Rejected

P 3443 We influence them, this world does not influence us.

/ DVH

It can be so easy to pick up the habits, fears and general atmosphere around us, and be pressured into conforming with it, even verbally. We need to be aware that we are thermostats, not thermometers. What’s the difference between a thermostat and a thermometer? A thermometer measures temperature, while a thermostat controls it.

We have been given the Lord’s authority to set the atmosphere of any room we enter, simply because we bring the King of all glory with us!  We are not here to just measure or create atmospheres – we are here to usher in Jesus – He does that stuff all by Himself! He makes His Presence known without embarrassing people, or pontificating over them.

When we read the Gospels we see Jesus lovingly expose other people’s hearts! Maybe that is why He once said angrily to His disciples: “you don’t know what spirit you are in!” What they’d said lacked love. The only people who were offended with Jesus were the religious. Those people who like the rules, and love to wave them about like a banner. However, many people were drawn to Jesus, when they were rejected by religion. He has chosen us to be a demonstration of His kingdom, right here, right now.

There are people who find that they cannot be themselves around Christians who use religious language, simply because it hinders the flow of the Spirit of God through them. But other dear souls are so sweet about what they say, it is not at all offensive. Like I’ve said before, it’s the heart that matters. So many souls are bruised these days, it’s not our job to poke at their bruises. The heart that wants to ‘straighten someone else out’ is probably not listening well. Sadly, most of the time, religious talk makes me want to leave the room!

Jesus didn’t do it, and neither should we.

On another note, I can’t watch the news anymore because first of all, it’s all bad! … And secondly, it doesn’t seem like the news to me. It is more like a chat room with many many opinions. Criticism and condemnation and the worst kind of humour flourishes.The Lord tells us that ‘we are to be as wise as serpents and as gentle as doves.’ I strongly suspect this verse means that wisdom makes its own room, and gentleness will disarm angry people. It makes me so sad when the media has so much influence, but it uses it carelessly to destroy other people’s lives – for profit. 

It is almost like the news,  publishing organisations, social media etc. itself has become a courtroom deciding who is guilty and who is not. Life is complicated and people do awful, hateful things – however how can my opinion do anything but become further gossip at a time when that person needs forgiveness and wisdom? People in terrible trouble need prayer not hatred. Yet the media fosters hatred by the way they slant things.

My thought today is this – it is great to share Psalms, Hymns, spiritual songs, uplifting sermons, exhortations and, or life lessons on social media etc. But if we choose to stand by, saying nothing … while that very same avenue projects the whirlwind of public opinion while it is shredding people’s lives. Then aren’t we behaving exactly like Paul did when he agreed with killing off Christians?  Jesus had to blind Paul to help him see! 

That story in Acts 9 is about Paul, and it teaches us a story about this servant of God and how he temporarily lost his sight. Plus it reveals Ananias’ bravery. It also shows us that human beings often follow leaders without questioning them. People stood with Paul, and as he consented to other people’s deaths, so did THEY. They were persuaded that murder was the only answer to stopping the preaching of the Gospel. Some of them even carried out the murders, in God’s Name. 

We can’t afford to participate in popularity polls in the church, mainly because we can be very poor at using the gift of discernment when it comes to leadership. We often pick the popular guy, not the man of His Presence and the Lord’s principles. We are more likely to go to the church run by a man or woman who tickles our ears, than listen to someone who says the things we don’t want to hear … yet we need to hear them. 

Suspicion and discernment are two different things. One closes down honest interchanges of ideas, and the other sees the person behind all the talk, and identifies the spirit leading them around by the nose. Jesus is the judge and He has already paid for everyone’s sins. And Proverbs 18:13 says: “He who answers a matter before he hears the facts—it is folly and shame to him.” James 1:19: “My dear brothers and sisters, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger.” 

Our influence on this world must not be underestimated, the Greater One lives in us. Perhaps we all need to repent for allowing the world to enter our ship and colour our opinions about who is in and who is out. A Christian’s quest for holiness must not be the vehicle we use to crush any human being who has no faith, or less faith than we have. Bye. 👋

P 3417 Hard questions.

/ DVH

“Then He (Jesus) added, “Now you should go and study the meaning of the verse: I want you to show mercy, not just offer Me a sacrifice. For I have come to invite the outcasts of society and sinners, not those who think they are already on the right path.”” Matthew 9:13 TPT.

That’s a wonderful instruction, we should all do that. Hmmm … so when is the last time someone at your church — or you, asked a street person; or people of a different sexual persuasion;  or someone who has been in prison;  or a devoted gossip; or a liar; or someone with an incurable disease that is contagious;  or a corrupt person;  or someone who follows satan;  or someone who has a faith that is very different than ours, to our churches? You can make your own list, those people are on the list of the people in this world that I came up with.

Right here in the above scripture Jesus Himself tells us to show mercy to them. Then the Lord said the most amazing thing … He came to CALL people like that! Jesus’ death is clearly stated as an action that saved the world – the Grace that was released toward mankind was for ALL. We cannot afford to think of mercy and grace as something that is only available to the people we regard as good candidates, or those who could be worthy in our own eyes … or … even let money influence us. Even if we don’t happen to like these would-be recipients of the gospel or what they currently do or how they live. 

