Humility

P 2380 Gentleness has been greatly underrated.

/ DVH

Today, gentleness can be sometimes seen as weakness, or even a particularly feminine quality. But Jesus said: “What blessing comes to you when gentleness LIVES in you! For you will inherit the earth.” Matthew 5:5 TPT. Jesus Christ was Father God’s perfect expression of gentleness and mercy toward mankind.

Let’s look at the One Who gave us the best illustration ever of being gentle, and showing mercy under pressure, from the cross. “Then he (the thief on the cross next to Christ) said, “Jesus, remember me when You come into your kingdom.”Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with Me in paradise.” Luke 23-42-44. And there it is… mercy and gentleness without rancour, or a lecture. It just automatically flowed toward the one who needed it, despite the Giver’s pain. 

Here’s something I’ve learnt that I will pass on for free. We need to LET gentleness LIVE in us. That means we need to be aware of what it is like, and then use every single opportunity to use this particular form of Grace to cultivate it. Let’s consult the dictionary about gentleness:  kindness, tenderness, mercy, understanding, compassion, kind-heartedness, tender-heartedness, love, mildness, humility, peacefulness, serenity, reverence, and meekness.

Yeah. I put this list in today because many of these words are no longer common. We are not often likely to use them in every day language …However, I believe many of the responses we meet from other people are based in fear. People who do not know that they are God’s original creations, hold onto the images of who they think they are, very tightly. They can use anger, pride and spite to shove others away. I’ve watched gentleness in action, and it does not threaten or create fear – it lovingly and carefully opens new doors for His love to go in and then it waits. Gentleness is aware of the other person’s need to be authentic and to feel safe and unthreatened. 

The bible talks quite a bit about sowing and reaping, and I believe we need to learn to sow mercy, and gentleness into other people’s lives because there is so little of it around. We are to live that way because that’s the way Jesus was. He gave us mercy when we didn’t deserve it in the first place. He didn’t appear, all guns blazing like Rambo! But He came here in the most vulnerable disarming form ever – as a new born infant. When the Lord Jesus spoke to people His loving kindness went right around their objections and piqued their interest. This is what I have found the Holy Spirit is like in His Character. He is not rough with people. He doesn’t threaten them, He walks with human beings, gently suggesting other ways to interact and approach things. He doesn’t push or pull.

I often laugh when I see people and their dog going for a walk, because, even though the owner will say they are walking their dog, to all intents and purposes, their dog is walking them!  However, on the market there is another form of leash, it is called a gentle leader. It wraps around the dog’s muzzle instead of its throat or chest, and the dog, no matter what size it is, finds it impossible to pull with its nose. So it trots alongside the owner peacefully. Without trying to be blasphemous, AT ALL (!!), the Holy Spirit leads us like that. He doesn’t push and He doesn’t drag, He waits for us to walk together, in agreement.  

The thing is, with the kingdom of God, whatever is given to us will flourish and grow inside us … if we cherish it. His kingdom is not like this world — giving love, mercy, gentleness away to the undeserving, or a perfect stranger, actually helps those things grow inside us. In this world if you give something away, you’ve lost it – but in the kingdom of God, generous humility helps gentleness and mercy to flourish in our hearts. 

When we sow gentleness into the lives of the people who cross our path – the love of God is released to create a harvest. We do not have to be a fierce people – our war is already won. So this is how we deal with others …”Brothers, if anyone is caught in any sin, you who are spiritual [that is, you who are responsive to the guidance of the Spirit] are to restore such a person in a spirit of gentleness [not with a sense of superiority or self-righteousness], keeping a watchful eye on yourself, so that you are not tempted as well.” Galatians 6:1. 

Save your warrior face for fighting our common enemy! Not the people you meet. They may never ever deserve it, but we are releasing His Grace into their lives and that means that a little seed of gentleness or mercy is planted into a life to flourish in His timing. So Instead of a harsh word, we have a gentle one to turn away someone else’s anger. That’s what sowing gentleness and mercy looks like. It means that thoughts of revenge or punishment disappear from our thinking.

The people who give His Grace, His peace, His gentleness, His mercy away, are not just being nice, or polite, instead they have an inner barn on the inside of them that is filled to bursting with these things. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” Matthew 12:34. What’s IN there will come out under pressure. That pressure is simply life from day to day, but the other person’s need will create an opportunity.

Gentleness is a fruit of the Spirit, it is neither soft or girlish – it opens doors that would remain tightly closed because it does not push … it respects the other person enough to lovingly watch and wait for an opportunity. 👋🏻

P 2378 Forget about winning lotto …!

