Help

P 2869 Dealing with ourselves.

/ DVH

Luke 6:41,42: “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”Now that’s what I call ‘plain speaking!’

Here’s a good suggestion that may be helpful. The next time you can see a glaring fault in someone else’s attitudes and actions, ask the Lord to show you WHY you can see it. That kind of ‘sight’ is not discernment it is judgment.  It is a mistake to see verses like these as something that may be true … but “I don’t think I do that.” In your dreams!

This verse clearly says if you can see it in someone else then you’ve got it yourself. It’s the old ‘familiarity breeding contempt’ idea. That means we actually recognise that fault because we are personally well-acquainted with it! An attitude like that is contagious – it’s like paspalum in your lawn – it takes over everything! Even your thinking and responses. 

You know it doesn’t say that you can’t gently help someone else along if they are caught in an eddy of indecision, or they’ve stepped off His pathway one way or another. But sometimes we can be so busy minding someone else’s business we fail to see the blooming great train of our own dumb actions thundering toward us! I’ve found asking ‘why can I see that?’ … is incredibly useful. I learn about me, and the Lord loves me through the bits I may have carefully cultivated for my own protection. 

We need to learn that our mistakes are not fatal, otherwise that negative connotation will distract us away from our main purpose, and occupy all our thoughts. Those things will pull us away from the very real kingdom assignments God sends our way. Humbly and quickly, repent and repair any damage you may have done to someone else, and see those mistakes as opportunities to understand and know more about the Lord and His ways. And don’t forget to check out your own dirty linen at the same time.

Remember, if we can see it – we have done it too!! BUT, focussing on any sin defeats our primary purpose – we are here to walk with the Holy Spirit the Way Jesus walked with Him. Because of what Jesus did for us, we can own what we’ve done, deal with our sin and get it out of our way so it doesn’t trip us up!

This scripture from Luke 6 is piercing. Judgment is such a sticky substance. Falling or walking in to it is like stepping into a pot of treacle – getting out becomes extremely difficult.  At the same time our enemy stands at our elbow handing us reasons why we have a right to be there. You know, sometimes I think that the other guy doesn’t have to do a great deal, he just stirs up the stuff in us that has been cultivated over the years, and then he walks off. he knows full well how easily we can be seduced “by the dark side …” 

The wonderful thing about the Holy Spirit is that satan’s ways are immaterial to Him. The Holy Spirit is incredibly busy revealing Father God’s word, and His ways, so most of the time … I hear Him say stuff like: “Watch out, those thoughts will trip you up!” He really IS the very best kind of Friend we will ever have. He watches our backs for us.

It’s great when we tell our friends at church about the wonderful things God has done for us —but I have personally noticed that we rarely hear testimonies about how the Lord helped us to overcome this or that, when we felt trapped by the enemy. Those things are our very real testimonies that have God’s power upon them to set other people free. Living this life differently to everyone else around us, is an incredible thing. And the Holy Spirit loves to be around humble, open, honest people … His very Presence opens up doors when we talk to others. 

Jesus is not telling us to ignore wrong attitudes in those around to us, instead He is warning us that there is a trap in dabbling in judgment. We will personally miss an opportunity to change – we do not have to get caught up in stuff that pulls us away from Him! But, when we deal with ourselves, we are in a better, kinder, position to help someone else. Bye 👋

P 2796 We all feel weak sometimes.

/ DVH

The bible says, we should be glad when we are weak because when we are weak then we have an opportunity for Christ to be strong in us and through us. Lemme say this yet another way … the weakness described in the bible is not the same as weakness in this world! 2 Corinthians 12:10 says: “So I’m not defeated by my weakness, but delighted! For when I feel my weakness and endure mistreatment—when I’m surrounded with troubles on every side and face persecution because of my love for Christ—I am made yet stronger. For my weakness becomes a portal to God’s power.”

The Apostle Paul got it!! He understood that weakness is an avenue for God’s power to flow through us. You know, sometimes it is a good thing to give up, stop trying, and let God be God. He can sort out anything. To quote an old song:  “Ain’t nuthin’ HE CAN’T DO.” I know it can sound counter productive, but giving up is not a bad thing – our self-help efforts can get in our own way on some occasions. But when we admit that we can’t do some things — or even anything… then we are in a perfect place to rely upon His strength. If you want to see miracles for yourself, in your own life, then admit your weaknesses to God and ask for His help.

This life can be like wrestling with a professional wrestler – full of slippery, deceitful, unknown attacks. Plus there are moments when those things are unexpected and bigger and nastier than we might ever expect. Those things sneak up on us when we are not looking – and who can possibly be looking all the time? Human beings need HELP. I’ve learnt to live my everyday life to Him, asking the Holy Spirit to please “have my back,” because unlike Jesus, Who, praise God — GAVE His back to the smiters …  we are blessed to have our very own hiding place from trouble, because of His Grace. 

