Heavenly Father

P 2345 This is crucial.

/ DVH

“So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.” Romans 8:6 NLT. Now here is another fantastic clarification of that verse.

“Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life.Those who trust God’s action in them find that God’s Spirit is in them—living and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what He is doing. And God isn’t pleased at being ignored.” Romans 8:5-8 MSG

We’ve not been left to muddle along on our own. Our wonderful Heavenly Father has given us the Holy Spirit to help us through this maze we call life! Therefore it is an enormous tragedy to ignore;  or be afraid of;  or misunderstand the Holy Spirit’s purpose in our lives! He is here for us in the same way He was there for Jesus. He is not merely about speaking in tongues. NOW — HE’S GOD WITH US! Inside. Make Him welcome.

We need to give up our ideas that this goes like this and that goes like that because our parents or spiritual mentors, or our forefathers always did things this way. When we do that we are making unconscious choices – and we leave His incredible variety behind. Ephesians 3:10 “His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms,..” Lemme put that another way, if you go on doing what they all did just because they did it – then you are not walking with the ONE WHO MAKES ALL THINGS NEW! HE’S STILL TALKING – giving fresh revelation of His purposes from the book. 

Tradition sets us in cement – we need to keep hitting the ‘refresh’ button. That kind of listening takes time and, sadly, we all have somewhere else we gotta be. But when we live that way we are treating Almighty God, the One we are living for, like a sandwich. We squish Him in between breakfast or lunch because we don’t have all day! Totally forgetting that: ‘He numbers our days’ and “our times are in HIS hands.” Without focus, tasks will overtake us.

SELF is the sneakiest cleverest thing. It has a million reasons for thinking what IT thinks is right, and if you ask it – self will trot out hundreds of those reasons … and they all sound reason-able! It is all about what we focus on. With some people it is patently obvious what they are thinking about. Me, myself and I!  But for others selfishness is not as easy to discern.

PEOPLE are NOT accessories to our life! As human beings we have a tendency to divide our lives up into bits. This bit is ministry, that bit is family time, leisure, sleep, stuff like that. But God wants IN on all our lives, so when we love our spouse, parents, kids … as He leads us, we are still engaged in ministry and living for Jesus at the same time. Read the book! Jesus didn’t have an off button – even when He woke up suddenly from sleeping!

Self never wants to wait for its turn – when self is in charge it is always its turn! This is why we need God as the centre of our focus at all times. HE is now our reference point. Being loving, and doing what my spouse wants to do when I kinda hate doing that – IS dying to self! Realistically speaking, that’s when the Holy Spirit becomes our resting place, our motivator, the Person we defer to. It is not just about reading the bible because we have to … its about digesting the bible so well we end up being the bible to everyone around us. 

There is no way on God’s green earth anyone can do that, live that way — without supernatural help! The wonderful thing about living selflessly, as He leads you, is this: the  stuff you need, that you have laid aside for His sake, is often added unto us as we walk along. My very last suggestion is this, when you are in doubt about your own motivation – and I often am! … Ask yourself this – cui bono? That’s latin for “who benefits?” Boy does that sort out my motivation quickly. The Holy Spirit’s input is crucial – don’t tune Him out. 👋🏻

P 2329 Our God loves beauty.

/ DVH

Exodus 37:17-22 “They made the lamp stand of pure gold. They hammered out its base and shaft, and made its flowerlike cups, buds and blossoms of one piece with them. Six branches extended from the sides of the lamp stand—three on one side and three on the other. 

Three cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms were on one branch, three on the next branch and the same for all six branches extending from the lamp stand. And on the lamp stand were four cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms. 

One bud was under the first pair of branches extending from the lamp stand, a second bud under the second pair, and a third bud under the third pair—six branches in all. The buds and the branches were all of one piece with the lamp stand, hammered out of pure gold.” Exodus Chapters 36-39. 

I would like to start out today by saying that this entire tabernacle was built from a design that was in the heart of our Heavenly Father. It is a copy of the one that is already in existence in heaven. You know, it is way too easy to get caught up in the practicalities of our faith, and totally walk blindly past the fact that our God is beautiful, in every aspect of His nature. Worship flows from such moments.

