Perseverance

P 2718 A testimony and a lesson.

/ DVH

Just recently, in our stay in Cairns, we were mooching about in our accommodation, praying and talking about what we should do next. Then the Lord spoke to us and this is what He said: “There is a window open right now, for you to give bibles through it – GO!”  So we left right away.

My hubby had already listed all the known caravan parks, but the Lord, in His Grace, had organised that our seemingly random list was actually in some sort of order. We discovered that fact as we went from place to place  Long story short, our GPS is obviously behind in its updates … aren’t they always? … and the entry to the first caravan park was via a difficult, very convoluted process that was not on GPS map. We quite literally went back and forth on different roads to get in. Not a great start there!

By now …  because we too occasionally subscribe to the theory that these things are supposed to be easy (!)– we were beginning to doubt we had heard the Lord correctly at all!  However we decided to press on. As we eventually arrived at the first park on our list, someone else was checking in. The paying customers are always a priority, so hubby stood by with his hands full of bibles and waited … and waited  …. and waited … so He could speak to the elderly man behind the counter. Eventually this man took the new customer off down into the park and called out to hubby that he would be back soon.

His definition of soon and ours seemed to be quite different! After a lo-ong wait hubby started to feel that this guy was never ever coming back, so he returned back to our car, and we prepared to leave. Then the elderly man suddenly appeared, hobbling away and he called out to hubby, “I’m free now.” Well … they had a lovely time chatting away, and hubby gave out bibles plus a word to him as well as one of his paintings and a compass. This older man was very encouraging about what we were doing. Up until then we pretty much doubted that we had heard the Lord at all. Or maybe something had happened and that window we thought we heard about had slammed shut!

The next place was miles down the road. It was one of those parks that never take bibles – it’s against their policy. But hubby rolled up his sleeves and went in. It transpired that they had 106 units and they would have taken 106 bibles. All the bibles we had! In the end we had to limit what we gave them to 40, as we had other places to go. Another lovely friendly conversation about Jesus ensued and two more bookmarks found a home. Moving on again, we were en route to another park on the list when we spotted one that was not on the list. This park had barbed wire all around the outside of it. Things didn’t look too hunky dory, but hubby went in anyway. He had a lovely, fun conversation with the owner and that park took bibles too. You can never tell who will and who won’t.

After that, we went back to our list and drove about and found the next park on it. They had already been given bibles recently by someone else – PRAISE THE LORD!  But hubby was able to give the receptionist a bookmark. Then he spoke to a young man sitting outside in the rain and offered to give him lift, but the man was waiting for a cab. So hubby gave him a a Nick Vijucic book to read while he was waiting. We thought we had finished with our window, and we started to head for our accommodation … when we saw yet another caravan park on the other side of the wide main road, so we had to do the whole U turn thing to get to it. It was an NRMA park, and they also do not ever take bibles … but they did this time…!  And hubby gave away a bookmark again.

To sum up, by obeying what the Lord said, we went to 5 caravan parks and gave away over 110 bibles, not to mention paintings, bookmarks, a Nick book, and one compass! I said all that to illustrate that sometimes it can be difficult when we choose to obey what He says. Hubby and I might have easily given up at that first park. But then there would have been no conversations about the Lord, and we could have come back to where we were staying extremely disappointed, because ‘we misheard the Lord.’ 

Yesterday I talked about ADDITION. In order to distribute these bibles we had to ‘add’ virtue, (that is the sort of excellence that means what it says) to our existing knowledge of what we already know about the Lord. And to that we needed to add temperance (self-restraint). Then we added godliness – ‘what would Jesus do?’ – to that, and followed it up with brotherly kindness. (That elderly man was slow because he was OLD!)  At that point we added in charity, which means love. And that’s great because we were aiming at love in the first place!

We’ve learnt that following Jesus can be wonderfully whacky and productive, all at the same time. When we started out we had no idea where that word from the Lord would lead us – but we sure learnt perseverance from it! Bye.👋

P 2694 Another kind of running.

/ DVH

“Isn’t it obvious that all runners on the racetrack keep on running to win, but only one receives the victor’s prize? Yet each one of you must run the race to be victorious. A true athlete will be disciplined in every respect, practicing constant self-control in order to win a laurel wreath that quickly withers. But we run our race to win a victor’s crown that will last forever.”1 Corinthians 9:24-25.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before Him He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2.

Sadly, some sporting people can be so keen to win acclaim, they cheat. However, the kind of running which is mentioned in this scripture is not a place where cheating will work. In this case – the Judge is now our standard, and there are no rules. We simply co-operate so we can grow to be like Him. This means we follow in His footsteps, because He completed His ‘course’ perfectly. I will still be me, but I need to be motivated and activated by the Holy Spirit, while I am running my race and learning to love Him and others.

