Freedom

P 2808 Love triumphs over everything.

/ DVH

The world we are living in today, has created a huge vacuum, by banning some things and not replacing them with better ones. Hubby and I were talking about this yesterday. There are so many rules about how you and I must interact with other people, with no thought to what we can do to replace the things we are told we must not do, except swallow the poison like it doesn’t matter.  It’s left a vacuum…

…so we can’t say this and we mustn’t say that. We dare not imply that someone else’s lifestyle is incorrect, we simply have to accept everything. These rules are pressed right up against our faces, every single day. They batter us through the news, and the TV. Plus there are images everywhere that you can’t UNSEE. And you must not comment on them either! 

These pagan, hedonistic attitudes are reinforced through our kindergartens, schools, and universities, as well as in the work force. We are told we must be tolerant, or we will be punished and penalised. We have to accept this thought and that idea, because we must be inclusive. Actually these thoughts are everything that true faith, by itself, can and will accomplish — but unfortunately now it’s law, not GRACE. Otherwise someone will sue us, or we will go to jail, and be shunned by society to boot! Fear of reprisal comes at us from every corner of the globe. So how can WE – the people whom the Son has made free, live this kind of life – when the-people-who-don’t-know-Jesus-yet demand that we obey things that would make normal Christians shudder?

Glad you asked that!! The bible teaches us to live this life, the only one we are going to get, loving others. That means our freedom lies within. We are told, in the book, by the King of all Kings and the Lord of all Lords that we need to pursue love. However, that does not mean we have to accept everything! So we cannot possibly go forward in this horrifying atmosphere of permissiveness – without His wisdom. We now need Jesus like He is our Air, He can no longer be an optional extra. We will need His guidance all the time. And yes, I know that some things are so repulsive to innocence it is hard to cope. But we need His eyes, His ears, His heart of love to guide us through, so we can continue to live and flourish in love.

I tell the Lord all the time: “I just plumb ran out of my kind of love, I definitely need Yours.” That may be simple but it is a great prayer and it works for me. He always helps me when I ask Him. My prayer is not fancy, but it is heart-felt, because I know I can’t do this stuff and live this way, without Him. I’m w-a-y to opinionated for my own good. Sigh. 

Back to my point today …God’s LOVE can fill any vacuum. He’s GOD He can do anything! Well, YAY! Today, we need to be so familiar with love, and so fluent in its language, that we are societally sweet, but pragmatically out of sync with this world’s ideas and ideals. Loving others does not mean we agree with their behaviour or ideals. Love is a higher law.  We don’t have to live this life down in the dirt staring at sin – we are to live a kingdom life, looking at Him.

Here’s an example of a conversation Jesus had when He met with Nicodemus. This man was a Pharisee. In reality he was in the religious rules camp. He was steeped in the law, because the law was part of his training. Yet Jesus did not dismiss him, or avoid him, the Lord met and talked with the man and gave him access to truth. 

John 3:1-8. “Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs You are doing if God were not with Him. Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” 

Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at My saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

The Lord did not argue with this man’s theology, He simply replied with REALITY – the ACTUAL TRUTH. He was stating a fact. Jesus never ever separated our earthly life from spiritual reality  … like we sometimes do. Instead He spent His time teaching others that spiritual things can, and do actually govern earthly ones. He did not see mankind as fleshly people who need a spiritual reality – He sees us all as spiritual people who have LOST our spiritual reality!

When we live in love, for love’s own sake – we step into who we really are. What people do with their flesh may be utterly repulsive but it is not ALL they are. We don’t have to live inside this world’s vacuum, we live IN CHRIST. He is a spiritual reality that supersedes whatever happens to be in fashion currently.  Love will always triumph, it can take a bit longer, but it is permanent. Bye 👋

P 2804 Thoughts from a Grannie.

/ DVH

Jesus is speaking to His disciples in John 14:15-17:“If you love Me, you will obey My commandments Then I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth, Whom the world cannot accept,because it does not see Him or know Him. But you know Him, because He resides with you and will be IN you.”

Christians all have a live-in … Counsellor; Comforter; Baptiser; Advocate; Strengthener; Sanctifier; Spirit of Christ; Spirit of Truth; Spirit of Grace; Spirit of Mercy; Spirit of God; Spirit of Holiness; Spirit of Life. And just because we cannot always hear or see Him at work, that does not mean He is not with us! He is FAR bigger than our measuring sticks, but unfortunately, He sometimes falls off our radar because … HE IS NOT LOUD.

