Ongoing process

P 3238 Unplugged.

/ DVH

“Keep creating in me a clean heart. Fill me with pure thoughts and holy desires, ready to please You.” Psalms 51:10 

I like this version, because the word ‘creating’ is used in the present tense. I actually think this is an ongoing process for every one of us. Daily, sometimes minute by minute, the Holy Spirit continually creates a new living-for-Jesus heart in us – if we let Him do it. Yielding to the Lord is one of the best assets we have.

However, we can personally short-circuit this entire process by choosing our own way, and giving into our baser desires – simply by ignoring repentance. Repentance is the way out of the kind of difficulties we can get ourselves into! When anything seems to be clouded or muddied in my mind and heart, I know I need to repent! 

I realised years ago, that I will always need to ask for His help to back up and start again, because I’m human and repentance means humbling myself. Even in the times when I am really mad, and I think the other person is utterly wrong, that’s when I really struggle to repent! Like I said – that’s also when I really need His help – and He will give it. He longs to help us. 

True repentance is the very best kind of prayer, it clears away the deceitful cobwebs we allow to hang around in our mind and heart. The Holy Spirit always answers that kind of prayer, immediately. I confess that there have been times when I kind of wished He wouldn’t!  But that is because, in those moments I want to justify myself. It is exceedingly dumb to give up the Lord’s blood bought justification for us. When I settle into my own kind of justification, nothing gets fixed, plus  ….I end up with a permanent lousy attitude!

Maybe you don’t even think about something like revenge, because you know that would be wrong. However, I still think we are all capable of speaking, thinking and wishing someone else ill, silently. I think that’s why the Lord spoke to the Israelites so often about “murmuring and complaining.’  Sadly if we are not murmuring and complaining about God, then someone else is probably in our firing line. That’s because human beings have a habit of doing it!  By the way, the Lord does not accuse us when He points this out, so we can repent. Instead He is diagnosing something that shoots all of us in the foot all the time… our inner attitude. 

Honesty, with yourself and others, can be very costly, but it also creates opportunities to truly connect. Sometimes I think the only time people feel free to be honest is when you’ve annoyed the living daylights out of them and they are angry! If we sincerely want to have the Lord create a clean heart in us, then we need to be free to own up to the stuff we keep on doing … the stuff that no-one else knows about. Even the stuff we don’t think we want to escape from that we try to hide from ourselves with lame excuses.

Because He’s our God and He can do anything—He can change our motivation!  Always remember, the bible is called GOOD NEWS! Seriously, there are some things I used to do that I can’t stand anymore. God changed my attitudes when I wasn’t even looking. I don’t know if you have met this wonderful quality the Lord has, but it blows me away, every single time I encounter it. 

It means I have ceased to be attracted to something dumb that uses up the time He has given me. One day I was able to enjoy … (whatever it was, without blinking) … and then almost instantly, I simply couldn’t stand it anymore. And all I did was give it to the Lord and I left it with Him. I cannot stress how much total surrender has changed my life. Yet it was the very thing I specifically avoided for years, 

I was so scared of Jesus taking over and taking way stuff… I knew nothing about the fact that the Lord won’t do that – our power of choice always remains. This is the blessing we have, when we deliberately choose to go in His direction. Our preferences change instead. He has never made me do things I didn’t want to do.. But eventually I figured out I was never going to be the person I longed to be from self effort… … I’m a bit thick, so that took a while. 

Finally I gave up! That’s when total surrender became easy … when I realised I was never going to be able to create a clean heart in myself, by myself. Not to mention the lack of ability to have pure thoughts and a right spirit within me! This world had provided me with so many opportunities to get mad and stay mad—eventually I had outsourced my ownership of my own emotions, into someone else’s hands.  

The reality was they weren’t doing so well either, so that was an entirely dumb move. Back then I could tell you what was wrong with everyone around me, far better than I knew myself! In order to walk like Jesus did, I needed to unplug from this world’s thinking and plug into His. I urge you to take that path, it makes all the difference. 

