Jesus

P 2948 Times of refreshing …

/ DVH

“God will continually revitalise you, implanting within you the passion to do what pleases Him.” Philippians 2:13 TPT. This is one of the enormous benefits of living a transparent life before the Lord and others. We can actually hear Him whisper. I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating. Years ago, the Lord said this to me: “If you will hear Me for correction, you will hear Me for direction.”  (Proverbs 3:5; Psalm 32:8)

I have taken that to mean that if I am prepared to throw myself into reverse, and own my faults – to Him and to others – it will help my spiritual hearing. The trouble with this thought for many people is that they kind of argue with what they hear. EG: “Did I make that up?” Like our imagination is somehow bigger than God Himself!  And then they start to cancel out their faith with doubt. We have the bible so we already have what the Lord thinks – in a book – check it out in the book!  I also spend a lot of time capturing my thoughts like butterflies in a net!

To do what God says we will need to be prepared to look dumb to other people. Think about Gideon, Noah, Joshua, Moses, Abraham – these men did the strangest things on God’s orders! The secret to walking in faith is to put your faith in His goodness, and don’t take it back. However, don’t put your faith in accomplishing what He told you to do – the action — because that will get you stuck quicker than superglue. A whole lot of great people fell down that hole! Put your faith in WHO HE IS, in His incredible character, His reliability, His kindness, His faithfulness etc. WHO GOD IS is our plumb line. 

Nowadays when He tells me something I just do it. If I look like a goose, that’s even better, because I can use all the humility I can get! My faith is in His goodness, and if I get it wrong, then I know, from the book, that He is a Redeemer, He can redeem anything! I’ve also learnt, the hard way, that nobody knows what they will do when they are under pressure!  Pride has to go.

The Lord regularly speaks to me through His word, and He also speaks to me in my head…my thoughts. It is extremely tempting to think, whenever that happens, that “I made it up.” However, when we make the effort to know the book, we are learning to know what He likes and wants, and what He doesn’t – so we can walk away from sin and unbelief. I also find it easy to follow a Leader, like the pastor or my husband, my faith is in GOD in them, not them. When we get into judgment of what other people are doing, we are walking away from following Him, and we start “Ieaning on our own understanding.”

We can also be tempted to take a poll, by asking a lot of other people what they think about the fault God pointed out in our lives. Polls don’t work! Big clue in the words: “what God Himself said to us!” That’s a neon sign moment. We need to trust Him. Otherwise everything becomes about us – how we feel, what someone else did to us etc. etc.…As soon as our own judgment, or man-made systems come into play, we will lose His wisdom and insight. He will just quietly disappear.

Here’s a question … why didn’t God STOP Adam and Eve? Because He had already given them instructions. It was up to them to obey what He said! The Lord wants willing obedience, and obedience involves an action. Nobody is going to like this next thought, but one of the best ways to start learning to trust the Lord is with giving. Generosity opens spiritual doors. In our Western world money rules everything, and Christians embrace “tokenism.” We need God to be in charge, NOT money, or this world’s riches. 

The point I want to make today is that God doesn’t just want to revitalise us, and rewire our thinking, He wants to go one step further than those two great things and give us a passion TO DO what pleases Him! That does not fall on most of us, we will have to go after it … because our Bridegroom loves to be pursued. In my experience of the faith life so far, this means God will be continually praised;  someone else will be blessed;  and I will be too, because I saw Him do something extraordinary! So I pray regularly for eyes to see Him at work, because what He does in our lives is so undercover, and subtle, it can be easy to miss Him. 

When the Holy Spirit does something only He can take the credit for what happens…it is always so quietly extraordinary! He never once takes a bow. Boy do I want a heart like His! John 3:8 “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”I too want to be the person that remains unseen. Sigh. But there are still times when my flesh squawks worse than Peter’s chicken!! Time to die, again!

I love the Holy Spirit’s nature, He is so selfless, and unassuming. Nobody can refresh us like He can. One word from Him and the colour of our day is suddenly brighter, and the world is full of possibilities again. That thing we didn’t understand is now clear, and we understand what He wants better than we did two seconds ago. Enter into times of refreshing with the Lord – by practising obedience. You will get to know Him better. Bye.👋

P 2947 Who are you really … ??

/ DVH

Matthew 21:33-46: “Now listen to another story. A certain landowner planted a vineyard, built a wall around it, dug a pit for pressing out the grape juice, and built a lookout tower. Then he leased the vineyard to tenant farmers and moved to another country.  At the time of the grape harvest, he sent his servants to collect his share of the crop. But the farmers grabbed his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. So the landowner sent a larger group of his servants to collect for him, but the results were the same.

“Finally, the owner sent his son, thinking, ‘Surely they will respect my son.’“But when the tenant farmers saw his son coming, they said to one another, ‘Here comes the heir to this estate. Come on, let’s kill him and get the estate for ourselves!’ So they grabbed him, dragged him out of the vineyard, and murdered him. “When the owner of the vineyard returns,” Jesus asked, “what do you think he will do to those farmers?” The religious leaders replied, “He will put the wicked men to a horrible death and lease the vineyard to others who will give him his share of the crop after each harvest.”

