Gossip

P 3480 More attainable than we think.

/ DVH

It can be hard to adapt to new ways of thinking, doing and being. But when we choose to live this life totally sold out to Jesus, living out His Will, His way, that choice is far more easily attainable than we’ve ever realised. It is worth anything, but it will cost us, comfort-wise. Nowadays, bad stuff happens all the time.

As usual, I have what I hope will be an illustrative story. A couple of years ago, my dear hubby began to develop osteoarthritis in his hands, feet, fingers, toes, back, shoulder etc. and he not only experienced awful pain, he had to have injections for that pain regularly. His ability to do ordinary things easily, just disappeared. It was very traumatic, as you know, we travel a lot. Hubby had just begun to enjoy watercolour painting and he loves to give his paintings away. He paints whatever God tells him to paint and it speaks to the other person.

Because of his lack of dexterity and the awful pain, losing the freedom to paint was very hard. Then the Lord gave me a word of knowledge – the skill to paint does not come from our hands and fingers or their co-ordination.. that skill comes from God and it can’t be taken away. It is a gift. A visual word of knowledge. I passed that on to hubby and suggested he try to paint with his other, non-dominant hand. At first he thought I had gone a bit loopy, but he trusts the LORD, so he began to paint with his other non-dominant hand, which wasn’t as painful. He had never ever done this before.

Lo and behold the pictures he painted with his left hand, were fantastic! Even more full of life than the original ones. The original paintings were beautifully done, but his left hand produced things that were much free-er. Now here’s what I think … hubby could always paint, with his left, or right hand, it didn’t really matter – but using his left hand to paint meant he really had to extend his faith. What we do in faith reaches into God’s kingdom and it creates miracles. Read John 21:6.

Over to my point today. For years the church at large has wandered in the wilderness, trying so hard to please Jesus, and follow Him. But we did not know what to do with the “stuff’ that continued to happen to us, every single day. Everybody wants to cope and remain victorious, but we don’t seem to have the skills to help us to stay away from the very things that were sent by the enemy to drag us down. So we often have no personal victory over sin. We promise God over and over again that we will not gossip, or drink too much, judge others, or watch risqué films  etc. but it seems we have no power to change.

However, because of what Jesus did, now we have inside us the very gift and power we longed for, it just isn’t going to manifest itself according to our knowledge and our rules. God Himself has a WAY to do things. The bible is full of illustrations of what His Way looks like. His way looks like total surrender and confidence in everything Jesus achieved on that cross. It operates in faith and splashes love freely all around it. It knows when to say yes, and when to say no. Now we need to lay aside our coping mechanisms and learn to live this life dead to what we want and think we need, and alive to what Jesus wants for us, every day.

It is easy to say that we want to do everything the Lord asks us to do … until we don’t — because suddenly it seems too hard. Sometimes what Jesus asks us to do, doesn’t suit our plans, or make sense to our natural minds. Acting in faith is not automatic, it is learnt by practising it. Living this way. I know I need to take what the Holy Spirit said in the bible seriously, and continually choose to act on it at every opportunity, even when my flesh is desperately screaming its head off. I do that by returning love for meanness, faith for doubt, exercise real joy because of what Jesus did, no matter what else is going on. As we are following Jesus we continually need to make faith adjustments. We pray – do whatever He tells us to do – and then we follow Him. Human beings  want to escape trials, but the Lord has promised to take us through them.

Humility is one of our greatest strengths, and we get it by humbling ourselves and admitting we need His help to die to what we want, and live for what He wants. When some awful trial or other seems to be much bigger than we are, we have an opportunity to lean on everything Jesus did for us, and learn to trust Him, no matter how it looks. Let’s use our faith to respond to trials differently. This is not a passive thing. We must grab hold of Jesus, just like Peter did when he thought he would drown. 

Jesus once said this to Peter when he began to berate the Lord for talking about His death. “Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” Matthew 16:23. But this man had been following the Lord for over two years! Then Jesus explained what God wants: “…“Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for Me will find it.” Verses 24&25.

In other words we have to be prepared to put down our own ideas, and agendas, and pick up the things of God, that are eternal. Returning love for hate. Faith for passive resignation. When we were born again eternity entered our hearts. Let’s begin to rely upon His ability to know what we can and can’t do and trust the Lord to get us through it. We can get through things we have never ever dreamt about because we have God’s Spirit in us, with us, to guide us. Just like my little illustration, we can paint with our left hand even though we can barely write with it! This new way of living is more attainable because of His Grace, than we realise. Bye. 👋.

P3460 Trying is out, doing is in.

/ DVH

Following Christ is not about trying hard to find the will to do what He said … it is about doing it. I hear so many sincere people telling me that they are trying to please the Lord but it’s too hard. Trying means you are simply attempting to do something — in other words — trying includes the possibility of failure. To DO something means you launch yourself out into the action hoping God Himself will catch you. Don’t try — DO.  Don’t try for instance, not to gossip, or criticise others, close your mouth! Let’s not let any immediate feelings of impossibility or failure discount your ability to do what He said.

So we don’t try not to watch movies that create anger, or access sensuality in us – turn them off.  It’s dumb to allow the wrong kind of thoughts to sit in your head. Those things are leading you down an inevitable pathway, to all kinds of stuff that will steal your peace and make you hate yourself for failing. We can’t fail – Jesus did all the work for us! He conquered sin and death. That’s love. Let’s remind ourselves daily, how much the Lord loves us. Did you wake up today? 🤪 That means God believes in you. You have another opportunity to choose to change – some people didn’t wake up. Make the time to sit with Him and let His endless unconditional love minister to you, then go out and do what He tells you to do.

