Sick

P 2760 Don’t let a ceiling stop you!

/ DVH

Our pastor recently preached about moving mountains the other day, it made me think. Those kinds of thoughts have been bubbling about inside me ever since I heard it. Then this morning hubby and I were sharing about things we’ve seen when we are on the road, giving away bibles etc. and one thing led to another, and then the Lord chimed in with this: “Be like those men in the bible, tear off the roof if you have to.“ (That’s in Mark, Matthew and Luke.) Boy did we get happy!  What a word! Let’s all pray: ‘Dear Lord help us to tear off spiritual ceilings whenever they prevent people from getting to YOU –  You are their Answer.’ Amen!

Meanwhile, here’s the story in Luke 5:17-20:“On one of the days while Jesus was teaching, some proud religious law-keepers and teachers of the Law were sitting by Him. They had come from every town in the countries of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. The power of the Lord was there to heal them.  Some men took a man who was not able to move his body to Jesus. He was carried on a bed. They looked for a way to take the man into the house where Jesus was.  But they could not find a way to take him in because of so many people. They made a hole in the roof over where Jesus stood. Then they let the bed with the sick man on it down before Jesus. When Jesus saw THEIR faith, He said to the man, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”

As I read it, I began to see that scene with fresh eyes. These men who brought the paralysed man to Jesus were full of faith – they knew if they could get him to Jesus he would be well. But the house was filled up with many people and a bunch of religious leaders. The leaders were all listening to Jesus, and if you keep on reading you will find that these religious men probably weren’t there to cheer! Instead they stumbled over Jesus telling the man his sins were forgiven. They took umbrage, because they did not recognise that GOD was in the house. ‘Oh Lord, please save us all from not recognising when YOU are IN the house!’ Amen!

These religious leaders loved to debate the law and they knew it like the back of their hands. They instantly picked Jesus up on what He said, because they knew from their studies that only God Himself can forgive our sins. After all this was what they did day by day –  sins were forgiven with offerings on an altar. The scholars had invested so deeply in their own knowledge that they had restricted their faith. Even worse – perhaps they thought knowledge WAS faith.

You know there were only two possible answers for what Jesus did. Either He  blasphemed, OR … Jesus Christ IS God – and not just another prophet –  and He could and did forgive sins – as well as personally pay for them!! And aren’t you and I incredibly blessed to know that answer?!

Did you get the part where the sick guy couldn’t get IN to the Lord’s Presence? Sick people need help to get to God. That house was filled up with religious leaders, watching and waiting for Jesus to make a mistake. Isn’t that a terrifying sentence?! These scholarly men were in the same room as the God they cherished and studied, and …they utterly missed Him! And yet, Jesus was so incredibly patient and kind, both to the man on the bed, and his faithful friends, plus the people who were there to prove Him wrong. He healed the man, and explained Himself, then left His critics dumbfounded. 

This story made me wonder … How many times have I left off praying because it seemed as if there was something in my way? Maybe a mountain? Or a ceiling?? It all seems a bit incredible when we look at what it took to bring that ailing man to Jesus’ feet. How much love and faith, in and through his friends, was expressed just for the invalid’s sake? Without an apology, or even a … do you mind? — They actually wrecked some guy’s house! Put yourself there for a minute – maybe at the minute that the roof starts to fall on the floor. I wonder what was going through the owner’s mind in those few seconds? 😶 I’d really like to think that that person thought it was worth a busted ceiling for someone to get thoroughly well.

Now to my question:  how many ceilings has this life put on all of us? How much stuff — like good manners, or respect for other people’s property, wrong theology, or avoiding doing the unpopular thing in front of everyone, has come between us and God’s will in our lives? Yeah. That’s not the most cheery thought. Maybe we have lived our lives so far, scared of what the so-called experts will say – because they supposedly know, and we don’t? The men in that house all experienced God in a remarkable way, which had nothing to do with knowledge.“Knowledge puffs up…”

All I know for sure, is that mere knowledge is no longer good enough for me. I want to tear up some hypothetical roofs and see people set free, and healed, and praising God for His goodness! And most of all I don’t want to care anymore what anybody else thinks about it! As His church, we must not let the spiritual ceilings in our lives stop us from being the kind of people who want to get someone else to Jesus, simply because they need His help. No matter what that costs. That’s called unconditional LOVE!  And …’We will always need Your help with that Lord,’ Amen. Bye 👋

P 2750 Death. We can’t avoid it.

