Fertilise

P 3011 He is a Merciful Father.

/ DVH

“Lord, You’re so kind and tenderhearted and so patient with people who fail You! Your love is like a flooding river overflowing its banks with kindness. You don’t look at us only to find our faults, just so that You can hold a grudge against us.” Psalms 103:8-9 TPT. This Psalm was written 1100 years before Jesus was born. Imagine that! Just spend a minute drinking in the knowledge of Grace that exists in David’s words. He had such a clear, wonderful picture of Who God is. Almighty God was this man’s singular focus. Not sin. Not what he did, or what I did, or even what some Philistine did! His focus was on God Himself. David knew God and His mercy so clearly.

It would be an utter tragedy if we became so obsessed with our failures, that we cannot see, or imagine the Niagara Falls of our Father’s Grace falling, falling, falling into our lives, day after day after day. Let’s always remember to thank Him for it! He’s such a good good merciful Father! We must continually chase after Him, longing to know more about His goodness and mercy toward us, until it fills our thoughts and eyes. If we look at our failures, we will end up obsessing over them and letting those things rule us. That is that kind of stuff that makes people hide from God.

What we need is balance. The ability to see His mercy-in-action in our own lives and yet not presume on it.  To do that we rely upon what the bible says and the Holy Spirit’s help and guidance. His singularity and purity of mind and heart is like our compass, pointing us to true north. So we press on hoping to be more like David, he treasured our God with so much passion. Let’s leave our sinful attitudes and actions at the foot of the cross and praise God He didn’t given up on us!

The letters in the Epistles were written so we can understand the comprehensive everydayness of God’s divine intervention into our lives. Like the people who followed Him then, we lay aside the weights that try to attach themselves, and keep thanking Him for His goodness. Always remembering we are never ever going to deserve anything He has done for us. The pressure to perform is a weight. These saints knew, firsthand, that they could not have done what was done without our Father’s Divine Love, plus His incredible intervention. They marvelled at what they were allowed to see and take part in – their joy, suffering, miracles and troubles. 

That’s the starting point for each one of us, giving thanks that He loves us. We cannot move past that. Then we will begin to understand our role in His plan and receive power from Him to do the works He has prepared for us to do before we ever arrived into this world. I like to cultivate, fertilise and weed the seed beds of my life with His totally engaged oversight. When God puts His finger on something, then it is important and it needs to become a priority … not a postponement. He does this with loving mercy, not accusation.

I often think about all those other people-today-who-don’t-know-Him-yet. The people who worship so-called gods that have no power to help their followers to change the very things that have driven them to find someone, or something, greater than themselves in the first place! And, how I love the Lord Jesus so much for coming here and illustrating what LOVE looks like in a Person. 

Mercy is a greatly underrated virtue, today. Many people think it means we go soft on someone who has terrible attitudes and actions. Actually, mercy means we don’t kill them for what they’ve done, we forgive them instead. But mercy is not about standing against a wall for someone else’s target practice – that’s giving that person the opportunity to abuse Grace. It is not just bad for you – it is bad for them! Grace was expensive. We need the Holy Spirit’s guidance to help us live in it and administer it. Jesus persevered with those who persecuted Him, but He did not excuse their behaviour. Mercy is no-one’s free ticket to punish someone else.

Our God is full of mercy:  “… that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting people’s sins against them [but canceling them]. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation [that is, restoration to favour with God].”2 Corinthians 5:19. If you want to know more about what His mercy looks like in action – read the book. Bye for today, 👋.

ps For those who have asked about our trip: on this trip we gave away— nearly a hundred blankets. Plus donated tinned food, toothpaste, deodorants, baby clothes, baby bottles, nappies, toys, handmade bags, children’s books, bookmarks, pens, paintings, thank you cards, blocks of chocolate for the maids, prophetic words, plus nearly 300 bibles. That’s approx. 678 things in 8 days. We could have given away so much more, but our car was stuffed full, and we tied more to the roof! We had countless conversations talking about what we believe – many of the people we spoke to, wept. 

There are governmental agencies doing their best, but the funds are incredibly low for the sheer volume of misplaced, abused and over-looked people out here in the country. We met a worker in Nanango who had been a police officer for years. She had to give it up because of post-traumatic stress disorder. She looked at us with eyes filled with tears and said:“I couldn’t take the dead and abused children anymore. It nearly finished me. I couldn’t even talk to my husband about it for a year.”  Please pray for her, now she helps the homeless – you cannot stop a mercy gift and she has one!

