Freedom

P 3489 Our own personal purity of purpose.

/ DVH

Romans 7:6 says: “But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.” As you can see, we still serve – but now we do this service on a personal level. It is no longer one rule fits all, instead the Holy Spirit guides us, speaking to us individually, as well as corporately. We are here to benefit others. This does not mean we will become careless about our actions … instead our actions are to demonstrate His power in a broken world. Those actions are hallmarked by love, the way Jesus Himself defined it. His disciples are a wonderful example of love guided by purpose. 

So much of our lives can be lived upon the surface, of ‘gotta be’ ‘gotta do,’ ‘gotta go’ — but human beings need much more than that. They need love, hope and … a purpose. Christians experience heaven’s ways while we are still on earth as we choose to obey our Master, Brother and Friend, Jesus. This means our priority is not about strictly obeying the law, but about walking in the abundant Grace Jesus Christ released when He died in our place. And we live giving that Grace away to others.

The Lord never presumed upon the Father’s great grace toward Him, instead He lived His whole life, from beginning to end, to God’s glory, giving away grace. Through His teaching He taught us we are to live the same way He did. The stuff He said often blows my mind. He once said to a rich young man. “Why do you call Me good? Only God is good!” Mark 10:18.

Let’s just pause and think on that. When you think of good, don’t you think of Jesus? I know I do!  What do you think He meant by that? … How about you take the time to ask Him. Our relationship with Him is built upon the kind of freedom that asks questions. The disciples in the Gospels asked all kinds of questions. Usually when I ask the Lord questions He answers with scripture, and I learn something about Him, about His purposes. I also learn about myself … something that I didn’t know before.

This rich young man had an incredible opportunity to see what was really uppermost in his heart, it was handed to him by Jesus. It wasn’t about the Ten Commandments, this man had all of them down pat, however the Lord diagnosed his main impediment with one question. He didn’t condemn the young man’s passion, but Jesus totally revealed what was really uppermost in this person’s heart, to show him something that was in the way of what he said he wanted. 

Jesus can ask us a question that will cut through all the white noise, and our nice image of ourselves, and it will show us we are not who we think we are. God’s way of being and doing is not superficial, and it is not satisfied with the right answers, it wants the heart answers. This young man thought he’d get a big tick, and a ‘well done you,’ from Jesus. It says that Jesus loved him, virtually on sight – and asked the young man to follow Him! Sadly the man was challenged by what was in his own heart. He found out that he could follow rules more easily than He could follow personal instructions.  God will not slide neatly into our man-made, rule based, categories – He has His own plans.

And this is my point today. We have no idea what is going on in our hearts. We are much better at diagnosing what’s wrong with someone else and how it can be fixed! Jesus didn’t tell the young man an easy thing, instead — He told this man to sell everything he had and give the money to the poor. We can read this and think —‘right, I’d better be more generous, and pray that the Lord will help me give more.’ PS It’s not about money – He wants YOU not your money! He wants us to give up what dominates our hearts instead of hiding it from Him, or ourselves. We can ask the Lord to show us what is in the way of us being fully yielded to Him and if it IS money, then give it! We are not asking Him because He doesn’t know – we are asking the Lord because the reality is, WE don’t have a clue!

You know, when we don’t get the answer to our prayers that we were hoping for, instead of being disappointed with the Lord, why don’t we ask Him? ‘Lord, what is standing in my way?” We have the Holy Spirit nearer than our heartbeat He wants to help us. He will help us – but He won’t make us ask. Here’s something I have noticed over the years … I can remember past difficult situations quite well, but I often remember the bad things someone else did far more clearly than my own contribution. I think that’s called … “selective memory.” Sigh. In order to cultivate my own personal purity of purpose I will need to choose to put aside my need to be right, in favour of the truth. Most of the time those two things are not the same!

I love to read the Old Testament because it is filled with so many people who have no idea what they can do, until God gets ahold of them, and reveals His purposes in their lives. We can see ordinary people who were just going about their daily routines, some of them compromised their faith, while others were tried to doing their best to be obedient. But there were times when none of them had any clue what God can do through a man or woman … or even a little girl. Her story is in Kings – more on that tomorrow.

We’ve become so used to the whole idea of independence. The idea of relying upon SomeOne else, doesn’t even occur to us, and this is the very attitude that holds us back from living in fellowship with Him. Let’s live our lives sold out for Jesus. Not just in word, but in deeds. May the Lord bless you to find your own purity of purpose. Bye. 👋  

P 3487 We have the freedom not to sin.

/ DVH

“Now, if anyone is enfolded into Christ, he has become an entirely new person. All that is related to the old order has vanished. Behold, everything is fresh and new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17.

The grammatical tenses of the above scripture are incredibly important. What Paul is saying is that we have spiritually moved. Our old life is behind us, and what we choose to do about that fact is the coal face of our new life in Christ. Now we have His power to help us. We take in what Paul said, remembering it is past tense. It’s done. Like Jesus said from the cross —- “… it is finished.” Some things can jump up and down and shout at us, and demand our attention – but those things are echoes, they no longer have the power to capture us. We’ve been set free from sin and death. We may die, but death can’t hold us!

