Pray

P 3003 False expectations.

/ DVH

I unintentionally, and without any prior warning, walked into a wall of nasty attitudes in someone else yesterday. They were angry with me for no other reason than they could not have their own way. This is someone I care about, and sadly I’ve had many bad experiences with them before, but I thought that kind of trouble between us was gone… It’s just goes to show we cannot afford to let our guard down –  we need each other. My own discernment was severely lacking! Hubby was far more discerning than I was – he emphasised caution.

So what do you do in those moments, when you feel utterly betrayed by someone you think you can trust? I start with the realisation that I can’t deal with anything else but my emotions in that moment, because they’re all over the place like jam on a baby’s face. After that I need to go straight into my will and reinforce my decision to live my life His way. This step is important, otherwise I can get tangled up in what I want, and leave what He wants behind me! 

The next thing that happens is I pray and choose to forgive myself — despite my awareness of many multiple feelings of ineptitude and lack of wisdom — I know that I need saving from my own reactions like everyone else does! So I deliberately put blame, guilt, recrimination and shame down — and at the same time I pray and ask for the Lord’s healing, help, forgiveness and guidance.

Then I deliberately forgive the other person as an act of my will. It is so much easier to forgive someone else when you’ve just dealt with the log in your own eye first. Just saying is all … At the bottom of our instant pain, are often even more memories of previous pain – and that definitely needs sorting out, but first things first.  Any sort of betrayal is painful, and Jesus Himself knows personally all about that.

Judas betrayed Him for 30 pieces of silver, and Peter ran away under pressure. When someone we care about suddenly reverts to previous behaviour, it can be easy to be taken by surprise and feel like we’ve been ambushed. But we can’t afford to sit there, we must choose to move past our feelings into a place where we can pray full of His Love for that other person. Jesus prayed for Peter, remember? He prayed for Peter’s faith to not fail. 

Loving people who are often erratic in their way of speaking and living, means we need to pray before we spend time with them. I actually remembered to pray this time, but because I thought things had changed for the better, I relaxed. I forgot that scripture in 1 Corinthians 16, verses 13&14. “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Do everything in love.” I was distracted and forgot to stay on my guard. I wanted something from this person, that they can’t give me, and I let my emotional need blind me to where they are actually coming from. Jesus Himself, does not meet their needs… yet. 

At the same time I forgot to ‘stand firm in the faith.’ The bible says:’My God shall supply ALL MY NEEDS according to His riches in glory.’ Philippians 4:19. Part of our surrender to Christ entails our willingness to lift our expectations off other people, and put them firmly with Him. That takes practice! It appears I missed out on a practice session this time, but I’ve put the Lord and my hubby on alert to remind me! Otherwise I could easily fall down the same hole again. Instead of “being courageous” under fire, I crumbled like a stale biscuit. So I repented of that too and asked the Holy Spirit to help me to go back into “doing everything in love.”  

Sometimes, in personal relationships our expectations of other people are so great, the other person will probably fail in meeting them.That’s life. We must realise that we cannot meet each other’s needs – our job is to point people to the One Who can do all things.  Sometimes when I think that Hollywood has totally messed with our brains and we see someone else and think they will totally understand me. In a pig’s eye! That’s narcissistic. I don’t care who it is, people aren’t here to serve our needs, we are here to serve Him..

We can easily be blinded by our own need for immediate love and gratification. I think this is why many marriages fail. The couples have false expectations. Only Jesus can meet all our needs. There is no point in expecting human beings to meet them, simply because we like instant answers. In case you haven’t noticed …Jesus doesn’t often DO things immediately! My advice is to remind yourself that God always has a better, bigger plan. Bless you! 👋

P 3002 Win, win.

/ DVH

There is one kind of work that we cannot avoid. It’s the work we need to do with ourselves, our responses to difficulties. We do not have to do this work alone, we have the Holy Spirit’s guidance and help. Unfortunately, the more we postpone surrendering our faults and foibles to the Lord, the more ingrained they will tend to become in our old nature. So we need to recognise those behaviours, and throw off the old way of thinking, and put on His new way of thinking instead. We must learn to put the deeds of our flesh to death – God won’t do that for us. He already provided a permanent solution!

“For if you live according to [the dictates of] the flesh, you will surely die. But if through the power of the [Holy] Spirit you are [habitually] putting to death (making extinct, deadening) the [evil] deeds prompted by the body, you shall [really and genuinely] live forever.” Romans 8:13.

