Obedience

P 3353 It’s worth a thought.

/ DVH

Philippians 4:4. “Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in Him!”

Psalm 65:1-13. “Silence is praise to you, Zion-dwelling God, And also obedience. You hear the prayer in it all. We all arrive at Your doorstep sooner or later, loaded with guilt,
Our sins too much for us—but You get rid of them once and for all.
Blessed are the chosen! Blessed the guest at home in Your place! We expect our fill of good things in Your house, Your heavenly manse. All Your salvation wonders are on display in Your trophy room.
Earth-Tamer, Ocean-Pourer, Mountain-Maker, Hill-Dresser,
Muzzler of sea storm and wave crash, of mobs in noisy riot—Far and wide they’ll come to a stop — they’ll stare in awe, in wonder. Dawn and dusk take turns calling, “Come and worship.”Oh, visit the earth, ask her to join the dance! Deck her out in spring showers, fill the God-River with living water. Paint the wheat fields golden. Creation was made for this! Drench the plowed fields, soak the dirt clods With rainfall as harrow and rake bring her to blossom and fruit.
Snow-crown the peaks with splendour, scatter rose petals down your paths, All through the wild meadows, rose petals. Set the hills to dancing, Dress the canyon walls with live sheep, a drape of flax across the valleys. Let them shout, and shout, and shout! Oh, oh, let them sing!”

I would like to start out this morning by remembering that King David in his heart, was first a worshipper; then he went on to be a great warrior and a Godly king. But he started out on the side of a hill, watching sheep, looking at clouds, and marvelling at God’s creation. Please note that not only does he admire the Lord’s handiwork – he worships Almighty God for Who He is, as well as what David can see! Hubby and I had opportunities to do that, on this latest trip while we were travelling.

It was autumn in most of the places we visited, and the hills and valleys were alive with colour, smells and movement. We stopped the car at one point, just to watch a little breeze stir some deep red, orange and green leaves into a delicate little dance. We saw lambs and heifers… and our personal favourite … birds of all kinds everywhere. Flocks of them. We haven’t seen some of these birds in years. Hubby took my photos today.

When I read this Psalm, it reminded me that in our cities, sometimes all we can see are buildings, cars, trucks, concrete and people — but in the country you can often see God’s creation, bubbling over with life. It’s like He decorated this world with every beautiful thing He could think of, just so we could see Him in another way. Father God is constantly revealing Himself, how glorious He is. We cannot afford to reduce Who He is into only words or language. no matter how revelatory language seems to be.

Sometimes the best thing to do, is to go outside and just take the time to look. What a pity it would be if all we know about Almighty God are some words that somebody else taught us. Instead, lets allow Him to reveal Himself to us, by what He has made.

We don’t have the season of autumn much where I live, it is semi-tropical. So all that happens is that the sun gets lower on the horizon, and the days seem shorter as it gets a bit colder. But when the sun is out, the rich golden daylight dances through leaves creating shadows. Every single time I look at it, I understand why the Impressionists thought that just painting representationally was not enough! 

Our God speaks so many languages, and one of them  — is visual, and exquisitely beautiful! I think what we call nature, is another one of our Father’s Heavenly languages. “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.  Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.” Psalm 19:1,2. 

It is interesting that David notes how important our obedience is to God. I think disobedience can render human beings a bit dumb and blind. Some people think we need entertaining to help us relax, but there was no TV, Media, books etc. in the Garden of Eden! Just God’s handiwork. Imagine the smells in that garden!

Then our sin put a tear into the perfect fabric of this picture. Human beings allowed disobedience and fear inside that glorious garden – and their inner silence was shattered. Sadly, I know I can do that myself by rushing past what really matters, to get to something that doesn’t – just so I can put a tick on a long list in my head! Sometimes I think mankind is almost a parody of who we are meant to be — instead of a glorious reflection of Who He is! We were created to look like Him – “Let us make man in Our image.”

If someone seems ugly to you, in the way they are acting or speaking, then ask the Lord to help you to see Jesus in them. There are so many angry, agitated, shattered people with so much fear in their eyes, that the light God put in them has almost gone out. Even our children have not been nurtured to appreciate the beauty around them. Their eyes are stuffed full of immersion in worthless stuff that ushers in distraction. That is so sad, children were made for wonder.

In my mind’s eye, I can see a tiny little two year old girl, hugging a small book to her chest, dancing with delight. She didn’t need the internet – which went off the day we left! She had a book. Who knows what sorrow her little eyes had seen before we met her that day? Today my thought is this — let’s never stop expecting to see the good things of God. Instead we need to treat what this world offers as a pale shadow of His life-giving realities. It’s worth a thought. Bye. 👋

P 3350 Reality rush.

/ DVH

Boy, I had a reality rush this morning … And the Holy Spirit’s clarity helped me. I realised that when I can end up saying to myself: “What is good right and profitable often feels like I am lying, because my experiences don’t always back it up.” So I asked Him – why? 

This is what He told me: “Prior to being saved, you were raised with this world’s thinking, this world’s definition of truth. You learnt it from your parents, school, your peers, your job, whatever you read. You’ve carefully, and sometimes unwillingly, learnt the moral values of this world from everything around you. It seems like you are lying because MY TRUTH does not come from the same place that you have been taught. My truth is REAL truth, it comes from the Heart of the Father. For instance, if I say something is clean it is clean, that is what I taught Peter the fisherman. You cannot use this world as a reference point to ‘market’ or ‘modernise’ the gospel. Only My Word is truth.

