Panic

P 3245 Press on and find His heart.

/ DVH

“We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, Who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and He will deliver us again. ON HIM we have set our hope that He will continue to deliver us.” 2 Corinthians 1:8-10. 

The Apostle Paul lived his life totally filled with the Holy Spirit. The bible tells us that the Spirit of God personally took Paul into the Lord’s confidence — he was in Heavenly revelation school for three years, and then he took another expanded course, outside of the other apostles. That lasted for fourteen years. During that time he watched God do amazing things.This verse shows us that Paul knew that everything that happened in his life was a possibility for change and transformation. He knew God IS in charge.

In the above scripture Paul uses words like – pressures, ability to endure, despaired of life itself, and we thought we might die. However, in spite of those emotive words, he can still see the benefit in all that hardship and trouble. Those things were allowed by God Himself, to teach them that they couldn’t rely on themselves, but only on the Lord … What a way to look at the twists and turns in this life!  Even if death threatens me, I still know that God has a plan! That’s a good thing to remember.

Learning to stand when stuff happens all around you, is a God-given, God-directed, God-supported skill. We are n-e-v-e-r alone, Jesus won’t leave us. So we grab our faith with both hands, give everything about our circumstances to Him, then HANG ON!! Like a limpet clings to a rock in the face of the endless pounding waves, we need to let the enemy’s constant nagging pounding at us, strengthen our grip on the Lord. And if you feel you can’t even hold on … and we’ve all been there! Remember JESUS is the rock we cling to. Nobody can pry us free from Him, we can ask for His help. No matter how dire the situation is, attach your faith to His goodness.

Many people believe for the answer to their prayers. I prefer to believe that I am going to see His goodness in the land of the living. (Psalm 27:13). I have found two things happen when I do that – one is that I get to peace quickly now I’ve put Father God in charge of my situation. And the second is this, no matter what happens, I know I will see His goodness in my circumstances. This is to my advantage. If I pray about what I want, I will  receive – because He is good! But when I pray to understand and see His goodness, I will learn more about my Saviour. The active/action form of belief is trusting Him.

This is how we learn to stand in the face of trouble. I was watching a Christian video on Youtube, the other day, and part of it was about the great fire of San Fransisco. In the foreground there was an open bible on the ground, with flames all around it – it was singed at the edges. A stiff breeze was fanning the terrible flames, but at the same time, that breeze turned a page in the bible. It hit me so hard in my spirit, that when everything crumbles around us, we need to do whatever God tells us to do, and then we turn the page. 

That’s what ‘having done all stand ’ means. It doesn’t mean we stand about like statues, it means we proactively stand, listening, and we do whatever He tells us to do. But we keep on believing to see His goodness in the land of the living. That’s a great focus – we focus on the One Who knows everything and nothing is impossible to Him. Then, whenever fear, or anger, or anything else tries to distract or disrupt our assurance that He loves and wants what is best for us, we can cast it aside.

Ask the Holy Spirit for a scripture to stand on, and then hang on … the ride could be longer than we hope, or even bumpy – but God’s got you, He won’t let you down or let you go. Let’s look at this kind of faith in Matthew 8:8-10.“The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have You come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard this, He was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. “

We can’t afford to miss what Jesus wants to teach us, by focussing on immediate responses, answers or actions. Yes, the pain is awful. Yes, we aren’t even sure we can bear it – but underneath everything else is always the Everlasting Arms. At the very least our sense of failure or panic shows where our faith is not helping us.At worst, we have been robbed by the thief. Go get those things back, and don’t ask – demand. 

We’ve all been given ‘a measure of faith.’ That means you and I have ENOUGH for whatever we have to face.Hold tight to this knowledge. This centurion recognised who Jesus was, and instantly understood that this was a Man he could trust. He called Jesus “Lord” on sight. Don’t just settle for the answer you want, press on to capture His heart. Bye. 👋

P 2909 Into the storm.

/ DVH

I think I wrote about the following verses just the other day … but here we go again … and this time, we have an actual storm. On the horizon, locally, looming… Mark 4:37-39: “A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.” As I was thinking about that snippet from the bible  early this morning, some things jumped out at me. I’ve been reading this stuff for 50+ years and I’m still seeing stuff I didn’t see before!

