Promises

P 2713 Learn to BOW low.

/ DVH

“IF you bow low in God’s awesome presence, He will eventually exalt you as you leave the timing in His hands.” 1 Peter 5:6 TPT. Now here’s the rub, we cannot ‘bow low’ and have a secret expectation that at the end of our so-called humility we will be exalted. I think we’ve been reading many, if not ALL scripture promises, with the expectation of ‘what’s in it for ME’ — and we can become disappointed when we think that God has not honoured His promises. Bowing low is not necessarily a physical position – it is the position of an undivided heart.

Those verses we grab for our own benefit are revealing something to us about Him – and we are missing it. Yeah. And aren’t you glad I pointed that out?! For instance, the verse: “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you”tells us something about the Lord and what He is looking for from us – our participation. If we want to be close to the Lord we will have to go after Him first. I call this type of verse the “if” verses. If I do this then He will do that. And just who is in charge of that scenario?

In the past, many well-meaning people wanted to be seen and heard, perhaps because in their mind, it meant that others would hear or see what the Lord wanted to teach others.. They believed that meant that they would have a bigger stage to stand upon to speak His truth. Wrong! “For honour does not come from the east or the west or from the desert. But God is the One Who decides. He puts down one and brings respect to another.” Psalm 75:6,7. Recognition for us is God’s choice, not ours. We dare not manipulate others or even take advantage of situations, no matter how great the cause seems to be. Manipulation is not His Way.

Almighty God is interested in a great deal more than just our promotion and fame! Our new way of life is a spiritual way of life, it is not showy or competitive. Popularity or influence are not worth a hill of beans to the Lord. The Holy Spirit is the only influencer with a pure motivation, and we must learn to follow His Ways. It’s always our hearts that matter .. not popularity or influence. We can have thousands of followers on Instagram, or Facebook, and still have an impure ambitious, or even perhaps a needy heart. Philippians 4:19.

If I put one drop of poison into a glass of fresh, pure, spring water – would you still drink it? A pure heart wants what He wants and they are prepared to die to see that He gets it! That’s called devotion. But general applause, or even the size of any one congregation does not matter to the Lord. Jesus had hundreds of people who volunteered to be His disciples – yet Almighty God told Him to choose twelve. And one of them was not going to make the cut! 

Jesus trusted His Father and the Holy Spirit’s choices, that the men He chose would be the ones who spread the Word about God’s incredible love far and wide. And they did. Judas was the only one of those men with a divided heart. We are not told why he was like that, we are simply told that he handled the money somewhat carelessly. This is what I mean when I talk about having a divided heart – one of our regular prayers should be about not having one!

We cannot afford to let even little sin reign, even if it seems to be in a good cause … because sin will eventually drag us under and flavour everything around it. However, we always have a Way Out of sin. “You are my dear children, and I write these things to you so that you won’t sin. But if anyone does sin, we continually have a forgiving Redeemer who is face-to-face with the Father: Jesus Christ, the Righteous One”. I John 2:1. Silently waiting for our spiritual abilities to be “discovered” is still an agenda! Our only aim needs to be to that others see Him.

‘Bowing low’ is our way of life. It means whether others think we are right or wrong – we bow down to the Lord’s wishes and let Him exonerate us when He thinks the time is right. People with a heart like this don’t care if our only service is putting out the chairs at church! We do what we do with all our hearts as though we were putting out chairs for Jesus Himself!

I have known totally devoted, utterly beautiful chair-putter-outer-ers! 😂 They did not see this task as a tiny task, and it was not menial to them. Instead they prayed over each chair that each person who sat on it would be blessed, healed, delivered and discover more about Christ. They treated that  task like the pastor treated His sermon – as devotion to Almighty God!“Whatsoever you do, do it with all your heart as though you were doing it for the Lord.” This BTW, is now one of my new all time favourite verses!

Let’s remember that pride took lucifer out of a realm of honour, and put him into the unenviable place of being a permanent enemy. And the best thing we can do when we discover any sort of pride is to humble ourselves before God, and others, as well as confess our faults. The true diagnosis of a proud heart is that they have secret agendas.  They have a desperate need to always be right, and other people’s needs are secondary to their own.

