Ignorant

P 2986 Nothing can stop us.

/ DVH

The Lord made a way to love every single one of us:  nice or not nice, loveable or evil, ignorant or wise, and His love is not wishy washy mush. It is triumphant in its power! God’s love goes beyond our comprehension. Love is not what I say or agree with, it is the way I choose to live. It is not a tap, that can be turned on or off, it is a flow of His love through me to you. I’m the conduit not the producer.

Having only known human, limited love as a child, the idea of perfect love can seem glorious, but elusive. So when I hear someone express doubt about God’s love for them or someone else, I begin to understand from my own personal experience, how they got there. They saw love as a feeling, as comfort when they needed it, as provision when they lacked something. So for these people, no good feelings, or experiencing bad feelings = no love. Love is what Paul is talking about in Romans 8:38-39 TPT.

“So now I live with the confidence that there is nothing in the universe with the power to separate us from God’s love. I’m convinced that His love will triumph over death, life’s troubles, fallen angels, or dark rulers in the heavens. There is nothing in our present or future circumstances that can weaken His love. There is no power above us or beneath us—no power that could ever be found in the universe that can distance us from God’s passionate love, which is lavished upon us through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One!”

Paul had total confidence in the Love of God toward him. He went through all kinds of terrible trials and testings, but His assurance of God’s never-ending love did not change — despite the circumstances in his life. I have to remind myself all through the day that love is a choice I need to make over and over again and I cannot get there alone. I desperately need the Holy Spirit’s help and guidance. It is way beyond a human being’s comprehension to understand the magnitude of God’s love toward each one of us because most of us have been raised to believe that love is conditional. 

Jesus came here, on purpose to make that kind of love available to you and I, and the Holy Spirit was sent back to us, after He left to pour and spread God’s love all over us, around us and in us. The baptism in the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts, is not just a baptism of fire —even though the disciples saw fire;  love IS fire, it burns away anything that does not let it in or out. Perfect love came and expelled all their fear. Love ignites a passion in the recipient that lasts a lifetime.

Pentecost was a fiery baptism of LOVE. His love burnt away every trace of fear in them. Those men and women left the place where they been had hidden away in fear from their fellow citizens, and they burst out into the public market place proclaiming Christ and all He had done. God’s love for the people pushed them out of their hiding place. It compelled them.

“For the love of Christ controls and compels us, because we have concluded this, that One died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that all those who live would no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and was raised for their sake. So from now on we regard no one from a human point of view [according to worldly standards and values].”2 Corinthians 5:14-16a.

As we begin to discern how much we are loved by Him, we will automatically overflow with His love toward the people all around us who have not earned it, nor do they deserve it. The well of His love inside us bubbles up and overflows, but we have a part to play in this kind of outward looking love. It begins with obedience to our Saviour’s Words, and culminates daily in sacrificial ACTIONS toward other people. Things that can be seen and experienced by others. That kind of Love cannot be stopped, because its focus is on the One it loves, not on the effort that needs to be made to love other people.  

This kind of transformation will only be seen through us when we decide to make love a CHOICE and take deliberate action. From my own point of view, when I decided to make love a choice, I finally found out just how unloving I was!  Most human beings live this life in a series of trade-offs …I’ll be nice to you if you will be nice to me. then one day, all that ‘nice’ begins to wear off and we start keeping score of the bad things people do to us. We forget that every human being that has lived, or is living now, or ever will live — is dearly loved by God Himself. When we choose to misuse love or withhold it – we are fighting against the very nature of God.

His love simply will not wear out – it is holding the entire universe together. Read Colossians 3:14. Right now His love bonds this universe together. It is the perfect glue. And when we read 1 Corinthians 13 we discover its unique characteristics, it is not materialistic or self-serving. Jesus is God’s perfect love personified and personalised. He didn’t only come here as an expression of God’s love. He came to earth to demonstrate to each one of us the extent God was willing to go to, so we can be His children. Nothing can stop us from living a life filled with love, but our ill-informed belief system. Bye 👋.

