Shelter

P 3277 The Lord cannot let you down.

/ DVH

“The Lord is my light and my salvation;  I will fear no one. The Lord protects me from all danger; I will never be afraid.

When evil people attack me and try to kill me, they stumble and fall. Even if a whole army surrounds me, I will not be afraid; even if enemies attack me, I will still trust God. I have asked the Lord for one thing one thing only do I want: to live in the Lord’s house all my life, to marvel there at His goodness, and to ask for His guidance. In times of trouble He will shelter me; He will keep me safe in His Temple and make me secure on a high rock. So I will triumph over my enemies around me. 

With shouts of joy I will offer sacrifices in His Temple; I will sing, I will praise the Lord. Hear me, Lord, when I call to You! Be merciful and answer me! When You said, “Come worship Me,” I answered, “I will come, Lord.”Don’t hide Yourself from me! Don’t be angry with me; don’t turn Your servant away. You have been my help; don’t leave me, don’t abandon me, O God, my Saviour. My father and mother may abandon me, but the Lord will take care of me. Teach me, Lord, what You want me to do, and lead me along a safe path, because I have many enemies. Don’t abandon me to my enemies, who attack me with lies and threats. I know that I will live to see the Lord’s goodness in this present life. Trust in the Lord. Have faith, do not despair. Trust in the Lord.”  Psalm 27 GNB. 

In order to maintain our faith and sanity, we need to regularly and deliberately stop and take the time to remind ourselves of Who He is, and how very much He loves us. Meanwhile, who are we to fellowship with SomeOne like Almighty God, and dare to call Him “Father?” Thank you Jesus!  How constantly and consistently He seeks to protect us and comfort us. He is not a God Who stands afar off. (Psalm 10:1) The Lover of our soul, Jesus, is our dearest Friend Who sticks closer than a brother.(Proverbs 18:24) We are so incredibly blessed!

Sometimes the things we need to do and the places we need to go to, can be overwhelming. Plus the people  who often crowd in on us, and don’t always contribute anything positive! And so we forget God is our ever-present help in time of need. These are the times to press in to Him. God sits on His throne and laughs at the threats and posturing of His enemies. So we have nothing to be afraid about, because the Lord has us in His care. We are the apple of His eye, His people, His sheep. He is the good Shepherd Who protects and guards His sheep against all attacks and threats. In difficult times, we need to tuck ourselves under His Wings, where there is shelter. If you feel besieged and under threat, run to the Lord, and hide yourself in His goodness. 

I like to take the time to reaffirm my faith and trust in His goodness. Please understand this action is not an immediate EXIT strategy. Instead I am making a decision to deliberately enter into His rest. Focussing on His goodness helps the process of watering and fertilising the seeds of my faith, even at a time when I am raw and unsettled. That’s what faith looks like. It isn’t always pretty, or powerful.  However, our Mighty powerful Lion of Judah will come to our aid as we fix our eyes on Him and not what is going on around us. The point is, our faith is in WHO He is, not just in changed circumstances or how we feel or react to them.  

Our Heavenly Father cannot let us down because He has chosen to be bound by His own promises. He wrote them down! This means we cannot forget them and we can be encouraged in the dark night of our soul to trust Him when it seems impossible. It is His integrity that is at stake here. That’s why the great patriarchs and mighty men of the past, held Him to His Word. The Lord delights in the kind of faith that holds Him to His Word! This faith is not based on feelings, but it can be influenced by HISTORY … our shared history with Him.

The bible clearly tells us that Father God does not keep score of our blunders and sinfulness, because our debt has already been paid by Jesus. That glorious, terrible event is part of our shared history with God.  He chooses to focus on the freedom His Love bought us. All He sees when He looks at us, now, is His dear Son’s blood. That blood is as fresh in our lives today, as it was when it was willingly shed back then, at Calvary. That’s why we need to choose to voluntarily repent quickly, and repair things. Our desire is to stay under the blood of Jesus.We rely upon the Lord’s costly provision and His truthfulness. 

We have no reason to deliberately nourish sin in our lives anymore. It has no power or authority over us! Jesus took the devil’s power away from him – all he can do now is deceive us. But because we love our Father’s Word and joyfully obey Him, we can live a brand new life filled with His love and purposes. We’ve chosen to be dead to what we want, and alive to what He wants. And now we embrace the power of the cross in our lives from day to day. That power delivers us from evil as we embrace His life in us! 

Like the Psalmist says: stuff still happens. Our enemy has not given up on trying to deceive us, but we are so blessed! We have the truth to set us free, and uncover the lies we are being fed. No wonder the Psalmist is joyful and can’t wait to worship God! His knowledge of the Lord’s goodness and His ways are His greatest comfort in times of trouble. We have God’s Word written down, signed in the blood of Jesus. He will do what He said He will do, and more. He cannot let us down – His faithfulness is legendary.Bye. 👋

P 3253 Be an invisible servant.

