Manifest

P 3348 Show me the Father…

/ DVH

“Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Jesus answered: “Don’t you know Me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father.” Now, there’s poor old Phil with his socks blown off! 🧦💥🧦! Hang on to yours … OK? Jesus is explaining what seeing and knowing the Father looks like. So now, let’s take a look at John 14:21,23.

“The person who has My commands and keeps them is the one who [really] loves Me; and whoever [really] loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I [too] will love him and will show (reveal, manifest) Myself to him. [I will let Myself be clearly seen by him and make Myself real to him.]” AMP version.

The above verses are a tool. Jesus is showing us HOW to see the Father. Let’s remember, we have been told in the bible, God’s Ways are not our ways. That’s Isaiah 55:8-9. Indeed our Heavenly Father’s thoughts are so far above ours, we are doing Him a grave disservice if we try to bring Him down to our level! That’s because basically, we can’t understand the way He thinks because it is simply beyond us!

However! The Holy Spirit has been sent to us to help us to understand what He is doing and He reveals the Father’s character to us, as we pursue Him and cherish obedience. It is not just that God is wa-a-a-a-y smarter than we can ever be … but He is … it is that His thoughts are based on, and rooted in LOVE, and we don’t speak “love” very well — yet. 

His love is pure, holy, accurate, discerning, faithful, patient, joyful, peaceful, kind, good, gentle and it is full of self-control!! Our kind of love is whimsical at best, and it floats about like a cork on the ocean, we can be guided by many things outside of our conscious control. But nothing is outside God’s control! He is a sovereign God with humanity’s good in His mind and heart. That’s something that is so far beyond our comprehension, we are going to need the Holy Spirit’s help – all the time. Otherwise we end up speaking our enemy’s language – hatred and blame.

If we wanted to show someone what our spouse or child or parent looks like, we might show them a photo. Jesus Christ is God’s photo! At the same time, He is incredibly 3 dimensional and far more real than we can ever comprehend. He is God Himself, and a living breathing obedient Human being, Who loves mankind and came here to save and help us understand that Our Father is not like other gods.

When we choose to obey what the Lord says — we will get glimpses into the WAY He does things. Remember, He doesn’t do stuff the way we do it, so some things won’t always make sense to us. The difference between God’s ways, and ours is huge. I think we fail to understand Him sometimes, because satan encourages us to use human logic to understand a Holy God. That’s like using wet spaghetti to tie your shoelaces. You can, but why on earth would you? Our God is a mystery wrapped up in glory and splendour — not SomeOne who can be parcelled up nicely and put in a box.

Jesus came to earth as God personified. He came to save us — as one of us. He was the perfect Person to come here, and the perfect representation of our Holy God. Reducing the Lord to rules and regs is like trying to repackage hot melted butter in the same paper it came in. The Lord Jesus is God Himself with our kind of skin on, and He is a totally, everlasting, smitten lover of mankind. Jesus blew away all of our rules and regs toward His Father, but He carefully kept the Father’s heart in all things perfectly. He did not come to earth to please us – He came to rescue and save us from satan’s wiles.

When we look at Christ sitting beside a well, talking to a women who had been married 4 times, and was now living with the fifth guy — we are looking at God sitting beside her … kindly guiding her, piquing her interest and transforming her life. Almighty God says so many things at once we cannot take them in! God once sat down beside Jonah. The man was complaining about a dead plant that was supposed to be there to give him shelter. Almighty God took the time to explain to Jonah that plants are not more important than people. Nineveh needed saving, and He had chosen Jonah to preach to them. Trying to avoid our destiny is a waste of time and it can have very strange consequences. 

Our God has deeper, more eternal motivations than we can ever dream of — to even begin to know Him we need to obey what He tells us, in His Word, and keep looking, and re-looking at Jesus. We must practise paying attention to the way He did things, toward His Father, and men and women. When we do that we will begin to learn God’s ways. “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful Word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” Hebrews 1:3. 

To us, words are simply a method of communication – to God Himself, they are a way to speak LIFE. Jesus Himself said it: ‘show me the Father,’ means we take the time to deliberately observe His dear Son in action. He expected the disciples to recognise Him by His actions. Jesus clearly says: God looks like ME. Bye 🙏 .

P 3177 God loves to play ‘peek-a-boo!”

/ DVH

In our daily lives we get glimpses of the Lord acting for us, and doing things around us. A glimpse by definition is a fleeting view, a passing glance, or a quick look into something briefly. This means that there are days that we pray for someone, like I did for my neighbour the other day, and she successfully dodged huge hailstones and part of someone else’s roof while she was driving. Whenever we hear a good report we know it is the Lord answering our prayers. Let’s acknowledge those moments, not just take them for granted.

We are, day by day, blessed and humbled by His loving care. So the idea of using Him for our own ends, is abhorrent. And it is definitely not the same as knowing Him! Using Him is about getting what I want, far more than it is about gaining knowledge of Who He is. We don’t need some snappy “twist God’s arm to get what I want” system – He loves us! These ‘peek-a-boo’ moments are meant to move us on into a lifestyle of gratitude. 

