His sheep

P 3277 The Lord cannot let you down.

/ DVH

“The Lord is my light and my salvation;  I will fear no one. The Lord protects me from all danger; I will never be afraid.

When evil people attack me and try to kill me, they stumble and fall. Even if a whole army surrounds me, I will not be afraid; even if enemies attack me, I will still trust God. I have asked the Lord for one thing one thing only do I want: to live in the Lord’s house all my life, to marvel there at His goodness, and to ask for His guidance. In times of trouble He will shelter me; He will keep me safe in His Temple and make me secure on a high rock. So I will triumph over my enemies around me. 

With shouts of joy I will offer sacrifices in His Temple; I will sing, I will praise the Lord. Hear me, Lord, when I call to You! Be merciful and answer me! When You said, “Come worship Me,” I answered, “I will come, Lord.”Don’t hide Yourself from me! Don’t be angry with me; don’t turn Your servant away. You have been my help; don’t leave me, don’t abandon me, O God, my Saviour. My father and mother may abandon me, but the Lord will take care of me. Teach me, Lord, what You want me to do, and lead me along a safe path, because I have many enemies. Don’t abandon me to my enemies, who attack me with lies and threats. I know that I will live to see the Lord’s goodness in this present life. Trust in the Lord. Have faith, do not despair. Trust in the Lord.”  Psalm 27 GNB. 

In order to maintain our faith and sanity, we need to regularly and deliberately stop and take the time to remind ourselves of Who He is, and how very much He loves us. Meanwhile, who are we to fellowship with SomeOne like Almighty God, and dare to call Him “Father?” Thank you Jesus!  How constantly and consistently He seeks to protect us and comfort us. He is not a God Who stands afar off. (Psalm 10:1) The Lover of our soul, Jesus, is our dearest Friend Who sticks closer than a brother.(Proverbs 18:24) We are so incredibly blessed!

Sometimes the things we need to do and the places we need to go to, can be overwhelming. Plus the people  who often crowd in on us, and don’t always contribute anything positive! And so we forget God is our ever-present help in time of need. These are the times to press in to Him. God sits on His throne and laughs at the threats and posturing of His enemies. So we have nothing to be afraid about, because the Lord has us in His care. We are the apple of His eye, His people, His sheep. He is the good Shepherd Who protects and guards His sheep against all attacks and threats. In difficult times, we need to tuck ourselves under His Wings, where there is shelter. If you feel besieged and under threat, run to the Lord, and hide yourself in His goodness. 

I like to take the time to reaffirm my faith and trust in His goodness. Please understand this action is not an immediate EXIT strategy. Instead I am making a decision to deliberately enter into His rest. Focussing on His goodness helps the process of watering and fertilising the seeds of my faith, even at a time when I am raw and unsettled. That’s what faith looks like. It isn’t always pretty, or powerful.  However, our Mighty powerful Lion of Judah will come to our aid as we fix our eyes on Him and not what is going on around us. The point is, our faith is in WHO He is, not just in changed circumstances or how we feel or react to them.  

Our Heavenly Father cannot let us down because He has chosen to be bound by His own promises. He wrote them down! This means we cannot forget them and we can be encouraged in the dark night of our soul to trust Him when it seems impossible. It is His integrity that is at stake here. That’s why the great patriarchs and mighty men of the past, held Him to His Word. The Lord delights in the kind of faith that holds Him to His Word! This faith is not based on feelings, but it can be influenced by HISTORY … our shared history with Him.

The bible clearly tells us that Father God does not keep score of our blunders and sinfulness, because our debt has already been paid by Jesus. That glorious, terrible event is part of our shared history with God.  He chooses to focus on the freedom His Love bought us. All He sees when He looks at us, now, is His dear Son’s blood. That blood is as fresh in our lives today, as it was when it was willingly shed back then, at Calvary. That’s why we need to choose to voluntarily repent quickly, and repair things. Our desire is to stay under the blood of Jesus.We rely upon the Lord’s costly provision and His truthfulness. 

We have no reason to deliberately nourish sin in our lives anymore. It has no power or authority over us! Jesus took the devil’s power away from him – all he can do now is deceive us. But because we love our Father’s Word and joyfully obey Him, we can live a brand new life filled with His love and purposes. We’ve chosen to be dead to what we want, and alive to what He wants. And now we embrace the power of the cross in our lives from day to day. That power delivers us from evil as we embrace His life in us! 

Like the Psalmist says: stuff still happens. Our enemy has not given up on trying to deceive us, but we are so blessed! We have the truth to set us free, and uncover the lies we are being fed. No wonder the Psalmist is joyful and can’t wait to worship God! His knowledge of the Lord’s goodness and His ways are His greatest comfort in times of trouble. We have God’s Word written down, signed in the blood of Jesus. He will do what He said He will do, and more. He cannot let us down – His faithfulness is legendary.Bye. 👋

P 3213 Gird up yor girdle Gertie.

