Interpretation

P3499 Remind yourself of who you are now.

/ DVH

“And there is still much more to say of His unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in My sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God. So if while we were still enemies, God fully reconciled us to Himself through the death of His Son, then something greater than friendship is ours. Now that we are at peace with God, and because we share in His resurrection life, how much more we will be rescued from sin’s dominion! And even more than that, we overflow with triumphant joy in our new relationship of living reconciled to God—all because of Jesus Christ!” Romans 5:9-11 TPT.

These are the things we need to remind ourselves about every single day, otherwise the distractions of this life will chase us into despair. Let’s remember that what the Lord wants, is not an afterthought, it’s the point. At the same time, the thief tries to steal away our blood-bought days of victory in Christ from us. Applying any section of scripture into our lives means we will need to stop telling ourselves we can’t help doing this or that – because we know if He said it, then there is a way to do it. So then we ask the Lord how, where, when, what and why the bible applies to our situation.

We simply can’t afford to skip over His instructions. They are there for a purpose, and it isn’t just to fill in the space! I don’t know if you have ever bought something from a foreign country only to find the instructions are teeny tiny, and illegible and or even in a language we don’t recognise. I have. Trying to figure out how to make the item work stretches the old brain box!

Meanwhile, I have a fun story about how the Holy Spirit will help you in all kinds of situations. Many many years ago, we went on an overseas trip, and we included Liverpool, England, because hubby is a huge ‘beautiful game,’ fan. So, we arrived at the stadium and he wanted to look at the museum … of course … and I would rather eat my hat. So he toddled off to look at memorabilia and I went to wait in Maccas.

I stepped up to buy a cup of coffee and I told the sweet young lady behind the counter: “one cup of coffee please.” And then she uttered some words I have never ever heard in my life before. I sort of cleared my throat, and said, in my politest tone: “I’m terribly sorry I didn’t quite catch that, would you mind repeating it please?” So she smiled cheerfully, and said the same thing again. I was utterly stumped. I did not understand one word. A queue began to form behind me …

For the second time I repeated: “No, I am sorry I still did not quite get that.” By now the young lady was probably wondering if I had left my hearing aids at home. I started to pray inside my head, and instantly I thought of the verse about speaking in an unknown tongue. I remembered we can ask the Lord for an interpretation of the tongue, so I prayed “help” and asked if the Lord would please tell me what she said.

At the same time that queue continued to grow, and then the Lord said … I actually felt like He had a twinkle in His eye … “She wants to know, if you want milk and sugar.” Phew! So I said yes please, I needed milk and sugar and then went quickly off with my cup of coffee to a discreet little hidey hole and shook with laughter for about ten minutes. Apparently the Liverpudlian accent is not an unknown tongue, it’s just unknown to me!

My point, apart from a bit of humour, is this – there is no situation we can get ourselves into, that the Lord can’t get us out of! Think-about-it … the bible says, my righteousness is like filthy rags, but Jesus’ righteousness is now ours. We have His resurrection life in us. On days when I feel less than fighting fit, I ask for “a bigger dose of resurrection life please?” No matter how I feel, I know I have peace with God. I may not have peace with you, for instance, but my peace with Him is always undisturbed. I am no bunny rabbit … I know where my peace comes from, and it is not from ME! My peace is in Him, and the minute I align myself with Him, I have my peace back no matter who pinched it!

I live ready to overflow with all kinds of joy simply because I belong to Him. Even if someone were to try very hard, they can hurt me but they can’t kill me. They can damage or exterminate my body, but as my body is old and creaky, I don’t much care about that. However! My inner self is safe, forever. Sin can’t boss me around, it has nowhere it can land! I live in true reconciliation with our Heavenly Father and He knows how to protect, keep and guide me — so nothing else matters.

I don’t have borrowed righteousness, peace or forgiveness – I have what my Heavenly Father gave me – and I’m not going to be tricked into giving it up! Jesus fought our common enemy to give me the opportunity to fulfil my potential in this life. Plus I am the recipient of God’s unfailing love, forever. Sometimes I forget those things when life gets hard, but the Holy Spirit is my Companion, and He reminds me of who I am now, because of the incredible Grace of God. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” Romans 8:31.