There are times when we’ve prayed for ourselves after a particularly difficult day and we find the rest of that day sort of, smooths itself out. And we know it is the Holy Spirit, doing what He does best, making our pathways straight and unhindered – He is helping us. Praise Him! On other not-so-fantastic days we pray and the same sort of junk plops on us, but it is a different day – and we are suddenly plunged into the land of worse. 

What changed? Why did He answer one prayer of escape and not the next one? I’m going to give you my little theory, but I want to stress that you should ask Him that question for yourself. When we pray for this and that, and the Lord graciously answers our prayers we are relegating Him into what I call the specialist category. When human beings have a need, and we can’t solve it, we go to a specialist. Whether it is about health, our car, or our house! 

It might seem very flattering to see the Lord as the kind of specialist we can consult with whenever we need help – but doing that will not form the kind of permanent on-going relationship that the bible talks about. Jesus wants to be our everything! If we are not grateful for we have been given, then I think we can end up relegating our Heavenly Father into a consultant category. SomeOne we call on because something or other isn’t working!

We need a much wider view – that is less about me and far more about seeing Him as Almighty God, Who rules heaven and earth! He loves us so much He has His eye on us! The bible tells us we are His people, so we do not ever have to suffer from an identity crisis. Jesus Himself knew He would always be heard. He died to give us the same privilege He had. However, the inner workings of our heart matters. Using God to make my life better is not “… the same mind that was in Christ Jesus.”(!!!) In spite of the terrible things He faced, Jesus knew His Father’s Way was the best way. So He actively chose to honour Father God’s will despite the pain it caused Him. 

When Christ became our sin, He was separated for the first time from His Father. I think that’s what killed Him – that relationship was so glorious the break in it was fatal to Him. It broke His heart. Oh, I pray that the people of God would be heartbroken over sin the way Jesus was! I believe He is our God-given illustration of how to be human, and walk with God Himself, in the Person of the Holy Spirit! 

The Lord Jesus’ teachings and parables are illustrations of what this life can look like when we follow Him wholeheartedly. We can see in the bible, for ourselves, that Jesus always chose His Father’s Way. So this is what we need to do … we need to understand that Father God is not merely our consultant – He is our GOD, first and foremost! He is in charge and we are not. We cannot afford to postpone obedience or ignore Him — because of the consequences. Ignoring Him means we miss out on knowing Him, as well as living our lives His way! The Way of the Cross.

Jesus said in Matthew 16:25,26 – “For whoever wishes to save his life [in this world] will [eventually] lose it [through death], but whoever loses his life [in this world] for My sake will find it [that is, life with Me for all eternity]. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world [wealth, fame, success], but forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” 

Our Heavenly Father is not a despot. In the Old Testament we can hear Him pleading with Israel — the way a parent would plead with a beloved child who is on the wrong path. He wants us to come to Him purely because we have a deep faith in His goodness. HE will not ever do us harm! Jesus Christ chose to come willingly under His Father’s Leadership and supervision at all times, and He taught us that we need to do the same. There is no such thing as part-time Christianity in God’s eyes. He bought and paid for us with the most precious thing this world has seen – His own Son’s blood.

Now He wants us to choose to live our lives, HIS WAY, and we will see Him everywhere. When we deliberately  make that choice and stick to it.  In other words He won’t just play peek-a-boo, He will manifest Himself among us and we will become His people, not just in name but in deeds! Bye. 👋 

P 3136 Let’s soar like eagles …

/ DVH

…not just waddle about like ducks. Yeah, I know! You are probably sleek and fit … but I am not!  Waddling, BTW, gets harder to eliminate as you slide into old age. However, this life is a gift, so let’s not waste a minute of it. Even our daily experiences count — good or bad – after all some people didn’t wake up this morning. Back to soaring with Jesus ….!!!

This translation of the Lord’s prayer was so beautiful I wanted to include it on today’s page. I often find a new translation is like discovering an old, much treasured friend, from an entirely new perspective. Please bless the people who take the time who give us those new perspectives, Lord! Amen.

“Pray like this: ‘Our Beloved Father, dwelling in the heavenly realms, may the glory of Your Name be the centre on which our lives turn. Manifest Your kingdom realm, and cause Your every purpose to be fulfilled on earth, just as it is in heaven. We acknowledge You as our Provider of all we need each day. Forgive us the wrongs we have done as we ourselves release forgiveness to those who have wronged us. Rescue us every time we face tribulation and set us free from evil. For You are the King who rules with power and glory forever. Amen.” Matthew 6:9-13 TPT.

I love the fact that the disciples owned up to not knowing how to pray, and so they asked Jesus to show them how to do it. His deep abiding love for our Heavenly Father comes through this prayer above all else. Please note – as we learn to live in His kingdom – He manifests it in us, and around us. We really do need to take the pressure off and enjoy what we’ve been given, because daily we want to see the Lord at work in our lives, just like the disciples did. The bible says: “We can do nothing without Him,” and why on earth would we want to try to do this stuff by ourselves? After all “His ways are perfect…” mine are often self-centred and based around comfort!

