Paul

P3329 Vindication is God’s business. 

/ DVH

Ephesians 4:25-32: “What this adds up to, then, is this: no more lies, no more pretence. Tell your neighbour the truth. In Christ’s body we’re all connected to each other, after all. When you lie to others, you end up lying to yourself. Go ahead and be angry. You do well to be angry—but don’t use your anger as fuel for revenge.                                                                                    And don’t stay angry. Don’t go to bed angry. Don’t give the Devil that kind of foothold in your life. Did you use to make ends meet by stealing? Well, no more! Get an honest job so that you can help others who can’t work. Watch the way you talk. Let nothing foul or dirty come out of your mouth. Say only what helps, each word a gift. Don’t grieve God. Don’t break His heart. His Holy Spirit, moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for Himself. Don’t take such a gift for granted. Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.”

The premise we need to note over everything else that is said here – is the IMPLIED “YOU!” WE need to listen and act. When the bible says ‘you’ – it doesn’t mean your spouse, family member or your boss. It would be so nice if everyone read the bible and took what is in it seriously … but the only person we have to work with is ourselves. The real question is this, can we live His way and not walk about with ‘a holier than thou attitude?’ True humility is our friend. Anyone can agree with the bible’s principles, and then skip submission to what it says – but other people have to live with the pain of our mistakes.

Submission ushers in humility and love. Boy is that kind of thinking at odds in today’s society. People want to avoid responsibility for their own actions. Plus we can get very busy defending our own rights. Seriously, we need to reconsider the way we live with the Holy Spirit and each other. Is He that important to you or not?  The spirit that seeks to enforce our own rights is not from Him. How can you die daily if you want your own RIGHTS? If Jesus had enforced His rights, we’d all be in the soup. There is a far better way to live that honours Him. 

The secret is to revere the Holy Spirit, and cherish His company. Let’s love Him and His ways more than we like our own. Think of that like this, there are things you probably wouldn’t say to a dear friend. Like: “Yes, those pants do make your butt too big!” We don’t say those things because we don’t want to alienate our friend, whose company we value. The Holy Spirit needs to be valued more, not less. Maybe this is made more difficult because our obedience is voluntary and we must make a choice. I’ve found that the Lord will vindicate His own – if we get out of His way and stop trying to manipulate things in our own favour. “Why not suffer wrong?” 1 Corinthians 6:7b.

It is easy to vomit icky stuff all over someone else. Anybody can have trouble with anger, but the bible is clear, anger can lead us into far worse situations when it is not dealt with asap. Our emotions are not the best guideline of spiritual reality, because they are based on our often faulty reactions to situations. Personally, I think it is better to respond than react, and asking questions can prevent misunderstandings. If we value the Holy Spirit’s companionship and opinion above our own, this kind of change is normal. He is delighted to be our companion, advocate, counsellor, guide, and teacher. 

I need to be clear that I don’t know everything and I definitely don’t have the corner on what the Holy Spirit thinks and does! However, I think it is important to choose to learn to grow and be challenged by His Ways. Otherwise we can grieve Him, and then our best way through trouble leaves with Him! Openness about our personal attitudes is a key to allowing His Will to prevail. It keeps us in fellowship with Him. Who we are at any given moment can easily be a reaction to what has happened to us so far in our lives. Good things, bad things.

Many of us still live our lives protectively – and we are afraid to change. It takes courage to admit you can’t fix yourself and then trust God will take care of you. Why not seize any opportunities to give a different response? The Lord knows everything, and we can benefit from His wisdom. Why not choose to value His oversight over our own knowledge? We have a book full of what He thinks.

Our desire needs to be to live to please the Holy Spirit, first, and then to love and encourage our brothers and sisters. We cannot afford to keep on demanding that our way is the only right one. “His ways are perfect” …  … nevertheless, mine ain’t! Humility will flourish and grow as we know our place before the Lord, and learn to honour and prefer one another. Let’s protect our relationship with Him over everything else. It isn’t a matter of who might win … because it isn’t a competition. We all win when we allow Him to fight for us.

This is why what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13 is essential. His love is our great equaliser. It will sort the chaff out from the hay in our own lives, and allow us to see what God’s Ways clearly look like! When Paul describes these qualities, He is making it clear what love is, and what it is not. Love is the thing that must take precedence. I ask myself: “Is this or that love, the way Jesus would define it?  I don’t need my own faulty definitions, I already know I can be too selfish and self-centred to answer clearly. However, this kind of question gives me clarity when things are unclear. 

People sometimes tell me that they can’t hear the Lord. Try letting Him correct you with His eye on you! Let’s choose to embrace LOVE and leave trying to wriggle out of things on a technicality behind us. Vindication is His business. Bye. 👋

P 3324 Part-time Christianity doesn’t work.

