Mountain

P 3122 God sees.

/ DVH

In some places in the bible (Ezekiel and Revelation) all sorts of creatures are mentioned. They have eyes everywhere, in places we don’t even like to think about. To me this is a picture of the incredible depth of sight our Heavenly Father has – He sees ALL! Those creatures’ eyes mentioned in those books reflect Hebrews 4:13: “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” Our Heavenly Father knows what is happening in your life right now, how hard it is for you.

Nothing is ever hidden from Him. And as we walk through this life toward complete wholeness and holiness in Christ – that thought should not make us afraid – it should turn our hearts to the Saviour. We need to remember what Colossians 3:3 says:“For [as far as this world is concerned] you have died, and your [new, real] life is hidden with Christ in God.” We don’t have to hide anything from Him when we choose to live our lives for Him. Let’s continually allow the Holy Spirit, to guide, correct and teach us His Ways, and continue to remain hidden by what Christ did for us. Because of what He has already done, we know that we can trust Him and His Word. 

This is why an intimate relationship with our Father is important. If we only give God importance in our lives according to our immediate needs, then we could eventually fall away. Because sooner or later our prayers will appear to be unanswered! Instead, let’s bow to the superior knowledge and sight, of the Great I AM. That knowledge is revealed in the bible. Our God sees everything, and He is a mighty JUST God – WHO LOVES US. If we sin, He already has an Advocate praying and pleading for us at His right hand. His own dear Son. Jesus is utterly trustworthy. He never held anything back from His Father in His entire earthly life, and He poured His life out for each one of us!

God’s measuring tools are not the same as ours. We cannot afford to use our own measuring stick, because we can end up deceiving ourselves with excuses … and blame. That’s why Christ came – to provide us with a Saviour Who has personal experience of His Father’s love. He showed us what obedience and humility looks like …and He had perfect confidence in His Father’s Word. On top of all that, He also had understanding about the pressures of this world! The Holy Spirit will reveal what is in our hearts to us, if we let Him. He knows everything. He gave us these scriptures and then lived them out in front of our eyes.

This why our bible reading needs to become more than just a cursory reading. We already know that it can become a diagnostic tool, and reveal to us our own hidden attitudes and actions. It also shows us the works He prepared for us to do, before we ever arrived here. Human beings like to fool themselves. We hide things, even from ourselves, because we don’t like to be wrong …instead we can end up blaming others.

Exhibit A … Genesis 3:12. Adam blamed GOD HIMSELF. “… the woman YOU gave me … ” Hiding ourselves from Him is foolish, and we are only fooling ourselves. We are like little children, who love to play hide and seek, they have no comprehension that the person who is seeking — is not really gone! God knows and sees exactly where we are and what is really going on.

In Ezekiel there is another example of what God knows and what man doesn’t. Most of us know this story so I will just give a brief overview today. The Holy Spirit whisked Ezekiel away in the spirit, to a valley filled with skeletons – dry bones. And then He talks to Ezekiel about them. These people are totally DEAD. The scene is a powerful picture of what life without Almighty God, and Jesus Himself looks like. Important people come and go in this life – famous ones, clever ones, but, in the end – we will all end up dry bones. But, because God sees and knows all, it doesn’t have to stop there!

The Spirit reveals to Ezekiel that valley of utter, permanent destruction, seemingly permanent oblivion. But God can see potential even in dry bones. He can raise up an army from a valley that has only known death for years!  Ezekiel 37:9.“Then Yahweh said to me, Prophesy to the breath. Yes, prophesy, son of man. Say to the breath, ‘Lord Yahweh says: Divine breath, come now from the four winds. Breathe on these lifeless bodies, so that they can live again.’The Holy Spirit asks Ezekiel a hard question in this chapter: “Can these bones live?” Verse 3. Ezekiel is no dummy — He gives a GREAT answer, filled with humility and hope! “…only YOU know Lord…” Then the Mighty Spirit of God commands the prophet to prophesy and command life to come back to those bones again!

