God

P 2736 Do something different.

/ DVH

2 Timothy 1:7: “For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.” I read this recently and I realised I had not been reading this verse correctly for years!! I missed the bit at the end … “and self-discipline.” In spite of our feelings, the bible says we already have the power to discipline ourselves, we were g-i-v-e-n it the moment we said yes to Him. I strongly suspect that we all like the thought that: “God doesn’t make us timid – He gives us power and love …” bit!  ”But the self-discipline … meh! Not-so-much.

I could spend a week on this subject mainly because very few people seem to be enthusiastic about dying to self. I can count on one hand the number of people I know personally who know how to discipline themselves. Most people I know have an unusual response when they read verses like this. They expect that they would be the exception, because they have legitimate excuses. Good luck with that one! We are dealing with Almighty God – the Person Who knows everything … if that doesn’t make your knees knock together … there’s something wrong somewhere!

People say things to me like: ‘I had a terrible childhood ‘ – We have been  blessed. We do not have to get stuck back there. So forgive, move on! Or they say something like …’you are just being mean, my life is full of difficulties and I’m very vulnerable right now.’  Mature Christians learn to take the rough with the smooth because they understand they are not living for themselves anymore! Let’s remember that Jesus hung on the cross with no clothes on. That’s vulnerable!! Lastly, here’s my all time fav excuse…’It’s too ha-ard, I can’t.’  Whoever said Christianity is easy, should be smacked upside their head every day for a year! Oh my, I think I just found some of that anger I rattled on about yesterday. Moo-ving on … rapidly! Of course we will have to pray to enter into this process of change, otherwise our flesh will rise up and cry ‘uncle’ way too soon.

It is bound to hurt when we stop ourselves from doing and saying things that have become part of the fabric of our old lives. If someone else points this stuff out, it is highly likely that we will probably get snarky at them. I have no clue who said this particular saying but it sure sounds good — they said: “Along with great power comes great responsibility.” If we truly want to be over-comers we will have to seek His help to deal with the stuff in our own personal lives that can take us away from walking with Him. That will not be fun. It isn’t easy either. But it is not impossible – I just need His strength, not mine. I know I will quit far too soon and pronounce the situation untenable rather than deal with it and persevere.

The bible says that the Holy Spirit does not make us timid. And that means if we are think we are timid it’s not HIM! It’s our flesh jumping up and down demanding to be fed or kept hidden. Unless we are planning on joining the undead it’s best not to feed our flesh anything, or hide it anywhere. Just saying …!! Here’s a great tip BTW, it’s a bad plan to feed your old man sympathy and pity – that stuff will turn into self-pity in a heartbeat. Treat these things like a surgeon, cut whatever it is out, cauterise it, put a nice bandage on it and start exercising the new YOU. The more we walk in our new identity, the more it becomes who we are.

Let’s not kid ourselves, this process can feel strange, a bit like you are betraying yourself. Because we’ve spent most of our life giving in to timidity, and calling it shyness – but it is really fear, and God doesn’t give us that! He gave us power, love and a sound mind/self-discipline. I like that it says self-discipline in the Passion Translation, it makes it do-able. A sound mind just sounds like something most people already have – we hope! But self-discipline sounds like work – and it is. 

And yes, I know that Jesus told us that: “His yoke is easy, His burden is light.”  Yeah it is. After we put that yoke ON and pick up that burden. We can’t go with what we can see, because this stuff is never going to LOOK easy. Christianity involves cost. Avoidance goes entirely in the other direction and it creates chaos. That means we are not in-step with the Master. His yoke, is not only easy – it’s REAL. Being yoked together with Him means we fall into step with Him, so we go where He’s going. His strength as our Leader holds us up.

Self-discipline is not just about admitting our own faults, and kind of laughing over it like we care … but we are mostly powerless to change. It is about engaging in His processes and doing something about them. We already have the power to change. We exercise that power when we pray for His help and step out in faith. Let’s do something different! 👋

P 2735 Who are you angry with?

/ DVH

If someone asked me that question I would probably say: “no-one.” Actually I might think about it for a bit, and maybe I would come up with one or two people that kinda irk me every now and then but my response would be: ‘… I’m not angry! No way!’ Now here’s a laugh for you … or you could cry. I’ve done both. Ask the Lord who you are mad at, and sit and wait for His answer. ps Don’t believe that little voice inside your head that says you are OK. That voice will tell you that you are a perfectly splendid person who never gets mad, it’s someone else’s fault for provoking you. That’s that liar – it’s not Jesus. 

