Priests

P 3179 What does love look like?

/ DVH

If you have been reading this blog on and off for a while you will already know my answer to that question. Real love looks like an innocent man hanging from a cross – suffering willingly and terribly, for every rotten, evil thought and deed humanity has accidentally and purposefully perpetrated against themselves and others.

At the same time love looks like 1 Corinthians 13, 1 John 4:18, 1 Peter 4:8, 1 Corinthians 16:14, Colossians 3:14 just to name after few verses. Every single time I read that chapter in Corinthians, I know I do not have it in me to be that person – I’m going to need truckloads of supernatural help! But God Himself wants to transform my own personal experience into His kingdom experiences, as I learn to walk in His Love. However, I will need to remember that His love is not permission to do whatever I want. It has aims for my life. But the Holy Spirit will always help me.

God’s kind of love does not in any way resemble our modern world, which shouts and jumps up and down at everyone else and says:‘ If you love me you will give me what I want!’ God’s love is founded on, and maintained, through sacrifice. His love is so real, deep and comprehensive it will not rest until it brings out the very best in His beloved. Read the book. Start with the Old Testament and watch our Heavenly Father work with a rebellious, cantankerous, wilful people. The Israelites wanted a god who would smite their enemies, and leave them alone to do absolutely anything they wanted to do, and who cares about the consequences?

Now listen to what the Lord God Almighty says about Himself: “I am the LORD, and I do not change. That is why you descendants of Jacob are not already destroyed.” Malachi 3:6. Did you get that bit? He does not change – you and I might have wanted to do some smiting and biting because of the Israelites horrible attitudes, but our God does not change – His Holiness is fixed. Self-centredness has nothing in common with God’s pure and holy love. Amazingly, Father God does not want to destroy the man He made, that’s why Jesus came. “But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil.” 1 John 3:8.

If God had not sent His Son to die for us then the devil would have destroyed all of us. We were sitting ducks! Jesus thwarted our enemy’s attempt to subvert the ways of God so we can walk with Him ourselves. Jesus not only saved us all from hell – He saved us from our own choices. Then He took us out of satan’s kingdom, paid our debt, so we can live in His Father’s kingdom – LOVE’S KINGDOM. Love’s kingdom has parameters.

“But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for He called you out of the darkness into His wonderful light.”  1 Peter 2:9. It is way too easy to skip over some bits of verses, and just kind of go for the sweet bits we like, that are often in the middle.”The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone, but by EVERY word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Matthew 4:4. Let’s go back to the words we often don’t see …1 Peter 2:9 …”As a result you can show others the goodness of God… OR “…you are not like that …” 

If we are not careful we can easily skip right by those few words, to the ones that tell us what we want to hear.… You are ‘a royal priesthood, a chosen people, God’s very own possession’…those bits. But if we are to live this life as the Father’s royal priests. We are not meant to be the Levites or Pharisees – there is a new order of priests – we are priests who live like Jesus did! We cannot afford to live like everyone else around us. Jesus is ultimate royalty and His life and teaching are our example. God’s Love corrects us and disciplines us, to transform us into royalty.

Human beings don’t think of love as correction, however, correction and discipline are definitely a part of His love! God Himself allowed US to punish HIS SON for OUR own ultimate good. That’s how much He loves us and that’s what love looks like to Him! The devil will quibble, question and defer to our so-called right to be indulged, on the basis of “poor me’ until we are DEAD! However, our Father guides and corrects us because He utterly and unreservedly loves us. Our Father does not discipline us because He wants to spoil our fun… He does so because the stuff we wander into is like treacle or quick-sand – we wander in and we can’t get out!

Trapped in sin is a very bad look for human beings! We were made to worship the Lord, and enjoy Him all the days of our lives… and beyond! But sin, when it is embraced, colours everything around it. Colour goes out of this world when we leave God out. However, living for Jesus and others, as He leads us, is the most delightful thing anyone can aim at. It brings out God’s purpose in our lives, and we learn to live aware of Him. Living a life of faith means we know who we are, and why we are here. That changes the way we see everything else around us.