Daily remind yourself of who you are now, and praise God that redemption is not just a promise, it is a reality! Live in it. You and I don’t have to live in condemnation, our personhood has a new purpose – I live, and daily die for Jesus now! Bye 👋.

P 3303 Tongues.

/ DVH

Before you freak out, because people do … I just want to say I think the subject of tongues have been bashed up a bit. Between some denominations who stay well away from this blessing, to others that insist we are not born again Christians without it – tongues have been misunderstood. However, I think about this subject like Paul does – I pray in tongues, and I pray in English. But I’m eternally grateful that when I run out of words, the Holy Spirit always knows exactly how to pray – for me, and through me, and for others. The bible says: tongues edify us, they build us up personally in the Holy Spirit, because speaking in tongues needs us to use our faith.

Today I want to look at what the bible says about it. Paul seems to be the most instructive and vocal person, but I want to start with the book of Acts chapter 2:1-13, where it all began. I think we are emphasising the wrong bit –what happens to us! And we seem to fly right over the fact that the Holy Spirit visibly arrived here on earth! A whole lot of incredibly unusual things happened. The Breath of God became seeable, hearable and people experienced Him. It was awe inspiring and terrifying all at the same time. The power of God was tangible.

“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”

Indeed! What DID it mean? I think Almighty God, the Holy Spirit, arrived in Jerusalem, at the Lord’s appointed time, and the same Spirit that helps people speak in tongues —- helped people from so many different places understand what was spoken! No prayer, no urging, no force at all, no stress – God Himself just showed up!And people who could not understand each other suddenly understood what He said. When Father God did that He made it clear what happened was for everyone. The barriers we all carefully erect between each other, were gone. This means Almighty God speaks your language!

This wasn’t a ‘choice’ moment, it was a ‘sovereign’ one. Ordinary fishermen, started to speak languages they had not learned, and God’s message was broadcast aloud through the streets of Jerusalem by nobodies. People physically saw the tongues of fire, they heard the rushing wind, they felt the buildings shake. It was momentous. Jesus Christ came here as a little baby, but the Holy Spirit arrived with a huge blast of glory from heaven! Imagine it. The disciples start speaking words they don’t understand and perfect strangers are convinced and convicted that Jesus is the Messiah. And they repent!

Peter stands up and explains. How does an ordinary fisherman know what happened? Well, he had walked with Jesus for three and a half years, suffered through Christ’s death and burial and resurrection, and at the end of all that, all the disciples had to cling to was the word Jesus gave them. WAIT. Then suddenly the living Word stashed inside Peter’s heart, was ignited with a roar. He and the rest of the disciples had been with Jesus, day after day, listening, learning, making mistakes, seeing things they never thought they would see, and then suddenly the word of God came alive in each one of them. They were so impacted by the Holy Spirit that His Words burst out of their mouths and reached everyone around them. Nobody cared who the preacher was – all the listeners knew was Almighty God was speaking to each one of them personally. 

For me this is the essence of speaking in tongues. The enlivening of the listener’s spirit to the point where they see God Himself, and Jesus Christ His Son, more clearly than they ever have before. This gift is meant to impact our hearts. It goes right past our thinking and bursts straight into our spirits. This is what speaking in tongues is for – it helps us when we are stuck, or dismayed, or bereft or lost. It rescues us with God’s Words spoken through us or someone else, and our spirit jumps up and down and says: “I know that voice!” 

It’s not some sort of fairground party trick. God Himself speaks through us. I have prayed in tongues with tears pouring down my cheeks because the Holy Spirit gave me the interpretation as I was speaking. My ears didn’t understand a word I said, but my heart jumped up and down and said: “That’s it! There’s the answer.” 

