Slander

P 2924 The future is HERE ……NOW!

/ DVH

“But you need to be aware that in the final days the culture of society will become extremely fierce. People will be self-centred lovers of themselves and obsessed with money. They will boast of great things as they strut around in their arrogant pride and mock all that is right. They will ignore their own families. They will be ungrateful and ungodly. They will become addicted to hateful and malicious slander. 

Slaves to their desires, they will be ferocious, belligerent haters of what is good and right. With brutal treachery, they will act without restraint, bigoted and wrapped in clouds of their conceit. They will find their delight in the pleasures of this world more than the pleasures of the loving God. They may pretend to have a respect for God, but in reality they want nothing to do with God’s power. Stay away from people like these!”2 Timothy 3:1-5 TPT.

Yeah, I dunno about you, but at this moment, I’m thinking about heading for the hills, because this scripture sounds just like last week’s new’s headlines to me. Isn’t it scary when you can read something like this — which was written in 40-60 AD and yet you still think — boy does this sound so familiar! 

You know, God has never said that other people would like what we say – He just said: “TELL THEM.” And He also said, live like this – “make love your great aim” and the bible shows us how love lives. The news of today is filled to the top with death, anger, sorrow, murder, rage etc.and those things can subtly influence us to think people are not worth the sacrifice of laying down our lives. Sadly all we need if we want to be an influencer,  is to have a sad story, or  give away money, or stuff. Today you can buy people’s interest. And if you call it a competition, they will jump right in! 

But the bible says we are here to to tell them that they will go to hell if they keep going in the wrong direction. Yeah! That kind of changes the colour of anyone’s day. At the same time as we are actively loving them, we need to tell them what they are doing is eternally costly. 

However, we do not have to market God! There is a school of thought that says if we can be as slick and appealing as the things of this world, people will listen to us. This is what Paul was talking about in the above verse: “…having a form of godliness but denying its power …”True godliness is about fruit, it produces substance, not just appearances. There is no power in exhibiting the appearance of godliness, practising that will produce religion. When what we are looking for is inward transformation. 

Now, let’s look at that first line in Paul’s discourse. “The culture of society will become exceedingly fierce.”Hmmm. Does today’s world look like a loving, supportive culture? There’s a lot of talk about empowering people but not much talk about living a life of love. It seems to me that many people in the Western world have learnt to speak badly about others – so they can make money on TV shows by deriding the way people walk, dress, and live — we even pick on what other people EAT! We indulge in gossip simply for conversation’s sake. Gossip has become a way of life – a method of communication – a way to relate!

We need to assure the people around us that there is something much bigger, more important and infinitely more lasting, than working hard to look good. Mankind’s greatest challenge is to continue to be loving in the face of evil, and that will take the supernatural power of God! Meanwhile, the church can’t keep on doing what they have been doing because it isn’t working! Often our worst enemies are exactly who Jesus told us they would be – the people we dearly love.“… a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’ Matthew 10:36. We are going to need the power of God to cope, and still love them!

We have let our children down. Someone (??) decided the little darlings are basically good. Obviously these people haven’t read “Lord of the flies!” or “Grimm’s fairy tales” or the newspaper lately! Sadly we raised our children to be entertained, not instructed. But despite how cute they are, children are not born good. “All have sinned,” it says so in His book. Did you know that the first word most babies learn is “NO?!” 

We wonder why our kids are careless about the real things in this life that actually matter, and why haven’t they learnt integrity, obedience, and kindness etc? Wisdom and spiritual knowledge come from investing time and energy in people – not just chasing dollars. Our kids need to learn to contribute, not consume, and it is our job to teach them. Inanimate objects don’t cause delinquent behaviour, lack of supervision does.

I think Paul was looking through God’s Time Machine into a telescope of our future, when he wrote this letter of warning to Timothy. Let’s remember, Timothy was his disciple, he was teaching this young man the way he should go. He was also instructing Timothy about the times that were to come …  And now… happy, happy joy, joy, here they are! The future is here. Now! Always remember, the darkness cannot put the light out – HIS light in us will conquer the darkness around us. Love is the vehicle. Bye 👋

P 2878 Unconditionally forgive everyone.