/ DVH

… most Christians have incredible riches they have never even accessed. We have a Saviour. 🙌  He is the perfect substitute for our sins, He gave us His righteousness, so now we have His kind of access to our Heavenly Father’s attention. Now we give Him back our lives for His purposes. Our Heavenly Father has given us so many incredible things, including spiritual gifts to bless others. We have a book filled to the brim with stories about other people who dared to walk with God, despite their fears … so we can see for ourselves what God did in them and through them. Our God is not far away, but near to those who seek Him … and Jesus made seeking Him possible.

Our Saviour, died to give us healing, wisdom, strength, patience, kindness, goodness, etc. every single day. We are a blessed people! He provides for our needs, He comforts us with His comfort which knows no boundaries – including race, creed, and theology. He doesn’t judge us, but looks at us with understanding, kindness, mercy and grace through human eyes. Almost everything ever recorded about Christ is about Him gladly interacting with people! Because of Jesus – we are the people who are blessed to know what Father God, His Love and His kingdom are like. That’s what makes us rich. We don’t have to guess, or hope, or imagine – we have a BOOK full of His thoughts!

The next time someone says to you, what does Almighty God look like? You can tell them – HE LOOKS LIKE JESUS CHRIST.  Point the people who don’t-know-Him-yet to the gospels in the bible. Tell them to look at how Christ treats human beings – that’s what the Father is like. This is why hubby and I give away the four Gospels. The bible is a large daunting book to someone who doesn’t-know-Him-yet, and a lot of the language used is old-fashioned and unclear. Plus it’s a really BIG book! We want others to experience the Lord’s heart toward mankind. Then they can see Jesus in the gospels, healing the sick, feeding the hungry, teaching them God’s ways, talking to people, answering questions.

In those gospels we see Christ is single-minded – everything He says is to explain His Heavenly Father and how His Kingdom works – in terms that ordinary people can understand. He shows people how to relate to God. He talks to farmers, fishermen, religious people, homemakers, and children. He talked to everyone with the same purpose, He wanted to reveal and clarify His Father’s love. The Father’s love is the greatest treasure this world has ever seen – and Christ came here to illustrate it, in and through His flesh. People do not know about this treasure, they think the bible is all about rules that they can’t keep … BUT the bible is a fantastic spiritual gift for everyone.     

However before ordinary people can understand the death and resurrection of Christ, they need to know that ‘love looks like something’; so we believe in helping others, praying with them and for them, as well as telling them in person how much God loves them. We don’t care what they believe, our desire is for them to experience the love of God first-hand, through us!  Now, as Christians WE have also become His treasure. It is our job to feed the hungry, heal the sin-sick souls to follow Him. We encourage the down-hearted, show the lost the way home and tell people this life can have incredible meaning. 

Righteousness, peace, joy in the Holy Spirit – all these things are intangible, but totally heaven-sent riches. We are blessed to be a blessing and that blessing is not about earthly gain – it is about giving away heart happiness and contentment in spite of difficult circumstances. As well as His love which is like a spring of never-ending water. Human beings must stop thinking that blessings from God are about God being in a heavenly service industry. Prayer is not a way to place your order! It is privileged communication with the God of the universe. He provides for us, just like He provided for Adam and Eve in the garden, but our relationship with Him is about FAR more than provision.

Lastly, everywhere Christians go, we get to wear HIS ROBE. That robe is about humility. We lay our lives down for others because He laid His life down for us. You don’t get any richer in this life than that, no matter what a lotto jackpot is worth. Some of the richest, most blessed people I know, hardly have two beans to rub together. And if you happen to be hungry they will throw the only beans they have into a pot to feed you! Now that’s really rich! Bye. 😊

P 2354 CULTIVATION matters …

/ DVH

We need to pray, then ACT as well, that’s the cultivation. And that is the hard bit. The power to overcome comes after using your faith. However we often do it like this: “Dear Lord please help me with my quick temper,” Amen. Sadly, we’ve learnt to walk away, literally not looking back, because, after all, we’ve asked Him for His help;  and it says in the bible to ‘ask and keep on asking’ — so if He hasn’t answered that prayer then maybe we need to just keep on asking! Tell yourself over and over again – He is looking for us to ACT in faith. In this instance by shutting up and dealing with our own emotions and asking for His help! God is looking for ongoing, involved, relationship. 

Of course we also understand that the Word says we are to be slow to anger – and every time we read stuff like that in the bible we probably feel bad, but if we pray another quick prayer then that should sort of cover our end of it! After all, we know for sure that we are praying His will and now it is up to Him. And if He doesn’t fix it then maybe He understands that we just can’t help it!