We were made by the Holy Spirit in our mother’s womb, we know His voice. When He comes and breathes upon us, we recognise His breath. Tongues are a sign and a wonder, but they are a supernatural sign and a God initiated wonder. It is not just babbling. It’s the Lord!  The power of God, His wisdom, His authority and His never-ending passion for mankind, speaking into and kissing someone’s heart, spirit and soul. Impacting them with pure unadulterated love! Not man’s thoughts, HIS!  Bye. 👋

P2734 “Let HIS mind be in us …”

/ DVH

People like the Apostle Paul wrote what they wrote to equip the saints, as well as to promote unity, and maturity. And most times today’s saints are scrabbling about in the dirt fighting over this perceived bit of turf or that pathway, or this verse interpretation, or that application! All our theories are just that – theories. We are more concerned about being doctrinally right, than we are about learning to love people – even when they are difficult.  One day – we will ALL know how wrong we’ve been. In the Presence of the Lord there is no room for anything but worship and awe, so what WE think won’t matter! 🙌 At that point, all our theories and ideas will be less than dust atoms.

The early church had skirmishes with each other and things weren’t always perfect. However I am so sad about the things that are not resolved in our churches today. Our sure foundation is Christ, we cannot build on the rubble of disagreement. Where we fall down is we are not working to restore people when things get broken and God is not pleased with our hard hearts. These men and women in the book could not live without Him – so they did whatever the Holy Spirit said, so they could stay in step with Him and others!  I am not trying to be rude, but YOU are not the Apostle Paul … we know that he had sound doctrine  … and neither am I! Let’s learn to walk in humility toward restoration.

I know so many precious people who are waiting, waiting. waiting for the next move of the Holy Spirit to come. They want Him to fix the mess we have made, because we’ve allowed opinions to become more important than people or God Himself! Human passion does not equal God’s passion. When we throw ourselves on the altar weeping, what do we do after that? Many of us want Him to transform us in a heartbeat, when most of us have had a lifetime to learn how to co-operate with Him! It’s time to repent of wasting the time He has already given us, and start pursuing living the way that He lived. 

Philippians 2:5-8: “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”Humility is not about what we say – it is designed to be demonstrated, frequently.

In these turbulent times I’m personally looking for prophets that will tell us that we need to repent and repair things in our own lives, today – otherwise I’m not very interested in what they say. All I know is that Jesus will come back – one day, maybe soon, maybe not!… And He’s coming back for a passionate people who will die for each other and what they believe. The Holy Spirit is looking for the heart of Christ in all of us. And what we aim at matters. Even if we miss the mark, we need to keep aiming at loving one another, promoting unity, as well as embracing repentance when we are wrong. Humbling ourselves and admitting our faults to one another is part of the way that happens!  

The Lord is looking for the harmony that comes from seeking His Face, personally and corporately. We’ve all been aiming too low, we are aiming at promoting our churches and their doctrines, not Jesus!  The Holy Spirit is the One Who would love to lead us into true unity. His Presence with us, in us and through us will be that Unity. Unity is not just agreement – unity is a heart attitude. Agreements can be broken. Read the book. 

Transformation, for individuals and for all of us corporately, is a process. Let’s choose to participate in that process, voluntarily, every single day, whether we think it is necessary or not. Unity in the Body of Christ does not begin with everybody agreeing – unity is when you or I would die for someone else just because God loves them. I don’t have to agree with their theology!

Day by day, we His help to see and know one another after the Spirit, not just by what is said. Let’s learn patience from Him when people aren’t all they can be. To display kindness and mercy like He would to those who are in need. We will need to live in self-control when someone else jumps all over our toes. Lastly we must consistently practice attentive faithfulness to His ways. As we do these things, the Holy Spirit will help us. Unity is the centre of Christ’s joy. 3 John 4. “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.”

The bible says things clearly. LOVE has to be our aim – our great quest. Love is not just another key – it is the way forward into UNITY. The Holy Spirit knows the way you should go, ask Him to help you walk that way. Let’s all pray for the same mindset that was in the Lord Himself … Bye. 👋

P 2705 On being tested.