Bye. 👋

P 3186 Here comes the Bride.

/ DVH

Sometimes I think that we are praying for the wrong thing! Let me explain: we can spend so much time praying for our spouses, our kids, our friends, etc. to change, when the person who needs to change is ME! It’s a waste of our time trying to pin our grumpy responses and attitudes on someone else – our responses are our responses! Aren’t you glad I said that out loud?  

I think we may need to be reminded that salvation is an ongoing process and none of us are there yet! However, that does not mean we should throw up our hands and give up on the process. The Lord’s processes are part of the ensuing transformation. In order to be His bride, we must participate and do things His way.

I read something that someone or other wrote about seeing a butterfly struggling to exit from its cocoon. They decided to help the poor little critter out, and carefully used a pen-knife to cut the hole a little larger. The butterfly emerged quickly and flapped its wings in the sun. The ‘helper’ was ecstatic – he had helped the little creature to evolve! Then the butterfly keeled over dead. The struggle to emerge was part of a very necessary strength it needed to fly. 

We are like that butterfly! There is only so much help we can get for ourselves from others — or even give to someone else that will actually help them. The struggle to emerge is part of the process and there are no shortcuts. We can and must pray for each other, but in the end we all need to make those wise choices to learn for ourselves. (Matthew 25:2) This process of learning what I must and must not do, is part of all of us realising that we can’t achieve a thing without the Holy Spirit’s help.

We can spend so much time focussing on what’s wrong with other people, or society, or our uncontrollable difficulties, that we forget that we too are more than capable of making huge mistakes. Our everyday contribution to this world counts. The point isn’t just about trying to avoid mistakes – the real point is it that it is ME that needs prayer! There are no perfect people here! It is my actions or lack of them, and sometimes my reactions, that need to be changed. 

We can waste our whole lives blaming other people for the things we’ve chosen to embrace, and we can even call it ‘protecting ourselves.’ But the reality is protecting me is His chosen job! “The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my Saviour; my God is my rock, in Whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety.”  Psalm 18:2. Why do I need to defend myself against you, if He is my protector? The best course of action for me in the middle of trouble is to run to Him. It’s called personal responsibility.

I desperately need to get that particular verse in Psalm 18, out of my head into my heart, quickly! Most of us   need our minds daily renewed in an ongoing fashion. And sadly, sometimes I treat the Lord like He is ‘other people.’ Most of my life, other people were not fun to be around. I suspect I’ve had that situation in common with practically everyone who has ever lived on this planet! 

However, deep down, know I’m not some helpless little hurt one, who needs to be petted and patted and soothed, The bible says I’m Jesus’ chosen Bride. Right here, right now. Grey hair and wrinkles and all!! Imagine the honour of that! He wants to marry each of us. In His eyes, we are His beloved forever — and that’s exactly how He thinks about us! 

We must not let ongoing difficulties and pain hobble us away from choosing to grow. We need the pioneering spirit that led our forefathers through hardship – instead of an attitude straight out of the pit, that says: “I can’t” ... when HE specifically says we can!  (Philippians 4:13) This life is not our fight, SomeBody already won for us, now we need to practice following the Lord through the hardships and sins that oppose us. 

The Lord is so good to us! In His eyes we are not some kind of pests who give in to weakness and use that idea as an excuse to avoid transformation. His focus is on our future together. He quite simply can’t wait to marry His Bride! Read Song of Solomon! And while you are in the book, take a look at Matthew 23:27.

“How often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would have none of it!” Jesus, our Bridegroom, wants to protect us! Let’s not be like those who gave up before they reached the goal and they ‘would not!’ Let’s choose to believe what He has said about HIM and US. And daily we are learning, and waiting for our bridegroom to come through for us. Full of the Holy Spirit and love for Him. 

Let’s not bail out on change! We need to LIVE READY to embrace it when it comes..You know, Esther spent 6 months in all kinds of smelly stuff to get her ready for her one night with the King. And we have eternity to look forward to!

