Fellowship

P 2805 Righteousness.

/ DVH

“This gospel unveils a continual revelation of God’s righteousness—a perfect righteousness given to us when we believe. And it moves us from receiving life through faith, to the power of living by faith. This is what the Scripture means when it says: “We are right with God through life-giving faith!”” Romans 1:17 TPT.

Righteousness, means the ability to live, day-by-day in right relationship with God, and others. It is not a static thing – it keeps unfolding and expanding in and through our lives. We need to live valuing what we have been given, and we do that when we live justly, honestly, and faithfully according to God’s instructions from the book. This kind of life is not a dream, or a wish-thought, it is an ongoing process that we enter into with Him. It flows from a continual revelation of what He died to give us.

Jesus Christ revealed, in Person, what righteousness before God looks like. It looks like – praying for lepers, forgiving those who have treated you dreadfully, giving without measure, and loving others, as we honestly wrangle with the hardships of this life. After the Lord went back to heaven, He left behind Him a small group of ordinary men who changed history. However, those men found out everything He told them was true – firsthand – for themselves. Don’t ever be content with knowledge about righteousness – learn to live in it instead. Let the Holy Spirit teach you.

‘Righteousness’ is an old fashioned word that is easily overlooked or ignored in today’s abbreviated language. As we embrace absorbing this incredible, church-ified word into our lives, and we choose to look our lives through His eyes — the way we think is changed. It needs to be. We must move past the try-harder-to-be-a-good-person school into the I-can-never-do-that-by-myself … one! There we will learn that our faith is not just series of idioms we repeat endlessly hoping they are true. We will begin to see what we believe come to life, like the disciples did. We will learn to rise up to be all each one of us was sent here to be.

That’s because the cross was an exchange and not just a destination — we were taken out of this world’s kingdom and made citizens of heaven when we said yes to the Lord Jesus’ sacrifice. Christ’s righteousness, His Godly, right way of living, giving, and dying on planet earth, is available to us. We gave Him our sin, and He gave us His Grace, His place – His position before our Heavenly Father. 

If you pause and take the time to think about it, Jesus was never ever worried that God would not listen to Him when He prayed. He expected to be heard because there was no sin to separate Him from His Father’s will. “Jesus raised His eyes to heaven and prayed, “Father, I’m grateful that You have listened to Me.I know You always do listen, but on account of this crowd standing here I’ve spoken so that they might believe that You sent me.” John 11:41. That’s why we can be trusted to ask for whatever we want – because now we’ve entered into a new agreement with God. We are going to live our lives for His will, His way, from now on.

We too, can have confidence we will be heard when we stand on the simplicity of the gospel and let it daily work on our lives, thoughts and hearts. Now …”In this [union and fellowship with Him], love is completed and perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment [with assurance and boldness to face Him]; because as He is, so are we in this world.” 1 John 4:17. The thing we need to remember is that His righteousness is not permissiveness. Jesus Himself “…only did what He saw His Father doing  etc…” The limitless One chose to limit Himself, as He lived in obedience to His Father’s will. Even to His death. 

The bible tells us that God’s kind of Love avoids even the appearance of wrong. We call that self-control, and it is a fruit germinated and fulfilled by our relationship with Jesus Himself. We choose to live like this because of the passion we have for Him – He is our Beloved! We limit ourselves in this life for His sake, because He limited Himself for our sake.

Almighty God became one of us and He came here to show us He means us no harm! Now when He looks at you and I, He sees the pure, spotless, innocent blood of Jesus covering our sins. We’ve moved out of sin and darkness into His marvellous light. Which is why it is D.U.M.B./stupid to deliberately keep on sinning. God is so good! When we sin – Jesus is our lawyer/advocate – He points to His blood covering our lives and claims us as His own.

Real repentance is our only way back into the light of love. Ask yourself: ‘Why would I ever choose to move out of His light? What can possibly be more important than walking with Him?’ We can see this world far more clearly in the light. Darkness blinds us to reality. Jesus Christ died to give us His righteousness – so let’s live our day-to-day lives for Him, grateful. Bye 👋.