This parable reminds me that without active, visible, accountability and supervision what are WE, you and I, actually like? As in, who are we when we are at our house? The nice people at church can’t see us there! Don’t be two different people:“Admit your faults to one another so that you may be healed…” This is a good time to ask your family if you are the same person wherever you are. If not – why not?? The bible says:“I can do all things through Christ Who gives me strength …”

This is one of the parables I like to call, ‘the very-scary-better-think-carefully-about-them” parables. Not a cheery story. Not a happy ending either! However, I love that Jesus is a realist. He understood mankind, including the best and the worst of us and He knew what we could do to each other. Some of our biggest spiritual problems can come from thinking:“Oh, I would NEVER do that!” Can anybody smell the Pharisee in the room? Like somehow we have become exempt from our own humanity. That’s called P.R.I.D.E. OK, so now there’s another 27 people who have gone right off me! Ho-hum.

None of us know what we are capable of, until we are pushed hard enough by circumstances, or maybe we see an opportunity for gain. I’ve met a lot of the “Oh, I would never do that,” type of Christians in my life. Good luck with that one! If that really IS you, then you need to thank the Lord for delivering you from temptation! Nobody knows our hearts but the Lord, and boy does HE know what’s nattily hidden away in there. Stuff that can be disguised quickly with a change of our facial expression. I’m not keen on dishonesty. I think deceit is a deadly poison, it eventually floods the body and becomes a way of life. Self-deception is the biggest thief of all!

The only thing that can actively transform every single one of us is the blood of Jesus, and the truth is, if you don’t think you need it – then you won’t see the need to apply it into your life! Really, REALLY dumb move, Basil! You can lie to me, your mother, your family, the pastor, your friends, but … when life squeezes you hard enough you never know what is going to come out. The biggest danger we face is what I call the ‘who will know?’- opportunities.

So let’s get real, and hang onto your bonnet sister, it’s about to blow off —  there can be no redemption without acknowledgment of sin. Now breathe… and listen to what the book says … you could always read it out loud: 1 John 1:9 says:“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Hmm … maybe you need to read that again, it’s possible you missed a word in your clever speed reading. IF… if… if… if!!!! 

If’n ya don’t own your sins, you won’t see any need to confess them… and if we make excuses for our behaviour … we won’t own that either! I have heard about every excuse under the sun, from people who want to hide their real attitudes and self-centred ways from everyone. What a waste of a life! It is a waste of time letting fear and deceit run the show … we know that Jesus died to pay for all of it – but the prerequisite to qualification involves confessing our faults. We all have them. Presumption shot Peter in the foot, he was caught by a chook!

SomeBody already knows each one of us, who we really are!! He’s the Person we should all have holy fear about!We have made a god in our own image, and He’s very permissive and understanding … He understands I can’t help it, I had a hard childhood! Forget the gossip club at church, GOD knows! And our excuses just won’t hold water in front of His precious Holiness.

Forgiveness comes from His compassion, faithfulness, and that is only IN CHRIST. Our sin is no longer the problem, when we’ve given our lives to Him. However, when we try to hide from Him, and hide the things we still do from other people, then we are denying the power of the cross to cancel that sin. That’s the problem. 

Out of sight out of mind, doesn’t work in the kingdom of God. Honesty does. Confession does. Purity of heart does. The sacrifice Jesus willingly made for us does not give us permission to ignore the prompting of the Spirit of God. Just because we can’t see Him, that doesn’t mean He isn’t here, with us, right now. His Presence is all over His book … so quit skipping the bits you don’t like! The question for today is: who are we when no-one will know? Bye. 👋

P 2946 Learn to trust Him, no matter what happens.

/ DVH

“I know what it means to lack, and I know what it means to experience overwhelming abundance. For I’m trained in the secret of overcoming all things, whether in fullness or in hunger. And I find that the strength of Christ’s explosive power infuses me to conquer every difficulty.” Philippians 4:13 TPT.

When I read this verse In Philippians, I can see that good or bad experiences can teach us things that we cannot learn any other way. Paul had learnt from the Lord Himself, that everything that happened to him, the good and the bad, the ugly, and everything in between – was an opportunity to be trained in God’s Ways. He learnt to accept His Heavenly Father’s help in every situation. He found that he could overcome whatever came at him, I believe he used the circumstances to train his faith in God’s goodness. 

Faith is not just memorising what God likes in this circumstance or that situation, and doing that to please Him. Faith is knowing that whatever situation we find ourselves in, Almighty God will always do what is right and best for us – despite how it looks from our end. If it isn’t good yet, then we are not at the end. And sometimes the very best end result is that you have come to know the Lord better than you did before the difficulties started! Our society is so geared to fixing things so ‘life works for me,’ and that can creep over into our way of thinking about the things of God.

No matter where we find ourselves, or what kind of day we’ve walked into, the Lord’s is always there with us to help us to overcome whatever comes our way. His strength is eternal. I think that thought needs to be steeped in a bit. OK, you can see that I read that word ‘infused’ in the verse in Philippians, and I thought about tea! Just like some people enjoy a cuppa, and they let the tea bag sit in the boiling water for a while, we need to voluntarily soak in Jesus’ power, His Presence, His Word, and let it soak into us and through us by acting on it. When we let the Word of God penetrate further than our brain, it automatically saturates the rest of our behaviour and attitudes, and, at the same time, it releases more faith in Him and His ability to transform us.

