Power

P 2182 On the matter of active faith.

/ DVH

Over the years I’ve learnt that if I want to love others the way Jesus loved them – then I’m going to need a whole lot more faith than I currently have! 😶 “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God…” Romans 10:17. If I don’t actually live my life listening to, and acting on what He says – it is no wonder when my faith is wobbly and weak. Our faith is extremely valuable to the Lord, everything Jesus talked about required us to use our faith. Galatians 5:6b “… all that matters now is living in the faith that works and expresses itself through love.”

It seems to me that we need to stop thinking that – talking about faith, writing about faith, and singing about faith is the same as living by faith. We must start living out our faith every day, so we can do those great exploits Jesus talked about. I agree with James: “faith without works is dead.” If we say we have faith and we have nothing more to show for it than the fact that we read the bible today, and we prayed, or we fasted, plus we went to church last Sunday – our faith is mostly inactive. Yeah I know, that’s not a great thought eh?

For years I thought doing the above stuff every day was enough. I literally had two lives. One was for Jesus – and I did my duty to Him as best I could, but I felt guilty if I forgot … Then I did what I wanted to and hoped He would bless it. In effect I expected God to join in with my life –  I had no clue that I was supposed to join in WITH HIS! Of course I prayed every day and told the Lord I was happy to do what He wanted me to do … but when I had no leading to do much of anything – I had to remain satisfied with doing whatever came up. 

After all, I had kids and a home that kept me busy. Friendships to maintain, family to care for. You know things like reading the bible, praying etc. are great, but truly using our faith is an active thing – not just a good habit! It is supposed to change our daily lives. This new life we lead is meant to touch other people, as well as reveal our hearts to us. And we will need to use our faith to do both. So we will have to face our fears. Using my faith is the very best way I know to find out what I’m afraid of and I learn about who I really am – inside. And it all comes from doing that thing I don’t really want to do! 

Of course we need faith to even read the bible, but we can come away from that reading as empty as we went into it! Jesus said: “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” To get that kind of feed-your-spirit-bread/word every single morning takes faith … as well as commitment. But ‘hearing without doing’ means a few minutes later we can forget what we just read! Reading the bible is an active thing – we read looking to change our behaviour with His help and use our faith to do things differently.

Look at these two verses as an example: “wives respect, revere, honour your husbands …” or … “husbands, live with your wife the way you know is right. Respect her because she is a woman…In this way, you will not stop God from doing what you ask Him to do. “ 1 Peter 3:7. Unless each married person applies this scripture personally, spouses can end up fighting. BTW did you see that fighting with your spouse hinders your prayers??

There are times when I do not agree with my hubby and he does not agree with me – but I listen to the Holy Spirit, and do whatever I can to end the disagreement. “Whatever you do work at it with all your heart as though you are doing it for the Lord.” Colossians 3:23. I surrender for Jesus’ sake and I let the Lord fight for me. The bible is meant to be the substance of who we are, not just knowledge we agree with. This means I sincerely make up with my husband because I love Jesus – not because I particularly like the process of humbling myself. Especially if I happen to know hubby is wrong. 😂 I definitely will die daily because I won’t want to do it! And it gives me the pip that hubby is often the first one to apologise!!

Our God reveals His word fresh every single day to release His hope into our hearts, even if we already know what it says. His mercy is new every morning because HE is faithful. Me? Not so much!  If we don’t eat food regularly, we will fall down. If we don’t EAT in the spirit we will have no power. No power or faith to fight the enemy when he sends a neighbour to complain at us, or the school rings and says little Johnnie is failing at maths. We need His power daily to overcome the ordinary irritating things that niggle at our lives. This life in Him, is not a little dab will do ya thing. It is a way of life. 

There is a list of people in Hebrews 11 who used their faith: Verse 13 “All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.” Did you get that? They didn’t ever SEE the answers to the things they prayed for in this life? Those things that God promised them! Now that’s what faith really looks like.

This the way Christ lived. He died knowing that only the Holy Spirit could bring Him out of that grave. Jesus had to leave this life so the promised Holy Spirit would come to all of us. That would have been so hard for the Lord. Faith shapes us into His likeness. Without it ‘we cannot please God.’ (Hebrews 11) “We must wear faith and love as a breastplate, and our hope of salvation as a helmet.” 1 Thessalonians 5:8b. Because faith protects our hearts. 👋🏻

P 2167 Forget power dressing – practice ‘HEAT OF THE MOMENT’ dressing.

/ DVH

Colossians 3:12-14: “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe YOURSELVES with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” PS: did you notice that LOVE is our ‘over’-coat? Actually, I think having a grievance against somebody else could easily be called a heat-of-the-moment-need-new-clothes opportunity!  So today, I want to talk briefly about spiritual clothes.  This is not about using our will-power it is about accessing HIS power to overcome.

There is a kind of a rumour within Christian ranks that says that once we’ve prayed about changing some unscriptural behaviour or other in ourselves, that’s all we need to do – God will do the rest. 😳 Somehow, magically, these abhorrent traits will just evaporate over time. And if those things don’t disappear then, ergo – the Lord is not unhappy about them so we don’t have to worry about them any more! Rhubarb. That’s not scriptural. Change is normal in the Christian life!