/ DVH

There is no greater privilege than walking with someone else to the end of their earthly journey.  But this life today seems to be more about convenience, and carefully portioning out our time to do relevant, useful, fun things, as well as ordinary, everyday, necessary things. Death is not a significant subject in our society at all. It is as though we think that if we even mention it, that robber of joy will turn up at our house – always uninvited. But this life starts on its own timetable and it finishes the same way.

Most babies are born into this world regardless of our busy lives. One of mine was a month late, another was 3 weeks overdue. I thought I had turned into an elephant both times and I’m not talking about my size! (Elephants can gestate for 18 -20 months). I thought 10 months for a whole human being was a bit excessive myself! Moo..ving on from birth…

… back to my point. Death is not a subject that fits into our timetables. Just like the beginning of this life can be quite unpredictable, we all know that we have an undisclosed appointment with death. Are you cheered up yet??  Me neither! But I serve at the pleasure of the King and today’s blog was His idea. Yay! Meanwhile what are you so gloomy about? I could be closer to that event than you are. 🤪

As Christians we happily announce to the world that death has been swallowed up in victory and then we spend our time here deliberately not thinking about the fact that we are all finite! This subject only comes up, if someone close to us dies, or we are faced with that particular door into the unknown ourselves. Even faith that is steadfast wobbles a bit. Then suddenly death is a spectre looming in our faces, that steals our joy and enthusiasm for living. It creates a gaping wound inside us, and our revisited losses leave us inconsolable. 

However, walking the last mile with someone who is on that particular journey is an honour and a privilege. Caring for a dying person … at a time when their own families may fail them … that is a pure gift of love. Helping others transition from this life to the next is an honour, chosen by very few people – yet we need them.

We must be grateful to the ones who chose this kind of career – they are special. Their palliative, loving care is invaluable to the person who may already be very afraid, as well as in great pain. These people have the privilege of guiding someone prayerfully, carefully, through all the emotional upheaval, the physical ramifications, and the practicalities of dying and leaving this world behind them. Dying often involves suffering – and nobody enjoys going through that — or watching someone else do it either.

Right now, this minute, 106 people are about to leave this world behind – and that happens every single minute of every day. For most of those people this last journey is a journey into the unknown. Only the most adventurous, or the most despairing amongst us anticipate this last adventure. The people who care for the terminally ill are literally called by God Himself, to hold the dying soul’s hand and comfort and care for them, physically and emotionally. It is an opportunity for Love Himself to reach out and touch us at our most vulnerable. Jesus was incredibly kind to anyone He met that was suffering or dying even while He was dying Himself. Remember the men next to Him on the cross?

Dying is a normal part of our lives here on earth. Our civilisation has estranged itself from this process because of our distaste for it. That often leaves the suffering person all alone to manage one of the hardest journeys of their existence. The people who work in palliative care with those who are dying, are heroes to me. They put aside their own inner feelings, fears, and comfort, to make sure that this person is cared for to the end.  

Christians are often looking for ‘spiritual’ careers, yet very few job seekers consider ministering to the lost, dying souls who no longer have hope in this world. As well as standing by to comfort the families that are facing the inevitable. We usually leave that kind of ministry to ministers, imams, monks, priests, chaplains and pastors – the so-called ‘experts’ about the important things of this life. 

I felt the Lord wanted me to remind us all about praying or caring for the desperately sick, dying and lost. Being someone’s carer, nurse, nurse’s aid, doctor, or even someone who looks after people in palliative care is an honour. Love always looks like something. To a dying person it looks like hope for what comes next. 😶

P 2658 The possibilities are endless.

/ DVH

Our ever-present, ongoing motivation, needs to come from an active desire to please God. The body of Christ simply must understand this truth, because that means we will be moved beyond comprehension into action. Acting on what we believe helps our experiences change. We get a HIS-story with Almighty God! And that transforms the way we think. Untested theories will just continue to rattle about in our brain box! Talking about stuff is not the same as doing it. At the same time the Lord can do trillions, if not gazillions of things, all at the same time. Think about that! What happens to us most of the time is this … we let our immediate need overtake His input – and miss opportunities.. 

