The Rock

P 3304 Thank God for EASTER SUNDAY!

/ DVH

“We look away from the natural realm and we focus our attention and expectation onto Jesus who birthed faith within us and Who leads us forward into faith’s perfection. His example is this: Because His heart was focused on the joy of knowing that you would be His, He endured the agony of the cross and conquered its humiliation, and now sits exalted at the right hand of the throne of God!” Hebrews 12:2 TPT.

Isn’t that a lovely version of this beautiful scripture? The hard bit can be looking away from the natural realm —  mainly because it surrounds us, and jumps out at us at every turn! For example, the news of the moment is all about war, and petrol, plus the effect of this war on all of us. We have been almost battered into submission by journalistic or expert opinions to think a certain way. 

Unfortunately, their particular stream of thought seems to include picking bad people and good people. Whereas the Lord simply sees people He loves.← That’s a full stop right there! It is incredibly sad to think God is on OUR nation’s side. Our daily efforts are best expended by permanently living on HIS SIDE. Let’s look for love to guide us, not popular opinion, or even a lack of oil or diesel. We live because of Easter Sunday. The tomb that contained His body was meant to crush Christianity, but instead it ushered in eternity. It is so like Jesus to take what satan meant for evil and turn it to everyone’s good!

I thank God I was born on this side of the cross. That tomb is still empty! Never forget on Good Friday to throw off your burdens at the cross and then… walk past the cross to that empty tomb. It’s a place of thanksgiving and remembrance. Our reality on this day, is far greater than any monument. Today is the day we remember that Jesus didn’t just SAY He conquered sin and death – today is the day He proved it! His Presence in our daily lives defies death, this world, and our enemy. The wolves of this world can ‘huff and puff” and try to tear down our house, but we’ve been built on the Rock that is Christ Jesus.  

We can look through our daily trials and tribulations, and see Jesus Christ and His resurrection through a glorious vista of living faith. I love what Paul writes in the bible. He stays focussed on what Christ has already done, not on what we lack. I pray we too will continually focus on the joy of that long ago Easter day and what it means to us in our own lives, here and now. Because of that day, the blind and deaf, still see and hear, (physically and spiritually). Because of that day we are no longer afraid of Almighty God. He is cherished by us, He is knowable and close to us, always. Now there will always be more than enough love for all!  

“Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”Philippians 2:13,14. We don’t have to be important in this world’s eyes to be a part of what Jesus is doing on the earth today. We simply need to stay close to Him. He’s our Friend that sticks closer than a brother, and He knows what is happening in our lives. He has won every victory, despite how it looks.

Take Paul’s advice, remember Jesus’ victory at Easter. And forget what is behind you, press forward toward the goal God has set for you. When we could not possibly reach Him, God reached down and lifted us up — and now we stand with the Lord Jesus, shoulder to shoulder — we are called His brothers and sisters and covered in His Love. Easter is our proof that we do not hope in vain. 

Let’s look at Psalm 27:13,14. “I would have despaired had I not believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord In the land of the living. Wait for and confidently expect the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for and confidently expect the Lord.” Psalm 27 reminds us how good God is. That cross is His goodness in the land of the living! Paul in Philippians 4:13 clearly tells us where we get the strength to continue. Christ’s overcoming strength burst out of that tomb, and He has never been contained since. Men and women over the centuries have lived their entire lives based on the One Who did not stay dead! I can have confidence, strength and courage, because He didn’t do what He did for Himself … He did it for all of US.

So, we can face any unpleasant relatives with love, even the ones who have behaved horrendously toward us. They can’t reach us to hurt us, anymore. We are now spectators, no longer participants in their sin. Drop that junk off at the cross and let your heart be permanently hidden in Christ the Risen One. Now it is easy to be forgiving, loving and kind to that friend who stabbed us in the back. We can live this life, the only one we have, differently. 

Even if you are facing the threat of death today, Jesus’ death and resurrection shows us that He trusted the Holy Spirit to bring Him out of that gloomy grave – so we can too. Because of Easter Sunday, we now live in the ever-expanding Grace and Love of God. May He Bless you to be strong and courageous! Happy Easter! Bye. 👋

P 3189 Love looks like something.

/ DVH

At this time of the year, we are reminded that God’s love looks like a baby in a food trough, surrounded by His parents, animals, smelly unwashed shepherds, (no showers out there!) — and glorious angels lighting the sky, celebrating and singing the new baby off to sleep. That was one heck of a birth announcement! The Lord Jesus’ life was ended far too soon by jealous religious people who esteemed rules over love. If that happened to Him, then why are we surprised if unforeseen unpleasant things happen to us? Pure love will be opposed, because it challenges self-centredness. But, at the same time, it goes right around religion and hits people in the heart!