I find most people who preach or teach use illustrations, like Jesus did – He kind of set the precedent for us for that kind of story-telling. The thing is, because everything Jesus said are spiritual truths … they are like the Universe — BIG. They are consistently ever-expanding, and constantly revealing new aspects to this new way to live that we didn’t know were there! It is a mistake to just read the words on the page, without consulting the ever-present Author about them. We need to ask questions!  This picture of race-running produces images of fitness, endurance, and a love of running.

I often tell the Holy Spirit, when I am stumped and stalled, even when I am reading the bible: : “I have no idea what that means.”  I’ve found He is a fantastic teacher, He loves to help us with our understanding and application of God’s word. I have no problem admitting that I am incredibly dumb, as well as selfish as I go along,  because … I know the Coach and He loves to help. Plus … He knows the way through or around any obstacle I will encounter. Most of those obstacles come from inside me – because my endurance and will to learn hinder me running at times.

Simultaneously, I love the fact that while I am running this race, I don’t have to compete with you and you aren’t in competition with me either. I’m running in this race to get a crown, and we are not contending with each other over the same thing – because you get a crown too. Plus the people in the stands are on their feet cheering us on. This is a good time to remember that this hard fought crown is perfect for casting down in front of our precious King, Jesus, when we meet Him. 

The illustration in this scripture is talking about what we think of as running a race, but because it is heavenly “running” Paul mentions, it actually refers to the way we choose to live this life we have now, today. So, when I go to the shops, I am running the race. When I go to work I am running the race. When I do the washing, clean the house, look after the family, paint my toenails, watch TV, put out the rubbish, go to sleep … I am still running this race. This race is about how I run, why I run, and the Person I run with.

It is not even about accidental accomplishments along the way, it is far more about my personal aim to stay in step with Him. I have been given a brilliant Coach to help me maximise my potential while I am running. He knows this race, He knows me, He knows my faith, my level of trust, and my love for other people. He will coach me personally to help me rise above the person I was before I met Him. I know I will be transformed along the way. This means that the person who finishes this race, will not be the same person who started it. That’s a big thought.

Young people, old people and everyone in between those two age-benchmarks can run in this race because fitness is not a criteria. SomeBody died to make us fit. The only criteria needed to be a runner, is the desire to be closer to Him. And at the same time we need to stay open to being taught. We are choosing to do all that with humility and devotion to our King. Lastly, all the people running in this race are serious about growth and transformation – they do their best NOT to run haphazardly – because they are in another kind of race. 👋

PS In the interest of complete honesty – some days it feels more like I am plodding along, rather than running!

P 2646 “Hope thou IN CHRIST!”

/ DVH

Hope is a sign our faith is healthy. If we are feeling hope-less then our situation has overcome our awareness of how Mighty God is! That’s bad. It’s bad, like not breathing is bad!! It means there is something we need to fix, first with the Lord, and then with others. Other people can be stumbling blocks – especially the ones who see no need to change, or they think they can’t, because they were just born this way! Christ knows how to walk with difficult, dumb people – He did it for three and a half years!

Here’s a revelation – everything God made is good, so if it is NOT good – then it’s NOT God. To clear that up we need to start with ME not the other guy. But sometimes the difference between not good and good is simply time! Just saying is all …

… The truth is clear, we can hang on to resentment, bitterness, anger, lying, hatred as much as we want to, but those things’ll drown ya! You end up snarling and snapping at others. It’s dumb to be lying in the muck and mire when SomeBody paid for you to live an overcoming life!

You know, I think that Covid did more than make a whole lotta people very very sick. It stole some people’s hope! We gotta watch out for that. Hope is our anchor. Hope holds us steady when the waves of this life get too big for us to cope. Actually, when a boat slips it’s moorings or loses its anchor, it floats away! Hebrews 6:19 says: “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, …””  Hope anchors us into God!! Remember, we hope in what Christ is doing, not in our circumstances changing.

Jesus Christ is our hope anchor. What He did for us, and what His death gave us, anchors us into Almighty God’s kingdom. Jesus took us into the Holy place by what He did. Now we have Him as our priest praying on our behalf, before the throne, and that never ends. The Lord God Himself provided the ultimate Answer – Christ! And He is ever-mindful of our humanity. We are so blessed to have a Saviour Who is God and also a human being – He understands how tough this life is.

Sadly we sometimes forget what we’ve been given and we wander off into the wilderness, wondering where God went. Bleating: “Why is He not looking after me – He promised He would look after me?!”  In those moments we have become imitators of the Israelites in the wilderness… remember, the Good Shepherd always goes after a lost sheep! The Lord always looks after His own, He just has a different timetable than ours. That difference is meant to help us with patience and perseverance, not introduce doubt.

“There’s more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!” Romans 8:8 MSG.