“The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come!’ Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.”  Revelations 22:17. “Whosoever will may come!” The only word that matters is COME!! Salvation isn’t a free gift if we limit whoever may participate in it with our own prejudices. I know this is not going to be a popular subject with everyone, but it is what the scriptures teach, and what Jesus Himself said and did. We are told to invite these people to come, and have mercy on them.

Jesus deliberately touched lepers, He showed mercy to promiscuous people, He ate with people who really enjoyed their food, and a drink … He even supplied the wine once! He ministered to people from an unacceptable country when the opportunity came up. He didn’t seek them out, but He saw real people, human beings — not labels or political preferences or skin colour, or revolting or sinful practices.

He didn’t approve of their sins but He actively loved those people. The religious people of His day took offence at these things, but even those people who took offence at what He said and did, didn’t influence Him! It is a sad sad day when we use God’s Word in one place to cancel out His Word somewhere else. We’d be better off asking Him: “This is what You’ve said Lord so how do we do it?”

I think it is time that we threw open the doors of our churches and let the whosoevers in! Some of those people who want to be saved and come through our doors will be messy. Their lifestyles may not suit us. We need to understand that the Holy Spirit is the One Who finds and calls people, and He is the One Who transforms them. In other words we have to stop thinking that the ‘other people’ who come through our doors have to be our definition of ‘nice.’ It wouldn’t hurt to stop thinking of them as “other people” either! Some of us don’t look so hot anymore, because we have adopted a whole heap of prejudices… 

Let’s allow the Holy Spirit to truly change our hearts and minds. Meanwhile, we must start addressing all of our own prejudices, with true repentance. If people don’t know the way they are living is wrong in God’s eyes, then why can’t we show them His grace so they can experience Him? Disapproval sure doesn’t work! What they do after encountering the love of God is not our concern – we are to love people, we don’t have to like who they are, what they do, or how they live. Jesus is still working on me — how about you? Some people simply bother our theology.

Catching fish is dirty and smelly, and kind of slimy and ugly, I mean no offence when I say that drawing up our robes around us, like a Pharisee would, is not to our credit. I think that’s why Jesus called fishermen to walk with Him. Those men weren’t specialists of the law, or religious men … they made a living doing ordinary tasks. They understood the less elite side of life from personal experience. We must expect all kinds of people come to us to have their lives changed by His Grace – the grace is meant to be daily flowing through us. Our Saviour came here to help everyone.

I’m a whosoever! When I heard God loved me and wanted my heart, I stampeded my way into a church, cheering loudly about what Jesus had done for me, and I probably drove a whole lot of really, really nice folks crazy. I’ve since repented for annoying people with my unbridled enthusiasm for the things of God — but, as it happened I had never heard any of that stuff before. Who knows who we might be, without HIS Grace touching our lives and hearts? 

Let’s choose to minister to the desperate, demon-possessed, broken-hearted, rejected lost souls of this world. Jesus once talked about a wedding feast where those who were already invited begged off – so the master of the feast sent out his servants to compel anyone they found to come in! We don’t have to approve of how others live, but our reactions to other people gives us an opportunity to look good and hard at what we are actually doing. It’s time we asked ourselves some hard questions. Are we fulfilling the Gospel Jesus  preached?  Bye 👋. 

P 3393 And a-w-a-y we will go… … again.

/ DVH

Very early this Sunday morning, we shall pack the last few items into our car and set off again. The Lord has asked us to go and take more bibles etc., blankets and toiletries to two separate hubs out in the country, because the weather has been so very cold and the people out there need to know SomeOne wonderful cares for them. Jesus, of course.

As we travel, we often also find ourselves comforting the people who help those who are down and out. The government workers suffer because there are far too many people and not enough funds. Plus as we go, we pray for and help those whose lives have taken a terrible turn and they are now on the streets, or hiding from brutality, grief, and chaos. They are the homeless and defenceless.

The news has finally begun reporting on the crisis our farming communities are currently facing. Many families on the land rent their properties and their rent has gone up too. And some, who have a mortgage, are now facing those awful rising interest rates. Sadly, the oil crisis has caused the prices of fertiliser, feed, seed and spray to rise. 64.1% of farmers have been heavily impacted by rising transportation costs.

Australia runs well because of our truck drivers, but it is a hard life, driving vast distances, and the roads are often not good out in the bush. All these people need our prayers, plus any emotional, practical, and financial help we can give them. When we act like they don’t matter, we are biting the hand that feeds us. They provide our food!  Let’s do more than think about that.

Here’s some info -14% of our entire population, that’s approximately 3.7 million people Australia-wide —including one in six children …are currently living below the poverty line. I am choosing to speak for those human beings among us who have no voice, they are too busy to have one!

Especially farmers – those faithful men and women who are far too busy getting up at 3.00am to 5.00am to milk their cows or pick their crop, to be complaining about the way someone else lives. The people in our cities simply cannot afford to forget them. Those who work on the land suffer the hardships of this great, wonderful, sometimes frightening land we live in — along with children, the elderly and the disabled. We need to help each other. 

My own personal success rate with growing our own fruit and veggies at our house is about 5%. So I definitely need them or I would starve. I don’t even want to begin to think about killing a chicken! I just thank God for someone with greater skills than I have, who will do that for me. Maybe today we can take the time to prayerfully remember those people who put the food on our plates. And I don’t just mean just the supermarket magnates – who have entirely different problems! I mean the little guy stocking the shelves all day every day, just so you can have your favourite brand of Cornflakes.

