God

P 2387 God calls us His riches.

/ DVH

“I pray that the Father of glory, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, would impart to you the riches of the Spirit of wisdom and the Spirit of revelation to know Him through your deepening intimacy with Him. I pray that the light of God will illuminate the eyes of your imagination, flooding you with light, until you experience the full revelation of the hope of His calling —that is, the wealth of God’s glorious inheritances that He finds IN US,His holy ones! I pray that you will continually experience the immeasurable greatness of God’s power made available to you through faith. Then your lives will be an advertisement of this immense power as it works through you! This is the mighty power that was released when God raised Christ from the dead and exalted Him to the place of highest honour and supreme authority in the heavenly realm!” Ephesians 1:17-20.

Did you know that because the Lord has all of us in His family, He considers Himself wealthy? He doesn’t care if you and I are fat, skinny, short, tall, good looking, extremely spiritual, or not. The bible says He counts US as His wealth. Now that’s something worth thinking on isn’t it? It shows us His heart toward us. I’ve prayed that God would illuminate the eyes of my heart for myself for years, because I know how easy it is to be distracted by this world and become as thick as a plank to the deep things of God. But everything we have ever needed or wanted we will find in Him.

We human beings concentrate on what we will gain from Him loving us, but we need to pause and look hard at what He says HE has gained, because that information is a sliver of insight into His Ways – Who He is. His incredible generosity. Before we were ever His adopted children, He looked at us with love and saw every single bit of our true potential in Him and He claimed US as His inheritance. Father God sees Himself as rich simply because we are His family. I find that astonishing! Especially because I know many people have been rejected and reviled by their earthly family. 

Today, the things we think make us as human beings rich, are mostly material things. In the Western world we accumulate ‘stuff’ a lot – it makes us look quite wealthy. Perhaps we are monetarily rich, but spiritually poor because our worth is measured by accumulation and achievements. But our God has chosen to love us simply because we are His family. If you and I are looking for acceptance, incredible acceptance flows freely from His throne.🙌

Paul is praying here in Ephesians for all of us, that we would understand what we have that was freely given to us. Sad to say, human beings can get so stuck in the things we are not – that we forget the most important thing of all. We are His and, it is only by His Grace that we know it. He chose us. Our worth is not in money, but in the fact that SomeOne so incredible – dearly and tenderly loves us. We have His love, and grace upon us … that very fact will take us into eternity. We’re loved and cherished by the One Who made the world, then He went further than that and saved us … then He went even further than that and He owned us … He claims us as His relatives. His kids. How amazing is that?

I think that realising and appreciating what we have already been given helps keep us content in a discontented world. Discontent rumbles around this world daily … my team won, your team lost. That guy got a promotion, I didn’t. That kid got great marks, I didn’t. Maybe this is why so many people have gotten into huge debt. Discontentment with the norm grabbed them and they want to escape it and prove to themselves they are special.

We are special because we are special in His eyes and that doesn’t change. Father God hates sin, not the man He made. We are made valuable by the fact that the God of all the Universe loves us. The value of the price He paid, is an indication of the depth of the love He has for us. When Jesus Christ died as a MAN, He gave us all worth.  

My point is this: fancy all of us working so hard to get something we already have! All of mankind is made in His image. You and I were His idea! I believe this is why the eyes of our hearts need to be DAILY enlightened. When we get saved, we are incredibly grateful for it … but then, for some reason, we do not park there. We move on. All I want to say today is – go back to the place where you first understood His salvation and stay there. We must have an appreciation for His sacrifice, not with our heads but with our hearts.

There is a part of us that needs to continually gaze at God’s love hanging on that cross for the world to see – and not stop doing it. It is a good thing to relive our gratitude for what He has given us, every single day, and enjoy our new found love in Him as it grows. It is in the light of the cross, where our real place in this world and the next is made clear. We don’t have to be special to this world’s eyes, we are God’s riches because we are the saved ones. “Oh, what manner of love the Father gives that we may be called the sons of God!”  We are His chosen riches and I pray we all know how very rich we are because of all He did for us.. Bye 👋🏻. 

