Merciful

P 3401 Be a happy doorman.

/ DVH

“If the Spirit is the source of our life, we must also allow the Spirit to direct every aspect of our lives. So may we never be arrogant, or look down on another, for each of us is an original. We must forsake all jealousy that diminishes the value of others.” Galatians 5:25-26 TPT. Taking the lowest seat without calling attention to what you’ve done can only be accomplished in Holy Spirit’s stealth mode. It may not happen  easily. It takes self-control and courage, to decide to be quiet, especially when someone has just provoked you, or they’ve said something that you feel is blatantly untrue. 

However, we can shoot ourselves in the foot and lose track of the Holy Spirit’s point, if we choose to defend ourselves and blast away!  By the way, an angry belligerent person probably needs some space … give them some. You can’t persuade someone like that to stop being angry. Remember, “a soft answer turns away wrath.” Proverbs 15:1. The Holy Spirit whispers scriptures like these to me when I am under pressure. Pay attention to what He says and He will help you too. Instead, say something sweet to poor old grumpy – they probably got out of the wrong side of the bed. Don’t be guided by how you feel in the moment.

When you go to see someone who quite obviously doesn’t like you, or maybe they don’t value the Lord’s truth – make sure you go with the Holy Spirit, under His orders. Don’t go into the lion’s den without the Holy Spirit! He knows the way to shut that lion’s mouth, without punching it in the face and irritating it further. He can turn a lion into a giant, friendly pussy-cat.

We can only truly hear the Lord and watch Him order our steps when we are prepared to do whatever He says – the way He says to do it. Many people want to hear the Holy Spirit, but a lot of the time they pick and choose whether they will obey Him or not. Maybe they have a lot of ‘buts’ or doubts. Choosing to obey when it doesn’t suit us, is beautifully illustrated by what happened to Jonah.

It did not suit that prophet to see the people of Ninevah saved. But God told this man to do something for Him. Let’s remember that Jonah was the Lord’s servant – like we are – we cannot pick and choose when it comes to obedience … Not unless you wanna end up in the belly of a big fish for a long weekend, anyway!! Thinking we can’t do it, does not mean it is OK to say no! 

Sometimes in order to escape we say unscriptural things like: ’God understands…He knows I am shy.’ Moses tried that tack remember? It didn’t work for him either. The fact remains, when God says; “Jump!”… We need to say: “How high?”  But what if it is not God speaking, and I do it? I could look like a goose! YES! …  … you probably will. And even that is good for us. Because we are told to humble ourselves before the Lord.

“But the tax collector, standing at a distance, would not even raise his eyes toward heaven, but was striking his chest [in humility and repentance], saying, ‘God, be merciful and gracious to me, the [especially wicked] sinner [that I am]!” Luke 18:13. Jesus liked this guy. He used him as an example of humility. “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” V14. 

Sometimes when we hear stuff like that, we immediately think about someone else we know who could do with taking down a peg or nine. The thing is we can’t afford to read God’s book for someone else. This is not a proxy book – the bible is a personal instruction book. Because we truly want to follow Jesus then we need to do what He would do. Jesus was never arrogant about the things He knew. He’s God. Almighty God is His DAD … He had a lot He could go on about! 

Meantime our task is to hear what God says, then DO. Obedience is a fantastic key. It is right up there with being saved and forgiving others. But we can’t learn to love others if we are holding a demand list against them! So let’s leave jealousy, suspicion, and unforgiveness behind us. Keep a short list of aughts against any. Actually… take your little list out into the garden and burn it.  Those things are a rock we can sometimes tie about our ankles that will drown us. Automatically forgive, then deal with your anger and pray about how to make things right again. 

Paul said this, and I love it …  “Follow my example, AS I follow the example of Christ.” So if someone you are following is not following Jesus … then stop following them! Duh! Love them, forgive them, but don’t do what they do and don’t look down on them either. Next time it could be your turn to be the empty-headed numpty. We all need direction, correction, humility, and an appreciation for others in this world. Let’s learn to be content with that. If we want to keep the oil of the Spirit flowing in our lives, then we must learn to follow His instructions. HE WROTE IT DOWN. 

Lastly, listen to this wise Psalmist who knew what was important and what wasn’t: …“For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand [anywhere else]; I would rather be a doorkeeper and stand at the threshold in the house of my God than to dwell [at ease] in the tents of wickedness.” Psalm 84:10. Great place to say goodbye. 👋

P 3281 Doors an windows.

/ DVH

Whenever we can see our loving Heavenly Father at work, it could be a door, OR a window! What do I mean by that? A door opens life up to new possibilities for His plans in your own life – you can walk through it into a new place. A window shows you possibilities, but they are outside your reach. You can see stuff, but only from a distance. One creates action, the other can create despair and frustration… unless you prayerfully use what you see out of the window, to send you to the open door! An open door is not enough – you need the leading of the Holy Spirit and inner peace.

Christians talk about this stuff a lot. They often say that God has opened ‘a door’ for them to do such and such. Here’s what happened to Paul a couple of times … 2 Corinthians 2:12-14: “Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me, I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said goodbye to them and went on to Macedonia.” Yet in 1 Corinthians 16:8&9. “But I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost. For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries.” 