When we realise that there is something, some attitude that does not fit in with the bible, and we need to change,  we need His help — that’s the best moment of true honest response. There are times we hope that the Lord hasn’t noticed those things, or hope they won’t matter, and so we continually choose to live with whatever it is. Hmmm… good luck with that idea!  The reason I know this is because I have tried to excuse some stuff and failed! If God brings it up, and we see it, that means it is the right time to deal with it.

We are often challenged because familiarity has a great appeal … especially if our attitude is just a bit off. But eventually, if we choose to keep after Jesus, even that useless lie wears off … and then those little things we have hidden away, start to leap out and niggle at us. Then someone says something that seems so pointed we feel like everybody else knows about our dumb attitude and that they are staring at it! Hopefully, that is the time we go on a little quest to find out what the Lord has got to say about these things. 

First of all we need to pray and acknowledge our sin — a lack of patience, long suffering, self-control etc. Then we go to His Word, and voluntarily start reading what He says, looking for answers. We are about to use our faith. Many times I have specifically researched about a subject that I’m concerned about in my own life, just to see what Jesus has to say about it. But there are other times I continue to read wherever I’ve been reading day by day, and I have faith that I’m going to find the answer that I need, as I simply keep on reading! These are the times when what I need will just jump off the page and almost bite me. 

But at other times the Lord says to me: “Did you see that?” And I’m like .. “see what?” and He says: “Read it again.” And I’m like…”huh?” (I told you I’m dumb!) And He says:“You missed it, go back and read it again.” And then, most of the time I understand why He stopped me and told me to reread what I was reading! I get so excited I’d probably bail up the postman and tell him what the Lord just revealed to me.  I think people often can’t receive revelation, because they don’t persevere. Actually, sometimes things happen at the very moment you want to give up and ignore the whole thing.

The next step is obviously repentance, then finally, transformation. Transformation comes when I recognise where I am wrong or sinful and I ask Him to help me. I say things like: “You might have to put a big sign on this new thing you have shown me Lord, because I’m bound to forget, or get distracted, or miss it.”  Most of the time I’ve discovered that what I find can be something that’s been there for ages and I think that kind of behaviour is just ME. It’s often something I do to make other people ‘back off” when I feel threatened.

However, when the Lord puts His finger on something, there is enormous wisdom to be had, if you don’t excuse it or just pass it off as a one-time mistake. Instead pray over it and ask Him to show you how you can apply that scripture into your everyday life. The only other thing I can tell you about that, this is the place that often requires humility. And it can also require loads of personal honesty.

I need to be prepared to put aside my idea of my personality quirks, in favour of who the Bible says I am, and that can create a conflict. It is a very difficult thing to confront yourself and realise that you have been indulging something inside you that God would describe as ‘not good.’ Nobody grows through concept and principle, we grow through humility and application.“How does this apply to me?”

The only other thing I want to mention that may be relevant — is this — in order to change the habits of a lifetime I may have to confront whatever behaviour He has indicated, a number of times, and take the same stand each time. I have become increasingly aware that the most wonderful thing about change, is that Holy Spirit is always with us, helping us, and so we end up with a testimony! Suddenly a new world opens up in front of us, many times on the back of that very transformation, because the Lord has very generously given us fresh revelation. 

If any verse of scripture leaves you questioning whether you need to do something about it  or not, my advice is to err on the side of caution and pray over it anyway. When sin is dealt with there is no shame, except the kind of shame that bumps into our pride. Win, win. 👋 Bye.

P 2983 We have a Friend.

/ DVH

“And in a similar way, the Holy Spirit takes hold of us in our human frailty to empower us in our weakness. For example, at times we don’t even know how to pray, or know the best things to ask for. But the Holy Spirit rises up within us to super-intercede on our behalf, pleading to God with emotional sighs too deep for words. God, the searcher of the heart, knows fully our longings, yet He also understands the desires of the Spirit, because the Holy Spirit passionately pleads before God for us, His holy ones, in perfect harmony with God’s plan and our destiny. So we are convinced that every detail of our lives is continually woven together for good, for we are His lovers who have been called to fulfil His designed purpose.”Romans 8:26-28 TPT. Prayer is our investment in someone else’s life.