Life can punch the daylights out of us and the only reason we can still stand, is because the Lord Himself has us firmly in His grasp. We can be counted OUT and still crawl back up to our feet as He strengthens us. I have been beaten low over and over again, to the point where I don’t care who steps on me – I’m just exhausted.  But when I talk to Him, the Lord grins at me and says: “Shall we go again and see WHO WINS?” Having eyes of faith can save anyone from being overwhelmed. Anybody with faith in Jesus, and all He did for us, has a secret weapon. Nobody can kill these people. They will die when He says it is time to die, not a minute before, or after. Their secret is this:  they know Who wins.

Weakness can defeat us if we let it. However, our approach to weakness is wrong. We see the things of this world through this world’s eyes, or religious eyes. Maybe sometimes through defensive eyes, or critical eyes. The way we look at anything that happens to us, matters. Because of what Christ did for us when He died in our place, NOW we can see the world through our Father’s eyes. The Holy Spirit will be delighted to help us with that! 

However, these things do not happen in a vacuum – we must learn to engage in His processes. That means our God is now our first port of call in trouble. He promises to be with us in trouble. As we live this life loving and serving Him, that means we need to prioritise knowing how He thinks. I have known some villains, in the natural, in my time on this earth – people everybody else gave up on them as hopeless … and low and behold, when He spoke – they were not hopeless after all! This means …you guessed it … we have to read and digest His book! Seriously, the bible is the surest way for us to learn about the way the Lord does things. Just keep looking for the way He thinks. 

Lastly, in closing I want to say that in our moments of great weakness, it is good to phone others for prayer support. My arms and heart were flagging yesterday, and my thoughts weren’t good, so I called on the Body of Christ to help me. And the prayers of the saints prevailed, and the Lord helped me turn the corner. Why didn’t He just make life easier and answer MY own prayers? I dunno. Ask Him! I just know that today is not yesterday, and today again, His strength will be made perfect in my weakness. 

Human beings can feel weak – but there is no doubt Almighty God is strong – and we have the One Who defeated death, the devil and sin on our side. Hallelujah! We all feel weak sometimes but my bible says:“I can do all things through Christ – He strengthens me.” Bye. 👋 “His mercy is new every morning!”

P 2794 Be spiritually focussed.

/ DVH

Here’s a thought:  attitudes that we PUT ON to look spiritual, can be taken OFF when it doesn’t suit us!  We need to become intimately aware of spiritual things, instead of leaving everything to the minister or pastor. The secret to abiding in Christ is to keep His attitudes ON, and if and when we ever choose to take them OFF, then we need to quickly repent and put them on again. It is a new way to think. Just as you and I once learnt to read and write, we can also learn, with the Lord’s help, to live a Kingdom-focussed life. Listen to these scriptures in Colossians 3:3-15 ESV.

“For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your  life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry… … But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its Creator… 

 …but Christ is all, and in all. Put ON then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body.”

Action needs to be our middle name. We don’t just read things, smile and agree with them – now we put them into practice by choice! Many Christians are totally unaware that they have not changed their lives. They avoid and frown on supposed identifiable bad stuff, like swearing smoking, drinking, taking drugs, sleeping around, stealing, lying, gossiping etc. This means they are often ‘good’ people ‘on the ‘outside’ … but they have very little power to witness, or to overcome the habits and attitudes of their former lives. So they live, they sin, they eventually repent, but they are never changed. 

Transformation is not an optional extra – it’s a part of the deal! These people I am talking about do not move on from getting to know Him, into living their lives, here and now – differently. Prompted by the Holy Spirit’s help and guidance. It’s a progressive thing. We can see an example of this ongoing learning in the New Testament. These people kept faithfully doing what they knew and were taught to do, but they were not taught everything, initially.  Paul says this in Acts:“And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” These people did not know the Helper, so Paul laid hands on them and then they did! When you read parts of scripture like:  Matthew 16:5-12, you can easily see the difference between carnal thinking and Holy Spirit inspired thought.

Meanwhile I’m with Paul, things like fasting or praying in tongues, will definitely help my devotion to the Lord… but it will not change my character without my consent! I have to choose, every single day, sometimes minute by minute, WHO I will serve, There is a world of difference between salvation and transformation. Meanwhile, there’s also a whole ARMY of Christians stuck in that valley of decision! The decision facing them is whether they will serve Christ with their whole hearts, and lay down every single bit of their lives, for His sake. This path has just gotten a whole lot harder, because we are living in a hedonistic society.

