Glory

P 2375 What constitutes “CARES?!!”

/ DVH

It occurred to me this morning that in today’s world, the word ‘cares’ can be quite generic. So I want to spend some time following along from yesterday talking about cares and what that means in my life. Cares to some people could mean my kid’s friend doesn’t wanna play with him anymore. Or my best friend just moved away. Or I can’t start my car so I can get to work today.

But ‘cares’ can also be very big as well. They can be things like – my Mother is ill and I don’t know how to help her. Or my marriage isn’t working… or my child is being bullied at school. Cares are the things we drag behind us, like the tail on a comet. We need them gone, but we don’t know what to do with them or how to get rid of them – we’ve prayed and tried to figure out solutions but nothing works. Perhaps we even need to understand a difficult situation better because it’s bothering us  We dearly want to handle all these things in a Godly fashion, but emotionally .. we can’t – we end up exploding or not sleeping with worry.

Jesus talks about how He wants to help us with our ‘cares,’ and this means He wants to work for us, for our good, in all of the above, and more. I have lived the way I described yesterday – ‘casting my cares upon Him’  for a while now, and all I can tell you is – it changes things — and one of the things it has changed, IS ME! The Lord really does transform everything He touches. It’s glorious Jesus helps us, however, He doesn’t always fix stuff the way we think that those things should be fixed. But we can be absolutely certain that He will always fix them better than we ever imagined. Sometimes we just have to hold on and wait and use our faith. 

So today, I want to give a few examples of what Jesus fixing cares, big and small, looks like here at our house. On one of our trips, hubby and I were on the road out in the middle of nowhere, taking bibles to outback places. By outback, I mean there were wild goats and pigs roaming around on the side of the road. We needed more petrol but there was no petrol available in the last little town we had stayed in. I had a large ulcer on my hip, and it was very painful. However, there was no way to get petrol where we were, so in the end we had no alternative but to press on. We prayed and told the Lord that we needed to get to the next town 200 kms away, and as HE told us to go there in the first place, it really was His problem if we ran out of petrol! 

As we drove along … trying not to think about it! Hubby actually didn’t share what he could see right in front of him right away. Mainly because he couldn’t believe his eyes! As we drove off into the middle of nowhere, (where there are no petrol stations or people!), the petrol needle that was on empty kept going up and up and up! The car never faltered once and we eventually arrived safely at the other end of a very long road! We both held our breath for the entire journey – and we deliberately did not talk about it, because we had given it to Him. By the time we arrived at our destination there was more petrol in the tank then there was when we set out!! The ulcer on my hip was totally healed after I had a short rest. Hubby was off giving away bibles by that stage. 

BTW, that little town we finally stayed in was a big source of copper for years, but the copper mine had closed and the little town was quietly shutting down with it. We prayed together that God would give them a new outlet and use for their copper, so the mine would reopen and bring new life to the town again. Months later I was reading the news and lo and behold there was an article about little towns and their financial situations. I read that this little town was again thriving. The copper in the mine was needed for something else! 🙌

OK now I want to talk about a smaller care. There is somebody in my immediate family that can be incredibly difficult to get along with – my faith is an enigma to them. If I don’t pray, when I see them, things get much worse. So I pray and I pray – and so does hubby – before I go to see them. I’ve learnt that prayer is great BUT some people need more! I need to do more. That person needs His help, and so do I – because we now have a history of failure. So when we’ve finished praying, we give it all over to the Lord and leave it there. Even on the car ride going toward their house, I refuse to pick it up again when it comes up in my mind. 

I just keep saying: “I gave that to you, Jesus.” That BTW, is my active faith statement. When I trust in myself and my ability to handle the situation well… it does not go well. However, when I give it to Him, I am amazed at what He does with it. Because He cares for both parties – He takes care of it. Always remember —HE CARES FOR US –  we are on His heart. 👋🏻

“Listen to my testimony: I cried to God in my distress and He answered me. He freed me from all my fears! Gaze upon Him, join your life with His, and joy will come. Your faces will glisten with glory. You’ll never wear that shame-face again.” Psalms 34:4-5 TPT

P 2368 So what does saturated look like?

/ DVH

I dunno — yet! But I’m aiming at it. I’m sick to death with living a namby-pamby safe life that is dominated by the things around me that hurt, inconvenience or distract me. More Lord! 🙌  Wherever it takes me! I want to return love for hate, and kindness for carelessness and selfishness, without even thinking about it! I desperately want to leak the Lord’s love wherever I go, no matter how tightly I’m squeezed. That sure sounds like saturation to me!

