Riches

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 2943 Signs of spiritual death

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1. Lack of breathing –

We can easily ‘run out of breath’ as we walk with the Lord, especially when we do things in our own strength. Genesis 2:7:“And the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.” Without the Holy Spirit’s breath on and in us – we will die. He is the breath of life and He is our new best Friend. John 15:5 says:“We can do NOTHING without Him.”

2.Pupils fixed and dilated –

I don’t know about you but nothing ‘fixes my pupils’ like watching TV or playing a video game! You can stare at it for hours and lose half your life doing absolutely nothing! Matthew 13:13:“This is the reason I speak to the crowds in parables: because while [having the power of] seeing they do not see, and while [having the power of] hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand and grasp [spiritual things].” We need new eyes to see and new ears to hear. Ephesians 1:18 says: “… the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, …”

3. No heart beat –

Hearts grow cold and stop functioning when we hold onto grudges, or bitterness toward others, we short-circuit the new life blossoming within. Ezekiel 36:26-27: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.” When we are born again we are given a brand new heart – we need to watch over our hearts. Proverbs 23:26 states: “My child, give Me your heart and let your eyes delight in My ways,…”

4. Rigor mortis – stiff and cold –

Boy this one is far too easy, we can become so accustomed to other people’s hardships we don’t see them anymore. The passion of God thrives in a ‘red hot heart.’ Jesus said in John 10:10b:” I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”We cease to really live this new life when we stop following Him. Matthew 24:12 says: “And the love of the great body of people will grow cold because of the multiplied lawlessness and iniquity, …”

5. No response when shouted at and shaken – 

Some people once heard God Himself speak, but they only heard His voice as thunder because their hearts were far from Him. Romans 13:11 states:“And this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for NOW is our salvation nearer than when we believed.”The repeated, every day rhythms mean we are often lulled off to sleep. We need to be awake at all times, because temptation can sneak up on us. Ephesians 5:14-16: “This is why it is said:“Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.”

6. Cells and organs start to die –

Our relationships with other Christians get weaker and weaker. Church becomes a chore to be performed, instead of a meeting place of refreshment. Psalm 118:17 says: “I will not die, but live, And declare the works and recount the illustrious acts of the LORD.” Our destiny is not to live ‘dead’ lives, but to be living testaments to the goodness of our God. John 15:1&2. “I am the True Vine, and My Father is the Vinedresser. Any branch in Me that does not bear fruit [that stops bearing] He cuts away (trims off, takes away); and He cleanses and repeatedly prunes every branch that continues to bear fruit, to make it bear more and richer and more excellent fruit.”

7. The blood has ceased to flow –

We stop even thinking about the state of our spirit and just keep right on doing the same old same old, every day —one thing following another. Hebrews 9:14 explains, the blood of Christ, shed for our sake, cleanses  “… our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!”1 John 1:7 states: “but if we [really] walk in the Light [that is, live each and every day in conformity with the precepts of God], as He Himself is in the Light, we have [true, unbroken] fellowship with one another [He with us, and we with Him], and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin [by erasing the stain of sin, keeping us cleansed from sin in all its forms and manifestations].” 

I urge us all to live this life, the only one we have, in the cleansing flow of His blood, filled with His Spirit.  Our new life in Christ transforms everything that would make us into ‘zombie’ Christians, as we leave our old dead life behind us. Wherever we go – His glory follows us instead. Don’t be caught DEAD with these spiritual ‘signs.’ 🤣 Bye for today. 

P 2940 Kindness.

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People often think about kindness as a human quality. Personally, I think that means we are underestimating the power of God for total transformation! Loving the poor, providing for them, helping those who cannot help themselves may be this world’s idea of kindness, but it is not the fruit of the Spirit. Those caring things are simply normal behaviour to a kingdom dweller.

So, let’s look at what God’s idea of kindness looks like.“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;  That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” Matthew 5:44. See? Kindness is a God-quality, not a people one!  

It is the ‘doing good to them that hate us’  bit that I’m talking about, today. That takes extraordinary God-given, ongoing kindness, it is something that lasts. It’s spiritual … it has to be!! It is not enough to refrain from blowing your enemies up … or stopping yourself from giving them a piece of your mind … My test for the fruit of the Spirit is this — can I find it in myself? If that answer to that is no, then it is likely I am doing my best – but that’s not the fruit that comes from an abiding relationship with Him. 

