His instructions

P 3318 He has a plan.  

/ DVH

“But I do more than thank. I ask—ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory—to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing Him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is He is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life He has for His followers, oh, the utter extravagance of His work in us who trust Him—endless energy, boundless strength!” Ephesians 1:16-19 MSG.

What a fantastic prayer Paul prayed above. I’ve prayed stuff like this for myself for years and for ‘the eyes of my heart to be enlightened.’ You and I don’t just want to know about Him, we want to KNOW Him. It says in these verses that the Lord Himself promises He will do all the heavy lifting. Paul prayed for all of us over 2,000+ years ago. At the time, he thought he was praying for the Ephesian church, but God supernaturally preserved his words and his prayers, so that now, we can partake in those blessings. 

This book we have is eternal. It is not just words on a  page, it is God Himself Who speaks to us about Who He is – what He likes – and what He doesn’t. Sometimes we haven’t got answers because we haven’t asked Him.“You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” James 4:2-3.

Ask and keep on asking for wisdom. The bible is not a smart person book it is a hungry person book. He wrote this book for dumb people like me. Please just prayerfully follow His instructions. If there is correction in what you read, then don’t excuse yourself – ask Him: “Do I do that?”

This stuff is meant to be our priority – it is not done on a whim, or for a special occasion. It’s to connect with the Lord Himself. He loves it when we pursue Him. He loves to play …“Find Me if you can!”  And here’s the punch line … He wants to be found! We were made for greater things than just the same old, same old, day after day after dreary day … and then … you die! Sadly, we Christians can sometimes go to church, sing our hearts out, listen to the sermon, take notes, talk about it on the way home — and still miss what He is doing. We were made to share our lives with Him. He’s not an add-on! He’s the point!! 

Let’s be careful and prayerful, that we don’t reduce our great and mighty God to a personal vending machine, like so many others before us have done. My advice is to stop telling Him what to fix to make you comfortable, and start being grateful to be His kid. “He is our ever-present help in time of need.” So of course He wants to help us! He loves us! But He wants to be so much more than we’ve allowed Him to be. Let’s stop limiting His immeasurable capacity to help us. 

So let’s go back to Ephesians, and start remembering Whose children we are! “It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose His temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, HE EMBRACED US. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on His own, with no help from us! Then He picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.” Ephesians 2:1-6. MSG.

Every single day we have opportunities to learn to live in this world the same way Jesus did — as we gladly lay  down our lives, so that God might be glorified through our vessels of clay. However, if we concentrate on what we are not, we are far more likely to find it! But if we concentrate on WHO He is, we will find Him. Dare to believe He has things for you to do that only you can do.

Keep on reading Ephesians., there’s a whole lotta great stuff in this book! And remember… the Lord has a plan that will knock your socks off!! Bye.  👋

P 3313 Blockages to love.

/ DVH

“Beloved children, our love can’t be an abstract theory we only talk about, but a way of life demonstrated through our loving deeds. We know that the truth lives within us because we demonstrate love in action, which will reassure our hearts in His Presence.” 1 John 3:18-19 TPT. There is little power in loving people who love us – the power of God is in  loving people who hate us.

Do you need reassurance of His Presence in your life? Are you living a life of humility and love toward everyone around you? If, like me, your answer is sometimes, then that’s where we can begin. I start by asking myself, why am I not doing this all the time? What is blocking His love through me toward this person? Today I want to talk about unforeseen blockages to love. Because anybody with a lick of sense knows that when we are angry, unforgiving, or in unbelief, those things block the love of God through us.

‘It’s the little foxes that can spoil our vines.” (Song of Songs 2:15.)  So let’s look at some. If we do not choose to consciously remain connected to our source, Jesus — with the help of the Holy Spirit — we will rapidly lose our faith to continue in love, etc. with other people. That’s when we make the mistake of thinking that love is a feeling. James is so helpful! He makes it clear that God’s love includes actions. (James 2:18.) Let us call loving others using our ‘faith,’ and this will help us clarify what happens. Feelings follow faith. 

