Glory

P 2695 Loyalty matters to God.

/ DVH

Let’s not take Father God’s kindness toward us for granted, or we can end up walking in presumption. To start with, we can easily be distracted by the cares of this life and forget Who He actually is! That’s when we could end up focussing on our own greedy little agendas of what we need or want. The point of a relationship is not just about what the other person does for me, it is also about what I bring into that relationship! What do I do that benefits that other person? We must not use Him for our own ends, He needs to be our great treasure. 

Our God’s benefits are for always seeable, and available to be easily seen, when we are living our lives loyal to Him. And He loves 💕 loyalty! Read the book. In the Old Testament we can see that His people spent more time being disloyal to the Lord than they did being loyal. But, whenever they repented and turned back to Him – His loving provision and benefits were seen and recognised and appreciated. I believe in order to see the Lord’s benefits, we need insight into the way we regard Him. God is not wishy-washy, whimsical, or careless. His preference for our salvation is crystal clear, but the decision to accept that, with all it means, needs to be taken seriously.

This is a good time to ask ourselves, where do I, personally, stand on this loyalty issue? Am I ”on the Lord’s side?” …like Joshua was? Joshua was prepared to die for God’s will to be done. Or am I on my Saviour’s side purely for so-called benefits, “I’m saved, He answers my prayers.” Maybe I get disengaged or ticked off when I happen to get trouble or tears? Is my main desire to live in His Presence? Can I see past His hands to His face? In my observation, most of the time when the going gets tough for Christians – the not-so-tough bail out!

I want to briefly talk about the incredible value of the Lord’s benefits. We have such wealth. We are strongly exhorted in Psalm 126:3 to: “… forget not all His benefits…”. In this Psalm, it talks about restoration of fortunes, reaping in joy, carrying seed to sow, and bringing in sheaves. But all of that comes after a whole lotta shaking and hardship going on – including sowing in tears! The thought struck me that we all want the joy, and the restoration, and the seed plus the sheaves … but not-so-much with the tears. It’s a package deal.

Some Psalms contain lists of the benefits of our loyalty to God. In Psalm 119 there are a whole lot of stated benefits. However, I think seeing God’s benefits is linked to our loyalty – and if we do not value Who He is, we won’t SEE them. These things are way too costly to be treated carelessly, haphazardly or poorly. Anybody can participate in everything He has done for us, but our response needs to be a heart filled with loyalty to Him because He has been so gracious to us.

Let’s look quickly at Psalm 23:1. In the Living bible it says:“Because the Lord is my Shepherd, I have everything I need!”  This shepherd was totally in charge of his sheep! While they were under his protection the sheep lacked nothing. Even if they wandered off he would go and seek them out. This is a fine example of Jesus’ loyalty to us! Outside the camp there are wolves etc. This shows me that our faith can easily be devoured by cares and worries of this life – the shepherd’s sheep knew the value of staying close.

Some times we merrily produce our largish lists of needs and wants, and post them off to the Lord without bearing in mind where our loyalties are currently lying. Are we paying lip service, or are we His devoted servants, looking to simply be His sheep? Meanwhile if we are that distracted, will we even see the answers He sends? In Philippians 4:19 it says: “I pray that God will take care of all your needs with the wonderful blessings that come from Christ Jesus!”

Our God is so much more than the supplier of our needs – He’s Almighty God. He made everything we can see!

Every blessing we’ve received was bought for us by Jesus Christ’s own suffering. This life is not about Him getting us a new car, or having a baby, or getting into a course we think we want!  It’s about belonging to SomeOne so incredible, so loving, so focussed on us, that we take the time to see His heart and love Him back. We need to carefully inspect the origins of some of the things we claim and ask for, because loyalty and gratitude matter – especially to Him.

GRACE IS FREE BUT IT WAS NOT CHEAP. This is why everything we do, or want, needs to be prayerfully requested with our eye firmly on the prize of honouring Jesus. Otherwise we can go from faith into presumption in a heartbeat. Let’s not rob the Lord of our loyalty … 👋

“Jesus said to all of His followers, “If you truly desire to be My disciple, you must disown your life completely, embrace My ‘cross’ as your own, and surrender to My ways. For if you choose self-sacrifice, giving up your lives for My glory, you will discover true life. But if you choose to keep your lives for yourselves, you will lose what you try to keep.” Luke 9:23-24.