Many people travel long distances to go to places where they think God might turn up. It seems to me that they’ve forgotten, or maybe they didn’t know in the first place, that God actually goes wherever it is they are going – with them! We don’t have to go somewhere to “get” God – He has already “gotten” us! We are, after all, His temple! However, when a whole lot of people get together, we have something that I call a collective agreement to worship and learn about Jesus, and that’s just lovely.

That’s a place the Lord likes to inhabit because it is something He told His disciples: “Wherever two or more gathered together in My Name, there I am in the midst of them.” That same thought is also said in the Old Testament. “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” Psalm 133:1. We are in unity when we deliberately gather together to worship Him and learn more about His Ways. We have a common purpose. But this is not the only way to learn about Him.

Anybody who chooses to use to use their faith to overcome hard things in their lives can learn more about the Way God does things. Those kinds of choices change our perception and our experience of Him. Please be aware, that in any and every circumstance we experience, the Holy Spirit wants to grow His fruit. And never ever forget that one of His fruits is JOY! Our walk with Jesus is meant to produce JOY, actually … ‘joy unspeakable and full of glory!’

So what does that mean? It means if all we do is follow rules and regulations we are not growing fruit. We have to follow our Heavenly GARDENER around to learn how to produce fruit – so we need to submit to the difficulties in our lives with our faith in His goodness, intact. We are not destined to live straightened joyless lives, we are destined to walk, daily, minute by minute with the One Who knows how to grow joy in the midst of suffering and trials.

We can walk with Him far more easily when we actively practice living in His love toward others, through our actions as well as our words. We don’t have to have a list of rules five miles long, we simply need to remind ourselves “Is what I just said or did, LOVE?” It is extremely important to remember that I can’t define LOVE. HE already did that, in the book. If I can define it then I am in charge of it, and I can make up the actions to suit myself.

For instance, patience isn’t just about saying nothing in the face difficulties, it means we are actively supportive and loving toward the one who is learning!  And faithfulness cannot ‘run out of patience’ either!  Its aim is to be true to the One Who oversees every life, not just mine. And self control is the result of loving God more than I love my own opinion or my own way! 

Paul trusted God’s ways over his own. He let the bad things in this life become opportunities to face those things God’s Way. This meant that He was trained to recognise God’s actions by the results in his own life. He saw and learnt what was flesh, what was not, and what was actually real fruit from the Holy Spirit!  And he actively allowed God to infuse every cell in his body with His power and purposes. Bless you, bye. 👋

P 2945 God’s TEAM needs HIS preparation.

/ DVH

“For the Lord is the greatest of all, King-God over all other gods! In one hand He holds the mysteries of the earth, and in the other He holds the highest mountain peaks. He’s the owner of every ocean, the engineer and sculptor of earth itself! Come and kneel before this Creator-God; come and bow before the mighty God, our majestic Maker! For we are those He cares for, and He is the God we worship. So drop everything else and listen to His voice!”Psalm 95:3–7 TPT.

““I tell you this timeless truth: The person who follows Me in faith, believing in Me, will do the same mighty miracles that I do—even greater miracles than these because I go to be with My Father!”John 14:12 TPT.

“Whether you eat or drink, live your life in a way that glorifies and honours God.”1 Corinthians 10:31 TPT.

Our total faith in God’s unchanging goodness, together with our decision to deliberately lay down our lives unconditionally — as lovers of Christ – IS glorifying to God. We have been destined to stand with the same steadfastness David had in front of Goliath, sure in the knowledge that God will help us, so nothing can stand in our way! You and I can walk into an enemy’s camp with nothing but lights and horns because He said to do it… and then we get to win! The Old Testament has profound teaching in it about the love and power of God in action in a people-group’s lives. Today I want to talk about difficulties being a part of our preparation.

Remember Job? God Himself set that man up for a huge test! He didn’t kill the man’s kids, or take his money, or cause his financial problems, the other guy did that. But we don’t like to think about what God will allow in our  lives, because we all love a happy ending! Unfortunately the bit in the middle of that process leaves us cold! Sometimes that is because fear has a foothold and we are not acquainted with His unending goodness. However, Job clearly shows us what life is like without the Lord’s protective hand … Job came through that awful test, because even though his faith was often misplaced and sometimes wobbly – He was still God’s man! 

The Lord wants to lead each one of us to those green pastures in Psalm 23, but we may need to go through the valley of the shadow of death to get there!! Even if He has to drag us through a bramble bush backwards! We need to approach this life dedicated to actively learn every day, to CO-operate with Almighty God, just like Jesus did. We need the same mind toward God HE had.  “Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by Himself;  He can do only what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all He does. Yes, and He will show Him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed.” John 15:19&20. 

This life we have here and now, is our chance to be the people who co-operate with God’s plan. But we must remember that we cannot choose how that works. That’s because God can do more than one, or ninety-four things at a time. So at the same time as we are walking in His power, we are growing fruit for His glory, fighting off the enemy and standing firm. Staying attached to the vine means we don’t move, we are there through thick and thin without doubting His love toward us.