Don’t you just love it? Paul goes to Troas and finds ‘an open door’ but he had no peace.  Plus Titus, his companion in the Lord, wasn’t there. This next scripture from Acts, shows us what happened after that. You and I can see an open door, many times in our Christian lives but, the question to ask is this: is it OUR door, or is it simply a window showing us possibilities. The verse in first Corinthians explains something powerful, something we need to know. A door was open at Ephesus at another time too, and Paul went through it, yet he lingered there, despite the fact that there were many adversaries!

What does that teach us? Here’s my potted version … adverse situations and people don’t mean the door you want to go through is shut! You might want to think on that. Many a fine missionary has run into all kinds of adversity and adversaries, but that did not daunt them. They stayed true to their heavenly calling. The leading of the Holy Spirit is extremely important whenever we want to obey the Lord by “going out into all the world to preach the gospel.” And no peace is a sign that you are there all by yourself. Peace is our umpire! We will end up side-lined in the sin bin if we ignore the umpire! 

Over to Acts 16:6-12 it says: “And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them …” 

Do you see that? It was the right calling —- wrong place —- God redirected Paul through a vision. It seems to me that he saw something through a window, and then the Lord helped him find the right door! Father God is so merciful, He gave Paul that vision to help him go in the right direction. If you go somewhere for Jesus because you believe He called you to go — then first of all, like Paul, take a partner who has the same heart as you! Remember, in 2nd Corinthians Paul didn’t find Titus so he moved on, plus He had no peace. That’s because God wanted him elsewhere and Troas was not the place. 

If we read about this situation in Acts, we can see that the Holy Spirit Himself forbad them to speak in Asia. We simply must learn to follow the Holy Spirit, He will guide us. People have lost their faith doing something God Himself never called them to do. They went simply because there was an open door. Not every open door belongs to us. Prayerfully make sure it is your door! 

Because we are His — Almighty God controls our opportunities. Jesus Himself said this in the book of Revelation 3:7,8: “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the Holy One, the True One, Who has the key of David, Who opens and no one will shut, Who shuts and no one opens.” ‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept My word and have not denied My name.”

Ps did you notice that this church had little power? Having little power does not mean your church is a failure or you have missed it! Keep preaching the gospel and don’t lose your hopes or dreams of seeing the dead raised and the sick healed, keep them. Keep them alive by keeping in the Word. Pray for everyone who needs it… then leave the results to Him. All of those things are promised to people who believe and act on what He says, using His Name. My advice is to keep moving and acting on the Word of God, and always make Jesus the centre of what you do. Even if you went the wrong way – He has another plan for you.

God promises us that if He shuts a door no one can open it, and when He opens one then watch out!  Just because you can see something, that does not mean it is your responsibility – even Paul had to learn to listen carefully to the Holy Spirit and obey Him. The bible tells us that we are to be as wise as serpents and gentle as doves, so please don’t let someone else’s rapidly growing church bring you down from where God put you. Praise God for their increase instead! Numbers don’t matter to the Lord, Jesus started out with only 12 men.

Like I said at the beginning of this blog, prayerfully check to see if what is in front of you is a door or a window. Make sure you wait on the Holy Spirit so you can spot the difference. You can have full confidence based on the book of Revelation that if it is a door God has opened in front of you, no man can shut it. Amen! Bye. 👋

P 3163 Mercy

/ DVH

Mercy seems to me to be the least appreciated spiritual gift! “We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us… …if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully. “ Romans 12:6a&8b. It seems to me that everybody wants to be the resident prophet or a leader! And encouragement, giving or serving, come a bit further down that list of desired gifts. In spite of those attitudes – mercy seems to be the last one.  Um when is the last time you heard or read a sermon preached about mercy? This world would be so much better off if we learnt to embrace God’s mercy for ourselves and others! Mercy has been given to the body of Christ for everyone’s benefit just like leadership or generosity.

All those gifts that are mentioned in Romans 12 depend on the measure of faith we’ve have been given by God, but it seems, strangely (!), some things seem to stand out more. I wish I could say I have found a reason why mercy seems to be an overlooked body ministry … but I can’t.  It seems that many Christians want to aim at  leadership or prophetic gifts. Meanwhile I’m pretty sure encouragement flew out of the window years ago. I know about 3 people who flourish in this gift, and one of them is my husband! Encouragement is a transformative gift, the person who encourages others sounds like our wonderful heavenly Coach – the Holy Spirit. And He is always right here, cheering us on.

Has anybody else noticed that each of these gifts are traits of Almighty God’s Character? I mean, how exciting is that? Operating in all or any of them means we will be daily walking in His shoes. So we get to do what He does for US and others. We simply pass on what He gives us, to other people. Meanwhile, maybe mercy seems to be an old-fashioned concept? So let’s look closely at it, because I have this funny feeling we cannot afford to miss out on this gift — bearing in mind what Paul himself said about gifts. He said some body parts don’t seem to beall that special! I think that mercy is incredibly important – it is not just a whole lot of sweet loving old ladies up the back at church knitting socks for the poor!