The Lord is meant to be the absolute centre of our lives. But the idea of giving my whole life to Jesus was so scary that I would not even entertain the thought. Actually I was kind of glad that this particular way of life seemed to belong to a few, far more important and gifted people than me. They all knew how to do this stuff wa-ay better than I did. And when I did reflect on it I thought, what would Jesus want me to do? What would He take away from me? What would I have to stop doing? Yeah! I had trusting God issues – big time! I suspect I may not be the only one to be like that either.

So, let’s look at this part of that prayer…’may the glory of Your name be the centre on which our lives turn.’ Amen. Otherwise this life shoves its way into our thinking processes very forcefully. This world insists, it demands, and elbows its way into our every thought – pushing aside our good intentions, our desires and even our voluntary participation in His way of living. Daily we face all kinds of interruptions and intrusions. When we go to an ordinary place like the supermarket, we are unpleasantly surprised and whacked in the hip-pocket with prices that are not constant. How do you glorify God in that? Repent a lot, without becoming obsessive about it.

Here’s my further insight into that particular issue …trust Him with everything, even the mundane things, like the shopping. Something that ordinary can be an opportunity to see the Lord work and build our faith. The very best thing we can do is to see our money as His money. Our view of our own daily life will change when He’s in charge. Seeing the Lord as‘our Provider’ is so appropriate, as one day rolls along and follows another. These seemingly little things are the moments we live for Him — by thanking Him, and prayerfully looking for His input everywhere in our lives.  

A sentence in this prayer, talks about releasing forgiveness. It is so easy say the words ‘I forgive you’ but do we complete those words by actually releasing forgiveness through us toward the other person? Forgiveness contains within it enough Grace for everyone to change! Saying it is one thing, releasing is entirely another. Doing that captures the spirit of what Jesus illustrated in front of us, in His book, day by day. It is like breathing in and out. That air we breathed IN is now gone, because we’ve let it go and moved on to the next breath. I think holding onto even the memories of injuries and sins against others is a little like holding our breath and hoping the other guy turns blue first!.  

I constantly need rescuing from what I’ve said or done, or even my reactions to unexpected things that interrupt my thinking. This week we have had an insistent mina bird sitting right outside the house, right where I am typing and editing the blog inside! A few feet away. I confess I have thought murderous thoughts toward that bird! What a racket it keeps making. The Lord’s help in such a tiny thing is essential. BTW, I don’t wait for an emergency or interruption – I’ve learnt to ask for His help, all the time.

We have this incredible access, this life-style of love, only because Jesus is our King, and God is our Heavenly Father. And we know that the Holy Spirit will guide us through everything. We want to transform the way we interact with difficulties and blessings, pleasure and pain. Hopefully that means we can all soar like an eagle, not waddle like a duck – or be at the mercy of an endlessly squawking mina bird! Bye. 👋

P 3096 something to think on.

/ DVH

“Give God the right to direct your life, and as you trust Him along the way, you’ll find He pulled it off perfectly! He will appear as your righteousness, as sure as the dawning of a new day. He will manifest as your justice, as sure and strong as the noonday sun. Quiet your heart in His presence and wait patiently for Yahweh. And don’t think for a moment that the wicked, in their prosperity, are better off than you.” Psalms 37:5-7 TPT. 

These verses are a great summation of how faith works. They help you to experience all that the Lord has for you as you surrender your whole life, and then begin to obey the stuff that is already in His book. Useful tip! Please don’t excuse yourself by saying “I don’t do that.” That’s leaning on your own understanding — ASK HIM instead. At the same time it is not good to skip over any apparently hard bits, instead it is important to take them to heart. I keep going back until He gives me an answer.

Most of my answers come when the Holy Spirit brings another verse to my mind and it clarifies the first one. Then ask Him – “What would You like me to do about this Lord?”  I have met so many people who are stuck right there agreeing with the bible but dismissing their own responsibility to change. Perhaps their thought is: “I’ve prayed about my sin, I confessed it. Now changing me and my unfortunate attitude is up to God.” I put “stinky attitude” but most people don’t like to go that far.

Leaving changing our core values up to Him is like shouting into the wind.The Lord expects us to do something about those attitudes, and He is happy to help us. To start with: He loves the interaction that takes place when we choose to engage with Him over these seemingly small things. He will tell us what to do, and help us as He tells us how to do it.

Look, I am going to be blunt here – you and I are not babies who sit about bleating: “I can’t help it, and God hasn’t done anything about it so it’s not my fault. After all I prayed!” That’s like nailing one foot to the floor and wondering why you are going round and round. We blame God because we think we did all we could, by praying. Do the opposite on purpose! Remember Zacchaeus? This man overpaid to make up for his sin. Excusing yourself is called evasion. I know people who say: ‘Jesus paid for my sin’ –YEAH! He did! But repentance is in the book too! … Repentance involves fruit. If you want fruit – this is how you get it!