P 2352 Pause with me and think on this.

/ DVH

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

P 2325 Mechanical things and I are not always friends …

/ DVH

… and I don’t just mean this computer I am typing on either! Now, if you give me a paint brush, I will paint you a picture … if you give me a pencil I will write you a story… But computers, or things with technological chips in them … like the kettle, or the car, or the cell phone, or the air-conditioning… those kind of things are the bane of my life. They promise so much, and drive you nuts instead. Tell me you haven’t yelled at some inanimate object that didn’t deliver as promised! 😡 

Life has given me lots of opportunities to discover what I can’t do. I was once given the opportunity to use an electric disabled scooter in a supermarket… that was an absolute disaster! I kept hitting all the fittings. Sigh… I even moved some of them sideways – by hitting them of course. A very nice employee came along after that and asked for the keys back. I didn’t blame him, I wouldn’t want anyone moving the shelves in my supermarket either. It appears I definitely can’t use one of those darn mechanical gismos. 

It actually took me six months of three times a week driving lessons, to get my driver’s licence. I could easily remember the rules but the whole steering/parking driving down the road steering thing escaped me. Sigh. I just ain’t mechanically minded and I’m not excited about the responsibility either. I once tried to ride a Vespa and I kept sticking my feet down to stop it. 😱 That was not a good plan. And never ever let me near your Venetian blinds… I know they aren’t mechanical – but try telling them that! I mean well, and I try hard, but the practical outworking sabotages me. I always pull the wrong string first, and it goes rapidly downhill from there. 

One of the fantastic things about getting to know the Lord Jesus is the distinct lack of any need to feel important – for His sake or my own. The realisation that the God of the Universe loves me … Meh! Everything else becomes superficial trimmings that can disappear in a heartbeat … and they often do! Even things with chips in … and I’m not talking about fish and chips either.

So what am I on about? I’ve learnt, from my own very obvious inadequacies,that we need each other. It is not good for man to be alone. You know, that verse is not just about finding a spouse. It is about us, the brethren, needing each other. ← There’s that pesky FULL STOP. I can’t sing by myself, however I can sing in a choir. I freeze up in a solo, in front of an audience. 🥶  So I suggest we keep me in the choir… and maybe YOU sing the solo instead. I know some people who look so ordinary… but when they sing … I feel like heaven stops to listen.

And, I know some preachers who usher in God’s Presence and challenge everything you think you know … in a good way. Afterward you feel like you lost ten pounds of excess weight. It just drops off and you feel lighter. I’ve met people who can say three words and shift your focus off your troubles and back onto the Lord – without preaching at you. There are others who make me smile and laugh  – there is just something about the way they view this life …

… We cannot do Christianity alone. It is NOT GOOD FOR US. We need to stop analysing other people’s theology and just start appreciating their strengths. Having opinions can be vastly overrated. I’ve learnt that the Lord loves it when we make a choice to see the good in each other. He kisses it. Our God loves unity. If we want Him to hang around with us, then we had better figure out how to accept the people who mess up like I do. Who can do somethings OK a-n-d others … not-so-much. Unity is not just enforced agreement, it is having the same heart toward each other. 

That does not come about easily.

God so loved the world … and HE thrives on our differences. Let’s move outside our comfort zones and make room for each other. You can fix my venetian blinds and I’ll draw you a picture.  😂 💻!

P 2320 What illuminates our thinking?

/ DVH

There are many people in this world that regard the bible as a musty, dusty old book that has nothing much to say to them. They don’t see it as a series of stadium lights,  brighter than the sun, opening up new doors and possibilities. I think this is because Christians have inadvertently presented this book as a guide that God has given to them …kind of like ‘their own personal torch.’  We’ve become almost a secret society, with our own buzz words, and language. 

