Protects

P 3277 The Lord cannot let you down.

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“The Lord is my light and my salvation;  I will fear no one. The Lord protects me from all danger; I will never be afraid.

When evil people attack me and try to kill me, they stumble and fall. Even if a whole army surrounds me, I will not be afraid; even if enemies attack me, I will still trust God. I have asked the Lord for one thing one thing only do I want: to live in the Lord’s house all my life, to marvel there at His goodness, and to ask for His guidance. In times of trouble He will shelter me; He will keep me safe in His Temple and make me secure on a high rock. So I will triumph over my enemies around me. 

With shouts of joy I will offer sacrifices in His Temple; I will sing, I will praise the Lord. Hear me, Lord, when I call to You! Be merciful and answer me! When You said, “Come worship Me,” I answered, “I will come, Lord.”Don’t hide Yourself from me! Don’t be angry with me; don’t turn Your servant away. You have been my help; don’t leave me, don’t abandon me, O God, my Saviour. My father and mother may abandon me, but the Lord will take care of me. Teach me, Lord, what You want me to do, and lead me along a safe path, because I have many enemies. Don’t abandon me to my enemies, who attack me with lies and threats. I know that I will live to see the Lord’s goodness in this present life. Trust in the Lord. Have faith, do not despair. Trust in the Lord.”  Psalm 27 GNB. 

In order to maintain our faith and sanity, we need to regularly and deliberately stop and take the time to remind ourselves of Who He is, and how very much He loves us. Meanwhile, who are we to fellowship with SomeOne like Almighty God, and dare to call Him “Father?” Thank you Jesus!  How constantly and consistently He seeks to protect us and comfort us. He is not a God Who stands afar off. (Psalm 10:1) The Lover of our soul, Jesus, is our dearest Friend Who sticks closer than a brother.(Proverbs 18:24) We are so incredibly blessed!

Sometimes the things we need to do and the places we need to go to, can be overwhelming. Plus the people  who often crowd in on us, and don’t always contribute anything positive! And so we forget God is our ever-present help in time of need. These are the times to press in to Him. God sits on His throne and laughs at the threats and posturing of His enemies. So we have nothing to be afraid about, because the Lord has us in His care. We are the apple of His eye, His people, His sheep. He is the good Shepherd Who protects and guards His sheep against all attacks and threats. In difficult times, we need to tuck ourselves under His Wings, where there is shelter. If you feel besieged and under threat, run to the Lord, and hide yourself in His goodness. 

I like to take the time to reaffirm my faith and trust in His goodness. Please understand this action is not an immediate EXIT strategy. Instead I am making a decision to deliberately enter into His rest. Focussing on His goodness helps the process of watering and fertilising the seeds of my faith, even at a time when I am raw and unsettled. That’s what faith looks like. It isn’t always pretty, or powerful.  However, our Mighty powerful Lion of Judah will come to our aid as we fix our eyes on Him and not what is going on around us. The point is, our faith is in WHO He is, not just in changed circumstances or how we feel or react to them.  

Our Heavenly Father cannot let us down because He has chosen to be bound by His own promises. He wrote them down! This means we cannot forget them and we can be encouraged in the dark night of our soul to trust Him when it seems impossible. It is His integrity that is at stake here. That’s why the great patriarchs and mighty men of the past, held Him to His Word. The Lord delights in the kind of faith that holds Him to His Word! This faith is not based on feelings, but it can be influenced by HISTORY … our shared history with Him.

The bible clearly tells us that Father God does not keep score of our blunders and sinfulness, because our debt has already been paid by Jesus. That glorious, terrible event is part of our shared history with God.  He chooses to focus on the freedom His Love bought us. All He sees when He looks at us, now, is His dear Son’s blood. That blood is as fresh in our lives today, as it was when it was willingly shed back then, at Calvary. That’s why we need to choose to voluntarily repent quickly, and repair things. Our desire is to stay under the blood of Jesus.We rely upon the Lord’s costly provision and His truthfulness. 

We have no reason to deliberately nourish sin in our lives anymore. It has no power or authority over us! Jesus took the devil’s power away from him – all he can do now is deceive us. But because we love our Father’s Word and joyfully obey Him, we can live a brand new life filled with His love and purposes. We’ve chosen to be dead to what we want, and alive to what He wants. And now we embrace the power of the cross in our lives from day to day. That power delivers us from evil as we embrace His life in us! 

