Romans

P 2321 I read the bible for MY benefit.

/ DVH

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.” James1:22-24 NIV

There is this movie I quite like called ‘Take the Lead.’ In it a retired ballroom dancer decides to start a program for drop-out disinterested kids, and this man teaches them ballroom dancing after school instead of them doing detention. The group of kids he teaches are of diverse cultural backgrounds. 

There is only one white guy and he is a genuine redhead so he is really really white. Another white person, a girl, decides to join this culturally diverse group. There is a brief exchange between the existing red-headed group member, Kurd, and the newbie white female dancer.…Caitlin. He resents her upsetting the balance of the group. 

Kurd : ‘We don’t need any more white bread tourists seeing how the other half lives. We don’t.’ 
Caitlin : ‘White bread?!! Excuse me, do you even OWN a mirror?’ 

I love that line, mainly because I think it needs to be said out loud regularly, in Christian settings. We are wa-ay too enthusiastic and quick to point out to the rest of the world what’s wrong with them. We can draw up a list of things these people simply must not do in a heartbeat, about their sins, actions, and reasons why they will go to hell. My point is that …our mirror is for our own use. We actually OWN a mirror! And we need to use it.ˆThe bible has enough exhortations about change in it to keep all of us busy for the rest of our lives … and then some. BTW, I don’t look in that mirror TO SEE YOU … I look in it …TO SEE the real ME … more clearly!

If I am reading the bible to find ways for you to change, or to learn how to cleverly persuade you to change your behaviour, especially where your behaviour impacts mine – I’ve missed the point. I need to be thoroughly engaged for myself in this process, and that means I’m learning about my faults, not yours. There is no such thing as proxy faith – the only person the bible applies to, is me. 

However I can encourage you, using scriptures. But if we try to sugar coat what we want to say by wrapping up any criticism in nice stuff – then we are only fooling ourselves. And the other person involved will quite quickly S-U-S-P-E-C-T. This is where church division comes from, trying to shove my revelation and my POV off onto others. Even if we think we are helping God get what HE wants! His book is still for my growth. 

Let’s let God open doors for us and stop shoving our shoulder against those doors and blaming someone else for what comes next. We need to learn from the Lord Jesus how to take the lower seat. That’s what ‘the Word become flesh’ means. King David shows us clearly that God has a plan, but He doesn’t always stick to a timetable that suits us.The best thing we can do for others is to pray, and prefer. 

This means we pray and then we continue to prefer the other person in love. Romans 10:12. “Be devoted to one another in love. Honour one another above yourselves.” This life is not about me being righter than you. Any righteousness I have, and any you may have, ALL of that comes from Christ. Here’s something further to chew on:

“All things are legitimate [permissible—and we are free to do anything we please], but not all things are helpful (expedient, profitable, and wholesome). All things are legitimate, but not all things are constructive [to character] and edifying [to spiritual life].’ 1 Corinthians 10:23. 

Until we take verses like these seriously, instead of just holding on tightly to the ones we like – we will not grow UP into the fullness of Christ, our Saviour and Bridegroom. Exercising self-awareness helps us to achieve whatever the Lord wants, so I read the bible to change me.  🙏 Bye.

P 2320 What illuminates our thinking?

/ DVH

There are many people in this world that regard the bible as a musty, dusty old book that has nothing much to say to them. They don’t see it as a series of stadium lights,  brighter than the sun, opening up new doors and possibilities. I think this is because Christians have inadvertently presented this book as a guide that God has given to them …kind of like ‘their own personal torch.’  We’ve become almost a secret society, with our own buzz words, and language. 

But, “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” Psalms 119:105 NIV. However His book is totally personal, based on the fact that it is not only filled with info that explains the Way into relationship with God, but it is also available to anyone who is looking for Him. “… he who comes to God, must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6b

The bible was given to everyone, not just Christians. It is a book filled with revelations and light for everyone. Because most religions have a ‘book’ – a manifesto if you will –  the bible itself has been casually thrown upon a pile of those kind of, ancient tomes into a corner. It has been filed under the heading of ‘books about stuff I don’t want to know about.’ 