Let’s look at Matthew 14, and what happened to Peter, as he learnt that God can and will make a way! Verses 18-30:  “As soon as the meal was finished, He insisted that the disciples get in the boat and go on ahead to the other side while He dismissed the people. With the crowd dispersed, He climbed the mountain so he could be by himself and pray. He stayed there alone, late into the night. Meanwhile, the boat was far out to sea when the wind came up against them and they were battered by the waves. At about four o’clock in the morning, Jesus came toward them walking on the water. They were scared to death. “A ghost!” they said, crying out in terror. But Jesus was quick to comfort them. “Courage, it’s Me. Don’t be afraid.” Peter, suddenly bold, said, “Master, if it’s really You, call me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come ahead.” 

Peter didn’t just ASK for help … you and I can’t just stand there waiting for Jesus to come and fix things – there’s no active faith in that! Faith has substance, in other words you can see it. Instead, Peter acted on what the Lord said! Jesus said, “Come,” and Peter actually had to climb over the edge of a perfectly good boat, and start walking on the water. That’s faith! That’s what it looks like. Faith is obedience in action. Peter kept his eyes on Jesus and kept right on walking. He only failed when he took his eyes off the Lord. Keep your eyes on Jesus! … BTW, failure is not the end of the world because Jesus took that to Calvary too.

Here’s my advice: find out what the Lord says about that thing that you are struggling with, and act on it! Do something. We are only failing in some areas because we are leaving the things we need to do ourselves, to Him. We are not puppets, He will not make us. He will show us the way and help us, but we will have to decide to act differently, and then do something about it, using our faith. If you have trouble with swearing, stop. Seriously. Don’t believe that voice in your head that tells you, you can’t. YOU … “can do all things through Christ Who strengthens YOU.” So when you feel weak, ask Him for strength, and … whack your hand over your mouth!

I’ve learnt to do stuff like that all the time. If the Holy Spirit tells me to do something, then I start moving – despite the fact that I know I can’t do most things easily – it has now become an automatic response. Especially when I get grumpy. We all get angry sometimes, but the thing is … don’t stay there, ask the Lord to help you. Our faith is meant to be operating all the time. It is not just an emergency stop button on a runaway train. It’s the way we live now. ”For in Him we live and move and have our being.’  As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.’” Acts 17:28. 

We are wrestling with our own will when we feel like we can’t do this or that. Jesus died so we don’t have to do anything anymore. Now we have the freedom to choose. Just because we don’t like some choice or other, that does not invalidate the fact that we actually have one! Let’s turn that around, when we want to do something we know is bad for us, other people can’t stop us. That’s what our will looks like in operation. We simply can’t live a life of faith, and indulge ourselves at the same time. Nor can we say to the Lord: “Thy will be done …” in our prayers, when we know full well that we only do what He wants, when and if, we feel like it! … Did you notice that word ‘feel?’ 

The real struggle is against our own flesh. Our will has survived thus far because we gratify it through the stuff we’ve done that we ought not to have done – so stopping it is bound to be a wrestling match. Let me put that another way — neither of us will probably want to participate in this wrestling match. It is so-oo much easier to just give in to our feelings. Plus this sort of scenario is usually accompanied by loads of angst and temptation. After all, we don’t live in a blameless holy society! Someone else will have done something to set us off. The point is … Jesus is bigger than anything we face, so we put Him in charge, and step out onto the water of change even though it seems like it will not be pleasant and we don’t feel like it.

BTW, this does not mean we are not supposed to have any feelings, it just means our feelings are not supposed to be in charge of us anymore — Jesus is now. How do you think the Lord endured the cross? “Saying, Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but [always] Yours be done.” Luke 22:42. Faith is not faith if we only believe things in our heads. Faith is faith when we let it change our behaviour. That will mean some wrestling matches. The upside is we will stop blaming other people for what we do, and start to take responsibility for our own choices. We don’t want to be the bad people, we want other people to be in that role. The truth is we are ALL bad, and … “It’s by Grace we have been saved, not because of works lest any man should boast.” 

The glory of Jesus and what He did for us, is that He gave us the Holy Spirit Who wants to help us to obey. Obedience is a wonderful smell to God, it is better than a sacrifice. Along with the Holy Spirit – Who gave us the power to obey our Father – we also have in writing, what the Lord likes and what He doesn’t. Feelings don’t come into it. I never feel like saying sorry when I am angry and I know I am wrong – how about you? Let’s ignore how we feel, and obey what He said. Nobody is making you or I choose to indulge ourselves — those feelings of helplessness and powerlessness are simply not true. The bars on the jail you have painted yourself into are not there anymore. Take a step of faith – you will walk right through them.

What I think I know about myself is not all there is to know, there’s more. Father God made me, and He knows me, and what I can do, I can choose to trust Him over my feelings. We will fail to use our faith when we don’t believe what He said, instead of what we think about ourselves. Trying is out, doing is in. Bye. 👋.

P 3443 We influence them, this world does not influence us.

