Ripe

P 3396 Don’t be scared of their faces!

/ DVH

Well, here we are again, at 4.00am, in the middle of a tiny town in New South Wales. It’s freezing – but some of you out there know a lot more about freezing than we do! Hmmm… I married the most wonderful man nearly 39 years ago, as I am typing this he is getting me a cup of tea. Most men would be thinking about justifiable homicide, and mumbling about strange women with even stranger habits, and yet he’s helping me! He has just set me up with my computer and about 200 pillows, so I can type. 

Inspiration sometimes hits me around 3-4am — when anybody with a lick of sense would be sleeping… Except this bed is harder than a rock, plus the fan that I need to have – rain, hail, heat wave or snow – it keeps my face temperature down … but the rest of me feels like an icicle. The strangest bits of you wear out when you get older! One side of my face gets hotter than a furnace and bright red, the other side is normal. Go figure …

Today I wanted to write about a common problem anyone can have when it comes to talking to strangers about Jesus. First of all, it can be very daunting , especially if you have an agenda. That means instead of being relaxed and smiling, every bit of you is tensed, even your hair follicles, because you are waiting… waiting … for an opportunity to somehow insert your faith into the conversation. It becomes a huge strain that shows on your face and in your attitude… you just gotta witness. Cue the gritted teeth. DON’T DO IT. Seriously! Love people and see what comes next. That’s what we do. 

There was one place we stayed in where everything about that place said: “How dare you two come here! Go home immediately.” Grumpy people kept popping up like burrs in the lawn. And then we saw these two fierce looking cleaners, who were about 18 years old, and they were totally covered in tattoos and spikes. Even their hair was spiked – as well as bright pink! They seemed madder than a starving Rottweiler.

And here comes hubby, limping along, because he has a sore foot, and he’s carrying two blocks of chocolate. He simply told them they were doing a great job and he wanted to thank them. They melted like snow in the tropics. Suddenly, despite their outward appearance, they were two ordinary young women who were highly delighted to have someone notice their efforts. And all it took to tell them about Jesus was two blocks of chocolate! 

Yesterday when we arrived where we stayed overnight, everything was upside down. The hosts weren’t quite ready, we were tired, which set everyone’s teeth on edge – so we prayed for His Grace and then behaved like we already had it. (That’s called faith.) And the mood began to change. Hubby gave away three bookmarks. And a grown women, a teenager, and a five year old were our new best friends. The littlest one was even more delighted when hubby gave her two books about Jesus. This morning at around 3.00am I suddenly realised how privileged we are. That little one heard about Jesus for the first time in her life, and He was there to hear and see her happy pleasure.

We go to quite a few places, and we sometimes find a certain version of the King James Bible has been lovingly donated. What a ministry that is! Praise God for their faithfulness … I do, however, have a few problems with it. The language. Most people do not speak King James English anymore. Plus it is a big fat thick book, and wherever it turns up, it looks like nobody else has ever even opened it, let alone read it! Wherever we go, if I see a KJB I always put a pass-it-on card inside. Sometimes desperate people will read that bible, because they need someone to care about their life… “Does God care about me?” Like Paul … I’d rather speak two words that can be understood, than a whole book full of ??? what on earth does that mean??

I remember when I first came to know the Lord, I was astonished to find out that Christianity had its own music. I had only ever listened to the radio and I had never heard anything even remotely like it. I’ve been in love with Christian music ever since. Now I send people clips from Youtube. I once played my mother a DVD I had made of beautiful scenery from a trip we had just taken. She didn’t even look at the pictures – she was totally entranced by the music! Of course, I immediately got miffed about that and had to repent on the spot. We sometimes blame the devil for our own inadequacies. Ho-hum.

Not so long ago, we gave one of our coffee table books of Psalms to a young woman of another faith. She didn’t even see the pictures, she was captivated by the words. Let me tell you anybody can be a seed sower. You just gather seed and chuck it everywhere. When you do that, led by Love Himself, all kinds of sweet things happen. Here’s what Jesus thinks about it: “He (Jesus) turned to His disciples and said, The harvest is huge and ripe. But there are not enough harvesters to bring it all in. As you go plead with the Owner of the harvest to thrust out many more reapers to harvest His grain.” Matthew 9:37-38.