/ DVH

Ephesians 3:4-13 MSG.“As you read over what I have written to you, you’ll be able to see for yourselves into the mystery of Christ. None of our ancestors understood this. Only in our time has it been made clear by God’s Spirit through his holy apostles and prophets of this new order. The mystery is that people who have never heard of God and those who have heard of Him all their lives (what I’ve been calling outsiders and insiders) stand on the same ground before God. They get the same offer, same help, same promises in Christ Jesus. The Message is accessible and welcoming to everyone, across the board. This is my life work: helping people understand and respond to this Message. It came as a sheer gift to me, a real surprise, God handling all the details. When it came to presenting the Message to people who had no background in God’s way, I was the least qualified of any of the available Christians. God saw to it that I was equipped, but you can be sure that it had nothing to do with my natural abilities.

And so here I am, preaching and writing about things that are way over my head, the inexhaustible riches and generosity of Christ. My task is to bring out in the open and make plain what God, Who created all this in the first place, has been doing in secret and behind the scenes all along. Through followers of Jesus like yourselves gathered in churches, this extraordinary plan of God is becoming known and talked about even among the angels! All this is proceeding along lines planned all along by God and then executed in Christ Jesus. When we trust in Him, we’re free to say whatever needs to be said, bold to go wherever we need to go. So don’t let my present trouble on your behalf get you down. Be proud!”

What a great teacher this man is! Paul really encouraged me with this passage, he puts everyone on equal footing and includes the people who-haven’t-met-Him-yet, as well as each other. There are no rock-stars in Paul’s theology. Jesus Christ is all in all and He is everything! It’s such pure brilliant revelation. This man of God definitely found his heavenly-calling – it was to help everyone he met find God and understand His Ways. Then he says something that just blows me away. “I couldn’t have done what I do without His help. I wasn’t equipped to do this job.”

Paul was brilliantly equipped to preach the gospel to the Jews, he knew the law inside and out. Yet God sent Peter – the fisherman – whose only qualification was that He loved Jesus – to the Jews … and Paul went off to the Gentiles. Do you see that? Neither man was well-equipped to “argue God’s case” to the people they were sent to. God’s qualifying feature is WE CAN’T DO IT.  So if you know you can’t do it, then you are half-way there! The other half is knowing the Holy Spirit and His ways, personally. 

If you feel like you are a failure because you may have done dreadful things, but you have the revelation that God is redeeming you, day by day, then you are equipped. That’s called humility BTW! Paul consented to the murder of Christians, and that horrible thing became one of his greatest assets. It helped to keep this man humble. Everywhere he went, people knew what he had done. He even had problems with the Lord’s disciples because they knew his reputation for murder! 

Don’t let the past dictate your future. Our God is brilliant at do-overs and He does them so well, they stop being do-overs and become new beginnings.  Please don’t give up on yourself when you fail either, go to Jesus and begin again. I tell myself daily: “Just one more time. I need to get up one time more than I fall down!” He’s the God of second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth chances etc. He won’t give up on you, so don’t you give up on your faith in His goodness.

Paul knew he was ill-equipped for the job God gave him, but His faith in God’s goodness was bigger than the things that happened to him along the way. Having a big faith IN GOD matters. The trouble is, most of us scrounge about trying to make our faith bigger. Set your EYES on our big God! Did you know that there are 3,600 types mosquitos in this world, and there are over 25,000 -35,500 kinds of fish, and 90 species of whales. Does our Father sound limited to you? 

The only thing that can limit God is sitting right above your shoulders. That 28-35 cm bit of skull, brain and flesh, can distort our thinking and deprive us of our part in Jesus’ plan for our lives. That’s why the bible says: ‘renew your mind’ … it needs renewing!  Have you ever caught yourself thinking something and then you suddenly realise you still have a childish view of reality? We all do it. Things happen and we get stuck. Our brains are definitely not perfect. 

But His love is. That’s the bit to remember. That’s what kept Paul going through so many trials and tribulations. Plus the wonder and joy that he discovered as the Holy Spirit revealed God’s plans for mankind. This greatly admired and learned man found out he knew nothing, and he accepted his ignorance with great joy, because it meant he could rely upon our God even more! We have nothing to contribute but ourselves and a total surrender to Him, daily. Part-time Christianity doesn’t work! Bye. 👋

P 3321 Fashion shmashion!   

/ DVH

“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.” (Colossians 3:12.) We have God-given, Holy Spirit activated clothing. It’s heavenly clothing – let’s choose to put it on! Our outer garments are not a reflection of our inner selves, our actions are.

These spiritual things are more lasting than spending money on Christian louboutin, Chanel, Kenji, Connor, Yves Saint Laurent or Myer doesn’t it? Why do we need to be careful what we wear? “All things are legitimate (permissible-and we are free to do anything we please) but not all things are HELPFUL (expedient, profitable and wholesome). All things are legitimate, but not all things are constructive (to character) and edifying (to spiritual life.)” 1 Corinthians 10:23 AMP.

People tell themselves that it is OK to wear this and that, it’s part of our freedom. But Paul says if my freedom makes YOU stumble I should voluntarily give it up. (1 Corinthians 8:9; Romans 14:13-23.) We have been exhorted to live for the Lord and other people – not ourselves. This world’s stuff can so easily take over our thinking and our lives. Our biblical focus, however, is to look like Jesus, and He cared about people. He wasn’t politically correct (PC) – He was Almighty God correct. (AMC) Let’s choose to take into account the fact that we can make other people stumble with what we wear, say, or do.

