Scripture

P 3217 This book is alive!

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“God has transmitted His very substance into every Scripture, for it is God-breathed. It will empower you by its instruction and correction, giving you the strength to take the right direction and lead you deeper into the path of godliness. Then you will be God’s servant, fully mature and perfectly prepared to fulfil any assignment God gives you.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17.

“The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit  and life.” John 6:63. ‘For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12.

Today’s blog is about the sort of expectation we can fall into, because we mistakenly believe God has to fit in with our agendas. Over the years my hubby has found that he can often interpret the meaning in other people’s dreams etc., it goes with his name. He explained to me yesterday, that people can sometimes have an attitude that the Lord is obligated to answer them. 

So here’s a slightly exaggerated illustration: “God has talked to me about this problem 10 times, in my dreams. And a stranger gave me some confirming verses. What do you think I should do?” Hubby cracked me up with this answer: “Ten times?!!! Go right now, this very minute, and do what He said! What do you want, an angel with a trumpet?!”  How many signposts do we need??

How many times does the Lord have to speak to us before we obey Him? I know that there is a kind of paralysing fear about stepping out into faith – it’s normal. We are scared of being wrong, and so the enemy attacks us. We think things like: ’But what if I do what the Lord says, and nothing happens, or, even worse … something BAD happens.’ That’s easily fixed! You say: ‘I’m so sorry Lord. Please forgive me for messing up. Would You help me with it? I got it wrong. Please will You redeem it?’ 

Then you repent to anyone else involved, and repair any relationships wherever it is necessary. Humility never killed anyone – it’s good for us! When you are done repenting to Him and others, and repairing relationships, then you give Him whatever it is, and leave the rest to Him. Go home, lie down, have a big cry and then blow your nose… then get up and get on with your life. 

People say: “If only I could just get a word from the Lord for my situation …” Let’s think about this, the New International Version contains approximately 728,000 words, the Amplified has 820,980 words. Choose any bible you like and go for it. Our God is so incredible His life inhabits every single word. It is not like reading Charles Dickens! Father God doesn’t do background, or character depictions, or scene descriptions – every single solitary word in His book has power in it.

And those words don’t have to be big incomprehensible words either. The Holy Spirit has taught me so much through just one little word “let.” Three letters that changed my life. “Let this mind be in you …” “Let us make every attempt to enter that rest …” “Let us love one another…” “Let us throw off everything that hinders us …” ‘Let us not become weary in doing good …”  You get it… … Trust me ‘let’ is a very BIG little word.

I’ve learnt many times that the Lord wasn’t doing some things, because I wasn’t giving Him permission to do it in whatever way suited Him! He had something for me to learn, and sometimes He had an even greater blessing if I just followed Him in faith. Here’s another made-up illustration: Let’s say I wanted a new car, but I found out through prayer and reading the word, that He wanted me to give my old car away first. So my prayer asking for help with a new car could remain unanswered, because I have an agenda. I am not yielding to Him, and praying for His Will His Way. 

We can’t be in charge of what we think we need, like we can give a chemist a prescription. But, spiritually speaking, we must choose to put God in charge of our needs – that way He gets all the glory! We live on His timetable, not our own. If you didn’t decide to die to self when you were baptised, or nobody told you that was what baptism is all about — then make a quality decision to do it now!  And ask for His help to live this way. You know, some of the Apostles made a living to support themselves, but they did not have two careers – they simply served God first, whatever they did. Putting the Lord first is a sensible response to His generosity toward us. And if things remain unclear, then ask for wisdom, and keep right on reading the bible. 

Please, don’t get stuck on ‘what hasn’t happened,’  move on to ‘what do you want me to do now, Lord?’ Some things happen as we are going along in the way the Lord leads us. “He(Abraham’s servant) said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not denied His lovingkindness and His truth to my master. As for me, the Lord led me to the house of my master’s brothers.” Genesis 24:27. This servant had no idea how to go about what His master Abraham told him to do. But God met him as he stepped out and tried to do what he was told. He was simply obedient.

“In the beginning the Living Expression was already there. And the Living Expression was with God, yet fully God. They were together—face-to-face, in the very beginning.” John 1:1. Jesus is God’s living expression of His Word, that’s how powerful God’s Word is. His book is alive. Bye. 👋

I have discovered this sweet little series by REAVO. This one seemed appropriate for today. (Two minutes 39 seconds)

P 3195 Respond.

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“Faith, then, is birthed in a heart that responds to God’s anointed utterance of the Anointed One.” Romans 10:17 TPT. 

The important word in the above scripture is respond. This is how we grow our faith, by actively responding to what Jesus says. The meaning of respond is — “do something as a reaction to someone or something.” Hebrews 11:1 says:“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  The thing is we want evidence to help us believe, but the lack of evidence is the very thing that stimulates and grows faith. So if our faith lacks substance it means we are not doing anything about what we believe!

