Resist

P 2761 When the going gets tough, the tough get going!

/ DVH

In Nehemiah 4:7-9 it says:  “When Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the repairs of the walls of Jerusalem were going so well—that the breaks in the wall were being fixed—they were absolutely furious.They put their heads together and decided to fight against Jerusalem and create as much trouble as they could. We countered with prayer to our God and set a round-the-clock guard against them….

13-14 So I stationed armed guards at the most vulnerable places of the wall and assigned people by families with their swords, lances, and bows. After looking things over I stood up and spoke to the nobles, officials, and everyone else: “Don’t be afraid of them. Put your minds on the Master, great and awesome, and then fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes… V15 “Our enemies learned that we knew all about their plan and that God had frustrated it. And we went back to the wall and went to work.”

Having done all they could, that’s when these guys STOOD! Just like it says in Ephesians 6:13 “Therefore, put on the complete armour of God, so that you will be able to [successfully] resist and stand your ground in the evil day [of danger], and having done everything [that the crisis demands], to stand firm [in your place, fully prepared, immovable, victorious].”  

We don’t just need to learn to how to tear up the hypothetical ceilings in our lives, and in the lives of others;  we also need to know HOW, AND WHEN, TO STAND STILL. We simply must learn when to do what. And at the same time, when it is good to ignore the yammering threats of our enemies, so we can keep on going with the work God has given us to do for as long as we can.

I dunno about what is going on with you, but lately I have been reflecting on how soft I have become since I fell down the stairs. My arm and legs weren’t the only thing I injured! I think I bumped my faith badly as well! However, I praise the Lord that my dear hubby has taken us both out into the field, to talk to people about Jesus, anyway. Because otherwise I think I might have packed up my little travelling bag and quit. Physical disability can be very discouraging, and the older you get, the harder it is to pick yourself up and go again!

The point of today’s blog is this:  when you are fighting the enemy don’t cede your ground. Just stand still and wait for God. Even if you have to have your sword in one hand and a trowel in the other to help you rebuild your life. Are you physically dead yet? No?? Then it’s not too late to get up after your rest, and run again.Refusing to quit is the way forward. It leads to perseverance, and that makes us stronger spiritually. Let the weak say:‘I am strong in the Presence of the Lord.’ Even if I hit a wall, or in this case the floor! I am learning to shake myself, get up and go again!

I found this great little song by a group called One Republic, it’s not new (2021) I think one of the guys is a Christian but who cares?  The rocks cry out all the time! Meanwhile the words are so catchy, that they repeat themselves over and over again in my head. Here’s the chorus: “They tell you that the sky might fall. They’ll say that you might lose it all. So, I run until I hit that wall. Yeah, I learned my lesson, count my blessings. Look to the rising SON and run, run, run.”  Yeah, I changed one letter, because WE always look to Jesus – Who is the Author and Finisher of our faith. We are all in this race.

Some days, I’m not physically up to running again, or even maybe rebuilding huge walls in the face of satan’s jeering  — but I’ve learnt that I can still stand …  even if I have to lean on something!!  (Proverbs 3:5,6.) I’m going to lean on Him because the bible says I can! I also love the bit in this song that says ‘I run until I hit that wall’ ‘cos I kinda did, and that’s when I found out that I can count my blessings from any position. The fact that some things still cause us pain proves that we are alive and present on planet earth! 

‘When the going gets tough, the tough get going.‘ … But they just might need a cuppa tea and a bit of a lie down first!  Meanwhile music helps me with motivation. Sadly, sometimes Christian music can be a little bit too drippy and wordy for me. I feel like I am singing a saga, not a song. Some Christian songs have a million words, and every platitude ever written – whatever happened to catchy?? Back to the point … rebuilding the walls of your life can be tough. It takes guts – sorry, internal fortitude 🤪 – but God isn’t scared of old, decrepit, or even broken people. He promises to be their strength instead!

Our God is the Ancient of days. Nuthin’ scares Him!  Some of His best friends were OLD. Think about it. The thing that’s good about getting older is this – if you choose to let go of your pride, you can learn stuff. Good stuff, stuff worth learning. And you get it by bumping your head a lot, or some times you get it by falling down the stairs. It’s time for everyone to toughen up, and get going!  We will need every single saint for what lies ahead of us. Bye 👋

P 2739 Hot off the press …

/ DVH

Here’s a sizzle thought, hot off the press for today. Philippians 1:15-18: “It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defence of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.” 