That word saturate means to permeate until no more can be received, to soak thoroughly. Like a sponge that can’t hold any more fluid, saturated people drip the Lord’s goodness, loving kindness and His precious heart wherever they go, even under pressure. I would love to see the day arrive when His saturated people will leave puddles of His glory behind them. Puddles that heal and transform, just like Peter’s shadow healed the lame man in Acts. Wow, even that thought blows my mind!

I believe Jesus is looking for wild, unbridled men and women like John the Baptist. Passion is meant to motivate them. We are to return HIS passion with OUR PASSION, because our Saviour deserves it. Passion drove Him to the cross. Today, our response needs to match His example. I know a certain SomeOne Who would be de-lig-ht-ed to help us with that! The Holy Spirit.🕊 I think, BTW, that two of the most valuable things we can give the Lord are our time — as well as our obedience. Saturated people are passionate and devoted to His will, by being around Him.

They crave His Presence more than anything else. They love to be near Him, whether that means, prayer, bible study, or helping others etc. All of these things come from a saturated overflow. When you are saturated you don’t have to think about doing what He tells you, YOU DO IT simply because you know He will come with you. And that is the best bit – it’s everything! You enjoy watching Him work, seeing Him reach out to somebody else the same way He did back in those days before His crucifixion. Jesus Christ loved people. He didn’t have agendas – He just loved people. That’s where we are aiming – to be so full of His love it cancels out our own preferences and prejudices.

My testimony is this: I know He saved me, so He definitely can save anybody who wants in! I truly don’t see anyone as being too hard for God — outside the pale, so to speak. If you need a Saviour then Jesus is the One, He cannot let you down because it is in His very nature to be FAITHFUL and TRUE. Read the book. I encourage you to read what He said, for yourself, in the gospels. My premise is —“whosoever will may come …!”

So when hubby and I talk to people, we have that in mind and we just let them be themselves. We have no judgment toward what they say or how they live. It is the Holy Spirit Who convicts, challenges and convinces. It’s our job to “go” and let Him do what He does best, through us. He loves to love on people.  We just tell them what we’ve seen and what we know about the One Who is everything to us. 

I enjoy the example in the bible where Paul and Silas’ jailer falls on his knees in front of them. The bible says this: “In desperation the jailer asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Never missing an opportunity to share the good news, Paul and Silas said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” And that night, as Paul and Silas shared “the word of the Lord,” salvation came to that jailer’s house… “ Act 16:3-34.

Now that’s fantastic saturation! I would love to be so kind, so forgiving to those who deliberately hurt me, that that would be my automatic response!  I want them to see Jesus Christ in me. Knowing the Lord personally, has changed all my aims. I used to aim at being loved, feeling accepted – now I aim to give those things away to hungry people around me. 

I believe God wants a passionate people who will do whatever it takes to fulfil His will while they here are on this earth. A saturated people. 👋🏻

P 2367 Our experiences with trouble are a cue to revise the way we live.

/ DVH

“We are like common clay jars that carry this glorious treasure within, so that this immeasurable power will be seen as God’s, not ours. Though we experience every kind of pressure, we’re not crushed. At times we don’t know what to do, but quitting is not an option. We are persecuted by others, but God has not forsaken us. We may be knocked down, but not out. We continually share in the death of Jesus in our own bodies so that the resurrection life of Jesus will be revealed through our humanity.”

Boy, these verses seem like my life story neatly expressed and typed out! Sometimes it seems like we lurch from one problem to the next. It’s like someone has been following me around and writing down what goes on. Can I be honest with you? Expecting this life to be like a Disney classic movie is more than optimistic, it is down-right idiotic. Life is full of sinful people, (I are one!), who seem to be getting more selfish by the minute. 

Meanwhile did you notice what it said in the above part of the scripture in 2 Corinthians 4? I bolded it to make it stand out. This life is destined to kill us …UM …Christians! … OFF, bit by bit. One heartache and/or pain after another. The Lord allows it so that people can see Jesus Christ through us. Trouble doesn’t mean we are out of God’s will, trouble means He is giving us an opportunity to let Him shine through us. The deader to self we are, the more He can shine. Now there’s an AIM! Let’s read on …

“We consider living to mean that we are constantly being handed over to death for Jesus’ sake so that the life of Jesus will be revealed through our humanity. So, then, death is at work in us but it releases life in you. We have the same Spirit of faith that is described in the Scriptures when it says, “First I believed, then I spoke in faith.” So we also first believe then speak in faith. We do this because we are convinced that He who raised Jesus will raise us up with Him, and together we will all be brought into His Presence.”

