Laid-down love

P 2896 Relinquishment.

/ DVH

Jesus is portrayed in the bible, as our Shepherd, He is called the Good Shepherd. At the same time, many of us have what we might call lost sheep in our families. I have them, and like you, I often weep over greatly-loved people who have chosen to leave our Saviour outside of their camp — because they don’t wish to hear what He wants to say to them, and they don’t want to live a life of laid-down love. It’s their choice, a choice that can break our hearts, but that choice is sometimes made because of great pain, deception, anger and disappointment.

It is tempting to think that if we just manage to give that person the right scripture from the bible, they will be set free. But God has put incredible value on the power of our own personal choice, this means He respects their choices, so it is clear we need to do that too. The answer to this pain, is relinquishment! Plus choosing to remind ourselves that He is faithful.“For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.” 2 Timothy 1:12. Yes, you and I will suffer but –”…love suffers long…”  And incredibly, He is always faithful – even when we are not!

No amount of human persuasion, or application, can do this work as beautifully as He can. He knows how to open up hearts, and we don’t. Jesus once called ordinary fishermen to follow Him, and He said He would make them fishers of men! I mean — hullo?! What the heck does that mean? But, those men got up and left everything they had ever known immediately and went on the road with Him! Some people’s lives were transformed just because He walked past them. These people we care deeply about need HIM, not us. Our job is to continue to show them love, however He tells us to do it..

When you read the gospels carefully, you will see that Jesus hardly ever repeats whatever He does. He had an individual answer for each individual. He knows the way into someone’s heart. I’ve seen His light break into a life many times – however, you and I don’t have the power to do that, unless He helps us. We are mortal, and we have the power of persuasion — EVE shows us how badly that can be used. It can seem like God is in no hurry to answer desperate prayers like these – take heart – He knows how to woo and win someone, with His unfailing love. 

I want to point out that Jesus was taken outside of the ‘camp’ — outside the walls of Jerusalem — to be crucified. So whatever shameful, dreaded location your friend or family member is living in, it will not bother Him. He’s seen it all. The most horrible actions and attitudes people are capable of – betrayal, murder, envy, fear, lust, cowardice, wickedness – all of it.  Even those people who hated Him, paraded past Him … right in front of Him as He was dying. Yet He was doing what He did for their despicable attitudes too. Our God is not afraid of sin. He.Took.Care.Of.It. He knows the depravity within human hearts, but – we can follow the scarlet thread of His redemption right throughout the bible from Genesis to the Gospels and beyond them.

I would like to go over the faithfulness of our God in these matters because time sometimes dims our hope. Jesus told us clearly In Luke 15, in three different ways – that He seeks the one lost sheep, one lost coin. And He waits patiently at the gate for His lost kid to come home. Those stories lead me to this conclusion: lost people are extremely important to Him! That’s why He sends us out to find them.

The Israelite nation was rescued by Him at least ten times. They tested His love, and His right to be their God, over and over again.They were rebellious, abusive, arrogant and stiff-necked, plus easily deceived, and yet they were still very precious to Him. We all know you can be furious with someone and still love them! However, His faithfulness knows no bounds, which is why we should never question or abuse it.

It can be extremely difficult to personally let go of a precious person and not preach at them. We can waste all our time and our tears and anguish over someone who is trapped by deception. BUT! — giving them to Jesus is the very best answer. Think about it. Anything and everything that was ever given to Him – He blessed it. He either multiplied things in an astonishing fashion, or He transformed them with the power of His always-present LOVE. He knows how to bring “…beauty out of ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness…” because He is supernaturally faithful. “The Lord will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever;  Do not forsake the works of Your hands.” Psalm 138:8.

Our task is to choose to keep loving those who cruelly and despitefully use us, and that can be an extremely hard thing to live with, especially if they are someone close to us. Sadly, if that person is angry with God, then they will be angry at you for believing in Him. This is part of the fellowship of His sufferings.Don’t stop praying for those you love, and don’t stop believing that your faith is valuable. God gave His only one-of-a-kind Son to us. There is no sacrifice that is greater than that one – He understands how big a sacrifice this situation is to you.

