Maker

P 3397 God is our place of safety and shelter.

/ DVH

“Keep me safe, O mighty God. I run to You, my safe place. I said to Yahweh, “You are my Maker and my Master. Any good thing You find in me has come from You.” And He said to me, “My holy lovers in the land are My glorious ones, who fulfil all My desires.” … …The way You counsel me makes me praise You more, for Your whispers in the night give me wisdom, showing me what to do next. Because I set You, Yahweh, always close to me, my confidence will never be weakened, for I experience Your wraparound Presence every moment.” Psalms 16:1-3, 7-8 TPT.

Isn’t this fantastic? I must have read it about ten times. I think because of the pressures we all face daily, it can get very hard to hold onto how loving, generous, good and gracious the Lord is. These verses, by the way, come from David talking to God, after he became an adult. This is not that teenager on the side of the hill watching sheep — this is the man who faced many struggles. I often need to read and reread in the bible the history of other people and their interactions with God. There are people in there who have faced all kinds of terrible trials – yet they chose to have a heart of worship and praise.

Let’s look at the beginning of David’s relationship with the Lord: “And when He had removed him (Saul), he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also He gave their testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after Mine own heart, which shall fulfil all My will.” This is reported in Acts 13:21,22, by Paul.  The Psalm and this testimony are referring to a time in David’s life when he was already king. I don’t know if you ever have these thoughts but when I read those two passages, they blew my mind. Almighty God is telling us — this man, this king … this fallible human being who stole another man’s wife, got her pregnant, and then had her husband killed! … is a man after God’s own heart? It makes me ask: “what was it about David, that brought out that response from God Himself?”

I prayed about why the Lord said this to David, and then I went back to the bible for an answer because I didn’t have one! My revelation for today, was that our Heavenly Father’s heart must be very different from the kind of heart I often see displayed in our churches. We don’t seem to have the same way of looking at things – at all. Father God told David he would pay for his sin, and the baby died. He also had a terrible time with his other sons, who died too. But what I came to understand is that those things did not change David’s heart of praise and worship. I think  he had such confidence in His Heavenly Father’s Love, goodness and faithfulness as well as the Lord’s forgiving nature.

We know from the scriptures that David praised God purely because He is worthy, not because life always worked out well for him. He had the absolute assurance that when God forgives – no matter what it is, you will be forgiven. And that is that. Done and dusted. This king accepted the punishment that God thought was necessary, and at the same time, the Lord kept His good opinion of this man, as we read in Acts 13. His choice to believe in God’s goodness is such a witness. Sad to say, I’m not so sure Christians feel that way about someone who has sinned badly. We are more likely to judge the behaviour, and not the man’s heart. We need to pray over and over again for eyes to see what our Father sees.

The following verse tells us clearly that God chose David because of his heart:  “But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” This statement occurs before David ever sinned, when he was still a young man. My conclusion is this, our hearts deeply matter to the Lord. Without His influence, we can mistakenly accentuate our sins and shortcomings, and ignore the fact that the Lord says clearly that He loved David’s heart. Let’s ask for protection over our hearts to keep them from being broken by satan’s lies. 

I think David is in the bible to teach us what a yielded heart looks like. Because of him, we can see that hearts make mistakes and have to undergo correction, but God’s opinion of this man did not change, because His behaviour was never going to be the criteria! A Saviour was coming … The One Who was sent here to take away the sins of the whole world — and that included David’s sins too. Sin is our enemy, but unconfessed, cultivated and a lack of repentance from sins can slowly drag us away from the only One Who is the Answer. So will fear of recrimination from God Himself.

