Gracious

P 2895 God’s Love is inexhaustible.

/ DVH

We all need to leave behind the lies we have inadvertently swallowed regarding God’s Love. Our enemy goes out of his way to tell us we can’t have the Lord’s love and grace anymore because we did so and so, and God cannot forgive so and so – it says it in the book. That is a horrible lie sent to torment us. The bible is a balanced book, one thing leads into another – leading us back to HIM.

Today, I am hoping to pass on some reassurance to those of you who have become bogged down in legalism – because I know from experience that our adversary never misses an opportunity to nag at someone – day and night. Many Christians have walked away from what they believe, because what they believed became untenable in the face of their desperate pain-driven reactions to this life. Say this with me: …”there is NOTHING our God cannot do!’

We need to focus on His faithfulness. Here are a few swords for you. 2 Thessalonians 3:3:“But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.“ Lamentations 3:22–23: “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.” Exodus 34:6-7a.“The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD,a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin …” Fortunately we are this side of the cross, and Jesus took any curses we might pass on to other people with Him to that cross. Read the book.

Confession is often the best solution to accusation. Think of sin as mould, it needs treatment, light and air. Darkness and lack of air will make it grow. We can always have a new beginning. Here’s a verse we all know: “If we confess our sins He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9. What Jesus did was complete and comprehensive. Deliverance from the enemy’s lies starts with us making a quality decision to stop believing those lies, and instead we deliberately choose to put a verses of scripture in its place. The Holy Spirit will help us find them.

Accusatory thoughts can overwhelm and dismiss the power of God’s Love, together with the grace Christ released by what He did. Many times we do not have a sin problem per se, we have simply allowed God to become too small in our eyes, and Jesus stops being the Saviour Who saved everyone. When He said “…it is finished.”It was a universal statement for all time. However, if you are currently doing something or other and you clearly know in your heart that it is sin, and it is slowly dragging you away from everything you believe then you need to repent!  

Almighty God provides us with a tool to access His inexhaustible love. It’s called repentance. That is the quickest route to restoration. Almighty God is incredibly kind. He will lead us out of temptation, AND He will also deliver us from fast approaching evil. Because we need to withstand further and future attacks from our enemy, our faithful God will sometimes allow him to ‘gnat’ at us, so we have opportunities to develop spiritual strength. We fight back with “God says: …”  This is not about how we feel, it is about what HE has already said. Our job is to believe He is a merciful Father Who has done everything necessary to bring about our redemption.

Jesus made reaching God’s standard impossible without His help.I dunno about you – I’ve wished people dead, told thumping great lies, and worse things – and I’ve fallen down the hole of desperate despair. I think it is necessary to point out that God judges hearts, and none of us fully know what’s in there! Sometimes we can be too lenient, and at other times w-a-y too permissive. We need the Holy Spirit’s ever-present, always current, on-the-spot wisdom.

God lets us learn! That’s not an excuse it is a blessing. Think of repentance like this, as regaining our strength after we have allowed it to lapse. Every action we deliberately take against sin, strengthens us spiritually. It strengthens our faith when we step away from something purely because God says: “Don’t do it.” The Lord advises us in this manner because He knows what comes next. It isn’t always about sin – many many times it is about the kindness of God. He leads us into repentance because He doesn’t want us to end up in the land of WORSE – fighting shadows from the past.

We can also choose the road of humility and tell someone else so they can pray for us. Other people can lift us up when we feel lower than the ground we are standing on. Always remember, God’s Love is inexhaustible. Bye.👋

P 2891 Obedience is its own reward.

/ DVH

People say odd things sometimes. things like: “I can’t hear God.” Here’s a big fat clue. Did you obey the last thing He told you to do? How are you going with putting Matthew chapters 5&6 into practice? That’s a great place to start!  I think the Beatitudes will keep us busy for a lifetime of practising, listening, learning, and allowing His Word to transform us. I must admit I have never quite figured out why we skip those first two commandments, and still feel good about ourselves, because we’ve obeyed all the other ones.

Opportunity came knocking on this man’s door! “Why do you ask Me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”“Which ones?” he inquired. Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honour your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbour as yourself.’“All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.” Matthew 19:19-22. Jesus is not talking about our owning stuff, by the way, He’s talking about the kind of stuff that owns us.

