Minds

P 3128 We need a sure measuring tape.

/ DVH

Imagine that you want to measure out the parameters of a house. You could use a dressmaker’s measuring tape, but it has limitations – to start with it isn’t big enough! It would be an arduous task that required strict concentration and somebody to help you hold that waxed cloth tape tightly at the other end. A dressmaker’s tape does not have enough substance to it to be really useful. You need special equipment, and at the very least a builder’s stiff zippy metal measuring tape. 

Reading God’s word using only your mind, or emotions is a little like that inadequate measuring tool. You may arrive at some form of understanding, but it will lack pin point accuracy. I cannot successfully and accurately hit a nail in by bashing at with a fork! I will need a hammer to complete the task. (The truth is I can’t bash a nail in with a hammer either, but that’s another revelation for another day!) You will do so much better as you walk with Him, if you ask the Holy Spirit to help you to read His book – and then wait for Him to speak to you. 

Expect Him to answer. Not necessarily out loud! We have been taught to pray by the Lord’s prayer, “give us this day our daily bread.” Jesus is talking about the food that God provides for us every single morning. It’s like His mercy, that is also new every morning! I don’t care what bone-head thing you did yesterday, today, when you woke up – God’s mercy was brand new toward you. Mercy doesn’t just give us a fresh start, it also helps us to deal with yesterday’s junk today! I urge you to quit carrying a load that doesn’t belong to you anymore – repent, repair and move on!

I know, I have mentioned this topic before, but without God’s Word dividing what is good,  right and pure, from what is pizza, bad temper, and our imagination – we will go precisely nowhere.  Instead of skipping over the harder bits, I’ve learnt to dig my heels in and ask Him to explain it to me. It is FAR more important to hear from Him than it is to add to my own personal knowledge, or fill up my daily bible quota. I could care less if He highlights something ten pages later, or it happens on the first line – I’m looking for“every word that proceeds out of His mouth.” Not just clarification or human understanding. I covet His Word to ME … God’s Word has power in it. The Word that comes out of His mouth has the power in it to accomplish whatever HE wants.

We are told to live by that kind of daily bread. And every single day, we deliberately go to Him, and ask for fresh bread. Otherwise we can end up with excuses, logic, or digging up previous knowledge – or someone else’s findings – and that stuff really IS stale bread. It can get maggots in it just like it did for the Israelites when they were chasing butterflies around in a desert that should have taken them just a few days to cross! Pretty soon a whole lotta doubt will start banging on our door, because we just went off the reservation chasing tumbleweed! 

We need God’s measuring stick. His Word, in us and on us. Colossians 3:16: “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.” We can sing, shout and quote psalms fit to beat the band, but if it does not come inside us and do us good then we are just spouting HOT AIR. Did you get the very first word in verse 16: LET!  Allow God’s word to be a part of you. Don’t just jump head first into teaching or leading worship or quoting Psalms – let God’s Word do what only IT can do! His word will change us, and others as we obey it.

“Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and every expression of evil, and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save your souls.” James 1:21. Good old James, he let the word of God dwell richly within him! And he didn’t mince words either. If’n ya didn’t like what this disciple said – bad luck! WEEDING is part of soul and spirit care. Let’s do it. We need to stop and look at that nasty stuff growing in sneaky places in our hearts, and identify the bits that are choking out the good seed, and then pull those weeds out. After that we replace all of it with what God says.

“But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim);..” Romans 10:8. The Word of God is not just meant to be inactive in the pages of an old book – it is meant to be alive and well, and inside us. No matter what version you or I read, the primary task and motivation of His book is for it to be written on our hearts, minds, and spirits – so that other people can see His Word in action. We can’t just proclaim it, we must live it out. The bible is full of verbs!! A very old friend of mine used to call it the Manufacturer’s hand book – the thing you use to keep your life on track and help walk with the Lord.

“And in keeping with what is written, “I believed, therefore I have spoken,” we who have the same spirit of faith also believe and therefore speak, …” 2 Corinthians 4:13.  The bible increases our faith and enables us to speak. What I think isn’t worth anything, sadly what I think often depends on what happens to me on the day! I need a secure, specific, tried and tested measuring tape, that will go to any length to give me an accurate report and measurement. Something that is strong, durable, and in my heart while I go about whatever I want to do. The bible meets that need. Bye. 👋

P 3127 God good – devil bad.

/ DVH

Today I want to briefly go back to Daniel 10:12-14.This fight was so furious, Michael, another archangel, came to help Gabriel. The two of them, if you read on, have to fight their way back through that same demonic stronghold. They fight against a principality and power over this world: “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Ephesians 6:12. We are not fighting theories, we fight actual satanic beings sent to destroy us and our relationship and trust in God Himself. Our fight is real!

I want to go down on record saying I have limited knowledge  about this stuff, my focus is always on Jesus and what He did for us — our inheritance from Him. However, the consequence of “not knowing,” means the other guy can sometimes rob me blind, while I am unaware, as well as unnecessarily torment me. I need His discernment firmly in place – it is part of His protection for us all. Our Heavenly Father wants us to win our battles not just drag ourselves along bleeding, and crawling through broken glass getting beat up along the way. Deliverance has had a bad rep! Yet all of us have to fight our enemies just to crawl out of bed some days. 

