Substitute

P 3223 Joy cometh …

/ DVH

I spoke briefly about joy, yesterday. I think this blessing can be kind of elusive, because many people chase after pleasure as a substitute for it. We need God’s JOY – it’s our STRENGTH! Pleasure, however, is a bit like sand, it falls through your fingers and disappears into the void! The bible tells us in Psalm 30:5 that JOY “comes in the morning.”  I have experienced that! Joy is an expression of our God’s own nature. However, joy comes into focus as we continue to notice Who He is and what He is doing – no matter what time of day it actually is! 

Loving and knowing Jesus means knowing and loving and living in … JOY! I want to exhort you to grab hold of His Joy when it comes on you. Seize those times when pure joy floods your thoughts, because this is an exquisite part of our Lord’s Grace toward us and He is strengthening you for what lies ahead. We need to let Christ’s Joy re-energise us when we are feeling flat, motivate us forward when we are tired, and just plain make us laugh at ourselves and this crazy old world. That’s the secret of living with joy – it doesn’t care about appearances, it values the nearness of Jesus instead. 

Another of the secrets to finding the Lord in whatever is going on in your life, is to believe and revise what He has already told you. Jesus Himself said: ‘Don’t be afraid, I will be with you always, even unto the end of this world.’ Don’t just nod your little head and smile at that scripture. Yes it is a nice scripture, yes it seems comforting, but it can’t comfort you unless you apply it. I read it, reread it and then I go out and believe He is with me, even if I don’t feel a blooming thing. His word is more solid than the earth beneath my feet. Let’s stick a big flashing sign over our hearts that says: “Welcome here Lord Jesus!”

God’s Word does not flourish in our lives because of our feelings, it flourishes in an atmosphere of faith. And we get faith by hearing what He is saying to US, personally, as we read it. So grab your bible when you feel flat, and read a Psalm. I read until I find something that cheers me up! To be fair, sometimes I might read quite a few Psalms, but that won’t kill me. “The entrance of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple.” Psalm 119:130. Hey look at that! I qualify! I figure that I will definitely need His light to be able to see His joy! 

Knowing Jesus loves us, should constantly usher in joy. We can waste the time we have been given trying desperately to find joy in other things – people, places, situations – but this world’s joy is situated in things that are temporary and hollow. Many people are so addicted to feeling happy they never actually find real joy! Real joy lasts. We can seek outward distractions instead of His Presence, but He is inside us, because we belong to Him. “But what does it say? The Word (God’s message in Christ) is near you, on your lips and in your heart; that is, the Word (the message, the basis and object) of faith which we preach,…”  Romans 10:8. Deuteronomy 30:4.

Joy can most certainly make us laugh, but it isn’t just laughter. I think joy can be limited by us. For instance, joy will break out when we talk about Him to people who-don’t-know-Him-yet. Our joy is a living companionship with a Person, not just a feeling. And we can’t lose Jesus quite simply because – glory of glories – He refuses to leave or give up on us! Stop for a moment and ask the Lord to reveal Himself to you through joy. Ask Him to help you to recognise it when He answers you. 

We can miss answers to prayer, when what happens doesn’t look like we think it should. “So keep being alert and ready at all times. For I promise you that the Son of Man will surprise you and appear when you don’t expect Him.” Luke 12:40 TPT. I know this verse is about the second coming, but because it’s in the book it can also be speaking to each one of us, today! 

True Joy has freedom for us in it, even if the person experiencing it is in jail. Paul said—from jail!—“Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.” Philippians 4:4. Joy crosses man-made boundaries and laughs at them as it skips merrily on its way. Joy contains the pleasure of God’s love for us, even when it is face to face with pure evil. Stephen’s face was radiant as they were stoning him to death in Acts. He wasn’t just happy, he was —-JOYFUL.He was looking right at his Heavenly Father, and His Son, Jesus.