Instead of begging the Lord for more love toward whoever is a thorn in your side, start by asking Him to increase your faith! None of us will have a problem with other people and their behaviour, if we stop waiting to feel something, and simply see love as an act of obedience. Without His help we will find barriers. Somebody, somewhere is bound to do something that ticks you off! 

The atmosphere in this world is geared to how we feel and it’s anti-biblical. Abraham did not feel like killing his son, his preparation was an act of sheer obedience and faith. Those are the words we need to remember when we think about LOVE. The Lord Jesus did not feel like dying for mankind, LOVE empowered Him to do it. Never ever forget you have an enemy, who is delighted to help you misread other people’s actions.

We all have Aunt Minnies or Uncle Clarences in this world (names altered to protect their identity 🤣) – and they are bound to get up your nose because … they are broken! It’s like a game they play. BTW they do this to everyone else around them too. These people can’t figure out why other people don’t enjoy their company. They practically double-dare you to love them. The only way you are going to be able to get through to difficult people is to refuse to play their game, and deliberately do things the way the Lord tells you to do them. Let’s choose to go to the Source first, and spend time remembering what God’s love has done for you.

His Love looks like something these people don’t even know they need – unconditional acceptance – and that does NOT mean we are putting a rubber stamp on their behaviour! Instead we are choosing to separate their behaviour, from them … the person God made. Then we act on what He says in the book. They are no longer in charge, anymore – now we are under His orders. He knows the Way in. I can’t tell you what to do, or how to do it, but I urge you to be prayerful and do what He says- for Him, not for them. I call that worship! We are ‘presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice.’ That takes faith, and it is why love needs faith to operate. Faith calls things into being that are not there and that includes love when you feel you have none!

Let’s start with forgiveness, and go on to asking for healing for both parties, then ask the Lord how to turn your prayers into actions. It can be as simple as giving Aunt Minnie and Uncle Clarence their favourite coffee or tea, when they arrive unexpectedly at 5.30am and it looks like they plan to stay for the day! 😱 When any attitude of ours remains unchanged, it can quickly become a bad attribute that seems like it is sealed in with cement. However, God can melt mountains like wax, so a wrong attitude of the heart will simply melt in His Presence. That’s why we go after Him first. HE needs to come with us.

Tackling your nemesis is impossible without the One Who made them in the first place! In God’s enormous Grace, the Holy Spirit shoots people in the heart when they aren’t looking because He wants them for Himself. Watching this process happen is so much fun! The best bit is afterwards, old Auntie M and Uncle C don’t remember being changed, they think they’ve always been a nice person. My advice when this happens is this -, don’t correct them. Be kind to yourself, don’t poke the dang bear! Leave people in their ignorance. That’s called GRACE. Hilarious. And WE get to exercise OUR faith. Win, win.

Only God Himself knows what other people need, He may ask you to supply what they need, and, at the same time, what they actually need may surprise the living daylights out of you! Try telling the grumpy person that you love them, and give them a hug when they are being horrid. THAT lets the air out of their tyres!! Our God is so good, so loving so kind, He allows ALL OF US to forget how horrid we have been – to Him and others. These injuries and things can become unforeseen blockages to releasing His love. When we follow His instructions, we get to exercise our faith and they get to experience His love. 

Love always looks like something, and the Lord’s love looks like a waterfall of Grace, over the people we wish we didn’t know. Let’s remember, NONE of us deserve it. Bye. 👋

P 3307 Count the cost.

/ DVH

Since we have come to know Jesus, our aims for this life have to change. We are no longer living to do what we want to do, we live to do what He sent us here to do to: “Since Christ, though innocent, suffered in His flesh for you, now you also must be a prepared soldier, having the same mind-set, for whoever has died in his body is done with sin. So live the rest of your earthly life no longer concerned with human desires but consumed with what brings pleasure to God.” 1 Peter 4:1-2 TPT. 