Let’s briefly go back to the Israelites. They could not see LOVE leading them, and so they felt deprived when they couldn’t do what they wanted to do. Love Himself was talking to them and they couldn’t hear a word He said, because all their complaining and whining blocked His words out! But living this life as a totally surrendered lover of Jesus will transform us to look like Him. It isn’t always FUN, but ‘afterward we reap the peaceable fruits of righteousness.’ Hebrews 12:11. Love looks like Jesus. Bye. 👋

P 2790 Priorities.

/ DVH

The Holy Spirit loves to clarify and personalise His Word – that’s part of the joy of reading the book! One Sabbath day Jesus and His disciples were hungry so they picked some grain from a field they walked by, and ate it. The Pharisees – who were obviously spying on Him!… jumped up and down and accused them all of breaking the law. Jesus, ever gracious, tried to help them stretch their faith by pointing out that their ancestor David once ate the Shew bread and doing that was unlawful, according to their rabbinical rules. Plus, he mentioned that the priests on Sabbath duty break that law too, but they are declared innocent.

The Lord Jesus then says this: “If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.” After this He moves on from that conversation into the synagogue – because there’s another lesson coming up! On that day there is a man with a shrivelled. withered hand in attendance. Meanwhile the Pharisees are still spying on Him, waiting for Him to do something illegal on the Sabbath. They know He will heal this man. Can you believe it? How SAD. They are waiting to catch Jesus out for doing good! So there they were again, pointing out religious rules. They seem to be unaware that they have faulty religious priorities.

So He asked the Pharisees if it is lawful to heal on the Sabbath and reminds them that if one of their sheep falls down a hole on the Sabbath they will pull it out! Matthew 12:12: “How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” It is part of Jesus’ nature to always desire good for His Bride. He stumped these religious guys every time. Meanwhile, they have no idea that this is their opportunity to think differently. The Lord Jesus loves people completely. I think problems occur when we decide to define good, as things that work out the way I want them to, or by categorising whatever supposedly meets our religious standards.

God has His own WAYS. That means it is important for us to know what He wants, in any and all of our various situations. What His will is. Here’s some scripture to help us focus on the way He thinks: “In everything give thanks for this is the will of Christ Jesus concerning you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18. The idea is to start by giving thanks, because doingthat will help us focus. We need to thank Him for helping us to know what He wants from us, remembering we don’t need religion either!

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will.”Romans 12:2. I urge us all to be pliable, ready to expand what we think – we are allowed to learn. Always be big enough to renew your mind by acting on what the book says. I’ve found the best and quickest discernment comes to me when I actively let the Lord teach me His priorities in any situation. I ask myself all the time: “Is this love?” Then I ask Him to help me to be fair and not flavour any answer with my own POV, needs, or religious stuff.

At the same time, the Lord Himself chooses what He wants to change in our lives – not us!  The fact that He is so intimately involved in our lives and thinking must reassure us that He always has our good in mind. There are times when we try to avoid what the Holy Spirit wants to tell us because of fear. We’d rather focus on the little things than tackle the big hard ones. Like the Pharisees, we would rather stick with what we know because it feels safer. Often there are quite obvious things that we know need His transformation, yet we run away because of fear, or unbelief or a stronghold in our mind that says: “I can’t help this, everyone in my family is this way.” You and I are in a new family now – HIS. The old has passed away! We must prioritise His new kingdom now.

Romans 8:27 tells us that the Holy Spirit is already praying God’s will for us – how brilliant is that? Wow. To start with, the Holy Spirit totally knows the difference between the law and LOVE. Right here, right now. Today. There is no question about it we have a trustworthy Helper! Here are two more scriptures that will help us locate what the Lord wants to prioritise as we walk with Him:“For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people.” 1 Peter 2:15. So I ask Him when I have doubt about any situation – is it doing good for someone else? Doing good is our priority. Our aim should always be for other people to tell us:  “I want to know the God you serve.”