In today’s world we have books and books – podcasts, media, social media, magazines, etc… plus the news! We all know that we can’t trust the news to tell us what we need to know that will benefit us spiritually. Because they have an agenda. That agenda is motivated by sales, money, power and popularity. Even social media, is simply old fashioned gossiping on steroids. It lies, it postulates and it is manufactured in order to make someone else money, or  to give others power. But how will people ever understand the power of those lies if they have never seen the real thing!

If we don’t tell others the bible is a different kind of book, because you read it with the Author – how will they know? Sad to say, shallow thinking produces shallow greedy people. “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.” Romans 15:4 NIV. That hope is not just for us – we are meant to share that hope with everyone!

These other modern things are often too filled with man’s worst nature to do good. But the bible is different, it has the breath and heartbeat of God in it. Meanwhile this wonderful book it does not explain anything – it actually poses more questions than it gives answers! It is not ashamed of its story, or its characters, or WHO GOD IS.

I believe this is why Jesus Christ came here to earth. Books can be misread and misinterpreted – but Jesus Christ came TO SHOW US what life looks like when God’s ways are followed. HIS STORY, HIS PERSONHOOD, HIS ATTITUDES TOWARD MANKIND ARE ALL IN THIS BOOK.

God’s great love for us all in the Person of Jesus Christ is the overriding redemptive theme in the bible. Colossians 1:19 “For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him,…”Colossians 2:9 “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,…” Revelation 19:12-13: “His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns; and He had a name written, that no man knew, but He Himself. [And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and His name is called The Word of God.”

Jesus Christ is our human visual aid. Our example. He shows us that it is possible for any one of us to live our lives obeying God. He made the things that seemed impossible – possible when He cancelled the power sin forever… By becoming our sin – Jesus totally identified with us. The best response to such a sacrifice is gratitude not permissiveness. We need to live this life questioning ourselves – what is illuminating our thinking?  👋🏻

P 2311 The bible is not for proving ME right!

/ DVH

“Beloved friends, what should be our proper response to God’s marvellous mercies? To surrender yourselves to God to be His sacred, living sacrifices. And live in holiness, experiencing all that delights His heart. For this becomes your genuine expression of worship.” Romans 12:1 TPT

Sadly what happens when we look at verses like this one — is we often go from – what it says …  straight into – how I think it should be done. And we start merrily defining holiness – what we should do, and what we shouldn’t. What is allowed … and WHAT IS NOT.  What we can get away with … and what we can’t! Did I say that out loud??  😶 

Now, I am not saying that we can’t use the bible to gather relevant info …BUT … the ‘me,’ or ‘my opinion-centred way’ of thinking, still leaves US in charge and we end up with what we think this or that verse means as the criteria. Let’s  look closely at this scenario for a second. You might think that having a beer or a glass of wine, for instance, is OK. But I, on the other hand, may not.

So the I-like-a-beer-etc.-people find 54 verses for ‘JESUS DRANK WINE …’ etc etc. and paint them on banners. And my hypothetical group of abstainers find 48 verses that say ‘don’t drink, don’t be a drunkard.’ So we picket the opposition group (big clue in that name!) and handing out fliers saying “people who drink alcohol go straight to hell.” 😱

Who decides WHO wins? Well, actually sadly, nobody wins! In reality, 54 people leave our church of 102 people … who ALL say they love Jesus. And these God-loving people toddle off and form ‘the Church of people who love a good beer…’ and 48 are left behind who have suddenly become prideful because they didn’t fall for the devil’s trap! They in turn form a new church called ‘purity means abstinence.’ Everybody loses! Especially the Lord and His purposes. And we all go round and round – achieving nothing.