This world we live in today likes to loudly feature what we can see, feel, touch, taste, and experience – it quite gladly shows us demons … … but refuses to acknowledge Almighty God! When SomeBody or something does not line up with our instantly focussed, darkly-imagined world, those people fall under suspicion and doubt – they are accused of trying to steal someone else’s fun away. They are restricting someone else’s freedom to express themselves. I think that’s when and why, we end up labelling things … without consulting the Creator’s greater knowledge. 

The reason Christians choose to get to know the Lord every single day, is because the Holy Spirit reveals the truth of the Word of God to us as we read it. He reminds us, over and over again, that Father God loves us dearly – He teaches us, step by step, that we are part of something far greater. At the same time, He is also praying for each and every human being, every second of every minute of our lives. I have learnt that the kingdom He comes from is so much bigger than the world I inhabit – so I have learnt to refuse to be limited by the things I don’t yet understand! I will be prayerfully careful with those things, but I refuse to be limited, because I have a limitless Father!

When I only look at my own limitations, or the limitations of the people around me, and I choose to be guided by them, I cease to grow. That’s when I have put ‘fitting into the status quo’ above ‘growth.’ Loads of people do that. Life kicked them in the teeth when they have tried to stretch, or extend the edges of their thoughts and now they are looking for safety more than adventure. Here’s what I have observed … safety becomes a BOX that limits my God-given possibilities. 

Jesus told us to be like little children, and healthy little children are curious. They start out in this life asking: “Why? Wat dat? How?” But instead of fostering that curiosity, human beings made a great big container and they named it school and instruction – and now we plonk these precious bundles of natural curiosity into it, hoping against hope that “school” will teach them… something – anything .. that means they can make a living some day. We are not trying to make decent human beings – just societally functioning ones.

Unfortunately, school rarely teaches most children how to think, instead they teach them how to learn. That channels most people’s thinking processes into established streams. It takes a very brave inquisitive child to push against these established schools of thought. Many children who refuse, for one reason or another, to be ‘streamed’ are labelled today with man-made diagnoses, that limit their ability even further to become who they are to God. If we want to go higher than the status quo – our aim should to be lift them higher than we’ve already come.

Sadly with these non-conformist kids we say: “something is wrong with that kid, so we will give it a great big name that means this kid is a dud who won’t do what it is told, or is too dumb to learn.” We limit them with our fear and labels. Oh, we do it nicely, because we’ve learnt to practice our PC, so we pat the kid on the head and say: “Poor baby, this one was born broken.” And then we use them as a statistic to prove our ideas are right.

Maybe in our societies today, the dollar has become more important than our kids, So instead of teaching them how to explore our world safely, we stick a lid on them and tell them this is all there is, that only a few people can grow up to be special. You can make great clones that way. However … God made us all individuals for a purpose. We each have a role to play in His plans for this world – and it won’t necessarily just be on the sporting field, stage or TV! 

What we call education, steals away His purpose, under the guise of things we must know to survive. It has stolen away faith from many, and labelled it ‘a minor need in some individuals who are already weak.’ It does not see faith as something that opens doors, it sees it as an enemy. It is our job, as parents, and grandparents, aunties, and uncles etc. to foster our children’s interest in this bigger world of faith. That bigger world is HIS world. And you can give your children a far better start in this life if you teach them how to really SEE – spiritually. Don’t expect our schools to do it, it’s our job to teach them about that bigger world, which is far realer than this one. 

Instead of just teaching them to digest facts and information that can be proved or disproved – let’s teach them about His kingdom. Let’s tell them what that looks like. Help your kids to see that words on a page in His book, can expand into dreams, visions, and a greater reality that will bless everyone, not just themselves. And that’s this Grannie signing off for today! Bye. 👋

P 2802 Don’t live like an orphan.

/ DVH

You know, orphans have to find their own way, they have to do everything for themselves. They do not belong to anyone. They have no family, no family to support them and back them up. You and I, we are no longer orphans!… Not only were we re-born into God’s family … then … God Himself adopted us. We must learn to make Him welcome in our hearts!“But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the right [the authority, the privilege] to become children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name—…” John 1:12. 

First of all, being adopted by God is a wonderful privilege, it is not a right – and secondly, that privilege becomes ours AS we choose to receive Him. BTW, that word ‘become’ stands out like a sore thumb to me. Christians have not arrived anywhere … yet. While we are still here on this earth, we are becoming …! We are learning His ways, that’s why we read the book. We have entered a life-long process of transformation. We daily walk with the Holy Spirit because we want to look like our Older Brother Jesus. At the same time it is no small thing to be eligible to use His Name – that’s part of our adoptive inheritance. His Name has authority here on earth, as well as in heaven.

