Revitalise

P 2948 Times of refreshing …

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“God will continually revitalise you, implanting within you the passion to do what pleases Him.” Philippians 2:13 TPT. This is one of the enormous benefits of living a transparent life before the Lord and others. We can actually hear Him whisper. I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating. Years ago, the Lord said this to me: “If you will hear Me for correction, you will hear Me for direction.”  (Proverbs 3:5; Psalm 32:8)

I have taken that to mean that if I am prepared to throw myself into reverse, and own my faults – to Him and to others – it will help my spiritual hearing. The trouble with this thought for many people is that they kind of argue with what they hear. EG: “Did I make that up?” Like our imagination is somehow bigger than God Himself!  And then they start to cancel out their faith with doubt. We have the bible so we already have what the Lord thinks – in a book – check it out in the book!  I also spend a lot of time capturing my thoughts like butterflies in a net!

To do what God says we will need to be prepared to look dumb to other people. Think about Gideon, Noah, Joshua, Moses, Abraham – these men did the strangest things on God’s orders! The secret to walking in faith is to put your faith in His goodness, and don’t take it back. However, don’t put your faith in accomplishing what He told you to do – the action — because that will get you stuck quicker than superglue. A whole lot of great people fell down that hole! Put your faith in WHO HE IS, in His incredible character, His reliability, His kindness, His faithfulness etc. WHO GOD IS is our plumb line. 

Nowadays when He tells me something I just do it. If I look like a goose, that’s even better, because I can use all the humility I can get! My faith is in His goodness, and if I get it wrong, then I know, from the book, that He is a Redeemer, He can redeem anything! I’ve also learnt, the hard way, that nobody knows what they will do when they are under pressure!  Pride has to go.

The Lord regularly speaks to me through His word, and He also speaks to me in my head…my thoughts. It is extremely tempting to think, whenever that happens, that “I made it up.” However, when we make the effort to know the book, we are learning to know what He likes and wants, and what He doesn’t – so we can walk away from sin and unbelief. I also find it easy to follow a Leader, like the pastor or my husband, my faith is in GOD in them, not them. When we get into judgment of what other people are doing, we are walking away from following Him, and we start “Ieaning on our own understanding.”

We can also be tempted to take a poll, by asking a lot of other people what they think about the fault God pointed out in our lives. Polls don’t work! Big clue in the words: “what God Himself said to us!” That’s a neon sign moment. We need to trust Him. Otherwise everything becomes about us – how we feel, what someone else did to us etc. etc.…As soon as our own judgment, or man-made systems come into play, we will lose His wisdom and insight. He will just quietly disappear.

Here’s a question … why didn’t God STOP Adam and Eve? Because He had already given them instructions. It was up to them to obey what He said! The Lord wants willing obedience, and obedience involves an action. Nobody is going to like this next thought, but one of the best ways to start learning to trust the Lord is with giving. Generosity opens spiritual doors. In our Western world money rules everything, and Christians embrace “tokenism.” We need God to be in charge, NOT money, or this world’s riches. 

The point I want to make today is that God doesn’t just want to revitalise us, and rewire our thinking, He wants to go one step further than those two great things and give us a passion TO DO what pleases Him! That does not fall on most of us, we will have to go after it … because our Bridegroom loves to be pursued. In my experience of the faith life so far, this means God will be continually praised;  someone else will be blessed;  and I will be too, because I saw Him do something extraordinary! So I pray regularly for eyes to see Him at work, because what He does in our lives is so undercover, and subtle, it can be easy to miss Him. 

When the Holy Spirit does something only He can take the credit for what happens…it is always so quietly extraordinary! He never once takes a bow. Boy do I want a heart like His! John 3:8 “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”I too want to be the person that remains unseen. Sigh. But there are still times when my flesh squawks worse than Peter’s chicken!! Time to die, again!