Dear Lord we need more feet on the ground, thank You! Amen! Did you notice that I am not worried about seed? I’ve been praying for artists, and song writers, and wordsmiths, to paint, sing and say stuff, in plain English, that can be freely given away. One lady we know makes beautiful handbags for abused women. Ask Him for inspiration. Share what you love to do – do it and include others. I used to share my roller skating time when I was younger. Last of all don’t be afraid of their faces, there are real needs behind those grumpy looks. Bye. 👋.

P 3071 Jump on in, the water is fine.

/ DVH

“Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralised—whoever. I didn’t take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I’ve become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life. I did all this because of the Message. I didn’t just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it!” 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 MSG.

Perhaps the church has been so busy avoiding people who supposedly sin … like we don’t!  … because we are afraid of being contaminated(!)  When we live like this we are walking away from an extremely ripe field of grain. We don’t have to BE them, to talk to them. We simply choose to go with Love Himself, personified in us. Jesus goes before us, and He is with us, and He will remain with those people who need Him, long after we have left!

Speaking as a grey-haired old lady who has approached a bikie gang, plus, on another occasion, a couple of loose bikies strutting around a holiday town … I, too have had some conversations outside my comfort zone. On one occasion I felt like I was tackling two Goliaths!! But God spoke to me and He said: “If not you then WHO?”I’ve repeated the first story in this blog somewhere, in the past 8+ years, but the second one was pretty daunting. 

We pulled up in our car right next to these two huge bikie guys leaning against a lamp post talking to each other. And, joy of joys …the Lord spoke to me and told me to speak to them. My dear hubby immediately knew what I was going to do … so he left the car too. I climbed out of the car and tottered over trying to look casual. Then I said: “Great bikes boys!” Well, they were, their bikes were immaculately kept. Meanwhile I had to look UP to speak to them both – they just kind of nodded and kept talking to each other, probably hoping I would go away. 

I’ve learnt from my hubby that if you are going into the lion’s den you had better be prepared to stand up for Jesus right away or you will just peter out, and look like a goose. So I said: “God told me to tell you that Jesus loves you.” Jesus definitely loves them, but in those few seconds I wasn’t quite so sure how I felt!  – UM … maybe terrified? However THEY both looked at the ground. One of them kept on looking at the ground — it seemed like he was hoping that the ground would open up and swallow me.

Anyway the other guy stared into space but he interacted with me a bit, whilst I explained that I was probably his mother’s age and she might be concerned for his safety. Bikies like to hurt one another where I live. Then I said again that Jesus wanted them to know that He loved them, very much. The guy looking at the ground had a little tear roll down his cheek, and he kind of sniffed and wiped his nose with the back of his hand and nodded at the other one, who was staring anywhere but where I was. And then they started to move away. So did I! I jumped  back into our car so fast – you would have thought I was Gout-Gout!

My point? That was a God-appointment. In that kind of appointment the Lord reminds people He is real, by waving at them, through whatever we do and say. He calls to them, telling them He loves them. People usually react really well – but twice in 20 years we’ve been rejected. That’s pretty good odds wouldn’t you say? One guy nearly climbed over his desk to throw us out … so we left!  Another older lady was quite vocal about what was wrong with Christianity. So again, we quietly left. Of course we prayed for them!

God appointments are like that. They are times when we are set up by the Lord to be ourselves. We are not supposed to be an evangelist, or a prophet —you just be you. The person who loves Jesus. You are a witness – His witness. A witness tells what they know and what they have seen. Plus they answer questions if they are asked some. Half the time some overly enthusiastic people flood the poor schmuck they are talking to, by trying to stuff a life-time’s worth of witnessing Jesus at work in their lives into one encounter. 

Remember, God will send someone after you’ve gone. You are just being salty that’s all. Here’s some don’ts I learnt from a full-time evangelist. After the encounter, don’t jump, laugh, dance, sing, and create a hullabaloo anywhere near the person who was happy to listen to you. They will know you are talking about them, just respectfully leave. Don’t overload them. They don’t need 35 scriptures, or 12 how to come to Jesus brochures. 