The Holy Spirit is our biggest Supporter and Personal Trainer and He is here to help us with satan. I included the above scripture to highlight that many times we must break through the things that have been sent to hold us in bondage. Those things that will postpone, and interfere with whatever it is that God has planned. When you love Jesus and choose to serve Him you become a target. So if we wake up – or can’t sleep(!) with a list of someone else’s sins against us rumbling about in our brain, I’m pretty sure resentment, anger and revenge, are on the premises targeting us. It’s time to ask for His help and get forgiveness rolling! BTW, implication is not guilt, our enemy likes to join dots where there is no connection.

Now let’s look at Jesus because: “He is the Author and finisher of our faith”… that makes Him our finest example of what to do. Jesus defeated satan with God’s Word. Knowing the bible is one of our greatest weapons. If an archangel has trouble defeating our enemy and needs help — then I vote we know God’s Word well enough to use it to fight! It needs to be in our minds and hearts and mouths. And, BTW, I mean fight, not just kind of wave it about randomly stabbing anywhere. Let’s learn to pick the Word up like a real sword and stab all those untruths and lies that satan floods into our minds, daily. Instead of looking for proof that a person is targeting you – ask for help so you can see any error and to find your way through it;  ask the Holy Spirit for bible verses to use as a sword to set you free and send that other guy packing!

When Jesus was tempted he was hungry, so the enemy tempted the Lord with free bread. I find that wanting/needing/coveting stuff can easily lead me into a trap. Hungering after things like a better house/car/life/friends/spouse etc. makes you into a target. You can be rolling along, sincerely wanting to do good and hear from God, then bam! The enemy throws lack at you! Fight that supposed lack with a verse of scripture. One of my favourites is this: ‘If I really need it He will give it to me.’  If the answer doesn’t come right away, then the journey Jesus and I are on is going to profit me, and the waiting will be worth it. We often gain patience and perseverance on these journeys! 

Maybe the enemy tries to sidetrack us with status and pious-sounding results. ‘Just imagine what will happen if you do so and so, everybody will see Jesus better.’ satan points out some quick advantage in an activity, and skips right over obedience, consultation or reverence for what God says. It’s time to remember that the bible says: ‘humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, in due time He will exalt you.’ That means we take the lowest seat, or we choose to do something unseen, and nobody notices it. We gain humility and self-control when we do what God says. satan won’t tell you that!

Fame and gain was thrown at Jesus. The possibility of getting what He was sent here for by another method — a shortcut, if you will. Notoriety or importance when it is not God-ordained, can puff us up. I think the real key to this temptation is this, we must understand that we don’t know what is hidden away in our hearts. We think we do, but we don’t! The bible says: ‘there’s a way that seems to be right to us but at the end of that way is death.’ God’s way is for us to do whatever He says, and make sure people end up praising Him not us! However, satan can tempt us to believe he has a way to get to where God wants us to be, that is easier. My fav rebuke is ‘God’s in charge here!’ Obviously I have real scriptures for all these rebukes – you should find your own.

Lastly, our enemy throws fear on the wall of our minds. And then he points out what we will lose if we are obedient. I hate that! My strategy is this, God is calling us all higher – so that means some things will get left behind because we can’t carry them any further.  All of us can get afraid of what we might have to leave behind. We can easily forget that – God good, devil bad. Remember, if we accept the devil’s evil devices – at the bottom of his rotten ideas, is a plan for us to end up serving him. Bye 👋

P 3120 Know what you believe.

/ DVH

“Christ’s resurrection is (y)OUR resurrection too. This is why we are to yearn for all that is above, for that’s where Christ sits enthroned at the place of all power, honour, and authority!” Colossians 3:1 TPT. My first question—do you often during your day, reflect on what Jesus did for YOU? Are your thoughts on His kingdom, or yours? I thank Him when blessings come, and pray ‘help,’ when stuff is difficult. Whatever we mull over and meditate on influences our daily walk of faith. Don’t beat yourself up if you forget or overlook His new way to live. Just remember, that  faith, and our awareness of His love for us, will simply melt away IF we lose focus;  or we choose to live in the dark and pasty, unhealthy light of this world’s rejection, ideas, schemes and plans.

Meanwhile, even though we may not actually say – ”I choose this” – we can end up choosing to stew on bad stuff by default. A lack of a positive God-breathed choice will leave a vacuum that satan would be delighted to fill! That guy will get us going round and round and round:  worrying about this, thinking about how to fix that, and concentrating on the lacks we all have … Until we have wasted away our precious time. Time is a gift. And we don’t have to live that way anymore. Just as surely as Peter, (who was in prison at the time), looked up and saw his jail door open – and walked out a free man!  Our jail door is also OPEN. Look up!! Revise your circumstances. We need to walk out of sin’s prison using our faith. 

At the same time we can concentrate all our thoughts and efforts on dying to self, but in the end that will just make us SIN conscious. We want to be Him-conscious, so I pray He will reveal Himself to me during my day. We need to add to our life with Him, by seeing Him at work in our lives, not just concentrate on getting rid of our sin or adverse circumstances. Jesus Christ has already done that for us! Because God’s unrelenting, always available, never-ending kingdom power was released at Calvary – we can NOW live in this world absolutely devoted to Him.  He has a much better plan for your life and mine than either of us can imagine!

“For we know that our old self WAS crucified with Him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—…” Romans 6:6. Sin, regret, anxiety does not have to be in charge of our lives anymore! Our minds, our emotions will help us when they are fixed on Him;  to do that is not difficult, we meditate on His never-ending love.  We can’t afford to give up our precious time stewing over former things, turn your worry into prayers of thanksgiving for Who He is and what He did for you.

