Help

P 2444 You can never have too much wrapping paper!

/ DVH

1 Peter 4:8-11 MSG “…Be generous with the different things God gave you, passing them around so all get in on it: if words, let it be God’s words; if help, let it be God’s hearty help. That way, God’s bright Presence will be evident in everything through Jesus, and He’ll get all the credit as the One mighty in everything—encores to the end of time. Oh, yes!”

My precious mother-in-law used to love to hoard non-perishable items. As she has aged and become less mobile she can’t do that anymore – but boy did she have fun back way back when! She once opened up a cupboard up at her house so I could see inside it, and it was filled to the brim with large packets of toilet paper. There must have been at least 30 large packets stacked neatly inside. As there were only two people in the house at the time, I was kind of astonished. “It was on special,” she said, cheerfully … as if that explained everything!

At the same time she also collected enough Christmas wrapping paper to supply a major chain store … “It’s cheap after Christmas,” she said giggling. All of this hoarding was, of course, meant to be a big secret from my father-in-law … but I strongly suspect that he knew. We could not go to their house without collecting more toilet paper and Christmas wrapping paper than we could fit into our luggage on the return trip home! Somehow, the fact that she thought it was a secret that she successfully hid from her husband, made the whole thing so much more fun.

At the same time, my father-in-law’s favourite gift to his son was undies, and sometimes shoes. We have had some adventures with that stuff too. In the end my hubby had to tell his dad that he didn’t wear spiderman undies anymore – like the ones he wore when he was 10!  So his dad was wasting his money. That raised some eyebrows, because Chinese parents are extremely old fashioned in their taste and my hubby is not!  In the same vein, my father-in-law also occasionally sends hubby a pair of his own very expensive shoes, comfy ones, that he has only worn once or twice. I gather when you come through a war, as they had in Singapore, it makes you very frugal …

…Meanwhile, my own mother was always trying to give me her old clothes. That went on for years, because she was sick of them, but apparently they still had “wear” in them. I was sorely tempted to walk about saying ‘Lifeline’ and ‘St Vincent de Paul’ a lot! The fact that there is 20 years difference in our ages – and taste (!) didn’t seem to matter much to her. In the end, I had to go right past “I’m insulted” to “She’s just being generous and hates waste.” 😂 There could sometimes be a very very long journey between those two emotions, and those times were fraught with a whole lotta angst! 

Now let’s go back to my father-in-law’s almost new, hardly worn shoes.They started an adventure. The Lord told us to take this pair of very expensive shoes with us as we set out on one of our trips. … they were Rockports, BTW. So we stuffed them in the leg space under the back seat and wondered what God was up to now!  We asked Him to point out the new owner when we met them. It transpired that the Lord had His gracious loving eye on a very tall sparrow in a tiny place called Inglewood. In the end, would you believe, those shoes went to a man we briefly met at a cafe as we were passing through?

Incredibly, they were his favorite colour and his exact size! Plus he had prayed in desperation and asked God for a new pair of Rockport shoes for his work, just the night before, because his old ones were falling off his feet! Trust me, you can’t easily buy that kind of specialist shoe in outback Queensland! The man gave his life to the Lord on the spot – he was so excited to meet a God Who answers that kind of prayer. When we thought about it later, we gave almost new shoes that had been previously owned by a Chinese man in Melbourne, to a Middle Eastern man in outback Queensland!!  Go figure!

We will never know where generosity will take us or what it will teach us. Until I read the above verse today I had no idea that God actually approves of this kind of recycling of clothes and goods. All our individual parents were doing, apparently, was obeying the word of God. Who knew? NOT ME! They were just being God’s ‘hearty helpers.’ Then the Holy Spirit kissed the whole thing by leading someone else to Jesus.🙌

The semi-illicit Christmas wrapping paper and copious toilet paper rolls have long since run out, and we no longer get spiderman undies through the mail … praise the Lord! My father-in-law’s old shoes still occasionally turn up via the postman, but the last pair were just perfect for hubby’s very sore feet. 🙌  However the lessons learnt will not quickly fade. Our God loves us to share and be generous with whatever we have at hand. Meanwhile, maybe our parents aren’t trying to interfere. Maybe they too are just trying to be hearty helpers. Bye. 👋🏻

P 2418 His Grace is an Ocean.

/ DVH

When I think about the ocean I think about its vastness, wave upon wave, large and small, finding its way to the shore. Consistent. Inevitable. Endless and constant. Plus great POWER!! God’s Grace is like that ocean. Today I want to look at the parallels between an ocean and what freedom from our sin means. In my illustration WE are the shore. We are the recipients of this incredible ocean of Grace that just won’t quit  … it just keeps flowing and flowing toward us.