We live in this current society – we work, play, and interact with others – BUT —WE live by a totally different value system. Simply because we follow Jesus. Jesus Himself spoke about worrying about what we wear or eat, and He clearly made this whole subject about FAITH – not polyester, cotton or pure wool! Father God looks after lilies and daisies, so this means we can be sure that looking after US is one of His priorities. That’s where our faith needs to be. These things are not about legislating rules – instead we are to treat them as God’s loving council over our lives, so we can stay in step with what the Spirit is doing.

The Israelites walked about in the desert for 40 years and their shoes and their clothes did not wear out! Selah!  Father God has proved He knows how to look after clothes better than we do! People who worry about having the proper clothes, or fashion’s latest supposedly, cool clothing etc. are being distracted from the main objective – Christ’s likeness. We can choose to reflect Him, or we can reflect the current trend. That choice is always ours. Our primary aim is to wear things that don’t cause others to sin, but at the same time, let’s deliberately choose to ‘wear’ qualities that are rarely seen in this world.  

Like Paul says in Colossians, our garments are about loving others – and they describe spiritual things, not clothing labels. The things we concern ourselves with, matter – however this does not mean we have to dress like a rag bag. It means specific clothes and foods can drag us away from our main purpose … loving Him and others. God cares about those things. Plus – He promises He will provide for us.

Trust me, it is actually easier to learn to love others like Jesus does, than it is to wear a pair of Christian louboutin $4,000+ shoes or a haute couture dress! When we become slaves to our appearance, we are not choosing to reflect Christ-like qualities into this world. It is now about who the other person can see when they look at you. Can they see Him, or a fashion label? His clothing brings life and more life — that other stuff is designed to be instantly obsolete.

As we “consider the lilies’ we need to remember that we too, like those lilies are here one day and gone the next. Are you cheered up yet? Let’s choose to make our first thought about His legacy. God’s wardrobe for us reflects His beauty, and love toward others. Ours can be merely a reflection of how much available cash we have! 

It is too easy to be distracted into caring about dressing to please, or attract others. Mainly because we’ve left behind what Jesus told us we are here to do, and perhaps we think we need other people’s adulation and approval – because it provides instant gratification. When we choose to live in His love, our whole perspective changes. ‘Things” don’t matter – anything we have is a blessing from Him.

Dressing decently is a deliberately chosen act of love toward other people. It seems to me that the less material that is used to make a garment, means whatever you bought is immediately more expensive. I can appreciate that we are all not the same, and part of that self-expression is how we dress. Remember the first thing that Adam and Eve did after they disobeyed was try to cover themselves, because they realised they were naked in God’s sight? The next time you have to have these shoes or that dress, consider the lilies. And remind yourself ‘fashion-schmashion!’ Blessings 👋.

P 3320 Faith has substance.

/ DVH

“My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask Him to strengthen you by His Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite Him in. And I ask Him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:14.

There’s Paul praying for us all again! He shows us that we don’t have to see something to respond to it. God’s love has substance- the substance is in the bible. When we talk about substance, we are talking about things that can be seen when we use our faith. Just because something is intangible, that doesn’t mean it isn’t substantial. The substance reveals itself with action. God’s love isn’t just an expression in a book — He chose to come here, and be just like us. Jesus cried, was fed, burped, lulled off to sleep as an infant. When He cried there were real tears!

The reality is, any part of humanity can see and experience His love, because we, as His kids, choose transformation over information. We act on the premise that: “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not yet seen.” Hebrews 11:1. The way we live gives faith substance to other people. We are His love on display, as we act, speak, and interact with others. At the same time believing what God said and actively responding to it, takes our hope in Him, and turns it into something substantial. Love has put us on a road in Australia, distributing blankets, bibles, prophetic, insightful words from the Lord for the people-who-don’t-know-Him-yet. God’s love has evidence. Our faith-in-action is the outward exhibition of it showing the world what He is like.

He says it, then we choose to believe it and so we go and act on it. If I am reading the bible and it says that I have a problem with my brother or sister in Christ — I don’t use my rational mind to discount what He said — even if I can’t think of anyone I’m mad at! Instead I ask the Lord, in prayer. “Lord would You please show me who I need to forgive, or who needs me to ask them for forgiveness.” My rational mind might excuse me, but the bible clearly says: “I am inexcusable.” (Romans 2:1.) Dead people don’t decide if something is wrong or right – instead we choose to ask the King!

Otherwise I can be guilty, but unaware of my guilt, simply because I can’t see myself clearly. To see myself clearly I have to look in God’s mirror, the bible. (James 1:22-25.) Personally, I try avoid ordinary mirrors like the plague, because when I look in them I think: ‘Who the heck is that chubby old elderly lady?’ I have had to learn that my perception of who I am doesn’t match up with reality! This can happen to anyone of us spiritually, we can get so busy, looking and sounding right, that we have no time or energy left to participate in living right. So when we ask for forgiveness, our faith in God’s all encompassing forgiving love is it’s own substance – we go and apologise and make reparation..

