Safe

P 2934 A true Shepherd.

/ DVH

We have been watching a vlog on YouTube about a senior couple from Azerbaijan, who live a very simple life. They harvest whatever is around them, and store things up for the severe winters that are bound to come. Today, they had a shepherd and his flock of sheep as part of the vlog, and he inspired me to think about Jesus. 

This wonderful old man just stood, or sometimes sat, watching over his sheep. That’s what he does. In the wind and the rain, in the snow, in sunshine, and the heat of the day, all day long – this old man watches over his flock, and protects them. He knows their worth. And if they wander off, then he herds them back, to where he wants them, and makes sure they are safe. That elderly Azerbaijanian, with a face carved by age, and experience, is a good shepherd.

That’s the picture Jesus chose to give us about Himself, to help us relate to Him. And this is what He does, minute by minute, for each one of us …He leads us – He never drives us along….“I am the good shepherd. The good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.“I am the good shepherd; I know My sheep and My sheep know Me— just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father—and I lay down My life for the sheep.”John 10:11-15.

Nothing escapes the Lord Jesus’ gaze, He does not fall asleep on the job, or take a walk … because He is bored out of His gourd with our boring little seemingly pointless lives … NO! His eyes are firmly fixed upon each one of us. He knows if even one of us goes missing. Someone bailed out of our family a couple of years ago, and we haven’t laid eyes on them since. I pray for their safe return all the time – I don’t pray because I have to pray, I pray because I can’t help but pray! The Holy Spirit reminds me that this person’s absence hurts Him far more than me!

Sometimes my dear hubby is up almost all night praying for someone or other.He keeps right on praying for the people we meet on the road. That’s what a true shepherd does – he is faithful to his flock. He doesn’t just teach the sheep, he doesn’t push and exhort them not to be so dumb, he doesn’t even necessarily prophesy over them etc. He watches over and protects his flock. You know, maybe parents are also a kind of shepherd.

Years ago, I used to take my three very small children to the shops in all kinds of weather. It was a big walk, about 2 kms up a very large hill and they all learnt to stretch their little legs as they did it. If they got really tired then they hopped into the pusher. When we got to the shops I had a particular habit. As I walked with them around me, I would count,1. 2. 3. And I looked for their little heads bobbing along in the store in front of me. It was like my head was on a swivel. 1,2,3, all present and accounted for! I always knew when a little head disappeared.

I guess I was remembering those times today, when I watched this old shepherd. He knew every one of his sheep and he would definitely know if one wandered off. He leant on his staff, and watched carefully over them to make sure they were safe. As you probably already know, sheep are remarkably stupid – they need watching! I’ve seen one leap into the air and then the next one jumped in the same spot and the next and the next etc. .But there was nothing there for them to jump over. No wonder we call them dumb!

Human beings also do the dumbest things. Sometimes we know we are going the wrong way and doing the wrong thing, and yet we do it anyway. That’s what a lack of ongoing transformation does. It ushers us into a stupid state where we erroneously think whatever we are choosing to do, won’t matter and God won’t mind. ‘After all our Heavenly Father loves us, and He knows we just can’t help it!’   We stupidly make room for sin, when we need to oppose it. What a load of rubbish that attitude is!

Time not spent in His Presence is time wasted. Our good Shepherd always wants to be with us – leading us to greener pastures, protecting us from harm, making us lie down in safe places. Jesus chose to make Himself our very own Shepherd when He died in our place, and then He deliberately sent back His Holy Spirit to be everywhere. He knows we need SomeOne to be with us and watch over us. The Holy Spirit imparts love and joy etc. freely, daily “…we are His people the sheep of His pasture.”

Jesus’ sacrifice needs to be in the forefront of our minds, that’s a cultivated skill. He has never, and will never EVER forget us, or pass us over…This world may not know us or care about us, but the Lord is always our ever-prayerful, deeply-involved Shepherd. Whether we are injured, beaten up or lost … even if it is our own fault …Jesus will always come after us. No thief, wolf or foe can steal us away from Him. He fought every demon in hell and defeated them so He could call us His very own. 

Jesus is our true Shepherd. He will not leave us or forsake us, or give any one of us up – not without a fight!  Bless you 👋

P 2873 “If you understand this, you need to respond.”

/ DVH

“Speaking to the people, Jesus continued, “Be alert and guard your heart from greed and from always wishing for what you don’t have. For your life can never be measured by the amount of things you possess.” Luke 12:15 TPT. When Jesus tells us to guard our heart He is not just talking to the people who are in front of Him. He’s also talking to us, right here, right now, and we really do need to pay attention. We need to avoid the consumerism trap all around us. 