When we lose sight of our anchor, our hope – Jesus Christ the HOPE of all mankind – we are forgetting who we are now. We do not have to grab, grasp, scheme, scream and connive to make life work. Now we trust God and let go of our own ideas, and pay close attention to His Word. His word is our strong fortress, our hiding place, our comfort, and our defensive position. Otherwise, we are running the risk of forgetting Who we belong to! Our strong hope is in what Christ has already done.

“But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God My Saviour; MY GOD WILL HEAR ME.”Micah 7:7. We remain confident that if the answer we were hoping for does not happen, then we remind ourselves that our God has heard us and HE HAS A PLAN. That’s our anchor. Hopelessness takes over when we concentrate more on the problem, than on our ever-present, always loving, constantly praying for us, Saviour. Our problem being solved is a temporary relief –instead we need to refocus on Christ Himself,  He is the Answer. “Hope deferred makes the heart sick.”BUT!!! …“We can do all things through Christ because He strengthens us.”

As we learn to cultivate patience, and wait on the Lord, we will renew our strength. We are given the energy to rise above our problems and keep running the race. We are enabled to keep on walking without fainting. Holding onto hope stretches our faith so the next time we use it, we become aware that our faith has grown. We must keep a watch over our hope, it is the warning light on the overcoming dashboard of our lives. We do not have to live downcast lives …”SOUL, HOPE THOU IN CHRIST!”👋

P 2574 That time factor, again.

/ DVH

I have been reading in 2 Samuel, and while I was reading it, I was reminded again that there was a time factor involved in establishing David as a King over Israel. There were many battles, many hardships and great losses between God’s choice and David being crowned king. That victory didn’t happen overnight. My point today is this: before David actually became king, in God’s eyes He was already His appointed man for the job! Samuel anointed David to be king as a YOUTH … even before he fought Goliath.

BUT, there was a very long period of time between those two events —- between the anointing and the actual appointing. 14 years, some people say. Yet this man was always God’s chosen man for the job. In this illustration we can see that time is not always the biggest factor in God’s Ways! The time between what God says and does, and it happening, can be longer than men are happy to talk about. We must not take things into our own hands, even when we know we heard what He was telling us.

My next question was why? Why was that time factor allowed? A whole lot of good men died during that time. I came to the conclusion that time can often clarify our motives – good or bad. Yet in that large passage of time, David grew more and more loyal to the king, despite Saul’s persecution of him. This illustrates that David’s best qualities were enhanced through that longer amount of time. If we think this life is about enforcing the kingdom, we are in error. David was tested about his beliefs and true motivation, and he had an incredibly honourable attitude – even to his own hurt. As the king in a powerful role, David was going to need some of the things that obedience, pressure and time bring out in a life – in order to fulfil that role, well. 

The other thing I thought about relates to us. Today we like to have an idea and bring it to fruition almost instantly. Yet it is apparent in the book that the Lord likes to take His own time! He has an appointed time for things to happen. Read Ecclesiastes 3! Even when we look at Calvary, there was a time period between the Lord Jesus’ death, and His resurrection. Then there was more time between Him revealing Himself to His disciples and His ascension into heaven. After that there was even more time between the ascension and Pentecost! Forty years to make an 11 day journey – those Israelites could not go in … they were not ready! When I notice stuff like that, I like to ask why.

My thought was that the Lord God seems to regard time in a different way to the way we see it. That made me wonder if we could give up on the things He tells us He is doing, too soon. Simply because it appears that the Lord is not meeting our timetable. Instead of pressing on in to learn perseverance, maybe we lose heart? What could we miss out on, when we push things along for the sake of convenience etc. instead of waiting on Him? Are we drawing the wrong conclusions, based on our needs, ideas and agendas? Time sometimes passes and then – we see a suddenly.

We all know that the Lord is never late, and the bible says, His timing is always perfect. Maybe we would manage things better if we stopped putting our own expiry dates on our ideas and hopes, and start asking Him what HE thinks. Then we need to take the time to wait for His answer. He’s never in a hurry so that  ‘hurry hurry rush rush’ thing that often happens is most likely not HIM! The devil pushes us — but Jesus leads us. He’s the Shepherd and He goes out in front!

It is not good to let our circumstances dictate our responses. Despair destroys faith. Holding things loosely allows Him to be in charge. Even if things seem pressing, it is better to continue to hand them over to the Lord and wait for His response. There is a little story about a persistent woman in Luke 18:1-8 …  “And will not God bring about justice for His chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will He keep putting them off?”I think this story beautifully illustrates our Father’s character, it is not just about getting our prayers answered by bothering God until He answers us! By all means ask and keep on asking, but I recommend handing things back over to Him after you do it.

Ephesians 6:18: “Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.” James 5:16: “The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” 1 Thessalonians 5:17: “Never stop praying.”‘Never stop praying’ could also mean don’t give up too soon!