Worry is a habit – habits can be changed. When we gave our lives to Jesus, we put Him in charge. And His response 2000+years ago, was to take our sin with Him to the cross and nail it there in HIS OWN BODY. The urge, desire, and the will to sin has been dealt with, we are now free to choose.“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live IN THE BODY, I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20. 

That’s how we walk out our Promised land of becoming a new creation. I don’t ignore sin, or gloss it over, or pretend it didn’t happen, instead I acknowledge it on the spot, and repent and repair things. Why? There is incredible power in redemption! satan can’t make us do anything anymore because of what Jesus did for us. But unlike satan – the Lord will not coerce us or make us do anything. He loves our freely-made choices!!  We were not saved just so we can go to heaven and be with Him one day in the future… He saved us for here and now, today—from this world, the devil and ourselves —so we can live our earthly lives, like He would. 

It was a transaction. An exchange, His life, freely laid down, bought us a new way to live and the power to do it. It was the greatest LOVE GIFT EVER GIVEN. Our sin has been exchanged for His new life overflowing in us, we take on His obedience, His passionate desire to please His Father. It was not God’s plan just to kill off sin!… Instead, Christ defeated its power over mankind! Our Father’s plan was to give us back what Adam and Eve had in the garden … the greatest inheritance ever – Emmanuel, God-with-us. The freedom to choose what is good right and profitable, AND THE POWER TO DO IT.

Acts 1:8:“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”The Holy Spirit fell on mankind at Pentecost and HE DIDN’T LEAVE. He is still here, to help, counsel, transform, and motivate us into our new life in Christ. He didn’t give us  power just so we can raise the dead, heal the sick etc! Those blessings are a by-product of our redemption.We should all live like that. But that is not God’s primary AIM. 

The Holy Spirit came to help us, and live inside us, so we can live a victorious, overcoming life, in a world that is going to hell in a hand basket. The person I was 52 years ago, died the minute I asked Jesus to come into my life. That is also true for you. If you dearly love and want Him — He will be yours, forever. His love is so great He chose to die for the whole world, even those people who refuse to accept Him. Imagine that. We have been bought with an unbelievable price.

Daily, with His help, we identify and guerrilla fight all the stubborn stuff we’ve cultivated over the previous years before we met Him. Those things that keep pretending they have a hold over us. Now we can take God at His Word and believe Him. That’s how faith works. we refuse to listen to the so-called evidence that pops its ugly head up, and say to ourselves: “What does the Lord have to say about that? Is He REALLY like that?” satan can no longer use my history to define me – even if I did something extremely dumb yesterday! I have been redefined as alive in Christ. I urge you, take the time to know what you believe. Bye. 👋

P 3106 This will blow your mind.

/ DVH

“Stop imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around you, but be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how you think. This will empower you to discern God’s will as you live a beautiful life, satisfying and perfect in His eyes.” Romans 12:2 TPT. As carefully as I can, bearing in mind I’m not a theologian, I want to give you my thoughts about this verse. I have taken note of any other verses like it – Joshua 24:14-15;  2 Corinthians 10:5;  Philippians 4:8;  Ephesians 4:23. 

’We have now chosen to live our lives passing on our Father’s beauty to others, together with His power flowing through our hearts, and minds as well as our lives. This means we daily choose to reject the ideals and opinions of our current society. Now we live by a different standard, the one illustrated by our Saviour. He also lived His life under extreme pressure to conform. But His death and resurrection bought us the freedom to choose.

Now, we value and act on those things He taught us and what was illustrated in His own life. Jesus Himself taught us that we could live in this world but not be influenced by it. Our desire is to learn a new way to think—scrubbed clean of self-centredness, self-protection, guilt, shame and blame. Using our faith, we recognise that we have been released by God’s power to be the most loving version of ourselves. Purely for His sake. Our daily responses to the Holy Spirit help us move forward. We need, and will always have, His help.’

There is no ambition in Romans 12:2, rather it simply explains the way to achieve the kind of ‘oneness’ with the Holy Spirit that Jesus Himself enjoyed. All the work has already been done. This kind of transformation will require our deepest trust in Jesus’ truthfulness. It goes way beyond agreeing with Him. Instead it falls happily headlong into our knowledge that He cannot or will not fail us. We have learnt that retraining the way we think, by meditating on His Word and daily living that Word in actions – ushers in heavenly thinking. Unfortunately, we will always end up half-hearted in our endeavours if we excuse our own wilfulness as being normal.  

This complete turn around cannot be attempted in our own strength, because humanity’s lack of altruism means we have to look outside ourselves, including our own inner and outer resources, or our valiant self-efforts—to SomeOne Who is pure Love, and totally devoted to our good. Jesus is our God-given, perfect, practical, and ONLY trustworthy example of our new way to live. His disciples reflected His Way to live until they died.

The Lord was motivated by love and guided by love, plus He utterly and totally cast Himself headlong into God’s love, grace and mercy;  these things guided and motivated Him. Because of the Lord’s example, following Him will take the deepest kind of faith – the kind that cannot be manufactured by human beings. To walk in this kind of faith, we must move beyond trusting Jesus to save us—into trusting Jesus to save us from ourselves, and our past, while we are still ALIVE. That’s called living faith.