We need to choose to submit to the Holy Spirit’s promptings and be governed by what the bible says. It’s called OBEDIENCE. I’ve met heaps of Christians who pray up one hill and down the other, God bless them for their devotion, but they are still as internally ornery and rebellious as they ever were. Their hearts aren’t soft, or changed. Transformation is part of the deal. Jesus didn’t just die to save us from our sins – He died to give us the power to live this life differently. To live life like He did… here and now! People will get saved if we stop living for ourselves and start living our lives for His sake.

However, the Lord will not do anything without our consent. And a blanket “I surrender all” at the altar once, long ago, doesn’t cover it.  God is looking for our active allegiance, not lip service. Our minute by minute lives need to be under the Holy Spirit’s control to make a difference. We have the power to release His Presence into this world by our God-given chosen attitudes and actions. Otherwise, sadly we can all be motivated by self-preservation.

Any manipulation and control, so I can feel ‘happy,’ will short-circuit this process. When I live that way, I cannot bring His life into anything I touch. I have to let go of what I want, and what I think is best for everyone else, and allow the Holy Spirit to have HIS WAY … and He’s not pushy. To be spiritually focussed I need to choose to DIE – every minute, every second, of every day I live. But when we choose to die to self – the Holy Everliving One – lives in us! And He makes all the difference. Bye. 👋

P 2789 Our willingness to obey helps us with digestion …

/ DVH

… and that leads to spiritual health. I think it also means that whatever we do repeatedly – we will become. 

Have you ever been looking for something and found it years later, hidden away at the bottom of your junk drawer?  Life is sometimes like that. Sometimes we don’t even know those things they are there. You end up saying to yourself: ”Oh, I’ve been looking for that for ages.”  Hold onto your hat. Today, I found some stuff hidden inside me that I had conveniently forgotten about. I took those things as past hurts and I didn’t consider the consequences to my faith.

Things get hidden in everyone’s lives. And some of the time it’s not deliberate sin, it’s carelessness. And this condition can be true for many kinds of attitudes. Some attitudes in our hearts are sneaky – they hide away under pious talk, and seemingly righteous indignation. But those things are not from the Lord, instead they are devices of our own choosing to hide ourselves from who we really are. I found a bunch of that stuff in my own life recently. 😱 Like this morning.

One way, over the years that I have learnt what is going on in my heart, is to carefully listen to what comes out of my mouth. Boy, that will scare the stuffing out of you! When I began to pray over the things I found in my thinking, I learnt that— lo and behold — my thinking in some areas was definitely not good. It nearly gave me indigestion! Hey, it’s great to watch your mouth, do it — but renewing our minds takes work and application, so we are going to need the Holy Spirit’s help with our thought lives too.  And that nicely leads into my thought for today.

I won’t digest whatever the Holy Spirit wants to teach me about myself, and the way I relate to Him and others, if I continually excuse myself. Even a flippant attitude can be a hiding place. The Lord is very thorough and kind with me. He often quotes me, to me. I hate it and love it … all at the same time. Sigh. Sometimes I wish the things I write every day will just kind of seep into my pores, rather than me having to work at it!  But obedience helps me with digestion, and I want His Word to be a part of me. … so-oo-….!!! On we go…

The thing is, none of us can afford to simply agree with what the Holy Spirit says without doing something about it. Now there’s the rub! I debated about whether to write about this subject today, and then hubby sent me an excellent, completely spot-on and appropriate scripture. I didn’t know whether to brain him, or thank him!! Of course I thanked him, and then I gave him one of those beautifully pious smiles, I’ve been talking about. 🙄 Meanwhile, eventually it turned out that I was measuring God and His actions, by the way I was raised> Now there’s a really dumb thing to do.

I know I cannot be gracefully transformed if I will not change my mind. And reading the bible is meant to be a heart searching event – not just a daily chore. So I started off with repentance, and in this whole process, I discovered something wonderful! The Lord is not legalistic. He is incredibly kind and generous!  I realised that I had yet another idea squirrelled away inside my heart, and it was a bad one. It needed to be changed because I don’t need to hold onto wrong concepts any longer. Father God is not like the ordinary sometimes sinful people that raised me, He’s perfect. Therefore I cannot put Him in the same category as my parental figures, because that will spoil our relationship.  

Praise God for a Saviour, because I find I need saving from myself all the time! I asked Him to forgive me for totally misjudging Him, and using my own human experiences as a reference for His actions. This sin had been hidden away deep inside, under pain, misunderstanding, despair, hopelessness, and just plain misery … that awful pile of stuff we all have that we hope no-one knows about … because we tell ourselves we ‘gotta be strong and courageous.’  Well I’m not. I’m weak and sometimes terrified and I definitely need His help all the time! 

This means that my active and interactive obedience has to come from owning my own questionable and inaccurate feelings. So I asked Him to replace them with how HE feels about me. And then I asked for a personal revelation of the kind of parent He is. I need one. I forgave all the people from the past who wrote all over my soul, “this is what love looks like.” Whether they did that on purpose or accidentally! And now I will take the time to meditate on every verse I read that tells me what He is like – and soak in it. 