I define spirituality by actual growth in my life. That means I stop doing something I was doing before. as He helps me! Otherwise, changing myself always seems to be out of my reach. I think that this means you can’t grow the ‘God kind’ of love, that bears everything, hopes everything, and never fails, plus joy, hope, kindness etc. in the soil of this earthly life. We need to reach right up into heaven, using our faith, and bring His kingdom down here, right here, right now, to bless others. I’ve learnt to regard the fruit of His Spirit as something that is unattainable without His help! The Holy Spirit grows His fruit His Way. How is your day going? Mine just got remarkably difficult!!

This is the sort of transformation that changes the way we think – see Romans 12:2. We can’t make this stuff up -we might fake it and fool the world around us, but we can’t fool the Lord. By the way, the idea that “I can’t help it,” is just our way of excusing a lack of change. The Lord Himself will burst that bubble and introduce something, or someone, into our picture-perfect life that exposes His reality. Think Peter and his resolve, and then he met that chicken! When any fake stuff is tested it will blow up, get rude, vote with its feet and generally express the ‘poor me’ attitude that seems so prevalent in this world. Today, we would rather put a technical label on something to make it sound like a medical/mental condition …than call it SIN.

Good luck getting God to buy into that excuse. Unless you have a few chromosomes missing, you will be standing on very thin ice. He made us. He already KNOWS what He put in there … !! We all have the potential for transformation. And yes, I know from my own experience, that some things are incredibly difficult to conquer .. but the Lord conquered SIN, DEATH AND THE DEVIL. That means that Jesus knows all about the level of difficulty required – He can guide us through anything. So there’s that flimsy excuse chucked out of the window – ask for His help and use your faith! Read the book. OK, on we go … are we having fun yet? 

Romans 2:4: “Or do you disregard the riches of His kindness, forbearance, and patience, not realising that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?”Almighty God’s kindness always has a target, and God is incredibly  rich in these things! We can miss so many things in the book when we do not study those peculiar, sometimes-out-of-date, words. We do not have to dredge up, make up, or beat ourselves into submission to walk into growing God’s fruit of kindness or anything else. We simply have to remain in the Vine. 

The true point becomes, how do we remain in the Vine? We stay IN Christ – in what He did. That’s how. Oh goodie, another one of those difficult things nobody understands, and everybody quotes! How do we stay in the Vine? We choose to die. This new life can only come from Jesus, so we choose to give up what we want by living this life we have been given, the way He would live it if He were here. He IS HERE, by the way. Inside us. We asked Him in when we gave our lives to Him!

Now we put our feelings and educated idiot-boxes to one side… those things have lots of uses, but they will not help us DIE.  Dying is something most people like to avoid. It means we say no to what we want and choose to do what He said, using our faith. No matter how we feel, or what we think. At the same time our brains need to be rewired – the bible is God’s method of rewiring. God gave us the best upgrade this world has ever, or will ever, see! He said: “If you read this book I will help you to think like My Son would. Now go and do it and it will become part of you.”

If we want His kindness then we will need to let His life in us OUT, so we can be kind to our enemies. They will never ever deserve it. BUT!! When we live like that we release His Grace toward them! Win Win! Bye 👋

P 2783 THIS is what I was trying to say yesterday!

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Matthew 7:13-20 MSG. “Don’t look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don’t fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires total attention. 

“Be wary of false preachers who smile a lot, dripping with practiced sincerity. Chances are they are out to rip you off some way or other. Don’t be impressed with charisma; look for character. Who preachers are is the main thing, not what they say. A genuine leader will never exploit your emotions or your pocketbook. These diseased trees with their bad apples are going to be chopped down and burned.

“Knowing the correct password—saying ‘Master, Master,’ for instance—isn’t going to get you anywhere with Me. What is required is serious obedience—doing what my Father wills. I can see it now—at the Final Judgment thousands strutting up to me and saying, ‘Master, we preached the Message, we bashed the demons, our super-spiritual projects had everyone talking.’ And do you know what I am going to say? ‘You missed the boat. All you did was use Me to make yourselves important. You don’t impress Me one bit. You’re out of here.”