The body of Christ needs to be diligent and read the bible, so they can see for themselves what real truth looks like, how it works, what it contains. The bible helps us to identify the true from the false. Human judgment leads to error. This world encourages people to have opinions, make their own judgments and to be selective about what they choose to believe. This is WHY Christians need to continually renew their minds to align with what I’ve said in My Word. They need to make My Word their yardstick – not this world’s fashions and opinions. 

Right now you need to know My Word and let it be alive in your day-to-day life, it will change what you do, who you do it with and where you go. There is none of man’s logic in the things of the Spirit, there is only the Father’s truth. When it comes to truth, this world wants to explain away sin, and present excuses. That’s what happened in the Garden of Eden – the woman and the man made excuses for their disobedience. Human beings are guilty of ignoring their Creator, and they have made gods in their own image. gods that allow them to live their lives far beneath their calling as My children. This world’s so-called ‘gods,’ legitimise sin, or excuse it.

The simple answer to sin is repentance, and it is yours for the taking. Acting on what I say in my Word, is obedience. And acknowledging that you are not wise enough to know what I know, is the beginning of wisdom …”

The thought that Christianity can often be a mixture of what we already know and approve of, as well as the truth of His Word, really impacted me. Jesus’ words are truth, and we dare not be dismissive of them because of circumstances, or prejudices. Or choose to let them be flavoured by this world’s trends. The real answer to sin is repentance – that leads right back to God Himself. Let’s daily learn to trust the Holy Spirit, He knows the Way each of us should go, and He longs to help us. 

I sat and thought about the kind of things that are now permissible today, and nobody even blinks anymore, we’ve been desensitised. As His kids we have His authority to speak His truth, in love. We can love the sinner but hate their sin. I also realised that if the truth is not setting us free, then somewhere, somehow we are believing a LIE! Let’s keep praying over the details of our lives. 

And if God says in His Word that we can do something, then we can do it and we need to locate the lie that has told us it is too hard, or ‘it really doesn’t matter because He understands.’ Maybe we have been taught something in our past that contradicts the Living Word of God – Jesus, Himself. Then as we carefully, prayerfully and actively look into His book, we will learn to separate ourselves, by clinging to what He said and repenting  from any missteps or lies we may have believed. We have been blessed with absolutes, not ambiguities, within the bible. 

Personally, I am confused and unhappy about the weird and sometime nasty things labelled ‘fair and right’ by this world today. Many times I have struggled to know how to handle things because I dearly want to walk toward the Narrow Gate — not the wide easy path that often runs willy-nilly beside it. I know that is your desire too. Some things are just wrong – the book says so! That is not said to condemn anyone. My question is: how can we know what God Himself has for us if we are walking down the wide road that leads to destruction? Deception will cloud our view.

Hubby gave me some great feedback today, he’s my editor and he helped me to clarify my own thoughts. “Our lives are a little like code for a computer program. We see the thoughts, the images and the user friendly icons that are displayed on our screen. However, right now – today – God is dealing with questionable inefficient code. We need His updating and reprogramming with HIS pure Heavenly code to fulfil our Heavenly calling. This world produces bad code, bad code can distort the output.“

Let’s choose to put Jesus in charge and obey the things He told us to obey – and leave our ideas about what we want behind us. And become like a little child, willing to be taught His Ways. Like I said at the top of the page, boy did I have a reality rush this morning! May God bless you with a day filled with His Presence and further knowledge of His Ways. Amen. Bye. 👋.

P 3348 Show me the Father…

/ DVH

“Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Jesus answered: “Don’t you know Me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father.” Now, there’s poor old Phil with his socks blown off! 🧦💥🧦! Hang on to yours … OK? Jesus is explaining what seeing and knowing the Father looks like. So now, let’s take a look at John 14:21,23.

“The person who has My commands and keeps them is the one who [really] loves Me; and whoever [really] loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I [too] will love him and will show (reveal, manifest) Myself to him. [I will let Myself be clearly seen by him and make Myself real to him.]” AMP version.

The above verses are a tool. Jesus is showing us HOW to see the Father. Let’s remember, we have been told in the bible, God’s Ways are not our ways. That’s Isaiah 55:8-9. Indeed our Heavenly Father’s thoughts are so far above ours, we are doing Him a grave disservice if we try to bring Him down to our level! That’s because basically, we can’t understand the way He thinks because it is simply beyond us!

However! The Holy Spirit has been sent to us to help us to understand what He is doing and He reveals the Father’s character to us, as we pursue Him and cherish obedience. It is not just that God is wa-a-a-a-y smarter than we can ever be … but He is … it is that His thoughts are based on, and rooted in LOVE, and we don’t speak “love” very well — yet. 

His love is pure, holy, accurate, discerning, faithful, patient, joyful, peaceful, kind, good, gentle and it is full of self-control!! Our kind of love is whimsical at best, and it floats about like a cork on the ocean, we can be guided by many things outside of our conscious control. But nothing is outside God’s control! He is a sovereign God with humanity’s good in His mind and heart. That’s something that is so far beyond our comprehension, we are going to need the Holy Spirit’s help – all the time. Otherwise we end up speaking our enemy’s language – hatred and blame.

