Follower

P 3393 And a-w-a-y we will go… … again.

/ DVH

Very early this Sunday morning, we shall pack the last few items into our car and set off again. The Lord has asked us to go and take more bibles etc., blankets and toiletries to two separate hubs out in the country, because the weather has been so very cold and the people out there need to know SomeOne wonderful cares for them. Jesus, of course.

As we travel, we often also find ourselves comforting the people who help those who are down and out. The government workers suffer because there are far too many people and not enough funds. Plus as we go, we pray for and help those whose lives have taken a terrible turn and they are now on the streets, or hiding from brutality, grief, and chaos. They are the homeless and defenceless.

The news has finally begun reporting on the crisis our farming communities are currently facing. Many families on the land rent their properties and their rent has gone up too. And some, who have a mortgage, are now facing those awful rising interest rates. Sadly, the oil crisis has caused the prices of fertiliser, feed, seed and spray to rise. 64.1% of farmers have been heavily impacted by rising transportation costs.

Australia runs well because of our truck drivers, but it is a hard life, driving vast distances, and the roads are often not good out in the bush. All these people need our prayers, plus any emotional, practical, and financial help we can give them. When we act like they don’t matter, we are biting the hand that feeds us. They provide our food!  Let’s do more than think about that.

Here’s some info -14% of our entire population, that’s approximately 3.7 million people Australia-wide —including one in six children …are currently living below the poverty line. I am choosing to speak for those human beings among us who have no voice, they are too busy to have one!

Especially farmers – those faithful men and women who are far too busy getting up at 3.00am to 5.00am to milk their cows or pick their crop, to be complaining about the way someone else lives. The people in our cities simply cannot afford to forget them. Those who work on the land suffer the hardships of this great, wonderful, sometimes frightening land we live in — along with children, the elderly and the disabled. We need to help each other. 

My own personal success rate with growing our own fruit and veggies at our house is about 5%. So I definitely need them or I would starve. I don’t even want to begin to think about killing a chicken! I just thank God for someone with greater skills than I have, who will do that for me. Maybe today we can take the time to prayerfully remember those people who put the food on our plates. And I don’t just mean just the supermarket magnates – who have entirely different problems! I mean the little guy stocking the shelves all day every day, just so you can have your favourite brand of Cornflakes.

In the past 21 years we’ve found that we don’t always have to give money to help, even a tiny bit of love shared, lightens the load. We just try to spread kindness, compassion around wherever we go, as He leads us. When His Grace visits these precious souls He loves so dearly, we’ve seen people with tears pouring down their faces because we simply came to help them however we could. “… I was in prison and you visited Me…” Matthew 25:36. Poverty, despair and abuse, are all types of different prisons. 

The Body of Christ has been told to live this way. It’s not an optional extra. Over the years, many of us have left ministry to our leaders, instead of understanding that we can all do something.  This time some children in a local school bagged up the toiletries for us. When we take care of the poor and disadvantaged, we are doing it for Jesus, because He has chosen to totally identify Himself with them. He has also been rejected and misunderstood by the world around Him. Not to mention His parents, and immediate family. (Mark 3:20-21), (John 7:1-5), (Mark 3:31-35).

For three and a half years the Lord Jesus Himself lived on the road, going from town to town, walking long distances. And He lived like that to totally identify with all of us. He slept by the side of tracks, and relied upon the kindness of friends and strangers for food. He even ate grain straight from a field, and drank water from a well!

At the beginning of His life – not long after He was born, in the poorest of circumstances, His parents took Him as an infant and ran for their lives from persecution. This is one of the many things I love about the Lord Jesus. It says: “…He shared our sorrows and pain….” Not just in theological theory, but in practice. A follower, is someone devoted to Jesus’ Ways. They choose to pick up their cross and learn from the Master Himself, daily.

Jesus Christ, God incarnate, deliberately chose to live like we do. I remind myself … that the KING of heaven chose to live like an ordinary human being. This means He knows suffering, firsthand. After all, none of us can live this life without bumping into it! That’s why the Lord Jesus is the perfect Saviour. His compassion for mankind is so much greater and all encompassing than we can imagine. We don’t have to be millionaires to care or share. When our lives are not our own, its easy. We just share whatever we have.