Ephesians 1:5 says:“He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will.” Our adoption was always God’s plan. He let humanity have its head … and look where that landed us! Then He personally provided a perfect way back to Him. Almighty God has a plan for each of our lives. He’s a good good Father. He demonstrated how much He loves humanity when He sent His only One-of-a-kind Son here to live, and die, among us. Father God’s plans are always so much better than ours, but human beings have a cultivated, internal independence that often refuses to yield.

God will not take us over – He simply wants help each one of us reach our full potential – just like any good father would. A son or a daughter is an heir – whether they were adopted, or born into a family. The mistake we have made in modern Christianity is to think that being born again, plus being adopted, means that we can have whatever we want. He wants voluntarily yielded vessels for His kingdom. You know, our precious Father is not a despot running a conglomerate, handing out favours to a special few.  He is our ever-loving ever-living Heavenly Father. The One Who made heaven and earth, Who is worthy of praise and glory and honour – every single earth-bound day of our little lives. He gave everything for all.

In the absence of our Father’s Presence on this earth … as His kids, His heirs – we have been delegated to act like He would.  A true son or daughter represents His Father. So we are here to serve, like Jesus served. Even if we LEAD other people, we are still serving. Jesus wasn’t showing off His power when He healed people, delivered them, or raised the dead. Even when He multiplied food, He did that because… “…the people were hungry and they would not have made it home without food!”Jesus is an illustration of how much the Father loves us and cares about our lives.

The Lord disapproved of religious people because they misled others — often for their own benefit. You and I are here on this earth, right here, right now, to pour out His Love on others. Because we are no longer orphans we have a confidence that can willingly share. This is the love that we received when He adopted us. We need to tell others that they can be adopted too. Our whole aim is to love and serve people the way He loved and served us. There are no bright stars in His kingdom – most of us are NOT automatically relegated to be minions! The only star in His kingdom is Christ!

This means the way we treat each other matters: “But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My master is taking his time in coming,’ and begins to beat the servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk,..” AMPC. We dare not mistreat any of the people Christ died to save! Before Christ came and negated the power of sin, we were powerless to change our self-centred behaviour. Now, because of everything He did and said, we have been given the power to live this life differently. That’s what faith does, it chooses to respect its freedom by laying down its life for others.

There are human beings all over this earth who do not know that they have been set free from sin and death, and they are living their lives as orphans – struggling and straining to make the best of their time here. Cheating, stealing, hurting others to gain things.  (BTW, FYI, death is a door … not an ending! Jesus showed us that.) Most orphans have to learn to fend for themselves. But in a family, one member looks after another. Jesus loves us because we are His family. How many Christians have been fooled into living like they have no inheritance? HE is our inheritance. All that He did and is.

Don’t live your life like an orphan, there is more to this life than having enough money, power, position etc. We have been given His power to usher in change, simply by choosing to love other people into His kingdom. SELAH. 🤔

P 2775 The best kind of knitting.

/ DVH

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

P 2746 Let’s not weaponise our words.

/ DVH

Arguments start with, and are maintained by – words. We need to carefully listen to what we are saying – instead of simply listening to other people so we can rebut them. A lack of careful listening can start unnecessary trouble, and clarification is a useful tool too. Learn to ask questions – non-provocative ones.

Meanwhile, abuse of any sort is a whole other ballgame – don’t do it – don’t allow it. That stuff becomes cyclic and worsens as it goes along. The only way I know to avoid perpetrating verbal abuse, is to shut your mouth. And I am speaking from experience here, I am a word person. Angry verbal people can use words like weapons, it is like facing a machine gun spitting out rounds of bullets. And BTW asking GOD to shut your mouth for you is about as good as waving a wand over the top of your money expecting it to grow. You can, however, immediately ask for His help.

Let’s remember that we ALL have CHOICES – and it is not the Lord’s fault if we make bad ones. Here’s a clue, it helps me. Take your hand and stick it over your mouth and leave the room. Now breathe deeply, calm down. Don’t review what they said to stoke up the fire, ask for His help. Christians need to live their lives constantly aware that the work has already been done – we know WE WIN. Our task is to start believing the book, and change our responses and actions using our faith.

Let’s move on … to another form of abuse – financially. I think one of the ways to avoid financial inequality is to value what your partner does. It is cruel to hold other people hostage by controlling their finances. Financial freedom is important, within reason of course. God’s people are a generous people. This means they don’t have to think before they help others, because their whole way of seeing this life has been transformed. They often notice someone else’s deprived state and act without being asked.