Wave after wave, after wave. Endlessly flowing toward, and into, and through … our little insignificant lives. It does not pause, falter or cease. Sometimes His Grace even pounds upon our lives like the ocean on a stormy night, and sometimes it is barely the tiniest ripple. In and out, in and out. God’s Grace is like that. Have you ever sat and watched the little waves creeping their way to their tide-appointed spot? Mesmerising isn’t it? Maybe you’ve watched the land take a thorough thumping from bigger waves. They can be so powerful and seem so tall. Grace is like that too. Powerful and always there. Big or small – always available. 

Those waves we’ve both watched, take the most minute pause as they reach their zenith, then they start to drain away through the soft sand. For us, in those vulnerable moments before we decide to let our deceitful desires overcome us – Grace is available to us, so we can resist whatever it is that is trying to distract us from our purpose. OUR PURPOSE IS TO LOVE AND BLESS OTHERS WITH HIS LOVE. In and out, like the waves hitting the sand.

Everything we need is there for us in Him, as we use our faith, step out and change our destiny. One shaky step at a time. The Holy Spirit says to you or I: ”Look at Me. I’m here for you. Don’t say that mean thing you want to say right now. Take a breath, wait.” And just like that, His little Grace-wave kisses us. The Holy Spirit waits for us to accept it, like the sand receives the sea water, and suddenly we taste freedom from the sin that can so easily catch us. 

We can pray “help help” if we are overcome with intense emotions, or we can plant our feet and say to ourselves: “I have nothing to prove, God loves me.”  And then we say no to temptation, whatever it is. Just like the waves that relentlessly wash up on the shore, His Grace knocks at the door of our hearts and says: “Let Me help you.” Then the choice becomes ours. Suddenly we are confronted with what we really want – we need and want Him! I want to exhort everyone to treat God’s Grace, respectfully, not carelessly or dismissively. It is the power of God that brought Jesus Christ out of the GRAVE. It ain’t feeble and it ain’t nothin’! And you and I can never be too hard for it to deliver us.

Jesus Christ did not intend for us to live this life alone, because He knows, first-hand, how hard it is to be human. He overcame the enemy by placing His faith on the Rock of God’s Word in His time of trial. Let’s not kid ourselves, resisting some temptations is difficult. Some of the dumb stuff we fight daily we have been actively cultivating, or inwardly ignoring for years. But instead of focussing on the sin – which can easily overcome us – focus on that ocean of Grace. Every wave of Grace coming toward us is Jesus shouting: “I love you! I won!” 

What did He win? OUR RIGHT TO CHOOSE. The power to choose was loosed by God’s Grace, when it was released toward us, at Calvary. And it is so wide, so deep, so vast that our enemy can only win if we let him. Our choices matter. The enemy can make things seem trivial and petty, but the truth is, our battles to stay with Jesus, in His Presence, are won in the everyday skirmishes we face. However, even if we fail, there is redemption in His ocean of Grace.

The secret to living an overcoming life is to focus on the One Who overcame everything … not the problem. Jesus said in ‘2 Corinthians 12:9–10. … “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” We need to admit our weakness to Him, and ask for His strength. Then we take that faith step, whether we feel like it or not. Pause, and remind yourself about the amount of power there is in the ocean – that is what is coming toward you and I, to help us.

If we want to, we can swim and live out our lives in His ocean, where there is no right or wrong there is only GRACE. Grace doesn’t hold a grudge .. it pays no attention to a suffered wrong. You can’t easily live this way AND I can’t do either. But the power to overcome whatever it is that shoves in on you and grabs your attention away from Him – is in that endless ocean of Grace. Give up. Give in, and give it all to Him and let it float away on that ocean. Don’t let anything take your gaze away from the Saviour. Bye. 👋🏻

P 2405 Without God it’s impossible!

/ DVH

““I tell you, love your enemies. Help and give without expecting a return. You’ll never—I promise—regret it. Live out this God-created identity the way our Father lives toward us, generously and graciously, even when we’re at our worst. Our Father is kind; you be kind.” Luke 6:35 MSG.

Yup! Loving our enemies is impossible without the Holy Spirit’s assistance … His help. BUT, at the same time, we need to remember, the Holy Spirit knows the way through anything. Time and time again hubby and I have watched the Lord get us out of some disaster, scrape or hard time. Some of the time that stuff was absolutely our fault – we went the wrong way, said something stupid, or missed an opportunity. Some of it was just life! It happens!! We have learnt through personal experience, that the Lord can turn anything around. Some things might take longer than others, but we both know He will do it.