Point number one: This young man was on the right track:  when we choose to follow Jesus, we need to ask Him this kind of question. Yes I am serious! There is way too much back-slapping going on in the Body of Christ, and not enough soul-searching. I ask myself questions, because I know I am not done yet.  I know I’ve wasted a great deal of my life so far, trying to fit in, and find approval. However, this young man had approval from the Lord immediately, because he had done his best to obey what he already knew. God is so generous – He values the attitudes of our heart. But, at the same time He’s not shy, He will also expose what’s else is in there too.

Point number two; Never ask a question when you are not prepared to get an answer!! I believe this man was sincere, he wanted the life of God in him and he wanted to be wholly His. Jesus gave him what he asked for – right there, on the spot! There are many times we go to the Lord and all we want is to be petted and patted. Life has gotten rough and we need a big cuddle. If we want to be mollified and pronounced excellent, then we need to go to someone who wants something from us and ask them the above question. Those people will tell us how great we are because they have an agenda!

Personally, I think we are better off asking our enemies to give us their opinion – they may not be entirely accurate, but they won’t pander to our needs either. Our enemies may have a great read-out on what’s wrong with us!  In the interest of full disclosure I must say I haven’t done that one yet…! I’ve been put off because I’ve had plenty of enemies tell me – they volunteered! … what’s wrong with me. My problem was … because they were enemies I didn’t think I had to listen! Ya might want to Selah that thought a while.

Point three: did you notice that Jesus praised the man for his ongoing efforts? Yet at the same time, the Lord actually knew what was holding this man back from his expressed desire to do whatever God wanted from him. The desire to do what is right in God’s eyes, is not the whole ball-game. There is always more, and in this guy’s case the ‘more’ was in his finances! None of us are perfect, so learning what we need to know is a blessing, not a criticism.

Now let’s not miss the punch-line, shall we? After Jesus tells this young man to sell all the profits from his own hard-work and give the results to the poor — then He says the most amazing thing: ’YOU can be My disciple and follow Me.’ This is the reason I wrote this blog today, we all have things in our lives that we want more than God – we just choose to ignore them. We live our lives virtually unaware of what could be holding us back from utterly yielding our lives to Him. Maybe you could ask yourself this question: What is it that is holding me back from giving the Lord all of my life, and choosing to obey Him – no matter what it costs? 

I can’t answer that question for you. I can only tell you that in my own experience, you can never ever out-give God. His plans for us are to give each of us a hope and a future. Sometimes we can stumble over full-surrender, because we don’t know what is on the other side of yielding everything to Him. However, we do know that God is gracious, He is kind, He’s OUR loving Heavenly Father! 

If we only focus on what we will lose … we’ve missed the real point. God is good, what He does, is always GOOD. We just don’t get to define ‘good’ for ourselves! Obedience is its own reward — check it out:  Deuteronomy 6:24; 10:12-13; and Proverbs 9:12; Ecclesiastes 11:5b.  Bye 👋

P 2886 Confidence.

/ DVH

We can have confidence in the Lord, because He is always with us. 1 John 5:13-15 says: “My purpose in writing is simply this: that you who believe in God’s Son will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life, the reality and not the illusion. And how bold and free we then become in His Presence, freely asking according to His will, sure that He’s listening. And if we’re confident that He’s listening, we know that what we’ve asked for is as good as ours.”

The Trinity have provided everything we will ever need, because They want mankind to permanently benefit from Calvary. 2 Peter 1:3 says this:“Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God. The best invitation we ever received! We were also given absolutely terrific promises to pass on to you—your tickets to participation in the life of God after you turned your back on a world corrupted by lust.”

Our confidence in Him comes, as we live this life, His Way. And glory to God, His Way is clearly spelled out in His book! The Lord is gracious and compassionate, He does not want us to wander about not knowing how dearly loved we are. People who feel unloved can sometimes make really bad choices. But now we are HIS people, the sheep of His pasture – bless the Lord – He’s the GOOD Shepherd! Sin is a confidence stealer – it creates double mindedness. 

Here’s something from James! He says this in Chapter 1:2-8 “Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colours. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way. If you don’t know what you’re doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You’ll get His help, and won’t be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who “worry their prayers” are like wind-whipped waves. Don’t think you’re going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open.”

