Scriptures like this one reveal the Lord’s heart and they explain His timing.These are the kind of things we need to watch out for as we read our fresh mail, every day. At the same time we are always looking for things we can apply into our own lives. I ask myself, all the time, what does this teach me about Him? What am I doing or not doing that needs to change? I’m not simply looking for answers to prayer to make my life easier –  I want HIM – I want to know Him. Reading the above verse immediately shows me that He is patient and compassionate because He is merciful. 

When I go out into this world to speak to the people-who-don’t-know-Him-yet I have verses like these in my thoughts. At the same time, when bad things happen at our house, I have also hidden these things in the inner chamber of my heart. I hide His word in my heart, so He can speak to me. We hide His Word by acting on what it says!  His timing is absolutely perfect – He daily gives me‘apples of gold in settings of silver’all the time! This life is not about our comfort, or human knowledge —  we can miss what He is actually doing at any given moment, when we seek those things. We seek His kingdom FIRST. Our God made this world out of nothing – imagine what He can do with your little life!

I love verses like the ones in 1 Peter, because they clearly say that He doesn’t want anyone to perish! Just let that sink in. Your worst enemy, or mine – the Lord does not want them to perish.… Those people who are persecuting you – He doesn’t want them to perish. He loves them just as much as He loves us. I’ve discovered that our responses to various situations, like the immediate one from our heart, can tell us a lot about how much we trust Him. That’s a good thing! If my boat is leaking it’s going to help to know where the holes are! So, if you are afraid … “What time I am afraid I will trust in Thee.” Psalm 56:3-4. These things aren’t feeling issues – they are choice issues. The bible is a book of instructions and insight – the more it is applied the more we will know Him.

Only God knows why some people act the way they do. Whenever we are hurting we have to stop and go into the inner sanctuary in our heart, and wait there for His insight.  “I would not have been true to Your children if I had spoken this way. It was too hard for me when I tried to understand this, until I went into the holy place of God. Then I understood their end.”  Psalm 73:16-17: We will gain real understanding in the Presence of God. Not by going round and round the issues, desperately looking for an answer. However we all need to go after love “… love builds things up!” Walking in love takes us out of the realm of our thinking and brings us into His realm of influence. 

Our answers and reassurance lie in His realm. Love is not a feeling it’s always a choice. Remember that the next time you have an argument with someone. Our only real choice is to believe in the One that we know, He cannot lie or fail us. We cannot afford to pin our hopes on what we think we know, instead we must go to the Friend Who sticks closer than a brother, and then we firmly attach our hopes to Him and what He says in His book. We’ve always got MAIL! And then we stay there – holding fast to His faithfulness. 

It is essential that we read His Word as Him speaking to us, not superstitiously –  trying to divine this or that situation -, but rather to reinforce our personal knowledge of Him so we have something we can obey!A bigger view of God will boost our faith. Reading His Word is designed to increase our faith in Who He is, as well as what we believe. Those things are the most valuable things we have. The more we understand His Ways from His Word, the more we can hold fast when everything is sliding up and down and it looks like the sky is falling. And we can make adjustments by repenting when we are being faithless.

Our faith has substance. It can stop our little boat from sinking because we continually look to Him to calm our inner storms of dismay and fear. His book spells out what we are to believe. It gives us pictures from the past of how other people got it right or wrong and the consequences of their actions. We must always remember that Christ changed everything. However, if Christ had not died and gone away, we would not have the Holy Spirit NOW. He is our comforter, counsellor, encourager, helper, teacher, guide to holiness, and the spirit of all truth. He is also our Friend that sticks closer than a brother – He’s everything we will ever need to get us through this life.

Despite the lack of snail mail nowadays — you and I have always got mail – it’s in the book! And the Holy Spirit loves to breathe His life into whatever we read, today. Bye  👋

P 2700 Let’s keep our eyes on forever.

