Powerless

P 3134 The best response.

/ DVH

Our justification before Almighty God is based entirely on what Jesus did for us. He came to earth, totally identified with mankind, and chose to die in our place. That fact continually amazes me …. What amazing love! What an incredible exchange! 🙌 The Father, His Son, and the Holy Spirit have such a passionate love for humanity, wherever we are, no matter what we have done. Always remember, Jesus knows how hard this life can be. Because of what He did for us, now we are DEAD, DEAD, DEAD, DEAD, dead! All dead – so we live like we are DEAD!

The blood of Jesus washes away every single bit of our ugliness, carelessness, spite, anger, rage and wanting what we know we cannot have. Now, because of the freedom from fear of reprisal, and the power of God given to us to live like Jesus did – it’s time to put this AWAY world’s junk and LIVE for Him. God is no longer angry with mankind – all His anger was spent on Jesus. Now let’s ask some questions: what are we doing with what our Saviour DIED to give us? Do we squander it by living this life doing whatever we want to do? Or pay Him lip service on Sundays, while we live for ourselves Monday through to Saturday? What should our response be? Romans 5:1-6,8-11,16b, has the answer: 

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, Who has been given to us. 

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly… … But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation… … The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification.”

Have you ever told a lie, thought an unclean thought, or wanted to seriously hurt someone else – even in your head? God calls that, and many many other things, sin. In His kingdom, that which is not LOVE is SIN! Instead of all of us facing punishment, Father God chose to give us the opportunity and power to live this life glorifying the One Who gave us so much. Jesus is with us in Person, day by day. 

Thank God, our ignorance or rebellion, has not cancelled out the magnitude of what was done on our behalf. The Lord Jesus made us right with Almighty God, and it cost Him everything this world had to offer, to do it for us. He paid our outstanding debt! A legal contract that eliminated what we owed forever, washed clean in His blood. Before we knew Him, we had no inkling of need, or even the personal power to gain that kind of incredible favour for ourselves. We’ve been tainted by sin since the moment we were born – even the sin of our forefathers still haunts us. His LOVE toward us, is the reason we are compelled into action.

After Jesus Christ died He went to hell and He defeated death. It had a legal right to claim all of us. He went there for us, as our proxy, the One Who chose to face satan in our place. But hell could not keep Him there because satan could not find one reason to punish the sinless, spotless Lamb of God! He had no legal reason to accuse Jesus. our enemy had to let the Lord go, because Jesus never sinned, in thought, word or deed. Everything He ever did, said, or thought, was done from Love’s motivation..

He took away every legal right satan had to torment mankind forever … and then …Holiness entered the halls of hell! Now satan cannot keep anyone there who has given their life to the Lord because he has no legal ground to stand on. Faith in what was done on our behalf is our only response. We’ve sinned, but SomeOne Else overpaid the bill for us and satan has been legally tied up. he has no recourse – except to deceive us into thinking we don’t qualify …or torture us with past sins … or get us to totally focus on getting what we want in this life. When we call upon the Name of Jesus to save us, we move from this world’s kingdom into God the Father’s kingdom. Our faith in what Christ did justifies us, gives us His peace, and releases God’s grace to live this life the way Jesus Himself would. 

We no longer belong to this world. We have an allegiance, a loyalty to the One Who paid it all to save us from ourselves. So much grace was released by what Christ did, that the power of sin over us has been broken, forever! No matter how we feel, or whatever temptation crosses our path, we don’t have to live that old life anymore. Daily we choose to live, by faith, in His kingdom where LOVE has all the power. We live  voluntarily, giving away that love, for His sake. When we choose to step away from sin, or accepting its premises, we find that now we have the power to defeat it. That’s the very best response! Bye. 👋.

“We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” Romans 6:2b.

P 3068 We have an inheritance.