Yeah. HOWZAT working for ya? It does not work for me at all. All I know is that many of us use our inability to humanly change stuff, as an excuse to dismiss anything we don’t like or we can’t face about ourselves. We avoid the issue. BUT!! NOW WE HAVE THE HOLY SPIRIT. And He’s here to help us do wa-ay more than participate in miracles, speak in tongues, and multiply fish and bread! HE’S HERE TO PREPARE THE BRIDE!! Working in co-operation with Him is the best way to facilitate our total transformation – not just feeling good after being prayed for when we fell on the floor!  

Lying to ourselves, or pretending stuff is not a problem for US with regard to our faults – (we all have them) – cements those things further into our lives. Meanwhile, bad luck about anyone else who happens to live with that stuff and US doing it!!  Plus we will totally miss out on working with the Lord personally, in ways we can see for ourselves. We can see what He can and will do in our hearts when we stop pretending we don’t have any faults! There is nothing like suddenly finding you have strength in an area where you know had none – as in … bupkis, nyet, nil, denayda! 

I find this kind of stuff that I can’t personally change, even with super hero effort – often … like ten times a day … and that’s on a good day! That’s when I remember that I am up for cultivation. In the story about the vinedresser and the vine (John 15:1-5) we get some clues about how God cultivates us. He prunes some things and gets rid of others completely. (Matthew 7:19-23); (Luke 13:6–9). 

John shows us in his parable about the vine that the Lord prunes for more growth, and eventually for fruit production. We can all totally rejoice about that – because this world needs more GOD-fruit. We must remember that our God is always so careful and mindful of our potential – so He will not remove stuff that has within it the potential to bear fruit. This means if a branch etc. disappears — then we didn’t need it. Bear in mind the fruit that eventually comes from the pruned bits is the Holy Spirit’s fruit and His fruit lasts.

Fun fact to remember, if something gets chopped off then it was going nowhere. There is no point in mourning it, we are better off rejoicing because these scriptures show us that He has a purpose in all things and we need to trust in His purposes! Conversely, if something quite weak and wobbly still remains, then He intends for the sap of His Spirit to strengthen us, because ‘His strength is made perfect in our weakness.’  So we now have an opportunity to experience His provision and power personally, for ourselves. But first we need to recognise what is actually happening – and let HIM help us.

Finally, fruit production needs fertilisation, water, sunshine and clearing away any weeds that spring up around the tree. Obviously we are fed and watered daily by His living Word. Simply reading the book without applying what it says into our lives does not water or fertilise our fruit tree. We also need to take the time to bask in the sunshine of Who He is, and what He has done for us – not because we want or need something, but because we need to be near Him – just like our ‘tree’ needs sunshine. 

The weeds around our tree are our responsibility and they can come from a lot of places. Weeding is part of cultivation, and ignoring weeds means our little tree will be malnourished. We can get some weeds by authenticating behaviour Jesus would not authenticate. And if someone is unhappy with you about this or that fault, remember – whatever that thing is – it is holding up fruit production. Time to ‘confess our faults’ and aim for humility – I tell myself ‘everybody else has to do this stuff so why not me?’  Plus it is totally worth it to walk around with Him.  👋🏻

P 2335 Some light-hearted suggestions for difficult people.

/ DVH

The ones you never seem deal with well, but can’t avoid, I mean? I’d say shoot ‘em … but I’m pretty sure God won’t like that! AND YES, I’M JOKING … well, sort of anyway. 😳 Just keeping it real here, folks. There are some people in my life I like a whole lot better …when they are far FAR away!

We all have people who can’t, or don’t, or maybe they even don’t want to, understand us. Some of those people  it seems, go out of their way to deliberately misunderstand us. Now if you only have one or two prickly people in your collection …count yourself blessed.

I have, BTW, met people who cheerfully tell me that they don’t struggle with anyone, because they l-o-v-e 💕everyone … really?! Well, I struggle with them, because I want to shout liar liar pants on fire at them! Why would Jesus talk so much about forgiving people, if it is so easy? So, then I repent, calm down and add those people to my list of human beings I just don’t get.. Sadly there’s a few people on that list too!

The bible tells us we will have trials, and sometimes those trials are people!  If we are lucky they move, or we move, and we don’t have to see them anymore. This means that we can join the ever rapidly growing list of people who don’t hate anyone. How cool is that? When people you don’t get on with move, it makes it that much harder to be reconciled. Now you gotta add travelling in as well!!  Meanwhile its hard to hate people you can’t remember … so do yourself a favour and don’t try!

And then I found this scripture – more’s the pity!: “Be free from pride-filled opinions, for they will only harm your cherished unity. Don’t allow self-promotion to hide in your hearts, but in authentic humility put others first and view others as more important than yourselves.” Philippians 2:3 TPT. So now I have to have yet another list, beside the list of people I do my best to try to avoid. I call this third list, scriptures I try to avoid. Howzat working for you babe! Not much. 