I do love the way Paul says “at times we don’t know how to pray…” He only wrote half of the books in the New Testament!! I feel so much better!  I don’t know how to pray most of the time. I have to ask the Holy Spirit ‘please show me how to pray about this situation.’ And sometimes I ask Him ‘how do I join in with You in Your prayer?’ about this situation? I’ve gotten very picky in my old age, I don’t just want any old answer, I want His answer! I’ve tasted and seen for myself that the Lord is good, and I want to live in much deeper water than that. One word from Jesus and I come alive. There is always more… go after more.

For years I stuffed myself full of other people’s insights, simply because I liked what they said better than I liked what I managed to find for myself. I read this latest and greatest book, and that other fantastic book with the secret of getting your prayers answered. And my poor brain simply could not hold all that extra information and the keys they kept giving me. Just do this … and all will be well … . That stuff kept falling out. That’s when I started to grow tired of pre-digested food. I think the Holy Spirit must have been praying for me about this – I certainly can’t see how I could have been led into learning from Him for myself, otherwise! I was very stuck. And I was sick of being stuck!  

Hands up all those people who think that the Holy Spirit knows how to pray perfectly? Me too! So, what is better than chasing the One Who knows how to pray perfectly? Why follow another person who can get lost just like I can? To start with, I saved a heap of money on books!  It was a no-brainer for me. You know how the bible says in Psalm 103:2: “…forget not all His benefits…” ….Well, this is one of them. The Holy Spirit prays for us all the time, all day, every day, day in – day out. He’s in the eternal NOW and He doesn’t stop. That thought alone just makes me want to cry. Imagine that. Imagine His devotion to our spiritual well-being!

Even the best parent isn’t that good! Not only does the Holy Spirit pray, but when we feel weak, unloved, and unlovely;  He knows how to lift us up in that weakness, back up into the sacred space where we find God’s strength again. He reminds us how much Almighty God loves us. This is a fact — right here, right now. In all our failings and rotten attitudes, we have perfect love pouring down upon us, day after day after day. Not just when we pray. All day, all night, and when we finally open our little eyeballs in the morning again.

He isn’t just praying for us to be delivered from evil either … the Holy Spirit knows how to pray for everything and anything we need. Courage. A new pair of shoes. Someone who is flesh and blood to love us for who we are. In every need we have, He prays for us to be aware of, and strengthened, and helped by God Himself. He even sends out His angels to minister to us. Many times those angels are other people. Listening people. Are you the kind of person who listens carefully to Him, so you can bless others with a word, or an action, or kindness? That’s what He is like. Oh, I am such a fan of the Holy Spirit, the One Who loves to remain unseen.

All sorts of people tell me they are following Jesus, sometimes they are great speakers, or they can prophesy … but until I see a heart that is generous, unobtrusive, and wants to bless others—to physically bless them…I remain unimpressed. I want fruit. You want and need fruit too. Words are not fruit. Actions are. And the Person Who prompts all those actions is the Holy Spirit. Whispering… “why don’t you just go and do this or that …” He hardly ever shouts. That’s why we need learn to listen to Him. 

The Holy Spirit is the only Person I know, Who can take terrible situations, and awful people, plus a rotten personal  attitude and weave it into something so beautiful it will glorify God Himself! I have no idea how He does it – but I love watching Him work. One of the reasons you and I don’t always see the fruit of our prayers is that we cannot see God’s bigger picture. I’ve learnt to look for the good in any situation.  Where God is, there is good! Drag your eyes away from the obvious failures and disasters all around us, and ask the Holy Spirit to show you the good in it. 

I am learning to live with the expectation that there will be good, I will find His good no matter how it looks. God calls that faith … I call it knowing Him, just a little. We have the dearest Friend ever, He knows how to look through any storm and see Jesus walking towards us on the water. Hold on dear friends, the Perfect One is right there … can you see Him? Bye 🕊️.

P 2975 What can I do?

/ DVH

So today I’m picking up right where I left off yesterday…. with helpful hints! You can start living for Jesus and following Him, by repenting for living for yourself ….  Meanwhile forget about trying to get other people to join with you … you do it. “Though none go with me still I will follow…” Hmmm. Now I’ve pulled the plug on that great idea – here are some more proactive things you can do!

