The church

P 3497 Cherish what you already have.  

/ DVH

There can be times when what we hear from other people, spiritually speaking, can become incredibly appealing. Some things  sound like a shortcut to where we want to be. Here’s what I know about that — I can’t frame my entire life with the Lord, by other people’s experiences. I am not saying you can’t — I’m just saying it has never worked for me! 

Let’s take Brother-I-have-written-lots-of-books-and-loads-of-people-buy-them … and, your pastor. That book-writing brother indicates that he has found something that helps when you are praying about this and that, and it seems to be very helpful and pertinent to your life. The author indicates that this is the Word of the Lord, to help you. Great. Buy the book. But at the same time, make sure you are listening to what your pastor says week by week, as well. I like to pray: “Lord help me to hear You through my pastor.” We can become overly familiar with someone’s style, and miss the point God wants to make, simply because we already know them.

Where I live, Christians buy loads of ‘help’ books, perhaps that is because they feel like they have no clue how to help themselves. Yet their pastor faithfully preaches whatever the Lord gives him, week after week after week. Who knows what we might hear if we take off our ‘impress me with your wisdom, pastor’  hat, and put on the ‘speak Lord, I’m listening’ one. 

Here’s a fun story … I read it in a book! 🤣… I read about a pastor in South America who preached the same sermon on ‘love’ for months. The exact same sermon. The congregation got a bit ticked off about it so they asked the nice man, ‘Why?’ He said: “You are all still not doing it.” I think that is hilarious, and …very discerning … all at the same time!

Let’s look at what the bible says we are here to do. “So now through the church the multifaceted wisdom of God [in all its countless aspects] might now be made known [revealing the mystery] to the [angelic] rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 3:10. Our God is so incredible, one person cannot express all He is by themselves, yet He can use that one person to correct us. We need to remember, our pastor preaches our daily bread and butter, the author we like preaches the optional sprinkles that go on top.

Your pastor, and the brother with the multitude of books, are preaching to more people than YOU. They are also preaching to angelic rulers and authorities in heavenly places. The bible says there is another audience listening and watching. Perhaps they are the people who have gone on before us, the ones who are cheering for us to finish our race!! BTW, that does not mean your pastor is right, and your favourite author is wrong, or visa versa – it means you and I just got a glimpse into a bigger picture of Who the Lord is.

Here’s the punchline … God’s Wisdom is so-oo-oo BIG we will spend eternity discovering new things about Him every single day. Angels continually fly around His throne saying: “Holy, holy, holy, holy …” over and over and over again, forever!! That’s because they can see something new and incredible about God Himself every single time, from every angle! What they see, compels them to cry out in worship. Is your view of Almighty God getting stretched a little? Good! Our Heavenly Father is not limited by what anyone says or writes. Somebody once commented that the world could not contain the books that detail everything Jesus said!  He is a magnificent subject, but we have iddy-biddy brains!

Your pastor and the guy with the multitude of books, podcasts, and grabs are not at odds with one another, they are simply looking at the glory of God … Who He is … from a different angle! Praise God for it. The more we comprehend just WHO we are serving, the easier it will become to lay aside the things that simply don’t matter. Let’s pray to see Him through the Holy Spirit’s eyes. However, I think the person we need to trust and submit to, is the one we call when the roof falls in and we are staring at the rubble of our lives wondering if we will survive … our pastor.

He’s also the one we need to regularly pray for. If you don’t like what your pastor preaches – then first of all check to see if he is hitting a nerve in you that you don’t want to face! And then pray for him. He is human, and the enemy specifically targets pastors with discouragement and despair. They have become well acquainted with trouble too. Begin to pray that  the Lord will give your pastor, His wisdom, Sunday by Sunday. If you don’t go to a church, then start going. We need to be planted in the soil of His Grace.

The bible tells us not to forsake meeting together  — that means don’t skip church. It says that for a good reason!  We can be easily picked off, distracted or led astray, when we are wandering about, reading this and doing that – flying solo. We need each other. Yes, even longwinded old people like me, who have a story longer than you have time to hear it. We all need to learn patience. Trust me, going shopping on Sunday morning, is worshipping at another kind of church, and I’m very sure that one is not on your side!

It is up to us to cherish what the Lord has given us, and our faithful pastors, and writing friends are gifts from God. Just because they don’t turn up on Sundays wrapped in fancy wrapping paper and bow, that does not mean they are not His gift to us. Let’s actively appreciate what God has given us — He is so much bigger than we think. We need a compass! Bye 👋.

P 3486 Jesus is the gift that keeps on giving.

/ DVH

One of the biggest mistakes we can make today, is to allow our own thinking to justify us … instead we need to ask the Lord to help us to see our situations with His kind of clarity. As I see it, Christians seem to vacillate between: “Oh, I am such a bad person” … OR … “I’m trying, I’m doing my best!” That last one sounds like a great answer… but the truth is –  why would we try and try to do our best, when Jesus’ best is available to us? That’s just nuts! 

