Pleasure

P 3223 Joy cometh …

/ DVH

I spoke briefly about joy, yesterday. I think this blessing can be kind of elusive, because many people chase after pleasure as a substitute for it. We need God’s JOY – it’s our STRENGTH! Pleasure, however, is a bit like sand, it falls through your fingers and disappears into the void! The bible tells us in Psalm 30:5 that JOY “comes in the morning.”  I have experienced that! Joy is an expression of our God’s own nature. However, joy comes into focus as we continue to notice Who He is and what He is doing – no matter what time of day it actually is! 

Loving and knowing Jesus means knowing and loving and living in … JOY! I want to exhort you to grab hold of His Joy when it comes on you. Seize those times when pure joy floods your thoughts, because this is an exquisite part of our Lord’s Grace toward us and He is strengthening you for what lies ahead. We need to let Christ’s Joy re-energise us when we are feeling flat, motivate us forward when we are tired, and just plain make us laugh at ourselves and this crazy old world. That’s the secret of living with joy – it doesn’t care about appearances, it values the nearness of Jesus instead. 

Another of the secrets to finding the Lord in whatever is going on in your life, is to believe and revise what He has already told you. Jesus Himself said: ‘Don’t be afraid, I will be with you always, even unto the end of this world.’ Don’t just nod your little head and smile at that scripture. Yes it is a nice scripture, yes it seems comforting, but it can’t comfort you unless you apply it. I read it, reread it and then I go out and believe He is with me, even if I don’t feel a blooming thing. His word is more solid than the earth beneath my feet. Let’s stick a big flashing sign over our hearts that says: “Welcome here Lord Jesus!”

God’s Word does not flourish in our lives because of our feelings, it flourishes in an atmosphere of faith. And we get faith by hearing what He is saying to US, personally, as we read it. So grab your bible when you feel flat, and read a Psalm. I read until I find something that cheers me up! To be fair, sometimes I might read quite a few Psalms, but that won’t kill me. “The entrance of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple.” Psalm 119:130. Hey look at that! I qualify! I figure that I will definitely need His light to be able to see His joy! 

Knowing Jesus loves us, should constantly usher in joy. We can waste the time we have been given trying desperately to find joy in other things – people, places, situations – but this world’s joy is situated in things that are temporary and hollow. Many people are so addicted to feeling happy they never actually find real joy! Real joy lasts. We can seek outward distractions instead of His Presence, but He is inside us, because we belong to Him. “But what does it say? The Word (God’s message in Christ) is near you, on your lips and in your heart; that is, the Word (the message, the basis and object) of faith which we preach,…”  Romans 10:8. Deuteronomy 30:4.

Joy can most certainly make us laugh, but it isn’t just laughter. I think joy can be limited by us. For instance, joy will break out when we talk about Him to people who-don’t-know-Him-yet. Our joy is a living companionship with a Person, not just a feeling. And we can’t lose Jesus quite simply because – glory of glories – He refuses to leave or give up on us! Stop for a moment and ask the Lord to reveal Himself to you through joy. Ask Him to help you to recognise it when He answers you. 

We can miss answers to prayer, when what happens doesn’t look like we think it should. “So keep being alert and ready at all times. For I promise you that the Son of Man will surprise you and appear when you don’t expect Him.” Luke 12:40 TPT. I know this verse is about the second coming, but because it’s in the book it can also be speaking to each one of us, today! 

True Joy has freedom for us in it, even if the person experiencing it is in jail. Paul said—from jail!—“Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.” Philippians 4:4. Joy crosses man-made boundaries and laughs at them as it skips merrily on its way. Joy contains the pleasure of God’s love for us, even when it is face to face with pure evil. Stephen’s face was radiant as they were stoning him to death in Acts. He wasn’t just happy, he was —-JOYFUL.He was looking right at his Heavenly Father, and His Son, Jesus.

My advice is this, don’t try to put a lid on spontaneous joy, because it will break your lid and move away to where it is welcome and free to do what God sent it to do! Sometimes people try to organise the Lord, and create a joyous atmosphere. Let’s let Him take care of stuff like that – I’ve read Genesis 1 … the Holy Spirit is good at atmosphere, trust me! I ask Him for more and more joy, because the bible says His joy is my strength, and who doesn’t need strength every day?