Get on your face and ask the Lord to please show you, through His word, through your circumstances, and under the guidance of your pastor, vicar, priest – what am I here for? What plans do You have for my life Lord? And then, don’t stop praying until you have an answer. INSIST. Be like that person in Luke 18. Or the friend in Luke 11 —just keep going after the Lord for an answer!  You know, there are people who want to use that kind of prayer to get … things!! That’s so sad….

At the same time as repenting… practice love. Begin with your enemies or the people you know who don’t like you – or you don’t like them! Anybody, the bible tells us, can love the people who love them! But the bible also says: “A man’s enemies will be those of his own household …” Matthew 10:36….Well, will you look at that!

We don’t actually even have to go all that far to find some of our enemies!! This is why, I recommend we start ‘doing good to those who despitefully use you.’ You could be related to them! Bake them a cake. Wash their car. Mow their lawn. Pay for their groceries. Pray for them. Don’t just try it – do it and don’t stop!  Make it a way of life and … expect opposition. Listen to these people even when they are monumentally boring. Did I say that out loud?

Blind Freddy can tell just by reading this blog I can easily annoy people. Good! I’d rather annoy a precious brother or sister into doing what the Lord says — than stand by letting that glorious gift they have been given by God Himself, go to waste! The body of Christ needs each one of us standing in our place, doing what He has given us to do in order to move forward. We’ve been holed up in our personal ditches like the Desert Rats of Tobruk for way too long!

Years ago, when I was a brand new Christian, I experienced all kinds of hatred all over the place. I was so enthusiastic about Jesus. People didn’t just gossip about me – I am not making this up, BTW, they told other people they hated me. And just in case you think I’m some kind of special case, I loathe rejection nearly as much as you do! It was HARD. Nobody taught me how to love people, even the really kind ones around me just kept telling me to tone it down, and avoid the people I was annoying. 🙄 Like you can tone down who you are without His help!

The Jesus I had just met didn’t like their ideas – mainly because I was continually reading His book!  So I loved on those people in practical, costly ways that I am not going to go on about here. I’m not a dummy …the bible tells us to do things secretly or we will miss our reward. Jesus said:“Don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.” Did these people instantly fall in love with me? NOPE. It turns out my reward was being obedient. Was it discouraging and hard? You betcha!

We look at things like loving one another, as if that kind of love is going to fall on our heads — if we just worship enough, or read the bible enough, or witness enough, or be cheerful all the time – good luck with that last one! Actually the closer we get to God Himself, the easier loving one another becomes. LOVE IS THE ATMOSPHERE HE LIVES IN.

So if you want to be close to Him you will have to learn to live in love. Personal preferences fly out of the window in His Presence. The Lord wants us to share the Love He gives us daily, with others. He longs to see His love spread abroad in our hearts, as well as all over the place. Learn to serve people, with no other motive than to be obedient and please Him.

“So if I’m your teacher and Lord and have just washed your dirty feet, then you should follow the example that I’ve set for you and wash one another’s dirty feet. Now do for each other what I have just done for you.” John 13:14 TPT. See? It has nothing whatsoever to do with liking people! Many times I have ended up loving people that I didn’t like – at all! I just followed the prompts. When I read it in the book, I pray until He gives me a way to do it. I also try to choose my spiritual clothes carefully: “You are always and dearly loved by God! So robe yourself with virtues of God, since you have been divinely chosen to be holy. Be merciful as you endeavour to understand others, and be compassionate, showing kindness toward all. Be gentleand humble, unoffendable in your patience with others.” Colossians 3:12 TPT.

Did you get that? Many people thought you and I would amount to nothing, but we’ve been divinely CHOSEN to be holy, merciful, compassionate, kind, gentle, humble and unoffendable! Now that’s mercy right there! This world can keep their corner office, money and popularity, I’ll go after Colossians 3:12 any day! What can I do to be close to God?  I can change the way I live, one loving step at a time.. Bye. 👋 

P 2957 Be fruitful not just productive.

/ DVH

After all, Jesus Christ Himself answered to SomeOne else – His Father! John 9:1-4: “While He was passing by, He noticed a man [who had been] blind from birth. His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi (Teacher), who   sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but it was so that the works of God might be displayed and illustrated in him. We must work the works of Him Who sent Me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work.”