I want to encourage everyone who has loved ones who-don’t-know-Jesus-yet — or loved ones who have wandered away — to be like Ezekiel — speak His life to the dry bones. God has given us the power to shift things that appear to be fixed. Sometimes situations like these, loom over us like huge mountains in our lives. But Jesus once said: ‘Speak to the mountain and tell it to move.’  The Lord once told the sea to be still! Prophesy to the Divine breath – the Holy Spirit. Let’s start praying for our friends and families: “Holy Spirit come. Breathe on these empty, lifeless bodies so that they know true life as His children, and become part of His army.”

God sees and knows what is happening around you. Sometimes instead of lying down under circumstances, we need to stand up and prophesy what God says: “And consider the example that Jesus, the Anointed One, has set before us. Let His mindset become your motivation.” Philippians 2:5 TPT. Amen. Bye 😘💨💨💨

P 3055 Don’t wait – move!

/ DVH

“This is why the Scriptures say: Things never discovered or heard of before, things beyond our ability to imagine — these are the many things God has in store for all His lovers. But God now unveils these profound realities to us by the Spirit. Yes, He has revealed to us His inmost heart and deepest mysteries through the Holy Spirit, who constantly explores all things. For we did not receive the spirit of this world system but the Spirit of God, so that we might come to understand and experience all that grace has lavished upon us. 

And we articulate these realities with the words imparted to us by the Spirit and not with the words taught by human wisdom. We join together Spirit-revealed truths with Spirit-revealed words. Someone living on an entirely human level rejects the revelations of God’s Spirit, for they make no sense to Him. He can’t understand the revelations of the Spirit because they are only discovered by the illumination of the Spirit. For Who has ever intimately known the mind of the Lord Yahweh well enough to become His counsellor? Christ has, and we possess Christ’s perceptions.”1 Corinthians 2:9-10, 12-14, 16 TPT.

I wish I had understood some of these wonderful truths sooner – so I could have jumped joyfully into the ever on-going journey of full and total surrender – earlier! Instead of merely standing on the edge of it, dipping my toe in and out, hoping that would do. The only thing I got from dipping my toe in, was a truck load of reasons why total surrender was not for me. I became too engaged with the things of this world. My bad!

Sometimes I think the Body of Christ has been so disillusioned by the previous whole blab it and grab it theological movement, our disappointment has led to us standing afar off from the Lord. We are a bit like the Israelites. When Almighty God appeared to be unmanageable and scary, that’s when they told Moses: “You go up the mountain, we’ll stay down here.” Yet, we know darn well it is still our choice to stand so far away. Every now and then, some brave soul makes a bold stand to trust God for this and that, … and when, or if what they pray over doesn’t happen, disillusionment sets in … again!

We’ve seem to have forgotten it’s the thief who comes to steal kill and destroy. And even worse! —- We have forgotten that God is good ALL THE TIME. Let’s learn to look for the good no matter how bad things seem. Instead of wagging the Spirit’s school of learning about God Himself, we all need to sit up front and learn. Just because you or I feel let down or deserted by Him, that does not make what we feel the truth. Let’s stop, read and reread what He has said, and reinforce the wonderful things we know about Him and His Ways. I’m praying for brave souls to step up, and step out, and go on to live in and love on unsaved countries. Our country is an unsaved country! Here I am God send me!

Today I want to lay down a challenge to everyone reading this. There are glorious things about our God that we know nothing about. Those things exist now, and they are there for us, if we just ask. Instead of feathering our own nests, let’s be about His kingdom! Those strategies and secret things are needed right here, right now. I’m not talking about the kind of prayers that will make me more comfortable, because something bad has happened. I’m talking about the kind of lay-your-life down praying that turns the world on its head. These things are not only glorious, they are there to be taken – merely for the price we are prepared to pay to go and get them!

(Isaiah 55:1-6) 

Oh, where are our heroes of the faith? I have known some precious people of God in the past 52 years, and over those years I have seen some of these people persevere and press in, despite their circumstances. Praise God for their faith! But I’m so tired of the same old, same old, slog we participate in daily, week by week, paddling our broken canoes up the fantastic, enormous wild river of God’s love and provision. We need to step up, stand up, and ACT, by participating in what He is doing — instead of hiding away in our little hidey holes of supposed safety and security. 

