Love

P 3371 Cultivate Fruit. 

/ DVH

I love summer time when all kinds of fruit are in the shops and it seems like we are overloaded with choices. Any kind of fruit looks great to me. You know in the bible I can’t find one instance of anyone talking about dieting! Fasting – yes! Dieting – no! Father God has provided us with a tremendous variety of foods. He is the source of it all, including the fruity yumminess, because He caused every pleasant and fruit-producing tree to grow in the Garden of Eden. It was a fruit-bearing tree that seduced Adam and Eve! 

And today, I have a little theory I want to write about that. Here we go… inside any fruit there are seeds – most fruits have at least one seed. According to my little bit of research, most of the fruit we have today that are seedless, have been specially cultivated by horticulturalists to remove those seeds for our convenience sake. If you’ve eaten an orange with a great many seeds in it, you will understand why! 

If we look at the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, I think we will find that when Adam and Eve ate whatever kind of fruit it was, its seed was in there too. It also became part of them, not just the fruit. Inside any seed is the potential for many other trees to grow. When Almighty God banished this couple from His garden, they lost all access to the tree of life, because they’d disobeyed when they ingested the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, together with it’s seeds.

Now this couple had the potential to decide what was good and what was evil … because the seeds of knowledge, and the quest for power were growing inside them. They decided disobeying God was evil, that’s why they hid. They already had the potential to be like Him … without His WISDOM, MERCY and GRACE and DISCERNMENT etc.

Their disobedience robbed them of their holiness, and the access to Holy fellowship that God Himself gave them. That fruit of disobedience, that they chose to eat, was passed on to their offspring. Then God planted Himself into the earth in the form of His seed in a virgin’s womb. Jesus was planted and He lived here, He died and was buried here. A seed has to die to bear fruit.

Cain became jealous and killed his brother Abel. The seed of ‘whatever I don’t regard as evil’ is not evil, has become my new idea of truth. This was fostered the minute Cain entertained the thought: “Why didn’t God like my sacrifice?” Independent thinking is a very popular theme nowadays. It seems to me that truth is no longer fixed, because we have thrown away our access to the Tree of Life, the bible.  People are planted in the wilderness, instead of being planted by streams of living water. The bible points us firmly to our need of a totally New kind of Life – in Jesus! 

Humanity has been sowing trees ever since. Conversely if I think it’s good then it’s good!  EG. You can’t tell me what to do, because seeds of disobedience and rebellion have already been sown and cultivated in my life from birth! We can’t blame Adam and Eve, because we are personally responsible for what we choose to cultivate in our lives. Every interaction, every chosen course, every single choice … feeds and waters His seed in us … or the wrong seeds.

Jesus Christ hung on a fruitless ‘tree’ and HE became the Seed that died to foster our new life in Him. When we ask Him to live within us, we received the potential to cultivate the Tree of Life in us. I think that’s the abundant life Jesus spoke about. Not spectacular houses, piles of money or fancy cars. We can spread heavenly seeds wherever we go.. When we were born again, Jesus Christ gave us His life and put His seed, inside us, WE DON’T HAVE TO SIN ANYMORE. We have a choice. 1 John 3:9 – “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.” 

And Colossians 3:12-14 tells us what that seed looks like: “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”

This new life we have today is about cultivating His seed, His new life within us — together with all its graces. Jesus died for us, to produce IN us, a new way to live. That way to live isn’t just about us having comfortable lives, it is about our enemy meeting an army of people sold out to spreading God’s love, everywhere. They are being trained in righteousness by the Spirit of the Living God. God’s love is not a theory, it is His grace, let loose so mankind can lay claim to their birthright – the tree of life and the different kinds of fruit that freely grow on that tree.

We’ve been misled by religion. You and I can’t cultivate His seed in someone else – it is their choice. But they still need to know they have a choice. We are His witnesses to everything He did, and is still doing in our lives every single day. His seeds of obedience, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, love, and joy and peace are now in us. We simply co-operate with the Holy Spirit and follow His lead, using the opportunities life brings across our path. 

The seed of eternal life has been sown into us when we said YES to Him. So we choose LIFE, the way our Saviour lived it. Now is the time to cultivate His fruit… and that’s my little theory. Bye. 👋

P 3366 It makes you think.

/ DVH

The other day I was listening to someone who made a very strong statement that really impacted me. I did not doubt their sincerity, when they prayed. Instead it utterly challenged me. “I’D RATHER DIE THAN LIVE WITHOUT YOU JESUS!” As usual I asked myself, could I pray that prayer right here and now, and mean it?

Hold onto your hat— my answer was — NO. Sigh. I like to be truthful with you about these things because otherwise we can get caught up in ideals and principles and nothing happens in real life. The thing is, I think I would be scared the Lord would take me up on it. Isn’t it amazing what  we learn about ourselves through the most ordinary, unexpected circumstances? I really did hope that I could come up with a far better answer than that one, and I’m appalled at the things I don’t know about myself until I am confronted by the truth.

