Goodness

P 2523 “Other’ Centred.

/ DVH

The times we are living in today can automatically create battles in our hearts and lives, because the world around us is very egocentric. This kind of stuff is even deeply affecting our kids!  Our society has become geared to a form of hedonism that is frightening. It seems that the world-wide opinion is —  every single person has the right to have their own way. The line between good and bad has been erased! So I (apparently), can beat you up, and steal your stuff just because I want to be rich. And you can’t punish me or correct me because I have rights! 

The rules are … there are no rules. These creeping-across-the-world-attitudes are a huge challenge to believers. But at the same time – a life of loving service is such a bright contrast that it automatically impacts people powerfully … even strangers. In other words, the darkness is so dark, it automatically shows up goodness and light wherever it appears! Our struggle is to avoid being conformed to this world’s ways of thinking doing and being … or even worse … hiding ourselves away from the difficulties. You and I can shine at our own house, but that’s the same as hiding your light under a basket! 

“So be very careful how you live, not being like those with no understanding, but live honourably with true wisdom, for we are living in evil times. Take full advantage of every day as you spend your life for His purposes.” Ephesians 5:15-16 TPT

 Paul also said this in Galatians 5:15 MSG bible: “It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows. For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That’s an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then?”

Did you get the bit that says ‘use your freedom to serve one another in love; THAT’S how freedom grows…(?)” It seems sad to me that we can often end up fighting in this world for something that Almighty God already freely gave us! It says clearly in the above scripture that the reason our freedom to obey HIM isn’t getting any bigger, is because we are not serving one another. 

I feel so blessed in my life to personally know people who see their contribution to this world as a life of service. They have taught me, by their humility and example, that the way to be like Jesus is to live this life with an aim to be a blessing to others.  I can see their dear faces, in my mind’s eye, as I am writing. These people have no claim to fame – they probably never will! Instead they have laid down their lives so that He can be seen through them.

The people-who-don’t-know-Him-yet have become hardened to the real, lasting important things of this life. They are too busy working for, and wanting what they want. However, when Jesus turns up IN you, His Presence blows their selfishness away. In the Presence of the Lord no man can stand – the Lord is undeniable. The thing is, those people outside our churches do not know there is another way to live this life because WE are not doing our part. Jesus saved them, and we have been told to tell them that!

As Colossians 2:2-4 says in the Message version: “I want you woven into a tapestry of love, in touch with everything there is to know of God. Then you will have minds confident and at rest, focused on Christ, God’s great mystery. All the richest treasures of wisdom and knowledge are embedded in that mystery and nowhere else. And we’ve been shown the mystery! I’m telling you this because I don’t want anyone leading you off on some wild-goose chase, after other so-called mysteries, or “the Secret.”

We cannot live with one foot in this world and the other in His ways. We will just end up going round and round and getting nowhere! If we are to become that ‘love tapestry’  for the world to see and fall in love with, we must choose to become ‘other-centred.’ That’s the way Jesus lived, and He lived that way to show us it can be done! Right here, right now. So today, I exhort you to find one person who really needs His love and ask the Lord to show you how to love them selflessly … it works even better if you don’t like that person, because that involves sacrifice.

Our job is to first of all, repent! … Because it has always been our place to show others the WAY not just talk about it! And secondly, we need to devote ourselves to being carriers of His Presence. We will personally find JOY and FREEDOM there. Being other-centred is a challenge, but we have the precious Helper, Who is willing and able to show us how! Praise God, He is brilliant at it! 👋🏻

P 2515 Exhortation and encouragement.

