Life

P 2670 It’s later than we all think.

/ DVH

Romans 13:11-14: “Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarrelling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.”

In these difficult times, we can get extremely busy, and then we forget WHO we belong to. We start acting and re-acting like the people around us. Sadly, their god is often their appetites and misery. Even our own ideas of down-time and entertainment can sometimes wander off into hedonism and violence. Like Paul said – that stuff is not for us. I exhort you to treat entertainment like food, and pray over everything. I believe the Lord Himself will show anyone what is good, or not good in their life, when we ask Him. My own policy is this – when in doubt, don’t!  I have a pretty fertile imagination and so I’ve learnt you can’t un-see or un-hear stuff once you’ve sat around absorbing it!

As for casting off the works of darkness, the things of the darkness aren’t always on TV or in some game …we can easily be distracted by an argumentative spirit, or a bad temper, or a negative or critical attitude. The enemy’s deceptions are not obvious like sexual deviancy or a violent response to provocation! ‘It is the little foxes that spoil the vines…’  Likewise it is the things that we make allowance for, that drag us away from the Lord’s ways. We are exhorted to number our days, because they are few. Actively choose to learn to co-operate with the Holy Spirit, nobody else can do that for you.

The bible tells us clearly what to put off … let’s do that and leave our feelings and needs out of it! Currently practically every generation on this planet is held captive to how it feels at any given moment. Human beings are bigger than their feelings! Praise God, the bible doesn’t just tell us what to put OFF – it also tells us what to put ON. We put on the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords using our faith in His power within us…We do this one day, one interaction with Him, at a time. Basically Paul is saying: ‘Don’t make a space for anything that will entice you away from loving and serving Jesus. The things of this world will drag you under into despair and shame.’ Amen!

Our lives are geared into working hard, so we want to allow for relaxation. And if that pleasure is taken away, then we think the sky will fall, because we instinctively know that we need rest. We get our REST from Christ! Anything else is a poor substitute. Just because there are times when we are not good at achieving that aim, that does not mean we have permission to let loose, and ignore things. Pleasure itself is not bad, but exalting anything over our passion for Him, will result in the Lord ending up in second place. And eventually, if we are not careful, He slides right out of the picture. 

That’s one of the things I truly love about the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They will not force Their Ways on us. We don’t have to do anything! We choose to do it, to remain close to Him, and daily learn more about our new life in Christ. There are times I wish preachers would talk more about falling in Love with Him, because I think the Body of Christ really needs this kind of exhortation. When we love someone we will do anything for them, and abstinence is not painful, because it is a joy to be close to them. Personally, I love to hang around with someone who knows Him much better than I do. I can learn from them how to hold Him up in such a way that my response is pure worship. The more we invest in His life in us, the more His life will flow out of us.   

Our contribution matters – even if it is unseen. Many, many people underestimate their contribution. A loving heart that wants the best for everyone around them, makes a far greater contribution than someone who is caught up in their own needs and wants. To live like Christ did, we must actively, daily, choose to die. Physically, the truth is, we are all dying anyway – we start to die the moment we are born! But if we cling to this life and withhold our loving contribution from others… our true self will die a lot faster!

James 4:14: “How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.” Let’s learn to respect the fact that we are visitors in this life. None of what we have been given belongs to us. As one very far-sighted person once said: “You will never see a U-haul trailer filled with this world’s goods, attached to a hearse!” Only God knows how valuable each contribution is – and how much it affects the people around us. Instead of languishing away under how hard life is – let’s learn to celebrate the fact that now we have the Author of life, living within us. That will involve our active participation. It is MUCH later than we all think.

Bye. 👋

Romans 14:8: “For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.”

P 2665 His Way.

/ DVH

There is a way to look at this life that will change our thoughts about how we live our lives, today. The Gospels describe this over and over again. They are not talking about a set of rules, they are talking about the way Godly people view their time on earth and what that looks like. These people don’t consider their time here, belongs to them. They consider whatever time they have, to be HIS. Even if we start to want to understand God’s Ways, that thought will begin the transformation process and change how we perceive this life. 

Listen to Isaiah 48:17: “Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, “I am the Lord your God, Who teaches you to profit, Who leads you in the way you should go.” Human beings don’t walk His Way automatically, we need to learn to follow the Holy Spirit and He will teach us the way we should go. Otherwise we will continue to walk in the way which seems right to us! Proverbs 14:12 says:“There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.” BTW that verse is repeated in Proverbs 16:25.

When Christ died, there was a possibility released – an exchange. Our sin for Christ’s holiness, purity and clarity of purpose. We cannot participate in that exchange and still live the same way we always have. We need to purpose in our hearts to progressively put aside OUR ways, and actively go after HIS. For example: Jesus Christ chose to die –  now we choose to die, to our old life, and ways, daily. Our aim becomes what Christ wants … what He would do. So we choose to become even more deeply acquainted with the way He does things through reading the bible, prayer, and our actions. As we seek after God’s Ways, we will stop trying to fit the Lord into and around our existing lives.

