Israelites

P 2642 Aim at the Long Game.

/ DVH

Lately, I have noticed that the Holy Spirit says to me: ‘do this.’ So I do it. Or He says: ‘don’t do that,’ so, hopefully, I don’t do it! However, after following His instructions, there have been times when I’ve seen nothing whatsoever after my obedience. No visible results. I can often walk around wondering what all that was about? Did it have a heavenly purpose? Did I make it up? It’s good to remember that faith is about not necessarily knowing the outcome until later … sometimes … much later. At those times I believe we are cultivating obedience. Abraham believed and obeyed the Lord and he acted on what he was told, and the Lord counted it as righteousness. Remember to ask the Lord’s input about anything, by reading the scriptures and waiting on Him.

Our Heavenly Father is not tied to our ideas and methodology.  He interacts with us way beyond those things – most of the time, He is doing something else. And at least some of the time we probably have no clue what that is. Sadly our current society likes instant results and immediate gratification – we like to know about everything! So — I put in my five dollars and out pops a candy bar. Or if I don’t like what is on TV, then I change the channel. However, our God has everyone’s good in His heart, as well as a distinct purpose for us to be alive at this time in history. I believe our greatest task in this world is to learn to love the unlovely.

Whenever we deliberately choose transformation, we enter into our own personal inheritance. The Lord has gifts for us that are appropriate to our ministry. They are personal, but they are given to us to do other people good. My deliberate obedience to His ways, means that Almighty God can take my no or yes and change or turn my life away from some things – toward others. It means I’ve chosen to die to self. Because of that surrender, and purposeful obedience, my bad habits, or inadequacies, drop off somewhere along the way. 

I have learnt, from personal experience, to cheerfully say no to my way of thinking and yes to His. There are times I understand … but there are also times that I don’t understand immediately. Loving grumpy selfish people who are mean to me makes no sense! That is why it seems to me that God’s system (?) is far more about following Jesus and looking for higher aims and accomplishments than this world can offer. We need to have eternal AIMS. That thought relies upon hearing, listening, and seeing the Lord, plus … obeying His word. Following Him is part of the transformation process.

The Old Testament gives us a number of examples of people who didn’t do that. Here’s one. Moses and the Israelites wandered about for 40 years accomplishing nothing – but a circuitous journey. They were not transformed into TRUSTING GOD despite their experiences. Their rebellion cost them more than a long walk – it cost them character growth. That was the very thing they were going to need when they got into the Promised land. They were slaves, they had a submissive mindset. Fighting their own petulant ways to obey God would have given them the power to fight their enemies. Although we never know what is coming next, God is incredibly good to us, following Him, step by step, provides the transformation, character and strength we are going to need, for what comes next.

However, our current society encourages us to hold onto our personal sense of self. We say: “God loves us the way we are.” Yes He does. But there is far more to this life than that. We cannot afford to entertain a false finishing line. Our personal happiness and contentment outside of God Himself —is a false finishing line! The Apostle Paul tells us his aim was to ‘finish HIS RACE well’ … walking with Jesus all the way, doing what the Lord wanted. He further indicates that he knows that living like that will take effort, and ‘he does not want to waste his energy boxing like a man punching into the air.’ Whatever Paul does, or decides not to do, to him, everything has a purpose. It’s to help him know the Lord and walk in His ways.

I said all that to ask a question – how are you and I going with aiming at transformation? Are we still inclined to be self-centred, or smart mouthed, or argumentative, or fudging on our income tax and tithes, walking our own way and getting petulant if God does not do things to suit us etc.? Have we yielded to the Lord so that humility and repentance are a way of life? We ALL need to know how to repent! We need to know the difference between saying sorry and deliberately turning away from that sin. That means we are actively entering into the process of transformation.  

Human beings can have many aims: to buy a house, or a car, or raise a family, or a great job, or have a ministry. The very best aim we can have is to let the Holy Spirit transform us so we look, act, speak and LOVE others like the Lord Jesus does. Lives around us will change if we choose to be a person that will accept His premises. Let’s not stop at instant noodles and an instant life! Let’s learn to aim at the long game = ongoing transformation. Bye. 👋

“Everyone who hears My teaching and applies it to his life can be compared to a wise man who built his house on an unshakable foundation.” Matthew 7:24 TPT.

P 2641 Here’s something chunky to chew on:

/ DVH

“The Lord sent Babylonian, Aramean, Moabite and Ammonite raiders against him – (Jehoiakim ) – to destroy Judah, in accordance with the word of the Lord proclaimed by His servants the prophets. Surely these things happened to Judah according to the Lord’s command, in order to remove them from His presence because of the sins of Manasseh and all he had done, including the shedding of innocent blood. For he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord was not willing to forgive.” 2 Kings 24:2-4.

