Jesus is alive

P 2618 Waiting to move is a trap.

/ DVH

“But I promise you this—the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and you will be seized with power. You will be My messengers to Jerusalem, throughout Judea, the distant provinces —even to the remotest places on earth!”” Acts 1:8 TPT. Instead of waiting for a sign, obey the book. This is what we have found – HE COMES WHEN WE GO! It ain’t rocket science. And yes, I am on about that today, again.

I learnt twenty years ago, that waiting to be well enough to do what Jesus told me to do was a trap! Yeah I know that’s a tough thing to say. However, I live out that kind of tough every single day. I hardly ever feel well enough to even get out of bed, let alone type this blog! I will not bore you with a list of things that have stolen away my health and well- being, but I totally want to say this: since hubby and I have been travelling on the road for Jesus – I’M HAPPY and He’s over the moon. Neither of us are nuts either. Oh, well, maybe! Maybe you should ask our kids! 

Actually, I wouldn’t live any other way. But … being well would be nice! I remind the Lord about that daily too. I live expecting my circumstances to change, and … I utterly do my best and refuse to live in disappointment, when they haven’t … so far! Hubby too has his share of aches, pains and trials, and between us it takes a while to get going in the mornings, so we get up early, and we go to bed at a ridiculously early hour. Some nights one of us is battling for sleep. (Which is why I wrote the blog a couple of days ago about not sleeping!) It happens here quite often – it sure improves your prayer life!!

I try not to be negative, but in this life trouble needs to be normalised – not accepted, but normalised. This world is not heaven! Things happen. Awful earth-shattering things a-n-d… petty insignificant things that make you mad. Paul had to escape trouble by being stuffed inside a basket and lowered down the outside of a city wall! These men we read about daily, were beaten within an inch of their lives on a regular basis. However, getting beaten up was regarded as an honour for His sake! It meant they were doing something right.

We have to stop hiding in our religious wish-thinking and start to live in the real world. The bible says ‘in this world we will have trials’…Sigh… You know, I am a tiny bit tired of hearing testimonies about “how God made someone’s life better” … but …I hear absolutely no testimonies about how wonderful it is to serve Him! Watching Jesus come into the picture – however He chooses to do it ….is the most amazing thing like E-V-ER. It is such a privilege.

I was giggling this morning, remembering when hubby presented the gospel in Nyngan to a whole family, and then the father said something that every pastor wished his people would say!! ”Could you tell me that story again please?” This man was asking hubby to repeat the sermon!! And there they were, the four of them, their eager shiny little faces waiting to hear the good news, again. The only trouble was — hubby couldn’t remember a word he said! He looked at me, and I looked at him, and then the dear man started prompting him. Hubby had the good sense to ask him which bit he meant. Let me tell you – that man was listening – he could repeat what he heard. Me? Not-so-much. 

Is everyone we meet going to be like that? Nope. We’ve met a few who were not even remotely interested. Here’s a thought — maybe they are waiting for you to turn up in their neighbourhood! It is a glorious thing to be part of someone else’s journey toward Jesus. However, we simply cannot have a harvest if no-one will go out into the fields and sow seeds. Some starving people might stagger through our church doors. That’s great! Yay Jesus. But most people have no idea that what we believe is any different from any other religion.

Many people choose what to believe by default, not a spiritual encounter with a real Person. It’s a bit like choosing a political party to vote for. Some people even choose a religion because the statues that belong to it make great decorating items!! 😱 They don’t know Jesus is alive —- and … hot tip … you and I can show them that just by turning up! There’s this first aid thing we are meant to do if we find an unconscious person — it’s called shake and shout! And this is me … shouting and shaking … wake up Sleepy Bride of Christ!

We cannot afford to wait to move, that’s a trap. Jesus had this problem with His disciples. They had no spiritual clue about what was going on around them … He had to tell them ..”Do you not say, It is still four months until harvest time comes? Look! I tell you, raise your eyes and observe the fields and see how they are already white for harvesting.”John 4:35. The Lord’s harvest is ready for planting all over the country – let’s all grab some seeds and go!  Everybody has holidays!

