Gideon

P 2542 Take the lid off …

/ DVH

When I was way younger – ( ie:12 years old) – I was forced by the existing school system to make a choice between the Arts, History, Science, etc. – and the business world. I loved all those former things passionately – outside of a business POV, English and Maths were also fascinating to me. But sadly, someone else chose my career path for me. 

Practically speaking that meant I had two more years at school trapped in a world that operated in opposition to everything I loved learning and doing. I remember looking with longing at those who went into art, while I trudged off to book-keeping. To this day, I still follow up all sorts of stuff on Google because I am extremely curious about the world around me. FYI, I have NEVER ONCE looked up business studies! 😂

Among the many things I had to learn to do in those days, was typing. I loathed it. That particular skill intimidated the daylights out of me. I have very poor hand to eye co-ordination, and that meant that physically regulated things like sport and typing were torture for me. My hands visibly shook every single time I faced a typewriter – of course that was hilarious to all the other kids in the class! After I left school, I was sent to work in a bank, and daily there were even more torments, because every single day I confronted adding machines, sorting machines AND typewriters. Things with KEYS on them! Aauuugghhhhhh!! 🙄

HOWEVER, today, over 60 years later … I am sitting here typing away without looking, or even thinking about it — because of a skill I gained – that I didn’t want! … back then.  At that time, and for years later, I let that fear and ineptitude intimidate me. My point today is this:  it is incredibly easy to think that WE are the only people who know what is best for us, but actually – only GOD knows what we will NEED. And there are days when you can learn stuff from other people too!  However, in my flesh, back then, the whole idea of typing of any kind, was an abomination.

At school, we used to have speed tests as a competitive way to improve our typing. I don’t like competitions, I turn into Wylie coyote – I get completely flattened by a downward speeding anvil! My point is this: the very thing that flattened me and weighed me down, was actually the first of many opportunities I had, to learn to embrace difficulties and learn from them. Plus it gave me room to try to tackle the things that I thought I wasn’t good at. But I inadvertently, and ill-advisedly used up all my energy by being afraid and actively hating the task!

Years, later I had to walk back from that place I chose for myself. Since then God has also given me plenty of opportunities to deal with the pile of animosity I had against the person who forced me to do something I despised! And at the same time, I know I have learnt something, retrospectively … I am much bigger and braver inside than I think I am. Jesus and I are a majority – as I let Him lead me.

My point in relaying this story today is that it is oh! sooooo easy to limit ourselves! But this new life we have been given can teach us about our old selves, if we let it. Gideon found he was far bigger inside than he ever imagined possible when God became His coach! You know … you and I, …we have a live-in Coach! The Holy Spirit will walk us through the hard scary bits, step by step – if we just keep our eyes on Him, and follow His instructions.

Perhaps we need to stop telling ourselves that we can’t do this and that – and start taking the lid off our perceptions.  Living with a list of things we can’t do hanging over our heads, indicates that we are also actively removing possibilities from our lives that could bring us joy! How do we know what we can do with Christ’s very own Spirit residing within us? (Philippians 4:13.) Maybe, here and now, it is time to drag out all those dusty dreams we had about serving Jesus way back when. Personally, I think the Body of Christ has self-limited itself long enough.

It is time to remember that Peter, James and John were just ordinary fishermen with no particularly spectacular skills. Perhaps they were even forced to do that kind of work because it was the family business. Yet, there were some days when those experienced men couldn’t even catch fish! But under the Lord’s leadership and the Holy Spirit’s power they did extraordinary things – they even caught fish they didn’t know were there!!  So can WE. If we just ask for His help and take the lid off. 👋

P 2541 God’s sovereignty.

/ DVH

1 Samuel 23:14,16-17… David relied upon God…. .“Day after day Saul searched for him, but God did not give David into his hands.” Saul’s Son Jonathan searched for him and went out to the desert to encourage David. And Saul’s son Jonathan went to David at Horesh and helped him find strength in God. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “My father Saul will not lay a hand on you. You will be king over Israel, and I will be second to you. Even my father Saul knows this.”

