Loyal

P 3492 I know life can be difficult…

/ DVH

…it has not been so-wunnerful-at-my-house all the time either! However, Psalm 27:5-6 says: “For in the day of trouble He will keep me safe in His dwelling; He will hide me in the shelter of His sacred tent and set me high upon a rock. Then my head will be exalted above the enemies who surround me; at His sacred tent I will sacrifice with shouts of joy; I will sing and make music to the Lord.”

I wanted to talk about the subject of trials today, because I totally understand how this life can keep anyone — angry/busy/anxious/devastated — one way or another. Verses like the one I put above, are so comforting, but at the time, when any ‘stuff’ is happening, it seems like these things are just words. Sometimes I can barely find my faith! I learnt that we must stop looking for evidence, and start believing Him … simply because what He said is in the book!

I’ve realised that verses like these verses are not just beautiful words, they are lifelines. Something we grab hold of when the room starts whirling around us, and our world goes upside down. We can’t afford to read them and not use our faith. We need to walk around our house, and thank God that He is keeping you safe. Even when it looks like He has forgotten you. I think of things like Psalm 27 or Psalm 91 in difficult times, I have no idea what worse might look like, but I know He is protecting me from worse, and I thank Him. 

Psalm 91 has taught us: ‘I am a spectator, I am hidden in the secret place of the Most High God!!’  The glory of that verse lies in the fact that once you have chosen to hide yourself in Him, all the ‘sound and fury’ stays outside. However, first, you have to actively put aside what you feel, and believe what He said. The bible also says: “weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning.”  Instead of checking on your situation, the things that are often dreadful – hold fast to the fact that if it is in the book, the Lord has preserved it for a purpose. Bit by bit, crawl into the place where He said it, you believe it, and now you are acting on it. 

I think we learn faithfulness by being faithful to Him, especially when we don’t feel like it and it seems like we have no evidence. HE’S GOOD WHETHER WE HAVE PROOF OR NOT. And we choose to believe what He said even when everything around us screams at us — “that is not true, God doesn’t care about you, otherwise He would heal you, set you free, help you, give you strength etc.” Our enemy uses the lack of physical evidence to distract us from Who Jesus is. The lovely things we are promised in His Word, belong to us, and we must use our faith and go after them. Then His peace takes over. 

Let me tell you what I’ve learnt, the very best place to be is:  in trouble, just getting into trouble, or just coming out of it. NO! I am not nuts! Plus, the only PEACE worth having is His peace, and we will have to fight how we feel to get it. We need the practice. We can learn more from our heartaches and failures than we do from anything else. Most people want a comfy, orderly, cosy life, but we are more like to scream out for His help when stuff starts landing on us.

Let’s remember, this life is not all there is. We need total transformation, intensive bible therapy, plus the kind of exercise that comes from doing what He wants and pushing through all the junk and grabbing hold of His goodness. If you are in a hole and you can’t get out, please remember Psalm 27, and Psalm 91. They are not impossible dreams, they are a reality you can cling to when everything is upside down. God’s peace is not in the absence of trouble – but His Presence is still IN US in the middle of it.

We all need to do this particularly if it feels like somebody accidentally shoved you into an armed forces firing range, and you can barely raise your head, because you keep hearing: “Incoming!!” The Lord is still there with you, and He has you sheltered under His wings. Even if you were to tell Him in anguish, “Make it stop, I can’t take anymore.” HE won’t go anywhere! His commitment to us is firm. He’s the Shepherd that goes after that sheep that got lost, or was chased by a wolf! God does things His way, and His idea of what we can do or take, can be very different from ours. We can underestimate our capacity to endure when we are under pressure.

Exhibit A! “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.” 1 Peter 4:13. So, why are we often surprised when bad things happen? Yeah! I wish that wasn’t in there either. When we believe what He said, despite the awful evidence all around us, we  will begin to walk in faith … Our God is more loyal, more faithful, more good and kind that we can imagine – and moaning and groaning will not help us get free. Stand firm and hold onto His goodness.

We can rejoice in our sufferings because they teach us we can’t do a darn thing without Him!! … Life is difficult, but life without Jesus is impossible. Where would we go, without the love He freely gives us, when it is so undeserved? I urge you to do more than agree with the bible, stake your life on it. Bye 👋.

P 3469 What a Saviour!    

/ DVH

“In many separate revelations [each of which set forth a portion of the Truth] and in different ways God spoke of old to [our] forefathers in and by the prophets, [But] in the last of these days He has spoken to us in [the person of a] Son, Whom He appointed Heir and lawful Owner of all things, also by and through Whom He created the worlds and the reaches of space and the ages of time [He made, produced, built, operated, and arranged them in order]. He (Jesus) is the sole expression of the glory of God [the Light-being, the out-raying or radiance of the divine], and He is the perfect imprint and very image of [God’s] nature, upholding and maintaining and guiding and propelling the universe by His mighty word of power. When He had by offering Himself accomplished our cleansing of sins and riddance of guilt, He sat down at the right hand of the divine Majesty on high, …” Hebrews 1:1-3. Amplified Bible.  “For the rule and authority over all things has been given to Christ by His Father; except, of course, Christ does not rule over the Father Himself, Who gave Him this power to rule.” 1 Corinthians 15:27. 

