His feet

P 3328 You may need your molars!

/ DVH

“When You speak to me, I devour every word. Your Word brings me such boundless joy. The endless delight of my heart is in knowing that Your beautiful name is attached to me, O  Yahweh, Commander of Angel Armies.” Jeremiah 15:16 TPT.

Right. Let’s be clear. This is Jeremiah speaking, he was the prophet who didn’t want to be a prophet — who had to lie on one side for a year, and then he had to do the same thing on the other side – all of this was for the Lord’s purposes. Once he was told to bury his loin cloth in the dirt, to teach the Israelites a lesson, and after that he had to wear the mangy, mouldy, mostly-destroyed loin cloth … that’s the scoop for all you fashionistas out there – mouldy clothes! 

This is a guy who walked about with half his head shaved … nothing new there! He was known as ‘the weeping prophet’ because his life was very hard. He was imprisoned, persecuted, betrayed, thrown into a pit by his friends. This man was a walking illustration of what God wanted to say to His people about what was rapidly coming toward them! But, please note — this stuff wasn’t just information to Jeremiah – it was his LIFE! And this man, whose life wasn’t a whole heap of fun, fun, fun — also still said those beautiful words at the top of this page.

My point today, is that life is filled with dichotomies. None of us are just one thing, we all wear different hats in different circumstances and each of us have been asked to deal with all kinds of things in our lives. Some people won’t like what we say – or we do – or even what we don’t do. My conclusion is this – you can’t please people, they are way too fickle! Go with pleasing the Lord. It’s much safer – He’s reliable! Just wait, your troubles will all make sense, eventually.

It is time to relinquish the idea that our lives are always meant to be happy, and but go after His joy! Instead of chasing this world’s idea of happiness our God saved us to use us to enlarge His kingdom. Let’s also remember, our God loves a big family! But just like Jeremiah … belonging to the Lord and being named and owned as the Lord’s child, is our greatest joy and aim as well as … … here comes a word we all hate … responsibility! 

I’ve learnt to deeply appreciate what Father God says, and what He does, and how He does it. Often that actually happens after the hard stuff has been resolved. The difficulties life throws at us can hurt like mad, but eventually these thing fade, or we get used to it … or … we learn from Him how to live with it, like Jeremiah did. The secret to surviving is to allow the bad stuff to be regularly replaced by our ever-present knowledge that Almighty God loves each one of us, unconditionally, and He always wants our good. At the same time, we need to remember, whatever we focus on becomes bigger. 

Try focussing, like Jeremiah did, on Who the Lord is, and what He says about this life. We belong to Him now, that’s a comfort as well as a promise! Many people today want to be the prophet. I just want to say to them — “have you even read the Old Testament??” That kind of life is not as much fun as someone might think it is. A prophet’s life is a visual aid. Jesus’ life was! They often show us by the way they live that God’s Ways are costly, even though they are beautiful to behold. Jeremiah’s life did, so did Hosea’s!

The bible says: “It was for freedom that Christ set us free no longer to be made subject to a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1). However that verse needs to be firmly accompanied by the knowledge that we are now yoked to Christ. So now we go where He goes, and do what He does – we become His heart, hands and feet.

I believe the Lord’s Word sustained Jeremiah through the hard times that constantly came hurtling right at him. This is a wonderful reason to cherish whatever the Holy Spirit says to us, when He says it. He wants to sustain us through trials. Father God promises to be with us, when we are in trouble — but sometimes the distance between that promise and its fruition is bigger than we would like. That’s when our faith in God’s goodness is tested.

Jesus warned us about this, in another back molar chewy verse – “I have told you these things, so that IN ME you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33. So where is the peace? IN HIM. God has stated His purpose for what He does, and why He does it. We need to listen. Everybody likes the peace bit, but many of us wanna skip the ‘in this world you will have trouble’ part.

When we take what He says as information, we are instantly missing the application of His Words into our own lives. It means we aren’t chewing, instead we are browsing looking for answers that we might like more than the ones we found so far! Here’s my advice for free – simply ask the Lord: “What would You like me to learn here Lord?” This means we are both chewing and digesting God’s Word with the help of our molars!!  Bye. 👋

P 3094 Let’s smell good!

