Lifestyle

P 3311 Just enjoy the ride.

/ DVH

So many times we can be so caught up in ticking our daily boxes of things to do, we can easily forget that none of us get out of this life, alive! My advice for today is this: take the time each day to allow yourself to enjoy the ride. Taking pleasure in each day is the secret of true ongoing acceptance and happiness. It is much too easy to postpone JOY ‘until things get better.’ Don’t let disappointment jump on you and stay!

We can use up our allotted time here on earth, on things that won’t last, and those things can steal away the truly important things. Years ago, there was a saying: ‘Take time to smell the roses.’ Good advice! Unfortunately, today most people feel they don’t have time to grow roses … let alone smell them! We can spend so much time, planning this, and organising that, we can forget to live in the moment. But sometimes His JOY comes in brief moments that help to perfume our whole lifestyle. 

I just heard a story about two black holes which collided outside our universe, billions of trillions of light years away. There were two astrophysicists monitoring the night sky – night after dreary night – and they were tired of looking at nothing much. So one turned to the other and said: “I’m tired, let’s just go home early.” 40 minutes later, the gravitational pressure waves of those two black holes merging eons ago, washed across the earth! This phenomena had never been noted before. But that night it showed up, and registered on their many dials and gizmos. History happened and these men had gone home to bed. I laughed and laughed and laughed.Missed it by ←  that much → Things like this help me enjoy the ride. The two men laughed at themselves too.

If I have one piece of advice to anybody reading this – ya just gotta learn to laugh at yourself! Some of this stuff isn’t worthy of the angst you are spending on it! Make cherished moments just for YOU!  I truly enjoy the bible — it has lovely interesting, expressive words and phrases … a-n-d puzzles. I do love a good puzzle, and the bible is the best puzzle of all! Big confession! I’m a cheater, so I ask the Author loads of questions and He helps me. The more I read, the more I become delighted. Our Father’s Personhood comes out, particularly in the Old Testament. I enjoy this ride every day. At the same time we are so blessed to be able to know the Lord Jesus, He is there — on page after page, in the Gospels. “Jesus is God’s story!” Don’t treat reading it as info – see the Person.

Our Heavenly Father loves to hide things in plain sight. That to me is a big part of the enjoyment I get on this ride we call life. It’s the feeling that He isn’t half as serious about the things that turn our hair grey, as we are! Cyclone Alfred hit us last February, and we are still working on getting our bedroom fixed. So far we’ve moved out of our room 4 or 5 times – we actually lost count. All the furniture – in and out! At the same time, we’ve had people come to fix this, and remove that, and as a consequence — we have had the opportunity to meet people we would never have met who don’t share our faith. 

Enjoying the ride is a skill we can cultivate. It is like living with silence – it is incredibly valuable! I slowly picked things like this up, right after my last child went off to school, when I found I could think in proper English again! 10 years of babies, toddlers etc blew my brain. Sadly I got sick somewhere in there, and then I stopped enjoying the ride, for quite a while. So the Lord had to teach me step by step, how to see the good in things. Living this way helps me focus, despite what is going on round me. Despair bangs on my door too! But looking for Jesus has made it easier to see His pearls amongst the dark grey gravel of life!  

In Galatians 5: 17,18a it tells us why we need to look for the good. “For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other …” The still-being-redeemed part of me can fight against what God wants to give me.That’s why I need to put to death the deeds of the flesh … because I can’t see the good until I change my focus. For me sometimes coping with life, is like turning trouble upside down … to find out what’s good about it! I’m going to shake that joyful sucker out of there somehow!!

One of my best blessings is my dear hubby who has the silliest sense of humour. Somehow I find his peculiar Dad-humour absolutely hilarious!! ‘A cheerful heart truly is the best medicine!’ And I appreciate the Lord’s joy through him. I have checked this out personally, and I can tell you —-‘the joy of the Lord really can be our strength’ … a couple of minutes of laughter will lift anyone’s mood.

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1. The yoke we need to fight against is the idea that this life should be perfect. This verse tells us that God has already given us freedom, so we don’t have to be slaves labouring away to maintain something we already have! That’s like praying for more air in the middle of a forest. I think many man-made yokes rob people of enjoying the ride in their lives. 

Our participation in this life, is that we get to give our burdens to Him. “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” Matthew 11:28,29. WE ARE WEARING THE WRONG YOKE. Jesus has a better one.  Let’s allow ourselves to enjoy the ride. Bye 👋

P 3266 It’s the way we live!

/ DVH

‘So then faith that doesn’t involve action is phoney. But someone might object and say, “One person has faith and another person has works.” Go ahead then and prove to me that you have faith without works and I will show you faith by my works as proof that I believe… …Wasn’t our ancestor Abraham found righteous before God because of His works when He offered His son Isaac on the altar? Can’t you see how His action cooperated with His faith and by His action faith found its full expression?” James 2:17-18, 21-22.

If people cannot see our faith in action then perhaps we need to revise the way we live. We are His witnesses. When witnesses don’t speak up, the truth is left to lie dormant and undiscovered. We have not been designed to live undercover! What we know about Jesus is meant to be ‘published abroad,’ by what we say and do. Our willingness to witness for good, is a sign of our spiritual health. Faith is more than buttering buns for morning tea – it’s the way we live.

