Saviour

P 2218 Don’t give up!

/ DVH

I want to talk a little bit about seemingly unanswered prayers today. In my lifetime, by the Grace of God only – I have learnt that I don’t have to see something to believe it is true. There are all sorts of illustrations from the bible, of ordinary people who loved God and followed Him. They were just like me. But there have been times when I have been greatly disappointed because my prayers appeared to lay about like limp lettuce leaves. Sadly, the result of chronic sickness is that it takes over this life, and you can start to have a sickness mentality. That becomes a battle all by itself. Plus your faith can take a heck of a beating.

However, I know, that I know, that our God answers our prayers. His book is filled with testimonies on that subject from an unbelievable variety of people. I have chosen to learn to take His Word over my experiences – but that doesn’t mean I don’t wrangle with my feelings on a difficult day! One day, I know I will be healed, up there or down here. But for this moment, I will just keep on asking – and thanking Him. I have learnt that my disappointment does not cancel out His promises. That’s like an ant trying to wrestle an elephant. It’s.Not.Gunna.Happen! 

Jesus Himself told us to: “Ask and keep on asking, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you.” The saddest thing we can do when we pray about something, or someone, and nothing appears to change, is to give up our belief about the Lord’s Character just because of that unanswered prayer. He loves us. Our God always does things for our good, let’s add to that our hope that He is always listening to us. “… He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”  So my exhortation today is that we need to keep going after the impossible, and don’t give up!

Our human limitations abound, but HE has no limitations and He is not deaf. We must never ever stop our pursuit of Him, so we can deepen our understanding of Who He is. There is always more we can learn about our Heavenly Father, and the way He does things. Just because some prayers we’ve prayed seem to have led to a dead end, that does not mean we should give up. Jesus Himself told us to press IN and keep ON keeping on. “Then Jesus told His disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.” Luke 18:1-8.

Meanwhile, if our human relationships are worthy of careful attention and passion – just imagine how much more our relationship with Almighty God is worth! We are His people, and He is always worthy of our attention, passionate love and prayers. He loves to care and provide for us, and that love IS His nature. However, I also know, personally, that when our hope is deferred, it can make our hearts sick. That’s a good place to ask for His help. Total dependance upon the Lord and His mercy is not a weakness or a character flaw – we can rely upon Him to always do what is good, right and profitable in our lives. 

Right now whilst you are reading this – you could be ill, or injured, or something bad has happened to the people you love. Perhaps you are estranged from someone, or you are living in constant fear, or you have major difficulties in your life and you’ve tipped over into despair. Awful things do happen – ‘the rain falls on the just and the unjust.’ However, these circumstances are not God’s punishment. When Jesus died on that cross humanity entered a new Era. The Grace Era. The hard things are simply part of this imperfect life we live.

First of all, please don’t beat yourself up over your flagging faith. Simply ask for our loving Saviour’s help to move past your despair … there are days that I have to pray like that one minute at a time. However, today, I wrote this to remind you that He has heard you and He is not ignoring your desperate cries. I can’t possibly explain the situation you find yourself in or even the delay, but I know the Saviour, He brought Lazarus out of that grave and He has heard your prayers. Hold onto that.

Lastly, I want to say to those who are suffering: please don’t give up. “Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward.” Hebrews 10:35. At this very minute, Jesus is praying for us, and the Holy Spirit is praying too, that our faith won’t fail. I want to remind everyone that we always need to continue to ‘ask and keep on asking’ and we must not give up and faint –  “…because in due time we will receive our reward.” (See Galatians 6:9-10.)  Bless you and bye for today. 🙏

P 2209 Easter is an invitation to transformation.

/ DVH

Like I said yesterday, rest and faith are essential parts of a Christian’s walk with the Lord. The Israelites missed their opportunity to live that way – because they preferred to complain about, and critique His provisions, plus they demanded their own way. Bad move. My advice is this:  when the food falls out of the sky, and your clothes and shoes don’t wear out, plus nobody gets sick for 40 years – give thanks, and follow the Leader!  (Read Deuteronomy.)

