Love

P 2738 Avoid at all cost.

/ DVH

“Jealousy is as strong as the grave.” Song of Solomon 8:6. This was the first scripture that I thought of when I began to think about jealousy. I think each of us may have experienced that things like bitterness, resentment, jealousy, rage, lying, etc. etc. aren’t good for spiritual health. None of these things are great traits to have, for quite obvious reasons. They can tie you up in knots long after the object of that stuff has left this world. I’ve found one thing leads to another and suddenly you are swimming in bad stuff — justifying yourself all the way.

“But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.”James 3:14-16. This scripture really impacted me, it exposed the thought that selfish ambition is a companion to jealousy. And James does not fiddle about, he calls it demonic – and unspiritual. Did you notice that this awful stuff goes right for our jugular? It attacks our hearts. Oh my! James goes on to talk about what real wisdom looks like, but I want to talk about the nasty bits today.

Here’s why. The jealousy bug has bitten me fairly recently. This thing that has happened involves people that are still with us, on earth, so I cannot give you details. However, someone appeared to be stealing something that was actually MINE. I know that intent counts because these people didn’t think it would matter, but unfortunately, when informed of my pain, they wouldn’t stop. That’s when I learnt that the desire to choke the living daylights out of someone who appeared to be stealing something that I know is mine — was sadly much bigger than the idea that I am a person of GRACE. I know I’m not perfect, by any means, but I honestly thought I was bigger inside than that!! Sigh. Reality rush.

Then I discovered why. Jealousy can have roots. This thing had its roots in my childhood. This rotten stuff can hide itself away, as it is actually stealing the life of God within us. It steals energy, focus, plus our very expensive, it cost-Jesus-His-life-to-give-it-to-us … PEACE. Here’s something to think on about that: “A peaceful mind gives life to the body, but jealousy rots the bones.” Proverbs 14:30. As if there is not enough going on inside my skin, daily! Thanks for bringing that up, James! Meanwhile I’ve now learnt from further study that our God is a jealous God. That thought made so much sense to me,if I bow down to, or give in to jealousy, then I am worshipping that thing, not the Lord!

At the same time, I also realised that I was working very hard to do something about my actual bones in the natural, older people have to think about that. I was physically prepared to take medicine, do weight-bearing exercise, and generally move around more to avoid bad bones. Yet, at the same time, I was also shooting all that effort in the foot, by holding onto something I could not change, because – hullo! Jealousy rots the bones!! All because it involved someone else’s behaviour!  That whole thing gave me an excuse to feel sorry for myself.

This stuff all transpired when I became obsessed with someone else taking something from me I didn’t know I valued until they took it! Even more sadly, the people involved had no comprehension of what they were doing – they thought they were helping me! Talk about throwing petrol on a grass fire! 🔥 Have you ever tried to change someone else’s mind when they think they are righteous? You may as well try to hold back the ocean.

I have had so much legally, legitimate stuff to be angry about, that I could have divided it into categories! And all this happened despite me repeatedly disclaiming the idea that the helpful people’s actions were hurting me, not helping. Whoosh! That stuff went way over their heads. It is good to know that it’s only truly helping someone else, if the person who needs the help actually wants it, right? DUH!! 

Sorry. After I wised up, and repented — I told the Lord that if He wants me to have what was being stolen, then HE would have to get it back for me. And then I stuck to that thought. Plus I had to add in repeated forgiveness, because they would keep harping on the so-called fact that what they were doing was good for me – bless them!!… Says she with gritted teeth. 😬  I repented of jealousy, anger, and wanting to whack people. Hmmm …you know, I just gotta say that I think it is a mistake to colour in bad stuff with a pretty pink pencil and pretend it is not what it is. Sin.

So I am on a learning curve. I’ve learnt that jealousy is to be avoided at all cost, because the ramifications to our spiritual life and well-being are not worth it. Bye. 👋

P 2737 Wound management.

/ DVH

Resentment is like dirt in an open wound. The wound may close, but we our healing is circumvented because there is still bacteria inside. I just want to mention that the wound or the bacteria may not be our fault, it may have come from somewhere else, or even somebody else. But it’s what we do with that wound now we have it, that matters. Ignoring it, or even peering at it, poking it, and making sure it is still sore, will not promote healing.  

Healing comes from thoroughly cleaning out wounds  – with some sort of disinfectant. So it is going to sting! Then we apply soothing ointment, and cover that injury with the same blood we are covered in. Our ointment comes from the Presence of the Holy Spirit – He knows how to soothe every sore place. After dealing with it, we can leave the wound to repair itself, and get on with our lives.