I love the Holy Spirit’s nature, He is so selfless, and unassuming. Nobody can refresh us like He can. One word from Him and the colour of our day is suddenly brighter, and the world is full of possibilities again. That thing we didn’t understand is now clear, and we understand what He wants better than we did two seconds ago. Enter into times of refreshing with the Lord – by practising obedience. You will get to know Him better. Bye.👋

P 2938 The benefits of walking with God

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“God will continually revitalise you, implanting within you the passion to do what pleases Him.”Philippians 2:13 TPT.

“Above all, constantly echo God’s intense love for one another, for love will be a canopy over a multitude of sins.” 1 Peter 4:8 TPT. “You were God’s expensive purchase, paid for with tears of blood …” 1 Corinthians 6:20a.

The bible itself urges us ‘to forget not all His benefits.’ in Psalm 103:2. Anyone can see what’s wrong with this world, but the people with real vision, His vision, can see the potential to do good in the midst of the chaos. What a benefit that is! We’ve personally discovered in our travels, that all this trouble and strife has opened up other people’s hearts to a point where they are happy to share their sorrows, suffering and disappointment with complete strangers. So we get to pray with them … what a benefit!

Our God is so precious, as we go along through this life choosing to walk with Him, living His Way instead of our own  — our wrong way of thinking, even our superficial thoughts, fall off. It is as if we switch focus, and we start to become singular in our devotion to Him. That does not mean we exclude others, like we are in some sort of exclusive club — it means our hearts are stretched and pummelled by the Word of God into a bigness we never even dreamt about! His servants don’t have to try to be better, kinder, nicer – they just are! Now we look for the good in others because it delights us to find it. That kind of observational skill benefits everyone!

People who live like this wouldn’t dream of wasting their time on pettiness, or hiding their faults from others to save face. Imagine the energy someone wastes trying impress others, when we all know full well, WE aren’t all that. Self realisation is a huge benefit! Yet another benefit of walking with Jesus every day, is humility. I stop being afraid to tell you I’ve failed, or I can’t do it, or I have no idea what to do next … instead I ask you to pray for me! Sometimes I pray:  “I can’t wait to see what You are going to do with this mess I’ve made Lord! Because I know You make all thing new.” Sadly, sometimes our level of pretence is preventing us from going deeper with Him. But we have the incredible benefit of His ongoing forgiveness covering us, because Love Himself adopted each one of us. The benefits abound!

Often human beings are the sum of their choices and history. But, we aren’t stuck there. Instead we daily benefit from walking with Jesus. And that means we become more and more honest – because we are living in proximity to honesty Himself, and His goodness rubs off on us. So if someone corrects us, or points out a fault, we have the inner freedom to be grateful because they have given us the opportunity to look at ourselves through their eyes. But what if what they say is not true? My advice is to let God fight for you. Our King cares about what we care about, let Him take care of you. Now there’s a great benefit to thank Him for!

Our feelings make a very poor, inaccurate guide – the benefit of reading His book is that it diagnoses our inaccurate world view every time we read it. He gives us His wisdom so we know how to avoid pitfalls. Wisdom is an incredible benefit. Over the years, I’ve met so many people who underestimate who they are IN God. Anyone who is prepared to live acknowledging their lack, can have wisdom. Just ask Him! Wisdom is a benefit with eternal ramifications. I don’t have to try to give God glory for what He does in my life, because I spend my time watching Him snatching me out of this trap and that stupidity! I am eternally grateful that He continually saves me from myself. 

Before I met Him I had nothing worthwhile to give to others. This is another benefit I’ve learnt – God gives us gifts to use to benefit other people. We are living beneath our heavenly calling when we verbally pull other people apart like wild dogs snarling over their breakfast. God’s gifts to men are to benefit others not to pull them down so we look equal to, or even taller than they do. We dare not use His gifts to benefit ourselves. What do we have that He didn’t give us? And when you have Him you have everything you will ever need. Maximum benefit right there!

God’s Word has also been given to us to diagnose what’s wrong in our hearts and lives, and His Word pulsates with the power to heal. It has not been given to us to accuse ourselves, or others. That’s how the other guy operates. We are to build one another up, and we exist now, to live this life for their benefit, like Jesus did. To do that we will have to see them through His eyes. Because our eyes and ears have been trained by trouble, strife and sorrow in this world – we can do so many unnecessary things to protect ourselves. However, when Jesus came and died, He threw His living body/blanket over each one of us, just like Boaz protected Ruth when she was vulnerable. I can’t afford to take my eyes off everything He has done for me. He sustains me in difficult times.