Back to my storm story: Jesus is sound asleep but the disciples are not, they have been kept awake because they are furiously fighting with a storm, trying to obey Him. Now they are caught up in a panic, looking at the physical evidence of watery chaos all around them. They were trying to go to the other side, because that is what Jesus told them to do. But at this moment these men are going up and down, tossed about by big waves in a little boat, soaking wet and scared of drowning. The sky was filled with dark clouds, maybe even lightning and they are rowing like mad and getting nowhere. 

It ain’t peaceful! We all like peaceful. We all like life to go the way we want it to. So how come Jesus can sleep? Well, He said they were going to the other side and when the God of the Universe and beyond says we are going to the other side – then that ride is on Him! I just made an important point for someone out there … ‘You are on His dime – this ride is ON HIM – stop trying to organise Him and sit back and enjoy the ride.’ Moo-ving on …

Panic overtakes the disciples, and so they wake Him up with an accusation – ‘Don’t you care???’ Why should the Lord sleep when they are so-oo-oo scared. Isn’t it His job to protect them? After all, He put them in that boat! He’s in charge, and the people who are in charge need to fix things. Boy were they in for a surprise! I have no idea what they thought Jesus would do… um maybe if they woke Him up He could join them in their panic? 😳 Human beings can be so irrational when they throw their faith out of the window, just to see if it will survive the fall! 

Here’s my point for today: first Jesus rebuked the wind and waves, then He rebuked the disciples! There were two storms that night, one IN the boat and one OUTSIDE it. You know, we can get so carried away trying to control our external circumstances, that we forget that our internal state needs help too! We cannot afford to let the external rule the internal … we will start sinking.

After that, Jesus explained to these men that their faith was far bigger than that storm. Sometimes when we face difficulties and terrifying things, our real task isn’t to fix the problem – it is about learning to rest in the face of whatever is going on. We can rest in the fact that JESUS IS ALWAYS IN OUR BOAT.  

If you don’t believe me, then let’s have a look at what the book says. Jesus is speaking here: “And lo, I am with you always, even until the end of the world.“ Matthew 28:20. “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before Me.” Isaiah 49:15&16. “The LORD Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” Deuteronomy 31:8. The last two verses are our Heavenly Father speaking. 

When we look at our circumstances, or our inner state of panic, we can easily feel deserted – left to fight whatever it is by ourselves. But this is our opportunity to believe what the bible says, above how we feel. Inclement circumstances are where we learn to REST in Him. Jesus Christ has paid for and given us HIS rest, nobody else can steal it away. We can only choose to lose it, by choosing fear, dismay and anger above rest.

As we descend into this storm, we are not alone – Jesus is in this boat with us. Bye and bless you. 🕊️

P 2908 Alfred.

/ DVH

Good morning everyone. It seems that part of our preparation for our bible trip next Monday is reorganising our house! I shan’t bore you with many details – one room has sprung a leak and another room is even lower than that one. So we are emptying both rooms and stuffing everything we have in them into the rest of our quite small home. Like many people where we live, we have not experienced a cyclone. Personally, I could have cheerfully skipped that event, but it seems the Lord has other plans in my transformation process.

Man, we are sentimental packrats at our house! We’ve been married for 38 years and I think we have kept every single thing we ever bought. We have thought about moving on various occasions but the trauma of all that packing etc. etc. …if you have ever moved you will know that a lot of stuff happens in those words etc.etc!!

Many times, all that work has dissuaded us from moving, and so we decided to stay put. I don’t think anyone likes to have to pack their life into boxes. But currently it seems the Lord wants us to revise our pack-ratty ways and we will have quite a bit of sorting out to do when we get back home. Yes, we are still going, the Lord willing, if the planes are allowed to fly out. I imagine it is not much fun in a plane in a cyclone! 

The rising panic of this whole event makes for a difficult atmosphere all over the place. A lot of people at the shops seem quite afraid because it has been 50 years since the last cyclone darkened our city’s doorstep. That fear is almost palpable everywhere you go. It highlights for me that most people have no clue about the Lord Jesus, or eternity, or ‘what happens to me?’ Those people live in our neighbourhoods. Meanwhile, we are having a crash course in letting go and letting God, and allowing Him to bring His kingdom into our lives despite the temptation to fling up our hands and give in to despair. 

Thank the Lord our son has come to help us practically because I think hubby has had to transform himself into three people when I wasn’t looking! One of them is looking after me, the other one is preparing for our bible trip and the most exhausted one is moving furniture! Life is never boring. But we keep on giving things back to the Lord, and dealing with them one at a time. Sadly my brain turns into confused mush if you push on it, and so I am not much help. But I can and will pray.