Like the Psalmist says: stuff still happens. Our enemy has not given up on trying to deceive us, but we are so blessed! We have the truth to set us free, and uncover the lies we are being fed. No wonder the Psalmist is joyful and can’t wait to worship God! His knowledge of the Lord’s goodness and His ways are His greatest comfort in times of trouble. We have God’s Word written down, signed in the blood of Jesus. He will do what He said He will do, and more. He cannot let us down – His faithfulness is legendary.Bye. 👋

P 3130 The beginning of Wisdom.

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“If you consider yourself to be wise and one who understands the ways of God, advertise it with a beautiful, fruitful life guided by wisdom’s gentleness. Never brag or boast about what you’ve done and you’ll prove that you’re truly wise.” James 3:13 TPT. “To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit,…”1 Corinthians 12:8. “Those who are wise will shine radiantly as the sky at midday. And those who turn many to the way of righteousness will shine brightly as stars for all eternity.” Daniel 12:3 TPT.“The beginning of wisdom is: Get [skilful and godly] wisdom [it is preeminent]! And with all your acquiring, get understanding [actively seek spiritual discernment, mature comprehension, and logical interpretation].” Proverbs 4:7.”The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Proverbs 9:10.

Proverbs shows us the importance of having the Lord’s wisdom, and when it says “fear’ it means reverence and awe. A deep respect for Our Holy righteous Father, puts us on the road to understanding His ways. Proverbs also states to get His wisdom you need to make it your first priority and realise you need it. Human resources and information feature a lot in this world we live in, accumulated knowledge is the big deal thing today. And of course, now we have the internet and Google! Not to mention Wikipedia. Ho hum.  

But the bible tells us that even though Godly wisdom is the thing to have, without understanding and mature comprehension we won’t know what to do with it. Boy, I could have saved myself a heap of angst if I had taken that concept seriously! I kept trying to teach my kids wisdom when they didn’t understand a thing I was saying, and most of the time they didn’t care to either. Wisdom has to be sought, and earthly knowledge is not the same as God’s wisdom.

God’s wisdom is prompted by the Holy Spirit. Kids learn to parrot off all kinds of stuff at school, but they have no idea what to do with it. They need spiritual application to make use of their knowledge. That’s why they need parents to help them to put theory into transformative actions. Knowledge without application looks great on a resume, but it won’t help you balance your budget!

Wisdom identifies what to do and a word of knowledge shows us how to do it. They are both God-given GIFTS—Proverbs makes this clear, so that means we can, and should ask for these gifts. “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.” Matthew 13:43. “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver. As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear.” Proverbs 25:11-13. Wisdom corrects our course and reveals the Holy Spirit within us to others.

Wisdom will give us ears to hear what Jesus is saying, when others can’t even hear Him. It is like a spiritual hearing aid – it takes the unclear and makes it clear. In Matthew, did you get the subtle reference to choice? If you have spiritual hearing …then make sure you use it! These spiritual gifts diagnose an anticipated outcome and wisdom knows the right way to go about it. Remember, Almighty God knows the beginning right through to the end. Knowledge identifies and wisdom applies.

We ALL need His wisdom. This world is too dark and too tricky to live our lives without it. Wisdom can see the lie hidden between two truths. At the same time, knowledge and insight will often know where God’s truth applies. When I need it, the Holy Spirit gives me part of a verse, but it is up to me to look it up and follow that thread. ‘Knowledge is about knowing facts, whereas wisdom is about having the insight and discernment to apply that knowledge correctly, often revealing what action to take or how to respond.’  Google.

I have found that wisdom means you know something that you cannot possibly know with your intellect. It is not cleverness that figures things out—this God-given gift is something that drops into our heart or mind, often unbidden. Before it happens you may not even be concentrating on the problem. Suddenly the answer is in front of you, and then His wisdom says: ‘Do it like this.” It helps us avoid error. 

