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P 3438 Yoo-hoo! I’m home!

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“Guard and keep [with the greatest care] the precious and excellently adapted [Truth] which has been entrusted [to you], by the [help of the] Holy Spirit Who makes His home in us.” 2 Timothy:1:14.

This our aim, making a home for the Holy Spirit inside us. Anyone of us can smile and look pleased outwardly, when inside we are unhappy. We all know what polite looks like! However, the Holy Spirit doesn’t do polite. When you read the Old Testament He is often quite blunt, even though He is always very kind. We can have a funny opinion of what we think He should say, or do, it’s almost like we’ve made Him into SomeOne He isn’t.

He likes humility more than appearances. It is a fantastic thing to be able to quote the word, and I have known people who could quote whole chapters. Plus a couple of really clever people I’ve known could quote a whole book – word for word! That was mind-blowing and impressive. But one quiet word from the Holy Spirit can transform my heart.

Personally, I always have to rely upon the Lord bringing what I need into my mind! He loves to help us through the problems of this life. He won’t always make them go away, Instead, He leads us through. Today, let’s remember we want our hearts to be HIS HOME  whatever that might look like. 

Maybe you have a room at your house, that you keep for visitors or long term guests? If it is like our spare room it rapidly fills up with stuff that doesn’t fit in other rooms! But when we have a visitor or a guest, we clean everything out, and get rid of the dust-bunnies, and make the room welcoming for that prospective guest. This is what we need to learn to do for the Holy Spirit. Make room for Him. We do that by focussing on Jesus and what He has already done for us. Our bit is to step into our faith and follow the Leader.

Making room for the Lord can seem to be costly — spiritually, mentally and emotionally. It hurts when we suddenly see the need to give up something that seemed OK – until the Holy Spirit put His finger on it! Learning to love Him and treasure what He does, makes that transformation easier. There are times when decisions must be made about what we say and what we don’t. I sometimes hear Him say: “Don’t say that, you will be misunderstood.”

This too, is part of clearing out our hearts to make room for Him. I think I have a big under construction sign over my heart permanently!  Life is full of surprises, not all of them are good ones. The people you love and value go away — pain and grief are things the Holy Spirit understands. He can be grieved so He knows what grief is like and Jesus is well acquainted with pain and suffering. They know the Way through the hard bits.

The fact is, we can quite easily turn to other people and rely on their faith, and not cultivate our own. The Person we need to learn to lean on is Jesus. He won’t go anywhere. Talking to other people may help in stressful times, but only the Lord knows what is happening in your heart.

Trusting Him grows our faith. Our God is so gracious to us, but accepting that He knows what is best for us, can cause us to get out of sorts. It’s that out of sorts feeling that can shift our focus off Him and onto what we think we need right now. In my experience that means my brain is working overtime and rebellion and frustration are knocking on my door. And then my faith is pushed into the back seat and my brain whizzes around and around, trying to solve things that are too hard for me.

We need His help to identify the times when we are acting out of fear instead of faith. The bible tells us that Jesus Himself is the Author and Finisher of our faith — He is utterly committed to helping our faith grow!  When the distance between the Holy Spirit and us becomes obvious, it can take a while for us to work out what is at the bottom of that pile of stuff we’ve become used to walking around! … Instead of straining to clean up the mess, I just turn my heart back to Him and then I follow His prompts.

He points out what is motivating me, blocking me from seeing Him clearly, and I follow His quiet advice. The Holy Spirit is our live-in helper, counsellor, teacher, guide, coach, advocate, our Father’s truth Speaker, and Witness to what is good right and profitable. That’s why we need to make room for Him. This isn’t about prayer or bible study, or other great things, we simply need His Presence in our lives.

He is the One Who will guard all the truths we long to keep in our hearts as He takes His stylus and writes each one on our hearts. Here’s one of my weird questions for you — when was the prodigal son rescued? When he realised his foolishness, or when he repented in front of his father? Selah!  

Hanging around with the Holy Spirit transforms us, day by day. Once we start to clear out those piles of irrelevant stuff we’ve kept, for one reason or another — we can see more clearly how to make room for Him. You know, once I decided to make my heart His home, things that had been hanging around for years, just disappeared. I simply did what He said and He did all the work. Then I heard His familiar cry: “You-hoo! I am home.” Bye. 👋.

P 3429 GRACE is not an optional extra.

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It is often so easy to focus on our needs. The need to be well, or have enough money, or a job, or a house, or even the right spouse to serve Him. When what we actually need is His Grace for wherever we are – right here, right now! Jesus Himself didn’t have any of those physical things and it didn’t bother Him — His food and drink was to do the will of His Father. Paul wasn’t impressed by the fripperies of this world either, and if you look at all the disciples, they didn’t think they needed anything BUT JESUS.