At the same time it could also be you, making excuses for yourself. Err on the side of caution and press into the Lord about it anyway … and take a pen … because you are going to need one. Yeah, I know, I seem so sure of myself about this subject … that’s because I’ve been doing stuff like this for quite a while now. One time recently when I asked the Lord that question He said: ‘the postman!’  I’m like … ‘the POSTMAN Lord??? Really??? What on earth did HE do that gave me an opportunity to be angry at him?’ Then the Lord spoke this magic sentence “… remember when you were waiting impatiently for that important parcel … and it didn’t come?” … …

Aha! The Lord and I were about to have a teaching moment. I am dumb, but I have learnt not to talk over the top of Him! I’ve also learnt to agree with Him and let Him explain to me the error in my thinking. Plus I get a freebie – a way to deal with it. He gave me this picture and I kind of liked it – I hope you find it helpful. Suppose getting mad at someone else was represented with something concrete:  every time you get miffed at another person or situation because it doesn’t suit you – someone gives you an orange. Would you like to guess how many oranges you will have at the end of the day? Mine was 3 bags and still counting!  No wonder I am always tired!! I’m carrying around 3 kgs of oranges, voluntarily!!🍊

Meanwhile calling anger by another name does not change a thing. It just makes ME feel better and more in control. You know what I mean, calling it lesser things like – miffed, ticked off, irritated, cross, displeased, provoked and irked – those are just a few synonyms for angry, and there are lots more …!! 🙄 Just having kids can throw you headfirst into plenty of opportunities to be angry. Meanwhile if you actually stumble into rage, please count me out. I have no brilliant ideas for dealing with that one! Maybe take a cold shower??… Like I said … not a clue!

My very, very elderly parent forgets what she just said. And she also forgets what you said three seconds ago when you answered her. So she asks “How are you?”…   every three minutes. It seems like time stands still just being around her and you are caught in this time warp! You try to change the subject but the minute there is silence – off she goes again! That’s on ME, BTW, not her. I can, however, with the Lord’s help have compassion on her, my brain cells are slowly dying off too.

Another fav irritating thing that happens with astonishing regularity is caused by our dog!  She loves to bark at anyone who comes within a half a mile of our house. I mean they could be 4 houses down and just walking along, on the other side of the road, minding their own business … But she goes off her rocker explaining to us that there’s  a person! I roar at the dog, because I’m embarrassed at the noise she makes – but let’s not talk about me shouting at her, that’s another thing altogether!

Now over to a few solutions. Well there aren’t any. Just get over yourself and repent. My dear parent is going to continue to ask “how are you” because she’s stuck, and she’s polite and wants to contribute, and praise God she is still here to do it! And the dog is going to continue to announce every stranger who walks past our house. However, personally, I am getting so sick of collecting oranges! What to do? Here’s what the bible says: “Be angry but don’t sin, don’t let the sun go down on your anger.”Ephesians 4:26. Now that’s good advice … I need to take it … I often remember that scripture the day after I fall in!

Sadly, there are some things that we can let the sun go down on, and come up again, etc. etc. over and over. Here’s the only thing I can suggest. Forgive whoever it is on purpose. Go in person if you can and ask them for forgiveness, then every single time it comes up in your mind, or that person does whatever it is AGAIN, remind yourself you already forgave them, and repent for digging up dirt on somebody else. Next, deliberately take the time to ask the Holy Spirit if that irritation etc. is standing on something. Do I remember this advice all the time? Of course not!

Some things remind us of the past or someone else, and then we react badly because we are standing on a mound of hurt. Repent, forgive whoever it was and ask for healing. Other people’s sins should fade out of our lives – yes, even if they do continue to do the same thing over and over again. It is OUR sin we are concerned about … of course I am an abject failure at that one too!  My advice, don’t let anger ruin your days… and if you do! Repent quickly. Bye 👋

P2734 “Let HIS mind be in us …”

/ DVH

People like the Apostle Paul wrote what they wrote to equip the saints, as well as to promote unity, and maturity. And most times today’s saints are scrabbling about in the dirt fighting over this perceived bit of turf or that pathway, or this verse interpretation, or that application! All our theories are just that – theories. We are more concerned about being doctrinally right, than we are about learning to love people – even when they are difficult.  One day – we will ALL know how wrong we’ve been. In the Presence of the Lord there is no room for anything but worship and awe, so what WE think won’t matter! 🙌 At that point, all our theories and ideas will be less than dust atoms.

The early church had skirmishes with each other and things weren’t always perfect. However I am so sad about the things that are not resolved in our churches today. Our sure foundation is Christ, we cannot build on the rubble of disagreement. Where we fall down is we are not working to restore people when things get broken and God is not pleased with our hard hearts. These men and women in the book could not live without Him – so they did whatever the Holy Spirit said, so they could stay in step with Him and others!  I am not trying to be rude, but YOU are not the Apostle Paul … we know that he had sound doctrine  … and neither am I! Let’s learn to walk in humility toward restoration.

I know so many precious people who are waiting, waiting. waiting for the next move of the Holy Spirit to come. They want Him to fix the mess we have made, because we’ve allowed opinions to become more important than people or God Himself! Human passion does not equal God’s passion. When we throw ourselves on the altar weeping, what do we do after that? Many of us want Him to transform us in a heartbeat, when most of us have had a lifetime to learn how to co-operate with Him! It’s time to repent of wasting the time He has already given us, and start pursuing living the way that He lived. 

