Participation

P 2347 It’s His work in us and for us.

/ DVH

“God will continually revitalise you, implanting within you the passion to do what pleases Him.” Philippians 2:13 TPT. 

OR “…for it is God Who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfil His good purpose.” NIV. 

OR “ For it is [not your strength, but it is] God Who is effectively at work in you, both to will and to work [that is, strengthening, energising, and creating in you the longing and the ability to fulfil your purpose] for His good pleasure.” AMP.

I’ve put three different versions of the same scripture, above. Sometimes doing that helps give dimension to what the Lord has said. I chose this particular scripture because it is so clear what our Father’s heart is like toward us all. He has a destiny for each of us to fulfil and we are going to love it. His Grace is currently loose in our lives in ways we can’t even imagine, He will not take His plans for us back, because His WORD is utterly dependable.

This whole process is something He has invested in – with His own dear Son’s life. So much so that those people already living with Him in heaven, are cheering all of us down here, on! There is no concern about us failing up there, because they are alive in the Presence of the Almighty One Who never has, and never will – fail!  We need to be constantly reminded that our missteps and deliberate dumb choices can’t take us away from the Lord’s Eternal plans. The way through our trials, difficulties, hardships and troubles is to keep choosing what He wants.

Sometimes we can misread God’s favour toward us, and start to run ahead, announcing this and declaring that. But the Lord’s work is not confined to our ideas about Who He is and how He should do things. He is sovereign. However our generous Father makes room for our willing enthusiastic input, with mistakes or not, and we can totally rely upon, and look forward to being guided by Him. Our part is to enter into freely working with HIM and keep His purposes uppermost in our hearts. Even if there are times when we do not or cannot join in, our God will take every single circumstance, every instance of failure, every highlight, and work all of them together for our ultimate good. And … THAT’S WHAT LOVE LOOKS LIKE!

It is also clear that when Jesus comes into our lives, He refreshes, restores and energises us into faith, so that we end up wanting to do whatever it is Father God designed us us to do. He has an overall plan. As we walk in His Grace, embracing what grace does for us, in us, and how it changes us, we are transformed. He does all this work for each one of us. We may not always immediately understand what He is doing, but our first choice after choosing Christ as our Lord and Saviour, is to let go of our own plans! His plan will give us a hope and a future, plus His design is absolutely perfect for every single person… This is how His will becomes as close to us as our heartbeat. 

We don’t even have to drum up enthusiasm or energy, His very Presence in our lives will do that for us. Once we get a glimpse of what He will do with our obedience, disobedience or disregard for what He wants from us fades away. This is how we learn to willingly follow Him anywhere. Our demonstrated, visible new life in Christ, begins as we decide to be obedient to what He says, in every circumstance. I want to focus on the thought that SomeOne so much greater than we can ever be, is so interested in our free-will and joyful participation and co-operation. I think He deserves our eternal loyalty. Being with us, walking with us daily, gives Him so much pleasure! 

Imagine this with me. You have a child and you watch over them lovingly from babyhood. Children grow, and as they become an adult, they make their own choices. The thing is, you love this child so dearly you cannot imagine your life without them in it. So you want them to choose to come and work, and live with you, but you do not want to force them. You want them to want to do these things themselves. Because being with you, and living and working alongside you, has become their only pleasure. You hope your adult offspring will want to enjoy this new life you have provided simply because they are in love with Who you are.

As you can see, in my made-up scenario, control and manipulation are taken right out of the picture. This kind of parenting ushers in freedom for the kid! Our God is this kind of Father. We are free to be wrong, misled, and/or disobedient, yet His love will not be withdrawn … because His Love is no longer reliant on our behaviour. Our Heavenly Father took care of that too — He fulfilled both sides of a heaven-sent agreement/covenant between Himself and man by willingly taking both sides and fulfilling each side perfectly. 