I urge you to read Colossians 3 again. ‘You do it’ is implied in the text. God Himself is not going to come to our house and spiritually dress us. And it does not matter how long we’ve laid on the floor at church, or cried our eyes out over our sin! He has already told us what He expects from His kids, and we have to choose to participate in this process as a matter of obedience to Him. The entire bible has instructions that tell us how to know Him, and how to follow His ways. It even describes in detail what His new clothes look like so we can’t claim a lack of knowledge. We cannot remove our obedient effort from His processes. 

Before you throw up your hands and tell me ‘that’s works’ – works and faith go hand in hand. Read James 2:18. The method looks like this – we pray.  And we ask the Holy Spirit to help us. ‘Help help Lord!’  “Submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee.” (James 4:7) So we deliberately, on purpose, pull up our big grown-up pants and choose to be kind etc. and we do it simply because Jesus said so!  We ask for His help, then we yield to His will, His way. Obedience and faith go together. When we act in faith, we are not pretending – our focus is on obeying what Jesus said in the book.

Faith primes the pump and obedience provides the action. That sequence is all over the bible. Samson prayed for help, then he pushed on the pillars he was chained to and he pushed them down. His faith was demonstrated by what he did. This is true for all of us. Who we are, as well as who we are becoming is ruled by our choices. Our choices become extremely important. I have found that the Lord does this work in me progressively and steadily. “He tells us everything over and over— one line at a time, one line at a time, a little here, and a little there!” Isaiah 28:10. The Holy Spirit allows what I call ‘opportunities to change.’

I have to be honest with you, His opportunities are not always opportune! In other words I get opportunities to control my motor mouth, or temper, or lack of patience at a time, or temptation to lie, when it is definitely NOT easy, desirable, or convenient. I might even have been sorely provoked by the circumstances or someone else’s behaviour… but their behaviour is not my business. However, my response is. Those inconvenient moments are my opportunities to clothe myself in the things that God values – instead of the automatic, or even polite responses this world looks for. I am very wary of polite responses because they are often a covering for an alternative inner attitude – which can be far less than polite! We don’t pretend, we draw on His strength using our faith.

The plus side of wearing the Lord’s clothes is that when we have submitted ourselves to His will, His way;  our character begins to change, because now our faith is in operation.“Whatsoever you do, do it with all of your heart, as though you were doing it for the Lord.” (Colossians 3:23) It is as if a new strength to overcome my flaws comes upon me. But first I have to consent … and then I step out in faith. That usually involves me shutting my trap when angry words are bubbling and fermenting away on the tip of my tongue. And that’s precisely when I need His heat-of-the-moment clothing. 👋🏻

P 2166 Learn to wait, harmonise and agree.

/ DVH

Like I said yesterday, sometimes the best thing for us to do when heaven seems to be silent, is to be still, figuratively get on our faces … and wait. When we do that we are showing the Lord that what He wants is more important than what we want. Meanwhile, intentionally waiting for God IS doing something. Waiting, the bible says – strengthens US. 

Scripture from Isaiah 40:27-31”Why do you complain, Jacob? Why do you say, Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God”? Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” 

Human beings don’t always understand what the Lord is doing, so sometimes waiting can be very difficult. If we actually understood what Father God wants to do for us, and in us, we would yield … immediately. The problem is our own personal perceived needs, together with impatience and all sorts of agendas. The problem is never with His plans.    

Sadly, Christians don’t always trust Him, or each other, and this can mean we are so busy trying to protect ourselves …  we’ve missed out on the blessing of agreement and harmony. Harmony is not about us all singing the same note. It is about the sound we all make when we are working together, doing what He wants. Harmony is about blending, not standing out. It is about facilitating other people’s joy, peace and love, by using your gifts to help them grow and thrive. Whether they are Christians or not!  It is not about MY gift – it is all about you finding and using YOURS. That sound gets bigger when we help each other.

The Father, the Holy Spirit and the Son are in perfect harmony. They excel at blending love, joy, peace etc. together and They want those sounds for us – in each of our lives. Love is exactly the right chord to initiate and sustain these things. Because we love Him, and each other, we will gladly die for each other. That’s what true submission to the Lord and each other looks like. I take my mission – which is what I want – and I intentionally make it less important than what HE wants. Plus, I lay down what I think I want or need, to help you become all you can be.

At some stage or other, most of us have come across the Coyote and the Road Runner. In the past I always felt soooo sorry for Wiley Coyote. And then one day I realised that the silly dingbat creature set himself up to fail. His desire to have what he was chasing pushed him into danger all the time! If you think of Wiley Coyote as humanity, and the Road Runner as satan – you can quickly see that the Coyote’s own passion for gain is causing his awful injuries.

“Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.” James 1:14-15. You know, if that Coyote had only waited a minute or two, before setting out on his new cunning plan, he would have seen the anvil, truck, boulder etc. coming at his head! We need to learn how to wait. Not procrastinate … but wait. Procrastination, or putting off what God says to do is like the Coyote wondering why he is falling … on the way down. We can use our waiting times to learn about the Lord, ourselves and each other.

Remember, OUR HEAVENLY FATHER’S mind is always ON us! This is why we need to take our minute by minute choices far more seriously. We dare not just pick out the bits of the bible we like and obey them, we need all of it. His Word cleans, renews and heals – it can’t do that without application. Skipping the application is like cutting your leg and not applying some antiseptic and a bandage. The Word is the medium God uses to reveal Himself, transform us and heal us.

Waiting makes US stronger and living in agreement with each other multiplies the power of our prayers. We must learn to harmonise together and that begins when I care more for your life than my own. It is like putting a seed into exactly the right medium. God’s love is the right soil for those seeds of the Spirit to grow in. Finally … this is where waiting comes into it… seeds need time to germinate and grow.   👋🏻

P 2155 Some interesting stuff I’ve noticed.

/ DVH

The Holy Spirit loves to point out our errors in thinking. He does it to expose, reveal and explain our own hearts to us – because God’s book says that ‘our hearts are deceitfully wicked above all else.’ In other words we are probably so afraid of what we will hear that we don’t speak the truth to ourselves – even when no-one else is around! One of the problems I’ve noticed that I have, is that my still-being-renewed-mind sometimes lies to me. Seriously. It tells me stuff to keep ME feeling comfortable. It reassures me that everything I did was OK – and the bad thing that happened was all that other person’s fault not mine! 

My mind does not easily want to change. It wants to feel loved, petted, and reassured – it wants to live in a false sense of security. I have to exercise my will over it, even to entertain the possibility of looking at my own mistakes. Otherwise I will continue to read the bible putting mental ticks on what it says, and nothing will change in my heart or actions. I might even try hard to come up with the right behaviour, but without any acknowledgement of sin that is pointless.The blood of Jesus is the only remedy for sin! In the end the result is that I stay the same. My ego hides my faults from me. 

My mind also says that doing something dumb won’t matter, just this once. 😳 As a matter of fact, when it is left unchanged, my mind continues to excuse my own behaviour and points out and accuses yours instead. It keeps me so busy concentrating on what you said and how you hurt me, I CAN’T SEE MY OWN FAULTS.  So my un-renewed mind allows me to protect myself – at your cost. I need an outside guideline that is fixed, so when I am inwardly defending my own actions, I have something concrete in front of me to correct me. Tada! Enter the bible. 🥳 That book has the power in it to change ME – inside and out.

However, when I read His book like I already know and agree with what it says in there – I missed the point. The bible is a mirror for my mind, will and emotions and actions. Instead of looking at it and thinking: “Boy that’s interesting…” or …“Wow look at that!” I need to read it like it is a searchlight revealing who I am, PLUS who I AM NOT! I need to read it through the eyes of repentance, that’s when the power in His book becomes apparent. It is not a historical book – or even a reference book. It was given to us, to do what it says, and it diagnoses our need for transformation.He uses His book to correct us with His eye upon us. DAILY.

Every single one of us deserves hell without the blood of Jesus, so let’s settle the argument of what is right and what is wrong right here and now. The bible immediately shows me where my thinking and actions are awry – I simply need to sit down with the Author and put my fear of being wrong or exposed down – because this Author wants what is best for me! When I hear from the Lord from His book, I can take what He says in there, to the bank – it’s an anchor for my soul. 

I can believe what it says, above what I think or feel. The bible does not excuse my behaviour. It exposes it in reality. Then it makes it clear, that AS I obey Him – now I have the capacity to be bigger than I was before, because of what Christ already did for me. I am not supposed to ignore or hide my sin anymore, I just need to confess, acknowledge it and co-operate with Him, for change. I don’t have to be afraid to be honest about my faults, I don’t even have to be afraid if you see them. I simply repent and start using the faith He already gave me to ACT differently.

Meanwhile, I have never ever heard the Lord say to me: ‘Just let it rip, tear that person apart. They deserve it.’ 😶 When I hear stuff like that junk inside my head I know it’s not coming from Him. Duh!🙄 I’ve also learnt that I do not have to be afraid to confess my faults to you, or even someone who hates me … because they have faults too! Remember, confession is the beginning – change happens when you start to act in faith. Do what He says. 

We all have a responsibility to this world we are living in to put others before ourselves. An un-renewed mind will not like living that way, instead it wants to know … when is it my turn? We are currently living in an age of self-preservation, the truth is not popular. Dying to self, rather than hurting others, is not popular. I’ve learnt that following Jesus all the way to the cross has power in it. It is called the power to overcome. That kind of faith transforms a life. There is always a resurrection after we die to self – we rise again changed. 👋🏻

P 2151 We are the new influencers for good.

/ DVH

“The Lord Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged.” Deuteronomy 31:8.