“Why would you ever complain, O Jacob, or, whine, Israel, saying, “God has lost track of me. He doesn’t care what happens to me”? Don’t you know anything? Haven’t you been listening? God doesn’t come and go. God lasts. He’s Creator of all you can see or imagine. He doesn’t get tired out, doesn’t pause to catch His breath. And He knows everything, inside and out. He energises those who get tired, gives fresh strength to dropouts. For even young people tire and drop out, young folk in their prime stumble and fall. But those who wait upon God get fresh strength. They spread their wings and soar like eagles, They run and don’t get tired, they walk and don’t lag behind.” Isaiah 40:27-3.

Our willingness to obey and be taught by Him – as well being open to discover what’s really going on inside us – will help us digest the Word. The Holy Spirit doesn’t want to hurt us, He has been sent to help us. Bye. 👋

P 2784 They are not just stories.

/ DVH

The whole time the Lord Jesus was preaching, He was demonstrating, teaching, and living out a kingdom life in front of everyone around Him. Praise God that people wrote this stuff down! These things are illustrations of how God’s kingdom works. He preached about what the people in God’s kingdom look like. And He talked about what the kingdom looks like —  check out what I mean for yourself. There’s plenty of stuff to do in there! All of the Gospels show us what a life laid down for others looks like. It is an error to think that only Jesus was meant to live that way. He’s the Person we imitate with the Holy Spirit’s divine help.

Our Lord went out and did God’s will, every single day He was on this earth. Doesn’t that blow your mind? Think on this: our glorious Savior was forgiving, saving and inspiring someone while He was dying. He didn’t stop even when He was taking His last breath! He was still leading the people around Him into a greater knowledge of God’s ways from the place of His enormous pain. WOW! And we think talking to Mrs Kerfoops next door is hard! Jesus was struggling to breathe, and He still witnessed to His Father’s great love and passion for people. And if you are short on words for witnessing, that’s OK – Jesus didn’t use many ‘cos it was too hard for Him to speak! 

In the New Testament, the Gospels are a visual illustration, an aid, they show us HOW God’s kingdom functions. They are not just ‘stories’ about the things Jesus did and said, they are Jesus’ demonstrating and explaining to us how God’s kingdom WORKS. He taught, then He did, and sometimes He did, then He taught!  And at other times both things happened simultaneously. To be quite honest with you, I could get stuck on the Gospels for the rest of my life. There is just so much richness in there. 

You and I are adults, we aren’t little kids going off to Kid’s Church hearing stories about Jonah and the whale, or Jesus expanding some little boy’s lunch anymore. Everything the Lord Jesus says and does in the Gospels is a life lesson.  It is not just some fairy tale like Jack and the bean stalk! These things are instructions. Through Jonah, God is saying to us, no matter what big thing swallows you up, even if it is your own fault – He still has a plan for your life. And the boy with the his little lunch teaches us that even the little we have, can grow in His hands and feed others, if we will just give it to Him. 

There’s a way to read the book and it is not the same way you read a novel. It is too easy to read God’s book as simply words on a page. This book is God’s carefully preserved and chosen Manufacturer’s Handbook and it has been written down and kept safe for us. The Jewish people are trustworthy, they memorised their own history by word of mouth passing these stories down from generation to generation. We have what we have today because of those stories passed down. Even the New Testament, although written down, was also passed down by word of mouth. That’s what preaching is! The miracle is that it doesn’t matter which version of the bible you read personally, because the Holy Spirit kisses those things that are important to US, with His wonderful Presence. 

Then revelation comes. After that comes repentance – I guarantee that bit! You can’t read the book without finding places where you’ve fallen short of the mark. Don’t be condemned. Getting it wrong is not the end of the world. It’s a place where we can learn to trust in His faithfulness. We must do more than just sing: “Great is thy faithfulness … 🎶” – we need to live believing it! This life is not about our performance, good or bad, it is about His faithfulness to honour His word! People all over this world are living and dying without any knowledge of the One Who loves us all.

Take your little lunch, your little life, and give it to Jesus. Then go and do what He says to you. Read this scripture with that in your mind:

“When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, He said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?”He asked this only to test him, for He already had in mind what He was going to do. Philip answered Him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” Another of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.” John 6:5-11.

This kid didn’t have anything worthwhile to feed so many people, yet he shows us that our spiritual poverty is not the end. In Christ’s hands that is always the beginning of something extraordinary. Anything that is given to Jesus will multiply. These are not just stories, they are a living history of how God can use ordinary lives and bring forth His kingdom. Bye. 👋

P 2780 Sin has no power over us.

