Storm

P 2835 A little Christmas gift from me.

/ DVH

““Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to Me. Get away with Me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with Me and work with Me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with Me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”” Matthew 11:28-30 MSG.

I laughed when I read this scripture today, because I put it at the bottom of yesterday’s blog, and it just seems to be following me around – I had better pay attention!  First of all, I think this version is such a sweet one because it is so accessible. It accurately diagnoses the things that cause us to lose sight of what Grace looks like – tired, worn out, fed up with religion. And it doesn’t just diagnose, it also provides sound spiritual medicine! Win, win.

Religious rules are easily learned and quite easily applied — but in my opinion, they do not further productive relationships, particularly spiritual ones. In fact I think religious rules can make you excessively watchful and very cranky about somebody else blatantly breaking them.You can become more like a policeman than a loving participant. The presence of any type of threat does not produce good fruit. It is like a child obeying its parents purely because it knows if it doesn’t it will receive a thrashing. 

Conversely, God’s love brings out the very best in people. So when we have someone who is a thorn in our side, we know we have a person that can be used by God to teach us this God-given, God-kissed skill. But first we will need to choose to die to looking after me, and what I want!  Yeah. You just knew there was a catch eh? We talked about forgiveness yesterday, so we will take that as a given, but we can’t just focus forgiveness, we must move on into pressing into God.  That’s because people do dumb inconsiderate hurtful things – A LOT. Sometimes it can seem like that is their gift to society … when I know people like this, I quite often want a refund! 

I try to be real when I write this blog. So if I recommend something, it is because I have tried it and I know it works, but it only works with HIS help. I’ve checked that out, I can’t do any of this stuff without Him! I want to qualify those remarks by saying, I don’t think I was ever a ‘Lone Ranger’ type. I need my hand held and someone nice to teach me, and the Holy Spirit always does that.  Plus I’m pretty sure I’m the kind of person who seeks shelter in a storm rather than braving the elements … BUT … I know I am also quite opinionated, and I can fly off the handle when I think something is unfair or unreasonable. It’s hilarious isn’t it? I hate people being unreasonable but I can easily become excessively unreasonable about things when stuff doesn’t suit me! There’s a lesson in there somewhere. 😳

The Lord Jesus is giving us brilliant spiritual advice in this verse. Don’t go to your Mum, or Dad, or best friend, or your spouse – go to HIM, first. There are lots of great reasons why we should do this- here’s one: “In His presence there is fullness of JOY.” The secret is to seek Him no matter how we feel, because although the Lord sometimes plays ‘hide and seek’ to draw us closer to Himself, the bible reassures us that we will find Him! The bible is truer than our knowledge or experiences – or lack of them. We can’t measure His book by what we know, or even don’t know. God’s Ways work best when we take His Word over whatever is going on around us. And “help” is still a great prayer. 

If someone said they had left you a million dollars, wouldn’t you at least get in touch with the bank to check it out? You know you would! Everything God says in His book is accessible when we apply our faith. Faith means we can’t see it, but because of the veracity, stature and nature of the One Who said it, we believe it anyway – we believe it enough to act on it. Believing is more than agreeing. If you never go to the bank to get your 1,000,000 dollars it will stay in the bank forever, waiting for you to claim it. God has given us a measure of faith, it’s OURS.

Almighty God knows everything there is to know about rest. The bible tells us He did it first. He rested from His labours on the seventh day. Why? I dunno! As an example to us?? I know He wasn’t tired, because He does not grow weary! That’s also in the book!! The more we know and deliberately act on His word, and seize every opportunity that comes our way, the more the truth of everything the Lord has said begins to resonate in our hearts. Learning to rest is a great place to start. God’s word will stay a theory if we never ever check it out. 

Our personal faith deposit from Him, will continue to sit in the bank unused, until we get desperate, or the ceiling falls in. Unfortunately, when bad things happen to us, that’s actually a lousy time to start practicing faith. When life gets hard, our spiritual hearing aids stop working. Panic sets in. In the above scripture, Jesus is encouraging us to walk with Him and work with Him – absolutely nothing in that sentence is passive. My Christmas gift to you is to exhort you to start acting on what you already know. Bye. 👋🎁

“What good does it do for you to say I am your Lord and Master if you don’t put into practice what I teach you?”Luke 6:46

P 2807 Keep your anchor fixed in His Love.

/ DVH

Part of the reason Christians can become inactive is that we have been careless, we have lost our first love. That means we will have no sense of purpose. Here’s what I have learnt … when you watch what the Lord does and is still doing, every single day, you will fall in love with Him over and over again. You know … somebody ought to write a song about that! I believe our love can grow cold, when we are not using our faith … and ‘.. faith without works is dead!’ 