Lastly the way for an abused person to avoid physical abuse is to pack their bags and leave. No amount of apologising can negate the terrible effects of intimidation by thrashing. There needs to be enough space for repentance and change. Occupying the same space is like sticking gasoline next to an open fire. Bullying is a symptom of a far more serious problem – not a character trait! Look at this subject like this:  the bible talks about choosing the right way, and you can’t choose clearly if you have no freedom.

Back to my point – words can start wars. The worst thing about being angry with someone else is that we can have a tendency to exaggerate what was actually said, in our favour. We take what we said, and make it sound OK, and make what the other person said AWFUL! Sometimes hubby and I disagree about what was said more than we do about the subject! How stupid, inefficient and ineffective is that? It’s a total waste of time – nothing actually gets resolved. The answer is to give up holding each other ransom over something said in temper, and look at the LOG in your own eye first. 

We need to use do good with our words. Speaking them to empower, not cripple others. “And never let ugly or hateful words come from your mouth, but instead let your words become beautiful gifts that encourage others; do this by speaking words of grace to help them.”Ephesians 4:29 TPT.  In this new life we now have, we have the power to speak life! Our words are now destined to become beautiful gifts. Sadly, some things that are said are not worth the price paid for the delivery because they can have far reaching terrible effects! So how do we let our words become beautiful gifts? 

Glad you asked me that! We all need Grace. I believe that Christians greatly underestimate the enormous value of Grace. Some of us think that making small talk and avoiding hot issues – instead of embracing intimacy – will let us off the hook. It can’t. Intimacy is our destiny … read the book! If my hand does not know what my feet are doing then I will be an accident waiting to happen. I fell up the stairs when I tried that one out!  A body needs co-ordination. Co-ordination … wait for it … … COMES FROM THE HEAD! As we yield to His words – our words, thoughts, actions and reactions change. However, agreeing with the Lord changes nothing –  HE ALREADY KNOWS HE’S RIGHT!! We have to choose be His disciples and then follow Him down the road of obedience, and it’s a death march!

Grace is free … it just takes obedience to step into it. We use our faith that what He says in the book is right and act on it. Yes, a part of us will die, but those parts weren’t going to help us to walk with Him. Secondly, Grace can go places and do things that we can’t do by ourselves. Grace opens many doors. It transforms the person who chooses to live this way – and over time, it will have a ripple effect on others. 

Don’t just watch what you say … deliberately give what you’ve said and what the other person has said to you – to the Lord and then leave it with Him. One day you and I are going to answer to Him for all those stray words, and explain ourselves to Him. Let us not weaponise our words. Living this life with eternity in our minds, reminds us that nothing that happens to us cannot be released and given over to Grace.  Bye 👋

P 2726 When I get tired …

/ DVH

I have learnt to take a lack of Grace as a signpost that I am walking in the flesh again. It means I’ve been trying, all by myself – to access something that Jesus died to GIVE me. I am bound to fail, without His Grace. To start with I can get very tired of being kind to people who continually hurt me. At the same time, in my own enthusiasm, I can spend ages trying to figure out what to do … when God already has an answer.

My problem becomes something Jeremiah spoke about in Chapter 2, v 13.“Stand in shock, heavens, at what you see! Throw up your hands in disbelief—this can’t be!” God’s Decree. “My people have committed a compound sin: they’ve walked out on Me, the fountain Of fresh flowing waters, and then dug cisterns— cisterns that leak, cisterns that are no better than sieves.” I can exhaust myself trying to find answers using my own systems. At the same time, I am ignoring His powerful ever-present fountain-provision of Grace, by honouring and using my own strength instead. 

Self-effort leads to frustration with Him, myself and others. It’s incredibly easy to get angry, because I’m making all this effort and it looks like God is not helping me, and neither are you! Changing myself has limitations – my patience and human wisdom will wear out – v-e-r-y quickly! The Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 14:9-10 “For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am,and His grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.”

This man understood that the way through everything that happened to him was to stay in the Grace of God. God’s Grace is our dwelling place. It is “the fountain of fresh flowing waters.”  We need to put aside our own human rationale toward others, as well as the excuses we often make for abhorrent behaviour, and instead …call SIN, sin … Then choose to forgive it or repent from doing it. This choice means that we are determined to partake of His freely flowing Grace, so we can walk through whatever is going on, without rancour or disappointment. Then we are eligible to give His Grace away to others from a position of fullness and humility – because we know WE also sin.  