/ DVH

“For in His wisdom, God designed that all the world’s wisdom would be insufficient to lead people to the discovery of Himself. He took great delight in baffling the wisdom of the world by using the simplicity of preaching the story of the cross in order to save those who believe it. But for those who have been chosen to follow Him, both Jews and Greeks, He is God’s mighty power, God’s true wisdom, and our Messiah. For the “foolish” things of God have proven to be wiser than human wisdom. 

And the “feeble” things of God have proven to be far more powerful than any human ability. But God chose those whom the world considers foolish to shame those who think they are wise, and God chose the puny and powerless to shame the high and mighty. He chose the lowly, the laughable in the world’s eyes—nobodies—so that He would shame the somebodies. 

For He chose what is regarded as insignificant in order to supersede what is regarded as prominent, so that there would be no place for prideful boasting in God’s presence. For it is not from man that we draw our life but from God as we are being joined to Jesus, the Anointed One. And now He is our God-given wisdom, our virtue, our holiness, and our redemption.” 1 Corinthians 1:21, 24-25, 27-30 TPT.

God’s Wisdom cannot be accessed through our puny little, oh-so-easily-distracted minds. We desperately need His minute-by-minute input into our daily life. Together, as His Body – we have been freely given everything we will need in this life. The Lord Jesus’ life of love showed us all of God’s fullness in an every day setting. 

Jesus did so many things deliberately, for a far greater purpose than we ever imagined in our restricted thinking. He came to teach us by example. It is astonishing that Almighty God, Himself, would come to save the world in such an awe-inspiring totally selfless way. Now He is always present with us, as well as in us, in the Person of the Holy Spirit. Because He said it, we can believe it.

Jesus’ life and death are our God-given key which can unlock the mighty revelation of Who God is. Plus we have the Bible which is a road map into eternity. Now, anyone with a heart to learn His ways, can access Him in that book. However, every single one of us will also need the Author’s insight and revelation to open our eyes, so we can read it and be enlightened. The prime objective is to let the bible read you while you are reading it. Then we act upon it. Fame, money, earthly power or human intelligence, won’t help us understand what happened on an ordinary wooden cross outside Jerusalem, that’s why we need His Spirit to open our eyes and hearts.

Without God and all He did for us, we will live limited, small  lives — but with the Holy Spirit’s help – the impossible becomes possible. However, our enemy wants us to ignore these facts, using discouragement, despair and suspicion. It is one of his wiliest, sneakiest tricks. There is but one standard and that is – Christ IN us – HE is our hope of glory. He, and He alone, is our daily inspiration to live above the mundanities of this life. Jesus is SomeOne so good, so pure and holy, yet so normal, we struggle to comprehend how an ordinary human being could live and die the way He did.

At the same time, the bible also reveals to us, that we have not even begun to plumb the depths of Who our Heavenly Father God is … or how utterly beautiful and incredibly wise His Ways are. As we study His book, we can see that we still have such a limited understanding of spiritual things…. God Himself has equalised mankind in one sovereign action – through His precious Son’s obedience. It is no wonder that it can be difficult without the Holy Spirit’s help, to comprehend the vastness of what happened. Now we do not have to reduce God to our size — He already did that, once and for all!

Our access to understanding Who He is, comes from reading to His Word, with the simplicity and obedience of a little child. We need to read it looking for something to obey! Christ lived His life in total obedience to His Father’s will – He did all the work for us. Now we can come to Him the same way any child would come to a loving gracious parent… joyfully, without fear, or shame – always expecting to be received. Our Father’s enormous wisdom and love, coupled with His incredible goodness and kindness, coaxes us into an intimacy beyond our comprehension.

Jesus’ death and resurrection opened the door to a whole other way to live. That wide-open door can only be closed by our own choices. The devil can’t finagle his way in, or short-circuit what God has done because it can only be seen and understood through the spiritual sight of the Holy Spirit’s goodness, mercy, grace. Our enemy is so defeated—he now spends his time trying to distract us from the ongoing, never-ending revelation of our Father’s incredible love.  