A boat without an anchor drifts about, moved by this current and that storm – tossed around by this theology, or that special event. Our hope is IN Christ, everything He did, everything He said — Who He is, and what He has done for us. Nothing more, nothing less. MY hope is not in my faithfulness it is in HIS.  I must learn to accept that I can get to know Him, no matter what is currently going on. “Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”Romans 5:3-4. I don’t care two beans for whatever fabulous Christian teaching book is currently flooding the market place … our hope is always IN Christ. Loving Him is our finest priority. 

Then all we need to do is to reflect what we see when we look at Him, and be ready to tell someone else how wonderful the Lord is. I’m absolutely blessed when our Heavenly Father gives someone I know this revelation, or that dream, and this vision, and I love that they want to tell me about it…. YAY! But I want to see Him for myself thank you. We need to know Him, personally. He is our only hope, so we cling to Him like a baby Koala clings to its Mum.

The bible says this: “That I might know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings; being made conformable to His death,” Philippians 3:10. Over the years I realised that I will have to die to what I want for my life, in order to know Him. I must take personal responsibility for my response to what He’s done for me. Suffering is a part of life and a great leveller. But it is not a happy word.

We all know we will suffer – it’s in the book, but we must still choose to give up this attitude, and put down that expectation and let Him be God. He never sleeps. Now we no longer say this by choice, instead we simply must say that! When we live chasing Him, we will get to know Him. Jesus Christ chose to live His life for our sake. That means we have a shared fellowship with Him as we choose to deny ourselves and take up our cross daily – and live our lives for His sake.

People can go to church week by week and chat to everyone there, but that does not mean we know each other! So, how do we get to know each other? Here’s my little theory … …you knew I’d have one!  …we need to share each other’s joys, sorrows, suffering together and learn to help one another. We must celebrate our victories, and pray for one another in our defeats! Privacy is great, but it can be costly – nasty things hide in the dark. 

Our hope in Christ, is our firm anchor and without that hope it is too easy to drift from this fad to another one. Sadly we can foster and cling to the things that tickle our ears and tell us we can do whatever we like because we belong to God now. We can’t develop our own personal faith, living like that because we are too busy following the way somebody else does it!  The way to develop our own faith is to USE IT. I call that obedience to the Word.. We read what the Lord wrote and find something to do in it. There’s always something to do in that book! But I admit that I do sometimes need the Holy Spirit’s help to find it.

I’ve read about Samson, just like you … and Jonah and Moses and Jeremiah … however, that doesn’t mean I will grow my hair long and avoid whale-watching trips …  Instead, I read the bible looking at the way God interacted with the people who are in it. So I look at how Moses talked to God … and I see how Jeremiah complained a lot because his life was hard. At the same time, I notice our Heavenly Father’s response. I see His patience with Jeremiah and Samson. Our God is so incredibly diverse, He totally loved both of these very different men. I also see that these men had contestable issues with the Lord, they weren’t perfect. But boy!  Was HE LOYAL!

To me that means I can disagree with God and not get zapped by lightning bolts from heaven. He is way more tolerant of my humanity than that –  I just need to live my life honestly, before Him. I’ve learnt if He tells me to do something, I’d better do it, because it did not go well for any of those men I’ve mentioned when they ignored Him! I have learnt through their testimonies, as well as my own life, that trouble cannot be avoided but it can be an opportunity for transformation, it is not something we must hide from. Holding your breath and waiting until it is over doesn’t work so well either!

The New Testament has taught me that I am so much more fortunate to have been born on this side of Calvary. I don’t have to be swept along by how I feel – or how you feel – I just need to keep my anchor fixed by staying attached to Him. This means my life will be run by my hope in Who He is. Everything else passes away. My hope is fixed. It is in Who Jesus Christ said He is, and what He did, as well as what He said He did. He did it all those things for us … …including the big guy in the supermarket who is a grump … plus the receptionist in the doctor’s surgery who is totally unhelpful. I don’t have to go digging around to find candidates who are eligible for His love – they are all around me! 

Those thoughts about Him, His goodness, His reliability – keep my little boat from swinging about, and going under in a storm. I honestly don’t believe it is wise to live my life rushing from this port to that one, trying to distract myself from the fact that I am finite. One day I will leave all this behind me. But I am going somewhere when this life is over, and so are you. That’s what hope looks like. We are anchored into Who He is, and How reliable He is. His book tells me, over and over again, that He loves me. It is my all consuming hope that one day I will hear Him say that to me in person. Bye. 👋

P 2764 Don’t be afraid to fail.

/ DVH

“A person may have many ideas concerning God’s plan for his life, but only the designs of God’s purpose will succeed in the end.”Proverbs 19:21 TPT. In other words, we don’t have to plan our lives – we can simply let the Lord do it for us! Our society is really big on personal success stories – but when we live a life of faith, it can be easy to become afraid that we might have missed God. So we wander off, despondent, out into the wilderness. Feeling ashamed of our fear. Maybe, we even feel protective over the Lord and His good Name, because if we make a big mistake we could bring dishonour to Him, and His Ways.  