The sin in our lives has already been dealt with – now we simply take His word to be truth and act on it, using our faith. We too, follow Jesus. It’s just like when Jesus said to Peter and Andrew …”I will make you fishers of men.” Jesus met them where they were, and took what they knew and turned it around into Kingdom actions. He will take what you already know, and who you are, and turn all that into glory for the Kingdom of God as you live this life for Him. He’s a brilliant Redeemer – He takes bad things and turns them into the kind of good that is beyond our imagination.

Yes, we must choose to repent, repair and reconcile, and that will mean humbling ourselves — but we don’t do that alone, anymore. We.Have.Help! Every time Jesus gave His mum, or His disciples an instruction regarding this world— when they acted on it, a miracle occurred. They were standing on His Word. That’s where we want to be. Standing on His Word. We listen, then we obey.

Where our word disagrees with what He said, we put what we think aside, and go with what He has already said in the book. No matter what the cost is. I’m not talking about selling your house and sitting on the curb, or some other extreme action — I’m talking about daily living for others, loving them the same way we have been loved…unconditionally. When we live cherishing Holy Spirit’s help, living His Way means He likes to hang around with us. I tell Him I need Him over and over again during my day.

I think the thing that gets in our way, even more than any error in our thinking – is how we feel. You can correct errors simply by reading the book, and obeying it – but feelings are demanding. I’m not saying emotions are wrong, I’m just saying they make very poor leaders. So many of us have become used to running on how we feel. The people around us had better watch out …because how we feel is probably going to run their lives too! Hubby found this helpful little piece by Dr Tony Evans, in something He was reading recently.

“Here’s an important truth about emotions: they don’t have an intellect.  They don’t think. They merely respond. 

Emotions must borrow thoughts in order to stimulate feelings. Therefore, whoever or whatever controls your thoughts, controls how you feel. Your emotions are established and ruled by how you think about the circumstances in your life. So, if you want to master your emotions and overcome emotional strongholds in your life, you will need to master your thinking. 

When you align your thoughts with God’s truth, you will be set free.”

I agree! However, saying and doing stuff can be two very different things. As we know – agreement with what Jesus says needs our response. We must act on it. We simply need to recognise that we have a new Leader in the house of our lives, thoughts, emotions. Someone Else is in charge now. When we gave our heart and life to Jesus, He took it, but He will not take the power of choice away from us. Our habit of explaining away stuff away, by complaining or defending ourselves, has probably  been cultivated for most our lives. Those things can be hard to break. We will need to use our faith and God’s power to overcome the way we have always reacted to trouble.

When I was tiny, about 5, my mother and I were walking down the street and she was explaining stuff to me that I wasn’t supposed to do. At the same time a bus roared past us. I said: “Shut up!” and she instantly fixed her eye upon me, prepared to pounce. “WHAT did you say?” Undaunted by her stare I said: “I was talking to the bus.” Looking back, I think I might have made a great politician.

Stuff has happened to each one of us as we have walked through this life’s ups and downs. Our response was often labelled – ‘normal under the circumstances’ by other people, who were learning to dodge their own bullets. But the truth that sets us free is this – nobody can make us do nuth’ng no more … we choose. At the moment of impact, when someone else’s will crosses ours, that’s when we need to call on His help to say that “soft word that turns away wrath, etc.”

We will never be alone again. Now, because of our Heavenly Father, our wonderful Saviour, and the precious Holy Spirit, we can be guided personally through any stuff that wants to capture us. We don’t have to sin, we can overcome sin with God’s already firmly established goodness, and as we do that, we are spreading His kingdom of love all around us. Bye.👋

P 3479 Fix your eyes.

/ DVH

““Stop dwelling on the past. Don’t even remember these former things. I am doing something brand new, something unheard of. Even now it sprouts and grows and matures. Don’t you perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and open up flowing streams in the desert.” Isaiah 43:18-19. This is one of those keys we need to pay attention to, because the past should not affect our future. When Jesus made a way when there seemed to be no way, He died to give us His power to overcome those things that can trip us up or weigh us down.

I have been caught up in eddies from the past — those  things that go round and round and get nowhere. We can’t afford to define ourselves by stuff like that. It will grab hold of here and now, and destructively head toward the future! We need to remember that God does new things all the time. Just because something was fruitful last time, that doesn’t mean it will always be that way. Relationships are moving things, to last they need to grow, change, continue to become new and fresh.

The Lord wants a relationship, not a system. He gave us a system. That system, the Ten Commandments, only failed because we weren’t up to our end. Thank GOD our God is a God of generosity, grace and mercy! There is nothing wrong with the Ten Commandments, they are all about Loving God and loving others! That’s why Jesus said what He said in Matthew 22:38&39. “Jesus replies, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.” Jesus adds, “And the second is like it: Love your neighbour as yourself.” It’s a synopsis, not just a new commandment!

Transformation flourishes when we read what He says and live it out, day by day. God made it easy to obey Him, because He took punishment and fear out of the way. Now we do not need to wade through desperate times alone, the Lord has already provided the most wonderful Person we will ever need — the Holy Spirit. He is our Helper. Living this life, with His help ushers in the kingdom of God, right here where we are. And remember Jesus died to change our past – even if it was only yesterday, ten years ago, or ten seconds ago! 

The past will hold us down if we keep clinging to its ways. We must lay aside those things that go after our peace and freedom so we can love others from a pure heart — and keep walking on. Some of us might end up limping. That’s not a bad thing! Jacob encountered God’s Kingdom and he limped after it happened. That limp reminded him of his encounter with heaven. It’s our chosen participation in the kingdom of God among us that will transform this world around us. Thousands of wonderful people have made all sorts of incredible efforts, and sacrificed everything, to change whatever is going on where they live – they left the past behind, and followed Jesus.

