Guilt

P 3325 Make His book your life.   

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“And now we are brothers and sisters in God’s family because of the blood of Jesus, and He welcomes us to come into the most holy sanctuary in the heavenly realm—boldly and without hesitation. For He has dedicated a new, life-giving way for us to approach God. For just as the veil was torn in two, Jesus’ body was torn open to give us free and fresh access to Him! we come closer to God and approach Him with an open heart, fully convinced that nothing will keep us at a distance from Him. For our hearts have been sprinkled with blood to remove impurity, and we have been freed from an accusing conscience. Now we are clean, unstained, and presentable to God inside and out!” Hebrews 10:19-20, 22 TPT. 

I had to read the above scripture several times to let the meaning and significance of it sink in. Did you ever read words on a page, and you can repeat what it says, but the meaning of it kind of slowly slides by you? Me too. That’s why I read verses like this over and over. There was so much meat in this sandwich I couldn’t quite comprehend it! Then I cried. Because what is said is so incredible it is almost too good to comprehend. Sometimes modern translations are very useful for blowing your mind. 🤯

It seems incredible that we are encouraged to think such thoughts. “Just as the veil was torn in two so was His body torn open to give us free and fresh access to Him.”  Well, there’s me gone, crying again!  Every time I read something like this I see things that I didn’t see before. What a gift we have been given, it was so incredibly costly. Yet I know the Lord says this to each one of us: “You were worth it.” 

The moment Jesus took His final breath, all kinds of stuff happened all over Jerusalem. People who were long dead were seen walking around. Rocks fractured, the earth shook. We really need to take note of this, because God Himself, in the form of a man, chose to die for all of us that day. Now we can freely come to Him whenever we want, for whatever we need. Our Father’s arms are always open to receive us.

Before that day, the law decided who was guilty and who was not. But on that day the heavy curtain in the temple that separated the Holy of Holies from the Holy place – tore in two, from top to bottom. So after that day, God said: “Mankind no longer has to live with sin and guilt – I have taken it away.” Jesus became that snake on a pole, like the one Moses raised to save many from death, and their carelessness and sin.  When we look to Him and trust Him to do this for us, we can have confidence. When we ask Him to save us, He does it.

The Lord Jesus was figuratively torn apart, so you and I could enter the Holy of Holies unashamed, free from fear, and full of joy to meet with our Heavenly Father for ourselves. We don’t need an intermediary. I don’t have to go to a special church, or cathedral, or holy place to find God – any time I cry out, He listens to me. Because I gave my heart to Jesus, now He lives in me. And here’s the kicker, it seems I can easily miss what I have been given, by simply refusing to believe Him, by letting my sin, eclipse and block out His love for me. 

Any form of accusation is not from the Lord. Jesus died and took it all to the cross. And inadequacy is not ours anymore either, because when He died He gave us His righteousness before Almighty God, for free. When He gave us His standing with His Father, He deliberately took hold of OUR standing in this world and wore it. It killed Him. Now, the people who hate us can’t touch us anymore. The God of the Universe and beyond, has chosen to save us, heal our hearts and protect us. We get to be spectators, not targets. The real question for us is this – is Jesus Christ truthful?

Let’s pretend I have given you a gift and it is something you really wanted. So I bring it to your house, at great personal cost. But then, you put it carefully on a coffee table as you tell me that it is beautiful. You say: ‘Thank you, how kind of you, how good you are to give this gift to me’ … and never ever open it.  Instead it just sits there, with pretty paper around it, and a bow on top!  Father God gave mankind a gift, but it’s no blooming good on our coffee tables or bookshelves! We have to tear His gift open daily, and take the time to examine what’s in it, prayerfully and carefully. 

The bible is our Father’s love and revelation in a book. It’s His words to us that are important – it doesn’t matter much what the thing looks like. If all we do is take the bible and say: “Isn’t that pretty, I always wanted one of these” or maybe — “see here is where He promises to always love me, isn’t that nice?” We’ve missed the point! We have to devour His gift, bit by bit, slowly, chewing on it, letting His book become part of who we are. His book has the power to change our lives and our perspective, forever.

If you need to repent, read the book! If you want to praise and worship Him, read the book! If you want to know who you are NOW — read the book! Then go out and behave like it is true because that’s what faith does. Bye. 👋

P 3220 Let’s watch what we do with our keys.

/ DVH

“Now may the Lord Jesus Christ and our Father God, Who loved us and in His wonderful grace gave us eternal comfort and a beautiful hope that cannot fail, encourage your hearts and inspire you with strength to always do and speak what is good and beautiful in His eyes.” 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17.

Watching what we say is an incredibly important key to walking with the Holy Spirit and living in the kingdom of God. I’m not talking about being fake, or using flattery, or saying stuff that is not true – that stuff feels hollow. I’m talking about coming into agreement with the Lord and how He sees things. Now there’s a good thing to do just because He said to do it. However He didn’t say we would always enjoy it. I find the fun comes after the faith step!  