The church needs the kind of mercy that stops seeing broken people as just someone we are meant to harvest for God’s kingdom and purposes, and simply see suffering human beings instead. 🙏

P 2912 Great bible advice.

/ DVH

“Surrender your anxiety. Be still and realize that I am God. I am God above all the nations, and I am exalted throughout the whole earth.”Psalms 46:10 TPT. Well this verse in the Passion version gives us a lot to think about! I love the order in it. First we voluntarily give up anxiety, and then after we’ve surrendered everything, we are to be still and remember Who He is, and all He has done. I’m a fan of clear instructions, they make this life easier. BTW it doesn’t say you will feel differently! The bible is full of those kinds of faith things – it endlessly blesses me.

Living this way actually provides us with opportunities to plant, water and fertilise the fruit of the Spirit. Self-control, for instance. We need that particular fruit badly today. In our homes, in our relationships, in our countries  – we ALL need this fruit. The fruit of self-control actually germinates through recognising opportunities, and following His instructions, pray, and then application. It’s what I call an obedience fruit. It is like love, patience, kindness, goodness, and faithfulness, more fruit that begin to develop in the heat of obedience.

Self-control is actually more than just not saying or doing stuff, it is resting in what Jesus did so thoroughly we allow God to bring His peace in the place of worry and anxiety.  Hand everything over to Him, piece by untenable piece. And then, make a decision and take the time to be still, and simply think about what HE is like …what Jesus did for us. 

There are so many things the Holy Spirit does, and most of the time, we don’t even see Him working. When things go crazy inside our hearts and minds, and outside in the world around us, we need His perspective.

“For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”2 Corinthians 4:17-18.

When I am upset and anxious, I read a Psalm. I need to say at this juncture that I’ve found reading great chunks of the bible just causes further confusion and angst for me. However, music helps me too. But I try to spend time reflecting on Who He is and what He has done for all of us. I’ve learnt you can’t BAM the truth into place, but you can settle your heart, so you can YIELD and He can put His beauty in there. It is a battle, not a walk in the park! Battles like these don’t make us sinful – they show us our weaknesses and our need for His comfort.

Jesus is speaking in these verses in Luke to His disciples about the turbulent times ahead of them: “But before all this, they will seize you and persecute you. They will hand you over to synagogues and put you in prison, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of My Name.  And so you will bear testimony to Me. But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict.” Luke 20:12-15.

Even in extreme circumstances, we are exhorted not to worry! Imagine that … easily said … not easily done! It is a fight against our own carefully cultivated instincts and it takes practice and trust. It can seem weird when you just let go. Strangely, worry can make us feel like we are doing something – if we can just find the right answer! That’s a lie. We can’t add one minute to our lives with worry and anxiety.  

Instead of having to give their testimonies in hard places – those men mentioned in Luke are going to be imprisoned. Kings and governors, are going to demand an explanation for what they believe and the One they serve. And the Lord virtually says to them: ‘Don’t worry about it! I’ll be there!! I promised to be with you so I will be there! I’ll tell you what to say and when to say it. What you say will be so amazing and full of wisdom your enemies won’t be able to say a thing.’ Imagine the fruit on that path. And we think our lives are hard. 

I’m comforted by the fact that Jesus once said this:  “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, unless you repent [that is, change your inner self—your old way of thinking, live changed lives] and become like children [trusting, humble, and forgiving], you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:3. AMP.

Children trust and that is to be our response too. Let go, and look up at Jesus, and let Him take care of it. Do what you can see, plus the things He tells you to and then …let go.Unfortunately in these moments, the voice of personal experience is very loud and it can be a huge distraction. We need to become humble enough to lay our own personal experiences to one side, and believe the bible is truer than what we’ve known and experienced. 

We have to deliberately throw off our old ways of thinking and make a decision that Jesus is able to do what He said He will do, and He will do it for ME! Now the winds of chance, challenge and change cannot blow us around any more. Instead we are gently blown, by the Spirit of the Living God, onto His pathways. We learn His ways, and we start to experience Him for ourselves. 

The bible offers us all kinds of good advice, when it is treated with reverence, and applied into our lives. It shifts our focus off the things of this earth and pulls us into seeing what is happening in His kingdom. The things we cannot see. Bye. 👋

P 2892 God gives us opportunities.