I also know many dear saints who have been broken by their circumstances, and yet they bravely limp on. But there is a much harder step forward than even maintaining what we have, and it comes from the men and women who know His heart and pray and act on it. No matter what the consequences are.The best things, the most glorious things, are still in front of us, but we will have to put down our ideas of a normal life, and step into the unknown. He’s there, waiting for us. Let’s remember that 11 other men remained in that boat when Peter stepped out of safety into the impossible!

Many generations today chase youth in their attitudes and activities – everybody wants to keep fit. What about spiritual fitness? His ways are so much better than the ways of this world. It’s time to stop hoping somebody else will answer His call, and go ourselves! We need to move. Whether we take our faith to the office, our schools, or some foreign country – if we do not use that faith for more than our own personal gain – we will lose it. Bye 👋

“Yes, remember your Creator now while you are young, before the silver cord of life snaps and the golden bowl is broken. Don’t wait until the water jar is smashed at the spring and the pulley is broken at the well.”  Ecclesiastes 12:6.

P 2915 How amazing is this?

/ DVH

“There’s a day coming when the mountain of God’s House Will be The Mountain—solid, towering over all mountains. All nations will river toward it, people from all over set out for it.They’ll say, “Come, let’s climb God’s Mountain, go to the House of the God of Jacob.He’ll show us the way He works so we can live the way we’re made.”Isaiah 2:2-5.

We made it safely to Hall’s Gap. It is our first stop — so today I thought I would talk about mountains, because I am surrounded by them. We are staying right at the base of an escarpment. There are lots of different birds, a mob of kangaroos etc. and the kind of quiet you will only experience when you are far far away from the city. We chose to come here because God told us to come. Then these poor souls had a very bad bushfire earlier this year. When a bushfire rages through your neighbourhood, love, hope and joy get burnt up too!

Isaiah’s verses impacted me today, because I am looking at a large rocky mountain, up close. Isn’t it great that one day we will see God’s mountain and climb it, hallelujah! Meanwhile my climbing days down here are over, I can barely climb into a people-mover without someone kind of shoving on my rear end. Stairs nearly do me in, and my rock-climbing days in this world are over.  But one day ….!!

An-y-wa-y … the bit of scripture that totally grabbed at me from these verses, was:‘He’ll show us the way He works so we can live the way we’re made.’Imagine that! Jesus came here specifically to do that for us … and so much MORE!! Sometimes we can forget we were created to live in God’s Presence, to go for walks with Him in the world He made for us. But we chose our own way, our own opinion, our own logic above His instructions. Jesus modelled what Christians can look like, then He sent US back the power to carry it out.

He came here with a huge download of the knowledge of His Father’s original plan. He came to pay the price for, as well as show us visibly, what redemption and restoration can do for human beings. Christ illustrated, gloriously, what living in the Father’s Presence, and walking with the Holy Spirit looks like! He revealed Father God and His Ways to all of us in such a simple, unobtrusive, selfless way. The Lord made the impossible, possible when He came here to show us how God’s Ways work. Now, we too can live our lives, right here, right now, like Jesus did. We too can respond to adverse circumstances the way He did, and love others wholeheartedly with no strings attached. Isn’t that a big thought?

The power to live this life, here and NOW, differently, was bought by Christ at Calvary and released through the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. This world needed to be redeemed before the Holy Spirit could be everywhere. Before Christ’s birth, the Holy Spirit came to be with just with a person for special circumstances. But now, He is available to any one of us – all of us -to teach, help and guide us. Just like the disciples followed Jesus around, now we follow the Spirit of the Living God. This is not a special club, the bible says: “The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.” Revelation 22:17.EVERYTHING ABOUT OUR HEAVENLY FATHER SAYS: “COME!”

The power of God was released, through a human being just like you and I, and then Jesus died and left here — but then He sent back a PERSON Who can be everywhere – to guide us.  If Jesus hadn’t done what He did so freely, we would still be striving to reach heaven through a religious man-made Tower of Babel. I think this shows all of humanity that we need to know the Holy Spirit and what He likes and loves, better than we know anyone else. The option remains with us to choose. First, we choose Christ to save us from our sins, and then we choose the Holy Spirit to help us become everything we were always designed to be. 