/ DVH

It can be so easy to pick up the habits, fears and general atmosphere around us, and be pressured into conforming with it, even verbally. We need to be aware that we are thermostats, not thermometers. What’s the difference between a thermostat and a thermometer? A thermometer measures temperature, while a thermostat controls it.

We have been given the Lord’s authority to set the atmosphere of any room we enter, simply because we bring the King of all glory with us!  We are not here to just measure or create atmospheres – we are here to usher in Jesus – He does that stuff all by Himself! He makes His Presence known without embarrassing people, or pontificating over them.

When we read the Gospels we see Jesus lovingly expose other people’s hearts! Maybe that is why He once said angrily to His disciples: “you don’t know what spirit you are in!” What they’d said lacked love. The only people who were offended with Jesus were the religious. Those people who like the rules, and love to wave them about like a banner. However, many people were drawn to Jesus, when they were rejected by religion. He has chosen us to be a demonstration of His kingdom, right here, right now.

There are people who find that they cannot be themselves around Christians who use religious language, simply because it hinders the flow of the Spirit of God through them. But other dear souls are so sweet about what they say, it is not at all offensive. Like I’ve said before, it’s the heart that matters. So many souls are bruised these days, it’s not our job to poke at their bruises. The heart that wants to ‘straighten someone else out’ is probably not listening well. Sadly, most of the time, religious talk makes me want to leave the room!

Jesus didn’t do it, and neither should we.

On another note, I can’t watch the news anymore because first of all, it’s all bad! … And secondly, it doesn’t seem like the news to me. It is more like a chat room with many many opinions. Criticism and condemnation and the worst kind of humour flourishes.The Lord tells us that ‘we are to be as wise as serpents and as gentle as doves.’ I strongly suspect this verse means that wisdom makes its own room, and gentleness will disarm angry people. It makes me so sad when the media has so much influence, but it uses it carelessly to destroy other people’s lives – for profit. 

It is almost like the news,  publishing organisations, social media etc. itself has become a courtroom deciding who is guilty and who is not. Life is complicated and people do awful, hateful things – however how can my opinion do anything but become further gossip at a time when that person needs forgiveness and wisdom? People in terrible trouble need prayer not hatred. Yet the media fosters hatred by the way they slant things.

My thought today is this – it is great to share Psalms, Hymns, spiritual songs, uplifting sermons, exhortations and, or life lessons on social media etc. But if we choose to stand by, saying nothing … while that very same avenue projects the whirlwind of public opinion while it is shredding people’s lives. Then aren’t we behaving exactly like Paul did when he agreed with killing off Christians?  Jesus had to blind Paul to help him see! 

That story in Acts 9 is about Paul, and it teaches us a story about this servant of God and how he temporarily lost his sight. Plus it reveals Ananias’ bravery. It also shows us that human beings often follow leaders without questioning them. People stood with Paul, and as he consented to other people’s deaths, so did THEY. They were persuaded that murder was the only answer to stopping the preaching of the Gospel. Some of them even carried out the murders, in God’s Name. 

We can’t afford to participate in popularity polls in the church, mainly because we can be very poor at using the gift of discernment when it comes to leadership. We often pick the popular guy, not the man of His Presence and the Lord’s principles. We are more likely to go to the church run by a man or woman who tickles our ears, than listen to someone who says the things we don’t want to hear … yet we need to hear them. 

Suspicion and discernment are two different things. One closes down honest interchanges of ideas, and the other sees the person behind all the talk, and identifies the spirit leading them around by the nose. Jesus is the judge and He has already paid for everyone’s sins. And Proverbs 18:13 says: “He who answers a matter before he hears the facts—it is folly and shame to him.” James 1:19: “My dear brothers and sisters, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger.” 

Our influence on this world must not be underestimated, the Greater One lives in us. Perhaps we all need to repent for allowing the world to enter our ship and colour our opinions about who is in and who is out. A Christian’s quest for holiness must not be the vehicle we use to crush any human being who has no faith, or less faith than we have. Bye. 👋

P 3417 Hard questions.

/ DVH

“Then He (Jesus) added, “Now you should go and study the meaning of the verse: I want you to show mercy, not just offer Me a sacrifice. For I have come to invite the outcasts of society and sinners, not those who think they are already on the right path.”” Matthew 9:13 TPT.

That’s a wonderful instruction, we should all do that. Hmmm … so when is the last time someone at your church — or you, asked a street person; or people of a different sexual persuasion;  or someone who has been in prison;  or a devoted gossip; or a liar; or someone with an incurable disease that is contagious;  or a corrupt person;  or someone who follows satan;  or someone who has a faith that is very different than ours, to our churches? You can make your own list, those people are on the list of the people in this world that I came up with.

Right here in the above scripture Jesus Himself tells us to show mercy to them. Then the Lord said the most amazing thing … He came to CALL people like that! Jesus’ death is clearly stated as an action that saved the world – the Grace that was released toward mankind was for ALL. We cannot afford to think of mercy and grace as something that is only available to the people we regard as good candidates, or those who could be worthy in our own eyes … or … even let money influence us. Even if we don’t happen to like these would-be recipients of the gospel or what they currently do or how they live. 

“The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come!’ Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.”  Revelations 22:17. “Whosoever will may come!” The only word that matters is COME!! Salvation isn’t a free gift if we limit whoever may participate in it with our own prejudices. I know this is not going to be a popular subject with everyone, but it is what the scriptures teach, and what Jesus Himself said and did. We are told to invite these people to come, and have mercy on them.