Our response is always optional because Jesus won’t make us do anything! However, it is imperative and essential that our faith produces something more substantial than words. Let’s look at this a bit more deeply. In Isaiah 29:13 the Lord has been angry with Israel and He talks about His anger, because His people say one thing, but do another. He calls that lip service, and that is not a good look for His people. “And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honour Me with their lips, while their hearts are far from Me, and their fear of Me is a commandment taught by men,…”  

In the New Testament in 2 Timothy 3:16: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness…” These  scriptures are not just for our information. They are written to teach us how to live. Training in righteousness is about acceptance, repetition and practice, it is not just about learning the language so we can fit in or have an opinion. Training implies effort, and that effort is to help us take what we hear, and act on it. We are to do more than just agree with the sentiment or the language. Our task is to make the faith He has given us real in our everyday lives. 

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your Name, and cast out demons in Your Name, and do many mighty works in Your Name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness.’ Matthew 7:21-23. 

Chunky stuff eh? Not to be trifled with, and yet it seems so harsh. It is amazing that Jesus would say something so direct and severe. It seems to me that there are two kinds of Lordship, the one that it is in name only, and someone who chooses to live like Jesus would – if He were here with us today, in Person. Whether we are at home, alone, at school, or in the middle of our work environment. Lordship is not something to be trifled with. It is clear Jesus takes it extremely seriously! So we need to take it seriously too. 

The next issue is how? How do we live in His Lordship, day after day and night after night? The only way I know  is to choose to make quality decisions, minute by minute, and stick by them. Well meaning, sincere declarations at an altar made in a moment of time, don’t always work! They must be followed up by training.  Eventually we will begin to exchange the habits of a lifetime through prayer and practice. I’ve found some habits, some ways of thinking, are harder to shift than others. I think the secret is in what David did. He took his reference point for using his faith, from his experiences of God’s Grace in the past. 

Living in and giving away Grace is essential to the Lord’s kind of inward transformation. We cannot maintain grudges etc. and keep moving. Think of your internal heartache as mountains that will not stand a chance, because Jesus is on the scene. Remind yourself and the enemy, that the Lord Jesus once cursed a tree and it was dead as a dodo the next day! Everything in the bible has a practical application. We will just have to look for, and seek those applications out for ourselves and then live them out.

Second-hand information can seem to profit our emotions temporarily, and even stir us – but it is our commitment to find out for ourselves that causes transformation. Daily the Lord says: ‘Will you walk with Me today?’ That’s when we will have to file all our past failures and disappointments away into His hands — under: “things I will understand one day in the future.’ Or …’maybe I won’t understand but I won’t give a darn by then.’

Job’s response to all kinds of pressure was this: “Even though He kills me, I’ll continue to hope in Him. At least I’ll be able to argue my case to His face!” Job 13:15. Letting go is the only way forward that will lead us into living in His peace. Remember, it’s His peace, so we must do it His way! The bible is crystal clear that our God’s ways are not our ways, so our lack of mental or emotional understanding is irrelevant. Unfortunately, the person who needs to make this kind of decision is always ME – you can’t do it for me, I can’t do it for you. 

Our responses matter. We have entered into a time where our training often happens under duress. That stretching and buffeting could cause us to doubt He will help us, but the way to learn that the Lord is utterly good and reliable, is to live like He is utterly reliable! Talking about it doesn’t make it real – acting on what He has said makes it real and gives it substance.. Our responses count. Bye 👋

P 3189 Love looks like something.

/ DVH

At this time of the year, we are reminded that God’s love looks like a baby in a food trough, surrounded by His parents, animals, smelly unwashed shepherds, (no showers out there!) — and glorious angels lighting the sky, celebrating and singing the new baby off to sleep. That was one heck of a birth announcement! The Lord Jesus’ life was ended far too soon by jealous religious people who esteemed rules over love. If that happened to Him, then why are we surprised if unforeseen unpleasant things happen to us? Pure love will be opposed, because it challenges self-centredness. But, at the same time, it goes right around religion and hits people in the heart!

I think God’s Love looks like RISK. Following Jesus is a risky business. Unlike Forrest Gump’s naive, often quoted wisdom – “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get.” I disagree with that thought – MY box of chocolates comes with a list of yummy contents — and so do the Lord’s blessings. My list of blessings are in His book! Mercy, for instance, turns up fresh and new every morning! We are going to have to stay spiritually alert to find His blessings in the middle of this life’s chaos. And we will have to risk what we think we know, to receive from the One Who knows everything. 