Sin is common to man, the bible tells us that, but isn’t it astonishing how quickly human beings go into blame, even right in front of Jesus? They say things like: ‘Whose fault is this, Jesus – him or his parents?’ Religion always wants a reason to blame, and sometimes it wants to excuse itself. ‘It’s not my fault my parents beat me, neglected me, spoiled me as a child I can’t help it.’ Right. So it seems to me that you are having trouble putting childish things away?? Read I Corinthians 13:11. How about you study the power of CHOICE?

I love 💕the way that Jesus sorts these things out… because this stuff really IS a waste of time! His disciples noticed that blind man and they wanted a religious reason for his ailment, but …  but… Jesus just healed him!  I mean I’m on the Lord’s team about that … just do something about whatever is wrong!  Love on the guy, restore his life, and throw blame out of the window. Don’t analyse it. Deal with it. Pray over it. After all we’ve been given His authority!

Not only that, then the Lord says something here we don’t even dare to discuss ……this incredible Being, Almighty God, Who ‘wraps Himself in unapproachable light and has no darkness in Him at all’ ALLOWED that blind man to be born blind so He could illustrate His glory! Ya might want to think about that for 3 months or so, ‘cos it kind of stomps all over all kinds of theology … like right … there. Our God is not the ‘when you wish upon a star, pretty blue fairy.’  When He came down upon the mountain in front of the Israelites they shoved Moses up the front and said “We are too scared of Him, YOU GO!” Let’s always remember that He’s the Mighty God Who rules heaven and earth, and — you’d better believe it buddy!

When Jesus took off His earthly human form, and He was revealed as God’s Son before 3 of His disciples – nobody had anything to say except Peter  — and that poor guy made an ass of himself… again. I always feel sorry for Peter, he says dumb stuff right out loud. Those things we might kind of whisper in corners to each other but we wouldn’t dare say any of it out loud at church. People might stop thinking we are holy if we did that. 

John 9:39: “Then Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment [to separate those who believe in Me from those who reject Me—to declare judgment on those who choose to be separated from God], so that the sightless would see, and those who see would become blind.”That sounds pretty clear and ‘user friendly’ to me. When the Lord was confronted with a blind man — He healed him. He didn’t form a committee to discuss what they should do next  didn’t care about the guy’s theology – or anyone else’s theology for that matter! He was simply fulfilling His God-given mandate. Is this a good time to mention that we have that mandate too?? Too soon??? Not ready??? Hmmm… I seem to recall the Lord said: “Live ready.” Matthew 24:42-51.

Moving on … Jesus knew that there was going to be a time when He couldn’t work anymore, so He did not waste a minute of the time He had at His disposal. That needs to be our blueprint for this life too. It is also worth noting that praying for the sick is a work that God has told all of us to do. Whether we feel spiritual or not, it’s our job now. I’ve prayed for the sick and they got worse and died, and I’ve prayed for the sick and they got better. And I can’t tell you why either one turned out either way! I simply know He said pray for the sick, so I did.

Whatever Jesus did, praying for the sick, deliverance, personal instruction – He totally did everything He did for the glory of God. He never justified big meetings by saying He had a ministry or some special gift … and yet He had ALL the gifts … better than we ever could. Instead He preached whatever He heard His Father saying to those who came. Whether it was two people or five thousand. He left everything to God and did what His Father told Him, and whatever He saw His Father doing. John 5:19. 

That verse in John 5 has always fascinated me. Jesus was not proud, He was humble, submitted to His Father.  The words “I do nothing by Myself” are pure gold to me. The Lord Jesus had no other agenda. I pray God will remove every one of my agendas and give me HIS! Amen. Now there’s a heart worth asking for! I wanna be with the people who only do what He’s doing and only say what He’s saying. The church has done enough advertising, talking and big mouthing, we need to learn to listen to the Holy Spirit and do what He says. It seems to me that sometimes we talk to cover up our lack. Did I say that out loud? Yikes… yes I did!! 

My current theory, (yeah, I freely admit it is a theory,) is that we need the Word of God to work on us, within us. Transformation will follow as we admit our lack and go after the Answer. Then we will freely flow in love, compassion and kindness. Jesus Himself never lacked those qualities, and we need to go after them, not just the gifts. We are meant to be fruit bearing vines, not libraries, or fun fairs. We desperately need the love and devotion that never fails. Sadly, in my personal experience, my human love can fail all over the place! I am especially convicted when I read I Corinthians 13:7. “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” 

We will gain compassion and kindness by simply walking with the Lord, and seeing others through His eyes. Plus steadfastly walking through difficulties, sorrow and suffering, without losing any of our LOVE for Him, and others. I pray for everyone reading this blog today that they too would aim at Love over everything else because Love is the best glue known to mankind. As we too work the works of Him Who sent US, we must remember that unless we have Love, HIS love, we can end up clanging away like a fire bell.