If we trust Him to save us after we’ve left this world, we actually still have something to gain! He promises we will live forever, in eternity with Almighty God Himself – this is faith that needs to be developed. However, trusting the Lord Jesus to save us while we are alive in this world has no side benefit. We simply have His promise that He will help us!  It will involve sacrifice and it will cost us but the gain is always greater than the cost. Just like Jesus lived a life of sacrifice that cost Him everything while He was on earth. He did what He did for our sake.

Now, we choose to daily put aside our hopes of being understood (security and peace);  and our dreams of making a valid contribution to the world (ambition);  our desire for human love and approval, in favour of His will. We refuse to panic about whatever comes at us, because we know that our God is always in charge.

However, we are eligible for the blessing that Jesus explained to Thomas: “But he (Thomas) said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in His hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” A week later His disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then He said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see My hands. Reach out your hand and put it into My side. Stop doubting and believe.” Thomas said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen Me, you have believed;  blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”John 20:25-29. Thomas had to see to believe – God has given us His grace to see by using our faith – and then faith opens the door to see further.

This verse shows me how much our God values our FAITH, He says believing without seeing is the better way. The very best place to start renewing our minds is to take our immediate needs: heartaches, suffering, fears, etc. and lay them down at the cross. These things are deadly to faith, and, sadly, if they are allowed to flourish, they will come back over and over again to torment and deceive us. The bible clearly tells us God will supply our needs, and we can ask Him for whatever we need – but then we leave those things with Him and go about our Master’s business. We must never stop asking. God is good He loves us dearly, and hears every prayer – His timing is not like ours.

Living like this, will literally blow, (and change!) … our minds. It produces a beauty in us that this world cannot manufacture. Bye, bless you! 🥰

P 3095 Trust can be cultivated.

/ DVH

Proverbs 16:3:“BEFORE you do anything, put your trust totally in God and not in yourself. Then every plan you make will succeed.”TPT. “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and He will establish your plans.” NIV.“Put God in charge of your work, then what you’ve planned will take place.” MSG. This is one of the very best ways I know that shows us how ‘to taste and see that the Lord is good.’

Please note the ‘before’ aspect of the first scripture! It makes it clear that the first place we need to go to is to Him. His ways are above ours, and He knows the future, so trusting Him is pure wisdom. We can tie ourselves in knots over something big like: ‘who should I marry? OR where shall I live?’ — But those things are not necessarily the best place to learn trust. A day-to-day experience of the Lord’s personal guidance, with His eye upon you and your life, is far better. Plus taking the time to notice what He has already done!

Trust is learnt through daily application, not just life-changing decisions! Our thirst to know what comes next can lead us astray. Our daily lives flow better as we learn to live guided by Him. Plus allowing the Lord to correct us and then deliberately acting on His correction, transforms our hearts and minds, because that too involves trust. It softens any hardness that may have calloused over our hearts in our relationship with Him, and others. Plus it introduces opportunities for humility. It’s hard to be proud when you know you need to  go to someone else and confess your faults!

My advice is this – start out the way you mean to finish. God can redeem anything, even our missteps, and He will — but, unfortunately, whatever we carelessly end up doing, can hurt other innocent people and their faith. There is so much wisdom in learning to trust Him and WAIT for what He wants. Let’s forget about taking a survey! By taking a survey, I mean asking six people to give you their feedback on something that totally affects the direction of your life. You could quite easily get six different answers! Or 3 for and 3 against! Neither of those options will grow anything but uncertainty. Trust is like a plant, it needs to be deliberately cultivated and nurtured and cared for, from day to day. 

We can misplace our trust, because we are not first honouring the One Who is always trustworthy with our actions. In order to cast all our cares upon Him so He can make our paths straight, we need to know Him, and His ways first! Regular prayer and reading the bible is a reliable way to expose us to the way the Lord thinks. Otherwise presumption will lure us away from the purposes of God Himself. The best way to cultivate trust is to be more prepared to hear ‘NO!’ or ‘wait,’ than ‘yes.’  Uncertainty is not postponement, it can be God saying wait. 

“There’s a time for every purpose under heaven.” Ecclesiastes 3:1. King Solomon learnt this lesson the hard way. With so many wives etc., not to mention all the children who called the king ‘Dad’ – it’s a wonder he could cope at all! But God Himself personally told this king not to marry or take foreign wives who worshipped other gods. Unfortunately, He did not trust God’s judgment over his own needs and wants.The result was catastrophic. He let his appetites rule his obedience and he treated women like sweeties in a sweet shop – “I’ll have one of those, and one of those etc. …”  Many people today are searching, and searching for the kind of permanent, idealised love from others, that only God Himself can provide. 

Trusting the Lord when everything seems to get harder and harder can be exhausting. This is when we discover how much of our lives the Lord really has under His supervision. I’ve learnt, in those harassing times, to simply lay it all down and let everything go. Let Him be God, and you just be you – that sad little exhausted puddle in the corner. “I can’t do this” is a useful prayer. Just like “help, help.” My premise is this, if we want to follow Him all day every day, then we need to live yielded lives – all day every day! And don’t forget repentance, it clears away any cobwebs. 

Trusting God means I WILL choose to take His Word over mine and that means what I want will die a little. It means I learn to shut my mouth whenever my insides are shouting – “vindicate yourself, you are being misunderstood again!” Another way to learn trust is by letting Him vindicate you. The bible clearly tells me He will vindicate me in Psalm 37:6-8. “He will vindicate you in broad daylight, and publicly defend your just cause. Wait patiently for the Lord! Wait confidently for Him! Do not fret over the apparent success of a sinner, a man who carries out wicked schemes. Do not be angry and frustrated. Do not fret. That only leads to trouble.” 