If we wanted to show someone what our spouse or child or parent looks like, we might show them a photo. Jesus Christ is God’s photo! At the same time, He is incredibly 3 dimensional and far more real than we can ever comprehend. He is God Himself, and a living breathing obedient Human being, Who loves mankind and came here to save and help us understand that Our Father is not like other gods.

When we choose to obey what the Lord says — we will get glimpses into the WAY He does things. Remember, He doesn’t do stuff the way we do it, so some things won’t always make sense to us. The difference between God’s ways, and ours is huge. I think we fail to understand Him sometimes, because satan encourages us to use human logic to understand a Holy God. That’s like using wet spaghetti to tie your shoelaces. You can, but why on earth would you? Our God is a mystery wrapped up in glory and splendour — not SomeOne who can be parcelled up nicely and put in a box.

Jesus came to earth as God personified. He came to save us — as one of us. He was the perfect Person to come here, and the perfect representation of our Holy God. Reducing the Lord to rules and regs is like trying to repackage hot melted butter in the same paper it came in. The Lord Jesus is God Himself with our kind of skin on, and He is a totally, everlasting, smitten lover of mankind. Jesus blew away all of our rules and regs toward His Father, but He carefully kept the Father’s heart in all things perfectly. He did not come to earth to please us – He came to rescue and save us from satan’s wiles.

When we look at Christ sitting beside a well, talking to a women who had been married 4 times, and was now living with the fifth guy — we are looking at God sitting beside her … kindly guiding her, piquing her interest and transforming her life. Almighty God says so many things at once we cannot take them in! God once sat down beside Jonah. The man was complaining about a dead plant that was supposed to be there to give him shelter. Almighty God took the time to explain to Jonah that plants are not more important than people. Nineveh needed saving, and He had chosen Jonah to preach to them. Trying to avoid our destiny is a waste of time and it can have very strange consequences. 

Our God has deeper, more eternal motivations than we can ever dream of — to even begin to know Him we need to obey what He tells us, in His Word, and keep looking, and re-looking at Jesus. We must practise paying attention to the way He did things, toward His Father, and men and women. When we do that we will begin to learn God’s ways. “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful Word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” Hebrews 1:3. 

To us, words are simply a method of communication – to God Himself, they are a way to speak LIFE. Jesus Himself said it: ‘show me the Father,’ means we take the time to deliberately observe His dear Son in action. He expected the disciples to recognise Him by His actions. Jesus clearly says: God looks like ME. Bye 🙏 .

P 3340 Learn to fight …

/ DVH

…for what is yours by birthright! And remember, we don’t fight against flesh and blood. It’s not your spouse, or your parents, or your uncles and aunties – it’s the devil! 2 Corinthians 10:4-6 :“The world is unprincipled. It’s dog-eat-dog out there! The world doesn’t fight fair. But we don’t live or fight our battles that way—never have and never will. The tools of our trade aren’t for marketing or manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture. We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity.”

And Ephesians 6: 1-18 says: “And that about wraps it up. God is strong, and He wants you strong. So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the devil throws your way. This is no weekend war that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the devil and all his angels.                                                                           Be prepared. You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it’s all over but the shouting you’ll still be on your feet. Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You’ll need them throughout your life. God’s Word is an indispensable weapon. In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare.” 

We are in a battle, day by day, whether we like it or not, and even earthly soldiers get battle fatigue. However, we have the power of God within us to make the difference, and we need to use His power to help ourselves thrive in His Ways, and for the benefit of others. We don’t just fight under adverse conditions – we learn to thrive. Many times in our lives together, hubby and I have commented it seems like it is one thing after another, and another.

You can get very weary from fighting things. Like battling to maintain a Godly-attitude with His help; or not reacting to the same thing happening for the 479th time! Let’s face it satan doesn’t fight fair. he will kick you and beat you when you are down. One of the best weapons against despair and disappointment is the realisation that Almighty God will not ever give up on us. There are things float through our minds: “Does God care about what is happening to me?” Those are the battles we must fight in our emotions, and minds — they can be overwhelming, and potentially, destructive.

Remind yourself that Jesus took every single sin and mistake we’ve made to the cross with Him. And our God is not a fair weather Friend! Now you and I are blameless in His sight – that’s what His Grace is all about. The truth is a weapon we can use when our minds are full of doubt, unbelief, and anger or disappointment with ourselves or others. We must stop! — and remember Who we belong to now. It’s a supernatural task, so it needs supernatural tactics, not just mind games. 

We can’t continue to quote the scripture without knowing the reality behind it. The reality comes from living this life eating His bread, daily, and reminding ourselves of His blood over our lives, daily. I am reminded of someone else who tried head knowledge in Acts 9:11-17: “Jesus I know and Paul I know but who are you… ?” Being known by our enemy means we are bothering him. Good! Someone famous once said this, I have no idea who it was – “Be the kind of Christian that the devil says every day – oh no! He/she is up again!!”

People can sometimes be defeated because they are not pointing their will toward what the Lord wants. Obedience is essential. If you feel you can’t obey, then point your will toward His will and ask for the Holy Spirit’s help. When God talks about truth, He means His truth, not just something that sounds like truth, but it is indulging me in self-pity – or making me feel justified in my sad sack attitude. I cannot BE justified outside of the blood of Jesus. He gave that to me, I didn’t earn it… I’m so grateful for His goodness!

