Heavenly Father

P 2536 Giving, whether it is money – or help …

/ DVH

… giving transforms our hearts. I’ve found that opening up my wallet, sharing my time, plus helping people opens up my heart like nothing else does. “We will show mercy to the poor and not miss an opportunity to do acts of kindness for others, for these are the true sacrifices that delight God’s heart.” Hebrews 13:16 TPT. Did ya get that? Giving delights God’s heart—if you want to make Him happy, then act like He does! We are true sons and daughters when we act like He does.

Hubby and I have found we can give our way out of difficulties, simply because any sort of giving has His favour on it.  God loved us so HE GAVE… We have been blessed … to be a blessing!  Hubby and I have noticed that when someone tells us that they are not coping, that is our cue to go to the Lord and ask Him what He would like us to do to help them. Praying for people is great. Do it. But caring enough to engage with them to help them is greater.

The problem, as I see it, is that we all have busy lives that can be fraught with financial difficulties. So let’s just settle in our hearts that giving any sort of help, financial, spiritual, emotional, and physical – means sacrifice. Time, money, energy, emotional input….we will need to give it all. It will absolutely be inconvenient! And all of that means we probably won’t feel like it – most of the time. 

Personally I’d rather go without stuff, than miss an opportunity to give – that’s how much I value the blessing of giving. I  want to esteem Him with everything I have. There can be no price put on His forgiveness – because none of us deserve it! Yet we can easily, in this day and age of self-satisfaction, rationalise ourselves out of one of the greatest blessings God has for us, by not passing on His loving provision to others. Hubby and I love to give, every time the cost of living goes up, we give more! You literally cannot out-give God. Obviously, we pray over it but that’s what we do.

Christians fervently tell Him that they want to know Him, but then we go on to ignore His very nature. A shared experience is a way to discover and know someone else. Giving is plainly written down in His book for everyone to see, so it is not like you have to take some huge retreat to an obscure place on the earth to find Him! We can find Him when we start looking and reading in the bible about how He speaks, and what He did, and why He did it. It is in God’s nature to give. He gave the garden to Adam, then Eve to Adam, and children to bless them! He gave us … even before we had a clue Who He is and what He could literally demand from us (!!) … a Saviour. And because of what Jesus did, now we live by another kingdom’s rules.

Our God loves things that are freely given because that is Who He is! I think we need to be the giving-est people on earth! Because even though we may be materially poor, we know we are already rich because we belong to Him. Now, we can help someone else, Christian or NOT, to feel loved, noticed and cared for. Plus we will share our giving experience with our Heavenly Father, and discover a teeny bit of how He feels as He constantly gives to us. 

People need encouragement – FYI, encouragement is just another way to GIVE. I once wrote to a famous author to tell him that his work was soooo good, it made me laugh over and over again. That man was absolutely delighted. He told me that the only feedback he gets is negative. I guess that people obviously feel free to express their negative emotions, but don’t feel free to share encouragement?!! What kind of world are we living in? Don’t answer that, I won’t even go there.

Giving should be like breathing to us. It is an outward sign of an inward change in our hearts. You cannot follow Jesus Christ and not give. Giving is the essence of WHO HE IS and because of what He freely gave us (Himself!) – it is now part of who we are. That’s what being changed to be like Him is! It means at the other end of this life we will have laid down our lives for other people, just like Christ did. 

Just because His Heavenly Father asked the Lord to die, that didn’t mean Jesus had to do it. He had a choice … and it cost Him to make that choice. Giving is a choice. Giving in any form, transforms our hearts, our lives! My very best advice is this … don’t just think about it, and spend an hour checking your budget. You may never be able to afford more giving on paper – DO IT anyway. God is wa-ay outside this world’s monetary system! 👋

P 2529 We must learn to live as Jesus lived.

/ DVH

“Christ suffered and died for sins once and for all—the innocent for the guilty —to bring you near to God by His body being put to death and by being raised to life by the Spirit.”1 Peter 3:18 TPT. “Be very careful then, how you live, not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of every day because the days are evil.”Ephesians 5:15-16.

Jesus Christ lived for His Father’s glory and will. At the same time our precious Heavenly Father provided a way for each of us to live before we were even born. But all of mankind was found guilty of falling short of the standard Christ lived out and set before us. So Father God allowed Jesus to suffer and be brutally murdered for the things we’ve done, even though Christ was utterly innocent. As we live day by day we are covered by His precious blood, from the moment we said yes to having Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. However, I have a word of warning …when we use His grace to live for US …we are squandering our inheritance.