It is far better to trust the Lord to vindicate you in any circumstance. Anything that tries to push or prod us along is not God. HE leads. If we misplace trust by trying to work things out, or we chase after someone else’s opinions, or we are guided by our own appetites, that will lead to further distrust and confusion. Trusting God is like stepping out of our little boat onto the sea – it is essential that we keep our eyes on Jesus — not on whatever is going on around us! Our Heavenly Father is utterly trustworthy, and learning trust is a hands-on experience. Bye. 👋

P 3091 Define the word ‘gift!’

/ DVH

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, Who does not change like shifting shadows.”James 1:17.“Ask, and the gift is yours. Seek, and you’ll discover. Knock, and the door will be opened for you.”Matthew 7:7 TPT.

If I were to ask you to define what you think a good gift looks like, what would you say? A happy life, travel, health, a nice house, great kids, plenty of money …a happy wife? Here’s a side note … the bible talks about finding a wife. “He who finds a wife finds a good thing, And obtains favour from the LORD.” God has a whole other take on what He thinks good gifts look like! That cranky wife is His gift to you  – you prayed for transformation!

It seems to me that we have translated the above scriptures in James and Matthew to mean that ‘I’ get to define what a good gift looks like! Good luck with that one. Why? Because only God is good … so He is the only One we can trust to define what good looks like! You might like to put your false teeth back in and chew on that one. God’s idea of good, and ours aren’t always the same. The bible tells us in Isaiah 53:10 that: ‘…it pleased the Lord to bruise Jesus’ – His Son.

Father God looks through the difficulties and pain to the overall end result. Jesus’ death meant salvation for all of us! He will use every bit of our journey through hard things – to grow, and diagnose and transform us. I believe human beings cannot discern good, because our minds are saturated with bitterness, resentment, troubles, worries and strife … as well as the so-called pleasures of this world! Somehow all that stuff skews our thinking, and we end up focusing only on the things that we think are advantageous to US, and not on the overall benefit to everyone. 

While our minds are in defensive or offended mode – we cannot easily see whatever is going on in that other person. We’ve been emotionally and mentally distracted, and we will be clouded by our own self-interest. Maybe a nasty attitude in another person is a demonic influence. Maybe it’s a habit, or maybe they are in nine kinds of pain!! But because we are prepared for pickiness, or fight, or flight, that means we are not in a prayerful position to receive heaven’s download about the situation.

The Holy Spirit always has a contribution to make … a gift.  A word of knowledge, some insight, a word of wisdom for every scenario. If we concentrate on how we feel – our anger, loss or pain, we probably won’t see or hear His answer, or we will reject it! And that means the broader deeper blessing is missed. We sometimes trot off feeling relieved when we manage to avoid a grumpy person. But, in truth, we have only postponed change – for me, for them, for the situation. Part of being transformed means we will need to yield to His wishes, His way, even though at the time it feels like the last thing we want to do.

He says this in His word: “No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; He’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; He’ll always be there to help you come through it.” I Corinthians 10:13. Did you see the gift in that sentence?  Yeah yeah, I know you think you’ve had times when you’ve been pushed too far, but the punch line is this — Almighty God thinks you can do it! He believes in you! Here’s another gift to think on:“Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.” Psalm 27:14. You know, the bible says that waiting on God renews our strength. (Isaiah 40:31) 

When we start out prayerfully trying to resist any kind of temptation, we may feel weak and not capable of what we know we need to do. But waiting for Him, pulls our focus out of the normal mixmaster mindset that rattles our brain. Waiting allows us to breathe – to find our peace. This is also a gift! Suddenly all the mind-cloudiness etc. lifts and we can begin to see spiritually. When we stop rattling our brains about “this or that or some other solution” and just sit in silence, and wait for Him! The same way we might wait for a friend in a coffee shop. We will quickly find that silence is another gift.

“My soul, wait in silence for God alone, For my hope is from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, My refuge; I will not be shaken. My salvation and my glory rest on God;  The rock of my strength, my refuge is in God.” Psalm 62:5-7.

This answer is a gift to us. In reality the Lord is saying to us:“this is the way walk ye in it!”He is showing us another way to get through difficulties – and that’s another gift! God daily gives us good gifts and if all we choose to see is this whizz-bang spiritual gift, or that special ability, we will miss seeing Him in our day to day ordinary life.

We need His definition of the word GIFT not ours. Prayerfully ask Him to help you to see and recognise Him, as He is active in your life. He showers us with blessings every single day! If you want to settle for a car park when you need one, then … have at it! But there is more! If what you receive is just perfect, then it is Him. Bye. 👋

P 3046 We need to focus on what matters.

/ DVH

I’ve noticed online recently, a pretty big subtext of chatter about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. That thought seems to ramp up whenever the Christian world is not coping or unhappy with its lot. It seems that we are looking for Jesus to: “Get us out of here please Lord, because it’s getting too hard and we don’t like it!”  Meanwhile I am permanently glued to the fact that the Lord said:  that the whole world needs to hear the gospel first… so in my mind, the second thing can’t happen until we’ve completed the first! Here are some other thoughts on the Second Coming.. My short response is this: I dunno!