Hi! Has this ever happened to you? You dearly want to explain to someone how precious Jesus is, and so you waffle and wander about trying to find the right words, bouncing from one incomplete thought to another…But the next day, you read a verse, that you already know … in another version … and boom! 🤯 Lo, and behold it’s all in there!  And you’ve been  rendered speechless again. I landed there today. After all I said yesterday, I found these verses in the Message bible, and it blew me away … again!

God’s Word is like that to me. Some people find reading the bible boring. I have the simplest solution to that malady, start doing what it says. Suddenly you are on an adventure with God. That will change the colour of your day, trust me! We talk about God’s benefits in the church, this blessing, that gift — like we are negotiating business deals – when in reality each promise in His book is an opportunity to co-labour with Him. We have the power to bring heaven to earth, by simply obeying Him.

That’s another reason I love His book – I have my own feeble limited thoughts, and then I read in His book about His love for everyone, some part of me inside, takes a huge breath. His Word is fresh air to our spirits. I think that is why many preachers preach. They have found some fresh air, and they want to share it with everyone who will listen! Meanwhile, if we are so inspired by just a glimpse of Who He is, imagine what heaven is like! 

I sometimes think about all those people who have left this world behind them, and they are now with Him. The trouble with theology is that it divides people and it insists that its POV is the only one. I love this verse in Ephesians 3:10&11 it says:“His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to His eternal purpose that He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.”Manifold wisdom! I like it.

‘That word manifold in the original language means to be multi-coloured. It was used when describing the many colours of a painting or a tapestry in the ancient world. When speaking about God’s wisdom it describing the many angles, hues, and dimensions of God’s knowledge and its application to all things.’ (Google.)

So, in the light of the above interesting remarks, I’ve decided to cling to those words that Jesus spoke once to a dying man, who was hanging right next to Him, the day He died. The verse I mean is in Luke 23:43:“Jesus said to him, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” Well, now, that’s not a bad place to hang your faith is it? 

When we are finally in His Presence, we too will have fullness of joy. Good place for a full stop, right here. I cannot possibly imagine what the people I have loved dearly in this life, are experiencing in the next. I may feel very sad when I think about my own loss of time with them — however, they are way too busy enjoying Jesus and each other! Death is a door, not a destination. 

So, here at the bottom of today’s page I want to leave you with my final thought. We too can experience glimpses of heaven down here, when we choose to live this life dead to what we want and alive to Him. There are no shortcuts in our redemption – we simply need to choose to live it out day by day and let His Word work on us! This often happens right in front of people who have no idea about what we are giving them. But when heaven visits here because of our serious obedience —- Aahhh! Glory!!

That’s the thing I was trying to say yesterday, this life has a purpose, let’s not get distracted by this doctrine or theory. Jesus is longing for you and I to live our lives sold out to His calling. We are still here, to RE-present Him, so others can see and know Him too. Bye. 🕊️

P 2733 Let’s let PAUL pray for us.

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“I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being,  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. Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” Ephesians 3:16-21. 

Aren’t we blessed to be His? After all, God has made His love available to you and I, in so many ways, through Jesus Christ, as revealed by the Apostle Paul. Most of us are in fact, Gentiles. Now there’s an interesting thought to start our day. I’ve been praying bits of the bible for myself for years. I pray this other verse too … ya just gotta love Ephesians! Here’s chapter 1:V18: “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in His holy people, …” Amen to that one as well. I need that! Hope deferred can make my heart sick, but hope that is recognised enlightens my inner eyes.

Praying the scriptures is another way to digest them. Meanwhile, it seems to me that we can all use greater spiritual vision. Here’s an interesting thought, I’ve noticed something interesting, older people seem to gain spiritual vision as they start losing their physical eyesight. I wonder if that works for hearing too? However, it seems kind of a shame that you can see stuff more clearly just when your energy starts to run out! But then again there’s that other thing that Paul said elsewhere in 2 Corinthians 12:8-10 …  “His Grace is sufficient for us, for His strength is made perfect in weak people …” Now that’s definitely a cheery thought! I’m weak all the time, how about you? This means we can all be stronger, spiritually!

