Power of God

P 3018 The Dove.

/ DVH

“For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them:  if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching;  he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.” Romans 12:3-8.

It is the Grace of God that gives us the ability to flow with the Holy Spirit – and the best place to stay is in that Grace. Nothing can, or will stay the same in His Presence! Unfortunately, that is also when it becomes easy to believe a LIE. That lie is that someone has somehow become some sort of expert, a special spiritual person. This thought causes us to elevate some people above others.

My point today is this, we are so badly acquainted with the Holy Spirit’s gifts, the person sitting next to us in church may also have gifts — but their faith has not been activated to even begin to try to follow His instructions! Or even worse, they tried and fell on their head … so now they sit silently by. Feeling like a failure.

So, let’s look at the disciples — those guys who walked around with Jesus every day for three and a half years. Boy was that some intensive conference!! There was a time when they started thinking that they were pretty special and they could use the power of God to get rid of people that ignored or annoyed them. Jesus immediately made Himself really clear. “You don’t know what spirit you are in!” 😱These men even fought over who should have the best seat in heaven. The only human being who ever was all that, is Jesus. The rest of us are in boot camp and ignorance is not bliss.

I want to really stress how important it is to know the Holy Spirit, and watch Him at work in our own lives, as well as in the bible. You won’t see Him capitalised or underlined – but you can see where He has been and what He does – if you choose to look carefully. The Holy Spirit is not some sort of lesser Person that Jesus sent back to help us. He is called our Helper, Counsellor, the One Who comes alongside of us etc., but His beauty, truth, and devotion to Almighty God is beyond comparison. He doesn’t appear to care if He is seen or worshipped or adored. Instead He wants to teach US, and help US to learn to worship and adore the Father and the Son with every part of who we are. 

Let us always remember the Holy Spirit is gentle, kind, and easily grieved by our careless behaviour, so we need to treat Him and His Ways with reverence. Because He will not defend Himself – He will simply GO AWAY. Trust me, we don’t want to find out what kind of stuff we are capable of, if He is not guiding and directing us! He is the source of all Wisdom. And here is the best and biggest clue to His seeing Him at work  — He loves to be around loving people. Whenever He comes, He brings with Him peace, joy, long-suffering, self-control etc. BTW, that’s not just a description of what He does — those things are Who He is!! 

If we ignore the supernatural effects of being around such a glorious, often unobtrusive Person, we are ignoring the very essence of Almighty God Himself. The Holy Spirit at work within each one of us, is why Godly people voluntarily choose to die to self. It’s an incredible honour. We cannot afford to put our focus on the gifts He brings, and ignore the Giver of the gifts! He must not be ‘used’ to bring about what we want. Human beings are so innately stupid we will start to think the marvellous things He does are because of us, and these miracles are happening because of the way we behave.

You and I are destined to be God’s gifts to Jesus’ bride – the Church.  While we are here, our task is to build one another up, stimulate each other’s faith and live a life of love. We are to be good bridesmaids, keep our lamps trimmed, and make sure the entire bride is ready for this unimaginable honour God has given us. It is not about “me” having a big ministry – it is about helping you find yours! That cannot happen without the Holy Spirit’s input. He is our “Resident Expert” on what love looks like, and how we, in turn, can be loving. 

Instead of asking Him for stupid worldly stuff like – should we go to Bali for a holiday, or save for a new car, or send our kids to this or that school?  We need to change our prayers from ‘Please fix this or that’ or “please heal this or that’ or ‘please oversee this or that” …OR even ….dare I say it … “please help me to find a car park!” TO this—- “What can I do for the Kingdom of God today, Holy Spirit, as I am going about my everyday life. I want to please my Heavenly Father, the Lord Jesus and You. Please lead me into the places You want me to be, and help me to say the things You want me to say.” Amen. 

Jesus thought the Holy Spirit’s Presence was so important, His arrival on the earth was the reason the Lord went away! Let’s remain awake and aware of His enormous role in what God is doing and value the gentle wise Dove for all He is. Bye.🕊️

P 2951 Grace is an overlooked GIFT.

/ DVH

First we forgive ……then we walk it out. Yeah. Forgiveness is a piece of cake … in theory! Living it out has terminal repercussions – you will have to die to self! Saying “I’m sorry” and “please forgive me” is hard. Especially when the other person is wrong. They hurt you, it was real, and right now, your heart is limping.

Saying we are sorry, without accompanying actions, is tokenism. It is not Grace – true Grace has the power of God in it. The point of entering into forgiveness with someone who has truly hurt you, is not just about them -Jesus made that incredibly clear. When we hold on to grudges against other people we are hurting ourselves. We need to introduce the possibility of restoration. Unrestricted Grace does that. Grace is the gift we give ourselves, as we give it to someone else. Meanwhile, people’s reactions change when animosity leaves the room.

We can spend so much time telling ourselves “we are right and that other person is wrong” and forget that we are ALL under the same banner of redemption. Reconciliation is what Jesus did when He took away the punishment for our sins, forever. He reconciled mankind to Himself. This means HE DOESN’T HOLD GRUDGES. He has chosen not to remember our sins, and clearly told us to treat each other the same way. 