The bible talks about resting in what Jesus has done for us in Hebrews chapters 3&4. Our rest in what He did begins the very moment we ask Jesus to be our Lord and Saviour. His active Presence in our lives guarantees change. We can now rely upon the fact that our sins have been washed away by His life’s blood. Now we’ve started to live a new life, using our faith that what Christ said He did at Calvary – He did. And that door flew open for everyone. Knowing Him personally, and walking with Him, is the door into peace, rest and a brand new way to live this life we have right here and now. Christ gave us the ability – the power –  but He also gives us a choice whether to follow Him… or not.

Now we live our lives believing that what He did on the cross was utterly comprehensive. It covered our past sins, present sins and even those stupid things we haven’t done yet! Why would the Lord Jesus do such a thing? … It sounds like we have carte blanche to be able to do whatever we like – and indulge our base natures? (Paul talks about this extensively in Romans.) The thing is: sin is dangerous. It is like quick sand, it sucks you in and drags you down. When I look after myself, and I don’t care about you, and how much living like this hurts you – that’s sin. When I live by the rules and I don’t use my faith, every day, to obey Him – that’s sin!

When Christ died, He paid the ultimate price for every human being’s forgiveness. And after He returned to heaven, He sent back the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Person Who helped Christ to walk out His earthly life in purity, holiness, and passionate devotion to His Father. He will help us to live that way too, in exactly the same way He helped Jesus. Now, we do what is Godly by following Him and using our faith. Second by second, minute by minute. We simply need to be obedient to what He asks us to do, in our hearts – and in the book. The power to overcome anything, including our own sinful habits and attitudes, was released that day long ago, at the cross. Now, we can participate in that power in the same way we received salvation – using our faith.

Sadly, many Christians want Jesus to save them, but they reject His daily government, and consequently their lives are now devoted to keeping rules. Rules are easier to follow – you can write them down or look them up! But the bible is not a set of rules, it is a personal invitation to know God and live this life, right here and now, His way. It is an invitation into a relationship. You cannot regulate a real loving relationship, instead you have to live it out, by making hard choices, and you do that … day by day. FEAR keeps more people out of that freedom than anything else.

As Easter draws near, we celebrate the fact that Jesus not only died in our place – He came out of that grave and personally illustrated that a new life walking in His Ways is available to us. That new life transforms His people  from the inside OUT. You can’t kill human beings. Our bodies die, but the real person, inside, lives forever. We choose where we will live after we die by the way we live this life, here and now. Christ made an exchange, His life for ours. Every day we live out that exchange by making the sort of choices Jesus would make … living this life for Him, here and now. 

Father God has asked us to be obedient and pay attention to what He wrote in the bible. Just like the Israelites in the wilderness, we have a choice. We can do things His way – or continue to walk round and round going nowhere – wasting the time He has given us. As we walk with Him – His way, we will be transformed. Now we can join in with whatever He is doing, because Jesus is working all over this earth, today – through us.

None of us can claim that we are powerless to change any longer – because the power to change came into this world when the Holy Spirit came into this world at Pentecost. He’s here … and He’s here to help us overcome!  Transformation is the only way ahead. 👋🏻 

P 2180 Time for some reality.

/ DVH

Good morning. It is 4.00am at my house and the one great thing about this time, is that it is incredibly quiet. Unfortunately I am awake at this hour because of my concern for my family. Worry and despair jumped all over me at 3.00am and I’ve spent the last hour working on practicing what I preach!  Plus I also prayed for you guys. I don’t know your name and you don’t know mine, but I know that things in your part of the world aren’t always great. Some of you are facing incredibly hard times and my prayer for you today is that ‘the Lord would be with you in trouble … because you know His Name.’ Psalm 91:14-15

One of the things I am still learning about the Lord is that He is much too kind to leave us in the kind of misery that can grab us by the throat and cause us untold pain. However, at this dumb hour, I can also tell you that it gets much harder to roll your cares off onto Him! 🙄 I had to insist, then insist some more! So I climbed out of bed, trying not to disturb my lovely hubby – who has just had nasty surgery on his hand, and he needs his sleep – and I came upstairs to talk to you about the things in our lives that don’t seem to prayerfully resolve themselves easily. And some of those things include other people’s choices.