Here’s a couple of verses to think on: Matthew 5:7: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” In the Message bible it says: “You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘care-full,’ you find yourselves cared for.” Then there is: Luke 6:36: “Be merciful just as your Father is merciful.” See! Here’s a huge bonus! We get to be like Him when we walk in mercy! Last one – Lamentations  3:22-24. MSG: “God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out, His merciful love couldn’t have dried up. They’re created new every morning. How great Your faithfulness! I’m sticking with God (I say it over and over). He’s all I’ve got left.” 

Hah! MERCY IS A GOD-QUALITY! It’s revealed in His enormous daily generosity toward us. He makes sure we have new mercy every morning. I like that. I need new mercy!! I can run out of His qualities even quicker than I run out of toilet paper and toothpaste! I have found that our Heavenly Father hides important truths in quite ordinary places – you have to look to find them. This is why we ask questions, and why “we study hard to show ourselves workmen that are approved by Him.’ It’s not for a pass or fail mark. It’s so we can know Who He is and the riches of His glory that He has already given to us – in the church.

The Lord Jesus’ life was anchored into His Father’s Will and Character. We are to be like that too, simply because we are daily given the opportunity to get to know the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. All three of Them anchor us into the Kingdom of God and His kingdom  is realer than anything else. Because of Their ministry to me, I am learning to think in  ‘scripture’ instead of regurgitating rubbish from TV or man-made concepts.

Meanwhile, like I said before – our God loves to hide things! Half the fun of reading the bible is chasing around going after ‘what He wants to teach me today.’ Our spiritual eyes pop open and we go:”Aha! Now, I get it!” One of God’s Ways is to ‘Sneaky Pete’ things in His book. Translation —- He hides the good stuff in plain sight – but when you ask Him He will give it to you. So this means we are going to need to be diligent to find out what He wants from us – after all we are exhorted to: ‘not grow weary and never give up because eventually we will reap the reward.’

In the Gospels there was a widow lady who badgered a judge into submission, and at another time some guy got bread outside of shopping hours – all that happened because they wouldn’t quit. I’ve learnt to insist. I have found the Lord rarely puts a sign on the stuff that He says or does, He expects us to notice it, to be alert and present with Him. A whole lotta people miss a whole lotta blessings because they aren’t paying attention … just saying is all!

Let’s be clear, mercy is a Way God uses to reveal Himself. He doesn’t have to scrounge around to try to find a good attitude. Every single morning He simply hits the refresh button and mercy is there for each one of us. Feel free to cheer! It’s always the same consistent mercy, on a different day. Mercy is something we can’t earn or deserve, just like our salvation. We have His mercy every day, because it is backed up by His faithfulness. Plus it’s demonstrated wonderfully by Jesus Himself in the bible!

This is stuff we stand on. If I need mercy I know I am going to get it, because it isn’t like a new house, which benefits ME, mercy is something of HIM that will benefit everybody!  People don’t have to get what they deserve anymore – we can give them His Grace instead. FYI you can’t have mercy and live in judgment – one cancels the other out. We have a brand new page every single day, and at the top it says: “God’s mercy toward ME is waiting for me to wake up, it was released and manifested through what Jesus Christ did for me.” 

I want to encourage anyone who feels like they might have the gift of Mercy – PLEASE USE IT. We all need it! What we really lack from day to day, are the heavenly qualities only God Himself provides through other people and their ministries. ‘Lord, please help us all to receive and sow Your mercy wherever we go. And please bring Your appointed ministers of mercy out of hiding so they can minister to and help the Body of Christ .. plus everybody else around them.’ Amen. Bye.👋.

P 3149 Fight the good fight, your faith is worth it.

/ DVH

“Keep your thoughts continually fixed on all that is authentic and real, honourable and admirable, beautiful and respectful, pure and holy, merciful and kind. And fasten your thoughts on every glorious work of God, praising Him always.” Philippians 4:8 TPT. When I read that scripture, I can look at the magnitude of the task of keeping my thoughts fixed on Him, and fixing them to everything wonderful that He does … a-n-d… I could easily feel like Don Quixote … in Man of La Mancha. Tilting at windmills, and dreaming the impossible dream! 

We often ruminate over the wrong task. It is easy to think that verses like this one only apply to the bad thoughts that flit through our brains like greedy moths. But the real thought I need to deal with here isn’t those incidental distractions. The actual real thought that demands my attention is … wait for it .. “I can’t possibly do that! I can’t meet that standard. No matter how hard I try – I know I will fail.” When I sink into that state I am sinking into a lake of despair, and I begin to slowly relinquish my faith, bit by bit. Right now, I need to remember I have a Lifeguard and He’s already right there, with me, ready to help me, and He wants me to win!

Let’s be clear – I cannot possibly meet that standard in Philippians in my own strength, I never could! However, that thought means I can get discouraged and give up too quickly. I continually need to remind myself that I have SomeOne else’s strength that is made perfect in weak people like me! It’s time to talk to Jesus, Who promised to be always with me. Meanwhile that standard in my mind that I am missing, is not actually the point. The real point is I’ve stopped looking at Him. Now I am looking at my failure, my performance. But IF I stop to  consult Him, then I am fixing my mind on Him!