/ DVH

My dear hubby shared this with me recently. I think it is good advice: “Rule with the heart of a servant. Serve with the heart of a King.” Now there’s something to chew over! Jesus is our King, and He came quietly as a servant of all mankind. A good King knows His power and uses it, discreetly and wisely. At the same time, this thought also forced me ask myself some hard questions. How do you get a servant’s heart? I believe our King and how He lived, is my example. We are here on earth, at our King’s pleasure. And a King lives to serve those around Him, for their benefit, not His.

“When you do something for someone else, don’t call attention to yourself. You’ve seen them in action, I’m sure—‘playactors’ I call them—treating prayer meeting and street corner alike as a stage, acting compassionate as long as someone is watching, playing to the crowds. They get applause, true, but that’s all they get. When you help someone out, don’t think about how it looks. Just do it—quietly and unobtrusively. That is the way your God, who conceived you in love, working behind the scenes, helps you out.” Matthew 6:3

For me that means I have to let go of any sense of entitlement. BTW, that word entitlement means:  ‘the belief that one inherently deserves special privileges, treatment or rights.’ In today’s world we seem to have the sort of thinking that pops up and says:“That’s not right, they ought not to treat me like this. Blah blah blah.” Everybody today is running about boo-hoo-ing about being treated badly! Perhaps if you don’t understand what privilege means, it can hurt to willingly put these things down. People killed the King of glory, why should our lives be easy? 

Some of the sweetest saints I have ever known – you wouldn’t even know their names. They weren’t rich, but they were born givers. My husband’s Grandmother – Mama – was a beautiful servant, through and through. Love poured out of her eyes toward others. In her eighties she used to go and visit old people who didn’t know Jesus on the bus! She moved in a Word of knowledge and had no clue she was doing it! The world is poorer now she is no longer in it. Another Chinese saint I’ve known, would never hesitate to find a way to bless somebody else. He blessed people he didn’t even know, and he took wonderful care of his family. He too is with Jesus now. 

The fact is this world owes you and I nothing. It certainly doesn’t owe us a huge house, a fancy schmancy boat, four cars in the garage, and a holiday in the Maldives or skiing holidays in St Moritz! I was born into a society where these things are available to a third of the population, I didn’t earn this benefit, I was simply born in a blessed country. So that means I can share with others. 

It helps to reflect on the fact that every one of us here arrived in this world the same way — helpless and naked! 

Sadly, right after we arrived in this world, we began to learn its arrogant ways. We craved recognition, appreciation, power, so-called beauty and position while so many other people can’t find food, water, safety or shelter. People stumble over money all the time. Money is a tool, not an end product. 

The thing is, our Saviour came here as a servant, and He has graciously given us a choice to be His obedient servants too. So our faith needs to be demonstrated as well as preached! We need more Christians with Jesus’ servant Kingly heart — some powerful Christians who will stand up for the oppressed. All this worldly stuff is unnecessary trimmings. Nice to have but easily lost – and BTW, that actually includes other people’s good opinions of us. The only opinion that matters the most  is HIS.

We must never reign as Kings despotically – doling out favours, rather than blessing anyone who crosses our path. We are told to have the same heart in us that He had in Him. That means we don’t mind getting our hands dirty or going without. Christians need to joyfully, willingly, bow their lives to His glory, and demonstrate His love for others everywhere they go. It helps other people to see Who He is! In our great quest to serve Him, the lower we go, the better we serve. Christians aren’t all that! Jesus is all that! And more! Much more! I’ve heard so many odd proclamations from enthusiastic people who think the bible grants us special privileges. We have been given the privilege to die for our Saviour’s sake, if necessary – everything else is fleeting, or cheap, crass, unfruitful advertising. 

We are only powerful people because we have been GIVEN His totally undeserved Grace – and we were given that to GIVE IT AWAY. Reverence and respect are a by-product of love and submission. We are blessed, we will always have the ear of our King Jesus. You and I don’t have to make an appointment and have to wait to speak with Him – He has promised us He will always answer us.  Not because we are all that, but because HE is so faithful! He keeps His word! 

To serve with the heart of a King means we know and partake in the power that has been given to us by the Lord and we use it for the benefit of others, without prejudice. As Christians let’s choose to do what the Lord wants, because He is trusting us to have His best interests at heart. His best interests aren’t in the stock exchange – it’s PEOPLE that He loves. We choose to live this way to glorify His Name. When we see something wrong, we know we have the power to stand up for good, and intervene without violence or name-calling. When a King knows He is right, He serves His office with humility. 