In the past 21 years we’ve found that we don’t always have to give money to help, even a tiny bit of love shared, lightens the load. We just try to spread kindness, compassion around wherever we go, as He leads us. When His Grace visits these precious souls He loves so dearly, we’ve seen people with tears pouring down their faces because we simply came to help them however we could. “… I was in prison and you visited Me…” Matthew 25:36. Poverty, despair and abuse, are all types of different prisons. 

The Body of Christ has been told to live this way. It’s not an optional extra. Over the years, many of us have left ministry to our leaders, instead of understanding that we can all do something.  This time some children in a local school bagged up the toiletries for us. When we take care of the poor and disadvantaged, we are doing it for Jesus, because He has chosen to totally identify Himself with them. He has also been rejected and misunderstood by the world around Him. Not to mention His parents, and immediate family. (Mark 3:20-21), (John 7:1-5), (Mark 3:31-35).

For three and a half years the Lord Jesus Himself lived on the road, going from town to town, walking long distances. And He lived like that to totally identify with all of us. He slept by the side of tracks, and relied upon the kindness of friends and strangers for food. He even ate grain straight from a field, and drank water from a well!

At the beginning of His life – not long after He was born, in the poorest of circumstances, His parents took Him as an infant and ran for their lives from persecution. This is one of the many things I love about the Lord Jesus. It says: “…He shared our sorrows and pain….” Not just in theological theory, but in practice. A follower, is someone devoted to Jesus’ Ways. They choose to pick up their cross and learn from the Master Himself, daily.

Jesus Christ, God incarnate, deliberately chose to live like we do. I remind myself … that the KING of heaven chose to live like an ordinary human being. This means He knows suffering, firsthand. After all, none of us can live this life without bumping into it! That’s why the Lord Jesus is the perfect Saviour. His compassion for mankind is so much greater and all encompassing than we can imagine. We don’t have to be millionaires to care or share. When our lives are not our own, its easy. We just share whatever we have.

So off we go again… Bye …🚙  PS I’ll be writing blogs as we travel, and a huge thank you to all those who are praying for us.

P 3188 His will His way.

/ DVH

Let’s imagine, or even try to stretch our imaginations a bit, and think about being fourteen or fifteen years old, unmarried and pregnant. You just happen to live in a society that at the very least, would shun you … but at its worst …it just might want to stone you to death! You know you are pure and innocent, but other people won’t see it that way. And you have to tell your fiancee that God Himself made you pregnant!  That would have been some conversation with him and her parents!

Now that Christmas is coming toward us at warp speed, I thought today was a good day to think about these two young people and what they had to face to carry out Almighty God’s calling over their lives. While we whinge and whine when the Lord asks us to mow our neighbours lawn! Or maybe He has asked us to be nice to our in-laws? We make lists about these presents and that food, but there are some among us that can’t wait for all the hoo-haa to be over! 

It seems to me that back then in Bethlehem it was a different, far-less-indulgent time. People often faced the consequences of their actions on the spot! God Himself chose this inexperienced young couple, for an honour the likes of which this world has never seen before — or since! Praise Him they both had integrity, character and a shared devotion to His will. They chose to obey HIM despite the hardship it involved. Imagine managing a faith test like Mary and Joseph had to face …in a very religious society to boot. 

The Roman occupying forces demanded that everyone, including Mary, who was pregnant out to here (!) ← → had to return to their place of their ancestor’s origins. Meanwhile, our census turns up in the post and people moan about that! Joseph himself was from David’s genealogy, so this young couple had to go all the way to Jerusalem. Which, BTW, was hardly a leisurely stroll to the local shops!  All this happened so the citizens could be counted and to make sure that the appropriate taxes would be paid to the Roman Government. And we think our lives are hard!! 

That donkey we see in all the so-called Christmas pictures, was probably something tradition made up, just to make a pretty picture out of a long and difficult journey. Mary and Joseph weren’t rich people, and while this young couple may have travelled within a caravan of people, simply because there was a possibility of bandits along the way — in that 129-145 kilometre week-long journey, it is more likely that they walked.… All that happened just so they could pay more tax to an occupying army! 

Let’s think about Mary for a moment… the last month of a pregnancy is not the greatest time to go on a bush walking tour! It must have been incredibly taxing for her, as well as disappointing to be in labour, and have no safe shelter at the other end. Plus she had no family on hand to help either of them with the process. I’m writing about this today because we have a tendency to mentally glamourise our picture of the birth of Jesus, without taking into account the reality of the situation. 

When we do that, we can minimise the pure faith of this young couple who were simply being law-abiding citizens doing what was asked of them!  But their obedience meant that they were walking straight into unknown hardship. And at the same time — they were also walking straight into God’s will for them. Funny how that happens sometimes, isn’t it?

When I think of giving birth the way Mary gave birth I shudder. I gave birth to three kids in a hospital. In one of them we couldn’t find a nurse. In another, women were giving birth in the corridor! But I had medical attention close to hand. All Mary had was Joseph. This young man was a carpenter – what did he know about giving birth? Mary was all alone, in pain, and her husband knew bupkis. There she is giving birth to God’s precious Son, her own Saviour – in a cave or animal shed. All because prophetically, they are clearly demonstrating that this world did not even want a Saviour. God’s will can put us into difficult situations through no fault of our own.

