Prophet

P 3491 God has a bigger plan for your life. 

/ DVH

Over the centuries, the church has progressively lost God’s plan. Today we are far too busy counting who belongs to our little group and who doesn’t. Jesus’ last resting place on earth was a tomb, and normal living people don’t live in tombs, if they can avoid it! A tomb is a jail unless you break out of it. The Body of Christ has been held captive for far too long in a tomb. We’ve been fragmented and separated from one another by rules and laws and opinions. Even today, we are still straining out gnats and letting through camels… and our inaction is one of those blooming camels! Tombs are only good for dead things! 

Father God loves to bless His kids, however blessing us is not all He wants from us. When we make our Heavenly Father into SomeOne Who is merely here to help us, we are reducing the power of Calvary. Our Father’s plan is so much bigger than a cross or a tomb. God made room for all of His glory to descend upon all human flesh. (Acts 1:8.) We’ve proven, over the past 2000+ years we cannot transform ourselves into vessels fit for the Master’s use. We need to be familiar with, and walking in His Grace and His Way of love, in order to walk with the Holy Spirit. This kind of walking changes us. You can’t walk with Jesus and be selfish. The two things are incompatible.

You may have noted that I hardly ever talk about when I think Jesus is coming back, I have other things to do. I don’t talk about it, because I want to be too busy doing what He sent me here to do, until that comes! If we think that He is coming soon, then we could easily slip into simply waiting for Him to come, and bunkering ourselves down, inside what we already believe. Instead of pressing on, under His guidance. There is more of Him for us to know this side of heaven. There’s far deeper reconciliation between people as well as denominations. Not just words, but true heart reconciliation, and we get to bring it with us – everywhere we go.

Just because we know the Lord will come back, that does not mean now we can lay back and wait, simply because we are all safe, bound for glory — singing happy songs, week by week, in our churches. There is such an urgency in the Spirit for us to move, individually, and corporately. That will be hard. It seems we’ve all been too busy building a life outside of Christ. “When Christ, Who is our life, appears …” Colossians 3:4. Thoughts like these should be uppermost in our minds. “Or do you not realize about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you?” 2 Corinthians 13:5.

There has never been this many bible-believing Christians in the whole of history. There are a billion of us, and approximately 8.32 billion human beings altogether. That means you and I have approximately 8 and a third people each! Sadly nearly all of us are leaving the work He gave us to do, to someone else – like a pastor, prophet, someone with a healing gift or teacher. Maybe we avoid witnessing because it makes us feel uncomfortable – it was more than uncomfortable on that cross.

We must learn to follow the Holy Spirit’s leading. This means our flesh has to die, in order for the Holy Spirit to flourish in us. Prayer is great – do it! But let your prayers lead your feet into action. Live for Jesus, let everything else that wants to capture your attention, fade away. 

The Lord wants us to be pressing in and pressing on, not just floating about – waiting to be rescued from this problem and that situation. The disciples died thinking Jesus was going to come back any minute for them. He did come for them – however, they still died waiting, first! We can spend a lifetime trying to figure out when He is coming back, when Jesus clearly said “No man knows the hour etc!”  Let’s buy back the days while we can!

This world is SICK, and sometimes Christians are contributing to it. We can’t get along with our neighbours, and we barely manage emergency compassion, let alone living a life of love. Father God has done everything He can to reconcile mankind back to Himself, as well as reconcile us back to each other. He is totally committed. Are we? Jesus Himself, handed this ministry over to us, and gave us  the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God is not here so we can speak in tongues, or feel good … He’s our Empowerer! Doing things His way will change our lives.

Today, in our world, there are Christians who have lost everything they have, family, friends, a way of life, a place in society … all this and more, simply because they’ve chosen to follow Jesus. Now they live their lives standing on what Jesus said. They don’t have our Western choices, they live their new life wholeheartedly, because they value what they’ve been given. These people know what cost is. Often we think cost is about somebody being rude to us, and we refrain from  punching them in the face.

Our spiritual enemies look harmless. However, they want to woo, win and deceive us by encouraging us to do whatever we want whenever we want it. Encouraging us to pitch a tantrum if we can’t! We cannot afford to leave His work to someone else. You and I know people no-one else knows. Father God has a bigger plan for your life. You may speak to thousands, or only speak to one – but He has a plan for you. Let’s stop hypothesising about when He is coming back, and begin to live this life as laid-down lovers of Jesus.

We are wasting the time God has given us, right here and now. Christianity is not an add on, a PS to our real life. Unless Jesus Himself is our real life we are in big trouble, spiritually. I plan to follow Jesus … so wherever He goes, I go. Bye. 👋.

P 3490 A little unknown girl.

/ DVH

2 Kings 5:2-14:“Bands of Syrians had invaded the land of Israel, and among their captives was a little girl who had been given to Naaman’s wife as a maid. One day the little girl said to her mistress, “I wish my master would go to see the prophet in Samaria. He would heal him of his leprosy!  Naaman told the king what the little girl had said.“Go and visit the prophet,” the king told him. “I will send a letter of introduction for you to carry to the king of Israel.” So Naaman started out, taking gifts of $20,000 in silver, $60,000 in gold, and ten suits of clothing. 