God loved His time with Adam and Eve in the garden. That deliberately chosen time is an illustration of His intention. It shows us that He wants to be with us, because He likes our company. We are the only creatures on this earth who can choose to love and enjoy Him. I believe the Lord loves the reciprocity of this arrangement. We do not have to pray and talk to Him – now we get to pray and talk to Him. We were made in His image, God does not want ‘yes’ men and woman, He wants us to learn about His Ways and fall in love with the One Who made us by our own freely made choices. How amazing is that? 

Almighty God sent Jesus here to free us from sin, and show us how to really live. Because we have the freedom to choose, that means our choices are incredibly powerful. It’s the minute by minute choices we make that decide who we are now, and who we will become  – the choice to live out His will, His Way is filled with the Holy Spirit’s power. Bye for today, 👋.

P 2827 Make way for the road builders!

/ DVH

“A thunderous voice cries out in the wilderness: “Prepare the way for Yahweh’s arrival! Make a highway straight through the desert for our God! Every valley will be raised up, every mountain brought low. The rugged terrain will become level ground and the rough places a plain.” Isaiah 40:3 TPT. In this verse Isaiah describes our every day task for Jesus’ sake. He does it beautifully, accurately and passionately. 

Not everyone likes the Passion Translation, so here’s the Message bible as well,  just because it also says it beautifully. “Thunder in the desert! Prepare for God’s arrival! Make the road straight and smooth, a highway fit for our God. Fill in the valleys, level off the hills, Smooth out the ruts, clear out the rocks. Then God’s bright glory will shine and everyone will see it. Yes. Just as God has said.”

You know, you and I are glorified rock removalists…road builders!  Our job is to get rid of anything in front of other people as they make their way toward God. Not to mention the odd stone that we could also fall over that is in our own path!! We must deal with those things that make people stumble. What do I mean by stumble? Well, Auntie Mary can’t get over Uncle Pete’s infidelity. That’s a big one! They need forgiveness and reconciliation.

Or someone has deserted one of their kids because this kid has done so many bad things nobody can count – so now they’ve disowned them. These people need the Prince of Peace. That’s a big boulder! Maybe your neighbour’s dog keeps doing his business on your lawn. That’s kind of pebble-sized, but highly annoying when you go to get your paper and find that stuff with your slippered foot … even little things are sometimes trip-worthy because they niggle at you.

So we pray because as rock removalists we have been given authority to speak to mountains – so a rock is nothing to us! Maybe your attitude to your spouse is antagonistic, or absent, or whatever!! Part of your job is to repair the breach. ←That just means fix stuff – preferably when it happens. The bible says: “…you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.” Isaiah 58:12 …so we get to prayerfully fix things around us that are not working, particularly relationships. You know, I think Isaiah picked up a lot of marvellous stuff when he made that trip up into the throne room. 

As an aside, over the years I have heard people talk about an experience, or the feelings they had when the Holy Spirit came and touched them. Unfortunately, I have hardly ever heard anyone talk about the Lord pointing out sin, or changing their hearts! This has always made me wonder…because I know that the Holy Spirit doesn’t come to do nothing. Maybe the person missed the point. Back to road building …

Here’s a few more. We all know there are people we like to avoid … now there’s an easily-tripped-over rock.🎁 It’s nearly Christmas!! 🎁Yay! What about all those relatives you haven’t seen since last year? You know, the ones you aren’t looking forward to seeing this year? Leaving things unattended to makes a big PILE of rocks instead of a little one, and Jesus is very clear … He wants no rocks at all, thank you!! These verses are part of our job description. We’ve erroneously thought Isaiah was only in the bible to give us loads of comfort verses. Wrong!

Rock removalists get to remove boulders! The fun part is they get to blow them up with God’s word and Spirit-led prayer. Don’t be discouraged BTW, some of those blooming big rocks take a lot of spiritual dynamite, but Jesus told us that we can tell any mountain to go jump in the sea, so serve that thing in your life with notice and tell it “ready, steady .. JUMP!” And keep pointing the dividing sword of God at the situation, speaking redemption, peace and reconciliation as well. 

We all want to do cool things, things that everyone will notice, but real rock removalists like to do things unseen, in their prayer closets. How many road builders have you stood and watched lately? That would be … like  …NONE? That’s what I thought. It’s a job that looks boring and repetitive and seems to accomplish not much that is visible.. Do remember those road builders the next time you are travelling along a nice smooth highway! Remember, roads connect A to B… otherwise people get lost.   