There’s a whole lotta stuff going on in Paul’s heart that some leaders today wouldn’t recognise, even if they fell over it or into it! We’d probably split most churches right down the middle in his circumstances. But Paul sees God’s good in this situation. And God’s good is wa-ay more important than Paul’s own ego. Think about it, this man had loads of really good reasons to BOAST – yet he always put God’s will and purpose above anything else – and nobody made him do it – he lived there.

I have the strongest feeling that if some of the previous generations of the people of God had lived with a wonderful attitude like Paul, we might have less denominations! We get so used to defending our territory, our revelations, our thoughts, our sound doctrine! — that we forget it’s actually His territory, His revelations, His thoughts, His sound doctrine – not ours! I am as much against error as the next guy, but we are slicing and dicing up the Lord’s church, His body, in ways that are not life-giving and good. By doing that we are arbitrarily stopping the life in the arteries or veins from reaching the flesh in another part of the body. A severed artery or vein loses blood, and the whole Body needs His blood.

This means that the flesh is prevailing in some church assemblies – simply because vain ambition has not been voluntarily put to death. His life giving blood is not getting to the whole Body. Church is about God being glorified – that means focus on Him is everything. Yet very few people are prepared to suffer wrong – on purpose. We attack other parts of the body like they are the enemy, and forget that Almighty God won an awful lot of wars and nobody helped Him! Fancy that! … Almighty God does not need our help! Pause and think on that for a minute or nine. 

There is such a huge attack on leadership today — the enemy himself — not to give him any credit, flings loads of horrible stuff at leaders. Then other people catch the junk and fling it at those poor sods as well. Plus a lot of throwers shove a rock inside for good measure! People seem to think that discovering that error may have occurred, means we must split up a church. They see doing that as the only way to resolve differences. Then they get so excited because half the church got up and followed them – so THEY must be right… That’s called pride if anyone is interested. Human logic is not meant to thrive in these situations, read the book. 

Let’s get back to Paul and his wonderful, generous attitude. Like James also said, selfish ambition and jealousy has ruined lives. What do you know, maybe Paul read his letter? Or maybe they both just talked to the same Lord. God is not divided. So if it causes division then guess what…?? You do the sum. Almighty God is not excited about division – He loves multiplication. And splitting a church is not the way to multiply the kingdom.

Here’s another verse that I love to bits:“For who regards you as superior or what sets you apart as special? What do you have that you did not receive [from another]? And if in fact you received it [from God or someone else], why do you boast as if you had not received it [but had gained it by yourself]?”1 Corinthians 4:7. Humility is like a cloak, you must choose to wear it, and not take it off. We wear it because our King wore it first. Some Roman soldiers saw the value in Christ’s cloak and they refused to tear it into bits because they saw its value! It was seamless. Is anybody out there listening?? 

I want to finish with another verse that I think pulls our focus off what we think we need, over into what He wants to give us. From John 21:21-22 Amplified Bible (AMP) “So when Peter saw Him, he asked Jesus, “Lord, and what about this man [what is in his future]?” Jesus said to him, “If I want him to stay alive until I come [again], what is that to you? You follow Me!” Isn’t that fabulous? Jesus tells Peter to mind his own business because Peter is all twisted up. He thinks John might live forever … Jealousy bit him… The Lord loves to simplify the things. “Follow Me” – He says to Peter, again… When in doubt follow Him, and remember, He never wants to tear up the town.

Today God is looking for an OBEDIENT PEOPLE, but we can resist Him, because we think we don’t like that theology. And we fall down smashing our head against its own inflated opinion of itself. Then we boo-hoo at God because we discover we’ve been walking in the spirit of stupid, again … Or we blame someone else like Adam and Eve did. Truth resides with God not us. HE is our reference point. Todays’ blog is hot off the press. Get rid of malice, resentment, slander, and divisiveness and cling to the One Who knows everything. I know we can only see in part, through a blurry window but after all, He knows the end from the beginning. It’s OK! God’s still in charge.

Bye. 😊

P 2712 Our difficulties are actually stairs.