/ DVH

Hebrews 10:24-25 “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

In the above scripture Paul is talking about meeting together for the purpose of helping each other to move on, and grow, and expand our faith. And in 1 Corinthians 15:58: he is encouraging believers not to waiver in what they believe. In 1 Thessalonians 5:14: he exhorts the family of God to be active in helping others with weaker faith. In Ephesians 4:29: Paul also talks about being careful how we speak to one another to benefit each other. These are just a few of many ways that all the writers of the Epistles exhort the reader. And they are also an example of how to exhort others to continue on in faith toward our ultimate goal – to wholeheartedly love Jesus … and keep pressing on … 

The gift of encouragement is supernatural, it instills courage into someone else’s life. That encouragement can include things that need to be put aside because they are a hindrance — as well as telling others what they do that blesses people. This gift can give our leaders courage. Leaders face a great deal of discouragement – very few will talk about the ‘stuff’ that comes at them – sometimes almost hour by hour, daily. We can be a blessing to everyone we know in many ways – such as giving, helping, as well as using words. Prophecy is for the wider church, but encouragement is for individuals. One of the disciples had his name changed because he encouraged others so much. His name was Joseph but it was changed to Barnabas. That name Barnabas means ‘son of encouragement.’ 

Encouragement is a spiritual gift, just like mercy, helps or healing…this gift gets behind others when their spirits are flagging, and it lifts up their arms so they can praise Jesus freely again. It comes directly from the Holy Spirit andit is part of His Character! Two of the Holy Spirit’s 10 Names, are ‘comforter and strengthener.” When we operate in the gift of exhortation and encouragement, we are choosing to flow with Him, moving in His Grace and goodness to build up someone else’s hope and faith. This gift is about things that touch someone’s spirit and go right around their mind into their hearts. The person immediately becomes aware of the Holy Spirit working. He is SomeOne Who is outside our own understanding – BUT whatever HE SAYS rings true. It feels like home! Spirit-given words have eternal consequences as well as earthly ones. They can encourage others to take risks, and grow their faith.

I think the Body of Christ lacks a lot of encouragement and my advice is this — don’t just wait for the Holy Spirit to speak to you, regularly and faithfully go to Him and ask Him to give you words etc. and make you an encourager of others. This world is very negative toward anything that has absolutes, and Christianity is all about absolutes! I exhort us all to practise listening to the Lord, and then share whatever He gives us with others – gently, and with great humility. Let Him do the work. We don’t have to push or strain – He’s Almighty God. He knows which words will touch the downtrodden, needy, or even a flagging spirit in that other person.

“I am sending him to you for the express purpose that you may know about our circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts.” Colossians 4:8. The ‘him’ in this scripture is a man Paul trusted. This unknown man, Tychicus, was someone Paul commissioned to carry his letter to encourage a church. If you look at Paul’s Epistles as letters, you will find they are full of encouragement and exhortation – as well as information about what is happening in his life. Including the things Paul is and has already learnt, about his own faith. We need to remember, we are reading this Apostle’s personal mail – Paul had no idea they would end up in the book we read every single day!  

I urge anyone reading this blog to read Romans 12. Clear precursors to beginning to operating in any of the gifts of the Spirit, lie in that Chapter. Meanwhile I present my body to Him as a living sacrifice every single day, because the bible says in verse 1 “this is your true and proper worship!” One of the best ways to grow, is to step out in faith and use our spiritual gift/s. If we are wrong, then …oh well … not perfected yet!! That’s the humility bit. If it blesses others then … Glory to God!! It is such a privilege to have the Holy Spirit flow through us. His life in us is like a pure river of gold flowing through our kitchen taps! Some of that gold always clings to the pipes and then we are blessed too, because His goodness clings to us.

The more we yield to Him, the more the desire to exhort and encourage others will grow! Whether they are Christians yet, or not! Bless you. 👋

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 2495 Let God disarm you …

/ DVH

“Now, please listen, for I need to address an issue. I’m making this personal appeal to you by the gentleness and self-forgetfulness of Christ… … Now I plead with you that when I come, don’t force me to take a hard line with you (which I’m willing to do) by daring to confront those who mistakenly believe that we are living by the standards of the world, not by the Spirit’s wisdom and power. For although we live in the natural realm, we don’t wage a military campaign employing human weapons, using manipulation to achieve our aims. Instead,our spiritual weapons are energised with divine power to effectively dismantle the defences behind which people hide…” 2 Corinthians 10:1-6 (with omissions.)TPT.