The letter to the king of Israel said: “The man bringing this letter is my servant Naaman; I want you to heal him of his leprosy.”When the king of Israel read it, he tore his clothes and said, “This man sends me a leper to heal! Am I God, that I can kill and give life? He is only trying to get an excuse to invade us again.”But when Elisha the prophet heard about the king of Israel’s plight, he sent this message to him: “Why are you so upset? Send Naaman to me, and he will learn that there is a true prophet of God here in Israel.” So Naaman arrived with his horses and chariots and stood at the door of Elisha’s home. Elisha sent a messenger out to tell him to go and wash in the Jordan River seven times and he would be healed of every trace of his leprosy! 

But Naaman was angry and stalked away. “Look,” he said, “I thought at least he would come out and talk to me! I expected him to wave his hand over the leprosy and call upon the name of the Lord his God and heal me! Aren’t the Abana River and Pharpar River of Damascus better than all the rivers of Israel put together? If it’s rivers I need, I’ll wash at home and get rid of my leprosy.” So he went away in a rage. But his officers tried to reason with him and said, “If the prophet had told you to do some great thing, wouldn’t you have done it? So you should certainly obey him when he says simply to go and wash and be cured!” So Naaman went down to the Jordan River and dipped himself seven times, as the prophet had told him to. And his flesh became as healthy as a little child’s, and he was healed! “

Here are some great instructions from the past! I hope you took the time to read it, because I think that Naaman is an example of what we can often look like in our Christian walk, and the little slave girl is an example of what we can be. I don’t read the bible as irrelevant stories, I read it looking for me. I could be Naaman on one day, and the prophet on another, and that little girl on yet another! 

Because this child speaks up, Naaman is healed and saved. Even though she actually does nothing — she is still a witness motivated by LOVE. She doesn’t feel she should pray for the leprous man, she doesn’t have any deep thoughts to share – she simply points and says: “What you need is over there.”

I love it. I mean … how hard is that? How hard is it to say: “I know SomeOne Who can help you with that?”  Even though she is a captive, she is very loving and caring toward her master. You might want to think about that the next time your boss asks you to work late, and you want to go home early.

Back to Naaman, who automatically assumes this will be a financial arrangement – he’s rich, and he usually solves his problems by throwing money at it. But God gives this man what he wants for free – it simply costs him the price of humility and obedience. Yet he nearly misses it completely … because of his mindset.  He’s an important man, and he has the ear of the king. There are times when it can be very hard to admit we are wrong. Pride gets in the way. We can rob ourselves if we lack humility.

I’m going to skip right over the King of Israel, who tended to think globally, and focus on his own safety — and go right on to Elisha. Elisha doesn’t even speak to him, he hands this important man a simple answer through his own servant. ‘Go take seven dips in this river.’ Sometimes the simple answer IS the answer. But to get there, we will have to throw away the awkward, useless bundles of our own plus and minus thoughts, and pick up the solitary thread Jesus Himself gives us, and follow it. Naaman was fortunate, his men were watching out for Him… but he still had to overcome his own ideas and listen. Being bull-headed about stuff is only good if you are a bull!

The one thing we need to watch out for is being so separate and independent we don’t know where anyone else is. Unity can usher in healing, and other members of the Body of Christ can totally transform what we think we know. Naaman’s men helped him when his common sense wouldn’t … that’s why he was healed. We cannot be the whole ball-game alone, even if life has so separated us from others for good reasons, we still must pray for each other. Naaman’s healing was right there … and he nearly missed it. Thank God for the brave souls among us who speak up!

You and I have the benefit of hind-sight when we read this story. We know all the players in it, and what happens and how it turns out, but at that time, the people involved were doing what you and I do every single day. They were making decisions according to their individual needs and situations. The great thing about serving King Jesus is that He knows what comes next – because He knows the way through anything.

I have cultivated a hands off policy over the years. I don’t give up when I’ve finally run out of ideas, now I give up at the beginning! Stuff happens, and I hand it over. That bit is often accompanied by copious weeping, maybe some grief or anger, but eventually, I stand back and wait. There are times I have to wait, and wait and WAIT, because I want HIS ANSWER, not mine. My answer is often selfish and demands instant results. Today I will pray that I will be just like that little nameless girl who knew where to point – she pointed the way to a miracle. Bye 👋

P 3328 You may need your molars!

/ DVH

“When You speak to me, I devour every word. Your Word brings me such boundless joy. The endless delight of my heart is in knowing that Your beautiful name is attached to me, O  Yahweh, Commander of Angel Armies.” Jeremiah 15:16 TPT.

Right. Let’s be clear. This is Jeremiah speaking, he was the prophet who didn’t want to be a prophet — who had to lie on one side for a year, and then he had to do the same thing on the other side – all of this was for the Lord’s purposes. Once he was told to bury his loin cloth in the dirt, to teach the Israelites a lesson, and after that he had to wear the mangy, mouldy, mostly-destroyed loin cloth … that’s the scoop for all you fashionistas out there – mouldy clothes! 

