Limitless

P3458 Limitless.

/ DVH

“But the fruit produced by the Holy Spirit within you is divine love in all its varied expressions: joy that overflows, peace that subdues, patience that endures, kindness in action, a life full of virtue, faith that prevails, gentleness of heart, and strength of spirit. Never set the law above these qualities, for they are meant to be limitless.” Galatians 5:22-23 TPT.

Ages ago, I watched a TV show called “Limitless,” it was about an ordinary guy who took some new drug or other, and suddenly he was using all of his brain instead of 10% of it. My thought was: ‘I hope this never happens! Sadly most of us are already driven around day after day, by performance!” However, that show proved to me that people long to be bigger and more useful than they are, but self-effort provides us with a relentless boss. Performance is a sterile tree, it produces nothing sweet, tasty or lasting, except a whole lot of angst, and indignation. It is so easy to think to ourselves: ‘I’ve worked hard on that, where’s the fruit from it?”

The Holy Spirit on the other hand, is a brilliant gardener, He cuts off unproductive attitudes and actions. Plus He helps us when we allow Him to lead, and He produces all that spiritual stuff listed above, in us. Sometimes I think we miss the meaning of what the Lord is saying because the language is so foreign to us in today’s world. I think we can easily get stuck on ‘near enough is good enough’ – and that won’t last! 

The Holy Spirit produces this fruit within us. Who does it? HE does. The things most of us produce in a lifetime, aren’t worth all the effort to keep it, realistically speaking. Where I live, even our house isn’t much of an inheritance after the government sends it’s locusts in. As you get older you start to think about leaving behind a lasting inheritance, not money, or things, but a spiritual inheritance. 

That’s what that long list of people who were in Jesus’ lineage in Matthew and Luke is all about. I call them the “begat” people. They had kids who had kids, who had kids etc… you get it. There were generations of them and their forbears were important to them. Genealogy was a big deal, stuff was passed on down through the family, because recording stuff the way we do was not available, and not as useful as Great Grandma Mary’s antique dining room table!

This is where bearing fruit comes in – a solid strong tree will produce good fruit. Actually, if there is no fruit, the tree it is called a barren tree. Jesus talks about that in Luke 13:6-9. “And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”

A tree’s purpose is to bear fruit. Plain and simple. However I love the way the gardener pleads on behalf of a mere tree to give it another chance. This man will have invested time and energy in that fig tree, with fertilising, watering it, and giving it a whole lot of care when it was just a sapling. This parable reminds me of the tender care the Holy Spirit gives each one of us. Nurturing, correcting, leading us, pruning us and guiding us – all that with the promise of His good fruit appearing and coming into fruition in our lives.  

My point is this:  do we have any fruit on the ‘tree’ of our lives? Have we matured enough in the things of the kingdom of heaven to grow any fruit? Fruit benefits other people not the tree. So if we have fruit, is that fruit better tasting, longer lasting and more evident than it has been in previous years?That’s a good question to ask the Lord – “are YOU happy with the production of the fruit of Your Spirit in my life?” We can’t afford to forget that the gardener has been giving our tree His own attention, watching over it. He knows us well enough to ask for a further chance and a bit of time and help so we can grow up into what we were planted for. 

Let’s not be fooled, we will do many things for Jesus’ sake in our spiritual lifetime, but the fruit of the Spirit is proof of His work in us. Our work for the Lord’s kingdom won’t produce anything edible if all we do is work for Him in this natural world. We need His spiritual fruit in our lives. It’s the fruit that other people need to “taste and see that the Lord is good.” All the talk in the world cannot produce God’s fruit. All talk does is put more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere! We need to submit to His ways so the Lord Himself can produce the kind of fruit in our lives that people only dream about. 

Let’s remember that “…divine love in all its varied expressions: joy that overflows, peace that subdues, patience that endures, kindness in action, a life full of virtue, faith that prevails, gentleness of heart, and strength of spirit …” is what that fruit looks like. That kind of fruit is limitless, a healthy fruit-laden tree is a wonderful legacy for anyone. Bye. 👋

P 3410 God is Limitless.

/ DVH

“But the fruit produced by the Holy Spirit within you is divine love in all its varied expressions: joy that overflows, peace that subdues, patience that endures, kindness in action, a life full of virtue, faith that prevails, gentleness of heart, and strength of spirit. Never set the law above these qualities, for they are meant to be limitless.” Galatians 5:22 TPT.