The lack of an immediate answer does not mean that the Lord has not heard us. Our confidence, our faith is in the fact that He ALWAYS hears us and His timing is perfect, so now we are waiting for Him to guide us through things. The time factor is not the criteria, David could have legally seized the kingdom, everyone knew he was the chosen one. Instead, he chose to endure persecution and hardship as well as honouring the Lord’s principles over a very long time. Time can be an important factor, even in difficult situations. We will need eyes to see His answers even more than we need the answers. Bye. 👋

P 2550 A fantastic exchange rate.

/ DVH

“We have become His poetry, a re-created people that will fulfil the destiny He has given each of us, for we are joined to Jesus, the Anointed One. Even before we were born, God planned in advance our destiny and the good works we would do to fulfil it!” Ephesians 2:10 TPT.

First of all, isn’t that verse above a beautiful thing? I may feel like last week’s washing on a bad day… BUT … I’m not!! I am His poetry … and … so are you! Re-created to fulfil the destiny He planned for our lives. And it’s all because of Jesus Christ and what He did for us. Our redemption story is not some sort of quick adjustment on our Heavenly Father’s part to our sin. NO – He planned this stuff before we were even born. Before my father met my mother. Before my grandmother met my grandfather etc. He planned us all. And His plan was always to give us a hope and a future.

Great place to stop and praise the Lord! 🙌 It is good to remind ourselves that our God is creatively brilliant beyond everything we can hope, dream or imagine, He can use anything — even awful stuff and transform it into wonderful. If’n ya don’t believe me … listen to this …”To grant [consolation and joy] to those who mourn in Zion—to give them an ornament (a garland or diadem) of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, the garment [expressive] of praise instead of a heavy, burdened, and failing spirit—that they may be called oaks of righteousness [lofty, strong, and magnificent, distinguished for uprightness, justice, and right standing with God], the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.” Isaiah 61:3. 

Did you get that? Our God already has a plan in place to exchange our sorrows etc.  Even when all we have is ashes, mourning, a heavy burden, and a failing spirit. That’s a heck of a trade-in! His plan is for us to glorify Him in the middle of the awfulness that this life rains down on us. He doesn’t have to demand praise either — praise will bubble up when we look at Him and what He does! And that trade-in mentioned in Isaiah will help us to radiate love joy peace etc. to the people around us. We aren’t going to stay sorrowful for long with that kind of exchange rate! I remember this gorgeous old song we used to sing years ago: ‘I’m so happy and here’s the reason why, Jesus took my burdens all away. Now I’m singing as the days go by, Jesus took my burdens all away.”

Some of those old geysers were really switched on to the way God works. (Whoops. I are one!)😂 … Moving on … everything, everything God does is GOOD. We may not always initially be able to see the good — particularly if we switch off our faith and throw our hands in the air and panic. Did you know if you do that often enough it becomes an automatic response? Neither did I until He pointed it out. Since then, my first response is always “help” — and my second one is – “how are you going to get me out of this mess please Lord?” The Holy Spirit lives to run toward us when we need Him. Then I repent, because I know I did something!! … I’m definitely not perfected yet! And then I ask for His help to start looking for what’s good about it.

Sometimes what’s good is that I am in the middle of surviving whatever it is, no matter how I feel. The bad can drown out even His hope, His love and His truth …if I let it. That’s when my emotions will let me down and drag me under. Those bad things that happen in our lives are REAL, but we don’t have to stay there. I have learned to fight the good fight, sometimes second by second. I tell myself I won’t give in to my feelings just in this minute, and I choose to praise Him. (Did you know there is such a thing as a sacrifice of praise? Hebrews 13:15.) After that I avoid going back and looking again at the thing that dragged me under in the first place.  

I am talking about switching focus from what is going on … to whatever He told me to do next. Sometimes that might be “have a cuppa”  or “that lady needs help.”  We are always on assignment. Cry when you have to, but keep on walking. “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” Galatians 6:9. Don’t faint, just keep going – this is how you develop perseverance. Do you remember that guy who talked to Jesus and said he wanted to follow the Lord but he had to go home and bury his father first? I love what happened, next … Jesus talked to this man about making the main thing, the main thing. (Read Matthew 8:21-23)

How can we live this life reassured, if we don’t talk to Him about everything – even our pain? Our DAD never sleeps and His thoughts are always towards us. I mean … really, does it get any better than that? We need to continually remind ourselves His destiny for us is to be saved, healed, transformed and delivered. Not necessarily always in that order! If we mess up then we repent, repair and move on. Getting stuck in sin and guilt is not part of our destiny. 