In the recorded history of the bible, Our Heavenly Father, God, has never quit on humanity because He was totally fed up with us. Instead His book is filled to the brim with His interactions of love, direction, correction and passion for all of us. He has spent thousands of years reaching out to us. Human beings are the crown of His creation. This world is the setting, and people are the precious jewels He deliberately put in that setting. His book clearly shows us His intentions, plus His great great Love for every single person who has ever been here.

But if humanity tried to go into His Presence without a Saviour we would instantly be overwhelmed by our own sinfulness, because His holiness is all encompassing. Sin separates us from Him, as well as other people. It separates families, marriages, congregations, denominations, countries …  all different kinds of people. So, because of His incredible love and forgiveness, and desire to know us, and be known by us – He took our sin out of the equation. Now we are free to love Him back … or not … the choice is always ours. 

The Lord is not like other people we have known, who wanted us to behave for their reputations, or convenience. Rather, our God wants us to be close to Him. In order for that to happen we cannot afford to have pieces or parts of our lives that are not submitted to His sovereignty. Those supposedly harmless things that don’t seem to be all that important, are the holes in our lives that our enemy can aim His darts and arrows through, to wound us and try to take us away from the Father’s Love and His Way to live.   

We begin our journey by understanding Who He is. He is so marvellous, so precious, so incredible, so beautiful, that even being around Him, changes us. Have you ever had a friend that  seemed to bring out the worst in you? Conversely, have you ever known a person who left you feeling bigger, freer, more able to be yourself?  His influence in our lives is not only for our good, but it has an effect on everyone around us. EG: Have you ever been grouchy around someone else only to find that they, in turn, became grouchy too? People influence each other… and not always for good. His influence brings out the rainbow colours in all our personalities – we stop being one dimensional.

One of my biggest disappointments with this world at this time, is that our children are being greatly influenced by others who are angry at others, or themselves, and angry at this world’s systems. These people live carelessly seemingly unaware of their effect on the people around them. They do this for MONEY. Their influence is a little like the measles or the mumps – it’s contagious. Most of us were born with a desire to belong somewhere, and if nothing good, pure, right and just is available, unfortunately, even our children will tend to gravitate to the instant, glossy, glittery, fashionable over-the-top and often evil expressions of humanity.

If Christians do not put something of His Love out into this world’s atmosphere — then our kids have nothing to guide and lead them in His Ways. We have the power to bring His kingdom here by simply cherishing His Presence in our lives, and sharing that with others. You and I are living illustrations of what His Love looks like in action. It is time we picked up our real inheritance! Jesus left this world to us, in our hands. And right now it is our responsibility to influence others for good – to point them toward the Eternal, ever living, ever loving God.

Remember, our God is not just with us, He goes before us. Even before we start out. Imagine that! Whatever you go and do, He has already been there. He won’t leave us, because our God is loyal and true to His Word. He has always been loyal to His chosen ones, the Israelites, and now He is loyal to us because of the blood of Jesus. He signed His agreement with mankind, in Christ’s blood, and that agreement stands forever. Even when it seems to us that He is not there, He is there, purely because He promised to be there.

It is time we decided to believe His promises. We have so many!! In these busy, turbulent times, He wants us to stand on, hide behind, and trust in what He told us in the book. You and I have been given those promises for us to use them. Forget the Lear Jet, or new fancy house,our God told us He would be with us always! Now there’s a promise!  We are to hold His Word up in front of us like a shield, against the onslaughts of the many fears and threats in this world, when things try to overwhelm us. So when the wind and the waves bash us and threaten to drown us, we simply stand still and trust and wait for Him to do what He has promised. We cannot afford to be overwhelmed by the activity and noise around us, because our eyes need to be fixed on Him. 

Focussing on how much Father God loves us, instead of the turmoil outside in the world, will transform us into wells of peace and light. People will be drawn to us purely because we are able to be content, even when the world around us is rocking and tossing with hatred, anger, sickness and sorrow. The thing is, we must learn, in the middle of a world that values how we feel, more than anything else – how to have and use our FAITH. 

This world only values things that make US feel good. However, we need to actively learn and practise minute by minute, relying upon HIS WORD more than what our eyes see, or our ears hear, or what we even think. He has made His desires for us, His people, plain. We have it in all in writing!  We no longer have to be afraid of facing this life alone – HE IS WITH US. His Presence with us helps us influence others for good. 👋🏻

P 2146 Transformation comes through participation.

/ DVH

“Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at My saying, ‘You must be born again.’ ( John 3:3-7)

Because of what Christ did for us we are now in the process of being re-made (present tense) in His image, when we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. We can either fight the difficult circumstances in our lives, or look at hard things as potential for change – including our reactions! Every single time you and I co-operate with the Spirit of God and do what He says: transformation takes place.We receive the potential to follow the Holy Spirit at the moment we are born again – we cannot be born again without HIM, plus, we cannot SEE His kingdom. 

It is the same as when we value the bible and act on it just because it says so, again – transformation takes place. The bible is the greatest revelation of Who He is and What He did that we have. In the eternal NOW, where Father God is, we are already transformed by the blood of Jesus, but from day to day we are working out our salvation with fear and trembling, by living our lives the way Christ lived His … loving others. Including the people who drive you crazy!