As we all know, many people ran to the shops during Covid because they didn’t want to run out of toilet paper! Hubby confided in me that it took all his effort to simply buy only what we needed during that time. He was stretching his faith that God would provide for us. It’s the little things that raise our awareness of His Presence in our lives. Even now, a lot of the medicines I take have disappeared from most pharmacies in our area, and we have had to go all over our city to find them. Hilariously, this means we have met a whole lot of people we never would have met, simply because of that shortage! God can do more than one thing at a time. He can open doors I’ve never even thought about!

We need to stop viewing inconveniences as a nuisance sent to put us off our game, and start to see them as possibilities! The Lord may be giving us an opportunity to speak to someone new, someone we wouldn’t have met any other way. This year we’ve had all sorts of important appliances in our house suddenly fall over dead on us. We really needed them, so at the time it was a huge inconvenience. Sometimes it even cost us a lot of money we didn’t have – but at the same time, in ways that continue to amaze us – He supplied our needs. Plus He gave us opportunities to talk with people that we would never have met. If He knows that you will ‘STOP for the one in front of you’ – you will be amazed at where that leads you!

At the same time, because of our disabilities, lately our activities have been greatly restricted, so God brought people to us instead! Many Christians pray to see miracles, when there are opportunities for the miraculous all around us. If something happens to your washing machine, it’s normal to pray that God will fix it, we have done that many, MANY times, but please understand … if that stupid thing stays broken … He’s doing something else.  He can do more than one thing at a time. There is no such thing as the secular bit of our lives, as well as the Holy … we gave our lives to Him, IT’S ALL HOLY NOW.

Remember Philip? Philip was doing something else, and God said, “Go and stand on that road”, and along came a chariot with a spiritually hungry man inside. We know this important man was hungry, because he was trying to read the book of Isaiah all by himself! So here comes Philip minding his own business and God says: “Go and stand beside this road and WAIT.”

We can stand on the side of any road we choose, but what happened to Philip won’t happen to us, unless we are listening to the Lord and He sends us! Acts 8:26-29: “Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.”  So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means “queen of the Ethiopians”). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”

What if nothing happens when we obey? You’ll feel like an idiot, but you’ll live through it – I have!  I think the Lord is tapping His big microphone – He is saying: “Testing testing 1,2,3…”  Does it really matter if nothing happens? Right now we are daily learning to obey by stretching our faith. Our God can do more than one thing at a time. We need to learn to live our every day lives prepared to be interrupted from our train of thought. Some things are much more important than what often preoccupies us.. 

Here is another biblical example of an interruption with a purpose: Jesus was going with a desperate father to pray for a little girl who was very ill. But an equally desperate woman who had also been ill for many years pressed through the crowd and touched His robe. (Read Mark 5:21-43.) There was a really good excuse not to stop, as that little girl was so sick she eventually died! However, the Lord was arrested by the lady’s faith reaching out. He saw her….I mean He REALLY saw her. We need to learn that interruptions can be possibilities.

In your neighbourhood, that old lady in the next flat, who always wants you to stop and talk, may need His comfort through you. Yes, she’s boring and repetitive, yes she takes up your time – but doesn’t she deserve her chance to know Christ loves her? Hubby and I have seen Him reorder our time for us, over and over again. Our God can change and teach us, plus bless someone else, plus transform our hearts and theirs – all at the same time. The possibilities are endless. 👋 “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lays down his life…” John 15:13 KJV

P 2579 Faith that is alive!

/ DVH

Here’s something I have learned over the years –  faith grows when we use it. If we hoard it, or sit about in little groups talking about our faith, without doing anything with it – that faith will rapidly become head knowledge. This type of thing is a major problem in our churches. Many churches have stopped PROCLAIMING THE GOOD NEWS … and that’s what we are here to do. At the same time, faith also gives generously – it never just meets requirements, or gives whatever is left over. That’s what our faith in action looks like. Plus we live to love the people who are mean to us or actively hate and abuse us – that’s also faith in action. And we help those who need help be-cau-se … our faith is seeable.

We are here, today, in 2024, to proclaim and demonstrate to other people what God’s unconditional love and favour looks like. And if anyone thinks that they can do that kind of stuff, by themselves, in their own strength, day in, and day out—- then, please … think again. We all need the Holy Spirit’s wisdom and help. Praise God, He is more than willing to help us! At the same time any time we use our faith, I can practically guarantee you, it will cost us. Sometimes it costs us more than we are willing to pay, but let’s just gird up our loins … so we don’t fall over our own feet  … and have at it! 