P 2684 FIRE.🔥

/ DVH

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

P 2683 We are here to be a blessing.

/ DVH

Our lives are God’s love gift to others. So today, here’s an extremely powerful way to see how surrendered we all are! Let’s say somebody has just deliberately hurt you or annoyed the life out of you – what is your immediate response? We are only as surrendered to the life of God within us, as we are in our weakest, crankiest, most vulnerable moments. Telling the Lord we surrender to Him isn’t worth a hill of beans, if that doesn’t have its roots firmly established in reality. The power to change this world around us grows, as we use His power to change ourselves, first.

What we say, sing about, or have carefully read about on the subject of surrender, is utterly pointless – if it doesn’t bear fruit that is seeable in our lives! God is looking for fruitfulness, not hot air or even wishful thinking. We can tell if we have any fruit or not when this life squishes us tightly, That’s when our true selves emerge. It is also when the fruit of the Spirit can appear and spread a blessing.

Jesus Christ showed humanity GRACE from the cross. He got that Grace the same way we get it. HE MADE CHOICES. He showed Grace to His captors when they came to arrest Him, and they nailed Him to the tree. If we want to let Grace flow out of us, like AIR, then we need to continually take it in by faith and keep releasing it. That means we don’t excuse ourselves when we react to someone else, instead we choose to repent. So we let that grace flow out of us, towards others who probably don’t deserve it. His Grace is THAT powerful. It will transform us while it reaches out to others. This life is not about acquiring graces, it is about becoming His GRACE to others.

We can daily facilitate our own walk with Him, simply by valuing Grace, staying humble, and participating in repentance. If we continually pay attention to our feelings, instead of acting on the Word of God, we are choosing to empower a place inside us that needs to die. It is not that we are not ‘allowed’ to have feelings – rather, those feelings don’t need to run our responses or our lives. We actively make a choice to stop empowering the things that don’t produce His life in us. However, if we are being real with ourselves we probably already know the kind of things that make us stumble. They are often the things we excuse and we say: “Well, that’s not all that bad!”

The greatest Grace of God, Love, includes self-control. For the sap of the vine to flow into the fruit of the vine and grow wonderful grapes, the branch must stay attached. When I choose my way instead of His way I am restricting the flow of His sap. That branch has no destiny of its own, its entire destiny is tied up IN the Vine. If we want to abide in His love, then we must to learn to operate daily using the Grace He has given us. It’s endless! We don’t need to consult our feelings to see if we have grace, we simply step out and act appropriately toward the other person using our faith. We submit to Grace, come under Grace and then release what we already have.

“Since we are approaching the end of all things, be intentional, purposeful, and self-controlled so that you can be given to prayer. Above all, constantly echo God’s intense love for one another, for love will be a canopy over a multitude of sins.… … For to Him belong the power and the glory forever throughout all ages! Amen.” 1 Peter 4:7-8, 10-11 TPT.

Christians have been saved to serve others. We are going to need loads of humility to do that. This means we choose to progressively, and intentionally, learn to live as Christ Himself lived. He lived entirely for His Father’s purposes, not just what suited Him. He didn’t pretend – He simply was that Person. However, we haven’t been redeemed to be Jesus clones either, stringently following a bunch of rules. Rather we are to be voluntary imitators of Christ. Choosing to lay down our lives like He did..

His Grace has given us gifts that we are to use for the benefit of others. They are not to call attention to ourselves or raise up some sort of following. When we actively, continually forgive those who trespass against us, we will learn humility. At the same time we are extending His love canopy over them as we share what we already have. We are here, right here, right now, to be a blessing to this world, just like He was. 👋

P 2671 Hip-hip-hooray!

/ DVH

“Jesus said to ALL of His followers, “If you truly desire to be My disciple, you must disown your life completely, embrace My ‘cross’ as your own, and surrender to My ways. For if you choose self-sacrifice, giving up your lives for My glory, you will discover true life. But if you choose to keep your lives for yourselves, you will lose what you try to keep.” Luke 9:23-24.