“…a man’s worst enemies will be right in his own home!” Matthew 10:36. Are you cheered up yet? Me neither. ☹️ However the truth of that remark has not escaped me. Even our families and friends won’t always get the way you and I are choosing to live. Many times I have had a family member tell me in a caring way: “You don’t have to be that serious about what you believe.” My inward response is … in a pig’s-eye I don’t!  Anything less than that kind of commitment and I will end up like that Simon and Garfunkel song …”Slip sliding away…”

So here’s a more comprehensive version of the above scripture from the Message bible: “Don’t think I’ve come to make life cozy. I’ve come to cut—make a sharp knife-cut between son and father, daughter and mother, bride and mother-in-law—cut through these cozy domestic arrangements and free you for God. Well-meaning family members can be your worst enemies. If you prefer father or mother over Me, you don’t deserve Me. If you prefer son or daughter over Me, you don’t deserve Me.”Yeah that one is definitely a down-a-later.  My first and only warning about that version is this — don’t even start looking for the people in your family who may turn out to be your enemies. In this case … ignorance is bliss! 

So how does this stuff track out? How do we know how to handle things? Family members may say they want this or that for your own good. But under that lovely phrase is a clue that they too, have an agenda. They think if you become a missionary to Afghanistan some bad guy is gunna get you, and if that happens it will cause everyone pain… including them. Even Christ’s family members opposed Him and made it harder for Him to do God’s will …EG His mother and His brothers …read the book!

The following remark is an awful thing, but it is totally true, we don’t know what we don’t know about ourselves, and others — until we are tested. Meanwhile our family/enemies may not want to kill us, maybe they just want to control us … for our own good. Sadly the spirit of control will take us immediately out of the realm of faith. Our God will not share His servants with anyone.

Now back to the meat of my subject, love your enemies. I rejoice that the Lord has given us this kind of stuff to do because it is impossible. The natural thing to do with someone who doesn’t like you… is avoid them! However, everything is possible with Him. So right away, when this happens we have an opportunity to grow our faith. But first you need to ask Him for His guidance, read the book, then listen to His prompting and after that you literally follow the prompts.

BTW I’ve noticed that a selfless attitude won’t fall on us – we have to submit to the Lord, then the enemy will flee. Unlike the Israelites with their enemy encounters, our enemies rarely have armour on or rush at us, so they are more likely to sneak up on us. 

Personally I just think it is best to treat everyone the same. Love them all. That works for me! Sorting out people into categories and picking out which one hates me sounds like a very negative pastime. So I think doing good to those who despitefully use us can be applied across the board. In my experience sooner or later even the people we love appear to be enemies temporarily! It’s the response bit that matters, not identifying the wrong-uns. That road leads to judgment.

We are responsible for our own reactions, and at the same time that means we need to acknowledge when we are utterly wrong and out of God’s order, and repent and repair wherever we can. We need His help because without His help loving our enemies is impossible. 👋🏻 

P 2392 Words can build and heal.

/ DVH

“And never let ugly or hateful words come from your mouth, but instead let your words become beautiful gifts that encourage others; do this by speaking words of grace to help them. The Holy Spirit of God has sealed you in Jesus Christ until you experience your full salvation. So never grieve the Spirit of God or take for granted His holy influence in your life. Lay aside bitter words, temper tantrums, revenge, profanity, and insults. But instead be kind and affectionate toward one another. Has God graciously forgiven you? Then graciously forgive one another in the depths of Christ’s love.” Ephesians 4:29-32 TPT.

Man this is a scripture that can change lives. I love the way the bible gives us such clear instructions. That word ‘let’ is huge. It is surrounded by a whole lot of other words, but I think everything in this passage hinges on ‘let’ – ‘allow.’ It is much too easy to allow things that do not help us in our Christian life. It is that sort of self-permission, often carelessly or thoughtlessly given, that steers our main focus away from the One we love best. And suddenly we are in the middle of a virtual freeway with cars and trucks coming at us, (other people’s angry words), wondering how we got there.

Often one small decision to let someone have it … opens doors to a flood of disobedience that changes not just our day but our lives. ‘Permission to speak sir,’ is often used in the Armed forces – in my mind’s eye I need to ask the Lord that all the time! You know, I can’t count the times when one word has sent me down a plug hole! Sadly a word out of place can do immeasurable damage. To both parties. Words can seem harmless but James 3:5 (NIV) says: “Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.”  That’s proof that James understood what he was on about eh?

Here are some interesting verses that further diagnose the problem. “But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.” James 3:8 NKJV ”Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Ephesians 4:29 from the ESV this time. What we allow out of our mouths governs our ability to bless others with our words. Our speech is intended to spread Grace, to build one another up, not to hobble each another, or throw thunking great rocks, either! Words are powerful, and because we know and follow Him, there is great power in our words!

