Love

P 2457 There is no system.

/ DVH

“But give reverent honour in your hearts to the Anointed One and treat Him as the holy Master of your lives. And if anyone asks about the hope living within you, always be ready to explain your faith.” 1 Peter 3:15 TPT

The truth is, it is your faith, and no-one else can explain it. One of the marvellous things about living for Jesus is that your own personal story has worth. It doesn’t matter if your life was changed when were sitting about at your house, glancing through the bible and some verse or other struck you as truth … or you were pole-axed by God in the middle of a service. Whatever you have to say about how you came to know Christ is what someone else needs to hear.

That is the marvellous thing about following Jesus, your story, is your shared story … with Him! And no-one else can negate it. After all our God is so incredibly complexly big that He can hand-pick the people who need to hear that story from you – at any time He wants it to happen. Meanwhile, we cannot afford to make the Gospel anything else but personal. It’s very personal. It changed our lives.

In our churches there have been many systems, that may have started with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, but they’ve wandered off into the land of ‘this is what we think and what suits us.’ Maybe the Lord isn’t kissing that sort of outreach the way He kissed it in the beginning. That, BTW, does not mean the systems are bad, they are just not what He is saying and doing today. This can also mean that our testimonies etc. are forced, or memorised, instead of being natural and relaxed. 

Talking about Jesus to a stranger, or even a family member, should not be a tremendous strain, or even a bit terrifying. They.Will.Notice.That! … And then there is a distinct possibility whatever you say can be dismissed as doctrine or brain-washing, instead of the new life you have inside your heart.

In Jeremiah chapter 2, verse 13 there is this scripture: “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken Me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” I think that this scripture holds just as true today, as it did back in the time of Jeremiah. We have made systems (cisterns) to hold the water of the Holy Spirit and because the systems are not good containers … they are after all, man-made …they’ve become broken and less effective. When we talk to others it needs to be natural, not choreographed.

The bible says: “…open your mouth wide and I will fill it.” Psalm 81:10. My point is this, as we relax and simply share what He has done in our lives — we will get to know the Holy Spirit so much better, and we will become familiar with His ways. Especially as we lean our faith on Him to help us talk to others. The best prayer ever if we are stuck, is: “Help!” Then you simply start to tell that other person what you’ve seen and known of Jesus personally in your own life. Whether you talk about healing, or how much the bible has meant to you, or how your life has been changed.

Just be yourself. Lean on the fact that He loves you with an immeasurable, unchanging eternal love and simply talk about Him. Whatever you say is up to you, it can be long or short. It doesn’t matter. However, if the person’s eyes glaze over then it’s time to bail out… quickly! 😂 Like I said, be yourself. Talk about Jesus like He lives at your house and you know Him – because He does live at your house and you do know Him! Nobody can argue with the man with a personal experience. They might think you are nuts, but worse things have happened. Move on …

We honour Jesus when we talk about Him and what He is doing, or has done, in our lives. Even using His lovely Name with reverence is exalting Him. Some people ignorantly use His Name as a swear word, imagine how blessed He is to hear His Name on our lips praising His goodness! 

Be like the blind man in John 9:25“He answered and said, Whether He be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.” That’s a testimony! We‘overcome the enemy by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony.” This man had a simple testimony and he gave it when he was asked a question.

We all have a testimony, and our testimonies cannot be refuted. The thing is, these testimonies have power in them. The Grace of God has kissed our lives, and when we talk about it to someone else, that Grace is released all over again to touch them. They may punch us on the nose, or walk away muttering, OR throw up their hands and say: “I want that!” Meh! The results are always up to Him. There is no system. Bye. 👋🏻

P 2456 Whose kingdom are we building, ours or His?

/ DVH

I asked myself the above question this morning, as I set out to write this blog. Despite the fact that we all like the easy way, the really great transforming things in the Christian life will not fall on any of us. Transformation takes choices, and there are no short cuts to a well-formed character. We need the Holy Spirit to kiss us — plus loving, listening, obedient hearts to His will. That will also take God-purposed choices. Many Christians want to know what their ministry is – but they have not learnt to love others. Ministry not motivated by His love, becomes a chore.

Our desire is to love and trust Jesus, but without God-motivated actions, we will wander along, mostly building our own little kingdoms. There is no other way, we need to choose to die to self bit by bit, day by day.  That means choosing to say nothing in the face of criticism, or being kind to someone who could care less about us. Instead we ask the Holy Spirit to help us. Because He will. The good news is … that’s how we get to know Him! 

Jesus Christ steered His way through this life accomplishing so much more than we can ever understand or imagine – and He did it all so now, today, we can be free to follow Him. He was incredibly passionate about His Father’s kingdom coming! He spent alone time with Father God, then He chose to be where hungry, sick, demanding people were, so He could pray for them as well as preach. He chose to obey.The only thing that can stop you and I right now is our will to change. We can’t turn back from it, we must press on.