Like I’ve said many times before, God’s ways are not our ways. The Lord has been revealing Himself constantly for over 2,000 years, through His various servants, but now, on our side of Jesus’ history … He has chosen to reveal Himself through His own dear Son, Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus came here and showed us what was in our Father’s heart toward mankind. So when we see Christ being kind to sinners, that’s God Himself doing it through His Son. That’s Almighty God healing the sick, delivering people from evil … He’s doing it, in Person.

The bible says something so extraordinary in these verses. Jesus Christ Himself ‘is the sole expression of the glory of God [the Light-being, the out-raying or radiance of the divine], and He is the perfect imprint and very image of [God’s] nature, upholding and maintaining and guiding and propelling the universe by His mighty word of power.’ Here’s my translation of all those words, if we want to know what Almighty God is like then look at His Son … Jesus came here to show us what our Father is like. The Holy Spirit’s power guided Him, sustained Him, held Him up, and Jesus is now our example.

God’s Word is so powerful it makes sure the earth doesn’t bump into anything, as we rotate our way through the days, years and seasons. Almighty God loves this planet, and the people in it – He called all of it good. You know, if God had fingerprints, they would be the same as Jesus’ fingerprints, They are so close to each other. We don’t understand Oneness, we think it’s just about agreeing. Actually, it is hearts blended and beating together so completely they have exactly the same purpose. That purpose is for our benefit. We need to get some of this kind of thinking out of our heads, and into our hearts. We are so loved – all that He did for us shows us that.

If we really understood the things we say we believe, inside, where it counts, we would ACT differently. Nobody would have to tell us what is good and bad, because the same Spirit that was in Jesus, would be guiding us from the inside. We definitely don’t want the Holy Spirit to quietly leave … if He leaves us it will be devastating. We will be left to our own devices … and that is not good! Let’s stop pretending to be what we’ve already been given and live this life differently because of what Jesus did. He did these things before we were born!

The same God Who sent Jesus here to help us, is now IN us. We give Him our lives and He is now the occupying Owner. We have been freely given the power to choose  —  so let’s choose to do whatever He asks us to do, simply because our relationship with Him is so valuable we can’t bear to walk away from, or without Him. That’s passion. Our constant prayer now, is for the Lord to stay with us and help us to walk in total fellowship with Him. I pray I will never be too busy to care about what Jesus thinks, because He is all I want to think about!

Jesus didn’t forget one thing that was necessary to reconcile us with God. He did it ALL – and all means all! His eyes are on you and I even in these times, wherever we are, despite all the ruckus going on around us. He is loyal to mankind. But the question is … are we loyal to Him? Father God is not distant, or far away from us. He deliberately came here, as a man, and lived the same kind of life we are living, so we can have SomeOne we can see, and follow.

People follow Marvel/DC comics and their movies with far less incentive! They also follow pop groups, sporting heroes, and music stars — and some of those people have such filth coming out of their mouths their momma should have washed their mouths out with soap … many, MANY times! Jesus told us: “By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles?” Don’t be surprised if you choose to eat bad fruit and end up with a tummy ache! These people are blind guides …trying to sell us something. We can end up in ditch.

“But we are certainly not those who are held back by fear and perish; we are among those who have faith and experience true life!” (Right here, right now!) Hebrews 10:39 TPT. How can that be? He did the work for us, purely for LOVE.  Love Himself will lead us into the Ways of Love! There is no room for fear anymore, even if we step out of love – we can repent and go right back in again – because His sacrifice has made our new life possible. What a Saviour! Bye. 👋.

P3452 Oh Hallelujah!

/ DVH

“Yahweh’s tender mercies have no end, and the kindness of His endless love is never exhausted. New, fresh mercies greet me with every sunrise. So wonderfully great is Your faithfulness! I tell my soul, “Yahweh is my abundant portion. I need nothing more. So, I will put all my hope in Him.”” Lamentations 3:22-24.

Before I met Jesus personally, if I did meet a Christian during my early years, it did not register with me. The church I eventually ended up spending most of my time in, said stuff that scared me to death. Jesus was coming for me and I was going to get what I deserved and it wasn’t ever going to be good, because everything about me was wrong. The saying –  ‘God loves people,’ was always accompanied by a “but!”

So for all of my childhood, and even until I was a young adult with 2 little kids, the huge human dilemma of sin and what to do with it, held me tightly in its grasp. I knew I was wrong, after all people queued up to tell me so! But I couldn’t seem to do anything about who I was – I had no power to change. I wanted to, but I didn’t know how, and any efforts I made, seemed to make things worse.

Then one day, staring at my clothes line — I met Jesus.  Actually, the truth is, He met me. I was found by the One Who makes my soul sing, and He isn’t scary, not even a teeny weeny bit. He is exactly like Lamentations says — gracious, faithful beyond our imaginings, inexhaustible in His love for us, and His mercy just keeps on rolling over us like those endless waves that relentlessly crash upon the sand. His grace and mercy never ever stops. Hallelujah! 

