Influence

P 2785 “To each one of us …”

/ DVH

In the bible it says that the Lord Himself gave gifts to the church … read these scriptures along with me: “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says: “When He ascended on high, He took many captives and gave gifts to His people… …” 11-13 “So Christ Himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip His people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” Ephesians 4:7-8,11-13. We don’t have to wait for our birthday, or Christmas! Jesus has given us all gifts to help us grow and know Him…NOW!

“There are different kinds of gifts. But they are all given to believers by the same Spirit. There are different ways to serve. But they all come from the same Lord. There are different ways the Spirit works. But the same God is working in all these ways and in all people. The Holy Spirit is given to each of us in a special way. That is for the good of all.”1 Corinthians 12:4-7.

“If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly. Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honouring each other. 

Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all! Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honourable.” Romans 12:7-17.

Today, I want to say, loudly – that, despite how you might feel, you have a gift. Actually you could easily have more than one of them!! But don’t ask me what they are, it took me a while to figure out what I am here to do! This Grace the Lord has given me to help others, has also helped me to feel that I have a place within the Body of Christ.

Many Christians have excused themselves from being activated for His kingdom, on the grounds that they are not worthy, or clever enough, or gifted enough, or they don’t know what they are supposed to do, or they don’t have time and they hope that the Lord understands! However, we all need your contribution. You don’t have to be an evangelist standing on the back of a flat-bed truck, you simply need to live a life of Love everywhere you go, towards everyone you meet, and be prepared to give an account of the hope within you.  That will stretch everyone’s faith and your gift will rise up as a result.

The thing is, this New Covenant we share is an agreement between us and the Lord – it’s a promise that we enter into between Him and us, and it is binding. (Read the book!) Jesus covered our sins with His blood, so we can be free to live the life God planned for us to live … and it is never too late to start. Jesus deliberately provided us with SomeOne Who will always help us and never leave us. SomeOne Who will teach us His ways, and help us with the process of transformation. It’s the Holy Spirit.

One day, not long ago, I woke up and realised that my complete spiritual poverty,  is my strength.🤔 So today, the Lord asked me to remind you of your place in His Body by using His Word. The Holy Spirit wants you to know that there is a place in His plans for you. Sometimes, for a small group of people, that is a place that is seen, and for many, many, many others, they will remain unseen. But He has promised to touch us all in extraordinary ways, with supernatural gifts.. I look forward to the day when the vast, unseen multitudes of ordinary Christians step into what He has for them.

So today, I just want to encourage everybody reading this, He wants you to participate in His plan in the lives of those people you know and influence. He needs you to be you. Who you are, because of His Presence in your life, will reach others. Last of all, I want to use my favourite vehicle, the bible, to pray for you. I am totally convinced He will answer these prayers because they rely upon His faithfulness, not on anyone’s ability.  

“I pray with great faith for you, because I’m fully convinced that the One who began this gracious work in you will faithfully continue the process of maturing you until the unveiling of our Lord Jesus Christ!” Philippians 1:6 TPT. “And I pray that He would unveil within you the unlimited riches of His glory and favour until supernatural strength floods your innermost being with His divine might and explosive power.” Ephesians 3:16 TPT.“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” Colossians 3:23-24. Amen. God gives gifts to each one of us. Bye. 👋

P 2701 ‘You’ve got mail!’

/ DVH

“So, dear friends, don’t let this one thing escape your notice: a single day counts like a thousand years to the Lord Yahweh, and a thousand years counts as one day. This means that, contrary to man’s perspective, the Lord is not late with His promise to return, as some measure lateness. But rather, His “delay” simply reveals His loving patience toward you, because He does not want any to perish but all to come to repentance.”2 Peter 3:8-9 TPT.