Learning to yield to Him and His ways is part of ushering in His kingdom. But at the same time, we cannot be constantly distracted by the earthly things around us that don’t matter. People matter. When we let money or stuff become more important than the Lord, we’ve gone the wrong way. Making promises at the altar will not get us out of our self-absorbed ways, but paying attention to the Holy Spirit’s leading, will. Jesus is eternal, so is His kingdom.

Upholding our own little kingdoms, at the expense of other people all around us who are suffering, is not following Jesus. Loving Him means reaching out to others, simply because God has been good to us, and we want them to know His active goodness through us. At some stage in all our lives we met Him, face-to-face, figuratively or literally.  So now we know that we know, that the people around us need Jesus too. They need that much love and acceptance. The Lord dripped every single drop of His love and acceptance all the way down that cross, onto the ground beneath it – for every human being – even the evil ones.

In today’s world, it can seem like we have forgotten how to share and be there for each other. Human beings were not designed to live alone. Remember Genesis 2? The Lord God Himself said, right after He created man – “It is not good for man to be alone.” God called a whole lot of things good: but ALONE-NESS was not one of them! Reach out to those who will have no Christmas unless we include them. Spread forgiveness around because we have so much of it to give.  

There are times, in this modern world, when we can be so busy minding our own business we lose sight of the person who is in deep pain and sorrow standing right next to us. Their pain is our pain. Have we forgotten that we are quite literally, engaged to be married to the Healer of all Healers. We cannot afford to ever lack His OIL in our lamps! Political correctness has taken over from the kind of love that Jesus gave away for free. He made room for everybody.

We need to throw away our theology and just love people.

At the same time, because we are part of the Body of Christ, every single member is important. We cannot afford to lose anyone. So please take time to send that text, and make that phone call. We must persevere with people, even the difficult ones – and yes, I have some of those!  One day when we look back on this life we were given, the things that will matter are the relationships we had – the love we freely shared. 

Many people have been incredibly traumatised by this world, so they might take a bit of effort on our part. But loving others is the reason God saved us. Learning to love and include others takes effort, patience, forgiveness and time. Ask yourself, what have you invested your time in this year – your kingdom, or His? 👋🏻

“This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” John 15:12.

P 2452 Further to yesterday … another important key.

/ DVH

Here is a very interesting picture from the prophet Joel: “The invaders charge. They climb barricades. Nothing stops them. Each soldier does what he’s told, so disciplined, so determined. They don’t get in each other’s way. Each one knows his job and does it. Undaunted and fearless, unswerving, unstoppable. ……”God Himself bellows in thunder as He commands His forces.” … …Look at the size of that army! And the strength of those who obey Him! God’s Judgment Day—great and terrible. Who can possibly survive this?

But there’s also this, it’s not too late— God’s personal Message!— “Come back to Me and really mean it! Come fasting and weeping, sorry for your sins!” Change your life, not just your clothes. Come back to God, your God. And here’s why: God is kind and merciful. He takes a deep breath, puts up with a lot, This most patient God, extravagant in love, always ready to cancel catastrophe. Who knows? Maybe He’ll do it now, maybe He’ll turn around and show pity. Maybe, when all’s said and done, there’ll be blessings full and robust for your God!…” Joel 2:7-14 MSG (parts of it.)

Yesterday, I talked about the blessing of actually knowing, standing, and operating in your own place in God’s plans. And lo and behold, that morning, hubby read me this great descriptive scripture from Joel. You can almost hear the clashing of swords! I understand, BTW, that these verses are an illustration of something else, but I think the coming reality is going to be way beyond anyone’s imagination… … And I also know the Lord needs an obedient people to do whatever comes next!

The soldiers described here are not only ready for battle, they know exactly what is required from them and how to go about it. This is what true submission accomplishes, it brings about harmony within the troops. There is no competition because each mature soldier already knows everyone else relies upon him doing his designated job. These people cannot be intimidated out of their tasks or position. They can’t be stopped because they are not just a ragtag well-armed army busy doing their own thing — they are an unstoppable God-disciplined force. So they understand the strength, both individual and corporate, that gives them a spiritual unification and purpose and they protect it.

Right in the middle of this battle in Joel … because there is faith present in those who make up this army, there is a God-given opportunity for those who are being attacked to repent. The kind of faith these soldiers of the Lord need to have in this spiritual army, releases Grace. And Grace draws people to the Lord Himself. This kind of army serves the King’s real purpose. They show the world who He is, and who we are to Him, and what is possible when you and I, and anyone else who wants to come, serves Him! There is no competition, because there is no need for competition. Nobody has anything to prove. They just want other people to know Him the way they do.