The biggest mistake we can ever make is to see God’s goodness as a reward, or an add-on to what we already have – or even what we think we want or need – His goodness is about His character not our actions. God did not save us just to bless us and make this life peachy-keen! He is looking for A PEOPLE.  Read the book. He wants a people who will act and speak love toward others, just like Jesus did! He chose YOU because He knows what you are capable of when you choose to trust Him.

These daily tests we face are preparing us for what comes next. We are to be His salt in a bland, blah world, as well as His light shining brightly in the darkness all around us. We need to learn, through our own personal experiences, to be confident in God’s love for us even when things get difficult — because: “Depths of purpose and layers of meaning saturate everything You – (He) do(es).” Psalm 92:5 TPT.

Everything that comes AT us, is Father-filtered. So when we gave our lives to Jesus we put Him in charge of our new life. Now we are “His people, the sheep of His pasture…” It is good to remind ourselves that when we gave Him our lives, He took them! 🎼”It’s no longer I that liveth, but Christ that liveth in me…🎶” … that is not just a sweetly sentimental song … THAT IS AN AIM! …  A purpose … A battle cry!

Let’s stop trying hard to make our own lives perfect, by telling ourselves that when that happens we will have the freedom to obey Him! Otherwise we end up telling ourselves that when everything is going well for us — that’s when we will engage in His alternative unknown plan … after we’ve done this thing and that aim — THEN we can go be about our Father’s business. We need to GO be about our Father’s business, all the time — ready or not! Almighty God has not been, nor will He ever be, an add-on. Nor is the blood of Jesus just a free ticket to a better place after we have died. He’s the meaning of life!

We have been commissioned by the Lord Himself to tell others they need to be ready for what comes next … but are WE ready? “… However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find [persistence in] faith on the earth?”  Luke 18:8b. Obedience to His heavenly vision is the key that unlocks the door to an eternal perspective … here and now. God’s team needs His preparation – and He chooses that for each one of us. Bye. 👋

P 2944 Storms come and go …… just be willing to let Jesus into your boat!

/ DVH

John 6:16-21 states:“When evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, and they got into a boat and started to cross the sea to Capernaum. It was already dark, and Jesus had still not come [back] to them. The sea was getting rough and rising high because a strong wind was blowing. Then, when they had rowed three or four miles [and were near the centre of the sea], they saw Jesus walking on the sea and approaching the boat; and they were [terribly] frightened. But Jesus said to them, “It is I (I Am); do not be afraid.” Then they were willing to take Him on board the boat, and immediately the boat reached the [shore of the] land to which they were going.”

The Lord’s disciples were terribly frightened, initially – but as soon as they knew it was the Lord …they asked Him into the boat. This teaches me that all we need to do is to recognise Him in any and every scary situation. I don’t know about you, but our personal tiny little boat has been going up and down on the huge financial waves in this latest world-wide storm. However, asking Him into that violently rocking boat means our eyes are now on Him. When HE gets in the boat the storm disappears – and you can’t see anything but Him.

Meanwhile, I’ve found that becomes very easy to get mad at the person we think caused the latest problem, and we inwardly hold them responsible for our own fear and bad feelings. That’s actually a lack of faith searching for a way out – we want someone to blame. Our response to any situation is our still our own personal reaction, and it is our responsibility to deal with it. Glory to God, we are so blessed – we don’t have to deal with this difficult stuff alone! Just don’t try to organise the Lord into fixing your problem, your way, and instead – yield. Those poor schmucks who don’t know the Lord, are trapped by their feelings – but we AREN”T!  Because of what Jesus has done for us, we don’t have to go there. We have been given the power to choose to use our faith.

Christians are not powerless! When we make a choice to use our faith, heaven backs us up! You know I can almost hear a chorus of ‘buts’ from where I am! … “But I don’t feel like I have a choice.” I hear ya! However,  living in our feelings is a fatal mistake. Whatever we repeatedly practice, dominates us. The more we practice using our faith, yielding and leaning on Him, and His understanding — the more it becomes a way of life. Like I said previously, if you want to see the power of God at work – start with your own life. 

When things don’t go the way you hoped they would, just remember that the other guy will be right by your elbow reminding you of all the other times you may have been disappointed. The temptation to yield to unbelief will be huge. he won’t remind you about how things actually turned out better than you expected in the long run — or how the Lord turned stuff around, or how you experienced great growth when your faith in Jesus’ character and His Word held you up.

It is normal to pray for healing etc. when you need it … but I’m guessing most people need patience, faithfulness and self-control, equally as much as healing. We have all turned our sights and hopes toward seeing the big miracles, and ignored the miracle of one totally transformed life… OURS. The Pharisees said this to Jesus: “The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus, wanting to trick Him. So they asked Him to show them a miracle from God.”  Miracles aren’t necessarily the answer, but faith in His goodness is! Meanwhile if our hearts remain unchanged, we will continually expect God to come walking on the water to bail us out. Think about this … on another similar stormy night Jesus said this to His disciples: “Where’s YOUR FAITH??”

It takes spiritual insight and courage to see the Lord in the middle of a force 4 gale! Daily in this life it seems that there is a new wave smashing against the side of our seemingly frail little boats. We need to look through the driving rain of adverse circumstances to see Jesus coming toward us in the middle of that storm. Don’t look at the wind, waves, lightning or pay attention to the thunder. Look in His book! He has promised to be with us in trouble. 