I think we ignore His creative beauty at our own peril. Imagine, for a few seconds, a world without light. Everything He made was dependant upon it being seen. Stars, rainbows, a single sparkly drop of water, green grass, starfish or lightning slicing the sky. All this glorious, fascinating world we live in, was inside Almighty God’s heart and His being. BTW, light was a great gift all by itself, because it revealed everything that came after it! 

Or just for a moment, imagine a world without sound. Where would we be without birdsong, or the sound of the ocean? Personally, I love the sound of rain or the whoosh of the wind in the trees. Or a baby’s delighted gurgle, or an older person’s spontaneous laughter. These things are ordinary everyday things. Things we are often too busy to appreciate, and yet all that beauty came from inside Him. Good place to be inspired with thoughts of your own.

In these verses from Exodus the creative genius of our Father is seen through ordinary men. Please note that no detail is too unimportant or too small. At that moment those men who were making these lamp stands were following in the footsteps of the Holy Spirit. In the beginning our God spoke – “Let there be…” and the Holy Spirit took that beautiful thought and gave it substance. 

We are currently standing on something God spoke into being, and then the Holy Spirit created it all … out of nothing more than the power contained in those words. In Exodus, those divinely inspired craftsmen took God’s plans and gave them substance under His guidance. When I see their example my immediate response is: “Oh, do me like that Lord please!!” Amen! 

The Holy Spirit, via Moses – wrote these things down in Exodus for us, so we would know what they looked like. This kind of detail is incredible – so was the God-given skill! He hasn’t stopped speaking, so why are we not listening to Him?? When people talk about divine inspiration today, they talk about breaking away and doing a new thing, leaving the supposedly old-fashioned church to create a new more enlightened one … 

…God doesn’t break things, man does!  Honestly I have no idea why we have been reduced to dreaming and expanding our hearts according to Hollywood, and not the Maker of heaven and earth! Why are we aiming so low? HE TOOK DIRT AND MADE PEOPLE! Who knows what He has for us, if we would just take the time to listen to Him? Forget your own predictable clever ideas …go for HIS! 

The bible says in Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Let’s stop telling Him what we want and think, and start waiting on Him for a download of His precious plans! He has such beauty inside Him, and He can’t wait to share it with people who will take the time to listen. 👋🏻

P 2326 God always has a plan.

/ DVH

Exodus 36:3-7 “They received from Moses all the offerings the Israelites had brought to carry out the work of constructing the sanctuary. And the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning. So all the skilled workers who were doing all the work on the sanctuary left what they were doing and said to Moses, “The people are bringing more than enough for doing the work the Lord commanded to be done.” Then Moses gave an order and they sent this word throughout the camp: “No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.” And so the people were restrained from bringing more, because what they already had was more than enough to do all the work.”

When I read this my first thought was this – when is the last time we heard in church, on the tele, on Facebook, on some Go-fund-me page etc. ‘Don’t give anymore, we have enough?” Yeah, me neither. It proves my favourite theory… the line for ENOUGH always moves away from us. You know in the light of extra funds, Almighty God did not suddenly decide on an alternate plan, like maybe He needed to build a two storey tent/sanctuary just because those excess funds became available. He also didn’t decide to put gold-plated taps in the bathroom either! 

This shows us the Lord already had a plan, and that plan was to build a tabernacle that foreshadowed the one in heaven. (Hebrews 8:5) Remember? “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth,as it is in heaven?”

I think this story teaches us something about our Heavenly Father’s Character. Money, riches, excesses, are not an issue for our God. He is not greedy and He does not take advantage of people. Money is a very real issue for human beings however. We work hard for it so we think it is ours. In my opinion that is a big mistake – it says in Deuteronomy 8:18: “But you shall [earnestly] remember the Lord your God, for it is He Who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.”

This story in Exodus also shows us that Almighty God is extremely happy to re-distribute wealth as He sees fit! It is also interesting to ponder the thought that what the Israelites were actually giving to create that tabernacle … was not originally theirs. It seems to me that it is much easier to be generous with someone else’s loot! This stuff was the plunder they had taken from their Egyptian taskmasters when they left Egypt behind.

I love stories like this one. Mainly because it creates a whole lot of ‘why’ questions. Asking why is one of the best ways to get further revelation and go deeper. into Who He is. Why would God want Egyptian gold etc to be used to build a tabernacle to Him? Yeah. I dunno. My only thought is that God provided that wealth so He’s entitled to use it however He wants to. 