But as we walk with Him, listening to Him, on purpose — we will discover a whole other way to live. Let’s acknowledge that we might make mistakes— but we should never plan to misuse His Grace. Walking with Him is the entire focus of walking on the narrow way – He is the narrow way. We enter into His kingdom … the one we are told to enter into first! Meanwhile, repentance hasn’t fallen out of the book, it is still there, Jesus Himself taught about it. So is repairing any damage we may do to others. Denial is also a foolish way to try to live a life built on GRACE. It’s the truth that sets us free.

Otherwise we can end up spiritually, living like we have to clean our house in order to get ready for professional cleaners! Boy is that a waste of time, angst and energy. Why try to do the job yourself when it has already been done and paid for? This shows a distinct lack of faith in what Jesus has already done. Let’s get this straight once and forever OK? We are all sinful people. There is no worse sinful, or mostly good sinful people, who occasionally do the wrong thing. There’s just sinful! The people who captured the Lord’s attention were the ones who were prepared to go after Him, and admit their faults, then humble themselves. 

That woman who crawled into a dinner party to wash Jesus’ feet with her tears etc. most likely crawled past the men who had used her in the past! And the woman at the well ran back into the town that could easily have housed her previous four husbands in it! These women did not care what others said, they had found something worth more than position, or ego. Real life. Those Pharisees who turned up their noses and got legalistic with Jesus, had the personification of their rules right in front of them. Yet they yelled at Him for showing mercy because He healed the sick on the Sabbath.

However, the sinner on the cross next to the Lord, saw an opportunity and he took it. This opportunity is always ours to take. Life is short – live for Jesus right now, and keep on doing it day by day. This is an odd thing – the worst sinners often know how to repent better than we do. I sincerely exhort you, please don’t let your pride keep you from bonding with the One Who died to save you. Humbling ourselves helps us with true perspective. It hones our focus. It helps us take His … “…yoke upon us and learn from Him, for He is gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart, and we will find rest (relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet) for our souls.” Matthew 11:29. (Alterations mine.) 

Did you get that? Rest comes from being yoked with Jesus. Walking with Him at the same pace He is going, following His leadership. It doesn’t come from looking inside, it comes from looking at Him, and making adjustments with His help, wherever necessary. Looking inside only muddies the water. We can end up blaming others for our behaviour or endlessly berating ourselves. Neither of those things are profitable. However, the Word of God on the inside is designed to guide our daily thoughts. That’s what renewing our minds means. We exchange our POV for His POV!

The Lord made His participation in that process clear in John 12:49: “For I did not speak on My own, but the Father who sent Me commanded Me to say all that I have spoken …” And in John 5:19,20 we see that He had guidance in everything He heard and did. “Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by Himself; He can do only what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all he does. Yes, and He will show Him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed.”

The church is living below the standard Christ Himself set and MET. He has already empowered each one of us to meet that standard. We simply need to totally depend upon the Holy Spirit to lead us. Press in, and remember, that our Lord is not a vending machine. Up until now, we’ve been following rules – not a Person! Now we follow Him, just like the disciples did.

He LIMITED HIMSELF so we can follow Him. Living and dying to self, like Jesus did, is possible. Many people have followed the Lord down that same pathway of dying to self and being resurrected into a new life — while they were still here on earth. Their testimonies to His Grace in action in their earthly lives, are filling up the praises of angels and saints in heaven. 

That’s what happens when you seek His kingdom first. He adds a whole lot of things to us as part of the package. He’s the glorious gift from God that keeps on giving and giving and giving. Hallelujah! Bye. 🙌.

P 3480 More attainable than we think.

/ DVH

It can be hard to adapt to new ways of thinking, doing and being. But when we choose to live this life totally sold out to Jesus, living out His Will, His way, that choice is far more easily attainable than we’ve ever realised. It is worth anything, but it will cost us, comfort-wise. Nowadays, bad stuff happens all the time.

As usual, I have what I hope will be an illustrative story. A couple of years ago, my dear hubby began to develop osteoarthritis in his hands, feet, fingers, toes, back, shoulder etc. and he not only experienced awful pain, he had to have injections for that pain regularly. His ability to do ordinary things easily, just disappeared. It was very traumatic, as you know, we travel a lot. Hubby had just begun to enjoy watercolour painting and he loves to give his paintings away. He paints whatever God tells him to paint and it speaks to the other person.

Because of his lack of dexterity and the awful pain, losing the freedom to paint was very hard. Then the Lord gave me a word of knowledge – the skill to paint does not come from our hands and fingers or their co-ordination.. that skill comes from God and it can’t be taken away. It is a gift. A visual word of knowledge. I passed that on to hubby and suggested he try to paint with his other, non-dominant hand. At first he thought I had gone a bit loopy, but he trusts the LORD, so he began to paint with his other non-dominant hand, which wasn’t as painful. He had never ever done this before.

Lo and behold the pictures he painted with his left hand, were fantastic! Even more full of life than the original ones. The original paintings were beautifully done, but his left hand produced things that were much free-er. Now here’s what I think … hubby could always paint, with his left, or right hand, it didn’t really matter – but using his left hand to paint meant he really had to extend his faith. What we do in faith reaches into God’s kingdom and it creates miracles. Read John 21:6.