His SON’S death released so much Grace there is no need for any human being to go to hell. We are now, as recipients of this Grace destined to live in that Grace, and give it away — freely — the same way we received it. Sin is not our problem anymore – His Grace surrounds us, and empowers us to choose to live differently. His aim is for us to understand that a God Who is prepared to go to these lengths …  C A N  B E  T R U S T E D.

It is His work IN us, and through us that gives Him glory. 👋🏻

P 2261 Agreement is not participation.

/ DVH

“So this is why we abandon everything morally impure and all forms of wicked conduct. Instead, with a sensitive spirit we absorb God’s Word, which has been implanted within our nature, for the Word of Life has power to continually deliver us. Don’t just listen to the Word of Truth and not respond to it, for that is the essence of self-deception. So always let His Word become like poetry written and fulfilled by your life!” James 1:21-22 TPT.

Yes, James did just say we can totally deceive ourselves! Not responding to what we read, or even not co-operating with the Holy Spirit in our lives, is self-deception. Lots of people agree that Jesus was a man Who came to earth, lived and died here. Most of them do not do anything further about it! Agreement is not enough! God is looking for changed hearts – not just mental assent. Our hearts will not be changed without us giving Him permission PLUS acting on what He tells us. Those two things go hand in hand. We need to swallow our pride … and be careful we don’t choke … and start again, this time with humility.

Here’s a litmus test for you. Would your spouse, family, or friends, say you have visibly changed in your attitudes and actions since you started following Jesus? I’m not just talking about church attendance either. I mean other people can see that God is knocking off the rough nasty bits and polishing your life like a gemologist polishes a fine stone. The point of salvation is a changed life. Not just somebody who knows how to look good, or sound good or parrot off the right words. Instead, like Paul of Tarsus, we aren’t the same old frightful person we were before we met Him!

We can all play nice when we are in company- smile, nod, and suck up our feelings when they are hurt, because we don’t want to embarrass ourselves. But who are we when the front door closes and somebody at our house annoys us? Yeah! I know. Trust me to ask that one! 😳 Transformation is a sign God is at work within. You don’t lick apples – you bite into them … what will someone else taste when they accidentally, or not – bite into you? We can all end up deceiving ourselves into thinking “I’m doing OK, I did such and such the other day, that makes me a good Christian.”

Skipping over God-given opportunities is a very risky business. I tell myself, “one more time!”  Almighty God does not like it when we abuse His Grace. It is better to admit, to the Lord, yourself and especially to others – that you have failed. Asking the person who is annoyed at you or the one who has hurt you, to pray for you is humbling – but powerful. Like I said, agreement is not participation. Participation comes when we bite the bullet and say ‘no’ to what we think and submit ourselves to one another. And yeah, it sucks! Dying to self does. 

In the Western world we are so indulged by comfort and ease we actually think we still have options. Ask the African lady who has been raped multiple times how hard it is for her to forgive those that trespassed against her. Or the Ukrainian man who has lost his entire family to a missile. Our choices in the West are not hard – they are simply cutting across our self-indulged ways. I know that we can suffer hardships too, but these things, when we face up to them, make us stronger in the Lord and the power of His might… if we let them and act on them. We need to stop protecting the old-self …sometimes even with scriptures and supposedly Godly attitudes. We must stop believing what we say qualifies us. What Christ DID qualifies us. And He died to change us.

Saying I am a horse does not make me a horse. Even if I go and live in a stable and eat hay and neigh all day. I could even learn to run faster … well, maybe not that …!!  😂 Saying I’m right, or I’m a Christian, or refusing to acknowledge that I need to be corrected, does not make my opinion of myself true. We have whole churches full of people who love to sing songs and prophesy and wave their arms about. They smile at everyone and the minute they get into their car to go home they are shouting at each other.  

