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P 3420 Let’s imitate Christ. 

/ DVH

We won’t all walk with God at the same pace, at the same time. But I believe we will one day, and I hope I’m still here to see it, because it will be a glorious sight! Spiritual harmony is a beautiful thing. The more life throws bitter lemons at us the more we chase after Jesus, we want to respond the way that He would. That’s what imitation looks like. Our primary goal is this: “Whatever it takes for that other person to see Our Heavenly Father loves them, I will give.” Very ordinary, normal, but truly extraordinary people have died for that cause.

It is extremely damaging to our faith to follow Jesus and avoid the saints, simply because we happen to think they are poor examples of Christ. We are all in differing stages of our spiritual development and we need to remember that our choices control our actions. However, there is a huge difference between gently pointing out someone’s error, OR, choosing to pontificate over their weakness.  Next time it could be our turn to fall over!

Learning to love those people who really really irritate us is a lifelong lesson. In the natural it is much easier to fight with them, and then keep our distance afterwards. Let’s make it our great quest to learn His Kingdom Ways of loving the unloveable – imitating the Way our Father loves us. He doesn’t love us because we are so special, or so appealing, He loves us because it is in His very nature to love. Therefore we need His nature to become our nature, and that’s often a process. It’s a process we are all IN!

“Be imitators of God in everything you do, for then you will represent your Father as His beloved sons and daughters. And continue to walk surrendered to the extravagant love of Christ, for He surrendered His life as a sacrifice for us. His great love for us was pleasing to God, like an aroma of adoration—a sweet healing fragrance.” Ephesians 5:1-2 TPT. Paul said that. Personally, I have learnt to see there is great value in paying attention to my choices, they can lead me away from following the Lord.

It seems to me that human beings can’t easily live this way, unless we choose the lowest road of surrender and devotion to the Lord Himself. Jesus has already done all the work necessary for each one of us to live a changed life. He looked through the cross and saw all of us dying in our sins, and had compassion on us. He did what He did on behalf of His Father’s great love, to glorify, honour, and fulfil His Father’s plans. It was for our good. Real love involves correction not simply harsh confrontation. And petting and patting down the things that will ever-so-slowly turn us away from Him – is fruitless.

Paul tells us this:“ …  just as I please everyone in all things [as much as possible adapting myself to the interests of others], not seeking my own benefit but that of the many, so that they [will be open to the message of salvation and] may be saved.” That’s 1 Corinthians 10:33. Immediately following on from that comes 1 Corinthians 11:1: “Imitate me, just as I imitate Christ.” Sometimes, those Chapter divisions can be more of an interruption to a whole thought, so it is good to keep reading a little further!

We are to be imitators of good…. “Imitation involves a careful observation, and a precise study of the act or action of the mentor…” (Wisdom Hunters). I translate that like this —   follow Jesus, and do what He did! The conformity to Christ’s Ways is what matters, not the methodology. I know some saints who have learnt from their own experiences, that whatever they do in their own strength, pales into insignificance to what God Himself can do through their willing surrender. So they seek His Ways above anything else. I call that wisdom!

Paul also says: “Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.” Philippians 3:17.“What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you…” He writes that in Philippians 4:9. Paul believes in this kind of imitation – look, learn, and practice.

This kind of imitation is not like the knock-off handbags you find on a street stall – that’s called forgery! But if we were to take the right kind of the best leather, and treat it the same way that famous manufacturer does, then that becomes an imitation. An imitation becomes a fake when it deliberately misleads and lies to you, and tries to trick you into believing it is something it is not. Our imitation of Jesus must not be fake. It needs to come from our hearts, containing a sincere desire to please HIM.

Jesus gave us some examples in the Beatitudes, Matthew 5:40,41: “And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well.  If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.” So we are to be overgenerous when people get narky at us. Otherwise we can be dragged into some sort of court, not only letting the bad guy win — we will also end up really really cold, with sore feet!

It is costly to follow Jesus and it is about time we stopped pretending it isn’t. But the benefits far outweigh the cost. Following Him means we are daily choosing to walk with Him, His Way.  To imitate that Way of living, we choose to live this life not holding onto things. Let’s purpose in our hearts to care more about other people, than stuff. Bye. 👋

P 3358 More of Jesus.    