If someone has taught you to follow a version of Jesus Christ Who is angry with you, hates you, and is never ever going to approve of you, then….Throw. It. Out. He hates sin, because He’s holy and we are not. Our sin prevents  Him from being with us… but He truly loves people. So He chose to become our sin, for our sake. Hell was not made for people, it was made for the devil and his cohorts. Our Saviour deliberately stayed upon that cross until the whole work of buying us back was FINISHED. He gave His life to save all of us, by allowing this world’s filth to fall on Him, so we could freely come to God unafraid of what we’d meet.  

Almighty God doesn’t hate people either – He wants us to live inside His never-ending love, starting now. Nurturing anything God Himself calls sin will eventually drag us away from Him. And telling ourselves “He will understand. I can’t help it” is deception. I’ve heard some people say, ‘I was born this way.’ Me too! We were all born sinners. We all need to turn away from the very things that will choke the life of God out of us. The book tells us what He does and doesn’t like. It’s our choice, but it isn’t an informed choice if nobody tells you the truth.

This is how much Almighty God loves people! He sent His Precious Son to save all of us. God became a Man and paid our debt Himself. He silently stood there and took those awful beatings and allowed them to inflict that excruciating crucifixion of His body, for our sake — without one word of self-defence. Jesus literally pushed you and I out of the way as our enemy, eternal death was coming for us, and said to it: Take Me. Beat Me. Kill Me – instead! And He stayed there in that hard place of denying Himself an escape – until it killed Him. 

Hallelujah! He didn’t stay dead. He came out of the grave they put Him in, and proved He is God. He also proved there is life after death. Read the bible. Start with the Gospels and see how He treats ordinary people like you and I. Especially when we’ve messed up our lives and can’t find a way out. And run far, far away from the people who use Christ and His Words as a stick to beat you up. Jesus Christ proved that real LOVE, the God-kind of LOVE, delivered  people from their sin by being punished for us. He will help us ALL to change, if we let Him.

When I met Jesus, I learnt what faithfulness really means. There is no ‘but,’ or ‘if,’ or any other kind of ‘opt out clauses’ in Who Jesus is. There is no uncertainty about Him being called faithful. “The true meaning of faithful is being steadfast, loyal and completely true to a person, promise or standard.” The Jesus other people told me about before I met Him, was not like that. Now I know that religion, even when it is well-meaning, seeks to control people …TO PREVENT SIN. The truth, the way Jesus Christ taught it, sets us free … we don’t have to sin anymore. God provided us with a way out … and it’s free … 

… but it will cost us everything we think we can’t live without, here and now. Father God gave us everything He had that was precious and incredibly dear to His heart. And now, He asks us to choose to step away from the things we think we can’t live without, and start living our lives the way He taught us to live them, in His book. Sin is like a spider’s web, once you are trapped in it, it is incredibly difficult to get out – but Jesus knows the way out. One of our enemy’s most dastardly ploys is to convince us that we can’t help doing what we do, we were born this way. That is a twisted version of the truth. 

Jesus knows how hard it is to be human and He is compassion personified. I still can’t overcome sin on my own. I need His help daily, minute by minute. The Lord Jesus came here to help us. Can anyone say “Amen and Hallelujah” to that? Me too. Bye for now. 👋.

“For the perfect Light of Truth was coming into the world and shine upon everyone. He entered into the world He created, yet the world was unaware. He came to the people He created — to those who should have received Him, but they did not recognize Him. But those who embraced Him and took hold of His name He gave authority to become the children of God!” John 1:9-12. 

P 3367 The Bride Jesus deserves.

/ DVH

One day, we are going to the greatest wedding of all eternity.. We will marry Jesus and be His Beloved Bride forever. This time here on earth is our preparation time for that wedding. Everything has already been prepared in heaven, on the Groom’s side. The Groom is waiting. However, it is up to His Bride to accept all the provisions and alterations that have been provided for her. The Holy Spirit is the One Who is in charge of Jesus’ Bride’s preparations. 

Just recently I’ve noticed that there is an ongoing trend everywhere in our world. There is an attitude that minimises people’s obligations to carry out what they say they will do. We’ve stopped being a people of our word. Excuses are made. When we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, we entered into a relationship, an engagement with the Lord our King, and Bridegroom. It is part of the marriage covenant to allow ourselves to be made ready for this incredible honour.

In today’s current climate I have been puzzled about what seems to be someone’s intentions, and what they— in real time, in real life —actually carried out. There seems to be no difference between INTENTIONS and ACTIONS in some people’s minds. In my opinion, those kinds of attitudes lead to confusion and sometimes even self-deceit. Self-deception occurs when we think saying something sincerely, and doing it, are the same thing. Because we owe Jesus everything – everything is what He should get!

Actions are about someone following through on the choices they’ve made, until the things that have been accepted by both parties are finished, and concluded. But intentions are  based on a person’s communicated desires and thoughts – however they don’t necessarily have to be translated into actions.The general feeling about this concept today, is that intending to do something is the same as carrying it out. IT’S NOT!

Almighty God has always held mankind to our word. He gave us His word and He carried it out. His gracious treatment of humanity is our example of promises given and fulfilled. Jesus’ Bride has a responsibility to be the kind of people who follow through on their promises. What we say at the altar needs to be followed up!  When we don’t, then we need to take the time to confess those things as sin, repent, (which means turn around and go the other way), and allow the Holy Spirit to help us keep our word. 

