Holy Spirit

P 2200 Wisdom is a Person.

/ DVH

Wisdom is the Person of the Holy Spirit. If we will value His opinion above our own, He will share with us. HE LOVES TO SHARE. The Holy Spirit’s wisdom is not the same as ours. His POV is sin-free! Thank you Jesus! 👏 He only wants to see the Father and the Son glorified. HE HAS NO PERSONAL AGENDA. 

We need to understand that we won’t always comprehend what He says … because most of the time we are pre-occupied with our lives, and we definitely have agendas. Plus what the Holy Spirit says will often cut across our own way of thinking. Sometimes we could turn away His wisdom, because it doesn’t make sense to our minds. But when we choose to pause and listen and obey – then the whole world gets bigger. There is enormous value in PAUSING and WAITING.

We need to value the Holy Spirit’s Presence in our lives above everyone else. He’s here, right here right now. He’s there with you while you are reading this. His desire is for you to go from strength to strength – and He knows the Way through everything you are facing. Here’s something that helps me: just because He did something a particular way last time something happened to us, that doesn’t mean He will do it the same way this time. Stay open to change. Things get clearer and bigger when the Holy Spirit is around – He brings His light, His way of thinking, with Him. Be like the blind man in the bible who said to the Pharisees: “One thing I do know: I was blind but now I see.” John 9:25. We don’t have to know everything because we know SomeOne Who does …and how He lo-oves to share!! 🙌

Even when you are reading the book, never ever think you already know it! I’ve become fairly well acquainted with His book over the years. However, when I started out I had to use the index because I couldn’t find anything!  But from the very beginning of writing this blog – He cautioned me to look up every verse I put here  – even if I think I know what it says.  Why?  Because He expands those verses as I am rereading them for the umpteenth time and suddenly I see something I never saw before. I exhort us all to decide to be as dumb as the dust we all came from. To interact with the Holy Spirit and walk with Him we will need great humility – because He is not self-exalting. 

True humility never assumes – it leaves human knowledge at the door and goes for what is in the book. It asks “what would my Father say?” If that was good enough for Jesus then it is good enough for us! Seriously, don’t put all your hopes in this or that revelation, or some sort of insight, or voices, or dreams, or what someone else said. Ask for His wisdom for yourself. “Ask and keep on asking …” The Holy Spirit opens up His Ways to us as we read His book. Our own human psyche has an agenda, so we must deliberately leave our agendas behind, and focus on the desire to hear from Him, and ask for the patience to go after Him.

Our God doesn’t care about man’s logic. Man’s logic is easily influenced by greed and need. Remember what happened in the garden:  “…the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom … “ (Genesis 3). Eve sinned when she valued her opinion over what Father God said. Obedience matters. Think about every bible story you ever read, they don’t make sense to the human mind. 5 loaves and 2 fishes to feed thousands? Ridiculous! “Hey, let’s climb out of a perfectly good boat and walk on water???” I mean … the bible has loads of stories that are wa-ay out there … 😳 Almighty God does not think like we do. It’s not that He thinks bigger – He thinks in an incredibly comprehensively Way. He has everyone’s good in mind, not just yours. 

His wisdom needs to be esteemed – not only must we value it – we must not discard it just because it doesn’t initially make sense to us!  File the stuff you don’t yet understand under – “things I will understand one day” – and leave them there. I drag them out every now and then and ask again. We must learn to make His wisdom our treasure. I exhort everyone to read the bible like a treasure map. Humanity reads the stories in the book, and sees advantages, short cuts – “Oh, if I do this, then God will do that, because He did that for Fred and Mary. SO!! … if I do that, then He will do it for me too.”  

Beware of the ‘SOs’ – our God is incomprehensible. He rarely does the same thing twice. (Read the book!) There are no short cuts, but there is only always MORE. Ask for His wisdom. And please don’t just ask for wisdom when you’ve run out of your own ideas, instead walk with Him, be led by His wisdom, all the time! 👋🏻

“Wisdom cries aloud in the streets…” Proverbs 1:20; Proverbs 4:5-9; James 1:5; Luke 21:15; Ephesians 1:17.

P 2199 We give too much importance to agreement.

/ DVH

But we do not give enough importance to our faith-filled actions! In this life it is what we DO that counts. Here’s an example: Parable of The Two Sons – Matthew21:28-32. 

“What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’“‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.“Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.“Which of the two did what his father wanted?”“The first,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.”