I know about a number of missionaries who don’t have most of the kind of things that we take for granted. However, they don’t feel poor. Actually they’d rather walk with Him, than rely upon stuff. The Lord Jesus gave us His grace when He died for us, now, Grace is the vehicle we step into, and we never ever step out of again!  Because our aim is to follow Him, we choose to apply ourselves to learn this truth. We literally cannot do anything without Him. Salvation is not just asking Him into our lives and walking away, clutching our free ticket to heaven. Grace is the ticket that takes us all the way there. That ‘ticket’ cost our loving Saviour His life.

By now we have learnt that choosing to love anyone is incredibly powerful, and it is even more powerful when we begin to understand the cost of that kind of choice. Our choice to follow Him blesses the Lord Jesus’ heart. We, and millions of other people, who have gone before us, are His reward for all His suffering. I don’t think human beings have the capacity to live the way Jesus did, and maintain it, without the Grace of God freely flowing through their lives.

It takes Grace to love someone who feels so entitled to focus on their own happiness than anything else around them – they see this world in a childish fashion. “What’s in it for me?’ It can be remarkably easy to give up leaning on the Lord, because the spiritual things seem too hard. That’s the point. They were always going to be too hard. Our quest is to choose to learn to love, live, move and have our being in Him, and His Grace helps us achieve that, one step at a time.

‘Grace needs to be viewed not just as a one-time pardon, but as an ongoing spiritual strength, that helps people change and serve others.’ (Google) Loving others in our own strength will eventually produce a conflict of interests, and most of the time, it’s likely that my own interests will win! That’s when Grace Himself leaves, and we are left with ‘me’ in all my selfish glory. Conversely, I can easily get puffed up by how sacrificial I am, even when you clearly don’t deserve it. I can also probably be misled by hardship — but His Grace is God’s gift to me, to lead me into His Ways.

It is, unfortunately, comparatively simple to keep trying to control the world around us, without being a good steward of what lies within. I am of the opinion that we can’t do anything lasting, or eternal, without His Grace. True grace is eternity that has already come, or been invited, into the here and now. Let us not  forget the first few lines of that well known passage in 1 Corinthians 13, “The fruit of the SPIRIT …”   We will fail in our quest if we fail to realise that it’s HIS fruit that will be manifested in our lives. As we learn to co-operate with Him and ask Him to grow it – we will need His Grace to endure and keep on loving others.  

That fruit will be automatically and systematically nurtured as we choose, minute by minute, to stay attached to the vine. Jesus’ Grace holds us there – on that sometimes uncomfortable spot that challenges us to die to what we want. That takes these things out of the realm of what I can do, and puts them squarely into the Kingdom reality of what Jesus has already done. You can’t have both – self interest is not the same His interest, no matter how carefully we use pretty, spiritual words to make it sound better. In those moments, let’s choose to remember that Jesus didn’t care if He impressed anyone with His spirituality or not. Most of His praying was done in secret! 

We don’t need to explain Grace to participate in it. After all, His Grace saved us when we were already sinners. His Grace came and found us. Our job is to give grace a HOME. We were too stupid to ask for it, we definitely didn’t deserve it, so we won’t always recognise it when it comes our way. Nevertheless it is there. Our ignorance, or wilful disobedience, does not negate what God freely gave us. His Grace is the sap that facilitates the fruit of His Spirit to grow in our lives. I can try to change myself until I am blue in the face, and I might even outwardly change my behaviour. But I cannot change my heart. It will deceive me. 

The Grace released by what the Lord Jesus Christ did is far more powerful than we can imagine. Because of it, we need to live our lives gratefully. Grace saved us and it sustains us. We cannot outgrow our need for His Grace in our lives. Grace acts as a moving vehicle, it runs on our faith, and carries us past our perceived limits, into a new way of living. It is an unearned gift that holds us steady, moves us forward, and changes how we see our flaws. The bible shows us what to do and Grace helps us do it.

His Grace runs to meet us when we mess up. It lifts us up from the dirt and grime into a bigger place where we see how much He loves us, far more clearly. It gently washes us clean – again – and it holds us fast in His love even when life tosses us around like a leaf in a storm. We need His Word, plus His Grace, to help us apply it in our lives, all the time. God’s Grace is not an optional extra it is an essential oil, perfuming our lives. Bye. 👋

P 3026 Take a bible bath!

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Here’s an example of a good long soak from Colossians: “Holy Spirit, please Help me to: 

‘…receive the perfect knowledge of God’s pleasure over my life, make me a reservoir of every kind of wisdom and spiritual understanding. I pray that I’d walk in the ways of true righteousness, pleasing my Father God in every good thing I do. Then I will become a fruit-bearing branch, yielding to His life in me, as I mature in the rich experience of knowing Almighty God in His fullness!

 …I pray that I’d be energised with all Your explosive power from the realm of Your magnificent glory, please fill me with great hope. My heart soars with joyful gratitude when I think of how God made me worthy to receive the glorious inheritance freely given to me by living in the light. God Himself has rescued me completely from the tyrannical rule of darkness and has translated me into the kingdom realm of His beloved Son. 