Sometimes I think we are too busy trying to show the world that WE — our little church or big denomination — have all the answers. “We’ve got it right you can follow us.” But our job is to showcase the glory of our King not to point to ourselves or our churches. Our doctrine isn’t worth bupkis unless the Holy Spirit kisses it, and that kiss is not authentication  – it is a further display of HIS GRACE. Otherwise our churches will become yet another man-made institution that actually serves and produces nothing … except maybe loads of hot air. Plus four million helpful handy books that sit on shelves after the new fad has passed. It seems that so many authors have a short-cut to maturity – there is no short-cut. Dying is hard.. Did I say that out loud?? 😶

I am not saying there is anything wrong with Christian books, fiction or non-fiction, but my heart’s cry is that we need to read and esteem His book above any other. We are to be a living example of His book to other people. Meanwhile, I am pretty sure we still don’t get what He is saying, by the way the people outside the church regard us! We’ve put doctrine over Spirit and life, because I suspect Spirit and life seem harder to discern and walk in. The disciples did not put any kind of organisation over obeying His command to “Go!” They just went. Sometimes LIFE itself pressed them into moving on, but they trusted God, used their faith and took the gospel all over the known world by following the Leader – the Holy Spirit. 

It is incredibly important to find our own place and stand in it. Rather than creating some grandiose ministries that have an enormous buzz, but they raise rebellious believers who think that being right is more necessary than dying to self, or serving one another! God does not need our help. Our partnership with Him comes from His Grace toward us and His Love, not expertise. We need more Holy Spirit balance, and balance readily comes when we love and serve Him and others, no matter what the cost. This is a key we desperately need. Bye. 👋🏻

P 2451 Submission is like a series of umbrellas.

/ DVH

Matthew 26:39; James 4:7; Hebrews 13:17; Titus 3:1; Titus 2:4-5; Colossians 3:20, Romans 13:1,2. These 7 scriptures make great reading for today’s subject. Please note that all aspects of life have been covered. Sometimes the whole female aspect of submission gets blown right out of proportion. Anyone who goes after POWER to rule, instead of HUMILITY to serve others, has missed the point.

Submission is about primary and secondary missions. When someone wants to take over the government by force they obviously think that power is more important! We submit ourselves to Jesus’ authority through His delegated leaders. ALL areas of life are talked about in the bible – from submitting to God and getting rid of the devil, to submitting to authority, as well as children learning to obey. Good to note that children learn obedience by watching you, as well as you teaching them. I’ve seen many parents who regularly ignore speed limits, telling their teenage kids to drive carefully! Food for thought.

The bible also makes it clear that submission is something that Jesus Christ Himself voluntarily lived – first toward His parents and then to the authorities, finally to the church leaders and finally to Almighty God! This means we are not being asked to do something HE didn’t do!“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!” Philippians 2:3-8

Submission is not a popular concept today. Women want their rights, children want to be heard, and leadership of any sort is subject to criticism and scrutiny! Everybody wants to do their own thing without other people interfering with them. But it is extremely clear this is a biblical principle. There are large portions of the bible that refer to submitting, and it includes people in every walk of life, plus the Lord Himself. If you follow the bible verses I put above, (I found LOADS more BTW!), then our children should be the most protected little beings on this planet.

Ya might want to pause and think on that, when you check out what kind of ads are on TV floating through children’s TV shows daily. I think that knowledge has become far more powerful than protection in our society. Not teaching kids what is wrong leads to unruly kids! And, BTW, “don’t do that please darling” is a waste of breath and time! “If you continue to do that, then I will …” holds the line. Personally I think children need to be protected because their hearts, minds and emotions are vulnerable, and open to wrong influences. The internet has a lot to answer for, because it gives access to bad information as well as good!

I see this kind of protection, available through submission as if it comes from God Himself, through Christ, over governments, then leaders, down through husbands, wives and kids. Things start spiralling downwards when we refuse to submit because we can do it better than they can! Submission is like a series of umbrellas. The big umbrella comes from Almighty God over us – He sent His only Son to save us – that’s one huge umbrella!  

Christ’s death and resurrection provides spiritual shelter, the one under that, is our government. Then our church leaders. In our homes … fathers and mothers (parents) need to be in charge because it is part of their delegated authority to protect their children. By the time we get to the children there should be at least five umbrellas over that kid’s head. Which means when they are young they should not have to be responsible for much more than helping out at home, plus they need to learn to obey their parents. 

For God’s teaching we have a whole book full of what He would like us to choose to do … voluntarily. There is life in this book, when we read it, if we choose to obey what the Holy Spirit teaches us through it. The most important thing we can teach anyone is how to become like Jesus. Submission is simply a key in that process because, rightly discerned, it is a place of protection. It is not meant to be blind or automatic, instead it intelligently operates under the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, and defers to the Lord. It is also not part of a competition to win the right to be in charge! Submission is about serving each other. Jesus Christ voluntarily submitted Himself to serve His Father’s will. 

