Good

P 2564 Life’s tough, but you can’t beat a good laugh!

/ DVH

Many Christians could get quite offended if I imply they are actually not nice people. So, today I want to start off with this — of course you are a nice person! We have to learn to be nice people – it’s almost kind of mandatory! But we can easily be a misinformed person, because nobody has taught us how to use our faith to grow, and live transformed lives! The reality is, we could be rich, we may even have a BMW parked somewhere safe, plenty of funds in the bank, and a 200 square foot house … but we still get furious with other people and run off at the mouth! I’ve noticed that success appears on the outside, but a heart change takes a while to show up.

The truth is: the person who has to co-operate with the Holy Spirit here, in this life, is me. You may drive me nuts, but it is still up to me to stop the negative monologue in my brain from rolling around on repeat. The Holy Spirit will not shut our mouths for us. He won’t even make us read the bible so we have something good to think about instead! He will not switch off the TV or the radio either. Our precious Friend, the Holy Spirit is terrific, He is a fantastic Helper! He wants us to win over sin and temptation, so He warns us over and over again. He says stuff like: ”Turn back now” or “Why not die to self?” But our only way out is to obey what we’ve heard – not just wish-pray stuff away! 

Thinking over what you really want to say to that guy at work who annoys you all the time, will pretty much guarantee it will fly out of your mouth at him, sometime or other, unexpectedly. But the Holy Spirit won’t stop that either – if He did He would be violating our free will! He will warn us but if we ignore Him, HE WILL QUIETLY GO AWAY. Choice is everything. He won’t yell at us about our bad choices – the Holy Spirit quite simply votes with His feet! What do I mean by that? He leaves. WE will have to deliberately DO things differently as in Me. Myself. I!

He will not make a puppet out of us, we must choose to change – on the spot, in the heat of the moment – when you really want to let someone have it! We must take steps to walk out of the many things we have allowed to control our lives — and we do that on purpose. We ask for His help and then purpose to change the way we respond. And here is another enormous truth – ministry, good works, etc. will not change us – choices do. 

The Lord Jesus walked every single step of the way to Calvary. Nobody gave Him a ride. He had to take that walk knowing He was walking to His DEATH. We too, are on a daily death-march. Every single day, we will be tempted all the time, to avoid or postpone dying to self.  Postponement has a fatal flaw— every time we give in to temptation, we are empowering the wrong spirit in us. Just saying is all…

2 Corinthians 10:5 says:”We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”  As you can see we can’t just say:  ”Mind! You must not think that!”  We need to replace what our minds naturally run to, with something that is good, right, pure and just. That is what taking thoughts captive means. So we read the book intentionally and we puzzle over what He is saying to ME!  My advice is to read it until you start punching the air and saying – “Yes! This shows me how much God loves me – He wants to help me!!”  When did we ever get so darn cool and laid-back that we no longer show enthusiasm for the things of God? 🙄

Lastly I am going to give you a great secret when it comes to dealing with your angry, frustrated, wandering mind. Learn to laugh …at yourself. Please don’t laugh at  someone else, that has been known to start wars! Laugh at the situation, or how seriously you seem to be taking it, or the fact that you just screeched at someone like an angry parrot! Learn to laugh …at yourself. Maintaining a sense of humour in the midst of all the angst, pain, irritation and suffering this life hands us, is almost mandatory. All those things are not funny, I know that – I live with them! But when you’ve tried to dress yourself and successfully put the stupid garment on backwards for the 4th time … it is funny.

Years ago, when hubby and I were fighting …playing word interpretation ping-pong back and forth, I often found there were moments when I wanted to laugh. But of course, in my mind it was wrong to laugh be-ca-use …after all, THIS.WAS.SERIOUS! The sky was falling! Our marriage could be over! Except … it wasn’t! After realising that I-can’t-count-the-number-of …semi-trailer loads of God’s grace that fell on us — 37 years later we are still enjoying each other’s company. And yes… we still disagree, at times, loudly. Not!Dead!Yet!  We are both a work in progress – sometimes driving each other batty – of course it is always his fault! He still hasn’t learnt that the woman is always right! 😂

Laughing at ourselves or even a situation, releases tension. It will help us feel better, even temporarily, and it breaks the coldness that creeps into our hearts when we get angry. It also gives us an opportunity to think about and choose what we will do next. Apologies are great! “I’m sincerely sorry I was such a grouchy angry person …” that’s all good. But you can’t beat a good laugh … at yourself. It really is a medicine that cures the soul. You can’t be angry and laugh all at the same time. 👋

P 2558 “You’re the goodness in my life.”

/ DVH

So click on the arrow and enjoy!! Those of you who are Toby Mac fans will recognise my title immediately. This a great track he made with Blessing Offor. ps If you have not met TobyMac, I highly recommend his music. This man is not singing lyrics that are theoretical, rather his music is drawn from his own personal walk with God – he has had his tough times like all of us. Blessing himself is well-named!