1 Samuel 23:21-23. “Saul replied, “The Lord bless you for your concern for me. Go and get more information. Find out where David usually goes and who has seen him there. They tell me he is very crafty. Find out about all the hiding places he uses and come back to me with definite information. Then I will go with you; …” And God helped David to escape from King Saul.”

Here’s my first thought: what if SAUL was praying that God would help him catch David??  The Old Testament is filled  with conflicting stories about ordinary people who relied upon God and sometimes it was a happy ending and sometimes it wasn’t. Think about Able, he did nothing! Or Tamar. These people were victims of someone else’s sin and God allowed those stories to play out. If we look at those first verses from Samuel 23 we can see that Saul searched for David …and, he couldn’t find him! But Jonathan searched for David and found him immediately! 

Now, there’s a lesson right there. Being found or “heard” by other people can depend on whether or not we intend to do them harm. Maybe God is hiding your enemy from you! Maybe He doesn’t take sides!! Saul wanted to kill David, but Jonathan wanted to encourage him and help him live to be King. God sees our hearts, and He has no qualms about protecting us from each other, when it is necessary. To me these verses are about God’s ability to protect us from trouble. He promised to be with us, and He is. Look, you may not like what I say next – but I truly believe in God’s sovereignty! 

I believe the Lord can speak to us through other people. If somebody keeps on pricking our conscience for one thing or another and they don’t stop – we’d better listen – whether we like that person or not!  It is way too easy to dismiss other people as having an agenda of their own, outside of God’s will for you, simply by telling yourself, ‘that’s just what they think!’ However, if we hear something over and over again, even if we don’t like it… and even if we don’t know how to fix whatever it is – we had better pay attention. If that other person can see something in me that I can’t see, then I need to listen and, at the very least, pray about it. That’s called humility.

The story of Balaam’s ass comes to mind. That dear little talking donkey was God’s gift to Balaam! (Numbers 22-24.) And the beast clearly illustrates that our God knows what comes next.  He is the God Who can take Gideon into his enemy’s camp to listen to their conversations, and allow him to escape undiscovered and unharmed. He’s the God who knew that Jezebel was going to threaten to kill Elijah, and that Elijah would run away in fear … even though 10 minutes before Elijah called down fire from heaven! Almighty God used the time afterward to teach Elijah about His sovereignty.

He’s the God Who let satan test poor old Job within an inch of his life and He used that to reveal Himself to Job in a deeper way. God is good. But …HIS DEFINITION OF GOODNESS AND OURS ARE TWO DIFFERENT THINGS. Listen to this: “Yet it PLEASED the LORD to bruise Him;He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed…” Isaiah 53:10. Jesus had done nothing to deserve the treatment He got, but God was pleased about it because what happened to Him was for our benefit.

Father God’s definition of good is wa-ay different than ours. Read the book!  Instead of trying to wrangle His actions into our definition of good, we need to wrangle with the idea that God’s Ways are not our ways! When HE says good … He means ultimate good … as He defines it. This can be a place where Christians fall into a hole, often. Just because it doesn’t look good, that does not mean it is not good! It simply means our little peanut brains are limited. That is the time to ask for wisdom, or patience, or even faith that won’t quit.

Paul asked God three times to take …whatever his infirmity was away … and it didn’t happen. Why not? I dunno! This man was brilliant. Spiritually he was so empowered by God that he wrote 13 or 14 books in the New Testament. Yet he spent five years of his ministry in JAIL. But, if he hadn’t done that we may not have had all those 13 or 14 books to read today! Peter only wrote two Epistles in his lifetime. 

The sovereignty of God is an essential part of our belief system. It says: “He’s God, I’m not, I don’t get it but I will trust Him anyway.” There are many times we can allow our disappointment in God’s revealed plans to weaken our faith – instead of letting those scenarios strengthen our faith in His ultimate goodness. It’s a choice. Our God is sovereign, He will do what He will do. He is open to negotiation. BUT! Almighty God does not answer to us, we answer to Him. 👋

P 2533 Hold fast to what is good and right.