Parts of Isaiah 61 say this about who we are and what we are here to do: “The Spirit of God has sent me …to care for the needs of all who mourn in Zion, give them bouquets of roses instead of ashes, Messages of joy instead of news of doom, a praising heart instead of a languid spirit. Rename them “Oaks of Righteousness” planted by God to display His glory. They’ll rebuild the old ruins, raise a new city out of the wreckage. They’ll start over on the ruined cities, take the rubble left behind and make it new…” Lord let “… Your joy go on forever.” 

Do yourself a favour, and chase after JOY, it is such an important part of our daily lives – it’s a reality, not a feeling, a gift not a chore. Bye.  👋

P 2894 Whose pleasure? …

/ DVH

 …His or ours??…

Around 4,500 years or so, ago, Noah sent out a dove to fly over the face of our flooded planet to find a resting place. The third time, he launched the dove, it did not come back …

“Then he (Noah) sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. But the dove could find nowhere to perch because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark. He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth. He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him.” Genesis 5:8-12.

Thousands of years later, in another time and pretty much another place … a dove landed on Jesus Christ’s head … and that dove remained with Him. (Matthew 3:16&17) Let’s be clear, when the heaven’s opened that day, and God Himself authenticated Jesus, I think it is pretty safe to assume that Noah’s original dove was long gone by then. That previous bird was deader than dead! But I wanted to bring this subject up today because hubby was talking to me about that thought a few days ago. I think the symbolism in it can speak to us.

First of all, blind Freddie can see that Noah’s dove was looking for a resting place! The earth was covered in water and the bird was looking for a safe place to roost. I believe this is one of the many incredible word-pictures of the Holy Spirit’s work. Thousands of years later, the Holy Spirit wanted to find a place to rest and Jesus Christ provided Him with that place.

Please note that the Holy Spirit did not land on John the Baptist, Jesus’ cousin! Yet that man was filled with the Holy Spirit from before He was born. He lived a very peculiar life devoted to God – but the Holy Spirit was looking for somewhere He could stay and make His home. Ask yourself – why? Why would He want somewhere permanent? What is this telling us about the Holy Spirit’s Ways? 

I personally think we can over-emphasis the experience of being filled by Him, over and above the sheer joy of simply obediently walking with HIm. We get stuck in our own pleasure, rather than emphasising His pleasure. Again, something we need to think about! We desperately need the Holy Spirit to abide in us, the same way He abided with Christ. So the next question is this: What must I do, personally, for that to happen in my life? How can I make Him welcome?

Here’s the good news!  Jesus has already done all the work for us. He removed the sin that kept us in captivity and stopped us from living pure lives before the Lord. Now, the only thing that can stop us from walking with the Holy Spirit for His pleasure, is strangely – OUR pleasure. Our society at large, l-o-v-e-s double standards. Ya might want to think on that one!! 🤔 Here’s an old saying: a ship in the water is great, but water in a ship is not so great! I think, the problem is there is too much water in our ships! We need to value what He values … and one of the things I think He values is people.

When the Holy Spirit filled that building at Pentecost people didn’t rush about talking about how they felt – instead they couldn’t stop preaching, talking about and worshipping Jesus! Their personal encounters with Him led them deeper and deeper into obedience and sacrifice for His Kingdom’s sake. They met a Person and they followed Him! Our primary focus in this life matters. We cannot serve Him, and have the Holy Spirit rest upon us like He did on Jesus, when we continually choose to be double-minded. We must learn to live a compatible life. “For how can two walk together unless they be in agreement?”Psalm 119.1-2.

Obedience to His Word, despite our own personal fears, or preferences – or even inconvenience – positions us to continually walk with Him, relying on His provision. Almighty God loves obedience – it is one of the ways we show Him our love for Him. Our deliberate and heartfelt obedience positions us to hear and follow Him. It is like opening our spiritual ears. If we cannot hear Him clearly then we need to start obeying what the bible says. Pick the verse that says “Love your enemies…” find an enemy – and DO IT! This is what valuing His company looks like. Throw away your need to stew in wonderful feelings, and doggedly, continually, choose His Ways.

Let’s put aside our pleasure and choose His pleasure instead. We want to be the place where the Holy Spirit is welcome, a place where He wants to land and remain. Because when He rests upon us, we will rest in Him. Bye 🕊️

P 2733 Let’s let PAUL pray for us.

/ DVH

“I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being,  so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” Ephesians 3:16-21. 