Every single day we can always have the input of precious Holy Spirit. He has been given to us to open our eyes and hearts to that new way to live. Under His help and guidance, now we can gladly pass that Grace onto others who don’t deserve it either. You and I have been chosen to be the inheritors and recipients, as well as the distributors and executors of the Lord Jesus’ will. 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 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 2846 How are we living from day to day?

/ 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.

There is no true faith without the reality of Christ – our life and decisions are no longer based on how we feel, or our circumstances, they are based on Who He is. When Jesus says: “We can do nothing without Him …” He means … we can do nothing spiritually lasting without Him. Can we live a normal life, 9-5 work, get dressed, go to school, eat 3 times a day, have a bed to sleep on? Yup. Sure can. We can all live superficially – it’s sadly – easy!However, living without an awareness of the reality of Christ every single day, means we are denying His life in us.

Today I want to talk about the incredible depth of spiritual security that is our birthright. Whether we have known the Lord for 5 minutes, or 50 years – our security lies in Him – His Character. 30.9% of people alive in the world today live by what Jesus said. Which means 69.1% don’t. Those dear people are spiritually unacquainted with His freedom, love, peace, and the wisdom He constantly supplies. That only comes from deliberately following Christ. Most people are not attached to the vine, so the life-changing, life-giving sap of His life in us, and for us, is not available to them. 

My question to all of us at the beginning of 2025 is this. How well are we attached to the vine, His new life in us?  Are we firmly attached? In order to be attached to something completely we will have to let go of everything else. When we gave our lives to Christ, He took them. He gladly accepted each one of us, despite our predilection for this sin or that attitude. We said yes, and He said “You’re mine.” Any lack of strong attachment results in a restriction of the nourishment a branch will receive. It is in our own best interests to remember we belong to Him now. We can’t afford to drink of this world’s wells and still try to drink from His well of Living water. That causes self-deception.

Christianity is not a part-time, bed time, happy story faith. It is a way of life. Which is why I believe …“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6. The Lord was not a vacillating kind of Person. He spoke in absolutes. And here we go with what the dictionary says absolute means: “not qualified or diminished in any way; total… viewed or existing independently and not in relation to other things; not relative or comparative.”  This world does not affect His plan for us – we do, when we ignore His plan.

Jesus was saying that there is no other Way to Almighty God except through Him. He is God’s freely provided Way for anybody to be in a relationship our Heavenly Father. This means we need to pay attention to our hearts, watching out for them wandering off after this dream, and that relationship – the things of this world will pass away. LIFE IS IN THE VINE.  It is essential that we prioritise staying attached. It needs to be the centre of our thoughts not on the periphery. I did some research on broken branches and it seems that they can still produce fruit, but the branch itself eventually dies from lack of nourishment.

Sometimes, it seems to me that the church at large … I am not talking about one denomination or another – lives by this mandate instead. “Seek ye first your own needs and wants and ask Me for them, and I will supply them. If I don’t supply what you ask for then you are doing something wrong. I won’t tell you what that is, I will make you run about here and there trying to find it.” Can you see that in the Lord’s allegory about the vine this worldly train of thought can affect our security? God is not changeable. Look it up! That’s why He is still loyal to Israel. 

The whole idea that our earthly happiness is His priority has nothing whatsoever to do with what Jesus taught us. He taught us that our attachment to Him is to be a priority over our attachment to anything and everything else. Even our families. That attachment is a heart attachment not a mind attachment. Our hearts belong to Him now, so we wouldn’t even dream of withdrawing from Him, despite our faults and bad behaviour, because He is the reason we get out of bed every single day. Plus He will never ever withdraw from US! Now there’s a bonus buy to die for.