In the bible there is this great parable that almost everybody knows –  it’s about the Prodigal Son.  The thing is:  you and I – if we are not prayerfully careful – can also be that prodigal son! … “Whadda mean lady… I’m a Christian! I’ve been baptised, I go to church, I pray, I talk to God, God forgave me from all my sins.” …Yeah, yeah, hold your horses … I’m getting to it … I didn’t like that thought much either!  

Think on this: the prodigal son in this parable was already a legitimate SON and heir!  He was already eligible to inherit His Father’s riches. But he took everything His Father gave him, and he went off and squandered it all. He used his inheritance to LIVE AND DO whatever he wanted. That younger son went and lived just like the pagans around him. He threw away what was rightfully his, on stuff that was going to gratify him … here and now… 😳

I asked the Holy Spirit: “Lord what does that all that mean?” He said this: “When you use MY GRACE to excuse yourself, instead of repenting and repairing things in your life, you are squandering your inheritance. My Son gave His life to pay for your sins, it was not cheap! My Grace is available to anyone who asks for it, but I have not given it freely to you so you can do what you like, and say what you like, and then presumptuously expect the Precious blood of Jesus to cover it. That’s abuse of a very great privilege.”

Then He asked me this: “When was the prodigal restored?” I said: “The prodigal was restored when he repented. When this young man recognised, in a pig pen, that the son and heir does not belong in a pig pen! He remembered his father’s generous ways toward even the servants of his household. And then he used his faith to go home. He didn’t expect the kind of welcome he got, because unfortunately, he did not actually know his father’s ways very well at all.” 

You know, we could easily all be labelled prodigals, if we are using our privileges, our heavenly inheritance, to benefit US. As I have said before, our God is not a vending machine. We are in a relationship with Him, not just a supply and demand arrangement. Our heart’s position toward His Grace and loving provision matters. We dare not take advantage of His Grace by living this life we have been GIVEN, counting on the fact that He will forgive us — without cultivating reverential fear toward His ways. And the Holy Spirit has given us a book full of what His ways look like. 

The prodigal son in this parable had no reverence for his father’s position as the leader of the household. He just wanted what he wanted, and then went and did whatever suited him. His father exercised a tremendous amount of faith in his boy coming home again, as he waited for him every single day. Our heavenly Father’s Love waits patiently for us to realise the error of our ways and come home from the pig pens of this world. And we don’t have to go gambling, or into drug dens, or strip joints to sin against His Grace. We cannot afford to devalue something that was so incredibly costly. Let’s remember – GOD DEFINES SIN – we don’t!

We need to value and treasure what we have been given, every single day. Jesus died to bring us into relationship with Almighty God. He gave us His inheritance. We must not take it for granted that God will fix our messes as we merrily wander along creating chaos. Our mess is our responsibility! We are so blessed because He is faithful, He promises to help us. We need to learn, on purpose, to live this life as Christ lived His — for God’s glory and His will. Babies expect to be waited on and cleaned up, mature adults own their own faults and work toward reparation. Bye 👋

P 2488 We need to live by faith.

/ DVH

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

P 2472 Something incredible happened … because of the wonderful goodness of God.

/ DVH

And because of one particular event, Father God has decreed that His goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives. These things are following us, because God loves all His kids – even the ones who don’t care to know Him! We don’t know the actual date of Jesus Christ’s birth. However, this world has many references to Christ’s Presence, in historical works, apart from the bible itself. He was in fact, a Jewish man, who lived a mostly hidden nondescript life … until He was 30. 

Please note:  Jesus did not have blue eyes and long brown/blonde hair. He was not Caucasian, and I’m pretty sure He did not walk around in some sort of light blue and white oversized nightie! He wore what the men of his time wore. After all, He was born Jewish, so Jesus Christ looked just like all the other Jewish men around Him. Oh, and there was no halo around His head either. We also know He had a beard because the report about His crucifixion says His tormentors pulled that out, bit by bit. His eyes were probably deep dark brown, and personally, I think they were incredibly kind. 

