Matthew

P3458 Limitless.

/ DVH

“But the fruit produced by the Holy Spirit within you is divine love in all its varied expressions: joy that overflows, peace that subdues, patience that endures, kindness in action, a life full of virtue, faith that prevails, gentleness of heart, and strength of spirit. Never set the law above these qualities, for they are meant to be limitless.” Galatians 5:22-23 TPT.

Ages ago, I watched a TV show called “Limitless,” it was about an ordinary guy who took some new drug or other, and suddenly he was using all of his brain instead of 10% of it. My thought was: ‘I hope this never happens! Sadly most of us are already driven around day after day, by performance!” However, that show proved to me that people long to be bigger and more useful than they are, but self-effort provides us with a relentless boss. Performance is a sterile tree, it produces nothing sweet, tasty or lasting, except a whole lot of angst, and indignation. It is so easy to think to ourselves: ‘I’ve worked hard on that, where’s the fruit from it?”

The Holy Spirit on the other hand, is a brilliant gardener, He cuts off unproductive attitudes and actions. Plus He helps us when we allow Him to lead, and He produces all that spiritual stuff listed above, in us. Sometimes I think we miss the meaning of what the Lord is saying because the language is so foreign to us in today’s world. I think we can easily get stuck on ‘near enough is good enough’ – and that won’t last! 

The Holy Spirit produces this fruit within us. Who does it? HE does. The things most of us produce in a lifetime, aren’t worth all the effort to keep it, realistically speaking. Where I live, even our house isn’t much of an inheritance after the government sends it’s locusts in. As you get older you start to think about leaving behind a lasting inheritance, not money, or things, but a spiritual inheritance. 

That’s what that long list of people who were in Jesus’ lineage in Matthew and Luke is all about. I call them the “begat” people. They had kids who had kids, who had kids etc… you get it. There were generations of them and their forbears were important to them. Genealogy was a big deal, stuff was passed on down through the family, because recording stuff the way we do was not available, and not as useful as Great Grandma Mary’s antique dining room table!

This is where bearing fruit comes in – a solid strong tree will produce good fruit. Actually, if there is no fruit, the tree it is called a barren tree. Jesus talks about that in Luke 13:6-9. “And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”

A tree’s purpose is to bear fruit. Plain and simple. However I love the way the gardener pleads on behalf of a mere tree to give it another chance. This man will have invested time and energy in that fig tree, with fertilising, watering it, and giving it a whole lot of care when it was just a sapling. This parable reminds me of the tender care the Holy Spirit gives each one of us. Nurturing, correcting, leading us, pruning us and guiding us – all that with the promise of His good fruit appearing and coming into fruition in our lives.  

My point is this:  do we have any fruit on the ‘tree’ of our lives? Have we matured enough in the things of the kingdom of heaven to grow any fruit? Fruit benefits other people not the tree. So if we have fruit, is that fruit better tasting, longer lasting and more evident than it has been in previous years?That’s a good question to ask the Lord – “are YOU happy with the production of the fruit of Your Spirit in my life?” We can’t afford to forget that the gardener has been giving our tree His own attention, watching over it. He knows us well enough to ask for a further chance and a bit of time and help so we can grow up into what we were planted for. 

Let’s not be fooled, we will do many things for Jesus’ sake in our spiritual lifetime, but the fruit of the Spirit is proof of His work in us. Our work for the Lord’s kingdom won’t produce anything edible if all we do is work for Him in this natural world. We need His spiritual fruit in our lives. It’s the fruit that other people need to “taste and see that the Lord is good.” All the talk in the world cannot produce God’s fruit. All talk does is put more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere! We need to submit to His ways so the Lord Himself can produce the kind of fruit in our lives that people only dream about. 

Let’s remember that “…divine love in all its varied expressions: joy that overflows, peace that subdues, patience that endures, kindness in action, a life full of virtue, faith that prevails, gentleness of heart, and strength of spirit …” is what that fruit looks like. That kind of fruit is limitless, a healthy fruit-laden tree is a wonderful legacy for anyone. Bye. 👋

P 3416 Do you — everyone else is taken.

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The Lord has given us a brilliant tool – the bible – to help us to tighten up this screw of doctrine that may be loose, and that bolt of our creed that rusted out or needs replacing. That’s what the bible is for — transformation. It’s been given to us to encourage us day by day, and to correct our course when we wander off chasing random butterflies. The Lord “.. knows the plans He has for YOU, plans to give you a hope and a future …”

Jesus Christ, the Living Word, came to earth and died for each one of us. At the same time I know that Jesus is still continuing to speak, through ordinary vessels in His body. What HE says is important, not the vessel. We must stop putting pressure on our leaders by expecting perfection from them when we haven’t even achieved it for ourselves! Remember, what you and I know about Jesus, personally, is our testimony, and I don’t have your testimony! Neither of us need to be eloquent, we just need to be truthful. His Word is indestructible and more stable than the earth we stand on. My words won’t last one nano-second, but His Word stands forever. 