When we choose to live this life Christ’s way, dedicated to Him, everything around us changes – because WE change. Heaven accompanies His Ways, and so we begin to release the Kingdom of God right here into the earth. Instant miracles are just one of His ways. Those incredible events are not the only Way God does things. Some things happen in our lives over time, simply because we’ve chosen to die to ourselves. This means that we can see that His Way is a wider and far more encompassing stream to enter. It includes digesting His Word and making it part of us, plus taking the time to continually learn to love, and walk, and live like Christ did … He is our example of how we are to live now because we belong to Him..1 John 2:6: “ …the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.” 

Jesus Christ called Himself the Way. Jesus Christ is God’s living WAY of saving mankind and changing our lives. Christ’s earthly life reveals what mankind can look like when they follow the Holy Spirit and live the way we’ve been designed to live. In John Chapter 14 we have a brief paragraph that shows that even His disciples were puzzled by what He said – they needed revelation. The Lord Jesus kept on talking about leaving, dying, and stuff they didn’t want to know! Thomas actually says that He has no idea about this Way Jesus talks about. Then Christ makes one of the greatest declarations in the New Testament. in Verse 6. “Jesus answered,“I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” 

Interestingly enough, the early church was also called the Way …that term appears at least six times in the book of Acts. It represented a totally different kind of life – a life surrendered to, and dedicated to God’s glory. These saints of old gave up their lives because the Holy Spirit had given them a revelation that there was a better way to live. To me those early stories illustrate the gap between Christians today, and all of those the Christians who lived and died for Jesus’ sake back then.

Sadly, now we seem to live our lives to suit ourselves, and we try to fit God and His ways in around the edges. But those early Christians chose to completely become acquainted with God’s Ways and they followed Him to their deaths. They left their old ways of thinking, doing, and being, and embraced whatever He told them to do. Because of that they spread the gospel to everyone, everywhere they went.

Isaiah 55:8-9 says:“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.” Our task every single day is to embrace the mystery of following Jesus and learning His ways. The bible also tells us in Isaiah 30:21: “He, your Teacher will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will behold your Teacher. Your ears will hear a word behind you, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or to the left.” That’s our aim. Our new life is a new WAY to live. Bye.👋

P 2660 Our everyday bread …

/ DVH

Romans 10: 8-11 MSG:”The word that saves is right here, as near as the tongue in your mouth, as close as the heart in your chest. It’s the word of faith that welcomes God to go to work and set things right for us. This is the core of our preaching. Say the welcoming word to God—“Jesus is my Master”—embracing, body and soul, God’s work of doing in us what He did in raising Jesus from the dead. That’s it. You’re not “doing” anything; you’re simply calling out to God, trusting Him to do it for you. That’s salvation.”

We are all currently engaged in our God’s eternal processes. That means God is working in us, just like He did when He raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Salvation is not a one stop shop – it is a process … which started when He saved us and continues to this day! The Holy Spirit is working in each one of us, day by day, to deliver us from the things that made us dead in the first place! Now we have to the power to turn away! He transforms our minds so we don’t think dead thoughts. He gives life to our mortal bodies so we can worship and serve Him in Spirit and in truth.

He also releases us to do eternal things, so we can carry His kingdom all over this world. V14: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” Look at your feet. In God’s eyes they are beautiful – He gave those feet an assignment … to go everywhere and tell everyone we meet that He is not mad at people any more. SomeBody Else, a perfect human being who did not deserve punishment, stepped up to the plate and took our place of punishment. You and I should have been nailed to that cross – NOT HIM.

Now, because of the power that was released when He was raised from the dead – we can come out of the dead patterns and thoughts that have haunted us all our lives, and really live. Jesus Christ loved people. He saw restoration happening everywhere He went. People’s lives were restored, hearts blossomed. Their hearts were withering and dying under the very strict laws that were enforced upon them. However, those laws were designed to bring the Jews back to God. Sometimes we are more interested in Jesus Christ the Healer, than we are in Jesus Christ the Author of our ongoing salvation. Those two things are not mutually exclusive.

The Lord is also God’s living Word – He’s more than just a human illustration – He is God’s Word per-son-ified. That’s our destiny too. To be daily transformed so that our lives are saturated in the Word of God. We obey it, soak it in and give it out to anyone … the good, the bad, the ugly. And as we press in to learn this kind of obedience, we will kill off the very things we’ve adopted and adapted as protective garments. So now we stand before the Lord and others, just like Jesus was on the cross. Naked. We must be naked to be fully clothed! We are unashamed of this nakedness, because He died to clothe us in HIS righteousness, peace, grace, love, faithfulness …

To enter into this new life we must choose to come out of the grave of our old life, just like Lazarus came out of the grave he was in. Now we let God Himself, and others … strip off the grave clothes that are still binding us into death. The same power that raised Christ from the dead is now alive and working in all of us. That dead life we led before cannot be in charge now – we’ve MOVED. We don’t live there anymore. We moved out of that darkness and now we stand blameless in His marvellous light because of what He did. 

