Perfect gift

P 3125 The Lord has His own way of looking at things.

/ DVH

I know the bible says we must love the unlovely – but I confess, there was a time when I didn’t want to believe that. So I repented of unbelief and then the Holy Spirit very patiently took me through the bible and showed me His love in action in that book. This has totally changed the way I read the bible. It meant that I stopped reading stories about the men and women in them and their response — and started reading them from God’s point of view. Our God has endless patience with us!

I recommend that everyone have a go at this! Actively prayerfully, look for God Himself – His ways, His thoughts. Read the bible as if He is speaking to you, personally. Our God is incredibly active, and as we see Him in His book, His reality impacts our lives. Ask Him to reveal Who He is to you, and BTW, be aware that wonderfully interesting things can happen when you pray that prayer. Jesus came here, in Person to show us and teach us – what God is like. 

WE might treat sinners badly, but Jesus definitely didn’t. Instead, He bent down to where the sinner was, in the dirt! And He had compassion on everyone. The thing I immediately noticed was that Lord knew these people didn’t have a Shepherd to explain God’s Ways to them. Jesus Christ is our God-given Shepherd. The Bible clearly tells us God’s ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts – but we must never forget we have a book full of what He thinks and what He does. Let’s stop looking at His book as stories about people, and what they think or say, and start looking at it as God revealing Himself to us. 

Otherwise His book becomes a series of instructions to be memorised and treasured purely for the WORDS. When I read God‘s book, I can choose to read it and read about other people who are like me and their struggles with God and man. But the person who really needs to know God is the one who chooses to follow Him. We will grow in our understanding and His grace for our part in His plans, when we choose to read the bible watching out for God Himself. Reading something, someone has written down, helps us to get to know the Author.

I believe it’s time for the bride of Christ to have deep meaningful times with the Holy Spirit, and let Him reveal God‘s heart to each one of us. Almighty God wants us is to triumph over our supposed enemies by doing things like – loving those who despitefully use us. When we do this, we release the Holy Spirit to have His Way. As we choose to make the bible about Him, it changes everything. Almighty God dearly longs to reveal His heart to all of us, and as He does that, we will see a part of His heart that has previously remained hidden. 

That thought is not meant to foster competition, or be a status symbol, by the way — many people have mistaken the Lord’s POWER for His HEART. However, He’s way too big for any one of us to understand. That’s why we will have eternity together, because we just plain don’t – and often can’t – get it. Instead we keep discovering new things and making them the next big thing … the NEW answer. Our God cannot be explained by a formula – He told us to seek Him. The Lord always plays the long game and human beings  are geared up for instant answers.

Until the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, His people remained ignorant. The precious Holy Spirit opened the disciples’ eyes, ears and their hearts to the reality of Christ’s life and death … who He is, what He has done for us. The very things that looked impossible for them before, now looked possible, because the Holy Spirit was there present with them, expanding their inner beings. He wrote what God said on on their hearts that day and nobody had to explain it. The Teacher, the Counsellor, the perfect Guidance of God Himself was there with them. He is with us, too. 

So that person you think you can’t stand for another minute;  or that person who used to beat you when you were a kid;  or that boss who is so unreasonable;  that spouse who can’t hear a word you say;  those people are all loveable IN Him! We simply need His heart, His eyes to see and hear them, not our own. Who loves them? GOD! Who knows them? He does! You will be amazed at how different people look, when you look at them through the eyes of the Holy Spirit. As we know Him we will understand how, and why He loves the way He does.

This happened to me with a near and dear relative. If I told you my story you might feel sympathy for me, and probably a bit angry with them. But God‘s point of view is bigger than yours and mine! The truth was I needed to look at this person through His eyes, and the minute I started to do that, I saw how broken they were. What I saw as rebellion and wickedness, was their response to the world they had come into, a world they didn’t understand. They were sheep who didn’t have a shepherd! 