… How blessed I am when I demonstrate tender mercy! For tender mercy will be demonstrated to me. The Lord Jesus is the divine portrait, the true likeness of the invisible God, and the firstborn heir of all creation. In Him was created the universe of things, both in the heavenly realm and on the earth, all that is seen and all that is unseen. Every seat of power, realm of government, principality, and authority—it all exists through Him and for His purpose!”

That prayer was gleaned from Colossians 1:9-16 TPT and personalised by me. I have found this is a great way to pray for yourself — especially if you have no words of your own. Sometimes I end up praying things I would never ever think of praying – but they are in the book! For instance, for years now I’ve prayed that God would “enlighten the eyes of my heart” according to Ephesians 1:18. I’ve found the scripture comes alive and it is active. And it will also comfort and heal us, as we literally apply it like a healing balm over our hearts.

My spiritual eyes have been enlightened, made brighter, and  they see better, as I focus on what He has said about me. These are the things He has said about all of us — about His love, about our lives, and what’s happening in them. The saddest place we can live in is to know what His Word says – but never ever act like it is true. It is our faith that brings the Word Himself off the page, and now He stands with us, whispering to us what to do next. He speaks to me through the scriptures all the time, it has become my inner reference point.

In the passage above from Colossians, one verse stood out to me: ‘…God Himself has rescued me completely from the tyrannical rule of darkness and has translated me into the kingdom realm of His beloved Son.” One way or another we have all been subjected to tyranny! Some of us from birth, and/or our own sin! Instead of focussing on the human tyrant who perpetrated ugliness against us, now we have been given the power to focus upon the One Who set us free. He didn’t just take us out of tyranny – GOD PUT US FIRMLY INTO THE KINGDOM REALM OF HIS BELOVED SON. 

So when tyranny tries to knock on the door of your heart you can truthfully tell it: “Knock all you want – I don’t live there anymore! My home is with Jesus now, I don’t have to live under your rule.” Almighty God wants us to live under His rule, His wisdom, not the so-called wisdom of this world. The wisdom of God is unchanging, and never ending. Did you get that? His wisdom won’t ever change or end, and God is for us. He won’t take sides, because now we have stepped onto HIS SIDE! On His side we do things the way He tells us, always believing He has everyone’s good in His incredible loving heart. 

It still amazes me that I can suddenly think of a scripture I can barely remember reading. If you asked me where it was, I might say…”I think it’s in there … in the bible… somewhere???” However, my faulty memory does not change His word. “But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: …”Romans 10:8. That verse is also in Deuteronomy 30:14. It’s in the New Testament and the Old Testament… that’s a double whammy!!

His word is in us, whether we know it or not—whether we have memorised it or not. Simply reading it regularly, and thinking about it — is just like soaking in the precious oils that Esther spent six months drenching herself in before she went in to see Ahasuerus, the King. You could smell Esther before she ever walked into a room!

Now, you and I are the sweet fragrance of Christ being shed abroad wherever we go. That means that the people who pass us in the street, going about their business will turn their heads and say, “WHAT was THAT?!?” Hubby and I have seen this in real life. A grumpy, business-like frozen person turns into a puddle simply because Jesus entered the room – He came with us. Thank you Lord!!

If you want the Holy Spirit to go places with you, then GO WHERE HE WANTS TO GO! Consult Him. Ask Him questions.“Where do You want me to go? How do I do that? What do you want me to say? Help!?” We can joyfully spread His fragrance around when we soak-in, take-in, act-on and enjoy His Presence. Pray the scriptures over your life. You will come out much cleaner than you went in! Bye. 🛁

P 2979 Saturated.

/ DVH

To be saturated means that when life squeezes the daylights out of you — all that comes out is love! The Holy Spirit’s Presence in us, transforms us, and touches everyone around us. He attracts people, and He knows exactly what every heart we meet needs to hear. We are not called to pat down or pacify other people’s sin – we are called to shine HIS light into sin, without destroying the person captured by it. Love shines into the darkness with such a brilliance that even grumpy people are surprised.

We don’t seem to understand that He is now in all of us, and it is our joy to co-operate with Him. We make our hearts, His home, with the Holy Spirit’s help, otherwise we will get progressively deaf. That’s what disobedience, and carelessness does. Because He is now our dearest, most trusted Friend, the Holy Spirit can put His finger on anything He sees that is clogging up our flow of His love, in us and for others. As He flows through us that is the normal Christian life. 

Peter told the lame man in the book of Acts: “I don’t have money but what I do have I will give you.” He knew the Holy Spirit was in him and with him. Peter’s focus was on walking with God not ministry, or avoiding sin. The secret to flowing with the Holy Spirit is to allow Him to lead you. He is not some kind of emergency spare Friend sent to bail us out of trouble or make us look good! Life is so much easier, when He is in charge. Meanwhile, I can guarantee you that whatever He wants us to do, we will need to use our faith to do it. 

