KIngdom

P 2216 We need His unforced rhythms of GRACE.

/ DVH

Matthew 11:28-30 says: “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to Me. Get away with Me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with Me and work with Me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with Me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

The place to begin to learn those unforced rhythms is to teach yourself to focus on Him. You know, Jesus didn’t start a bible college, the Pharisees etc. might have killed Him a lot sooner if He’d done that!! Instead He called men and women to walk with Him – all day, every day. Not just a quick – “Hi Lord” in the morning and “Bye Lord,” before they crashed out at night … like we are all tempted to do. 

Here’s my advice, periodically, during your busy day, just stop for a second and on the inside remind yourself that Jesus is your Lord. Tell Him: “Lord Jesus, I’m just turning my focus to You. You are the centre of my affection.” Doing that shifts our focus. It’s called ‘setting your affections on Him.’ And it is mentioned in Colossians 3:2: “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.”

Christ Himself said: “I only do what I see my Father doing. I only say what I hear my Father saying …” His mind was set on the things above. Jesus needs to become our life because Grace’s rhythms don’t come easily when He is an add-on.. “In Him we live and move and have our being …” Acts 17:28. We start with Him, and everything else we do comes out from that relationship.

There is a flow of Grace – Grace in, and Grace out toward others. I just ask for more Grace whenever I think of it, whether I need it or not at that moment. Something is bound to happen that will irritate me! We are the only ones who can interrupt this flow. I call this process the power of choice. Choose to focus and ask for His help. It can take an effort to get free of our human ideas of ‘what is meant to be our priority.’ We aren’t just here for Him on Sundays! So we can’t just do what we think on Mondays.

The Psalms are also a wonderful road map to living like this. Try Psalm 91. Look for instructions. Meanwhile, I have found it is very useful to follow scripture like you would instructions from the doctor or the chemist. Pray, then ask for the Lord’s help, and go and do what it says on the label. In our situation … it’s in the book.

Next we need to pay immediate attention when we hurt others or they hurt us. There is nothing like being angry with someone else, or them being angry with you, to cause human beings to stumble and leave what God thinks, behind them. That kind of stuff is a whirlpool – it sucks you in! The Holy Spirit knows how to guide our steps through the pitfalls of human emotions and thoughts. He knows what the other person meant when they said that dumb thing that really got our goat! 

Many people think that worshipping the Lord, praying and reading His word is all that is necessary …BUT – walking with Him minute by minute actually revolutionises our lives. WHY? Because HE knows the way we should go – that’s why. “Our steps are ordered by Him.” Psalm 37:23,24. The disciples walked around with Christ, and now because of what Jesus did for us the Holy Spirit wants to walk around with us. If we let Him and make Him welcome. He will teach us, guide us, and help us to do what we are here to do – love people. And we all need His Grace to do that!

His Grace is like fresh air, it gives us a fresh perspective. We breathe it in when we mess up, and we breathe it out toward other people no matter what they did – or haven’t done. Our own will power is not enough. We need His Grace to die to self – the Grace that faced CALVARY. Grace needs to become the rhythm of our lives. I believe Grace is the Holy Spirit’s air in our spiritual lungs. 

Grace is so much more than just putting up with difficult people. Grace is love under pressure. And it refuses to give up on anyone or go into self-preservation. We cannot ignore this quality – it is the currency of His kingdom. 👋🏻 “Nothing is impossible WITH God.”

P 2205 A different way to regard ministry.

/ DVH

“So if you know of an opportunity to do the right thing today, yet you refrain from doing it, you’re guilty of sin.” James (Jacob) 4:17 TPT. Well that seems pretty clear to me, if I can see it, then it is my job to do something about it! However, it is not my job to force things to happen, or even make them come to a satisfactory conclusion. I must do what I see in front of me, however the Lord says to do it, even for someone else – and then the results are up to Him. 

After that I give everything back to the the Lord – including the results – and leave it there. “Come to me all of you who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Rest is not snoozing on the job, rest is trusting Him to finish what HE started and we go on to have faith that He will help us through the processes. BTW that’s where the miracles are! We are spectators of His Grace in action, in us and through us.

The problem, with noticing opportunities, as I see it, is some people like to ‘fix’ everything, and others regard themselves as being busy – and they hope somebody else – ‘with more time than me,’ will do something about any of the stuff that happens around us. However, there may not be anyone else looking. I hesitate to say that most people rarely see what is going on around them, at all. In my opinion, it is way better if we all end up bumping into one another doing good.

Because if no-one does anything, then that means that everyone is leaving whatever it is, to someone else! And poor old no-one is not helped – plus things will not change. James is also talking about taking the opportunity to do the right thing. At our house we want to live this way every day. That’s our aim, but we don’t always get there! However, we look for opportunities to do other people good –  plus we make sure we repent if we have a hissy-fit on someone else. We’ve discovered that this means that we regard another person’s well-being as important. 