Grace is Eternal. Self-effort, trying harder, making excuses, etc. wears out, quickly. Actually, I do not think we should sugar-coat any kind of sin. Sin killed Jesus. IT’S REAL. Our sin had consequences, and HE paid for them! The answer to sin is redemption, not avoidance, or working harder, or even excuses. These things are not just a difference in some sort of personal perception – this means we dare not pretend they don’t exist! Our job is to pray for Grace, Grace, and more Grace, and use our faith to walk in it. We all need to reach a saturation point when it comes to Grace. Grace needs to become normal in our lives.

We pray for the perpetrator, and also pray that we will be able to bear whatever is going on, by remaining in His Grace. Even if that other person simply will not quit behaving badly and they continue to deliberately hurt us or others. We all need His Grace to get through anything – we dare not use the try harder/make excuses for others system. So how do I get this Grace? I ask Him for it, and then I do whatever He says to me – either personally, or from His Word. God’s answers are not like our answers – because His Ways are higher than ours.

Our society today has currently adopted an ‘I can’t help it I had a hard life’ view of abhorrent behaviour. Instead of paying attention to accountability. Are we all three years old and everything is someone else’s fault? If we are old enough to sin, then we are old enough to own it. Unfortunately, we seem to have become a “now” society. Electricity on now! TV on now! And if it causes me pain, then it has to stop – NOW – because you are infringing on my rights, now! We have not learnt to suffer wrong. Jesus Himself chose that way, and Christians are meant to follow Him. Not our own personal code, or some self-help psycho-babble methodology. 

Every single human being needs His GRACE. Otherwise, blame becomes a way of life. Then my personally perceived poor activities, or heartache are the government’s fault – or my parents’ fault, or teachers, friends, or the pastor! When we think like that we are shrugging off our own responsibility. Our responsibility is to take everything to the cross and prayerfully access the Grace of God, as well as leave our sinful attitudes there. Sometimes the only way ahead is to go through our problems, to an answer. And that route may go through a desert or wilderness – where there is no water. This means we go back to the Source and ask for His Grace to bear things so we can keep on walking and following Him. 

Like the saints of old, we may suffer as we lay down the right to figure out man-made solutions – but that is nothing compared to the glory that lies ahead. We simply cannot afford to step out of GRACE. We don’t visit it occasionally, on a good day – WE LIVE THERE. Bye. 👋

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1.

P 2712 Our difficulties are actually stairs.

/ DVH

The every day obstacles, irritations and difficulties we face can be obstructions to living a new life … OR … stairs leading us up into all Christ’s blood bought for us. When we see things as obstacles, we face them with a different mental attitude. An obstacle must be avoided, or conquered or mastered, and all that involves effort and application. Stairs simply take you from one level to another. They take us from a lower place to a higher one. Today, I want to highlight the thought that the Christian life is meant to be one of progression, while we gain increasing humility, accountability, and wisdom, plus maturity. 

Nobody told me this stuff when I was a baby Christian. I was not taught that Jesus has faced every single obstacle I will ever have to endure, and that He knows the way through them. Instead I was taught to try harder… like it was a Maths test! So I just kept failing, and the harder I tried, the more I failed … I was taught I must somehow, by myself, transform myself into a new person. But Jesus actually died for, fought for and He won that battle for me. The thought that I was personally responsible to be different in my everyday life, nagged at me daily. I was supposed to be a good Christian witness to others, but I could easily end up shouting like a fishwife! 

None of the credit for starting to change my awful attitudes and actions belongs to me. All I ever needed to do was ADMIT that I can’t do any of this transformation by myself, and ask the Holy Spirit for His grace. And then – step up into it, using my faith.There are things that I know I used to do, almost automatically, that I simply don’t do anymore – I don’t even want to do them anymore. I asked for His help.

I wish I could say that when I’ve learnt something, and I’ve seen His grace in action in myself, that this means I will always act graciously! What a sad little laugh that thought is! Instead I have found that I need to practice practice practice trusting in His ability to get me through whatever He is teaching me, at every opportunity. Or I will lose touch with His grace, faster than a gambler can lose his quickly gained bundle of notes! However at the same time I have also noticed my thought patterns are changing too.

As I read the Word, and refused to accept what it said as something I would become some day – He began to teach me to act on it in faith. I started to understand that the things I dismissed as being only human, actually meant that I was not totally sold out to Jesus! Because me, myself and I – still became grumpy and nasty over the stupidest things. 