Most of us know that verse off by heart, but do you know the rest of it? “Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Let’s just pause there for a minute, Paul is saying that he is glad, to the point that it gives him pleasure — that he is weak. Because now he has to rely upon God’s strength and not his own. I wonder if anybody is brave enough to pray:  “Lord please make me weak so I can be strong in You.” Do I hear an Amen? ….Moo-ving on… Actually I don’t think Paul is over emphasising anything. I believe HE LIVED THAT WAY. Instead of barraging heaven with personal prayers for relief from our difficulties, maybe it is time we started to thank the Lord for giving us the opportunity to be weak and helpless, so we can be strong in Him, in the middle of whatever is going on!!

The bible is designed to challenge us at every turn. It says so many incredible things that it becomes easy just to nod our heads and say, ‘yes, that’s great – hallelujah!’ But as we’ve seen before, nothing will change just because we agree with it. I honestly don’t think the Apostle Paul was prone to exaggeration or that he indulged in overbearing rhetoric – I think that he did not say one word that was not alive and active in his own life. As well as prayerful about. So what does that mean to us? Only you can answer that question.

So when he says:‘ask for the power to comprehend how deep, wide and all-encompassing God’s love is…” – let’s just ask expectantly for it! Let’s pretend it’s an important parcel and wait and watch for it to turn up! It’s not like we have to dig and slog away to try and find it. That’s what it says, so why not take the man’s word and ask the Lord for it? I think that sort of comprehension of the power and passion of God’s love for us has to change us, and mark us forever. Let’s ask … and keep on … asking!

Praise the Lord we have a book full of these things and they all belong to us. Feel free to cheer, after you catch your breath at the enormity of it all. Like I said at the beginning, let’s let Paul, as well as Peter, and Jude and John, all the authors of this book, pray for us. It’s in the book, so we can’t get muddled up about it. Bye. 👋

PS: JESUS HIMSELF PRAYED FOR US TOO, THAT’LL REALLY BLOW OUR MINDS! LOOK IT UP. 🤪

P 2559 WE ARE ALL IN THE WILL.

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“I am contending for you that your hearts will be wrapped in the comfort of heaven and woven together into love’s fabric. This will give you access to all the riches of God as you experience the revelation of God’s great mystery—Christ. For our spiritual wealth is in Him, like hidden treasure waiting to be discovered—heaven’s wisdom and endless riches of revelation knowledge.” Colossians 2:2-3 TPT.

It is good when we read scriptures and look carefully at the order that things are written in.. Paul is praying for us .. that AS our hearts are so wrapped up in the comforting thought that heaven is our home, and we decide to allow His Love to bind and weave us together — then we begin to get access to everything Christ died to give us! Did you see that? … I am reading the Lord’s Will! It is utterly fascinating that the word Testament means WILL. The bible has an Old Will and new Will! Ya might want to think on that! 🤔 Our Lord did not just buy us salvation – He LEFT us treasures! As a matter of fact He left us a whole lotta things … things that are so precious and priceless it should leave us breathless just thinking about them.

The main difficulty between us reading about, or collecting all of that incredible inheritance … which BTW already belongs to us  … is that we often become way too attached to what we have here. And we will need to give up one thing in order to access the other. We can waste the allotted time He has given to each of us right here, right now … or live in our inheritance today. This means that His kingdom will come, here and now – in us and then through us! Our Heavenly Father is way-out-of-our-imagination rich in heavenly things – things that are incredibly powerful when they are used and spent for the benefit of mankind.

Meanwhile. let’s briefly use our imaginations … here’s a fantasy scenario.’ A couple of years ago you suddenly found out that some trillionaire decided to leave you all of his wealth, including all his assets. Boy are you incredibly excited and you make sure you turn up to hear the reading of the will. But all you can think about is that your benefactor has the latest Ferrari, and what is more it’s bright red! Red cars always go faster, it’s a proven fact. 🏎️ So you listen, oh so patiently, to the lo-o-ng list of assets that have been left to you. Including the pots of money without number, but the truth is you are actually just listening for the word Ferrari! So you take the bit that you dearly want and then you leave.’ 

Going to church is, quite simply us reading Jesus’ will – week after week!  And so, BTW, is reading the bible!  And the good news is this …you and I, we qualify for ev-ery-thing!! 🤔 However when the mythical will in my fantasy scene is read, it would be a mistake to grab the keys and jump into that new Ferrari and off you go – never to return! That means you never go back and find out what else you’ve been given – because your sole focus is on that red car. So all those incredible riches are still sitting there, waiting for their rightful owner.

