Salt

P 3267 Practise apologising.

/ DVH

My heartfelt apologies if you tried to access my site – firstfloormessages.com. My server has ongoing problems, I recommend WordPress for access until the problem is resolved. The tech team is working on it.

 Repentance involves us discussing something we’ve done with the Lord, and fixing it with Him. Those things are often carried out in secret. Just you and Jesus, talking together in your quiet time. Great! Do it!! But that is not all there is. Let’s be careful and prayerful over the people around us that we may have hurt too.

 It really doesn’t matter whether we think what we did required an apology … or not! Here’s a verse to soak in: “Abstain from ALL appearance of evil.” 1 Thessalonians 5:22. Many people think if they did not mean any harm, then —there can’t be any harm. No harm, no foul. The thing is we can make our brother or sister stumble, and boy does that matter!! If what we did appears to be evil to someone else then we need to pay attention. In some versions it says, “avoid any appearance of evil.”

Jesus Christ identified Himself with each one of us, so when we do good stuff, we bless Him. And when we hurt someone else, or omit to do good, and we are bringing His Name into disrepute. And NO!… the answer is not to find a hide-out and become a secret Christian – the answer is to fix what we messed up! The way out is to apologise, because Jesus identified Himself with that person. If we want to be closer than a brother to the Lord then we will need to stay that way, by caring about the people He cares for —- He loves the whole world!

“Please forgive me because I hurt you…” is an essential part of loving care for others. Our opinion about what should or should not hurt someone else doesn’t matter two beans! This attitude is a wonderful witness to anyone, even the people who-don’t-know-Him-yet. The only thing that it will cost us is pride, and that is a small price to pay for restoration. This is a good time to remind ourselves that we now live for Him – so what we are doing is for His sake, even if it costs us our supposed dignity. It is also a good time to remember that Jesus was humiliated beyond belief for our sakes.   

I don’t know if this has happened to you, but there are times when somebody may have jumped all over you, and never taken the time to apologise and ask for your forgiveness. I’ve found that in my own strength I can only swallow so much angst, and mean rubbish, before I start passing the pain I feel on to a totally innocent bystander. That’s why staying close to Jesus, and asking for His help, all the time, is essential!   

The things of this world are not getting any better. Actually, I’ve never met so many pouty, unrepentant people in my life! You could drown under the vast wave of ‘poor me’ and ‘look what they did to me.’ That’s the way the world acts and they don’t know any better. Christians need to know better. There will always be people who are big babies that constantly need petting and patting and lots of reassurance – because “we hurt their feelings.”  We need to see these people as a gift. They may probably seem like a gift you want to take back to the store!! But the truth is they are our own personal humility metre! They show us how humble we really are.  

BTW, it is not good to re-gift this kind of unhappy behaviour onto someone else. In other words, one person may be extremely irritating and they keep giving you opportunities to be angry. You’ve tried hard to explain but they have their  fingers in their ears and they are not listening … the talk-to-the-hand response! And we can spend hours explaining to someone else how irritating they are — and in the end — that person doesn’t much like the offender either. And wham, bam, now that irritating person has even more reasons to be a pain, because a whole bunch of people that we’ve influenced, don’t like them! Bad plan.

We are here to influence others for good. If we are going to be salt and light then we need to be careful with the amount of salt we are slinging about, because too much salt can spoil any stew … and we can spoil someone else’s good opinion of another person. Too much light means you see those little spots everywhere, instead of being able to see clearly. So let’s learn to put aside our own feelings in these situations, ask the Lord for help, and stop whining.  

This is another place to die to self. We aren’t forgiving people so we can be thought of as being nice, and we don’t ask other people to forgive us for the same reason. We do it because Jesus said so. When we don’t take the time to humbly repent, or ask Him for the Grace to go and apologise to someone else who is upset with us, we are putting our own faith in danger of bitterness and resentment.  

Finally, there are times when we are in the wrong and we  can’t figure out how to fix it. Start by remembering sin no longer has a sting to it. Their sin, ours, mine, the grocer … it doesn’t matter – Jesus paid for it. Our bit is to be honest about what has happened. We are all in the same boat, so let’s not wreck that boat to make a point. Taking the time to apologise to someone means we are taking the time to value that other person. The Lord loves it. Bye. 👋  

P 3240 Come up higher.