Philippians 2:5-8: “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”Humility is not about what we say – it is designed to be demonstrated, frequently.

In these turbulent times I’m personally looking for prophets that will tell us that we need to repent and repair things in our own lives, today – otherwise I’m not very interested in what they say. All I know is that Jesus will come back – one day, maybe soon, maybe not!… And He’s coming back for a passionate people who will die for each other and what they believe. The Holy Spirit is looking for the heart of Christ in all of us. And what we aim at matters. Even if we miss the mark, we need to keep aiming at loving one another, promoting unity, as well as embracing repentance when we are wrong. Humbling ourselves and admitting our faults to one another is part of the way that happens!  

The Lord is looking for the harmony that comes from seeking His Face, personally and corporately. We’ve all been aiming too low, we are aiming at promoting our churches and their doctrines, not Jesus!  The Holy Spirit is the One Who would love to lead us into true unity. His Presence with us, in us and through us will be that Unity. Unity is not just agreement – unity is a heart attitude. Agreements can be broken. Read the book. 

Transformation, for individuals and for all of us corporately, is a process. Let’s choose to participate in that process, voluntarily, every single day, whether we think it is necessary or not. Unity in the Body of Christ does not begin with everybody agreeing – unity is when you or I would die for someone else just because God loves them. I don’t have to agree with their theology!

Day by day, we His help to see and know one another after the Spirit, not just by what is said. Let’s learn patience from Him when people aren’t all they can be. To display kindness and mercy like He would to those who are in need. We will need to live in self-control when someone else jumps all over our toes. Lastly we must consistently practice attentive faithfulness to His ways. As we do these things, the Holy Spirit will help us. Unity is the centre of Christ’s joy. 3 John 4. “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.”

The bible says things clearly. LOVE has to be our aim – our great quest. Love is not just another key – it is the way forward into UNITY. The Holy Spirit knows the way you should go, ask Him to help you walk that way. Let’s all pray for the same mindset that was in the Lord Himself … Bye. 👋

P 2732 God loves to love on people.

/ DVH

“He sends His rain on the just and unjust.”Matthew 5:45. This morning hubby and I were talking about the Lord and how kind He is, and all the things He did for so many people while we were away this time. Today I want to share some insight into what happens while we are out there. 

For many people in this country, we are their first contact with the Lord – most of them haven’t even been to Sunday School or Children’s church! So our population is vastly UN-churched. The good news is that this means that they have no preconceptions about God and what He is like. Hubby and I are blessed to be the people the Lord has asked to give them an opportunity to have their first spiritual encounter with Him. We’ve found He doesn’t want to barrage them with words, He just wants to love on them.

We are seed-sowers. But this morning I came to realise that we actually do more than that with His guidance. Sowing a seed can be impersonal, but like the Samaritan woman at the well, we’ve been used by Him to be the person who tells them: “…everything they ever did.” People are astonished when we appear to know stuff that we can’t know. We simply tell them that it is Jesus, and He sent us to tell them that He cares so much about them. Lucky us! There are no kudos for doing it BTW, we just follow His instructions. I have to say that we never know where this stuff will lead us, it is always a surprise to us too!

There are people who could be puzzled by the fact that we don’t go out there to EVANGELISE our fellow Aussies as they go about their lives – instead we just talk to them!! I capitalised that word ‘evangelise’ to give it emphasis. We simply go out there and do whatever He says to do. This means that we wait on Him, with our heart and hands open, and our ears and eyes, ready to go! Today I have chosen a young couple who hosted us on our journey this time to illustrate my point – I have given them other names for their privacy.

Sam and Jenny live in a small seaside community, you can get to the beach through a little grove of trees that they own. Hubby went to talk to them both, as the Lord led him. Before he toddled off, I felt to tell him to give them the gospel of John. I just need to say that that very rarely happens, hubby usually picks out the bibles. At the same time, the Lord indicated to him that he should take a picture he had painted just recently of an older man holding a tiny child’s hand. At this stage there was no indication that any of that was right, we just had to act in faith.And I felt we should give them a photo book of ours that is all about comfort. Off he went, and I stayed behind to pray.

Hubby loves to let people talk. He had told this couple we had presents for them, and during their conversation, Sam started to share that the place we were staying in, had been built for Jenny’s Dad. Her Dad had died very recently. Jenny began to share through her tears what the loss of her father meant to her. So hubby’s standing there with a book of comfort to give them, and a picture of an older man holding a child’s hand!! … It gets better…!! Hubby gave them the comfort book, more tears, then the picture, and both of them are openly crying because Jenny’s Dad had been like a father to Sam as well. 

Then he gave them both the gospel of John. Jenny gasped, and said “Look Sam! Look at the title.” It transpired that Jenny’s Dad’s name was … yeah … JOHN! More tears again. Hubby prayed for them both for the Lord to comfort them. Later on as we were leaving Sam asked us to stay on with them for FREE! Sadly, we couldn’t stay longer, the rest of our trip was already organised at that time, and we had many other places to go, but the man was so impacted by God, that was his response. 