If we pretend to forgive, or even withhold forgiveness for one reason or another, we are short-circuiting His heavenly transaction and the possibility of redemption is not complete. It is a process – it can take time – so we just keep pressing on. We need to tear up and throw away those carefully hidden lists we have against people who have deeply hurt us … sometimes over and over again. You know the enemy lies to us and tells us that those nasty little lists of someone else’s faults are protecting us. What a rort! Love doesn’t keep a list of wrongs. 

Unfortunately, it is incredibly easy nowadays to label those lists as “things I need to be careful about with So and So, or they will hurt me again.” Even if we hear ourselves thinking ‘they have done to me again,’ that means we forgot to throw away the original list! My advice is, tear the list up and burn it, but write PAID IN FULL, BY THE BLOOD OF CHRIST across it before you are done! In true forgiveness there is no AGAIN … Jesus doesn’t have an alternate book of life with things against US written in it!

He took His own blood and scrubbed our pages clean when we confessed our sins and asked Him to save us. Now all we have is a blank page, covered in His blood. Hallelujah! What’s more, when we confessed our sins to Him, plus other people, He took that list of our sins on Himself, and washed us clean with His Grace and His Word.

His Word is the greatest washing machine ever known to man! Even the sins we don’t know about at the time, are cleansed simply by digesting what the Scriptures say. His Word can wash out even the memory of wrong. We do this step by step, day by day…using our faith not our feelings.

Meanwhile, it is often likely that the other person will not change, because they may not be taking sin as seriously as we are! But we are now living in the freedom that comes from Grace … and they are not. So when the thought of whatever happened between you and that other person, pops up in your memory bank, take it captive. Find a scripture with His help and throw it all into the heavenly washing machine.

We no longer have to be suspicious of what that person says or does, because now we’ve handed our case over to our Lawyer, Jesus. That happened when we chose to enter into His Way of forgiving others. This means the Holy Spirit will fight for us, releasing His Grace to be quiet, or even genuinely kind, in those moments when we feel provoked by that other person.

However, forgiveness has nothing whatsoever to do with ACTING! Instead, it has everything to do with giving your active permission for the power of God to help you find your way through the enemy’s traps. We don’t just need His Grace, we must rely upon it – it is the power given to us by Christ to help us overcome.

And if the other person doesn’t change right away, their ignorance, or refusal cannot turn back the power of the Grace of God that has been released into their lives because of our decision to forgive them. Just don’t let any disappointment with the slowness of this process take it back in an off moment. NOW WE STAND. We’ve done everything we can and we stand still and watch what He will do.

We have chosen to apply what we know into our day-to-day lives in a concrete way. That’s how we digest it, it is what ‘walking it out’ – a day at a time, sometimes a minute at a time – means! Grace is an overlooked gift! Bye. ✞

Matthew 18:21,22.“Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.”  Ephesians 2:8,9. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”

P 2940 Kindness.

/ DVH

People often think about kindness as a human quality. Personally, I think that means we are underestimating the power of God for total transformation! Loving the poor, providing for them, helping those who cannot help themselves may be this world’s idea of kindness, but it is not the fruit of the Spirit. Those caring things are simply normal behaviour to a kingdom dweller.

So, let’s look at what God’s idea of kindness looks like.“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;  That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” Matthew 5:44. See? Kindness is a God-quality, not a people one!  

It is the ‘doing good to them that hate us’  bit that I’m talking about, today. That takes extraordinary God-given, ongoing kindness, it is something that lasts. It’s spiritual … it has to be!! It is not enough to refrain from blowing your enemies up … or stopping yourself from giving them a piece of your mind … My test for the fruit of the Spirit is this — can I find it in myself? If that answer to that is no, then it is likely I am doing my best – but that’s not the fruit that comes from an abiding relationship with Him. 

I define spirituality by actual growth in my life. That means I stop doing something I was doing before. as He helps me! Otherwise, changing myself always seems to be out of my reach. I think that this means you can’t grow the ‘God kind’ of love, that bears everything, hopes everything, and never fails, plus joy, hope, kindness etc. in the soil of this earthly life. We need to reach right up into heaven, using our faith, and bring His kingdom down here, right here, right now, to bless others. I’ve learnt to regard the fruit of His Spirit as something that is unattainable without His help! The Holy Spirit grows His fruit His Way. How is your day going? Mine just got remarkably difficult!!

This is the sort of transformation that changes the way we think – see Romans 12:2. We can’t make this stuff up -we might fake it and fool the world around us, but we can’t fool the Lord. By the way, the idea that “I can’t help it,” is just our way of excusing a lack of change. The Lord Himself will burst that bubble and introduce something, or someone, into our picture-perfect life that exposes His reality. Think Peter and his resolve, and then he met that chicken! When any fake stuff is tested it will blow up, get rude, vote with its feet and generally express the ‘poor me’ attitude that seems so prevalent in this world. Today, we would rather put a technical label on something to make it sound like a medical/mental condition …than call it SIN.