Aren’t we blessed to be His? After all, God has made His love available to you and I, in so many ways, through Jesus Christ, as revealed by the Apostle Paul. Most of us are in fact, Gentiles. Now there’s an interesting thought to start our day. I’ve been praying bits of the bible for myself for years. I pray this other verse too … ya just gotta love Ephesians! Here’s chapter 1:V18: “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in His holy people, …” Amen to that one as well. I need that! Hope deferred can make my heart sick, but hope that is recognised enlightens my inner eyes.

Praying the scriptures is another way to digest them. Meanwhile, it seems to me that we can all use greater spiritual vision. Here’s an interesting thought, I’ve noticed something interesting, older people seem to gain spiritual vision as they start losing their physical eyesight. I wonder if that works for hearing too? However, it seems kind of a shame that you can see stuff more clearly just when your energy starts to run out! But then again there’s that other thing that Paul said elsewhere in 2 Corinthians 12:8-10 …  “His Grace is sufficient for us, for His strength is made perfect in weak people …” Now that’s definitely a cheery thought! I’m weak all the time, how about you? This means we can all be stronger, spiritually!

Most of us know that verse off by heart, but do you know the rest of it? “Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Let’s just pause there for a minute, Paul is saying that he is glad, to the point that it gives him pleasure — that he is weak. Because now he has to rely upon God’s strength and not his own. I wonder if anybody is brave enough to pray:  “Lord please make me weak so I can be strong in You.” Do I hear an Amen? ….Moo-ving on… Actually I don’t think Paul is over emphasising anything. I believe HE LIVED THAT WAY. Instead of barraging heaven with personal prayers for relief from our difficulties, maybe it is time we started to thank the Lord for giving us the opportunity to be weak and helpless, so we can be strong in Him, in the middle of whatever is going on!!

The bible is designed to challenge us at every turn. It says so many incredible things that it becomes easy just to nod our heads and say, ‘yes, that’s great – hallelujah!’ But as we’ve seen before, nothing will change just because we agree with it. I honestly don’t think the Apostle Paul was prone to exaggeration or that he indulged in overbearing rhetoric – I think that he did not say one word that was not alive and active in his own life. As well as prayerful about. So what does that mean to us? Only you can answer that question.

So when he says:‘ask for the power to comprehend how deep, wide and all-encompassing God’s love is…” – let’s just ask expectantly for it! Let’s pretend it’s an important parcel and wait and watch for it to turn up! It’s not like we have to dig and slog away to try and find it. That’s what it says, so why not take the man’s word and ask the Lord for it? I think that sort of comprehension of the power and passion of God’s love for us has to change us, and mark us forever. Let’s ask … and keep on … asking!

Praise the Lord we have a book full of these things and they all belong to us. Feel free to cheer, after you catch your breath at the enormity of it all. Like I said at the beginning, let’s let Paul, as well as Peter, and Jude and John, all the authors of this book, pray for us. It’s in the book, so we can’t get muddled up about it. Bye. 👋

PS: JESUS HIMSELF PRAYED FOR US TOO, THAT’LL REALLY BLOW OUR MINDS! LOOK IT UP. 🤪

P 2670 It’s later than we all think.

/ DVH

Romans 13:11-14: “Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarrelling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.”

In these difficult times, we can get extremely busy, and then we forget WHO we belong to. We start acting and re-acting like the people around us. Sadly, their god is often their appetites and misery. Even our own ideas of down-time and entertainment can sometimes wander off into hedonism and violence. Like Paul said – that stuff is not for us. I exhort you to treat entertainment like food, and pray over everything. I believe the Lord Himself will show anyone what is good, or not good in their life, when we ask Him. My own policy is this – when in doubt, don’t!  I have a pretty fertile imagination and so I’ve learnt you can’t un-see or un-hear stuff once you’ve sat around absorbing it!

As for casting off the works of darkness, the things of the darkness aren’t always on TV or in some game …we can easily be distracted by an argumentative spirit, or a bad temper, or a negative or critical attitude. The enemy’s deceptions are not obvious like sexual deviancy or a violent response to provocation! ‘It is the little foxes that spoil the vines…’  Likewise it is the things that we make allowance for, that drag us away from the Lord’s ways. We are exhorted to number our days, because they are few. Actively choose to learn to co-operate with the Holy Spirit, nobody else can do that for you.