Paul talks about this greater wisdom in the verses from 2 Corinthians above. This wisdom relies upon God’s power not man’s clever plans, or great counselling … or even avoidance. Instead it exposes lies, and disarms the sorts of excuses that men and women often make in order to stay the same and feel good about themselves. Paul is quite severe in this edict, as he first establishes the essence of this lie – there is no power of God in it … therefore … it won’t accomplish anything lasting!

He is explaining that the Lord’s spiritual wisdom goes beyond the stuff we understand with our minds, into the very heart of what is actually going on. It leads to complete exposure of the desire that human beings have to justify themselves, and hide our true selves, for one reason or another. That hiding gig started in the garden of Eden, the first thing Adam and Eve did after they sinned was HIDE. Hiding is not good because that action denies the power of the cross. “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. IF we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness…”1John 1:8&9. Confessing sin means we own it!

Meanwhile, we don’t have to tell every single person every single thing about ourselves! But we do need to be ready to have the Lord uncover the things we have hidden …  sometimes … even from ourselves. I have found hatred in the weirdest circumstances in my life. If you asked me I would have said: “I don’t hate anyone, its a waste of time.” Actually what I was really saying was: “I hide my hatred under another name.”

But the Lord had my number, and He showed me what I called hurt was actually hatred, and I avoided looking at it because I did not want to know. It was like my own private warning system that flashed a sign that said: ‘this person is dangerous,’ when I looked at certain people, and that was my excuse for not loving them. These are the lengths we go to to justify ourselves! When all we need to do is confess our sin. 

Unfortunately, in reality, I think I sadly felt quite OK about having that attitude – the people I was scared of, and concerned about were very mean! Hiding was a way to avoid their meanness – but it also cleverly disguised my real feelings! None of these thoughts were allowed to prevail in my conscious mind, because I had become really adept at concealing this stuff from myself.  I would have noticed things like that in a heartbeat. So instead, I gave it another name. HURT. But as I chased after loving like He loves, things kept floating up into my conscious mind. Like gritting my teeth when that person spoke to me – a big clue right there!! 

That’s when I realised that I actually went out of my way to reward those who were good to me, and secretly avoided those who weren’t. I pretty quickly figured out that loving like the Lord loves, means my opinion, or experiences no longer matter. He does not love us based on our behaviour. He took that aspect of our lives out of the equation, when He died on the cross. Indeed, our bad experiences and attitudes actually need to be confronted because they create greater potential for His Grace to be released! 

He wants us to treat everybody the same way – we are to love them enough to die for them. And if we truly want to changed to be like Him – then that’s the standard! Here’s a red hot tip, taken from my own experience: you and I can’t do that all by ourselves – we need supernatural help. This is the place, mentioned in the bible, that is designed by God, for His power to be made manifest through us. His strength is made perfect in weak people.  And along the way we will gain, bonus buy …  self-control.

If we choose to hide our weakness – the result is we will miss out on that perfect strength. Father God is not interested in the appearance of good.  He wants His goodness to be immediately evident even when someone else takes a nasty big fat bite out of us. Boy is that’s going to cost us! It cost Jesus to save us, and we are following Him now on the road to total transformation. Praise God! Right now we have His power available to us, so we can overcome anything that paralyses us, by leaning on Him and following His ways – instead of pretending we are A-OK.  

We simply must let/allow the Lord to disarm us. This new life in Christ comes with honest transparency, not deceit, shame or guilt. Embracing transparency will, over time, help us to know that we are truly loved by Him – especially when His love reaches into the hidden corners of our hearts.  👋🏻

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 2478 So here we are again!