Over to my point today. For years the church at large has wandered in the wilderness, trying so hard to please Jesus, and follow Him. But we did not know what to do with the “stuff’ that continued to happen to us, every single day. Everybody wants to cope and remain victorious, but we don’t seem to have the skills to help us to stay away from the very things that were sent by the enemy to drag us down. So we often have no personal victory over sin. We promise God over and over again that we will not gossip, or drink too much, judge others, or watch risqué films  etc. but it seems we have no power to change.

However, because of what Jesus did, now we have inside us the very gift and power we longed for, it just isn’t going to manifest itself according to our knowledge and our rules. God Himself has a WAY to do things. The bible is full of illustrations of what His Way looks like. His way looks like total surrender and confidence in everything Jesus achieved on that cross. It operates in faith and splashes love freely all around it. It knows when to say yes, and when to say no. Now we need to lay aside our coping mechanisms and learn to live this life dead to what we want and think we need, and alive to what Jesus wants for us, every day.

It is easy to say that we want to do everything the Lord asks us to do … until we don’t — because suddenly it seems too hard. Sometimes what Jesus asks us to do, doesn’t suit our plans, or make sense to our natural minds. Acting in faith is not automatic, it is learnt by practising it. Living this way. I know I need to take what the Holy Spirit said in the bible seriously, and continually choose to act on it at every opportunity, even when my flesh is desperately screaming its head off. I do that by returning love for meanness, faith for doubt, exercise real joy because of what Jesus did, no matter what else is going on. As we are following Jesus we continually need to make faith adjustments. We pray – do whatever He tells us to do – and then we follow Him. Human beings  want to escape trials, but the Lord has promised to take us through them.

Humility is one of our greatest strengths, and we get it by humbling ourselves and admitting we need His help to die to what we want, and live for what He wants. When some awful trial or other seems to be much bigger than we are, we have an opportunity to lean on everything Jesus did for us, and learn to trust Him, no matter how it looks. Let’s use our faith to respond to trials differently. This is not a passive thing. We must grab hold of Jesus, just like Peter did when he thought he would drown. 

Jesus once said this to Peter when he began to berate the Lord for talking about His death. “Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” Matthew 16:23. But this man had been following the Lord for over two years! Then Jesus explained what God wants: “…“Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for Me will find it.” Verses 24&25.

In other words we have to be prepared to put down our own ideas, and agendas, and pick up the things of God, that are eternal. Returning love for hate. Faith for passive resignation. When we were born again eternity entered our hearts. Let’s begin to rely upon His ability to know what we can and can’t do and trust the Lord to get us through it. We can get through things we have never ever dreamt about because we have God’s Spirit in us, with us, to guide us. Just like my little illustration, we can paint with our left hand even though we can barely write with it! This new way of living is more attainable because of His Grace, than we realise. Bye. 👋.

P 3307 Count the cost.

/ DVH

Since we have come to know Jesus, our aims for this life have to change. We are no longer living to do what we want to do, we live to do what He sent us here to do to: “Since Christ, though innocent, suffered in His flesh for you, now you also must be a prepared soldier, having the same mind-set, for whoever has died in his body is done with sin. So live the rest of your earthly life no longer concerned with human desires but consumed with what brings pleasure to God.” 1 Peter 4:1-2 TPT. 

Heaven’s help in our growth is essential. I am sorry to say, that in years gone by, the church hasn’t always prepared God’s people to participate in dying to self. We’ve talked a great deal about a free ticket to heaven, and God’s love for mankind, and how His power released into our lives will enhance our lives, but unfortunately, we didn’t emphasise the cost. The bible is clear, and Jesus said it — we simply must count the cost! Let’s not avoid the verses that talk about this subject and accidentally allow His word to be watered down in our daily lives. 

Here’s a useful tip — rationalising God’s Word leads us to a cliff. We can fall off and think we will be OK because God is good and He will catch us, but His aim is to have functional, mature Christians! The Lord’s death was a serious thing and our response should be just as serious. One of the reasons people struggle with their faith today is that they have not counted the cost by deciding to live their life ‘all in.’ They say things like:‘Well, I’ve prayed about my faults and it’s up to God to fix them.” The Holy Spirit requires our co-operation and interaction in this process – He will help us, correct and direct us and prompt us. 

Jesus Himself mentioned several times: “go and sin no more!” Now does it sound like that skill is going to just fall on us? I think we are either all in … … or not. There is no middle ground. That middle ground we’ve embraced is not supported by scripture. The bible forces us to look at our decision-making processes.  And here are some examples of what compromise can look like.

Chapter 14 in Luke is a really challenging chapter. Let’s look at what Jesus said in verses 25-33:“Now great crowds accompanied Him, and He turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after Me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be My disciple.”

Giving our lives to Jesus means that we are going to encounter various difficulties and challenges at different times. However, we can’t avoid making the tough choices. What happens when loving Jesus means we will tick off our parents, friends, rabbits and relations? I have found my true devotion shows up under pressure and there’s nothing like family to turn the pressure on! That’s a cost all of us face, explaining our faith to the people we dearly love, and sometimes being ostracised because of it.

Previous to the above scripture in Luke, the Lord also mentioned a number of scenarios we need to pay attention to – maybe we’ve been invited to a feast by somebody important, and praying for a sick person will interrupt the formal proceedings.The Lord wants us to be mindful, about whether we are influenced by our surroundings, or not. Standing up for Jesus in private is one thing – standing up for Him in public is another. There’s a cost.

