Light

P 2377 Whether we can pray in tongues, or not …

/ DVH

… that’s OK! The Holy Spirit is already praying for all of us and His intercession is the very best there is!! “And in a similar way, the Holy Spirit takes hold of us in our human frailty to empower us in our weakness. For example, at times we don’t even know how to pray, or know the best things to ask for. But the Holy Spirit rises up within us to super-intercede on our behalf, pleading to God with emotional sighs too deep for words.” Romans 8:26 TPT.

AND …!!!  The Bible also shows us that JESUS prays for us. Romans 8:34 says that Jesus “is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” In 1 John 2:1 we read that Jesus is our “Advocate with the Father,” and from Hebrews 7:25 we learn that Jesus “always lives to intercede” for us. We will never ever meet anyone kinder, more loving, more accepting and more gracious, than the Lord Jesus Christ, and our precious Holy Spirit. They both pray for us constantly because They want us to win – in this life!! In the above Scripture Romans 8:26 it says the Holy Spirit gives us power in our weaknesses. Don’t be ashamed to feel weak. Don’t hide it – hiding it means you will miss His power working on your behalf!

In our lives, some sorrow, some suffering, some disappointments are too deep and painful for words. I’ve been there. You simply don’t know how to pray, and you wish somebody would pray for you. You can phone a Christian friend, which is always a good thing to do, or even weep until you feel a tiny bit better – but this is where the bible stands alone. It reminds us we already have TWO SomeOnes!! And what’s more these two beautiful People know how to pray, and what to pray, and they don’t stop to go shopping or have a cup of tea either! You might just like to sit still and think on that one.🧐

SomeBody is always praying for you and I right now, even better than we could pray for ourselves. (That’s what “always lives to intercede” means.) SomeBody totally gets you, even if you can’t explain yourself properly. All the little tiny bits of our day to day lives that seem quite irrelevant to others, but they contribute to the whole miserable mess you feel you are in. You don’t have to feel alone – They are right here, with you, right now!  Jesus and the Holy Spirit are both holding you up, standing up for us all, pleading to the Father on our behalf. 🙌 We’ve got Friends in very high places!

The Lord Jesus loved mankind so much that when He left He sent the Holy Spirit back. We are not alone. Don’t let your feelings win – He is with you! The exceptionally marvellous bit, is that Jesus walked this earth so He knows the kind of stuff that comes at us. The Holy Spirit helped Him to overcome – so They both know how this thing we call ‘life’ works.

I love that word in Romans …. ‘super-intercede.’ Boy! That’s intercession on steroids! They come to help, to bring us power to overcome the very things that want to destroy us and our faith. The Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit are both reminding the Father and our enemies that we belong to Him now. We don’t belong to the kingdom of darkness anymore – we are people of the light! We have this fabulous legal representational team in the throne room – right now. 

They are our God-kissed authentic legal team and They are fighting for us all the time, because our enemy speaks human fluently. (Genesis 3:1-24;  Matthew 4:6) Jesus Himself said in John 14:30: “I will not speak with you much longer, for the ruler of the world (Satan) is coming. And he has no claim on Me [no power over Me nor anything that he can use against Me]; …” I mean, what a relief! Our legal team is totally incorruptible! Woo-hoo! And they are FOR us …!!!

The thing is, most people will stand up for you if you are proven to be right, but if you aren’t, then human beings have the habit of leaping off into judgment. Often they bail out on you. That’s when Jesus steps up into the throne room and lets the enemy have it with a great Bible-based legal argument, and at the same time, the Holy Spirit comes alongside US and prompts us that it is “time to repent and fix things here.” He says things like: “pray this, bind that, loose this other thing.” 

He shows us how to fight, because we can lose our way under pressure. And the one thing the enemy loves to put us under, is pressure. If you take the time to read the above verse in Matthew 4, you will see Christ was under enormous pressure – 40 days fasting from food and water, and satan pressed home his advantage – to no avail. We can easily lose our way if we mentally delegate things as being stuff only SomeOne like Jesus can do. He died, went to hell, bashed up the enemy and came back more alive than anyone was ever before. He did all that so we can win!

Ask yourself, why would the perfect, sinless Son of God need to go through all that? He had no personal need to do it. HE DID IT FOR US. We are not victims – we need to stop being blind to the power of God within us to overcome. The body of Christ has two incredible Intercessors praying for us, right at this moment. Take a minute. Thank them both for praying for you, gratitude is like the needle on a compass – it returns our hearts to ‘true north.’ 👋🏻

P 2376 Living a transparent life.