My advice is to read His book with the idea that we will “hear” something to help us every single day, then we act on it. I have learnt, over and over again, that the Lord is often doing something behind the scenes …  somewhere I didn’t even think about. He is doing something else – every single time. This has become so predictable, it is amazing. If you want eyes to see and ears to hear this is how you get them. Stick yourself under His heavenly bible-microscope and ask questions. Don’t give up or use avoidance because you don’t have enough time – press in. Words are cheap, actions speak louder than words.

However, acting in faith on what He tells you to do can be hard. The bible says:“let the thief steal no more!” Now that person needs to find another way to earn a living because stealing is out! Jesus told a lot of people to go away and stop doing whatever it was that got them down the hole they had fallen into. You and I aren’t glove puppets – He will not make us change our behaviour. The Lord loves to come alongside us, to help us fix whatever it is, with His guidance and wisdom. He loves the interaction that happens as we learn to rely upon Him step by step – yes I know I already said this! 

It works like this: Pray! Ask for His help to identify any problem. Then ask Him to show you how He wants you to fix it. If someone else is involved, then pull up your big guy pants and go and ask for forgiveness. Explain to them you have been praying about this fault but you did not know you were asking amiss. You thought that was the way this stuff was done. Their response to your humility is their problem, you are working on your own spiritual life with the Lord. Faith grows when you use it to overcome your own weaknesses. 

Waiting patiently for some whose faults are driving you batty, can be incredibly irritating! But that response is our cue to ask God: “Lord, what log is in my eye that is obscuring my view of what is really going on?”. This is how we will discover the stuff we need to prayerfully do about ourselves. We are not meant to live this life irritated. Irritation is the opposite of learning to live in love. “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” We all know where that scripture is! 

The Holy Spirit knows the steps each of us need to take to get us to this place in Corinthians! My steps won’t be like yours, because we are different. But He promises to counsel us with His eye upon us, and He will. There is absolutely nothing like doing God’s Will God’s Way! All sorts of glory comes down. My insides get so happy I just want to do some sort of little dance on the spot! I don’t, of course, because I can’t dance for toffee – but I yell a lot instead! “Praise You Lord!” When we pray about this kind of stuff we are touching the eternal, and allowing Him to be the focus of our lives. That is definitely something to think on. Bye. 👋

P 3009 Escorting God’s will to Earth.

/ DVH

“Great God, I want to partner with You in bringing the will of heaven to earth, I stand with You, God, and I want what You want. As I discover Your heart through drawing near to You, I can’t help but be changed by the power of Your love.  As I catch glimpses of Your desires, I get to join in with You, calling down Your desires in my life and beyond.

Have Your way, Lord, in me.  Transform me from the inside out so that I can reflect the glory of Your mercy in my daily life.  As my faith grows with the boldness of my prayers, I know that I will see You answer in the provision of Your power. There is nothing that You cannot do! 

May I have kingdom perspective and never settle for the world’s accounts of reality. You are the Creator, and You can do all things. I want to see Your miracle power doing the impossible in the earth in response to the cry of Your children. Thank You for partnership.  What a privilege it is! … AMEN! From Prayers from the Throne Room, by Brian Simmons.

I wanted to include this excerpt from Brian Simmons in my blog today, because what he has said is so challenging …this is our aim. Our great quest. But we don’t have to wait for it to overtake us, or fall on us — instead we quite simply surrender into it, every single day, and let our everyday lives teach us how to live the way Jesus did. 

Personally, I have found plenty to go on with! There are heaps of applications in Matthew 5! I especially like living this life “poor in spirit” (v3) – Jesus calls being poor in spirit a blessing! Boy that’s upside down to the way the world around us thinks. But when we are poor in spirit and we cannot manufacture or push ourselves to do whatever He asks, we are rich. Why is that so? Because we have a Helper and He knows all the answers! He helped Jesus live the life God chose for His Son, and He knows exactly how to cultivate God’s Grace in our lives so we can live for Him too! 

That rude person in the shops who snarls at you is not there to annoy you – they are most probably in pain. Even a dog will snap at you if it is in pain. We need to leave behind the idea that everything in this life is about us, or meant to go our way, and GET REAL INSTEAD. Human beings can be so self-centred these days, it is terrifying to watch. The thought that everything and everyone is here to make my little life happy, is not Godly … or practical!! I have to remind myself often, that I gave my life away!

If we want to be the people who escort God’s will into this world, then something or someone will have to change and it won’t be HIM! Gird up your girdle Gertie, it’s gunna be a bumpy ride!! The bible says:“I am God I change NOT!” Malachi 3:6. Hmm. Not much room for an argument there eh?  Here’s another scripture to broaden our outlook — “Shall two walk together, except they have agreed?” Amos 3:3. Um, the point is, we need to agree with HIM, HE is not obligated to agree with US. To find out what we all agree about we will need to know the book! How do you think His law gets written on our hearts? When it costs us to obey it – that will carve it on the inside..

He loves to answer our prayers. That’s called Grace, and Mercy, and compassion. He loves each one of us so much, He longs to draw us closer to Himself … Matthew 23:37. But we are making the same mistake the Israelite people made, when we see Father God as merely a benefit to my life. Instead of understanding that the One Who made the stars and everything else, loves me so personally He wants to walk with me.