On a side note, sad to say, down the road it appears that the left-overs, the bit the Lord allowed them to keep, was involved in the golden calf debacle. (Exodus 32.) Aaron called for earrings, rings, whatever … to be given to him, because the Israelites wanted a God they could see, of their own design, and control! Meanwhile, I dunno how anybody could have possibly missed the reality of the Presence of  Almighty God, when there was a thick black cloud, with lightning and thunder on top of the mountain they were camped right next to … 🙄 …

Later on, they complain that: ‘God scares us too much – you go Moses.…!!’😶  Like, would you, could you, please make up your minds??! A-n-y-w-a-y!!! … Aaron then claims he threw all that left-over gold into the fire and a golden calf ‘jumped out.’ Sounds like a Pinocchio moment to me. And then the Israelites had a very decadent nasty time worshipping that thing. However it made pretty awful snack food later when Moses ground the calf up and made them eat it. Exodus 32:20.

It seems to me that the Israelites did not know how to manage what they were given. None of that gold was theirs and the portion God gave back to them was mismanaged into sin. He had a plan, a purpose, to build a place for Him and His chosen people to meet. But they valued immediate gratification and their own ways over His. They virtually said:  “We want a god we can see and we can manage all that by ourselves thanks.” 

Boy I was convicted by that particular thought alrighty! I have had it myself, when the road ahead of me seemed dark, filled with lightning, extremely thunderous and scary. And at the same time, I was so-o-o over whatever situation I am stuck in. This is the time when we need to cling to the sanctuary we have already made in our hearts, with the gold and precious stones He has given us along the way. In those moments we need to remember HE’S GOT A PLAN. 👋🏻

P 2308 NOW faith is …

/ DVH

Using our faith should not be a hobby, or something we only use in emergencies, or a ‘get out of jail’ free card when things get ugly. Nor is it a legal way to boss God around to get what we want! If our faith is not used as a life-giving source, then when we really need it, we could find it has quietly slipped away … And then it can become hard to find it again, because circumstances have trodden it into the dirt. 

Trouble rarely announces itself.  It sneaks up on us from unexpected places and it can totally pole-axe our hope in Him. Suddenly we are plunged into a miasma of emotional, physical and mental turmoil. Then come the ‘why’s.’ Why me? Why them? Why this place? Why has God forgotten us? The short answer is … He hasn’t. However! HE is not bound up by our desire for happiness … but sadly … WE ARE! The Lord has His own purposes.

Imagining Almighty God thinks like we do, is the biggest spiritual sink-hole … like … ever. It is our responsibility to actively learn and take notice of how He thinks…  by reading and rereading, and praying over His book. And then we need to go away and apply what we’ve read. Otherwise we end up making a god in our own image … and that made-up guy bears no resemblance whatsoever to our Heavenly Father! 

The bible says: WE HAVE A PERMANENT FULL-TIME – DAY OR NIGHT HELPER. We need to cultivate our relationship with the Holy Spirit, in a dedicated deliberate fashion.

Under pressure, we haven’t got time to strap on our faith like a fancy six-shooter. Instead we need to stay prepared for the bad guy who is hanging around on the horizon. When our enemy eventually bursts through our door – guns blazing. Stuff happens! SUDDENLY. Those things are not just unexpected, they cast a dark shadow over our lives …the other guy is constantly jumping out of the shadows with a cannon full of lead … enough to sink our hope in God with both barrels.

HOWEVER … “… our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”’ Ephesians 6:12. The secret to ruining satan’s ploy is to use your best weapons – faith and humility. Always start with repentance. Fall on your face before the Lord and thank Him for saving you and delivering you and setting you free. Meanwhile, I don’t care who did or said what – be the first to repent. 

“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds.”1 Corinthians 10:4. Saying what the bible says is not enough. Stand on it while the STUFF is happening and refuse to yield. Start using your hope that Jesus is Who He says He is and He did what He did for you. Our faith in His truthfulness and goodness is a mighty weapon.

Everything that happens to us is about learning to use our faith. At the same time, we still have the unfortunate option to lean on our own understanding in this world. That’s a human knowledge issue. BUT we need to use spiritual weapons to fight spiritual battles. Most of the time ordinary people think they are irrelevant they think that they don’t count, their contribution is not needed. This world does not authenticate others unless they are powerful, rich, handsome or clever. Sadly this world knows nothing of God’s ways!

