Love

P 2249 A gift must be received.

/ DVH

“Every good gift and every perfect (free, large, full) gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of all [that gives] light, in [the shining of] Whom there can be no variation [rising or setting] or shadow cast by His turning [as in an eclipse].” James 1:17. Sadly, Love is often simply a word to us, or a feeling, that can sometimes lead to actions. God’s love is ACTION – first. He came toward us before we knew He existed. In order to receive His love we must understand the gift. His love has been personified, and given to us in a form we can understand. Jesus Christ. A gift must be received.

God’s love is not just received through our senses, and our minds, because they are limited. When we receive His love that way – our senses or minds will begin to automatically define love for us. Our reception of His Love pivots on us understanding His love is an undeserved gift. Sadly, to some people any kind of love means you cannot say NO to them, and still tell them you love them. To others, love means strict rules to follow, and they cannot comprehend a love that needs no works. To others it means you live in some sort of euphoric state which can eventually fade. God’s love is not anything like that.

It is important to me today, that you understand my little scribblings here are totally inadequate for the subject I am tackling. I have never, and probably never will comprehend how incredible His love is. I am limited by my personal experiences and how much I can actually take in about this subject. However, I am doing my best here, to describe what I’ve seen through His book. 

So what is His love like and how do we receive it? I want to answer the second part of that question first, I believe when our heart says yes to Jesus: through prayer, through reading His book, or through something someone else says to us – we begin a process that never ever ends. It is similar to the conception of a child – there is a moment of conception. At that moment we say yes to the One Who chases each one of us through time … playfully, relentlessly, and with great passion and loving purpose.

Father God’s love is sacrificial as well as unmerited. It doesn’t wait for the ‘other person’ to love first. His love doesn’t depend on us or our behaviour. It is altruistic. God loves mankind both corporately and individually – the good, the bad, and the ugly. This is because His love depends on Himself, not who we are. He does not simply love responsively. He initiates love, even into a loveless vacuum. It is His very nature to love, so He doesn’t fall in love with people – because falling in love implies you can fall out! He is not irrational or whimsical about love. Our universe keeps expanding because His love keeps expanding!

Our God is where love comes from. He is the source of all that is loving, pure and holy. And so He defines love in ways we barely comprehend. To Him patience is not what we think it is  – it is an aspect of love. Whereas we think patience means sometimes we barely put up with one another – or we are stretched unfairly. But His kind of patience does not depend on the other’s actions, it does not fluctuate according to the other person’s attitude. His love is more like the sun, than the moon. Always there.

His love is expressed through kindness, it thinks the best, sees the best, and speaks the best to the other person and none of that is for personal gain. Nor is it deceitful. It is filled with hope instead. Yet our God is the ultimate realist – He sees us as we are and yet He still loves us. He came after us. And His love lacks any kind of jealousy which is possessive and controlling. Instead it throbs with a kind of jealousy that is beyond our tiny minds. Our God is so passionate about us – that even the idea that we would spend our life and energy on anything that cannot help us, and will not bring us closer to Him – those things stir Him with a passion to fight for us and win us back. He wants His beloved safe, with Him.

Think about the Eternal God in the garden – when He banned Adam and Eve, after they had sinned, and drove them away, He did so because they could easily have eaten from that second tree. That would have separated mankind from Him forever, because the fruit of eternal life was on that second tree. Eternal life filled with death was on that second tree because they had disobeyed.

But because His love is so patient, we have had thousands of years of history to see, over and over again, what WE are really like without Him. Any virtues we manage to produce are finite. His are totally endless. When a gift is given, a gift must be received. The key to understanding His love is to receive Christ into every single part of our lives, our thoughts and actions. This is why Jesus cannot be an add-on to whatever we want. When we do that we are treating the love the Father shows us with disrespect and contempt. That is the ultimate failure to appreciate and receive what we have been given. Bye 👋🏻

“But as many as received Him, He gave them power to be made the sons of God, to them that believe in His name. …”

P 2245 Some versus ALL.

/ DVH

Genesis 4:3&4 “In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock.” In this verse we can see the danger of having a partial commitment mentality. Cain brought some of his offering, but Abel brought the Lord the very best bit, the fat portions from a firstborn. Abel sacrificed a living thing. These two men show us that our relationship with Almighty God is not meant to be a part-time thing based on dead works.

The key to successfully walking with the Holy Spirit is a voluntary total surrender. And the thing that stands in our way, stood in Cain’s way – pride and rebellion. Mankind has struggled with those particular sins since the garden. We decided that we knew what was better for us, instead of what God wanted us to do. We’ve become filled up with our own self-importance.