Let’s look at the disciples. They personally walked around with the Lord for three years, and still managed to come up with loads of stupid remarks and mistakes. Christianity is not about learning so we can quote things and be right, it is about our hearts. Sometimes, so-called enlightened people can be so pompous and big headed. 🙄 A big following does not make anyone right. I don’t care how many ‘likes’ you have … that can also mean you are simply tickling people’s ears. Saying what they want to hear.

BUT “The Lord looks at our hearts.” Whose opinion do we value? HIS or theirs?? And that scripture ought to put the fear of God into us!  Jesus Himself said: “But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Matthew 7:14. The above scripture is an example of what that small gate looks like … popularity is not always a sign of the Presence of God. People love to feel stuff, but changing their ways … not so much! Obedience matters to God not just agreement! The above parable highlights that.

Christianity is not about being right, it is about learning to obey simply because we love Him. Jesus taught people about the Father and His Ways using parables. It is way too simplistic to think that a parable is just an interesting story with a nice point and fourteen sub-points. Ask yourself, what is this parable teaching me about the WAY God thinks? A parable is a revelation of the heart of God. It is the Holy Spirit jumping up and down. He’s whistling at us – “I’m over here!! Wrong way – go back!” God is explaining Himself to us and we’d better take the time to listen to more than just the stories. What are we? 3??? 😳

The Lord does not care how we feel about it, He is saying that the one who does whatever He asked in spite of how they feel is the one who is OBEDIENT – loves ME –  in some versions. That is not a line we want to miss. Our faith must be active. He said that tax collectors and prostitutes got it right! Why? They were humble, teachable … they knew they were sinners. When John preached “repent,” they were cut to the heart. They stopped sinning and turned to God for His forgiveness. 

Seriously, it is time we stopped making excuses for attitudes that we absolutely know the Lord does not support at all … and started working on our hearts with His help. Here’s a verse that will change your life: Psalm 139:23-24 KJV “Search me, O God, and know my heart: Try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.” 

Otherwise God could do what He has already done before – He might go right around US, and go on to a new generation. He is looking for obedience, not spiritual highs and theories. It is indicative of this age that we literally throw away the thing we do not like – in favour of a theology that supports the “give me give me” theme. How terrifying. It is well past time to be serious about our faith. The bible clearly tells us what that kind of faith will look like – and if we try to pretend we have it, we are doomed to fail. Because when the pressure comes on, we will have nothing but hot air to stand on.

The biblical standard is always too high. That’s why Jesus came. To meet it for us. Only the ones living by the kind of faith that says, “He can transform even ME” –  will survive those things that are yet to impact our lives. Please don’t just say yes, and do no! Tell Him you can’t, and follow the Holy Spirit – read the book. 👋🏻

P 2198 Let’s talk about what faith isn’t.

/ DVH

Faith is not just praying about something and leaving it with the Lord … and doing nothing about it yourself. Faith is an arrow that turns into an action. True faith is doing what Peter did, he had to swing his own legs over the edge of that boat. Then he had to get his balance, stand up, and start walking. Jesus didn’t come to the boat and take the man’s hand and lead him out onto the water! Peter had to make those moves for himself. Faith isn’t a theory, or an unproved thought – it has fruit – you can see it. “Faith is the substance …“

So don’t just think or pray about seeking forgiveness from that person you don’t like, or the one you keep hurting … go and do it. Keep on doing it until YOU change. We can ask the Holy Spirit for mercy and grace and ask Him to prepare our way – but then deliberately – on purpose – GO! After that, keep asking for grace to see and interact with that person differently – don’t just avoid them. And if you mess up again, then ask for forgiveness again. Forgiveness has nothing to do with shame, it is an acknowledgement of my own sin. It is a positive move, despite our feelings, because we are getting something we’ve lost back. Peace! Faith has feet it is not motivated by shame.

We make the biggest mistake ever if we think that when we pray about something, that is all we have to do. It is useless to pray that the old lady down the road can manage her money well so she can eat! Pray, then go and do whatever the Holy Spirit tells you to do, like take her a box of groceries, regularly. God’s ways are practical. But there is always a step of faith to be taken – it’s hard because it is not our nature – yet. Faith leans on His understanding (the stuff in the book). Faith won’t stop.. . until it sees a change in me. Faith is not self-deception, it doesn’t have to hide because it freely admits its own faults.