God loves to bring these people up with me, especially at a time when I’m feeling pretty good about myself, because I’ve been talking to someone else about Him. A-N-D … that scenario would be the ‘pride-filled opinions’ bit in that verse that I am starting to HATE. Well. Goodie. You’d think I would get a day-pass after all that free advertising for Him, but no… He and I are gunna look at it.

Right about now, that person I hoped was gone forever from my thoughts, is floating up from my subconscious and … looking at me. You know it would be so much easier to continue my you-are-not-a-person-I-really-like campaign if this difficult person looked grumpy. But that’s not gunna happen either, be-cau-se, something else is going on. 

Then the Holy Spirit says these perfect words … ‘What are WE going to do about this one?’ Conviction hits me between the eyes. Couldn’t you just love Him for those words alone? I sure do. That’s when I remember that Jesus totally identified with me, without sinning. That means HE KNOWS THE WAY THROUGH THIS. Now it’s up to me to follow the Holy Spirit’s prompts. I know He knows how to restore things for me, I just need to trust Him. I can be sure He will help me because Jesus is heaven’s answer to sin, works, and total restoration. 

I said all that stuff to say this – pretending we are OK, and making believe that the people who bother us don’t really bother us – all that guff is a waste of time and energy. It is better to be honest with ourselves and the Lord. So don’t just tell your spouse or a friend, how much this person drives you nuts …tell Jesus. Let’s trust His wisdom, His kindness, and lean on HIS understanding. 

Confessing our faults opens the doors of our hearts and minds to real renewal and a fresh start. God can give us a fresh perspective on those people we don’t understand or like. Jesus will provide all that for us from the book.There is no such thing as a vacuum spiritually, we either actively pursue the Lord, or our enemy will keep handing us loads of  reasons to stay mad. And those dumb people who drive us crazy will continue to compound the felony in our eyes.

Difficult people are a fact of life … the sooner we face ourselves, the sooner we will embrace change and usher in restoration. IT’S OUR JOB – we are the Grace-spreaders of this world.  👋🏻

P 2328 Tenacity.

/ DVH

The bit that is actually easy in the Christian life is doing what He wants with the help of our ever present Helper. ‘His YOKE is easy, His burden is light.’ If it is hard then maybe we have wandered away from His yoke. However, sometimes we can get so caught up in trying to find ‘comfortable’ when things assail us …we can forget we are in a battle. We live in enemy territory, not the garden of Eden. STUFF is gunna happen. After a while when that stuff keeps on coming, and coming at you, you can feel you are permanently under siege. Time for a time out with Jesus.

At our house right now, we are two people with only two good useful hands between us … and both of them are left-hands. 😂 You’d be amazed how much you need both hands – maybe that’s why the Lord gave us two in the first place! Whatever. 🙄 For the past 9 weeks I have typed this blog with my left index finger. Boy has that been interesting! I am not, BTW, looking for sympathy, other people have their own problems. I simply think the Lord is currently making the Western world uncomfortable … HE wants to be our reason to live — not just an optional add-on.

So hubby and I have started to pray together that the Lord Himself will be our strong right arm … because our own arms are letting us down big time. There is nothing like running out of your own strength to remind us that we can’t do this stuff by ourselves! We never could. Some days I can be seen mumbling to myself – ‘Its OK – our side wins in the end.”

I am writing about these types of situations today to put forward the idea that we all have these blooming awful, hard-to-find-anything-good-about-them, times. This Christian life is not always some sort of ongoing party – where we all cheer for our side, because we won! Hallelujah! We DID win! Thanks to our precious Saviour – but now you and I have to walk out that victory minute by minute, day by day, week by week… …. And it will cost us.

It’s officially a fight – the man of God said so in 2 Corinthians 1:8.“We were so utterly burdened we despaired of life itself.” You and I are not failing just because we are struggling. It just so happens we are struggling to keep the faith!  Meanwhile the Lord is filling us with His endurance and stamina so we can run our race well. Paul also said this: 2 Timothy 4:7:“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith…”

We are winning, because even though we might despair and fall down, eventually we get up and go again. Sometimes we may crawl, but that’s ok – that will humble anyone pretty quickly! Tenacity is invaluable. Perseverance the bible calls it, I call it refusing to quit. And don’t be fooled by that seemingly positive statement, it sometimes takes all you have to even get up off the floor, but remember the Holy Spirit will not break bruised reeds. 

In the Western world we are often vastly under prepared for life’s storms. But Christians can survive any storm because Jesus is in our little boat with us. HE can calm the stormy sea of anxiety, sorrow and suffering inside us. Creating an awareness of His Presence and help can be our most daunting task … and our greatest asset. Mainly because life happens and it ain’t like the TV ads.