/ DVH

The bible tells us to “… above all, guard the affections of your heart, for they affect all that you are. Pay attention to the welfare of your innermost being, for from there flows the wellspring of life.”Proverbs 4:23. When I watch over my heart I am watching over who I am and what I produce!

Sometimes the hardest thing to watch over is our own heart. From my limited experience, other people often tread on someone else’s heart unknowingly. However, whoever started whatever has happened, if someone is offended, it means that there is something we both need to look at..Sadly, we can mistake somebody else’s motivation for evil intent, when the truth is this:… a whole lotta people are just big dummies, (like me), and they talk without thinking.

It goes without saying that forgiveness is the key that opens the door to understanding and reconciliation, but we all have people in our lives who are repeat offenders. So today I want to talk to the offended as well as the offender. Have you noticed how easy it is today to take offence? My first bit of advice to the one who is offended, is that forgiveness will require resolve, it will take self-discipline. There’s a happy thought! However, this is how we mature, and grow the fruits of self-control and patience…  by hanging on firmly to the VINE – true forgiveness is in that vine.

So we: “…set our mind on the things above.’ Colossians 3:2. Most growing points in our lives are a matter of forgiveness. The thing is, people aren’t doing whatever they did AGAIN – if we really forgave them in the first place! There may be some times when we read this bible stuff and say to ourselves, “yeah, yeah, great thought, but how do I do that?” I wish I had some snappy whizz bang methodology, that took care of our instant responses – but I don’t.

Here’s my advice for the one offended. My experience in this area of forgiveness has come down to two words – DO IT.  Don’t expect to feel good about it – just do it. Deliberately, and with great resolve, take authority over all the mean, niggly things you want to say to that offender, and ZIP IT. 🤐 When Jesus hung there silently on that cross for us. He gave us the power, by what He did, to shut up when we desperately want to put someone else in their place or comment on their behaviour.. 

Seriously, don’t give into your feelings for a minute, because you will find yourself circling the plug-hole going down for the last time! The bible says SET your mind because sort of kind of hoping the conflict will magically go away, will not work! Let me clarify this – we are changing an internal mindset in our lives, and doing that is not easy. Mindsets change when we consistently ask Him for His help,  use our faith, and keep our anger to ourselves. I say to myself: “I wanna be like Jesus and this is the Way to get there.” People who have no self-control haven’t totally realised what He gave us when He died for us. We already have forgiveness – LEARN TO SHARE. Read Romans! The more we die to self the more we gain!

Transformation takes hold when we find we can say something positive to the person who is jumping all over our last nerve. The bible says: “Bless those who curse you, do good to those who despitefully use you.”  Look, we are not talking about a walk in the park, we are talking about pressing into God until you forget what you were mad about! It IS hard! Hullo!! I say to myself at this point: “Oh there’s that thing that I am not going to remember, because it is a trap sent to distract me!”  That scripture from Colossians is not just a nice thought – it is an essential part of victorious Christian living! Why would we hand our enemy a loaded gun to shoot us? Disarm the gun.

Now to look at the offender: If something is your fault. If you opened your big mouth and hurt someone else and they tell you what you did … then don’t make excuses, and don’t give endless explanations… simply APOLOGISE. Humble yourself. You are not the judge of what hurts someone else! Actually we are not the judge of anything — read the book. Ask what you can do to make amends. People can easily forget that “I’m sorry” is not what the bible says. It says repent. Repentance involves humbling yourself and taking responsibility for what you did. Hurting someone else IS a big deal, because we don’t live by this world’s standards, now we live by His! And He clearly tells us not to make each other stumble.

Offending people is a big deal! I’ve met many people who say they are sorry, but they don’t go that one step further to usher in reconciliation. The aim of repentance is reconciliation. We need to remember that in this Christian life our hearts belong to Him. Father God takes this stuff seriously – it cost Him His life!  When people are mean to you they are being mean to His child. This means we need to pray for them!  Christ’s ministry is all about love and reconciliation, and that is our ministry now too. To live this way, it will help us to keep our eyes on forever, instead of just the here and now. Bye. 👋

P 2683 We are here to be a blessing.