But, “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” Psalms 119:105 NIV. However His book is totally personal, based on the fact that it is not only filled with info that explains the Way into relationship with God, but it is also available to anyone who is looking for Him. “… he who comes to God, must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6b

The bible was given to everyone, not just Christians. It is a book filled with revelations and light for everyone. Because most religions have a ‘book’ – a manifesto if you will –  the bible itself has been casually thrown upon a pile of those kind of, ancient tomes into a corner. It has been filed under the heading of ‘books about stuff I don’t want to know about.’ 

In today’s world we have books and books – podcasts, media, social media, magazines, etc… plus the news! We all know that we can’t trust the news to tell us what we need to know that will benefit us spiritually. Because they have an agenda. That agenda is motivated by sales, money, power and popularity. Even social media, is simply old fashioned gossiping on steroids. It lies, it postulates and it is manufactured in order to make someone else money, or  to give others power. But how will people ever understand the power of those lies if they have never seen the real thing!

If we don’t tell others the bible is a different kind of book, because you read it with the Author – how will they know? Sad to say, shallow thinking produces shallow greedy people. “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.” Romans 15:4 NIV. That hope is not just for us – we are meant to share that hope with everyone!

These other modern things are often too filled with man’s worst nature to do good. But the bible is different, it has the breath and heartbeat of God in it. Meanwhile this wonderful book it does not explain anything – it actually poses more questions than it gives answers! It is not ashamed of its story, or its characters, or WHO GOD IS.

I believe this is why Jesus Christ came here to earth. Books can be misread and misinterpreted – but Jesus Christ came TO SHOW US what life looks like when God’s ways are followed. HIS STORY, HIS PERSONHOOD, HIS ATTITUDES TOWARD MANKIND ARE ALL IN THIS BOOK.

God’s great love for us all in the Person of Jesus Christ is the overriding redemptive theme in the bible. Colossians 1:19 “For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him,…”Colossians 2:9 “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,…” Revelation 19:12-13: “His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns; and He had a name written, that no man knew, but He Himself. [And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and His name is called The Word of God.”

Jesus Christ is our human visual aid. Our example. He shows us that it is possible for any one of us to live our lives obeying God. He made the things that seemed impossible – possible when He cancelled the power sin forever… By becoming our sin – Jesus totally identified with us. The best response to such a sacrifice is gratitude not permissiveness. We need to live this life questioning ourselves – what is illuminating our thinking?  👋🏻

P 2319 Let’s not limit God!

/ DVH

I truly debated over today’s blog and whether I dare be this honest … but … our God is big and He cares about the truth – so here I am, and hopefully someone out there in blog land will be stretched and challenged.

As some of you already know I had an adverse conversation with a set of stairs at our house. I fell up them and then promptly tumbled back down to the bottom. I was very thorough, I did not miss one step! I broke off the head of my humerus in 3 places and fractured my forearm as well. That was not fun. 

Yet I sat at the bottom of the stairs in a cool calm and peaceful fashion for 3 hours, with my hubby and two ambulance people – our house is not easily accessible to gurneys. I had no panic even though it hurt – badly.  Hubby and I both prayed BTW.

Hitting bumps and going around corners in the ambulance later on on the way to hospital was just plain awful – pain doesn’t like bad roads. However, waiting in the queue to be admitted, my whole demeanour changed. Again, I have no idea why!! I ended up cracking jokes and being cheerful when that was truly the last thing on my mind. I am not even going to begin to explain that transformation … I am just going to move on…

All the xrays etc were so not fun … I was crying out loudly in pain. The pain went well beyond the boundaries of sucking it up, and it just went splat everywhere. I was in way too much pain to be embarrassed about how I responded. Suffering happens, it’s an inexplicable subjective reality.

Last night, 8 weeks later … I tripped yet again – no I have not found a new hobby! I was climbing back into bed, missed my step and ended up on the floor … for the second time –  unable to get up. My knees do not like to be knelt on at all – so I was stuck. Again I had the same peace I had experienced the first time. In the end we had to call my son and ask for help at 2.00am. He came immediately and between these two men we managed to get me onto a chair. Once on the chair I was … fine. Today, I had xrays and nothing bad has happened as a result of my second tumble. However I KNEW I WAS OK from the minute it happened to me. 