Sometimes I think I’m like Peter on one of his earlier incredible revelation/dumb days… John 6:66-69.“After this many of His disciples turned back and no longer walked with Him. So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that You are the Holy One of God.”That was the great revelation bit…

A-N-D … here comes the dumb …’”Peter took him aside and began to rebuke Him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to You!” Matthew 16:22. Poor guy, he so totally went the wrong way – into his flesh. One minute in the Spirit … the next, not-so-much. I have a theory about that BTW, sometimes we go the wrong way to learn about ourselves. It sure helps to keep me humble!  

Tenacity is not about getting it right. It’s about not giving up when you get it wrong. It’s about facing your fears and failings and clinging to the Lord. It’s about repentance and humility and clambering up from the floor when you’ve fallen on your face. You know sometimes this life is not about making great strides… its about taking the next step. 👋🏻 

P 2324 Embrace whatever He is doing.

/ DVH

Anybody my age will tell you that God is not currently doing stuff the way He did it before. “Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43:19. Time and time again I have heard this scripture used over the past 50 years to fulfil various agendas.  Eventually I came to a conclusion of my own …

…God is ALWAYS doing a new thing. You might want to sit and think about that one. 🧐 And what’s more, He thinks so differently than we do, we need to be regularly exhorted to even catch a glimpse of what He is doing. Lemme tell you what I have noticed … individuals, church groups, denominations … love to take what is already in the bible to prove that what they think and what they are doing … is right. They use the bible to justify their actions and activities. Maybe we need to ask ourselves what is more important – being right, looking good, or following Christ.

I think we do these kind of things because we want to be saved … plus … comfortable. We start well –  but if we are not alert then the things that thrust us forward will turn into a lullaby. Instead we will find a nice spiritual little groove and sit in it. The biggest problem with that attitude is that it precludes change. And the Christian life is predicated on change and development. So getting comfy is not in it!

1 Corinthians 3:18 “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”Change is part of our mandate from God Himself. You can call it transformation if that floats your boat, but predictability is not our friend. Growth is. Spiritual development is normal … and by that I mean we need less and less fame and publicity … and more servant-hearted humility. We are here to make HIS NAME FAMOUS not ours. 

Sadly, because hubby and I have travelled around so much we have discovered a whole generation who do not have a clue about Who Jesus Christ is – they barely even know His Name … except perhaps as an expletive. Shame on us! We have failed in our primary mandate to go and make disciples. Not FANS, BTW. Fans are whimsical and fickle.

Today the Good News lies dormant behind our programs. The ones that are formulated to encourage people into giving their lives to Christ, just so we can soothe our consciences with numbers. Conversely, we have so many ‘getting-ready-to-go-to-spread-the-gospel-programs it takes an army to train people … but few actually GO.

We have cast aside the devotion and wisdom and service of so many saints who have gone home before us… in favour of marketing. We’ve totally forgotten how much Almighty God can do with just twelve devoted men! We have been saved to be changed, and we have been saved to serve Him and others. Its a done deal, accessed by active faith.

If even one fifth off this current world’s Christian population took Matthew 28:19-2 seriously: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” … imagine the result! Instead we’ve taught people that laying down their lives for the One Who died for them is an optional extra, only for those people who have a ‘calling.’ The rest of us can enjoy this life, go to church, tithe if we can afford it, and expect Almighty God to keep “adding all these things unto us!”

No wonder the world does not take us seriously, we don’t seem to take ourselves seriously. Love, of the die-for-others-kind, has taken a back seat to marketing. Here’s a huge clue for any church builders out there … Jesus Christ had no trouble attracting a crowd – the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him. If you want to see people truly repent then carry His Presence. Conviction will fall like rain. 👋🏻

 I pray …“That according to the riches of His glory He may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”Amen.

P 2318 Keep His sap flowing!

/ DVH

… We are the love of His!

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness etc. Another way to say that  is this — the visible fruit of OUR connection with the Holy Spirit is patience, kindness, goodness etc. IF you don’t got the fruit then guess what? YOU’VE LOST YOUR CONNECTION! 

Jesus taught about abiding in and staying in the vine;  which means that the sap of the vine is constantly available to grow fruit. Love joy peace etc. all these things come from that connection.  The connection produces the fruit – it is not who we are, but Who He is! Staying connected to Him, means I will die daily. It’s automatic. Disconnection means I’ve chosen my own comfort, my way, my control … over what Jesus wants!