The Lord’s answer to man’s dilemma has always been astonishing and comprehensive. God’s faith had substance —Jesus (God Himself) came here, as a MAN and allowed mankind to punish Him. He literally took our place in the dock and became ‘the accused’ for us. “Surely He has borne our griefs (sicknesses, weaknesses, and distresses) and carried our sorrows and pains [of punishment], yet we [ignorantly] considered Him stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God [as if with leprosy].” Isaiah 53:4.

Some people look at Jesus Christ and say — ‘well, He must have done something wrong, and that’s why they killed Him.’  But He was blameless. Perfect in His attitudes, heart, and mind. It seems to me that our idea of ‘right’ leaves a lot to be desired. It can be affected by our friends, families, moods and trends. We need a steadfast guide, and Father God has provided SomeOne for us, He sent us the Holy Spirit together with the bible. James 4:17 gives us this bit of clarification: “If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do, and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.” James knows that words lack substance without actions to back them up.

By doing what He did, the Lord Jesus chose to become a door, a way for any one of us to reconcile with Father God. Somebody had to die for mankind’s sin and Jesus did. If He hadn’t chosen to do it, hell would be full with every single human being who had ever lived. Our own self-cultivated attitudes, actions and appetites make it easy for the enemy to lead us astray. Which is why we cannot afford to look down on some awful schmuck who does some dastardly thing. None of us know what we are capable of until we are desperate and cornered.

Sinful appetites and attitudes will continue to grow, while we choose to rationalise them. Our faith needs prayerful, intentional Holy Spirit-help and inspired self-denial. Let’s choose to give our faith substance by acting on what we say we believe. Bye 👋.

P 3318 He has a plan.  

/ DVH

“But I do more than thank. I ask—ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory—to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing Him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is He is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life He has for His followers, oh, the utter extravagance of His work in us who trust Him—endless energy, boundless strength!” Ephesians 1:16-19 MSG.

What a fantastic prayer Paul prayed above. I’ve prayed stuff like this for myself for years and for ‘the eyes of my heart to be enlightened.’ You and I don’t just want to know about Him, we want to KNOW Him. It says in these verses that the Lord Himself promises He will do all the heavy lifting. Paul prayed for all of us over 2,000+ years ago. At the time, he thought he was praying for the Ephesian church, but God supernaturally preserved his words and his prayers, so that now, we can partake in those blessings. 

This book we have is eternal. It is not just words on a  page, it is God Himself Who speaks to us about Who He is – what He likes – and what He doesn’t. Sometimes we haven’t got answers because we haven’t asked Him.“You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” James 4:2-3.

Ask and keep on asking for wisdom. The bible is not a smart person book it is a hungry person book. He wrote this book for dumb people like me. Please just prayerfully follow His instructions. If there is correction in what you read, then don’t excuse yourself – ask Him: “Do I do that?”

This stuff is meant to be our priority – it is not done on a whim, or for a special occasion. It’s to connect with the Lord Himself. He loves it when we pursue Him. He loves to play …“Find Me if you can!”  And here’s the punch line … He wants to be found! We were made for greater things than just the same old, same old, day after day after dreary day … and then … you die! Sadly, we Christians can sometimes go to church, sing our hearts out, listen to the sermon, take notes, talk about it on the way home — and still miss what He is doing. We were made to share our lives with Him. He’s not an add-on! He’s the point!! 

Let’s be careful and prayerful, that we don’t reduce our great and mighty God to a personal vending machine, like so many others before us have done. My advice is to stop telling Him what to fix to make you comfortable, and start being grateful to be His kid. “He is our ever-present help in time of need.” So of course He wants to help us! He loves us! But He wants to be so much more than we’ve allowed Him to be. Let’s stop limiting His immeasurable capacity to help us. 

So let’s go back to Ephesians, and start remembering Whose children we are! “It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose His temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, HE EMBRACED US. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on His own, with no help from us! Then He picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.” Ephesians 2:1-6. MSG.

Every single day we have opportunities to learn to live in this world the same way Jesus did — as we gladly lay  down our lives, so that God might be glorified through our vessels of clay. However, if we concentrate on what we are not, we are far more likely to find it! But if we concentrate on WHO He is, we will find Him. Dare to believe He has things for you to do that only you can do.

Keep on reading Ephesians., there’s a whole lotta great stuff in this book! And remember… the Lord has a plan that will knock your socks off!! Bye.  👋

P 3312 Staying in the river!

/ DVH

“Believe in ME so that rivers of living water will burst out from within you, flowing from your innermost being, just like the Scripture says!””  John 7:38 TPT. Great scripture! … I love to watch things on YouTube that many people might think are a bit boring. Every morning we put on one of those supposedly, sappy Christian music videos, that feature pretty pictures of nature. They can stream away for like 11 hours. And then I just let that stuff quietly run, so I can be engaged with my blog, bible reading, prayers and thoughts. You might like just plain silence!