This kind of limitless love is not only ours to receive, but it is also ours to give away. We already have His overflowing love to give to everyone we meet … within us. When we have Jesus Christ in our lives, we have limitless love available to us. It’s our purpose. Just like birds sing, because it is what they do … we give away love. It’s natural. And it means we choose to stretch our faith by using it, instead of just talking about it. The thing to remember is that when we give away all of those things mentioned in Galatians 5, it is HIS love in different forms.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t seem have endless patience! However, I don’t have to have endless patience, I’ve learnt to ask Him for it, and then step out in faith and exercise it. This is a demonstration of His love through me, for someone else – and I give it away by not letting what I’m really thinking fly out of my mouth to punch someone else in the face! While I am doing this, two things are happening, I am learning self-control, and I am also learning what God’s kind of patience looks like. Meanwhile, I’ve also learnt that not everyone we meet needs our opinion.

LOVE, God’s kind of love – hopes all things, bears all things and it never gives up. Even though WE aren’t automatically like that, we can learn His kind of love by responding to His word using the faith, He has given us. The bible teaches us, in2 Peter 1:3: ”His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him Who called us by His own glory and goodness.” WE ALREADY HAVE IT!

So whenever we meet true joy, we are meeting His love. When we meet endless patience, we’ve met His love in action. even when we experience never faltering faith, this means we’ve encountered and been operating from the presence of His Love. We need to stop expecting other people to bring these things to us on a platter and start living a sacrificial life, because that’s what Jesus told us to do.

Love has so many expressions. That is what Galatians tells us. In our society, love has been downgraded into feelings, but God’s Love is a powerful limitless force – it constantly displays itself through actions. The Love that God Himself has for mankind displayed itself in Jesus Christ, and that is clearly explained for us in Galatians 5, and 1 Corinthians 13. Through these words, Almighty God’s passion for mankind’s destiny is revealed. It was fulfilled by Christ, and then released – and now it is a part of our history! 

Everything around us is a part of His story! Jesus Christ is Father God’s Way of endlessly saying “I love you and I forgive you.”  He says this to each of us personally, and those words are also an everlasting promise to all of mankind. Jesus is God’s Love perfectly personified. So what does that mean to me? I left my old self behind when I said ’yes’ to Jesus, now – day-by-day I choose to live that out. Read the book and see the Lord Jesus’ responses to other human beings. Do the same. He didn’t lecture people, He taught them when He had the opportunity and it was necessary, but most of the time He simply demonstrated what God’s love looks like in action.

Whenever we read about what Jesus did, do we nod our heads in agreement, smile, and go about our day without any thought of participation? This revelation of GOD’S LOVE CAN BE SEEN AND EXPERIENCED, daily. We are His demonstrators. As we read His Word, worship Him, talk and pray with others, or walk around enjoying everything He made, we are experiencing His love for us. Let’s pray for eyes to see Him at work in our lives and hearts. 

His kind of love was created to be given away, not kept in a box hidden from other people. God’s love is like the bread and fish that Jesus gave to the disciples, to give to the people who were hungry. Because we’ve been fed by His love, now we give it away. The disciples saw the miracle of multiplication He performed. That’s all WE do. We give away what He has given us, and He multiplies it.

And we give it away in the same form we receive it – by using our faith. Most days I don’t ‘feel’ anything when I sit down and start to write this blog. I start typing as He opens up His thoughts to me in ways that I can understand them. If you like titles, then let’s say that the Lord gives me insight. He takes the scriptures in the bible and turns it upside down and explains to me: ‘This works like that.’ That is how I write this blog. I am not wise, sometimes the phrases in the bible sound to me like someone tipped over a scrabble bag. But, as I pray, the Holy Spirit enlightens me. The second before that insight I’m as dumb as dirt. But there’s one thing I do know, He tells me stuff for ME first, then I am allowed to share it with you. And the Lord chides me if I am not doing what I write here. 

At the same time, I’ve learnt to press in, and ask questions. I marvel that SomeOne so wonderful, bothers to share with someone like me. That’s why I like to encourage others to press in and then act upon what the Lord says. I’m not special, but I know that He wants to relate to each one of us in personal, practical ways. His ways are limitless and they are there for the taking for everyone who wants more. Bye for today, 👋.

P3405 We are God’s poems, in this world.

/ DVH

“We have become His poetry, a re-created people that will fulfil the destiny He has given each of us, for we are joined to Jesus, the Anointed One. Even before we were born, God planned in advance our destiny and the good works we would do to fulfil it!” Ephesians 2:10. 

And you thought you were not all that valuable! You and I are daily becoming a poem, a individual and collective Psalm to the glory, goodness, grace and long-suffering kindness of Almighty God. And if that doesn’t make you smile, then I’m concerned for you! Father God doesn’t make mistakes, so neither of us can be one… and neither can anyone else.