We need to get our minds renewed to think like His, and “get our head in the game!” Fruitfulness is life-changing, not just productive. Bye 👋

P 2941 Ready or not.

/ DVH

You know, I think we need to scale back on preaching at people, and go out there and just be the bible. When I write this kind of stuff, I’m pretty sure a whole lot of people probably get mad at me! Boy, I hope so — mad is wa-a-a-y better than apathetic. Our faith is not meant to be private … real faith is going out into this world deliberately, on purpose, loving others, caring about their lives, while we are introducing them to His kingdom. Our challenge is to live that way – all the time. Laying down our lives so other people can learn how to find a new life with Jesus. 

Here’s one of my optional ‘make you think’ questions: what part of your new life in Christ makes your life look different than it did before you met Him? I know all the pat answers — we go to church. We pray. We read the bible. However, the reality is, because we choose to remain inactive, unfortunately sometimes guilt drags each one of us around by the nose — we know there is more, but we can’t seem to find it. To do that we need to give up our undercover, ordinary people disguises, and lay down this life we’ve planned for ourselves. Let’s stop running about looking for healing for us, and introduce others to the Healer of mankind. 

The body of Christ has unfortunately become engaged with what this world says we need. People who are DEAD don’t care what they need — actually, they don’t care about anything at all! But the people who know their God want to spend their life for Jesus’ sake. Will it hurt? PROBABLY!! But pain is an opportunity to wait on Him, and press in deeper. I have a theory, I believe that many people lead mediocre lives because they think this life is the only chance they will get to have what they want. But man was made for eternity.

We’ve been born again to do what He brought us here to do. That includes what the bible says …and then, after we do it, we leave the results to Him. We throw our miserable human excuses into the bin where they belong! Man has been making excuses for centuries. Many of those excuses some people made right to God’s face!! That thought makes me shake my head. I know I have been incredibly disobedient, and if God is not Who He says He is, then I’m sunk. I cling to His promises like a barnacle clings to the bottom of a ship.

Let’s just pause, and think about God’s patience with us. He has put up with mankind’s junk for centuries. Not in a mean, stand-offish unloving, uninvolved way, but in a proactive creative winsome way that calls us all up HIGHER. You can’t get more involved in humanity than He did, by coming here, living amongst us, and then letting people kill Him! The people in today’s world need to experience, personally, what the bible says:“Taste and see that the Lord is good.” We are meant to be someone else’s first taste of God in human form, and we are the only Christians some people are ever going to meet! If that doesn’t serve you up a big dollop of “Oh, my gosh!” I don’t know what will!

Sadly, other people are probably going to take a big chunk out of you and I, regularly. It’s a TEST. It is up to us to decide how we will respond to their actions. Jesus has left us in this world to be a people who not only know their God, we are now His interactive advertising. Just tell others the kingdom of God is near, because He lives in you! Like me, you may have been dreadful advertising even ten seconds ago  … so … REPENT. Pick yourself up, fix what you can, use your faith and keep on going. God is not finished with any of us yet. 

Get over the idea that this life is meant to be easy for us – ‘because we are so special’ – and realise that “a disciple when he is fully trained, will be just like His master.’ They treated Jesus disrespectfully and badly and then they viciously killed Him … so-oo-oo-oo … You do the sum.

Sometimes we become so obsessed with being comfortable and comforted, because this life is difficult, we forget what we are here for. If we want to know Him intimately, we will need to live our lives like He lived His. Unselfishly, altruistically! We are assured that His faithfulness under all kinds of circumstances, is out of this world! Nothing can, or will separate you and I from His love … because Almighty God promised.

It’s time for all of us to step up to the plate and take a swing at the ball! Never lower the standard just because you can’t meet it – Jesus Christ met it for us. Pick up your faith and go again. Our only job on this planet, is to RE-present Jesus Christ to the world around us … by living like He did. Let’s hope the next time someone takes a bite out of you or I, they bite into something sweet!

