Holy Spirit

P 2409 Better than … !

/ DVH

““Don’t bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This isn’t a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we’re in. If your child asks for bread, do you trick him with sawdust? If he asks for fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? As bad as you are, you wouldn’t think of such a thing. You’re at least decent to your own children. So don’t you think the God Who conceived you in love will be even better?” Matthew 7:7-11 MSG.

We all know these verses, actually, in some places they have almost been enshrined! This scripture is not about our rights, or what we can gain – I believe it is actually about God revealing Himself. He is explaining that He is far better than any earthly father! Further on, in conjunction with these verses, He makes it clear that He will always give the Holy Spirit to those who ask for Him. He is explaining His total commitment to generosity. Our problem is this … do we believe Him?

Father God is saying if we want something from Him we can ask for it in a direct manner. We don’t need to exchange favours with Him to get His attention … because we already have His favour! Thank you Jesus! These verses are about us misjudging Him on the basis of life-experiences and observations. I want to say that there have been times that God has given me something that looked, to my eyes – like sawdust, or a snake – But. I. Was. Wrong! 

Our God thinks long term. What seemed bad to me at that time was actually a blessing in disguise. Everything depends on the way we view things. We must simply start from the premise … God is always good … otherwise we can fall down endless sink-holes of despair and disappointment. He cannot be our last resort – He must be the place we start, by having great confidence in His nature.

We need to live with the joyous expectancy that He is so much better than our own current experiences, or even our past ones. Living a life of faith means leaving room for our own growth. Always. None of us have arrived. The point is we dare not assess God with human standards. Personally I think we are on thin ice assessing Him AT ALL! Let’s just believe He is Who He says He is, and He will do what He says He will do. Remember our confidence is in WHO HE IS  … His nature … not in getting what we think we want or need – no matter how compelling our story is.

It seems to me that Father God’s heartache is revealed in these verses. It saddens me to think we have reduced any revelation of the Lord Himself into a method to get Him to do what WE want … by quoting Himself back to Him! These verses are not about that. At the bottom of what has been said in Matthew, I hear His disappointment with our response to His goodness. I feel like He is saying: “Surely you think I would be better than you?!” And sadly many Christians would rather trot out their disappointments and illustrations of unanswered prayer, as proof He is not! 

Many times we have even concocted arguments that prove that our request was not unworthy – so why hasn’t the Lord done His part? After all we prayed! I would like to know where is the LOVE the bible talks about in that approach? I mean the kind of love that hopes all things, believes all things and never fails? Those verses in 1 Corinthians 13 are not a one way street – God Himself is describing how He sees love. What it means to Him. This is His standard, if you like, of what LOVE looks like! This is also how HE would like to be treated. Again, He is revealing Himself.  Part of any relationship is seeing the other person’s POV – and acknowledging it by acting accordingly.  

Almighty God is telling us that we can ask whatever we want with confidence and He will not only hear us but He has the best answer in mind every single time. Does NO mean we will go on to doubt Who He is? Little children hate no, but real people of faith are always looking for better than. And they already know that waiting will stretch them. We must stop chasing His benefits and go after His heart.

These verses are His better than answer. His love is better than any father who tricks or tries to frighten His kid. Almighty God does not play around with our feelings. We definitely need to know Him better than that! The Lord never wants His kids to feel tricked or scared – He wants them to know, in their hearts, that He is so trustworthy they can have complete confidence in His answers. Psalm 39:7 says this: “And now, God, I’m left with one conclusion:  My only hope is to hope in You alone!”Um! …I’m pretty sure our Heavenly Father doesn’t want to be our booby prize!  I think He wants to be our better than … Our constant ongoing hope no matter what!!   🤗

P 2408 Knowing Him is our greatest quest.

/ DVH

Our own private opinion of God’s goodness can make or break our faith. I think that we need to pay more attention to the word forever, in the bible. We can get so caught up in our now, that forever can be overlooked. Almighty God always holds forever in His heart. I said that to accent my next point… He doesn’t see things the way we do, which means whatever He does, He does it with forever in mind.

Our opinion of His goodness matters. When Moses asked to see His face, God answered that prayer by letting His goodness pass by. THE FACE OF GOD IS GOODNESS – no matter how things around us look. His goodness is His incredible passionate generosity toward us.