So much happened to them in the process of bringing Jesus into this world. I think their response is so beautiful – unrelenting devotion. After all that, this life was not finished with throwing hardships at them. They finally got settled as a family, only to have to escape from a jealous despot who wanted to kill all the Jewish baby boys so he could be the only king on the premises. So, off the little family goes again. This time they are running from persecution and the fear of death — simply trying to find somewhere safe to raise their little son. No wonder Joseph baulked at returning to their hometown, when it was finally safe again – their lives had been in chaos for months.

Jesus Christ was born under all these difficult conditions simply to fulfil prophecy. His life, birth and death identified Him with everyone. Including the poor, weak, homeless, unwanted, rejected, persecuted, marginalised people of this world – not in theory, but in practice. Jesus and His parents had to live minute by minute with stress and strain and hardship.. Nobody asked either Mary or Joseph if they thought they could handle all the persecution and fear that lay ahead, it simply happened to them. 

Let’s pray that we can grab hold of all the courage and clarity that has been made available to us because of what Jesus did. I wanted to talk about the things this couple faced, simply because we too can face awful, difficult situations regularly and we feel oppressed by them.Things can seem insurmountable. We can easily baulk at all those things we face, and wonder why God would let such hard and bad things happen to us. He didn’t spare His precious Son!  

In the bright joyous light of Christmas, we also need to deliberately remember the things which can turn us away from our devotion to Him. We won’t always understand why some things happen, any more than that young couple did. But we need to choose to look for the good in the middle of trouble and strife. Right now, we are training our spiritual senses to be aware of the very real spiritual war going on all around us.Let’s remind ourselves that some people are hoping for a decent meal in their Santa sack, plus somewhere safe to sleep – instead of being rudely awakened by vicious godless men with machetes.

What does it matter if our little Franco or Zelda does not get some you-beaut fancy electronic gizmo for Christmas? That temporary pleasure is something that will be probably pronounced boring and discarded in a week! The most precious gift ever, has already arrived, and He completed His heaven-sent assignment to the letter. Jesus Himself, is our proof that our God is out-of-this-world generous in His gift-giving. And instead of complaints, moaning and groaning, rebellion and disobedience — let’s also remember that two very ordinary people were brave enough to follow His will, His way. Bye. 👋

P 3171 Love Himself is the conqueror!

/ DVH

Have you ever noticed that Jesus was an immediate Advocate for people who could not speak for themselves? His defence of the wounded, scarred and sinful people is such an example to us. In the Gospels we see Him heal, teach and deliver people, but He also countered the criticism that battered them. There are many instances of the Lord intervening on behalf of someone who quite literally didn’t have a leg to stand on! 

Meanwhile, Jesus didn’t pay attention to their sin – He simply poured out God’s loving acceptance onto those people the world rejected, and He presented them with the truth. The truth itself can change lives. Jesus spoke to the sick, lepers, prostitutes, thieves, and law-breakers, people with multiple marriages etc. … all those people that His society rejected.

We don’t seem to have any real answer for people who sin today. Now it seems our society has legislated the world to be quiet and call sin normal, instead. However, the Lord Jesus didn’t pay any attention to behaviour – except the behaviour of the so-called religious. He always went to the person who was trapped in sin or sickness, and He went round their baggage and touched their hearts. The reality of His love saved them. 

I just want to briefly mention that Jesus interacted and loved on Judas right up until the moment when that man betrayed Him. Now, let’s look at what He said at a dinner party at Matthew’s house – 9:10-13. “While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with Him and His disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked His disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”He sought out the sinners!

I think He saw both sin and sickness the same way— as the things that spoil God’s wonderful creation … US! He still wants to touch everyone around us – through us. Unfortunately, we are the ones, the people in church, who are preoccupied with sin. We gossip about it, fuss over it, and lecture it, and think about ways to get rid of the people who do it. Our answer seems to be – if you can’t be like ME then you can’t belong here! Jesus is the Answer, and the Answer is always bigger than any question!

When someone goes fishing, they don’t expect the fish to jump into the boat and be already gutted, scaled and cleaned! That happens after the fish are caught. We have put so many rules in place any people who, for one reason or another, live with sin, find it intimidating to come to us. Especially as 83% of couples cohabit before getting married, and one in three people have an unhealthy attachment to alcohol and one in twenty Aussies have a substance abuse problem! One in three Australians have also cheated or considered it, with 20% admitting to having cheated on a current or former partner. One third of all marriages statistically, will end in divorce.

When the people-who-don’t-know-Him-yet start being drawn into our churches, we will know for certain that they are looking for very real answers – because they have very real problems! Jesus died for everyone’s sins, but in our churches, we can often turn our noses up at other people’s lifestyles – because we don’t do that kind of stuff. How realistic is that? He cares for and upholds the lives of all men and women – it’s their sin that needs dealing with not the people. Sin was taken care of at Calvary – our job is to give them that good news! Maybe through adverse appetites and previous experiences (without Him!) they have been trapped by their own desires and lifestyles. Now we tell people – ‘you don’t have to live like that anymore, let me introduce you to the Answer.’

I have another question to consider today: are we taking His exhortation to show mercy as a suggestion, or embracing it as heaven’s way to live? Holiness comes from our chosen proximity to Him, not from following rules. Rules point to sin, and sin is the thing that Jesus dealt with! God’s been panel-beating me for 50+ years and I still keep finding snarky nasty thoughts and attitudes that don’t belong in His kingdom! Here’s an idea: why don’t we drop the whole “them and us” attitude and instead let’s all just be human beings who need His Grace! I’ll give it to you, you give it to me and we will all get along together. Maybe we could have a dinner party like Matthew did, and invite those people-who-don’t-know- Him-yet. Now where have I heard that before?