However, if the Spirit of God Himself is not doing it, whatever we do cannot last or produce fruit. Only God Himself does the things that last. In the Western World we like to think that God is on our side. But the reality is … the Lord wants to know …. ‘Who is on the Lord’s side?’  ‘Unless the Lord builds the house we are labouring in vain.’ (Psalm 127) Father God cares about what is in our hearts. He wants our hearts perfect toward Him and each other. (2 Chronicles 16:9; John 13:35.) That means we keep short accounts with Him and other people.

We simply can’t afford to let our past, affect our future, no matter how awful that past may be. My advice about former sorrows, is this — prop open the door to the past, clean out everything in that cupboard of guilt, pain, shame, revenge and hate, and deal with it bit by bit, including exercising reconciliation, forgiveness and repentance, then close the door! Write: do not enter! … on it. And give the key to the Holy Spirit. Walk away. Go out from that place and live your new life in Jesus. Do not be tormented by the things you can’t fix, give them to God and leave them there.

I urge all of us to start seeing faith as a commodity stored in heaven and when we prayerfully use it to live, we are bringing that faith into this life. There is a portion we have each been given, and as we give it to Him and start using it, I believe our faith grows, incrementally. “… faith comes from listening to this Good News ….” Faith comes from reading the book and doing what it says, because doing what it says takes FAITH. 

So today, I want to urge you to put the past behind you. Getting rid of any past sins we have done, as well as the ones against us … lines us up with heaven. We are so blessed, the Kingdom of God is a storehouse of every Grace we will ever need on this earth. We simply access it, using our faith, and we must discontinue using it to greedily grab the things we know that can’t last.

Let’s study the bible to find out what He says about this day – today. As we comfort ourselves with the fact that we can rely upon the Lord to hand us the right tool at the right time. The sad thing is, the past is our enemy’s favourite tool of distraction – he drags our eyes off the Lord and distracts them with the things that have hurt us. Instead, let’s fix our eyes on Jesus and ask ourselves, what is the Lord doing today? Bye. 👋.

P 3478 Participation and dedication.

/ DVH

“Trust in the Lord completely, and do not rely on your own opinions. With all your heart rely on Him to guide you, and He will lead you in every decision you make. Become intimate with Him in whatever you do, and He will lead you wherever you go.” Proverbs 3:5-6 TPT.

Living like this scripture says needs dedication. However, to be honest with you, when the Lord first brought this subject up with me, I kind of avoided it. I thought living like Jesus did was for the special people – the ones who had spiritual gifts and titles. I was just a bod. A nobody. Someone’s wife, someone’s mother, someone’s daughter. Jesus didn’t buy that little story when I kept trotting it out, BTW.

Due to circumstances totally beyond my control – prior to meeting the Lord, I had never had a life of my own that came from my own choices. I literally went from parental oversight to my ex-husband’s plans, and my own preferences didn’t come into it. My personal choices were framed by a threat of rejection, and that influenced me regarding total surrender. I did not want to give up my choices to SomeOne Else.

Inner rebellion grabbed me – plus I didn’t know how to change. I’d go up the front when the pastor called for the congregation to make a deeper commitment to Christ, and I’d cry my eyes out, then go home and  … wait for God to do His bit.  I had no thought that I would have to change my responses, and attitudes with His help. Or that I had to see my old life through His eyes, and TOGETHER we were going to walk away from the things I did, thought and said before.

I asked Him to help me, because at that time, I thought transformation relied upon what He did. Eventually I came to the erroneous conclusion that because He hadn’t changed this or that in my behaviour, then the things I did must not bother Him. I had blinded my eyes to the scripture and by doing so, I lost my hearing as well — mainly because I kept choosing to excuse myself from any participation! God is so kind, I reasoned – I knew He would understand that my life had not prepared me for this. Well, He is kind and He did forgive me  – but the reality was that I stayed in the same place because of those choices. I was not growing, or maturing – instead it was hard work not to go backwards!

Despite my squirrelled up thinking, Father God never rejected me. Not even once. At one stage I walked away thinking He could not possibly want me now, and I hid. I stopped going to church. Well we all know how hiding from God turns out … thank you Gideon and Jonah! However, the Lord, in His incredible Grace came after me. Father God is so much more faithful than we understand — He does not give up on us. He did not give up on me, and He won’t give up on you either!  

I had no comprehension of how faith works, so when the pastor preached that we were to ‘love others’ I automatically thought of someone I didn’t get along with at all, and I tried my best to love them. I did it using my own strength. Of course the Holy Spirit wanted to help me do what God asked of me, but without His help I failed. All that other person had to do was snarl at me, or be mean, and I would immediately run away like a scared rabbit – and then I went back to complaining about them behind their back. I felt imprisoned by other people’s attitudes which did not change – I had no sense of freedom.

The truth is, I didn’t know what was in my own heart – and I wasn’t sure I wanted to either! It takes pressure to show us what is really in our hearts. Our reaction to pressure is not a whoopsie, or a little error, it is a diagnostic tool. It shows us what’s really in there … hiding away amongst the pleasant smiles and happy little testimonies. Things like judgment can hover away in the background influencing the way we think. Plus, when bad things happen it can be far too easy to complain. Complaining seems normal, because we are human. I had no idea, at all, about how faith works and I took no responsibility for my responses to difficulties. Instead I made excuses for myself. James talks about the real issue, our lack of ability to change ourselves: chapter 3, verses 7-16. 