I’ve personally found I’m far more likely to recognise His ‘rivers of living water’ when I am not distracted by other noises, or things that fly past on the TV screen trying to capture my attention! Meanwhile, I’m incredibly blessed and grateful that my time is my own, and how I spend it is up to me. Many people reading this don’t have that kind of freedom. But I think the secret to staying in the river of God begins with staying aware of Him and giving Him my attention. Have you ever watched a well trained sheep dog? The dog never takes its eyes off its Master. Meeting with Jesus is the place where we can ‘let it all hang out,’ because He knows our junk anyway!

Today, I want to talk about the importance of spiritual breathing. Living this new life the way God Himself has designed it, is a natural process with no striving involved. It’s just as natural as breathing IN and OUT. After all we do that without even thinking about it – unless we have some sort of disease or obstruction – we just do it!  “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”  Philippians 3:12-14. 

Jesus has taken hold of my life for a reason, He will help me find my real life in Him. I am greatly cheered up by the fact that the Apostle Paul, who wrote most of the Epistles — who was, some say, taken up into the 3rd heaven  — told us, he hadn’t arrived at that goal yet! This means that the best bits are still out in front of each one of us. However, just because this goal can seem unattainable, that doesn’t mean we should give up on aiming at it! It simply means we are in the best company, so I shouldn’t give up I should press on! He is now my focus.

Pressing on involves dogged dedication. So does finding out,  knowing and liking the same things the Lord likes! Plus doing whatever Jesus would do in any situation. All that takes focus, time and energy. To do this we need to sort out our priorities. Is it to be God – or the washing first? Jesus has to be more real to us than the people around us. Be assured that I don’t always get it right, that’s why I keep pressing on. However, I have learnt over the years that when my heart is pointed in His direction, the Lord is incredibly loving and tolerant of my muddles and misses, and ‘He makes my paths smooth.’ 

His infinite patience lovingly watches over us. He despatches angels to catch us when we fall, or fail. He can redeem everything and anything. “Who redeems your life from the pit and corruption, Who beautifies, dignifies, and crowns you with loving-kindness and tender mercy;…” Psalm 103:4. In other words, to the Lord, human beings are not just a hobby, or a pastime – we are the focus of His attention and affections. Let’s not relegate Him to the back burner as SomeOne we call on when the ceiling falls in. He is our refuge, not our emergency standby. 

“But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9a. What does that scripture mean when we are talking about the River of God? I think we can often put an accent on one bit of scripture over another, and in this instance that means we will be skipping over the best bit. The River bit. The bit that says: ‘My grace is sufficient for you…’ that is the important bit. His Grace is always enough! We just need to return our focus to Him when distracted, and GRACE WILL BE THERE.  Instead of looking into our hearts and seeing our inner cupboards bare and bankrupt—choose to look into Jesus’ eyes and heart, and see the abundance He has for you. We dare not try to manage the weakness we see in ourselves without looking at the greatness of His Grace toward us. Despite our whimsical feelings, we are not poverty stricken!

His power is made perfect in our weakness, but we can’t afford to be distracted by those weaknesses! Instead,let’s pray that He will give us the Grace to comprehend the incredible POWER that was released through the cross.  Our weaknesses cannot stand in the face of that power. Let’s not focus on the negative, let’s focus on Jesus and what He already did. The only thing that can negate His power from releasing itself into our situations, is our decision, or choice, to believe that our badness can possibly be bigger than His goodness!

The Lord Jesus did not just emerge from that grave ‘alive’ like Lazarus did! He was filled with so much Grace and power, He instantly saved the world! That included those Who believed before He came and all those who came afterward. The Grace He gives us is without limit. We need to cherish it with every part of us. The river of God is always available to us, so let’s jump into His love and grace, and stay there on floating on our backs. If we fall out of the river, then we need to jump back in again. Bye.👋

P 3304 Thank God for EASTER SUNDAY!

/ DVH

“We look away from the natural realm and we focus our attention and expectation onto Jesus who birthed faith within us and Who leads us forward into faith’s perfection. His example is this: Because His heart was focused on the joy of knowing that you would be His, He endured the agony of the cross and conquered its humiliation, and now sits exalted at the right hand of the throne of God!” Hebrews 12:2 TPT.

Isn’t that a lovely version of this beautiful scripture? The hard bit can be looking away from the natural realm —  mainly because it surrounds us, and jumps out at us at every turn! For example, the news of the moment is all about war, and petrol, plus the effect of this war on all of us. We have been almost battered into submission by journalistic or expert opinions to think a certain way. 

Unfortunately, their particular stream of thought seems to include picking bad people and good people. Whereas the Lord simply sees people He loves.← That’s a full stop right there! It is incredibly sad to think God is on OUR nation’s side. Our daily efforts are best expended by permanently living on HIS SIDE. Let’s look for love to guide us, not popular opinion, or even a lack of oil or diesel. We live because of Easter Sunday. The tomb that contained His body was meant to crush Christianity, but instead it ushered in eternity. It is so like Jesus to take what satan meant for evil and turn it to everyone’s good!

I thank God I was born on this side of the cross. That tomb is still empty! Never forget on Good Friday to throw off your burdens at the cross and then… walk past the cross to that empty tomb. It’s a place of thanksgiving and remembrance. Our reality on this day, is far greater than any monument. Today is the day we remember that Jesus didn’t just SAY He conquered sin and death – today is the day He proved it! His Presence in our daily lives defies death, this world, and our enemy. The wolves of this world can ‘huff and puff” and try to tear down our house, but we’ve been built on the Rock that is Christ Jesus.  