Any conflict we experience takes place when we indulge ourselves in our feelings, our flesh. EG: We feel bad, we feel like others were deliberately mean. We feel rejected, so we get angry …our flesh has … feelings!  Our feelings can be affected by the weather or the kind of day we had or the grouchy person we bumped into. When we give in to our flesh, instead of trusting in what the Lord said in the bible – to us as well as about us, we have limited our spiritual growth potential.

The more you and I rely upon the Holy Spirit to help us grow and accept change, the more our POV will change. We come alive in the spirit. This is how we gain spiritual eyes to see His kingdom all around us, like Gehazi did in the Old Testament. (2 Kings 5:20-27) It is incredibly unfortunate that many human beings want to see the results before they have actively invested in the process. We die in that process.

The Lord did not save us for us to continue behaving the same old way we always have. Yes, we can always repent. But I’ve learnt personally, that if I find myself repenting more than I am changing, I need to know the reason why! Some good guidelines come from the way we treat other people. If we end up continually hurting the people we live with, or the people around us, then that’s a big sign that it is the time to listen and ask the Holy Spirit to help us to find out why, and deal with it. We will need to change our ways. 

However, that process does not mean we can blame the Holy Spirit for our lack of transformation, especially when we are choosing to maintain the very thing that is alienating others. Meanwhile I don’t care who did or said what – it is our responsibility to fix it! Sincere repentance and a will to change, plus paying attention to our faults more than theirs, helps our spiritual walk. Our faith gets stretched in this process.

Human beings tell themselves; “It is not my fault, I can’t change. My parent was like this and I am too.” We now have an attentive Heavenly Father, and He raised a fantastic obedient HUMAN Son! When we think we can’t we are half-way to defeat, and we are denying the power of God given to us when we were saved. In effect what we are saying to Jesus is this: “What You did on that cross was not strong enough to change ME.”

Um… good luck with that one! 🙄 You and I can change anything we want to – it is our motivation that is lacking, not His power in us to change us. Whatever the Holy Spirit says – such as repent, humble yourself, confess your fault to the other person ..THAT is our new current point of faith. That’s the place where we do whatever we don’t want to do, anyway. Purely, as Peter himself said: ‘at Your word Lord.’ And that seasoned fisherman threw in his empty net in the sea, where he was told by the Lord to do it.

It is way to easy to excuse our behaviour sometimes: “It was a bad day, bad things happened.” But when we live like that, then we are insulting the Helper. He is not an optional extra, He is the One Who knows us inside out, and He is utterly equipped to reveal to us where we are believing a LIE. Our task is to embrace the Person the Lord valued so much, that He sent Him back to help us live this life like Christ did! The Holy Spirit knows the way through stuff. The flesh has to die, and it doesn’t like it very much. 

Christians are not powerless. They are either being wilful, or they have been deceived. Either way – the problem is our end, not His! It is OK to try and fail, but it is not OK to half-heartedly try and then give-up when it gets hard. Let’s not live out our lives implying that the blood of Jesus is not enough to conquer our sinful attitudes. Maybe there is a demonic stronghold and we need help. So, go to your pastor, humble yourself and confess your fault and get their prayerful support and advice. It is not Godly to make everyone around you live in hell while you continue to indulge your flesh and feelings.

The largest problem in Christianity today is not on God’s end. It is OUR FAULT. We have tried to pray away, or even ignore the very things He gave us the power to change. It is as simple as ‘asking, and keeping ON asking.” After that we need to go and do something concrete about it.

The best thing to start with, I’ve found is to ask Him ‘to set a watch over my mouth.’ Seriously. People get in the worst difficulties with what they say. It is so much better to be silent when provoked. Sadly, I’ve learnt this truth from personal experience. Transformation comes from participation – not just knowledge. 👋🏻

P 2136 We are not powerless!

/ DVH

“I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”  John 14:12. If Jesus hadn’t left when He did, we’d still be stuck and powerless over our sins and enemies, personal and otherwise. But He left, it is in the book – so-oo-ooo – we are no longer powerless.

That means it is a mistake to think that our enemy has the upper-hand in any situation – personal or not! Jesus died for this world, and everybody who was ever born into it, our job is to tell them they can belong to Him too. HE WON. satan cannot ever win again, at all, unless he tricks us into believing that what he says is the truth. God gave us power, the same power Christ had! Power to live a godly life – power to do the things He sent us here to do.Meanwhile, satan’s idea of truth sounds a lot like our own feelings. God’s word IN US needs to be stronger than how we feel and that takes practice. 

When we gave our lives to Jesus, that means that God is in charge of us, and whatever happens to us. He does not cause trouble, but – He will work all the bad things together for our good according to HIS purposes. So when things do not look the way we would like them to look, then that’s the time to start speaking to our souls. The Psalms talk about speaking to our souls and telling them to pipe down and hope in God. That is great advice! This life that we are living now, we live by using our faith in what Christ did for us …because His death and resurrection gave us the power to see and live this life differently. 