Personally, I believe that we will still be reading the bible in heaven. Why? Because it tells real stories of His love for us, and lovers love to hear things about each other. My faith is not in me, it is not in you — it is not in some famous brother or sister in the Lord who, praise God, reaches thousands of people. My faith is in the living written Word of God, the Living Word Himself, Jesus Christ! The Holy One. The Righteous One. Whatever He says is true.

The Lord Jesus saw the people around Him clearly, and He went right to the heart of the matter in their lives. He didn’t even have to try.  Love just flowed out of Christ like water. … Until one terrible wonderful day they pierced His side and then water flowed out onto, and into, this earth. God’s Word can teach us, you and I, how to see Him through our own renewed grateful, worshipful eyes. Here’s what Paul saw in Ephesians 3:9-11.

“Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to His eternal purpose that He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Paul knew that Jesus had so much life in Him that one man was never going to be able to describe the Lord completely. So we have Luke, Mark, Matthew, John, Peter, James, John and Jude to help us. They are inspired by the Holy Spirit Who knows Jesus and our Heavenly Father personally. We can excuse our lack of sharing what we personally know about the Lord with others, by saying things like: “I’m not as eloquent as Paul ..” Who is??

The thing is, unless we choose to be someone who walks with Him, we will miss the blessing of holding the Holy Spirit’s hand and walking into brand new, and sometimes scary territory, but we will be taking that territory back for Christ. We are not just witnesses to what happened to Jesus, we are witnesses to what happened after He left this world! What He has done in your life and mine. 

We can’t beat any kind of fear by avoiding the things we are afraid of … we beat fear by facing it and doing whatever it is anyway.  And the glory of this whole administration of gifts is the Holy Spirit knows exactly how you should minister your gift. Someone else can point you in the right direction, but because the Lord knows you, inside and out, He knows how to walk you through truthfully witnessing and sharing His love with others.

God’s Word has millions of applications, and sadly, most of them are still hidden because the church just keeps right on copying the people we greatly admire. But everybody has something to contribute! Hubby recently kicked his toe on a skirting board at our house and he limped for ages. It hurt! He has nine other toes that didn’t hurt but when that one little toe met the skirting board it jumped up and down and made every other cell in his body aware that it was ‘not happy Jan!”

This is why I say: ‘don’t follow me, you’ll end up in a ditch.’ We can follow someone else the way they follow the Lord, but that is meant to lead to us into a bigger place, where we learn to be ourselves-in-Christ. This world doesn’t need clones, it needs real, truthful, testifying people. The Apostle Peter was very outspoken, yet you don’t hear a peep out of James, son of Alphaeus, who was also a faithful disciple – and one of the twelve. Yeah I didn’t know him either until I looked him up!

We have this incredible kaleidoscope of colour available to us and yet we keep painting Christ in monochromatic ways as we seek to influence this world around us. Let’s stop narrowing other people’s view of Him. Be the ‘you’ Christ meant you to be, sincerely walk with Him, and stay open to being transformed by being near Him. Do YOU! Someone else needs to hear you talk about HIM. Bye.👋.

P3381 The Needy ones!   

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“Jesus told them, “Go back and tell John what’s going on: The blind see, The lame walk, Lepers are cleansed, The deaf hear, The dead are raised, The wretched of the earth learn that God is on their side. “Is this what you were expecting? Then count yourselves most blessed!” Matthew 11:4-6. In the Good News version the last verse reads like this: ‘How happy are those who have no doubts about Me!”

I found this verse yesterday, when I was reading in Matthew. Jesus is reassuring John, who is nearly at the end of his ministry, that GOD HIMSELF IS NOW IN THE HOUSE!! Wow! You gotta love the sweetness of that. John can now go on into glory because his job is done. SomeOne else has come to totally fulfil and complete the foundation of repentance and transformation John laid. This man John had lived a solitary, straightened life and at the end of it, he pointed out and spoke about Jesus. Our Saviour has appeared, and He is preaching healing, deliverance, freedom and salvation for all. Even the most miserable among us. 

Jesus shows great compassion when He talks about the healing and restoration work that has already begun. Then He adds this wonderful sentence: “The wretched of the earth learn that God is on their side.”  That means so much to me. I love that the sick are healed, that is fantastic. Me too, please! But I’ve felt wretched, cast away, talked about behind my back, passed over, despised and ignored … even by members of my own family. It took me years to realise that I didn’t have to live with shame anymore. This verse reminds me that God is on the side of those people that the rest of the world would like to pretend don’t exist. 

I imagine that there are a lot of people reading this that have experienced incredibly difficult things, and for many of you it has been far worse than I can bear thinking about. But right now, let’s stop to look at John, who had been so brave, so heroic, so dedicated to God’s purpose that it affected the way he lived his life. Now, at the end of his time, he needed reassurance. It illustrates this man’s humanity, and God’s Grace toward him.

It is an interesting fact that no matter how spiritual someone looks, life can savagely kick them, and they don’t always deserve what they get. Some people have been severely persecuted for speaking truth, just like John! Some have called out sin where and when they saw it. What a blessing this little conversation is for all of us! Our Loving Heavenly Father overlooks no-one, even at the end of our earthly lives.