There are countless books that tell us how to pray, where to pray, how to cope, or how to overcome, but the truth is – when you look at everything carefully – WE will have to use our own faith. No-one else can roll my cares off my heart except ME. And I will probably have to kill off my flesh, yet again, to do it. This means that some days I can try to sit in the dirt and pout, and complain, and hope that Almighty God will be impressed by my sadness enough to change my circumstances!

And praise Him and His generosity, He does – many times. But the Lord doesn’t always help me by instantly changing things – most of the time He helps me by changing my attitude! 😶 Which means that somewhere in my thinking I will have to stop feeling entitled to a better, happier life and thank Him for the life I already have! However, I always need to start with the fact that He died for me, otherwise I can get stuck in the whole entitlement thing.

Years ago, my generation was taught that the answers to prayer relied upon US. If we had enough faith, and a right attitude, bingo bongo all would be well. But prayer is by nature, the acknowledgement that I cannot fix something. Instead I am reaching out to SomeOne bigger, wiser and more loving than I am. Which means I will have to take a risk – and a step of faith … and trust that this incredible Person hopefully wants the same answer I do! I’ve been a Christian for a long time. So I have learnt that Jesus doesn’t always want the same answer we do – HE WANTS MORE than I ever hoped or dreamed and that can take a whole lifetime and more to fulfil. But sometimes those answers won’t look like the answer to my passionate emotion- filled prayers. I will need His eyes to understand what He is doing. Read the book.

In many of our churches we have tried so hard to present a positive image. We want to look happy, fulfilled and successful in our marriages, fellowships, friendships, homes, work places, and schools. We want to show the world that Jesus is the Answer to everything. So much so, we have forgotten that we are are fallible human beings who can still make mistakes. Awful ones. I’ve made my share – and some!  Many of us have worn plastic fake smiles for so long we are almost fully automated. That fake is killing us. Christianity is not a fairy tale, and following Jesus does not always mean we will have a happy ending in this life. Just look at the apostles and what happened to them. 

So today I am writing this to say to you that if your prayer life, or bible study, or Christian faith is NOT ALL THAT – be of good cheer. Our God is bigger than our failures. Jesus is the One Who is real, and sadly you and I are sometimes very poor reflections of His reality. But thank God, He does not rely upon our efforts. Our God did all the work for us – He knows we are not capable of fixing ourselves. We will always need a Saviour, and a Redeemer in this life. And if Jesus is not Who He says He is, then we are all sunk, and we should be pitied. 

Paul said something like that once in I Corinthians 15:19 & 20a.  “If our hope in Christ is good for this life only and no more, then we deserve more pity than anyone else in all the world. But the truth is that Christ has been raised from death,…”  Bye. 👋🏻

P 2151 We are the new influencers for good.

/ DVH

“The Lord Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged.” Deuteronomy 31:8.

In the recorded history of the bible, Our Heavenly Father, God, has never quit on humanity because He was totally fed up with us. Instead His book is filled to the brim with His interactions of love, direction, correction and passion for all of us. He has spent thousands of years reaching out to us. Human beings are the crown of His creation. This world is the setting, and people are the precious jewels He deliberately put in that setting. His book clearly shows us His intentions, plus His great great Love for every single person who has ever been here.

But if humanity tried to go into His Presence without a Saviour we would instantly be overwhelmed by our own sinfulness, because His holiness is all encompassing. Sin separates us from Him, as well as other people. It separates families, marriages, congregations, denominations, countries …  all different kinds of people. So, because of His incredible love and forgiveness, and desire to know us, and be known by us – He took our sin out of the equation. Now we are free to love Him back … or not … the choice is always ours. 

The Lord is not like other people we have known, who wanted us to behave for their reputations, or convenience. Rather, our God wants us to be close to Him. In order for that to happen we cannot afford to have pieces or parts of our lives that are not submitted to His sovereignty. Those supposedly harmless things that don’t seem to be all that important, are the holes in our lives that our enemy can aim His darts and arrows through, to wound us and try to take us away from the Father’s Love and His Way to live.   