Bowing low is not just an outward action, it is an inner stance of our hearts. Bless you as you serve our King! 👑

P 2673 Who or what has your heart?

/ DVH

“When you pass through the deep, stormy sea, you can count on Me to be there with you. When you pass through raging rivers, you will not drown. When you walk through persecution like fiery flames, you will not be burned; the flames will not harm you,” Isaiah 43:2 TPT.

The above verse is mentioned today to comfort to anyone who is in a very dark place. It promises us that God’s Presence is never absent despite our circumstances. The thing is, we must remember that this verse and others like it, are faith verses. Almighty God said it, and He means it, so we need to embrace it. However, in those hard times we may not feel a thing! We may dearly need to feel better, but our feelings have nothing whatsoever to do with His Grace in our lives! Even our disappointment could be seen as judgment against His ability to use everything to help us.

The lack of change can sometimes be the reason we are strongly tempted to think that He is not with us, because we have a great expectation that He will deliver us … but sometimes things can even get even worse!!  So what happened? Is it sin in our lives? No! Sin went on the cross. Does God not care that we feel overwhelmed by our circumstances? Of course He does, but we must remind ourselves that He says “I will be with you” — He does not say – you will FEEL Me with you! Yeah, I know, that seems to be splitting hairs, but let’s remember that now we are in His kingdom, where He is King. We chose to come under His rule, and we will need to trust Him to do what He has promised.

“God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”Numbers 23:19. In our society today, people are judged or exalted or rewarded because of their actions. As Christians we need to remember that Almighty God does not do things to meet mankind’s expectations. He does not answer to us. In other words, our societal attitudes don’t feature in His decision making processes. Whatever His answer, action, or lack of! … the real point is – His ways are perfect. So, if there is no answer, or corresponding change of circumstances, then we need to remember that He is sovereign. We must always leave our heart with Him, that is the safest place for it.

“No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; He’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; He’ll always be there to help you come through it. So, my very dear friends, when you see people reducing God to something they can use or control, get out of their company as fast as you can.” 1 Corinthians 10:13-14. MSG.

Personally, I have discovered that I can set my pain and strife limits a bit too low – I can probably move and change much more than I think I can! I get side-tracked because I am not all that excited about stretching — old bones, etc. Everything creaks when I am stretched! In those moments, it is good to remember that this life is the only one I’m going to get, and it is about growth and change. That’s two more things older people don’t like much!! I have to remind myself over and over again, that the Lord is bigger than my circumstances, and if they remain the same, after I have prayed … then He has a purpose I can’t see yet! Good place to pray: “Teach me Your ways, Lord, so I can walk with You.” Amen.

“Even when Your path takes me through the valley of deepest darkness, fear will never conquer me, for You already have! Your authority is my strength and my peace. The comfort of Your love takes away my fear. I’ll never be lonely, for You are near.” Psalms 23:4 TPT.

This verse from the 23rd Psalm is a great clue to the solution to my problem and it diagnoses the heart of what is really going on. Who or what has my heart? Does fear rule me when the going gets tough, or does He? We must always remember that “there is no fear in love,” as well as,  “what time I am afraid I will trust in Thee.” When I finally catch on to the fact that I am feeling afraid, it can take a while, but eventually I have an ‘AHA!’ moment. That’s when I realise that I have let circumstances fill my vision, instead of WHO He is. Rookie mistake. I’m back thinking that He’s there to make my life better, I’ve totally forgotten I am here for His purposes.

After repenting, my next move is to ask the Lord, “Who can I bless?” ‘ That’s because ‘it is in giving that we receive!’  And in those difficult times, my receiver seems to have gone off-line. Sometimes doing that simple thing leads to a fresh revelation about Him. And sometimes it leads to a fresh revelation about me. I need both! I have found that taking my focus away from the difficulty, and caring for someone else, eventually gives me a chance to view things from another angle. As I bless others, I remember that my heart belongs to Him, I gave it to Him. 

He won’t ever ‘leave me or forsake me or give me up.’ Switching focus clarifies what really matters. 👋

P 2650 Rest belongs to us.