One day, after about 30 years, Jesus Christ’s life exploded into public view. I guess His Heavenly Father, God said: “It’s time.” And so Jesus went to be baptised by his cousin John, to fulfil what was asked of Him. Meanwhile, John the Baptist had a recognised ministry. His job was to tell people they were not right with God, and needed to be baptised and repent from living the way they were living. Which is actually a pretty relevant point to think on even today!!

So why does there seem to be all this fuss about an infant at Christmas? After all  — He’s not an infant anymore! He’s the King of all Kings and Lord of Lords and you would definitely know that in His Presence! Even evil people or self-important people crumble into a foetal position. He is no longer a baby in a barn. Jesus is not just the ‘reason for the season” … He is the reason this life is worth living, for those who follow Him. People all over this world acknowledge His birth for a number of reasons…  but why do we celebrate the birthday of an infant born in a country so far away from most of us? 

I think that Christmas, as we know it today, has been overtaken by commercialism, which is a natty reason to make more money.  Plus we now have Santa Claus… or whatever you happen to call him, wherever you live. A big, jolly, red distraction. I’m of the opinion that poor old Saint Nicholas is probably rolling over in his grave with what we have done with his loving gesture toward the children of the poor! He was following Christ in His own way, but we have managed to transform His selfless deeds into yet another shopping experience. Sigh.

Here are some reasons that I thought some people might have to continue to celebrate Christmas. Is it an opportunity for your family and mine to get together, and pretend they all like each other? … (but in reality we chew our nails down to the quick hoping no-one will say something abrasive or provocative!) Is it a time to decorate the house within an inch of it’s life? Maybe it is an opportunity in an incredibly busy year, to give a brief thought to what we hope we believe … and then go camping with other families in the bush or by the sea. In other words do we have Christmas for Jesus Christ or for us? It is, after all, HIS BIRTHDAY!!

The thing about Christmas, is that it has gone from celebrating Christ, to being a whole lot of things it wasn’t designed to be. That’s why I think this season hardly ever works out the way we all hope it will. Christmas today nearly sends nice people into bankruptcy, because they can’t afford to buy what their kids want, or what the little darlings think they deserve. And the overworked parents feel guilty if they can’t cough up. It’s become a time when we have to be nice to rellies that we hope will magically disappear from our sight … until next year. If that’s bit close to the bone, maybe you need to think about why you celebrate Christmas.

What does Christmas mean to you? Who do you think Christ is? Is He just a baby Who lived once long long long ago, and did extremely kind things for people and then He died? Do you actually celebrate Him? You take a holiday, and time off work, in His Name … but do you know the One Whose birthday you are celebrating?

I think if we limit ourselves to just looking at a manger with a newly born infant in it, then we have done what we always do. We’ve limited Almighty God again, because we don’t understand Him or His Ways – or don’t care to! Plus we are overlooking the goodness of God toward ALL men. That’s right, nobody has been left out. Everyone. And I don’t care what you’ve done…. neither does He. 

We owe a debt, Jesus Christ paid it for us. What are you planning to do with the gift of time, that He gave you? Spend it wisely, my friend. Merry Christmas. 🎁 👋🏻

P 2423 The outworking of faith is seeable.

/ DVH

Faith has evidence of its existence. Without any evidential faith we cannot please Almighty God! This means that there are appropriate actions that match the stuff coming out of our mouths. Christianity is not just a theory, or a set of really tough rules – it is a living, breathing, ongoing, active, growing, moving, productive thing. As we live our lives our faith stretches us. Daily.

Telling others we have faith, without being able to provide evidence in our own lives, is like telling people you are an astronaut because you’ve carefully studied the subject and you’ve been to NASA, plus you’ve studied it and know everything about it! 

Knowing and doing are two entirely different things. We can talk about, or discuss our faith until our faces are blue, but the truth is … real faith often makes no sense at all until it is acted on, and then the understanding comes afterward. Ask Gideon, or Mary, or Abraham, or Hosea! Our Heavenly Father does not operate like we do, instead we can be quite poor reflections of Who He is. We often misunderstand His directives as a substitute for a strong spiritual life. Rules are not faith – it took the Israelites only 40 days to break the ten commandments!  Agreement is not faith. The devil agrees there is a God!  

“And without faith living within us it would be impossible to please God. For we come to God in faith knowing that He is real and that He rewards the faith of those who passionately seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6 TPT. Faith has to be alive. It is not about last week, last month, last year – or even about when I gave my life to Christ, way back when. Or whether I go to church every week. Faith is about God and me – to-geth-er! DOING STUFF outside of church.  