Brides start out as ordinary girls, and hopefully they are transformed into a bride through the love of the man they are marrying. Getting married is a process and we can’t skip the process because we know that our King is more than worthy of a beautiful Bride! The bible clearly tells us we are not to have a spot or wrinkle in our wedding garments, and our preparation is under the supervision of the Holy Spirit, Himself. I refuse to be afraid even though fear and his cohorts regularly bash on my door. I know I have a bigger purpose than marking time until I die and go to be with Him. 

Our wedding garment is a garment that has been dipped in His blood and it is spotless. The love of our Heavenly Bridegroom did all that for us! “He did this to present the church to Himself in splendour, without spot or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and blameless.” Ephesians 5:27. We cannot dry-clean or wash ourselves – instead we need to live and act on the knowledge that the work has already been done for us – by SomeOne Who adores each and every one of us. 

Now we live this life, the only one we have, using our faith daily. Believing in Who He is, and What He says and what He has already done for us. We want to be ready for whatever comes our way, because we know we going to a wedding! Here comes His Bride and she’s no coward! Bye. 👋

P 2881 This is the battle.

/ DVH

“So fight with faith for the winner’s prize! Lay your hands upon eternal life, to which you were called and about which you made the good confession before the multitude of witnesses!” 1 Timothy 6:12 TPT

Entering into eternal life here and now, is not just a one time event. It is an ongoing process that is designed to saturate every single part of our lives, so that we progressively become like Christ, while we are still in this world! It is very important that this thought becomes the way we see everything. Some not good things we choose to do are one off actions, but other things are entrenched in us as part of the way we think and conduct ourselves. The more we become saturated by His life in us, and through us, the easier it is to identify the stuff that is the wrong way to think. God Himself has the best Way to think no matter what we are going through!

He is so incredibly good to us while we are learning to yield every area of our lives to Him, His patience with us is far beyond our imagination. It is far greater than any of our experiences have been with other people! Sometimes people’s attitudes and responses may be harsh, so it is extremely important that we know what the bible says. I can’t stress that enough! This is why we let Him and His Word have the last say on our lives, over our personal responses to hardship and trouble. However, to do that we have to be honest with ourselves, and with others.

We have Christ’s example from the bible that show us what His love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control look like! Read the Gospels, follow the Lord Jesus around, you will see that fruit all over His life! God’s kindness etc. is not indulgent or self-serving, it is something steadfast that we can stand on. This means we can identify the things that come to attack us, simply by knowing what real Love looks like. At the same time, we must remember that we are not in a popularity context, and that means that there are times we can end up at odds with someone else – because their learning curves and ours may not match. Grace needs to prevail.

Things like this, are not just tests, or trials. They are opportunities to learn God’s ways. We learn how to hide from the storm, in Him, when there is an actual storm in our lives blasting away. His transformatory ways are often learnt right in the middle of situations we would much rather avoid! As we understand and remember this, it becomes part of our way of looking at this world. Difficult circumstances are not sent by Him, but they are used by the Lord to teach us His Ways of thinking, doing and being. They teach us our limitations. Plus our often unknown weaknesses, and they present us with situations where we can practice relinquishment, by leaving stuff with Him. 

It takes humility to let go of our own solutions, defence mechanisms etc. and trust the Lord to take care of us and the people, or the things that we love. And humility is often learnt, firsthand, when we submit to others – especially people we don’t like! That’s what not leaning on your own understanding means. Experience with His Ways will grow us up in the things that last! We learn trust by trusting Him when everything around us screams “Panic!”

Jesus Christ was man-handled roughly even before those Roman Soldiers beat Him mercilessly. He was verbally abused and He did nothing. He knows what silence in the face of lies looks like and what it costs us when we do it. This was a grown man in His prime – He could easily have fought back! Instead, He humbly submitted to those evil circumstances that battered and beat Him, when He paid for our sins. And now He can identify perfectly with US!