I love these statements Father God makes, look at what He is saying about Himself – take it in …”I know the plans I have for you plans to give you a hope and a future”…(Jeremiah 29:19) … “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.” (Exodus 34:6-7a) “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and shall He not make it good.”(Numbers 23:19)

Here is a great study to do— look up what Almighty God says about Himself — I highly recommend it. We must stop concentrating on the verses that promise this and that, and begin to understand … as best our peanut little brains can(! )… what the God we love and serve is like. What His priorities are! We will have a lot less disappointment and despair in our lives if we set our hearts to understand what He is doing long-term, rather than critique what He has done, from our POV. Let’s decide that He knows better than we do what we need. He doesn’t need our help to work it out! That’s called faith.

Naturally, Jesus Christ is the most wonderful example of God’s goodness in action in mankind’s lives. We must regularly watch Him in God’s book, interact with people just like US, and we will see His tenderness, compassion and concern. Christ has made it so much easier to understand the nature of God – plus His expectations toward, and for humanity. But we desperately need to stretch ourselves beyond the limitations of me and mine and start applying ourselves toward understanding His incredible forever qualities for us and this world around us.

I find that I need the Holy Spirit’s clear as glass view, the view the Lord God Himself has from heaven. To that end, I’ve learnt to apply myself, concentrate and carefully watch what Jesus says and does, in all circumstances and situations. His response is, and always was, God’s will first. You simply do not see Christ acting for His own benefit. He was always kingdom minded. His own needs were incidental. Jesus listened for the Holy Spirit’s input, His guidance and wisdom and then acted on it. He is our example.

I personally don’t want anymore airy-fairy stuff. The stuff we’ve focussed on for ages, like the grab at this promise and wave that ‘why not me’ banner. Our God is not within us to fulfil our childish fantasies – He offers so much more. Knowing Him well eclipses anything this world can offer. We need to begin by loving what He loves. People. There is nothing like loving difficult people to bring out the ‘God-factor’ instantly — or the lack of it! 

Every single person on this planet has a divine spark, and each one has something of the nature of God to reveal to us – if we look for it. Some people bury that spark under a load of religious or scientific or fantasy-type rubble – but the spark is there.  We’ve personally seen how gentle He is with the ‘bruised reeds’ of this world. There is no greater honour when He asks us to GO in His Name. Um …just FYI… His Name is on the line when He sends each of US! That shows me how much the Lord believes in His kids.  

Hubby and I have watched Him touch people out here on the road over and over again on this trip. People who don’t even think about Him, respond instantly… when they hear His deep loving voice calling to them. I pray for myself all the time out here: “Lord please let the people You want us to talk to, hear Your voice more than my voice.”

Our God’s incredible goodness has restored and retrieved each human being from darkness, danger and devastation. He is quite simply trustworthy and good. However, at this time in man’s history, He is far more than we are letting Him be. We must not reduce Almighty God down to Jehovah Jireh … when there are so many other facets to Who He is. We need to personally look beyond our pain, to Jesus our Elder Brother and our example – He started our faith and He will finish it! Knowing Almighty God is our greatest quest. 👋🏻

P 2406 True kindness – not the mushy kind.

/ DVH

The Lord wants us to be kind the way He is kind – He is kind to the sinner, as well as the saint – He shows no partiality. Kindness can open up a heart far better and faster than any probing, or carefully crafted questions. Whenever we think about approaching other people … kindness needs to be our motivation. We need this fruit of the Holy Spirit activated and operating through us. Active in us – means we understand that when God or a brother or sister points out a fault in us, they are being kind. Christians are always ready and unafraid to be corrected, because we own and rectify our untoward actions and attitudes. We have a secret – WE HAVE A SAVIOUR. 

One of the best things to put far from our minds when we are talking to strangers, or friends, is whether they are Christians or not. We need get rid of this isolationist idea that we have one face in church and another outside it. I urge you to simply be the same person at all times. To start with, there will be huge untold benefits —- you will do what you do with sincerity and true kindness, and other people will be impacted.  