I said all that to finally introduce my subject for today’s blog – clearing and cleaning out our spiritual closets. I have learnt over the years that what is happening in the natural world around us can mirror what is happening inside us. Speaking for myself, there seems to be a whole lot of stuff I have stored, hiding unnoticed and undisturbed! Life is busy, and time passes more quickly than any of us think – it is good to have a stock-taking event now and then!

So here is my verse for today … I think it may end up my verse of the month! “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Thy presence; and take not Thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with Thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors Thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto Thee.” Psalm 51:10-19. 

This made a great deal of sense to me  – we cannot go out and talk to people about the Lord next week, with unnecessary burdens and dirty hands. These precious people mean so much to Him and we want the purity of His love to shine through us. So thank you, cyclone Alfred, for calling us to revise our absent- minded ways. Bye, 👋

P 2899 Never give up, never surrender!

/ DVH

One of my all-time favourite movies is “Galaxy Quest.” My title today is one of the lines in it. This phrase inspired me  because the disciples often seemed to give up at the drop of a hat. Hubby and I were talking about them and the continual spirit of stupid they seemed to prefer to live under, recorded in the gospels! Even though Jesus was right there… like … they could see HIM! Those disciples remind me a little of those bobble-headed dogs that people have in the rear window of a car. They nod their heads up and down all the time, but they aren’t really saying ‘yes,’ – movement and momentum got them instead!

Picture this, the disciples are in a boat, (Matthew 8:23-27) and the wind and the waves are threatening to sink it, but Jesus has fallen sound asleep up the back of the boat with His head on a cushion. He’s tired. Let’s take a second to think about what He had already done in that day. He actively taught His disciples, as well as the crowds who had come to hear Him speak. He healed many others, including lepers. Like I said – He’s tired! And the disciples climb all over each other in total panic to wake Him up! Then they wail and whine at Him and say: “Don’t you care if we are going to drown?” 

I mean, Jesus is in that boat too, right? If they are correct, then everybody is going to drown not just them! It seems that these men still had not grasped what He had given them. Let’s be clear, panic can easily set in for all of us, but I’m not talking about what you or I might say out loud, I’m also talking about the miscellaneous rubbish that rolls about inside our heads when we shift our gaze OFF Him … and onto some problem or other! Bad move. Our focus matters. We simply cannot afford to forget Who our Father in heaven IS.

I can’t count the times when I have said, inwardly — and, sigh, sometimes even out loud: “Oh God, don’t You care that I am not coping?”  Like how I feel should be HIS number one priority!? The bible says this: “Do not yield to fear, for I am always near. Never turn your gaze from Me, for I am your faithful God. I will infuse you with my strength and help you in every situation. I will hold you firmly with My victorious right hand.’” Isaiah 41:10 TPT. Yield, BTW means I’ve given in to fear and I am flap-doodling about.. But it also says that if I can’t see Him, guess who turned their head?? … Not the Holy Spirit!! We are under His gaze 24/7. 

How about another time when the Lord is teaching the disciples to forgive over and over and over and over again … and: “The apostles came up and said to the Master, “Give us more faith.” (Luke 17:5). Boy that last line made me chuckle.  Basically, what the disciples are saying is: “We want to do it! And we would do it if we just had more faith Lord!” Hah! Like somehow their faith or lack thereof is HIS FAULT. What a miserable excuse for them to make. Remember, the boat story above in Matthew? But Jesus said to them: “Where is YOUR faith?” He expected them to have faith in Him, and what He had already taught them. Those guys had private personal lessons.

Faith is personal. God gave each one of us a measure of faith and sometimes I think we feel and act like He short-changed us. Maybe what we actually think in hard times is that He hasn’t given us enough for something this big! Our faith is not like fairy dust, which can blow away in the winds of bad circumstances, and melt in the heat of tribulation — it is a real gift given to us straight from God’s throne in heaven!

ps: That faith is the same faith we received when we said ‘yes’ to Jesus in the first place. We all have it, it is what causes us to read the bible, pray, fellowship with others, and go to church. Faith is not a feeling, it is a choice we act on! If I have feelings then I have evidence! BUT!! …“…faith is the substance of things hoped for, the EVIDENCE of things NOT SEEN.'”Faith has no evidence but the cross.