P 2774 It’s time we started …

/ DVH

… to hear His Voice in someone else’s voice. Someone prayed for this at church the other day and it impacted me. We need to find and see Jesus in each other. How? Well, to start with – He lives there! We said: “Come into my life Lord Jesus, and take over.” And He did. How we feel from day to day is irrelevant. Emotions are fickle they change with our circumstances.

However, sometimes what we are really saying is: “You can come into the lounge Lord. It’s nice and tidy in there, I cleaned that up the other day. But please don’t go into the bedroom, that’s a mess. And definitely stay away from the kitchen and the bathroom, You won’t like what You find in there!” A “Keep out” sign is a warning bell, clanging away trying to get our attention. It is not good to have keep out signs in our lives. It usually means something is badly amiss. Something we don’t want to fix or even pay attention to, because we like it, and we know full well … HE WON’T. It also contaminates our relationships with others.

I had keep out signs practically everywhere, when I first started to follow Him. Life had greatly shattered my trust in humanity. I was afraid I might lose something I cared about. Like my snarky attitudes that I had previously cultivated before I met Him, so I could protect myself. Did you know that keeping a bad attitude toward someone else is like SUPER GLUE? We have the power to stick them there, right in a place where we don’t like them! Read the book. We have the power to forgive people … or not!  A bad attitude is like wearing coloured glasses.

The Lord is far more patient with any of us than we will ever deserve. Praise God, Jesus came here as a human being, so He gets … PEOPLE. If you don’t believe me then read the way He relates to the disciples when they’d lost their brain. Or they didn’t want to change their minds because they couldn’t see anything wrong with their thinking! Those keep out signs stop US from changing too. Meanwhile it’s a wonder, at the beginning of my relationship with the Lord that He had somewhere, at all, to put a toe on. 

But after it took me awhile to realise my error, here’s what I did instead. I’ve pulled out all the keep out signs, because they limit God and I don’t want to limit the Answer! And instead I put up a “proceed with caution, please Lord” one. That sign is for my benefit, not His. He has more loving kindness than I will ever experience anywhere else, but I need to say it, and He listens to me so patiently. I love Him for that.

I think this is part of the problem with our fellowship within the church. Some of us have been so badly bruised by the very people we thought were perfect when we were growing up spiritually, that we put up keep out signs everywhere. On the chimney, on the lawn, in the window, by the front gate… you name it! Now we are just plain scared of other people’s faces and responses, so we live guarded lives. Lives peppered with plastic fruit. Other people could hurt us … BUT …we won’t tell them about it, because that would give them an advantage over us. No faith there.

Here’s a not-so-wonderful revelation — keeping His kids out, limits our growth. The Lord will not limit His right leg, His elbow or His kidneys by seeing them as separate to Him. We are all part of His body. We do whatever we do on His behalf. Jesus has owned us, and become engaged to us, by choice. And He will do everything He can, without violating anyone’s free will, to keep us safe with Him.

Accepting any difficult or nasty people at church is part of loving Him… it’s in the book. Actually it’s often in the part of the book, we don’t much like reading so we avoid it. But the Lord is so gracious, and spiritually attuned, that He can look after us and our overwhelming feelings of fear and doubt, and still not hurt someone else who scares the life out of us. Boy is that a skill I really want!

So, here’s the answer to the church-is-the-place-where-everybody-pretends-to-love-everybody problem. I look for Jesus in that other person. Sometimes  we may need the Lord to install a huge love filter.  My filter is in Colossians 3:14: “Together with these things, the most important part of your new life is to love each other. Love is what holds everything together in perfect unity.“Let the Holy Spirit do this whole relationship thing between each of us – He’s brilliant at it… At the same time we need to prayerfully insist that now, today, we want to accept and love other people. The real deal can take time to grow .. keep pressing on. 

We may have to throw out a whole heap of our own prejudices and smelly attitudes to get there – but embracing love helps us all grow beyond platitudes. Honesty is great, but please don’t tell the other poor sod that you’ve always hated them – that’s counterproductive. Seeing love through His eyes, means we develop spiritual sight, which goes right along with spiritual hearing. We need to turn off that snarky voice inside our head that comments about other people’s sincerity – and aim at love.

My last clue to solving the problem of loving the brethren is pray. Pray, pray, pray pray pray. Then do something nice, like ask them about themselves. You can get a whole lot of insight into someone else’s attitudes by simply listening, it’s a greatly underestimated skill. It is time we started to hear His voice within other people’s voices. The spirit of isolation leads to error. Bye. 👋

P 2737 Wound management.

