P 3316 Be a good farmer.

April 17, 2026April 17, 2026 / DVH

In order to seek God’s kingdom first, we will need to choose to FIRST put aside this world’s kingdom! Otherwise we can end up with a huge competition between this world’s kingdom’s and His! Unfortunately, the wrong kingdom often wins, because this world pushes and prods at us incessantly. The kingdom of God, the kingdom we’ve been born into spiritually, needs to be cherished by us.

So before we do anything in our lives at all, let’s always ask the Lord: “What do You want Holy Spirit?” His kingdom aims are often long-range. Just like any farmer sows seed for a harvest, one little seed in God’s kingdom can produce a plant with many more seeds inside it, over time. This is how the kingdom of God spreads, through the cultivation of our lives. What He has planted inside our hearts was made to grow.

In the parable of the sower – Matthew 13 – the Lord explains how this process works, what to watch out for that can rob us along the way. Our bit is to receive the newly planted seed, by making sure the ground of our heart is open, soft and prepared. That’s not always easy. Preparation takes diligence, and physical engagement with what the bible says. We need to daily choose to live out what we read in the bible, IN REAL LIFE. This devoted tilling of the soil of our hearts, means we are also letting the Lord Himself turn over any parts of our soil that have become hard and we are trusting Jesus with our inner selves.

We can’t afford to hide behind our broken past or the difficulties of this life, or even pointing at other people’s sins – to avoid dealing with the our own hearts. We will take ourselves out of His growing processes and get stuck. We are in a battle, that battle isn’t just about avoiding sin, it is about producing more seeds. Sadly, weeds are a sign of a gardener who does not check their garden, daily. So let’s check our hearts before Him, and repent and repair things with Him, and others – daily. Keep refreshing your love for Jesus at every opportunity. It’s the farmer’s job to make sure the ground stays soft, weed-free, and watered so it can be planted out.

The Holy Spirit is right here with us, watching over us, waiting to see Christ’s qualities spring to life in us. For His plants to grow, bloom and produce even more seeds, we must engage in His processes – because you and I are the fresh bread of heaven that other people get to eat daily. We’ve been shaped and formed into loaves by our personal circumstances — the blessings, difficulties, joys and suffering in our lives. Our God-given responses to these things shape that bread.

Some seeds are sown onto the surface of the soil, and covered with a light sprinkling of more soil. This can be how the ‘birds of the air’ can get access to it. These seeds are not planted very deeply because they need the sun to germinate them, not just the warmth of the soil. So we need to watch out for the birds of the air! We must be on our guard, otherwise the seed of God’s word can be pinched or stolen away. This happens because of the inattention on behalf of the gardener. Those kinds of opportunistic situations that can occur when God’s word is lying on the surface of our heart.

When we accept the seed of His Word into us, it nourishes us and promotes growth. But the stuff that drags our focus away from Jesus is often current, and it needs our immediate response. The best response is “HELP!”However, there are other seeds are planted more deeply and their roots go down deep into the soil. “Have your roots planted deep in Christ. Grow in Him. Get your strength from Him. Let Him make you strong in the faith as you have been taught. Your life should be full of thanks to Him.” Colossians 2:7.

There is no need to hide from the Holy Spirit’s processes, we are designed to live in the Grace of God and His workings in our lives, experientially, day after day. Being a Christian is something we live— we don’t just believe it, or take comfort in the fact that we can repeat appropriate things at appropriate times. This is now our chosen way to live: “For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.” (Acts17:28.)

Humility waters the seed that God plants within us, and the bible is the best kind of water – Living Water! As we deliberately take notice, and act on what the Lord says in the bible, it then becomes the fertiliser of our faith. We need both His water and fertiliser. Jesus said this in Matthew 11:9. “Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart, and you will find rest (relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet) for your souls.” Humility is not self-effacement – it is Jesus’ own yoke. He wore it, by choice, when He lived on earth.