/ DVH

Sometimes we can become so earthly-minded we are no longer of any heavenly use. It seems to me that the church has become distracted by the cares and worries of this world. At the same time, it kind of looks like we expect Almighty God to enter our world and meet our needs here and now — He already did that. The thing is, He has higher priorities and I don’t think that it is His priority to make sure His kids have a cushy life.

Let’s take what the bible says seriously, and start making investments and withdrawals, using that book as our guideline. Then we can begin to bring His kingdom down here where the truly needy live. Truly needy people are the people-who-don’t-know-Him-yet! Personally, I think telling people Jesus died to make them rich and prosper, is an abomination! 

None of Jesus’ disciples settled down into living in a grand house, in the ‘burbs, with everything they needed on tap. Instead they hit the road, and trusted Jesus to meet their needs. BTW, I am not saying, sell your house, go and sit on the curb and wait for Jesus to come back, but I am saying  – He is our priority. His agenda is now our agenda. We have given our lives to Him, so we can’t afford to let this life dictate what happens to us, through us and around us. 

As kingdom people, our destiny is to bring light and hope into the darkness. We may have to punch a hole in the darkness sometimes. The author of the book of Daniel punched a hole, and it took a while for the answer to come. Yet this man kept waiting for the Lord to do what He loves to do for all of us. Redeem the situation. Jesus loves to redeem situations, as well as relationships. It’s faith that gives us the impetus we need to pray, and keep on praying as we wait for Him to answer.  

Sometimes a believer’s problems can be a wrong attitude. Especially when we want to use God to make this life, our own earthly life, better. This world is a sewer. You can’t see the kingdom of God in a sewer, unless God Himself called you in there! This means we can’t afford to steep ourselves in the gunk that goes on around us – we need to soak in the Word of God to stay clean! We are called to be IN this world and not OF it. That means this world is not alive in us.

We can use our spiritual energy up by trying to praying our way out of this and that. But the bible says we are already more than conquerors, because of what Jesus has done. Let’s focus on that instead, and deliberately make sure all our relationships are based on the kind of love Jesus gave us. And when things are difficult, and “stuff” happens – while we are in the middle of it – let’s look for someone we are there to help, to witness to, to care for.

We seem to have given up on fulfilling the Great Commission. Sadly, we’ve become so involved in human affairs, we’ve forgotten our mandate. My advice is this – tell the Lord your needs, and choose to walk with the Spirit of God. Our faith is not designed to be like a credit card that is whipped out for use when we need it. Our faith is like an atmosphere that surrounds us. We live there, in good or bad seasons, we choose to focus on our glorious God being in charge. We comfort ourselves that He is doing what He set out to do … we just can’t see it yet. So we pray for steadfastness in trials and the ability to rest while He’s doing whatever He is doing. It is going to be for our good, we just can’t see it yet.

The Body of Christ is here to be salt and light — to lift everyone around us up higher, by the way we regard others. It is not lying to speak to the good in someone else who has been anything but good to you! It takes faith. We have the power to speak things into being – ask the Lord to show you what He sees in those people. Let’s stop rehearsing other people’s sins, and start looking for why they are here, and speak into that… … encouraging them into those things. 

In the last century, my age group made a mistake, we started exalting ourselves. Telling ourselves that we were  this or that and quoting verses from the bible to prove it to ourselves and others. It was a lot of hot air. Forget being the head instead of the tail – Jesus is our Head! I do not care if I am a toenail in the Body of Christ, I’m just glad to be included! Jesus is the only One Who is all this, AND that. We are here to encourage and bless and uphold others. We don’t need to big note ourselves spiritually. 

What stands us out in this world needs to be His GRACE and LOVE operating in us and through us. Let’s  decide what kingdom we want to live in, here and now – HIS kingdom is the Higher Place, living like He lived. We dare not call ourselves successful unless we are living to help others, because loving one another has become our priority. Let’s put our prayer, faith and energy into that. Bye 👋.

P 2995 Controlling our mouths …

/ DVH

…is actually the biggest part of our daily battle … because speaking well of people is essential for our new language of love, so we all need to learn it. After all, the spirit of self-control needs to set its fruit somewhere … why not our tongues?