/ DVH

Our lives are God’s love gift to others. So today, here’s an extremely powerful way to see how surrendered we all are! Let’s say somebody has just deliberately hurt you or annoyed the life out of you – what is your immediate response? We are only as surrendered to the life of God within us, as we are in our weakest, crankiest, most vulnerable moments. Telling the Lord we surrender to Him isn’t worth a hill of beans, if that doesn’t have its roots firmly established in reality. The power to change this world around us grows, as we use His power to change ourselves, first.

What we say, sing about, or have carefully read about on the subject of surrender, is utterly pointless – if it doesn’t bear fruit that is seeable in our lives! God is looking for fruitfulness, not hot air or even wishful thinking. We can tell if we have any fruit or not when this life squishes us tightly, That’s when our true selves emerge. It is also when the fruit of the Spirit can appear and spread a blessing.

Jesus Christ showed humanity GRACE from the cross. He got that Grace the same way we get it. HE MADE CHOICES. He showed Grace to His captors when they came to arrest Him, and they nailed Him to the tree. If we want to let Grace flow out of us, like AIR, then we need to continually take it in by faith and keep releasing it. That means we don’t excuse ourselves when we react to someone else, instead we choose to repent. So we let that grace flow out of us, towards others who probably don’t deserve it. His Grace is THAT powerful. It will transform us while it reaches out to others. This life is not about acquiring graces, it is about becoming His GRACE to others.

We can daily facilitate our own walk with Him, simply by valuing Grace, staying humble, and participating in repentance. If we continually pay attention to our feelings, instead of acting on the Word of God, we are choosing to empower a place inside us that needs to die. It is not that we are not ‘allowed’ to have feelings – rather, those feelings don’t need to run our responses or our lives. We actively make a choice to stop empowering the things that don’t produce His life in us. However, if we are being real with ourselves we probably already know the kind of things that make us stumble. They are often the things we excuse and we say: “Well, that’s not all that bad!”

The greatest Grace of God, Love, includes self-control. For the sap of the vine to flow into the fruit of the vine and grow wonderful grapes, the branch must stay attached. When I choose my way instead of His way I am restricting the flow of His sap. That branch has no destiny of its own, its entire destiny is tied up IN the Vine. If we want to abide in His love, then we must to learn to operate daily using the Grace He has given us. It’s endless! We don’t need to consult our feelings to see if we have grace, we simply step out and act appropriately toward the other person using our faith. We submit to Grace, come under Grace and then release what we already have.

“Since we are approaching the end of all things, be intentional, purposeful, and self-controlled so that you can be given to prayer. Above all, constantly echo God’s intense love for one another, for love will be a canopy over a multitude of sins.… … For to Him belong the power and the glory forever throughout all ages! Amen.” 1 Peter 4:7-8, 10-11 TPT.

Christians have been saved to serve others. We are going to need loads of humility to do that. This means we choose to progressively, and intentionally, learn to live as Christ Himself lived. He lived entirely for His Father’s purposes, not just what suited Him. He didn’t pretend – He simply was that Person. However, we haven’t been redeemed to be Jesus clones either, stringently following a bunch of rules. Rather we are to be voluntary imitators of Christ. Choosing to lay down our lives like He did..

His Grace has given us gifts that we are to use for the benefit of others. They are not to call attention to ourselves or raise up some sort of following. When we actively, continually forgive those who trespass against us, we will learn humility. At the same time we are extending His love canopy over them as we share what we already have. We are here, right here, right now, to be a blessing to this world, just like He was. 👋

P 2670 It’s later than we all think.

/ DVH

Romans 13:11-14: “Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarrelling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.”