/ DVH

1 Samuel 22:6-8 “Now Saul heard that David and his men had been discovered. And Saul was seated, spear in hand, under the tamarisk tree on the hill at Gibeah, with all his officials standing at his side. He said to them, “Listen, men of Benjamin! Will the son of Jesse give all of you fields and vineyards? Will he make all of you commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds? Is that why you have all conspired against me? No one tells me when my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse. None of you is concerned about me or tells me that my son has incited my servant to lie in wait for me, as he does today.”

It is a good thing to listen to the way that these guys in the Old Testament, talk. Did you notice that King Saul has gone right around God Himself being in charge, and is acting like this is a competition between him and David? The Lord is left right out of this picture. Saul is exhibiting one of satan’s nastiest prods: ‘Troops, you’ve let me down! Remember, I have all the power to make or break your lives and David doesn’t!.’  Guilt is a terrible evil motivator  — a poor freedom fighter – it isn’t from GOD.

Do you know the saying… there is nothing new under the sun? Right there in 1st Samuel, satan is using his power to persuade Saul that power, results and might are right. In other words it’s OK to manipulate men for a good cause. But the actual good cause is really Saul’s cause!  That’s a great clue to help us figure out just who is talking to us when we are desperate for answers... who will ultimately benefit? What this king is saying is a twisted highly manipulative truth – Saul’s power was limited by God’s WILL.  Almighty God was WITH David, He WAS NOT with Saul!

Manipulation, judgment or the ‘end justifies the means’ – those thoughts should not exist in the Lord’s church. Have you ever heard someone say this – ‘that church has 4,000 people and this one only has 30?’ The implication is the second church is doing something wrong! Like numbers or popularity are a sign of success in the Lord! God’s ways are not our ways. He used 300 men to defeat without number when He chose Gideon as a leader. And the Lord’s fruit does not always show up with numbers! Jesus Christ was everlastingly fruitful with 11 men!

At the same time, any kind of spiritual gift manifesting itself does not mean we have immediately toddle off and start using it. This is why an anointing or a gift need to be submitted to the pastor. Proverbs 4:5-7 teaches us – “Get wisdom, get understanding: Forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: Love her, and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: And with all thy getting get understanding. Exalt her, and she shall promote thee:” There is a good way, and a right way of doing things. Let other people you trust supervise you. 

The bible is a WHOLE BOOK – we dare not cherry-pick our motivation or our answers. We should not even think about prophesying all over people’s lives without wisdom. Recognising a gift is not activating it. No matter how well intentioned we are, quite often we do not even know the state of our own hearts and that will affect what we say and do towards others.The body of Christ needs spiritually gifted people, but we need WISDOM just as much. The Holy Spirit is the source of our wisdom.

He likes to lead us through difficult circumstances to the other side, because as we follow Him we gain wisdom along the way! So many people have stumbled over the temptation to rush rush, hurry hurry ahead of God. He lives in eternity – He doesn’t have to hurry! He doesn’t care about popularity either!! Gifted people can go into ministry because it has been recognised that they have a wonderful gift from God, and that gift blesses others and has great results! But only God Himself knows what’s inside us that can shoot us in the foot down the road. Ask yourself regularly in any form of ministry – where is the fruit? What does the fruit of this tree look like?

Also, having a gift does not mean you are ready to use it, or the world around you is ready to receive it! Our God is way more interested in our character than we’ve understood so far. He wants to repair and inhabit our lives. Just because other people have responded to His gift in your life don’t be fooled… always, always remember that gift you have is still His! It is a GIFT— not a REWARD FOR GOOD BEHAVIOUR! He gave it to you to build up His church, not just build your own ministry. 

God’s power can be so awe-inspiring, when others see it operating through a person they start to elevate the person. Plus spiritually gifted people sometimes do the right things for the wrong reasons! They are deceived by satan into believing acting like this is for the greater good… “People are getting saved Lord!” Hallelujah! – but we always want Jesus to shine like the SUN — not just some here again, gone again shooting star! King Saul had no love for God or his men – he was too busy trying to get David out of the picture. Our  Lord is a master-craftsman – He forms His swords … His servants — in the fire of adversity or the heat of His personal gaze. As His servants we need to learn to be resilient and tough.