Our cup is full of His benefits, pressed down and running over.Psalm 103:1-2 “Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy Name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits:…”  Bye. 👋

P 2704 A spiritual vitamin pill!

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“God will continually revitalise you, implanting within you the passion to do what pleases Him.” Philippians 2:13 TPT

There are days when I wear this verse out!! (As if I could!) What I mean by that, is that the Lord presses the refresh button in my life, over and over again. And hallelujah, verses like this one never get worn out – thank you Jesus. Here are a couple more FYI.


“For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.”Jeremiah 31:25. “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to Me. Get away with Me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with Me and work with Me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with Me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Matthew 11:28-30 MSG.

I like the whole ‘revitalise us’ theme. Some days when I get out of bed I sure need a kick start! Yesterday was one of them. Going on the road always requires lots of work from my dear hubby, on top of what he already does. He’s preparing things for weeks before the actual event. Sadly we can’t do the whole fast-food thing while we are away – that means he has to cook a whole lot of stuff before we leave and freeze it. Not to mention how much fun it is to pack the car! I don’t know how he does any of it. 

I had a chat with the Lord about my inability to contribute regarding our adventures and He very kindly reminded me that hubby couldn’t go if I didn’t go with him. It’s nice to feel useful, even when you are doing nothing! By the time I swan out to the car the day we leave, everything is done. My sole contribution is to not fall apart physically while we are travelling – and, of course, I have to trust the Lord for that!!  But praise Him I have been given the gift of encouragement, so I use that along the way.

The first verse above in Philippians is the reason we go. The Lord has given us a passion to do what He likes best –  He loves to talk to people! He just adores it. Because He loves them so much, we have caught His joy, so now we love it too. You just never know what He is going to do next – that’s the bit that always grabs me by the heart – the unpredictability of it all. Some days hubby barely says ‘hello’ to someone, and they go on to talk about their private lives and spiritual thoughts, almost immediately. Because the Holy Spirit is present with us, we eagerly anticipate and welcome Him wherever we go, because we love watching Him work. It’s just like a little kid, watching ‘my Daddy do stuff.’

Here are a couple of really good questions to contemplate: “But how can they call on Him to save them unless they believe in Him? And how can they believe in Him if they have never heard about Him? And how can they hear about Him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!” Romans 10:14-15. 

Three guesses who Paul means by the title – “someone!” The day came for hubby and I when we both had to admit, someone means ME! I know that Christians get closer to the Lord through prayer, preaching, waiting on Him and fasting, or even by operating in spiritual gifts … BUT !!!… one of the best ways I know to grow, as well as use and stretch your faith, is to GO – for the gospel’s sake. 

I have this theory, most people like to stay within their comfort zones, because they don’t want to mess up, or bring the Lord into ill-repute. They often feel inadequate for the task. Plus people have busy lives! In fact if you look at me in particular, the one thing I don’t have, is a busy life. Being disabled means you have to plan your days very carefully and prayerfully, I only have so much energy to go around. Even on the road, I can only do what He tells me then I turn into a pumpkin and need sleep. But here is what I’ve learnt – if you give Him whatever you have, Jesus will take that offering and multiply it. 

Here’s my scripture about that scenario… hold on … it may surprise you. “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” John 6:9. Most of the time I have limited energy, so I just give what I have to Him. The Lord takes my little offering and multiplies it. Meanwhile, some people might have lots of energy and very little time, or even motivation – so today I want to encourage you to give your time and lack of motivation to Him and watch what He will do with it! Jesus has spiritual vitamin pills that make the physical ones look like rice cakes … all air and very little nourishment! Bye for now. 👋

P 2545 Living this life revitalised.