Like the Lord said — we are not our own, we’ve been bought with a price, paid for with a preciousness that we can never truly understand this side of heaven. When we finally see Jesus, the junk this world throws at us will melt away like snow in the bright sunshine of His great Love for us. Living that truth out, is this life’s greatest quest. Forget raising the dead, or healing the sick — the single most difficult thing any of us can undertake is to learn to let go of the every day niggles and distractions that keep me focussed on ME, Myself, and I! 

Lots of people love the idea of their sins being taken away. Me too! But learning to exercise self-control to the point that our lives are totally changed, is another ball-game. As we get tired, we can end up looking at other people, even people we love, who follow the Lord too, and wonder … “why can’t YOU change??” I hear things like that in my head all the time … together with stuff like – “Must you make my life so difficult? Isn’t it difficult enough?” That’s when I am in danger of falling off the cliff of ‘poor me’ and ‘aren’t YOU mean?’ I call those thoughts the cliffs of doom.

Self-pity is a terrible trap, because it often has its roots in actual hardship. And we all have hardships one way or another! I’ve found that if I entertain thoughts like those long enough I can go from ‘thank you Jesus,’ to complaining at Him! That phrase … ‘disown your life completely …’  kind of stomps all over self-pity and self-gratification. We can claim a dreadful past – most of us have evidence!  Things like, ‘my parents never understood me!’ Well now, how could they? YOU’VE never been here before! There’s only one of you! Or we can hide behind … ‘I had a terrible childhood … ‘  Join the queue… one way or another our own personal selfishness has to be confronted with the reality of Christ. It’s undeniable that some things are hard. The point is … now you’ve been set free to be in charge of you, what will YOU do about all that?

Here’s some good advice from Paul: “So now, beloved ones, stand firm, stable, and enduring. Live your lives with an unshakable confidence. We know that we prosper and excel in every season by serving the Lord, because we are assured that our union with the Lord makes our labor productive with fruit that endures.” 1 Corinthians 15:58 TPT. The thing is, when we try to fix things that are broken, all by ourselves, we can’t manage it, because eventually our own selfishness kicks in! However, sin was eliminated and annihilated by the death of Christ, so now we have plenty of room for HIS LOVE. Trust me, overcoming what the enemy has done in our lives is His only theme now. He already did the work for us.

Sadly there can be times that we think our POV is the only right one. Here’s a revelation!! Almighty God is capable of out-of-this-world incredibly complex thoughts. Maybe both people are right, maybe both are wrong – the one thing I can personally guarantee is this …

Father God is far more interested in restoration and reconciliation than we are! We can often credit Him with being on our side, when the truth is …He doesn’t take sides. Our best question is this, who is on the Lord’s side? Always remembering that His side is the only right one. Sadly, self-pity is like shooting yourself in the foot and then wondering why your foot hurts! Let’s not get dragged off down every side-street of ‘poor me,’ ‘terrible you,’ ’nobody loves me,’ and ‘I try and I try but I can’t live any other way.’

Here’s my final sobering thought for today … either Jesus Christ was successful when He conquered sin and death — or we are all victims of a giant cosmic hoax! The same faith we use to believe we are saved, is the faith we use to walk away from the past and the person we used to be. We cannot believe that He saved us without believing He also delivered us. The same blood that saved us has also given us the power to overcome! Those  things go together. Now is the time to evict the squatters who are demanding that they remain hidden in our hearts, thoughts and lives. “And so say all of us … Hip-hip-HOORAY! Yay Jesus!’” 🥳

P 2649 Moving house will change your life.

/ DVH

“We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” Romans 6:4,6,7,&11. “For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—  because anyone who has died has been set free from sin…”  In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

Have you ever physically moved house? I have quite a few times. For those of us who haven’t ever moved, it is a long drawn out process that involves packing up your whole life, and putting everything into boxes, then shoving them into a moving van. Then you go to your new residence and you start unpacking etc. You won’t go back to that old house to live there anymore … because you’ve moved away from it.

Let’s look at what happened when we were born again. WE ALL MOVED HOUSE when we gave our lives to Christ. We left our old life behind us. There is no reason to try to live in that old house anymore, because we gave that house up in favour of living in a far superior new one. Somebody else was trying to kill us where we used to live, and that place we lived in was our life before we met Jesus.