Here is another precious secret — KIND EYES ARE POWERFUL. When God’s love stops being a concept and it becomes a reality in our lives, the bonus is this:  we will have our Father’s eyes. Kind eyes. My hubby does this so well. He is so good at it I’d be jealous if it weren’t so beautiful. Me? Hmmm … glad you asked that … I’m still a work in progress. Father God and I are working on it. I’ve learnt that you can’t give away something if you haven’t got it, so now I go after His love every single time I think about it! “Let me see these people through Your eyes Lord. And let them see YOU through me.” Amen. Our Father’s eyes never condemn, judge or compare.  

So here’s my suggestion for today – find a way … your way, under the Holy Spirit’s leadership … to love others. Look, we can be on our best behaviour and look and sound like the nicest person in the world, but; “faith without works is dead!” (James 2.) We are here to demonstrate God’s love to others, just like Jesus did when He was here. So that means we will engage in something called: ‘Risky Living.’ That title comes from a book, sadly now out of print, by Jamie Buckingham. I’d loan you mine but the pages are all falling out. It is one of my great treasures.

This ordinary American journalist is one of my all time heroes in the faith. Nobody has ever made me laugh or cry as hard as Jamie. EG:  “The problem with Christians today is that no one wants to kill them anymore.” … …“A lot of my theology got all fouled up when I started reading the Bible.” … … “The real work of the kingdom of God is not carried on by miracle workers or high profile preachers. The real work of the kingdom is carried on by people like you and me as we go about our daily lives.” … ‘Every place we put our foot God wants us to leave a spring in the desert for others to benefit from”… … “He wants us to trust Him at all times and to carry on regardless of our particular wilderness situations.” See? That stuff is impossible and risky without the Holy Spirit’s help!

First we pray, then we DO.  Being selective about what we will or won’t do, will pull us into disobedience quicker than you or I can say: “Oh dear!” This world is crazy about boundaries, I believe boundaries are useful. BUT, we can’t afford to have boundaries with the Lord!! We need to be like those guys who jump off mountains in a flight suit and let the wind take them wherever it goes. It looks absolutely terrifying, but that’s actually using faith. It’s stupid faith, in my personal opinion, but it IS faith! 

Sometimes Christians remind me of a secret society huddled together behind closed doors. If some poor schmuck or other finds their way to that door and staggers in … not dressed properly, or smelling like a rubbish dump, or confused about their sex, or drunk, or stoned out of their gourds …we can be absolutely guaranteed to find a nice way to shuffle them back outside again … and use the bible to do it! Sigh. The trouble is we want the people who get saved to be nice, neat and well-mannered — we are not thrilled when zombies, or Frankenstein lurches through our doors!

“While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with Him and His disciples, for there were many who followed Him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw Him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked His disciples: “Why does He eat with tax collectors and sinners?” And when Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” Mark 2:15-17.

We need a faith that stands up when other people want to leave the room. A faith that is bigger than the things this world around us spews out. Instead of hiding from ghastly things, we must learn to confront stuff and face it down, armed only with His love, and guided by His book. Using our faith makes us way more alive than simply living from day to day. 👋 

“What’s the use of living if you don’t attempt the impossible?” (Risky Living, 1976) J. Buckingham.

P 2528 Nothing is permanent – even you!

/ DVH

I saw the above photo on a missionary friend’s site recently and it resounded in my heart immediately.  It seems to me that there really is a whole lotta shaking goin’ on — in the Body of Christ — as well as in this world around us.  

The bible says this in Hebrews 12:27: “So don’t turn a deaf ear to these gracious words. If those who ignored earthly warnings didn’t get away with it, what will happen to us if we turn our backs on heavenly warnings? His voice that time shook the earth to its foundations; this time—He’s told us this quite plainly—He’ll also rock the heavens: “One last shaking, from top to bottom, stem to stern.” The phrase “one last shaking” means a thorough housecleaning, getting rid of all the historical and religious junk so that the unshakable essentials stand clear and uncluttered.”

I need to make it clear that I am not here to discuss ‘the end times.’ The Lord has told me that is none of my business and when He tells me “None of your business!”… I listen. I don’t want to waste whatever time I have chasing stuff that has nothing whatsoever to do with me. But I do want to say this, we ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ about wars, earthquakes, volcanos, and tsunamis but what we really ought to pay attention to … is what happens … when Almighty God speaks!