“But God has selected [for His purpose] the foolish things of the world to shame the wise [revealing their ignorance], and God has selected [for His purpose] the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong [revealing their frailty].“ 1 Corinthians 1:27. 

satan will use any ploy he can to keep us from standing UP in our God-given places. Hold onto tightly to what you know about the Lord. No matter what your circumstances look like. Remember that Jesus modelled what God thinks about you – it’s in the book. Go after understanding, insight and wisdom … and… continually learn to live out and use your faith. IT IS A SHIELD. Our faith is always needed – NOW! 👋🏻

P 2302 Jesus is wholehearted.

/ DVH

By that I mean that He is not half-hearted about anything, and He is especially passionate about us. So much so ‘that Jesus ever lives to intercede for us.’ The bible also says this about our Heavenly Father:  “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with Whom can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning.”James 1:17 He is Who He says He is – He can’t be any other way – HIS LOVING NATURE IS FIXED.

Our God does not have any secret unpleasant agendas. He is not hiding behind some curtain or or in some doorway waiting to jump out and say: ‘AHA! I’ve got you now. I caught you! I’ve got you dead to rights!’  Fat chance. That is just not Who He is. Even though the bible tells us ‘that Jesus Himself knew what was in the hearts of men’ – YET – He still chose to come and save us all anyway! 

So when Christ tells us to:“… love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.”Luke 6:35 NIV.

— we can instantly see that He is not just whistling ‘Dixie.’ He means what He says, because He did it first … That means it can be done …! Jesus was a human being just like us – He simply lived His life connected to the Holy Spirit. He was surrounded by people who misunderstood Him and hated Him … unto death. And some of them were His friends!! He knows about cost personally, and in order for us to effectively follow Him, we will have to go down the same roads of total surrender and relinquishment He walked down.

It is imperative that we remember that Father God did not spare His only Son, Jesus Christ. So all the whinging, whining, squalling, complaining and bawling we can turn on, will not exempt us from trial and trouble. By all means ‘ask and keep on asking’ etc. but remember that our goals may seem godly to us, but they can also be self-serving… all at the same time! Pruning away stuff in our lives we don’t need is painful — however purifying our motivations can be revolutionary and revelatory. At the same time we need to cultivate a firm trust in Him and act according to His Word. We cannot afford to give in to inactivity and doubt.

Doubt, you will remember, leads to double-mindedness. Thoughts like: ’Is this God? IF He’s a good God, why would  He hurt me?’  Our feelings and logic cannot be trusted when it comes to knowing God. What does His BOOK say? We need more than a passing acquaintance with the bible. At any unclear moment I ask for WISDOM. “ If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, Who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” James 1:5. It’s hardly rocket science. 😶 Unfortunately we can’t expect to follow Him without bumping in to our own unredeemed selves, as well as other people’s agendas… therein lies most of our conflicts.

There have been times in my life when Father God has surprised me with ‘more than I had ever hoped or dreamed’ and other times when He does something so wonderfully and gloriously sneaky, I have no words left. I usually get the giggles instead. Because He has not just surprised me – He has delighted me as well. Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself also in the LORD and He shall give you the desires of your heart.” 

Pastor Chuck Swindoll says this: ‘God is full of surprises. But it takes a sensitive spirit to see them, to be jolted by them. Too many Christians are lulled into languor. Some can warble all the Christian songs, recite all the right Bible verses, and quote this preacher and that teacher, but their Christian lives, down deep inside, are jaded. Are you in that condition? When that happens, you become calloused and insensitive, and you’re in for a life of boredom and mediocrity. How tragic for that to happen! The walk of faith is designed to be a walk of adventure, filled with periodic and delightful surprises.’

My sentiments exactly. Jesus is passionate – that’s what we are aiming at too.  Bye.👋🏻

P 2288 HIS righteousness.

/ DVH

“Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and HIS righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.” Matthew 6:33. Going after, and relying upon our own righteousness is a waste of our time, plus this life we have been given – which is why works will never get us anywhere. Our works need to come from faith, from the Holy Spirit’s leading, not from our own hopes, dreams, or clever ideas. GOD IS LOOKING FOR OUR FAITH IN HIS ABILITY TO LEAD US through this life – minute by minute. Just like He led Abraham a-n-d … everyone else in His book!