However, it is totally unrealistic to expect our new life to look just like that old one! It can’t, because light and dark cannot co-exist together. One excludes the other, so you can’t have both. This is where the outworking of our faith lies. Not in raising the dead, or healing the sick, or saying Godly stuff – it lies in choosing to live in the place we’ve been given. That’s why our minute by minute choices matter. 

Our old enemies have convinced us that we are still bound to that old life, because those old choices can still appeal to us. But, the Truth IS, those things no longer have any power or control  – they are shadows, not reality. We left that stuff behind us, and now … we are living to follow Jesus day by day. Daily reclaiming the land that was ours from the moment we were born again. We have our own promised land. Christ IN us – our hope of glory. This new land He died to give us flows with milk and honey because HE LIVES HERE.

Today, and tomorrow, and all our tomorrows! … We must realise that we need to choose to fight the giants that we have let occupy that old land – our old life. The things we have allowed that have no place in this new life. We don’t choose which things have to go, the Word of God every single day divides between our thoughts and emotions and releases His truth so we can see it. We simply practice obedience and submit to what He says, every single day. That’s why we read the bible – to get our every day bread and marching orders. 👋

P 2657 Self-effort will fail.

/ DVH

Romans 8:5-11. MSG.“Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God’s action in them find that God’s Spirit is in them—living and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores Who God is and what He is doing. And God isn’t pleased at being ignored”.

“But if God Himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of Him. Anyone, of course, who has not welcomed this invisible but clearly present God, the Spirit of Christ, won’t know what we’re talking about. But for you who welcome Him, in whom He dwells—even though you still experience all the limitations of sin—you yourself experience life on God’s terms. It stands to reason, doesn’t it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, He’ll do the same thing in you that He did in Jesus, bringing you alive to Himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and He does, as surely as He did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With His Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ’s!”

Wow! That’s some plain speaking right there! I’ve read that quite a few times and this time it is from the Message Bible. What Paul is saying is this: … Saying “I can’t change” is denying the reality of God within us. Before we understood what the Lord Jesus did for us, we had an excuse – we were empty and ignorant. But now! We are full to the brim of God and His purposes. Paul is explaining when we focus on us, how we feel — we become self-absorbed and after that, it is no surprise that we are not aware of God and what He is doing! We are too busy making sure we get what we want from Him or trying hard to please Him. Christ already did that – for us. 

We need to give up trying and start believing. Next comes obedience. We cannot go around these things because as soon as we do, we will go back to thinking about my life, my family, my purposes and what I want. And there you go, I’m self-absorbed again. That’s the thing about trying harder, you will get the stitch with it because we cannot maintain the effort … After that it becomes too easy to start focussing on what He’s not doing in my life. When I gave my life to Jesus, He took it. That’s what faith is all about. I just believe what He said and act accordingly. Feelings are nothing! Instead we choose to believe in the Lord, that He has whatever it takes to change us and we start doing what He said.

Meanwhile, that self-effort hole is deeper than we think. Paul explains it wonderfully – if I think about ME and how I feel, and how whatever you said hurt me, more than I do about Him and His purposes … I’ve totally moved into self-absorption. And that’s not a hard step to take. Everything around me lives like that. Plus I’ve been thinking about me for most of my life! Instead, I need to focus on what He wants and Who He is, and His desires for my life;  to overcome my natural penchant for selfishness.

So my diagnostic tool is this — WHO AM I FOCUSSING ON?  I must focus on Jesus, He perfectly met every single criteria for the things of God. Without His input those things are beyond my natural ability. I need the Holy Spirit Who is my Helper, He is brilliant at them. His emphasis on the other person is total. We will not get to where we want to go by forcing ourself to do what He says … we get there by asking Him to help us, and then we step out of the boat of self effort and self-centredness into FAITH. We need to GO WHERE THE GRACE IS!

I am so greatly encouraged by these verses that the same Spirit that helped Jesus to do everything the Father assigned for Him to do – IS NOW IN ME. I simply need to adopt a posture of total deference. In other words to walk with Him I need to learn to YIELD. He is not on ‘our’ side, HE IS ON THE LORD’S SIDE. He’s an expert at pleasing the Father. Any effort we make to change without His input is doomed to fail. It may produce a temporary result – but it will not grow FRUIT that lasts. You know the really great thing about growing fruit, is once it starts happening the fruit happens all by itself. We simply need to keep our focus on the Lord – then the Holy Spirit will supply what we need.  Doing what the Holy Spirit leads us to do, transforms our whole view of this life.