A really good blacksmith can take three strands of metal and twist, weave, beat and forge those three strands into ONE SWORD. This kind of sword can take knocks, and rebound without shattering. Our precious Heavenly Father doesn’t want any of us to break in the battles of this life, He wants us to defeat our foe. Father God wants us to have and live under, the three-fold, tightly woven cord of Himself, His Son and the Holy Spirit. Otherwise like King Saul, we could easily mistake having POWER, for BEING RIGHT and the Lord’s badge of approval.

The Trinity long to become so woven into our thinking, doing and being, that people like King Saul will taste bad to us. However, in order to resist temptation, we must first be able to identify it. Only by God’s Grace and wisdom, we’ll be able to avoid deception, because what the Trinity wants is everything  we want!  The Lord’s army won’t have any ambition, good or bad. Their only aim will be to please Him, and hold fast to what is good and right. Fame and power can spoil people. It goes to their head. Look what it did to Saul, it made him into a megalomaniac and liar – among other things!  Gaining wisdom is incredibly important – it means we have learnt to walk with the Spirit of God. 🙌

P 2528 Nothing is permanent – even you!

/ DVH

I saw the above photo on a missionary friend’s site recently and it resounded in my heart immediately.  It seems to me that there really is a whole lotta shaking goin’ on — in the Body of Christ — as well as in this world around us.  

The bible says this in Hebrews 12:27: “So don’t turn a deaf ear to these gracious words. If those who ignored earthly warnings didn’t get away with it, what will happen to us if we turn our backs on heavenly warnings? His voice that time shook the earth to its foundations; this time—He’s told us this quite plainly—He’ll also rock the heavens: “One last shaking, from top to bottom, stem to stern.” The phrase “one last shaking” means a thorough housecleaning, getting rid of all the historical and religious junk so that the unshakable essentials stand clear and uncluttered.”

I need to make it clear that I am not here to discuss ‘the end times.’ The Lord has told me that is none of my business and when He tells me “None of your business!”… I listen. I don’t want to waste whatever time I have chasing stuff that has nothing whatsoever to do with me. But I do want to say this, we ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ about wars, earthquakes, volcanos, and tsunamis but what we really ought to pay attention to … is what happens … when Almighty God speaks!

I mean, did you get what that scripture in Hebrews? It says His voice at one time shook the earth to its foundations … but the next time … !!! … He is also going to rock the heavenlies! The God of heaven and earth is going to shake this world out of its complacency and chaos, and … we don’t know when!  While we are here, we still have a promise to keep: “Your new life for my old one Lord.” …’The life I now live I live by faith in the Son of God Who died for me.”(Galatians 2:20)

Lately, the thing I have noticed is this, the current earthly disastrous events are often somewhere else. So most of us  are viewing that kind of upheaval and chaos from a distance. But there will come a day when nobody can stand off and wonder what that is like, because it will be our house that is shaking! Now that will really touch us where we are at! It is one thing to have the world shake 10,000 kms away and entirely another to have it shake at your house.

All I feel about the difficult times ahead is that the Lord is deeply grieved about every single one of the people who have already perished, and the ones who will perish, without any knowledge of Him, in the future. Most of them have never ever been told that Jesus loves them and died for their sins. And, this is happening on OUR watch. Now there’s a sobering thought. How can we continue on in our comfortable lives without caring for those among us who have no idea about what could be just around the corner? 

I know we’ve kind of relegated this stuff into “some-day land” … but for the people who have died recently – in the past week, month, or year;  without anyone caring about their eternal destiny — it mattered! We can be so busy making sure we are “safe” and our families are “safe” – we forget our main directive is to GO and tell others! We are all called to be witnesses of what God has done in and through our lives. 

Instead we collect verses that comfort us, like some people collect postage stamps, and we vaguely wonder why we are not growing. Maybe it is because we’ve missed the fact that our primary mission is not about being healed or trained … it’s about going!! Our primary aim is to love the Lord with all of us, plus love and care for the well-being of others, whether they are friends or enemies. It is way too easy to see the current road statistics and think: “Whew! Not my family.”

