God

P 2585 Things to think on.

/ DVH

We are in the middle of preparing to go away into outback NSW next week with boxes and boxes of New Testaments etc. everywhere. And the huge pile of blankets for the homeless looks like the great wall of China. It is not exactly tidy here. I love-hate this waiting and prep time – for me waiting to go on the road seems to take forever. 

We will have to put racks on the roof of the car to accommodate all the blankets, not to mention somehow fit in the toiletries, canned food etc. we are taking with us. We pray a lot when we are loading the car!! Right now there are so many people homeless, or in dire straits in the bush. When hubby rang the local help-for-the-homeless line, in three NSW country towns, all of them had a huge response. The ladies on the other end of the phone almost came through it, they were so excited about the very little we can bring them. Perhaps they just like to know that other people care.

The government in our country allocates monies to help the poor, but those funds do not even begin to cover their everyday needs – so every single day is a struggle. However if the government forms one more committee to investigate the stuff that is staring us right in the face, I will scream!! We need to remember that these people are not worrying about what kind of TV they will buy next – instead, they often don’t know where their next meal is coming from!

Monies for governmental aid are distributed according to numbers, and there are far more homeless people, number wise, in our cities… so that means the cities are delegated the larger portion, and the little country towns struggle. Aid-workers in these agencies have so little help to give to those who come in day after day in desperate need.“But God will never forget the needy; the hope of the afflicted will never perish.”Psalm 9:18

Sadly, there are also more and more abused wives and children who have to leave their homes to escape abusive spouses, and they have only what they can carry. These people have literally had to run for their lives.  Because of this hubby and I have become secret agents – which could be fun, if it wasn’t so sad! Over the phone we are given the time and place to meet someone, far, far away from where these poor terrified souls are actually hiding. Of course we pray for the carers and the little families that have been abused, as well as the abusers. Feel free to join us.

Poverty can happen to anyone. But out in the bush, we’ve seen first hand our society’s complete disregard for our farmers. The people who provide our daily bread etc. Instead it seems that greedy corporate companies regard profit over people, and they are prevailing. At the same time investors are demanding more and more return for their money, because they are not satisfied to simply make a profit, instead they want to keep increasing their profit margins in an outrageously excessive fashion. Have we all forgotten that the bible says: “In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus Himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”Acts 20:35.

You don’t have to tell us that Australia truly needs revival. Hubby and I can see the results of the haves and the have nots every day we are out on the road. However, I do wish sometimes, that city folk would limit themselves to one car, instead of one car for each member of the family! By overplaying our needs we have created a false living standard and made the gap between the poor and the rich wider.

I believe our society’s ever present need for more is also contributing to the divide between the city and the country. Today, in all of our cities, we have upgraded normaI to mean that everyone has their own phone, plus 4 or 5 TV sets,  a couple of gaming consoles, a boat, and a 240 square metre house with a pool in the back yard. And everything inside that house must be brand new! 

Yeah I know, everyone works very hard to make a living — but while we keep insisting that things like our daily bread – or milk! – should be cheap cheap cheaper, our farmers will continue to go bankrupt. The ever-present corporate machinery has no conscience so it refuses to take a loss – instead, the farmers will. It is incredibly dumb to bite the hand that feeds you! We cannot expect to get more for less and not have somebody else suffer.

Hubby and I asked the Lord to be in charge of our money years ago. He is a fantastic money manager … However, doing that was hard. It is hard to go against the pressure that exists in our society. Money can make us feel safe, but we have forgotten what is given can be taken away in a heartbeat. God has given us such a passion to share, instead of hoard and acquire. Aussies can be great givers if there is a proven cause, but we also seem to thoroughly enjoy the idea of having more than enough. I know these things will not be popular thoughts, but they are worth sharing anyway. Bye. 

P 2584 Hang onto your hat. 🎩

/ DVH

Here’s some stuff to think on today …Have we inadvertently reduced the Living Word of God to a series of unwritten, but strongly supported rules about who is acceptable and who is not? I believe the church at large reacts badly to people who are not living inside our pre-set rules. Unlike Jesus Himself, Who treated everyone the same … including drunks, lepers and promiscuous women! Unfortunately, we are not responding with love or compassion – instead we react with abhorrence, fear, accusation, and condemnation. We just don’t know what to do with some people in this world. Here’s a big thought:loving anyone with His love isn’t giving them permission to continue with a sinful lifestyle.

It is as if we believe people must be changed BEFORE they can come to Jesus. That’s not in my bible! We look at others with terribly unbiblical ways of life, and tell them if they really want to be saved they have to stop doing what they are doing. We are looking for self-control from those who don’t even know anything about His power. I dunno about you, but I am like a snake still shedding old skins as I go along, I’m not yet perfected in Godly things. Personally, I think you clean fish after you catch them!