It’s Christian hip hop BTW. I’ve been introduced to the joy of hip hop by my three darling granddaughters – I love it! Well, the good stuff – there are icky ones and I give them a swerve. I think that music that is written from real life – using real words – is a big plus. In my head those rhythms and words kind of bop away in the background of my thoughts. Music is a great tool to help us pull focus as well as comfort us when we are struggling. And I love the cheery, chatty aspect of hip-hop. 

On to today’s blog … the other day hubby and I were chatting away and he made a comment that got stuck in my head and eventually my heart. He said: “Why is it that the church focusses so hard on what we shouldn’t say instead of focussing on and teaching us about how we should talk to other people?”  My answer is the same as usual … I always stick with my trusty “I dunno!” That phrase is very helpful, it takes all the pressure off me having to be brilliant instantly, and answer knotty questions. Particularly the ones that I have no clue about. But I thought about what he said quite a lot, afterward.

In the dim dark ages when I was a child, there was a professor on TV who talked about science. His manner and natural curiosity created a fascination with that subject that still continues in my life today. His catch cry was “why is it so?” — that got so stuck in my psyche somewhere and now I ask myself that question a lot. It seems to me that it is far more important to teach people how to SPEAK LIFE to each other, than it is to teach them not to be rude, gossip or swear. Abstinence creates a vacuum and things can fall into it!

In my experience, speaking life to others can actually become a way to relate to others – kind of a way of life – a good habit. I’ve watched hubby do it over and over again when we go on the road and he is talking to people-who-don’t-know-Jesus-yet. I’m not talking about flattery, or what my dear mum would call ‘palaver,” which is hollow and sounds wrong even when it comes out of your mouth. 

I’m talking about noticing a positive quality in another person and lovingly appreciating it, out loud. You operate with the purpose of building others up. It really doesn’t take that much more effort to find something good about someone else. Sadly, the bad things usually slap you right in the face, and you are left scrambling to escape. But if you can find a good thing to say to someone who clearly got out of the wrong side of the bed, sometimes that soft answer will totally turn away wrath.

Meanwhile the great point about speaking life, is this —when it is properly executed, it opens spiritual doors – and then you can shove love through the crack!!  It is all about paying attention to the person in front of you and noticing them enough to say something truthful that will build them up. When I am stuck I ask the Lord to show me what He sees.That’s a brilliant method BTW. The Holy Spirit is always so switched on to everyone’s hearts. I once asked the Lord what was wrong with a woman working at the check-out in a chain store, because if she was happy her face didn’t know about it! 

He said: “Her feet hurt.” So we did the usual, how-are-you-today-I’m-fine-how-are-you? And then I said: “This job must be so hard on your feet!” She looked at me with relief and she said: “They really are so sore today.” Like Aladdin said in his movie – it opened up “a whole new world” and we were able to pray for her sore feet! The conversation was over in minutes and she was smiling when we left.

The whole thing was a win-win situation, because I got to exercise my faith, take a risk and open my mouth. At the same time she felt seen, cared for, and momentarily understood! I mean nobody much sees the check-out person in a store, right? We can all just do the obligatory ‘how-are-you-today’ without even looking at them …but people don’t usually want an answer! My dear hubby always leaves people with a smile from ear to ear. Living like this changes the colour of everyone’s day. It’s great to speak life to everyone you meet. Bless you! 😇

“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” Ephesians 4:29.

P 2533 Hold fast to what is good and right.

/ DVH

1 Samuel 22:6-8 “Now Saul heard that David and his men had been discovered. And Saul was seated, spear in hand, under the tamarisk tree on the hill at Gibeah, with all his officials standing at his side. He said to them, “Listen, men of Benjamin! Will the son of Jesse give all of you fields and vineyards? Will he make all of you commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds? Is that why you have all conspired against me? No one tells me when my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse. None of you is concerned about me or tells me that my son has incited my servant to lie in wait for me, as he does today.”

It is a good thing to listen to the way that these guys in the Old Testament, talk. Did you notice that King Saul has gone right around God Himself being in charge, and is acting like this is a competition between him and David? The Lord is left right out of this picture. Saul is exhibiting one of satan’s nastiest prods: ‘Troops, you’ve let me down! Remember, I have all the power to make or break your lives and David doesn’t!.’  Guilt is a terrible evil motivator  — a poor freedom fighter – it isn’t from GOD.

Do you know the saying… there is nothing new under the sun? Right there in 1st Samuel, satan is using his power to persuade Saul that power, results and might are right. In other words it’s OK to manipulate men for a good cause. But the actual good cause is really Saul’s cause!  That’s a great clue to help us figure out just who is talking to us when we are desperate for answers... who will ultimately benefit? What this king is saying is a twisted highly manipulative truth – Saul’s power was limited by God’s WILL.  Almighty God was WITH David, He WAS NOT with Saul!

Manipulation, judgment or the ‘end justifies the means’ – those thoughts should not exist in the Lord’s church. Have you ever heard someone say this – ‘that church has 4,000 people and this one only has 30?’ The implication is the second church is doing something wrong! Like numbers or popularity are a sign of success in the Lord! God’s ways are not our ways. He used 300 men to defeat without number when He chose Gideon as a leader. And the Lord’s fruit does not always show up with numbers! Jesus Christ was everlastingly fruitful with 11 men!