I find it incredibly interesting that Jesus Himself did not teach the disciples about what we call “the anointing.” He did not speak about God’s Presence with these men as a method—because the Holy Spirit is a PERSON, not a method! He simply taught these men God’s ways, then He demonstrated them, and then He told them to go and do it! 

The Lord’s importance and proximity in their lives had an overflowing effect – they were able to do what He did because they were living in His Presence. Ya might want to stop and think about that one! 🤔 Yet these men, who walked with Jesus, weren’t perfected in their personal faith – until their spiritual debt had been paid, and the Holy Spirit came to each one of them at Pentecost. After the Spirit’s arrival, they would’ve gladly died for what they believed instead of running away, as they had previously done.

The bible tells us that the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. We already have it, so we must stop checking out our feelings and instead follow His prompts. God loves it when we do what we do prompted by faith – every single day. Including TODAY! … “Today when you hear His voice, don’t harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled.” Hebrews 3:15. When you hear Him—obey Him. If He says you should apologise and fix things, then that other person’s response has nothing whatsoever to do with the outcome… even if they snarl at you! We are here to please Him, other people may be touched by Him as we obey, but that is not our priority. Our obedience releases our faith.

The source of His life in us is never US—it is His Presence IN us. “Christ in you the hope of glory..”  As we daily choose to use our faith to allow God to redeem our lives from fleshly habits—like holding apathy, offences,  bitterness, bad attitudes, wrong relationships and carelessness, we will become increasingly more free. Even seemingly unimportant things, that can trip us up — things like lying to save someone else’s feelings must go.

The love of God needs to fill us daily with the purposes and things of God. We can’t just pray: “Fill me now please Lord” and then walk out of the door and get grumpy because somebody parked across the driveway. And we don’t just go to work to do a job – now we work for Him! As we walk with Him we will move away from those things that are distracting us from our true calling and purpose. 

At the same time, the love of God captures our hearts. We begin to see Him do things through us that we cannot do ourselves. And I’m not just talking about walking on water! I’m talking about a bad tempered person finding that as they yield to the Holy Spirit’s promptings, and obey Him in faith, they are transformed. They experience the growth of the  fruit of self-control. Because of their obedience, they are choosing to remain in the vine.This love lifestyle doesn’t just work on things like a bad temper, it works on anything that keeps you and I from being distracted by this life. We remember how much God loves us! 

Our proximity to Jesus minute by minute, grows exponentially as we live aware of Him. The Holy Spirit is with us to remind us we are not guided by our flesh anymore.“Don’t be pulled in different directions or worried about a thing. Be saturated in prayer throughout each day, offering your faith-filled requests before God with overflowing gratitude. Tell Him every detail of your life, then God’s wonderful peace that transcends human understanding, will guard your heart and mind through Jesus Christ.” Philippians 4:6-7 TPT.

As you can see, God’s peace is the final umpire. Our task is follow His peace. We have to protect our peace and be guided by it.  Living this life saturated with His love is not a pipe dream – it is our new way to live.

Bye. 👋

P 2900 We pray from a kingdom perspective.

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“Yes, feast on all the treasures of the heavenly realm and fill your thoughts with heavenly realities, and not with the distractions of the natural realm.” Colossians 3:2 TPT. There are so many instructional verses in the bible, just like this one, that we could apply one of them every single day and still not get through the book even once in this lifetime! So how do we feast on all the treasures of the heavenly realm while we are still on earth? We live like heaven is our home, not this world.

It’s all about focus. Most people today are focussed on me, myself, and I. My family, and my relatives, and my goods and possessions, my country, and my job or lack of one! In order to have a heavenly point of view we need to focus on what God wants – and fortunately He has told us what He wants – in writing! 

Jesus came here and He actively taught us what a heavenly perspective looks like. Our Father always has a greater plan than we can imagine — praise Him! Jesus was a walking, talking, teaching, healing illustration of God’s plan and His love for each one of us. Then He died to seal the deal, to give us our opportunity to live the way He did. Sacrificially. He didn’t just die to get us into heaven – He died to get heaven into, and flowing out of, US!

Jesus Christ is Father God’s faith in action be-ca-u-se … ‘faith without works is dead!’ Faith has substance – Jesus Christ is the substance of His Father’s faith. This is why without faith we cannot please God – our God is faith-filled! He has invested His Son’s life in each one of us. His kingdom is not just a place, somewhere ‘up there’ — it is a new way to live. The miracles Jesus did were secondary to the carrying out of His Father’s plan.

People could say: “Well being a Christian doesn’t sound like much fun, if God gave me a life  I want to live it, my own way.” And so the Lord steps back and says: “Have at it!” This means right here, right now, surprise, surprise, we are living in a world filled with people who want their own way. Even if what they actually want is a peaceful life, that is still what that person chooses for themselves! We should never be surprised at the mess this world is in, because human beings are in charge. And human beings, without Christ, are susceptible to demonic influences!