Every time I have ever moved house, I have gone through my stuff and chucked OUT things I no longer needed.  I did not want to start my new life in a new house with junk I didn’t need anymore. When Jesus died for us – He took ALL OUR JUNK with Him to the cross. That junk is gone – just like the earthly junk I sent off to the Salvation Army! Amazingly, the bible says this: not only did we move house – at the same time WE DIED. This means we don’t NEED any of that old stuff any more! It belonged to our old way of life.

We gave up living there in favour of living in His presence, His kingdom. Our new house has given us a brand new way to live. Every part of us moved! Now our life has been hidden within Christ’s life, He took care of our sins, once and for all. Which is why sinning is a waste of time!! Why would we ever want to willingly go back to that old life where we were held hostage to sin? That was the place where sin ran the way we did practically everything.

Sin can’t have power over us the way it did before. The only way it can have power over us now is if we give it permission. Our permission, our choices are the criteria that will daily make all the difference. We simply tell satan we will not be dragged back into that old way of living! There will be some adjustment required because we are used to living in that old house, so familiarity could grab us.

But that was also the house where blame, shame, rejection and abandonment lived. In that old house love was conditional – it depended upon our behaviour. In our new house love is unconditional. Our precious Saviour oversees every single aspect of our lives now. To live fully alive there, all we need to do is simply follow our Master’s clear instructions in His book and leave the old house with its old ways BEHIND.

Nothing, not our current or previous circumstances, nor our old proclivities … absolutely nothing that happened to us before we were saved has the power to force us back into that old ‘house’ … even our old habits, our old ways of thinking, doing and being. We take our way of thinking, being and doing from the bible, now by choice. The bible is our illustration of what living in this new life looks like! Practically speaking, I can’t live in my physical old house anymore, because it is about 10 suburbs away and somebody else lives there now! That way I lived is now dead to me.

You and I could get into difficulties and become unhappy, if we decide we like the old way that we lived better than this new way. That’s why we actively look for His benefits in our lives. The bible tells us not to forget them … 

…one of the benefits of moving house for me, means my adult kids and grandkids live around the corner! Now I get to see them more. Plus I no longer live on the main road, with greatly increased traffic, now I live in a very quiet street.

When we gave our lives to Christ, we went from a life that had no purpose, no real meaning, into a life that moved forward and that new life propelled us into new exciting things. Things like getting to know the God of the Universe and beyond …!! SomeBody loved all of us enough to die for us. They WANTED us – we are not ‘extras’ on the vast stage of life, now we are HIS children. . 

In this new life/house we’ve been given, we all have a destiny. It isn’t just any old thing that someone made up so we wouldn’t be left out, this is something that only WE can do. If we don’t do it, it won’t get done. Now we can all ‘live for our Father’s pleasure.’ Our job is to learn to occupy our new house, so no trace of the old house/life is left. Moving house will change your life! 👋

P 2636 A greater attitude.

/ DVH

A son or a daughter has responsibility within their family for the contribution to and oversight of their household, particularly in the parent’s absence. However, a servant will simply do whatever they are told to do and they are paid for it. Very few servants end up as an heir to their master’s property! To qualify they would need to be adopted so they become sons and daughters.  

The Lord Jesus, through the Apostle Paul, talks about that in the passage down below from Romans. (There are others, but I only have a small space!) Adoption is part of God’s parenting us – we voluntarily choose to move on from serving Him for our benefit, into serving Him for LOVE’S sake, like Jesus did. We follow His Son into sonship. That will cost us, all our time, effort, money, comfort, and reputation.

First of all, let’s be clear, being born again as God’s own child, means the Lord God has planted His eternal seed within us. We belong to Him NOW by birth! However, that seed of new life needs to be nurtured and cared for, in order to grow – with prayer, reading the bible, and healthy fellowship. Viable growth, with clear signs of impending fruit, is a sure sign of eternal life within. 

That person exhibits qualities that can only come from the Holy Spirit’s nurture, input and love, together with their willing acceptance, submission and participation. So this is not just about whether you or I belong to God or not – it is about us having His kingdom within us, plus the freedom and authority to share it with others for their benefit. Moving from servanthood into son-by-adoption involves our CHOICES. As God’s children we choose to follow Jesus down our own road of surrender – which can include difficulties and pain, simply because we love Him and we are grateful for all He has done for us. Jesus is not just a bless me person – He’s a follow Me Leader!

“For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by Him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory.” Romans 8:14-17.