Many times we were about to go somewhere and the Lord said to us: “Wait!” When it came to the time when we would have been elsewhere, much too far away to help — a text came through and we were asked to help someone, because an emergency situation had come up. The word of Wisdom was ‘wait.’ I have also found wisdom can help me discern when things are a bit ‘off.’ I’m pretty naive in my personality and so the Holy Spirit often kindly protects me with His Wisdom.

Recently somebody called us and used the conversation to  clone our voice. They asked for this and that, but my spirit rose up and said – quite violently – “Hang up and phone the bank.”  The person on my end of the phone was not thrilled, but they trust the Lord, so they politely hung up. And lo and behold, somebody had tried to access our funds. Because the Holy Spirit helped us, we were recompensed immediately. We changed our passwords on the same day! I found reading the bible asking the Holy Spirit to help me, led me to these three gifts. I began to know His voice. I went out and obeyed what He taught me at that time.

Don’t rush – wait for your Teacher. Learn to listen and you’ll grow patience along the way, and then do your best to obey – because Christians need HIS WISDOM. ‘Ask and keep on asking, go after it, you will find it!’ Bye. 👋

P 3096 something to think on.

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“Give God the right to direct your life, and as you trust Him along the way, you’ll find He pulled it off perfectly! He will appear as your righteousness, as sure as the dawning of a new day. He will manifest as your justice, as sure and strong as the noonday sun. Quiet your heart in His presence and wait patiently for Yahweh. And don’t think for a moment that the wicked, in their prosperity, are better off than you.” Psalms 37:5-7 TPT. 

These verses are a great summation of how faith works. They help you to experience all that the Lord has for you as you surrender your whole life, and then begin to obey the stuff that is already in His book. Useful tip! Please don’t excuse yourself by saying “I don’t do that.” That’s leaning on your own understanding — ASK HIM instead. At the same time it is not good to skip over any apparently hard bits, instead it is important to take them to heart. I keep going back until He gives me an answer.

Most of my answers come when the Holy Spirit brings another verse to my mind and it clarifies the first one. Then ask Him – “What would You like me to do about this Lord?”  I have met so many people who are stuck right there agreeing with the bible but dismissing their own responsibility to change. Perhaps their thought is: “I’ve prayed about my sin, I confessed it. Now changing me and my unfortunate attitude is up to God.” I put “stinky attitude” but most people don’t like to go that far.

Leaving changing our core values up to Him is like shouting into the wind.The Lord expects us to do something about those attitudes, and He is happy to help us. To start with: He loves the interaction that takes place when we choose to engage with Him over these seemingly small things. He will tell us what to do, and help us as He tells us how to do it.

Look, I am going to be blunt here – you and I are not babies who sit about bleating: “I can’t help it, and God hasn’t done anything about it so it’s not my fault. After all I prayed!” That’s like nailing one foot to the floor and wondering why you are going round and round. We blame God because we think we did all we could, by praying. Do the opposite on purpose! Remember Zacchaeus? This man overpaid to make up for his sin. Excusing yourself is called evasion. I know people who say: ‘Jesus paid for my sin’ –YEAH! He did! But repentance is in the book too! … Repentance involves fruit. If you want fruit – this is how you get it!

My advice is to read His book with the idea that we will “hear” something to help us every single day, then we act on it. I have learnt, over and over again, that the Lord is often doing something behind the scenes …  somewhere I didn’t even think about. He is doing something else – every single time. This has become so predictable, it is amazing. If you want eyes to see and ears to hear this is how you get them. Stick yourself under His heavenly bible-microscope and ask questions. Don’t give up or use avoidance because you don’t have enough time – press in. Words are cheap, actions speak louder than words.

However, acting in faith on what He tells you to do can be hard. The bible says:“let the thief steal no more!” Now that person needs to find another way to earn a living because stealing is out! Jesus told a lot of people to go away and stop doing whatever it was that got them down the hole they had fallen into. You and I aren’t glove puppets – He will not make us change our behaviour. The Lord loves to come alongside us, to help us fix whatever it is, with His guidance and wisdom. He loves the interaction that happens as we learn to rely upon Him step by step – yes I know I already said this! 

It works like this: Pray! Ask for His help to identify any problem. Then ask Him to show you how He wants you to fix it. If someone else is involved, then pull up your big guy pants and go and ask for forgiveness. Explain to them you have been praying about this fault but you did not know you were asking amiss. You thought that was the way this stuff was done. Their response to your humility is their problem, you are working on your own spiritual life with the Lord. Faith grows when you use it to overcome your own weaknesses. 