/ DVH

The every day obstacles, irritations and difficulties we face can be obstructions to living a new life … OR … stairs leading us up into all Christ’s blood bought for us. When we see things as obstacles, we face them with a different mental attitude. An obstacle must be avoided, or conquered or mastered, and all that involves effort and application. Stairs simply take you from one level to another. They take us from a lower place to a higher one. Today, I want to highlight the thought that the Christian life is meant to be one of progression, while we gain increasing humility, accountability, and wisdom, plus maturity. 

Nobody told me this stuff when I was a baby Christian. I was not taught that Jesus has faced every single obstacle I will ever have to endure, and that He knows the way through them. Instead I was taught to try harder… like it was a Maths test! So I just kept failing, and the harder I tried, the more I failed … I was taught I must somehow, by myself, transform myself into a new person. But Jesus actually died for, fought for and He won that battle for me. The thought that I was personally responsible to be different in my everyday life, nagged at me daily. I was supposed to be a good Christian witness to others, but I could easily end up shouting like a fishwife! 

None of the credit for starting to change my awful attitudes and actions belongs to me. All I ever needed to do was ADMIT that I can’t do any of this transformation by myself, and ask the Holy Spirit for His grace. And then – step up into it, using my faith.There are things that I know I used to do, almost automatically, that I simply don’t do anymore – I don’t even want to do them anymore. I asked for His help.

I wish I could say that when I’ve learnt something, and I’ve seen His grace in action in myself, that this means I will always act graciously! What a sad little laugh that thought is! Instead I have found that I need to practice practice practice trusting in His ability to get me through whatever He is teaching me, at every opportunity. Or I will lose touch with His grace, faster than a gambler can lose his quickly gained bundle of notes! However at the same time I have also noticed my thought patterns are changing too.

As I read the Word, and refused to accept what it said as something I would become some day – He began to teach me to act on it in faith. I started to understand that the things I dismissed as being only human, actually meant that I was not totally sold out to Jesus! Because me, myself and I – still became grumpy and nasty over the stupidest things. 

The Lord is so faithful. He revealed to me through the bible that He has already done all the work … so my part was to believe Him and step up into what He has already done, no matter how I feel.  Those things that accused me, and led me into looking after myself first, are the everyday, niggly little grumpy or sarcastic responses that the Holy Spirit loves to help us master. All we need to do is to step out of that bad mood or irritation, INTO His grace. After all, Peter stepped out of a perfectly good boat when Jesus said – “Come!” He didn’t think about it He simply obeyed!  Living this way is our birthright.

Sadly in the past, I did not have any idea that I didn’t have to live such a frustrated life, pretending to be something or someone, I wasn’t. I found, over time, that  a lot of what I was taught was a lot of theory, as well as unrealistic expectations – heaps of I “ought to be this or that!” It was not practical enough. Yet everything Christ taught was PRACTICAL. Because of what He has already done, my part is to take each attitude as He reveals it to me – then repent, repair and ask for His help. And then I simply followed His prompts, and they helped me escape from the temptation to let fly.

Jesus Christ’s death opened the prison door of sin we were forced to live behind, that place where we were trapped by our own anxious, fearful, unkind attitudes. We can even learn to resist provocation! We are no longer trapped by who we used to be. Freedom is more than a lovely song we sing passionately – it is a faith step. Freedom doesn’t mean I can do what I want – true freedom actually means I CAN DO WHAT HE WANTS!  We believe Him and what He has already said in the bible.

You know, in the natural, I have the worst trouble with real stairs, nowadays. Having fallen down our stairs a while ago, I am a bit intimidated by any stairs that have no railings. And so hubby helps me step up from one step to another, by giving me his arm. This is what the our precious Saviour does for us. We exercise our faith in the Lord’s Word, by taking His arm, as we choose how to respond to the daily irritations of this life according to His Word. We learn to lean on Him! And if we go under, like Peter did – Jesus’ strong right arm will lift us up again.

Psalm 119:133 “Direct my footsteps according to Your word; let no sin rule over me.” 1 Corinthians 10:13 TPT “We all experience times of testing, which is normal for every human being. But God will be faithful to you. He will screen and filter the severity, nature, and timing of every test or trial you face so that you can bear it. And each test is an opportunity to trust Him more, for along with every trial God has provided for you a way of escape that will bring you out of it victoriously.”

