Strengthens

P 3474 We follow the thread.

/ DVH

This is something hubby and I have learnt to do over the last 20+ years. Personally, and together, we walk with the Holy Spirit, daily. He tells us “Go here” and we do, then we follow the thread. We feel so blessed when we do it. This is how He stretches  and strengthens our faith. It is the way we live. There is nothing like working with the Spirit of God!

The first thing I want to say is that — the Lord loves it outside our comfort zone, because that means we are using our faith. Just tell Him:  “I am going for You, and You are utterly in charge. Please help me to pay attention to everything You say!” No matter how unusual stuff seems, as He brings it up, hubby and I simply go and do what He tells us. This has led to growth in the area of our own faith — and bucket loads of Grace for others, plus something I call automatic praise. 

That’s not like the loving cheerful songs we sing to enter His courts. Automatic praise is startling in it’s power and accuracy. It happens when we get so overwhelmed by His goodness, and we are so happy – praise just pops out, unbidden. When you get to see the Lord at work, it’s not hard! The Holy Spirit loves it when God’s people do what He asked them to do – and one of the things He has asked us to do is: “GO!” As far as I know the Lord Jesus has never taken back that directive. Simply tell Him you are available and then you obey.

When I read the Epistles I can see a whole lot of very different people who spent their lives “going!” Even those people who didn’t travel. The ones that stayed home reached out to their neighbours, and the church functioned together as a unit to bless anyone and everyone around them. You don’t read much about them buying this and that, or going on holidays – their plan was to follow HIS PLAN. 

There are times when the people-who-don’t-know-Him-yet can be difficult … but just when we want to quit, we pray: “help help” and He helps us. If He says: “Go down that road and talk to someone at the other end,” we do it. There is always somebody who needs to hear what we have to say, at the other end of that road! It never ceases to amaze me. Someone needs to know that God loves them so much that He sent His Son to bring them into a relationship with Him. We have driven miles out of our way to go and talk to just one person. 

Let’s be real, there have also been times when we were both exhausted from driving for hours, and the Holy Spirit said: “Turn off here” … and … we didn’t. That is hilarious. Have you ever watched something that isn’t aligned properly as it tries to continue with the task it performs? It kind of clicks, and clunks and stops, and slowly clicks and clunks some more. That’s what it is like when we don’t turn around. We both look at each other, and then turn the car around and go down the road we tried to avoid. That quiet feeling of being ‘out of step’ just gets to you. 

Nobody taught us to do this kind of reaching out, it simply happened as we obeyed Him and followed His thread. It has never been our intention to make a big deal about it. I’ve only written about it here, in case someone wants to know how you reach out to complete strangers. It’s actually easier than reaching out to the people you know! The Lord gave me this helpful thought on one of our trips — “You are never going to see these people again. Do you care about what they think of you?” After I finished laughing …because boy is that true … I realised I actually was scared of other people’s faces and dealt with that. 

The Lord is so gracious about helping us when we are trying to obey Him. Do we get it right all the time? I dunno ask Him! That part actually doesn’t really matter. We’ve personally seen that God cherishes anyone’s baby steps into His much larger world. At the same time, we’ve learnt so much about humanity in the past 20+ years. The people we think won’t respond, usually bawl their eyes out.

Please understand that we are not evangelists. We simply take the command of Jesus to be witnesses seriously, that is all. “But you shall receive power (ability, efficiency, and might) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends (the very bounds) of the earth.” Acts 1:8. It is not hard to be a witness. They simply tell others what they know, and what they’ve seen, and invite those people to come and meet Him too.

Here’s what I’ve noticed … when you make yourself available to Jesus, He will take you up on it, because He is looking for witnesses. Ordinary people who will probably never stand out in a crowd, but they know that they have a story about Who He is and what He has done in their lives. My advice is, just tell your little story. We call things like that a testimony, but to be honest … it really is just you, telling your story! People have said to us: “Why don’t you write a book?” I said… “Because we are too busy doing it!“

The Holy Spirit will have people lined up for you to talk to. Half the time we don’t look for them, now they talk to us first!  We’ve seen miracles. We didn’t set out to see them, they just happened along the way. I encourage you reader to follow the Lord’s thread, His leading. The Holy Spirit has been sent to lead you and He will lay what He wants out in front of you. Then you follow it as far as it goes. He lives inside you, please, let Him out! Bye. 👋. 

