Fulfil

P 3190 Who colours your world?

/ DVH

“So above all, guard the affections of your heart, for they affect all that you are. Pay attention to the welfare of your innermost being, for from there flows the wellspring of life.”  Proverbs 4:23 TPT.  When I hear that scripture I think of a little man in a guard’s uniform marching up and down with a big gun on his shoulder. Behind him is a door, with a sign on it and it says:“No entry without permission – Joe Blog’s mind.”  Suffice to say, I have a very vivid imagination! 

The thing is, all of us need as much help with our minds as we can get. Our minds need to be renewed — on purpose, daily. This must happen simply because we are continually being bombarded with worldly propaganda minute by minute. Just recently, I was dragged into a conversation that centred on something I wouldn’t normally talk about. I actually internally, disagreed with the speaker. The trouble was this person was a guest in our home so I had to choose between being rude to a guest, and exercising good manners, or bailing out of the conversation. 

You guessed it – I went the easy way, and then I felt really bad about it. I repented of course, but I was disappointed in myself. However, it gave me a chance to reflect on something I might normally brush aside. How do you go about giving someone else a loving refusal to their ideas, when what they are saying goes against what you believe? I know that the Holy Spirit has a way through this kind of difficulty, if we simply choose to stay in His Presence. Sadly, I flunked that test, this time, I fell right in!

The scripture above from Proverbs actually gives us a great clue about this kind of scenario – it isn’t what comes out that is the problem – it’s what is already IN there! Somewhere, somehow, I have not been guarding what my heart loves, and so the wrong issues got in. In computer-land, if your programming is bad, then the results won’t be great either. So, what do I need to put IN to reprogram my inner opinions with His Word? His word, duh!

Now the issue is no longer about what anybody else said, but what I have been inwardly holding onto. Well, there’s a yucky thought — but it is worth exploring. I don’t want ‘all that I am’ to be affected by opinionated stuff that I may have thought was important in the past. I want everything I am to be affected by the Lord and what He wants in my life, right here, right now.. BTW, I do pray about my speech being “winsome” during the day, but sometimes my opinions have a mind of their own. They have a tendency to pop out unannounced!

My starting place for things like this is always repentance, there is nothing else like it for clearing the decks of detritus and junk we don’t need. Then with the Holy Spirit’s help, I am going to need to pay attention to what I am holding onto from the past, that is not scriptural. That’s when the fun starts! Because I will need to hold the line the Holy Spirit and I have just drawn, with His help and lean on Him. Holding the line, is not as easy as it sounds, things or thoughts attack us unexpectedly.

“God tells the truth, even if everyone else is a liar!” The Scriptures say this … “Your words will be proven true, and in court You will win Your case.” Romans 3:4. In my heart I know that when I go with God’s opinions, then He will stand with me and His Word will prevail. But first, I will actively need to embrace what He thinks and throw out my own opinion. Otherwise I can say goodbye to His spring of living water bubbling up inside me, as well as out of me, toward others.

When I choose to be judgmental in any situation — instead of excusing myself, and pushing those thoughts back under that ’things I hide from myself’ blanket in my mind… I will have to face the truth. Whether I meant to be critical or not, somebody else could misunderstand me and I can lead them astray. (Romans 14.) My sin is not what I said or didn’t say – my sin is this: I can lead someone else astray with my opinion. I must pray that ‘…God’s word in me becomes more powerful, and more to be desired than fine gold!’ (Psalm 19:10)

The Lord has showed me that leading people astray:  “…is not (MY) calling. (I) will lead by a completely different model. The greatest one among you will live as the one who is called to serve others, because the greatest honour and authority is reserved for the one with the heart of a servant. For even the Son of Man did not come expecting to be served but to serve and give His life in exchange for the salvation of many.”” Matthew 20:26-28 TPT. That’s my calling!!

It is clear that I am called to be a servant to others, the way Jesus was a servant to me. And only HE can help me fulfil that aim. So now, my question becomes this, how can I serve this person who has opinions that resemble actual things I too have thought or said in the past? Are they best served by my re-enforcing a worldly opinion? No. This is a place for my silence and loving acceptance toward somebody else who doesn’t know any better.

Whenever I find somewhere that I have not yet been transformed, I cannot afford to go into shame, but rather I need to pray and ask Him how to put what I know to be true, into practice — instead of just agreeing with it as a theory. We can allow the world around us to colour us, BUT!!… the reality is we have the power to bring His true colours into this world where others can see them. Bye. 👋

P 2978 Our God writes poetry!

