Obedience

P 2167 Forget power dressing – practice ‘HEAT OF THE MOMENT’ dressing.

/ DVH

Colossians 3:12-14: “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe YOURSELVES with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” PS: did you notice that LOVE is our ‘over’-coat? Actually, I think having a grievance against somebody else could easily be called a heat-of-the-moment-need-new-clothes opportunity!  So today, I want to talk briefly about spiritual clothes.  This is not about using our will-power it is about accessing HIS power to overcome.

There is a kind of a rumour within Christian ranks that says that once we’ve prayed about changing some unscriptural behaviour or other in ourselves, that’s all we need to do – God will do the rest. 😳 Somehow, magically, these abhorrent traits will just evaporate over time. And if those things don’t disappear then, ergo – the Lord is not unhappy about them so we don’t have to worry about them any more! Rhubarb. That’s not scriptural. Change is normal in the Christian life!

I urge you to read Colossians 3 again. ‘You do it’ is implied in the text. God Himself is not going to come to our house and spiritually dress us. And it does not matter how long we’ve laid on the floor at church, or cried our eyes out over our sin! He has already told us what He expects from His kids, and we have to choose to participate in this process as a matter of obedience to Him. The entire bible has instructions that tell us how to know Him, and how to follow His ways. It even describes in detail what His new clothes look like so we can’t claim a lack of knowledge. We cannot remove our obedient effort from His processes. 

Before you throw up your hands and tell me ‘that’s works’ – works and faith go hand in hand. Read James 2:18. The method looks like this – we pray.  And we ask the Holy Spirit to help us. ‘Help help Lord!’  “Submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee.” (James 4:7) So we deliberately, on purpose, pull up our big grown-up pants and choose to be kind etc. and we do it simply because Jesus said so!  We ask for His help, then we yield to His will, His way. Obedience and faith go together. When we act in faith, we are not pretending – our focus is on obeying what Jesus said in the book.

Faith primes the pump and obedience provides the action. That sequence is all over the bible. Samson prayed for help, then he pushed on the pillars he was chained to and he pushed them down. His faith was demonstrated by what he did. This is true for all of us. Who we are, as well as who we are becoming is ruled by our choices. Our choices become extremely important. I have found that the Lord does this work in me progressively and steadily. “He tells us everything over and over— one line at a time, one line at a time, a little here, and a little there!” Isaiah 28:10. The Holy Spirit allows what I call ‘opportunities to change.’

I have to be honest with you, His opportunities are not always opportune! In other words I get opportunities to control my motor mouth, or temper, or lack of patience at a time, or temptation to lie, when it is definitely NOT easy, desirable, or convenient. I might even have been sorely provoked by the circumstances or someone else’s behaviour… but their behaviour is not my business. However, my response is. Those inconvenient moments are my opportunities to clothe myself in the things that God values – instead of the automatic, or even polite responses this world looks for. I am very wary of polite responses because they are often a covering for an alternative inner attitude – which can be far less than polite! We don’t pretend, we draw on His strength using our faith.

The plus side of wearing the Lord’s clothes is that when we have submitted ourselves to His will, His way;  our character begins to change, because now our faith is in operation.“Whatsoever you do, do it with all of your heart, as though you were doing it for the Lord.” (Colossians 3:23) It is as if a new strength to overcome my flaws comes upon me. But first I have to consent … and then I step out in faith. That usually involves me shutting my trap when angry words are bubbling and fermenting away on the tip of my tongue. And that’s precisely when I need His heat-of-the-moment clothing. 👋🏻

P 2142 Some verses from Romans 8.

/ DVH

The way we live our lives now, is explained in Romans. Today I’ve highlighted some verses in Romans 8, starting with verses 3-4: “For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” 

The reality is, that each one of us needs to progressively learn how to walk in a manner that does not dismiss, alienate, or send away the Holy Spirit. 🕊 HE. IS. OUR. FRIEND. OUR COMPANION. And like Jesus, He is gentle, unobtrusive, and lowly in His heart. It is a sad thing if we continue to live in the flesh, when we’ve been reborn into a new life in the Spirit. We cannot make excuses for not living in this new life, that Jesus died to give us. It was, after all, free! The bible is the Manufacturer’s instructions – we need to read it looking for things to do for others, things to teach us about His Ways.Things to direct our focus away from this world, into learning about His focus for mankind. Our main priority now, is to stay connected with the One Who is here to help us. Obedience will keep us connected.