“But we are certainly not those who are held back by fear and perish; we are among those who have faith and experience true life!” Hebrews 10:39.

P 3049 We are not Headless chickens.

/ DVH

Eons ago, I knew a little boy whose family had chickens. They had them for the free eggs, but they also occasionally ate them as well. The father despatched one of the birds from time to time and the mother prepared them for food. One day when the little fellow was accidentally outside in their yard, his father chopped off a chicken’s head. The chicken ran about minus its head splattering blood everywhere. The little fellow was extremely distressed, he kept shouting at his father: “Put its head back on Daddy, put its head back on.” Poor kid, I bet he didn’t forget that gory scene for a very long while!

Sometimes in the body of Christ we try to go it alone. We work so hard for Jesus we forget to consult with Him (our HEAD) about what He wants us to do. Or even talk to others because we’ve forgotten we are merely a part of His Body not the whole thing! We need to utilise the bible for our growth, not just to prove a point against someone else. If I am working toward doing something and I am not sure of the way ahead, I ask the Lord for at least 3 verses, and then I ask for outside confirmation, PLUS His peace. Remember, He’s GOD He can do anything! And the Holy Spirit does not mind caution.

It is unfortunate that any one of us can twist the bible to say many things that support our POV. Be aware, and be warned against running on ahead or off on a tangent, without your church family. Watch out for gossip or judgment. “The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.”James 3:6. 

The bible clearly says this about consulting with the Lord. He is the Head of His body. Colossians 1:18:“And He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything HE might be preeminent.” And Ephesians 1:22-23 says: “And God placed all things under His feet and appointed Him to be head over everything for the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way.”

We desperately need His Mind guiding us, teaching us, and convicting us of fleshly attitudes. When we ignore the renewal of our mind, we are just like those chickens, running on instincts, behaving in a mindless fashion! The bible says this in Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me.” In other words if He doesn’t strengthen me I can’t do it!

So if you find yourself running out of strength, or feeling lost, then have a quick spiritual check-up! We are always going to need to know what is on the Lord’s mind. If I don’t know how to proceed, then I stop until the way ahead becomes clear again and I dive into His word until He speaks to me through it. 

“For who has known or understood the mind (the counsels and purposes) of the Lord so as to guide and instruct Him and give Him knowledge? But WE have the mind of Christ (the Messiah) and do hold the thoughts (feelings and purposes) of His heart. 1 Corinthians 2:16. Because of what the Lord did, He is not only our Head. WE can have His mind between us – collectively – that means you AND me. I may have a thought, and you could too, but when we put those thoughts together, prayerfully, we begin to access His mind.  Unfortunately, people like to avoid this bit, because human beings enjoy thinking they alone are right and someone else is wrong. We truly need each other because otherwise, pride – which goes right before a fall – can tip us off His Way. 

There is no room for ambition in the Body of Christ. As a matter of fact, if you need a faith boost or help for something that the Lord has asked you to do for Him, and other members agree with it, I will give you my back to give you a leg up! I don’t care about my reputation, My Saviour made Himself of no reputation for my sake, so it is incredibly easy for me to allow you to flourish, because I am benefitting the Body. And at the same time I am obeying the Head.

I think this attitude is why many wonderful godly men and women have fallen on the rocks of discouragement, and deception. The mind of Christ is a collective noun. Not a singular one. We have the mind of Christ. Not just me, and not just you. And definitely not pastor-everybody-knows-their name! ALL of us together. Obviously taking that world-wide can present major problems! But in our local church setting, I often find it is good to ask somebody else to pray with me. There are times my theology needs challenging. I can be selfish, plus I am not the whole body! Our harmony is under threat when we run about majoring on our differences.