/ DVH

Nobody can chuck us out of the place He freely gave us. It’s ours. SomeBody died to pay for it in full, and He gave it to us, LEGALLY. The only way we can lose the benefits of His kingdom is if we undervalue what we’ve been given. Every single day we can rest in our new position, IN CHRIST, safe and assured that we belong to Him and He will have our back. The only thing that can pinch that safety and security from us is what we choose to believe. Resting in what He has done, in a nutshell, means we believe in His goodness no matter what is going on around us. Good or bad, our trust is in Him.

When we carefully read the scriptures we can plainly see that from their beginnings, the Israelite nation did not value what they were given. He gave them Himself –  and they needed to acknowledge Him with their trust and obedience. Sadly the Israelite nation refused to enter into the Lord’s REST. They fussed and fretted, and grizzled, moaned and complained. Obeyed one day only to disobey for the next few hundreds of days! We must learn from them that there can be no rest for anyone, if we continue to cultivate two minds. “A double minded man can’t receive anything from the Lord.” Abraham himself demonstrated what God can do with a man who believes Him and rests in what He says.

Father God proved He was Who He said He was by what He did for that nation … over and over again. We also need to remember, even though their disobedience led to punishment, the Lord has never, and will never ever let go of them, despite THEIR FAITHLESSNESS — He will always remain faithful to His promise. Their history with Him should encourage us as we bumble along, even when we miss the mark! Our God is not only reliable, He is also faithful, and honourable. He keeps His promises. 

“Now the promise of entering into God’s rest is still for us today. So we must be extremely careful to ensure that we all embrace the fullness of that promise and not fail to experience it. For we have heard the good news of deliverance just as they did, yet they didn’t join their faith with the Word. Instead, what they heard didn’t affect them deeply, for they doubted. For those of us who believe, faith activates the promise and we experience the realm of confident rest! For He has said, “I was grieved with them and made a solemn oath, ‘They will not enter into my rest.’ ” God’s works have all been completed from the foundation of the world,” Hebrews 4:1-3, 6-7. TPT  “Those who first heard the good news of deliverance failed to enter into that realm of faith’s rest because of their unbelieving hearts. Yet the fact remains that we still have the opportunity to enter into the faith-rest life and experience the fulfilment of the promise! For God still has ordained a day for us to enter into called “Today.” For it was long afterwards that God repeated it in David’s words, “If only today you would listen to His voice and do not harden your hearts!””

It is extremely important that we choose to learn from their mistakes, and understand that what we’ve been given spiritually belongs to us, but we are still answerable for what we do with it! Nobody, no circumstances – whether uncomfortable, difficult or easy – can take, or trick us out of believing what God has said and done FOR US is true. That’s what faith is.  We don’t believe in the results, or what we can see. WE BELIEVE IN HIM! His goodness, His unchanging faithful character. Our God does not lie. Rest has been given to us. Now instead of fretting we know SomeBody else has our back.

When we believe what He said and did, and respond with obedience, we enter into a place that has already been reserved for us… REST. It takes faith steps to enter into rest. However, we don’t have to worry about how things will turn out, because we have a whole book that explains our relationship with Him. This means we know that ‘He will work ALL things together for our good, because we love Him and we are called according to His purpose.’  That BTW includes not having enough money, nowhere to live, a grumpy spouse or some other person we know. Difficulties aren’t our problem – believing what He says is! We have been blessed to be able to come from a place of rest. Striving to get stuff right is exhausting, as well as fruitless.

We cannot follow Jesus unless we are totally certain that His Way is the only Way. We also cannot follow Him unless we are utterly convinced that He truly is God! That means we seek to know what He wants in and from our lives, then we do whatever He tells us to do. My advice to anyone reading this blog today, is learn to live in REST. It is our God-given right. Bye. 🙌

P 2478 So here we are again!

/ DVH

That dratted clock keeps on ticking, it never stops – it’s inevitable. And here we go again, yet another New Year looming at us. Hilariously, the Lord said to me: “At least you are still alive to complain about it!” (Yes I repented.) Let’s all pray 2024 is a kinder year everywhere, including world-wide to those who are suffering terribly.