Money, wealth, excess etc. are funny things – people react to them. You can tell a Christian they shouldn’t sleep with their neighbour’s wife and they are like: “Oh OK, God doesn’t like that. Cool, I will watch out not to put myself into compromising situations.” Nobody is insulted, nobody takes offence and if they have wrong thoughts toward their neighbour they repent. But the minute you mention money …!! 

Meanwhile, it doesn’t seem to matter if the pastor and his family are starving – it boils down to this – we don’t want to be told what to do with OUR money, because we’ve earned it. Christians start leaving churches all over the place when somebody mentions money because they get offended. I’m left wondering if they’ve actually read His book at all. No wonder the prosperity doctrine has its roots dug in so deeply into some churches. 

This verse above in Luke is clear. Instead of guarding our hearts against somebody taking our money, or somebody talking to us about giving, or even if they are saying that we should not prefer money over everything else … Jesus is telling us we need to guard our hearts from greed and coveting — money is a tool, not a god. Ask Him, “Lord do I do this?’

Here’s an interesting example: do you remember what happened to Gideon? We all know how he fought the Midianites and God miraculously delivered him. We also know that Gideon had lots of faith because he sent all those potential soldiers home when God told him to. I mean, that guy obviously had FAITH …But in the end, Gideon was actually seduced away from God by … wait for it …GOLD! 

He made an ephod out of the stuff, and then he and the Israelites turned that ephod into an idol. Eventually Gideon led God’s people back into idolatry. It isn’t money, things, or power – or the lack of them that is the problem – it’s whether this stuff owns US. Actually, poor people can have exactly the same problem. There are times when poor people are afraid to give because they may not have enough left if they do. Then it’s time to remember the widow’s mite. 

We’ve all forgotten how to trust God to take care of us! The Israelites did that in the wilderness.  Unfortunately it seems that today’s Christians want to love Jesus and stay safe. Those two things are incompatible!  Just imagine the risk Father God took sending His pure spotless Son to earth, to save all of US. Our God has promised us that He will be with us in trouble, and He will protect us because He loves us. We need to live, believe and act on what He’s said in His book.

He needs brave men and women who will throw off this society’s ideas and dreams of fame, notoriety and fortune, and live like a people who have much bigger dreams about His kingdom coming into their lives, and the lives of others. People who will esteem what HE says above everything else. People who will run into this crumbling world with His love and help for the lost. How long can we sit in our comfort zones and ignore those who will at any minute tip over the edge of this life into eternity?

You know, Jesus also said this, and I don’t believe He was talking about money, or taxes for that matter, at all! I think He was talking about the way we are to live.  “They said unto Him, Caesar’s. Then said He unto them, Give therefore to Caesar, the things which are Caesar’s, and give unto God, those things which are God’s.”  Matthew 22:21. You and I, you, me! WE belong to God now, so we no longer live for ourselves that’s the deal. His life for ours. So now we go wherever He says to go, and we live however He tells us to live. Jesus Himself said:“if you understand this, you need to RESPOND.” Mark 4:9. Bye 👋

P 2842 Are people drawn to the light in us?

/ DVH

Mark 4:21-25: “He said to them, Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you put it on its stand? For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open. If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear.”

I think the reason we sometimes hide from the light, skip church, don’t read the bible, and we don’t pray – is simple. We don’t want to be convicted or convinced of our stinky attitudes. Maybe whatever we are doing, we don’t want to be found out, so we pronounce church things as ‘boring’… when the reality is – what is said comes way too close for comfort. Where is His light in your life currently at? Is it tucked away, under the bed? Many people build walls to keep them safe, a coffin has walls – a coffin is made for dead things.

As you can see from the above verse, hiding His light within us is a waste of time and energy. One day, everything we’ve said and done quietly, perhaps even sneakily – concerning Mrs Kerfoops across the road – will be shouted from the housetops.BUT!… “IF we confess our sins, He will forgive our sins. We can trust God. He does what is right. He will make us clean from all the wrongs we have done.”I LOVE 💕💕 THOSE LITTLE WORDS… BUT IF …!! This is a good time to praise God for His ongoing, always active, ever-forgiving love in our lives. 

The awful stuff we hide from others, and – even worse – from ourselves! … needs confession and healing. Why not wipe the slate clean, make reparation wherever necessary and move on …??  The point Jesus is making in these verses is that the light of God’s Word is meant to shine in us, and through us, not be hidden away … so we can save face. We are not undercover brothers – WE ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. That’s why He said don’t put that light in a place where it can’t shine — the light of God is meant to be seen.

At the same time, the light and power of God within us, changes our perspective. It doesn’t just illuminate sin – it makes our surroundings clear and visible. There is way too much darkness all over this earth, because Christians look like everybody else. Being hidden doesn’t mean we are safe – it actually means the people around us can’t see our faith in action. Sadly, who we really are, is who we are when we are squeezed tightly by our circumstances. And no! I don’t much like that sentence either!! 