Meanwhile, for your information: wretched means … deeply afflicted, dejected, or distressed in body or mind: extremely or deplorably bad or distressing; in exile, a despised person. That sounds a bit like John’s life. Today, that’s what I briefly want to talk about. There are precious people all around us that this world wants to throw away. Plus the ones who have fallen so far down a hole they can no longer look up and see the light — they are too bowed down, and full of rejection and despair. Jesus dearly loves them, and God is on their side.

We are blessed to live on this side of Calvary and know that our sins were all thrashed into and onto Jesus’ body, soul and spirit, as He died a despised sinner’s death for us. He was our totally pure and innocent Saviour, Who practiced love wherever He went. Jesus didn’t deserve that punishment that was meted out on Him. But let’s never forget that Calvary was also a heavenly transaction. Everything Jesus did had an effect upon this world, and the next.

He didn’t just come to die for our sins … … thank God that He did that! He came to show us, in Person, what God’s Kingdom is supposed to look like. What it looks like right now where He is. We are His people. The people who re-present Him. A representative generally refers to something, or someone that acts on behalf of others, or serves as a typical example of a larger group. We are His people and we know our Saviour – we are here to do great exploits for His sake. That means we will see miracles, but it can also mean loving those who don’t, won’t, or can’t love us back!

You and I have been appointed by Jesus to be His hands and feet, and we have the honour of bringing our Father’s incredible love to one person at a time, as He leads us. We carry that love with us to the desperate, the lonely, the forsaken, the wretched ones of this world. Personally, I think we could find these people in the most peculiar places! In palaces, governments, offices, digging ditches, in prison, begging for food and water, stealing from others … many are in our schools. The people who have no hope. Some are quite obviously wretched, others have their pain and suffering well-hidden by bright fake smiles. Many people hide because otherwise their shame, or even their heartache can be seen.

Yet, like John, they are not only loved by our God, they are to be commended for surviving things we can’t even bear to think about. This world thinks it is terrible to be called wretched — but today I realised it is a beautiful thing. God dearly loves the wretched, the sick, the sinners, the lost, the unlovely, the silently suffering ones, THE NEEDY ONES … and He is on everyone’s side. Man is that a great sentence! Bye. 👋

P3377 Psalm 54:1-7, and Matthew.   

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“Save me, O God, by Your name; And vindicate me by Your [wondrous] power. Hear my prayer, O God; Listen to the words of my mouth. For strangers have risen against me. And violent men have sought my life; They have not set God before them. Selah. Behold, God is my helper and ally; The Lord is the sustainer of my soul [my upholder]. He will pay back the evil to my enemies; In Your faithfulness destroy them. With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to You; I will give thanks and praise Your name, O Lord, for it is good. For He has rescued me from every trouble, And my eye has looked with satisfaction (triumph) on my enemies.”

Psalms like this one make me smile. David is saying: “Git ‘em God! Git ‘em good!” Yet his confidence in the Lord’s timing stands out like a beacon. The Heir apparent, God’s anointed, approved and appointed King, David, was constantly on the run from King Saul, the reigning King. It was a long time after this that David prayed this Psalm that God Himself gave David two opportunities to take Saul OUT! He could have killed Saul twice, but… he… didn’t! (1 Samuel 24 – the cave in En Gedi and 1 Samuel 26 – the camp in Ziph.)

This shows us that an apparent opportunity, does not mean it is God’s intention for something to happen! King David had a heart toward God and he knew God’s Ways. I think He wanted what God wanted, over and above what he personally wanted or thought he needed. He spent somewhere between 7 to 13 years running and hiding all over the country-side from King Saul. 

Even as a much younger man, David proved himself to be brave, so his refusal to kill Saul was not cowardice. On the contrary his reverential respect for His Heavenly Father, meant David simply refused to touch the Lord’s anointed. The strangers he is talking about in Psalm 54 that want to kill him, could have easily been mercenaries sent by SAUL. 

The Lord always has a better plan than you and I. But His plans can be long-range. Sadly we can often only see to the end of our own noses, and we want instant relief from difficulties, not transformation. Change takes time, and we can grow ‘weary in the well-doing.’ Adjusting how we respond, plus co-operating with the Lord, can give us a brand new perspective. That answer is continually on the cards for our lives. This is why we need His guidance to get us through the time in between.

There are times when it looks like God is not answering our agonised, tearful and despairing prayers. We may feel overlooked – it seems like He has thrown us to the wolves and gone on holidays. This is the best time to hold fast to the FACT that He is always good and He ALWAYS has a bigger plan. Our part in that plan is to hold onto Him and believe He will get us through whatever is going on. That is not easy! Saul went for the immediate answer, kill the guy who is your opponent. But David let God Himself deal with the problem. We have to learn to take the Lord at His Word, grab His hand and hold on.