I do not intend to draw conclusions, the only thing I want to comment on is that obviously the peaceful lucid patches were the Holy Spirit helping me. The rest was me, and my own reaction to suffering. Personally, I would have rather stayed in the peaceful place – I have no idea why I didn’t!! I don’t even know if there was something for me to learn from it all… maybe later …

I am writing about this today because, in my experience, things in this life don’t often make sense. And I think we have developed a whole stream of theology trying to explain the inexplicable! In its own way those kind of  thoughts are still trying to control God, and put Him into a theologically-sound box. That is pointless and quite frankly insulting to Who He is. Some people say: “Take the lid off!” But I say “Let’s blow up the stupid box instead.” 

At this point I want to share what I think are some appropriate scriptures. Psalm 59:8, Psalm 2:4, Psalm 37:13, in these scriptures it tells us that God laughs at mankind’s thoughts and theories etc. It states that our view of Him is way too small. We’ve reduced His Ways – which are past finding out – (Romans 11:33), to something we can manage.

You know, we can analyse, theorise, and explain things until we are purple – we can quote this scripture and that wise person and still stand there as dumb as the dirt we were made from. What gave us life was His breath in us. So let’s not try to add wisdom into His thoughts.  His thoughts are often inexplicable!

Instead, let’s just let Him be our Father Who knows more than we ever could, and accept that our explanations, theories and so-called truths, limit Him like the Israelites did:  “Again and again they turned away and tempted God to kill them, and limited the Holy One of Israel from giving them His blessings.” Psalm 78:41. Let’s skip that mistake … sha-a-ll we?  👋🏻

P 2303 Prayer needs substance.

/ DVH

So put your feet to work underneath what you say you believe. Seriously. How many times have you said to someone: ‘Oh that’s terrible, I’ll pray for you.’ And maybe if you are someone who is on the ball, you walked away and prayed while you were walking away. Or maybe you prayed for them on the spot …brownie points to you! Perhaps you are one of those people who writes stuff down so they won’t forget and you put them on your prayer list. BP2U!

Hopefully you are not like me … if I don’t pray for you on the spot, while I think of it, then you’re a dead duck. I’m very sorry, but I have probably forgotten what you said as I’m walking away. This, by the way, is the reason why I pray for people on the spot – because my memory ain’t what it used to be. 

I’ve had many sweet people of God tell me I’m an intercessor – mainly because they did not have a clue with what to do with me. I didn’t FIT! You know, the whole world is in BIG trouble … try HUGE … if that’s what I’m supposed to be. I’m from the days when they always told non-clergy that was their gift, because they didn’t know what to do with lay people, and intercession seemed a safe not-in-charge-type-job! I mean prayer is a good thing right?

And BTW I don’t have to repent for telling the truth … although … I might have to review the ‘speaking the truth in love bit!’ But back then, most people were passengers on the good ship we’re-doing-church-now. However the church always wanted to have a fete to raise money and because I was a ‘crafty person’ they gave me craft stuff to do. Yet another huge mistake. I once cut the gloriously long fringe on a beautiful homespun shawl to 3 cms. The pastor’s wife didn’t kill me … but boy she thought about it!

I was moved right along from that disaster, to food stuffs. I mean anybody can make a sandwich right?? If you thought I sucked at craft, you should have seen me at sandwiches. Other ladies made lovely sandwiches – mine – fell apart instantly. I could do all that kind of stuff OK at my house. All my sandwich points stood upright like little soldiers. My cakes rose, and they were tasty. But mention the word fete and I fell apart, and so did everything I baked. Intimidation to the max.

So then people much smarter than me decided perhaps I was an evangelist in disguise. And they sent me off to learn how to do one of those fantastic you-learn-and-use-five- pages-of-memorised-stuff to help somebody get to know Jesus and sneak up on them. Sadly that didn’t workout well for me either. I was under firm instructions to never speak because that was the leader’s job… even thinking about me being silent on cue was scary.

