Jesus

P 2879 Avoidance is not enough …

/ DVH

... action is required! “So now we draw near freely and boldly to where grace is enthroned, to receive mercy’s kiss and discover the grace we urgently need to strengthen us in our time of weakness.”Hebrews 4:16 TPT

“And God has made all things new, and reconciled us to Himself, and given us the ministry of reconciling others to God.” 2 Corinthians 5:18 TPT

There is nothing like the bible for good advice. It is the best instruction manual ever, particularly if we refuse to explain away what it says. When we think we can’t do this or that, we need to draw near to Him, and let His mercy kiss us, all over again. Mercy received will change anyone’s mind.

We must always remember Jesus Christ died to give us the power to say ‘yes,’ to His will, His Way. Nothing can take that choice away from us. We have the precious Holy Spirit, Who is with us, in us, and He walks WITH us to guide us. Our faith cannot be in our ability — if we have a brain in our head, we already know we have limited ability! Our faith is in what Christ did. We stand firmly on the Rock Who is Christ Jesus. Because He rose from the dead- we can rise up from our beds of apathy, excuses and indifference into action.

We can spend our whole lives as Christians, avoiding sin, and … that’s not a bad thing, but…!  Yes, we can go through this life avoiding gossip, hatred, etc. etc .but at the same time, we actually have a job to do. The way to conquer those things that can so easily drag us down and under, is to aim at what Christ aimed at. “Loving God with all our heart, soul and mind, and our neighbours as ourselves.”  My advice is that we should be so busy doing stuff for His kingdom, that we don’t even sit down to think about the negatives. 

We know we fall over and fail! It’s because we are human, that we will fail, BUT! … …We have a Saviour Who is more faithful than any of us can ever imagine! We have been empowered by what He did, to choose differently. Just because living for His sake looks impossible, that does not mean we can quit and simply use avoidance to get through all the pitfalls of this life. What Christ did for us demands a positive response! And not just an Amen either.

Let’s just pause, and imagine this with me: one day you and I will stand in the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ’s Presence. Hallelujah! What a day that will be!! 🙌 When He asks us what we did with this new life He gave us, do we really want to say:“I know You died for me. So I avoided that sin, and this and that pitfall, and I didn’t join in with the evil things other men do.”  It’s not a bad testimony… However, daring to take action for the sake of Christ’s Name, is another thing altogether. Dare to believe He really is so powerful that He can empower YOU … 

So, what are we doing with the faith He died to give us? Christ’s faith released incredible forgiveness into this planet. It was so extraordinary, so above and beyond anything that would ever be needed by any one soul at any one time.  And we are here because Jesus has given us the benefits of all that forgiveness and faith! He stood in silence as wicked, jealous, fearful men accused Him of things He did not do. Then they punished Him mercilessly. His last action on this earth was to forgive US all, and He released His Spirit back to His Father. Now, the Spirit of the living God is here, He came here at Pentecost, He wants to walk with YOU and I.

In Ecclesiastes 3:7b it clearly says there is:”… a time to be silent and a time to speak …”  Brothers and sisters, I put it to you that we are living in the time to speak … There may be times when we will say nothing in the face of false accusations, like Jesus did. But where are our faith works? (James talked about them.) Where is “… the reward of His suffering?” Our lives need to be laid down willingly, through our participation in Christ’s mission. Lives laid down in faith, like His life was for us. Don’t be fooled by the devil, your contribution matters.

We have not been given a free ticket to do whatever we like! Almighty God is NOT an indulgent Father Who wants to give us everything we think we need in this life, and then we will go on to inherit the next! Father God wants a family, that means every tribe, every tongue. Are we serving our Father in a worthy way that glorifies everything Christ suffered and died to give us? Have we tried and sometimes failed, only to try again — to make sure that His family includes every single member, and that ALL have had an opportunity to belong? If not – WHY NOT? ‘I’m scared’ just doesn’t cut it. Neither will – “that was someone else’s job.”

We’ve learnt on previous occasions that fear must not be a deterrent – fear is to be conquered through our faith-filled actions. Today I have included a quote that I loved, it’s from a Malaysian church: “FAITH IS NOT THE ABSENCE OF FEAR, BUT KNOWING WHO YOUR GOD IS!” And knowing Who He is, needs to be accessible to everyone … that’s why avoiding sin is not enough – action is required. Bye. 👋

“I refuse to be ashamed of the wonderful message of God’s liberating power unleashed in us through Christ! For I am thrilled to preach that everyone who believes is saved—the Jew first, and then people everywhere!” Romans 1:16 TPT

P 2878 Unconditionally forgive everyone.