I said all that to say that the Lord is reaching into the lives of the people-who-don’t-know-Him-yet in profound ways. Over and over again, this happens to us. We have so many stories over the past 20 years, just like this one! This time we spoke personally to 60 people in 15 days and each encounter was a God appointment. In the time we have been going out we have gathered so much proof that God wants LOVE to be the vehicle that He rides in, not fear.

I want to conclude my explanation by pointing out that this particular encounter started with 3 words of knowledge and a whole lot of His love, toward that couple …long before we ever got there, He simply needed our participation. Actually, we never ever know what is going to happen – that’s part of the fun. Let me tell you, anyone with ears to hear can have a word of knowledge!  The ones He has given us, have no lights, bells and whistles attached to them. The Lord is not big on show or titles. That stuff doesn’t seem to matter to Him at all. So if you are looking for titles or spiritual brownie points, we don’t have any!  

Someone once said to us that we should write a book about these encounters – we just laughed and said: “we don’t have time, we are too busy doing it!”  We simply follow His prompts and then the Lord does what He does best – HE LOVES ON PEOPLE. My advice to anyone who wants to live this way is to make Love your aim, not imparting information! In conclusion I just want to quietly remind you that —“the fields are white!” 👋

P 2713 Learn to BOW low.

/ DVH

“IF you bow low in God’s awesome presence, He will eventually exalt you as you leave the timing in His hands.” 1 Peter 5:6 TPT. Now here’s the rub, we cannot ‘bow low’ and have a secret expectation that at the end of our so-called humility we will be exalted. I think we’ve been reading many, if not ALL scripture promises, with the expectation of ‘what’s in it for ME’ — and we can become disappointed when we think that God has not honoured His promises. Bowing low is not necessarily a physical position – it is the position of an undivided heart.

Those verses we grab for our own benefit are revealing something to us about Him – and we are missing it. Yeah. And aren’t you glad I pointed that out?! For instance, the verse: “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you”tells us something about the Lord and what He is looking for from us – our participation. If we want to be close to the Lord we will have to go after Him first. I call this type of verse the “if” verses. If I do this then He will do that. And just who is in charge of that scenario?

In the past, many well-meaning people wanted to be seen and heard, perhaps because in their mind, it meant that others would hear or see what the Lord wanted to teach others.. They believed that meant that they would have a bigger stage to stand upon to speak His truth. Wrong! “For honour does not come from the east or the west or from the desert. But God is the One Who decides. He puts down one and brings respect to another.” Psalm 75:6,7. Recognition for us is God’s choice, not ours. We dare not manipulate others or even take advantage of situations, no matter how great the cause seems to be. Manipulation is not His Way.

Almighty God is interested in a great deal more than just our promotion and fame! Our new way of life is a spiritual way of life, it is not showy or competitive. Popularity or influence are not worth a hill of beans to the Lord. The Holy Spirit is the only influencer with a pure motivation, and we must learn to follow His Ways. It’s always our hearts that matter .. not popularity or influence. We can have thousands of followers on Instagram, or Facebook, and still have an impure ambitious, or even perhaps a needy heart. Philippians 4:19.

If I put one drop of poison into a glass of fresh, pure, spring water – would you still drink it? A pure heart wants what He wants and they are prepared to die to see that He gets it! That’s called devotion. But general applause, or even the size of any one congregation does not matter to the Lord. Jesus had hundreds of people who volunteered to be His disciples – yet Almighty God told Him to choose twelve. And one of them was not going to make the cut! 

Jesus trusted His Father and the Holy Spirit’s choices, that the men He chose would be the ones who spread the Word about God’s incredible love far and wide. And they did. Judas was the only one of those men with a divided heart. We are not told why he was like that, we are simply told that he handled the money somewhat carelessly. This is what I mean when I talk about having a divided heart – one of our regular prayers should be about not having one!

We cannot afford to let even little sin reign, even if it seems to be in a good cause … because sin will eventually drag us under and flavour everything around it. However, we always have a Way Out of sin. “You are my dear children, and I write these things to you so that you won’t sin. But if anyone does sin, we continually have a forgiving Redeemer who is face-to-face with the Father: Jesus Christ, the Righteous One”. I John 2:1. Silently waiting for our spiritual abilities to be “discovered” is still an agenda! Our only aim needs to be to that others see Him.

‘Bowing low’ is our way of life. It means whether others think we are right or wrong – we bow down to the Lord’s wishes and let Him exonerate us when He thinks the time is right. People with a heart like this don’t care if our only service is putting out the chairs at church! We do what we do with all our hearts as though we were putting out chairs for Jesus Himself!

I have known totally devoted, utterly beautiful chair-putter-outer-ers! 😂 They did not see this task as a tiny task, and it was not menial to them. Instead they prayed over each chair that each person who sat on it would be blessed, healed, delivered and discover more about Christ. They treated that  task like the pastor treated His sermon – as devotion to Almighty God!“Whatsoever you do, do it with all your heart as though you were doing it for the Lord.” This BTW, is now one of my new all time favourite verses!