Waiting patiently for some whose faults are driving you batty, can be incredibly irritating! But that response is our cue to ask God: “Lord, what log is in my eye that is obscuring my view of what is really going on?”. This is how we will discover the stuff we need to prayerfully do about ourselves. We are not meant to live this life irritated. Irritation is the opposite of learning to live in love. “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” We all know where that scripture is! 

The Holy Spirit knows the steps each of us need to take to get us to this place in Corinthians! My steps won’t be like yours, because we are different. But He promises to counsel us with His eye upon us, and He will. There is absolutely nothing like doing God’s Will God’s Way! All sorts of glory comes down. My insides get so happy I just want to do some sort of little dance on the spot! I don’t, of course, because I can’t dance for toffee – but I yell a lot instead! “Praise You Lord!” When we pray about this kind of stuff we are touching the eternal, and allowing Him to be the focus of our lives. That is definitely something to think on. Bye. 👋

P 3013 Our God is incredibly generous.

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When the Lord comforts us, He is also giving us something we can pass on to someone else who is in need. Almighty God is so incredibly, over-the-top generous, He doesn’t only give us what we need, He gives us more than enough, so we have plenty to give way!!

“All praises belong to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. For He is the Father of tender mercy and the God of endless comfort. He always comes alongside us to comfort us in every suffering so that we can come alongside those who are in any painful trial. We can bring them this same comfort that God has poured out upon us.” 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 TPT. I’m a conduit, a channel. You are one too – all of God’s children are conduits of what He has given us.The secret to thriving in His Ways is not to own anything! I don’t just mean that literally, I mean whatever we have is always available to help someone else. Time, love, compassion, faith etc… as well as practical things.

We give away what we have already been given, because sharing is now part of our new nature. We don’t have to squirrel stuff away for another day, because we already know that:“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.“ 2 Peter 1:3. As the bible says what we have is: “…pressed down and running over…” This means we will always have more than enough! We simply have to be flexible and divide between our needs and wants. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” Psalm 46:1. God loves His kids. Each one of us is precious to Him – He covers, guides and protects us.

We get comfort from Him, through other people, and through His Word, plus other people’s prayers for us – and then we give it away. I have found that right along with comfort we also get “hope” when ours has started to wobble and get wonky under duress. The next time something dastardly happens to you, instead of hunting about trying to find Him, just remind yourself that He is right next to you. The bible says that like this: “He ALWAYS comes alongside us …” That means we can bank on it. Don’t feel around to see if it is true, remember Peter — he got out of the boat and stepped onto the water, and LET GO, and then he did the impossible. 

Believe God is with you because He is. If your difficult situation has not gone away, then He knows that together you and He can get through it. Ask Him to show you the way through. Some things are meant to be endured with patience because that’s how you get the fruit of long-suffering love. We cannot afford to consult our feelings when the ceiling of our life just fell in. Our feelings will react. It’s normal.  Read the book – Jesus had feelings! But … they were not in charge of His responses. 

The society we live in makes feelings way more important than they ought to be. In years gone by people elevated the brain. It seemed that knowing stuff was going to help us through any crisis. Information proved to be a dud, because our knowledge kept changing along the way! If we elevate our feelings over our faith we are missing out on His generous flow of wisdom and comfort that constantly comes our way. God wants us to win. Everything He has done is to help us win in this battle called ‘life.’

We are the people of His Spirit, so feelings and knowledge take a secondary place in our lives. They are still there – after all we are not stoics, beating our feelings into submission! We simply relinquish how we feel and whatever has happened, to the Holy Spirit. Jesus told us to pick up and wear the yoke He wore. His yoke was obedience to His Father in every circumstance. He saw the “Yes” of God and He saw the “No” and the result was the same – He continued to glorify God. We simply can’t afford to let our feelings stay in control of our lives or reactions. Cry if you have to, yell if you have to, but yell out to God for His help to walk through whatever has happened. 