I think we all do our best to pray for good things, Godly things, things inspired by the Holy Spirit … but many times we pray for change or healing of things on this earth. Please Lord, heal this. Please Lord, change that. Please Lord, help those people etc. We are praying for the things that will one day pass away. Jesus Himself told us what to pray for: “Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; THY KINGDOM COME; THY WILL BE DONE; on EARTH as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.”

In this new reality, we pray for His kingdom, His will to be done, first.. In this prayer that Jesus gave us as an example – God is the centre. Yes we can pray to be delivered from sickness, sin and evil, let’s do it! We sure need it!! But the point of being born again is to live in His new kingdom with His oversight. He tells us how to do that in the book. He even tells us what the fruit of that kingdom looks like … in the book! No fruit – no kingdom!  

Our new life means we have chosen to live in His kingdom, and we are to manifest that kingdom in this life down here …in the middle of wars, trouble, strife, evil, compromise, hatred, murder, lust, lies. That’s why Jesus said “don’t be surprised when bad things happen.” Those things are the fruit of this world!  We are to walk within this world’s worst nightmares, shining with the light of Jesus’ love for every single human being, always praying people will be saved by the truth of what we believe, as it is acted out right in front of them! 

“God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we’re free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ’s. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love.” 1 John 4:17.

Now we pray from our new heavenly position within Christ. ‘Lord I want what You want.” I’ve learnt, from experience, that what HE wants is so much better than anything I can think of or dream about! We have given our lives to Him so He can live through us – we are blessed to be able to release His point of view, His healing, His love, peace, joy, into the darkness. That is not a part-time job, it is a kingdom lifestyle.  We need to learn to pray from a kingdom perspective.Bye. 👋 

P 2897 Peace is our portion.

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“And everything I’ve taught you is so that the peace which is in Me will be in you and will give you great confidence as you rest in Me. For in this unbelieving world you will experience trouble and sorrows, but you must be courageous, for I have conquered the world!””John 16:33 TPT.

We cannot survive 21st Century living without His peace.  Injustice pops up everywhere like wild mushrooms, all across the world. Peace is an inside job. Everything around us will try to steal it away. This week we have had a procession of endless, skilled tradesmen parading, banging, clumping, etc. right through our house. We discovered mould in one of our least used rooms. It’s a long story and not worth repeating here. One of my mum’s brand new hearing aids has grown legs and walked away, plus our daughter and grandson are moving in about a month. And our next trip is in 16 days. Not to mention all kinds of malfunctioning arms, legs, heads, backs, knees …a-n-d … we are both preaching this Sunday! 🤣

None of us can afford to rely upon good, positive circumstances to help us feel peaceful. We already have peace within us because the King of peace resides within us. That peace will thrive in an atmosphere of faith as we believe and act on what the Lord has said. It gives us confidence so we can face whatever comes at us from the world around us. Christianity is an ongoing relationship with the Man of peace, Jesus Christ. We learn to live in His peace as we watch and study Him, because He didn’t just teach us what to do, He showed us how to do it, by the way He lived! “Keep turning your back on every sin, and make “peace” your life motto.Practice being at peace with everyone.” Psalms 34:14 TPT.

We need to remind ourselves that we are foreigners, ambassadors of Christ, living in a foreign land where peace is now either enforced or ignored, or labelled impossible. Unfortunately, peace cannot be legislated, otherwise our freedom to choose His way, goes right out of the window. To me that means peace is always OUR choice to pick up or put down. It means we learn to bend with the winds of change and opposition, not just strive to be in control and stay rigid. Peace comes with a great cost to the people who are living any conflict. 

Sadly when there is no positive choice made, there can be no true peace, because the ‘machinery’ of our lives returns to a habitual default setting of agitation and worry. Yet Jesus Himself chose to live at peace in a society that hated everything He stood for, He had no home, His relatives opposed Him, His church leaders wanted to kill Him, He was surrounded by needy people … yet He had true peace, all the time, because He chose to walk with the Holy Spirit and obey His Father. 

The people who lived around Him were superficially content to live within their religious rules, and often those rules actually opposed or destroyed peace for many of them. Rules carry within them the possibility of failure – true peace doesn’t see failure as the end of the story. The Lord was not affected by people’s approval or disapproval, He carried out the things He did by choosing to reflect His Father’s will. He wasn’t looking to win a popularity contest then, and He still isn’t. 

He teaches us in this verse that rest, which is a part of peace, is also our portion. It is OURS. We learn to rest when we choose to put aside our own opinions, and feelings, and aim at His Ways, with His help. As we do that we are mirroring Jesus’ own relationship and trust in His Father. Father God made the supreme effort for us, to come here and reveal His will in Person. God Himself stopped being remote, and hard to access, instead He walked the roads of Israel and its surrounds. Jesus was assimilated into this world so well, that some people identified Him by where He lived as a child. He was known —as Joseph the carpenter’s son from Nazareth. 