/ DVH

Colossians 1:3-8.“Our prayers for you are always spilling over into thanksgivings. We can’t quit thanking God our Father and Jesus our Messiah for you! We keep getting reports on your steady faith in Christ, our Jesus, and the love you continuously extend to all Christians. The lines of purpose in your lives never grow slack, tightly tied as they are to your future in heaven, kept taut by hope. The Message is as true among you today as when you first heard it. It doesn’t diminish or weaken over time. It’s the same all over the world. The Message bears fruit and gets larger and stronger, just as it has in you. From the very first day you heard and recognized the truth of what God is doing, you’ve been hungry for more.”

Have you eaten too much of something you like, but you kind of still kept on going? Yeah me too. Maybe you’ve binge-watched something on Streaming? Yeah me too. Well today have I got news for you! I found something you can indulge yourself in that isn’t fattening or mind numbing – the quest for more of Jesus! 

People say this all the time, and we might easily feel like an inferior Christian, because that thought never even crossed our minds. My question today is: what does it actually mean?  We can say a whole lot of Christian-ese words sometimes, without any bible verses or experiences to back them up. So what does wanting more of Him look like? 

I can remember being so in love with my hubby that I would go long distances to spend five minutes in his company. Hmm. I would still do that, but I might need some personal assistance nowadays! He’s still the nicest person I know …  well, most of the time. I think more of Jesus means, at the very least, that I will want to spend more time with Him getting to know Him. I actively ask and look for the Lord in my day. When I see Him, I thank Him!

I’m just going to let that sit there while we both think about it. That’s because spending more time with Him means we need less time for us to do the things we have cultivated in our lives to relieve stress, and fear, and help us to cope. Yeah. I’m just going to leave that one there too …

I think more of Jesus is like falling in love. Ad when life gets difficult, we approach those things with Him as our Saviour, Lord and Friend. Then we choose to appropriate what He said He has given us, using our faith. That means WE DO SOMETHING. It’s an exercise of our will, and we accept whatever comes at us, because the bible tells us He filters that stuff.  If I need something, He will provide it – if we don’t, then He won’t. We live to make love our aim, because Love is His language, and that means we are looking at life through His eyes.

More of Jesus also means our value systems will become  like His, and our hearts will break for the things that break His heart. Because Jesus lived to please His Father, and we like being around Him, so we will choose to live that way too. Our needs and wants become secondary; we pray, ask, then we leave it with Him. He’s God He can do anything. If someone provokes us or pokes us in the ego – what will come out of us automatically is a help prayer.

All of those things are great aims!! But like the Psalmist says: “Such knowledge is too lofty for me to attain…” Psalm139:6. My translation to that bit of this Psalm is — we can’t possibly do this stuff and not exercise our faith. We need His help, because change happens one step at a time, but we begin with the firm knowledge that what Jesus did is already complete.

We no longer have to live like other people, the Lord has given us His word that He won’t leave us. He will also provide us with a way to get out of whatever dumb thing we’ve gotten into. Our minds and emotions, become secondary to His Word, because they can fool us into thinking that reacting the same way we always did, means we have not been changed. It’s a lie. Jesus did everything that ever needed doing on the cross. So we choose to use our faith to apply what He did, once and for all, into our own lives, now. 

There are times we can get stuck because our convenience wins over what Jesus said, but we know that repentance restores our relationship with Him. There can also be times we haven’t done the things we know He asked us to do. How can we learn to trust in Jesus, and want Him and His ways more, when we choose to be a slave to convenience and time?

This is the real point of today’s blog. I think we fail because we live in a fast-paced society where time is a thing to be used … … not savoured. So let’s look briefly at the consequences of not using our time well. We will probably stay in the same place spiritually, going up and down, always waiting for God to make the difference, when He already did! We allow His truth to be merely a reminder, instead of a prompt for change.

According to Colossians Chapter one, more of Him also contains a whole lot of thanksgiving! Actually, the bible says we shouldn’t stop giving thanks, no matter how we feel. So we need to practice thanking Him that He is in charge, even when it looks like He’s not! Now there’s something to go on with. Remember that’s not lying, it is lining ourselves up with His Word, instead of being led around by circumstances.