Resentment will often remind us that we didn’t get what we asked for – because it loves to keep accounts of wrongs. Remember 1 Corinthians 13? “…Love keeps NO record of wrongs!” Resentment will take us out of love and chuck us into a side eddy, going round and round. It can swing our spiritual lives so we are now collecting bad dead stuff. It won’t let anything good in, but it twists and turns and shades our overall POV. Then it flings all that dead stuff out into the main stream to anybody who will stand still and listen, leading to gossip. This devilish trait will never satisfy us because it doesn’t produce anything but more suffering. And like a germ in a wound it leaves even more pus in its wake!

Human beings want INSTANT answers — but Almighty God loves constantly progressing relationships! This trait must be fostered by making painful choices. We deliberately leave behind the things that caused a wound and jump back into the fresh living water of the RIVER of God. Doing this optimises our healing. Our feelings can be overrated because they are often fed by stagnant water … plus they are addictive.

Father God wants a loving functioning relationship with each one of us – He lost everything He cherished through our forebears’ deliberate disobedience in the garden. Remember, man was made in His image – we are designed to be like Him, inside and out. The Lord Himself, plus Adam and Eve, all had sweet fellowship together in the cool of the evening – every single night! Right now, He is looking for sons and daughters, who will pay the price to walk with Him again. 

That means we will have to give up any and all hidden resentments, because those things can become an occupational enemy! The Lord is longing for true fellowship with people who value HIM – not for what He does but for Who He is – people who value Him so much they will lay aside every weight that slows them down. We were saved to walk with Him, daily, in the garden of our hearts. His heart is so BIG He has room for every human being that ever lived. But resentment will subvert His plan to love on us and consume our thoughts instead. 

Our God doesn’t just hand out assignments and stand back, waiting for us to complete them – He wants to come with us! Praise HIM, He will also lend us His glorious expertise, and a fresh POV when He does. The very best thing we can do is to go everywhere with HIM!  However resentment turns our heads and hearts away from what our Heavenly Father loves most  — PEOPLE! It grows in an atmosphere that does not include Him, plus it goes hand in hand with complaining. It narrows down any fresh possibilities so we become trapped in half-truths and animosity.

Resentment is also a thief. It comes knocking at the back door of our hearts supposedly to comfort us. It wants to have a cup of coffee or tea with us and then it will point out all the bad things other people have done to us – so we can sit and stew in them! It tells us it is protecting us from future pain so we must keep those hurtful people at a distance. This thing is an evil accountant and a collector, it will keep track of other people’s wrongs!  It produces the wrong sort of fellowship, including lying and distortion. Like every thief, resentment wants to steal — our hope, our peace, our joy, our worship and voluntary service for our King. That traitor wants to hide in dark corners and snipe at others. The solution is simple – don’t entertain it.

Here are some great scriptures to think on: “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”Ephesians 4:29.“Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.”Ephesians 4:31. “See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; …” Hebrews 12:15.

Resentment is best dealt with early, because it has the awful power to reproduce and multiply. So we need to break off any suckers like that springing up in our lives,  like we would break off a plant sucker as it grows on a living tree …Break that thing off at the root. Otherwise it will steal all our joy, hope, and colour in our lives with bleakness, because it produces nothing of any worth. I urge each one of us to become adept at wound management – before any wounds poison our system. Bye 👋

P 2736 Do something different.

/ DVH

2 Timothy 1:7: “For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.” I read this recently and I realised I had not been reading this verse correctly for years!! I missed the bit at the end … “and self-discipline.” In spite of our feelings, the bible says we already have the power to discipline ourselves, we were g-i-v-e-n it the moment we said yes to Him. I strongly suspect that we all like the thought that: “God doesn’t make us timid – He gives us power and love …” bit!  ”But the self-discipline … meh! Not-so-much.

I could spend a week on this subject mainly because very few people seem to be enthusiastic about dying to self. I can count on one hand the number of people I know personally who know how to discipline themselves. Most people I know have an unusual response when they read verses like this. They expect that they would be the exception, because they have legitimate excuses. Good luck with that one! We are dealing with Almighty God – the Person Who knows everything … if that doesn’t make your knees knock together … there’s something wrong somewhere!

People say things to me like: ‘I had a terrible childhood ‘ – We have been  blessed. We do not have to get stuck back there. So forgive, move on! Or they say something like …’you are just being mean, my life is full of difficulties and I’m very vulnerable right now.’  Mature Christians learn to take the rough with the smooth because they understand they are not living for themselves anymore! Let’s remember that Jesus hung on the cross with no clothes on. That’s vulnerable!! Lastly, here’s my all time fav excuse…’It’s too ha-ard, I can’t.’  Whoever said Christianity is easy, should be smacked upside their head every day for a year! Oh my, I think I just found some of that anger I rattled on about yesterday. Moo-ving on … rapidly! Of course we will have to pray to enter into this process of change, otherwise our flesh will rise up and cry ‘uncle’ way too soon.