Our dearest aim is to be an invisible servant, serving the Lord Jesus, our brothers and sisters, and everyone around us. So that He will receive all the glory! Amen. 🙏 

P 3140 The Way through is to live IN HIM.

/ DVH

“I have told you these things, so that IN ME you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”John 16:33. Jesus Himself warned us in this world there WILL be trouble. But when trouble rises up against us, we can easily feel victimised and picked on by the circumstances. We all hate difficulties – yet here Jesus is telling us that trouble will come, it’s unavoidable. Trouble doesn’t mean you got it wrong, it’s a part of this life. Our great quest is to live our lives remaining inside His Will, His Way. When we ‘remain in Him – He remains in us.’ John 15:4.

The Lord makes it extremely clear that the peace He is talking about is IN HIM. Our circumstances may not change, but we will live in a safe place inside His will. Jesus wants us to live the same way He did, He lived for His Father’s will to be done!  We are witnesses to His glory as we live our lives His way. Think of a baby kangaroo. A joey is hidden away in its mother’s pouch. It goes wherever the mother wants to go, it is protected from the outside world by being in a safe unseen place. It can see anything that goes on around it, yet it remains in that place of protection. The baby kangaroo can go in and out of that pouch, but it totally relies upon the mother’s instincts to protect it from danger.

We rely upon the Lord to lead us through the battlefields of this life. Now we are living in another kingdom where we have a choice about our responses. We’ve decided to let Him choose what He knows we can face. Human beings have a tendency to think that if our circumstances change, then we will be at peace and we will … feel better. But Jesus clearly tells us that there is a difference between being affected by this world, and living our lives the way He has designed for us to live them. It all depends on where we choose to live. If we can’t find peace …maybe we are looking in the wrong place for it! 

Peace is not a cessation of trouble, instead it is the most incredibly powerful Person Who personally protects us! At the same time, trouble means different things to different people. So our lives, although they may be very different, are lived daily using our faith that He is in charge, despite any adverse circumstances. He knows the way through everything. Think of this kind of peace as living our lives inside everything Jesus died to give us. The same way we might think of staying INSIDE the eye of a hurricane.

Everything destructive ceases in the centre of those terrible storms, it’s actually quite peaceful in there! The destruction is all around – but there are blue skies and fluffy clouds in the centre. This is a bit like staying in the centre of His will. We simply need to follow His instructions, move with Him, and stay within that hypothetical eye. Our focus needs to remain on Him. He is our shelter, we are to live in the safety of His Presence, by following His instructions regarding this life.

Whatever He says we need to say and do, then we do and say it, and then we hand everything back over to Him.Then we ask the Holy Spirit to guide our steps through the chaos, and help us to keep our eyes on Jesus, because He is the Author and Finisher of our faith. As we go, we relinquish everything extraneous that comes up and we hold nothing back. It’s all about trusting Him no matter how things look.

Jesus taught us these things so that the situations that cause us to have doubts and despair may not influence our lives. We don’t have to respond like the world does when good or bad stuff happens, because we’ve given our lives to Jesus! Now we’ve  moved kingdoms – out from the kingdom of darkness and its influences — into the kingdom of His marvellous light. Our new home is IN HIM. In Psalm 91:1-4 the Psalmist says: “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will REST in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”  Surely He will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.”

Christianity is about a Person, Jesus Christ. We no longer have to live buried under the troubles of this world, because we are the beneficiaries and recipients of the things Jesus told us He would give us. This means we can love others, we can have peace and joy etc. even in the middle of times of hardship and sadness. This world no longer influences us – HE DOES. We are daily learning how to live IN HIM, under His government – by reading the bible. Jesus is our model, He always did everything the Father asked Him to do, despite the ever-present risks and dangers around Him.

We must learn for ourselves — God good, devil bad – and take a stand against the bad every day. The only war we continually participate in now, is the one in our minds –  which tells us to doubt that whatever God is doing is for our good. At the same time, we are being carried by Jesus’ faith in us – yet we will still have to fight for our own faith. We are a peculiar army – we fight on our knees, for others, ourselves, and the Lord’s will to prosper in this world. 

Jesus won’t EVER leave us! He is deeply committed to each one of us. So we read His book because He shows us the Way through to overcoming and victory. It is not about winning and bashing up the other side, instead, now we are here to proclaim His goodness to the other side! We can have peace, joy and love in the middle of chaos – it is our right as citizens of heaven. Bless you, bye.👋

P 2916 Value His Presence.