Have you noticed how dead-set easy it is to be distracted from the reason that we are all still breathing and occupying space and time? Almost every single day now something else crashes or explodes, or gets worse and suddenly a terrible disaster looms. I have a theory … these things happen to keep us distracted from the main thing. The main thing is living the only life we have here on earth for Jesus’ sake, no matter the cost and no matter what is going on currently! Some of our situations offer opportunities for each one of us to show loving care, forgiveness and compassion toward others who probably don’t deserve it, but this is the way we have chosen to live! 

Things are happening in all our lives that threaten our day-to-day sense of well-being. Finances are not just tight they are almost non-existent, people have become sick and despite fervent prayer and good treatment they are not getting better. Marriages are under great pressure. Kids are becoming increasingly disobedient and lawless. It is as if despair is wandering around our streets looking for places to land.

Everything and anything is happening to destroy our HOPE in HIM. The bible says that …”hope does not disappoint” so if our hope leads to disappointment, then it is not HIS hope. Perhaps we are investing in our own comfort or passions, like James says. Personally I’ve found the Lord doesn’t change some things because He wants ME to change instead! How can we learn to be strong and courageous if we do not face opposition? How can we overcome sin, the world and the devil, if everything is aways easy. These are the days of Hebrews 12:5-8 …

“And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastens everyone He accepts as His son.”Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as His children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all.”

You know when we resist the devil then he must flee, so if he does not flee then … perhaps we have need of endurance! If our enemy has something to stand on, then he can and will torment anyone. I am not into defending that guy, but we can end up blaming him for a lotta stuff that has yet to be redeemed in our own lives. We excuse things that will totally shoot us in the foot, and we can easily make room for wrong attitudes and actions and explain them away … Yet we keep score about other people’s sins against us. There are times that we may as well write an invitation to our enemy and say ‘come on in.’

The things in the bible are not written in there as suggestions. If we keep holding onto unforgiveness, then the tormentor will turn up!! Those things that we are avoiding confronting in our own lives, are keeping us from real faith. Our enemy is a legalist – he knows where we are truly trusting, and where we are just pretending. he will string us along chasing impossible dreams of perfect trouble-free lives. People are not perfect, they have flaws. We all do!  But real faith has substance. That means when it operates you can see it! It is not airy-fairy pie-in-the-sky-when-we-die stuff … Faith is designed to permeate and saturate every single aspect of our lives. Our God did not say we would not have troubles — He promised He would deliver us out of all of them! You know to get out, you have to be IN, first!

His book is filled with promises, but the greatest promise of all is that our God is good. If whatever is happening is not good then it is not God … grab hold of the bible and resist it. Then ask and keep on asking Him for a way out. Ask the Lord to show you if there is something you need to personally learn or change in your life. Keep short accounts because resentment and bitterness are prowling about – but God promised us goodness and mercy would follow us all the days of our lives! We need to let PEACE be our umpire… not our feelings. Simply because we are here again – let’s make 2024 the best year yet, spiritually – His Grace is sufficient to help us. Bye 🥳

P 2393 Those who have gone on before us.

/ DVH

“And consider the example that Jesus, the Anointed One, has set before us. Let His mindset become your motivation.” Philippians 2:5 TPT. Isn’t it marvellous that we have incredible, recorded, Godly examples to follow? Praise God we have what Christ did and said, in this book we read every day. Jesus made God’s will very clear! 

We have all of the New Testament to explain how the things of God unfold and transform, and how they worked for someone else. Whether it was Paul or Peter or Jude – they all lived this way… HIS WAY. All we need to do is to take what it says seriously and apply these things we read about into our lives! The sky is the limit when somebody starts living their life doing what God’s book says for Jesus’ sake.

Here’s something that Peter said: “Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God. The best invitation we ever received! We were also given absolutely terrific promises to pass on to you—your tickets to participation in the life of God after you turned your back on a world corrupted by lust.” 2 Peter 1:3 MSG. Peter knew that what he was given was also for others who would come after him – that’s you and I. 👏 We have been left an enormous inheritance by these great men and women of faith. 