When is the last time you said: “Oh Goodie gum-drops, here’s another test for my faith, now I can grow more!”  Me neither!! That shows us that there is a space between how God sees this life, and how we see it. What I say is more likely to be:  “Oh no! Not again!” Hubby had to tear up the carpet in our spare room on Saturday, because rain somehow got in  – 1st test!, and it thoroughly saturated it in one corner, wrecking said carpet. The 2nd test was that Hubby had to pull it all out of the house— using his bad back … etc.! Mission accomplished, carpet out, all we have inside now is damp concrete. Job done! Hah! I think not!!

I dunno if you looked out of your window and saw it rain the other night but it rained where we are. Not just a little drizzle either, it poured down. Guess what! Enter the 3rd test! That dead carpet is now at least twice, if not 3 times as heavy as it was before! Well Y-A-Y!  Hubby has to somehow get it from the back of our house to the front for the council pick-up. Fan-blooming-tastic! At the same time, he needs to pack, and sort, and organise stuff to get both of us ready to board a plane quite soon. Now he has to organise dead carpet … and wait for it … also find and fix the leak in the roof! It just gets better-er and better-er! Can you hear me cheering yet? Nope! Me neither. I’m praying instead!!

Life happens – usually without our permission. And living a grace-filled, kind and loving life with other normal human beings around us, definitely does not mean we will have a care-free, trouble free time. I’ve found it can mean the opposite – stuff happens. But we don’t obey what Jesus said because our lives are always brilliant, and we will get some kind of a reward, we do what we do because HE SAID SO. Our reward is knowing that obedience, plus asking Him to help us keep our cool, narrows the gap between God’s way and ours. 

The Lord wants to help us, so He suggests: “Why not do that like this?” And so you do what He said, and lo and behold, it works! That’s the time for a party! You get to see Him work on your behalf. Our world stops being about other people’s God-encounters and starts to be about OURS.

Actually, in order to get saved from something you have to be held captive by it! Did you see what Peter said? We will escape from the lusts of this world, by choosing His way, and then we get to participate in that life that is in God, Himself. That definitely will give us confidence to continue. Remember David facing Goliath? He reminded himself that God had helped him kill a lion and a bear, and then he ran at that giant bully knowing God was with Him. 

As we obey the Lord, we get a personal history with Him. His story becomes our story.

That history of deliverance, and testimonies of His Grace get bigger than the nasty stuff this world throws at us. This is where we get all our confidence from, by watching Him help us, as well as work on our behalf. James is not telling us that trouble is our friend, he is saying it is both a diagnostic tool and a pathway to know the Lord better. “And if we’re confident that He’s listening, we know that what we’ve asked for is as good as ours.” Amen and hallelujah! Catch you later …  👋

P 2792 Speak life.

/ DVH

Tell everyone you know, saved, or not: “God has a purpose for your life;” or, “The God of the Universe and beyond loved you w-a-y before you were born.” My helpful hint for today is to practice speaking His destiny into the people around you – everywhere you go. Stop and make the effort to tell somebody they are doing a good job. Even when they mess stuff up, pick the time when they do stuff right and point out what they did that was a blessing to you. 

We have the power of life and death in our tongues. Here’s Proverbs 18:21 GNB: “What you say can preserve life or destroy it; so you must accept the consequences of your words.”God gave us this power, so it is essential that we use it for good. Half the planet is racing about joining this social media outlet or that, because they are looking for their destiny, their place in this world.. God has a plan for every single one of them! Human beings need acceptance and approval, even if they are doing ordinary jobs. We must look for the good in this life, and lift someone else’s spirit by telling them what we have seen. And yes, I mean your spouse and kids! Keep your marriage friendly, tell your spouse what they did right! 

Sometimes people express their uniqueness badly. They take most if not all of their clothes off, behave appallingly, or have lingering doubts about their sex or personhood… or worse, they don’t like who they are. So they can end up doing awful stuff simply because they feel life is in opposition to them. They live their lives based on: “every man for himself!’ This is why we can’t possibly start to relate to people by choosing to focus on their SIN. We need to start with WHO they are in HIS eyes. God loves them. Living this way may take lots of practice, because it’s a new way to think! His way. Meanwhile, ask and keep on asking for His GRACE – you will need it!

Like I said yesterday, opportunities to dislike situations or people, will fall on us everywhere we go. It doesn’t take talent to be a critic but it definitely takes talent to recognise someone else’s good points! Gracious, generous actions are getting so rare nowadays they make the news!  We need to be dedicated to His Ways and walking in His love, to even begin to see what’s good in other people.The people around us may seem ordinary, but they are extraordinary to Him. He has a plan for their lives, He wants to bring out the best in every single person we meet.