/ DVH

We need to change the way we look at sin. Sin is not just what we do, or don’t do – it is giving into how we feel. Our feelings will lie to us. The reality is in the bible! Jesus Christ conquered sin – He killed it and its consequences, stone dead. Did you get that? Our inheritance here and now, is life, life and more life!  Of course none of us deserves that. We never will, obedience and gratitude are the only response. Meanwhile we can’t possibly live this life, here and now, without His guidance and help, and Father God thought of that too – we have the same Holy Spirit Jesus had to help us. The good news is – Jesus became a man and He knows the way through the mire around us.

Instead of looking at our difficulties as mountains to climb, lift your view higher – look at the One Who did everything for us. Can you trust Jesus? Is He a Man of His Word? He has climbed all the mountains we will ever face, before we were born. We simply need to walk with Him day by day, and keep our eyes on Him. Then we follow Him up the mountain of our own fear, doubt and unbelief conquering it …step by step. As we walk with Him, we learn to rely upon Him. Sadly, our unrealistic fear of failure can keep us from doing anything lasting in this life.

Ask yourself, if everything depends on our performance, in order qualify to for such a love, then WHY would Jesus have to die? Why would our Loving Heavenly Father put His ONLY Son through all that! The work for our total restoration has already been done. We must simply learn to fight, day by day, all the things that our flesh has learnt to value above Him! Then we can hear and see Him at work, in our lives, and in the lives of others.

We need to stop wasting our energy, thinking that being a Christian means we have to get everything right, all the time … and put on a good show. Now, today, we have a wonderful Helper Who has come to help us and prepare us for our wedding. Jesus Christ came to each one of us to woo and court us — now we are engaged, promised to Him. We are a part of His Bride. Christ loves His Bride – she’s everything He ever wanted, and more. He loves her so much He wants to be with her, every single minute of every single day.

Has the Holy Spirit ever nudged you and said: “Don’t watch that TV program or play that video game?” And then maybe, you rationalised what He said away and watched it anyway. Afterward you felt terrible! However, the answer is dead simple. Don’t do it! Obedience in these little things is like training your body in the natural – that spiritual exercise helps our spiritual fitness. Look, if you obey and it wasn’t the Lord, what have you lost? A dumb TV show or video game? H-e-l-l-o!!  Isn’t His life within you worth more than entertainment?

Like I said yesterday, we don’t need to have faith in our faith, our faith is IN HIM. Who Jesus is! Is He Who He says He is, or not? Is He kind, loving, generous, faithful, gracious, forgiving? … Does Christ love us so much He died to be with us forever ….or not? Tell me something He can’t do!  Even being dead didn’t stop Jesus. How can we go on, day after day, turning a blind eye to personal sin, when sin is like a blindfold. The result is we can’t see or hear Him clearly anymore. In the bible what pleases God is obedience. Read the book! The Israelites failed to obey Him. So- let’s learn something from that … sh-all we?

The Lord has promised to be with us. We can eliminate ourselves from the flow of the Holy Spirit’s river in our lives, when we dance around, pouting like a child refusing to surrender its favourite toy. Love watches over us and His love is our prize.  It’s His choice to be with us. Jesus longs to see His Father, and our Father, glorified in all our lives! So, let’s stop getting on with our lives day after day, dumb as rocks – with our hands over our eyes. Distraction wastes a precious thing we have to give Him – our time! So does living this life believing we can’t help it. That’s why we have the book, to diagnose sin, and we have the Helper to guide us around it.

Christ’s death took all the power sin had and killed it. DEAD. We do not have to sin anymore. We can look that rubbish in the face and choose to deny ourselves, pick up our cross and follow Him. When people are in love …the relationship comes first.  Don’t let this temporary life with its temporary pleasures blind you to what He has for you. Sin has no power over us anymore. Bye. 💕

Romans 6: 6-11.“We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with Him. We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and He will never die again. Death no longer has any power over Him. When He died, He died once to break the power of sin. But now that He lives, He lives for the glory of God. So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.”Amen.

P 2768 Religious wrappings.

/ DVH

Have you tried to open a Kit Kat or a bag of biscuits or a packet of cheese, lately? You need scissors! We used to be able to exert a little bit of effort, and the thing would just rip open. Actually, sometimes if you ripped it too hard, what was in the packet fell out because of the force applied – and you had Smarties all over the floor! But now you need to be a safe cracker to get into a bag of chips! Ah, the good old days … when partially-eaten chips were sealed with a peg so they wouldn’t go soft and nasty.

As you can tell, I am on about wrappings today. I think that religious wrappings are the worst kind of all, but I’ll get to that in a minute … …Right now I’m feeling nostalgic about the days gone by, when we went to a green grocer and if the apples looked nice, and they smelt nice, it was because they were nice. Today, looking nice means nothing, and you can go into a supermarket and not even smell the fruit and veg. The mind boggles. 