Good luck getting God to buy into that excuse. Unless you have a few chromosomes missing, you will be standing on very thin ice. He made us. He already KNOWS what He put in there … !! We all have the potential for transformation. And yes, I know from my own experience, that some things are incredibly difficult to conquer .. but the Lord conquered SIN, DEATH AND THE DEVIL. That means that Jesus knows all about the level of difficulty required – He can guide us through anything. So there’s that flimsy excuse chucked out of the window – ask for His help and use your faith! Read the book. OK, on we go … are we having fun yet? 

Romans 2:4: “Or do you disregard the riches of His kindness, forbearance, and patience, not realising that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?”Almighty God’s kindness always has a target, and God is incredibly  rich in these things! We can miss so many things in the book when we do not study those peculiar, sometimes-out-of-date, words. We do not have to dredge up, make up, or beat ourselves into submission to walk into growing God’s fruit of kindness or anything else. We simply have to remain in the Vine. 

The true point becomes, how do we remain in the Vine? We stay IN Christ – in what He did. That’s how. Oh goodie, another one of those difficult things nobody understands, and everybody quotes! How do we stay in the Vine? We choose to die. This new life can only come from Jesus, so we choose to give up what we want by living this life we have been given, the way He would live it if He were here. He IS HERE, by the way. Inside us. We asked Him in when we gave our lives to Him!

Now we put our feelings and educated idiot-boxes to one side… those things have lots of uses, but they will not help us DIE.  Dying is something most people like to avoid. It means we say no to what we want and choose to do what He said, using our faith. No matter how we feel, or what we think. At the same time our brains need to be rewired – the bible is God’s method of rewiring. God gave us the best upgrade this world has ever, or will ever, see! He said: “If you read this book I will help you to think like My Son would. Now go and do it and it will become part of you.”

If we want His kindness then we will need to let His life in us OUT, so we can be kind to our enemies. They will never ever deserve it. BUT!! When we live like that we release His Grace toward them! Win Win! Bye 👋

P 2935 This is where the Power went!

/ DVH

“So you must remain in life-union with Me, for I remain in life-union with you. For as a branch severed from the vine will not bear fruit, so your life will be fruitless unless you live your life intimately joined to Mine. “I am the sprouting vine and you’re My branches. *AS you live in union with Me as your source, fruitfulness will stream from within you—but when you live separated from Me you are powerless.” John 15:4-5 TPT.

Do you see that little asterisk in the scripture above? I put that there to make my point for today. I believe this is where the power of God has gone from our daily lives. We must not treat God’s love and passion carelessly!  We need far more respect, for Almighty God, our Saviour and the Holy Spirit. We’ve been saved to serve – we serve Them, They do not serve us. Perhaps the Body of Christ has become half-hearted, and lax in our faith. Please take note, I am speaking about the Body of Christ as a whole, not just one individual.

Unfortunately sometimes prayer and reading the bible is like trying to walk up a steep hill backwards with no idea about what is coming up behind you! I need back-up and I suspect you do too – so we pray for each other.

There are times our prayers seem unanswered, and they are sincere, tearful, heart-felt, passionate prayers. We fast, we pray, we plead, and yet lost loved ones remain lost, or they wander even further away!

People we prayed for died, instead of being healed. Or we are now further in debt than we were before. Why?? Because prayer is not an ordering system to get God to do something you want Him to do. Prayer is active communication and interaction between us and Him. Remember, if I don’t got it, after I asked Him – then I don’t need it!

The above scripture from John is an accurate diagnosis of my problem. John is trying to tell me something! Perhaps I have wandered away from active abiding into drifting. Maybe my faith is taking a back seat to my feelings …again. Because of this, I am no longer quietly enjoying my attachment to the vine. The solution, as I see it, is this — I need to use my faith and go back to resting in Him, and everything He did, even though learning to rest and abide can be difficult.

Unfortunately the church has been preaching activity and action for centuries! But all I need to do, is to continually live in my awareness and obedience toward Him, and He will continue to live in me. If sin has distracted me or dragged me away, then I need to repent and repair whatever has happened and then go back into trusting in everything He did.  WE FIGHT THE ENEMY, BUT WE REST IN GOD.

If I have had an argument with someone, then first of all I need to own I’ve left the Light behind. Because walking with Him means we have fellowship with one another, so if the fellowship is gone then ….??? !!! … I need to go to my brother, and ask them “have I offended you?” By the way, blame is a poor substitute for active learning. We need to learn to listen to the Lord … as well as our brothers and sisters.

We don’t need to defend ourselves because when we defend ourselves, we turn away from Jesus, Who is our Strong Defender. God will give us whatever we need! And that’s not just a happy verse – it’s the way we live. Jesus did not argue with His accusers – He yielded and trusted God to bring Him through those awful times. When it was satan tempting Him, the Lord thumped him with bible verses. 

The bible is truth. Over the years I have learnt to doubt myself, not the bible, because the bible is our measuring stick, our plumb line. It shows me what God wants from me. He won’t demand my response – He wants me to trust Him enough to believe Him and what He said. So if my faith ain’t working then it is because I am not practising what I am reading!