Jesus deliberately touched lepers, He showed mercy to promiscuous people, He ate with people who really enjoyed their food, and a drink … He even supplied the wine once! He ministered to people from an unacceptable country when the opportunity came up. He didn’t seek them out, but He saw real people, human beings — not labels or political preferences or skin colour, or revolting or sinful practices.

He didn’t approve of their sins but He actively loved those people. The religious people of His day took offence at these things, but even those people who took offence at what He said and did, didn’t influence Him! It is a sad sad day when we use God’s Word in one place to cancel out His Word somewhere else. We’d be better off asking Him: “This is what You’ve said Lord so how do we do it?”

I think it is time that we threw open the doors of our churches and let the whosoevers in! Some of those people who want to be saved and come through our doors will be messy. Their lifestyles may not suit us. We need to understand that the Holy Spirit is the One Who finds and calls people, and He is the One Who transforms them. In other words we have to stop thinking that the ‘other people’ who come through our doors have to be our definition of ‘nice.’ It wouldn’t hurt to stop thinking of them as “other people” either! Some of us don’t look so hot anymore, because we have adopted a whole heap of prejudices… 

Let’s allow the Holy Spirit to truly change our hearts and minds. Meanwhile, we must start addressing all of our own prejudices, with true repentance. If people don’t know the way they are living is wrong in God’s eyes, then why can’t we show them His grace so they can experience Him? Disapproval sure doesn’t work! What they do after encountering the love of God is not our concern – we are to love people, we don’t have to like who they are, what they do, or how they live. Jesus is still working on me — how about you? Some people simply bother our theology.

Catching fish is dirty and smelly, and kind of slimy and ugly, I mean no offence when I say that drawing up our robes around us, like a Pharisee would, is not to our credit. I think that’s why Jesus called fishermen to walk with Him. Those men weren’t specialists of the law, or religious men … they made a living doing ordinary tasks. They understood the less elite side of life from personal experience. We must expect all kinds of people come to us to have their lives changed by His Grace – the grace is meant to be daily flowing through us. Our Saviour came here to help everyone.

I’m a whosoever! When I heard God loved me and wanted my heart, I stampeded my way into a church, cheering loudly about what Jesus had done for me, and I probably drove a whole lot of really, really nice folks crazy. I’ve since repented for annoying people with my unbridled enthusiasm for the things of God — but, as it happened I had never heard any of that stuff before. Who knows who we might be, without HIS Grace touching our lives and hearts? 

Let’s choose to minister to the desperate, demon-possessed, broken-hearted, rejected lost souls of this world. Jesus once talked about a wedding feast where those who were already invited begged off – so the master of the feast sent out his servants to compel anyone they found to come in! We don’t have to approve of how others live, but our reactions to other people gives us an opportunity to look good and hard at what we are actually doing. It’s time we asked ourselves some hard questions. Are we fulfilling the Gospel Jesus  preached?  Bye 👋. 

P 2975 What can I do?

/ DVH

So today I’m picking up right where I left off yesterday…. with helpful hints! You can start living for Jesus and following Him, by repenting for living for yourself ….  Meanwhile forget about trying to get other people to join with you … you do it. “Though none go with me still I will follow…” Hmmm. Now I’ve pulled the plug on that great idea – here are some more proactive things you can do!

Get on your face and ask the Lord to please show you, through His word, through your circumstances, and under the guidance of your pastor, vicar, priest – what am I here for? What plans do You have for my life Lord? And then, don’t stop praying until you have an answer. INSIST. Be like that person in Luke 18. Or the friend in Luke 11 —just keep going after the Lord for an answer!  You know, there are people who want to use that kind of prayer to get … things!! That’s so sad….

At the same time as repenting… practice love. Begin with your enemies or the people you know who don’t like you – or you don’t like them! Anybody, the bible tells us, can love the people who love them! But the bible also says: “A man’s enemies will be those of his own household …” Matthew 10:36….Well, will you look at that!

We don’t actually even have to go all that far to find some of our enemies!! This is why, I recommend we start ‘doing good to those who despitefully use you.’ You could be related to them! Bake them a cake. Wash their car. Mow their lawn. Pay for their groceries. Pray for them. Don’t just try it – do it and don’t stop!  Make it a way of life and … expect opposition. Listen to these people even when they are monumentally boring. Did I say that out loud?

Blind Freddy can tell just by reading this blog I can easily annoy people. Good! I’d rather annoy a precious brother or sister into doing what the Lord says — than stand by letting that glorious gift they have been given by God Himself, go to waste! The body of Christ needs each one of us standing in our place, doing what He has given us to do in order to move forward. We’ve been holed up in our personal ditches like the Desert Rats of Tobruk for way too long!

Years ago, when I was a brand new Christian, I experienced all kinds of hatred all over the place. I was so enthusiastic about Jesus. People didn’t just gossip about me – I am not making this up, BTW, they told other people they hated me. And just in case you think I’m some kind of special case, I loathe rejection nearly as much as you do! It was HARD. Nobody taught me how to love people, even the really kind ones around me just kept telling me to tone it down, and avoid the people I was annoying. 🙄 Like you can tone down who you are without His help!