I can still remember sawdust on the butcher’s floor! They had that stuff there so if there were any little accidents, the sawdust absorbed all the evidence quickly and the butcher could sweep it away. Back then our milk came in glass bottles, delivered to your door, not in cartons. You could hear the bottles clink and clatter as the milkman thunked them down on your front steps. Then you would hear his horse and cart rattle off down the street. Ah well, memory lane aside – I’m finally picking up my subject for today.

Religious wrappings, what are they? Well, I think they are the things we wrap around ourselves so we can fit in. Either we don’t want to talk about our pain, or we don’t trust other people to keep what we say to themselves if we share it. Maybe, whatever it is, is so dastardly we don’t want anyone else to know about it! These are the things that will keep us sealed up away from the love of God, expressed through our brethren. So, sadly, we whack on a smiley face, raise our little hands … if that’s what our particular church expects … Or we sit still, and kneel at appropriate times etc. and nod and smile — when inside our hearts are broken, and we feel more like a discarded puppet than a real person!  Instead we add spiritual sawdust and quickly sweep up the evidence.

Do I see a tear out there? Oh, no. Perhaps it was a trick of the light…!  You know if we look at most church families we will see people who seem to be very much together. Lots of bright smiles and happy looks … But if we look closer? Well, that’s another story. It’s those supermarket apples all over again! Why do we work so hard to keep up a stupid charade. We seem to think that the Lord expects us to represent Him with bright happy faces, always saying positive things … yet, sometimes we are dying slowly inside. I’m pretty sure you won’t find “slap on a happy face” in the bible. You can ‘rejoice in the Lord always’ with tears still pouring down your face. I’ve done it.

It is very easy to think God doesn’t care about my troubles, my little bag of awful things – I’m just meant to plod along and hope they disappear … or I do!  But He cares! That’s why I’m writing this blog! Father God wants us to comfort and help one another. It seems to me that the church has left no room for the broken, or the unhappy, to join in. Personally, I think a whole lot of broken people are sitting bravely, week by week, desperate and sad, making the best of it as they can!! … on our nice seats. Covid did more than nearly kill a lot of people – it separated us. You know if we keep on separating church from our homes our faith won’t grow.

Jesus always interrupted whatever He was doing, to speak to, or heal a person trapped by pain and circumstances. Yet we feel that we simply must say that prayer, or sing that song, because we cannot let God down. It is one thing to want to see the Lord in every circumstance – but entirely another to deny real pain. Wouldn’t it be lovely if when we got to church someone said: “Is anyone here in pain? Let’s all gather around and pray for them.”  Maybe we would end up praying for everyone! Instead of hiding the fact that someone’s marriage is an illusion and our kids seem to be going off the rails.

How about we open up the windows and let the light in? Praying for each other instead of learning all the time. Why don’t we take off those very deftly sealed wrappings, and put what we learn, week by week, into practice? Well, that’s my little thought bundle for today. Bye.👋

P 2723 The one word that changes everything!

/ DVH

This morning when I prayerfully thought about what I wanted to write about today, I realised that a great deal of what I have previously said over all these years, that can be accomplished by simply walking in love.

1 Corinthians 14:1a says:“Make love your aim …” I’ve often found myself wishing that there was a full stop right after those four powerful words. In fact, I don’t think we can read the bible without remembering LOVE WAS GOD’S AIM WHEN HE WROTE IT! In another version, the same verse says:“Earnestly pursue love …”  In another it says: “make it your great quest …” 1 Corinthians 13 is titled … the WAY of love. Sometimes I think we can get so enthusiastic about using methods and acquiring knowledge, as well as implementing this and that, we can quickly forget Jesus exhorted us to be a people with a child-like attitude. Matthew 18:2-4 says:

“He (Jesus) called a little child to Him, and placed the child among them. And He said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

So did you get that? Grown ups don’t qualify. Knowledge and power actually mess with our obedience levels and simplicity. As a child I can remember wishing I could hurry up and grow up because grown-ups had power, and I had none. Hmmm. Many many years later I can see the error of that thought, but it took me a while.

So what do I mean by walking in love? Here’s what that means for me, I often ask myself the question …is it love? You know sometimes things are expedient, but there’s no love in them. In our hurry hurry rush rush world, which always seems like it must run full speed ahead at all times, we can do things that are not love, because they are easier. We might even justify them by saying: it is not natural to respond with love!  Ya might like to think about that thought… because we are supernatural people now. Yet it seems far easier to shout, grumble, and find fault with someone else, than to question yourself… but ….

… what would LOVE do? 

