Future

P 2544 Surprise!🥳

/ DVH

Isaiah 55:11 …“So shall My word be that goeth forth out of My mouth: it shall not return unto Me void,but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”

First of all, I love the fact that God says so clearly and so positively: “when I speak – stuff happens!” You might want to think on that like …for the rest of your life! Hmmm. In my mind, people often look at verses through the filter of brother or sister you-don’t-have-to-study-the-bible-deeply-I’ll-do-that-for-you-and-tell-YOU-what-God-told-me! That action keeps people immature.

You see, when we accept that what God Himself says is truth, then we actually have a fantastic diagnostic tool for our lives. Now, let’s think about that verse above for a moment… or nine! Does that mean that if nothing happens when I pray – HE DIDN’T SAY IT? Jesus Himself said,“I only do what I see the Father doing … I only say what I hear the Father saying…”  He was fulfilling that scripture in Isaiah. He understood that God’s word is never void.

When I read that verse again, what He actually says is: ‘My Word won’t just do what I sent it to do, My Word will THRIVE.” PLUS !! The Only One He intends to please is HIMSELF.Take a big breath alright? Almighty God is not your mother, who loved to spoil you. It seems if we take whatever the Lord says seriously, and pray about it, then we may need to revise whatever happens afterwards. There are times I wonder why things aren’t working out so well, and I hope like mad that it isn’t my faith or my theology that’s at fault. But, sadly, it probably is, because there isn’t anything wrong with what the Lord said!  His aim is to accomplish what HE intends. The bible says this:“He is the Rock, His works are perfect, and all His ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is He.” Deuteronomy 32:4. 

Here’s a completely useless rabbit trail: I know a song from way back in the ark about that verse in Deuteronomy, which means now I’ll have it stuck in my head! 😱 Maybe that means I am now praying without ceasing …!!  Meanwhile, we had some pretty old fashioned music way back then. But I’m pretty sure most people had no clue what they were singing, they just liked joining in. The good bit is … we all got to memorise scripture. The bad bit is … it was in King James English. Someone ought to have a word with that guy, you can’t understand a word King James says!!

Meanwhile, I think it is time to take a teeny tiny look at what we say, and work out if it is in line with what He says and the way we are living. When God speaks, He means what He says – and we are to behave the same way because we all follow Jesus. This stuff is in the book for activation not just contemplation. There are times that I think none of us know what to do with what we believe, because what we say we believe seems to only work in somebody else’s life! We kind of shove all that mess under a rock and hope nobody notices. Some really brave souls may ask “what did I do wrong?” But most of us dumb sheep—BAA! We don’t have a clue what happened or why, and we are either too scared to ask the Lord “why”… because He might not answer us. OR … because He just might answer us!

At this point, I was hoping the trouble I had just might be the language, so I looked it up in another version – a more manageable one. Well the New International Version actually kind of stuck to the KJV, using a few less unto-s and goeth forths. So I went on to see what the Message bible says. The main trouble with the MSG bible as I see it is this, it really does say what it says in English, but it takes so darn long to say it you need to take a cut lunch. Have a read of this …

“I don’t think the way you think. The way you work isn’t the way I work.” God’s Decree. “For as the sky soars high above earth, so the way I work surpasses the way you work, and the way I think is beyond the way you think. Just as rain and snow descend from the skies and don’t go back until they’ve watered the earth. Doing their work of making things grow and blossom, producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry, So will the words that come out of my mouth not come back empty-handed. They’ll do the work I sent them to do, they’ll complete the assignment I gave them.” Verses 8-11.

You may have noticed that I included w-a-y more than verse 11. That’s because the Message bible says things in clumps like daffodils, and you have to take them apart and look at each piece separately to get the meaning. That’s great for repotting plants, but a bit hard on the old concentration. 

So what IS my point today? Perhaps we need to be way more careful when we use the words…”God said…” unless we intend to follow it up with …”and this is what happened!” Always remembering that He already HAS plans.  …”to give us a hope and a future ..”   I think this entire verse explains itself in the first sentence of the Message bible version… “I don’t think the way you think ..” That seemed pretty easy to understand to me!  He knows how I think, but most of the time I know bupkis about what He is thinking or doing. BTW, I’m not talking about tacking on “if it be Your will” to our prayers – I’m talking about knowing Him well enough to see what He is doing, or trusting Him if we don’t!

Father God is perfectly capable of making Himself clear. He’s God — I’m not. We think we need proof, but that’s not actually faith. If I don’t think like He does then He’s going to “surprise” me — a LOT… 👋

P 2476 Ruth.