I may be misinformed, I may have wandered off into works, trying to please God. Meanwhile my nomad tendency is not your fault either, no matter how difficult you may have been! It simply means I have wandered off out of the ‘listening to the Lord’ meditating over His Word zone, and I’ve been distracted by this life. We get deaf when we stop using our faith, and believing that what He said, He meant!

Because the words ‘abide’ — or in this version above – ‘life-union,’— are not commonly used today I decided to look them up in the dictionary. Abide:‘Old English word signifying progressively to “await,” “remain,” “lodge,” “sojourn,” “dwell,” “continue,” “endure“; represented richly in Old Testament’. And the word ‘life-union’ means: “union with Christ.“ “Life-union” signifies a mystical, spiritual, and permanent connection between believers and Jesus Christ, where believers are united with Him in His death, resurrection, and life, leading to salvation and eternal life.” Thank you Google! Now there’s a bit to chew on.

Here’s something else … 1 John 1:6:“If we claim to have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.  But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin.” Remember my little black rectangle at the top? Not walking in the light looks like that. We not only lose our hearing, we can’t ‘see’ either! God is not mad at us when we wander off – He is a good Shepherd. He goes after us and brings us safely back in His fold. But we need to revise whatever it is that we have been doing, under the guidance of the Word of God.

Why? BECAUSE JESUS IS THE LIVING WORD! That’s why! He becomes real as we practise what He told us to do. He makes this old, often hard-to-understand book, alive and pertinent to each of us, every single day. He inhabits it – just like God inhabits our praises.The Word of God washes us and cleanses us from all unrighteousness, when we pay attention to what it says, and stop making excuses for ourselves.

To be honest with you, I don’t much care how or where I pray either … on my figurative knees, or just walking around living with Him, mindful of Him. Prayer is essential, because prayer increases my awareness of Him. But it isn’t just talking! Now my life becomes a prayer, as I live this life around the Lord Jesus Christ, no matter what is going on, or what I am doing. I don’t leave Him out of anything. Instead of putting a big tick over what I am doing, and saying to myself:‘Well, I’m in the light, so that’s not my problem’ … ASK Him what He can see that needs to be attended to. 

We lack power because we are not treasuring His Presence in our ordinary, every day lives. His Presence is the light in the darkness around us, not how we feel, or don’t feel. Bye.👋

P 2913 Latest news anyone?

/ DVH

Isaiah 3:1-7 “The Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, is emptying Jerusalem and Judah of all the basic necessities, plain bread and water to begin with. He’s withdrawing police and protection, judges and courts, pastors and teachers, captains and generals, doctors and nurses, and, yes, even the repairmen and jacks-of-all-trades.
He says, “I’ll put little kids in charge of the city. Schoolboys and schoolgirls will order everyone around. People will be at each other’s throats, stabbing one another in the back: Neighbour against neighbour, young against old, the no-account against the well-respected. One brother will grab another and say,‘You look like you’ve got a head on your shoulders.Do something! Get us out of this mess.’ And he’ll say, ‘Me? Not me! I don’t have a clue. Don’t put me in charge of anything.’”

Verses 8-12: “Jerusalem’s on its last legs. Judah is soon down for the count. Everything people say and do is at cross-purposes with God, a slap in My face. Brazen in their depravity, they flaunt their sins like degenerate Sodom. Doom to their eternal souls! They’ve made their bed; now they’ll sleep in it. “Reassure the righteous that their good living will pay off. But doom to the wicked! Disaster! Everything they did will be done to them.“Skinny kids terrorise My people. Silly girls bully them around. My dear people! Your leaders are taking you down a blind alley.They’re sending you off on a wild-goose chase.”

I read this passage today and I was astonished! It reads like the current news services – particularly the people who overemphasise the bad! My first thought was — so sin really IS common to mankind! (1 Corinthians 10:13)  The accuracy of what was written by Isaiah, 2,711 years ago. blew me away. Secondly I also realised that means that God is no stranger to the squirrelled-up lives we live, and the stupid decisions we make. I keep saying this stuff is in the book … and look at that – it really is in the book! Wow. If that doesn’t give us confidence that our God has already ‘bin there and dun that’ then what will?

As Christians we serve such a powerful Shepherd, He will fight every battle to protect us, as well as free us from fear. He wants to train our hands for war. However, in the west we have the luxury of thinking most of the poverty and war are ‘over there’  — as in, somewhere else! But many, many people get no relief from this kind of turmoil. Here’s another little eye-opener. This one is from Jeremiah 6:13&14 – 2,595 years ago: “For from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely. They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.”

We misrepresent the power of God when we minimise the depth of the trouble and sorrow and suffering all around us. The power of God is always present to deliver, heal and usher people into His kingdom and it has no limitations! However, our fake cheery positive attitudes, the ones unsupported by the Spirit of God, are a knife into the heart of those who really live under all kinds of pain and persecution. We must never change Who Jesus Christ is to serve our theology. And we cannot change reality to elevate Him either. Other people will see straight through the lies and half-truths.