Submission is an act of FAITH, love and deference —not subservience. Human beings may be smart but we all have blind spots – we sometimes need protection from ourselves! It is not just about someone over me being in charge — it is about having authority in whatever place God has given ME! This means it cannot be enforced or demanded, instead, authority is relinquished as an act of trust in GOD’s supremacy. I just want to add that this key works whether you can trust the guy above you or not, because when we submit to them, we do it as though we are submitting to the Lord Himself. They will have to explain their actions to the Lord one day. 

You could be afraid you will lose yourself. But the real point is, we are not actually submitting to any one human being. We are submitting to God’s written and revealed Word and He stands behind His word. When I stand in the place of authority God Himself has given me, I can tell the enemy to take a hike and not even blink. You and I are not supposedly giving into an idiot or a tyrant, we are using our faith to reach out into the Spirit and command the blessing that comes from living a Godly life, His way. We look to Jesus, not the human being who thinks he’s in charge. 

Remember submission is a series of delegated protective umbrellas, not a LAW to force me to do what someone else wants. It gives me authority in my designated arena. It also means I don’t have to force myself to do things that are clearly bigger than I am! Because of what Jesus did for me, I have a delegated spiritual space, I didn’t have to usurp it, by force or trickery … (like Esau!)… from someone else, that place simply belongs to me. My spiritual umbrella belongs to me and it shelters me. Wandering out from under that kind of protection because I think someone is impinging on my rights is a foreign concept to someone whose whole desire is to serve Jesus. 👋🏻

P 2450 God’s free love gift helps us live differently.

/ DVH

“For by grace you have been saved by faith. NOTHING YOU DID COULD EVER EARN this salvation, for it was the love gift from God that brought us to Christ! So no one will ever be able to boast, for salvation is never a reward for good works or human striving.” Ephesians 2:8-9 TPT.  “Are you so foolish and senseless? Having begun [your new life by faith] with the Spirit, are you now being perfected and reaching spiritual maturity by the flesh [that is, by your own works and efforts to keep the Law]?” Galatians 3:3.

Works occur when we forget that everything we have, was given to us for free, and everything we need has already been provided. There is a cultivated subtle state of mind that whispers to us: “You’d better watch out, God is getting very sick of your mistakes. You’d better try harder, or He will give up on you.” That kind of thinking is the beginning of toddling off into trying to please the Lord. That’s the moment we are presuming we know what He wants from us. All of that whispery stuff in our heads is untrue BTW, when the Lord looks at each one of us, He sees His beloved child and He’s a good GOOD Father. 

However, if we want to live in the Light like Jesus did, then we need to expose our hearts, minds and emotions to the Light! Read the book … and ask for His help to show you what He wants you to do, and then start doing it. You can get clues along the way from other people as well as from the Holy Spirit. But if we are hurting people, and we don’t care — then somewhere or other we have missed the Holy Spirit. “I don’t care” means we are hardening our hearts. A hardened heart is more difficult to deal with. Meanwhile, we need to rely upon Him to help us to not provoke other people, on purpose, or by accident. The Holy Spirit knows more about relationships than all of mankind will ever forget!

There is no shortcut for any of this stuff, however, it is error to let guilt motivate us into the things of God. The things we do and say need to be born of the Spirit not our rational minds. Or even worse, the kind of guilt that says we are not good Christians if we do not do this or that, or such and such. Guilt must not motivate us into doing the things we know are right – doing those things for that reason will not bear God’s good fruit. Instead, if we have been motivated by guilt, then repent and ask the Lord what He wants us to do about it.

Throwing our hands in the air and staying the same is not the answer either. When we do that we are telling the Holy Spirit that we don’t need Him, and we don’t need His help. There is NO FAITH exercised when we stay the same! The point of this new life is that it is a faith life. This life we lead daily is meant to be a challenge because we are now relying upon Him to lead, guide and teach us His Ways, and sadly, we are very used to our own ways. Plus we’ve practiced making up reasons for why OUR way is the best way, while we were at it.

However, just because we prayed: “Dear Lord, please change me here, or there,” and nothing happened immediately … that is not a licence to assume it’s all good and we can walk away! We need to continually read the bible for revelation to help us to find out where we are acting in opposition to the way He does things and then we start taking faith steps. Sometimes the Lord gives me an answer I just didn’t get, or see, or even want to see! So I ask my hubby to pray and look for me. It humbles me – that’s all good … and hubby can see stuff I can’t. More good!

Always ask the Holy Spirit for His help. He is here for US. The bible reminds us if we ask for His help, the Father will not give us a stone – He will send the Holy Spirit to help us. Believe Him! Then, wait for further instructions. Using our faith to obey Him and seek His guidance, gives the Holy Spirit the right and the room to guide us.  

Remember, double-minded people can’t get anything from the Lord because they are too busy going: ‘Will I, or won’t I? Is that what He wants or not?’ Repent, and put that double-minded stuff down immediately and wait on Him instead. When it comes to the things of God we are dealing with a Person – not a system. Waiting is part of God’s Ways. He doesn’t just go for any old time because … His timing is perfect.