This is a guy who walked about with half his head shaved … nothing new there! He was known as ‘the weeping prophet’ because his life was very hard. He was imprisoned, persecuted, betrayed, thrown into a pit by his friends. This man was a walking illustration of what God wanted to say to His people about what was rapidly coming toward them! But, please note — this stuff wasn’t just information to Jeremiah – it was his LIFE! And this man, whose life wasn’t a whole heap of fun, fun, fun — also still said those beautiful words at the top of this page.

My point today, is that life is filled with dichotomies. None of us are just one thing, we all wear different hats in different circumstances and each of us have been asked to deal with all kinds of things in our lives. Some people won’t like what we say – or we do – or even what we don’t do. My conclusion is this – you can’t please people, they are way too fickle! Go with pleasing the Lord. It’s much safer – He’s reliable! Just wait, your troubles will all make sense, eventually.

It is time to relinquish the idea that our lives are always meant to be happy, and but go after His joy! Instead of chasing this world’s idea of happiness our God saved us to use us to enlarge His kingdom. Let’s also remember, our God loves a big family! But just like Jeremiah … belonging to the Lord and being named and owned as the Lord’s child, is our greatest joy and aim as well as … … here comes a word we all hate … responsibility! 

I’ve learnt to deeply appreciate what Father God says, and what He does, and how He does it. Often that actually happens after the hard stuff has been resolved. The difficulties life throws at us can hurt like mad, but eventually these thing fade, or we get used to it … or … we learn from Him how to live with it, like Jeremiah did. The secret to surviving is to allow the bad stuff to be regularly replaced by our ever-present knowledge that Almighty God loves each one of us, unconditionally, and He always wants our good. At the same time, we need to remember, whatever we focus on becomes bigger. 

Try focussing, like Jeremiah did, on Who the Lord is, and what He says about this life. We belong to Him now, that’s a comfort as well as a promise! Many people today want to be the prophet. I just want to say to them — “have you even read the Old Testament??” That kind of life is not as much fun as someone might think it is. A prophet’s life is a visual aid. Jesus’ life was! They often show us by the way they live that God’s Ways are costly, even though they are beautiful to behold. Jeremiah’s life did, so did Hosea’s!

The bible says: “It was for freedom that Christ set us free no longer to be made subject to a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1). However that verse needs to be firmly accompanied by the knowledge that we are now yoked to Christ. So now we go where He goes, and do what He does – we become His heart, hands and feet.

I believe the Lord’s Word sustained Jeremiah through the hard times that constantly came hurtling right at him. This is a wonderful reason to cherish whatever the Holy Spirit says to us, when He says it. He wants to sustain us through trials. Father God promises to be with us, when we are in trouble — but sometimes the distance between that promise and its fruition is bigger than we would like. That’s when our faith in God’s goodness is tested.

Jesus warned us about this, in another back molar chewy verse – “I have told you these things, so that IN ME you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33. So where is the peace? IN HIM. God has stated His purpose for what He does, and why He does it. We need to listen. Everybody likes the peace bit, but many of us wanna skip the ‘in this world you will have trouble’ part.

When we take what He says as information, we are instantly missing the application of His Words into our own lives. It means we aren’t chewing, instead we are browsing looking for answers that we might like more than the ones we found so far! Here’s my advice for free – simply ask the Lord: “What would You like me to learn here Lord?” This means we are both chewing and digesting God’s Word with the help of our molars!!  Bye. 👋

P 3103 Historical faith!

/ DVH

Our faith is meant to be living, it carries us from day to day. We look at trouble and say to Him: “How are You going to get me out of this mess please Lord?” Prayer, is walking around aware of Him, it is not meant as a last resort. It is as natural as breathing. We refuse to toss what we believe out of the window, just because things get rough or we get disappointed. This new life we’ve been given is not lip service, it is the thing that nurtures the biggest part of us. Our spirits! Every single day we too, are writing His story into our world around us. Let’s look at Luke 24:13-35:

“Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened.  As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus Himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognising Him. He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?” They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked Him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”“What things?” He asked.“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He WAS(!?!?!) a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. 

The chief priests and our rulers handed Him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified Him; but we had HOPED that He was the One Who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn’t find His body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said He was alive.Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter His glory?” 

And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself. As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if He were going farther. But they urged Him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So He went in to stay with them. When He was at the table with them, He took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him, and He disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

This is a big chunk of scripture today, but I put is here because I want to talk about how easy it is to let our faith become historical. Faith from yesterday is not the same as the faith we use today. We are growing fruit, and we really need personal intimate times with Jesus Himself, otherwise – like these two men – our day to day sadness can overcome the fact that, HE LIVES!! Jesus explained to these men that all the prophets had pointed toward Him, and these old saints foretold that the Messiah would die. These two men had already relegated the Lord Jesus into their history. BUT … He was present – right there, with them!!

