Sheep dogs

P 3364 Living aware of His care.

/ DVH

“We pray that you’ll live well for the Master, making Him proud of you as you work hard in His orchard. As you learn more and more how God works, you will learn how to do your work. We pray that you’ll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul—not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father Who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that He has for us.” Colossians 1:11,12.

I’ve talked previously about pruning and the results, so today I’d like to mention that we don’t have to learn this stuff in a vacuum. Our God is always with us wherever we go, in the Person of the Holy Spirit. I’m His biggest fan! I love to watch Him at work, even in the little things. When we look for His input in our everyday lives, we can find Him, quietly working away behind the scenes.

Above today’s text there’s a picture of something that reminds me of Him in action. I enjoy watching sheep dogs working, protecting and rounding up sheep. Those clever dogs go this way and that, and sometimes it seems like the dumb sheep have no clue what is good for them. But the sheepdogs persevere, darting about with boundless energy. They are always on the look-out for danger to the sheep to keep them safe.

In the same way, we may not aways understand why the Holy Spirit is doing whatever He is doing in our lives. But we can be sure of one thing – His mission is to keep every single sheep safe and lead them to where they are meant to be. We may not ‘feel like ‘ He is there, but He promised to be with us, so let’s choose to believe Him. The more we learn His ways, the more we can recognise when He is at work for His will and pleasure in our own lives, and the lives of others around us. Ask Him to help you see through His eyes.  

The secret is in our own stickability, and the precious Holy Spirit will even help us with that! “And let us not lose heart and grow weary and faint in acting nobly and doing right, for in due time and at the appointed season we shall reap, if we do not loosen and relax our courage and faint.” Galatians 6:9. “That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day.” 2 Corinthians 4:16. “That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man.” Ephesians 3:16.

Jesus did not leave us alone to work out this life by ourselves. Thank you Lord! So we have every reason to keep on going. Even if we sometimes give up on ourselves, the Holy Spirit is there, whispering to us: “Keep going, we’ve got this, I’m here to help you.” He is not an inactive observer. He abounds in Grace toward us and He doesn’t count our missteps or mistakes—He’s the One Who continually reminds us that Jesus died for all our sins. Hubby and I have found that when we go on the road, we simply become His hands and feet. You don’t have to raise the dead to witness, you simply have to walk in Love and leave the rest to Him.

You will never find a more willing participant in your ministry, than the Holy Spirit. It is His joy and pleasure to help us. The biggest clue is in His Name. HOLY Spirit. To walk with Him we cannot live to please ourselves anymore. Instead we need to proactively remind ourselves that Jesus died to give us His holiness, His right standing with our Father, and His Grace to finish whatever Father God has asked us to do. So we must lay aside ours. Our inheritance is vast, and often remains unclaimed. Sometimes that is because we focus on what we can’t do, instead of what Jesus has already done.

“The heavens declare the glory of God;  the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.” Psalm 19:1,2. I try to look UP, as well as look carefully, and prayerfully in the mirror of His Word. Looking at ourselves will just intimidate us because without Him we can do nothing. The One Who put those stars, those planets, the moon, and the sun there with His fingertips, is inside you! He wants to work with us: “[Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energising and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight.” Philippians 2:13. 

There have been times in my life when it felt like He was not with me, but we cannot afford to go by our feelings. The One Who put the desire to please Him, or the sadness for letting Him down is the One Who is reminding us He’s still there! He promises in the book, to work “…all things together for our good.” Including the spirit of stupid that sometimes falls on all of us!  He is far, far more generous, than we are able to understand. Whisper His Name, ask for His help. He’s always the Answer, not people.

Living well isn’t about getting stuff right, it is about pressing in, even if you don’t feel like getting out of bed. Let’s take our focus off us and how we feel and continue to praise Him for His consistency while we are doing it. Praise and thank the Lord that His motivation is love, not performance, and live aware of His care for you.  “In all your ways know and acknowledge and recognize Him, And He will make your paths straight and smooth [removing obstacles that block your way].” Proverbs 3:6. Amen and Amen! Bye 👋

P 2777 Conquering the storm of worry.