And can I just mention that we do not have to be ‘nice’ to the devil? Rudeness is wasted on him, but we can definitely let him have it when we pray! True road building authority isn’t about yelling – it’s about knowing who you are. We must remember what we are here for, because we are walking along pitching rocks off roads … because Jesus Himself is going to walk along those roads. That’s the point of a clear road. It’s for people to walk on it without falling over or falling off, or turning back because they are discouraged.

BTW we don’t throw those pesky little rocks away, we use them to fill in the holes. We smother them with prayer – which is the best glue ever – and flatten out and fill the holes in people’s lives. The things that lack the Love of God — it never fails. Bye. 👋  More on this subject tomorrow.

P 2760 Don’t let a ceiling stop you!

/ DVH

Our pastor recently preached about moving mountains the other day, it made me think. Those kinds of thoughts have been bubbling about inside me ever since I heard it. Then this morning hubby and I were sharing about things we’ve seen when we are on the road, giving away bibles etc. and one thing led to another, and then the Lord chimed in with this: “Be like those men in the bible, tear off the roof if you have to.“ (That’s in Mark, Matthew and Luke.) Boy did we get happy!  What a word! Let’s all pray: ‘Dear Lord help us to tear off spiritual ceilings whenever they prevent people from getting to YOU –  You are their Answer.’ Amen!

Meanwhile, here’s the story in Luke 5:17-20:“On one of the days while Jesus was teaching, some proud religious law-keepers and teachers of the Law were sitting by Him. They had come from every town in the countries of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. The power of the Lord was there to heal them.  Some men took a man who was not able to move his body to Jesus. He was carried on a bed. They looked for a way to take the man into the house where Jesus was.  But they could not find a way to take him in because of so many people. They made a hole in the roof over where Jesus stood. Then they let the bed with the sick man on it down before Jesus. When Jesus saw THEIR faith, He said to the man, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”

As I read it, I began to see that scene with fresh eyes. These men who brought the paralysed man to Jesus were full of faith – they knew if they could get him to Jesus he would be well. But the house was filled up with many people and a bunch of religious leaders. The leaders were all listening to Jesus, and if you keep on reading you will find that these religious men probably weren’t there to cheer! Instead they stumbled over Jesus telling the man his sins were forgiven. They took umbrage, because they did not recognise that GOD was in the house. ‘Oh Lord, please save us all from not recognising when YOU are IN the house!’ Amen!

These religious leaders loved to debate the law and they knew it like the back of their hands. They instantly picked Jesus up on what He said, because they knew from their studies that only God Himself can forgive our sins. After all this was what they did day by day –  sins were forgiven with offerings on an altar. The scholars had invested so deeply in their own knowledge that they had restricted their faith. Even worse – perhaps they thought knowledge WAS faith.

You know there were only two possible answers for what Jesus did. Either He  blasphemed, OR … Jesus Christ IS God – and not just another prophet –  and He could and did forgive sins – as well as personally pay for them!! And aren’t you and I incredibly blessed to know that answer?!

Did you get the part where the sick guy couldn’t get IN to the Lord’s Presence? Sick people need help to get to God. That house was filled up with religious leaders, watching and waiting for Jesus to make a mistake. Isn’t that a terrifying sentence?! These scholarly men were in the same room as the God they cherished and studied, and …they utterly missed Him! And yet, Jesus was so incredibly patient and kind, both to the man on the bed, and his faithful friends, plus the people who were there to prove Him wrong. He healed the man, and explained Himself, then left His critics dumbfounded. 

This story made me wonder … How many times have I left off praying because it seemed as if there was something in my way? Maybe a mountain? Or a ceiling?? It all seems a bit incredible when we look at what it took to bring that ailing man to Jesus’ feet. How much love and faith, in and through his friends, was expressed just for the invalid’s sake? Without an apology, or even a … do you mind? — They actually wrecked some guy’s house! Put yourself there for a minute – maybe at the minute that the roof starts to fall on the floor. I wonder what was going through the owner’s mind in those few seconds? 😶 I’d really like to think that that person thought it was worth a busted ceiling for someone to get thoroughly well.