Let’s remember that pride took lucifer out of a realm of honour, and put him into the unenviable place of being a permanent enemy. And the best thing we can do when we discover any sort of pride is to humble ourselves before God, and others, as well as confess our faults. The true diagnosis of a proud heart is that they have secret agendas.  They have a desperate need to always be right, and other people’s needs are secondary to their own.

Bowing low is not just an outward action, it is an inner stance of our hearts. Bless you as you serve our King! 👑

P 2711 Faith is not just agreement.

/ DVH

I’ve met plenty of people who agree that God is real, yet they have no visible faith! Some of them have what I call, fashionable faith. However what they say has no substance in their lives. God clearly values OBEDIENCE- read the book! Disobedience is not a viable alternative. So if we truly want our faith to grow, then we need to cultivate an attitude that is consistently, actively obedient. Faith has evidence. Our faith brings unseen things into the realm of things we can see.

Meanwhile, even the devil believes there is a God! (James 2:19) The only way we can showcase our faith is to use it – and not just when the sky is falling. Our evidence is always seeable. People ask both of us why we go on the road a number of times during a year? Because the Lord asked us to do it. Actually, He asks all His kids to follow His Son into a life of voluntary, loving service …it’s in the book! So why is it so hard to obey? Dying is hard! Everybody wants the benefits, but very few people want to be changed and transformed. FYI the older you get the harder transformation becomes.

We meet all kinds of difficulties when we are on the road. Hubby has to do everything. He does all the driving, then he has to pack and unpack the car … all by himself. Then he needs to set up our overnight stay. When we get to the destination, he can’t rest … he has to look after me. Showers, cooking, setting up the bed! If we travel every single day, then he does this every single day. He packs up in the morning, and then he sets up again that night. He only gets a rest from this kind of intense work when we stay more than two nights in one place. However, there is nothing special about this – he is just being obedient. Obedience costs us comfort and ease.

Jesus says this about a servant who works all day for His Master …I’ve put this scripture here because we need to pay attention to it as well as others like it. It always reminds me of my dear husband. Luke 17:7-10 “Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do?  So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”

I have found that many ministers ignore verses like these these, because those verses aren’t what I call, popular theology. Most people like the kind of verses that support them – their personal lives as individuals. Jesus didn’t come to earth and do all He did for us to give us a happy life down here – He came to get us to HEAVEN. And when we pray for others – when we tell them what Jesus did for them – we are using our faith for good. Yesterday my hubby shared the gospel with a mainland Chinese gentleman who had never heard it before. What a privilege! Our God is our HOME. He’s the place where we put down roots. Of course, He loves to help us, He loves His kids — but He is not an elderly benevolent ga-ga Grandpa either!! 

When we simply mentally agree with what the bible says, that is not faith. Faith has substance and substance can be seen! Jesus bought and paid for the right to ask us to live that way. Living for Him will involve sacrifices too. We will end up living differently than the world around us. Sometimes Christians are like starry-eyed people who fall in love… they only want the romance, and they never really settle into the marriage. Marriage involves love and romance;  and also sacrifice and hardship. Deep relationships do not come cheap! 

Here are some other less popular verses: John 12:26:“If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there will My servant be also. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honour him.” Ask yourself, would Jesus prioritise leisure time or reaching-out-to-others-time? Galatians 5:13: “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” There’s a lot of them if you want to do the research.

Salvation is not only about you and I going to heaven – we were saved to bring other people with us. That won’t happen if we do not practice obedience. There are enough instructions in those four gospels, to keep us busy for the rest of our lives!! We don’t have to wait upon Him to find special things to do – we have a book full of things we can do. We need to put aside the practice of simply memorising verses that promise US some sort of a special advantage over someone else, and start living by all those verses, so we can demonstrate them to other people. Real faith is not about just agreeing with the truth, it is about living by it. Every single day. 👋

P 2710 ‘Have good day, make good choices!’

/ DVH

“Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” 2 Corinthians 9:6-8.”Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”Luke 6:38.

Did you get that? If you want MORE of God – then give MORE to God! Our generosity or lack thereof, can limit the blessings God has flowing toward us like a river. They will float on by us and we won’t notice them. Meanwhile, He says we will have everything we need – not necessarily everything we WANT! But we can always ask – He’s a very generous Father.  At first glance these scriptures appear to be about monetary giving – but I also associate these verses with the way we live. Let me explain:  our LIVES are also our tithes and offerings. This means that we choose to serve others, 24/7. All day every day. Are you cheered up yet? 

If you are a parent you will know that there is no such thing as a part-time carer for your brand new infant. New parents walk about looking like zombies for months and months, and sometimes years! They accept that no sleep etc is part of the deal. Now if you are a nurse, bus driver, IT specialist, accountant, father, sales assistant, then your employment – the way you use your days – are not bigger than your primary calling as His child. EG You are not a nurse and a Christian … you are a nurse who IS a Christian.