We can look through our daily trials and tribulations, and see Jesus Christ and His resurrection through a glorious vista of living faith. I love what Paul writes in the bible. He stays focussed on what Christ has already done, not on what we lack. I pray we too will continually focus on the joy of that long ago Easter day and what it means to us in our own lives, here and now. Because of that day, the blind and deaf, still see and hear, (physically and spiritually). Because of that day we are no longer afraid of Almighty God. He is cherished by us, He is knowable and close to us, always. Now there will always be more than enough love for all!  

“Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”Philippians 2:13,14. We don’t have to be important in this world’s eyes to be a part of what Jesus is doing on the earth today. We simply need to stay close to Him. He’s our Friend that sticks closer than a brother, and He knows what is happening in our lives. He has won every victory, despite how it looks.

Take Paul’s advice, remember Jesus’ victory at Easter. And forget what is behind you, press forward toward the goal God has set for you. When we could not possibly reach Him, God reached down and lifted us up — and now we stand with the Lord Jesus, shoulder to shoulder — we are called His brothers and sisters and covered in His Love. Easter is our proof that we do not hope in vain. 

Let’s look at Psalm 27:13,14. “I would have despaired had I not believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord In the land of the living. Wait for and confidently expect the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for and confidently expect the Lord.” Psalm 27 reminds us how good God is. That cross is His goodness in the land of the living! Paul in Philippians 4:13 clearly tells us where we get the strength to continue. Christ’s overcoming strength burst out of that tomb, and He has never been contained since. Men and women over the centuries have lived their entire lives based on the One Who did not stay dead! I can have confidence, strength and courage, because He didn’t do what He did for Himself … He did it for all of US.

So, we can face any unpleasant relatives with love, even the ones who have behaved horrendously toward us. They can’t reach us to hurt us, anymore. We are now spectators, no longer participants in their sin. Drop that junk off at the cross and let your heart be permanently hidden in Christ the Risen One. Now it is easy to be forgiving, loving and kind to that friend who stabbed us in the back. We can live this life, the only one we have, differently. 

Even if you are facing the threat of death today, Jesus’ death and resurrection shows us that He trusted the Holy Spirit to bring Him out of that gloomy grave – so we can too. Because of Easter Sunday, we now live in the ever-expanding Grace and Love of God. May He Bless you to be strong and courageous! Happy Easter! Bye. 👋

P 3303 Tongues.

/ DVH

Before you freak out, because people do … I just want to say I think the subject of tongues have been bashed up a bit. Between some denominations who stay well away from this blessing, to others that insist we are not born again Christians without it – tongues have been misunderstood. However, I think about this subject like Paul does – I pray in tongues, and I pray in English. But I’m eternally grateful that when I run out of words, the Holy Spirit always knows exactly how to pray – for me, and through me, and for others. The bible says: tongues edify us, they build us up personally in the Holy Spirit, because speaking in tongues needs us to use our faith.

Today I want to look at what the bible says about it. Paul seems to be the most instructive and vocal person, but I want to start with the book of Acts chapter 2:1-13, where it all began. I think we are emphasising the wrong bit –what happens to us! And we seem to fly right over the fact that the Holy Spirit visibly arrived here on earth! A whole lot of incredibly unusual things happened. The Breath of God became seeable, hearable and people experienced Him. It was awe inspiring and terrifying all at the same time. The power of God was tangible.

“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”

Indeed! What DID it mean? I think Almighty God, the Holy Spirit, arrived in Jerusalem, at the Lord’s appointed time, and the same Spirit that helps people speak in tongues —- helped people from so many different places understand what was spoken! No prayer, no urging, no force at all, no stress – God Himself just showed up!And people who could not understand each other suddenly understood what He said. When Father God did that He made it clear what happened was for everyone. The barriers we all carefully erect between each other, were gone. This means Almighty God speaks your language!

This wasn’t a ‘choice’ moment, it was a ‘sovereign’ one. Ordinary fishermen, started to speak languages they had not learned, and God’s message was broadcast aloud through the streets of Jerusalem by nobodies. People physically saw the tongues of fire, they heard the rushing wind, they felt the buildings shake. It was momentous. Jesus Christ came here as a little baby, but the Holy Spirit arrived with a huge blast of glory from heaven! Imagine it. The disciples start speaking words they don’t understand and perfect strangers are convinced and convicted that Jesus is the Messiah. And they repent!

Peter stands up and explains. How does an ordinary fisherman know what happened? Well, he had walked with Jesus for three and a half years, suffered through Christ’s death and burial and resurrection, and at the end of all that, all the disciples had to cling to was the word Jesus gave them. WAIT. Then suddenly the living Word stashed inside Peter’s heart, was ignited with a roar. He and the rest of the disciples had been with Jesus, day after day, listening, learning, making mistakes, seeing things they never thought they would see, and then suddenly the word of God came alive in each one of them. They were so impacted by the Holy Spirit that His Words burst out of their mouths and reached everyone around them. Nobody cared who the preacher was – all the listeners knew was Almighty God was speaking to each one of them personally. 