Jesus Christ suffered and died to give us HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, His position before His Father. This blessing freely belongs to all of us but we can too easily ignore this incredible sacrificial gift by living what I call a divided life. A divided life views this life we have now, as our time – it only looks at what the Lord wants for us, for our own gain, not HIS. A person living this way has not fully comprehended the value and cost of what we’ve been given.  

Our Heavenly Father now views us the same way He viewed His Precious Son. But we can eliminate ourselves from this faith walk by using our own understanding, and not taking the time we’ve been given to treasure and go after what He has told us we are here to do. Our God dearly wants to protect us from many, many difficulties – but … not all of the blows this life throws at us. Some things are permitted, they prune things from our lives that are irrelevant, to shape us into His Son’s likeness. 

“He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.”  John 15:2. We must get it fixed firmly in our minds and hearts ‘that His Ways are not our ways.’ Expecting God’s ways to make sense to our finite minds is simply unrealistic. Without the Holy Spirit’s revelation and enlightenment, human beings can fall prey to disobedience, pride and gathering knowledge. Human beings like systems. ‘If I do this, then that happens…’ 

If we think about those words carefully, we can see that ‘I’ am still in charge. HE wants to be in charge of every single thing in our lives because He has a plan for our good, for each one of us. But when we go through this life with our preconceived ideas – plus the things we have embraced because we have been taught them – and leave out relationship, we can’t step into the place Jesus Christ died to give us. 

Righteousness is a position we can readily occupy with God. It’s ours. Christ gave it to us with all that He did on mankind’s behalf.  When we occupy this position, striving goes out the window and true relationship comes in! Jesus modelled this way to live for us in His life and ministry. All He cared about was doing His Father’s will.  There was no room for any other earthly agenda. Every single time something came up to drag Him away from His God-appointed purpose He rebuked it!  You can check it out for yourself. 

His purity of purpose within His relationship with His Father was essential – BUT! all of this happened under a huge banner of love … not works, or even destiny. Jesus Christ loved His Father, and us, so much, He did what He did in joyous anticipation of our restoration to our Heavenly Father and our total redemption.  IT WAS HIS SOLE PASSION! When we read the bible with that in mind, it ceases to be a book of mere instructions and becomes a living thing. Deftly shaping us all into a bride worthy of our Saviour King. The Word of God cuts away anything that spoils our growth and fruit production. 

We have been tricked too many times by our own appetites. and needs. into living this new life that we were giv-en – in a half-hearted fashion. I believe our greatest mistake is to put ambition for God’s ways and ushering in His kingdom, ahead of our own passionate response to our beloved bridegroom.  Nothing substitutes for that. We must not put aside our eternal destiny for immediate gratification! Christ gave us HIS robes of righteousness for us to wear here and now. We wear them by faith, in purity, embracing our earthly lives as a gift to be sown into His purposes.

Isaiah 61:10ESV “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation; He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks Himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.” 🙌

P 2271 Our God does not say ‘WHOOPS.’

/ DVH

He doesn’t even think it. Let’s look in the book shall we? “He offers a resting place for me in His luxurious love. His tracks take me to an oasis of peace near the quiet brook of bliss. That’s where He restores and revives my life. He opens before me the right path and leads me along in His footsteps of righteousness so that I can bring honour to His name. 

Even when Your path takes me through the valley of deepest darkness, fear will never conquer me, for You already have! Your authority is my strength and my peace. The comfort of Your love takes away my fear. I’ll never be lonely, for You are near. You become my delicious feast even when my enemies dare to fight.

You anoint me with the fragrance of Your Holy Spirit; You give me all I can drink of You until my cup overflows. So why would I fear the future? Only goodness and tender love pursue me all the days of my life. Then afterward, when my life is through, I’ll return to Your glorious Presence to be forever with You!” Psalms 23:2-6 TPT 

I suggest that we put aside whether the Passion Translation is a proper translation or not… and just jump into these words, and sit in them like it’s a nice hot bath tub full of bubbles. 🛁 We dare not look at the Bible just for instructions or correction – there are times when we need to soak in the meaning of His words.  So here’s what I think, jump on in today and enjoy. 

Our Heavenly Father’s words toward mankind are thoughts and plans to give us hope and a future. The most important thing we can do is to remember, God has a purpose in everything. However every time we see a negative purpose in what the Lord is doing, we are taking a club and battering our faith all around the edges. Our Heavenly Father is where all goodness comes from, He doesn’t do bad. Right now, this particular plump chicken is in a meadow of His choosing, sitting down. He led me here via my recent staircase accident. Sometimes I get so busy trying to make my life have meaning, I forgot my life already has meaning … I AM HIS! 