We begin our journey by understanding Who He is. He is so marvellous, so precious, so incredible, so beautiful, that even being around Him, changes us. Have you ever had a friend that  seemed to bring out the worst in you? Conversely, have you ever known a person who left you feeling bigger, freer, more able to be yourself?  His influence in our lives is not only for our good, but it has an effect on everyone around us. EG: Have you ever been grouchy around someone else only to find that they, in turn, became grouchy too? People influence each other… and not always for good. His influence brings out the rainbow colours in all our personalities – we stop being one dimensional.

One of my biggest disappointments with this world at this time, is that our children are being greatly influenced by others who are angry at others, or themselves, and angry at this world’s systems. These people live carelessly seemingly unaware of their effect on the people around them. They do this for MONEY. Their influence is a little like the measles or the mumps – it’s contagious. Most of us were born with a desire to belong somewhere, and if nothing good, pure, right and just is available, unfortunately, even our children will tend to gravitate to the instant, glossy, glittery, fashionable over-the-top and often evil expressions of humanity.

If Christians do not put something of His Love out into this world’s atmosphere — then our kids have nothing to guide and lead them in His Ways. We have the power to bring His kingdom here by simply cherishing His Presence in our lives, and sharing that with others. You and I are living illustrations of what His Love looks like in action. It is time we picked up our real inheritance! Jesus left this world to us, in our hands. And right now it is our responsibility to influence others for good – to point them toward the Eternal, ever living, ever loving God.

Remember, our God is not just with us, He goes before us. Even before we start out. Imagine that! Whatever you go and do, He has already been there. He won’t leave us, because our God is loyal and true to His Word. He has always been loyal to His chosen ones, the Israelites, and now He is loyal to us because of the blood of Jesus. He signed His agreement with mankind, in Christ’s blood, and that agreement stands forever. Even when it seems to us that He is not there, He is there, purely because He promised to be there.

It is time we decided to believe His promises. We have so many!! In these busy, turbulent times, He wants us to stand on, hide behind, and trust in what He told us in the book. You and I have been given those promises for us to use them. Forget the Lear Jet, or new fancy house,our God told us He would be with us always! Now there’s a promise!  We are to hold His Word up in front of us like a shield, against the onslaughts of the many fears and threats in this world, when things try to overwhelm us. So when the wind and the waves bash us and threaten to drown us, we simply stand still and trust and wait for Him to do what He has promised. We cannot afford to be overwhelmed by the activity and noise around us, because our eyes need to be fixed on Him. 

Focussing on how much Father God loves us, instead of the turmoil outside in the world, will transform us into wells of peace and light. People will be drawn to us purely because we are able to be content, even when the world around us is rocking and tossing with hatred, anger, sickness and sorrow. The thing is, we must learn, in the middle of a world that values how we feel, more than anything else – how to have and use our FAITH. 

This world only values things that make US feel good. However, we need to actively learn and practise minute by minute, relying upon HIS WORD more than what our eyes see, or our ears hear, or what we even think. He has made His desires for us, His people, plain. We have it in all in writing!  We no longer have to be afraid of facing this life alone – HE IS WITH US. His Presence with us helps us influence others for good. 👋🏻

P 2138 God deliberately chose mankind – despite our obvious flaws.

/ DVH

“But now thus says the LORD, He who created you, O Jacob, He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are Mine.” Isaiah 43:1–3. These verses remind us of God’s promised Presence always. (More on the one-of-a-kind-Ferrari later!)

“God’s people will face trials, but we have the promises of God’s presence and salvation. So I … want you to just let these words fall on your heart, to hear God saying to you, fear not, I have redeemed you. I have saved you from your sin. I have made you my son or daughter.” (David Platt)

When I read these words today, they were like cool water pouring over me after a long, dry, thirsty day/week/month/year/lifetime! I just love the way the Lord Jesus changed our lives for us, forever. To quote a colloquial saying: Jesus Christ was a total game changer! God’s plan in sending His only Son to die for our sins, meant everything changed – forever. These words in Isaiah were actually written for the Jewish nation, the Israelites. Yet despite who we are – most of us are Gentiles – Father God included us by saving everyone – and He always planned to do it. Read the book. 