Now here’s my longer one: Jesus says this in Matthew 24:35,36. “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away. “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” I’m a no-one, so I think that includes me! Matthew 24:24.“For false Christs and false prophets will arise, and they will show great signs and wonders so as to deceive and lead astray, if possible, even the elect (God’s chosen ones).” Matthew 24:6: “You will hear of wars and rumours of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.”

Those scriptures are one of the reasons you will never hear end-times stuff on this blog. I quite simply don’t know, and, to be truthful, I don’t particularly want to know either!  We can spend way too much time focussing on stuff we have no control of any of it. If Father God did not tell the Lord Jesus back then, He must have a reason. To me that is a nun-ya! (None of ya business.) Rest in the mystery. I refuse to panic when this war and that war happens, instead I pray for the poor people trapped by them and in them. I pray for workers to be thrust out into the harvest!

At the same time, I would never willingly want any of my decisions to be influenced by FEAR, and all this talk about when He’s coming … and what this means – or what that means … is worse than going on holidays! We passionately look forward to the holiday event, and pretty much zone out everything else that is going on around us while we are longing for it to happen!  We are talking about eternity here. Let’s not zone out of what IS going on, by sitting about waiting to be rescued. Newsflash! WE are the cavalry! If you aren’t on your horse by now those other people are sunk!

Because Jesus lives in us, He will always throw fear out wherever He finds it. He wants us to know His perfect love not fear! The Holy Spirit will expose that sneaky little devil, and together – He and I will find the source. At the same time, He will help us to renew our minds! And if we don’t yet understand how perfect His love is right now – we can be utterly reassured that it is His quest to get rid of doubt and fear wherever we have accidentally cherished it or hidden it. Meanwhile, if Jesus Himself doesn’t know when He is coming again, why should WE? 

Someone said this to me when I was a much younger Christian – live this life ready to go at any minute! That thought impacted me to the point where I still think like that today. It means that I can’t afford to just let things lie. especially if I have been out-of-sorts with somebody during the course of the day. The fact is, we only have today. Actually, we only have this minute. Anything else is presumption and an illusion born out of ego.  Back to today’s point …

We need to focus on what matters, in the here and now. I know that I know, that Jesus will come and collect us all when God says: “Now!” I once had a dream I’ve never forgotten about this subject, when I was a much younger woman,  but I refuse to trust in that dream. Maybe I just had too much pizza! All I know is that if it is not my concern, then I can cheerfully leave it with the One Who will come for me, whether I die first or He comes back first! Whatever!!

We can often obsess over things that don’t matter, things we can’t control. Maybe we don’t like the way our pastor preaches. Tough! The reality is this – our pastor is God’s gift to the body. Would you like to tell the Lord He made a mistake? Not me!! Our opinion on whether that person is doing the job well or not, is another nun-ya! What’s it got to do with me? Here’s another scripture to chew on …John 21:20-22: “Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; … …when Peter saw him, he asked Jesus, “Lord, and what about this man [what is in his future]?” Jesus said to him, “If I want him to stay alive until I come [again], what is that to you? You follow Me!”

Now, that sounds like really good advice to live by! Focussing on what matters, means we will stay on the cusp of what the Holy Spirit wants to do next. You might want to meditate on that  thought. It is a better subject than what this grumpy world leader says or does this or that thing we can’t influence! Take a good look at the misinformation on the news – it is all about making people scared and grumpy. I’d rather talk with the Holy Spirit, He is always incredibly positive and reliable. Let’s set our minds on the things that matter. Bye 👋

P 3041 Blame and shame …

/ DVH

… the destructive twins. Those thieves take our peace and joy away and leave us with angst and worry. They make poor governors of our behaviour. They can be aimed at ourselves, as well as others. When we are caught up in this way of thinking, we move right out of operating in Grace, because blame and shame thrive on guilt. And guilt distracts us from the reality of our salvation. 

If our enemy cannot get us to sin, he wants to keep our minds so focussed on our shortcomings, or someone else’s quirks, that we can barely spiritually breathe. The more we allow these thought patterns to rule the less we will love ourselves or others. I have come to the conclusion that who I really am is the person who comes out when I am squeezed by circumstances. That thought has helped me enormously to be realistic about my actions and attitudes, without being obsessive. Instead I confess my faults and He heals me! I don’t have to be afraid to admit my shortcomings, because the Lord has taken care of them. Now I can happily give thanks because of the Grace He releases to me, and through me. 

Sadly, everything we say and do can be disguised to look good to others, by using our own good manners. However, those things do not come from the fruit of the Spirit, but from our own will and our own personal sense of how this life is meant to work. I often spiritually fall over someone else’s lack of manners, because mine were dinged into me from birth! Those things immediately send me spiralling off into judgment. Good manners are great, but spiritual fruit is permanent. It can be eaten. That fruit slowly ushers in spiritual growth, health and transformation, and when you take a bite out of it, it won’t bite you back!

We have His help, always. But we can become so used to acting, or even reacting, without any thought, we can miss those crucial moments to yield. The Holy Spirit is our 24/7, on the spot, Helper. He wants to help us transform our inner attitudes so what comes out is really IN there! Sadly, in many congregations it is almost easier to give a performance of good, than it is to face our short-comings realistically.

If you have lived most of your Christian life on a steady diet of religion, trying to manufacture in your own strength what our kingdom lives need to look like — that can be an enormous weight. We can feel such a failure all the time, because all we can see is fault. Blame and shame love to jump on that bandwagon. So if I feel down, you must have done something wrong, so it’s your fault!! I have discovered that the more I oppress my true self, the more likely I am to hide my faults, and focus on yours.  It is like a being on a merry-go-round I cannot get off! Now I have an image to keep up! 