We have been pre-destined to look like Jesus. “For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” Romans 8:29. Right here, right now, let’s concentrate on becoming His re-created people who are writing poems about Him with our lives, to His glory and grace. Amen! And let’s leave the details to the One Who created hummingbirds, jellyfish and daisies! He’s fantastic at it. Our God has the greatest exchange rate, every single day BTW. Bye ✋

P 2526 Some thoughts on what maturity looks like.

/ DVH

To begin, I need to say that I do not think the things I have mentioned here indicate a place of arrival, rather they are personal sign posts. I wrangle every single day with all of these things… but I refuse to lower my aim just because these things are hard! Becoming like Jesus to other people means everything to me.Today, I have added in my own thoughts as well, but I think that this is one of those times that I need to let God’s word speak for itself. 

It is also good to look carefully at Jesus in the Gospels to see how God’s Grace operated. How HE took it in and breathed it out. Maturity sees Grace as the coin of the realm, they freely give Grace away and they also receive it in. Romans 8:29: “For God knew His people in advance, and He chose them to become like His Son, so that His Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” Mature Christians have walked way past being dead to sin, that’s a no-brainer! Instead they are so alive they challenge you by the way they live.

Galatians 2:20 TPT “My old identity has been co-crucified with Christ and no longer lives. And now the essence of this new life is no longer mine, for the Anointed One lives His life through me—we live in union as one! My new life is empowered by the faith of the Son of God Who loves me so much that He gave Himself for me, dispensing His life into mine!”

I think we all have a need to mature in the Western World, because, sadly, immature people follow fads as well as people — not Christ Himself. Ephesians 4:14 ”…so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.”  The Body of Christ will grow in spiritual maturity, by learning to persevere through the trials and challenges of our life. Mature people are humble because life itself and the Word of God has taught them, who they really are, without the Holy Spirit’s help. 

James 1:2-5 “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”  Trials are an opportunity to stretch and grow our faith!

Mature believers seek to live a life that is Spirit-filled — that is, they learn to be aware of and listen to God’s Spirit, who lives within all Jesus’ followers. Romans 6:11-14 says: “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to Him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.” 

These people Paul talks about understand that sin is a choice and the more anyone gives in to it, the harder it becomes to resist! So they “…present their bodies as a living sacrifice …” instead. They want what the Lord wants. They may not always know what that is … but they will take the time to wait on Him to find out! These people are a generous people. They not only share, but they make sure that their love is demonstrated not just talked about. Their only desire is to please the Lord above everything and everyone else. 

Mature people will quickly admit their faults and their lack, but they also know exactly where to go to repent and be filled again. Ephesians 4:32: “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God has forgiven you.” Forgiveness is never an optional extra to these people, it is a way of life. This means they do not judge others either. They know how to repent and admit that they were wrong, because their aim is Christ’s likeness not vindication. So they always repent quickly, then usher in real restoration, and go back into relationship again. Psalm 15:4:“They keep their promises to their neighbours, even when it hurts.” 

Philippians 4:11&12. “I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.”  These saints have found their contentment in knowing God Himself, and the Lord and His Presence in their lives is all they want. They never have to pray – they simply want to talk to the Lord because they love to be with Him. Maturity will refuse to define what other people’s love should look like, it accepts what the other person gives them with His Grace.

Lastly, in order to grow spiritually and mature in our faith, we must draw near to God, because we cannot mature on our own. Without His personal input into our lives – our works and efforts are worthless.

Bless you and bye for today! 👋

P 2487 The power of God is for the persistent.

/ DVH

The Lord Jesus went out into the wilderness and He was led there by the Holy Spirit, but, when He comes out of that place — He comes outin the POWERof the Holy Spirit. So this is what I want to say for today … some times when I am tempted to fight I think to myself – just one more time! The power to overcome comes with perseverance. Therefore, I will say that soft word that turns away wrath, one more time, I will turn the other cheek, one more time – I will forgive… one more time. Our enemy defeats us by projection – he projects a future that is not there, and he uses our past to do it. he says: “It has always been this way, and so it will always be this way. You have to fight or you will lose something valuable.” 

If God has not spoken to you, it is not over!  STAND. Sometimes we give up and quit fighting our enemy too early – we give in to our baser nature. Christ fought His battle through until His enemy was defeated. (Read Matthew 4:1-11) He stayed the course until the end! The power of God came and empowered the Lord in the middle of His weakness as He stood firmly on what the Holy Spirit gave Him to say, in this incredible fight. In those moments, it could have become a battle of wills, but Jesus was too spiritually attuned to play satan’s little game, He used God’s wisdom to bring about God’s purposes.

We cannot fight our enemy by ourselves! We too, need to be too smart to be pulled into “if only” and “what if.” It is what it is. A battle. Quitting early means we are letting our flesh win. Keep fighting until you hit His peace. Without His peace we can easily be sidetracked into places we were not meant to go. Seek God for a word, (or three) … and then WAIT. Let the Holy Spirit pick your battle ground – sometimes the battle is not ours. Whatever the circumstances, let the Holy Spirit guide you through them.