Love also looks like not getting what we want, or even like. I’ve met that one. And afterward I’ve given thanks because what I thought I needed, turned out to be a set-up, wickedly provided by the enemy. If anything distracts us from God’s purposes – it’s a trap! The bible calls such things a snare. Whatever it is called, sometimes not getting what we pray for is a blessing! No matter how good, right and just it seems to us. We can pray for more money ‘cos we need it, or a house, or a spouse, only to find that the picture in our mind looks nothing like the reality. Almighty God saves us from ourselves all the time. Praise Him! That’s what I call LOVE.

Love looks like not giving someone else a piece of our mind …especially when very few people care about what we think! This kind of stuff becomes clearer when other people have misunderstood us. Or, even worse, they have misinterpreted our actions. Love looks a lot more like putting a sock in it, than it looks like starting a war over who said what!  I’ve noticed that our lives today seem to be more about making ME understood – than it is about ME understanding YOU! That’s a swing and a miss… plus it flies in the face of everything Jesus said and did.

I really like this scripture: “You have worn out the LORD with your words. And yet, you ask, “How did we do that?” You did it by saying, “The LORD is pleased with evil and doesn’t care about justice.” Malachi 2:17. Even God Himself – the inexhaustible source of all real love, can get sick and tired of our irrational, petty excuses and miserable attitudes. Love can look like taking the blame, whether it is our fault or not, and then asking the Lord to make the difference – instead of pulling out our trusty broad sword and whacking other people over the head with it. The bible is the very best kind of sword, it will cut people free. But .. it doesn’t injure them on purpose for the sake of winning an argument.

Love does not look like compromise.Tell me one time Jesus compromised what He said to make someone else happy! JESUS the LIVING WORD – is the stone that other people stumble over!  “And another scripture says, “This is the stone that will make people stumble, the rock that will make them fall.” They stumbled because they did not believe in the word; such was God’s will for them.” 1 Peter 2:8. Sometimes we can end up striving so hard to make disgruntled people happy! We can’t upset this group because of this … We can’t afford to upset that other group, because we want something from them…  …but nobody says that bit out loud!  

Adapting the Lord’s’ Word to make others feel comfortable, can cause us to compromise all over the place. That is part of our enemy’s most potent strategies. We can call it love, or inclusion, or sharing, but if we compromise on the little things, without His guidance, then compromising on the big things will get so much easier. Love  always has an opinion – HIS!

Love looks like making hard choices – it is not about what we think we want, or need. How can God bless us when we are so busy grabbing stuff for ourselves? This kind of attitude shows us clearly the actual level of our faith. It means we don’t believe He cares for us enough to provide for our needs. So we finagle our way through things instead of sitting back and saying: “If You want me to have such and such Lord, You will provide it.” And then we let those desires go.

Years ago, when my kids were small, we got rid of the TV. Why? Because every single time I spoke to them, all I saw was the back of their heads! It was the Lord’s idea … so we sold it. We were the only people we knew, who had no TV! My kids found ways to amuse themselves, it was a win, win kind of thing. In our news right now we have an uproar about taking away some things that facilitate wrong attitudes in young children, exposing them to all kinds of danger and misadventure. Many parents are scared of not being popular with their kids, but popularity is not an adult’s priority, safety is!

Love looks like boundaries and it also looks like leadership. It looks like kind and firm responses that care about young lives because maturity can see what will happen down the road. Love could care less about popularity, it wants what He wants. Bye 👋

P 3182 Gold can be found by a smart seeker.

/ DVH

Here’s a fairly common family scenario – it’s early, you just got up, and you have 40 things to do before you leave for work, and suddenly the dog throws up in the lounge. When you’ve dealt with all that, plus getting kids off to school — you pray, and hope that somehow, something from reading the bible might fall into place. Meanwhile you are actively looking for encouragement, because you are already stressed!

The following parable gives us an example of adaptation, doing what we know realistically, we can do, rather than stuffing too much in, hoping we will somehow slide by. Remember, we are not reading for the sake of learning or understanding it, we are reading the bible trying to find something to DO. Our aim matters. I have sometimes read 3 words, and had enough food to keep me chewing on it all day. We are aiming at digesting truth so that our behaviour changes. Jesus is explaining that even a crook knows how to make the best of a difficult situation!

The following parable seems very puzzling, because it appears inconsistent with everything else Jesus teaches. This manager is a lazy crook and a bad servant, and yet the Lord is commending him. But this manager knew how to survive in difficult circumstances. I think sometimes we give up too soon, and so we adapt our aim to facilitate our TIME, instead of making HIM our priority. So we aren’t aiming for food—instead we are settling for soothing our conscience. 

In Luke 16:1-13 MSG Jesus said to His disciples, “There was once a rich man who had a manager. He got reports that the manager had been taking advantage of his position by running up huge personal expenses. So he called him in and said, ‘What’s this I hear about you? You’re fired. And I want a complete audit of your books.’“The manager said to himself, ‘What am I going to do? I’ve lost my job as manager. I’m not strong enough for a laboring job, and I’m too proud to beg. . . . Ah, I’ve got a plan. Here’s what I’ll do . . . then when I’m turned out into the street, people will take me into their houses.’