This brings me to my second scripture – where God is at work in a different way. Our faith in the Lord’s goodness is the only viable life raft in a stormy sea. Let’s look at what happened to Peter after he began to sink into the water, as he was walking on it. This verse shows us God’s goodness in the land of the living … or the-almost-drowning!  In Matthew 14:22,23 – it seems like the Lord is scolding Peter – yet this man’s doubt and fear seem perfectly natural.

In the Living Bible it says this: “Instantly Jesus reached out His hand and rescued him. “O man of little faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt ME?” That little word ME is so valuable!! I can almost hear the Lord saying: “Do you think I would let you drown to teach you a lesson?” Then the Lord put Peter safely back in the boat because that is what Jesus is like. We can all act like Peter at one time or another, we too can become suddenly suspicious of Jesus’ motivation toward us, and we look around us to see if there is anything else there that can help us to cope. Sadly, the things around us cannot help us! Let’s press in and show our faith in Who Jesus is and honour His goodness, instead.

Whenever we stop and turn to face the wind and the waves, we are simultaneously taking our eyes off the Answer. Jesus is our Answer. Peter teaches us that crying out when you are afraid you are going under, isn’t dumb, it’s what we need to do. The man’s faith just needed to grow and mature beyond his hope of adventure. And King David teaches us that God always has a plan, but it may not always suit us or line up with our timing.

Sometimes OUR idea of faith is way beyond what we can actually manage to do, and at other times we can stretch further than we think we can. Failure is not an option with the Lord. He will deal with our enemies, and/or save us from our own decisions. He will always get each one of us back to a safe place…because that is what LOVE looks like. Psalm 54 and Matthew teach us that. Bye. 👋

P 3102 Memories are important.

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I was remembering the days of early motherhood just recently, and that sparked off some thoughts that gave me fresh insight into what we call Holy Communion. First, let’s look at what the bible says in Luke 22:19-20.

“And He (Jesus) took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”

This is the last meal the Lord and the disciples were to share together, before Jesus’ crucifixion. These men were more than just dear friends and disciples to Jesus, they were His family, and He knew that what was about to happen would devastate them. One of their number, would betray Him. In the end, of course, they all ran away, and then something unimaginably worse transpired. But even though everything that happened was necessary, if you read all three accounts of this incident in Matthew, Mark and Luke, you can see Jesus wanted to prepare these men to cope with what what was ahead, when He would no longer be with them. 

The bottom was about to fall out of their happy little world, even as they were sitting round the food together, sharing, talking, laughing and enjoying each other’s company. After they had finished their meal, Jesus took bread and a cup of wine and began to teach them. We have all heard this preached on many times, especially right before we take communion together – but this time I saw something that I wanted to share here today because these verses reminded me of my own past.

When my kids were quite little, the church we attended had annual weekends away for the women who came to our church. These were sweet spiritual times, with teaching and prayer and fellowship and a time for all the women to relax together. But it also meant that everyone’s kids were left at home with their fathers. I felt so guilty about leaving my kids, because I did not want them to feel deserted by me. Plus I wanted them to know I loved them! So before I left, I cooked all the food that would be needed, plus special treats, and I bought each child a stuffed toy to remind them – ‘Mummy loves you.’ I left the toy on each of their beds so they would find it at bedtime, when little kids sometimes get a bit uncertain about things.

So, let’s go back to the scripture in Luke because I do have a point! Even after the crucifixion, and the resurrection, for everything to be accomplished in the Father’s plan, Jesus had to return to heaven. The disciples were looking at Him when it happened – they watched Him go! And suddenly they were alone. I thought about the time between His Ascension and Pentecost and realised how hard that the length of time would have been for them. The promised Holy Spirit had not come yet, and they were all virtually holding their collective breaths for what ever was going to happen next.

Today, we remember Jesus from the perspective of hindsight – we’ve read the end of the story! This means we see His death and resurrection, and ascension from a distance. It is our history, but for them it was present and acute. When we talk about time retrospectively, that amount of time doesn’t seem very long, but those disciples were afraid, and they huddled together praying in an Upper room – not knowing what came next. They only knew to wait together, because the Lord had told them to wait.

That’s when I realised that the Lord had given them something concrete TO DO to remember Him. It was not just about them being sad, solemn and serious …it was also about them remembering being with Him, walking, talking, laughing, eating meals, going to the temple together. Those thoughts were to comfort them. It was a way they could reassure themselves in any time of doubt, pain, discomfort, and grief. They had lost their dear Friend and Master — their beloved One, the One Who utterly changed their lives. And just like we might look at a photo of a loved one who has died, Jesus gave them something concrete to do to remind themselves of all they had seen and done with Him. 

We all know that taking communion together is a spiritual blessing. It is a time of family fellowship and intimacy with the Lord and each other, where we give thanks for all He did for us. But just like those toys on my kid’s beds when I was absent from them – the disciples had been given something visible to hold onto, to remind themselves, in the middle of their loss, of how much He loved them. Any time they wanted to remember their lives together, they could take bread, and wine and give thanks and remember Him and all He did for them.