It was the verses with the POWER of the Holy Spirit on them in this incredible battle that WON! After the Lord was tested 3 times, the enemy had to leave. Jesus did not buy into satan’s ?logic? Remember the introductory verse to Matthew 4 says,  it was God’s idea for Jesus to be tested. The Holy Spirit led Him into that battleground. My advice is this – don’t be led into a battle you cannot win. When it comes to someone else’s will, or mind attitude – you and I cannot change it. We need to step back and let the Holy Spirit have His way … by letting love for the other person reign, the Holy Spirit knows the way through. Sometimes we fight, sometimes we die to self, sometimes we stand. But we always aim at maintaining LOVE for the other person.

In the first two of the three temptations mentioned in this scripture, satan says “if.” What is he doing? he knows the weaknesses of human flesh and he plays upon those weaknesses – he’s trying to get Jesus to accomplish what He was sent to do, in the flesh. Christ’s flesh was weakened by that fast. But Jesus had the One Who wrote the bible, with Him. (He is with US too!) We cannot fight without the Holy Spirit’s help.

In the end satan drops his pretence of helping, and blatantly goes for what he really wants … Christ’s worship. he wants the throne … satan has always wanted the throne.  he is jealous and he wants power. But because of what Christ did, we can sit, stand and walk with Jesus Christ daily. Never forget, that in times of trouble WE can walk right up to the throne of Grace and GRACE WILL MEET US. 

The Holy Spirit knows the perfect word of God to make our enemy flee. You and I may end up using more than one verse, but as the Holy Spirit hands them to us, we fling them at the things that are assailing us. Blame is useless in this place of battle – we are fighting the devil, not a human being. Stop fighting the person – resist the devil. Don’t be tempted to think up some snappy reply … the other guy has heard them all!  Just like Christ’s ministry belonged to Him, whatever we are fighting for belongs to us. But the way to win, is to lay whatever it is down at His feet, keep walking in Love, and use the scriptures that the Holy Spirit gives us to defeat our enemy. 

Lastly, Jesus had to fight the enemy in His weakened flesh – He was hungry and thirsty he needed food. The enemy is a snake, he will come at you when you are already weak. Then in Christ’s mind – He was offered everything He came to earth to buy back, without the cross. He saw those cities. Just one word and they were His … because satan owns them. The cities of this earth are corrupted. The power of God is the only true, permanent vehicle for change. There are no short-cuts. The only way up is down, the only way to live is to die, and the only way to do what He sent you here to do, is to lay it all down. Let the dream die. Maybe God gave you that dream … now, lay it down at His feet. Remember, this is one of the purest forms of worship. 

“Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for He gives to His beloved sleep.” Psalm 127:1&2. The power of God is for the persistent, those who will do whatever it takes, and give up everything, for His sake. Doing that will not be comfortable! “If we perish, we perish …” Esther 4:16. God’s will be done. His will, His way. Bye 👋🏻

P 2465 Stick-to-it-ivity.

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““Staying with it—that’s what God requires. Stay with it to the end. You won’t be sorry, and you’ll be saved. All during this time, the good news—the Message of the kingdom—will be preached all over the world, a witness staked out in every country. And then the end will come.” Matthew 24:14 MSG.

The biggest problem we will ever face, as Christians in my opinion, isn’t just the temptation to disobey, it is the temptation to give up entirely and live mediocre lives. Comfort and ease are our enemies. So is thinking we have arrived and this is as good as we will get!  Ask your family, they can tell you if you have arrived or not … they live with you. Here are two more verses to chew on … and yes, they give me indigestion too! James 1:2-3. “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.”

2 Peter 1:5-8 “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness;  and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”It is not enough to have these things, they must be growing!

Did you catch the point that our own inner attitudes are essential to help us overcome? The more we choose to obey the Holy Spirit, the more we will have these qualities added unto us! That, BTW, doesn’t mean that we can’t short-circuit the process, by being disobedient and self-indulgent. It simply means that one thing builds upon another. The thing beneath it, holds the next one up! Faith holds goodness up! Goodness holds Godly knowledge up… etc! PS w are not just meant to sort-of kind-of have these qualities – they are meant to increase as we go along.

We cannot afford to pretend this stuff doesn’t matter … that attitude will whittle away at our faith. The bible says when bad stuff happens:  count yourself/consider yourself… blessed, because this stuff is a sign that you are doing something right!  Everything changes when we stop regarding the bible as sweet sayings that are there to comfort and bless us – and instead we ingest them and regard them like they are medicine or vitamin pills. So we take them as prescribed. If we watch over our own words, they will give us a clue about what is going on inside. BTW, this isn’t censorship, it is self-awareness.