“Then he went at it. One after another, he called in the people who were in debt to his master. He said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’“He replied, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’“The manager said, ‘Here, take your bill, sit down here—quick now—write fifty.’“To the next he said, ‘And you, what do you owe?’“ He answered, ‘A hundred sacks of wheat.’“He said, ‘Take your bill, write in eighty.’“Now here’s a surprise: The master praised the crooked manager! And why? Because he knew how to look after himself. Streetwise people are smarter in this regard than law-abiding citizens. They are on constant alert, looking for angles, surviving by their wits. I want you to be smart in the same way—but for what is right—using every adversity to stimulate you to creative survival, to concentrate your attention on the bare essentials, so you’ll live, really live, and not complacently just get by on good behaviour.”

This sneaky manager, found a way to gain something to benefit him despite his circumstances. He did what he could to survive. Reading paragraphs in the bible when you have no time may not help you survive spiritually. Why not read just one or two verses, and chew on them, and find something to do in them, and then do it. Fresh bread from heaven, doesn’t have to be a whole loaf, it can be a small slice instead! Valuing God is about looking for what He wants to say to you personally, rather than treating Him like a chore you must perform. I consider going over and over the things that I don’t really understand, extremely valuable. So I pray ‘please help me understand this Lord,’ and I keep on doing that until I get an answer. 

I was impacted by these two verses – V9-11:“I want you to be smart in the same way—but for what is right—using every adversity to stimulate you to CREATIVE SURVIVAL to concentrate your attention on the bare essentials, so you’ll live, really live, and not complacently just get by on good behaviour.” See what I mean? When you are having “a day’ and it is not a good one, doing something is better than doing nothing at all. Even though doing nothing is far more tempting! It is much easier to say: ‘I’ll catch up tomorrow,’ When we do this we’ve missed the point, it is not the amount of scripture we read that matters – it is the attention we give to it while we are reading it. It’s the chewing that matters.That plus the actions we deliberately choose to carry out, to bring what we’ve read to life in our lives.

This steward was lazy etc. but he did something and it saved him. He didn’t get his old job back, but at least two other men would have been quite happy to employ him because he helped them out! Meanwhile his old boss received a benefit as well. Before, when this manager did what he did – his old boss wasn’t going to receive any payment at all!  We all need to be smart and prioritise the right things. You don’t have to read 12 chapters, so long as you keep putting what it says into action!

Even a little bit of God’s Word, when you act on it to digest it, will keep you going spiritually. We make friends with unrighteous mammon when we are realistic about what we can actually do and still prioritise our relationship with Him. Jesus Himself said: ‘every word’ that comes out of God’s mouth has power in it.’  We are better off to take in the little we can digest, rather than bite off huge chunks that get relegated into never-never-land and simply add to what I call ‘overall knowledge!’ Stuff that lies about in our brains and doesn’t benefit us because we didn’t give it enough attention. Make your situation work for you. With reading comes digestion.

The Gospels and Epistles are great places where we can find stuff we can do. Read and reread and then insist in your prayers that you want more than lip-service. Gold can be found by a smart seeker. Bye  👋

P 3167 Good news.

/ DVH

“Even though you were once distant from Him, living in the shadows of your evil thoughts and actions, He reconnected you back to Himself. He released His supernatural peace to you through the sacrifice of His own body as the sin-payment on your behalf so that you would dwell in His presence. And now there is nothing between you and Father God, for He sees you as holy, flawless, and restored,” Colossians 1:21-22 TPT.

Walking away from Grace like this, seems almost impossible, yet there are times when our ill-advised decisions can slowly drag us away. Jesus did everything for us,now it is up to us to say: “thank You Lord,” and go on to live this life the way He planned for us to live it. This means we will be continually connected to Him, basking in the supernatural peace He has given us — as we love others, and walk, work, and live carrying His Presence with us. Christ’s death was so complete on our behalf, that now there is nothing that can keep us from our Heavenly Father. 

I feel for you, if your own earthly family hates you, and won’t have anything to do with you, but Father God’s door is now permanently open to you. Now you belong to a bigger family than your family of birth. Jesus opened that door for everybody and it cannot be shut …  And to be perfectly honest with you, I think that if anyone who does want to shut the door between Him and them – I believe He will still come after them!! I’ve watched Him do it, so many times. That thought alone comforts me when I think about some people that I love who are wandering around in the wilderness shouting” “there is no God.” 