At the end of the parable of the wedding feast, these words occur… “The lord said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.” Luke 14:23. When we find people being drawn into and coming into our churches and gatherings because they feel compelled to come, we are standing on the threshold of something incredible. But, every single day our job is to give people a taste of His unconditional love – even those who are unloveable, unwilling to change. Or maybe even sometimes they are impossible to know! We all need it. Let’s stop telling the ‘Wind’ where He needs to blow and stand ready to be blown over by Him ourselves!!

Bonus buy: Loving difficult people changes us! That’s why it is good to bless those who despitefully use you or persecute you. Those people often reveal ourselves to us, and we don’t deserve His love anymore than they do. Jesus, and His love, will always be everybody’s conquering hero! Bye. 👋

P 2910 What’s NEXT?

/ DVH

When God kisses whatever is currently going on with His peace and power, maybe we would like to look like the guy in Psalm 18 who said:“For by You I can run through a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall. As for God, His way is perfect! The Word of the Lord is tested and tried; He is a shield to all those who take refuge and put their trust in Him. For who is God except the Lord? Or Who is the Rock save our God,

The God Who girds me with strength and makes my way perfect? He makes my feet like hinds’ feet [able to stand firmly or make progress on the dangerous heights of testing and trouble]; He sets me securely upon my high places. He teaches my hands to war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You have also given me the shield of Your salvation, and Your right hand has held me up; Your gentleness and condescension have made me great. You have given plenty of room for my steps under me, that my feet would not slip.” (verses 29-36.) 

I know this mythical guy talking here is actually King David — but I call him leaping Larry! You’ve met someone like this too. They pirouette around other people like Nijinsky. They have a perfect spiritual life, and while you are slogging away fighting off stuff on every side, spiritually speaking — they dance all around you telling you about how yesterday they defeated 45 demons, healed 19 sick people and reorganised their closet all on the same day … And they still had time to cook a three course dinner! …I’m not jealous or anything…😳

There are things that we do and say to each other  😱 … without even a thought for where the other person is. When we leave our humanity and faults out of our testimonies, we instantly eliminate most of His army from identifying with us. His army consists of people who continue to get it wrong as well as the broken, the down-trodden, the outcasts. Even Paul told us once he almost despaired of life itself!

We need to stop inflating our spiritual image so we can feel like we belong to His kingdom. I know that God can win anything with just a few people, but … He wants us ALL to live in the blessing of doing the work of the kingdom together!  And sometimes the guy we need the most is on the floor with his marriage in tatters, and his kids have walked away from all things spiritual..

We cannot afford to stand about simply observing the half-dead person walking next to us, even though we can see that they are staggering. Maybe that person is carrying more stuff than 12 people could. Of course we pray for them, but unfortunately, we are often spectators, instead of participants in whatever is happening around others. And we optimistically call that fellowship!

If your brother is up to his neck in deep trouble and he is not coping, then we need to take that suffering human being by the arm to a quieter place, and ask if we can pray for them. Then ask if there is anyway we can be of help … AND THEN, we need to start suggesting, and doing, helpful stuff!! Privacy can sometimes be overrated. Meanwhile when someone is overloaded, and burdened — trying to think up what someone else can do to help you, ends up overtaxing your brain, emotions, energy and time! Love carries people. It recognises difficulties and the weight of sin upon an individual’s life, without judgment, and it HELPS others.

True fellowship is far more than tea or coffee and cake at interval at church. Here’s a fantastic scripture to chew on …“He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.” Isaiah 53:3. This is what happened to Jesus – people hid from His suffering and pain too! This fatal flaw has become almost normal behaviour in today’s world. We think support means throw money at it, but we are His servants, so we need to actively accept and adopt an attitude that says: “I will not let you suffer alone, I’m standing with you. SomeBody Else already did the work for both of us.” 

I am not saying we should take over someone else’s life, or leave our own lives endlessly dangling over an abyss while we are ‘helping.’ But at the same time we need to do something concrete, that makes our love for others something they can stand on. Love is an action that can be seen.  God’s Love, the love we are all aiming at … covers sin, plus it has a strong belief for good when the other party can’t find any! It hopes for everyone’s future. It puts up with all kinds of rubbish, and stuff simply rolls off a God-prompted person like water off a duck’s back! We can’t fail each other when we participate in His kind of love. 

Waiting for that kind of love to fall on us is folly. We get this kind of all-purpose, all-encompassing love for others, by being obedient … doing whatever He tells us to do in the bible. This means that we don’t sit around waiting for a “voice” to tell us to help people. Instead we’ve read the book, on purpose, and we know how to obey what it says. We don’t excuse ourselves, or hide away from reality. Our true spiritual life is all about growth, so we don’t pretend we have arrived! 

Let’s treat the people we know, and even those we don’t, the same way we would treat our own family – simply because everybody is valuable to Him. In these troubled times, my prayer often consists of ‘what’s next?’ That way I can’t easily miss anything. Bye 👋

P 2890 Further to yesterday.