When God says “renew your mind” He is not talking about parroting off some scripture or other, as a weapon against satanic attacks. Our own personal knowledge of His goodness, is a mighty weapon. I stand and face my fears, or other people’s accusations and misunderstandings  by saying: “This one thing I know — MY GOD IS GOOD.” Ergo, if it is not good, then it is not God! … BUT!! Please remember to check your heart first, and  make sure you are not blaming someone else simply because you don’t want to deal with yourself! Our beliefs are not second hand they are up close and personal. I dun fell down that hole many times! Sigh.

When it comes to battles I am like a three year old. I run to hide in my Father’s robes. I want to be that spectator in Psalm 91… I don’t even try to peek out to see what is going on. I let what He has already done do the work for me. Shape your life around the Lord, make Him the centre. Then we can’t be dragged about by the winds of change and impulses of whimsy. If you are under attack drag your heart back to thinking about how good He has been to you. Read the bible aloud!

Let’s choose to live this life, by finding out stuff from the bible for ourselves. I am no longer a child, if I need to know something, then I ask the Holy Spirit to help me find the answer. Then I go and dig around in His book. Learn to fight for what is your birthright by the way you live. I need to participate and feed myself daily, digesting what He said with actions. We can’t win with hot air, we need real weapons forged in our lives with the fire of His life in us. Bye. 👋

P 3336 Love suffers long.

/ DVH

“Love suffers long,,,” is from 1 Corinthians 13:4. It seems to me that this kind of love has patient endurance and steadfast kindness. And I think it is easy to see why we can’t fake it. We might manage to control our temper or our impatience for a few times in a row, but, under pressure, we can eventually reach the end of what we can do, and then … we definitely need supernatural help! 

The Message bible says on this subject: “Love never gives up…” So that means we can’t quit on our weaknesses. I know, personally, I can want to give up quite quickly, because I find the urge to be impatient usually comes right on the heels of someone else’s mistake or their bad temper. Sadly I can be very  intolerant of other people’s flaws… whilst I am merrily glossing over my own! …

It’s a set-up. These things don’t happen in isolation, one thing quite often stands upon the shoulders of something else. That can include a lack of forgiveness coming from past situations. The trouble with unforgiveness is that it doesn’t happen overnight it builds slowly. It is like endlessly throwing dirty socks into the corner of the room, sooner or later that smell is gunna get ya!

We cannot fight the enemy of our souls with will power. Mankind’s first entanglement with him ended badly … remember?? We need the Holy Spirit’s wisdom and help to manoeuvre our way through the stuff that can go right back into our childhood. Impatience starts early in children when they want something and they don’t want to wait. Many times I’ve noticed that without God, most of us can’t suffer very long!

I believe in forgiving people and putting the past where it should be, behind us. Don’t let the enemy ruin your future by leeching away your obedience, while you weep and mull over your past. People can get bogged down in past injustices, and other people’s very real sins against them. Use that time to practice looking for the good instead and don’t forget to pray.

Let’s not leave the real race to go and try to fix something we can’t change. Whatever happened to you back then was terrible, it was SIN let loose on a little kid. But that sin is definitely is not bigger than God’s grace is. We cannot face this world, and the state it is in, without His Grace. We need Him guiding us through the minefields of our own damaged thinking and emotional wounds. Being patient with people who treat us badly, exercises our faith so we can tackle the next bit … loving those who despitefully use us.

Either we take His Word seriously, or we don’t!  Unchecked, eventually we will end up blaming our impatience etc on someone else, which very nicely relieves us of the responsibility to ask Jesus to help us! Taking responsibility for our own actions is the first step into spiritual maturity. Other people may do things to me – but, because of who I am now, I don’t have to let my responses to their actions, limit me. Good place to stop and think. 🤔

Feel free to pray, I subscribe to the idea of fixing anything at any time immediately, when you remember it. Don’t let the enemy make a case against that other person – that’s fatal to living in love. Impatience will take over and if they sneeze it will annoy you! It’s time to put those things away, otherwise yesterday, is stealing today and tomorrow. 

That means we have His love over us and His book to teach us. That’s the best focus. We can learn to take our thoughts captive, when we don’t hold them close to us. I often tell “torment” to take a hike. That thing hangs around wounds and pain and pokes at them.

When we make what Jesus said the plumb line, then the things that are out of line in our own lives, start to show themselves. You know, suffering long is something the Lord faced daily. The disciples were just ordinary men, they all had different ways to earn a living, plus they were just human beings, not holy men. But Jesus was patient with them while they were learning. He will be patient with us too.

Under the Holy Spirit’s guidance these ordinary people were transformed. Jesus had renewed their minds for 3 and a half years teaching them, instructing them, then what they saw and heard and experienced next changed them, forever. They all encountered the Holy Spirit and He renewed their minds to what was real and important. I bet they all had opportunities to get impatient while they waited for the Holy Spirit, Who was unknown to them, to come.  

Love suffers long, is first in a long line of stuff we simply cannot produce by ourselves, not just because it is too hard, but because it requires maintenance. At the same time, blaming other people for our impatience is fruitless. Literally! Instead this is a good place to see our spiritual progress IRL We need to see these imperfections so we can remain humble and pliable in the Lord’s hands. 

Love is patient, it suffers wrong, because it’s mind is on something far more important – maintaining and giving away God’s love with our Resident Expert’s help. Thank you Holy Spirit! 👋 Bye 

P 3330 Jesus is the Hero not us!

