Shining

P 2978 Our God writes poetry!

/ DVH

“We have become His poetry, a re-created people that will fulfil the destiny He has given each of us, for we are joined to Jesus, the Anointed One. Even before we were born, God planned in advance our destiny and the good works we would do to fulfil it!” Ephesians 2:10 TPT.

David and some other guys, wrote lots of poetry for us, about the Lord … but we are also His poems, written for all time. Because we are joined to Jesus – the kingdom things we do, are part of His poem. The fact that you love helping people —-that’s part of His poem. The way you sing your heart out in worship times—is part of that poem. You might not always be great at witnessing, but our God-given uniqueness in Christ, makes us His treasure. God doesn’t care about diamonds, gold, pearls, emeralds or rubies … He uses them as building materials … but He cares so-oo-oo deeply about people.

Have you ever met someone and you just clicked, you seemed to have so much in common? Think about this … you and Almighty God just click together. Jesus is the ‘permanent joint’ that binds us into God’s heart. And whenever He looks at His precious Son, He feels delight. Each one of us has been made as a reflection of Who Jesus is. And each one of us is a tiny mirror sliver of all the majesty and glory and honour and wisdom of Who Christ is. We’ve been given the honour and pleasure of reflecting what we find in Him, into this world. 

God has written poetry and we are part of His poem. That’s a bit more easy to believe when you see a new baby, and a little bit harder when you look at someone quite old! Nevertheless, you and I are a love poem to the rest of this lost, sad world. Greed, and the lust for more and more, blinds all the occupants of our world to the glory of God … but then there is YOU…

Shining away, daily reflecting whatever light He has given you. Some of that light is practical, and some of it is spoken out loud or in prayer, but because the Lord is our all in all – we just can’t help sparkling, like a bright gem on dusty ground! Goodness has its own light because goodness has its source in Him. We are daily being recreated so we can shine even more brightly with His light. Being a witness is about shining where other people can see you… like the old song says… don’t hide your light under a bushel.

“Yahweh says, “You are My witnesses, My chosen servants. I chose you in order that you would know Me intimately, believe Me always, and fully understand that I am the only God. There was no god before Me, and there will be no other god after Me.” Isaiah 43:10 TPT.

Sometimes a witness does not have to say anything.  All you and I need to do is to reflect His goodness to the people around us, and knowing Him makes us shiny. His love in us gives us a glow that cannot be ignored. The things of this world fade when He is around, they seem trivial and unimportant, and people start to realise the depth of love and acceptance, they have been given just because of His love and Presence in His people.

Becoming God’s love slave is a choice and we have given ourselves to Him simply because He willingly gave Himself to us. That’s what marriage is – we reflect our Heavenly Bridegroom into this world. Father God did that for each one us when Jesus came here to serve mankind. Our lives are poetry, written day by day – often speaking to this world without words. Love brought the Lord here and love kept Him here, until His work was done.    

You already know hubby and I go on the road and perfect strangers start telling my dear husband their secrets. He doesn’t have a system, or a clever repartee — sometimes all he says is “hello!”  But because each one of us was made by God, and destined to be a reflection of His precious Son, God goes with us and it is His Presence that draws people to us. These people don’t even know they are being drawn toward Him. But because we are part of His love poem, people hear and see Him through our little lives.

Our fatal flaw as human beings is that we see our mistakes, sins, and stinky attitudes as some sort of cancellation to our blood-bought destiny. Our destiny can’t be cancelled – our job is to rise above this stuff around us, and let Him shine! He’s IN you! Sometimes our windows might be a bit dusty with the cares of this world, plus dirt and unbelief, but the King of glory can’t ever be kept under wraps. That’s like trying to put the sun out – it can’t happen! Here’s a huge useful secret for you to think about – whatever God OWNS, He kisses.