It is important that some facts about our Heavenly Father’s personage and character are clearly established in our minds. God is good and He is for us. There is no ‘but’ in that sentence! Jesus Christ came and died to give us a place in His Father’s heart, His love is toward mankind – there is no race, colour, creed, or age, or state of health that will exempt us from the blessing of enjoying His love – only our own choices nullify that.            

“He offers a resting place for me in His luxurious love…. That’s where He restores and revives my life…” When we forget how kind the Lord, we end up doing the next thing, one foot after the other, and we can easily lose our focus on His everlasting goodness. If our enemy cannot get us to sin, and focus on that, creating distance from God – then he will do his best to distract us with circumstances. The thing to do is to hold fast to His goodness – it is almost like a central pole in a giant marquee that holds everything up.

The Lord does not ever say, “Whoops”, because unlike you or I, He doesn’t make mistakes. People are God’s crowning achievement … you are not a mistake. Every single aspect of our lives is under His gaze. If we sin, He knows the way out. If we get lost we just have to yell ‘help’ and He will come and find us. Remember that story about the lost sheep? He only means us good. So we can say with confidence, no matter how it ‘looks’ – His love, His patience and all those other wonderful things described in 1 Corinthians 13 are always coming toward us like waves on a seashore. 

Sometimes the very best thing we can do is to rest in those words. Nothing in our lives is meaningless. If we continually keep ourselves too busy, then we will miss out on the little wells of silence and comfort that are given to us so we can face the next barrage that comes at us. He does not say ‘Whoops’ because everything about us is under His jurisdiction, protection and gaze. Bye 👋🏻.

P 2258 So many denominations

/ DVH

Yeah, let’s established first up, on this blog you have one older lady’s opinion … right? I’m not a theologian, I haven’t been to bible school, I simply met Jesus Christ eons ago, and I’ve been following Him ever since. IF I know anything at all – HE taught me. Sadly there were some times that I ignored Him in favour of what my denomination taught me,  and yes I’ve repented! My point is, my opinions are limited.

I saw the above cartoon and I loved it. It seemed to me that it was the best explanation for why there are so many Christian denominations in this world. We are all looking at the same thing, we are just standing in different places. Please forgive me for intimating our Heavenly Father is like an elephant, that is not what I am trying to say! I am commenting on the fact that we all have so many different doctrines.

Some denominations even have sub-denominations! 😳 It also seems if you are in a denomination and want to make a splash, then you can skive off and start your own. Especially if what you believe seems important enough. That’s like expecting our arm to work by itself. Can’t happen! The Body of Christ is fragmented by its belief systems.  

The best I can offer by way of explanation is this – even if you have only two people you will still have a whole heap of different opinions. BTW, that could be why some marriages don’t work – people fall in love, but they don’t share the same basic beliefs and opinions. It’s the nitty gritty stuff that divides us, and “true love” often blinds us all! Well that was free! Moo-ving on …

… The fact is Almighty God is too big, too wise, too wonderful to be explained by any, or all of us. He is so much bigger than we have allowed Him to be. We are not acquainted with the fact that we don’t have to understand Him to relate to Him. And we don’t have to think like Him to explain Him – I suggest we let Him explain Himself. He’s so big He can say one thing to one person and something else to someone else. And both things are true. We must return to the place of wonder. It’s OK to not know stuff – instead let’s just fall in love with the God Who made it all.

If we think we can explain Him, no matter how clever we are, or how many words we take to do it, we are fooling ourselves. A truly wise person lets God explain Himself. And that’s called revelation. “We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing Him directly just as He knows us!” 1 Corinthians 13:12.

We need to be in a relationship with Him, and treasure His Presence far more than we need to understand how He thinks. People grab at this thing and that thing and think … “Aha! I finally have the Answer.” Denominations occur when we start trying to explain God. Even though some of those explanations or revelations are fantastic … but those things are not all there is. As soon as we think we have some sort of basic idea that sums up Almighty God – we just limited Him. We keep trying to fit  Almighty God into our teeny tiny boxes, and because He truly IS God, He will burst out of them!