Whenever He leads us, we cannot possibly get proud – HE helped us and WE KNOW IT!  Self-effort is an exercise in futility that will send us off into despair – following Him leads us into a freedom we have never known.👋

P 2655 Reflections

/ DVH

I have recently come to the conclusion our society is no longer living our lives in a holistic, interactive, interpersonal way anymore. We seem to see sex as the same thing as intimacy, and we have contented ourselves with living this life voyeuristically. What I mean is people are watching other people live their fictional lives on TV or social media pages. 

Even if most of what is read is exaggerated or photoshopped – and whether it is true OR NOT — it is, unfortunately, way too easy to live our lives like peeping toms peeking through life’s windows, and occasionally making clever comments. That’s a very poor use of a beautiful God-given gift – insight. People can get so busy trying to impress each other, that they aren’t living the life they actually have, … enjoying the days God has given us, plus interacting with the people who live around us.  

Many years ago, hubby and I were blessed to travel to many other parts of this world. I became so obsessed with taking photos for our memories back home, that in the end … I was looking at all that glorious once-in-a-lifetime scenery through a view finder. The Lord whispered to my heart: “Look UP. You are really here. Enjoy the sun on your face, enjoy the people around you. Enjoy the atmosphere. You can’t live your life through a view finder!” Hilariously, that whole thing had a fascinating ending … we hardly ever looked at those photos when we got home! 

You and I only have now … even the next minute may not be ours. All over this world human beings have died while I am taking the time to type this. Humanity seems to have become quite shallow parodies of who we can really be. Only standing up to demand things, and complain about what we want. We protest, instead of finding ways to contribute! We were made for finer things.

But although we can now plumb the depths of our oceans with clever, specially made vehicles, we can’t plumb the depths of our own souls! Apparently hurting people aren’t very interesting or popular — so most of us have learnt to hide what is really happening inside, where we actually live — because we need to present a successful happy face to the world around us. We’ve stopped participating and now we live our lives spectating. The only thing that can tempt us to participate is MORE MONEY.

This faith life we have been given is to be lived, enjoyed, savoured – not dissected or commented upon. As Christians we will miss the best bits if we don’t appreciate what we have right now. It is in front of us. We all need to turn off our critical responses and start looking for what is good about things and how can I help? I don’t need to be famous to help, I just need to get off my butt and do something.

There are times when we spend our precious time discussing other people and their faults, and pulling them apart with words. If we are clever enough we can make you laugh, and feel bad, all at the same time!! We dissect other people like frogs in a laboratory … but our spiritual eyes are so blind that we cannot see that other people have pain that is beyond their words, and outward appearances. Thank God for our Saviour Who sees beyond our posturing and pretence, right into our hearts.  …“Then we cried out, “Lord, help us! Rescue us!” And He did! His light broke through the darkness and He led us out in freedom from death’s dark shadow and snapped every one of our chains.”  Psalms 107:13-14.

Thank God for Jesus! He specifically came here to show us another way to live. Despite this world’s cynicism, and the need for the next thing or fad to amuse us – we have the power to choose to change and BE changed. We can control our own destiny, by participating in what is good, right and profitable. We simply must deliberately choose to put down all that stuff that is often simply this life’s pollution, destroying the beauty of who we can be. You and I are the pinnacle of God’s creation! I don’t care if you have 5 billion dollars or I have one dollar to my name, we all have the capacity to grow and contribute to this world, even in our old age.  

However, we cannot help others if we present them with a specially crafted front – a parody of real faith. To witness to others, we need to be real. So if we aren’t coping, then we need to tell someone. Pray! Ask for the Lord’s help. Life is a process and nobody is perfected yet!  Lastly, as we live our lives, we cannot afford to live with a skewed reality. That’s the way this world currently lives.  Let’s live this life, the only one we have (!!) … knowing that even our scars can tell wonderful stories about our Saviour. Bye. 👋

P 2649 Moving house will change your life.

/ DVH

“We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” Romans 6:4,6,7,&11. “For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—  because anyone who has died has been set free from sin…”  In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

Have you ever physically moved house? I have quite a few times. For those of us who haven’t ever moved, it is a long drawn out process that involves packing up your whole life, and putting everything into boxes, then shoving them into a moving van. Then you go to your new residence and you start unpacking etc. You won’t go back to that old house to live there anymore … because you’ve moved away from it.

Let’s look at what happened when we were born again. WE ALL MOVED HOUSE when we gave our lives to Christ. We left our old life behind us. There is no reason to try to live in that old house anymore, because we gave that house up in favour of living in a far superior new one. Somebody else was trying to kill us where we used to live, and that place we lived in was our life before we met Jesus.