Doing what it says, even if we do it badly. and not always with the best of attitudes, certainly alleviates this problem. Jesus is not legalistic and He knows we are trying to obey our Heavenly Father. We are so blessed, we can ask the Holy Spirit to help us. Watching our words is a ‘key’ part of walking with the Holy Spirit. I’ve said dumb stuff and afterwards I sat about thinking – “Did I really just say that?” Instead of joining into a conversation that downgrades, or bad mouths someone else, it’s best to say nothing, inwardly pray and head for the exit! 

The thing that grabs us and traps us into opening our mouths, is that what is said is often true in some way or another. None of us are perfect, so somebody can often find something or other to criticise someone else about. Our negative comments will not help! At the same we don’t have any idea how this gossiped-about person arrived wherever it is they landed. 

We have been given, at great Personal cost by the GIVER, the power of agreement. Jesus gave that to us. So when we agree that so and so is a pain in the neck — we are thoughtlessly adding our powerful agreement to a bad thing. And then we wander about wondering why that person never changes! It’s because we aren’t helping with our opinions. So here’s something to chew over: “If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” John 20:23. That’s an enormous responsibility!

We can be so consumed by the momentary gratification of flapping our gums, we forget we are doing untold damage to someone else. The enemy lies to us that we will feel better if we talk about this slight or that incident. Sadly, we can easily forget about what that person may have done for us in the past — what was good, what was right what was profitable. We must get rid of the idea that our opinions are more important than someone else’s reputation and spiritual welfare.

What we say needs to build other people up — and in the heat of awkward moments, we desperately need to say things that are true, right and profitable, or … … say nothing. However, when we actively dislike someone, or we are mad at them – those precious positive things can be hard to locate. I ask Him to please help me and spend time with Him working on forgiveness, because that’s the only way through it..

This world we currently live in has a me-centred focus, so we can easily have a consumer mentality … which means that other people are like chess pieces, we move them around a board in our minds to help us to win.  I can’t find that in His book! Winning that way means everybody loses. We immediately begin to negate our gifts in the body, and eliminate or minimise someone else’s ...all at the same time. 

Guilt, blame, and shame render everyone powerless!  If we want to see change, then we need to approach difficult situations or people, His Way. At the same time I think we need to pray far more for our leaders, they meet most of our bad attitudes head on. In moments of temptation I am learning to lean hard on forgiveness and to rebuke spite in me. In the past if someone had a problem with gossiping etc. they were either ostracised, or everyone simply joined in. Neither of those things will help us follow Him. 

When I say something stupid, it can be so much easier to try to justify what I just said, than it is to own my mistake and apologise. But that is the only true way to deal with the problem. James 3:10 says:“Out of the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. These things, my brothers, should not be this way [for we have a moral obligation to speak in a manner that reflects our fear of God and profound respect for His precepts].” 

This is the major reason why we should avoid gossip, or even continually chewing over someone else’s faults! We may dislike that person who is being slowly dissected in front of us, but that is not the real point. We need to remain silent because we love and respect the Lord more than our own opinion. When we disrespect others, we are disrespecting Him. I don’t want to make a law out of this, however, I am simply stating a truth.  When our God says don’t do it – don’t do it!

Jesus has given us the joy of speaking life to other people and that privilege is powerful. “I will give you the keys of heaven’s kingdom realm to forbid on earth that which is forbidden in heaven, and to release on earth that which is released in heaven.”” Matthew 16:19. We can easily lose or misplace our God-given keys, and this is why we need to watch what we do with them! Bye. ✋

P 3211 Procrastination.

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“Procrastination is the thief of time.” I was taught that saying in my teens, years ago. Here’s the meaning: procrastination is the act of unnecessarily delaying tasks, even when you know it will lead to negative consequences, by choosing less important activities instead. It’s a common behaviour, not just laziness, often stemming from poor emotion regulation, perfectionism, fear of failure, or executive function challenges. While occasional procrastination is normal, chronic procrastination can cause significant stress, guilt, anxiety, and harm productivity and well-being. 

If you are a Christian, this particular attitude can cause doubt, fear, unbelief, and eventually inactivity to grab us. These traits often show up in our thought patterns: “Did God say that?’ “He wouldn’t really want me to do that would He?’ ‘I need to wait to be ready to do what He said.’ ‘He knows I can’t do that!’ ‘There are other people who can do things like that better than me.” ‘I don’t have an anointing to do that!’

That last thought is just plain dumb. We have the Lord’s instructions written down in the bible, signed in Jesus’ blood. It almost goes without saying that none of us are ever ready! I urge everyone to stop looking at famous Christians and let go of the kind of thinking that says, they are our example. Maybe you and I don’t have their anointing but we can still be obedient to our own personal heavenly calling. Besides —Jesus is OUR example, and motivation – not other people.  

Sometimes all I can do in a ‘talking to people’ situation, is to get my feet moving. When that happens it is not because I am disabled, it’s because I’m scared! Scared of someone else’s response, scared of somebody being mean to me, scared of the consequences in my life and in theirs. Maybe I will mess witnessing etc. up! This is a good time to remind ourselves of the things the Lord has done in the past. God fought without-number Midianites with Gideon and 300 men, and He also got Jonah to Nineveh via a whale taxi. Of course He can help us! Here’s something from His book to sort out our excuses. PS … when the Lord says ‘ME” He means YOU too!

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on ME, because the Lord has anointed ME, to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent ME to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendour.” Isaiah 61:1-3.