/ DVH

I try not to be negative on this page because, thanks to the Media – social or otherwise – there is enough negativity floating around. It is like some sort of malodorous stench that can saturate everything we see and hear. The thing I want to talk about today is that we seem to have forgotten that we were saved to serve others, no matter what creed, or religion they belong to.

Here’s a question – if someone else is from another faith, do we automatically limit our exposure to them, or discard their words as error – maybe because we are afraid? Isn’t that making our God too small? The Lord saved us and He can keep us. Are we comforting ourselves that we’ll be OK – after all we are in the ‘right group.’ Yet millions of people are tipping off the edge of this life going straight into hell. They are going there because they don’t know any better.

God is good to both believers and non-believers. He sends His rain on the just and the unjust, and we don’t get to decide who is who! Our job is very clear – we are to love the people around us with His love. We need to remember Jesus is always present to save, and those dear souls that seem to be the furthest way from Him, often turn around at the speed of light!

Hubby and I have had people in our lives that are absolutely not walking with Jesus, and they haven’t got a clue that He came to save them, but these people have blessed us. We have all kinds of friends who support us as we give away bibles, and help the poor, and they do not know the Lord – yet. I believe when this happens these people have been touched by God’s hand, so at the same time, they are not far from His kingdom. Many times someone like this has said or done something lovely, and I know it’s the Lord working in them, and through them.

I wouldn’t dream of following what my friends believe, because I know their beliefs are error, and some of them are from the pit. But how can they know any differently if I do not tell them? Ostracising people alienates them. We can call it respecting someone else’s space – but isn’t that just evasion? Doesn’t it justify our fear of being contaminated, and persuade us to ‘play it safe,’ and do whatever we do, within the boundaries of our own churches? 

This world has so many other faiths. Let’s choose to learn to love people who are of another faith, and not treat them any differently than we would treat our brother or sister at church. “… they will know we are Christians by our love…” That love needs to go outside of the church and reach out to everyone. The Lord Jesus is altogether lovely, and He can and will win anyone over.

At the same time, we are not only required to tell people the truth, we must demonstrate it to them. Sometimes over and over again. We cannot afford to throw people away because they don’t have the same beliefs we do – we are reinforcing false boundaries when we do that. It is time to stop dividing others into categories and deciding who is IN, and who is OUT. Speaking for myself, I have noticed that the Lord is not far away from anyone, so what is needed is prayer, not judgment! There are many people today – no matter what they seem to believe, who are not far away from His kingdom. If they have some other faith, it means they are spiritually minded. Maybe they just haven’t met the Truth yet.

There are two ways to approach life – the easy way and the hard way. Most people like the easy road, whether they are Christians or not! In Matthew 7:13-14 it says: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Only our Shepherd Jesus, is the true gate and at this moment in time, He is out there amongst ALL His sheep, calling to them to walk through that narrow gate, and follow Him. Peter once thought he knew who was what — and then Jesus straightened him out! Acts 10:9-16.

How anybody comes to know Jesus is His business, not mine. No matter what god they have worshipped in the past – we are all still HIS sheep and every single sheep counts. We are commanded to live a life of love, and speaking for myself, that’s plenty to go on with! Let’s jump in and watch His love win all kinds of people that we thought would never come – no matter what idol lives at their house. Many people follow idols because of family, or tradition, or nationality. However, the greater One lives in us. 

Here’s the way God approaches even the people who deliberately sin against Him. Isaiah 57:16-19. “For I will not fight against you forever, nor always show My wrath; if I did, all mankind would perish—the very souls that I have made. I was angry and smote these greedy men. But they went right on sinning, doing everything their evil hearts desired. I have seen what they do, but I will heal them anyway! I will lead them and comfort them, helping them to mourn and to confess their sins. Peace, peace to them, both near and far, for I will heal them all.”  Interesting verses eh? We must never forget our God is GOOD and MERCIFUL. 

Like I said, ‘gird up your girdle, Gertie,’ we are in for a bumpy ride. You and I could end up talking to strangers at the shops! Father God has hungry people everywhere, even in the enemy’s camp. Bye. 👋.

P 3143 Value of being found!

/ DVH

That thought needs rereading – please don’t give up on God’s redemptive power! The Bible teaches us that ‘we ought always pray and not give up.’ This BTW, is my personal experience of the parable of the lost coin! Way back in June this year, I lost my wedding ring. Obviously it is very special to me, we’ve been married for 38 years. I cried and cried. Until that loss happened, I didn’t even know such a small thing could upset me like that. 

Afterwards, hubby and I could immediately relate to what happened in a story that Jesus’ once told. The lady who lost a coin and she tore her house apart trying to find it. The loss of my ring brought that story to life in a new way! Because of the story before that one, it also reminded me, yet again, of how passionate the Lord is about His sheep! Take some time to pause today, and think about how much He loves you! He’s the God of little seemingly insignificant things, that matter to us.

