Process

P 2441 Faith steps are essential.

/ DVH

“IF the Spirit is the source of our life, we must also allow the Spirit to direct every aspect of our lives.” Galatians 5:25 TPT. And here’s the NIV version: “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” And the last one, the MSG bible: “Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives.” 

We must always remember, salvation is not a one off – it’s an ongoing, active, co-operative process. You see, the problem is that we think that because we have been given an option, a choice, we can still opt out of obedience and it will make no difference to our walk with Jesus. Just because the owner of the vineyard is absent that does not mean we can do whatever we like! We can ignore His directives, but we do that at our own peril. This is why…

It is the Spirit of God Who leads us and inspires us, and when we ignore Him, or whatever God is saying to us, we are actively rejecting Him. We are telling Him we don’t want His help. Remember Samson?  That guy wanted what he wanted, and due to God’s investment in his life, he could get most things without any consequence. Boy, is this man’s life a cautionary tale! He shows us that disregarding the Lord’s instructions can have dire results. We can walk with the Holy Spirit and experience His power through our lives, and if we are not careful, we can see His power flowing through us as His approval of WHATEVER we do. Our God doesn’t take His gifts back – He’s not an Indian giver.

Samson was accustomed to the power of God being with him in whatever battle he faced. Then he got careless. A beautiful woman wore down his resolve and he disobeyed God’s instruction not to cut his hair. Because of this Samson lost his connection with the Holy Spirit … and he didn’t even know it.  Like I said – a cautionary tale! Judges 16:20; “Then she called out,“Samson,the Philistines are here!” When Samson awoke from his sleep, he thought,“I will escape as I did before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him.“The ‘she’ in this story BTW, is Delilah, who would not stop until she rendered him helpless! …To return to the most important line in the whole story … SAMSON DID NOT KNOW THAT THE LORD HAD DEPARTED FROM HIM. Pause and think on that! 

Sincere repentance is great, do it! But making allowances for our pet sin(s) is not! We are treating the Holy Spirit badly when we act like that…He will leave AND WE WILL NOT KNOW IT – Samson didn’t. The Holy Spirit is not like a plane or a train! He does not announce His departure … He just quietly … leaves. This BTW explains the people you know who claim they are definitely Christians but they stay the same day after day, year after year. There are people who pay lip-service to God but they are not fooling Him. Transformation is always our own personal choice, and our responsibility – it is our response to Christ’s sacrifice. He will ALWAYS help us if we will just take a step of faith. 

Friendship with the Holy Spirit is to be desired and sought after. Those people who like to appear righteous, however, are living in presumption. All we ever need to do is ask for His help. Um… you and I cannot be independent and walk with the Holy Spirit, all at the same time. HE. WILL. LEAVE. The very purpose of being saved includes actively relying upon Him. Here’s another news flash … the Lord’s silence does not mean that He agrees with us.

Almighty God is always looking for us to use our faith. Ask for His mercy and grace, and then stop doing whatever it is that you know you should not be doing. Leave the room. Stop thinking someone else is going to make the difference and use your own faith. Nobody is making anyone do that stuff, and SomeOne, oh so precious, is right there, wanting to help you overcome.

We are saved to walk by faith and serve Him, and that always includes our transformation. When we tell Him “I can’t” –  our unbelief in His power to SAVE us from ourselves, will be our downfall. Tell Him, “I can’t, but I want to, please help me!” – and then do something differently. The Holy Spirit will show us the way through any trouble, one step at a time. Otherwise we are parking our lives in the middle of satan’s freeway. Change is hard but necessary – God has work for each one of us to do.

However simply praying God will change us, and then walking away and still acting like our mean old sorry self is not the way to be changed. Nobody else is going to put their hand over anyone’s mouth to shut them up when they’ve wandered off into giving people a piece of their mind. Our choice to disobey is our choice. Faith steps are not optional they are essential. Bye.👋🏻

P 2406 True kindness – not the mushy kind.

/ DVH

The Lord wants us to be kind the way He is kind – He is kind to the sinner, as well as the saint – He shows no partiality. Kindness can open up a heart far better and faster than any probing, or carefully crafted questions. Whenever we think about approaching other people … kindness needs to be our motivation. We need this fruit of the Holy Spirit activated and operating through us. Active in us – means we understand that when God or a brother or sister points out a fault in us, they are being kind. Christians are always ready and unafraid to be corrected, because we own and rectify our untoward actions and attitudes. We have a secret – WE HAVE A SAVIOUR. 