The people we made appointments with, would turn to me — just as I was trying to blend in with their wallpaper and look invisible… and then they’d ask me … for no reason whatsoever … ‘what does that mean to you?’ And then I was stuck. I could either obey the leader and get a big tick, or I could disobey the rules, tell the truth, and somebody had a chance to meet Jesus. I disobeyed a lot in those days. Double sigh. At the same time I learnt you can’t be yourself at church!!

Hilariously, I have survived other people’s various attempts to remodel me into a more suitable shape and in that process I learnt how to die to myself. However, no matter what I did, I have always tried to put my feet into action by applying what my mouth said. Nowadays, if you need prayer, I won’t just pray for you – I will also ask the Holy Spirit – “What can I do about that Lord?” And then I will do it. 

My point today is this: I have made and will continue to make big mistakes, you will make mistakes too … it’s OK. Our God has got us. Nothing gets past His gaze.  Just don’t stop with prayer, ask the Lord: ‘How can I HELP?’ Look, can I be honest with you? It is not helpful to ask the person with the problem …!!! “What can I do to help?” They have a problem! Their problem solving skills are a bit busy! DUH! Asking that question simply makes you feel better, like you’ve done something … but all you’ve done is transfer the weight back onto them.

So go and sit with the sick, help look after their kids, go be with the family who just lost their Grandpa, and find a way to give the unemployed back their dignity. Choose to learn to become God’s hands and feet as He directs you. 👋🏻

P 2292 Disposing of myths…

/ DVH

There was a theory in Christianity like 30-40 years ago that ‘what you say is what you get.’  I’ve found that human beings are fascinating … we are always looking for the easy way, or the soft touch or an escape clause etc. etc. But actually I think we have all gone a bit soft. Not in the head, mind you, but emotionally speaking. When things get tough … sadly, ’the tough don’t get going’ … They are far more likely to squawk and complain their heads off and drive their poor pastor nuts.

God is not obliged to answer our prayers, He always hears us – but we are now living under His Grace. We can ASK – but then we trust. Unfortunately, I think we’ve become way too used to outsourcing our problems instead of getting alone with God and working things out with Him.

I can remember, years ago, way back in the Ark – metaphorically speaking – after some huge difficulty or other, crying my eyes bloodshot. I was surrounded by piles of soggy tissues, and I explained to God that I just couldn’t take any more, and could He please feel sorry for me and come and help me out of the mess I had somehow manage to get into? You know, I really don’t have experiences, or hear an audible voice – I’m a plodder… one foot after the other kind of thing … This one time I actually heard HIM LAUGH!

Well that was a tad discouraging! So I said so. But that didn’t seem to make a lot of difference. His reply was even more discouraging… “You don’t know what YOU can do,” He said. You know, He was right!  I’ve learnt the Lord God maker of heaven and earth – always IS. Since then I have been through far worse things, still crying, complaining and filling up our oceans and landfill with even more tissues. But I survived. Despite my heart and mind telling me I couldn’t possibly live through this kind of pain … I DID!

“But the love of God will be perfected within the one who obeys God’s Word. We can be sure that we’ve truly come to live in intimacy with God, not just by saying, “I am intimate with God,” but by walking in the footsteps of Jesus.” 1 John 2:5-6 TPT. 

As you can see, it isn’t, what you say is what you get … it’s what you get – YOU GET! 🤔 And then comes the joy of learning to live with whatever the problem is, while you are trying to grow through it, and at the same time straining forward to follow Jesus. That’s the real rubber, hitting the real road – impacting lives. I wish I could tell you after all these years that I have learnt the magic formula to managing hard things but … NOPE!!  However, I have learnt to give UP much quicker … but then again, that could be old age. Are you cheered up yet? 😂

Here’s my genuine advice. Go into His book and look for a reality rush. Try reading Hebrews 11. Particularly V13. “All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.” So are any of us better than Abraham or the guys in this list? No! Jesus Himself said:’In this life you will have trials … but cheer up, I have overcome the world.’ John 16:33.