We are here on this earth, right here, right now – to be salt and light. Salt and light add flavour and clarity. Those things give us, and the people around us, the opportunity to ‘taste and see that the Lord is good.’ This means that we are His people who speak His flavour and His clarity into situations around us. The Lord Himself did this: John 11:4: “When Jesus heard it, He said, “This sickness will not end in death but IS for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” That’s clarity! It wasn’t about the sick person it was about other people understanding WHO Christ is!

Here’s another example of Jesus speaking salt and light into a prejudged situation. John 9:2: “His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. As long as it is day, I must do the work of Him who sent Me.” That’s clarity again. Because He said that now we can see that something else is going on that is not obvious to the people involved. Did you get the fact that the Lord Jesus Himself said: “It wasn’t anything to do with any of them – there was another reason?” There is often w-a-y more in what Christ says than we comprehend. We don’t ever want to be a people who look but do not see, so pray for the eyes of your heart to be enlightened. (Ephesians 1:18) He often has a purpose we cannot see.

The Lord Jesus spent a lot of His ministry and preaching time on clarifying things that already existed in people’s minds – and sometimes He was very SALTY! Some of the things the Jews had been taught were not all of God’s truth – even though they were taught by rote by the religious experts of their day. The thing that often shoots our spiritual comprehension in the foot, is that we read the words, but we miss what they contain. It is not enough to just read the bible like you might read a newspaper, nor is it enough to like the story. We have to ask Him, like the disciples did, “What does that parable mean, Lord?” Sometimes I ask myself: “What is He NOT saying?” OR “How does that apply to me?” 

Years ago, practically everybody I knew that was a Christian were busy sticking out fleeces, here, there and everywhere,  to discern the will of God for their lives. It was almost like a ‘fashion.’ We all ended up playing hokey pokey with a fleece like Gideon did. But the bible itself gives loads of scriptures that talk about how to know the will of God. In the end I came to the conclusion that most people didn’t really want to know His will, they just wanted to find something that would put a big ✔️ on what they themselves, actually wanted. If we want to walk into the will of God and display His mighty works, we cannot follow spiritual fashions – we must follow the book and the book says we have received power from the Holy Spirit. It’s that simple.

There has been a false doctrine that says that everything that happens to us must always be good, because we belong to Jesus now. What a load of twaddle! Sometimes I think we treat being born again, like an arrival place. But becoming a Christian means we’ve started a journey that ends when we leave here. Perfection happens in heaven when we see Him face to face. Down here there is no arrival. Christianity is not a competition to try to be the best Christian ever either  – SomeBody already did that better than we could. HE saved US!  But failure or messing up does not disqualify us from rising from the ashes by His Grace, and going on to do some of those greater things. The power lies in His grace and humility. He will help us, because He dearly loves us. 👋🏻

P 2135 Wake up! This is no time to sleep in the light.

/ DVH

As the Body of Christ in this world, we must stop trying to pray away the kind of stuff we need to fight our way through, and start using our faith to tell those mountains to MOVE. The power we use to get free, is the power we have at hand to prevail on the battlefield. That battlefield is right outside our doors, and sometimes sadly, even inside them. Only a bad, uncaring commander would send untrained, inexperienced soldiers out into the field, to fight a rampant, cunning, and deceitful enemy. The Lord Jesus is not that sort of commander! However, do not fall into the trap of dismissing satan lightly. We know our side HAS already won, but, sadly, the other guy’s biggest strategies have been entrenched inside our gates. The Body has gone to sleep, in the light.

The Captain of the hosts is Jesus Christ and He is the most brilliant leader ever, because He leads by example. He does not simply issue instructions and sit back and wait for us to follow them – He faced humanity’s battles daily, like we do. He showed us how to continually walk in love. Jesus Christ did not live a separate and aloof life, instead He lived with ordinary people every single day and He constantly demonstrated God’s power everywhere He went. Plus He personally illustrated and taught people Who Our Heavenly Father really is. The biggest battle we will ever face is to remove the enemy’s lies from within our own thinking.

The way the world is lately, it has become very easy to forget about love, and to spend our time concentrating on our own survival instead. But we have the Holy Spirit to help us and He is the most incredible strategist this world will ever know! We must understand God’s ways far better than the stuff going on around us so we can discern what is good right and just, and what is hot air and a waste of our time. We are stronger than we realise – because “greater is He within us .”… 

God does not set us up to be defeated by our difficulties. Instead those things that assault us have been allowed, to train us in righteousness. The bible needs to so penetrate our souls right down  “into the joints and marrow,” that our first response is to trust Him. That’s intimacy! We have SomeOne Who knows about the good the bad and the ugly around us – as well as within us – and yet He loves and will NOT leave us! He won’t indulge us, but He will lead, protect, guide and shelter us and ‘train our hands for war…”. This is our time to  learn how to march behind Jesus in our appointed place in His body.