Say this to yourself – ‘God says I have a destiny, because He has given me one. I am not a mistake or a screw up. I’m here for my Father’s glory and honour.’  Amen. Father God is so present and engaged with all of us. Sometimes we don’t see Him because we aren’t looking. There is no task in our lives that is too small. You know, the lug nuts on our car tyres hold the wheels on – they don’t look important, but if they all come off, so does the wheel. Our wheels can start to come off if we believe what we do is irrelevant.  We cannot afford to let our limited human thinking, limit Almighty God.

Because He IS limitless, humanity is still discovering those things that are old news to Him. Yet He has hidden treasures for us in this world, things that we are only just discovering now. We think we are clever when we find them. But just imagine how brilliant Father God is — HE HID IT! My advice is “don’t limit God” — and never think your problems are too big for Him, instead ask Him to help you with them. Remember, He is writing all this down because … your life is a poem.

People are so funny! They ask the Lord for a parking spot if they need one, but they don’t see world affairs the same way. Our lives are governed and planned out for us by Him, and we’ve found, because of Jesus, we’ve met people we would never ever have met. That’s how BIG His plans are for us. There is a surprise at every turn, so we’ve come to appreciate the small things He does. Years ago, we were driving around in the wilderness area of Tasmania. We were in a very remote area delivering bibles when we recognised someone in another car, who had pulled off the road.

This person is famous, they are on Australia-wide TV all the time. We turned around … because God said …”Turn around” and we went back and gave this guy a bible. We chatted briefly, and then left. To be honest I am not sure he appreciated what we gave him all that much, but he was very gracious about it. At the time, we were the only two cars on that road! For the next few years of his life, this particular man had more trouble than Job did. Did he use that bible? I dunno!! We sure prayed for him! I know we were part of a much larger plan from the Lord to get his attention, we became a part of the poem He is writing over that person’s life.

That’s the secret to recognising your destiny as the Holy Spirit writes your ‘poem.’ Please don’t ever think you have to be the whole ball-game … Eg … the batter, the pitcher, the short-stop, the umpire … instead, wait in the dug-out for your turn. God will call you when He needs you. When He wants me to say something, He says: “You’re on!” Most of the time I don’t even know what to say, but it isn’t ever about what I say — it’s about carrying the One Who I am walking with. Peter recognised the eternal quality that was in Christ, when he said to Jesus “… You alone have the Words of eternal life.” So whatever Jesus says, has LIFE in it.

Part of our daily focus is about paying attention to the process of being re-created. Poetry is about the little phrases just as much as the big ones, so let’s seize any seemingly minor opportunities and follow them through. Sometimes when the Lord does stuff, He doesn’t need a brass band! The Holy Spirit loves to speak in whispers, nudges, and thoughts. Be encouraged and follow the thread and do what He says. The Holy Spirit and our Lord Jesus are with us to help us with our daily lives. Remember, Jesus is the Living Word, if anyone knows what to say – He does!

You and I are poems that are destined to glorify Him. One day we’ll be dead and gone, but the Holy Spirit will continue to write poems over people’s lives until Jesus comes back! It is in God’s incredible nature to appreciate beautiful things, but His idea of beauty is not the same as ours. We see beautiful things as an arrangement of features and physical attributes – the Trinity sees beauty as an inside job. Mother Teresa was stunning – a glorious loving poem written to God’s glory!

Finally, let’s remember that we are not our own, anymore. SomeBody bought and paid for us. “We were purchased with a preciousness…” 1 Corinthians 6:20. Verses like these are written right throughout our very own Psalms to remind us of Jesus’ grace and obedience toward us. It is our destiny to be a Love poem to Him. Bless you. 🙌

P 3124 Accessing His power to change.

/ DVH

Each one of us needs to choose to grab hold of the power Jesus died to give us to change the way we live in this world. It is always available. We do that by using our faith that what Almighty God has said in His book, the bible, is true. I will not lie to you – living like this is costly at first. We have to give up our right of reply, self-defence, or vindication and trust God Himself to vindicate us. And that whole scene usually happens when you feel extremely provoked and you want to zap a zinger back at the other person! 

But we have to choose to be finished with our old life when we said yes to Jesus. Then we choose to enter this new life to learn how to walk by faith. Sometimes by taking baby steps, or by making big strides. Almighty God loves faith. “…It’s impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that He exists and that He cares enough to respond to those who seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6b MSG.