Our denominations have put unspoken rules in place to make life easier, nicer and safer for us. So what about a person who is unsure about their gender identity for a number of reasons? Hmmm. If that turned out to be your precious relative or immediate family, what would you do then?? The hard lines that we have drawn against this type of person and that way of life, could end up dividing families. I know people who have chosen terribly destructive lifestyles, and now they cannot go home anymore. Their parents won’t even talk to them and they are doing that in Jesus’ Name! What a price some outcasts have paid. Imagine the kind of passion those people could have for Christ, if and when He delivers them!

Personally I cannot bear it when the church looks at others as if they are filthy. We are all fallen people. All have sinned.  I HAVE A SAVIOUR … and others need an opportunity!  Do I like how some people choose to live? Of course not! Like I said, it is abhorrent. Yet in our own churches we often turn a blind eye and allow gossip and spite to thrive… and eliminate others before they’ve even had a chance to respond to Christ’s teachings. “…straining out gnats and letting through camels!” 

We often choose to tell people who are not living a lifestyle described in the bible, you can’t come in here and be THAT!  And that’s them – ELIMINATED FROM GRACE. Personally, I can’t exist without grace … without Him I can do nothing!  Yes, I am aware that certain behaviour is described as an abomination to the Lord, but Jesus died for all. Here’s a think spot: I’ve told lies, how about you? Check out Revelation sometime: liars go into the lake of fire and random judgment diagnoses the person judging, it doesn’t end well for them either!… Just saying is all.

At the same time, I understand that Christianity is meant to be an all or nothing kind of faith. Jesus said this: “So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of My mouth.” Revelation 3:16. Lukewarm people don’t do well in His book either! When we water down salvation to simply saying a prayer, instead of it being a process, we are misleading those who-do-not-know-Him-yet, regarding true salvation. Meanwhile, are we behaving with repulsion because we have lost the power of God to deliver, anyone, anywhere, any time? I am not talking about forced conversions either. You can’t grow an apple tree from a weed’s seed, and you can’t usher in His kingdom with FEAR – instead of His love.

Some people are magnificently changed instantly. But that is not everyone’s experience. We must not ignore those souls who are trapped by appetites cultivated over time, or even circumstances beyond their control. There are people have been forced to live in all kinds of unimaginable decadence, that they didn’t deliberately choose. Or they have been exposed to horrors by care-givers. How dare we lock them out of knowing the One Who bore every single horror and atrocity for their sake?! Deception is rampant in our society … and most of our western governments support it. What’s the answer to that? Murder the government?! Heaven forbid. Change comes one soul at a time.

I really don’t have to approve of your lifestyle or way of thinking to tell you that God loves you dearly and He always will. My criteria for transformation is simple: ‘do you need a Saviour or not? Will you give Him your whole life and leave your old life behind?’ Whatever anyone does about His love is then up to them! It is my passionate belief that we have missed, and will continue to miss, some of the greatest miracles we will ever see because we are denying others the opportunity to know Him because of the way they look, or live. And that thought might blow a few hats off.

“Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you WERE. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11) It seems even in Paul’s time, people with all kinds of ungodly lifestyles were changed by Christ’s life-giving death! Bye. 👋

P 2582 More on a heart like David.

/ DVH

The Lord said of His servant David, that “this is a man after My own heart”. (1 Samuel 13:14) It seems to me it is comparatively easy to pray:“Oh Lord please give me a heart like David had!”…in a moment of love and passion toward God Himself … with no understanding of what that means!  Will we blame God for not answering that prayer – when we ignore the opportunities He sends our way?

Think on this: if you and I really want a heart like David had, then God Himself will need to send us the kind of opportunities DAVID had! Hearts are formed, they do not fall on us. Here’s quick revision of David’s life — this young man was overlooked in his family. His earthly father forgot he had him and obviously thought the boy was not as promising as his six brothers were!  Did David moan about that? No! Instead he learnt about God in the middle of a pasture doing a job that was beneath his stature. This was where he learnt about soaking in God’s ways. That’s where he learnt to make the Lord his priority. He wrote beautiful Psalms… instead of complaining about his lowly position and the weather.

David chose God’s ways over his own human desires, many times. We all know about his failure and the subsequent consequences, but there were so many other times that David chose to honour the Lord despite his circumstances. His responses to his life were way above most men’s natural tendencies. He did not do that to curry favour with God, BTW, he did it because that was who he was! Soaking in God’s beauty had shaped his heart, and his responses came from that heart of love toward the Father. 

So if WE want a heart like David, then maybe we will have to fight our own Goliath and WIN. We all have Goliaths in our lives, and we often feel ill-equipped to fight them. But David took what he had – which was belief in Who Almighty God is – and defeated his enemy. There may also be a possibility that we will have to honour somebody in our lives just like King Saul, David’s persecutor of 20 years. Simply because that person is God’s choice to shape US… by handing out constant oppression! Maybe our tormentor has been tormenting us for years too!!

Let’s look at David’s response when his little baby boy died… “After Nathan had gone home, the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill. David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and spent the nights lying in sackcloth on the ground. On the seventh day the child died …” 2 Samuel 12:15-18. 