Belonging to HIM is our first priority. Not our families, not our friends, not work-mates, not even our own relaxation. We have chosen Him, so we have chosen to serve Him! Yay! And we do that by serving Him and others, every single day. We give our love, our time, our efforts, our insights, our kindness, our patience AWAY, all the time. There is no such thing as a part-time Christian because there is no off button. We live this life sowing blessings and being one!

Meanwhile, burn-out is a symptom of not yet knowing all we can about how to REST in Him. I am not condemning anyone for it, I am just saying that this condition is a diagnostic tool of how much self-effort we are putting into doing what the Lord wants. We need to continually remember that ‘His yoke is EASY … His burden is …LIGHT.’ That’s not just a pretty word picture — it is a way to live! We simply must progressively let Him inhabit every single area of our lives or we will not be living this life, our only life, in His Presence. That’s where the power of God resides, IN HIS PRESENCE. That’s how Jesus lived!! Yes, it is costly, just like giving away money you need is costly, but the results have results in other people’s lives.

The verse from 2 Corinthians above, shows us we cannot live this way by force. We must choose and we choose over and over again. Otherwise we will either become incredibly angry and extremely rebellious — or we will quit Christianity and wander off into the wilderness, complaining our heads off and eating quails until they make us sick to our stomach. The Lord knows we are all weak – that’s why He promised to be our strength! Because we are HIS we have access to His perfection, which is what that verse in 2 Corinthians 12:9 says:“His strength is made perfect in our weakness…” or we can settle for little, instead of much. My premise today is this we cannot lose when we give! “God is no man’s debtor…”

We all love Jesus. But it’s probably pretty clear to everyone around us one way or another that we are not perfected yet, However we’ve chosen to follow Him and now we are straining to reach the goal. Are we always cheerful about it? Not always. But that lack of cheerfulness is a sign that we are in a process.  We don’t have to get it right, we just have to stay on the path – using our choices! (Repent and repair, remember?) And then we ask for His help to take every single opportunity He sends our way to choose Him all over again. When we choose Him and His ways – we are doing everything for HIM! ‘Whatsoever you do, do it with all your heart as though you were doing it for the Lord.’

We totally give Him our lives because He totally gave us HIS, first. He will guide, help, comfort, lead and teach us. If we sow sparingly into His kingdom and Jesus is not the centre of everything we do, then we will miss the blessing of provision He has for His kids. Only eyes of faith can see some blessings, because wrong attitudes block our eyes and ears. I once heard a mother say to her child: “Have a good day, make good choices.’ Amen! Bye. 👋

P 2705 On being tested.

/ DVH

Jesus Christ, God’s precious Son, became a man. He respected and obeyed what His Father wanted above His own personal needs and ideas. He lived, and then He chose to die, in accordance with His Father’s will. He is our example of how to deal with temptations. Right at the very beginning of His ministry, the Lord Jesus was thoroughly tested, under extreme circumstances. FYI, that is recorded in Matthew 4:1-11, and Luke 4:1-13. Jesus came through it all, despite the incredible hardship He faced. But He met with the Holy Spirit and POWER on the other side of that test. This is a great place to stop, and think about what that means to ME. 🤔

The Lord personally demonstrated and proclaimed during this testing time, that the way for human beings to live – is primarily by the Word of God. He did this, under dire circumstances, live and in person, in front of His enemy. That is when He put a stamp on the scriptures as our primary source of spiritual food and defensive weapons..

After that, in the second temptation, His enemy offered Him physical well being, protection and personal safety – for the exorbitant fee of worshippinghim. Jesus refused to have anything to do with getting where He needed to go using His enemy’s help. He responded to this temptation with another scripture. Making it clear that He was not going to trust in anything but God’s Word to care for Him. The truth set Him free. Another good spot to stop and think about what that shows me! 🤔

The last and final temptation was that His enemy would give Him everything He came to do, without making the ultimate sacrifice. Our enemy tried to blind the Lord with success, which included the price tag of saving the world … without Him having to die. It looked like an easy answer, but it involved putting this world into satan’s hands permanently. 

I believe we all face temptations, often we face them daily. We are tempted to lose heart, and put our faith and hope down. Sometimes we are tempted to live by what Brother so and so says, and when we do that means we have put the Word of God second. We are taking another man’s interpretation of the scripture over what God wants to say to US, personally. The most valuable thing we have is our bible… obedience to what is commanded in that book is incredibly personally powerful. When we choose to live by His words — instead of our circumstances, or experiences, or what someone else thinks — we elevate Almighty God in our lives to His rightful place as GOD!

Secondly, there are times when we too are tempted and tested regarding our participation in whatever needs to be done in His kingdom, by methods other than FAITH. Things like clever marketing, slick presentations, and popularity without us having to make sacrifices. The Word of God is powerful all by itself, it does not need to be marketed! In the hands of someone who is obedient to the Holy Spirit, His Word will cut between human thoughts and intentions and go right into the heart of any matter. On that day in Christ’s life – it cut the enemy to pieces! When we rely upon our own skills and energies we are succumbing to the temptation to help God out, and so the accolades may go to a person, instead of the One Who made us and deserves our worship.