/ DVH

Ruth 1:9-17 “May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.”Then she (Naomi) kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.” But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands?  Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons— would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!”

At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her. “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.” Then Ruth uttered one of the loveliest lines reported in the bible,  But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.”

Naomi did all that she could to send these two young women back to their homes… but logic wasn’t the tool of the day – FAITH WAS!  Orpah returned to her homeland, but Ruth chose to stay with her mother-in-law. That just blows my mind. Think about it… one person turns back to the familiar and the household of their birth, and the other is activated and presses on into faith. Every step Ruth took after her decision to stay with Naomi, was one of faith.

Everybody loves the book of Ruth, it is a brilliant, inspiring, redemptive story about the power of God to redeem every type of human condition, and transform difficult situations for everybody’s good. The stars of this story were quite clearly not anybody fame-worthy.  But God, took an older lady whose faith had taken a battering, and a younger one who didn’t have much to look forward to, and put them smack in the middle of His-story and they didn’t even know it.

Boy is that saying heaps!! This is what the Christian life is like, it is a series of choices and we cannot always see the results. And some of them don’t seem all that significant when we make them! But Orpah’s choice separated her from a totally different destiny. She leaves the story at this point, and we don’t know what came next for her. Maybe she married again too, and had a very nice life … but there is more to this life than safety! There is courage, and innovation and freedom and the future to be fought for and won.

Our heroine Ruth starts out by being poor and having to scrounge for food, but eventually she finds a new husband, by following instructions, and by using her faith! She even has a family, when she thought that opportunity had passed her by. And she ends up being Jesus great great great great great great etc.etc. GRANDMOTHER. This story is so rich in spiritual imagery. Ruth chose to follow Naomi and use her faith and love for this older woman to move on, she seized the adventure as it unfolded before them both. Everything Naomi told that young woman to do, she did – she trusted and then she acted.

I’m starting to believe a lack of inspiration to be spiritually mature, is part of the problem today, particularly with many Western Christians. Plus we’ve all stopped being pilgrims. We seem have lost our sense of adventure. Instead of striking out in our little boats for foreign shores … stretching our faith and watching the Lord protect, provide and lead us … we’ve become settlers.

Settlers can’t wait to have a family, get a house and earn a living! BTW, we don’t need more pastors – we need more missionaries, at home and abroad!  People who leave comfort behind to make sure that others find out about Jesus. Surely we were born again for bigger things than normal! Our biggest claim to faith, these days, seems to be whether the Lord gave us the spouse/car/family/job we wanted! 

Pilgrims and pioneers press on, always believing there is more. More to know about Him, more to learn about themselves and others. Meanwhile we don’t have to go to the darkest places on the earth to become pioneers. We can reach unreached people groups in the alleys and doorways of our own cities! Or our offices, or schools, or at the shops. Pioneers are people with more than a dream – they are people of action. Ruth made a choice and she did not turn back. After all, she was not Jewish she was a Moabite, and yet God provided for her … all because of her obedience and loyalty. 

The Lord loves loyalty. Loyalty is more than an attitude, it is the way we live. Ruth is a wonderful example of a woman who could easily have seen her life as being over … instead she decided to take her chances in an unknown land. Today I want to leave you with yet another one of my icky questions …where have all the home-grown missionaries gone? Bye 👋🏻 

P 2415 Applying the Holy Spirit’s lessons …

/ DVH

His lessons in our lives, lead to a stronger faith and spiritual growth. Strong faith means we take the Word of God seriously, DAILY, and act on it. Faith is like a muscle, it grows when we use it. We need to use our faith to lovingly care about others. The best place to start exercising our faith muscle is to use it to change the things in our lives that we totally know should not be there.

Here are some thoughts for you to chew on because you belong to Jesus and we all need to use our faith. Bad tempers are an option … not an inheritance. I don’t care how many people in your family have had a bad temper – we are in the family of God now, He is our history, our present and our future. Let’s leave that junk behind us. It’s the same as doubt. We must actively cultivate doubt, in order to keep it. Who on earth wants doubt?  Doubt is unbelief in the written word of God and in His Character! Look, we will all need help with our faith in our day to day lives, so we need to ask for it and then use it when opportunities come up. Christians are not meant to be storm-tossed all the time. Swinging back and forth like a pendulum in a clock. “Our faith is in His goodness in the land of the living” – that means now, today!

Some people struggle with an issue of control. That often grows from a deep-seated fear of letting someone else be in charge. Deal with the fear. Ask the Lord who you should forgive, because control can be handed down from one generation to the next. Then repent of doubt, anger and fear and from trying to control everything. The bible tells us “to submit to one another” – that means active participation, not just agreeing with the idea in principle. Control will not leave us unless we deliberately oppose it with humility and grace. Yes, other people will, and do let us down – that’s why you are scared in the first place. Put your faith in the Lord. He can take a stone and fell a giant!