Heaven’s help in our growth is essential. I am sorry to say, that in years gone by, the church hasn’t always prepared God’s people to participate in dying to self. We’ve talked a great deal about a free ticket to heaven, and God’s love for mankind, and how His power released into our lives will enhance our lives, but unfortunately, we didn’t emphasise the cost. The bible is clear, and Jesus said it — we simply must count the cost! Let’s not avoid the verses that talk about this subject and accidentally allow His word to be watered down in our daily lives. 

Here’s a useful tip — rationalising God’s Word leads us to a cliff. We can fall off and think we will be OK because God is good and He will catch us, but His aim is to have functional, mature Christians! The Lord’s death was a serious thing and our response should be just as serious. One of the reasons people struggle with their faith today is that they have not counted the cost by deciding to live their life ‘all in.’ They say things like:‘Well, I’ve prayed about my faults and it’s up to God to fix them.” The Holy Spirit requires our co-operation and interaction in this process – He will help us, correct and direct us and prompt us. 

Jesus Himself mentioned several times: “go and sin no more!” Now does it sound like that skill is going to just fall on us? I think we are either all in … … or not. There is no middle ground. That middle ground we’ve embraced is not supported by scripture. The bible forces us to look at our decision-making processes.  And here are some examples of what compromise can look like.

Chapter 14 in Luke is a really challenging chapter. Let’s look at what Jesus said in verses 25-33:“Now great crowds accompanied Him, and He turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after Me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be My disciple.”

Giving our lives to Jesus means that we are going to encounter various difficulties and challenges at different times. However, we can’t avoid making the tough choices. What happens when loving Jesus means we will tick off our parents, friends, rabbits and relations? I have found my true devotion shows up under pressure and there’s nothing like family to turn the pressure on! That’s a cost all of us face, explaining our faith to the people we dearly love, and sometimes being ostracised because of it.

Previous to the above scripture in Luke, the Lord also mentioned a number of scenarios we need to pay attention to – maybe we’ve been invited to a feast by somebody important, and praying for a sick person will interrupt the formal proceedings.The Lord wants us to be mindful, about whether we are influenced by our surroundings, or not. Standing up for Jesus in private is one thing – standing up for Him in public is another. There’s a cost.

At another time the Lord explained that certain guests were invited to the wedding party of all wedding parties, by God Himself – but when they were invited, they said they had other more pressing things to do. So the Master of ceremonies sent His servants out to find ANYONE they could find, and compel those people to come in and enjoy the happy time. We simply can’t afford to be careless and casual about His instructions or invitations. Counting the cost means we will have to choose under pressure.

Above in Luke it talks about counting the cost. This time it is about building a house. It says: let’s make sure we can pay for the house, on the spot, or progressively … before we start. The Lord knew the importance of counting the cost before you jumped into something incredibly challenging and life changing. Better to live in a shack and be able to concentrate on your faith, than skipping being with Him and overworking to pay a mortgage. The cost can sometimes be our own comfort.

Living for Jesus means we consult Him first, and we will take the time to wait for His answer. Then we face the cost personally, and do what He asks us to do. In His very last example, the Lord talked about going to war, and how important it is to count the cost and be aware of your ability to win, before you start. War has long term ramifications. Standing up for Him in the midst of conflict, can cost people their lives. All these things are part of counting the cost. Be aware of it first, because bearing the cost makes us His disciples. Bye 👋.

P 3219 A different kind of fasting.

/ DVH

Isaiah 58:5-11: “Is this what I want—this doing of penance and bowing like reeds in the wind, putting on sackcloth and covering yourselves with ashes? Is this what you call fasting? No, the kind of fast I want is that you stop oppressing those who work for you and treat them fairly and give them what they earn. I want you to share your food with the hungry and bring right into your own homes those who are helpless, poor, and destitute. Clothe those who are cold, and don’t hide from relatives who need your help. If you do these things, God will shed His own glorious light upon you. 

He will heal you; your godliness will lead you forward, goodness will be a shield before you, and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind. Then, when you call, the Lord will answer. “Yes, I am here,” He will quickly reply. All you need to do is to stop oppressing the weak and stop making false accusations and spreading vicious rumours! Feed the hungry! Help those in trouble! Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you shall be as bright as day. And the Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy you with all good things, and keep you healthy too; and you will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring.”