Remember, Jesus called local fishermen to be His disciples. He wasn’t looking for clever people, religious people, or popular people. What about Zacchaeus? Like he was Mr Popularity – the tax guy! Even one of the women who followed Him had a dubious past. And let’s not forget Jesus chose Judas! Father God sent His Son to ordinary human beings just like us. Sadly this world is choosing every day to qualify or eliminate people because they don’t have His knowledge and expertise. Let’s remember, He made them, He knows why they are here and who they can be. 

But the one thing that makes every single person ever born, extraordinary, is the ONE WHO CHOSE TO LOVE US! We are made precious because the most Precious Man of all Eternity loves people! Read the book. Here’s Paul. He wrote this to the Galatian church: “I’m obviously not trying to flatter you or water down my message to be popular with men, but my supreme passion is to please God. For if all I attempt to do is please people, I would fail to be a true servant of Christ.” Galatians 1:10 TPT. 

As you can see, flattery or pleasing people is a waste of time, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be used by God to truthfully speak life into someone who has no idea of who they really are in His sight. Everywhere we go. This encapsulates what I want to say today – Christ is IN US. So, we can be the thermometer or barometer and fit in — OR, we can be the thermostat instead and lift the mood and atmosphere around us, and introduce a touch of His life to others.

God is good to all of us whether we deserve it or not. ‘The rain falls on the just and the unjust alike…’ Here is a great reason why we are to live like this. It’s  from Matthew 5:43-48 in the Amplified bible: “…so that you may [show yourselves to] be the children of your Father Who is in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on those who are evil and on those who are good, and makes the rain fall on the righteous [those who are morally upright] and the unrighteous [the unrepentant, those who oppose Him].” Our motivation as His Kids can easily be revealed to the-people-who-don’t-know-Him-yet, and living like that is tied to the way we treat the people around us.

Speaking life to everyone around us ushers in His kingdom. I learnt that when I expect bad things, that means I can only see bad things, and those bad things definitely outweigh everything else! I had selective sight, because I chose to put blinkers on. But when I began to expect to see good stuff, I saw it, even if it was only faintly there. It changed everything. Now my view has changed permanently. There’s an old saying:”If you are looking for trouble, you are going to find it.”  We can have our Father’s Eyes — my advice is to stop looking for the bad, and speak life instead. Bye 👋

P 2785 “To each one of us …”

/ DVH

In the bible it says that the Lord Himself gave gifts to the church … read these scriptures along with me: “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says: “When He ascended on high, He took many captives and gave gifts to His people… …” 11-13 “So Christ Himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip His people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” Ephesians 4:7-8,11-13. We don’t have to wait for our birthday, or Christmas! Jesus has given us all gifts to help us grow and know Him…NOW!

“There are different kinds of gifts. But they are all given to believers by the same Spirit. There are different ways to serve. But they all come from the same Lord. There are different ways the Spirit works. But the same God is working in all these ways and in all people. The Holy Spirit is given to each of us in a special way. That is for the good of all.”1 Corinthians 12:4-7.

“If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly. Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honouring each other. 

Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all! Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honourable.” Romans 12:7-17.

Today, I want to say, loudly – that, despite how you might feel, you have a gift. Actually you could easily have more than one of them!! But don’t ask me what they are, it took me a while to figure out what I am here to do! This Grace the Lord has given me to help others, has also helped me to feel that I have a place within the Body of Christ.

Many Christians have excused themselves from being activated for His kingdom, on the grounds that they are not worthy, or clever enough, or gifted enough, or they don’t know what they are supposed to do, or they don’t have time and they hope that the Lord understands! However, we all need your contribution. You don’t have to be an evangelist standing on the back of a flat-bed truck, you simply need to live a life of Love everywhere you go, towards everyone you meet, and be prepared to give an account of the hope within you.  That will stretch everyone’s faith and your gift will rise up as a result.

The thing is, this New Covenant we share is an agreement between us and the Lord – it’s a promise that we enter into between Him and us, and it is binding. (Read the book!) Jesus covered our sins with His blood, so we can be free to live the life God planned for us to live … and it is never too late to start. Jesus deliberately provided us with SomeOne Who will always help us and never leave us. SomeOne Who will teach us His ways, and help us with the process of transformation. It’s the Holy Spirit.