I mean, did you get what that scripture in Hebrews? It says His voice at one time shook the earth to its foundations … but the next time … !!! … He is also going to rock the heavenlies! The God of heaven and earth is going to shake this world out of its complacency and chaos, and … we don’t know when!  While we are here, we still have a promise to keep: “Your new life for my old one Lord.” …’The life I now live I live by faith in the Son of God Who died for me.”(Galatians 2:20)

Lately, the thing I have noticed is this, the current earthly disastrous events are often somewhere else. So most of us  are viewing that kind of upheaval and chaos from a distance. But there will come a day when nobody can stand off and wonder what that is like, because it will be our house that is shaking! Now that will really touch us where we are at! It is one thing to have the world shake 10,000 kms away and entirely another to have it shake at your house.

All I feel about the difficult times ahead is that the Lord is deeply grieved about every single one of the people who have already perished, and the ones who will perish, without any knowledge of Him, in the future. Most of them have never ever been told that Jesus loves them and died for their sins. And, this is happening on OUR watch. Now there’s a sobering thought. How can we continue on in our comfortable lives without caring for those among us who have no idea about what could be just around the corner? 

I know we’ve kind of relegated this stuff into “some-day land” … but for the people who have died recently – in the past week, month, or year;  without anyone caring about their eternal destiny — it mattered! We can be so busy making sure we are “safe” and our families are “safe” – we forget our main directive is to GO and tell others! We are all called to be witnesses of what God has done in and through our lives. 

Instead we collect verses that comfort us, like some people collect postage stamps, and we vaguely wonder why we are not growing. Maybe it is because we’ve missed the fact that our primary mission is not about being healed or trained … it’s about going!! Our primary aim is to love the Lord with all of us, plus love and care for the well-being of others, whether they are friends or enemies. It is way too easy to see the current road statistics and think: “Whew! Not my family.”

Jesus Christ spent His entire ministry ministering to the sorrowing, sick, suffering and ignorant – how can we dare to do any less than He did? Let’s remember, that despite our personal inadequacies …WE are the cavalry! Just like that remnant army that Gideon led, I believe the day is coming when the Holy Spirit will lead a remnant army who are empowered by Him, to usher in the greatest revival this world has ever seen.

Right now, we need to start telling the people around us what the Lord has done in our own lives … and remember, the results are always up to Him. The poor and the downtrodden are currently living in this world without God’s demonstrated love, mercy or grace … because His love inside us has not moved our butts to take a risk, and go and visit them!  Jesus took the greatest risk of all – HE TRUSTED US.

There is no point waiting until our kids are raised and our house is paid off to OBEY. None of us have a guaranteed hold over tomorrow, because nothing is permanent. Our enemy is running rampant, killing people off one way or another. Saints, we are looking inward instead of outward. Jesus Christ is WITH US … LET’S GO!👋

Mark 16:15: “He (Jesus) said to them, “go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”

Matthew 28:19&20: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.”

P 2478 So here we are again!

/ DVH

That dratted clock keeps on ticking, it never stops – it’s inevitable. And here we go again, yet another New Year looming at us. Hilariously, the Lord said to me: “At least you are still alive to complain about it!” (Yes I repented.) Let’s all pray 2024 is a kinder year everywhere, including world-wide to those who are suffering terribly.

Have you noticed how dead-set easy it is to be distracted from the reason that we are all still breathing and occupying space and time? Almost every single day now something else crashes or explodes, or gets worse and suddenly a terrible disaster looms. I have a theory … these things happen to keep us distracted from the main thing. The main thing is living the only life we have here on earth for Jesus’ sake, no matter the cost and no matter what is going on currently! Some of our situations offer opportunities for each one of us to show loving care, forgiveness and compassion toward others who probably don’t deserve it, but this is the way we have chosen to live! 

Things are happening in all our lives that threaten our day-to-day sense of well-being. Finances are not just tight they are almost non-existent, people have become sick and despite fervent prayer and good treatment they are not getting better. Marriages are under great pressure. Kids are becoming increasingly disobedient and lawless. It is as if despair is wandering around our streets looking for places to land.

Everything and anything is happening to destroy our HOPE in HIM. The bible says that …”hope does not disappoint” so if our hope leads to disappointment, then it is not HIS hope. Perhaps we are investing in our own comfort or passions, like James says. Personally I’ve found the Lord doesn’t change some things because He wants ME to change instead! How can we learn to be strong and courageous if we do not face opposition? How can we overcome sin, the world and the devil, if everything is aways easy. These are the days of Hebrews 12:5-8 …

“And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastens everyone He accepts as His son.”Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as His children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all.”