I think Father God is very particular about where our worship goes, because: a/ He is a jealous God. And: b/ our frame is not strong enough to be able to manage the kind of praise and worship that belongs to Him – alone. However, His power will flow quite naturally through our lives as we learn to resist temptation and live in obedience. There is always a way through whatever is going on, we just ask Him for His help! Christ was led into the wilderness, by the Holy Spirit — but He came out IN THE POWER of the Holy Spirit. Facing temptation and overcoming it, is part of our growth process – it is meant to test and stretch our faith and resolve to rely upon God and His Word. That means it will hurt!

The bible says this about being tested:“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.”1 Peter 4:12&13. And in James 1:2&3: “My fellow believers, when it seems as though you are facing nothing but difficulties, see it as a valuable opportunity to experience the greatest joy you can! For you know that when your faith is tested, it stirs in you the power of endurance.”

Let’s reflect for a minute – in Jesus, Father God finally had a man He could talk to and trust. Just imagine the depth and breadth of the Lord Jesus’ faith!! God’s will was His only aim! In this world we will face trials and tests, but we do not face them alone. Praise God, our knowledge of His Word is our personal shield of faith. Jesus Himself overcame our enemy, and because of what He did on the cross, we can too. Now we can walk forward like Sons and Daughters of the Most High God. Bye. 👋

“Let me emphasize this: As you yield to the dynamic life and power of the Holy Spirit, you will abandon the cravings of your self-life.”Galatians 5:16 TPT.

P 2703 Even if we die, WE WIN!

/ DVH

Right here, right now, we have been re-born into something new. To start with, we are now risk takers. We take a risk every time we talk about Jesus to someone we care about, or even somebody we don’t know. People have been punched on the nose for less! It’s always a risk. I’ve learnt to do whatever He tells me to do — but, at the same time, I figure if I heard Him incorrectly, Jesus can redeem anything! So I ask Him to redeem whatever I did that missed the mark.  Plus I carry lots of hankies, and bandaids! … only joking.🤣

The bible teaches us to love other people, but the reality is we have no actual guarantee that whoever we love can’t, won’t, or don’t love us back. The best answer to that unfortunate dilemma is to focus on how much HE loves us! Sadly I think most of us are ignorant of that particular fact. We let the fact that other people don’t love us dissuade us from the reality of His eternal, passionate love for us.

So it is good to make that error our prayerful starting place. It is way too easy to start in the wrong place. Sometimes we start by doing our best to love others – but we actually need His power to love others. Sooner or later, everyone is going to annoy us, and there goes love out of the window. Instead, ask Him to reveal to you how much He loves you.

At the same time, it is not good to sit around waiting to ‘feel like He loves you’ to fall on you – instead, deliberately choose to decide to believe the book! Then begin to live this life the way we have been taught by Christ’s own example. One step at a time, always walking with the Holy Spirit. He doesn’t leave us, we may not be aware of Him – but He is there. If we fall down and do something that breaks our connection with Him, then we repent, repair and get up again. The whole point of Christianity is selfless living!  Sometimes, because many of us are needy one way or another, being selfless can be risky. Actually, some days it can look downright stupid!

However, we are now playing the long game, because this life we lead is eternal. We aren’t interested in a quick return on our investment, because we’re choosing to live this life invested in heaven. That’s a long term investment that holds countless treasures beyond our wildest dreams – some we will see here, some we will see there.  It won’t be hard to be nice to difficult people in heaven – it won’t even come up! That’s because we will ALL be changed. Interestingly enough, maybe the people who bug us won’t be changed at all, but WE will! And if that sentence grated on you – maybe you still have issues. PRAY SOME MORE. 😂

Jesus Christ sealed this incredible provision in His blood. He has made it so we can’t lose – the only thing we can do is to default on what we have been given.  We simply follow the precious Holy Spirit’s prompts and be prepared to die to self. Now, that’s the knotty bit … that’s when we find out who we really are, and polite falls off! Here’s a whacky thought, maybe we can’t get along with some people because our unchanged attitudes have corrupted our POV. 🤔 We can say that we will die for the ungrateful, the unkind, the deliberately wicked – BUT!! When that turns out to be somebody close to you … meh! Not-so-much! 

Here’s another thought … when we change our response with His help, then the unhelpful people will be wasting their time. They can say or do whatever they want, but we will have moved! The Holy Spirit is powerful, He just needs our co-operation. This is how we learn what the power of God can do, when we see ourselves leaving stuff behind we thought we had to have, and we step into Christ’s shoes.

It is how we become those people mentioned in Psalm 91:8-10 “Only a spectator shall you be [yourself inaccessible in the secret place of the Most High] as you witness the reward of the wicked. Because you have made the Lord your refuge, and the Most High your dwelling place, There shall no evil befall you, nor any plague or calamity come near your tent.” Every time we choose His Way, over our way – we enter into His protection, His kingdom. That ugly stuff can’t hit us in there. It just kind of lies about on the ground looking pretty silly.