I really hesitated about writing about this true story from my own life. But after prayer, the Lord gave me clearance to do it. Years ago, our family lived in a tiny cottage that had a rental property next to us. They often had pretty wild parties, which wasn’t much fun because our houses were a couple of metres apart. One night some noise or other woke me up and I could clearly hear someone crying, pleading with some male voices. I could hear a female sobbing: ’Stop, stop! Please let me go!’ 

My poor hubby was regularly on night shift back then so it was hard to wake Him. The terrible sound of fear, pain and anguish and sobbing continued next door. Eventually hubby woke up, but the terrible sobbing etc was gone, and so we phoned the police to report it and get help. The woman, by this time was a long distance away,  walking away from the house and a man came out and yelled at her: “I can do whatever I want to you, whenever I want.” 

The police eventually turned up, much later, but by then next door was quiet – they knocked on the door and spoke to someone, but there wasn’t much else they could do. They took note of what we said and left. So we continued to pray for the people involved and left it alone. 

It was more than a year before we heard any more about it. A female police officer knocked on our door following the incident up, and she was canvassing the area asking people in the neighbourhood if they knew anything about it. She nearly fell over when I answered: “yes I had,” and we let her in. We told her we had rung the police and then we gave her the same details we had given before. 

Then she asked me if I was prepared to testify in court, to what I had heard. I said: “yes,” so did hubby, and again she seemed very surprised. Nobody else had come forward, apparently people are not willing to get involved in such things. She took our details and told us she would be in touch when the matter went before the court. My extended family didn’t want me to testify, because their fear for our safety took over… the man next door might try to get revenge etc… whatever! 

Eventually we fronted up to court, which involved its own difficulties, and I stood up in the dock and I told the court what I had heard, and hubby gave testimony about what he heard the man yell out in the street. I guess what we said must have helped, because this man was sentenced to a whole lot of years in prison for rape. After that we heard no more.

A couple of months later, I was outside in the garden hanging out the washing, when the side gate flew open and this little bit of a girl raced in, carrying the biggest bunch of flowers I’ve ever seen. She was weeping copiously, and she shoved the flowers at me, with tears pouring down her little face, and said: “thank-you thank-you, thank-you,” she hugged me really tightly, and then ran out of the gate again. It was all over in seconds. My best guess was that she was the victim from what had happened next door. 

We didn’t get a chance to talk about Jesus  … we just did what He told us to do. My point is this: we weren’t witnessing, we were simply living for Him. When I saw that young woman that day, she looked like a 12 year old she was so tiny. I was so incredibly glad we had followed the whole thing through to help give her some sort of closure. Personally I could care less if someone sees what we do or not. 

Many brave souls have gone on before us unseen and unacknowledged and they’ve done far greater things for others, and for the Lord, than I can possibly imagine! This way of life we have all entered into needs to become a lifestyle. You don’t have to debate this and that, plus the dangers of whatever … you just do what is good, right and profitable! Jesus knows when we lay down our lives for someone else.

Faith without works is dead and so are works without faith. Those two things go together. There are things for each one of us to do that won’t happen if we don’t do them. Our actions, whether they are seen or not, are the expression of our faith. It is the tangible expression of what lies within. If there is no expression then faith goes unnoticed. Faith is the way we choose to live.  Bye. 👋

P 3237 Always remember WHO He is.

/ DVH

“Look at the splendour of Your skies, Your creative genius glowing in the heavens. When I gaze at Your moon and Your stars, mounted like jewels in their settings, I know You are the fascinating artist who fashioned it all! But I have to ask this question: Why would You bother with puny, mortal man or care about human beings?”  Psalms 8:3-4 TPT. Because HE LOVES US! That’s why.

In John 13:23 we are told this: “One of His disciples, whom Jesus loved (esteemed), was leaning against Jesus’ chest.” I want to say this before I say anything else today … If safety is something that you treasure, then what John said shows us that being right here next to Him, is the safest place in all the world. The Lover of our souls, our Beloved, will keep us safe – in spite of whatever is going on around us. 

Resting in and on, the Lord Jesus, is our great privilege and quest. Forget ministries, or human importance, or platforms, or even other people’s admiration, this particular disciple picked the best place to be — listening to His heartbeat.  We will miss so much of Who He really is when we are too busy to listen to His heartbeat.

It is important that we understand that our God, our Heavenly Father, the Great and Wise Omnipotent, Omnipresent Everlasting God of all the ages – is to be listened to, and revered and obeyed, not just quickly passed over or ignored!  We must learn to put our easily influenced feelings aside, to stop and remember the God – Who made everything we can see – loves me! 

The fact that He loves all of us with a love that will never die, does not mean we can simply flick away our responsibility to pay attention to everything He has said. We can’t ever afford to cherry-pick our responses or use His beyond-our-ability-to-understand, Grace, against Him… by telling ourselves: ’God loves me, He understands, He won’t mind.’ That’s misusing the Grace He has given us. This ever-present, always living and loving Grace has been released into our, lives. Yours and mine, as a gift. It was incredibly costly.

I think that deceit has wrapped the Christian church in its blanket, and we are becoming hard of hearing and blind to what is actually going on around us. I urge us all to pray  —  and then go and do!  Don’t ever let the size of the task discount you from participating. The bigger the test, the greater the victory.  Instead be truthful and sincerely tell the Holy Spirit: “I can’t do this, please help me!”  Amen. 