One day, not long ago, I woke up and realised that my complete spiritual poverty,  is my strength.🤔 So today, the Lord asked me to remind you of your place in His Body by using His Word. The Holy Spirit wants you to know that there is a place in His plans for you. Sometimes, for a small group of people, that is a place that is seen, and for many, many, many others, they will remain unseen. But He has promised to touch us all in extraordinary ways, with supernatural gifts.. I look forward to the day when the vast, unseen multitudes of ordinary Christians step into what He has for them.

So today, I just want to encourage everybody reading this, He wants you to participate in His plan in the lives of those people you know and influence. He needs you to be you. Who you are, because of His Presence in your life, will reach others. Last of all, I want to use my favourite vehicle, the bible, to pray for you. I am totally convinced He will answer these prayers because they rely upon His faithfulness, not on anyone’s ability.  

“I pray with great faith for you, because I’m fully convinced that the One who began this gracious work in you will faithfully continue the process of maturing you until the unveiling of our Lord Jesus Christ!” Philippians 1:6 TPT. “And I pray that He would unveil within you the unlimited riches of His glory and favour until supernatural strength floods your innermost being with His divine might and explosive power.” Ephesians 3:16 TPT.“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” Colossians 3:23-24. Amen. God gives gifts to each one of us. Bye. 👋

P 2767 God’s incredible faithfulness.

/ DVH

Nehemiah 9 some excerpts from Verses 18-23, 26-31— this was read aloud by a group of Levites after the wall around Jerusalem was rebuilt and the conviction of the Holy Spirit fell upon them.

“… And You, a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, Incredibly patient, with tons of love—You didn’t dump them. Yes, even when they cast a sculpted calf and said, “This is your god who brought you out of Egypt,” and continued from bad to worse, You in your amazing compassion didn’t walk off and leave them in the desert. The Pillar of Cloud didn’t leave them;  daily it continued to show them their route; The Pillar of Fire did the same by night, showed them the right way to go.You gave them Your good Spirit to teach them to live wisely…”

“…They cried out to You again; in Your great compassion You heard and helped them again. This went on over and over and over…” “…Still, because of Your great compassion, You didn’t make a total end to them. You didn’t walk out and leave them for good;  yes, You are a God of grace and compassion…” “…You are not to blame for all that has come down on us; You did everything right we did everything wrong.”

Romans 8:32 “He Who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all—how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.”

You and I are a part of God’s story on this earth. We have been chosen to show others His heart toward mankind.Because our lives are limited, time-wise, it is extremely tempting to think more about our own story, than His story. But God’s story is the one we will sing about one day in heaven. When we understand that our lives are part of that story – we will begin to live in God’s bigger picture. Christ died to give us the power to live free of the junk that this world chucks at us.

Those people who have already gone on before us are cheering us on. You and I are now the ones writing His story today –  right here, right now – everywhere we go. Almighty God is so faithful to mankind, His book glows with His faithfulness and compassion toward all of us. We have been so blessed, everything we have is a gift from Him – all of it is so undeserved. Our only response is to give Him our lives, and live this life as living worship for His glory.

Do you think you are faithful to Him? I know He sees the way we treat others … but before either one of us hangs our head in shame about our failures … here’s an incredible scripture to also think about.  Many people have failed Him throughout time, however — “If we are faithless [do not believe and are untrue to Him], HE REMAINS TRUE (faithful to His Word and His righteous character), for HE cannot deny Himself.” 2 Timothy 2:13. We are standing, now, today, on what Jesus did. That cannot change. What He did will never change. It is more stable than the ground under our feet. This world may shake and tremble but the Lord said this: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.”

Because we count on Jesus, and Him alone to save us, we can have enormous security. Alive or dead – His words are so firm, so strong, so true, we can stand without fear upon them, because we know He is faithful. That’s why we need to choose to live by faith in this life. When we live by faith we are simply responding to His faithfulness. We are responding to a debt that we owe, that we can never repay but we can enjoy it, day after day after day!

God is so incredibly faithful He will not give up on even one of His kids. I’ve been praying for three prodigals in our family to come home to Jesus. But it won’t be my prayers that change their minds! My intercession is valuable, it helps me stay in love and not judgment – but Christ’s death and intercession changed eternity … for everyone, now and forever!! I exhort you to stand on that and pray from that place! I hold His faithfulness up to Him like a banner and remind Him about the things I have learnt about Him. Christ died for what He believed. Now I live for Him in response to what He already did.