If we both sit about waiting to feel super spiritual, or hoping to have some wild experience with Him, to signify we have been sent by Him – we will miss the boat. Famous Christians are the exceptions, not the norm. Procrastination can easily steal the time that God has generously given to us, and we will end up at the end of our lives in the land of regret.  

The bible says this in 1 Corinthians 3:15 In the Message bible: “Take particular care in picking out your building materials. Eventually there is going to be an inspection. If you use cheap or inferior materials, you’ll be found out. The inspection will be thorough and rigorous. You won’t get by with a thing. If your work passes inspection, fine; if it doesn’t, your part of the building will be torn out and started over. But you won’t be torn out; you’ll survive—but just barely.”  Um… found out? We won’t get BY?! Torn out and started over?!! Barely survive?? None of that sounds good! 

There is a kind of evasive thinking that can dominate our hearts and minds, spiralling us into fear, as well as hiding from our calling. We can never afford to forget that we are now dead! We died with Him. We’ve been saved for His purposes now – plus we’ve been given gifts to use for His glory, and to benefit other people. None of that has anything to do with our comfort, lives, families, or our careers. When we live our lives for His glory our focus actually changes.

Someone once told me that their boss was so demanding they couldn’t find a minute to talk to anyone about anything, so Jesus was relegated to the back seat…. plus it didn’t seem fair to do the Lord’s work on the boss’s payroll! That kind of sounds OK eh? Except the bible tells us we can ask for anything and it will be given to us, and if we have a need He will supply it. Ask the Lord to make a way, where there seems to be no way! He’s really really good at it. 

I’ve had to face facts, one of them being there is nothing extraordinary about me. I’m everybody and nobody rolled into one older lady! But it’s a New Year and Father God has left us on this earth for a purpose. We need to find out why, and start doing it. Postponing God’s will, together with doing things His way, means we are postponing the very thing that will set us free from fear, anxiety and the spirit of stupid that seems to be extremely prevalent everywhere.

We are called to pray so we can find out what we are here to do. We do not pray to get Father God’s rubber stamp on what we think we should be doing! If HE is not in charge, then whatever we do, it will fall on its head! And produce no fruit! Procrastination is the thief of time, I urge you to watch out for it. Otherwise it will steal your birthright away. Bye. 👋

P 3161 Offences and snares.

/ DVH

Opportunities for taking offence seem to be thundering around everywhere, lately. That trait is causing chaos in relationships, and in our thoughts about other people. It is interfering with us receiving and sharing God’s unconditional love. Then guilt grabs us by the throat, and we sit silently by, because we feel we haven’t got a leg to stand on. Please remember, Jesus paid for all our guilt and shame – but actions speak louder than words. 

Meanwhile offence can come at us through many things, including the media: which isn’t just TV, newspapers, or radio anymore. Today we carry the media around in our pockets so we can read it at the press of a button. If we are not alert to that snare, we can become like jackals, feeding off someone else’s kill, adding to the pile of nasty things said. We dare not sit in the background, passing judgment on things we know nothing about, while we continue to justify getting offended at others.

It is so easy to misunderstand what someone else said, and then become offended. By the time the other person tries to explain what they really said, nobody but the speaker cares anymore. And the offended person is too busy chewing on their own offence. All the while, satan stands by providing us with things from the past, as fuel for the fire of our anger and angst. It occurs to me that when we forgive someone’s sin against us, the point is to forget the injury. We hold things against people, and then use their past to clobber them into submission to make our own point. Scoring points off each other is no way to lovingly relate. “Why not suffer wrong?”

Offence is a trap – the bible calls it a snare. We can easily lose our way and fall or step into it. This subject is is mentioned about 90 times, all over the bible, so we need to pay attention to it. Very few people start out thinking: ‘Oh, I think I will just get snotty and leave this church.’ Most of the time offence grabs them first. That’s why we need to be always on the alert, so we can pay attention and act and avoid the snare. But this kind of wisdom will only happen if we value God’s ways more than our own. If we keep making what I call self-decisions – ‘looking after me, and who cares about you?’ Then we will stay offended.

The thing is, in our churches — we try to be sweet, but we hide stuff. So we don’t actually use nasty words. Instead we use words like; ‘my spouse doesn’t understand me,’ OR ‘I need a church that meets my needs.’  We try so hard to maintain a ‘nice’ image that we use polite words to undergird and excuse our own responses. However, finding out what is at the bottom of our offences can help us discover where we are letting ourselves down. I’ve learnt to ask myself: ‘why am I thinking like that?’  Sometimes I ask: ‘what the heck is that attitude standing on?’ Instead of constantly promoting the kind of self-awareness that favours little old me – why don’t we choose to remember that we died when we gave our lives to Christ? 

Today I want to look at something that is quite commonly used as a measuring stick, and I think it can hurt, offend and alienate others. The idea that Christians have to be ‘born again’ – experientially. That remark has been used to qualify whether people are Christians – or not. It is interesting to note that this subject is only mentioned 3 times in the bible, John 3:3; John 3:7; 1 Peter 1:23! It seems to me that sometimes we elevate some verses over others – but I believe they are ALL important. The Holy Spirit is not a badge we wear to show we belong to the club!  He’s a wonderful Person. I was born again, experientially, 53 years ago, but nevertheless, I still think growing fruit plus a changed life is evidence of the Holy Spirit’s work in anyone. 