/ DVH

“Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” James 5:16. “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7

Transparency in our lives frees us to walk with each other … not to mention the cleansing effect it has as we walk along! However, our current society loves to expose people simply for the shock value. But that is not the same as choosing to live a transparent life for Jesus’ sake. Exposure in today’s world often equals intrusion. 

Unfortunately it is very easy to hide the reality of who we actually are at our house, and present a better picture to others on the outside. But choosing to live honestly frees all of us to openly trust the Lord more, and to present our faith in its true light. We are the people who live in, and value, forgiveness. It is way too easy to hide who we are and simply claim we are being positive. Lots of nasty stuff hides in there! We need total honesty when we are coming before the One ‘to whom all hearts are open’  – and if I lie to you about who I really am, I will hurt the BODY – I will stunt its growth.

Transparency is a hallmark of belonging to Jesus, because we are the people who have nothing to HIDE, so we don’t live in fear of exposure. Instead we live in reality. We know we are sinners saved entirely by His Grace. It is dumb and a waste of our time here on earth to be saved by grace, and then go on to try do our best to LIVE hiding in external works and nice attitudes. Paul talks about that in Romans and Galatians. 

Our God will never take our choices away, He wants us to surrender them, willingly. You only have to read the Old Testament to see how patient He is with all sorts of people. He dealt with them as individuals. He let them grow INTO whatever He had for them to do. It is sad when pride, plus fear of judgment, along with a fatal saving-face attitude, can get in the way of owning our own frailties – we can’t reach our full spiritual potential that way! 

Sadly, some things we choose to hide because we are ashamed about them, and other things we hide because of the way we want to appear to others. We can unfortunately, easily acquaint hiding with privacy or safety, but trying to remain safe and secure without Him being in charge, hinders our growth. Growth comes from acknowledgment, not sweeping stuff under the carpet and hoping nobody else notices the lump! Jesus is gentle and lowly in His heart – that’s our reality. Isn’t that an amazing thing to be able to say about our Saviour? No wonder we love Him!

And He loves for us to be our true selves, freely and willingly, because there is a great deal of healing in being honest and open. I am not talking about being nasty or letting your nasty feelings attack others. The idea is to be CHANGED – not just released to be a pain! This kind of life means we will learn how to accept ourselves and others, and their flaws. However, self is definitely going to die in the process of changing the way we live, because all pretence has to go out of the window. Polite and nice simply get in the way of real Spirit-given love. We use so much energy trying to look right, that in the end, we have nothing left to give away.

Owning our own frailties is so important. To live like this we have to deal with fear, which can snarl at us from the corners of our minds and emotions and tell us that those ‘other people are not safe.’ Let’s be absolutely clear. Other people are definitely not safe! They need saving too!! That’s why we don’t put our trust in them, we put our trust in Jesus, to get us through anything and everything that comes at us. We are doomed to disappointment if we misplace our trust. We may need to give other people the benefit of the doubt as to their motives, but we trust HIM, not them. Others will fail us, accidentally, or on purpose. Human beings are frail, they have faults and foibles and they can easily stomp on us without even knowing it, or thinking about it.

That’s why we need to trust the One Who knows us better than we know ourselves. I’ve found that all kinds of nasty little things hide in corners when we are not honest with ourselves or one another. It is good to forgive and forget when people let us down, but the best way to deal with others is by living in His love with His help. That Love looks like 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. This is what the Lord Jesus already looks like, and that’s WHY we can trust HIM.

I found it is helpful when dealing with difficult people, to go straight to forgiveness and not pass “go!” until I’ve done it.  At the same time I continue to cultivate the company of the One Who will never ever fail me. The Holy Spirit. Transparency and honesty help us to relate to Him, and He helps us to become who we wish we were. 👋🏻

P 2372 Confess your faults.

/ DVH

I’ve been reading in Leviticus … 27 chapters. Man that’s some hard core stuff to try to remember right in there. So, I’m reading and reading, and rolling my eyes, and I said to the Lord: “This stuff is he-avy.” To be utterly honest with you I was kind of reading and skimming, I was not actually reading word for word – some of that stuff is hard to read! The things human beings do to each other. 😱  Then the Lord said this to me: “Rote obedience, and enforced obedience will not change a heart – it simply changes the person’s actions. The heart needs to be changed.”

So I prayed for a bit, and then I remembered God’s criteria for holiness was totally met in the Person of Jesus Christ  a-n-d … He lived and breathed on the hard side of these commandments. Yay Jesus! The bible tells us He was tempted to sin just like we are … but He didn’t. Hallelujah! Because He didn’t, I have another way to choose to live… thank God He didn’t fail! That’s why He is the perfect Saviour. Listen to this and get happy!! “God has UNITED you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made Him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; HE made us pure and holy, and HE freed us from sin.” 1 Corinthians 1:30 NLT. We are joined to Christ, so now Almighty God sees us like He sees Jesus.