In today’s society it is essential, despite all the protests and flag waving about everybody’s rights, that you and I live out our daily lives recognising and respecting the price that was paid for us. Our lives need to be lived laid down for Jesus, in loving gratitude for what He did for us. Christ was the firstborn of many obedient, loving sons and daughters. His cross was an exchange, even though it was a free gift. Our old life was exchanged for His new life. He took our sin, and now we freely take up His calling, empowered by His Spirit. “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, Who is in you, Whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. 

There are a number of theories about why God accepted Abel’s sacrifice, and not Cain’s … but the real point is this – if Cain had responded to the Lord’s clarity about his behaviour differently … Abel would not have died. Jealousy and rebellion shoved Cain into a downhill slide, but I think that pride pushed him to react that way in the first place. He thought he knew better. Cain thought he could give Almighty God any old thing, after all it represented all his hard work (!) So he thought that God should accept it. But it is God’s right to chose what is acceptable or not!

Cain was the first-born son, so the younger son Abel knew his place in the pecking-order. But the eldest son was like many of us today, we can easily have an elder brother mentality. That stuff leads to jealousy when the pastor accepts someone else’s spiritual gift, and ignores ours, or someone gets healed, and we don’t. Or somebody becomes an elder, and we are still washing dishes in the kitchen. This is an entitled works-based mentality. It rationalises spiritual truths with logic. It sounds like this: “I did my best! I’ve kept on being a Christian even when it meant I had to make hard decisions. Why is my effort not recognised? Why is God not blessing me – He said He would. Why isn’t He doing it?” Offence takes the place of submission, and steers us away from living under God’s authority, into self-preservation.

And all that started in the garden, and has continued throughout man’s history. Mankind thinks it has a right to define itself and … well … really (!)… our God just ought to be grateful that we make the effort to follow Him at all … in days like these! 😳 But the bible shows us that our God will not be satisfied with some – He wants all! Just like He cautioned Cain to be careful, we need to be careful too. Giving the Lord what we’ve decided is right and good – is where Cain fell over in the first place! We cannot define what He gives us, He does. He’s God, the Creator of all things. We are not. And no matter how smart we think we are, our wisdom is not only finite – but vastly limited. Particularly by our own arrogance. 

Our God is not a despot. He doesn’t ask for all because He’s greedy or controlling. I believe He asks for all, because it is the safest place for us to live. With all of our lives laid down we are sheltered inside His love. Other people cannot steal from us if we do not own anything in the first place. This means we hold earthly things loosely. The Lord wants to do what He has promised to do, save, protect, guide us through hard things, and keep us safe from the enemy’s ploys and plots. But when we stand about in the enemy’s playground, giving in to satan’s logic and attitudes, it becomes extremely easy to grow resentful. Cain did.

Abel respected God’s wishes, and his offering was honoured – He offered an animal’s life to His Creator. Cain had an expectation that what he thought would be OK would be OK – and he got good and mad when God wanted to correct him. Our attitude to correction will reveal our heart to us – if we will let it. Some is not in God’s vocabulary – ALL is the only language God speaks … because HE GAVE US HIS ALL!👋🏻

P 2241 Now where did I leave my peace again?

/ DVH

Losing our peace is a bad thing. To be honest with you, in the Western world, I am not sure we value inner peace from the Lord enough! Losing it is like opening the door to the bad guys and saying: “Come on in, and bother me with heaps of stuff that is not always true, because I want to live in anxiety, bitterness, turbulence and agitation!” Meanwhile if you turn that coin over you will suddenly discover if you actually have any of those greeblies I mentioned above – guess what? YOU LOST YOUR PEACE. Time to go and find it again!

Let’s start with what the bible says. Peace comes from and through Jesus Christ – however it is not a cessation of hostilities or trouble. Peace comes from the inside of our heart – out. Because we now have peace with Him – nothing else can disturb us. John 16:33 “I have said these things to you, that IN ME you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”Yeah, not so much with me liking the tribulation part of that verse(!) 😳 – But we can definitely have peace in the middle of any kind of terrible situation that can plague us in this world – because His peace is spiritual peace. Spiritual peace can be lost – by embracing the problem, and not the Saviour. (Help help!)

Jesus explains to us that the peace He brings doesn’t look like this world’s idea of peace. Anyone who has lived in a country where there is war, the threat of war, or even internal ructions of any sort, knows that this world’s kind of PEACE is not permanent. It often depends on the actions of others. But in John 14:27 it says: “Peace I leave with you; MY peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. LET not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”We can refuse to be drawn into all the guff going on around us – because we know the end of the story! This kind of peace needs to be embraced, appreciated and allowed to flourish. Treat peace as a priority, because a lack of peace is a slippery slide that often leads into doubt and unbelief.