/ DVH

““Your ancestors have also been taught ‘Love your neighbours and hate the one who hates you.’ However, I say to you, love your enemy, bless the one who curses you, do something wonderful for the one who hates you, and respond to the very ones who persecute you by praying for them.”Matthew 5:43-44 TPT. Many people don’t like this scripture because it hits something inside them that they don’t care to acknowledge. Personally, I think things like gossip have their roots in these attitudes. We try to bring people down by badmouthing them to others, especially if they threaten us or we can’t forget what they did! 

Hatred can be generational. It can be taught to us by the people we dearly love, who raised us. After that sort of family indoctrination, it can become quite easy for gossip, slander, lies, and hatred to be passed down from one generation to another. When generational things are cherished and repeated endlessly, eventually they break out against other people Jesus died for! Meanwhile, how sensible is it to hate some people ‘cos your folks, or your friends, or people we esteem hate them too? You know that voice that you can hear in your heart that keeps saying: “Wrong way, go back.” Listen to it.  We have the power of God in us — we can usher in generational change by our choices.

Any unloving focus can drag us away from our main objective – loving others. Gossip and judgment build themselves, through repetition about what some perceived enemy did or said.  And when the bad incident that started with anger, or judgment happens to our people, our house, our group of friends – then it becomes personal!  That personal experience adds weight to everything else that has gone before it. It’s a distraction from our main purpose – let’s not allow ourselves to be distracted away from our purpose.. 

Between all the hating, cursing, lies and the repetition of the terrible stories — hatred is now flourishing in this world. Now this ghastly attitude is set firmly inside a demonic stronghold. I think the press/media etc. lies to us regularly in order to provide sensational stories to get our money and attention. Advertisers love that idea! The press blows up information and twists things to make what we read, see, or listen to, sensational. 

Meanwhile, our thirst to be in the know, and our efforts to find out about something that garners a lot of attention, have created a monster. We have made ‘knowing things;’  or ‘having the skinny on this or that,’  into some kind of a competition, and in the process we have devalued the people Jesus died for. Those people who are supposedly informing us – prefer making money, or gaining information — to caring about their fellow man. Real lives are affected and sometimes destroyed, by falsely reported things. 

This happens when the story becomes more important than the participants. Things like that help to create hard, and sometimes deceitful hearts. Meanwhile the media is about money and making some people rich. It seems to me, that the press take their little texta pens, and colour-in what really happened, by bringing up the bad shades and diminishing the good ones, so that we will read/watch/listen to their version of what is actually going on. We can easily get sucked into this filthy whirlpool and end up angry with somebody we’ve never met!

I believe this practice is a device of satan, because he loves to capitalise on greed, plus our own perceived desire to know stuff. Gossip etc. has become a new form of addiction. But the truth is, we don’t actually need to know! We can pray for the people involved in terrible things, but we often can’t do anything about whatever is going on. All we can do is to STOP and deliberately let His light in through prayer. Unfortunately our idea of light, and the Lord’s idea of light can be very different things. How do I know that …? Because our light can often be hidden under a basket – that’s how! Hidden light is not useful. Darkness still remains in the corners. We dare not bring our own agendas into our prayers. 

Even some churches have been deceived, they have become more concerned about being politically correct than loving others. Our priority is always LOVE. There are times that we too borrow the press’s textas and do some colouring-in of our own – villainising people! We are here to shine His light into the dark places – not to spread the darkness around. To me, that means I need to be like Him no matter what is going on around me. A light illuminates, it doesn’t have an opinion, it simply shines by its nature. 

So what can we do about these things? Well, I think investing emotionally in something we have no control over, is the enemy’s way of wasting our time. We may even feel better initially, more in control of things, but unless we pray for both sides of whatever is going on, we are missing the point. We don’t get to judge who are the good guys and who are the bad guys. My advice is – don’t believe everything you hear, and remember to unconditionally forgive everyone. Let’s not get so tied to the things of this earth, that we can’t hear when heaven comes calling. Bye. 👋

P 2794 Be spiritually focussed.