/ DVH

Resentment is like dirt in an open wound. The wound may close, but we our healing is circumvented because there is still bacteria inside. I just want to mention that the wound or the bacteria may not be our fault, it may have come from somewhere else, or even somebody else. But it’s what we do with that wound now we have it, that matters. Ignoring it, or even peering at it, poking it, and making sure it is still sore, will not promote healing.  

Healing comes from thoroughly cleaning out wounds  – with some sort of disinfectant. So it is going to sting! Then we apply soothing ointment, and cover that injury with the same blood we are covered in. Our ointment comes from the Presence of the Holy Spirit – He knows how to soothe every sore place. After dealing with it, we can leave the wound to repair itself, and get on with our lives.

Resentment will often remind us that we didn’t get what we asked for – because it loves to keep accounts of wrongs. Remember 1 Corinthians 13? “…Love keeps NO record of wrongs!” Resentment will take us out of love and chuck us into a side eddy, going round and round. It can swing our spiritual lives so we are now collecting bad dead stuff. It won’t let anything good in, but it twists and turns and shades our overall POV. Then it flings all that dead stuff out into the main stream to anybody who will stand still and listen, leading to gossip. This devilish trait will never satisfy us because it doesn’t produce anything but more suffering. And like a germ in a wound it leaves even more pus in its wake!

Human beings want INSTANT answers — but Almighty God loves constantly progressing relationships! This trait must be fostered by making painful choices. We deliberately leave behind the things that caused a wound and jump back into the fresh living water of the RIVER of God. Doing this optimises our healing. Our feelings can be overrated because they are often fed by stagnant water … plus they are addictive.

Father God wants a loving functioning relationship with each one of us – He lost everything He cherished through our forebears’ deliberate disobedience in the garden. Remember, man was made in His image – we are designed to be like Him, inside and out. The Lord Himself, plus Adam and Eve, all had sweet fellowship together in the cool of the evening – every single night! Right now, He is looking for sons and daughters, who will pay the price to walk with Him again. 

That means we will have to give up any and all hidden resentments, because those things can become an occupational enemy! The Lord is longing for true fellowship with people who value HIM – not for what He does but for Who He is – people who value Him so much they will lay aside every weight that slows them down. We were saved to walk with Him, daily, in the garden of our hearts. His heart is so BIG He has room for every human being that ever lived. But resentment will subvert His plan to love on us and consume our thoughts instead. 

Our God doesn’t just hand out assignments and stand back, waiting for us to complete them – He wants to come with us! Praise HIM, He will also lend us His glorious expertise, and a fresh POV when He does. The very best thing we can do is to go everywhere with HIM!  However resentment turns our heads and hearts away from what our Heavenly Father loves most  — PEOPLE! It grows in an atmosphere that does not include Him, plus it goes hand in hand with complaining. It narrows down any fresh possibilities so we become trapped in half-truths and animosity.

Resentment is also a thief. It comes knocking at the back door of our hearts supposedly to comfort us. It wants to have a cup of coffee or tea with us and then it will point out all the bad things other people have done to us – so we can sit and stew in them! It tells us it is protecting us from future pain so we must keep those hurtful people at a distance. This thing is an evil accountant and a collector, it will keep track of other people’s wrongs!  It produces the wrong sort of fellowship, including lying and distortion. Like every thief, resentment wants to steal — our hope, our peace, our joy, our worship and voluntary service for our King. That traitor wants to hide in dark corners and snipe at others. The solution is simple – don’t entertain it.

Here are some great scriptures to think on: “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”Ephesians 4:29.“Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.”Ephesians 4:31. “See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; …” Hebrews 12:15.

Resentment is best dealt with early, because it has the awful power to reproduce and multiply. So we need to break off any suckers like that springing up in our lives,  like we would break off a plant sucker as it grows on a living tree …Break that thing off at the root. Otherwise it will steal all our joy, hope, and colour in our lives with bleakness, because it produces nothing of any worth. I urge each one of us to become adept at wound management – before any wounds poison our system. Bye 👋

P 2636 A greater attitude.