Here’s a BIG THOUGHT. The Holy Spirit isn’t called the HOLY SPIRIT for nothing. We can end up in these sad little eddies because we ignore the One Person Who actually knows ALL the answers! Now off we go making more rules and regs to prove our POV is right and theirs is wrong. Sadly our time is no longer taken up seeking Him, for His will to be done in our lives. Instead we read the bible to prove a point, not to know Him, and learn about ourselves. 

2 Timothy 2:15“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” We can use this verse, and that theology to prove we are right, but the Answer is simple. Ask yourself, ‘is what I am doing LOVE. Or am I just trying to prove my point?’  We can’t do both! We must ask ourselves “what spirit are we in?”

Surrender! Romans 12:1: is our primary response. Otherwise we can end up trying to fight ‘God’s battles” … and …He can fight His own. After surrendering we are on the Lord’s side, and His great goodness is now our inspiration. We need to ask Him what HE wants. This verse says He wants yielded vessels, people who put aside what they want or need for His sake. Holiness flows from THIS – relationship. Let’s not waste His time and ours galloping about deciding who is right and who is wrong. WE are all WRONG. Read the book!

Unity flows out of this kind of surrender, simply because we yield to Him and leave our POVs behind. When we clear away our self-centred debris, suddenly we begin to see the little things He does, that only mean something to us because HE IS SO PERSONALLY engaged with us. He doesn’t just  want to give us platitudes or verses that generically bless everyone – The Holy Spirit wants to give us things that have great meaning to us in our current situations. 

So the person who likes a beer or a glass of wine is given the verse 1 Corinthians 6:12 by the Holy Spirit.  “Everything is permissible for me”–but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me”–but I will not be mastered by anything.” And the purity through abstinence people are reminded that: “Mercy triumphs over judgment.” James 2:12-13. Sadly, today I think the church is more interested in the appearance of good, rather than letting the Holy Spirit complete His work of redemption in us.

The Holy Spirit’s words are apples of gold in settings of silver. Always be careful to have the setting as well as the apples! 👋🏻

P 2295 Let’s choose our clothes wisely.

/ DVH

There is no limitation on our understanding of God’s Word. What limits us is our actual desire to seek out what He wants to say to us. Plus some things actually need repeating because … we don’t get it.

Currently I am reading Exodus again. Every now and then I try to read my way right through the whole Bible. I don’t put a timetable on it, because stuff happens, and then you get out of order – so I just go along as I can. And I will get there when I get there! Today I was totally captivated by the description in Exodus 29, of the first high priest’s robes. 

This description is so complex and beautiful it is worth a serious look. The Jewish nation’s whole history is literally all over these garments that the high priest wears as he represents his people to God. Plus, Almighty God makes a statement about how He feels about His chosen people, with these specially designed garments.

Now hang onto your hat, because we are going to pass by a few scriptures quite quickly. Isaiah 61:10: “I will rejoice greatly in the Lord, My soul will exult in my God; For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.” 

In Exodus 29 Aaron is getting ready to clothe himself in special garments of God’s design. Just like we do, right now, and every single day, no matter what we are doing. The Lord has things we are to put on by faith. Using the power of CHOICE. Even as we raise our kids, go to work, go shopping, go to college, and do our daily chores etc. we decide, minute by minute, whether or not to choose these spiritual garments using our faith. These beautiful garments belong to us – Jesus bought and paid for them with His life’s blood.

In Romans 3:10 the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous— not even one.”  No-one means NO-ONE… So, in a nutshell, from the worst sinner to the one who studiously avoids even a whiff of sin … we are all on a level playing field. You might take a long pause and think about that. Part of God’s provision of salvation is that level playing field for all.. We’ve each been washed in His blood, and given His power for personal transformation –  for free. 

From the person that you struggle most with in this world, to the person who does the worst thing you’ve ever heard of, if THEY choose to embrace what Jesus did for them from their heart, and give their lives to Him, they have the right to receive that garment of righteousness, just as much as anyone else. This garment of righteousness is a great equaliser. It has been specially made for each one of us, because it fits each one of us in our individuality, it has a design suited to our circumstances.