/ DVH

Here’s a thought:  attitudes that we PUT ON to look spiritual, can be taken OFF when it doesn’t suit us!  We need to become intimately aware of spiritual things, instead of leaving everything to the minister or pastor. The secret to abiding in Christ is to keep His attitudes ON, and if and when we ever choose to take them OFF, then we need to quickly repent and put them on again. It is a new way to think. Just as you and I once learnt to read and write, we can also learn, with the Lord’s help, to live a Kingdom-focussed life. Listen to these scriptures in Colossians 3:3-15 ESV.

“For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your  life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry… … But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its Creator… 

 …but Christ is all, and in all. Put ON then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body.”

Action needs to be our middle name. We don’t just read things, smile and agree with them – now we put them into practice by choice! Many Christians are totally unaware that they have not changed their lives. They avoid and frown on supposed identifiable bad stuff, like swearing smoking, drinking, taking drugs, sleeping around, stealing, lying, gossiping etc. This means they are often ‘good’ people ‘on the ‘outside’ … but they have very little power to witness, or to overcome the habits and attitudes of their former lives. So they live, they sin, they eventually repent, but they are never changed. 

Transformation is not an optional extra – it’s a part of the deal! These people I am talking about do not move on from getting to know Him, into living their lives, here and now – differently. Prompted by the Holy Spirit’s help and guidance. It’s a progressive thing. We can see an example of this ongoing learning in the New Testament. These people kept faithfully doing what they knew and were taught to do, but they were not taught everything, initially.  Paul says this in Acts:“And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” These people did not know the Helper, so Paul laid hands on them and then they did! When you read parts of scripture like:  Matthew 16:5-12, you can easily see the difference between carnal thinking and Holy Spirit inspired thought.

Meanwhile I’m with Paul, things like fasting or praying in tongues, will definitely help my devotion to the Lord… but it will not change my character without my consent! I have to choose, every single day, sometimes minute by minute, WHO I will serve, There is a world of difference between salvation and transformation. Meanwhile, there’s also a whole ARMY of Christians stuck in that valley of decision! The decision facing them is whether they will serve Christ with their whole hearts, and lay down every single bit of their lives, for His sake. This path has just gotten a whole lot harder, because we are living in a hedonistic society.

We need to choose to submit to the Holy Spirit’s promptings and be governed by what the bible says. It’s called OBEDIENCE. I’ve met heaps of Christians who pray up one hill and down the other, God bless them for their devotion, but they are still as internally ornery and rebellious as they ever were. Their hearts aren’t soft, or changed. Transformation is part of the deal. Jesus didn’t just die to save us from our sins – He died to give us the power to live this life differently. To live life like He did… here and now! People will get saved if we stop living for ourselves and start living our lives for His sake.

However, the Lord will not do anything without our consent. And a blanket “I surrender all” at the altar once, long ago, doesn’t cover it.  God is looking for our active allegiance, not lip service. Our minute by minute lives need to be under the Holy Spirit’s control to make a difference. We have the power to release His Presence into this world by our God-given chosen attitudes and actions. Otherwise, sadly we can all be motivated by self-preservation.

Any manipulation and control, so I can feel ‘happy,’ will short-circuit this process. When I live that way, I cannot bring His life into anything I touch. I have to let go of what I want, and what I think is best for everyone else, and allow the Holy Spirit to have HIS WAY … and He’s not pushy. To be spiritually focussed I need to choose to DIE – every minute, every second, of every day I live. But when we choose to die to self – the Holy Everliving One – lives in us! And He makes all the difference. Bye. 👋

P 2748 Faith is now our reset button.

/ DVH

Colossians 3:1-4: “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, Who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.”

Colossians tells us that we have a clear focus – it’s a forever focus. Because of Jesus we have eternal eyes, so we can see what He sees. Now we see beyond the here and now, into whatever the Lord is doing – we don’t always understand … but we can learn. That broken-down car, or that angry person yelling at me, won’t bother me because now I am dead by choice. I’ve hidden myself in Him, under His blood, that made everything eternal possible.

This is what our PAST looked like — Colossians 3:7-10: “You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” 

Because of what Jesus chose to do for me, to set me free, now I have the power to choose to actively get rid of the ghastly stuff of this world, that weighs me down. Colossians says: ‘rid yourselves …’ I think that shows us that we have work we must do – with the Holy Spirit’s help. Our old way to live is no longer compulsory. It’s gone. Now we have the power to overcome our old ways of thinking and doing. So we become focussed on getting rid of that stuff, step by step, as the Lord convicts and convinces us of sin. The old grouchy way of life still rears its ugly head, but we choose a different response. We do everything we do now, simply because we love Him. 