Isaiah 26:3 says “You will keep us in perfect peace, when our mind is fixed on You: because we trust in You.” The biggest snare that leads to losing our peace is that our mind is not fixed. Renewing our minds daily help fix that problem! 😂 We are probably not trusting in Jesus, ALONE.  If we lose sight of our Saviour, and focus on our troubles instead – peace starts to become a vague idea, instead of the place we live in, internally. We might even blame other people for stealing it from us.

In those moments we need to drag our minds away from blame or trying to fix things ourselves. Or even going from one person to another, trying to find a solution. Peace came from Jesus and He can restore it for us. It gets reestablished inside us, first. Then the peace that is established inside us, affects everything outside us. So we do whatever we can, and then turn everything over to the Lord. Christians need to value their relationships with others above everything else but the Lord Jesus Himself, because anger etc. will rob us of our peace. 

In order to wrangle our emotions in desperate or difficult situations we will need His strength. ‘His strength is made perfect in weak people.So – admit your weakness! Pray – “I can’t, but You can.” In 1 Peter 3:11 it says: “They must turn from evil and do good; they must seek peace and pursue it.” Peace does not fall on us – we will have to treat it like a lost treasure and go after it. When we lose our peace, the first place to go is the cross – then PRAISE GOD! We go to the tomb!!

We need to value His peace. It’s a gift as well as a fruit. Romans 12:18 says: “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” Sometimes it is just not possible to facilitate real reconciliation with someone else. Our job is to manage our end, not try to micromanage everyone else. This means all we can do is to restore our end of the relationship, and make sure we have arrived back at LOVE. Love is not about feelings, it is about being prepared to die for the other person!

Lastly, other people cannot steal our peace – but really motivated ones can give us loads of opportunities…!! 😂 God bless them! However, the reality is – we actually have to give up or relinquish our peace in order to lose it. It’s a choice. My advice is that we need to go back through the day in prayer, and revise what happened where, and with whom. Then repent for not valuing something so precious. Admit you lost it.

To sum up: if you are mad… you’ve lost your peace. If you are scared … you’ve lost your peace. If you’ve mislaid your hope that God is with you, helping you … you’ve lost your peace. That which is lost can be found again. 👋🏻

P 2240 Let’s turn this thing right-side up!

/ DVH

Christianity has been a ‘no no’ kind of religion for centuries. ‘You can’t do this, or that…  and call yourself a Christian. People with tattoos are not Christians etc.’ The enemy of our souls has switched our primary focus from God’s Love and power, to ferreting out sin – wherever we think we find it. We are all experts on what anyone can and can’t do, because the bible says so… (?) We can make the bible say many MANY things. The bible is not a legal document, nor is it a weapon to prove our point – it is a tool to set mankind free from satan’s lies. 

Our vast knowledge of sin and how to avoid it … or not … means we are still eating from that wretched tree in the garden of Eden that led to our downfall! Personally, I want to eat from the tree of life. Jesus made that tree available to me and boy do I need it! However, we cannot eat from both trees. 😶 If you do you will get thoroughly confused and tied up in the legality. We need to carefully pray about what we are eating – it has a consequence – it colours what we are giving away. We try to avoid this type of clarity about judging others, because it seems that we have no idea how to handle it. Sadly, the Holy Spirit is not always our Leader and our Guide – He has become the Person we want to come to our meetings to make our lives more blessed. 😢

Jesus Himself didn’t divide people up into categories the way we do. Let’s remember that the Lord knew about Judas’ thievery, and He deliberately spoke to the Samaritan woman. When Christ looked at humanity, He saw people made in His Father’s image, and ANYTHING that might spoil that image …He either taught against it, corrected it, or He healed it. 🧐 So why are we using the the bible as a weapon to sort people? Our in or out theology is tragic. God’s Holiness does not tolerate ANY sin, big or little. However, it would be a tragedy if we pushed out anyone who could be changed when they met Him. I know that when I met Him, He changed my known world!

Paul said this in 1 Timothy 1:15-17 “This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all. But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of His great patience with even the worst sinners.” 

Like Paul, we must remember we were sinners and have some compassion on the lost, without living in FEAR that we are authenticating someone’s sinful lifestyle. To do that we will need the Holy Spirit’s wisdom. Ananias in the book of Acts didn’t want to go to the Apostle Paul after his conversion. Ananias had a big conversation with the Lord about the man who eventually wrote most of the Epistles. And he took some convincing to go to Paul’s side. Our knowledge of good and evil is flawed by our doctrines. We must stop eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and start eating from the tree of LIFE.  

