James 2:14-17

P 3020 The heartbeat of faith is love.

/ DVH

You could say that another way – if your faith is alive, it will have a pulse. The bible talks about this subject in an interesting fashion in James 2:14-17, (which you can read for yourself) but I particularly like verse 18: “But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith BY my works.” Faith makes itself visible by the way it reacts and the things it does. Love never has a bad day.

Galatians 5:6 states: “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love,…”So what we gather from this verse is this:  no expression = no love. Boy, that seems to me to really hit at the heart of what is wrong with our society today! We have become superficial, and we are teaching our kids to be content with superficial things. It is no wonder they are lost! Faith’s heartbeat does not paste on a smile and pretend that something terrible is OK. That’s called deception.

In my country we have a saying: …’some people are all talk and no action.’ And here’s another one…“show us what you’ve got.” If you are rude … and, sadly, Aussies can often seem rude, as well as blunt… the clearest version of that expression is: “put up or shut up.” Sadly, none of the previous statements are all that positive! They mean the person who is speaking to you is looking for substance not just lots of hot, nicely-phrased AIR. Instead of getting insulted, or hurt – start thanking the Lord for exposing places where you are weak. Weak places are a set-up for God’s strength to be perfected.

We Aussies like the sort of people who are the real deal … we can smell a set-up, or hypocrisy a mile off. The thing we’ve learnt after 20+ years on the road is that Australians know Jesus when they see Him, and most of them love Him at first sight. And therein lies the problem with what we call Christianity. We want to be sincere – we mean to be sincere – we try oh so hard to be sincere! But we are trotting about spouting things that make no sense to people who live in the real world. Half the time, I strongly suspect they do not make sense to us either! We nod, and smile at church, and go home as puzzled as we came. A lot of Christian people are so scared of the world around them, that they’ve “pulled their heads in!”  

Many of the saints of God in Australia are in hiding, keeping company with other people who are like them – people who understand the churchified language.They hide in bible studies, prayer meetings, conferences and weekly church. They have a permanent disguise out in the actual world around us. I dunno what the heck we think we are disguised AS … but, in my opinion, all that pretending means we are one step away from not having a pulse at all!  And that is definitely not good.

This next bit sounds like a digression but it isn’t. I’m older, so every now and then we locate the blood pressure machine, and check my blood pressure to make sure it is OK. Meanwhile, because I’m me, then if I’m still talking you can be sure I’m still alive! 

But my point is this: as His Body we need to regularly take note of our spiritual pulse and blood pressure, and check up how long it has been since the last time we shared what we know about Jesus with someone else! Or the last time we  deliberately loved someone – a difficult person, someone we don’t like – using our faith, and spreading His loving kindness all over them? Praying for people is great! Do it. But don’t forget to pray for you!  Ask the Lord what He wants you to do, to show them love – the answer may amaze you!  

Our faith must have a pulse — a heartbeat. No pulse means dead… or nearly dead. The bible clearly teaches us that our faith needs to be continually expressing itself, either through our actions or our words — but most of the time, through both. We don’t have to shove the 12 point plan of salvation at people, all we need to do to keep our faith active, is to stop censoring ourselves, get real – practise repentance — and treat loving the Lord Jesus as part of our everyday life. He’s God! He is not an afterthought! And if you start to think bad thoughts about others – stop! Repent. Ask for His help and keep reminding Him you need it. Be prepared to enter battle over it.

Like I said, it is not just about being all talk, and no action… faith and works go together. So faith goes to help somebody in need, and, at the same time, it tells them that you came because God loves them. Jesus needs to be so much a part of our lives when we are squeezed by bad or scary stuff, only LOVE comes out. We don’t have to have any enemies. Right here, right now – we have the power to genuinely love everyone. Jesus did it! He loved the guy who betrayed Him, and the people who nailed Him to the cross. He didn’t help them do what they did … but He accepted that God was in what was happening and it had a bigger purpose!

Our enemies are our blessing. They show us the holes in our faith and they clearly show us where we lack love. The bible says: “…a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.” Matthew 10:36. Now isn’t that a fun thought? The people we love have the most power to hurt us. This is why the love we receive from Him and give away to others has to be supernatural. The heartbeat of our faith is love. No love means our hearts need to be truthfully examined by His word. The Holy Spirit will always help us! Bye, 👋

P 2922 Help!