/ DVH

““Your ancestors have also been taught ‘Love your neighbours and hate the one who hates you.’ However, I say to you, love your enemy, bless the one who curses you, do something wonderful for the one who hates you, and respond to the very ones who persecute you by praying for them.”Matthew 5:43-44 TPT. Many people don’t like this scripture because it hits something inside them that they don’t care to acknowledge. Personally, I think things like gossip have their roots in these attitudes. We try to bring people down by badmouthing them to others, especially if they threaten us or we can’t forget what they did! 

Hatred can be generational. It can be taught to us by the people we dearly love, who raised us. After that sort of family indoctrination, it can become quite easy for gossip, slander, lies, and hatred to be passed down from one generation to another. When generational things are cherished and repeated endlessly, eventually they break out against other people Jesus died for! Meanwhile, how sensible is it to hate some people ‘cos your folks, or your friends, or people we esteem hate them too? You know that voice that you can hear in your heart that keeps saying: “Wrong way, go back.” Listen to it.  We have the power of God in us — we can usher in generational change by our choices.

Any unloving focus can drag us away from our main objective – loving others. Gossip and judgment build themselves, through repetition about what some perceived enemy did or said.  And when the bad incident that started with anger, or judgment happens to our people, our house, our group of friends – then it becomes personal!  That personal experience adds weight to everything else that has gone before it. It’s a distraction from our main purpose – let’s not allow ourselves to be distracted away from our purpose.. 

Between all the hating, cursing, lies and the repetition of the terrible stories — hatred is now flourishing in this world. Now this ghastly attitude is set firmly inside a demonic stronghold. I think the press/media etc. lies to us regularly in order to provide sensational stories to get our money and attention. Advertisers love that idea! The press blows up information and twists things to make what we read, see, or listen to, sensational. 

Meanwhile, our thirst to be in the know, and our efforts to find out about something that garners a lot of attention, have created a monster. We have made ‘knowing things;’  or ‘having the skinny on this or that,’  into some kind of a competition, and in the process we have devalued the people Jesus died for. Those people who are supposedly informing us – prefer making money, or gaining information — to caring about their fellow man. Real lives are affected and sometimes destroyed, by falsely reported things. 

This happens when the story becomes more important than the participants. Things like that help to create hard, and sometimes deceitful hearts. Meanwhile the media is about money and making some people rich. It seems to me, that the press take their little texta pens, and colour-in what really happened, by bringing up the bad shades and diminishing the good ones, so that we will read/watch/listen to their version of what is actually going on. We can easily get sucked into this filthy whirlpool and end up angry with somebody we’ve never met!

I believe this practice is a device of satan, because he loves to capitalise on greed, plus our own perceived desire to know stuff. Gossip etc. has become a new form of addiction. But the truth is, we don’t actually need to know! We can pray for the people involved in terrible things, but we often can’t do anything about whatever is going on. All we can do is to STOP and deliberately let His light in through prayer. Unfortunately our idea of light, and the Lord’s idea of light can be very different things. How do I know that …? Because our light can often be hidden under a basket – that’s how! Hidden light is not useful. Darkness still remains in the corners. We dare not bring our own agendas into our prayers. 

Even some churches have been deceived, they have become more concerned about being politically correct than loving others. Our priority is always LOVE. There are times that we too borrow the press’s textas and do some colouring-in of our own – villainising people! We are here to shine His light into the dark places – not to spread the darkness around. To me, that means I need to be like Him no matter what is going on around me. A light illuminates, it doesn’t have an opinion, it simply shines by its nature. 

So what can we do about these things? Well, I think investing emotionally in something we have no control over, is the enemy’s way of wasting our time. We may even feel better initially, more in control of things, but unless we pray for both sides of whatever is going on, we are missing the point. We don’t get to judge who are the good guys and who are the bad guys. My advice is – don’t believe everything you hear, and remember to unconditionally forgive everyone. Let’s not get so tied to the things of this earth, that we can’t hear when heaven comes calling. Bye. 👋

P 2877 Suffering is a door.

/ DVH

The bible tells us that the Apostle Paul had something or other wrong with him, health-wise. Meanwhile there has been much debate about what it was … I mean … who cares… really??  Any-way, the man asked God three times to take it away. My point is this: Paul asked God to take it away! Three times!! There’s nothing wrong with wanting to change your circumstances when hard times have overtaken you. Paul did that!.

Be comforted, there is no judgment from me, if you want to put up your hand and say; “Enough please. Point me toward Your exit, Lord.” I pray that myself.  Amazingly, in those times, I feel like I can’t take any more – but … meh! I’m still here talking about it! That ought to tell me something!

Back to the Lord, God told Paul this in 2 Corinthians 12:9 and it provides us with a clue as to where He is coming from: “But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” We need to understand, from our heart, that weakness is not a fault, it is an asset in God’s kingdom! Boy, if most of us managed to absorb that info it would help us daily, mightily. 