We need to remember, that we are not dealing with a god made in our own image, we are dealing with the One Who placed the stars in the sky…with His fingers!!! And despite what we tell ourselves, or this world tells us, we are His people.  Whenever we are ill, or infirm in one way or another, we truly find out how frail we are, often helpless against the darkness that presses in against us without Him. The answer is simple —never do anything without Him!

Let’s stop our solitary focus on me, my situation, my health – or lack of it, my family, my poverty – and start gazing at Him. Gazing at Him is another form of worship. Worship is not just singing songs on Sunday—it is the way we live. When we know, from our own personal interaction and experience, that our God is bigger than anything we can think or imagine – we can more easily rest, be at peace, and let Him do the work. BTW, rest does not mean we sit on our hands and do nothing. It means that we know we can do a whole lotta somethings, because we are utterly relying upon Him! 

God can do anything, with anyone, no matter how inadequate they feel. The bible shows us that. It is filled with men and women who would never have made it without God helping them. Instead of wrongly using His Grace to excuse our non-participation in His kingdom, let’s choose to rely, rest and depend on that Grace to help us do the things we are here to do. Everything the Lord asks us to do, we simply cannot do without Him. 

You may not have my difficulties, Some days, I have to ask Him to help me get out of bed or go to the loo! But the reality is I have been blessed so many times because of the Way He loves and helps me. Over and over again the Lord Jesus surprises me with His goodness. Plus He never does the same thing twice. Bonus buy!

The daily opportunities to serve Him and others that the Lord puts before us, will always be bigger than we are. Stretching us is part of His plan. My advice is to start cheering right away!! Take it from me that this means we are going to see the goodness of God operating in a way we’ve never seen before. And that … is simply ev-ery-thing!!

Because our God is so big, and so mighty, plus His creativity is inexhaustible … routines or methods won’t pass this way of thinking on, it is a LIFESTYLE. We choose it, and then we hold fast to it, despite everything else that happens around us. Jesus gets all the glory because what happens is undeniably impossible. He is so much more glorious, caring, kind, creative and wonderful than we can ever imagine! Bye.👋 

“Yahweh, You are my soul’s celebration. How could I ever forget the miracles of kindness You’ve done for me?” Psalms 103:2 TPT. Amen. 🥰

P 3214 Let’s aim higher.

/ DVH

My beautiful daughter said this to me the other day when we were talking about 1 Corinthians 13 and its application. She emphasised some words in 1 Corinthians 13:3, like this:“LOVE REMAINS!” In other words, our love for Him and others, shouldn’t float in and out with the tide. The Lord’s love STAYS with us, no-matter-what-happens, steady on its course, and ours needs to aim at that too. That thought stopped me in my tracks. As comforting as it is to know that His love will never fail me, what’s going on where I am? Let’s aim together at having His kind of enduring, never-ending love … the love our Bridegroom deserves. A love that dies for another’s sake.

Everything that the Lord mentions in these really well-known verses is designed to REMAIN, so that it becomes who we are. Previously it seemed to me that it was a bit of a dream to think I could attempt something like that. I believe obedience is the key factor when you want to walk with the Holy Spirit, but sometimes I’d give up for a while, because it seemed like I was letting the other person get away with being difficult. 😱 It is quite useful and just a little bit shocking, to let yourself hear your own thoughts out loud. All I learnt from wandering in and out of love as the mood took me, was that you can make an awful mess all by yourself!

Let’s look at what the bible says: ‘love is patient, kind, not envious, doesn’t boast, is not proud. It doesn’t dishonour others, and it is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered, and doesn’t keep a record of wrongs” etc. We can’t walk in His kind of love, and do the opposite the next minute! Love doesn’t change, so neither should WE! Big breath in … in other words we can’t have this kind of love one week, and lose it the next! Faith, hope and love remain. Ergo, if it doesn’t remain it’s probably me still trying my little heart out! When I’ve thought about these verses previously — before my darling daughter opened her big mouth, was: “Yeah, those things remain – in heaven!”  Whoops.

I went a bit off my adult daughter momentarily when she pointed out that whole remaining vibe thingy. I didn’t like that idea much. I’m only human, and people mess up, everyone does. And that’s when I hit another speed bump – Jesus didn’t mess up and He was also human! And there I go again … underestimating the power of God to bring about real change.

Remain can mean more than one thing. It means that it lasts, but it can also mean if it is His kind of love — you have proof it exists because it is still there! You can’t shake it, break it, or lose it. I was always good at sums at school, and I did this sum pretty quickly… If I don’t have that kind of love then I don’t have the real thing yet. I’ve let my AIM settle for less. Now I know why the bible says: “Earnestly pursue love…” (1 Corinthians 14:1a) ‘Cos that stuff runs away from you, and we are going to have to chase after it, it won’t fall on us.

If I am going to let His love remain in me, I am going to need loads of help. I know that by myself, I definitely can’t remain in love – but just because I can’t do it, or I think I can’t do it, that should not change my AIM! People annoy me, just like they annoy you, and I have learnt how to repent, repair and move on …BUT … when I am having the same difficulty over and over and over again … it’s time to revise what is really going on.