My conclusion is this: Our heavenly Father uses flawed instruments to bring about His will and good pleasure, because His criteria is not what we often think it is. “Let Him who boasts, boast in the Lord!” His ways are very different from ours. We think pleasing God is simply about behaviour, but Father God is more concerned with the state of our hearts. I’ve added this today because it is such a good prayer:

“Lord, you’re so kind and tenderhearted and so patient with people who fail You! Your love is like a flooding river overflowing its banks with kindness. You don’t look at us only to find our faults, just so that You can hold a grudge against us.” Psalms 103:8-9 TPT. Thank you Lord and Amen! Bye. 👋. PS Good thing to remember, God doesn’t just extend mercy to us, He extends mercy to our enemies too.

P 3115 Obedience is action.

/ DVH

We sometimes kid ourselves about stuff in our lives that we cannot seem to overcome and say: ’God will understand.’ Yes He does, praise Him! The Lord knows we are all just glorified dust. But that is not our cue to merrily go on our way, and do nothing about whatever our problem is. His understanding, comfort and compassion are not His permission to continue down that road.

Jesus bore those weaknesses of ours upon Himself on the cross —He totally identified with us in our weaknesses … and then He overpaid. He took those things on Himself so we can live free of them! When something is already paid for, you don’t have to pay for it, again. But ignoring our flaws, weaknesses and ongoing battles with sinful attitudes, means we are postponing the power of God in and through our lives for everyone else’s good. A part of our inheritance is to be able to overcome sin with His power.

Hypothetically, if Abraham had just said “Yes,” to God and he didn’t start walking and following the Lord to the Promised land – he would not have had an heir from his own body! Those steps he took were obedience in action, and each one increased the patriarch’s faith. We must choose to step into our God-given inheritance, and live like Jesus did, by faith. Obedience reveals our inheritance. It is fatal to faith to cling to our weaknesses like they are some sort of excusable behaviour. Some of that junk we’ve been cultivating and giving into for years is destructive to US and others.

When things get hard in our lives, it means our Father knows we can get through them with His help — He strengthens us against the things that try to paralyse us. He stretches our faith so we can face what comes next. Have you ever wondered why somethings that used to flatten you are no longer that powerful in your life? Almighty God had mercy upon you and helped you. We can never do any of this by ourselves. The Holy Spirit wants to help us… He longs to help us! Let’s learn to ask for His help to do things His Way, because His Ways are higher, and far more fruitful than ours.

Instead of asking for what we think we need, we can practice asking Him for what we actually know we all desperately need – transformation. Let’s not pray to get out of trouble, and instead we need to pray He will help us go through! Then when we need help, we will be tuned into Him. We have His promise that He will be right there, with us, coaching us through our wrong ideas and thoughts into a new way to think. 

He will never cross our will, because our Heavenly Father God has respect for the man He made. He made us in His image – sin has spoilt that image! His kind of love allows us the freedom to choose to act like His kids and be a part of His kingdom …or not. However, His love is not based on indulgence, it is based on what Jesus did for us. “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, Who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the Name which is above every Name” Philippians 2:5-9.

We need to choose to learn from the Holy Spirit, our Personal Trainer, our Father’s Ways of thinking and being and doing. At the bottom of most sin is the way we think. And sadly, we sometimes think that we already know things! Try agreeing with conviction when it falls on you, and then follow Him into a better place! We can easily think we know ourselves better than He knows us! So we cry and beg the Lord for more time or more strength — when the bible clearly says He is happy to give His strength to weak people, and there is a time for everything – including change.  

Isaiah 45:9 has something to say about all that: “Woe to the man who fights with his Creator. Does the pot argue with its maker? Does the clay dispute with him who forms it, saying, “Stop, you’re doing it wrong!” or the pot exclaim, “How clumsy can you be!?” Good luck with wrestling with God about stuff that needs changing. Jacob tried that and walked away limping! Think of Samson, or Jonah, or the Israelite nation! Let’s remember that although our wonderful Father sent His Son to die for our sins, Christ’s death was not permission for us to remain the same! 

Our part in all of this, is to be grateful for His help, and stay obedient to our Heavenly calling. Because of what Jesus did for us, now we have His unlimited FAVOUR. We need to cherish that favour. The stories in the Old Testament are there to teach us what rebellion looks like, and how it doesn’t work out well for the people who are rebellious! The Father’s heart is revealed to us, through those OT stories. They make it clear what He likes and wants from mankind – our loving interactive companionship. 