Repentance is brilliant, it’s goof-proof. But the whole thing entirely rests on one of my much advertised little words. “IF (if if, IF!!) we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” 1 John 1:9-10. We desperately need His word IN us.  Sin happens. People treat each other badly … it’s what we do about it that matters. Pretending we never sin is telling Jesus He’s a liar – why on earth would we want to do that? He’s not only faithful — He’s fair!

Everything Jesus did, was for our benefit. We don’t have to be afraid anymore – we’ve been set free from the system that forced others to remember and keep hundreds of rules and regs. “For He (the Father) has rescued us and has drawn us to Himself from the dominion of darkness, and has transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, …”Colossians 1:13. In short – we don’t have to live hiding our sins, or putting up with them anymore, because we are in a new kingdom where light prevails… Jesus Christ prevailed. Feel free to do a little dance .. 🕺 Somebody paid. We just have to own up!

“You are clean because of the Words I have spoken to you.” John 15:3. Jesus said this to His disciples, this shows how powerful His word IS. It cleaned the disciples as they listened – the bible will clean us as we pay attention to it! Accepting and acting on what He says changes everything. Ephesians 5:26 “Christ did this so He could set the church apart for Himself. He made it clean by the washing of water with the Word.” That phrase the washing of the water of the word applies to us, the church. In other words we need to take an intentional bath and get clean all over by reading the bible and let it convince and convict us of sin, and the things we must walk away from.  

There are people in my life who would never ever confess their faults to anyone else – they hide them instead. That’s called PRIDE. Instead of excusing or covering up this bit of dirt and that bit of nasty goo on you, repent!  It is so simple, don’t deny your faults own them — we’ve all got them! Get rid of pride with confession and repentance. Confess them to one another. The very act of confession includes a huge bonus buy – you confess your sin and you get to humble yourself all at the same time! Win, win! We simply agree with God’s assessment of our actions, repent and repair.

I do that one a lot with my hubby and he smiles discreetly and nods – that’s because he knows exactly what I’m  talking about – he’s been living with it!!  But I don’t have to be ashamed of my sin, I simply need to repent – then actively go on to pray that the Holy Spirit will help me. The things that cause me to sin are rarely other people – it’s ME!! Blame is a total waste of time – my response to your stinky attitude is still my response. If I give into the temptation to speak my mind, I weaken my spiritual muscles when I do it.

I have a bad time with other drivers. I don’t drive, but people who drive like mindless numpties really get my goat. What I am thinking often comes out of my mouth. All those bad drivers aren’t to blame … it’s my impatience and anger. They are simply giving me an opportunity to diagnose what’s already in my heart. What comes out of our mouth tells us what’s inside our heart. That’s why the bible is essential. We need to be washed by it all the time. Take a bath, read the book! The answer is so simple – humble yourself, then confess your fault, pray to be healed – and practice listening to the Holy Spirit for answers. 👋🏻

P 2367 Our experiences with trouble are a cue to revise the way we live.

/ DVH

“We are like common clay jars that carry this glorious treasure within, so that this immeasurable power will be seen as God’s, not ours. Though we experience every kind of pressure, we’re not crushed. At times we don’t know what to do, but quitting is not an option. We are persecuted by others, but God has not forsaken us. We may be knocked down, but not out. We continually share in the death of Jesus in our own bodies so that the resurrection life of Jesus will be revealed through our humanity.”

Boy, these verses seem like my life story neatly expressed and typed out! Sometimes it seems like we lurch from one problem to the next. It’s like someone has been following me around and writing down what goes on. Can I be honest with you? Expecting this life to be like a Disney classic movie is more than optimistic, it is down-right idiotic. Life is full of sinful people, (I are one!), who seem to be getting more selfish by the minute. 

Meanwhile did you notice what it said in the above part of the scripture in 2 Corinthians 4? I bolded it to make it stand out. This life is destined to kill us …UM …Christians! … OFF, bit by bit. One heartache and/or pain after another. The Lord allows it so that people can see Jesus Christ through us. Trouble doesn’t mean we are out of God’s will, trouble means He is giving us an opportunity to let Him shine through us. The deader to self we are, the more He can shine. Now there’s an AIM! Let’s read on …

“We consider living to mean that we are constantly being handed over to death for Jesus’ sake so that the life of Jesus will be revealed through our humanity. So, then, death is at work in us but it releases life in you. We have the same Spirit of faith that is described in the Scriptures when it says, “First I believed, then I spoke in faith.” So we also first believe then speak in faith. We do this because we are convinced that He who raised Jesus will raise us up with Him, and together we will all be brought into His Presence.”