In this passage we are told that Almighty God punished all of Judah for something a previous king had done. Good place to stop and think! Meanwhile Jehoiakim, the current king, was a bad king as well. However, the Lord’s punishment came 90 years later! Think about it. People who weren’t even born under Manasseh’s reign were still part of the Lord’s punishment! Everyone was carted off to Babylon. But the king who actually did all that bad stuff was already dead!! That puts a whole lot of things in a different light. Father God’s plan was for restoration for that whole nation – their plan was to keep on doing what they wanted to do. Guess Who won?

This scripture also shows us that God may WAIT to do whatever He said is going to do, but … He WILL do it!! He was standing up for His prophets who kept telling everyone – “Wrong way go back!” His long pause was about waiting for the people of Judah to repent. In the book of 2 Kings, as the prophets foretold, the whole of Judah was carried off as captives to Babylon. I’m guessing “I didn’t vote for that guy Manasseh, He wasn’t a good leader” didn’t cut much mustard with the Lord!! They ALL went off to Babylon. They were given time to turn around, and they didn’t. ‘That’s not fair’ isn’t part of His thinking – it’s the way WE think. It seems to me that our idea of good and His idea of good – are two different things.

We weigh up this and that, and forget that God has a plan! There are times that He might tell us about it … but just because whatever He said hasn’t happened yet, that doesn’t mean He’s gone to sleep at the wheel. Acknowledging His sovereignty means we trust Him no matter what is going on. We are told in the New Testament that we can appeal His decisions, but that still doesn’t guarantee we will change things. Interacting with the Lord over things that we would like to see changed, or even people we wish would change – may not always seem fruitful because His plan is for everyone’s good – not just ours.The secret is to ask Him what He is doing, instead of asking Him to rubber-stamp what we think is good for us. 

The bit that often irritates us is we don’t like to think we don’t have any power. We know that Jesus is King, we know the King – what’s the hold up?? Here’s a revelation I’d like to offer: We will always have power to perform whatever He tells us to do! ← ya might want to Selah that for a while.  In other words, we are not given power to show off, make friends, avoid trouble, get big churches or to demonstrate our own personal POV. Beware, sometimes the Lord has a very different purpose and destiny for us in our stupidity. 😳 That thing that seems OK with us can lead to us wondering why we fell off a cliff. (Proverbs 14:12.)

Human beings like to make their own plans. Sometimes they are even founded on something that the Lord told us to do, and so we merrily go off and start to do it. Then something happens, and we can end up wondering: ‘where did He  go?’ It’s time to remember, that Almighty God loves relationship. Relationship is not about one person organising another – it is about two people finding common ground and moving forward. Our God is happy to negotiate but because He is wiser than we are, there will be many many times when He gets the final say! His way has benefits for everyone, not just ME.

However, we can always ask Him what His plan is in this situation, or that, or that person’s circumstances or that. and then pray accordingly. What am I saying is this: WHY NOT LET GOD BE GOD?!Human beings are wonderful at taking something dodgy and dressing it up in fine clothes and phrasing it so it sounds like it will benefit everyone. But the subtext often is it that it will benefit ME. Like Yoda says in Star Wars: “See through you we do.” We are no longer living in a democracy – we have been born again into a Theocracy.

Yes, we can always negotiate, and put in our two cents worth, but at the same time, we need to remember, the Lord has all the information! And He is looking for us to have faith in Him and trust Him. People who have little faith in God make their own plans! But He knows the plans He has for us, plans for our good, plans to give us hope and a future. We need to trust HIS PLANS instead of tweaking this and that so it suits us better. The best part of His plan is that He will come with us when we want to do things His Way. 

Is He a God of mercy and grace? Of course He is! It says so in the book. But He is looking for a people who are happy for Him to be God, and at the same time they are happy to be His people. Read the bible! His disappointment with the Israelites, over and over again, makes me want to weep. The Israelites wanted a token god, one they could put on a shelf and forget about until they needed help or some victory, or deliverance. He’s NEVER been that! But this is a good time to reflect on the fact that God’s overall plan included letting us kill His Son so we can be utterly restored – from sins we never should have committed in the first place!  Selah.

Sadly we can still make that mistake today. Ask yourself, do I talk to the Lord to get to know Him, or do I do it to get my prayers answered? The way to flow with the Lord, is to run things by Him, then take the time to wait to get an answer. Ask Him for His mercy and grace, because He will always give it – and then watch and see what He will do with your trust in Him. I can’t even begin to say how many times I’ve run past doing stuff His way, in my enthusiasm to get things done. However, there was always an unforeseen cost.

We want pain and suffering to go away, but God can use it to transform us and our motivations – as well as touch the people around us.  And that’s something else chunky to chew on! 👋

P 2627 He is always with us.

/ DVH

“When you pass through the deep, stormy sea, you can count on Me to be there with you. When you pass through raging rivers, you will not drown. When you walk through persecution like fiery flames, you will not be burned; the flames will not harm you,…” Isaiah 43:2.

