Response

P 2371 Transformation.

/ DVH

Stop imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around you, but be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how you think. This will empower you to discern God’s will as you live a beautiful life, satisfying and perfect in His eyes.” Romans 12:2 TPT

Jesus Christ did not just provide our redemption on that cross – His death provided us with TOTAL lifestyle TRANSFORMATION. Now we have the POWER and ability to grab opportunities to figuratively and literally change our minds. To change our thinking, change our reactions, change and transform the way we were taught by family, life and the people we’ve associated with – into something life giving and redemptive. 

You and I don’t have to be the same old cranky easily provoked grump we always were. Now, we have the power and the Person inside us Who will help us to get that soft word that turns away anger! (Proverbs.) We can be transformed by believing what it says in the book – and acting on it, using our faith. If you wait to feel like it, you will never feel like it – trust me!  The power to change is in the Holy Spirit’s Presence in our lives. We have to put away the idea that this life is about the Holy Spirit AND …EG: the Holy Spirit and what I want. We can’t have both options. Dead people don’t have options or opinions.

I have learnt that if I find myself resistant to transformation, that is an indication of how rebellious I have allowed myself to become. I love this illustration of how inner transformation works: “There is a legend of a grandfather or elder using a metaphor of two wolves fighting within him to explain personal inner conflicts to his grandson. When the young person asks which wolf will win, the grandfather answers “whichever one you feed.” Whichever one you feed!? So, what are we feeding our thought life on?

People freak out and say that you should or shouldn’t watch this or that, or you shouldn’t go here or there if you are a ‘good’ Christian. But the truth is obedience is about Who you are actively following. The real question is this – what will help me to obey the Lord and what will lead me away or distract me from thinking about Him?! Christians love Jesus but they do not necessarily foster that love as the most important thing in their life. The everyday humdrum things-that-need-to-be-done stuff swamps them, and they forget about Him and start living this life like everyone else.

The secret to total transformation is in the book:“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” Colossians 3:23&24.  We are not working for a man anymore – we are working for Jesus in our school, home or job. That other person is HIM to you and I. That’s how deeply the Lord Jesus identified with mankind. So if you are yelling at someone else – you are yelling at HIM! “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of Mine, you did for Me.’ There is no accidental or incidental happenings in His kingdom! Everyone we bump into is sent.

It doesn’t matter if you are doing the washing-up or teaching your kid how to tie their shoe laces. That other person is Jesus standing there. We have so much power in our choices. Unfortunately, in this generation, our wills have become weak because we give in to them all the time! Instead we need to stand on the Word and refuse to go the wrong way. Ask for His help to resist the temptation to act like you rule the world, and yield to the ONE WHO ACTUALLY RULES THE WORLD. This world will not explode if you acknowledge that you do not know how to do everything – remember His strength is made perfect in weak people!

We have His book. The bible tells us His thoughts about behaviour and life. We do not have to remain ignorant. We now have the power to overcome the things we have probably deliberately cultivated along the way in our lives. Before we met Him we did stuff to protect ourselves and make us feel good about who we are. Ask yourself, do I see myself as a victim or a servant? The answer will diagnose your position before the Lord. 

We have mistakenly tied Christ’s Presence in our lives, entirely to our behaviour, not to what He has already done. His Grace propels us into obedience, it empowers us to make right choices. Our behaviour actually changes because we want to live and remain in His Presence, rather than roll along day after day, doing what we want. We are His servants. We’ve been left here to serve Him and serve Him by serving others. And transformation comes from obedience to His word as He leads us – – and BTW if you read it then you are responsible for your response.. 👋🏻

P 2275 It is essential to practise mercy.

/ DVH

“So we must both speak and act in every respect like those who are destined to be tried by the perfect law of liberty, and remember that judgment is merciless for the one who judges others without mercy. So by showing mercy, you take dominion over judgment!” James 2:12-13 TPT

The reason the phrase mercy triumphs over judgment is often accurate, is that the human mind leans toward the side of justice. Do the words; ‘that’s not fair’ ring any bells?’ Look, if someone pinches your parking spot, then you can easily lean on mercy, but, if someone pinches the car or burns down our house most of us could easily tip over into judgment! The severity of the sin against us can create harsher responses. Unfortunately unforgiveness is deadly, it’s a no-brainer. Repentance clears away our guilt, but it does not take away the need for reparation and restoration.

The thing about Mercy is it has to become our permanent state of mind, not just something we try to find on the spot when something bad has happened. When things happen, our emotions become engaged, and we are more likely to go with how we feel at that moment, instead of leaning into being merciful. 

Memorising scriptures is a great way to know what the bible says – but the very best way to change our hearts for good is to continually choose the harder thing and do it. Doing what the bible says takes God’s Word out of the realm of knowledge, and puts it firmly into the place of our own experience. Other people will benefit from our learning curves but the main benefit is to US. That stretching, the feeling that you can’t bear whatever is going on any longer, is normal. Don’t  believe what you feel, instead, pray for help and maintain the new merciful attitude.