The bible says they had been prevented from seeing Him. However, I do think they recognised His hands as He broke the bread, because they had seen those hands do that before! Here’s my little opinion. They were in the same position that this world is today – Jesus had become part of history. They thought of the Lord in the past tense. The Lord wants us to live by faith today – present tense! Faith IS… the substance of this new life we have with Him, and head knowledge is no substitute for the reality of His Presence with us.

Jesus indicated to the disciples that He was going to continue to walk on … and the men had to ask Him to stay. Daily, we need to recognise He is always with us, so let’s ASK Him to stay with us, and watch out for the things He will do. The Lord is actively looking for the hungry, those who want to be with HIM. He needs our YES! Let’s refuse to be distracted by the stuff that flies around in our daily lives, and remember that the Lord is our everything. Nothing will make sense without Him.

Jesus knows humanity, personally and experientially, as well as our penchant for mediocrity. We need to choose to move on into the next phase of our faith lives with Him. We must go beyond our daily commitment to pray, or read His Word, into daily depending upon Him and His deliverance from sin and evil. These two disciples had walked, talked, eaten and watched and listened to Jesus constantly. But, they did not recognise Him because they were not expecting Him! There must be expectancy in our faith. These men thought He was dead and gone.

We can fall down the same hole that swallows our faith because the Lord doesn’t appear to be with us. Especially when we pray and the answer we want does not happen. In our own daily lives we can become preoccupied with day-to-day mediocrity and we forget our main purpose – His will is our main purpose. He is always alive within us. If we have no answer to our prayers, then we need to hand whatever it is over to Him, and ask the Lord to reveal to us what He wants us to do next. We can get so tied up in making our lives comfortable, that we forget that we are a people with a mission. 

Christians love to pray for revival, but revival starts with ME … being obedient to what He tells me to do. Let’s not settle for historical faith! Every minute I postpone doing what He says to do, is a minute of my life I am wasting. Our obedience to Him, will usher in personal revival. Bye. 👋 “Here’s what I’ve learned through it all: Don’t give up; don’t be impatient; be entwined as one with the Lord. Be brave and courageous, and never lose hope. Yes, keep on waiting—for He will never disappoint you!” Psalms 27:14 TPT

P 3071 Jump on in, the water is fine.

/ DVH

“Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralised—whoever. I didn’t take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I’ve become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life. I did all this because of the Message. I didn’t just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it!” 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 MSG.

Perhaps the church has been so busy avoiding people who supposedly sin … like we don’t!  … because we are afraid of being contaminated(!)  When we live like this we are walking away from an extremely ripe field of grain. We don’t have to BE them, to talk to them. We simply choose to go with Love Himself, personified in us. Jesus goes before us, and He is with us, and He will remain with those people who need Him, long after we have left!

Speaking as a grey-haired old lady who has approached a bikie gang, plus, on another occasion, a couple of loose bikies strutting around a holiday town … I, too have had some conversations outside my comfort zone. On one occasion I felt like I was tackling two Goliaths!! But God spoke to me and He said: “If not you then WHO?”I’ve repeated the first story in this blog somewhere, in the past 8+ years, but the second one was pretty daunting. 

We pulled up in our car right next to these two huge bikie guys leaning against a lamp post talking to each other. And, joy of joys …the Lord spoke to me and told me to speak to them. My dear hubby immediately knew what I was going to do … so he left the car too. I climbed out of the car and tottered over trying to look casual. Then I said: “Great bikes boys!” Well, they were, their bikes were immaculately kept. Meanwhile I had to look UP to speak to them both – they just kind of nodded and kept talking to each other, probably hoping I would go away. 

I’ve learnt from my hubby that if you are going into the lion’s den you had better be prepared to stand up for Jesus right away or you will just peter out, and look like a goose. So I said: “God told me to tell you that Jesus loves you.” Jesus definitely loves them, but in those few seconds I wasn’t quite so sure how I felt!  – UM … maybe terrified? However THEY both looked at the ground. One of them kept on looking at the ground — it seemed like he was hoping that the ground would open up and swallow me.

Anyway the other guy stared into space but he interacted with me a bit, whilst I explained that I was probably his mother’s age and she might be concerned for his safety. Bikies like to hurt one another where I live. Then I said again that Jesus wanted them to know that He loved them, very much. The guy looking at the ground had a little tear roll down his cheek, and he kind of sniffed and wiped his nose with the back of his hand and nodded at the other one, who was staring anywhere but where I was. And then they started to move away. So did I! I jumped  back into our car so fast – you would have thought I was Gout-Gout!

My point? That was a God-appointment. In that kind of appointment the Lord reminds people He is real, by waving at them, through whatever we do and say. He calls to them, telling them He loves them. People usually react really well – but twice in 20 years we’ve been rejected. That’s pretty good odds wouldn’t you say? One guy nearly climbed over his desk to throw us out … so we left!  Another older lady was quite vocal about what was wrong with Christianity. So again, we quietly left. Of course we prayed for them!