/ DVH

Jesus Christ, God’s precious Son, became a man. He respected and obeyed what His Father wanted above His own personal needs and ideas. He lived, and then He chose to die, in accordance with His Father’s will. He is our example of how to deal with temptations. Right at the very beginning of His ministry, the Lord Jesus was thoroughly tested, under extreme circumstances. FYI, that is recorded in Matthew 4:1-11, and Luke 4:1-13. Jesus came through it all, despite the incredible hardship He faced. But He met with the Holy Spirit and POWER on the other side of that test. This is a great place to stop, and think about what that means to ME. 🤔

The Lord personally demonstrated and proclaimed during this testing time, that the way for human beings to live – is primarily by the Word of God. He did this, under dire circumstances, live and in person, in front of His enemy. That is when He put a stamp on the scriptures as our primary source of spiritual food and defensive weapons..

After that, in the second temptation, His enemy offered Him physical well being, protection and personal safety – for the exorbitant fee of worshippinghim. Jesus refused to have anything to do with getting where He needed to go using His enemy’s help. He responded to this temptation with another scripture. Making it clear that He was not going to trust in anything but God’s Word to care for Him. The truth set Him free. Another good spot to stop and think about what that shows me! 🤔

The last and final temptation was that His enemy would give Him everything He came to do, without making the ultimate sacrifice. Our enemy tried to blind the Lord with success, which included the price tag of saving the world … without Him having to die. It looked like an easy answer, but it involved putting this world into satan’s hands permanently. 

I believe we all face temptations, often we face them daily. We are tempted to lose heart, and put our faith and hope down. Sometimes we are tempted to live by what Brother so and so says, and when we do that means we have put the Word of God second. We are taking another man’s interpretation of the scripture over what God wants to say to US, personally. The most valuable thing we have is our bible… obedience to what is commanded in that book is incredibly personally powerful. When we choose to live by His words — instead of our circumstances, or experiences, or what someone else thinks — we elevate Almighty God in our lives to His rightful place as GOD!

Secondly, there are times when we too are tempted and tested regarding our participation in whatever needs to be done in His kingdom, by methods other than FAITH. Things like clever marketing, slick presentations, and popularity without us having to make sacrifices. The Word of God is powerful all by itself, it does not need to be marketed! In the hands of someone who is obedient to the Holy Spirit, His Word will cut between human thoughts and intentions and go right into the heart of any matter. On that day in Christ’s life – it cut the enemy to pieces! When we rely upon our own skills and energies we are succumbing to the temptation to help God out, and so the accolades may go to a person, instead of the One Who made us and deserves our worship.

I think Father God is very particular about where our worship goes, because: a/ He is a jealous God. And: b/ our frame is not strong enough to be able to manage the kind of praise and worship that belongs to Him – alone. However, His power will flow quite naturally through our lives as we learn to resist temptation and live in obedience. There is always a way through whatever is going on, we just ask Him for His help! Christ was led into the wilderness, by the Holy Spirit — but He came out IN THE POWER of the Holy Spirit. Facing temptation and overcoming it, is part of our growth process – it is meant to test and stretch our faith and resolve to rely upon God and His Word. That means it will hurt!

The bible says this about being tested:“Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed.”1 Peter 4:12&13. And in James 1:2&3: “My fellow believers, when it seems as though you are facing nothing but difficulties, see it as a valuable opportunity to experience the greatest joy you can! For you know that when your faith is tested, it stirs in you the power of endurance.”

Let’s reflect for a minute – in Jesus, Father God finally had a man He could talk to and trust. Just imagine the depth and breadth of the Lord Jesus’ faith!! God’s will was His only aim! In this world we will face trials and tests, but we do not face them alone. Praise God, our knowledge of His Word is our personal shield of faith. Jesus Himself overcame our enemy, and because of what He did on the cross, we can too. Now we can walk forward like Sons and Daughters of the Most High God. Bye. 👋

“Let me emphasize this: As you yield to the dynamic life and power of the Holy Spirit, you will abandon the cravings of your self-life.”Galatians 5:16 TPT.