So off we go again… Bye …🚙  PS I’ll be writing blogs as we travel, and a huge thank you to all those who are praying for us.

P 3001 First floor messages.

/ DVH

When I began this blog, the Holy Spirit asked me to point something out to my readers. He and I had a conversation about the church at large, and this blog came out of what He said to me. It is the reason the blog is headed up with the title: “Messages above the 1st floor:”

The Lord said: “My desire is for My church to be built above the 1st floor. “Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God …”(Hebrews 6:1) He said: “I want My people to add to the basic tenements of their faith, repentance and salvation, and start to build on the 1st floor with sacrifice, loving others, leaving behind the past and happily going wherever I lead them.

My ministers are like My builders. They build something about My Word into each congregation. Things like fresh understanding and insight. But then eventually, in many churches, they move on, and another minister comes. This new man replaces everything that has been built on the original solid foundation, brought by the previous leader, because he wants to rebuild this church according to his brand of theology.

I need my people to start building on the WIDER foundation – what went before and what I’ve revealed now. Otherwise the people of God never get above the 1st floor because the 1st floor keeps changing! It means My people don’t arrive at maturity, self-sacrifice, and obedience.”  

On the 1st floor, our devotion to Christ is not optional. On that floor we would never ever even think of living our lives the way we want, instead we’ve come to realise there is far more to God’s Ways than repentance and salvation, and we want that MORE – no matter what it costs. We’ve learnt that choosing has power in it, and that our feelings can often lead us around by the nose! However we willingly choose to lay down our lives for Him! Some of us may have lived a while and we’ve seen for ourselves that nothing much can mature in us, while we continually do the Christian ‘hokey-pokey” — today, I’m following Jesus, tomorrow not-so-much!

The thing is, people do odd things like embracing this particular theory, or that doctrine – simply because they like what is being said,  because it tickles their ears. So they don’t bother to check it out for themselves, or read the scripture in context. We personally know that we cannot be a devoted people without His help to change and grow. This means we need to stop adding Him into whatever we choose to do, and start asking Him what He wants us to do, with the time He has given us. And then we do it – no matter what the cost is.

On the 1st floor we are ready to die for our faith, and that is not just about someone shooting, or stabbing us, or blowing us up because they don’t like what we believe — it is about putting aside what I want, and picking up what He wants, every single day. We move from away from being a sometime-follower, to being a sold-out disciple. We’ve learnt to personalise the Gospel and act on it. Fads may come and go, but we doggedly march on, following the Lord wherever He takes us. Praise God we don’t fret if we don’t see signs and wonders all the time — we just want to be obedient and see where that takes us.

“Don’t be pulled in different directions or worried about a thing. Be saturated in prayer throughout each day, offering your faith-filled requests before God with overflowing gratitude. Tell Him every detail of your life, then God’s wonderful peace that transcends human understanding, will guard your heart and mind through Jesus Christ.” Philippians 4:6-7 TPT.

These ‘sold-out to Jesus people’ lay aside their need for an easy life, because He’s looking for a people who will gladly give their lives away, Not just on Sunday, but every day. No matter what their circumstances are, they rejoice, simply because they love serving Him. His unending love is the greatest reward they could ever have. These people know the road they are on is narrow, because it has squeezed them tightly many times, but the wide road is never going to be an option for them. They fell in love with the Man God sent to transform our way of thinking, living and being. And now they follow the Holy Spirit because He is their everything. 

Passion is not just a word reserved for the movies, Lovers of Jesus know an even greater passion – they are passionate about God Himself. They love to see Him get what He wants. Finally today, I want to pray for you something Paul prayed for the church at Philippi:

“I pray with great faith for you, because I’m fully convinced that the One who began this gracious work in you will faithfully continue the process of maturing you until the unveiling of our Lord Jesus Christ!” Philippians 1:6 TPT. Amen! Blessings! Let’s all do our bit to build God’s house above the 1st floor! 🙏

“Beloved friends, what should be our proper response to God’s marvellous mercies? To surrender yourselves to God to be His sacred, living sacrifices. And live in holiness, experiencing all that delights His heart. For this becomes your genuine expression of worship.” Romans 12:1 TPT.

