Hope

P 2145 Some very interesting questions.

/ DVH

The Lord asked my lovely husband some questions recently, when he was praying in his quiet time and he shared them with me. The questions were all so good I thought I would include them in today’s blog, with hubby’s permission. Maybe we can both give them some further thought, so I’ve put them here for you to think on too. Please bear in mind that the first part of each question relates to law and the second half of the question relates to Grace. I think it is very useful to have questions to use to help us understand the way the Lord thinks.

First of all, He asked hubby to consider: “Do you want to be defined by Law or Grace?  One system is defined by ‘justice,’ and the other by ‘mercy.’  One system embraces ‘punishment’, the other ‘redemption.’ …  

Sometimes we can’t leave our anger at someone else behind us, because, deep down, we want them to be punished. Those thoughts are not just childish – they are dangerous. However, that’s also when we can see that we are clinging to a system that leaves Grace out. For the other person as well as us. Our God is so gracious, He will find a way to bless that other person even while we are withholding forgiveness. But we will miss out on seeing and comprehending what He is like, when we imprison ourselves within spite, revenge, hatred and unforgiveness etc. Personally, I don’t want justice … I need mercy. Like I’ve said once before, what comes out when we’ve been squeezed tightly is what is actually IN there – don’t be condemned, but let’s not excuse ourselves either!

The Lord also said this: “One system ‘imprisons’ people, the other ‘restores their freedom.’ One ‘limits’ potential, and the other ‘extends it way beyond belief.’ One system depends on ‘past performance’, and the other hangs everything on our ‘hope in Christ.’ 

There is no prison as strong as the one we foster and create for ourselves, by expecting the world around us to conform to our standards. However freedom actually becomes something tangible when we value it enough to give it away to someone who will never deserve it!. We can’t afford to put our hope in anything else but the blood of Jesus. As soon as we start thinking “I’m right and you are wrong” – we’ve missed it. We have flipped over into performance and left our own hope in the power of Christ’s blood to redeem behind us. Let’s not limit our spiritual potential by things that will weigh us down.

Here are some more things the Lord said: “One system rewards us for ‘merit’, the other ‘empowers us for what is to come.’  One ‘judges’ others, the other ‘prophesies good’ wherever it can. The former builds on what is ‘seen’, the latter builds on the ‘unseen, and the eternal’ and speaks life into situations that look dead and finished.  

When we live our lives expecting to be treated fairly and kindly, we are denying the fact that the founder of our faith was treated appallingly, without any remorse – and He was utterly innocent. We have the power of God residing inside us, so NOW we can speak His life into desperate situations and hearts. These things are about simply making quality decisions – they are not about feelings. It is way past the time when we should start prophesying His life into the darkness around us, as He leads us. Personally I can’t face this life at all without His Spirit empowering me, minute by minute, daily. 

Lastly the Lord said to hubby: “The focal point of the Ark/Presence of God, is the MERCY SEAT.  Not a judge’s seat.” He concluded their conversation by saying: “All that sounds like LOVE to Me.” Amen! 

Mercy is a precious thing, if we want to enjoy it ourselves, then we need to give it away freely to other people. I love it when our Heavenly Father clarifies the things we think we know, with some well-placed, thought provoking questions! It seems to me that it would be a good thing if we revised all our thoughts in favour of Grace and Mercy … as a way to live. I’ve found that walking in His Grace opens my eyes more, spiritually. Instead of looking for places to criticise others, or protect myself, now l want to look for ways to bless them as He encourages me to do it. When I live that way it changes my view of everything around me as well.