My advice is this, don’t try to put a lid on spontaneous joy, because it will break your lid and move away to where it is welcome and free to do what God sent it to do! Sometimes people try to organise the Lord, and create a joyous atmosphere. Let’s let Him take care of stuff like that – I’ve read Genesis 1 … the Holy Spirit is good at atmosphere, trust me! I ask Him for more and more joy, because the bible says His joy is my strength, and who doesn’t need strength every day?

Parts of Isaiah 61 say this about who we are and what we are here to do: “The Spirit of God has sent me …to care for the needs of all who mourn in Zion, give them bouquets of roses instead of ashes, Messages of joy instead of news of doom, a praising heart instead of a languid spirit. Rename them “Oaks of Righteousness” planted by God to display His glory. They’ll rebuild the old ruins, raise a new city out of the wreckage. They’ll start over on the ruined cities, take the rubble left behind and make it new…” Lord let “… Your joy go on forever.” 

Do yourself a favour, and chase after JOY, it is such an important part of our daily lives – it’s a reality, not a feeling, a gift not a chore. Bye.  👋

P 2989 Use your inheritance wisely.

/ DVH

We all understand the concept of our salvation — Jesus came and chose to die, and as a man He became our sin substitute at Calvary. It was an exchange, our sin for His purity. Because of the incredible Grace Jesus released, we now have full access to our Father, God. We have been freed from the clutches, the seduction, and the appeal of sin. We are so free now we can choose not to sin! While the Lord Jesus was on earth, He did not sin, in thought, attitude, or actions—and He is our example of how to walk with the Holy Spirit — Who knows the Way through anything!

This morning as I was thinking about the magnitude of what happened for our sake – I saw a different kind of parallel between the story of the Prodigal Son and what Jesus did for us. And, most of all, I saw the Body of Christ’s voluntary response to that gift. I understood how easily that incredible generosity and love can be abused.

In the story of the Prodigal Son, the younger brother goes to his father and demands his inheritance. Then he goes off and does whatever he likes with what he was given. Enter my point for today …this young man does not value what he was given to him, even though it was not his right to have it.  His father was still alive!! Instead he took his inheritance, and thoughtlessly squandered it. Using it to fashion his life the way he wanted it to be without a thought of the cost to his father!

I think this is a problem when we become Christians. Because we live in such a materialistic, hedonistic world, we start to devalue what we have been given. Just because it was free that does not mean it was cheap! It’s a perception problem. Our inheritance belonged to Jesus — He gave it to us, through what He did for us. Sadly, we often use our inheritance to live like everyone else around us, and thereby misuse it. What we’ve been given was incredibly costly. At the same time, we know this inheritance  belongs to everyone, so we need to pass on what we now know to the people we meet. They are the legal recipients of this treasure too! God reconciled them to Himself in Christ.

We can carelessly live ignoring that the point of Christ’s death was total transformation, not just freedom. I am not denying we want to avoid sin … me too! But we can end up misusing what we have been given, simply by living like everyone else around us. That is not what Calvary’s exchange was for! It wasn’t only given to take sin away, and reconcile us back to our Father — it was to transform us into someone who is just like Jesus. We are to live for Him now. We’ve been saved to live to love others, so now we tell them the good news that God’s Will included them!

Let’s stretch the Prodigal Son parable a little further, and take a look at the Older Brother. The supposed good guy. The one who always did whatever he was supposed to do. He was not subject to the same temptations as his brother. His temptation was way more subtle. He too, had access to a gladly given inheritance, but instead of enjoying what he had, he was living his life trying to earn his way. He was not living his life gratefully. He too, was a son and heir, all His father had belonged to him.

My point is that neither one of these young men had  comprehended what they were given. The inheritance they were supposed to gain after their father’s death, was free and clear. It was already theirs by right of birth. But the older brother thought that because he was the good son, he had earned special privileges.