Sin isn’t just about murder, or running away with your receptionist or swearing!! It is also about not forgiving someone from your heart. (Matthew 18:35) And guess what? The Holy Spirit knows our hearts … so we can’t hide our stinky attitudes under the heading of: ‘Things I have to do, but I haven’t got around to them yet!’ Plus, good luck hiding unforgiveness under the rug of: ‘I’ve been too busy.’ 😶 When we think like that it tells the Holy Spirit His Presence is not all that important to us. He. Will. Leave. And we are NOT GOOD without Him.

Our task is to find out what He likes to do, and start doing that. So with His ever-present help, we follow His leadership into Christ’s footsteps – because the Body of Christ is going somewhere. However, we cannot begin our journey of faith without continually taking faith steps. We will get to know the Holy Spirit when we cherish Him and obey what He tells us to do. If it is in the book and we are not doing it, then we need to change. Our God is for us and wants to be constantly with us, but He cannot walk with us, if we do not want to be with Him enough to lay aside all the things that weigh us down. These things are clearly explained in the bible – obedience is never an optional extra.

Our awareness of sin is lessened the further away we go from His Presence. But our awareness of other people’s sin heightens when we’ve wandered away from listening to Him. The secret is to let the Holy Spirit govern our lives and show Him – by doing whatever He asks us to do – that He is the greatest desire of our heart. Compromise is our enemy. On to Verse 5: “Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.” 

This new way to live is about focus, and the Holy Spirit will help us focus on Who He is, and what He is doing in our lives right now – as well as our part in what He is doing in this world. Read the Old Testament, and watch what happened when ordinary men and women obeyed Almighty God! This morning I was typing this, and He said: “Eat your breakfast, it is going cold.” So I ate my breakfast, and guess what? It was going cold. I have seen, with my own eyes, the amazing things that He will do with obedience. Start by repairing broken relationships, and begin to use the time you have been given well.  Human beings often do useless stuff that whittles away the God-given time we have. 

BTW, when the Holy Spirit talks about rest in the bible, He is talking about us resting in everything He has already done for us through Christ’s sacrifice. And there are things in this life that He will do through us – but if we don’t do them, then they won’t get done. We have the power to give away forgiveness to those who don’t know it is available.That’s a BIG responsibility. We are, after all, ‘co-labourers with Christ.’

Like verse 5 says, our flesh does not please God, so we dare not rationalise the things of God away. Verse 6: “The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.” Let’s turn that coin over shall we? Who or what is in charge of us and our minds? That’s what governed means. It is when the Holy Spirit calls to us – so when we are reading the bible and one verse catches your attention – then stop. Treat it just like He is speaking directly to you. Give Him your attention. He loves it when we give Him time. Ask Questions. Look up other verses that relate to whatever it is. Prayerfully look for ways that verse applies to you.

Lastly, Verse 8: “Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.” Why not? Because He is a Spirit!  We are now born again spiritual beings who temporarily have bodies. We were always going to die before we met the Lord, but now we leave here and go to be with Him. Living this life with an awareness of the Holy Spirit makes sense. Obedience helps our spirit man to grow and mature. My flesh can easily be obsessed with what makes me temporarily happy! But because of Christ, my spirit man is now attached to the Holy Spirit. I need to continually make Him welcome, by obeying the last thing He asked me to do. 👋🏻 

P 2137 Obedience is always the best option.

/ DVH

So today, I want to talk about obedience. Jesus taught us very carefully throughout the gospels how to line up with God’s will and live our lives His way. Obedience is not an optional extra – it is essential. WHY? Because all by ourselves, leaning on our own understanding, we will wander off and do something ridiculous, that’s why. Before we know it, then we are rendered deaf, dumb, and blind spiritually and our faith in God seems to drift further and further away. We become like sheep wandering along on the edge of a cliff … with no fence and no sense. Obedience to what the Lord says, and has already said, is the fence that keeps us away from the danger of falling off that cliff. How often did the Lord say to the Israelites? – “If you would only heed My voice.” ?(170 times FYI.)