The bible says – Lord will be ‘with’ us. It does not, however, say that He will always keep us away from dangerous, difficult stuff. I think the reason the Lord does not say: ‘I will make it so you never suffer’ – is because “I will be WITH you…” is SO much better! The very best thing we can do when we are in dire straights, is to look for Him. Why? Because He said He would be there, that’s why! The body of Christ has become spiritually unfit – we stopped doing our spiritual exercises and started demanding God do this and that. That’s what sent the Israelites down the plug-hole!

We can see in the bible, that the fire of persecution could not touch Christ. He stood silently and faced accusation even on the way to the cross. satan couldn’t drown the Lord Jesus either. Even before He was resurrected, He walked on water. He knew Who was in charge of what He did and where He went  He was with those disciples on the water talking to them when they thought they might drown. He stood on the water outside the boat!

Almighty God respects our free will, instead of turning it over to our enemy – we need to remind ourselves Who we belong to. The best thing we can do when things go upside down and inside out, is to ask Jesus to be with us. In His Presence nothing on this earth can bother us – we simply must learn to live in His Presence. Jesus DID it! Kingdom things like grace, mercy, love, and peace etc. are bigger than trouble, they instantly exclude it. Stuff won’t go away – we will WALK RIGHT THROUGH IT.

God’s peace does not sort of kind of shoo trouble out of the door, anymore than turning on the light pushes away the darkness! When His peace is present HE is present. (God’s peace is a Person, BTW – the precious Holy Spirit.) If you and I switch a light on, the darkness instantly disappears. There is no contest between light and dark. One thing simply excludes the other. That statement is our point of faith. Despite how we feel – truth is always truth. Our faith is an ever increasing revelation of Who we know God to be.

The real secret to overcoming in difficult circumstances is to make Him welcome. Tell Him: “Holy Spirit You are welcome in this place” – then point to your heart. It is one thing to do that in church and completely another to do it when stuff starts happening. It’s a faith statement. We aren’t talking about a theory – one that works sometimes and doesn’t others. Jesus didn’t try to walk on water. He simply did it, as casually as you or I would walk up the street. The wind and waves didn’t bother Him one bit. Why not? Because ...“He was going to the other side.” That’s what He said and that’s what He did.

Even on this earth Jesus lived in another kingdom! That kingdom has a different POV than this world does. God’s Kingdom has His POV.“Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of lights [the Creator and Sustainer of the heavens], IN Whom there is no variation [no rising or setting] or shadow cast by His turning [for He is perfect and never changes].” James 1:17. Knowing God can’t deceive you despite the circumstances, is the place to stand. There is no “maybe” or “I hope so” in God’s kingdom. Everything is YES and AMEN. 

The Lord Jesus quite simply didn’t live in a place that included other possibilities. He took the time to know His Father and relate to Him. Just like you and I take a breath without even thinking about it, the Lord Jesus lived to do God’s will. As imperfect human beings we like to entertain other possibilities — mainly to explain why we are shrieking our heads off in a sinking boat, as it goes up and down in rough seas!

In heaven there is no place for doubt. Faith and Love rule. Our job is to bring those things down here – no matter what is going on around us. That cannot work if we don’t practise the skill of trusting God in all things – big and small. We need to immediately get rid of those thoughts that say: “God won’t help me”… “This thing doesn’t matter it is too small to bother Him about” … “I can’t.” I can’t but HE CAN. Dependance upon Him means we lean back into Him and trust He is Who He says He is.

A lack of peace begins in our soul. In our emotions, our thoughts. Fear grabs at us and we start to sink in our emotions and thoughts first. The reason we have to wrangle this or that all the time, is that we are living in the wrong kingdom –OR maybe we are trying to live in both! That means we end up doing the hokey pokey with our faith! When we live by His kingdom’s rules then His life flows. Remember, nobody can kill us without His permission. And Almighty God will not give permission until it is the right time. Why? “Because there is a TIME to be born and a time to die ..” (Ecclesiastes 3) 

Sometimes I want to say to people, take your earthly glasses off and put on the kingdom ones and just leave them there, and please, don’t forget to read the book!! His book reminds us of Who He is, and how much He loves us. He is always with us. We are not of this world … we are His Kingdom people. We talk about it, carry it, live in it, breath it, and do it – and if necessary – we die for it. Bye.👋

P 2574 That time factor, again.

/ DVH

I have been reading in 2 Samuel, and while I was reading it, I was reminded again that there was a time factor involved in establishing David as a King over Israel. There were many battles, many hardships and great losses between God’s choice and David being crowned king. That victory didn’t happen overnight. My point today is this: before David actually became king, in God’s eyes He was already His appointed man for the job! Samuel anointed David to be king as a YOUTH … even before he fought Goliath.

BUT, there was a very long period of time between those two events —- between the anointing and the actual appointing. 14 years, some people say. Yet this man was always God’s chosen man for the job. In this illustration we can see that time is not always the biggest factor in God’s Ways! The time between what God says and does, and it happening, can be longer than men are happy to talk about. We must not take things into our own hands, even when we know we heard what He was telling us.