Jesus Christ spent His entire ministry ministering to the sorrowing, sick, suffering and ignorant – how can we dare to do any less than He did? Let’s remember, that despite our personal inadequacies …WE are the cavalry! Just like that remnant army that Gideon led, I believe the day is coming when the Holy Spirit will lead a remnant army who are empowered by Him, to usher in the greatest revival this world has ever seen.

Right now, we need to start telling the people around us what the Lord has done in our own lives … and remember, the results are always up to Him. The poor and the downtrodden are currently living in this world without God’s demonstrated love, mercy or grace … because His love inside us has not moved our butts to take a risk, and go and visit them!  Jesus took the greatest risk of all – HE TRUSTED US.

There is no point waiting until our kids are raised and our house is paid off to OBEY. None of us have a guaranteed hold over tomorrow, because nothing is permanent. Our enemy is running rampant, killing people off one way or another. Saints, we are looking inward instead of outward. Jesus Christ is WITH US … LET’S GO!👋

Mark 16:15: “He (Jesus) said to them, “go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”

Matthew 28:19&20: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.”

P 2512 Who’s the Boss?

/ DVH

Part of the reason I think that most Christians have lost their free access to the power of God, is because we thought, or hoped, or maybe even prayed, that He would rubber stamp our grand ideas. I think we meant well … we were simply trying to advertise or showcase the goodness of God to those who didn’t believe. However, the power of God resides in every word that comes out of His mouth. Not our mouth – or even our head! If the Lord kisses an individual’s idea, then that person needs to start praising Him for His goodness toward them. He is under no obligation to do that. Even our faith comes from Him! 

God’s utterly kind consideration of mankind started in the garden. That’s where Eve came from – His kindness. After all, Almighty God was there with Adam in the cool of the evening, so he was not always alone!  Yet the Lord knew man needed someone who was the same, but different. God Himself saw and said:“It is not good for man to be alone …” Nothing is hidden from His sight, not even our needs. He is so good to us that He pays attention to every single detail. Which is why I am happy to say that if I don’t got it, then I don’t need it!

Read the bible carefully for yourself, and find somewhere where a man told God what to do, and how to do it, and it happened. “No one can tell God what to do or accuse Him of doing evil. He has always been praised for what He does; you also must praise Him.”Job 36:23-25. I found in my search for such a man, that Abraham bargained with God for Lot, and the city of Sodom and Gomorrah and God graciously listened. And Jonah was as cheeky as a man can get, but His attitude did not stop what God wanted to happen from happening – Nineveh was saved! And still God reasoned with that man. Moses ended up talking to Pharaoh even though he told God he couldn’t speak. The Lord let Aaron speak until Moses grew into the job! Our God can take a maladjusted man and make him into a great leader – He did that with Gideon. But with all these great men, Almighty God’s hand held them up!

The great Patriarchs in the Old Testament, knew enough to work with the Lord under His instructions. Moses knew the value of listening to Him and doing things the way God said. So much so, this great man refused to move forward without Him! These men, who had wisdom and understanding, as well as an established relationship with God, often learnt that kind of obedience by utterly messing up their lives first. Moses killed someone. Abraham treated Sarah like a bag of candy – he passed her around to save his life a number of times. Even Job learnt WHO is in charge the hard way. It is, I believe, an enormous error to think that we can organise God to do things our way.

Oh! If we could only enjoy what we have been given! He is a God unlike any other, Who watches over us, comes to live in us, came to earth to save us, and deeply cares about every single little detail in our lives. Independence is overrated! Total dependence upon the Spirit of the Living God is to be appropriated and cherished forever. Amen!

Sadly, submission is not a popular topic in this world – human beings are incredibly busy fighting for their own rights. Everybody  thinks if they yell loud enough and make a good enough logical case that things should change in their favour. I cannot imagine anything more frustrating or fruitless than going along banging into the Lord’s will, and getting up and doing it again! We show our ignorance and lack of maturity when we start to think that being saved means we are the boss now. WE do not have the omniscience and omnipotence of Almighty God – Who knows the end from the beginning … and all the bits in between.