The guys in that scripture from John were in trouble … and Jesus came walking on the water to be with them. He keeps His promises! Not only that but they ended up where they were going —miraculously! I can’t tell you how many times we’ve seen God turn up miraculously. But God was not entertaining us – HE WAS PROVIDING for us in our need. Storms come and go. I exhort you, don’t get complacent when the sea is quiet. Live ready to face any storm because Jesus Himself is already in your little boat. Bye.👋

John 6:26:“Jesus answered, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, you have been searching for Me, not because you saw the signs (attesting miracles), but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Do not work for food that perishes, but for food that endures [and leads] to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you; for God the Father has authorised Him and put His seal on Him.” Then they asked Him, “What are we to do, so that we may HABITUALLY be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered, “This is the work of God: that you believe [adhere to, trust in, rely on, and have faith] in the One Whom He has sent.”

P 2943 Signs of spiritual death

/ DVH

1. Lack of breathing –

We can easily ‘run out of breath’ as we walk with the Lord, especially when we do things in our own strength. Genesis 2:7:“And the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.” Without the Holy Spirit’s breath on and in us – we will die. He is the breath of life and He is our new best Friend. John 15:5 says:“We can do NOTHING without Him.”

2.Pupils fixed and dilated –

I don’t know about you but nothing ‘fixes my pupils’ like watching TV or playing a video game! You can stare at it for hours and lose half your life doing absolutely nothing! Matthew 13:13:“This is the reason I speak to the crowds in parables: because while [having the power of] seeing they do not see, and while [having the power of] hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand and grasp [spiritual things].” We need new eyes to see and new ears to hear. Ephesians 1:18 says: “… the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, …”

3. No heart beat –

Hearts grow cold and stop functioning when we hold onto grudges, or bitterness toward others, we short-circuit the new life blossoming within. Ezekiel 36:26-27: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.” When we are born again we are given a brand new heart – we need to watch over our hearts. Proverbs 23:26 states: “My child, give Me your heart and let your eyes delight in My ways,…”

4. Rigor mortis – stiff and cold –

Boy this one is far too easy, we can become so accustomed to other people’s hardships we don’t see them anymore. The passion of God thrives in a ‘red hot heart.’ Jesus said in John 10:10b:” I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”We cease to really live this new life when we stop following Him. Matthew 24:12 says: “And the love of the great body of people will grow cold because of the multiplied lawlessness and iniquity, …”

5. No response when shouted at and shaken – 

Some people once heard God Himself speak, but they only heard His voice as thunder because their hearts were far from Him. Romans 13:11 states:“And this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for NOW is our salvation nearer than when we believed.”The repeated, every day rhythms mean we are often lulled off to sleep. We need to be awake at all times, because temptation can sneak up on us. Ephesians 5:14-16: “This is why it is said:“Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.”

6. Cells and organs start to die –

Our relationships with other Christians get weaker and weaker. Church becomes a chore to be performed, instead of a meeting place of refreshment. Psalm 118:17 says: “I will not die, but live, And declare the works and recount the illustrious acts of the LORD.” Our destiny is not to live ‘dead’ lives, but to be living testaments to the goodness of our God. John 15:1&2. “I am the True Vine, and My Father is the Vinedresser. Any branch in Me that does not bear fruit [that stops bearing] He cuts away (trims off, takes away); and He cleanses and repeatedly prunes every branch that continues to bear fruit, to make it bear more and richer and more excellent fruit.”

7. The blood has ceased to flow –

We stop even thinking about the state of our spirit and just keep right on doing the same old same old, every day —one thing following another. Hebrews 9:14 explains, the blood of Christ, shed for our sake, cleanses  “… our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!”1 John 1:7 states: “but if we [really] walk in the Light [that is, live each and every day in conformity with the precepts of God], as He Himself is in the Light, we have [true, unbroken] fellowship with one another [He with us, and we with Him], and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin [by erasing the stain of sin, keeping us cleansed from sin in all its forms and manifestations].” 

I urge us all to live this life, the only one we have, in the cleansing flow of His blood, filled with His Spirit.  Our new life in Christ transforms everything that would make us into ‘zombie’ Christians, as we leave our old dead life behind us. Wherever we go – His glory follows us instead. Don’t be caught DEAD with these spiritual ‘signs.’ 🤣 Bye for today. 

P 2942 Obedience is a great healer.

/ DVH

Be-ca-use … as we are going off to do what He told us to do, He can heal us. I’m not just talking about ailments, although He loves to heal those too! I’m talking about the kind of troubles that say: “I’ve been alive a while and people-jumped-all-over-me-with-their-hobnail-boots-on … and hurt me badly..” So many Christians are sitting around with hurt feelings, waiting for God to heal them, so they can do something for the Lord. … Because their mother, father, spouse, kid – has been, or is still being – mean to them. Bin there dun that, the t-shirt was a dud!

We can’t change that behaviour … IT’S IN THE PAST. You can only have so much prayer that even with anointing oil you will slide down walls!! I’ve learnt, through His Grace, to leave the past behind me. Walk on. Like Jesus said,‘let the dead (past) bury the dead! NOW is the hour of salvation.”This is what ‘loving those people who despitefully use you‘is all about … putting the past where it belongs – behind you!