/ DVH

A son or a daughter has responsibility within their family for the contribution to and oversight of their household, particularly in the parent’s absence. However, a servant will simply do whatever they are told to do and they are paid for it. Very few servants end up as an heir to their master’s property! To qualify they would need to be adopted so they become sons and daughters.  

The Lord Jesus, through the Apostle Paul, talks about that in the passage down below from Romans. (There are others, but I only have a small space!) Adoption is part of God’s parenting us – we voluntarily choose to move on from serving Him for our benefit, into serving Him for LOVE’S sake, like Jesus did. We follow His Son into sonship. That will cost us, all our time, effort, money, comfort, and reputation.

First of all, let’s be clear, being born again as God’s own child, means the Lord God has planted His eternal seed within us. We belong to Him NOW by birth! However, that seed of new life needs to be nurtured and cared for, in order to grow – with prayer, reading the bible, and healthy fellowship. Viable growth, with clear signs of impending fruit, is a sure sign of eternal life within. 

That person exhibits qualities that can only come from the Holy Spirit’s nurture, input and love, together with their willing acceptance, submission and participation. So this is not just about whether you or I belong to God or not – it is about us having His kingdom within us, plus the freedom and authority to share it with others for their benefit. Moving from servanthood into son-by-adoption involves our CHOICES. As God’s children we choose to follow Jesus down our own road of surrender – which can include difficulties and pain, simply because we love Him and we are grateful for all He has done for us. Jesus is not just a bless me person – He’s a follow Me Leader!

“For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by Him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory.” Romans 8:14-17.

A servant or slave does their master’s bidding, whether they like him or not, and they usually get paid for doing it. There are benefits. But a true son respects his father and does whatever his father wants, to honour him … he may or may not get paid … but the son/daughter carries out their father’s wishes for the entire family’s benefit. The job gets done either way, but sonship has a different mindset motivating it.  Let’s move on…

“Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”John 1:12-13. And:“I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” 2 Corinthians 6:18. 

To see what being a son or daughter looks like, we must look at Christ. What did Jesus Himself do as God’s Son? He did and said everything He saw the Father doing! It is not shameful or weak, to live a dependent life, Jesus did it … He totally relied upon His Father and the Holy Spirit. He served His Father willingly, no matter what the circumstances were like. Not one argument, not one whoops, not one regret!! He did it as if His Father was present.

That is not the way a servant does things, a servant does things even in our absence. However a son willingly chooses to learn to think like his father, so he can perfectly represent the father’s wishes, whether his parent is absent or not. To the son his father’s wishes are always foremost in his mind. Christ served all of us showing us what heavenly love looks like, and He did it to benefit others. His sacrifice released the things that belong in His Father’s house into this world. In other words, Jesus used HIS inheritance to benefit us.

And because He chose to do that, He raised humanity to His level in the Father’s house. However, we are not given these benefits just to benefit us, we are given them to benefit OTHERS. Just like Jesus did. Authority is not about WHO is in charge, it is about who perfectly represents our heavenly Father —and our Father is not a tyrant! When God loves He gives. A servant takes, he takes what he thinks he’s earned — but a SON BECOMES A GIVER. Living to love and give is the greater attitude. 🙌

P 2625 Love needs to be given away.

/ DVH

“Love is never wasted for its value does not rest upon reciprocity…  …To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.” (C.S. Lewis – The Four Loves.) “Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” Matthew 6:21.

I was challenged by what C.S. Lewis said, because I think it is so true. I have met people who decided loving others was not ‘safe’ — and, sadly, they seemed to be some of the most black and white people I ever met. It was as if all colour was sucked right out of them. In my opinion ‘compassion and empathy’ bring God’s glorious out-of-this-world’s colour into, and out of our little lives. Those incredible gifts are the very essence of Christ’s being and life. However, without His Presence we can do nothing but flap our gums and look awkward. But with Him, we can usher in His kingdom here on earth, right here, right now. Our God is always NOW.

Let’s be clear, loving others is not only hard, like C.S said, it is fraught with danger. People are not reliable by nature, instead they have been badly influenced by the world around them. However, we have, inside us, the power to speak His life into others. Nobody can tell me that this kind of thing doesn’t or can’t happen, because I’ve watched it happen time and time again! A seemingly ordinary person, who is polite and helpful – but distant – suddenly floods with the Lord’s colour and His light, and they are alive in a way that seemed impossible a second ago. It takes my breath away every single time.