One of the best things to put far from our minds when we are talking to strangers, or friends, is whether they are Christians or not. We need get rid of this isolationist idea that we have one face in church and another outside it. I urge you to simply be the same person at all times. To start with, there will be huge untold benefits —- you will do what you do with sincerity and true kindness, and other people will be impacted.  

Hiding our sins from others gives the enemy an opportunity to shoot us at the worst possible moment. Our sin is gone, not disguised. Many Christians hide their sins because they hate to be seen to be wrong —I dunno why?!?! We have been permanently set free and we are now open to be led by Him. Honesty means humility. Win win! However wearing a nice veneer leaves no room for acts of faith. The Holy Spirit loves all things to be open. Hiding our sin from ourselves and each other, is a sign of pride. But a humble heart gladly repents and makes reparation. If we are not careful we can treat being changed like it is our enemy – transformation into His likeness is always a JOY. 

Meanwhile pride is the stuff that will make anyone fall over quicker than a runner who trips on a shoelace. The bible says:“It is the kindness of God that leads us to repentance.”Here that verse is in the MSG version:“You didn’t think, did you, that just by pointing your finger at others you would distract God from seeing all your misdoings and from coming down on you hard? Or did you think that because He’s such a nice God, He’d let you off the hook? Better think this one through from the beginning. God is kind, but He’s not soft. In kindness He takes us firmly by the hand and leads us into a radical life-change.”Romans 2:4.

Isn’t that version a hoot? Because if we are truthful, sometimes this is exactly the way we think. We think He will be kind to us because … because… “I can’t help it. I had a hard life and my parents were mean to me … blah  blah blah… I hate my job and it’s not my fault… blah blah blah. Because my spouse is mean to me and my kids don’t listen to a word I say… I know God understands that when I shout I don’t mean it….” … This sort of attitude denies the power of the cross. Be real! Admit your faults – then you can get on with living life His Way instead. Being fake excludes the power of the Spirit.

God’s idea of kindness includes discipline. “The Lord disciplines those He loves.” God loves us but He won’t put up with our stuff. The stuff has to go! It is stopping us from being all we can be. His huge, very real love, challenges anything and everything that will stop us from growing up into the fullness of Christ. Any parent will tell you that it knows their kid’s potential, and when the little darlings go on and on about ‘it’s not my fault, the teacher is so mean to me!’ An engaged parent will see through that. And so does the Lord. Everything is an opportunity for us to know HIM better … this side of heaven.

Here’s what I’ve learnt – we can only avoid change for so long, and then the Lord kind of squishes us into a corner where we have to look at whatever it is … and despite our pretty pictures of a God Who is more like Santa Claus – He won’t let us out! This is when He is being incredibly kind to us. He never demands that we succeed – instead He wants our participation, our willingness to engage with Him in His processes. And that has nothing whatsoever to do with simply agreeing that what we are doing is not Godly! We need to learn to apply God-given answers and deal with ourselves. Real faith grows with application and demonstration.

Godly kindness will open doors that have been slammed shut by pain, betrayal, anguish, grief, and hopelessness. Human kindness will eventually get fed up, and give up! God’s kind of love perseveres. Its only requirement is that it is genuine. And there is nothing like staying real, to release the sort of kindness that heals and impacts someone else’s life. Kindness means forgiveness is always ready to make an appearance – it doesn’t demand a penalty because it knows the penalty has been paid.

In the kindness of our God, our faith and beliefs are open to anyone… so we need to be open, generous, truthful and considerate with other people, no matter how they treat us. That’s how we spread what He did for mankind around, and it is what true kindness looks like. 👋🏻

P 2404 Really loving others is costly.

/ DVH

“It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows. For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That’s an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then?” Galatians 5:13-15 MSG.

God’s idea of freedom verses ours is another one of those things that seem to be in opposition. In reality it is available to the tough, those who will persevere, and the utterly committed. I believe the Lord wants us all to live a life free of the oppressions that drive and devastate people, and spoil relationships, and break- up homes. That sort of life is truly our witness, not just our words. There is an incredible freedom in living out the truth, and His Word is the only truth. When we willingly exchange our ideas of truth and freedom for His TRUTH, from the bible, everything looks different. 