P 2955 Don’t be lost – be found!

/ DVH

John 8:42-47: “Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father [but He is not], you would love and recognize Me, for I came from God [out of His very Presence] and have arrived here. For I have not even come on My own initiative [as self-appointed], but He [is the One who] sent Me. Why do you misunderstand what I am saying? It is because [your spiritual ears are deaf and] you are unable to hear [the truth of] My word. 

You are of your father the devil, and it is your will to practice the desires [which are characteristic] of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks what is natural to him, for he is a liar and the father of lies and half-truths. 

But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me [and continue in your unbelief]. Which one of you [has proof and] convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me? Whoever is of God and belongs to Him hears [the truth of] God’s words; for this reason you do not hear them: because you are not of God and you are not in fellowship with Him.”

Man, I love the book of John, I’ve been glued to it for weeks! Let’s just quickly revise what Jesus says in the 1st paragraph above. He came here to us, from the Presence of God. There are times, sadly, when we don’t live like we know this …we just think we do, because we’ve heard the words before. The power in those words comes from acting on them. If we really knew this, then whatever He says to us through His Word would not, and could not, come into question.  It is a waste of time to frame what the bible says by our own denominational bents. This book is God speaking to us, and we need to listen. We simply must stop rationalising the power of God to change lives out of His Word!

Coming from the very Presence of God means that Jesus has Almighty God’s authority to say what He says. And everything He says is covered in and by God’s Presence, and it will be interpreted to us by the Holy Spirit, Who was sent here to help us understand. There are no optional extras in the gospels – if ‘every promise in the book is mine’  — then every obedient response to those promises are mine as well! Ya might want to sit and think on that. Lastly, Jesus was sent here by God Himself– the Lord didn’t just decide to pop down here off His own bat!

Because of what Jesus says here, we know what the devil does;  how he sounds;  and what his aim is, so we don’t have to be ignorant of our enemy’s tricks. Did you get that it is natural for our enemy to lie? This means we need to desperately know the truth, because whatever he says will be really convincing! he’s despicably good at lying – it’s not a habit, it is part of his nature. He hates people. I also think that he loves to distract people with his lies … after all half the planet is chasing the good life, money, great circumstances and the dream of happiness, here and now! But that is not what the bible clearly says we should pursue.

The last paragraph tells us that human beings can’t hear the Lord Jesus because He speaks truth, and we like lies better than truth. Think about it – God says “Go and make disciples” and “Love one another” and we say: “That’s someone else’s job!” “That’s too hard!” Our preferences regarding what we choose to hear, can make us deafer than a post! However, listening to lies leaves us room to do whatever we like, whenever we want to, because we think: “God doesn’t mind” …! But God’s truth is destined to lead us into a totally different lifestyle. Sometimes we are happy enough to believe lies because believing lies leaves us undisturbed in our sin! But practising sin has a bad destination… Jesus came here to change our destination.

The questions every single human being has to answer are quite simple… is Jesus Christ Who He says He is?  Did He really come to do what He said He did?  Did He really rise from the dead? Today, I believe that His greatest plan is unfolding — He’s alive IN His people. You and I can easily make up a god in our own image and take a chance that what we think is right, IS actually right. But remember, our intellect and wisdom are limited, so we are making a limited choice. Sooner or later we will have to take someone else’s word. Why not take GOD’S own WORD? It’s been around for 2,000+ years or so. I know people who set out to disprove what God said and they ended up following Him because they found Him in the book!

Anybody can read the bible for themselves, starting with what Jesus said and did, and talk to God like this: “God if you are there, I am talking to you, if not, then I am talking to myself. Please help me to find You in Your book. ”Amen. All kinds of amazing things happen when you take the time to pray like that. Don’t be lost … be found! May God Himself lead you as you search to find Him. Jesus Christ IS truth. Bye 👋  

P 2528 Nothing is permanent – even you!