The great news is, when you do what He wants simply because He asked you to do it – either personally, or from the book –  you are stepping into His will. And that’s the place we all need to be … in His will. People often freak out trying to find out what the Lord’s will is – here’s a not-so-secret secret… HIS WILL IS IN THE BOOK. So whenever we help the poor, or widow or orphans, we know we are in His will. Whenever we do good to somebody who despitefully uses us – we know we are in His will!  Whenever we walk the extra mile … we know we are in His will. Whenever we ask for forgiveness no matter who did what – we know we are in His will!

If we read the Beatitudes bearing this attitude in mind – they will blow your mind. Our attitudes need to be like Jesus’ attitudes were – nothing was an interruption to the Lord! Not the disciples talking away about nonsense, or the people who accosted Him in the street as He walked about. Please take note – Jesus was approachable so we need to be approachable. Some people can make others feel invisible and they didn’t say anything yet! When Jesus wanted to pray by Himself, He went somewhere … by Himself. He even gave up His own sleep so He could be with His Father. BUT, when He was awake, He was there for the people around Him.

I think the Lord lived that way because He wanted to reveal His Father’s heart to as many people as He could while He was with us. He saw everything He did, and said, as His ministry. Ministry is not just on Sundays – ministry is the way we all live. Our lives become a ministry just like His life did. Even unto death. We don’t need a label, or a title, to minister to other people. And Sunday is the day when we take the time to minister to the Lord. But on every other day we are looking for opportunities to love on other people … and sometimes on Sundays as well! It’s a LIFESTYLE.

Our problem comes when we try to fit the Lord’s instructions IN around our own already existing lives. But the bible says: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you…”  That’s the order, God’s kingdom first – then the other stuff follows along afterwards. Let’s say that another way … before we jump in to say something, or do something, or speak to someone, or go somewhere, seek His kingdom first! 

BTW I don’t mean pray about this stuff first thing in the morning, and then forget-about-it for the rest of the day! Living this way doesn’t have to be hard – we just ask Him into whatever it is we are doing. Remind Him that we want to do what He wants us to do as we go along. I ask Him to help me not to miss any opportunities to do others good. It isn’t what we are doing that counts, we could be cleaning the downstairs loo! 

But: “Whatever you do, do your work with all your heart, as if you are doing it for the Lord and not for people…” based on Colossians 3:23. It is our daily intention, our full-time ministry, to be in service to Him, for others. So that means that people can’t interrupt us, rather they are giving us an opportunity to show love.👋🏻

P 2198 Let’s talk about what faith isn’t.

/ DVH

Faith is not just praying about something and leaving it with the Lord … and doing nothing about it yourself. Faith is an arrow that turns into an action. True faith is doing what Peter did, he had to swing his own legs over the edge of that boat. Then he had to get his balance, stand up, and start walking. Jesus didn’t come to the boat and take the man’s hand and lead him out onto the water! Peter had to make those moves for himself. Faith isn’t a theory, or an unproved thought – it has fruit – you can see it. “Faith is the substance …“

So don’t just think or pray about seeking forgiveness from that person you don’t like, or the one you keep hurting … go and do it. Keep on doing it until YOU change. We can ask the Holy Spirit for mercy and grace and ask Him to prepare our way – but then deliberately – on purpose – GO! After that, keep asking for grace to see and interact with that person differently – don’t just avoid them. And if you mess up again, then ask for forgiveness again. Forgiveness has nothing to do with shame, it is an acknowledgement of my own sin. It is a positive move, despite our feelings, because we are getting something we’ve lost back. Peace! Faith has feet it is not motivated by shame.

We make the biggest mistake ever if we think that when we pray about something, that is all we have to do. It is useless to pray that the old lady down the road can manage her money well so she can eat! Pray, then go and do whatever the Holy Spirit tells you to do, like take her a box of groceries, regularly. God’s ways are practical. But there is always a step of faith to be taken – it’s hard because it is not our nature – yet. Faith leans on His understanding (the stuff in the book). Faith won’t stop.. . until it sees a change in me. Faith is not self-deception, it doesn’t have to hide because it freely admits its own faults.

We probably won’t feel like we’re doing anything at first. We may even feel stupid. However, walking and stepping out of the boat requires our participation and the Lord does not do that for us. Our faith steps activate God’s kingdom, because His kingdom thrives in an atmosphere of faith. Remember, if we don’t ‘like’ someone it may take time for the Lord to open our eyes to see them the way He sees them. Faith is not afraid to get things wrong, it thrives on the Saviour’s loving acceptance. So it does not avoid people just because something is awkward.