Paul thanks God for the growth of the faith of the Church in Colossae. He can see it because it is seeable. We go on and on about answered prayer, but what about Jesus’ prayers?? Paul himself has heard about the things that are happening in that church. God’s Word grows spiritual fruits, and that fruit is visible, not a euphemism. Wanting more of Jesus means we recognise the difference between what God says, and what is seeable and actually true in our lives. Visible fruit is proof of more of Jesus in our lives.

The believers in Colossae used their faith that what Jesus said He did, He did. They staked their lives on it. We need a whole lot less of ‘spooky filter’ Christianity and more fruit! More of Jesus signifies that we choose to obey what He asked us to do, and we get to see the results and so do other people. Bye.  👋

P 2954 Jesus conquered death!

/ DVH

John 8:20: “Jesus said these things in the treasury, as He taught in the temple [courtyard]; and no one seized Him, because His time had not yet come.”

Ecclesiastes 3:1,2a:“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die…”

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

Luke 24:5b,6:“…but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; He has risen!”

There is a time to be born and a time to die, and because of what Jesus did for us, death is a door. Mankind has always had an eternal destiny. So when we die we simply change locations! Heaven belongs to us here and now, today – because Jesus loves us that much. 

So, just for today, I want talk to anyone who wants to leave this life prematurely. My heart goes out to the person who feels they can’t go on — I can hear your desperate cry for mercy, right here, in my funny old chair. I am praying for you as I am typing this blog. I don’t care what you’ve done, or with whom, we need every single member of this Body that is currently so badly broken. There is no despair so deep as the despair a human being suffers when they can no longer see Him or have any hope that will change.

Christianity has blown itself out of all proportion, and in the process we’ve left behind compassion and mercy. We’ve allowed rules to become doctrines. Only God Himself knows the terrible pain and suffering in someone’s heart. Physical, emotional and mental anguish have to be personally experienced to be understood. If that happens to be you, then please remember – Jesus Christ suffered all kinds of agony and anguish on that cross, He alone totally understands where you are right now.

That’s why He came to earth in the first place – to experience humanity first-hand and save us from ourselves. He asked me to write to you today. He wants you to do the bravest thing you have ever done and ask for help. Remember, despite how it looks to you — we need you. “The weaker members are more important…” 1 Corinthians 12:22.

I’ve found that terrible, unthinkable things in this life can suddenly turn around and situations can change in a heartbeat … because God is always on His Throne. He’s on your side, no matter what you have done. Grab His hand and hold on! I’ve also learnt that satan loves to find and add fuel to the fire of despair, depression and pessimism. You aren’t useless – you are under attack!

We can always tell our enemy’s voice — it accuses and condemns us. It remembers things we desperately want to forget, and it comes up with thousands of dreadful reasons why you are a waste of space and how everyone else would be better off without you! Treat him like the TV – turn him off.

Even if what he is saying is, or was true – he’s not trying to help you —he wants you dead. Start singing to yourself, with Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Spiritual songs are the songs we sing that we make up as we go along. I sometimes sing the Psalms, after all God does not care if we are tone deaf or totally tuneless. Doing this puts a spark to our rapidly fading faith. satan’s a liar and if he is coming up with these ghastly scenarios then you can bet God has something that only you can do … The bigger the brambles and booby traps, the bigger the prize on the other side of any test. 

Grace is the vehicle we need to automatically climb into every single day, in order to keep running this race. We cannot do this life in our own strength, because our strength runs out! It also gets incredibly battered by the stuff that comes at us. What Jesus did for us, once and for all, triumphs over everything else that is to come, and everything else that has gone before us. It is in our heavenly account, credited to us by the blood of Jesus. Hallelujah! 🙌  He whispers to us: “I have forgiven you.” Dare to believe Him.

Our mind cannot always rationalise its way around the deepest pain. Let His Word soothe your thoughts, and suffering – “He will not break a broken reed …!!”  When we cherish what the Lord has said and put it above our own thoughts and experiences, that’s when we begin to build a bank within our heart of testimonies about His power. We start to remember that He has helped us to overcome the very stuff that tried to drown us. He stops being the God I read about in His book, and becomes the God Who knows and loves ME. And because His Word is powerful, it works whether I think I believe it or not. 