Scriptures like this one reveal the Lord’s heart and they explain His timing.These are the kind of things we need to watch out for as we read our fresh mail, every day. At the same time we are always looking for things we can apply into our own lives. I ask myself, all the time, what does this teach me about Him? What am I doing or not doing that needs to change? I’m not simply looking for answers to prayer to make my life easier –  I want HIM – I want to know Him. Reading the above verse immediately shows me that He is patient and compassionate because He is merciful. 

When I go out into this world to speak to the people-who-don’t-know-Him-yet I have verses like these in my thoughts. At the same time, when bad things happen at our house, I have also hidden these things in the inner chamber of my heart. I hide His word in my heart, so He can speak to me. We hide His Word by acting on what it says!  His timing is absolutely perfect – He daily gives me‘apples of gold in settings of silver’all the time! This life is not about our comfort, or human knowledge —  we can miss what He is actually doing at any given moment, when we seek those things. We seek His kingdom FIRST. Our God made this world out of nothing – imagine what He can do with your little life!

I love verses like the ones in 1 Peter, because they clearly say that He doesn’t want anyone to perish! Just let that sink in. Your worst enemy, or mine – the Lord does not want them to perish.… Those people who are persecuting you – He doesn’t want them to perish. He loves them just as much as He loves us. I’ve discovered that our responses to various situations, like the immediate one from our heart, can tell us a lot about how much we trust Him. That’s a good thing! If my boat is leaking it’s going to help to know where the holes are! So, if you are afraid … “What time I am afraid I will trust in Thee.” Psalm 56:3-4. These things aren’t feeling issues – they are choice issues. The bible is a book of instructions and insight – the more it is applied the more we will know Him.

Only God knows why some people act the way they do. Whenever we are hurting we have to stop and go into the inner sanctuary in our heart, and wait there for His insight.  “I would not have been true to Your children if I had spoken this way. It was too hard for me when I tried to understand this, until I went into the holy place of God. Then I understood their end.”  Psalm 73:16-17: We will gain real understanding in the Presence of God. Not by going round and round the issues, desperately looking for an answer. However we all need to go after love “… love builds things up!” Walking in love takes us out of the realm of our thinking and brings us into His realm of influence. 

Our answers and reassurance lie in His realm. Love is not a feeling it’s always a choice. Remember that the next time you have an argument with someone. Our only real choice is to believe in the One that we know, He cannot lie or fail us. We cannot afford to pin our hopes on what we think we know, instead we must go to the Friend Who sticks closer than a brother, and then we firmly attach our hopes to Him and what He says in His book. We’ve always got MAIL! And then we stay there – holding fast to His faithfulness. 

It is essential that we read His Word as Him speaking to us, not superstitiously –  trying to divine this or that situation -, but rather to reinforce our personal knowledge of Him so we have something we can obey!A bigger view of God will boost our faith. Reading His Word is designed to increase our faith in Who He is, as well as what we believe. Those things are the most valuable things we have. The more we understand His Ways from His Word, the more we can hold fast when everything is sliding up and down and it looks like the sky is falling. And we can make adjustments by repenting when we are being faithless.

Our faith has substance. It can stop our little boat from sinking because we continually look to Him to calm our inner storms of dismay and fear. His book spells out what we are to believe. It gives us pictures from the past of how other people got it right or wrong and the consequences of their actions. We must always remember that Christ changed everything. However, if Christ had not died and gone away, we would not have the Holy Spirit NOW. He is our comforter, counsellor, encourager, helper, teacher, guide to holiness, and the spirit of all truth. He is also our Friend that sticks closer than a brother – He’s everything we will ever need to get us through this life.

Despite the lack of snail mail nowadays — you and I have always got mail – it’s in the book! And the Holy Spirit loves to breathe His life into whatever we read, today. Bye  👋

P 2532 There is reading the bible … OR … letting the bible READ YOU.

/ DVH

Psalm 19:10 “God’s Word is better than a diamond, better than a diamond set between emeralds.You’ll like it better than strawberries in spring, better than red, ripe strawberries.”  Now there’s an interesting statement!