We probably won’t feel like we’re doing anything at first. We may even feel stupid. However, walking and stepping out of the boat requires our participation and the Lord does not do that for us. Our faith steps activate God’s kingdom, because His kingdom thrives in an atmosphere of faith. Remember, if we don’t ‘like’ someone it may take time for the Lord to open our eyes to see them the way He sees them. Faith is not afraid to get things wrong, it thrives on the Saviour’s loving acceptance. So it does not avoid people just because something is awkward.

When we are angry with someone, the Bible is clear. We go to them. And if they are angry with us, we go to them. Either way there is an action required to step into what God wants us to do. We will not see the kingdom of God in operation while we pass all the responsibility for our transformation, over to Him and do nothing. Faith never thinks the kingdom of God is someone else’s responsibility. If I can see it then it is my job.

Gideon had a set of difficult tasks to complete before he saw an incredible miracle. God coached this man’s faith. His story makes us aware that faith often requires us to do the very thing we would rather not do – like going into the enemy’s camp to win! Our pride and theories have to go down, and Christ’s servant humility has to come up. It takes a humble person to disregard what they think, in favour of doing what the Lord says. Faith will not hesitate to do the hard thing because it lives to see Jesus glorified.

When the Lord comes back for us, He will be looking for faith – that means faith is something that can be seen. It is not airy-fairy – it has concrete actions. Prayer is just the beginning of activating our faith. It is a conversation with the Holy Spirit about the thing we probably don’t want to do! We simply ask for help to do things His way. Like Gideon we would rather round up thousands of troops – but God spent that time eliminating the human answer. Faith doesn’t hesitate to step up into the fight because it knows our side already won.

This is real life, bad things happen. Faith needs to be constantly stretched, otherwise it may not be big enough when we really need it. We need our faith working right now, today. Faith is about being obedient when we just plain don’t want to, and doing it simply because He said so. Faith is not telling the Lord what He should do for us, it is asking Him what He wants US to do for Him! 👋🏻

P 2196 The danger of judgment.

/ DVH

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” Matthew 7:1-5.

Other people’s flaws are not anyone else’s playground for entertainment. However, in today’s current society, other people’s actions are spread around like peanut butter and jelly! You can’t watch the news without being informed of this or that person’s dreadful behaviour – their condemnation is often the headline! I have noticed that when things are retracted, because they were wrong – the retraction is always teeny tiny and glossed over. 

Lately I’ve noticed that judging our pastors and leaders has also become almost a national sport. Plus we criticise other denominations like somehow our truth is better than, or more right than – what they believe. I noticed recently that one very prominent church has hit the headlines again – and my first thought was: “Oh you poor things. Dear Jesus bring your truth into this mess. Amen.” I have to be honest, my next thought was: “I am so glad I’m not anyone noteworthy, sadly I have plenty of things I’ve done and I would hate to have those things paraded around in front of the world!” 

These things are hardly ever put into context. Jesus did not condemn the woman caught in adultery – He gave her protection from her accusers and a new way to live. We must never forget that the power of life and death is in the tongue. Christians have the power to speak life and hope into despair and devastation.We don’t need deliverance – we just need to stop doing it! Let’s treat any knowledge we have as a point of prayer. I think people judge others because they feel powerless. However, …“To whom much is given, much is required.”  I love an old OLD song by Stormie Omartian – “I’m believing for the best in you …” 

What I hear the Lord saying in Matthew 7, is that if we can see it, then we can definitely pray for it. And maybe we even have IT ourselves. Before you prepare a rope to lynch me for saying that, I just want to mention that sawdust comes from wooden planks! Our eyes can get gritty because we have done the same thing, though perhaps not on such a grand scale. Or … maybe nobody found out? Therefore we can recognise the other person’s plank because we know what it feels like personally. Again, another good reason to pray! That knowledge should promote kindness, forgiveness and empathy – not judgment. What’s wrong with them is also wrong with us.

The fact that the Lord says we will be judged the way we judge others, ought to scare the living daylights out of us! Yet we nod our heads and agree with the bible, and then toddle off to dismember this person or that relative – usually behind their backs. It is as if we lack the spiritual ability to see other people the way the Lord does. Yet we ARE the light of this world. We don’t lack light – sight should never be a problem for us! Jesus is saying don’t use the light we have to hurt people –use it to help others. Nothing will separate us faster from the precious Holy Spirit than judgment. “Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.” Proverbs 16:24.

Personally, I want and need mercy, loads of it, every single day. Judgment is the most dangerous thing a Christian can participate in … Always remember, human beings judged Christ – anybody can be wrong. 👋🏻

P 2195 No time for a Nanna-nap!