Here’s another version of Colossians, just because it is so beautiful. Colossians 1:21-23 MSG: “You yourselves are a case study of what He does. At one time you all had your backs turned to God, thinking rebellious thoughts of Him, giving Him trouble every chance you got. But now, by giving Himself completely at the Cross, actually dying for you, Christ brought you over to God’s side and put your lives together, whole and holy in His presence. You don’t walk away from a gift like that! You stay grounded and steady in that bond of trust, constantly tuned in to the Message, careful not to be distracted or diverted. There is no other Message—just this one…”

We can read things like this, smile, and nod our heads, and feel happy inside, as we enjoy these thoughts from the Message bible or the Passion Translation or whatever version you like. But the reality is – we need to absorb what Paul says here into our very beings, not just agree with it. Many Christians wonder why their faith goes up and down like a lift in a tall building. Perhaps it is because God’s Word is not meeting with faith on their end. We need to read it and reread it again and again.Tell yourself: “this is true for me, right here right now.” OR ask the Lord to show you how it is true in your day to day life.

Feelings are powerful, but they are not faith. However, they are easily influenced by our circumstances. We need to live, day by day in the assurance that God’s promises are more than words on a page —they proclaim and usher in life and health into our eternal spirits, bodies and souls. Just take them in, believe what they say, and act on them. Treat them like a letter from a dear dear friend or loved one. Devour them, and then remember to thank Him for what He is doing.

Our response to any scripture needs to be joy. This gospel of Christ is not old news, it’s the only news that is refreshed for us personally, second by second. It is good news!  Think about it. Once you and I were lost in this world’s system of ‘grab everything you can, steal if you have to, lie if you need to’ … and then Jesus came along and said to us: “I choose to die for everything you ever did that is out of line with God’s plan for you.” The problem is, we think we need to understand everything before it will do us good. Just say ‘yes,’ and start acting on what the book says! Faith acts, it doesn’t just nod its head in agreement.

Pausing and thinking about the bible, or simply reading the words, are two very different things. If you only think about eating a banana you can still feel hungry! But if you eat the darn thing, you will benefit from eating it. You might even benefit emotionally – if you happen to really love bananas. But eating it will definitely give you potassium, and other vitamins that will enable you to go about your daily business with energy. The body of Christ is lethargic and it lolls about going nowhere … but we were made for better things!

Digesting God’s word gives our spirit man the energy, wisdom, and discernment, and understanding that we need every single day. That’s because the Word of God is the truth, it exposes our hearts to us, as well as our wrong thinking. It empowers us to live for God’s kingdom now, and take that kingdom with us wherever we go. We are not going to need this stuff in Heaven! We need it here and now! That’s why it is here and now! It’s good news. It’s not for tomorrow, it’s for today! Bye. 👋

P 3138 Be real.

/ DVH

Let’s actively work at being real. We have all become so tied up in our own thoughts and superficial communications with each other, that we are barely skimming the surface of what God intended to exist within the Body of Christ. One of our greatest strengths is being over-looked — it’s becoming one with each other. Let’s look at 1 Corinthians 12:12-27.

“There is one body, but it has many parts. But all its many parts make up one body. It is the same with Christ. We were all baptised by one Holy Spirit. And so we are formed into one body. It didn’t matter whether we were Jews or Gentiles, slaves or free people. We were all given the same Spirit to drink. So the body is not made up of just one part. It has many parts.

Suppose the foot says, “I am not a hand. So I don’t belong to the body.” By saying this, it cannot stop being part of the body. And suppose the ear says, “I am not an eye. So I don’t belong to the body.” By saying this, it cannot stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, how could it hear? If the whole body were an ear, how could it smell?  God has placed each part in the body just as hHe wanted it to be.  If all the parts were the same, how could there be a body?  As it is, there are many parts. But there is only one body.

The eye can’t say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” In fact, it is just the opposite. The parts of the body that seem to be weaker are the ones we can’t do without. The parts that we think are less important we treat with special honour. The private parts aren’t shown. But they are treated with special care. The parts that can be shown don’t need special care. But God has put together all the parts of the body. And He has given more honour to the parts that didn’t have any. In that way, the parts of the body will not take sides. All of them will take care of one another. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it. If one part is honoured, every part shares in its joy. You are the body of Christ. Each one of you is a part of it.”

This is a huge portion of scripture, but I believe it is often overlooked – except when we squabble with each other about which gift is important! Somehow we have convinced ourselves that having coffee and cake in the break at church means we are having real fellowship. I don’t think that for minute. Many churches seem to rely upon the individual to care for themselves, so what about the verses that talk about ‘one another?’ I believe that praying for something that someone mentioned in the coffee and cake time … can be incredibly important.  People need to know they are loved, and cherished by the Lord, and us, at all times!  And the Holy Spirit wants to use each one of us to communicate those things to each other. 