If you and I have no peace, then we have somehow left Him out, or left Him far behind us. His peace within us is present to saturate the atmosphere around us. But if we lose our peace, then we need to return humbly to the Source of all peace, Christ, and ask Him to help us live in harmony with Him, and His ways again. When trouble and difficulties bash on our doors or seep into our lives, those things are not a statement about our personal efforts or lack of them. Instead they are simply the result of living in a fractured, unredeemed society. It means we have forgotten who we are and WHO He is! The answer is not to condemn society, instead we are to flavour it … with His qualities.

Peace is a Person. We walk in peace, when we choose to walk with Him. If we revert to our old ways of thinking, then we simply repent and start walking with Him again. Walking with peace means we do not have to carry our own burdens, we turn them over to Jesus and ask Him to deal with them, us and the situation. Peace is our God-given birthright, freely received – part of our inheritance.  Jesus said:“Peace I leave with you, MY peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27.

Jesus gave it to us, so now we have it, just like salvation whether we feel like it or not. Bye. 👋

P 2894 Whose pleasure? …

/ DVH

 …His or ours??…

Around 4,500 years or so, ago, Noah sent out a dove to fly over the face of our flooded planet to find a resting place. The third time, he launched the dove, it did not come back …

“Then he (Noah) sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. But the dove could find nowhere to perch because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark. He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth. He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him.” Genesis 5:8-12.

Thousands of years later, in another time and pretty much another place … a dove landed on Jesus Christ’s head … and that dove remained with Him. (Matthew 3:16&17) Let’s be clear, when the heaven’s opened that day, and God Himself authenticated Jesus, I think it is pretty safe to assume that Noah’s original dove was long gone by then. That previous bird was deader than dead! But I wanted to bring this subject up today because hubby was talking to me about that thought a few days ago. I think the symbolism in it can speak to us.

First of all, blind Freddie can see that Noah’s dove was looking for a resting place! The earth was covered in water and the bird was looking for a safe place to roost. I believe this is one of the many incredible word-pictures of the Holy Spirit’s work. Thousands of years later, the Holy Spirit wanted to find a place to rest and Jesus Christ provided Him with that place.

Please note that the Holy Spirit did not land on John the Baptist, Jesus’ cousin! Yet that man was filled with the Holy Spirit from before He was born. He lived a very peculiar life devoted to God – but the Holy Spirit was looking for somewhere He could stay and make His home. Ask yourself – why? Why would He want somewhere permanent? What is this telling us about the Holy Spirit’s Ways? 

I personally think we can over-emphasis the experience of being filled by Him, over and above the sheer joy of simply obediently walking with HIm. We get stuck in our own pleasure, rather than emphasising His pleasure. Again, something we need to think about! We desperately need the Holy Spirit to abide in us, the same way He abided with Christ. So the next question is this: What must I do, personally, for that to happen in my life? How can I make Him welcome?

Here’s the good news!  Jesus has already done all the work for us. He removed the sin that kept us in captivity and stopped us from living pure lives before the Lord. Now, the only thing that can stop us from walking with the Holy Spirit for His pleasure, is strangely – OUR pleasure. Our society at large, l-o-v-e-s double standards. Ya might want to think on that one!! 🤔 Here’s an old saying: a ship in the water is great, but water in a ship is not so great! I think, the problem is there is too much water in our ships! We need to value what He values … and one of the things I think He values is people.

When the Holy Spirit filled that building at Pentecost people didn’t rush about talking about how they felt – instead they couldn’t stop preaching, talking about and worshipping Jesus! Their personal encounters with Him led them deeper and deeper into obedience and sacrifice for His Kingdom’s sake. They met a Person and they followed Him! Our primary focus in this life matters. We cannot serve Him, and have the Holy Spirit rest upon us like He did on Jesus, when we continually choose to be double-minded. We must learn to live a compatible life. “For how can two walk together unless they be in agreement?”Psalm 119.1-2.

Obedience to His Word, despite our own personal fears, or preferences – or even inconvenience – positions us to continually walk with Him, relying on His provision. Almighty God loves obedience – it is one of the ways we show Him our love for Him. Our deliberate and heartfelt obedience positions us to hear and follow Him. It is like opening our spiritual ears. If we cannot hear Him clearly then we need to start obeying what the bible says. Pick the verse that says “Love your enemies…” find an enemy – and DO IT! This is what valuing His company looks like. Throw away your need to stew in wonderful feelings, and doggedly, continually, choose His Ways.

Let’s put aside our pleasure and choose His pleasure instead. We want to be the place where the Holy Spirit is welcome, a place where He wants to land and remain. Because when He rests upon us, we will rest in Him. Bye 🕊️

P 2867 Aim higher…!!

/ DVH

One of the biggest problems we have in Christianity today is that we are not living like we are His kids. We’ve fallen prey to the deception that raising the dead, healing the sick, walking on water, multiplying food, or producing miracles is the only way for us to look like His kids. And … at the same time … we all know that only really spiritual people can do that stuff! Wrong! Those things are a side benefit of knowing Him! Knowing Him means that we will see His Grace operating all around us in this natural world. Any miracles will occur as and when we need them – based on the Lord’s directives. 