In the bible we have the strong and enduring promise of a Saviour who died for all our sins! And we have it in writing! … 🤔 …That is one very handy book! Yet, the wonder of our God is this … He has never given up on His beloved Israel! She is His first love All throughout the Old Testament I marvel at His incredible loyalty and forbearance with these people who were, and still are … just like me …  wilful, afraid, rebellious and selfish! 

We have a saying in our family, that we got from reading C.S. Lewis’ book about Narnia, called ‘The Last Battle.’ It goes like this: “The dwarfs are for the dwarfs!” Quite simply it means most people are for themselves … a-n-d … bad luck about everybody else. 😶 No wonder we must read the bible all the time to change the way we think. 

The Lord Jesus arrived here on earth as a vulnerable Jewish infant, and He lived His life here, physically illustrating and teaching everyone He met about His Father’s will. Plus He did everything He did, His Father’s Way, which means any kind of selfish ambition went right out of the window!  And then Jesus went on to die in our place so He could completely save mankind, like … forever. THEN, after His death, He went back to heaven, and left us with our own free will – our own dumb choices! He did all that for us. You might want to Selah those thoughts for a few minutes – our choices are very important to God.

Now we must choose to live like Jesus did. Here’s the kicker … Jesus knew we couldn’t change our own minds and hearts by ourselves, so He sent back the precious Holy Spirit to help us. The Holy Spirit helped the Lord Jesus while He was here, and now He is here for us – to help us. But, absolutely everything depends on our choices. In other words, He didn’t only choose us – He gives us the freedom to choose Him … or not. That teaches me that Almighty God wants us to love Him without any fear at all, voluntarily. 

Generosity like this astonishes me.  Why? Well, I know where I’ve been and what I’ve done, and He has never ever closed the door on me. Other people have been so angry at me that they can hardly bear to speak to me anymore … but Jesus is always there for me. Waiting. Waiting for me to turn around and see that there is nothing to be afraid of because His face is full of love. Christ Jesus is God’s love personified. Read the book! And you can take all that to the bank – and put it in your heart … and please take it there often!! 😊

There is a scripture that says:“Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God! …” 1 John 3:1a. What John is saying here is this: ‘Look at the WAY God loves you. Can you believe the kind of love that Almighty God has for us ?? How astonishing that He loves us like this? He not only saves us, but He has made us His very own sons and daughters.’ That’s you and me. In a world when people disown each other all the time, because of this bad thing and that – God says: “These guys chose Me and they are MINE.” And it doesn’t matter what colour I am, or you are, or where we were born. What matters is our choices. He made us His choice and we choose Him back – DAILY. In this world’s eyes we are nobody, but to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords we mean everything. We need to reflect on this scripture in 1 John, because it is not even remotely about us being entitled, instead it is all about Father God’s generosity. 

If someone gave me a beat-up, rusty – but mostly still working – old car, I suppose I would appreciate it. But God Himself gave us ALL, the equivalent of a personally designed by Him, custom built Ferrari – free and clear of obligation. He has designed a new life for each one of us. (I told you I’d go back to that fantastic car!) God gave us so much, so over abundantly, so we could be and feel safe – here and now – before we ever get into eternity. That is generosity without equal and worthy of worship. Not because we have to, but because it blesses Him.

I often ask people – why on earth would you follow SomeOne else? Is there a catch to all this wonderfulness? Yes. His life for ours. He chose me and I choose Him. And with the Holy Spirit’s help – I live the WAY Jesus did. Dying to self daily, and I live loving others – whether they like or love me  – or not. 👋🏻

P 2137 Obedience is always the best option.

/ DVH

So today, I want to talk about obedience. Jesus taught us very carefully throughout the gospels how to line up with God’s will and live our lives His way. Obedience is not an optional extra – it is essential. WHY? Because all by ourselves, leaning on our own understanding, we will wander off and do something ridiculous, that’s why. Before we know it, then we are rendered deaf, dumb, and blind spiritually and our faith in God seems to drift further and further away. We become like sheep wandering along on the edge of a cliff … with no fence and no sense. Obedience to what the Lord says, and has already said, is the fence that keeps us away from the danger of falling off that cliff. How often did the Lord say to the Israelites? – “If you would only heed My voice.” ?(170 times FYI.)