God appointments are like that. They are times when we are set up by the Lord to be ourselves. We are not supposed to be an evangelist, or a prophet —you just be you. The person who loves Jesus. You are a witness – His witness. A witness tells what they know and what they have seen. Plus they answer questions if they are asked some. Half the time some overly enthusiastic people flood the poor schmuck they are talking to, by trying to stuff a life-time’s worth of witnessing Jesus at work in their lives into one encounter. 

Remember, God will send someone after you’ve gone. You are just being salty that’s all. Here’s some don’ts I learnt from a full-time evangelist. After the encounter, don’t jump, laugh, dance, sing, and create a hullabaloo anywhere near the person who was happy to listen to you. They will know you are talking about them, just respectfully leave. Don’t overload them. They don’t need 35 scriptures, or 12 how to come to Jesus brochures. 

Every time we are fake we are separating ourselves from the very people God asked us to speak to. We’ve all been saved by the very same Grace we are now offering them. I can only encourage anyone reading this to “jump on in the water is fine.” And if it goes wrong? “Just keep swimming, just keep swimming …” Easy peasy. Bye. 🤣

P 2961 God is not angry with you.

/ DVH

Isaiah 12:1-6:“And you will say in that day, “I thank You, God. You were angry but Your anger wasn’t forever. You withdrew Your anger and moved in and comforted me. “Yes, indeed—God is my salvation. I trust, I won’t be afraid. God—yes God!—is my strength and song, best of all, my salvation! He’s done it all! Let the whole earth know what He’s done! Raise the roof! Sing your hearts out, O Zion! The Greatest lives among you: The Holy of Israel.” 

Instead of thinking we know what verses like these mean – perhaps we need to pray about them …as well as praying them over ourselves! You and I have greatly benefited from what Isaiah saw and understood. Did you get the prophet’s response? As he saw these things he’s comforted and strengthened – plus he found trust, and he let go of fear! Isaiah also saw that God Himself would move in to live inside us.Because of what the entire New Testament says, we know the truth of what this great prophet saw! Isaiah saw God withdraw His anger toward mankind and he saw all of us being sooo happy about it. If you’re happy and you know it tell your face!

I think that in the Presence of God’s greatness and goodness, Isaiah was given the capacity to comprehend that God was going to withdraw His anger from all of mankind, and he saw it as if it was happening at that moment. This man of God was in heaven at that time, in the eternal NOW – where there is no past, present or future. In subsequent chapters he also saw that God’s own Son would come here and pay the price for our sin, and that one incredible action means God withdrew His anger — because the Lord Jesus voluntarily took the punishment that belongs to every man, woman and child.

You and I are living our everyday humdrum lives inside these verses. We are living in the bit that says He comforts us so we can be joyful. My question today is this: have you comprehended what God did for you, is for today, it is for now? You could be living in a pig pen or a penthouse, a war zone or a peaceful place but because of Jesus, and everything He did, you now have God’s favour. We have a book that testifies to that. Salvation is not ‘pie in the sky when we die’ He wants us to be happy with what He did for us right now. Almighty God took all His anger out on Christ. Isn’t that astonishing!  Boy do those thoughts blow my tiny mind! 

I cannot comprehend how our Heavenly Father God could hurt SomeOne He loves  … but He did — and He did it for our sake. “When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.”We know that these verses are prophetic, because in Isaiah the Lord is talking about “in that day.” I believe THAT day is THIS day to us … it has been THIS day for the last 2,000 years. I think this day lasts until the Lord Jesus comes back. We hurt His heart when we choose to sin and live outside of His enormous provision of Grace.

You know, I cannot imagine letting evil men do evil things to my son… e-v-e-r. Even if I knew there was an incredible greater good involved. But that’s what God’s love looks like. He counted the cost and decided we were worth it – how astonishing.  At Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came, He made those people who were waiting in that upper room — NEW. The One Who created the world …recreated them! Our job is to trust what He did then, is totally true today. Now day by day we can be recreated in Christ’s image, and glorify God. 

Isaiah was given an expanded view of the wisdom, long-suffering and deep deep love God Himself has for all of us. Even if we erroneously believe that the Lord is angry with us, here is something concrete. We learn it from this passage – God’s anger did not last – His goodness won. And all that happened before we were born! Not only that, He wants to comfort us when we are suffering, that is also why Christ came. We see this in the way Jesus treated people. Changed circumstances are not our strength and song … HE IS. God illustrated personally, and publicly, for all time, and for all mankind to see — that Love is prepared to wait for the best outcome, no matter what it costs and how hard it is to bear.

Sometimes we cannot embrace these concepts because the world has taught us that we need to feel good, in order for things to be good. We think trouble should be far far away from us. But God’s Ways are not our ways, they are higher than ours. There is a greater good! The only way we can see this life, things like terrible situations around us, is through His eyes. We don’t know LOVE well enough yet. After all He might joyfully pardon someone we might want to punish! WE desperately NEED HIS EYES to view the people and situations around us. 

Our personal opinions have been bent by circumstances and selfishness. People see love as getting what they want. What our God sees as Love is almost a foreign language to most of us. In spite of our inadequacies, our unbelief, our God is not angry with us, His anger was satisfied by what Christ did. We will find our strength in what He has already given you. Bye for today, 👋

P 2918 Know your place.