Hiding our sins from others gives the enemy an opportunity to shoot us at the worst possible moment. Our sin is gone, not disguised. Many Christians hide their sins because they hate to be seen to be wrong —I dunno why?!?! We have been permanently set free and we are now open to be led by Him. Honesty means humility. Win win! However wearing a nice veneer leaves no room for acts of faith. The Holy Spirit loves all things to be open. Hiding our sin from ourselves and each other, is a sign of pride. But a humble heart gladly repents and makes reparation. If we are not careful we can treat being changed like it is our enemy – transformation into His likeness is always a JOY. 

Meanwhile pride is the stuff that will make anyone fall over quicker than a runner who trips on a shoelace. The bible says:“It is the kindness of God that leads us to repentance.”Here that verse is in the MSG version:“You didn’t think, did you, that just by pointing your finger at others you would distract God from seeing all your misdoings and from coming down on you hard? Or did you think that because He’s such a nice God, He’d let you off the hook? Better think this one through from the beginning. God is kind, but He’s not soft. In kindness He takes us firmly by the hand and leads us into a radical life-change.”Romans 2:4.

Isn’t that version a hoot? Because if we are truthful, sometimes this is exactly the way we think. We think He will be kind to us because … because… “I can’t help it. I had a hard life and my parents were mean to me … blah  blah blah… I hate my job and it’s not my fault… blah blah blah. Because my spouse is mean to me and my kids don’t listen to a word I say… I know God understands that when I shout I don’t mean it….” … This sort of attitude denies the power of the cross. Be real! Admit your faults – then you can get on with living life His Way instead. Being fake excludes the power of the Spirit.

God’s idea of kindness includes discipline. “The Lord disciplines those He loves.” God loves us but He won’t put up with our stuff. The stuff has to go! It is stopping us from being all we can be. His huge, very real love, challenges anything and everything that will stop us from growing up into the fullness of Christ. Any parent will tell you that it knows their kid’s potential, and when the little darlings go on and on about ‘it’s not my fault, the teacher is so mean to me!’ An engaged parent will see through that. And so does the Lord. Everything is an opportunity for us to know HIM better … this side of heaven.

Here’s what I’ve learnt – we can only avoid change for so long, and then the Lord kind of squishes us into a corner where we have to look at whatever it is … and despite our pretty pictures of a God Who is more like Santa Claus – He won’t let us out! This is when He is being incredibly kind to us. He never demands that we succeed – instead He wants our participation, our willingness to engage with Him in His processes. And that has nothing whatsoever to do with simply agreeing that what we are doing is not Godly! We need to learn to apply God-given answers and deal with ourselves. Real faith grows with application and demonstration.

Godly kindness will open doors that have been slammed shut by pain, betrayal, anguish, grief, and hopelessness. Human kindness will eventually get fed up, and give up! God’s kind of love perseveres. Its only requirement is that it is genuine. And there is nothing like staying real, to release the sort of kindness that heals and impacts someone else’s life. Kindness means forgiveness is always ready to make an appearance – it doesn’t demand a penalty because it knows the penalty has been paid.

In the kindness of our God, our faith and beliefs are open to anyone… so we need to be open, generous, truthful and considerate with other people, no matter how they treat us. That’s how we spread what He did for mankind around, and it is what true kindness looks like. 👋🏻

P 2405 Without God it’s impossible!

/ DVH

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

P 2404 Really loving others is costly.

/ DVH

“It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows. For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That’s an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then?” Galatians 5:13-15 MSG.

God’s idea of freedom verses ours is another one of those things that seem to be in opposition. In reality it is available to the tough, those who will persevere, and the utterly committed. I believe the Lord wants us all to live a life free of the oppressions that drive and devastate people, and spoil relationships, and break- up homes. That sort of life is truly our witness, not just our words. There is an incredible freedom in living out the truth, and His Word is the only truth. When we willingly exchange our ideas of truth and freedom for His TRUTH, from the bible, everything looks different. 

And we’ve actually exchanged human glasses for heavenly vision. This is what renewing our minds looks like. It is more than being able to quote the bible. It is allowing ourselves to become a living bible. We are no different to the thousands of men and women of God who lived this way right after Christ died. They gave everything for the gospel. And they had the same Holy Spirit we have!  Reading the bible and simply agreeing that what is in it is a good principle, or a nice thought, or a good way to live —will not set us free. In God’s kingdom there is no compromise. He gave everything and He asks us to do the same. That includes exchanging what we esteem as truth, for real truth, HIS TRUTH. 