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. 👋

P 2795 We serve Jesus … no matter where we are.

/ DVH

The MSG bible says this, about working for a living and serving others: “Servants, do what you’re told by your earthly masters. And don’t just do the minimum that will get you by. Do your best. Work from the heart for your real Master, for God, confident that you’ll get paid in full when you come into your inheritance. Keep in mind always that the ultimate Master you’re serving is Christ. The sullen servant who does shoddy work will be held responsible. Being a follower of Jesus doesn’t cover up bad work.” Colossians 3:23-24.

Well that’s pretty plain eh? In a nutshell these verses explain what our attitude is to be toward our working life. We are serving the Lord in our place of employment, no matter what the man says … we are no longer just working for the man! Submission, thoroughness and meekness are not signs you are weak, or a loser or  – they are a sign to the Lord, and others, that you are following Him, no matter what people say. If you are doing it right, people may not agree with you, but they will be attracted to the Saviour within your life and heart.

We are not influenced by this world and its upside down ideas anymore. We have a whole other way to live, and not just at our house where we feel safe. The way we live now, is to ask for the Holy Spirit’s help and seek His transformation in every situation.That means we will be a better employee than anyone else, because we primarily serve Jesus as He leads us in His ways, in our place of employment. 

Now if your earthly boss wants you to do something dodgy, then you will have to take the time to give him or her your opinions, prayerfully and respectfully. And then politely decline. But feel free to tell your boss that you serve Jesus and that means you won’t lie, steal, manipulate or cheat others. You can also tell him that the UP side of your beliefs is that you won’t lie, steal, cheat or manipulate him either! Be prayerful and remember: “Help! – Is a prayer!”

“When we are pressured to do something wrong, we need to depend on God’s power to stand firmer against evil than we ever believed we could. Yet we also need to bear Christ’s word of compassion and forgiveness when we find that Christians cannot over­come all the evils of the world’s workplaces.” (The Theology of work.)

Meanwhile we need to engage with, and take every opportunity to practice listening to the Holy Spirit, instead of trying to manipulate anybody else into doing what we think will benefit them. Even if we know personally, that our plan is better!  I honestly think this is where a whole lot of people have missed the rails and been sidetracked. Manipulation, no matter what our motivation is, is not God’s Way. His Way always involves people’s freely-given choices. 

Some people vacillate between wondering if they should stand up on the tearoom table and start preaching about Jesus … but that thought terrifies them … so they shove that aside … and do nothing at all. They turn into ‘undercover brother instead!’ I truly believe you can serve Jesus and others, and not be a bible basher or an evangelist. You just need to be ready to give an account for the hope that resides within you, and let love rule. Simply be ready to talk about the Lord as opportunities occur, and He leads you. Feel free to be natural, and be sweet and kind in your speech, not pious!   

The Lord talked a great deal about faithful employees, and I recommend that employees or employers read His parables prayerfully because they are relevant to working situations. (Matthew 20:1-16;  Matthew 25:14-30; Matthew 7:24-27;  Matthew 21:28-32; Matthew 21:33; Luke 16:1-13; Luke 17:7-10; Mark 13:34-37) Jesus’ parables were often in the context of a manager and his workers. They highlight the servants loyalty to their master, and his instructions were a premium point in these stories. 

We don’t have two lives! One at work and the other at home. HE is our precious Lord in either place. Otherwise it is like trying to wear two hats. Plus it’s in opposition to what the bible says! His book says we work for the Lord wherever we are. We don’t just work for money – we live and work and receive our reward from HIM. We care about the way we treat others because this is our mission field. It is extremely important to be prayerful over the way we use our time every day. A Christian will work harder, as well as more efficiently than the next guy, who cheats on his income tax and feeds the boss bribes at the pub…

Ephesians 6:5-8 says:“Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favour when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free.”

This is a big subject and there are a lot of scriptures pertaining to it, which is good, because work is a big part of most people’s lives! I think this work ethic applies to all of us, even those engaged in caring for their homes and kids. I will leave you today with my initial thought: We serve Jesus no matter where we are. Bye. 👋