/ DVH

“But you, beloved brothers and sisters, are not living in the dark, allowing that day to creep up on you like a thief coming to steal.For you are all children of the light and children of the day. We don’t belong to the night nor to darkness. This is why we must not fall asleep, as the rest do, but keep wide awake and clearheaded.But since we belong to the day, we must stay alert and clearheaded by placing the breastplate of faith and love over our hearts, and a helmet of the hope of salvation over our thoughts. He gave His life for us so that we may share in resurrection life in union with Him—whether we’re awake or asleep.” 1 Thessalonians 5:4-6, 8, 10 TPT.

The bible says His word is ‘a lamp to our feet and a light unto our path.’ And the Message bible says this: “By your words I can see where I’m going; they throw a beam of light on my dark path.” Christians do not lack light – we actually can’t! Jesus is the light of this world and we are in Christ – it’s not EVER dark where He is. You will always have plenty of light when you hang around with Jesus.

Sadly, sometimes what we do lack is the will to go and sit in the light and learn from Him! We need the Holy Spirit’s help to stay awake and alert in these overwhelming times. Ignoring why we are here is sleeping. Unfortunately human beings are not inherently good, despite popular opinion  – they are often uncaring, self-centred, independent creatures who want what they want when they want it. And if you don’t believe me read a newspaper or look at social media. Those things will quickly convince you that without Christ we are all helpless and at the mercy of our own appetites!

But because we live in the light – living there means His light will convince us that darkness cannot oppose us. Turn a light switch on when it is pitch black – darkness doesn’t leave grumbling and complaining – it is simply gone. Part of the way we shine His light out there into the darkness is to actively engage in learning His ways from the Holy Spirit. How to love others – our family, the people at work or school, our neighbours, so it is incredibly important that we see other people through His eyes. We get our Father’s eyes through living in obedience. His eyes are full of compassion. Otherwise our eyes are full of our own needs and our problems. Living in the light means we are learning to unconditionally accept the person in front of us. We can’t ever do that without the Lord’s help.

As we go about in this world, it is easy to see that many people have become so used to the darkness – that the light in us, and coming from us, hurts their eyes or they are afraid of it so they hide from it. But there are others who are drawn toward the light because it resonates deep within them. In today’s careless self-centred world, we cannot afford to be asleep on the job because who we are is always on display. People watch us  simply because we are standing in His light. 

Alert people keep their faith going even when it is opposed on all sides. If they have to hang on by their fingernails, they hang on! They tell themselves, “God has got this. These circumstances did not surprise Him. He has a plan, His plans are for my good and my future. I cannot afford to see my circumstances through the white noise this world produces, even though it is all around me – I must look at this life through the Lord’s eyes not my own.” These people stop holding onto what they think they must have or need, and let everything go – other people’s sin, the absence of real love everywhere etc. simply because walking with Him is more important than anything else.

Our personal faith is far more incredibly valuable than we realise, and we access and use our faith when we choose to love others, no matter what is going on in us and around us. Faith is a belief that our God can and will only do all of us good whether we know it or not – because He is good. We need the kind of strong faith that protects our hearts. The kind of faith that covers our heart with the belief that He loves and cares for every single person individually – no matter how things look, or how we feel.

Our faith hides in, and depends upon His goodness. It hides us from the deadly attacks of the enemy. It creates an atmosphere that is alert and notices whatever the Lord is doing. Our faith looks for good even within the bad. Our faith believes in Him, His Character, His never-ending kindness, goodness and love. And it shields our hearts by reminding us of everything He said in the bible. Our faith is not in circumstances or people, it understands other people fall victim to their own lack of faith in His reliability.

Lastly, His hope comes directly from our belief system –  it understands that HOPE is a Person. Christ. Our hope relies upon what He did. We cannot afford to gain hope from works, or even experiences – our hope is in Him. Sleeping in the light is wasting the time God gave us all. Just because things have become darker outside, that does not mean we can afford Nanna naps! The light shines brighter in the darkness. 👋🏻

P 2194 What is God aiming at?

/ DVH

I Thessalonians 4: 23-24 “May God Himself, the God who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole, put you together—spirit, soul, and body—and keep you fit for the coming of our Master, Jesus Christ. The One Who called you is completely dependable. If He said it, He’ll do it!” Amen. The Person Who can teach us Holiness is the One Who has HOLY in His Name. We need to learn to listen to the Holy Spirit, from the bible as He leads us.