Here are some uncomfortable questions regarding that point. If I was suddenly struck dumb how would someone who was watching me know that I have faith? What evidence would they have? Many people go to church but they don’t have active faith. Maybe they have HOPE – and sadly, sometimes, they have fear and/or religion. Ask yourself: “What does my faith DO that can be seen by others?”“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the EVIDENCE of things not yet seen.” Hebrews 11:1. 

Faith steps out – that’s why it is called evidence. First of all notice the ‘NOW’ in the scripture pictured above. Faith is always now … not yesterday. This does not mean we must spend our lives standing on a street corner witnessing. But it does mean that our faith is always active in our lives changing us. If people cannot see an ongoing change in our behaviour toward others, or our personhood being transformed, we need to ask ourselves, do we have faith that is alive? One of the best ways to activate inactive faith is to talk about Jesus to someone-who-doesn’t-know-Him-yet.

Changing the habits and selfishness of a lifetime takes faith. This means we will end up wrangling with ourselves every single day because we are longing to be transformed. Even though we also use our faith in His ability to transform us to maintain what we believe – Christianity is actually not performance based. What would be the point? SomeBody Else did everything necessary to include us!! More questions: Is Jesus the first Person we go to when we can’t manage? Do we actively rely upon Him, and do things His way? Our faith is activated every time we ask Him to help us obey and then act.

Faith has substance. It is not the result of airy-fairy wishy-washy theories. The actions of faith result in transformation, for you, and me, as well as for the people around us. Maybe that grumpy family member keeps behaving badly because we keep having the same response! Faith will produce something seeable. James 2:26 tells us that “faith without works is dead.” Faith does stuff. It may also talk … but it definitely does stuff!! It feeds the hungry, preaches the gospel, witnesses to others, helps the homeless, and ministers to the broken. Faith lives this life dead to self and lives for Jesus’ sake now.

However, faith is not just about the things we don’t, or won’t do. If someone refuses to cheat on their spouse, or asks for help for a foul temper, or stops spending money like it grows on a tree, that takes faith. But faith doesn’t just abstain from evil — it is a productive thing. It is not about the absence of bad things – faith introduces the provable presence of the goodness of the living God.

When I went looking for a picture for today’s blog, I easily found the verse I wanted. This verse had all these pretty pictures with flowers and scenery. I rejected them! I chose the picture above, because the man in that picture is putting his faith into action. He knows all about gravity – but his desire to move on motivates him into action. Faith is prepared to take risks, because it has seen personal evidence that God is in charge and it stakes its life on that. 🤗

“But the love of God will be perfected within the one who obeys God’s Word. We can be sure that we’ve truly come to live in intimacy with God, not just by saying, “I am intimate with God,” but by walking in the footsteps of Jesus.”

1 John 2:5-6 TPT

P 2416 Mercy is a fountain.

/ DVH

“Celebrate with praises the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has shown us His extravagant mercy. For His fountain of mercy has given us a new life—we are reborn to experience a living, energetic hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” 1 Peter 1:3 TPT

In everything we do and say, we must never forget God’s mercy, because of what Jesus Christ did for us. This mercy is not a small pool of water – it is not even a large body of water like the pool at Siloam – it is a fountain. A fountain has life in it. It is not static;  it flows, dances, bounces and beams light in every direction. A fountain is a symbol of His joy dancing over each one of us – all the time. We spend our lives in that fountain! Bathing in it, praising God for it, allowing God’s mercy to impact the way we think and act.

Our Heavenly Father’s mercy is like that. His mercy transforms everything it touches. We do not have to instruct people into the kingdom of God. We simply need to bring them into the proximity of that fountain. Our relationship with Him provides the proximity. So how do we do that? We extend mercy and grace to everyone – whether we like them or not! Then we stir up that fountain within us, and act on everything He says to do to keep it alive and bubbling. 

This includes showing mercy to people who don’t deserve it. PS neither did we!  That fountain resides in us now, the minute we said yes to Him. Everything Jesus Christ did on our behalf contributes to that living fountain. We stepped under/into that fountain and it began to bubble and grow inside us. Christ’s mercy is always so incredibly extravagant beyond our wildest dreams, because that flow always exceeds our demand upon it. Why would we abuse such Grace?