I rapidly came to the conclusion that if I don’t choose to walk with the Holy Spirit, I’m going to blow this incredible lasting transformation in about 5 seconds flat. Actually, it’s probably more like two seconds — I was hopeful and I exaggerated!! The truth is — if the Lord doesn’t have a way to help me with this I’m sunk. The very best I can do is say nothing, and … I’m not good at saying nothing! Sigh. Guess what? God always has a way.

I did some further research. and I also found this verse. It said: “… follow after this kind of love…” I am assuming the translator meant follow after Jesus, because I don’t personally know anyone currently alive who is walking in this kind of love! However, that doesn’t mean it isn’t available to us. We too can learn to live and walk this way, but we will have to DIE to self, first. Jesus promises to teach US how. In 1 John 3:18 – we are exhorted to practise love: “Let us not love with words or speech, but with actions and in truth.”

That is challenging too. Plus it says in Colossians 3:14: “And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” So this kind of love can be ‘put on.’ Some versions say: “clothe yourselves.” It seems to me that we need to put on this kind of love and never ever take it off!! Even if we are harshly provoked. It’s kind of like the idea some nationalities had in the olden days before proper heating. They sewed themselves into their long johns for the winter. (They did make provision for the loo, BTW.) They put that garment on, with no view in mind of taking it off again, any time soon.

I think we need to let the Lord stitch us so far inside God’s Word – forever – that we have no thought about ever taking it off!  We must be so committed to Jesus and His cause that we will die rather than excuse ourselves. We cannot afford to think that obedience to His word is OPTIONAL any more. The thing is, if I look at love as a lifestyle, I will probably get overwhelmed and be tempted to opt out. I need to be devoted to what I believe, minute by minute.

I’m just going to leave that thought there so you and I can stew on it. I think that sounds like a permanent change. How about you? Let’s aim higher. Bye. 👋

P 3184 I Wonder?

/ DVH

I must say I am not sure how this new system of being a specific age before you use social media, is going to work out overall. I think it is a great idea. But good luck reinforcing something when your teenage kids are expert at using your logic against you. What is wrong with a parent saying: “No?” Or, “It’s dinner time put your phone down please!?” Or… “We are having a no-phone day today and that includes parents!” It seems to me that parents are now scared of their kids and there is something seriously wrong with that! (Read 2 Timothy 3:2)

In my opinion, children need to learn to self-regulate, and parents don’t always have the time to be nice about it. One of mine ran on the road when they were little, I did not make a suggestion or give an alternative response!I screamed: “Danger!” And ran after them. We are not raising totally autonomous little beings – our children live in a world with other people – and they need to learn to act accordingly. This world is not there to contribute to them, they are here to contribute to it!  One of mine bit someone else’s kid when they were little…but they only did it once! 

I did some homework in this subject and found that “no’ is a bad word to use when you are parenting. Blimey… ! I’m glad I’m not parenting a child now! I told mine when they were angry with me for disciplining them: “I’m your parent, not your friend, now go and do what I say.” I can understand the fear of being reported – going to jail for smacking your kid will do that to you. Crazy stuff! It seems Big Brother is watching, and Big Brother ain’t all that wise!!

However, I subscribe to what the bible says — back in the Ark it worked for me!  Proverbs has lots of useful teaching kids info in it. “Train up a child in the way he should go [teaching him to seek God’s wisdom and will for his abilities and talents], Even when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6. “Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.” Proverbs 13:24. Now there’s a shocker, and here’s another one! “Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.” Proverbs 22:15. 

I wonder what today’s world would make out of Abraham tying up Isaac and plopping him on an altar, all ready to kill him? Abe’s only lame-o excuse was: “God told me to do it!?” Or what about Hannah dropping off her little boy at the local synagogue at the age of three or four and leaving him there? Now there’s a new kind of all day-every day daycare!

There are loads of scriptures like the three I put above – but I’m pretty sure in today’s world we choose to ignore them. Because …we know better than God nowadays … He’s old fashioned…apparently! How does that go again?? How well is this tolerant attitude working on those teenagers pinching other people’s cars, beating up elderly people, and running around carrying machetes? Let’s think this idea through for a bit. If our children learn “no”when they are little, they will eventually learn how to discipline themselves. Or perhaps they will end up in grown up jail, because we’d rather look good!

I know that there are some kids who will disobey just to test the boundaries. I had some of those. Have we forgotten that boundaries represent security? Kids need security! We must always pray about stuff, but we need to teach our kids Godly boundaries too. The bible is an action book – not a book full of theories. God’s book has loads of practical daily applications. But one of the ways you can teach your kids is to set a good example. 

It’s no use talking about not stealing if you continue to cheat on your income tax. Or maybe you don’t take back money that is not yours when the check-out chick gives you the wrong change! Telling them not to squabble will have a short shelf-life if you and your spouse regularly have word fights as a love language! What you watch on TV is another way to witness to them. I used to tell mine: “Jesus wouldn’t watch that, its demonstrating how to do stuff we don’t do, because we follow Him.” The Lord disciplines us for our own good – love doesn’t always say ‘yes.’

On the positive side: my hubby, (grandpa), takes any or all of our grandkids out with him, when he is visiting the neighbours to bless them with a gift, or helping them out. Our grandson, who is 15, asks a bazillion questions afterward. It has opened up all kinds of conversations. Faith is not just a Sunday event, it’s a lifestyle. And yes, I have had more than one of my own kids reject that lifestyle … but praise Him that the Word of God eventually prevailed and now they have their own faith – without any pressure from me. Now my kids teach ME stuff. Boy, that was a hard nut to swallow initially, but I’m the better for it. They help to keep me honest about what I believe. 