And we’ve actually exchanged human glasses for heavenly vision. This is what renewing our minds looks like. It is more than being able to quote the bible. It is allowing ourselves to become a living bible. We are no different to the thousands of men and women of God who lived this way right after Christ died. They gave everything for the gospel. And they had the same Holy Spirit we have!  Reading the bible and simply agreeing that what is in it is a good principle, or a nice thought, or a good way to live —will not set us free. In God’s kingdom there is no compromise. He gave everything and He asks us to do the same. That includes exchanging what we esteem as truth, for real truth, HIS TRUTH. 

This means mental agreement is not enough, practicing what it says is. We might think – but I will not be ME anymore if I follow what the Holy Spirit says. GOOD!! The idea is to die to who we think we are, and all the stuff we’ve grabbed at in this life to achieve that image in our head – and trust in what Christ did for us instead. The Holy Spirit is not an add-on. He is essential to our new life in Christ. He knows what Jesus would do! If we lean toward making excuses for our own behaviour, or attacking other people to defend ourselves, we are immediately walking into satan’s territory. I believe obedient hearts attract the Holy Spirit’s Presence.

satan is the prince of the power of the air. he loves to distort words, meanings, looks, attitudes into negative things. We need to see other people from God’s perspective. He can use our prayers, our kindness, self-control, and love to bring out the best in others. We have a choice … we can live on the fringes of what the Lord says, or we can change the way we view people to His way, and practice obedience. I have people in my life that are not always supportive, but the Holy Spirit has asked me to see those people through His eyes. I owe Him my obedience.

Our God is fantastic at multi-tasking. Boy is He terrific at it!! He can take my desire to be obedient and transform me, as I act on it. And at the same time He will use my obedience to break into other people’s lives and bring about change there too. The thing we need to hold onto is that it will take as long as it takes. There is no magic formula. Ask for help, do what He says, keep your ears open and your heart humble … and be obedient … and remember flattery will not do. We are not buttering other people up – we are in process with God learning to live in the truth. The best words we can ever learn in this process are: “I’m sorry please forgive me.” Whether we did something to warrant those words or not. Read the book!

Sometimes we are like little kids who are planting seeds. We plant the seed, and a day later we are disappointed because we can’t see any growth! Changing adults who are set in their ways, and used to defending themselves, can take time. In our eyes, it is often the other person who is wrong, or maybe wrong-er than us. It is that view we must change.

We are committing ourselves to learn LOVE. It will take time, compassion, and loads of humility as well as repentance. It’s a process … not a magic formula. Truly loving others is always costly – it cost Christ His life. 👋🏻

P 2398 To really live, we must die.

/ DVH

Absolutely everything depends on how seriously you and I take what Jesus said! “For whoever wishes to save his life [in this world] will [eventually] lose it [through death], but whoever loses his life [in this world] for My sake and the gospel’s will save it [from the consequences of sin and separation from God].” Mark 8:35 AMP.

Salvation is not just a one time event, where you make a decision to become a Christian and that’s that. At the time of that commitment, we might cry a little … or a lot, depending on our response … but this moment is the beginning of our understanding of what Christ did for us all. After this moment then we need to begin to fix the broken relationships we have. Plus we start to pray about tithing, and regularly attending church. Maybe we also go to prayer groups or bible studies. These are difficult but still attainable life-changing things. Sadly many Christians stop right there. 

However, salvation is a PROCESS – not just an event. That process involves the transformation of our lives and it takes a lifetime to bring it about. As we enter into it and God teaches us His ways — we will be changed. We won’t pray, walk, talk, think, or speak the way we did before. Not because of rules or traditions, but because the bible itself changes us. This is when we start to understand that our old nature was taken to the cross when Christ went there – we deliberately choose His ways. Now we want to live the way He did, for God’s glory. Jesus Christ came to earth to die for humanity’s sins, and He also left us an incredible legacy.  A new way to live.

Hubby and I have been married for 35 years. Knowing him has changed me heaps. I laugh more than I used to, despite the difficulties we face daily. It is not that he is hilariously funny … sometimes he tells the worst jokes(!!!) … but in spite of that, his humour evokes a happy response from me. Knowing him and how he thinks, has changed the way I view this life. You could say his life has influenced mine.