/ DVH

Hubby and I occasionally talk about what I’ve written in my daily blog. During our discussion today we talked about various adverse scenarios. Did you know that any of us can lose the MAIN battle – which is fighting the good fight for the Lord – simply because we are trying to make a point? Making a point is a distraction. That point will quite quickly be lost in time!

Here’s a question:  is it really more important that we are understood by someone else – or does Jesus totally deserve the reward of His suffering? ← That’s the real battle! Our needs will be supplied by Him – but we can’t see the good stuff when we are snarking around growling at other-people-who-don’t-suit-us. And the reward of His suffering is to see everyone saved. We can’t con God. He is not impressed with who is right, or who thinks they are innocent, and who is not. We have been given the revelation of His Grace, in the book, that alone makes us responsible to spread it around.

There is a much greater, constant war going on over the souls of those men and women living all around us. The other guy can waste our God-given time fighting with our spouse, our kids, our parents, the pastor … whoever!! But there are people who do not know what Christ has done for us. They are dying without being told about His Love for them. An ambassador exists to represent, publicise and extoll the virtues of his home country.

What does it matter lady, if your husband leaves his dead socks on the floor? It’s those little foxes that spoil the vineyard of your love and obedience to the Lord! Maybe your house-mate won’t take out the garbage? So what? And what does it matter so much that your wife’s idea of tidy, is to drop whatever it is where she stands? You have hands, and your wife is not your mother. Work on your own responses to them, not the other person’s actions.

We can easily waste the life God gave us going on and on over things that have happened in the past — things nobody can change unless they have a time machine!! Do the schmuck who hurt you a favour, will you? That person who wrecked your life when you were little — let ’em off the hook! The only person captive is YOU. You are stuck somewhere, like a record, going round and round what happened in your mind. Repent, forgive, and …move on. Have you ever done or said something so terrible but you couldn’t take it back? I have! 

Our enemy clouds the very real issues surrounding us. he makes the daily stuff about being understood, or making a point, seem to be incredibly important in that moment.“Seek ye FIRST the Kingdom of God…” Is what is important. We are wasting our time hoping that the other person will hear us, understand and change. The point is not for the other person to change – it’s for US to change. Lemme put that another way, when we stand before the great white throne do you think Jesus is going to ask you why you didn’t change your spouse?!! He’s looking for us to love impossible people, by spreading around His Grace, that’s what HE did!

These little every day skirmishes we try to dodge, or even indulge ourselves in when we feel rejected, dismissed, or looked down on – can actually prepare us for the REAL wars when they suddenly hit us! Have you noticed that people don’t announce wars? They are instigated by stealth movements, done that way to surprise the people who are to be conquered. The element of surprise throws the other guy off. 

Think about this for a minute: our enemy suddenly throws an accident in our path, or someone gets dreadfully ill, or a job is lost. Terrible things happen to people every single day. Just ask the people in the countries currently at war, they can give you a billion reasons why they can’t forgive the other guy! We need to practise forgiveness daily, or we have nothing to give the guy who utterly shatters our lives! Learning to fight those daily battles for His kingdom in us IS our boot camp — these things prepare us for the things we may not know about, that will turn up unannounced.

I do not want to be negative but I think the positive thoughts movement grew out of disobedience to His word. We made up a god who would always understand us, always be on OUR side. How on earth can that work? Plus He is supposed to give us precisely whatever we want! Where does the bible say that? Joshua asked the Israelites this question:“Who is on the Lord’s side?”That’s the only side that matters, by the way … not yours, hers, his, theirs – God’s side! And if we are on His side then we need His help to act like Jesus would. Maybe instead of constantly collecting promises, we can look at what He says as instructions!

It is not up to us to sort other people out. We are here to preach the word, in season and out of season. We are to live out what He said, in front of the very people who deny He is Who He says He is. Every single time we choose to forgive and release people from our expectations, etc. we release the power of God’s grace into their lives. Why waste your energy fighting? Time is short and a larger life awaits us. The bigger battle is raging all around us. Let’s us our faith and grow. May God bless you as you serve Him, bye.👋

“If a ruler loses his temper against you, don’t panic;  A calm disposition quiets intemperate rage.” Ecclesiastes 10:4.

P 2830 Be a blessing to others.

/ DVH

Matthew 3:1-6. “Another time Jesus went into the synagogue, and a man with a shrivelled hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched Him closely to see if He would heal Him on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the shrivelled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent. He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.”

I know I have talked about this scripture quite recently, but the really really cool thing about God’s Word is that it is like a kaleidoscope — it has a tremendous capacity to present so many different truths in new ways, so we can see something remarkable each time! As I was chewing these verses over, I saw something I hadn’t seen before. In the face of overwhelming opposition- including the very real prospect of death – Jesus still chose to do good. He remained true to His nature in the face of great danger. He understood His purpose in this life, and knew that He could not be killed outside of His Father’s timing.

It is one of this life’s little ironies that although living like this is a great place to live, that means we often don’t know what comes next! Meanwhile, we have been instructed to pray for the sick so they can be healed etc., and to love others. We are His care-takers who happily pray for the people around us, and share their joys, sorrows and suffering. We care for the lost, lonely, displaced, ignored, rejected people of this world – things we can only do by drawing on God’s incredible Grace. 

Many people might have whispered to the disabled man: “Could you come back next Tuesday and I will pray for your hand then? We’re in the synagogue and we mustn’t disturb what God wants to do here today.” You know, He’s God, He does not have to fit in with our timetables. His will has perfect timing. That’s because the immediate is not a problem to the Lord, He knows the end from the beginning! That’s a powerful thing to know and it can change everything else about our lives.

