Oil

P 3293 Hypothetical??

/ DVH

James 2:2-4: “Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?”

When I read this thought today I saw something I haven’t seen before … but …more about that in a minute. The Lord often says to me: ” What the bible doesn’t say is just as important as what it says.”  It took me quite a while to figure that one out, but the Holy Spirit helped me by telling me: “That means turn the coin over.” This is a saying I have known from my youth. It means something is there but it will only be apparent when we exercise our faith, and actively press in to find out. We need to think laterally, with His help.

My point today is a bit like the parable of the ten virgins Jesus Himself told. 5 had enough oil, the other 5 didn’t. But EVERYBODY fell asleep. I didn’t see that one for years, even though I read it, and reread it over and over again. At the same time, I was keen to make sure I had “oil in my lamp”… the Presence of the Holy Spirit … so I could keep on burning, like the old song says. But the fact that the bridegroom was later than expected actually meant that NOBODY was awake and waiting for Him! 

Yeah. That’s kind of big eh? I think that means no matter how hard we try, we are still human, and our humanity will let us down. The thing was, the 5 virgins who came prepared for any eventuality didn’t miss out. Big clue there! That instantly explains to me, that near enough won’t be good enough. Let’s be so devoted to Jesus and His cause, that we will always go the extra mile. And that will probably include lugging along more oil than we think we will need!  I wonder … how often does convenience get in the way of obedience?

Now, let’s go back to James, the trip to Matthew 25 was a side thought, but still on point for what I want to say today. Be prepared for any situation. Just to remind you: “…  a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in…”  This poor man came to church. He was smelly, and dirty … a-n-d… he rolled up to church. Maybe he too needed Jesus! He couldn’t come in his best clothes because he didn’t have any. Imagine what would happen if a dirty old poor person turned up to your church and came and plopped himself in a pew, or on a chair in the middle of the congregation? Picture it. Hilariously, all I can see in my mind’s eye is that everybody else is squished up, far way, peering surreptitiously at this person. Maybe they were hoping nobody else would notice what they were doing?

It seems James had similar thoughts. “Stand here,” … as far away as we can get you from the clean people! Or  “sit there” … on a seat of the congregation’s choosing … preferably the floor! This whole idea made me smile.. It is amazing how little we know about ourselves until the situation occurs, and the smelly guy wants to sit next to me! Here’s a happy clue, BTW, if you are sensitive to smells … because street people can be very smelly — very few cities have free shower stalls available… Any-way, whack a little bit of Vicks Vaporub under your nose, it does the trick. FYI we used to serve street people for a number of years. Ya learn a lot about who you really are when you serve them! 

The reason for all that caution, in this passage, is pretty clear. The rest of the congregation won’t like sitting next to someone like that, and because the rest of the congregation are probably tithers … let’s not tick them off!However,  the nice clean rich guy might just like us, and if he likes us, then maybe he will tithe and the kitty will get fuller. Yeah. Like I said, you learn a whole lot about yourself. 

Funnily enough, without even thinking about it — Jesus took the sweet smell of heaven with Him everywhere He went! Earthly smells did not bother Him! He prayed for lepers and blind beggars .. all kinds of people. They were the people who knew they needed Him. The rest of us go to the doctor, or take out a loan. It’s a bit difficult to do that when the only collateral you have is yourself and a whole lot of grime. Being poor in spirit is a huge plus.

James is full of God’s wisdom, but at the same time, he is also full of the knowledge of how people like us operate. His advice is as pertinent today as it was back then. You see, he knows what the outcome of that kind of behaviour has, it corrupts the person who participates in it. It leads to discrimination and judgment. 

James is caring for the reader’s soul, because they were heading in the wrong direction with their attitudes. So he does what Jesus often did. He told a story. The Lord’s stories are designed to diagnose what is wrong in our lives — so they are a good place to listen and act. Did you know there are over 2,000 verses or stories regarding how we are to treat the poor? Maybe what James said, is not so hypothetical after all. Bye. 👋

P 3288 Life attracts more life.

/ DVH

Here’s a dumb but logical thought:  dead things don’t move. The life that was in them, has been extinguished. You and I, will pass through death. However, it’s a doorway not a brick wall. We simply move on… to somewhere SO MUCH better! God’s Love for mankind is written down in BIG impactful words in John 3:16;  Romans 5:8: 1 John 4:16;  Romans 8:37-39. The thing about the Lord is this – what He says He means!

While we are on this earth, here and now, for some of us waking up alive is a faith statement we make every morning! And some bits of me are harder to wake up now. When I was younger I didn’t even think about moving my body — I just did it. Now I approach any kind of moving with a modicum of caution, and a boat-load of human history. However I am not about to wail on about how getting older means getting creakier! Instead, today, I want to talk about spiritually moving and how essential that is in our living faith. His life in us encourages others to believe. We were reborn spiritually, when the Holy Spirit first breathed His life into us.

So, right now, we have life in us the way this world understands it … and His new life in us … but many other people don’t understand the difference … yet. This world should be able to see that kind of life too! Here’s James, who talks at length about the way we are to live this new life we have been given. “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.”  James 1:23-25. One of the best ways I know to keep our faith a living faith, is to share it with someone else!