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that getting to know Jesus is a series of endless spiritual experiences. It is so much more than that – we get to live the way He lived and do what He did – we get to be like Him, in this world. His loving heart, His Character, His devotion to the Father. Jesus Christ shows us how to live a transformed life of devotion to God and He actively taught us what God wants from His kids.

Let’s look at His disciples, who totally relied upon the Holy Spirit for Christ’s guidance, and they too lived overcoming lives. They lived that way in a world that used Christians for target practice, lion chum and barbecue lights! Nothing much has changed today, many Christians are still paying for their faith with their well-being, lives and health. However  I can be inspired into action, when I read about the saints’ of old’s adventures, missteps, and godly actions in His book — and from there I get the courage to have some adventures with God myself. 

Both the Old and the New Testament tell us about people who gave up this life to gain the next. They watched Almighty God work on their behalf. I’ve written down some examples from the New. Let’s look at Ananias who got a word from God and was used to restore Paul’s sight. That man was scared to bits about his God-given assignment, but he did it in spite of his fear. He teaches me that fear does not have to win! Plus, I can simply go and do whatever God tells me, I don’t have to feel like it.

There was another Ananias – Ananias and Sapphira. That couple taught me that lying to God and others has a really really bad ending! Or Timothy, who listened carefully to his mother and his grandmother, and ended up as a companion to Paul. He had two whole books in the bible written for his personal edification. Timothy has taught me that godly mothers with faith are powerful people. 

Or Simon Magus the magician. He taught me the Holy Spirit cannot be bought. Grace can embrace the Holy Spirit but a lack of Grace, together with greed, sends Him away. Or there was Stephen, who waited tables and witnessed to the Sanhedrin, Jerusalem’s supreme rabbinic court. He recited the whole Jewish history from Abraham to Christ! I believe Stephen’s pure faith, together with everything the Holy Spirit gave him to say, had an effect on Saul as he stood and watched that stoning, and heard Stephen pardon his murderers as he died. This shows me that the word of God is a SEED – it has the power to change a life. Stephen died, but Paul eventually converted!

We have these witnesses in God’s book to help us to enrich our own faith. We don’t have to stay within the status quo, living our lives in dull little always-acquiring-new-things lives. We can be led by God Himself, the Holy Spirit, to “go into all the world and preach the gospel…” Acts 1:8. Hubby and I are about to go out again into Samaria, even though we preach the gospel where we live, to anyone who will listen. 

We go out there where the people are and to our amazement – Jesus is out there too!  Listen to what Jesus said about the Samaritan woman and her village in Samaria: “Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.”John 4:34&35. What more do we need than… ‘GO?’ That was enough for the people in the book.👋🏻

P 2350 Jesus, our perfect example.

/ DVH

John 15:26 “I will send you the Helper from the Father. The Helper is the Spirit of truth Who comes from the Father. When He comes, He will tell about ME.”Whenever there is a problem, difficulty or hardship – God has an answer!  Let’s look more closely. The answer is always JESUS. 

Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit – His Helper! It is important to know that if the ‘voice’ you hear is not leading you to know Jesus better – then it is not the Holy Spirit. If that ‘voice’ tells you there is a short-cut or an easier way to go … guess what? That’s not the Holy Spirit. If that ‘voice’ tells you that you are going to be so-oo-oo important in God’s kingdom – that’s not the Holy Spirit. He doesn’t talk like that.

So Who IS important? JESUS is, that’s Who! Everything is all about Jesus. The Father has put everything we will need or we are going to need IN Him. That was the Father’s plan right from the beginning of this world. Jesus is the only way IN. He shows us the way forward, and we need to follow Him. Plus Jesus Christ is the way through whatever comes at you. Park on those promises.

Long before Christ was born Almighty God reached out to us through His prophets and leaders. Now in our time, God is telling us through the bible, that we can be strengthened against difficulties, instead of being bowled over by them. That’s what Jesus came here to give us – a God-sent way through hardship and difficulties. Christ knew that God does not leave us when things get hard and intense. Grabbing hold of that reality will stabilise and establish our hearts so we can hold steady in the middle of any storm.

In John 16:31-33 “Jesus answered them, “Do you finally believe? In fact, you’re about to make a run for it—saving your own skins and abandoning Me. But I’m not abandoned. The Father is with Me. I’ve told you all this so that trusting Me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace. In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I’ve conquered the world.” 