/ DVH

It is a very valuable thing to know your place in God’s plans. Who you are, and who you are not. Listen to the genuine humility in what John the Baptist says in John 1:19-23. “Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Messiah.”They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?”

He answered, “No.” Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”

John had absolutely no problem with his role in God’s kingdom, and yet he had a lot to brag about! To start with, He was born under extraordinary circumstances. His parents were childless and too old to have children when God announced his arrival. This young man looked and lived differently, he was totally devoted to God’s purposes. He practically vibrated with passion for God’s ways. John was the youngest witness ever-recorded in the bible. He jumped up and down for joy, inside his mum, when his mother met Mary, who was carrying Jesus Christ inside her at the time.

This young man knew his place – he simply did whatever God told him to do when the Lord told him to do it. His entire life was devoted to preaching repentance. It still blows my mind that he had a huge personal claim to fame, after all – he baptised Jesus!!  Imagine – he could have founded the “I baptised Jesus movement!” Yet he never once traded on what he did, he simply was obedient to his own calling. Sadly this poor guy got his head cut off because he called sin SIN! Something we all seem loathe to do nowadays.

Today everyone seems to want a big glorious ministry – to be seen and known. While others have given up on any ministry because they don’t seem to be spiritually extraordinary enough. Where are the John the Baptists amongst us? The men and women who know their place and faithfully and humbly stand in what they were given to do. We live in a culture that says that we should become famous, so we can make the Lord’s Name famous. Like HE needs our help!! I love the scripture below, because it smacks ambition right on the head – hard!

“For who do you know that really knows you, knows your heart? And even if they did, is there anything they would discover in you that you could take credit for? Isn’t everything you have and everything you are sheer gifts from God? So what’s the point of all this comparing and competing? You already have all you need. You already have more access to God than you can handle…”1 Corinthians 4:7 MSG.

Another version says: “What do you have that was not given to you?”  Our answer to that should always be … nothing. Not one blooming thing. I’ve had 3 children, and I know each one was a gift from God. I also live in a safe place – the Lord gave me that too. Some other Christians live in anti-Christ cultures and they live with great fear. Because they know Jesus, and they love Him, but the Lord is not welcome in their country.They are living like His salt in a deadly stew, fearing a knock on their door.  

Looking at this world all around us and realising what we have been given, introduces gratitude and a sense of place and purpose. The pressure is off, we don’t all have to be big time evangelists … some of us live ordinary lives faithfully serving an extraordinary God! Yesterday hubby explained the gospel to a lady who had never ever heard it before. She asked what the gospel of John was about, and he left her reading the bible for the first time. Our faith has been designed to be active and vibrant — as well as love-filled and dripping in compassion. That’s the only criteria. Fame brings its own pitfalls.

Some of us get to practice love on people who have absolutely no idea or understanding of what they have been freely given. Many saints weep into their pillows in fervent prayer, because they know the fate of others around them. You and I might pass these people on the street and we wouldn’t even know that we are passing one of Christ’s passionate unknown soldiers.

Ambition is a deadly trap. The person imprisoned by it can never do enough, there always has to be more – preferably bigger and brighter. For these poor souls trapped-by-extraordinary-visible-results, the joy of salvation can be lost in the anguish of not-being-effective-enough. Or the need to have recognition. We must find our own place, and start being active and obedient to our heavenly calling — where He put us. Here’s a very old hymn, many may have sung in their childhood that reminds us of that calling:

“Jesus bids us shine with a pure clean light, like a little candle burning in the night. In this world of darkness, so we must shine – you in your small corner and I in mine!”   Bye … 👋.

P 2913 Latest news anyone?

/ DVH

Isaiah 3:1-7 “The Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, is emptying Jerusalem and Judah of all the basic necessities, plain bread and water to begin with. He’s withdrawing police and protection, judges and courts, pastors and teachers, captains and generals, doctors and nurses, and, yes, even the repairmen and jacks-of-all-trades.
He says, “I’ll put little kids in charge of the city. Schoolboys and schoolgirls will order everyone around. People will be at each other’s throats, stabbing one another in the back: Neighbour against neighbour, young against old, the no-account against the well-respected. One brother will grab another and say,‘You look like you’ve got a head on your shoulders.Do something! Get us out of this mess.’ And he’ll say, ‘Me? Not me! I don’t have a clue. Don’t put me in charge of anything.’”

Verses 8-12: “Jerusalem’s on its last legs. Judah is soon down for the count. Everything people say and do is at cross-purposes with God, a slap in My face. Brazen in their depravity, they flaunt their sins like degenerate Sodom. Doom to their eternal souls! They’ve made their bed; now they’ll sleep in it. “Reassure the righteous that their good living will pay off. But doom to the wicked! Disaster! Everything they did will be done to them.“Skinny kids terrorise My people. Silly girls bully them around. My dear people! Your leaders are taking you down a blind alley.They’re sending you off on a wild-goose chase.”