This means mental agreement is not enough, practicing what it says is. We might think – but I will not be ME anymore if I follow what the Holy Spirit says. GOOD!! The idea is to die to who we think we are, and all the stuff we’ve grabbed at in this life to achieve that image in our head – and trust in what Christ did for us instead. The Holy Spirit is not an add-on. He is essential to our new life in Christ. He knows what Jesus would do! If we lean toward making excuses for our own behaviour, or attacking other people to defend ourselves, we are immediately walking into satan’s territory. I believe obedient hearts attract the Holy Spirit’s Presence.

satan is the prince of the power of the air. he loves to distort words, meanings, looks, attitudes into negative things. We need to see other people from God’s perspective. He can use our prayers, our kindness, self-control, and love to bring out the best in others. We have a choice … we can live on the fringes of what the Lord says, or we can change the way we view people to His way, and practice obedience. I have people in my life that are not always supportive, but the Holy Spirit has asked me to see those people through His eyes. I owe Him my obedience.

Our God is fantastic at multi-tasking. Boy is He terrific at it!! He can take my desire to be obedient and transform me, as I act on it. And at the same time He will use my obedience to break into other people’s lives and bring about change there too. The thing we need to hold onto is that it will take as long as it takes. There is no magic formula. Ask for help, do what He says, keep your ears open and your heart humble … and be obedient … and remember flattery will not do. We are not buttering other people up – we are in process with God learning to live in the truth. The best words we can ever learn in this process are: “I’m sorry please forgive me.” Whether we did something to warrant those words or not. Read the book!

Sometimes we are like little kids who are planting seeds. We plant the seed, and a day later we are disappointed because we can’t see any growth! Changing adults who are set in their ways, and used to defending themselves, can take time. In our eyes, it is often the other person who is wrong, or maybe wrong-er than us. It is that view we must change.

We are committing ourselves to learn LOVE. It will take time, compassion, and loads of humility as well as repentance. It’s a process … not a magic formula. Truly loving others is always costly – it cost Christ His life. 👋🏻

P 2403 Step away from religious ritual.

/ DVH

“I suspect you would never intend this, but this is what happens. When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ, you fall out of grace. Meanwhile we expectantly wait for a satisfying relationship with the Spirit. For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is somethingfar more interior: faith expressed in love.” Galatians 5:4-6 MSG

I like this version of those verses, because most people don’t intentionally set out to become religious. We are initially attracted to the welcoming, living, breathing,  redeeming Saviour — and then time, and a lack of inspiration wears us down. Pretty soon, unless we address the idea that church is meant to be there for me, to help me, and teach me… religious duty will take over. We can’t blame the pastor! Our own expectations when we go to church matter. I exhort you, go to church to be with Him and the Body of Christ.

Perhaps at times we are speaking for the Lord, but not listening to Him. The Holy Spirit knows how to have church, the early church waited for Him because Jesus’ instructed them to wait, but the good news is this — we don’t have to wait for Him, He’s already here!! He never left. We simply need to constrain Him to come and stay with us, collectively. Our desire to be with Him will attract Him. Instead of blaming the leaders, let’s you and I go to church hungry for Him, more of Him.

I don’t think this means we need to put on a better show than Radio City Music Hall, or a some sort of Rock concert – that’s just window dressing. I think we resort to window dressing because a lot of the church is addicted to feelings. The real truth is, we want Him to come and be with us all… Like the men on the road to Emmaus we need to urge the Lord to come further with us, eat with us, and be with us. We need to change our expectations of why we go to church.

What we need to know, more than anything, is how to make Him our priority.  If wooing the bridegroom is not paramount in our thoughts and actions … then there is a chance we are being religious. When He comes to our gatherings people are convicted, healed, transformed, built up and encouraged into action – because He is present. The bible totally proves that our God loves to be around mankind – He created opportunities to interact with us. However, we have become so addicted to having our own needs met, we’ve left behind the thought that church is about Him.