In my opinion Almighty God makes it perfectly clear, in passages like this one, how to walk with Him. Here’s another interesting one from another prophet, Micah 6:8:“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Our spiritual wellbeing, and our spiritual health, relies upon our choice to do things His way. God is quite simply not into alternative theories. He has laid out His own eternal plans, plus He has written down His interactions with other men and women just like us, for everyone to see and for us to notice and obey. 

If someone asks me, ‘what should I apply myself and obey? Well, Isaiah 58:5-11 keeps me pretty busy! So do the Beatitudes in Matthew 5. PS they are called the BE-attitudes because we are to live like this, personalising His instructions into our lives. Jesus doesn’t waffle on making ridiculous, ostentatious, new age remarks – He simply taught. Everything He said and did in the New Testament was teaching. Here He is teaching us how this new life we have been given works — what it looks like in action.

In the past in our home, we have had a procession of people – mostly young people – who had nowhere to live. Their relevant adults threw them out, so we simply applied Isaiah into our lives and made room for them. Now we choose to help other people who do the same thing we did, only they do it on a grand scale. We don’t act like an organisation when we do this stuff, because we are not. People get quite puzzled that we are not ‘official’ in what we do. To me helping others is just normal Christianity. Our first response to people in trouble is: “how can we help you?”  

Meanwhile, whether the other person is a Christian or not – what’s that got to do with anything? We can’t afford to be selective … Father God wasn’t when He picked us! Despite current theology none of us is any prize …Yet He is so amazing because we are all prizes to Him. The value you put on another human being can change their life. It will most certainly change you! If we only take care of those people who care about us, then we are more concerned about our own comfort, than obedience.

We look after our family, plus we help others – that’s the mandate in this scripture. Once, in a major city, we were walking down the street and a young man was sitting on the pavement with a sign that said: “I‘m starving.”Who could walk past that? It was a busy city and loads of people never even saw him. Someone might say:  “What if he’s a drug-user? It isn’t good to give them money!” Quite right! But you can go buy the guy food and a drink! I don’t have to solve his problems, but I can help him a little even in a small way even if I am just passing through.

Another time, an elderly gentleman was huddled in a doorway, it was so cold. He had a thin little jacket on, pulled tightly around him. The wind was freezing, whistling away … I was cold and I had a jumper, a coat and scarf on! Hubby gave the man his pseudo-suede coat, some food vouchers and we prayed for him. Hey, if you want to open doors, this is the way to do it. Help them. We prayed for him and told him how much Jesus loves him. He told us he’d never had a coat like that one before. That’s when I teared up then, because the coat was not all that good, but … it was warm. 

If you want to know Jesus intimately, then do what He did when He was here. Put God first. Then choose to see what He saw, hear what He heard, look at what He looked at, without judgment – help the ones He helped.

In this fast-paced life today it seems that we think we can’t ever have enough money, because the line for enough, always moves away from us. However, it is good for us to do what we can. Things like, treating other people with kindness and respect, no matter how they look or smell! The poor, the downtrodden, the weak, the disenfranchised are far more likely to listen to what Jesus says, than the supposedly comfortable people who are spending their lives making money and collecting things.

Father God has clearly told us in Isaiah what sort of fast we need to participate in. He even tells us He has chosen it. The next move is ours. Bye. 👋

P 3140 The Way through is to live IN HIM.

/ DVH

“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. Jesus Himself warned us in this world there WILL be trouble. But when trouble rises up against us, we can easily feel victimised and picked on by the circumstances. We all hate difficulties – yet here Jesus is telling us that trouble will come, it’s unavoidable. Trouble doesn’t mean you got it wrong, it’s a part of this life. Our great quest is to live our lives remaining inside His Will, His Way. When we ‘remain in Him – He remains in us.’ John 15:4.