The above person’s honesty took my breath away and sent me spiralling into the wrong kind of sadness – disappointment in myself. By the way, my own answer is predicated on the fact that I love my family, I don’t want to cause them pain, plus I don’t think I’m ready to leave yet. Like all that is up to me!  And… … there went my lofty ideas of faith, and following Jesus anywhere … … right out of the window! I’ve been in the valley of the shadow of death several times, and I was too busy praying to live, to even think about that kind of devotion. I am aware that we are to love Him so much that we can’t wait to be with Him.

However, Philippians 1:21 prodded me in the conscience. “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”  This was Paul’s permanent attitude. And eventually I remembered yet another a scripture, “I die daily.” The Apostle Paul faced death all the time, and he did not shrink back from it, instead it propelled him forward into more glorious opportunities to glorify Christ … through using his faith daily. The Apostle Paul, by the way, was a better person than I am, and that becomes increasingly obvious. 

I want to pause and look at the other side of this coin. Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Paul said that one too!) I don’t have to get there by myself, instead I need to use the faith He already gave me to believe what He said, because I am actually already dead in God’s eyes. Jesus took me to the cross with Him. Right! If I am already dead, then where do these snippy snappy remarks I find coming out of my mouth keep coming from?! It seems that I am living this life unaware of what was already done on my behalf. I’ve gone back to looking at this life as MY life, not His.

I cannot afford to sit on my hands and say to myself: “I prayed about my lack, so I’ve done my bit – over to you God.” That’s not relinquishment it’s fatalism! Nor can I, or anyone else around me (!), afford for me to sit about and wait for Him to ‘fix’ me. The underlying thought in that kind of mindset is this:  ‘it is not my fault if I don’t change, because I prayed about it!’ It’s faith PLUS works. Actually in my opinion – it’s faith THAT works … all the time! My dedication to Him happens through my own choices, every day, from minute to minute. My bit is to turn whatever happens to me over to Him, and ask Him to show me what He wants me to do about it. Then I choose to do it, deliberately. That’s when I die … a teeny tiny little bit. But it grows.

I do not have to prove to Him that I love Him and want to be with Him, by I choosing His will over my own. Actually – the reality is this – HE already did that for me. And what’s more Jesus did that before I was born! If our enemy can’t get us to stop following Jesus, then he will beat us up over every misstep and mistake we make, until discouragement falls on us and we give up. BUT, even giving up can be a new beginning place. When we run out of effort, God is stronger than we can ever be and He will help us.

Instead of praying for me to die if I can’t love Him the way He deserves … I can start, right here, right now, to participate in that thought by choosing to die, in the little everyday things that irk me. ‘Not my will, but Yours, Lord.’ Living this way builds my spiritual trust in Him for bigger things.

Here’s an example of what that could look like: Someone is rude to me, instead of retaliating with a snappy reply, I take a breath, and ask for the Lord’s help and then I give a soft loving answer. I show the person who doesn’t seem to deserve it, kindness, instead of judgment. I can’t do this in my own strength, especially if I happen to meet 2 or 3 people in a row who get on my nerves… I know I will run out! However, when I run out of effort, that means I am eligible for HIS benefits because: ‘His strength is made perfect in weak people.’

Now I have discovered a way to walk minute by minute with Jesus. I am participating in His Grace for myself and giving it away – all at the same time. I will spiritually benefit from that participation and so will others. I don’t have to pray: “I’d rather be dead than live without You Lord,” I can show Him my devotion to that concept by appreciating what He did for me first, and then I can choose to deliberately pass on that GRACE exercising my faith, to everyone around me … even the grumpy nasty ones – every single day. If you let it, this blog will make you think. Bless you Bye. 👋

P 3365 You don’t have to think that way anymore. 

/ DVH

Yesterday I spoke about living aware of God’s care. The Lord challenged me later that day about this blog, and He used my own words to do it. Here we go: “Instead let’s proactively remind ourselves that Jesus died to give us His holiness, His right-standing with our Father, and His Grace to finish whatever Father God has asked us to do. So we must lay aside ours.” First of all, it feels kind of weird quoting me to me, but let’s just move on and pretend it’s normal, OK?

In this life I’ve learnt to recognise the signs of someone else’s anger very quickly, because I was once governed by anger, and I didn’t like it much. So, all by myself, I figured out placating people was the easiest way to escape, and I did that! Unfortunately, placating people doesn’t work all that well within God’s idea of His Sovereignty, but I couldn’t seem to stop doing it. Fear of man drove me around like a bus!