People have done dreadful things to each other, and their kids … Forgive, repent and … get over it. Jacob always had a limp. Some things mark you for life, but let it go and get on with your life. Don’t let someone else’s sin hold YOU hostage! And pray for the offenders, love on them, then … move on. Go out and be obedient to His heavenly vision. You don’t have to dig ditches to serve Jesus, your story may be a blessing to someone else.

I am not talking about neglecting our families or kids, or our family life – I’m talking about priorities. This world has subtly presented the idea that we cannot have fun without being whole. ROT! People had fun before they had electricity. I’m talking about living a godly life in front of your family as an example. Let your kids see that Christians value God’s opinion more than their own, and they value obedience.   

Many loving, fantastic parents put their lives on standby, while their most productive years are being devoted to raising their children, and contributing to the kid’s well-being. Protecting and helping your kids can become a habit that is hard to break — even when the little darlings are turning 55 soon! That person we fuss over is a grown up, by the way. The best way to learn about this life is to live it!

We have carefully cultivated a million reasons why we can’t be involved in that banquet the Lord talked about in Matthew 22:1–14 and Luke 14:15–24… ’I got married. I bought a field. I’m just too busy!’  That banquet story is not just about heaven, it is about here and now. Do yourself a favour, don’t ever be too busy to be obedient to the Lord! That is a slippery slide that leads right out of the building.

Many bits of my body either don’t work, or constantly complain at me, it would be easy to sit in a corner and wait to die. Somebody I love is doing that with their life, even as I am writing this blog. It’s sad. We have no control over the time of our own departure – unless we make a dumb decision to take the matter into our own hands! Our time is in HIS hands. I’m not trying to criticise others for their choices, but that’s not what I call a LIFE.

Hubby and I always have so much fun together on the road, but his back is often pretty dreadful. Sometimes he can’t hear or see as well as he used to, and now his memory falls out on him like money slips out of a purse with a hole in it! I used to rely on his memory, mainly because I can’t remember what I said 5 minutes ago – and the harder I try to locate it, the less successful I am. Hubby is a bit younger than I am. He is younger by … …mind your own business … so now we both have to rely upon God to remind us, because we are both terrible at it.

We go on the road and we drive thousands of kilometres simply to obey God. The Lord has sent us to care for the people that He knows are waiting for someone to come and help them understand what He is all about! Acts 8:26-4O. There are times the people we meet don’t know what they don’t know, until hubby talks to them. Then they cry all over the place.

We spoke to 51 specific people this time – we don’t do thousands! We are just posties for Jesus, on the road bringing others the mail/message He wants them to have. You don’t have to be an evangelist to witness to God’s goodness. And we’ve proved that don’t have to be well either! Everybody likes to go on holidays, just take blankets and bibles with you. Find a homeless shelter or a women’s shelter – sadly there are plenty of those. 

We can waste our God-given time claiming we’re waiting for God to heal us, or for a sign from heaven. Here’s an interesting scripture to chew on about signs …“But He (Jesus)replied to them, “An evil and adulterous generation craves a sign.”Matthew 12:30. We can make excuses and not obey Him, OR we can limp, hop, crawl out there back into this world and just love on people, and see where that leads us. There really are better things than healing – and obedience is a great Healer. Bye. 👋

PS I’d rather wear out than rust out!

P 2941 Ready or not.

/ DVH

You know, I think we need to scale back on preaching at people, and go out there and just be the bible. When I write this kind of stuff, I’m pretty sure a whole lot of people probably get mad at me! Boy, I hope so — mad is wa-a-a-y better than apathetic. Our faith is not meant to be private … real faith is going out into this world deliberately, on purpose, loving others, caring about their lives, while we are introducing them to His kingdom. Our challenge is to live that way – all the time. Laying down our lives so other people can learn how to find a new life with Jesus. 

Here’s one of my optional ‘make you think’ questions: what part of your new life in Christ makes your life look different than it did before you met Him? I know all the pat answers — we go to church. We pray. We read the bible. However, the reality is, because we choose to remain inactive, unfortunately sometimes guilt drags each one of us around by the nose — we know there is more, but we can’t seem to find it. To do that we need to give up our undercover, ordinary people disguises, and lay down this life we’ve planned for ourselves. Let’s stop running about looking for healing for us, and introduce others to the Healer of mankind. 

The body of Christ has unfortunately become engaged with what this world says we need. People who are DEAD don’t care what they need — actually, they don’t care about anything at all! But the people who know their God want to spend their life for Jesus’ sake. Will it hurt? PROBABLY!! But pain is an opportunity to wait on Him, and press in deeper. I have a theory, I believe that many people lead mediocre lives because they think this life is the only chance they will get to have what they want. But man was made for eternity.

We’ve been born again to do what He brought us here to do. That includes what the bible says …and then, after we do it, we leave the results to Him. We throw our miserable human excuses into the bin where they belong! Man has been making excuses for centuries. Many of those excuses some people made right to God’s face!! That thought makes me shake my head. I know I have been incredibly disobedient, and if God is not Who He says He is, then I’m sunk. I cling to His promises like a barnacle clings to the bottom of a ship.