What we think we know, has been overshadowed and prejudiced by what we’ve been taught, over a lifetime of swallowing our own church’s doctrine. But we are told, in the bible, to live our new lives being constantly filled with the Holy Spirit, because He knows stuff we don’t know. Let’s focus on that, and treat others with respect, even if we don’t agree with how they live and find what they do ugly and potentially defiling. Clean comes from the inside, out.

Jesus Christ touched unclean people whenever He met them, and the clean inside Him … made them clean. That’s where we need to be aiming – by eating from the right tree. We must live our lives so motivated by the Holy Spirit and His wishes, as a community, that the power of God in us, transfixes and transforms other people’s lives. Lot lived in Sodom and Gomorrah, but he hated it. ”But God also rescued Lot out of Sodom because he was a righteous man who was sick of the shameful immorality of the wicked people around him.” 2 Peter 2:7.

Let’s hate the sin, and love the sinner, and turn this thing right side up – by eating from the tree of life when we eat from the bible. 👋🏻

P 2239 The peril of ignoring our faults…

/ DVH

“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 

But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 24:45-51.

‘If Jesus came back today would you repent or worship?’ Someone asked me that question once, and … big spiritual giant that I am … I said: “… um … probably … BOTH!” It may now be obvious to you that I like to cover all my bases. 😶 Time and apathy are forces that can wear away most good intentions. This means we desperately need the Holy Spirit, not just good intentions! I know many people make resolutions every New Year but I gave that up decades ago. I found I couldn’t make it past a week before I fell over and became disappointed in myself.

When there is no active revival around us, our impetus to remain focussed and in love with Jesus – and what He wants – becomes down-right cloudy … with a chance of extreme coldness … bordering on self-centredness. We could easily revert to the same old same old – and hope that will do. It will take the ripe fruits of faithfulness, and self-control … plus we might need to throw in a few boxes of patience … to keep us … keeping on. Otherwise we can easily give up too quickly – like the guy in the parable. 

Pressure, boredom, and a distinct lack of visible supervision is the thing our enemy employs to distract us from where we want to be. I strongly suspect the master in this parable was angry because he trusted that servant to do the right thing. AHA! That means we can’t blame our poor old pastor then doesn’t it? After all we are responsible for our own spiritual well-being and choices.

You know, this little story is so accurate, it hurts to read it. I find myself avoiding parables like this one in the same way I avoid mirrors. Mainly because I don’t like what I see … but … way up in the back of my mind … I kid myself that I would ne-v-er do that! The thing about Jesus is that through these stories, He exposes what is really in our hearts. So instead of dismissing the possibility that I might behave as badly as that servant did – I’ve learnt to ask the Lord to: ‘please show me where I fall into that exact same hole.’ 

That’s the kind of prayer that always gets answered … trust me! Instead of acquitting myself of any possibility of blame, I’ve learnt that I have no idea what I will do when the ‘nice’ wears off, and I am shoved against the wall by adverse circumstances. However, I must admit, I also have no immediate plans to bash up anyone who lives at my house and looks after me. The other person who lives here makes my meals etc! My mother didn’t raise no stupid children!! 

However, the guy in this parable proves my often stated point – none of us know what is INSIDE us – until the passing of time, and life itself, or a lack of visible supervision, puts our lives under pressure and we get distracted from our original goal. Then watch out! All kinds of ugly leaks out around the edges. Nobody plans to live like that guy did, it just kind of crept up on him because time passed and his supervisor was missing.

Our Master lives inside us – our biggest problem is, He’s so gentle, He is easy to ignore. But the rewards for faithfulness and wisdom are much better traits. Living for Jesus means active participation in His processes. Meanwhile, when was the last time you heard someone talk about this particular parable? Yeah, we both know what that means, the pastor doesn’t like it much either. It’s not easy to get a positive message out of this one!

The Lord highlighted two words to me today when I read it – faithful and wise. Meanwhile the opposite of that is pretty much unreliable and stupid – I really don’t want to come into that category. What to do? Well, I believe in honest maintenance. You see, we have a beloved Redeemer, so there is no need to hide from myself anymore. It’s time to own up and repent, and ask for His Grace to change my behaviour. That’s when I decide to make faith-filed, bible inspired, choices. Right at the point when I want to do the opposite, or even pretend … I’m ‘all good” really ...😳 

I think we have to monitor our own spiritual lives day by day, sometimes second by second! It is so easy to judge this guy who behaved so badly, without stopping to look in the mirror – but we will do that at our own peril. Who knows what might creep up on us one day to tempt us to behave the same way? Finally, here’s a great deliverance prayer: “…and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil …” Amen. 👋🏻 “It’s the little foxes that spoil the vines.” Song of songs.

P 2238 Grace is our teacher.