Here’s an illustration that might help make this ‘faith’ thing clear. Let us say, I have $1000 in the bank, I can’t see that money, it’s just a number on a bank statement. It won’t become viable until I use it, or collect it. I can even  give you $500 of that thousand dollars, and no physical money needs to change hands. All that will happen is that the numbers being recorded will change on both sides – yours and mine. I’ll now have $500 and so will you. With regard to using our faith – the power for transformation Jesus gave us is limitless, it cannot and will not run out until time itself ceases.

Back to my illustration. For you to get the money I’ve given you, you will have to spend it, or somehow use it, and you do that by using your faith that the money is actually there, even though nothing visible needs to change hands! Our God loves it when we use our faith – our belief that He is Who He says He is, and He Has done what He said He has done, is His pleasure. We can do whatever He says we can, it is all written on His bank statement in the New Testament and He has given it to us. When He says we can do it – then we can do it – feelings don’t come into it. We defer to the Holy Spirit’s goodness and wisdom:  then we obey and trust in the Person Who gave you His Word. 

The day we said ‘yes’ to Jesus, we were given Christ’s power to overcome. To use my illustration, that power was ‘deposited’ in our account. It came when the Holy Spirit convicted us and we responded with joy and repentance. While He was on earth, the Lord Jesus overcame sin, this world and the devil. Because of that He has imparted that power to us as His legacy. Just like someone might leave you money in their will – in Jesus’ will, we inherited many blessings including total transformation into His likeness!“For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,…” Romans 14:17. “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me…” Acts 1:8. Do some research for yourself in the book, and start obeying what you find. 

Even though we may not see anything or feel anything our inheritance is still there. It is a reality. Hebrews 8:12: “For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”When Jesus took His own blood and poured it all over the heavenly Mercy seat, He washed away all our sins. and now God has no record of them. They are like a bill you’ve paid – stamped “PAID IN FULL” However, I may not feel any difference, because I’m still living in this world which is anti-God. Now I will have to take the Lord God Almighty at His Word. 

Everything we have been given comes from Calvary, and it was carefully written down in the bible, by the Holy Spirit. These things have been credited to our account, but we will need to access them by using our faith. We don’t need to make big one-off withdrawals, rather we can access the kingdom of God step by step as we ask for His help to obey Him, and then step out and act on what the bible says. That help is with us, right now, from the moment we gave our lives to Him. We began by using our faith and we continue by using it.

This means we can with His help – love the unlovely. We can, with His help …”do good to those who despitefully use us.”We can overcome personal sin, this world, and our enemy because Jesus gave us His power to do it. At the same time, each deliberate act of obedience transforms the way we think. Daily we use our faith to access the Holy Spirit, our personal Coach and Helper. As we learn to walk with Him using our faith, His Way of living becomes more and more natural to us. We’ve stopped looking for our own advantage and started doing what He wants. Jesus began our faith, and He always finishes what He starts!

One of the difficulties of this transformation is that faith is not feelings. It is a deliberately chosen act of obedience responding to what God has already said in His book! The feelings, if they come, come much later. Accessing His power to change our old ways of thinking, doing and being, will now become our new way to live. We live for whatever Jesus wants, and follow His ways. Bye. 👋

P 2516 Learn to recognise His love gifts!

/ DVH

“The fruit produced by the Holy Spirit WITHIN YOU is divine love in all its varied expressions:  joy that overflows, peace that subdues, patience that endures, kindness in action, a life full of virtue, faith that prevails, gentleness of heart, and strength of spirit. Never set the law above these qualities, FOR THEY ARE MEANT TO BE LIMITLESS.” Galatians 5:22-23. 

Imagine that! We have been given words, actions, attitudes, that are already within US – they came in when He came in. And those things actively show us all the time what His divine love looks like, toward us. This thought blew my mind. I think these verses are the most excellent description of what HIS LOVE looks like— and how we will know we are experiencing it, first hand. It starts to produce fruit in me, in you – everywhere we go. The Holy Spirit is relentless in His pursuit of good, and even if we get in His way, He will steadfastly continue His fruit production. And it is unbelievably fantastic fruit that does others good — but it also enriches US.

Thanks to Heidi and Rolland Baker of Mozambique – I have a really strong idea about what God’s love looks like through me toward someone else. My picture of what His love looks like IN us, begins with Jesus dying for us. He died to open up the door that was closed between the Father and all of us. I am aware that His love is not just about being blessed with earthly stuff … “…because He sends His rain on the just and the unjust…”  So understanding what He has, and is still giving to me, growing in me, every single day, needs to be recognised.