If we want to follow Jesus and overcome every day irritations, obstacles and difficulties, as well as entering into our new life in Christ, we need to live this life with absolute humility. At the same time we need to be aware and open about our limitations. Let us not pretend to be someone we are not! Every one of our difficulties are actually our own personal stairs. My advice is to take the Lord’s proffered arm and walk up each step with His help. Bye. 👋 

“Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:3-12.

P 2487 The power of God is for the persistent.

/ DVH

The Lord Jesus went out into the wilderness and He was led there by the Holy Spirit, but, when He comes out of that place — He comes outin the POWERof the Holy Spirit. So this is what I want to say for today … some times when I am tempted to fight I think to myself – just one more time! The power to overcome comes with perseverance. Therefore, I will say that soft word that turns away wrath, one more time, I will turn the other cheek, one more time – I will forgive… one more time. Our enemy defeats us by projection – he projects a future that is not there, and he uses our past to do it. he says: “It has always been this way, and so it will always be this way. You have to fight or you will lose something valuable.” 

If God has not spoken to you, it is not over!  STAND. Sometimes we give up and quit fighting our enemy too early – we give in to our baser nature. Christ fought His battle through until His enemy was defeated. (Read Matthew 4:1-11) He stayed the course until the end! The power of God came and empowered the Lord in the middle of His weakness as He stood firmly on what the Holy Spirit gave Him to say, in this incredible fight. In those moments, it could have become a battle of wills, but Jesus was too spiritually attuned to play satan’s little game, He used God’s wisdom to bring about God’s purposes.

We cannot fight our enemy by ourselves! We too, need to be too smart to be pulled into “if only” and “what if.” It is what it is. A battle. Quitting early means we are letting our flesh win. Keep fighting until you hit His peace. Without His peace we can easily be sidetracked into places we were not meant to go. Seek God for a word, (or three) … and then WAIT. Let the Holy Spirit pick your battle ground – sometimes the battle is not ours. Whatever the circumstances, let the Holy Spirit guide you through them.

It was the verses with the POWER of the Holy Spirit on them in this incredible battle that WON! After the Lord was tested 3 times, the enemy had to leave. Jesus did not buy into satan’s ?logic? Remember the introductory verse to Matthew 4 says,  it was God’s idea for Jesus to be tested. The Holy Spirit led Him into that battleground. My advice is this – don’t be led into a battle you cannot win. When it comes to someone else’s will, or mind attitude – you and I cannot change it. We need to step back and let the Holy Spirit have His way … by letting love for the other person reign, the Holy Spirit knows the way through. Sometimes we fight, sometimes we die to self, sometimes we stand. But we always aim at maintaining LOVE for the other person.

In the first two of the three temptations mentioned in this scripture, satan says “if.” What is he doing? he knows the weaknesses of human flesh and he plays upon those weaknesses – he’s trying to get Jesus to accomplish what He was sent to do, in the flesh. Christ’s flesh was weakened by that fast. But Jesus had the One Who wrote the bible, with Him. (He is with US too!) We cannot fight without the Holy Spirit’s help.

In the end satan drops his pretence of helping, and blatantly goes for what he really wants … Christ’s worship. he wants the throne … satan has always wanted the throne.  he is jealous and he wants power. But because of what Christ did, we can sit, stand and walk with Jesus Christ daily. Never forget, that in times of trouble WE can walk right up to the throne of Grace and GRACE WILL MEET US. 

The Holy Spirit knows the perfect word of God to make our enemy flee. You and I may end up using more than one verse, but as the Holy Spirit hands them to us, we fling them at the things that are assailing us. Blame is useless in this place of battle – we are fighting the devil, not a human being. Stop fighting the person – resist the devil. Don’t be tempted to think up some snappy reply … the other guy has heard them all!  Just like Christ’s ministry belonged to Him, whatever we are fighting for belongs to us. But the way to win, is to lay whatever it is down at His feet, keep walking in Love, and use the scriptures that the Holy Spirit gives us to defeat our enemy. 