James is teaching us that this new life we now have must be expressed. It needs to be seen, and be conspicuous. This might be a good time to repent of getting angry at those people in your church who would preach salvation to a donkey, if God said to do it!  We might get angry with them because we are convicted by their actions! But then we feel guilty because we feel like we can’t do what they do. We may not be called to preach to people, but you and I were called to exhibit faith by our works, as well as our words. “Faith without works is dead!” (Also in James.) That’s dead dead – all dead, no sign of life – DEAD!

I have one of those nasty questions nobody likes to answer. If you or I were taken into a court of law could we be convicted, with clear evidence – of knowing and loving Jesus with all our heart, soul, mind and strength? Stephen was. (The book of Acts) His reward for his boldness was that he was able to see into heaven just before he got there!  The Lord does not ask us all to be Stephen. You get to be you, and I get to be me. But whoever we are, we can, and must both obey what the bible says: 

“We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the One Who sent us. The night is coming, and then no one can work.” John 9:4. “For this reason He says, “Awake, sleeper, And arise from the dead, And Christ will shine [as dawn] upon you and give you light.” Ephesians 5:14. Here’s a song to ponder on, from a man who lived what he believed. His life was short, but fruitful, and his legacy continues to this day. Click here for some of Keith Green’s lyrics they will blow the dust and fluff out!  https://genius.com/Keith-green-asleep-in-the-light-lyrics

In the book of Matthew, chapter 25, the parable of the ten virgins shows us clearly that we need to be prepared for any eventuality. We can’t just slough off our responsibilities. We are His kids, so we can’t afford to do nothing. Jesus weeps over the millions of people who are falling off the cliff of this life into the next, and they don’t know about Him and what He did for us. Please don’t fool yourself with the idea that this kind of work is for someone else. Complete strangers ask me how I cope with illness in my life? I tell them I can’t, I have to lean on Jesus all the time!  I don’t have to have a clever answer to trick them into wanting to follow Him – I HAVE A TRUTHFUL ONE. They also ask hubby why we give away things to the poor, and he tells them that Jesus sent him!

We don’t have to convert or convince others, that’s the Holy Spirit’s job, our job is to speak, or act, or do something that shows them that our faith is not a theory!  ‘What if I get it wrong?’ Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and go again. Absolutely nothing enlivens our faith more than using it! Faith made those five  virgins provide more oil than it seemed like they needed at that time. Everybody fell asleep that night, but the ones that used their faith had provision for the delay. Moving is a sign of life, otherwise the church appears to be deader than a dodo. Who wants to go to a dead church? But His life in us attracts more life. Bye. 👋

P 3212 Four immobilising traps.

/ DVH

How do I know that God loves me? It’s in the book, over and over again. His Love does not have to be felt — it is best dem-on-strat-ed — not necessarily felt!  Feelings come and go, they are often subject to outside influences. I am not saying don’t have them, but I am saying don’t let them run your life!

Experiences with God are precious, but they are not meant to guide us. That’s the book’s job, and the Holy Spirit’s territory. Experiences are meant to follow us, not lead us! “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you…”  We do what He says – and then we experience His joy, or peace, or rest for our souls, or a boost in our faith etc. Personally, I think the Lord loves it best whenever we do everything using our faith, and we choose to stand firmly on His Word. “The just shall LIVE by faith.” (Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, and Hebrews 10:38.) 

BTW, when God Himself says something in three scriptures – we’d better listen! Our feelings are unreliable. This is one of our enemy’s sneakiest ploys to get us to continually live in the land of  “I don’t feel anything.” We must constantly remind ourselves that God has already demonstrated His love – Jesus came here and lived and died for our sake. Let that be enough. 

The second stumbling block that can stop our spiritual progression in our faith, is when we focus on the past. Listen to what God says about that subject: ““Stop dwelling on the past. Don’t even remember these former things. I am doing something brand new, something unheard of. Even now it sprouts and grows and matures. Don’t you perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and open up flowing streams in the desert.” Isaiah 43:18-19 TPT. When we choose to personalise scriptures like this one—verses that point us in His direction—that means we’ve decided God’s Word is true. We are putting some skin in the game, and demonstrating our love and faith in Him, even in the face of difficulties. The past cannot be changed by revision, it can only serve as a sign post, a warning for the present and the future. And we can repent and put it away.

The third stumbling block is fear of loss. Obviously any sentence that includes fear has nothing whatsoever to do with the Lord! The only fear that is acceptable to the Lord is called “the fear of the Lord.” The bible tells us: “…the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Proverbs 9:10. Fearing God makes us wise, not afraid. Meanwhile, living this life fearful about what God might take away from us, is from the enemy, it is not from the Lord. The Lord is like a surgeon, cutting away the things that will cause us to stumble. He adds. He does not take away. The only thing He has taken away is our sin … and that was at great personal cost.