Every time I have ever moved house, I have gone through my stuff and chucked OUT things I no longer needed.  I did not want to start my new life in a new house with junk I didn’t need anymore. When Jesus died for us – He took ALL OUR JUNK with Him to the cross. That junk is gone – just like the earthly junk I sent off to the Salvation Army! Amazingly, the bible says this: not only did we move house – at the same time WE DIED. This means we don’t NEED any of that old stuff any more! It belonged to our old way of life.

We gave up living there in favour of living in His presence, His kingdom. Our new house has given us a brand new way to live. Every part of us moved! Now our life has been hidden within Christ’s life, He took care of our sins, once and for all. Which is why sinning is a waste of time!! Why would we ever want to willingly go back to that old life where we were held hostage to sin? That was the place where sin ran the way we did practically everything.

Sin can’t have power over us the way it did before. The only way it can have power over us now is if we give it permission. Our permission, our choices are the criteria that will daily make all the difference. We simply tell satan we will not be dragged back into that old way of living! There will be some adjustment required because we are used to living in that old house, so familiarity could grab us.

But that was also the house where blame, shame, rejection and abandonment lived. In that old house love was conditional – it depended upon our behaviour. In our new house love is unconditional. Our precious Saviour oversees every single aspect of our lives now. To live fully alive there, all we need to do is simply follow our Master’s clear instructions in His book and leave the old house with its old ways BEHIND.

Nothing, not our current or previous circumstances, nor our old proclivities … absolutely nothing that happened to us before we were saved has the power to force us back into that old ‘house’ … even our old habits, our old ways of thinking, doing and being. We take our way of thinking, being and doing from the bible, now by choice. The bible is our illustration of what living in this new life looks like! Practically speaking, I can’t live in my physical old house anymore, because it is about 10 suburbs away and somebody else lives there now! That way I lived is now dead to me.

You and I could get into difficulties and become unhappy, if we decide we like the old way that we lived better than this new way. That’s why we actively look for His benefits in our lives. The bible tells us not to forget them … 

…one of the benefits of moving house for me, means my adult kids and grandkids live around the corner! Now I get to see them more. Plus I no longer live on the main road, with greatly increased traffic, now I live in a very quiet street.

When we gave our lives to Christ, we went from a life that had no purpose, no real meaning, into a life that moved forward and that new life propelled us into new exciting things. Things like getting to know the God of the Universe and beyond …!! SomeBody loved all of us enough to die for us. They WANTED us – we are not ‘extras’ on the vast stage of life, now we are HIS children. . 

In this new life/house we’ve been given, we all have a destiny. It isn’t just any old thing that someone made up so we wouldn’t be left out, this is something that only WE can do. If we don’t do it, it won’t get done. Now we can all ‘live for our Father’s pleasure.’ Our job is to learn to occupy our new house, so no trace of the old house/life is left. Moving house will change your life! 👋

P 2647 Hitting the refresh button.

/ DVH

“Are you weary, carrying a heavy burden? Come to Me. I will refresh your life, for I am your oasis.” Matthew 11:28 TPT. As I have said many times before, I am very literal when it comes to reading the bible. This means that I tell the Lord, “Please help me Jesus, I am tired out of my brain, I need Your refreshing.” I call that hitting the refresh button. Now here’s a truly great refresh button, from the bible, just for you and me!

“For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom we have now received reconciliation.” Romans 5:10, 11 &17. “For if,by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!”

So after I’ve read that, I put what it says in my own words. It goes like this, “If one ordinary guy (and his wife) managed to stuff up the wonderful things God had for mankind – then it stands to reason that His own Son, coming here to earth and living this life the way it can be lived – will release grace, and righteousness, plus the ability to rise above our day to day circumstances.’  Amen.

Here’s a heads up. You can’t do what I just did if you are running by the bible with a piece of toast in your hand, on your way to the office! The best thing to do is to pretend you are a tea bag and just sit in the Word until its goodness comes out! If we want to live this life refreshed, we must allow the bible to wash us, and let it soak in. If a stupid computer needs to be refreshed from time to time, then I sure do. Stuff happens in my world all the time and I forget to duck! 

The other day we went to the doctor and she was such a negative Nancy I wanted to go home and pull the covers over my head. However within days, Father God proved her negative POV wrong. Sometimes people will say and do things … ugly, grumpy, faithless things. You know when Jesus is not in charge, none of us are all that great. Life happens and it isn’t always happy happy joy joy! This means I will often need a fresh page to go on with – how about you? I need to pull focus back to what is real, and separate out whatever is shadows from the past, floating through my mind making me angry, unhappy or afraid.