Did you get the bit that says living in Christ is actually MEANT to look like this? This suffering, this sorrow, this tide of disappointment and grief has a point. It is not random or just bad luck! Instead it is a gift to us to disentangle ourselves from striving and straining to make this life work! This means that now we have embraced Christ so thoroughly that His agenda is ours, and what He wants isn’t tacked onto a list of things we already have to do, or things we are supposed to do – in order to maintain our happy little lives. Instead it is the REASON we are all still here.

Have we forgotten that we are the people who have a HOPE? Our job is to spread that hope around. Our greatest sin just might be our SILENCE. We are not still here to have a happy little Disney-fied life and go off happily singing into the sunset. We are here to be His hands and feet in a world that doesn’t know Him yet. We have been given the privilege of showing forth His marvellous light in the midst of this world’s darkness. Ask Him to help you to talk to others about the hope within you, and then SPEAK. Find somebody to help and comfort. Our troubles don’t disqualify us, our trust in Christ qualifies us..

As an example of well carried-out-all-to-common selfishness, I recently watched a person in their 15 minutes of fame, telling a TV crew that they were fine after a 6.8 earthquake devastated Morocco all around them. They had not had one thought that maybe they could go and help those still trapped, because they are there on the spot! Heaven forbid that a catastrophe should spoil their holiday! What about the two thousand people who can’t say the same thing … because they died! Can it possibly be true that the Western world thinks these people in other countries exist for our holiday experiences and amusement? Boy at that moment I sure needed changing – my smacking hand got itchy! We watch disasters on TV,  feel sad, and then go about our own lives like we are not all living on the same planet. We are here to serve others, the bible makes it clear that we are to live this life with eternity in mind.

“….We view our slight, short-lived troubles in the light of eternity. We see our difficulties as the substance that produces for us an eternal, weighty glory far beyond all comparison, 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 4:7-18 TPT. Focussing on the unseen does not mean we just pray and walk away – that’s when we ask Him: “What would you like me to do about this?”

Where are the mighty ones of God Who see those who are suffering as a personal responsibility? If we are still breathing, then there is still time to change the way we think. It is a choice to let His glory shine through your little life, even if it means sharing someone else’s suffering. 👋🏻

P 2365 We need to pray for the veil of our ignorance taken away.

/ DVH

“And I pray that He would unveil WITHIN YOU the unlimited riches of His glory and favour until supernatural strength floods your innermost being with His divine might and explosive power. Then, by constantly using your faith, the life of Christ will be released deep inside you, and the resting place of His love will become the very source and root of your life. 

Then you will be empowered to discover what every holy one experiences—the great magnitude of the astonishing love of Christ in all its dimensions. How deeply intimate and far-reaching is His love! How enduring and inclusive it is! Endless love beyond measurement that transcends our understanding—this extravagant love pours into you until you are filled to overflowing with the fullness of God!” Ephesians 3:16-19 TPT

Verses like these ones are kind of a mouthful, and if we don’t stop and pray and WAIT for Him to open our eyes – we can easily end up hearing …blah blah blah blah blah …. ……’constantly using your faith’ … ‘transcends our understanding” Those phrases can unfortunately easily translate into – I must try harder!! 

Trying isn’t in it. Especially when the veil comes off and you realise Jesus Christ already did all the work. We simply need to keep walking alongside Him … like the disciples did. We give up our agendas and dreams for His sake because He died for our sake. It’s our choice. Will our focus be on ‘our day’ or ‘the day Christ gave us!’ Those 12 disciples in the Gospels did nothing to merit the honour of walking with Jesus! They were going about their daily business, when the very real Presence of God showed up in the Person of Christ.

But, sadly we sometimes try to fit our faith in around our already established ordinary lives. OUR LIVES ARE NOT MEANT TO BE ORDINARY. Jesus died to give us HIS LIFE IN US. However, life itself can quickly overwhelm us and we end up praying quick prayers at the beginning of the day, and tired half-asleep ones at the end.  And eventually our failure rate is bigger than our success rate, and we coast along not sure about what we believe, and if it works or not but well-meaning people keep telling us we are missing the mark. WE CANNOT MISS THE MARK – CHRIST BECAME A MAN TO HIT THAT MARK FOR US.

We were not reborn to FAIL. We were reborn to bring His kingdom into our ordinary everyday humdrum lives. We need that veil removed so we can see and comprehend everything Christ already did for us. satan will fight you over that veil. But we have the power now to win! Simply ask the Lord to show you what He wants you to do with your day. Don’t promise Him tomorrow, or Monday, give Him today. And keep reminding Him, (not because HE forgets but because WE need the reminder,) that today is about Him, His kingdom. Tell Him you are willing to listen to what He wants done. Then live listening for what He says next, AND DO IT.