A servant or slave does their master’s bidding, whether they like him or not, and they usually get paid for doing it. There are benefits. But a true son respects his father and does whatever his father wants, to honour him … he may or may not get paid … but the son/daughter carries out their father’s wishes for the entire family’s benefit. The job gets done either way, but sonship has a different mindset motivating it.  Let’s move on…

“Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”John 1:12-13. And:“I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” 2 Corinthians 6:18. 

To see what being a son or daughter looks like, we must look at Christ. What did Jesus Himself do as God’s Son? He did and said everything He saw the Father doing! It is not shameful or weak, to live a dependent life, Jesus did it … He totally relied upon His Father and the Holy Spirit. He served His Father willingly, no matter what the circumstances were like. Not one argument, not one whoops, not one regret!! He did it as if His Father was present.

That is not the way a servant does things, a servant does things even in our absence. However a son willingly chooses to learn to think like his father, so he can perfectly represent the father’s wishes, whether his parent is absent or not. To the son his father’s wishes are always foremost in his mind. Christ served all of us showing us what heavenly love looks like, and He did it to benefit others. His sacrifice released the things that belong in His Father’s house into this world. In other words, Jesus used HIS inheritance to benefit us.

And because He chose to do that, He raised humanity to His level in the Father’s house. However, we are not given these benefits just to benefit us, we are given them to benefit OTHERS. Just like Jesus did. Authority is not about WHO is in charge, it is about who perfectly represents our heavenly Father —and our Father is not a tyrant! When God loves He gives. A servant takes, he takes what he thinks he’s earned — but a SON BECOMES A GIVER. Living to love and give is the greater attitude. 🙌

P 2635 Obedience is everything.

/ DVH

“Great is the Lord’s anger that burns against us because those who have gone before us have not obeyed the words of this book; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written there concerning us.” 2 Kings 22:13b.

I’ve been reading through the bible, from the beginning again, and so far I am up to the book of 2 Kings. I gotta tell ya, some of these stories are kind of tedious to read. Stuff like:  this king didn’t do what God said — he didn’t get rid of most of the idols and accoutrements;  and that other one didn’t get rid of any at all — and another king with an unpronounceable name got rid of the weird sounding idols, but he left a few stragglers behind. These guys all flunked their obedience tests big time! The bible says that they left some of the idols in the ‘high places’— so maybe their kingly horses didn’t like mountain climbing. Perhaps they thought obedience was optional back then.

It all kind of reminds me of an illustration I heard once… What if I were to give you a nice clean glass of water and I put one teeny tiny drop of poison in it? Would you still drink It? Me neither!! But the one thing that these two books of Kings have taught me is that we all can tolerate a level of indifference to the things of God and what He wants, especially while we are doing other things we like better! Meanwhile, although nobody says it out loud, sadly, we are counting on the blood of Jesus to make the difference! It’s not deliberate disobedience, it’s careless disobedience.

I mean, I’m convicted just writing this blog this morning! Near enough definitely ain’t good enough. Whenever we read the bible, we need to pray over it and ask Him how to do whatever it says. The long winding road through those two books of Kings has taught me that, and Chronicles still lies ahead! There are lessons upon lessons in the bible.

Along the way, I picked up the clear idea that blaming the guys who went before us;  like our parents, our grandparents, our great grandparents etc. etc. does not work! My disobedience is MY disobedience. We can’t wiggle out of obeying by trying to sneak back through a generational door!! This subject is too important. It is even disobedience if we know to do good – and don’t do it. One king ripped his clothes and threw dirt on his head when he discovered what the book of God said when he read it. People were so careless with it, it was found dumped like an old rag in a cupboard … I wonder where I left my bible again???

The bible says: “obedience is better than sacrifice”(1 Samuel 15:22) But what I have found is that obedience requires sacrifice. Those two things go together. One thing leads us to the other. At the same time, obedience is the best way I know to make friends with the Holy Spirit. That’s because I can’t do things without Him. If I try to, then half the time ‘I don’t want to’ catches me by the throat and I end up quitting before I start. I need help, all the time – and He is my all-the-time loving Helper, praise God. Through practising obedience I am learning to know and rely upon Him. 