The Jesus I had just met didn’t like their ideas – mainly because I was continually reading His book!  So I loved on those people in practical, costly ways that I am not going to go on about here. I’m not a dummy …the bible tells us to do things secretly or we will miss our reward. Jesus said:“Don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.” Did these people instantly fall in love with me? NOPE. It turns out my reward was being obedient. Was it discouraging and hard? You betcha!

We look at things like loving one another, as if that kind of love is going to fall on our heads — if we just worship enough, or read the bible enough, or witness enough, or be cheerful all the time – good luck with that last one! Actually the closer we get to God Himself, the easier loving one another becomes. LOVE IS THE ATMOSPHERE HE LIVES IN.

So if you want to be close to Him you will have to learn to live in love. Personal preferences fly out of the window in His Presence. The Lord wants us to share the Love He gives us daily, with others. He longs to see His love spread abroad in our hearts, as well as all over the place. Learn to serve people, with no other motive than to be obedient and please Him.

“So if I’m your teacher and Lord and have just washed your dirty feet, then you should follow the example that I’ve set for you and wash one another’s dirty feet. Now do for each other what I have just done for you.” John 13:14 TPT. See? It has nothing whatsoever to do with liking people! Many times I have ended up loving people that I didn’t like – at all! I just followed the prompts. When I read it in the book, I pray until He gives me a way to do it. I also try to choose my spiritual clothes carefully: “You are always and dearly loved by God! So robe yourself with virtues of God, since you have been divinely chosen to be holy. Be merciful as you endeavour to understand others, and be compassionate, showing kindness toward all. Be gentleand humble, unoffendable in your patience with others.” Colossians 3:12 TPT.

Did you get that? Many people thought you and I would amount to nothing, but we’ve been divinely CHOSEN to be holy, merciful, compassionate, kind, gentle, humble and unoffendable! Now that’s mercy right there! This world can keep their corner office, money and popularity, I’ll go after Colossians 3:12 any day! What can I do to be close to God?  I can change the way I live, one loving step at a time.. Bye. 👋 

P 2970 Religion can kill our faith.

/ DVH

“Beloved ones, God has called us to live a life of freedom. But don’t view this wonderful freedom as an excuse to set up a base of operations in the natural realm. Constantly love each other and be committed to serve one another.”Galatians 5:13. We’ve been set free to love one another and to serve God, of our own volition.  

When we read the Gospels, if we look at the hawk-eyed big brother attitude of the Sadducees, Pharisees, Teachers etc. we can see they pounced on anyone who broke even the smallest of the man-made rules. This included some poor schmuck who was born blind. These religious leaders picked on the guy because he was healed on the Sabbath! Like the man chose that day!? He was offered healing and he said yes … wouldn’t you??

Then there was another man who spent 35 years of his life lying by a pool, and he got into trouble for carrying the bed he had been pop-riveted to for years!  All because he was also healed on the Sabbath. There were others and Jesus healed them all on the Sabbath too. But as soon as these healed people were out in public, some enthusiastic religious enforcer immediately demanded to know why they were breaking this law or that one! Sadly these legalistic men skipped right past the joy of those amazing healings and went straight to the so-called infringement.

The Pharisees etc. lived to point out other people’s sinful actions and attitudes. Their laws consisted of hundreds of add-ons to the Ten Commandments that God gave Moses. Father God paid an incredible price when He gave us the freedom to choose! His aim was REAL reconciliation not lip-service or more laws. Today we are free to choose LOVE. You simply cannot legislate against sin. 

After all, the bible says that sin itself, can give our misdeeds a greater appeal! The religious laws of Jesus’ time, alienated and distanced the people from their God. You simply couldn’t afford to even appear to make any kind of mistake, you would get caught and punished. They even had sacrifices for the things people might have forgotten they did! 

Mercy flew right out of the window, rapidly followed by grace. Healing etc. had to be legislated into a suitable time and place delegated by the religious rulers’ discretion. People had no choice, they either obeyed the law to the letter, or they were punished. Sometimes they had rocks thrown at their heads! Or they were beaten within an inch of their lives. Or they had to fork out money they didn’t have to pay for grain offerings, doves, sheep and cattle. The religious rules had been around for so long, they had slowly been perverted away from loving God and each other, into legalism.

I think the very worst part of all this is that God Himself became even more estranged from His very precious children – why wouldn’t you avoid a god who appeared to require punishment for every single misstep? We know that sin starts with an inward attitude, which can result in an outward action against what God has said, but I think the complete truth is when we sin, we sin against LOVE, not rules. When what we do is not from love we’ve sinned. Which makes categorising sin a waste of time. Instead of focussing on outward actions, our hearts need to be changed. They need to have an attitude transplant and God has given us the perfect opportunity to have one!

Jesus did it for us – He is God’s love in action. He is the perfect example for us — unfettered by profit, agendas, prejudices, judgment, appetites and selfishness,. Meanwhile those snarky I’ve-got-a-right-to-do-what-I-want attitudes we cherish so much in this modern age, can go from choice to entitlement in a heart-beat. Sin is a heart condition. We were born with it but Jesus took the huge burden of personal responsibility for mankind’s sin, past, present and future, upon Himself and He met every legal single requirement. He overpaid!