If we want to see Him at work and watch what He can do, first we need to lay aside our fear of rejection, abandonment and looking foolish. We will need to be brave. At times like this my favourite thought is: “I am never going to see these people again, what do I care what they think of me?”  So I start with whatever small thought He has given me, and I just keep pulling on that thread. Then, I stop and wait. I’m waiting to see what the Lord will do next. I try not to speak in paragraphs or whole pages. Instead, I do my best to speak as simply and clearly as I can. But the main point is: I do what He tells me to do the way He tells me to do it.

My dear hubby has been used by the Lord in this way, in front of my eyes, many times.  And he illustrates this releasing of God’s  glorious colours in others, time and time again when we are on the road. He is normally quite shy, and retiring, or that’s how he appears, until the Lord lights up inside him! At those times he is so bold when he speaks, even to strangers. And they glow under the lamp-light of God’s kindness and approval.  Then they tell him all kinds of personal things they probably wouldn’t even dream of telling people they know!

Hubby’s personal transformation illustrates to me what the kingdom looks like when it flows through us toward others. In those times we do not have to persuade anybody that God is real … when He turns up, His Presence is self-explanatory! Everyone knows that He is there. They don’t know, how or why … but they know that something extraordinary is going on. Mostly, the people we speak to look like little children who suddenly feel at home and LOVED.

God loved us so much He gave… and unless we participate in a lifetime of giving, loving and continually caring for everybody we meet, we will get stuck in a grey world that is the same old same old, day after day after day. You know, when many Christians get stuck spiritually, they end up hoping that going to church week by week will do. Actually, our relationship with Him is meant to be alive and vibrant minute by minute. If we only have Christian friends and Christian fellowship, then we have limited our exposure to the world around us. This means we will most likely never see the Lord shine as brightly as He does in the darkness.

Lately, we’ve all been so focussed on making ourselves feel better, we forgotten we are keepers of the most precious substance on this earth – HIS LOVE.  Love is meant to be given away, not hidden or hoarded. Hiding it defeats the very purpose we were given love in the first place! The more we give His love away, the more our lives will be bombarded with His colour and beauty. Jesus can’t help Himself, He just loves to do extraordinary things … usually without our permission! YAY! Our privilege and joy is – we are allowed to watch Him do them.  Aren’t we the blessed ones? 👋

P 2600 Let’s be realistic.

/ DVH

“Everything we could ever need for life and godliness has already been deposited IN US by His divine power. For all this was lavished upon us through the rich experience of knowing Him who has called us by name and invited us to come to Him through a glorious manifestation of His goodness.”2 Peter 1:3 TPT.

Knowing Jesus intimately, introduces us to a new way to think and live. It is a waste of time to try to fit Jesus into our lives the way they existed before we met Him. Let’s be logical, why wouldn’t we need to change?  After all, we needed to be saved! However, Almighty God is not in the panel-beating business! He doesn’t look at us like we would look at a smashed up car and go: ‘Oh dear, that one has a big ding here in the boot’ OR ‘that one took a heck of a whack in the side door.’  Our proximity to Him changes everything. People got healed when Jesus was around – He didn’t have to touch them.

We all need this brand new life. A life devoted to His service, His ways, and His book! We haven’t just accidentally collected boo-boos as we’ve gone along … the truth is we’ve made bad choices. Choices that led us away from His purpose for our lives. We do not need ‘make-overs’ — we need to be transformed. At the same time we need to CO-operate with the Holy Spirit. And everything we will need for that transformation has been given to us, when we admitted our need for a Saviour. We participate in this new life by using our faith.  It works like this – “The bible tells me I have been given Your patience, so thank you for that Grace Lord, now I am going to exercise that patience by acting on it.” 

I need a Saviour every second of every hour of every day of my life. Today, I’m still wrangling with what James said in Chapter 3 Verses 10-12! “Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.” However, I’m not going to go on about taming the tongue today, because I am extremely busy trying to tame my own!