Now to my question:  how many ceilings has this life put on all of us? How much stuff — like good manners, or respect for other people’s property, wrong theology, or avoiding doing the unpopular thing in front of everyone, has come between us and God’s will in our lives? Yeah. That’s not the most cheery thought. Maybe we have lived our lives so far, scared of what the so-called experts will say – because they supposedly know, and we don’t? The men in that house all experienced God in a remarkable way, which had nothing to do with knowledge.“Knowledge puffs up…”

All I know for sure, is that mere knowledge is no longer good enough for me. I want to tear up some hypothetical roofs and see people set free, and healed, and praising God for His goodness! And most of all I don’t want to care anymore what anybody else thinks about it! As His church, we must not let the spiritual ceilings in our lives stop us from being the kind of people who want to get someone else to Jesus, simply because they need His help. No matter what that costs. That’s called unconditional LOVE!  And …’We will always need Your help with that Lord,’ Amen. Bye 👋

P 2565 Jesus teaches about prayer.

/ DVH

“Jesus was matter-of-fact: “Embrace this God-life. Really embrace it, and nothing will be too much for you. This mountain, for instance: Just say, ‘Go jump in the lake’—no shuffling or hemming and hawing—and it’s as good as done. That’s why I urge you to pray for absolutely everything, ranging from small to large. Include everything as you embrace this God-life, and you’ll get God’s everything. And when you assume the posture of prayer, remember that it’s not all asking. If you have anything against someone, forgive—only then will your heavenly Father be inclined to also wipe your slate clean of sins.””Mark 11:22-25 MSG.

Mark 11 is a terrific chapter, there is a lot in it. To start with, Jesus enters into Jerusalem and He is cheered on by absolutely everybody. These people are spiritually responding to the King of all Kings! However, their responses in those moments, also teach me that what other people say or do, even when they have the best of intentions can be hollow. Good intentions go out of the window unless God is at work in our hearts transforming our minds and actions. In this instance those same people called out “Crucify Him!” … just a few days later. No fruit on that tree either!

Anyway, the next day, Jesus is looking for breakfast and He finds a fig tree, but that tree has no fruit on it, so He curses it without any explanation. He moves on from there, and He goes into the temple and then … He clears out the temple – throwing out the buyers and sellers.After that, the disciples notice that the fig tree the Lord cursed has withered up from the roots, and, boy, are they are impressed? BTW, isn’t it interesting that they comment on the fig tree but not His clearing out the temple?? Nobody asked Him why He did that!! The above verses from Mark are about the conversation that followed when Jesus talked with His disciples about tree-cursing and what the power of God can do — when we position ourselves to live this life, HIS way!

I think that these two, very extremely different events, are linked. Jesus was looking for fruit, for nourishment from that fig tree, and there was none. But then He went on into a supposedly spiritual place and it too was not fruitful, it was lifeless, and barren. So He dealt with that situation as well! That temple that the Lord entered, was designed to be a place where the Jewish people found life, and spiritual fruit they could eat, that would nourish their relationship with God. But what the temple presented had been reduced to making money, and a whole heap of rituals. It definitely was not fruitful for them.

Did you notice that the Lord’s focus on the cursed fig tree is about prayer? He is using that tree to teach them about prayer. I believe He is telling us that we need to pray all the time about everything, whether it is big, like a mountain – or small like a fig tree. And He makes it clear that prayer is not just about asking. Prayer is an avenue of forgiveness, where we can sort out our sins with the Lord and then go and fix them with other people. He is showing people how to deal with their sins. They can talk to God about them, personally … not just by participating in a religious system that does not help them know God better!

He is encouraging the disciples to have a bigger faith than sacrificing an animal once a year, to take care of their spiritual needs. Our God is never meant to be a thoughtless routine! He is everyone’s Father and He dearly loves people plus He clearly wants us to love one another. The old system let the people down, it allowed them to treat God dispassionately, as a routine thing. Then the participants would go back to their ordinary lives feeling that they had paid their debt with a dove, sheep or a heifer … but there was so much more available to them. PEACE OF MIND – the sort of peace that passes human understanding.