I also try to do my best to pay very little attention to my own understanding, because my understanding is always looking for a back door to wiggle out of doing anything difficult!  Obedience is often about doing hard things BTW, but after a while, living to obey Him becomes a way of life. There are times when I think to myself, what does Jesus have to say about that? Trust me … He has a whole lot to say about many things!! 

The Lord is not really keen on people pretending to do the right thing, while they are slicing and dicing others up in their minds either. He calls that hypocrisy. But He loves the guy whose heart is set to please Him. The good thing about obeying is once you’ve done whatever He asked you to do, you can just walk away and leave the results to Him. I like that bit!! Obedience is just like honesty – don’t leave home without it. People may get a bit startled when you start to live this way, but the results are straight out of heaven. 

EG: in the past, I had to tell somebody in faith … somebody who actually drove me clear up a wall (!) — “I love you” for a very long time … before it made a difference. But over time, my decision to obey sunk into the mud of my well-established-disobedience and transformed me. That other person hasn’t changed much at all, but my own attitude has changed HEAPS. Now I can say “I love you” with agreement and conviction, because I really do love them. 

All the glory goes to Him!! He helped me stick at it. The Holy Spirit’s Ways are so much better than our own ideas of avoidance and pretend. I remind myself that He took chaos and darkness and made this world. Trust me — there is nothing He can’t transform into something beautiful. Obedience IS everything. 👋

P 2597 A funny thing happened after I wrote yesterday’s blog.

/ DVH

…Like, at this moment I’m revisiting my own words. That didn’t take long … 🙄 Let me set the scene. Before we leave home for a bible run, the precious people from our church gather around us and pray and prophesy for miracles and souls to be saved. Their faith is fantastic!! After I’ve heard all their prayers I often start to wish they’d go instead of ME. You see, I know what’s out there … and even worse … I know what’s IN me – those two small things can sink my boat! Without Jesus I’m sunk. Moving on…

Actually, I need to be very real here or you will miss my point. Let me share with you what we’ve learnt over the last 19 years. God has a plan for each of us. We have each been given kingdom work to do, and all of it is a part of God’s MUCH bigger plan. Personally, I don’t think the Lord is looking for the next Billy Graham coming down the turnpike … 

… I think He is looking for ordinary willing people, like you and me. People who will believe they really did give their lives away to Him, and bravely stick up their hands and say: “Here I am Lord send me!” And then they go and do what He says. If anything good has come out of the last 19 years we’ve been travelling all over this country — it is because GOD IS GOOD – and He’s not fussy who He uses… sometimes He uses donkeys and whales … 😂 Hubby and I know we are both totally incompetent without Him. To be frank, without Him we’d probably give up when it gets too hard.

You and I, are a tiny part of His kingdom, and in that kingdom some people have heaps of stuff to contribute and others take their two little coins – which is all they have … and put it into His treasury for His glory! Yes, I know I just shoved two very different concepts together … hang on …  my point is that hubby and I are two normal people who dared to believe God is much MUCH bigger than our fears and we go and do it anyway – trembling most of the way.

Speaking of that … trembling I mean … the other night we sent out a frantic text to our prayer support explaining that we had suddenly discovered the next stop over on our trip is a dangerous place. That info is on Google, so it must be right! And we are staying there for two nights. It is one thing to talk about letting perfect love cast out your fears, and totally another to do it – right here, right now. We are on the coal face … so we are facing that fear. We are back in the place where our theories are going to be tested, again.  It is time to remember our peace is in HIM – not the circumstances.

A nice Indian man, who is our host at this motel, doesn’t seem thrilled with us. His spirit of kindness and co-operation flew out of the window. So, no to bibles, no to stuff for his kids, no to practically everything – including putting our food in his freezer. There are rules pasted up everywhere. To get to this outback place, we drove down appalling roads  and … …we just drove through a local locust plague. That was interesting!!

Plus, also on the road yesterday, a car driving along in front of us suddenly stopped in the middle of the road, in the 110km per hour zone … presumably to look at a great view! Another one nearly cleaned our clock in a local supermarket carpark doing 60 km/h right behind us as we were quietly reversing out.  Let’s not kid ourselves, this stuff can be hard work. Right now, hubby needs a cuppa tea, an aspirin and a big lie down!