I’m not saying you have to be false about how you feel when hard things happen, these scriptures simply mean this is the way we are to look at those things. It definitely doesn’t mean paste a fake smile on your face and pretend stuff doesn’t hurt you! We are to regard these sorts of difficulties as a witness that what we are doing is right. Plus sometimes nasty scenarios tell us that the other person involved is being convicted by the way we are behaving and living. Conviction is good! It can lead to repentance, reparation and new beginnings.

The bonus buy of living the way the bible prescribes, is that we start up God’s production line on the inside of our spirits. We begin to grow Kingdom qualities. These qualities come from heaven and they hold incredible power to bring about change. Sadly, it is so much easier not to do any of this stuff at all, and short-circuit the process… OR … you can get sick of doing it and lose the prize.  That’s where stick-to-it-ivity comes in! The prize is having our automatic inside attitudes, changed. It is incredible to find that you are keeping your mouth shut when you know that’s impossible, especially if you are being provoked! It’s real, and you have no desire to chop the other person up into little pieces!  

Now bear with me, one more scripture – of course it is about difficulties producing some God-designed quality when we allow them to work on our characters! …”We also have joy with our troubles, because we know that these troubles produce patience.  And patience produces character, and character produces hope. And this hope will never disappoint us, because God has poured out his love to fill our hearts.”  Romans 5:3-5a. Even more of the construction process!

Joy is not just a smiley face, or a really really happy attitude, joy is a God-quality. It comes from the inside out. It does not wear out, because it is in there to grow. We need to trust the Holy Spirit to produce what He said He will as we obey Him and follow His instructions. We can always ask for His help but we cannot simply pray God-qualities into our lives and then do nothing. The bible is a faith book, and obeying it, using our faith, activates growth. Plus we will need stick-to-it-ivity. Hold fast to what you are aiming at with His help, “we will win if we don’t faint.” Bye 👋🏻

P 2374 Take these two verses together with prayer.

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“Casting all your cares upon Him because He cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7. “Don’t be pulled in different directions or worried about a thing. Be saturated in prayer throughout each day, offering your faith-filled requests before God with overflowing gratitude. Tell Him every detail of your life, …” Philippians 4:6 TPT. This could be a good time to reflect on the fact that one of these verses was written by Peter, and the other one was written by Paul.  From what we know about these two mighty men of God they had plenty of opportunities to practise this stuff, even if they did live in totally different locations! You might want to think about why they wrote these things in the first place.

I try to see the cares of this life as being like playing basketball – not that I have ever played that game (!) 😂  I just throw everything over to Jesus as it comes up … that’s in the book … the casting thing… Two things happen then, the problems get resolved or He tells me what to do. BTW, the former is usually something I would not have ever thought of doing! And sometimes, I get to practise my hoop shot over and over again!  I’ve also found that prayerfully naming said cares can be useful, especially when things are a nameless knot of stuff in the middle of your stomach. I do whatever He tells me to do, immediately, and hand the rest off to Him, one by one.

Isn’t Jesus so lovely? He doesn’t want us to wander about weighed down by cares. Relieving us from the weight and pressure of them is one of the ways He shows us He is always there for us. I find that ‘cares’ are kind of like very sticky paper, before you know it you’ve flicked the dratted thing off one hand but it lands on the other one! You gotta work pretty hard to get rid of that kind of darn sticky stuff. It’s the same with our cares, it might take quite a few tries to actually leave what is bothering you with Him. Persevere. Bonus buy, perseverance is a fruit of the Spirit so if you do it enough, you are growing good fruit!!

And if you accidentally get to thinking after time has passed and nothing has happened yet, that NOW you just might find a solution – then immediately send whatever it is, wrapped in love and prayer, right back toward Him and refuse to take it back again. That’s because YOU need to remember you aren’t stupid, and it is obvious that you are going to need a supernatural solution! I usually find I chase ‘solutions’ at  2.00am when I can’t sleep. Eventually (!!) I repent for thinking I can somehow work out that thing I couldn’t actually work out when I was fully awake !!! … And then … I give it all back to Him again. It’s a process.

Paul also tells us not to be worried about anything. Great aim! But sometimes, when you have cultivated a lifetime of stewing on stuff, that can be a hard habit to break. That’s why you have to practice it.  In my family of origin we had a designated worrier — and, oh joy! — it was me! This was decided without any personal consultation with me, so that the other members of my family could be free to enjoy a life without any worry at all – having handed the bad bits off to me to resolve, apparently that was my job. As a result, if you hand me a problem I will turn my brain upside down trying to solve it for you. Obviously I actually can’t do that! And that’s where my spiritual game of basketball has been incredibly helpful. Then I repented of being a rescuer – that’s Jesus’ job.