You see, because of His book, I know He blesses everyone – whether they are following Him or not!! God is so good His blessings overflow, everywhere all the time. That person who almost drowned, didn’t, someone was there to save them. That other person who lost everything has been anonymously given money to help them. That’s Almighty God motivating all kinds of people to help others with HIS LOVE. Personally, I think He can’t help Himself – He’s just THAT good. God is not like we are … keen on publicity! He doesn’t always sign His Name to stuff you know.

Think about this for a minute or nine …  everywhere Jesus went He blessed people. He didn’t just bless the spiritual people either. NO! He blessed people who had a need, when they came to Him to meet that need. His loving gifts were not discriminatory. He wore Himself out giving, teaching, caring and explaining God’s ways. At the same time, He was teaching US these attitudes are a hallmark of God’s people. His love inside us is a hallmark of His ownership of us.“…and the resting place of His love, will become the very source and root of your life.” Ephesians 3:17.

And BTW, FYI … Jesus wasn’t preaching to Christians! At that time He was preaching to Jewish people. He was telling God’s own chosen people that their destiny was to be a blessing. And He was showing them how it works! Jesus saw every need, and He cared about every single individual. Once Jesus preached for hours sitting on a hillside, and when He came down from that place His first response was to heal a leper! He lived His short life, taking in His Father’s love and giving it out. That is to be our experience, too.

On the few occasions I have had a tangible experience of His love … I just plain ran out of words to explain what happened! But when I read these verses this morning, I realised the Holy Spirit has given us clear signs of what the fruit/presence of His love looks like TOWARD US as well as in us, and through us. We need to pay attention to what He says. We should know what that love looks like — or we might miss it, like many of those Jewish people did. God’s love isn’t just His favour – His love contains tangible qualities that He has put inside us to share.

What I heard in the above scripture, is this: when I have joy I can’t contain, or peace that utterly calms my heart, or someone is patient with me with a patience that doesn’t run out, or even kindness that takes my breath away … when my life is full of virtue and my faith just won’t quit, and I don’t even want to think about hurting someone else,  I am also experiencing God’s love for me. He is present in me and with me in those times.

That love will flow through me to others, if I let it OUT. But I have to decide His love is like a river, not a dam! His system works like this – love in, love out. Sounds like breathing eh?The secret to living in and giving out the love of God is recognising it when it comes toward ME – FIRST. I have found it helpful to recognise those times and say to myself:  – “that’s God’s unconditional love coming at me!”  His love looks exactly like those things that are mentioned in Galatians Chapter 5 verses 22-23!  

These are things we simply can’t explain away, because we know, first-hand, that mankind cannot come up with them by themselves, or even endlessly maintain them. These God-given love gifts will never ever run out! And if that doesn’t make you happy, sit and think on those two verses. They will do it! Bye 👋

P 2394 Releasing His Grace.

/ DVH

Forgiving someone is simply the starting place for the process of releasing Grace into a sinful atmosphere. We ask the Lord for His Grace, and then we release that God-given Grace toward the person who has sinned against us or offended us. This is a deliberate act, using our faith. Most of the time we probably won’t feel like doing it immediately – but immediately is definitely the best time! 

However, I’ve found that the memory of whatever happened to me, can come up again and again. So I need to release His Grace again. I don’t have to forgive again, I just need to release more Grace toward that person. We step into the flow of the Holy Spirit and, living with His Grace toward us, we don’t step out again. Grace is like air, it comes in and goes out.

When we go to the cross and confess our sin of judgment or whatever, and repent, we are reminding ourselves that the cross of Christ is our source of endless eternal Grace. No matter how hard I try, I cannot forgive someone who sins against me, in my mind, or even my feelings. I need to use faith to do it. I ask the Lord for His help and then I deliberately pray and release that person from my judgment. I know I personally have a tendency to steer clear of people who hurt me. That’s not GRACE … it’s avoidance. BTW, the more you hold resentments against others the more skilled you will become at finding fault in them.

Now if I think about a bad thing that has happened, EG …’they did this, but I didn’t deserve it’…and ruminate over what happened, then I can easily rehearse myself back into the same state that I started in – or even worse. Instead I must go back to the cross, and Him ask for His Grace, and repent for digging up someone else’s sin. This needs to be a daily habit, because some bad attitudes sneak up on all of us, and we end up 200 kms down the wrong road without even noticing it! We need to acknowledge other people’s sins, then forgive them, and start releasing Grace every time we think of them.

We have been saved to be His GRACE dispensers. That’s what healing is – God’s Grace toward the sick. It’s what wisdom is, it’s what the power of God IS. We embrace the companionship of the Holy Spirit and cherish Him by our obedience. Grace is God’s unmerited favour over our lives, and His people can release that power toward others by forgiving someone else who doesn’t deserve it. Jesus set that example. But we cannot manufacture this stuff without humbling ourselves and admitting our need of it, first. Grace is heaven’s currency.