However God is so cool, before we left home, the Lord told me to make a bookmark with an elephant on it, for an Indian lady I was going to meet. That unhappy Indian man’s wife LOVED the bookmark – even though her husband wouldn’t let her take another thing – she kept it. And the Lord did that ‘sneaky Pete’ thing He sometimes does and snuck under the radar, again. Nevertheless, there is no grace and power to do anything, unless the Lord gives it to us – you run out of manners pretty quickly!

Hubby and I have a habit of valuing obedience over everything else. We’ve learnt that if we want to see greater miracles we will need to face greater hurdles. You know … I really don’t remember signing up for some of this stuff.  I do however, remember praying … when I had no clue what was in front of me … ‘here I am Lord send me.’ Sometimes doing the work of the ministry is not as exciting as anyone might think — a lot of it consists of slogging on against opposition. 

On the plus side, living this life has taught me to throw away my always-be formal meter. Those things have gone right down the gurgler (drain), and now I have no trouble being truthful about the difficulties of this life we encounter along the way. Jesus Himself said:“I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace. In the world you have tribulation and distress and suffering, but be courageous [be confident, be undaunted, be filled with joy]; I have overcome the world.” [My conquest is accomplished, My victory abiding.]”  John 16:33. My advice? BELIEVE HIM.

So why should any of us be overjoyed when doing stuff for the kingdom stops being fun and becomes life-threatening? Because joy is another point of obedience. Jesus didn’t say feel like it – He said do it! I have been laughing while writing this blog today because everything in it is just so true for us currently. Almighty God doesn’t get glory because we are trying hard to be stoic – He gets ALL the glory because HE IS GOD. ← And that’s a full stop right there. 👋

P 2552 Look up in the sky … it’s a bird …

/ DVH

…no it’s not, it is an illustration!! Matthew 6:26-34: “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?“So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 

Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. “For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”  

We can say His kingdom is our aim, but are we actually living like that is true? I am reminded every single day of the ‘birds of the air’ because my not-friend, the noisy miner, is parked every morning outside the room I’m in, while I am typing. And that little grey bird is just doing what comes naturally. In this passage Lord is not talking about ornithological or botanical interests here. Instead, He uses birds and flowers to point out a great key to our living overcoming lives. The above verses are actually about our personal value to the Lord and WHY we should not worry. 

Day by day our focus needs to be on how valuable we are to Him simply because having that thought will help us live within His kingdom. When we grab hold of the fact that our God cares about plants and birds etc. and He looks after them, it highlights the thought that we are so much more valuable to Him. This means human beings are way up the “pecking order” (s’cuse the bad pun)  when it comes to provision. Simply because we can see that birds are fed and flowers are beautiful, then those things become living visible evidence of God’s far greater passion for us.

I’ve found that worry can paralyse me. It totally distracts me from my real purpose. We were sent into this world to witness to, and visibly live in, God’s kingdom. His kingdom is not just for Sundays, high days, or holidays. It is to be our focus for every single day we are on this earth!  At the same time, Jesus is talking about something that is very important to any human being, our basic every day needs. Food, clothing, shelter. He is not saying we should not pay attention to those needs – He is saying they should not be our major focal point in this life because the birds around us show us that He is more than capable of looking after them!

Yeah. At the same time Jesus is not telling us to go and live under a bridge and dumpster-dive for food and clothes … like some poor souls have to. I believe He’s telling us that worrying about such things is counter- intuitive to the growth of our faith and our daily living within His kingdom. Worry takes over our minds. We become obsessed with things that do not benefit us spiritually. The Lord told me this one day, “turn your worry into prayer and leave it there.” It’s really great advice … and … it definitely takes practice. 

In this passage He explains why worry is bad for people. Worry takes over and accomplishes nothing but angst.  Plus when we worry we forget how much we are loved! Jesus is explaining that God will totally take care of all our needs, and we have that promise to cling to every day … simply because we can see His commitment to the seemingly insignificant things of this world. At the same time He wants to show us that our priorities matter, so we can simply enjoy living in His Kingdom – worry is not ever to be our priority.