Elevating some verses over others, can be dangerous. There was a whole movement, a while ago, about asking for anything we wanted and God would give it to us – if we had enough faith. It was based on a couple of verses. It led to error, because it put US in charge instead of the Lord!  Meanwhile, in the gospels, there was once one guy who was told by Jesus to sell everything he had! … Any takers??? … Like I’ve said many times we can’t afford to pick and choose. Otherwise we send people off, trundling about looking for experiences, and neglect to help them to see the Saviour in His Word ... Can you see what I just did there? I gave you an opportunity to be offended with me. It’s now up to you what you do about it. 

Snares can easily become offences. Here are some verses on this subject: “And they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.” 2 Timothy 2:26. We can be tricked into a  snare! “Be sober-minded;be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” 1 Peter 5:8. It is up to US to be watchful, not just the pastor. ”The wicked have laid a snare for me, Yet I have not gone astray from Your precepts.” Offence and snares come upon us whether we are ready, or not, so it’s best to just live ready!! The whole bible was written to profit us. We need to keep our eyes on Jesus, He’s the Author and Finisher of our faith. That will help to keep us out of offence. Bye. 👋

P 3106 This will blow your mind.

/ DVH

“Stop imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around you, but be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how you think. This will empower you to discern God’s will as you live a beautiful life, satisfying and perfect in His eyes.” Romans 12:2 TPT. As carefully as I can, bearing in mind I’m not a theologian, I want to give you my thoughts about this verse. I have taken note of any other verses like it – Joshua 24:14-15;  2 Corinthians 10:5;  Philippians 4:8;  Ephesians 4:23. 

’We have now chosen to live our lives passing on our Father’s beauty to others, together with His power flowing through our hearts, and minds as well as our lives. This means we daily choose to reject the ideals and opinions of our current society. Now we live by a different standard, the one illustrated by our Saviour. He also lived His life under extreme pressure to conform. But His death and resurrection bought us the freedom to choose.

Now, we value and act on those things He taught us and what was illustrated in His own life. Jesus Himself taught us that we could live in this world but not be influenced by it. Our desire is to learn a new way to think—scrubbed clean of self-centredness, self-protection, guilt, shame and blame. Using our faith, we recognise that we have been released by God’s power to be the most loving version of ourselves. Purely for His sake. Our daily responses to the Holy Spirit help us move forward. We need, and will always have, His help.’

There is no ambition in Romans 12:2, rather it simply explains the way to achieve the kind of ‘oneness’ with the Holy Spirit that Jesus Himself enjoyed. All the work has already been done. This kind of transformation will require our deepest trust in Jesus’ truthfulness. It goes way beyond agreeing with Him. Instead it falls happily headlong into our knowledge that He cannot or will not fail us. We have learnt that retraining the way we think, by meditating on His Word and daily living that Word in actions – ushers in heavenly thinking. Unfortunately, we will always end up half-hearted in our endeavours if we excuse our own wilfulness as being normal.  

This complete turn around cannot be attempted in our own strength, because humanity’s lack of altruism means we have to look outside ourselves, including our own inner and outer resources, or our valiant self-efforts—to SomeOne Who is pure Love, and totally devoted to our good. Jesus is our God-given, perfect, practical, and ONLY trustworthy example of our new way to live. His disciples reflected His Way to live until they died.

The Lord was motivated by love and guided by love, plus He utterly and totally cast Himself headlong into God’s love, grace and mercy;  these things guided and motivated Him. Because of the Lord’s example, following Him will take the deepest kind of faith – the kind that cannot be manufactured by human beings. To walk in this kind of faith, we must move beyond trusting Jesus to save us—into trusting Jesus to save us from ourselves, and our past, while we are still ALIVE. That’s called living faith.

If we trust Him to save us after we’ve left this world, we actually still have something to gain! He promises we will live forever, in eternity with Almighty God Himself – this is faith that needs to be developed. However, trusting the Lord Jesus to save us while we are alive in this world has no side benefit. We simply have His promise that He will help us!  It will involve sacrifice and it will cost us but the gain is always greater than the cost. Just like Jesus lived a life of sacrifice that cost Him everything while He was on earth. He did what He did for our sake.

Now, we choose to daily put aside our hopes of being understood (security and peace);  and our dreams of making a valid contribution to the world (ambition);  our desire for human love and approval, in favour of His will. We refuse to panic about whatever comes at us, because we know that our God is always in charge.

However, we are eligible for the blessing that Jesus explained to Thomas: “But he (Thomas) said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in His hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” A week later His disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then He said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see My hands. Reach out your hand and put it into My side. Stop doubting and believe.” Thomas said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen Me, you have believed;  blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”John 20:25-29. Thomas had to see to believe – God has given us His grace to see by using our faith – and then faith opens the door to see further.