“This is scary: You can tame a tiger, but you can’t tame a tongue—it’s never been done. The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer. With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very men and women He made in His image. Curses and blessings out of the same mouth! My friends, this can’t go on. A spring doesn’t gush fresh water one day and brackish the next, does it? Apple trees don’t bear strawberries, do they? Raspberry bushes don’t bear apples, do they? You’re not going to dip into a polluted mud hole and get a cup of clear, cool water, are you? Do you want to be counted wise, to build a reputation for wisdom? Here’s what you do: Live well, live wisely, live humbly. It’s the way you live, not the way you talk, that counts.” 

When we choose to merely tackle the outcome of the things we do, we are not tackling the root of these issues in our lives. The truth is, we don’t have to be afraid or ashamed of owning our faults because Jesus took all of that to the cross. Everything. Not some of it … all of it. Now we need to humble ourselves and ask for forgiveness and learn to rely upon Him, and use our faith. Jesus forgave us unreservedly … so we have more than enough Grace to give away, which will flow on, to others.

The only claim to fame you and I have ever had is that we know Jesus Christ personally. The thing is — we aren’t  just meant to ‘know’ Him or say that we ‘follow’ Him. Jesus learned obedience through suffering … and SO DO WE. The same Spirit Who was in the Lord Jesus, is now in us, He wants to  teach us personally, how to follow the Lord, step by step. But that will require participation and dedication. Bye. 👋

P3447 A firm foundation.

/ DVH

Here’s Philippians 4:19 (AMPC) “And my God will liberally supply (fill to the full) your every need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Well, that nails that on the head …if we need it He will give it to us. This is Paul talking, and he too had needs. But nothing must come between us, and glorifying our Lord. Sadly, the world around us, currently runs on greed. Greed is not only about having excess — it’s about wanting what we don’t have. It’s like a huge head devouring people, money and time.

I think our churches have been building on the wrong foundation —- a foundation of gain, and an easy life. We’ve been building on what Jesus can do for us …instead of what HE HAS ALREADY DONE! Let’s just pause, breathe, and think on that for a bit. The Lord Jesus is not a ‘gimme’ vending machine. He told us we would have suffering in this world – yet we want to pray our way out of the very things that will mature us. It’s not about my comfort – it’s about God’s glory!

We are often fooled into praying for this bad thing to stop, and that good thing to happen. And the truth is … that’s all about our own comfort. We pray for what we think we need, to make our lives better. It’s the wrong foundation — this can create people, who want, want, want, and they aren’t often satisfied with what they have already been given. The King of glory died in our place. That’s our only focus and only foundation. We are here to serve Him now. 

Sadly if what we’ve prayed for happens, then becomes far too easy to just move on to the next apparent need. Material needs are a distraction. The appetite they create cannot be filled, and we can waste the life of God in us, plus the time He has allocated to us, by running after those things. Let’s listen to James 4:2-3: “You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” 

Why are we building church buildings to the glory of God, when the glory of His Presence is what we actually need  … not more buildings? Our focus seems to be skewed. It needs to be on the-people-who-don’t-know-Him yet, not building maintenance. Jesus Christ did not care about material things, He was grateful for food to eat, and a place to sleep. That’s the King of ALL Glory in a wooden food trough in a tin shed, and He also slept rough on the side of the road. Nobody cooked Him a twelve course dinner.

We are here to build His kingdom, not ours. Most people in our churches do not understand what the Lord Jesus did to provide for their daily spiritual bread or where their focus needs to be. He died and gave us His rights, so now we can use His rights, His way – for others. He saved us, and our primary task is to learn to love the unlovely, not gather things.

At the same time, we can be easily deluded. Sometimes we sing “Jesus took my burdens all away,” and many people walk out the doors of our churches just as burdened as they were when they came in! Sin is a burden. We CAN carry it on our backs, but it BELONGS at the foot of the cross. Put your sin, the government’s sin, your family’s sin, anybody else’s sin down, and walk away. Let Jesus meet all your needs.

When people are evil to you, then pray for them and start rejoicing that He set you free from whatever they did. I don’t much care for psycho babble, or blaming this person, or that parent — if HE says we’re free, then we are free. Feelings don’t come into it. We are not using our faith to believe Him. Our aim is about ‘feeling good’ – instead of worshipping Him for what He has done.

Our greatest treasure is Jesus! Plus the freedom to live the new life He died to give us. We’ve been taken out of darkness into His light. That means we don’t have to pray for light, because we already have it  — Who He is, and the bible are now our light. Jesus taught us to pray like this: “Our Father Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name, Thy kingdom come,Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven…”  What comes first in that prayer? Our needs, or His will, His way? 

Our focus has become so worldly, we call what we have been given blessings, but perhaps they have also become an ANCHOR, tying us into this world’s systems. Those systems/cisterns? can’t hold the water of the Holy Spirit. (Jeremiah 2:13.) Paul says: “”For me to live is Christ, to die is gain.” Philippians 1:21. Now that’s a useful cistern! Jesus didn’t die to give us a trip to the Bahamas, He died to set us free from the kind of greed that puts God Himself on the back burner.