Knowing Almighty God intimately means we have been granted access to His deepest heart secrets. What a privilege! Is anything else in this world, that is worth the price of forgetting about that privilege. It cost Him everything. If we are not careful we can end up defining ourselves by our sin … BUT …He defines us by His Son. Wouldn’t it be a pity if we let the junk from today — newspapers, hobbies, fashions, the way we earn our living, parenthood, or even circumstances etc. define us? We are His poetry… HAND-written to bless the rest of this world as we glorify His Name. Bye.👋

P 2900 We pray from a kingdom perspective.

/ DVH

“Yes, feast on all the treasures of the heavenly realm and fill your thoughts with heavenly realities, and not with the distractions of the natural realm.” Colossians 3:2 TPT. There are so many instructional verses in the bible, just like this one, that we could apply one of them every single day and still not get through the book even once in this lifetime! So how do we feast on all the treasures of the heavenly realm while we are still on earth? We live like heaven is our home, not this world.

It’s all about focus. Most people today are focussed on me, myself, and I. My family, and my relatives, and my goods and possessions, my country, and my job or lack of one! In order to have a heavenly point of view we need to focus on what God wants – and fortunately He has told us what He wants – in writing! 

Jesus came here and He actively taught us what a heavenly perspective looks like. Our Father always has a greater plan than we can imagine — praise Him! Jesus was a walking, talking, teaching, healing illustration of God’s plan and His love for each one of us. Then He died to seal the deal, to give us our opportunity to live the way He did. Sacrificially. He didn’t just die to get us into heaven – He died to get heaven into, and flowing out of, US!

Jesus Christ is Father God’s faith in action be-ca-u-se … ‘faith without works is dead!’ Faith has substance – Jesus Christ is the substance of His Father’s faith. This is why without faith we cannot please God – our God is faith-filled! He has invested His Son’s life in each one of us. His kingdom is not just a place, somewhere ‘up there’ — it is a new way to live. The miracles Jesus did were secondary to the carrying out of His Father’s plan.

People could say: “Well being a Christian doesn’t sound like much fun, if God gave me a life  I want to live it, my own way.” And so the Lord steps back and says: “Have at it!” This means right here, right now, surprise, surprise, we are living in a world filled with people who want their own way. Even if what they actually want is a peaceful life, that is still what that person chooses for themselves! We should never be surprised at the mess this world is in, because human beings are in charge. And human beings, without Christ, are susceptible to demonic influences!

I think we all do our best to pray for good things, Godly things, things inspired by the Holy Spirit … but many times we pray for change or healing of things on this earth. Please Lord, heal this. Please Lord, change that. Please Lord, help those people etc. We are praying for the things that will one day pass away. Jesus Himself told us what to pray for: “Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; THY KINGDOM COME; THY WILL BE DONE; on EARTH as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.”

In this new reality, we pray for His kingdom, His will to be done, first.. In this prayer that Jesus gave us as an example – God is the centre. Yes we can pray to be delivered from sickness, sin and evil, let’s do it! We sure need it!! But the point of being born again is to live in His new kingdom with His oversight. He tells us how to do that in the book. He even tells us what the fruit of that kingdom looks like … in the book! No fruit – no kingdom!  

Our new life means we have chosen to live in His kingdom, and we are to manifest that kingdom in this life down here …in the middle of wars, trouble, strife, evil, compromise, hatred, murder, lust, lies. That’s why Jesus said “don’t be surprised when bad things happen.” Those things are the fruit of this world!  We are to walk within this world’s worst nightmares, shining with the light of Jesus’ love for every single human being, always praying people will be saved by the truth of what we believe, as it is acted out right in front of them! 

“God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we’re free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ’s. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love.” 1 John 4:17.

Now we pray from our new heavenly position within Christ. ‘Lord I want what You want.” I’ve learnt, from experience, that what HE wants is so much better than anything I can think of or dream about! We have given our lives to Him so He can live through us – we are blessed to be able to release His point of view, His healing, His love, peace, joy, into the darkness. That is not a part-time job, it is a kingdom lifestyle.  We need to learn to pray from a kingdom perspective.Bye. 👋