Letting God into our intimate thoughts and inner self can be incredibly daunting. Some of us don’t let anybody in there! Instead we have constructed ‘devices’ to distract ourselves from paying attention to what is going on inside. Maybe we are afraid of blame or shame. That’s often when our awareness of what Jesus did for us has become dim, and remote— then we try to hide from the One Who already loves and knows us. Jonah is a brilliant example of that kind of thinking in action! He hid in the bottom of a ship because the Lord’s idea did not appeal to Him, he blamed God Himself for wanting to save Nineveh. Yet Paul has several instances where he openly admits they had one idea, and the Holy Spirit had another! It’s OK to be wrong, just be honest about it.

For most of us God’s Love is a strong concept, yet to be deeply experienced. It is not a deep seated reality. We can devotedly read the bible with this awful feeling that we will always fall short, and sadly that can lead to blaming and shaming ourselves, or even to putting others down, because they seem to be successful, and we’re not. At the same time, some of us have learnt to be really great actors! That’s why I love reading the gospels, because the disciples foibles and dumb attitudes give me room to be myself – real, inadequate and normal. I know I need a Saviour!

Religion blames and shames people, and that produces fear, rejection, and pain for everyone involved. The Pharisees and their mates didn’t understand where the Lord Jesus was coming from, and yet they knew the bible, backwards, and inside out. They were the leaders, so they made a visible practice of knowing everything  from every direction. Just like they did back then, a religious bent can colour the way we look at His Word, and affect how we live our lives and regard other people. Blaming parents seems to be a national past-time! ‘They smacked me too much, or they used shame to govern me.” Blame is blame no matter why or where we aim it. I comfort myself that I had a childish mind back then – but I don’t have to have one now!

The fullness that belongs to every single one of the Lord’s kids will always seem out of reach if we continue to wrestle with religious stuff. God loves real people who make real mistakes!  I have noticed a couple of things about blame and shame … if you have lived with it in the past, those terrible twins seem to nag at you in subtle ways in the present, and you are more likely to fall into that pattern of thinking again, as well as reflecting it to others, especially under pressure. Let the oppressed go free – them and me!! Praise God for His Grace.

Bye. 👋

In Romans 1:16 Paul declares,“I am not ashamed of the gospel,”and Isaiah 54:4, which promises, “Do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame.”And 2 Timothy 1:12: “But I am not ashamed, for I know Whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.”

P 3025 The three “C’s.”

/ DVH

“So we are convinced that every detail of our lives is continually woven together for good, for we are His lovers who have been called to fulfil His designed purpose.” Romans 8:28 TPT. 

Paul was convinced about what he says here. He looked at his life – including the floggings, beating with sticks,  shipwrecks, and physical violence. The imprisonment, as well as the persecution by various groups of people – some of them supposedly Christian. Plus the people who ignored his good advice because they had a better idea…  and he came to a conclusion. His conclusion was that “everything works together for good for those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose.”

God wants to transform the difficulties we experience into something meaningful and good, for His kingdom’s sake. We simply need to hang on in there believing in His goodness.‘The trying of our faith produces patience but we have to LET patience have her perfect work in us.’James 1:3-4. There’s that little word that gives everyone the pip! LET. Allow. Permit…Yield! Allow patience to do a number on you. Permit it to stretch you, let it teach you, and allow it to transform the way you think and act. That is what yielding looks like. WE are the boss of our thoughts  … and just like we won’t permit pornographic thoughts to occupy our minds – we refuse to LET impatience take over. We ask for the Holy Spirit’s help and hang on.. to Him.!!!

The Apostle Paul was not only convinced, he was convinced continually! That is actually the only way we can be changed. We choose to hold onto the fact that God will work our present circumstances out for our good. Continually! This spiritual stand happens over and over and over again! Christianity is a progressive pushing forward into more of what we already have been given. And sometimes there is no ‘exit’ to be seen — there is only the minute by minute pushing through how we feel, to grab hold of what God has said. This creates trust in Who He is. We lean on Him, persevering with the situation, waiting for His patience, and seeking after the love that never alters.

Stuff happened to Paul over and over again. There was a whole lot of ugly stuff in 40+ years of ministry. That’s an average of 6 rotten testing events a year! He paid a high price to evangelise, as well as minister what God told him to write … Paul once wrote that he “despaired of life itself.” Well you would, wouldn’t you? His life was no picnic, but I bet he has never given it another thought since he arrived in heaven!!

“We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On Him we have set our hope that He will continue to deliver us,..” 2 Corinthians 1:8-10.

Paul knew how to suffer, but he did not do it lying down. He grabbed hold of the hope that God had what He needed and wanted to give it to Him. He believed in the goodness of God Himself. If we take the time to consult our feelings about this scripture in Romans, it might seem inaccurate, utterly impossible. Nobody feels like pushing against a seemingly immovable object. But what if I told you that if you press in just one more time that object will move? I think you’d convince yourself to take a big breath and push one more time! It’s just like birthing babies, but, with His help, we are birthing and raising good fruit!

That’s what continually convincing yourself of God’s supreme power and goodness does – it draws you into a conclusion! Almighty God can’t fail us, His goodness always wins! There are some unresolved things in my life that I may not see this month, or this year, but I know that He will do them – whether I am still here or not. I do not believe those things simply because I prayed —I believe it because HE SAID SO in the book. I’m always convinced of His goodness as I continually read His book. We ain’t seen nothing yet! The best place to be in a battle is on the front line. WHY? You get to be the first to see the enemy turn tail and run… that’s why!