One of the best things we can do as the Lord’s disciples is to let His book read us. His Word is like our mirror. Hmmm… First of all, I gotta say that I don’t much like normal, live-in-your-house mirrors, anymore! This old lady that I-don’t-know keeps sticking her head in front of mine and ruining my perfect view of the thirty year old I-used-to-be!! I dunno how she does it, but there she is, liver spots and all, staring back at me! Like I said — not fond of mirrors! I have a strange feeling other people feel like me regarding God’s Word. We don’t like what we see.

As Christians, I think we need to continually remind ourselves that our plans are not His plans. THAT’S WHY WE READ THE BOOK – to find out HIS plan. I read the bible with the Holy Spirit, He’s the One Who knows what I am meant to find out about myself every day! Please take my advice, the mirror of God’s Word is our friend, no matter how old we are. Don’t let the view in it – spoil your reading. Remember, our debt was paid. Confess your faults, repair, restore … and move on … 

The secret of real lasting growth, as well as gaining the ability to hear His voice, is to read what He has said, and then go and live it out – every single day. There are no shortcuts. I read until I find something I don’t know, or haven’t done – then stop and ask myself why not? ‘Why am I not obeying this verse? Am I letting myself off the hook by telling myself that this verse was for back then, not now?’ We need to look for God’s story in His book. His way of doing things is in what we read … “His word brings us light.”

One of the easiest prayers, like E-V-E-R … to get answered is to ask the Lord … “do I do this?”  OR  “how would you like me to obey this one Jesus?” Here’s another brilliant one, for free – “who am I mad at Lord?”  Do take a pencil, you will probably need it. Arguing or making excuses about what we read prevents growth. Just repent etc. Repentance never killed anyone. Obedience to God’s Word is one of the primary requirements Christians are missing today. BTW, this is a CO-operative process! Telling God you agree without finding out the solution and applying it – is a rort.

In other words, when we read the word of God we can’t just leave it with Him without engaging with Him in behavioural change. I guess there are times when we read the bible and think: ”Gee, my auntie, cousin, sister, father, friend-at-church ought to read this, it would do them good.” That’s called distraction! The minute we have that thought we need to ask Him: “what’s in this verse for me, Lord?” We must stop pretending that we have arrived, and enter willingly and gladly into His processes, because they will bring us closer to Him. Despite popular opinion, we will not explode if we find out we are doing something wrong. It is simply an opportunity for change.

The Holy Spirit is always with us. He wants us to win. The more we overcome those sins that we think we can’t help doing – the stronger our faith in His ability to move … in our hearts, on our lives, and through us … becomes. Please do not misunderstand me, we don’t have to be perfect to be used by God to further His kingdom here on earth. But just like getting excess WAX taken out of our earthly ears helps us to hear — getting rid of the things that are holding our faith back from real growth, helps to equip us to do what He sent us here to do!

Too many wonderful Christians have been shot in the foot by unresolved issues! There are things in our lives that we do, that Jesus would not do, and they need to be confronted and submitted to Him. Those things distract us from our primary purpose. To love and serve Him, and others. We can use our energy to avoid change, or we can use our energy to facilitate that change. That choice is always ours.

At the same time we need to remember, sometimes even in our own households, we are the catalyst for change in others. We all have influence. We have been given influence because we belong to Him. Almighty God has brought many people into our lives for the purpose of using our faith to stimulate theirs, and that includes our children. My best advice is to learn to let the bible read you … the results will draw us all closer to Him. Isaiah 59:2 “There’s nothing wrong with God; the wrong is in you. Your wrongheaded lives caused the split between you and God. Your sins got between you so that He doesn’t hear.” MSG. 👋

P 2399 Forgiveness and obedience are our best weapons of choice.

/ DVH

Forgiving others and obeying the Lord’s wishes has become our life’s work. Those two things go together. So much so, that when He shows us something as we read the bible we need to immediately ask Him: “What would You like me to do about that Lord?” And then we go and do it – using our choice not our feelings.