Let’s just pause, and think about God’s patience with us. He has put up with mankind’s junk for centuries. Not in a mean, stand-offish unloving, uninvolved way, but in a proactive creative winsome way that calls us all up HIGHER. You can’t get more involved in humanity than He did, by coming here, living amongst us, and then letting people kill Him! The people in today’s world need to experience, personally, what the bible says:“Taste and see that the Lord is good.” We are meant to be someone else’s first taste of God in human form, and we are the only Christians some people are ever going to meet! If that doesn’t serve you up a big dollop of “Oh, my gosh!” I don’t know what will!

Sadly, other people are probably going to take a big chunk out of you and I, regularly. It’s a TEST. It is up to us to decide how we will respond to their actions. Jesus has left us in this world to be a people who not only know their God, we are now His interactive advertising. Just tell others the kingdom of God is near, because He lives in you! Like me, you may have been dreadful advertising even ten seconds ago  … so … REPENT. Pick yourself up, fix what you can, use your faith and keep on going. God is not finished with any of us yet. 

Get over the idea that this life is meant to be easy for us – ‘because we are so special’ – and realise that “a disciple when he is fully trained, will be just like His master.’ They treated Jesus disrespectfully and badly and then they viciously killed Him … so-oo-oo-oo … You do the sum.

Sometimes we become so obsessed with being comfortable and comforted, because this life is difficult, we forget what we are here for. If we want to know Him intimately, we will need to live our lives like He lived His. Unselfishly, altruistically! We are assured that His faithfulness under all kinds of circumstances, is out of this world! Nothing can, or will separate you and I from His love … because Almighty God promised.

It’s time for all of us to step up to the plate and take a swing at the ball! Never lower the standard just because you can’t meet it – Jesus Christ met it for us. Pick up your faith and go again. Our only job on this planet, is to RE-present Jesus Christ to the world around us … by living like He did. Let’s hope the next time someone takes a bite out of you or I, they bite into something sweet!

Jesus once told a parable about a rich man, who kept walking past a beggar at his gate. What that rich man did in this life eventually caught up with him. I implore you … don’t postpone change. We need to be ready for anything and He is always our ever-present help in time of need… whether we are ready or not. Bye. 🙏

P 2940 Kindness.

/ DVH

People often think about kindness as a human quality. Personally, I think that means we are underestimating the power of God for total transformation! Loving the poor, providing for them, helping those who cannot help themselves may be this world’s idea of kindness, but it is not the fruit of the Spirit. Those caring things are simply normal behaviour to a kingdom dweller.

So, let’s look at what God’s idea of kindness looks like.“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;  That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” Matthew 5:44. See? Kindness is a God-quality, not a people one!  

It is the ‘doing good to them that hate us’  bit that I’m talking about, today. That takes extraordinary God-given, ongoing kindness, it is something that lasts. It’s spiritual … it has to be!! It is not enough to refrain from blowing your enemies up … or stopping yourself from giving them a piece of your mind … My test for the fruit of the Spirit is this — can I find it in myself? If that answer to that is no, then it is likely I am doing my best – but that’s not the fruit that comes from an abiding relationship with Him. 

I define spirituality by actual growth in my life. That means I stop doing something I was doing before. as He helps me! Otherwise, changing myself always seems to be out of my reach. I think that this means you can’t grow the ‘God kind’ of love, that bears everything, hopes everything, and never fails, plus joy, hope, kindness etc. in the soil of this earthly life. We need to reach right up into heaven, using our faith, and bring His kingdom down here, right here, right now, to bless others. I’ve learnt to regard the fruit of His Spirit as something that is unattainable without His help! The Holy Spirit grows His fruit His Way. How is your day going? Mine just got remarkably difficult!!

This is the sort of transformation that changes the way we think – see Romans 12:2. We can’t make this stuff up -we might fake it and fool the world around us, but we can’t fool the Lord. By the way, the idea that “I can’t help it,” is just our way of excusing a lack of change. The Lord Himself will burst that bubble and introduce something, or someone, into our picture-perfect life that exposes His reality. Think Peter and his resolve, and then he met that chicken! When any fake stuff is tested it will blow up, get rude, vote with its feet and generally express the ‘poor me’ attitude that seems so prevalent in this world. Today, we would rather put a technical label on something to make it sound like a medical/mental condition …than call it SIN.

Good luck getting God to buy into that excuse. Unless you have a few chromosomes missing, you will be standing on very thin ice. He made us. He already KNOWS what He put in there … !! We all have the potential for transformation. And yes, I know from my own experience, that some things are incredibly difficult to conquer .. but the Lord conquered SIN, DEATH AND THE DEVIL. That means that Jesus knows all about the level of difficulty required – He can guide us through anything. So there’s that flimsy excuse chucked out of the window – ask for His help and use your faith! Read the book. OK, on we go … are we having fun yet? 

Romans 2:4: “Or do you disregard the riches of His kindness, forbearance, and patience, not realising that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?”Almighty God’s kindness always has a target, and God is incredibly  rich in these things! We can miss so many things in the book when we do not study those peculiar, sometimes-out-of-date, words. We do not have to dredge up, make up, or beat ourselves into submission to walk into growing God’s fruit of kindness or anything else. We simply have to remain in the Vine. 