This means I will begin to think about good things – like what Jesus means to me! Otherwise, day by day, I get busy in normal life-land, having a shower, eating my breakfast, making the bed etc. and I am totally unaware that a negative attitude toward my own faith is running along like a silent script in the background. We are not performers, we are followers.

The verse needs to be digested, and that means I need another scripture! (This BTW is why people memorise scriptures … to help them out when they are under attack!) “…[Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One),…” 2 Corinthians 10:5. The true knowledge of God is that He unequivocally, without reserve, LOVES ME, and that has nothing to do with His feelings – it’s His choice! And at the same time He wants to help me out of that hole of despair and dumb theories I’ve fallen into.

I’m going to need to make a decision to capture those dratted moths, that keep trying to eat away at my faith in His goodness and everything He has done for me. The above verse in Corinthians is a good one. It contains instructions. So, first of all, I humble myself and ask for the Holy Spirit’s help. Now it’s no longer me, all by myself wrangling those thoughts of “what a failure I am.” Because I have THE penultimate Helper. Whether I feel like it or not. Obedience is never about feelings. 

This negative argument I’ve come up against is a ‘works’ argument  … the argument goes like this…I must try harder to rid of my negative faith thoughts. But what if — instead of trying harder — I give up? And then I follow and trust by obeying His instructions. I fix whatever needs fixing in my heart, and follow through by doing whatever He tells me to do about it. ‘Works’ wants me to believe I have to be all that, because I gave my life to Jesus. But Jesus already DID ALL THAT WORK FOR ME, 2,000 years go.

It works like this:  I remind myself that that work is already done, there is no longer any need for me to try to achieve it. Instead, my task is to repent and release my fear of failure, grab hold of the Lord, and humble myself. After doing whatever He says I should do, then I jump straight into REST. If I mess this up while I am learning, then I tell the Lord, and anybody else I may have accidentally trodden on, that I’m sorry — and, I go right back into expecting Him to help me with the situation. That’s what faith is. It’s not IN my performance but IN a Person.

It’s in Him. I don’t have it but He already gave it to me.  I will keep failing Him in my own mind while my focus is on MY failure. But when I begin to rejoice, and give thanks for Who He is and What He did for me – that means I am fastening my mind to: “…all that is authentic and real, honourable and admirable, beautiful and respectful, pure and holy, merciful and kind.”And He IS those things. I am practising what the verse says I should do. I have taken my thoughts captive and fixed them, using my faith, on the One Person Who is all that and more.

“Now faith is the assurance (title deed, confirmation) of things hoped for (divinely guaranteed), and the evidence of things not seen [the conviction of their reality—faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses].” Hebrews 11:1. Our faith in His ability to save us is ongoing. Jesus cannot and will not fail us – we give up and give in too quickly! We simply need to do our part, because He has already done His. And our enemy has already lost, because we have chosen to focus on the Lord. This is how we fight the good fight and boy is it worth it! Bye. 👋

P 3124 Accessing His power to change.

/ DVH

Each one of us needs to choose to grab hold of the power Jesus died to give us to change the way we live in this world. It is always available. We do that by using our faith that what Almighty God has said in His book, the bible, is true. I will not lie to you – living like this is costly at first. We have to give up our right of reply, self-defence, or vindication and trust God Himself to vindicate us. And that whole scene usually happens when you feel extremely provoked and you want to zap a zinger back at the other person! 

But we have to choose to be finished with our old life when we said yes to Jesus. Then we choose to enter this new life to learn how to walk by faith. Sometimes by taking baby steps, or by making big strides. Almighty God loves faith. “…It’s impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that He exists and that He cares enough to respond to those who seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6b MSG.

Here’s an illustration that might help make this ‘faith’ thing clear. Let us say, I have $1000 in the bank, I can’t see that money, it’s just a number on a bank statement. It won’t become viable until I use it, or collect it. I can even  give you $500 of that thousand dollars, and no physical money needs to change hands. All that will happen is that the numbers being recorded will change on both sides – yours and mine. I’ll now have $500 and so will you. With regard to using our faith – the power for transformation Jesus gave us is limitless, it cannot and will not run out until time itself ceases.

Back to my illustration. For you to get the money I’ve given you, you will have to spend it, or somehow use it, and you do that by using your faith that the money is actually there, even though nothing visible needs to change hands! Our God loves it when we use our faith – our belief that He is Who He says He is, and He Has done what He said He has done, is His pleasure. We can do whatever He says we can, it is all written on His bank statement in the New Testament and He has given it to us. When He says we can do it – then we can do it – feelings don’t come into it. We defer to the Holy Spirit’s goodness and wisdom:  then we obey and trust in the Person Who gave you His Word. 

The day we said ‘yes’ to Jesus, we were given Christ’s power to overcome. To use my illustration, that power was ‘deposited’ in our account. It came when the Holy Spirit convicted us and we responded with joy and repentance. While He was on earth, the Lord Jesus overcame sin, this world and the devil. Because of that He has imparted that power to us as His legacy. Just like someone might leave you money in their will – in Jesus’ will, we inherited many blessings including total transformation into His likeness!“For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,…” Romans 14:17. “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me…” Acts 1:8. Do some research for yourself in the book, and start obeying what you find. 

