Good fruits

P 3305 The heart of the matter.

/ DVH

Sin starts in our minds and imagination, but it can quite rapidly drop down from our thinking, into our hearts where it pollutes them. Actions aren’t far behind thoughts. Meanwhile satan could care less what you and I do, so long as it is not what God wants for us! A lifetime filled with distractions, suits him! But when we take this life seriously, that’s when we will meet opposition. 

At the same time we could discover that our hearts, just like the Israelites in the wilderness, are yearning for the onions and garlic of Egypt – instead of wondering what our Promised land looks like! Have you ever asked yourself, what does OUR Promised land look like? Here and now, day by day? The Lord wants to take everything we know about Him in our heads, and drop those things into our hearts, with our co-operation. Our heart is the issue, and it needs protecting.

The bible says in Proverbs 4:23: “Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life.”  What does that mean? It means we need to guard the springs of His Spirit life, the Holy Spirit is revealing in each one of us. Then we can daily draw fresh water out of that well. We drink from it ourselves, and we give this water away to other thirsty people. 

We excuse our behaviour at our own peril! We simply can’t afford to let other things take over the focus of our hearts – Jesus is our focus…not things like entertainment! That other stuff is a waste of time. Proverbs uses the word vigilance when it comes to the things of God, which means: “the action or state of keeping careful watch for possible danger or difficulties.” In other versions that word is translated — diligence. That is the quality of working steadily, carefully, and with great effort to complete a task properly. We need both. God’s Word needs to become flesh in us … that only happens when we prioritise His Ways.

Here’s the good news — Jesus came to earth, lived and died, and rose again, to give us the power to have this kind of vigilance and diligence. We don’t have to do this alone. He will help us! Just like a compass points north, our hearts need course correction and focus. This is why I cannot tell you what to watch on TV for instance —  enforcement of rules will not cover it. It’s about our personal choices. It’s not a mandatory thing — it’s a passion for Jesus thing. What my heart objects to, and is influenced by, won’t be the same as your heart’s response. I strongly suggest each one of us watch TV, play video games, listen to the radio, or use social media –welcoming the Holy Spirit’s guidance.

Only you, together with the Holy Spirit, can discern what pushes bad buttons in your heart.  Please note, sometimes we can remain undisturbed because of one very troubling fact. We’ve become hardened in our hearts and fallen asleep. The best answer is to find those buttons, and disconnect them, but I don’t have enough space to tackle that here. I can only give you examples to help prime the pump, so to speak. However, we cannot tackle the insidious influence of media, without the pure wisdom that comes down from above. 

James 3:17 expounds what that wisdom looks like, as it flows out of us: “But the wisdom from above is first pure [morally and spiritually undefiled], then peace-loving [courteous, considerate], gentle, reasonable [and willing to listen], full of compassion and good fruits. It is unwavering, without [self-righteous] hypocrisy [and self-serving guile].”  You don’t know me, and I don’t know you, but you can see from these blogs that I am not drumming up customers for any church, or some Christian group! I have no agenda here, except to see the Body of Christ wake up at the appropriate time with their lamps filled with oil, so whenever the Lord does whatever He is going to do next, we will all be ready.

Our enemy is a deceiver. he is called the father of all lies. Yes, even the iddy-biddy no harm, no foul ones! There’s no such thing as a white lie, or even an OK lie. Because satan is the originator of lies, imagine what agreeing with them will produce? It won’t be good fruit, trust me! he will never come at people who love Jesus and want to serve the Lord, with this kind of thought: ‘let’s go rob a bank.’ Or ‘your neighbour is a pain, let’s put poison in his coffee!’ he is far more likely to whisper that it is‘ OK to cheat on your income tax because everybody else does it and the accountant said it is legal,’ Or you could end up in a conversation with someone else assassinating a third person’s character, and calling the idea prayer points! 

Almighty God is searching for a people who will honour what He wants and likes, above what they like or honour.“For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong in behalf of those whose hearts are blameless toward Him.” 2 Chronicles 16:9. I know He’s searching all of our hearts, even as I write this. He’s looking for a people who are serious about loving and serving Jesus. He doesn’t care what nation we are from —  or whether we are poor or rich, old or young, sick or well. He desires a people who will do more than just say ‘Amen’ to what the pastor says. These people will go out and LIVE AMEN in their daily lives to their own hurt. 