/ DVH

This is a very special privileged place. It cost our heavenly Father everything to give it to us. His Presence is our treasure. So it is important for us to value and prioritise our relationship with the Holy Spirit. The way we can daily live walking with Him. This comes from an intimate understanding of His Ways – what He likes, what He doesn’t. I think it is a mistake to write out, or adhere to rules etc. regarding this relationship. And the Spirit’s virtually unseen contribution into our lives is about keeping those relationships flourishing with the joy of knowing and serving Them.

Because of the Holy Spirit and His help and influence, we can cultivate the utter freedom to love and serve others no matter how difficult they are. Love conquers all, and it will pay any price to do it. However, sin and rules will quite simply block our spiritual ears and eyes and muddy our understanding of Him. That’s when our focus shifts from Them … to me.

We need the Spirit’s Presence and wisdom permeating our lives, constantly, because His influence will build our faith in our Father’s loving kindness and goodness. He equips us to do His work for God’s kingdom to flourish through us. The Holy Spirit will not take over, but He loves to strengthen us so we can choose the good and be delighted in, and for, Father God Himself.

To get this place of safety, we must continually renew our minds so that we know, that we know, that without Him we can do nothing. By ourselves we can’t ever meet God’s standard of selflessness, purity and holiness, that’s why Jesus came and died in our place. He gave us His right-standing with our Father. When we live like Jesus would, we are living under His cleansing blood. Just look at the Lord’s confidence in His place in His Father’s eyes, as He prays outside Lazarus’ tomb:  “So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that You have heard Me.  I knew that You always hear Me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that You sent Me.”John 11:41&42.

Now let’s be clear, without His Presence we can rocket from one giant mess to another … which is actually the kind of ‘nothing happening here’ stuff that lasts … and, over time it will get worse!! We can however, live our lives repenting from the things that distract us daily, plus the occasional things that are exposed which have held us captive so far. We can live this way because we have already been given His strength, so we can forgive any perpetrators, as well ourselves – and that stops that dumb unfruitful dance from continuing. 

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness.” We can also confess our faults to one another, and dig into His Word until we hear His voice through what is written. This a reliable pathway back into living for His kingdom. Now our task is to believe and act upon what God said to us, personally. Our King is extremely humble. When we follow Him, that means we will also live humble lives, acknowledging we are not there yet.

Moving on … … for too long we have tried to serve God … AND… insert-something-in-here-that-you-are-unwilling-or-afraid-to-give-up! The solution for that is to tell the Lord the truth. Tell Him you don’t want to stop whatever it is that He has put His finger on, but you will – simply because it is important to HIM. That’s God’s love language – our response to His generosity and beauty – especially when we die to self for the sake of His kingdom coming. 

Then we ask for His help and exercise self-control. This fruit of the Spirit grows and flourishes in an environment of transparency, honesty and humility. Almighty God is a jealous God, He doesn’t like sharing US – we are His chosen family. That’s why He sent Jesus to save us. He will share His love, and He will shower us with mercy and grace … but He does not like a divided heart. Matthew 6:24; Psalms 86:11-17.

We need to remember that He wants us for Himself and there is no greater honour. “When you abide under the shadow of Shaddai, you are hidden in the strength of God Most High. He’s the hope that holds me and the stronghold to shelter me, the only God for me, and my great confidence.”Psalms 91:1-2 TPT.

The bible tells us not to forget all of God’s benefits in Psalm 103 – but we need to know that His benefits are bigger than just the stuff that suits me! His benefits are there for you too, through me! When we act under His instructions, like the Sons and Daughters of God, we destroy the works of the evil one.“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.

He wants to be our hiding place, our strong deliverer, our healer, our redeemer, our joy and our song – so we need to learn to not abuse what He has given us. We are the people who value even the Shadow of His Presence. Amen. 🙏

“My true life is the Anointed One, and dying means gaining more of Him.” Philippians 1:21 TPT.

P 2913 Latest news anyone?

/ DVH

Isaiah 3:1-7 “The Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, is emptying Jerusalem and Judah of all the basic necessities, plain bread and water to begin with. He’s withdrawing police and protection, judges and courts, pastors and teachers, captains and generals, doctors and nurses, and, yes, even the repairmen and jacks-of-all-trades.
He says, “I’ll put little kids in charge of the city. Schoolboys and schoolgirls will order everyone around. People will be at each other’s throats, stabbing one another in the back: Neighbour against neighbour, young against old, the no-account against the well-respected. One brother will grab another and say,‘You look like you’ve got a head on your shoulders.Do something! Get us out of this mess.’ And he’ll say, ‘Me? Not me! I don’t have a clue. Don’t put me in charge of anything.’”