Father God understands, first hand, (His Son came here!) that because we are human, we can have oppressing circumstances. But the best response if we truly want to be transformed, is to go back to Him and talk to Him about it, not just excuse ourselves. Looking for permission to avoid responsibility, or to cover up things and pretend that they don’t exist, will compromise the very essence of our privileged relationship with the Trinity. 

Jesus paid for our sins, it was a gift, freely given. That means any presumption is offensive in the face of that gift. Gratitude and obedience are the right responses. Jesus won’t hold our sins against us, He has already provided a way for us to deal with our sins and missteps. But that way is not avoidance. Many people have indicated to me about obedience: “I can’t do that.” I cannot agree with that premise. The Lord Himself has provided a way to help us obey, at great personal cost to Himself. The Holy Spirit is here! Obviously we can change – we are simply using our feelings and habits to hide from reality.

The bible is the only way we can actively learn about what our Bridegroom expects from us. Yet we cannot do HIS WILL, His way… without HIS help. We need to learn how to behave like a royal, loyal Bride would. We must determine in our hearts to be steadfast toward our Husband-to-be and grateful for His goodness toward us, above our own negative feelings or fears. I am aware that living like that cuts across our desire for self preservation, and the appearance of looking good to others. Our Groom knows about that! He was innocent and He allowed mankind to punish Him …  yet He said not a word.

My scripture today is not one that is spoken about a lot, so I will leave you to draw your own conclusions about your  responses – just as I need to assess my own. As I have intimated before: I believe the Bride needs to stop cherry-picking scriptures that suit her and read the bible seriously, reflectively, with humility, and then go on to discontinue any course that says””I intend to… one day, when I’m ready.” Instead she must be committed to carry out anything and everything that will facilitate her new role as His Beloved Bride. Humility is our bridal shawl, now we wrap ourselves in everything He did for us.

“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” Luke 18:10-14.

After all Jesus has done for us, don’t you think He deserves a Bride Who will humbly submit to the Holy Spirit’s ministry and preparations with great joy? Let’s be a Bride Who embraces everything the Lord Jesus Himself deserves from us. Bye. 👋

P 3286 Cling to Him

/ DVH

Jeremiah 9:23: “This is what the Lord says:“Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know Me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the Lord.” V25-26: “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh— Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab and all who live in the wilderness in distant places. For all these nations are really uncircumcised, and even the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.”

This is the Lord’s pronouncement over Israel, He is throughly sick and tired of these people who say ‘yes’ but do ‘no.’  He makes it perfectly clear that being rich, popular, strong, and wise in this world’s ways, is not for His kids. What He is looking for is a people who know Him, and know His ways, and love Him so much they will follow Him wherever He goes.  And because of those deliberate choices then His ways will show up in every attitude and action they take. First of all let’s look at what delights God and what is His benchmark, because the Holy Spirit very kindly gave us a list!

He loves kindness, righteousness and justice. He operates from those things. It will never be enough to read the words and nod and smile, or even wipe away a tear. Crying is easy, changing is not! However, whenever  God speaks, He is telling us about Himself and we need to listen to Him. The Jewish people were not wrong in their desire to please Him but pleasing quickly turned into placating. They carefully implemented 613 laws to make sure everyone did what He wanted – and woe betide any Wally that tried to do anything else! They were punished by the religious. These dear people put Almighty God into a box of His own design. The glorious box He called Mercy and Grace, they misused the Mercy Seat and then they walked away from personally knowing Him. The Mercy Seat is a place of meeting, not just dropping off your sins like a dry cleaner! The thing that is heartbreaking is, He is so easy to know. He told us what He likes and doesn’t like. 

 
Where His chosen people missed what He was saying, was that they legislated something that was meant to flow out of willing obedience, compassion and a desire to honour Him. He wanted the Jewish people to love His Ways —not just salute the flag and run back into their old habits. Only to front up at Yom Kippur and pay the set price for their disobedience, lack of loyalty etc… once a year!  He is saying that lovingly, and willingly honouring His ways is the way we love Him. “But He’s already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women. It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbour, be compassionate and loyal in your love, And don’t take yourself too seriously— take God seriously.” Micah 6:8.  

You might want to pause and think on that.  Almighty God isn’t just looking for a transitory relationship— a sometimes on, sometimes off again, depending on their mood — a girlfriend. He wants a pure and holy wife for His Son! Father God is a parent. He wants someone worthy of His Son Jesus, and all Jesus has done for us — to be His Son’s precious Bride. Someone who is willing to have the Lord cut away everything that has taken up residence in our hearts that can defile us. Sadly, sometimes those things also define us – yet we are proud of them. His people back then were circumcised to show to the world around them that they were His children, but their hearts remained unaltered. The question I want to ask today is this: has our heart, life and attitude been altered by following the Lord Jesus? Or do we settle for the outward appearance of being ‘church people’ without any inner conviction and subsequent changes to our lives.