The Lord makes it extremely clear that the peace He is talking about is IN HIM. Our circumstances may not change, but we will live in a safe place inside His will. Jesus wants us to live the same way He did, He lived for His Father’s will to be done!  We are witnesses to His glory as we live our lives His way. Think of a baby kangaroo. A joey is hidden away in its mother’s pouch. It goes wherever the mother wants to go, it is protected from the outside world by being in a safe unseen place. It can see anything that goes on around it, yet it remains in that place of protection. The baby kangaroo can go in and out of that pouch, but it totally relies upon the mother’s instincts to protect it from danger.

We rely upon the Lord to lead us through the battlefields of this life. Now we are living in another kingdom where we have a choice about our responses. We’ve decided to let Him choose what He knows we can face. Human beings have a tendency to think that if our circumstances change, then we will be at peace and we will … feel better. But Jesus clearly tells us that there is a difference between being affected by this world, and living our lives the way He has designed for us to live them. It all depends on where we choose to live. If we can’t find peace …maybe we are looking in the wrong place for it! 

Peace is not a cessation of trouble, instead it is the most incredibly powerful Person Who personally protects us! At the same time, trouble means different things to different people. So our lives, although they may be very different, are lived daily using our faith that He is in charge, despite any adverse circumstances. He knows the way through everything. Think of this kind of peace as living our lives inside everything Jesus died to give us. The same way we might think of staying INSIDE the eye of a hurricane.

Everything destructive ceases in the centre of those terrible storms, it’s actually quite peaceful in there! The destruction is all around – but there are blue skies and fluffy clouds in the centre. This is a bit like staying in the centre of His will. We simply need to follow His instructions, move with Him, and stay within that hypothetical eye. Our focus needs to remain on Him. He is our shelter, we are to live in the safety of His Presence, by following His instructions regarding this life.

Whatever He says we need to say and do, then we do and say it, and then we hand everything back over to Him.Then we ask the Holy Spirit to guide our steps through the chaos, and help us to keep our eyes on Jesus, because He is the Author and Finisher of our faith. As we go, we relinquish everything extraneous that comes up and we hold nothing back. It’s all about trusting Him no matter how things look.

Jesus taught us these things so that the situations that cause us to have doubts and despair may not influence our lives. We don’t have to respond like the world does when good or bad stuff happens, because we’ve given our lives to Jesus! Now we’ve  moved kingdoms – out from the kingdom of darkness and its influences — into the kingdom of His marvellous light. Our new home is IN HIM. In Psalm 91:1-4 the Psalmist says: “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will REST in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”  Surely He will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.”

Christianity is about a Person, Jesus Christ. We no longer have to live buried under the troubles of this world, because we are the beneficiaries and recipients of the things Jesus told us He would give us. This means we can love others, we can have peace and joy etc. even in the middle of times of hardship and sadness. This world no longer influences us – HE DOES. We are daily learning how to live IN HIM, under His government – by reading the bible. Jesus is our model, He always did everything the Father asked Him to do, despite the ever-present risks and dangers around Him.

We must learn for ourselves — God good, devil bad – and take a stand against the bad every day. The only war we continually participate in now, is the one in our minds –  which tells us to doubt that whatever God is doing is for our good. At the same time, we are being carried by Jesus’ faith in us – yet we will still have to fight for our own faith. We are a peculiar army – we fight on our knees, for others, ourselves, and the Lord’s will to prosper in this world. 

Jesus won’t EVER leave us! He is deeply committed to each one of us. So we read His book because He shows us the Way through to overcoming and victory. It is not about winning and bashing up the other side, instead, now we are here to proclaim His goodness to the other side! We can have peace, joy and love in the middle of chaos – it is our right as citizens of heaven. Bless you, bye.👋

P 3109 Is failure fatal?

/ DVH

Our Heavenly Father will make the wrong way, or even a some kind of upside-down way—into the right way– when our only desire is to please and obey Him! Just remember to turn around whenever, and wherever, necessary and own your own sinful attitudes and repent. That means doing more than saying sorry. OK? Reparation, there’s a word. Back to the point: we can get so scared by the thought that we will get whatever He asks us to do wrong, that we are paralysed into doing nothing.This attitude makes Almighty God too small. Our faith needs to be firmly fixed on what Christ did for us, as well as His goodness, not on our own ability. 