Verses 8-12: “Jerusalem’s on its last legs. Judah is soon down for the count. Everything people say and do is at cross-purposes with God, a slap in My face. Brazen in their depravity, they flaunt their sins like degenerate Sodom. Doom to their eternal souls! They’ve made their bed; now they’ll sleep in it. “Reassure the righteous that their good living will pay off. But doom to the wicked! Disaster! Everything they did will be done to them.“Skinny kids terrorise My people. Silly girls bully them around. My dear people! Your leaders are taking you down a blind alley.They’re sending you off on a wild-goose chase.”

I read this passage today and I was astonished! It reads like the current news services – particularly the people who overemphasise the bad! My first thought was — so sin really IS common to mankind! (1 Corinthians 10:13)  The accuracy of what was written by Isaiah, 2,711 years ago. blew me away. Secondly I also realised that means that God is no stranger to the squirrelled-up lives we live, and the stupid decisions we make. I keep saying this stuff is in the book … and look at that – it really is in the book! Wow. If that doesn’t give us confidence that our God has already ‘bin there and dun that’ then what will?

As Christians we serve such a powerful Shepherd, He will fight every battle to protect us, as well as free us from fear. He wants to train our hands for war. However, in the west we have the luxury of thinking most of the poverty and war are ‘over there’  — as in, somewhere else! But many, many people get no relief from this kind of turmoil. Here’s another little eye-opener. This one is from Jeremiah 6:13&14 – 2,595 years ago: “For from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely. They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.”

We misrepresent the power of God when we minimise the depth of the trouble and sorrow and suffering all around us. The power of God is always present to deliver, heal and usher people into His kingdom and it has no limitations! However, our fake cheery positive attitudes, the ones unsupported by the Spirit of God, are a knife into the heart of those who really live under all kinds of pain and persecution. We must never change Who Jesus Christ is to serve our theology. And we cannot change reality to elevate Him either. Other people will see straight through the lies and half-truths.

The church has developed an attitude like David’s brothers did when Goliath was challenging the army of Israel. I call it the: “If I can’t see it then it is not really there,’ attitude! Our job is to bring the kingdom of God with us wherever we go, not just hide from the bad stuff with over-emphasised prosperity and happiness doctrines. Our happiness is in Christ not in this world. We are strangers, simply passing through, plus we are His ambassadors while we are here. We cannot hide from reality by putting huge rocks of these badly formed theories between us, and the giants of this world. We need to do every bit of our hiding in His shadow!

“When you abide under the shadow of Shaddai, you are hidden in the strength of God Most High. He’s the hope that holds me and the stronghold to shelter me, the only God for me, and my great confidence.” Psalms 91:1-2 TPT

Always remember, Jesus was willing to pay the incredible  price to transform our lives so His Presence can go  with us wherever we go. We are not the whole ballgame – we are merely the ticket sellers and food vendors to the main event! JESUS IS ALWAYS THE MAIN EVENT!! Instead of making our own personal kingdoms comfortable and filled up with stuff, we are here now to make His Name famous. They will know we are Christians by our love, not our ten cars and fourteen overseas trips!

The daily news will probably continue to be bad, because Jesus Christ is not necessarily enthroned in the hearts of the press or most of the people around us, either. The press just want a good story and $$$$$!  But we have the real steadfast, eternal good news, inside US. We are carriers of His kingdom, filled with the love of God and the good news about forgiveness of sins, no matter what other people have done.← That’s a full stop right there. Bye. 👋

P 2893 People need to see HIM in us.

/ DVH

Luke 13:10-17 “On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all.When Jesus saw her, He called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” Then He put His hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God. Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.”

The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?” When He said this, all His opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things He was doing.”

Why were these people so delighted? Here’s my theory … instead of rules and regulations, theories and hypotheses about this or that … God’s Love for ordinary people, those who daily lived in pain and suffering, was being acted out in front of their eyes! Suddenly His Love was no longer a theory — it was on display! Something they could see and experience for themselves. People saw His love in action, through everything Christ did. Sometimes I feel that we have failed the Lord, by talking, talking, talking about this idea or that one, but we haven’t actually moved from theory into practice.

Romans 5:8:“But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  Jesus is God’s love demonstrated. Let’s just think about that. He was kind to sinners and saints alike and He healed and delivered people who were trapped in terrible situations. He taught everyone around Him what God is like by the way He treated them. You and I meet people who need these demonstrations of His love every single day. They need His touch, whether it is an encouraging word, or a prayer for healing, or even food or shelter.