We don’t have to prove Him. Let Him prove Himself! I don’t have to prove the sun is out when it is daytime or nighttime. Even if it is raining or cloudy – the SUN is still there. I just need to position myself into a place where I can see beyond my earthly restrictions. Like board a plane, or climb up above the clouds. Our position before Him is what matters, and to stand in the right place we need to realise that He is God and we are not. It is OK to have a Daddy Who knows more than we do. 

God forgave us all. He does not see the restrictions and boundaries and doctrines the way we see them – He sees people. And He loves them. Read the book! It is all about God relating to His people. Because of Jesus Christ, we are all now His people. No matter what denomination we belong to. We waste our time on this earth fighting, or abusing one another over things that won’t last. Father God does not care what colour skin we have, what sort of accent we have, what we believe – or not, HE JUST LOVES HIS KIDS. It’s in the book.

He’s so glorious He loves the people who actively hate Him. Imagine that. Not just loving your enemies, but deliberately actioning a plan to save them from themselves and then sacrificing Your only Son to provide the way to do it. That blows my mind. Let’s just agree that we don’t have to understand Him to love Him back. They will know we are Christians by our love … not by our denomination. Bye. 👋🏻

P 2253 One step at a time.

/ DVH

Our God is overwhelmingly limitless … so we must never limit what He is able to do with one person who is prepared to live their life for Jesus’ sake!  I love the Old Testament, there are huge glimpses of Almighty God’s Personhood for those who take the time to look.

Take the book of Job – he was a happy man. Then God and satan had a word war over what was the source of Job’s happiness. Job lost everything he owned, plus his wife, kids and friends! Then God did an amazing thing – He showed Job the difference between man’s wisdom and HIS. Almighty God shifted Job’s reliance over to Himself, and He made Job’s faith even deeper by revealing Himself. One step at a time.

Moses was a murderer. He ran away from his destiny as Pharaoh’s adopted son. Instead he was living a happy, quiet life, looking after his father-in-law’s sheep … when God confronted him. Through Moses we see how God handles perceived problems, situations and people. We get insight into His Ways. Our God moved that man from shepherding sheep, to boldly confronting Pharaoh and demanding that he let his Israelite slaves go. Moses followed the Lord’s instructions … one step at a time.

Gideon was another ordinary man, living an ordinary little life. He was hiding grain from the multitude known as the Midianites. The conversations that Gideon had with an angel the Lord sent, show us the way Almighty God takes into account our character, our weaknesses. The Midianites stomped all over the Jewish people, they stole everything that wasn’t nailed down, but God used an ordinary fellow to defeat the very people who oppressed them. One step at a time – that’s how the Lord taught Gideon. 

Peter, Andrew, James, and John were simple fishermen. But their Heavenly Father had other plans. One day an itinerant Teacher turned up and told them to follow Him, so they did. They saw more in their lifetimes than they ever imagined they could. God gave them a commission they couldn’t turn down, and they followed it – one step at a time.

Stephen in Acts, was Greek. He waited on tables, looking after widows and orphans, then God made him a deacon. He taught others about Christ, by what he did and said. Then he was arrested, and ended up preaching the gospel, going from Moses to Jesus in front of all the religious leaders of that day. A brilliant sermon. They promptly hated every word he said – and even as he lay dying, surrounded by their rocks, he pointed to their Messiah. He did all this … one step at a time.

Paul was killing Christians when God knocked him to the ground and made him blind. Truth be told, that man was already blind, spiritually! And Almighty God just let his outsides match his insides for a few days. However Paul was irrevocably changed by that encounter. He went into God’s private bible school – the accelerated course – for three years, and then he trundled all over the known world. He also spent time in jail on and off, and he wrote letters that are still changing our world. One step at a time.

I could go on and on – Mary was simply a devoted peasant girl. She had ordinary plans for her life, and Almighty God interrupted them with His own plans to bring His Son into this world. Esther was the town pretty girl, and God had plans to make her a queen so she could save her nation. Ruth was a widow, and so was her mother-in-law – yet God made her one of Jesus direct fore-bearers. Ordinary people living ordinary lives until an extraordinary limitless God transformed them all into sign-posts, keys, and examples of what His Grace can do with an ordinary life – one step at a time.