My thoughts about communion have been stretched a little, because I can do even more than simply remember, and thank the Lord for dying in my place. Now, I can remember we met together this morning. Just yesterday He showed me something that helped me with my life. I can remember the relationship we share. Not as a past event, but a present reminder of how good He is to us, every single day. Sometimes it is the little personal memories that get us through our difficulties. Bless you. 👋 

P 3065 Fruitless trees.

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Our mango tree is a much discussed tree on this blog. Initially, it produced no fruit – but then the tree started to produce little nubs that had …potential!!…Then they fell off. Sigh. I’ve learnt a lot about personal fruit production in my own life by watching the progress of that darn tree. 

Here’s my thoughts. Some fruit trees can take a while to fruit. And some trees have no fruit because the tree is not mature enough to produce and sustain any! Fig trees, for instance, can take 2-3 years to get into fruit production. Let’s look at fruit production from a real fig tree: “…fig trees typically produce leaves before they produce fruit. They have a cycle where they first develop leaves in the spring, and then the fruit develops on the new growth or on the previous year’s growth depending on the fig variety and climate.”

The scripture below appears in Matthew and Mark. PS:always take note of something in the gospels that is written up twice. Here we go: Mark 11:12-14: “The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to find out if it had any fruit. When He reached it, He found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then He said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And His disciples heard Him say it.“

You know, this scripture bothered me! Why did Jesus curse that tree? That thing died because He cursed it. This whole incident kind of seemed a bit petty, and irrelevant. And yet it was included twice, so it obviously needs prayer and Holy Spirit-inspired insight!  After all there was no McDonald’s on every corner back then in Jerusalem, so that lack meant no breakfast!

Here’s what I came up with: ‘If Jesus cursed that fig tree because it had no fruit, then I’d better make growing fruit a priority!” That improved my prayer life! I realised that the fig tree in this incident is a lot like some of our churches. All show and no go! We can have lots of leaves — singing, dancing, arm waving, kneeling, sermons etc. – but when you lift the leaves – where is the fruit? Our God’s-kind of fruit is people getting saved, healed, delivered and transformed. Where has that fruit gone? 

I want to take a quick look a those little nubs that look like fruit is coming, or the tree that produces fruit that looks soo-oo good … yet at the first sign of a change in the weather… it all falls off. I think this happens quite a lot in our churches too. Pastors, ministers etc. see someone in their congregation who look like they have loads of potential. But this person’s immaturity makes them a target for the enemy to come in, steal, and destroy, or even just nibble away at those gifts. So, should we throw away all that potential because of an immature faith? Maybe the little potential tree needs to go back into the greenhouse for some specialist attention.

Now let’s go to the optimum fruit tree situation — that is, we get fruit in all its perfection and glory. And you and I get to stuff ourselves with the results. In my little allegory, this means we are in church whenever the doors open, and we only leave because it’s morning! With truly wonderful fruit, the colour, smell and taste are fabulous, intoxicating! You have so much to enjoy, you can happily share with others and give lots away! So we advertise revivals, healings etc. to attract people to the church. We recognise the fruit of His Presence with us – but we fail to prioritise growth! The Holy Spirit’s power is with us to transform lives, not just make us feel good!

So then the thief comes — in my mango tree’s case he comes in the form of fluffy grey possums and imported minas — comes pecking at the fruit destroying its eating value. The beautiful fruit has munch marks all over it. Nasty little holes made by nasty little beasties and beaks!! I think this can happen when God’s people begin to revert to type, and they start pecking at what God Himself is doing.‘ This fruit is too big, too small, the wrong sort of fruit, not ripe enough’ and criticism begins to flourish. All that stuff happened to Israel. Read the book!… 

Eventually the church becomes divided and opinionated. And instead of Almighty God getting all the glory for the wonderful things He is doing, now nasty, spiteful remarks start eating away at the roots of His church. The real point is that everyone is so busy enjoying what God is currently doing, they become lax and careless about what they are saying – instead of maintaining the fire on the altar. 

I’m no horticulturist but it seems to me that any kind of fruit on a tree depends on new growth. Fruit comes from new growth. So if our churches aren’t growing … and I don’t mean numerically! I mean that each one of the members are actively choosing, day by day, to grow up into Christ’s likeness, instead of coasting along…  Then maybe that’s a reason why our fruit production has disappeared. 

Having fruitless trees is not a good witness to the world around us. Our churches need to prioritise personal growth and not just fantastic experiences. We want our little potential-filled trees to survive and thrive.  Bye 👋

P 2949 Only follow Jesus.

/ DVH

Feel free to show me one place in the bible where God ever blessed a theory. Yet in today’s Christianity – we follow people’s theories all over the place! That is the sin of the Israelites … they wanted a god they could understand and describe, and so they made a statue. At one time Almighty God allowed Himself to be resident within a box … but no box can contain Him.

The Universe cannot contain OUR GOD …  it is still expanding!! Almighty God is so generous to so many ordinary human beings. He gives one of His choice servants a revelation and we immediately embrace it, because brother or sister everybody-knows-their-name said so … and we know that they hear from God … so they must be right! Now we start following a teeny tiny little sliver of all the possible knowledge about Him, instead of the Great and Mighty God we serve. Could we please try to remember that Gideon ended up serving up an ephod and the Israelites worshipped that? We must stop making pronouncements about Him, and go back to wonder and amazement. 