The bible clearly tells me that God is not mad at me, now I have the freedom that Christ died to give me. After I soak in that thought, whatever I need to do is already done, because I am yielding to the will of the greater One within me. FYI, I’ve learnt to let go of my own way – my way ends in death! So … I forgave the doctor and then I got on with what was going on, even though it was a little hairy at our house for a bit. I want His way, the way that leads to life — life and more life. This means I can have His grace for any situation I find myself in, and if I forget to partake of that Grace — then I have His Grace to lead me back into His complete redemption!

Here’s an important key to living this life refreshed … Don’t look at your circumstances and defer hope by waiting for things to change before you enjoy His benefits. “Hope deferred will make your heart sick!”  Start reading about His benefits and then start cheering.The bible tells us not to forget His benefits in Psalm 103:v2. Remind yourself of everything that He has done in your life. The more we pull on that string of remembrance the more good stuff comes to the surface – we start remembering how good He has been to us.  We can preach ourselves happy if we take the time to really remember, read, and tea-bag soak in all He has done for us when we read our Beloved’s words.

The bible is not just an ordinary book. It is God Himself speaking to us from day to day. Imagine this. Suddenly you are pulled up into the throne room, you have no idea how … and Almighty God starts speaking to you from the throne. That’s what happened to Isaiah and Paul … do ya think they might have remembered what He said? To be refreshed we need to give His book more than a cursory glance. We need to prayerfully ask “What have You got for me today precious Holy Spirit?” Then pause, and read. Read until your heart gets happy and you start to think ‘I never knew that stuff was in there.’

Every day we meet the Lord in His book, and we use that book to refresh ourselves. We pray and talk things over with Him, so we can spend refreshing times with Him. We are His kids whether we feel like it or not. We cannot afford to live in our feelings because they change with the weather and our circumstances. Push the refresh button and drag your thoughts out of hell and into heaven. He’s waiting for you … 👋

P 2643 We all have the power to touch many.

/ DVH

John 6:5-13: “When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward Him, He said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” He asked this only to test him, for He already had in mind what He was going to do. Philip answered Him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” Another of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up,“Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”

Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. When they had all had enough to eat, He said to His disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.”

This is a story that we all know well. Especially if we went to Sunday School, or Children’s Church! It was probably one of the stories that we heard because those concepts were suitable for kids. Back in the ark I told it with flannel graph. (OK, you never heard of flannel graph, it’s a thing, look it up!) There are many things that stand out about this particular story — I love the fact that this little boy was not intimidated by how many people there were, instead he was prepared to share the little he had with everyone. He was generous. Ya might want to think on that for a couple of years.🤔

I believe that this scripture illustrates that nobody’s life is too small, or too insignificant for the Lord to use. The only secret to living a godly kingdom life, is in giving that life to HIM! That child surrendered his lunch. Which BTW, also meant that he no longer had it!  His lunch wasn’t much by this world’s standards. However, we are kingdom people so we do not have to live by this world’s idea of faith! Christ came, lived and died to show us that fame, money, expertise, and influence mean nothing. After all, Jesus Christ, His life and ministry could have been just a tiny blip on the radar screen of this life. But the Lord changed everything, because He surrendered all He had to His Father … to the death.

Your life is not ordinary. The minute you gave your life to Christ, your potential increased exponentially like that little boy’s lunch. That child’s lunch fed 5,000 people … and … let’s not forget the leftovers … because they matter. One basket left over for each disciple. One basket of proof that God Himself was there with them! Meanwhile, I note that there was no left-over fish, and a good thing that was too! Imagine the smell!! … Moo-ving on …

I dunno why, but in the church in recent years there has been this big push on producing, teaching, training and using people who have been given incredible powerful gifts from God. We advertise these people like rock stars. Sadly often the fame and pressure can lead to them acting like normal human beings and falling on their heads and doing some ugly thing or other. A gift, is no more a sign of perfection than that little boy’s volunteered lunch was a sign of a miracle. The power fell when Jesus Christ accepted the gift and broke it, gave it to His disciples and they distributed it to everyone else.

There is a weird reaction to the phenomenon of the famous Christian — the rest of us trot up to church to sit in a pew or a seat and watch that person do their spiritual thing. Well, that’s just dumb! Why waste the potential of the people who are sitting down? There are also times when we ask other ‘gifted’ people to pray for people in the prayer line etc. That’s even more dumb! Now we are telling everyone else it is OK to be a needy passenger, not a pro-active participant! Thinkaboudit. 

Just stop for a minute. Imagine what this world might look like if everyone who names the Name of Jesus as Lord and Saviour lived this life the way Paul describes in the Epistles. Wouldn’t that blow your mind? 🤯  We can get so busy growing big churches we forget about developing the unseen potential of the person warming a seat in the middle of the congregation. Instead we go about looking for the bright shiny ones, the ones who have an anointing. 