Unrealistic expectations have killed off more faith than any of us will ever understand this side of heaven. Our faith must always be in God’s goodness, not in answers. Answers are simply the result of the outworking of His plans for all of us. We restrict the Lord when we try to explain or interpret His ways with our finite minds. We will always need the Holy Spirit to help us. ALWAYS! Otherwise we will start reducing Almighty God to SomeOne after our own image … and that is not good at all! 

What we say is definitely not always what we get – Father God always gives better than we ever imagined… in His timing. His timing is different from what we asked for or hoped, or thought, but it is always perfect. Let’s let God be God and we’ll just be us!  Deuteronomy 32:4 (KJV) “He is the Rock, His work is perfect: For all His ways are judgment: A God of truth and without iniquity, Just and right is He.” And that is definitely worth thinking about. 👋🏻

P 2269 We need to use our faith to access His Grace.

/ DVH

Think of Grace as a huge endless heavenly container that has all the provision you will ever need to access in this life for anything you need to do. It is limitless. It is time to rely upon His boundless Grace to change our ways of thinking being and doing instead of misusing it as an escape clause to remain the same not change. We can’t see it, BUT … it’s in the book! Having faith is about trusting God to be true to His Word.

At the immediate point of impact when somebody says or does something that hurts or irritates us … we need to take a breath and ask the Lord for help. It’s a choice. It’s a hard choice because we are used to making decisions without referring to anything else other than what we know. Or maybe in desperation, we try to make scriptures back up what we want. Faith is about Who HE is – can we trust Him to work everything together for good, even in our bad moments?

Think of it this way God knows the way through anything we come up against, no matter what difficulty we are in. This is why we need His help, to put this Grace that is so readily available in our time of need, into action. In Exodus the Israelites could not go into the promised land because  it was in signs and wonders and provision. We need to change our focus. Our faith needs to be in Him, in the One who did everything for us. 

We don’t have to feel ashamed of being inadequate in the face of trials and tribulations. Our GOD loves to help and protect us. The more we use our faith to access His grace the more our faith will grow. Faith is not just the thing we drag out when the sky has fallen on us, or something bad has happened. If we live that way then we could easily find that our faith muscle will atrophy, and we have no faith strength to make it through whatever it is that confronts us.

The Lord Himself told us to live by faith. Living by faith means it’s a day by day thing, sometimes minute by minute. The only way to strengthen this kind of Living interactive  faith is to continually use it. Unfortunately we are way too used to relying upon our own understanding and strength so we automatically do some things out of habit or personal ability. 

This means we are living our lives acknowledging the power of God but not using it. It is no wonder that faith fails to uphold us, when it is the emergency spare. To live by faith means we live by our confidence in the power of His Word, from His book. Because we have become so used to referring to what we know, and going on with that –  this will mean praying without ceasing, sometimes. 

Not the sort of prayers that we sometimes use and try to hope in …these honest sorts of prayers … like help Lord or I need You, Lord. Heart prayers, not just pretty prayers we hope the Lord will accept. He already permanently accepted us, forever. In our efforts to be reverent and to pray the sorts of prayers we think God wants to hear, we’ve lost the ability to communicate with Him in every day language that comes  truthfully from our hearts. He’s our reference point, which means He knows what we need before we do! Believing in His goodness, and acting upon that thought in mind, means we are moving in faith.

This does not mean that we run around like loose cannons blaming our mistakes on the Lord, and taking credit for the victories. It’s an attitude of heart that says ‘I can’t do anything without You’ Jesus. We do not lose our independence by force, rather we surrender in favour of His great great wisdom and insight. I often find myself praying what do I do here Lord? 

True freedom exists when you have the freedom to make a choice. Automatic responses are not choices either. They are a reflex action. Sometimes we do things ourselves because it seems quicker than leaning on Him. The more we practice leaning on Him – using our faith, the more it becomes the way we think. That’s called renewing our minds. Do you think Jesus was ever so distracted by His circumstances, or whatever was going on around Him that He forgot about His Father or the Holy Spirit? He started from what God said and went from there. He was still Himself, but He was Himself with the benefit of the Father’s wisdom and the Holy Spirit’s applications. 