You and I live wherever we live, because we are to be His light. So the people who live around us can clearly see the dirt and squalor they are choosing to live in. We don’t have to be pompous and look down our noses at others either. The plain truth is this world is currently living in a majority rules situation — they don’t have any light, because we are hiding who we are! God’s Love is His Light! Everyone will know we are Christians by our love, and because LOVE is a verb not a noun, this is something that others can see and experience for themselves. We are Christians – We choose to live and die, loving others. 

You and I are the front-line of what Jesus wants to do on the earth today. Forget people focussing on the pastor, they are looking at us to see if what we say we believe, is real. And if that sentence doesn’t give you and I something to reflect on, we’d all better think again. We aren’t just here to stand up for what we are against – we are here to shine His light and love around, everywhere we go.  His love, needs to be in every dark corner of this world. Loving Jesus means we are for the people He came to save. People were drawn to Him – are they drawn to us? On that happy little note, bye for now! 👋

P 2765 Jesus just wants you.

/ DVH

 “A thief has only one thing in mind—he wants to steal, slaughter, and destroy. But I have come to give you everything in abundance, more than you expect —life in its fullness until you overflow!”John 10:10 TPT. Let’s LET Him decide what abundant life looks like for you.

We can get stuck on verses like this one, especially when we think we already know what an abundant life should look like! Unfortunately this means we are trusting in our own understanding not in the Lord’s guidance. No matter what our situation is, whether it is good or bad, we need to ask Him for His input. Otherwise if a disaster falls on us suddenly, we can end up judging God’s integrity by what has happened. But the bible says:“The rain falls on the just and the unjust.” We can only see in part, Almighty God sees the whole picture and … He has a plan. Trusting in God’s goodness and faithfulness is an essential part of the Christian life.

This world has been making so much noise and fuss lately that without His help and daily input – I think it is difficult to see anything clearly. Opinions fly about like butterflies in the spring! The thing to cling to in any sort of trouble is His goodness and faithfulness. “He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler.” Psalm 91:4. He said it, we believe it – that’s the end of it!   

The Lord disciplines and teaches us His ways for a reason – He wants us to be SAFE no matter what is going on – and He values our faith. So we humble ourselves before Him, and wait for Him to speak to us. Things may not always look that great from our end while we are in the middle of this process — but we need to learn to resist the devil, and that means he has to leave!

Because it was good enough for Jesus to follow the Holy Spirit then it is good enough for us too. He will tell us what to do: “This the enemy – fight it.’ OR … “This is My will for you, just keep on walking. We are not there yet.” Almighty God has His Way of doing things, and we need to learn to yield to His processes – instead of trying to avoid them. He is refining us. Let’s not be fair weather friends — let’s choose to grow into being a faithful fiancé! The Holy Spirit knows how to prepare Jesus’ Bride. We don’t. We just like an easy life!

Isaiah said this sad edict about God’s kids: 5:12b”…but they have no regard for the deeds of the Lord, no respect for the work of His hands.” It is foolish, BTW, to read these words as if they only apply to the Jewish people, instead, ask the Lord – ‘do I do that?’  Read the bible like He is talking to you, even if you don’t understand what it says, or why He is saying it! He is a faithful God and He is looking for a faithful people. That means in good times or bad, we keep on seeking Him. 

It says in Proverbs 3:6: ”In all your ways know and acknowledge and recognize Him, And He will make your paths straight and smooth [removing obstacles that block your way].” Instead of ticking boxes when we read, or perhaps excusing ourselves, instead ask the Lord: “Where am I not acknowledging YOU?” The bible contains diagnostic tools that only work when we apply them to ourselves. Be humble – ask questions. Wait for Him to talk to you, before you excuse yourself. I have fallen down the ‘excuses’ hole many times, and then I started to see that I was dodging the Holy Spirit’s conviction! We are not right in our selves, we are MADE right in Jesus. God’s love includes correction.

Humility is a strange thing – it is much more than just self-effacement. It is an attitude of our hearts. My bible says that ‘our hearts can be deceitfully wicked above all else’ and I’ve caught mine out loads of times protecting itself. If you aren’t like that, I urge you to start thanking the Lord and don’t stop. What a gift you have been given! Humility begins when we realise what we are not, and we begin to see everything HE IS. In the face of His true holiness, that pious stuff we make up to look spiritual, crumbles instantly.

To be Holy we need to deliberately stay under the blood of Jesus. That means respecting and obeying God is …IN;  but rebellion against His will is …OUT.  Wishing you could whack someone around their ear-hole is … OUT. Secretly looking at others lustfully is OUT. You can make up your own list, but the point is, we may fool our friends, rabbits and relations but we can’t fool Him. 