Jesus once told a parable about a rich man, who kept walking past a beggar at his gate. What that rich man did in this life eventually caught up with him. I implore you … don’t postpone change. We need to be ready for anything and He is always our ever-present help in time of need… whether we are ready or not. Bye. 🙏

P 2940 Kindness.

/ DVH

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

P 2938 The benefits of walking with God

/ DVH

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

“Above all, constantly echo God’s intense love for one another, for love will be a canopy over a multitude of sins.” 1 Peter 4:8 TPT. “You were God’s expensive purchase, paid for with tears of blood …” 1 Corinthians 6:20a.

The bible itself urges us ‘to forget not all His benefits.’ in Psalm 103:2. Anyone can see what’s wrong with this world, but the people with real vision, His vision, can see the potential to do good in the midst of the chaos. What a benefit that is! We’ve personally discovered in our travels, that all this trouble and strife has opened up other people’s hearts to a point where they are happy to share their sorrows, suffering and disappointment with complete strangers. So we get to pray with them … what a benefit!

Our God is so precious, as we go along through this life choosing to walk with Him, living His Way instead of our own  — our wrong way of thinking, even our superficial thoughts, fall off. It is as if we switch focus, and we start to become singular in our devotion to Him. That does not mean we exclude others, like we are in some sort of exclusive club — it means our hearts are stretched and pummelled by the Word of God into a bigness we never even dreamt about! His servants don’t have to try to be better, kinder, nicer – they just are! Now we look for the good in others because it delights us to find it. That kind of observational skill benefits everyone!

People who live like this wouldn’t dream of wasting their time on pettiness, or hiding their faults from others to save face. Imagine the energy someone wastes trying impress others, when we all know full well, WE aren’t all that. Self realisation is a huge benefit! Yet another benefit of walking with Jesus every day, is humility. I stop being afraid to tell you I’ve failed, or I can’t do it, or I have no idea what to do next … instead I ask you to pray for me! Sometimes I pray:  “I can’t wait to see what You are going to do with this mess I’ve made Lord! Because I know You make all thing new.” Sadly, sometimes our level of pretence is preventing us from going deeper with Him. But we have the incredible benefit of His ongoing forgiveness covering us, because Love Himself adopted each one of us. The benefits abound!

Often human beings are the sum of their choices and history. But, we aren’t stuck there. Instead we daily benefit from walking with Jesus. And that means we become more and more honest – because we are living in proximity to honesty Himself, and His goodness rubs off on us. So if someone corrects us, or points out a fault, we have the inner freedom to be grateful because they have given us the opportunity to look at ourselves through their eyes. But what if what they say is not true? My advice is to let God fight for you. Our King cares about what we care about, let Him take care of you. Now there’s a great benefit to thank Him for!

Our feelings make a very poor, inaccurate guide – the benefit of reading His book is that it diagnoses our inaccurate world view every time we read it. He gives us His wisdom so we know how to avoid pitfalls. Wisdom is an incredible benefit. Over the years, I’ve met so many people who underestimate who they are IN God. Anyone who is prepared to live acknowledging their lack, can have wisdom. Just ask Him! Wisdom is a benefit with eternal ramifications. I don’t have to try to give God glory for what He does in my life, because I spend my time watching Him snatching me out of this trap and that stupidity! I am eternally grateful that He continually saves me from myself. 

Before I met Him I had nothing worthwhile to give to others. This is another benefit I’ve learnt – God gives us gifts to use to benefit other people. We are living beneath our heavenly calling when we verbally pull other people apart like wild dogs snarling over their breakfast. God’s gifts to men are to benefit others not to pull them down so we look equal to, or even taller than they do. We dare not use His gifts to benefit ourselves. What do we have that He didn’t give us? And when you have Him you have everything you will ever need. Maximum benefit right there!

God’s Word has also been given to us to diagnose what’s wrong in our hearts and lives, and His Word pulsates with the power to heal. It has not been given to us to accuse ourselves, or others. That’s how the other guy operates. We are to build one another up, and we exist now, to live this life for their benefit, like Jesus did. To do that we will have to see them through His eyes. Because our eyes and ears have been trained by trouble, strife and sorrow in this world – we can do so many unnecessary things to protect ourselves. However, when Jesus came and died, He threw His living body/blanket over each one of us, just like Boaz protected Ruth when she was vulnerable. I can’t afford to take my eyes off everything He has done for me. He sustains me in difficult times.