 
Do you want to truly delight God? Then let Him circumcise your heart. Not just fill you up with more information, more rules, or sadly, even more failure. Instead, surrender your whole life to Him, like Jesus surrendered His whole life for you – willingly, joyfully, devotedly. Falling in love cannot ever be a set of rules, it is a process of choosing to get to know each other, enjoying the other person’s ways. The Lord Jesus is totally acquainted with each one of us, who we really are. He already knows every single thing there is to know about us — and yet He picked us anyway! Amazing. Next time you sing: “Amazing Love, how can it be?” Please remember that. Gratitude is our only response. 

When we meditate and act on His words, HE becomes our focus. This is a lovely side-effect of loving the Lord that will improve our view of His kingdom, this world, and other people. We will lose all of our judgment and gain compassion in this process. But at the same time we cannot circumcise ourselves. That’s why we have the New Testament, to explain to us that He has, in fact, already done that. Praise God that He knows exactly the right time and place to put His loving finger on something that is holding us captive to our old way of thinking. The Holy Spirit longs to help us as we cling to Him and get to know His Ways. Bye. 👋

P 3244 Father God is for us!

/ DVH

Isaiah 64:4,5a AMP. “For from days of old no one has heard, nor has ear perceived, Nor has the eye seen a God besides You, Who works and acts in behalf of the one who [gladly] waits for Him. You meet him who rejoices in doing that which is morally right, Who remembers You in Your ways.”

Our Heavenly Father, clearly wants us to know His will – that’s why He gave us a book! In this book the Lord has put so many incredible testimonies of His activities – plus His interactions with very different people. We have a record of His people’s glorious victories, plus their ignominious defeats. Some people burst across the sky like a shooting star, others fizzled out like dying fireworks. At the same time we have a clear and comprehensive record of what Jesus is like, and what He valued most – His Father’s Presence and His Father’s will.

The part of this scripture I want to accentuate today is the bit that says: …”a God like You Who works for those who wait for Him.”  In every other world religion human beings have to do the work to achieve some sort of spirituality. But our God works for us, as we wait for Him… Let’s pause and reflect about that…the God of the Universe also waits for us to choose Him.. We can now see how important waiting is! Jesus has already done all the work for us – however, that does not mean we can coast along blowing smoke rings, drinking like a fish and doing whatever we like! Faith isn’t presumption, it is a deliberate interaction between a Holy God and His people. He has earned the right to tell us what to do – but He won’t make us. 

The bible tells us that the Jewish people waited several centuries for their Messiah — they were longing for Him to come, because He was the One prophesied Who would set all things right for them. But when Jesus came they didn’t recognise Him! His words and miracles caused a stir, but His only recognisable parade consisted of Him, sitting on a donkey. Perhaps the Israelites expected grandeur and excitement — but the Lord arrived without pomp or ceremony and He left the same way. That thought ought to teach us something about Almighty God. He is not averse to doing things in secret.… a-n-d … ya might want to think about that!

The church today desperately needs eyes to see Him, or we can totally miss whatever He is doing. Our fallibility to distraction is legendary! Only people with active faith, who are looking, waiting, and wanting Him, will notice whatever He does. Here’s a little bit of advice … be very wary of anyone who tells you they know what’s coming next. The bible tells us that no-one knows the time or the hour of things like the Second Coming. The first time around, Jesus came and went and many people did not even identify Him. Like I said, our God is great at keeping things secret! 

Back in His time, ordinary people saw those miracles, they probably even ate the multiplied bread and fish … but what happened did not touch their hearts. We have to leave our hearts open to hear from Him – continually hitting the refresh button, even when it comes to reading the bible. One of Jesus’ twelve disciples did not appear to understand His ministry and purpose, despite the fact that this man walked around with Him for over three years! Our biggest danger as Christians is that we read in the bible about what He wants us to do, but then we go out and continue to live our lives thinking we can postpone our response, without applying these truths to ourselves! That is not how you get to know Him.

Our God loves loyal people, and at the same time, He cherishes each personal relationship with every one of us. It isn’t about praying at Him – it is about enjoying the time we spend with Him. Awareness of His goodness needs to be present with us in the everyday hustle and bustle we face. As we honour His wishes, by living the Way He has asked us to live, we will keep His Presence before our eyes. Everyday life gets bigger when we choose to make Him a part of it! Even the fact that the Lord has given us a choice in these things, is such an incredible privilege. Think about it. He made us, He quite obviously could have used force, yet He didn’t. Instead, He woos us with His loving kindness. Our choices reflect how much we take Him seriously as our Lord and Saviour.

Other so-called gods threaten people or lull them into a false sense of security. They appeal to physicality, or mental gymnastics – concepts and words that seem to have truth in them, manageable stuff!  But God’s truth always leaves me astonished. His way of looking at other people goes right round my brain! Some of the things that are done in the name of other gods are meaningless, even brutal, or vicious, self-serving and demanding. Eventually those things impinge upon the person’s freedom, not to mention scaring people half to death with their reprisal threats!  Father God cherishes our freedom to choose – He respects our choices even when they are not good for us. 

Let’s live like this: “And so, dear brothers and sisters, you are now made holy, and each of you is invited to the feast of your heavenly calling. So fasten your thoughts fully onto Jesus, Whom we embrace as our Apostle and King-Priest.” Hebrews 3:1 TPT. Our God is not like any other – our Heavenly Father is for us. What other god would die in place of His followers so they can have the freedom to choose Him …or not? Bye. 👋

P 3097 How to live.