I am not saying that letting Mercy triumph is an easy thing to do. As a matter of fact I think it’s probably one of the hardest things … like, ever! But we are not just simply learning a way to live – we are giving the Holy Spirit room to transform our hearts. This means we have an opportunity to change or  soften our hardened heart… by believing His word to the point where we act on it. A changed heart has no problem with mercy. This person knows from experiencing His grace when they’ve needed it, that growing and changing can be painful. Plus they understand the principle of giving away what they need. 

The Bible says: “Cast your bread on the surface of the waters, [be diligently active, make thoughtful decisions], for you will find it after many days.” Ecclesiastes 11:1 Amp. This means that we will often give away what we need over and over again before we see any change in our response, but remember – God is no man’s debtor! Now if we are still actively hostile inside our brain two days later … eventually that bubbling pot of anger and resentment will boil over!  Often it is at some poor schmuck who said the wrong thing at the wrong time. We have all the grace and power we will need to overcome the things that come at us, or even the things that are already inside us – simply by practising His word as He reveals it to us. Hallelujah!

Human beings see things in terms of big and small.  To the Lord sin is not something big or small – it’s the thing that separates us from Him. It causes us to hide from Him right when we need Him the most.  When Jesus died for our sins He utterly cleared away the pathway between us and sin – we don’t have to sin any more. We need to remember this verse: “If we sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanses from all unrighteousness.” 

In the old Testament when Rebecca gave birth to twins, the twins were wrestling inside her for supremacy. That’s what happens inside us – either in our minds or in our emotions or both. The new you – that is who you are now in Christ Jesus – is now inside you. But the old us, our old habits and indulgences are wrestling against the person that God wants to release. This fight is ongoing, we don’t just fight against what the enemy throws at us, we are fighting our old ways of thinking, being, and doing with the Holy Spirit helping us.

Just because something is hard that does not mean it isn’t God’s will. We are in a wrestling match daily, sometimes minute by minute to make the choices Christ would make … Dying is hard but it is extremely powerful!  👋🏻

P 2264 Gratitude leads to surrender.

/ DVH

“Keep your eyes open, hold tight to your convictions, give it all you’ve got, be resolute, and love without stopping.” 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 (MSG) Loving other human beings the way that God loves us, not only seems impossible – I actually think it IS impossible. On the other hand, earthly Love promises the moon but rarely gives us anything as valuable in return. Earthly Love can often take everything from you. And sadly, sometimes, nothing comes back.

I think we’ve reduced loving God into a concept, rather than aiming at it becoming a reality. Some people might say, “I really love roses or I love chocolate, or I adore my car.”   Whilst all those kinds of things are legitimate, because we all have likes and preferences, sadly I think we have also reduced the word ‘love’ to just another adjective – like ‘blue sky’ or ‘pretty rainbow.’ However in reality, the kind of love God talks about in the bible, is not only interactive, it is see-able. After all His love came to earth to save us from ourselves.  

This kind of love often remains unseen, unheralded, and unappreciated, and because of it’s invisibility, many people try to escape from their own sacrificial response to God’s love –  because  they want to have their cake and eat it too. His Love does not have divided loyalties. My biggest concern is that Christians have adopted this word the way the world has adopted it, as an adjective, and it has become a description, using it as an adjective or noun. Those things are often tied to feelings. There is an unseen war in this world today over the word Love.  It has been watered down and used frivolously.  To understand love, and in particular God’s love, we must always look at Christ – He is our glorious illustration of inward affection being expressed outwardly and perfectly, by the way He lived and died. 

It seems to me that we are very happy to receive whatever Jesus died to give us – so we can go to heaven, but sadly, we are not nearly as happy to give up our idea of this life and all of its benefits, for His sake. We have forgotten Calvary was an exchange – His life for ours. There are no exceptions to this new way of life. We need to understand that we are not too young or too old or too infirm or preoccupied with making our own personal lives successful. “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15:13 NIV. 

Jesus Christ was not a kissy huggy demonstrative person – yet He still absolutely demonstrated His love in a way we can see and copy. His love went beyond outward signs of affection into living His whole life for our benefit. We cannot, and dare not, ignore what He intentionally modelled it in front us. Despite popular opinions Christ did not die so we could have a better life here. He died to give us the power to live this life here and now for His sake. For the sake of His kingdom.

Jesus was not a part-time lover of God, He lived every second of every day He was given, for His Father’s sake.

It is true that He believes we are worth it, but we are taking advantage of His huge largesse when we do not live this life to the full.  What would it be like if our earthly friends only helped us when it suited them, or when it was convenient?  Does that seem like true friendship to you? Jesus told us in the above scripture that this is the pinnacle of love, to live a sacrificial life dedicated to Him, representing Him, with no thought of recompense.