The church has developed an attitude like David’s brothers did when Goliath was challenging the army of Israel. I call it the: “If I can’t see it then it is not really there,’ attitude! Our job is to bring the kingdom of God with us wherever we go, not just hide from the bad stuff with over-emphasised prosperity and happiness doctrines. Our happiness is in Christ not in this world. We are strangers, simply passing through, plus we are His ambassadors while we are here. We cannot hide from reality by putting huge rocks of these badly formed theories between us, and the giants of this world. We need to do every bit of our hiding in His shadow!

“When you abide under the shadow of Shaddai, you are hidden in the strength of God Most High. He’s the hope that holds me and the stronghold to shelter me, the only God for me, and my great confidence.” Psalms 91:1-2 TPT

Always remember, Jesus was willing to pay the incredible  price to transform our lives so His Presence can go  with us wherever we go. We are not the whole ballgame – we are merely the ticket sellers and food vendors to the main event! JESUS IS ALWAYS THE MAIN EVENT!! Instead of making our own personal kingdoms comfortable and filled up with stuff, we are here now to make His Name famous. They will know we are Christians by our love, not our ten cars and fourteen overseas trips!

The daily news will probably continue to be bad, because Jesus Christ is not necessarily enthroned in the hearts of the press or most of the people around us, either. The press just want a good story and $$$$$!  But we have the real steadfast, eternal good news, inside US. We are carriers of His kingdom, filled with the love of God and the good news about forgiveness of sins, no matter what other people have done.← That’s a full stop right there. Bye. 👋

P 2895 God’s Love is inexhaustible.

/ DVH

We all need to leave behind the lies we have inadvertently swallowed regarding God’s Love. Our enemy goes out of his way to tell us we can’t have the Lord’s love and grace anymore because we did so and so, and God cannot forgive so and so – it says it in the book. That is a horrible lie sent to torment us. The bible is a balanced book, one thing leads into another – leading us back to HIM.

Today, I am hoping to pass on some reassurance to those of you who have become bogged down in legalism – because I know from experience that our adversary never misses an opportunity to nag at someone – day and night. Many Christians have walked away from what they believe, because what they believed became untenable in the face of their desperate pain-driven reactions to this life. Say this with me: …”there is NOTHING our God cannot do!’

We need to focus on His faithfulness. Here are a few swords for you. 2 Thessalonians 3:3:“But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.“ Lamentations 3:22–23: “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.” Exodus 34:6-7a.“The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD,a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin …” Fortunately we are this side of the cross, and Jesus took any curses we might pass on to other people with Him to that cross. Read the book.

Confession is often the best solution to accusation. Think of sin as mould, it needs treatment, light and air. Darkness and lack of air will make it grow. We can always have a new beginning. Here’s a verse we all know: “If we confess our sins He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9. What Jesus did was complete and comprehensive. Deliverance from the enemy’s lies starts with us making a quality decision to stop believing those lies, and instead we deliberately choose to put a verses of scripture in its place. The Holy Spirit will help us find them.

Accusatory thoughts can overwhelm and dismiss the power of God’s Love, together with the grace Christ released by what He did. Many times we do not have a sin problem per se, we have simply allowed God to become too small in our eyes, and Jesus stops being the Saviour Who saved everyone. When He said “…it is finished.”It was a universal statement for all time. However, if you are currently doing something or other and you clearly know in your heart that it is sin, and it is slowly dragging you away from everything you believe then you need to repent!  

Almighty God provides us with a tool to access His inexhaustible love. It’s called repentance. That is the quickest route to restoration. Almighty God is incredibly kind. He will lead us out of temptation, AND He will also deliver us from fast approaching evil. Because we need to withstand further and future attacks from our enemy, our faithful God will sometimes allow him to ‘gnat’ at us, so we have opportunities to develop spiritual strength. We fight back with “God says: …”  This is not about how we feel, it is about what HE has already said. Our job is to believe He is a merciful Father Who has done everything necessary to bring about our redemption.

Jesus made reaching God’s standard impossible without His help.I dunno about you – I’ve wished people dead, told thumping great lies, and worse things – and I’ve fallen down the hole of desperate despair. I think it is necessary to point out that God judges hearts, and none of us fully know what’s in there! Sometimes we can be too lenient, and at other times w-a-y too permissive. We need the Holy Spirit’s ever-present, always current, on-the-spot wisdom.

God lets us learn! That’s not an excuse it is a blessing. Think of repentance like this, as regaining our strength after we have allowed it to lapse. Every action we deliberately take against sin, strengthens us spiritually. It strengthens our faith when we step away from something purely because God says: “Don’t do it.” The Lord advises us in this manner because He knows what comes next. It isn’t always about sin – many many times it is about the kindness of God. He leads us into repentance because He doesn’t want us to end up in the land of WORSE – fighting shadows from the past.

We can also choose the road of humility and tell someone else so they can pray for us. Other people can lift us up when we feel lower than the ground we are standing on. Always remember, God’s Love is inexhaustible. Bye.👋

P 2877 Suffering is a door.

/ DVH

The bible tells us that the Apostle Paul had something or other wrong with him, health-wise. Meanwhile there has been much debate about what it was … I mean … who cares… really??  Any-way, the man asked God three times to take it away. My point is this: Paul asked God to take it away! Three times!! There’s nothing wrong with wanting to change your circumstances when hard times have overtaken you. Paul did that!.