/ DVH

“But He’s already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women. It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbour, be compassionate and loyal in your love, And don’t take yourself too seriously— take God seriously.” Micah 6:8 MSG. 

I just love that this verse says don’t take yourself too seriously. In my life as I follow His instructions and learn to live by them, I’ve discovered accidental times of sheer bliss. It is as if heaven comes down in a little bubble of joy and hubby and I and the Lord are right in the middle of it. He’s laughing and we’re laughing – and we have no clue why we are laughing … we just are! And it feels so good! Eventually you end up wondering why you were worried, harassed or upset in the first place. That’s the place to stop wondering why, and just enjoy the moment! You and I ain’t getting out of this life alive!

Here’s an interesting thought that might help with that. We cannot spend the life we now have, trying to punish any previous generations for the mistakes they made. This life is not meant to be lived retrospectively – it’s too short. I’ve also learnt that deliberately avoiding someone else’s mistakes means I’m just going to make different ones! And I did! Groan!! Judgment always leads to a worse place than we started at.

Hubby and I have just returned home after a little time away in a peaceful place. I’m always glad to get home again, but boy I will miss the view. (See above.) We met a new group of tiny friends here. A small flock of sparrows appeared on our balcony. The bible says that the Lord feeds birds! I distinctly remember that God once fed His little birds my homegrown, much anticipated raspberries. I was pretty ticked off about it too! I didn’t even get ONE! Yes, I repented!

Back to our sparrow visitors. These dear little birds kept arriving early in the morning, and peering hopefully through the big glass window. I’m a sucker for any bird that sits on the back of a chair and sings its heart out! Meanwhile, those little birds really know how to eat, they sure can sock it away. The way they ate you would think they were emus!

OK – it seems it is time to be spiritual! Did you get that instruction in the above scripture? Right at the end, it says: ‘don’t take yourself too seriously, take God seriously instead!’ That’s the whole point of course. That’s why we are all still here, we are here to learn to take the things of the Spirit, seriously. Here’s a question I don’t much like to ask myself, but it has been helpful because it diagnoses my own attitudes rather quickly. What if you were the only person left in circle of family and friends who knows Jesus? Is your life a witness? Yeah, I know. Bring that up!

Meanwhile, we don’t just witness by what we say – we also witness by WHO we are – especially when people are looking, and …even when they aren’t. However, somebody, it seems, is always looking – I’ve learnt that the hard way. Living this life, the only one we have, for His sake, is part of taking Almighty God seriously. The same God Who heals the sick and raises the dead, makes the deaf hear and the blind see – is living inside you. Our job is to let Him out for the world to see. That’s what Paul did.

Paul often ended up in nine kinds of trouble because nobody could shut him up! Everywhere he went he found a public place and started telling people about Jesus. He told governors, kings, religious people, important people, business people, ordinary people, and some listened and some didn’t. Some hauled him off to jail, and he took that in his stride and witnessed to the guards instead!  Paul didn’t wait for revivals – he started them!

The thing that Paul’s life clearly shows me is that half-hearted won’t do. Whatever the Lord has in His plans for each one of us  – we need to make sure we listen, stay humble, and simply go and do it.  Paul was so brilliant, he could do more than one thing at a time. He witnessed, preached, founded churches, and wrote a huge chunk of the New Testament. But all of the Lord’s disciples, with the exception of Judas, gave up the rest of their lives serving God. 

It seems to me that we can sit about waiting for the Holy Spirit to do what He has already done, many many times before in the church’s history – or we can take God Himself seriously and get on with His kingdom’s business. We still have the book and that’s plenty to go on with! I would hate to think that we will spend our whole lives knowing we are saved, yet ignoring the many who are not. What Micah is talking about here is our attitudes – our attitudes are meant to lead to actions. 

We were saved to serve Him. Look! I’m truly sorry if nobody told you that you were actually giving your life away when you first said ‘yes’ to Jesus — but I just did that, right here, right now. So what are you going to do about it? That’s the real issue. How to live this life now, is all over His book. Bye. 🤪 !

P 3047 Let this sink in.

/ DVH

“Yahweh is my best Friend and my Shepherd. I always have more than enough. He offers a resting place for me in His luxurious love. His tracks take me to an oasis of peace near the quiet brook of bliss. That’s where He restores and revives my life. He opens before me the right path and leads me along in His footsteps of righteousness so that I can bring honour to His Name. 

Even when Your path takes me through the valley of deepest darkness, fear will never conquer me, for you already have! Your authority is my strength and my peace. The comfort of Your love takes away my fear. I’ll never be lonely, for You are near. You become my delicious feast even when my enemies dare to fight. 

You anoint me with the fragrance of Your Holy Spirit; You give me all I can drink of You until my cup overflows. So why would I fear the future? Only goodness and tender love pursue me all the days of my life. Then afterward, when my life is through, I’ll return to Your glorious presence to be forever with You!” Psalms 23:1-6 TPT. 

Here’s a thought — how about you sit yourself down with a big mug of tea or coffee and let this beautiful Psalm soak into the places in your heart and mind where you feel exhausted, beaten up, or maybe, not good enough! Our place of rest is always in His love. Like the needle on a compass always points to north, our hearts need to return to HE LOVES ME. Do that. Sit there, breathe, and say to yourself slowly:: ‘Jesus You love me.’ Don’t get sidetracked into what you have or have not done right recently. Start with Him loving YOU – and then, thank Him for it. 