The Lord is so faithful. He revealed to me through the bible that He has already done all the work … so my part was to believe Him and step up into what He has already done, no matter how I feel.  Those things that accused me, and led me into looking after myself first, are the everyday, niggly little grumpy or sarcastic responses that the Holy Spirit loves to help us master. All we need to do is to step out of that bad mood or irritation, INTO His grace. After all, Peter stepped out of a perfectly good boat when Jesus said – “Come!” He didn’t think about it He simply obeyed!  Living this way is our birthright.

Sadly in the past, I did not have any idea that I didn’t have to live such a frustrated life, pretending to be something or someone, I wasn’t. I found, over time, that  a lot of what I was taught was a lot of theory, as well as unrealistic expectations – heaps of I “ought to be this or that!” It was not practical enough. Yet everything Christ taught was PRACTICAL. Because of what He has already done, my part is to take each attitude as He reveals it to me – then repent, repair and ask for His help. And then I simply followed His prompts, and they helped me escape from the temptation to let fly.

Jesus Christ’s death opened the prison door of sin we were forced to live behind, that place where we were trapped by our own anxious, fearful, unkind attitudes. We can even learn to resist provocation! We are no longer trapped by who we used to be. Freedom is more than a lovely song we sing passionately – it is a faith step. Freedom doesn’t mean I can do what I want – true freedom actually means I CAN DO WHAT HE WANTS!  We believe Him and what He has already said in the bible.

You know, in the natural, I have the worst trouble with real stairs, nowadays. Having fallen down our stairs a while ago, I am a bit intimidated by any stairs that have no railings. And so hubby helps me step up from one step to another, by giving me his arm. This is what the our precious Saviour does for us. We exercise our faith in the Lord’s Word, by taking His arm, as we choose how to respond to the daily irritations of this life according to His Word. We learn to lean on Him! And if we go under, like Peter did – Jesus’ strong right arm will lift us up again.

Psalm 119:133 “Direct my footsteps according to Your word; let no sin rule over me.” 1 Corinthians 10:13 TPT “We all experience times of testing, which is normal for every human being. But God will be faithful to you. He will screen and filter the severity, nature, and timing of every test or trial you face so that you can bear it. And each test is an opportunity to trust Him more, for along with every trial God has provided for you a way of escape that will bring you out of it victoriously.”

If we want to follow Jesus and overcome every day irritations, obstacles and difficulties, as well as entering into our new life in Christ, we need to live this life with absolute humility. At the same time we need to be aware and open about our limitations. Let us not pretend to be someone we are not! Every one of our difficulties are actually our own personal stairs. My advice is to take the Lord’s proffered arm and walk up each step with His help. Bye. 👋 

“Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:3-12.

P 2711 Faith is not just agreement.

/ DVH

I’ve met plenty of people who agree that God is real, yet they have no visible faith! Some of them have what I call, fashionable faith. However what they say has no substance in their lives. God clearly values OBEDIENCE- read the book! Disobedience is not a viable alternative. So if we truly want our faith to grow, then we need to cultivate an attitude that is consistently, actively obedient. Faith has evidence. Our faith brings unseen things into the realm of things we can see.

Meanwhile, even the devil believes there is a God! (James 2:19) The only way we can showcase our faith is to use it – and not just when the sky is falling. Our evidence is always seeable. People ask both of us why we go on the road a number of times during a year? Because the Lord asked us to do it. Actually, He asks all His kids to follow His Son into a life of voluntary, loving service …it’s in the book! So why is it so hard to obey? Dying is hard! Everybody wants the benefits, but very few people want to be changed and transformed. FYI the older you get the harder transformation becomes.

We meet all kinds of difficulties when we are on the road. Hubby has to do everything. He does all the driving, then he has to pack and unpack the car … all by himself. Then he needs to set up our overnight stay. When we get to the destination, he can’t rest … he has to look after me. Showers, cooking, setting up the bed! If we travel every single day, then he does this every single day. He packs up in the morning, and then he sets up again that night. He only gets a rest from this kind of intense work when we stay more than two nights in one place. However, there is nothing special about this – he is just being obedient. Obedience costs us comfort and ease.

Jesus says this about a servant who works all day for His Master …I’ve put this scripture here because we need to pay attention to it as well as others like it. It always reminds me of my dear husband. Luke 17:7-10 “Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do?  So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”

I have found that many ministers ignore verses like these these, because those verses aren’t what I call, popular theology. Most people like the kind of verses that support them – their personal lives as individuals. Jesus didn’t come to earth and do all He did for us to give us a happy life down here – He came to get us to HEAVEN. And when we pray for others – when we tell them what Jesus did for them – we are using our faith for good. Yesterday my hubby shared the gospel with a mainland Chinese gentleman who had never heard it before. What a privilege! Our God is our HOME. He’s the place where we put down roots. Of course, He loves to help us, He loves His kids — but He is not an elderly benevolent ga-ga Grandpa either!! 