Even though we may not see anything or feel anything our inheritance is still there. It is a reality. Hebrews 8:12: “For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”When Jesus took His own blood and poured it all over the heavenly Mercy seat, He washed away all our sins. and now God has no record of them. They are like a bill you’ve paid – stamped “PAID IN FULL” However, I may not feel any difference, because I’m still living in this world which is anti-God. Now I will have to take the Lord God Almighty at His Word. 

Everything we have been given comes from Calvary, and it was carefully written down in the bible, by the Holy Spirit. These things have been credited to our account, but we will need to access them by using our faith. We don’t need to make big one-off withdrawals, rather we can access the kingdom of God step by step as we ask for His help to obey Him, and then step out and act on what the bible says. That help is with us, right now, from the moment we gave our lives to Him. We began by using our faith and we continue by using it.

This means we can with His help – love the unlovely. We can, with His help …”do good to those who despitefully use us.”We can overcome personal sin, this world, and our enemy because Jesus gave us His power to do it. At the same time, each deliberate act of obedience transforms the way we think. Daily we use our faith to access the Holy Spirit, our personal Coach and Helper. As we learn to walk with Him using our faith, His Way of living becomes more and more natural to us. We’ve stopped looking for our own advantage and started doing what He wants. Jesus began our faith, and He always finishes what He starts!

One of the difficulties of this transformation is that faith is not feelings. It is a deliberately chosen act of obedience responding to what God has already said in His book! The feelings, if they come, come much later. Accessing His power to change our old ways of thinking, doing and being, will now become our new way to live. We live for whatever Jesus wants, and follow His ways. Bye. 👋

P 3087 Mercy.

/ DVH

“How blessed you are when you demonstrate tender mercy! For tender mercy will be demonstrated to you.” Matthew 5:7 TPT.  Oh, let us thank the Lord for that!! This is the kind of verse that can slide by our understanding, yet most of us have needed mercy from someone else at some stage or another in our lives. The Holy Spirit has mercy on us simply because He is merciful by nature. He is not winking at sin – He will convict us the minute we give Him a chance! But His loving kindness immediately welcomes us back into true fellowship when we turn around, face our faults, confess and repair things. 

At times, anyone can quite easily excuse their behaviour like this: ’They did this evil thing and that awful one and it was unforgivable.’ There are times when we seek and search for a short-cut to get us through the things we think we cannot bear, and we forget God has given us the power to overcome sin and the devil. That’s why it is essential to remember that Godly attitudes and actions have nothing whatsoever to do with our feelings – they run on our choices.

However, when we demonstrate mercy to someone else who does not deserve it — we are deliberately stepping out of darkness into His light. In His light we can see what is really going on. We will remain blinded by darkness when we choose to not forgive or hold a grudge. If I stay in unforgiveness, or I refuse to extend mercy to someone else, my emotional reactions or responses have blocked my ears and eyes to that other person’s need, because my own judgment got in the way. 

The dictionary explains that mercy is: “compassion or forgiveness shown towards someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm.“  It says this about grace: “this word is commonly translated as “favour,” which means acceptance and goodwill regardless of whether we’ve earned it.” Those two things are not the same! Mercy goes beyond grace. It loves the unlovely. To do that we must recognise who WE really are, without Jesus.

And that particular point is the reason why a lot of Christians have been shot in the foot and they keep going round and round. Because we forget who we are without Him, and we leave Him behind when we step into unforgiveness and refuse to extend mercy. We start to think: ‘God saved us, but I wasn’t all that bad in the first place, after I don’t deliberately hurt anybody.’  Come again??

We have been saved from sin, and it’s power, because we needed it .God does not have gradients for sin. Ever since the garden of Eden human beings were born in sin, and we dare not trust our own un-renewed hearts.. Eventually, what’s really in our heart will find its way out! We cannot afford to make our own assessments about who anyone is … until we’ve lived this life squashed so tightly into a corner and we feel we cannot escape from it, we will have no idea how we will react. I dunno about you, but I’ve wished people DEAD! I know I’m a sinner, but mercy came to me and drew me back to God, when I had no excuse! And if He ever His took grace to change me and His undeserved mercy back… well … bye bye me!! 

However, when you have a hole shot through your middle by someone else’s sin, those kinds of God-honouring thoughts rarely come up. Some people just won’t quit being mean!  So we are going to need the Holy Spirit’s supernatural power, grace, mercy, plus His strength to continue to give them what He has given us for free. Outright undeserved mercy opens doors that appear to be nailed shut. 

In reality what we think is happening, is probably not what was actually happening. That other person who hurt me was not acting against me – they were simply acting FOR themselves. In other words, there was no intention to do harm. It did not come into their decision making, instead they were self-absorbed. If you do not know you have a Guardian Who is on your side — you will probably mount your own guard and fire away!!

Maybe we think someone like a wife basher or paedophile, a rapist, or a murderer, or a thief is beyond our help. So we choose to withhold grace and shut up our heart of mercy. We think they deserve to get whatever they get, for the way they have acted and the choices they made. I am not making excuses for anybody’s actions — all I want to say is that the person with the greater sin needs the greater mercy. In that moment, I can choose to give it to them. Good place to remember we didn’t deserve what Jesus gave us either.