First of all, God is not scared of the wilderness – Jesus went there on purpose! Secondly, He can protect His Own Name. Our job is to use His Name with reverence. The Lord has sent many a great person into a wilderness to test them. My advice? Stop! Climb under the shadow that is cast by the Cross and …breathe. Quiet your soul.  Make yourself a cup of something you like, and just sit. The busyness of your mind won’t help you. The third thing is this, remind yourself that He can look after His own Name, and remember to repent for being faithless. Then ask the Holy Spirit to stretch your faith in Who He is, and how big He is,  and go and do whatever He told you to do. Feelings are the antithesis of faith.

Now if what we want to do is sheer, wilful disobedience – then we need to humble ourselves immediately, repent and remember to resist the devil. Our Heavenly Father is the Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things ON the earth and in the sky – He can get us out of any dumb place we walk into. Keep your focus on Him and use your energy to block your ears to satan’s lies. Then start bringing into your mind the many people in the bible who got it wrong — just don’t use that info to continue on into further disobedience! Loads of people missed God’s will and it is recorded in His book. The Lord rescued them simply because He is a good God and He loves His kids. We need to believe in His goodness! 

Meanwhile anybody who doesn’t want God anymore, will not give a flying fig whether He wants them, or not. Simply bear in mind that we are exhorted not to test Him. That’s called honouring and reverencing Who He is! Remain humble, and let Him work those disobedient things you chose to do, together for your good. And do what you can to make things right with the people you’ve hurt. Get down on your carpet, and stay there until you completely comprehend the mistake you’ve made. Some times disobedience comes from FEAR, we feel we must control things. Repentance is always good, but we need to be delivered from fear.

Here are some names of other wayward people, to help you with your search … try Gideon, David, Samson, Jonah, and Peter. Human beings make mistakes, we are famous for them! Sometimes they are huge, life changing ones. God is ALWAYS bigger than OUR mistakes. Listen:“For I am the Lord, I change not; …” Malachi 3:6a. His attitude of redemption will not change until Jesus finally rolls up the world. Our loving obedience is the sweetest gift we can bring to the Lord, but let’s remember that we are not perfect, we can be sincerely wrong – often! 

And … sometimes … even wilfully wrong! I’ve gone on both of those roads, and the Lord is so faithful, He still stayed with me, He does not give up on His kids. Otherwise, why do we pray so hard for our loved ones who have wandered off? We inherently already know that He is good! Remember the story of the lost lamb? The Shepherd valued that lamb so highly he left his other valuable sheep and went looking for the little lost one. He’s a good shepherd!

The Apostle Paul was a murderer – God used that man’s crimes against His kids, the Jewish nation, to show Paul how big GRACE is, and how comprehensive Christ’s death was! God’s Goodness can do amazing things. We underestimate its value at our own peril. It is nothing to do with us or whether we are appealing or not – it’s HIS Grace. It’s the goodness of God that put an angel with a flaming sword, at the entrance to the Garden of Eden. I believe that angel was put there so Adam and Eve could not get back in again, and eat from the tree of eternal life. Mankind would have been eternally lost if we had eaten from that tree.  

Sometimes our confidence can be in our own ability to perform whatever God has asked us to do. Forget that idea. Remember, our God knows what is coming next! Jesus reminded His terrified disciples in the boat in the middle of a storm, that He had already told them they were going over to the other side. And … they did go to the other side – eventually! He didn’t tell them there would be a storm in the middle, because His purpose was to go to the other side. Besides, a bunch of them were fishermen they knew how dodgy that lake was. That’s the time faith grows.

We must put our confidence in GOD ALONE. Anything else we can come up with, is just wood, hay and stubble. One day that stuff will be gone. Our ability to perform – or not! Simply doesn’t come into it. God has used a donkey on other occasions. It is not good to be so proud of who you are, and what you can do spiritually, that you stop seeking His wisdom, His Ways. Let’s continually live to seek to know Him better. We cannot even afford to rest on our spiritual gifts …  instead we rest on WHO He is.

We are in the process of learning to live this life, the only one we have, to learn His ways and follow our leader, Jesus. The Holy Spirit is using everything to get us ready for heaven. so don’t be afraid of failing… some of the very best humans fail … failing can make you a kinder, nicer, more compassionate, tolerant human being. Bye. 👋

“Before you do anything, put your trust totally in God and not in yourself. Then every plan you make will succeed.” Proverbs 16:3 TPT

P 2628 “Don’t You care??”