Using our faith is an investment in our relationship with Him and whatever ministry He has for us. Faith needs to be like sneezing or sitting down … a part of life. Remember we must never be afraid of getting it wrong, Jesus redeemed everything but He cannot redeem our inertia! Grace is accessed by faith, no matter how wobbly that faith seems to be to us. Let’s live our lives believing the bible is true. He said He did it, so it’s done. Bye 👋🏻

P 2264 Gratitude leads to surrender.

/ DVH

“Keep your eyes open, hold tight to your convictions, give it all you’ve got, be resolute, and love without stopping.” 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 (MSG) Loving other human beings the way that God loves us, not only seems impossible – I actually think it IS impossible. On the other hand, earthly Love promises the moon but rarely gives us anything as valuable in return. Earthly Love can often take everything from you. And sadly, sometimes, nothing comes back.

I think we’ve reduced loving God into a concept, rather than aiming at it becoming a reality. Some people might say, “I really love roses or I love chocolate, or I adore my car.”   Whilst all those kinds of things are legitimate, because we all have likes and preferences, sadly I think we have also reduced the word ‘love’ to just another adjective – like ‘blue sky’ or ‘pretty rainbow.’ However in reality, the kind of love God talks about in the bible, is not only interactive, it is see-able. After all His love came to earth to save us from ourselves.  

This kind of love often remains unseen, unheralded, and unappreciated, and because of it’s invisibility, many people try to escape from their own sacrificial response to God’s love –  because  they want to have their cake and eat it too. His Love does not have divided loyalties. My biggest concern is that Christians have adopted this word the way the world has adopted it, as an adjective, and it has become a description, using it as an adjective or noun. Those things are often tied to feelings. There is an unseen war in this world today over the word Love.  It has been watered down and used frivolously.  To understand love, and in particular God’s love, we must always look at Christ – He is our glorious illustration of inward affection being expressed outwardly and perfectly, by the way He lived and died. 

It seems to me that we are very happy to receive whatever Jesus died to give us – so we can go to heaven, but sadly, we are not nearly as happy to give up our idea of this life and all of its benefits, for His sake. We have forgotten Calvary was an exchange – His life for ours. There are no exceptions to this new way of life. We need to understand that we are not too young or too old or too infirm or preoccupied with making our own personal lives successful. “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15:13 NIV. 

Jesus Christ was not a kissy huggy demonstrative person – yet He still absolutely demonstrated His love in a way we can see and copy. His love went beyond outward signs of affection into living His whole life for our benefit. We cannot, and dare not, ignore what He intentionally modelled it in front us. Despite popular opinions Christ did not die so we could have a better life here. He died to give us the power to live this life here and now for His sake. For the sake of His kingdom.

Jesus was not a part-time lover of God, He lived every second of every day He was given, for His Father’s sake.

It is true that He believes we are worth it, but we are taking advantage of His huge largesse when we do not live this life to the full.  What would it be like if our earthly friends only helped us when it suited them, or when it was convenient?  Does that seem like true friendship to you? Jesus told us in the above scripture that this is the pinnacle of love, to live a sacrificial life dedicated to Him, representing Him, with no thought of recompense.

I would go so far as to say if we think we are fulfilling this criteria by using our ministry gift, prayer, bible study, worship in a form of tokenism and hope He won’t notice the difference … this means, at the very least, we are terrible friends of His. Up until Jesus came, the lamb offering people brought for sacrifices for their sins had to be perfect.  Christ was our perfect sacrifice.  I don’t think He is looking for us to get it perfectly right, rather, I think He is looking for us to be so in-love with Him that the word, “No”, doesn’t even occur to us, our response to His love is our devotion.  I know I’m not there yet.  

All I want to do today is to challenge everyone about what needs to happen in our lives for US to love Him back the way He loved us.  It’s our heart attitude that matters. It doesn’t matter that we fail.  But just like a compass always points to true north, our hearts need to swing away from the distractions and troubles of this life back to the Saviour. And then gratitude will lead to surrender.