/ DVH

“But as for me, Your strength shall be my song of joy. At each and every sunrise, my lyrics of Your love will fill the air! For You have been my glory-fortress, a stronghold in my day of distress.”Psalms 59:16 TPT. Sheep follow their Shepherd, they don’t have a care in the world – they just jumble along eating and sleeping. Our God is so strong! Let His strength be the place you choose to hide in. We need to remind ourselves, as we read His book, that He will never change. What was true yesterday, in the bible, will be true today and tomorrow! Wake yourself up with the knowledge that you are loved so dearly. Despite the fact that a lot of people in this world don’t always understand you – Almighty God does. His Love is all-encompassing and perfect. He’s the perfect Shepherd.

Verses like this one from Psalm 59 are in the bible to be an exclamation, exhortation and proclamation into every single day we are given. Reminding us that:  🎼 “This is the day that the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it! 🎶” Some of those wonderful old songs keep me going when trouble tries to crush me. That and the knowledge that even though it feels like I have no strength – He is always my strength. Teehee! Now that old children’s song is going to play over and over in your head. Gotcha! 

The bible is an enormous help to me, it stops me from flailing about when I feel like I am drowning from worry or sorrow or fear. Flailing about makes you sink…! … No matter how many thousands of words we inwardly throw at our difficulties, worry does not accomplish anything. I have had to learn and practise handing things over to Him: ’Our times are in His hands.’ It’s a learnt skill. In my natural mind, giving stuff to the Holy Spirit makes perfect sense … because absolutely nothing can be changed by worrying.

Yet my emotions often jump up and down and insist … “if you can just think of an answer …!!!” Round and round I go getting dizzy. Then fear kicks in. That’s why we need to read the bible every single day, we need an arsenal of bible verses to chuck at difficulties and problems. It has taken me years to admit that: “I can’t actually fix most things, by myself.” Many of my grand problem-solving ideas, involve somebody else’s co-operation or actions! Good luck with that!! People will do what they will do. That particular thought just flows naturally into getting frustrated with them. 

The best course is to step back in behind the Shepherd and give everything to Him … and leave it there. Then I amble on, walking behind Him like a dumb sheep. If those worrying thoughts continue to niggle at me, then I keep right on handing things back to Him. Even if I accidentally start trying to figure stuff out, I repent and … repeat … “There’s that thing I gave You Lord, please forgive me for worrying over it again.” Amen. Worry can’t change anything but your mood!  It can take you from a good place to a bad one in a heartbeat. 

God’s answers to problems are not the same as ours – praise HIM!… They are way better, for everybody involved!! Plus when we are worried, we can become more self-centred. But when we hand things to Him and leave them there, we become God-centred. We must keep our eyes on our Shepherd. Even a nasty thing like worry can be used to remind us that God has us in the palm of His wonderful hands. It isn’t lazy to give things to Jesus, it’s sensible. Some things in this life are totally outside of our control. I got tired of trying to figure out which was which, so now I just hand everything over.   

One day I asked myself: “How much of my life have I wasted worrying about things I had no hope of changing?” Now there’s a survey nobody wants to do! Sadly, worry always feels like you are doing something – when you actually aren’t. It feels that way because it is WORK. It’s the kind of work that exhausts you mentally and emotionally. You can get so tired from trying to figure out an answer, that you become impatient with everyone else around you. That’s not good!

“Let this hope BURST forth within you, releasing a continual joy. Don’t give up in a time of trouble, but commune with God at all times.”Romans 12:12 TPT. Tell the Lord what’s going on, talk to Him! Prayer is simply stepping into His rhythm and walking with Him. At the same time ask Him for His opinion. Then listen for the bible verse that will suddenly appear into your heart. He speaks ‘bible’ to me often. There are times when I cannot remember even reading a particular verse but it pops up anyway. He’s a fantastic Shepherd.

Here’s a last thought —- let’s use the phone for more than texting or social media. Let’s get a bible app that helps you look up words or phrases. I don’t know about you but I can’t always find what I’m looking for, the net helps me all the time! That storm of worrying will pass – we just don’t want to be one of its casualties.  Baa! 🐑

P 2745 Are you a policeman … or a shepherd?