Initially, when the Holy Spirit checked me about stuff I was doing that wasn’t good, I didn’t like it very much. He said things like: “You have resented this person’s influence in your life, you need to start appreciating them.” That meant I had to practice taking my stray thoughts captive, and at the same time I had to stick my hand over my mouth instead of bad-mouthing someone I was mad at. Sadly, I am still not always successful at that… 

But the first thing I learnt about myself because of His instruction – was this: I had been using my thoughts and my words as a pressure valve! Anger and resentment built up inward pressure that I needed to deal with. After all your mouth is right there and it works and everything (!) and so I often used my words to cope with bad things that happened, or perceived slights and injuries caused by someone else. After a while I realised I had a really big lists of stuff (aughts) against other people (any). Bad plan BTW, keep your forgiveness lists short. “And when ye stand praying, forgive if ye have aught against any, that your Father also who is in Heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” Mark 11:25 ASV.

This is how it plays out:  let’s say you can’t stand your Uncle B. Maybe Uncle B was kind of not nice to be around. Every time you saw him as a kid you wanted to run away, or you hoped your parents would rescue you, but they were too busy socialising instead. Now, because you are an adult, when you see Uncle B. you can run for the hills, or you can even avoid family gatherings, because he is going to be there. Maybe you want to protect your kids. You don’t want them to feel like you did around him.

Here is what I have learnt. Forgiveness is harder to find for old wounds – you are going to need lots of God’s GRACE to do it. Perhaps you are also angry with your parents for not protecting you, a-n-d … you probably wouldn’t pass Uncle B. a fire extinguisher if he was on fire 🔥 … so that would be something else you need to work on. You are stuck with not only your need to forgive others, but your own past childish judgment. 

Unless you make a start by forgiving your parents for their neglect, you can easily slip into assessing what they did. It is unfortunately easy to judge our parents retrospectively and vow that we will never do that stuff to our kids! It’s a no-brainer that you will also need to forgive Uncle Bob, BTW. And you are definitely going to need help with that!! Here’s my first point. We cannot do lasting spiritual transactions, without the Holy Spirit – He knows every single detail and how to get us free. We have to start with God’s Grace and guidance to navigate past any mine-fields. (Mind-fields.)

I can’t tell you exactly what to do because every situation needing forgiveness is different … but I urge you not to postpone or avoid forgiving someone as a way to defend yourself. Neither should you avoid repentance just because it seems the other person won’t change. We cannot hinge our transformation on someone else’s behaviour! That supposed knowledge of their sin is a snare sent to trip you up. Ask for His Grace, and keep right on asking while you continue to follow Jesus. Keep praying: “I want to do what You said Lord, and I need help.” 

Unconfessed sin and a lack of repentance is a place for satan to stand in our lives. satan is a legalist, and he will use it against us – he will distract us with things that are of no consequence – while we are ignoring the thing that is tripping us up! Instead we need the Lord’s Grace and His way through. We cannot live the Christian life and experience victory if we don’t make the practice of obeying the bible a living breathing part of our lives – instead of just a using it as reference book.  

Forgiving someone does not mean we are giving them permission to continue to abuse us. Rather forgiveness is a statement, an intentional declaration, that we know that God has a bigger plan. Romans 8:28 says: “And we know [with great confidence] that God [Who is deeply concerned about us] causes all things to work together [as a plan] for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to His plan and purpose.”

His plan and His purpose is to lovingly transform us. Sometimes He will rescue us, and sometimes He wants us to act in faith, like Jesus did. I have observed as I have followed Him and embraced His purposes, that His plans for my good blow my mind. I would never have understood those plans, if I hadn’t decided to die to the way I think, obey what He said, and let Him be Lord.  