The true point becomes, how do we remain in the Vine? We stay IN Christ – in what He did. That’s how. Oh goodie, another one of those difficult things nobody understands, and everybody quotes! How do we stay in the Vine? We choose to die. This new life can only come from Jesus, so we choose to give up what we want by living this life we have been given, the way He would live it if He were here. He IS HERE, by the way. Inside us. We asked Him in when we gave our lives to Him!

Now we put our feelings and educated idiot-boxes to one side… those things have lots of uses, but they will not help us DIE.  Dying is something most people like to avoid. It means we say no to what we want and choose to do what He said, using our faith. No matter how we feel, or what we think. At the same time our brains need to be rewired – the bible is God’s method of rewiring. God gave us the best upgrade this world has ever, or will ever, see! He said: “If you read this book I will help you to think like My Son would. Now go and do it and it will become part of you.”

If we want His kindness then we will need to let His life in us OUT, so we can be kind to our enemies. They will never ever deserve it. BUT!! When we live like that we release His Grace toward them! Win Win! Bye 👋

P 2939 What His kingdom looks like.

/ DVH

Good morning! Imagine my surprise today, when I discovered that there are 92 references to the Kingdom of God found in the Gospels! That’s a lot. Hubby and I had a long conversation about this today. We came to the conclusion that the Kingdom of God is more than just an actual place — it is a way to live. And by living in it ourselves, we are constantly exhibiting His kingdom to others.

I decided I want to write about one of those 92 references, every now and then. It seems to me that in order to live in a particular place you need to know what it looks like, and how to get there! Here’s my first verse: Matthew 4:17 … “From that time on Jesus began to preach,“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”Actually the kingdom of heaven was standing right there when the Lord said what He said! That made me wonder how many times in my life the kingdom of God has been right in front of me and I didn’t see it. Not a happy thought. 

When I read this verse today, it reminded me that in God’s kingdom, repentance is part of His processes, and it is the first sign His kingdom is at hand. Human beings sometimes want to skip this bit, and go straight to the benefits! But when we acknowledge our sin, we have immediately put Almighty God in His rightful place and put on heavenly glasses to boot! My best advice is don’t play on the freeway with stuff that will kill you dead!

This is not a place we should avoid, or skip over. Nor should we be ashamed, because the aim of repentance in God’s eyes, is restoration – not condemnation. It seems to me that whenever His kingdom comes near to us, conviction should not be far away. In the presence of His holiness we need to come with a humble attitude. So how do you do that and keep it real? I think we focus on Who He is, and not on ourselves. Self focus, or even introspection is deadly to this process. Our spiritual wheels start spinning in the mud of self-absorption.

However, Father God’s desire is to see each one of us reach our full potential in Christ. The happiest place mankind ever occupied was in that garden walking with Almighty God in the cool of the evening. Sadly pride, false humility and blame can get in the way of that aim. Honesty is the only key. If we are honest about who we really are – we will immediately step into repentance. In the Presence of Holiness nothing else is possible!

Repentance is a place that opens the door into the Kingdom of God for us. It is where we acknowledge our weaknesses and sins, and we receive His forgiveness and strength in return. By the way, I don’t believe it is just an outward action – I think it is also a heart transaction. Jesus told us that we can’t repent unless His kingdom comes near, so we start by praying for the kingdom to be close to us. Then we are enabled by His Spirit to be honest and transparent. “Thy kingdom come …”We need to make room in our lives for His kingdom, by repenting and throwing out the things that don’t honour Him.

Somebody way smarter and more spiritual than I am, once said: “Thy kingdom come, means MY kingdom go!” I think that is a key to true repentance. It makes reparation for what was done against someone else, without any caveats on it! It sees sin for what it is … captivity.Plus part of repentance is vulnerability before the Lord. I’ve found that the more I don’t want to do it, the more I need to do it! I need His power helping me to overcome my previous ways of thinking and living.

We have a wonderful Helper, and we can always take advantage of His wisdom and insight, because He knows what will please our Heavenly Father. Because of what Christ did for every single man, woman and child, none of us have to be ashamed or afraid to repent. But we need sincerity, not just some sort of cursory acknowledgment. 

The thing is, when repentance, which is a GIFT —is given to us, we need to respond because it means His kingdom is right there with us. Sadly, in those moments, we are often far happier to be singing worship songs, or laughing, crying, dancing and falling on the floor … indulging our feelings … than we are to fall on our faces and acknowledge our deliberate sins against Him and others!  After all repentance is not just godly sorrow. It is changing your mind, walking away from the very thing that has held you captive.

Repentance IS costly. It is like the perfume the woman poured over Jesus head when she washed His feet. You are literally pouring out your heart before the Lord. He loves that smell! God is so faithful – He will fill us yet again with His love and passion. However, just like this incredible lady, it will probably cost us our dignified appearance. I guarantee you won’t have a hanky or a tissue on you, when you respond to His kingdom coming near! 

However all of it will be wasted, … unless we are prepared to make reparation and change the behaviour that caused us to to need to repent in the first place. If we want His kingdom to come near and stay with us… then we need to follow up the water-works, with actions. Deliberate, life-changing, humbling actions. That’s what His kingdom looks like. Bye.👋