I like this verse: “But whoever has the world’s goods (adequate resources), and sees his brother in need, but has no compassion for him, how does the love of God live in him?”  I John 3:17. People can be needy because they are spiritually poor! We must continue to sow grace and mercy everywhere and remind ourselves that judgment belongs to the Lord, He is the One Who knows all things and sees all things – not us. He will have mercy and compassion on whoever He chooses. We all deserve hell! Mercy is grace that goes beyond forgiveness, instead of punishment, it ushers in the power of God. Bye. 👋

P 3021 “There is more than one way to skin a cat.”

/ DVH

OK. Don’t freak out. I have not lost my mind, that’s an expression. I don’t secretly engaged in cat-skinning!  EW! That saying simply means: There is more than one way for something to be done. Hopefully the title got your attention. Gird up your girdle Gertie, its gunna be a bumpy ride. 

This world is currently extremely “me-centred” and hedonistic. Today, our society has been forced to make room for all kinds of weird, ugly, and downright disgusting ideas, and it has gone on to legalise them. Some self- expressions are from the pit. However … ”You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one Who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”1 John 4:4.Here’s my point for today:  do we believe that or not? 

Without the Lord Jesus in our lives, none of us could ever know who we truly are, or why we are here. Without Him, all we can produce is dissatisfaction, rage and despair. People everywhere are so busy chasing happiness like a lepidopterist chases rare butterflies – it seems like they think that is what this life is about …grabbing happiness where they can.

We know, from the bible, that what these ?alternate? groups think about this life is chock full of sin — but unfortunately the church has taken a bad stance when it comes to God’s POV. We’ve eliminated many people before they’ve had a chance to change their minds. And at the same time the Father of all light is losing HIS beloved children, while we are erroneously operating on the idea that their sin is worse than ours!  Um…even liars end up in the lake of fire! And yes, fibs count – even well intentioned ones.

Everybody’s sin has been paid for.…including Hitler’s and sexual deviants, and let us remember that Jesus Christ overpaid! Read the book. We are concentrating on the wrong bit – other people’s sins, not the people themselves. I know that some churches welcome all sorts of nasty things from the pit, yet others would never let that sort of person darken their doors. And they wear that attitude with misguided pride.

We cling to bits of the scripture like they are our entire life-raft, when God has given us a whole book! And then we thump it over other people’s heads, because …”we know the truth and it has set us free …”  (Let’s please remember that we were not set free to be judgmental and unloving!) …God Himself is the truth that rules everything. The bible is not a private, or public opinion poll. It’s a book about God, and what He wants from His people.

There is room for ALL at the foot of the cross. Let’s at least give any outcasts an opportunity to find out!  God loves them as much as He loves us. We don’t have to become them to love them! In His eyes, there is no grading system to love. He loves us because HE IS LOVE. Who knows what an encounter with Jesus will do in someone else’s life? Pray for that!

But the lost cannot decide if we won’t allow them to find out there is another way to live. We are keeping our own faith supposedly safe at someone else’s cost. And pretty soon, those other people might be our own sons and daughters! Lot lived among people with deviant lifestyles and still maintained love.

We need to aim higher. Almighty God is bigger than I think He is! And He is bigger than my denomination thinks He is. And much much bigger than this world thinks He is!  Here’s the right attitude from Jude V 23: ” Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.” Hate the sin, not the sinner … there’s more than one way to skin a cat! Bye.🐈.

P 2976 The difference.

/ DVH

There is a difference between who we really are, and who we think we are, and it is extremely useful to know the difference. Our self-perception is often based on self-deception. That is, we can’t bear to think badly about ourselves, so under pressure we hold ourselves away from the Lord and other people and frantically make excuses. We even revert to childish answers. Whenever you notice that – don’t excuse yourself, ask the Lord to show you what is actually happening. Go on to read the bible, wherever you are normally reading it and expect answers. Then act on what you read.

Let’s look at Peter, he very kindly shows us what a human being looks like! Jesus said in John 13:34 – “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.” Simon Peter asked Him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus replied, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.” Peter asked, “Lord, why can’t I follow You now? I will lay down my life for You.”Then Jesus answered, “Will you really lay down your life for Me? Very truly I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!”

The Lord knows the true blueprint of who each one of us is in reality, and He has freedom for each one of us. As I see it, we get into enormous trouble the minute we decide that WE are old enough to know who we are. There is no transformation in that stance, only roadblocks. After that we stop praying about things, or won’t consider change. We are selling ourselves short of our Glorious Ideal.

Unless we are prepared to choose God‘s kingdom as our yard stick, and not our own opinion, we will become stuck. And every subsequent return of our childishness is like cement. When opportunities come up for change and we refuse them, or excuse ourselves, we are hardening our hearts against the Holy Spirit’s promptings. Change is scary but it means I choose to actively hold up everything in my life to the light and say: “is this what Jesus wants for me?” I stop excusing myself and I no longer tell myself that this is just who I am. 