All the time, every single day. Most of us spend our lives looking for one other person who just might want to be that close to us… And our Magnificent God stands silently and patiently by, waiting, longing to comfort, teach and transform us all into a fit Bride for His Son… HIS precious one-of-a-kind SON! What an honour we have. 

If we want to escort His Presence into every single situation and place we go, we will need to learn to live our lives in agreement with the things He loves. I have to be honest, we do not have the capacity to make ourselves into that kind of person – most of us start out way too narcissistic for that! But He freely gives Grace to those who know they need it. He extends mercy toward us when we fall short of the example that Jesus set for us. And He is compassionate, because He already knows we are glorified dust.

Our God has to be true to His nature. The more I see Him at work in my life, the more I fall in love with Him, and the more I love Him, the clearer my heart mirror reveals His goodness to other people. I am a reflection to other people of the love of God, whether I know it or not. Whether I act like it or not. Looking deeply into His eyes of love – as well as looking through them – will capture anyone’s heart. I have seen total goodness, the purest love of all … in the way He loves people. 

Our aim is to reflect His goodness into this life —so others can see Him too. No biggie eh?!!  Because of what Jesus did, sin is conquered, and permanently out of the way. Now we focus on the real work, living this life so close to Him we can hear and identify His heartbeat.  Bye for today! 👋

Heavenly Father, “Manifest Your kingdom realm, and cause Your every purpose to be fulfilled on earth, just as it is in heaven.” Amen. Matthew 6:10 TPT.

P 2900 We pray from a kingdom perspective.

/ DVH

“Yes, feast on all the treasures of the heavenly realm and fill your thoughts with heavenly realities, and not with the distractions of the natural realm.” Colossians 3:2 TPT. There are so many instructional verses in the bible, just like this one, that we could apply one of them every single day and still not get through the book even once in this lifetime! So how do we feast on all the treasures of the heavenly realm while we are still on earth? We live like heaven is our home, not this world.

It’s all about focus. Most people today are focussed on me, myself, and I. My family, and my relatives, and my goods and possessions, my country, and my job or lack of one! In order to have a heavenly point of view we need to focus on what God wants – and fortunately He has told us what He wants – in writing! 

Jesus came here and He actively taught us what a heavenly perspective looks like. Our Father always has a greater plan than we can imagine — praise Him! Jesus was a walking, talking, teaching, healing illustration of God’s plan and His love for each one of us. Then He died to seal the deal, to give us our opportunity to live the way He did. Sacrificially. He didn’t just die to get us into heaven – He died to get heaven into, and flowing out of, US!

Jesus Christ is Father God’s faith in action be-ca-u-se … ‘faith without works is dead!’ Faith has substance – Jesus Christ is the substance of His Father’s faith. This is why without faith we cannot please God – our God is faith-filled! He has invested His Son’s life in each one of us. His kingdom is not just a place, somewhere ‘up there’ — it is a new way to live. The miracles Jesus did were secondary to the carrying out of His Father’s plan.

People could say: “Well being a Christian doesn’t sound like much fun, if God gave me a life  I want to live it, my own way.” And so the Lord steps back and says: “Have at it!” This means right here, right now, surprise, surprise, we are living in a world filled with people who want their own way. Even if what they actually want is a peaceful life, that is still what that person chooses for themselves! We should never be surprised at the mess this world is in, because human beings are in charge. And human beings, without Christ, are susceptible to demonic influences!

I think we all do our best to pray for good things, Godly things, things inspired by the Holy Spirit … but many times we pray for change or healing of things on this earth. Please Lord, heal this. Please Lord, change that. Please Lord, help those people etc. We are praying for the things that will one day pass away. Jesus Himself told us what to pray for: “Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; THY KINGDOM COME; THY WILL BE DONE; on EARTH as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.”

In this new reality, we pray for His kingdom, His will to be done, first.. In this prayer that Jesus gave us as an example – God is the centre. Yes we can pray to be delivered from sickness, sin and evil, let’s do it! We sure need it!! But the point of being born again is to live in His new kingdom with His oversight. He tells us how to do that in the book. He even tells us what the fruit of that kingdom looks like … in the book! No fruit – no kingdom!  

Our new life means we have chosen to live in His kingdom, and we are to manifest that kingdom in this life down here …in the middle of wars, trouble, strife, evil, compromise, hatred, murder, lust, lies. That’s why Jesus said “don’t be surprised when bad things happen.” Those things are the fruit of this world!  We are to walk within this world’s worst nightmares, shining with the light of Jesus’ love for every single human being, always praying people will be saved by the truth of what we believe, as it is acted out right in front of them! 

“God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we’re free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ’s. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love.” 1 John 4:17.

Now we pray from our new heavenly position within Christ. ‘Lord I want what You want.” I’ve learnt, from experience, that what HE wants is so much better than anything I can think of or dream about! We have given our lives to Him so He can live through us – we are blessed to be able to release His point of view, His healing, His love, peace, joy, into the darkness. That is not a part-time job, it is a kingdom lifestyle.  We need to learn to pray from a kingdom perspective.Bye. 👋 

P 2864 Don’t go anywhere without HIM!