At the same time, any kind of spiritual gift manifesting itself does not mean we have immediately toddle off and start using it. This is why an anointing or a gift need to be submitted to the pastor. Proverbs 4:5-7 teaches us – “Get wisdom, get understanding: Forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: Love her, and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: And with all thy getting get understanding. Exalt her, and she shall promote thee:” There is a good way, and a right way of doing things. Let other people you trust supervise you. 

The bible is a WHOLE BOOK – we dare not cherry-pick our motivation or our answers. We should not even think about prophesying all over people’s lives without wisdom. Recognising a gift is not activating it. No matter how well intentioned we are, quite often we do not even know the state of our own hearts and that will affect what we say and do towards others.The body of Christ needs spiritually gifted people, but we need WISDOM just as much. The Holy Spirit is the source of our wisdom.

He likes to lead us through difficult circumstances to the other side, because as we follow Him we gain wisdom along the way! So many people have stumbled over the temptation to rush rush, hurry hurry ahead of God. He lives in eternity – He doesn’t have to hurry! He doesn’t care about popularity either!! Gifted people can go into ministry because it has been recognised that they have a wonderful gift from God, and that gift blesses others and has great results! But only God Himself knows what’s inside us that can shoot us in the foot down the road. Ask yourself regularly in any form of ministry – where is the fruit? What does the fruit of this tree look like?

Also, having a gift does not mean you are ready to use it, or the world around you is ready to receive it! Our God is way more interested in our character than we’ve understood so far. He wants to repair and inhabit our lives. Just because other people have responded to His gift in your life don’t be fooled… always, always remember that gift you have is still His! It is a GIFT— not a REWARD FOR GOOD BEHAVIOUR! He gave it to you to build up His church, not just build your own ministry. 

God’s power can be so awe-inspiring, when others see it operating through a person they start to elevate the person. Plus spiritually gifted people sometimes do the right things for the wrong reasons! They are deceived by satan into believing acting like this is for the greater good… “People are getting saved Lord!” Hallelujah! – but we always want Jesus to shine like the SUN — not just some here again, gone again shooting star! King Saul had no love for God or his men – he was too busy trying to get David out of the picture. Our  Lord is a master-craftsman – He forms His swords … His servants — in the fire of adversity or the heat of His personal gaze. As His servants we need to learn to be resilient and tough.

A really good blacksmith can take three strands of metal and twist, weave, beat and forge those three strands into ONE SWORD. This kind of sword can take knocks, and rebound without shattering. Our precious Heavenly Father doesn’t want any of us to break in the battles of this life, He wants us to defeat our foe. Father God wants us to have and live under, the three-fold, tightly woven cord of Himself, His Son and the Holy Spirit. Otherwise like King Saul, we could easily mistake having POWER, for BEING RIGHT and the Lord’s badge of approval.

The Trinity long to become so woven into our thinking, doing and being, that people like King Saul will taste bad to us. However, in order to resist temptation, we must first be able to identify it. Only by God’s Grace and wisdom, we’ll be able to avoid deception, because what the Trinity wants is everything  we want!  The Lord’s army won’t have any ambition, good or bad. Their only aim will be to please Him, and hold fast to what is good and right. Fame and power can spoil people. It goes to their head. Look what it did to Saul, it made him into a megalomaniac and liar – among other things!  Gaining wisdom is incredibly important – it means we have learnt to walk with the Spirit of God. 🙌

P 2516 Learn to recognise His love gifts!

/ DVH

“The fruit produced by the Holy Spirit WITHIN YOU is divine love in all its varied expressions:  joy that overflows, peace that subdues, patience that endures, kindness in action, a life full of virtue, faith that prevails, gentleness of heart, and strength of spirit. Never set the law above these qualities, FOR THEY ARE MEANT TO BE LIMITLESS.” Galatians 5:22-23. 

Imagine that! We have been given words, actions, attitudes, that are already within US – they came in when He came in. And those things actively show us all the time what His divine love looks like, toward us. This thought blew my mind. I think these verses are the most excellent description of what HIS LOVE looks like— and how we will know we are experiencing it, first hand. It starts to produce fruit in me, in you – everywhere we go. The Holy Spirit is relentless in His pursuit of good, and even if we get in His way, He will steadfastly continue His fruit production. And it is unbelievably fantastic fruit that does others good — but it also enriches US.

Thanks to Heidi and Rolland Baker of Mozambique – I have a really strong idea about what God’s love looks like through me toward someone else. My picture of what His love looks like IN us, begins with Jesus dying for us. He died to open up the door that was closed between the Father and all of us. I am aware that His love is not just about being blessed with earthly stuff … “…because He sends His rain on the just and the unjust…”  So understanding what He has, and is still giving to me, growing in me, every single day, needs to be recognised.

You see, because of His book, I know He blesses everyone – whether they are following Him or not!! God is so good His blessings overflow, everywhere all the time. That person who almost drowned, didn’t, someone was there to save them. That other person who lost everything has been anonymously given money to help them. That’s Almighty God motivating all kinds of people to help others with HIS LOVE. Personally, I think He can’t help Himself – He’s just THAT good. God is not like we are … keen on publicity! He doesn’t always sign His Name to stuff you know.