Everything in the New Testament points to us obeying what He tells us to do, as well! Jesus taught over and over again, how to avoid the very deep pits the enemy digs for people and obedience is the key. To be honest, many people would rather worship for hours on end, than obey what the Lord has already asked them to do. (Like love our enemies?) satan means to destroy us, and obedience is the way to avoid drifting along mindlessly in our faith. We need to remember, that the other guy is a total snake – he starts in on us when we are too little to defend ourselves and tries to whittle away at our confidence that Jesus could ever love us. Eventually, when we reach maturity we think that the person we see in the mirror, with all those hopes and dreams is actually who we are. Mainly because we are used to the way we think. I exhort each one of us to learn to be flexible in all our opinions, even about who we are. There is a brand new YOU waiting for all of us! And it starts by renewing our minds, by listening and obeying.

The thing is, the way the Lord Jesus wants us to think is described in detail in the New Testament. That’s our guidance system. Not how we feel, or the odd thoughts that float about in our heads, or what other people say, or they have said, about us. God took murderers and made them part of His history with man – it seems to me that we have very little idea about the Way He thinks! We must also be aware of what we’ve been taught to think by those who were in authority over us. I am still constantly learning who HE says I am. However, there has never been a better time for us to change our minds, because each one of us has been bought with a price and sent here to fulfil His purposes. We are living in times of change and this is what the Lord is doing right now – He is changing our perception of who we are and WHO HE IS.

Now we have to learn to agree with Him. Otherwise we start thinking that maybe we are the exception to what He said and His instructions and blessings aren’t really for people like us – they are for more spiritual people, who do mighty things! When we think that our personal spiritual experiences aren’t lining up with what He said – we immediately diminish the power of God through us – and we allow our experiences to take charge instead. It is inherent in human beings to go by their own understanding and it is often greatly encouraged by others. We’ve been taught to do what feels right to us. Personally I hardly EVER feel like doing what He asks me to do – I get too scared!  It takes effort to change the status quo in our own lives, as well as the way we think. 

When I say it takes effort, I want to make sure that I am being clear about that – there are many times that denying ourselves and taking up our cross and following Him will go against everything that seems reasonable, comfortable, and popular. Humanly speaking, we all seem to like the easy road best. But our Saviour taught us about obedience through His own example, and He obeyed His Father to His death. Obedience positions us for what is happening now, and what lies ahead of us. When Jesus tells us to obey, it is for our own good not for His convenience.

Obedience takes humility. We have to admit to ourselves and others, that we can’t, or don’t even want to do whatever it is. Personally I think that that is a great starting place! The bible clearly says: “Blessed are the poor in Spirit …” When we acknowledge our spiritual poverty, we are positioning ourselves to be rich in His Grace, because “His strength is made perfect in our weaknesses.” Instead of hiding or giving up, that’s the very place the Lord chooses for us to step out in faith. Sometimes we don’t even see the results of our actions and prayers, but obedience is about us drawing close to Him, voluntarily. It is about Him being more important than what we feel or think, or our fears and hurts. Obedience is about putting Him first.

Maybe you learnt human obedience the hard way – I did. In the past I let how I felt about discipline lead me around, because I had learned to obey out of fear. Any disobedience in those days was more about me needing to be accepted and made comfortable. Even when I became a Christian, I still had a deep need for people to accept me etc. We must press on, beyond blaming imperfect human beings as the source of our anguish, because at the bottom of these things is the enemy. It is never the Lord.But sadly many people are easily influenced by worldly things, as well.

In God’s wisdom, the confirmation of what He asks us to do for Him, often comes after our obedience. I can’t count how many times hubby and I have been driving away from something the Lord asked us to do, jumping up and down in our seats, because we could not believe what He did with the little bit of effort we gave Him. He multiplies EFFORT, as well as loaves and fishes!! This is my last thought, if we are willing to obey Him even before He speaks, we will attract His voice. Why would the Lord speak to someone who is going to ignore Him? We might want to think on that. 👋🏻

P 2132 Reading the bible leads to faith in action.

/ DVH

The Word of God, without His mercy and grace upon it becomes legalistic. John 1:17, ESV: ‘For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” The Lord Jesus didn’t change the commandments, instead His life, death and resurrection introduced Almighty God’s GRACE into His truth.

I don’t know if you have thought about this or not, but Jesus took the ten commandments and virtually made them impossible – without the Spirit of the Living God helping us. The Lord made rote obedience harder.