Lastly, Jesus had to fight the enemy in His weakened flesh – He was hungry and thirsty he needed food. The enemy is a snake, he will come at you when you are already weak. Then in Christ’s mind – He was offered everything He came to earth to buy back, without the cross. He saw those cities. Just one word and they were His … because satan owns them. The cities of this earth are corrupted. The power of God is the only true, permanent vehicle for change. There are no short-cuts. The only way up is down, the only way to live is to die, and the only way to do what He sent you here to do, is to lay it all down. Let the dream die. Maybe God gave you that dream … now, lay it down at His feet. Remember, this is one of the purest forms of worship. 

“Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for He gives to His beloved sleep.” Psalm 127:1&2. The power of God is for the persistent, those who will do whatever it takes, and give up everything, for His sake. Doing that will not be comfortable! “If we perish, we perish …” Esther 4:16. God’s will be done. His will, His way. Bye 👋🏻

P 2400 We are not powerless – we can choose.

/ DVH

We need to accept the reality that as God’s family, we have power. JESUS GAVE IT TO US. Luke 10:19: “Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” 

We have the power to choose to obey and work together with the Holy Spirit. That cannot be taken away from us, but it can be voluntarily surrendered if it is unknown, or under-appreciated.  satan can’t make US do anything – but he can tempt us in any area where we are weak … areas in our hearts and minds that are still unredeemed. 

This is why we need to deliberately pay attention to our spiritual lives. Our physical, emotional and mental lives will take over otherwise. Most of the time we do not fully comprehend that the power we have, means we can actually say NO to the devil, or even to the Lord Himself. I don’t recommend the latter but we can! Our God will not force us, but ,,, He may allow circumstances to persuade us to revise our decision. Remember Jonah??  

When we add the power of God, to the power of choice – human beings become unstoppable. I want to be clear about that. You or I might have prayed a prayer for someone to be saved, and so far that hasn’t happened. Even if we die – that prayer is still out there. Almighty God values our prayers. Jesus showed us that, when He prayed for Christians to be One. That particular prayer is awaiting its tipping point — it hasn’t happened yet, but that does not mean it won’t! “There is a TIME for every purpose under heaven …”  Ecclesiastes 3:1. 

I personally don’t think that our prayers have an expiry date, but sometimes the content needs to be checked with the Lord, first. Our problem is that it is unfortunately too easy to think that when something goes unanswered after a longish period of time, it won’t be answered at all. In the bible, we see people negotiating with the Lord. Maybe some things need negotiation!  When we pray something in agreement with the Holy Spirit, together with God’s Word, it cannot fail – because our voice is joined to His. 

Sadly, for years we’ve applied this scripture or that scripture as leverage to get what we want —for things that were about gain, to make our lives better. I honestly don’t think that things, no matter how important they seem at the time, matter. Because things don’t last. Human beings, however, last forever! We are eternal beings.  Even when I give to benefit others, I am entering into His eternal principles. But if I only want to gain things for my own comfort in this life, then my prayer is simply to satisfying my desire for temporal things. 

The enemy of our souls has hooked us into caring more about temporal things than we do about eternal things. The result has been great disappointment and disillusionment for many. However the transformation of a human heart from selfishness, strife, anger, lying, cheating, and disloyalty etc. IS, in itself, a miracle. What we allow God to change in us, in our lifetime – is a glimpse of eternity to come, here and now. That is how we become carriers of His glory and partakers of His nature. Rom. 6:11-14; Gal. 5:16,25.

We are not powerless in the Lord’s process of redemption in our lives. But change does not come by osmosis either. It happens as a co-operative. We obey His will, His way, and as we do that, He transforms us. We can still wilfully choose to be bad tempered, and sometimes it has nothing whatsoever to do with anyone else!  Although there are some people who delight in creating what I call opportunities for us to fall into! 

The way to be strong in the Lord, is to learn to resist temptation. The bible calls it ‘overcoming’ and it tells us to “…flee from temptation…”  Unfortunately if we walk too slowly away, then we can also sort of kind of stroll back again! And in those moments we start assessing how bad could those things really be? And then at other times we dive in where angels fear to tread. These temptations are things that we already know will bring only a temporary thrill or satisfaction. Our aim is to walk with Him – so that’s where our focus needs to be.

We are not powerless – we can choose, because we are a powerful people.“(God’s) divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.” 2 Peter 1:3 NIV. 👋🏻