I read this passage today and I was astonished! It reads like the current news services – particularly the people who overemphasise the bad! My first thought was — so sin really IS common to mankind! (1 Corinthians 10:13)  The accuracy of what was written by Isaiah, 2,711 years ago. blew me away. Secondly I also realised that means that God is no stranger to the squirrelled-up lives we live, and the stupid decisions we make. I keep saying this stuff is in the book … and look at that – it really is in the book! Wow. If that doesn’t give us confidence that our God has already ‘bin there and dun that’ then what will?

As Christians we serve such a powerful Shepherd, He will fight every battle to protect us, as well as free us from fear. He wants to train our hands for war. However, in the west we have the luxury of thinking most of the poverty and war are ‘over there’  — as in, somewhere else! But many, many people get no relief from this kind of turmoil. Here’s another little eye-opener. This one is from Jeremiah 6:13&14 – 2,595 years ago: “For from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely. They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.”

We misrepresent the power of God when we minimise the depth of the trouble and sorrow and suffering all around us. The power of God is always present to deliver, heal and usher people into His kingdom and it has no limitations! However, our fake cheery positive attitudes, the ones unsupported by the Spirit of God, are a knife into the heart of those who really live under all kinds of pain and persecution. We must never change Who Jesus Christ is to serve our theology. And we cannot change reality to elevate Him either. Other people will see straight through the lies and half-truths.

The church has developed an attitude like David’s brothers did when Goliath was challenging the army of Israel. I call it the: “If I can’t see it then it is not really there,’ attitude! Our job is to bring the kingdom of God with us wherever we go, not just hide from the bad stuff with over-emphasised prosperity and happiness doctrines. Our happiness is in Christ not in this world. We are strangers, simply passing through, plus we are His ambassadors while we are here. We cannot hide from reality by putting huge rocks of these badly formed theories between us, and the giants of this world. We need to do every bit of our hiding in His shadow!

“When you abide under the shadow of Shaddai, you are hidden in the strength of God Most High. He’s the hope that holds me and the stronghold to shelter me, the only God for me, and my great confidence.” Psalms 91:1-2 TPT

Always remember, Jesus was willing to pay the incredible  price to transform our lives so His Presence can go  with us wherever we go. We are not the whole ballgame – we are merely the ticket sellers and food vendors to the main event! JESUS IS ALWAYS THE MAIN EVENT!! Instead of making our own personal kingdoms comfortable and filled up with stuff, we are here now to make His Name famous. They will know we are Christians by our love, not our ten cars and fourteen overseas trips!

The daily news will probably continue to be bad, because Jesus Christ is not necessarily enthroned in the hearts of the press or most of the people around us, either. The press just want a good story and $$$$$!  But we have the real steadfast, eternal good news, inside US. We are carriers of His kingdom, filled with the love of God and the good news about forgiveness of sins, no matter what other people have done.← That’s a full stop right there. Bye. 👋

P 2870 Stay available.

/ DVH

Luke 4:25-27 “I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land.Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”

Can you see from these few verses that the Lord actually sent His servant Elijah to wherever the prophet would be listened to and obeyed? It is easy to see that God’s heart is always toward provision and healing, that means we must not limit Him. We can spend a lot of our time, deciding who is in and who is out, when we should be using our time to bring ourselves to Him – so He can fill us for whatever He chooses to do. He did the above things for people outside of the Israelites. Once for a widow, and another time for an important man. 

And if you read these stories carefully, you will see that the Lord was extremely patient with that important man for his own good. He’s patient with us too, He has things for each of us to do.. He waits for us to say yes, and put aside our opinions, our man-taught divisions, and go after HIS. The Old Testament clearly shows us how Father God dealt with mankind, personally, directly, for man’s own good. Stories like these in Luke teach us His ways and how important it is for His people to say available.

These verses explain how His very own people can be so pre-occupied with their own lives that they are not available for His loving kindness to touch them! Sound familiar? That also kind of whacks the concept  ’round the ear-hole that our church is the only church God cares about! We can easily think of His love as intentional, ongoing and indulgent toward US, but … barely tolerant towards some other denomination, or the-people-who-don’t-know-Him-yet. That’s not true – read the book!

We can get so busy proving or disproving our pet theories and theological points of view that we will utterly miss Who He really is and misrepresent Him with hate instead of love. God sends His rain on the just and the unjust – and that rain is a symbol of promise, growth and fertility. Here’s a thought – instead of waiting for it to rain at your church, why not find out where it IS actually spiritually raining – right now – and join in!

“Oh, but those people over there believe in speaking in tongues and we don’t … blah blah blah …” It gets kind of easy to see why Elijah ended up in Sidon and Syria eh!? With that attitude we might not even be able to see what the Lord is doing right next door to us!!  Let’s remember, Jesus Himself interacted with people who were not the ‘chosen people.’ This life is not a contest or a competition between us and our theological ideas and ideals. It’s actually all about HIM! Who He is, and how greatly He loves human beings.