There is a problem with paying lip-service to the status quo … it accomplishes nothing, except to increase our cowardice. It magnifies our errant thoughts that God did not stop us from doing this or that, so it must be OK. Jesus didn’t care about what anybody else was going to do with what He did. He knew what His Father was doing in that moment, so He did that, despite the consequences. Sometimes His Father’s will didn’t include the appearance of safety!

Our God’s eye is always on the sparrow … in this case it was the man with the withered arm. So that man became Jesus’ primary goal, and he was healed. Jesus Himself said in John 9:4, “I must work the works of Him that sent Me while it is day; the night cometh when no man can work.” Challenging the Pharisees also became part of that process – yet again God was giving them a chance to let their hearts be softened. Dismissing someone else’s pain is a terrible flaw. It hardens our hearts toward God, and the Holy Spirit’s tender kindness.

Father God has a plan for each of us. This is one of the things we pick up from reading the scriptures … it means we can confidently sit back in the boat and let Him steer … but living like that will require our constant humility … and probably a whole lot of interruption! Because we know our purpose in this life, we can stare opposition in the face and tell it to ‘go away.’ Jesus Christ knew His purpose on this earth, He knew He had been sent here.  At the same time, He also knew that offence was going to lead to His murder, but He lived for what God gave Him to do day by day.

Our lives, right here, right now, are to be used for the glory of God, not for our own comfort and personal satisfaction. I exhort everyone reading this to learn to find your joy in whatever He gives you to do, rather than what this world says you should be doing. Life can become very boring doing the same things, day by day by day, but when we follow the Lord … this kind of thing happens: “The seventy returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name!” Luke 10:17. 

Yesterday hubby went a few doors down to check up on an older man in our neighbourhood. This man was so grateful that someone was aware of his presence, as he lives alone. Lots of people may notice stuff, but not many get up out of their comfort zone and go and check for themselves. Hubby and the old man had a great conversation. Meanwhile, we sent out about a dozen Christmas cards to the neighbourhood etc. and we’ve received just one back… but that single card was filled with so much gratitude. Our job is to be like a radar operator, we send out a spiritual “ping” and we wait to see if somebody will respond!

Opportunities to serve the Lord and the people around us, are everywhere. Unfortunately this world requires us to always be in a hurry, plus we have constant day-to-day anxiety about the next thing that must be done … so we sometimes miss, or we don’t follow up the Holy Spirit’s leading. Actively showing others that their lives have meaning to God by investing your time in them, is one clear way to communicate God’s love.

Our aim is to be like Jesus. He did what He was asked to do – despite the personal consequences and threat to His life. Our purpose is to share the Father’s love in whatever way comes naturally to each one of us. I have found it is important to be sure that my communication is personal, because remote control does not communicate the same depth of affection the Lord has for people. Today, I want to bless you to be a blessing to others, Amen.🙏

P 2634 Bloom where you are planted.

/ DVH

Jesus Christ was planted on this EARTH, He was planted into a DRY place in a time when nobody understood who He was and why He came. A place where His knowledge of God and His ways, when Christ was twelve, confounded the leaders. But then when they heard Him speak as a grown man they called Him ‘blasphemous.’

His mother heard everything that was said and she kept it in her heart. She knew personally, He was a miracle. However, His family once tried to help Him raise up a publicity campaign to fulfil His God-given directives! 😳 And one other time, His hometown tried to throw Him off a cliff! It seems nobody had a clue Who He really was! People caught a glimpse but they did not comprehend Him. ‘He came unto His own and His own received Him not!’ John 1:11-13.

“My servant grew up in the LORD’s presence like a tender green shoot, like a root in dry ground. There was nothing beautiful or majestic about His appearance, nothing to attract us to Him. He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.” Isaiah 53:2-3.There was nothing whatsoever about Christ that would make anybody look twice. The Lord Jesus simply looked liked everyone else around Him – Jewish! And right after He was dead, He was planted back into this earth’s dry ground – He was buried in it. Praise God that’s not the end of that story!!

Some of you reading this blog today have been planted in a very dry, unGodly place. Cheer up! The Lord Himself has already gone before you. He knows what that is like, and He knows how to bring that planting, that seedling of His life inside you, into a full grown plant for God’s glory. You and I, we are a blessed people,we have now been planted in fertile heavenly ground by the Spirit of the living God! We are here, right here, right now because there is something that we can do for His Kingdom that is a unique expression of God’s love into this world. But we aren’t here primarily to preach, or teach — first of all we are here to learn to love and live, like He loved and lived. 

WE’VE all been planted INSIDE the passion of Calvary. No dry ground for us!  Incredible passion sent the Lord Jesus to the cross, and passion kept Him there until it was all done. Finished! What He did was so remarkable it left eternally fertile ground!  We can renew our passion by gazing at that cross and realising that ‘I put Him there.’  He loved us all that much. Love is defined by its actions.

Whatever we both did before we met Him was enough to send Him up that awful hill to His death! And He would have done it gladly, just for one of us. Every terrible thing this world has done, went on that cross … and it killed Him. The awful weight of human sin killed Him. Yet we both know that most human beings walk around mindlessly, totally unaware of that great and grave weight in their lives. That stuff squeezed the life and breath out of Jesus’ precious body. 