Think about this for a minute or nine …  everywhere Jesus went He blessed people. He didn’t just bless the spiritual people either. NO! He blessed people who had a need, when they came to Him to meet that need. His loving gifts were not discriminatory. He wore Himself out giving, teaching, caring and explaining God’s ways. At the same time, He was teaching US these attitudes are a hallmark of God’s people. His love inside us is a hallmark of His ownership of us.“…and the resting place of His love, will become the very source and root of your life.” Ephesians 3:17.

And BTW, FYI … Jesus wasn’t preaching to Christians! At that time He was preaching to Jewish people. He was telling God’s own chosen people that their destiny was to be a blessing. And He was showing them how it works! Jesus saw every need, and He cared about every single individual. Once Jesus preached for hours sitting on a hillside, and when He came down from that place His first response was to heal a leper! He lived His short life, taking in His Father’s love and giving it out. That is to be our experience, too.

On the few occasions I have had a tangible experience of His love … I just plain ran out of words to explain what happened! But when I read these verses this morning, I realised the Holy Spirit has given us clear signs of what the fruit/presence of His love looks like TOWARD US as well as in us, and through us. We need to pay attention to what He says. We should know what that love looks like — or we might miss it, like many of those Jewish people did. God’s love isn’t just His favour – His love contains tangible qualities that He has put inside us to share.

What I heard in the above scripture, is this: when I have joy I can’t contain, or peace that utterly calms my heart, or someone is patient with me with a patience that doesn’t run out, or even kindness that takes my breath away … when my life is full of virtue and my faith just won’t quit, and I don’t even want to think about hurting someone else,  I am also experiencing God’s love for me. He is present in me and with me in those times.

That love will flow through me to others, if I let it OUT. But I have to decide His love is like a river, not a dam! His system works like this – love in, love out. Sounds like breathing eh?The secret to living in and giving out the love of God is recognising it when it comes toward ME – FIRST. I have found it helpful to recognise those times and say to myself:  – “that’s God’s unconditional love coming at me!”  His love looks exactly like those things that are mentioned in Galatians Chapter 5 verses 22-23!  

These are things we simply can’t explain away, because we know, first-hand, that mankind cannot come up with them by themselves, or even endlessly maintain them. These God-given love gifts will never ever run out! And if that doesn’t make you happy, sit and think on those two verses. They will do it! Bye 👋

P 2512 Who’s the Boss?

/ DVH

Part of the reason I think that most Christians have lost their free access to the power of God, is because we thought, or hoped, or maybe even prayed, that He would rubber stamp our grand ideas. I think we meant well … we were simply trying to advertise or showcase the goodness of God to those who didn’t believe. However, the power of God resides in every word that comes out of His mouth. Not our mouth – or even our head! If the Lord kisses an individual’s idea, then that person needs to start praising Him for His goodness toward them. He is under no obligation to do that. Even our faith comes from Him! 

God’s utterly kind consideration of mankind started in the garden. That’s where Eve came from – His kindness. After all, Almighty God was there with Adam in the cool of the evening, so he was not always alone!  Yet the Lord knew man needed someone who was the same, but different. God Himself saw and said:“It is not good for man to be alone …” Nothing is hidden from His sight, not even our needs. He is so good to us that He pays attention to every single detail. Which is why I am happy to say that if I don’t got it, then I don’t need it!

Read the bible carefully for yourself, and find somewhere where a man told God what to do, and how to do it, and it happened. “No one can tell God what to do or accuse Him of doing evil. He has always been praised for what He does; you also must praise Him.”Job 36:23-25. I found in my search for such a man, that Abraham bargained with God for Lot, and the city of Sodom and Gomorrah and God graciously listened. And Jonah was as cheeky as a man can get, but His attitude did not stop what God wanted to happen from happening – Nineveh was saved! And still God reasoned with that man. Moses ended up talking to Pharaoh even though he told God he couldn’t speak. The Lord let Aaron speak until Moses grew into the job! Our God can take a maladjusted man and make him into a great leader – He did that with Gideon. But with all these great men, Almighty God’s hand held them up!

The great Patriarchs in the Old Testament, knew enough to work with the Lord under His instructions. Moses knew the value of listening to Him and doing things the way God said. So much so, this great man refused to move forward without Him! These men, who had wisdom and understanding, as well as an established relationship with God, often learnt that kind of obedience by utterly messing up their lives first. Moses killed someone. Abraham treated Sarah like a bag of candy – he passed her around to save his life a number of times. Even Job learnt WHO is in charge the hard way. It is, I believe, an enormous error to think that we can organise God to do things our way.

Oh! If we could only enjoy what we have been given! He is a God unlike any other, Who watches over us, comes to live in us, came to earth to save us, and deeply cares about every single little detail in our lives. Independence is overrated! Total dependence upon the Spirit of the Living God is to be appropriated and cherished forever. Amen!