The God of the Universe knows our names. He calls each one of us by name. I have relatives who probably can’t remember who I am – but Almighty God knows me, inside and out! Why? He chose too! If that doesn’t make you want to jump up and down — then take a breath and stop and think about it. Our God is a personal, engaged Father, Who is never too busy for His kids – He knows exactly where we are and what is happening to us.

On we go…There is no place in this Psalm that talks about Jesus bopping me on the head because I’ve been a disobedient sheep. Yes, He has a rod and a staff – but He has that to thump anything that comes at me trying to destroy me. That’s what our Saviour is like! Loving, loyal and … there for us. There are times I can almost hear the Holy Spirit cheering away when I am wrangling with some situation or other, and He’s calling out: “That’s it, you’ll get there … keep going!” That’s what ‘for me’ means to me – He is on my side, cheering me on.. 

Just recently I mentioned that my nearly 98 year old mother is dying. Hubby read this Psalm to her the other day. Why? Because everybody needs to know that God is not mad at them. They need to know that He loves them dearly – all the time, that’s why. We are aiming at passing on His love to her, while she is launching her tiny little broken ship off into the incredible deep waters of HIS ENDLESS LOVE. I want her to see that His love is so deep, so wide, and far, far greater than any other love a human being ever hoped for or imagined. 

There are people who might become afraid of the part of the Psalm that reminds us that we will walk through a dark valley. But the best place to focus our thoughts is on the fact that He is there with us. Instead of bursting your boiler fighting fear – concentrate on the truth! In order to fully understand any lie we are believing — we need to study the truth, not the lie. You might like to think on that …

Being loved so faithfully by SomeOne so amazing needs to be our specific focus. When we live this way, the whole bible truly becomes Good News, not just a book filled with instructions. People need good news! “God is not mad at humanity, SomeBody Else took the punishment for all of us” — that truth is far more than just good news. It is FANTASTIC NEWS … especially when this life keeps pushing and poking at us.

If you or I were in a car that has spun out of control, the best news we could ever have is that the person driving the car is an expert. The Person Who is helping us with this life is our Resident Expert! Don’t send Him away because you think you want to choose some dumb temporal thing that won’t matter in the light of eternity. Instead, call out for help.

Our Shepherd is with us to comfort and help us. His rod and staff whacks our enemies but those weapons comfort us. Jesus looks after His sheep. He stands between us and our enemies, joyfully, willingly – every second of every minute, of every single day of our lives.

We don’t actually belong in this world anymore, because we’ve been born into another kingdom. We belong to Him, and He will come to get each one of us when this life is over. I want to leave you with this last scripture: “Let your character [your moral essence, your inner nature] be free from the love of money [shun greed—be financially ethical], being content with what you have; for He has said, “I will never [under any circumstances] desert you [nor give you up nor leave you without support, nor will I in any degree leave you helpless], nor will I forsake or let you down or relax My hold on you [assuredly not]!” Hebrews 13:5.

Our God does not lie —the Lord Jesus IS my Shepherd, every single day. Let this sink in – as He was with Moses and Joshua and Abraham – so He is with us. Bye. 🐑 Baa!

P 2965 We owe Him our choices.

/ DVH

I want to be perfectly clear today. The Lord Jesus was tormented about the cross – even though He knew it was His Father’s will for His life and it would benefit mankind – He had to make a hard choice. He prayed for hours that the cup that He knew He would have to drink on our behalf, would be taken from Him. And at the same time, He shed blood thinking about the ramifications of what He was about to do! He became sin, for us.

Let’s just try to imagine what it would be like if every single one of your motivations were pure, right, and just — and you were living to benefit others, but you had to live amongst men and women who had embraced a strict religious regime. Love is the only vehicle that will reach them. They are locked into systems that cause them to strive and worry and lie. Yet Jesus knew His Father’s aim and the ongoing love story between God and mankind. He knew His Father’s heart toward us. So He chose to come here, He chose to live here, and He chose to die, here.

Now He is asking you and I to do the same thing, to make hard choices and choose His Father’s Ways over our own. So the next time the Lord says to us;  ‘forgive this or that person’ we need to remember that He is not doing that from an uninformed, inexperienced place. HE KNOWS the cost of forgiveness because He paid it all. That’s why He sent us the very best HELPER — the Precious Holy Spirit. 

Jesus could never be called ill-informed, or uncaring about mankind’s daily difficulties. That’s why the Heavenly Father sent Him here, to us, in an unheard-of tiny village, as an infant. Oh how I wish we would study the Lord’s attitude toward sinners more — He was a Friend to sinners. He loved to restore people, body, soul and spirit. Right now there are people in your life who keep saying spiritual things you would rather not hear … they keep saying this stuff because they ARE your friends.They have learnt there is better way to live. Jesus Christ hated religion, not people. 