Jesus Himself gives us the most wonderful key to overcoming all sorts of things in the Beatitudes. “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:3. Recognise you are poor! Then live poor, and be needy. Need His help and instruction. We do not have to know everything. We are HIS. We gave our lives away – which means we don’t have them anymore!  Now we get to work alongside Him, and watch Him do stuff. Jesus just wants YOU. Bye. 🥰

P 2742 Stand firmly on the Rock.

/ DVH

Our God is our ever-present Rock and foundation.”He only is my Rock and my Salvation; He is my Defence and my Fortress, I shall not be moved. With God rests my salvation and my glory; He is my Rock of unyielding strength and impenetrable hardness, and my refuge is in God!” Psalm 62:6-8. “Yahweh, You’re the bedrock beneath my feet, my faith-fortress, my wonderful deliverer, my God, my rock of rescue where none can reach me. You’re the shield around me, the mighty power that saves me, and my high place.” Psalms 18:2 TPT.  “He is the Rock, His works are perfect, and all His ways are just, a faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is He.” Deuteronomy 32:4.

What does it mean when the bible says that Almighty God is our Rock? It means because we are His, and we have learnt, through experience that HE cannot be moved, so we cannot be moved because we are standing on Him and all He has done for us! We need to continually practice the skill of not being moved, even if an adverse wind is taking our breath away. Our knowledge of the goodness and purposes of Almighty God need to be far greater than the intellectual knowledge we’ve collected about the force of any kind of wind. Otherwise fear will take control and fear makes a terrible driver. Almighty God, His goodness, His faithfulness are the firm foundation we stand on.

The winds of change are blowing all over this world, and I think that they sometimes seem like gale force winds. At the same time, I sometimes wonder how any of us will cope if we move on into hurricane winds? The kind of wind that brings total destruction in its wake. Like: what if war comes to where we live? What if hunger or thirst comes? What if the people we love, or our families are no longer safe wherever they go? What if our families do not love God with a greater passion than we have – what will become of them? Are we equipped to do what we can … and then go on to stand! That wind blows inside our minds, as well as outside and around us. God becomes an untested theory.

There is something that exists today, that I’d call ‘distance trouble’ — bad things happening to people like us, but they are happening far, far away. This means we can enjoy relative peace because those bad things occur elsewhere. Instead we live with a low distant rumble of what might come next. Because these things are not happening now, right where we live, we are still free to view them dispassionately. We can have sympathy, tears, or be shocked, but my question today is – what happens when those bad things invade our safe carefully cultivated personal worlds?

How will we manage to love our enemies, when right now, our enemies are mainly in our minds? One day we could have real actual enemies, facing us, who physically want to kill us. People all round this world are facing that reality right now. We have the luxury of viewing change as an optional  extra because we are positionally secure … However, even here, where I live, there are gangs of children roaming the streets, stealing things that don’t belong to them. The opinions about what to do about this reality are many and varied, but ineffective at best. 

There are people in this world who are daily too busy running for cover – to save their lives or their families – they don’t have time for opinions. What would we do if what is there, comes here? How will we cope? I want to propose that if we have not made the Lord our God our firm anchor – our ROCK, and have that reality established in our lives, we cannot possibly know what WE are capable of, under extreme pressure. Now is the time to learn to trust Him, and surrender to Him and His Ways. We need to give up our right (?) to determine our own destiny.

Human beings do not respond well under extreme pressure. Yet it seems that we are still not wise enough to make the Ways of God our first priority. Many people I know are selective about what they will and won’t obey. They dismiss someone else’s dedication as over-zealousness and extremism. “That’s not that important,” they say, “God understands I can’t live like that. I have other priorities.” Do we have to almost drown in our own sorrows, before we learn in the depth of our hearts that this life is brief? We need to do good while the sun is shining … because things may not always stay that way! Personally, I need the ever-expanding many-sided wisdom of God constantly instructing and helping me or I will lose my way. He is my Rock.

Now is the time to stretch and prepare ourselves and our children, for the things that could come and bang upon the door of our safe little havens. Now is the time to learn to love, give, share, and care — and make that loving caring concrete, as well as the aim of our lives. We need to learn to stand firmly on the Rock that is God Himself, and learn to remain stable and not falter, no matter what comes next. That takes training and perseverance.  Bye. 👋

P 2666 It will never seem safe …

/ DVH

…and you will get a testimony, just like this guy did! Here is a stunning example of the Holy Spirit working. It’s from the Old Testament…”And (the servant) said, Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, Who has not left my master bereft and destitute of His loving-kindness and steadfastness. As for me, going on the way [of obedience and faith] the Lord led me to the house of my master’s kinsmen.” Genesis 24:27. 

The person who said the above profound sentence, was a senior servant in Abraham’s household. He prayed that the Holy Spirit would guide him, yet he didn’t even know his master’s God! This man simply took his orders from Abraham, and stepped out into the unknown. This is how the bible works. As the Holy Spirit kisses it, and highlights something to us, then we act in faith … and probably feel nothing whatsoever – except maybe a little bit dumb!