We will actively have to choose to look for His way. The real secret to walking with Christ minute by minute is choosing to live in love. Be like a plant that has put its roots down deeply into His love and then make a quality decision to give it away at any opportunity, whether the other person deserves it or not. Just keep giving it away. Jesus died to give us His life, now we give Him ours, by choosing to live this life as a life of love toward others. That’s how you spread the kingdom of God that is in you. 

We, you and I, already HAVE everything we need for this kind of life! Listen to this: “Everything we could ever need for life and godliness has ALREADY been deposited in us by His divine power. For all this was lavished upon us through the rich experience of knowing Him Who has called us by name and invited us to come to Him through a glorious manifestation of His goodness.”  2 Peter 1:3. 

All this stuff in His book, is in a heavenly bank account with our name on it. We just gotta use our faith and go to that bank and make faith withdrawals. Our faith is not meant to be about having a new car, or house or holiday or staying safe when we travel – that faith was deposited in us so we can live a brand new life that pleases the Father. The Son’s blood now covers our lives so we can walk with Him unafraid.

That veil produces the rumour that a Spirit-filled well-lived life for Jesus, is only for some people. It is for all of us. This is something we have to value so much we go after it deliberately for ourselves. And that means we will end up taking risks – using our faith to obey what Christ said, and pouring out His unmerited love on other people.  👋🏻

P 2360 Look at what Almighty God can do with obedience!

/ DVH

Exodus 40:16“Moses did everything just as the Lord commanded him.”                                                       

Exodus 40:19b “… as the Lord commanded him.”    

Exodus 40:21b “… as the Lord commanded him.”       

Exodus 40:23b “… as the Lord commanded him.”     

Exodus 40:25b “… as the Lord commanded him.”    

Exodus 40:27b “… as the Lord commanded him.”    

Exodus 40:29b“… as the Lord commanded him.”     

Exodus 40:32b “ …as the Lord commanded Moses.”

Exodus 40:33b “…and so Moses finished the work.’

Exodus 40:35 “Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.” I just want to mention that Moses was familiar with God’s Presence – he’d been in it a bunch of times. Yet this time Moses couldn’t get into the tent! The Lord’s Presence is not measurable – it is without measure. 

Eight times God specifically gave Moses instructions about how He wanted this place of sacrifice and worship assembled. And then God kissed the work of men’s hands with His Presence, because of their obedience and attention to detail. As Christians we cannot afford to diminish or dismiss our call to obedience. That is the cornerstone of our relationship with the Lord Himself. Jesus obeyed God unto death.Why on earth would we think it is OK to skate right on over whatever He has told us to do, in the book?! 

The whole of that glorious tabernacle was assembled under the Lord’s oversight. It was designed by God, downloaded by the Holy Spirit to Moses and his team, and carefully worked into a cohesive whole by Him as well. And God approved every single stage of the tabernacle’s assembly so much that He did not just make suggestions, HE GAVE DIRECTIVES. Ya might want to think about that for a month or TEN. 🧐

At the end of Moses’ life, after he had led this group of difficult and demanding people around for 40 years, and watched all his peers die off;  He hit a rock twice, instead of once, and missed out on seeing the point of that whole journey! However, lest you think our God holds grudges, it has been said of Moses – that God Himself buried the man when He died. Wow. Nobody else but the Lord knows where Moses is buried. How He loved that man!!

Back to us today, and that option-out button we all like to use when God tells us to do something or other, and we don’t like it, or we aren’t sure if it is Him speaking or not! The devil likes to cloud our minds and throw doubt into the mix of what the Lord tells us to do. I’ve learnt to obey anyway. Sometimes I stand there and look like a goose, and sometimes He does something incredible, and that would be me, standing there again, this time with my mouth open like a cod-fish – astonished. If it doesn’t surprise you, it wasn’t GOD! The only Person destined to look good when we serve Him is Him. The glory is always His when He speaks.

He’s an amazing God, so He does amazing things.  We simply have not learnt that the way to partake of such things always involves our obedience. He once put me into my car to go across town to meet someone I didn’t know, to talk to them – and I didn’t even know what I was supposed to say when I got there! When I met this person, in my whole life I never met someone who seemed so together. They had been a Christian for years and years, and ran some wonderful thing or other for the Lord. I was intimidated to the max. On the way there … … did you get that??? ON THE WAY THERE !!! … the Holy Spirit gave me three scriptures for this person.  