At another time the Lord explained that certain guests were invited to the wedding party of all wedding parties, by God Himself – but when they were invited, they said they had other more pressing things to do. So the Master of ceremonies sent His servants out to find ANYONE they could find, and compel those people to come in and enjoy the happy time. We simply can’t afford to be careless and casual about His instructions or invitations. Counting the cost means we will have to choose under pressure.

Above in Luke it talks about counting the cost. This time it is about building a house. It says: let’s make sure we can pay for the house, on the spot, or progressively … before we start. The Lord knew the importance of counting the cost before you jumped into something incredibly challenging and life changing. Better to live in a shack and be able to concentrate on your faith, than skipping being with Him and overworking to pay a mortgage. The cost can sometimes be our own comfort.

Living for Jesus means we consult Him first, and we will take the time to wait for His answer. Then we face the cost personally, and do what He asks us to do. In His very last example, the Lord talked about going to war, and how important it is to count the cost and be aware of your ability to win, before you start. War has long term ramifications. Standing up for Him in the midst of conflict, can cost people their lives. All these things are part of counting the cost. Be aware of it first, because bearing the cost makes us His disciples. Bye 👋.

P 3244 Father God is for us!

/ DVH

Isaiah 64:4,5a AMP. “For from days of old no one has heard, nor has ear perceived, Nor has the eye seen a God besides You, Who works and acts in behalf of the one who [gladly] waits for Him. You meet him who rejoices in doing that which is morally right, Who remembers You in Your ways.”

Our Heavenly Father, clearly wants us to know His will – that’s why He gave us a book! In this book the Lord has put so many incredible testimonies of His activities – plus His interactions with very different people. We have a record of His people’s glorious victories, plus their ignominious defeats. Some people burst across the sky like a shooting star, others fizzled out like dying fireworks. At the same time we have a clear and comprehensive record of what Jesus is like, and what He valued most – His Father’s Presence and His Father’s will.

The part of this scripture I want to accentuate today is the bit that says: …”a God like You Who works for those who wait for Him.”  In every other world religion human beings have to do the work to achieve some sort of spirituality. But our God works for us, as we wait for Him… Let’s pause and reflect about that…the God of the Universe also waits for us to choose Him.. We can now see how important waiting is! Jesus has already done all the work for us – however, that does not mean we can coast along blowing smoke rings, drinking like a fish and doing whatever we like! Faith isn’t presumption, it is a deliberate interaction between a Holy God and His people. He has earned the right to tell us what to do – but He won’t make us. 

The bible tells us that the Jewish people waited several centuries for their Messiah — they were longing for Him to come, because He was the One prophesied Who would set all things right for them. But when Jesus came they didn’t recognise Him! His words and miracles caused a stir, but His only recognisable parade consisted of Him, sitting on a donkey. Perhaps the Israelites expected grandeur and excitement — but the Lord arrived without pomp or ceremony and He left the same way. That thought ought to teach us something about Almighty God. He is not averse to doing things in secret.… a-n-d … ya might want to think about that!

The church today desperately needs eyes to see Him, or we can totally miss whatever He is doing. Our fallibility to distraction is legendary! Only people with active faith, who are looking, waiting, and wanting Him, will notice whatever He does. Here’s a little bit of advice … be very wary of anyone who tells you they know what’s coming next. The bible tells us that no-one knows the time or the hour of things like the Second Coming. The first time around, Jesus came and went and many people did not even identify Him. Like I said, our God is great at keeping things secret! 

Back in His time, ordinary people saw those miracles, they probably even ate the multiplied bread and fish … but what happened did not touch their hearts. We have to leave our hearts open to hear from Him – continually hitting the refresh button, even when it comes to reading the bible. One of Jesus’ twelve disciples did not appear to understand His ministry and purpose, despite the fact that this man walked around with Him for over three years! Our biggest danger as Christians is that we read in the bible about what He wants us to do, but then we go out and continue to live our lives thinking we can postpone our response, without applying these truths to ourselves! That is not how you get to know Him.

Our God loves loyal people, and at the same time, He cherishes each personal relationship with every one of us. It isn’t about praying at Him – it is about enjoying the time we spend with Him. Awareness of His goodness needs to be present with us in the everyday hustle and bustle we face. As we honour His wishes, by living the Way He has asked us to live, we will keep His Presence before our eyes. Everyday life gets bigger when we choose to make Him a part of it! Even the fact that the Lord has given us a choice in these things, is such an incredible privilege. Think about it. He made us, He quite obviously could have used force, yet He didn’t. Instead, He woos us with His loving kindness. Our choices reflect how much we take Him seriously as our Lord and Saviour.

Other so-called gods threaten people or lull them into a false sense of security. They appeal to physicality, or mental gymnastics – concepts and words that seem to have truth in them, manageable stuff!  But God’s truth always leaves me astonished. His way of looking at other people goes right round my brain! Some of the things that are done in the name of other gods are meaningless, even brutal, or vicious, self-serving and demanding. Eventually those things impinge upon the person’s freedom, not to mention scaring people half to death with their reprisal threats!  Father God cherishes our freedom to choose – He respects our choices even when they are not good for us. 