We need inner transformation flowing onto outer transformation, that is the very best place to grow faith. To start with, the Holy Spirit is utterly, unquestionably reliable. He will start working on anything we give Him, immediately. BUT! Simply praying, and doing nothing, is fruitless – we still have to ACT. That’s what faith is all about – action. Doing something! If your problem is temper, try shutting your mouth next time you want to let fly. Refuse to participate in satan’s nasty little games. Remember we are no longer weak and helpless – Christ is now in us, He is our hope of glory! The fruit of self-control grows together with using our faith. 

Make the Holy Spirit welcome in your life. Cultivate His Presence and His holiness will also transform you. Eventually His Presence becomes more valuable that any stupid thing we think we have to have, or do, or SAY. The Holy Spirit is kind and gentle … He won’t hang around with an explosive temper, or carefully cultivated control, or doubt – He will leave. Confess your faults to someone else and ask the Lord to help you. Now use your faith to respond differently. My experience is this, if you move an inch toward Him – He will run miles for you.

Faith does not fall on us. To grow faith we need to start stepping out and using it daily. Doing that changes the way we live. The bonus in that decision is that we will stop driving our spouse, parents, teachers, and kids balmy! Plus we make ourselves available for greater things. Very few of us will walk on water without practising the skill of listening to Him and obeying, first! These things have to stop being a theory, or something that somebody else does because they are nicer than you are. The disciples after Pentecost focussed on the Lord and other people – they were single-minded.

The bible says: “Taste and see that the Lord is good.”  This is purely my response to that verse, but I think of it like this: What will people get if they take a bite out of me? Would they get an explosion? Or a polite, barely-held-together-through-the-teeth response, OR …would they get what God Himself wants them to have … a Holy Spirit inspired portion of the Grace He has already given me.

There is no right time to change. In my experience change starts to occur right at the time you want to thump somebody. That’s when the Holy Spirit nudges you in the ribs and says: “NOW!” Then we have to clap our hand over our mouth and resist the temptation to do or say whatever it is. Now take a breath, and thank Him for helping you. Ventilating our emotions all over someone else is destructive – releasing the Holy Spirit in those moments will bless both parties. 

We need to devote ourselves to applying His lessons into our lives – the result will be stronger faith. 🕊

P 2408 Knowing Him is our greatest quest.

/ DVH

Our own private opinion of God’s goodness can make or break our faith. I think that we need to pay more attention to the word forever, in the bible. We can get so caught up in our now, that forever can be overlooked. Almighty God always holds forever in His heart. I said that to accent my next point… He doesn’t see things the way we do, which means whatever He does, He does it with forever in mind.

Our opinion of His goodness matters. When Moses asked to see His face, God answered that prayer by letting His goodness pass by. THE FACE OF GOD IS GOODNESS – no matter how things around us look. His goodness is His incredible passionate generosity toward us.

I love these statements Father God makes, look at what He is saying about Himself – take it in …”I know the plans I have for you plans to give you a hope and a future”…(Jeremiah 29:19) … “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.” (Exodus 34:6-7a) “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and shall He not make it good.”(Numbers 23:19)

Here is a great study to do— look up what Almighty God says about Himself — I highly recommend it. We must stop concentrating on the verses that promise this and that, and begin to understand … as best our peanut little brains can(! )… what the God we love and serve is like. What His priorities are! We will have a lot less disappointment and despair in our lives if we set our hearts to understand what He is doing long-term, rather than critique what He has done, from our POV. Let’s decide that He knows better than we do what we need. He doesn’t need our help to work it out! That’s called faith.

Naturally, Jesus Christ is the most wonderful example of God’s goodness in action in mankind’s lives. We must regularly watch Him in God’s book, interact with people just like US, and we will see His tenderness, compassion and concern. Christ has made it so much easier to understand the nature of God – plus His expectations toward, and for humanity. But we desperately need to stretch ourselves beyond the limitations of me and mine and start applying ourselves toward understanding His incredible forever qualities for us and this world around us.

I find that I need the Holy Spirit’s clear as glass view, the view the Lord God Himself has from heaven. To that end, I’ve learnt to apply myself, concentrate and carefully watch what Jesus says and does, in all circumstances and situations. His response is, and always was, God’s will first. You simply do not see Christ acting for His own benefit. He was always kingdom minded. His own needs were incidental. Jesus listened for the Holy Spirit’s input, His guidance and wisdom and then acted on it. He is our example.