I read them out to this person and they melted like snow, right in front of my eyes and wept profusely. All I can tell you is this, all of us have secret buttons, other people may not know where they are, but boy, GOD KNOWS WHERE THEY ARE! I have never seen this person since, but I do know their life changed in those moments. And all I had to do was to be willing to obey, even though I felt like a lunatic, temporarily. 

If you want to see miracles, and watch Him work in astonishing ways – trust Him, take a risk and learn to obey. Start by obeying what it says in the book, and go on to do the things He asks you to do. Treat His book seriously and do what He talks about. Be the kind of person who forgives and repents, and learn to change your behaviour, with His help – even if you think you aren’t wrong! Let God Himself be the One to excuse you, instead of doing it yourself – or taking a personal census to try to excuse yourself! 

BTW that tabernacle Moses built was destined to be an illustration of something much bigger … SomeOne far greater Who was to come.  I’ve said it so many times – Jesus is all over the Old Testament and the New. When you and I obey, we release His Grace into this world. His GRACE is unstoppable. Obedience is not optional, it really is mandatory. You never know what God will do with your faith!👋🏻

P 2359 Psalm 3.

/ DVH

King David’s song when he was forced to flee from Absalom, his own son: “Lord, I have so many enemies, so many who are against me. Listen to how they whisper their slander against me, saying: “Look! He’s hopeless! Even God can’t save him from this!”  Pause in His Presence. But in the depths of my heart I truly know that You, Yahweh, have become my Shield; You take me and surround me with Yourself. Your glory covers me continually. You lift high my head. I have cried out to You, Yahweh, from Your holy presence You send me a Father’s help. Pause in His presence

So now I’ll lie down and sleep like a baby—then I’ll awake in safety, for You surround me with Your glory. Even though ten thousand dark powers prowl around me. I won’t be afraid. Rise up and help me, Yahweh! Come and save me, God! For You will slap them in the face, breaking the power of their words to harm me. FOR THE LORD ALONE IS MY SAVIOUR. What a feast of favour and bliss He gives His people! Pause in His presence.”

Some times the people we love dearly, the ones who are our family, can do the most damage. It doesn’t even have to be what they say – neglect and abandonment can devastate us. The first point I want to make today is that this kind of scenario is not a walk in the park. We can’t just click our heels and the bad bits will go away. These things severely test us and often challenge our belief systems.They test our resolve to follow Him no matter what happens. 

Some things are a choice, but when it comes to family, those things are the places where we find we are most vulnerable. Family is about history. They knew you when. You knew them from birth…. That kind of history tears at our hearts like very little else, and betrayal from those who are meant to protect and care for us brings deep wounds. My advice is this;  start this process with healing, not rebuking or blaming your self. Ask the Lord Himself to be your Father and help you with the places that are bleeding inside from all that betrayal you feel. 

Don’t make excuses for them, and don’t make excuses for you either. It is what it is. David’s son was trying to kill him to take the throne. It wasn’t a whoopsie, or an error of judgment, it was a deliberate act of betrayal for Absalom’s gain. If you read the story, (2 Samuel 13-37 -15-12), Absalom went about whispering in other people’s ears, trying to turn the people’s loyalty away from David. That is not a mistake, it is deliberate SIN. In Absalom’s case it was jealousy and pride. He was beautiful and popular and he knew it and then pride took over.

Sometimes our family member/s are not simply making a mistake, they have joined their allegiances with destruction. They may call it correction, or caring for you, but because you are maintaining some degree of freedom or other they do not have, they will try to stop you anyway they can. Jesus Himself said this about families in Matthew 10:36 –“Don’t think I’ve come to make life cozy. I’ve come to cut—make a sharp knife-cut between son and father, daughter and mother, bride and mother-in-law—cut through these cozy domestic arrangements and free you for God. Well-meaning family members can be your worst enemies. If you prefer father or mother over Me, you don’t deserve Me. If you prefer son or daughter over Me, you don’t deserve Me.”

Look, if Jesus Himself talked about it, then difficulties like this aren’t totally unexpected. My only advice is grieve for your loss and ask the Lord to heal your heart with His Grace and Love, and then, immediately go on to choosing forgiveness. Some family members will turn around, and others will see your forgiving heart as something that can be used against you. Then you will need grace, grace and more grace. Don’t leave home without it, because Grace can do the impossible. 

Don’t just content yourself with forgiving out of some kind of familial loyalty – ask and keep on asking for His Grace to truly forgive. INSIST. Meanwhile difficulties like this can take time to heal, so keep on believing God is helping you – and don’t quit. Take your focus off the family member/s that are persecuting you, and deliberately give those people as an act of your will, to Jesus. And then keep on doing that each time they come up in your mind – eventually Jesus in you will win.

