soldiers

P3386 Unusual style of fighting.        

/ DVH

When Jesus’ disciple Peter’s anger flared up at some soldiers who had come armed to the teeth to take the Lord away — the Lord Himself said: “put your sword back in its place … for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.” Matthew 26:52. Hatred can so easily explode into actions, and then we hurt others, and ourselves, in the process. We hurt our own hearts when we hate. We can’t afford to live any other way except for living in love. In love with God, and the people who drive us crazy.

We are the people who fight on our knees! Unfortunately, many of us cannot be trusted with a gun, because most of the time, we don’t know what spirit we are in! Jesus had already fought and won the above battle, in the garden of Gethsemane, on His knees — while His disciples were sleeping. Peter’s sword was just going to hurt someone, and it did! Meanwhile, what is Peter – the fisherman – doing with a sword? … Moving on …

We are not fighting the same kind of war that many other people fight, although what we have to say, is equally as explosive. Our war is spiritual. Because “the weapons of our warfare are not CARNAL but they are mighty because they pull down strongholds.” 2 Corinthians 10:4. We can’t win if we continue to fight with the weapons from this world, because Jesus has already given us our appointed task. All we will do is kill off more people that our Lord loves. We are clearly told, by the Lord Jesus Himself, to “pray for our enemies” and “do good to those who despitefully use us.” 

Open hands in prayer, are far more effective than the clenched fist of war. If we are tempted to hate, then we must choose to bow our knee. And then we start praying for the people who are hurting, persecuting and despitefully using us. Pray for them like they are your own family!! Sometimes those people hurting you ARE your own family!

Pray for their salvation. Pray for redemption from sin. PRAY and then pray some more. We are not fighting that person in front of us, we are fighting the devil on his back. Those people who hate us believe in what they are doing because they’ve carefully been taught to hate. They don’t know what real love is. When an honest man meets Jesus, his first response is to bend his knee and say: ‘I didn’t know love like this existed.’ 

You and I have been appointed by Him to bring His love with us wherever we go. That happens when we choose to put down this world’s plans and ideas, and pick up the life Jesus has chosen for us. LOVE is the only antidote for hate, and love is the way to win. Even if we die … WE still WIN! Paul said that in Philippians 1:21. “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” That is our banner. 

Oh, let’s be real here for a minute. How can we possibly say that being dead is better than living, when we have a mortgage, kids, extended family and obligations to others? Because we have been practising dying to self for years. That’s how. Now we live our lives making daily hard choices to die to our own desires – and then, at the moment of deep impact, we will have enough freedom to choose to follow the Holy Spirit, wherever He goes.

Let’s use the right weapons to fight. The bible says: Love conquers everything. Meanwhile, we can’t fight a spiritual war with tolerance  … because tolerance wears thin – and eventually it wears off – we need God’s supernatural love. Press in, beloved of God, and don’t stop until you get it! The people we think are our problem, are the ones God calls us to.

When we put on the whole armour of God we are not doing it to go to WAR, we are doing it to protect the faith that is in us. These weapons , these protections – this armour – has been given to us to protect us. It will stop us from being taken out of the fight. Our Father needs every single one of His kids standing in their place doing what He put us here to do – loving Him first, then others. In His eyes ALL of mankind is irreplaceable. 

We see a multitude of people – but Father God sees Amar, George, Hina, Amanda, Lev,  Malosi, Mary, Rufus, Jai, Vasilisa, Jessica, Patrick, Joachim, Freya, Zyar, Ikem and Leah! Our Heavenly Father is such an incredibly good, good Father. He sees each one of us as if we were the only one. We’ve been told to “put on the whole armour of God.” It will protect us from the fiery darts of the enemy so we can stand in the middle of the war raging all around us. Just like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, stood in a fiery furnace and Jesus joined them there. He’ll join us in prayer for our enemy’s souls too.

Jesus came here to show people just like you and I, that there is another way to live this life, one day at a time, one step at a time. He did not pick a fight with anyone. These battles need to be stopped in our prayer closets. Then we can see our TRUE purpose, because we’ve chosen to put aside this world’s ideas of what a perfect life should look like.  