I personally don’t want anymore airy-fairy stuff. The stuff we’ve focussed on for ages, like the grab at this promise and wave that ‘why not me’ banner. Our God is not within us to fulfil our childish fantasies – He offers so much more. Knowing Him well eclipses anything this world can offer. We need to begin by loving what He loves. People. There is nothing like loving difficult people to bring out the ‘God-factor’ instantly — or the lack of it! 

Every single person on this planet has a divine spark, and each one has something of the nature of God to reveal to us – if we look for it. Some people bury that spark under a load of religious or scientific or fantasy-type rubble – but the spark is there.  We’ve personally seen how gentle He is with the ‘bruised reeds’ of this world. There is no greater honour when He asks us to GO in His Name. Um …just FYI… His Name is on the line when He sends each of US! That shows me how much the Lord believes in His kids.  

Hubby and I have watched Him touch people out here on the road over and over again on this trip. People who don’t even think about Him, respond instantly… when they hear His deep loving voice calling to them. I pray for myself all the time out here: “Lord please let the people You want us to talk to, hear Your voice more than my voice.”

Our God’s incredible goodness has restored and retrieved each human being from darkness, danger and devastation. He is quite simply trustworthy and good. However, at this time in man’s history, He is far more than we are letting Him be. We must not reduce Almighty God down to Jehovah Jireh … when there are so many other facets to Who He is. We need to personally look beyond our pain, to Jesus our Elder Brother and our example – He started our faith and He will finish it! Knowing Almighty God is our greatest quest. 👋🏻

P 2390 Spiritual hitchhiking.

/ DVH

“I hear the Lord saying, “I will stay close to you, instructing and guiding you along the pathway for your life. I will advise you along the way and lead you forth with My eyes as your guide. So don’t make it difficult; don’t be stubborn when I take you where you’ve not been before. Don’t make me tug you and pull you along. Just come with Me!”” Psalms 32:8 TPT

Now this has totally got to be the safest ride on the planet! Fancy hitching a ride with the One Who always knows where He is going! How do you do that? Well, speaking for myself, I run toward the Lord calling out His Name. He’s so close to us. Like I said …He loves us dearly! It is way too easy to think that peace etc. will come when we are dead. Faith lives in His peace NOW.

If you are broken-hearted …. that means He’s even closer. (Psalm 34:18) The broken-hearted simply have to turn their eyes to Him. If that’s you, then right now, please just take a few minutes to sit where you are, and remind yourself  … HE’S CLOSE to ME. Pause. Breathe – in and out, in and out. Sometimes, when life has knocked us flat, it takes a little while to let go and remember that He doesn’t ever change. Be kind to yourself. The Psalms tell us that ‘He makes the clouds His chariot and rides on the Wings of the Wind.’ (Psalm 104:3) The stuff that happens to us doesn’t surprise Him.

In difficult times we need to quiet our hearts and rely upon what He has said in the book – because He tells the truth. (Numbers 23:19) We don’t have to live our lives on hyper-alert. After all, no matter what is going on, all around us, we don’t have to rely upon our own eyes, our own eyes can deceive us because fear clouds our judgment.  But now we are relying upon His eyes. The Good News is this: He hardly EVER sees stuff the way we do! Which is why many of the things that happen to us don’t make sense. It’s because His plans are higher than ours. We don’t look at this life the same way He does. It is also the reason why we can sometimes pray ‘please make this go away’ …. and nothing happens. (Proverbs 16:4)

In those moments I tell myself ‘He’s got a bigger plan. Always remember, our God does not cause these things, but He isn’t fazed by them either, He will guide us through them, comforting us all the way. The secret is to go with the flow of the Holy Spirit. You will recognise His work very easily – He’s so kind. He does the most amazing things and no-one gets hurt. Things might get challenged… but His gentleness opens doors, it simply does not bash them in.  

This is why we need to learn the art of stilling our souls … so we can listen and follow Him through things.. What does that mean? It means my mind, goes at about 900 revs a minute darting here and there, and I must sit and let Him be God… because, no matter how clever I am … I am not! In these moments I choose deliberately not to be distracted by whatever is going on around me. This is how we renew our God-given (… Jesus paid for that )… strength. That happens when we wait for Him and take a ride with Him into peace.

In our pain, it is very easy and it almost seems normal to pray that God will take whatever it is that is hurting us or confusing us away …  but He has a plan for our hope and our future and sometimes that includes us going through the fire, (Isaiah 42:3). This is where we learn to hold on tight to Him, relying upon Him, believing that we cannot be burned or drowned. Our times are always in His hands. (Psalm 31:15) And nothing can ever snatch us away from Jesus. (John 10:21).  He simply has a bigger plan than we can see right now.