Jesus goes on to interact with the high priests, and religious scholars etc. again, because they want to know who gave Him the right to upset their money-making systems?! And in response He asks them a question they can’t answer — because John the Baptist was totally outside their rule books. The guy with spiritual life in him, is never at a disadvantage when he is confronting religion. Religion is hollow – it has no substance, like that fig tree! It temporarily mollifies our feelings but it can not cleanse our spiritual debts. Jesus taught His disciples to pray in many more ways not just the Lord’s prayer. We simply have to look for them. ‘Those who seek, will find!’ 👋

P 2535 We need to learn to lift our shields.

/ DVH

“Look with wonder at the depth of the Father’s marvellous love that He has lavished on us! He has called us and made us His very own beloved children. The reason the world doesn’t recognize who we are is that they didn’t recognize Him.”1 John 3:1 TPT

When I read that scripture today, my first thought was: ‘What if I started to pray for the people around me, to recognise Him?’ Come to think of it, what if I prayed for ME to recognise Him in the things that go on around me? We sing and pray: “I want to know You, I want to see You,” Then waddle about as blind as a bat – well, you may not waddle but I sure do! 🤪 After those thoughts I asked myself yet again: “What is there in my life, right now, that would distract me from my God-given ability to see and reflect His love and His Presence to others?” I don’t want to be a muddy mirror! I want to progressively see Him more clearly and reflect Him better too.

I’m not talking about going on a witch-hunt to look for stuff, I am talking about discovering the things that are easily tolerated to the point that they become like background noise in our lives — instead of the subject of fervent prayer for deliverance. Those things we put up with because that mountain of change seems too high! Instead, like His book says: we simply must “… be (continually) looking at Jesus Who is the Author and Finisher of our faith.” Jesus Christ started up our faith in Him, and the bible clearly says He can finish it! We simply need to hold fast to our faith in His ability to do the job. His track record is already astonishing!!

At the same time we cannot afford to tolerate any rotten attitudes toward other people. Things like: … ‘We can’t help it! Look at how mean they are!’ And start speaking “His life” into their lives instead. Every single human being has potential in Christ. I believe we need to look hard at the people that we have chosen to avoid like the plague, simply because they challenge our nicey nice feelings about ourselves! How about we choose to use every opportunity to show these difficult people His Grace in action — in the fervent hope that we may win some of them!

Like Jesus said to the disciples when they were being tossed about in a huge storm in Luke 8:25 “Where is YOUR FAITH?”…”  From day to day, and minute by minute, what happens to OUR faith that He can and will help us overcome difficult people and circumstances? Speaking for myself, some days my faith in other people’s sins and failure seems to be greater than my faith that He can get me through anything! 

We don’t have to make excuses for other people’s sins either, or debate whether He will help them or not – we simply let them go free on the grounds that HE let us go free. ← That’s a full stop right there! Our faith needs to be used to overcome our sin, their sin against us, as well as the temptation to avoid the painful people. We are all tempted by stuff, but we must learn to hide behind our faith shield that says:“In Christ I can do all things because HE gives me strength.” What we do with temptation is an important key. If we have doubts, then we need to talk to the Lord about them, and trust Him to help us to walk through them, and/or overcome them.

At the same time there is definitely plenty of opportunities to monitor our own personal attitudes to others. My very best advice is, don’t just put up with people – faith demands that we press on until we love them! Prayer doesn’t just change things – it changes ME!  The thing to remember about our faith shield is that it only works because of what Christ did! You and I have the power residing within us to change this world for the better. Let’s not waste it, or our limited energies by hiding behind our weaknesses, or complaining or seeking sympathy from others. Let’s serve our King with all we have, and serve others with the same sort of passion He had for us.

We need to learn to use our shield against the barrage of attacks that come at us, through our own circumstances, personal media, from the news, and from media favourites. The reason we can get crushed and disappointed regarding other people, is because sometimes we expect everything from them … and very little from ourselves.

Dream yourself bigger. Start to think of your faith as so big, it can move any mountain that comes up in front of you. Use your shield to deflect the thoughts, and evil arrows that pierce your mind and heart, trying to lead you into despair. Life will not always be like this – one day we will stand in front of our King. The battle scars we have down here, will be badges of honour to His goodness, glory and grace up there. Amen. 👋🏻

“So, what does all this mean? If God has determined to stand with us, tell me, who then could ever stand against us?”Romans 8:31 TPT