/ DVH

“For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age,” Titus 2:11-12 NIV.

Grace is more than an established spiritual fact. It is our teacher. To walk in His Grace we need to know what it looks like. The best way I can explain what I mean is to say this – that person who drives us utterly crazy is the very best person to reveal our heart to us. They do what we often cannot do, because we hide who we are even from ourselves. His Grace takes us deeper. God’s Grace is like a jet engine that kicks in and launches us into a whole new sphere of travel. Grace empowers us, it comes in and it goes out. We can’t produce it, and we need Him and His help to live in it. Because of Jesus, we don’t have to be all that – He’s all that. He did everything He did for us … and for that annoying person/s too!

Grace is an attribute of God that teaches us about His very nature, Who He is and How deeply He loves. It also teaches us forgiveness, because none of us can truly forgive without knowing His Grace. The way to get GRACE is a great big reality rush. First of all we have to recognise and settle in our hearts that we are not perfect and now matter how much we try we ain’t ever gunna get there by ourselves! It is way beyond our capabilities, but He gives us His Grace freely. Jesus died to take the shame of our very real daily guilt away. And His Grace dives headfirst right down into the centre of our very being and shouts in the darkest places – “God loves YOU just as you are, and He loves you way too much to leave you there!” His Grace powers the engine of unconditional love.

His Grace focusses on His love for us, not our faults. Even our best efforts at godliness, forgiveness and kindness fall short of the way Christ Himself was. I exhort us all to read the bible looking for the Lord’s attitudes towards the people mentioned in it. God was not stingy in His actions toward our sinful plight …His Grace doesn’t have a ceiling. Read Ephesians 3:14-21. Our heavenly Father was generous beyond our need or comprehension. Grace is so solid, so permanent, so all encompassing that we can actually live in it. It is not just a ps on the bottom of our prayers, with us hoping like mad that we can somehow impress God with our repentance. 

Grace is Father God’s state of mind toward mankind, it is an outward expression of His great Goodness. His Grace rushes toward us like the mighty river Niagara rushes over those incredible falls. Grace does not hesitate! It thunders, it leaps and cascades over us. His Grace will not let any barrier come between us and our Maker. It utterly covers and saturates us. Always. Forever… I exhort you to put your ‘buts’  and “”ifs” down, because thinking about your failures will not allow anyone to jump in and soak in all that He has given us. 

I’m going to quote somebody I listened to this morning because they said it so well: “It isn’t just death to self, that’s the beginning. It is living in the resurrected new life He died to give us.” (Shay Arthur.) That’s GRACE at work. What we lay down and die to must be transformed by His Grace into a new way to live. We can now live in place of permanent ongoing forgiveness because God’s Grace released through Christ’s willing sacrifice, is simply THAT BIG. 

The Holy Spirit inhabits all the words in the bible. People split hairs over this meaning and that deep thought, but the bible goes beyond our comprehension and enjoyment – it feeds our very spirits. Something happens when we read His book. Grace for understanding is released. That Grace speaks to a part of us that the Lord made alive, and it broadcasts life in us, and from us. When we read we are looking for Him. His ways, His attitudes, His actions. We will fall in love with what we find. The bible is a book about our gracious, loving, beyond-our-comprehension Father, God. Don’t read it to know stuff – read it to find Him. 

We human beings don’t have this kind of Grace in us. Realising that is the first step toward being taught by Grace itself. It is when we understand – without any threat or fear of punishment – that we don’t have this kind of passionate love and acceptance in ourselves … then joy rises up. Grace is our teacher and our lesson. And knowing we can’t forgive and let things go, puts us firmly into the school of Grace… Choosing to stay in that school will transform each one of us utterly. Have an ace day, you are so loved by Him. 💖 👋🏻

P 2234 Dead, dead, dead, dead, DEAD…BUT…

/ DVH

Over to Paul. “My old identity has been co-crucified with Christ and no longer lives. And now the essence of this new life is no longer mine, for the Anointed One lives His life through me—we live in union as one! My new life is empoweredby the faith of the Son of God who loves me so much that He gave Himself for me, dispensing His life into mine!” Galatians 2:20 TPT.

Are we looking to our own strength to fix ourselves or “looking to Jesus Who is the Author and Finisher of our faith!?”  So what does that phrase mean? It means Jesus Christ did not just die to get us a free ticket through the pearly gates. He died for our total transformation into His spiritual likeness as well as our restoration into real fellowship with our Heavenly Father. Now, in this life.

Here’s a question for you:  if we expect heaven when we die …. then shouldn’t we live now, today, expecting He will use our everyday circumstances to constantly renew and transform us, through our relationship with Him?  Otherwise, how do we think that transformation will happen?? By osmosis?? Somebody is going to have to die and Jesus already did …now it is over to US.