I am also not talking about prophetic utterances or words from the Lord. Prophetic utterances are often for US. We spend so much time trying to build us up that we’ve forgotten to make the One person Who can do it in a heartbeat – welcome! The Holy Spirit needs to be our new Best Friend. You and I meet with Him daily, in our own homes, and circumstances, but when we get together that is our opportunity to become part of a collective longing.That longing is not about knowing about Him – we want to be with Him because He loves to be with us.

A good sailor will tell you that they watch to see what the wind is doing because they know they need the wind to fill the sail so they can progress. We need to watch and see what the Holy Spirit (the Wind) is doing and then do that. Following Jesus is not some sort of chore. It only seems to be a chore when we get stuck on ritual. Religion is not what we are aiming at, unless it is pure religion. James talked about that … looking after widows and orphans, plus keeping a watch over our tongues.

Church is about meeting with Him and not simply about making us feel good. We go there to learn how to love Him with all our heart, mind, soul and strength – and our neighbour as ourselves. But God comes first, because … “without HIM we can do nothing!” So, I go to church … not just for my needs, but for HIS and yours. Church should never just be a weekly activity. But please don’t quit going there–just change the reason you go!

I don’t think Christians are being religious on purpose. But His Grace is not prevalent or present, when we leave Him and His wishes out. The key to this passage is at the end of it – faith expressed in love. I love Him and that means I love you. No matter what you wear or how you sound, I am more concerned about you than me. If love is not present, the Lord is not present – because LOVE is a hallmark of His Presence. Bye. 🤗 

P 2401 It’s good for us, but sometimes we fight against it.

/ DVH

“In this all-out match against sin, others have suffered far worse than you, to say nothing of what Jesus went through—all that bloodshed! So don’t feel sorry for yourselves. Or have you forgotten how good parents treat children, and that God regards you as His children? My dear child, don’t shrug off God’s discipline, but don’t be crushed by it either. It’s the child He loves that He disciplines; the child He embraces, He also corrects.God is educating you; that’s why you must never drop out. He’s treating you as dear children.

This trouble you’re in isn’t punishment; it’s training, the normal experience of children. Only irresponsible parents leave children to fend for themselves. Would you prefer an irresponsible God? We respect our own parents for training and not spoiling us, so why not embrace God’s training so we can truly live? While we were children, our parents did what seemed best to them. But God is doing what is best for us, training us to live God’s holy best. At the time, discipline isn’t much fun. It always feels like it’s going against the grain. Later, of course, it pays off big-time, for it’s the well-trained who find themselves mature in their relationship with God.” Hebrews 12:4-11 MSG

… So that thing we’ve learned to love/hate, isn’t actually … tying our shoes … it’s Father God’s discipline! This scripture in Hebrews is food for thought. I really like the way the Message bible puts it … it is so clear and comforting. These verses reinforce that the difficult stuff that happens to us isn’t punishment – it’s training. Ya might want to sit and think about that thing that has been driving you batty. Maybe you are not being persecuted or driven nuts by someone else. Maybe it is part of growing up in God!

I can still remember teaching my children when they were little how to tie their shoes, over and over again. I know, nobody does that anymore because we all live in the land of velcro! But back in the ark, it was expected that by the time your little darling landed in kindergarten – he or she would have learnt how to tie their own shoes … as well as take themselves to the toilet. Shoe tying tried my patience heaps.

You know, sometimes I wish I could go back to those days for a do-over? It is a real shame how much easier it is to develop patience, and long-suffering, when you aren’t under pressure to run out of the door and deliver three kids to kindy or school. Especially if you are on foot.  Maybe one of your kids is a Dilly Daydream with their nose in a book, and they wouldn’t hurry if they were chased by a shark!

As I’ve gotten older, patience has become a bit more accessible to me. I’m much slower now, so I have had to learn to be patient with myself! Back then? Not-so-much. Sigh. I can remember recently talking with my now grown-up son many years later, discussing parenting styles. He was being very kind to me considering how little I knew about what I was doing back then!

A-n-y-way, my son laughingly made this remark about a question I asked him when I was fed up and he was younger and being naughty. I used to say: “Do you want a smack??” His comment was: “Honestly Mum, can you imagine any sane kid saying yes to that question??”… “Oh, yes please, Mum I’d love one!?” 😂 I’m so blessed that we’ve been able to laugh over the some of the stupid stuff I did and said. He has kids of his own so now there’s a lot of understanding between us. 