/ DVH

That dratted clock keeps on ticking, it never stops – it’s inevitable. And here we go again, yet another New Year looming at us. Hilariously, the Lord said to me: “At least you are still alive to complain about it!” (Yes I repented.) Let’s all pray 2024 is a kinder year everywhere, including world-wide to those who are suffering terribly.

Have you noticed how dead-set easy it is to be distracted from the reason that we are all still breathing and occupying space and time? Almost every single day now something else crashes or explodes, or gets worse and suddenly a terrible disaster looms. I have a theory … these things happen to keep us distracted from the main thing. The main thing is living the only life we have here on earth for Jesus’ sake, no matter the cost and no matter what is going on currently! Some of our situations offer opportunities for each one of us to show loving care, forgiveness and compassion toward others who probably don’t deserve it, but this is the way we have chosen to live! 

Things are happening in all our lives that threaten our day-to-day sense of well-being. Finances are not just tight they are almost non-existent, people have become sick and despite fervent prayer and good treatment they are not getting better. Marriages are under great pressure. Kids are becoming increasingly disobedient and lawless. It is as if despair is wandering around our streets looking for places to land.

Everything and anything is happening to destroy our HOPE in HIM. The bible says that …”hope does not disappoint” so if our hope leads to disappointment, then it is not HIS hope. Perhaps we are investing in our own comfort or passions, like James says. Personally I’ve found the Lord doesn’t change some things because He wants ME to change instead! How can we learn to be strong and courageous if we do not face opposition? How can we overcome sin, the world and the devil, if everything is aways easy. These are the days of Hebrews 12:5-8 …

“And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastens everyone He accepts as His son.”Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as His children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all.”

You know when we resist the devil then he must flee, so if he does not flee then … perhaps we have need of endurance! If our enemy has something to stand on, then he can and will torment anyone. I am not into defending that guy, but we can end up blaming him for a lotta stuff that has yet to be redeemed in our own lives. We excuse things that will totally shoot us in the foot, and we can easily make room for wrong attitudes and actions and explain them away … Yet we keep score about other people’s sins against us. There are times that we may as well write an invitation to our enemy and say ‘come on in.’

The things in the bible are not written in there as suggestions. If we keep holding onto unforgiveness, then the tormentor will turn up!! Those things that we are avoiding confronting in our own lives, are keeping us from real faith. Our enemy is a legalist – he knows where we are truly trusting, and where we are just pretending. he will string us along chasing impossible dreams of perfect trouble-free lives. People are not perfect, they have flaws. We all do!  But real faith has substance. That means when it operates you can see it! It is not airy-fairy pie-in-the-sky-when-we-die stuff … Faith is designed to permeate and saturate every single aspect of our lives. Our God did not say we would not have troubles — He promised He would deliver us out of all of them! You know to get out, you have to be IN, first!

His book is filled with promises, but the greatest promise of all is that our God is good. If whatever is happening is not good then it is not God … grab hold of the bible and resist it. Then ask and keep on asking Him for a way out. Ask the Lord to show you if there is something you need to personally learn or change in your life. Keep short accounts because resentment and bitterness are prowling about – but God promised us goodness and mercy would follow us all the days of our lives! We need to let PEACE be our umpire… not our feelings. Simply because we are here again – let’s make 2024 the best year yet, spiritually – His Grace is sufficient to help us. Bye 🥳

P 2466 Get soaked, and stay soaking wet!

/ DVH

“Now may God, the fountain of hope, fill you to overflowing with uncontainable joy and perfect peace as you trust in Him. And may the power of the Holy Spirit continually surround your life with His super-abundance until you RADIATE with hope!” Romans 15:13. Do you know how you get drenched by a fountain? You stand under it. Not just stand beside it playing with the water — you jump on in and enjoy it!

When things are difficult, no matter how awful they seem to be, we need to continue to choose to trust, and look for God’s unfailing goodness and love, even as we read the bible. More than anything else, we all need to know how much we are loved. Plus we can always ask the Holy Spirit for His help and encouragement. He is incredibly generous. He loves to be with people who want to be with Him. The Holy Spirit is God’s fountain of love here on earth. He needs to be cherished, appreciated and sought after.