There are times when we think we know what the Lord wants from His kids, and so we get nit-picky about superficial things. What people wear – what people say – but the Lord looks at hearts. Think about this – the woman that was taken whilst she was committing adultery was thrown down at the Lord’s feet. She did not look pure and holy – she looked guilty! Jesus went around the visible things and her actions and He taught her accusers a lesson, plus He spoke to her heart, all at the same time. His love released her from fear and guilt …

Human beings look at attitudes and actions for proof of sin – but the Lord looks at our hearts. Ask yourself, am I amenable and open to change? Do I listen to what other people say about me or am I suspicious of others and their motivations? Our hearts can be changed easily when they are soft toward Him and others. Unfortunately we don’t always know what is IN there. So we need to take note of what we do, feel and say, and how we respond to others.

Our circumstances will uncover the real US. We are who we really are when we are damaged, provoked, or passed over, or treated badly. Our responses to those things reveal our actual heart attitudes. My best advice is don’t make excuses for yourself. Repent anyway. Make His pleasure in who you are, more important than saving face, or pretending to be someone you aren’t. Don’t be afraid to be your real self – Jesus paid for all our sinful attitudes. However, let’s keep working on those attitudes while it is still day, because night is coming.

We are not here to uncover other people’s sins! Instead, His kids are always looking for a way to love, connect and help each other – we choose to see the good in each other. Sin starts in our minds and if it is unattended to, it will drop into our hearts. Sin needs justification. “I do this because they did that!” But Jesus’ death and resurrection empowered us to a higher place where the greater law prevails.

Our God is not content with lip-service, He works from the inside out, but we must overcome our fear of change and embrace the fact that because what Christ did – He totally and utterly loves us. He loved us all before we were ever born. Sadly, for too long our aim has been our own comfort, but the bible makes it very clear – we are His kingdom people – we are here to usher His kingdom here on earth the way it is in heaven so our comfort is non-existent or secondary.

This is why verses like this one in Thessalonians are important. They show us the Lord’s AIM. His aim is not to fluff our pillows and make sure our beds are all comfy cosy – His aim is to have a people – a family. And Jesus Christ is our example of what that family will look like! You will, however, still be you, and I will still be me – but we will both be changed, praise the Lord … because we both need it. Maybe me more than you!

The thing this verse shows us is that God Himself will do this work in us, as we step out in faith and use the bible as our guideline. As we continually use our faith, we step into His kingdom and then even our own transformation adds weight to His kingdom growing around us. The more we change, the more the world around is influenced by our new way of thinking, doing and being. 

Almighty God will make us holy the same way He is holy. And the Person Who totally understands and knows how to implement it into our lives, is the Holy Spirit.  But we need to continually learn to co-operate with Him. One of the most important revelations to grasp, is our utter helplessness without Him. We cannot do this work of transformation ourselves. We can read about it, agree with it, and eventually we will realise that we come up short. Paul talks about this in Romans. 

When we discover it is beyond our reach to change ourselves, that is the time that the Lord has begun His work in us. Poverty of spirit is a good thing. That’s why Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven…” Our Spirit-led responses to life’s difficulties are the building blocks of our new life. We need to learn to rely upon the Holy Spirit to show us how to be holy the way He is holy. 👋🏻

P 2193 Stand with Him. The view is different where the Lord is.

/ DVH

In today’s politically adverse climates, we dare not think that God is on my side, or, maybe He is on that other person’s side. I just want to state here and now, that the Lord God, Maker of Heaven and Earth is on HIS OWN SIDE (Joshua 5:14) … And the best thing we can do when things get difficult, is to take the time to step away from what’s happening to us, or even what we think we need, and ask Him to help us to stand with Him … ON.HIS.SIDE! Almighty God’s view of this world is different from ours – there is another reality – His. This is a key to coping when things are tough.

Some of you reading this blog today are suffering. It can be extremely hard to maintain your faith when everything around you seems to be so anti-God, or even anti-you and your personal POV! But these turbulent times are precisely the moments that we need to remember that we believe in God because of WHO HE IS – not just for what He might or might not do for us. “But without faith it is impossible to [walk with God and] please Him, for whoever comes [near] to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He rewards those who [earnestly and diligently] seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6. 

Christians have sometimes interpreted this verse from Hebrews from our own needs. We think that the word ‘reward’ means that we will get what we want, and when that doesn’t happen then we get extremely disappointed instead! I don’t believe that this is the only way to interpret this verse.  I think our Father’s idea of a reward is His increased Presence in our lives. He wants us to ask Him, when things are tough, for His POV.