Our time away this time has been fun-filled with all kinds of medical difficulties. However, hubby and I both know personally, from experience! … That … ’we can do ALL THINGS because He will and HAS strengthened us.’ And He’ll do it again tomorrow too! We are about to go out and talk to people again, and we know we can’t, not without Him helping us. Knowing or thinking you can’t do something doesn’t negate God’s will in your life – it ACTIVATES it. 

Humanity’s destiny has always been to be restored into the image of God, like we were in Genesis …”let us make man in Our image …” In that garden of His provision, Christ Himself is our living breathing example of what God’s provision looks like. It doesn’t look like a Lear jet, or a posh house, or a fancy car, or expensive meal, it looks like the ability and the desire to love others the way Jesus did when He was on this earth. He gave His life for us, so now we can have His power to give our lives for others. And we get the power to overcome through obedience. 

Adam and Eve did not have to plant that garden … it was planted for them … their job was to look after it, to manage it. It was already established for them. I said all that to say this: GOD ALWAYS DOES THE WORK for us, but… we still have work to do. We must look after what He has given us. We need to be protective of it, by listening to the Holy Spirit, reading His word, and following His instructions.

When sin overcame mankind Jesus came to take our punishment. He came to restore our relationship with Almighty God back to the one Adam and Eve had in the garden. And we get that inheritance, which is rightfully ours, by sheer obedience. We need to manage what we have been given. This life, right here, right now, is our garden, how we manage it, matters. We may not feel anything – we simply need to live this life the way He wants us to live it – knowing He promised to help us win.

Genesis shows us that God wanted to be with humanity, but we were tricked into wanting our own way to get there. satan virtually said to Adam and Eve: ‘You will become like gods, if you eat that fruit. God is keeping something from you.’ Sin is appealing for a season … and then the consequences turn up! Unfortunately, we didn’t just want fellowship with God – we were tempted to be like God. When God told that couple they would die – it was more than a literal death – mankind’s relationship with Him died too.

Long ago, satan wanted to be like God and that’s why he got chucked out of heaven in the first place. Now he is busy trying to make people into his own image! he wants to hurt our Father, by taking away His Beloved Son’s BRIDE. The Holy Spirit is not leading us to die to self because He’s mean, or a party-pooper!  He’s teaching us these things so we can escape from satan’s lies …  “Jesus said: “I AM the Resurrection and the Life, the one who believes in Me will live even though they die.” Dying to self is the only way to escape from satan’s lies and truly LIVE. 👋🏻

P 2233 There is no light like His light.

/ DVH

The world we live in today does not like the light, so it has hidden and distracted itself away from it. Maybe they like to think it is more fun in the dark … but the real truth is, they don’t know any better. I am of the opinion that the church needs to stop throwing rocks and abuse at the-people-who-don’t-know-Him-yet, and begin to realise that we are also guilty of ignoring the light of God! What’s our excuse? We know the truth, and the-people-who-don’t-know-Him-yet don’t even know exactly WHO they are rejecting!

John 1:9-12 “The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him. He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him.”

Just because we’ve been blessed by the Holy Spirit with spiritual insight that Jesus Christ IS Who He says He is – that does not mean we can skate merrily on by waiting for our turn to go to heaven one day. We act like salvation is the Lord’s final goal. His goal is transformation – which is a very b-i-g step beyond salvation. It’s called total surrender and it’s not just for the pastor or the evangelist.  Every single Christian has a purpose, a role in His plan. Let us recognise what we are here for and go and do it.

The power of recognition relies upon sight, and sight relies upon LIGHT. Sadly, the people of this world cannot see Christ, because the church is not being the LIGHT. Yet, the bible tells us clearly that we are to be the light of this world … Jesus said so: in Matthew 5:14:“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.”  However, being the light doesn’t mean we just run about constantly pointing out the dark – it means we shine with the reality of Christ IN us. We glow with His light and love, and that ushers in illumination and revelation. The people around us will see the darkness when we shine.. “But when Simon Peter saw this, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” Luke 5:8. Take the time to learn how to shine.

So, how does the Lord’s church in 2023 manage to remain hidden? By our personal, and denominational choices. We’ve said ‘yes’ over time to so many things that the Lord does not agree with, that this world hardly knows what we actually stand for. Sadly, when we do stand up and say: ‘Well, you can’t do that, that’s against our religion” … This world turns around and says – “Good gracious, are YOU still here?? I thought you’d all died off years ago.”