Just like Aaron had to put on those specifically designed garments before he could even think of approaching God, these faith-based, specifically designed, spiritual garments/circumstances bring about our transformation into Christ’s bride. We can go in and out to the throne of Grace and spend time on the mercy seat. Their application depends on our choices. Christians are saved —but we all need transformation.… We are transformed by daily choosing, using our faith to die to what we want. Then we pick up His garment of praise, or patience, or choosing to learn LOVE etc. Whatever the Holy Spirit hands us in the middle of our learning curves.

And all it takes is the knowledge that we have already given our life away. His life for ours. “He spoke and said to those who were standing before him, saying, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” Again he said to him, “See, I have taken your iniquity away from you and will clothe you with festal robes.” Zechariah 3:4. This verse in Zechariah shows us that we quite literally cannot, and must not return to our old life, because it has been stripped away! 

Why would we wear this life’s garments of defensiveness, pettiness, bitterness, unkindness, and a distinct lack of goodness etc.— when we have brand new handpicked  garments, waiting for us? Garments that help define us into our God-given roles and destiny. Those precious things that will always bring Him glory and praise. LET’S CHOOSE OUR CLOTHES WISELY. 👋🏻

P 2267 About worship.

/ DVH

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” This means what HE wants, trumps what I want, every single time. Romans 12:1. My body has been a real pest lately, it’s aching in all sorts of places, not to mention the place I know I hurt when I broke my upper arm. My thinking processes have also kind of wafted away into the ether, clouded by pain drugs. Just as an aside, taking drugs that fog your brain humbles you – trust me.

The above scripture from Romans talks about being ALIVE whilst you are being sacrificed. So far I am not liking my limited experience in this area very much! Worshipping God in this way is challenging, to say the least. And it seems to be catchy. Currently, my dear hubby hardly sits down, and as he is still recovering from surgery with his hand, we both bear a striking resemblance to a pair of muddle-headed wombats. Being a living sacrifice is not as romantic and golden, and gloriously other-worldly, as it’s cracked up to be. So what does all this have to do with worship? The point of being a living sacrifice is that you have lost control of not only what your destiny is, but what comes next.

And then I thought of something…if I’m dead, whilst I am still alive, then what happens to me NEXT is also not my responsibility, it’s His. So now I’m praying when some new unfounded joy turns up, that the Lord will please help me to discover some new revelation about Him. Meanwhile, if Jesus needs my bashed up body, then that’s OK too. At the moment I keep find new places I didn’t know hurt…bumping down the stairs frontwards will do that to ya. But now it isn’t hard at all to hand my body over to Jesus, cos I don’t feel all that precious about it any more …😂   …And I thought growing old was not fun.   

Back to my point … this particular process only hurts if you stop at partially dead, you have to go all the way to ALL dead. That’s when you don’t give a darn. Plus this kind of permanent worship is a series of decisions, sometimes made minute by minute. 

Nowhere in this blog today am I going to talk about lustily singing songs and waving of arms, dancing before the Lord – no smoke machines either! Instead, there’s a lot more, “Praise the Lord anyway … ow!” Worship is about giving Him the only thing I actually really have to give: ME. True worship means I show Him what He is worth to me. 

I have come to two conclusions: I can complain my head off and feel miserable and make everyone around me miserable, or I can present my body, such as it is, look at Him and say, “I have no idea how You are going to get me out of this, but You will, and I’ll get a testimony out of it while I’m at it.” People love testimonies, that’s because testimonies make this life sound easier. However smarter people than me have figured out that in order to have a testimony, first you have to have a test!

Worship is settling the matter of Who’s in charge here, and I found out that it’s NOT me! Don’t we all hate it when our tidy plans, neatly wrapped little lives start unravelling? But we can still worship by giving up our right to complain, whilst stuff like this is happening. Almighty God does not need us to tell Him how special He is, He’s got loads of beautiful beings around the throne doing it better than we ever could. But that tired, pained little voice crying out for the umpteenth time always turns His head. Read the book.