For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit;” 1 Peter 3:10 ESV“Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” Colossians 4:6 ESV. That little word let, is easily passed over, but there is such a wealth of power in it! Well-flavoured speech needs both guidance and obedience. The best way to season what we say is to know the bible well enough to quote it, to yourself and someone else and then we bear in mind what it says when we open our mouth.

Speaking personally, it is my ever-present opinions that often shoot me in the foot.  At the time I know it is unwise to say something, but I let the circumstances;  or feeling provoked, or hurt;  or even pain;  take that guard off my lips and then I let fly. “I’m sorry” afterwards seems so shallow. Still, “I am so sorry, please forgive me” are the best words of reconciliation we have. Words can heal. Especially if they are followed up by appropriate actions! ‘I’m sorry please forgive me’ is hot air without follow up. Repentance produces fruit. Fruit may take some time, but you can see it growing and developing!!

I have also found that words give me opportunities to humble myself.  Actually it is usually somebody else’s words that give me that opportunity! The ability to say nothing unless you are speaking blessing, is vastly underrated. But opportunities come with every new day and I am still learning how to ‘lay aside’ stuff that won’t profit anyone. I have learnt to value the power to speak LIFE, and healing, that Christ died to give me. 👋🏻

P 2367 Our experiences with trouble are a cue to revise the way we live.

/ DVH

“We are like common clay jars that carry this glorious treasure within, so that this immeasurable power will be seen as God’s, not ours. Though we experience every kind of pressure, we’re not crushed. At times we don’t know what to do, but quitting is not an option. We are persecuted by others, but God has not forsaken us. We may be knocked down, but not out. We continually share in the death of Jesus in our own bodies so that the resurrection life of Jesus will be revealed through our humanity.”

Boy, these verses seem like my life story neatly expressed and typed out! Sometimes it seems like we lurch from one problem to the next. It’s like someone has been following me around and writing down what goes on. Can I be honest with you? Expecting this life to be like a Disney classic movie is more than optimistic, it is down-right idiotic. Life is full of sinful people, (I are one!), who seem to be getting more selfish by the minute. 

Meanwhile did you notice what it said in the above part of the scripture in 2 Corinthians 4? I bolded it to make it stand out. This life is destined to kill us …UM …Christians! … OFF, bit by bit. One heartache and/or pain after another. The Lord allows it so that people can see Jesus Christ through us. Trouble doesn’t mean we are out of God’s will, trouble means He is giving us an opportunity to let Him shine through us. The deader to self we are, the more He can shine. Now there’s an AIM! Let’s read on …

“We consider living to mean that we are constantly being handed over to death for Jesus’ sake so that the life of Jesus will be revealed through our humanity. So, then, death is at work in us but it releases life in you. We have the same Spirit of faith that is described in the Scriptures when it says, “First I believed, then I spoke in faith.” So we also first believe then speak in faith. We do this because we are convinced that He who raised Jesus will raise us up with Him, and together we will all be brought into His Presence.”

Did you get the bit that says living in Christ is actually MEANT to look like this? This suffering, this sorrow, this tide of disappointment and grief has a point. It is not random or just bad luck! Instead it is a gift to us to disentangle ourselves from striving and straining to make this life work! This means that now we have embraced Christ so thoroughly that His agenda is ours, and what He wants isn’t tacked onto a list of things we already have to do, or things we are supposed to do – in order to maintain our happy little lives. Instead it is the REASON we are all still here.

Have we forgotten that we are the people who have a HOPE? Our job is to spread that hope around. Our greatest sin just might be our SILENCE. We are not still here to have a happy little Disney-fied life and go off happily singing into the sunset. We are here to be His hands and feet in a world that doesn’t know Him yet. We have been given the privilege of showing forth His marvellous light in the midst of this world’s darkness. Ask Him to help you to talk to others about the hope within you, and then SPEAK. Find somebody to help and comfort. Our troubles don’t disqualify us, our trust in Christ qualifies us..

As an example of well carried-out-all-to-common selfishness, I recently watched a person in their 15 minutes of fame, telling a TV crew that they were fine after a 6.8 earthquake devastated Morocco all around them. They had not had one thought that maybe they could go and help those still trapped, because they are there on the spot! Heaven forbid that a catastrophe should spoil their holiday! What about the two thousand people who can’t say the same thing … because they died! Can it possibly be true that the Western world thinks these people in other countries exist for our holiday experiences and amusement? Boy at that moment I sure needed changing – my smacking hand got itchy! We watch disasters on TV,  feel sad, and then go about our own lives like we are not all living on the same planet. We are here to serve others, the bible makes it clear that we are to live this life with eternity in mind.