Did you get the bit that says living in Christ is actually MEANT to look like this? This suffering, this sorrow, this tide of disappointment and grief has a point. It is not random or just bad luck! Instead it is a gift to us to disentangle ourselves from striving and straining to make this life work! This means that now we have embraced Christ so thoroughly that His agenda is ours, and what He wants isn’t tacked onto a list of things we already have to do, or things we are supposed to do – in order to maintain our happy little lives. Instead it is the REASON we are all still here.

Have we forgotten that we are the people who have a HOPE? Our job is to spread that hope around. Our greatest sin just might be our SILENCE. We are not still here to have a happy little Disney-fied life and go off happily singing into the sunset. We are here to be His hands and feet in a world that doesn’t know Him yet. We have been given the privilege of showing forth His marvellous light in the midst of this world’s darkness. Ask Him to help you to talk to others about the hope within you, and then SPEAK. Find somebody to help and comfort. Our troubles don’t disqualify us, our trust in Christ qualifies us..

As an example of well carried-out-all-to-common selfishness, I recently watched a person in their 15 minutes of fame, telling a TV crew that they were fine after a 6.8 earthquake devastated Morocco all around them. They had not had one thought that maybe they could go and help those still trapped, because they are there on the spot! Heaven forbid that a catastrophe should spoil their holiday! What about the two thousand people who can’t say the same thing … because they died! Can it possibly be true that the Western world thinks these people in other countries exist for our holiday experiences and amusement? Boy at that moment I sure needed changing – my smacking hand got itchy! We watch disasters on TV,  feel sad, and then go about our own lives like we are not all living on the same planet. We are here to serve others, the bible makes it clear that we are to live this life with eternity in mind.

“….We view our slight, short-lived troubles in the light of eternity. We see our difficulties as the substance that produces for us an eternal, weighty glory far beyond all comparison, because we don’t focus our attention on what is seen but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but the unseen realm is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:7-18 TPT. Focussing on the unseen does not mean we just pray and walk away – that’s when we ask Him: “What would you like me to do about this?”

Where are the mighty ones of God Who see those who are suffering as a personal responsibility? If we are still breathing, then there is still time to change the way we think. It is a choice to let His glory shine through your little life, even if it means sharing someone else’s suffering. 👋🏻

P 2362 Practical issues – Walking like Jesus …

/ DVH

The bible uses both practical and pictorial language, so it can be hard to go beyond the metaphorical and find the practical outworking. But this is why we are exhorted to study the bible. Today we are looking at: “Walk in the light as He is in the light.” 1 John 1:7.


When I’m reading the bible I say out loud … ‘What the heck does that mean??’ Or … here’s one of my favourites … “Why is that there?!” Let’s be clear, there is no audible voice from heaven that explains stuff like that to me, but often another verse pops into my head, and when I take the time to look it up, I’ve found that now I’m looking at everything from a totally different angle.

If we want to take what the Lord says out of the theory area, where we nod and agree, and go on to to change our ways with His help, then we will need to get further wisdom. That’s where the study to be an approved workman part comes in. You study so you can do what it says – that’s what workmen do! Here’s today’s 2nd verse. Jesus says this same thing quite a bit, and it varies each time – so when you study the subject of Jesus being light you will start to see the many-sided wisdom of God. 

In the Passion Translation: John 8:12  it says: “Jesus once again addressed them: “I am the world’s Light. No one who follows Me stumbles around in the darkness. I provide plenty of light to live in.” So when I read that I think:  ‘I have kind of stumbled over whatever I am meant to DO about this verse.’  So I repent, on the spot. It’s obviously me with the problem and a lack of interest, or …I’ve somehow wandered away from walking with Him be-cau-se . … ‘HE provides plenty of light to walk in …!’ If we take the scripture as a fixed point it changes the way we read it – make the bible your absolute!

At this point I need to say that I am rarely interested in yesterday’s bread –  I love fresh bread. And I want fresh bread from His word every single day. So I go after it. I may chew on stuff all day waiting for His light to illuminate me – but He and I know that I want to change, to be transformed – so I am more than willing to renew my mind and change my behaviour, with His help. The bible promises us daily bread, we just gotta ask for it. (Check out the Lord’s prayer.)

Here’s some of the stuff I realised while I was doing that about these two verses. Following Jesus means I am walking in the same light He had. He thought studying the bible (the Torah) was important. The Lord Jesus always had way more light than everyone around Him. I can see that because, when He talked about scriptures He didn’t just see instructions – He saw His Father’s heart and revealed it.  So here’s another great question to ask the Holy Spirit when reading the bible. ‘What do you want to say to ME, Lord?’  “What do you want to show me about my Father’s heart toward me and others?’ 