If the person who was angry antagonised me enough, then eventually, I would blow up. The disagreement then went on to get very loud and all thoughts of placation flew out of the window. I had not cultivated the fruit of self-control, because I was used to shutting myself up or mouthing off, depending on the day. I didn’t get self-control by using my faith in what Jesus did for me – I got it because I was afraid of punishment!

When we come to Jesus we bring our sins with us, and lay that junk down at the foot of the cross. But, today I realised that we need to bring our own hard-learnt way of doing stuff and put that there too. In the end we can end up with what Jesus said, PLUS what our parents, teachers, friends, bosses, rabbits and relations etc. have said to us, and about us. Or those kind of things will compete for our attention. We can get caught between two worlds – the world of the Spirit, and the old me that used to be. We need to renew our minds and deal with the junk – on purpose. Otherwise we will do the right things for the wrong reasons.

Sin is easy for all of us to identify, because Jesus Himself told us that His primary commandments are to Love God and each other. Anything that isn’t that, is sin! Which, BTW, He has already paid for it. Thank you Lord! Stay with me, and don’t rush to the healing rooms just yet OK? I didn’t need healing, my mind must be renewed and transformed. I was still being influenced by other people’s sins and their actions against me – from when I was too little to defend myself. Those things also need to go to the cross – and I was still being partially governed by my own self-effort in some areas. Everything has to go to the cross, because the bible says: We‘ve moved out of darkness into His marvellous light. 

Before you and I came to know Him, there were things that we did that were sin, and maybe like myself, there were also things that life itself taught us were bad so we exercised our own will, and stopped doing them. I don’t think you could easily persuade me to steal. Years ago, as a child I used to pinch small change out of my stepfather’s money-box, and when he caught me, he taught me quite emphatically that this was a bad plan. Especially when He introduced me to his belt – I never did that again!

I was also clearly taught not to lie, so now I fall over myself trying to make sure I don’t lie. My point is this: both of my parents taught me those things by berating me and using physical force – I did not learn them from the Lord! I learnt THEIR WAY, not HIS. So when I came to know Jesus, ‘don’t steal and don’t lie’ were already firmly established within my list of things I should not do. I forgave my parents long ago but I did not take what I actually learnt FROM THEM, to the cross. I still had a harsh master in my head, and the Lord Jesus is not like that!

I know in my heart that Father God would have wanted me to learn those things in a different way – not involving violence. But learning from the Lord meant I wouldn’t pinch stuff or lie — and the roots of my responses would have come from love and respect for our Heavenly Father, instead of FEAR. And I had to take what I had already been taught to be true before I met Jesus, to the cross as well.

Like the scripture says:“Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30. Ergo, if it’s heavy and hard, then it isn’t the Lord! It might be time to revise where those thinking patterns came from.

We don’t have to see those wrong belief systems as sin, unless we still harbour resentment toward the perpetrators. Instead we need to take them to the cross, put down the old way, and pick up His yoke. The Lord wants you and I to end up with a blank slate, not a whole lot of man-made left-over reactions. Obviously it is not good to blame the other person/people/culture … but don’t blame yourself either! So forgive everybody, including yourself, and move on using your faith. Leave behind your old ways of thinking and step into a renewed mind using the grace and righteousness that Christ Himself has already given you. Bye 👋 PS Remember, when you give something to the Lord, you don’t have it anymore! 

P 3364 Living aware of His care.

/ DVH

“We pray that you’ll live well for the Master, making Him proud of you as you work hard in His orchard. As you learn more and more how God works, you will learn how to do your work. We pray that you’ll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul—not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father Who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that He has for us.” Colossians 1:11,12.

I’ve talked previously about pruning and the results, so today I’d like to mention that we don’t have to learn this stuff in a vacuum. Our God is always with us wherever we go, in the Person of the Holy Spirit. I’m His biggest fan! I love to watch Him at work, even in the little things. When we look for His input in our everyday lives, we can find Him, quietly working away behind the scenes.

Above today’s text there’s a picture of something that reminds me of Him in action. I enjoy watching sheep dogs working, protecting and rounding up sheep. Those clever dogs go this way and that, and sometimes it seems like the dumb sheep have no clue what is good for them. But the sheepdogs persevere, darting about with boundless energy. They are always on the look-out for danger to the sheep to keep them safe.

In the same way, we may not aways understand why the Holy Spirit is doing whatever He is doing in our lives. But we can be sure of one thing – His mission is to keep every single sheep safe and lead them to where they are meant to be. We may not ‘feel like ‘ He is there, but He promised to be with us, so let’s choose to believe Him. The more we learn His ways, the more we can recognise when He is at work for His will and pleasure in our own lives, and the lives of others around us. Ask Him to help you see through His eyes.  