Did you notice how I just left that line there all by itself?? That’s because it is important. We really can’t fit love in around the edges of our busy lives. Loving God and others IS our life now. So how do you love others easily? Here’s my answer – you choose, over and over and over again, to die to yourself. The self is a major factor in most of the wars, evil doings, illegal operations, and appalling treatment that we have all perpetrated toward other human beings. A whole lot of sin starts with Me thinking about ME and mine and what I want.

Now if you are wondering what kind of love I am talking about? Then 1 Corinthians 13 supplies us with the answer and a perfect description. If you like to memorise verses, that’s a great one to memorise. Sometimes I ask myself these questions: Was I impatient, not allowing someone else to have a learning curve and forgetting that I often need one? Was I unkind, hurting someone else to make my point? Was I envious, because someone else has managed something better than I could? Was I boastful, full of myself, or just plain rude. 

Did I insist on my own way above the needs of others? Was I irritable, did I bring up the past, because of my own harboured resentment? Was I finding my jollies by pointing out someone else’s sin? Did I put the truth aside to make sure my POV was more important than anything else? Have I celebrated someone else’s downfall because I don’t like them?

Do I personally love the Lord’s revealed truth? Is it more important to me to feel good about myself than to help someone else see the best in themselves? Have I forgotten to hide myself under the overwhelming love of God? He knows how to bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, and how to endure all things. Jesus is my perfect illustration of what love in action looks like. And the Holy Spirit is my Helper, Guide, Companion, Teacher …

The thing I have learnt is that WHEN LOVE COMES TO TOWN, EVERYTHING CHANGES…even me! All I need to do is to pause, ask for His help and do what love would do. Love is never wasted. It can be tested and tried to enhance its purity but it cannot be wasted. That’s because this kind of love is eternal. Instructions come and go, systems fail, but love will last forever, so I need to learn this truth before I run out of time. Love, is the one word that changes everything. Bye. 👋

P 2710 ‘Have good day, make good choices!’

/ DVH

“Remember this: 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. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” 2 Corinthians 9:6-8.”Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”Luke 6:38.

Did you get that? If you want MORE of God – then give MORE to God! Our generosity or lack thereof, can limit the blessings God has flowing toward us like a river. They will float on by us and we won’t notice them. Meanwhile, He says we will have everything we need – not necessarily everything we WANT! But we can always ask – He’s a very generous Father.  At first glance these scriptures appear to be about monetary giving – but I also associate these verses with the way we live. Let me explain:  our LIVES are also our tithes and offerings. This means that we choose to serve others, 24/7. All day every day. Are you cheered up yet? 

If you are a parent you will know that there is no such thing as a part-time carer for your brand new infant. New parents walk about looking like zombies for months and months, and sometimes years! They accept that no sleep etc is part of the deal. Now if you are a nurse, bus driver, IT specialist, accountant, father, sales assistant, then your employment – the way you use your days – are not bigger than your primary calling as His child. EG You are not a nurse and a Christian … you are a nurse who IS a Christian.

Belonging to HIM is our first priority. Not our families, not our friends, not work-mates, not even our own relaxation. We have chosen Him, so we have chosen to serve Him! Yay! And we do that by serving Him and others, every single day. We give our love, our time, our efforts, our insights, our kindness, our patience AWAY, all the time. There is no such thing as a part-time Christian because there is no off button. We live this life sowing blessings and being one!

Meanwhile, burn-out is a symptom of not yet knowing all we can about how to REST in Him. I am not condemning anyone for it, I am just saying that this condition is a diagnostic tool of how much self-effort we are putting into doing what the Lord wants. We need to continually remember that ‘His yoke is EASY … His burden is …LIGHT.’ That’s not just a pretty word picture — it is a way to live! We simply must progressively let Him inhabit every single area of our lives or we will not be living this life, our only life, in His Presence. That’s where the power of God resides, IN HIS PRESENCE. That’s how Jesus lived!! Yes, it is costly, just like giving away money you need is costly, but the results have results in other people’s lives.

The verse from 2 Corinthians above, shows us we cannot live this way by force. We must choose and we choose over and over again. Otherwise we will either become incredibly angry and extremely rebellious — or we will quit Christianity and wander off into the wilderness, complaining our heads off and eating quails until they make us sick to our stomach. The Lord knows we are all weak – that’s why He promised to be our strength! Because we are HIS we have access to His perfection, which is what that verse in 2 Corinthians 12:9 says:“His strength is made perfect in our weakness…” or we can settle for little, instead of much. My premise today is this we cannot lose when we give! “God is no man’s debtor…”

We all love Jesus. But it’s probably pretty clear to everyone around us one way or another that we are not perfected yet, However we’ve chosen to follow Him and now we are straining to reach the goal. Are we always cheerful about it? Not always. But that lack of cheerfulness is a sign that we are in a process.  We don’t have to get it right, we just have to stay on the path – using our choices! (Repent and repair, remember?) And then we ask for His help to take every single opportunity He sends our way to choose Him all over again. When we choose Him and His ways – we are doing everything for HIM! ‘Whatsoever you do, do it with all your heart as though you were doing it for the Lord.’