The younger son finally caught a glimpse of what he had done, as he lived alongside the sinful members of this world, doing whatever he pleased. He saw he had laid aside the privilege of His rightful place. When we ignore God’s plan for our lives we are like the Prodigal. Like greedy children we take what we want – the freedom to choose – and ignore the privilege and responsibility of what we have been given.

We will never understand what we have been given if we think we’ve earned it because living like a Christian is so much hard work. Both of these young men’s attitudes are wrong, and neither one should govern our lives now. What we have been given is a gift. It was not given based on attitudes or actions, it was given because the Giver is mind-bogglingly generous! Our inheritance demands a respectful response, because SomeBody else paid for it! 

Almighty God has given us Christ’s position of purity, innocence and cleanliness before Him, in exchange for our previous sinful way of living. It is free, and undeserved.  If Jesus had not come and died in our place there would not be an inheritance for anyone. But God did not punish His only beloved Son so we could be free to go and skip through the daisies doing whatever we like, because now we have a get-out-of-jail free card!  

Everything we have depends on our Father’s generosity. We need to use our inheritance wisely – by gratefully living like Jesus would in this world. We must become His Sons and Daughters who value what we’ve been given, and tell everyone else what He has done for them. Bye 👋

P 2668 Shame, the disqualifier.

/ DVH

Over the years in my Christian life I have observed that if I let shame in, then the result is I stop trying to hear God and avoid Him instead! Plus I leave off reading the bible and skip church. None of that stuff is good! I’ve disqualified myself because I am feeling bad about something I have done, or I am contemplating doing. Shame creates a need to hide. Adam and Eve did! It is a fact of life that every single person on this planet has down times. Times when our attitudes are not at their optimum, when life is not one glorious victory following another.

Shame is a tool of our enemy to send us spinning off in the wrong direction. We end up looking at ourselves, as well as how we feel about what we have done etc. – instead of looking at the Lord – Who is the Author and Finisher of our faith. The saddest thing is this – sometimes shame has its roots in real sin – sin that needs to be confessed and repented about. Confession clears away any reason the enemy has to accuse us and cause even more shame.

There are many people in our churches who go regularly week by week, and they are in all kinds of pain, because they are carrying shame, for things done in the present or the past. Perhaps they don’t want to do something that they keep on doing, but they just cannot find a way to stop. Or they are ashamed because they are not doing what they think they should be doing. Feelings demand a whole lot of work and energy. We can end up in an emotional washing machine, getting more and more agitated, drowning in our own despair.

Shame is a cloak. A substitute for conviction, which leads to repentance. Some times shame has been thrown over a person in the past, by someone they regard as an authority, and this other person gave the one who is ashamed, strong logical reasons why that cloak should be worn. That, BTW is a sign of control. Anybody who tries to control us is not on the Lord’s side, whether that person seems to have good motivations or not. Shame has its roots in fear. It can’t grow good fruit, its roots have not gone down deep into LOVE and acceptance.  

The bible tells us to ‘agree with our adversaries quickly’ –  that way we can also quickly repent, and instantly dismiss shame. When we come to Jesus we are given freedom, there is no control. However, shame may also do it’s best to separate us away from the very One Who came to redeem us. It will cause us to hide from Him. We can even end up living a life that is a lie, pretending we are fine when we are not, and hiding our true selves from everyone around us.The sad thing is;  we have no reason to be ashamed because we have His promises in writing!In 1 John 1:8-10 and 1 John 2:1-2 it says:

“If we claim that we’re free of sin, we’re only fooling ourselves. A claim like that is errant nonsense. On the other hand, if we admit our sins—simply come clean about them—He won’t let us down; He’ll be true to Himself. He’ll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing. ..”1 John 2:1-2 says this: “My little children, I am writing these things to you, so that you do not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”

The most important thing about these few verses is the fact that forgiveness always rests on the Lord’s Character and His Character is perfect! It is in Christ’s Character to tell the truth – and the truth is, we have already been forgiven. The second most important thing in my opinion, is this: honesty and confession are the only way to go. It’s not the most comfortable approach, but it is the only one! When we let light pour into the darkness we no longer have to be ashamed, we simply need to be honest and confess our faults to Him, and to others. Because the Lord Jesus Christ is our God-sent, God-given Lawyer! He is our Defence Attorney before the throne of God. He won’t give us a character reference – instead, HE SIMPLY POINTS TO THE CROSS. You might want to sit and stew on that for a while. 