People get so excited, we have bookstores full of things that our generous God has taught the authors. That’s why there are like 195 books on forgiveness, and most of what is in each one of them is different. When we catch a glimpse of Who He is, now we think we know how to describe Him! We are like blind men trying to describe an elephant, each of them from a different vantage point. Good luck with agreeing on that! The thing that we don’t seem to understand is that each of these precious revelations are just a splinter of Who He actually is. That splinter may be truth, but it is NOT all of WHO HE IS. 

Our God is eternal! It will take eternity to even just begin to understand Him. His character, His beauty, His glory…. sigh…When I think about Him I run out of words, really quickly. Language cannot contain Him. Maybe that’s why He gave us tongues in the first place! Because of His Grace, He has chosen to contain Who He is within a book. The bible. The bible is like a compendium, every word in it leads to even more revelation. It  is not just a book, instead it opens our eyes to Who He is – over and over again. The Holy Spirit once changed my life by highlighting the word “let.” 

We were reading the Word together one day and the Holy Spirit asked me:  “Why do you skip over the little words? The bible is not about speed reading. I’ve told you clearly in Matthew 4:4: “…Jesus replied, “It is written and forever remains written,‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by EVERY word that comes out of the mouth of God.” “Do you think everything God has ever said is recorded in His book? What about His conversations with Moses or Abraham or what He said to His dear Son Jesus, when They spent time together?”  

You know, that was the day I finally found some wisdom, and I shut my mouth and listened instead! I learnt that the bible is a trillion, billion, gazillion books, in just one paragraph! The Holy Spirit isn’t just wise – He IS Wisdom, Personified. Forget all the terribly clever men and women you’ve ever seen in writing or heard speaking — they can only tell you what they’ve seen… the things that He told them. I’d like to say that I saw Him as He looked at me when our conversation came to an end — but I didn’t see a Person – I saw nothing. But something inside me expanded, as He whispered: “BIGGER STILL…”

Trying to decipher God’s ways by reading all the books in a bookshop is like trying to empty all the oceans, a teaspoon at a time! Good luck with that! I’ve read the bible so many times I know some bits off by heart, yet I didn’t memorise them. They became part of me as I learnt to act on what it said. You can’t tell me God is not generous … I KNOW He is. However, I’m pretty much a dud at believing for healing, my worldly experiences have outweighed my faith so much that disappointment grabbed me by the throat and tried to drag me under. I don’t expect to stay there – my faith is in Him and I know He is a healer.

Our God is so good … “A broken reed He will not break [off] And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish [He will not harm those who are weak and suffering]; He will faithfully bring forth justice.” Isaiah 42:3. My faith is right there, with Isaiah, in His Character. I know He’s good.

This is why I encourage people to not only read, or listen to what Jesus has said, in the bible, but to DO it. Even after the Lord Jesus left us, He kept on talking through Peter, John, Luke, Matthew, and Paul – so when I’m reading the Epistles I hear Him. Jesus’ advice to each one of us is this … and His own mother, Mary, said it: “Whatever He says to you, DO IT.” The subject or size of the miracle does not matter. This was the miracle of water into wine, something utterly irrelevant. That shows us that He will bend the rules for the ones He loves. It was not His time — but He did it anyway. 💕 

Studying the bible is not like studying science. First of all, we have our own Personal Tutor, and in the Gospels, we have God’s only Son as our human, physical example of how to walk with God Himself. Follow Jesus — most of the New Testament was written by the few men who did. Bye. 👋

P 2826 Anybody can choose to come.

/ DVH

Luke 2:8-20 “And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; He is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Matthew 2:9-12: ”After the Wise Men had listened to the king, they went on their way. The star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them. It finally stopped over the place where the Child was. When they saw the star, they were filled with joy. The Wise Men went to the house. There they saw the Child with His mother Mary. They bowed down and worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasures. They gave Him gold, frankincense and myrrh. But God warned them in a dream not to go back to Herod. So they returned to their country on a different road.”

Matthew 2:3-5a “When King Herod heard about it, he was very upset. Everyone in Jerusalem was troubled too. So Herod called together all the chief priests of the people. He also called the teachers of the law. He asked them where the Messiah was going to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied.“

I wanted to give three different examples from the bible today of 3 different types of people that sought out the Christ child shortly after His birth. Let’s look at them one at a time… 

First – the local shepherds going about their normal routine. They were doing what they had always done, day after day. I call this group … the smelly people. Not many bathrooms out in those hills, and no shower stalls either! These men lived their lives outside the camp, providing for those who lived inside the cities. 

“What was life like for shepherds in Jesus’ time? They were in daily contact with dirty, smelly sheep, their manure, their blood from cuts and scrapes, and the insects that buzzed around them. All of this meant that shepherds were almost never clean enough to worship with God’s people in God’s presence. So they were generally treated as outsiders.” (Google) The very first people outside of Mary and Joseph, that were chosen by God to worship His Son were unacceptable by their society’s standards. That makes me think! How about you?