Listen to this in: Matthew 5:22, Jesus is speaking … KJV: “But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.”

Of course this verse doesn’t apply to anyone out there in blog land – none of US are ever unreasonable, and we never get mad at other people and call them an idiot… well … maybe … not that often, anyway! 😂 Me neither.  I am not going to offer you any sort of personal explanation, interpretation or application for this verse BTW … it’s in my how the heck do I do that (?) file … see below. BUT, I would like to point out the thing that jumped out at me today – the words – ‘danger of.’  Yeah. Some people find that getting mad means reaching for a baseball bat, and I can see that ending very badly. But I still need to apply that verse to me – so feel free to pray for me. Thank you!

Here’s my advice: never ever give up on understanding anything in the bible. If you don’t ‘get’ it, and you can’t figure out how to action it – then put it down, and take the time to go back to it later and ask Him to help you. I have a lot of things in my I-have-no-clue-how-to-action-this file. But just because I don’t know what to do with some of my automatic bad tempered responses, that does not excuse me from pursuing the answer. Instead I pray then go back and reread them, and I remind the Lord that I still don’t get it. In my opinion the Lord loves it when we follow things up.  

I am currently wading through 1 Corinthians. The thing is – I actually don’t need these verses explained to me, I can read English, I simply need to hear His voice in them. I need a plan of action! I wait for Him to speak, but I don’t excuse myself from obeying if I don’t know what to do about it. I want to change, and I’ve come to understand that God Himself has a WAY for me through the temptation to avoid losing my temper. I need to be changed from the inside out – which takes time and patience from everyone around me. We can all analyse the words but that is not what will change our behaviour – our behaviour changes when we have a plan of activation from HIM.

I don’t want to be surprised by any ugly stuff coming out of me when I am under pressure, because that means that things that have only been changed on the surface of my life. Agreeing with the bible, leads to surface change. However, I badly need my heart to be changed. The new attitudes and actions that the bible talks about need to become so much a part of me that I don’t react to stuff anymore, now I respond to it instead. As you know, I recommend doing what it says because reading it is one thing, and memorising it is another, but I’ve found doing what it says engages my whole body, and that forms a bigger memory cue than just reading it or remembering the words. 

Sometimes I am doing something else when the Lord reminds me about whatever I’ve read that day. He talks to me about what I said or did, and then He reminds me about what He said or did about that subject, in the book. Then I can see the contrast for myself. I must be honest with you … I would love to tell you that I smile and jump up and immediately obey whatever He tells me – but the truth is – I need Him to take what He said and show me how it works in the situation in front of me – otherwise I am stuck. Honesty and humility with other people is the only manageable way to deal with being stuck.”I’m sorry” is a part of the process not the end result.

I need guidance. Actually, I need HIS guidance! I need Him to take that “apple of gold” He just highlighted to me, and have Him help me to put it “into a setting of silver.” Because I want to know to how respond to His word and act in faith on it. A Christian book will tell me how it worked for someone else – but, I want to know how it works for ME in my life. When it comes to relationships, most of the time He tells me to fix things … now! This does not always enchant or delight me. 😶 Most of the time it does not even suit me! Obedience is always costly – humbling yourself when you do not think you are wrong costs even more! 

The Lord told me years ago: “If you let Me correct you, you will hear Me when I direct you.” If we let Him speak to the sin in our lives and act upon what He says in faith, we will hear Him more clearly. People often ask me: ”How do you hear the Holy Spirit?” I obey His corrections. When He corrects me, He is showing me HE LOVES ME. However, I don’t always instantly, passionately fall in love with what He tells me to do! Most of the time I have to humble myself, but the bible says that going after humility means I am on the right road. When I feel resistant to this process, I’ve learnt to do whatever He tells me to do, despite my feelings. I have scripture to back that one up BTW.  Read about the two sons in Matthew 21. It’s a real eye-opener. 

When we digest the bible, it is like eating our food with the chef in the room. The Holy Spirit has prepared that daily bread with us in mind, and He knows what we need to hear. He wrote this book and despite the 724 translations of the entire book and 1617 translations of the New Testament – we all still need a Personal Translator. He will daily apply what it says into our lives so we can obey Him. Reading the bible and applying what it says means we will start using our faith, every single day. 👋🏻

P 2121 Theology verses LIFE. Choose life.