But we must never wait to forgive people – that is a given and it is not a debatable matter. No matter how many times we need do it – practising forgiveness of others who treat us badly – even though it hurts – will not kill us. It will soften our hearts and make them tender toward the Lord and others. Then, when we are dealing with someone else’s humanity we can have compassion.

There is nothing we can ever to do earn His love, it’s all free and that love is already in our bank account. Releasing that love to others is where we pay the cost. 👋🏻

P 2448 I’m a fan of James.

/ DVH

“Every gift God freely gives us is good and perfect, streaming down from the Father of lights, who shines from the heavens with no hidden shadow or darkness and is never subject to change.” James 1:17 TPT. ” Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of lights [the Creator and Sustainer of the heavens], in whom there is no variation [no rising or setting] or shadow cast by His turning [for He is perfect and never changes].” James 1:17 AMP

I really like James. His subject is always related to Who God is, and what He expects from us. When you write a blog like the one I write every day, you should really only have one point each time. I sneak a couple of others in every now and then – but James jumps about like a grasshopper in a grass fire! This means that sometimes even the smallest part of each paragraph or chapter has an individual point worth meditating on. You simply can’t rush reading James! The deeper you dig, the more you will find.

He’s full of prayer points. He makes reading, simply for the sake of general reading, harder. James is a book to be studied, not just casually read. I find I have to stop and think and pray a lot! We need to savour what he says as we go along, then decide to take the time to chew on each of his points, because James has not made it easy for us. Instead we simply have to stop and pray and ask for help. Today I want to look at the above scripture. I put it in two different versions to help give it breadth. I often read the same thing in other versions when I read from the book of James!

As he carefully tells us, our God has given wonderful gifts to mankind — salvation is definitely the greatest one. However, wisdom is also a great gift. Further on in this book James tells us to ask for wisdom, and use our faith to receive it. Wisdom will not simply fall on us, we have to go after it. Every single thing Father God gives us is great. – no matter how it looks at the time. And these gifts are not meant just for you and I, they are meant to be shared with everyone else around us.  Someone once told me that the best gift from God, is the one you need at that moment! That sounds good to me.

At the same time the verse above contains revelation about Father God’s character. Who He is, how He relates to us. Our precious Father is not deceitful, or whimsical. He doesn’t change His mind according to His moods … because He doesn’t have them! Our Heavenly Father is not subject to moods like human beings are … His love is always ON! He doesn’t like us one minute, and not the next, simply because we did some awful or dumb thing or other. Jesus Christ took care of that.

When you read the Old Testament, God’s incredible patience, and endurance with man’s poisonous self-serving manoeuvring, plus controlling manipulative ways, becomes apparent. Mankind constantly questions the Lord’s purity of purpose all over the place in the Old Testament. That is still a huge danger for us today. We can end up negating our own faith by questioning His goodness and His loyalty to us. In this scripture, James highlights Father God’s goodness. It needs to be firmly established within our hearts, without question. However, we must continue to look for signs of His loving goodness, when we read – otherwise His goodness becomes an add-on to our own needs.

The Holy Spirit will help each one of us uncover how loving and kind He is. Just simply ask for eyes to see Him as you read it. Otherwise we can end up looking for something to benefit ME, help ME in my hour of trial, and miss the very best part. HIM. God is always the best portion. The more revelation we have about His Love and Character the more our faith will grow. I have personally discovered that the more I intentionally look for the best in other people, even when it seems elusive, I will see something good I haven’t seen before. Living like this changes my attitude towards others.

This scripture in James tells us that Almighty God never changes. That word never is powerful. Never means … not ever! So when our circumstances are not favourable or even incredibly difficult, GOD HAS NOT CHANGED TOWARD US.  Our circumstances must never dictate our faith. We need to practice relying upon His goodness and faithfulness to get us through life’s hard bits, and continually look for evidence of His involvement in our lives, despite our personal situations. Acknowledging that I don’t know everything, diminishes pride and it humbles me … all at the same time.

All of this may seem obvious, but under extreme pressure we can easily question “why?”  ‘Why has this thing happened, why are things so difficult?’In those times I believe that it is almost impossible for us as human beings, to understand the kind of love, wisdom, forbearance, faithfulness, and gentleness Father God gives us AS A GIFT. I love that James reminds us that if it is good, then it is God, and even when it looks bad, it can still be Him …working in ways we do not understand. We can count on that fact because God’s loving consistency is without question.  Bye. 👋🏻

P 2446 Jump into joy by enjoying our God!

/ DVH

“Let joy be your continual feast. Make your life a prayer. And in the midst of everything be always giving thanks, for this is God’s perfect plan for you in Christ Jesus.”1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 TPT. You know, sometimes we can get so busy trying to get this thing called Christianity right — that we forget all the blessings and benefits of belonging to Jesus Christ! We are a blessed people. Our God loves us by choice. Our joy and thanksgiving needs to stay on that fact, rather than anchored in the things of this earth that can be stolen away – by inflation and circumstances.