Our Saviour is STRONG. Strong enough to carry and pay for all our sins! All we need to do as branches, is to let Him flow through us, and His sap will do the rest. It is up to us to stay aware of how we are thinking and living from day to day. Is there anything in our lives that is stealing from us, or distracting us away from our awareness of the reality of His love for us? Just free-fall back into the arms of your loving Saviour. He will always catch you.  Bye 👋

P 2612 Where are our empowered lives?

/ DVH

In our world, we learnt – some of us from the cradle, to be polite and watch what we say. However, the latest younger generations have stomped all over that idea. I think they see manners as a kind of hypocrisy, and I honestly think I agree with them. I wish they were nicer about how angry they are, and that grace might abound in them more, but I think that older generations try to keep things the same, because ‘the same’ is comforting as we get older. However, the reality is the Body of Christ is not living Holy Spirit inspired, empowered lives. And who we are behind closed doors is daily disproving what we say and act out at church!

There is no more room to continue to hide our old ideas under excuses, traditions, and made up theology. Our stranglehold on what we call reality is not the only one. The thing is, I’m pretty sure that younger people scare the pants off people my age, because they’ve taken all our manmade rules and torn them up. Us oldies are guilty of living concealed lives, mainly because we do not want to be vilified by our peers. Sometimes we’ve simply hidden what we really feel;  because the old way, the polite society way, said it isn’t nice to blurt out your thoughts and feelings all over other people. After all, maybe those other people will judge us! In other words, we’ve been afraid. And fear and love can’t occupy the same space.

It is hard to believe for the best in people today – without pretending at least some of the time. We’ve been a powerless people who refused to talk about reality for way too long. In a world that says whatever it likes, I honestly think I’d have gone down the proverbial plug hole if it wasn’t for Jesus helping me. He has helped me to see the blessing in truth, openness, and facing what is really going on. And traditions, old and new, suck the life out of true faith. Our generational hypocrisy is now showing. It is much too easy to dismiss any messenger because they don’t say something nicely, or respectfully. Or maybe we feel superior because of age. However, if we don’t take what Jesus said seriously, there is a possibility we will continue to lose our God-given ability to change.  

My question is this: ‘how can we repent from stuff we’ve done, if we refuse to acknowledge it is there?‘ Many churches today are living cloistered lifestyles. However by shutting out what we think of as ‘bad things’ – we are turning away the very people the Lord wanted us to love on. Sadly, we can quite quickly draw up our robes and refuse to associate with anyone who doesn’t look like us. Many churches barely tolerate each other, instead they continue to live their own little autonomous lives, as if they were the only church in the world! If that isn’t hypocrisy I dunno what is! We all claim to have the same foundation but we’ve built all kinds of weird houses, with even weirder ideas and theologies on top of that foundation. It’s time to take down, or choose to tear up the stuff that cannot remain.

Maybe sometimes our kids don’t want to come to church because they are living their lives in a very harsh real world and they can see what we believe has no substance, it is hollow. We say we believe this and that, but the power to change is not present. These kids are sensible, they want something REAL from their faith, and our battered, bent and adjusted theology doesn’t do it for them.

I met someone recently who had been a missionary child, stationed overseas with their folks, and their parent had been powerfully used to evangelise the country they were sent into. The adults were successful in the eyes of their home church, because many people came to know Christ. But, their own children suffered all kinds of abuse at the parents’ hands and no-one else knew about it. Christians have been hooked on the devil’s crook that says we will undermine our credibility if we own up to our faults. It must stop.

It is a shame that others outside our walls are blowing the whistle on how far we’ve fallen from our glorious ideal, Jesus Christ. He didn’t preach church ideals and rules. He preached about a whole other kingdom that very few people know exists – thanks to us! We need to start thanking our children and grandchildren for saying out loud the things we’ve tried so hard to keep hidden from ourselves and others. “For the kingdom of God consists of and is based on, not talk but power – moral power and excellence of soul).” 1 Corinthians 4:20, and: “…God’s Way is not a matter of mere talk; it’s an empowered life.”  Bye.👋

P 2511 Keep an eye on your thinking.