You know when we resist the devil then he must flee, so if he does not flee then … perhaps we have need of endurance! If our enemy has something to stand on, then he can and will torment anyone. I am not into defending that guy, but we can end up blaming him for a lotta stuff that has yet to be redeemed in our own lives. We excuse things that will totally shoot us in the foot, and we can easily make room for wrong attitudes and actions and explain them away … Yet we keep score about other people’s sins against us. There are times that we may as well write an invitation to our enemy and say ‘come on in.’

The things in the bible are not written in there as suggestions. If we keep holding onto unforgiveness, then the tormentor will turn up!! Those things that we are avoiding confronting in our own lives, are keeping us from real faith. Our enemy is a legalist – he knows where we are truly trusting, and where we are just pretending. he will string us along chasing impossible dreams of perfect trouble-free lives. People are not perfect, they have flaws. We all do!  But real faith has substance. That means when it operates you can see it! It is not airy-fairy pie-in-the-sky-when-we-die stuff … Faith is designed to permeate and saturate every single aspect of our lives. Our God did not say we would not have troubles — He promised He would deliver us out of all of them! You know to get out, you have to be IN, first!

His book is filled with promises, but the greatest promise of all is that our God is good. If whatever is happening is not good then it is not God … grab hold of the bible and resist it. Then ask and keep on asking Him for a way out. Ask the Lord to show you if there is something you need to personally learn or change in your life. Keep short accounts because resentment and bitterness are prowling about – but God promised us goodness and mercy would follow us all the days of our lives! We need to let PEACE be our umpire… not our feelings. Simply because we are here again – let’s make 2024 the best year yet, spiritually – His Grace is sufficient to help us. Bye 🥳

P 2434 Different food for thought!

/ DVH

“A parable is a tale about a simple, common subject to illustrate a more profound, valuable moral lesson. The source definition of the word “parable” means a placement side by side for the purpose of comparison.” (Dictionary)

Jesus’ teaching is fascinating. He told everyday stories to those listening, to help them understand God’s Ways. And at the same time, every single thing He said was profound. He gave us fantastic life-lessons. Up until this morning, I had never really thought about the kind of teaching He did, when He taught people, using parables. There are over 30 parables in the Gospels …some of them are repeated.

Today, the Lord Jesus spoke into me and said this: “How many of My parables are about the miraculous? In which one do I teach people how to heal the sick and raise the dead?” You know, when I looked, I discovered that Jesus’ parables are about ordinary things and ordinary people and their behaviour toward God and others. They are simply ‘life lessons.’ They are not about ‘how to excel in the miraculous’ – but instead they are about ‘how to live this life we have in a Godly fashion.’ How to love each other, and how to love, revere and respect God first. However, if we don’t live IN the kingdom, how can we expect to bring it with us?? Maybe that’s why Paul told us to seek it first!

We have become greatly enamoured with the miraculous – or the lack of it, in the church today. I think we are in danger of exalting those things above His Kingdom coming in our everyday lives. Yet we will always need a heart that says – God can do anything … nothing is too difficult for Him!  But I think we have put more of the accent on revving up our ability to believe, instead of putting it in HIM – Who He is. Miracles will follow US as we love others the way He loves us …we don’t have to chase them.  Miracles and the ever-present power of God are an expected part of walking with Him in our daily lives. 

In the Epistles, a large amount of emphasis is also put upon growing and transforming our character, plus, how to walk with the Holy Spirit. The Apostles simply repeated what they have seen, heard and learnt as they performed great signs and wonders. They didn’t elevate people who walked in their God-given gifts, or even ask them to come and minister in the miraculous for the purpose of gaining attention to spread the gospel! Instead the main thrust of their individual messages are to encourage and emphasise loving God, loving others well, plus growth, connection and correction.

Jesus Himself took ordinary things that His listeners could easily understand to illustrate Kingdom purposes. As we read the gospels we can see that anyone can walk in demonstrating the power of God, even sometimes those devoid of character. Judas did! But the parables and epistles indicate that our character needs our personal application. The Holy Spirit wants our motivation to be pure Love – and we all need help with that! Jesus made the miraculous an ordinary part of being His disciple.  He sent His disciples out and they simply used His name.