In the meantime, we can have utter confidence, because we know how this fight ends. We win! So we will continue to participate in unusual fighting with interesting weapons. Prayer, grace, kindness, forgiveness, love, joy, peace etc., these things are our weapons. We choose to turn the other cheek, and walk the extra mile, and we give some demanding guy our tunic when he asks for our coat! Bye, 👋. 

P 3340 Learn to fight …

/ DVH

…for what is yours by birthright! And remember, we don’t fight against flesh and blood. It’s not your spouse, or your parents, or your uncles and aunties – it’s the devil! 2 Corinthians 10:4-6 :“The world is unprincipled. It’s dog-eat-dog out there! The world doesn’t fight fair. But we don’t live or fight our battles that way—never have and never will. The tools of our trade aren’t for marketing or manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture. We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity.”

And Ephesians 6: 1-18 says: “And that about wraps it up. God is strong, and He wants you strong. So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the devil throws your way. This is no weekend war that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the devil and all his angels.                                                                           Be prepared. You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it’s all over but the shouting you’ll still be on your feet. Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You’ll need them throughout your life. God’s Word is an indispensable weapon. In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare.” 

We are in a battle, day by day, whether we like it or not, and even earthly soldiers get battle fatigue. However, we have the power of God within us to make the difference, and we need to use His power to help ourselves thrive in His Ways, and for the benefit of others. We don’t just fight under adverse conditions – we learn to thrive. Many times in our lives together, hubby and I have commented it seems like it is one thing after another, and another.

You can get very weary from fighting things. Like battling to maintain a Godly-attitude with His help; or not reacting to the same thing happening for the 479th time! Let’s face it satan doesn’t fight fair. he will kick you and beat you when you are down. One of the best weapons against despair and disappointment is the realisation that Almighty God will not ever give up on us. There are things float through our minds: “Does God care about what is happening to me?” Those are the battles we must fight in our emotions, and minds — they can be overwhelming, and potentially, destructive.

Remind yourself that Jesus took every single sin and mistake we’ve made to the cross with Him. And our God is not a fair weather Friend! Now you and I are blameless in His sight – that’s what His Grace is all about. The truth is a weapon we can use when our minds are full of doubt, unbelief, and anger or disappointment with ourselves or others. We must stop! — and remember Who we belong to now. It’s a supernatural task, so it needs supernatural tactics, not just mind games. 

We can’t continue to quote the scripture without knowing the reality behind it. The reality comes from living this life eating His bread, daily, and reminding ourselves of His blood over our lives, daily. I am reminded of someone else who tried head knowledge in Acts 9:11-17: “Jesus I know and Paul I know but who are you… ?” Being known by our enemy means we are bothering him. Good! Someone famous once said this, I have no idea who it was – “Be the kind of Christian that the devil says every day – oh no! He/she is up again!!”

People can sometimes be defeated because they are not pointing their will toward what the Lord wants. Obedience is essential. If you feel you can’t obey, then point your will toward His will and ask for the Holy Spirit’s help. When God talks about truth, He means His truth, not just something that sounds like truth, but it is indulging me in self-pity – or making me feel justified in my sad sack attitude. I cannot BE justified outside of the blood of Jesus. He gave that to me, I didn’t earn it… I’m so grateful for His goodness!

When God says “renew your mind” He is not talking about parroting off some scripture or other, as a weapon against satanic attacks. Our own personal knowledge of His goodness, is a mighty weapon. I stand and face my fears, or other people’s accusations and misunderstandings  by saying: “This one thing I know — MY GOD IS GOOD.” Ergo, if it is not good, then it is not God! … BUT!! Please remember to check your heart first, and  make sure you are not blaming someone else simply because you don’t want to deal with yourself! Our beliefs are not second hand they are up close and personal. I dun fell down that hole many times! Sigh.

When it comes to battles I am like a three year old. I run to hide in my Father’s robes. I want to be that spectator in Psalm 91… I don’t even try to peek out to see what is going on. I let what He has already done do the work for me. Shape your life around the Lord, make Him the centre. Then we can’t be dragged about by the winds of change and impulses of whimsy. If you are under attack drag your heart back to thinking about how good He has been to you. Read the bible aloud!