/ DVH

Luke 5:1-10:“When He (Jesus) had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch. Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But *because YOU say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signalled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!”  For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed Him.”

*”Because YOU say so” … let’s just let that thought sit there for a minute or two… and reflect upon the ordinary simple fisherman that Jesus spoke to – Peter. I have it on good authority  … Google! 🤣 Hah! How come I can believe Google but sometimes struggle to believe in what HE says. Well, that thought is for another day. Any-way, apparently fishing by night is far more successful. Even hobby fishermen go out really really early in the morning, or at dusk ’til about 1.00 am. Why? Not a clue – feel free to tell me if you know!! 

Here is what I noticed when I read that scripture today, there was something so powerful and appealing about Jesus … PS actually it was the Presence of SOMEONE… and because we have the book we are witnesses of what happened. The Holy Spirit, He came upon the Lord right after Jesus was baptised. Maybe we’ve all undervalued hosting the Presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives! He has promised to be with us, just like He was with Jesus. John 14:26: “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My Name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” 

I do know that He helps me type this blog, daily! He reminds me: “There is this verse and that one!” Thoughts like that just pop into my head … like John 14:16-17b:“And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth.” Let’s just pause again and think about this for a few moments. Do you think that Father God is going to listen to Jesus’ request when HE asks for us? Yeah, me too! 

So why don’t we feel like we have Him? Here’s my peanut gallery thought — because we can’t just look for the Holy Spirit with our feelings – we access His Presence using our faith and obedience, and by the way we choose to live. Faith values His Presence more than anything else. We understand that you and I can do NOTHING without Him.

And here’s Galatians 3:14:“He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.” And there we have it. We receive the Promise God sent us, because the Lord Jesus died to make available to us — as we use our faith. You know, our faith gets severely tested when we’ve done something that we know He doesn’t like. Yet sincere repentance changes that in a heartbeat and we go back to walking with Him. Charge up your faith in His forgiveness and go, go, go again!

Let’s make a New Year’s resolution – no more walking in and out of the Holy Spirit’s Presence – let’s all just stay IN and do whatever we have to do to live that way! We can all live this way, so long as we are prepared to live our lives for His Ways. God does not exclude us, He never will! We exclude ourselves when we decide that we want what we want and we know better than He does. We get out of sync with Him.

Jesus chose to manifest His heart at the beginning of His ministry, to a bunch of fishermen who had worked hard all night for nothing and yet He cared enough to rectify their problem. Does this sound like SomeOne you can trust Who is on your side? Uhuh! The secret to living our lives for the Lord lies in walking around with HIM! Yielding – letting go of our own agendas. We pray, we ask, and we believe that He will not lie, because we have His promises – AND we let the Holy Spirit become our treasure.

My very best advice is don’t go anywhere without Him…  I should listen to my own advice more!! And value Him above all else. Jesus did. Bye! 👋

P 2581 Living Grace.

/ DVH

“God’s marvellous grace has manifested in Person, bringing salvation for everyone. This same grace teaches us how to live each day as we turn our backs on ungodliness and indulgent lifestyles, and it equips us to live self-controlled, upright, godly lives in this present age.” Titus 2:11-12 TPT.

Our God’s great grace has been manifest in Christ. In order to understand it we must carefully observe and interact with Him. Jesus Christ is God’s grace in human form. I deliberately said that today, because sometimes grace is reduced to a nebulous thing that we are supposed to have toward everyone else, as well as live by it. Nebulous things add to uncertainty and they are definitely hard to grab hold of!  

Our uncertainty disappears when we understand that Christ is God’s illustration of grace, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness etc. in action! Almighty God gave us a glorious gift – CHRIST. Grace we can see and hear in His book. Reading the Gospels makes us acquainted with what grace looks like because it is the way SomeOne lived. It is not about stories – the stories Jesus told are illustrations of God’s ways in action. If all we do is read the Gospels and think, “oh that’s so nice.” We missed the point!  These ‘stories’ show us how to act and react!

Jesus Christ is God’s LIVING GRACE. God does not need visual aids – He went way beyond them to sending SomeOne Who would illustrate a lifestyle! The bible is not just teaching – Jesus, in the Person of the Holy Spirit,  is with us so we can learn His Ways. The way Christ lived His life, is the way we have been designed to live ours. Yeah. Ya might want to sit and think on that one for the next 20 years. 

It is error to think that Jesus could do stuff because He is God’s Son and He is ‘special.’ He’s not superman who came from another planet and that means He can do stuff we can’t!  He did not operate in some sort of incredible way that meant He always did things right and was full of the power of God all the time. He simply chose to live in the Holy Spirit’s Presence in all things.  

Jesus Christ chose to come to earth and be a man – that’s Grace and Love IN ACTION. That was a normal little baby boy born in Bethlehem, He chose to learn about God from when He was young, and He did so well at it He amazed all the people who supposedly knew everything! Jesus made knowing God His priority from His youth. He had grace on His life as a child.