It is bound to hurt when we stop ourselves from doing and saying things that have become part of the fabric of our old lives. If someone else points this stuff out, it is highly likely that we will probably get snarky at them. I have no clue who said this particular saying but it sure sounds good — they said: “Along with great power comes great responsibility.” If we truly want to be over-comers we will have to seek His help to deal with the stuff in our own personal lives that can take us away from walking with Him. That will not be fun. It isn’t easy either. But it is not impossible – I just need His strength, not mine. I know I will quit far too soon and pronounce the situation untenable rather than deal with it and persevere.

The bible says that the Holy Spirit does not make us timid. And that means if we are think we are timid it’s not HIM! It’s our flesh jumping up and down demanding to be fed or kept hidden. Unless we are planning on joining the undead it’s best not to feed our flesh anything, or hide it anywhere. Just saying …!! Here’s a great tip BTW, it’s a bad plan to feed your old man sympathy and pity – that stuff will turn into self-pity in a heartbeat. Treat these things like a surgeon, cut whatever it is out, cauterise it, put a nice bandage on it and start exercising the new YOU. The more we walk in our new identity, the more it becomes who we are.

Let’s not kid ourselves, this process can feel strange, a bit like you are betraying yourself. Because we’ve spent most of our life giving in to timidity, and calling it shyness – but it is really fear, and God doesn’t give us that! He gave us power, love and a sound mind/self-discipline. I like that it says self-discipline in the Passion Translation, it makes it do-able. A sound mind just sounds like something most people already have – we hope! But self-discipline sounds like work – and it is. 

And yes, I know that Jesus told us that: “His yoke is easy, His burden is light.”  Yeah it is. After we put that yoke ON and pick up that burden. We can’t go with what we can see, because this stuff is never going to LOOK easy. Christianity involves cost. Avoidance goes entirely in the other direction and it creates chaos. That means we are not in-step with the Master. His yoke, is not only easy – it’s REAL. Being yoked together with Him means we fall into step with Him, so we go where He’s going. His strength as our Leader holds us up.

Self-discipline is not just about admitting our own faults, and kind of laughing over it like we care … but we are mostly powerless to change. It is about engaging in His processes and doing something about them. We already have the power to change. We exercise that power when we pray for His help and step out in faith. Let’s do something different! 👋

P2734 “Let HIS mind be in us …”

/ DVH

People like the Apostle Paul wrote what they wrote to equip the saints, as well as to promote unity, and maturity. And most times today’s saints are scrabbling about in the dirt fighting over this perceived bit of turf or that pathway, or this verse interpretation, or that application! All our theories are just that – theories. We are more concerned about being doctrinally right, than we are about learning to love people – even when they are difficult.  One day – we will ALL know how wrong we’ve been. In the Presence of the Lord there is no room for anything but worship and awe, so what WE think won’t matter! 🙌 At that point, all our theories and ideas will be less than dust atoms.

The early church had skirmishes with each other and things weren’t always perfect. However I am so sad about the things that are not resolved in our churches today. Our sure foundation is Christ, we cannot build on the rubble of disagreement. Where we fall down is we are not working to restore people when things get broken and God is not pleased with our hard hearts. These men and women in the book could not live without Him – so they did whatever the Holy Spirit said, so they could stay in step with Him and others!  I am not trying to be rude, but YOU are not the Apostle Paul … we know that he had sound doctrine  … and neither am I! Let’s learn to walk in humility toward restoration.

I know so many precious people who are waiting, waiting. waiting for the next move of the Holy Spirit to come. They want Him to fix the mess we have made, because we’ve allowed opinions to become more important than people or God Himself! Human passion does not equal God’s passion. When we throw ourselves on the altar weeping, what do we do after that? Many of us want Him to transform us in a heartbeat, when most of us have had a lifetime to learn how to co-operate with Him! It’s time to repent of wasting the time He has already given us, and start pursuing living the way that He lived. 

Philippians 2:5-8: “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”Humility is not about what we say – it is designed to be demonstrated, frequently.

In these turbulent times I’m personally looking for prophets that will tell us that we need to repent and repair things in our own lives, today – otherwise I’m not very interested in what they say. All I know is that Jesus will come back – one day, maybe soon, maybe not!… And He’s coming back for a passionate people who will die for each other and what they believe. The Holy Spirit is looking for the heart of Christ in all of us. And what we aim at matters. Even if we miss the mark, we need to keep aiming at loving one another, promoting unity, as well as embracing repentance when we are wrong. Humbling ourselves and admitting our faults to one another is part of the way that happens!  

The Lord is looking for the harmony that comes from seeking His Face, personally and corporately. We’ve all been aiming too low, we are aiming at promoting our churches and their doctrines, not Jesus!  The Holy Spirit is the One Who would love to lead us into true unity. His Presence with us, in us and through us will be that Unity. Unity is not just agreement – unity is a heart attitude. Agreements can be broken. Read the book. 