This is what salvation looks like to most Christians → Jesus saved us! Hallelujah! Amen! But He saved us from something FOR SOMETHING. If we just sit down and settle for salvation, and forget to take the time to find out what else the Lord Jesus died to give us – what He has left us, we are not reading all of the will. There are glorious God-designed and God-given riches that are available to us right now. We just need to find them and fight for them. Some of those gifts are PEOPLE!!  All of these things are far more incredibly valuable than we can ever understand. It isn’t until we discover them and start to use them, that we discover their true worth.

Let’s look at 1 Corinthians 13 …We all know what that says! Here’s an example of just one of those riches that I want to mention. JOY is God’s own happiness supernaturally spilled over into our hearts. Ya might want to think on that one! All of those spiritual traits mentioned in chapter 13 are supernatural — and we will have to fight with our own old nature, our enemy and life’s circumstances to claim them. But it is definitely worth the fight. Look! … We can go into a fierce battle with a pocket knife and a pop-gun, but we have more chance of winning if we take other people with us and an arsenal! Time for more thinking here …

Over to Colossians 3:12-14: “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”  See? We don’t even wear the same CLOTHES anymore!

These sometimes seemingly impossible Graces are part of the very same inheritance as salvation. So is every bit of revelation He has given to us! Christ Jesus didn’t die simply to save us – He died to transform us. But the Lord Jesus is a gentleman and He will not make us do anything. We have a choice. We can fight for our inheritance, our promised land or settle for the Ferrari! Our God is, beyond-our-wildest-imagination-and-dreams rich in things that are for right here, right now, yet they are priceless and eternal. And HE LOVES to share. 💕 Fight the urge to settle for less and go after the whole of your inheritance. We are ALL in that will! 👋

P 2485 God’s word is made visible through us.

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Ephesians 3:16-20: “I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, 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. Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen! 🙌 Please note: the Apostle Paul just prayed for US!

This ability to comprehend and obey God, that Paul is speaking about in Ephesians, makes God’s word visible.  However, a piece of paper in a book only has one dimension. When what God said is on a page in the bible, it is simply a collection of words on a piece of paper! BUT, because HE SAID IT, when we OBEY what it says, because we love Him and others:  we give it height, depth, width, and length. It is no longer a collection of words on a page – we bring it to life! Those Words become living words not just a theory on a page. It then becomes ‘seeable or visible” to us and anyone else. “The word of God is living …” Hebrews 4:12a. We bring it to life when we love others and obey what He said.

That’s what the bible is about, it is not just about stories, or nice sayings, it comes alive when we act. It is to be experienced as the Lord leads us, and that means other people can see and experience it, too. What we have been given by God through Christ’s sacrifice, is not theory, it is highly practical – other people experience the love of God and see Him loving them! When Jesus walked this earth as a man, (Who was just like us), the Kingdom of God exploded all around Him. He took what God said and acted on it. (John 5:19)

God’s Word became real: it fed people, it diagnosed and healed what was wrong with them, it healed physical illnesses for others, it even challenged those who were stuck focussing on those pieces of PAPER, trying to analyse their meaning. Plus it got rid of evil just by the Lord turning up! The kingdom of God is more than a piece of paper in a largish book with great promises written on it – it comes alive when God Himself flows out from INSIDE YOU AND I. We are carriers of His Loving Presence. That’s why His kind of LOVE is important! Ya might want to pause and think on that! 🧐

I love this scripture: Philippians 2:13: “[Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energising and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight.”  We can’t do anything lasting without Him, but when Christians act on what He said in the book, His love is released and the world around us transformed.

We need to stop living the same-old, same-old life we had before we met Him, and simply take the instructions we read in His book seriously. Start by forgiving everyone you can think of … teachers, friends, work mates, spouse/s, children. Forgiveness is powerful. Ask Him and them to forgive you for holding grudges etc. as well. Christ’s death proves to all of us that forgiveness is powerful. We are all saved from hell because of what He did as a pure, loving, blameless, obedient human being. Then after we forgive others, we need to move on into doing good to those who despitefully use you. That just means you ask the Holy Spirit for ways to bless the people you used to curse, or try to avoid!