Try it out. The next time someone tells you you are stupid, dumb, ignorant, difficult, grumpy, talk too much – just tell them, ‘ Yes! I know I am. BUT! I have a Saviour and He’s changing me.’ Duck those punches and pretty soon you will start to see them coming, and head them off before they hit you. That’s when you king hit them …. WITH LOVE. His Love is a collectable. It accumulates. The more you partake of it, and freely give it away – the more you have to give. Joy pops up fast on the heels of love. It’s hard to be unhappy when you know He loves you.

I am often astonished at how the Lord can take the worst situation, and He not only changes it – He utterly transforms it into something I’ve never even dreamt about! That’s the power of God in action. We’ve all been reborn to be risk takers – walking with Him means even if we die, we win! 👋

P 2702 Christians are no fun …

/ DVH

…and we should be! …  Proverbs 17:22: “A joyful cheerful heart brings healing to both body and soul…“I’m not talking about frivolity or carelessness with our faith, but honestly … sometimes we can be no fun at all, and at other times we are just plain too earnest. I know this is obvious so please pardon me for saying it, again! … but as Christians we should be the happiest people on earth! We are not meant to be the fun police, because we have the joy of the Lord as our strength! When I look at church people sometimes I think boy do we all need to do some joy/strength training! When was the last time you had a good falling-on-the-floor-belly-laugh? 

No, I have not suddenly lost my mind – I can prove it.  I can still spell antidisestablishmentarianism backwards, so yup! … my mind is still working. OK! OK! I actually can’t spell that stupid word backwards but I know someone who can … does that count? We can all do with a large case of the sillies. As Christians we are meant to be the most optimistic people on the planet! We know the Saviour, personally, and whether you or I woke up with more pain than we care to admit, or our spouse was even more grumpy than usual – we have His joy inside us. Guess what? HE’S NOT SAD like … EVER. He won! We are now on the winning side.

We went away for a little holiday recently and we took bubble guns with us. That’s bubble guns not bubble gum OK? Bubble gum is nasty stuff, you can’t get it out of your hair! Have you ever had a bubble duel? I mean right in your face, loads of bubbles everywhere — hundreds of them? I double-dare anyone not to laugh at so many bubbles you can’t count them. Do you know how much it cost us to have a bubble duel? We got change from $15. Priceless. Look let’s get rid of our serious dignified faces and have fun. Remember fun? Last week part of our family stood on our balcony and watched bubbles go everywhere, and the next day – we did it again and we fell about laughing again.

It is my 97 year old mother’s birthday today. We took balloons and presents and … bubbles to her party. There they were, the oldies in the old folk’s home, lined up like life was already over, and we brought out the bubble guns and fired away. Bubbles everywhere. We took a fantastic photo of my mum looking like Popeye with one eye shut and bubbles all over her – but I can’t put it here because she just might kill me. She doesn’t read my blog, but she’s my mum – she will know!!  Mothers always do.

All those old people, who had been plopped in front of the TV for the day, plus the staff came clustering around her chair and us, and we gave away chocolates. Everyone was smiling. Some came out of their rooms and joined in. I imagine most days are pretty much the same in the old folk’s home. Well yesterday wasn’t. Our mob arrived and took over. I have never been more proud of our family. 

All my life I have done my best to do the right thing – so I wouldn’t get into trouble. Hah! Now I give my Mum cheek all the time, and she can’t do anything about it! She’s stuck in a wheel chair from old age, and she can’t run after me anymore. Talk about healing!! 😂  Do you know the really interesting bit? She laughs her head off now, instead of getting furious with me. Sometimes we can be restrained by our own inner caveats. If you get whacked round the ear-hole enough times you learn “don’t do that,” and something inside gets stuck and you leave important parts of your self behind. 

Hubby contributes to our hilarity all the time. He tells blooming terrible awful Dad jokes. Man those jokes are on the nose. They are corny and not funny but everyone groans, and … then they laugh, but sometimes that comes out as a large sigh. You know Jesus never once said: “Go and preach the gospel, but don’t you have any fun doing it!” We treat this world like it is hostile to the gospel and His love. I’ve been out there – it isn’t! Most people aren’t anti-God, they just haven’t met Him yet! Maybe we have failed Him as His representatives by walking about with serious faces and the idea that what we believe is made of glass. Love may be patient and kind, etc etc. but it can also be FUN. Remember fun? Remember when you favourite thought wasn’t watching TV, or playing video games? Live like that.

Everywhere we go, we have been commissioned to take LOVE with us. And let’s remember that Jesus Himself is JOY personified – so, as His family we will represent Him badly if we have no joy. It’s time to show the world that loving God is the most fun thing ever. Christians should be lots of fun … not black holes of disapproval. Of all the people on this earth, we are the ones who don’t have to be plastic. We can be ourselves and we can be fun! 🤪 👋