Spiritual insight

P 2994 Love = great grow food!

/ DVH

“I continue to pray for your love to grow and increase beyond measure, bringing you into the rich revelation of spiritual insight in all things. This will enable you to choose the most excellent way of all —becoming pure and without offense until the unveiling of Christ.”Philippians 1:9-10 TPT.

Choosing to love the unlovely, ushers in growth.However, this will not be a happy little ‘walk in the park’ — it will cost us to learn to love the people who have hurt us, ignored us, and despitefully used us. Especially those people who did it on purpose! That’s the dying to self bit. In the flesh I may want to tell the whole world about the mean things that person did to me. I also want to vindicate myself, as well as give myself valid reasons to live this life as an emotional cripple! That’s called a side benefit BTW.  If I blame ‘you,’ or ‘them,’ then I have no responsibility to change. I can point to other people and say it is their fault I am like this. My sins, errors and missteps become sad, a result of someone else’s unkindness, not my own choices.

Adulthood will not fall on us. Hopefully sooner rather than later, we must choose to grow up and face this life from a mature point of view. Maturity is not about voting, or being able to drink alcohol, or get married. True maturity is taking responsibility for my own actions and responses to whatever has happened to me. Otherwise I am still allowing the person who hurt me to control my life. My own personal choices can take me out of that place of weakness, and place me firmly into God’s place of strength. 

This is why Paul is praying for the Thessalonians to “grow and increase beyond measure.”  Greater offences need even greater measures of love. Instead of sloughing off my responses in my situation onto whoever hurt me … now I stand up, make a choice and let Him take control of my destiny. Because now my aim is no longer just to survive—now I want to learn how to thrive within His unconditional, eternal love.

Living in love, which is the way the Jesus Himself lived, expands my capacity to take more and more of His life, and His ways, IN. If I want to be an overcomer, I must first of all learn to overcome the unnecessary things that tie my life into this world with cords of distrust, anger, bitterness and hatred. Choosing not to excuse my behaviour goes a long way toward changing it. We all know 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 well, but here’s a very different reverse, self-centred view of what Paul said: … 

“Love is not patient because you need to love me! I’m broken, and you can’t expect me to fix my own broken places. My love doesn’t have to be kind because I need people to be kind to me, and my needs are more important than yours. My kind of love is jealous, because I can’t stand for you to get more of anything than I do. At the same time, I’m needier than you! My love totally needs to boast because it makes me feel important and I need to be important, because I have good things inside me that will amaze you, if you would only co-operate with me and treat me kindly. 

Why shouldn’t I talk about you? You don’t appreciate me! When I am seen and appreciated I will be a much better person. Of course I get angry with you, you are constantly showing up my bad side, and I hate you for it. I have lists and lists of things you have done to hurt me. I need to keep those lists! They are my protection against letting you get near me in case you hurt me again. I love it when someone else is mean to you the way you have been mean to me – maybe it will teach you a lesson! 

The truth is what I think and say it is. Because I’ve been hurt, now I have lots of insight into other people’s faults. Why should I protect someone else? I don’t trust other people, they are just out for themselves. My kind of love doesn’t dare hope, it is always scared disappointment is heading my way – again. And my kind of love is too tired to persevere with anything or anyone. Nobody does that for me, why should I do that for them?”

Let’s all pray that this person never ends up in charge of anything!! … Sh-a-ll we? Amen! You know what was really scary, I wrote the above perverted version of 1 Corinthians 13 … so easily. Yikes! None of us can afford to go down that road, we’ll fall into a ditch. Here’s a huge tip to help us on our way — stop waiting for other people to love you and start actively loving them.

Real Love, the God-kind of love, helps us choose His very best way through all kinds of situations. It gives us insight into our own faults and the things that will make us stumble and fall. We simply have to ask ourselves regularly, “Is this love?” And if it is not, then we repent, go back and fix it. That’s not hard to remember! God has a way for things to be done. As we live in His love and give it away to others, we will find we know what He wants us to do. And when we are challenged by love, remember, the result of that challenge is growth. Bye 👋

P 2944 Storms come and go …… just be willing to let Jesus into your boat!