The last thing I want to mention today seems to be a current trend. I call it somnambulism – the sorry state of “being asleep in the light. ”I’ve used that odd word deliberately. It literally means — walking around asleep! No wonder we crash into other people all the time if we are not properly spiritually awake!

Instead we let God’s Word flow by us, while we are listening to the preacher/speaker in church —without allowing it to wash off the mud, dirt and the cloudy film this world puts over our eyes. That leads to a sort of nether state, where we are more asleep than awake. We are not alert enough to release His life wherever we go – the oil that prepares us to be His Bride is the same oil of God’s life in us, as described in:

Matthew 25:1-13: “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.“At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’

“Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 

The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’“‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’ “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.“Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’“But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.”

We simply can’t afford to go through this life half-asleep. That’s called sleep walking! We need His oil to flow through us, all the time, enlivening us to whatever the Lord is doing now. Both of these virgins fell asleep, but one group was not prepared for any delay. The preparation the wise virgins made for any eventuality, placed them in a prime position to keep ready for the groom! We can’t afford to live our lives not ready for whatever comes next. 

Let’s live the Word, by walking it out. We dare not allow these four things to circumvent God’s will for our lives:  like chasing experiences; or being haunted by the past; or living our lives afraid of what we might lose. Or not  preparing well. I think we are now living in a time when we need to practice being alert. Bye. 👋

P 3094 Let’s smell good!

/ DVH

“God always makes His grace visible in Christ, Who includes us as partners of His endless triumph. Through our yielded lives He spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of God everywhere we go.” 2 Corinthians 2:14 TPT. I mean … WOW!! How about that! Jesus made US, you and I, a part of His endless triumph! Then Paul goes on to say: ‘We will smell like Him to other people, just because we live for Him, know Him, and talk with Him.’ Devotion to Jesus has many forms. Mary released the smell of her devotion to the Lord, it was sweet nard in an alabaster box, she poured it all over His feet. The disciples left everything and followed Him everywhere. 

Here are some other versions of the same verse. “But thanks be to God, Who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of Him.” NIV. “In the Messiah, in Christ, God leads us from place to place in one perpetual victory parade. Through us, He brings knowledge of Christ. Everywhere we go, people breathe in the exquisite fragrance. Because of Christ, we give off a sweet scent rising to God, which is recognized by those on the way of salvation—an aroma redolent with life.” MSG V14-16.

Our Lord Jesus has been captivated by us, by our total surrender to His will, even when sometimes that was done through copious tears and clenched teeth! Yielding our will to His can be hard but our perfume of yieldedness contains myrrh – it is a bittersweet smell – and He knows and loves it.

Because of everything our Lord did for us, now we in turn, reveal and release Jesus’ sweet fragrance to Father God Himself – it benefits everyone around us wherever we go. We don’t set out to do it, it simply happens because of our proximity to Him. His life flows from Him into us, and from us to others. Now that is a really good reason to deal with enmity. All those things that drive schisms between the members of His body. If we are careless or rebellious we will begin to lose our sweet Saviour smell! 

His fragrance thrives on, and exponentially expands with true UNITY. And our unity bursts with His life! It is His beautiful oil of true harmony flowing between us. Oneness is essential to being able to move into all the things the Lord has for us. “How can two walk together unless they be in agreement?” Amos 3:3. Oneness is the vehicle that allows Jesus’ fragrance to be released. The Father, Son and the Holy Spirit are one, and Jesus made it clear, that our priority is to protect and keep unity alive between us.

If we wanted to make any perfume, we’d need a distilled fragrance taken from flowers, carefully mixed and layered together to make a pleasing smell. Then those flowers are crushed, and that fragrance is introduced to an emollient. This is either an alcohol base, or an oil one. The Holy Spirit is the Glorious OIL that carries the fragrance of Jesus out into the community. He wants to be the only perfume that we release, so we can enrich the lives of those who are around us. Not to mention anyone else who crosses our path. We have all probably experienced the sensation of walking down the street and following someone who is wearing perfume.

You know, each of one of us could wear exactly the same perfume but it will have a slightly different result. It all depends on who is wearing it, because our individual body chemistry affects perfume. In the same way – you and I will spread abroad the sweet smell of our depth of interaction with the Holy Spirit. Each one of us will be a bit different to someone else, but the underlying glorious smell is always Jesus!  He makes us smell so good to others because we have chosen to make Him our treasure. 

BTW, please let us remember that the Holy Spirit knows how to handle His own oil – He does not need us to pray it up or down! That’s treating Him like a commodity, rather than a Person. He is also our Treasure. It is His joy to see us delighting in our Heavenly Father’s loving approval. We, however, need to be vigilant and aware of our own shortcomings, because sin interrupts the flow of whatever He is doing. However, it is truly a tragedy when we make God’s gracious gifts into rules. Of course we need to be pure vessels of beaten gold to contain the glory that belongs to the Lord! BUT! Rules stop the flow of His oil, because rules lead to striving. So when things get tough, just remember, we are His chosen vessels, and yieldedness comes at a cost.