Having said that: we can, and we should command the things of this world that are out of order to come into order – but that needs to be HIS order, not ours. I think that is why Jesus rebuked His disciples in Luke  “…  but the people there did not welcome Him, because He was heading for Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” *But Jesus turned and rebuked them. Then He and His disciples went to another village.” Luke 9:53-56.

In another version it says that like this: *“Jesus turned about and rebuked them, saying, You know not what manner of spirit you are of. The Son of man has not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” It is plain from reading the book that we cannot be trusted with that kind of power. Mostly, because we don’t know if we are in the Spirit or not, half the time! Yet those men watched, walked, slept and ate, for three and a half years with Jesus Christ, God’s Son. And they still said and did the dumbest things!! Using our own understanding got us into this mess in the first place. The most blessed place to live is the place of freely submitting to His will. Like I said: Independence is overrated!

Who is the boss? Here’s a verse to think about:“Why do you call Me LORD, and you don’t do the things I say?”

Luke 6:46. 👋🏻

P 2507 The time has come to pay attention.

/ DVH

You know, sometimes I wonder if we have been so busy building, or maybe even re-building, our own little kingdoms … not to mention trying hard to look like good Christians … that maybe we have run out of OIL and we didn’t notice. Now satan has boxed us into inactivity. Lemme tell you a thing or nine … that box we think we can see, is a fake. Nothing can hold any of one of us captive without our permission.

Yes, I know it’s been hard at your house, it’s been hard at mine. But the reason it has become so hard is because we’ve kind of let ourselves get soft and flabby spiritually speaking. There have been difficulties flying at us like snow in a snow storm and they have been coming so thick and fast, perhaps we have not been able to stay in overcoming mode. Life got hard when Covid smacked us in the head, praise God – and now we need to wake up, or go under.

BTW, I said ‘praise God’ because we have been in a time of shaking. Christianity is not designed to be an established routine:  with Church on Sunday, bible study on Monday, prayer group on Thursday etc. Christianity is about an Army. An army can accomplish very little half-asleep on its feet! Our job is to defeat the enemy and our side already won – because the King of glory is in us.

I am greatly cheered by the story of Gideon. It starts with a guy whose faith is about a quarter of an inch high, yet he became the God-delegated leader of 32,000 men. Then the Lord Himself whittled those men down to 300. 😱 Almighty God carefully walked that man into such an incredible place. He did that to show Himself strong to His children. Meanwhile, if anyone had told Gideon that’s where he was going, I think he might have freaked out!! However this man draggled along, willingly and sometimes unwillingly, following God’s instructions, step by step – despite his own fears and misgivings.  

In my heart I know that right now, we are in a time like it was back then for Gideon. Almighty God has a way through our apathy and inactivity – He hasn’t caused it, but He will definitely use it! However, we will always need the Holy Spirit’s leadership. Father God has given us the Holy Spirit to help us with difficult times, as well as our own weakness. “And in a similar way, the Holy Spirit takes hold of us in our human frailty to empower us in our weakness. For example, at times we don’t even know how to pray, or know the best things to ask for. But the Holy Spirit rises up within us to super-intercede on our behalf, pleading to God with emotional sighs too deep for words.” Romans 8:26 TPT. 

Praise God, right at this moment, the Holy Spirit is praying for all of us, and boy does HE know how to pray! Hallelujah! The bible tells us that when we are weak, then He is strong. Nevertheless, our obedience is essential. Gideon had to obey God and send men home, some of them for the most ridiculous reasons. Father God also called Gideon a mighty warrior, and that was something he would never call himself. Our God sees us differently than we see ourselves. He has no problem with faith! He knew what Gideon could do when he was empowered by the Holy Spirit.

You and I may feel that we have little to offer the Lord … we can’t preach, or teach, or prophesy, or heal the sick, or raise the dead… or so we think! But Gideon shows us that an obedient, weak person in God’s hands has far more power than they can imagine, because God is on their side. You and I are never alone. We walk with the One Who made the moon, stars and universe. We know His Name and He knows ours. 