Somebody smarter than I once said, “Christians should be either coming out of trouble, crawling through trouble, or falling into it..”  At this stage if I could find ‘trouble’, I’d do the unthinkable – I’d throttle it! It’s funny how quickly we can go from “Praise you Jesus, welcome Holy Spirit, what a wonderful Father” to “Help! Still stuck Lord!” That’s because worship is about Him, not us. It always has been, it always will be. So if I want to truly worship it starts with “I surrender”, and “I give up,” and then rushes into the arms of a Saviour Who knows about pain and suffering, firsthand. Bye. 👋🏻

P 2241 Now where did I leave my peace again?

/ DVH

Losing our peace is a bad thing. To be honest with you, in the Western world, I am not sure we value inner peace from the Lord enough! Losing it is like opening the door to the bad guys and saying: “Come on in, and bother me with heaps of stuff that is not always true, because I want to live in anxiety, bitterness, turbulence and agitation!” Meanwhile if you turn that coin over you will suddenly discover if you actually have any of those greeblies I mentioned above – guess what? YOU LOST YOUR PEACE. Time to go and find it again!

Let’s start with what the bible says. Peace comes from and through Jesus Christ – however it is not a cessation of hostilities or trouble. Peace comes from the inside of our heart – out. Because we now have peace with Him – nothing else can disturb us. John 16:33 “I have said these things to you, that IN ME you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”Yeah, not so much with me liking the tribulation part of that verse(!) 😳 – But we can definitely have peace in the middle of any kind of terrible situation that can plague us in this world – because His peace is spiritual peace. Spiritual peace can be lost – by embracing the problem, and not the Saviour. (Help help!)

Jesus explains to us that the peace He brings doesn’t look like this world’s idea of peace. Anyone who has lived in a country where there is war, the threat of war, or even internal ructions of any sort, knows that this world’s kind of PEACE is not permanent. It often depends on the actions of others. But in John 14:27 it says: “Peace I leave with you; MY peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. LET not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”We can refuse to be drawn into all the guff going on around us – because we know the end of the story! This kind of peace needs to be embraced, appreciated and allowed to flourish. Treat peace as a priority, because a lack of peace is a slippery slide that often leads into doubt and unbelief.

Isaiah 26:3 says “You will keep us in perfect peace, when our mind is fixed on You: because we trust in You.” The biggest snare that leads to losing our peace is that our mind is not fixed. Renewing our minds daily help fix that problem! 😂 We are probably not trusting in Jesus, ALONE.  If we lose sight of our Saviour, and focus on our troubles instead – peace starts to become a vague idea, instead of the place we live in, internally. We might even blame other people for stealing it from us.

In those moments we need to drag our minds away from blame or trying to fix things ourselves. Or even going from one person to another, trying to find a solution. Peace came from Jesus and He can restore it for us. It gets reestablished inside us, first. Then the peace that is established inside us, affects everything outside us. So we do whatever we can, and then turn everything over to the Lord. Christians need to value their relationships with others above everything else but the Lord Jesus Himself, because anger etc. will rob us of our peace. 

In order to wrangle our emotions in desperate or difficult situations we will need His strength. ‘His strength is made perfect in weak people.So – admit your weakness! Pray – “I can’t, but You can.” In 1 Peter 3:11 it says: “They must turn from evil and do good; they must seek peace and pursue it.” Peace does not fall on us – we will have to treat it like a lost treasure and go after it. When we lose our peace, the first place to go is the cross – then PRAISE GOD! We go to the tomb!!

We need to value His peace. It’s a gift as well as a fruit. Romans 12:18 says: “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” Sometimes it is just not possible to facilitate real reconciliation with someone else. Our job is to manage our end, not try to micromanage everyone else. This means all we can do is to restore our end of the relationship, and make sure we have arrived back at LOVE. Love is not about feelings, it is about being prepared to die for the other person!