When we are angry with someone, the Bible is clear. We go to them. And if they are angry with us, we go to them. Either way there is an action required to step into what God wants us to do. We will not see the kingdom of God in operation while we pass all the responsibility for our transformation, over to Him and do nothing. Faith never thinks the kingdom of God is someone else’s responsibility. If I can see it then it is my job.

Gideon had a set of difficult tasks to complete before he saw an incredible miracle. God coached this man’s faith. His story makes us aware that faith often requires us to do the very thing we would rather not do – like going into the enemy’s camp to win! Our pride and theories have to go down, and Christ’s servant humility has to come up. It takes a humble person to disregard what they think, in favour of doing what the Lord says. Faith will not hesitate to do the hard thing because it lives to see Jesus glorified.

When the Lord comes back for us, He will be looking for faith – that means faith is something that can be seen. It is not airy-fairy – it has concrete actions. Prayer is just the beginning of activating our faith. It is a conversation with the Holy Spirit about the thing we probably don’t want to do! We simply ask for help to do things His way. Like Gideon we would rather round up thousands of troops – but God spent that time eliminating the human answer. Faith doesn’t hesitate to step up into the fight because it knows our side already won.

This is real life, bad things happen. Faith needs to be constantly stretched, otherwise it may not be big enough when we really need it. We need our faith working right now, today. Faith is about being obedient when we just plain don’t want to, and doing it simply because He said so. Faith is not telling the Lord what He should do for us, it is asking Him what He wants US to do for Him! 👋🏻

P 2194 What is God aiming at?

/ DVH

I Thessalonians 4: 23-24 “May God Himself, the God who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole, put you together—spirit, soul, and body—and keep you fit for the coming of our Master, Jesus Christ. The One Who called you is completely dependable. If He said it, He’ll do it!” Amen. The Person Who can teach us Holiness is the One Who has HOLY in His Name. We need to learn to listen to the Holy Spirit, from the bible as He leads us.

There are times when we think we know what the Lord wants from His kids, and so we get nit-picky about superficial things. What people wear – what people say – but the Lord looks at hearts. Think about this – the woman that was taken whilst she was committing adultery was thrown down at the Lord’s feet. She did not look pure and holy – she looked guilty! Jesus went around the visible things and her actions and He taught her accusers a lesson, plus He spoke to her heart, all at the same time. His love released her from fear and guilt …

Human beings look at attitudes and actions for proof of sin – but the Lord looks at our hearts. Ask yourself, am I amenable and open to change? Do I listen to what other people say about me or am I suspicious of others and their motivations? Our hearts can be changed easily when they are soft toward Him and others. Unfortunately we don’t always know what is IN there. So we need to take note of what we do, feel and say, and how we respond to others.

Our circumstances will uncover the real US. We are who we really are when we are damaged, provoked, or passed over, or treated badly. Our responses to those things reveal our actual heart attitudes. My best advice is don’t make excuses for yourself. Repent anyway. Make His pleasure in who you are, more important than saving face, or pretending to be someone you aren’t. Don’t be afraid to be your real self – Jesus paid for all our sinful attitudes. However, let’s keep working on those attitudes while it is still day, because night is coming.

We are not here to uncover other people’s sins! Instead, His kids are always looking for a way to love, connect and help each other – we choose to see the good in each other. Sin starts in our minds and if it is unattended to, it will drop into our hearts. Sin needs justification. “I do this because they did that!” But Jesus’ death and resurrection empowered us to a higher place where the greater law prevails.

Our God is not content with lip-service, He works from the inside out, but we must overcome our fear of change and embrace the fact that because what Christ did – He totally and utterly loves us. He loved us all before we were ever born. Sadly, for too long our aim has been our own comfort, but the bible makes it very clear – we are His kingdom people – we are here to usher His kingdom here on earth the way it is in heaven so our comfort is non-existent or secondary.

This is why verses like this one in Thessalonians are important. They show us the Lord’s AIM. His aim is not to fluff our pillows and make sure our beds are all comfy cosy – His aim is to have a people – a family. And Jesus Christ is our example of what that family will look like! You will, however, still be you, and I will still be me – but we will both be changed, praise the Lord … because we both need it. Maybe me more than you!

The thing this verse shows us is that God Himself will do this work in us, as we step out in faith and use the bible as our guideline. As we continually use our faith, we step into His kingdom and then even our own transformation adds weight to His kingdom growing around us. The more we change, the more the world around is influenced by our new way of thinking, doing and being. 

Almighty God will make us holy the same way He is holy. And the Person Who totally understands and knows how to implement it into our lives, is the Holy Spirit.  But we need to continually learn to co-operate with Him. One of the most important revelations to grasp, is our utter helplessness without Him. We cannot do this work of transformation ourselves. We can read about it, agree with it, and eventually we will realise that we come up short. Paul talks about this in Romans. 