“Do not LET any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” Ephesians 4:29. Here’s something I’ve learnt about myself that may benefit someone else. Sometimes the best response to something negative someone else says to you, is to smile — remember to include your eyes —and say nothing. Listening is a fantastic skill. Humility listens. Most angry people will de-escalate if we are prepared to give them a hearing. While I am listening, or trying to, I am inwardly praying: “Please help ME Holy Spirit, my feelings are out of control.”  

As we seek to truly love one another, reconciliation must never be far away from our minds. We cannot afford to make any argument a competition about who wins and who loses. If we start keeping score it adds to the anger. One of the participants in the problem is going to have to put their grievance – their sword– down. The best way to do that, is to start with an apology.

“A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” Proverbs 15:1. So it is good to say neutral things like: “I’m sorry you feel like that, and I have obviously hurt your feelings. I apologise.Please forgive me.” And then continue to say nothing. While we are busy defending ourselves, we aren’t loving that other person – we are empowering our flesh.

Loving each other is the secret ingredient to watching whatever we say. People who fall in love with someone else, watch their speech. The thing is, it is not good for our personal spiritual well-being to be a hypocrite, and love some people and not others simply because: “Love covers a multitude of sins …” It covered OURS!

Please understand that when we act in faith, with a spirit of reconciliation, we are not necessarily validating what the other person is saying – we are simply choosing to obey scripture: “First take the LOG out of your own eye, and then you will be able to see the splinter.” Matthew 7:3-5. None of us are blameless. What does it matter if we are falsely accused? What does it matter if we lose an argument? We might win the war by appearing to lose. The walls of Jericho came down because of a long silence, and one well-placed shout of victory!

Very few people walk up to someone else and punch them in the face FIRST! Arguments usually start with words, and then things grow exponentially as we use more and more words, and move on into hurling spiteful responses at each other and bringing up the other person’s past misdeeds. That’s the time we need to remember that we cannot control another person’s actions or reactions, we have to start with ourselves first. Maybe His Grace in our lives – which we get from spending time with Jesus in the secret place – has been diminished by the troubles and cares of this life.

“LET your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” Colossians 4:6. One of my favourite preachers from the Brownsville Revival used to say – “this thing right here … (and he would point to his tongue) – that’s the thing we all need to be aware of.” “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be so.” James 3:10. But it obviously IS so, because God Himself tells us through James …that it should not be so! This is where our personal test of obedience kicks in.

The next verse is the secret to overcoming all that. We cannot afford to live this life forgetting, for even a second, WHO we belong to now. “Little children, you can be certain that you belong to God and have conquered them, for the One who is living in you is far greater than the one who is in the world.”1 John 4:4 TPT. You see our confidence is not in our ability to conform, or even perform – our confidence is in Him. It is not in me or you … it’s IN HIMI We believe and have faith in His ability to conquer whatever situation we find ourselves in — after all He conquered DEATH! Therefore my big mouth is not a problem to Him. 

All this is possible because we belong to Him and He lives in us. We have a God Who saves us, and Who lives in us! He has already saved us from the sin we will perpetrate against someone else by what we’ve said. Because of the Lord Jesus we have the deposit of self-control within us, by His Grace. All we need to do is to release it, using our faith. Controlling our mouths is the biggest part of our daily battle. Bye 👋.

P 2945 God’s TEAM needs HIS preparation.

/ DVH

“For the Lord is the greatest of all, King-God over all other gods! In one hand He holds the mysteries of the earth, and in the other He holds the highest mountain peaks. He’s the owner of every ocean, the engineer and sculptor of earth itself! Come and kneel before this Creator-God; come and bow before the mighty God, our majestic Maker! For we are those He cares for, and He is the God we worship. So drop everything else and listen to His voice!”Psalm 95:3–7 TPT.

““I tell you this timeless truth: The person who follows Me in faith, believing in Me, will do the same mighty miracles that I do—even greater miracles than these because I go to be with My Father!”John 14:12 TPT.

“Whether you eat or drink, live your life in a way that glorifies and honours God.”1 Corinthians 10:31 TPT.

Our total faith in God’s unchanging goodness, together with our decision to deliberately lay down our lives unconditionally — as lovers of Christ – IS glorifying to God. We have been destined to stand with the same steadfastness David had in front of Goliath, sure in the knowledge that God will help us, so nothing can stand in our way! You and I can walk into an enemy’s camp with nothing but lights and horns because He said to do it… and then we get to win! The Old Testament has profound teaching in it about the love and power of God in action in a people-group’s lives. Today I want to talk about difficulties being a part of our preparation.