When we simply mentally agree with what the bible says, that is not faith. Faith has substance and substance can be seen! Jesus bought and paid for the right to ask us to live that way. Living for Him will involve sacrifices too. We will end up living differently than the world around us. Sometimes Christians are like starry-eyed people who fall in love… they only want the romance, and they never really settle into the marriage. Marriage involves love and romance;  and also sacrifice and hardship. Deep relationships do not come cheap! 

Here are some other less popular verses: John 12:26:“If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there will My servant be also. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honour him.” Ask yourself, would Jesus prioritise leisure time or reaching-out-to-others-time? Galatians 5:13: “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” There’s a lot of them if you want to do the research.

Salvation is not only about you and I going to heaven – we were saved to bring other people with us. That won’t happen if we do not practice obedience. There are enough instructions in those four gospels, to keep us busy for the rest of our lives!! We don’t have to wait upon Him to find special things to do – we have a book full of things we can do. We need to put aside the practice of simply memorising verses that promise US some sort of a special advantage over someone else, and start living by all those verses, so we can demonstrate them to other people. Real faith is not about just agreeing with the truth, it is about living by it. Every single day. 👋

P 2708 Why would we limit the LIMITLESS ONE?

/ DVH

Let’s fervently pray for our understanding of Him and His ways to be stretched instead! Why would we settle for other people’s limited views when we can go after and know HIM personally. My best and only thought is kind of a small one – and most probably a big fat understatement! When someone asks me what God is like, I say: “He’s like Jesus!” That’s because Jesus clearly told us in John 5:19 that:‘He only did what He saw His Father doing, and only said what He heard His Father saying.’ 

Also Hebrews 1:3 it says: “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”From those verses alone, I learn that Christ is indeed God stepping into time and limiting Himself to our ways. It blows my mind! At the same time, Jesus walked this earth and still lived within our normal human limitations, except HE lived a totally limitless life. Nothing stopped Him – nothing took Him by surprise. Read the book and keep on reading it. It will blow your mind, it always blows mine!

Our Heavenly Father speaks to us in many ways. He has so many more ways to speak than human beings realise. God speaks the languages of angels, as well as every human one – past, present and future! Even the sky shouts to us daily about Him. Plus the stars sing out His praises. Psalm 19:1 “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork.” Job 38:7 “ …while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy …”

His Love speaks a language that doesn’t always have words, and His idea of faith reaches beyond mere human understanding into the supernatural. My point is – we are chasing after SomeOne unknowable, without help. We need revelation from His Word and the Holy Spirit. I think we can easily succumb to over-reaching if we think we can define Him without His help! Our finite beings are too small to understand the incredible complexity of Who He is..🙌

Today I want to talk about our limitless Heavenly Father, from this POV … we need to understand our side of this glorious endless relationship. There are times that we can think this prayer, or that question has remained unanswered and become disappointed with Him – although we probably wouldn’t say that out loud! It is imperative for us to understand that Almighty God always answers us … HE JUST DOESN’T ALWAYS USE WORDS! Continually pray for eyes to see and ears to comprehend His Answers – because even His silence has a purpose!

Sometimes our understanding of His Ways etc .can come later, perhaps retrospectively. But in order to walk with Him and grow, our faith in His goodness must conquer our doubts and disappointments. Otherwise we will impede our progress in our faith, and we may never reach our full potential. Jesus died to give us the capacity to be stretched and transformed, not because He finds us unacceptable, but because our personal and even learnt inclinations, limit our understanding of Who He is and How much He loves people.

The very best mutual language, the one that will always be understood, by Him and us, is LOVE. That’s why it is imperative that we learn how His kind of love works. How it functions  – what it produces. When we begin to uncover the mysteries of LOVE we will begin to understand Who He is.  I know I rattle on about that over and over again – but knowing His Ways is an important key to defining the way WE need to live.“How can two walk together unless they be agreed?”

We can’t walk with Him and be restored into the innocence and purity we were always meant to have – unless we put aside those things that weigh us down. Both personally and corporately, we are currently limiting ourselves. We allow a few men’s insight to rule many churches, at the cost of broadening our base by going after insight for ourselves. “In order that the many-sided (multi-faceted) wisdom of God might be made known now to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places through the church,…”Ephesians 3:10. BTW innocence and purity were restored to us at the cross. It is time for us to fight this world’s definition of wisdom and freedom – and return to the simplicity and power of the cross. 