I want to be defined by the Grace He gives me, so I live realising that I have and need plenty of Grace myself, so I can easily give it away to others. That will keep me humble! Every single time I red flag things that I am saying or thinking – I know that something is going on that will lead me into spiritual deafness if  I continue down that path. It means I’ve stopped listening to the Holy Spirit and obeying Him. AcknowledgIng that I cannot live my life like Jesus’ lived His, without His Grace, is the beginning of transformation. 👋🏻

“Abandon every display of selfishness. Possess a greater concern for what matters to others instead of your own interests. And consider the example that Jesus, the Anointed One, has set before us. Let His mindset become your motivation.” “He existed in the form of God, yet He gave no thought to seizing equality with God as His supreme prize. Instead He emptied Himself of His outward glory by reducing Himself to the form of a lowly servant. He became human! He humbled Himself and became vulnerable, choosing to be revealed as a man and was obedient. He was a perfect example, even in His death—a criminal’s death by crucifixion!” Philippians 2:4-8

P 2111 Yes YOU!

/ DVH


I read a lot, and listen to stuff on YouTube, so I’ve heard a number of people over the past few years talking about the fact that Christianity needs another big revival. I agree! We sure do. We’ve lost way too many precious people, plus there are some of His sheep that have wandered off, and now they are stuck in thorn bushes etc. Not to mention the great people out there in our world who have no idea at all about who Jesus actually is!

I love that people faithfully pray for revival, but today I have a challenge for everyone reading this blog. Do more than pray!! Put feet on your prayers. The way to grow, is to use and str-e-tch our faith, and we all need bigger stronger faith. It’s nearly 2023, so it seems to me that this is the time to grow and look for bigger challenges. 😳 I also want to say that we need to stick our hand up and volunteer, remember, the Lord gives us a choice. The next step to that is to watch out for His opportunities. People who need approval can find witnessing hard … self-consciousness gets in the way. That stuff is normal. It takes a lot of practice in this area to conquer fear. Covid carried off so many people who did not know that Jesus saved us from ourselves and nobody told them that this life is not all there is!  Right now this world seems to have no hope – Christ is the hope of the world!

You will have guessed by now, what my heart beats for, I want to see the Lord Jesus get the reward of His suffering in my own generation. However, the more I thought about this, inside my heart I could hear Him whispering to me: “YOU be the revival.” My first thought when He said that to me was: “Me?? I don’t have some super fantastic gift of teaching, or preaching, or healing or miracles. I’m older and disabled. I sit on a chair all day! What can I do?”

I have some really really good advice for you, never EVER tell Almighty God what He can or can’t do with you.NE-V-ER. Don’t eliminate yourself from the Great Commission on the grounds that you are busy working, or at school, maybe you have an office job, or you are a farmer, or you have to look after your babies etc. etc. After my conversation with Him, the Holy Spirit immediately reminded me that He once made two people out of dirt, and a donkey spoke for Him – so He laughs at our perceived limitations – remember, He is limit-less. Was MY face red! 😡 A whole lotta people in the Old Testament underestimated Him, read the book – see where that got them!

Feel free to underestimate yourself, but never ever underestimate what God can do with one single person.Think about Billy Graham or Reinhard Bonnke before you go down that plug hole. 😂 Meanwhile, don’t ask me what you can do – ask HIM! I asked that question once, fifteen years ago, and I’ve been making bookmarks, pocket calendars, coffee table books, DVDs ever since… a-n-d … loving it! I have never ever had this much fun in my whole life before. I highly recommend following the Holy Spirit, He is so fantastic to be with, and He has the best ideas.

Let’s look at this biblically. Andrew, Peter, James and John, they were simple fishermen. The Lord Jesus simply changed what they fished for! Maybe some of the other disciples were fishermen too, we are not told. But Matthew was a wealthy business man. Simon was a man of politics. Judas was a thief – however, he still went on the road with Jesus and saw all those miracles. Paul was a Pharisee, as well as a politician. Zacchaeus collected taxes. These were all ordinary working men who already had jobs before they met Him. BTW, ladies, don’t feel left out, there were women who supported what Jesus did, financially. Mary Magdalene, Joanna, whose husband was a politician, and Susanna are specifically mentioned in the bible.. Our God needs witnesses to His loving kindness. We are all called to be witnesses of what we’ve seen and what we know about the Lord personally.