The secret is in our own stickability, and the precious Holy Spirit will even help us with that! “And let us not lose heart and grow weary and faint in acting nobly and doing right, for in due time and at the appointed season we shall reap, if we do not loosen and relax our courage and faint.” Galatians 6:9. “That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day.” 2 Corinthians 4:16. “That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man.” Ephesians 3:16.

Jesus did not leave us alone to work out this life by ourselves. Thank you Lord! So we have every reason to keep on going. Even if we sometimes give up on ourselves, the Holy Spirit is there, whispering to us: “Keep going, we’ve got this, I’m here to help you.” He is not an inactive observer. He abounds in Grace toward us and He doesn’t count our missteps or mistakes—He’s the One Who continually reminds us that Jesus died for all our sins. Hubby and I have found that when we go on the road, we simply become His hands and feet. You don’t have to raise the dead to witness, you simply have to walk in Love and leave the rest to Him.

You will never find a more willing participant in your ministry, than the Holy Spirit. It is His joy and pleasure to help us. The biggest clue is in His Name. HOLY Spirit. To walk with Him we cannot live to please ourselves anymore. Instead we need to proactively remind ourselves that Jesus died to give us His holiness, His right standing with our Father, and His Grace to finish whatever Father God has asked us to do. So we must lay aside ours. Our inheritance is vast, and often remains unclaimed. Sometimes that is because we focus on what we can’t do, instead of what Jesus has already done.

“The heavens declare the glory of God;  the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.” Psalm 19:1,2. I try to look UP, as well as look carefully, and prayerfully in the mirror of His Word. Looking at ourselves will just intimidate us because without Him we can do nothing. The One Who put those stars, those planets, the moon, and the sun there with His fingertips, is inside you! He wants to work with us: “[Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energising and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight.” Philippians 2:13. 

There have been times in my life when it felt like He was not with me, but we cannot afford to go by our feelings. The One Who put the desire to please Him, or the sadness for letting Him down is the One Who is reminding us He’s still there! He promises in the book, to work “…all things together for our good.” Including the spirit of stupid that sometimes falls on all of us!  He is far, far more generous, than we are able to understand. Whisper His Name, ask for His help. He’s always the Answer, not people.

Living well isn’t about getting stuff right, it is about pressing in, even if you don’t feel like getting out of bed. Let’s take our focus off us and how we feel and continue to praise Him for His consistency while we are doing it. Praise and thank the Lord that His motivation is love, not performance, and live aware of His care for you.  “In all your ways know and acknowledge and recognize Him, And He will make your paths straight and smooth [removing obstacles that block your way].” Proverbs 3:6. Amen and Amen! Bye 👋

P 3360 Keep looking at Jesus.

/ DVH

“We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God’s original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in Him and finds its purpose in Him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And when it comes to the church, He organises and holds it together, like a head does a body.                                                                                                      He was supreme in the beginning and—leading the resurrection parade—He is supreme in the end. From beginning to end He’s there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is He, so expansive, that everything of God finds its proper place in Him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of His death, His blood that poured down from the cross.”                                 You yourselves are a case study of what He does. At one time you all had your backs turned to God, thinking rebellious thoughts of Him, giving Him trouble every chance you got. But now, by giving Himself completely at the Cross, actually dying for you, Christ brought you over to God’s side and put your lives together, whole and holy in His Presence. You don’t walk away from a gift like that! You stay grounded and steady in that bond of trust, constantly tuned in to the Message, careful not to be distracted or diverted. There is no other Message—just this one. Every creature under heaven gets this same Message. I, Paul, am a messenger of this Message.” Colossians 1:15-23 MSG.

When we look at Jesus Christ we see God’s original purpose for mankind … minus sin and its effects. Sin couldn’t make Christ do anything because His love and devotion for His Father was greater than anything else. Instead He set us a perfect example. Our sin has a habit of colouring in everything around it. So when we focus on our sin, or their sin, or the government’s sin, we cannot effectively keep our eyes on the Lord!

Personally I think that judgment is a terrible stumbling block for everyone, but the Lord Jesus died to remove that and all other stumbling blocks way… once and for all! We can find our place in this broken world when we drag our gaze away from other people’s sin and look steadily at the One Who gave us His place. Looking at sin skews our focus.

This is a great passage of scripture above, because it encapsulates the things that Jesus has willingly done for us. People rattle on and on about recycling, and saving the planet, but one day everything broken and dislocated will come together in Christ! His greatest achievement is the total restoration of mankind with its Creator— not just to where Adam and Eve were—we have been restored to be like Him in this world, and that starts right here, right now.

Boy if that doesn’t make anyone happy then I don’t know what will!! We don’t have to be qualified to live this way, we simply need to yield to Him no matter what is going on around us. The good, the bad and the … oh! my goodness! Our first step is total surrender – the next is to choose to live under His guidance, His Way. Don’t hold anything back, whatever we hold back can still be influenced by sin … that’s why we must give it all to Him. He is the Restorer, the Redeemer of everything. 