But He was tempted just like we are. The difference between Him and us, is that He said no! There is great power in our NO! I know that today, it seems like ‘no’ is an optional extra, but it isn’t. Saying no to temptation and sin is the way into bringing that new heart God gave us into this life … our reality. Doing what God wants becomes our life-blood. It’s the way to be dead to self and alive to God. And every single thing you do counts! Praise God we can repent from our lack of single-mindedness and go back and partake of His grace – over and over again.

We are limiting ourselves by thinking that Christ was some sort of special-case human being so He could do stuff we cannot. That is a lie from the pit. “God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we’re free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ’s. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love.” 1 John 4:17.

Fear of over-stepping our place in God … is still FEAR!  We start to overstep when we use God for our own purposes or benefit.  Our Lord Jesus Christ was the perfect example of grace in action. He had authority, but it was love-based authority, and He allowed His Father to decide what that looked like! Our hearts matter, and God knows when we choose to excuse ourselves rather than obey. It is the things that we choose to do that can shoot us down. Power can be misused by self-indulgence, instead of ushering in God’s kingdom! Jesus came to serve, and so we are here to serve – God first, and then others. 

God’s Grace is not of this world. It is a heavenly quality which is to be lived out in everyday life. And when we look deeply into how Christ acted, and what He said, we gain His clues from His lifestyle. He lived in grace, He constantly gave away grace even to His tormentors.  Like I said, the things Jesus said are not just stories or parables – they are a way to live. Paul, Luke, John and Jude etc. developed these themes in the Epistles. They tell us how these things worked in their lives. In Paul’s case they give us further revelation of what God did when He sent us Christ, why He did it, and how it works! 

The bible is God’s book about GRACE. Grace is God’s enabling power to prevail over our own sinful nature, sin in this world, and the devil. This is God Himself speaking …“I will graciously give you a new, tender heart and put a new, willing spirit inside you. I will remove your hard heart of stone and give you an obedient, responsive heart instead.” Ezekiel 36:26.

We have already been given this new heart, God gave it to us – because Christ made a way for us. Grace is LIVING  and practical it is not just a mushy attitude toward others. It is strong and powerful. Jesus Christ is our perfect example of God’s grace – alive on this earth!  He showed us that it can be done and how it is done! 👋 

P 2518 Faith says I need HIM more than stuff!

/ DVH

“Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut, Doesn’t have a swelled head, Doesn’t force itself on others, Isn’t always “me first,” Doesn’t fly off the handle, Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, Doesn’t revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end.”1 Corinthians 13:4-7.

The difficulty we face with verses like these, as I see it, is that we can read them and say to ourselves: “Oh, dear, I’m not like that. That means that I am failing God. I don’t see how I can ever be like that, I’m too bad tempered, too selfish, etc.” Hmm. There is no faith needed to diagnose what everyone else around us can already see! However, these verses are about faith, they are not there to diagnose lack. They are a description of what the Lord’s love does, and His design and purpose for our lives. They show us what we are aiming at! We can have anything on that list IF we are prepared to die to self!

Using our faith to act on what He says is the key to giving these things substance —  BUT — telling ourselves that we already have them, without using our faith, is not scriptural! Be-cau-se  “FAITH is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not yet seen.” Hebrews 11:1. Faith is not just claiming stuff — it is love in action so others can then see our faith! Ya might want to think on that the next time you are shouting at someone. It will be hard for them to believe you have faith to overcome sin when all the evidence they have to hand is to the contrary! It will hurt to deny ourselves take up our cross … (that cross is often people who just don’t get us!)… and follow Jesus.

These things already exist in Christ, and HE is now our new home. In Christ we have all these glorious qualities – Jesus died to give us all this, and more. Jesus didn’t just say He died – HE DIED! We cannot pretend to have this stuff and hope He is fooled. These things are precious Holy Spirit qualities, and they are real tangible things, not wish-thinking. They are the language of love between the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.

Jesus Christ died to give us what He already has with the Father. “In this [union and fellowship with Him], love is completed and perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment [with assurance and boldness to face Him]; because as He is, so are we in this world.”1 John 4:17. We are destined to look like Him, and we get there by our obedience, one step at a time. Which includes shutting our mouths when we want to let fly, or by curbing our ungodly desires etc., and asking the Holy Spirit to do what He does best. HELP US.

Those qualities written down in 1 Corinthians are a check list, but they are not there to condemn us. They are there to help us recognise that when we deliberately choose not to keep score of someone else’s sins – we are manifesting His love toward that person. When we choose to be satisfied with what we have, then we are manifesting His love! Practically speaking … when we are supernaturally patient, using our faith, when we are dealing with a two year old who wants what he wants – we are manifesting God’s love toward that child!