Here’s my advice, don’t sit about waiting for inspiration to fall on you, go because He said GO! Show Him that you mean business, that the people that are on HIS heart are on your heart… Insist. 👋

P 2571 He isn’t here …

/ DVH

Matthew 28:1-7 “After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.  His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow.  The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; He has risen, just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay. Then go quickly and tell His disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see Him.’ Now I have told you.”

I love that line uttered by the angel who was sitting in that empty tomb. “He is not here; …”   My first thought was – “then where is He??”… And the Lord smiled at me and said: “EVERYWHERE!!”  My second thought was that God left that angel there to talk to those women ... he waited for them. Makes you think doesn’t it? Nothing happens to us that is outside of His gaze – the Lord is prepared for any circumstance.  

Man those things are mind boggling. And what Jesus said to me made me think. We want to advertise Him as being at our church Sunday by Sunday but He’s not limited by time and space anymore … HE goes where the Wind blows. Let’s pray: ‘Please Holy Spirit, blow on me!’  Amen. With that end in mind, perhaps we should start asking HIM where He is going to be today? … Instead of expecting Him to automatically turn up where we are. Maybe we need to be more sensitive to His desires? Couldn’t hurt!! Moving on …

These two ordinary little women may have been scared, but they were still able to talk to, and listen to the angel without falling over.  All they cared about was finding the Lord! Unlike those big burly guards installed by Pilate’s order, together with the religious oversight. Those soldiers were scared spit-less by the same angel and promptly fell down as if dead. Knowing Jesus personally makes all the difference. We may be awed sometimes, but we will not be totally overwhelmed. Supernatural stuff should be praiseworthy but normal to you and I. We know HIM. 

Here’s another fun thought:  the disciples, who followed Jesus day after day, promptly forgot everything He said when He died. They were so overcome by grief and fear, they were not expecting His resurrection.  But Pilate, who handed the Lord over to the religious leaders, made a point to put guards on the tomb – because he remembered that Jesus said He would rise again! So they installed guards to make sure nobody could pinch the body and tell everyone He was resurrected. Now there’s the rocks crying out! The non-believers remembered!

Once you and I know for sure for ourselves, that He is risen – then our next job is to go and tell others. I remember the day when the Lord impacted my life, the first thing I was told to do was to tell somebody. So I rang the pastor’s wife and she about came right through the phone at me she was so excited. After that I told everybody! I wasn’t trying to be a smartie pants – I was just so excited because I knew that I knew, that God loved me. I had encountered something real, something worth talking about.

I dunno why many people think that telling other people about what happened to each one of us is hard, I really don’t. It seems to me that most of the time we do our best to avoid it. But it is the most natural thing in the world to talk to others, when something incredible happens to us. Especially when we discover what we thought was a theory turns out to be a reality! If we are asked to tell others about what is going on with our spouse, our friends, our kids, our parents, even our teachers, our fav past-time … we can easily say something! But when it comes to our faith – it seems we instantly get shtum. Why is that so?

Maybe somewhere over the years, other people have made a great big thing about what you are supposed to say or do when passing on the good news that that tomb was empty, and Jesus is alive, today. The further we walk away from our initial encounter with Him – whether we believed the book, or saw Him in Person –  the harder it seems to get. You know, those two women did not have a speech prepared. They were so joyful they simply related what they saw. That’s all our job is! Not to preach at others, or bash them with our church’s theological thoughts … we just need to tell them what happened to us. Nobody else has a testimony like yours.

We all have a story and Father God will pick the people who need to hear it. Not everybody will yell: ‘yippee can I do that too?’ It’s the Holy Spirit’s job to save them – and it’s our job to tell them what we know… I think the simpler we keep our explanation of what happened to us, the better! Something like: “Believe it or not, Christ isn’t dead, He’s alive and I’ve met Him.”  We are meant to be salt – not the whole stew! We are here to make them thirsty… the rest is up to the Lord. 👋

P 2108 My testimony

/ DVH

I felt that the Lord wanted me to talk about my conversion experience, even though it was over 50 years ago! 😊 I had some sort of squirrelled up faith/fear of God, for most of my life, up until I was 25. But there was no real life in it. It was more of a “pray, do my best, and hope like mad God wasn’t watching me when I did the wrong thing” faith! I prayed to be good an awful lot, that bit I remember clearly. Actually I wasn’t really sure if God even liked me. 