Our God knows everything, but that is no threat to us. Not to His kids. It is a promise that the fountain of His life is more than adequate for everything that has happened to us in our lives so far … and it will carry us in its sweet waters right on to the end. The thing is – when we appreciate that fountain and the cost that was paid – we would not dream of skating on by doing the minimum we can, hoping we can somehow fool Him into thinking it is enough. We would never dare take advantage of such a glorious gift that was given so freely for all of us. 

Christ is always our example, and the men and women who followed Him after His death and resurrection illustrate the sort of devotion we need to cultivate and protect in our ordinary everyday lives. It means whenever I talk to my neighbour, that mercy fountain within me reaches out to them, it embraces them. There is no pressure needed, because that fountain is so appealing, so incredible, so sweet, it draws everyone in. Are they grumpy neighbours? Then this fountain is more than adequate. Ask for His help! He made His help for us available through that fountain.

We have found as we talk to people all over this country that religion glazes their eyes and stops conversation. But mercy and grace opens unseen doors within them and you cannot shut them up. The person in front of us who seemed business-like and together, is suddenly transformed into a person with needs and hopes and dreams. They cannot believe that God is interested in them. They are drawn to His fountain – inside us  – they know they need Him. Both hubby and I would say we are totally inadequate to do this work, but daily He rises up within us, like a fountain springs into the air alive and working. He does whatever is needed! 

Mercy and joy go together. They transform lives by their very presence in us and through us. We will get so blessed by blessing others! Believe me this world has nothing to offer that competes with the reality of seeing His Presence touch someone. His little hidden ones, out there in every nook and cranny of this grumpy old world, know His voice. They may not know His Name, but something inside of them knows His voice. 

You and I carry that glorious wealth inside us everywhere we go. I exhort us all to bathe in that fountain, take it in with every single breath, and then allow it flow through us. Enjoy what Christ died to give us. Don’t spend so much time feeling guilty – use your time to be grateful.  Like Jesus said to His Father in the Lord’s prayer:“Manifest Your kingdom realm, and cause Your every purpose to be fulfilled on earth, just as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:10 TPT.

“Use me Lord. Let your joy-mercy flow out of me.” Bye.👋🏻

P 2413 Some thoughts about fatherhood.

/ DVH

“…This is your Father you are dealing with, and He knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply. Like this: Our Father in heaven, Reveal who You are. Set the world right; Do what’s best— as above, so below. Keep us alive with three square meals. Keep us forgiven with You and forgiving others. Keep us safe from ourselves and the devil. You’re in charge! You can do anything You want! You’re ablaze in beauty! Yes. Yes. Yes.” Matthew 6 MSG.

Today I want to talk about a place some people may have a lack. Those of us who have not had a present, engaged earthly father, may find the entire concept of a father is hard to grasp. Personally, I don’t remember my birth-father at all, I met him much later in life, and to be perfectly honest with you – I had no idea what to do with him! At that time he gave me a big bag of jelly-beans, because I loved them when I was 7, which was the last time he saw me … However I was 27 when I saw him again … and not much fussed about jelly beans! He died not long after that meeting, and he had another family by then, so we didn’t get a chance to mend bridges. 

I totally fell head over heels in love with Jesus when I met Him. His willingness to accept me and save me from myself plus His unrelenting kindness and goodness blew me away. But, a Heavenly Father … that was a whole other ballgame. Father God was more of a written concept than an actual father to me. I said all that to say this … my early lack meant that I have had a limited idea emotionally, about a father’s generosity. How a good man cares or watches out for his children’s well being. His strength and solidarity in a time of crisis. I virtually grew up fatherless in the real sense of the word.

But I had two stepfathers. One of them taught me how to forgive people who sin against you, because his form of government was extremely physical. Unfortunately, at the same time, he taught me to be afraid of men. This meant that a loving, engaged, and a totally-committed-to-my-welfare-father, like our Heavenly Father is to all of us … was right outside my childhood experience. A good father helps his kids with their identity. These wonderful men provide abiding security, so that their kids do not major on minor things like they are the end of the world..

This is why the above prayer from the Message bible blesses me. It says so clearly: “reveal Who You are….” I know that I need that kind of revelation from Him. Obedience comes easily to me – fear of consequences is a terrible motivator – but it also means I have a fear of God that isn’t biblical or healthy. This verse explains that our God loves to help us in the places we have a lack. My advice is to simply ask Him to supply that particular need. He isn’t just talking about somewhere to live, or a nice car!