Lastly, other people cannot steal our peace – but really motivated ones can give us loads of opportunities…!! 😂 God bless them! However, the reality is – we actually have to give up or relinquish our peace in order to lose it. It’s a choice. My advice is that we need to go back through the day in prayer, and revise what happened where, and with whom. Then repent for not valuing something so precious. Admit you lost it.

To sum up: if you are mad… you’ve lost your peace. If you are scared … you’ve lost your peace. If you’ve mislaid your hope that God is with you, helping you … you’ve lost your peace. That which is lost can be found again. 👋🏻

P 2228 What ministry is really about.

/ DVH

No it’s not surfing – but it could be!  All ministry must come out of our own personal walk with Jesus, and any kind of ministry is hard work. Actually, it is a whole lot of unseen, hard work. This current adventure we are on, started even before we left home. We had 20 brand new blankets, so we called around to find somewhere we could take them. We found a great group in Tweed Heads who look after the poor as a ministry. Unfortunately, 😂 there were so many complications to organise our delivery of said blankets that in the end, we just gave it all to the Lord and gave up trying to make it work.

The lady who wanted these blankets, promised to ring us the next day if she could arrange a pick-up on our forward journey and we didn’t hear, so we went into the Lord’s rest, and packed them into the car anyway. She called like 15 minutes before we left..😶 Ya just gotta be fluid if you wanna work for Jesus. We delivered said blankets after a very large detour. Convenience is a luxury God’s kids can’t afford. It’s about Who we are living for.

This made me think a great deal about the idea of having “a ministry.” It may seem like fun to others, and innocent people often ask us – ‘how was our holiday?’ The truth is we haven’t had what this world thinks is a holiday, in over 17 years! But I also know we’ve had more fun than anyone on holidays could ever expect. The Lord sometimes sends us miles out of our way – for just one person. We are more like Phillip with the Ethiopian man, than Peter on the day of Pentecost. At the same time we have had people turn down bibles … but most people don’t. There have been maybe two times, when they were not-so-polite about it!  

As Christians we need to know that living our lives His way IS ministry. However, simply living for Him also means that you don’t have a nice natty, spiritual label. There is only one Person we need to recognise whatever we do. Jesus. At the same time we do have a responsibility to anyone who chooses to support us – prayerfully, or with funds, or both. This is not how hubby and I earn our living, we are pensioners, so all the money God gives us through faithful people, goes into these trips and bibles etc.

I also need to say that with any kind of ministry there will be opposition. Whether it is living for Jesus or having a title. You enter the battlefield instead of sitting in the stands. Because when you do what Jesus says, the other guy doesn’t like it. The week before we left, we discovered hubby’s elderly mum is not doing very well, and my mum was also quite ill last night. She’s 95. Just what you need to hear when you are going off out of the state on a bible run. Plus yesterday, hubby couldn’t lock the front door, or the back door – the key refused to turn in either one of them. 🙄

We also had to change one booking at the last minute, mainly because there were quite a lot of outside stairs. That is not good for people with disabilities. Stairs and I have come to an agreement that we will probably never get along again! Hubby’s hand is still sore from the operation he had on it, so he is one-handed and it’s the wrong hand! None of that is good for moving luggage every second day. So he is driving with one hand in a plastic cast – the doc says it is OK for him to do it, BTW. 

My point is this: we all have troubles, and feel inadequate, but with Christ we can do all things because He strengthens us. If you want to live for Jesus then learn to be a stealth bomber – fly under the radar, don’t go after a ministry or a title –  just be someone who loves and obeys Jesus, all the time instead! There were 120 people in that upper room when the Holy Spirit fell on them – we don’t know all their names because they didn’t write stuff that ended up in the bible, they were too busy living and dying for Jesus’ sake!

We met a whole lot of lovely people today, and gave away 74 things about the Lord including 44 bibles – plus those blankets for the homeless. Hubby had a nice friendly chat with someone who loves to surf. The man looked almost exactly like the above picture that hubby painted, and this man knew surfing terms so he knew all about “the blue room.”  ‘Bob’ thought it was a miracle hubby could paint with his non-dominant hand! Everybody we talked to today was thrilled that we came, and they were so glad to receive anything we wanted to give them.