This life is never going to make seeking God a convenient thing to do. Unexpected bad things happen all the time and they are a huge distraction. The main thing needs to be the main thing in our lives. Jesus loves mankind so deeply – that is the main thing! He is not just an add-on so we can have eternity afterwards! This life now is not about making money, or finding a mate, or earning a living, or having a job or house. As we follow the Lord the things we need will be added unto us. This life is about learning to love others, and spreading the acceptance and love we have been given, around. We have the love of Christ shed abroad in our hearts.

Humanity is slowly but surely stepping away from engaging in caring human interaction – we’ve reduced most things to sex. We’ve even got fancy, or sad-sounding names for the way we behave. It seems our enemy has taken our focus off enjoying the Lord, and walking with Him, and onto excuses about why we are not perfect. There are doctors with more degrees than a thermometer telling us we are OK when we behave badly, because sadly we can’t help the way we think or react to things … because we have this or that complaint. Or our past or parents did stuff to us that messed us up… Instead let’s call sin, sin – and forgive it and repent, then personally leave it behind us. Jesus died to make us perfect, we don’t need psychological  excuses for being broken! Sin will break anyone.

Did you ever once hear Jesus say to others that this or that person needed inner healing? Did He tell the Romans or the religious leaders that they were narcissists? Did He ever talk about sadness as being normal? No! He provided what people around Him needed when He demonstrated the love of God through what He said and did. That’s our mandate too. He knew His purpose and He did what He came here for. You and I are here for a purpose, to spread His love around to His needy hungry children around us, who don’t know how much He loves them.

We must learn to trust in God’s never-ending, always-present glorious and deeply engaged LOVE. He loves us and that love is a never-ending fountain. He hasn’t gone away just because some bad thing or other has happened in our lives …His love is powerful, and Jesus Christ Himself, is proof of how much God loves us. We all have a calling – even if we are rich, or poor, or fat, or thin, or clever, or not clever, or talented or not talented … our calling is to be His love to other people. Step up into the higher calling. Jesus is there. His love in us and for us is that fountain.

All of the Lord’s disciples had horrible lives in the natural. They suffered persecution for righteousness sake. Dreadful things happened to them. But their strength did not come from their circumstances. They held their hope in Who He is and what He did – fast. “Our help is in the name of the LORD, Who made heaven and earth.” Psalm 124:8. These brave souls lived this life as dead men and women walking. They didn’t have any agenda except to see His kingdom come. Almighty God was not just an alternate source of help … He was their ONLY source of help. That’s what faith is … faith does not have one foot in this world and its resources;  faith stands firmly, joyfully under the fountain of His love knowing that He is for us no matter what is going on around us. 

Christians have become apathetic and indifferent to the very things that are meant to sustain us. We think we don’t have this stuff because we don’tfeel it. But His love will sustain us. At the same time we are minimising the amount of heavenly water supply we have available. We do that to ourselves by withdrawing from Him… He will never withdraw from us. Jesus said, ‘love God FIRST, with all your hearts and souls, minds and strength.’ That’s how we stand under His fountain. Living this way is not just for a few people  who have special spiritual abilities. It’s for all of us, right here right now. Splash others who don’t know Him, with that living water from the fountain of life. 💦 👋🏻 

P 2465 Stick-to-it-ivity.

/ DVH

““Staying with it—that’s what God requires. Stay with it to the end. You won’t be sorry, and you’ll be saved. All during this time, the good news—the Message of the kingdom—will be preached all over the world, a witness staked out in every country. And then the end will come.” Matthew 24:14 MSG.