BTW, we are not being disloyal to our earthly parents just because Father God can meet our needs and they didn’t – or can’t – or won’t. Even a good earthly father can mess up! And trust can be fragile at best when someone ill-equipped to be a godly father, turns out to be your parent. All told I had 3 fathers and none of them taught me anything about what a loving Father was like – they did however teach me to be scared of loud voices and angry men.

Enter my dear husband. In the past 35 years. He has patiently taught me more about what men and fathers are like, than I ever learnt in all the years before we were married. He is still teaching me about man-speak — because the way that men think, is a total enigma to me. Until he came along there were no men in my life to contribute any insight into the male psyche;  so whenever they got loud, I wanted to run! 

However, I also expected men to ignore me, because that’s what happened regularly too. To avoid the grumpy disinterested men in my life, I learnt to hide my personal self away. I came from a female dominated family line, and that means I don’t understand spontaneously, or naturally, how men think. Why they do and say what they do and say – puzzles me and I have very little insight. Sadly, some of the things that we do, even as adults, we do defensively, sometimes automatically.

The bible tells us that our God is a “Father to the fatherless.”  I want to encourage anyone with the same problem that I have had, to ask for this heavenly revelation. We were not just born again into God’s family, we have also been ADOPTED by Him. Adoption means choice! Father God can definitely supply this kind of need for validation and security etc. because He is everyone’s Father and He knows all our names. People like me need to pray over every verse that talks about the Fatherhood of Almighty God, and deliberately renew our minds – this is how we will change our thinking.  👋🏻 

P 2388 His will is always our priority.

/ DVH

Matthew 22:1-14 “Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come. “Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’“But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.”

“Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not DESERVE to come. So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless. “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

At this time, Jesus was preaching to the spiritual leaders and the crowds about a King who was holding a wedding feast. Astonishingly, at that moment, the Master of that feast was standing right in front of all of them inviting them all to think differently about God Himself. I think the Lord was giving the religious leaders who were listening, a chance to understand, that although they thought they were so right with God, they were actually rejecting Him in favour of their own more self-important made-up chosen ways! They are the people saying NO in this parable! They are the invited guests who are too busy with their own lives to respond to the honour. He is saying, if they are not careful, the little people, the so-called bad, less-spiritual people that they look down upon, will actually be the ones who end up at this feast – not them. Because the religious people will exclude themselves.

All of these different types of spiritual leaders had presumably come to check out His theology. They enjoyed a prominent spiritual position before God and man, and they were revered because of their place in that society. In His parable, the Lord is saying that they’ve used their privilege to avoid going to the feast – even though they had the invitation first. Because what they wanted, and deemed important, was more important than honouring their agreement. The Master of the feast is always more important than anybody invited to it! However, these men were so entrenched in what they had embraced, they couldn’t see Him and spent all their time trying to catch Him out.

Now, if anyone ought to know about the things of God it should be them! These guys studied the truth for a living … yet they still missed it when the Truth was standing in front of them. They did not see the value of their invitation to be His chosen people, and they blew it off. Even though the food, everything needed was all ready for them, and the Master of the feast would have to waste it … they still said no. Their religious ideas had grown so big, so all encompassing and powerful, that they thought their theology was more important to them than what He was saying. Just to be clear, the feast is actually God Himself, knowing Him … and He was standing right in front of them. But their pride in what they knew, said they knew better. They were too greatly invested in proving Him wrong and themselves right!

Now, you and I — who were never going to be a part of that elite group without Christ’s sacrifice — have been temporarily given their place. Let’s be clear, MAN cannot dictate the terms of any agreement between God and us. Almighty God does. And if He says ‘come’ we come – and if He says ‘GO,’ we go! Otherwise we are acting like we are in charge and we are not. Actually, when we think we are in charge, satan takes advantage of us! As outsiders, we have now been compelled by His love to be His honoured guests at that bridal supper. He personally sent the Holy Spirit to bring us in! We’ve been given brand new bridal garments washed in Jesus’ blood – because our own clothes will not do. 🙌

Our Heavenly Father God wants His house full of people who are glad to be included, and they are rejoicing because they know they are so blessed to be asked to His feast. In the mean time …let’s not ever forget how easily we can exclude ourselves, like these religious men in Matthew did. We must not use good-sounding excuses … they show the Lord our hearts, and reveal our lesser priorities. We’ve been invited to live the Way Christ lived this life. He is our priority. We must not ever make our personal priorities bigger than His. His free Grace is not permission to do what WE want.👋🏻

P 2385 Read this at your own peril.