Our foundations need to be firm, otherwise our faith in Christ will remain shaky and unstable. What Jesus did for us is the only Rock we build on, everything else is just His loving kindness blessing His kids. Bye 👋.

P 3395 He is faithful.

/ DVH

“For we have already experienced “heart-circumcision,” and we worship God in the power and freedom of the Holy Spirit, not in laws and religious duties. We are those who boast in what Jesus Christ has done, and not in what we can accomplish in our own strength.” Philippians 3:3 TPT.

We need to learn to use our faith in His goodness, no matter what is going on around us. Heart circumcision occurs when we allow the Holy Spirit to cut away all those things that will make us stumble, lose faith, become discouraged, or forget what Jesus died to give us. We are exhorted to worship God in the Holy Spirit’s power and the freedom we have already been given. We can stay in our old-life chains by choice, but those chains cannot actually bind us anymore! We must push against them using our faith. What binds us is our perception. It simply feels like we can’t do it. Remember satan always wants to illegally imprison us. 

It is always our choice to totally rely upon what the Lord Jesus said and did – despite the hard things we will face as we choose to live that way. Like a butterfly struggles to be free of its cocoon, you and I need to struggle against those whispers that run about our brain telling us ‘following Jesus is futile … it’s all too hard.’ All that ghastly stuff our enemy whispers to us in our darkest moments. Even our day-to-day circumstances can seem to conspire against us.  Like Paul said very succinctly in 2 Corinthians 4:8-10. 

“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.” 

What does this faith walk look like in real life? It looks like these verses describe — daily death to self, and complete surrender. We will have times of despair when we stretch and use our faith to live for Him. It is normal! Jesus suffered that way too. And living a life of love in this unloving world can be hard. But because we don’t just want to pay lip-service to God, then we must, with His help … conquer those things in our lives that want to cloud our view of Him and His will. 

Overcoming is not just about standing somewhere, looking victorious, with our flag lifted high, and light flashing off us everywhere!  It’s far more about that person who is bloodied and bruised and on their knees, weeping before their King. You can tell a seasoned saint, their love is more than skin deep. You and I may not always initially conquer stuff – but now we know where to go! This means we will fight our own thoughts, other people’s comments, our old tendency to sin, and circumstances. Plus other people’s sins against us.

As I have said before, God’s timetable and ours may not be the same, but the secret is to not quit, just because His ways are far above ours. His plans are already in place. When we defer to Him, we will be blessed to see Him do what He loves best – loving on people and setting them free. That includes US! Let’s remember what the bible says – first, last and always. The Holy Spirit’s goal is the total transformation of our hearts, souls, minds and bodies, so we can be in this world like He was.

“Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.” 3 John 1:2. Amen!

The reality is, our faith in His goodness will be stretched. Faith needs to be exercised, but just like physical exercise, it ain’t always fun! We can’t afford to skip reading the bible, praying, or living this life with Him centred in our thoughts. Our aim is to do what He says, so we purpose in our hearts to know and trust Him, no matter how things look. That is the place we choose to stand. And if I flop over, or you flop over in despair occasionally, there will be no judgment. We may have to wait to see what He will do, but in reality, our opinions aren’t worth a bean, be-cau-se … He always has a far better plan than we can imagine.

There can be times when we can’t find the Lord, or hear Him well enough to follow Him, and that is simply because our souls aren’t prospering. This has nothing whatsoever to do with how we feel, even though our feelings may be jumping up and down and shouting at us. Instead it has everything to do with Who and what we are looking at. We’ve been told to fix our eyes on Jesus – He’s the Author and Finisher of our faith. Disappointed eyes see so much less than faith-filled eyes can see. We are to live this life, cherishing His character and what He has done, and we refuse to budge.

Total commitment is essential to survival. Almighty God is not SomeOne Who serves us – it is the other way around – we serve Him. Our Christian walk is all about faith because: “…without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6. Remember Peter was looking at Jesus as he walked on the water, then he looked at his circumstances – and his faith fell over and his body started to sink. 

In the darkest of times we must “hold fast to what …(we know) …is good …” 1 Thessalonians 5:21. GOD IS GOOD, hold onto Him!  With all my heart I believe that there is true spiritual breakthrough in front of each and everyone of the members of His body. Let’s practice using our faith no matter what is going on around us. “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for ”HE WHO PROMISED IS FAITHFUL.” Hebrews 10:23. Bye 🙏.

P 3387 Just to be clear.

/ DVH

“But if you live in life-union with Me and if My Words live powerfully within you—then you can ask whatever you desire and it will be done. When your lives bear abundant fruit, you demonstrate that you are My Mature disciples who glorify My Father!” John 15:7-8 TPT.

What a great scripture eh? We are called to demonstrate His Ways and these verses tell us how to do it. When we live this life unified with Him, we will automatically bear fruit. Not just because we can quote the bible, but because we are living the bible day by day, minute by minute. Doing that writes His law on our hearts! No matter what comes at us, we’ve learnt to thank Him for showing us the way through. 

Anybody can argue with a theory. If we aren’t living out His Word every single day, then all we have is a THEORY. It’s not faith, because faith is a VERB, as well as a Noun. Just like LOVE — that’s a verb and a noun too! Nouns are names. Verbs, on the other hand are doing words.