/ DVH


2 Corinthians 3:4-5: “Such confidence we have through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

Our life is now, today, not tomorrow. Tomorrow literally never comes. So, today our life is about relinquishing our own personal power, and gratefully receiving His power into our lives to help others and overcome sin. Now there’s a big thought! The Holy Spirit is our Resident Expert in all things spiritual, which is why we choose to defer to Him, even if at the time, it makes no sense to us. Obviously the bible is our yardstick in all things, but learning to practically trust the Holy Spirit is essential if we want to walk with Him.

In the Lord’s kingdom we are children, His children. He loves our obedience – especially in the face of our own logic. I’ve learnt over time, that things will eventually make sense, and we will learn patience in the process… bonus buy! I wish I had the space here to recount the times I have badly messed something or other up — and then, when I realise my sin, I repent, and ask Him to redeem the mess I made. Some of the most brilliant answers to prayer I have ever seen, come from those moments! Don’t be afraid of getting things wrong as you walk with Him – Jesus is a Redeemer.

The Lord’s wisdom and clarity are astonishing. When I am writing this blog I often can’t think of a good, clear, simple way to explain many concepts that seem exceedingly complicated to me. I don’t just want to write my ideas here, I like to do my best to write things that will give other people insight into Who the Lord is. So I pray, and He literally hands me the sentence I couldn’t find.

Often a particular sentence, a word, or a phrase pops up and I know it didn’t come from me. It suddenly drifts through my mind and as it does that it occurs to me that isn’t the kind of thought I would have. Even when I get stuck reading the bible, I ask Him to help: “I just don’t get that Lord. Would You mind explaining it to me please?” And He does.

Reading the bible without the Holy Spirit is tedious and boring, reading it with Him is like slowly unveiling a puzzle as it fits together. “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better.” Ephesians 1:17. We will never understand His Word with our hearts, if we simply analyse it with our heads.

I’ve been reading the bible for over 50 years so I guess I am familiar with the overall gist of it. But I still need the index every now and then to find stuff! I know what I am looking for is in there, somewhere, but I often dunno where! Thanks Google. However, I also know it is His thought when it simplifies something that seemed so complicated that I couldn’t understand it at all …

One of the most frequent things the Lord says to me as I read His Word is this: “What doesn’t it say?” Here’s another one: “What would it look like if i did what it says here?” Man I love/hate that last one. I love it because He is going to show me something about Himself I haven’t seen yet, and I hate it because I know that somewhere, somehow, I’m going to end up taking a risk. Believe it or not I am not a risk taker by nature. 

I once went to Niagara Falls, but I skipped going over them in a barrel, the second I looked at them! Man that’s a whole lot of water!!  No risks for me! I am often aware that I’m not other people’s taste when it comes to speaking – because I’m too blunt, but I don’t much care if I hurt your feelings to reach your heart. Yeah I hear the irony!! I totally love the Body of Christ, but my first priority is that I want Jesus to have the  reward of all His suffering. We can be part of that reward for Him when we value what He says above what we think and act on it.

I have definitely fallen in love with the way Jesus thinks about people. When I have trouble with someone I ask Him to help me to see them through His eyes. People are His favourite subject, no matter how they look, or what we think is wrong with them. He doesn’t SEE race or creed, He sees people who need His love. Our Western selfishness and sense of entitlement is tragic. We scrimp and save and work so hard for the things that do not last. And we can easily ignore the eternal because it doesn’t jump up and down and demand our attention.

Paul says this kind of stuff so beautifully in Philippians 4:12&13: “I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” I’m still learning … especially not to complain when things aren’t easy.

As I am typing this today, I know He has something for you to do, that no-one else can. That’s why you are here. Please don’t let searching for fame and recognition take up your precious time. Be you, and let Him have His way in your life, you will fall in love with how gentle and kind He is. We need to quit hero-worshipping anyone else but Him!

Once when I was back-slidden I ended up talking to a junkie about the Lord Jesus. He said: “I know you love Jesus because I can see Him all over you.” This dear muddled up young man was wrong. The Holy Spirit was all over me because He loves that man and He quite simply can’t help Himself – He will use a donkey if that is all that is available. Jesus is the Hero, not us. Bye. 👋

P 3322  What’s so important about obedience? 

/ DVH

“For when I brought your ancestors out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices, but I gave them this command: Obey Me, and I will be your God and you will be My people. Walk in obedience to all I command you, that it may go well with you.” Jeremiah 7:21-23.

“Why are you so polite with Me, always saying ‘Yes, sir,’ and ‘That’s right, sir,’ but never doing a thing I tell you? These words I speak to you are not mere additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundation words, words to build a life on.” (Jesus is speaking.) Luke 6:46.

Without obedience, our foundation in the Lord can be a bit wonky. He will never let go of us, but if we ignore Him and don’t obey Him, we are letting go of our relationship with Jesus. It really does matter if the Lord tells you to go and fix things with this or that person. Obedience is not just witnessing about Him, it is the every day practical submission we carry out as we deliberately obey His Words. The Lord Jesus loves us so much — He doesn’t want us to carry those things around inside us. That’s a burden that needs to be thrown down at the foot of the cross. He carried it for us, so we don’t have to.