Remember Job? God Himself set that man up for a huge test! He didn’t kill the man’s kids, or take his money, or cause his financial problems, the other guy did that. But we don’t like to think about what God will allow in our  lives, because we all love a happy ending! Unfortunately the bit in the middle of that process leaves us cold! Sometimes that is because fear has a foothold and we are not acquainted with His unending goodness. However, Job clearly shows us what life is like without the Lord’s protective hand … Job came through that awful test, because even though his faith was often misplaced and sometimes wobbly – He was still God’s man! 

The Lord wants to lead each one of us to those green pastures in Psalm 23, but we may need to go through the valley of the shadow of death to get there!! Even if He has to drag us through a bramble bush backwards! We need to approach this life dedicated to actively learn every day, to CO-operate with Almighty God, just like Jesus did. We need the same mind toward God HE had.  “Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by Himself;  He can do only what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all He does. Yes, and He will show Him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed.” John 15:19&20. 

This life we have here and now, is our chance to be the people who co-operate with God’s plan. But we must remember that we cannot choose how that works. That’s because God can do more than one, or ninety-four things at a time. So at the same time as we are walking in His power, we are growing fruit for His glory, fighting off the enemy and standing firm. Staying attached to the vine means we don’t move, we are there through thick and thin without doubting His love toward us.

The biggest mistake we can ever make is to see God’s goodness as a reward, or an add-on to what we already have – or even what we think we want or need – His goodness is about His character not our actions. God did not save us just to bless us and make this life peachy-keen! He is looking for A PEOPLE.  Read the book. He wants a people who will act and speak love toward others, just like Jesus did! He chose YOU because He knows what you are capable of when you choose to trust Him.

These daily tests we face are preparing us for what comes next. We are to be His salt in a bland, blah world, as well as His light shining brightly in the darkness all around us. We need to learn, through our own personal experiences, to be confident in God’s love for us even when things get difficult — because: “Depths of purpose and layers of meaning saturate everything You – (He) do(es).” Psalm 92:5 TPT.

Everything that comes AT us, is Father-filtered. So when we gave our lives to Jesus we put Him in charge of our new life. Now we are “His people, the sheep of His pasture…” It is good to remind ourselves that when we gave Him our lives, He took them! 🎼”It’s no longer I that liveth, but Christ that liveth in me…🎶” … that is not just a sweetly sentimental song … THAT IS AN AIM! …  A purpose … A battle cry!

Let’s stop trying hard to make our own lives perfect, by telling ourselves that when that happens we will have the freedom to obey Him! Otherwise we end up telling ourselves that when everything is going well for us — that’s when we will engage in His alternative unknown plan … after we’ve done this thing and that aim — THEN we can go be about our Father’s business. We need to GO be about our Father’s business, all the time — ready or not! Almighty God has not been, nor will He ever be, an add-on. Nor is the blood of Jesus just a free ticket to a better place after we have died. He’s the meaning of life!

We have been commissioned by the Lord Himself to tell others they need to be ready for what comes next … but are WE ready? “… However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find [persistence in] faith on the earth?”  Luke 18:8b. Obedience to His heavenly vision is the key that unlocks the door to an eternal perspective … here and now. God’s team needs His preparation – and He chooses that for each one of us. Bye. 👋

P 2918 Know your place.

/ DVH

It is a very valuable thing to know your place in God’s plans. Who you are, and who you are not. Listen to the genuine humility in what John the Baptist says in John 1:19-23. “Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Messiah.”They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?”

He answered, “No.” Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”

John had absolutely no problem with his role in God’s kingdom, and yet he had a lot to brag about! To start with, He was born under extraordinary circumstances. His parents were childless and too old to have children when God announced his arrival. This young man looked and lived differently, he was totally devoted to God’s purposes. He practically vibrated with passion for God’s ways. John was the youngest witness ever-recorded in the bible. He jumped up and down for joy, inside his mum, when his mother met Mary, who was carrying Jesus Christ inside her at the time.