/ DVH

“God always makes His grace visible in Christ, Who includes us as partners of His endless triumph. Through our yielded lives He spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of God everywhere we go.” 2 Corinthians 2:14 TPT. I mean … WOW!! How about that! Jesus made US, you and I, a part of His endless triumph! Then Paul goes on to say: ‘We will smell like Him to other people, just because we live for Him, know Him, and talk with Him.’ Devotion to Jesus has many forms. Mary released the smell of her devotion to the Lord, it was sweet nard in an alabaster box, she poured it all over His feet. The disciples left everything and followed Him everywhere. 

Here are some other versions of the same verse. “But thanks be to God, Who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of Him.” NIV. “In the Messiah, in Christ, God leads us from place to place in one perpetual victory parade. Through us, He brings knowledge of Christ. Everywhere we go, people breathe in the exquisite fragrance. Because of Christ, we give off a sweet scent rising to God, which is recognized by those on the way of salvation—an aroma redolent with life.” MSG V14-16.

Our Lord Jesus has been captivated by us, by our total surrender to His will, even when sometimes that was done through copious tears and clenched teeth! Yielding our will to His can be hard but our perfume of yieldedness contains myrrh – it is a bittersweet smell – and He knows and loves it.

Because of everything our Lord did for us, now we in turn, reveal and release Jesus’ sweet fragrance to Father God Himself – it benefits everyone around us wherever we go. We don’t set out to do it, it simply happens because of our proximity to Him. His life flows from Him into us, and from us to others. Now that is a really good reason to deal with enmity. All those things that drive schisms between the members of His body. If we are careless or rebellious we will begin to lose our sweet Saviour smell! 

His fragrance thrives on, and exponentially expands with true UNITY. And our unity bursts with His life! It is His beautiful oil of true harmony flowing between us. Oneness is essential to being able to move into all the things the Lord has for us. “How can two walk together unless they be in agreement?” Amos 3:3. Oneness is the vehicle that allows Jesus’ fragrance to be released. The Father, Son and the Holy Spirit are one, and Jesus made it clear, that our priority is to protect and keep unity alive between us.

If we wanted to make any perfume, we’d need a distilled fragrance taken from flowers, carefully mixed and layered together to make a pleasing smell. Then those flowers are crushed, and that fragrance is introduced to an emollient. This is either an alcohol base, or an oil one. The Holy Spirit is the Glorious OIL that carries the fragrance of Jesus out into the community. He wants to be the only perfume that we release, so we can enrich the lives of those who are around us. Not to mention anyone else who crosses our path. We have all probably experienced the sensation of walking down the street and following someone who is wearing perfume.

You know, each of one of us could wear exactly the same perfume but it will have a slightly different result. It all depends on who is wearing it, because our individual body chemistry affects perfume. In the same way – you and I will spread abroad the sweet smell of our depth of interaction with the Holy Spirit. Each one of us will be a bit different to someone else, but the underlying glorious smell is always Jesus!  He makes us smell so good to others because we have chosen to make Him our treasure. 

BTW, please let us remember that the Holy Spirit knows how to handle His own oil – He does not need us to pray it up or down! That’s treating Him like a commodity, rather than a Person. He is also our Treasure. It is His joy to see us delighting in our Heavenly Father’s loving approval. We, however, need to be vigilant and aware of our own shortcomings, because sin interrupts the flow of whatever He is doing. However, it is truly a tragedy when we make God’s gracious gifts into rules. Of course we need to be pure vessels of beaten gold to contain the glory that belongs to the Lord! BUT! Rules stop the flow of His oil, because rules lead to striving. So when things get tough, just remember, we are His chosen vessels, and yieldedness comes at a cost.

Some of us have been stinky selfish nitwits for a very long time! That’s ME not YOU, of course. Selfishness stinks and it ain’t pretty. It doesn’t matter how we feel, or even if we want to yield or not, we need to yield to His will His way, simply for obedience’ sake. Feelings can be overrated and we end up chasing them, instead of running after Him. The purity of doing whatever we do, with all our hearts – as though we were doing it for Him – cannot be underestimated. Obedience ushers in fresh revelation. Jesus did not want to go to the cross, but He obeyed His Father because He utterly trusted Him. I have found my attitude changes after I obey. 