We have been exhorted, with His help, to grow suitable, sustainable fruit… the fruit of the Spirit called “self-control.” That fruit grows in good times and in bad, as we ask for His help to watch over our inner lives.. As we yield our will to Him, and follow His instructions from the book, we prepare the ground for good fruit. Fruit takes time, so we need to be ready to persevere. That allows His fruit in us to ‘set.’ The very first year our mango tree appeared to have fruit, it got all these happy little nubs on it and we got so excited … fruit at last … then they all fell to the ground! The fruit had not set – it had not been successfully pollinated. God will pollinate our feeble attempts at faith, with more faith, because He is generous!

Our knowledge of Who He is, and the Way He does things, needs to be established in an ongoing fashion in our hearts, otherwise we will continue to flounder about like a fish out of water. We were born for this life. He chose us to be His, before the foundation of the world. Did you get that? He picked us to be His children before there were trees, stars, oceans, dry land, good food to eat! And Father God is incredibly generous, He will give us everything we need for a Godly life. So we can complete the works He sent us to do. If you don’t got what you think you need, then you don’t need it! Believe in your Father’s generosity – He believes in you. Bye. 👋

P 2934 A true Shepherd.

/ DVH

We have been watching a vlog on YouTube about a senior couple from Azerbaijan, who live a very simple life. They harvest whatever is around them, and store things up for the severe winters that are bound to come. Today, they had a shepherd and his flock of sheep as part of the vlog, and he inspired me to think about Jesus. 

This wonderful old man just stood, or sometimes sat, watching over his sheep. That’s what he does. In the wind and the rain, in the snow, in sunshine, and the heat of the day, all day long – this old man watches over his flock, and protects them. He knows their worth. And if they wander off, then he herds them back, to where he wants them, and makes sure they are safe. That elderly Azerbaijanian, with a face carved by age, and experience, is a good shepherd.

That’s the picture Jesus chose to give us about Himself, to help us relate to Him. And this is what He does, minute by minute, for each one of us …He leads us – He never drives us along….“I am the good shepherd. The good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.“I am the good shepherd; I know My sheep and My sheep know Me— just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father—and I lay down My life for the sheep.”John 10:11-15.

Nothing escapes the Lord Jesus’ gaze, He does not fall asleep on the job, or take a walk … because He is bored out of His gourd with our boring little seemingly pointless lives … NO! His eyes are firmly fixed upon each one of us. He knows if even one of us goes missing. Someone bailed out of our family a couple of years ago, and we haven’t laid eyes on them since. I pray for their safe return all the time – I don’t pray because I have to pray, I pray because I can’t help but pray! The Holy Spirit reminds me that this person’s absence hurts Him far more than me!

Sometimes my dear hubby is up almost all night praying for someone or other.He keeps right on praying for the people we meet on the road. That’s what a true shepherd does – he is faithful to his flock. He doesn’t just teach the sheep, he doesn’t push and exhort them not to be so dumb, he doesn’t even necessarily prophesy over them etc. He watches over and protects his flock. You know, maybe parents are also a kind of shepherd.

Years ago, I used to take my three very small children to the shops in all kinds of weather. It was a big walk, about 2 kms up a very large hill and they all learnt to stretch their little legs as they did it. If they got really tired then they hopped into the pusher. When we got to the shops I had a particular habit. As I walked with them around me, I would count,1. 2. 3. And I looked for their little heads bobbing along in the store in front of me. It was like my head was on a swivel. 1,2,3, all present and accounted for! I always knew when a little head disappeared.

I guess I was remembering those times today, when I watched this old shepherd. He knew every one of his sheep and he would definitely know if one wandered off. He leant on his staff, and watched carefully over them to make sure they were safe. As you probably already know, sheep are remarkably stupid – they need watching! I’ve seen one leap into the air and then the next one jumped in the same spot and the next and the next etc. .But there was nothing there for them to jump over. No wonder we call them dumb!

Human beings also do the dumbest things. Sometimes we know we are going the wrong way and doing the wrong thing, and yet we do it anyway. That’s what a lack of ongoing transformation does. It ushers us into a stupid state where we erroneously think whatever we are choosing to do, won’t matter and God won’t mind. ‘After all our Heavenly Father loves us, and He knows we just can’t help it!’   We stupidly make room for sin, when we need to oppose it. What a load of rubbish that attitude is!