Sadly we have strayed so far away from looking at this life through His eyes … His plans for us – which are “to give us a hope and a future” – that we can’t quite remember what being in His Presence does for us! His Presence clarifies things. More of HIM and His kingdom in our lives, is the reward we need more than anything else. He doesn’t see this life the way we do. Human beings often want pain to go away, but maybe that pain is doing something somewhere that we simply can’t see.

Here is a verse that impacted me in Psalm 46. “Surrender your anxiety. Be still and realize that I am God.” TPT Psalm 46:9. Here is the Message version:“Step out of the traffic! Take a long, loving look at Me, your High God, above politics, above everything.” 

That line ‘step out of the traffic’ is brilliant!  I love it. When we are stuck in traffic we can’t think about anything else except how to escape from the stress and noise!  The Holy Spirit is saying here that we need to step away from those things that are putting pressure on us. In the Passion translation it tells us to “be still.” Stand still, breathe, and wait for whatever He will say or do next. Don’t be tempted to rush on to solve the problem by yourself. God is in charge of our time here on earth, let Him order your life.

At first glance, it can seem that if the Lord would only make the problem go away, then that’s the best answer! However, when this life overwhelms us, finding the Lord in the middle of our problems reassures us that we can make it through. Simply because there can be no worry in His Presence!  We need to see our lives through His eyes, that’s the key to standing on His side. When we let go of our agendas and let the Holy Spirit open our eyes to what is really going on, that’s when we are standing with Him. The right key in the right place can reveal His will. 

In the bible, Elisha prayed for his servant when they were totally surrounded by their enemies in 2 Kings 6. He prayed for this man to see the kingdom reality around them, because the other man’s fear had blinded him. Then Elisha did an amazing thing – he also prayed for their enemies to be BLIND – so the only people who could see that huge angel army were Elisha and His servant! Ya might want to think on that for a month or two – I know I will! 🧐 We have the power to see what is going on from the Lord’s view – He doesn’t hide Himself from us.

There is another reality around us that is often hidden from our sight. But the more we live in His Presence, the more this world has no hold over us and our eyes become attuned to what is actually going on in the Kingdom of God – instead of simply staring helplessly at the works of satan.  When we live like this, we see this life through faith’s eyes. Our job is to pray His Kingdom down here into this earth. Not for revenge, or justification, but for His will to be done. Step out of the noisy traffic of this life and be still. There is another reality. Bless you. 🤗

P 2192 Activating my own faith.

/ DVH

The amazing thing about this new life of ours is that God Himself, in the Person of the Holy Spirit, does all the work in our hearts as we yield to His will, His way. We must deliberately choose to learn to live co-operatively with Him. Disobedience drove mankind away from the Garden in the first place, but our obedience – our “yes” … our own personal choices – takes us into the kind of relationship Jesus Himself had with His Heavenly Father. And our loving Father heals us over and over again, through the choices we make. Our faith, expressed by our personal works/actions done in faith, opens heaven’s doors toward us. “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” James 5:16.

When I choose to deny myself for His sake, I am putting to death my old way of thinking, in favour of something God Himself said in the bible. At the same time this means I am deliberately yielding to the Holy Spirit, believing that He knows what is best for me, better than I know it for myself. I’ve learnt that my first response may not always be my best response… BUT I can trust what the Lord has said in the book – because He wrote it down. It’s in black and white, with some red thrown in!

I used to read a lot of other books to help me understand what the bible said, but I discovered that eventually other people’s interpretations actually coloured my POV. It meant I kept seeing verses, passages, themes through that particular teacher’s eyes. In the end, I stopped reading other books – because I wanted to know what He wanted to say to ME – right here, right now! What He says to someone else may not be what He wants to say to me. It is good to read testimonies about other people’s faith etc. and the revelations that the Lord has given them, but it is not good to substitute reading about their faith, to digging in and finding your own.

Meanwhile, I totally think we’ve beaten that verse in Acts: “God is no respecter of persons.” (10:28) almost to death! We’ve developed a tendency to major on, and quote from a few verses that support our own POV. In doing this we’ve reduced 66 books in the bible, to the size of a brochure! That verse in Acts is talking about humanity’s salvation – not God dividing up His love fairly! That is not something we should even begin to think about. 