Our problem also has never been about power, He gave us power. Our problem is about per-cep-tion. Just like Gideon. He had no idea Who he was dealing with, but as he was led along by the Holy Spirit, that man saw miracle after miracle. The God of miracles is waiting for you and I to rise and be strong in the Lord, and in the power of HIS MIGHT.  If Christians started to live their lives the Way Jesus lived His, purely for our Father’s will … we’d see what Jesus saw …transformation, souls saved, and miracles. 

It isn’t who we are – it is WHO WE KNOW. The time has come to pay attention and begin to practice taking faith steps. His power is let loose through our obedience to Him. Bye 👋

““Ask, and the gift is yours. Seek, and you’ll discover. Knock, and the door will be opened for you.” Matthew 7:7 TPT

P 2447 We need to learn His Ways –

/ DVH

He already knows ours!!Judges 7:1-7 “Early in the morning, Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) and all his men camped at the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh. The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against Me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’ Now announce to the army, ‘Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’” So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained.  But the Lord said to Gideon, “There are still too many men.

Take them down to the water, and I will thin them out for you there. If I say, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go; but if I say, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.” So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the Lord told him, “Separate those who lap the water with their tongues as a dog laps from those who kneel down to drink.” Three hundred of them drank from cupped hands, lapping like dogs. All the rest got down on their knees to drink. The Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the others go home.”

The first thing I want to say, is that it is extremely important to:  a/ make sure you don’t miss any of the details when reading scripture;  and b/ today, take particular note of the fact that Gideon eyeballed every single man as he drank and there were 10,000 men! There were 22,000 cowardly custards BTW! Our God is always in the detail! Human beings love to run on and start planning how to make what God says work.

Maybe like this? … “Oh so the lappers stay, and the cupped hands guys go? Hands up all the lappers.” But Gideon had to listen to God for each individual man’s involvement. All 10,000 of them! God’s answer to prayer and Him helping us, doesn’t look like we think it will. I cannot begin to count how many times that has been my experience. My advice is this – don’t get ahead of Him – you’ll miss the blessing. HE’S THE BLESSING. 

When you are about to fight an army that is called, by reputation, ‘without number’ … eliminating fighting men does not seem all that clever. And that’s the bit I want you to take away today – the Lord does not do things the way we do them. HIS WAYS ARE NOT OUR WAYS – HIS WAYS ARE PAST FINDING OUT. I often wonder why people drive themselves nuts trying to figure out and plot the way that the Lord is going to do something or other, in the light of a story like this one. He exhorts us to wait for Him.

His ways are so far above ours! I urge us all to read the book looking carefully at the details, He reveals Himself there. Otherwise, it can seem out of touch and pretty weird … that He would even think of saving a whole city with an evangelist who spent his entire preparatory time for preaching, in the belly of a whale! Maybe getting swallowed up, helped with repentance and obedience.  

Let’s look at the New Testament to see if things like this are any different from the stuff in the Old… sh-a-ll we? How about feeding thousands of people from 5 loaves and 2 fishes … Now you and I don’t see that every other Friday at the fish shop do we? Or how about making a brand new eyeball out of spit and dirt? Granted, it was Jesus’ own spit, but … … you get my drift. You know I figure the Lord was there when Father God made man in the first place, so He knew all about how to make people’s spare parts out of dirt! 

What about walking past a pool, which was specially set up for sick people to congregate around, and yet the Lord went there and healed just one man! Where did ‘He healed them all’go?? We need to learn to laugh at ourselves and our pitiful attempts to understand what He is doing and WHY! To know Him better, and stand in awe of His awesomeness, we must begin to notice the details in the book. We can’t just cherry pick and choose the bits that suit us and our own understanding – which, BTW, we are not supposed to lean on (!) … when we read the bible.

You know, the bible says God Himself laughs!! Psalm 2:4 “He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The Lord shall hold them in derision.” I thank God that I have an Advocate standing right by my Heavenly Father’s right hand explaining the way human beings think. No wonder the Lord laughs! We make such hard work out of everything!