My next question was why? Why was that time factor allowed? A whole lot of good men died during that time. I came to the conclusion that time can often clarify our motives – good or bad. Yet in that large passage of time, David grew more and more loyal to the king, despite Saul’s persecution of him. This illustrates that David’s best qualities were enhanced through that longer amount of time. If we think this life is about enforcing the kingdom, we are in error. David was tested about his beliefs and true motivation, and he had an incredibly honourable attitude – even to his own hurt. As the king in a powerful role, David was going to need some of the things that obedience, pressure and time bring out in a life – in order to fulfil that role, well. 

The other thing I thought about relates to us. Today we like to have an idea and bring it to fruition almost instantly. Yet it is apparent in the book that the Lord likes to take His own time! He has an appointed time for things to happen. Read Ecclesiastes 3! Even when we look at Calvary, there was a time period between the Lord Jesus’ death, and His resurrection. Then there was more time between Him revealing Himself to His disciples and His ascension into heaven. After that there was even more time between the ascension and Pentecost! Forty years to make an 11 day journey – those Israelites could not go in … they were not ready! When I notice stuff like that, I like to ask why.

My thought was that the Lord God seems to regard time in a different way to the way we see it. That made me wonder if we could give up on the things He tells us He is doing, too soon. Simply because it appears that the Lord is not meeting our timetable. Instead of pressing on in to learn perseverance, maybe we lose heart? What could we miss out on, when we push things along for the sake of convenience etc. instead of waiting on Him? Are we drawing the wrong conclusions, based on our needs, ideas and agendas? Time sometimes passes and then – we see a suddenly.

We all know that the Lord is never late, and the bible says, His timing is always perfect. Maybe we would manage things better if we stopped putting our own expiry dates on our ideas and hopes, and start asking Him what HE thinks. Then we need to take the time to wait for His answer. He’s never in a hurry so that  ‘hurry hurry rush rush’ thing that often happens is most likely not HIM! The devil pushes us — but Jesus leads us. He’s the Shepherd and He goes out in front!

It is not good to let our circumstances dictate our responses. Despair destroys faith. Holding things loosely allows Him to be in charge. Even if things seem pressing, it is better to continue to hand them over to the Lord and wait for His response. There is a little story about a persistent woman in Luke 18:1-8 …  “And will not God bring about justice for His chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will He keep putting them off?”I think this story beautifully illustrates our Father’s character, it is not just about getting our prayers answered by bothering God until He answers us! By all means ask and keep on asking, but I recommend handing things back over to Him after you do it.

Ephesians 6:18: “Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.” James 5:16: “The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” 1 Thessalonians 5:17: “Never stop praying.”‘Never stop praying’ could also mean don’t give up too soon!

The lack of an immediate answer does not mean that the Lord has not heard us. Our confidence, our faith is in the fact that He ALWAYS hears us and His timing is perfect, so now we are waiting for Him to guide us through things. The time factor is not the criteria, David could have legally seized the kingdom, everyone knew he was the chosen one. Instead, he chose to endure persecution and hardship as well as honouring the Lord’s principles over a very long time. Time can be an important factor, even in difficult situations. We will need eyes to see His answers even more than we need the answers. Bye. 👋

P 2517 The Lord does not think the way WE DO.

/ DVH

1 Samuel Chapter 16 shows us some very interesting things about the way our God, Maker of heaven and earth – thinks. I really enjoy this story, it gives us great insight into the way the Lord deals with human beings. 

But first, please note! … The story goes like this, God did not want His people to have a king – HE wanted to be their King. Meanwhile,Saul is a dud as a king … He’s a king in the natural. following his own understanding.  Well, he kind of would be really because the people chose Saul – based on his height and his good looks. He was pop-star material. Yet he started out his reign out by hiding! Previously, Almighty God had said ‘yes’ to this man and now he’s hiding in the luggage!! We’ve just learnt something about Saul’s character and whether he respected God or not …!!

Moving into verses 2&3 of Chapter 16: But Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.” The Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’  Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for Me the one I indicate.”

People knew enough about Saul to know what he would do if he was crossed. Samuel is the Lord’s prophet and even he’s scared of what this king will do! So the Lord gives him a sneaky Pete way to go around Saul’s murderous ways, and sends Samuel off to Jesse. Meanwhile, Jesse has 7 sons and one of them is going to be king.

Verses 6&7.“When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord. But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

See, the Israelites already picked a king last time based on the way he looked — but God had someone else on his mind — David.  And even the prophet got it wrong!  God picked a shepherd boy, the least in his earthly father’s household. In the meanwhile the Lord has removed his hand from Saul and he is being tormented all the time. The king is a difficult man already, you don’t want to be around him when he is tormented!! Yet God sends David in. Draw your own conclusion on that point.

Verses 15-18:”Saul’s attendants said to him, “See, an evil spirit from God is tormenting you.  Let our lord command his servants here to search for someone who can play the lyre. He will play when the evil spirit from God comes on you, and you will feel better.” So Saul said to his attendants, “Find someone who plays well and bring him to me.” One of the servants answered, “I have seen a son of Jesse of Bethlehem who knows how to play the lyre. He is a brave man and a warrior. He speaks well and is a fine-looking man. And the Lord is with him.”  Did you notice that even the servants knew what was going on? They were on the pointy end of that stick!