/ DVH

Sometimes I think that too much theology, together with the theological terms that are used in our churches can actually shoot us in the foot. We get to know the words – but we don’t fully understand how to participate in the action that comes with those words. We are here on this earth to produce fruit that lasts. Jesus once cursed a fig tree because it had no fruit on it and He was hungry. If there was something wrong with FIG trees why didn’t He curse them ALL? That particular fig tree was an illustration, the Lord Jesus didn’t hate fig trees and it wasn’t just a theological POV. Maybe He was showing the disciples they needed to expect fruitfulness, and to get rid of anything that didn’t bear fruit. 

Even when spiritual things are spoken to us for our own good, we can get lost in the Christian-ese words that come at us. Plus we can feel so overwhelmed by the concept of being something we know we aren’t, that we aren’t motivated to translate what we hear into our every day lives. Instead, we can simply file it under ‘things I am meant to know and remember.’ When we file those concepts away, we miss the real lesson we are here to learn. We are meant to apply what we hear under the Holy Spirit’s practical personal guidance. 

Take the scripture: “I can do all things through Him Who gives me strength.“ (Philippians 4:5.) If we are not careful we can read this and nod our heads and agree. “Yes, yes, I can do all things …that’s a good scripture. ” We think YES – and do no!  I’m definitely not against agreeing with what it says … however, the next time you are annoyed at someone or scared or tempted – take that scripture and hold onto it until that feeling has left you and then go on to do the opposite of how you feel. Our life isn’t about who is right and who is wrong anymore, it is not a competition. We don’t care who wins so long as Jesus gets the glory!

Instead of letting someone else have an earful when you are angry… STOP.  Breathe. Ask for the Holy Spirit’s help. Suddenly the verse: “a soft answer turns away wrath” pops into your head. So say something conciliatory, and start by – “agreeing with your adversary quickly” That sounds a bit like this: ‘Yes yes, you are right I can see that it looks like I was… lah lah lah. I’M SO SORRY!” My point is now we have changed our focus to what the Holy Spirit whispered into our hearts. Ask Him to help you … something like… ‘How do I obey You?’  I’ve stopped arguments by saying: “Oh I hurt you! I am so sorry.” Life is not about who is right or who is wrong, because the Holy Spirit is always right! Obedience does not require feelings.

Have you ever asked yourself how Judas managed to walk around with Jesus for three and a half years and yet this man was not changed. He remained a thief. So why was he not transformed? We know that he lived day by day beside Jesus. I think it was because change is a choice, it is a learning frame of mind. Yet Judas did miracles, and he saw Christ do miracles, but somehow the fact that he was in the Presence of God Himself, did not influence this man. His desire to go the other way defeated him until it was too late. We need to pay attention to our opportunities.

The bible needs to become flesh inside US by acting on it. Our destiny is to be walking illustrations of His book in action. Jesus showed us how to live that way, He showed us a human being could live, work, play, and walk amongst other people and still live free of sin. Unfortunately, repeatedly saying NO to God-given opportunities can harden our hearts. Judas and a whole lot of other people in the book show us what happens when we keep resisting the Holy Spirit and insisting on our own way because it is more comfortable. Did you know that anybody can twist theology to make room for their POV and their own comfort? Jonah did!

The flesh is not just stuff like pornography and lying etc. the flesh is anything that is not motivated by the Spirit of the living God for His purposes, and other people’s good. Christians need to stop accepting the terminology without understanding the application. The purpose of redemption is transformation. And totally transformed people living for Him, are the best witnesses this world can ever see. The precious Holy Spirit is incredibly generous with His love, time and help, and He loves it when we share with others no matter how badly we do it! A witness is not a witness if they say nothing, they are merely a bystander. We were not saved to fit in.

Today, It is time to ask ourselves the hard questions. Like: How much of what I know is in my head but it is not being demonstrated through my actions? Yeah I know – bring that up! 😳 👋🏻

P 2116 But because YOU say so, Lord.

/ DVH

There have been many times in my life when I prayed about what was going on in favour of my own convenience and I didn’t talk to Him about what He thought first. On occasion, I have actually asked the Lord to find me a carpark, please? Is my face red (?)  😡 At other times, I just wanted some bad thing that was happening to go away far more than I cared about what His thoughts on the matter were. Yikes. 😳 

The bible was not given to us simply to prove our own personal denominational POV or make our lives more comfy-cosy. It was given to us for instruction, correction, and reproof. (2 Timothy 3:16-17.) This book is supposed to train us up in the way we should go, so when we are old we won’t depart from it. So it is not just a book of bonus vouchers or add-on free benefits. We were saved and now we will live with Him forever …that is all the benefit we need. And all that is His GRACE – freely given.