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Read this like the Lord Himself is speaking to YOU! —“My beloved ones, just like you’ve always listened to everything I’ve taught you in the past, I’m asking you now to keep following my instructions as though I were right there with you. Now you must continue to make this new life fully manifested as you live in the holy awe of God—which brings you trembling into His Presence. God will continually revitalise you, implanting within you the passion to do what pleases Him. Live a cheerful life, without complaining or division among yourselves. For then you will be seen as innocent, faultless, and pure children of God, even though you live in the midst of a brutal and perverse culture.For you will appear among them as shining lights in the universe, holding out the words of eternal life.”Philippians 2:12-16 TPT.

Our wonderful Father has not asked us to do those things that are impossible, without Him walking with us. He has simply asked us to follow Christ, and live like Jesus lived. For others. Jesus paved the way by His death and resurrection, for us to be so sold out to God, and everything He wants, that everything else fades away … Instead of using our faith to make our own lives better all the time, we need to begin to use our faith to allow the Holy Spirit to transform us to be like Christ – one faith step at a time. It really is that simple!

As we begin to aim at what Father God wants, we will continually be revitalised. Doing what His Father told Him to do, even when He was exhausted, revitalised Jesus! (The Woman at the well.) Obedience is the key. The Body of Christ must stop listening and merely agreeing with what we read, and start obeying it. So what if we mess up? JESUS IS A REDEEMER. Let’s choose to live our lives dead to what we think we want, and alive to what He wants, as He reveals it to us through His word. All that takes is total commitment. He totally committed to us, now we need to be totally committed to Him.

I have lived this way for many years. I literally cannot “do” my life. Last night I counted myself fortunate to sleep 5 hours. I can’t possibly ‘go on the road’ for Jesus in 6 weeks! It actually got much harder for both of us, when I broke my arm. However, right now, my only aim is to get in that car on the day we leave —- the rest is up to HIM. For all of us to live this way, and go deeper, we will need to value our relationship with Jesus more than we value our own comfort, plans and agendas. Peter, James, John, and Paul had ordinary stuff to deal with too! So did a whole lot of other people whose names we hardly know. We are the generation who are laying the foundations for the people coming after us.

You and I can pray our kids will follow Jesus, but when we set an example by the way we live, that is part of the answer to our own prayers. These young people will need to know Him personally in their own lives to help them through their darkest days, and their hardest choices. They need to see us survive and still thrive under very difficult circumstances … because this world is not getting any easier. People everywhere are daily facing harder stuff than we can imagine. We can’t do any of this without the Holy Spirit’s help … we need Him like we need air. He gives us HIS life. That’s what revitalises means. 

For nineteen years hubby and I have followed the Holy Spirit’s leading. It was sometimes right, sometimes wrong – sometimes fun and some times not!  And we went wherever He said to go. Which means we’ve been some scary places! Places with bars on windows, gangs roaming the street, people hiding from bikies. That is kind of scary stuff for an old lady. I’d rather be sitting knitting in my nice chair, in my nice little house, thank you. We’ve tried to quit, but His love for people will not let us quit. Yet, after I broke my arm last year, we still managed three trips! So many things have happened to us that should have stopped us, but … He simply will not let us quit. Always, always — He says to us; “Who will tell them that I love them?”  

That question breaks my heart. The people who do not know Him are a vast OCEAN. I’m just a little strangely bent teaspoon! I know hubby and I cannot make a dent in those numbers. We can’t afford to look at numbers. Instead hubby and I look back at the faces of those people we’ve already met, who actually heard His voice through what was said. The point of this new life we have been given isn’t just to save US. It is to be a light in the darkness to everyone around us. To do that we have to go, and in go-ing we are always revitalised.

Hubby and I have been privileged to see the light of Jesus dawn on the faces of so many people we’ve spoken to. Suddenly, they know Jesus is REAL. He’s alive – no tomb could hold Him! Our Heavenly Father is their DAD and people know LOVE when they see Him and hear Him. They don’t need platitudes, or rules — they need HIM.  👋

P 2347 It’s His work in us and for us.

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“God will continually revitalise you, implanting within you the passion to do what pleases Him.” Philippians 2:13 TPT. 