For me this is the essence of speaking in tongues. The enlivening of the listener’s spirit to the point where they see God Himself, and Jesus Christ His Son, more clearly than they ever have before. This gift is meant to impact our hearts. It goes right past our thinking and bursts straight into our spirits. This is what speaking in tongues is for – it helps us when we are stuck, or dismayed, or bereft or lost. It rescues us with God’s Words spoken through us or someone else, and our spirit jumps up and down and says: “I know that voice!” 

It’s not some sort of fairground party trick. God Himself speaks through us. I have prayed in tongues with tears pouring down my cheeks because the Holy Spirit gave me the interpretation as I was speaking. My ears didn’t understand a word I said, but my heart jumped up and down and said: “That’s it! There’s the answer.” 

We were made by the Holy Spirit in our mother’s womb, we know His voice. When He comes and breathes upon us, we recognise His breath. Tongues are a sign and a wonder, but they are a supernatural sign and a God initiated wonder. It is not just babbling. It’s the Lord!  The power of God, His wisdom, His authority and His never-ending passion for mankind, speaking into and kissing someone’s heart, spirit and soul. Impacting them with pure unadulterated love! Not man’s thoughts, HIS!  Bye. 👋

P 3299 fall in love with God’s word.

/ DVH

“When You speak to me, I devour every word. Your word brings me such boundless joy. The endless delight of my heart is in knowing that Your beautiful name is attached to me, O  Yahweh, Commander of Angel Armies.” Jeremiah 15:16 TPT.                   “But those who embraced Him and took hold of His Name He gave authority to become the children of God!” John 1:12.

I treasure the people God put into my life who have taught me to love His Word. Their passion for the bible ignited a fire in my own heart that still burns to this day. The thing I have observed over the years is that if I get lax and do not treasure His Word regularly, even the bits I have kept close to my heart seem to melt away, quietly, unseen. Suddenly it seems I can’t remember even the things I knew by heart. 

The bible says: “I have hidden Your Word in my heart that I might not sin against You.” Psalm 119:11. God’s word treasured, will keep us from sin … the kind that is accidental, or done on purpose. His Word is our yardstick. Taking any verse out of context, is dangerous. Do I get it right all the time? … Nope! The only thing I can say for sure, is that I know the Holy Spirit is right every single time. Human beings, not-so-much. The bible itself says: the Word of God is like … “an apple of gold in a setting of silver.” 

Father God loves to speaks things into being. In other words, whatever He says to us is not only possible, it’s a true word for us. However, these words are a teeny glimpse into our future, not a signed certain certification. We are still responsible to prayerfully steward and centre that word we were given upon His written word and maintain our obedience. I often urge people to hide His Word in their heart …but then I say, ‘don’t start selling T-shirts, yet!’ I have sadly seen too many dear people wander off into lah-lah land thinking they had already attained what was said to them. Prophetic words are future-centred. They are something we nurture, not run with. 

However, I confess I dearly love it when people give me scriptures, because then I can put what was said into a context and pour over it with the Holy Spirit helping me. His Word is my joy. These precious words are the  things that are our Heavenly Father, our beautiful Saviour and the Holy Spirit are daily speaking personally to us.  Some days those words are desperately needed, simply because they contain so much comfort. God’s comfort is far bigger and more comprehensive, than the comfort of a friend or a relative. His words have power in them, so we need to receive them and prayerfully act on them. Lastly we are so blessed, we fall over ourselves thanking Him.

One word from God can change the way we view a situation – things can go from hopeless despair, to joy – just because the Lord said something about it. We are told to hide His Words in our heart, in Psalm 119, and hold tight to them. However, it is not our responsibility to help God make them come true. Rather they become our reference point as we move forward prayerfully, carefully. Many times, with other people supporting us. God’s Word is a map, leading us on, letting in little brilliant shards of His light, plus exposing new attitudes, and things to conquer, helping us to find a better version of ourselves. At the same time, there is always more of Him to know, and love.

Loving His word means we are treasuring Him, and because the Holy Spirit wrote it, we have a sure foundation we can stand on. However, it is essential we do more than believe what we are reading. Let’s read it actively looking for something to do, looking for the places where we can pray and ask Him to help us change an inner attitude or action. Please don’t excuse yourself from obedience. That is a fatal error, and we cannot afford to be sidetracked by things like this. We put our feet firmly on the road of obedience, and watch and see what He will do with that singularity of purpose. The power of God’s word to comfort us will wash over us as we simply read, but the power of transformation lies in doing what He says – and not just when it suits us!

We can easily think of giving our whole lives to Him, at an altar, or in a special time of fasting and prayer – but our demonstration of inward yielding needs to be worked out daily in our lives. Father God is looking for fruit, and you can’t get fruit from a picture in a book. We have to grow fruit, day by day – by watering, fertilising, weeding.  Loving His Word, immersing ourselves in it, helps us to see what He wants, and then that Word provides the impetus for us to go ahead and act on it. 