It’s OK to not cope and feel weak and overwhelmed! Because when we are weak we are in a prime position to experience the power of God in, and on our lives. Of course we will need God’s opinion about how He wants you or I to respond to our own personal current awful circumstances — but at the same time, just remember … … the Apostle Paul wrote nearly half of the New Testament, so he wasn’t a small character on this stage. Paul was one of the people that God specifically chose, to write about what he was learning and experiencing first-hand as he followed Jesus. 

You know, speaking for myself it is way easier to write down an acceptable faith answer, than it is to live it out! But it seems to me that Almighty God wanted Paul to understand personally the depth of Grace that He has released toward each one of us, and so He allowed many things in Paul’s life that human beings aren’t keen on. And God said ‘No!’ to Paul’s escape prayer. NO is an answer! By the way, ‘no’ means we can’t say that God didn’t answer us, we are now stuck, simply because we didn’t particularly like that answer! 

We need to pray that we will continually grow in our understanding of what Christ’s sacrifice did for us. He did it so we can be called Sons and Daughters of God. To me that means that sacrifice is a part of our new life in Christ. The bible says: We are now capable of MORE, and that’s why Christ died – to give us more! He died to give us access to His kingdom, right here, right now, so we can live this life like He did.

I can see the enemy’s subtle hand in a lot of Christian articles produced today. They have been written by Christians in all kinds of genuine pain and distress, who need answers to their suffering. Actually, my personal experience is that the more I walk with Him, the less I will care about what you are doing… I have my hands full already with the dumb stuff I do! These articles have called some sorts of behaviour this specified thing, and other kinds of behaviour something else. They excuse the judgment that flows from such things,, as “protecting ourselves.”Understanding, or analysing other people’s behaviour, doesn’t remove pain, it can actually increase judgment. 

Gird up your girdle, Gertie, I’m about to take down some myths that have no references in the bible. My bible says: “My God is my protection and with Him I am safe.” Psalm 18:1-2. My point is this, IF He is my Protector in some circumstances and not in others … because apparently in those circumstances I can protect myself from the bad people … How will I know where His protection ends and my self-effort begins? Meanwhile please notice the word ‘effort’ – grace doesn’t flow through efforts, it flows through unconditional love. 

Maybe our first and only question needs to be: “How can I continue to live in love while this is going on please Lord?” Christianity is not meant to be a part-time, hokey pokey way of life. We are either IN and walking forward, or OUT, sliding backward. Living any other way slowly removes His power to change out of our lives. It pushes transformation to one side. Then some of us go round and round achieving nothing and going nowhere. Please note: I speak from experience!

The power of God to overcome the trials of this world is free to people of faith, BUT, that does not mean we can turn it on and turn it off. Instead we now have a new focus, we choose to serve others at the pleasure of our King. Christians need to remember that if the Holy Spirit doesn’t like what we are doing then He will vote with His feet. He.Will.Leave! There is no room for compromise in the bible. You either do what He says or you don’t. It is a very exacting book.

Paul’s response to his suffering is a wonderful key for us, when suffering impacts our own lives, it’s a door. He found something to focus on that increased and stretched his faith. This man understood that being powerless in the face of adversity is not the end of things … it can even be the beginning of a new way to think. Bye. 🤔

P 2876 Why do we suffer?

/ DVH

“These (sufferings) have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.”1 Peter 1:7. Suffering, first of all, exposes and helps purify our faith. It reveals to us where we are. There is nothing like multiple events of hardship and sorrow to uncover what’s actually going on inside. Now we can see in God’s Ways, suffering can usher in revelation about our own inner attitudes. Our faith is incredibly precious to God, it glorifies Jesus.

He’s the One Who ‘gave us beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning and the garment of praise (hallelujah!) for the spirit of heaviness…’ It gets easier to begin to stretch our faith as we start to glimpse how Jesus takes our hardships, failures and lack of belief, and makes something so marvellous it goes right around our brain.  Even though we don’t always get answers, or even solutions … I think we will always need eyes to see Him at work.

The more we choose to walk with Him, His Way, the more our own stinky attitudes begin to fade into the background and we will become filled with delight and we begin to understand Who He is and what He has actually done!  I just love watching Jesus work in my life. As we choose to live God’s way, it transforms our view of anything that will distract us from walking with Him. We become willing participants in this new life and we gladly leave behind the stuff that drags us about in the wrong directions. The problem is, most of us have never fully comprehended what we have been GIVEN.  

These are the things that need to become part of our conscious reality, because that’s when we will understand that He has actually saved us from ourselves. That’s when our wonder in Who He is grows. Even in the face of sometimes insurmountable odds. And yes, I am still talking about suffering! That ghastly stuff that happens to every one of us all the time! This is why we need to learn to choose Him and His Ways, we get to see what real love, God’s love in action does in our own lives.. 