Our Loving Heavenly Father;  His beautiful Son, the Lord Jesus;  and the precious ever-present Holy Spirit are our JOY! Let’s live celebrating Them!  There are times we can persecute other brothers and sisters with the law, by verbally beating them up, saying: “don’t do this and don’t do that “. And sadly, sometimes we say: “you did this AND that — so God won’t love YOU anymore.” But none of that stuff RE-presents Him truthfully. To know what is right on any occasion we must prioritise knowing Him. We have the book!

So we do good, give thanks, walk in Love and change our mindsets by reading His word. The Holy Spirit is continually praying for us to live an overcoming life filled with the Lord’s love for us. Walking with Him is our priority now. Bye. 👋

P 2750 Death. We can’t avoid it.

/ DVH

There is no greater privilege than walking with someone else to the end of their earthly journey.  But this life today seems to be more about convenience, and carefully portioning out our time to do relevant, useful, fun things, as well as ordinary, everyday, necessary things. Death is not a significant subject in our society at all. It is as though we think that if we even mention it, that robber of joy will turn up at our house – always uninvited. But this life starts on its own timetable and it finishes the same way.

Most babies are born into this world regardless of our busy lives. One of mine was a month late, another was 3 weeks overdue. I thought I had turned into an elephant both times and I’m not talking about my size! (Elephants can gestate for 18 -20 months). I thought 10 months for a whole human being was a bit excessive myself! Moo..ving on from birth…

… back to my point. Death is not a subject that fits into our timetables. Just like the beginning of this life can be quite unpredictable, we all know that we have an undisclosed appointment with death. Are you cheered up yet??  Me neither! But I serve at the pleasure of the King and today’s blog was His idea. Yay! Meanwhile what are you so gloomy about? I could be closer to that event than you are. 🤪

As Christians we happily announce to the world that death has been swallowed up in victory and then we spend our time here deliberately not thinking about the fact that we are all finite! This subject only comes up, if someone close to us dies, or we are faced with that particular door into the unknown ourselves. Even faith that is steadfast wobbles a bit. Then suddenly death is a spectre looming in our faces, that steals our joy and enthusiasm for living. It creates a gaping wound inside us, and our revisited losses leave us inconsolable. 

However, walking the last mile with someone who is on that particular journey is an honour and a privilege. Caring for a dying person … at a time when their own families may fail them … that is a pure gift of love. Helping others transition from this life to the next is an honour, chosen by very few people – yet we need them.

We must be grateful to the ones who chose this kind of career – they are special. Their palliative, loving care is invaluable to the person who may already be very afraid, as well as in great pain. These people have the privilege of guiding someone prayerfully, carefully, through all the emotional upheaval, the physical ramifications, and the practicalities of dying and leaving this world behind them. Dying often involves suffering – and nobody enjoys going through that — or watching someone else do it either.

Right now, this minute, 106 people are about to leave this world behind – and that happens every single minute of every day. For most of those people this last journey is a journey into the unknown. Only the most adventurous, or the most despairing amongst us anticipate this last adventure. The people who care for the terminally ill are literally called by God Himself, to hold the dying soul’s hand and comfort and care for them, physically and emotionally. It is an opportunity for Love Himself to reach out and touch us at our most vulnerable. Jesus was incredibly kind to anyone He met that was suffering or dying even while He was dying Himself. Remember the men next to Him on the cross?

Dying is a normal part of our lives here on earth. Our civilisation has estranged itself from this process because of our distaste for it. That often leaves the suffering person all alone to manage one of the hardest journeys of their existence. The people who work in palliative care with those who are dying, are heroes to me. They put aside their own inner feelings, fears, and comfort, to make sure that this person is cared for to the end.  