Now isn’t that fascinating? Jesus is giving His final instructions to His disciples and He says: ‘Guess what boys, it’s going to get HARD – but it is all good because I’M GOING TO WIN. You will all leave Me — BUT — He’s got this too!’ Faith is believing what Jesus Christ said, simply because He said it! The bible is not an opinion or a theory, it is a faithful recording of God’s interaction with other men and women who are just like us. Some things look disastrous but it is God working in our lives …He’s pruning!

Lastly, let’s quickly look at something Jesus said in – John15:1-2 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” The Lord does not ‘prune’ us for nothing – He has a purpose. Pruning is God’s plan to develop more fruit, it is not punishment or desertion. We need to let Him prune away any stuff – even if it looks good to us. There are some things that will not add to our character and strength. This is when we need to use our faith in His goodness to hold fast to our beliefs. Pruning cuts away any extraneous junk that we’ve adopted to cope with this life. 

Who is going to be with us and hold us up while all this stuff is happening to us? The Holy Spirit will… He did it for Jesus and He will do it for us. He will bring what the bible says into our minds so we can hold on to Christ’s words when everything in our lives has gone utterly insane.  We can be at peace despite the chaos around us because Jesus knows the Way out … He IS the Way out. We must learn to recognise our Helper, He sounds just like Jesus did. Despite what is going on around us – or even TO us, our God doesn’t change.

This life is not meant to be an easy ride, because we are producing Godly fruit, and the people of this world have never seen or tasted that kind of heavenly fruit. So we need to live by faith that He is good no matter what kind of stuff flies about, in us and around us. This means that others can “taste and see that the Lord is good.”👋🏻

P 2224 Growing fruit.

/ DVH

Today, I want to use the fruit of patience purely as an illustration for growing the Lord’s kind of fruit. People say all the time, ‘have patience’ – like it is something that we can conjure up all by ourselves. I just want to say – if we already have it, then the Lord wouldn’t need to give it to us. Duh! 🙄 It is so obvious that our human patience and His spiritual patience, are two different things! His fruit and our ‘try harder’ are not the same! Godly patience endures all things and it grows inside our hearts like everything else He gives us – by investing in it. It involves my desire to co-operate with Him as well as being prepared to change and challenge my own mindset, at inopportune times.

In my opinion we only know we need His fruit, when we can see with our own eyes that we don’t have it!  Spiritual poverty is a great diagnostic tool of the stuff we lack. Don’t let pride, lukewarmness, or even feelings of inadequacy, fool you into missing out on the blessing of being transformed. Transformation starts in our minds, first. We need to change the way we think. Spiritual patience is one of those things that flow out from His Love in us. But the human version of patience consists of stretching ourselves beyond where we think we can go – and then announcing to the world that: “I ran out of patience, I don’t have any left.” That usually happens when we think someone else has gone too far! The fruit of the Spirit cannot run out. It is eternal. 🧐

If we already think we are quite spiritual enough, then that can cause all kinds of other problems … mainly for everyone else who happens to live around us! Under-developed unripe spiritual fruit tastes terrible – just like normal under-developed etc. etc. fruit does! 😖 I’ve found the best way to handle my own inadequacies in a whole lot of spiritual areas – is to treat this life as an ongoing learning experience. I have settled in my heart that I have not, and will not arrive, all done, all perfect, until I see Him face to face. I have chosen patience as my illustration today, because we can easily see we haven’t got it.

At the same time the best thing is to refuse to make excuses for our own bad or unwise behaviour. We are aiming at fruit, not just flowers, and that involves engaging with the process. Jesus death and resurrection has already empowered Christians to live a totally changed life – right here, right now. Recognising our humanity without excusing it, immediately releases us from the pressure to try to BE what the book says we already ARE. We rely on the power of HIS WORD. We live our lives co-operating with the Holy Spirit – today – this minute! And we are learning to live by His Grace alone. Let’s all leave ‘trying harder’ behind! Speaking for myself, I was awful at it – I don’t have the stamina for it.