Sadly, submission is not a popular topic in this world – human beings are incredibly busy fighting for their own rights. Everybody  thinks if they yell loud enough and make a good enough logical case that things should change in their favour. I cannot imagine anything more frustrating or fruitless than going along banging into the Lord’s will, and getting up and doing it again! We show our ignorance and lack of maturity when we start to think that being saved means we are the boss now. WE do not have the omniscience and omnipotence of Almighty God – Who knows the end from the beginning … and all the bits in between.

Having said that: we can, and we should command the things of this world that are out of order to come into order – but that needs to be HIS order, not ours. I think that is why Jesus rebuked His disciples in Luke  “…  but the people there did not welcome Him, because He was heading for Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” *But Jesus turned and rebuked them. Then He and His disciples went to another village.” Luke 9:53-56.

In another version it says that like this: *“Jesus turned about and rebuked them, saying, You know not what manner of spirit you are of. The Son of man has not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” It is plain from reading the book that we cannot be trusted with that kind of power. Mostly, because we don’t know if we are in the Spirit or not, half the time! Yet those men watched, walked, slept and ate, for three and a half years with Jesus Christ, God’s Son. And they still said and did the dumbest things!! Using our own understanding got us into this mess in the first place. The most blessed place to live is the place of freely submitting to His will. Like I said: Independence is overrated!

Who is the boss? Here’s a verse to think about:“Why do you call Me LORD, and you don’t do the things I say?”

Luke 6:46. 👋🏻

P 2511 Keep an eye on your thinking.

/ DVH

Yes, I know, that title sounds dumb! However, our thoughts are actually far more powerful than we realise. They are the tugboats, or anchors leading to stuff that can sink, or drag our little ships off course. Things may seem harmless in our minds, but eventually big thoughts demand expression. Often we think about how angry we are, before we jump into telling the other person that we are mad at them. 

Perhaps we want to explain our POV to someone, and we are hoping that they will finally understand us. Fat chance. If you find yourself thinking up your own reply before the other person has finished explaining their POV – you’ve fallen down a big hole and stopped listening. Plus you may even become defensive. A peaceful mind is a huge blessing and Jesus gave us His peace.  His peace is part of our inheritance! It is ours by faith. It isn’t just a matter of somehow controlling our emotions, it is about cultivating our God-given ability to keep our minds focussed on His kingdom. We need to realise our responses are still our choices – even the ones that are made on the spot.

The bible says this: “As a man thinks, so shall he be.”Proverbs 23:7. Our own mindsets are gateways to either the kingdom of God, or the kingdom of darkness. Murder, coveting, stealing, adultery etc. etc. all happen in a person’s thoughts, long before they ever commit the crime. People do appalling things, and we are bombarded and saturated by their ugly actions even in social media. Personally, I agree with the bible, we can’t just get rid of grumpy nasty thoughts, we have to choose to replace them with better ones.(See 2 Corinthians 10:5.)

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”Philippians 4:8. Replacing thoughts with things that don’t lead you off a cliff, is a skill. You can learn it. I am currently learning from the Holy Spirit to ask Him – “What do You want me to understand about what just happened?” He has shown me it is easier to let your mind dwell on kingdom things when you find the good. Often what is good about these potentially explosive situations is this — I can learn something about my own inner responses that I didn’t know. Or I realise my frustration is coming from powerlessness and I yield to Him. He’s not powerless!

Here are some other things I’ve found useful. Refuse to watch things on TV that affect you. Some things on TV give me an opportunity to get sooooo mad, and for me the news is one of them. Personally, I think the news is biased and shaded to increase its appeal. It is also often so sensationalised it gives us an opportunity to become angry at other nameless strangers and their behaviour. 

It is extremely difficult to think loving caring thoughts toward people who deliberately hurt others! If you’ve ever found yourself shouting at the TV you will understand what I mean. It is far more helpful to pray for the people who are involved. Including the perpetrator.  Governing our thoughts is part of the leadership of the Holy Spirit in our lives. “And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” Matthew 24:12-13.

Finding the good can become a way of thinking. Immediately you feel annoyance rising, that is a cue to submit yourself to the Lord. The Holy Spirit loves to help us obey the Word of God, that is why He is here! Even though this world often thinks and behaves badly, our lives do not have to be about these things that appear in front of our eyes every single day. Instead our focus can be fixed on thanking Him for helping us. He will share with us what He sees, so we can pray. Plus we can ask Him how we can be part of releasing His answers into this world. 

Our world is overwhelmed by sorrow, and obsessed with wickedness, and man’s idea of righteous indignation. We don’t have to subscribe to, or ingest that stuff to pray about it. Sometimes my prayers are really brief. “Dear Jesus please redeem that situation, thank You,” Amen.

“But the mind of the [Holy] Spirit is life and [soul] peace [both now and forever]. [That is] because the mind of the flesh [with its carnal thoughts and purposes] is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God’s Law; indeed it cannot.” Romans 8:6. This verse is also part of our answer. If we expect mankind to rise up into higher attitudes and thoughts, without being changed. That is like expecting a heatwave in the middle of a snowstorm. It’s a great idea but it is not gunna happen! 

WE are His catalysts for good in this world. As His representatives it is imperative we keep our eyes on what we are idly thinking about. I repent all the time. I want to continually walk with the One Who loves the sinner, even though He hates the sin. Bye for now, 👋🏻.