I go to a church that has members all around the city I live in. Most of those church members work, so they don’t have “spare time” during the week. So when can we minister to one another? My answer is simple – do it at church, do it on the phone, do it by TEXT!  Ask the person who is suffering: ‘Would you like me to pray with you about that?’ If they say ‘yes’ then do it. If their pain is enough to make them uncomfortable or cry in front of you, then my advice is pray for them! We are not the ANSWER to each other’s prayers — but we can hold up someone’s arms when the heaviness of their pain means they feel they can’t go on. We need to join our prayers with anyone who is suffering, instead of saying: “I’ll pray for you” – do it NOW, on the spot!” 

That person who is not coping, is an elbow, or a toe in the Body of Christ and I should no more ignore their pain, than I would ignore physical pain in my own body. I once broke a teeny tiny bone in my foot. On the grand scale of things it was nothing, but it hurt anyway! And it meant I couldn’t walk properly or do any of the normal things that happened in my day. Pain is a terrible thing when you feel all alone. But if you know someone else cares about you enough to hold you up before His throne of Grace – then you begin to feel a little better. Make it a habit, when you meet with other Christians to make sure you ask: “Does anyone need prayer?”

Many churches have people in them who are shy or inexperienced with extemporaneous prayer. Because they are not in leadership roles, they can feel their prayers are minor. The power of God operates when we take faith steps – He healed Naaman, the Syrian commander, because a little girl was brave and spoke up. Let’s actively encourage the Body to minister healing, help, kindness, wherever they can. We make time for the sermon, and the worship and the announcements – how about we make time to minister to each other? 

Church members need an opportunity to help, to take a risk, and pray for someone else. A bonus benefit is that they will gain more trust and faith, when they realise they too can hear God well enough to help somebody. That is irreplaceable gain. It means the stress to be everybody, to everyone, comes off the leaders. The barriers that hold us back from gaining further knowledge of each other, must come down. You may not think you pray all that well, but when God Himself answers your prayers for your brother or sister – you knock that lie into the bin where it belongs.

I once prayed out loud in a prayer meeting, and I hadn’t met Jesus yet! I sure fooled the other participants, they didn’t talk to me about the gospel for months, they thought I already knew the Lord. Just because I prayed aloud in a group!  I think it is time we were REAL with each other. BTW, there’s nothing realer than “confessing your faults to one another.” Bye. 👋 

P 3050 Let’s say what He tells us to say.

/ DVH

Acts 8:34&35. “And the eunuch said to Philip, I beg of you, tell me about whom does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else? Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this portion of Scripture he announced to him the glad tidings.”  

My point today is this: when it comes to sharing with people-who-don’t-know-Him-yet — the bible is not one-size fits all. For a very long time we have presented people with John 3:16, or Revelation 3:20, and now those verses have become a tried and true method of presenting the gospel. They are great verses! But we have so many illustrations in the bible we can simply ask the Holy Spirit: “How would You like me to talk about Jesus to this person Lord?” 

Philip preached the gospel to a eunuch, and the man was saved on the spot because of the book of Isaiah. Stephen started with Abraham! Peter once preached something Joel had said. In another instance, multiple salvations started with a couple who decided that lying to the Holy Spirit was a good idea … and they both dropped dead. Anybody want an outreach that starts with people falling over DEAD?? This is an example of  what the fear of the Lord looks like. It starts with recognising that we are dealing with Almighty God, not the local council representative. Our Heavenly Father can’t be deceived.

Moving on … Jonah impacted the lives of a boat-load of sailors when he was walking in disobedience. A terrible storm ceased instantly as they threw him overboard, and that sight cut the sailors to the heart. The Apostles walked in signs and wonders which impacted the whole of Jerusalem. God knocked Paul off his horse and rendered him blind. I like that one … because the irony does not escape me! That man was already blind …he was continually persecuting the Church!

Who and what turns a human being around? The Holy Spirit does – HE’S THE WIND. It’s quite windy outside my house today. I can go outside and shout and scream fit to beat the band, but I cannot make the wind do anything. The wind goes where it wants to go. Jesus said this:“The wind blows where it wishes and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it is coming from and where it is going; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”John 3:8. 

We need to learn, now more than ever, to listen to the precious Holy Spirit and trust Him and the Way He does things. Repentance and humility are always a help with that. We are blessed. All God-inspired ideas come from Him. But if we are not careful we can end up using them and reusing them like we are reading from a text book. THE HOLY SPIRIT NEVER RUNS OUT OF NEW WAYS TO GLORIFY GOD! 

Here’s a big thought from the book of Revelation … chapter 4, verse 8: ”…Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying:“‘Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, Who was, and is, and is to come.”I asked the Holy Spirit about these creatures and this was His reply: “These beings need that many eyes to take the Almighty Father in. And every time they fly past the throne, they see something new, something glorious that they have never seen before, about Him, about Who He is.Their praise will never run out.”

Sin doesn’t exist in heaven, because sin would not be comfortable there. It’s a Holy Place. The Father and His love fill everything, because He IS everything! Heaven is filled with truth, light, love, peace, joy etc. Sinful people react to those things one of in two ways, probably because these options are polarising. They either reject it and Him, immediately – or they are awe-struck and move toward His light. 