Jesus is transforming ugly things about me into beauty, in such an incredible, unexpected way – I’m always gobsmacked, over and over again. This is what living a life of faith produces in us. AWE!! God doesn’t renovate us – HE RECREATES us in His own image, using our choices, our obedience to His word and our hard-fought love toward each other. He is so patient, gentle and kind about teaching us. When we fail, He lifts us up. We can see this world differently because we know Him! I think suffering has a redemptive quality to it. 

Here’s an example from my life to illustrate my point. When I was a child, I used to get severe migraines. My teacher sent for a parental figure and told them I couldn’t see properly even though I was in the front row at school. The person in charge of me did not know that a child of my age could be so short-sighted, and in the end they took me to an optometrist and the optometrist prescribed glasses. 

The day I walked out of that man’s offices, it was like I had landed in a brand new world. My entire point of view of what I was looking at was changed. Grass had individual pieces, trees had leaves! I was overcome with joy. In the same way – a living trusting faith in Who Christ is and What He is doing in my life is just like that. Over and over again I notice that I can only see in part of the picture … but when He opens my eyes … boy, can I see so much more. I have seen and experienced, personally, how HIS Love always finds a way, as we let Him lead us.

His kingdom is meant to flourish in our hearts. Eventually we realise that we need to stop relying upon ourselves and start jumping into the river of His Grace. We must learn to let Him be God, even in our sufferings. In the past I felt angry with that other person who was caring for me, because I had had years of suffering, but you can’t solve a situation like that with anger, or even by making excuses for someone else’s behaviour. You solve those things with choice. He chose to love me and I choose to love others. I do it to honour the choice He has already made. I don’t have to go it alone either, He helps me.

Because of these choices, you and I become spectators, observers of whatever He does. And the more we notice what He is doing, the more we will see!  I’m not perfected, so I can still react badly, and He has to gently remind me. I have another way to respond now. He has already empowered all of us to put aside the bad, so we can see the good. He did it on that cross!  Only Jesus Himself can and HAS already perfected the saints.“A person may have many ideas concerning God’s plan for his life, but only the designs of God’s purpose will succeed in the end.” Proverbs 19:21 TPT. God wants to BE OUR LIFE … not just facilitate it. Let Him into whatever is happening to you, right now.

Bad attitudes and responses hide themselves in sneaky ways, and a lack of love toward others can successfully hide under a plastic smile. Suffering takes away our pretences. However His love can enrich us in so many ways – especially when we are stuck in hardship. Christ is deeply acquainted with mankind’s sorrow and suffering. He understands persecution, false accusation, physical punishment, mental anguish etc., and He lived a life where nobody else understood Him. He did that with the Holy Spirit’s help and Grace.

To know God and His Ways means we will also suffer, and many times it will be unfair and almost unbearable. Why do we suffer? I think it shows us our fallibility clearly, and it introduces us to real compassion and genuine love. Bye. 👋

P 2875 Take the time to clarify things.

/ DVH

Asking for clarification is one of the best ways I know to give us greater understanding of His ways. It helps us thwart satan’s campaign of mis-information against us. The bible itself builds clarification, layer upon layer. It peels back the half-truths we tell ourselves, as well as the ones we have heard all our lives, and it changes our minds and our expectations of what God will do. When we absorb His word, by doing what the bible says, then we can see through those lies when they occur. 

Reading the bible and acting on it, means we will need to clarify what’s there. We take what it says and walk on it, living it out. That transformation can come through any verse between Genesis and Revelation, because one portion of this book explains another. Yet because God is WISE … and we are … like … NOT!! … … Christians rarely see or completely comprehend what He is saying to US. We end up relying upon other people. Leaders, prophetic people or famous people who tell us what it is ‘safe’ to think. Big mistake, huge. Leaders lead. But as followers it is our birthright and responsibility to understand our own spiritual life and fight for it. We need to chase down every thought, everything that stands out to us while we are reading — never be too busy to learn.

There are times when I am praying over what I should say in the blog and the Holy Spirit interrupts my thinking and He says – “Didn’t I say it like this in Genesis?” Suddenly, I am plunged into a whole new way of thinking. In my mind I would never have put that one scripture with another. But relying upon Him is like a giant jigsaw – the pieces suddenly drop into the right place and I can see a tiny portion of His overall picture that I never saw before. Without His revelation it would just be another verse – but when HE kisses it, well, I gotta say, I’m a bit addicted to those moments! If you want to clarify something, you need to press in and go after it. 

I cannot stress how important it is to ask the Holy Spirit questions. HE DOESN’T MIND. He’s not thrilled if we just make assumptions or blaze away without Him – but He never minds helping us to understand Kingdom Ways. Remember, Jonah? He was petulant, disobedient and very grumpy – God Himself came and sat down with him, in his carefully cultivated grumpiness – and then the Lord explained His purposes and His sovereignty to this man. He even gave him a visual aid! Read the book. God loves to explain His ways.The book of Jonah is a terrific example of God and His purposes – it is not just a story about a man being swallowed by a whale! When Jesus Himself said:”Consider the lilies…” He wasn’t talking about gardening you know!