Transformation, for individuals and for all of us corporately, is a process. Let’s choose to participate in that process, voluntarily, every single day, whether we think it is necessary or not. Unity in the Body of Christ does not begin with everybody agreeing – unity is when you or I would die for someone else just because God loves them. I don’t have to agree with their theology!

Day by day, we His help to see and know one another after the Spirit, not just by what is said. Let’s learn patience from Him when people aren’t all they can be. To display kindness and mercy like He would to those who are in need. We will need to live in self-control when someone else jumps all over our toes. Lastly we must consistently practice attentive faithfulness to His ways. As we do these things, the Holy Spirit will help us. Unity is the centre of Christ’s joy. 3 John 4. “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.”

The bible says things clearly. LOVE has to be our aim – our great quest. Love is not just another key – it is the way forward into UNITY. The Holy Spirit knows the way you should go, ask Him to help you walk that way. Let’s all pray for the same mindset that was in the Lord Himself … Bye. 👋

P 2733 Let’s let PAUL pray for us.

/ DVH

“I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being,  so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” Ephesians 3:16-21. 

Aren’t we blessed to be His? After all, God has made His love available to you and I, in so many ways, through Jesus Christ, as revealed by the Apostle Paul. Most of us are in fact, Gentiles. Now there’s an interesting thought to start our day. I’ve been praying bits of the bible for myself for years. I pray this other verse too … ya just gotta love Ephesians! Here’s chapter 1:V18: “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in His holy people, …” Amen to that one as well. I need that! Hope deferred can make my heart sick, but hope that is recognised enlightens my inner eyes.

Praying the scriptures is another way to digest them. Meanwhile, it seems to me that we can all use greater spiritual vision. Here’s an interesting thought, I’ve noticed something interesting, older people seem to gain spiritual vision as they start losing their physical eyesight. I wonder if that works for hearing too? However, it seems kind of a shame that you can see stuff more clearly just when your energy starts to run out! But then again there’s that other thing that Paul said elsewhere in 2 Corinthians 12:8-10 …  “His Grace is sufficient for us, for His strength is made perfect in weak people …” Now that’s definitely a cheery thought! I’m weak all the time, how about you? This means we can all be stronger, spiritually!

Most of us know that verse off by heart, but do you know the rest of it? “Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Let’s just pause there for a minute, Paul is saying that he is glad, to the point that it gives him pleasure — that he is weak. Because now he has to rely upon God’s strength and not his own. I wonder if anybody is brave enough to pray:  “Lord please make me weak so I can be strong in You.” Do I hear an Amen? ….Moo-ving on… Actually I don’t think Paul is over emphasising anything. I believe HE LIVED THAT WAY. Instead of barraging heaven with personal prayers for relief from our difficulties, maybe it is time we started to thank the Lord for giving us the opportunity to be weak and helpless, so we can be strong in Him, in the middle of whatever is going on!!

The bible is designed to challenge us at every turn. It says so many incredible things that it becomes easy just to nod our heads and say, ‘yes, that’s great – hallelujah!’ But as we’ve seen before, nothing will change just because we agree with it. I honestly don’t think the Apostle Paul was prone to exaggeration or that he indulged in overbearing rhetoric – I think that he did not say one word that was not alive and active in his own life. As well as prayerful about. So what does that mean to us? Only you can answer that question.

So when he says:‘ask for the power to comprehend how deep, wide and all-encompassing God’s love is…” – let’s just ask expectantly for it! Let’s pretend it’s an important parcel and wait and watch for it to turn up! It’s not like we have to dig and slog away to try and find it. That’s what it says, so why not take the man’s word and ask the Lord for it? I think that sort of comprehension of the power and passion of God’s love for us has to change us, and mark us forever. Let’s ask … and keep on … asking!

Praise the Lord we have a book full of these things and they all belong to us. Feel free to cheer, after you catch your breath at the enormity of it all. Like I said at the beginning, let’s let Paul, as well as Peter, and Jude and John, all the authors of this book, pray for us. It’s in the book, so we can’t get muddled up about it. Bye. 👋

PS: JESUS HIMSELF PRAYED FOR US TOO, THAT’LL REALLY BLOW OUR MINDS! LOOK IT UP. 🤪

P 2732 God loves to love on people.

/ DVH

“He sends His rain on the just and unjust.”Matthew 5:45. This morning hubby and I were talking about the Lord and how kind He is, and all the things He did for so many people while we were away this time. Today I want to share some insight into what happens while we are out there. 

For many people in this country, we are their first contact with the Lord – most of them haven’t even been to Sunday School or Children’s church! So our population is vastly UN-churched. The good news is that this means that they have no preconceptions about God and what He is like. Hubby and I are blessed to be the people the Lord has asked to give them an opportunity to have their first spiritual encounter with Him. We’ve found He doesn’t want to barrage them with words, He just wants to love on them.