Let’s live like this: “And so, dear brothers and sisters, you are now made holy, and each of you is invited to the feast of your heavenly calling. So fasten your thoughts fully onto Jesus, Whom we embrace as our Apostle and King-Priest.” Hebrews 3:1 TPT. Our God is not like any other – our Heavenly Father is for us. What other god would die in place of His followers so they can have the freedom to choose Him …or not? Bye. 👋

P 3116 Let’s quit labelling people.

/ DVH

“Now, even though I am free from obligations to others, I joyfully make myself a servant to all in order to win as many converts as possible. I became Jewish to the Jewish people in order to win them to the Messiah. I became like one under the law to gain the people who were stuck under the law, even though I myself am not under the law. And to those who are without the Jewish laws, I became like them, as one without the Jewish laws, in order to win them, although I’m not outside the law of God but under the law of Christ. I became “weak” to the weak to win the weak. I have adapted to the culture of every place I’ve gone so that I could more easily win people to Christ. I’ve done all this so that I would become God’s partner for the sake of the gospel.” 1 Corinthians 9:19-23TPT.

Hubby and I have discovered that ‘sorting’ people in our minds into groups, is detrimental to sharing our faith, so we’ve stopped doing it. We decided what Paul says is extremely valuable in everyday life. What I mean by this is, we can inwardly categorise other people as ‘Christian’ or ‘non-Christian.’ And that the result of that is we speak differently to those-who don’t-know-Him-yet. Here’s some free advice — treat everybody the same!

We were convicted by the Holy Spirit that living like that, is His Way. Believers, non-believers, people of another faith … these are all people Jesus died for and His chosen sacrifice for them makes them worthy of our love, attention and respect. The church seems to have delegated the power of God to just few brothers and sisters, who we thought were more holy than us because when they prayed for people we saw results. Now everybody else is just supposed to muddle along – making sure the flowers are done for Sunday, and leaving spiritual things to the more spiritual people! Rhubarb. I can’t think of a single part of my body I don’t need. What army sends only its generals off to war and leaves the troops behind?

Most people are content to go to church and be nice to everyone around them, in the hope that the-people-who-don’t-know-Him-yet would want to come to church with us and be like us. And … … how-zat-workin’-out-for-ya?? We seem to be unaware that the reality of God Himself is present among us at church, because He promised to be there. And I don’t care if you sit in a pew or on a deck chair in the park!“Wherever two or more are gathered in My Name!!…” Let’s put our Saviour back where He belongs – in the centre – not doctrines or sermons. And let’s do it simply because He belongs there. We cannot afford to major on rules instead of love. We are clearly instructed “…to owe no man anything but love..”and God is not just talking about MONEY. 

The thing is, Love doesn’t play favourites. It treats everyone it meets with Grace, and kindness, simply because everybody is made in His image. One of the most important things that can fall off when we skip over our devotion to Him, is that we quickly revert to religious form, without any power!

Jesus is not partisan. He treated everyone around Him as His Father’s children. That included Roman soldiers, His disciples, Jarius, Pontius Pilate, Samaritans, etc., the Lord responded to everyone and anyone who spoke to Him and He didn’t bother to check their credentials. Jesus answered people’s questions and prayed for them for healing and deliverance with no prejudice or restriction at all. They were not required to get baptised or to follow Him – in order to be healed.

Instead LOVE motivated everything He did.“The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’ And let everyone who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let everyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.” Revelation 22:17. Jesus says: ‘come” and … so does HIS BRIDE! The only prerequisite for preaching to people seems to me to be that they want to hear, and they are thirsty!

If we feel like we need to force what we say out, the other person will notice. Instead we need to reverence His Presence in every part of our daily lives, so we when talk about Jesus that’s what will show. Let’s bring Him into our everyday conversation and say things like: “When I talked to the Lord this morning He said this!”“God’s been teaching me about Himself.”  Let’s outwardly make Him a part of our everyday lives and not be sour, like a pickle, toward  other people if they swear. 

Let’s talk about Him to everybody, not just brothers and sisters in the Lord. When hubby and I do this we have only experienced astonishment from others. Wherever they are and whatever they believe. And then they cry! Because they never thought God cared about them enough to want to speak to them! They all know they don’t belong to our club! Our exclusiveness is excluding ordinary people who might want to know.

What I’ve learnt from Jesus’ example is GOD LOVES ALL HIS KIDS. Whatever colour, race, creed, religion they have – He regards each one  as His own.They don’t have to join a church, to be told HE LOVES THEM. Hubby and I refuse to own any denomination when we are talking to others. The Lord wants to touch their hearts not their heads!

The only difference between the-people-who-don’t-know-Him-yet, and you or me – is His GRACE. I never talk about doctrine, because that stuff can divide people, I just say whatever He tells me to say. Mentally sorting people into categories is odious, so let’s repent, and quit doing it, and treat everyone we meet as our Father’s kid instead. Inclusion is powerful. Bye. 👋

P 3071 Jump on in, the water is fine.

/ DVH

“Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralised—whoever. I didn’t take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I’ve become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life. I did all this because of the Message. I didn’t just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it!” 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 MSG.