Everything in the New Testament points to us obeying what He tells us to do, as well! Jesus taught over and over again, how to avoid the very deep pits the enemy digs for people and obedience is the key. To be honest, many people would rather worship for hours on end, than obey what the Lord has already asked them to do. (Like love our enemies?) satan means to destroy us, and obedience is the way to avoid drifting along mindlessly in our faith. We need to remember, that the other guy is a total snake – he starts in on us when we are too little to defend ourselves and tries to whittle away at our confidence that Jesus could ever love us. Eventually, when we reach maturity we think that the person we see in the mirror, with all those hopes and dreams is actually who we are. Mainly because we are used to the way we think. I exhort each one of us to learn to be flexible in all our opinions, even about who we are. There is a brand new YOU waiting for all of us! And it starts by renewing our minds, by listening and obeying.

The thing is, the way the Lord Jesus wants us to think is described in detail in the New Testament. That’s our guidance system. Not how we feel, or the odd thoughts that float about in our heads, or what other people say, or they have said, about us. God took murderers and made them part of His history with man – it seems to me that we have very little idea about the Way He thinks! We must also be aware of what we’ve been taught to think by those who were in authority over us. I am still constantly learning who HE says I am. However, there has never been a better time for us to change our minds, because each one of us has been bought with a price and sent here to fulfil His purposes. We are living in times of change and this is what the Lord is doing right now – He is changing our perception of who we are and WHO HE IS.

Now we have to learn to agree with Him. Otherwise we start thinking that maybe we are the exception to what He said and His instructions and blessings aren’t really for people like us – they are for more spiritual people, who do mighty things! When we think that our personal spiritual experiences aren’t lining up with what He said – we immediately diminish the power of God through us – and we allow our experiences to take charge instead. It is inherent in human beings to go by their own understanding and it is often greatly encouraged by others. We’ve been taught to do what feels right to us. Personally I hardly EVER feel like doing what He asks me to do – I get too scared!  It takes effort to change the status quo in our own lives, as well as the way we think. 

When I say it takes effort, I want to make sure that I am being clear about that – there are many times that denying ourselves and taking up our cross and following Him will go against everything that seems reasonable, comfortable, and popular. Humanly speaking, we all seem to like the easy road best. But our Saviour taught us about obedience through His own example, and He obeyed His Father to His death. Obedience positions us for what is happening now, and what lies ahead of us. When Jesus tells us to obey, it is for our own good not for His convenience.

Obedience takes humility. We have to admit to ourselves and others, that we can’t, or don’t even want to do whatever it is. Personally I think that that is a great starting place! The bible clearly says: “Blessed are the poor in Spirit …” When we acknowledge our spiritual poverty, we are positioning ourselves to be rich in His Grace, because “His strength is made perfect in our weaknesses.” Instead of hiding or giving up, that’s the very place the Lord chooses for us to step out in faith. Sometimes we don’t even see the results of our actions and prayers, but obedience is about us drawing close to Him, voluntarily. It is about Him being more important than what we feel or think, or our fears and hurts. Obedience is about putting Him first.

Maybe you learnt human obedience the hard way – I did. In the past I let how I felt about discipline lead me around, because I had learned to obey out of fear. Any disobedience in those days was more about me needing to be accepted and made comfortable. Even when I became a Christian, I still had a deep need for people to accept me etc. We must press on, beyond blaming imperfect human beings as the source of our anguish, because at the bottom of these things is the enemy. It is never the Lord.But sadly many people are easily influenced by worldly things, as well.

In God’s wisdom, the confirmation of what He asks us to do for Him, often comes after our obedience. I can’t count how many times hubby and I have been driving away from something the Lord asked us to do, jumping up and down in our seats, because we could not believe what He did with the little bit of effort we gave Him. He multiplies EFFORT, as well as loaves and fishes!! This is my last thought, if we are willing to obey Him even before He speaks, we will attract His voice. Why would the Lord speak to someone who is going to ignore Him? We might want to think on that. 👋🏻