My last thought on this subject is this:  our world today is totally happy to accept the premise that we don’t have to respect other people. ‘I will only respect you if you have earned it.”  Hooey! The people who say that guff don’t respect or acknowledge Almighty God  – so why are we following them? That’s backwards! I know I’m old-fashioned, but respecting other human beings is essential. It facilitates relationships. A lack of interpersonal respect promotes anarchy. The whole idea that I’m the only person who can decide whether things are good or bad is terrifying.

I wonder — how are you parenting your kids as you follow Him? Bye. 👋

P 3157 Now here’s a challenge.

/ DVH

Funny the things we pick up along the way that have truth in them. This saying is from Jack London, author. 😂 “The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my time on this earth just existing.”  Boy is that challenging food for thought!

The following scripture talks about how to use our time – and it’s something to chew on, alrighty! It’s a real challenge. Today I found this verse in first Thessalonians.“Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 MSG. OK, We know that Christianity is more than having some sort of faith – it’s a lifestyle. When I think about Jesus and what He did for all of us and we didn’t deserve it, that makes me pretty cheerful.

I imagine that many people could get stuck on the phrase: “pray all the time,” because it can seem a bit daunting. That’s when I realised that the kind of prayer I normally pray is quite simplistic. I dunno if it is theologically sound, but I try to live my everyday life aware of Jesus, and include Him in everything I do. Praying all the time, is a challenge worth accepting. Why? FOCUS. We all need that kind of focus and any kind of prayer helps.

I’ve also learnt to thank God no matter what happens – I know He’s got a plan, the bible says so. The thing is I just don’t know what it is – YET — but my job is to hold onto His goodness until I do.That can mean I have a pretty fat ‘pending’ file! The funny thing about pending files is that sometimes what seemed urgent and immediate, turns out to be a big bag of hot air as time passes. Time makes all the difference, and His timing doesn’t even remotely look like mine. Sometimes the best thing I can do is just hold on to Him because it’s going to be a bumpy ride! Here’s some cheerful challenging advice from the past:

‘Time is filled with swift transition, mm, mm

None, none on earth unmoved can stand

Build your hopes on things eternal

And then hold, hold onto God’s unchanging hand

Trust in Him, Who will not leave you

What, whatsoever the years may bring

When your earthly friends forsake you

Still, still more closely to Him cling

Everybody oughta hold (on to his hand)

Hold to God (God’s unchanging hand)

Everybody outghta hold (on to his hand)

Hold on to God (God’s unchanging hand)

Build your hope on things eternal

And just hold, hold on to to God’s unchanging hand!’ Amen.

There are a number of songs that seem-to-be like prayers. I think they are simply a prayer set to music, that’s all. Meanwhile music accesses a whole other part of our brains, which means we can actually hear the Lord and what He wants to say in stereo! Here’s a laugh, I have no idea how I know that song, but I was sitting here writing this and the title popped into my head … and lo and behold … I knew all the words! Hilarious. I kept on searching for things that help me with my own life’s challenges.

Up until quite recently I have struggled to find some meaning in the kind of life I had in my childhood. But then I became aware that God’s redemptive power shines so brightly, when it is seen against the darkness of pain, loss and misunderstanding. So now, I look at that! The challenging Godly thing that turned the corner for me, was learning to exercise forgiveness. The thing I discovered is that most of the time, we don’t just need to forgive once, because the people involved aren’t necessarily convicted about whatever it was they did. We must keep on forgiving them over and over again. So every time my mind wanders off to ruminate on someone else’s sins – I’ve learnt to forgive them, again.

The second challenge that helped was not talking about what happened, anymore. Somehow, talking about hurts and injuries just magnifies them on the screen of our minds and hearts. And whatever has happened to us it probably doesn’t need any magnification! When we focus on what they did, the whole thing gets worse. Eventually avoidance becomes a “go to” course of action. Mainly because we can’t stop them from hurting us. 

The Holy Spirit ministered this thought to me through the Gospels — forgiveness is not an optional extra — it’s a bonus buy!!  We literally buy it by obediently responding to His Ways of thinking, being and doing. And that is costly. Then we throw human logic in the bin, because logic says punish that rat! However, GRACE says – that rat can be ME!  Here’s the last challenging verse:  “I counsel you to buy from Me gold that has been heated red hot and refined by fire so that you may become truly rich; and white clothes [representing righteousness] to clothe yourself so that the shame of your nakedness will not be seen; and healing salve to put on your eyes so that you may see.” Revelation 3:18. Remembering that we are ALL naked before God, reminds me I need the blood of Jesus, often. 

Perhaps we also need to be more like Gehazi, Elijah’s servant, and remember that the things we can’t see are much bigger than the things we can, you just can’t beat living your life on the Lord’s side! Growth may be challenging and optional, but it is rapidly becoming essential. Bye. 👋

P 3141 The power of Choice.

/ DVH

These pictures directly above the blog, all look so pretty — the golden poison frog, the aconite flower, mercury, and the last one is deadly nightshade. All those things look harmless, but they can kill you in a heartbeat. So does sin. And most human beings are very poor judges of what will harm us. Plus we can be adept at finding thousands of great reasons why what we are doing won’t hurt anyone! The thing is —sin in our lives affects our spiritual hearing, our spiritual sight and we can’t recognise what the Lord is doing. The truth is we are dead to this world, and we no longer have to do anything. 