Lastly, a mature bullock when it is selected to pull a load has to accept its yoke. The beast freely walks into it. When we are yoked to the Lord, it means we’ve chosen to walk with Him. Now we walk in step with the other bullocks around us, because we are part of a ‘team.’ When we come to Him we are choosing to accept the same yoke that He accepted – God’s Will comes first. The end result of planting seeds is food, and grain that has more seeds in it. To be a good faithful farmer of what we have been given, we will always need to follow Jesus’ example. Bye. 👋.

P 3217 This book is alive!

January 8, 2026January 8, 2026 / DVH

“God has transmitted His very substance into every Scripture, for it is God-breathed. It will empower you by its instruction and correction, giving you the strength to take the right direction and lead you deeper into the path of godliness. Then you will be God’s servant, fully mature and perfectly prepared to fulfil any assignment God gives you.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17.

“The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.” John 6:63. ‘For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12.

Today’s blog is about the sort of expectation we can fall into, because we mistakenly believe God has to fit in with our agendas. Over the years my hubby has found that he can often interpret the meaning in other people’s dreams etc., it goes with his name. He explained to me yesterday, that people can sometimes have an attitude that the Lord is obligated to answer them.

So here’s a slightly exaggerated illustration: “God has talked to me about this problem 10 times, in my dreams. And a stranger gave me some confirming verses. What do you think I should do?” Hubby cracked me up with this answer: “Ten times?!!! Go right now, this very minute, and do what He said! What do you want, an angel with a trumpet?!” How many signposts do we need??

How many times does the Lord have to speak to us before we obey Him? I know that there is a kind of paralysing fear about stepping out into faith – it’s normal. We are scared of being wrong, and so the enemy attacks us. We think things like: ’But what if I do what the Lord says, and nothing happens, or, even worse … something BAD happens.’ That’s easily fixed! You say: ‘I’m so sorry Lord. Please forgive me for messing up. Would You help me with it? I got it wrong. Please will You redeem it?’

Then you repent to anyone else involved, and repair any relationships wherever it is necessary. Humility never killed anyone – it’s good for us! When you are done repenting to Him and others, and repairing relationships, then you give Him whatever it is, and leave the rest to Him. Go home, lie down, have a big cry and then blow your nose… then get up and get on with your life.

People say: “If only I could just get a word from the Lord for my situation …” Let’s think about this, the New International Version contains approximately 728,000 words, the Amplified has 820,980 words. Choose any bible you like and go for it. Our God is so incredible His life inhabits every single word. It is not like reading Charles Dickens! Father God doesn’t do background, or character depictions, or scene descriptions – every single solitary word in His book has power in it.

And those words don’t have to be big incomprehensible words either. The Holy Spirit has taught me so much through just one little word “let.” Three letters that changed my life. “Let this mind be in you …” “Let us make every attempt to enter that rest …” “Let us love one another…” “Let us throw off everything that hinders us …” ‘Let us not become weary in doing good …” You get it… … Trust me ‘let’ is a very BIG little word.

I’ve learnt many times that the Lord wasn’t doing some things, because I wasn’t giving Him permission to do it in whatever way suited Him! He had something for me to learn, and sometimes He had an even greater blessing if I just followed Him in faith. Here’s another made-up illustration: Let’s say I wanted a new car, but I found out through prayer and reading the word, that He wanted me to give my old car away first. So my prayer asking for help with a new car could remain unanswered, because I have an agenda. I am not yielding to Him, and praying for His Will His Way.

We can’t be in charge of what we think we need, like we can give a chemist a prescription. But, spiritually speaking, we must choose to put God in charge of our needs – that way He gets all the glory! We live on His timetable, not our own. If you didn’t decide to die to self when you were baptised, or nobody told you that was what baptism is all about — then make a quality decision to do it now! And ask for His help to live this way. You know, some of the Apostles made a living to support themselves, but they did not have two careers – they simply served God first, whatever they did. Putting the Lord first is a sensible response to His generosity toward us. And if things remain unclear, then ask for wisdom, and keep right on reading the bible.