Our passion for Christ grows as we further understand what we have been GI-V-E-N. We’ve been planted in the warm, fertile, blood-soaked ground of His sacrificial, all-conquering love!  Ain’t NO ground better than that! “He sacrificed Himself for us that He might purchase our freedom from every lawless deed and to purify for Himself a people who are His very own, passionate to do what is beautiful in His eyes.” Titus 2:14 TPT. “The light of God’s love shined within us when He sent His matchless Son into the world so that we might live through Him.” 1 John 4:9 TPT.

Jesus didn’t just die so we can get on the glory train at the end of our lives and chuff off into heaven! He died to release to each one of us the potential to participate in His earthly ministry. He prepared stuff for us to do before we ever got here. We must pray we find it and do whatever it is, for His glory!

My hope is this, that we would all just stop worrying about who has this gift and who has that one, and run after and concentrate on the thing that every single one of us finds difficult and impossible in our day to day lives. LOVING THE UNLOVELY. We all have people like that –  some of us are so blessed we have a whole bunch of them! They will teach us how to love people like He did – if we let them.Those gifts we run after, will not operate properly without His love – unless you want to spend your life sounding like a brass gong! 

So let’s LIVE this life more and more passionately for Him. Bloom where you are planted – in Christ Jesus! ‘Count yourself dead to sin but alive to Him.’ Romans 6:11. Bye. 👋

P 2619 Let us not misunderstand God’s Love.

/ DVH

Our Heavenly Father’s Love is always ON. His love is ablaze with fire and passion for all of us. His love burst forth in a visible form at Pentecost.  And His Grace has been abounding on this earth for centuries. Imagine that! It doesn’t wane, become greater or less, or fall away. That’s because our God is love, it is His nature.

Jesus Christ suffered unimaginable pain and suffering, not to mention humiliation and death, so WE could be called the Sons of God. His death teaches us, by example, that Love ALWAYS looks like something. It looks like a broken, bruised, bleeding, unrecognisable, totally innocent man, hanging on a wooden cross, tortured and dying … simply because He loved us all, and He spoke the truth. But people rejected His truth because they could not comprehend a love that could love the unlovely.  Humanity’s glorious opportunity to know God’s love for us, literally cut Him so deep, it was, and still is – incomprehensible.  Father God spared no cost, and held nothing back, now we know that Almighty God’s idea of love includes sacrifice not just emotion. 

“If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates (works against) his [Christian] brother he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.”1 John 4:20. Our Heavenly Father takes love  seriously and His love is so far-reaching into our lives, plumbing our very depths, simply because we choose to belong to Him. Now the way we love our brother, exhibits a direct reflection of the measure of God’s own love IN, and toward US. We cannot conjure up such a love, but we can learn it if we choose to – one sacrifice at a time. 

That thought today made me wonder if one of the reasons that we feel we can’t love some people is because we have not actually comprehended what we are constantly being given! We often excuse and underestimate our sins, and exaggerate the sins of others. God didn’t love each one of us just enough – as in a measurable quantity – just enough to meet the requirements, and no more! His love is so overabundantly great it is always available and it is designed to daily transform us. His love is so deep we can swim in it, drown in it … and yet still live.

As we start to understand, through our own experiences with Him, and others in this life, how much undeserved GRACE we have been given, we will start to comprehend what Paul said in Ephesians 3:17-19.“…so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

Most of us have never experienced what being filled, right to the top with love, over and over again, is like … even though we all know Jesus. I have prayed Ephesians 3 for myself for years! I know I need ever-increasing comprehension! It seems to me that everything we know about Almighty God and His kind of love hangs on those verses. He wants our hearts to respond to His heart with the same kind of passion He has already shown us. And we will all definitely need His help to do it, because human beings have a habit of hiding who we really are from ourselves.

In the Old Testament the Israelites were kind of …blah about God. He was a figurehead Who was there to provide and care for them, and when it appeared to them that He wasn’t doing what they thought He should do – they voted with their feet and went after empty pagan symbols that had no power or meaning. That’s a childish kind of love. Our reciprocal love toward God is not meant to come from a “I won’t love You if You don’t please me.” kind of response. Our admiration for His Grace toward us, needs to overtake our judgment of others.

Maturity understands that what He did surpasses anything we can possibly hope for or imagine. Let’s remember God’s love in Christ is not exclusive.  It is utterly inclusive. He doesn’t treat us as we deserve – EG: ’that guy’s sins are worse than mine.’ Instead His love is part of His very Being, His substance. It simply doesn’t have self- imposed limits. The reason the bible tells us to love our enemies, those who hurt us – is so we will quickly realise that we need to be constantly and comprehensively flooded with His love to such a level, that the other person’s reaction or response doesn’t come into it! A shortage of His love is not the problem, our decision to die to activate it in ourselves is!

Let’s not misunderstand God’s love or make it into something that it isn’t… God’s love is utterly incomprehensible unless you start to chase it. His kind of love causes the one He loves to flower and be the best version of themselves. Loving others transforms ME so I don’t see them the same way. It is a key to “His kingdom coming here on earth as it is in heaven…” Jesus Christ left us His keys to His kingdom. Sadly this means we can lock other people into being less than they can be, by our lack of love for them. But if we live this life, prepared to die for others, like our Saviour did for us, the passion and fire of the Holy Spirit is always with us. He will do that IN US.  👋