Perhaps the church has been so busy avoiding people who supposedly sin … like we don’t!  … because we are afraid of being contaminated(!)  When we live like this we are walking away from an extremely ripe field of grain. We don’t have to BE them, to talk to them. We simply choose to go with Love Himself, personified in us. Jesus goes before us, and He is with us, and He will remain with those people who need Him, long after we have left!

Speaking as a grey-haired old lady who has approached a bikie gang, plus, on another occasion, a couple of loose bikies strutting around a holiday town … I, too have had some conversations outside my comfort zone. On one occasion I felt like I was tackling two Goliaths!! But God spoke to me and He said: “If not you then WHO?”I’ve repeated the first story in this blog somewhere, in the past 8+ years, but the second one was pretty daunting. 

We pulled up in our car right next to these two huge bikie guys leaning against a lamp post talking to each other. And, joy of joys …the Lord spoke to me and told me to speak to them. My dear hubby immediately knew what I was going to do … so he left the car too. I climbed out of the car and tottered over trying to look casual. Then I said: “Great bikes boys!” Well, they were, their bikes were immaculately kept. Meanwhile I had to look UP to speak to them both – they just kind of nodded and kept talking to each other, probably hoping I would go away. 

I’ve learnt from my hubby that if you are going into the lion’s den you had better be prepared to stand up for Jesus right away or you will just peter out, and look like a goose. So I said: “God told me to tell you that Jesus loves you.” Jesus definitely loves them, but in those few seconds I wasn’t quite so sure how I felt!  – UM … maybe terrified? However THEY both looked at the ground. One of them kept on looking at the ground — it seemed like he was hoping that the ground would open up and swallow me.

Anyway the other guy stared into space but he interacted with me a bit, whilst I explained that I was probably his mother’s age and she might be concerned for his safety. Bikies like to hurt one another where I live. Then I said again that Jesus wanted them to know that He loved them, very much. The guy looking at the ground had a little tear roll down his cheek, and he kind of sniffed and wiped his nose with the back of his hand and nodded at the other one, who was staring anywhere but where I was. And then they started to move away. So did I! I jumped  back into our car so fast – you would have thought I was Gout-Gout!

My point? That was a God-appointment. In that kind of appointment the Lord reminds people He is real, by waving at them, through whatever we do and say. He calls to them, telling them He loves them. People usually react really well – but twice in 20 years we’ve been rejected. That’s pretty good odds wouldn’t you say? One guy nearly climbed over his desk to throw us out … so we left!  Another older lady was quite vocal about what was wrong with Christianity. So again, we quietly left. Of course we prayed for them!

God appointments are like that. They are times when we are set up by the Lord to be ourselves. We are not supposed to be an evangelist, or a prophet —you just be you. The person who loves Jesus. You are a witness – His witness. A witness tells what they know and what they have seen. Plus they answer questions if they are asked some. Half the time some overly enthusiastic people flood the poor schmuck they are talking to, by trying to stuff a life-time’s worth of witnessing Jesus at work in their lives into one encounter. 

Remember, God will send someone after you’ve gone. You are just being salty that’s all. Here’s some don’ts I learnt from a full-time evangelist. After the encounter, don’t jump, laugh, dance, sing, and create a hullabaloo anywhere near the person who was happy to listen to you. They will know you are talking about them, just respectfully leave. Don’t overload them. They don’t need 35 scriptures, or 12 how to come to Jesus brochures. 

Every time we are fake we are separating ourselves from the very people God asked us to speak to. We’ve all been saved by the very same Grace we are now offering them. I can only encourage anyone reading this to “jump on in the water is fine.” And if it goes wrong? “Just keep swimming, just keep swimming …” Easy peasy. Bye. 🤣

P 3053 Look after your joints.

/ DVH

Connection is vital in this new life we have embraced. We dare not try to function in our gifts or personal relationships without the Holy Spirit putting us together, so we can support one another. Hubby was talking to me yesterday about how painful his physical joints have been lately. He has osteoarthritis in a number of joints in his body, and those joints that are now not connecting properly, plus they cause him severe pain. 

The medical profession seems to have two answers for this malady – they either remove the offending joints and replace them with titanium, or throw years and years of pain killers at it. I pray they find a better solution soon, because neither of those ideas work!

The point hubby made yesterday was so pertinent spiritually, that I thought I would write about it here. At the beginning of any arthritic problem it can be easier to ignore the pain and keep on going – but that is extremely damaging to the joint! 

I think this is true when it comes to what the bible says too. Let’s look at it: “For because of Him the whole body (the church, in all its various parts), closely joined and firmly knit together by the joints and ligaments with which it is supplied, when each part [with power adapted to its need] is working properly [in all its functions], grows to full maturity, building itself up in love.” Ephesians 4:16.

Because we are joined to Jesus and what He did, you and I are also joined together. What is true in the natural is also relevant and illustrative for the spiritual. So when Sister Susie and Auntie Maud decide to play “no speakies” then the whole body will feel it! Or if Brother John and Deacon Bob aren’t getting along, everybody knows about that. The Body of Christ is quickly reduced to a puppet state, with others trying to pull the strings to make that puppet look normal and appealing to the outside world. We can have all the best motivation in the world, but until everybody owns up to their own sin and asks for forgiveness – Pinocchio will never be a real boy!