Plus they cheat on their income tax. Hilariously I can almost hear someone grumbling at me: “now, that’s enough, my income tax is my business lady!” A humble heart takes correction with Grace, even if it is wrong. If you don’t believe me, then believe this: “I gave My back to the smiter and My cheeks to those who plucked out the hair. I hid not My face from shame and spitting,..” (Isaiah 50:6 KJV)… or this … “When He was reviled, He did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten; but He trusted to Him who judges justly.” (1 Peter 2:23 RSV) We are not aiming at a better, nicer ME – our aim is to be LIKE HIM. Agreement that what God says is true, is not participation. 👋🏻

P 2239 The peril of ignoring our faults…

/ DVH

“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 

But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 24:45-51.

‘If Jesus came back today would you repent or worship?’ Someone asked me that question once, and … big spiritual giant that I am … I said: “… um … probably … BOTH!” It may now be obvious to you that I like to cover all my bases. 😶 Time and apathy are forces that can wear away most good intentions. This means we desperately need the Holy Spirit, not just good intentions! I know many people make resolutions every New Year but I gave that up decades ago. I found I couldn’t make it past a week before I fell over and became disappointed in myself.

When there is no active revival around us, our impetus to remain focussed and in love with Jesus – and what He wants – becomes down-right cloudy … with a chance of extreme coldness … bordering on self-centredness. We could easily revert to the same old same old – and hope that will do. It will take the ripe fruits of faithfulness, and self-control … plus we might need to throw in a few boxes of patience … to keep us … keeping on. Otherwise we can easily give up too quickly – like the guy in the parable. 

Pressure, boredom, and a distinct lack of visible supervision is the thing our enemy employs to distract us from where we want to be. I strongly suspect the master in this parable was angry because he trusted that servant to do the right thing. AHA! That means we can’t blame our poor old pastor then doesn’t it? After all we are responsible for our own spiritual well-being and choices.

You know, this little story is so accurate, it hurts to read it. I find myself avoiding parables like this one in the same way I avoid mirrors. Mainly because I don’t like what I see … but … way up in the back of my mind … I kid myself that I would ne-v-er do that! The thing about Jesus is that through these stories, He exposes what is really in our hearts. So instead of dismissing the possibility that I might behave as badly as that servant did – I’ve learnt to ask the Lord to: ‘please show me where I fall into that exact same hole.’ 

That’s the kind of prayer that always gets answered … trust me! Instead of acquitting myself of any possibility of blame, I’ve learnt that I have no idea what I will do when the ‘nice’ wears off, and I am shoved against the wall by adverse circumstances. However, I must admit, I also have no immediate plans to bash up anyone who lives at my house and looks after me. The other person who lives here makes my meals etc! My mother didn’t raise no stupid children!! 

However, the guy in this parable proves my often stated point – none of us know what is INSIDE us – until the passing of time, and life itself, or a lack of visible supervision, puts our lives under pressure and we get distracted from our original goal. Then watch out! All kinds of ugly leaks out around the edges. Nobody plans to live like that guy did, it just kind of crept up on him because time passed and his supervisor was missing.

Our Master lives inside us – our biggest problem is, He’s so gentle, He is easy to ignore. But the rewards for faithfulness and wisdom are much better traits. Living for Jesus means active participation in His processes. Meanwhile, when was the last time you heard someone talk about this particular parable? Yeah, we both know what that means, the pastor doesn’t like it much either. It’s not easy to get a positive message out of this one!

The Lord highlighted two words to me today when I read it – faithful and wise. Meanwhile the opposite of that is pretty much unreliable and stupid – I really don’t want to come into that category. What to do? Well, I believe in honest maintenance. You see, we have a beloved Redeemer, so there is no need to hide from myself anymore. It’s time to own up and repent, and ask for His Grace to change my behaviour. That’s when I decide to make faith-filed, bible inspired, choices. Right at the point when I want to do the opposite, or even pretend … I’m ‘all good” really ...😳 

I think we have to monitor our own spiritual lives day by day, sometimes second by second! It is so easy to judge this guy who behaved so badly, without stopping to look in the mirror – but we will do that at our own peril. Who knows what might creep up on us one day to tempt us to behave the same way? Finally, here’s a great deliverance prayer: “…and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil …” Amen. 👋🏻 “It’s the little foxes that spoil the vines.” Song of songs.