How do we stay connected to the vine? At the very moment that we want to give in to suffering or despair or anger or retaliation, we ask for His help and choose Jesus and connection with Him, over self expression. Then we shut-up and wait to see what He will do. When we choose His ways we are choosing to let the sap of the Holy Spirit keep flowing into us and through us in an ongoing fashion. His sap does us good. Fruit comes as a result of that connection to the vine. Self-control is one of His fruit – this means we choose to do things His way, asking for His help — which means we are controlling ourselves.

Ordinary FRUIT like apples, need work. It needs tending, Every time you give in to your feelings, your anger, your need to be vindicated, you’re short-circuiting the fruit cycle, you are stopping the fruit from ‘setting.’ Good fruit needs that constant supply of sap. This is why sometimes the fruit in the supermarket can be bad in the middle or taste terrible, — it hasn’t been connected to the tree for a VERY long time and it is starting to rot from the inside out. No sap = no fresh fruit.

We also know this from our own experience if we’ve ever tried to grow tomatoes and we have compared them to the ones in the supermarket, the ones in the supermarket have little to no flavour. This by the way, is why they are now selling tomatoes there for more money as ‘on the vine,’ so any residue of sap in the stalk will help to keep the tomato fresh. 

Sap needs to flow. Any obstruction to the passage of sap simply needs to be cleared away. Spiritually speaking, here’s what I do: I acknowledge my fault to the Lord, and whoever else is involved, then I repent, and because I have no confidence than I’m not going to do the same the dumb thing again 10 minutes later, I ask for help. 

Asking for help does not mean that God will take over. We are not glove puppets with someone else’s hand controlling us. We are real life, wilful, opinionated human beings, who like control more than submission and yielding. Humility is needed.Tell the other person/s that you are having a hard time holding your tongue and ask the other person to pray for you. That’ll fix it immediately! 

We ask for His help and then step out in the right direction. The right direction = what Jesus said, what the bible says. And then act USING YOUR FAITH. It is way too easy to ask for help and then go on to blame God when you are still the same nasty grump 10 minutes later. Intentions matter, but they are not everything. Our intentions need to be turned into actions.  Keep looking at Jesus, keep on walking – keep doing what He would do.

.

Expecting the other person to make the difference is just plain stupid. It is way better to ask the Lord, “What do I do now?” I can’t tell you how many times He’s told me, “Shut up and listen.” By the way, listen doesn’t just mean understanding the words, it means hearing the other person’s heart, and their anguish. 

Please note you will hardly EVER feel like letting go of your comments and opinions – especially if the other person is still going on at you … OR even WORSE, GLOATING over you.  Other people’s actions and reactions are on them. That single fact has taught me heaps about CHOICE. We are the Lord’s great love … everything else fades away when we look at that …our fruit makes His heart glad 👋🏻

“May my Beloved come into His garden And eat its choice fruits!” Song of Songs 4:16b

P 2308 NOW faith is …

/ DVH

Using our faith should not be a hobby, or something we only use in emergencies, or a ‘get out of jail’ free card when things get ugly. Nor is it a legal way to boss God around to get what we want! If our faith is not used as a life-giving source, then when we really need it, we could find it has quietly slipped away … And then it can become hard to find it again, because circumstances have trodden it into the dirt. 

Trouble rarely announces itself.  It sneaks up on us from unexpected places and it can totally pole-axe our hope in Him. Suddenly we are plunged into a miasma of emotional, physical and mental turmoil. Then come the ‘why’s.’ Why me? Why them? Why this place? Why has God forgotten us? The short answer is … He hasn’t. However! HE is not bound up by our desire for happiness … but sadly … WE ARE! The Lord has His own purposes.

Imagining Almighty God thinks like we do, is the biggest spiritual sink-hole … like … ever. It is our responsibility to actively learn and take notice of how He thinks…  by reading and rereading, and praying over His book. And then we need to go away and apply what we’ve read. Otherwise we end up making a god in our own image … and that made-up guy bears no resemblance whatsoever to our Heavenly Father! 

The bible says: WE HAVE A PERMANENT FULL-TIME – DAY OR NIGHT HELPER. We need to cultivate our relationship with the Holy Spirit, in a dedicated deliberate fashion.

Under pressure, we haven’t got time to strap on our faith like a fancy six-shooter. Instead we need to stay prepared for the bad guy who is hanging around on the horizon. When our enemy eventually bursts through our door – guns blazing. Stuff happens! SUDDENLY. Those things are not just unexpected, they cast a dark shadow over our lives …the other guy is constantly jumping out of the shadows with a cannon full of lead … enough to sink our hope in God with both barrels.

HOWEVER … “… our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”’ Ephesians 6:12. The secret to ruining satan’s ploy is to use your best weapons – faith and humility. Always start with repentance. Fall on your face before the Lord and thank Him for saving you and delivering you and setting you free. Meanwhile, I don’t care who did or said what – be the first to repent. 