In these difficult times, we can get extremely busy, and then we forget WHO we belong to. We start acting and re-acting like the people around us. Sadly, their god is often their appetites and misery. Even our own ideas of down-time and entertainment can sometimes wander off into hedonism and violence. Like Paul said – that stuff is not for us. I exhort you to treat entertainment like food, and pray over everything. I believe the Lord Himself will show anyone what is good, or not good in their life, when we ask Him. My own policy is this – when in doubt, don’t!  I have a pretty fertile imagination and so I’ve learnt you can’t un-see or un-hear stuff once you’ve sat around absorbing it!

As for casting off the works of darkness, the things of the darkness aren’t always on TV or in some game …we can easily be distracted by an argumentative spirit, or a bad temper, or a negative or critical attitude. The enemy’s deceptions are not obvious like sexual deviancy or a violent response to provocation! ‘It is the little foxes that spoil the vines…’  Likewise it is the things that we make allowance for, that drag us away from the Lord’s ways. We are exhorted to number our days, because they are few. Actively choose to learn to co-operate with the Holy Spirit, nobody else can do that for you.

The bible tells us clearly what to put off … let’s do that and leave our feelings and needs out of it! Currently practically every generation on this planet is held captive to how it feels at any given moment. Human beings are bigger than their feelings! Praise God, the bible doesn’t just tell us what to put OFF – it also tells us what to put ON. We put on the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords using our faith in His power within us…We do this one day, one interaction with Him, at a time. Basically Paul is saying: ‘Don’t make a space for anything that will entice you away from loving and serving Jesus. The things of this world will drag you under into despair and shame.’ Amen!

Our lives are geared into working hard, so we want to allow for relaxation. And if that pleasure is taken away, then we think the sky will fall, because we instinctively know that we need rest. We get our REST from Christ! Anything else is a poor substitute. Just because there are times when we are not good at achieving that aim, that does not mean we have permission to let loose, and ignore things. Pleasure itself is not bad, but exalting anything over our passion for Him, will result in the Lord ending up in second place. And eventually, if we are not careful, He slides right out of the picture. 

That’s one of the things I truly love about the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They will not force Their Ways on us. We don’t have to do anything! We choose to do it, to remain close to Him, and daily learn more about our new life in Christ. There are times I wish preachers would talk more about falling in Love with Him, because I think the Body of Christ really needs this kind of exhortation. When we love someone we will do anything for them, and abstinence is not painful, because it is a joy to be close to them. Personally, I love to hang around with someone who knows Him much better than I do. I can learn from them how to hold Him up in such a way that my response is pure worship. The more we invest in His life in us, the more His life will flow out of us.   

Our contribution matters – even if it is unseen. Many, many people underestimate their contribution. A loving heart that wants the best for everyone around them, makes a far greater contribution than someone who is caught up in their own needs and wants. To live like Christ did, we must actively, daily, choose to die. Physically, the truth is, we are all dying anyway – we start to die the moment we are born! But if we cling to this life and withhold our loving contribution from others… our true self will die a lot faster!

James 4:14: “How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.” Let’s learn to respect the fact that we are visitors in this life. None of what we have been given belongs to us. As one very far-sighted person once said: “You will never see a U-haul trailer filled with this world’s goods, attached to a hearse!” Only God knows how valuable each contribution is – and how much it affects the people around us. Instead of languishing away under how hard life is – let’s learn to celebrate the fact that now we have the Author of life, living within us. That will involve our active participation. It is MUCH later than we all think.

Bye. 👋

Romans 14:8: “For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.”

P 2668 Shame, the disqualifier.

/ DVH

Over the years in my Christian life I have observed that if I let shame in, then the result is I stop trying to hear God and avoid Him instead! Plus I leave off reading the bible and skip church. None of that stuff is good! I’ve disqualified myself because I am feeling bad about something I have done, or I am contemplating doing. Shame creates a need to hide. Adam and Eve did! It is a fact of life that every single person on this planet has down times. Times when our attitudes are not at their optimum, when life is not one glorious victory following another.