The very best thing about the Holy Spirit’s guidance is that He is always ON, and He is always UP and awake, no matter what time it is. Our own biggest danger, at the same time, is to fall back on, or settle for answers that seem right to us. That road leads into a ditch. “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.”Proverbs 14:12. I’ve personally fallen into that aforementioned ditch many many times!! Praise God, Jesus is the good Shepherd that fishes His dumb sheep out of ditches! Amen.

At the same time, we need to be prayerfully aware and careful to avoid participating in works. It is called works when we feel we have to do it ourselves … it’s when we think we must push and shove and prod things to make them happen. Stepping out of Grace, even for a supposedly good reason, is a fatal flaw. Spiritually speaking that looks a bit like the old hokey pokey dance, one foot in God’s leading, the other in trying desperately to make it work. Living like that jerks and bumps us about all over the place. You cannot learn to stand like Ephesians says, if you are bumping about all over the place.

Our obedience to what He has said in the book, means we step into a continuous flow, because it is HIS GRACE holding us up. If we run out of Grace, and have to start pushing ourselves to do things – STOP!  Ask Him to help you get out of the hole you landed in, and claim His Grace over your life and thoughts …and, ps, don’t forget to repent. We can’t afford to run on what we think, the difference between what we think, and what He thinks – is the difference between looking at the stars — and knowing He has counted every single one and put them there in the first place!

Let’s look at this well-worn verse. We can, and we should …”ask and keep on asking” … we can … “seek and we will find’… we can “knock and keep on knocking” … be-ca-use …!!! Everyone who asks receives, and everyone who seeks will find, and if we knock that door will open. Unfortunately many Christians have relegated that whole precious scripture to asking for material things. Ask for spiritual graces instead. Meanwhile, you can also ask for a loaf of bread if you need one! We need to keep pressing in to get clarification, EG: “What does that verse mean to me, Lord, please?” What prayers do I need to keep persevering over, in my life?

We must remember that  Almighty God’s aim is to glorify Jesus, not give us a cushy care-free life. You know, if we ever even begin to personally comprehend and act on what Father God has said in the book, the Body of Christ will become unstoppable. So ask to the Holy Spirit to help you understand HOW what you are reading applies to you. Clarification from His heart to ours is essential, it builds our faith.  Bye 👋

“Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they think they have will be taken from them.”Luke 8:18.

P 2874 Our attitudes help define our understanding …

/ DVH

Luke 8:15 “But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.”Jesus is teaching the people who choose to follow Him around, about God’s kingdom, and how it works. First, He uses a story about a sower, and then He explains that further. However, His meaning is only clear to those passionate souls who want to truly hear about God. We, have been incredibly blessed – we get to hear both versions!

After the sower parable the bigger crowds dispersed, then the Lord took the time to expound that story to His disciples. He treated these people differently than the crowds who followed Him around, because they were the people who were going to take His place! He wanted to teach His disciples, His dedicated followers, the ways of the kingdom. He was incredibly wise and He knew that those people in the facebook crowd can have hard hearts and little application! 😶

So after the crowds had left, Jesus expounded His allegory and made it clear and applicable for their lives. The Lord wanted His disciples to see, through His loving insight, that the gospel can fall upon deaf ears, or busy ears, or hardened hearts, as well as being subject to other unforeseen things which can literally pick up our knowledge of God and carry it off! Plus the real eternal life which is in what He tells us personally, can be choked out by our own fear, doubt, carelessness and disobedience.

He is showing us the way to ensure and increase our participation in the things of God. To do that, we need to learn to take note of the dangers, and make sure we are not involved in the sort of stuff that will drag us under. Our default settings are not getting the job done – we get distracted and the birds of the air, the cares of this world, are picking off our potential. Jesus has taught us that today, right here, right now, we need to pay attention and participate in the Ways of God.

To do that we are going to need dedicated obedience and prayerful watchfulness established in our lives in order to be able produce a good crop. He explained that we have a great need for hearts that will not swing about all over the place. Add to that, the ability to listen carefully to whatever He tells us, and esteem what we’ve heard, and ACT on it. Without HIM we are nothing. We can come up with great schemes, but only God can bring us through tough times.

I strongly believe it is essential to retain the word by making it a part of ourselves, so that we are transformed by ingesting it and becoming it. Did you know if you eat too many carrots for days you can turn ORANGE? That ingestion leads to an outward change everyone can see. As we live out what the bible says, it becomes part of the way we think, and act – it stops being a theory, or even a great admirable teaching, and becomes our way of life. Who we are.

The circumstances of us living this life – on again, off again, in and then out – can conspire against us and leave us fruitless when we finally stand in front of the Master Gardener. He has given us two options in this parable. Believe it or not both are useful. The first story shows us that life can and will conspire against us, plus circumstances can occur that can harden our hearts.