I know that our Father wants to protect us from stumbling. It says so over and over again in the book. In all those verses about walking, living, and staying in the light He is showing me a way I can live underneath that protection. There is more than I will ever need in His light, so, if I follow Jesus, consciously – not in a haphazard way, I am choosing to stay in His light. This means I need to hone my focus and let what Jesus already said be a light to me, a lamp underneath my feet. I need to fix my attention on it by walking it out.

If I don’t know what to do or say in a given situation I need to stop and ask Him: ‘What would YOU do Lord?’  I must put aside my own natural wisdom and the conventional wisdom of our day, and seek His kingdom first. I am asking the Lord for His light –  so His wisdom probably may not appeal to me.  EG: I would much rather have somebody else come to me and ask for forgiveness, than I would like going to you and asking for yours! That attitude means that Jesus and I are not on the same page, and we need to be if I am to walk in the light AS He is the light! Somebody is standing in the wrong spot – and it isn’t Jesus!  

However! I also know a great short-cut!! Ask yourself: “Is this LOVE? Am I hoping all things, believing all things, being patient and kind etc?” So long as I don’t fudge my answer to make ME feel good – this short cut works. Love doesn’t ask what is that other guy doing – instead it asks what the heck am I doing?? And it doesn’t excuse itself either – it doesn’t have to my ‘self’ knows that I have a Saviour.

When I think like this world does I am leaving HIS light behind and wandering off into the dark imaginings of my own mind. BUT …!!! Because I have His book, I don’t have to lack LIGHT – I just have to be humble enough to ask for His help and ACT on what He says. 👋🏻

P 2342 Learning to catch the wind.

/ DVH

This morning I thought about three different scriptures I’ve read recently that touched my heart … but none of them seemed right for today’s blog. Some days I have no idea what I want to write about. So it was utterly amazing that I came up with three extremely different things on the same day! You’d think that gave me heaps of choices… but NO! … not one of them seemed right. In the end I gave up trying to bam a square peg into a round hole and wrote this instead.😂 

We can get so intensely fixated upon a task that we forget: “His yoke is easy and His burden is light.” My immediate response to that thought is – if it ain’t easy then it ain’t God! And today, with those three different thoughts, none of them were simply right for now! We are not bull-dozers, we follow the wind. His Presence is in that task, and He lifts the weight or the burden for us. 

Today I want to talk about the similarities between writing this blog and witnessing. Facing a blank page is daunting, knowing that tomorrow total strangers are going to read it, and hopefully understand what you have written. And facing a total stranger and talking about your faith is also very challenging. You feel you must get it right or you will fail the Lord, and mislead that person so badly you will put them off Jesus forever. 😱No pressure of course!!  But that moment also clearly diagnoses that we are trying hard again. We do what we do because we love people, there is no pressure.

So here’s what today’s lesson showed me – when I feel the weight of responsibility to get whatever I am doing right – then I need to back up and …WAIT. I am waiting for Him to prompt me, or until I see an opening I can drive a Mac truck through. I’m waiting for HIM, I’m not waiting for feelings, I’m waiting for some sort of clarity. Sometimes that could be just one word so I go with that. I could look at someone and see anger, or sadness, and I ask them how they have been doing lately. These things, unfold, sometimes one sentence at a time.

Meanwhile, I figure things like witnessing probably will be scary because I am dying to my carefully cultivated life of self-preservation!! In these past few months I’ve noticed an opportunity to talk about what I know about Him, with strangers, a number of times. Those people asked me questions. I like that, it seems way easier than being obedient when He asks me to bring up something He gives me to say.  At those more difficult times I have a clear choice to obey or not …and I don’t always make the right one! Just being truthful …😶

Witnessing is not a rigid thing, it is fluid. In the past few weeks, practitioners in the health profession have asked me what I write about in this blog. I figure they are checking me out, since I fell downstairs quite badly, and they want to make sure my marbles aren’t scrambled, or broken or lost! The first time I simply told the person that it is a Christian blog and then they asked all kinds of questions, and I answered them as clearly and carefully as I could. We had a lovely talk together, and then we went back to my health again. The next time the new person asked exactly the same question and I thought ‘here we go again!’  Except we didn’t. They said “Oh, OK,” and they went straight back to asking health questions.

‘There is no system.’  Seriously, witnessing is a ‘fly by the seat of your pants, always relying on the Holy Spirit’  kind of thing. The Lord is always in charge, and right after His leading, comes the other person’s curiosity. Our job is to remain a safe place for them to ask questions. We are planting seeds, not restructuring their lives! Be prepared to stop in the middle of the most intriguing opportunity ever, to let the whole conversation slide. Even though you might badly wanna shout: “Dag-nab-it we were nearly there!!” We must leave it to Him to turn that conversation around again – if He wants to.