This verse shows me how much our God values our FAITH, He says believing without seeing is the better way. The very best place to start renewing our minds is to take our immediate needs: heartaches, suffering, fears, etc. and lay them down at the cross. These things are deadly to faith, and, sadly, if they are allowed to flourish, they will come back over and over again to torment and deceive us. The bible clearly tells us God will supply our needs, and we can ask Him for whatever we need – but then we leave those things with Him and go about our Master’s business. We must never stop asking. God is good He loves us dearly, and hears every prayer – His timing is not like ours.

Living like this, will literally blow, (and change!) … our minds. It produces a beauty in us that this world cannot manufacture. Bye, bless you! 🥰

P 3003 False expectations.

/ DVH

I unintentionally, and without any prior warning, walked into a wall of nasty attitudes in someone else yesterday. They were angry with me for no other reason than they could not have their own way. This is someone I care about, and sadly I’ve had many bad experiences with them before, but I thought that kind of trouble between us was gone… It’s just goes to show we cannot afford to let our guard down –  we need each other. My own discernment was severely lacking! Hubby was far more discerning than I was – he emphasised caution.

So what do you do in those moments, when you feel utterly betrayed by someone you think you can trust? I start with the realisation that I can’t deal with anything else but my emotions in that moment, because they’re all over the place like jam on a baby’s face. After that I need to go straight into my will and reinforce my decision to live my life His way. This step is important, otherwise I can get tangled up in what I want, and leave what He wants behind me! 

The next thing that happens is I pray and choose to forgive myself — despite my awareness of many multiple feelings of ineptitude and lack of wisdom — I know that I need saving from my own reactions like everyone else does! So I deliberately put blame, guilt, recrimination and shame down — and at the same time I pray and ask for the Lord’s healing, help, forgiveness and guidance.

Then I deliberately forgive the other person as an act of my will. It is so much easier to forgive someone else when you’ve just dealt with the log in your own eye first. Just saying is all … At the bottom of our instant pain, are often even more memories of previous pain – and that definitely needs sorting out, but first things first.  Any sort of betrayal is painful, and Jesus Himself knows personally all about that.

Judas betrayed Him for 30 pieces of silver, and Peter ran away under pressure. When someone we care about suddenly reverts to previous behaviour, it can be easy to be taken by surprise and feel like we’ve been ambushed. But we can’t afford to sit there, we must choose to move past our feelings into a place where we can pray full of His Love for that other person. Jesus prayed for Peter, remember? He prayed for Peter’s faith to not fail. 

Loving people who are often erratic in their way of speaking and living, means we need to pray before we spend time with them. I actually remembered to pray this time, but because I thought things had changed for the better, I relaxed. I forgot that scripture in 1 Corinthians 16, verses 13&14. “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Do everything in love.” I was distracted and forgot to stay on my guard. I wanted something from this person, that they can’t give me, and I let my emotional need blind me to where they are actually coming from. Jesus Himself, does not meet their needs… yet. 

At the same time I forgot to ‘stand firm in the faith.’ The bible says:’My God shall supply ALL MY NEEDS according to His riches in glory.’ Philippians 4:19. Part of our surrender to Christ entails our willingness to lift our expectations off other people, and put them firmly with Him. That takes practice! It appears I missed out on a practice session this time, but I’ve put the Lord and my hubby on alert to remind me! Otherwise I could easily fall down the same hole again. Instead of “being courageous” under fire, I crumbled like a stale biscuit. So I repented of that too and asked the Holy Spirit to help me to go back into “doing everything in love.”  

Sometimes, in personal relationships our expectations of other people are so great, the other person will probably fail in meeting them.That’s life. We must realise that we cannot meet each other’s needs – our job is to point people to the One Who can do all things.  Sometimes when I think that Hollywood has totally messed with our brains and we see someone else and think they will totally understand me. In a pig’s eye! That’s narcissistic. I don’t care who it is, people aren’t here to serve our needs, we are here to serve Him..

We can easily be blinded by our own need for immediate love and gratification. I think this is why many marriages fail. The couples have false expectations. Only Jesus can meet all our needs. There is no point in expecting human beings to meet them, simply because we like instant answers. In case you haven’t noticed …Jesus doesn’t often DO things immediately! My advice is to remind yourself that God always has a better, bigger plan. Bless you! 👋

P 2981 I’ll never get this stuff right!

/ DVH

“Never doubt God’s mighty power to work in you and accomplish all this. He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream, and exceed your wildest imagination! He will outdo them all, for His miraculous power constantly energises you. Now we offer up to God all the glorious praise that rises from every church in every generation through Jesus Christ—and all that will yet be manifest through time and eternity. Amen!” Ephesians 3:20-21 TPT.

What a fantastic bunch of promises in Ephesians we have today!!  We literally need to drag our eyes away from all the things that force their way into our lives, and focus on His bigness, not on our inadequacies. This is the best advice I’ve had all morning…I can’t—but He can!  Boy, I just can’t do some things anymore… it drives me nuts. I used to be able to do at least four things at once, now I have to ask hubby to repeat what he just said to me, when I am typing. 🙄

My mother is 97, very ill and fading. She used to be the most powerful person in every single room she ever walked into …and … that person is quite simply not there anymore. Instead she’s having trouble holding onto her thoughts and confuses the past with the present. But here we are today, reading that God Himself has said to every single one of us: “I will be your strong right arm. I will catch you when you fall. I can take the mess that you’ve made of your life and make a glorious garden out of it.”  Oh, Amen to all that!