/ DVH

‘🎼Way out west where the rain don’t fall’ …🎶”. The people living out here, In Western Victoria, have been in drought for 6 years!! We discovered that on this trip. You won’t find it in the news, I looked. Because of overseas politics, or rampaging delinquent kids, plus people maliciously hurting each other – those things have pushed this kind of news off the front page. Instead we know more about what some movie star is doing!

These people have also had terrible bush-fires, which are a direct result of electrical storms and very dry foliage. Hubby and have driven for days and days on empty roads, past paddocks where farmers are desperately hand-feeding their stock off the back of their ute. Imagine an electricity bill for a farmer… when you pay your own bill next time.

These people, in our very own country, need help, and a loving caring acknowledgement of the fact that they are doing it tough. Money is a help but it is also a temporary solution. Maybe if we lived sacrificially we could be more help— why not store your money up in heaven like Jesus suggested and help the poor. You never know, the poor may live next door to you!

There are a number of passionate Christians who want to go on a mission trip to a much poorer country and be a blessing to the inhabitants, by joining in with some famous evangelist or other … They want to be a part of their team and see miracles…but … NOBODY comes to places like these! Jesus stopped for the one who was sitting beside the road, just as easily as He ministered the Word of God to thousands of people. 

We’ve just come through an extensive period in the church where we’ve had such incredible teaching – on the net, there are great bible schools, or through social media, on TV, even evangelists and healing ministries have come to town … But now, many churches are as dry as the paddocks hubby and I have seen — day after day after day. We all love going up the front and being prayed for, but it seems when those feelings went away … so did our passion for growth!

Instead we seem to have become more greedy for signs and wonders and not fruit. (John 4:48). The Lord spoke to me today and told me that in this life we sometimes think the majority must be right … “That is error,” He said. “I died for everyone. I want My children to bless that one right in front of them. You will find them under bridges, in doorways, huddled in bus shelters …  … winter is coming. Their homes have been repossessed, they can’t find a job, and they have nowhere to live.”

Helping others opens doors to all kinds of conversations. When you speak to a middle-aged woman about Jesus and the bible;  you could discover that she has no clue what you are talking about. And yes, hubby shared the gospel with that particular lady and gave her a bible … among other things!

Everywhere we have been for the past 14 days, we have discovered that there is a huge need for kindness and generosity. It seems many Christians have lost touch with the wonderful blessing of using what we have, to reach out to others who have so little. You know, it never hurts children to learn, firsthand, to freely share with those less fortunate than themselves. 

Hubby was telling me that he spoke to someone where we are right now. This man said electricity bills are bad in people’s houses, everywhere. But for a business like a country supermarket, for example, they pay up to $20,000 a month. Imagine that! Without even buying stock to fill their local store, these people out here have to find more money than I can imagine, every single month just to keep the doors open and their fridges cold. We shop locally wherever we go, to sow money back into the country towns.

We are used to travelling through the countryside now, so we never pass a dam, or a creek without looking for water in it. We know water is life out here. It is not a mistake that the bible is called living water. Maybe you could take bibles on your next holidays, and give them away. Don’t forget bibles and books for kids —or the next generation will know even less about the Lord Jesus than the last one does! The days of trusting other people to do this work are over — those of us who say we love Jesus, must pay much greater attention to what brother James said in his bit of God’s book.

James 2: 14-17.“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”

Mankind is a family, a global family. The Holy Spirit loved and cherished each one of us enough to spend 9 months forming us inside our mothers!  We will serve our better selves when we help each other. People say to  me: ”Well you are always going on about listening to the Holy Spirit and He didn’t tell me anything, so it must not be my job.” This is my reply: “I’m sorry but you are wrong. Looking after the poor and helpless is mentioned over 2,000 times in the bible. He has never stopped speaking about it – you have just stopped listening. Loving one another is a strong theme.”

The people we’ve met out here every single day, need Help. They are not rich and they do not have ‘spare money!’ They need His help through us. He will become real to them, through you. Thinkabout it. Bye. 👋