Some of us have been stinky selfish nitwits for a very long time! That’s ME not YOU, of course. Selfishness stinks and it ain’t pretty. It doesn’t matter how we feel, or even if we want to yield or not, we need to yield to His will His way, simply for obedience’ sake. Feelings can be overrated and we end up chasing them, instead of running after Him. The purity of doing whatever we do, with all our hearts – as though we were doing it for Him – cannot be underestimated. Obedience ushers in fresh revelation. Jesus did not want to go to the cross, but He obeyed His Father because He utterly trusted Him. I have found my attitude changes after I obey. 

In order to be His sweet fragrance in the world around us, we will need to meditate on everything He did for us. We are free because He paid the cost to give us freedom. Now we need to daily cling tightly to Who He is, and what we know about Him. The Holy Spirit wants to help us with that, so we can smell good! Bye. 👋

P 2999 God, You are more than enough!

/ DVH

“God, You’re such a safe and powerful place to find refuge! You’re a proven help in time of trouble— more than enough and always available whenever I need You.”Psalms 46:1 TPT.

‘Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death, another Person did it right and got us out of it. But more than just getting us out of trouble, He got us into life! One man said no to God and put many people in the wrong; one Man said yes to God and put many in the right.

All that passing laws against sin did was produce more lawbreakers. But sin didn’t, and doesn’t, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it’s sin versus grace, grace wins hands down. All sin can do is threaten us with death, and that’s the end of it. Grace, because God is putting everything together again through the Messiah, invites us into life—a life that goes on and on and on, world without end.” Romans 5:18-20.

We have a wonderful Heavenly Father, and the Perfect Saviour, Jesus Christ, and the glorious ever-present Holy Spirit to help us. Just let that sink in for a few minutes. We are not alone. The God Who made the world is more than enough for you and me! God’s Grace changed everything for everyone, and now we need to change our point of view to line up with Who He is.

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The Lord is not just talking to us about memorising scriptures when He tells us in Psalm 119:11.“I have stored up Your word in my heart, that I might not sin against You.” OR Matthew 4:4 which states: “But He (Jesus) answered and said, ‘It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'”

Jesus is also talking about a heart attitude, not just a memory one. He is teaching us that we must value what He says above what we think, or feel, or have already experienced. When we measure God by human standards – things like results, or our ability to remember (!) – we are reducing all that He is to our ideas and opinions. However, the Lord Jesus came here to save us, and show us what a human being led by God looks like — He has deliberately empowered us to live that way with the Holy Spirit’s help. Just like He did!

We dare not even measure our God’s performance by our answered or unanswered prayers, because that is putting Him to the test! Jesus Himself said this in Matthew 4:7.“Jesus countered with another citation from Deuteronomy: “Don’t you dare test the Lord your God.” He was talking to the enemy at the time, but this is an incredibly important scripture. God reveals Who He is to us, through what Jesus said here. 

We must not question His goodness – His goodness hung on a cross until all of mankind was totally reconciled back to Him! He does not have to prove Himself to us … we have a book full of His history with mankind! When we come up against something that puts His goodness into question, our belief in His goodness needs to prevail. I firmly believe some of our prayers may not be answered until after we’ve gone home but that does not mean God has thrown them away. Men and women DIED holding onto God’s promise of His Messiah – I call that enduring faith.

God is holy, and He cannot lie, He is Who He says He is. It is fatal to our faith to question His goodness. Plus His unfailing love is unquestionable – He demonstrated it through everything Christ did. His ability to save us, transform us, and make us even bigger so we can receive even more of Him – is legendary! Don’t ever be satisfied with what you have, always go after more.

We need to learn to respond like that widow-woman, in 2 Kings, whose husband had run up a debt. She had two sons, who were going to be sold into slavery. She ran to Elisha the prophet for help, and as he instructed her, she grabbed anything that was in her house that might hold oil. These verses are not just an illustration or a great story about something God did long long ago …it’s for here, it’s for now … it’s for YOU! … and me! Give Him any areas that remain untouched by His Grace, His Spirit, His OIL in your life … and let Him fill them.(2 Kings 4:3) “We have not because we ask not.”(James 4:2)

The history of God and mankind related in the Old Testament are the true stories about the Love, Goodness and Grace of our Heavenly Father toward His own ungrateful chosen people. They rejected Him over and over again. Instead the Israelites just wanted to be like everyone else around them. Boy! That’s a big fat danger sign if ever there was one! If we want to fit in, more than we want what He wants, we are tottering on the edge of a ditch. God will get us out again, but then we will most likely have to battle shame and guilt afterward because the enemy will rub our noses in our failure. It is so much better to just do what He says!

Our enemy sneaks about watching for opportunities to pull us under, because when we are under pressure of drowning in our situations and sorrows, it is easier to doubt God. The thing is: with God on our side, any one of us, from the littlest child, to the oldest person is ENOUGH. We can’t afford to rate God by His Answers to our prayers, that attitude will make Him too small in our eyes. It limits our prayers. Just hold on to your faith and keep telling yourself God is good – He’s not done yet!  WAIT FOR HIS ANSWER – it will blow your mind!