The world around us does not know Who Christ is because we’ve failed Him. Time to repent. We reduced the Living Word of Almighty God to images. A baby in a manger, a cross on a chain, a big black book. We are here to be His Word in this world, alive and visible to everyone around us. That’s what light does. It shows up what’s in the darkness by illuminating stuff.

In this current age, Christians would much rather tell this world where it is WRONG – than love them – we say: “it’s too hard to love them, they are impossible.” Instead of blaming them – it is time to examine ourselves! We need to live this life shining with His love for others. “They will know we are Christians by our love …”  For us that means ‘show’ as well as ‘tell.’  You know if we want to truly follow Jesus, like the disciples did, then we will have to walk down the same roads He walked on. Transformation into light happens on that journey. 

Christianity is not meant to be a walk in the park, or a trip to a fun fair – with lots of groovy rides. We are on a death march. Our reward is not in this life. We have watered down the gospel to make it somehow more palatable, and doing that has diminished what Christ died to do. We need to repent before it is too late, or we will never reach our full potential in this life. Sadly humanity habitually thinks that we all have more time.

Our times are always in His hands … however, let’s remember that it is always time to be about our Master’s business. Even when we are very busy walking down some dusty road and we see someone bruised and bleeding in the dirt. We are never too busy to serve humanity. Christ wasn’t ever too busy – and being His light means we don’t have that option either.  👋🏻

P 2232 How to witness.

/ DVH

When we go out to give away bibles etc. hubby often finds that people weep – even grown men and women. Then they get embarrassed about crying and say things like: “I don’t know why I’m crying.”  Here’s how we explain that to them: “Oh that’s Jesus. He’s just crazy in love with all of us. He came here 2000 years ago, and personally fell in love with mankind. Then people killed Him… but He didn’t stay dead. Now He lives inside me. He sent me here to show you His love and bless you, and the thing is, I just can’t stop Him – He loves us all so much, He can’t help Himself. He is always reaching out to people.”

I am not trying to give you some sort of a formula, instead I want to encourage you to put something that resembles this into your own words – as He leads you. Just allow the Holy Spirit to give you a way to talk about things like this, that is natural to you. I’ve only written the above words today, because so many Christians only speak Christian-ese. 

That’s the language in the church that we all understand, and use. It has words like faith, joy, grace, saved, redemption, salvation, sanctification, propitiation … in it. However, those words have complex meanings and they sound old-fashioned and out of touch with this world we live in. For most people the way we think in church is like a foreign language, filled with unmanageable incomprehensible concepts. Faith doesn’t make sense to people who don’t have any. 

And Jesus Christ sometimes isn’t an actual person to them, He’s an historical figure. So when He reaches out and touches someone through you, it is good to explain to them that it is not you – it’s Him. We understand a lot of what we’ve been taught as normal, but it is not normal to the people we meet in the street. Our aim is to make the Lord visible and accessible, and the more we mystify Him, the more we are making Jesus inaccessible. I am not speaking about being sacrilegious, far from it, we definitely need to be reverent and honour Him. But it is more about presenting Christ as a God-Man.  A Man Who came and died for all of us – on purpose.

This is why I really recommend that we need to know the four gospels really well – everything we will need to talk about the Lord is in there. The more well-rounded our thoughts and ideas are about Jesus Himself, the easier it will be to talk about Him to others.  In my opinion, talking about the Lord should be so natural, it flows out of us. That takes practice, it doesn’t just happen and we all have to start somewhere. It should flow the same way as it would if you were talking about your friend, mother, father, brother, cousin. Christianity needs to be much more accessible in this world, less intense, and more natural. Also talk about what Jesus has done, recently in your life – that’s your witness.

Hubby told the people we’ve spoken to on this trip, about the Lord helping him to paint with his non-dominant hand. He explained that he is right-handed and he rarely if ever uses his left hand, except in conjunction with His right one! People were astonished simply because it’s a miracle. And if I were talking to someone about what God has done in my life recently, I’d tell them about losing my earrings, as well as looking hard for them, and then finding them on the floor in plain sight! Our experiences with the Lord and His great Grace, need to be repeated and we should brag on Him! Tell them that when He touches them personally, that Jesus sent you there to pray for them and/or help them. So it’s not you – it’s Him … making Himself known.

Our greatest strength lies in the fact that we know that we ARE the same as the people we are talking to. The difference between us and the-people-who-don’t-know-Him-yet is what Jesus did for all of us. We know about what He did… and they don’t! This fact is Christianity’s best kept secret and it shouldn’t be. Jesus died to open the doors for everyone. At some time somebody told us that truth, and now we are telling others. Christians and non-Christians are not on opposing teams – we have our humanity in common. 