God breathes His fruit into our own tree of His life in us, as we co-operate with Him. Co-operation with the Holy Spirit is like following a guide through a maze – you never know what is going to come around the corner, but our daily experiences with Him remind us that He knows where it is safe to put our feet etc. Impatient people … OR people who rely upon human patience … and then call it spirituality … get cranky at you. They often get cranky at you quite quickly. Now there’s a diagnostic tool! The result is, you feel like a dunce, a failure. Anybody who robs you of the fact that you are accepted by the Lord Jesus, is stealing your birthright, whether it is accidental, or not. Forgive them, pray for them, and then go back to leaning on Him.

When we feel inadequate – and I often do – my first port-of-call is to go to the Lord and ask where I have given my enemy, satan .. ground in my life. There is some place I am believing a lie, either because I was lied to, or I chose the lie over what God says in the book! Repentance is the answer to that one! I am allowed to learn. But, sadly, continually postponing change is a sign of rebellion. It simply means I have given rebellion a much nicer name to help ME to feel better… I called it hurt feelings, or other people’s provocation. 

Nobody can keep us from the love of God, but sometimes we need a larger revelation of His love than the one we currently have. Ask for it! The fruit of the Spirit grows from His flowing sap of love in my life – whether it is patience, kindness or long- suffering etc. I exhort you to actively ask for a greater revelation of His love, because we all need it. And He promises, in the book, to supply OUR needs. 👋🏻

P 2162 Positionally speaking….

/ DVH

Jesus’ has already given gifts to His Bride. These can be God-gifted people, plus there are also many promises. Things like: “If you remain IN Me and My words remain IN you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” John 15:17. Did you get that?  This promise is dependent upon our position … in Christ. There seems to be a bit of confusion floating about in some places, about our position before Almighty God. I would like to give my two cents worth about this subject today… 🤗

God gives us wonderful promises by His Grace, but we can sometimes wander through His Word ‘cherry-picking’ 🍒 what we like, and leaving out what we don’t. Here’s something brilliant I have learnt – read everything. Seriously – don’t even leave out the commas and the full stops. And those little teeny tiny little words have an extra whammy on them! We have to look beyond the human translators to the One Who brought this book into being. The truth is … the Holy Spirit is the real Translator …He helps us hear what the Lord wants us to hear for today. Thank you Jesus for the Precious Holy Spirit! 🙌

There are some precious Christian people who live their lives claiming bible verses right left and centre. Things like “I’m the head not the tail…” etc. Others are galloping about ruling and reigning, proclaiming this, and reclaiming that… etc. etc. Personally, I’ve learnt that I am who HE SAYS I am, so I must learn to read, listening, and then follow HIS instructions. He speaks to me through His word, as well as my brothers and sisters in Christ. No more, no less. However, today I want us to think about this whole, “Jesus and me, we are best buds” thingy … or … as I like to call it – “I’ve got an IN with God.” We ALL  have an in with God, we are all IN CHRIST JESUS! There’s a good place to set up camp BTW.

Some people freak out about Christians who claim stuff etc. and declare it is not scriptural, and yet other people lose their minds trying to prove it is … Meh! There’s a divisive device I don’t want to touch with a forty foot pole! I don’t care to go down that rabbit hole … too many tunnels!! However, Jesus said in John 15:15&16 “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have CALLED YOU friends, for everything that I learned from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in My Name the Father will give you.”  

There you go! The Lord chose us first, so now we have His power of attorney – we can act on His behalf. Now wait for it !! – To do the things He wants US to do for His kingdom’s sake. We’ve been deputised … called up higher … not for our benefit … but for His kingdom’s benefit and His purposes. This is not a blank never-ending platinum Visa card for us to use like we are shopping. We are on the Lord’s dime, not ours. You and I can tell a tree or mountain to move into the sea, when it serves God’s purposes, but we need Him first to tell us ‘move that thing out of the way.’  We don’t get to make up the agenda. Jesus came to serve, and now we serve Him – because “a servant is not greater than His Master.” 

However!  The Greater One can ask the lesser one up – but that is simply a testimony to the Greater One’s generosity and favour – it is not a deserved position. Instead it has been bestowed or given. Moses and Abraham were both called God’s friends, not because those two men were so fabulous but because Almighty God – the Greater One – loved their hearts and obedience. 