There is a terrible tragedy in allowing our sin to be bigger than the Saviour. My mother has lived for years in the wilderness of not knowing whether God loved her or not. And yet she has always believed in Him, and tried to please Him. That’s a terribly scary place to live, especially when you are old and infirmed. It can totally desolate the soul. I think that kind of theology is one of the reasons I hate religion —I love the Lord!— but boy I hate religion! It puts a dreadful fear in the place of faith. 

So this week hubby and I sat next to her and read from one of the books I’ve made, and my dear mum glowed like a light bulb as she allowed herself to bask in the comfort and approval of God’s love. It is incredible how our precious Father’s loving acceptance can do the things we cannot do. Love is the best communicator in the world, and love is all over His bible.

I still have some pretty wild dreams, plus a far dollop of imagination – and yet Ephesians 3 says: ‘Almighty God’s power can do greater than my imagination, or dreams, or requests.’ Not to mention the whole energising thing thrown in for good measure. I can always do with energising – how about you? His love takes me places that I would never dare to venture. There is a different kind of freedom for all of us in His love.

And energising is a huge thing if you happen to have a toddler, or an infant at your house — or two or three, or… maybe four? God’s help is way bigger than them all screaming at once, and the dinner boiling over and the cell phone dancing across the kitchen bench!  I’ve prayed for myself  many times in the past: “please re-energise me Lord!” It’s when we feel like we are going under for the umpteenth time that we let go of Who He is and start to grab hold of who I am not! Grab hold of Him instead. What you think about you, doesn’t count – it’s who He says you are.

Beating yourself up is quite unfruitful. Instead reassure yourself that the God of all the Universe loves you so much He always has your back! He will take our ashes and make beautiful things out of them. Perhaps you have worked all day and then come home exhausted, and you are trying so hard to be the perfect parent. One of the things we need plenty of in this life is the knowledge that our hope is in Him— Who He is. Guilt must never drive us.

Ephesians offers us an incredibly realistic picture of Who God is. We are all still in transit, so let’s stop should-ing on ourselves all the time … “I should do this and I should be that and I should never lose my temper, and if the kids turn out to be wrecked it will be all my fault!’  Instead let’s choose to remember that God can indeed—‘work all things together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purposes…’  He’s already got our sin covered, now we need to let His love cover us in our vulnerability. 

Whether you too have a parent you love dearly, whose faith is wobbly, or your kids have sailed merrily off into the sunset and seemingly left the Lord behind… remind yourself that our hope is in His Character. Putting our hope into our circumstances or our own actions is foolish and heartbreaking.  

“Help” is a prayer.“The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, And His ears are toward their cry for help.”Psalm 34:15. “The Lord will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever;  Do not forsake the works of Your hands.”  Psalm 138:8. You and I don’t have to always get this stuff right – we just need to remember that He’s a God Who always keeps His promises! Bye, 👋

P 2963 Quick sand.

/ DVH

One of the quick sand traps we can fall into as we learn to walk with the Lord, is that we can get stuck regarding sin. We try to explain things away. When we focus on what we think happened and why — that’s when a ‘sin’ focus takes over and we stop thinking like we are children of the King. My advice is in all situations, focus on the Lord. Dismissing our sin is like stepping into quick sand.

What we intently look at, has a tendency to grow larger, and we need the Lord to be larger than the dumb stuff  other people do. Focussing on the cross and everything He chose to do for us, produces clear focus and gratitude. I’ve found that ‘self’ will lie to you. It is not interested in dying … because it is afraid it will cease to exist if it dies. But death to the ‘old’ self is always the desired outcome. We can only LIVE for Jesus to the extent that we are prepared to DIE to self.

Otherwise we will start explaining why we did this or that, trying to justify ourselves. Let’s just level the playing field shall we? “ALL have sinned!” This means we can’t possibly justify ourselves – all means all!  Don’t fight humility or give self any credence, confession is the answer to sin. Renewing – or changing your mind – means our focus will change as we focus on His thoughts not ours. Otherwise we are trapped, but the minute we confess our faults – that trap flies open. Sin is a deceiver. It wants us to identify with it instead of leaning on and relying upon what Jesus did for us. The reality is, sin can no longer hold us, it can only take hold when we believe its lies.

Trying to justify ourselves means that we have been tricked into giving away the ground that Jesus died to give us. The efficiency of our enemy’s trap depends upon the personality of the individual person. For many people, He can grab them because of an underlying sense of guilt or shame. This means that we haven’t yet totally grasped what we have been given. Jesus Christ gave us His justification, His stature before God. We have it credited to our account. God gave us something that we could never do for ourselves – for free. But it cost Him everything – that’s the kind of wonderful God we serve! 

This what what this incredible exchange was all about – Jesus took our sin and gave us His holiness, His righteousness. To walk in those things we need to treat other people the same way He treated us. We were His enemies! We were against everything He stood for. We need to do this generously. Unselfishly. Not just the people we like, but even our known enemies. Now we are free to choose to follow Him down the road of sacrificial love, compassion, kindness etc.