/ DVH

Luke13:6-7. “Then He (Jesus) told them a story: “A man had an apple tree planted in his front yard. He came to it expecting to find apples, but there weren’t any. He said to his Gardener, ‘What’s going on here? For three years now I’ve come to this tree expecting apples and not one apple have I found. Chop it down! Why waste good ground with it any longer?’“ The Gardener said, ‘Let’s give it another year. I’ll dig around it and fertilise, and maybe it will produce next year; if it doesn’t, then chop it down.’”

Obviously Jesus is the Gardener in our lives, and as you can see in this passage – He’s always looking for fruit. In the case of this particular apple tree there was none. So, in theory, this tree needs to be cut down. But because the Lord is motivated by forgiveness and generosity … and — He is also the Gardener Who intercedes for fruitless trees! “ The bible says: “He ever lives to make intercession for US… ”That thought translates to this — Jesus is always praying for US! Thank you Lord!!That ought to give hope to anyone who thinks they’ve used up all their chances with Him! In this story, the apple tree gets another chance, purely because the Gardener intercedes for it.

The Lord has a reason for what we might call ‘slowness to act.’ In 2 Peter 3:9 it says: “The Lord does not delay [as though He were unable to act] and is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is [extraordinarily] patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” I can have a party over this verse …Boy am I incredibly grateful He is so generous! Meanwhile, if an answer to prayer is slow coming, my advice is to try asking Him if there is something you need to repent over! God’s book is not just an ordinary book, what is not said is often just as important as what is said.

Here’s another story, this one is quite startling! Matthew 8:21-23:“And another of His disciples said unto Him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. But Jesus said unto him, Follow Me; and let the dead bury their dead…” Boy this one takes some praying over. In our natural minds, what Jesus says here is almost an unnatural act. How could He say that? Why wouldn’t we owe the dead the dignity of attending their burial, especially a human parent! Meanwhile, did you pick up on the fact that this guy was a disciple?

He was already following the Lord. That shows us the depth of commitment He requires from us. This follower asked to simply go and bury his dead father and Jesus said ‘no!’  Smarter people than me have great lengthy explanations about this one, but I noticed one thing – “suffer me FIRST.” Unless I am very much mistaken this disciple’s problem is the same as the guy I mentioned yesterday – his priority was not his commitment to Christ.The real question is this: what comes first? God’s will or our human obligations?

Meanwhile I don’t like the man’s chances of witnessing to his family etc … they’d all get the stitch with him if he missed his father’s funeral. That would be another no-no in our world – it would probably make it into the news!  Christians would condemn this guy for being a bad witness and deserting his family like that. Actually, Jesus often deals with individuals and targets whatever is holding them back. Following Him is a serious commitment. It is not the “sometimes when it suits me thing” that we seem to favour today. 

You know that makes sense to me? An apple tree does not ask for a time-out for further fruit production. It’s either producing fruit or it ain’t! In my mind this helps me make a bit more sense about that darn fig-tree Jesus cursed. We like to debate and postulate about why, but the simple answer is that we are either fruitfully obeying Him, and following Him or we are not. Christianity doesn’t actually come with an optional opt out, or extra clauses. The wonderful news is that He will not give up on us. We can end up being pruned and uprooted a bit because we are disobedient and unfruitful – but these verses clearly show us why.

The things that Jesus said are not suggestions – which we sort-of kind-of obey if we think we can! They are written in His blood, right there in His book, for our sanctification, and edification. Cherry picking the verses we like is not part of discipleship, it’s called evasion. Now here is the scary bit, He knows exactly when to stop striving with mankind because they’ve gone beyond the point of no return. I’ve seen people just turn around and walk off, without a thought of what they are leaving behind. None of us should treat Almighty God that way – not after all He has done for us. That is holding the Grace of God in contempt – we will quickly grieve the very gentle Holy Spirit, if we live that way.

Obviously none of us should let any kind of ‘fear’ be the motivating force in our decision making either! That’s also not Who He is. “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance…” At the same time we must also never forget that verse 9 is followed by verse 10: “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night…”  2 Peter 3:9.

There is always tension in what we believe, simply because He is God and we are not! Almighty God gives us  opportunities to obey Him. His words are not just suggestions, they are in the book to guide us HOME. Bye. 👋