Our part in this process is to be honest with Him, and ourselves, and use our faith to believe that He does not lie and we are not some kind of mad-exception to His poured out love. Shame must never be our cloak – Christ’s BLOOD IS ALWAYS OUR CLOAK.  If we accidentally crawl out from underneath the Lord’s provision of forgiveness, then we need to repent quickly, make reparation where necessary and move on. Let’s not let shame disqualify us from living a brand new life, free from the past, and our own sinful stupid decisions. Bye. 👋

P 2497 Even our motives need to be purified.

/ DVH

“I just want to obey all You ask of me. So teach me, Lord, for You are my God. Your gracious Spirit is all I need, so lead me on good paths that are pleasing to You, my one and only God!” Psalms 143:10 TPT. 

What a wealth of faith, hope, and love has gone on in this life, before any of us arrived here! This morning I was overwhelmed by thoughts of the wonderful saints of God who have died, and now they are singing their hearts out around the throne! You and I are standing on everything these incredibly faithful people have contributed in the past – because of their devotion to the Lord and the things they have said, and done, and written down. Their example is our platform. These men, women and children have gone on to their reward, leaving behind a legacy of faith in Christ for us. 

Maybe there have been incredible saints in our own personal lives who shared what they knew with us, so that we too can know the reality of His love. Mothers, Fathers, Aunts, and Uncles and Grandparents etc. all sorts of relatives who made faith choices, and stuck by their choices through thick and thin – giving us individual platforms to stand on. Many of them chose a life of service over popularity and fame. And now it is our turn. We have the opportunity to serve and obey Him, and glorify Him, through our little lives so we can pass an even deeper legacy onto our children. 

I love the attitude of the Psalmist David, in the scripture written above. There is great humility in what he said. “I just want to obey all you ask Lord … so teach me …”  King David had the most incredible heart. How amazing that this passionate, loving, shepherd boy kept on writing Psalms, and kept on documenting his life with God, right up until the end of that life. I know he also failed and sinned, and he betrayed the trust the Lord had put in him – don’t we all! But the bible indicates that at this time, when he wrote this Psalm, he was in one of the hardest times of his life. His much-loved adult son, was betraying him – yet he still maintains his soft heart, which is quick to repent.

David’s son, Absalom despised his father, because he had not sought or learnt the faith of his father.  This younger man was lobbying and doing all he could to replace David as king. As we read the entire Psalm we find that David is yet again, in turmoil, overwhelmed with yet another different kind of sorrow and broken-heartedness. But David knows the only Person Who can get him through the incredible pain of betrayal in his shattered heart, is the Lord Himself. What a lesson God has taught this man! The first place and the only Person we need to turn to in times of trouble, is the One Who has shared this ordinary life by living among us.

There is such wisdom in knowing where our help comes from! I don’t know about you, but I have lived in the ‘phone-a-friend-because-the-ceiling-has-fallen-in-on-me’ vein for years and years. My help was sort-of-kind-of in somebody else. I was looking for a person, someone I could see and hear more easily. Someone who would buddy me through any pain and heartbreak until it was over. I wasn’t interested in growth, I just wanted relief from pain.

Our Christian families, church, or otherwise, are the biggest blessing — but they are not meant to be a substitute for a relationship with God Himself. This personal relationship with Jesus Christ is our highest calling. Yet one of the paradoxes of Christianity is that we often deeply feel the need to have someone next to us, someone with skin on – someone who will pat our hand and tell us that God will get us through … whatever it is…   And we miss the opportunity to identify something that David himself, understood. OUR GOD IS ALWAYS WITH US.