/ DVH

Yes, I know, that title sounds dumb! However, our thoughts are actually far more powerful than we realise. They are the tugboats, or anchors leading to stuff that can sink, or drag our little ships off course. Things may seem harmless in our minds, but eventually big thoughts demand expression. Often we think about how angry we are, before we jump into telling the other person that we are mad at them. 

Perhaps we want to explain our POV to someone, and we are hoping that they will finally understand us. Fat chance. If you find yourself thinking up your own reply before the other person has finished explaining their POV – you’ve fallen down a big hole and stopped listening. Plus you may even become defensive. A peaceful mind is a huge blessing and Jesus gave us His peace.  His peace is part of our inheritance! It is ours by faith. It isn’t just a matter of somehow controlling our emotions, it is about cultivating our God-given ability to keep our minds focussed on His kingdom. We need to realise our responses are still our choices – even the ones that are made on the spot.

The bible says this: “As a man thinks, so shall he be.”Proverbs 23:7. Our own mindsets are gateways to either the kingdom of God, or the kingdom of darkness. Murder, coveting, stealing, adultery etc. etc. all happen in a person’s thoughts, long before they ever commit the crime. People do appalling things, and we are bombarded and saturated by their ugly actions even in social media. Personally, I agree with the bible, we can’t just get rid of grumpy nasty thoughts, we have to choose to replace them with better ones.(See 2 Corinthians 10:5.)

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”Philippians 4:8. Replacing thoughts with things that don’t lead you off a cliff, is a skill. You can learn it. I am currently learning from the Holy Spirit to ask Him – “What do You want me to understand about what just happened?” He has shown me it is easier to let your mind dwell on kingdom things when you find the good. Often what is good about these potentially explosive situations is this — I can learn something about my own inner responses that I didn’t know. Or I realise my frustration is coming from powerlessness and I yield to Him. He’s not powerless!

Here are some other things I’ve found useful. Refuse to watch things on TV that affect you. Some things on TV give me an opportunity to get sooooo mad, and for me the news is one of them. Personally, I think the news is biased and shaded to increase its appeal. It is also often so sensationalised it gives us an opportunity to become angry at other nameless strangers and their behaviour. 

It is extremely difficult to think loving caring thoughts toward people who deliberately hurt others! If you’ve ever found yourself shouting at the TV you will understand what I mean. It is far more helpful to pray for the people who are involved. Including the perpetrator.  Governing our thoughts is part of the leadership of the Holy Spirit in our lives. “And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” Matthew 24:12-13.

Finding the good can become a way of thinking. Immediately you feel annoyance rising, that is a cue to submit yourself to the Lord. The Holy Spirit loves to help us obey the Word of God, that is why He is here! Even though this world often thinks and behaves badly, our lives do not have to be about these things that appear in front of our eyes every single day. Instead our focus can be fixed on thanking Him for helping us. He will share with us what He sees, so we can pray. Plus we can ask Him how we can be part of releasing His answers into this world. 

Our world is overwhelmed by sorrow, and obsessed with wickedness, and man’s idea of righteous indignation. We don’t have to subscribe to, or ingest that stuff to pray about it. Sometimes my prayers are really brief. “Dear Jesus please redeem that situation, thank You,” Amen.

“But the mind of the [Holy] Spirit is life and [soul] peace [both now and forever]. [That is] because the mind of the flesh [with its carnal thoughts and purposes] is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God’s Law; indeed it cannot.” Romans 8:6. This verse is also part of our answer. If we expect mankind to rise up into higher attitudes and thoughts, without being changed. That is like expecting a heatwave in the middle of a snowstorm. It’s a great idea but it is not gunna happen! 

WE are His catalysts for good in this world. As His representatives it is imperative we keep our eyes on what we are idly thinking about. I repent all the time. I want to continually walk with the One Who loves the sinner, even though He hates the sin. Bye for now, 👋🏻.