“….We view our slight, short-lived troubles in the light of eternity. We see our difficulties as the substance that produces for us an eternal, weighty glory far beyond all comparison, because we don’t focus our attention on what is seen but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but the unseen realm is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:7-18 TPT. Focussing on the unseen does not mean we just pray and walk away – that’s when we ask Him: “What would you like me to do about this?”

Where are the mighty ones of God Who see those who are suffering as a personal responsibility? If we are still breathing, then there is still time to change the way we think. It is a choice to let His glory shine through your little life, even if it means sharing someone else’s suffering. 👋🏻

P 2364 Tie your heart into this.

/ DVH

“For this reason the Lord is still waiting to show His favour to you so He can show you His marvellous Love. He waits to be gracious to you. He sits on His throne ready to show mercy to you. For Yahweh is the Lord of justice, faithful to keep His promises. Overwhelmed with bliss are all who will entwine their hearts in Him,waiting for Him to help them.” Isaiah 30:18 TPT.

Here’s a word of wisdom for you: “YOU DON’T HAVE TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM GOD.” He’s a safe person – ergo, you can also trust what He says in His book! Isn’t that scripture above just amazing?  When you take the time to turn off the voice inside your head that says that this is poetic language and not personal, and read it like God Himself is talking to you instead … you will see what I mean. He looks for opportunities to bless us. What’s not to love about SomeOne like that? 

God is waiting to be good to us, He wants to show His favour and mercy, so we can see His love in our own lives, on the spot, not just somewhere out in the future – but right here right now!  I mean WOW! THE God of the Universe and beyond, the God who made people, galaxies, ants, whales and puppy dog tails, can’t wait to be good to us! Imagine that. Let’s just leave that ‘out ‘ there and think on it for a bit. I dunno about you, but thinking like that always makes me happy …

Did you read the condition that is attached to these most excellent promises? ‘entwine their hearts in Him, WAITING for Him to help them.’ (OK, OK – I’m about to do an — I told you so!! I told you that waiting can sometimes be a part of the deal.) I read this very appropriate scripture from the Amplified version of His book. It is my personal all time favourite version. Hebrews 10:35&36 “Do not, therefore, fling away your [fearless] confidence, for it has a glorious and great reward. For you have need of patient endurance [to bear up under difficult circumstances without compromising], so that when you have carried out the will of God, you may receive and enjoy to the full what is promised.” 

Don’t’cha just love that word … FLING … as in “fling away … “ In a fit of anger, frustration, or even depression we can throw away our confidence in His unchanging, eternal love, just like we would throw away a broken frisbee. These verses are saying – don’t do it!  It reminds me of those cartoons when something disastrous is about to happen and the little man is running, in slow motion, yelling S-T-O-P! Instead of panicking, maybe we need to WAIT.

Have you ever thrown out something and regretted it afterwards? Actually, it seems to me that I’ve thrown out many things only to need them, like… one week later. Ugh! Frustration looms. It’s amazing the things you can keep, thinking that this thing might – save me money, come in handy, be useful for this or that – only to end up with rooms full of little boxes, post bags, blister wrap, etc. – which, BTW you never use! OR … if you do finally find a use, then you can’t find the blasted thing under the pile of the 94 other little boxes etc etc. My point is we need to keep our confidence in Him fresh and handy!

Our confidence in His goodness is meant to sustain us through the times when we are barely treading water and we are desperately holding onto our hope that that little dot on the horizon will turn out to be a boat or a plane and not a shark! That’s when we need to tie our hearts into scriptures like this one in Luke 11:11 …“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him!”

Well, that’s pretty self-explanatory really. The thing is, in the past we tied these verses, and others like them into material things. But verses like this are equally, if not more powerful, when applied to godly concepts. Hey, if you need a new working washing machine then ask away! If your car is grinding more than jump-starting, then ask away … we simply need to remind ourselves that sometimes we have to wait for the good and perfect will of God.

He likes whatever He does to bless a whole lotta people. Everybody around us!! If we are mingy and selfish and want that blessing, right now, just for ourselves, then we might end up waiting a while. In the meantime we probably need to adjust our attitude and with His help – we can! That’s how we tie our hearts into His ways. By letting Him change us! 👋🏻

P 2351 What smells good to God?

/ DVH

“Be imitators of God in everything you do, for then you will represent your Father as His beloved sons and daughters. And continue to walk surrendered to the extravagant love of Christ, for He surrendered His life as a sacrifice for us. His great love for us was pleasing to God, like an aroma of adoration—a sweet healing fragrance.” Ephesians 5:1-2 TPT.