I have personally found that worry brushes aside whatever He is actually doing, in favour of what I think or hope He will do. We are far better off to take the time to ask Him to help us understand what is really going on. Instead of overthinking stuff or pouting because some problem or other is not resolved immediately. That doesn’t mean we quit praying about whatever it is, it simply means our first and foremost priority is to believe He is good, and He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

In my experience, you will not diligently seek SomeOne you are disappointed in, or SomeOne who appears not to care if you are struggling away with this and that. You may even actively avoid them. The Lord is telling us that worrying is a way to dissolve faith, and end up with a barrow load of doubt instead. So we should use the physical signs around us to remind ourselves that God cares. He looks after budgies and eagles, equally as well as roses and petunias, and they are our tangible day-to-day witnesses that our lives are far more important to Him than we can ever imagine.

🦅🦆🦜🦉 … 🌹🌸🌷🌻  Bye…👋

P 2547 We are here for His pleasure.

/ DVH

““You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory, honour, and power, for You created all things, and for Your pleasure they were created and exist.”” Revelation 4:11 TPT.

When I look at that scripture above, from Revelation 4:11 it gives me perspective. It reminds me Almighty God is always worthy of my praise, no matter what is going on in my life right now. Plus the fact that I am not here for me. I am not here for you. I am not even here for my family or friends or country. I am not even here for what I do, or don’t do … I was made for God’s pleasure a-n-d … praise God, so were YOU. Ya might want to pause and think about that! 🤔 So today, I am delighted to be able to say; “I serve at the pleasure of my King, Jesus Christ.”  

And that small sentence changes everything. It adds purpose and meaning to life because God Himself did that for US! Other people may not always understand why we are here, which can lead to conflict and estrangement. But we are His people, the sheep of His pasture! Yay!!  At the same time we can have difficult days and when it comes to loving other people, our Heavenly Father knew we would all need help! 

So we have been given a precious gift, the Holy Spirit. He is our greatly Beloved, Personal, Ever-present Friend. Jesus had to leave us, and so He sent the Person Who helped Him, back to help us! The Spirit of God has been given to us freely and His Presence in our lives is our most valuable asset in this world. He reminds us we are greatly loved.

Here is some dead easy Math — if we add what Jesus did for us to our sin, irregardless of how nasty a person we can all be sometimes, we end up with the completed, perfect solution to SIN. You can call it whatever you like …Salvation. Redemption. You and I were given the plus and the Answer in that little sum!! It means we got out of jail free. That’s a big plus!! The only sensible response to this gift is gratitude. Unlike the game of Monopoly – this “get out of jail free card” may not be sold or exchanged.  It is as personal as the moment you and I were conceived. 

“For you formed my inward parts; You knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are Your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in Your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” Psalm 139:16. 

There are over 100 bible verses in His book about how the Lord knew us before anyone else ever did. Plus how He created us in secret, and it gave Him great pleasure to do it. He planned each one of us and brought us into being. Personally, I’ve found that thought incredibly reassuring. SomeOne wanted me to be here, right here, right now. I’m not sure either of my parents had a child in mind when they started out, because they only knew each other for four weeks before they married — and I turned up about nine months later! Given that my mother quickly realised her mistake in marrying a virtual stranger, it totally blesses my heart to know that I am here for the King’s pleasure!

I hope these thoughts are comforting for anyone who feels like an orphan, or even misplaced persons … None of us are an accident — Father God always had each one of us in His heart.  Our He has good plans for us too. Life hands us lemons all the time, and the bitterness that stuff brings, needs to be sweetened by the Presence of SomeOne Who knows all the Answers and the way through our troubles. Right at this moment, our presence on this planet gives God enormous pleasure and our troubles are momentary things. Remind yourself of that whenever you feel like a big fat failure, or someone else has not-so-kindly pointed out your failings … God bless ‘em. 

The Holy Spirit helps us negotiate the twists and turns and sudden land-slides of this life. And, praise Him, we have a whole bible full of the things He wrote. We have a book filled with instructions about how to relate to Him and others! Plus we don’t have to run around hoping against hope that we might manage to do something right. Our Heavenly Father was pleased with the idea of us before we got here, and He gave us SomeOne to guide us through this maze.

You are here for the pleasure of your King, for such good works He prepared for you before you ever got here. Those things He set aside that only you can do. They won’t get done if you don’t do them. I believe this means that you have something unique to contribute to this life. Bye. 👋

““…but I run with passion into His abundance so that I may reach the purpose for which Christ Jesus laid hold of me to make me His own.” Philippians 3:12a,13.