Here is my last thought for today – our God does not speak to us contrary to His word – His word is immutable – it will not change over time. Choosing to forgive, plus knowing the Word of God and choosing to obey it, is our best defence weapon. 👋🏻

P 2392 Words can build and heal.

/ DVH

“And never let ugly or hateful words come from your mouth, but instead let your words become beautiful gifts that encourage others; do this by speaking words of grace to help them. The Holy Spirit of God has sealed you in Jesus Christ until you experience your full salvation. So never grieve the Spirit of God or take for granted His holy influence in your life. Lay aside bitter words, temper tantrums, revenge, profanity, and insults. But instead be kind and affectionate toward one another. Has God graciously forgiven you? Then graciously forgive one another in the depths of Christ’s love.” Ephesians 4:29-32 TPT.

Man this is a scripture that can change lives. I love the way the bible gives us such clear instructions. That word ‘let’ is huge. It is surrounded by a whole lot of other words, but I think everything in this passage hinges on ‘let’ – ‘allow.’ It is much too easy to allow things that do not help us in our Christian life. It is that sort of self-permission, often carelessly or thoughtlessly given, that steers our main focus away from the One we love best. And suddenly we are in the middle of a virtual freeway with cars and trucks coming at us, (other people’s angry words), wondering how we got there.

Often one small decision to let someone have it … opens doors to a flood of disobedience that changes not just our day but our lives. ‘Permission to speak sir,’ is often used in the Armed forces – in my mind’s eye I need to ask the Lord that all the time! You know, I can’t count the times when one word has sent me down a plug hole! Sadly a word out of place can do immeasurable damage. To both parties. Words can seem harmless but James 3:5 (NIV) says: “Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.”  That’s proof that James understood what he was on about eh?

Here are some interesting verses that further diagnose the problem. “But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.” James 3:8 NKJV ”Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Ephesians 4:29 from the ESV this time. What we allow out of our mouths governs our ability to bless others with our words. Our speech is intended to spread Grace, to build one another up, not to hobble each another, or throw thunking great rocks, either! Words are powerful, and because we know and follow Him, there is great power in our words!

For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit;” 1 Peter 3:10 ESV“Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” Colossians 4:6 ESV. That little word let, is easily passed over, but there is such a wealth of power in it! Well-flavoured speech needs both guidance and obedience. The best way to season what we say is to know the bible well enough to quote it, to yourself and someone else and then we bear in mind what it says when we open our mouth.

Speaking personally, it is my ever-present opinions that often shoot me in the foot.  At the time I know it is unwise to say something, but I let the circumstances;  or feeling provoked, or hurt;  or even pain;  take that guard off my lips and then I let fly. “I’m sorry” afterwards seems so shallow. Still, “I am so sorry, please forgive me” are the best words of reconciliation we have. Words can heal. Especially if they are followed up by appropriate actions! ‘I’m sorry please forgive me’ is hot air without follow up. Repentance produces fruit. Fruit may take some time, but you can see it growing and developing!!

I have also found that words give me opportunities to humble myself.  Actually it is usually somebody else’s words that give me that opportunity! The ability to say nothing unless you are speaking blessing, is vastly underrated. But opportunities come with every new day and I am still learning how to ‘lay aside’ stuff that won’t profit anyone. I have learnt to value the power to speak LIFE, and healing, that Christ died to give me. 👋🏻

P 2151 We are the new influencers for good.

/ DVH

“The Lord Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged.” Deuteronomy 31:8.

In the recorded history of the bible, Our Heavenly Father, God, has never quit on humanity because He was totally fed up with us. Instead His book is filled to the brim with His interactions of love, direction, correction and passion for all of us. He has spent thousands of years reaching out to us. Human beings are the crown of His creation. This world is the setting, and people are the precious jewels He deliberately put in that setting. His book clearly shows us His intentions, plus His great great Love for every single person who has ever been here.