/ DVH

Our police force upholds our laws. He or she can throw people acting badly into jail, particularly if the law agrees with them. They can and probably will get rough with you, if you get rough with them … or if you hurt someone else. If we are not breaking the law, then we are in no danger of being accosted by a policeman. Personally, I smile and say ‘hello officer’ and just go about my business. People who don’t break the law don’t have to worry about the police. 

I watch TV news occasionally, and I have seen the unruly crowds of truly dumb people provoking officers of the law who have a large shield, a face mask, a helmet, steel capped boots, a baton, and a gun! 😳 Now there’s the spirit of stupid on steroids!! These misguided protesters are trying to make a point whilst yelling abuse in someone’s ears and waving banners and charging at them. It seems to me that they are shouting at the wrong people! Sadly, we need the police because human beings cannot always be trusted to act in a rational, loving, manner toward each other. 

On the other hand, shepherds watch their sheep, their flock is the centre of their thoughts and hearts. They look out for danger, and make sure that they are leading the sheep to good food and water. However, lest we think that shepherds are always nice, I would like to mention that shepherds have something I call a whacker! A nice long bit of hard wood with a knob on the end. Shepherds protect their sheep with said whacker. Some people call it a shepherd’s crook. The shepherd’s crook is useful to fish sheep out of water, as well as thorny bushes and holes. It is also useful for bopping dumb sheep on the head if they keep wandering off, or biting other sheep!  

Now, the whacker doesn’t really hurt the sheep, because the idea is to stun the stupid creature into some semblance of sense — not to have roast lamb on Sunday. Besides, it is a well known fact sheep have really really hard skulls. Nowadays, we also have brilliant dogs who are well trained and they nip at the heels of any silly wandering sheep and bark loudly at them. Because said sheep are easily frightened, they run away from the beast that bites. Not so dumb after all! Let’s hope that we don’t just see the creature as a potential lamb sandwich with pickles.

If the riotous, aforementioned, sheeple crowd had a brain in their heads, they too would run away from the lines of armed police, before they get injured. Some public figure idiot with a big mouth told our citizens that they have the right to say whatever they want to say. They call that free speech. That is a rumour. In other countries that law applies, but it is not part of this country’s constitution. Which is why it is best not to go on a protest!  

So here I am, back at my point, after meandering on about like a sheeple for a while. I will refresh my question:  in your family —  are you a policeman or a shepherd? Do you enforce the law? Maybe you have grave concerns that the rules must be kept or bad things will happen? Are you prepared to use force, vocal or otherwise, to maintain those rules? OR, are you a shepherd, daily walking and leading your sheep, watching out for good water, and green pastures? Are you willing to do whatever is required to rescue a dumb sheeple if it becomes necessary?  You are there to lead, and guide, and care for your own personal flock. 

What do you think is more important to you? Maintaining some sort of unwritten status quo, so you can cope with your already overcrowded busy life whilst trying to fit your kids in around everything else? Or raising loving human beings who care about the next guy? Ministers and pastors aren’t the only people who have a flock, parents do as well. Is it your aim to be the kind of shepherd that will go after a lost sheep, as well as carry an injured one home? Or do you rule your family with a rod of iron whilst standing safely behind your shield of –“I’m the boss!”

Let’s see what God says by looking at a couple of Psalms, 127:3&4: “Children are an inheritance from the Lord. They are a reward from Him. The children born to a man when he is young are like arrows in the hand of a warrior.” Psalm 102:28:“The children of Your servants will live in Your presence;  their descendants will be established before You.”

Lastly, I just want to mention that the police are great but they are dispassionate, they are doing a job. They are enforcing rules for societal good. In contrast, a true shepherd is passionate, he cares for every single sheep, knows it by name, and will go to great lengths to keep it safe. Our children are the arrows of the present we fire into the future. What will you and I leave behind us — the memory of a policeman or a shepherd? In the school holidays I had a tendency to turn into a policeman — just to survive! Bye …👋

P 2491 We are being trained.