We totally give Him our lives because He totally gave us HIS, first. He will guide, help, comfort, lead and teach us. If we sow sparingly into His kingdom and Jesus is not the centre of everything we do, then we will miss the blessing of provision He has for His kids. Only eyes of faith can see some blessings, because wrong attitudes block our eyes and ears. I once heard a mother say to her child: “Have a good day, make good choices.’ Amen! Bye. 👋

P 2700 Let’s keep our eyes on forever.

/ DVH

The bible tells us to “… above all, guard the affections of your heart, for they affect all that you are. Pay attention to the welfare of your innermost being, for from there flows the wellspring of life.”Proverbs 4:23. When I watch over my heart I am watching over who I am and what I produce!

Sometimes the hardest thing to watch over is our own heart. From my limited experience, other people often tread on someone else’s heart unknowingly. However, whoever started whatever has happened, if someone is offended, it means that there is something we both need to look at..Sadly, we can mistake somebody else’s motivation for evil intent, when the truth is this:… a whole lotta people are just big dummies, (like me), and they talk without thinking.

It goes without saying that forgiveness is the key that opens the door to understanding and reconciliation, but we all have people in our lives who are repeat offenders. So today I want to talk to the offended as well as the offender. Have you noticed how easy it is today to take offence? My first bit of advice to the one who is offended, is that forgiveness will require resolve, it will take self-discipline. There’s a happy thought! However, this is how we mature, and grow the fruits of self-control and patience…  by hanging on firmly to the VINE – true forgiveness is in that vine.

So we: “…set our mind on the things above.’ Colossians 3:2. Most growing points in our lives are a matter of forgiveness. The thing is, people aren’t doing whatever they did AGAIN – if we really forgave them in the first place! There may be some times when we read this bible stuff and say to ourselves, “yeah, yeah, great thought, but how do I do that?” I wish I had some snappy whizz bang methodology, that took care of our instant responses – but I don’t.

Here’s my advice for the one offended. My experience in this area of forgiveness has come down to two words – DO IT.  Don’t expect to feel good about it – just do it. Deliberately, and with great resolve, take authority over all the mean, niggly things you want to say to that offender, and ZIP IT. 🤐 When Jesus hung there silently on that cross for us. He gave us the power, by what He did, to shut up when we desperately want to put someone else in their place or comment on their behaviour.. 

Seriously, don’t give into your feelings for a minute, because you will find yourself circling the plug-hole going down for the last time! The bible says SET your mind because sort of kind of hoping the conflict will magically go away, will not work! Let me clarify this – we are changing an internal mindset in our lives, and doing that is not easy. Mindsets change when we consistently ask Him for His help,  use our faith, and keep our anger to ourselves. I say to myself: “I wanna be like Jesus and this is the Way to get there.” People who have no self-control haven’t totally realised what He gave us when He died for us. We already have forgiveness – LEARN TO SHARE. Read Romans! The more we die to self the more we gain!

Transformation takes hold when we find we can say something positive to the person who is jumping all over our last nerve. The bible says: “Bless those who curse you, do good to those who despitefully use you.”  Look, we are not talking about a walk in the park, we are talking about pressing into God until you forget what you were mad about! It IS hard! Hullo!! I say to myself at this point: “Oh there’s that thing that I am not going to remember, because it is a trap sent to distract me!”  That scripture from Colossians is not just a nice thought – it is an essential part of victorious Christian living! Why would we hand our enemy a loaded gun to shoot us? Disarm the gun.

Now to look at the offender: If something is your fault. If you opened your big mouth and hurt someone else and they tell you what you did … then don’t make excuses, and don’t give endless explanations… simply APOLOGISE. Humble yourself. You are not the judge of what hurts someone else! Actually we are not the judge of anything — read the book. Ask what you can do to make amends. People can easily forget that “I’m sorry” is not what the bible says. It says repent. Repentance involves humbling yourself and taking responsibility for what you did. Hurting someone else IS a big deal, because we don’t live by this world’s standards, now we live by His! And He clearly tells us not to make each other stumble.

Offending people is a big deal! I’ve met many people who say they are sorry, but they don’t go that one step further to usher in reconciliation. The aim of repentance is reconciliation. We need to remember that in this Christian life our hearts belong to Him. Father God takes this stuff seriously – it cost Him His life!  When people are mean to you they are being mean to His child. This means we need to pray for them!  Christ’s ministry is all about love and reconciliation, and that is our ministry now too. To live this way, it will help us to keep our eyes on forever, instead of just the here and now. Bye. 👋