Currently, I am learning to identify, then take off those old clothes, the things that have been fashioned by this life … through my personal choices and experiences. Even the things I think I feel comfortable in — I deliberately put behind me. The Lord’s clothes seem to be difficult at first, as I learn to leave my old responses behind. Maybe these new clothes aren’t always smooth and silky, because in the past I carefully chose my clothes so they won’t irritate me. But choosing to follow Jesus means change and dealing with my irritation.

Anyway … here’s what the bible says to wear! Verses 12-14: “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”

That’s a much nicer wardrobe! But how does this happen? Do I pray a prayer and bingo bongo – suddenly I have this brand new wardrobe. Meh! Not-so-much. The transformation happens whenever I use my faith to obey and walk with Him, and listen to Him. I have to deliberately choose to change my behaviour, (my clothes) and continually remember that I will always need His help. Meanwhile, those old clothes can be like a siren calling out me to drown in my feelings!

Life happens to everyone. Someone else accidentally bumps into a pain deposit inside us and we realise we are still wearing an old coat of anger, or shame or hurt. Our new way to live means that we pray and step out of that boat of same old same old responses — and step onto the water of a new miraculous way to live. His way.

There is healing in His new clothes. We can walk out of things that seemed to be just our lot in life, and daily discover that Almighty God has a bigger plan for us. There is nothing quite like looking at a difficult situation, knowing full well that 6 months ago you would have had anger issues and now you don’t! The thing is we won’t care if someone else seems to win, or not, because as we walk with the King we start to see this life from His perspective. And that changes everything.

Living like this means we use our faith. We step out in faith, every single day. Faith feels odd when you first use it, it seems risky and scary —  like maybe people will have an advantage over me. However, using our faith brings us into a much bigger arena. Who knows what gift the Lord has put inside us to benefit others? Or what gift they may have that will bless us? Faith will now become our reset button. 🙌

“Wherever I go, Your hand will guide me; Your strength will empower me.” Psalms 139:10 TPT.

P 2737 Wound management.

/ DVH

Resentment is like dirt in an open wound. The wound may close, but we our healing is circumvented because there is still bacteria inside. I just want to mention that the wound or the bacteria may not be our fault, it may have come from somewhere else, or even somebody else. But it’s what we do with that wound now we have it, that matters. Ignoring it, or even peering at it, poking it, and making sure it is still sore, will not promote healing.  

Healing comes from thoroughly cleaning out wounds  – with some sort of disinfectant. So it is going to sting! Then we apply soothing ointment, and cover that injury with the same blood we are covered in. Our ointment comes from the Presence of the Holy Spirit – He knows how to soothe every sore place. After dealing with it, we can leave the wound to repair itself, and get on with our lives.

Resentment will often remind us that we didn’t get what we asked for – because it loves to keep accounts of wrongs. Remember 1 Corinthians 13? “…Love keeps NO record of wrongs!” Resentment will take us out of love and chuck us into a side eddy, going round and round. It can swing our spiritual lives so we are now collecting bad dead stuff. It won’t let anything good in, but it twists and turns and shades our overall POV. Then it flings all that dead stuff out into the main stream to anybody who will stand still and listen, leading to gossip. This devilish trait will never satisfy us because it doesn’t produce anything but more suffering. And like a germ in a wound it leaves even more pus in its wake!

Human beings want INSTANT answers — but Almighty God loves constantly progressing relationships! This trait must be fostered by making painful choices. We deliberately leave behind the things that caused a wound and jump back into the fresh living water of the RIVER of God. Doing this optimises our healing. Our feelings can be overrated because they are often fed by stagnant water … plus they are addictive.

Father God wants a loving functioning relationship with each one of us – He lost everything He cherished through our forebears’ deliberate disobedience in the garden. Remember, man was made in His image – we are designed to be like Him, inside and out. The Lord Himself, plus Adam and Eve, all had sweet fellowship together in the cool of the evening – every single night! Right now, He is looking for sons and daughters, who will pay the price to walk with Him again. 