Every time we are fake we are separating ourselves from the very people God asked us to speak to. We’ve all been saved by the very same Grace we are now offering them. I can only encourage anyone reading this to “jump on in the water is fine.” And if it goes wrong? “Just keep swimming, just keep swimming …” Easy peasy. Bye. 🤣

P 2393 Those who have gone on before us.

/ DVH

“And consider the example that Jesus, the Anointed One, has set before us. Let His mindset become your motivation.” Philippians 2:5 TPT. Isn’t it marvellous that we have incredible, recorded, Godly examples to follow? Praise God we have what Christ did and said, in this book we read every day. Jesus made God’s will very clear! 

We have all of the New Testament to explain how the things of God unfold and transform, and how they worked for someone else. Whether it was Paul or Peter or Jude – they all lived this way… HIS WAY. All we need to do is to take what it says seriously and apply these things we read about into our lives! The sky is the limit when somebody starts living their life doing what God’s book says for Jesus’ sake.

Here’s something that Peter said: “Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God. The best invitation we ever received! We were also given absolutely terrific promises to pass on to you—your tickets to participation in the life of God after you turned your back on a world corrupted by lust.” 2 Peter 1:3 MSG. Peter knew that what he was given was also for others who would come after him – that’s you and I. 👏 We have been left an enormous inheritance by these great men and women of faith. 

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that getting to know Jesus is a series of endless spiritual experiences. It is so much more than that – we get to live the way He lived and do what He did – we get to be like Him, in this world. His loving heart, His Character, His devotion to the Father. Jesus Christ shows us how to live a transformed life of devotion to God and He actively taught us what God wants from His kids.

Let’s look at His disciples, who totally relied upon the Holy Spirit for Christ’s guidance, and they too lived overcoming lives. They lived that way in a world that used Christians for target practice, lion chum and barbecue lights! Nothing much has changed today, many Christians are still paying for their faith with their well-being, lives and health. However  I can be inspired into action, when I read about the saints’ of old’s adventures, missteps, and godly actions in His book — and from there I get the courage to have some adventures with God myself. 

Both the Old and the New Testament tell us about people who gave up this life to gain the next. They watched Almighty God work on their behalf. I’ve written down some examples from the New. Let’s look at Ananias who got a word from God and was used to restore Paul’s sight. That man was scared to bits about his God-given assignment, but he did it in spite of his fear. He teaches me that fear does not have to win! Plus, I can simply go and do whatever God tells me, I don’t have to feel like it.

There was another Ananias – Ananias and Sapphira. That couple taught me that lying to God and others has a really really bad ending! Or Timothy, who listened carefully to his mother and his grandmother, and ended up as a companion to Paul. He had two whole books in the bible written for his personal edification. Timothy has taught me that godly mothers with faith are powerful people. 

Or Simon Magus the magician. He taught me the Holy Spirit cannot be bought. Grace can embrace the Holy Spirit but a lack of Grace, together with greed, sends Him away. Or there was Stephen, who waited tables and witnessed to the Sanhedrin, Jerusalem’s supreme rabbinic court. He recited the whole Jewish history from Abraham to Christ! I believe Stephen’s pure faith, together with everything the Holy Spirit gave him to say, had an effect on Saul as he stood and watched that stoning, and heard Stephen pardon his murderers as he died. This shows me that the word of God is a SEED – it has the power to change a life. Stephen died, but Paul eventually converted!

We have these witnesses in God’s book to help us to enrich our own faith. We don’t have to stay within the status quo, living our lives in dull little always-acquiring-new-things lives. We can be led by God Himself, the Holy Spirit, to “go into all the world and preach the gospel…” Acts 1:8. Hubby and I are about to go out again into Samaria, even though we preach the gospel where we live, to anyone who will listen. 

We go out there where the people are and to our amazement – Jesus is out there too!  Listen to what Jesus said about the Samaritan woman and her village in Samaria: “Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.”John 4:34&35. What more do we need than… ‘GO?’ That was enough for the people in the book.👋🏻