This young man knew his place – he simply did whatever God told him to do when the Lord told him to do it. His entire life was devoted to preaching repentance. It still blows my mind that he had a huge personal claim to fame, after all – he baptised Jesus!!  Imagine – he could have founded the “I baptised Jesus movement!” Yet he never once traded on what he did, he simply was obedient to his own calling. Sadly this poor guy got his head cut off because he called sin SIN! Something we all seem loathe to do nowadays.

Today everyone seems to want a big glorious ministry – to be seen and known. While others have given up on any ministry because they don’t seem to be spiritually extraordinary enough. Where are the John the Baptists amongst us? The men and women who know their place and faithfully and humbly stand in what they were given to do. We live in a culture that says that we should become famous, so we can make the Lord’s Name famous. Like HE needs our help!! I love the scripture below, because it smacks ambition right on the head – hard!

“For who do you know that really knows you, knows your heart? And even if they did, is there anything they would discover in you that you could take credit for? Isn’t everything you have and everything you are sheer gifts from God? So what’s the point of all this comparing and competing? You already have all you need. You already have more access to God than you can handle…”1 Corinthians 4:7 MSG.

Another version says: “What do you have that was not given to you?”  Our answer to that should always be … nothing. Not one blooming thing. I’ve had 3 children, and I know each one was a gift from God. I also live in a safe place – the Lord gave me that too. Some other Christians live in anti-Christ cultures and they live with great fear. Because they know Jesus, and they love Him, but the Lord is not welcome in their country.They are living like His salt in a deadly stew, fearing a knock on their door.  

Looking at this world all around us and realising what we have been given, introduces gratitude and a sense of place and purpose. The pressure is off, we don’t all have to be big time evangelists … some of us live ordinary lives faithfully serving an extraordinary God! Yesterday hubby explained the gospel to a lady who had never ever heard it before. She asked what the gospel of John was about, and he left her reading the bible for the first time. Our faith has been designed to be active and vibrant — as well as love-filled and dripping in compassion. That’s the only criteria. Fame brings its own pitfalls.

Some of us get to practice love on people who have absolutely no idea or understanding of what they have been freely given. Many saints weep into their pillows in fervent prayer, because they know the fate of others around them. You and I might pass these people on the street and we wouldn’t even know that we are passing one of Christ’s passionate unknown soldiers.

Ambition is a deadly trap. The person imprisoned by it can never do enough, there always has to be more – preferably bigger and brighter. For these poor souls trapped-by-extraordinary-visible-results, the joy of salvation can be lost in the anguish of not-being-effective-enough. Or the need to have recognition. We must find our own place, and start being active and obedient to our heavenly calling — where He put us. Here’s a very old hymn, many may have sung in their childhood that reminds us of that calling:

“Jesus bids us shine with a pure clean light, like a little candle burning in the night. In this world of darkness, so we must shine – you in your small corner and I in mine!”   Bye … 👋.

P 2787 Guard your heart.

/ DVH

I am so over this whole election news stuff. It’s been going on for months. The whole: ‘can you believe what he said, she said, or they said’ info, has taken over everything. Why would anyone choose a leader based on what other people say, surely our own prayerful choices are more valuable? The Lord controls the future and our times are in His hands. All I can do, and have done, is to pray for the people involved. If my opinion could change things I would start with those terrible wars where all sorts of people are dying daily! Instead I pray as He leads me, and then … I give it all back to Him.

I truly believe this never-ending running flow of information is the enemy’s way of tuning people out from the very real things that happen in this life, all around us. It keeps us agitated and on edge. It may provide something interesting to talk about at work around the water cooler, but I believe it also has an impact on the listeners!  Unfortunately, I think human beings can become immunised against the things that are in our own little basket, because the barrage of information at us gets to be too much.

We need to be focussed on those people who need our prayers, concern and help. Otherwise our hearts can be overwhelmed by the constantly overflowing, questionable information, and then they start to become hardened. Sadly, we stop caring, purely out of extreme tiredness and self-defence. We are being fed opinions and agendas under the guise of information. It’s like having root canal – it’s endless, painful and somebody else profits! I would go so far as to say, the media is currently responsible for steering many people away from faith, and into fear. 