The bible tells us clearly what to put off … let’s do that and leave our feelings and needs out of it! Currently practically every generation on this planet is held captive to how it feels at any given moment. Human beings are bigger than their feelings! Praise God, the bible doesn’t just tell us what to put OFF – it also tells us what to put ON. We put on the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords using our faith in His power within us…We do this one day, one interaction with Him, at a time. Basically Paul is saying: ‘Don’t make a space for anything that will entice you away from loving and serving Jesus. The things of this world will drag you under into despair and shame.’ Amen!

Our lives are geared into working hard, so we want to allow for relaxation. And if that pleasure is taken away, then we think the sky will fall, because we instinctively know that we need rest. We get our REST from Christ! Anything else is a poor substitute. Just because there are times when we are not good at achieving that aim, that does not mean we have permission to let loose, and ignore things. Pleasure itself is not bad, but exalting anything over our passion for Him, will result in the Lord ending up in second place. And eventually, if we are not careful, He slides right out of the picture. 

That’s one of the things I truly love about the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They will not force Their Ways on us. We don’t have to do anything! We choose to do it, to remain close to Him, and daily learn more about our new life in Christ. There are times I wish preachers would talk more about falling in Love with Him, because I think the Body of Christ really needs this kind of exhortation. When we love someone we will do anything for them, and abstinence is not painful, because it is a joy to be close to them. Personally, I love to hang around with someone who knows Him much better than I do. I can learn from them how to hold Him up in such a way that my response is pure worship. The more we invest in His life in us, the more His life will flow out of us.   

Our contribution matters – even if it is unseen. Many, many people underestimate their contribution. A loving heart that wants the best for everyone around them, makes a far greater contribution than someone who is caught up in their own needs and wants. To live like Christ did, we must actively, daily, choose to die. Physically, the truth is, we are all dying anyway – we start to die the moment we are born! But if we cling to this life and withhold our loving contribution from others… our true self will die a lot faster!

James 4:14: “How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.” Let’s learn to respect the fact that we are visitors in this life. None of what we have been given belongs to us. As one very far-sighted person once said: “You will never see a U-haul trailer filled with this world’s goods, attached to a hearse!” Only God knows how valuable each contribution is – and how much it affects the people around us. Instead of languishing away under how hard life is – let’s learn to celebrate the fact that now we have the Author of life, living within us. That will involve our active participation. It is MUCH later than we all think.

Bye. 👋

Romans 14:8: “For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.”

P 2576 Kingdom people.

/ DVH

When you have a moment perhaps you could read all of Psalm 73 ….Here’s and excerpt Psalm 73:25-28 “Whom have I in heaven but You? And earth has nothing I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Those who are far from You will perish; You destroy all who are unfaithful to You. But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge; I will tell of all Your deeds.” Luke 17:21: “The kingdom of God is within you ..”

We have a hiding place in Christ. The King Himself is our hiding place and our city of refuge. In Him we have guidance and protection. Jesus faced everything this world can throw at humanity — every sin, every ugliness our world was ever going to produce — and He conquered it. Now, we live our lives refusing to let this world, or even our experiences, dictate our actions and reactions. Whether we experience defeat or sorrow – we know personally that our experiences cannot negate the truth. We have the power of God to help us live and respond differently.. 

We are outwardly, visibly, telling the world, around us that we love Him and belong to Him when we live this life FOR Him. However, we still have a choice to live our lives for our own benefit! But when we do that, we are turning our backs on our God-given inheritance. At the same time, by default, we’re giving satan permission to keep us busy being envious of the rich and healthy, plus those whose lives seem easier than ours. Instead of living this life fulfilling the purposes that God gave to each one of us — which is literally, the reason we are here. We were made for His pleasure. He gave each one of us a purpose and a destiny. That destiny will be progressively revealed, as we learn to trust Jesus and walk with Him.

We have an incredible destiny. It is to be the people of God in an ungodly world, reflecting His love everywhere we go. I read this whole Psalm again the other day. It seems to me that the writer’s focus had switched from God’s goodness to the world around Him, and that eventually led him into a dark place. Suddenly he felt that following God was a waste of his time, because the people who were not believers were doing better than those who were believers!

This Psalm shows us that it is a normal human reaction for us, to struggle with the difficulties of this life. We are not faithless if we do. It’s staying there that clouds our judgment. When the psalmist went on into God’s house – everything became clear.  If we have not grasped the concept of Christ’s ultimate victory, our God-given peace can be shattered simply because the bad guys are well, and they keep on prospering! However, we are exhorted to cultivate eternal eyes. 