/ DVH

“Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”  Mark 4:38. Of course you would never say that … and I would never say that either! 🙄 Hmmm… while we are all on this learning curve called life, I believe that there are times when we’ve all prayed, we’ve hoped, we’ve stood on the Word and …. and! … nothing changed. It’s what we do after that happens that matters. Fear makes a poor leader – yet we all know how it feels and what we sometimes do to avoid it!

We had one of those times recently. Hubby and I have been married for 37 years, and there are times, not often, 🙌 – when we disagree. That chaos, of course, is instantly replaced by something spiritual and peaceful…  we sing ‘Kumbaya’ and it is all fixed!! It is a wonder my nose is not in Pakistan by now … Me and Pinocchio, just like that.🤞

So, long story short, we argue just like everyone else. My primary reason for talking about it today, is that the only way for all of us to get to the other side, like the disciples wanted to – Is to be real about who we are and the fact that we aren’t totally transformed yet! I like to throw blame in the bin. However, there are also times when I can miss! … I always was a lousy shot!! That’s when I discover, all over again, that I still need His help and transformation badly.  I too, can get tired of cheerily singing: “I’ve got a new way of living”  … 😊🙌 … and instead I want to have a tantrum.

So I’m praying, with tears, of course! ‘God don’t you care??’ And somehow, in the back of my mind, I can see these 12 guys stuck in this boat going up and down, up and down, taking a violent seawater bath … Now, let’s look at this …Jesus is up the back of the boat taking a power nap. Yeah.I’m pretty sure I would have had a “Don’t you care Lord?” in me too.

Now let’s be clear. The Lord Jesus needed that sleep. He had just delivered an amazing sermon about planting seeds in good places and watching them grow. Of course, the disciples all thought they were getting a horticultural lesson! But the Lord was teaching them how to retain good seed and become fertile ground. Stuff like getting rid of rocks (of unbelief) and weeds (of fear and arrogance) as well as shoo-ing off the birds that want to steal and peck at your faith. (Other people’s anger, and rotten behaviour toward us.) 

These guys had had a great meeting, right before this. They learned lots … they took lots of notes … well, … probably not, … because they would have looked like nerds. Anyway!! The blooming boat starts to sink and things look pretty terrible …!! It’s not just a bit of a splash in the face, BTW, this boat starts taking water in. Boat in water OK! Water in boat NOT OK!! Anyone knows that. The disciples let their KNOWLEDGE of the sea drown out their FAITH.

These experienced fishermen were frightened out of their wits by the power of the sea and they knew a bad storm when they saw one.  So there were “we’re gunna die” shrieks and shouts … and then they remember that Jesus is up the back of the boat — and — “How on earth CAN HE BE SLEEPING??!!” Just like little kids run to their mum or dad and demand that they fix something that is broken – we too sometimes run to the Lord and drop our faith along the way. We simply can’t work out why He isn’t helping us.

In times like these we need to tell ourselves – one more time  … and press on, remembering that we are stretching ourselves a little bit further.  Do yourself a favour, try not to set false finishing lines. The bible teaches us: “WE STRIVE …WE STRETCH toward the goal …”  that doesn’t mean we always get there! Sometimes knowing where to run TO is everything —  especially when life produces chaos. Even though these men had just learnt about being careful about where to plant the seed of God’s Word, they immediately planted it in earthly fear instead. Don’t we all?!!  

Whatever we think we’ve learnt, is going to be tested. God is not interested in raising up a whole lot of people with fat heads and skinny, dried-up hearts. Pain will overcome our faith unless we cling to the SAVIOUR … not just focussing the result we think we need. It is not about finding the answer or not, it is about: ‘where is MY faith, right now?’ Sometimes my not-so-spiritual-answer is: ‘I dunno! I think it fell right down the well of my unbelief!”

If we want to follow Jesus with all our hearts, even though we know that we do dumb stuff, or sometimes we are oppressed by terrible things – then WE’ve won. Press on… !! We simply must stop throwing away our faith … or even other saints because people make mistakes or they are not perfected yet. None of us are. Redemption is a process. Half the time none of us know what’s IN our own hearts until we get squeezed tightly by circumstances. These fishermen walked with Christ and fear still jumped on them.

The bible wouldn’t teach us how to overcome fear if we didn’t need to learn it. Some awful thoughts attach themselves to Christians like rampaging elephants, crushing the life out of them. Those thoughts do not make us a failure. Hold on … if we can just hold on, and breathe, our faith will come out the other side stronger. When we cling to Jesus in the storm we are doing OK. Remember, the God of all LOVE stood up and HE CALMED THE STORM. We cannot begin to understand the Lord’s aim in whatever is going on in our lives… all we know is that He’s been there before us!