I put the above excerpt from Nehemiah in the blog today because it shows the incredible, over-the-top kind of commitment Father God has toward His kids. It blew my mind! The Israelites were so terribly unfaithful, but our God stands by His word. And He doesn’t just sort-of-kind-of put-up with all us now either  — He totally removed the sin barrier between us and Himself, at incredible personal cost. Now we can get to know Him, personally, intimately even though we will never deserve it. He wants to be near us.

That’s why we no longer live this life as the unwise do. Instead we’ve learnt to cherish what we have been given. Christians seek to treat other people like they are Jesus, whether they are nice or not …it’s part of the life of God we inherited. And when we don’t or feel we can’t live that way – we repent!  We treat reconciliation the same way Christ treated it – He did not come to earth and pretend to take our sins away – He simply prayed like mad and went and did it.

Because He chose to do that, God’s power to overcome evil in this life has been released into the earth to save all mankind. We cannot afford to keep other people captive by pretending to be nice, or smiling with plastic smiles and fake attitudes, or insisting that we are OK, when we know, deep inside, we are not! That’s not faithfulness toward Him, that’s called self-preservation.

You and I have the power to live sacrificially, as a son or daughter of the Most High God. He is worthy of any sacrifices we might make along the way. His compassion, and reliability, His goodness, His trustworthy heart are so patient and kind. We are the ones who know, firsthand, that we don’t deserve any of it. Jesus continually stands faithfully beside His Father praying for each one of us, because He knows what it is like to be human.

We live this life choosing to tell other people about God’s faithfulness in a world that is overflowing with disobedient, imperfect, unkind, unloving people – even greedy, grabby, deceitful, murderous ones. His faithfulness is our great blessing.  Bye 👋

P 2519 Obedience and humility are so important.

/ DVH

Philippians 2:3 “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves…”Learning to be obedient changed my life. In the past, when there was conflict, I was easily sucked down the plug-hole of defending myself, or explaining myself, or excusing myself etc! Jesus is actively teaching me that obedience is an essential key to staying humble and gaining victory over all my faults. Prior to learning that — when conflict or temptation occurred, I concentrated on getting what I thought I needed, or even on winning arguments. I did not care about the cost of losing a relationship in the heat of the moment. I will be honest with you, it often felt to me like I had to WIN arguments or I would lose ME … …So much for dying to self!!

Before the Lord taught me these things, I was easily provoked if someone hurt me. I had spent my life practising trying to preserve myself, and fighting for my rights – and that meant that I had not cultivated His power to overcome. Those two things are totally oppositional and incompatible – trust me! But when I took obedience seriously, it was hard — it was almost like pulling out wisdom teeth without an anaesthetic! I’ve learnt, from experience, that it is far too easy to jump into judgment about other people’s actions, and reactions, and minimise our own. That’s what logs and specks is all about. (Matthew 7:1-5.)

I also found out that when we sincerely want to overcome, even if we fail, the Lord is so gracious… He will help us. That’s how precious our faith is to Jesus. The church at large can no longer go forward together with passive or inactive faith. We have the opportunity to take what Jesus said in the book, and make it flesh for everyone around us. We are privileged to show them, as well as demonstrate to them … the boundless love of God. That’s what Jesus Christ did for us and He wants us to mirror His ways to others — “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighbourhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish.” John 1:14 MSG

Today I wanted to illustrate my experiences with the Lord’s Grace, by talking about some things that have occurred in my very ordinary life. Apparently I have had a small number of what the doctors call TIA’s (trans-ischaemic attacks). What that means is that old age, plus some really heavy medicines, have worked together to blow up tiny connections in my brain that would normally be used without even thinking about it. (‘Scuse the pun!)

The result is this… I can clearly remember most things that happened years ago, but I sometimes I can’t remember what I said 2 seconds ago.  Right now I have had to dictate this blog to my dear hubby. By the time I get up from what I am doing and go and wash my hands, then walk up the stairs, it is very likely that I will have forgotten what I was thinking about! I literally cannot find that info again, it just kind of vanishes! Which is why my dear hubby is taking dictation for me! Caring for the disabled is a vastly undervalued career path, trust me! 👏 🙌

Many things that seemed very important to me in the past, have had to be discarded by the wayside because I simply can’t remember them, and I no longer have the energy to find them! 😂 I decided you need to be young to hold a grudge!!  There’s other people’s SIN problem solved, BTW. This has also relieved me of any confidence to rely upon my own thinking … Now I literally have to utterly rely upon the Holy Spirit for what I write down here, or I’m staring at a blank page, every single day, with not a clue about what to write on it! 