Please, don’t get stuck on ‘what hasn’t happened,’ move on to ‘what do you want me to do now, Lord?’ Some things happen as we are going along in the way the Lord leads us. “He(Abraham’s servant) said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not denied His lovingkindness and His truth to my master. As for me, the Lord led me to the house of my master’s brothers.” Genesis 24:27. This servant had no idea how to go about what His master Abraham told him to do. But God met him as he stepped out and tried to do what he was told. He was simply obedient.

“In the beginning the Living Expression was already there. And the Living Expression was with God, yet fully God. They were together—face-to-face, in the very beginning.” John 1:1. Jesus is God’s living expression of His Word, that’s how powerful God’s Word is. His book is alive. Bye. 👋

I have discovered this sweet little series by REAVO. This one seemed appropriate for today. (Two minutes 39 seconds)

P 3212 Four immobilising traps.

January 3, 2026 / DVH

How do I know that God loves me? It’s in the book, over and over again. His Love does not have to be felt — it is best dem-on-strat-ed — not necessarily felt! Feelings come and go, they are often subject to outside influences. I am not saying don’t have them, but I am saying don’t let them run your life!

Experiences with God are precious, but they are not meant to guide us. That’s the book’s job, and the Holy Spirit’s territory. Experiences are meant to follow us, not lead us! “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you…” We do what He says – and then we experience His joy, or peace, or rest for our souls, or a boost in our faith etc. Personally, I think the Lord loves it best whenever we do everything using our faith, and we choose to stand firmly on His Word. “The just shall LIVE by faith.” (Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, and Hebrews 10:38.)

BTW, when God Himself says something in three scriptures – we’d better listen! Our feelings are unreliable. This is one of our enemy’s sneakiest ploys to get us to continually live in the land of “I don’t feel anything.” We must constantly remind ourselves that God has already demonstrated His love – Jesus came here and lived and died for our sake. Let that be enough.

The second stumbling block that can stop our spiritual progression in our faith, is when we focus on the past. Listen to what God says about that subject: ““Stop dwelling on the past. Don’t even remember these former things. I am doing something brand new, something unheard of. Even now it sprouts and grows and matures. Don’t you perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and open up flowing streams in the desert.” Isaiah 43:18-19 TPT. When we choose to personalise scriptures like this one—verses that point us in His direction—that means we’ve decided God’s Word is true. We are putting some skin in the game, and demonstrating our love and faith in Him, even in the face of difficulties. The past cannot be changed by revision, it can only serve as a sign post, a warning for the present and the future. And we can repent and put it away.

The third stumbling block is fear of loss. Obviously any sentence that includes fear has nothing whatsoever to do with the Lord! The only fear that is acceptable to the Lord is called “the fear of the Lord.” The bible tells us: “…the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Proverbs 9:10. Fearing God makes us wise, not afraid. Meanwhile, living this life fearful about what God might take away from us, is from the enemy, it is not from the Lord. The Lord is like a surgeon, cutting away the things that will cause us to stumble. He adds. He does not take away. The only thing He has taken away is our sin … and that was at great personal cost.

The last thing I want to mention today seems to be a current trend. I call it somnambulism – the sorry state of “being asleep in the light. ”I’ve used that odd word deliberately. It literally means — walking around asleep! No wonder we crash into other people all the time if we are not properly spiritually awake!

Instead we let God’s Word flow by us, while we are listening to the preacher/speaker in church —without allowing it to wash off the mud, dirt and the cloudy film this world puts over our eyes. That leads to a sort of nether state, where we are more asleep than awake. We are not alert enough to release His life wherever we go – the oil that prepares us to be His Bride is the same oil of God’s life in us, as described in:

Matthew 25:1-13: “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.“At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’

“Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps.

The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’“‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’ “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.“Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’“But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.”