Finally, have you ever reflected upon why the Lord God chooses such unusual methods of operation? Why was that snake allowed in the garden? What can I learn from that?? Why stick Jonah in a whale? Why take trumpets and lamps into a battle, or march round the city for 7 days in silence, and then shout!  Why pour gallons of water over an altar that is meant to be set on fire? God’s ways are past finding out … we need to stop trying to finagle Him into bringing about the results that we think are going to be great, AND instead start listening to Him. Let’s follow His implicit instructions, obey what He says and learn how to trust Him instead. Learning to listen… another great key.  Bye👋🏻

P 2253 One step at a time.

/ DVH

Our God is overwhelmingly limitless … so we must never limit what He is able to do with one person who is prepared to live their life for Jesus’ sake!  I love the Old Testament, there are huge glimpses of Almighty God’s Personhood for those who take the time to look.

Take the book of Job – he was a happy man. Then God and satan had a word war over what was the source of Job’s happiness. Job lost everything he owned, plus his wife, kids and friends! Then God did an amazing thing – He showed Job the difference between man’s wisdom and HIS. Almighty God shifted Job’s reliance over to Himself, and He made Job’s faith even deeper by revealing Himself. One step at a time.

Moses was a murderer. He ran away from his destiny as Pharaoh’s adopted son. Instead he was living a happy, quiet life, looking after his father-in-law’s sheep … when God confronted him. Through Moses we see how God handles perceived problems, situations and people. We get insight into His Ways. Our God moved that man from shepherding sheep, to boldly confronting Pharaoh and demanding that he let his Israelite slaves go. Moses followed the Lord’s instructions … one step at a time.

Gideon was another ordinary man, living an ordinary little life. He was hiding grain from the multitude known as the Midianites. The conversations that Gideon had with an angel the Lord sent, show us the way Almighty God takes into account our character, our weaknesses. The Midianites stomped all over the Jewish people, they stole everything that wasn’t nailed down, but God used an ordinary fellow to defeat the very people who oppressed them. One step at a time – that’s how the Lord taught Gideon. 

Peter, Andrew, James, and John were simple fishermen. But their Heavenly Father had other plans. One day an itinerant Teacher turned up and told them to follow Him, so they did. They saw more in their lifetimes than they ever imagined they could. God gave them a commission they couldn’t turn down, and they followed it – one step at a time.

Stephen in Acts, was Greek. He waited on tables, looking after widows and orphans, then God made him a deacon. He taught others about Christ, by what he did and said. Then he was arrested, and ended up preaching the gospel, going from Moses to Jesus in front of all the religious leaders of that day. A brilliant sermon. They promptly hated every word he said – and even as he lay dying, surrounded by their rocks, he pointed to their Messiah. He did all this … one step at a time.

Paul was killing Christians when God knocked him to the ground and made him blind. Truth be told, that man was already blind, spiritually! And Almighty God just let his outsides match his insides for a few days. However Paul was irrevocably changed by that encounter. He went into God’s private bible school – the accelerated course – for three years, and then he trundled all over the known world. He also spent time in jail on and off, and he wrote letters that are still changing our world. One step at a time.

I could go on and on – Mary was simply a devoted peasant girl. She had ordinary plans for her life, and Almighty God interrupted them with His own plans to bring His Son into this world. Esther was the town pretty girl, and God had plans to make her a queen so she could save her nation. Ruth was a widow, and so was her mother-in-law – yet God made her one of Jesus direct fore-bearers. Ordinary people living ordinary lives until an extraordinary limitless God transformed them all into sign-posts, keys, and examples of what His Grace can do with an ordinary life – one step at a time.

My point today is this: … what does He want to do with your life?? We will never know our real purpose for being here in this world, outside of His plans. Our lives may be ordinary and hidden – but when we read the Old and the New Testament, these people who went before us, are a blazing flashing neon sign in the sky that our God can do anything …if we will just follow Him … one step at a time. When we follow Jesus we don’t arrive, we begin a journey … one step at a time.

Will you let Him use you? It is highly unlikely that most of us will have a book written about our God-given exploits – but I believe, in heaven, there are books and books and books. Why? Because the things we do down here, are the things of faith, and they point to Jesus, just as surely as Job, Moses, Gideon, Paul, Peter, Andrew, James, John, Stephen, Mary, Esther and Ruth’s faith steps did… one step at a time. 👋🏻