/ DVH

When life is on top of us and we are struggling to take the next step, we must always remember He will never leave us, instead, we need to remember that we are a people in training. People who are in training work hard for a purpose. Our God is preparing us for those greater works Jesus talked about. We gave away our right to live this life the way we want to, now, we are learning obedience. Sometimes through suffering. I find looking at things in the natural world, helps me to understand spiritual ones. Jesus did this a lot in the Gospels.

Because I gave my life away — my reference point can no longer be what I want, feel or know! Actually I can’t do what you want either, I left pleasing you behind, when I left pleasing myself behind! Now, my reference point has to be what does Jesus want? I believe He wants us to continually learn to love other people – it is a life-long lesson. Our current society thinks it is successful if we keep all the unhappy people around us happy. 

Happiness is fleeting, and many people are kind of whimsical, so what suits them one day doesn’t the next! Aiming at keeping others happy is just a different kind of self-centredness, because if you are happy with me, then of course I’m going to feel better – the atmosphere around me will probably change if you are happier.  However, I am still inadvertently looking after me when I try to keep you happy!  My focus is wrong. I need my eyes to be on what He wants.

When we live His way, we need to actively learn to be humble in all things, because next time it could be our turn to be a pain! However, I won’t be concerned about who did what and why … when I am following Him, I am simply focussed on following the Leader’s instructions. Jesus spoke to twelve very different men and said: “Come and follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.” Matthew 4:19. And the church has been stuck squabbling over fishing methods and rights ever since! Instead of gathering all His people into His delegated green pastures, and letting Him sort out the sheep from the goats – we fight for our own little bit of paddock.

That reminds me, in all our travels we have seen many paddocks and properties that run cattle and sheep, and these properties often use dogs to control their herds and flocks. Although on really vast properties they also use helicopters and quad bikes! Today I want to talk about this kind of dog –  they are called cattle or sheep dogs. These smallish bundles of totally focussed energy, have one task in their little brains. “Do what the boss tells you to do.”  This dog adores its master and his master is always the boss. 

In our new life, the Holy Spirit is our Boss, but He does not enforce the rules, He wants us to willingly obey Him, using the bible, and He personally leads us. And just like the cattle dog does, He wants us to obey Him because we love our Saviour Jesus. I’ve watched these incredible dogs, they are a great example. They pant their little heads off, sitting quietly beside their master, looking at the boss to see what he wants next. This dog would no more run about chasing butterflies, or a ball, than I can fly to the moon.  It has been trained. That training produces incredible obedience. Sometimes the master just gives a whistle and a look, and off goes the dog, because he knows the man so well.

Our God is teaching and training each one of us, with His wonderful Eye upon us, what will be good, right, and profitable for our own lives. He knows what we need to know so we can get through whatever comes next. Many times in my Christian faith I have felt like my foot was nailed to the floor and I was going round and round. I couldn’t seem to get anywhere. I asked the Lord …why is this happening? He said: “I’m teaching and disciplining you, but you are not listening to Me. You cannot go onto the next stage of your life without the lessons I want you to learn right here and now. It is My kindness to you to keep you where you are, if you do not learn, you will not make it through what comes next.”

That is why I called this blog – first floor messages – because I think the church at large has been stuck on the ground floor, spiritually speaking, for many years. Most churches are all still stuck on which one is more right than the other one! It is not good to compare churches. It is like comparing kiwi fruit with bananas, they are both fruit but they are still very different. We can all belong to Jesus and still be, and look, different! He’s simply that BIG – big enough to love us all! I believe that, right now, the Lord is looking for us to rise up to look like Him. Our God is much more interested in us spreading His message of love and reconciliation, then He ever has been in our theologies, ministries, comfort and so-called happiness.

To get there, we will need to stop looking after our own interests and be like that sheep/cattle dog, obediently waiting for what He wants US to do next. He is our reference point … not the circumstances or whatever is happening all around us. We are in training. What does He say in His book? Are we doing it? If not why not? We must stop “straightening each other out so other people will think like I do,” and simply get on with the job of learning to love others. Bye 👋🏻