When it comes to forgiveness there are no exceptions.  God tells us these things for our own good, not because He is a control freak. Why would we choose to walk around in satan’s backyard when God has already picked out His pathway for us to walk on? Unforgiveness nails one foot to the floor, and then we go round and round talking about it – trying to figure out what to do next about that person. Ruminating over imaginary conversations that never work out IRL. Instead, go and ask for the Lord and your abuser’s forgiveness for ‘not loving your enemy and not doing them good.’ It’s probably best not to use those exact words BTW. Remember – healing often needs time – and forgiveness sets me free. 

God’s plan for us is a plan for our good, it includes righteousness, peace, love and JOY, as we walk with the Holy Spirit. He has plans to give us a hope and a future. We can short-circuit His processes when we choose not to obey Him, and our foundations will rock and creak. That’s because they are not fixed on what Christ already did. Jesus did what He did so we can have the freedom and grace to forgive others and live free from all kinds of angst and fear.

Forgiveness is not about giving permission for someone to keep tormenting you. Instead it teaches us to speak one of Almighty God’s languages. Some things work so much better when they are a fixed part of our lives, and obedience and forgiveness are two of them. Jesus forgave us. He didn’t just forgive the men who killed Him – those words from the cross have echoed down the centuries and provided access for us here and now. Forgiveness is a lifestyle choice not an optional extra. 

When we live in unforgiveness, we are rebelling against the very thing that the Lord came here to do for US. Living like that will expose us to self-deception. His blood is our permanent refuge, so put the past under His blood. I don’t care what the person who is still hurting you did. You need to be free of it.  Freedom doesn’t always come when the other person acknowledges their sin – it comes when we choose to put our focus on Him. If you don’t put those carelessly repeated actions down and walk away it will strangle your own faith.

You don’t have to like people to forgive them. And the bible doesn’t say “feel like it” – it just says do it! Remember love is a choice not a feeling. We put our hearts into compromising positions when we harbour unforgiveness. Please remember there are often a lot of things we don’t know about that other person that could be causing them to behave the way they do. Plus I have noticed that when two people collide, one of the best ways of finding resolution is for one of them to change the way they respond to any oppositional stimulus. Be that person – the peace-maker.

I have forgiven a number of people a great deal of manipulation, hurt and vicious behaviour, some of which was deliberately malicious and some of it was unwitting. Some have even insisted that I vindicate their behaviour … but I declined, because their behaviour is not my responsibility. I refuse to take somebody else’s response into account, or let it influence my own actions, as I continue to move forward toward Him. 

If I need protection from an aggressor then the Lord will tell me to avoid them. He has told me to “leave now,” when I was in danger of being hurt again. At the same time, I’ve learnt some things can’t be easily resolved. They need REST, not instant RESOLUTION. Forgive, and then let Jesus do what only He can do. At the same time resist the temptation to hold a grudge. If it comes up again then I forgive again, and give it to back to Him again. We forgive others because God says so. We do it because He told us to do it. It becomes so much easier to do the things He asks of us, when we choose to obey Him. That’s why forgiveness is foundational in its importance. Bye👋

P 3317 We get the order wrong sometimes. 

/ DVH

“This is how we can be sure that we love the children of God: by having a passionate love for God and by obedience to His commands. True love for God means obeying His commands, and His commands don’t weigh us down as heavy burdens.” 1 John 5:2&3. TPT.

I think we can get the order wrong when it comes to loving others. We strain and we stretch ourselves, like possessed people in a gym — trying to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear – or in my case, trying to make a thin person out of a fat one! Desperately hoping if we take up planking, sprints, cycling, weight lifting or crunches, we will restore our bodies to the energetic life we enjoyed in our youth. Fat chance! Meanwhile who wants to spend their entire life trying to be something that they are not! Here’s a thought …  

…Why not expend all our energy getting to know the King of all Kings? He knows what our bodies can and can’t do, and He knows those things in each of our lives that are in the way and stopping us from important things like loving Him and loving others. The verse above tells us that loving Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength leads to loving our neighbour as ourselves.

We often get that thought the wrong way round. And so we end up trying so hard to love Sister Susie and her kids, or Brother Erwin and his! Sister Susie, BTW, is the church’s best source of unsolicited information, and Brother Erwin’s kids do wheelies and burn outs in the car park!  Unless each one of us is transformed by God’s Grace, we simply won’t easily get along – we are all too different.

We often throw the word ‘Grace’ about like confetti at a wedding, Oops! Sorry. I meant rice at a wedding! Instead of polluting the world with teeny-weeny tiny bits of paper, now we are cultivating rice paddies in front of our churches! So we can’t throw confetti anymore, the mad conservationists have objected to it. I’m with Charlie Brown … good grief!!

A while ago when we noticed the temperatures rising, we started focussing on saving this world – um! Didn’t the Lord already do that? What about taking care of the souls that are rapidly leaving this earth? Sometimes we have different priorities. Try telling a starving person to recycle the wrapper on food, when they haven’t eaten for days! Personally, I think people are far more important than anything else. So how can we agree? We are all like grumpy porcupines trying to find a way to get close to each other. BTW, if I think you are nuts that’s not going to help!!

Let’s use the time we have in this world to love Jesus, and others. That will help us learn His Ways, and out of that will flow those rivers of living water that we would all like to have living inside us. The sad truth is — I probably can’t love you, easily. And a couple of hours of effort each Sunday won’t cut it!  I can easily smile at you, and pretend to listen to your conversation, while I am waiting for a space to say something I think is better than what you just said! But after ten minutes of trying to talk to each other like that, somebody’s going to probably want to leave.