Hubby can tell you how painful his disabilities are, on bad days it almost stops him in his tracks. It shows me that’s how important connectedness is!  It is not a pretty idea, or a nice way to live – it is essential to the health of the rest of the Body. Pain takes over your brain!  And it quickly becomes all you can think about. Unless our spiritual joints start connecting and acting in a relationally sound fashion, we will lack co-ordination.

The bible tells us how much Jesus values His Body – He totally identifies with US to the point that persecution of Christians is persecution of HIM. Acts 9:4-5 “And he (Saul) fell to the ground. Then he heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me [harassing, troubling, and molesting Me]? And Saul said, Who are You, Lord? And He said, I am Jesus, Whom you are persecuting.”  A body out of joint is no minor thing!

When we make Jesus our main topic of conversation, and remove judgment and criticism, we can create a safe space for everyone to grow. We need intimacy with Him and each other. We cannot afford to live our spiritual lives constantly being distracted by those joints which are out of place. Removing the offending joint is not the answer – all that happens is that the problem goes somewhere else and causes chaos there!  Even in my hubby’s physical body, removing the offending joint did not completely solve the pain problem. Metal rubbing against bone also has an abrasive effect. 

Our stated aim, as the Body of Christ, is to live in love — and that is costly. It cost Jesus everything He had. He paid that price so that His Body can live in a continuous FLOW OF LOVE to each other, and the rest of the world. When I stand in my place and you stand in yours, and we live a joined together life of love, we are witnessing to other people without saying a word. I think that the-people-who-don’t-know-Him-yet are looking for something real. However, if this course was easy everyone would already be doing it!

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”John 13:34. This way of life is not easy, it means death to self! We are to love one another the same WAY He loved us — deliberately, obediently, sacrificially, and completely, without any thought about the cost. We demonstrate we are His disciples when we grow up into going beyond good manners, or outwardly caring … into His idea of love. We need bodily joints that are healthy, so that each one of them helps the other one move without pain! And we must provide a shelter for those who are in pain, not lay them aside until they get better. 

Jesus is speaking here: “This is My command: Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends. You are My friends when you do the things I command you.” John 15:13,14. I believe the way to live like this, is to live in love – no matter what or who has caused the problem. We need to value each other purely because He has first valued us. 

First of all, let’s pray for our brothers and sisters, wherever they are. “We pray for their well-being and their faith to be strong and obedient in the face of death and danger.” Amen. Let’s look after each other, by caring for each joint, because those joints hold the Body of Christ together, so it can function. Bye. 👋 

P 3018 The Dove.

/ DVH

“For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them:  if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching;  he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.” Romans 12:3-8.

It is the Grace of God that gives us the ability to flow with the Holy Spirit – and the best place to stay is in that Grace. Nothing can, or will stay the same in His Presence! Unfortunately, that is also when it becomes easy to believe a LIE. That lie is that someone has somehow become some sort of expert, a special spiritual person. This thought causes us to elevate some people above others.

My point today is this, we are so badly acquainted with the Holy Spirit’s gifts, the person sitting next to us in church may also have gifts — but their faith has not been activated to even begin to try to follow His instructions! Or even worse, they tried and fell on their head … so now they sit silently by. Feeling like a failure.

So, let’s look at the disciples — those guys who walked around with Jesus every day for three and a half years. Boy was that some intensive conference!! There was a time when they started thinking that they were pretty special and they could use the power of God to get rid of people that ignored or annoyed them. Jesus immediately made Himself really clear. “You don’t know what spirit you are in!” 😱These men even fought over who should have the best seat in heaven. The only human being who ever was all that, is Jesus. The rest of us are in boot camp and ignorance is not bliss.

I want to really stress how important it is to know the Holy Spirit, and watch Him at work in our own lives, as well as in the bible. You won’t see Him capitalised or underlined – but you can see where He has been and what He does – if you choose to look carefully. The Holy Spirit is not some sort of lesser Person that Jesus sent back to help us. He is called our Helper, Counsellor, the One Who comes alongside of us etc., but His beauty, truth, and devotion to Almighty God is beyond comparison. He doesn’t appear to care if He is seen or worshipped or adored. Instead He wants to teach US, and help US to learn to worship and adore the Father and the Son with every part of who we are. 

Let us always remember the Holy Spirit is gentle, kind, and easily grieved by our careless behaviour, so we need to treat Him and His Ways with reverence. Because He will not defend Himself – He will simply GO AWAY. Trust me, we don’t want to find out what kind of stuff we are capable of, if He is not guiding and directing us! He is the source of all Wisdom. And here is the best and biggest clue to His seeing Him at work  — He loves to be around loving people. Whenever He comes, He brings with Him peace, joy, long-suffering, self-control etc. BTW, that’s not just a description of what He does — those things are Who He is!! 