Be comforted, there is no judgment from me, if you want to put up your hand and say; “Enough please. Point me toward Your exit, Lord.” I pray that myself.  Amazingly, in those times, I feel like I can’t take any more – but … meh! I’m still here talking about it! That ought to tell me something!

Back to the Lord, God told Paul this in 2 Corinthians 12:9 and it provides us with a clue as to where He is coming from: “But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” We need to understand, from our heart, that weakness is not a fault, it is an asset in God’s kingdom! Boy, if most of us managed to absorb that info it would help us daily, mightily. 

It’s OK to not cope and feel weak and overwhelmed! Because when we are weak we are in a prime position to experience the power of God in, and on our lives. Of course we will need God’s opinion about how He wants you or I to respond to our own personal current awful circumstances — but at the same time, just remember … … the Apostle Paul wrote nearly half of the New Testament, so he wasn’t a small character on this stage. Paul was one of the people that God specifically chose, to write about what he was learning and experiencing first-hand as he followed Jesus. 

You know, speaking for myself it is way easier to write down an acceptable faith answer, than it is to live it out! But it seems to me that Almighty God wanted Paul to understand personally the depth of Grace that He has released toward each one of us, and so He allowed many things in Paul’s life that human beings aren’t keen on. And God said ‘No!’ to Paul’s escape prayer. NO is an answer! By the way, ‘no’ means we can’t say that God didn’t answer us, we are now stuck, simply because we didn’t particularly like that answer! 

We need to pray that we will continually grow in our understanding of what Christ’s sacrifice did for us. He did it so we can be called Sons and Daughters of God. To me that means that sacrifice is a part of our new life in Christ. The bible says: We are now capable of MORE, and that’s why Christ died – to give us more! He died to give us access to His kingdom, right here, right now, so we can live this life like He did.

I can see the enemy’s subtle hand in a lot of Christian articles produced today. They have been written by Christians in all kinds of genuine pain and distress, who need answers to their suffering. Actually, my personal experience is that the more I walk with Him, the less I will care about what you are doing… I have my hands full already with the dumb stuff I do! These articles have called some sorts of behaviour this specified thing, and other kinds of behaviour something else. They excuse the judgment that flows from such things,, as “protecting ourselves.”Understanding, or analysing other people’s behaviour, doesn’t remove pain, it can actually increase judgment. 

Gird up your girdle, Gertie, I’m about to take down some myths that have no references in the bible. My bible says: “My God is my protection and with Him I am safe.” Psalm 18:1-2. My point is this, IF He is my Protector in some circumstances and not in others … because apparently in those circumstances I can protect myself from the bad people … How will I know where His protection ends and my self-effort begins? Meanwhile please notice the word ‘effort’ – grace doesn’t flow through efforts, it flows through unconditional love. 

Maybe our first and only question needs to be: “How can I continue to live in love while this is going on please Lord?” Christianity is not meant to be a part-time, hokey pokey way of life. We are either IN and walking forward, or OUT, sliding backward. Living any other way slowly removes His power to change out of our lives. It pushes transformation to one side. Then some of us go round and round achieving nothing and going nowhere. Please note: I speak from experience!

The power of God to overcome the trials of this world is free to people of faith, BUT, that does not mean we can turn it on and turn it off. Instead we now have a new focus, we choose to serve others at the pleasure of our King. Christians need to remember that if the Holy Spirit doesn’t like what we are doing then He will vote with His feet. He.Will.Leave! There is no room for compromise in the bible. You either do what He says or you don’t. It is a very exacting book.

Paul’s response to his suffering is a wonderful key for us, when suffering impacts our own lives, it’s a door. He found something to focus on that increased and stretched his faith. This man understood that being powerless in the face of adversity is not the end of things … it can even be the beginning of a new way to think. Bye. 🤔

P 2842 Are people drawn to the light in us?

/ DVH

Mark 4:21-25: “He said to them, Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you put it on its stand? For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open. If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear.”

I think the reason we sometimes hide from the light, skip church, don’t read the bible, and we don’t pray – is simple. We don’t want to be convicted or convinced of our stinky attitudes. Maybe whatever we are doing, we don’t want to be found out, so we pronounce church things as ‘boring’… when the reality is – what is said comes way too close for comfort. Where is His light in your life currently at? Is it tucked away, under the bed? Many people build walls to keep them safe, a coffin has walls – a coffin is made for dead things.

As you can see from the above verse, hiding His light within us is a waste of time and energy. One day, everything we’ve said and done quietly, perhaps even sneakily – concerning Mrs Kerfoops across the road – will be shouted from the housetops.BUT!… “IF we confess our sins, He will forgive our sins. We can trust God. He does what is right. He will make us clean from all the wrongs we have done.”I LOVE 💕💕 THOSE LITTLE WORDS… BUT IF …!! This is a good time to praise God for His ongoing, always active, ever-forgiving love in our lives. 

The awful stuff we hide from others, and – even worse – from ourselves! … needs confession and healing. Why not wipe the slate clean, make reparation wherever necessary and move on …??  The point Jesus is making in these verses is that the light of God’s Word is meant to shine in us, and through us, not be hidden away … so we can save face. We are not undercover brothers – WE ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. That’s why He said don’t put that light in a place where it can’t shine — the light of God is meant to be seen.