I just want to assure you if you have little kids at your house, hold on … they will grow like weeds and then one day sooner than you think, they will be gone. However, teaching them stuff they are going to need later on in life is extremely difficult, because not every kid is compliant … the little darlings. That means that parenting is not a whole lot of fun. Meanwhile, I am soooo totally over those ads with fake happy families in them. The idea that 4-5 people of various ages, are all outrageously happy at the same time, just because you fed them some fancy chicken, or pizza, is lunacy. Advertising is lying for profit!

Right now, I want to pause and just try to get my mind around how patient the Lord is with all of us. Some things in my life have come up over and over again, and I promise myself each time that I won’t do this or that … but then provocation happens, or it’s a bad day and I fail. I am so grateful to Him. I need to be reminded over and over again that the Holy Spirit is my teacher, and He is incredibly patient with me. He won’t withdraw His love and approval, ever. 

Some days I just can’t seem to get my heart and mind around the fact that trouble in my life is not punishment.

The Holy Spirit will not fail any of us … because He cannot fail. I’m praying I will stop fighting against His wise counsel because I know His discipline is good for me. Bye … 👋🏻

P 2400 We are not powerless – we can choose.

/ DVH

We need to accept the reality that as God’s family, we have power. JESUS GAVE IT TO US. Luke 10:19: “Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” 

We have the power to choose to obey and work together with the Holy Spirit. That cannot be taken away from us, but it can be voluntarily surrendered if it is unknown, or under-appreciated.  satan can’t make US do anything – but he can tempt us in any area where we are weak … areas in our hearts and minds that are still unredeemed. 

This is why we need to deliberately pay attention to our spiritual lives. Our physical, emotional and mental lives will take over otherwise. Most of the time we do not fully comprehend that the power we have, means we can actually say NO to the devil, or even to the Lord Himself. I don’t recommend the latter but we can! Our God will not force us, but ,,, He may allow circumstances to persuade us to revise our decision. Remember Jonah??  

When we add the power of God, to the power of choice – human beings become unstoppable. I want to be clear about that. You or I might have prayed a prayer for someone to be saved, and so far that hasn’t happened. Even if we die – that prayer is still out there. Almighty God values our prayers. Jesus showed us that, when He prayed for Christians to be One. That particular prayer is awaiting its tipping point — it hasn’t happened yet, but that does not mean it won’t! “There is a TIME for every purpose under heaven …”  Ecclesiastes 3:1. 

I personally don’t think that our prayers have an expiry date, but sometimes the content needs to be checked with the Lord, first. Our problem is that it is unfortunately too easy to think that when something goes unanswered after a longish period of time, it won’t be answered at all. In the bible, we see people negotiating with the Lord. Maybe some things need negotiation!  When we pray something in agreement with the Holy Spirit, together with God’s Word, it cannot fail – because our voice is joined to His. 

Sadly, for years we’ve applied this scripture or that scripture as leverage to get what we want —for things that were about gain, to make our lives better. I honestly don’t think that things, no matter how important they seem at the time, matter. Because things don’t last. Human beings, however, last forever! We are eternal beings.  Even when I give to benefit others, I am entering into His eternal principles. But if I only want to gain things for my own comfort in this life, then my prayer is simply to satisfying my desire for temporal things. 

The enemy of our souls has hooked us into caring more about temporal things than we do about eternal things. The result has been great disappointment and disillusionment for many. However the transformation of a human heart from selfishness, strife, anger, lying, cheating, and disloyalty etc. IS, in itself, a miracle. What we allow God to change in us, in our lifetime – is a glimpse of eternity to come, here and now. That is how we become carriers of His glory and partakers of His nature. Rom. 6:11-14; Gal. 5:16,25.

We are not powerless in the Lord’s process of redemption in our lives. But change does not come by osmosis either. It happens as a co-operative. We obey His will, His way, and as we do that, He transforms us. We can still wilfully choose to be bad tempered, and sometimes it has nothing whatsoever to do with anyone else!  Although there are some people who delight in creating what I call opportunities for us to fall into! 