After his baby’s death, David’s servants were reluctant to tell him the little one was gone, but he figured it out. Then he does an extraordinary thing — it seems almost totally incomprehensible. He gets up, washes himself, and asks for food. Why on earth would he do that? You know when I think about his response it blows me away. This man is so concerned about doing God’s will, God’s way, once the Lord’s plan is revealed – He leaves the whole thing alone and goes back into ordinary life, immediately. Boy is that living this life surrendered!  

Much later, David actively sets out to find someone left in Saul’s house … even after Saul and Jonathan had died. He wants to do his enemy’s family good. (Now there’s a grand illustration of doing good to your enemies!) Despite his warrior life, this man of God had such integrity before the Lord. It all sprang from his deep love for God, not obligation, or religious duty. Those Psalms he wrote came right out of his own experiences! Instead of cultivating despair, anger and jealousy – David cultivated a sweet heart.

It may be that we too have lost else someone so dear to us, like David did, when his older son Absalom died. But David was not able to mourn Absalom … imagine that! He’s a leader, his sheep come first! He puts his grief aside, in order to be a good leader and king to his subjects. Funny how God picks ordinary people like that quite often. Think about it.

These are just some ?highlights? After all David’s life was filled with war and betrayal! If we truly want a heart like he had, maybe we are going to need some panel-beating first! That, and a sweet, spontaneous heart-response under pressure. God Himself forges men and women in the furnaces of trouble, pestilence, war, sorrow and strife. We must simply choose to learn His ways, they won’t fall on us.

Here’s my last thought – right after the Holy Spirit fell at Pentecost, persecution for the gospel’s sake broke out. But Father God had a purpose, He wanted the disciples to disperse to spread the gospel further. So, instead of becoming a jolly, happy, worshipping group, who enjoyed their new life together teaching the same things over and over again … persecution and bad experiences are now their teacher.

 We will have troubles and strife in this life, and this means God is working on our hearts. To have a heart like David we will need to be changed. 👋 “Create in me a clean heart O, Lord, and renew a right spirit within me.” Amen!

P 2581 Living Grace.

/ DVH

“God’s marvellous grace has manifested in Person, bringing salvation for everyone. This same grace teaches us how to live each day as we turn our backs on ungodliness and indulgent lifestyles, and it equips us to live self-controlled, upright, godly lives in this present age.” Titus 2:11-12 TPT.

Our God’s great grace has been manifest in Christ. In order to understand it we must carefully observe and interact with Him. Jesus Christ is God’s grace in human form. I deliberately said that today, because sometimes grace is reduced to a nebulous thing that we are supposed to have toward everyone else, as well as live by it. Nebulous things add to uncertainty and they are definitely hard to grab hold of!  

Our uncertainty disappears when we understand that Christ is God’s illustration of grace, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness etc. in action! Almighty God gave us a glorious gift – CHRIST. Grace we can see and hear in His book. Reading the Gospels makes us acquainted with what grace looks like because it is the way SomeOne lived. It is not about stories – the stories Jesus told are illustrations of God’s ways in action. If all we do is read the Gospels and think, “oh that’s so nice.” We missed the point!  These ‘stories’ show us how to act and react!

Jesus Christ is God’s LIVING GRACE. God does not need visual aids – He went way beyond them to sending SomeOne Who would illustrate a lifestyle! The bible is not just teaching – Jesus, in the Person of the Holy Spirit,  is with us so we can learn His Ways. The way Christ lived His life, is the way we have been designed to live ours. Yeah. Ya might want to sit and think on that one for the next 20 years. 

It is error to think that Jesus could do stuff because He is God’s Son and He is ‘special.’ He’s not superman who came from another planet and that means He can do stuff we can’t!  He did not operate in some sort of incredible way that meant He always did things right and was full of the power of God all the time. He simply chose to live in the Holy Spirit’s Presence in all things.  

Jesus Christ chose to come to earth and be a man – that’s Grace and Love IN ACTION. That was a normal little baby boy born in Bethlehem, He chose to learn about God from when He was young, and He did so well at it He amazed all the people who supposedly knew everything! Jesus made knowing God His priority from His youth. He had grace on His life as a child.

But He was tempted just like we are. The difference between Him and us, is that He said no! There is great power in our NO! I know that today, it seems like ‘no’ is an optional extra, but it isn’t. Saying no to temptation and sin is the way into bringing that new heart God gave us into this life … our reality. Doing what God wants becomes our life-blood. It’s the way to be dead to self and alive to God. And every single thing you do counts! Praise God we can repent from our lack of single-mindedness and go back and partake of His grace – over and over again.

We are limiting ourselves by thinking that Christ was some sort of special-case human being so He could do stuff we cannot. That is a lie from the pit. “God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we’re free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ’s. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love.” 1 John 4:17.