/ DVH

“We have become His poetry, a re-created people that will fulfil the destiny He has given each of us, for we are joined to Jesus, the Anointed One. Even before we were born, God planned in advance our destiny and the good works we would do to fulfil it!” Ephesians 2:10 TPT.

David and some other guys, wrote lots of poetry for us, about the Lord … but we are also His poems, written for all time. Because we are joined to Jesus – the kingdom things we do, are part of His poem. The fact that you love helping people —-that’s part of His poem. The way you sing your heart out in worship times—is part of that poem. You might not always be great at witnessing, but our God-given uniqueness in Christ, makes us His treasure. God doesn’t care about diamonds, gold, pearls, emeralds or rubies … He uses them as building materials … but He cares so-oo-oo deeply about people.

Have you ever met someone and you just clicked, you seemed to have so much in common? Think about this … you and Almighty God just click together. Jesus is the ‘permanent joint’ that binds us into God’s heart. And whenever He looks at His precious Son, He feels delight. Each one of us has been made as a reflection of Who Jesus is. And each one of us is a tiny mirror sliver of all the majesty and glory and honour and wisdom of Who Christ is. We’ve been given the honour and pleasure of reflecting what we find in Him, into this world. 

God has written poetry and we are part of His poem. That’s a bit more easy to believe when you see a new baby, and a little bit harder when you look at someone quite old! Nevertheless, you and I are a love poem to the rest of this lost, sad world. Greed, and the lust for more and more, blinds all the occupants of our world to the glory of God … but then there is YOU…

Shining away, daily reflecting whatever light He has given you. Some of that light is practical, and some of it is spoken out loud or in prayer, but because the Lord is our all in all – we just can’t help sparkling, like a bright gem on dusty ground! Goodness has its own light because goodness has its source in Him. We are daily being recreated so we can shine even more brightly with His light. Being a witness is about shining where other people can see you… like the old song says… don’t hide your light under a bushel.

“Yahweh says, “You are My witnesses, My chosen servants. I chose you in order that you would know Me intimately, believe Me always, and fully understand that I am the only God. There was no god before Me, and there will be no other god after Me.” Isaiah 43:10 TPT.

Sometimes a witness does not have to say anything.  All you and I need to do is to reflect His goodness to the people around us, and knowing Him makes us shiny. His love in us gives us a glow that cannot be ignored. The things of this world fade when He is around, they seem trivial and unimportant, and people start to realise the depth of love and acceptance, they have been given just because of His love and Presence in His people.

Becoming God’s love slave is a choice and we have given ourselves to Him simply because He willingly gave Himself to us. That’s what marriage is – we reflect our Heavenly Bridegroom into this world. Father God did that for each one us when Jesus came here to serve mankind. Our lives are poetry, written day by day – often speaking to this world without words. Love brought the Lord here and love kept Him here, until His work was done.    

You already know hubby and I go on the road and perfect strangers start telling my dear husband their secrets. He doesn’t have a system, or a clever repartee — sometimes all he says is “hello!”  But because each one of us was made by God, and destined to be a reflection of His precious Son, God goes with us and it is His Presence that draws people to us. These people don’t even know they are being drawn toward Him. But because we are part of His love poem, people hear and see Him through our little lives.

Our fatal flaw as human beings is that we see our mistakes, sins, and stinky attitudes as some sort of cancellation to our blood-bought destiny. Our destiny can’t be cancelled – our job is to rise above this stuff around us, and let Him shine! He’s IN you! Sometimes our windows might be a bit dusty with the cares of this world, plus dirt and unbelief, but the King of glory can’t ever be kept under wraps. That’s like trying to put the sun out – it can’t happen! Here’s a huge useful secret for you to think about – whatever God OWNS, He kisses.

Knowing Almighty God intimately means we have been granted access to His deepest heart secrets. What a privilege! Is anything else in this world, that is worth the price of forgetting about that privilege. It cost Him everything. If we are not careful we can end up defining ourselves by our sin … BUT …He defines us by His Son. Wouldn’t it be a pity if we let the junk from today — newspapers, hobbies, fashions, the way we earn our living, parenthood, or even circumstances etc. define us? We are His poetry… HAND-written to bless the rest of this world as we glorify His Name. Bye.👋