You know, the Lord Jesus even went after the people who had died before He came to earth, these people died believing God was going to send them a Messiah. Be assured, He will not and cannot ever forget you! 1 Peter 4:6. He simply can’t! Those wicked nails carved you and I into the palms of His hands. Every time He looks at His hands He remembers us. That’s why it’s good to go to the cross daily, and remember Him.

The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit ride on the Wings of the Wind. I just love that picture. Forget Theme park rides! Sometimes we must put everything down, just breathe, and take a ride with the Trinity into peace and safety. Human beings are frail —  we are not God! This means we do not have to succeed at everything. Let Him be God and you be you, and enjoy being cared for. He loves doing it.

Jesus has asked each one of us to choose Him and His way, in every situation and circumstance, and that seems fair to me … because He chose us first.. When Jesus was tired, when He was hungry, when He was persecuted, and abandoned, by God and men – He chose us. The fruit of the Spirit comes from abiding, not striving. Hitch a ride with the Lord, and let Him do what He does best… be GOD. 🙌

P 2366 Opportunity knocks …

/ DVH

… at the strangest times! It banged on our door all last week. We’ve had people coming and going and doing stuff at our house practically every day. More on that in a bit.

The last 3+ months have been filled up with opportunities, hospital visits, countless occupational therapy appointments, plus physio ones. Also doctor’s appointments, various specialists, endless xrays, workmen installing stuff, plus all my normal yearly check ups. It’s all been rather a painful blur, and now poor hubby has pulled a muscle in his chest wall. Between the two of us we make about 3/4 of a person. But in Christ – well, watch out! The weaker we get – the stronger He gets …  Man I live/love that verse!

Here’s another appropriate verse for the melee happening at our house.“…because we don’t focus our attention on what is seen but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but the unseen realm is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:18 TPT. Our focus is on His will, not our everyday lives. As I have said before  – OUR FOCUS MATTERS. Many days recently I’ve found I’ve needed the Lord’s supernatural energy just to drag my focus away from the day to day stuff that sometimes crowds in on me, so I can focus on the person in front of me. 

Have you noticed that one difficulty hardly ever happens by itself? Sometimes forty things kind of rush at you, like a herd of stampeding buffalo. That’s when I just want to sit down on the floor and cover my head until it’s over! I guess it’s called life, but it gets pretty intense for all of us sometimes. But with that intensity comes opportunities.

Now to explain those opportunities that fell on us this week. We’ve been changing our gas to electricity to save money. We put solar panels on our roof ages ago. Last week the gas guys came to take away our old gas hot water tank. We were expecting them at about 8.00am. Well, at 7.00am a young man turned up at our door to turn off the gas. Hubby greeted him and then kindly pointed out to this young man, who looked about 18, that he had planted some tiny plants between the gate and the HW service and could he be careful where he was walking please? I watched this young fellow as he carefully tip-toed through our garden, many, many times back and forth from his truck to the work site, and the Lord impressed on my heart how diligent he was, willing to take the slightest instruction. Do me like that Lord!

We have a small supply of compasses that we give away with a pass-it-on card, pictured above, and the Holy Spirit asked me to tell this young man how impressed with his work ethic I was, then He asked me to give him a compass to indicate God had plans and a direction for his future. To say he was blown away would be an under-exaggeration. He loved it all, and we had a wonderful conversation. I told him that God was so pleased with his attitude to his work. And I praised him for his diligence.

He kinda teared up then, especially when I said that I thought he was a such great example of what a responsible young man looks like. Apparently he had previously been running around with a very bad crowd, and until he found this job things had not been good for him. We told him that God has a great plan for his life and he went back to work smiling all the way. Some time later, a second, slightly older guy turned up to complete the job, and low and behold, there was the younger man out in our garden pointing out the little plants the new guy should avoid! 😊

We decided to give this second man a pen, with a dove on it and … his face also lit up. Apparently he had just come back from Herron Island. And he was walking on the beach, when he looked up, there was a dove in the sky hovering over his head. He felt our pen was a fantastic reminder of an event he could not explain. He kept telling us that you really wouldn’t expect to see a solitary dove on Herron Island! Hubby talked to him for a while about the Lord and then both workmen went on about their work. But they still carefully tiptoed around those plants every time they went back and forth! 

