Nudges

P3405 We are God’s poems, in this world.

/ DVH

“We have become His poetry, a re-created people that will fulfil the destiny He has given each of us, for we are joined to Jesus, the Anointed One. Even before we were born, God planned in advance our destiny and the good works we would do to fulfil it!” Ephesians 2:10. 

And you thought you were not all that valuable! You and I are daily becoming a poem, a individual and collective Psalm to the glory, goodness, grace and long-suffering kindness of Almighty God. And if that doesn’t make you smile, then I’m concerned for you! Father God doesn’t make mistakes, so neither of us can be one… and neither can anyone else.

Say this to yourself – ‘God says I have a destiny, because He has given me one. I am not a mistake or a screw up. I’m here for my Father’s glory and honour.’  Amen. Father God is so present and engaged with all of us. Sometimes we don’t see Him because we aren’t looking. There is no task in our lives that is too small. You know, the lug nuts on our car tyres hold the wheels on – they don’t look important, but if they all come off, so does the wheel. Our wheels can start to come off if we believe what we do is irrelevant.  We cannot afford to let our limited human thinking, limit Almighty God.

Because He IS limitless, humanity is still discovering those things that are old news to Him. Yet He has hidden treasures for us in this world, things that we are only just discovering now. We think we are clever when we find them. But just imagine how brilliant Father God is — HE HID IT! My advice is “don’t limit God” — and never think your problems are too big for Him, instead ask Him to help you with them. Remember, He is writing all this down because … your life is a poem.

People are so funny! They ask the Lord for a parking spot if they need one, but they don’t see world affairs the same way. Our lives are governed and planned out for us by Him, and we’ve found, because of Jesus, we’ve met people we would never ever have met. That’s how BIG His plans are for us. There is a surprise at every turn, so we’ve come to appreciate the small things He does. Years ago, we were driving around in the wilderness area of Tasmania. We were in a very remote area delivering bibles when we recognised someone in another car, who had pulled off the road.

This person is famous, they are on Australia-wide TV all the time. We turned around … because God said …”Turn around” and we went back and gave this guy a bible. We chatted briefly, and then left. To be honest I am not sure he appreciated what we gave him all that much, but he was very gracious about it. At the time, we were the only two cars on that road! For the next few years of his life, this particular man had more trouble than Job did. Did he use that bible? I dunno!! We sure prayed for him! I know we were part of a much larger plan from the Lord to get his attention, we became a part of the poem He is writing over that person’s life.

That’s the secret to recognising your destiny as the Holy Spirit writes your ‘poem.’ Please don’t ever think you have to be the whole ball-game … Eg … the batter, the pitcher, the short-stop, the umpire … instead, wait in the dug-out for your turn. God will call you when He needs you. When He wants me to say something, He says: “You’re on!” Most of the time I don’t even know what to say, but it isn’t ever about what I say — it’s about carrying the One Who I am walking with. Peter recognised the eternal quality that was in Christ, when he said to Jesus “… You alone have the Words of eternal life.” So whatever Jesus says, has LIFE in it.

Part of our daily focus is about paying attention to the process of being re-created. Poetry is about the little phrases just as much as the big ones, so let’s seize any seemingly minor opportunities and follow them through. Sometimes when the Lord does stuff, He doesn’t need a brass band! The Holy Spirit loves to speak in whispers, nudges, and thoughts. Be encouraged and follow the thread and do what He says. The Holy Spirit and our Lord Jesus are with us to help us with our daily lives. Remember, Jesus is the Living Word, if anyone knows what to say – He does!

You and I are poems that are destined to glorify Him. One day we’ll be dead and gone, but the Holy Spirit will continue to write poems over people’s lives until Jesus comes back! It is in God’s incredible nature to appreciate beautiful things, but His idea of beauty is not the same as ours. We see beautiful things as an arrangement of features and physical attributes – the Trinity sees beauty as an inside job. Mother Teresa was stunning – a glorious loving poem written to God’s glory!

Finally, let’s remember that we are not our own, anymore. SomeBody bought and paid for us. “We were purchased with a preciousness…” 1 Corinthians 6:20. Verses like these are written right throughout our very own Psalms to remind us of Jesus’ grace and obedience toward us. It is our destiny to be a Love poem to Him. Bless you. 🙌

P 3057 This is what obedience looks like.