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.” 1 John 3:1 NIV. The way to behold Him is see Him for Who He really is – so we must go past His hands to His face which is filled with Love for us. He doesn’t want spoiled brats, He wants people who voluntarily choose to love Him right back. 👋🏻

P 2255 A true intercessor.

/ DVH

In Genesis 18:23-25. Almighty God and Abraham are dialoguing about Sodom and Gomorrah. “Then Abraham approached Him and said: “Will You sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? Far be it from You to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from You! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”

This is, by far, one of my very favourite verses in all the bible. This mighty man, Abraham, the Father of our Faith, has such incredible confidence in the Character of God! We all need this kind of confidence in Who our God is, and know His Ways, intimately. I pray the people of these current generations know the Lord so well, that they cannot comprehend Him doing anything evil! We all need that kind of confidence and knowledge about Him, desperately. Abraham is extremely respectful, but he insists.

This passage in Genesis is what I think that an intercessor looks like. I know many people think intercessors spend hours on their faces praying and interceding for the lost – and I praise God for that kind of gift! However I’d be overjoyed to have 5 minutes of someone praying for me, for my life and future, with this sort of confidence in God Himself. 

Abraham was interceding for the people in Sodom and Gomorrah, and they didn’t even know their fate. However God knew their hearts, and He had purposed to deal with the evil in this city. But one man stood in the breach and had a conversation with God about their destruction. Abraham’s point of intercession was not about the people, or their wickedness, or deeds … it was all about HIS CONFIDENCE IN THE CHARACTER OF GOD – He challenged God to do right.

If you read Chapter 18 you will see he gets pretty overwhelmed somewhere in the middle of this conversation. It is almost like he’s kind of got his big toe almost outside the door, ready to run, 😐 but he still talking and still bargaining for these lives. We need this kind of intercessor, today, people who hold God to His word. We can see that this man learnt the Father’s Ways as he journeyed with Him from Haran to Canaan.

However, the basis of Abraham’s prayers are about Who God is! The Father’s reputation. I have heard it taught before that perhaps Abraham did not bargain hard enough for these people to be saved. I don’t know about that – but I love this man who stood toe to toe with Almighty God and pleaded for the lives of these people, whether they deserved it or not. Please do not tell me that God doesn’t love or care about everybody – I don’t believe you. This is what He is like, right here in these few verses – He doesn’t just love good people – He loves all of mankind. Jesus died for all. The penalty that was paid indicates Almighty God’s estimation of worth!

Jesus Christ Himself prays and intercedes for us with even more fervency than Abraham shows here – we are so blessed to be alive NOW! I think you can see Father God’s righteous loving Character so clearly through Abraham’s confidence in Him, when this man speaks and negotiates with God. If the Lord had disagreed with him, He would have told Abraham not to bother praying for them. In my heart this is what real prayer looks like! It looks like this kind of confidence in God’s goodness. The Body of Christ must go far, far beyond the places we’ve already been before – right into His heart, and gain further understanding of His love for everyone. 

Meanwhile, just prior to the above verses God says this, in Genesis 18:17 “Then the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?” I think that this is what true intimacy between God and man looks like. Father God regards Abraham with respect. This shows us over and over again, that the Lord loves to dialogue with mankind. What you and I can hear throughout the the pages of the bible, is His disappointment that the man He made doesn’t love Him back!

The wonderful old Patriarchs, Abraham and Moses, knew God in ways we can only imagine. However, we are so blessed to be alive today in this world we live in. Praise God we have the joy of knowing the Answer – Jesus! We can know the Father through Christ, even better than these men did. Jesus Christ is now our perfect intercessor. Let’s not live in the shallows, let’s dive deeper into the Bible, together with prayer, so we can know and understand Who He is, and what He wants, and fight for it. 

We need to learn how to pray with understanding for His heart, and His desires and passions. Let’s AIM bigger. We’ve been aiming at too little for too long. We need men and women who intercede like Abraham! 👋🏻