We are seed-sowers. But this morning I came to realise that we actually do more than that with His guidance. Sowing a seed can be impersonal, but like the Samaritan woman at the well, we’ve been used by Him to be the person who tells them: “…everything they ever did.” People are astonished when we appear to know stuff that we can’t know. We simply tell them that it is Jesus, and He sent us to tell them that He cares so much about them. Lucky us! There are no kudos for doing it BTW, we just follow His instructions. I have to say that we never know where this stuff will lead us, it is always a surprise to us too!

There are people who could be puzzled by the fact that we don’t go out there to EVANGELISE our fellow Aussies as they go about their lives – instead we just talk to them!! I capitalised that word ‘evangelise’ to give it emphasis. We simply go out there and do whatever He says to do. This means that we wait on Him, with our heart and hands open, and our ears and eyes, ready to go! Today I have chosen a young couple who hosted us on our journey this time to illustrate my point – I have given them other names for their privacy.

Sam and Jenny live in a small seaside community, you can get to the beach through a little grove of trees that they own. Hubby went to talk to them both, as the Lord led him. Before he toddled off, I felt to tell him to give them the gospel of John. I just need to say that that very rarely happens, hubby usually picks out the bibles. At the same time, the Lord indicated to him that he should take a picture he had painted just recently of an older man holding a tiny child’s hand. At this stage there was no indication that any of that was right, we just had to act in faith.And I felt we should give them a photo book of ours that is all about comfort. Off he went, and I stayed behind to pray.

Hubby loves to let people talk. He had told this couple we had presents for them, and during their conversation, Sam started to share that the place we were staying in, had been built for Jenny’s Dad. Her Dad had died very recently. Jenny began to share through her tears what the loss of her father meant to her. So hubby’s standing there with a book of comfort to give them, and a picture of an older man holding a child’s hand!! … It gets better…!! Hubby gave them the comfort book, more tears, then the picture, and both of them are openly crying because Jenny’s Dad had been like a father to Sam as well. 

Then he gave them both the gospel of John. Jenny gasped, and said “Look Sam! Look at the title.” It transpired that Jenny’s Dad’s name was … yeah … JOHN! More tears again. Hubby prayed for them both for the Lord to comfort them. Later on as we were leaving Sam asked us to stay on with them for FREE! Sadly, we couldn’t stay longer, the rest of our trip was already organised at that time, and we had many other places to go, but the man was so impacted by God, that was his response. 

I said all that to say that the Lord is reaching into the lives of the people-who-don’t-know-Him-yet in profound ways. Over and over again, this happens to us. We have so many stories over the past 20 years, just like this one! This time we spoke personally to 60 people in 15 days and each encounter was a God appointment. In the time we have been going out we have gathered so much proof that God wants LOVE to be the vehicle that He rides in, not fear.

I want to conclude my explanation by pointing out that this particular encounter started with 3 words of knowledge and a whole lot of His love, toward that couple …long before we ever got there, He simply needed our participation. Actually, we never ever know what is going to happen – that’s part of the fun. Let me tell you, anyone with ears to hear can have a word of knowledge!  The ones He has given us, have no lights, bells and whistles attached to them. The Lord is not big on show or titles. That stuff doesn’t seem to matter to Him at all. So if you are looking for titles or spiritual brownie points, we don’t have any!  

Someone once said to us that we should write a book about these encounters – we just laughed and said: “we don’t have time, we are too busy doing it!”  We simply follow His prompts and then the Lord does what He does best – HE LOVES ON PEOPLE. My advice to anyone who wants to live this way is to make Love your aim, not imparting information! In conclusion I just want to quietly remind you that —“the fields are white!” 👋

P 2731 I press on …

/ DVH

“Surely He will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge;  His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.  A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked.

IF you say, “The Lord is my refuge,” and you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent. For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways;  they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent. “Because he loves Me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges My name.  He will call on me, and I will answer him;  I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honour him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him My salvation.”  Psalm 91:3-16.

That’s quite a bit to think on. When I read this Psalm I wanted to take everything in it, as a personal promise – it’s filled with them! But, I thought if I used my faith and held the Lord to His promises, that meant He had to do HIS BIT. So much so that when I broke a bone in my foot – I was a bit miffed. It seemed to me that He had promised He would help me not to fall over and break bones! So I prayed that He would please show me why that stuff happened. And since then, I’ve been learning that the promises in His Word ARE unconditional, but we can’t just randomly claim stuff.

He needs to give those promises to us … personally. Jesus Christ is not an add-on to make whatever we choose, better. He promises to be ‘with us’ in trouble – He doesn’t promise to give us a life free from it! We can easily forget that we have an enemy, and we can be misled. Check the news out sometimes – Christians can do really weird stuff in His Name. 