This man made a deal with the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit honoured his faith. (The whole story is in Genesis chapter 24.) He was charged with finding a wife for Isaac in a land far away. We don’t even know this man’s name! And when he prays for help, it is clear that he does not personally know Abraham’s God! But he knows His master — and he knows how to be obedient.  He clarifies the specific directions from the now elderly Abraham, and sets out, he knows not where, to find a specific wife for Isaac. A series of miracles happen to him, because God honours faith – no matter who has it – even when it is redirected!

That man never took his eyes off the prize. And the prize was fulfilling his Master’s wishes. He didn’t sit on the ground and wail about everything being too hard, yet his task was extremely difficult …instead he found where he was told to go, and using prayer and faith, he made a way to complete what he was given to do. Then he rejoiced mightily that God sent him to the right place at the right time to meet the right girl! Even when the girl’s father tried to slow up the process of returning back to Isaac with her – this servant put obedience over people pleasing.

This is how we walk with the Holy Spirit. Let’s use an example. We read in the bible that we should love one another and forgive others. However, at the same time, there is somebody in our lives that really gets our goat! We have every reason to avoid this person, but instead we’ve made a quality decision to obey what the book says over how we feel. So we pray about whatever it is, and next, we go to the person involved and humbly tell them that we are sorry we haven’t been able to get along with them. We don’t list everything they have done to us over the years to hurt us – after all, Jesus let us go free without conditions – so we do the same for them! Then we ask them how we can contribute to mending the relationship. Obedience to the instructions is our goal.

Remember, when we live like this we are only being good obedient servants — so we don’t expect thunderous applause or recognition. Personally, I could give you a list of the things that people have done to hurt me over the years. They made my life miserable … BUT I tore that list up and forgot what was on it … BY CHOICE. I make that choice every single time I see them!  I choose God – not my need for retribution, or holding onto my hurt feelings, or even as some sort of ridiculous ineffective protection against what they will do or say this time. Instead, I’m hiding behind the Holy Spirit! I obey what He says. I’m safe with Him when I obey His directions.

The servant who belonged to Abraham felt nothing! He bumbled into the right place at the right time and God did the rest. This is a great example of working with the Holy Spirit – we follow our Master’s instructions and we do it ASAP. The longer we wait to feel better first, the worse our feelings will get. satan will be delighted to hand us new reasons to not reconcile. Actually, there’s a chance that this person is probably going to ring us up and say something worse! Our enemy hates reconciliation. Humbling yourself is the key to a Holy Spirit filled life – you can’t walk with Him and not be reconciled to your brother. And I don’t care who does what, even if they keep on doing it, ad nauseam. 

This is the real choice — we are deciding WHO we want to walk with, not just choosing a way to make things better. If we truly want to walk with the Lord, we will have to do more than talk about our faith… we will have to live by it, every single day. We need to obey His instructions, even if what it says seems ridiculous to our thinking. Christians are a people who take what the bible says seriously. That obedient servant had no idea how his quest would end, but his desire to please HIS MASTER superseded his need to be safe. 👋

P 2631 Beware of roadblocks.

/ DVH

There is a possibility in our lives that we can have hidden, (even from ourselves), agendas – things that will inadvertently get in the way of true growth. Sometimes we can get caught up in our minds or emotions with ideas, people or things that we fiercely defend, but we are totally unaware that is what we are doing. Over a longer period of time, we can also learn to carefully avoid some situations because we are subconsciously aware that we don’t cope with them. Likewise, we can steer away from, or even get angry about, some things, purely because there is concealed pain behind them.

Ask yourself this question – apart from Jesus Himself – Who is THE most important person in your life – is there anyone or anything that you strongly feel that you cannot live without? Maybe a person who you value so much, that even the smallest thought of loss can send you into fear or anxiety? If you are a parent, maybe it’s a child …whether it is an adult child or not …  or perhaps a spouse;  or a close friend. Even the thought of any loss connected with these things can send you into an overwhelming downward spiral. If even the very thought of letting go of something or someone sends us into a panic – that is a clear indication something has grabbed hold of us!

You know, the thing we are most afraid of, can sometimes be the greatest spiritual strength in our lives, when we overcome that fear with His help. Always remembering that His help leads us TO DO SOMETHING. Perhaps there is a job we don’t want to lose, or we’ve fixated on finding somewhere safe to live – but this thing, whatever it is, influences every other decision we make. And it may not even consciously register in our minds. In this scenario that person or thing, no matter how normal or insignificant they seem to be, can become a roadblock to spiritual growth. 