P 2504 NEVER underestimate the power in forgiveness.

/ DVH

When we forgive others, especially if and when they don’t deserve it …  this means we are His disciples, we are following Jesus. Plus we are living in obedience to the Lord’s commandment to “…love one another ...”  The idea that we cannot forgive people is a lie, it’s from the pit. However, forgiveness is not lip-service. It is a promise that I won’t hold whatever has happened against you again. That’s the WAY Christ forgave us!

Jesus Christ released all the power we will ever need to overcome sin, sickness and the devil from the cross. However, we cannot successfully walk in that power without cultivating a relationship with the Holy Spirit. We receive the power to be transformed, when we receive and welcome Him into our lives. Unforgiveness is not an option to us! This process will kill off the old man in us.

“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All power in heaven and on earth is given to Me…” Matthew 28:18 “But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—He then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” And he rose and went home. When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to MEN.” Matthew 9:6-8. “I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.” Luke 10:19. “But you will receive power and ability when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be My witnesses [to tell people about Me] both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth.” Acts:1:8. The very foundation stone of God’s kingdom is forgiveness!

Forgiving people means you are releasing His power, and His Grace into that situation. It is no different than healing a headache or raising the dead. These things take choices, together with His Grace, particularly if the other person/s have deliberately and consistently hurt you. But Jesus died to give us that power. Now the power of His incredible forgiveness has been released all over this earth – it cannot be stopped! “Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven; whose sins you shall retain, are retained.” John 20:23. 

Unfortunately we also have power from Him to continue to hold people right where they are. If we don’t forgive them, then they will be stuck. Because sin separates humanity from God – the only way to remedy that is to release His Grace into someone else’s life. Maybe they will change, maybe they will not – they have a free will. However we will be changed by doing it –  we will no longer be held captive by other people’s sins. We have been given the power to speak GRACE and LIFE into others. We cannot walk in the power of the risen Christ unless we live in the land of constant forgiveness -.His  kingdom!

Unforgiveness is the Christian’s Kryptonite. It renders us weak, powerless, helpless and hopeless — those things are the exact opposite of everything Jesus died to give us. It literally is like this — unforgiveness nails one foot to the floor and the person goes round and round and round – getting nowhere. If you have noticed you are going nowhere spiritually – ask the Lord:  “Who do I need to forgive?”

I am not talking about chasing rabbit trails, I am talking about anybody in your life that makes you grit your teeth, or want to go hide in a cupboard. Anybody you see as hurting you, or being stronger than you are, is oppressing you. We cannot be oppressed when we are choosing His Ways – our choice to live differently frees us. Now, today, we’ve already been taken out of this world’s kingdom, and translated into the kingdom of His marvellous light. Other people can only hold us captive with our permission.

This is why we need to choose between anger and revenge – and peace and grace. People have been free inside in the worst prisons, because “… those whom the Son has set free shall be free indeed.” The first port of call we have in any given situation is forgiveness. Park there. Don’t move from that spot. I have been forgiving some people who can’t see me at all, yet they think they know me. Unfortunately they have kept right on hurting me for 70+ years – it is possible to forgive in the presence of persecution. The people who practice forgiveness are kingdom people.

Meanwhile, FYI, hating, hurting, manipulating or controlling others is not Godly. When a Christian lives like that, it is a sign that they have not yet had a revelation about the freedom they have been given to choose to live in His kingdom! They are valuing the enemy’s usurped pitiful power, over the real power Jesus gave us freely. Real power CREATES, it does not destroy! It is far more powerful to forgive. Those ugly things in anyone’s life will suck every single bit of joy, peace, and holiness out of our lives like a straw drains a milkshake! Those things destroy families.

“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” James 5:16. Never underestimate the POWER of forgiveness. 👋🏻.