Then a third person, an electrician, came along, and our precious 18 year old, (I wanted to adopt him by this time!), went out and patiently explained to the electrician about the plants he should avoid stepping on. 😂  When they had all finished working, and packed up, the 18 year old deliberately came back to our door and told us that our talk was extremely significant to him, and he was greatly encouraged the conversation. He’d been having a hard time lately. He was beaming all over his face. BTW we gave the electrician something too, and hubby prayed with him and his wife, for their business to prosper. 

How cool was all that?! God brought those people here to our house. The only times I’ve been out since the accident have been to see professionals to help with my arm. (We gave stuff to them too.) And this is what has become apparent to us, when you make yourself available to the Lord, things will happen. We keep cans of lemonade in our fridge to give away to anyone who comes to our door. Maybe 2 in 10 people say ‘no thanks’ – but it definitely opens the door for a conversation with the ones who say “yes, please.”

So my final comment today, about reaching out to talk to others is this, be prepared to have your happy little routines interrupted. I figure my time is now His time, and I’ve watched Him give me back the time so often it isn’t even an issue anymore! Make preparation to bless other people in a way that seems appropriate to you. A cold drink, a pass-it-on card, a bible. We also give away small boxes of chocolates to say thank you to the staff, when we go into a hospitals or clinics. It opens people’s hearts and then you can encourage them with His love… and, if you are fortunate, you can talk to them about Jesus. Opportunity is knocking !!! 🤗

P 2349 Faith is to be generational..

/ DVH

“If your faith remains strong, even while surrounded by life’s difficulties, you will continue to experience the untold blessings of God! True happiness comes as you pass the test with faith, and receive the victorious crown of life promised to every lover of God!”

James 1:12 TPT.

Today, sadly, our society has become people of the immediate. We are addicted to instant answers, instant gratification, instant provision and instant success. When things don’t happen immediately it seems as if we are in danger of losing our faith. The bible doesn’t talk about stuff like that …it talks about eternity, eternal consequences.

Our list of priorities are askew because God isn’t first or last or even in the middle of our list. HE OFTEN ISN’T ON THAT LIST AT ALL. The truth is we all get the same amount of time in a day – it’s the one thing we have in common. And no matter how young or old we are, we will all run out of time eventually! We’ve forgotten that TIME is a gift, to be cherished and used wisely.

But those pesky day to day things press in on us, so we can easily get caught up in the immediate. So this kid has to go to football practice, and that one is off to gymnastics, and the other one is off doing heaven knows what with their mates. We, however, are breaking our necks to the point of exhaustion, because we also have to make sure we work, so we can pay the mortgage or the rent, plus the fees for the football and gymnastics, as well as provide the little darlings with the right clothes to go schlepping about with their mates! 

I think that we have passively taught our kids how to keep themselves busy and distracted, so successfully, it has become hard to get their attention for something really important. Like God’s will, and what He wants.  Instead they have been hardwired into indifference about other people’s pain, by their exposure to various types of media. 

Some times I want to ask people – what the heck did you want to have children for? … The experience?? If you did that then boy did you get gypped!! As I see it, our children are the seeds we sow into a future we may not see. Let’s hope we produce a crop of decent human beings that care about more than the ozone layer! Part of raising kids is to teach them how to manage their own thoughts, attitudes and emotions, while they are wading through this life’s share of difficulties. Instead our generation has chosen to protect them from reality. We’ve taught them that owning your own home and having a great holiday is all there is.

Sadly, most young people today probably won’t see their parents go to homeless shelters, to distribute food and clothing. We’ve protected them from the sad and difficult realities of this life. They don’t see us fast and pray either, or press into God to see what He wants us to do. They may see us plant trees, so we can all continue to breathe, or take stuff to the recycling depot – but have we taught them how to cope with this life’s everyday hardships? Have they seen us turn to God first? Do they watch us pray over things?

You can teach your family about faith and how it works, or you can SHOW THEM how your faith works, in front of their own eyes, when you help and care for others who are struggling. Today, real active, fruitful faith seems to come into the same category as sex – we’ve abrogated our own responsibility and left the work to someone else or handed them a book! Why should children’s church have the sole responsibility to teach your kids to give? We’ve learnt to ‘outsource’ everything – including learning about God. Does your family see you with a bible or facsimile in your hand? When is the last time you prayed with, or for your kid when they hit some snag or other at school?

Future generations must learn that troubles and hardship are normal in this imperfect world of ours. This life is always going to be difficult – it is full of people who all want to do their own thing – but because we all inhabit the same planet,  we are all doing our own thing in a limited space. Kids need to learn about faith more than they need to know how to get tickets to some pop concert or have a well-known brand of sneakers! We must remember that our character reflects our faith levels.