That means we will have to give up any and all hidden resentments, because those things can become an occupational enemy! The Lord is longing for true fellowship with people who value HIM – not for what He does but for Who He is – people who value Him so much they will lay aside every weight that slows them down. We were saved to walk with Him, daily, in the garden of our hearts. His heart is so BIG He has room for every human being that ever lived. But resentment will subvert His plan to love on us and consume our thoughts instead. 

Our God doesn’t just hand out assignments and stand back, waiting for us to complete them – He wants to come with us! Praise HIM, He will also lend us His glorious expertise, and a fresh POV when He does. The very best thing we can do is to go everywhere with HIM!  However resentment turns our heads and hearts away from what our Heavenly Father loves most  — PEOPLE! It grows in an atmosphere that does not include Him, plus it goes hand in hand with complaining. It narrows down any fresh possibilities so we become trapped in half-truths and animosity.

Resentment is also a thief. It comes knocking at the back door of our hearts supposedly to comfort us. It wants to have a cup of coffee or tea with us and then it will point out all the bad things other people have done to us – so we can sit and stew in them! It tells us it is protecting us from future pain so we must keep those hurtful people at a distance. This thing is an evil accountant and a collector, it will keep track of other people’s wrongs!  It produces the wrong sort of fellowship, including lying and distortion. Like every thief, resentment wants to steal — our hope, our peace, our joy, our worship and voluntary service for our King. That traitor wants to hide in dark corners and snipe at others. The solution is simple – don’t entertain it.

Here are some great scriptures to think on: “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”Ephesians 4:29.“Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.”Ephesians 4:31. “See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; …” Hebrews 12:15.

Resentment is best dealt with early, because it has the awful power to reproduce and multiply. So we need to break off any suckers like that springing up in our lives,  like we would break off a plant sucker as it grows on a living tree …Break that thing off at the root. Otherwise it will steal all our joy, hope, and colour in our lives with bleakness, because it produces nothing of any worth. I urge each one of us to become adept at wound management – before any wounds poison our system. Bye 👋

P 2724 Love …

/ DVH

… the all purpose, all seasonal garment— that freely leads to praise and worship. I fall in love with our God over and over again, because He has so generously provided us with a way to please Him and live at peace with others. Jesus has already given us the Way we can be reconciled, and the Holy Spirit shines His torchlight upon the right path. Actually, to be perfectly truthful, the Holy Spirit often says to me … in a nice way, of course. “Don’t say it, don’t do it, don’t throw a party for that thought.” OK, so the bible says don’t “entertain thoughts” – same thing.

So today let’s look at Colossians 3. Love is a positional thing. It depends upon where you think you are seated. And I am not talking about being seated on your lounge, or on a chair! We are now, today, in this moment — seated in a new kingdom, where we choose to set our hearts on eternal things. We look toward Jesus because He started our faith and He will finish it. His precious blood bought that for us! Most of the time we fall down disagreeable holes because we get preoccupied with the stuff going on around us.

I know that a screaming baby, or a rampant selfish teenager, or an illogical argument with an angry spouse, or even a particularly pedantic elderly person, all have a way of grabbing at our thinking and attention. BTW, I think that those scenarios don’t help our teeth either … we can end up grinding them down to a NUB! Things like that happen and they don’t just happen once. That is the hardest thing of all! … instead they happen over and over and over again! … until your nerves are shredded and you want to go jump in the river.  Fortunately we have no eligible rivers near our house!

But when things get really severe that other person might well want to chuck YOU in that river. 😶 Meanwhile our own selfish tendencies that want to strangle someone else, need to be put to death. Sigh. So how do I personally do that? I remove myself before I get to the strangulation or the utterly unbridled abusive stage. I go somewhere else and talk to the Lord. At the same time, I don’t shut my inner ears to Him talking back to me! God is on my side, but He will not let me off the hook for whatever I did – He does not take sides. Do I get my attitudes right all the time? Of course not! Every now and then my temper takes over and I give the other person a serve. Not a point to be excited about trust me, the fall-out is appalling.

Here’s something to chew on in those moments – and NO! It is not comforting, or soothing … it requires obedience. Colossians 3:8-10 says: “But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.”