We cannot afford to gloss over those things that will lead us nowhere and profit us nothing. Let’s choose to make strong specific God-given choices, and stick to them. Father God is tenderly looking for a people who will choose Him first, that’s the heart of the matter. Bye. 👋

P 2436 Be humble, the Lord loves a humble heart.

/ DVH

“If you readily receive correction, you are walking on the path to life. But if you reject rebuke, you’re guaranteed to go astray.” Proverbs 10:17 TPT. The Lord gave me a key when I was a very young Christian and I’m still learning how to use it. He said this: “If you will hear Me for correction, you will hear Me for direction.” I can personally testify that that word is true. Allowing Him to correct us at any given time, opens eyes that are often blind to the owner’s faults … as well as new possibilities. Being ready to be wrong at any given time is not only a great source of humility … it is a source of amazing God-given strength.

It comes from understanding that we do not know everything. The bible has this great piece of advice in it: “Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise; When he closes his lips, he is considered prudent.” Proverbs 17:28. Personally, I like my son’s translation of that, which is: “Even an idiot looks wise with his mouth shut!” 😂 James 3:13 says this: “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.”  

Humility is rare in today’s world, and, as a result, the people of this age aren’t always wise – you simply have to read the papers to see that! When is the last time you saw a world leader say: “I was wrong, I’m sorry.” When is the last time YOU said it?  Meanwhile nobody enjoys being wrong…including me! But in this wonderful new world of God’s kingdom coming in our lives — we are rarely right— that’s because we are on a journey. Only God is good – remember? Humility always begins by putting Him first.

Many Christians bumble along, hiding from who they actually are, because they don’t want to change … they don’t think it is necessary. They discount their nasty attitudes behind closed doors, and think public politeness will fool God and others. Sadly I fall down that hole all the time. I was raised to have good manners, and they shoot me in the foot a lot. But true humility owns its faults and then seeks the Holy Spirit’s help to correct them. It loves reparation.

False humility criticises others where the perpetrator can’t be heard. You know good manners is about me looking good to you, humility is about caring how I look to God! Good manners can be hypocritical. We cannot be cleansed from known sin we will not own. Utter honesty and sincerity can be difficult to live by, but owning our faults, humbles us. Sadly we can successfully hide nasty traits from others by calling those traits nice names like — caring, constructive criticism, good manners, and sometimes we even misuse the prophetic…

Paul has that whole idea smashed… “Why not suffer wrong?” He says that in 1 Corinthians 6:7. He’s talking about Christians suing each other, but it is all the same difference! What He means is humbling yourself, and living honestly and truthfully is spiritually beneficial.  Peter says: “Humble yourself, under God’s mighty hand, that in due time He may exalt you.” 1 Peter 5:6. We need to come to the place where what God thinks and what He wants, is far more important to me than my pride, or what you think of me.

When we choose human wisdom we are moving away from the wisdom from above. James 3:17 tells us what this wisdom looks like: “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.” It isn’t about who is right, and can prove it. Or who is wrong and hasn’t got a leg to stand on! What would GOD Himself have to say about our petty spiteful arguments? What are those things doing to our spiritual lives? 

My 96 year old mother has taught me these things by example. She forgives everyone, and speaks well of people, plus she absolutely respects Almighty God. She has always had the kind of attitude that says: “There is no point in holding a grudge, life is too short for grudges.” I have never heard her criticise anyone. My husband’s mother’s response to gossip or criticism is to stop speaking … full stop! She withdraws and won’t be drawn into the conversation. She respects Jesus more than people. It seems to me that senior generation of women has a lot to teach us!

I think humility starts in our hearts. We get it automatically as we understand we cannot possibly live this life the way Jesus did, without asking for His help… because there is too much of ME in the way. A repentant person is one who repairs things quickly, because their relationship with the Lord is far more important than outward appearances. Living this life dead to self is the very best way to follow Jesus – you get to humble yourself in front of others – all over the place! 👋🏻