Material things

P 2866 Priorities.

/ DVH

In the Beatitudes, Jesus may as well have said this: When your life is less than this world’s idea of successful, and filled up with the sort of things other people avoid — (don’t panic) — blessings from our Heavenly Father will still be coming toward you. He indicated that there are much bigger, more important things to look at – God’s kingdom.

Luke 6:20-23 “Looking at His disciples, He said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man, “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.”

The Lord is teaching us that some of the things we try desperately to avoid can spiritually be a good place;  because poverty or difficulties of any sort makes us aware of and desperate for His riches, the things that last.  His provisions, His Way of life. Now in the natural, we all avoid poverty. Maybe some of us actually think we are poor, but we have so much more than we have realised. Here’s that question thing I like to do. Do you have a bed to sleep on? Have you  food to eat? When it rains do you have a place you can shelter?Jesus is explaining that LACK is not the worst thing that can happen to us because it can open the door to His provisions, His kind of blessings.

For years and years my thoughts were more about what I didn’t have – and that definitely included the concept of being a “good Christian.” I was focussed on the negative. I didn’t think I was a very good parent. I fretted about whether I was making attractive, tasty nutritious meals for my family. Or making sure my washing, and my home, were clean because someone was bound to notice. I totally missed the main point! I had a home, I had washing, I had food, I had a bed etc. I had a family! I was already rich and I didn’t see it. I let the enemy steal away my blessings by letting him inflate the importance of other things.

It is obvious that many people all over this world don’t have the things we have — but let’s not stop there, because if we stop there we will be giving into guilt… Let’s move on and see that not having stuff is the very best place to be. Jesus just said that! He said LACK makes us eligible for greater things. No, I am not talking about a bigger better bed, or fancier food, or a fantastic car etc. I’m talking about every day lack as an opportunity to prioritise what is really important – spiritual fullness.

The quest for more can overwhelm what we already have. Knowing God personally, intimately, is the most important thing any of us will ever do in this life. It is what we are here for. I’m just going to let those remarks sit there so we can all think about them! 

God’s kingdom is ours when we are poor in spirit: EG. when we are hungry for the things that last, or reduced to tears about how pathetic our lives are, or saddened by our many attempts to somehow please God and gain His favour. It’s definitely sad – but we’ve missed the real reason – because in those moments we have forgotten we are rich! We already have His favour. We are kingdom dwellers, even we lack material things or when other people hate us – we are rich in the things that last.

Here’s my end thought today, Jesus repeated this theme again in Luke 10:41,42.: “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”The most important thing we will ever have, or participate in is His kingdom. We cannot be poor when we have Jesus in our lives. Our God is with us, and we are forever rich. Let’s check our priorities – Him first, last and always! Bye. 👋

P 2614 What are we asking for … ???

/ DVH

“For every persistent one will get what he asks for. Every persistent seeker will discover what he longs for. And everyone who knocks persistently will one day find an open door.” Matthew 7:8 TPT. And here’s the more generally known version: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” NIV.

I am pretty sure that these verses have not been taught, or expanded as widely as they can be –  I think they include many things other than material things. Meanwhile, I don’t think they are about fish, stones, bread or snakes either! I urge you to read around today’s text to explore what I am talking about – the bible says that a wise word is like “an apple of gold in a setting of silver.” Proverbs 25:11. Perhaps we are putting a bit too much focus on the APPLE, and not enough on the SETTING. We have translated what Jesus said into physical, tangible items, when I believe they have a much much wider application. 

Immediately above these verses about ‘asking, seeking and knocking,’ the Lord Jesus is talking about not judging others. He uses the illustration of logs and specks to show us how important it is to assess our personal attitudes and situations truthfully and clearly. Immediately after the ‘ask’ verses, He goes on to mention that we need to be careful not to give important, precious things to undeserving recipients. 

Speaking for myself, I love the wider application. I know I need His help when it comes to judging or trusting, or even changing my mind. I’m opinionated … like you didn’t guess that! 😶 So I need to be aware that my thought processes and words can lead me into judging others. Nowadays, I use that ask and keep on asking verse as my go-to ‘help help’ prayer for the many, many things that trip me up. There are moments in my life when I feel I am standing right at the edge of somewhere that I have absolutely no right to be — and I need to fling myself into reverse very quickly — otherwise I will end up going the wrong way – fast.

Today, again, 😊 I want to talk about reading the bible, because I think context is extremely important. It seems to me that Jesus through these verses, wants to stress that Father God longs to be active on our behalf – in all our lack and inadequacies. The Lord wants to help us. He knows we can bumble into the wrong attitudes and lose our God-given right to be a blessing to others. So right here I think the Lord is saying “Ask for the Grace you need. Maybe you need long-suffering, or patience, self-control, or some other fruit of the spirit. ASK!” We need to show the Lord we are serious about transformation by persisting.

My point is — I don’t think this verse is a grab-all handle to claim everything material we think we want or need, and use the Word of God as a battering ram to do it! Jesus goes on from this “asking verse” to talk about the fact that there is a narrow gate and a wide gate. He exhorts us to squeeze through the narrow gate so we will become one of the few that find it. None of that sounds like a lear jet, a yacht, or someone dripping in diamonds, or a 500 sq metre house to me! I’m not saying we can’t ask for those things, however, I am saying that these verses in this chapter are ALSO about attitudes, not just acquisitions. So we know that we can ask for His help when we are tempted to give in to our baser emotions. 