Fear of over-stepping our place in God … is still FEAR!  We start to overstep when we use God for our own purposes or benefit.  Our Lord Jesus Christ was the perfect example of grace in action. He had authority, but it was love-based authority, and He allowed His Father to decide what that looked like! Our hearts matter, and God knows when we choose to excuse ourselves rather than obey. It is the things that we choose to do that can shoot us down. Power can be misused by self-indulgence, instead of ushering in God’s kingdom! Jesus came to serve, and so we are here to serve – God first, and then others. 

God’s Grace is not of this world. It is a heavenly quality which is to be lived out in everyday life. And when we look deeply into how Christ acted, and what He said, we gain His clues from His lifestyle. He lived in grace, He constantly gave away grace even to His tormentors.  Like I said, the things Jesus said are not just stories or parables – they are a way to live. Paul, Luke, John and Jude etc. developed these themes in the Epistles. They tell us how these things worked in their lives. In Paul’s case they give us further revelation of what God did when He sent us Christ, why He did it, and how it works! 

The bible is God’s book about GRACE. Grace is God’s enabling power to prevail over our own sinful nature, sin in this world, and the devil. This is God Himself speaking …“I will graciously give you a new, tender heart and put a new, willing spirit inside you. I will remove your hard heart of stone and give you an obedient, responsive heart instead.” Ezekiel 36:26.

We have already been given this new heart, God gave it to us – because Christ made a way for us. Grace is LIVING  and practical it is not just a mushy attitude toward others. It is strong and powerful. Jesus Christ is our perfect example of God’s grace – alive on this earth!  He showed us that it can be done and how it is done! 👋 

P 2580 Unblocking blockages.

/ DVH

As Christians we can experience spiritual blockages. So today, let’s look at attitudes that can get in our way, and sometimes we are almost unaware of them. Our God is not legalistic, we are forgiven. However, WE can block the flow of the Holy Spirit in, and through our lives by ignoring Him or choosing not to be aware of His ways. Or even by disobeying the things we don’t like! It is our responsibility to discover for ourselves what He wants from us, by talking to Him, reading the book and then doing it. At the same time, praise God, He is always willing to engage with us at any hour or any moment, of any day to help us whatever is currently going on. 

Here are some things that have helped me. If I find myself gossiping about someone, then the first place I go to is – am I angry with this person? If perhaps I get sick of somebody I know bragging about their skills, or their possessions etc. then I look at jealousy. Instead of blaming my attitudes etc. on others, the first place I need to look at is myself. Personally, I try not to excuse my behaviour, by saying ‘I’m tired or sick, or life has been a bit much.’ If I really believe that the Lord holds my life in His hands, then I need to see that everything that comes toward me is Father-filtered. But that does not mean I will not hesitate to tell the enemy to take a hike when oppression comes at me! 

The thing is, I refuse to let my sinfulness prevent me from running toward my Father, because Calvary took care of any legal requirements on my behalf, so now His Grace predominates. Grace frees people everywhere it is embraced – Grace is not ‘permission to sin!‘ Grace is ‘we have an advocate!’  Now I am free, Christ made me free and I’m the boss of what I do, say and think, and I can’t blame you! We can stop the flow of His life through us by our choices, actions and attitudes at any given moment. God gave us power, and that power can be used to help others, help us adjust our behaviour and theology – or … tune Him out! Paul wrote this in his second letter to Corinthians, chapter 12 verse 9!

“But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” You know there are days when I wish the Holy Spirit would just arbitrarily do this stuff through me, or to me, instead of me having to choose and apply myself? But freedom means choices. Dying to self is hard. The problem is this, a lot of the time, my ‘old man’ is trying to bring about an unlawful resurrection! That’s called necromancy. We can blame the devil if we want to, but really, the devil ain’t that big! Nobody can stop us from moving, but US. Seriously. Like the book says: “What then shall we say to all these things? If God is for us, who can be [successful] against us?” Romans 8:31.

The answer to that rhetorical question is ME. I can exercise my God-given power of choice at any given moment, and simply refuse to move on. I can take offence with something that God, or someone else has done, and spit the dummy and opt out of discussing it with Him. I can look at my circumstances and decide that I am too weak to fight, or I am sick of fighting my old self. Instead I can just feel sorry for myself and sit marinating in my sorrows.

This whole ‘walking with Jesus life’ is optional. And if we do not use every opportunity to get to know Him better and fall in love with Him, and the way He works — then we can be pretty sure we will eventually take ourselves out of this marathon race, in favour of comfort and safety! Some people, sadly, have even walked away. The good news is repentance will bring us back again!

There are areas in all our lives with big fat “KEEP OUT” signs on them. You and I put those signs there in some moment of desperation, angst or a fit of pique. Maybe someone hurt us and we feel we can’t get over it. My advice is to exercise the power of choice and … just get over it. Here’s why I think that. We can actually tie ourselves up like a loin of pork and wonder why we aren’t moving on spiritually. Or we can discover, by prayer, persistence and reading the bible, where we have put up stop signs. Blockages come from us, not from the Lord.

