Nurtured

P 3194 Fear is our enemy.

/ DVH

Good morning. I wanted to say a little about what happened at Bondi beach here in Australia on Sunday the 14th of December.. I had to wait on and ask the Lord what to say because … I simply had no words. I would like to add my prayers to yours and ask for our Heavenly Father’s comfort for anyone and everyone who has been affected by it. “Oh God our Father, please comfort and care for those who have suffered such incredible losses. Help their hearts, their spirits and their minds. I pray for the injured, their carers, their families, and especially our precious Jewish brothers and sisters. Lord please continue to guide and help the first responders, the police, the doctors, nurses and paramedics. Please help us all and comfort the broken hearted. Oh Lord, I pray the you will give those men and women who lead us Your clarity and wisdom. in Jesus Name,” Amen.

“For God will never give you the spirit of fear, but the Holy Spirit Who gives you mighty power, love, and self-control.”
2 Timothy 1:7 TPT. 

By the Grace of God we all can quote the above scripture and others. Things like this one from Philippians 4:8:: ‘Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things …’  Of course we should only think on those things. But tell me this … are we?? Or are we lying awake at night trying to figure out the things that only God Himself can do? I exhort everyone reading this today to turn your fears into Godly prayers. Use them to diagnose what ails you. 

Let’s actively learn and prayerfully understand these things from the Lord’s point of view, because our own ideas fall apart under pressure. In today’s current climate, I suspect you aren’t doing a great deal better than I am! Cheery thoughts are wonderful, but there are times when our hearts fall down into our socks with all kinds of bad news. That is when we need to do some essential revision with our Personal Trainer, the Holy Spirit. I ask for His love, and wisdom, and a new clean heart all the time.

The bible says: “…His ways are higher than ours.” Isaiah 55:9b. It also says: “His ways are past finding out…” Romans 11:33. Right now, our self-made ladders are daily looking less and less like they are going to be useful. WE.WILL.ALWAYS.NEED.GOD’S HELP. Day or night. We are living through times when we don’t know what will happen next. So instead of waiting to ask for help when things get worse, let’s start out every single day asking Him to help us. And then …’ask and keep on asking’ all day! He’s always there with us, and for us.

The above scriptures are wonderful diagnostic tools. We all know them. They were probably some of the first bible verses you and I memorised after we were born again. However, knowing the words is not the same as deliberately applying the meaning. If whatever we are facing produces fear, hatred, anger, despair then it is absolutely and totally not from God. We need to deal with it and yield to Him. After that we start out by doing anything we know we can do, in consultation with Him. Then we need to let those things go. Hatred nurtured, produces wickedness.

When you or I do not feel empowered, or loved, in our hearts, then whatever is coming at us, is an attack. It is not Almighty God. It’s the other guy!  Meanwhile it’s not our mother’s fault, or our father’s fault, or my spouse’s fault or even so and so’s fault! The scriptures are a sword. A sword is for fighting. Especially at the times when the enemy of our souls bombards our minds with horrendous thoughts. 

Let’s replace these evil thoughts … those rotten, ugly, desperate, despairing thoughts that are continually coming toward all of us … let’s replace them with what He says. There are thoughts that satan tosses into our heads like hand grenades, Let’s replace them with what the Lord Himself says. Our prayer needs to be – ‘Dear God please help me.’ And our ability to cope always comes from reading His word enough to know that we know —that He is FOR us — so if what we hear or think is not FOR US, it is not GOD! 

I have been learning to refuse to debate the ugly stuff that slithers into my brain. When it comes to satan, even debating stuff is a dumb idea. Those things are sent to steal our peace, time and eventually ruin our lives. Let’s channel our grief and anger into prayer, and replace those evil thoughts with what I know about His goodness. I walk about waggling this sword in my hand: “I know You are good Lord, despite what I can see, You are always good.” And I keep on whacking until I pass out, or the other guy goes away. Seriously. 