But if humanity tried to go into His Presence without a Saviour we would instantly be overwhelmed by our own sinfulness, because His holiness is all encompassing. Sin separates us from Him, as well as other people. It separates families, marriages, congregations, denominations, countries …  all different kinds of people. So, because of His incredible love and forgiveness, and desire to know us, and be known by us – He took our sin out of the equation. Now we are free to love Him back … or not … the choice is always ours. 

The Lord is not like other people we have known, who wanted us to behave for their reputations, or convenience. Rather, our God wants us to be close to Him. In order for that to happen we cannot afford to have pieces or parts of our lives that are not submitted to His sovereignty. Those supposedly harmless things that don’t seem to be all that important, are the holes in our lives that our enemy can aim His darts and arrows through, to wound us and try to take us away from the Father’s Love and His Way to live.   

We begin our journey by understanding Who He is. He is so marvellous, so precious, so incredible, so beautiful, that even being around Him, changes us. Have you ever had a friend that  seemed to bring out the worst in you? Conversely, have you ever known a person who left you feeling bigger, freer, more able to be yourself?  His influence in our lives is not only for our good, but it has an effect on everyone around us. EG: Have you ever been grouchy around someone else only to find that they, in turn, became grouchy too? People influence each other… and not always for good. His influence brings out the rainbow colours in all our personalities – we stop being one dimensional.

One of my biggest disappointments with this world at this time, is that our children are being greatly influenced by others who are angry at others, or themselves, and angry at this world’s systems. These people live carelessly seemingly unaware of their effect on the people around them. They do this for MONEY. Their influence is a little like the measles or the mumps – it’s contagious. Most of us were born with a desire to belong somewhere, and if nothing good, pure, right and just is available, unfortunately, even our children will tend to gravitate to the instant, glossy, glittery, fashionable over-the-top and often evil expressions of humanity.

If Christians do not put something of His Love out into this world’s atmosphere — then our kids have nothing to guide and lead them in His Ways. We have the power to bring His kingdom here by simply cherishing His Presence in our lives, and sharing that with others. You and I are living illustrations of what His Love looks like in action. It is time we picked up our real inheritance! Jesus left this world to us, in our hands. And right now it is our responsibility to influence others for good – to point them toward the Eternal, ever living, ever loving God.

Remember, our God is not just with us, He goes before us. Even before we start out. Imagine that! Whatever you go and do, He has already been there. He won’t leave us, because our God is loyal and true to His Word. He has always been loyal to His chosen ones, the Israelites, and now He is loyal to us because of the blood of Jesus. He signed His agreement with mankind, in Christ’s blood, and that agreement stands forever. Even when it seems to us that He is not there, He is there, purely because He promised to be there.

It is time we decided to believe His promises. We have so many!! In these busy, turbulent times, He wants us to stand on, hide behind, and trust in what He told us in the book. You and I have been given those promises for us to use them. Forget the Lear Jet, or new fancy house,our God told us He would be with us always! Now there’s a promise!  We are to hold His Word up in front of us like a shield, against the onslaughts of the many fears and threats in this world, when things try to overwhelm us. So when the wind and the waves bash us and threaten to drown us, we simply stand still and trust and wait for Him to do what He has promised. We cannot afford to be overwhelmed by the activity and noise around us, because our eyes need to be fixed on Him. 

Focussing on how much Father God loves us, instead of the turmoil outside in the world, will transform us into wells of peace and light. People will be drawn to us purely because we are able to be content, even when the world around us is rocking and tossing with hatred, anger, sickness and sorrow. The thing is, we must learn, in the middle of a world that values how we feel, more than anything else – how to have and use our FAITH. 

This world only values things that make US feel good. However, we need to actively learn and practise minute by minute, relying upon HIS WORD more than what our eyes see, or our ears hear, or what we even think. He has made His desires for us, His people, plain. We have it in all in writing!  We no longer have to be afraid of facing this life alone – HE IS WITH US. His Presence with us helps us influence others for good. 👋🏻