/ DVH

This is apparently what you need to do when a patient seems to be unconscious – you shake and shout!  This world needs YOU. Your family needs you, your neighbour needs you, the people at your work need you. This world needs His Love walking all over it to meet with them. THEY ARE LOST.

Now to my point. There is a god we’ve sort of kind of … made up. This god supports both good and bad – it’s a god in our own image. That’s because we hope that some bad isn’t really that bad! 😳 This god, the one we made up, is kind of a bit ambivalent about sin, and that’s because He understands we are only human and we can’t help it. 😱 After all we know He loves us the bible says so, over and over again.

However, we seem to have created, in some of our popular theology, a kind of heavenly, extremely tolerant Daddy Who is everything our earthly Dad wasn’t … A consequence of a fatherless generation perhaps? But we’ve totally forgotten about the very REAL God of Heaven and Earth Who is featured page after page in His book. He clearly told us the way forward, but sadly, today, we don’t seem to have time for things like that! So what we do have, will have to do. If you grab us round the neck and demand to know who Jesus is – we’ll probably tell you … but … we kind of … hope …you won’t. 😶

Let’s be clear, Jesus Christ did not tolerate sin. Instead He forgave it …and He paid an incredible price to redeem us from it … and that is definitely not the same thing. Jesus didn’t throw the law away – He completed it for our sake. God Himself put that law in place. We can’t just jump over it because it is tough – we need to be transformed from the inside out. Because of Christ’s sacrifice our mission has changed. Sub-mission is a term that means that other missions come secondary to the primary mission. 

Christianity is not about getting stuff right – it is about acknowledging we are wrong, and living HIS Way instead of our way. It isn’t about rules. It’s about WHO WE SERVE and how we serve Him. And tragically, today, for most people, it means that they ‘serve the man,’ they work hard so they can enjoy doing what they like on the weekends. And God comes in around about third.

Jesus actively taught the people around Him to obey what His Heavenly Father said. To be honest with you, I think Christ made what God said, much harder. Check some of it out for yourself. Matthew 5: 21-22 “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. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.” 

Now if that doesn’t rattle us nothing will! (Yeah, I’m tempted to skip those verses too, especially if I just yelled at somebody and I’m not sorry – yet.)  God IS good, but He ain’t gunna put up with our stuff just because we think we can’t change, or it’s too hard, or maybe even … I’m too old to change now! Especially when Christ died and was resurrected to give us, for free, the POWER to change. Transformation is the only way, and the people around us who drive us all nuts are His treasures sent to reveal who we really are, in the light of His Word. Hold onto your socks … God calls THAT love. Are you still breathing?

In my opinion we need to spend a great deal more time thanking Jesus over and over again for fulfilling those laws on our behalf. He deliberately came to save us from ourselves. However, we also need to ask Him to keep on saving us! Salvation is not just a one stop shop – it is an ongoing transformation process – with deliberate, conscious, engaged yielding, and increasing passionate devotion. Almighty God deserves nothing less.

Christ saved us from ourselves, to bring us to Himself – not to create an elite people who can have and DO whatever they want in this life but to live for HIM now. My time is not my own now – He bought and paid for it. We need to desperately seek after the kind of Godly love Jesus displayed. It was selfless, and it motivated every single one of His choices and redeeming actions. He paid so much attention to His Father’s wishes –  He simply lived to represent them. I think we got lost along the way because we really don’t understand that kInd of selfless love. 

Yes, God loves us so much He sent His Son to die for us … but the value we have to our Heavenly Father, is shown by the price He paid. Our Heavenly Father reveals HIMSELF when He shows us what He was willing to pay. It has never been about US, it is all about Him! His actions show us His incredible passion and loving kindness.  Let’s just step back and look at it. Only a passionate Father Who has a bigger plan – would have done what He did.