Our God chose to come here as a vulnerable infant, He lived among us, and … “Jesus Christ set a perfect example of kindness and love. Throughout His earthly ministry, He showed His love for others by blessing and serving the poor, the sick, and the distressed.” (Thank you Google!) Here’s my question for today – how do WE as in … you and I …choose to demonstrate our love for God to others? If we are not distracted, or weighted down by the cares of this life, and we are living vastly unaware of our personal contribution – we can think that simply avoiding sin meets His requirements. Sadly that kind of stuff will turn anyone into a legalist in a heart beat. Instead of peace flowing like a river … judgment will drown anyone who comes near it!

Here’s a revelation — trying to avoid sin is not the answer. Jesus already dealt with sin at Calvary and He expects us to use the power He bequeathed to us to deal with our own sin in our own lives using our OWN faith! There’s no point in sweeping junk under the carpet … that lump in the middle of the carpet is a dead-giveaway. Other people are bound to stumble over it. Luke 8:17: “For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.” Sooner or later who we really are jumps out under pressure. What we do after that happens, hits everyone around us with a learning curve. Then we can’t continue to pretend that we are AOK, because it eventually becomes obvious we are not.

The people who live around us need God’s love demonstrated toward them – that’s why He has given all of us Grace gifts, now we can deal with this world without hating it, or avoiding it. These Grace gifts change other people’s lives – and awaken faith in His goodness in us. It is consistency that matters – so day by day – we need to choose to  live our lives for His sake. This is how we usher in His kingdom – we follow Him, and we see people through His eyes. Tolerated and/or hidden sin can make us deaf and blind to other people’s needs. However, His love causes our faces to shine the way Jesus’ face shone with the love of the Father. 

Father God knows how to go around other people’s fierce, disinterested faces and attitudes, and bless them with His Love – despite their postures of indifference. We just follow the Holy Spirit and obey His prompts.The glorious thing about God’s loving, fruitful kingdom is that even a little tiny bit of it released into someone else’s life grows. That’s because His kingdom is not of this world – or subject to the junk we tolerate.

Always remember, people need to see Him in us. Every single day we need to use our faith to move beyond this world’s thinking, and start thinking and acting like HE does. My last thought is this, make friends with the Holy Spirit, He knows how to reach people. Bless you. 👋

P 2835 A little Christmas gift from me.

/ DVH

““Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to Me. Get away with Me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with Me and work with Me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with Me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”” Matthew 11:28-30 MSG.

I laughed when I read this scripture today, because I put it at the bottom of yesterday’s blog, and it just seems to be following me around – I had better pay attention!  First of all, I think this version is such a sweet one because it is so accessible. It accurately diagnoses the things that cause us to lose sight of what Grace looks like – tired, worn out, fed up with religion. And it doesn’t just diagnose, it also provides sound spiritual medicine! Win, win.

Religious rules are easily learned and quite easily applied — but in my opinion, they do not further productive relationships, particularly spiritual ones. In fact I think religious rules can make you excessively watchful and very cranky about somebody else blatantly breaking them.You can become more like a policeman than a loving participant. The presence of any type of threat does not produce good fruit. It is like a child obeying its parents purely because it knows if it doesn’t it will receive a thrashing. 

Conversely, God’s love brings out the very best in people. So when we have someone who is a thorn in our side, we know we have a person that can be used by God to teach us this God-given, God-kissed skill. But first we will need to choose to die to looking after me, and what I want!  Yeah. You just knew there was a catch eh? We talked about forgiveness yesterday, so we will take that as a given, but we can’t just focus forgiveness, we must move on into pressing into God.  That’s because people do dumb inconsiderate hurtful things – A LOT. Sometimes it can seem like that is their gift to society … when I know people like this, I quite often want a refund! 

I try to be real when I write this blog. So if I recommend something, it is because I have tried it and I know it works, but it only works with HIS help. I’ve checked that out, I can’t do any of this stuff without Him! I want to qualify those remarks by saying, I don’t think I was ever a ‘Lone Ranger’ type. I need my hand held and someone nice to teach me, and the Holy Spirit always does that.  Plus I’m pretty sure I’m the kind of person who seeks shelter in a storm rather than braving the elements … BUT … I know I am also quite opinionated, and I can fly off the handle when I think something is unfair or unreasonable. It’s hilarious isn’t it? I hate people being unreasonable but I can easily become excessively unreasonable about things when stuff doesn’t suit me! There’s a lesson in there somewhere. 😳

The Lord Jesus is giving us brilliant spiritual advice in this verse. Don’t go to your Mum, or Dad, or best friend, or your spouse – go to HIM, first. There are lots of great reasons why we should do this- here’s one: “In His presence there is fullness of JOY.” The secret is to seek Him no matter how we feel, because although the Lord sometimes plays ‘hide and seek’ to draw us closer to Himself, the bible reassures us that we will find Him! The bible is truer than our knowledge or experiences – or lack of them. We can’t measure His book by what we know, or even don’t know. God’s Ways work best when we take His Word over whatever is going on around us. And “help” is still a great prayer. 