Lately I have been rereading Acts again and I have been so impacted by the way Paul behaved as he went from place to place.There was no sign of the kind of paralysis that comes with fear in Paul. Not only that, but in one of the many shipwrecks he endured, his behaviour and faith in God influenced the unsaved sailors and soldiers around him. Paul wasn’t preaching BTW, he was just living out his life before the Lord, and the other people on that sinking ship! He simply shared with his fellow travellers what God told Him. 

Acts 27. 33-38, 44: “Just before dawn Paul urged them all to eat. “For the last fourteen days,” he said, “you have been in constant suspense and have gone without food—you haven’t eaten anything. Now I urge you to take some food. You need it to survive. Not one of you will lose a single hair from his head.” After he said this, he took some bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all. Then he broke it and began to eat. They were all encouraged and ate some food themselves. Altogether there were 276 of us on board. When they had eaten as much as they wanted, they lightened the ship by throwing the grain into the sea… … But the centurion wanted to spare Paul’s life and kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land.The rest were to get there on planks or on other pieces of the ship. In this way everyone reached land safely.”

Did you get that? I had to read it twice. Paul suggested they stop to eat as the boat was breaking up and sinking!  Does that make sense to you? Hey! I thought long and hard about this, and I think I would have thrown the grain overboard first, to lighten the load. Right?? Or maybe grabbed the nearest plank and hung on to it! Everyone had prayed for land, in the midst of a terrible storm, and they found land and then …the entire ship stops to EAT?Why? Because God said so, that’s why. And He knows what we need more than we do. He told Paul through an angel that nobody would be lost if they just followed His instructions.

Now let’s do a quick recap of the oddball things I remember from the bible. I know I rabbit on regularly about Gideon, but honestly … !! That outcome could never have been predicted. God Himself threw confusion into the multitude of Midianites’ camp and they killed each other? Weird right? I mean who’d’ve thunk it? Almighty God did, that’s Who. Who would think you could find honey inside a lion’s carcass? Our Wonderful God — He’s the boss of bees. What about Paul, who heard,“Go to the Gentiles!” Boy was that not politically correct!

Let’s take Peter who was innocently praying by himself, when God interrupted his prayers with a vision. Peter’s thought bubble: “Hey that’s not kosher, I’m not allowed to eat a camel sandwich!”  Then this man of God took note of what God said and acted on it. Popular is not a kingdom word … influence is.

Here’s another one. Imagine this – a local prophet is told to sleep for one year on one side and then the next year on the other side. Why? Jeremiah was an illustration of what was to come. That’s just one of the many many highly unusual things God asked this man to do. What about Hosea? Go marry a prostitute?? That guy would have rushed off to have had his ears cleaned out. How about Noah? Build an ARK? What’s an ark??There were no BIG boats. yet this man built that ark with seven other people helping him. It took 120 years and he did a whole lot of waiting on God, while he was being obedient. Weird can be normal in His kingdom! We can be so afraid of getting it wrong, we don’t do anything.

We think we can’t possibly go and see Mrs Kerfoops next door who is dying from cancer. Hey – here’s a good thought to bear in mind — when the ride is over most people look for the exit!! Our God is so wonderful, He does not care if people are saved for 5 seconds or 50 years! He loves them all and He wants them to be with Him. So, just pull up your grown-up pants, go to see Mrs Kerfoops and tell her Jesus loves her. If she tells you that she doesn’t believe in all that stuff, blah blah blah, and you feel like a goose for all that effort and angst …remember, even if you get it wrong – when our motivation is to please Him and be obedient, He can use that faith for His glory.

Failure is not fatal – Jesus is a Redeemer by nature. However! failure is not fun, or a great story you can tell everyone afterward. Just remember … doing something beats doing nothing.The results are always up to Him. Maybe Mrs Kerfoops’ last thoughts are about what you said to her, or … maybe not. Step into the Favour of God – not for personal gain, but for service. Somewhere, somehow, the church has lost a lot of boldness. WE WANT IT BACK, please Lord. Amen. Bye. 👋

P 3097 How to live.