Purity of thought goes right alongside renewing our minds, and renewing our minds leads to changing our behaviour. Changed behaviour helps us to become spectators. We learn to hide in Him.The bible tells us not to “forget all His benefits” and it seems that we thought that if we committed verses like that to memory that that would do it. However, a renewed mind, leads to a renewed life. We look like Jesus, not just indulged children with special favours.

Let’s look at Psalm 23. “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies” and … “Yeah though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.” That doesn’t sound like a free ride does it? What with our enemies peering at us, while we are eating or death all around us as we are walking!! Even when we choose to live in the secret place that is not a guarantee that bad things won’t happen to us. What the Lord promises us, over and over again, is that “He will be WITH us in trouble…”  My advice is NEVER minimise His Presence with you.

Our loving Father will not leave us to muddle through on our own, like the people-who-don’t-know-Him-yet often have to do. Instead we can expect His guidance on how to walk through these things. I am not saying that the Lord, in His great Grace, will never protect us – however, I am saying that our protection and grace to deal with difficult things, lies in that secret place where our lives are totally His — and we have no agendas or designs for our future, and no resentments about our past!

The idea that Jesus died to give us a happy carefree life, here on earth, is a MYTH! Father God is telling us that when we live this life sold out to Him:  what happens to us will not be BIGGER than our ability to stay close to Him in the middle of it! But He will not take our choices away – every single day, in every single situation, we need to choose to continually follow Him.

A year ago now, I fell up the stairs and sat at the bottom of them with a shattered humerus. Not funny BTW! I sat there stunned and then I became aware that I had a choice. I could choose to fuss and fret, or I could choose to let God walk me through it. There were many days I utterly failed. The pain, lack of sleep and discomfort got me, and I complained, instead of asking for Him for His Grace to help me with it. Yet the minute I asked Him, He gave me so much help. He is where Grace comes from. I learnt a lot about my own way of thinking, and how easy it is to twist things to suit myself, while I avoid being changed! 

Let us choose to yield to His will His way – despite how things look, in the good and the bad times. Those choices can lead us into maturity. In other words, we will need to use our faith, even when circumstances seem overwhelming. We can tell the Lord we want to live in the secret place of the most High God, but life itself will test us. Sometimes it seems I flunk more tests than I pass! But like Paul, I press on … bye. 👋

P 2730 SSSSSSHHHHHH!

/ DVH

Psalm 91:1,2. RSV.“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, who abides in the shadow of the Almighty, will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust.”TPT.“When you abide under the shadow of Shaddai, you are hidden in the strength of God Most High. He’s the hope that holds me and the stronghold to shelter me, the only God for me, and my great confidence.”

Here we have two different versions of the same two verses. This psalm is my all-time favourite one – many people love it like I do! These verses tell us where we can live – they point to a place of great safety and security.  Absolutely everything else that is in this fabulous Psalm hangs on those two highlighted words. “Dwell and Abide.” We can learn to be spectators, protected by God’s shadow over us, and nothing can touch us there, unless He gives it permission. 

The bible has some of the best kept eternal secrets known to man. Forget Indiana Jones … that’s a whole lot of made up rot! These verses are about a real treasure, a place that belongs to YOU and me. Nobody else can keep us from this treasure because it hinges on our own choices.  It is our birthright! When we live there we allow the Saviour to rule absolutely every aspect of our lives. He is no longer an after-thought, or even a place we like to go that blesses us and makes US feel good … instead we have fallen so much in love with Him, we want HIM to know how much we love HIM… so we keep nothing from Him.

Christians don’t have to live subject to this world anymore, we can live our lives safe and secure in His secret place. No more struggling with the pettiness, greed, vainglorious ideas, rage, and strife because we have a place to live permanently, and Jesus died to give it to us. No-one else can take this treasured secret place away from us — however we can forfeit our rights to live hidden, if we undervalue His Presence, His will, His way. Jesus Himself lived in that place while He walked this earth, and … He voluntarily gave it up, when He chose to come out of that safety and contentment to fulfil His calling. BUT! He went right back in there FOREVER when He had finished His appointed mission. He’s there now, waiting for us.

These two verses are not metaphorical. This is a real place, and not many people find it, and choose to live there. To live like this we must choose to die to this life and all it seems to hold, and live for Jesus’ sake instead. That means we go wherever He takes us and let Him take away whatever He likes. At the same time He will give us whatever He thinks is best for us. I call that way to live – TRUST.  We allow Almighty God Himself to be our only security and safety, and spurn this world’s idea of comfort etc. And so we choose to live this life, the only one we have! … His Way. The Way the Holy Spirit describes in the bible.  