“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds.”1 Corinthians 10:4. Saying what the bible says is not enough. Stand on it while the STUFF is happening and refuse to yield. Start using your hope that Jesus is Who He says He is and He did what He did for you. Our faith in His truthfulness and goodness is a mighty weapon.

Everything that happens to us is about learning to use our faith. At the same time, we still have the unfortunate option to lean on our own understanding in this world. That’s a human knowledge issue. BUT we need to use spiritual weapons to fight spiritual battles. Most of the time ordinary people think they are irrelevant they think that they don’t count, their contribution is not needed. This world does not authenticate others unless they are powerful, rich, handsome or clever. Sadly this world knows nothing of God’s ways!

“But God has selected [for His purpose] the foolish things of the world to shame the wise [revealing their ignorance], and God has selected [for His purpose] the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong [revealing their frailty].“ 1 Corinthians 1:27. 

satan will use any ploy he can to keep us from standing UP in our God-given places. Hold onto tightly to what you know about the Lord. No matter what your circumstances look like. Remember that Jesus modelled what God thinks about you – it’s in the book. Go after understanding, insight and wisdom … and… continually learn to live out and use your faith. IT IS A SHIELD. Our faith is always needed – NOW! 👋🏻

P 2270 Believe in the God Who saved you – and say so.

/ DVH

One of the ways we can take ourselves out of the flow of God’s Spirit – is by forgetting what He said in the book. It does not matter who we were, or who we even think we are now – giving our lives to Christ is the great equaliser. Christ is now our standard, and what He did, the only criteria. Forget about impressing God and others, the good news is – EVERYBODY FAILED! He gave us all a free pass – now we can breathe the free clean air of undeserved forgiveness.

Talent and merit, ability and appeal are the coins of this earthly realm. They are only supernatural when they are in in His hands. It is good to take our human talents and invest them in His kingdom, always bearing in mind that what you have invested may not come out with the dividend you had in mind! His plans are bigger than ours, His ways are bigger and wiser than ours. We simply need to obey, but the results are up to Him.

The Lord loves to take the people that nobody wants, nobody cares about, and use them to bring about His purposes. Why? Because “His strength is made perfect in our weakness.” This is the best news ever. The bible is living proof that He can take a nobody and use him to lead millions of people across the desert, when the guy was a registered murderer. He can make another adulterous murderer a king, and then tell the world that He loves this man’s heart. He can take deliberate disobedience and save a city, despite his own prophet’s motivation. We must never think we are too hard for God. 

I don’t care what people told you at school or wherever, about any other ability you have or what you think you lack – GOD WILL ALWAYS HAVE THE LAST AND FINAL WORD. Christians have let other people’s opinions and ideas about who they think we are, dictate our role in God’s plans. Our ability to rely upon Him is the only factor worthy of interest because that will increase our ability to serve Him. 

Unfortunately, over the years, we’ve each developed a hypothetical list of things we can and cannot do, plus things we should and shouldn’t do. The pity of this is we’ve learnt to discount whatever Almighty God says about us and what He has put in us, and measured it against the yardstick of consensus. Jesus said “the first will be last, and the last will be first..” That’s just a small example of how extremely different His criteria is! 

There were many potential kings in Israel, men who had the talent or the charisma to motivate and lead people … yet the Lord chose a young shepherd boy who had the mind- numbing task of looking after sheep.The thing was, David did that to the best of his ability. He took the task in front of him and gave it his all for God. And he used his spare time to write some of the most beautiful words in Christendom. 

Jesus Christ laid aside His own reputation for US – it is time for us to do the same for Him and let Him dictate what we can and can’t do. It’s not what we know, it’s Who we know. We each have a part to contribute in His incredible plan. I truly believe nobody can do your bit better than you can. Telling yourself ‘I don’t matter’ is discounting God’s ability to move through you.

When we oppose ourselves, we allow other people’s opinions, and even our own, to challenge what God has said about us. We are not failing because we lack ability, we are failing because we lack belief in HIS ability to hold onto us. Some of the time that is inverted pride. We don’t want to be embarrassed, instead we want to kind of glide along, in the shadows, hoping somebody out there, will ask us a question – rather than directly speaking to people from our hearts about what we know about Jesus, personally. 

We also cannot give somebody else’s witness. Seriously, what pastor Big-Bucks, and Elder Knows-Everything, says is not your witness. What He say is. What you’ve seen is. How do you know Him, what happened to you? Millions of people have gone to hell on our watch because we don’t like the way Brother Motormouth at our church gives his witness or testimony and we don’t want to even sound like that guy! He may just be seeking attention, but that’s not our business. It is the biblical content that matters. Remember, we have the best Helper ever – the Holy Spirit. 