Jesus is our own personal visual aid for our lives here on earth. It is a mistake to think we can serve Him and live the same sort of life that the people around us live. We are not from here anymore – we are travelling through this world representing SomeOne Else, with the Holy Spirit’s help. Our home is elsewhere. Now we have eternal eyes, not just eyes fixed upon the immediate. The thing is, to stay in those places we find challenging and difficult –  we must fix our eyes on Him, not our circumstances.

Walking surrendered to Christ’s extravagant love means no matter what goes on around us, or what happens to us, we must never ever forget we are dearly, over-abundantly, loved. As far as this life is concerned, realistically speaking, it is hard to feel loved, when people are being mean, or you are in pain, or your circumstances have gone awry. But the Cross changed everything. Christ’s freely-given Grace is our ever-present help in times of need. The difficulty is this, we must learn how to fight our enemy for our God-given rights, as well as yielding to the Holy Spirit’s leading. 

There is no room for striving in yielding. We cannot afford to berate ourselves for our dumb remarks and our accidental, or even intentional, lack of response to His Will. Jesus Christ understands humanity – and the Holy Spirit is now with us to continually remind us that we can be our renewed self – with His help. However, we cannot give Grace away if we do not take Grace in!There are times that the way to fight for victory over our circumstances and feelings is to refuse to entertain the thoughts that we are somehow exempt from that GRACE. 

When the day to day earthly realities remain difficult… and God’s goodness comes into question – our resting position is to hold fast to the fact that He is good. Even if we’ve prayed and prayed to no avail, and so have other people, we must learn to stand firm. At the same time we aren’t denying the reality of pain and heartache, rather we face them with the quiet confidence that the Lord has a way through our current circumstances.

I have had many increased physical limitations after those falls I had, now I get very tired. Some nights I barely manage 4-6 hours of very broken sleep. Let’s be clear, I’m still praying, hubby is still praying for me even at 2.00am when I can’t sleep for the pain in my arm. PAIN has a plus, it keeps you honest! Other faithful people are regularly praying for us, including both our families. Yet we are still stuck going round and round. WHY? I dunno but our God is doing something I can’t see …YET! 

I just know that in order to cultivate eternal eyes, I need to deliberately keep my eyes on Him. I know that God is not the Author or the sustainer of my discomfort, but, nevertheless, it is still daunting and exhausting. At these times I have to watch over my feelings and thoughts and focus on the God I know – Who is always good! I can drive myself batty trying to figure out why this has happened or what can I do to escape or … I can yield and wait. 

I have found great comfort in the Psalms because good old King David doesn’t seem to always be cheerful when things go bad for him either. However I cannot recommend the ‘smash them, get them, squish them, kill them all dead … mindset’  he had either. 🤪

Now let’s look at what smells good to God – a life laid down for Jesus’ sake, no matter what our external circumstances look like, and yes, we do that without lying! We need to remember that the Lord God called some things a pleasing aroma. Things like dead burning flesh from cattle, sheep, birds  (Genesis 8:20,21;  Exodus 29 :18;  Leviticus 1:9) —  my conclusion is this —HE DOESN’T LIKE WHAT I LIKE!  My death to self may hurt me, but HE is pleased by it.

Ephesians 5:2 says: ‘Jesus’ death was a pleasing aroma.’ That’s hard to comprehend, but true. If we tell Him “I want to know You more”  then we must remember the journey Christ took – ‘He learned obedience through suffering.’  Hopefully, right now, that is what I am learning too! 👋🏻

P 2346 Be a conduit of comfort for someone else.

/ DVH

“All praises belong to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. For He is the Father of tender mercy and the God of endless comfort. He always comes alongside us to comfort us in every suffering so that we can come alongside those who are in any painful trial. We can bring them this same comfort that God has poured out upon us.” 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 TPT

What comforts you? Seriously. 😶 Do yourself a favour, don’t pretend – be truthful. In your little list of comforting things you could find family, potato chips, hugging your pet/kids, having a proper job, or enough to eat, perhaps somewhere warm to sleep, yummy chocolate, or maybe just a hot drink on a cold. 🤗 First of all I want to say that none of those things I’ve mentioned are inappropriate or wrong but … if you want to be truly comforted inside, where you feel so broken, or even give away true comfort to others – you will need a whole other source. God Himself.

Yeah … I know, Almighty God is kind of hard to get on the phone in a crisis. 😳 Yet it is astonishing how quickly human beings call out for Him when life presses in on us hard. People who say they don’t believe in Him start crying out: ‘God help me!’  We’ve been designed with a need to have God Himself as our primary source of comfort. And, as the scripture says, we will have nothing lasting to give others, that will still their spirits and bring them fresh hope -except God Himself. Whether we believe it, or even feel it, or not – the reality is – we are God’s chosen method to reach out to other people.  Please note the Lord does not push His way into anything – He loves volunteers. 