When things get tough, and hardship strikes — this predisposition to protect ourselves and hide from suffering, will get in the way of any of the Holy Spirit’s solutions. Simply put, we won’t ask Him to help us with someone or something we don’t want to lose … just in case He takes that thing or person away! Plus we can easily go on from there to make decisions based on fear and pain instead of what the Lord wants. 

It is incredibly easy to think we know what is best for us – but that decision can be formed within the framework of hidden fear NOT FAITH. The assumption that our feelings, or even familiar thought patterns are a good guide, is a lie! The Word of God is our primary, solitary guide. I have seen godly parents put up with abuse, because they feel they cannot live without their fully grown child and the sneaky wrong spirit in that adult child ends up ruling the roost.

Or maybe the parent is afraid of what will become of their progeny and sadly, co-dependency has taken hold. We can sometimes desperately pray and hope: “that Jesus won’t mind, because He understands I can’t help it, I need it to be like this.” Read the gospels … the Lord told one man to leave his recently deceased father behind!

I have also seen sweet Godly Christians hurt others because they refuse to let go of something that should have been left behind them years ago. That has been caused by fear which has been carried forward from childhood pain. It can colour our adult thinking. The thing to do in such situations is to get to the root of the tree by asking WHY?

Why do I feel so strongly that I cannot let go of my child, or spouse etc. and give them to Jesus unreservedly, without any agenda in my heart? What pattern of ungodly thinking is preventing my growth? What fear is ruling my life? How did it start, and what am I still doing now, today, to keep that fear alive? We need to prayerfully identify and deal with these issues under the Holy Spirit’s wisdom and guidance.

Our God is not mean. He is a loving caring Father, who is deeply involved, and intimately engaged in our everyday lives. BTW, this issue is not about disobedience, it is a deep lack of trust. We are not trusting the Lord to take care of those things that are extremely important to us. Sadly we could even be letting fear rule. But our precious loving Father knows us, and He knows the way we need to go to get through things like this. We must follow Him, step by step into relinquishment. It is not good to hold on to other people so tightly that you lose your own God-given freedom!

Matthew 16:19:“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” The Lord Jesus Christ gave His power to the disciples when they were too dumb to know what they were given. That’s how generous to mankind He has been! We can personally prevent any change in difficult situations or even dangerous ones by misusing the power we already have — instead of yielding people or material things to Him and progressively learning to live a life of faith. We need to let go of those things that weigh us down. At the same time by holding on too tightly to someone/something else we have the power to prevent growth and change in that other person or situation.

It is part of our job description to voluntarily choose to live this new life Jesus died to give us, embracing the power to overcome, instead of hiding away from it because it might pinch something from us! Plus always watching and aware of any roadblocks or ‘keep-out signs’ we have inadvertently put up or embraced… because we know those things will steal His new life away from us. Bye. 👋

P 2625 Love needs to be given away.

/ DVH

“Love is never wasted for its value does not rest upon reciprocity…  …To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.” (C.S. Lewis – The Four Loves.) “Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” Matthew 6:21.

I was challenged by what C.S. Lewis said, because I think it is so true. I have met people who decided loving others was not ‘safe’ — and, sadly, they seemed to be some of the most black and white people I ever met. It was as if all colour was sucked right out of them. In my opinion ‘compassion and empathy’ bring God’s glorious out-of-this-world’s colour into, and out of our little lives. Those incredible gifts are the very essence of Christ’s being and life. However, without His Presence we can do nothing but flap our gums and look awkward. But with Him, we can usher in His kingdom here on earth, right here, right now. Our God is always NOW.

Let’s be clear, loving others is not only hard, like C.S said, it is fraught with danger. People are not reliable by nature, instead they have been badly influenced by the world around them. However, we have, inside us, the power to speak His life into others. Nobody can tell me that this kind of thing doesn’t or can’t happen, because I’ve watched it happen time and time again! A seemingly ordinary person, who is polite and helpful – but distant – suddenly floods with the Lord’s colour and His light, and they are alive in a way that seemed impossible a second ago. It takes my breath away every single time.

If we want to see Him at work and watch what He can do, first we need to lay aside our fear of rejection, abandonment and looking foolish. We will need to be brave. At times like this my favourite thought is: “I am never going to see these people again, what do I care what they think of me?”  So I start with whatever small thought He has given me, and I just keep pulling on that thread. Then, I stop and wait. I’m waiting to see what the Lord will do next. I try not to speak in paragraphs or whole pages. Instead, I do my best to speak as simply and clearly as I can. But the main point is: I do what He tells me to do the way He tells me to do it.

My dear hubby has been used by the Lord in this way, in front of my eyes, many times.  And he illustrates this releasing of God’s  glorious colours in others, time and time again when we are on the road. He is normally quite shy, and retiring, or that’s how he appears, until the Lord lights up inside him! At those times he is so bold when he speaks, even to strangers. And they glow under the lamp-light of God’s kindness and approval.  Then they tell him all kinds of personal things they probably wouldn’t even dream of telling people they know!