You know, dead people no longer have anything to do with the law, simply because laws don’t apply to the dead. They apply to the living. We are dead to sin exercising its power over us, when He died. When we chose to follow Him we died. Maturing faith continually chooses to enforce this new reality, day by day. We can’t afford to let the world tell us who we are, instead we let Jesus define us. Independence is overrated! It is a small-minded story thrown up upon the screen of our minds by a deadly enemy — who points out someone else’s sin, and says ‘poor you,’ whenever life is hard. We can end up living under the influence of a lie!

In this modern world people covet getting their own way, because they think they know what makes them happy, and they know best!  True happiness can only be found in Jesus. That’s not just a pretty saying – it’s the truth. in reality, there is no happiness, peace, joy, love, faithfulness, kindness etc. outside of Him..“For when we were in the realm of the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.” Romans 7:5-6.

One of the most wonderful things Father God gave Adam and Eve when He created them, was the freedom to choose. As we mature, we need to grow into making Godly decisions, through our daily choices. Our decisions can have huge ramifications, as we decide to die to self, we will need to walk away from the things that came naturally to us in our past. Now we have chosen to live a different way, and we want to cultivate the reality of the cross in our lives. It hurts to say ‘no’ when everything inside you screams ‘yes.’ Just ask a drug addict or an alcoholic – they grapple daily with choices. 

Human beings have become obsessed with sacrificing the long range benefits of this life, at the cost of immediate gratification. We want what we want now. And we will work day and night to get a holiday that only lasts 3 weeks, or slave to pay for a house we may never own.“For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” Mark 8:36. As Christians, we need to live our lives focussing on the things that will LAST! The thing that is wrong with leaning on our own understanding is that our own understanding is faulty!

When Jesus went to the cross, He took our sin WITH HIM. Now we no longer have to be held captive by the things that have haunted us our whole lives … “no longer to be subject to a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1. Our enemy daily tries to trick us into giving our power to him, so he can set up his nasty little strongholds in our lives.  But the answer is in the book – our obedience to God’s word. Choosing to die to self is the way to kill off our rampant self-centredness. It is foolish to indulge ourselves. It’s death in a prettily wrapped, greatly appealing, immediately gratifying box!

HOWEVER – right, here, right now – we have a Helper, a guide, a counsellor, a comforter Who wants to help us win! Babies cry and crank over lost things, mature people move on. Sin has no power to make us do anything – it’s all down to our choices. We need to practice asking the Holy Spirit to help us!  The power for us to be transformed was released over 2,000+ years ago. The Holy Spirit exploded all over Pentecost and demonstrated to those believers what God’s power looks like in action. Lives were irrevocably changed. That power is still here to transform us — we get it by using our faith as we follow Him.

The power of God looks like preaching when you are scared to death of it. It looks like praying for the sick when you don’t feel so flash yourself. It looks like owning up to the things in your past that you have tried to keep hidden, and then deliberately taking the time to fix them. Mature people don’t leave sin lying about – they take responsibility, and prayerfully and obediently, deal with it. Babies expect someone else to do that for them. We are suppliers of God’s love and grace, not consumers like the rest of this world.

Most Christians have faithfully memorised heaps of scriptures. Now we need to take those scriptures from theory into practice, and INTO our lifestyle. Agreeing with what God says, won’t change a thing unless we act on it. Obedience is the key to His kingdom, but it’s the one key we like to leave dangling on its hook! We can all have genuine reasons why we should hate this person or that circumstance. We’ve chosen to forget that we don’t have to live under any circumstances anymore, because Jesus has let us out of that prison. His love set us free and that love is so powerful, it will continually do it. Our daily choices are powerful. Bye. 👋

P 2984 I haven’t got time for what you think of me.

/ DVH

Yeah, I know, cheeky eh? I’ve learnt that there are huge blessings in getting older — it’s like the biggest secret ever. Your bones may snap, crackle and pop, and your brain can’t always find the file you need in your head. But  I try not to concentrate too hard on the fact that my cheese is slowly sliding off my cracker! Mainly because I also run out of energy easily, so I have had to learn to prioritise.

I think that’s why some older people go doodle-lally as they age – they think they need to keep desperately trying to do the things they’ve done all their lives …  Old bodies aren’t designed to do the things young ones can do. I think of it like this – I’ve had my turn on the stage of life, it is time to stand in the wings and encourage the younger players. You don’t have to bow out, just be a mentor to someone else! You could start by teaching grandchildren to cook, most mums are too busy juggling a hundred things and trying not to drop one of them.

Meanwhile, brain cells dying off are actually a real thing! Don’t feel bad about it, or try to stretch yourself so you look like you are still 21, or 44, or some made-up end-figure. If you are older, you have other benefits to replace the instant clarity you enjoyed when you were younger. Things like this: you don’t feel the urge to constantly rush about, because you’ve learnt things have a way of taking care of themselves. You also hopefully learnt it’s OK to make mistakes, mainly because nowadays you can’t help doing it! 