/ DVH

Acts 9:10-15:“Now there was in Damascus a disciple named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias. And he answered, Here am I, Lord. And the Lord said to him, Get up and go to the street called Straight and ask at the house of Judas for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying [there]. And he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias enter and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight. But Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard many people tell about this man, especially how much evil and what great suffering he has brought on Your saints at Jerusalem; Now he is here and has authority from the high priests to put in chains all who call upon Your name. But the Lord said to him, Go, for this man is a chosen instrument of Mine to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the descendants of Israel; …”

My first thought when I read this verse this morning was this: ‘Oy vey… there are times I baulk at the Lord asking me to do something simple!’ Ananias was a brave and extremely honest man. I love that he told the Lord Himself about his objections. I particularly love the bit where he said:“I could get dead Lord! He’s been killing people like me everywhere.” Ya gotta love an honest man. He was scared and he said so … then he did it anyway.

You know in all my years with the Lord I have never ever had one person come to me about an Ananias-type vision? I’ve never even read a book, or heard a sermon preached about what that man did. It was based on sheer obedience. I’ve had loads of saints come to me, telling me that God said to them: ‘I am going to be a big-wig, an important prophet or a blah blah blah.’ One dear lady once said: ‘God has sent me as a missionary to the rich.’ I managed to restrain my hysterical laughter, and I didn’t even say: “How convenient!”  I was polite, until after she left. Then I prayed for her…. but I was still giggling. I’m a bad bad lady! 🤣

I am also a big fan of this ordinary man, Ananias. I call him the guy who didn’t want to…I like him because that happens to me a lot. Father God tells us we should go on another trip to the back of Burke and … I don’t want to! Nasty things sometimes happen to both of us – before, during and after. Plus I don’t like the inconvenience and the effort, and of course, the discomfort. I really like my own bed, a-n-d I also like to know where the toilet is … especially at 2.00am when I really don’t want to wake up yet! Trying to find the toilet and not wake up doing it, can be quite a feat at my age.

Back to my brother Ananias – meanwhile I have never seen a flannel graph about him! But nowadays, I think he is vastly under-rated. Because he is an excellent example for us. He shows us how to having active faith in God. This man had a truly great reason to not-want-to-do what God told him to do. After all, if you think about it, he could have started a petition. Gathering up signatures under two headings …The first heading being:‘I think God really did say that’… and the other one says: ’Don’t be ridiculous why would He say that?’  Now there’s an  interesting little exercise. But Ananias didn’t do that. He had his chat with the Lord and then he went and did what he was told. That’s obedience. Here’s a big revelation – God did not say FEEL LIKE doing it.

We have most of the New Testament, because Ananias obeyed, despite the looming consequences to his own life. The thing is, blind people can’t write so good… they can’t see what they are writing!! Plus there was no Braille! Paul might have remained blind if Ananias hadn’t obeyed. And so that’s the question I put to myself whenever I am faced with making the same decision to go travelling again. Who will we miss if we don’t go? I know the Lord has back-up, because HE is the back-up for all of us …  but it’s lovely to be there when the Holy Spirit does His thing, and you get to watch Him at work.

I think that’s my favourite part of obedience. Watching Jesus at work in someone else’s life and heart. That’s a private and sacred place, and so you kind of want to tippy-toe around, and not spoil what He is doing. However, the personal result of this course of action means that hubby and I will go somewhere where the toilets and sofas are ten centimetres off the floor, and the beds feel like a rock, plus hubby has to haul me up and down, in and out of chairs. We do all that in the hope that we will get to see the Holy Spirit do something incredible in someone else’s heart. It is a privilege… but it isn’t always fun. Then again — fun can be over-rated.

Doing what the Holy Spirit tells you to do, when you don’t want to do it, is hardly ever fun. Particularly at those times when you are wound up tighter than a grandfather clock;  complaining at someone else and suddenly He gently suggests you take a breath and step down. Or He nudges you when you see someone struggling to carry their groceries. Or perhaps He suggest you help the person who is stuck at the check-out scrabbling for coins, to pay for their groceries. But when He says: “Help them” …it can be hard. Especially when you were counting on that saved money to buy yourself those really cool sneakers!

Obedience looks like that. Hard decisions at difficult moments, when you aren’t even feeling spiritual!  Bye. 👋