At the same time, the light and power of God within us, changes our perspective. It doesn’t just illuminate sin – it makes our surroundings clear and visible. There is way too much darkness all over this earth, because Christians look like everybody else. Being hidden doesn’t mean we are safe – it actually means the people around us can’t see our faith in action. Sadly, who we really are, is who we are when we are squeezed tightly by our circumstances. And no! I don’t much like that sentence either!! 

You and I live wherever we live, because we are to be His light. So the people who live around us can clearly see the dirt and squalor they are choosing to live in. We don’t have to be pompous and look down our noses at others either. The plain truth is this world is currently living in a majority rules situation — they don’t have any light, because we are hiding who we are! God’s Love is His Light! Everyone will know we are Christians by our love, and because LOVE is a verb not a noun, this is something that others can see and experience for themselves. We are Christians – We choose to live and die, loving others. 

You and I are the front-line of what Jesus wants to do on the earth today. Forget people focussing on the pastor, they are looking at us to see if what we say we believe, is real. And if that sentence doesn’t give you and I something to reflect on, we’d all better think again. We aren’t just here to stand up for what we are against – we are here to shine His light and love around, everywhere we go.  His love, needs to be in every dark corner of this world. Loving Jesus means we are for the people He came to save. People were drawn to Him – are they drawn to us? On that happy little note, bye for now! 👋

P 2825 We are weapons that are forged in the fires of adversity …

/ DVH

Many Christians like to think that we are doing our best when we just meander along, picking up this new thought and putting down that old one — hopefully teaching our own kids … but probably not very worried about other people. We pray, and then we secretly blame God if He doesn’t send us revival! Be your own revival. To be a Christian is to be a true revolutionary! These passionate individuals see hatred as an opportunity to love others!  Meanwhile. loving and caring for those that hate you, is contrary to what humans want to do – of course it’s radical! 

In most countries today there are not many practising Christians. And by practising, I don’t mean going to church week by week. I think we’ve been reduced to a remnant – how else can we explain the excesses of the West in the face of the total deprivation everywhere else?! We’ve learnt over years of inactivity to pay lip-service to things that need our total devotion. When Jesus said: “Follow Me” – He wasn’t talking about a parade!  

Christianity is not designed to be a religion. Jesus is the way we live and breathe and learn to love others – even the ones that wish we were dead. We cannot call ourselves Christians, if we have not learnt to OVERCOME — things like our own penchant for sin, our greed for the things of this world, as well as our own personal trials and tribulations. We must learn to handle bad times the same way as good ones looking to Jesus Who is the Author and Finisher of our faith.

It seems to be that what we believe has not affected the entirety of our lives. Instead we plaster over the things that need to be purged, including those personal attitudes that Christ Himself preached against. Sadly, when we water down what we believe for our own benefit and convenience, we are watering down the power of God at the same time! We need to remember, we are either on fire, or the fire is slowly dying, or it has gone out! A tiny bit of Christianity that makes us feel safe will not do, we must be completely immersed in the things of God. And what we say has to be exhibited by our lifestyles. His love always becomes incredibly real in the fire of adversity.

We’ve been reborn to take what this world thinks, and stand it on its head. We don’t just saunter along smiling at everybody, waving cheerfully, holding a banner for Jesus and putting up cute pictures of scriptures over our sink! What we believe needs to be lived out – day by day by day. We are His living bibles, to be read by everyone else around us, we are not just nice polite people! Instead, Christians live real lives filled with real problems, and a lot of those problems are totally insurmountable without God’s help … so we are learning how to utterly RELY upon Him.

Our faith is nothing without the power and Presence of God. All we have to offer others presently, is pie in the sky when they die. God cares so much more about all of His kids, than the trite things we present to others. He is not an absent God Who benignly, and absent-mindedly smiles down on His sometimes AWOL, naughty children. That is insulting to the Holy Spirit, Who is ever-present. He longs to be our ever-present help in time of need, not the spare tyre on the back of yet another brand new vehicle! Instead of working ourselves up into a lather trying to demonstrate His power – we need to daily die to self and demonstrate HIS LOVE instead.

I think the reason people aren’t coming to Jesus is because our ideas of witnessing have made Him seem weak. We present Him as a baby, or God on a cross unable to come down. Or even SomeOne Who can be contained by a church building!  WE ARE HIS ALTAR – our hearts are His home. Our contribution to this world is that we know the God of all Hope! We need to talk about Who He is. He’s the Almighty, ever-present, always holy, always with us, Father. The God Who knows everything about each one us. Who freely gave us His own Son to pay for humanity’s wilful sinfulness.

We must not be afraid when the fire around us, and in us, heats up, and life becomes unbearable. That’s when the truly great weapons of war are forged … IN THE HEAT OF THE FIRE. He promised to be with us when we walk through the flames. (Isaiah) The biggest enemy we face, is not the other guy – it’s us – as we lead lukewarm lives at the cost of someone else coming to know Christ. God’s Love cries out daily to be demonstrated.“But God demonstrated His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8. 