Christ took away every single road block between God and us, even though it killed Him. Brothers and sisters, there is so-very-much-more-of-Him-and-Who-He-is for us to know. Why waste time? Let’s go on a “seek and ye shall find tour,” and pull down, or starve out, every single one of those strongholds that are imprisoning us. Let’s throw away the balloons, cakes and streamers at our frequent pity parties and just get on with it. 👋

P 2579 Faith that is alive!

/ DVH

Here’s something I have learned over the years –  faith grows when we use it. If we hoard it, or sit about in little groups talking about our faith, without doing anything with it – that faith will rapidly become head knowledge. This type of thing is a major problem in our churches. Many churches have stopped PROCLAIMING THE GOOD NEWS … and that’s what we are here to do. At the same time, faith also gives generously – it never just meets requirements, or gives whatever is left over. That’s what our faith in action looks like. Plus we live to love the people who are mean to us or actively hate and abuse us – that’s also faith in action. And we help those who need help be-cau-se … our faith is seeable.

We are here, today, in 2024, to proclaim and demonstrate to other people what God’s unconditional love and favour looks like. And if anyone thinks that they can do that kind of stuff, by themselves, in their own strength, day in, and day out—- then, please … think again. We all need the Holy Spirit’s wisdom and help. Praise God, He is more than willing to help us! At the same time any time we use our faith, I can practically guarantee you, it will cost us. Sometimes it costs us more than we are willing to pay, but let’s just gird up our loins … so we don’t fall over our own feet  … and have at it! 

Here is another precious secret — KIND EYES ARE POWERFUL. When God’s love stops being a concept and it becomes a reality in our lives, the bonus is this:  we will have our Father’s eyes. Kind eyes. My hubby does this so well. He is so good at it I’d be jealous if it weren’t so beautiful. Me? Hmmm … glad you asked that … I’m still a work in progress. Father God and I are working on it. I’ve learnt that you can’t give away something if you haven’t got it, so now I go after His love every single time I think about it! “Let me see these people through Your eyes Lord. And let them see YOU through me.” Amen. Our Father’s eyes never condemn, judge or compare.  

So here’s my suggestion for today – find a way … your way, under the Holy Spirit’s leadership … to love others. Look, we can be on our best behaviour and look and sound like the nicest person in the world, but; “faith without works is dead!” (James 2.) We are here to demonstrate God’s love to others, just like Jesus did when He was here. So that means we will engage in something called: ‘Risky Living.’ That title comes from a book, sadly now out of print, by Jamie Buckingham. I’d loan you mine but the pages are all falling out. It is one of my great treasures.

This ordinary American journalist is one of my all time heroes in the faith. Nobody has ever made me laugh or cry as hard as Jamie. EG:  “The problem with Christians today is that no one wants to kill them anymore.” … …“A lot of my theology got all fouled up when I started reading the Bible.” … … “The real work of the kingdom of God is not carried on by miracle workers or high profile preachers. The real work of the kingdom is carried on by people like you and me as we go about our daily lives.” … ‘Every place we put our foot God wants us to leave a spring in the desert for others to benefit from”… … “He wants us to trust Him at all times and to carry on regardless of our particular wilderness situations.” See? That stuff is impossible and risky without the Holy Spirit’s help!

First we pray, then we DO.  Being selective about what we will or won’t do, will pull us into disobedience quicker than you or I can say: “Oh dear!” This world is crazy about boundaries, I believe boundaries are useful. BUT, we can’t afford to have boundaries with the Lord!! We need to be like those guys who jump off mountains in a flight suit and let the wind take them wherever it goes. It looks absolutely terrifying, but that’s actually using faith. It’s stupid faith, in my personal opinion, but it IS faith! 

Sometimes Christians remind me of a secret society huddled together behind closed doors. If some poor schmuck or other finds their way to that door and staggers in … not dressed properly, or smelling like a rubbish dump, or confused about their sex, or drunk, or stoned out of their gourds …we can be absolutely guaranteed to find a nice way to shuffle them back outside again … and use the bible to do it! Sigh. The trouble is we want the people who get saved to be nice, neat and well-mannered — we are not thrilled when zombies, or Frankenstein lurches through our doors!

“While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with Him and His disciples, for there were many who followed Him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw Him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked His disciples: “Why does He eat with tax collectors and sinners?” And when Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” Mark 2:15-17.

We need a faith that stands up when other people want to leave the room. A faith that is bigger than the things this world around us spews out. Instead of hiding from ghastly things, we must learn to confront stuff and face it down, armed only with His love, and guided by His book. Using our faith makes us way more alive than simply living from day to day. 👋 

“What’s the use of living if you don’t attempt the impossible?” (Risky Living, 1976) J. Buckingham.

P 2578 BECAUSE …

/ DVH

1 John 4:17-19: “This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love BECAUSE He first loved us.”

Some words in the bible need greater attention than others. Today when I woke up, ‘we love because He first loved us …’  was rattling about in my mind and heart. My first thought was this… maybe we have that concept in the wrong order? We can easily get stuck on we must love, as a directive, instead of focussing on the fact that we have been given something that we don’t deserve. And not only that … we have been given so much of it we have plenty to give away! … I think that that thought changes the ballgame!!