God always has a better plan than we do. It’s that simple. When horrible things happen, tell Him that you know that even this … awful thing … can be transformed by His Grace for good. That’s the hope we carry, we know that trouble is not fruitless, it bears astonishing fruit when we water it with love, faith and hope. We can transform evil into good by holding fast to our belief system, if we hold on tight to Jesus and refuse to give up our hope …”And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”Romans 8:28. His purpose is for us to obey Him and love others. Our inner attitude matters – it needs to be transformed by obedience and His Grace.

It never even occurred to Jesus that whatever He was doing wouldn’t work. Jesus Christ had incredible faith in His Father’s goodness and He remained true to His Father’s Words. That’s why we need to pay attention to, and use God’s book to renew our minds, so we can always have, and give away, a heavenly perspective! What we give away to others, using our faith – is not a theory – it is life-changing. The words on the page become living realities when we use our faith.

Our God is way more than just approximately 1500 pages full of nice sayings and interesting stories. We have the privilege of bringing His multi-dimensional glory into this ordinary realm, by acting on what it says, for ourselves and others. We make His Word visible to everyone around us by letting that Word transform us. Bye. 👋🏻

“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

P 2443 Stand on His love for you.

/ DVH

“And I pray that He (the Holy Spirit) would unveil within you the unlimited riches of His glory and favour until supernatural strength floods your innermost being with His divine might and explosive power. Then, by constantly using your faith, the life of Christ will be released deep inside you, and the resting place of His love will become the very source and root of your life. Then you will be empowered to discover what every holy one experiences—the great magnitude of the astonishing love of Christ in all its dimensions. How deeply intimate and far-reaching is His love! How enduring and inclusive it is! Endless love beyond measurement that transcends our understanding—this extravagant love pours into you until you are filled to overflowing with the fullness of God!” Ephesians 3:16-19 TPT

This scripture has so much in it, it just blows my mind whenever I read it. Today I want to think about the word continually, as in on purpose (!) … reminding ourselves of the ever-present presence of God’s loving favour in and on our lives. Oh how He loves us! And His love is an utterly committed love. The price He paid to buy us back from hell and damnation is beyond our understanding, far more than we could ever ask or think.  You know, my opinion of my performance and who I think I am, does not matter to Him. Neither does yours. His opinion is the one that matters.

You may like me, you might not. The main thing I have to wrap my heart around is that Father God utterly loves me. In order to walk with the Holy Spirit, Who is the revealer of these great truths, I will need a firm foundation to stand on. Jesus died for my sins, once and forever, to make all this possible, is that foundation. Now we have to let that love sink down into our hearts so we become so completely saturated by it and there is no room for insecurity. Otherwise if my life does not go well, I might end up blaming Him, or other people … like you, or my family, my circumstances etc. And then the ground I am standing on becomes shaky. Our houses (lives) are only as good as their foundations!

We cannot start out with anyone else’s performance but HIS. What Jesus did was perfect. Anything else is this world’s measuring stick. Christ is now the perfect illustration of what mankind can look like. We can’t afford skip, or dismiss lightly this truth about how much God loves us. As soon as we dismiss it, or water it down with provisos, we miss the  magnitude of how wide, how deep, how all encompassing and powerful God’s love is! We dare not build on the wrong foundation, because His demonstrated Love is the only foundation that is eternally stable.

Many human beings don’t value love, except as a feeling —because this world’s idea of love is fickle, selfish and unpredictable. Humanity can be so unfaithful that our Father’s eternal faithfulness hardly registers in our hearts and lives. But it must. Otherwise we are moved around by circumstances and the winds of change too easily. We cannot use OUR measuring sticks to put a value on God’s love. It is far too easy, in these times we live in, to think that real love means permissiveness. 

Self-sacrificing, altruistic love wants only the very best for the one it loves. Father God’s incredible vibrant love has provided all of us with the means to be transformed. And all we need to do is to live for Him the way Christ lived for us. We have all the needed illustration and demonstration of that, in the book! Comprehending that sort of ongoing loving grace gives us a firm footing, as we walk through a weak wobbly world with no stable footholds.

I have learnt, from experience, that WE WILL GIVE OUT TO OTHERS WHAT WE STORE UP! If we store up our own mistakes, our wrong attitudes, our own idea of what love looks like … OR … spend our lives concentrating on someone else’s sins, their mistakes, and their wrong attitudes, we are no longer standing firmly on LOVE. The Holy Spirit was sent here to teach us to how to walk, talk, sit, and stand totally saturated with God’s love. He’s an expert. Re-read today’s scripture it entertains no doubts. 