The second story shows us how incredibly important it is to walk daily with Him. The people who wander off from following Jesus do not plan to wander off. The cares of this world overwhelm their devotion to Him. And His teaching becomes story-like – interesting, instead of LIFE-GIVING. That’s when we are less likely to hear what He wants to say to us, right here, right now!

And obviously this parable shows us the need to choose the right way, if we want to be fruitful. That often comes at a very inconvenient time!  We must never forget we live in enemy territory and that means we are subject to other people’s agendas, and life’s circumstances – they can steal away the reality of what Christ has said. Only by progressively allowing ourselves to be changed, will we stay available to His heartbeat. 

Christ has already provided the answer to these difficulties that haunt us every single day. His death on the cross is the single ingredient that makes our ongoing spirituality available and viable. We dare not factor Him out – otherwise we will become groupies instead of disciples. Groupies follow someone for the fun, for the excitement and notoriety.  Disciples lay down their lives. Our attitudes define what we understand, we must choose to press in and press on. Bless you 👋

P 2873 “If you understand this, you need to respond.”

/ DVH

“Speaking to the people, Jesus continued, “Be alert and guard your heart from greed and from always wishing for what you don’t have. For your life can never be measured by the amount of things you possess.” Luke 12:15 TPT. When Jesus tells us to guard our heart He is not just talking to the people who are in front of Him. He’s also talking to us, right here, right now, and we really do need to pay attention. We need to avoid the consumerism trap all around us. 

Money, wealth, excess etc. are funny things – people react to them. You can tell a Christian they shouldn’t sleep with their neighbour’s wife and they are like: “Oh OK, God doesn’t like that. Cool, I will watch out not to put myself into compromising situations.” Nobody is insulted, nobody takes offence and if they have wrong thoughts toward their neighbour they repent. But the minute you mention money …!! 

Meanwhile, it doesn’t seem to matter if the pastor and his family are starving – it boils down to this – we don’t want to be told what to do with OUR money, because we’ve earned it. Christians start leaving churches all over the place when somebody mentions money because they get offended. I’m left wondering if they’ve actually read His book at all. No wonder the prosperity doctrine has its roots dug in so deeply into some churches. 

This verse above in Luke is clear. Instead of guarding our hearts against somebody taking our money, or somebody talking to us about giving, or even if they are saying that we should not prefer money over everything else … Jesus is telling us we need to guard our hearts from greed and coveting — money is a tool, not a god. Ask Him, “Lord do I do this?’

Here’s an interesting example: do you remember what happened to Gideon? We all know how he fought the Midianites and God miraculously delivered him. We also know that Gideon had lots of faith because he sent all those potential soldiers home when God told him to. I mean, that guy obviously had FAITH …But in the end, Gideon was actually seduced away from God by … wait for it …GOLD! 

He made an ephod out of the stuff, and then he and the Israelites turned that ephod into an idol. Eventually Gideon led God’s people back into idolatry. It isn’t money, things, or power – or the lack of them that is the problem – it’s whether this stuff owns US. Actually, poor people can have exactly the same problem. There are times when poor people are afraid to give because they may not have enough left if they do. Then it’s time to remember the widow’s mite. 

We’ve all forgotten how to trust God to take care of us! The Israelites did that in the wilderness.  Unfortunately it seems that today’s Christians want to love Jesus and stay safe. Those two things are incompatible!  Just imagine the risk Father God took sending His pure spotless Son to earth, to save all of US. Our God has promised us that He will be with us in trouble, and He will protect us because He loves us. We need to live, believe and act on what He’s said in His book.

He needs brave men and women who will throw off this society’s ideas and dreams of fame, notoriety and fortune, and live like a people who have much bigger dreams about His kingdom coming into their lives, and the lives of others. People who will esteem what HE says above everything else. People who will run into this crumbling world with His love and help for the lost. How long can we sit in our comfort zones and ignore those who will at any minute tip over the edge of this life into eternity?

You know, Jesus also said this, and I don’t believe He was talking about money, or taxes for that matter, at all! I think He was talking about the way we are to live.  “They said unto Him, Caesar’s. Then said He unto them, Give therefore to Caesar, the things which are Caesar’s, and give unto God, those things which are God’s.”  Matthew 22:21. You and I, you, me! WE belong to God now, so we no longer live for ourselves that’s the deal. His life for ours. So now we go wherever He says to go, and we live however He tells us to live. Jesus Himself said:“if you understand this, you need to RESPOND.” Mark 4:9. Bye 👋

P 2872 Let go of bad stuff, quickly.