 Paul says in 2 Timothy 1:12: “This is why I suffer as I do. Still, I am not ashamed; for I know Him [and I am personally acquainted with Him] whom I have believed [with absolute trust and confidence in Him and in the truth of His deity], and I am persuaded [beyond any doubt] that He is able to guard that which I have entrusted to Him until that day [when I stand before Him].”

I am learning to be convinced continually, and that exercise led me to this conclusion – the Lord is worth it all. “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:17-18. In order to be convinced, I need to continually revise my belief in His goodness every single time something unexpected occurs, and then I keep reinforcing my belief that God cannot fail me. That’s the best conclusion! Life surely does happen but God has a plan!! Bye. 👋

P 2998 Thankfulness, the gift that keeps on giving.

/ DVH

This morning at 2.00am hubby had some thoughts that were so good, I have repeated them here today.

“We can be so busy obsessing over what we don’t have, or what we’ve lost, that we fail to be grateful for what we have been given. It is a fundamental tactic of the enemy to foster the seed of discontent in us, to steal our vision and the purposes that God has prepared for us. However, living in discontentment means that we are inadvertently saying … we don’t know Him – Who He is, the fact that He is good. Gratitude matters. It pulls our focus back on to Jehovah Jireh, our great eternal Provider.

We are also saying, when we indulge in our fears, that we are still in charge of our lives and destiny. By refusing to give the reins of our lives to God we are saying something about the way we regard Him. We are saying we don’t trust Him to be good to us. At its foundation there is rebellion, but satan colours those feelings of self pity and despair, in order to build a framework through which we can see this world. How to break this framework…? Repent of rebellion and start trusting God to be the Master of your life and begin to be thankful and grateful for what He has provided and expect Him to take care of you.”

Over to me and my thoughts now … As I reflected on what hubby said, I saw that we can’t afford the luxury of choosing what we will obey, and what we will not in this battle we call life. Even the little things matter. As soon as we refuse God’s ways for us, we are giving satan access into our minds and lives and then we can become double-minded. At worst we can be easily deceived! 

It is good to remember when Jesus was tempted He responded with the scripture. He did not pit His will against His tormentor, instead He declared God’s word to satan as His shield. Jesus is our example of how to fight, when discouragement strikes, or when we think we need to postpone using our faith, and that overtakes us. We must constantly be using and strengthening our faith, or it can be weakened by adverse circumstances, and life’s testing times. God’s truth is our shield, even when we don’t like what it says. Instead immediately look for things to thank Him for!

“At each place they (the Apostles) went, they strengthened the lives of the believers and encouraged them to go deeper in their faith. And they taught them, “It is necessary for us to enter into the realm of God’s kingdom, because that’s the only way we will endure our many trials and persecutions.” Acts 14:22 TPT. Did you get that? What helps is to look at our circumstances and decide if it is “kingdom material” – or not! Having a kingdom mindset and using it as a yardstick in our lives, protects us from the things of this world that are constantly battering at our lives to demand our attention, trying to drag us under. However, even when we don’t feel like it, we need to give thanks.

A thankful attitude can be cultivated under fire. We can’t afford to think; “I’ll learn about that stuff later.”  satan is a snake who uses discouragement and despair – which are normal human emotions – against us. he will hand us so-called evidence that God is not good, that we cannot manage whatever is going on – in order to sway our attention, loyalty, and devotion away from the Lord and onto ourselves. satan will focus our attention on our feelings instead of God’s word. If we can’t think of anything to thank God for in our pain, then let’s thank Him that He saved us, so we can always ask for His help! “God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.” Psalm 46:1.

We dare not even attempt to fight any kind of destructive fight ourselves, we need the Holy Spirit’s discernment and wisdom to clear away the cobwebs of deception and shine a light on the real truth. It is hard to find something to be thankful for if you feel like the world is on top of you. The secret is to quickly recognise that our feelings come from provocation from our enemy. Then we can start rebuking them. And that’s another reason to thank God – because  He has given us power over our enemy! “Listen carefully: I have given you authority [that you now possess] to tread on serpents and scorpions, and [the ability to exercise authority] over all the power of the enemy (Satan); and nothing will [in any way] harm you.” Luke 10:19.

Here’s another great verse to be thankful for: “Trust in the Lord completely, and do not rely on your own opinions. With all your heart rely on Him to guide you, and He will lead you in every decision you make. Become intimate with Him in whatever you do, and He will lead you wherever you go.” Proverbs 3:5-6 TPT. God is the only reliable Person in this world, and ever-so-fortunately for us … HE IS GOOD! The Lord sees our hearts are toward Him, and His loving heart and goodness cannot help but reach out to us in our bewilderment and sorrow. Yet another reason to thank Him!! Our help and hope is in the Name of the Lord. He is THE strong tower we run into when we know we need help. And thank God for that tower!

I exhort you to give everything that comes up to oppose you, to Jesus, and leave it with Him. Trust Him to guide you out of whatever happened to you. Hold fast to the fact that God is good… all the time, because He is. Thank Him for His incredible goodness!  God’s Grace enables me. It enables me to give my situation to Jesus and watch what He will do with it. Having Him as my back-up also makes me thankful! Thankfulness is the gift that keeps on giving. Bye👋