Here’s something to chew on …“the natural mind perceiveth not the things of the spirit.”  1 Corinthians 2:4. So we can’t trust what we think or feel, we must learn, progressively, by pressing in, to trust what He says. We know He cares. It’s in the book. 👋

P 2601 One way to find out where the holes are …

/ DVH

… is to go on the road for Jesus. We seem to have found every single pothole between here and Cobar, all the way to the Blue Mountains. The worst bit is you don’t see the potholes until you hit them! Yikes. All that rain they have had in NSW has made the countryside very green — but it ruined the tarmac! Nyngan and Cobar, however, were dry before the rain, and, they still are! 

We went through a plague of locusts to get to those two places. Locusts make this icky noise when they hit the car or windscreen. EW! The front of our car looks like somebody peppered it with dead bodies. Yeah, I know, charming right?? Lest you think today’s blog is going to be about damaged bitumen, and dead bugs, right about now I need to clarify what I am really on about … and it ain’t potholes! 

Coming out here to demonstrate the Lord Jesus’ love to others, means that you can often find out exactly where you are ‘not nice.’ As well as learning about how quickly you can judge other people … without knowing their back story. It is unfortunately much too easy to take people’s speech or actions as an example of who they really are!

Here’s a story about us. We arrived at our destination for the night, it was in the middle of nowhere, and hubby went to check in. The lady gave us a list of unheard of rules that must be obeyed to stay at this motel, which included paying bond money. While hubby was talking to her, the Lord said to me firmly: “This is the person you made that bookmark with the elephant on it, give it to her now!” So we did and she was thrilled —- but she would take nothing else. Nothing for her kids, no bibles for the motel. Just a flat refusal. She apologised but said ‘no.’

So we left it at that, smiled and took their large list of things we must not do, and trundled off to our room. Hubby tried several times during our stay, to talk to the man of the house but the guy seemed to be very unapproachable! So he prayed for him and God said: “Keep blessing him, keep being generous.” Meanwhile we delivered more blankets 120 kms down the road, and two days later when we were in the middle of packing up our stuff to leave, when the manager appeared at our door. 

Like I said before, we don’t actually know people’s stories, so when he came to speak to us, he was so happy and nice, I actually wondered who hubby was talking to? Without being asked, he started to explain why he had so many rules — in his mind they were reasonable. Meanwhile this family had been rejected by the whole town. Nobody there liked any of them, or understood the way the accommodation was run. Somebody in the town had been incredibly mean to them and put up rude comments on facebook, all out of context. This other person put up a photo of their family as well. The manager was desolate and bewildered about this betrayal. In our host’s mind he was simply being responsible and doing his job. 

He was hurt and the result had been a huge mistrust of other people. So hubby stood in the motel doorway and talked to him ever-so-gently about Jesus and how much the Lord loved him and his family. Then the Lord Himself turned up and touched all of them. Their kids got happy, and mum and dad were openly weeping … and we had church in the doorway of a motel! Hubby preached the gospel to them all, and showed them one of his pictures of Jesus helping the disciples when they were caught in a huge storm. They strongly identified with that story. When my dear hubby stopped speaking our host kept laughing and crying and asking him to please continue – “keep going, we can hear you,” he said. It was like he was a different man – it all reminded me of the story of Zacchaeus.

Hubby tried again to give the man the picture he had painted, to remind him that Jesus was always with them – but he said no, again. Then he explained that they were leaving in 20 days and everything was already packed up ready to go and …that’s why they didn’t want bibles or more stuff! So the Lord said: “Tell him to take a picture of the painting on his phone!” This dear man, was suddenly our new best friend! …he was utterly delighted with that answer. 

We had a lovely time, hugged all round and eventually we headed off to our next destination. At the same time I personally learnt another huge valuable lesson. Everyone has a story, and people have what they think are valid reasons for the way they behave. They don’t always see themselves the way they present outwardly to others. We can see the way they are behaving, and interpret those things through our own internal thought processes, but that might have nothing whatsoever to do with what is actually going on! 

Like I said, one way to find out where the holes are in our own behaviour … is to put our ideas under pressure. 👋

P 2577 Grief and death.

/ DVH

Yeah, I know, everyone’s least favourite subject. The only Person who is well-qualified to talk about life after death is the Lord … as well as people like Jairus’ daughter, and Lazarus! And the very worst point about dying and death, is we won’t know what it is like until we get there. Fortunately this concept is all over the bible and we can study it, so the Holy Spirit can help us.

The bible is not silent about death. It simply says: “we must not grieve like someone with no hope.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13) But our lack of experience with God’s goodness can often carry us into head knowledge, not grief and sorrow resolution. If that is you, then please don’t be condemned. Tell the Lord you need His help. Some kinds of grief are like liquid mud – if we fall in it is hard to get out! Everybody dies, however it seems most human beings don’t cope with the finality of death. Sometimes, someone dies and our unresolved grief gets muddled up with other terrible losses. Daily keeping short accounts with others makes a great deal of sense because it is inevitable that those left behind will need closure.