Here’s something my Mum used to say to me in a threatening voice: “Watch your mouth.” Always remember one unpleasant thing can lead to another! So this is how you deal with moments like these … you tell yourself “BOTHER – I’M WEARING THE WRONG CLOTHES!” and then you refuse to make excuses for yourself while whatever it is, is going on. Get to the place where you can say, ‘I’m so sorry’ quickly! That’s the exit!! Then shut up. Excuses or accusations actually add to the general feeling of unrest. So don’t do that either. 

There’s this really cool spiritual gift, that is a part of our new blood-bought clothes that Jesus bought and paid for … it’s called self-control. Oh, this is such a complex garment! It is needed in all sorts of situations. Self-control helps me to make the kind of decisions that allow HIM to take over. Now let’s look at what our new clothes actually look like … just so you don’t pick the wrong ones when you are getting dressed! 

12-16a: Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly …”

The best thing to ask yourself in any moment of difficulty is this – where did my peace go? And no! The answer is not … he/she/they stole it. The answer is where did YOU lose it? Peace is our portion as well as our umpire, we can’t afford to lose it … but that’s for another day. Today we are talking about a Christian’s wardrobe and what we need to wear to thrive, not just survive.  And love covers a multitude of sins – not just your sins – THEIRS. Bye. 👋

P 2624 Take positive action.

/ DVH

“Do not waste time bothering whether you “love” your neighbour; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone you will presently come to love him.” (CS Lewis.)

God said that like this, in Colossians 3:2-10: “Set your minds on things that are above …(!!!That’s where the real action is!) “… not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ Who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming.

In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its Creator….”

… “  (12-14) “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”

So here’s my question — WHO gets all this nifty, but really nitty, gritty, hard stuff? We do! You. Me. US! This means I can’t sit about on my hands praying fervently that the Lord will change me … while I keep on doing the stuff the bible says DON’T DO! This is a really good time to remember that the Lord put Jonah in a whale (!!) to get him back on track. So if you wanna be rebellious, then you’d better stay away from SeaWorld!

Seriously, this stuff is a no-brainer. We need to take what Jesus said and make it our great AIM to leave the ugly stuff that will tangle us up and make us fall over, behind us. If you are a fighting person who gets bad tempered at the drop of a hat, then whack your hand over your mouth and vacate the premises. And don’t come back until the urge has left you! Our mouths get us in so much trouble – sadly, I have learnt this truth the hard way. What we say, or sometimes refuse to say … is responsible for so many bad things. If we choose to abuse someone else it will escalate – and unless you are talking to a door, then that other person will retaliate!

No-one wins in an argument. Even if you think you’ve won you’ve lost! When we bad mouth or abuse someone else, we are deliberately walking away from the Lord and empowering the Old Self. Jesus won’t interfere, He wants us to take responsibility for our own behaviour. Honestly, I don’t care what they said — what am I going to do about it? We must stop expecting the Lord to supernaturally intervene, and work on changing our own hearts. HE WILL HELP US but He will not do it for us! Nothing else matters but being with Him.  So put away the things that are going to drag us away from loving Him, worshipping Him, following Him. We cannot serve two Masters. Jesus said that in Matthew 6:24. 

For those of you who are related or married to somebody who loves to pick fights, or someone who gets irritable easily … stop blaming them, and quit engaging with the argument. I don’t care how wrong they are – what is the kingdom of God worth to you? Sadly, for some people it is worth less than their own opinion. We want all the power in the world so we can move mountains, but we cannot deal with the mountains of disapproval, criticism and lust in our own lives? Good luck moving that other mountain Jesus spoke about, if you can’t control YOU.

Start speaking love and approval to the other person. It is extremely hard to argue with someone else who keeps telling you how terrific you are, how valuable you are. It is not lying – that person is valuable to God! When we are angry with someone, we rehearse their faults – why not rehearse their good points?! Life is not a competition, it is not about who wins or loses. It is about life and death. Yours, theirs and the people around us. We’ve been put here to shine His light into a dark place —- not to increase the darkness! Lastly, revenge belongs to the Lord, so do yourself a favour and don’t get in His Way.