It’s time to do more than idly talking about Him when the subject comes up. It’s time we showed our enemies His love, like they are our best friends. We need to stop using prayer for release or an escape vehicle, and pray for the Grace and courage to walk through the flames – untouched. ‘We are weapons of His warfare, and those weapons are not carnal but mighty to the pulling down of strongholds.’ 2 Corinthians 10:4. People are dying every single day and they have no knowledge that this life is not all there is. 

We have to become His swords, forged in the fires of adversity, so we can cut off other people’s chains and set them free, like Jesus did. Bye.🔥

P 2824 Hanging on by a thread …

/ DVH

I found this picture the other day and I my first thought was this – if I can identify with what it says… maybe someone else can too. Here’s a few lines in a song from a great movie – The Fighting Temptations, that sum up how hard life can be from day to day.

“I used to wake up some days And wish I’d stayed asleep ‘Cause I went to bed on top of the world Today the worlds on top of me. Now everybody’s got opinions  But they ain’t been in my position That it breaks my heart when I hear what they have to say about me, yeah Seems like I always fall short of being worthy ‘Cause I ain’t good enough – But He still loves me (but You still love me, Lord) I ain’t no superstar The spotlight ain’t shining’ on me ‘Cause I ain’t good enough (oh, no) But He still loves me…”

Not every day turns out to be a day when we will knock the proverbial ball right out of the park and end up on a high. There are days, that the stupid ball machine malfunctions and every ball lands on your head. I have those days and I have the bruises to prove it!  Meanwhile I’ve learned a thing or two along the way of desperation… It only seems like that kind of day/week/month/year is endless. Sorrow and suffering weigh us down, and they seem to slow down time. Plus emotional, mental or physical pain can render us inactive. 

People, in their efforts to help, may tell the suffering person to ‘cheer up, get over it, it will all be OK.’ But in those dark moments they may as well be speaking another language — because they sure don’t know how to speak the language of pain! I have found there are people who are decidedly unhelpful when it comes to difficult circumstances  — they would rather preach happiness AT you, than come and sit WITH you. Then the sufferer gets to forgive those cheery Charlies for their ineptitude, on top of feeling like they’ve been run over by a truck.

Pain is nobody’s friend, and nobody in their right mind stays deliberately in a bad frame of mind and heart – not when they know the Lord. Nobody gets depressed, temporarily or not, on purpose!  Some people have either forgotten their bad times, or they have a grand happy solution that simply will not fit into your situation. “Just do this and all will be well,” they say. Yeah, yeah, great. Hmmmm. “Please go away now, my ears have stopped working.”

It is a good thing to try to limit your exposure to these happy enforcers, especially if they annoy the living daylights out of you. They seem to have an endless barrage of utterly useless thoughts .. like: “There are many people so much worse off than you are.” And how, pray tell, is that meant to help me? Should I feel sorry for them, as well as struggling to breathe? Christians do struggle – this life can be terribly hard! Sin is still rampant in this world and we have an enemy who wants to target us whenever he can. That other guy does not want us to believe and stand up! he wants us lying on the floor counting the ceiling tiles. 

Now let’s look at the fact that when Jesus said: “Cheer up” …  the power of God was present in His Words to overcome the situation! We need to remember sometimes it can be impossible to cheer-up without supernatural help. Sadly there also times when any one around us can lack compassion for someone who is suffering. The thing is, life itself is weighing this person down, and they are drowning in their own sorrows. These things are real … not over exaggerated or imagined! Personally at those times I pray for truck-loads of MERCY for that other person. You know, sometimes there is more to be gained by living through those dark moments, than there is by escaping.

Sadly, sometimes the way we feel about people we don’t like, or someone who has deliberately hurt us, when they get sick or hurt etc., those reactionary thoughts are a fantastic personal diagnostic tool. Our immediate responses can take the inner temperature on the condition of our hearts, and whether we should repent or not. Those unsympathetic symptoms we feel, mean we are going to need lots of His GRACE right alongside MERCY and compassion, ASAP. I like to remember that the bible says God will supply all our needs, so I ask for what I need …which is mercy, grace and compassion.

The woman in the bible with an issue of blood had the right attitude for recovery from her pain. She just kept right on pressing through the crowds to grab at His hem. Meanwhile, imagine the noise, the dirt, plus the feet nearly stepping on her! She had to crawl to get her answer! We have this kind of power on someone else’s behalf — to crawl through the noise and heartache to bring healing and comfort. Kindness and understanding are the vehicles that can transport someone out of their negative focus and into His Love. We can always go to God on their behalf.

There are times when anyone can end up feeling spiritually flattened by their circumstances, as if they are hanging on by a thread. In those times if we cannot press through to grab at the hem of His garment, then we will need the Body of Christ to intercede for us. Human beings always need grace, mercy, peace, kindness, patience etc. far more than anything else, we need those things for ourselves, and others… Bye. 👋


“For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake, But My lovingkindness will not be removed from you, Nor will My covenant of peace be shaken,” Says the Lord Who has compassion on you.”Isaiah 54:10.