Our cup is full of His benefits, pressed down and running over.Psalm 103:1-2 “Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy Name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits:…”  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 2934 A true Shepherd.

/ DVH

We have been watching a vlog on YouTube about a senior couple from Azerbaijan, who live a very simple life. They harvest whatever is around them, and store things up for the severe winters that are bound to come. Today, they had a shepherd and his flock of sheep as part of the vlog, and he inspired me to think about Jesus. 

This wonderful old man just stood, or sometimes sat, watching over his sheep. That’s what he does. In the wind and the rain, in the snow, in sunshine, and the heat of the day, all day long – this old man watches over his flock, and protects them. He knows their worth. And if they wander off, then he herds them back, to where he wants them, and makes sure they are safe. That elderly Azerbaijanian, with a face carved by age, and experience, is a good shepherd.

That’s the picture Jesus chose to give us about Himself, to help us relate to Him. And this is what He does, minute by minute, for each one of us …He leads us – He never drives us along….“I am the good shepherd. The good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.“I am the good shepherd; I know My sheep and My sheep know Me— just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father—and I lay down My life for the sheep.”John 10:11-15.

Nothing escapes the Lord Jesus’ gaze, He does not fall asleep on the job, or take a walk … because He is bored out of His gourd with our boring little seemingly pointless lives … NO! His eyes are firmly fixed upon each one of us. He knows if even one of us goes missing. Someone bailed out of our family a couple of years ago, and we haven’t laid eyes on them since. I pray for their safe return all the time – I don’t pray because I have to pray, I pray because I can’t help but pray! The Holy Spirit reminds me that this person’s absence hurts Him far more than me!

Sometimes my dear hubby is up almost all night praying for someone or other.He keeps right on praying for the people we meet on the road. That’s what a true shepherd does – he is faithful to his flock. He doesn’t just teach the sheep, he doesn’t push and exhort them not to be so dumb, he doesn’t even necessarily prophesy over them etc. He watches over and protects his flock. You know, maybe parents are also a kind of shepherd.

Years ago, I used to take my three very small children to the shops in all kinds of weather. It was a big walk, about 2 kms up a very large hill and they all learnt to stretch their little legs as they did it. If they got really tired then they hopped into the pusher. When we got to the shops I had a particular habit. As I walked with them around me, I would count,1. 2. 3. And I looked for their little heads bobbing along in the store in front of me. It was like my head was on a swivel. 1,2,3, all present and accounted for! I always knew when a little head disappeared.

I guess I was remembering those times today, when I watched this old shepherd. He knew every one of his sheep and he would definitely know if one wandered off. He leant on his staff, and watched carefully over them to make sure they were safe. As you probably already know, sheep are remarkably stupid – they need watching! I’ve seen one leap into the air and then the next one jumped in the same spot and the next and the next etc. .But there was nothing there for them to jump over. No wonder we call them dumb!

Human beings also do the dumbest things. Sometimes we know we are going the wrong way and doing the wrong thing, and yet we do it anyway. That’s what a lack of ongoing transformation does. It ushers us into a stupid state where we erroneously think whatever we are choosing to do, won’t matter and God won’t mind. ‘After all our Heavenly Father loves us, and He knows we just can’t help it!’   We stupidly make room for sin, when we need to oppose it. What a load of rubbish that attitude is!

Time not spent in His Presence is time wasted. Our good Shepherd always wants to be with us – leading us to greener pastures, protecting us from harm, making us lie down in safe places. Jesus chose to make Himself our very own Shepherd when He died in our place, and then He deliberately sent back His Holy Spirit to be everywhere. He knows we need SomeOne to be with us and watch over us. The Holy Spirit imparts love and joy etc. freely, daily “…we are His people the sheep of His pasture.”

Jesus’ sacrifice needs to be in the forefront of our minds, that’s a cultivated skill. He has never, and will never EVER forget us, or pass us over…This world may not know us or care about us, but the Lord is always our ever-prayerful, deeply-involved Shepherd. Whether we are injured, beaten up or lost … even if it is our own fault …Jesus will always come after us. No thief, wolf or foe can steal us away from Him. He fought every demon in hell and defeated them so He could call us His very own. 

Jesus is our true Shepherd. He will not leave us or forsake us, or give any one of us up – not without a fight!  Bless you 👋