Almighty God sent Jesus to save everyone, even the guys who killed Him. God chose to sacrifice His own Son willingly—to give US back our freedom, and give US the opportunity to walk with Him. Religion takes our choices away, it sets our minds on an impossible task … remaining sin free. And it totally ignores what Jesus already did for us. It also removes Love from our midst. Loving one another is our only hope of thriving instead of just surviving. “Beyond all these things put on and wrap yourselves in [unselfish] love, which is the perfect bond of unity [for everything is bound together in agreement when each one seeks the best for others].’Colossians 3:14. (AMP)

Unless we choose to live in Love, like Jesus did, the law will continue to haunt the church.  We need to do what the bible says, and put aside gossip, resentment, criticism etc. etc. and pay far more attention to our own hearts, than we do toward other people’s sin. Religion chokes the life out of faith. Bye. 👋

P 2924 The future is HERE ……NOW!

/ DVH

“But you need to be aware that in the final days the culture of society will become extremely fierce. People will be self-centred lovers of themselves and obsessed with money. They will boast of great things as they strut around in their arrogant pride and mock all that is right. They will ignore their own families. They will be ungrateful and ungodly. They will become addicted to hateful and malicious slander. 

Slaves to their desires, they will be ferocious, belligerent haters of what is good and right. With brutal treachery, they will act without restraint, bigoted and wrapped in clouds of their conceit. They will find their delight in the pleasures of this world more than the pleasures of the loving God. They may pretend to have a respect for God, but in reality they want nothing to do with God’s power. Stay away from people like these!”2 Timothy 3:1-5 TPT.

Yeah, I dunno about you, but at this moment, I’m thinking about heading for the hills, because this scripture sounds just like last week’s new’s headlines to me. Isn’t it scary when you can read something like this — which was written in 40-60 AD and yet you still think — boy does this sound so familiar! 

You know, God has never said that other people would like what we say – He just said: “TELL THEM.” And He also said, live like this – “make love your great aim” and the bible shows us how love lives. The news of today is filled to the top with death, anger, sorrow, murder, rage etc.and those things can subtly influence us to think people are not worth the sacrifice of laying down our lives. Sadly all we need if we want to be an influencer,  is to have a sad story, or  give away money, or stuff. Today you can buy people’s interest. And if you call it a competition, they will jump right in! 

But the bible says we are here to to tell them that they will go to hell if they keep going in the wrong direction. Yeah! That kind of changes the colour of anyone’s day. At the same time as we are actively loving them, we need to tell them what they are doing is eternally costly. 

However, we do not have to market God! There is a school of thought that says if we can be as slick and appealing as the things of this world, people will listen to us. This is what Paul was talking about in the above verse: “…having a form of godliness but denying its power …”True godliness is about fruit, it produces substance, not just appearances. There is no power in exhibiting the appearance of godliness, practising that will produce religion. When what we are looking for is inward transformation. 

Now, let’s look at that first line in Paul’s discourse. “The culture of society will become exceedingly fierce.”Hmmm. Does today’s world look like a loving, supportive culture? There’s a lot of talk about empowering people but not much talk about living a life of love. It seems to me that many people in the Western world have learnt to speak badly about others – so they can make money on TV shows by deriding the way people walk, dress, and live — we even pick on what other people EAT! We indulge in gossip simply for conversation’s sake. Gossip has become a way of life – a method of communication – a way to relate!

We need to assure the people around us that there is something much bigger, more important and infinitely more lasting, than working hard to look good. Mankind’s greatest challenge is to continue to be loving in the face of evil, and that will take the supernatural power of God! Meanwhile, the church can’t keep on doing what they have been doing because it isn’t working! Often our worst enemies are exactly who Jesus told us they would be – the people we dearly love.“… a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’ Matthew 10:36. We are going to need the power of God to cope, and still love them!

We have let our children down. Someone (??) decided the little darlings are basically good. Obviously these people haven’t read “Lord of the flies!” or “Grimm’s fairy tales” or the newspaper lately! Sadly we raised our children to be entertained, not instructed. But despite how cute they are, children are not born good. “All have sinned,” it says so in His book. Did you know that the first word most babies learn is “NO?!” 

We wonder why our kids are careless about the real things in this life that actually matter, and why haven’t they learnt integrity, obedience, and kindness etc? Wisdom and spiritual knowledge come from investing time and energy in people – not just chasing dollars. Our kids need to learn to contribute, not consume, and it is our job to teach them. Inanimate objects don’t cause delinquent behaviour, lack of supervision does.

I think Paul was looking through God’s Time Machine into a telescope of our future, when he wrote this letter of warning to Timothy. Let’s remember, Timothy was his disciple, he was teaching this young man the way he should go. He was also instructing Timothy about the times that were to come …  And now… happy, happy joy, joy, here they are! The future is here. Now! Always remember, the darkness cannot put the light out – HIS light in us will conquer the darkness around us. Love is the vehicle. Bye 👋

P 2879 Avoidance is not enough …

/ DVH

... action is required! “So now we draw near freely and boldly to where grace is enthroned, to receive mercy’s kiss and discover the grace we urgently need to strengthen us in our time of weakness.”Hebrews 4:16 TPT

“And God has made all things new, and reconciled us to Himself, and given us the ministry of reconciling others to God.” 2 Corinthians 5:18 TPT

There is nothing like the bible for good advice. It is the best instruction manual ever, particularly if we refuse to explain away what it says. When we think we can’t do this or that, we need to draw near to Him, and let His mercy kiss us, all over again. Mercy received will change anyone’s mind.