PS The bible says we are all anointed ones!! 1 John 2:20 “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.” Sadly those super stars can get knocked over by our enemy because they stand up there in the spotlight ALONE. Or even worse, they stand up there with people who tell them what they want to hear, because ‘you mustn’t touch the anointing.’ 🙄 So instead people just go away and bad-mouth them and complain about them behind their backs. Now there’s a smart move …!!  😱

Here’s my advice to you dear reader, take your little lunch, your only lunch … your only life — and give it to Jesus. Then start behaving like He did, loving people everywhere you go. I’m talking about living your ordinary life, the only life you have, free of the encumbrances of day after day after day of the same old same old! Because your life has a purpose. Trust Him to help you to touch many for His sake. Bye 👋 

P 2637 Be an original.

/ DVH

I sometimes live in the land of stone-cold-tea! I actually get so focussed on writing, I forget to drink it when it is hot. It is the bane of my hubby’s life having to warm up my tea all the time, so I can enjoy it. There are days that I’m such a FUN person to live with. Not. Ho- hum. ☕️ I think my record of tea re-warming is 3 times in a row. Ask hubby!  Any-hoo, the other day I discovered this great little gizmo from China that keeps a cup of tea or coffee hot for hours. I love the creative genius behind that seemingly insignificant invention!! 

I have learnt over the years to appreciate human diversity and our individual ability to see the same thing in different ways. People are truly amazing, and our God made us that way, on purpose. Ya gotta love that!! It also means that when I look at you, I can see Him, in a totally different way. WOW!! It is a shame that religion aims at everyone being the same — yet God celebrates our differences. They are part of His creativity.  In my heart I believe that each person has a unique expression of Who He is to share with the world. In other words we are all richer because He sent YOU here! Thank you Lord – You really do give good gifts!

“God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display His wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 3:10. We have this lovely lady, (she’s God’s gift!), who comes into our house once a fortnight to help us. She cleans the floors for us. I had to give up floor cleaning years ago!  Hmmm. I wish I thought that was a bad thing … but I don’t!! Tee hee. Ya win some – ya lose some. Maybe that’s one of the Lord’s benefits I’m not meant to forget!! 😂  A-ny-wa-y … this lady is the dearest Irish-born-Aussie person and having her around is a joy when you are mostly shut-in. Some people celebrate who they are, don’t they?

When she came to help us last time, she shared the above picture with us. Somebody had carefully chalked thought-provoking things about the Lord on a jogging track. There were a lot more chalk sayings that I could put here!  However, the minute I saw them, I was gobsmacked to see how this person had found such a non-threatening, original way to speak to people. I can’t begin to tell you how much that blesses me. I just adore to see people being themselves and loving Jesus and sharing His truth… all at the same time. 

Each of us has a unique way of expressing His love to others. The thing I have personally learnt lately is this — unless we are doing those things that make us feel a bit vulnerable, we are probably staying within our own comfort zone. That comfort zone is a poorly-made construct that we’ve allowed, it is used to hide us. And it will restrict our efforts to shine for Him if we are not aware of it. So we will have to learn how to be “strong and courageous” — like Joshua said. That’s what faith does. It tackles the difficult things as well as the unknown ones simply because those things can be a tourniquet on the life of God within us. 

We can sometimes hesitate to remove those restrictions that we’ve adopted into our lives because they protect our inner selves. Maybe somebody else thought that was who we are – or who they wanted us to be. Or we can use our weaknesses to our own advantage, because remaining unseen seems safer. But Jesus cheerily says: “Don’t be afraid, death is not your enemy – a lack of real life within you is!”  None of us are finished yet, but the Lord wants us to be established in Him daily, within our ordinary lives. If we yield to Him, we will have enough strength to withstand the bigger storms and dark seasons of this life. The way through difficulties is to trust in Him more than we trust our own judgment. 

I love the way the Lord is been removing those badly made constructs around our lives to expose the great work He has been doing inside… Even when we weren’t looking! Personally, I think if we had seen what He was doing with some of us, we might have meddled with it or tried to help Him! But He works in, and on our hearts in secret and brings out the very best of who we really are, and He doesn’t do His big reveals about us until His project in us is established. Our God is a master builder, and unlike the world around us, He knows how to work with stone to bring it to life! Praise Him!! 

Years ago there was this dumb riddle …”Which came first? The chicken or the egg?” The minute I heard that riddle I thought:  ‘how silly, God would never leave a little vulnerable egg all alone to raise itself!’  Then I realised that my faith is in God’s judgment, not in what seemed right to me. It was meant to be a clever puzzle but my knowledge of Him made the answer into a fact!  BTW, please don’t ask me why that stupid chicken crossed the road? As far as I’m concerned that chook deserves whatever it gets when it is challenging cars! Like I said, be an original, we need your POV.  Bye for today, have a good one. 👋

P 2628 “Don’t You care??”