I treat my personal preferences like I would treat sin — carefully and thoughtfully, specifically, without beating myself up about it. Repentance is not beating yourself UP – it is agreeing with the Holy Spirit’s diagnosis of our hearts and doing something about it. If my attitude involves other people then I go to them and confess my fault. The bible tells us we are to confess our faults to one another, and I have found that one question helps me do this. I ask myself ‘is this love’ the way it is explained in the bible.

My own idea of love will not do, because I will probably excuse myself and blame YOU!  So I don’t stop there, then I ask myself: ‘would Jesus think it’s love?’ In other words would He do it or say it? If the answer is no … then it is time to repent, like I said above. I think we excuse a great deal of aberrant behaviour because we think it’s a personality trait.

Somethings have been adopted as protective mechanisms from when we were too young to understand what we were doing. I call those things Button A —  sadly, our world explodes if some dumb schmuck presses Button A! If you try to tell the exploding person about this phenomenon, they will deny it exists. For them it has always existed. Only the Lord knows how and when to deal with stuff like that and we are always on His learning curve and timing. We also can’t stop participating in His processes simply because changing some traits about ourselves seems to be uncomfortable or impossible! This is the place where we must actively learn to press in – the plus side is we learn faith in the process. 

It is not good to make excuses for our behaviour and continually use the past and the way we’ve been treated, as an excuse. Everybody has a story – and our story isn’t going to be graded by helplessness and sincerity! Sadly, when we live like this, we are limiting God‘s capacity to be ALL He is in our lives. He won’t just barge in and take over — that’s what free will is all about!  Instead He will give us more and more opportunities to choose differently. I have found that if I get the same sort of situation occurring over and over again, in my life… God wants me to pay attention to it.

Jesus is the Limitless One, so He is our benchmark. Just because we are afraid of the unknown, or anxious or proud, that does not give us a reason to stay where we are. Our yielded life is our contribution to our heavenly calling. Our God is kind, loving, merciful, generous, He is not looking to punish us, instead He wants to teach us His Ways. So when things get hideously sticky and ugly, and I can’t stand it, I remember that Isaiah taught me that: “He will not break a bruised reed,’ (Isaiah 42:3). Then I reassure myself that things may seem hard but He will not break me — so I put my faith in that verse, by choice, and hang on. I know from experience it may get bumpy for a bit. 

Sin is not terminal for us, someone else paid for it, and it is part of our faith walk to believe He did. There is no longer punishment for our shortcomings – there are, however, limited opportunities for change. We need to put aside childish reactions even if I reacted that way yesterday! And put on the new self, and we live our lives always willing and ever ready to change. Because the difference between who we think we are, and who we really are… can only be truly resolved by the One Who knows us intimately, and chose to pay for our sins. Bye. 👋

P 2975 What can I do?

/ DVH

So today I’m picking up right where I left off yesterday…. with helpful hints! You can start living for Jesus and following Him, by repenting for living for yourself ….  Meanwhile forget about trying to get other people to join with you … you do it. “Though none go with me still I will follow…” Hmmm. Now I’ve pulled the plug on that great idea – here are some more proactive things you can do!

Get on your face and ask the Lord to please show you, through His word, through your circumstances, and under the guidance of your pastor, vicar, priest – what am I here for? What plans do You have for my life Lord? And then, don’t stop praying until you have an answer. INSIST. Be like that person in Luke 18. Or the friend in Luke 11 —just keep going after the Lord for an answer!  You know, there are people who want to use that kind of prayer to get … things!! That’s so sad….

At the same time as repenting… practice love. Begin with your enemies or the people you know who don’t like you – or you don’t like them! Anybody, the bible tells us, can love the people who love them! But the bible also says: “A man’s enemies will be those of his own household …” Matthew 10:36….Well, will you look at that!

We don’t actually even have to go all that far to find some of our enemies!! This is why, I recommend we start ‘doing good to those who despitefully use you.’ You could be related to them! Bake them a cake. Wash their car. Mow their lawn. Pay for their groceries. Pray for them. Don’t just try it – do it and don’t stop!  Make it a way of life and … expect opposition. Listen to these people even when they are monumentally boring. Did I say that out loud?

Blind Freddy can tell just by reading this blog I can easily annoy people. Good! I’d rather annoy a precious brother or sister into doing what the Lord says — than stand by letting that glorious gift they have been given by God Himself, go to waste! The body of Christ needs each one of us standing in our place, doing what He has given us to do in order to move forward. We’ve been holed up in our personal ditches like the Desert Rats of Tobruk for way too long!

Years ago, when I was a brand new Christian, I experienced all kinds of hatred all over the place. I was so enthusiastic about Jesus. People didn’t just gossip about me – I am not making this up, BTW, they told other people they hated me. And just in case you think I’m some kind of special case, I loathe rejection nearly as much as you do! It was HARD. Nobody taught me how to love people, even the really kind ones around me just kept telling me to tone it down, and avoid the people I was annoying. 🙄 Like you can tone down who you are without His help!

The Jesus I had just met didn’t like their ideas – mainly because I was continually reading His book!  So I loved on those people in practical, costly ways that I am not going to go on about here. I’m not a dummy …the bible tells us to do things secretly or we will miss our reward. Jesus said:“Don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.” Did these people instantly fall in love with me? NOPE. It turns out my reward was being obedient. Was it discouraging and hard? You betcha!