However, this scripture is a diagnostic tool, it shows us how very deeply ingrained sin is in our lives. None of us are not perfected yet! What comes OUT shows us what is still IN there. My advice is don’t excuse yourself – repent! We can make excuses until the cows come home, but that doesn’t do anything. What matters is turning our hearts back to Him and taking those faith steps. It is too easy to swan about telling ourselves ‘I’m not that bad,’ but the truth is – what we do, or don’t do, actually affects other people, and we are going to be held accountable when we don’t walk in love – because THAT is available to us now too. God is not looking for perfection He wants our interaction and participation. 

Salvation has always been an ongoing process. It is a verb not a noun. Nouns name things, verbs describe actions. Sadly, we’ve settled for the name Christian, instead of becoming living illustrations of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We’ve settled for the appearance of good without actually producing it. Meanwhile if someone is mean to us, watch out! 2 Timothy 3:5 “Having a form of godliness,but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”

The power of God has not just been given to us to set captives – other people free! It has been given to us to set US free!! The sword of the Spirit is powerful. We need to know personally how powerful it is by using it on ourselves first. People sometimes waggle that sword around like they are King Arthur, but they have no idea how much damage it can do. If we continue to live this new life unaware, then it is very easy to use a full sized sword on others, and a butter knife on ourselves!

Lastly, here’s a big thought, don’t aim at having a ministry – instead aim at transformation! Your ministry will find you when you go after your true destiny. Our destiny is this: “In this [union and fellowship with Him], love is completed and perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment [with assurance and boldness to face Him]; because as He is, so are we in this world.” 1 John 4:17. Let’s be realistic, let’s aim at the things that last. 👋

P 2578 BECAUSE …

/ DVH

1 John 4:17-19: “This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love BECAUSE He first loved us.”

Some words in the bible need greater attention than others. Today when I woke up, ‘we love because He first loved us …’  was rattling about in my mind and heart. My first thought was this… maybe we have that concept in the wrong order? We can easily get stuck on we must love, as a directive, instead of focussing on the fact that we have been given something that we don’t deserve. And not only that … we have been given so much of it we have plenty to give away! … I think that that thought changes the ballgame!!

When we engage with the things in our lives that we know are not God’s will or even His ways, the correct and most fruitful response, is repentance, NOT shame or guilt etc. What’s the difference? Shame comes from the devil, it drove Adam and Eve away from Almighty God in the garden. But knowing we are loved will always draw us back toward Him, BECAUSE He is the answer. That sort of response shows us whether we are afraid, or not – if we are afraid we have believed a lie! 

When a little child breaks a toy, it runs and takes that toy to the parent to be fixed. In a good parent/child relationship the infant is not afraid. Instead it has confidence, it knows love will fix it. That attitude is our yardstick. As Christians, we are compelled by His love to be drawn back into fellowship, with Him, and each other. No matter what it takes. Meanwhile we can’t say we love God and hate our brother BECAUSE those two things are incompatible!  However, after real repentance and reparation, our sin is now under Christ’s blood. It has been dealt with BECAUSE it hinders fellowship and our love relationship with Him. It’s hard to love and feel guilty all at once!

The way we live now is about our attitudes and motivation, not rules or fear. We don’t have to flimflam, deny or obfuscate about our sins either — now sin is not our focus! We live differently because we LOVE Him. The reality is this, whatever we choose to take into our own lives, we will eventually give out. If we take in greed, avoidance, shame or guilt for some action or other, then we will give that out to someone else. Let’s remember that our God will never use us to give out stones or snakes to people in need, He is a good good Father. 

Freedom is now ours. God’s Love gave us that freedom, and it is Christ’s eternal legacy for all of us. When we step away from freely giving away that kind of love to others, we step out of that freedom. At the same time if something pricks our conscience, and we dismiss it and do not deal with it, it becomes sin. It’s disobedience! The same thing happens when the Lord asks us to do something but we don’t want to do it. Disobedience to the Holy Spirit’s leading can block our ears to God’s guidance.

So, if we read the bible and think: “Nope, nothing in there today for me!” Then we simply must keep on reading — BECAUSE seekers find things. Sometimes we might tell ourselves “God understands blah blah blah.” That’s called rationalisation and denial. Today, right where you and I are – we’ve  been given a new heart that is soft toward God, and His ways, but we can harden that soft heart by ignoring Him. We can fool ourselves that it will be OK … but inside, the Holy Spirit is jumping up and down and waving His arms saying: “Wrong way go back.”