Transformation occurs when we walk in, and value His Grace for us, and through us. Instead of making our own needs our priority. If we choose not to participate in the flow of His Grace we are actually holding other people captive, because God gave us the power to release them into His hands. (John 20:23)… That power is designed to flow through us. We become acquainted with the power of the Holy Spirit when we live this way – we can’t, or won’t live this way of ourselves, but when He is in charge, we can.

Personally, I can’t live the life I currently have, without utterly relying upon the Holy Spirit and His Grace. Most people I know don’t think about stuff the same way I do. We simply do not gather information the same way. God’s way of Grace is the great undergirding that brings us all together. Outside of His Grace I know that I am probably going to get clunked upside the head by someone, or something or other, and spend a week trying to simply stand up again so I can keep on walking with Jesus. I’ll probably tread on someone else as well! And, if I am not paying attention to what matters, I will fall right out of Grace into judgment. Then judgment picks up resentment and that leads to bitterness.

The good news is Christ overpaid our debt so we have a limitless supply of Grace. What do I mean by that? Let’s start with the obvious. I don’t mean that we can do whatever we like, and live however we want to, ignoring God’s wishes and His instructions in the bible! That is treating God’s costly Grace, disrespectfully and irreverently. We have more than enough Grace to give away, not to horde or misuse for our own agendas, pettiness or deliberate sin.

His Grace received into my life is the beginning of a production line. It produces the kingdom of God in me, and releases His kingdom toward you.  It facilitates a better relationship between me and God, and me and you! Grace washes us both clean, so we can live God-conscious lives instead of sin-conscious ones. Part of the function of this Grace production line is that it becomes the new way we live, as we practise it. We automatically release it to others, and that Grace flowing into and out of our lives, continually washes us. It is much harder to be proud when you know that without His Grace you are sunk! 

Finally, Grace produces gratefulness. It is an equaliser. Everybody needs it. It will produce the kingdom of God in our lives, if we choose to live and walk in it and work with it. Here’s a huge clue that might help you, so you can step into the flow of God’s Grace – if you roll your eyes, or grind your teeth when you see someone – you need His Grace to help you. Releasing undeserved Grace to others gives us balance, we know full well, at any minute we will need it too! 👋🏻

Romans 12:18: “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”

P 2269 We need to use our faith to access His Grace.

/ DVH

Think of Grace as a huge endless heavenly container that has all the provision you will ever need to access in this life for anything you need to do. It is limitless. It is time to rely upon His boundless Grace to change our ways of thinking being and doing instead of misusing it as an escape clause to remain the same not change. We can’t see it, BUT … it’s in the book! Having faith is about trusting God to be true to His Word.

At the immediate point of impact when somebody says or does something that hurts or irritates us … we need to take a breath and ask the Lord for help. It’s a choice. It’s a hard choice because we are used to making decisions without referring to anything else other than what we know. Or maybe in desperation, we try to make scriptures back up what we want. Faith is about Who HE is – can we trust Him to work everything together for good, even in our bad moments?

Think of it this way God knows the way through anything we come up against, no matter what difficulty we are in. This is why we need His help, to put this Grace that is so readily available in our time of need, into action. In Exodus the Israelites could not go into the promised land because  it was in signs and wonders and provision. We need to change our focus. Our faith needs to be in Him, in the One who did everything for us. 

We don’t have to feel ashamed of being inadequate in the face of trials and tribulations. Our GOD loves to help and protect us. The more we use our faith to access His grace the more our faith will grow. Faith is not just the thing we drag out when the sky has fallen on us, or something bad has happened. If we live that way then we could easily find that our faith muscle will atrophy, and we have no faith strength to make it through whatever it is that confronts us.

The Lord Himself told us to live by faith. Living by faith means it’s a day by day thing, sometimes minute by minute. The only way to strengthen this kind of Living interactive  faith is to continually use it. Unfortunately we are way too used to relying upon our own understanding and strength so we automatically do some things out of habit or personal ability. 

This means we are living our lives acknowledging the power of God but not using it. It is no wonder that faith fails to uphold us, when it is the emergency spare. To live by faith means we live by our confidence in the power of His Word, from His book. Because we have become so used to referring to what we know, and going on with that –  this will mean praying without ceasing, sometimes. 

Not the sort of prayers that we sometimes use and try to hope in …these honest sorts of prayers … like help Lord or I need You, Lord. Heart prayers, not just pretty prayers we hope the Lord will accept. He already permanently accepted us, forever. In our efforts to be reverent and to pray the sorts of prayers we think God wants to hear, we’ve lost the ability to communicate with Him in every day language that comes  truthfully from our hearts. He’s our reference point, which means He knows what we need before we do! Believing in His goodness, and acting upon that thought in mind, means we are moving in faith.