The sad thing is, there is a whole generation of older folks out there that have been taught that this, the benefit bit, is exactly how they are supposed to appreciate and use His book. For us that comes under the heading of “…forget not all His benefits.” There is way more in His book than the God-given astronomically expensive benefits. What the Father gave us for free cost Him His Son’s life, and I think we all need more reverence. I exhort you to ask Him for it. Personally, I think the bible is a book about relationships – Him and us, and us and others.

Reverence is kind of an out-of-date word in our society. However, reverence is not simply tacking a ‘please and thank you’ onto the end of our prayers. Reverence is about the way we regard Him and obey Him. True reverence is a mirror into our own hearts and souls. When I looked into His mirror lately, I was shocked  … ‘how on earth did I end up thinking like that again?’ I realised I had started feeling like a terrible failure because I’ve been praying about some stuff for years and maybe that meant that my faith was not good, or I wasn’t praying right, or I had some sin I hadn’t confessed yet. I was looking for results, and not looking at the Saviour.

I realised by thinking like that I was making our God too small. The God of the bible is incredible! The thing I forgot is that I have a precious Father Who is not only bigger in His heart than my repetitive mistakes, He is also more than capable of correcting me. That means I do not have to be in charge all by myself anymore. My part in what He did for me is to love Him and others, AND obey Him, and live in forgiveness and reconciliation – not just in word, but in deed.

Today, I would like to share a personal testimony about the fact that God actually does know everything. I was a Catholic when I was much younger and Catholics use special beads to help them pray. Whatever! I threw all of mine away under the Lord’s guidance when I was first born again. I am not implying anything about anyone who uses  beads like this, I am simply repeating what happened to ME. One day when I was in my late 20’s I was reading the bible, and talking to the Lord about stuff in my life and I asked Him if there was anything He didn’t like that I was doing, or books or anything else that He didn’t want me to have.

His answer was immediate and very clear. “You still have some of those beads in one of your handbags and I asked you to get rid of them.” Well! … I got on my little high-horse and explained that: ‘I did not! I had thrown all of mine away! He insisted. I argued. In the end I took each handbag I had, and opened it up and lifted it up towards heaven … so He could see that there was nothing of the sort in any of MY bags! But He kept quietly insisting… 

As I continued to try to prove the Lord wrong, (bad move BTW! – ya think?), I felt something lumpy in one of my soft vinyl bags. Between the lining and the outside vinyl of this bag was a rosary. I had no idea how it got there, you couldn’t see it, at all, it was hidden under the lining. I didn’t even remember having it. I repented instantly and threw it in the bin. Then, the Lord said this to me: “If you WILL hear Me for correction – you will hear Me for direction.”  I learnt that day that it is essential that we learn to let the Holy Spirit counsel us with His eye upon us (Psalm 32:8) – Because we can often think we are right when we are actually extremely wrong! Maybe we’d better pay attention and learn how to listen. The Lord did not tell me about those beads until I initiated that conversation. It is up to US to keep our hearts right and it is NOT an automatic thing. We need be intentional about it.

Here’s a little snippet from the bible that is really interesting – it shows what real obedience looks like. Peter and his mates had been fishing all night when Jesus called out to them: “Have you caught any fish boys?”  They said ‘no.’ (At this point I would like to point out that these men were very experienced generational fishermen who earned their living fishing!) “Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because You say so, I will let down the nets.” Luke 5:5. It is time that we stopped explaining away what He asks us to do and simply obey Him in spite of our own personal feelings and discomfort. “Obedience is better than sacrifice.” 

ps Read the story of Abraham and Isaac and their God-initiated trip up a mountain. 👋🏻

P 2103 There’s a difference between truth and a concept.

/ DVH

For instance, faith is living truth, it has substance – faith in God is trustworthy. It is not a theory a concept or an idea. Instead faith is designed to be the way we live. It is definitely substantial – you can stake your life on it – other people have!  “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.” Hebrews 11:1,2.