/ DVH

“But He’s already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women. It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbour, be compassionate and loyal in your love, And don’t take yourself too seriously— take God seriously.” Micah 6:8 MSG. 

I just love that this verse says don’t take yourself too seriously. In my life as I follow His instructions and learn to live by them, I’ve discovered accidental times of sheer bliss. It is as if heaven comes down in a little bubble of joy and hubby and I and the Lord are right in the middle of it. He’s laughing and we’re laughing – and we have no clue why we are laughing … we just are! And it feels so good! Eventually you end up wondering why you were worried, harassed or upset in the first place. That’s the place to stop wondering why, and just enjoy the moment! You and I ain’t getting out of this life alive!

Here’s an interesting thought that might help with that. We cannot spend the life we now have, trying to punish any previous generations for the mistakes they made. This life is not meant to be lived retrospectively – it’s too short. I’ve also learnt that deliberately avoiding someone else’s mistakes means I’m just going to make different ones! And I did! Groan!! Judgment always leads to a worse place than we started at.

Hubby and I have just returned home after a little time away in a peaceful place. I’m always glad to get home again, but boy I will miss the view. (See above.) We met a new group of tiny friends here. A small flock of sparrows appeared on our balcony. The bible says that the Lord feeds birds! I distinctly remember that God once fed His little birds my homegrown, much anticipated raspberries. I was pretty ticked off about it too! I didn’t even get ONE! Yes, I repented!

Back to our sparrow visitors. These dear little birds kept arriving early in the morning, and peering hopefully through the big glass window. I’m a sucker for any bird that sits on the back of a chair and sings its heart out! Meanwhile, those little birds really know how to eat, they sure can sock it away. The way they ate you would think they were emus!

OK – it seems it is time to be spiritual! Did you get that instruction in the above scripture? Right at the end, it says: ‘don’t take yourself too seriously, take God seriously instead!’ That’s the whole point of course. That’s why we are all still here, we are here to learn to take the things of the Spirit, seriously. Here’s a question I don’t much like to ask myself, but it has been helpful because it diagnoses my own attitudes rather quickly. What if you were the only person left in circle of family and friends who knows Jesus? Is your life a witness? Yeah, I know. Bring that up!

Meanwhile, we don’t just witness by what we say – we also witness by WHO we are – especially when people are looking, and …even when they aren’t. However, somebody, it seems, is always looking – I’ve learnt that the hard way. Living this life, the only one we have, for His sake, is part of taking Almighty God seriously. The same God Who heals the sick and raises the dead, makes the deaf hear and the blind see – is living inside you. Our job is to let Him out for the world to see. That’s what Paul did.

Paul often ended up in nine kinds of trouble because nobody could shut him up! Everywhere he went he found a public place and started telling people about Jesus. He told governors, kings, religious people, important people, business people, ordinary people, and some listened and some didn’t. Some hauled him off to jail, and he took that in his stride and witnessed to the guards instead!  Paul didn’t wait for revivals – he started them!

The thing that Paul’s life clearly shows me is that half-hearted won’t do. Whatever the Lord has in His plans for each one of us  – we need to make sure we listen, stay humble, and simply go and do it.  Paul was so brilliant, he could do more than one thing at a time. He witnessed, preached, founded churches, and wrote a huge chunk of the New Testament. But all of the Lord’s disciples, with the exception of Judas, gave up the rest of their lives serving God. 

It seems to me that we can sit about waiting for the Holy Spirit to do what He has already done, many many times before in the church’s history – or we can take God Himself seriously and get on with His kingdom’s business. We still have the book and that’s plenty to go on with! I would hate to think that we will spend our whole lives knowing we are saved, yet ignoring the many who are not. What Micah is talking about here is our attitudes – our attitudes are meant to lead to actions. 

We were saved to serve Him. Look! I’m truly sorry if nobody told you that you were actually giving your life away when you first said ‘yes’ to Jesus — but I just did that, right here, right now. So what are you going to do about it? That’s the real issue. How to live this life now, is all over His book. Bye. 🤪 !