The biggest problem we will ever face, as Christians in my opinion, isn’t just the temptation to disobey, it is the temptation to give up entirely and live mediocre lives. Comfort and ease are our enemies. So is thinking we have arrived and this is as good as we will get!  Ask your family, they can tell you if you have arrived or not … they live with you. Here are two more verses to chew on … and yes, they give me indigestion too! James 1:2-3. “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.”

2 Peter 1:5-8 “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness;  and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”It is not enough to have these things, they must be growing!

Did you catch the point that our own inner attitudes are essential to help us overcome? The more we choose to obey the Holy Spirit, the more we will have these qualities added unto us! That, BTW, doesn’t mean that we can’t short-circuit the process, by being disobedient and self-indulgent. It simply means that one thing builds upon another. The thing beneath it, holds the next one up! Faith holds goodness up! Goodness holds Godly knowledge up… etc! PS w are not just meant to sort-of kind-of have these qualities – they are meant to increase as we go along.

We cannot afford to pretend this stuff doesn’t matter … that attitude will whittle away at our faith. The bible says when bad stuff happens:  count yourself/consider yourself… blessed, because this stuff is a sign that you are doing something right!  Everything changes when we stop regarding the bible as sweet sayings that are there to comfort and bless us – and instead we ingest them and regard them like they are medicine or vitamin pills. So we take them as prescribed. If we watch over our own words, they will give us a clue about what is going on inside. BTW, this isn’t censorship, it is self-awareness.

I’m not saying you have to be false about how you feel when hard things happen, these scriptures simply mean this is the way we are to look at those things. It definitely doesn’t mean paste a fake smile on your face and pretend stuff doesn’t hurt you! We are to regard these sorts of difficulties as a witness that what we are doing is right. Plus sometimes nasty scenarios tell us that the other person involved is being convicted by the way we are behaving and living. Conviction is good! It can lead to repentance, reparation and new beginnings.

The bonus buy of living the way the bible prescribes, is that we start up God’s production line on the inside of our spirits. We begin to grow Kingdom qualities. These qualities come from heaven and they hold incredible power to bring about change. Sadly, it is so much easier not to do any of this stuff at all, and short-circuit the process… OR … you can get sick of doing it and lose the prize.  That’s where stick-to-it-ivity comes in! The prize is having our automatic inside attitudes, changed. It is incredible to find that you are keeping your mouth shut when you know that’s impossible, especially if you are being provoked! It’s real, and you have no desire to chop the other person up into little pieces!  

Now bear with me, one more scripture – of course it is about difficulties producing some God-designed quality when we allow them to work on our characters! …”We also have joy with our troubles, because we know that these troubles produce patience.  And patience produces character, and character produces hope. And this hope will never disappoint us, because God has poured out his love to fill our hearts.”  Romans 5:3-5a. Even more of the construction process!

Joy is not just a smiley face, or a really really happy attitude, joy is a God-quality. It comes from the inside out. It does not wear out, because it is in there to grow. We need to trust the Holy Spirit to produce what He said He will as we obey Him and follow His instructions. We can always ask for His help but we cannot simply pray God-qualities into our lives and then do nothing. The bible is a faith book, and obeying it, using our faith, activates growth. Plus we will need stick-to-it-ivity. Hold fast to what you are aiming at with His help, “we will win if we don’t faint.” Bye 👋🏻

P 2463 Faith verses doubt.

/ DVH

James 1:5-8 “If any of you lacks wisdom [to guide him through a decision or circumstance], he is to ask of [our benevolent] God, Who gives to everyone generously and without rebuke or blame, and it will be given to him.  But he must ask [for wisdom] in faith, without doubting [God’s willingness to help], for the one who doubts is like a billowing surge of the sea that is blown about and tossed by the wind.  For such a person ought not to think or expect that he will receive anything [at all] from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable and restless in all his ways [in everything he thinks, feels, or decides].”