What the church regards as ministry can be highly romanticised. It might seem to be filled with importance, and have a high profile, but don’t be fooled – visibility ain’t all it’s cracked up to be! I believe that the Lord is looking for His army of believers to rise up and do whatever He gives them to do as individuals, as part of their every day lives. Hubby and I give prophetic words – we constantly give words of knowledge etc. to people who don’t know the Lord. They are astonished. First of all by the fact that God knows their names. and circumstances, and secondly that ordinary people like us are His messengers. Our anonymity is our greatest strength in terms of ministry. 👋🏻

“I refuse to be ashamed of the wonderful message of God’s liberating power unleashed in us through Christ! For I am thrilled to preach that everyone who believes is saved—the Jew first, and then people everywhere!” Romans 1:16 TPT

P 2223 Speaking in Tongues.

/ DVH

I would like to say first of all, speaking in tongues is definitely a God-given gift – we should ask for it. It is a faith gift. Anything that requires us to use our faith is good. However, speaking in tongues is not proof you are a Christian! (Yes, I have heard that said – sigh.) As an aside, I want to say that it is not good to let our own personal experiences dictate to us or others. We live by His Word and His Word is in His book!  Jesus said in Mark 16:17: “And these signs will accompany those who believe: in My name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues.” 

Because our new life is to elevate Jesus …  it is not only about fruit, or gifts or anything else! We have those things to elevate Him too! Gifts are given – by the Lord – fruit grows as we let Him change us. His gifts are given to us as the Holy Spirit desires, and they are not badges of honour to anybody – but HIM!  Speaking in tongues is a blessing from God, it helps us communicate with Him without our minds meddling with what we are praying. EG: We could easily pray “please God change that person” – when we actually need to pray: “please God change ME!” Speaking in tongues gets my own agendas out of the way. When we speak in tongues we are speaking to Him, spirit to Spirit.

Unknown tongues are a brilliant vehicle that helps us to pour our love upon the Lord’s feet. When we’ve run out of our inspiration in our own language – the Holy Spirit provides another one we don’t know! In 1 Corinthians 14 it says: “Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, … For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit.” Because of this ‘mystery,’ tongues have become a bone of contention in Christianity. That is a shame, because they are a wonderful way to pray with no other agenda, but HIS. Plus tongues build up our own faith at the same time.

.  

Moving on to Acts 2:4-6 “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because EACH ONE heard their own language being spoken.“

In this incident, the Holy Spirit incredibly arranged for every person who was there that day to hear His message in their own language.

HOWEVER! The message given and received was what was important, not the medium He used! Otherwise we’d all be sitting about waiting for tongues of fire to land on us and a huge windstorm to blow our church roofs off!  Tongues are a sign – not the end product, the end product is knowing Him without our brain arguing with us. Plus speaking in tongues helps to activate our faith.  Almighty God came upon people that day in a way they could see and hear. What happened, was a result of His Presence. 

Jude talks about speaking in tongues as building ourselves up in our faith in chapter 1:20 ”But you, beloved, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit …”  (Romans 8:26&27 explains this.) Speaking in tongues helps facilitate the Holy Spirit’s wisdom, insight and thoughts into our lives, purely because tongues require us to use our faith. If we want to walk with the Holy Spirit it helps to be able to speak to Him without our minds and emotions in the way! Tongues are a direct communication between our spirit and His.

We don’t always know how to pray about things, so the Holy Spirit helps us. However, the point is – HE HELPS US – not how He does it! 🙌  He will help us pray in our own native tongue as well!  We’ve made this blessing into something far bigger than it should be. It’s all about HIM – His generosity, His loving provision for us. My spiritual language comes from inside my heart, He will not make anyone pray that way – we will have to ask for it – because it is a gift. Encountering Jesus personally is the end product, and tongues are a supernatural, faith-supported gift.