But if and when, we miss the mark, then we confess our faults, to the other person, and repent and restore relationships as needed.Repentance is now a part of our way of life because we are be-i-ng perfected … but we ain’t there yet! Right now we are all learning to walk in the WAY … “I walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice, bestowing a rich inheritance on those who love me and making their treasuries full.” Proverbs 8:20,21. See?! We are to be a source of great blessing to many … and I’ve always started with my family! Here’s an example of what that looks like from the book —“Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her …” Proverbs 31:28. This is a way of life, not a book of nice theories. It is a faith book.

Unfortunately, many of us have misinterpreted scriptures as a free for all to ‘ask and you shall receive,’  and think that means that we can have whatever we want if we just ask for it in His Name. 😱 Jesus Christ lived a life full of LOVE from God — to manifest GOD — here on earth as it is in heaven! Not a new yacht or a diamond ring or a McDonald’s cheese burger!  He will supply all our needs and this is a huge gift to us, because Jesus Christ is rich in glory with every heavenly blessing, but those things are not necessarily material! They are kingdom things.

However, because God is a loving Father we can always ask Him. And we can always ask Him for help. But our very real need is transformation, not material things! Priorities matter.  We can have the kingdom of this world, but it is far better to chase after the kingdom of our God! So now we use our faith to access His Presence. His fruit. His incredible love for us, that other stuff will follow along … or not!  Bye. 👋

P 2505 We will live a glorious life – when we live for His glory.

/ DVH

“Pray like this: ‘Our Beloved Father, dwelling in the heavenly realms, may the glory of Your Name be the centre on which our lives turn. Manifest Your kingdom realm, and cause Your every purpose to be fulfilled on earth, just as it is in heaven. We acknowledge You as our Provider of all we need each day. Forgive us the wrongs we have done, as we ourselves release forgiveness to those who have wronged us. Rescue us every time we face tribulation and set us free from evil. For You are the King Who rules with power and glory forever, Amen.”Matthew 6:9-13 TPT.

‘May the glory of Your Name be the centre on which our life turns…” Now that’s a big prayer! It is also a really really really big thought. Sometimes I wonder if we are not seeing the kind of revival this world needs, because we’ve forgotten WHO we are here for! Please don’t misunderstand me… I love praying for the salvation of souls, and the cessation of hostilities in this world etc. – but if we are not living this life, the only one we have – for His glory – then I believe we are living our lives too small.

If we look at the Lord’s prayer carefully we will see that inadvertently, over the years, we have made that prayer about us. About us living right, doing right, having enough food to eat etc. Even yesterday I wrote about the importance of forgiveness… which is still about us. Sometimes we get so focussed on getting our daily bread, we forget what that bread has cost Almighty God. Plus the lives that have been sacrificed so we can read His words in person.

When I read the above phrase … about His Name being the centre of our lives … and I really looked at it, it hit me that most of our prayers are stuck in the give me, help me, save me mode. I wonder how many times we pray “thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven …” as kind of a nice hand-off. A tiny acknowledgement, a tipping of our hypothetical hats, or even a passing recognition, that the only reason Jesus came to earth was to save and bless us!

Reality rush. Christ came to earth to fulfil HIS FATHER’S WILL. It may seem like a moot point but God initiated this whole thing in our behalf. We would not be in this world without His Divine choice and intervention – and that’s the actual real reality – it is definitely not an add-on!  So today, my first question is: are you and I actively living for His glory? Or are we putting one foot in front of the other, making the wheels go around, to actually build our own hopefully Godly, kingdoms?? Because there is a difference. Just Who are we living for? What would change in my life if I decided to live purely for His glory until I leave here? What about yours?

I think living for His glory is the key to His kingdom coming here on earth as it is in heaven! I do not believe the Lord will ever begrudge us our daily bread, and all kinds of joy in this life – the scriptures make that clear. But I do think that we could see so much more change, in us and around us, if we lived this life so that He will be glorified in us and through us! I want to point out that Jesus is our example and that is exactly how HE lived. Everything He did was for His Father’s glory. And He saved us so we can now go on to fulfil the Father’s purposes.

I remember listening to someone singing an old song, a while ago, and they misrepresented it on purpose, for an illustration. They proposed that the song “it’s all about You Jesus” would be more accurately portrayed if we actually sang “it’s all about ME Jesus.” See, we don’t actually say any of this stuff out loud, but ask yourself – is this the way I live from day to day?

How many times do I ask myself:  “what is it that YOU want Lord?” And then sadly we go off from our time with Him and drift away from the real answer, because life is too hard  … and after all Jesus knows what this life is really like, and … we are only human! Every single time we make a decision like that one, we are reducing the Kingdom of God into a one-stop supply shop!

He deserves better. Our service for His kingdom needs to be a joy. Laying down our lives is our privilege not a tough task we can barely manage. Think about this, Almighty God has waited over two thousand years for a people who will love Him enough to follow His ways no matter what the cost is personally. A people who will see His incredible love for them, and go on to live inspired lives, and return that kind of love back to Him. I think the Apostles … Paul, Peter, James and John etc. deeply understood that. They stopped living their lives for themselves and they went on to live and die to bring Him glory... and they considered that a privilege.

And this seems like a good place to leave this blog today … Bye … 👋🏻