The Holy Spirit is gentle, HE Leads, He does not push – so no shoving please. He is the wind, we are just weather vanes turning to and fro as He blows on us. That’s all for today, maybe I will write about those three things I mentioned another time. Who knows, I’m just trying to catch the wind.👋🏻

P 2320 What illuminates our thinking?

/ DVH

There are many people in this world that regard the bible as a musty, dusty old book that has nothing much to say to them. They don’t see it as a series of stadium lights,  brighter than the sun, opening up new doors and possibilities. I think this is because Christians have inadvertently presented this book as a guide that God has given to them …kind of like ‘their own personal torch.’  We’ve become almost a secret society, with our own buzz words, and language. 

But, “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” Psalms 119:105 NIV. However His book is totally personal, based on the fact that it is not only filled with info that explains the Way into relationship with God, but it is also available to anyone who is looking for Him. “… he who comes to God, must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6b

The bible was given to everyone, not just Christians. It is a book filled with revelations and light for everyone. Because most religions have a ‘book’ – a manifesto if you will –  the bible itself has been casually thrown upon a pile of those kind of, ancient tomes into a corner. It has been filed under the heading of ‘books about stuff I don’t want to know about.’ 

In today’s world we have books and books – podcasts, media, social media, magazines, etc… plus the news! We all know that we can’t trust the news to tell us what we need to know that will benefit us spiritually. Because they have an agenda. That agenda is motivated by sales, money, power and popularity. Even social media, is simply old fashioned gossiping on steroids. It lies, it postulates and it is manufactured in order to make someone else money, or  to give others power. But how will people ever understand the power of those lies if they have never seen the real thing!

If we don’t tell others the bible is a different kind of book, because you read it with the Author – how will they know? Sad to say, shallow thinking produces shallow greedy people. “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.” Romans 15:4 NIV. That hope is not just for us – we are meant to share that hope with everyone!

These other modern things are often too filled with man’s worst nature to do good. But the bible is different, it has the breath and heartbeat of God in it. Meanwhile this wonderful book it does not explain anything – it actually poses more questions than it gives answers! It is not ashamed of its story, or its characters, or WHO GOD IS.

I believe this is why Jesus Christ came here to earth. Books can be misread and misinterpreted – but Jesus Christ came TO SHOW US what life looks like when God’s ways are followed. HIS STORY, HIS PERSONHOOD, HIS ATTITUDES TOWARD MANKIND ARE ALL IN THIS BOOK.

God’s great love for us all in the Person of Jesus Christ is the overriding redemptive theme in the bible. Colossians 1:19 “For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him,…”Colossians 2:9 “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,…” Revelation 19:12-13: “His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns; and He had a name written, that no man knew, but He Himself. [And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and His name is called The Word of God.”

Jesus Christ is our human visual aid. Our example. He shows us that it is possible for any one of us to live our lives obeying God. He made the things that seemed impossible – possible when He cancelled the power sin forever… By becoming our sin – Jesus totally identified with us. The best response to such a sacrifice is gratitude not permissiveness. We need to live this life questioning ourselves – what is illuminating our thinking?  👋🏻

P 2301 Christianity is not a theoretical construct.

/ DVH

We can all fall madly in love with a whole lot of Christian principles. We can ‘like’ and repeat them over and over again on Facebook, or whatever … but none of that is worth a hill of beans unless we make those principles our lifestyle. There are a whole lot of other faiths that have sound principles and doctrine too. Living our lives giving away His Love from day to day changes everything – it takes the supernatural to do that.

Christianity is failing this world – especially in the West – in one place. It is all talk and no action! There are a whole lot of people who can talk a great game – they can quote the bible chapter and verse, and they have memorised whole books. But they disappear into the ether when the going gets tough and people or life get difficult. The practical outworking of their faith depends on their own personal circumstances and resources and not on flowing with the Holy Spirit.

The Father, Son and Holy Spirit, DEMONSTRATED Their love to us when we were yet sinners. This word means to – give a practical exhibition and explanation of …. AND – clearly show the existence or truth of (something) by giving proof or evidence.

“If anyone sees a fellow believer in need and has the means to help him, yet shows no pity and closes his heart against him, how is it even possible that God’s love lives in him? Beloved children, our love can’t be an abstract theory we only talk about, but a way of life demonstrated through our loving deeds. We know that the truth lives within us because we demonstrate love in action, which will reassure our hearts in His presence.” 1 John 3:17-19 TPT. Check out James 2:15-17.