Verse 21-23: “David came to Saul and entered his service. Saul liked him very much, and David became one of his armour-bearers. Then Saul sent word to Jesse, saying, “Allow David to remain in my service, for I am pleased with him.” Whenever the spirit from God came on Saul, David would take up his lyre and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him.”That’s because God liked David’s anointed worship!

Now, here’s the interesting part… the guy with the anointing and a good heart could soothe the guy everybody else picked. King Saul went nutso regularly. Everything that happened in the kingdom depended on Who or what was in charge of that man!! Hang on I’m nearly there …

We can learn so much about how the Lord thinks from reading this chapter. He allowed all that stuff to happen. David is snagged into the court every time Saul’s tormentor comes upon him. Later on we find that that demonic spirit tries to kill David over and over and over again! This goes on for 20 years, and God does not rescue David! He leaves the man there in that ugly spot, running away from a demonic force. And David has the anointing – so he can deal with it!  I bet that shook someone’s theology! “There’s a time for every purpose under heaven!” (It says that in Ecclesiastes 3) And in the meantime … Almighty God is growing a KING. He took that young man from a teenager, into being an adult under pressure! He took a shepherd boy who loved to worship and made him a WARRIOR.

Sometimes we try to pray ourselves OUT of the very situations God puts us in to shape our character. He doesn’t think like we do. All those years in between tending sheep and eventually becoming a king, are nothing to the Lord. He is growing integrity in that man!! We need to purpose in our hearts to remember that God’s ways are not our ways. There must have been many many times David doubted every single thing that had happened to him when Samuel anointed him – but he kept his integrity in tact and served God’s purposes well.

Almighty God does not think like we do, that’s why we need to follow the Holy Spirit. God is looking for Davids not Sauls He doesn’t believe in popularity contests – He’s looking for the people who will serve Him no matter what! Bye ⚔️ 👋🏻. 

P 2426 I know I need the Holy Spirit desperately.

/ DVH

You may think that I’m always going on about transformation, a-n-d … you would be right! Without transformation we simply cannot build His church above the first floor. People who are not in the process of being transformed can quite easily have the right motivation but the wrong agendas. They can want to do good things for the right reasons … but good things out of His timing have no life in them. We need the Holy Spirit desperately.

That’s because we are following SomeOne, not just making stuff up as we go along!  We cannot move forward unless we follow the Leader, and Jesus sent back the Holy Spirit for us to follow HIM. We need His life, His input, in every single thing we do. Before you throw your hands up in the air because you know you can’t do that at this moment – (me neither!) …I just want to remind you that getting it wrong is never the issue. We can always repent of being wrong! However, being willing to admit we are wrong is definitely an issue, and so is repairing any damage we may have done. Meanwhile, leaving Him out of everything is just plain DUMB. He made this world by speaking – no-one can follow that kind of productivity!

The works of the flesh are also a problem, because our good works stink in God’s sight. We need to use whatever energy we have to learn what the Holy Spirit likes, so we can walk with Him. “How can two walk together unless they be agreed?” That’s just a fancy schmancy way of saying if you can’t walk to-ge-ther as ONE, then two people can’t possibly walk – together! Not rocket science. Here’s a free heads up. Fighting with your spouse is amongst the dumbest things you can do, you are negating your own prayers. Swallow your pride, repent and trust God to help you out of the hole you both dug! Learn to be wrong, even if you think you are right. It doesn’t matter if your spouse joins in or not – you and God are a majority. It may be slower than you’d like but HE will win. Outdo one another in HUMILITY and loving service. The higher ground is always the lower place.

In the church and in marriages, there are way too many pretender un-holy spirits. Christians can forget that we can’t see properly in the first place — mainly because we are all so good at being a pompous ass!  Let’s remember, that in church and in our marriages, we are here to serve one another, not rule the roost. When we choose to rule the roost individually, the Holy Spirit goes right out the door, and the devil rubs his hands in glee and takes over. Meanwhile, if people are afraid of you, or avoid you, you are in the wrong spirit. 

We dare not think we are the only person within any relationship that hears the Lord! God has been known to speak through a donkey – BOY is that a good thing to remember! 1 Corinthians 13 is a great yardstick. We need the art of humbling ourselves. I only know two people, in my whole life, who will always spontaneously apologise when things go topsy turvy! Whether they did anything wrong or not. Personally, I think that is because these two people value the Holy Spirit far more than being right! It is good to check with your kids, spouse, etc. and find out what they think is coming at them from you.