We must mature enough to understand that real LOVE corrects, it shapes, it guides, it teaches, and … it helps us. Love always fosters connection. Father God’s love is with us in the Person of the Holy Spirit. Jesus did not leave us alone to muddle along without Him – He sent back the Holy Spirit to help, teach, guide, correct, counsel, and comfort us into His Way of Love. We must let the love of God live in us, and make us so rich in love we can easily give it away!  We need to learn to stand on these things, gratefully. 🕊❤️‍🔥 

P 2424 This is His way.

/ DVH

“So I kneel humbly in awe before the Father of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah, the perfect Father of every father and child in heaven and on the earth. And I pray that He would unveil within you the unlimited riches of His glory and favour until supernatural strength floods your innermost being with His divine might and explosive power.Then, by constantly using your faith, the life of Christ will be released deep inside you, and the resting place of His love will become the very source and root of your life. 

Then you will be empowered to discover what every holy one experiences—the great magnitude of the astonishing love of Christ in all its dimensions. How deeply intimate and far-reaching is His love! How enduring and inclusive it is! Endless love beyond measurement that transcends our understanding—this extravagant love pours into you until you are filled to overflowing with the fullness of God!” Ephesians 3:14-19 TPT.

We don’t do the things that Jesus did or the things He asks us to do simply because He needs our hands and feet. We are not His robots, or even His portable advertising!  Christians do what they do to be obedient and their obedience expresses their loving devotion to Him. But at the same time the more we walk with Him in that obedience, the more we will see and experience His incredible Love for us. This is the very heart of these wonderful verses in Ephesians 3.

His love for us, as well as in us, these things are the riches we’ve been promised. Forget gold, silver and precious stones, His love is beyond price! And His Loving heart is toward us. He is like that King, Ahasuerus, who adored his wife, so he held out his sceptre toward Esther even when she  disobeyed the rules of his kingdom. God’s heart reaches toward us, to relieve us of our burdens and to help us with life’s difficulties. There are days when others do not like me or my company, but those days, those feelings, don’t reflect Him. Nothing will alter His love toward me. That is a huge gift. In those moments, I simply must believe what He says, not how I feel.

Years ago on ancient TV in the 1950s, we had an ad in this country for a man’s hair product, called Brylcreem. Its motto was “a little dab’ll do ya.” Father God’s love is NOT like Brylcreem! It is not mingy, or space-saving or economical! Christ’s sacrificial love sustains this universe and beyond. Despite what the scientists say, if God withdrew His loving favour from mankind the stars would fall out of the sky. Read the book of Revelation! You will see written there what happens when His boundless Love is withdrawn from the earth. His love is the incredibly powerful force that holds this world, including us, together.

The more we use our faith by being obedient, the more His love expands within us, until it becomes the very centre of our lives. Slowly His love transforms and replaces any imperfect human love we have that may have done damage to our hearts. Some of our responses are not sin – pain causes reactions too. However, the knowledge of His love is expanded in our hearts as we watch Him touch other people’s lives through us. 

While we were away this time, because of a series of God-ordained events, we managed to give an older cleaning lady a keychain. Her face seemed hardened by age and life, she was tiny but she looked tough. Scary even! But the Lord said to bless her, so we did. And the most amazing thing happened. Her face cracked open, and she looked just like a happy little child. Transformation happened right in front of our eyes. She danced up and down on the spot. This keychain was the most delicate one I have ever made. I probably would not have given her that particular one – my own judgment of how she looked would have gotten in the way! 

None of us know how hardened anyone else can become inside and out, because this life can deal each one of us terrible blows. In order to go on, human beings put on protective armour. That armour often changes our outward appearance, and at the same time it can alter what comes out of our mouths! Just like a barking dog that is scared of a stranger – we can become vicious and mean. But Father God’s love goes right around our disguises and touches hearts. Then we have the privilege of seeing someone else the way He designed them, that utterly transforms both parties, and opens their eyes to new possibilities. 