P 2410 Forgiveness means living creatively.

/ DVH

“Live creatively, friends. If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day’s out. Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ’s law. If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived.” Galatians 6:1-3 MSG.

Isn’t it astonishing that living a forgiving, humble, generous life full of redemption – is called living creatively? I must have skipped that aspect of this verse about a zillion times over the years – it simply didn’t register. Does Paul mean we are meant to make-up attitudes and actions? No, I don’t think so. I think he is saying that living a forgiving life is introducing opportunities to create new scenarios, new possibilities … change. Unfortunately, sadly …I think all forms of judgment will close that down! Ya might want to think on that one. 

Did you get that when somebody you know falls into sin we have the opportunity and the power to release change and forgiveness? Yeah. US. We can often think of ourselves as powerless in this life, there are so many other people out there who appear to have way more influence than we have. Yet here Paul talks about our God-given inherent ability to restore someone else by our attitudes and actions, by using the redemptive transformative tools of compassion, mercy and grace. If you truly desire to be like Jesus, this is the way. This is what He did.

Thinkaboudit. That’s real power. Not the fakey-fake stuff, that is here today and gone tomorrow. That’s the rubbish stuff this world admires. We have the power to change forever, for someone else. At that moment of forgiving and helping we are reaching out into eternity – releasing someone else’s destiny. That’s not real shabby is it? Think of the people who are trying to love those difficult people.  Unseen and unheralded, many, many people choose to live in pain – because they are holding on tightly to the promise of breakthrough in someone else’s life. They are using their faith to hold fast to new possibilities. I call that creative thinking as well as creative living!

I think this verse is at the heart of the problems many of us have in our interpersonal relationships. I’ve done it myself … I forgive and forgive and forgive … and then suddenly … ‘Now that’s it! I’m angry. You’ve gone too far!! I’ve forgiven you heaps of times and yet you are still being horrible toward me. How many chances do you want?? I’ve had enough!’ Tragically, self-talk can make or break us at this point. People talk all the time about positive self-talk, yet this particular aspect is ignored. We can self-talk ourselves into hatred and bitterness – not just a poor self-image.

Paul presents another unique thought right here – next time it could be my turn. It’s funny how the things that someone else does are deeply wounding and offensive, but when I do the same thing, or worse … then I didn’t mean any harm! That thought makes me quite nauseous in its accuracy. I like the realism of Paul’s phrasing …I might be needing forgiveness by the end of the day. Ya got that right!  As soon as I enter into judging you and wondering if I really do have to forgive someone who continually hurts me – I’ve fallen into a worse hole than they are in!

Did you also get the bit where Paul says… stoop down? This poor sinful schmuck is so convicted at this time, he’s on the floor. People living real raw lives often end up there. Life just kind of knocks them down and they can’t get up. Now that is something that I can identify with. Being flat on the floor, unable to stand with sorrow and conviction weighing me down;  because the realisation that I have sinned, by disobeying and hurting somebody else, has flattened me.

I also think many people are often oppressed by the enemy … however they are deceived into thinking his attitudes are really theirs … all that is far more common than we know. Just because it pops up in your brain that doesn’t mean it’s your thought! Take it captive. Sadly, at the same time, attributing mean, spiteful and unkind behaviour to someone who dearly wants to be an obedient child of God, is a total tragedy. That’s your brother or sister down there on that floor. Meanwhile I’ve learnt that holding a grudge or gloating won’t just hurt them … it hurts me. 

Christ’s law is the law of Love and there is no timetable for the law of Love. It doesn’t have an expiry date either. Praise God! Boy am I glad about that!! You know, sometimes we can concentrate on other people’s sins so intently, we put blinders on. We can’t see anything else … including our own attitudes. But Paul sorts that out right here, in Galatians. This is the best remedy for a wrong attitude – help them and hold onto the thought that any minute it might be your turn! Forgiveness means living creatively. 👋🏻