Jesus talked about that. He talked about His people living in God’s kingdom, ushering in God’s kingdom … NOW. That fact alone means we cannot allow ourselves to be double-minded. In order to bring God’s kingdom with us wherever we go, we need to demonstrate it, as well as live in it ourselves. His kingdom must fill our view. The kingdom of God is within us – we joined His kingdom when we asked Jesus to save us. If we don’t let it out by the way we live, then other people will remain ignorant of its existence.

We are to be like the guy selling the ‘you beaut’ vacuum cleaner. Talking about it is great, explaining its benefits is pretty good too, but the best way to know if that darn vacuum cleaner is gunna work at your house is to see it working! We are God’s illustrations of what life with Him is like. You and I are His visual aids. We show others that they do not have to face this life alone – we have a Helper and they can too!

If we do not learn to cultivate these things in our renewed mindset, we can fall prey to the less-than-subtle-influences around us. Life will no longer be liveable, instead it will crash over us, and take our legs out from under us. Unless we choose to lay back on Jesus’s shoulder despite any storms that are raging and ask the Lord: “How are You going to fix this Lord? Over to You, I’m easy either way.” 

I call living like this leaning into Him. By learning to follow the prompts and doing what He says, we show Him we trust Him. In this century we are living more than ever in an information age, and we often are led by this world into thinking that if we understand something – we can handle it. Rhubarb. Unless our understanding comes from the King of all Kings, all we will get from comprehension is a deeper knowledge of how unfair everything is, like the psalmist did. 

To be kingdom people we need to progressively live in His kingdom, and start to leave this world’s idea of “the good life” behind us. We do that by choosing to love instead of indulging in hate or indifference. It is the highest form of worship we can give our precious King. Bless you 👋

P 2547 We are here for His pleasure.

/ DVH

““You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory, honour, and power, for You created all things, and for Your pleasure they were created and exist.”” Revelation 4:11 TPT.

When I look at that scripture above, from Revelation 4:11 it gives me perspective. It reminds me Almighty God is always worthy of my praise, no matter what is going on in my life right now. Plus the fact that I am not here for me. I am not here for you. I am not even here for my family or friends or country. I am not even here for what I do, or don’t do … I was made for God’s pleasure a-n-d … praise God, so were YOU. Ya might want to pause and think about that! 🤔 So today, I am delighted to be able to say; “I serve at the pleasure of my King, Jesus Christ.”  

And that small sentence changes everything. It adds purpose and meaning to life because God Himself did that for US! Other people may not always understand why we are here, which can lead to conflict and estrangement. But we are His people, the sheep of His pasture! Yay!!  At the same time we can have difficult days and when it comes to loving other people, our Heavenly Father knew we would all need help! 

So we have been given a precious gift, the Holy Spirit. He is our greatly Beloved, Personal, Ever-present Friend. Jesus had to leave us, and so He sent the Person Who helped Him, back to help us! The Spirit of God has been given to us freely and His Presence in our lives is our most valuable asset in this world. He reminds us we are greatly loved.

Here is some dead easy Math — if we add what Jesus did for us to our sin, irregardless of how nasty a person we can all be sometimes, we end up with the completed, perfect solution to SIN. You can call it whatever you like …Salvation. Redemption. You and I were given the plus and the Answer in that little sum!! It means we got out of jail free. That’s a big plus!! The only sensible response to this gift is gratitude. Unlike the game of Monopoly – this “get out of jail free card” may not be sold or exchanged.  It is as personal as the moment you and I were conceived. 

“For you formed my inward parts; You knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are Your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in Your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” Psalm 139:16. 

There are over 100 bible verses in His book about how the Lord knew us before anyone else ever did. Plus how He created us in secret, and it gave Him great pleasure to do it. He planned each one of us and brought us into being. Personally, I’ve found that thought incredibly reassuring. SomeOne wanted me to be here, right here, right now. I’m not sure either of my parents had a child in mind when they started out, because they only knew each other for four weeks before they married — and I turned up about nine months later! Given that my mother quickly realised her mistake in marrying a virtual stranger, it totally blesses my heart to know that I am here for the King’s pleasure!