However, Christ Himself gave us the most brilliant synopsis of God’s requirements when He was talking to a lawyer in Matthew 22:35-40 “One of them, an expert in the law, tested Him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” I am gobsmacked every single time I read that. It so perfectly illustrates what life with the Holy Spirit looks like.

So here is my thought for today’s blog  – I am personally aware that we all need the miraculous! … But instead of chasing after the miraculous etc. to validate any ministry, I believe the Holy Spirit wants us to foster a relationship with Him – first. Then we simply do whatever He says, and we will see miracles as we go along. Sometimes there will be a miracle, and sometimes someone else gets a revelation of the goodness of God .. a glimpse into His bigger world. Our job is to love God and love others, and out of that wonderful things will happen.

Please do not misunderstand me, I totally believe in all the active gifts of God. And I believe we need to pray believing that they are present at any time! We need them. I am simply saying that these things should not be the preoccupation of the Church. We are to be pre-occupied with Him! These other things will get added unto us as we seek Him first! Like one of the parables says: “We are the light of the world” – let’s just BE THAT and see what happens! Bye.👋🏻

P 2303 Prayer needs substance.

/ DVH

So put your feet to work underneath what you say you believe. Seriously. How many times have you said to someone: ‘Oh that’s terrible, I’ll pray for you.’ And maybe if you are someone who is on the ball, you walked away and prayed while you were walking away. Or maybe you prayed for them on the spot …brownie points to you! Perhaps you are one of those people who writes stuff down so they won’t forget and you put them on your prayer list. BP2U!

Hopefully you are not like me … if I don’t pray for you on the spot, while I think of it, then you’re a dead duck. I’m very sorry, but I have probably forgotten what you said as I’m walking away. This, by the way, is the reason why I pray for people on the spot – because my memory ain’t what it used to be. 

I’ve had many sweet people of God tell me I’m an intercessor – mainly because they did not have a clue with what to do with me. I didn’t FIT! You know, the whole world is in BIG trouble … try HUGE … if that’s what I’m supposed to be. I’m from the days when they always told non-clergy that was their gift, because they didn’t know what to do with lay people, and intercession seemed a safe not-in-charge-type-job! I mean prayer is a good thing right?

And BTW I don’t have to repent for telling the truth … although … I might have to review the ‘speaking the truth in love bit!’ But back then, most people were passengers on the good ship we’re-doing-church-now. However the church always wanted to have a fete to raise money and because I was a ‘crafty person’ they gave me craft stuff to do. Yet another huge mistake. I once cut the gloriously long fringe on a beautiful homespun shawl to 3 cms. The pastor’s wife didn’t kill me … but boy she thought about it!

I was moved right along from that disaster, to food stuffs. I mean anybody can make a sandwich right?? If you thought I sucked at craft, you should have seen me at sandwiches. Other ladies made lovely sandwiches – mine – fell apart instantly. I could do all that kind of stuff OK at my house. All my sandwich points stood upright like little soldiers. My cakes rose, and they were tasty. But mention the word fete and I fell apart, and so did everything I baked. Intimidation to the max.

So then people much smarter than me decided perhaps I was an evangelist in disguise. And they sent me off to learn how to do one of those fantastic you-learn-and-use-five- pages-of-memorised-stuff to help somebody get to know Jesus and sneak up on them. Sadly that didn’t workout well for me either. I was under firm instructions to never speak because that was the leader’s job… even thinking about me being silent on cue was scary.

The people we made appointments with, would turn to me — just as I was trying to blend in with their wallpaper and look invisible… and then they’d ask me … for no reason whatsoever … ‘what does that mean to you?’ And then I was stuck. I could either obey the leader and get a big tick, or I could disobey the rules, tell the truth, and somebody had a chance to meet Jesus. I disobeyed a lot in those days. Double sigh. At the same time I learnt you can’t be yourself at church!!

Hilariously, I have survived other people’s various attempts to remodel me into a more suitable shape and in that process I learnt how to die to myself. However, no matter what I did, I have always tried to put my feet into action by applying what my mouth said. Nowadays, if you need prayer, I won’t just pray for you – I will also ask the Holy Spirit – “What can I do about that Lord?” And then I will do it. 

My point today is this: I have made and will continue to make big mistakes, you will make mistakes too … it’s OK. Our God has got us. Nothing gets past His gaze.  Just don’t stop with prayer, ask the Lord: ‘How can I HELP?’ Look, can I be honest with you? It is not helpful to ask the person with the problem …!!! “What can I do to help?” They have a problem! Their problem solving skills are a bit busy! DUH! Asking that question simply makes you feel better, like you’ve done something … but all you’ve done is transfer the weight back onto them.