In the meantime, I have had the Lord’s help to learn to make alternate thought connections. It’s all rather frustrating but on the plus side, it has absolutely increased my utter dependence upon Him. It is also why I have woken up for the past 2500+ days feeling like I couldn’t possibly write a blog today, and then … …He speaks to me. I have proof that God does not just speak to your brain, because mine malfunctions! There’s a short-circuit in there somewhere!! I have also learnt, firsthand, that He actually does speak to our hearts.  I often feel like I’m grabbing at stars when He says to me, “What about this.. what about that..” and He brings up bible verses.

Interestingly enough I have studied His Book all these years, and I am here today to tell you that if you hide His Word in your heart, it will always be there.  I discovered that faith definitely comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God … not necessarily by what we remember! The Holy Spirit wrote all this stuff on my heart when I wasn’t looking and now it is still IN there. This is how I learnt that obeying His Word writes it on our hearts, and boy does that keep me humble!  “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength. of my heart and my portion forever. “ Psalm 73:26.

Bye. 👋

P 2408 Knowing Him is our greatest quest.

/ DVH

Our own private opinion of God’s goodness can make or break our faith. I think that we need to pay more attention to the word forever, in the bible. We can get so caught up in our now, that forever can be overlooked. Almighty God always holds forever in His heart. I said that to accent my next point… He doesn’t see things the way we do, which means whatever He does, He does it with forever in mind.

Our opinion of His goodness matters. When Moses asked to see His face, God answered that prayer by letting His goodness pass by. THE FACE OF GOD IS GOODNESS – no matter how things around us look. His goodness is His incredible passionate generosity toward us.

I love these statements Father God makes, look at what He is saying about Himself – take it in …”I know the plans I have for you plans to give you a hope and a future”…(Jeremiah 29:19) … “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.” (Exodus 34:6-7a) “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and shall He not make it good.”(Numbers 23:19)

Here is a great study to do— look up what Almighty God says about Himself — I highly recommend it. We must stop concentrating on the verses that promise this and that, and begin to understand … as best our peanut little brains can(! )… what the God we love and serve is like. What His priorities are! We will have a lot less disappointment and despair in our lives if we set our hearts to understand what He is doing long-term, rather than critique what He has done, from our POV. Let’s decide that He knows better than we do what we need. He doesn’t need our help to work it out! That’s called faith.

Naturally, Jesus Christ is the most wonderful example of God’s goodness in action in mankind’s lives. We must regularly watch Him in God’s book, interact with people just like US, and we will see His tenderness, compassion and concern. Christ has made it so much easier to understand the nature of God – plus His expectations toward, and for humanity. But we desperately need to stretch ourselves beyond the limitations of me and mine and start applying ourselves toward understanding His incredible forever qualities for us and this world around us.

I find that I need the Holy Spirit’s clear as glass view, the view the Lord God Himself has from heaven. To that end, I’ve learnt to apply myself, concentrate and carefully watch what Jesus says and does, in all circumstances and situations. His response is, and always was, God’s will first. You simply do not see Christ acting for His own benefit. He was always kingdom minded. His own needs were incidental. Jesus listened for the Holy Spirit’s input, His guidance and wisdom and then acted on it. He is our example.

I personally don’t want anymore airy-fairy stuff. The stuff we’ve focussed on for ages, like the grab at this promise and wave that ‘why not me’ banner. Our God is not within us to fulfil our childish fantasies – He offers so much more. Knowing Him well eclipses anything this world can offer. We need to begin by loving what He loves. People. There is nothing like loving difficult people to bring out the ‘God-factor’ instantly — or the lack of it! 

Every single person on this planet has a divine spark, and each one has something of the nature of God to reveal to us – if we look for it. Some people bury that spark under a load of religious or scientific or fantasy-type rubble – but the spark is there.  We’ve personally seen how gentle He is with the ‘bruised reeds’ of this world. There is no greater honour when He asks us to GO in His Name. Um …just FYI… His Name is on the line when He sends each of US! That shows me how much the Lord believes in His kids.  

Hubby and I have watched Him touch people out here on the road over and over again on this trip. People who don’t even think about Him, respond instantly… when they hear His deep loving voice calling to them. I pray for myself all the time out here: “Lord please let the people You want us to talk to, hear Your voice more than my voice.”