We are not headless chickens.We are His Body and corporately we have the Mind of Christ. He is our Head, loving us, guiding us, and teaching us, leading us.  Hallelujah! 🙌 Bye.

P 2917 A peek behind the curtain – OR – trouble is part of the process …

/ DVH

I am no longer what I would call a small person. I was, before I had 35 years worth of steroids etc. but now, not-so-much. It can be difficult for people of my size, because this world is not actually designed for bigger people. We often have to hire Barnum and Bailey tents if we want to go out and still be decently covered! Those ridiculous things are often covered in very large, bright red hibiscus flowers to make sure bigger people don’t get lost in the crowd. Ho-hum!

When we go into caravan parks to deliver bibles etc. if I go with hubby he has to get the wheelchair out, help me into it, and then drag me across the many stones that often inhabit country car parks … all that makes for a great massage, and a few bruises! We do this kind of thing a few times a day and so now I’m the designated prayer warrior in the car. This means I don’t actually meet many people.

The places we stay in are not always advantageous to the disabled either. When we travel — chairs, toilets, even beds are all too low. I can get INTO them, but then I can’t get OUT again — not unless I want to break hubby’s back, and that seems a bit extreme. So he packs a heap of extension lifts for the “I’m almost sitting on the floor furniture.” Even disabled units don’t seem to have been designed by disabled people. There are toilets where your knees almost touch the opposite wall – it can be a bit squishy.

In a home shower you may notice there is quite a nice space for one person, or even for a couple of little people. But, it is a whole other ball game to fit in a quite chubby person, plus a carer to help them, plus a shower chair … it’s a bit like trying to shower in a thimble! The taps in the shower are always in the wrong place, and someone’s back will eventually end up bumping into the hot and cold controls.😳 Bathrooms are always much too small and then there is that dratted slippery shower floor… sigh…

I don’t much like slippery floors because I am not a fan of falling down. I did that last year and it was an abysmal failure. Getting up again is a whole other tragic long-winded story, that very nearly involved a crane! Meanwhile the car we’ve hired to tour about in, is like … ten centimetres off the ground, but it does have wheels and an engine … a-n-d  — did I mention that the seats are almost on the ground?!? Yes really. Another inch, Mr Manufacturer, would have really helped! I think I could have managed if the car was a Lamborghini.. but… alas!! Anyway a low-slung car makes getting in and out quite a laugh-riot for the disabled and their knees.

The other day we needed to use a McDonald’s toilet – they are always clean and tidy. We had to wait five minutes, with me propped up against a wall, because an able-bodied person had decided it wouldn’t matter if they used the disabled toilet. Hmmm… ! Meanwhile, it looked like this toilet had suffered from an internal explosion. It seemed to have had a fit, flinging toilet paper etc. everywhere. Fortunately we managed to find some that wasn’t floor decoration. 

One town looked rather like its primary industry was producing angry and aggressive youth. And their fav hang-out was … that very same McDonalds – lucky us! We smiled, and-moved-on-very-quickly.There were about 50 young people hanging around. So I’m prayer-thinking to myself: “I’m gunna have to run, but I can’t run, so please protect us Lord. Dear God please help these kids to find jobs and end up responsible citizens!” Amen! By the way, the disabled park was light years away from the actual building. Not quite sure how that one works.

However, the place we have been staying at for a couple of days, is very scenic. I don’t remember when we have seen so many cockatoos, mobs of kangaroos, deer, ducks, and all sorts and varieties of other birds. Even though there has been a bushfire through here recently the scenery is pretty. Apparently visitors don’t enjoy burnt  Aussie bush for their surroundings on their holidays so this park is almost empty in peak season. Sad for the owners, who want to make living. It is also very, very quiet. We have little WiFi or TV service so you get to sit about in silence a lot! 