It says in Psalm 103:2  “Let all that I am praise the LORD; may I never forget the good things He does for me!” Incredibly, Father God has done so much for His people to win our hearts and love, and yet we can “spit the dummy” so to speak because He hasn’t answered this or that prayer we deem important! Instead we allow our emotions to rule and keep score on what gets answered and what doesn’t. Whatever we focus on gets bigger. Let’s deal with our souls instead! “Why are you cast down O my soul … hope thou in God!“

Human beings can be so insular that we cannot see the beauty of the ordinary things that are with us every single day. Instead we wander up side-alleys of discontent and despair because we have become fixated on one aspect of our lives. Let. It. Go! Our God never sleeps or slumbers – He’s got whatever it is we need in His hands, let it go and start deliberately counting His benefits. Shifting our focus changes our responses and promotes enjoyment of His grace.

Psalm 16:11, David states: “You make known to me the path of life; You will fill me with joy in Your Presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand.”  David knew all about enjoying God, and how to appreciate Him. Right now, I just want to point out that King David didn’t exactly live a happy happy joy-filled life! Before he became king, his earthly father forgot all about him! Then after David is anointed by Samuel, he was sent right back out to take care of the sheep … again. No celebration there!! 😳

The reigning king, Saul, got jealous of him and repeatedly tried to kill him. And then David lived life on the run from this man for 25 years. He is not permitted to build God’s temple, because he is a warrior. Two of his kids died, one in infancy and the other who grew to be a man, and he did not share God as his priority, like his father did. Ambition killed Absalom. Yet King David wrote some of the most beautiful words of praise and worship in the bible. He enjoyed God … even when he was running for his life! (Read the Psalms.)

We need to stop wasting our energy on petty things and open our eyes to all we have. Then we can let God change us from the inside out!  Here’s some joy-filled news – “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” You and I can’t buy that kind of favour! Joy comes when we know our place in God’s plans for our lives. Joy overcomes us when we can see that we have changed… even if we have no idea how it happened or why! Joy floods us when we realise that we know that we know … we are loved by Him. Warts and all! 

Joy and contentment go together in my mind. Paul says:“I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation …” I think His secret for that statement is in Genesis: “In the beginningGOD…” In other words … God was here before I came and He will still be here after I am gone! He can handle whatever comes at me!! We must throw away our desire to have a so-called perfect life, and simply follow and obey Jesus. There is no such thing as a perfect life. It is an illusion. Following Jesus every day. .. into: “joy unspeakable and full of glory!”

As we follow the bible we start to clearly see Jesus… His way of thinking, His priorities, His love for other people … That stuff begins to eclipse everything else that rumbles around us and tries to wrangle with our hearts. Enjoying God means I look for the best in each day as it unfolds before me. I’m actively looking for His hand in my life. 

Hubby and I have found ourselves recently laughing like loons for no real reason. And just like the scripture says: “The joy of the Lord has become our strength.” I think the Lord is helping us to enjoy Him in this life even though moment by moment it can be fraught with difficulties. It’s been a tough year. I wonder what He has for you? “Ask and you shall receive …” OR … Maybe we have not because we ask not because we are asking to support our own passions! Bye. 😂

P 2445 Have you got the wrong driver?

/ DVH

“Love never brings fear, for fear is always related to punishment. But love’s perfection drives the fear of punishment far from our hearts. Whoever walks constantly afraid of punishment has not reached love’s perfection.” 1 John 4:18 TPT. Now that’s what I am talking about … having the right driver! Pause and think on: ‘love never brings fear!’ 🧐 

Today I want to talk about allowing the Holy Spirit to drive the ‘car’ of our lives. It is good to stop and prayerfully assess what is behind some of our thought processes regularly, because all kinds of sneaky Pete things can hide in places that we cannot see. Unfortunately, sometimes we can take our thoughts very casually. The answer of course, is to run our thoughts by Him.

After we have given our situation to Him – the secret to overcoming those things, is to LEAVE THEM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT. Refuse to pick stuff up again – unless He gives you specific instructions. Then you should carry them out! Tell yourself: “That’s that thing I gave to God and He is acting on my behalf.” Once you have handed stuff over, don’t start trying to figure it out. Leave it with Him. That’s what trust looks like. Make room for time with the Holy Spirit when you are reading the bible, that’s how we renew our minds. Simply reading the bible does not do that. Pray, wait for answers, and then act on what He says. If He says do nothing – then do nothing. 

You know, most of us learnt our thinking patterns before we met Jesus — little babies do not have filters that can keep out fear. Fear can also be handed down from one generation to the next. Things like over protective parents, absent parents, disinterested parents — all these things can create situations where fear will take advantage of us. Obviously parents try very hard to avoid those kinds of scenarios – I know I did! But kids pick up on the darndest things and what frightens one will make another one laugh. Fear is sneaky, it takes advantage of innocence and trust and our minds go spinning off into mental situations that actually don’t apply. 