When people come at us with untruths against our character, we have SomeOne who knows how hard these things are and He knows how to get through them without defending ourselves. Jesus was not stoic about what happened to Him — He was GRACE personified. He fought the battle before He ever got into that courtyard, where evil people questioned and beat Him. He knows how to get through things.

This voluntary submission to Him is our daily battle. We choose it. Because of what Jesus has already done for us, we will always have the power to enter into His rest, and lean on His understanding. Bye. 👋

P 2498 Transformation is an ongoing process.

/ DVH

1 Samuel 10:6&7 “The Spirit of the Lord will come powerfully upon you, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person. Once these signs are fulfilled, do whatever your hand finds to do, for God is with you.”

We can choose to walk away from our birthright. King Saul did. These two verses from 1 Samuel are a great example of how someone who was anointed by God and totally transformed, could still go on to be corrupted by the very power he was given. King Saul shows us that sin is a choice – and this man made very bad ones. Almighty God gave this king many chances to repent. But eventually, the Lord withdrew His hand on the man’s life and the demonic took over. You can read the whole story in the bible. King Saul is the perfect example of a man who was transformed and continued on with his life – in the flesh.

Today, I just want to highlight the fact that our God does not give up on people, but His patience with man’s careless sinfulness does have a limit. Saul illustrates that. He was made King by God’s grace only. Meanwhile, presumption is not faith, surrender to the Lord’s will is faith. See Genesis 6:3. It is up to us to choose how we live after we are saved – but God’s greatest desire is to walk with us. I know I rattle on about this, but our ongoing transformation is essential for whatever comes next! King Saul valued the power he was given, over the opportunity to be continually transformed.

Yes, I know – we are blessed to be alive on the other side of the cross, because Jesus paid our debt for us. But Christ did not go through that tremendous ordeal simply to allow us to remain the same. He came and died for our sins, and we now have the power to overcome them. We need to live in love, and for love, not for ourselves. Transformation is now our aim. Voluntary transformation provides immediate humility. “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” Mark 8:36. King Saul is an example of someone who did not take the opportunity to be continually transformed – instead he used the power he was given for his own purposes.

We have been given the power to choose to turn away from this careless attitude that says we can do whatever we want, because He will forgive us. Nor are we supposed to assess how we are doing with the Lord by His answers to our prayers! We have been born again to inherit an attitude of humility, love and service. We inherit this from Christ our big Brother. Almighty God didn’t save us to allow us to go our own way with a handy get-out-of-jail-free button. Let’s not get puffed up by our own self-importance. “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.” Galatians 2:20.

King Saul forgot that he was chosen by God, to be king, it was not his birthright! His lack of humility, together with his jealousy, arrogance and rage, pulled him away from the very One Who could have helped him with his new role. Our God wants us to trust Him, daily. We use our faith, every single day, to allow Him to remove those things that will destroy us. We already have evidence He is incredibly trustworthy, by the written fact that when we didn’t deserve it, He came and saved us. We must not betray the Lord’s trust by mis-using His good nature and grace to fulfil our own agendas. This was Saul’s mistake. 

Our God is not a back-up to our imaginings or ambitions – He is the main event. His will, will always be the main event! He saved each one of us so we can voluntarily walk with Him into a totally new life. This means that transformation is meant to be part of our focus. The new birth is an invitation into knowing Almighty God, here and now in our daily lives. He will help each one of us leave the past behind, so we can step into a future where we are a loving blessing, from Him, to everyone around us.  

Overcoming our own old sinful nature, is part of the great adventure we have in front of us. We daily move forward with the Holy Spirit’s help. Transformation is an ongoing process, it is the outworking of the new birth in all our lives. 👋🏻

“May my only boast be found in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Him I have been crucified to this natural realm; and the natural realm is dead to me and no longer dominates my life. Whether a man is circumcised or uncircumcised is meaningless to me. What really matters is the transforming power of this new creation life.” Galatians 6:14-15 TPT