We simply can’t afford to go through this life half-asleep. That’s called sleep walking! We need His oil to flow through us, all the time, enlivening us to whatever the Lord is doing now. Both of these virgins fell asleep, but one group was not prepared for any delay. The preparation the wise virgins made for any eventuality, placed them in a prime position to keep ready for the groom! We can’t afford to live our lives not ready for whatever comes next.

Let’s live the Word, by walking it out. We dare not allow these four things to circumvent God’s will for our lives: like chasing experiences; or being haunted by the past; or living our lives afraid of what we might lose. Or not preparing well. I think we are now living in a time when we need to practice being alert. Bye. 👋

P 2397 There is a WAY to walk.

October 11, 2023 / DVH

“In light of all this, here’s what I want you to do. While I’m locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to travel. I don’t want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don’t want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences.” Ephesians 4:1-3 MSG

Don’t these few verses in Ephesians really nail the issues facing us all? Firstly we need to find our road, then we walk … and then, well, I’m sorry Apostle Paul, but some of us aren’t UP to running … so we take the car! … But … good thought! 🚕 Meanwhile, if we happen to think what OUR pastor says is tough… reading the bible is revolutionary.

Hubby and I have to carry 8 chair raisers when we go on the road, because modern chairs seem to be made for three year olds to use as a climbing frame… Or for people with much younger knees. Not for older people whose knees are mostly ageing nicely. Older people have knees that go “Snap Crackle and Pop” like Rice bubbles. We carry these chair raisers because getting me out of low set modern furniture is like watching Captain Ahab try to drag Moby Dick out of the water. 🐋 It’s. Not. Pretty.

We also carry heaps of pillows with us, because most places don’t have that many, and I currently need to sleep almost sitting up. I used to sleep on my right side until … …🤕💥!!! In our travels over these 17 years, we have found all sorts of amazing, hard-as-a-rock beds! Piously, I sometimes remind myself that Jesus Himself slept by the road …then my evil twin self reminds me that He was 40 years younger than me at the time!

We carry more water in our car than the local dam, because I can’t drink tap water without getting some bug or other. Yes, I use my faith, and yes I’ve tried drinking the tap water 🙄… a-n-d … previously I’ve gotten Giardia, as a bonus buy! So now we use avoidance, because Flagyl antibiotics ain’t fun, they create other worse things. Immune-compromised people have to learn to compromise, and God didn’t make no stupid people!

The first thing we do when we get to our destination, is pray and ask the Lord what He wants us to do for Him where we are. Amazingly, time and time again He tells us separately, what He wants us to do, and then when we share … it’s the same! That gets me every single time. 🙌

The manager of this establishment, a young lady, was delighted with the butterfly keychain we gave her. And hubby gave her two of his pictures – she also took bibles. We had a lovely conversation about her finding a guy like the one in hubby’s painting … the picture is above. Apparently this surfer appears to be her type. And as she said … you never know…?? Meanwhile, a surfer in a red T shirt? Good luck with that —-that’s like sticking a sign on saying ‘free shark bait.’

After that we settled in, and later, as we were having a shower … the toilet exploded. Well… it didn’t really explode … but it did a good job of trying! It started spraying and belching its contents all over the room, all over the floor and up the walls. I was in the shower at the time and for some reason … it must have been the Lord .. we both found this sight hilarious, as we took shelter and watched… Until we had a brain-wave and put down the toilet lid! The splatter hit the mirror four feet away!

The plumbers on the bobcat digger outside, had done something dumb to the plumbing. And our unit, and the one next to us, were affected. The poor manager was so upset because she had distinctly told them not to DO anything to the pipes. Fortunately… neither of them were surfers with long hair in a red T shirt. It seems there are slim pickings for cute intelligent guys in this town! 😱 Meanwhile that smell definitely lingers …

The way to walk with the Holy Spirit, is to take faith steps. And yes, sometimes things will test your faith. These steps come one at a time. You say yes to going when He asks you – that’s step one. You pray and make plans, and wait for His input, that’s step two. You go prepared to bless people however He says – step three. And then stuff happens and you face some test or other – that’s step four. And, step five, you tell fear and grumpiness to go take a hike! And the last and final step is give thanks you weren’t sprayed with toilet water! There’s a WAY to walk.👋🏻

P 2356 We are filled with fresh oil, to burn.