Our God knows us all, each and every one of us, and He loves us as individuals, dearly … and … glory of glories …He has chosen not to see what unpleasant people we can be. And He loves us in our humanity. I have learnt that Love can’t be legislated! Let’s go to Him, day by day with our little empty cup of “I can’t be bothered” and “Why would I care about them?” And instead, receive a full to overflowing cup of acceptance, repentance, patience, love, grace, etc. which we then freely give away to each other. And if my cup gets bumped, and I lose some Grace just because I’m moving about, then I go back to Him and say “More Grace please Jesus, thank you.” Amen.

If my cup is empty then what can I give you? I have to go to the Source, the Lord Himself, and replenish what I have lost. You don’t find any of those graces lying about in the street, and you can’t go to a shop and buy them either. But as we voluntarily give Jesus our love, our obedience and time, and He gives us His nature in abundance back – then our cups will overflow again.

Spending time with Him is an investment in our new life. Think about it. What did the disciples have to give the Lord? Fishing advice? He knew how to fish better than they did. Maybe their experience, or their sparkling personalities? I.Don’t.Think.So. Those men gave up their whole lives to follow Him and receive from Him. Receiving from Him, is as important as giving. 

Just think about being Mrs Peter, or Mrs John, or Mrs Andrew for a minute. They had to sacrifice everything to let their husbands follow the Lord. Our TIME is all we have. I may not have tomorrow, but I do have NOW. So like Paul, let’s choose to say, “I will!” ‘I will read the bible and I will sing songs to Him. I will pray for others and I will pray for me’…“ I will talk to Jesus on the bus, at my desk, in the car, in the shower, in my bed – at every opportunity. It’s all an act of our will.

God is a Father Who loves His kids! When I began to think about this, I realised I too understand that people are irreplaceable. I am a parent, I could not replace even one of my children, their partners, or my grandchildren with someone else, anymore than I can fly. Although I have been tempted occasionally! The reality is, the people I know and love are irreplaceable to me. Almighty God is a w-a-a-y better parent than any of us could ever ever hope to be.

YOU are irreplaceable to Him. He loves us so much He sent Jesus here, to show us His heart toward each one of us. Let’s not get the order wrong anymore, love God first, and then – you can love others. Bye. 👋

What fills our hearts comes out, if we spill it.

P 3313 Blockages to love.

/ DVH

“Beloved children, our love can’t be an abstract theory we only talk about, but a way of life demonstrated through our loving deeds. We know that the truth lives within us because we demonstrate love in action, which will reassure our hearts in His Presence.” 1 John 3:18-19 TPT. There is little power in loving people who love us – the power of God is in  loving people who hate us.

Do you need reassurance of His Presence in your life? Are you living a life of humility and love toward everyone around you? If, like me, your answer is sometimes, then that’s where we can begin. I start by asking myself, why am I not doing this all the time? What is blocking His love through me toward this person? Today I want to talk about unforeseen blockages to love. Because anybody with a lick of sense knows that when we are angry, unforgiving, or in unbelief, those things block the love of God through us.

‘It’s the little foxes that can spoil our vines.” (Song of Songs 2:15.)  So let’s look at some. If we do not choose to consciously remain connected to our source, Jesus — with the help of the Holy Spirit — we will rapidly lose our faith to continue in love, etc. with other people. That’s when we make the mistake of thinking that love is a feeling. James is so helpful! He makes it clear that God’s love includes actions. (James 2:18.) Let us call loving others using our ‘faith,’ and this will help us clarify what happens. Feelings follow faith. 

Instead of begging the Lord for more love toward whoever is a thorn in your side, start by asking Him to increase your faith! None of us will have a problem with other people and their behaviour, if we stop waiting to feel something, and simply see love as an act of obedience. Without His help we will find barriers. Somebody, somewhere is bound to do something that ticks you off! 

The atmosphere in this world is geared to how we feel and it’s anti-biblical. Abraham did not feel like killing his son, his preparation was an act of sheer obedience and faith. Those are the words we need to remember when we think about LOVE. The Lord Jesus did not feel like dying for mankind, LOVE empowered Him to do it. Never ever forget you have an enemy, who is delighted to help you misread other people’s actions.

We all have Aunt Minnies or Uncle Clarences in this world (names altered to protect their identity 🤣) – and they are bound to get up your nose because … they are broken! It’s like a game they play. BTW they do this to everyone else around them too. These people can’t figure out why other people don’t enjoy their company. They practically double-dare you to love them. The only way you are going to be able to get through to difficult people is to refuse to play their game, and deliberately do things the way the Lord tells you to do them. Let’s choose to go to the Source first, and spend time remembering what God’s love has done for you.

His Love looks like something these people don’t even know they need – unconditional acceptance – and that does NOT mean we are putting a rubber stamp on their behaviour! Instead we are choosing to separate their behaviour, from them … the person God made. Then we act on what He says in the book. They are no longer in charge, anymore – now we are under His orders. He knows the Way in. I can’t tell you what to do, or how to do it, but I urge you to be prayerful and do what He says- for Him, not for them. I call that worship! We are ‘presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice.’ That takes faith, and it is why love needs faith to operate. Faith calls things into being that are not there and that includes love when you feel you have none!