Stuff happens to us all the time — and it prompts us to live by the scripture:”I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me.”  But depending on the day and how we got out of bed …we can choose to whine and whinge!  Thank you Jesus for helping us all! May God truly bless all the lovely people who are praying for us. My point is simply sometimes you will learn to suffer long. Remember – Jesus slept by the roadside and went without food… He was so tired once … He slept in a violently rocking boat!

If you think you might want to be a missionary, and let’s face it, it is not the most popular job ever — then you need to be aware that heaps of untimely, inconvenient, annoying stuff is guaranteed to get your old self rumbling away. But, bonus buy, those things will help you to learn how to rely upon Jesus! Finally, I wanted to make it clear that living for Him is always costly, no matter where you are. So, if things are hard at your house, that does not mean you are doing it wrong —trouble is often part of the process… Bye for now 👋

P 2888 Obedience matters.

/ DVH

Ecclesiastes 8:2-6: “Do what your King commands; you gave a sacred oath of obedience. Don’t worryingly second-guess your orders or try to back out when the task is unpleasant. You’re serving His pleasure, not yours. The King has the last word. Who dares say to Him, “What are you doing?” Carrying out orders won’t hurt you a bit; the wise person obeys promptly and accurately.”

Obviously the ‘king’ referred to in this passage is Solomon, but I have taken the liberty today of extending its jurisdiction — I think it is also about obeying Jesus – our King. Especially as obeying Solomon kind of died-out when he did! I’ve found Ecclesiastes can be a bit of a down-a-later. Boy did King Solomon sound depressed a lot! 

I had to keep returning to the fact that I know that God Himself gave this man wisdom. That meant I had to go and find my trusty spiritual shovel and keep on digging! I won’t pretend it was easy either, I almost needed a blasting cap to get rid of some of those huge humanity-driven rocks that my mind kept putting in the way of what this entire book says. That King took a dim view of life!

The bible is like food. Some verses seem to be more like gravy and mashed potatoes and I think that there are definitely some verses we all ‘like’ more than others! As I thought about it I was not cheered up much by the thought that gravy and mashed potatoes are merely one step away from baby food! So … I went back to the steak and kept on chewing. The more I went over this particular verse, the more I realised that this is the very essence of what we need as Christ’s disciples. OBEDIENCE.

Jesus sent out twelve guys in Matthew 10:1 –“Jesus called His twelve disciples to Him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.” So what happened in Matthew 10:1? The disciples began to use HIS authority. That’s a bit like me writing a letter to the bank telling them that you can operate on my account. You are accessing my account because I authorised you, but you can’t do that by yourself, the bank will call a policeman!

These disciples were deputised by the Lord to be like Him in matters of healing and deliverance, wherever they went. So they obeyed Him, and they saw results that caused them to exclaim and marvel at what they had seen!  But they were still subject to the spirit of stupidity, as well as disobedience. Their characters remained unchanged – remember … Judas was in that group! Jesus corrected their misplaced enthusiasm by reminding them that the greatest thing that had ever happened to them was that their names were now written in the Book of Life. Like I’ve said a kajillion times — God doesn’t think like we do!

However, when Jesus was leaving them for the final time to go back to His Father, He breathed on them: And when He said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “And when He said this, He breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.”John 20:22. Perhaps they received perseverance and the courage to wait, at that moment. The Lord told them clearly to: “WAIT for the power.”  Then Jesus left them all alone in an astonishing manner. They went back to the upper room and hid themselves away again. But they obeyed Him, as they waited … prayerfully.

They were waiting to receive the same power the Lord Jesus Himself walked in, although they did not know it. They felt like orphans, but Jesus had clearly told them He was sending SomeOne Else, SomeOne Who would always be with them.  This time it was not just the power to wait, etc., now the Holy Spirit came amongst them and He became the new LEADER. He has never left. Every day He gives US the power to live laid-down lives for Jesus’ sake.  