God is looking for our obedience to His already revealed ways in His book. It’s not like we have to guess, anything we ever need to know is in the bible. Our biggest problem is we want to pre-design the answers to our prayers. If we read the bible carefully, we will soon see, particularly in the Old Testament, that God’s answers to prayer did not look the way His people thought they would. He can get us through the maze of our own thoughts, wishes, hopes and dreams into a much, much wider place than we have ever dreamt about. BUT … we simply must stop trying to program what we think His responses will look like. Our minds are limited, because we are finite, so when we submit, obey and follow the limitless One, our whole perspective changes. 

“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20 NIV)

This Scripture holds a huge importance to us as His Body.  It is the basis for any evangelism and missions, plus it is a call to our own personal responsibility. It is a command to go forth to all nations and spread the gospel. How? Fearlessly – because we know He will be with us.  Our job is to…’triumph over our enemy by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony.’ (Revelation 12:11). That’s what a witness does, they testify. Death is no longer our enemy. Like Esther said to Mordecai : “If I die, I die! … WIN WIN!” OK. we both know she didn’t say that, like that, but she lived thousands of years ago. Boy has our language changed since Esther.

Our Church cultures have become careless, now we think going to church Sunday by Sunday, or whatever day you go on, is doing our bit.  We want the benefits of knowing Him, but not the sacrifices.  Plus we have been deceived in our thinking that living for Christ only is for ‘special’ people … famous ones. The Western Body of Christ has been lulled into thinking it is OK for us to live in safety and comfort, because we are not meant to suffer for the Gospel’s sake – we’ll just pray for the ones who ARE suffering – that’s our job. Sadly, we pray and give and live removed lives. Discomfort is meant to tell us something – we must listen, pay attention, and wake up! Our enemy is upon us and we’ve been lulled asleep in the light. It’s time to take back what the enemy has stolen from us …PEOPLE! 👋🏻

“So then, surrender to God. Stand up to the devil and resist him and he will flee in agony.”James 4:7 TPT

P 2118 It is not us. IT IS HIM!

/ DVH

In the past we have ‘assessed’ our ability to ‘do spiritual stuff’ by results. Some people seemed better empowered to pray for the sick etc. than we were. This meant that the largest part of the Body of Christ became inactive. I believe that we ALL need to live our lives daily filled with the Holy Spirit and His power.1 Corinthians 2:5, Paul is speaking:  ”… I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling.  My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.”

The power of God comes from Him, we totally rely upon Him and what Jesus did on the cross. So there is no point in looking in our pockets to see if we have it, because the bible clearly says it’s IN HIM!  I think the Body of Christ avoids some things because we think we have no power. But the power belongs to the Holy Spirit make Him your new BFF. Jesus breathed on His disciples and told them to receive the Holy Spirit, and then they went out and prayed for the sick and they got well. They told demons to get lost and they went! A-n-d they also raised the dead. By implication they could have quieted a raging sea. Jesus asked them: “Where is YOUR faith?”

We can rabbit on endlessly about whether we need to speak in tongues – or not; or wear a hat in church – or not;  or women should be silent – or not. Blah blah blah. But the real truth is that even if we try to begin to love one another WE FAIL. We have this sum backwards. We are ‘trying to be’ something, instead of learning how to live in His Presence. He PROMISED to be with us. I think we gave up because it is easier to claim scriptures than it is to live them out.  

Listen to this: “How God anointed and consecrated Jesus of Nazareth with the [Holy] Spirit and with strength and ability and power; how He went about doing good and, in particular, curing all who were harassed and oppressed by [the power of] the devil, FOR GOD WAS WITH HIM.” Acts 16:38. Where did Jesus get His power from? God. It wasn’t Christ’s power – it was the Spirit of God’s Power. Jesus just copied what He saw His Father doing…  Christ received the Spirit, and now we are learning to receive Him and make Him welcome. So we value His Presence more than our needs, opinions and lifestyles. 

That means our needs, opinions and lifestyles are gunna change because HE HAS DIFFERENT LIVING CONDITIONS THAN WE DO. To walk with Him we need to live mindful of what He likes. The challenge is to live our lives like Christ did – He lived in perfect love and loved and cared for OTHERS. Jesus became human and did all that for us. His power flowing through me will not make me arrogant, or controlling, it makes me humble. The more I see Him touch people when I inadequately pray, the more I give glory to God. 

Here’s a real life testimony for ya to show you it isn’t US, we simple need to learn to co-operate with the Holy Spirit and do what He is doing. Years ago, a couple next door to us had a baby boy. The little child started to fit with a high fever. The end result was he turned blue and stopped breathing.  The mother came running into our house screaming at me: “My baby is dead” and she handed him to me. He looked dead believe me. I didn’t pray.  I shook the baby hard and said: “Don’t you dare die on me!” The kid took a breath, opened his eyes and started screaming, probably because he didn’t know me from a bean pole. I handed him back to his mother screeching his dear little head off! Was he really dead? I dunno! He ain’t DEAD now! Here’s the kicker … his mother gave him to me because she thought I was a nurse. (Hubby is the nurse BTW.) 