We look at things like loving one another, as if that kind of love is going to fall on our heads — if we just worship enough, or read the bible enough, or witness enough, or be cheerful all the time – good luck with that last one! Actually the closer we get to God Himself, the easier loving one another becomes. LOVE IS THE ATMOSPHERE HE LIVES IN.

So if you want to be close to Him you will have to learn to live in love. Personal preferences fly out of the window in His Presence. The Lord wants us to share the Love He gives us daily, with others. He longs to see His love spread abroad in our hearts, as well as all over the place. Learn to serve people, with no other motive than to be obedient and please Him.

“So if I’m your teacher and Lord and have just washed your dirty feet, then you should follow the example that I’ve set for you and wash one another’s dirty feet. Now do for each other what I have just done for you.” John 13:14 TPT. See? It has nothing whatsoever to do with liking people! Many times I have ended up loving people that I didn’t like – at all! I just followed the prompts. When I read it in the book, I pray until He gives me a way to do it. I also try to choose my spiritual clothes carefully: “You are always and dearly loved by God! So robe yourself with virtues of God, since you have been divinely chosen to be holy. Be merciful as you endeavour to understand others, and be compassionate, showing kindness toward all. Be gentleand humble, unoffendable in your patience with others.” Colossians 3:12 TPT.

Did you get that? Many people thought you and I would amount to nothing, but we’ve been divinely CHOSEN to be holy, merciful, compassionate, kind, gentle, humble and unoffendable! Now that’s mercy right there! This world can keep their corner office, money and popularity, I’ll go after Colossians 3:12 any day! What can I do to be close to God?  I can change the way I live, one loving step at a time.. Bye. 👋 

P 2865 Changing our thinking is deliberate.

/ DVH

I wanted to write about one of the ways I’ve learnt I can keep continually walking with the Holy Spirit…“Keep your thoughts continually fixed on all that is authentic and real, honourable and admirable, beautiful and respectful, pure and holy, merciful and kind. And fasten your thoughts on every glorious work of God, praising Him always.”  Philippians 4:8. 

The question we need to ask ourselves today is this — what actually occupies our thoughts? Often we are fixated on our day, focussing on what comes next … but if we choose to, we can turn that way of thinking into … “What are You going to do with all this stuff today Lord?”  It’s about focus. Giving the Holy Spirit our day, reminding ourselves of why we are here, means letting Him into our thoughts, and when or if we forget, and worry or leave Him out, we take the time to repent. Wonder of wonders, He always does it!! He is so amazing!! Thank you Jesus.

Father God sometimes whispers this to me: “Are you sure you want to keep that attitude?” I’ve had to pull up, and grab my thoughts back, many MANY times. Honesty with God and yourself, is really important. Dismissing any niggly thoughts, or giving yourself permission to say stuff that is best not said – is a slippery slide. Sometimes the Lord puts His finger on something very gently, and says something like: “Are you sure you want to go down that road?” Now it becomes my choice. It can’t be an accident that I went the wrong way – because He’s just warned me about that road! 

If I get cranky about my difficulties and circumstances, then sometimes my answer might be: “Can I just be here for five minutes?” Of course we both know that I won’t be there for five minutes … I’ll get stuck in my cranky or fear for three days and then wonder where the Holy Spirit went!! It has taken me a long time to see that at that moment if I ask Him to help me to choose the right way, He will. That’s because His strength is made perfect at that exact moment of my weakness!

If something disastrous or unforeseen happens, sometimes I panic, and  I will probably blame myself or someone else … even if I don’t do it out loud, I’ll do it in my head. Bad move – one thought leads to another!! That’s when the Holy Spirit reminds me that I don’t have to go through ANY valley alone – my choice in those moments is essential. I need His Ways not mine.

The secret to getting through the hard times is to continually handover the situation to the Him and leave it with Him, by letting go of worry and problem-solving. Why not put the One Who knows everything, in charge? I turn away from problem solving and anxiety and deliberately turn my focus to Him. And every time those thoughts come up again, I compare them to the Bible and check that stuff out with what it says. If it doesn’t line up, then I throw it away. That’s what taking thoughts captive means.

After that I always ask Jesus what He thinks. That answer can take a while, because I’ve learnt the Lord is constantly stretching our faith in His goodness. It is a huge mistake to pay attention to the dreadful pictures that the other guy paints in your mind of what the eventual outcome will be. This is when fear raises its nasty head. It is good to name the fear, because it helps to know what you are fighting. Tell the Lord you know it is fear and ask Him how to deal with it – He guides me through things one step at a time. 

Here’s an interesting thought — the Person who needs to know the answers to our difficulties is the Lord – and He already knows. Look through the Bible and find one time when He said: ”I don’t know what to do about that!” … It didn’t happen! After doing everything I’ve mentioned above, I do whatever He tells me to do, then like Ephesians 6:13 says — I STAND. I commit to standing until I see what He wants me to see. I might learn something about me or about Him. Like I said, changing our thinking is deliberate – it’s about focus. Bye. 👋