This verse is telling us that when His Word has powerfully impacted our lives, we will only pray for what the things that Jesus would pray for if He were here. We can be trusted to have His mindset in our hearts, not our own. Things aren’t about me anymore, they are about Him and His kingdom. Our faith is not just nice words bundled up for us every week by the pastor – Jesus is our inspiration, our Leader, our passion. It’s “I am the Vine and you are the branches,“ in another form … I call it the NO SAP, NO FRUIT method. Be a good gardener and protect His fruit in your life ’til it is fully formed.

We all like to think that Jesus is with us, but sometimes we only want Him to be with us to answer our prayers, and bail us out of the dumb stuff we cheerfully jumped into. Many times in my own life the Lord has said to me: “Repent. You willingly walked into that mess now turn around and walk out.” I imagine not many people would like that theology – me included – so I asked Him for a scripture. He gave me too: “Samson, and Jonah.”  I checked, they both made a mess and had to walk it back, at personal cost – yet they experienced God’s mercy and redemptive power in the end.

The secret to growing good sweet fruit is staying alert to anything that might damage it. Repentance is not just saying ‘I’m sorry!’ Putting it into literary terms, repentance is a heading under which the real action occurs. We must do something that will produce fruit worthy of that repentance. That means concrete actions, not just tossing off “I’m sorry” and walking away, leaving the other person bleeding on the pavement. Here’s an illustration in Matthew 3:8,9.

“When John realized that a lot of Pharisees and Sadducees were showing up for a baptismal experience because it was becoming the popular thing to do, he exploded: “Brood of snakes! What do you think you’re doing slithering down here to the river? Do you think a little water on your snakeskins is going to make any difference? It’s your life that must change, not your skin!”

The bible is saying that when we repent, we need to ask the Lord what can we do to bring forth fruit worthy of our repentance, and then do it. Repentance is a fabulous deterrent … anybody can say they are sorry, whether they mean it or not, whether they cry or not … but bearing fruit is a whole other ball-game. You get SKIN in the game. It will cost you, and it will most definitely humble you. We will probably feel lower than a worm, but changing the way we think about sin is worth the ghastly bit in the middle. Sin is to be avoided, and repentance is not a back door out of the mess we’ve made. It is the entry way to an entirely different way to live.

Jesus’ disciples long to bear fruit, simply because we have chosen to follow Him. But that fruit has to flow from His sap, it cannot be forced. Real repentance softens our heart, and the other person’s heart, and it gives us both a heart like His. That allows the sap flow between us again. Next we yield to His greater judgment, instead of responding to our own inner angst and turmoil. He knows the way out, followers follow Him out of difficulties to a new better-for-everybody place, no matter what the cost.

“For we have already experienced “heart-circumcision,” and we worship God in the power and freedom of the Holy Spirit, not in laws and religious duties. We are those who boast in what Jesus Christ has done, and not in what we can accomplish in our own strength.” Philippians 3:3 TPT.

The need for approval is a tough nut to crack, but Jesus will help us and strengthen us. Just to be clear … if we read the bible as optional suggestions, or even as good things to aim at, nothing much will change – except you could give yourself a headache. The bible is a practical book, and things like repentance and a change of heart come from a quality decision to go in His direction, because we want to be where He is! Bye 👋

P3385 Don’t let fear knock you out of the ring.

/ DVH

“So we can confidently say,“The Lord is my Helper, I will not fear, what can man do to me?” Hebrews 13:6. That’s one of those rhetorical questions nobody likes. That’s probably because most of us could give quite a list of stuff man can do to us. But I wonder if we know, just as thoroughly, how much God has done for us, right here, right now? Time for revision. 

This verse tells us, He didn’t just save us, He also enables us. “And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” 2 Corinthians 9:8. Notice the predominant word “all.” Now let’s look at 1 John 4:18 it says: “There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear because fear involves punishment. The one who fears has not been perfected in love.” 

Begin by revising how much God’s perfect love has given you, personally. Yes, He saved you, and yes, He has helped you – thank you Lord! But there’s more … read the bible. Go through your journals. A journal can help you revise what He has already done for you spiritually, physically, and mentally. After all that revision – go and find someone who needs His love and love on them. The action of loving others uses faith, which releases more faith. Faith fights fear, so use yours. Go and spread the love He has already given you around. Start SINGING!! “Sing for joy to God our strength …“

Moving on to Psalm 55:22 MSG bible: “Pile your troubles on God’s shoulders, He’ll carry your load, He’ll help you out. He’ll never let good people topple into ruin. But you, God, will throw the others into a muddy bog, Cut the lifespan of assassins and traitors in half.” And we think video games are blood thirsty! The point is, God’s always with us even though we may not feel it. The bible says it, we believe it, and that settles it.

Actually, it is far more accurate to say: We’re with Him!  Don’t look at the size of the things coming against you, look at the  power of our God to get you through. Read and reread the book! Sometimes we are viewing this life through the wrong lenses. Let’s not borrow someone else’s glasses, let’s ask the Lord for HIS. His eyes see the things we don’t. (Ephesians 1:18)

2 Timothy 1:7 “For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.” What a way to identify the Holy Spirit!! Anything short of this verse means we are messing about in the wrong spirit. Never forget we are all in a battle, we live in enemy territory, and we don’t belong here.