We need to remember that the Holy Spirit and Jesus are two different People. They both have exactly the same agenda, They want to glorify the Father. However, the Holy Spirit is not a man. Jesus Christ understood human beings, because He is one. But the Holy Spirit of God is different, He can be easily grieved. So … what grieves Him? Here are some thoughts: people who are unloving, joyless, they lack peace. They are impatient, unkind, what they think on and do is not good, they are not faithful, or gentle, nor do they have self-control. (This would be a great time to think about yourself in this context.) In other words their fruit of the Spirit tree is BARREN. They are like the fig tree Jesus cursed, lots of leaves and nothing for anyone to eat. Remember, genuine repentance is the immediate answer.

The Holy Spirit knows the benefits of remaining ONE with the Father, and the Son. They all have perfect harmony. He knows everything … and He knows the way through everything …so why would we try to figure stuff out by ourselves? Our marriages, our lives and our churches need the Holy Spirit. We do not have enough wisdom presently to go forward without HIM. Check out how badly the Israelites did in the Old Testament, when they tried to go solo. I need Him desperately. 👋🏻

P 2419 Deception can come from careless choices.

/ DVH

There is an interesting verse in Joshua, Chapter 9, V14, and in it we can see that as soon as we revert to type and start making our own decisions, without consulting the Lord, we are more easily deceived by our enemy.  At the same time we have effectively blocked out the Lord’s wisdom. Let’s look at this OT story.

Joshua 9:3-6 “However, when the people of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, they resorted to a ruse: They went as a delegation whose donkeys were loaded with worn-out sacks and old wineskins, cracked and mended.They put worn and patched sandals on their feet and wore old clothes. All the bread of their food supply was dry and mouldy. Then they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and the Israelites, “We have come from a distant country; make a treaty with us.”

The Gibeonites wanted to trick the Israelites into thinking that they had come from far away. They had heard how powerful the Jews were so they wanted to make peace with them using deception. And the Israelites fell for it – they used their eyes, plus their taste buds and decided what they could see was true. “The Israelites sampled their provisions but did not inquire of the Lord.” Joshua 9:14. Bad move!

Our beloved Father is not bothered by us if we ask Him into situations, at any time. He dearly wants to be an integral part of our lives. That is why He gave us the Holy Spirit to be our potential constant Companion. Here’s a heads-up. the Holy Spirit is way smarter than we could ever be, and the best Advisor ever!  We need to learn from the things He has chosen to be included in the Old Testament.   

The bible tells us that: “… whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope and overflow with confidence in His promises.” (Romans 15:4.) In other words the Old Testament is not just background info for our ‘real’ learning in the New! The Old is an important part of what God wants to teach us. In it the Holy Spirit gives insight into Who Father God is, What He likes, What He will do if we obey, and …what can happen if we don’t! 

As you can see from the above story, we can easily expose ourselves to deception when we lean on our own understanding. The Holy Spirit is ever-present and constantly standing by us to enriching our lives. It is not like we have to walk 19 kms to a phone to make a long distance phone call at 3.00am in the morning to talk to Him! He is always with us!! Friendship with Him is to be cherished, sought after and valued, because He enriches our lives and our thinking. He protects us from our own stupidity, as He walks with us. This truth is the most essential part of living the Christian life. We are not alone!

Previously to this incident with the Gibeonites, in Deuteronomy, we see that God’s man Joshua made knowing God His priority. Let’s be honest here. Most of us make a job, our family, our favourite hobby … our priority. We pray in the morning, and maybe again in the evening, and perhaps even during the day as we need His help, but He is not our constant Companion. We need to value the Holy Spirit’s company more than we value anything else. Joshua went into the tent of meeting with Moses, and yet Moses came out before He did! Think about it, it shows us Joshua’s commitment.

I think that this man teaches us that our desire toward the Lord, plus our obedience, matters. Careless choices, or an independent spirit, or unthinking attitudes, can rob us of victory. Father God can trust someone who wants His will more than their own, and our friend Joshua was such a man, despite his humanity. Our biggest choice is not whether we want to be saved or not – our biggest choice is whether we want to follow Jesus all the way to the end – living this life His way. 

Giving up the only life you have is no small thing. That’s why people struggle with it. But being independently-minded or even double-minded, robs us of the blessing of His Presence. Our biggest choice is simply “…choosing this day Who we will serve …” (Joshua said that – and he knew how to make great choices.)  We are more susceptible to being deceived when we make up our own minds, and then hope God will bless THAT!  As Christians we are subject to a Theocracy which means – He’s in charge and we ain’t! 👋🏻

P 2384 Single-mindedness.

/ DVH

I was awake at 3.00am the other day, thinking about Joshua. What an incredible man! Later, as I read about him, I discovered he is often featured as a great example of how to be a leader. Actually, I’m not interested in that angle – I’m pretty sure loads of other people have covered that better than I can – I only have 10 paragraphs or less! Today I’m interested in Joshua as a person who loved God. He’s a great example of someone who decided to follow the Lord, no matter where it led him. 