Like the above scripture says: the antidote to fear is His LOVE. I cannot stress enough how important it is for His love to go from being a theory, or even a pretty thought, into being something we can cling to when the whole world is madly swinging and swaying and nothing seems to be where you want it to be. His love needs to undergird everything we know and do… because God’s love is always constant and He loves us consistently. The river of His love flowing toward us never ever alters. We must get rid of the idea that answers to prayer prove His love toward us. His love is established by what He did when He sent His Son Jesus to die. It is clearly documented for all to see in the bible.

Fear can be a paralysing emotion. For years, certain bodily symptoms would send me into fear. Fear of pain, fear that I would not be able to escape from it.  Even fear of being trundled off into hospital!  Sometimes fear can even be ruling our lives;  yet we can be totally unaware of it. Someone might say: “I am not afraid of heights” … But they don’t go anywhere near the edge when they are in high places, or look down. Another person might have more than enough money to manage their lives comfortably, but they live in severe restricted conditions and refuse to spend a penny unless they absolutely have to. That’s FEAR!

If we are afraid, and we know it, the antidote for that malady is to ask, and keep on asking, for a real revelation of the love of God. Make this subject for study, every time you read the words “God loves you” …highlight them. MAKE A LIST. Read it often. Keep deliberately adding to those revealed truths you have. We can never have enough insight into how powerful and all encompassing God’s love is.

Obey what He tells you to do. We can do nothing without Him, and fear will restrict us from stepping into this new life He died to give us. That includes fear of punishment, fear of loss, fear of error, fear of missing out , fear of being cheated or mistreated, fear of losing self… all of these things can rob us of the certainty that God loves us so dearly and nothing can separate us from His kind of love. 

We must not beat ourselves up when we are afraid – that’s called compounding the felony!! It is a huge mistake to tolerate fear, and hide from what it does to us internally. The verse above gives us the diagnosis of where we are with fear: “Love never brings fear, for fear is always related to punishment. But love’s perfection drives the fear of punishment far from our hearts. Whoever walks constantly afraid of punishment has not reached love’s perfection.” Keep walking toward His love, and choose the right driver for your daily walk with Him. Bye. 👋🏻

P 2443 Stand on His love for you.

/ DVH

“And I pray that He (the Holy Spirit) would unveil within you the unlimited riches of His glory and favour until supernatural strength floods your innermost being with His divine might and explosive power. Then, by constantly using your faith, the life of Christ will be released deep inside you, and the resting place of His love will become the very source and root of your life. Then you will be empowered to discover what every holy one experiences—the great magnitude of the astonishing love of Christ in all its dimensions. How deeply intimate and far-reaching is His love! How enduring and inclusive it is! Endless love beyond measurement that transcends our understanding—this extravagant love pours into you until you are filled to overflowing with the fullness of God!” Ephesians 3:16-19 TPT

This scripture has so much in it, it just blows my mind whenever I read it. Today I want to think about the word continually, as in on purpose (!) … reminding ourselves of the ever-present presence of God’s loving favour in and on our lives. Oh how He loves us! And His love is an utterly committed love. The price He paid to buy us back from hell and damnation is beyond our understanding, far more than we could ever ask or think.  You know, my opinion of my performance and who I think I am, does not matter to Him. Neither does yours. His opinion is the one that matters.

You may like me, you might not. The main thing I have to wrap my heart around is that Father God utterly loves me. In order to walk with the Holy Spirit, Who is the revealer of these great truths, I will need a firm foundation to stand on. Jesus died for my sins, once and forever, to make all this possible, is that foundation. Now we have to let that love sink down into our hearts so we become so completely saturated by it and there is no room for insecurity. Otherwise if my life does not go well, I might end up blaming Him, or other people … like you, or my family, my circumstances etc. And then the ground I am standing on becomes shaky. Our houses (lives) are only as good as their foundations!

We cannot start out with anyone else’s performance but HIS. What Jesus did was perfect. Anything else is this world’s measuring stick. Christ is now the perfect illustration of what mankind can look like. We can’t afford skip, or dismiss lightly this truth about how much God loves us. As soon as we dismiss it, or water it down with provisos, we miss the  magnitude of how wide, how deep, how all encompassing and powerful God’s love is! We dare not build on the wrong foundation, because His demonstrated Love is the only foundation that is eternally stable.

Many human beings don’t value love, except as a feeling —because this world’s idea of love is fickle, selfish and unpredictable. Humanity can be so unfaithful that our Father’s eternal faithfulness hardly registers in our hearts and lives. But it must. Otherwise we are moved around by circumstances and the winds of change too easily. We cannot use OUR measuring sticks to put a value on God’s love. It is far too easy, in these times we live in, to think that real love means permissiveness. 