Religion robs people of their God-given birthright to be God’s Sons and Daughters. The Lord Jesus was lovingly, passionately loyal to His Father, and He knew His Heavenly Father was being misrepresented by a system that burdened people. “The Lord does not delay and is not tardy or slow about what He promises, according to some people’s conception of slowness, but He is long-suffering (extraordinarily patient) toward you, NOT DESIRING THAT ANY should perish, but that all should turn to repentance.”2 Peter 3:9. Amazingly, Almighty God can do something we can barely understand  – He can love the sinner and hate the sin.

Unfortunately, if we choose to live in satan’s camp from day to day, indulging our own selfishness, then the other guy has a legal right to push us around. But fortunately!! … We have the best Saviour, and the most informed, pure and brilliant Lawyer/Advocate that there ever was, to represent each of us before God Himself. Jesus Christ is God’s righteousness personified. He is our example. We also have examples of the way our God deals with all kinds of people in the bible. The Old Testament is not just a group of stories about how other people who lived long long ago — we need to watch how God Himself perseveres and is long-suffering toward them. He is not a God Who stands a long way off – He came here in Person to reveal His heart to us!

This is why our day-to-day choices matter. The Holy Spirit Himself wants to walk you and I through each part of our personal transformation, daily, until we shine with the light of God saturating our very beings. From the inside out! We must stop thinking of choices as something that are meant to appeal to us … and understand that as each choice is made … we will die a little. That’s the aim! This is why the Apostle Paul said: “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” Philippians 1:21. And he also said …”I assure you, believers, by the pride which I have in you in [your union with] Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily [I face death and die to self].”

Jesus is not asking us to do something He did not do Himself. He is asking us to follow Him through the land of many choices into the solitary possibility of ONE CHOICE…. HIM. He’s looking for passionate dedication to His mission from His followers.Yes, He saved us, once and for all, but He saved us to serve Him, and serve others. I write this blog to exhort you and encourage you to remember that God is always on your side. In His heart He wants the very best for you. He wants to help you and I into the kind of transformation of character and spirit that we can only dream about.

This is why Jesus sent the Holy Spirit back here to help us. He’s here, right now, with us, to help us make the kind of choices that will prosper our life spiritually. Instead, we are going to be made rich in the things that LAST. Forget physical prosperity … that stuff has to be protected and fought for … what the Holy Spirit gives us, He gives us for free. It’s free because we didn’t earn it or deserve it.  Because of what He did for us, we owe Him our choices. Bye. 👋

P 2856 Ruth.

/ DVH

Yesterday, I realised something about the book of Ruth that I had not seen before…. Ruth’s loyalty to Naomi is worth looking into. “But Ruth answered, “Don’t ask me to leave you! Let Me go with you. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be My people, and your God will be my God. Wherever you die, I will die, and that is where I will be buried. May the Lord’s worst punishment come upon me if I let anything but death separate me from you!” Ruth 1:16-17. 

Ruth is talking to her husband’s mother, and just look at her loyalty …it prevails to the death! …She is handing over her own life for… wait for it … her mother-in-law!  Ruth and Orpah’s loyalty was a highlight of their relationship with their husbands’ mother. After all the younger two women  were from another ethnic group – the Moabites. God loves loyalty, because He is loyal! I just want to add something interesting I discovered when I went looking for pictures of loyalty – practically all the pictures I found were of people with their dogs! What does that say about humanity eh?

Back to these two young women, who had travelled with their husbands, their father-in-law and mother-in-law to another place, then … after all the men died, they followed their mother-in-law back toward her homeland. Ruth refused to leave Naomi. We need to take note of the depth of her loyalty. Almighty God is loyal to US in an even deeper way than Ruth was to Naomi!

He has always been that way, every single thing He has ever done was for mankind’s benefit. He did these things at a horrendous personal cost. Let’s face it, after all the years of disobedience and heartache from the people the Lord called His own – He could have started all over again, with a new group of people! But He didn’t. He didn’t because He promised He wouldn’t!  And we have a rainbow to remind us.

The Lord gave His Word that the Israelites would be His people and He would be their God. Then, in the fullness of time, that Word from God which had been handed down from one generation to another, gave these people access to God Himself, through Christ. God’s Living Word. Jesus Christ manifested Himself in the flesh and came and lived among them. Meanwhile, Jesus’ great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, grandmother was Ruth! 

God promises in His word to visit His favour upon His people to a thousand generations. For all you and I know – we could be the great great great great great etc.etc. grandchildren of His promise too! Some of us may be from Ruth and Boaz’s line. What do they say nowadays? 6 degrees of separation between each of us and there’s a rumour that that has shrunk to 5 degrees, because of social media. Excuse me while I roll my eyes!!

So listen to what He says to YOU personally today, displaying His loyalty: 

“Let your character or moral disposition be free from love of money [including greed, avarice, lust, and craving for earthly possessions] and be satisfied with your present [circumstances and with what you have]; for He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!]” Now that doesn’t sound like the Lord plans on deserting ANY of us does it?

And BTW, for those of you who have legal minds and would like to check that out in the book … that verse is in Hebrews 13:5 in the Amplified Version and it appears in another form in Deuteronomy 31:8;  and in Jeremiah 31:3. The Lord’s loyalty to us is not just solid, it is eternal. Now that’s true loyalty. Let’s be loyal to Him the way He is loyal to us!! Bye 👋.