Hubby’s personal transformation illustrates to me what the kingdom looks like when it flows through us toward others. In those times we do not have to persuade anybody that God is real … when He turns up, His Presence is self-explanatory! Everyone knows that He is there. They don’t know, how or why … but they know that something extraordinary is going on. Mostly, the people we speak to look like little children who suddenly feel at home and LOVED.

God loved us so much He gave… and unless we participate in a lifetime of giving, loving and continually caring for everybody we meet, we will get stuck in a grey world that is the same old same old, day after day after day. You know, when many Christians get stuck spiritually, they end up hoping that going to church week by week will do. Actually, our relationship with Him is meant to be alive and vibrant minute by minute. If we only have Christian friends and Christian fellowship, then we have limited our exposure to the world around us. This means we will most likely never see the Lord shine as brightly as He does in the darkness.

Lately, we’ve all been so focussed on making ourselves feel better, we forgotten we are keepers of the most precious substance on this earth – HIS LOVE.  Love is meant to be given away, not hidden or hoarded. Hiding it defeats the very purpose we were given love in the first place! The more we give His love away, the more our lives will be bombarded with His colour and beauty. Jesus can’t help Himself, He just loves to do extraordinary things … usually without our permission! YAY! Our privilege and joy is – we are allowed to watch Him do them.  Aren’t we the blessed ones? 👋

P 2606 Look for hidden gems.

/ DVH

‘With this in mind, we constantly pray that our God will empower you to live worthy of all that He has invited you to experience. And we pray that by His power all the pleasures of goodness and all works inspired by faith would fill you completely.” 2 Thessalonians 1:11 TPT. Now that’s a prayer! Amen.

I don’t know what you do when you read prayers like this, but the first thing I do is pray them for myself! I need all the help I can get – especially when it comes to leading a life worthy of Christ’s sacrifice for me. 🤯 I know that Paul prayed this prayer for his church family in Thessaloniki but the miracle is – we can participate in that prayer today because it’s’ in the book! It’s a hidden gem that will help increase our passion for Christ and His calling on our lives. I personalise prayers from the bible all the time.

Paul prays here for all of us to be empowered to the point that we fulfil our destiny in Christ. BIG prayer. HUGE. He is also praying from an established place. He says “with this in mind” –  that means he’s not ‘hope’ praying, he’s praying using his established faith in God’s goodness and ability, to ask for the answer. He has something in his mind as he prays for us  … a place that he knows well, because he lives there. There is nothing more inspiring than the passion that has personal knowledge of the circumstances.

But let’s look at what he is not praying for – he’s not praying for us to have happy lives, plenty of money, safe places to live, and an easy life!! Instead, Paul’s praying for a worthy life for each one of us. Amen!  He wants us to have increased experiences with God’s goodness so that we are inspired into more faith. Here’s another version of the same verse … (NIV)“With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of His calling, and that by His power He may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith.”

I like that one too! To start with it puts Almighty God firmly in charge of my transformation. That does not mean I sit back on my hands and do nothing – it means I tap into His power and begin to do whatever He asks me to do, using my faith. I’ve been assured, by reading verses like this one, that this power has already been made available to me! This power is the power to be transformed and it activates, as I develop a passion to know Him and want to be like Him.

It also means whatever I do, I respond with my own faith.The great thing about this verse is it is not a wish prayer. It is healthy to put our faith in the One Who started this new life for us in the first place! You and I have nothing to contribute here but our obedience and our love for Him, plus our utter gratefulness for all He has done for us. I’ve found that I need to pursue my desire to be like Jesus. He died to give me that total transformation. That is what I call passion. 

Passion should not be reduced to simply singing worship songs loudly etc. Passion is a driving life-force not just a momentary thing. In this world’s thought processes, ‘passion’ comes and goes so quickly — we have lost its meaning. Some people fall in love and then just as quickly, fall out of it. That fact alone tells me that human beings know absolutely nothing about passion or love. I like what one person said about that subject. ‘Anything you can fall into you can fall out of!’ I call that very powerful feeling this world acknowledges … LUST. Passion is not a feeling, it is a directional life-force that pulls us along. 

Today, people can get ‘passionate’ about rebuilding cars, or sport, or movies etc. But passion is more than feelings, it is a strong devotion to something outside ourselves. Actually, I think that passion turned inwards, is called narcissism! We can become so devoted to self-preservation, recognition and popularity, that other people and their needs disappear. However, the best place for passion to be born and maintained is through the Spirit of the Living God Himself – He is the Author of the kind of passion that does not fade – it increases. 