P 2500 Whatever occupies your thoughts will rule you.

/ DVH

“An elder, talking to a child, says, “I have two wolves fighting in my heart. One wolf is fearful, vengeful, envious, resentful and deceitful. The other wolf is compassionate, loving, generous, truthful and peaceful.” The child asks, “Which wolf will win the fight?” The elder responds, “The one I feed.”’ A Cherokee Indian proverb.

It’s kind of a no-brainer really, whatever we invest our time, money, and energy in, rules us. Oh, the futility of allowing ourselves to be pushed about by our anger or appetites. The worst thing ev-er is when someone you trust does something dumb … they are, after all, human beings (!)  … and so you feel betrayed. That’s when what happened starts rolling around in your mind – maybe it even stops you from sleeping. “How could they do such a thing? Didn’t they know that would hurt me? Maybe they even meant too …!!!???”

It seems that perhaps we are starting to build a case against someone else. Meanwhile satan stands at our elbow happily chucking those kind of thoughts, plus reminding us of other ones about that person – even the things we forgot …into our memory bank.. A-n-d, we are grumpy so we refuse to shut the gate to those thoughts because …we’re feeling sorry for ourselves. We’ve been deeply wounded and wronged. It isn’t a misinterpretation, an accident, or a whoopsie – someone actually wounded us. What are we going to do about it?

Unfortunately, then it becomes easy to start what I call – the opinion poll. The opinion poll is when we begin to tell others about what happened to us. We probably start that process out in kind of a sweet-ish, sad way, after all we don’t want others to think that we are bad people! But pretty soon, the sweetness goes out of the window and we are pulling the other person apart like they are a loaf of bread and we’re hungry. Now we really have a case against them because … OTHER PEOPLE AGREE WITH US that they treated us badly!  Maybe you get my drift – you’ve bin there and dun that yourself. No? Lucky you! For those of us who have acted that way … in these moments we are feeding the wrong wolf and doing that will devour US and gobble up our faith.

Here are some scriptures that have helped me escape from that sticky web.. “For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Matthew 7:2.“Create in me a clean heart, O Lord, and renew a right spirit within me.” Psalm 51:10. “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”Philippians 4:8. Right here we have the diagnosis and the cure.

Now is the time to give up rehearsing someone else’s sins and start looking for the good in what happened – before you go down the plug hole and lose several days, weeks, months …?years? … to something not worthy of even 10 seconds of your time. No, I am not nuts … at least I hope not! 😶 But the person who wounded us has exposed a chink in our spiritual, mental and physical armour. They found that chink for us. It was probably accidental, BUT, whatever … it is still useful! Some attitudes are sneaky, they stay hidden. It is absolutely brilliant when somebody else exposes those things for us, whether they found that attitude on purpose or not. It gives us a chance to see what is going on in our own hearts. 

At this point it is tempting to simply repent, and forgive the other person, as well as actively remembering not to ruminate over the incident. BUT! In my experience ignoring revelation about who we really are is dumb. We all have our weaknesses, and if we can stand back with the Holy Spirit (LOVE HIMSELF), by our side, and let Him show us if there was truth in what was said or done … we will gain something to be thankful for!  At the same time, we can ask the Lord to heal that actual wound He helped us uncover, so we can feed the ‘good wolf,’ some good food. Somewhere in the past, we probably believed a lie and we needed the Lord to expose that lie and … heal the wound. 

My point today is, whatever occupies your thoughts rules you. Hubby said that like this to me yesterday: ‘Let’s pretend someone hates the colour brown. They won’t wear it, can’t stand it, avoid it, and actively dislike others who like that colour… Those people do not realise that BROWN is now ruling their lives, it has become their god.’  I laughed heaps, and because it was such an accurate scenario I was inspired to pass it on. Yeah. Now there’s more food for thought! 👋🏻

P 2488 We need to live by faith.

/ DVH

““So above all, constantly seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness, then all these less important things will be given to you abundantly.” Matthew 6:33 TPT. “Take advantage of every opportunity to be a blessing to others, especially to our brothers and sisters in the family of faith!” Galatians 6:10 TPT “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” 2 Corinthians 9:7.

In this new life that we have been given, we cannot afford to have mixed priorities. Faith is never an optional extra for the people who follow Christ. “The just (that’s us!) shall live by faith”… So Christians don’t give to get, we give to bless. In these turbulent times faith is a necessity. Otherwise we will end up deserting what we think is a sinking ship … but it really is a battleground centred around what we decide to do with our faith!

None of us are living up to our full faith potential. We are all way too busy trying to live a double life with a double standard. That was Ananias and Sapphira’s problem. They rationlised what they gave and wanted to look right without actually doing right. Let’s note that this couple did actually give, but they lied to the Holy Spirit and the brethren, about how much. They fell under a common deception. Giving out of what is left-over, or what we can afford, is not the kind of giving that blesses God. We need to be careful we are not committing the sin Ananias and Sapphira committed, where they liked the appearance of good more than doing good! That means we are lying to ourselves and God, because it is not His kind of giving.