We also have Jesus’ Name and we have been given authority to use it for other people’s good. When we pray in His Name, we are not just using some formula to ensure that God will pay attention to what we are praying —we use His Name because we understand the power of that Name. Heaven and earth bow to His Name!  After we have allowed His power to work IN us, then we will experientially know that it truly sets people free, because it set us free. We use His Name because we know Him, and He knows us. 

Acts 19:15: “And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?”   We are on a journey to intimately know the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. When we use the Name of Jesus with the same authority His disciples did, we are expressing deference toward Him.  Lastly, falling in love with God’s Word means we know who we are and Who our God is. Acts:17:28 says:  “For in Him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also His offspring.” Bye. 👋

P 3298 Live for today.

/ DVH

Lately I have seen so much written about the end of the world, and the rapture, and the Lord coming again, it is starting to concern me. We seem to be more interested in bailing out of this life, than accepting the challenges it brings. Maybe we want to leave behind the giant mess we have made because of our reluctance to reach out to other people. Instead of avoidance, let’s live our lives today aware of fulfilling the great commission, together with obedience, and choosing to learn to love others His way.

Sometimes it seems a bit like we would rather leave this world, than have the Lord change our behaviour. That’s a scary thought. Jesus will come when He will come, and His timing will be perfect — it always is! But I am pretty sure we are not meant to be hiding away waiting for these incredible events to happen. I don’t care if you believe in before, during or after, when it comes to the rapture. Maybe you don’t believe in it at all… and I still don’t care. I refuse to squabble with anyone about the subject of timing, something that no-one knows anything about. The bible says in Matthew 24:36: “But of that day and hour knows no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but My Father only.”  That’s “I dunno” in today’s language. If Jesus doesn’t know that, how on earth can we?

I’m a disciple of Jesus Christ and have been one for a long time. I have personally had ups and downs, but He has constantly remained faithful to me. I think these things were written to warn us that we need to make the important things, the important things! So I take what the bible says literally. So if God says I don’t know something, then I don’t know it. Nor do I care to either. If it was important for me to know this information, it would be in the book! Jesus told me to be like a child, and little children accept what they are told. Teenagers, however, are a whole other ballgame.  🙄 Moving on… 

Very little of the bible has repetition in exactly the same words — but the above two verses are repeated almost verbatim: “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father…” Mark 13:32. For me, fighting over this eschatological subject is just like straining out gnats and letting through camels – it is a waste of our time. My opinion changes nothing. But I can either waste my time debating about it, or choose to go out and do what He says each day. I can’t actually do both, because both will demand and take up my attention. The end of the world scenario demands opinions, conversations and obscure verses used as proof, and our focus goes off doing, into postulating. If Father God didn’t tell His Beloved Son then why the heck would He tell me? Yeah, I know I’m overly simplistic – I’ve heard that one before.

In my opinion, this end times stuff is a giant distraction from our main task, which is to walk in this world like Jesus did. It seems to be so much easier to talk about irrelevant stuff, than live the life He paid for us to live. Our confidence is in Christ, not in me knowing when the world will end. I want to spend my time going after perfect love because perfect love throws FEAR out of the door. And fear causes us to huddle behind closed doors, like the disciples did before the Holy Spirit came. But the bible says: “When the Son of Man comes will He find faith on the earth?”  Luke 18:8. I know the Lord Jesus will absolutely come back, but in the meantime, I plan on concentrating my efforts and energies on loving and serving Him, loving others, and using my faith, day by day.

We need to abstain from soaking in something that is quite clearly none of our business, and move on into the things that are. I just want to say that I’m not a big fan of the way prophetic things are sometimes used within the body of Christ. It seems it can be more about a person’s need to be seen than it is about serving one another. I’m also not happy when one gift is valued above another, we need ALL of them. Paul says this eloquently in his exposition of the gifts in Romans 12. The good gifts God Himself has given us. 

In Romans 12:6-10 (V7) he says: “[He whose gift is] practical service, let him give himself to serving; he who teaches, to his teaching;…” There are two separate gifts here, side by side. Yet one has been made less of because it supposedly involves practicality. Paul tells us here we are to use the gift we’ve been given to benefit others. Personally, I have found that spiritual gifts not only bless the brethren — they also affect the-people-who-don’t-know-Him-yet. It is incredibly important that we know our place and simply stand in it under the Holy Spirit’s guidance. We are not looking for natural talents, we are looking for spiritual gifts that find a way where there seems to be no way! 

Think on this. Service does not seem to be an important gift, but it is an office in the Body of Christ. It is not just about knowing how to keep the books, and making sure the rosters are filled. Serving Christ is the highest honour we have. Women in the bible are mentioned by name, simply because they served Him. Service requires just as much faith as prophecy does. We need the gifts of administration and service desperately, and they are not minor or lesser gifts. The Body of Christ cannot function without them.

God has ways for things to happen that we have not even imagined or seen yet, simply because we have relegated some roles into the natural. But the bible clearly says they are supernatural. I pray we will not be misled, there are so many influences that will excuse us or drag us away from the purity of the daily things the Lord wants us to do for His kingdom. Let’s live for Him, today. Bye. 👋