The hard part of losing someone important to you, isn’t simply just because of their absence – it is that the possibility of change dies with them. Your relationship with that other person suddenly becomes stuck in time.  And now we must somehow go on to build a new life without them, and move on from the pain, regrets, failures and losses of the past. This is why we need to repent as we go along, wherever necessary. And, at the same time, we also need remember to give our pain back to the Lord. Jesus bore it on the cross and He carried it. (More on that later.) Eventually, all of us do our best to move on. Yet every time we remember, sadness rushes in.

I think grief is a vastly misunderstood normal response and emotion. It manifests itself differently through different people. Some people get mad, some people are sad – some people get mad and sad, and some just walk on, furiously suppressing how they feel. I like what a psalmist said:“Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”Psalm 30:5. This tells me something about grief. It can seem like it will drag on forever, but it is meant to be a progressive moving thing – not a parking station we can’t get out of. 

Also grief is not just about shedding a tear, it is about a dark place our hearts sometimes go into, when any hope for any kind of further future has gone. Now this world seems to be a place where true reconciliation is suddenly out of our reach. We start to regret things that we’ve said;  what we didn’t say – and the things we should have said. Like I said, repentance helps. In those days we need to remember Jesus is our hope, He is our anchor. Park your little boat (life) and throw out the anchor – He will hold you through the storm.  Meanwhile, I’m all for appreciating people while they are still breathing! 

Our society is quite intolerant of the effects of grief upon individuals. We do not seem to have the freedom to allow a mourner to pass through this kind of tough season. The BIBLE says in Ecclesiastes 3:1ff- (bits of it): “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; … …A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; …  …A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;” I love this scripture. It explains there is definitely a time for all kinds of things to happen to us in this life — BUT IT DOESN’T SAY, HOW LONG that time should be. 🤔

Now let’s look at what Jesus Christ has already done for us in this area. Remember, the bible says these things are a living established fact! “Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.”  Isaiah 53:4. Jesus Himself said:‘Come unto Me all you who are labouring and are heavy laden.’ In exchange for griefs and sorrows, we can have HIS REST. That doesn’t mean we leave grief and sorrow behind us, it means He carries it FOR us.  It is an exchange. We will all suffer from some sort of grief, but it does not have to weigh us down, because Jesus has already carried it for us. I’m a literalist when it comes to the bible, I use it like a prescription. I believe that we can pray and exchange our grief and our sorrow for His REST.

Personally, I think as long as the bereaved person is moving forward in their grief, we should butt out and simply support them in ways that are meaningful to them. Grief suppressed can be dangerous – so let’s biblically learn to deal with the reality, and the pain, instead of using avoidance. Somebody – I can’t remember who said it – once said: “Grief is love with no place to go.” I think that sums this situation up beautifully. Remember our griefs can be given to the Saviour, Who knows all about it and took it with Him to the cross.   🥲👋

P 2535 We need to learn to lift our shields.

/ DVH

“Look with wonder at the depth of the Father’s marvellous love that He has lavished on us! He has called us and made us His very own beloved children. The reason the world doesn’t recognize who we are is that they didn’t recognize Him.”1 John 3:1 TPT

When I read that scripture today, my first thought was: ‘What if I started to pray for the people around me, to recognise Him?’ Come to think of it, what if I prayed for ME to recognise Him in the things that go on around me? We sing and pray: “I want to know You, I want to see You,” Then waddle about as blind as a bat – well, you may not waddle but I sure do! 🤪 After those thoughts I asked myself yet again: “What is there in my life, right now, that would distract me from my God-given ability to see and reflect His love and His Presence to others?” I don’t want to be a muddy mirror! I want to progressively see Him more clearly and reflect Him better too.

I’m not talking about going on a witch-hunt to look for stuff, I am talking about discovering the things that are easily tolerated to the point that they become like background noise in our lives — instead of the subject of fervent prayer for deliverance. Those things we put up with because that mountain of change seems too high! Instead, like His book says: we simply must “… be (continually) looking at Jesus Who is the Author and Finisher of our faith.” Jesus Christ started up our faith in Him, and the bible clearly says He can finish it! We simply need to hold fast to our faith in His ability to do the job. His track record is already astonishing!!

At the same time we cannot afford to tolerate any rotten attitudes toward other people. Things like: … ‘We can’t help it! Look at how mean they are!’ And start speaking “His life” into their lives instead. Every single human being has potential in Christ. I believe we need to look hard at the people that we have chosen to avoid like the plague, simply because they challenge our nicey nice feelings about ourselves! How about we choose to use every opportunity to show these difficult people His Grace in action — in the fervent hope that we may win some of them!