I want to talk about him because he was incredibly singleminded. That’s a quality we can all use! Some people might call that dedicated. The first thing I asked myself was why did Joshua remain behind in the tent of meeting when Moses left? Here’s what I think, I think this man fell in love with God Himself, after spending so much time in His Presence. This attitude is not something that can be taught, nor can it be enforced. But Joshua shows us that living a life dedicated to the Lord, and valuing His Presence above everything else, is a real, valid, productive way to live. 

It is way too easy today, to think that living a life devoted to our Lord Jesus is a bit too hard. There are just so many forces about trying to drag us away, so it almost seems like ” … it is kind of OK… to just do your best and live as good a life as you can.” Just so long as we go to church, read our bible and pray, then surely that’s OK? Personally, I think that we have an extraordinary God Who deserves our best and I really like the way Joshua thought, and lived. Soaking in God’s Presence produced so much wisdom in this man. It made him humble, reverent and teachable and strong in the Lord. You can read about him here – Exodus 17, 24, 32, 33; Numbers, Deuteronomy, the book of Joshua.

In Joshua’s time he was surrounded by people who preferred EASE. It seems to me that the Israelites expected God to prove Himself by spoon-feeding them whatever they wanted, to win them over. They had been in captivity for hundreds of years, and although their captivity was evil, murderous and dire – it actually actively taught them to be HELPLESS. Does that sound at all familiar??? This God-chosen nation kind of proves, that you can take a man out of Egypt, but getting Egypt out of a man is a whole other ballgame! 

Let’s just kind of pause and look at the words – God-chosen first of all. Yes, God chose us first, yes we are now HIS people, but as you can see from the stories of Exodus, Deuteronomy and Numbers etc. being chosen does not give us a licence to live this life however we want. Being chosen has responsibilities. We do people a grave disservice if we teach them that following Jesus is an all-you-can-eat-or-want buffet! Joshua made some very hard choices and decisions in his life. However, I think deliberately choosing to live in God’s Presence gave this man the tenacity, wisdom and the character he needed. Personally I don’t think these skills can be taught, I think they come as a result of a carefully cultivated relationship with Him. They produce devotion, dedication and single-mindedness. 

The thing is, it is easy to think that leaders are meant to be better Christians than we are. We expect so much from them, while we excuse our own lackadaisical attitudes as “it’s really tough to live in the real world.” (It seems that Joshua also had a family – yet he put God first.  Our first responsibility is to Jesus, and if that isn’t our POV, then what are we teaching our families? When I was a child my mum had an expression, when I hung around a door, often listening in to the grownups. “Come in if you are going to, or go out if you are not – but don’t hover.”  Sadly, today, we seem to have a plethora of drones … people who hover… but never seem to engage.

To me, Joshua is the epitome of “seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you!” He sought God’s wisdom and His ways by spending time with Him. In my opinion, you and I can do that through prayer, reading the bible and our obedience to what the Lord said. The interesting thing about those three things is that nobody else can do them for you. Even though teaching, exhortation, or experiences can make you and I want to apply ourselves. I want to offer up a thought that may be a bit offensive to some – postponement of application is actually saying NO! 

There is only one answer to the call of God on each of our lives: “…here I am Lord send me.”  The bible shows us that people like Joshua did that, they lived singleminded lives and they found a whole new way to live. 👋🏻

1 Corinthians 10:11-13: “The things that happened to those people are examples. They were written down to teach us, because we live in a time when all these things of the past have reached their goal. If you think you are strong, you should be careful not to fall.”

P 2307 Moses was a Leader and an Intercessor.

/ DVH

“For Yahweh is always good and ready to receive you. He’s so loving that it will amaze you— so kind that it will astound you! And He is famous for His faithfulness toward all. Everyone knows our God can be trusted, for He keeps His promises to every generation!” Psalms 100:5 TPT

Psalms 90 -100 are traditionally thought to have been written by Moses. I’ve mentioned this today because of an encounter Moses had with the Lord in person in Exodus 33:17-19:  “And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.” Then Moses said, “Now show me Your glory.” And the Lord said, “I will cause all My goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim My Name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”

This bible story is interesting. It shows Moses’ boldness and our Heavenly Father’s generosity. When Father God tells this man: ‘’I’m going to kill them all – I’m sick of them” – He is talking about the moaning groaning disobedient Israelites He had just rescued in the most astonishing fashion. Then God tells Moses: “I’m going to start over and use YOU to do it. I can’t hang around with this lot any longer. I’m going to scrap them and make a new nation through you!!”

Moses then reminds the Lord that it is His own reputation on the line. After all everyone knows that God chose these people and rescued them and now He wants to bail? How would that read again? In the course of this conversation the Lord says that He will stay with Moses, but not with the Israelites. He will not go with them any further because He just might kill them all off in the forward journey. And around about then the conversation I’ve quoted in Exodus above occurs.

In my mind there are a few incredible things happening here all at once. One of them is the intimacy between Moses and God Himself. Not only does Moses question GOD very respectfully, but he lives to do it!  Thinkaboudit! He is not too scared to challenge the Lord. However, I think that all those conversations in Almighty God’s Presence changed this man so much He cared more about God’s reputation than his own well being! Plus he also deeply cared for the bunch of grumbly Israelites more than anyone would ever have expected him too! After all, they wouldn’t co-operate with God, … even for their own sakes.