I had a dear Sister-in-the Lord who had MS and she was housebound. She loved to watch the news. The Lord had set her as a watchman on the walls, (a spiritual gift BTW) so she prayed for everything and everyone in the news. Because the Lord gave her this ministry, when you went to see her, there was never a negative word about any shocking or pressing situations in this world. She had His POV and that was enough!

The bible says we need to be careful what we take in: “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life”Proverbs 4:23. The Hebrew translation of guard – means to keep above all keepings. So, above ALL you guard – your marriage, family, bank account, passwords, your car or house – guard your heart with more vigilance than anything else.

Indifference, and annoyance starts in our heads, and seeps down into our hearts and it eventually affects the way we regard other people. We start to think negatively about the people Jesus died for. “Oh those people are all idiots anyway, why should I care?” We care because we are called to be salt, and to be salty we need to flavour the world around us with the taste of Jesus, not the despair of the lost.

I also love the Message Version of Proverbs 4:23 “Keep vigilant watch over your heart; that’s where life starts.
Don’t talk out of both sides of your mouth; avoid careless banter, white lies, and gossip. Keep your eyes straight ahead; ignore all sideshow distractions. Watch your step, and the road will stretch out smooth before you. Look neither right nor left; leave evil in the dust.” 

Pretty clear good advice there! We continue to fight the good fight by asking Him what He thinks – without deciding arbitrarily that, of course, He only cares about what I care about – and then we leave the results to Him. Bye. 👋

P 2752 Welcome banners for the lost.

/ DVH

I was somewhat concerned yesterday when I thought about linking something from YouTube to this page. Not because I am unhappy with the content I shared, but, because … guys …  … as Christians … we can be so religious! I am aware that if something dubious popped its head up from YouTube, that those people who do read my blog could miss the blessing in what I was sharing.

It’s a fact that there are people in this world who have evil lifestyles, that biblically speaking, put them in spiritual harm’s way. We all know that there are things that the bible clearly condemns. But, we can be so intent on getting across our disapproval of someone else’s lifestyle, we omit to pass on His LOVE to the very people Christ was sent to save. Those things are not mutually exclusive.  Love is a spiritual gift given to us by Jesus Himself, to disarm the lost and help the needy.

How can anyone know that God loves them while we are afraid of other people’s sin? We treat it like it is CoVid or something else highly contagious. Yet we are not exempt from sin ourselves, otherwise the Epistles are irrelevant and Paul was teaching and correcting people who were already perfected! Just because we are saved, that doesn’t mean we know everything. We need to be humble when we approach somebody else who has been caught in satan’s trap – and there are plenty of his traps about! Hands up those people who have never ever lost their tempers… I can’t put my hand up either. 

People, as in human beings, need to be loved. When love is in short supply, and hatred and disapproval flourish, they will find love wherever they can. Just like a thirsty man will drink filthy water. Maybe the reason we are afraid to associate with some people is because we are not walking closely with our King. Jesus wasn’t afraid of anything. because our God can deliver anyone from evil – even us! Once a man with many demons (2,000!) sat in his right mind, at Christ’s feet. Instead of ostracising or alienating people, we should be asking ourselves why the love and Presence of God is not convicting them through US – without us even having to say a word.

We have a responsibility for what is happening in this world – WE ARE HIS SALT. Sadly, I think the church has not loved others well. Instead we’ve condemned them, and made their sin more important than their spiritual well-being. There will always be some people who are given over to a reprobate mind – but God can snatch anyone from the fire. He saved me … and I had no idea what holiness looked like – I still struggle, how about you?

Almighty God IS going to snatch some people out of the fire. How? I dunno! But I think it is time we realise that Jesus touched the unclean, and made them clean because He, Himself was clean – inside and out. Plus I think it is a dumb idea as well as a poor game plan, to let FEAR rule our responses. We are running away from our first responsibility – to tell everyone that Jesus loves them – what they do about that piece of spiritual information is not up to us. And just to be clear, I am talking about living a life of love toward the people around us, as He leads us.

In the past, loving Christian families have been tormented and tortured by gossip and innuendo etc. because even though they raised their kids in the fear and the knowledge of the Lord, a member of their family has gone off into a lifestyle that the church feels we can’t approve of. So that entire family is held responsible for something that could happen to anyone. At this moment in time, the world we are living in has a tidal wave of positive reinforcement and approval toward those ungodly lifestyles. Those lifestyles come recommended by a society that loves to indulge the flesh.