We leave behind the grabby, spiteful, greediness, and vanities of this world to live in a place where we care more about other people’s needs than our own. Some of us will die fulfilling that calling — it is a very serious choice —  choosing to live this life dead to what we want and alive to what He wants! However, this is a place of absolute safety – nothing happens there unless He allows it – so we know we will walk through the difficulties with the Lord by our side.  We can no longer be tossed about by the winds of doctrine or change. Like the Apostle John, who was put in a pot of boiling OIL — he simply prayed… When they fished John out again, there was not a mark on him!

Why? He was a spectator, not a participant!  He was safe in God’s secret place. However, he WAS put in that oil and if he had taken the time to notice that he would have been burnt to death. THE MAN’S FOCUS WAS ELSEWHERE.  He simply walked with Christ and that was enough. “He loved not his life unto death …” Just like Jesus did. That’s what following Jesus really means – we choose to die and He lives through us. We choose to love our enemies and that drives them crazy … or it changes them.

Sometimes the darndest secrets are hidden in the bible. You read it and think …’well blow me down, who knew that was in there?’ It’s not an ordinary book. If someone tells me that God told them that He was going to make them rich … I smile politely and walk away laughing inside. I am rich already. My money is in His bank! Nobody can pinch it there. I give where He says I should without blinking. If I need something, then I ask my Heavenly Father, He owns the cattle on a thousand hills –  He’ll just sell a cow!  

Living in the secret place means we are hidden in His strength, learning to roll with life’s punches because He is protecting us, and we trust Him implicitly. Ssh! The secret is out. Who wants to be a spectator, who wants to live to do what He wants? 👋 

P 2729 Jesus believes in us … isn’t He wonderful?

/ DVH

“I continue to pray for your love to grow and increase beyond measure, bringing you into the rich revelation of spiritual insight in all things. This will enable you to choose the most excellent way of all —becoming pure and without offense until the unveiling of Christ.”AMEN!!! Philippians 1:9-10 TPT.

I think that there are places in God that Christians have yet to discover, let alone explore. We have been prevented from even seeing them, or comprehending them, by our own lack of devotion to walking in grace and love toward each other as well as the rest of the people on this planet. It is an easy thing to dismiss walking this way as something that is too hard, or unattainable for ordinary people. By believing that, we are hobbling our own spiritual lives, because we are not actively pursuing love toward Him, and others. We need to let this thought spur us into action. Otherwise we are settling for the appearance of grace and love, instead of pressing on into the real deal. The real deal is the only thing that will change this world.

And if you’re wondering why I felt bold enough to write that first paragraph it’s because at this point in our history – it seems to me that the world around us is changing US, more than we are influencing them. And that is a tragedy. The people-who-don’t-know-Him-yet living around us, should know that we have chosen to love Jesus. Today I doubt most people know what any of us believe. We’ve lost our singularity of purpose because we are presenting so many differing faces to the world.

At the same time, I wonder if we have applied the dubious ointment of compromise much too liberally, everywhere we go. I don’t see Jesus Christ talking about compromise at all in the book. It never seemed to come up! I think we are missing the mark, because we have voluntarily become so bland and invisible, our salt has lost its savour. Instead we are applying this world’s methods of dealing with difficult things.

In rare circumstances someone does stand up and object to this, or they might speak out about that. However, the Bible clearly says they will know we are Christians by our love for one another, not by our protests. Our primary question and quest today, should be – how do we love the people around us the way He would? People are leaving this life daily, falling by the millions off the cliff of death. They follow one another simply because they don’t know there is another way to live and they think they can’t avoid the inevitable. Nobody has told them that underneath us ALL are the Everlasting Arms! How can they know if nobody tells them …??

Our commitment to Christ means we are to be committed to Him, and His mission, as much as He is to us. We must remember that He died for what He believed.Thank God Jesus made it past the Garden of Gethsemane and went on to face the cross and conquer it! Let’s not make any bones about the reality – it looked like He lost but He WON. He smashed it!  … Eternally! Sometimes our lives could look like His did  – full of sacrifice and pain – but Galatians 6:9-10 it says: “So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit. Right now, therefore, every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit of ALL,, starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith.”

The church today, has inadvertently become all talk, and sadly, not much action!  I think the main reason this situation exists is because each one of us leaves the work of the ministry to a precious few — instead of ALL of us devoting our lives to the cause of Christ. That’s why we were saved, to lend a hand to the person next to us, who is probably  about to fall off that cliff. The thing is, we’ve been lied to, our enemy has whispered to us that ‘we can never change, it’s all too hard, it will be alright. God won’t mind, He understands we are weak  … and busy’ — and we believed him! Like Paul said better than I ever can – let’s not let Jesus have died for nothing! (Galatians 2:21.)