The bible says:  “perfect love casts out all fear…” The reality is, if we are afraid, it is not enough to just know this verse, that’s simply words. We need to know the heart of the One Who is speaking love over us. Watching Him work in the lives of the people around us opens our eyes to how incredible His love is. It seems upside down to think that in order to get love, we will have to give away Love. But that is His Way. It’s the way of faith. His way forward is for us to learn LOVE. 👋🏻

P 2387 God calls us His riches.

/ DVH

“I pray that the Father of glory, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, would impart to you the riches of the Spirit of wisdom and the Spirit of revelation to know Him through your deepening intimacy with Him. I pray that the light of God will illuminate the eyes of your imagination, flooding you with light, until you experience the full revelation of the hope of His calling —that is, the wealth of God’s glorious inheritances that He finds IN US,His holy ones! I pray that you will continually experience the immeasurable greatness of God’s power made available to you through faith. Then your lives will be an advertisement of this immense power as it works through you! This is the mighty power that was released when God raised Christ from the dead and exalted Him to the place of highest honour and supreme authority in the heavenly realm!” Ephesians 1:17-20.

Did you know that because the Lord has all of us in His family, He considers Himself wealthy? He doesn’t care if you and I are fat, skinny, short, tall, good looking, extremely spiritual, or not. The bible says He counts US as His wealth. Now that’s something worth thinking on isn’t it? It shows us His heart toward us. I’ve prayed that God would illuminate the eyes of my heart for myself for years, because I know how easy it is to be distracted by this world and become as thick as a plank to the deep things of God. But everything we have ever needed or wanted we will find in Him.

We human beings concentrate on what we will gain from Him loving us, but we need to pause and look hard at what He says HE has gained, because that information is a sliver of insight into His Ways – Who He is. His incredible generosity. Before we were ever His adopted children, He looked at us with love and saw every single bit of our true potential in Him and He claimed US as His inheritance. Father God sees Himself as rich simply because we are His family. I find that astonishing! Especially because I know many people have been rejected and reviled by their earthly family. 

Today, the things we think make us as human beings rich, are mostly material things. In the Western world we accumulate ‘stuff’ a lot – it makes us look quite wealthy. Perhaps we are monetarily rich, but spiritually poor because our worth is measured by accumulation and achievements. But our God has chosen to love us simply because we are His family. If you and I are looking for acceptance, incredible acceptance flows freely from His throne.🙌

Paul is praying here in Ephesians for all of us, that we would understand what we have that was freely given to us. Sad to say, human beings can get so stuck in the things we are not – that we forget the most important thing of all. We are His and, it is only by His Grace that we know it. He chose us. Our worth is not in money, but in the fact that SomeOne so incredible – dearly and tenderly loves us. We have His love, and grace upon us … that very fact will take us into eternity. We’re loved and cherished by the One Who made the world, then He went further than that and saved us … then He went even further than that and He owned us … He claims us as His relatives. His kids. How amazing is that?

I think that realising and appreciating what we have already been given helps keep us content in a discontented world. Discontent rumbles around this world daily … my team won, your team lost. That guy got a promotion, I didn’t. That kid got great marks, I didn’t. Maybe this is why so many people have gotten into huge debt. Discontentment with the norm grabbed them and they want to escape it and prove to themselves they are special.

We are special because we are special in His eyes and that doesn’t change. Father God hates sin, not the man He made. We are made valuable by the fact that the God of all the Universe loves us. The value of the price He paid, is an indication of the depth of the love He has for us. When Jesus Christ died as a MAN, He gave us all worth.  

My point is this: fancy all of us working so hard to get something we already have! All of mankind is made in His image. You and I were His idea! I believe this is why the eyes of our hearts need to be DAILY enlightened. When we get saved, we are incredibly grateful for it … but then, for some reason, we do not park there. We move on. All I want to say today is – go back to the place where you first understood His salvation and stay there. We must have an appreciation for His sacrifice, not with our heads but with our hearts.

There is a part of us that needs to continually gaze at God’s love hanging on that cross for the world to see – and not stop doing it. It is a good thing to relive our gratitude for what He has given us, every single day, and enjoy our new found love in Him as it grows. It is in the light of the cross, where our real place in this world and the next is made clear. We don’t have to be special to this world’s eyes, we are God’s riches because we are the saved ones. “Oh, what manner of love the Father gives that we may be called the sons of God!”  We are His chosen riches and I pray we all know how very rich we are because of all He did for us.. Bye 👋🏻.