He sent His Son to teach us it would be a battle: “… surely this time they will respect My Son…”!!! (Matthew 21:37) So let’s not play in the devil’s dirt, just because we can’t be bothered fighting him off! We need to take the Lord seriously, because He first took us seriously. My catch-cry is this: obedience needs action. Bye. 👋

P 3014 On our trip.

/ DVH

Today, I just want to tell you one story – it’s about a single family. While we were on the road, we heard story after story of dreadful hardship, and it was overwhelming each time. BTW, all the government agencies are totally swamped, the need is so great. By the time we got to our last stop, we were so tired. We went to that destination to drop blankets and food into a men’s shelter. 

As we drove into our accommodation, on the right hand side of our cabin, there was a family. They were packing up to leave. They did not have a car, or even suitcases – everything they owned was in a series of medium sized plastic containers, and they were moving and stacking them away from the unit door. These containers each had labels on them with a person’s name on it. The Lord spoke to my heart and said: “These people are homeless – they have nothing, and nowhere to go.”

It transpired that the managers of the place had given them 4 nights to stay there for free — it had been so bitterly cold they took pity on them. But now this nice couple were caught because they didn’t own the facility, they managed the property for someone else and their employer would not have been happy that they let them stay for free.The family was quite literally moving on and they had nowhere to go. We started to pray. We didn’t even unpack, hubby went to talk to the father. 

Every single thing they owned was in those plastic containers.They also had a tent, and had been previously camping by the river, but it became too cold for them to continue to do that, because the two youngest kids were fairly small. The little girl was about 4 or 5, and still in nappies. the other child about 6 years old. He had a fishing pole and he was practicing casting about, presumably hoping to catch fish. The Lord said: “He is trying to help.” 

Hubby quickly ascertained that they had called some relatives for aid, but they were uncertain anyone would come because their extended families were as financially strapped as they were. Then he told the father that we were giving away blankets and food and asked if they needed anything? The father nodded and told hubby he would take 2 blankets and we also gave them all the food we had for the men’s shelter. Hubby queried the man gently about only taking 2 blankets, and only then he said 4 would be better. 

My dear husband emptied his wallet to provide them with some money, because they had no funds at all. He prayed for them, and hugged the wife, who was weeping and weeping. The little girl was attracted to him, she kept wanting to shake his hand. We’d bought a cute stuffed toy, as a gift for someone, and the Lord indicated it was to be given to her. She was so excited about it, and carried it around.. I’m pretty sure there weren’t many stuffed toys in their boxed belongings! 

We asked them what else they needed etc. and then we went off to the shops to get things like milk and nappies. Plus we also managed to replace the food and blankets we were originally taking to the men’s shelter! Then the little family went and settled down outside to wait. Their husband informed mine that someone was coming along to collect them all … eventually.They had a teenage boy with them who had attached himself to the group. He had just lost his mum, and this sweet couple, who already had a lot of things to deal with, took him in. 

Before we left them, hubby gave the younger children little books. Their mother started reading to them about Jesus right away. The Lord was quite clear with us, He told us what we could do, and what we could not. So we just did what He said, and prayed – lots. Because we were just passing through, we could not solve their entire problem.

The money hubby gave to this family was not spare. We couldn’t afford to buy all that extra stuff either — but almost immediately, somebody put funds in our account and God provided for us – and them! Plus we were also able to witness to the manager and his wife and commend them for their generosity. The family was gone the next day.

Nobody sets out to be homeless, without a job or money, but life happens to all of us. “But You, O God, do see trouble and grief; You consider it to take it in hand. The victim commits himself to You; You are the Helper of the fatherless.” Psalm 10:14. “Rich and poor have this in common: The LORD is the Maker of them all.” Proverbs 22:2. Bye. 👋