I love to pray that the Lord will bless our pastors, because I know that they devote themselves to listening to God, for us. But nobody expects to eat just one meal a week! It will take me using my own personal faith learning to listen for myself – to grow. And at the same time I am strengthening my inner spirit man. The Body of Christ worldwide is struggling over the issue of faith – our faith is being tested everywhere we look. We all need to know that the God we love and serve wants to talk to each one of us, daily. He knows our names and He knows what we are going through and He deeply cares about each and everyone of our trials and tribulations.

However, unfortunately, most of the time we are not digesting what we read. Reading is not digestion. We must “taste and see that the Lord is good,” for ourselves, personally. When God Himself helps us change our stinky attitudes, our faith grows – we activate our own faith. If I am to … continually forgive others …  I can’t just say: “That doesn’t apply to me, I’m not mad at anyone.”  Instead I have to go to the King and ask Him – “Holy Spirit, who am I mad at?” Reading this way is a proactive process. We will have to put down passive agreementto pick up the shield of faith. We desperately need to look for ways to act on our faith in our ordinary everyday lives and consider how what we’ve read today, applies to us! 

It is way too easy to hinge our relationship with Him on perceived answers to our prayers – or even how we feel. Our God is incredibly gracious and generous to His kids. However, answers to our prayers are not signs of His favour. His favour was demonstrated, once and for all, at Calvary! When you or I say ‘I can’t change’ or even:  ‘they won’t ever change’ – you may as well say the sky is green! When we think like that we are scrunching up our faith and throwing it in the rubbish bin. Our God can do anything. That is an established fact. Just because He hasn’t done anything so far, that doesn’t mean He won’t. Timing is everything to Him.

It works like this: we ask for His Grace and help, then we purpose in our hearts to change our behaviour, and then we go ahead and step out in faith changing our behaviour. Activate your own faith – listen, apply, and DO.👋🏻

P 2191 Please don’t be tempted to live in a divided kingdom.

/ DVH

Parable of The Divided Kingdom – Mark 3:23-27. “So Jesus called them over to Him and began to speak to them in parables: “How can satan drive out satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house.”

Lots of people wa-ay smarter than me have preached on this parable but I’m not going to talk about all of it here. Today I want to talk about the fact that we can shoot ourselves, figuratively, in the foot, by having one foot in the kingdom, and the other in this world. That’s called having a divided mind and/or loyalty. Unfortunately we can easily be tied up by satan in this world’s difficulties.

We cannot advance God’s kingdom while we are constantly being overtaken by the things of this world. Sooner or later the world we live in will win – because this world is pushy! That’s what IN this world and not OF this world means. We live here but we are no longer from here – our home is somewhere else. So we have a totally different allegiance from the people who live around us. Our allegiance is with Jesus Christ and His Ways.

The King of all Kings wants to motivate us now, so we can serve Him … now. HE LOVES HUMANITY – He proved it! Now we live in another kingdom, by its rules. The thing is, many times we can easily kind of skate along the thin edge of looking like everyone else around us, so we can fit in. The problem with that is, while we are toying with this world’s games, we will have a clouded view of what the Lord Himself wants from us. The single greatest thing we can ever do – apart from choosing to follow the Lord, is to unequivocally give our lives to Him and refuse to take them back. Total commitment is the only way I know to eliminate the tendency in humanity to compromise.

We are not in this world to do the hokey pokey – one foot in and one foot out. It’s all in. OR … live in the hell of having to choose over and over again which way to go and getting sucked down the plug hole of sin. There is no compromise with the world around us, this world is too far gone. We simply choose to do what Jesus did – He died. We must die, here and now, daily – choosing His way over ours using our faith. His Grace can see us through anything. Sometimes it will hurt – but it simplifies matters.

When we make the bible our reference point we will definitely bump into other people’s excuses.This world doesn’t like that sort of clarity, it presents us with the wrong picture over and over again. EG: ‘if it hurts, then it is wrong, don’t do it!’ Avoiding pain has become a new art form. It will hurt, dying to self does! It killed the Lord… becoming sin broke His dear heart. 

I can remember seeing the line of total commitment off in the distance as a much younger Christian. I avoided going too close lest I fall over it. I did not jump right into the River of God. I sort of paddled about in the shallows – and sometimes I went in up to my waist. I was afraid of what the Lord might take from me, or what I would have to leave behind. But at that time I was absolutely ‘born again!’ I went to church every single time I could, and I joined in with everything. However, the line of what I could and couldn’t do, was blurry. It was blurred by my compromise. 