If we ignore the supernatural effects of being around such a glorious, often unobtrusive Person, we are ignoring the very essence of Almighty God Himself. The Holy Spirit at work within each one of us, is why Godly people voluntarily choose to die to self. It’s an incredible honour. We cannot afford to put our focus on the gifts He brings, and ignore the Giver of the gifts! He must not be ‘used’ to bring about what we want. Human beings are so innately stupid we will start to think the marvellous things He does are because of us, and these miracles are happening because of the way we behave.

You and I are destined to be God’s gifts to Jesus’ bride – the Church.  While we are here, our task is to build one another up, stimulate each other’s faith and live a life of love. We are to be good bridesmaids, keep our lamps trimmed, and make sure the entire bride is ready for this unimaginable honour God has given us. It is not about “me” having a big ministry – it is about helping you find yours! That cannot happen without the Holy Spirit’s input. He is our “Resident Expert” on what love looks like, and how we, in turn, can be loving. 

Instead of asking Him for stupid worldly stuff like – should we go to Bali for a holiday, or save for a new car, or send our kids to this or that school?  We need to change our prayers from ‘Please fix this or that’ or “please heal this or that’ or ‘please oversee this or that” …OR even ….dare I say it … “please help me to find a car park!” TO this—- “What can I do for the Kingdom of God today, Holy Spirit, as I am going about my everyday life. I want to please my Heavenly Father, the Lord Jesus and You. Please lead me into the places You want me to be, and help me to say the things You want me to say.” Amen. 

Jesus thought the Holy Spirit’s Presence was so important, His arrival on the earth was the reason the Lord went away! Let’s remain awake and aware of His enormous role in what God is doing and value the gentle wise Dove for all He is. Bye.🕊️

P 2752 Welcome banners for the lost.

/ DVH

I was somewhat concerned yesterday when I thought about linking something from YouTube to this page. Not because I am unhappy with the content I shared, but, because … guys …  … as Christians … we can be so religious! I am aware that if something dubious popped its head up from YouTube, that those people who do read my blog could miss the blessing in what I was sharing.

It’s a fact that there are people in this world who have evil lifestyles, that biblically speaking, put them in spiritual harm’s way. We all know that there are things that the bible clearly condemns. But, we can be so intent on getting across our disapproval of someone else’s lifestyle, we omit to pass on His LOVE to the very people Christ was sent to save. Those things are not mutually exclusive.  Love is a spiritual gift given to us by Jesus Himself, to disarm the lost and help the needy.

How can anyone know that God loves them while we are afraid of other people’s sin? We treat it like it is CoVid or something else highly contagious. Yet we are not exempt from sin ourselves, otherwise the Epistles are irrelevant and Paul was teaching and correcting people who were already perfected! Just because we are saved, that doesn’t mean we know everything. We need to be humble when we approach somebody else who has been caught in satan’s trap – and there are plenty of his traps about! Hands up those people who have never ever lost their tempers… I can’t put my hand up either. 

People, as in human beings, need to be loved. When love is in short supply, and hatred and disapproval flourish, they will find love wherever they can. Just like a thirsty man will drink filthy water. Maybe the reason we are afraid to associate with some people is because we are not walking closely with our King. Jesus wasn’t afraid of anything. because our God can deliver anyone from evil – even us! Once a man with many demons (2,000!) sat in his right mind, at Christ’s feet. Instead of ostracising or alienating people, we should be asking ourselves why the love and Presence of God is not convicting them through US – without us even having to say a word.

We have a responsibility for what is happening in this world – WE ARE HIS SALT. Sadly, I think the church has not loved others well. Instead we’ve condemned them, and made their sin more important than their spiritual well-being. There will always be some people who are given over to a reprobate mind – but God can snatch anyone from the fire. He saved me … and I had no idea what holiness looked like – I still struggle, how about you?

Almighty God IS going to snatch some people out of the fire. How? I dunno! But I think it is time we realise that Jesus touched the unclean, and made them clean because He, Himself was clean – inside and out. Plus I think it is a dumb idea as well as a poor game plan, to let FEAR rule our responses. We are running away from our first responsibility – to tell everyone that Jesus loves them – what they do about that piece of spiritual information is not up to us. And just to be clear, I am talking about living a life of love toward the people around us, as He leads us.

In the past, loving Christian families have been tormented and tortured by gossip and innuendo etc. because even though they raised their kids in the fear and the knowledge of the Lord, a member of their family has gone off into a lifestyle that the church feels we can’t approve of. So that entire family is held responsible for something that could happen to anyone. At this moment in time, the world we are living in has a tidal wave of positive reinforcement and approval toward those ungodly lifestyles. Those lifestyles come recommended by a society that loves to indulge the flesh.

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Instead of blaming families, we need to fall on our faces and repent that we have not modelled the love of Jesus clearly enough to those who were obviously searching. I know what it is like to commit yourself to something that you know is wrong – the further you walk down the wrong road the stronger your commitment to it gets, and the harder it gets to back up. People can get trapped by their choices. But our God is so much bigger than than our choices. To most people in this world, God’s love is a theory – we are the vehicles He has chosen to demonstrate that love.

It’s time for all of His children to come on home. We must hang up welcome home banners to the lost. Has any one of us been saved from our sins without God’s love reaching out to us, first?“You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” Matthew 22:39. “God loved us while WE were yet sinners …” Romans 5:8 “Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.”Jude 22,23.  Bye. 🙏