Moses made a huge mistake at the end of his life… let’s just leave that out there, and say no more. After all He WAS Moses! Abraham kept playing pass the parcel with his poor dear wife Sarah – who was a very patient woman if you think about it.  And let’s not go into Job either … yet that old man ended up wiser in the end than he was when he started out. Just don’t ever give up on learning about, and from, the Lord!

And … here comes another benefit … when you get older, meditation comes more easily. At least once a day I end up meditating on the back of my eyelids – it’s really productive. I feel refreshed afterwards. It’s OK, by the way, my eyelids are both still there and functioning, I just can’t control when I close them as well as I used to. When I was younger I was always busy, but I also remember that being younger and having a family, you are often too busy facilitating other people’s lives. The only thing you end up meditating on is the rapidly growing pile of unpaid bills.

So, here is my text for today:“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.” Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. 

And here’s my observation. If there is a time for everything, then God has His eye on everything and we don’t have to worry about it. Which is why: “Oh well,” is rapidly becoming my new favourite saying. I know that  rich king, Solomon, who wrote this book said … ‘there is a time’ a lot.  He was a bit repetitive, but I find his sayings strangely reassuring. It means we need to take a breath when one of the aforementioned tough things land on us. When you get older you have time to sort stuff out and pray over it. There are lots of advantages to being older! Some of those things make me feel better about not being able to cash in on: “there’s a time to dance. ” I grew wa-ay past that place … ages ago!

Hallelujah! I am so glad there’s a time for everything and anything – even opposite things. Some Christians act like some of these ugly things aren’t in the bible. We all feel hate, just don’t camp there. Jesus would not have told us what to do about hatred etc. if we didn’t need to know it! My advice is don’t build a village around your feelings … move on. It’s OK to cry, just don’t let it be your lifestyle. There are so many sides to life’s spectrum – enjoy them all. The bad things make the good things even sweeter.  

Jesus had wa-ay more wisdom than Solomon anyway. Check out what He said about these negative things. However banning things, and making rules, usually encourages people to hide what’s going on when they can’t seem to avoid how they feel! This collection of verses totally reassures me that God knows about everything that goes on down here on planet Earth, and He has a plan, a purpose, an end-game for each one of them. YAAAAAAAY! SomeBody Else is in charge and it doesn’t have to be me! Remember, our God understands ‘old.’ He’s not called the Ancient of Days for nothing! 

In this later season of my life I am learning that bad things are total time wasters that can leave you feeling unfulfilled, ashamed and guilty. You wish you had never stuck your head down whatever rabbit hole that popped up in front of you, because your head can get stuck in there. Reflection comes easier with age. But, the truth is, I haven’t got time for what you think of me, because you probably DON’T! You are way too busy, and you have better things on your mind —- good for you. Bye. 👋

P 2955 Don’t be lost – be found!

/ DVH

John 8:42-47: “Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father [but He is not], you would love and recognize Me, for I came from God [out of His very Presence] and have arrived here. For I have not even come on My own initiative [as self-appointed], but He [is the One who] sent Me. Why do you misunderstand what I am saying? It is because [your spiritual ears are deaf and] you are unable to hear [the truth of] My word. 

You are of your father the devil, and it is your will to practice the desires [which are characteristic] of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks what is natural to him, for he is a liar and the father of lies and half-truths. 

But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me [and continue in your unbelief]. Which one of you [has proof and] convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me? Whoever is of God and belongs to Him hears [the truth of] God’s words; for this reason you do not hear them: because you are not of God and you are not in fellowship with Him.”

Man, I love the book of John, I’ve been glued to it for weeks! Let’s just quickly revise what Jesus says in the 1st paragraph above. He came here to us, from the Presence of God. There are times, sadly, when we don’t live like we know this …we just think we do, because we’ve heard the words before. The power in those words comes from acting on them. If we really knew this, then whatever He says to us through His Word would not, and could not, come into question.  It is a waste of time to frame what the bible says by our own denominational bents. This book is God speaking to us, and we need to listen. We simply must stop rationalising the power of God to change lives out of His Word!

Coming from the very Presence of God means that Jesus has Almighty God’s authority to say what He says. And everything He says is covered in and by God’s Presence, and it will be interpreted to us by the Holy Spirit, Who was sent here to help us understand. There are no optional extras in the gospels – if ‘every promise in the book is mine’  — then every obedient response to those promises are mine as well! Ya might want to sit and think on that. Lastly, Jesus was sent here by God Himself– the Lord didn’t just decide to pop down here off His own bat!

Because of what Jesus says here, we know what the devil does;  how he sounds;  and what his aim is, so we don’t have to be ignorant of our enemy’s tricks. Did you get that it is natural for our enemy to lie? This means we need to desperately know the truth, because whatever he says will be really convincing! he’s despicably good at lying – it’s not a habit, it is part of his nature. He hates people. I also think that he loves to distract people with his lies … after all half the planet is chasing the good life, money, great circumstances and the dream of happiness, here and now! But that is not what the bible clearly says we should pursue.

The last paragraph tells us that human beings can’t hear the Lord Jesus because He speaks truth, and we like lies better than truth. Think about it – God says “Go and make disciples” and “Love one another” and we say: “That’s someone else’s job!” “That’s too hard!” Our preferences regarding what we choose to hear, can make us deafer than a post! However, listening to lies leaves us room to do whatever we like, whenever we want to, because we think: “God doesn’t mind” …! But God’s truth is destined to lead us into a totally different lifestyle. Sometimes we are happy enough to believe lies because believing lies leaves us undisturbed in our sin! But practising sin has a bad destination… Jesus came here to change our destination.