Some people have a very specific, wonderful God-given gift, however – many of us don’t. But stop and think for a moment, what would happen if we were an ARMY of volunteers? Now that’s a whole other ballgame. What if we began to think like a functioning army of foot soldiers? Ordinary people who don’t think that all the work belongs to the generals! We’ve had enough great teaching to change our hearts over several life-times! We are ALL sent ones, so now is the time to rethink our lives and ask Him to help us find our place in the ranks. Ask Him: “What can I do to further Your kingdom here in my own little bit of this world, Lord?” 

Passion for Jesus simply comes from obeying what He told us: “Jesus came up and said to them, “All authority (all power of absolute rule) in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations [help the people to learn of Me, believe in Me, and obey My words], baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always [remaining with you perpetually—regardless of circumstance,and on every occasion], even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20. 👋🏻

P 2096 Our hope is in Him

/ DVH

“And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Romans 5:5 “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He Who promised is faithful.” Hebrews 10:23 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” Romans 15:13 “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, …” Hebrews 6:19 

Sometimes, Christians put their hope in things, or situations, or even other people  As nicely as I can put this, that’s a dumb idea!  Don’t do it. You will end up disappointed. Other people are bound to disappoint us. Let me put that another way – everybody has choices because God Himself allows us all to choose. Unless we all walk minute by minute with Jesus, then our selfish self will pop up and have its selfish way. The only place for our hope to be is IN Christ.  In what He did for us.

I want to address just one of the above verses, the one in Hebrews 6: “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul …” Our soul, mind, will and emotions need an anchor. Otherwise we will be tossed and stretched by circumstances and difficulties. Our feelings can easily betray us and sometimes we can’t even figure out why or where we went off the track. We need a strong anchor! The Lord Jesus Christ is that anchor. What He did and Who He is. We must stop analysing other people’s, or even our own behaviour, and hold fast to the Saviour’s sacrifice for them and US – instead.

We need to let the Holy Spirit – Who is our resident expert about ALL things in this life – help us. He does all things well. Don’t just sit looking at your disappointments and sorrow, stick your head out of a window and look around – look at His work! The Holy Spirit will always point us back to Jesus.

What this scripture in Hebrews means is that Christ Himself is our hope, and the Holy Spirit confirms this truth to us in our hearts. HOPE IS A PERSON not a doctrine. Jesus is an historically proven Person. We do not hold fast to our POV, or someone else’s theory or doctrine – we hold fast to Christ. If He is not Who the bible says He is, we are all sunk, because we are now simply that committed to following Him. He is our sure foundation and the Saviour of this world. 

Christ is our anchor. We can’t limit or hold to ransom the awesomeness of our God by trying to appraise His answers to our prayers. Our faith has to be in the fact the Lord is doing something … at all times… even when we can’t see what it is! The Lord Jesus Himself put His own faith in His Father’s plans. Please don’t hold fast to an idea that Jesus will get you a nicer house, 10 cars and a Lear Jet! We are here in this world as messengers to speak His eternal hope to the nations. This life is not about our comfort. It is about allowing HIS incredible eternal life down here, to flow through our own little lives. The best bit is that we get to live in a taste of eternity down here! 🙌

Now – this day – we have been given His Spirit, His life flowing through us … we are carriers of His joy, His love, His hope, His goodness, into this world filled with sorrow, heartache, atrocities and despair. We are now His witnesses. Because we are being changed, now we can tell others they too can live a life of love and transformation. And all these wonderful outcomes are IN Christ. It’s all in the bible, read the book!

God’s goodness sent Jesus here at exactly the right time – so we could see a living example of His goodness and His good will toward mankind. Jesus Christ died and rose again. That is our hope.We must never forget all God’s benefits, BUT … His benefits aren’t the reason why we follow Him.. Brothers and sisters, do not stop short of the goal. Remind yourself constantly, that Jesus’ Name is above every other name and He completed His earthly mission so –  HE IS OUR HOPE – today, right now. Who HE is and what He did, is our anchor. Bless you and bye. 👋🏻