One of the clearest signs of the Holy Spirit’s Presence in someone’s life is generosity. This sort of giver is not interested in appearances or their own gain, they are far more interested in showing others the kind of Love God gave us, in a practical form. Jesus came and lived here and He died to benefit us. We owe Him the same sort of choices. Let’s remember the amount does not matter BUT … the sacrifice does! Jesus talked about a little widow who gave away her last two pennies. (Mark 12:41-44) Her giving was sacrificial. Sacrificial giving is God’s way.

Many Christians are inadvertently living in compromise… while nearly half of this world’s population is in great need. Faith begins and ends with the way we live – not the way things look to others. Our Heavenly Father dearly loves us, and our own faith needs to reflect that unconditional love back out into this world. This new life of ours is not an add-on, our faith is our life. It can be seen, touched, tasted and experienced by others because it is demonstrable. …

This morning I was listening to someone complain that we don’t need any more rain where I live – because everything is saturated and people have lost their homes to floods. We even want RAIN to arrive to suit us! 😱 What about helping those who have suffered great loss because of the rain, instead of seeing what we have been given as a nuisance. That rain will disappear soon enough, then, I suppose we will complain about how dry it is!

Our lackadaisical attitudes to the things that God has asked of us – are not fooling Him. Giving without sacrifice is not the Lord’s way. It is our God-given task to encourage others to experience all they can of the wonder of the Holy Spirit’s help and Presence, and we must use any method, any resource to do it. We can no longer afford to live on the fringes of faith, times are tough, we can easily fall off those edges and fall away. 

The church, like everyone else in the Western world, has been tormented by panic, and ceased being generous givers. We thought we might lose everything we’ve worked so hard to gain. A pandemic happened and the world’s monetary systems started failing, and we all grew afraid and cautious. We’ve stopped being content with having whatever we need to live, and became obsessed with comfort and having extra – just in case. Real human beings, mothers, fathers etc. who love their kids like we love ours, are starving, and they have to face all kinds of diseases too, without help! People who used to live in a house, like 3 months ago, are now living in a borrowed tent.

Convenience reigns everywhere, not generosity. Loving the Lord with our finances is one of the best ways I know to learn how faith works. It takes great faith to give in the middle of hard times.“A dear friend will love you no matter what, and a family sticks together through all kinds of trouble.” Proverbs 17:17 TPT. Let’s not neglect the poor and needy now times are tough. If the bible says the Lord loves a cheerful giver then we need to go out of our way to find places to give, and forget about giving out of any supposed excess. Let’s just start giving by faith, and call it sharing. Too much of this world’s wealth is concentrated in the pockets of excess. 👋🏻

“Every time you give to the poor you make a loan to the Lord. Don’t worry—you’ll be repaid in full for all the good you’ve done.” Proverbs 19:17 TPT.

P 2484 He is always with us.

/ DVH

“… for He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!]”Hebrews 13:5.

The sun is still always there in the sky, even when we are surrounded by lightning and thunder and overwhelming circumstances. Despite how we feel, nothing has actually changed between us and the Lord. Perhaps, something ugly and overwhelming has just pushed its way between us and the One we love… but His truth does not change. His love is unchanging. And the sun is still shining above those dark roiling clouds that are producing fearful storms. It will return. Breathe … and hold on. 

2 Corinthians 4:16-18: “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

There are times in all our lives when we feel assailed on every side, and overwhelmed by circumstances beyond our control. Even beginning to know what to do next, seems so far away – and right now it is buried under the weight of trying to hold onto what we desperately need to believe. I hate that feeling of waking up into a brand new day, only to have the memory of some darkness or other crowd out His light. 

However, the Lord is so precious, even when we let go of Him — He will not let go of us. His goodness is always flowing toward us constantly. Like a heartbeat. There are no easy ways through dark times, no magic words to say … instead, it seems our worst fears have exploded into despair and destruction … but we are always His, and partakers of His unchanging love. Hold on. 

The first thing I would like to contribute, something that I’ve learnt myself, is that when desperately hard things happen, don’t ‘should’ on yourself. What I mean by that is don’t start counting up things you think you should have done, or should not have done. The past is the past, all the regret in the world cannot change what has already happened. Now we are waiting for redemption – not a rewrite.  

Even if we have what we think is evidence proving that we have accidentally contributed to our dire situation, don’t let the enemy of your soul use that regret to throw you into a sink hole. Fight for your right to believe in His goodness and then grab hold of Jesus’ hand. We don’t even have to pray, just grab hold of Him and hang on! Some prayers don’t have words! But do yell if you need to … our emotions are never too big for our precious Saviour to handle. 

Despite the temptation to continually think things through to try to somehow find a different ending, just let finding the answer, an answer, ANY answer … go. This is not the time to revise or review things, this is the time to REST in what we already know about Him, not change our theology or methodology. There is no easy way through the rivers that have risen above our heads, or a fire that threatens to burn through our very existence. There is no quick quote, no scripture, no quick fix when our faith is being severely shaken by overwhelming circumstances.

The things to bring to mind are things like …God is always good. He is still on His throne. Jesus died for this too plus the Holy Spirit is ever with us. These awful circumstances are not punishment – He took ALL our punishment onto Himself.