The Lord never meant for Christianity to be a two-step program. It is all in, forever. He sent back His power to the people who made a commitment to stay in the upper room for as long as it took. 50 days of waiting, praying and wondering if there was going to be a knock on the door, and men would come to kill them. Total commitment means we wait for His input. Staying close to Him has become our very life.

It means you start living forever today. Here and now. LET: “The Holy Spirit put steel in your convictions.” 1 Thessalonians 1:4b. MSG bible. 👋🏻

P 2189 Fellowship.

/ DVH

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:28

Hubby is Singaporean Chinese, a chosen-Aussie, but he doesn’t speak a whole lot of Chinese any more. Meanwhile, his mother speaks 5 Chinese languages as well as English – she was matron of a hospital! I adore her, she is the sweetest, dearest lady. There are plenty of highly-motivated people in my hubby’s family. His father was a nursing educator before he retired, as well as a lay preacher – his family is filled up with over-achievers. There were no Christians at all in my family, but several generations of Christians on my husband’s side. What a contrast! Meanwhile, because I am a multi-generational Aussie, I can have trouble with this world’s idea of English … forget Chinese!

Years ago now, my dear hubby’s beloved mama, his precious grandmother was still with us, here in this world. When she died, we both cried and cried for days. I still have tears in my eyes while I am typing this. What a truly wonderful little lady she was – from the minute she met me I was instantly family – and hubby was a favoured grandson. She didn’t speak a great deal of English and her main fellowship came from her church family. 

The Holy Spirit pointed out to us one day that whenever we saw her, she always had her dear little nose in her bible. He reminded us that we could talk to her … using the bible. So we did. Her bible was written in Chinese, and ours was in English. We just made sure we had the same version and … away we went! Oh, we had such a glorious time together. It was truly God-kissed.

We laughed, we cried – with joy – and we shared our love for Him together as well. Other people couldn’t work out how we were managing to talk to her because she only spoke Teo-Chew. But that didn’t matter one bit, the Holy Spirit’s system worked splendidly! And every time we went to where she lived, we’d go down to the room where she sat, and fellowship with her, we never wanted to leave her. It was just such a blessing and  something we looked forward to doing.

Because of Mama, I learnt to say ‘praise the Lord’ in Chinese, pretty quickly. And hallelujah is the same in any language. Mama prayed for us, and we prayed for her – and nobody understood a word anybody else said but it didn’t matter! There are no barriers in the Spirit. Hubby’s grandma went to a Chinese Church of Christ, and we went to a Pentecostal one and that did not matter either! Theology never came up – but Jesus came up a whole lot. You know this dear elderly lady merrily gave out words of knowledge to other people? Even though she didn’t actually have a label for it – she just told them whatever God told her to say! And those words were accurate, every time. 

At 85 she used to catch the bus to go across town to visit the ‘old’ people in her church. Some people are just pure gold! … And she was one of them. I learnt so much from our too-short time together. I plan on hugging her to bits when I get to heaven I can tell you. Because Mama taught me so much about the unity we can have in the Spirit – the unity that has nothing whatsoever to do with theology.

I was not exactly a prized granddaughter-in-law in this world’s eyes, but that did not matter at all to her. She loved me on sight and I loved her right back. You know, older people still have a lot to give if we don’t park them in the snoozing bay up the back of the church. 😂 The bible tells us not to despise wisdom, and growing old teaches you a lot – if you let it, and your brain doesn’t periodically go on strike!  Age teaches us all about what is important … and what is not. 

It seems today, that I am bragging on family, so I’m just going to continue. As you know, hubby just had a nasty operation on his right hand recently. His dominant hand. He is sitting two feet from me painting some things to give away on our next trip. My dear man likes to paint prophetic paintings for other-people-who-don’t-know-Jesus-yet. Right now he is painting with his LEFT non-dominant hand. And it looks no different to the lovely work he does with the right one. I told you we have really talented people in our family! See above.↑

My point today is obvious, there are no barriers that can keep the Holy Spirit out. Not language, race, creed, or attitude … if you see a barrier ask the Lord how to bring it down. He comes up with the most amazing things. We can spend so much time trying to figure stuff out, trying to be the people we think we are meant to be – and heaven’s vast resources are left dormant.  We need to learn to access those heavenly things … and throw our supposed skills out of the window, by cultivating Holy Spirit’s Presence. He will do amazing things in our ordinary everyday lives. Let Him. 👋🏻