The Holy Spirit knows how to deal with all kinds of stuff. Let’s ask what He wants us to do, rather than stewing on what somebody else did. There is no need for us to be afraid, because FEAR is not from God. He has accepted us, irrevocably … eternally, Bye. 👋

BTW, we turn the news off. The more we listened the angrier we got. The news does not facilitate love.

P 3114 We are so precious to Him.

/ DVH

“But I promise you, no weapon meant to hurt you will succeed, and you will refute every accusing word spoken against you. This promise is the inheritance of Yahweh’s servants, and their vindication is from Me,” says Yahweh.” Isaiah 54:17.

You know, sometimes the Lord says extraordinary things in His book. In my thinking, this is one of them. Imagine this —Father God has chosen to make us co-heirs with Jesus! How someone like me ever be chosen for that honour? There you go …here I am back thinking things are earned or deserved …it is SO easy to do!

Today, let’s remind ourselves how much He loves each and every one of us. I’ve read about people who have made incredible contributions to the Father’s kingdom, things that are so much more than anything most people could dream of doing. However, that’s what God’s Grace truly is – it is the great equaliser. Everyone of us needs it, therefore, no-one can be greater than anyone else.  Jesus gave us all that – what a Saviour!

His completed work at Calvary has seated US with Himself in heavenly places. At the same time as being born into His family — this will blow your mind — we’ve also been adopted into the Father’s family. I am not just an acquaintance of God, or His friend, now I am officially HIS KID. What a blessing! So much more than I could ever deserve, You and I are now a part of His very own chosen family. Almighty God, in His infinite generosity, made us His children. After we come to terms with what that means to each of us, what will be our response? I just want to mention that the discouraging thought: “He can’t love me after what I’ve done,” goes right out of the window! Loving parents do not give up on their kids and neither does HE.  

During the course of our earthly lives, Almighty God planted His spiritual seed within us, and when it was time, He harvested it and we were born into His very own family. Now Grace, love, joy, peace, faith etc. are no longer optional extras! Those things are IN OUR GENES! These things are now ours by birthright. When a child is born into a family, part of its inheritance is from its genes – the good, the bad and the ugly. In contrast, adoption means you have no clue about your child’s forbearers. So adoption involves teaching, loving correction, and a watchful eye over the child because its roots are unknown. 

We have neighbours who adopted a disabled baby who had no palate, a cleft lip, plus severe hearing and learning difficulties. Her future in her own country was grim. Feeding her was a nightmare, her misshapen mouth and palate could not contain food. She screamed constantly in the strange environment. plus she had to endure countless operations, and so did her adoptive parents. They suffered with her. Now she is a teenager and she’s in a cricket team that is going to play in the state championship in her age group! Her speech and comprehension are fine, and she eats easily like everyone else! People chose her when she was not appealing – and loved her into life. That’s what the Lord does for us. Praise Him!

Adoption can take a different level of love and work because the child is not of your own flesh. Most of these kids have been rejected. But both a natural parent and an adoptive parent still pass on an inheritance. God Himself chose both methods for us. That’s how much He loves us and wants us. We have been born into the Father’s family, through the Holy Spirit’s work, and then He turned around and chose to adopt us as well! It is as if He wanted to make sure that we know, that we know, that we belong to Him, forever. We have been nurtured by, and now have the DNA of God Himself, within us.

BTW, that means if we come into disrepute – so does He. But when we live our lives day by day, loving Him and showing the love and acceptance He has given to us, to others – He is glorified. That’s our aim. Not a successful ministry or 1,000,000 likes on Facebook, or a very big church! We want other people to see Jesus in us and give Him glory for Who He is and what He has done for everyone. That is part of our inheritance as His twice-loved kids.