Group number two: the kings! Or astrologers, depending on which interpretation you look up. Personally I think a king can also be an astrologer. These three very rich, brilliant men were most probably Gentiles and unbelievers, they were the intellectuals of their day –  they may have been Persian. Matthew 2:1-2.“Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judæa in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is He that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen His star in the east, and are come to worship Him.”

These Magi are powerful, but little-known strangers. They were so important, and so unusual, that King Herod himself heard that they were in his area and he sent for them. Their gifts for the Baby were not just prophetic, but extravagant. And yet these important, learned men were prepared to lower themselves, and go to a little house on an ordinary little street to find Jesus, the newborn King, and worship Him. They came to worship an infant.

“The Magi recognized God’s special presence in the baby Jesus. Astrologers like the Magi believed that a special or unique star (like a comet or meteor shower) in the sky was a sign that a Special Person with special significance in history was being born.”. (Google… again!) These men didn’t smell bad, their clothes were refined and beautiful, instead they smelled of spices and perfumes, and they rode everywhere. Most people in those days had to walk. 

Last of all came King Herod. He obviously believed the prophecies the Magi gave him, he knew what he was doing , otherwise why would he have ordered the death of so many tiny male children? Matthew 2:16: “When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.” 

This man was powerful, but he was threatened byan infant, yet he already had everything that most people would have dreamt about! He was chosen to be in that powerful position by Rome, and that meant he had whatever he wanted, when he wanted it. A palace with servants, fine clothes, perfumes, baths, great food and wine … Plus he had a powerful place in the community. But his response to Jesus, was to kill Him, because he saw the little baby as a challenger to his authority under Rome. Herod could have chosen to protect this child, instead he chose to try to destroy Him. I think that this was his opportunity to bend his knee, and he chose to oppose God. 

Three different groups of people, three different responses.  Right from the beginning, at the birth of Jesus – anybody could come to worship Him. Some travelled a few miles, others travelled for days, and one never left his throne but he was told too! Here we have three different responses to the King of heaven and we see what Jesus Himself taught us:  the poor are welcome, the rich must bow their knee … and the proud are doomed … unless they repent.

God has room for everyone at the cross – the choice is always ours. Everybody deserves to hear, no matter how they choose to respond.“The [Holy] Spirit and the bride (the church, believers) say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take and drink the water of life without cost.” Revelation 22:17. 👋

P 2818 More Treasure … Part 2.

/ DVH

“Jesus answered him, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with every passion of your heart, with all the energy of your being, and with every thought that is within you.’ This is the great and supreme commandment. And the second is like it in importance: ‘You must love your friend in the same way you love yourself.’”Matthew 22:37-39 TPT.

Let’s put this verse in context. An expert in the law went to speak with Jesus. This man was a serious God-fearing sort of man – but his ultimate aim was to test the Lord’s right to claim who He said He was and do what He was doing. Chapter 23 of Matthew shows Jesus interacting with the religious leaders of the day. These men regarded themselves as the keepers of the true faith, so they stood against anything that appeared to be new. They took their faith very seriously.

We need to remember that Jewish people, even today, are living the way they do to please God and they’ve been living this way for centuries! I found that they have 613 commandments in their faith, and these precious people do their best to obey them … to the letter of the law. That’s devotion. I am not going to comment on what I think about the way they live, I simply want to point out that Jesus took all those commandments from that time, and summed them up in TWO.

It must be very clear to anyone reading this blog that I am not an expert in these matters, as a matter of fact I have no information about what laws were current in those days, I just simply want to say this – I guarantee you that what Christ said — covered them all!  Please do note, that the Lord said the second commandment He gave was like the first. This is my point today, He gave that second commandment weight and importance by what He said in that moment. 

I wanted to write about heavenly treasures today, because I think it is an error to push our families, or the even people around us to one side, and simply say: “I’m going after God first.” Paul himself said we’d be better off not married because marriage produces divided loyalties! When we go after God we may be doing our best to obey the first commandment, but if we are not careful we could be going after the letter of the law – but not what is at its heart. Using the bible to prove any point is like using God’s word as a sledgehammer. His Word is like pure clean water and soap – it is not an implement to bash people. Remember, at the heart of God’s law is always LOVE. And we have a great checklist in 1 Corinthians 13 – so we know what love looks like, and what the Lord Himself is looking for! 

I said all that to explain that we can’t use obeying God as an excuse to dodge our responsibilities. EG: If your kid has blood pouring out somewhere then that kid needs to be your priority. Nor can we gloss over our responsibilities as a spouse or a parent, by making prayer meetings, etc. more important than they are. We cannot let rules discount genuine human needs. And yes, that means we must ask the Holy Spirit to help us …all the time. Sometimes, we may even need to protect our spouse from themselves, because they may say, in a spirit of co-operation … even though they are ill: “I’m OK really – you go.” Think about this subject like this, who on earth can compete with this statement: ‘God told me.’ (??)