In order to be His sweet fragrance in the world around us, we will need to meditate on everything He did for us. We are free because He paid the cost to give us freedom. Now we need to daily cling tightly to Who He is, and what we know about Him. The Holy Spirit wants to help us with that, so we can smell good! Bye. 👋

P 2906 Humility is essential.

/ DVH

Luke 19:3-10:“He wanted to see Who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see Him, since Jesus was coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.”So he came down at once and welcomed Him gladly. 

All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.” But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Zacchaeus gave up his former life at warp speed, no questions asked! Here’s a little thought about this man. He had invested his energy in being able to see Jesus properly when he ran and climbed that tree. I’ve heard people debate what the tree means … I could care less. What I see is a man who wanted to see Jesus. We pray for those kind of people when we go on the road, that we would find the ones searching for Him. Something was happening in that man’s heart that prompted him to get a better view. 

First he climbed the tree, then Zacchaeus came down when Jesus called him. Immediately afterward, his validity to have Jesus come to his house for dinner, was questioned. So he started cleaning up his sins on the spot. After all, his sins were calling Jesus’ wisdom into account. Then he went one step further than simply fixing his sins, he became outrageously generous.

After that this man repaid four times over what he had cheated out of others. You can see his faith progressing as Zacchaeus began to understand the honour he had been given. Jesus was honouring this man with His Presence, owning him, in front of everyone. And this guy shows what true repentance looks like! Repentance requires turning around not just sorrow – Judas was sorrowful.

OH! That we would understand the honour we have been given when Jesus chose to save us! It is not something to be pushed aside and treated lightly. It needs to be the focus of everything we do. Pharisees etc. expected to be treated well, have the best seats, and have their thoughts and lifestyles admired by everyone. But we must remember, we serve a God Who SEES. He sees through our uppity attitudes, into whatever is in our hearts and half the time even we don’t know what has crept into it!!

Some times we feel bad because what we did was bad – that’s called conviction. I’ve learnt to pray this prayer from Psalm 51:10-13 often, because I want the best attitude. I need to spring-clean myself from sin, selfishness, ambition, and the need for recognition. I don’t have to do anything else but confess my sin, repair things with other people, and then I rely upon His faithfulness!

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your Presence,
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You.“

The thing is, we cannot even have a clean heart without His help! This Psalmist’s reverence for God comes through his words, and so does his heart. He has a desperate need for God to help him achieve what his heart desires. And He values God’s Presence more than anything else, and wants to always remember, that he has been saved from who he was and God has restored him. There is no value we can put on being able to respond with such humility. And we see this in Zacchaeus and a woman who washed Jesus’ feet. She is perfect example of repentance and humility in action.

You know we can have this opinion and that thought, but the way God thinks about people often escapes us. Jesus was incredibly loving and supportive to this woman. She washed His feet with her tears and dried it with her hair and she did it to honour Him.  She broke the most valuable thing she owned and poured it over Him. Right in the middle of a dinner party where she stuck out like a sore thumb! She did not care, she was testifying to His Sovereignty, His God-honoured total right to be glorified. And she had gone there to be forgiven and worship Him – then she humbled herself because He was worth it. That’s called having an open heart!

Spiritual eyes and ears are incredibly valuable. Any one of us, at any time can be in His Presence, at home, in church, in the car — and yet we can’t hear His voice, because our hearts have hardened — maybe we think we’ve heard it all before — the thing is — we aren’t listening. Maybe we are too busy critiquing the message!! Big mistake. It’s one I have made more times than I care to remember. The Lord is looking for humble hearts, a people who will put His needs above everything else. These people won’t care if whatever they do is ever seen by anyone by Him. Here’s a big thought: … if HE is the only One Who can see it, then it is true worship.

Humility is essential, otherwise we wander along, never changing, and blaming others. Instead we lay ourselves at His feet and wait to hear what He will say. Bye. 👋