At the same time, I am personally guilty of trying to be all things to everybody, so I can help others in any way I can, and some of the time I mess that up badly. Everyone misses out, including me!! There have also been times where I tried so hard to impart my faith to my immediate family that I know I got in the Lord’s way. I have never wanted fame or such, but I have definitely been guilty of wanting to leave a legacy behind me. That’s when I realised I desperately needed to have my motives purified. King David had a pure heart that was devoted to Almighty God above everything else. 

This man was tested in ways that appall me, yet he stood fast. He repented quickly, accepted any consequences of his wrong actions, and moved right back into leaning on God with all his heart, soul, mind and strength. I truly pray that my motives are pure toward the Lord. The mind is a funny thing, it hides things it doesn’t like from itself … Today, I want to remind myself that I want my motivation to be like David’s, trusting in God’s wisdom and strength to get me through whatever comes next. Bye. 👋

P 2226 Jesus helps me to keep going.

/ DVH

When I sit and read about the Lord, and think about what He did while He was on this earth, and how HE struggled with facing His own death – it helps me to keep going every day. First of all, let’s look at the fact that the Lord needed to pray 3 times in the garden of Gethsemane. He needed to pray what He was facing through, and He waited on God for the spiritual strength to carry it all out. Jesus prayed until He knew the job was already done – spiritually speaking. His total surrender, in those awful moments, gave Him the power to endure what came next. He died to Himself in that garden and it was a terrible battle. 

This scene shows me that it is OK to struggle with spiritual stuff – it doesn’t mean I’ve missed His will, or I am going the wrong way. When things are hard to do – we need to press into Him. Jesus spoke a great deal about His death in the days before the crucifixion, so He already knew this time was coming. Yet He still prayed for that destiny to be taken away! He struggled with God’s Will. Praise the Lord, because Jesus is my visible illustration of God’s Will in action! It’s OK to struggle – remember to surrender and then go into trust. Push on past your fears etc.

Let’s look at this in Matthew 26: 38-46 …“Then He (Jesus) said to them, (His disciples) “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with Me.” Going a little farther, He fell with His face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.” Then He returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with Me for one hour?” he asked Peter. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

“He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may Your will be done.” When He came back, He again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. So He left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing. Then He returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners…”

Jesus allowed Himself to feel the total appalling impact of what was coming toward Him. He didn’t hide from it, or  have a stiff-upper-lip mentality, nor did He deny the reality of what He was facing. It’s OK to hurt, it is OK to be disappointed or even grieve about whatever has happened to us. But, at the same time, we need to remember that we have HOPE – His Name is Jesus … He is our anchor. If someone you love is suffering then pray that God will give them real HOPE in the face of adversity.

Jesus was very hurt with His disciples, for not praying with Him. I think He was also disappointed for their sake. Getting in touch with God in a crisis is the only way to get through whatever is coming next. The biggest test those men had ever faced was hurtling toward them… and they were vastly under-prepared for it. He was still caring for them on the brink of His own pain, suffering and death.

Lastly, the Lord Jesus helps us to have courage because He did everything He did for all of us. Our failures, fears, sicknesses, disappointments, sins, those things were all dealt with as He struggled with the concept of being a substitute for us. He was about to be separated from God’s bright Presence and He did that deliberately for our sake. He became our separation so we don’t ever have to be, or go anywhere without God’s Presence again! 

In times of despair difficulty and trial – I think of the Lord Jesus saying, with such incredible faith: “… Your will be done.” That was a faith statement. Christ had never physically suffered to the point of His own death and He had to rely upon the Holy Spirit to bring Him out of that grave. Jesus knows how hard it is to have faith in times of crisis. His vulnerability at that time helps me keep going when stuff happens in my life.  Praise Him. 👋🏻