OR “…for it is God Who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfil His good purpose.” NIV. 

OR “ For it is [not your strength, but it is] God Who is effectively at work in you, both to will and to work [that is, strengthening, energising, and creating in you the longing and the ability to fulfil your purpose] for His good pleasure.” AMP.

I’ve put three different versions of the same scripture, above. Sometimes doing that helps give dimension to what the Lord has said. I chose this particular scripture because it is so clear what our Father’s heart is like toward us all. He has a destiny for each of us to fulfil and we are going to love it. His Grace is currently loose in our lives in ways we can’t even imagine, He will not take His plans for us back, because His WORD is utterly dependable.

This whole process is something He has invested in – with His own dear Son’s life. So much so that those people already living with Him in heaven, are cheering all of us down here, on! There is no concern about us failing up there, because they are alive in the Presence of the Almighty One Who never has, and never will – fail!  We need to be constantly reminded that our missteps and deliberate dumb choices can’t take us away from the Lord’s Eternal plans. The way through our trials, difficulties, hardships and troubles is to keep choosing what He wants.

Sometimes we can misread God’s favour toward us, and start to run ahead, announcing this and declaring that. But the Lord’s work is not confined to our ideas about Who He is and how He should do things. He is sovereign. However our generous Father makes room for our willing enthusiastic input, with mistakes or not, and we can totally rely upon, and look forward to being guided by Him. Our part is to enter into freely working with HIM and keep His purposes uppermost in our hearts. Even if there are times when we do not or cannot join in, our God will take every single circumstance, every instance of failure, every highlight, and work all of them together for our ultimate good. And … THAT’S WHAT LOVE LOOKS LIKE!

It is also clear that when Jesus comes into our lives, He refreshes, restores and energises us into faith, so that we end up wanting to do whatever it is Father God designed us us to do. He has an overall plan. As we walk in His Grace, embracing what grace does for us, in us, and how it changes us, we are transformed. He does all this work for each one of us. We may not always immediately understand what He is doing, but our first choice after choosing Christ as our Lord and Saviour, is to let go of our own plans! His plan will give us a hope and a future, plus His design is absolutely perfect for every single person… This is how His will becomes as close to us as our heartbeat. 

We don’t even have to drum up enthusiasm or energy, His very Presence in our lives will do that for us. Once we get a glimpse of what He will do with our obedience, disobedience or disregard for what He wants from us fades away. This is how we learn to willingly follow Him anywhere. Our demonstrated, visible new life in Christ, begins as we decide to be obedient to what He says, in every circumstance. I want to focus on the thought that SomeOne so much greater than we can ever be, is so interested in our free-will and joyful participation and co-operation. I think He deserves our eternal loyalty. Being with us, walking with us daily, gives Him so much pleasure! 

Imagine this with me. You have a child and you watch over them lovingly from babyhood. Children grow, and as they become an adult, they make their own choices. The thing is, you love this child so dearly you cannot imagine your life without them in it. So you want them to choose to come and work, and live with you, but you do not want to force them. You want them to want to do these things themselves. Because being with you, and living and working alongside you, has become their only pleasure. You hope your adult offspring will want to enjoy this new life you have provided simply because they are in love with Who you are.

As you can see, in my made-up scenario, control and manipulation are taken right out of the picture. This kind of parenting ushers in freedom for the kid! Our God is this kind of Father. We are free to be wrong, misled, and/or disobedient, yet His love will not be withdrawn … because His Love is no longer reliant on our behaviour. Our Heavenly Father took care of that too — He fulfilled both sides of a heaven-sent agreement/covenant between Himself and man by willingly taking both sides and fulfilling each side perfectly. 

His SON’S death released so much Grace there is no need for any human being to go to hell. We are now, as recipients of this Grace destined to live in that Grace, and give it away — freely — the same way we received it. Sin is not our problem anymore – His Grace surrounds us, and empowers us to choose to live differently. His aim is for us to understand that a God Who is prepared to go to these lengths …  C A N  B E  T R U S T E D.

It is His work IN us, and through us that gives Him glory. 👋🏻