Those disciples became instant over-comers when the Holy Spirit exploded upon them in that locked upper room. They went in afraid, and came out bold. And it was their obedience to Jesus’ instructions that facilitated what happened. Obedience is not just about participating in a single event – our deliberate choices to obey leads us step by step into facilitating change. We change direction. We line ourselves up with His will and His will positions us for MORE… Always.

At the same time some of us have not yet gotten out of the ‘starting gate’ so to speak, because we feel afraid and so we excuse ourselves from participating in the greatest adventure mankind has ever known – uncovering the Will of God for ME! You and I have been reborn to follow JESUS. He has a plan for our lives and there is no point in asking me to tell you what you should be doing – because I don’t know!!

We walk in our God-given destiny by following the Lord, one step at a time. And every single one of those steps will include being tested to see if we have purposed to obey Him, no matter what happens. What is He telling you? Maybe He wants you to stop picking a fight with somebody or other so you can hear what He wants to say to you! Sin and unbelief cloud our hearing. Obedience matters. Our own faith can be weak, but obedience strengthens our ability to live our lives HIS WAY.

The character of Christ is not an optional extra, given to those who are dedicated to His purposes. We’ve been dedicated to His purposes the minute we were saved. We die, so He might live in us and through us. Step by step, as we learn to obey the Holy Spirit, we will develop the skills we will need to walk in whatever comes next! Bye 👋

P 2483 Let’s go on a treasure hunt, every day!

/ DVH

Father God hides clues about what He likes, and what He doesn’t like, right throughout the bible. Sometimes it seems so understated it is easy to breeze on by it all and start to read, blah blah blah. As I said yesterday, we need to pay attention to the words used, just like the words – “present your body as a living sacrifice, that is our true acceptable spiritual worship…”  (Romans 12:1) …  are a new way to think about living this life we have.

Hidden in those words is what God really wants from us. He wants US! ALL of us. That stuff is not there so we can just ‘get by,’ it is there as a clue to what is really going on. He wants us to worship Him the way Christ did. With all of us. You know, Jesus didn’t stop half-way through His sacrificial offering on the cross and say: “Well, that will DO!” 😱 He hung there until everything … the past, present and future redemption of mankind… was finished. Our response to the Lord cannot be half-hearted, or temporary… depending on how busy we are. Or even once in a blue moon — we all know how trouble flies about like pollen on a high wind day! 

The Holy Spirit has promised to help us to achieve whatever goal He puts before us – we have that in writing! That includes very difficult things like loving people who totally drive us crazy! Go after the kingdom, and let knowledge take second place … because it puffs up! Most people expect to be able to easily do what He asks them to do – and so they look to their own talents. Things like they can sing well, so they are going to ‘sing for Jesus!’  Hmmm…. He’s got choirs in heaven that would blow our minds … He asks us to do impossible things so we will need His help to do them!

I don’t care how good you are … it doesn’t take faith to do something you KNOW you can already do. Let’s start with where we are, and let us let Him expand us. This is the new life, a new kingdom. HIS. The kingdom is life-changing, and transformative stuff. It’s like dynamite. When you use dynamite the landscape around you changes.  By all means surrender your talents, but get bigger than that. In the bible a talent can be buried in the ground. But His kingdom is meant to be dug up! His kingdom will feed thousands.

Now, here’s the same verse again from Romans 12:1-2 MSG. “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what He wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”  The important part of this verse is “God helping you.”

Here’s a really good idea to brighten up your bible reading, start reading the bible in a new version. However, even loving the word is not the same as doing it. We need His individual daily comprehension to do that and the Holy Spirit is ready, willing and MORE THAN able to help us. If we really want to know the Lord, we need to be serious about looking for Him and His Ways in the book. Every day should bring us new discoveries about Who He is and what He likes and what He is looking for from us.

To me, reading the bible is like a treasure hunt that happens every single day. You don’t find treasures lying about on the surface, you have to DIG for them. That means effort. It is not something we can do quickly and then close the book and think we are finished. The bible is our daily bread – we have to chew on it to extract the goodness out of the meat in there. We simply must stop seeing His Word as pretty comforting suggestions, and use our faith to expand it into a new way to live.