Shame is a tool of our enemy to send us spinning off in the wrong direction. We end up looking at ourselves, as well as how we feel about what we have done etc. – instead of looking at the Lord – Who is the Author and Finisher of our faith. The saddest thing is this – sometimes shame has its roots in real sin – sin that needs to be confessed and repented about. Confession clears away any reason the enemy has to accuse us and cause even more shame.

There are many people in our churches who go regularly week by week, and they are in all kinds of pain, because they are carrying shame, for things done in the present or the past. Perhaps they don’t want to do something that they keep on doing, but they just cannot find a way to stop. Or they are ashamed because they are not doing what they think they should be doing. Feelings demand a whole lot of work and energy. We can end up in an emotional washing machine, getting more and more agitated, drowning in our own despair.

Shame is a cloak. A substitute for conviction, which leads to repentance. Some times shame has been thrown over a person in the past, by someone they regard as an authority, and this other person gave the one who is ashamed, strong logical reasons why that cloak should be worn. That, BTW is a sign of control. Anybody who tries to control us is not on the Lord’s side, whether that person seems to have good motivations or not. Shame has its roots in fear. It can’t grow good fruit, its roots have not gone down deep into LOVE and acceptance.  

The bible tells us to ‘agree with our adversaries quickly’ –  that way we can also quickly repent, and instantly dismiss shame. When we come to Jesus we are given freedom, there is no control. However, shame may also do it’s best to separate us away from the very One Who came to redeem us. It will cause us to hide from Him. We can even end up living a life that is a lie, pretending we are fine when we are not, and hiding our true selves from everyone around us.The sad thing is;  we have no reason to be ashamed because we have His promises in writing!In 1 John 1:8-10 and 1 John 2:1-2 it says:

“If we claim that we’re free of sin, we’re only fooling ourselves. A claim like that is errant nonsense. On the other hand, if we admit our sins—simply come clean about them—He won’t let us down; He’ll be true to Himself. He’ll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing. ..”1 John 2:1-2 says this: “My little children, I am writing these things to you, so that you do not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”

The most important thing about these few verses is the fact that forgiveness always rests on the Lord’s Character and His Character is perfect! It is in Christ’s Character to tell the truth – and the truth is, we have already been forgiven. The second most important thing in my opinion, is this: honesty and confession are the only way to go. It’s not the most comfortable approach, but it is the only one! When we let light pour into the darkness we no longer have to be ashamed, we simply need to be honest and confess our faults to Him, and to others. Because the Lord Jesus Christ is our God-sent, God-given Lawyer! He is our Defence Attorney before the throne of God. He won’t give us a character reference – instead, HE SIMPLY POINTS TO THE CROSS. You might want to sit and stew on that for a while. 

Our part in this process is to be honest with Him, and ourselves, and use our faith to believe that He does not lie and we are not some kind of mad-exception to His poured out love. Shame must never be our cloak – Christ’s BLOOD IS ALWAYS OUR CLOAK.  If we accidentally crawl out from underneath the Lord’s provision of forgiveness, then we need to repent quickly, make reparation where necessary and move on. Let’s not let shame disqualify us from living a brand new life, free from the past, and our own sinful stupid decisions. Bye. 👋

P 2663 He is always with us.

/ DVH

1 Chronicles 5: 18,20 -22: “The Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh ,.. …They waged war against the Hagrites, Jetur, Naphish and Nodab. They were helped in fighting them, and God delivered the Hagrites and all their allies into their hands, because they cried out to Him during the battle. He answered their prayers, because they trusted in Him…”

The Israelites figuratively stood behind Almighty God in all these battles. They sought His protection and He gave it to them…’because (the bible says) the battle was God’s…”  So what does that mean to us, here, today? How do we do that? How do we know which battle is about endurance, and which one is about God Himself dealing with the enemy who is dancing around in front of our eyes? We need a word from Him. Like … “stand still …” OR …”you have need of endurance.” That’s two I can think of! No matter which one is appropriate at which time  – He is always with us.