When we engage with the things in our lives that we know are not God’s will or even His ways, the correct and most fruitful response, is repentance, NOT shame or guilt etc. What’s the difference? Shame comes from the devil, it drove Adam and Eve away from Almighty God in the garden. But knowing we are loved will always draw us back toward Him, BECAUSE He is the answer. That sort of response shows us whether we are afraid, or not – if we are afraid we have believed a lie! 

When a little child breaks a toy, it runs and takes that toy to the parent to be fixed. In a good parent/child relationship the infant is not afraid. Instead it has confidence, it knows love will fix it. That attitude is our yardstick. As Christians, we are compelled by His love to be drawn back into fellowship, with Him, and each other. No matter what it takes. Meanwhile we can’t say we love God and hate our brother BECAUSE those two things are incompatible!  However, after real repentance and reparation, our sin is now under Christ’s blood. It has been dealt with BECAUSE it hinders fellowship and our love relationship with Him. It’s hard to love and feel guilty all at once!

The way we live now is about our attitudes and motivation, not rules or fear. We don’t have to flimflam, deny or obfuscate about our sins either — now sin is not our focus! We live differently because we LOVE Him. The reality is this, whatever we choose to take into our own lives, we will eventually give out. If we take in greed, avoidance, shame or guilt for some action or other, then we will give that out to someone else. Let’s remember that our God will never use us to give out stones or snakes to people in need, He is a good good Father. 

Freedom is now ours. God’s Love gave us that freedom, and it is Christ’s eternal legacy for all of us. When we step away from freely giving away that kind of love to others, we step out of that freedom. At the same time if something pricks our conscience, and we dismiss it and do not deal with it, it becomes sin. It’s disobedience! The same thing happens when the Lord asks us to do something but we don’t want to do it. Disobedience to the Holy Spirit’s leading can block our ears to God’s guidance.

So, if we read the bible and think: “Nope, nothing in there today for me!” Then we simply must keep on reading — BECAUSE seekers find things. Sometimes we might tell ourselves “God understands blah blah blah.” That’s called rationalisation and denial. Today, right where you and I are – we’ve  been given a new heart that is soft toward God, and His ways, but we can harden that soft heart by ignoring Him. We can fool ourselves that it will be OK … but inside, the Holy Spirit is jumping up and down and waving His arms saying: “Wrong way go back.”

BECAUSE God made Himself incredibly vulnerable, by becoming a man, living here with us, and dying for us so we can be with Him forever — now our response comes from a place of love and devotion to Him and His Ways. Now His unearned or deserved love for us motivates our love for others. 👋

““So I give you now a new commandment: Love each other just as much as I have loved you. For when you demonstrate the same love I have for you by loving one another, everyone will know that you’re My true followers.”” John 13:34-35 TPT

P 2576 Kingdom people.

/ DVH

When you have a moment perhaps you could read all of Psalm 73 ….Here’s and excerpt Psalm 73:25-28 “Whom have I in heaven but You? And earth has nothing I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Those who are far from You will perish; You destroy all who are unfaithful to You. But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge; I will tell of all Your deeds.” Luke 17:21: “The kingdom of God is within you ..”

We have a hiding place in Christ. The King Himself is our hiding place and our city of refuge. In Him we have guidance and protection. Jesus faced everything this world can throw at humanity — every sin, every ugliness our world was ever going to produce — and He conquered it. Now, we live our lives refusing to let this world, or even our experiences, dictate our actions and reactions. Whether we experience defeat or sorrow – we know personally that our experiences cannot negate the truth. We have the power of God to help us live and respond differently.. 

We are outwardly, visibly, telling the world, around us that we love Him and belong to Him when we live this life FOR Him. However, we still have a choice to live our lives for our own benefit! But when we do that, we are turning our backs on our God-given inheritance. At the same time, by default, we’re giving satan permission to keep us busy being envious of the rich and healthy, plus those whose lives seem easier than ours. Instead of living this life fulfilling the purposes that God gave to each one of us — which is literally, the reason we are here. We were made for His pleasure. He gave each one of us a purpose and a destiny. That destiny will be progressively revealed, as we learn to trust Jesus and walk with Him.

We have an incredible destiny. It is to be the people of God in an ungodly world, reflecting His love everywhere we go. I read this whole Psalm again the other day. It seems to me that the writer’s focus had switched from God’s goodness to the world around Him, and that eventually led him into a dark place. Suddenly he felt that following God was a waste of his time, because the people who were not believers were doing better than those who were believers!

This Psalm shows us that it is a normal human reaction for us, to struggle with the difficulties of this life. We are not faithless if we do. It’s staying there that clouds our judgment. When the psalmist went on into God’s house – everything became clear.  If we have not grasped the concept of Christ’s ultimate victory, our God-given peace can be shattered simply because the bad guys are well, and they keep on prospering! However, we are exhorted to cultivate eternal eyes. 