True comfort is very lacking in our modern world. Instead, the people around us stuff all sorts of things, like excesses of gambling, drugs and alcohol, other religions, even strange relationships, into the deep parts of their hearts hoping to alleviate their pain and ongoing suffering. I’m not going to comment about whether that actually works or not – because today I am talking about US passing on something we have already received from God Himself on to someone else in need. 

It almost goes without saying that the reality is, we have nothing lasting to give if we do not trust our Jehovah Jireh our Provider, as our Source to be there and help us. So how do we do this? We begin by renewing our minds as a priority, so any rumour or innuendo or inaccuracy will start to kind of slide off us, because our first response to something that is a bit ‘off’ is this: ‘I don’t remember reading that stuff in my bible!” And then we go away and check out whatever it is, in the book. And THEN we believe what the book says, above what we think or feel. 

I have seen God comfort someone else with the dumbest, weirdest scriptures. Things that appear to have absolutely no relevance to this person’s situation AT ALL and yet, comfort entered into them immediately. I literally watched it happen. I didn’t even give them the scriptures that the Holy Spirit had used to comfort me in the past. I just did and said what He said and watched Him move.  At that moment, I became a conduit for the Father’s loving comfort to flow through me. 

This is our destiny – yours and mine – to give away what God gives us. Not just good advice or even scriptures we know off by heart – unless the Holy Spirit highlights something in particular to us. Our response comes directly from the One Who used His word to comfort us. These times are also opportunities for us to experience ‘God’s love for me,’ personally. People can get caught up in seeking after experiences, but at times like this a scripture can jump out at us – almost with flashing lights. Just as clearly as a sign flashing in our heads, it dawns on us that God Himself just spoke to us. And that’s comforting. Not only does Almighty God know … He cares and we have proof.  These things become our own personal memorial stones.

Maybe a phone call comes unexpectedly, and a loved one, or a brother or sister in the Lord, has been moved by Him enough to call to see how we are doing. To comfort someone else with that kind of supernatural comfort, all we need to do is pray, listen, and OBEY.  That’s all it takes to make us a Godly conduit of comfort for someone else. 👋🏻

P 2331 Hard times do not mean that God has left us.

/ DVH

Boy, is that sometimes a faith statement!! Hard times however, do st-re-t-ch us, and that is definitely no fun. Growth of any kind is hard work. I remind myself that His Grace is enough. It is astonishing what you can see if you stop focussing on the difficulty and focus on His Grace instead. After my recent accident, my broken humerus has had to grow enough bone to reattach itself to the head of the bone. Imagine that. What an amazing thing, I am literally growing new bone as I type this! At my age!!

I have not been given any medicine or specific treatment to help this healing. Rather I’ve been engaged in physical therapy to teach my muscles they may not lie down and hope for the best. Instead (!) they have to get stronger and support these broken bones. The human body is a miraculous thing, our God gave it all sorts of healing skills. My body, is currently working on healing itself in secret places. Thank you for your prayers, we are so grateful.

Now to my point today, we can become so used to, and adept at, hiding from and avoiding any sort of pain… that we do it without thinking and it eventually that becomes an unconscious lifestyle. There is much more to this life than a defensive posture.Do yourself a favour – take risks – really LIVE! We have His book, filled with stories about other people just like us — how they coped … and how they didn’t. That helps us change our mind and think like Jesus does, and boy, do we need to keep reading it. 

There are also some kinds of pain that are totally unavoidable.  Sigh. These things crash into our lives without our permission, and then they explode. Some things are sent to sidetrack us from our God-given mission and distract us from His purposes. Human beings have very limited energy when they are suffering, but we can use that limited energy to distract ourselves away from the pain. Then we are avoiding transformation, in favour of hiding.

I urge anyone reading this to deliberately ask the Holy Spirit for His help, healing, protection, wisdom and strength when trouble and suffering overtakes you. We don’t have to fix these things, after all they ‘happened’ to us — we just need to deliberately turn our faces to the One Who made us — and stay in that place of need and surrender. For ordinary suffering human beings that is not a fun place to sit! We want action, we want the pain to stop or go away. 

In these times it is incredibly tempting to think that: ‘God doesn’t care about me, or the the stuff that is important to me, and the people I care about,’  simply because things don’t always instantly turn around. Doubt about His love for us can cling to the walls of our heart like a climbing rampant weed and it tries to strangle our faith that He is ALWAYS good and He ALWAYS loves us.These times are opportunities to stand steady, and hold fast to God’s incredible goodness, whether we can see it… or not.