Jesus never intended for following Him and learning His Ways to be the only thing His disciples ever did.  Listen to His first words to the very first two disciples: “As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were 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.” Matthew 4:18-20. Can you see it? Right after they were called to follow, they were informed of their mission. Their mission was not just to follow – it was to lovingly reach out to others. Here’s a red hot tip folks – the mission hasn’t changed.

Sadly some people get saved at the altar, but they don’t make it past sitting back down on their seat again. Please … go out the door and bring others in. Talk to them, tell them what you know about God and His Love for us. We don’t need fancy illustrations or words, we just need to tell them what we know for ourselves, what happened to us. By all means pray, but then put your feet into your prayers. Jesus believes in us, He trusted His message into our hands and that’s what grace and love looks like. Bye 👋

P 2728 God’s surgery.

/ DVH

Unlike an ordinary doctor’s surgery – in the Lord’s surgery there is no pile of dusty, over-used magazines and books, reporting on useless supercilious things from ages ago. There is just one book and if it happens to be dusty… then we are all in big trouble. 

Christians can become quite used to thinking that our lives are separate – and that each life is only joined together on church occasions, like worship or a sermon! Maybe we’ve temporarily forgotten our destiny. The Lord describes us as a Body. That may seem just like a metaphor, but it is actually a reality! The Lord Jesus is not going to marry a metaphor! The Bride of Christ is described quite thoroughly across the scriptures. ps – it’s US! …you and me – we are His Bride. Pause and think on that one! 

When I was thinking and praying over today’s blog, a phrase from yesterday’s effort kept floating through my heart. ‘One of …our tasks is to personally prove that scripture is active and effective!’ So how do we do that? We let it surgically cut away and remove any stuff we are convicted and convinced isn’t a part of His plan for our lives. Heaps of that kind of surgical stuff is written down in His book. It’s not just the ‘don’t do this bits,’ BTW, it is also the ‘please do that’ ones! The Lord Jesus Himself, gives us lists of the ways we are to live. (Check out Matthew 5) 

So let’s look at some other scriptures. The first is from 2 Timothy 3:16. “All Scripture is God-breathed [given by divine inspiration] and is profitable for instruction, for conviction [of sin], for correction [of error and restoration to obedience], for training in righteousness [learning to live in conformity to God’s will, both publicly and privately—behaving honourably with personal integrity and moral courage]; …”And Hebrews 4:12: “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

The thing I want to make absolutely clear is that the bible is formulated to do more than just inform us. The bible is a book of instructions. Each instruction has a purpose. EG: it says don’t carry cares, so we must not carry cares! It says give all those cares to Jesus – so we give our cares to Jesus and we don’t take them back!

This book is our boot camp. Boot camp, BTW, is the place we send soldiers to, to learn how to discipline themselves and protect themselves, as well as fight! The bible we read daily, is for that purpose. Soldiers also go to boot camp to learn how to look after their equipment and find their place in the army. It’s a very physical place, it’s not cerebral. It is not just a library, although the armed forces have libraries – it’s a place where knowledge is learnt, and applied.

Hold onto your hat – it just might blow off… We dare not pick and choose which bible verses we like, and eliminate the ones we don’t. We have just come through a time in the history of the church where we were cherry-picking verses to suit the current theology. Not a good plan. All of God’s word is good for building up, instructing, tearing down, cutting off and getting rid of stuff. If we cherry-pick things we are in great danger of mishandling our sword. You can cut yourself really badly if you mishandle a sword!

Ya might want to pause and think on that as well! My best advice is to tell the Lord you are not confident you can carry out what He says and then ask for the Holy Spirit’s help. He’s our Helper, and He wrote the book- so He knows how to get us where He wants us. The Word of God comes from the Breath of God ...and … so do WE! Read Genesis. The bible is a fitting vehicle to build up, give us courage, challenge, change and correct us. It displays God’s Love perfectly, in every single book and chapter. Rightly used, it will remove stuff from our lives that can make us fall away, stumble, or be led off into lah lah land. It is not just a book with pretty sayings, it is a living book that lays out the way we need to live. 

It is used to give us confidence, and to build up Jesus’ Bride so she is worthy of His Love. He voluntarily gave His life for us, so it seems fitting to me that we will also voluntarily give up this world’s idea of what our lives will look like, for HIM! Because the bible is about far more than just information, we cannot afford to treat it like we would the dusty magazines in a doctor’s office. We must pay attention and allow it to work on us by applying it into our lives. It is designed to refresh and renew our minds so we will think like Jesus does.

We need to let the sword of God strengthen our arm and cut away any excess stuff that will hinder us from walking with Him. The bible is not given to us for us to agree with it – it is given to us so we will DO WHAT IT SAYS. God’s book leads us into His kind of surgery, so my advice is to read it like He is talking to YOU, because HE IS! 👋