At the same time it is good to go on into blessing these folks until you find you really mean it. It’s all a process and an extremely hard one at that. Your job is to watch over your heart and leave the work to the Holy Spirit. Let’s give thanks that we have a Parent Who never stops loving us, and He is totally devoted to the restoration of families. 👋🏻

P 2352 Pause with me and think on this.

/ DVH

“Go ahead and give God thanks for all the glorious things He has done! Go ahead and worship Him! Tell everyone about His wonders!” Psalms 105:1 TPT. Today I just want to mention some things that I thought about. Of course, primarily, we worship and thank Him that  He did not spare His precious Son, for our sakes! 

Down below I’ve put a picture of the moon. That beautiful orb reminds me that He put it there to be a guardian light in the darkness of night. That thing that took man four days to reach is something He simply spoke into being! I find that I need to take the time and make an effort to appreciate the things He has done  … even the way He decorated this world for our benefit. You gotta stop and look at it to love it!

At the same time I love meeting people. He made so many interesting ones! Human beings are incredibly interesting, we come in all sorts of shapes and sizes … well ….unless you are under 40 then apparently you are only allowed to be skinny with perfect skin and a perfect shape. Anything else quite obviously needs fixing! And if you are over 40 then middle-aged spread supposedly takes over, so you are only good as a money dispenser and a personal chauffeur. For people over 65 the attitude appears to be: “How come you are still here, I thought you’d be DEAD by now!” 😶 

Sometimes we forget that everything we can see HE made. It seems to me that criticising the ‘art-work’ to the Artist is like, a bit rich … whether it is a bull ant or a grumpy person. Hubby and I have a wonderful time meeting all sorts of  people. I highly recommend making the effort to talk to strangers. Hubby simply takes the time to say ‘hello’ to someone else. In the supermarket aisle, at the check-out, in the car park, on the street. He treats people with respect and kindness and that opens doors for communication.

We’ve found that new people widen our perceptions and horizons. When you appreciate others and you are interested in them;  supposedly ordinary, apparently drab, non-famous people come alive and they ✨ sparkle ✨.  I would go so far as to say that some of the most beautiful people I ever met did not have facial symmetry, perfect hair, or a body to die for. Some of them had bodies that were totally out of their control, but the beauty of their spirits outshone everything else. This stuff that our society values doesn’t matter to the Lord, He doesn’t see beauty the way we do. Check out 1 Peter 3:3&4.

Maybe it hasn’t occurred to us that the God who made butterflies, sunsets, hummingbirds, waterfalls and roses — also made — maggots, flies, cockroaches, buzzards, manx cats and the stinky corpse flower! The diversity of our world and all of humanity is a huge reminder of how creatively awesome He is. We worship our God simply because He is worthy, and everything else comes a far distant second to that. Meanwhile, making a GOD “after our own image” … is absolutely terrifying! Some of us aren’t all that nice. 

The Lord literally has to remain beyond our comprehension and that is part of His glory! A God we can sum up and explain is not the amazing Being Who is described in the bible. I exhort all of us to embrace the mystery, the wonder of Who He is and His unique ways and enjoy whatever we manage to glean and capture in our hearts about HIM.

Jesus Christ went totally outside of our rationale all the time. He kept offering new perspectives with a wisdom that astounded other people, even when He taught. He ignored the things that others expected from Him. He healed supposedly ‘unworthy’ people. Jesus used all of His circumstances as an opportunity to reveal His Father’s heart and will toward us. We are to be like Him and also take every opportunity to reveal His heart to others.

We must give thanks for Who Father God is, acknowledging that He is worthy of our praise and honour and gratitude. Let’s pass ON this news to anyone who comes our way and tell them what we have personally seen. So that ‘everyone who has breath can praise the Lord.’ And the very best way to do that is to take a risk, ask for His help, and stand back and watch Him move. 👋🏻

P 2340 Your voice is incredibly important.

/ DVH

Don’t settle for this world’s assessment of who you are and what you can and can’t do. Smith Wigglesworth was a plumber when Almighty God invaded his life. Peter and his cohorts were fishermen! This world we live in currently knows very little about God’s purposes – but we are blessed, we are already on a sure thing – we know HIM.

Sometimes, sadly, I actually think our world only knows just enough about Christianity to focus on our faults and sins, and I think that is our own fault. We blasted them about their sins taking them to hell for years. It’s no wonder we look bad from the outside. This verse from Ephesians 2:10 explains the reality of who we are now!