Jesus has already taken us out of the kingdom of darkness that surrounds us and we are now a part of the kingdom of His marvellous light. “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a [special] people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies [the wonderful deeds and virtues and perfections] of Him Who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.” 1 Peter 2:9. I don’t care what you do for a living, this is our real job now. To live in, and reflect the light He died to give us into this world around us. The darker it gets, the brighter that light shines.

Our dedication to living in His light (described in the book) causes darkness to run away … This is the real Good News – not some other form of religion! Religion has rules and regulations, but our Saviour’s Good News just helps us to live this life, with all its positive and negative experiences, well. And the source of our happiness never changes, because Jesus never changes! 

As Christians we cannot afford to focus on what this world thinks, we need our focus to be singular, on what He said. Day by day we get to know Perfect Love in an ever increasing measure. Jesus demonstrated His perfect love by what He did. We demonstrate our love for Him and others by what we do and say. However, perfect love is hardly ever a feeling. Perfect Love is a series of ongoing chosen actions that will cost us something to participate in them. God hasn’t taken away our freedom to choose – instead He has given us something better, something worth choosing! 

We can’t afford to rely upon feelings, because they will slowly sink our little lives into the mire that surrounds us. Instead we need to make what happens to us less important than what Jesus Christ did for us. Our focus is not on some pie in the sky when we die theology – because Jesus already did everything for us. It’s done! He said it way better than I ever could: “IT. IS. FINISHED.” Done and dusted. The Lord Jesus Himself purchased our freedom,- He paid with His own blood. It cost Him His life. Now we have been given the freedom to choose to live His Way. Don’t misuse the freedom He gave you. Meanwhile, there is no need for us to work hard for something that is already paid for. 

We choose to live with His pure focus in this life – right here, right now. Let’s shift our focus off the immediate stuff around us and lift our focus up to the eternal. Then we will progressively exchange every bit of the darkness that assails us, for what He has already given us. This new life is a life of forgiveness and love. Right now… right here … we are learning to cherish His light. Every single day. I urge us all to keep looking at Jesus, He started our faith and He will finish it. Bye. 👋

P 3358 More of Jesus.    

/ DVH

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

P 3357 Take note of the criteria.

/ DVH

Jesus once taught a parable about sheep and goats in Matthew 25:31-46, and we would be wise to pay attention to what He said. When I looked this parable up on Google, I found so-oo-oo-oo many sermons – it’s a popular subject! Many of these sermons talk about Christians, specifying that we are sheep, and some-other-guys are supposed to be the goats. Like I’ve said before, I’m a purist, I like to take what He says seriously.

Hubby recently said something that piqued my interest and I wanted to explore it further. He said: “Everybody wants to be a sheep. Christians think they are already a sheep – but did they read the criteria for being a sheep and not a goat?” My dear hubby also asks questions no-one wants to think about!

“Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited Me in, I needed clothes and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you came to visit Me.’                                                                                                   “Then THE RIGHTEOUS will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we see You a stranger and invite You in, or needing clothes and clothe You?  When did we see You sick or in prison and go to visit You?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did FOR ONE OF THE LEAST OF THESE BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF MINE, you did for Me.’“Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink,  I was a stranger and you did not invite Me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after Me.’ 

“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help You?’ “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, YOU DID NOT DO FOR ME. “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

In the above verses, Jesus totally identifies Himself with the poor, downtrodden, sick and imprisoned. The bible tells us that He came to save sinners, and He takes giving , caring for, clothing and feeding, visiting and sheltering the poor – personally. He clearly says: if you do it for them you are doing it for Me. Meanwhile, let’s not even go into the fact that He calls one group righteous and the other cursed !! …I learnt a long time ago, just because I don’t like what Jesus is talking about, that does not mean I have the criteria to ignore it. I’m dead remember? Dead people have no say – nor do they care.

The Holy Bible is His chosen yardstick, so if Jesus said it, then we’d better sit down and take the time to listen to what He said! If we want to GROW then the next thing to do is to act on what He said. You can tell, BTW, that the Bible is His yardstick because the Lord refers to it all the time – even when He is under extreme duress. 

I believe we have romanticised things to the point that we dismiss the reality of what the Lord is saying here. In Matthew 25:31-46 it says that we ignore the people who are suffering all around us, at our own peril. However there is a simple  remedy, find a way to help people like this and do it — and please don’t forget when you are doing it, you are ministering to HIM! Do you want to wash His feet with your tears? Then weep over the heartache of another human being who got lost, or never had what you were given. Then help them.

That’s not just some random stranger, prostitute, drunk person, homeless person, dishevelled or needy person in front of you and I – it’s JESUS. HE says so.… how are we responding to Him?