Life is not only difficult, people can be downright impossible, but they can also be instrumental in challenging and growing our faith – and all our kids need faith that is real.. “Your faith will be like gold that has been tested in a fire. And these trials will prove that your faith is worth much more than gold that can be destroyed.” 1 Peter 1:7. What we believe must be shared with the generations that are coming after us – it looks to me like they are going to need it! 👋🏻

P 2329 Our God loves beauty.

/ DVH

Exodus 37:17-22 “They made the lamp stand of pure gold. They hammered out its base and shaft, and made its flowerlike cups, buds and blossoms of one piece with them. Six branches extended from the sides of the lamp stand—three on one side and three on the other. 

Three cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms were on one branch, three on the next branch and the same for all six branches extending from the lamp stand. And on the lamp stand were four cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms. 

One bud was under the first pair of branches extending from the lamp stand, a second bud under the second pair, and a third bud under the third pair—six branches in all. The buds and the branches were all of one piece with the lamp stand, hammered out of pure gold.” Exodus Chapters 36-39. 

I would like to start out today by saying that this entire tabernacle was built from a design that was in the heart of our Heavenly Father. It is a copy of the one that is already in existence in heaven. You know, it is way too easy to get caught up in the practicalities of our faith, and totally walk blindly past the fact that our God is beautiful, in every aspect of His nature. Worship flows from such moments.

I think we ignore His creative beauty at our own peril. Imagine, for a few seconds, a world without light. Everything He made was dependant upon it being seen. Stars, rainbows, a single sparkly drop of water, green grass, starfish or lightning slicing the sky. All this glorious, fascinating world we live in, was inside Almighty God’s heart and His being. BTW, light was a great gift all by itself, because it revealed everything that came after it! 

Or just for a moment, imagine a world without sound. Where would we be without birdsong, or the sound of the ocean? Personally, I love the sound of rain or the whoosh of the wind in the trees. Or a baby’s delighted gurgle, or an older person’s spontaneous laughter. These things are ordinary everyday things. Things we are often too busy to appreciate, and yet all that beauty came from inside Him. Good place to be inspired with thoughts of your own.

In these verses from Exodus the creative genius of our Father is seen through ordinary men. Please note that no detail is too unimportant or too small. At that moment those men who were making these lamp stands were following in the footsteps of the Holy Spirit. In the beginning our God spoke – “Let there be…” and the Holy Spirit took that beautiful thought and gave it substance. 

We are currently standing on something God spoke into being, and then the Holy Spirit created it all … out of nothing more than the power contained in those words. In Exodus, those divinely inspired craftsmen took God’s plans and gave them substance under His guidance. When I see their example my immediate response is: “Oh, do me like that Lord please!!” Amen! 

The Holy Spirit, via Moses – wrote these things down in Exodus for us, so we would know what they looked like. This kind of detail is incredible – so was the God-given skill! He hasn’t stopped speaking, so why are we not listening to Him?? When people talk about divine inspiration today, they talk about breaking away and doing a new thing, leaving the supposedly old-fashioned church to create a new more enlightened one … 

…God doesn’t break things, man does!  Honestly I have no idea why we have been reduced to dreaming and expanding our hearts according to Hollywood, and not the Maker of heaven and earth! Why are we aiming so low? HE TOOK DIRT AND MADE PEOPLE! Who knows what He has for us, if we would just take the time to listen to Him? Forget your own predictable clever ideas …go for HIS! 

The bible says in Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Let’s stop telling Him what we want and think, and start waiting on Him for a download of His precious plans! He has such beauty inside Him, and He can’t wait to share it with people who will take the time to listen. 👋🏻

P 2306 Authenticity verses His plans.

/ DVH

Our society insists on authenticity, even when that particular state of mind bumps into someone else’s life. Somehow then my authenticity can and often seems to override or negate yours. OR it wants to!  People can always build a great case for themselves and I can definitely build a better case for me! 

I believe with all my heart that the Lord wants us all to be authentic. BUT, He wants the real us, not just the person we think we are – or even what we want or hope to be … The person we try so desperately to hide – who is actually sinful, careless, self-centred one. Or maybe even a demanding twerp who is stuck somewhere between two and five years of age … and never wants to grow and change – they just want power!  

Growing up, or maturing, is a part of authentic Christian development. It’s the moment I stop blaming you for my own short-comings and responses, and begin to understand that not only am I not perfected yet – I ain’t ever gunna get there unless I start acting like God is real and He can do exactly what He says He can! 