First of all, faith is always now – ’Now faith is.’…” Faith is not just about yesterday, it needs to be active all the time for it to be the driving force in our lives. If we are going to live by faith, then faith needs to occupy the way we think. EG: I exhort you to go to work using your faith that God gave you that job and He wants you there even if the boss is not happy with you. It is helpful to remind yourself often: “God’s got this and He’s got me!” Honing our focus = using our faith! God uses our faith as a vehicle to manifest Himself to others. 

Faith also has EVIDENCE – it is not just a nice hopefully-it-works theory. That’s what other religions look like – all noise with no power. Real faith results in real actions and produces real results – IN us and in this world.. It is actively investing in what we believe by acting on it. Simply saying what we believe without any accompanying actions is not the same thing. No action means what we have said is just a concept, not truth. Acting on our faith totally changes our hearts within us, as well as the world around us. Faith is see-able when you use it. Think about catching a train, when you get ON it, you expect to arrive at your destination. Wanting to give up smoking is merely a concept – refusing to smoke again, is a faith-filled action. When we use our faith, we expect to see something change.

People who want to mature in God’s grace, take the little bit of faith they have, and invest it in Him. And I’m not just talking about money. They live their lives voluntarily giving up having safety and comfort. Instead they’ve chosen to live their lives daily dying to self. They live by the faith they profess, it is not just a concept they trust God and act on what He has told them to do, day by day. They have learnt to appreciate that we can do nothing without the Holy Spirit so they pay close attention to Him. He is so gentle and kind they don’t want to send Him away, so they consider Him, FIRST.

Faith is about taking risks … risks that show others that you love them even when that person treats you badly. When people are mean – and we all are sometimes – faith means we offer them understanding, because their view of this life may not be the same as ours is. James, Chapter 2 says: “Faith without works is dead.” Our faith needs to be used and stretched, so that means we will end up doing stuff that doesn’t always appeal to us and it isn’t always comfortable. Like apologising to someone who provoked YOU. This means our faith is stronger than the person we are engaged with because we don’t need their validation – we already have the Lord’s!

Our God used HIS faith by speaking this world into being. Actually, He spoke and the Holy Spirit went away immediately and created what Almighty God had spoken. The Holy Spirit is waiting for us to speak, and then act. He is longing for us do things using our faith, hope, and love out there, in this world. As we step out in faith, and go and do what He brings to us, we are choosing to learn obedience – He loves to be around obedience. Using our faith shows our Heavenly Father that our faith is not dead. It is about our obedience. It is good to remind ourselves that our God doesn’t work with theories – Jesus is the original action Man! He used every opportunity to display the love of God to other people.

He said: “Consider …(think about – look at – and wonder about) … the lilies…” To show us that worrying and obsessing about the things we have no control over, is fruitless. We need to start reading the bible like a prescription that needs to be followed, not just a description of something that happened long long ago. This book is a practical book – full of practical illustrations of ordinary people, who trusted Him, used their faith and saw God’s great exploits. They can teach us about the ways that the Holy Spirit interacts with people like us. Our bible is a testimony to God’s Grace operating in ordinary people’s lives. 

People heard and saw the Holy Spirit at work on the day of Pentecost. It was seeable, it was heard! At that time He touched ordinary people who were milling about in the streets, and many of them got saved – on the spot. But if our inner hearing is not good, that is still not an excuse to give up and say; ‘Well, that’s not my fault, I can’t hear anything.” I urge you to get yourself your own spiritual hearing aid, by reading, and praying, and rereading His book and asking questions.  Then we need to act upon what we read – then the little bit we have, will lead to MORE. Fortunately, the bible is full of instructions which encourage us to change, and act.

To start with, Christians need to be the most forgiving people on earth, no matter who jumped all over our hearts, and broke them. We are going to choose to bless them.“  …do good to those who despitefully use you” “…Bless those who curse you …” We need the help of the Holy Spirit for that kind of reaction and it takes deliberate, inconvenient practice – because … ’faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things NOT YET SEEN.”  Our faith can’t just be a theory, or a nice comforting thought, it needs to be used to become visible, because it is displaying God’s truth. Just imagine where mankind would be if Jesus Christ had lived His life with a secret faith.

Transformation is part of our job description and using our faith ushers in transformation – that is what makes the difference between truth and a concept – concepts don’t always happen! 👋🏻