If someone said they had left you a million dollars, wouldn’t you at least get in touch with the bank to check it out? You know you would! Everything God says in His book is accessible when we apply our faith. Faith means we can’t see it, but because of the veracity, stature and nature of the One Who said it, we believe it anyway – we believe it enough to act on it. Believing is more than agreeing. If you never go to the bank to get your 1,000,000 dollars it will stay in the bank forever, waiting for you to claim it. God has given us a measure of faith, it’s OURS.

Almighty God knows everything there is to know about rest. The bible tells us He did it first. He rested from His labours on the seventh day. Why? I dunno! As an example to us?? I know He wasn’t tired, because He does not grow weary! That’s also in the book!! The more we know and deliberately act on His word, and seize every opportunity that comes our way, the more the truth of everything the Lord has said begins to resonate in our hearts. Learning to rest is a great place to start. God’s word will stay a theory if we never ever check it out. 

Our personal faith deposit from Him, will continue to sit in the bank unused, until we get desperate, or the ceiling falls in. Unfortunately, when bad things happen to us, that’s actually a lousy time to start practicing faith. When life gets hard, our spiritual hearing aids stop working. Panic sets in. In the above scripture, Jesus is encouraging us to walk with Him and work with Him – absolutely nothing in that sentence is passive. My Christmas gift to you is to exhort you to start acting on what you already know. Bye. 👋🎁

“What good does it do for you to say I am your Lord and Master if you don’t put into practice what I teach you?”Luke 6:46

P 2730 SSSSSSHHHHHH!

/ DVH

Psalm 91:1,2. RSV.“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, who abides in the shadow of the Almighty, will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust.”TPT.“When you abide under the shadow of Shaddai, you are hidden in the strength of God Most High. He’s the hope that holds me and the stronghold to shelter me, the only God for me, and my great confidence.”

Here we have two different versions of the same two verses. This psalm is my all-time favourite one – many people love it like I do! These verses tell us where we can live – they point to a place of great safety and security.  Absolutely everything else that is in this fabulous Psalm hangs on those two highlighted words. “Dwell and Abide.” We can learn to be spectators, protected by God’s shadow over us, and nothing can touch us there, unless He gives it permission. 

The bible has some of the best kept eternal secrets known to man. Forget Indiana Jones … that’s a whole lot of made up rot! These verses are about a real treasure, a place that belongs to YOU and me. Nobody else can keep us from this treasure because it hinges on our own choices.  It is our birthright! When we live there we allow the Saviour to rule absolutely every aspect of our lives. He is no longer an after-thought, or even a place we like to go that blesses us and makes US feel good … instead we have fallen so much in love with Him, we want HIM to know how much we love HIM… so we keep nothing from Him.

Christians don’t have to live subject to this world anymore, we can live our lives safe and secure in His secret place. No more struggling with the pettiness, greed, vainglorious ideas, rage, and strife because we have a place to live permanently, and Jesus died to give it to us. No-one else can take this treasured secret place away from us — however we can forfeit our rights to live hidden, if we undervalue His Presence, His will, His way. Jesus Himself lived in that place while He walked this earth, and … He voluntarily gave it up, when He chose to come out of that safety and contentment to fulfil His calling. BUT! He went right back in there FOREVER when He had finished His appointed mission. He’s there now, waiting for us.

These two verses are not metaphorical. This is a real place, and not many people find it, and choose to live there. To live like this we must choose to die to this life and all it seems to hold, and live for Jesus’ sake instead. That means we go wherever He takes us and let Him take away whatever He likes. At the same time He will give us whatever He thinks is best for us. I call that way to live – TRUST.  We allow Almighty God Himself to be our only security and safety, and spurn this world’s idea of comfort etc. And so we choose to live this life, the only one we have! … His Way. The Way the Holy Spirit describes in the bible.  

We leave behind the grabby, spiteful, greediness, and vanities of this world to live in a place where we care more about other people’s needs than our own. Some of us will die fulfilling that calling — it is a very serious choice —  choosing to live this life dead to what we want and alive to what He wants! However, this is a place of absolute safety – nothing happens there unless He allows it – so we know we will walk through the difficulties with the Lord by our side.  We can no longer be tossed about by the winds of doctrine or change. Like the Apostle John, who was put in a pot of boiling OIL — he simply prayed… When they fished John out again, there was not a mark on him!