BECAUSE God made Himself incredibly vulnerable, by becoming a man, living here with us, and dying for us so we can be with Him forever — now our response comes from a place of love and devotion to Him and His Ways. Now His unearned or deserved love for us motivates our love for others. 👋

““So I give you now a new commandment: Love each other just as much as I have loved you. For when you demonstrate the same love I have for you by loving one another, everyone will know that you’re My true followers.”” John 13:34-35 TPT

P 2570 Easter down-under. ⛺️

/ DVH

In our part of the world Easter heralds the end of summer time. Enjoying the Easter holidays in this country rivals our enjoyment and obsession with eating Easter Eggs! It is a last flash of summer brightness to be savoured at all cost. In days gone by, Aussies used to try to do an obligatory drop-in to say “Hi” to God. Today, most don’t go to church anymore … because they are just plain too busy, and probably gave up church-going for Lent.

Let’s peek into one family home cos they are about to leave soon for the beach. Everybody helps to pack the car – some less willingly than others – and then we join in the rush …  … So we can go sit in a traffic jam – which happens in both directions – coming and going! At the same time, we indulge in our fav pastime – complaining about the Main Roads department and their distinct lack of competence regarding our road system. 

The people in the back seat also like to complain, loudly, about the people in the front seat’s choice of music, and a good time is not had by all. Fights can eventually break out in the back seat, because it’s hot in the car sitting in the sun, not actually going anywhere. Some people anticipate this angst and have a few cold ones while they are waiting for the traffic to move. One guy this Easter fished out his electric guitar and cheered up the cars at a stand still. Dunno how he plugged that in!

Eventually, tired and weary, this family arrive at their chosen destination and put up the tent — which is no mean feat. Tent construction is advertised as great fun by Dad – possibly because he isn’t keen to do all the work alone! The kids meanwhile, are hopping from one foot to another longing to be told they can go and stick their toes in the ocean. Our ocean is still warm at this time of the year … 

… That’s when their holiday really starts. It’s sun, sea, salt, surf and sand … Sand in your togs, sand on your towel, sand in your eyes, sand on the tent floor, sand in your sleeping bag, and in your sandwich. Who cares? This is our last chance to enjoy summer for four days, and we are going to do it!! If it kills us.

Meanwhile mum works hard to make sure everybody is fed. As well trying to keep the mayonnaise for the prawns COLD so that nobody ends up with a case of salmonella … and that’s not easy with no fridge! Most of the time her job is to sit on a towel on the sand, watching the kids, and counting their heads bobbing about in the ocean. At the same time she is expected to stay there on duty in the sun, while her spouse enjoys chucking back a cold one with the other liberated spouses in the camping ground. It is always time for a beer in Australia!

It was not ever meant to be so at our house – light years ago. My mum used to say: “If I can’t plug in my electric frypan then I’m not going.” Later on she married a truckie, an ex-soldier, whose idea of camping comfort was a tarpaulin over some trees and a ground sheet for sleeping … Like …on the ground! Grass was a bonus that was not even remotely equal to today’s memory foam mattresses. But you were allowed to have a hip hole dug in the ground for your hip, and supposed comfort. True story.

My step-father’s idea of a toilet was another tarpaulin wound around some gum trees and hole called the long drop! If you weren’t careful, or you went to the loo in the dark, that’s exactly what could happen to you!! He loved camping in the bush. I still shudder when sand gets in my shoes. But I’ve had prayer for healing lots of times!! OK I’m joking – again. Traumatised … there’s a word!! The idea of intentionally sitting by the ocean and getting sandy and salty and calling that fun …Nah! Not happening Jan.

Easter in Oz is not thought of as a Holy time. Or even a time for reflection. The smells and bells have faded into the background, replaced by the smell of the ocean, fresh fish, and boozy, sweaty bods. And yet everybody who is in that camp ground will probably turn up again when the sun begins to get warm. Why? There is a great camaraderie that all us Aussies really enjoy when we get together. They want to go back to that place and see those people they have come to know over the years. 