I’ve counted at least 5 times when Jesus interacted with Gentiles. Faith is bigger than our borders and boundaries. The thing about listening and reading what it actually says is that His Word will broaden our outlook on Who He is and what He will do … and for whom. We need to stop cherry-picking verses and stories that suit our church’s personal agendas and GO BACK TO BEING NEEDY. Neediness attracts the Holy Spirit like a bee to a flower meadow.

The thing we cannot ever hide from Him is our hearts. He knows what readiness to change and preparedness to be transformed looks like – because He’s met lip-service before. Here’s a last verse to chew on and it’s a tough old piece of steak, so chew away! It’s from Jeremiah 17:9: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”Only God does.

And I put it to you, that we do not know what is in our own hearts, and so we need Him to reveal that to us. We must stay alert and available to His Word, and His daily  guidance, because that is the only way we will see what is really going on inside us. Instead of looking and searching about to find out what ministry I have, I need to ask Him: ”Is there anything inside me that might hinder what You want to do in me, and through me? I need to be ready and available for whatever You want me to do next!” Bye for today! 👋

P 2847 God is long-suffering.

/ DVH

God puts up with a lot from us. That thought is how I began to see that we need to focus on walking in His love, instead of just gathering more and more knowledge. At the same time we can end up working hard to be somebody we are not, while we are trying to gain something from God that is already free, and belongs to every man, woman and child, ever born! 

When we read the Old Testament and study the Way He interacts with each individual person, we see that Almighty God loves our uniqueness and He is prepared to work with every person mentioned, personally. Inside their perceived limitations. The Holy Spirit is currently teaching me how to follow Him in ways that stretch my faith, while He is showing me how to love. He started me off with the most difficult person in my life, someone I could not relate to, at all. My natural response was to react at this person. Instead of pretending to manage the situation, I began admitting I was an abject failure, I could not possibly change myself  – plus I had absolutely no faith for it. I realised I could not live up to an impossible standard, by myself, and failing all the time was extremely discouraging. 

That is when I came to the conclusion that there is a strong possibility that we have been reading His book incorrectly for years! We’ve studied it like we might study Maths or English, instead of applying it so it becomes part of who we are.“Christ Himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip His people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” Ephesians 4:11-13. God wants us to know and experience Jesus in His fullness, for ourselves. The result is that we will do what He did – He lived to obey His Father.

If you happen to be a pastor, prophet, apostle, evangelist etc. then you are merely one of Christ’s gifts to His Body. You are a GIFT … you are not the star .. HE is the star! I’m so OVER people following other people who are supposedly more spiritual than we are! When we follow other people and their revelations, we begin to lose sight of our Saviour personally, and we start following man-made directives. That means that we start thinking like Pastor Rex or the Apostle George, and shape our lives around the way they think and preach. No wonder the Lord said it was a huge responsibility to be a teacher – people could end up following individuals instead of Him! The Lord Jesus is so kind, He does not want us to have second-hand faith – He wants us to have our own testimonies of His active grace in our lives. 

Meanwhile, I do wish that some leaders would tell me HOW to apply the scriptures into my life instead of merely explaining what it says. I think it is a leader’s job to teach us HOW. In 1 Corinthians11:1, Paul says: “Follow my example, AS I follow the example of Christ.” How did Paul follow Christ? Wholeheartedly to his death!!  If I choose to learn information from someone else and I do not personally learn how to let Jesus carry me through life’s impactful situations;  I will have nothing at all to stand on. I need to hear from God for myself, and follow Him, step by step. As I do that I will learn about HIM and His Ways for myself.

Leaders LEAD – they are not just there to pray for us when our prayers appear to be hitting the ceiling. They give direction, encouragement, they take the scriptures and make it plain to ordinary people, and we all add new believers to our churches. Sometimes they lead by example, showing their flocks how the scriptures have impacted their lives. They teach us obedience, and submission. 

Paul explained the teachings of Christ brilliantly and he lived that way, himself. Best advice ever … don’t follow anyone who does not live the way they speak, especially if they never ever share their missteps or mistakes. Our God is incredibly generous, He will share His wisdom and His power with anyone who has faith and seeks it – but that doesn’t necessarily mean that individual has a Godly character. Gifted people can usher in miracles and still live this life with an unredeemed character.

We cannot afford to follow everything Brother-I-seem-to-know-a-whole-lot-of-fancy-stuff-you-don’t-know says … that road can lead to huge disappointments. Keep on FOLLOWING JESUS, do what the bible says, and read God’s book for yourself. Do what the Lord Jesus Himself did, wait on God for answers personally. It is sad to say, but the love of many has grown cold – I think this is why there is often no power of God in our churches! Yet, we have access by the Holy Spirit’s Presence to all walk in His power, not just a select few. We can all participate in the miraculous, that should be normal not extraordinary. Our lack of devotion to Christ Himself has led to many of us being passengers on someone else’s bus, instead of soldiers, daily fighting to set captives free for His sake. 

Our God is long-suffering, He puts up with a lot in His great tender mercy and love,  —- so I think He deserves our total devotion.“For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain…” Philippians 1:21. Now there’s a good verse to live by this year. Bye. 👋