And what’s more the verses talk about being persistent when we ask for these spiritual graces. In other words, instead of dismissing our faults, or hiding them — we need to ask Him to help us with them. Imagine asking for deliverance from judgment, or help with our mingy attitudes. What a bonus that would be! Instead of throwing up our hands in despair, and letting fly with stuff nobody wants to hear… Why not take Jesus’ advice and persistently ask?

And one of those questions includes, where do we actually have the most need? Now if you have nowhere to live then pray away! I’m not saying these verses don’t mean what we think or hope they do, I just want to point out that they have a much wider application than we have managed to grasp so far! Instead of focussing on material things we need to focus on all the things we desperately need – perhaps we lack love toward someone?

Instead of living quiet lives of despair, because of our own nasty little ability to fly off the handle and yell at someone else, why not use this particular sword to get free? Like I’ve said before, the Holy Spirit has a million translations we have yet to find. Let’s not stop at the gimme one. Instead let’s move onto the transform me one, as well. “For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” That, BTW, is also three different ways to be spiritually blessed. Bye. 👋

P 2475 Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh.

/ DVH

Today I want to talk about the Wise men. They were travelling on camels from the East so they took sometime to arrive. Following a star slows you up a bit … there were those pesky clouds and all. Eventually they arrived at the house Mary, Joseph and Jesus were staying in. Some people call these men, the Magi. “And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary His mother, and they fell down and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered Him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.“  Matthew 2:11.  

Each of these unusual gifts apparently had a special meaning, and smarter people than me have written loads, and even books, about them. When I was reading this part of the bible and talking about it with the Lord, He asked me this question. “What would YOU want to give me for a gift?” My immediate response was – ‘me!!’ But you might want to think on this question for yourself. 

I don’t know if this ever happens to you, but there are times when I talk to Him when I feel like what I said was … well, Ok-ay, … but not what He was looking for! This was one of those times… so I pressed on … and I asked Him what did He mean by that question? Pressing, BTW, on is the way to go …trust me!! I exhort you, don’t give up, push on! In those moments you are on the edge of a fresh revelation of Who He is. Unless you suddenly remember you have to go shopping, or get going to work on the same train you always take. I urge you to just give Jesus a few more minutes. I truly believe one of the Lord’s love languages is time spent with Him.

Then He said this: “Those Wise men gave Me gold. Gold represents everything you own, your money etc. Have you given Me everything?”  I sat and thought about that. Gold represents material things. Have I given all the material things I have to Him? Plus I also think that Gold is also about future provision. Cars, houses, money in the bank, clothes etc. Is there anything that I am holding onto, or that I think I want or need? There are times that I’ve told myself:  ‘God doesn’t care about that stuff!’ So I asked Him if there was anything I had overlooked- just to be thorough.

Then, I realised if we lost this or that, I would probably grieve over it but the things around me actually don’t matter much. When you lose your health everything else kind of fades into insignificance! But, I do find it hard to let go of the people I love, because I haven’t learnt to trust Him as utterly as I would like to. Sometimes I don’t understand what He is doing. If my dear hubby or my kids or my friends get sick, or unhappy, I have to fight a rising sense of panic at times. So I spent some time praying over those things too.

Then He asked me: “What about frankincense?” That one took me a while and I did a bit of research. Frankincense is given to Kings because it is valuable. So, to me, this gift is about the Lord Jesus’ Kingship over my life. It has its significance when I believe God IS God, no matter what is going on around me, in my life, or in my heart. Frankincense is about trust. Is He Who He says He is, or are we all at the mercy of circumstances? Are we affected by our decisions, bad or good, especially the ones we’ve made carelessly. Even the ones we haven’t repented about. We had a long conversation about this one – I found big spaces between what I knew and what I believed. BTW, I think belief is something we act upon not just what we talk about.

The last thing the Wise men brought is myrrh. Myrrh is about anointing and priesthood. The Lord asked me if I thought I was faithful to Him as a part of His priesthood. Did I minister to Him out of duty, or was I inspired by love? I spent a while on this one too. Mainly because I did not know the answer! That’s the problem with head knowledge, it sometimes gets in the way of the heart’s true answer! I ended up with Ezekiel’s wisdom. “Only YOU know Lord.”  That’s when I remembered that true worship is presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice – holy and pleasing to Him. 

Lastly I want to say that every one of these three gifts has great value, as well as significance. These things weren’t some cheap baby toys these Wise men picked up at the supermarket on the way to Jesus’ house! Anything and everything we offer to Him is valuable to Him, not because of monetary value, but because of the personal cost. Jesus knows everything about personal cost!

I do not believe revelation is given to us just to tickle our ears and make us feel good about knowing something that nobody else does. Revelation is designed to challenge our own hearts, transform our minds, and lead to different attitudes and actions. Always remembering that ‘first He speaks, then after that, the opportunity to change my response will come along.’ I have given up thinking that what I imagine I will do, is what I will actually do – nobody knows what they will do when they are tested. 😶 

The Lord Jesus is a gentleman, He will not snatch things from us. We must give them, as willingly as we can. So today I want to ask you, what will you give Him? 👋🏻