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

There are things in this life that will not get done if WE do not do them as the Holy Spirit leads us. You might want to read that sentence again just to make sure it sinks in. 🧐 

I have not been well educated, I left school right before I turned 14 to go and work in a bank. I sorted cheques for a living and left the bank to get married at 20. I had my first child at 22, and all 3 children were born by the time I was 27. I know I have no particular talent to commend me. 

I once went for singing lessons only to be told I should not waste my time or money. I can draw quite well, but I’m no artist. I can cook but I’m no chef… hmmm… you get it. There is nothing outstanding about me. My one comfort is this – this world has millions of people, just like me. I have discovered that being nobody has given me a platform and on it I can speak to others, who could easily be discouraged by this world’s assessment of them, too.

I have little education or experience and yet … I ran a street dance evangelism group, I’ve also produced a musical, and written 3 books and countless short stories. None of them published BTW, and none of it came from my natural talent! But I’ve watched people sob and get great comfort from reading something I wrote – and for me that’s wa-a-ay better than any publisher could guarantee, because what Jesus does – lasts!

I lack notable attributes, or even fantastic spiritual gifts… apart from knowing Jesus Christ personally for the past 50 years! I am not an evangelist, pastor, prophet or teacher etc. But I have prayed for people and they were healed yet I don’t have a gift of healing. I have had thousands of words of knowledge, but if the Holy Spirit doesn’t give them to me I too have nothing lasting to contribute. 

What I actually do have is the best gift of all and it was given to me when I was born again so I can take no credit for it. I’m crazy about the Lord, willing to take risks just because He asks me to, and I have a passion to see the Body of Christ – ordinary individuals like me, rise UP in the power and strength of His might. I would love to see the Body at large stop leaning on, and hiding behind other people’s fancy sparkly gifts and do great exploits themselves. So they can give Him glory for what He has done through their OWN little lives!

Today, I wrote all this with my trusty left index finger cos my other hand is in a splint and my broken right upper arm has a mind of its own. I wrote it to remind everyone reading this that with Christ any one of us is a majority. And together, all those little bits of His love we have to give away, are incredibly powerful. You and I might only hold one little piece of our Father’s fantastic jigsaw puzzle, but that piece is so totally needed. You are destined for great things, not because you are great, but because the Greatest One ever, lives inside you and He wants to come OUT. 

Being ordinary is not a crime – there are millions of people who qualify for that label, and God can use us to change this world and introduce people into His kingdom. Be like the triangle in a huge orchestra, you might only have one solitary note to play, but play it in faith, play it with all your mind, soul, heart and strength …to the glory of God! That music you can play is needed – someone will hear you, AND SEE HIM! Bye. 🤗 

So how do you find what you are here to do? Start deliberately loving everyone who comes across your path, with His selfless kind of love. Your part in His plan will make itself clear. 👋🏻

P 2331 Hard times do not mean that God has left us.

/ DVH

Boy, is that sometimes a faith statement!! Hard times however, do st-re-t-ch us, and that is definitely no fun. Growth of any kind is hard work. I remind myself that His Grace is enough. It is astonishing what you can see if you stop focussing on the difficulty and focus on His Grace instead. After my recent accident, my broken humerus has had to grow enough bone to reattach itself to the head of the bone. Imagine that. What an amazing thing, I am literally growing new bone as I type this! At my age!!

I have not been given any medicine or specific treatment to help this healing. Rather I’ve been engaged in physical therapy to teach my muscles they may not lie down and hope for the best. Instead (!) they have to get stronger and support these broken bones. The human body is a miraculous thing, our God gave it all sorts of healing skills. My body, is currently working on healing itself in secret places. Thank you for your prayers, we are so grateful.

Now to my point today, we can become so used to, and adept at, hiding from and avoiding any sort of pain… that we do it without thinking and it eventually that becomes an unconscious lifestyle. There is much more to this life than a defensive posture.Do yourself a favour – take risks – really LIVE! We have His book, filled with stories about other people just like us — how they coped … and how they didn’t. That helps us change our mind and think like Jesus does, and boy, do we need to keep reading it. 

There are also some kinds of pain that are totally unavoidable.  Sigh. These things crash into our lives without our permission, and then they explode. Some things are sent to sidetrack us from our God-given mission and distract us from His purposes. Human beings have very limited energy when they are suffering, but we can use that limited energy to distract ourselves away from the pain. Then we are avoiding transformation, in favour of hiding.

I urge anyone reading this to deliberately ask the Holy Spirit for His help, healing, protection, wisdom and strength when trouble and suffering overtakes you. We don’t have to fix these things, after all they ‘happened’ to us — we just need to deliberately turn our faces to the One Who made us — and stay in that place of need and surrender. For ordinary suffering human beings that is not a fun place to sit! We want action, we want the pain to stop or go away. 