There are many people who admire their own way of thinking, and they do not want to surrender to love. It isn’t fear that stops them. Instead, it is a lack of interest, hatred and many times it’s plain old rebellion.The message of the cross seems simplistic and foolish to some people. They find the things of God beneath their attention, they would rather cling to their sin than change their ways. But billions of others have simply been hurt by this life, or they have never known what real love looks like. Whatever the response is – we choose not to differentiate between people. Instead, we present what He tells us, how He tells us, to the people He sent us to.

Our job on this earth is to proclaim Him and fulfil His mission for our lives. We are to present the solution to sin and death – Jesus Christ. The bible is our tool, and now we use it to share Jesus with others. We are here to proclaim and demonstrate the good news.. But people won’t be able to choose if we do not follow the Holy Spirit’s leading and say whatever He tells us to say.

“For the Anointed One has sent me on a mission, not to see how many I could baptise, but to proclaim the good news. And I declare this message stripped of all philosophical arguments that empty the cross of its true power. For I trust in the all-sufficient cross of Christ alone.”1 Corinthians 1:17. Bye 👋

P 3029 A people of faith.

/ DVH

“And there is still much more to say of His unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in My sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God. So if while we were still enemies, God fully reconciled us to Himself through the death of his Son, then something greater than friendship is ours. Now that we are at peace with God, and because we share in His resurrection life, how much more we will be rescued from sin’s dominion! And even more than that, we overflow with triumphant joy in our new relationship of living reconciled to God—all because of Jesus Christ!” Romans 5:9-11 TPT.

I have to admit I find some people’s reactions to scripture almost hilarious. I’ve known people who pick through the bible like they are trying to avoid veggies they don’t like! Good luck with that!  Life has become so difficult there’s no chance of avoiding those brussel sprouts any more. There they are, lying on your plate staring at you, and everyone else is watching to see what you are going to do about it!

Here’s an astonishing fact:  Almighty God gave Abraham righteousness because that man chose to believe what God had told him. “Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness.” That fact is written down in a whole lot of places in the bible.  Genesis 15:6, Romans 4:1-22, Galatians 3:6-9, Hebrews11:8-10, Hebrews 11:17-19. Abraham believed what God said, and acted on it. This ordinary man took his family of origin from the land of his birth, and led them to a new place, Haran. Then he and his immediate family followed God on a merry dance to somewhere he never even heard of! And he did all that purely because God asked him to do it. 

Now that’s real obedience!! The Lord and Abraham had a discussion, and the man didn’t really understand what he had been given at first, because his mind was stuck in his own human circumstances. He had no children, yet God told him he would have a son of his own flesh. You wanna bet Abe thought to himself: “Who is this really?” SEE! You are not the only person to wonder if what you heard was God or not!! But because of his obedience he would have millions of spiritual sons and daughters. Abraham took what Almighty God said seriously, and then one day the Lord showed him his ongoing legacy. US!!  That is, everybody who lives trusting in what God said in the book. 

Our description now as Christians is this: “…the people who walk by faith not by sight.” We are called that because we walk with God the way Abraham did. We follow Jesus. We can’t see Jesus any more than Abraham could see having a child could be possible at 100 years of age! Instead, as his spiritual descendants, we use our faith to live and walk with the Lord in every single situation. Abraham showed us what faith looks like. It moves, it obeys, it walks with God Himself. 

Father God has called us righteous in His sight, just like He gave righteousness to Abraham. The Lord Jesus bought it for us. But it was a gift. We became righteous because Jesus took our punishment for us and now our destiny has changed. We are destined to live a new life of faith. The Lord Jesus has given us the power to live our daily life in a new way. Abraham did not deserve a son, anymore than we deserve to be saved. Meanwhile, Abraham and Sarah tried to help God along, by introducing works … but God clearly shows us through this man’s life, and his mistakes, that works cannot inherit His promises. The life lived in faith is the only life that pleases God.

Ephesians 2:7-9.”… in order that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Almighty God is incredibly rich in so many things we need to learn to esteem. Unfortunately we often go after monetary or situational gain. We are chasing the wind if we chase money or security, because God has another bigger plan for our lives. He showed us that we too can live relying on and counting on what Christ did for us, to totally transform our lives. Grace is not just a lovely attribute of God’s nature. It is a powerful force that utterly changed the outcome of this world. 

Everything Jesus Christ did for us was done in His great Love for us. Now our Christ-given inheritance means we will not have to come up against the wrath of God. That thought just boggles my tiny mind. In my lifetime I have come up against the wrath of many human beings …and their nasty was pretty awful. However, I do not even want to begin to imagine what the wrath of an angry God looks like, thank you very much!