/ DVH

“Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”  Mark 4:38. Of course you would never say that … and I would never say that either! 🙄 Hmmm… while we are all on this learning curve called life, I believe that there are times when we’ve all prayed, we’ve hoped, we’ve stood on the Word and …. and! … nothing changed. It’s what we do after that happens that matters. Fear makes a poor leader – yet we all know how it feels and what we sometimes do to avoid it!

We had one of those times recently. Hubby and I have been married for 37 years, and there are times, not often, 🙌 – when we disagree. That chaos, of course, is instantly replaced by something spiritual and peaceful…  we sing ‘Kumbaya’ and it is all fixed!! It is a wonder my nose is not in Pakistan by now … Me and Pinocchio, just like that.🤞

So, long story short, we argue just like everyone else. My primary reason for talking about it today, is that the only way for all of us to get to the other side, like the disciples wanted to – Is to be real about who we are and the fact that we aren’t totally transformed yet! I like to throw blame in the bin. However, there are also times when I can miss! … I always was a lousy shot!! That’s when I discover, all over again, that I still need His help and transformation badly.  I too, can get tired of cheerily singing: “I’ve got a new way of living”  … 😊🙌 … and instead I want to have a tantrum.

So I’m praying, with tears, of course! ‘God don’t you care??’ And somehow, in the back of my mind, I can see these 12 guys stuck in this boat going up and down, up and down, taking a violent seawater bath … Now, let’s look at this …Jesus is up the back of the boat taking a power nap. Yeah.I’m pretty sure I would have had a “Don’t you care Lord?” in me too.

Now let’s be clear. The Lord Jesus needed that sleep. He had just delivered an amazing sermon about planting seeds in good places and watching them grow. Of course, the disciples all thought they were getting a horticultural lesson! But the Lord was teaching them how to retain good seed and become fertile ground. Stuff like getting rid of rocks (of unbelief) and weeds (of fear and arrogance) as well as shoo-ing off the birds that want to steal and peck at your faith. (Other people’s anger, and rotten behaviour toward us.) 

These guys had had a great meeting, right before this. They learned lots … they took lots of notes … well, … probably not, … because they would have looked like nerds. Anyway!! The blooming boat starts to sink and things look pretty terrible …!! It’s not just a bit of a splash in the face, BTW, this boat starts taking water in. Boat in water OK! Water in boat NOT OK!! Anyone knows that. The disciples let their KNOWLEDGE of the sea drown out their FAITH.

These experienced fishermen were frightened out of their wits by the power of the sea and they knew a bad storm when they saw one.  So there were “we’re gunna die” shrieks and shouts … and then they remember that Jesus is up the back of the boat — and — “How on earth CAN HE BE SLEEPING??!!” Just like little kids run to their mum or dad and demand that they fix something that is broken – we too sometimes run to the Lord and drop our faith along the way. We simply can’t work out why He isn’t helping us.

In times like these we need to tell ourselves – one more time  … and press on, remembering that we are stretching ourselves a little bit further.  Do yourself a favour, try not to set false finishing lines. The bible teaches us: “WE STRIVE …WE STRETCH toward the goal …”  that doesn’t mean we always get there! Sometimes knowing where to run TO is everything —  especially when life produces chaos. Even though these men had just learnt about being careful about where to plant the seed of God’s Word, they immediately planted it in earthly fear instead. Don’t we all?!!  

Whatever we think we’ve learnt, is going to be tested. God is not interested in raising up a whole lot of people with fat heads and skinny, dried-up hearts. Pain will overcome our faith unless we cling to the SAVIOUR … not just focussing the result we think we need. It is not about finding the answer or not, it is about: ‘where is MY faith, right now?’ Sometimes my not-so-spiritual-answer is: ‘I dunno! I think it fell right down the well of my unbelief!”

If we want to follow Jesus with all our hearts, even though we know that we do dumb stuff, or sometimes we are oppressed by terrible things – then WE’ve won. Press on… !! We simply must stop throwing away our faith … or even other saints because people make mistakes or they are not perfected yet. None of us are. Redemption is a process. Half the time none of us know what’s IN our own hearts until we get squeezed tightly by circumstances. These fishermen walked with Christ and fear still jumped on them.

The bible wouldn’t teach us how to overcome fear if we didn’t need to learn it. Some awful thoughts attach themselves to Christians like rampaging elephants, crushing the life out of them. Those thoughts do not make us a failure. Hold on … if we can just hold on, and breathe, our faith will come out the other side stronger. When we cling to Jesus in the storm we are doing OK. Remember, the God of all LOVE stood up and HE CALMED THE STORM. We cannot begin to understand the Lord’s aim in whatever is going on in our lives… all we know is that He’s been there before us!

Here’s something to chew on …“the natural mind perceiveth not the things of the spirit.”  1 Corinthians 2:4. So we can’t trust what we think or feel, we must learn, progressively, by pressing in, to trust what He says. We know He cares. It’s in the book. 👋