Some things that I used to panic over, I have learnt to dismiss or leave alone. Hubby has taught me something no-one else ever taught me … it is possible to stay in love with one person for the rest of your life. However, always liking them … meh! Some days that’s a whole other story. 🙄 But ongoing, fully-committed love is actually possible from a human POV, if each person is prepared to die-to-self in the process. Forget the whole “Oh that’s just me, I’m just like that” rubbish – marriage is about two people becoming ONE. Adjustment will be required.

Now, if another person who is like us can teach us such important stuff – then imagine what the Lord God Maker of heaven and earth can teach us as we get to know HIM. This is the real point of salvation – it is about getting to know SomeOne … and as a result we can progressively learn to rely upon Jesus in all kinds of circumstances. This is how He has taught me, personally and authentically, how wonderful He is. I experience Him, His thoughts, His ways, as I interact with Him in my prayer time, and by reading the bible, and when we obey Him. 

However, if I limit my interactions with Him, and live my Christian life spasmodically, in and out of what His Word says … I will end up with a limited view. He won’t quit on me, but I am distancing myself from Him. That’s when our relationship will become stunted and stiff and lack spiritual life. By engaging in this growth process, I have become aware that this relationship can be costly. I have had to give up my ideas and attitudes about this world and the people in it. Here’s a couple of examples:  before I met the Lord, I saw some people as enemies – but Jesus sees potential for a loving relationship. At other times when I am afraid, and try to hide or run away, He stands with me as I face whatever it is. He helps me conquer my fears. 

Father God’s view of love can seem upside down to what human beings think. Eve thought – “its just a bit of fruit and it looks OK – here you try it  Adam!” She thought her own wisdom was enough. King Saul thought looks and presence would put him over, as a king. But God wanted a man who trusted in Him, not appearances. Solomon thought that many wives meant He was a very important king. He ended up going the wrong way after those wives influenced him. Goliath thought being bigger, stronger and overbearing would give him victory. So God sent a kid to kill him with a round stone.

When we shrink God’s ways into a shape that suits US, we are making a god after our own image. Jesus Christ came to show us that He could live life as a human being like us and still have and maintain a God-obedient love-filled life. We simply need to continually study and obey God’s Word under His guidance, and let it change our minds and reactions. Then He will make that word alive inside us. This means to really live – we will have to choose to die. 👋🏻

“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.” 2 Peter 1:3 NIV

P 2327 The good fight happens in your head.

/ DVH

“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” II Timothy 3:16-17 NKJV. 

After reading this scripture, I had this totally mad thought. Could this be the reason so many of us are stuck in the same place we’ve always been, with one foot nailed to the ground, going round and round? Mainly because we have not grown beyond the places of assent into action. Is this happening because we are not accepting the inspiration and discipline of scripture to correct us, reprove and instruct us in righteousness? And so we only read and accept the bits we like, rather than we actually read the book to find out where we need to be changed? Yikes! 

I know the bible says “…and forget not all His benefits…”BUT! That’s just one kind of verse. The bible has loads of other verses that are instructions, and it is time we started memorising scriptures that challenge our religious beliefs. Christianity is not a club, or a part-time occupation, it is a monarchy –  a theocracy.  A single Ruler …Christ.

That thought about scared the daylights out of me. Do we really think that simply agreeing with what it says, is the same as doing what it says?  Double yikes … and … an ‘oh my goodness’ thrown in! 😳 I know we can’t make every single change all at once, but we need to start somewhere. Sometimes the Holy Spirit is more willing to help us than we are to be helped. 

Pick something that comes up often in your life and start there. Maybe that could be traits that drive other people close to us nuts, YAY!! We need to be humble and open and pliable enough to go after change. Seek advice, don’t hide from the truth. “Confess your faults to one another that you may be healed.“ Otherwise we are easily diagnosed by James as double-minded. And we will get nowhere because we continue to ignore our own faults.

By all means be encouraged by the Lord from His book, but please don’t let the need for pastoral care overshadow, or eliminate the need to be transformed. We can spend so much time trying to make ourselves feel better over things that actually need forgiveness, or repentance, or reconciliation, or reparation… or all of them! 

We can end up so focussed on ourselves we forget our mandate…which is to love others, by sharing the gospel in all its power and authenticity. Plus living our lives the way Christ would – today. In our own homes, with our families, and the people who really know us – as well as other people we don’t know well. They can’t see through our pleasant exteriors. 