Hebrews 7:7 says: “And without doubt the lesser is blessed by the greater.”  So if the King of England decides he wants to be my friend, that may give me privileges, and perhaps, the King’s ear .. but it doesn’t make ME the King. “The one who wants to be greatest must be the servant of all.” Matthew 20:26. Jesus is talking about ruling and reigning from a place of servanthood – for other people’s good. Finally, let’s remember John 3:29: “The bride belongs to the Bridegroom…”  Positionally speaking we serve Him, but we know we have His favour. 👋🏻

P 2158 Hope.

/ DVH

The Holy Spirit is our guarantee of things to come, as well as our treasure – right here, right now. We need to treat His favour as our greatest prize. The Holy Spirit’s continual Presence with us, is Father God’s gift to us. He is guiding us, teaching us, and assuring us, that we belong to the Lord Jesus, over and over again  That is a far greater treasure than all the wealth in this world. 

One day we will leave our mortal bodies behind and go to be with Jesus forever. So right now, even if our bodies, emotions, or minds betray us, we can rest in the fact that we are not alone, without hope or help. Our help is in the Name of the Lord Who made heaven and earth! Our hope is in Jesus our Saviour, our Redeemer, our Friend. Our hope is in the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us to help us manage this life, from one minute to the next. Our hope is that THEY ARE ALWAYS FAITHFUL… It’s in the book!

2 Corinthians 5:5:  “And this is no empty hope, for God Himself is the One who has prepared us for this wonderful destiny. And to confirm this promise, He has given us the Holy Spirit, like an engagement ring, as a guarantee.” Our hope is not empty, because it is not about feelings, it is about an utterly reliable Person! He is our constant companion. God gave us the Holy Spirit so we could have His hope in the midst of difficulties. Just call out for His help at any time.

The Holy Spirit is SomeOne we can rely on, because He put the sun, moon and stars in the sky. Plus He made you and I inside our mother’s wombs. While we are here on this earth, we are continually assured and surrounded by His Love and involvement – whether we feel like it or not! His Presence in our lives is our guarantee that God is in charge, He’s got you and me firmly in His hands. Like the infant in my picture today.

Things around us can change in a heartbeat but He will never change. There are moments when we desperately need to escape from difficult circumstances, because our flesh can grow tired. However, we can escape despair by remembering WHO GAVE US THOSE PROMISES.  Let’s look at this life through the eyes of faith – the Holy Spirit gave them to us. There is no room for fear in His kind of love, even though we have been attacked on every side, and we feel like all is lost, our feelings are not facts. But the bible is a book full of facts about our God.

The Love of God, and the Presence of His Holy Spirit is so all encompassing, He is all over us, IN us, and around us. So when we use our eyes of faith we can see Him at work. I put the picture above today to illustrate what enfolded means. It means wrapped around, surrounded so carefully you can barely see that little child’s feet – because the parent’s strong hands are enfolding them. The Holy Spirit wraps Himself around us like a cocoon wraps itself around a butterfly. We are safe inside His care. His Presence within us reassures us, over and over again, that we belong to Him now. Always. We are held so completely, so tightly by His Love, that love fills our vision. Remember, what you focus on grows bigger – focus on the One Who has come to be with us here and now and He will never leave us. 

Let His love enfold you, this very second. Then continually practice hiding in that love. Especially when the world misunderstands you, ignores you, or abuses you. We are NOW enfolded into Christ. When Father God looks at us He sees Jesus. V14: “For it is Christ’s love that fuels our passion and holds us tightly, because we are convinced that He has given His life for all of us…” V17-19 “… Now, if anyone is enfolded into Christ, he has become an entirely new person. All that is related to the old order has vanished. Behold, everything is fresh and new. And God has made all things new, and reconciled us to Himself, and given us the ministry of reconciling others to God.”

This is our message of hope – God is not mad at people. The Holy Spirit has come here personally to help human beings every single day to discover more about the God of heaven and earth Who saved them. Our HOPE lies in Christ and everything He has already done for us. 👋🏻