Our passion to know Him and be transformed motivates forward movement in our faith. It is way more than a feeling that pulls us to our knees at an altar — it is the driving force that stands firm in the heat of strong temptation. It is as alive and well when we are all alone at 3.00am, as it is in church. Passion is a hidden gem. It inspires increased intentional devotion, and a life laid down for His sake. 👋

P 2596 There is no hole too deep.

/ DVH

Psalm 16:1-11MSG: “Keep me safe, O God, I’ve run for dear life to You. I say to God, “Be my Lord!” Without You, nothing makes sense. And these God-chosen lives all around—what splendid friends they make! Don’t just go shopping for a god. Gods are not for sale. I swear I’ll never treat god-names like brand-names. My choice is You, God, first and only. And now I find I’m Your choice! You set me up with a house and yard. And then You made me your heir! 

The wise counsel God gives when I’m awake is confirmed by my sleeping heart. Day and night I’ll stick with God; I’ve got a good thing going and I’m not letting go. I’m happy from the inside out, and from the outside in, I’m firmly formed. You canceled my ticket to hell—that’s not my destination! Now You’ve got my feet on the life path, all radiant from the shining of Your face. Ever since You took my hand, I’m on the right way.”

Isn’t this a terrific Psalm full of good advice? It is a testimony speaking about living life His way. When I read this today, it reminded me of a fantastic testimony hubby and I have from years ago, and today I thought I would share it. Many years ago my husband was working full-time as a clinical nurse. One day he was walking an older gentleman back from a procedure, when the old man slipped and started to fall. Hubby reflexly rotated to try and catch him before he fell and my dear fella badly injured his back. Thank the Lord the old man was unhurt.

Long story short, hubby went into months of agony with countless steroid injections, back braces, scans, X-rays, and saw many, many doctors and specialists. The diagnosis was grim, he had worn away the disc between L4 and L5 and the bone was rubbing on the bone, producing constant excruciating pain. The pain was never going to go away, plus he had to take pain killers for months and months… Meanwhile the pain killers messed with his head.

At the same time the hospital kept trying to prove there was nothing wrong with his back, and they were not at fault. Work Cover insurance ignored us. Eventually we were informed that because we had fallen far behind in our mortgage payments, the bank was going to take our house, within the month. It was an awful, awful time. Even back then I was not well, and we had no other resources to fall back on. This went on over eighteen months.

You know, in order to see a miracle, we must need a miracle – they are not just entertainment! … We loved our house and we were going to lose it through no fault of our own. The lady from work cover consistently said that hubby would NEVER receive a pay out – even though everybody knew that he had been injured through work – meanwhile we had endless rounds of appointments talking to people who continued to say: “no help for you!” We kept praying, sometimes complaining, and sometimes with little or NO faith.

Months later out of the blue, this lady called us again. She said: “I’ve got some news for you, I don’t agree with it, but they have taken your case to a higher power.😂 So they have agreed to pay out your superannuation.” Hubby was still on the phone with this lady he had talked to for months, but his knees hit the floor and he cried out: “Thank you Jesus!”  I heard him from the kitchen! Meanwhile, we knew who the ‘Higher Power” was!

The pay out was a bit more than we needed to get rid of the mortgage once and for all. But in order to get this payout we had to go for financial counselling, because it was hubby’s superannuation – so we agreed. The morning of the appointment a word from the Lord dropped into my heart. He said: “Render unto Caesar that which belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to Him.” OK, we didn’t know what that meant but … we took note of it. Everybody at the financial counsellor’s offices was lovely to us. ‘Would we like a cup of tea? The parking’s  free. How can we help you?’

So in we go to see the consultant. The nice man began explaining how he could save us even more money, with a bit of creative accounting we could avoid paying any taxes on the money we received. He said this earnestly, insisting that it was legal! God reminded us of what He’d said, and both of us knew immediately what that meant. No wriggling out of doing what was right. We had to pay the taxes, $18,000 – $20,000 … a fortune to us. And we thanked the man sincerely and explained we were Christians, so we wouldn’t be depriving the government of their tax.

It was hilarious. The mood in his office changed instantly. The nice man couldn’t get rid of us quickly enough, well we did give testimony about how we got the money in the first place! He probably thought we were going to preach at Him! Especially when we explained that we also needed to tithe on this money. So, we didn’t GET a cup of tea. Nobody gave us a voucher for the parking, In fact they couldn’t get rid of us fast enough. Meanwhile we laughed all the way down in the lifts!

When we arrived home that same day … true story! We had a letter in our letter box – it was a cheque for the exact amount of money we needed to pay the tax!  (We tithed on that too!) God is never any man’s debtor. Praise the Lord!! 🙌 There is no hole too deep that the Lord Jesus cannot find us, there is no difficulty He cannot get us out of.

ps Hubby had an operation shortly after all this … but that’s another testimony. Bye 👋