The Lord values things that human beings don’t. The Old Testament proves that!!  It teaches us that HE IS MORE THAN ENOUGH.“Pressed down and running over …” and you and I had better believe it! Bye 👋

P 2778 Anybody got any oil?

/ DVH

“When my coming draws near, heaven’s kingdom realm can be compared to ten maidens who took their oil lamps and went outside to meet the bridegroom and his bride. But the foolish ones were running out of oil, so they said to the five wise ones, ‘Share your oil with us, because our lamps are going out!’ “ ‘We can’t,’ they replied. ‘We don’t have enough for all of us. You’ll have to go and buy some for yourselves!’ “But he called back, ‘Go away! Do I know you? I can assure you, I don’t even know you!’“That is the reason you should always stay awake and be alert, because you don’t know the day or the hour when the Bridegroom will appear.”Matthew 25:1, 8-9, 12-13 TPT.

I have heard this scripture preached about nineteen ways to the dozen … So much so, I can talk about the bridegroom, or the ten maidens, or the oil, or the lamps/containers, or living ready. You know it seems to me … and I could be oversimplifying a tad – that if we make sure we have a good oil supply, everything else will fall into place! At this point, I need to say that I see the Oil of the Spirit as God’s Love, released freely, to bless other people.

That thought kind of reminds me of something that happened to us ages ago when we were on one of our road trips delivering bibles. My story is not about oil, however, it is about petrol, but it was God’s Love that helped us! When you travel vast distances in a car, petrol stations become very important. Anyway, we were stuck in the back of Burke, literally! And the only petrol available was not the type of petrol our car needed. We eventually did the sensible thing, after freaking out(!) We asked the Lord what He wanted us to do about it. After all, they are His bible trips!  Yet, our love for Him, was greater than our fear. 

On the inward journey to Burke, the town with the wrong petrol, I had developed a nasty ulcer on my side. It kept getting bigger and bigger. As it got bigger, so did my rotten lousy attitude. I got grumpier and nastier toward my poor hubby as we travelled through miles of grain fields, with no hope of  help. No doctors or chemists. We had nothing on us to treat this wound, so arriving at our next destination was really important on a number of levels. God’s woman of paste and flour (me), kept explaining to her hubby, in a tearful angry voice, how he had no right to bring her out to the middle of nowhere when he knows how sick she is: blah blah blah, whinge whine whinge.  Between the petrol lack and the lack of a cheerful, supportive spouse, my hubby’s prayer life improved mightily! I eventually calmed down and joined in with him … after thoroughly repenting, of course.

When we set out, the territory ahead of us was just plain heavily-treed bush, filled with wild pigs and goats wandering about, and quite a number dead on the road. A road train and a beast aren’t really a fair competition. (See picture above.) We knew when we began the journey, that we definitely did not have enough petrol to get us safely to the next town. The needle was in the red.  So for 200kms we both tried extremely hard not to look at the petrol gauge! That’s the whole point of walking by faith, you don’t know what comes next…and it’s often scary! For all we knew we could end up camped by the side of the road waiting for someone to realise we were missing. As we travelled along, deliberately-not-looking-at-the-petrol-gauge, we noticed how very few cars were going in the other direction! That was not a comforting thought. 

Eventually, hubby said in an astonished whisper: “I think that there is more petrol in the tank now, than there was when we started out.” Boy that popped my eyes open! I leaned over and looked. He was right. The petrol gauge needle was up higher than when we started. We knew how much we needed, and we didn’t have it, and … now there was more. To make a long story much shorter, by the time we got to our destination – we had more petrol in the tank than we did when we started out!  BTW, the Lord healed the ulcer – which was still bad – a couple of hours after we arrived, it disappeared.  

I think that the church’s largest problem today is that She quite often runs out of oil. And our biggest enemy is indifference. The pastor or priest, or leaders might have oil, but most of the people in our congregations don’t! These women in Jesus’ story in Matthew are not leaders or religious folk. They are simply attendants waiting for the Bride and Groom to appear … and so are we! What this story Jesus told teaches me, is that WE – that is YOU and I – have a responsibility to make sure we have a living, lively, life-giving relationship with Holy Spirit! He’s our motivation and our source. We look to Him to supply our needs.

He is always ready to be our supplier. Human beings can run out of LOVE –  because they don’t know they will need it until they need it!  However, Almighty God Himself stands ready to supply our every need. We need to ask for fresh supply of His love, His oil, daily!  Then walk with Him. Stop expecting the leaders to be your only supplier and get your own relationship with Him. The Spirit of God will help us survive the next crisis at our house! The Body of Christ cannot afford to run out of oil. So, we need to ask … and keep on asking. Then we step out in faith and do what He says! The Holy Spirit never shuts down His supply of Love and that is exactly what we need. He is with us 24/7. Bye. 👋

P 2590 United we stand … divided we fall.

/ DVH

Here is today’s verse, John 17:23 NIV.“I in them and You in Me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that You sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me.”This is the Passion Translation: “You live fully in Me and now I live fully in them so that they will experience perfect unity, and the world will be convinced that you have sent Me, for they will see that You love each one of them with the same passionate love that You have for Me.”