Christians are often looking for ‘spiritual’ careers, yet very few job seekers consider ministering to the lost, dying souls who no longer have hope in this world. As well as standing by to comfort the families that are facing the inevitable. We usually leave that kind of ministry to ministers, imams, monks, priests, chaplains and pastors – the so-called ‘experts’ about the important things of this life. 

I felt the Lord wanted me to remind us all about praying or caring for the desperately sick, dying and lost. Being someone’s carer, nurse, nurse’s aid, doctor, or even someone who looks after people in palliative care is an honour. Love always looks like something. To a dying person it looks like hope for what comes next. 😶

P 2534 Not just saved from, we are saved … FOR!

/ DVH

“But you are God’s chosen treasure —priests who are kings, a spiritual “nation” set apart as God’s devoted ones. He called you out of darkness to experience His marvellous light, and now He claims you as His very own. He did this so that you would broadcast His glorious wonders throughout the world. For at one time you were not God’s people, but now you are. At one time you knew nothing of God’s mercy, because you hadn’t received it yet, but now you are drenched with it!” 1 Peter 2:9-10 TPT.

Drenched! What a word that is. It means – ‘wet thoroughly; soaked.’ I think that this word illustrates that we have been totally saturated in His Love … forever. When I think about what Jesus did for us, in spite of all of our wilful ways, it still blows my mind. I’ve done some stuff I’m not proud of in my life, and now it is under His blood, thank you Lord!  Thank God He is so much wiser than I will ever be, He saw our sins and dealt with them over 2000 years ago.  🙌

However He did not simply save us from all our sinful appetites and proclivities, He saved you and I for His purposes. There is a world of difference right there — between from and for. It is one thing to be rescued, but it is entirely another thing to be rescued … for a purpose, and in this case, you and I were rescued for His higher purpose!  We’ve been given a calling, identity and purpose. Feel free to cheer!!

I cannot begin to imagine how God would want to take ordinary people and call us kings and priests. However, I think that someone like King David is a great illustration of that fact. It worked in his life like this. David was no-one. In the pecking order of society in those days – he was way down the bottom. Yet he was chosen, by God, to be king. We need to remember that this young man had no birthright to that throne. But he was still chosen to lead Israel. 

Now, if we take my illustration over into life in the 21st century … sometimes our hearts aren’t in the best order, maybe not always on the up and up? … So Almighty God sent His Son to change our hearts forever. The power for us to change the way we think and act toward Him, and others, was released on that cross. And the proof that Jesus Christ Himself had the power to do that for us – is seen in the resurrection and the arrival of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. The best thing we can do, is to let Him do what He wants with our lives. After all, now we know that the bible lays that change out like a map! 

The thing is, we must actively choose to come out of the darkness all around us and stand there in His marvellous light – daily. That clear holy light can be very daunting – nothing can hide there, trust me! But because Jesus gave mankind HIS standing as a free gift, we have been given His power to overcome and His purity. His exchange changed everything. Now, Almighty God’s calls us His very own. And that’s worthy of praise! 

So it is easy to think we are sort of, kind of, OK – but that is because in this life, we are not standing next to absolute purity and total dedication to God’s ways and will. If Jesus Christ walked into our space and time in all His glory and splendour – we’d be on our faces in a split second! In our world today, there are people I know that are incredibly genuine in their love for Christ, but they don’t particularly see themselves in a good light. As a matter of fact, they hardly see themselves at all! They are way too busy gazing at Him and enjoying the view! It seems to me that gazing at Him is the best place to be. 

Our God honours mankind because of Christ. He now calls us His treasure. How could any of us be worthy of that? In order to appreciate what God did for us, we must lift our eyes up — from the one who is being blessed — us … to the One Who is doing the blessing… the Lord! Grace bent down and lifted you and I up into a place we will never deserve. In order to stand in that place we need to focus on HIM, not just our little lives. Focussing on ourselves just sets us up for a fall. Focussing on Jesus sets us up for adoration.