How cool are these verses! Sadly, this is also the place where we can become unstuck. Under pressure we can start to doubt God’s goodness and that erodes our faith in Him. And by pressure, I mean that we’ve forgiven others and done everything we know how to do, and still our bad circumstances have not changed. Sometimes circumstances don’t change! Why not? I dunno! I would not even remotely dare to explain the way Almighty God thinks and acts. I have not got a clue. I just know that in those moments our faith level comes under pressure. Now we can learn something about ourselves.

We need to ask ourselves what is my faith actually IN? Is it in my circumstances — or in God Himself. At these times we have been plunged into the perfect place to revise what we actually think, and what that is based on. However, our thoughts dare not rest on His performance because we are not wise enough to understand all the things He does. We must rest in His proven, revealed character in the book! 

BTW resting is not begrudgingly parking, sulking, or dismissive. Resting is a positive God-appointed action that is deliberate —- it has a purpose. The purpose is to quiet our busy minds and hearts and simply be still before Him. Those other things are mere reactions – they need repentance. Like I said yesterday, our faith is to be founded in Christ alone because God did not spare His only Son to have us for His own family. This is how and why we know His purpose is always greater than ours, and that His goodness is irreproachable. He sacrificed Jesus. We dare not move away from that.

When we need wisdom from God: “we must believe that HE IS and that He is a REWARDER of those who diligently seek Him.”  (Hebrews) That’s what true faith is … it is not about US or even our ability to believe, it is about the truthfulness of the One we believe in. That is why Jesus said any one of us can have faith as small as a mustard seed and it will still grow a huge tree! Because our faith is in SomeOne’s Else’s incredibly reliable nature, and that faith can be teeny tiny and it will still grow and work.

Therefore we need to guard our hearts against letting in doubt. We dare not doubt His willingness to act in our behalf …because we have proof! Christ is our proof. Whether the answer is yes, or no, is irrelevant. God is for us. So NO is the right answer if that is what we get. Remember, doubt is the thought that God is not good and not trustworthy – that His thoughts and actions are not FOR us. When we pray we are looking at the nature of the Person not at the answer to our prayer.

That’s what happened to Adam and Eve in the garden. satan used their careless knowledge of God’s overwhelming goodness, against them, and caused them to doubt His truthfulness. Faith is never about our circumstances, or what we have or what we don’t have — faith is in a Person. Christ Himself. It is up to us to make the decision that we will not doubt this Person as He is described in the bible. “I know You and I trust You.”

So when we need wisdom, we go to the source of all wisdom, God Himself, in prayer, and ask for it. Then we wait. We rest in the knowledge that His bible says that we will gain strength while we wait! Win win! We rest in the fact that He will give us His wisdom because He says He will … in James1: 5-8!! It has nothing to do with us, or our thoughts or lack of them or even our behaviour. Our faith is always in God’s faithfulness, which is revealed in His book and His faithfulness is gloriously demonstrated in Christ. I am now following Christ’s example – I do things the way He would.

When I gave my life to Jesus, He took it. Jesus trusted God with His life, and if I want to grow to be like Him and follow Him, I need to learn to give my life to Him and trust in God’s faithfulness, too. Trust comes when I believe what He said over what I feel or think, or even what other people feel or think. This means I am now occupied with making His thoughts my thoughts. (Renewing my mind!) We become double-minded when we entertain the idea that trouble and circumstances are ruling our lives. When I ask Him for His wisdom, I am asking for His thoughts. 

Double-minded people are like yo-yos. They are up, they are down. They get stuck, plus they get tangled up in their own ideas. They have a continually moving focus that depends on what is going on around them. Single-minded people look at Christ and tell themselves: “Jesus died for me. My faith is in Him. God is not deaf, and His arms aren’t short. If nothing is happening then it is because He has a better plan, or I will gain something by waiting.”  That’s faith. 👋🏻

P 2458 Compromise is the enemy of true passion.

/ DVH

“In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 17:6)  I am reading Judges at the moment and I came across this interesting verse in Judges 17. Briefly that chapter goes like this:  a mature son pinches his mum’s money, then owns up to it. Then the mother who cursed the thief,  blesses her son. She dedicates some of that money to building an idol.