/ DVH

Our relationship with the Lord God Almighty, gives us greatly needed assurance. “So now, beloved ones, stand firm, stable, and enduring. Live your lives with an unshakable confidence. We know that we prosper and excel in every season by serving the Lord, because we are assured that our union with the Lord makes our labor productive with fruit that endures.” 1 Corinthians 15:58 TPT. What a mighty, loving God we serve! He has already made provision for us to be stable, and to stand firmly upon what Jesus has already done! I love that “unshakeable confidence” bit in these verses.  

You know sometimes it is good to just pause and think about a particular phrase in the bible, and think about what it  means to you. When I think about these verses they remind me of some poor sod on a ladder, and down the bottom someone else is shaking the daylights out of the ladder to dislodge the person at the top who is helpless to stop them because they are at the top! Life is sometimes like that. Things happen that shake us so badly we aren’t sure where UP and DOWN are anymore!

But at other times, nasty distractions come along that gnaw at our faith like squirrels chewing on electric wiring. The difference between those two circumstances is that in a severe trial we cry out to the Lord for help almost immediately, but the giggly things that nag and gnaw at us, can be easily overlooked … they pile up around us like snow drifts. Yet surprisingly those little things can do a great deal more damage to our faith.

Years ago, when we were overseas, we heard stories about how cute little fluffy-tailed squirrels are a right-rotten pest, because they love to gnaw on things. Apparently they particularly enjoy chewing on electrical cables — you’d think the little blighters would get electrocuted!  Maybe they do. Dumb critters. You know when I was thinking about those pesky squirrels, the thought occurred to me that there is also a parallel for all of us there, because there are times that our lives feel like they are being chewed on by circumstances. 

This kind of stuff is probably not one BIG thing, but a whole lot of little things that are besieging us. Night and day, without any mercy, threatening to cut off our air supply! One thing seems to rapidly follow another, and you begin to feel like that tormented ladder guy I mentioned above. You are holding on for dear life, afraid of what will happen if you let go. Big things, small things, terrifying things or things that simply annoy the life out of you – I believe every single one of those things have the same solution.  LET GO AND FALL DOWN. Just plan to fall at His feet! … But … let go!

Trying harder to manage uses up whatever energy you have when this life is battering you. And mentally stressed people often make truly terrible decisions based upon how they feel. God says what I just said like this in Psalm 46:1-5 “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall;  God will help her at break of day.” Because we know He will always catch us, our faith needs to give us confidence to let go and let Him be God.

In verse 10 of that Psalm, it says,“Be still, and know that I am God;…” That’s great advice, I would advise anyone – including ME – to hold onto it. Even if that dreadful storm of events is not breaking when you need it to, just keep telling yourself that … “He’s got this.”  That’s how faith grows. Meanwhile, resisting things will hurt even more. It is better to lie back and float on His Word and keep reminding yourself that He loves you, than to flail about against the circumstances, increasing your blood pressure and losing your peace. Don’t give in to the enemy’s threats of worse  – trust in the One Who will always love you!

This BTW IS THE REAL REST. It’s that stuff Paul talks about in Hebrews 4. The stuff that the Lord says we must learn to enter into. When we enter into it, we become spectators of what He is doing and we just sit back and watch. Let go of bad stuff quickly, resist the enemy and deliberately choose to trust the Lord to get you through whatever it is -and don’t give in to a pity party or entertain fear … those things are from our enemy. Bye 👋

P 2870 Stay available.

/ DVH

Luke 4:25-27 “I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land.Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”

Can you see from these few verses that the Lord actually sent His servant Elijah to wherever the prophet would be listened to and obeyed? It is easy to see that God’s heart is always toward provision and healing, that means we must not limit Him. We can spend a lot of our time, deciding who is in and who is out, when we should be using our time to bring ourselves to Him – so He can fill us for whatever He chooses to do. He did the above things for people outside of the Israelites. Once for a widow, and another time for an important man. 

And if you read these stories carefully, you will see that the Lord was extremely patient with that important man for his own good. He’s patient with us too, He has things for each of us to do.. He waits for us to say yes, and put aside our opinions, our man-taught divisions, and go after HIS. The Old Testament clearly shows us how Father God dealt with mankind, personally, directly, for man’s own good. Stories like these in Luke teach us His ways and how important it is for His people to say available.

These verses explain how His very own people can be so pre-occupied with their own lives that they are not available for His loving kindness to touch them! Sound familiar? That also kind of whacks the concept  ’round the ear-hole that our church is the only church God cares about! We can easily think of His love as intentional, ongoing and indulgent toward US, but … barely tolerant towards some other denomination, or the-people-who-don’t-know-Him-yet. That’s not true – read the book!

We can get so busy proving or disproving our pet theories and theological points of view that we will utterly miss Who He really is and misrepresent Him with hate instead of love. God sends His rain on the just and the unjust – and that rain is a symbol of promise, growth and fertility. Here’s a thought – instead of waiting for it to rain at your church, why not find out where it IS actually spiritually raining – right now – and join in!