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Instead of blaming families, we need to fall on our faces and repent that we have not modelled the love of Jesus clearly enough to those who were obviously searching. I know what it is like to commit yourself to something that you know is wrong – the further you walk down the wrong road the stronger your commitment to it gets, and the harder it gets to back up. People can get trapped by their choices. But our God is so much bigger than than our choices. To most people in this world, God’s love is a theory – we are the vehicles He has chosen to demonstrate that love.

It’s time for all of His children to come on home. We must hang up welcome home banners to the lost. Has any one of us been saved from our sins without God’s love reaching out to us, first?“You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” Matthew 22:39. “God loved us while WE were yet sinners …” Romans 5:8 “Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.”Jude 22,23.  Bye. 🙏

P 2571 He isn’t here …

/ DVH

Matthew 28:1-7 “After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.  His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow.  The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; He has risen, just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay. Then go quickly and tell His disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see Him.’ Now I have told you.”

I love that line uttered by the angel who was sitting in that empty tomb. “He is not here; …”   My first thought was – “then where is He??”… And the Lord smiled at me and said: “EVERYWHERE!!”  My second thought was that God left that angel there to talk to those women ... he waited for them. Makes you think doesn’t it? Nothing happens to us that is outside of His gaze – the Lord is prepared for any circumstance.  

Man those things are mind boggling. And what Jesus said to me made me think. We want to advertise Him as being at our church Sunday by Sunday but He’s not limited by time and space anymore … HE goes where the Wind blows. Let’s pray: ‘Please Holy Spirit, blow on me!’  Amen. With that end in mind, perhaps we should start asking HIM where He is going to be today? … Instead of expecting Him to automatically turn up where we are. Maybe we need to be more sensitive to His desires? Couldn’t hurt!! Moving on …

These two ordinary little women may have been scared, but they were still able to talk to, and listen to the angel without falling over.  All they cared about was finding the Lord! Unlike those big burly guards installed by Pilate’s order, together with the religious oversight. Those soldiers were scared spit-less by the same angel and promptly fell down as if dead. Knowing Jesus personally makes all the difference. We may be awed sometimes, but we will not be totally overwhelmed. Supernatural stuff should be praiseworthy but normal to you and I. We know HIM. 

Here’s another fun thought:  the disciples, who followed Jesus day after day, promptly forgot everything He said when He died. They were so overcome by grief and fear, they were not expecting His resurrection.  But Pilate, who handed the Lord over to the religious leaders, made a point to put guards on the tomb – because he remembered that Jesus said He would rise again! So they installed guards to make sure nobody could pinch the body and tell everyone He was resurrected. Now there’s the rocks crying out! The non-believers remembered!

Once you and I know for sure for ourselves, that He is risen – then our next job is to go and tell others. I remember the day when the Lord impacted my life, the first thing I was told to do was to tell somebody. So I rang the pastor’s wife and she about came right through the phone at me she was so excited. After that I told everybody! I wasn’t trying to be a smartie pants – I was just so excited because I knew that I knew, that God loved me. I had encountered something real, something worth talking about.

I dunno why many people think that telling other people about what happened to each one of us is hard, I really don’t. It seems to me that most of the time we do our best to avoid it. But it is the most natural thing in the world to talk to others, when something incredible happens to us. Especially when we discover what we thought was a theory turns out to be a reality! If we are asked to tell others about what is going on with our spouse, our friends, our kids, our parents, even our teachers, our fav past-time … we can easily say something! But when it comes to our faith – it seems we instantly get shtum. Why is that so?

Maybe somewhere over the years, other people have made a great big thing about what you are supposed to say or do when passing on the good news that that tomb was empty, and Jesus is alive, today. The further we walk away from our initial encounter with Him – whether we believed the book, or saw Him in Person –  the harder it seems to get. You know, those two women did not have a speech prepared. They were so joyful they simply related what they saw. That’s all our job is! Not to preach at others, or bash them with our church’s theological thoughts … we just need to tell them what happened to us. Nobody else has a testimony like yours.