This does not mean that we run around like loose cannons blaming our mistakes on the Lord, and taking credit for the victories. It’s an attitude of heart that says ‘I can’t do anything without You’ Jesus. We do not lose our independence by force, rather we surrender in favour of His great great wisdom and insight. I often find myself praying what do I do here Lord? 

True freedom exists when you have the freedom to make a choice. Automatic responses are not choices either. They are a reflex action. Sometimes we do things ourselves because it seems quicker than leaning on Him. The more we practice leaning on Him – using our faith, the more it becomes the way we think. That’s called renewing our minds. Do you think Jesus was ever so distracted by His circumstances, or whatever was going on around Him that He forgot about His Father or the Holy Spirit? He started from what God said and went from there. He was still Himself, but He was Himself with the benefit of the Father’s wisdom and the Holy Spirit’s applications. 

Using our faith is an investment in our relationship with Him and whatever ministry He has for us. Faith needs to be like sneezing or sitting down … a part of life. Remember we must never be afraid of getting it wrong, Jesus redeemed everything but He cannot redeem our inertia! Grace is accessed by faith, no matter how wobbly that faith seems to be to us. Let’s live our lives believing the bible is true. He said He did it, so it’s done. Bye 👋🏻

P 2253 One step at a time.

/ DVH

Our God is overwhelmingly limitless … so we must never limit what He is able to do with one person who is prepared to live their life for Jesus’ sake!  I love the Old Testament, there are huge glimpses of Almighty God’s Personhood for those who take the time to look.

Take the book of Job – he was a happy man. Then God and satan had a word war over what was the source of Job’s happiness. Job lost everything he owned, plus his wife, kids and friends! Then God did an amazing thing – He showed Job the difference between man’s wisdom and HIS. Almighty God shifted Job’s reliance over to Himself, and He made Job’s faith even deeper by revealing Himself. One step at a time.

Moses was a murderer. He ran away from his destiny as Pharaoh’s adopted son. Instead he was living a happy, quiet life, looking after his father-in-law’s sheep … when God confronted him. Through Moses we see how God handles perceived problems, situations and people. We get insight into His Ways. Our God moved that man from shepherding sheep, to boldly confronting Pharaoh and demanding that he let his Israelite slaves go. Moses followed the Lord’s instructions … one step at a time.

Gideon was another ordinary man, living an ordinary little life. He was hiding grain from the multitude known as the Midianites. The conversations that Gideon had with an angel the Lord sent, show us the way Almighty God takes into account our character, our weaknesses. The Midianites stomped all over the Jewish people, they stole everything that wasn’t nailed down, but God used an ordinary fellow to defeat the very people who oppressed them. One step at a time – that’s how the Lord taught Gideon. 

Peter, Andrew, James, and John were simple fishermen. But their Heavenly Father had other plans. One day an itinerant Teacher turned up and told them to follow Him, so they did. They saw more in their lifetimes than they ever imagined they could. God gave them a commission they couldn’t turn down, and they followed it – one step at a time.

Stephen in Acts, was Greek. He waited on tables, looking after widows and orphans, then God made him a deacon. He taught others about Christ, by what he did and said. Then he was arrested, and ended up preaching the gospel, going from Moses to Jesus in front of all the religious leaders of that day. A brilliant sermon. They promptly hated every word he said – and even as he lay dying, surrounded by their rocks, he pointed to their Messiah. He did all this … one step at a time.

Paul was killing Christians when God knocked him to the ground and made him blind. Truth be told, that man was already blind, spiritually! And Almighty God just let his outsides match his insides for a few days. However Paul was irrevocably changed by that encounter. He went into God’s private bible school – the accelerated course – for three years, and then he trundled all over the known world. He also spent time in jail on and off, and he wrote letters that are still changing our world. One step at a time.

I could go on and on – Mary was simply a devoted peasant girl. She had ordinary plans for her life, and Almighty God interrupted them with His own plans to bring His Son into this world. Esther was the town pretty girl, and God had plans to make her a queen so she could save her nation. Ruth was a widow, and so was her mother-in-law – yet God made her one of Jesus direct fore-bearers. Ordinary people living ordinary lives until an extraordinary limitless God transformed them all into sign-posts, keys, and examples of what His Grace can do with an ordinary life – one step at a time.