Back to the book. I also love the Passion Translation of Philippians 4:6 TPT“Don’t be pulled in different directions or worried about a thing. Be saturated in prayer throughout each day, offering your faith-filled requests before God with overflowing gratitude. Tell Him every detail of your life…”  See? I told you those two verses are similar. Here’s how I do my best to be saturated in prayer … I’m working on being friends with the Holy Spirit. I look for the good in things going on around me, and anything that reminds me of how wonderful He is. Even if all I can see is the sky, or a little bit of grass, or hear a bird sing or a child laugh. I wish I could tell you that I pray all day, but I don’t. However, I do my best to keep my mind and heart on Him, and I’ve learnt to cultivate thanking Him heaps as I go along. 

Plus, I refuse to let my inability to be good at something stop me from working on it!  Like the scripture up the top of my blog says: ‘Not that I am there already, but I keep aiming at it!’ BTW, I am also not all that sure about always making faith-filled prayer requests, sometimes I accidentally make complaining prayer requests instead. ☹️ The secret to getting rid of worry and anxiety is to give the situation to Jesus, do whatever He tells you to do about it, and then leave it with Him. He is way more concerned about our past, present and future than we are, and He can be trusted. I simply take these two verses together, and wash them down with prayer! Bye 👋🏻

P 2328 Tenacity.

/ DVH

The bit that is actually easy in the Christian life is doing what He wants with the help of our ever present Helper. ‘His YOKE is easy, His burden is light.’ If it is hard then maybe we have wandered away from His yoke. However, sometimes we can get so caught up in trying to find ‘comfortable’ when things assail us …we can forget we are in a battle. We live in enemy territory, not the garden of Eden. STUFF is gunna happen. After a while when that stuff keeps on coming, and coming at you, you can feel you are permanently under siege. Time for a time out with Jesus.

At our house right now, we are two people with only two good useful hands between us … and both of them are left-hands. 😂 You’d be amazed how much you need both hands – maybe that’s why the Lord gave us two in the first place! Whatever. 🙄 For the past 9 weeks I have typed this blog with my left index finger. Boy has that been interesting! I am not, BTW, looking for sympathy, other people have their own problems. I simply think the Lord is currently making the Western world uncomfortable … HE wants to be our reason to live — not just an optional add-on.

So hubby and I have started to pray together that the Lord Himself will be our strong right arm … because our own arms are letting us down big time. There is nothing like running out of your own strength to remind us that we can’t do this stuff by ourselves! We never could. Some days I can be seen mumbling to myself – ‘Its OK – our side wins in the end.”

I am writing about these types of situations today to put forward the idea that we all have these blooming awful, hard-to-find-anything-good-about-them, times. This Christian life is not always some sort of ongoing party – where we all cheer for our side, because we won! Hallelujah! We DID win! Thanks to our precious Saviour – but now you and I have to walk out that victory minute by minute, day by day, week by week… …. And it will cost us.

It’s officially a fight – the man of God said so in 2 Corinthians 1:8.“We were so utterly burdened we despaired of life itself.” You and I are not failing just because we are struggling. It just so happens we are struggling to keep the faith!  Meanwhile the Lord is filling us with His endurance and stamina so we can run our race well. Paul also said this: 2 Timothy 4:7:“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith…”

We are winning, because even though we might despair and fall down, eventually we get up and go again. Sometimes we may crawl, but that’s ok – that will humble anyone pretty quickly! Tenacity is invaluable. Perseverance the bible calls it, I call it refusing to quit. And don’t be fooled by that seemingly positive statement, it sometimes takes all you have to even get up off the floor, but remember the Holy Spirit will not break bruised reeds. 

In the Western world we are often vastly under prepared for life’s storms. But Christians can survive any storm because Jesus is in our little boat with us. HE can calm the stormy sea of anxiety, sorrow and suffering inside us. Creating an awareness of His Presence and help can be our most daunting task … and our greatest asset. Mainly because life happens and it ain’t like the TV ads.

Sometimes I think I’m like Peter on one of his earlier incredible revelation/dumb days… John 6:66-69.“After this many of His disciples turned back and no longer walked with Him. So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that You are the Holy One of God.”That was the great revelation bit…

A-N-D … here comes the dumb …’”Peter took him aside and began to rebuke Him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to You!” Matthew 16:22. Poor guy, he so totally went the wrong way – into his flesh. One minute in the Spirit … the next, not-so-much. I have a theory about that BTW, sometimes we go the wrong way to learn about ourselves. It sure helps to keep me humble!  

Tenacity is not about getting it right. It’s about not giving up when you get it wrong. It’s about facing your fears and failings and clinging to the Lord. It’s about repentance and humility and clambering up from the floor when you’ve fallen on your face. You know sometimes this life is not about making great strides… its about taking the next step. 👋🏻