I would go so far as to say if we think we are fulfilling this criteria by using our ministry gift, prayer, bible study, worship in a form of tokenism and hope He won’t notice the difference … this means, at the very least, we are terrible friends of His. Up until Jesus came, the lamb offering people brought for sacrifices for their sins had to be perfect.  Christ was our perfect sacrifice.  I don’t think He is looking for us to get it perfectly right, rather, I think He is looking for us to be so in-love with Him that the word, “No”, doesn’t even occur to us, our response to His love is our devotion.  I know I’m not there yet.  

All I want to do today is to challenge everyone about what needs to happen in our lives for US to love Him back the way He loved us.  It’s our heart attitude that matters. It doesn’t matter that we fail.  But just like a compass always points to true north, our hearts need to swing away from the distractions and troubles of this life back to the Saviour. And then gratitude will lead to surrender.

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.” 1 John 3:1 NIV. The way to behold Him is see Him for Who He really is – so we must go past His hands to His face which is filled with Love for us. He doesn’t want spoiled brats, He wants people who voluntarily choose to love Him right back. 👋🏻

P 2119 What comes out when the pressure comes on?

/ DVH

Human beings can be quite clever at hiding stuff, from themselves … as well as others.  Like Jesus showed us in John 7:37-39 “On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this He meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.” … If we want rivers of His water flowing in our lives … then  we have to stop building dams to protect ourselves, or diverting His streams of life away from the purposes of God into our own purposes. This water goes through us to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. LET IT FLOW.

I realised a number of years ago that I could be ‘nice’ and fool people, even the people around me … but Almighty God sees my heart, and I can’t fool HIM.  Now, despite the fact that I can lie to myself and get away with pretending I am a nice person … who I really am comes out when I am squeezed tightly by life’s pressures and difficulties. HOWEVER, I am here to say today, do not give up on yourself, and definitely do not give up on Him! “But…”you wail, “I pray all the time about my bad temper, sarcastic tongue, petty stinky attitudes  plus rebellion, pomposity, resentment and bitterness I feel inside, and God hasn’t done anything about it SO… perhaps it doesn’t bother Him!” (Yeah right, telling yourself that won’t change anything.) 

You can tell yourself that, but you and I have read the book, and we all can see instantly in there that’s not what He is aiming at! I now understand that nothing happens to me, or around me by accident. The Lord allows circumstances into my life so I can acknowledge my sin, then repent, and repair things and ask for His help to change. THEN!!! …Then I gird up my loins and deliberately start taking faith steps. I’ve pray this – “help help “ all the time. Why? “The Lord is close to all who CALL on Him, yes, to all who call on Him in truth. He fills the desires of those who fear Him: He hears their cry and saves them.” (Psalm 145:18) My advice is we need to be truthful and admit our faults.

I’ve learnt that there is no use blaming other people for your response. Your response is your responsibility. Saying nothing is better than letting stinky dangerous stuff fly out of your mouth. “But I mean what I am saying at the time!” Yeah, we all do, but what is said in anger cannot be easily repaired. The thing is, someone has  threatened us, and we use our words to push back at them. At that moment we are deliberately telling that other person something they don’t need to know about themselves. Their bad attitude, if they even have one, is their responsibility – not ours. Our aim is to spread love, and our opinion about someone else’s behaviour or thoughts or actions isn’t something they need to hear from us. BTW, if you poke the bear serves you right if it bites your head off! 

Our words are meant to HEAL not hurt. “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” Ephesians 4:29. (The dictionary says: LET is a verb (used with object), let, let·ting. to allow or permit:)  “But I have a foul temper!!” Hmmm.. Thank you so much for telling me that, I will do do my best to avoid YOU! 🤣 We do not have to feed our weaknesses by indulging them. Instead, we can learn to actively transform who we are with His help. The Lord Jesus has done all the work at Calvary, now we get to live out what He did IN FAITH. The only power satan has over us is the power we GIVE him. Faith, however, is the substance of things hoped for …” We give our faith substance by acting on what we believe, in spite of our feelings or circumstances.

So when my mouth wants to vomit bad stuff over someone else, I take a great big breath and pray ‘help help.’ And if doing that doesn’t stop the flow, then I excuse myself and go be by myself until the Lord and I have a strategy – and that strategy never includes hurting the other person. The Power of God can only flow through us to the extent that we let it work ON us. Ya might want to read that sentence again, I know I need too!  Stop looking at what the other person said, and look at what you are saying. Our speech needs to build up and help others, not shatter them.

“His strength is made perfect in our weaknesses.”  When I am weakest then I am strong in Him. We get strong in His Might … using our faith. Faith has substance, we learn that when we use it.  We don’t get zapped there, we WALK there deliberately, on purpose, using our faith. Jesus did it. He went up a mountain and prayed, then He spoke things that were going to help His disciples to rely upon the Holy Spirit when He came. We need to stop reading the bible for benefits and start reading it for our ways to become His ways. What comes out when the pressure comes on is what is already IN there. Change and transformation require co-operation, if we want His rivers of living water flowing through our lives.

Our mouth is not a DRAIN for our emotions. 👋🏻