We all have a story and Father God will pick the people who need to hear it. Not everybody will yell: ‘yippee can I do that too?’ It’s the Holy Spirit’s job to save them – and it’s our job to tell them what we know… I think the simpler we keep our explanation of what happened to us, the better! Something like: “Believe it or not, Christ isn’t dead, He’s alive and I’ve met Him.”  We are meant to be salt – not the whole stew! We are here to make them thirsty… the rest is up to the Lord. 👋

P 2570 Easter down-under. ⛺️

/ DVH

In our part of the world Easter heralds the end of summer time. Enjoying the Easter holidays in this country rivals our enjoyment and obsession with eating Easter Eggs! It is a last flash of summer brightness to be savoured at all cost. In days gone by, Aussies used to try to do an obligatory drop-in to say “Hi” to God. Today, most don’t go to church anymore … because they are just plain too busy, and probably gave up church-going for Lent.

Let’s peek into one family home cos they are about to leave soon for the beach. Everybody helps to pack the car – some less willingly than others – and then we join in the rush …  … So we can go sit in a traffic jam – which happens in both directions – coming and going! At the same time, we indulge in our fav pastime – complaining about the Main Roads department and their distinct lack of competence regarding our road system. 

The people in the back seat also like to complain, loudly, about the people in the front seat’s choice of music, and a good time is not had by all. Fights can eventually break out in the back seat, because it’s hot in the car sitting in the sun, not actually going anywhere. Some people anticipate this angst and have a few cold ones while they are waiting for the traffic to move. One guy this Easter fished out his electric guitar and cheered up the cars at a stand still. Dunno how he plugged that in!

Eventually, tired and weary, this family arrive at their chosen destination and put up the tent — which is no mean feat. Tent construction is advertised as great fun by Dad – possibly because he isn’t keen to do all the work alone! The kids meanwhile, are hopping from one foot to another longing to be told they can go and stick their toes in the ocean. Our ocean is still warm at this time of the year … 

… That’s when their holiday really starts. It’s sun, sea, salt, surf and sand … Sand in your togs, sand on your towel, sand in your eyes, sand on the tent floor, sand in your sleeping bag, and in your sandwich. Who cares? This is our last chance to enjoy summer for four days, and we are going to do it!! If it kills us.

Meanwhile mum works hard to make sure everybody is fed. As well trying to keep the mayonnaise for the prawns COLD so that nobody ends up with a case of salmonella … and that’s not easy with no fridge! Most of the time her job is to sit on a towel on the sand, watching the kids, and counting their heads bobbing about in the ocean. At the same time she is expected to stay there on duty in the sun, while her spouse enjoys chucking back a cold one with the other liberated spouses in the camping ground. It is always time for a beer in Australia!

It was not ever meant to be so at our house – light years ago. My mum used to say: “If I can’t plug in my electric frypan then I’m not going.” Later on she married a truckie, an ex-soldier, whose idea of camping comfort was a tarpaulin over some trees and a ground sheet for sleeping … Like …on the ground! Grass was a bonus that was not even remotely equal to today’s memory foam mattresses. But you were allowed to have a hip hole dug in the ground for your hip, and supposed comfort. True story.

My step-father’s idea of a toilet was another tarpaulin wound around some gum trees and hole called the long drop! If you weren’t careful, or you went to the loo in the dark, that’s exactly what could happen to you!! He loved camping in the bush. I still shudder when sand gets in my shoes. But I’ve had prayer for healing lots of times!! OK I’m joking – again. Traumatised … there’s a word!! The idea of intentionally sitting by the ocean and getting sandy and salty and calling that fun …Nah! Not happening Jan.

Easter in Oz is not thought of as a Holy time. Or even a time for reflection. The smells and bells have faded into the background, replaced by the smell of the ocean, fresh fish, and boozy, sweaty bods. And yet everybody who is in that camp ground will probably turn up again when the sun begins to get warm. Why? There is a great camaraderie that all us Aussies really enjoy when we get together. They want to go back to that place and see those people they have come to know over the years. 

The need for fellowship is deeply engrained in the heart of mankind. It’s the ‘where it happens’ that is killing us, in the church.  Many people honestly think that Jesus is great but they don’t want to sit in a church staring at stained glass windows, wondering when the service will be over! THEY DON’T KNOW HIM – WHY WOULD THEY COME? Church is monumentally boring in their eyes. So Australians are now officially, His lost sheep. Here’s a news flash, Jesus wants those precious lost sheep back – what are you going to do about it? 👋