It’s a strange story. 😳 The son then makes his own little church, complete with one of his own sons as a priest. 😳 (He’s not a Levite or anything!) and sticks that newly made, nicely silvered idol into the new church, together with a whole lot of other idols. Then a real Levite is passing by so the son is replaced because now they’ve got a real one and a real Levite is better than someone you just called a Levite!

I shan’t bother to go on about it any further except to say it gets much worse from there – this family starts a trend of personally hiring Levites! Anyway, I’m reading and looking, and mumble praying, then I looked the chapter up in other versions and it was no easier to understand in them either. I’m like: “What’s the point here?” Eventually, after prayer, here’s what I came up with – without strong leadership people do stupid stuff! (I’m simplistic …OK?) 

Well then, what’s the point in that story for my life? I instantly thought of Colossians. You know making up your own private version of how to live the Christian life has never been, and will never ever be  — in it!  There is no assurance outside of the blood of Jesus – which means … “as He was in this world so are we ...” And Colossians 3:5 says: “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.” That means what I want is irrelevant. Well, yay. Merry Christmas!!  So how can that be??? Because you’re dead, you’re dead, you’re dead! That’s how. You died with Christ.

Think of NOT bothering to die to self, like this … you tell yourself that you will get around to taking the bible seriously, but … you don’t. – and change gets harder as you get older! Instead you watch a TV preacher who tells you that you don’t have to be that serious about God because He loves you and wants you to … be happy! Then you find a bunch of other people that agree with you. After all, you tell yourself, that God-stuff in the bible is only outdated suggestions given for another time. You comfort yourself with the idea that God understands you are doing your best. Besides, you just hired your own priest who will continue to tell you stuff like that … just like the story in Judges!

In the verse in Colossians the Lord is reminding us that we personally have control over what we choose. ‘Consider’ means … think about it!!  Our appetites are not meant to rule us, that’s what these verses in Colossians say. Nevertheless, people-type appetites can sure try hard some days! Nobody talks about this stuff, but it needs to be said so we can steer our way through the mine-field this life throws at all of us. Yes, I know you think you are coping OK with watching porno movies because after all, you still go to church. Yes, I know, everybody else does it because this holy, purity thing is too hard in these times … rah rah rah! 😱 Jesus had a barely-robed woman thrown down at His feet … and He saw her need, not her disarray.

Okay, moving on into  …coveting. In times of need and lack, coveting starts rearing its ugly head. It is hard to say “…my God shall supply all my needs...” when your family is hungry and they are gunna have a lousy Christmas. Plus the guy next door just bought a boat for his family for Christmas, and he had his house painted, to boot! 

An impoverished person can get stuck wondering why God doesn’t help them… and then temptation strikes again. Governing our needs and wants, is never a walk in the park – it is an ongoing, ever-present battle. Whether we need a fan for the heat, or a house to sleep in — this world’s current lifestyle constantly nags at us that our life would be so much better with that creme or this gizmo! 

The biggest temptation I think we face in these kinds of circumstances is that we are tempted to doubt God’s goodness toward us, because we don’t like feeling uncomfortable. And maybe our own personal theology says that Almighty God doesn’t want us to feel uncomfortable! So we bought a book that gave us 53 verses that prove we don’t have to be uncomfortable! It is essential that we understand that our faith needs protecting. Which is why we watch what we read and see, and hear, as well as the places we hang around in, so we can look after our faith.

Christians have been redesigned to be human beings who know Jesus Christ personally and treasure His Presence above their own comfort and pleasure. If we are stuck wrangling with something or other, like sex or coveting or selfishness:  that means that Father God is encouraging us to trust Him in a new way. He is taking our relationship with Him deeper. Compromise is way too easy. Making up what we think can tolerate, is indeed, the enemy of real passion. 👋🏻