Our God’s incredible goodness has restored and retrieved each human being from darkness, danger and devastation. He is quite simply trustworthy and good. However, at this time in man’s history, He is far more than we are letting Him be. We must not reduce Almighty God down to Jehovah Jireh … when there are so many other facets to Who He is. We need to personally look beyond our pain, to Jesus our Elder Brother and our example – He started our faith and He will finish it! Knowing Almighty God is our greatest quest. 👋🏻

P 2389 Learn to fight for your spiritual rights!

/ DVH

“We CAN demolish every deceptive fantasy that opposes God and break through every arrogant attitude that is raised up in defiance of the true knowledge of God. We capture, like prisoners of war, every thought and insist that it bow in obedience to the Anointed One.” 2 Corinthians 10:5 TPT

Everything in that verse, in my opinion, hinges on that one little word – “can.”  There are times that I forget that I can do whatever He has asked me to do. No matter how I am feeling at the time — the truth is, I can do it. The power to carry out what He says is in the word He has given me… not in my own ability. Our experiences, BTW, never negate what God says! Everything has to bow to Jesus!

Sadly, faith is scary AND costly – but we cannot walk on water inside the boat.  We will have to deliberately climb over the side of it, step away from the safety, and take a risk. That’s what faith does. Now, those dratted waves can seem to be extremely high, when you’ve start to contemplate the things in your life that look impossible … unless He helps you. This is a good time to know that you know, we can do nothing without Him. Our faith cannot just be in the answer to our prayers, it also has to be in the fact that He has promised to take us through and make us stronger while He is doing it! We get to know Him in these times.

Our biggest fear sometimes is this … when will He turn up to help us? That BTW, is insecurity and a lack of trust. I struggle with that one a lot. Even though I have seen Him do fantastic things … I still struggle to trust Him, but the more I exercise trust, the stronger I will get. Meanwhile, we do ourselves a great disservice if we are constantly beating ourselves up for our failures. Instead we need to keep our eyes on the One Who defeated everything for our sake. We aren’t leading, we are following. Even our leaders are following the Lord! And the Master always knew where He was going. 

Life is tough, and the truth be told, it doesn’t matter who punches you in the head – other people, or if you do it to yourself – either way you will end up with a sore head!! The best thing is to forgive others, or yourself, or both … repent and fix whatever is needed, and then just move on. Ask for His help and work with Him toward change, so you don’t end up holding yourself hostage to some dumb thing or other, or some sin or other. You have enough to do without dragging around weights behind you. Remember, Jesus paid the full price for our sins, so sin has no authority over us, to torment us.

There is only one direction for any of us to go in when we are under attack…we get up and keep moving. We must go on. Once we have honestly dealt with the past, we have to leave it behind, because it will just drag us under. Our enemy is only too happy to play his nasty horror stories of past disappointments onto the inner screen of our minds. Close that theatre of pain and shame – pick up the bible – and renew your mind. Even when we are tired, we call on His Name. He will help us because we are His kids. “And He (the Lord Himself) passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin… “ Exodus 34:6-7 NIV

That’s God’s attitude toward US, His kids. Sometimes we end up falling down, and getting up a lot, and weeping while we are doing it. But faith MOVES … it is not static. It is not a theory that we trot out in an emergency – it is the way we have been designed to live now, in this new life He gave us. Everything else is white noise sent to distract us from our main purpose. Our purpose is to glorify Him – in what we do, in what we say, in what we think and in the way we live. Bad stuff happens to everyone. Learn to pick up your God-given sword and hack away at stuff as it comes at you.

BTW, there are some battles that other people will never understand, they are like massive operations that seem to pull everything that is inside you, out, and leave you feeling exposed and vulnerable. 😶  At those times I remind the Lord I am just glorified dust and without His breath in me I will go back to dust again. So I stagger to the book and pick up a sword and slash away at what is trying to demolish me.

This society we live in has learnt to rely upon feelings to the extent that feelings can eclipse everything else when life gets tough – even what God says. But that’s what renewing our mind is for – choosing what He says over what we see, feel, or think. However, we CAN demolish every single argument, that rises up against us, because He gave us that power! Ask the Lord for the right sword (bible verse/s) for the fight you are in, and don’t put that thing down until your enemy is defeated and he leaves. 👋🏻