I like that word ‘neighbour’ better than ‘friend’ and in some versions it says ‘neighbour.” You can choose your friends, but you can get stuck with your neighbours. Obviously, one of those two things will test us more! And now might be a good time to remember that the word ‘love’ is a verb not a noun! Love looks like something. It looks like food to the hungry. Being included to the lonely. Comfort for the grieving. Undeserved kindness. Love doesn’t have to constantly look after itself because the Lord watches over those who live in Love.

Love also looks like a listening ear, and a big box of tissues to the heartbroken. We must learn to treat people as valuable, because no matter how broken they are – they are incredibly valuable to Him. We don’t get to choose who God will love and redeem … that’s His job! Jesus put a price on mankind that was extraordinary – we are worth His life! His choice increased every single human being’s value.

Faith is personal. That means somebody else can’t give it to you, all they can do is give you an opportunity to embrace it. Everybody around us, on the bus, in the shops, at the beach, at school, at work – every single person is a  treasure to God.  That’s why Jesus emphasised loving our neighbour like ourselves. And I think that’s why He told the story of the Good Samaritan … but that’s for another day. Bye. 👋


“If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates (works against) his [Christian] brother he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.” 1 John 4:20.

P 2674 Yeast.

/ DVH

“Then He (Jesus) taught them another parable: “Heaven’s kingdom can be compared to yeast that a woman takes and blends into three measures of flour and then waits until all the dough rises.””Matthew 13:33 TPT.

“Later, as Jesus and His disciples crossed over to the other side of Lake Galilee, the disciples realised they had forgotten to bring any loaves of bread. Jesus spoke up and said, “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” Thinking Jesus was scolding them over not bringing bread, they began to discuss it among themselves. 

Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said to them, “You have such little faith! Why are you arguing with one another about having no bread? Are you so slow to understand? Have you forgotten the miracle of feeding the five thousand families and how each of you ended up with a basket full of fragments? And how seven loaves of bread fed four thousand families with baskets left over? Don’t you understand? I’m not talking about bread, but I’m warning you to avoid the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” Then finally they realized He wasn’t talking about yeast found in bread, but the error of the teachings of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” Matthew 16:5-12 TPT.

Years and years ago, when I was in my late twenties, I decided to make my own bread. In those days bread making was not popular, nor was it an easy task! No bread making machines back then …the baker was the bread making machine!!  Like most mothers of three young kids, I was looking to save money anyway I could, and so I had the brilliant idea that if I made my own bread it would be healthier and save money – all at the same time. Win, win!

Boy was that a growing edge! Back then dried yeast was not what it has since become … it had only just arrived on the market. So I spent a whole lot of time writing back and forth to the manufacturers and distributors, explaining my struggle with their recipes, because their product was not all that good or even greatly effective. 

Bread making occupied an extremely tiny niche back then, but I am convinced my perseverance in complaining about that yeast product, made all the difference … eventually! Thank the Lord. My poor kids daily ate all sorts of not wonderful bread – which they privately called “lead bread.” (The little darlings!) And they longed to return to the days of eating unhealthy white bread like everyone else! After a day of struggling to make said bread — one of my kids – I forget which one … it might even have been my ex … remarked that yesterday’s bread would have made a particularly great door-stop! I was not enchanted. 

Bread making involved a whole of of kneading and proving and it took absolutely ages. Eventually, I got better at making it … OR …maybe the manufacturer finally improved the product!! But I know how hard I worked to give that manufacturer feedback! I ground up Vitamin C to improve the rising, plus I purchased bread improvers and generally worked like a navvy … all to save a few pennies. Eventually I even graduated to making fancy bread like croissants and bagels. Meanwhile my mind was consumed with bread making for years. Over time I decided fresh yeast was best … it worked a treat.

After reading these two scriptures the other day, I must confess that I totally understand why the disciples were side-tracked when Jesus began to talk about yeast. It’s easy to get side-tracked when you know a lot about the subject, especially if it is food! Food is so ordinary – you don’t expect spiritual illustrations about it. If I had been there when the Lord was talking about the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees I would definitely have been a dumb bunny like they were, thinking totally irrelevant material thoughts about that subject, as well as utterly missing His point!

Human beings often look for immediate results, and gratification … but Jesus Christ spent His entire life glorifying God. He had spent His time on earth allowing the ‘good yeast of God’s Word’ to infiltrate every corner of His Being. I think this is the essence of our faith, so I was motivated enough to ask myself: “Are my prayers about my own comfort – something immediate, like food!  Or am I looking to see what God will do for His kingdom with what is actually going on?” Unless the yeast of His word transforms me, I have nothing to offer others. Reflectively, I wonder  if the “yeast” In our daily lives could be the digested Word of God? As we add it into our days, it will permeate every single bit of our lives, causing us to become palatable to others.

Then it hit me — Jesus always saw God in ordinary things, those things we confront day by day. We need to see Him that way too! We must allow the yeast of His Word to rise within us so that other people can “taste and see that the Lord is good.” Bye for now, 🍞😊.