The Christian life is about choices. It is often about choices that need to be made under pressure. Jesus chose to be a servant. So we choose to follow Him and live the same way He did, with thanksgiving and obedience. Our day-to-day choices provide us with a mirror – they show us how much faith we are living in. When we choose to give into our flesh, ourselves, our old nature, we are empowering our old life. That old life no longer has any power over us – we can only enliven it by giving it our allegiance. It is a mirage, a memory, a shadow of what was. We will find the attitude or actions that seem to imprison us, actually cannot hold onto us when we begin to use our faith to walk away from them.

The more we have indulged our flesh the harder the enemy will fight for us to return to that life. he never stops tempting us, because Jesus Himself said: “… in this world you will have trials…” When we are tried, by self-interest or difficult circumstances, our true self comes to the surface where it can be identified and dealt with. Instead of excusing that behaviour as ‘only human’ or ‘normal under the circumstances’ — we need to own how we’ve reacted so we can walk away from it, back into the freedom Christ has given us.

Then with the Holy Spirit’s help, we begin to take our renewed mind’s faith-steps away from the things that drag us down and step into our new life, our new identity, in Christ. We are now who He says we are. This means instead of giving you a piece of my mind, I give away His PEACE to you instead. Instead of punishing you because you don’t suit me, I choose to love you. Loving you is not giving you permission to continue to hurt me, instead it gives YOU a chance to know what unconditional love looks like!

The reason I can forgive you or you can forgive me is because of what Jesus did for both of us. We are standing on the same ground. Our issues are not people, our issues are attitudes and subsequent actions.“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment.” Matthew 5:21-22a. See? Attitudes matter!! Anger is clearly out of God’s order. It’s not just a bad day, or a stinky attitude, or a suitable response to someone else’s sin, to warn them off.

We know something that the other person may not know – He died for their sin too. Sin, or holding onto resentment or bitterness, or shame or guilt, is like stepping into quick sand. We will drown and smother our burgeoning faith. Our best combat attitude is to continue to renew our mind, and act on what we read. Then we begin to think about this life like Jesus did. We ask for His help – and use our faith to be obedient. Bye 👋

P 2952 The heart of God is restoration … not condemnation.

/ DVH

John 8 …“But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning He came back into the temple [court], and all the people were coming to Him. He sat down and began teaching them. Now the scribes and Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery. They made her stand in the centre of the court, and they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the very act of adultery. Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women [to death]. So what do You say [to do with her—what is Your sentence]?” They said this to test Him, hoping that they would have grounds for accusing Him. 

But Jesus stooped down and began writing on the ground with His finger. However, when they persisted in questioning Him, He straightened up and said, “He who is without [any] sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” Then He stooped down again and started writing on the ground. They listened [to His reply], and they began to go out one by one, starting with the oldest ones, until He was left alone, with the woman [standing there before Him] in the centre of the court. Straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” She answered, “No one, Lord!” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you either. Go. From now on sin no more.”]”

The Lord Jesus Himself disposed of this woman’s accusers. Praise God, this shows us we can trust Him to dispose of ours, too. She was a nobody – yet God saw somebody! The Lord did not condemn her for her sin, He FORGAVE HER. Our job after acknowledging His Grace gift to us, is to release to other captives what we were freely given – because we are filled with the knowledge that we don’t deserve His GRACE either. 

In this passage there is Love, Grace, Wisdom, Faith and Freedom, all over the Lord’s actions! Jesus knew they did not bring that woman to Him just to humiliate her – these scribes and Pharisees brought her to Him to accuse HIM! This incident was about Jesus, not just about that woman. It was a set-up, a sting!  But all Jesus had for her was compassion and forgiveness, plus the freely given opportunity to start a new life and live right before God. The greater sin was in the hearts of her accusers. Sometimes we ignore our sin because we choose not to see ourselves. We think of our actions as ‘good’ and condemn someone else because their actions are ‘bad.’

“However, when they persisted in questioning Him, He straightened up and said, “He who is without [any] sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” When absolute truth is in front of us, we dare not refute it, nor should we try to – the best response is to own what we’ve done. Lies, bitterness, resentment, hatred, all these things produce shame and guilt and they thrive in darkness. That’s why we cannot tolerate them, and confession brings us into the light. We are His —  so now we are officially living in the Light, HIS light. 

I often wonder if these religious men had stayed longer to press the issue, what might have come out about their lives? Some versions of this passage indicate the Lord wrote stuff about the woman’s accusers in the dirt at their feet. They were so quick to try and catch the Lord breaking the law, but then they slunk off when confronted with the power and love of God for forgiveness, present in the Person of Christ.

Right after the paragraph about this woman in John 8, Jesus proclaims that “He …is the light of the world”“”…He who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” We cannot tell ourselves that we are following Jesus if we choose to tolerate darkness in ourselves. I’m not talking about what we watch on TV or even how we talk … I’m talking about our hearts – the attitude of our hearts toward others matters. Our hearts need to continually be filled with His light. His Presence loves the light. (James 1:17)

There are two points in this story, it is not just a story about Jesus forgiving an adulterous woman! In the church we can push the truth of what He said here away from us, and not take it in, by making this story about something we think we would never do!  Adultery. Jesus wasn’t trying to hurt these deeply religious men – He was exposing the darkness inside them that kept them captive. He came to save them too! Maybe they left because they didn’t want to confront the reality of who they had become. 