I’ve found the secret to discernment in times like this comes to me as the battle is raging …  in the heat of what is going on! The above scripture from 1 Chronicles says “…during the battle.” The Holy Spirit is not like a boss who says, ‘do this’ and then he goes off, forgets about you, and expects you to do whatever it is … whether you know how to carry out those instructions or not! The Holy Spirit is also ALWAYS WITH US. He wants us to win.

But, we need to remember that He will not intrude or force us to do anything. If we ever feel pushed, it’s not Him! The Holy Spirit is the same Spirit that was in Christ Jesus, and Jesus was gentle and lowly in His heart. He told and showed His disciples what to do, by example, but He did not force them to do anything! 

Trust often operates best right in the middle of the battle, while we are making choices – good or bad ones. Sometimes our choices sound like this: ‘I feel sorry for myself. The things that have been happening to me are awful!’ You know, this life doesn’t operate on fair or unfair…we are living in the devil’s territory – nothing is fair here!!  Another easy choice might be: “I am too tired to fight. It’s all too much for me.” Pretend your troubles are a boiling hot rock and hand it off to the Lord ASAP. Either way, you will get endurance!

Our enemy loves to play with our feelings. Our feelings have been his playground over many years. So our faith is stretched when things get hard. At this time, I am learning to refuse to let satan and his minions drag me down to their level. Just stretch out your hand toward the Lord Jesus, your victory and healing is right in front of you. God is with us in the heat of the battle.

Fighting for our new life in Christ is difficult when we are engaged fighting multiple difficulties, on multiple fronts, and it seems that our peace, our happiness, sometimes even our very life is at stake! Those Israelites we read about today were fighting four different nations at once! The best time to fight is when we don’t feel like it. That’s actually when our faith grows. Because it is being stretched, it is very likely that this process will hurt and seem hard!  We fight for our right to stand still and let Him do what He wants.

However, at the same time, our fight is also easy. We simply give everything over to Him. Israel experienced victory when they let Him have His way. Just hand your situation over and refuse to take that stuff back and worry over it. “His yoke is easy, His burden is light ..” So if whatever is happening is heavy and hard – then WE are still carrying it!!  Yeah, I know handing over things that are important to us can seem irresponsible, but this is part of salvation’s provision. Victory belongs to us. We no longer need to be tormented by whatever is going on around us. He gave us the power to relinquish those things that so easily beset us. Those things that happen and hang round our necks like weights.

As we learn to give these things to Him, we will become even more aware that He is with us. Focus on the Lord not the junk. Start thanking Him because He promised that He will be here, with us. He said:“I will be WITH you in trouble…”  In testing times, feeling around in our feelings to see if we feel like He is with us, is counter-productive! Ask Him to be with you and then believe that He will not lie to you. Because He won’t. 

The thing is, TRUST is one of the ways we learn to be LED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT. We obey His directives, in season and out of season, and we turn over the results to Him. If we get it wrong, then we repent. Then we repeat, and repeat and repeat  – until eventually this becomes part of our new nature. There is nothing mystical about being led by the Holy Spirit, it is the most natural thing. He is present when we are born, and He is the best ‘Nanny’ and care-giver this world will ever know!

What I hear in my heart, when I am under pressure can be affected by my circumstances and how I feel, but His Word is rock solid – it never changes. We need to let Him help us listen as we read His book – whether the sky is sunny and it looks like we are winning, or there’s a hurricane raging and nothing is as it should be. I know, from my own experiences, that He will always kiss HIS book.

He’s with us in its pages, no matter what is raging around us. It doesn’t matter what version we have – it’s our faith that He will speak to us through what He has written … not the version! Our God loves us with incredible passion and He will always respond to our hearts seeking His. Let go and let Him fight for you. Bye 👋