My point today is this: … what does He want to do with your life?? We will never know our real purpose for being here in this world, outside of His plans. Our lives may be ordinary and hidden – but when we read the Old and the New Testament, these people who went before us, are a blazing flashing neon sign in the sky that our God can do anything …if we will just follow Him … one step at a time. When we follow Jesus we don’t arrive, we begin a journey … one step at a time.

Will you let Him use you? It is highly unlikely that most of us will have a book written about our God-given exploits – but I believe, in heaven, there are books and books and books. Why? Because the things we do down here, are the things of faith, and they point to Jesus, just as surely as Job, Moses, Gideon, Paul, Peter, Andrew, James, John, Stephen, Mary, Esther and Ruth’s faith steps did… one step at a time. 👋🏻 

P2214 FRUIT is our evidence of change.

/ DVH

“When your lives bear abundant fruit, you demonstrate that you are My mature disciples who glorify My Father!” John 15:8 TPT. Now there’s a wonderful promise from the Lord. However, when we turn that coin over … if we don’t have any visible fruit, then we are not mature …yet. Sometimes I think in the church, we choose people to be leaders who have really great, pretty, fruit blossom flowers growing – they have lots of GIFTS and great charisma. Unfortunately those flowers are only a promise of what is to come … the potential for mature fruit is there … but that is only the beginning of the Lord’s processes. 

If you elevate and display those flowers in someone’s life too early – I believe you may hinder or eliminate the fruit. That person can get puffed up with their own importance, or even overwhelmed by responsibility, and stop living their lives under His direction … within a lively ongoing relationship with the Holy Spirit. Then they can get too busy with their ministry to work on their own fruit. The popular thought often, is this – these people have great gifts so let’s follow them and go build a church! Instead we need to pray that our leaders have the right discernment from the Lord to be able wait for the fruit in people’s lives to be ripening before they elevate immature believers. GIFTS ARE NOT FRUIT.

Now let’s take a look at what that fruit looks like: Galatians 5:22 MSG  “But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard— …” Galatians 5:22&23 TPT “But the fruit produced by the Holy Spirit within you is divine love in all its varied expressions: joy that overflows, peace that subdues, patience that endures, kindness in action, a life full of virtue, faith that prevails, gentleness of heart, and strength of spirit. Never set the law above these qualities, for they are meant to be limitless.” “You didn’t choose Me, but I’ve chosen and commissioned you to go into the world to bear fruit. And your fruit will last, because whatever you ask of My Father,  for My sake,  He will give it to you.” John 15:16

First of all – did you get that word limitless? Wow! 😳 And let’s please remember Whose fruit it is! Hallelujah for the Holy Spirit and His work in us – by ourselves we can’t produce anything that will last into eternity, and eternal edible fruit is the main thing! He alone produces limitless. The Holy Spirit is not limited by our perceptions of how He works or how He should work – He once used a whale and a donkey to bring about His purposes. He is limitless! Just wrap your thoughts around that HUGE word.

A pear tree will always produce pears, whether it grows untamed and untrained, or in nice neat little rows. But a wild pear tree won’t produce a lot of fruit, and it will probably be full of bugs!  The one in the orchard is nurtured, trained, sprayed, pruned, fed by fertiliser, watered by rain. It is being cultivated! We are all under cultivation right now – so let’s not pick at each other like blackbirds. The Holy Spirit needs to cultivate our lives, removing the stuff that is unprofitable, and fertilising the things that lead to greater growth and better fruit. 

When someone eats a nice, juicy piece of fruit, they say: “that fruit is good.” We begin to mature when we let the Lord decide what is good for us, and what to do with the fruit He is growing in our lives. The Lord needs to cultivate the right attitudes within us. satan, on the other hand, cannot produce good fruit even if he tries.  We saw what he produced in the garden of Eden … sin, disobedience and estrangement! Our enemy cannot produce anything that is good because he is not a creator. 

So how do I know if what I am producing is God’s fruit? His fruit is sweet and ripe and juicy, people are attracted to His fruit like bees to honey. Even the smell of the Lord’s Presence in a room attracts others. The bible says: “…taste and see that the Lord is good.” So anyone can taste God’s fruit as well as see and smell it. His fruit comes from within, from the sap of His tree of new life growing inside us. We will always need our daily fellowship with the Holy Spirit. He enriches our lives and our relationship with Him produces His fruit. We co-operate with the Holy Spirit and then the fruit comes from within us.

As we read His word, and let, or allow Him to change the way we walk, talk and think – we are giving the fruit of the Spirit opportunities to develop within us. His fruit in our lives will produce change. We should not be surprised to find that we don’t do the things we did before – that’s because we are now way too busy producing fruit fit for Our King! 👋🏻