The way to be strong in the Lord, is to learn to resist temptation. The bible calls it ‘overcoming’ and it tells us to “…flee from temptation…”  Unfortunately if we walk too slowly away, then we can also sort of kind of stroll back again! And in those moments we start assessing how bad could those things really be? And then at other times we dive in where angels fear to tread. These temptations are things that we already know will bring only a temporary thrill or satisfaction. Our aim is to walk with Him – so that’s where our focus needs to be.

We are not powerless – we can choose, because we are a powerful people.“(God’s) divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.” 2 Peter 1:3 NIV. 👋🏻 

P 2399 Forgiveness and obedience are our best weapons of choice.

/ DVH

Forgiving others and obeying the Lord’s wishes has become our life’s work. Those two things go together. So much so, that when He shows us something as we read the bible we need to immediately ask Him: “What would You like me to do about that Lord?” And then we go and do it – using our choice not our feelings.

Initially, when the Holy Spirit checked me about stuff I was doing that wasn’t good, I didn’t like it very much. He said things like: “You have resented this person’s influence in your life, you need to start appreciating them.” That meant I had to practice taking my stray thoughts captive, and at the same time I had to stick my hand over my mouth instead of bad-mouthing someone I was mad at. Sadly, I am still not always successful at that… 

But the first thing I learnt about myself because of His instruction – was this: I had been using my thoughts and my words as a pressure valve! Anger and resentment built up inward pressure that I needed to deal with. After all your mouth is right there and it works and everything (!) and so I often used my words to cope with bad things that happened, or perceived slights and injuries caused by someone else. After a while I realised I had a really big lists of stuff (aughts) against other people (any). Bad plan BTW, keep your forgiveness lists short. “And when ye stand praying, forgive if ye have aught against any, that your Father also who is in Heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” Mark 11:25 ASV.

This is how it plays out:  let’s say you can’t stand your Uncle B. Maybe Uncle B was kind of not nice to be around. Every time you saw him as a kid you wanted to run away, or you hoped your parents would rescue you, but they were too busy socialising instead. Now, because you are an adult, when you see Uncle B. you can run for the hills, or you can even avoid family gatherings, because he is going to be there. Maybe you want to protect your kids. You don’t want them to feel like you did around him.

Here is what I have learnt. Forgiveness is harder to find for old wounds – you are going to need lots of God’s GRACE to do it. Perhaps you are also angry with your parents for not protecting you, a-n-d … you probably wouldn’t pass Uncle B. a fire extinguisher if he was on fire 🔥 … so that would be something else you need to work on. You are stuck with not only your need to forgive others, but your own past childish judgment. 

Unless you make a start by forgiving your parents for their neglect, you can easily slip into assessing what they did. It is unfortunately easy to judge our parents retrospectively and vow that we will never do that stuff to our kids! It’s a no-brainer that you will also need to forgive Uncle Bob, BTW. And you are definitely going to need help with that!! Here’s my first point. We cannot do lasting spiritual transactions, without the Holy Spirit – He knows every single detail and how to get us free. We have to start with God’s Grace and guidance to navigate past any mine-fields. (Mind-fields.)

I can’t tell you exactly what to do because every situation needing forgiveness is different … but I urge you not to postpone or avoid forgiving someone as a way to defend yourself. Neither should you avoid repentance just because it seems the other person won’t change. We cannot hinge our transformation on someone else’s behaviour! That supposed knowledge of their sin is a snare sent to trip you up. Ask for His Grace, and keep right on asking while you continue to follow Jesus. Keep praying: “I want to do what You said Lord, and I need help.” 

Unconfessed sin and a lack of repentance is a place for satan to stand in our lives. satan is a legalist, and he will use it against us – he will distract us with things that are of no consequence – while we are ignoring the thing that is tripping us up! Instead we need the Lord’s Grace and His way through. We cannot live the Christian life and experience victory if we don’t make the practice of obeying the bible a living breathing part of our lives – instead of just a using it as reference book.  

Forgiving someone does not mean we are giving them permission to continue to abuse us. Rather forgiveness is a statement, an intentional declaration, that we know that God has a bigger plan. Romans 8:28 says: “And we know [with great confidence] that God [Who is deeply concerned about us] causes all things to work together [as a plan] for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to His plan and purpose.”