When we discover it is beyond our reach to change ourselves, that is the time that the Lord has begun His work in us. Poverty of spirit is a good thing. That’s why Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven…” Our Spirit-led responses to life’s difficulties are the building blocks of our new life. We need to learn to rely upon the Holy Spirit to show us how to be holy the way He is holy. 👋🏻

P 2191 Please don’t be tempted to live in a divided kingdom.

/ DVH

Parable of The Divided Kingdom – Mark 3:23-27. “So Jesus called them over to Him and began to speak to them in parables: “How can satan drive out satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house.”

Lots of people wa-ay smarter than me have preached on this parable but I’m not going to talk about all of it here. Today I want to talk about the fact that we can shoot ourselves, figuratively, in the foot, by having one foot in the kingdom, and the other in this world. That’s called having a divided mind and/or loyalty. Unfortunately we can easily be tied up by satan in this world’s difficulties.

We cannot advance God’s kingdom while we are constantly being overtaken by the things of this world. Sooner or later the world we live in will win – because this world is pushy! That’s what IN this world and not OF this world means. We live here but we are no longer from here – our home is somewhere else. So we have a totally different allegiance from the people who live around us. Our allegiance is with Jesus Christ and His Ways.

The King of all Kings wants to motivate us now, so we can serve Him … now. HE LOVES HUMANITY – He proved it! Now we live in another kingdom, by its rules. The thing is, many times we can easily kind of skate along the thin edge of looking like everyone else around us, so we can fit in. The problem with that is, while we are toying with this world’s games, we will have a clouded view of what the Lord Himself wants from us. The single greatest thing we can ever do – apart from choosing to follow the Lord, is to unequivocally give our lives to Him and refuse to take them back. Total commitment is the only way I know to eliminate the tendency in humanity to compromise.

We are not in this world to do the hokey pokey – one foot in and one foot out. It’s all in. OR … live in the hell of having to choose over and over again which way to go and getting sucked down the plug hole of sin. There is no compromise with the world around us, this world is too far gone. We simply choose to do what Jesus did – He died. We must die, here and now, daily – choosing His way over ours using our faith. His Grace can see us through anything. Sometimes it will hurt – but it simplifies matters.

When we make the bible our reference point we will definitely bump into other people’s excuses.This world doesn’t like that sort of clarity, it presents us with the wrong picture over and over again. EG: ‘if it hurts, then it is wrong, don’t do it!’ Avoiding pain has become a new art form. It will hurt, dying to self does! It killed the Lord… becoming sin broke His dear heart. 

I can remember seeing the line of total commitment off in the distance as a much younger Christian. I avoided going too close lest I fall over it. I did not jump right into the River of God. I sort of paddled about in the shallows – and sometimes I went in up to my waist. I was afraid of what the Lord might take from me, or what I would have to leave behind. But at that time I was absolutely ‘born again!’ I went to church every single time I could, and I joined in with everything. However, the line of what I could and couldn’t do, was blurry. It was blurred by my compromise. 

The Lord never meant for Christianity to be a two-step program. It is all in, forever. He sent back His power to the people who made a commitment to stay in the upper room for as long as it took. 50 days of waiting, praying and wondering if there was going to be a knock on the door, and men would come to kill them. Total commitment means we wait for His input. Staying close to Him has become our very life.

It means you start living forever today. Here and now. LET: “The Holy Spirit put steel in your convictions.” 1 Thessalonians 1:4b. MSG bible. 👋🏻

P 2188 Living by faith, hope and love.

/ DVH

1 Thessalonians 1:3: “We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” In many of our minds those things mentioned in this verse in 1 Thessalonians, are merely concepts. However they don’t easily translate into real life. These concepts need to be part of how we live otherwise we will nod our heads in agreement and then forget all about living from this new place.

This verse is an extremely valuable diagnostic tool, when we are doing whatever it is, without stretching and engaging our faith. If it doesn’t stretch us then it isn’t FAITH! Sometimes we do stuff out of obligation or pressure, or to give a good impression. Repent. Even making dinner, going to work, or making a cup of tea can be faith. We do whatever we do, for the Lord Jesus. If we aren’t living that way, then we need to go back and ask for His help and have another go! BTW, this verse is not some sort of escape clause or an excuse – we can’t just go to the pastor and tell him that the Lord didn’t tell us to do whatever it is – so we ain’t doing it!  We are now subject to His instructions, in the bible.

We need to be inspired by the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of God is gentle, lowly in heart, He is obedient and kind. He has a heart of service toward mankind. As we walk with Him that will be the way we think too. He inspires us into these greater works because He loves us all. Any reservations we have about these things provides personal insight into whatever is motivating us. They diagnose our inner human resistance. 