Time not spent in His Presence is time wasted. Our good Shepherd always wants to be with us – leading us to greener pastures, protecting us from harm, making us lie down in safe places. Jesus chose to make Himself our very own Shepherd when He died in our place, and then He deliberately sent back His Holy Spirit to be everywhere. He knows we need SomeOne to be with us and watch over us. The Holy Spirit imparts love and joy etc. freely, daily “…we are His people the sheep of His pasture.”

Jesus’ sacrifice needs to be in the forefront of our minds, that’s a cultivated skill. He has never, and will never EVER forget us, or pass us over…This world may not know us or care about us, but the Lord is always our ever-prayerful, deeply-involved Shepherd. Whether we are injured, beaten up or lost … even if it is our own fault …Jesus will always come after us. No thief, wolf or foe can steal us away from Him. He fought every demon in hell and defeated them so He could call us His very own. 

Jesus is our true Shepherd. He will not leave us or forsake us, or give any one of us up – not without a fight!  Bless you 👋

P 2689 We gotta get in the flow and go, go, GO.

/ DVH

Today I thought it could be useful to follow up yesterday’s blog and revise what unending love looks like: It is clearly explained in I Corinthians 13:1-8. We can’t know if we have it, or even if we are pursing the right thing, if we can’t recognise it!!  First of all, unending love is a love that just won’t quit!  Look we can analyse the word love, by saying this means this type of love, and this one means that …until the cows come home … but His love is experienced as we further His kingdom.

The point is for us to operate in the flow of His Love, and until we start stepping out in faith and practicing that, we will only know Him with limitations. When we act on our faith we step into the flow. Our God is a God of action. Read the book! To serve Jesus and others, we must take risks – on purpose. Every risk we take won’t always produce fruit, or a happy experience. But when we walk with the Holy Spirit, walking the way Jesus Himself walked – we are totally relying upon the Holy Spirit to take us through. As we do that we will get to know Almighty God in a unique way. Intimately. We literally walk a mile in Christ’s shoes!

Now let’s look at what His unending love IS NOT. It is not a tool to showcase our spiritual abilities. As our precious sister Heidi Baker often says: “the way UP is DOWN.” I pray ‘lower still Lord’ as often as I remember to do it. I realise that I must willingly humble myself, and understand that any enemy attack is an opportunity to take me to a lower place. A place where if He doesn’t help me I’m sunk. We all need to be stretched to become bigger.

Meanwhile, it goes without saying that I tell satan to take a hike, but in front of our Holy God I humble myself. Like Paul said: “not that I have already accomplished that but I press ON!”  In my mind this means that maybe I’m not good at it but I’m not going to stop my pursuit of Him. I want to know Him. Not just in the “gee I feel blessed today” moments, but to know Him so well that I will always rely upon Him.

Over to the verses above:“If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship THAT I MAY BOAST, but do not have love, I gain nothing…”

We need to know His love to practically combat the temptation to become important in this world’s eyes – that temptation comes because we want to feel good about ourselves. But the above Graces are His gifts, they are given freely to us, for us to freely bless others. Without His active Love these wonderful gifts can be corrupted by our own needs to be seen and appreciated. Next the Apostle Paul tells us exactly what God’s love looks like:

“…Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails …”

If we want His kind of love we are going to have to put away this world’s self-centred idea of love.The sad truth is, the world’s way of thinking means I need everything working out for my own benefit, to prove to myself that He loves me. Instead the Lord and I get to share an experience of His love in action upon someone else’s life. We are the designated pipeline that delivers the Holy Spirit’s grace, and grace and love flow as we draw on those things to further His kingdom. Love takes risks, grace facilitates it. The more you go the more it flows.

That stuff we call love down here on earth, doesn’t have the substance or the stickability to survive this world’s despicable onslaughts. But His love is unstoppable! Unfortunately my human love falls in a heap most of the time when someone hurts me or life gets hard. That’s how I know I need to keep pressing toward the mark. I will have to pursue this kind of love, and repent when I miss it!