His plan and His purpose is to lovingly transform us. Sometimes He will rescue us, and sometimes He wants us to act in faith, like Jesus did. I have observed as I have followed Him and embraced His purposes, that His plans for my good blow my mind. I would never have understood those plans, if I hadn’t decided to die to the way I think, obey what He said, and let Him be Lord.  

Here is my last thought for today – our God does not speak to us contrary to His word – His word is immutable – it will not change over time. Choosing to forgive, plus knowing the Word of God and choosing to obey it, is our best defence weapon. 👋🏻

P 2397 There is a WAY to walk.

/ DVH

“In light of all this, here’s what I want you to do. While I’m locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to travel. I don’t want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don’t want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences.” Ephesians 4:1-3 MSG

Don’t these few verses in Ephesians really nail the issues facing us all? Firstly we need to find our road, then we walk … and then, well, I’m sorry Apostle Paul, but some of us aren’t UP to running … so we take the car! … But … good thought! 🚕 Meanwhile, if we happen to think what OUR pastor says is tough… reading the bible is revolutionary.

Hubby and I have to carry 8 chair raisers when we go on the road, because modern chairs seem to be made for three year olds to use as a climbing frame… Or for people with much younger knees. Not for older people whose knees are mostly ageing nicely. Older people have knees that go “Snap Crackle and Pop” like Rice bubbles. We carry these chair raisers because getting me out of low set modern furniture is like watching Captain Ahab try to drag Moby Dick out of the water. 🐋 It’s. Not. Pretty. 

We also carry heaps of pillows with us, because most places don’t have that many, and I currently need to sleep almost sitting up. I used to sleep on my right side until …  …🤕💥!!! In our travels over these 17 years, we have found all sorts of amazing, hard-as-a-rock beds! Piously, I sometimes remind myself that Jesus Himself slept by the road …then my evil twin self reminds me that He was 40 years younger than me at the time!  

We carry more water in our car than the local dam, because I can’t drink tap water without getting some bug or other. Yes, I use my faith, and yes I’ve tried drinking the tap water 🙄… a-n-d … previously I’ve gotten Giardia, as a bonus buy! So now we use avoidance, because Flagyl antibiotics ain’t fun, they create other worse things. Immune-compromised people have to learn to compromise, and God didn’t make no stupid people!

The first thing we do when we get to our destination, is pray and ask the Lord what He wants us to do for Him where we are. Amazingly, time and time again He tells us separately, what He wants us to do, and then when we share … it’s the same! That gets me every single time. 🙌

The manager of this establishment, a young lady, was delighted with the butterfly keychain we gave her. And hubby gave her two of his pictures – she also took bibles. We had a lovely conversation about her finding a guy like the one in hubby’s painting … the picture is above. Apparently this surfer appears to be her type. And as she said … you never know…?? Meanwhile, a surfer in a red T shirt? Good luck with that —-that’s like sticking a sign on saying ‘free shark bait.’

After that we settled in, and later, as we were having a shower … the toilet exploded. Well… it didn’t really explode … but it did a good job of trying! It started spraying and belching its contents all over the room, all over the floor and up the walls. I was in the shower at the time and for some reason … it must have been the Lord .. we both found this sight hilarious, as we took shelter and watched… Until we had a brain-wave and put down the toilet lid! The splatter hit the mirror four feet away!

The plumbers on the bobcat digger outside, had done something dumb to the plumbing. And our unit, and the one next to us, were affected. The poor manager was so upset because she had distinctly told them not to DO anything to the pipes. Fortunately… neither of them were surfers with long hair in a red T shirt. It seems there are slim pickings for cute intelligent guys in this town! 😱 Meanwhile that smell definitely lingers …

The way to walk with the Holy Spirit, is to take faith steps. And yes, sometimes things will test your faith.  These steps come one at a time. You say yes to going when He asks you – that’s step one. You pray and make plans, and wait for His input, that’s step two. You go prepared to bless people however He says – step three. And then stuff happens and you face some test or other – that’s step four. And, step five, you tell fear and grumpiness to go take a hike! And the last and final step is give thanks you weren’t sprayed with toilet water! There’s a WAY to walk.👋🏻