Faith has works, James made that clear.  But those works aren’t simply done to produce or facilitate some sort of end result. Rather, we use our faith to serve Him and others, and that faith is meant to promote His kingdom mentality in us. We use our faith to obey the bible, and Holy Spirit’s inspired leading. When we do things because we’ve been asked to do them by the Lord, the faith we use to carry out the task produces MORE faith. The difficulty is, most of the time, we can actually do whatever it is and not use any faith at all, and that kind of response is more out of convenience, appearances, or duty, or habit. But our faith will produce works that have been prompted by obedience to the word, or the Holy Spirit. 

Perhaps our pastor asks us to go and see and help Sister Mary who is ill. So we carry out this seemingly ordinary task using our faith that the pastor is the leader, and we are serving him, as well as serving our sister, by doing whatever it is. We do what we do as though we were doing it for the Lord Jesus. This is what using our faith to obey, prompted by love for the Lord and others, looks like.

What if we can’t stand Sister Mary and we don’t want to do what the pastor asked us to do? Now we have an opportunity to grow. That’s when we need to go to the Lord and tell Him that we have a wrong attitude, could He please help us? I can’t tell you the result of that scenario, because I don’t know – I just know if my aim is to grow my faith using love – I will have to choose to be transformed in this area. It is no sin to acknowledge that we lack the right motivation, we are all spiritually poor without Christ. We need His riches. It is not a sin to be poor, we just need to admit that we need help. Maybe the pastor can pray for us? 

In my personal experience if I refuse to do something or make excuses, I am probably going to bump into Sister Mary every single time I turn around. Why? God is giving me an opportunity to change my POV. However, please don’t tell Sister Mary you don’t like her … she’s got enough going on already! Go to the Lord and talk to Him about how you feel. Let Him minister His love to you … we can only give away what we have. Now go and do whatever it is anyway and put your feelings aside. This is what living by faith looks like. Avoidance simply postpones the lesson, and trust me, next time it will be harder – because we just hardened our heart!

In order to use our faith we need to line up with the bible – not our feelings. Feelings deceive us – they can be affected by the weather, pizza, or our own personal preferences. They tell us we can’t, when we clearly can, but we just don’t want to! Feelings come and go – the word of our God stands forever. We need to choose to participate in the eternal. Christians do whatever they do, using their faith and hope in His love and power to motivate us through the difficult bits. The Holy Spirit will always help us to persevere despite any personal difficulties. 👋🏻

P 2162 Positionally speaking….

/ DVH

Jesus’ has already given gifts to His Bride. These can be God-gifted people, plus there are also many promises. Things like: “If you remain IN Me and My words remain IN you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” John 15:17. Did you get that?  This promise is dependent upon our position … in Christ. There seems to be a bit of confusion floating about in some places, about our position before Almighty God. I would like to give my two cents worth about this subject today… 🤗

God gives us wonderful promises by His Grace, but we can sometimes wander through His Word ‘cherry-picking’ 🍒 what we like, and leaving out what we don’t. Here’s something brilliant I have learnt – read everything. Seriously – don’t even leave out the commas and the full stops. And those little teeny tiny little words have an extra whammy on them! We have to look beyond the human translators to the One Who brought this book into being. The truth is … the Holy Spirit is the real Translator …He helps us hear what the Lord wants us to hear for today. Thank you Jesus for the Precious Holy Spirit! 🙌

There are some precious Christian people who live their lives claiming bible verses right left and centre. Things like “I’m the head not the tail…” etc. Others are galloping about ruling and reigning, proclaiming this, and reclaiming that… etc. etc. Personally, I’ve learnt that I am who HE SAYS I am, so I must learn to read, listening, and then follow HIS instructions. He speaks to me through His word, as well as my brothers and sisters in Christ. No more, no less. However, today I want us to think about this whole, “Jesus and me, we are best buds” thingy … or … as I like to call it – “I’ve got an IN with God.” We ALL  have an in with God, we are all IN CHRIST JESUS! There’s a good place to set up camp BTW.

Some people freak out about Christians who claim stuff etc. and declare it is not scriptural, and yet other people lose their minds trying to prove it is … Meh! There’s a divisive device I don’t want to touch with a forty foot pole! I don’t care to go down that rabbit hole … too many tunnels!! However, Jesus said in John 15:15&16 “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have CALLED YOU friends, for everything that I learned from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in My Name the Father will give you.”  

There you go! The Lord chose us first, so now we have His power of attorney – we can act on His behalf. Now wait for it !! – To do the things He wants US to do for His kingdom’s sake. We’ve been deputised … called up higher … not for our benefit … but for His kingdom’s benefit and His purposes. This is not a blank never-ending platinum Visa card for us to use like we are shopping. We are on the Lord’s dime, not ours. You and I can tell a tree or mountain to move into the sea, when it serves God’s purposes, but we need Him first to tell us ‘move that thing out of the way.’  We don’t get to make up the agenda. Jesus came to serve, and now we serve Him – because “a servant is not greater than His Master.” 