Then my sole parent decided maybe I needed some religion after all, so I was dragged hither, thither and yon through this whacky idea and that one. I can only say some of those places were more out there than was probably good for me. Eventually I got married in a Catholic church and we went overseas for a year. My faith was totally non-existent by that stage. We had two little girls, two years apart. And I can honestly say I lived my life back then feeling unloved and unwanted. Along the way, I discovered having a family, wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.

One day, somebody took an exception to our very loving dog, and poisoned her – they threw a bait over the back fence. My two tiny little girls were distraught. At that time I had a lovely Greek neighbour who also believed in different weird and whacky things and during my tearful discussion about our dead dog with this person – they announced that Jesus Christ was also dead. There was no resurrection. I have no idea why, but I was utterly shattered by that thought. I knew it was a lie – but I couldn’t prove it. I ran back to my house and tore it apart looking for a bible. We didn’t have one. 

Around that same time, I had our two little girls baptised in a local Anglican church. My ex was a nominal Anglican. Anyway, an older lady from that church visited people like me regularly, and she brought the Parish newsletter weekly. I would open the door – just a crack, stick my hand out to grab the newsletter and close the door quickly again!

When my lack of real faith crisis hit, I realised I had her phone number – so I called her. She came over immediately – God Bless her. She comforted me, because I was sobbing my heart out, and she told me that the Lord Jesus IS alive and He loved me dearly. Then she said: ‘Jesus would like to live in your heart, would you like to ask Him in?’  My answer was a resounding yes. She offered to pray with me but I told her I would prefer to pray by myself. So I went out to the clothes-line, sat down, and prayed this made-up prayer:

“God if You are real, I am talking to You, and if You are not, then I am talking to the clothes line.” Great prayer huh? 😳 And YES those are the exact words! The results of that prayer were instant and astonishing. It was as if someone switched a light on. One minute God was a theory that I hoped existed, and the next He was real-er than anything else in this world! I was instantly converted. I had no clue about anything spiritually real before that time.

Suddenly, the person who never ever went to church was there every time the doors were open. Jesus was so real and I was so passionate about Him – still AM!  At this time, I told everybody I knew that would stand still to hear it – He is real. They, of course, thought I’d lost my marbles. I joined that local Anglican church and was blessed with good solid teaching. I started to devour the bible – I’d never read it before. I began with the Gospel of John which is still, to this day, my favourite Gospel.

Now, don’t give up on me, you’ve made it this far OK?? Mo-oving on … I constantly wanted more of Jesus. Three years after that I still wanted more.  My best friend at church went overseas and she kept sending me back info about “the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.” Long story short, I was desperate for more, I asked the Lord for it. I immediately got some funny words rattling about in my head. I didn’t know what they were so I wrote them down so I wouldn’t forget them, and prayed them every single day in case I forgot them! You know, God doesn’t want to just sprinkle us with water, so our face is kinda sorta moist,  He wants us completely drenched and dunked in the middle of a very deep river.

In my country about a year after getting my three funny words, there was a train disaster, and when the news of it played out live on the TV, God unlocked my heart, and torrents of Holy Spirit’s language came pouring out of my mouth. I am aware that many people will tell you that it is a bad thing when you don’t know what you are praying. I disagree. The Holy Spirit knows what we need more than we do – He prays for US perfectly. Over the course of my life I have learnt that I don’t really know what is good for me, so I am more than happy to trust His wisdom. I recommend it!  From the moment I gave my life to Jesus, to this day, I have never doubted the Lord is real. I know Him. He talks to me.  😂 👋🏻 

ps I am proof that you don’t need a special prayer to meet the Lord Jesus personally. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you to cry out from your heart if you don’t know Him. Ask Him to make Himself real to you.“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved..” Romans 10:9-10.