So here’s a couple of my knotty questions for you today – ‘How many times in this past week have you demonstrated God’s love to someone else?’ Second question – ‘How many times did the Holy Spirit prompt you to do something and you turned Him down because you were too busy or didn’t have enough time?’ Here’s a big thought our God is the Author of time and He knows how to stretch it. Read the book. I’ve personally watched Him do that so many times…

We all long to see miracles, but in order to see a miracle, someone is going to have to take a risk. Taking risks and living in obedience are the most important part of how our faith works. If we knew what we were told to do was going to work, before we did it, then it wouldn’t be faith. We are going to have to become a bold, fearless people, which is why the Lord encourages us, through Joshua, to be strong and courageous. And through Isaiah He tells us, ‘When you walk through the fire, you won’t get burnt, when you walk through the river you won’t get drowned.’ Like I said, Christians are delegated risk takers.

So we give away money in the face of recession, we talk about Jesus even when we are embarrassed and afraid. Just FYI, I never once taught my children about the Lord that I didn’t feel greatly intimidated at the time. My kids looked at the floor, looked the ceiling, looked at their nails, and every single part of their body language said ‘please shut up now, mum.’ It  is not meant to be easy to witness or love or have faith, we are going against the very fibre and fabric of our society when we do it. That’s what makes it powerful. 

In order to demonstrate God’s love to other people, as well as strangers, we have to risk disinterest, rejection, anger and being told to mind our own business. Just because it’s not popular, that does not invalidate it. There are so many times in Christian history where Jesus’ love was demonstrated, His kingdom life was given away freely, and it blew people’s socks off. Not to mention it brought new life into abject darkness! We can operate in stealth mode as the Lord leads us, but we can’t ever be a light and not expose things that are hiding in the darkness. 

Plus we cannot say we love if there is no demonstration, otherwise we are presenting a theory and not a fact. Love looks like something – to the hungry it’s food, to the thirsty it’s water, to the rejected, it’s acceptance, to the outcast, it means finally finding a home. When we give away, and demonstrate God’s love we enter the Spirit’s River of Life. I urge us all, ‘don’t paddle around on the edge … JUMP IN.’ Jumping in shows commitment. 👋🏻 

P 2290 Where is your treasure?

/ DVH

“For your heart will always pursue what you esteem as your treasure.” Matthew 6:21 TPT. This scripture caused me no end of genuine soul searching today. This is the kind of thought that I wish wasn’t in the book. When it comes to spiritual things, sometimes we like to give ourselves a passing mark, without actually looking hard at what really happens from day to day.

FYI, I have this experience a lot – the false pass, the big tick where there should be a big blank, because the truth is, I dunno and I don’t think I will like my truthful answer! Meanwhile does wanting it count? This is where I would like to be but I’m not sure there is enough evidence that it is who I actually am… yet. Sigh. Today is a check-up day… here’s another one …. Matthew 22:37&38 “Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.”

Yeah. His book always does this to me. But, just when I was ready to go stick my head in the oven – a fruitless task, because we have an electric oven, not a gas one, hubby pipes up with this …“We may not be aware that God is not our treasure. But when He asks the question, now our treasure is exposed by His light so it is up to us to respond when His light exposes our hearts.”

And he got that happy thought from reading the scripture below this morning. You know, I think our church society is so geared into looking right, and sounding right, and doing our best to giving the appearance of being right (good ‘ol Dudley Do-rights that we are) but we often forget that God made such an expensive provision for our hard heartedness before we were ever born. We don’t have to pretend – we just need to admit our faults and co-operate with the opportunities He sends us. I do know this much, loving the Lord with everything entails putting Him first.

“But if we freely admit our sins when His light uncovers them, He will be faithful to forgive us every time. God is just to forgive us our sins because of Christ, and He will continue to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we claim that we’re not guilty of sin when God uncovers it with His light, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.”1 John 1:9-10 TPT

The secret is not to hide from the light, or even pretend it isn’t on, by walking around with our eyes shut. Our God has provided for this exact situation. There are times when we’d like to have the right answer, but the truth is we don’t. How can I say that? I have a million reasons actually, more than this space allows, but let’s just settle for this one: 

How many people did you tell last week that Christ was alive and He died for their sins? Hmm … There I go again, asking questions nobody wants to answer. Moving on. We trundle along, Sunday by Sunday, singing loudly, giving our money and being nice to each other … sometimes … and hoping that will do.

BUT when, and IF we let His light in, we will find there is no need for shame. The shame comes when we say sorry and have no intention of changing whatever it is, at all! We just hope magically it will manifest itself in our lives one morning when we wake up. Maybe we need to be even more honest and say, “I want to Lord, but I kind of stink at it..” Perhaps it is time we told the Lord that we are probably kind of a dud, and without Him we can do nothing… because … we can’t! 