However!  The Greater One can ask the lesser one up – but that is simply a testimony to the Greater One’s generosity and favour – it is not a deserved position. Instead it has been bestowed or given. Moses and Abraham were both called God’s friends, not because those two men were so fabulous but because Almighty God – the Greater One – loved their hearts and obedience. 

Hebrews 7:7 says: “And without doubt the lesser is blessed by the greater.”  So if the King of England decides he wants to be my friend, that may give me privileges, and perhaps, the King’s ear .. but it doesn’t make ME the King. “The one who wants to be greatest must be the servant of all.” Matthew 20:26. Jesus is talking about ruling and reigning from a place of servanthood – for other people’s good. Finally, let’s remember John 3:29: “The bride belongs to the Bridegroom…”  Positionally speaking we serve Him, but we know we have His favour. 👋🏻

P 2154 Time to step up our training.

/ DVH

“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:18). When the bible says we are being transformed, that means right here, right now. However, more responsibility in this new life of ours, can mean we will face even more opposition … that’s also something that we need remember as we go along. BUT the Lord is way too kind to let us move from one glory into the next without Him personally preparing us. HE WANTS US TO WIN. Our God is really great at resistance training! 🤣

If you feel you have been called to do this or that, or whatever;  then you need to know that there will be opposition facing you. The upside is that the Lord knows you can go through whatever it is. Jesus will walk us each step of the way, just like He did for Peter when he was walking on the water. Christianity is not for the faint-hearted. However, we must remember, that it is always filled to overflowing with His kindness, mercy, love and grace for the timid, inept and weak. Keep praying for eyes to see these things! Our God is so incredible. Stretching our faith means developing spiritual muscles. If you read the book carefully, you will see that happening in so many lives in the bible.

Philippians 2: 3-4 “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”Now there is a great verse to remember. I urge anyone to exercise great caution when talking about the things the Lord has said about your future. Our opponent knows very little about us, unless we open our big mouths and tell him – he’s not omniscient or omnipresent like our Father. You and I must learn to strengthen our feeble knees and wobbly hands by fighting his opposition daily – through the immediate situations we face, and how we decide to face them. God trains us for this war through these day to day seemingly ordinary difficult situations.

He allows these things every day, so we can willingly learn to choose His ways – for His sake. For things like humility, preferring others, speaking well of others as well as living our lives for His Body’s sake. Our God will not let us move on to what comes next, without learning these lessons. So, sadly, some people go round and round like an eddy in a little pool, because they have not yet learnt what they need to know so they are unprepared for what comes next. That would be me with my hand up BTW. I’ve gone round and round so many times I got giddy. 😵‍💫 Then I asked Him why I was stuck … and He told me!  We prepare for WAR by fighting our daily battles.

It took me a while to understand that I actually was hobbling myself by refusing to learn His ways. We have such a good good Father. Remember He will never send us out unprepared. He also does not make a private strategise the next move on the battlefield – that task belongs to a general – that’s why we need leaders. My advice? Learn to be happy where you are … let Him arrange what comes next. Do what you can, and then turn it all over to Him and leave it there. We cannot afford to ignore any tests He sends us. Each one is building a muscle we will need when we step into what He has for us NEXT.  

Jesus came here to serve us, and when we follow Him we will always lovingly serve others. The most fun you will ever have, trust me, is when you are led to serve someone who hates you – and go and you do whatever the Lord tells you to do, and it messes with their mind. I’ve seen people ‘lost at sea,’  literally, because they do not have a pocket to put my kindness toward them in. It’s hilarious. BTW you don’t do these things as revenge, you are just following the Leader. But it still can be a tad funny!

Our God loves oxymorons. These are the things in the bible that are put together in a harmonious way, but they are actually in direct opposition to one another. So he sends a coward to fight without number, and a hater to save a particularly hated city. Plus He brings His Only precious pure Son through the lineage of a couple of prostitutes. He tells us clearly in the book, that when we are weak then the potential exists for Him to be strong IN us etc. Jesus even told us we are blessed when we mourn! So when God tells us to rejoice always you can be pretty darn sure that this life is going to give us opportunities to have that particular mindset challenged. Nothing is wasted. Opportunities will only be wasted if we don’t rely upon His word.