However – LOVE is always the theme of any of the Holy Spirit’s languages. Speaking, or even singing in tongues, supernaturally encourages our faith.Ephesians 5:19 says:“Speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, [offering praise by] singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; …”  It’s in the book. 👋🏻 

Matthew 7:9-11“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him!”

P 2194 What is God aiming at?

/ DVH

I Thessalonians 4: 23-24 “May God Himself, the God who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole, put you together—spirit, soul, and body—and keep you fit for the coming of our Master, Jesus Christ. The One Who called you is completely dependable. If He said it, He’ll do it!” Amen. The Person Who can teach us Holiness is the One Who has HOLY in His Name. We need to learn to listen to the Holy Spirit, from the bible as He leads us.

There are times when we think we know what the Lord wants from His kids, and so we get nit-picky about superficial things. What people wear – what people say – but the Lord looks at hearts. Think about this – the woman that was taken whilst she was committing adultery was thrown down at the Lord’s feet. She did not look pure and holy – she looked guilty! Jesus went around the visible things and her actions and He taught her accusers a lesson, plus He spoke to her heart, all at the same time. His love released her from fear and guilt …

Human beings look at attitudes and actions for proof of sin – but the Lord looks at our hearts. Ask yourself, am I amenable and open to change? Do I listen to what other people say about me or am I suspicious of others and their motivations? Our hearts can be changed easily when they are soft toward Him and others. Unfortunately we don’t always know what is IN there. So we need to take note of what we do, feel and say, and how we respond to others.

Our circumstances will uncover the real US. We are who we really are when we are damaged, provoked, or passed over, or treated badly. Our responses to those things reveal our actual heart attitudes. My best advice is don’t make excuses for yourself. Repent anyway. Make His pleasure in who you are, more important than saving face, or pretending to be someone you aren’t. Don’t be afraid to be your real self – Jesus paid for all our sinful attitudes. However, let’s keep working on those attitudes while it is still day, because night is coming.

We are not here to uncover other people’s sins! Instead, His kids are always looking for a way to love, connect and help each other – we choose to see the good in each other. Sin starts in our minds and if it is unattended to, it will drop into our hearts. Sin needs justification. “I do this because they did that!” But Jesus’ death and resurrection empowered us to a higher place where the greater law prevails.

Our God is not content with lip-service, He works from the inside out, but we must overcome our fear of change and embrace the fact that because what Christ did – He totally and utterly loves us. He loved us all before we were ever born. Sadly, for too long our aim has been our own comfort, but the bible makes it very clear – we are His kingdom people – we are here to usher His kingdom here on earth the way it is in heaven so our comfort is non-existent or secondary.

This is why verses like this one in Thessalonians are important. They show us the Lord’s AIM. His aim is not to fluff our pillows and make sure our beds are all comfy cosy – His aim is to have a people – a family. And Jesus Christ is our example of what that family will look like! You will, however, still be you, and I will still be me – but we will both be changed, praise the Lord … because we both need it. Maybe me more than you!

The thing this verse shows us is that God Himself will do this work in us, as we step out in faith and use the bible as our guideline. As we continually use our faith, we step into His kingdom and then even our own transformation adds weight to His kingdom growing around us. The more we change, the more the world around is influenced by our new way of thinking, doing and being. 

Almighty God will make us holy the same way He is holy. And the Person Who totally understands and knows how to implement it into our lives, is the Holy Spirit.  But we need to continually learn to co-operate with Him. One of the most important revelations to grasp, is our utter helplessness without Him. We cannot do this work of transformation ourselves. We can read about it, agree with it, and eventually we will realise that we come up short. Paul talks about this in Romans. 

When we discover it is beyond our reach to change ourselves, that is the time that the Lord has begun His work in us. Poverty of spirit is a good thing. That’s why Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven…” Our Spirit-led responses to life’s difficulties are the building blocks of our new life. We need to learn to rely upon the Holy Spirit to show us how to be holy the way He is holy. 👋🏻