August 31, 2023 / DVH

Exodus 40:9-15 “Take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and everything in it; consecrate it and all its furnishings, and it will be holy. Then anoint the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils; consecrate the altar, and it will be most holy. Anoint the basin and its stand and consecrate them.

“Bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance to the tent of meeting and wash them with water. Then dress Aaron in the sacred garments, anoint him and consecrate him so he may serve me as priest. Bring his sons and dress them in tunics. Anoint them just as you anointed their father, so they may serve me as priests. Their anointing will be to a priesthood that will continue throughout their generations.’

Christians worship and serve our King in various ways, it is part of who we are now. Some of us have less seen roles —and others, just like Aaron’s oil-saturated garments, are more visible. It makes no difference – whether we are a utensil or a High priest’s tunic – like it was in the days of the Tabernacle – everything and everyone who serves Him needs His anointing.

In the same way as the altar, the furnishings, utensils, Aaron, his clothes, and his sons; WE need to learn how to live our lives in co-operation with His anointing. The oil mentioned here is a type or illustration of the Precious Holy Spirit – how He facilitates life and worship, repentance and celebration. We cannot possibly expect to live this new life God has given us, for free — without the Holy Spirit.

The secret to living in His anointing is to live a life of totally yielded and surrendered love. There is no law against LOVE. You may need to read that last two sentences again – I know I did! That sounds and looks like this – ‘Wherever You want me to go, I will go, whatever You want me to do, Lord, I WILL DO IT.’ But I won’t just accept every circumstance I find myself in, instead the Holy Spirit and I talk about everything together. Personally, I find that comforting not intrusive.

In Matthew 25:1-13 – in the parable of the Ten Virgins – we can see what happens when we treat the Holy Spirit carelessly. Some of those women did not value Him enough to be able to have continuous supply/fellowship with Him. What Jesus is highlighting here is our need to be ready whenever the Bridegroom calls us. – this parable is not just for the end times – we need to be ready day or night. That’s what it is saying. And to do that … we need to value Him more than our own convenience or comfort.

The oil of the Spirit … how incredible is the fact that we can partake of such a wonderful Person! The same oil that flowed over Aaron and Co. plus all the utensils etc. in the tabernacle, is to be a part of our lives. And what a privilege we have to be able to know personally such a wonderful treasure. Because the Holy Spirit IS our ever-present treasure, He must not be taken for granted. That’s the point of that parable, the Bridegroom was so important to these five wise women they did whatever they could to be ready for Him.

Yet still every single one of those virgins also fell asleep. Where the foolish virgins fell down was that they did not allow for unforeseen circumstances. They had a shelf-life to their devotion. The wise virgins had the sense to understand that the Bridegroom will come whenever He comes! It was simply their responsibility to stay prepared.

Jesus is telling us here that we cannot make a last minute trip or effort to be in tune with the Holy Spirit, fellowship with HIM has to be our purpose. Staying ready and filled is our responsibility. Our hearts are meant to be looking for Him – no matter what time of the day or night. We need to do whatever it takes to keep our lamps burning with His fire and passion for Christ. Remember living in love with Him and others is the key to walking with Holy Spirit.

It is simplistic to say that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit love each other with kind of a lovey-dovey hearts and flowers kind of love. Their love for each other is an overwhelming life-changing FIRE! And we’ve been asked to participate in that kind of relationship with all three of Them. Why would we ignore that kind of invitation? Don’t wait for tomorrow – our heart’s cry daily needs to be ‘fill me now, I need more! I need to burn!’ 👋🏻

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"Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.." Philippians 3:13,14.

Prepared