Self-centredness fell off Moses in God’s Presence. That shows me that true intimacy with God will transform us!  It doesn’t change the Lord, He is Who He is and He already has a plan. But knowing absolute goodness intimately, changes US!  We know God’s goodness, and compassion is available to us because this kind of scenario is repeated over and over again with other different men and women in the book.

We can all know God’s goodness personally, intimately. It ultimately depends on our willingness to have hard conversations with the Lord… AND STICK WITH IT. Like Moses, or Abraham, or Job, or Jeremiah or Ezekiel, or Elijah…whether we like what we hear or not. We will gain far more than our desires – we will come to know more about HIS desires and plans when we pray, persevere and don’t give up. 

At the same time we need to be prepared to love others so much that we will pray for them, and even get stuck in the same hole they are in… even if they are not living well. This is the hallmark of a true intercessor. Actually, to intercede, we need to praying for others until we know we are being heard … like Moses did. He didn’t just “post off” his prayers, then wipe off his hands and walk away. Until I learn how to pray for your problem ….like it’s MY problem … I am not loving you well. 

These things are all a sign of an inner transaction that leads to transformation and further intimacy and knowledge of God Himself. Even that aim changes us.🤗

P 2209 Easter is an invitation to transformation.

/ DVH

Like I said yesterday, rest and faith are essential parts of a Christian’s walk with the Lord. The Israelites missed their opportunity to live that way – because they preferred to complain about, and critique His provisions, plus they demanded their own way. Bad move. My advice is this:  when the food falls out of the sky, and your clothes and shoes don’t wear out, plus nobody gets sick for 40 years – give thanks, and follow the Leader!  (Read Deuteronomy.)

The bible talks about resting in what Jesus has done for us in Hebrews chapters 3&4. Our rest in what He did begins the very moment we ask Jesus to be our Lord and Saviour. His active Presence in our lives guarantees change. We can now rely upon the fact that our sins have been washed away by His life’s blood. Now we’ve started to live a new life, using our faith that what Christ said He did at Calvary – He did. And that door flew open for everyone. Knowing Him personally, and walking with Him, is the door into peace, rest and a brand new way to live this life we have right here and now. Christ gave us the ability – the power –  but He also gives us a choice whether to follow Him… or not.

Now we live our lives believing that what He did on the cross was utterly comprehensive. It covered our past sins, present sins and even those stupid things we haven’t done yet! Why would the Lord Jesus do such a thing? … It sounds like we have carte blanche to be able to do whatever we like – and indulge our base natures? (Paul talks about this extensively in Romans.) The thing is: sin is dangerous. It is like quick sand, it sucks you in and drags you down. When I look after myself, and I don’t care about you, and how much living like this hurts you – that’s sin. When I live by the rules and I don’t use my faith, every day, to obey Him – that’s sin!

When Christ died, He paid the ultimate price for every human being’s forgiveness. And after He returned to heaven, He sent back the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Person Who helped Christ to walk out His earthly life in purity, holiness, and passionate devotion to His Father. He will help us to live that way too, in exactly the same way He helped Jesus. Now, we do what is Godly by following Him and using our faith. Second by second, minute by minute. We simply need to be obedient to what He asks us to do, in our hearts – and in the book. The power to overcome anything, including our own sinful habits and attitudes, was released that day long ago, at the cross. Now, we can participate in that power in the same way we received salvation – using our faith.

Sadly, many Christians want Jesus to save them, but they reject His daily government, and consequently their lives are now devoted to keeping rules. Rules are easier to follow – you can write them down or look them up! But the bible is not a set of rules, it is a personal invitation to know God and live this life, right here and now, His way. It is an invitation into a relationship. You cannot regulate a real loving relationship, instead you have to live it out, by making hard choices, and you do that … day by day. FEAR keeps more people out of that freedom than anything else.

As Easter draws near, we celebrate the fact that Jesus not only died in our place – He came out of that grave and personally illustrated that a new life walking in His Ways is available to us. That new life transforms His people  from the inside OUT. You can’t kill human beings. Our bodies die, but the real person, inside, lives forever. We choose where we will live after we die by the way we live this life, here and now. Christ made an exchange, His life for ours. Every day we live out that exchange by making the sort of choices Jesus would make … living this life for Him, here and now. 

Father God has asked us to be obedient and pay attention to what He wrote in the bible. Just like the Israelites in the wilderness, we have a choice. We can do things His way – or continue to walk round and round going nowhere – wasting the time He has given us. As we walk with Him – His way, we will be transformed. Now we can join in with whatever He is doing, because Jesus is working all over this earth, today – through us.

None of us can claim that we are powerless to change any longer – because the power to change came into this world when the Holy Spirit came into this world at Pentecost. He’s here … and He’s here to help us overcome!  Transformation is the only way ahead. 👋🏻