Self-sacrificing, altruistic love wants only the very best for the one it loves. Father God’s incredible vibrant love has provided all of us with the means to be transformed. And all we need to do is to live for Him the way Christ lived for us. We have all the needed illustration and demonstration of that, in the book! Comprehending that sort of ongoing loving grace gives us a firm footing, as we walk through a weak wobbly world with no stable footholds.

I have learnt, from experience, that WE WILL GIVE OUT TO OTHERS WHAT WE STORE UP! If we store up our own mistakes, our wrong attitudes, our own idea of what love looks like … OR … spend our lives concentrating on someone else’s sins, their mistakes, and their wrong attitudes, we are no longer standing firmly on LOVE. The Holy Spirit was sent here to teach us to how to walk, talk, sit, and stand totally saturated with God’s love. He’s an expert. Re-read today’s scripture it entertains no doubts. 

We must mature enough to understand that real LOVE corrects, it shapes, it guides, it teaches, and … it helps us. Love always fosters connection. Father God’s love is with us in the Person of the Holy Spirit. Jesus did not leave us alone to muddle along without Him – He sent back the Holy Spirit to help, teach, guide, correct, counsel, and comfort us into His Way of Love. We must let the love of God live in us, and make us so rich in love we can easily give it away!  We need to learn to stand on these things, gratefully. 🕊❤️‍🔥 

P 2442 What are we wearing?

/ DVH

“So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offence. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.” Colossians 3:12-14 (MSG) 

First of all, please don’t go past that word ‘chosen’ in the first line of this scripture. We’ve been chosen to be these people, who choose to dress like this. It’s not a requirement – it’s a blessing! Feel free to pause and thank Him. 🙌 Jesus loves thank You. Meanwhile it’s good to meditate on the fact that we were chosen for something. The way I’ve heard some people talk about Christianity, it is as if we were chosen to be the people who don’t do lots of stuff. Christianity is not a list of dos and don’ts … it is about walking with Jesus. We get to walk with Him like His disciples did thousands of years ago.

The first bit of clothing I like to put on is … my under wear. Yeah pass the sharp stick so you can poke out your eye! I’m talking about beginning with gratefulness. I find gratefulness helps me to prepare for what God wants me to wear today. I want to be clear right at the beginning of this blog. I could end up getting changed spiritually speaking a number of times during a day – depending on what happens at my house and which quality I need most at any one time! There are times I am careless, and I end up repenting because I haven’t chosen to wear what the Lord chose for me … I was too busy feeling sorry for myself, or something similar. 

So let’s quickly look at our spiritual clothes.  The first five attributes set us up, so we know how to wear the next ones. “Compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline.”I put these on by asking for them. To start with I know I haven’t got these things inside me, but I have found that being disabled is a fantastic teacher… if I let Him help me. So I ask the One Who is perfect in these things for help. My prayer goes like this: “Holy Spirit I can’t do this day unless You help me, please.” Otherwise I’m sunk. I will get judgmental at the drop of a hat, and kindness becomes something I expect other people to give me! 

Sad sack stuff sometimes bubbles up inside first thing in the morning:  ‘Poor me, I can’t do stuff for myself anymore, blah blah blah, woe is me.’ I can get on quite a roll rattling on about those things I think I lack … until the Lord clears His throat … so to speak. However, as the day goes on I don’t always register that I don’t have these precious qualities – until I am tested. And by the time I get to the test, if I am relying on my own strength, it’s often too late!

I just want to say that I’ve learnt that phrase — “too late” is very hard to come back from. By the time I’ve gotten stuck in: “Poor me, it’s too hard, I’m so weak and I don’t want to deal with my own feelings …”  I may as well go back to bed and start that day all over again. I get stuck there otherwise, and there’s my day gone!  Moo-ving on to nicer things like …“Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offence. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you.” 

Have you ever noticed that your temper is the first thing to go, especially when you feel guilty? Me too. Rapidly followed by comparison …EG. “What I did is not as bad as your response was!!” That’s a dumb plan called … ‘let’s quickly shift the focus and blame onto the poor schmuck whose only crime was being in the room at the time!!’ The reason the scripture says be quick to forgive an offence is … if I’m not quick, I will miss my opportunity to escape and then I end up vomiting all over whoever is around, instead. Plus I can end up digging holes all the way to hide from my own chosen attitude. I’ve met people whose lives look like opal mine-fields – they spend so much time avoiding stuff that needs to be changed. These people spend so much time in avoidance they don’t actually get anywhere. 

Which is why those last two lines of Colossians 3 are so brilliant.“And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.” Love is my short-cut thought. Like Paul said .. it is an all-purpose garment.  I have no time to analyse my short comings according to Colossians 3 some days, so I go straight to LOVE AND PARK THERE. “Is it love?” If not repent. If yes, then thank the Holy Spirit for His help. The thing is, I never want to hear Him say: “What IS that you are wearing??” 😶