Instead, most of us are far more used to letting our lives be dragged about by circumstances. Or by appeasing grumpy people, who are in plague proportions in this ever changing world.  Instead let’s make a quality decision to be honest with Him when His light hits whatever it is. As well as honest with ourselves. Let’s decide to take the kind of action that leads to change. ‘I pray we will be more like the second man in this scripture that Jesus taught, than the first one. Amen.’

“And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Luke 18:9-14 NASV. Jesus is like totally our treasure – He is also our MAP! Bye 👋🏻.

P 2256 Move!

/ DVH

Some people, in the past, have said that I’m a bit prophetic. Hmm I don’t know about that! However, yesterday, in my mind’s eye, I could see time like a large wall, stretching backward and forward. In this wall I saw a window. It was a large window but the scary thing is – it was slowly closing. I believe this window is called the window of opportunity. 

Meh! Ask the Lord about that for yourself.“And if anyone longs to be wise, ask God for wisdom and He will give it! He won’t see your lack of wisdom as an opportunity to scold you over your failures but He will overwhelm your failures with His generous grace.” James 1:5 TPT. He straightens out my theology all the time!

Back to my point: what with Tsunamis, 9/11, Covid, the war in Ukraine, earthquakes, monetary markets crashing, food and medical shortages, plus various other awful things happening;  these things have polarised the world and affected everyone on this planet. It seems to me that nobody feels really safe anymore, because we have quite regularly experienced worldwide destructive events in an unprecedented fashion. 

However, this also means that the church all over the world, has a huge opportunity, because the people-who-don’t-know-Jesus-yet are ready for something real. And we are incredibly blessed because we know that Answer, personally. And, right here, right now, it’s our time to shine with the light of heaven, Jesus Christ. It is remarkably easy to put your light under a basket when things are overwhelming. But our time to live His way – I believe, is here and now. We must stop sort of squashing Jesus in, around the edges of all the fun things we can do, and live up to our Master’s faith in us. He is our place of safety.

I know that I know, that this is the time to start taking our Christian lives VERY seriously. We must stop thinking that going to church Sunday by Sunday is all there is, and take the faith that Jesus died to give us, and use it. If we do not start to use it, I am deeply concerned that we will lose it. As I said before, these are unprecedented times with unexpected and terrible pressures. That’s when the pressure to survive becomes more important than anything else, and real active faith goes on the back burner. The thing is, we need our faith now more than ever, because the enemy is distracting us away from our true God-given purpose.

Let’s believe and act on what we talk about. Hubby and I have been out there, where people are, and we know they are ready for something real. Like James, said, we need to show forth our faith by our works. Obviously I mean the kind of works that originate in His heart and are led by the Holy Spirit. It’s time to prime the pump of obedience. Sadly, because we’ve had a lot of unknown factors recently  – we are all a bit wary of more bad things happening – so we’ve kind of bunkered down, waiting for the storms to pass. But they haven’t. Praise God, it has opened the hearts of the people outside our churches, instead!

So what happens when we decide to take a risk and to talk to family, friends, and strangers about Him? We could get to look like a goose … and in my case, that wouldn’t be the first time!  Many people have crashed and burned in their desire to bring glory to their Master, Jesus. When we do that we are in some really great company … like the people who have gone home before us! It’s also time to face those things in our lives that we would rather ignore and hope they will go away. Our faults, our flaws, our generational, soul-destroying stinky attitudes and actions!  The Lord Jesus is absolutely excellent at putting broken Humpty-Dumpties together again. So true active repentance is the order of the day as well.

Getting this stuff wrong, ironically … is good. It is like a cleansing fire, it burns away all the dross that this life has accumulated. Pride disappears, so does fear. Instead, living for Him and obeying Him humbles us and sends us to our knees. This is not the time to sit back and look at our hypothetical barns, (Luke 12:16-21). We can’t afford to relax, or maybe even plan to build a new one! Our time has come. And we need every single one of us active and ready to obey Him. We all have a part to play in His plan. There is simply nothing like seeing the light of illumination come on when you are talking to someone who does not know Him. 💖

The alternative is to try to wait the bad times out, promising ourselves when things get better – then we will try to follow Him. There is another kind of trap that says that we will obey when we are more informed. It doesn’t work that way. First we obey and then we learn of Him. Stepping out is putting on His yoke. This yoke is not about Him blessing me while I am going in my direction, but it means I am following the lead oxen – Christ – and going in His direction instead.  Submitting to change, no matter how settled we are, or how old or young we are, stretches us. It’s time to wake up and stretch. Move it or lose it. 👋🏻