Religion counts outward actions more important than the state of our hearts, but Jesus clearly said elsewhere, it is what comes out of our hearts that shows us what is inside! God does not expose our sin to shame us. He wants to set us free, and we need to be able to see our sin in order to come out of harmony with it. The attitude in the Pharisees that accosted this woman, and then tried to trap Jesus with what she was doing, is the same one that will drag us all under if we let it. We can easily see someone else’s sin as worse than ours!! 

Religion imprisons us, it does not set us free. It excuses our behaviour and accuses someone else. That’s called deflection. Jesus did not approve of this woman’s lifestyle, instead He lovingly gave her an opportunity to change, that’s what He does! He gave the religious leaders that opportunity as well. They turned Him down. Walking away may not seem like a big deal, but postponement hardens our hearts. The heart of God is restoration not condemnation – HE loves to forgive…. He did not come here to condemn sinners – He came to SAVE them. Bye.🩸

May God bless you today, as you choose to take the time to remember what was freely done for you.

P 2941 Ready or not.

/ DVH

You know, I think we need to scale back on preaching at people, and go out there and just be the bible. When I write this kind of stuff, I’m pretty sure a whole lot of people probably get mad at me! Boy, I hope so — mad is wa-a-a-y better than apathetic. Our faith is not meant to be private … real faith is going out into this world deliberately, on purpose, loving others, caring about their lives, while we are introducing them to His kingdom. Our challenge is to live that way – all the time. Laying down our lives so other people can learn how to find a new life with Jesus. 

Here’s one of my optional ‘make you think’ questions: what part of your new life in Christ makes your life look different than it did before you met Him? I know all the pat answers — we go to church. We pray. We read the bible. However, the reality is, because we choose to remain inactive, unfortunately sometimes guilt drags each one of us around by the nose — we know there is more, but we can’t seem to find it. To do that we need to give up our undercover, ordinary people disguises, and lay down this life we’ve planned for ourselves. Let’s stop running about looking for healing for us, and introduce others to the Healer of mankind. 

The body of Christ has unfortunately become engaged with what this world says we need. People who are DEAD don’t care what they need — actually, they don’t care about anything at all! But the people who know their God want to spend their life for Jesus’ sake. Will it hurt? PROBABLY!! But pain is an opportunity to wait on Him, and press in deeper. I have a theory, I believe that many people lead mediocre lives because they think this life is the only chance they will get to have what they want. But man was made for eternity.

We’ve been born again to do what He brought us here to do. That includes what the bible says …and then, after we do it, we leave the results to Him. We throw our miserable human excuses into the bin where they belong! Man has been making excuses for centuries. Many of those excuses some people made right to God’s face!! That thought makes me shake my head. I know I have been incredibly disobedient, and if God is not Who He says He is, then I’m sunk. I cling to His promises like a barnacle clings to the bottom of a ship.

Let’s just pause, and think about God’s patience with us. He has put up with mankind’s junk for centuries. Not in a mean, stand-offish unloving, uninvolved way, but in a proactive creative winsome way that calls us all up HIGHER. You can’t get more involved in humanity than He did, by coming here, living amongst us, and then letting people kill Him! The people in today’s world need to experience, personally, what the bible says:“Taste and see that the Lord is good.” We are meant to be someone else’s first taste of God in human form, and we are the only Christians some people are ever going to meet! If that doesn’t serve you up a big dollop of “Oh, my gosh!” I don’t know what will!

Sadly, other people are probably going to take a big chunk out of you and I, regularly. It’s a TEST. It is up to us to decide how we will respond to their actions. Jesus has left us in this world to be a people who not only know their God, we are now His interactive advertising. Just tell others the kingdom of God is near, because He lives in you! Like me, you may have been dreadful advertising even ten seconds ago  … so … REPENT. Pick yourself up, fix what you can, use your faith and keep on going. God is not finished with any of us yet. 

Get over the idea that this life is meant to be easy for us – ‘because we are so special’ – and realise that “a disciple when he is fully trained, will be just like His master.’ They treated Jesus disrespectfully and badly and then they viciously killed Him … so-oo-oo-oo … You do the sum.

Sometimes we become so obsessed with being comfortable and comforted, because this life is difficult, we forget what we are here for. If we want to know Him intimately, we will need to live our lives like He lived His. Unselfishly, altruistically! We are assured that His faithfulness under all kinds of circumstances, is out of this world! Nothing can, or will separate you and I from His love … because Almighty God promised.

It’s time for all of us to step up to the plate and take a swing at the ball! Never lower the standard just because you can’t meet it – Jesus Christ met it for us. Pick up your faith and go again. Our only job on this planet, is to RE-present Jesus Christ to the world around us … by living like He did. Let’s hope the next time someone takes a bite out of you or I, they bite into something sweet!

Jesus once told a parable about a rich man, who kept walking past a beggar at his gate. What that rich man did in this life eventually caught up with him. I implore you … don’t postpone change. We need to be ready for anything and He is always our ever-present help in time of need… whether we are ready or not. Bye. 🙏