Why? He was a spectator, not a participant!  He was safe in God’s secret place. However, he WAS put in that oil and if he had taken the time to notice that he would have been burnt to death. THE MAN’S FOCUS WAS ELSEWHERE.  He simply walked with Christ and that was enough. “He loved not his life unto death …” Just like Jesus did. That’s what following Jesus really means – we choose to die and He lives through us. We choose to love our enemies and that drives them crazy … or it changes them.

Sometimes the darndest secrets are hidden in the bible. You read it and think …’well blow me down, who knew that was in there?’ It’s not an ordinary book. If someone tells me that God told them that He was going to make them rich … I smile politely and walk away laughing inside. I am rich already. My money is in His bank! Nobody can pinch it there. I give where He says I should without blinking. If I need something, then I ask my Heavenly Father, He owns the cattle on a thousand hills –  He’ll just sell a cow!  

Living in the secret place means we are hidden in His strength, learning to roll with life’s punches because He is protecting us, and we trust Him implicitly. Ssh! The secret is out. Who wants to be a spectator, who wants to live to do what He wants? 👋 

P 2699 Nothing happens by chance.

/ DVH

I read this yesterday, and I thought it might be a blessing for others. It’s an exhortation from the translators of the Passion bible written by Brian Simmons and Gretchen Rodriguez: It’s a great word, it lifted my spirit and I hope it does you good as well. We’ve been blessing people all week, and today it’s your turn! The Lord says to YOU –

“Come into the secret place and find encouragement that waters your thirsty soul. I have words of life to share with you today and living-understanding to strengthen you. Run into the shelter of My presence and let My love wash over you in a fresh way. I don’t offer stale bread to My hungry lovers. Eat of My now word. Tune your ear to My Voice.

Give Me the heavy weight of the burden of fear you are carrying. There may be uncertainty in your life, but I see everything clearly. There are no mysteries to Me, and I won’t let the tides of confusion sweep you away. See how My hand holds you steady. You cannot escape the grip of My glorious grace, child. 

What wondrous plans I have for you. What a future you have in Me. Let Me guide you further into My goodness as you follow My leading. I promise never to let you go or get too far ahead. I give you eyes to see from My perspective. Look to Me, and nothing will ever shatter your hope.”

Praise God for their gift of exhortation! Moving on to some real life testimonies … … we had a brief break last week and it seemed to us that the Lord is much more ready for us to speak to people than we are to do it! Any time we go anywhere, we find that there are suddenly numerous opportunities to talk to strangers. In the shops, or even to tradesmen in our home.

At our house, we have had some things break down and afterward we realised what happened wasn’t about the broken item … it was about us talking to the person who came to fix it!  We’ve seen this over and over again, Father God will bring people to us. He really is looking for His kids to share the wealth of heart knowledge He has given all of us. We need to freely talk about Him! This past week we have had all kinds of opportunities to encourage strangers..

While we were away, the internet in our rented holiday unit fell over, so a tech guy turned up to fix it. We were chatting away to each other, and we just included this guy in our conversation. After about five minutes, told us he had been very sick recently and he was very scared because he thought he might have had cancer. Now that is definitely God! People rarely go that deep that quickly with strangers!!

This young man went on to say they discovered it was coeliac’s disease. So hubby prayed for him. Meanwhile, the silly internet still kept blanking out…!!  You know, God isn’t interested in our comfort, but He IS always interested in people. Like I’ve said before, knowing His Ways helps a lot!

On Tuesday this week, a carer came to our house to clean the floors for us. To be truthful, I was a bit annoyed because I found out that our usual lady wasn’t coming …again! I never do these spiritual sums until afterward – I guess I’m a slow learner!! It has taken me four weeks to work out that we’ve not had our usual helper each time because the Lord wanted us to talk to other helpers about Him! 🙄 

This particular young woman was delightful and we very much enjoyed her company. She did a great job too. We had a very profitable time talking about her life, our lives, and the Lord. So much so she said; “I could stay here all day!” She also kept saying, over and over again: “There is so much joy in this house, I’ve never been in a home with this much joy before.”  You know, sometimes I’m so dumb I don’t notice things, unless the Holy Spirit sticks a great big “look here, dummy” sign on it! Hmm… you might think I’m joking … I’m NOT!

Hubby decided to call ahead to a place we are going to be staying at next week, as we make our way up north to give away bibles. He spoke about bringing blankets, toiletries and food for the poor. The young lady on the phone nearly came through the phone she was so excited. Apparently most small towns are quite overlooked when it comes to government aid. However the Holy Spirit personally picked that town. Who knew they had a homeless problem there? He did. 

I just want to finish today by saying that the Lord’s plans for us, to bless us, include everyone around us. Nothing happens by chance. It is good to see even inconvenient interruptions as opportunities for His kingdom. Bye 👋

1 Peter 2:9 ESV“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him Who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.”