Colossians 3 also has a fantastic love description of His love in verses12-14 “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”

This scripture shows me that I must PUT these things ON by choosing to actively use my faith. Just like Peter did when he stepped out of the boat, onto the water! Faith is an action word. It exhibits God’s glorious qualities in places that have never experienced them. Living like Jesus did means taking risks for other people’s sake, using my faith to rely upon the Holy Spirit to help me. We gotta get in the flow and go, go, GO! Bye 🥰

P 2459 Run after something worth running after …

/ DVH

“Until then, there are three things that remain: faith, hope, and love—yet love surpasses them all. So above all else, let love be the beautiful prize for which you run.” 1 Corinthians 13:13 TPT.

Paul suggests in the scripture above that if you want to run after something then run toward something worthwhile — like love. In other versions of the bible, this verse says …PURSUE love. I like that. Chase after love because it is worth chasing after. We will always need to chase after love however, because with some people, it seems like it is always too far away, plus we are not perfect yet! That’s great BTW, that means we are ‘poor in spirit’ and the poor in spirit inherit the kingdom – at those times we need the kingdom!  Sadly some human relationships are often full of surprises, nasty ones. We are going to need the Holy Spirit to be our full-time coach.

Before we start, here’s a great thought to help us focus and praise God – GOD’S LOVE IS ALWAYS RUNNING TOWARD US! Back to the verse, it says if we are going to run, we need to run after knowing, and living in HIS kind of love. Forget human affection – that disappears quickly in conflict. How do you aim at His love? First of all, remember Love is a VERB not a noun. It is not just an attitude, it is an action. It is see-able! It does something good.

Now let’s look at a metaphoric illustration. You are running alongside somebody you know, and everything is going well, … Then they — we both know it’s always them, it’s never me — say or do some dumb thing, and you’ve lost your stride.  And bit by bit, the rhythm we had together is suddenly broken. Now they are nowhere near me at all and we don’t agree about anything. I’ve lost my peace, patience, and eventually my temper… usually in that order!

What happened? Perhaps I stumbled over something they said or did, or maybe they didn’t say something I needed to hear. Or vice versa. Whatever! The rhythm we had together is now lost. However, the point of pursuing love is not about running …it is the fact that you were running together. There is POWER in ‘together!’ Sadly we can end up brokenhearted when we no longer have the same aim as the other person. However, I am not powerless.  I can always aim at love – with, or without them. The result is the same. I don’t need them to love me back, or even treat me kindly, because God’s love follows the Holy Spirit and His kind of love runs on GRACE not performance. 

Further, the bible says: ‘Love bears all things’, so, in those hard moments when we cannot bear what is going on — we will actually need His love helping us to do more than resolve conflict. People are always impacted by God’s Love. Human love is tainted by need, but God’s love is highlighted by the fact it is unconditional.

What to do? Apologise! Yeah, I know, I didn’t do anything. But apologising clears the air, and repentance lets in grace. And grace makes room for the other person to come to terms with their part in what happened. You see the point is not to instantly arrive at agreement, the real point is going straight back into running toward LOVING LIKE HE DOES. Whether the other person comes or not!

When we are pursuing this kind of love we cannot enter into a brawl about who was right and who was wrong, be-cau-se … we cannot get to love, by that route! That route will end up in a bigger argument. The way to pursue and arrive at running after love is to give up your idea of how things are meant to happen, and start running after the Holy Spirit. We need His help. We do this despite how unkind the other person has been toward us. 

BTW, loving someone with God’s love does not mean we utterly approve of everything they are doing. LOVE AND APPROVAL are two different things. God’s kind of love is supernatural. We always need His love flowing through us, and we access it by obeying what the Holy Spirit prompts us to say and do. Now we stay under the instruction of the Holy Spirit – we don’t give in to our own temper or hurt feelings.

At the same time, we are going to need our faith and hope to kick in to help us to keep on running. I ask the Holy Spirit for ALL those things, plus loads of Grace – because Grace saved the world!  Meanwhile, God’s love is accurately described in the bible and HIS Love always looks like this …”Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. So the reverse of these things is a good indicator that we are not walking in love … if we are impatient, unkind, envious, boastful, or proud etc.