I can’t even try to begin to explain why bad things happen to people, I just know they do. In my limited experience sometimes the people who love Him dearly, have hell thrown at them, and there is no rhyme or reason to it. And I know, that I know, that HE hasn’t caused it. I also know, that blame of any kind, is always deadly – it poisons the soul. This trial, this suffering or sorrow, is not something that Almighty God thought we deserved – it is simply what life looks like in a fallen world. 

Sometimes the way through difficulties is one step at a time, so do what David did. He used his awful times to remember the goodness of God. “These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival.” Psalm 42:4. Remember how passionately you feel about your faith, even though those feelings may have disappeared at this time. Our faith is so much more valuable to God than gold or diamonds or precious stones.

In these times, we particularly need to do our best to take care of our bodies. We are not betraying anyone else if we take care of ourselves. When a crisis happens, each day can bring its own troubles, and we are going to need strength to face things as they come at us. Read scriptures that have great meaning to you, over and over again, when you can. Say them aloud, so your ears can hear them. And let the Body of Christ send love to you, in whatever form it comes. I pray, today, that whoever is needy, will find comfort in Him. He is always with us, even in this life’s darkest valleys.  Bless you. 😢

P 2462 Get rid of the stuff that is holding you back.

/ DVH

1 Peter 2:1 “Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.” First of all, when I find a “therefore” I want to know what it is there, for! That means I went back and read 1 Peter 1. Therefore means in the light of what was said before it. When I did that I found a pearl… without even trying. 1 Peter 1:3-4 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.”  

You know, a lot of people regard the opening and closing remarks of books in the bible as irrelevant, or advertising, or quite simply, polite contextual greetings. They are not. God can use the writer’s opening and closing remarks. This is a letter, but it is not like our letters. Every word in God’s book is profitable. 

Briefly, lets’ go back to our ‘living hope’ … our hope is not in what we think we believe. And that’s because people can believe the dumbest things!! Our actual firm hope is in the fact that Jesus Christ died and was raised from the dead and He now sits at the Father’s right hand.  HE is our hope. Who He is and what He did. Everything else is spiritual fluff! (And no, I am not splitting hairs – hope belongs to something concrete, it is not a theoretical thing.) 

The reason our hope sometimes dies very quickly is that we are hoping in the wrong direction. EG  … our hope is in answers to prayer! Hope cannot diminish when it is in the right place. I urge us all to put our hope in reality, not in wish thinking, or prayers, no matter how nicely we phrase them. What Jesus Christ did for us is proof that He can be trusted. So we actually put our hope in His trustworthiness and not in some pretty or earnest prayer! Jesus Christ really is Almighty God. He really came here, and He really loved humanity, and He really actually died and was raised from the dead! Hope in that. Base your hope on WHO He is and what He did. That will change the way you pray and help you to trust Him. BTW, this is why we pray in Jesus’ Name. Because HE is our hope. 

Now let’s go back to 1 Peter 2:1 ’Rid yourself of all envy and malice …’Why does Peter say that? Because envy and malice block our eyes and ears to what God is actually saying and doing. We stop seeing and hearing spiritually, and make our choices from the wrong place … the flesh! We cry: “I desperately need You to fix this Lord,” but we don’t and sometimes won’t, fix our own attitudes. When we entertain malice, envy, hypocrisy, and deceit etc. we become defensive and offensive, instead of loving, patient and kind. 

What we soak our minds in actually affects our attitudes and behaviour, and I am not talking about TV shows! Mulling over someone else’s sin against you is not profitable. Nothing is gained that way except more angst. Instead we need to identify if we have envy etc.etc in the way we think, and repent, then refuse to think like that. Seriously… we are the boss of our own thoughts! Don’t entertain them. Some people ask that junk in, tell it to put its feet up on a comfy chair, go and get it a cuppa, and then they wonder why they can’t shift the thoughts! Our minds are constantly at war – it is not safe to entertain rubbish. Here’s a dumb thought – offence will fence you in.

If a thought comes into my head, that does not mean I need to give it a party! I can refuse the thought. And I can keep on refusing it until it leaves. Personally, I do my best to look carefully at my thought patterns because I want to watch over my own heart. I am not obsessive about it, but I listen to what I am thinking because:“as a man thinks …so is he …” (Proverbs 23:7) And some of my errant thoughts deserve jail, not entertaining!  However, Paul says in Philippians 4:8 to “let your mind dwell on these things. Whatever is right … whatever is profitable…”  Live there! Start looking for the good profitable parts, even in bad things. Bad things awaken urgency within us to get closer to God. And that’s a good thing to start with! Then start being grateful.

I hold my thoughts up against the Word of God and if my thoughts are wrong I chuck them out. Bad things start festering when we ignore the fact that we are mentally chewing on unhappy relationships and difficult people. It is our part in this eternal arrangement we are in, to get rid of the stuff that is holding us away from our true inheritance. 1 Peter 2:1 tells us that. And most of the bad stuff starts out as thoughts. Try monitoring your thoughts sometime, it will surprise you. 👋🏻