The need for fellowship is deeply engrained in the heart of mankind. It’s the ‘where it happens’ that is killing us, in the church.  Many people honestly think that Jesus is great but they don’t want to sit in a church staring at stained glass windows, wondering when the service will be over! THEY DON’T KNOW HIM – WHY WOULD THEY COME? Church is monumentally boring in their eyes. So Australians are now officially, His lost sheep. Here’s a news flash, Jesus wants those precious lost sheep back – what are you going to do about it? 👋

P 2522 Throw away your fear of failure.

/ DVH

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

P 2518 Faith says I need HIM more than stuff!

/ DVH

“Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut, Doesn’t have a swelled head, Doesn’t force itself on others, Isn’t always “me first,” Doesn’t fly off the handle, Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, Doesn’t revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end.”1 Corinthians 13:4-7.

The difficulty we face with verses like these, as I see it, is that we can read them and say to ourselves: “Oh, dear, I’m not like that. That means that I am failing God. I don’t see how I can ever be like that, I’m too bad tempered, too selfish, etc.” Hmm. There is no faith needed to diagnose what everyone else around us can already see! However, these verses are about faith, they are not there to diagnose lack. They are a description of what the Lord’s love does, and His design and purpose for our lives. They show us what we are aiming at! We can have anything on that list IF we are prepared to die to self!

Using our faith to act on what He says is the key to giving these things substance —  BUT — telling ourselves that we already have them, without using our faith, is not scriptural! Be-cau-se  “FAITH is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not yet seen.” Hebrews 11:1. Faith is not just claiming stuff — it is love in action so others can then see our faith! Ya might want to think on that the next time you are shouting at someone. It will be hard for them to believe you have faith to overcome sin when all the evidence they have to hand is to the contrary! It will hurt to deny ourselves take up our cross … (that cross is often people who just don’t get us!)… and follow Jesus.

These things already exist in Christ, and HE is now our new home. In Christ we have all these glorious qualities – Jesus died to give us all this, and more. Jesus didn’t just say He died – HE DIED! We cannot pretend to have this stuff and hope He is fooled. These things are precious Holy Spirit qualities, and they are real tangible things, not wish-thinking. They are the language of love between the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.

Jesus Christ died to give us what He already has with the Father. “In this [union and fellowship with Him], love is completed and perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment [with assurance and boldness to face Him]; because as He is, so are we in this world.”1 John 4:17. We are destined to look like Him, and we get there by our obedience, one step at a time. Which includes shutting our mouths when we want to let fly, or by curbing our ungodly desires etc., and asking the Holy Spirit to do what He does best. HELP US.

Those qualities written down in 1 Corinthians are a check list, but they are not there to condemn us. They are there to help us recognise that when we deliberately choose not to keep score of someone else’s sins – we are manifesting His love toward that person. When we choose to be satisfied with what we have, then we are manifesting His love! Practically speaking … when we are supernaturally patient, using our faith, when we are dealing with a two year old who wants what he wants – we are manifesting God’s love toward that child!

But if and when, we miss the mark, then we confess our faults, to the other person, and repent and restore relationships as needed.Repentance is now a part of our way of life because we are be-i-ng perfected … but we ain’t there yet! Right now we are all learning to walk in the WAY … “I walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice, bestowing a rich inheritance on those who love me and making their treasuries full.” Proverbs 8:20,21. See?! We are to be a source of great blessing to many … and I’ve always started with my family! Here’s an example of what that looks like from the book —“Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her …” Proverbs 31:28. This is a way of life, not a book of nice theories. It is a faith book.

Unfortunately, many of us have misinterpreted scriptures as a free for all to ‘ask and you shall receive,’  and think that means that we can have whatever we want if we just ask for it in His Name. 😱 Jesus Christ lived a life full of LOVE from God — to manifest GOD — here on earth as it is in heaven! Not a new yacht or a diamond ring or a McDonald’s cheese burger!  He will supply all our needs and this is a huge gift to us, because Jesus Christ is rich in glory with every heavenly blessing, but those things are not necessarily material! They are kingdom things.

However, because God is a loving Father we can always ask Him. And we can always ask Him for help. But our very real need is transformation, not material things! Priorities matter.  We can have the kingdom of this world, but it is far better to chase after the kingdom of our God! So now we use our faith to access His Presence. His fruit. His incredible love for us, that other stuff will follow along … or not!  Bye. 👋