Like Jesus said to the disciples when they were being tossed about in a huge storm in Luke 8:25 “Where is YOUR FAITH?”…”  From day to day, and minute by minute, what happens to OUR faith that He can and will help us overcome difficult people and circumstances? Speaking for myself, some days my faith in other people’s sins and failure seems to be greater than my faith that He can get me through anything! 

We don’t have to make excuses for other people’s sins either, or debate whether He will help them or not – we simply let them go free on the grounds that HE let us go free. ← That’s a full stop right there! Our faith needs to be used to overcome our sin, their sin against us, as well as the temptation to avoid the painful people. We are all tempted by stuff, but we must learn to hide behind our faith shield that says:“In Christ I can do all things because HE gives me strength.” What we do with temptation is an important key. If we have doubts, then we need to talk to the Lord about them, and trust Him to help us to walk through them, and/or overcome them.

At the same time there is definitely plenty of opportunities to monitor our own personal attitudes to others. My very best advice is, don’t just put up with people – faith demands that we press on until we love them! Prayer doesn’t just change things – it changes ME!  The thing to remember about our faith shield is that it only works because of what Christ did! You and I have the power residing within us to change this world for the better. Let’s not waste it, or our limited energies by hiding behind our weaknesses, or complaining or seeking sympathy from others. Let’s serve our King with all we have, and serve others with the same sort of passion He had for us.

We need to learn to use our shield against the barrage of attacks that come at us, through our own circumstances, personal media, from the news, and from media favourites. The reason we can get crushed and disappointed regarding other people, is because sometimes we expect everything from them … and very little from ourselves.

Dream yourself bigger. Start to think of your faith as so big, it can move any mountain that comes up in front of you. Use your shield to deflect the thoughts, and evil arrows that pierce your mind and heart, trying to lead you into despair. Life will not always be like this – one day we will stand in front of our King. The battle scars we have down here, will be badges of honour to His goodness, glory and grace up there. Amen. 👋🏻

“So, what does all this mean? If God has determined to stand with us, tell me, who then could ever stand against us?”Romans 8:31 TPT 

P 2503 What to do when the roof falls in …

/ DVH

First of all, let’s be totally clear … I’ve had way-too-many-roof-fallen-in adventures. The following are a series of helpful hints I have found that are useful. They have helped me, and sometimes they have even stopped me from laying on the floor sobbing. However, there are definitely times to lay on the floor and sob;  so give yourself room to weep over any catastrophe, loss, or injury of any sort! Don’t be so spiritually stoic you bury your feelings.  “There’s a time for every purpose under heaven … … a time to weep.”Ecclesiastes 3:4a.

Pray. Yeah I know, most of the time we start out by trying to minimise whatever the damage is – but we actually need the King of all Glory running disasters – not us. Plus we should call someone else asap, and rally the troops …the praying people we trust. The bible says:“From the end of the earth will I cry unto Thee – when my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” Psalm 61:2. Amen.

Basically that verse is saying, no matter where I am, no matter what has happened to me, He is my ever-present help. Call on His Name. Yell, ‘help help Jesus!’  There is a place, right beside our precious Saviour, that is so much higher than whatever it is that has just happened to you. Do take a blanket, you may need to intentionally live there a while! We want to stand right next to Him, right next to His heart, so close we can hear Him breathe. There is peace in the middle of a storm next to Him. This is a good time to not pray once, and then quit – “…pray without ceasing!!”Amen.

And let people pray for you. This means saying yes to anybody who asks you, ‘can I pray for you?’ When we are overwhelmed with trouble, we need all the prayer we can get. This is not the time to avoid Sister Susie who prays two hour-long prayers! Let SS have at it. Also, when the problem is way to big for you to handle, and that includes fielding all the caring, multiple phone calls, I suggest you appoint a ‘point person.’ Someone you trust, who can organise food, help, rides, baby-sitting, give-out limited updates, and whatever else you need. 

Keep saying to yourself, “God loves me. He’s got this, it hasn’t surprised Him…”“For our light and momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal glory that is far beyond comparison. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.’”2 Corinthians 4:17. “Please fix my eyes on you Lord!” Amen.

Next I recommend reading the Psalms. Seriously, reading the Psalms and listening to spiritual songs, is like sweet clear water in a desert place. It’s a place where somebody else had words that were spoken out of great pain – as well as worship. In times of trouble we may run out!  At the same time, we need His Word to inspire, revive and refresh us … not instruct us. That’s a big tip for anyone who is trying to help someone else when that person’s life has just imploded. The idea is this: the wounded person is almost drowning, they need someone else to offer them a life-preserver, not a life lesson! And I really don’t care whose fault it is that their ceiling fell in! 