I hope these thoughts are comforting for anyone who feels like an orphan, or even misplaced persons … None of us are an accident — Father God always had each one of us in His heart.  Our He has good plans for us too. Life hands us lemons all the time, and the bitterness that stuff brings, needs to be sweetened by the Presence of SomeOne Who knows all the Answers and the way through our troubles. Right at this moment, our presence on this planet gives God enormous pleasure and our troubles are momentary things. Remind yourself of that whenever you feel like a big fat failure, or someone else has not-so-kindly pointed out your failings … God bless ‘em. 

The Holy Spirit helps us negotiate the twists and turns and sudden land-slides of this life. And, praise Him, we have a whole bible full of the things He wrote. We have a book filled with instructions about how to relate to Him and others! Plus we don’t have to run around hoping against hope that we might manage to do something right. Our Heavenly Father was pleased with the idea of us before we got here, and He gave us SomeOne to guide us through this maze.

You are here for the pleasure of your King, for such good works He prepared for you before you ever got here. Those things He set aside that only you can do. They won’t get done if you don’t do them. I believe this means that you have something unique to contribute to this life. Bye. 👋

““…but I run with passion into His abundance so that I may reach the purpose for which Christ Jesus laid hold of me to make me His own.” Philippians 3:12a,13.

P 2458 Compromise is the enemy of true passion.

/ DVH

“In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 17:6)  I am reading Judges at the moment and I came across this interesting verse in Judges 17. Briefly that chapter goes like this:  a mature son pinches his mum’s money, then owns up to it. Then the mother who cursed the thief,  blesses her son. She dedicates some of that money to building an idol.

It’s a strange story. 😳 The son then makes his own little church, complete with one of his own sons as a priest. 😳 (He’s not a Levite or anything!) and sticks that newly made, nicely silvered idol into the new church, together with a whole lot of other idols. Then a real Levite is passing by so the son is replaced because now they’ve got a real one and a real Levite is better than someone you just called a Levite!

I shan’t bother to go on about it any further except to say it gets much worse from there – this family starts a trend of personally hiring Levites! Anyway, I’m reading and looking, and mumble praying, then I looked the chapter up in other versions and it was no easier to understand in them either. I’m like: “What’s the point here?” Eventually, after prayer, here’s what I came up with – without strong leadership people do stupid stuff! (I’m simplistic …OK?) 

Well then, what’s the point in that story for my life? I instantly thought of Colossians. You know making up your own private version of how to live the Christian life has never been, and will never ever be  — in it!  There is no assurance outside of the blood of Jesus – which means … “as He was in this world so are we ...” And Colossians 3:5 says: “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.” That means what I want is irrelevant. Well, yay. Merry Christmas!!  So how can that be??? Because you’re dead, you’re dead, you’re dead! That’s how. You died with Christ.

Think of NOT bothering to die to self, like this … you tell yourself that you will get around to taking the bible seriously, but … you don’t. – and change gets harder as you get older! Instead you watch a TV preacher who tells you that you don’t have to be that serious about God because He loves you and wants you to … be happy! Then you find a bunch of other people that agree with you. After all, you tell yourself, that God-stuff in the bible is only outdated suggestions given for another time. You comfort yourself with the idea that God understands you are doing your best. Besides, you just hired your own priest who will continue to tell you stuff like that … just like the story in Judges!

In the verse in Colossians the Lord is reminding us that we personally have control over what we choose. ‘Consider’ means … think about it!!  Our appetites are not meant to rule us, that’s what these verses in Colossians say. Nevertheless, people-type appetites can sure try hard some days! Nobody talks about this stuff, but it needs to be said so we can steer our way through the mine-field this life throws at all of us. Yes, I know you think you are coping OK with watching porno movies because after all, you still go to church. Yes, I know, everybody else does it because this holy, purity thing is too hard in these times … rah rah rah! 😱 Jesus had a barely-robed woman thrown down at His feet … and He saw her need, not her disarray.

Okay, moving on into  …coveting. In times of need and lack, coveting starts rearing its ugly head. It is hard to say “…my God shall supply all my needs...” when your family is hungry and they are gunna have a lousy Christmas. Plus the guy next door just bought a boat for his family for Christmas, and he had his house painted, to boot! 

An impoverished person can get stuck wondering why God doesn’t help them… and then temptation strikes again. Governing our needs and wants, is never a walk in the park – it is an ongoing, ever-present battle. Whether we need a fan for the heat, or a house to sleep in — this world’s current lifestyle constantly nags at us that our life would be so much better with that creme or this gizmo! 