We dare not discount ourselves by our lack of experience or eloquence, or the fact that we are a scaredy-cat. The whole of heaven is behind us, they believe in us. Despite our flaws – which seem like a very large boil on a very small nose … we need to start believing IN God in us, He’s the hope of glory, we are not… Everybody breathe a collective sigh of relief! Get rid of who you are not, and start on focusing on Who He is and who He says you are. 

Sometimes I truly think we have become so good at depreciating and discounting ourselves, and calling that humility … that our enemy stands back and  says to his cohorts: ‘nothing to do here boys, this one doesn’t need any help from us!’  Believe in the God Who saved you … He knows His plans for you! 👋🏻

P 2261 Agreement is not participation.

/ DVH

“So this is why we abandon everything morally impure and all forms of wicked conduct. Instead, with a sensitive spirit we absorb God’s Word, which has been implanted within our nature, for the Word of Life has power to continually deliver us. Don’t just listen to the Word of Truth and not respond to it, for that is the essence of self-deception. So always let His Word become like poetry written and fulfilled by your life!” James 1:21-22 TPT.

Yes, James did just say we can totally deceive ourselves! Not responding to what we read, or even not co-operating with the Holy Spirit in our lives, is self-deception. Lots of people agree that Jesus was a man Who came to earth, lived and died here. Most of them do not do anything further about it! Agreement is not enough! God is looking for changed hearts – not just mental assent. Our hearts will not be changed without us giving Him permission PLUS acting on what He tells us. Those two things go hand in hand. We need to swallow our pride … and be careful we don’t choke … and start again, this time with humility.

Here’s a litmus test for you. Would your spouse, family, or friends, say you have visibly changed in your attitudes and actions since you started following Jesus? I’m not just talking about church attendance either. I mean other people can see that God is knocking off the rough nasty bits and polishing your life like a gemologist polishes a fine stone. The point of salvation is a changed life. Not just somebody who knows how to look good, or sound good or parrot off the right words. Instead, like Paul of Tarsus, we aren’t the same old frightful person we were before we met Him!

We can all play nice when we are in company- smile, nod, and suck up our feelings when they are hurt, because we don’t want to embarrass ourselves. But who are we when the front door closes and somebody at our house annoys us? Yeah! I know. Trust me to ask that one! 😳 Transformation is a sign God is at work within. You don’t lick apples – you bite into them … what will someone else taste when they accidentally, or not – bite into you? We can all end up deceiving ourselves into thinking “I’m doing OK, I did such and such the other day, that makes me a good Christian.”

Skipping over God-given opportunities is a very risky business. I tell myself, “one more time!”  Almighty God does not like it when we abuse His Grace. It is better to admit, to the Lord, yourself and especially to others – that you have failed. Asking the person who is annoyed at you or the one who has hurt you, to pray for you is humbling – but powerful. Like I said, agreement is not participation. Participation comes when we bite the bullet and say ‘no’ to what we think and submit ourselves to one another. And yeah, it sucks! Dying to self does. 

In the Western world we are so indulged by comfort and ease we actually think we still have options. Ask the African lady who has been raped multiple times how hard it is for her to forgive those that trespassed against her. Or the Ukrainian man who has lost his entire family to a missile. Our choices in the West are not hard – they are simply cutting across our self-indulged ways. I know that we can suffer hardships too, but these things, when we face up to them, make us stronger in the Lord and the power of His might… if we let them and act on them. We need to stop protecting the old-self …sometimes even with scriptures and supposedly Godly attitudes. We must stop believing what we say qualifies us. What Christ DID qualifies us. And He died to change us.

Saying I am a horse does not make me a horse. Even if I go and live in a stable and eat hay and neigh all day. I could even learn to run faster … well, maybe not that …!!  😂 Saying I’m right, or I’m a Christian, or refusing to acknowledge that I need to be corrected, does not make my opinion of myself true. We have whole churches full of people who love to sing songs and prophesy and wave their arms about. They smile at everyone and the minute they get into their car to go home they are shouting at each other.  

Plus they cheat on their income tax. Hilariously I can almost hear someone grumbling at me: “now, that’s enough, my income tax is my business lady!” A humble heart takes correction with Grace, even if it is wrong. If you don’t believe me, then believe this: “I gave My back to the smiter and My cheeks to those who plucked out the hair. I hid not My face from shame and spitting,..” (Isaiah 50:6 KJV)… or this … “When He was reviled, He did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten; but He trusted to Him who judges justly.” (1 Peter 2:23 RSV) We are not aiming at a better, nicer ME – our aim is to be LIKE HIM. Agreement that what God says is true, is not participation. 👋🏻