Obviously aiming at love means we are going to die to self. But that is fantastic be-cau-se …”greater love hath no man than that he lay down his life for his friends.” If 1 Corinthians 13 is to be part of our daily lives then we must pursue love and obey the Holy Spirit. He will take care of our attitudes and actions. Plus we are also acknowledging our own poverty of spirit. Chasing after His Love means we are running after something worth pursuing. Bye. 🥰

P 2453 We have such a powerful Friend …

/ DVH

I found these notes in my files this morning, and it cheered me up so much I thought it might bless you guys too. Message Bible Psalm 23: “Even when the way goes through Death Valley, I’m not afraid when YOU walk at my side. Your trusty shepherd’s crook makes me feel secure.” I must have read this Psalm about a jillion times in the last 50 years.  The 23rd Psalm is so comforting  – but then I saw something from a different perspective, and it was so cool! 😎 …

The Lord Jesus walks with us through death valley. (That doesn’t mean actually dying btw, it can mean the death of a dream or a hope etc. or even a planned future)  This is OUR Shepherd Jesus, right?  And He is right there beside us walking.  But He isn’t chatting folks, or aimlessly wandering along – He’s looking out for US! He is on high alert watching to protect us from the dangers of that dark scarey place. The Lord is used to protecting sheep, He’s our great Shepherd, and we know that is true, because He went looking for a lost lamb once!

In other words, Psalm 23 tells us that this is our beloved Lord Jesus …. with a crook or … as I like to call it … a whacker.  A whacker is a big fat shepherd’s crook that shepherds use to whack predators etc. Because he was a shepherd boy David taught us about being a shepherd – and yes, I remember he also had a pretty keen sling-shot. On different occasions this young man killed a lion and a bear. Now, in my mind, Jesus is not just carrying a sort of kind of a stick, it’s a weapon with a big knob on the end of it. It is the nob that does all the damage!  It is solid, and strong and used to thump things with the intention of cracking skulls, and killing, maiming or disposing of whatever it is. Well … ya-a-a-a-a-y!!! Some things need whacking! Go Jesus! … 

In other versions it says: “Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me …” well, those things would, wouldn’t they? You now, up to now, I always had this picture of Jesus walking with me in this dark nasty place that I didn’t ever want to go to – on purpose or by accident -. and He’s so kind … He’s comforting me. He’s speaking reassuringly to me –  you know what I mean! Jesus is saying “Don’t be afraid, I am right here with you, I won’t let harm come to you.”  He’s kind and loving;  but not so much with the strong bit. Rhubarb. Shepherds carry weapons. Think about that. 

Until today, I did not think about the POWER of the One I am walking with.  I have erroneously thought of Jesus Christ, the Captain of the Hosts of Heaven, as appearing in the finale of the bible, when He is coming again etc. on that glorious white horse. But this Psalm tells me that the Resurrected Christ walks with me through every single valley, He’s on my side and He will do whatever He needs to do to get His precious little sheep through that valley to the free food He has prepared at the other end! (Feel free to shout Hallelujah right here because I did!) 🙌

The reason David, who actually wrote this Psalm, is not afraid … is because he is walking with an ENFORCER THROUGH A DARK PLACE.  And this Enforcer knows how to use His power!!  I saw that my faith previously had been in my ability to hold onto His Hand, and that He would always, very kindly, help me muddle through the hard bits. However, after today, I really, really do not think this is what this verse is saying!!

I’m saying when you have the Enforcer with you there is no reason to be scared at all, no matter wherever you are, or what comes at you, because HE can definitely take care of the bad guys and get you safely to the other side … to the free food! That your enemies aren’t allowed to eat!  <giggle> If something attacks us, He WILL whack that thing on the head! ‘Take that, wolf, 💥 and that, bear, 💥and that, you ferocious lion that wants to eat My beloved!’ 🤯 Jesus walks with you and I and He’s going to bash up anything that wants to hurt us. “You’ll be sor-ry you messed with Him!!”  Our King protects His people.

The bible says: “What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee…” which means … whenever I am afraid or feel alone, Jesus is right there. That threat is a lie from the pit of hell. WE ARE NEVER ALONE, BE-CA-USE OUR BELOVED SAVIOUR IS WITH US a-n-d He has a big heavy whacker that can take down anything that wants to hurt us or steal our peace. So whenever something bad does come at us, Jesus knows between Him and me – we can beat it!  I will leave you with that thought today. Blessings and hallelujah! 👋🏻