Let’s choose to live this life, by finding out stuff from the bible for ourselves. I am no longer a child, if I need to know something, then I ask the Holy Spirit to help me find the answer. Then I go and dig around in His book. Learn to fight for what is your birthright by the way you live. I need to participate and feed myself daily, digesting what He said with actions. We can’t win with hot air, we need real weapons forged in our lives with the fire of His life in us. Bye. 👋

P 2858 No strength. No problem!

/ DVH

2 Corinthians 12:8-10: “Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

My first thought is that we all need to read these verses at least a couple of times to absorb what Paul is saying. Then I want to ask all of us a question … ‘why do we try so hard to get everything right, when His strength is made perfect in weak people?’ Yeah I know… it seems dumb when you put it like that! Here’s a thought that has greatly benefitted me and I will pass it on to you — go straight into being a weak people! Yes, seriously. Don’t waste your time and energy trying hard to be a ‘good Christian.’ Give up and rely upon His strength. Learn to say: “I can’t do that.” And then step out and act on His word when He speaks to you, and watch and see what He will do.

I know it’s kind of a terrifying thought. Imagine what other people will say if you tell them you really can’t … do the flowers, or bring morning tea, or read the bible out loud from the pulpit, or do the work of 4 people! But when we make ourselves do something without waiting on the Lord and talking to Him about it, we are forming a religious habit that can last a lifetime. We know that whenever He asks us to do this or that, we will need to grab our courage in both hands and do it… but, in those moments we can have the confidence that He spoke to us, to back us up. We know He will complete what He said! 

Listen to what this man said about Jesus: “For I also am a man subject to authority [of a higher rank], with soldiers subject to me; and I say to one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” Matthew 8:9. This man understood delegated authority. When we wander off quoting this or that, or something that someone else said, without first interacting with the Lord Himself, we have nothing to stand on. We are trying to borrow someone else’s authority. Each of us has been given His authority but we need to personally get something from the King Himself to stand on..

I am blessed, I know I am not strong at all. And according to Paul that’s a fantastic place to be!!  I have had to learn to rely upon His Grace and strength. All I do is turn up and do whatever He told me to do. At the same time, I am no longer scared to say ‘no!’ Because outside of what Jesus has told me to do, I definitely know I will fail. My strength physically, mentally, and spiritually can falter – but He does not. My faith is aways in Him. He will come to rescue me, even when I’ve done something dumb. I confess my error, and turn it back over to Him – then I stand still and wait for further instructions. I know I have a part in what He wants to do, but understanding authority and how it works helps me apply myself.

It is far better to appear to be weak, than it is to save face. ‘God hasn’t talked to me about that stuff, I’ll ask Him,’ is a valid reason. At the same time, it isn’t a cop-out either! In reality: ‘I don’t want to do whatever it is,’ is not a valid answer. I think that many of our church institutions need to revise what they keep on doing, over and over again, but unfortunately the people within them keep on doggedly filling roles, so all will appear to be well. The Lord is not interested in the appearance of good, He wants His good to prevail — only God is good! Mark 10:18. 

The best thing we can do is to start from, and finish with, whatever He has asked us to do, using our faith. I get so happy when I know can’t do something He asks me to do, because I know I’m about to see His supernatural strength in my life. Many people get burnt out and exhausted because God didn’t tell them to do what they are doing in the first place! It is the Lord Who will build His house. Our job is to ask Him how He wants us involved. I cannot begin to say how many times I have heard Him say: “Not yet. Wait.”

Actually, I think we often rush ahead of His timing. We want or need the Lord to do a quick work, so we try to sort-of hurry Him up with our own activities. The Holy Spirit will leave! And sadly, He leaves so quietly we won’t even know He is gone for a long time! One of the Lord’s favourite things is when He can see that people want to embrace His timing. His will His Way. Having no strength to do what He asks us to do is not a problem. It is actually an asset. His strength is made PERFECT in our weaknesses. So, the thing is – do we want ‘kind of good enough’, or perfect Answer? No strength is never a problem…👋

P 2847 God is long-suffering.