Who is more likely to listen to the message of the Gospel? A rich man who is distracted into making his money work for him — or a poor one who struggles to feed his family? I believe this scripture links to the one about the Wedding Banquet. Some people in that parable are too busy with the things they are doing, to say yes to the Master of Ceremonies – so in the end, he sends out his servants to bring anyone in.

Jesus came here for the people who know they are poor in spirit. When Hubby and I go to help the poor, etc. we meet the Lord when we get there. He has a word, or something practical He told us to bring: a New Testament, a thoughtful present to make them feel special – to let them know He loves them. Can I be honest with you? I don’t know why every Christian isn’t doing this. Sending money is great, but going is better. 

Today I want to issue a challenge to anyone interested. Find someone on the list of people Jesus identifies with, and start helping them. Bonus buy! You will definitely struggle and learn a lot about who you really are. You may meet people who will live in your house for years and then never let you know where they are, or what happened to them, after they’ve moved on. But you did it for Him. He knows!!

But we must face facts, we are going to get our hearts broken over all the things that have broken His heart too. This is not a fun task. But our criteria is to be like Him and we will meet Him as we interact with the needy and outcasts. He chose to be one Himself. Bye. 🙏

P 3355 What love can’t do.

/ DVH

Love can’t be an obligation, because when it is, it loses its power! Love won’t make us do anything – we must choose to apply ourselves and obey. I hear such lovely people – sincere saints – they are so sweet … yet they keep praying AMISS! They think they are being honest, but God’s kingdom coin of the realm, is LOVE. The only truth is HIS truth. 

People pray: “Dear Lord, please help me to obey You and love this or that person” Amen. Great prayer, sweet prayer… useless prayer! If I have just offended you, then please forgive me! But this kind of prayer is evasion. We wipe our hands and say: ‘Well, I’ve prayed, and now it is up to Him.’ Then we keep on doing the same old same old, grizzling behind people’s backs, listing their faults, keeping hatred alive. And we wonder why nothing changes. 

The kingdom of God does not work like that. Read the book. We are the people that His Son made free, and when we voluntarily give up that freedom to bless someone else, despite their behaviour toward us, we are acting like His kids. His kingdom will flourish within us. ‘I want to’ is not the same as ‘doing.’ It’s wish praying. Real prayer has legs, feet, arms, hands and heart. In order to SEE a difference, we must BEHAVE differently. 

We can’t know what loving our enemies looks like unless we choose to love those who despitefully use us. Loving our enemies is not about being fake … it is about stepping out in faith and living like Jesus said, despite our feelings. While we are concentrating on what others are doing our own hearts are at risk. Personally, I have found the way I treat other people changes the way they respond. But I must start from poverty of heart, and then do whatever He tells me to do. Love can’t and won’t make us. Almighty God will sometimes offend our minds to reach our hearts. 

Let’s look at Jonah, God told this prophet “Go to Ninevah.” Now Jonah had a fatal flaw, he hated Ninevites so he said “No!” And off he goes, on his …‘I’m running away from God tour’ – and he ends up on a ship that’s going to sink in a huge gale. He’s asleep at the bottom of the ship. There’s probably not much conviction there yet … eh? This is where Jonah begins to turn around, and God starts to teach him something …  Jonah’s NO! has consequences on other people’s lives! He is God’s man, the pivoting point. The crew of the ship will drown right along with him because of his disobedience.

When Jonah realises he is the cause of the situation, he selflessly volunteers to be thrown overboard. This has a huge  impact on the crew – they all get saved. Two things worth noting here:  we can mess things up so badly it looks like we have ruined other people’s lives. But our Saviour is a Redeemer and He works everything together for good. When we act according to His purposes, He releases His kingdom. He cares about everyone’s lives, even the people we don’t like, who have hurt us badly. God doesn’t take sides – He only has one side …HIS! His side is pure, right, just, and wise.

Now let’s look at Jesus Who tells His disciples to “Go and heal the sick, set the captives free, cleanse the lepers and raise the dead.’ These guys don’t know up from down, and the Lord just told them to do something they know they can’t do. They’ve seen Him do it, but that’s different. We can’t love other people without Him helping us any more than we can raise the dead. It’s ALL faith! The Kingdom comes wherever the King is welcome. What did the disciples have to do? They had to do more than pray – they had to GO and DO what Jesus said. He gave them a job, and they had to go and do it. Our ‘job’ is to love others, including our enemies.

Everything rests on how much we trust Jesus’ WORD. We show Him we trust Him when we live this life the way He told us to. And when God says to forgive people, it’s not a suggestion, He’s teaching all of us HOW to enter into His Kingdom and LIVE THERE. We can’t just pick and choose what we want to do. In His Kingdom, people don’t hold grudges. Unforgiveness, disobedience and rebellion cannot inherit the kingdom of God. 