One of the things we will need to put down is accepting religious doctrine as representational of ALL of His truth. You and I are the only people who can limit the size and function of our faith. When we deliberately choose to learn to love as He loves, all sorts of barriers will blow away, our eyes will be opened;  and then we will look at others with the joyous word “brother” on our lips! 

This is when we will begin to “know one another after the Spirit”instead of eliminating others because of their beliefs. Only God Himself can take the muddle of our denominations and personal proclivities of faith in Him, and bring it into a cohesive whole. Defining God separately is a waste of our time … we must start learning what His love looks like and begin to fervently pray that we walk in it, toward each other. Why would we settle for a limited edition god when we can know the LIMITLESS ONE?  Bye. 🙏

P 2684 FIRE.🔥

/ DVH

Daniel 3 – An excerpt from the GN Version V21-25: “So they tied them up, fully dressed—shirts, robes, caps, and all—and threw them into the blazing furnace. Now because the king had given strict orders for the furnace to be made extremely hot, the flames burned up the guards who took the men to the furnace. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, still tied up, fell into the heart of the blazing fire. Suddenly Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement. He asked his officials, “Didn’t we tie up three men and throw them into the blazing furnace?” They answered, “Yes, we did, Your Majesty.” “Then why do I see four men walking around in the fire?” he asked. “They are not tied up, and they show no sign of being hurt—and the fourth one looks like an angel.…”

Just briefly to recap, these three men were thoroughly bound and thrown into an incredibly hot furnace, through no fault of their own, simply because they refused to bow down to a huge statue of the egotistical king. My point today has come from this story. Sin will tie us up and leave us bound. Our own sin, or even other people’s sins against us. However the fire of God comes to burn away everything that is holding us fast into the past. We need the fire of His love to burn away our bondages. 

This is why it is imperative that we forgive other people quickly. The longer we stew on our offences the deeper the roots of those offences drive themselves down into our hearts, minds and emotions. If we are not careful we can end up with a full grown tree that has a root of bitterness, plus all kinds of other junk. Îf you have ever pulled up some sort of a real tree you will know that they are very hard to get out of the ground once they are established!

However, His fire comes on our lives to burn off these bondages – even the ones we have willingly embraced. It doesn’t matter how we got into the furnace, He will get us out! He will not leave us there. Because the fire of His Love and passion for us is always upon us.But we will need to walk WITH Him through those flames.The hotter the fire the quicker and more productive our new found freedom is going to be. When those three men came out of that furnace, everyone’s life changed— for the better!

I want to remind us all of something Isaiah said. “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.”  Isaiah 43:2. I believe that Isaiah 43:2 is a visual example of what Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego experienced. They were thrown into that fire and it was not their fault. However, SomeBody Else was in there with them, and in that place they were released from all captivity. The fire set them up with a new way to live.

At any given moment we can be thrown into some sort of ‘fire’ by life’s difficulties. Everything is fine, and then suddenly you are standing there watching your life disintegrate, with the fire’s intense heat all around you, and you don’t know where it came from and you don’t know why it has happened! That fire may have been sent by the enemy to destroy us, BUT God will use it to burn off all our bondages. However, our responses to any temptation to run away, can thwart the fire’s purpose. Always remember, God does not send these difficulties, He uses them to take us to a new and safer place, so we can stand in the blazing fire of adverse circumstances and not be afraid.

He promises to always be with us. That’s the first and only place you need to nail your faith to the wall. Not whether we will get out or not, not why we are in there, or even what we did to get in there, but the fact that He promised to be with us! We cannot come to harm when He is there with us. His rod and staff are there to comfort us. He’s setting the table in front of our enemies for a brand new feast. That cup He is holding for us to drink from, is overflowing with His goodness, His love, His compassion, and His deliverance. 

Drinking from His cup of suffering, and sorrow will always taste bitter initially, but as we yield to HIM, these things will do us good. BTW, yielding is not the same as giving up! The more we drink from His cup and share His suffering, the more we will understand what He has done for us, and what we have been given. We will benefit if we choose to stand in the fiery furnaces of this life WITH HIM by our side. His perfect love will throw out all fear. Pray for ‘endurance, until He accomplishes in your heart whatever He wants for His glory.’ 🙌

“Beloved friends, if life gets extremely difficult, with many tests, don’t be bewildered as though something strange were overwhelming you. Instead, continue to rejoice, for you, in a measure, have shared in the sufferings of the Anointed One so that you can share in the revelation of His glory and celebrate with even greater gladness!” 1 Peter 4:12-13.