Let’s start with forgiveness, and go on to asking for healing for both parties, then ask the Lord how to turn your prayers into actions. It can be as simple as giving Aunt Minnie and Uncle Clarence their favourite coffee or tea, when they arrive unexpectedly at 5.30am and it looks like they plan to stay for the day! 😱 When any attitude of ours remains unchanged, it can quickly become a bad attribute that seems like it is sealed in with cement. However, God can melt mountains like wax, so a wrong attitude of the heart will simply melt in His Presence. That’s why we go after Him first. HE needs to come with us.

Tackling your nemesis is impossible without the One Who made them in the first place! In God’s enormous Grace, the Holy Spirit shoots people in the heart when they aren’t looking because He wants them for Himself. Watching this process happen is so much fun! The best bit is afterwards, old Auntie M and Uncle C don’t remember being changed, they think they’ve always been a nice person. My advice when this happens is this -, don’t correct them. Be kind to yourself, don’t poke the dang bear! Leave people in their ignorance. That’s called GRACE. Hilarious. And WE get to exercise OUR faith. Win, win.

Only God Himself knows what other people need, He may ask you to supply what they need, and, at the same time, what they actually need may surprise the living daylights out of you! Try telling the grumpy person that you love them, and give them a hug when they are being horrid. THAT lets the air out of their tyres!! Our God is so good, so loving so kind, He allows ALL OF US to forget how horrid we have been – to Him and others. These injuries and things can become unforeseen blockages to releasing His love. When we follow His instructions, we get to exercise our faith and they get to experience His love. 

Love always looks like something, and the Lord’s love looks like a waterfall of Grace, over the people we wish we didn’t know. Let’s remember, NONE of us deserve it. Bye. 👋

P 3301 Our love of God = love of others.

/ DVH

“This is how we can be sure that we love the children of God: by having a passionate love for God and by obedience to His commands. True love for God means obeying His commands, and His commands don’t weigh us down as heavy burdens. You see, every child of God overcomes the world, for our faith is the victorious power that triumphs over the world. So who are the world conquerors, defeating its power? Those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.” 1 John 5:2-5 TPT.

Do you see that? We don’t obey because we must — we obey because we want His goodness, mercy and love to win! I love the bit that says we can overcome the world simply because we believe the gospel. Our belief in Jesus, as God’s Son, is our victory. Plus our chosen obedience is another outward illustration of how much we love our brothers and sisters. We are not just a clump of disconnected people who happen to worship together Sunday by Sunday. We are the living breathing Bride of Christ Himself. 

We are interconnected, as well as dependent upon each other – what happens to one, happens to all. Just try hitting your finger with a hammer and wait for the rest of your body to explain to you how it doesn’t like that very much!  Plus, this thought is also a good thing to remember, the next time the lady next to you is a bit pitchy in her singing, and her kid has the fidgets. 

“Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. They have lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.”  Colossians 2:18,19. “He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.” Ephesians 4:16. 

To be healthy as a Christian we need to be connected to Him and that leads to interconnection. When there are disruptions or difficulties – we need to realise that in the body of Christ, I could be an eyelash and you could be a toe, or even maybe something internal. So we will see this world from a very different POV! When I discovered this verse … I understood that JESUS makes the body fit together and my job is to support and help the other parts to do what they are here to do, with His help. 

I don’t have to make sense of other people’s rationale, I simply need to pray for them, and love them. I read another verse that says: “Above all, have fervent and unfailing love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins [it overlooks unkindness and unselfishly seeks the best for others].” 1 Peter 4:8. Simply put, that verse means the kind of love that is ‘a deep, and fervent love. Together with the kind of forgiveness that will overlook faults, reduce conflict, and promote healing in our relationships — rather than amplifying mistakes.’

What we lack most of the time, isn’t about exercising patience, restraint or perseverance, it is God’s love flourishing in us, expressed through us. That kind of unconditional, always patient and kind love, has the power to change someone else’s life, without even speaking a word. And if we do speak, because of His love whatever we say, will be one of those “apples of gold in settings of silver” I am always rattling on about. (Proverbs 25:11) Instead of out and out correction, let’s focus on what the other person does that is praiseworthy, full of grace, and positive and uplifting. And tackle the sin, not the person. Focussing on what’s wrong pulls anybody down into a defensive position. But God’s Word enables, it lifts up! People are happy to stand up in the light of His love, because His love won’t ever lead to despair. 

We can miss out on His wisdom and benefits, when we use the word of God like a hammer instead of a sword. A sword can cut people free of restraints. A hammer does damage. This is why our meetings together are always incredibly important, because then we have a chance to build up each other’s faith. We can exhort each other into the greatness of Who He is – rather than stare at ‘what a failure I think I am.’ Our commonality is in Jesus. If I love Him and you love Him, then we have that in common. But our primary goal is to love Him first. 

When we love each other, we are loving Him. Each person in front of us has been made in His image  “… Let us make man in Our image…” Genesis 1:26. I may need to pray and look carefully at the other person, yet even though His image is there, sin may cloud it. But when we choose to live our lives belonging to Him, His image is there. Living in Love is not just a theme, it becomes everything we do, simply because we want to stay close to Him and each other. I try to focus first on the Lord, on what He says, not just on the other person. When He is in the place that belongs to Him, everything else falls in behind that. 

We can sadly, quite easily forgo loving each other, staying with ‘like’ instead of ‘choice.’ But when we find the Lord in that other person, and focus on Him, then we can love them. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, …” Matthew 6:33. These other things will follow. Bye 👋