It is designed to grow. It will grow quickly if we use it! But if we park it on a shelf and only drag it out when the sky falls in on us, we can easily find our faith is not as big as we hoped it was! That was the problem for the disciples, they weren’t using the opportunities He gave them to stretch and strengthen their faith. When things got hard, I think they kind of figured that Jesus would fix it. But the Lord knew He had to eventually leave them, so embracing that tactic was not going to be a viable solution. Remember, He sent them out in twos to practice their faith! And when the Lord saw their faith was in the results, He rebuked them. 

They were His servants, they served Him. Being a servant is simple, you obey whatever it is you are told! You know, some truths are more weighty than others. The fact that one day we will all die and leave everything we know and love behind us is true. But there is a bigger truth, our salvation. It will sustain us through that end-of-life process. If one day I prayed for someone for a headache and they still have that headache, that is not proof that my faith does not work- it means it needs more using and stretching!  My faith is in what He said, not in what I can see.

Jesus will never leave us, EVER. Just because we can’t always see anything, that doesn’t make how we feel true. It probably means we need to crucify our flesh and move on over into the Spirit. We need to have more faith in His goodness, than we do in our circumstances! Never give up – never surrender! Bye. 👋

P 2865 Changing our thinking is deliberate.

/ DVH

I wanted to write about one of the ways I’ve learnt I can keep continually walking with the Holy Spirit…“Keep your thoughts continually fixed on all that is authentic and real, honourable and admirable, beautiful and respectful, pure and holy, merciful and kind. And fasten your thoughts on every glorious work of God, praising Him always.”  Philippians 4:8. 

The question we need to ask ourselves today is this — what actually occupies our thoughts? Often we are fixated on our day, focussing on what comes next … but if we choose to, we can turn that way of thinking into … “What are You going to do with all this stuff today Lord?”  It’s about focus. Giving the Holy Spirit our day, reminding ourselves of why we are here, means letting Him into our thoughts, and when or if we forget, and worry or leave Him out, we take the time to repent. Wonder of wonders, He always does it!! He is so amazing!! Thank you Jesus.

Father God sometimes whispers this to me: “Are you sure you want to keep that attitude?” I’ve had to pull up, and grab my thoughts back, many MANY times. Honesty with God and yourself, is really important. Dismissing any niggly thoughts, or giving yourself permission to say stuff that is best not said – is a slippery slide. Sometimes the Lord puts His finger on something very gently, and says something like: “Are you sure you want to go down that road?” Now it becomes my choice. It can’t be an accident that I went the wrong way – because He’s just warned me about that road! 

If I get cranky about my difficulties and circumstances, then sometimes my answer might be: “Can I just be here for five minutes?” Of course we both know that I won’t be there for five minutes … I’ll get stuck in my cranky or fear for three days and then wonder where the Holy Spirit went!! It has taken me a long time to see that at that moment if I ask Him to help me to choose the right way, He will. That’s because His strength is made perfect at that exact moment of my weakness!

If something disastrous or unforeseen happens, sometimes I panic, and  I will probably blame myself or someone else … even if I don’t do it out loud, I’ll do it in my head. Bad move – one thought leads to another!! That’s when the Holy Spirit reminds me that I don’t have to go through ANY valley alone – my choice in those moments is essential. I need His Ways not mine.

The secret to getting through the hard times is to continually handover the situation to the Him and leave it with Him, by letting go of worry and problem-solving. Why not put the One Who knows everything, in charge? I turn away from problem solving and anxiety and deliberately turn my focus to Him. And every time those thoughts come up again, I compare them to the Bible and check that stuff out with what it says. If it doesn’t line up, then I throw it away. That’s what taking thoughts captive means.

After that I always ask Jesus what He thinks. That answer can take a while, because I’ve learnt the Lord is constantly stretching our faith in His goodness. It is a huge mistake to pay attention to the dreadful pictures that the other guy paints in your mind of what the eventual outcome will be. This is when fear raises its nasty head. It is good to name the fear, because it helps to know what you are fighting. Tell the Lord you know it is fear and ask Him how to deal with it – He guides me through things one step at a time. 

Here’s an interesting thought — the Person who needs to know the answers to our difficulties is the Lord – and He already knows. Look through the Bible and find one time when He said: ”I don’t know what to do about that!” … It didn’t happen! After doing everything I’ve mentioned above, I do whatever He tells me to do, then like Ephesians 6:13 says — I STAND. I commit to standing until I see what He wants me to see. I might learn something about me or about Him. Like I said, changing our thinking is deliberate – it’s about focus. Bye. 👋

P 2631 Beware of roadblocks.