First of all, whenever we are reading the bible we need to do our best not to get tangled up in the complexity of the words or thoughts. If that happens, it becomes way too easy to shut the book and think ‘I don’t get it’ and walk away. Here’s my recommendation, instead – stop. Pray. Tell the Holy Spirit you don’t get it, and ask Him to explain it to you. WAIT.

This is why it is not always the best thing to fit God in around everything else we have to do each day. If reading the bible is an add-on, then we are more likely to give up on a complex thought that may give us insight into Who He is. Especially if we are mentally half-way out the door, or getting ready to hop on the bus! If you have to take your bible into the loo to get peace and quiet … then do it. Reading this book is like an adventure, it is well worth the effort to wait for insight. Otherwise you will miss all the excitement of discovery and joy, especially if you treat simply the bible like a chore that must be done.

OK, back to my real point today… The body of Christ is looking for unity the wrong way. Please let me explain… we think unity is about coming into agreement about theology, activities, styles of worship, bible translations, doctrine, dogma, philosophy. So we search and search and kind of try to bend our heads and ideas about stuff around, so we can obey Christ and learn how to agree. But that’s not what Jesus actually said… Feel free to read it again. Be-ca-use God lives fully in Jesus, and now Jesus lives fully in us …  we can use LOVE as our glue … 

Why is that so? Because the Lord Jesus has way more sense than we do. He will not fight with Himself!! The Jesus in me is the same Jesus that lives in you!! It’s the life of Christ IN us that will sort out our differences! As we walk in a life of love, we will recognise each other no matter what church we go to! Ya, might just want to stew on that one for a while …🍲

Jesus loves unity. The psalmists say unity is like oil! Oil flows everywhere, it is not fussy. So, if you and I stop fighting about principles and words … and I sort of kind of, peer at you, and pray, then I can see HIM! In your eyes, in your smile, in the way you treat me, your whole demeanour.  I can also see Him in the way you do this and that… or the way you regard this or that … in other words I need to stop looking to see if our theology matches, and start looking for Christ Himself!

We cannot go outside of ourselves into rules and regulations to come into unity. We need to start unity with – I love Jesus and so do you – that means we are coming from the same place, and everything else is advertising! He lives inside both of us and we know that Christ is not divided. Here’s Paul explaining his version of that – 1 Corinthians 1:13&17 “Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptised in the name of Paul? … … For Christ did not send me to baptise, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.”

We have become so adept at maintaining our own little insight, or theological POV, we’ve missed the actual big picture. We are all here to preach the Gospel to the world, and tell them that Christ loves them, and saved mankind from their sins and themselves! As long as we keep pushing our own ideologies or holding fast to our own denominational POV we will always be inefficient! Agreement is powerful. If you were satan wouldn’t you keep pointing out what’s wrong with those other guys over there, plus reminding everyone why we can’t be friends??  Our desire to be right is holding us away from our calling of UNITY.  Just imagine what we could do to-ge-th-er?? 🤔

Two true stories – I was once buying apples in the produce section of the supermarket. Another lady was over the other side, carefully selecting her apples too. We looked up at each other and smiled. Then something amazing happened. The Jesus in HER recognised the Jesus in ME.  We had a lovely time having fellowship together in the supermarket, and hugged one another as we parted. I never saw her again. But I know I will!!!!!

A dear little old man used to come to my house monthly, talking about his church and their beliefs. His church was very different than mine. Theologically we had big differences. But the Jesus in me saw the Jesus in him, and loved this man instantly. This dear old man used to kneel down on his tired old knees on my hard tiled floor, and pray for me and my family before he left.

I think it is time to take down the barricades and start look for Christ in others who believe. ‘It is Christ IN us that is everyone’s hope of glory…’ United we stand … let’s not get pushed over by highlighting our differences. What will unify us is His love in us.👋

P 2539 Fear must never stop me.

/ DVH

1 Samuel 23:1-3,4-5,9-13. “When David was told, “Look, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah and are looting the threshing floors,” he inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I go and attack these Philistines?” The Lord answered him, “Go, attack the Philistines and save Keilah.” But David’s men said to him, “Here in Judah we are afraid. How much more, then, if we go to Keilah against the Philistine forces!…  “

First of all I want to point out today, that before David did anything, he went and asked the Lord …  It is essential that we learn to live by this game plan, because it is incredibly important to seek His kingdom first. Talking with the King ushers in His kingdom!

The next thing that popped up when I was reading this story, was the fact that David’s men were afraid to go when this battle opportunity occurred. They definitely did not want to go to Keilah, because they thought they would be even more afraid there!  These men were men of renown, they were known as ‘David’s mighty men’ … this was no rag-tag army filled with misfits and left-overs! Yet they were afraid before they obeyed, right where they were staying!

Fear is never a sign to quit. Fear is a sign we should press in to God! One of my favourite sayings is “do it anyway!!” I usually end up in a wrestling match with myself but, in the end, I’ve been doing it anyway for the past 50 years. Fear is not a good outcome indicator. But faith defeats fear and … … does it anyway.