We must always remember Jesus Christ died to give us the power to say ‘yes,’ to His will, His Way. Nothing can take that choice away from us. We have the precious Holy Spirit, Who is with us, in us, and He walks WITH us to guide us. Our faith cannot be in our ability — if we have a brain in our head, we already know we have limited ability! Our faith is in what Christ did. We stand firmly on the Rock Who is Christ Jesus. Because He rose from the dead- we can rise up from our beds of apathy, excuses and indifference into action.

We can spend our whole lives as Christians, avoiding sin, and … that’s not a bad thing, but…!  Yes, we can go through this life avoiding gossip, hatred, etc. etc .but at the same time, we actually have a job to do. The way to conquer those things that can so easily drag us down and under, is to aim at what Christ aimed at. “Loving God with all our heart, soul and mind, and our neighbours as ourselves.”  My advice is that we should be so busy doing stuff for His kingdom, that we don’t even sit down to think about the negatives. 

We know we fall over and fail! It’s because we are human, that we will fail, BUT! … …We have a Saviour Who is more faithful than any of us can ever imagine! We have been empowered by what He did, to choose differently. Just because living for His sake looks impossible, that does not mean we can quit and simply use avoidance to get through all the pitfalls of this life. What Christ did for us demands a positive response! And not just an Amen either.

Let’s just pause, and imagine this with me: one day you and I will stand in the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ’s Presence. Hallelujah! What a day that will be!! 🙌 When He asks us what we did with this new life He gave us, do we really want to say:“I know You died for me. So I avoided that sin, and this and that pitfall, and I didn’t join in with the evil things other men do.”  It’s not a bad testimony… However, daring to take action for the sake of Christ’s Name, is another thing altogether. Dare to believe He really is so powerful that He can empower YOU … 

So, what are we doing with the faith He died to give us? Christ’s faith released incredible forgiveness into this planet. It was so extraordinary, so above and beyond anything that would ever be needed by any one soul at any one time.  And we are here because Jesus has given us the benefits of all that forgiveness and faith! He stood in silence as wicked, jealous, fearful men accused Him of things He did not do. Then they punished Him mercilessly. His last action on this earth was to forgive US all, and He released His Spirit back to His Father. Now, the Spirit of the living God is here, He came here at Pentecost, He wants to walk with YOU and I.

In Ecclesiastes 3:7b it clearly says there is:”… a time to be silent and a time to speak …”  Brothers and sisters, I put it to you that we are living in the time to speak … There may be times when we will say nothing in the face of false accusations, like Jesus did. But where are our faith works? (James talked about them.) Where is “… the reward of His suffering?” Our lives need to be laid down willingly, through our participation in Christ’s mission. Lives laid down in faith, like His life was for us. Don’t be fooled by the devil, your contribution matters.

We have not been given a free ticket to do whatever we like! Almighty God is NOT an indulgent Father Who wants to give us everything we think we need in this life, and then we will go on to inherit the next! Father God wants a family, that means every tribe, every tongue. Are we serving our Father in a worthy way that glorifies everything Christ suffered and died to give us? Have we tried and sometimes failed, only to try again — to make sure that His family includes every single member, and that ALL have had an opportunity to belong? If not – WHY NOT? ‘I’m scared’ just doesn’t cut it. Neither will – “that was someone else’s job.”

We’ve learnt on previous occasions that fear must not be a deterrent – fear is to be conquered through our faith-filled actions. Today I have included a quote that I loved, it’s from a Malaysian church: “FAITH IS NOT THE ABSENCE OF FEAR, BUT KNOWING WHO YOUR GOD IS!” And knowing Who He is, needs to be accessible to everyone … that’s why avoiding sin is not enough – action is required. Bye. 👋

“I refuse to be ashamed of the wonderful message of God’s liberating power unleashed in us through Christ! For I am thrilled to preach that everyone who believes is saved—the Jew first, and then people everywhere!” Romans 1:16 TPT

P 2878 Unconditionally forgive everyone.

/ DVH

““Your ancestors have also been taught ‘Love your neighbours and hate the one who hates you.’ However, I say to you, love your enemy, bless the one who curses you, do something wonderful for the one who hates you, and respond to the very ones who persecute you by praying for them.”Matthew 5:43-44 TPT. Many people don’t like this scripture because it hits something inside them that they don’t care to acknowledge. Personally, I think things like gossip have their roots in these attitudes. We try to bring people down by badmouthing them to others, especially if they threaten us or we can’t forget what they did! 

Hatred can be generational. It can be taught to us by the people we dearly love, who raised us. After that sort of family indoctrination, it can become quite easy for gossip, slander, lies, and hatred to be passed down from one generation to another. When generational things are cherished and repeated endlessly, eventually they break out against other people Jesus died for! Meanwhile, how sensible is it to hate some people ‘cos your folks, or your friends, or people we esteem hate them too? You know that voice that you can hear in your heart that keeps saying: “Wrong way, go back.” Listen to it.  We have the power of God in us — we can usher in generational change by our choices.

Any unloving focus can drag us away from our main objective – loving others. Gossip and judgment build themselves, through repetition about what some perceived enemy did or said.  And when the bad incident that started with anger, or judgment happens to our people, our house, our group of friends – then it becomes personal!  That personal experience adds weight to everything else that has gone before it. It’s a distraction from our main purpose – let’s not allow ourselves to be distracted away from our purpose.. 