/ DVH

John 6:16-21 states:“When evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, and they got into a boat and started to cross the sea to Capernaum. It was already dark, and Jesus had still not come [back] to them. The sea was getting rough and rising high because a strong wind was blowing. Then, when they had rowed three or four miles [and were near the centre of the sea], they saw Jesus walking on the sea and approaching the boat; and they were [terribly] frightened. But Jesus said to them, “It is I (I Am); do not be afraid.” Then they were willing to take Him on board the boat, and immediately the boat reached the [shore of the] land to which they were going.”

The Lord’s disciples were terribly frightened, initially – but as soon as they knew it was the Lord …they asked Him into the boat. This teaches me that all we need to do is to recognise Him in any and every scary situation. I don’t know about you, but our personal tiny little boat has been going up and down on the huge financial waves in this latest world-wide storm. However, asking Him into that violently rocking boat means our eyes are now on Him. When HE gets in the boat the storm disappears – and you can’t see anything but Him.

Meanwhile, I’ve found that becomes very easy to get mad at the person we think caused the latest problem, and we inwardly hold them responsible for our own fear and bad feelings. That’s actually a lack of faith searching for a way out – we want someone to blame. Our response to any situation is our still our own personal reaction, and it is our responsibility to deal with it. Glory to God, we are so blessed – we don’t have to deal with this difficult stuff alone! Just don’t try to organise the Lord into fixing your problem, your way, and instead – yield. Those poor schmucks who don’t know the Lord, are trapped by their feelings – but we AREN”T!  Because of what Jesus has done for us, we don’t have to go there. We have been given the power to choose to use our faith.

Christians are not powerless! When we make a choice to use our faith, heaven backs us up! You know I can almost hear a chorus of ‘buts’ from where I am! … “But I don’t feel like I have a choice.” I hear ya! However,  living in our feelings is a fatal mistake. Whatever we repeatedly practice, dominates us. The more we practice using our faith, yielding and leaning on Him, and His understanding — the more it becomes a way of life. Like I said previously, if you want to see the power of God at work – start with your own life. 

When things don’t go the way you hoped they would, just remember that the other guy will be right by your elbow reminding you of all the other times you may have been disappointed. The temptation to yield to unbelief will be huge. he won’t remind you about how things actually turned out better than you expected in the long run — or how the Lord turned stuff around, or how you experienced great growth when your faith in Jesus’ character and His Word held you up.

It is normal to pray for healing etc. when you need it … but I’m guessing most people need patience, faithfulness and self-control, equally as much as healing. We have all turned our sights and hopes toward seeing the big miracles, and ignored the miracle of one totally transformed life… OURS. The Pharisees said this to Jesus: “The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus, wanting to trick Him. So they asked Him to show them a miracle from God.”  Miracles aren’t necessarily the answer, but faith in His goodness is! Meanwhile if our hearts remain unchanged, we will continually expect God to come walking on the water to bail us out. Think about this … on another similar stormy night Jesus said this to His disciples: “Where’s YOUR FAITH??”

It takes spiritual insight and courage to see the Lord in the middle of a force 4 gale! Daily in this life it seems that there is a new wave smashing against the side of our seemingly frail little boats. We need to look through the driving rain of adverse circumstances to see Jesus coming toward us in the middle of that storm. Don’t look at the wind, waves, lightning or pay attention to the thunder. Look in His book! He has promised to be with us in trouble. 

The guys in that scripture from John were in trouble … and Jesus came walking on the water to be with them. He keeps His promises! Not only that but they ended up where they were going —miraculously! I can’t tell you how many times we’ve seen God turn up miraculously. But God was not entertaining us – HE WAS PROVIDING for us in our need. Storms come and go. I exhort you, don’t get complacent when the sea is quiet. Live ready to face any storm because Jesus Himself is already in your little boat. Bye.👋

John 6:26:“Jesus answered, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, you have been searching for Me, not because you saw the signs (attesting miracles), but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Do not work for food that perishes, but for food that endures [and leads] to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you; for God the Father has authorised Him and put His seal on Him.” Then they asked Him, “What are we to do, so that we may HABITUALLY be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered, “This is the work of God: that you believe [adhere to, trust in, rely on, and have faith] in the One Whom He has sent.”