/ DVH

God puts up with a lot from us. That thought is how I began to see that we need to focus on walking in His love, instead of just gathering more and more knowledge. At the same time we can end up working hard to be somebody we are not, while we are trying to gain something from God that is already free, and belongs to every man, woman and child, ever born! 

When we read the Old Testament and study the Way He interacts with each individual person, we see that Almighty God loves our uniqueness and He is prepared to work with every person mentioned, personally. Inside their perceived limitations. The Holy Spirit is currently teaching me how to follow Him in ways that stretch my faith, while He is showing me how to love. He started me off with the most difficult person in my life, someone I could not relate to, at all. My natural response was to react at this person. Instead of pretending to manage the situation, I began admitting I was an abject failure, I could not possibly change myself  – plus I had absolutely no faith for it. I realised I could not live up to an impossible standard, by myself, and failing all the time was extremely discouraging. 

That is when I came to the conclusion that there is a strong possibility that we have been reading His book incorrectly for years! We’ve studied it like we might study Maths or English, instead of applying it so it becomes part of who we are.“Christ Himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip His people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” Ephesians 4:11-13. God wants us to know and experience Jesus in His fullness, for ourselves. The result is that we will do what He did – He lived to obey His Father.

If you happen to be a pastor, prophet, apostle, evangelist etc. then you are merely one of Christ’s gifts to His Body. You are a GIFT … you are not the star .. HE is the star! I’m so OVER people following other people who are supposedly more spiritual than we are! When we follow other people and their revelations, we begin to lose sight of our Saviour personally, and we start following man-made directives. That means that we start thinking like Pastor Rex or the Apostle George, and shape our lives around the way they think and preach. No wonder the Lord said it was a huge responsibility to be a teacher – people could end up following individuals instead of Him! The Lord Jesus is so kind, He does not want us to have second-hand faith – He wants us to have our own testimonies of His active grace in our lives. 

Meanwhile, I do wish that some leaders would tell me HOW to apply the scriptures into my life instead of merely explaining what it says. I think it is a leader’s job to teach us HOW. In 1 Corinthians11:1, Paul says: “Follow my example, AS I follow the example of Christ.” How did Paul follow Christ? Wholeheartedly to his death!!  If I choose to learn information from someone else and I do not personally learn how to let Jesus carry me through life’s impactful situations;  I will have nothing at all to stand on. I need to hear from God for myself, and follow Him, step by step. As I do that I will learn about HIM and His Ways for myself.

Leaders LEAD – they are not just there to pray for us when our prayers appear to be hitting the ceiling. They give direction, encouragement, they take the scriptures and make it plain to ordinary people, and we all add new believers to our churches. Sometimes they lead by example, showing their flocks how the scriptures have impacted their lives. They teach us obedience, and submission. 

Paul explained the teachings of Christ brilliantly and he lived that way, himself. Best advice ever … don’t follow anyone who does not live the way they speak, especially if they never ever share their missteps or mistakes. Our God is incredibly generous, He will share His wisdom and His power with anyone who has faith and seeks it – but that doesn’t necessarily mean that individual has a Godly character. Gifted people can usher in miracles and still live this life with an unredeemed character.

We cannot afford to follow everything Brother-I-seem-to-know-a-whole-lot-of-fancy-stuff-you-don’t-know says … that road can lead to huge disappointments. Keep on FOLLOWING JESUS, do what the bible says, and read God’s book for yourself. Do what the Lord Jesus Himself did, wait on God for answers personally. It is sad to say, but the love of many has grown cold – I think this is why there is often no power of God in our churches! Yet, we have access by the Holy Spirit’s Presence to all walk in His power, not just a select few. We can all participate in the miraculous, that should be normal not extraordinary. Our lack of devotion to Christ Himself has led to many of us being passengers on someone else’s bus, instead of soldiers, daily fighting to set captives free for His sake. 

Our God is long-suffering, He puts up with a lot in His great tender mercy and love,  —- so I think He deserves our total devotion.“For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain…” Philippians 1:21. Now there’s a good verse to live by this year. Bye. 👋