Meanwhile, I am responsible for any ugliness inside me, and you can’t make me do anything. You might just give me appealing opportunities and choices, but Jesus actually died to give me a free choice. I have a Saviour Who is daily constantly imparting and infilling me with His new life. To get that new life – I will have to give up my own perceived right to live MY life MY way, and stop trying to manipulate your life to make ME comfortable. Wouldn’t all that be loverly? 😳 

I have a great diagnostic tool that will clarify these issues. When you read the bible or Christian books or articles etc. and they talk about people’s faults – do you know people who fit these descriptions given, and they instantly flood your mind? Or – do you fall on your face crying out to God that you know what you just read fits you and you need His help to repent? Maybe then another sort of list pops into your mind … a list of people you have sinned against. None of that will kill us!

Do you listen carefully to your pastor’s sermons, mentally wishing your mother, brother, cousin, neighbour was here today to hear this … ? Ah-huh! Oh yeah, you gotta a case of extreme religious-itus. The only cure, is genuine I-gotta-fix-this-now repentance. 

That kind of revelation always opens the door to real transformation. Unfortunately, I can choose to put my own shoulder against this revolutionary door to try to shut it again! Or even try to board it up, a little, just to keep it ajar, to let in a little light… and no more. People stuck in these thoughts can also get fixated on ‘its not fair’ …PLUS …we can all drift off into …’what’s blatantly obviously wrong with YOU.’

It is just so much easier to see how someone else can and should change, instead of me personally choosing change with His guidance and help! To gain real God-given authenticity I will have to lay down my plans for me and my life… and pick up the plans clearly laid out in the bible. However it is way too easy to use God’s book, selectively, to prove our own POV. What takes actual courage is to let His book read us, feed us, and correct us. The Lord is so tired of the ‘where is that thing You promised in Your book’ prayers. He is looking for saints who will lay down everything – simply because they want to see His kingdom come, and His will be done – so HE might be glorified. 

Here’s a really big thought – if I choose to change, then the way I see you will begin to change too. Instead, I will get His POV – and Jesus doesn’t see you negatively. Lastly, if being authentically ME means I am stomping on you then I missed the part where I need change and prayer more than you do. 

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” 👋🏻

P 2235 Activate your faith with your obedience.

/ DVH

We will never walk on the water of our faith, until we decide to get out of the boat of perceived safety, and walk on the water that might drown us. Activated faith produces substance. Let’s quickly look at Peter. He could only walk on that water, that day, because he was walking on his faith in Christ’s word. Jesus said: “Come” and Peter came!  When he took his eyes off the Lord and faltered, Jesus said: “Where did your faith go?”  When Peter took his eyes off Jesus, and looked down at the sea around him – he lost the substance he was standing on. This is a good place to mention that the Lord did not let him drown. He won’t let US drown either. 

Faith in Jesus exists in a much higher reality than the things we can see around us. Now we have been born again, to ‘walk by faith, not by sight.’ Here’s something to read and think about in Matthew 25:14-30 (edited) “For it will be like a man …who called his servants and entrusted to them his property….He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money.”Hiding from trouble won’t produce anything but fear, because that action has its roots in fear.

“Now after a long time the master of those servants … settled accounts with them. And he who had …five talents came forward,… ’Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ And he also who had the two talents …saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’…  … Enter into the joy of your master.’ 

He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant!  …you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has, will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”

Our faith is always IN something. Ourselves, others, circumstances, failure, or Christ. For us as Christians, our faith needs to be in Jesus;  what He did for us is all the proof we need. We must to stop looking at ourselves, and the sea of trouble around us or in us, to see whether we feel like we have enough faith. Then ask the Lord to show us how to invest the faith we’ve already been given – because we have all been given a measure of faith.

The amount of faith does not matter, BUT … who or what we put our faith in does! Think on this … this parable is a faith parable. Each one of those servants had various levels of faith – they wanted to obey and please their master. Their obedience activated their faith and the one who had five talents got more. USING our faith will help it grow! Not using it leads to FEAR. How we look at Jesus matters. Personally, I always feel afraid when the Lord asks me to do something – however – when I obey, fear takes a backseat. Suddenly I am investing in my faith’s future.

This parable is not just about managing money, or what we do with our various talents and gifts, it is also about how these men regarded their master. The guy who doubted His master’s goodwill let FEAR stop him from doing anything with what he was given. Our faith is not in what WE think we can do – it is in WHO WE THINK JESUS CHRIST IS. And whether we obey Him … or not. 

Sometimes, hubby and I appear to be doing very little with our seed sowing trips, because we don’t always see huge outstanding results. But our faith is IN Jesus. We know the Lord will follow up the people who responded to Him – the results are still pending – eternity will reveal them. 👋🏻