“Give God the right to direct your life, and as you trust Him along the way, you’ll find He pulled it off perfectly! He will appear as your righteousness, as sure as the dawning of a new day. He will manifest as your justice, as sure and strong as the noonday sun. Quiet your heart in His presence and wait patiently for Yahweh. And don’t think for a moment that the wicked, in their prosperity, are better off than you.” Psalms 37:5-7 TPT. We are His people, a people of faith. Bye 👋

P 3026 Take a bible bath!

/ DVH

Here’s an example of a good long soak from Colossians: “Holy Spirit, please Help me to: 

‘…receive the perfect knowledge of God’s pleasure over my life, make me a reservoir of every kind of wisdom and spiritual understanding. I pray that I’d walk in the ways of true righteousness, pleasing my Father God in every good thing I do. Then I will become a fruit-bearing branch, yielding to His life in me, as I mature in the rich experience of knowing Almighty God in His fullness!

 …I pray that I’d be energised with all Your explosive power from the realm of Your magnificent glory, please fill me with great hope. My heart soars with joyful gratitude when I think of how God made me worthy to receive the glorious inheritance freely given to me by living in the light. God Himself has rescued me completely from the tyrannical rule of darkness and has translated me into the kingdom realm of His beloved Son. 

… How blessed I am when I demonstrate tender mercy! For tender mercy will be demonstrated to me. The Lord Jesus is the divine portrait, the true likeness of the invisible God, and the firstborn heir of all creation. In Him was created the universe of things, both in the heavenly realm and on the earth, all that is seen and all that is unseen. Every seat of power, realm of government, principality, and authority—it all exists through Him and for His purpose!”

That prayer was gleaned from Colossians 1:9-16 TPT and personalised by me. I have found this is a great way to pray for yourself — especially if you have no words of your own. Sometimes I end up praying things I would never ever think of praying – but they are in the book! For instance, for years now I’ve prayed that God would “enlighten the eyes of my heart” according to Ephesians 1:18. I’ve found the scripture comes alive and it is active. And it will also comfort and heal us, as we literally apply it like a healing balm over our hearts.

My spiritual eyes have been enlightened, made brighter, and  they see better, as I focus on what He has said about me. These are the things He has said about all of us — about His love, about our lives, and what’s happening in them. The saddest place we can live in is to know what His Word says – but never ever act like it is true. It is our faith that brings the Word Himself off the page, and now He stands with us, whispering to us what to do next. He speaks to me through the scriptures all the time, it has become my inner reference point.

In the passage above from Colossians, one verse stood out to me: ‘…God Himself has rescued me completely from the tyrannical rule of darkness and has translated me into the kingdom realm of His beloved Son.” One way or another we have all been subjected to tyranny! Some of us from birth, and/or our own sin! Instead of focussing on the human tyrant who perpetrated ugliness against us, now we have been given the power to focus upon the One Who set us free. He didn’t just take us out of tyranny – GOD PUT US FIRMLY INTO THE KINGDOM REALM OF HIS BELOVED SON. 

So when tyranny tries to knock on the door of your heart you can truthfully tell it: “Knock all you want – I don’t live there anymore! My home is with Jesus now, I don’t have to live under your rule.” Almighty God wants us to live under His rule, His wisdom, not the so-called wisdom of this world. The wisdom of God is unchanging, and never ending. Did you get that? His wisdom won’t ever change or end, and God is for us. He won’t take sides, because now we have stepped onto HIS SIDE! On His side we do things the way He tells us, always believing He has everyone’s good in His incredible loving heart. 

It still amazes me that I can suddenly think of a scripture I can barely remember reading. If you asked me where it was, I might say…”I think it’s in there … in the bible… somewhere???” However, my faulty memory does not change His word. “But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: …”Romans 10:8. That verse is also in Deuteronomy 30:14. It’s in the New Testament and the Old Testament… that’s a double whammy!!

His word is in us, whether we know it or not—whether we have memorised it or not. Simply reading it regularly, and thinking about it — is just like soaking in the precious oils that Esther spent six months drenching herself in before she went in to see Ahasuerus, the King. You could smell Esther before she ever walked into a room!

Now, you and I are the sweet fragrance of Christ being shed abroad wherever we go. That means that the people who pass us in the street, going about their business will turn their heads and say, “WHAT was THAT?!?” Hubby and I have seen this in real life. A grumpy, business-like frozen person turns into a puddle simply because Jesus entered the room – He came with us. Thank you Lord!!

If you want the Holy Spirit to go places with you, then GO WHERE HE WANTS TO GO! Consult Him. Ask Him questions.“Where do You want me to go? How do I do that? What do you want me to say? Help!?” We can joyfully spread His fragrance around when we soak-in, take-in, act-on and enjoy His Presence. Pray the scriptures over your life. You will come out much cleaner than you went in! Bye. 🛁