There is no lasting value or even any transformation in just admitting our faults and praying over them, and then leaving the transformation to Him. We simply must engage in the process. I’ve found that once the Lord highlights some fault of mine, opportunities to yield to Him and act in faith – pop up like daisies. I am not always thrilled by this, but I have also discovered that obedience and transformation leads to greater revelation and deeper commitment to the King.

I’ve also learnt that I need to actively, prayerfully, continually, revise my behaviour – especially when I find my thoughts start feeding me a diet of other people’s faults. Have you ever noticed, when someone is being provocative and contrary, how easy it is to remember the last time they offended you? Our enemy is delighted to run these things by us when we feel weak or vulnerable. Take heart — this means the Lord is giving us strength training.

I don’t know how we can ever think we can fight satan when we have difficulty fighting temptations. God sent us a round-the-clock, available at any second, Helper. Instead of denying the faults we have, we need to use these things as an opportunity to diagnose, repair and bring healing into our lives and the life of someone else. We are fighting for other people’s right to hear the good news for themselves. Of course our enemy wants to distract us at any turn, we have been given the power to usher in new beginnings for others. Ya might want to think on that. 🧐

P 2321 I read the bible for MY benefit.

/ DVH

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.” James1:22-24 NIV

There is this movie I quite like called ‘Take the Lead.’ In it a retired ballroom dancer decides to start a program for drop-out disinterested kids, and this man teaches them ballroom dancing after school instead of them doing detention. The group of kids he teaches are of diverse cultural backgrounds. 

There is only one white guy and he is a genuine redhead so he is really really white. Another white person, a girl, decides to join this culturally diverse group. There is a brief exchange between the existing red-headed group member, Kurd, and the newbie white female dancer.…Caitlin. He resents her upsetting the balance of the group. 

Kurd : ‘We don’t need any more white bread tourists seeing how the other half lives. We don’t.’ 
Caitlin : ‘White bread?!! Excuse me, do you even OWN a mirror?’ 

I love that line, mainly because I think it needs to be said out loud regularly, in Christian settings. We are wa-ay too enthusiastic and quick to point out to the rest of the world what’s wrong with them. We can draw up a list of things these people simply must not do in a heartbeat, about their sins, actions, and reasons why they will go to hell. My point is that …our mirror is for our own use. We actually OWN a mirror! And we need to use it.ˆThe bible has enough exhortations about change in it to keep all of us busy for the rest of our lives … and then some. BTW, I don’t look in that mirror TO SEE YOU … I look in it …TO SEE the real ME … more clearly!

If I am reading the bible to find ways for you to change, or to learn how to cleverly persuade you to change your behaviour, especially where your behaviour impacts mine – I’ve missed the point. I need to be thoroughly engaged for myself in this process, and that means I’m learning about my faults, not yours. There is no such thing as proxy faith – the only person the bible applies to, is me. 

However I can encourage you, using scriptures. But if we try to sugar coat what we want to say by wrapping up any criticism in nice stuff – then we are only fooling ourselves. And the other person involved will quite quickly S-U-S-P-E-C-T. This is where church division comes from, trying to shove my revelation and my POV off onto others. Even if we think we are helping God get what HE wants! His book is still for my growth. 

Let’s let God open doors for us and stop shoving our shoulder against those doors and blaming someone else for what comes next. We need to learn from the Lord Jesus how to take the lower seat. That’s what ‘the Word become flesh’ means. King David shows us clearly that God has a plan, but He doesn’t always stick to a timetable that suits us.The best thing we can do for others is to pray, and prefer. 

This means we pray and then we continue to prefer the other person in love. Romans 10:12. “Be devoted to one another in love. Honour one another above yourselves.” This life is not about me being righter than you. Any righteousness I have, and any you may have, ALL of that comes from Christ. Here’s something further to chew on:

“All things are legitimate [permissible—and we are free to do anything we please], but not all things are helpful (expedient, profitable, and wholesome). All things are legitimate, but not all things are constructive [to character] and edifying [to spiritual life].’ 1 Corinthians 10:23. 

Until we take verses like these seriously, instead of just holding on tightly to the ones we like – we will not grow UP into the fullness of Christ, our Saviour and Bridegroom. Exercising self-awareness helps us to achieve whatever the Lord wants, so I read the bible to change me.  🙏 Bye.