Now let’s recap what our truth is: God is with us, and He will help us. We do not need to be afraid of someone else’s face. When I was little, and I did something my parent didn’t like, I would see ‘the unhappy face!’ However, our Father’s face always says: “I love you so much, and I am here for you. Let’s do this thing together.” He’s not just sending you out – He’s going with you!  The same God Who helped Abraham and the Lord Jesus is going with us.

We were not designed to carry burdens in this new life Jesus gave us. Part of that new life is freedom. Freedom means I can refuse to accept the weight of whatever is going on. I still get to fix whatever He tells me to do, but I am obedient, under His instructions, and the weight of what the Lord says I need to do, will not drown me.  I can stand still and see God Himself work on my behalf – I just have to learn to leave my clock behind. Our God doesn’t do timetables, and He does not fit in with ours. Instead, He does PERFECT TIMING. There’s a difference. 

If Father God did not give me a spirit of fear then what the heck am I doing with it? Why am I entertaining these thoughts? Jesus was teaching His disciples God’s Ways, in Luke 11:10, 11.“If your little boy asks for a serving of fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? If your little girl asks for an egg, do you trick her with a spider? As bad as you are, you wouldn’t think of such a thing—you’re at least decent to your own children. And don’t you think the Father who conceived you in love will give the Holy Spirit when you ask Him?” 

Jesus is using these illustrations to demonstrate the fact that God is wa-a-y more loving than we are. Because our Father is like that, we can, and should, always expect loving help from Him, not trickery. Good outcomes. Trickery comes from the other guy. We will have to fight our feelings; they can come at you roaring, or even in insidious whispers, telling you God has left you and He doesn’t care.  Fear is a shadow on the wall of the reality of Christ IN us.

Let’s fight for what matters – it’s OUR peace, and Jesus paid dearly for us to have it. It’s called ‘renewing your mind.’ We have the Word of God to remind ourselves our side already won! We may live in a war zone – but Jesus already won this war. Don’t let the enemy knock you out of the ring. Bye 👋.                                                                             ”Dear Lord, I thank you that I can come to You always for any reason. I’m grateful that when I pray to You, You answer me. Help me to come to You at the beginning of my fears and anxieties instead of waiting until I can’t stand them anymore. The quicker I come to You the better. You want to free me from ALL my fears. Help me look to You for help all the time so that I can be radiant with Your joy. In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.”

P3382 Ours is an Eternal Love story. 

/ DVH

Romans 8:15: “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.’”                          Psalm 103:13:“As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.”                                                                                                                                    1 John 3:1:“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are.”

Our God’s love is eternal, and redemption was always part of His plan. This means His love for us will never change. Most people often have no concept of what real love, the kind of love the Father has for us, looks like. Our ideas of love can easily be limited by our earthly experiences of it. 1 John 3:1 throws some light on that. It says ‘behold what manner of love the Father gives’ … behold means look at that love thoroughly and carefully. When we look carefully at God’s love, we can begin to understand His manner/His kind of love. God’s kind of love holds something special for us all inside it. It is a Love that never goes away, despite the unworthiness of the recipient.

Almighty God’s kind of love has no ending or beginning, it is complete in itself, and it is utterly altruistic. “Altruistic means someone is acting out of pure, unselfish concern for the well-being of others. It describes behaviour driven by empathy and a desire to help, without expecting any reward, recognition, or personal gain.” That’s what our Heavenly Father’s Love is like. The bad things that happen to us aren’t sent by Him, they come from our enemy. This is why we cannot afford to live our lives in the soulish, emotional and reactive realm. This world doesn’t produce that kind of love – it is heavenly, straight from the throne.

However, every single time we go into FEAR we will go back into slavery. This what Romans 8:15 is telling us. If we have fear, we are misunderstanding His love. Eventually, under duress, we can begin to be captivated by, and start serving the feelings of fear, instead of serving Him. Fear paralyses us. Fear likes to be protected and kept hidden. It demands to be fed lies and half-truths to keep all of us captive in it. Praise God, that our experiential knowledge of the love of God, personally, and through His word, chucks fear out of the window!

The fear of God which is mentioned in Psalm 103:13 is not the same as this world’s fear, which only bears the fruit of destruction. The fear of the Lord opens the door to further wisdom. Fearing God is not about being afraid, it is about being respectful and compliant in the things He has told us to do, because we acknowledge His Wisdom, His Ways and authority over our lives.  

God has provided for us to live in, and from, wisdom. The Lord’s wisdom is available to us at any time. Because of His incredible loving generosity, He will give us His wisdom whenever we ask for it. The Bible talks about wisdom like this: “For the reverence and fear of God are basic to all wisdom…” This is why our living, breathing, thriving relationship with the Lord matters … as we walk with Him we become aware of Who He is, and how much we need Him. “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, Who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” James 1:5.

When I read scriptures like the ones above, I am reminded of how generous the Lord is toward us – how remarkably rich He is in love. Being rich in love is almost incomprehensible to us – we are used to all kinds of poverty in this life, including spiritually – even though it has never been God’s will for us to be poor. Understanding the Lord’s love means we will develop a quiet confidence in HIM, not our circumstances.

He is reliable, faithful, good – so if I don’t see what I am asking Him for – I remember that James told me that I can ask amiss. Then I ask the Lord where I’ve missed it.  Romans 3:4 “God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar;…” Making His Word our plumb line changes our perspectives, because we begin to understand real truth from His perspective.