We all love the bit in the above verse that talks about no weapon that is formed against will prosper, BUT – do we know, personally, that this promise is also part of our inheritance? When somebody dislikes me enough to shoot at me – then the bible, the instructions given to me from my Parent — tells me to start blessing them. My Dad has given me His book so I know how to live as His child! So, I bless their house, I bless their car, I bless their family and their relationships, I bless them with provision and I BLESS THEM WITH A PURE KNOWLEDGE OF JESUS HIMSELF!!

Why? Because hopefully, my enemies will no longer be my enemies when they encounter Him! The reason they hate me is because they have no knowledge of God in them, when and IF they do, our relationship will change, we will become family. That’s the gospel, the message I have been given to carry. It affects everything around me, and it’s part of my Kingdom inheritance. 

We are so precious to the Lord – the greatest price ever paid, was paid by Him – because He is both our Father and He chose us. Bye ❤️

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 2636 A greater attitude.

/ DVH

A son or a daughter has responsibility within their family for the contribution to and oversight of their household, particularly in the parent’s absence. However, a servant will simply do whatever they are told to do and they are paid for it. Very few servants end up as an heir to their master’s property! To qualify they would need to be adopted so they become sons and daughters.  

The Lord Jesus, through the Apostle Paul, talks about that in the passage down below from Romans. (There are others, but I only have a small space!) Adoption is part of God’s parenting us – we voluntarily choose to move on from serving Him for our benefit, into serving Him for LOVE’S sake, like Jesus did. We follow His Son into sonship. That will cost us, all our time, effort, money, comfort, and reputation.

First of all, let’s be clear, being born again as God’s own child, means the Lord God has planted His eternal seed within us. We belong to Him NOW by birth! However, that seed of new life needs to be nurtured and cared for, in order to grow – with prayer, reading the bible, and healthy fellowship. Viable growth, with clear signs of impending fruit, is a sure sign of eternal life within. 

That person exhibits qualities that can only come from the Holy Spirit’s nurture, input and love, together with their willing acceptance, submission and participation. So this is not just about whether you or I belong to God or not – it is about us having His kingdom within us, plus the freedom and authority to share it with others for their benefit. Moving from servanthood into son-by-adoption involves our CHOICES. As God’s children we choose to follow Jesus down our own road of surrender – which can include difficulties and pain, simply because we love Him and we are grateful for all He has done for us. Jesus is not just a bless me person – He’s a follow Me Leader!

“For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by Him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory.” Romans 8:14-17.

A servant or slave does their master’s bidding, whether they like him or not, and they usually get paid for doing it. There are benefits. But a true son respects his father and does whatever his father wants, to honour him … he may or may not get paid … but the son/daughter carries out their father’s wishes for the entire family’s benefit. The job gets done either way, but sonship has a different mindset motivating it.  Let’s move on…

“Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”John 1:12-13. And:“I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” 2 Corinthians 6:18. 

To see what being a son or daughter looks like, we must look at Christ. What did Jesus Himself do as God’s Son? He did and said everything He saw the Father doing! It is not shameful or weak, to live a dependent life, Jesus did it … He totally relied upon His Father and the Holy Spirit. He served His Father willingly, no matter what the circumstances were like. Not one argument, not one whoops, not one regret!! He did it as if His Father was present.

That is not the way a servant does things, a servant does things even in our absence. However a son willingly chooses to learn to think like his father, so he can perfectly represent the father’s wishes, whether his parent is absent or not. To the son his father’s wishes are always foremost in his mind. Christ served all of us showing us what heavenly love looks like, and He did it to benefit others. His sacrifice released the things that belong in His Father’s house into this world. In other words, Jesus used HIS inheritance to benefit us.

And because He chose to do that, He raised humanity to His level in the Father’s house. However, we are not given these benefits just to benefit us, we are given them to benefit OTHERS. Just like Jesus did. Authority is not about WHO is in charge, it is about who perfectly represents our heavenly Father —and our Father is not a tyrant! When God loves He gives. A servant takes, he takes what he thinks he’s earned — but a SON BECOMES A GIVER. Living to love and give is the greater attitude. 🙌