Remember, the Lord is their Shepherd too. Keep on praying for them, and then give them back to Him. Talk to Him about your pain, and let Him heal you. Relinquishment is the best pathway. Bye 👋

P 2202 The safest place in the world…

/ DVH

…is NOT under the bed or an island all by yourself! So please don’t give up on yourself, or other people … too soon. We all have learning curves. However, there is good news. “In Christ Jesus” is the only incredible place of safety and shelter for those who are learning to live in love! “Love is a safe place of shelter, for it never stops believing the best for others. Love never takes failure as defeat, for it never gives up.” 1 Corinthians 13:7 TPT.

But to get to that safe place we will have to give up many things we have become attached to.: like doing what we want when we want, or the power of arbitrarily telling other people what to do. Or always being right and never admitting you are wrong. Or making my world a safe place for me so I don’t have to care about what that does to you! Safety is a strange issue, but the real point is without Jesus a safe world doesn’t actually exist. He is our only safe place, and living in safety in this world is left behind, because the people who live for Him:  “… love(d) not their lives unto death …”  Revelation 12:11

The only way in is the only way out and it’s YOU.

“Came a time in my life I had to be free

From all of the lies that used to be me

And the only way out is the only way in and it’s YOU.

I’ve been waisting my time but not anymore

I’ve been through the maze and it led to Your door

And the only way out is the only way in and it’s YOU.

I spent a lot of time at the crossroads

Getting that lonely feeling inside

Suddenly You stopped the rain, You changed the view

Now every way’s leading to You

Let’s get this thing going, let’s move it along

Let me do all the things I’ve been missing so long

’cause the only way out is the only way in and it’s YOU.”

Ray Martinez.

Jesus is our only hope – He’s the only way out of the trials, sin and suffering of this world, and He is the only way into a new life. We can’t afford to waste our time anymore. It says that verse in Revelation like this, in the Message bible: “They defeated him  (satan) through the blood of the Lamb and the bold word of their witness. They weren’t in love with themselves; they were willing to die for Christ.” I think that we have fallen far far away from that place of being prepared to die for Him. Unless we live somewhere where they love to kill and torture Christians. The people who live under life or death threats have to make incredibly hard choices – every single day. However where I live, we get to choose to die to self – daily, minute by minute.

But nothing in this world we are living in today, is actually truly safe. Talk to the people in countries where war has broken out. One day they were at the supermarket shopping, and now the supermarket is gone and so is their house! Now, it no longer matters if the man of the house keeps putting the tomato sauce bottle, or his dirty socks in the wrong place – there isn’t anywhere to put anything, anymore! 😢 Sigh. When did we become such petty people? This life has serious issues – and safety is an illusion. 

Sadly I feel, humanly speaking, we often make it through the trials in this life, breathing a sigh of relief that whatever was happening to us is now over. And then we go on to waiting and willing our lives to be easy again. I know I do! I hate being stretched. There is a saying from a movie: The Princess Bride – “Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.”  Amen! Preach it brother. Expecting this life to be easy is a childish view of this world. “The rain falls on the just and the unjust.” Everybody has hard times. 

I have been prayerfully reading Psalm 73 for days, and it is the best example of self-centred humanity… like ever! The Psalmist has his crank on because bad people are winning everywhere. When I read it I realised that he is grumpy because other people can do what they like, it seems – and get away with it. He’s mad because these people do not have to face the consequences of their actions. Eventually, he realises that even wicked people die in the end, and they face eternity unprepared. It is one thing to trick a human judge and jury, and plead innocent, and totally another to plead innocence in the face of true purity and truth.

The biggest problems we face today, are the seemingly insignificant everyday decisions we make about the way we act and react toward others. The decision to tell somebody where to go and how to get there, drags us away from our main focus. These are the days of deliverance from evil. Giving yourself permission to have a bad day can be deadly. The only safe place is living in Christ, living a life of laid-down love, for His sake … and dying to self.👋🏻