Let’s look at the Lord Jesus, He operated in miracles whenever, and wherever they were needed — but His focus was always on the greater good — communicating His Heavenly Father’s Ways. It was far more important to Him to usher in God’s Kingdom in all its forms, than it was for Him to produce miracles to order. Listen He’s talking to the Pharisees:“Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.” John 6:26. Miracles produce visible results, and they gain attention in the natural world – but a changed life becomes a permanent spiritual sign post. Sacrifice is even more powerful than miracles – a life laid down for His sake, and for the benefit of others, is the best gift we can give Him.

When we have problems, difficulties or burdens, we need to go to the foot of God’s mountain and give all our ‘stuff‘ to Jesus. Then we begin to climb that mountain, by reading His word, giving thanks and worshipping Him. As we climb, we start chewing over the things we’ve read, and/or the things we’ve been singing. Jesus walks with us, He will tell us where to put our feet. The thing is, when we no longer have to have those burdens tied about our necks, our hands are free to worship and climb. Christians are not betraying anyone by climbing up above our difficult situations with prayer, praise and His word. Instead, we are looking for a clearer view – HIS VIEW.

We must stop focussing on the mountains of fear, sin, unbelief, and sadness, the things that are in our way and instead we make a quality choice to focus on the Answer – Who Jesus is, what He already did for us. We need to refuse to be overwhelmed or become …“weary in the well doing.” Instead we are deliberately climbing with the Lord. Sometimes we can find, that there are things that have become so established within us, they seem like they ARE us! They can’t be! We’ve moved kingdoms!! Jesus told us what to do with mountains like those … speak to it. Name it. And fight the good fight against our own yet-to-be-redeemed-flesh. Those mountains are no longer substantial, because now we are a new Creation, made in His image. 

Every single thing Jesus ever said had a spiritual application. We need to continually uncover those hidden mysteries that have been waiting for those who want to press in and move on. So we turn our backs on the things of this world, with all its troubles and cares. It was on the Mount of Transfiguration Christ’s true identity was revealed. Christians are not meant to be static – we are in a process of ongoing transformation. It is not enough to fight for peace, we are His peace carriers. It is not enough to wrangle with our own spiritual hard times … because we’ve been commissioned to be His joy bringers.The way to find real joy is right in the middle of a hardship or sorrow.

Hubby and I’ve just been looking at some scenic views of Lake Louise in Canada, on Youtube. We once saw that place from the ground level. Here comes my point… the people who took the videos I saw today, were climbing the mountain. The view below always changes as we climb His mountain! To start with we can see more and   get a different perspective.“The further up and the further in you go, the bigger everything gets. The inside is larger than the outside”  (C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle.) … Aim higher and bless you! 👋

P 2863 The fight!

/ DVH

This world is not our home. Seriously. And I’m not an alien and I don’t come from another planet, either! I have simply been reborn into another permanent, everlasting kingdom and … so have you! Otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this blog. The only way you or I can move away from living in that kingdom, is if we are ignorant of His Ways. OR if, and when, we choose to be disobedient to what He asks us to do. Just FYI His kingdom has no end.

Now let’s read 2 Peter 3:8-9 to find out a little bit about what God’s ways … what His idea of time is looks like. ‘But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.’

This thing we call “time,” that human beings measure with clocks and calendars, is not what this passage is talking about. Here are my thoughts about the way Almighty God regards what WE call time. We are living in the time of God’s PATIENCE not permissiveness. It all started that day in the synagogue when Jesus stood up and read Isaiah out loud. God’s kingdom is so much more real than anything this world has to offer – plus you can SEE IT in action!

Luke 4:16-21: “He (Jesus) went to Nazareth, where He had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day He went into the synagogue, as was His custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. Unrolling it, He found the place where it is written: “The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”Then He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down.” He sat down because that was the end of His mission statement!

Let’s look at what Jesus Himself said, about His mission… why did He say God’s Spirit was upon Him? To establish His authority, and to witness to His Father’s participation in what He was about to do, because the Holy Spirit was going to do glorious things through Him! He had an anointing to do those things to demonstrate God’s will, word and favour visibly toward these people. And He explained to everyone present that favour had arrived when He arrived. His mission started when He chose to undergo baptism.

In the bible it often says: “in the fullness of TIME…”  God has timing. This is mentioned in Isaiah, Galatians and Ephesians. There is a point to His patience with every single person on this planet – He is waiting for everyone to hear, and respond, like it says in 2 Peter.  Sadly, lately we’ve been leaving the bit He told us to do, to the experts. Look around — we’ve dun run out of experts! God has been extremely patient with you and I, because He wants us to walk with Him, just like Jesus did, while we are still here. You and I have things only we can do!