My point today is this: … what does He want to do with your life?? We will never know our real purpose for being here in this world, outside of His plans. Our lives may be ordinary and hidden – but when we read the Old and the New Testament, these people who went before us, are a blazing flashing neon sign in the sky that our God can do anything …if we will just follow Him … one step at a time. When we follow Jesus we don’t arrive, we begin a journey … one step at a time.

Will you let Him use you? It is highly unlikely that most of us will have a book written about our God-given exploits – but I believe, in heaven, there are books and books and books. Why? Because the things we do down here, are the things of faith, and they point to Jesus, just as surely as Job, Moses, Gideon, Paul, Peter, Andrew, James, John, Stephen, Mary, Esther and Ruth’s faith steps did… one step at a time. 👋🏻 

P 2247 Our generosity needs to abound.

/ DVH

In the Lord’s family, as His kids we need to be hallmarked by our generosity to others. Both those who deserve it and, yes … even to those who don’t! Judgment is not part of our new creation in Christ make-up – we left that on the cross. We need to be givers in the way we think, and what we give is not as important as our attitude toward giving. Our first response needs to be: “How can I pray? How can I help? What do they need?”

If we want to be like our Heavenly Father, our elder Brother Jesus, and the Precious Holy Spirit we must be sincere, generous givers. “God so loved HE GAVE …” Giving is Love’s expression! And if you don’t find it easy to give sincerely, then please don’t just give up and excuse yourself by saying … “God didn’t make me that way (!)…” And please don’t say that’s your personality type! “Ask and keep on asking …”  for it. Pray to give with an open hand and an open heart. I think we can so-oo misuse that asking prayer Jesus gave us. 

You know that particular verse is not just about asking for things … it’s also for the Godly traits we can see we lack! Ya might wanna selah that for a minute or two!  🤔 Jesus Himself gave humanity every minute of His spare time. When He was not talking to His Heavenly Father. He gave Himself to US.  Others – that’s our theme. The Holy Spirit has been given to us to help us with the practicalities. Like I said, this stuff is worth thinking about and acting on. 

Givers don’t have to think … how much? They ask the Holy Spirit … ‘how can I help, what do these people need?’ They are not worried about their own supply, because walking with the Lord has taught them that everything they need will come from Him. This life we live as Christians is about faith. Giving generously to others teaches us about faith in ways we cannot imagine. We will never live in lack when we realise that God really does supply all our needs.

And if we don’t have it, then we don’t need it!  I am not BTW talking about giving away everything you own and sitting on the curb! Although Heidi and Rolland Baker did that and found out firsthand that God has an endless supply. Now they live in His house not theirs – rice and beans may not seem like a meal fit for a king but it is nutritionally sound and they feed thousands daily. God Himself supplies that need – miraculously. 

Many Christians want to see miracles, and here’s what I’ve learnt personally – start out by being a giver. God loves givers because giving is a reflection of His nature. Be someone who actively looks for ways to bless other people. It doesn’t have to be always about money, it can be time, or service, or words of encouragement. Just actively find ways to be a blessing. Meanwhile, a free bit of advice, take the time to choose your words carefully – we can all give people the benefit of the doubt when they do something dumb. 

Last weekend our immediate family came around to our house to help hubby with the garden because at the moment, he only has one active hand – the other one is still in recovery mode. They worked like busy little bunnies making sure some very hard jobs were done. This is how you show other people that they matter, to God and you. Most people can say ‘I love you’ fairly easily – it’s doing ‘I love you’ that’s hard!

Everywhere we go, when we are on the road, people say to us: ‘We didn’t know God cared this much about us.’  Giving is His way to live this life we’ve been given. Unfortunately, dismissing other people’s needs, and their hopeless situations will harden our hearts. When that happens it get’s easy to think: ‘Someone else better equipped than I am will get that ‘- then you think: ‘I don’t have enough for my own needs’ … and then you think: … ‘well it’s really not my business anyway – those people should live more carefully.’ Aren’t there agencies to help them or something? Then finally you think: “I have my own family to look after.” Tada! One hard heart coming up. 

None of those excuses are illegitimate by themselves, but they are what I called them …excuses. Ask yourself, why do I have to make excuses about stuff like that?  Who do I really trust when it comes to money?  God, or my own ability to earn or save. Jesus reminded us that our Heavenly Father feeds the birds. Here is my final thought: the poor do not want our mangey old cast-offs anymore than we do! Please be a generous giver. Bless people. I promise you, it’s all over the bible. 👋🏻