“Oh, but those people over there believe in speaking in tongues and we don’t … blah blah blah …” It gets kind of easy to see why Elijah ended up in Sidon and Syria eh!? With that attitude we might not even be able to see what the Lord is doing right next door to us!!  Let’s remember, Jesus Himself interacted with people who were not the ‘chosen people.’ This life is not a contest or a competition between us and our theological ideas and ideals. It’s actually all about HIM! Who He is, and how greatly He loves human beings.

I’ve counted at least 5 times when Jesus interacted with Gentiles. Faith is bigger than our borders and boundaries. The thing about listening and reading what it actually says is that His Word will broaden our outlook on Who He is and what He will do … and for whom. We need to stop cherry-picking verses and stories that suit our church’s personal agendas and GO BACK TO BEING NEEDY. Neediness attracts the Holy Spirit like a bee to a flower meadow.

The thing we cannot ever hide from Him is our hearts. He knows what readiness to change and preparedness to be transformed looks like – because He’s met lip-service before. Here’s a last verse to chew on and it’s a tough old piece of steak, so chew away! It’s from Jeremiah 17:9: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”Only God does.

And I put it to you, that we do not know what is in our own hearts, and so we need Him to reveal that to us. We must stay alert and available to His Word, and His daily  guidance, because that is the only way we will see what is really going on inside us. Instead of looking and searching about to find out what ministry I have, I need to ask Him: ”Is there anything inside me that might hinder what You want to do in me, and through me? I need to be ready and available for whatever You want me to do next!” Bye for today! 👋

P 2869 Dealing with ourselves.

/ DVH

Luke 6:41,42: “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”Now that’s what I call ‘plain speaking!’

Here’s a good suggestion that may be helpful. The next time you can see a glaring fault in someone else’s attitudes and actions, ask the Lord to show you WHY you can see it. That kind of ‘sight’ is not discernment it is judgment.  It is a mistake to see verses like these as something that may be true … but “I don’t think I do that.” In your dreams!

This verse clearly says if you can see it in someone else then you’ve got it yourself. It’s the old ‘familiarity breeding contempt’ idea. That means we actually recognise that fault because we are personally well-acquainted with it! An attitude like that is contagious – it’s like paspalum in your lawn – it takes over everything! Even your thinking and responses. 

You know it doesn’t say that you can’t gently help someone else along if they are caught in an eddy of indecision, or they’ve stepped off His pathway one way or another. But sometimes we can be so busy minding someone else’s business we fail to see the blooming great train of our own dumb actions thundering toward us! I’ve found asking ‘why can I see that?’ … is incredibly useful. I learn about me, and the Lord loves me through the bits I may have carefully cultivated for my own protection. 

We need to learn that our mistakes are not fatal, otherwise that negative connotation will distract us away from our main purpose, and occupy all our thoughts. Those things will pull us away from the very real kingdom assignments God sends our way. Humbly and quickly, repent and repair any damage you may have done to someone else, and see those mistakes as opportunities to understand and know more about the Lord and His ways. And don’t forget to check out your own dirty linen at the same time.

Remember, if we can see it – we have done it too!! BUT, focussing on any sin defeats our primary purpose – we are here to walk with the Holy Spirit the Way Jesus walked with Him. Because of what Jesus did for us, we can own what we’ve done, deal with our sin and get it out of our way so it doesn’t trip us up!

This scripture from Luke 6 is piercing. Judgment is such a sticky substance. Falling or walking in to it is like stepping into a pot of treacle – getting out becomes extremely difficult.  At the same time our enemy stands at our elbow handing us reasons why we have a right to be there. You know, sometimes I think that the other guy doesn’t have to do a great deal, he just stirs up the stuff in us that has been cultivated over the years, and then he walks off. he knows full well how easily we can be seduced “by the dark side …” 

The wonderful thing about the Holy Spirit is that satan’s ways are immaterial to Him. The Holy Spirit is incredibly busy revealing Father God’s word, and His ways, so most of the time … I hear Him say stuff like: “Watch out, those thoughts will trip you up!” He really IS the very best kind of Friend we will ever have. He watches our backs for us.

It’s great when we tell our friends at church about the wonderful things God has done for us —but I have personally noticed that we rarely hear testimonies about how the Lord helped us to overcome this or that, when we felt trapped by the enemy. Those things are our very real testimonies that have God’s power upon them to set other people free. Living this life differently to everyone else around us, is an incredible thing. And the Holy Spirit loves to be around humble, open, honest people … His very Presence opens up doors when we talk to others. 

Jesus is not telling us to ignore wrong attitudes in those around to us, instead He is warning us that there is a trap in dabbling in judgment. We will personally miss an opportunity to change – we do not have to get caught up in stuff that pulls us away from Him! But, when we deal with ourselves, we are in a better, kinder, position to help someone else. Bye 👋