Here is another one:  We travel on the road for Jesus as often as we can, and we give away bibles etc. etc. because you can start great conversations that way. Hubby went into a woodcraft shop in Tasmania once, and he came out a few minutes later VERY frustrated. The lady behind the counter was incredibly rude and angry with him and he wanted to leave that place … pronto. I’m the praying bunny in the car, and she wasn’t rude to me, so I asked him to go back and give her one of my bookmarks. Hubby did not want to go but he went back in anyway.  He was gone much longer this time and he came back out beaming!! The lady in the shop gave her life to the Lord on the spot – she burst into tears and he was able to share Jesus with her. Yay, Holy Spirit – the wind was blowing that day!

Live the way Jesus did – do whatever you see our Heavenly Father doing. It’s not you it’s Christ IN you!. Bye 👋🏻

P 2098 I got the power!

/ DVH

Mark 2:6&7 “Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” So. Here’s MY answer – WE CAN, the Body of Christ. Jesus Christ died and gave us all the power to forgive others.

First of all that forgiveness opens our hearts to the eternal – and then it releases His loving Grace toward other people. When we forgive others unconditionally, we can use that authority to tell our enemy to take a hike. I usually ask the Lord is there anything else He wants me to do about what happened and whoever hurt me. You know, sometimes forgiving others, is more about my own pride and hurt feelings than the other person?. It is humbling to give up your right to protect yourself from someone who repeatedly hurts you. The good news is we always know the end of THAT particularly difficult story of pain and suffering – because it’s also HIS story!!  And that makes all the difference.

Because the Lord died in our place, and He was utterly innocent, we can clearly see the enormous power of forgiveness. There are many times when we too, will be innocent of any wrong doing. Those are the times to remember that when we forgive others, we are releasing the power of forgiveness – the power of God into the perpetrator’s life. It’s called GRACE. Grace is UNDESERVED – and it is given at great cost. Jesus did not deserve what happened to Him, yet He gave up His life, and His own authority to do the will of the Father. That’s our job now, too.

After His death, Jesus went to hell, where He stripped the enemy of his authority over mankind – forever! Then Christ was resurrected. And now, because He freely did that, WE have the authority and the POWER to forgive. He gave it to us. (Ps you hardly EVER feel like it – it’s always an ongoing choice!) What Christ did at that time, paved the way for the Holy Spirit to be with, and IN, every man woman and child who was ever on this planet. By taking away sin, Jesus released the Holy Spirit to do us all good. 

In John 20:23 it says: “If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” That’s power! We need to live our lives aware of how important forgiving others IS. We are now HIS peacemakers. I mean, think about it, who on earth would want to be a rabble-rouser or a grumpy, unforgiving person, when you can be HIS peace maker??  😳 The peace makers get a blessing – they get to be called the children of God! Wow. We cannot lose for winning. 

When you and I want to follow Jesus and live like He did, this is what our new life looks like, day by day. And some people are going to absolutely love us 💕 and … others are … not! Meanwhile we all know that the ‘nots’ can have loud voices and be pretty hard to take. That’s when I forgive them and start praying that the Lord will save them. 

Our enemy isn’t people – it’s the devil on their back. They’ve been lied to! We must make an effort to learn how to discern our enemy. Remember, now, we have a choice. We don’t have to forgive people – we GET to forgive them, He gave us the power to do it. And we get there the same way Christ did – we die – to self. It’s not a law, it’s His GRACE. When we choose to forgive others who don’t deserve it, we are taking the same authority Jesus Christ Himself had, and using it the exact same way HE WOULD. We have the power to change people’s lives – by releasing forgiveness and the Grace of God to do them good.

I bless anybody who hurts me, by accident or not. I bless the daylights out of them … right up one hill and down the other! 😂 I just keep doing it! I bless their kids, if they have some … I bless their finances, I bless their health, I bless their relationships, I bless their jobs, and I bless their spirituality with more understanding! I ask the Lord to bless them MORE THAN He is going to bless me! And that gets rid of the spirit of competition right there! 

Doing this has become a litmus test for me – if I can’t bless someone, then I’m still mad somewhere and I go back to the Lord and ask Him to show me what’s in the way so I can get rid of it. We have the power to set people free. That power can affect someone else’s eternal POV as well as their journey here on earth. Very few people are born into this world evil. Most people-who-don’t-know-Him-yet are just trying to find their way, make a few bucks, and raise their kids. They don’t know any better, and unless we forgive them, and tell them otherwise, they will stay there – locked inside their sinful ways.

“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; …” Christians get to do this daily. Could anything seriously BE more fun than blessing the guy who is driving you nut, and knowing you are sending the HOLY SPIRIT after them. God gave us this power for good. First of all, WE get free, and secondly there is reconciliation all over the place. I’ve been blessing some people for thirty, forty, fifty years – but God’s gunna get them!  ‘He knows a way where there seems to be no way -He works in ways we cannot see.’

My faith is not in other people. My faith is in the One Who came after me. TWICE! I know He is faithful – I want to use the power He gave me for other people’s good. Starting with my enemies. 👋🏻