Compassion rose up, and I began to truly love someone who was previously quite unlovable in my eyes. Meanwhile, I must warn you, the enemy did not let up on bashing away at my resolve – he doesn’t want anyone saved! That other person had been cemented into their attitudes, by time. So I had to choose to maintain my position in His plan for their lives, and make strong choices, with His help … to leave the past behind. I started to look forward to seeing them and being with them, because pleasing Him became my aim. Take the time to get to know how Almighty God thinks. Bye. 👋

P 2782 We are people of HIS Grace.

/ DVH

The glory of God is more important than our perceived welfare… you might want to sit and think on that sentence for a while. 🤔 I know I did! I have no desire to criticise the church or her servants, whether they are pastors, preachers, prophets etc. But in the last 40 years many Christians have gone right away from our main focus – the Lord Himself. It seems we need to seriously take note of satan’s sin… pride. Our focus needs to be clearly centred around us being God’s servants. It was not above the Lord Jesus Himself to regard Himself as a servant, and He is God’s only Begotten Son! 

I know that the Lord regards each one of us as His brothers and sisters, the bible says so, but that is because even Christ Himself would never dream of elevating His own status above His Beloved Father. Jesus perfectly illustrates that love lifts up its beloved, and has no concern for its own position. Read Song of Solomon and you will perfectly see how love, the Shepherd, treats the Bride – us!

Because of what Christ did and the way He regarded us, we are incredibly precious in His sight, but that is Jesus’ Grace and generosity, flowing toward us,not our right. Our God is mighty, awesome, and above all we can think or imagine. He is the One True Almighty Everlasting God, who made heaven and earth and created everything we can see … …and a whole lotta stuff we can’t! He existed before we did, and eternity will not be long enough for us to plumb the depths of how wonderful, glorious, and how precious our Heavenly Father is! I did not have a father present in my life, so there are days when I am totally wrecked by the fact that God Himself has claimed me.

Unfortunately Father God has been poorly represented in my opinion. He is not some easily fooled fun-loving Grandpa who indulges His children! Many people over recent years, have walked away from their faith, because their faith was in a Santa Claus figure – not Almighty God Himself!  So they quit! Disappointment grabbed them by the throat and choked out whatever faith they had. Presumption is such an ugly condition. It robs us of what His Grace has done for us. 

This meant that when bad things happened in life, and that happens to all of us, these poor souls fell away, wondering why they hadn’t qualified for the benefits advertised! Praise Him, the Old Testament is filled with stories of God Himself making beauty out of ashes. He took inadequate men and women and blessed them with His wisdom and purposes. He is still doing that today, with you and I.

Many preachers still tell us that that was then, and now – we are under a New Covenant. Yes, we are, and praise God for it. But that New Covenant frees us to choose Him for Who He is  … not just for the benefits He lovingly bestows upon His people, day by day. He blesses us, but that is a testament to His goodness … not our entitlement or faith! The bible exhorts us in Psalm 103  “…to forget not all His benefits.”And then that Psalm goes on to list them, one by one. This Psalm reminds us that we can praise and thank Him as the Author of whatever goodness, forgiveness, and mercy that has come our way. And because we know His heart through His book, we can also praise Him for what is still to come.

This Psalm is not a free pass to demand whatever we think we need. It is God Who supplies our needs, and my advice is to have a conversation with Him first. The Psalm is simply telling us where good things come from. Listen to James 1:17. He tells us clearly where blessings come from.“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” If we get so focussed on the gifts and not the Giver we have missed the main event! God is revealing Himself to us, He’s saying when good things happen to you and I —- ITS HIM!

Just yesterday, at our house, there was an incredibly fierce storm. The lightning and thunder were right over our house and the hail was pelting down and I am ashamed to admit that I was afraid. But suddenly, peace swept over me like a river … fear didn’t leave, it simply melted as His greater Grace helped me. I didn’t even ask for it. It just came upon me because God is so kind and good. A gift comes from the Giver’s heart.

We need to stop reading the bible simply to grab at promises that we think He should honour, because we know how good He is. Instead, we are a privileged people who know what they have been given and we are grateful. A people of His Grace. That Grace comes in, and it flows out toward others. Our Heavenly Father is more than just a provider, much much more. He is the love in each one of our hearts, especially when life tests us. Bye. 👋