/ DVH

There is a possibility in our lives that we can have hidden, (even from ourselves), agendas – things that will inadvertently get in the way of true growth. Sometimes we can get caught up in our minds or emotions with ideas, people or things that we fiercely defend, but we are totally unaware that is what we are doing. Over a longer period of time, we can also learn to carefully avoid some situations because we are subconsciously aware that we don’t cope with them. Likewise, we can steer away from, or even get angry about, some things, purely because there is concealed pain behind them.

Ask yourself this question – apart from Jesus Himself – Who is THE most important person in your life – is there anyone or anything that you strongly feel that you cannot live without? Maybe a person who you value so much, that even the smallest thought of loss can send you into fear or anxiety? If you are a parent, maybe it’s a child …whether it is an adult child or not …  or perhaps a spouse;  or a close friend. Even the thought of any loss connected with these things can send you into an overwhelming downward spiral. If even the very thought of letting go of something or someone sends us into a panic – that is a clear indication something has grabbed hold of us!

You know, the thing we are most afraid of, can sometimes be the greatest spiritual strength in our lives, when we overcome that fear with His help. Always remembering that His help leads us TO DO SOMETHING. Perhaps there is a job we don’t want to lose, or we’ve fixated on finding somewhere safe to live – but this thing, whatever it is, influences every other decision we make. And it may not even consciously register in our minds. In this scenario that person or thing, no matter how normal or insignificant they seem to be, can become a roadblock to spiritual growth. 

When things get tough, and hardship strikes — this predisposition to protect ourselves and hide from suffering, will get in the way of any of the Holy Spirit’s solutions. Simply put, we won’t ask Him to help us with someone or something we don’t want to lose … just in case He takes that thing or person away! Plus we can easily go on from there to make decisions based on fear and pain instead of what the Lord wants. 

It is incredibly easy to think we know what is best for us – but that decision can be formed within the framework of hidden fear NOT FAITH. The assumption that our feelings, or even familiar thought patterns are a good guide, is a lie! The Word of God is our primary, solitary guide. I have seen godly parents put up with abuse, because they feel they cannot live without their fully grown child and the sneaky wrong spirit in that adult child ends up ruling the roost.

Or maybe the parent is afraid of what will become of their progeny and sadly, co-dependency has taken hold. We can sometimes desperately pray and hope: “that Jesus won’t mind, because He understands I can’t help it, I need it to be like this.” Read the gospels … the Lord told one man to leave his recently deceased father behind!

I have also seen sweet Godly Christians hurt others because they refuse to let go of something that should have been left behind them years ago. That has been caused by fear which has been carried forward from childhood pain. It can colour our adult thinking. The thing to do in such situations is to get to the root of the tree by asking WHY?

Why do I feel so strongly that I cannot let go of my child, or spouse etc. and give them to Jesus unreservedly, without any agenda in my heart? What pattern of ungodly thinking is preventing my growth? What fear is ruling my life? How did it start, and what am I still doing now, today, to keep that fear alive? We need to prayerfully identify and deal with these issues under the Holy Spirit’s wisdom and guidance.

Our God is not mean. He is a loving caring Father, who is deeply involved, and intimately engaged in our everyday lives. BTW, this issue is not about disobedience, it is a deep lack of trust. We are not trusting the Lord to take care of those things that are extremely important to us. Sadly we could even be letting fear rule. But our precious loving Father knows us, and He knows the way we need to go to get through things like this. We must follow Him, step by step into relinquishment. It is not good to hold on to other people so tightly that you lose your own God-given freedom!

Matthew 16:19:“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” The Lord Jesus Christ gave His power to the disciples when they were too dumb to know what they were given. That’s how generous to mankind He has been! We can personally prevent any change in difficult situations or even dangerous ones by misusing the power we already have — instead of yielding people or material things to Him and progressively learning to live a life of faith. We need to let go of those things that weigh us down. At the same time by holding on too tightly to someone/something else we have the power to prevent growth and change in that other person or situation.

It is part of our job description to voluntarily choose to live this new life Jesus died to give us, embracing the power to overcome, instead of hiding away from it because it might pinch something from us! Plus always watching and aware of any roadblocks or ‘keep-out signs’ we have inadvertently put up or embraced… because we know those things will steal His new life away from us. Bye. 👋