At the time we lost the ring, we tore our house apart and then dear hubby went outside and did the same thing to the car, and searched under every leaf in the garden. But there was absolutely no sign of that ring. Usually when something is not resolved, or it has gone missing, no matter what the outcome is – I have peace. But this time, I really struggled to find His peace. Finally, I managed to put it all down and leave it with Him. Boy was I reluctant to do that! Then if the lost ring came up again, I gave it back to Him, and told Him the results were His business.

I have mentioned before on this blog, that I make crystal, beaded bookmarks, to give away when we go on our trips. In the last couple of weeks I’ve made 52. This meant I needed to replenish my beads. I love making people feel special, so I want the very best crystals for my bookmarks. I use real crystal beads, especially the AB2 ones, but they are now hard to find, Swarovski stopped making them. As the supply dwindled worldwide, they have become very scarce, so I bought some more while I still can! The arrival of these crystals  makes my day. We don’t get out much! 🤣 It seems pretty easy to entertain us! 

Unfortunately, when the crystals arrived, the packaging was faulty and my precious expensive crystals, spilled out everywhere! Actually, they are now so expensive that I take the time to count them when they arrive! And I could see that I had several missing from one packet. I even watched one of them slide down the side of the chair I sit on. That was not good news for me. This particular chair doesn’t leave room for hands to wiggle in and retrieve things. The result was:  the chair ate my crystals and I was not amused.

I jammed my hand down the side of it, repeatedly wiggling this way and that, trying to get the precious crystals back … and bruising my hand in the process. The short story is I managed to retrieve 3 out of 4 of them. One of them is still lost somewhere in the basement of the chair! But it was painful, wood and delicate lady hands, don’t mix!  My hubby volunteered to join in my quest. In the end he went under the chair to dig around and see if it had fallen through. That’s when I discovered a previously unknown fact about my kind of chair.

MY recliner chair is like a block of apartments. It’s in layers. And even though something can fall from one layer to the next – that does not mean it will eventually fall out on the floor. Hubby wiggled his hand in, and felt his way underneath while I’m bruising my hand upstairs. Hubby even took the skin off his knuckles. And lo and behold, quite unexpectedly, his fingers closed around something quite unanticipated. It seems the chair had also eaten my wedding ring – apparently my chair’s basic food group is jewellery in one form or another!

I rejoiced so loudly — you may have heard me! Then I cried. Then I rejoiced some more because that which was lost had been found. And I now had a very personal example of the story with the lady with the coin. And a very small, real life experience of what the verse in Luke 15:10 means to Father God. “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” 

BTW, I don’t feel bad using my ring as an example, because once Jesus used a fig tree, wheat, sheep and a coin to make His point. FYI I lost this ring because I took it off to clean it and I’m not doing that any more – it can go green instead!! This whole situation made me think about all the prayers that we pray, that appear to be unanswered, and how we cope when an answer doesn’t come right away. So here’s my very own ‘lost sheep’ testimony on today’s subject that is about stuff ... but far more about people. 

I mentioned briefly at the time when my mother died a few months ago, that I have been a Christian for 50 years. My mum’s terminal illness was a scary time, because she objected to my faith. We could not engage her on the subject at all. Once a long time ago, she threatened to disinherit me because of my faith. Poor dear, she didn’t have 10c  to leave a flea, at the time, but the emotional ramifications were … rah rah rah. You get it! 

About a month before she died, she suddenly started to listen carefully to us. And I learnt something. Some people have to exhaust all their own resources, before they can even begin to hear you! My dear mother was stuck in an invalid’s chair unable to turn herself over, go to the loo etc. All she had left physically, was her speech, and even her mind had begun to wander. She knew it, so meaningful words became more precious to her. Seeing us was all she wanted.

I also realised that sometimes in our enthusiasm and compassion for a person who does not know the Lord – we will need to pray for deliverance, as well as for salvation! Nobody likes to watch anyone suffer, and it is even worse when the person suffering is a precious family member. But when they are racing down the hill into eternity, it is extremely scary. That’s when our faith in His faithfulness needs to prevail. He loves those people so much more than we do. 

I wanted to write on this subject today because I know many many people, reading here, have prayed and prayed and prayed, for far more important things than my ring. Like unsaved family members—parents, siblings, spouses, or desperately ill family members. Maybe also fervent prayer for health, or finding work or somewhere to sleep at night. My mother was 97 when she finally understood that Jesus loves her. She went home peacefully. I had been witnessing to her, loving on her, wrangling with her upside-down ideas about faith, for 50 years and before she died, she finally heard me. 

My message is about this –  no matter what it is you feel you have lost don’t give up! Almighty God doesn’t give up on LOST SHEEP. One of the best things we can learn to do is to trust Him when nothing makes any sense any more. Right now I want to add my faith to yours, and believe for that miracle you desperately need.. Big troubles or seemingly insignificant ones – He’s got you. Never forget the value of being found. Bye. 👋