Jesus went through all He suffered … so we would not have to suffer alone from this life’s torments. HE CAME OUT OF THAT GRAVE and proved that He conquered death and destruction once and for all! That means YOU … He conquered death and potential destruction – for you. Hold fast beloved of God – as we celebrate His victory over the very things that seek to destroy us all. 🕊️

P 2823 What was it about Jesus’ voice?

/ DVH

Mark 1:16-20 “As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow Me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed Him. When He had gone a little farther, He saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. Without delay He called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed Him.”

We can see that these four men were busy, and they were doing something they did daily. James and John were fishermen who worked for their father, and Simon and Andrew were fishermen as well. But when Jesus spoke to these four men, something in His voice, in the way He spoke, cut through any obligation, work-ethic, and duty … and all four of them, stopped doing the thing they had been doing all their lives, put down all their tools, and immediately followed Him… It is not recorded that they were particularly spiritual men … so what happened?

I think they heard THE VOICE of GOD within Jesus’ voice. I know that sounds very odd, but you may have already noticed that you can be in a room filled with people where someone is preaching, and instantly … it feels like the speaker is only talking to YOU. That’s what His Voice sounds like. When what we hear stops being general and generic, and it becomes personal. You could have that experience reading a book, or listening to music. Things just hit you in the heart.

This immediate connection is often unsought, but it cuts through the white noise, and then you are convicted, or convinced or something has your immediate attention. Maybe you are reading the bible and suddenly one verse jumps up like it bit you, and you are almost pole-axed by it. You see something about the Lord you have never seen before … or you feel deeply about something that you weren’t even thinking about a second ago! One of the biggest blessings we can have in this life is to recognise His voice. His voice helps us find His opportunities, His Way of living and being, and doing things. And the best way to gain knowledge about what the Holy Spirit sounds like is to — read the book and be observant. Our God is personal, pertinent, and passionate.

While you are reading His book you will find the Lord uses one voice in the Psalms, and another in Ezekiel or Habakkuk. I am not talking about the voice of the person who wrote that book – I am talking about the Way these people recorded how God spoke to them. To some people He was quite formal, to others He was incredibly personal, even commenting on their behaviour or their thoughts. We need to chase after being able to see this bigger picture.

Habakkuk actually says an interesting thing in Chapter 2, verse 1 …“I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts;  I will look to see what He will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.”  Habakkuk was complaining to the Lord, about all the evil in this world. He believes God is good, so why does He tolerate all this badness? And then God reminds Him that there is a time for His purposes and  … He has a plan. And if you want to know more – read Habakkuk!

When Habakkuk says, “I will look to see what He will say to me…”  I find that thought interesting. This man knows that what God says can be visible. He’s not talking about seeing the answer … he is talking about seeing God speaking through tangible things. The Lord speaks to some people in pictures and He speaks to other people through their circumstances. When He talks to me, He uses words or phrases. Recently He has begun to speak to me through instant peace. One minute I am overwrought and the next, I’m doing fine.

Here’s a question from me to think on … ‘How do YOU hear Him?’ We need to be careful not to limit the way He speaks to us. In our quest for holiness perhaps we have put a lid on how we think He always does things. The Body of Christ desperately needs the skill of hearing and knowing His voice, under any kind of circumstances. I have noticed that we often tend to allow God to speak to us, or through us, like this, or that. But that means our method of spiritual operation has become a habitual thing. What if Almighty God wants to speak to us, or even through us, another way? Have we so corralled Him, and His role in our lives, that we have inadvertently put limits on the way He operates through us?

I have become astonished at how often I ‘hear’ God speak through some of the things I’ve seen on YouTube!  I’m not talking about watching sermons etc. I’m talking about some unchurched person explaining their own little segment, and I suddenly hear His voice inside their voice … and He teaches me something! At first it was disconcerting. But now I deliberately put my listening ears on. In the end, after praying over this odd thing, I realised  that when I was watching secular things, I had somehow turned my inner listening-to-the-Lord-ears OFF! Yeah. Ya might want to reflect on that one – I did.

We can’t live in two worlds, one with His Presence and one without. We live in His kingdom now. I want to be like the disciples and when Jesus says “follow Me” – I follow!  Whatever we hear in His voice will be LIFE-CHANGING. Bye. 👋