Between all the hating, cursing, lies and the repetition of the terrible stories — hatred is now flourishing in this world. Now this ghastly attitude is set firmly inside a demonic stronghold. I think the press/media etc. lies to us regularly in order to provide sensational stories to get our money and attention. Advertisers love that idea! The press blows up information and twists things to make what we read, see, or listen to, sensational. 

Meanwhile, our thirst to be in the know, and our efforts to find out about something that garners a lot of attention, have created a monster. We have made ‘knowing things;’  or ‘having the skinny on this or that,’  into some kind of a competition, and in the process we have devalued the people Jesus died for. Those people who are supposedly informing us – prefer making money, or gaining information — to caring about their fellow man. Real lives are affected and sometimes destroyed, by falsely reported things. 

This happens when the story becomes more important than the participants. Things like that help to create hard, and sometimes deceitful hearts. Meanwhile the media is about money and making some people rich. It seems to me, that the press take their little texta pens, and colour-in what really happened, by bringing up the bad shades and diminishing the good ones, so that we will read/watch/listen to their version of what is actually going on. We can easily get sucked into this filthy whirlpool and end up angry with somebody we’ve never met!

I believe this practice is a device of satan, because he loves to capitalise on greed, plus our own perceived desire to know stuff. Gossip etc. has become a new form of addiction. But the truth is, we don’t actually need to know! We can pray for the people involved in terrible things, but we often can’t do anything about whatever is going on. All we can do is to STOP and deliberately let His light in through prayer. Unfortunately our idea of light, and the Lord’s idea of light can be very different things. How do I know that …? Because our light can often be hidden under a basket – that’s how! Hidden light is not useful. Darkness still remains in the corners. We dare not bring our own agendas into our prayers. 

Even some churches have been deceived, they have become more concerned about being politically correct than loving others. Our priority is always LOVE. There are times that we too borrow the press’s textas and do some colouring-in of our own – villainising people! We are here to shine His light into the dark places – not to spread the darkness around. To me, that means I need to be like Him no matter what is going on around me. A light illuminates, it doesn’t have an opinion, it simply shines by its nature. 

So what can we do about these things? Well, I think investing emotionally in something we have no control over, is the enemy’s way of wasting our time. We may even feel better initially, more in control of things, but unless we pray for both sides of whatever is going on, we are missing the point. We don’t get to judge who are the good guys and who are the bad guys. My advice is – don’t believe everything you hear, and remember to unconditionally forgive everyone. Let’s not get so tied to the things of this earth, that we can’t hear when heaven comes calling. Bye. 👋

P 2787 Guard your heart.

/ DVH

I am so over this whole election news stuff. It’s been going on for months. The whole: ‘can you believe what he said, she said, or they said’ info, has taken over everything. Why would anyone choose a leader based on what other people say, surely our own prayerful choices are more valuable? The Lord controls the future and our times are in His hands. All I can do, and have done, is to pray for the people involved. If my opinion could change things I would start with those terrible wars where all sorts of people are dying daily! Instead I pray as He leads me, and then … I give it all back to Him.

I truly believe this never-ending running flow of information is the enemy’s way of tuning people out from the very real things that happen in this life, all around us. It keeps us agitated and on edge. It may provide something interesting to talk about at work around the water cooler, but I believe it also has an impact on the listeners!  Unfortunately, I think human beings can become immunised against the things that are in our own little basket, because the barrage of information at us gets to be too much.

We need to be focussed on those people who need our prayers, concern and help. Otherwise our hearts can be overwhelmed by the constantly overflowing, questionable information, and then they start to become hardened. Sadly, we stop caring, purely out of extreme tiredness and self-defence. We are being fed opinions and agendas under the guise of information. It’s like having root canal – it’s endless, painful and somebody else profits! I would go so far as to say, the media is currently responsible for steering many people away from faith, and into fear. 

I had a dear Sister-in-the Lord who had MS and she was housebound. She loved to watch the news. The Lord had set her as a watchman on the walls, (a spiritual gift BTW) so she prayed for everything and everyone in the news. Because the Lord gave her this ministry, when you went to see her, there was never a negative word about any shocking or pressing situations in this world. She had His POV and that was enough!

The bible says we need to be careful what we take in: “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life”Proverbs 4:23. The Hebrew translation of guard – means to keep above all keepings. So, above ALL you guard – your marriage, family, bank account, passwords, your car or house – guard your heart with more vigilance than anything else.

Indifference, and annoyance starts in our heads, and seeps down into our hearts and it eventually affects the way we regard other people. We start to think negatively about the people Jesus died for. “Oh those people are all idiots anyway, why should I care?” We care because we are called to be salt, and to be salty we need to flavour the world around us with the taste of Jesus, not the despair of the lost.

I also love the Message Version of Proverbs 4:23 “Keep vigilant watch over your heart; that’s where life starts.
Don’t talk out of both sides of your mouth; avoid careless banter, white lies, and gossip. Keep your eyes straight ahead; ignore all sideshow distractions. Watch your step, and the road will stretch out smooth before you. Look neither right nor left; leave evil in the dust.” 

Pretty clear good advice there! We continue to fight the good fight by asking Him what He thinks – without deciding arbitrarily that, of course, He only cares about what I care about – and then we leave the results to Him. Bye. 👋