So go and sit with the sick, help look after their kids, go be with the family who just lost their Grandpa, and find a way to give the unemployed back their dignity. Choose to learn to become God’s hands and feet as He directs you. 👋🏻

P 2283 A Personal Opinion.

/ DVH

I want to begin by saying to those who are sick, brokenhearted, or injured – God has not left you, no matter how you feel. Even if your friends, or family have given you up – He will not EVER leave you. I have learnt in the hard places, like many men and women of God have learnt before me, this is the time to lay down upon the altar: “I will build an altar to You in this difficult and dark place. I surrender once again Lord, to Your will, Your way.” Amen.

This is a difficult subject for me, I have experienced healing from the Lord, supernaturally, many times in the past. But at this moment in time that is simply not my current experience. I wanted to talk today about some of the things we don’t want to talk about. Instead we can get caught up in a little man-made eddy of “I’m asking the Lord to heal me, or somebody I care about, and I must speak positively all the time or I will wreck it” – only to find that the answer is not what we hoped. 

We can easily go astray in our faith walk while we are in a dark valley. We know the Lord Jesus is with us – He promised to be there. But the reality of our experience denies the faith we are fighting to hang onto. So we read books about healing, because we desperately want to be healed, or to see it happen for someone else. We read the Bible reading the appropriate scriptures out loud over and over again. We run after His grace and go and get prayed for in every and any healing line. 

Meanwhile all of these things are good things to do – however, would the Lord require us to lie? I don’t think so. HE doesn’t lie, so why would He require us to lie on His behalf? Still, we can and must learn to persevere, Jesus Himself said so on several occasions. “… ask keep on asking so you can you find knock on the door will be open to you.” He taught us that perseverance in in prayer is a good thing. It was said of the Lord that He healed ALL who came to Him. Even when He fed people – no-one left hungry… Our God loves to provide and heal – it is His nature.

So what do we do when our experiences in these areas do not match up with what we are taught? Here is my two cents worth: whether it is my fault, and I don’t have enough faith, or it’s misunderstanding about what the Bible says, or simply haven’t been to the right person to get prayed FOR … —I refuse to measure Almighty God by my experience of Him or with Him. Instead I choose to find out Who He is from His book, independently from my own experiences.

He doesn’t ever answer to me, I answer to Him. You could easily say that I have weak faith in this area, but I say it takes more faith to believe in His goodness in adverse circumstances, than it does to believe in His generous and precious provisions in this life and receive them. Often we measure the King of all Kings with our grotty little man-made rulers and then we do one of two things –

We decide that it must be the unhealed person’s fault …OR …we sentence the sick person into a nether world of trying hard to get healed, and strangle them with the edict that they must not be negative and honest about their difficulties, thereby leaving them to struggle with their enormous burdens – alone. Neither of those responses even vaguely resemble what Jesus would do! He once prayed for a blind man twice… and offered no explanation for doing it that way either!

Jesus’ disciples also prayed for a little boy that had a demonic spirit that kept throwing him into the fire. The kid had convulsions, and the disciples couldn’t do anything about it. It is interesting to me to note that the Lord rebuked THEM. He didn’t growl at the father, or the kid, or even the people standing around watching. He rebuked his disciples instead for not having enough faith! 

I believe this is our problem in this day and age. We have tied the burden of being healed onto the sick person. As if they haven’t got enough to go on with! We haven’t thought about the fact that we have taught a whole generation that being sick is a sin. Plus we are saying that these sick people are responsible for their current circumstances. Implying that there must be something terrible hiding around corners in their lives somewhere, and they’d better toddle off and dig about until they find it! Instead of simply holding them up before the throne of Grace, and reminding them that they have greater faith than even they understand, because they love Him and serve Him, despite their negative circumstances.

Jesus told the disciples once when they asked Him: “Who sinned this guy, or his parents?” His response was – ‘Neither! This is for the glory of God.’ Funny how we tend to overlook that answer. We must learn to be honest with ourselves and others, and learn to say: “I DUNNO!” when we do not know. Then turn everyone’s attention to the goodness of God and all His Mighty works, and praise Him because He is worthy. Healing is absolutely His children’s bread but the children are led by a loving gracious Father. 👋🏻