The bible is a road map to His heart, and His Ways. We cannot afford to lean on our own understanding, instead we need to faithfully, and progressively learn to know and lean on HIS. But, because His Ways are higher than ours, they won’t always seem fantastic, instantly, to us! There is so much more ahead of us, if we don’t waste the life we have feathering our own nests! Instead we need to progressively learn how to live for His kingdom and put that first. Training is hard. It means putting down what I want, and doing something I don’t want to do – especially not repeatedly! The benefit of this, is that as we learn His ways, we are changed, and then His Ways not only make sense, they become extremely beautiful to us.  Praise the Lord! 😂

P 2151 We are the new influencers for good.

/ DVH

“The Lord Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged.” Deuteronomy 31:8.

In the recorded history of the bible, Our Heavenly Father, God, has never quit on humanity because He was totally fed up with us. Instead His book is filled to the brim with His interactions of love, direction, correction and passion for all of us. He has spent thousands of years reaching out to us. Human beings are the crown of His creation. This world is the setting, and people are the precious jewels He deliberately put in that setting. His book clearly shows us His intentions, plus His great great Love for every single person who has ever been here.

But if humanity tried to go into His Presence without a Saviour we would instantly be overwhelmed by our own sinfulness, because His holiness is all encompassing. Sin separates us from Him, as well as other people. It separates families, marriages, congregations, denominations, countries …  all different kinds of people. So, because of His incredible love and forgiveness, and desire to know us, and be known by us – He took our sin out of the equation. Now we are free to love Him back … or not … the choice is always ours. 

The Lord is not like other people we have known, who wanted us to behave for their reputations, or convenience. Rather, our God wants us to be close to Him. In order for that to happen we cannot afford to have pieces or parts of our lives that are not submitted to His sovereignty. Those supposedly harmless things that don’t seem to be all that important, are the holes in our lives that our enemy can aim His darts and arrows through, to wound us and try to take us away from the Father’s Love and His Way to live.   

We begin our journey by understanding Who He is. He is so marvellous, so precious, so incredible, so beautiful, that even being around Him, changes us. Have you ever had a friend that  seemed to bring out the worst in you? Conversely, have you ever known a person who left you feeling bigger, freer, more able to be yourself?  His influence in our lives is not only for our good, but it has an effect on everyone around us. EG: Have you ever been grouchy around someone else only to find that they, in turn, became grouchy too? People influence each other… and not always for good. His influence brings out the rainbow colours in all our personalities – we stop being one dimensional.

One of my biggest disappointments with this world at this time, is that our children are being greatly influenced by others who are angry at others, or themselves, and angry at this world’s systems. These people live carelessly seemingly unaware of their effect on the people around them. They do this for MONEY. Their influence is a little like the measles or the mumps – it’s contagious. Most of us were born with a desire to belong somewhere, and if nothing good, pure, right and just is available, unfortunately, even our children will tend to gravitate to the instant, glossy, glittery, fashionable over-the-top and often evil expressions of humanity.

If Christians do not put something of His Love out into this world’s atmosphere — then our kids have nothing to guide and lead them in His Ways. We have the power to bring His kingdom here by simply cherishing His Presence in our lives, and sharing that with others. You and I are living illustrations of what His Love looks like in action. It is time we picked up our real inheritance! Jesus left this world to us, in our hands. And right now it is our responsibility to influence others for good – to point them toward the Eternal, ever living, ever loving God.

Remember, our God is not just with us, He goes before us. Even before we start out. Imagine that! Whatever you go and do, He has already been there. He won’t leave us, because our God is loyal and true to His Word. He has always been loyal to His chosen ones, the Israelites, and now He is loyal to us because of the blood of Jesus. He signed His agreement with mankind, in Christ’s blood, and that agreement stands forever. Even when it seems to us that He is not there, He is there, purely because He promised to be there.

It is time we decided to believe His promises. We have so many!! In these busy, turbulent times, He wants us to stand on, hide behind, and trust in what He told us in the book. You and I have been given those promises for us to use them. Forget the Lear Jet, or new fancy house,our God told us He would be with us always! Now there’s a promise!  We are to hold His Word up in front of us like a shield, against the onslaughts of the many fears and threats in this world, when things try to overwhelm us. So when the wind and the waves bash us and threaten to drown us, we simply stand still and trust and wait for Him to do what He has promised. We cannot afford to be overwhelmed by the activity and noise around us, because our eyes need to be fixed on Him. 

Focussing on how much Father God loves us, instead of the turmoil outside in the world, will transform us into wells of peace and light. People will be drawn to us purely because we are able to be content, even when the world around us is rocking and tossing with hatred, anger, sickness and sorrow. The thing is, we must learn, in the middle of a world that values how we feel, more than anything else – how to have and use our FAITH. 

This world only values things that make US feel good. However, we need to actively learn and practise minute by minute, relying upon HIS WORD more than what our eyes see, or our ears hear, or what we even think. He has made His desires for us, His people, plain. We have it in all in writing!  We no longer have to be afraid of facing this life alone – HE IS WITH US. His Presence with us helps us influence others for good. 👋🏻

P 2146 Transformation comes through participation.