In these times it is incredibly tempting to think that: ‘God doesn’t care about me, or the the stuff that is important to me, and the people I care about,’  simply because things don’t always instantly turn around. Doubt about His love for us can cling to the walls of our heart like a climbing rampant weed and it tries to strangle our faith that He is ALWAYS good and He ALWAYS loves us.These times are opportunities to stand steady, and hold fast to God’s incredible goodness, whether we can see it… or not.

1 Peter 4:12-19 “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed…

… If you suffer, it should not be as a not murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. … …” So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.”

Suffering is not a sign of God’s disfavour, it is simply the result of living in a fallen world, surrounded by imperfect, susceptible human beings and their sometimes corrupt systems. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says: “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”  He hasn’t left us alone to suffer with our anguished thoughts. It’s simply time to do what it the book says.

In times of trial, sorrow and suffering we need to immerse ourselves in His Grace. Let His Grace be your hiding place. at the same time, be forgiving and generous with each other, sharing that Grace that God has given us. Always remembering that hard times are never convenient — they often turn up when we are already worn down by life. If our response utterly depended on us, then we may not be able to come up with the exact desirable attitude … but we know the One Who understands human suffering. The Lord Jesus will not condemn us for being weary in the fight. Cling to Him like a limpet on a rock. 

Hold fast to whatever you can see that is good – you will come through this. Almighty God is totally committed to your victory. He has not left us alone because He promised He would never do that. Keep watching out for what HE IS DOING. Feed your heart on that. 🙏

P 2324 Embrace whatever He is doing.

/ DVH

Anybody my age will tell you that God is not currently doing stuff the way He did it before. “Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43:19. Time and time again I have heard this scripture used over the past 50 years to fulfil various agendas.  Eventually I came to a conclusion of my own …

…God is ALWAYS doing a new thing. You might want to sit and think about that one. 🧐 And what’s more, He thinks so differently than we do, we need to be regularly exhorted to even catch a glimpse of what He is doing. Lemme tell you what I have noticed … individuals, church groups, denominations … love to take what is already in the bible to prove that what they think and what they are doing … is right. They use the bible to justify their actions and activities. Maybe we need to ask ourselves what is more important – being right, looking good, or following Christ.

I think we do these kind of things because we want to be saved … plus … comfortable. We start well –  but if we are not alert then the things that thrust us forward will turn into a lullaby. Instead we will find a nice spiritual little groove and sit in it. The biggest problem with that attitude is that it precludes change. And the Christian life is predicated on change and development. So getting comfy is not in it!

1 Corinthians 3:18 “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”Change is part of our mandate from God Himself. You can call it transformation if that floats your boat, but predictability is not our friend. Growth is. Spiritual development is normal … and by that I mean we need less and less fame and publicity … and more servant-hearted humility. We are here to make HIS NAME FAMOUS not ours. 

Sadly, because hubby and I have travelled around so much we have discovered a whole generation who do not have a clue about Who Jesus Christ is – they barely even know His Name … except perhaps as an expletive. Shame on us! We have failed in our primary mandate to go and make disciples. Not FANS, BTW. Fans are whimsical and fickle.

Today the Good News lies dormant behind our programs. The ones that are formulated to encourage people into giving their lives to Christ, just so we can soothe our consciences with numbers. Conversely, we have so many ‘getting-ready-to-go-to-spread-the-gospel-programs it takes an army to train people … but few actually GO.

We have cast aside the devotion and wisdom and service of so many saints who have gone home before us… in favour of marketing. We’ve totally forgotten how much Almighty God can do with just twelve devoted men! We have been saved to be changed, and we have been saved to serve Him and others. Its a done deal, accessed by active faith.

If even one fifth off this current world’s Christian population took Matthew 28:19-2 seriously: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” … imagine the result! Instead we’ve taught people that laying down their lives for the One Who died for them is an optional extra, only for those people who have a ‘calling.’ The rest of us can enjoy this life, go to church, tithe if we can afford it, and expect Almighty God to keep “adding all these things unto us!”

No wonder the world does not take us seriously, we don’t seem to take ourselves seriously. Love, of the die-for-others-kind, has taken a back seat to marketing. Here’s a huge clue for any church builders out there … Jesus Christ had no trouble attracting a crowd – the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him. If you want to see people truly repent then carry His Presence. Conviction will fall like rain. 👋🏻

 I pray …“That according to the riches of His glory He may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”Amen.