We must stop giving any room to our sins. And instead look at the One Who delivered us. Because of Jesus we’ve been saved FROM that person we used to be. Not because of what we do, or who we are – but because of His incredible generosity. Love Himself looked down on mankind from that cross. Today, we need to remember that we’ve been saved FOR a higher purpose – we’ve been given the privilege of reflecting His love into our world. Let’s not be a muddy MIRROR. 👋

P 2222 How to know God.

/ DVH

“Jesus explained, “I am the Way, I am the Truth, and I am the Life. No one comes next to the Father except through union with Me. To know Me is to know My Father too.” John 14:6 TPT. Jesus is doing something extraordinary here – He is pointing out how to be close to Father God – how to know Him. When we read the Gospels and we are observant about the way Christ interacts with people, as well as what He says, we will know the Father too. We will begin to see God the Father’s heart toward mankind.  

Jesus Christ spent His time talking to, and mixing with, ordinary people. Up until He came, these people had no ‘WAY,” to get close to God Himself. The view of God they knew up until Jesus came, was always going to be remote and unapproachable. Only the High Priests dared to approach Almighty God, wearing thick smoke and total darkness as a disguise! Isn’t it fascinating how religion HIDES God?! The Pharisees, the Sadducees and the teachers of the law, were the only ones with any chance of gaining knowledge about Him. However, we are so blessed. We have a book filled with stories about Him, and the Way Christ interacted with people.

To humanity’s great astonishment, Almighty God Himself already had a solution to this total separation – God Himself solved this problem and He came to us. HE approached us!  Ya might want to pause and give thanks for that. 🙌 And … sometimes I also like to give thanks for Paul. If God hadn’t saved Paul, we’d still be on the outside looking in!  Meanwhile, Father God did not replace the Jews in His affections – instead, He added us into them. I gotta say: I love the Lord’s Maths!! He always makes things more beautiful and BIGGER.

I don’t know about you but I was totally unchurched – if Jesus hadn’t revealed Himself to me – I’d still be dead in my sins. And I strongly suspect those sins would have piled up into a very large stinky pile by now!! I did not know ONE CHRISTIAN in my whole life before I met the Lord Jesus – there was a whole other world out there I had no knowledge about. I strongly suspect many people fall into this category.

Do yourself a favour, read the Gospels with Almighty God in your mind – because Jesus IS Him in human form. Father God broke all the known rules and yet He fulfilled them all at the same time – IN A PERSON. Christ! (Ephesians 3.) That’s Almighty God as a 12 year old child, in the temple talking about the rules He already gave the Jews personally, a couple of thousand years previously, through Moses. Yet  the Lord Jesus never flaunted Who He was. That’s called humility. 

Think about the gospel stories like this – that’s Father GOD touching a leper. That’s GOD walking all the way to Samaria to meet a Samaritan woman. No Jew would speak to that woman, she had five husbands – but the Lord Jesus revealed to her another way to live, instead. That’s GOD Himself delivering a demoniac who was living(?) in a cemetery. That’s GOD striding through the colonnades at the Beautiful Gate to get to a man who had the faith to believe, but he could not get into the water fast enough – so GOD came to him!  How prophetic is that??!! That story always fills my eyes with tears.

It is time to get rid of our ideas about who, and how people can be saved! It’s not just the dear people who gather up the courage to come into our churches. He wants to save the people out there that look like everyone else, but they are wandering about, eating anything that looks remotely spiritual. They are looking for something REAL! We’ve made their lack of knowledge about God about them, but it is really about our inability to actively carry the Presence of God with us wherever we go. WE ARE NOW HIS PRIESTS. Religion will not comfort their broken hearts. You and I, we have the reality of Christ living inside us. We dare not separate ourselves from this crazy world because: “We are IN this world, not OF it.” And it is our God-given duty to tell them there is a whole other reality out there.

Jesus met people where they were – in the streets and market places. Every day as we work, play, shop, clean and learn, we are now, by His Grace, in union with God Himself. We can not only learn about Him – we can KNOW HIM, for ourselves – in Christ. 👋🏻