Some of us grew into understanding what we believe and some of us encountered Him in a remarkable way but we all live our lives for Him now. It isn’t the experience or lack of it that matters – it is the real live Person that we know personally. 👋🏻

“But in your hearts set Christ apart [as holy—acknowledging Him, giving Him first place in your lives] as Lord. Always be ready to give a [logical] defence to anyone who asks you to account for the hope and confident assurance [elicited by faith] that is within you, yet [do it] with gentleness and respect.”  1 Peter 3:15

P 2231 Encounters.

/ DVH

The blessing of being on the road for Jesus’ sake, is the terrific people we meet. The day before yesterday, we went to a look out (see above) in Nambucca Heads. The sun was out and it was so pretty. People came, admired the view and then went, and then an older lady came along. The Lord told us to give her a bookmark, so hubby did. She loved it so much, she came right over to the car to say thank you to me. 

Nancy is a delightful aboriginal lady, from the Gumbaynggirr people. She knew heaps about this area because she was born here. Nancy passed on a big secret! The best place to go fishing – only the local aboriginal people know it, so we wrote it down, memorised it … and then promptly chewed it up and swallowed it. I felt like James Bond! Well, not really … but you get the vibe. 😂 Meanwhile I’m incredibly sure Nancy would know where to fish!  After a lovely conversation we gave her a word of knowledge and she hugged us because she was so glad to meet us. And all we did was drive up to look at the pretty view!

After that we drove on to visit caravan parks. The first one was down below the above view, you can just see the edge of it in the picture … if you take a magnifying glass that is!  Nambucca Heads is such a pretty postcard place. The ladies behind the desk at the first cara park were Donna and Joanne. Hubby said they looked a bit fierce like Aussie country women do sometimes, tatts, bronzed and all! …. But they melted like butter when he gave them a couple of bookmarks. They took bibles for the cabins and hubby had a great time talking and sharing with them. 

As he came out of the office, he noticed an older man, Sean, sitting outside having a smoke. The Lord told hubby to talk to him – so, fishing being our new area of expertise – hubby asked Sean about fishing in that area. Meanwhile he didn’t mention the fishing spot our aboriginal friend mentioned, because it really IS a secret spot!!  Hubby ended up giving Sean one of his prophetic paintings and a word. The older man teared right up. Loving people, on purpose, is so precious when you are walking with Jesus.

Before we left for this trip, I made some bookmarks with some expoxy gummy bear charms on them for younger people. Boy are they chewy!! So, when we stopped at the next park,  hubby met another much younger girl and she was de-light-ed! Pink is her favourite colour – she loved the pink gummy bear one. You know, every place we took bibles the managers received them joyfully. “The fields are white …!!”  Everybody has room for more appreciation and love. 

We’ve given away 145 bibles so far, plus 12 bookmarks, 3 prophetic paintings, one prophetic letter, and 3 prophetic words. Counting everything, we’ve given away over 189 things. And we’ve only been on the road for three and a half days. Lastly, we also went to two places where we couldn’t find the owner – sometimes you drive miles and miles … a-n-d ….there ain’t nobody home!  

Yesterday, was a travelling day and we had to go past one of the parks where there was nobody home and lo and behold … somebody was in. Sharon, an ex-school teacher who loved her bookmark with a wise owl on it and she took bibles too. Isn’t the Lord amazing? An owl for a teacher?  Man He cracks me up!!

So here’s an inconsequential story for you – just for today! When we arrived where we are currently staying, here in Forster, we unpacked. Unpacking consists of hubby jumping about like an energiser bunny putting things in useful places, while I watch him and make unhelpful suggestions. (Unhelpful suggestions are in the wife’s manual of things to do that drive husbands crazy… FYI) 😱 

Any-w-a-ay … I took off my very pretty, and extremely precious earrings that hubby bought for me many years ago, and carefully put them together … and then …promptly lost them. We both searched high and low, down the back of the sofa, as you do … under the sofa … everywhere I had been, about four times. In the end, we prayed the help help prayer …a-n-d … nothing. My dear hubby looked places I’d already looked at, and I looked places he’d already looked as well. Nothing! When nothing happens … I “oh well” whatever it is and leave it with the Lord.

Hubby had to go shopping, and I kept periodically looking. The earrings had disappeared.  Eventually he arrived back at the unit and we both started looking again … and low and behold!! They were right in front of the place I was sitting – on the carpet! They were not there before – trust me! 😳 We’d both searched very thoroughly and they were not there before  –  but now they were. Unbelievable!!  Who knew the Lord cared about lost earrings? Lost people – YES! Lost earrings – NO!  I learn something new about the kindness of the Lord Jesus every single day. He is Lord of the little things. 🙌

“The Lord will work out His plans for my life—for your loving-kindness, Lord, continues forever…” 👋🏻