1 Peter 4:12-19 “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed…

… If you suffer, it should not be as a not murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. … …” So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.”

Suffering is not a sign of God’s disfavour, it is simply the result of living in a fallen world, surrounded by imperfect, susceptible human beings and their sometimes corrupt systems. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says: “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”  He hasn’t left us alone to suffer with our anguished thoughts. It’s simply time to do what it the book says.

In times of trial, sorrow and suffering we need to immerse ourselves in His Grace. Let His Grace be your hiding place. at the same time, be forgiving and generous with each other, sharing that Grace that God has given us. Always remembering that hard times are never convenient — they often turn up when we are already worn down by life. If our response utterly depended on us, then we may not be able to come up with the exact desirable attitude … but we know the One Who understands human suffering. The Lord Jesus will not condemn us for being weary in the fight. Cling to Him like a limpet on a rock. 

Hold fast to whatever you can see that is good – you will come through this. Almighty God is totally committed to your victory. He has not left us alone because He promised He would never do that. Keep watching out for what HE IS DOING. Feed your heart on that. 🙏

P 2318 Keep His sap flowing!

/ DVH

… We are the love of His!

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness etc. Another way to say that  is this — the visible fruit of OUR connection with the Holy Spirit is patience, kindness, goodness etc. IF you don’t got the fruit then guess what? YOU’VE LOST YOUR CONNECTION! 

Jesus taught about abiding in and staying in the vine;  which means that the sap of the vine is constantly available to grow fruit. Love joy peace etc. all these things come from that connection.  The connection produces the fruit – it is not who we are, but Who He is! Staying connected to Him, means I will die daily. It’s automatic. Disconnection means I’ve chosen my own comfort, my way, my control … over what Jesus wants!

How do we stay connected to the vine? At the very moment that we want to give in to suffering or despair or anger or retaliation, we ask for His help and choose Jesus and connection with Him, over self expression. Then we shut-up and wait to see what He will do. When we choose His ways we are choosing to let the sap of the Holy Spirit keep flowing into us and through us in an ongoing fashion. His sap does us good. Fruit comes as a result of that connection to the vine. Self-control is one of His fruit – this means we choose to do things His way, asking for His help — which means we are controlling ourselves.

Ordinary FRUIT like apples, need work. It needs tending, Every time you give in to your feelings, your anger, your need to be vindicated, you’re short-circuiting the fruit cycle, you are stopping the fruit from ‘setting.’ Good fruit needs that constant supply of sap. This is why sometimes the fruit in the supermarket can be bad in the middle or taste terrible, — it hasn’t been connected to the tree for a VERY long time and it is starting to rot from the inside out. No sap = no fresh fruit.

We also know this from our own experience if we’ve ever tried to grow tomatoes and we have compared them to the ones in the supermarket, the ones in the supermarket have little to no flavour. This by the way, is why they are now selling tomatoes there for more money as ‘on the vine,’ so any residue of sap in the stalk will help to keep the tomato fresh. 

Sap needs to flow. Any obstruction to the passage of sap simply needs to be cleared away. Spiritually speaking, here’s what I do: I acknowledge my fault to the Lord, and whoever else is involved, then I repent, and because I have no confidence than I’m not going to do the same the dumb thing again 10 minutes later, I ask for help. 

Asking for help does not mean that God will take over. We are not glove puppets with someone else’s hand controlling us. We are real life, wilful, opinionated human beings, who like control more than submission and yielding. Humility is needed.Tell the other person/s that you are having a hard time holding your tongue and ask the other person to pray for you. That’ll fix it immediately! 

We ask for His help and then step out in the right direction. The right direction = what Jesus said, what the bible says. And then act USING YOUR FAITH. It is way too easy to ask for help and then go on to blame God when you are still the same nasty grump 10 minutes later. Intentions matter, but they are not everything. Our intentions need to be turned into actions.  Keep looking at Jesus, keep on walking – keep doing what He would do.

.

Expecting the other person to make the difference is just plain stupid. It is way better to ask the Lord, “What do I do now?” I can’t tell you how many times He’s told me, “Shut up and listen.” By the way, listen doesn’t just mean understanding the words, it means hearing the other person’s heart, and their anguish. 

Please note you will hardly EVER feel like letting go of your comments and opinions – especially if the other person is still going on at you … OR even WORSE, GLOATING over you.  Other people’s actions and reactions are on them. That single fact has taught me heaps about CHOICE. We are the Lord’s great love … everything else fades away when we look at that …our fruit makes His heart glad 👋🏻

“May my Beloved come into His garden And eat its choice fruits!” Song of Songs 4:16b