The biggest temptation I think we face in these kinds of circumstances is that we are tempted to doubt God’s goodness toward us, because we don’t like feeling uncomfortable. And maybe our own personal theology says that Almighty God doesn’t want us to feel uncomfortable! So we bought a book that gave us 53 verses that prove we don’t have to be uncomfortable! It is essential that we understand that our faith needs protecting. Which is why we watch what we read and see, and hear, as well as the places we hang around in, so we can look after our faith.

Christians have been redesigned to be human beings who know Jesus Christ personally and treasure His Presence above their own comfort and pleasure. If we are stuck wrangling with something or other, like sex or coveting or selfishness:  that means that Father God is encouraging us to trust Him in a new way. He is taking our relationship with Him deeper. Compromise is way too easy. Making up what we think can tolerate, is indeed, the enemy of real passion. 👋🏻

P 2422 Understanding choices is a mark of maturity.

/ DVH

“And in love He chose us before He laid the foundation of the universe! Because of His great love, He ordained us, so that we would be seen as holy in His eyes with an unstained innocence. For it was always in His perfect plan to adopt us as His delightful children, through our union with Jesus, the Anointed One, so that His tremendous love that cascades over us would glorify His grace —for the same love He has for the Beloved, Jesus, He has for us. And this unfolding plan brings Him great pleasure!” Ephesians 1:4-6 TPT.

Choice is a funny thing;  when we are teenagers we can end up choosing to do stuff because all our friends are doing it, whether that stuff is good or bad. And unless we happen to be Sam Kerr, David Beckham or Roger Federer, we can end up not chosen for some sporting team etc. at school, because everybody has worked out that we are a liability not an asset. I could never hit the broadside of a barn myself – and I often fell over my own feet. I bench-warmed my way through High School!

However … Jesus Christ chose us first … ‘while we were yet sinners…’  And at the same time maybe we actively hated this parent or that sibling, or this teacher or that boss, and wished them gone or dead – He still chose us. And He did that before we ever even got here. Such is the power of real love. Immaturity, I’ve personally discovered, often leaves all the hard choices to other people. I have a terrible feeling that the sub-text on that kind of decision is about being able to blame someone else if things work out badly. Not choosing is still choosing!

One of the worst enemies of the freedom to choose, is fear of failure. This means that we don’t choose because we don’t want to look stupid or unpopular. We don’t call it that, of course, we call it discernment, or even preferring one another. Speaking for myself, again, I discovered that idea is a bald-faced lie. Most times the only feelings I’m looking after are my own.

Human beings can go to great lengths to cover up their secret defensive agendas. For instance, if I accuse you of something, then you will be so busy defending yourself you will probably forget all about what I did. It is plain to me that the Lord wants me to get rid of all my defensive weapons and let HIM look after me. My problem comes because I can see that thing works both ways. What if He wants to look after you? 😳 PS He’s God… He can do BOTH.

Meanwhile, I’ve spent my lifetime sharpening and honing these implements of defence I’ve designed – and I don’t want to give them up – they are almost automatic now!

Have you ever watched a little kid hesitate between two items because they want both and you’ve told them to choose one?  Yeah, now you’re getting it. That’s what choice is all about. It means deciding in favour of one thing and against another and that’s not a bit popular in the world we live in.

We know that we can only choose well, because He chose us first. The real power of personal choice actually resides in knowing we’ve been empowered by what He did. Even if no-one ever empowered us as children, Jesus Christ, the ever-loving powerful Son of God has empowered us now! We simply have to choose to believe what His book says and act on it. We both know choices are hard because the habits of a lifetime compel us to “look after myself” — because no-one else will. 

So here some final questions to ask yourself: who taught either of us to be suspicious of other people? If you or I happen to think of someone when we ask that question, we should start by forgiving them. And remember, forgiveness, is not a feeling – it’s a choice! Of course you’ve never heard me say that before have you? 😂

And it helps to deliberately remind ourselves that Jesus chose us. Not because we have a sterling character, or we are aesthetically pleasing, or we are gifted one way or another. His choices were made the same way ours need to be. It involved sacrifice. Understanding the power of personal choice is a huge key while we are learning personal maturity with His help. It’s part of following Him. He chose – so now we choose … despite how we feel. 👋🏻

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

/ DVH

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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