Here’s my last juicy bit of steak for today:“I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me.” This scripture shows me that no matter how difficult stuff is … I have His personal assurance that I can get through it with His strength. I love to put what He says into my own words to extract even more meaning … like this:… ‘Because I know He will help and strengthen me, I can do anything He asks me to do.’ We don’t need strength before we do something… if we already have it, then we don’t need to ask for it!! Do more than read the words, dig for the treasure of MORE.… Bye. 👋🏻

PS – from the bible app. Someone who reads the bible four or more times a week is:

  • 59% less likely to view pornography
  • 74% less likely to gamble
  • 407% more likely to memorise Scripture
  • 228% more likely to share their faith with others
  • 231% more likely to disciple others

     *  30% less likely to be lonely

P 2383 Love is not the same as … ‘Like’.

/ DVH

And love doesn’t look like tolerating others, either. Yeah, I don’t like those two sentences much myself.  But Jesus gave us clear directives about love… 1 John 3:16  “By this we know what love is: Jesus laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.”  

Matthew 5:44-47 ““You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’ I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the supple moves of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives His best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the loveable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that.”

John 15:12, KJV. “This is My commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.” – Love is a great subject to study because it will definitely give everyone plenty to pray over and act on. It is like most things in the bible if you apply them into your life you will know about it!! Jesus said, ‘love your brothers, love your friends, and love your enemies,’ and none of that is easy. Especially when we take into account that the people who can hurt us the most are probably not our enemies! 

Here’s some stuff that has helped me to cope with dealing with people who are a black hole where love is concerned. First of all I remind myself that I don’t have to feel like it, to do it. Love is a verb not a noun – it’s something I do, not something I feel.  I deliberately bring to my mind that … ‘I can do all things through Christ because He strengthens me!’  So I ask for His strength, then I do whatever He says in the book. Take emotions out of your effort and obey instead.

In my experience feelings always come later. Sometimes MUCH later. I have people in my life that I have been loving for years, I wish I could say that living this way changed them —- but it hasn’t – not so far. Instead it is changing me. I simply need to learn to fight disappointment and resentment and as I did that, I learnt about self-control. This became another way to invest my life in the kingdom of God. And it also showed me stuff I did not know I had – until the resentment etc. bubbled up!

When you make a big effort in your own strength toward people and they flick it off like it is nothing, it takes real dedication to continue to love them. I discovered I didn’t want to make that kind of effort for careless people, because I quite quickly ran out of dedication … But when I did it for Jesus — my expectations and motivations changed. So now I do whatever I do, for HIM. I do this to obey Him. I stopped putting hope in someone else to get it right. Because Jesus is my hope, my anchor and my source of strength – I’ve learnt to put my hope in Him, not others.

This means I’ve learnt to love others literally ‘under orders,‘ and now I do whatever He tells me to do. Often a bible verse pops into my head. Previously, I had become used to being motivated by need, or human affection, or some other feeling, but there were also times that Lord asked me to do something sweet for someone else at a time when I had no desire to do it. Choosing to love in the face of lack or need is powerful. When the people you love don’t love you sacrificially, you can suddenly find a whole lot of anger you didn’t know you had!

I also learnt the wisdom of Colossians 3:23 … “…whatever you do, do it with all your heart as though you were doing it for the Lord and not for people.”. That phrase ‘and not for people’ really resonated with me. The Lord explained to me that when I did things for others, hoping they would appreciate my efforts, I was doomed to fail because I can’t ever control other people’s responses. But when I do whatever HE asks me to do, I learn obedience… plus I ‘die’ to self in the process. I am renewing my mind. 

Obedience always brings us closer to Him. The Lord Jesus was obedient.  Loving by choice is not easy, but it sure beats the heartache of ‘trying hard’ with people who have no idea how much they are hurting you! Love is not the same as human emotion – whether it is ‘like’ or ‘tolerating’ – it’s an investment in someone else as the Holy Spirit Himself leads you. 👋🏻