/ DVH

I saw the above photo on a missionary friend’s site recently and it resounded in my heart immediately.  It seems to me that there really is a whole lotta shaking goin’ on — in the Body of Christ — as well as in this world around us.  

The bible says this in Hebrews 12:27: “So don’t turn a deaf ear to these gracious words. If those who ignored earthly warnings didn’t get away with it, what will happen to us if we turn our backs on heavenly warnings? His voice that time shook the earth to its foundations; this time—He’s told us this quite plainly—He’ll also rock the heavens: “One last shaking, from top to bottom, stem to stern.” The phrase “one last shaking” means a thorough housecleaning, getting rid of all the historical and religious junk so that the unshakable essentials stand clear and uncluttered.”

I need to make it clear that I am not here to discuss ‘the end times.’ The Lord has told me that is none of my business and when He tells me “None of your business!”… I listen. I don’t want to waste whatever time I have chasing stuff that has nothing whatsoever to do with me. But I do want to say this, we ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ about wars, earthquakes, volcanos, and tsunamis but what we really ought to pay attention to … is what happens … when Almighty God speaks!

I mean, did you get what that scripture in Hebrews? It says His voice at one time shook the earth to its foundations … but the next time … !!! … He is also going to rock the heavenlies! The God of heaven and earth is going to shake this world out of its complacency and chaos, and … we don’t know when!  While we are here, we still have a promise to keep: “Your new life for my old one Lord.” …’The life I now live I live by faith in the Son of God Who died for me.”(Galatians 2:20)

Lately, the thing I have noticed is this, the current earthly disastrous events are often somewhere else. So most of us  are viewing that kind of upheaval and chaos from a distance. But there will come a day when nobody can stand off and wonder what that is like, because it will be our house that is shaking! Now that will really touch us where we are at! It is one thing to have the world shake 10,000 kms away and entirely another to have it shake at your house.

All I feel about the difficult times ahead is that the Lord is deeply grieved about every single one of the people who have already perished, and the ones who will perish, without any knowledge of Him, in the future. Most of them have never ever been told that Jesus loves them and died for their sins. And, this is happening on OUR watch. Now there’s a sobering thought. How can we continue on in our comfortable lives without caring for those among us who have no idea about what could be just around the corner? 

I know we’ve kind of relegated this stuff into “some-day land” … but for the people who have died recently – in the past week, month, or year;  without anyone caring about their eternal destiny — it mattered! We can be so busy making sure we are “safe” and our families are “safe” – we forget our main directive is to GO and tell others! We are all called to be witnesses of what God has done in and through our lives. 

Instead we collect verses that comfort us, like some people collect postage stamps, and we vaguely wonder why we are not growing. Maybe it is because we’ve missed the fact that our primary mission is not about being healed or trained … it’s about going!! Our primary aim is to love the Lord with all of us, plus love and care for the well-being of others, whether they are friends or enemies. It is way too easy to see the current road statistics and think: “Whew! Not my family.”

Jesus Christ spent His entire ministry ministering to the sorrowing, sick, suffering and ignorant – how can we dare to do any less than He did? Let’s remember, that despite our personal inadequacies …WE are the cavalry! Just like that remnant army that Gideon led, I believe the day is coming when the Holy Spirit will lead a remnant army who are empowered by Him, to usher in the greatest revival this world has ever seen.

Right now, we need to start telling the people around us what the Lord has done in our own lives … and remember, the results are always up to Him. The poor and the downtrodden are currently living in this world without God’s demonstrated love, mercy or grace … because His love inside us has not moved our butts to take a risk, and go and visit them!  Jesus took the greatest risk of all – HE TRUSTED US.

There is no point waiting until our kids are raised and our house is paid off to OBEY. None of us have a guaranteed hold over tomorrow, because nothing is permanent. Our enemy is running rampant, killing people off one way or another. Saints, we are looking inward instead of outward. Jesus Christ is WITH US … LET’S GO!👋

Mark 16:15: “He (Jesus) said to them, “go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”

Matthew 28:19&20: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.”