/ DVH

“Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at My saying, ‘You must be born again.’ ( John 3:3-7)

Because of what Christ did for us we are now in the process of being re-made (present tense) in His image, when we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. We can either fight the difficult circumstances in our lives, or look at hard things as potential for change – including our reactions! Every single time you and I co-operate with the Spirit of God and do what He says: transformation takes place.We receive the potential to follow the Holy Spirit at the moment we are born again – we cannot be born again without HIM, plus, we cannot SEE His kingdom. 

It is the same as when we value the bible and act on it just because it says so, again – transformation takes place. The bible is the greatest revelation of Who He is and What He did that we have. In the eternal NOW, where Father God is, we are already transformed by the blood of Jesus, but from day to day we are working out our salvation with fear and trembling, by living our lives the way Christ lived His … loving others. Including the people who drive you crazy!

Any conflict we experience takes place when we indulge ourselves in our feelings, our flesh. EG: We feel bad, we feel like others were deliberately mean. We feel rejected, so we get angry …our flesh has … feelings!  Our feelings can be affected by the weather or the kind of day we had or the grouchy person we bumped into. When we give in to our flesh, instead of trusting in what the Lord said in the bible – to us as well as about us, we have limited our spiritual growth potential.

The more you and I rely upon the Holy Spirit to help us grow and accept change, the more our POV will change. We come alive in the spirit. This is how we gain spiritual eyes to see His kingdom all around us, like Gehazi did in the Old Testament. (2 Kings 5:20-27) It is incredibly unfortunate that many human beings want to see the results before they have actively invested in the process. We die in that process.

The Lord did not save us for us to continue behaving the same old way we always have. Yes, we can always repent. But I’ve learnt personally, that if I find myself repenting more than I am changing, I need to know the reason why! Some good guidelines come from the way we treat other people. If we end up continually hurting the people we live with, or the people around us, then that’s a big sign that it is the time to listen and ask the Holy Spirit to help us to find out why, and deal with it. We will need to change our ways. 

However, that process does not mean we can blame the Holy Spirit for our lack of transformation, especially when we are choosing to maintain the very thing that is alienating others. Meanwhile I don’t care who did or said what – it is our responsibility to fix it! Sincere repentance and a will to change, plus paying attention to our faults more than theirs, helps our spiritual walk. Our faith gets stretched in this process.

Human beings tell themselves; “It is not my fault, I can’t change. My parent was like this and I am too.” We now have an attentive Heavenly Father, and He raised a fantastic obedient HUMAN Son! When we think we can’t we are half-way to defeat, and we are denying the power of God given to us when we were saved. In effect what we are saying to Jesus is this: “What You did on that cross was not strong enough to change ME.”

Um… good luck with that one! 🙄 You and I can change anything we want to – it is our motivation that is lacking, not His power in us to change us. Whatever the Holy Spirit says – such as repent, humble yourself, confess your fault to the other person ..THAT is our new current point of faith. That’s the place where we do whatever we don’t want to do, anyway. Purely, as Peter himself said: ‘at Your word Lord.’ And that seasoned fisherman threw in his empty net in the sea, where he was told by the Lord to do it.

It is way to easy to excuse our behaviour sometimes: “It was a bad day, bad things happened.” But when we live like that, then we are insulting the Helper. He is not an optional extra, He is the One Who knows us inside out, and He is utterly equipped to reveal to us where we are believing a LIE. Our task is to embrace the Person the Lord valued so much, that He sent Him back to help us live this life like Christ did! The Holy Spirit knows the way through stuff. The flesh has to die, and it doesn’t like it very much. 

Christians are not powerless. They are either being wilful, or they have been deceived. Either way – the problem is our end, not His! It is OK to try and fail, but it is not OK to half-heartedly try and then give-up when it gets hard. Let’s not live out our lives implying that the blood of Jesus is not enough to conquer our sinful attitudes. Maybe there is a demonic stronghold and we need help. So, go to your pastor, humble yourself and confess your fault and get their prayerful support and advice. It is not Godly to make everyone around you live in hell while you continue to indulge your flesh and feelings.

The largest problem in Christianity today is not on God’s end. It is OUR FAULT. We have tried to pray away, or even ignore the very things He gave us the power to change. It is as simple as ‘asking, and keeping ON asking.” After that we need to go and do something concrete about it.

The best thing to start with, I’ve found is to ask Him ‘to set a watch over my mouth.’ Seriously. People get in the worst difficulties with what they say. It is so much better to be silent when provoked. Sadly, I’ve learnt this truth from personal experience. Transformation comes from participation – not just knowledge. 👋🏻