Repent, ask Him to show you what you need to DO, and obey, and then leave it with Him. It’s a choice. It is not about giving other people permission to sin, and it is about not letting their sin cause a response in us. If someone in your family of origin, or friends  used to beat the living daylights out of you, or abused you physically, or derided you with words – you probably won’t much feel much like loving them. We can’t afford to act on our feelings. Almighty God is always doing more than one thing at a time. While He is transforming us through our obedient actions, He is also reaching into someone else’s life because our obedient actions release HIS GRACE.

Acting on what the King says ushers in His kingdom. Love can’t make us choose to change. We need to yield to the Lord and act. Let’s choose His Way, and cherish it – it won’t just fall on us. We simply can’t wait for the Lord to do what He has already told US to do. Our faith has to have biblical action. We get a pure heart when we choose to have our old ways renewed, but He won’t make us- it’s our choice. Bye. 👋

P 3354 Let your Friend Jesus, help you.

/ DVH

Getting older has convinced me that I am not as smart as I always thought I was! I like to tell other people nowadays:  “I don’t know … but I have a Best Friend, I’ll ask Him …!!” It is good for us to remember that the Lord Jesus is even more wonderful than we can imagine – the truth is that He is our Saviour, Creator of the World, Redeemer, Healer, Deliverer, Brother, Prince of Peace, Counsellor, Mighty God. He is wonderful – praise Him! But… there’s… more … !!!

Jesus is our Friend Who sticks closer than a brother. He is our ‘heart’ Friend, who will never let us down. The Lord Jesus is a wonderful Person Who dearly loves us and enjoys our company. You know, when Jesus chose His disciples, He was also choosing potential friends, and they were kind of a motley group. I think this detail means that there is already a precedent that makes room for each one of us. No matter how different we seem, we all have a Friend in common. HIM.

There is nothing nicer than belting out a good old hymn. Who could possibly beat Charles Wesley’s hymn, “And can it be …?”  Or another oldie but goodie: “Be thou my vision..?” That one was written in the 6th Century would you believe… by a blind Irish monk. Now there’s a poignant thought. If only we realised how blind WE can be. But when I sing an older hymn like: ”What a Friend we have in Jesus” it reminds me of the beginning of my faith.  Sunday by Sunday, in my old church, our men would belt out these glorious old songs in a rich baritone, or tenor, and the women sang alto, or mezzo soprano. Some of the ladies tried for soprano, but they were awful at it — actually, it was kind of eye-watering… 😂  

But those saints, most of whom have since gone home to glory, taught me about the Lord Jesus as our Friend, in day-to-day situations. It was expected that Jesus was now your forever Friend, so He would go with you everywhere. However, that also meant that if someone had a penchant for the pub – well, we all knew that Jesus wouldn’t go there!  Our theology was pretty rigid! Those people were adorable, even though sometimes … they were not so scripturally sound. They conveniently forgot the religious men of the Lord’s day called the Lord a drunkard.

Now to my point: whether we are wrong or right, Jesus loves us for who we are. He sees past our insecurities, our need to belong, and our past misdeeds and the events that have shaped us so far — He can see the person He made. THAT person was made in His image. So here we all are, each of us is a unique person, but we are a little like those proofs professional photographers have. The proofs are very small, yet they seem to have potential, but the photographer takes his magnifying glass to check out the flaws. The real picture is there it just needs to be brought out. This life is about letting our Friend Jesus cut away stuff we don’t need, and allowing Him to develop every single gift He has for us, in us. 

It is a waste of our time trying to bam ourselves into a better, more popular, and far more appreciated shape, so others will like us. Some things that I thought made me a nuisance, were actually things born in me that needed to be there. I simply couldn’t see the whole picture – I had my own magnifying glass running all over the flaws, and to me, those flaws needed transformation. 

And so I grudgingly entered the do-it-yourself movement. I knew I needed fixing, so I tried to fix myself. I failed. Our new life in Christ doesn’t work that way. Like the lovely, would-be, slightly sharp and off-key sopranos in my old church – I was aiming far too high and hating myself when I got it wrong! I had a whole lot of flaws, which meant when I joined that church those things showed up all over the place! Back then, church was about what I went there to get out of it; then Jesus pointed out to me that church is about Him, and what He gets out of it!  

I got stuck because my needs dictated my view of the church. I thought it was a place where you would be welcome, because we all followed the same Jesus. I did not know that everyone else there had as many flaws as I did! Meanwhile our difficulties actually became extremely apparent when we got together. Other people’s flaws bumped into mine, so to speak  … and nobody was edified! I tried to ask questions, but most people looked at me like I just arrived from Mars, so I stopped asking them. Eventually my need to fit in, overwhelmed my need for authenticity. Here’s a riotous truth — it is so much harder to change the things we won’t acknowledge. Humility helps.