The questions every single human being has to answer are quite simple… is Jesus Christ Who He says He is?  Did He really come to do what He said He did?  Did He really rise from the dead? Today, I believe that His greatest plan is unfolding — He’s alive IN His people. You and I can easily make up a god in our own image and take a chance that what we think is right, IS actually right. But remember, our intellect and wisdom are limited, so we are making a limited choice. Sooner or later we will have to take someone else’s word. Why not take GOD’S own WORD? It’s been around for 2,000+ years or so. I know people who set out to disprove what God said and they ended up following Him because they found Him in the book!

Anybody can read the bible for themselves, starting with what Jesus said and did, and talk to God like this: “God if you are there, I am talking to you, if not, then I am talking to myself. Please help me to find You in Your book. ”Amen. All kinds of amazing things happen when you take the time to pray like that. Don’t be lost … be found! May God Himself lead you as you search to find Him. Jesus Christ IS truth. Bye 👋  

P 2952 The heart of God is restoration … not condemnation.

/ DVH

John 8 …“But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning He came back into the temple [court], and all the people were coming to Him. He sat down and began teaching them. Now the scribes and Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery. They made her stand in the centre of the court, and they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the very act of adultery. Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women [to death]. So what do You say [to do with her—what is Your sentence]?” They said this to test Him, hoping that they would have grounds for accusing Him. 

But Jesus stooped down and began writing on the ground with His finger. However, when they persisted in questioning Him, He straightened up and said, “He who is without [any] sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” Then He stooped down again and started writing on the ground. They listened [to His reply], and they began to go out one by one, starting with the oldest ones, until He was left alone, with the woman [standing there before Him] in the centre of the court. Straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” She answered, “No one, Lord!” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you either. Go. From now on sin no more.”]”

The Lord Jesus Himself disposed of this woman’s accusers. Praise God, this shows us we can trust Him to dispose of ours, too. She was a nobody – yet God saw somebody! The Lord did not condemn her for her sin, He FORGAVE HER. Our job after acknowledging His Grace gift to us, is to release to other captives what we were freely given – because we are filled with the knowledge that we don’t deserve His GRACE either. 

In this passage there is Love, Grace, Wisdom, Faith and Freedom, all over the Lord’s actions! Jesus knew they did not bring that woman to Him just to humiliate her – these scribes and Pharisees brought her to Him to accuse HIM! This incident was about Jesus, not just about that woman. It was a set-up, a sting!  But all Jesus had for her was compassion and forgiveness, plus the freely given opportunity to start a new life and live right before God. The greater sin was in the hearts of her accusers. Sometimes we ignore our sin because we choose not to see ourselves. We think of our actions as ‘good’ and condemn someone else because their actions are ‘bad.’

“However, when they persisted in questioning Him, He straightened up and said, “He who is without [any] sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” When absolute truth is in front of us, we dare not refute it, nor should we try to – the best response is to own what we’ve done. Lies, bitterness, resentment, hatred, all these things produce shame and guilt and they thrive in darkness. That’s why we cannot tolerate them, and confession brings us into the light. We are His —  so now we are officially living in the Light, HIS light. 

I often wonder if these religious men had stayed longer to press the issue, what might have come out about their lives? Some versions of this passage indicate the Lord wrote stuff about the woman’s accusers in the dirt at their feet. They were so quick to try and catch the Lord breaking the law, but then they slunk off when confronted with the power and love of God for forgiveness, present in the Person of Christ.

Right after the paragraph about this woman in John 8, Jesus proclaims that “He …is the light of the world”“”…He who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” We cannot tell ourselves that we are following Jesus if we choose to tolerate darkness in ourselves. I’m not talking about what we watch on TV or even how we talk … I’m talking about our hearts – the attitude of our hearts toward others matters. Our hearts need to continually be filled with His light. His Presence loves the light. (James 1:17)

There are two points in this story, it is not just a story about Jesus forgiving an adulterous woman! In the church we can push the truth of what He said here away from us, and not take it in, by making this story about something we think we would never do!  Adultery. Jesus wasn’t trying to hurt these deeply religious men – He was exposing the darkness inside them that kept them captive. He came to save them too! Maybe they left because they didn’t want to confront the reality of who they had become. 

Religion counts outward actions more important than the state of our hearts, but Jesus clearly said elsewhere, it is what comes out of our hearts that shows us what is inside! God does not expose our sin to shame us. He wants to set us free, and we need to be able to see our sin in order to come out of harmony with it. The attitude in the Pharisees that accosted this woman, and then tried to trap Jesus with what she was doing, is the same one that will drag us all under if we let it. We can easily see someone else’s sin as worse than ours!! 

Religion imprisons us, it does not set us free. It excuses our behaviour and accuses someone else. That’s called deflection. Jesus did not approve of this woman’s lifestyle, instead He lovingly gave her an opportunity to change, that’s what He does! He gave the religious leaders that opportunity as well. They turned Him down. Walking away may not seem like a big deal, but postponement hardens our hearts. The heart of God is restoration not condemnation – HE loves to forgive…. He did not come here to condemn sinners – He came to SAVE them. Bye.🩸

May God bless you today, as you choose to take the time to remember what was freely done for you.