Part of His plan is about us learning to overcome, sin, this world, and the devil in our own lives – with His help! Overcomers always have something to testify about. Our overcoming is daily, sometimes minute by minute – it is our new way of life. A battle we willingly enter into all the time that ends in transformation. Our testimonies are about telling others HOW THE HOLY SPIRIT HELPS US win the daily fight for this transformation, as well as talking about how “God did this or that for me.”

These changed things are the result of the active nitty gritty daily choices we deliberately make to obey His Word. The things we suddenly find we no longer want to do, because we’ve learnt they are not part of His Kingdom. Here’s one of my icky questions; if someone were to ask you to talk about the reality of God in your life, today, what would you say? We often think salvation is just about when we are DEAD – instead it is about what we do when we are still alive HERE.

Lastly, we need to pray for eyes to see what our Good God is DOING, all the time, in each of our lives! That’s when we will have something to talk about. I am of the opinion we sometimes barely notice what He has done, or is doing on our behalf.  So this is our daily FIGHT – to recognise what He is doing in the middle of the junk that flies at us day after day after day! Think of this life as an opportunity to grow and when it gets even more difficult – it’s weight training! Bye👋

P 2860 God will deal with it!

/ DVH

Sometimes we need to use our faith to deal with the blooming great rock that is in the middle of the pathway between us and what God asks us to do. And then we need to keep on walking forward in faith. Let’s look at Mark 16:2-4“Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away.”

These dear women wanted to make sure that the Lord Jesus was buried reverently, according to their religious customs, so they woke up early and hurried to the tomb. They loved the Lord so much they wanted to minister to Him in this way – even though, in their minds – He was dead. The bible teaches us that Father God loves to surprise His passionate lovers!  On the way to His tomb the ladies suddenly realised that a whole lot of big soldiers had rolled a huge rock across the entrance, and these women had no hope of moving it. They showed their faith in God when they kept on walking toward the tomb!

When I read those words today, I thought of many past scenarios in my own life, where I had projected my own physical, mental and emotional inadequacies, into a situation and felt hopeless. Actually, those inadequacies had become the hypothetical large rock in my way … but those oppositional things didn’t exist in reality. My mind used logic to bring them up  It made me wonder how often we do that to the Lord – we start out in faith and end up in logic! 

So here’s an illustration from my own life. There are times when the Lord says to us: “I want you to go to this city or that state.”  In my mind’s eye, I immediately eliminate the apparent rock of air travel, because of my disabilities. To start with, a two hour air trip takes us nearly 4 hours. We have to get on the plane long before anyone else, and we can’t get off until the people on the plane have been off-loaded, and they are on their way home! Waiting is not good for chronic fatigue. The result is like trying to drag a dead horse around.

Meanwhile our luggage is often the only bit left on the carousel, going round and round all alone. Poor little lonely suitcases!! 🤣  Plus we can’t afford to go on a plane because it is too expensive. If we were to allow even those two thoughts, (and there are loads more)to guide us, we are putting a (faithless) rock in our own path, and suddenly going by plane seems insurmountable. It just seems easier to go with our own understanding – which, means limited faith. This happened to us recently – and yes, we are going by plane!

Of course we would be foolish to ignore the fact that plane travel is a pain in the neck, that’s the rock-that-is-in-our-way and we know it is there, it was there the last time we looked! Yet we cannot live by the fear that we are inadequate and can’t move it, because the bible says: “The just shall LIVE by faith.” And fear and faith are completely incompatible. The thing I’ve noticed about fear is that it is a pesky little gnat, it slinks away to return at a moment’s notice! So here’s what I do:  as I walk along toward the blooming great rock that I know will be in the way of what I need to do … I give that obstacle and its removal to the Lord, every single time the thought of it harasses my mind and emotions. And I do that on repeat.

Sometimes, as I get near whatever mythical-rock-that-shall-not-be-moved-by-the-likes-of-ME — I begin to wonder what incredible thing God will do this time to fix the situation I find myself in. Thinking like that creates a sense of spiritual anticipation. David ran at Goliath, remembering that he had once killed a lion and bear with the Lord’s help, while he was minding sheep. I like that action. I like the idea of running at my enemy yelling and screaming: “God did it before and He will do it again.” Sometimes I even remind the other guy how dumb it is to get in the Lord’s way.  

Yeah, . I tell my Saviour that if He really wants me to do what-ever-it-is, then this is His problem, and if that rock/hurdle is still there, then I am packing up the fight and I will go home. I remind the Lord that I am easy either way, going home, or pounding on a rock that I can’t move … but my mustard seed of faith is still in whatever HE is going to do next. I have even been known to say: “How are You going to get us out of this one Lord?” 

I just want to say that at the same time during this process my emotions will be jumping up and down yelling: “Gotta find a solution NOW!” So I tell that stuff to shut up, in His Name. Whatever happens, I like to remind myself that one way or another our God will deal with that rock! And in the end, I get a brand new testimony of how wonderful He is! On that note, bye again for today. May God bless you!  👋