Verses 4&5“…Once again David inquired of the Lord, and the Lord answered him, “Go down to Keilah, for I am going to give the Philistines into your hand.”  So David and his men went to Keilah, fought the Philistines and carried off their livestock. He inflicted heavy losses on the Philistines and saved the people of Keilah.”

As you can see, these guys went and WON —by God’s Grace!  They put their feelings to one side and obeyed. This is an essential thing to do when He tells you to do something you are downright scared about. Fear has kept so many of God’s precious kids from His blessings. There are blessings galore that are waiting to be heaped on us, they will fall on us because of our simple obedience. To start with we will be more free than we were before! So:  we need to go and speak to that person…. or go and do what He keeps telling us to do. If we need it in writing then read the book…!!

Verses 9-13 “When David learned that Saul was plotting against him, he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod.”  David said, “Lord, God of Israel, your servant has heard definitely that Saul plans to come to Keilah and destroy the town on account of me. Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me to him? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? Lord, God of Israel, tell your servant.” And the Lord said, “He will.” Again David asked, “Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me and my men to Saul?” And the Lord said, “They will.” So David and his men, about six hundred in number, left Keilah and kept moving from place to place.”

David’s mighty men experienced fear, but they were not afraid without a good reason. We, too, often have plenty of good reasons! These guys had already tangled with King Saul and his wicked ways, plus his deceit, so they definitely had good reasons to be afraid. That man was a slippery customer! But they followed their leader as he was following God — and God saved them and the town of Keilah as well. They accomplished their objective despite their fear and the circumstances. Our God is like that. He loves to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat! Remember the cross.

He is the same God Who says in: Isaiah 61:3 TPT “… to strengthen those crushed by despair who mourn in Zion– to give them a beautiful bouquet in the place of ashes, the oil of bliss instead of tears, and the mantle of joyous praise instead of the spirit of heaviness. Because of this they will be known as Mighty Oaks of Righteousness, planted by YAHWEH as a living display of His glory.”  We are His righteous oaks … … whether we feel like it or not!

Jesus died to give us these things, but we dare not just cherry-pick the bits we like. We all want the flowers, the joy, and the new garment, but to get them we need to go through the crushing, and ashes, and heaviness!  Meanwhile our feelings have nothing whatsoever to do with WHO HE IS. How can we learn to trust Him if we let fear rule our lives? He loves to snatch victory from defeat. The guys who look the least like the winners, the ones who start out fearful, and those who dare to believe Him  – WIN!

The following verse is also worth thinking about because it points to the fact that He is MIGHTY:  “You build Your balconies with light beams and ride as King in a chariot You made from clouds. You fly upon the wings of the wind.”  Psalm 104:3. TPT. Our God is not weak and wobbly, There is nothing too difficult for Him to handle – including our fear. Bless you. 🥰

P 2507 The time has come to pay attention.

/ DVH

You know, sometimes I wonder if we have been so busy building, or maybe even re-building, our own little kingdoms … not to mention trying hard to look like good Christians … that maybe we have run out of OIL and we didn’t notice. Now satan has boxed us into inactivity. Lemme tell you a thing or nine … that box we think we can see, is a fake. Nothing can hold any of one of us captive without our permission.

Yes, I know it’s been hard at your house, it’s been hard at mine. But the reason it has become so hard is because we’ve kind of let ourselves get soft and flabby spiritually speaking. There have been difficulties flying at us like snow in a snow storm and they have been coming so thick and fast, perhaps we have not been able to stay in overcoming mode. Life got hard when Covid smacked us in the head, praise God – and now we need to wake up, or go under.

BTW, I said ‘praise God’ because we have been in a time of shaking. Christianity is not designed to be an established routine:  with Church on Sunday, bible study on Monday, prayer group on Thursday etc. Christianity is about an Army. An army can accomplish very little half-asleep on its feet! Our job is to defeat the enemy and our side already won – because the King of glory is in us.

I am greatly cheered by the story of Gideon. It starts with a guy whose faith is about a quarter of an inch high, yet he became the God-delegated leader of 32,000 men. Then the Lord Himself whittled those men down to 300. 😱 Almighty God carefully walked that man into such an incredible place. He did that to show Himself strong to His children. Meanwhile, if anyone had told Gideon that’s where he was going, I think he might have freaked out!! However this man draggled along, willingly and sometimes unwillingly, following God’s instructions, step by step – despite his own fears and misgivings.  

In my heart I know that right now, we are in a time like it was back then for Gideon. Almighty God has a way through our apathy and inactivity – He hasn’t caused it, but He will definitely use it! However, we will always need the Holy Spirit’s leadership. Father God has given us the Holy Spirit to help us with difficult times, as well as our own weakness. “And in a similar way, the Holy Spirit takes hold of us in our human frailty to empower us in our weakness. For example, at times we don’t even know how to pray, or know the best things to ask for. But the Holy Spirit rises up within us to super-intercede on our behalf, pleading to God with emotional sighs too deep for words.” Romans 8:26 TPT. 