Let’s just get them to the hospital … to Jesus, first! Pray in tongues if you don’t know how to pray, and you are able to do it. The overwhelmed parties are also going to need people to help them, practically. I have seen mighty gifts of the Holy Spirit manifest themselves in my own terrible times. Some of us have no idea that practical help is also spiritual. Stephen and Co in the book of Acts chapter 6, show us that practical help is spiritually beneficial. 

Now to things that don’t help at all. If the wounded saint doesn’t want to talk, then don’t push them. Privacy can become very important when you already feel incredibly vulnerable, because your life just fell on its head. As their friend we need to simply pray as the Lord leads us, and if we get any insight – don’t share it, write it down instead. If they do want to share, just listen. Don’t problem solve unless the person asks you to. 

Sometimes a difficult matter can become much clearer after the event. But blame, or supposed fault, will not help at the point of impact. Love looks like support, not a lecture. If you don’t know what to say, then say nothing, or …“Weep with those who weep.” Romans 12:15. Someone’s life, or family disaster is not an appropriate place to be wise … it is a place to be supportive. 

Please note:  these things work inside the church and outside it. I pray the Body of Christ realises our greatest gift to the-people-who-don’t-know-Him-yet is to treat them like we would like to be treated. Pray for anyone who needs it, love on them, help them! Father God does not see two categories — those who are saved and those who are not. He sees His kids! Some of them are lost, and some have come home, but they are all HIS. Bye. 👋 

P 2313 Obedience mixed with faith is the key.

/ DVH

“This is how we can be sure that we love the children of God: by having a passionate love for God and by obedience to His commands. True love for God means obeying His commands, and His commands don’t weigh us down as heavy burdens. You see, every child of God overcomes the world, for our faith is the victorious power that triumphs over the world. So who are the world conquerors, defeating its power? Those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.” 1 John 5:2-5 TPT

Can you see the correlation between loving God and obeying Him? However, obeying God and loving Him will seem to be a burden, without the Presence of the Holy Spirit – teaching us, leading us, guiding us through things. If it is hard, then you are doing whatever it is in your own strength. It WILL hurt because these are the times we die! Jesus said “My yoke is easy my burden is light…”  Heaviness and hardness come from trying to obey the Lord or working things out, in our own strength. 

We are never alone, so there is no reason for us to despair. Despair and disappointment = slogging away by ourselves. Those things are a signpost that we have gone OUT of the Spirit and INTO the flesh again. Jesus sent back the Holy Spirit to help us. Ask Him to help you. Our job is to make Him welcome, and to defer to and depend on Him. That can be hard to do when we have spent our whole lives thus far trying to be independent, making our own decisions etc. It will take a whole lot of yielding to Him. That means using our faith.

I know there are people who feel they cannot hear Him. Hearing God needs faith, plus a strong knowledge of what He says in the book. However you don’t have to wait 50 years like I did! Find something Jesus says in the book that you don’t do and DO THAT! Get the wax of inactivity and lack of attention out of your ears – go and do what it says. Help the poor, forgive that person who bugs you so much that you can’t remember why you are mad at them in the first place.

The bible is a living book. Not only that, when you read it the Holy Spirit makes it personal – He uses those words to exhort, encourage and correct us.. Many times I hear people giving out rot-your-teeth-they-are-so-sweet-prophetic words like candy. Feel good words. The Holy Spirit CORRECTS US with His eye on us. He is not a flatterer. He speaks truth, and there are definitely times we won’t like it! I know I don’t!  He encourages us, but He does not indulge our slothfulness in the ways of Christ.

Sometimes we think we know everything – but we DO nothing! We all need to start treating what Jesus said as instructions. He is teaching us how to build our house on the ROCK. (And I don’t mean Dwayne Johnson!) Storms come, and our internal spiritual houses start sinking or floating away. When that happens, don’t just wait for the troubles to go away – ask the Holy Spirit :“what am I missing?” Go after the answer – otherwise the next flood could be the storm-of-the-century … and what a mess we will have.

Our God is not mean. A good parent prepares His child for for the difficulties of this life – what comes next. We must hold fast to God’s unchanging hand, despite the chaos around us. Our faith is for today. It’s for the boss with unrealistic expectations, so we can genuinely smile and ask Him: ‘how are you doing?’ It’s for the spouse who is scared to bits little Johnnie is going off the rails – but they don’t want to burden you with their fear, so they snap at you instead. Or your teenager who goes even more quiet than usual and you’ve tried every window door and chimney of their human house … but you can’t get in. HE CAN HELP YOU – ask Him. Just ask and keep on asking.

Don’t dismiss the Lord’s seemingly simplistic answers either, the Holy Spirit has keys to every single heart. His answers won’t be church-ified – they could be as simple as buying someone an icecream. Or skipping rope together in your backyard. Remember, the bible is a doing book, not a theological tome! We must all learn to mix our faith with obedience. 👋🏻