Jesus said this verse nobody likes, remember? (Matthew 5:29)“And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for. thee that one of thy members should perish, and. not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.” Imagine what we would all LOOK LIKE if we took that verse seriously! 😱 We need to choose to participate in positive actions with His help. Lastly, “Love your enemies …” — because at the very least you will drive them crazy!

Bye. 👋

P 2462 Get rid of the stuff that is holding you back.

/ DVH

1 Peter 2:1 “Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.” First of all, when I find a “therefore” I want to know what it is there, for! That means I went back and read 1 Peter 1. Therefore means in the light of what was said before it. When I did that I found a pearl… without even trying. 1 Peter 1:3-4 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.”  

You know, a lot of people regard the opening and closing remarks of books in the bible as irrelevant, or advertising, or quite simply, polite contextual greetings. They are not. God can use the writer’s opening and closing remarks. This is a letter, but it is not like our letters. Every word in God’s book is profitable. 

Briefly, lets’ go back to our ‘living hope’ … our hope is not in what we think we believe. And that’s because people can believe the dumbest things!! Our actual firm hope is in the fact that Jesus Christ died and was raised from the dead and He now sits at the Father’s right hand.  HE is our hope. Who He is and what He did. Everything else is spiritual fluff! (And no, I am not splitting hairs – hope belongs to something concrete, it is not a theoretical thing.) 

The reason our hope sometimes dies very quickly is that we are hoping in the wrong direction. EG  … our hope is in answers to prayer! Hope cannot diminish when it is in the right place. I urge us all to put our hope in reality, not in wish thinking, or prayers, no matter how nicely we phrase them. What Jesus Christ did for us is proof that He can be trusted. So we actually put our hope in His trustworthiness and not in some pretty or earnest prayer! Jesus Christ really is Almighty God. He really came here, and He really loved humanity, and He really actually died and was raised from the dead! Hope in that. Base your hope on WHO He is and what He did. That will change the way you pray and help you to trust Him. BTW, this is why we pray in Jesus’ Name. Because HE is our hope. 

Now let’s go back to 1 Peter 2:1 ’Rid yourself of all envy and malice …’Why does Peter say that? Because envy and malice block our eyes and ears to what God is actually saying and doing. We stop seeing and hearing spiritually, and make our choices from the wrong place … the flesh! We cry: “I desperately need You to fix this Lord,” but we don’t and sometimes won’t, fix our own attitudes. When we entertain malice, envy, hypocrisy, and deceit etc. we become defensive and offensive, instead of loving, patient and kind. 

What we soak our minds in actually affects our attitudes and behaviour, and I am not talking about TV shows! Mulling over someone else’s sin against you is not profitable. Nothing is gained that way except more angst. Instead we need to identify if we have envy etc.etc in the way we think, and repent, then refuse to think like that. Seriously… we are the boss of our own thoughts! Don’t entertain them. Some people ask that junk in, tell it to put its feet up on a comfy chair, go and get it a cuppa, and then they wonder why they can’t shift the thoughts! Our minds are constantly at war – it is not safe to entertain rubbish. Here’s a dumb thought – offence will fence you in.

If a thought comes into my head, that does not mean I need to give it a party! I can refuse the thought. And I can keep on refusing it until it leaves. Personally, I do my best to look carefully at my thought patterns because I want to watch over my own heart. I am not obsessive about it, but I listen to what I am thinking because:“as a man thinks …so is he …” (Proverbs 23:7) And some of my errant thoughts deserve jail, not entertaining!  However, Paul says in Philippians 4:8 to “let your mind dwell on these things. Whatever is right … whatever is profitable…”  Live there! Start looking for the good profitable parts, even in bad things. Bad things awaken urgency within us to get closer to God. And that’s a good thing to start with! Then start being grateful.

I hold my thoughts up against the Word of God and if my thoughts are wrong I chuck them out. Bad things start festering when we ignore the fact that we are mentally chewing on unhappy relationships and difficult people. It is our part in this eternal arrangement we are in, to get rid of the stuff that is holding us away from our true inheritance. 1 Peter 2:1 tells us that. And most of the bad stuff starts out as thoughts. Try monitoring your thoughts sometime, it will surprise you. 👋🏻