Praise God, right at this moment, the Holy Spirit is praying for all of us, and boy does HE know how to pray! Hallelujah! The bible tells us that when we are weak, then He is strong. Nevertheless, our obedience is essential. Gideon had to obey God and send men home, some of them for the most ridiculous reasons. Father God also called Gideon a mighty warrior, and that was something he would never call himself. Our God sees us differently than we see ourselves. He has no problem with faith! He knew what Gideon could do when he was empowered by the Holy Spirit.

You and I may feel that we have little to offer the Lord … we can’t preach, or teach, or prophesy, or heal the sick, or raise the dead… or so we think! But Gideon shows us that an obedient, weak person in God’s hands has far more power than they can imagine, because God is on their side. You and I are never alone. We walk with the One Who made the moon, stars and universe. We know His Name and He knows ours. 

Our problem also has never been about power, He gave us power. Our problem is about per-cep-tion. Just like Gideon. He had no idea Who he was dealing with, but as he was led along by the Holy Spirit, that man saw miracle after miracle. The God of miracles is waiting for you and I to rise and be strong in the Lord, and in the power of HIS MIGHT.  If Christians started to live their lives the Way Jesus lived His, purely for our Father’s will … we’d see what Jesus saw …transformation, souls saved, and miracles. 

It isn’t who we are – it is WHO WE KNOW. The time has come to pay attention and begin to practice taking faith steps. His power is let loose through our obedience to Him. Bye 👋

““Ask, and the gift is yours. Seek, and you’ll discover. Knock, and the door will be opened for you.” Matthew 7:7 TPT

P 2356 We are filled with fresh oil, to burn.

/ DVH

Exodus 40:9-15 “Take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and everything in it; consecrate it and all its furnishings, and it will be holy. Then anoint the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils; consecrate the altar, and it will be most holy. Anoint the basin and its stand and consecrate them.

“Bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance to the tent of meeting and wash them with water.  Then dress Aaron in the sacred garments, anoint him and consecrate him so he may serve me as priest. Bring his sons and dress them in tunics. Anoint them just as you anointed their father, so they may serve me as priests. Their anointing will be to a priesthood that will continue throughout their generations.’

Christians worship and serve our King in various ways, it is part of who we are now. Some of us have less seen roles —and others, just like Aaron’s oil-saturated garments, are more visible. It makes no difference – whether we are a utensil or a High priest’s tunic – like it was in the days of the Tabernacle – everything and everyone who serves Him needs His anointing. 

In the same way as the altar, the furnishings, utensils, Aaron, his clothes, and his sons;  WE need to learn how to live our lives in co-operation with His anointing. The oil mentioned here is a type or illustration of the Precious Holy Spirit – how He facilitates life and worship, repentance and celebration. We cannot possibly expect to live this new life God has given us, for free — without the Holy Spirit. 

The secret to living in His anointing is to live a life of totally yielded and surrendered love. There is no law against LOVE. You may need to read that last two sentences again – I know I did! That sounds and looks like this – ‘Wherever You want me to go, I will go, whatever You want me to do, Lord,  I WILL DO IT.’ But I won’t just accept every circumstance I find myself in, instead the Holy Spirit and I talk about everything together. Personally, I find that comforting not intrusive.

In Matthew 25:1-13 – in the parable of the Ten Virgins – we can see what happens when we treat the Holy Spirit carelessly. Some of those women did not value Him enough to be able to have continuous supply/fellowship with Him. What Jesus is highlighting here is our need to be ready whenever the Bridegroom calls us. – this parable is not just for the end times – we need to be ready day or night. That’s what it is saying. And to do that … we need to value Him more than our own convenience or comfort. 

The oil of the Spirit … how incredible is the fact that we can partake of such a wonderful Person! The same oil that flowed over Aaron and Co. plus all the utensils etc. in the tabernacle, is to be a part of our lives. And what a privilege we have to be able to know personally such a wonderful treasure. Because the Holy Spirit IS our ever-present treasure, He must not be taken for granted. That’s the point of that parable, the Bridegroom was so important to these five wise women they did whatever they could to be ready for Him.

Yet still every single one of those virgins also fell asleep. Where the foolish virgins fell down was that they did not allow for unforeseen circumstances. They had a shelf-life to their devotion. The wise virgins had the sense to understand that the Bridegroom will come whenever He comes! It was simply their responsibility to stay prepared.

Jesus is telling us here that we cannot make a last minute trip or effort to be in tune with the Holy Spirit, fellowship with HIM has to be our purpose. Staying ready and filled is our responsibility. Our hearts are meant to be looking for Him – no matter what time of the day or night. We need to do whatever it takes to keep our lamps burning with His fire and passion for Christ. Remember living in love with Him and others is the key to walking with Holy Spirit.

It is simplistic to say that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit love each other with kind of a lovey-dovey hearts and flowers kind of love. Their love for each other is an overwhelming life-changing FIRE! And we’ve been asked to participate in that kind of relationship with all three of Them. Why would we ignore that kind of invitation? Don’t wait for tomorrow – our heart’s cry daily needs to be ‘fill me now, I need more! I need to burn!’ 👋🏻