We need to give Him nothing less than the same kind of devotion back. The Lord’s absolutes are not some sort of request to be ignored at will or convenience. Repentance is a normal way of life … it is not an optional extra that we can ignore, because we feel embarrassed and we can’t express ourselves! We can’t live His Way WITHOUT the Holy Spirit – we need Him to help us! Transformation comes by submitting to the process.

This life is temporary.  Great men and women have gone before us, giving all for His sake. People whose names are recorded in His book, but nobody wrote about them, or featured them on TV. They just lived their little lives for His sake, and many died dreadful deaths, also for His sake – simply because He was worth so much to them. I don’t want a god after my own image, I want the only wise God our Heavenly Father – whatever the cost. He provided all of us with a Saviour, because His loving heart is that big. Let’s live for Him.👋🏻

P 2378 Forget about winning lotto …!

/ DVH

… most Christians have incredible riches they have never even accessed. We have a Saviour. 🙌  He is the perfect substitute for our sins, He gave us His righteousness, so now we have His kind of access to our Heavenly Father’s attention. Now we give Him back our lives for His purposes. Our Heavenly Father has given us so many incredible things, including spiritual gifts to bless others. We have a book filled to the brim with stories about other people who dared to walk with God, despite their fears … so we can see for ourselves what God did in them and through them. Our God is not far away, but near to those who seek Him … and Jesus made seeking Him possible.

Our Saviour, died to give us healing, wisdom, strength, patience, kindness, goodness, etc. every single day. We are a blessed people! He provides for our needs, He comforts us with His comfort which knows no boundaries – including race, creed, and theology. He doesn’t judge us, but looks at us with understanding, kindness, mercy and grace through human eyes. Almost everything ever recorded about Christ is about Him gladly interacting with people! Because of Jesus – we are the people who are blessed to know what Father God, His Love and His kingdom are like. That’s what makes us rich. We don’t have to guess, or hope, or imagine – we have a BOOK full of His thoughts!

The next time someone says to you, what does Almighty God look like? You can tell them – HE LOOKS LIKE JESUS CHRIST.  Point the people who don’t-know-Him-yet to the gospels in the bible. Tell them to look at how Christ treats human beings – that’s what the Father is like. This is why hubby and I give away the four Gospels. The bible is a large daunting book to someone who doesn’t-know-Him-yet, and a lot of the language used is old-fashioned and unclear. Plus it’s a really BIG book! We want others to experience the Lord’s heart toward mankind. Then they can see Jesus in the gospels, healing the sick, feeding the hungry, teaching them God’s ways, talking to people, answering questions.

In those gospels we see Christ is single-minded – everything He says is to explain His Heavenly Father and how His Kingdom works – in terms that ordinary people can understand. He shows people how to relate to God. He talks to farmers, fishermen, religious people, homemakers, and children. He talked to everyone with the same purpose, He wanted to reveal and clarify His Father’s love. The Father’s love is the greatest treasure this world has ever seen – and Christ came here to illustrate it, in and through His flesh. People do not know about this treasure, they think the bible is all about rules that they can’t keep … BUT the bible is a fantastic spiritual gift for everyone.     

However before ordinary people can understand the death and resurrection of Christ, they need to know that ‘love looks like something’; so we believe in helping others, praying with them and for them, as well as telling them in person how much God loves them. We don’t care what they believe, our desire is for them to experience the love of God first-hand, through us!  Now, as Christians WE have also become His treasure. It is our job to feed the hungry, heal the sin-sick souls to follow Him. We encourage the down-hearted, show the lost the way home and tell people this life can have incredible meaning. 

Righteousness, peace, joy in the Holy Spirit – all these things are intangible, but totally heaven-sent riches. We are blessed to be a blessing and that blessing is not about earthly gain – it is about giving away heart happiness and contentment in spite of difficult circumstances. As well as His love which is like a spring of never-ending water. Human beings must stop thinking that blessings from God are about God being in a heavenly service industry. Prayer is not a way to place your order! It is privileged communication with the God of the universe. He provides for us, just like He provided for Adam and Eve in the garden, but our relationship with Him is about FAR more than provision.

Lastly, everywhere Christians go, we get to wear HIS ROBE. That robe is about humility. We lay our lives down for others because He laid His life down for us. You don’t get any richer in this life than that, no matter what a lotto jackpot is worth. Some of the richest, most blessed people I know, hardly have two beans to rub together. And if you happen to be hungry they will throw the only beans they have into a pot to feed you! Now that’s really rich! Bye. 😊