However, our friendship with Jesus helps diagnose where we are missing the mark, especially when we treat His book as if He were speaking to US, and go away and apply what He said. That’s when we step out the boat of sameness (let’s remember that eleven other disciples stayed in that boat!) — and we start using our faith to do whatever He asks us do, out of love for Him and others. That action changes us.

We will get nowhere by comparing ourselves with each other … but when we look steadily at Him, the Lord of all, Who dearly loves us – WE WILL BE CHANGED. Bye. 👋 Let’s look through His cross to see who we are now!

P 3351 People walk away.

/ DVH

Jesus’ disciples walked with Him, talked with Him, questioned Him, and at the same time, He sent them out. They did everything He told them to do, and it blew their minds. Yet Judas remained untouched by what he had seen and heard …“Jesus called His twelve disciples to Him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.” Matthew 10:1, Mark 6:7-13. “So they set out and went from village to village, proclaiming the good news and healing people everywhere.” Luke 9:6.

Then Jesus expanded the ministry group to 72. “The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in Your Name.” The extra 72 disciples found that although they enjoyed ministry and power, there came a time when they found what Jesus said unpalatable – so they left. It happened to Jesus and it can happen to us! People do this. They want to run their own lives with their own plans, and when Jesus doesn’t suit those plans anymore , or they think they know better, they leave. Sadly we can be devastated by their decision to turn away from Him, and us.

John 6:66-67 “From this time many of His disciples turned back and no longer followed Him. “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.” And Peter said in John 6:68-69: “Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.” I think Peter had been touched in his heart, but the 72 who left, had not.

These things can happen to people close to us, and it is startling. They are passionately praising God one minute, and wandering off after strange theories the next. They mutter stuff like: “I tried Christianity and it didn’t work for me.” (Take note of the word ME.) We have had people we dearly love in our own family wander off into lah-lah land. It is extremely distressing. My advice is – please don’t stop praying for them … and keep throwing love, as the Lord leads you … over the fence they’ve constructed around themselves. By throwing love over the fence, I mean only do the sweet things the Holy Spirit tells you to do, and then let go. If you can’t reach them anymore, then you need to trust in God Who is always pursing them, and helping you.

Hubby and I have chosen not to ostracise people we love that have wandered off, and on some occasions we sent food when they had none. Never give money to an addict, BTW. Give them food. And please don’t ever forget the prodigal son! He came home when he came to himself – and that took a while. But his father’s loyalty to him never wavered, he stood at the gate waiting, watching and looking for his lost son. Sometimes people have to see how bad this world is before they will even consider turning around. It is good to pray that the people you know will see through any deception that has attached itself to them. That prodigal turned around and went home, when he remembered his father’s kindness and generosity, even to pigs.

After all —“Not ONE promise from God is empty of power. Nothing is impossible with God!”” Luke 1:37. BTW, don’t write people off, I’ve seen the Lord go to amazing lengths to reach out to wayward people when everyone else least expects it. Just hold fast to what He has already given you. Those promises He made when you and He were deep in prayer together, both of you weeping over this huge loss. Keep your faith in Him and what He will do, moving. Please don’t park your car in grief, just keep walking forward with the Lord. When He brings your loved one back there will be no distance between you. Our part is to keep exercising forgiveness and forbearance, and keep on praying, then leave the results to Him.

It is so easy today for any one of us to believe lies. There are lies all over the place – in the news, in parliament, in advertising, in sport, in the media…  Many people believe what they feel is who they are. Personally, I think we all have no idea who we really are! The Lord made us for a purpose, so Jesus knows who we are! Sometimes who we really are can show up when we are under pressure, please don’t ignore these revelations or excuse yourself, instead pray over them. Nobody likes these thoughts, trust me. In those moments we like to blame circumstances, other people, or pretend stuff is an accident not likely to happen again.

We are fooled if we think of sin like a pool that anyone can dabble their feet in, we simply can’t afford the consequences. Without the Holy Spirit’s power helping us, minute by minute to overcome sin, we are dead in the water. Shark bait! Chum! Let’s remember that Jesus Himself is well acquainted with everyone’s sin. It killed Him. He died to give us power over it and He wants us to have compassion and pity on those who have been dragged under by the worst predator this world can imagine … satan himself.  

When people walk away, our hearts often go with them. I’ve learnt to take mine back, and give it to the Lord instead. Simply because the person I entrusted my heart to, can’t hear Him anymore. I am not, BTW, rejecting them, I am rejecting the way they have chosen to live. Bye. 👋.  “Lord so many of Your children are crying out in secret for those whom they love, who have lost their way. We need Your strength to keep moving forward, and Your compassion and love to comfort and help us, so that we will not falter no matter what others do. Thank You for Your ever present Grace, In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”