Before we were even brought into this world, Father God’s Love was complete in itself. The Trinity worked in perfect harmony, They had such a precious bond of love and unity we can’t even begin imagine it. They did not need mankind … the love They have for each Other is already perfect and complete. Instead, They chose to create us from that love. The bible says: “Let us make man in Our image.” Genesis 1:26. We’ve been created to look like Them – we were born out of Their love.

The Father has given us the freedom to choose to love and obey Him … or not. Sadly, those “no”  choices have released death, destruction and decay, loose in a world that had never even seen an electron or proton out of place. You and I are designed to be like God, like His Son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit in this life to others. We have the opportunity to know His kind of love, and give it away to others while we are still in this life. Our disobedience, ignorance, and disrespect can short-circuit this process.

The Holy Spirit chooses to reside within us, when we give our lives to Jesus. Now we have the capacity to share the same kind of complete and powerful love that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit share. Let’s thank God for His salvation plan incredibly implemented by Jesus Christ His beloved Son. Because of Jesus we are now part of His wonderful Eternal love story. Bye. 👋

P3381 The Needy ones!   

/ DVH

“Jesus told them, “Go back and tell John what’s going on: The blind see, The lame walk, Lepers are cleansed, The deaf hear, The dead are raised, The wretched of the earth learn that God is on their side. “Is this what you were expecting? Then count yourselves most blessed!” Matthew 11:4-6. In the Good News version the last verse reads like this: ‘How happy are those who have no doubts about Me!”

I found this verse yesterday, when I was reading in Matthew. Jesus is reassuring John, who is nearly at the end of his ministry, that GOD HIMSELF IS NOW IN THE HOUSE!! Wow! You gotta love the sweetness of that. John can now go on into glory because his job is done. SomeOne else has come to totally fulfil and complete the foundation of repentance and transformation John laid. This man John had lived a solitary, straightened life and at the end of it, he pointed out and spoke about Jesus. Our Saviour has appeared, and He is preaching healing, deliverance, freedom and salvation for all. Even the most miserable among us. 

Jesus shows great compassion when He talks about the healing and restoration work that has already begun. Then He adds this wonderful sentence: “The wretched of the earth learn that God is on their side.”  That means so much to me. I love that the sick are healed, that is fantastic. Me too, please! But I’ve felt wretched, cast away, talked about behind my back, passed over, despised and ignored … even by members of my own family. It took me years to realise that I didn’t have to live with shame anymore. This verse reminds me that God is on the side of those people that the rest of the world would like to pretend don’t exist. 

I imagine that there are a lot of people reading this that have experienced incredibly difficult things, and for many of you it has been far worse than I can bear thinking about. But right now, let’s stop to look at John, who had been so brave, so heroic, so dedicated to God’s purpose that it affected the way he lived his life. Now, at the end of his time, he needed reassurance. It illustrates this man’s humanity, and God’s Grace toward him.

It is an interesting fact that no matter how spiritual someone looks, life can savagely kick them, and they don’t always deserve what they get. Some people have been severely persecuted for speaking truth, just like John! Some have called out sin where and when they saw it. What a blessing this little conversation is for all of us! Our Loving Heavenly Father overlooks no-one, even at the end of our earthly lives.

Meanwhile, for your information: wretched means … deeply afflicted, dejected, or distressed in body or mind: extremely or deplorably bad or distressing; in exile, a despised person. That sounds a bit like John’s life. Today, that’s what I briefly want to talk about. There are precious people all around us that this world wants to throw away. Plus the ones who have fallen so far down a hole they can no longer look up and see the light — they are too bowed down, and full of rejection and despair. Jesus dearly loves them, and God is on their side.

We are blessed to live on this side of Calvary and know that our sins were all thrashed into and onto Jesus’ body, soul and spirit, as He died a despised sinner’s death for us. He was our totally pure and innocent Saviour, Who practiced love wherever He went. Jesus didn’t deserve that punishment that was meted out on Him. But let’s never forget that Calvary was also a heavenly transaction. Everything Jesus did had an effect upon this world, and the next.

He didn’t just come to die for our sins … … thank God that He did that! He came to show us, in Person, what God’s Kingdom is supposed to look like. What it looks like right now where He is. We are His people. The people who re-present Him. A representative generally refers to something, or someone that acts on behalf of others, or serves as a typical example of a larger group. We are His people and we know our Saviour – we are here to do great exploits for His sake. That means we will see miracles, but it can also mean loving those who don’t, won’t, or can’t love us back!

You and I have been appointed by Jesus to be His hands and feet, and we have the honour of bringing our Father’s incredible love to one person at a time, as He leads us. We carry that love with us to the desperate, the lonely, the forsaken, the wretched ones of this world. Personally, I think we could find these people in the most peculiar places! In palaces, governments, offices, digging ditches, in prison, begging for food and water, stealing from others … many are in our schools. The people who have no hope. Some are quite obviously wretched, others have their pain and suffering well-hidden by bright fake smiles. Many people hide because otherwise their shame, or even their heartache can be seen.

Yet, like John, they are not only loved by our God, they are to be commended for surviving things we can’t even bear to think about. This world thinks it is terrible to be called wretched — but today I realised it is a beautiful thing. God dearly loves the wretched, the sick, the sinners, the lost, the unlovely, the silently suffering ones, THE NEEDY ONES … and He is on everyone’s side. Man is that a great sentence! Bye. 👋