Jesus talked about that. He talked about His people living in God’s kingdom, ushering in God’s kingdom … NOW. That fact alone means we cannot allow ourselves to be double-minded. In order to bring God’s kingdom with us wherever we go, we need to demonstrate it, as well as live in it ourselves. His kingdom must fill our view. The kingdom of God is within us – we joined His kingdom when we asked Jesus to save us. If we don’t let it out by the way we live, then other people will remain ignorant of its existence.

We are to be like the guy selling the ‘you beaut’ vacuum cleaner. Talking about it is great, explaining its benefits is pretty good too, but the best way to know if that darn vacuum cleaner is gunna work at your house is to see it working! We are God’s illustrations of what life with Him is like. You and I are His visual aids. We show others that they do not have to face this life alone – we have a Helper and they can too!

If we do not learn to cultivate these things in our renewed mindset, we can fall prey to the less-than-subtle-influences around us. Life will no longer be liveable, instead it will crash over us, and take our legs out from under us. Unless we choose to lay back on Jesus’s shoulder despite any storms that are raging and ask the Lord: “How are You going to fix this Lord? Over to You, I’m easy either way.” 

I call living like this leaning into Him. By learning to follow the prompts and doing what He says, we show Him we trust Him. In this century we are living more than ever in an information age, and we often are led by this world into thinking that if we understand something – we can handle it. Rhubarb. Unless our understanding comes from the King of all Kings, all we will get from comprehension is a deeper knowledge of how unfair everything is, like the psalmist did. 

To be kingdom people we need to progressively live in His kingdom, and start to leave this world’s idea of “the good life” behind us. We do that by choosing to love instead of indulging in hate or indifference. It is the highest form of worship we can give our precious King. Bless you 👋

P 2575 Part of witnessing is giving away the map!

/ DVH

Christianity can seem a bit obscure to the rest of the world from the outside. WE know that it is not a secret IN-club with special passwords, music, codes, actions, and rules! But the-people-who-don’t-know-Jesus think what we believe is simply another opinion in the many ideas and religious practices that exist today. They do not understand what makes our belief system different from any other.  It is like a foreign language to them.

Meeting Jesus Christ can sound more like a mental exercise, rather than a spiritual encounter. I think that what we believe is often full of old-fashioned words that make no sense to other people. Think about it, what does ‘saved’ mean? ?? Talking to others or handing them a tract is good, but it is not enough.  It is up to us to take the time to digest His word by acting on it. Then the power of the Holy Spirit can speak through us, for Himself. Hubby and I have discovered something wonderful – they know HIS voice when they hear it.  We don’t need more knowledge WE need HIM to speak to them for Himself – through US.

In some countries in this world a mother chews up food for an infant and gives them the food she has chewed up — because infants can’t eat lumpy hard stuff, they can choke on it.  This is quite literally what Christians do when we witness. We hand others our own pre-digested spiritual food. (Chewing is part of digestion!!)  We tell them what we’ve seen, and what we personally know about Jesus. What we believe is not about knowledge, anybody can spout knowledge – it’s about our own personal relationship with Him. That’s what we share with others. That’s what a witness does, they tell what they’ve seen, from their own POV.

If someone asked me how to get to the city from my house I would say: “You can take a train, or a bus, or drive the car, or even walk.” You and I are the people who hand out the proverbial spiritual timetables and maps!  We are not the journey … JESUS is the journey. The bible is their Jesus’ map. Give them a map and talk about Jesus, as YOU know Him. Tell them what you’ve learnt from praying, reading, researching and digesting the map info. Brevity is helpful. This is their moment. Encourage them to ask questions. Say “I dunno” if you don’t know, and don’t be embarrassed by it. Forget about your credibility and reputation – take a risk. Witnessing is about taking risks.

Jesus’ disciples didn’t always understand Him and what He did, so not knowing everything shouldn’t stop us! There were some times that the Lord explained Himself, and other times that He didn’t. He loved to say things that turned what people thought, upside down .. it was actually right side up, but that’s a moot point! We need to translate what we read, into actions, and go on to act on it, in ordinary everyday situations. Then what we believe becomes current and alive. The bible is an action book, not just a study-’til-you’ve-memorised-it book. You don’t have to be articulate. I often ask the Lord – ‘how the heck do I say that?’ 

Our bible is a Holy book purely because the Holy Spirit kisses it for us, in ways we cannot comprehend. But we are the beneficiaries of His wisdom and power. He reveals our own road map, (the bible), so we can see the Lord Jesus in any situation. He translates the bible to us, every single day in such a way that it stops being fancy old-fashioned words on a page, and instead, it is the source of His life in us. We do this for others just like we would explain to them how to get to the shops! 

Doing what it says is simply the very best way of digesting the book. We are kind because the book says be kind. Even if we don’t feel like being kind, then we ask Him for His help! Living like that leads us into receiving fresh insight about God and His Ways. Simply analysing what we read aids comprehension, but it does not make the book part of you – your life and your experiences. Obedience does. Our lives become the witness.

Like I said before, the disciples asked questions. When what Jesus told them did not make sense they asked Him questions. Now, these men had prayed for the sick and seen them get well, they’d cast out demons, and seen all kinds of miracles —  but when they didn’t understand what Jesus said – they asked Him about it. We gotta stop long enough to ask questions and wait for His insight. “The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom.Though it cost all you have, get understanding.” Proverbs 4:7. We don’t just need to know what it says – we need to know how to become what it says! He will tell us how to apply what we are reading into our own lives. We must move from knowing into experiencing. Then we have something that is living to share with others. 

We can answer other people’s questions simply by drawing from what we’ve learnt from our own personal experiences — without any dry theology attached to the answer. Jesus is the Way to God. He’s the map, the journey and the destination. Tell them what happens to you when you take the map and follow it. It doesn’t rely upon human skill – just willingness. The Holy Spirit will help us, He will speak to their hearts – we just tell them what we’ve seen, heard and know about Jesus. And don’t forget to give them a map! Part of witnessing is giving away the map! The Holy Spirit will work on them even when we are not there. 👋

P 2574 That time factor, again.

/ DVH

I have been reading in 2 Samuel, and while I was reading it, I was reminded again that there was a time factor involved in establishing David as a King over Israel. There were many battles, many hardships and great losses between God’s choice and David being crowned king. That victory didn’t happen overnight. My point today is this: before David actually became king, in God’s eyes He was already His appointed man for the job! Samuel anointed David to be king as a YOUTH … even before he fought Goliath.

BUT, there was a very long period of time between those two events —- between the anointing and the actual appointing. 14 years, some people say. Yet this man was always God’s chosen man for the job. In this illustration we can see that time is not always the biggest factor in God’s Ways! The time between what God says and does, and it happening, can be longer than men are happy to talk about. We must not take things into our own hands, even when we know we heard what He was telling us.

My next question was why? Why was that time factor allowed? A whole lot of good men died during that time. I came to the conclusion that time can often clarify our motives – good or bad. Yet in that large passage of time, David grew more and more loyal to the king, despite Saul’s persecution of him. This illustrates that David’s best qualities were enhanced through that longer amount of time. If we think this life is about enforcing the kingdom, we are in error. David was tested about his beliefs and true motivation, and he had an incredibly honourable attitude – even to his own hurt. As the king in a powerful role, David was going to need some of the things that obedience, pressure and time bring out in a life – in order to fulfil that role, well. 

The other thing I thought about relates to us. Today we like to have an idea and bring it to fruition almost instantly. Yet it is apparent in the book that the Lord likes to take His own time! He has an appointed time for things to happen. Read Ecclesiastes 3! Even when we look at Calvary, there was a time period between the Lord Jesus’ death, and His resurrection. Then there was more time between Him revealing Himself to His disciples and His ascension into heaven. After that there was even more time between the ascension and Pentecost! Forty years to make an 11 day journey – those Israelites could not go in … they were not ready! When I notice stuff like that, I like to ask why.

My thought was that the Lord God seems to regard time in a different way to the way we see it. That made me wonder if we could give up on the things He tells us He is doing, too soon. Simply because it appears that the Lord is not meeting our timetable. Instead of pressing on in to learn perseverance, maybe we lose heart? What could we miss out on, when we push things along for the sake of convenience etc. instead of waiting on Him? Are we drawing the wrong conclusions, based on our needs, ideas and agendas? Time sometimes passes and then – we see a suddenly.

We all know that the Lord is never late, and the bible says, His timing is always perfect. Maybe we would manage things better if we stopped putting our own expiry dates on our ideas and hopes, and start asking Him what HE thinks. Then we need to take the time to wait for His answer. He’s never in a hurry so that  ‘hurry hurry rush rush’ thing that often happens is most likely not HIM! The devil pushes us — but Jesus leads us. He’s the Shepherd and He goes out in front!

It is not good to let our circumstances dictate our responses. Despair destroys faith. Holding things loosely allows Him to be in charge. Even if things seem pressing, it is better to continue to hand them over to the Lord and wait for His response. There is a little story about a persistent woman in Luke 18:1-8 …  “And will not God bring about justice for His chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will He keep putting them off?”I think this story beautifully illustrates our Father’s character, it is not just about getting our prayers answered by bothering God until He answers us! By all means ask and keep on asking, but I recommend handing things back over to Him after you do it.

Ephesians 6:18: “Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.” James 5:16: “The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” 1 Thessalonians 5:17: “Never stop praying.”‘Never stop praying’ could also mean don’t give up too soon!

The lack of an immediate answer does not mean that the Lord has not heard us. Our confidence, our faith is in the fact that He ALWAYS hears us and His timing is perfect, so now we are waiting for Him to guide us through things. The time factor is not the criteria, David could have legally seized the kingdom, everyone knew he was the chosen one. Instead, he chose to endure persecution and hardship as well as honouring the Lord’s principles over a very long time. Time can be an important factor, even in difficult situations. We will need eyes to see His answers even more than we need the answers. Bye. 👋