I think God’s Love looks like RISK. Following Jesus is a risky business. Unlike Forrest Gump’s naive, often quoted wisdom – “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get.” I disagree with that thought – MY box of chocolates comes with a list of yummy contents — and so do the Lord’s blessings. My list of blessings are in His book! Mercy, for instance, turns up fresh and new every morning! We are going to have to stay spiritually alert to find His blessings in the middle of this life’s chaos. And we will have to risk what we think we know, to receive from the One Who knows everything. 

Love also looks like not getting what we want, or even like. I’ve met that one. And afterward I’ve given thanks because what I thought I needed, turned out to be a set-up, wickedly provided by the enemy. If anything distracts us from God’s purposes – it’s a trap! The bible calls such things a snare. Whatever it is called, sometimes not getting what we pray for is a blessing! No matter how good, right and just it seems to us. We can pray for more money ‘cos we need it, or a house, or a spouse, only to find that the picture in our mind looks nothing like the reality. Almighty God saves us from ourselves all the time. Praise Him! That’s what I call LOVE.

Love looks like not giving someone else a piece of our mind …especially when very few people care about what we think! This kind of stuff becomes clearer when other people have misunderstood us. Or, even worse, they have misinterpreted our actions. Love looks a lot more like putting a sock in it, than it looks like starting a war over who said what!  I’ve noticed that our lives today seem to be more about making ME understood – than it is about ME understanding YOU! That’s a swing and a miss… plus it flies in the face of everything Jesus said and did.

I really like this scripture: “You have worn out the LORD with your words. And yet, you ask, “How did we do that?” You did it by saying, “The LORD is pleased with evil and doesn’t care about justice.” Malachi 2:17. Even God Himself – the inexhaustible source of all real love, can get sick and tired of our irrational, petty excuses and miserable attitudes. Love can look like taking the blame, whether it is our fault or not, and then asking the Lord to make the difference – instead of pulling out our trusty broad sword and whacking other people over the head with it. The bible is the very best kind of sword, it will cut people free. But .. it doesn’t injure them on purpose for the sake of winning an argument.

Love does not look like compromise.Tell me one time Jesus compromised what He said to make someone else happy! JESUS the LIVING WORD – is the stone that other people stumble over!  “And another scripture says, “This is the stone that will make people stumble, the rock that will make them fall.” They stumbled because they did not believe in the word; such was God’s will for them.” 1 Peter 2:8. Sometimes we can end up striving so hard to make disgruntled people happy! We can’t upset this group because of this … We can’t afford to upset that other group, because we want something from them…  …but nobody says that bit out loud!  

Adapting the Lord’s’ Word to make others feel comfortable, can cause us to compromise all over the place. That is part of our enemy’s most potent strategies. We can call it love, or inclusion, or sharing, but if we compromise on the little things, without His guidance, then compromising on the big things will get so much easier. Love  always has an opinion – HIS!

Love looks like making hard choices – it is not about what we think we want, or need. How can God bless us when we are so busy grabbing stuff for ourselves? This kind of attitude shows us clearly the actual level of our faith. It means we don’t believe He cares for us enough to provide for our needs. So we finagle our way through things instead of sitting back and saying: “If You want me to have such and such Lord, You will provide it.” And then we let those desires go.

Years ago, when my kids were small, we got rid of the TV. Why? Because every single time I spoke to them, all I saw was the back of their heads! It was the Lord’s idea … so we sold it. We were the only people we knew, who had no TV! My kids found ways to amuse themselves, it was a win, win kind of thing. In our news right now we have an uproar about taking away some things that facilitate wrong attitudes in young children, exposing them to all kinds of danger and misadventure. Many parents are scared of not being popular with their kids, but popularity is not an adult’s priority, safety is!

Love looks like boundaries and it also looks like leadership. It looks like kind and firm responses that care about young lives because maturity can see what will happen down the road. Love could care less about popularity, it wants what He wants. Bye 👋

P 2609 Here’s the gem-finder.

/ DVH

It occurred to me this morning that in our efforts to be transformed to be like Jesus, we may have forgotten the biggest, and most important tool in our spiritual boxes. The bible – our gem-finder. We can’t ever afford to stop reading the bible, because this incredible book will diagnose all our blessings, mistakes, as well as errors in our thinking. Not to mention the times when some bits will leap out at us from the page and start to flow into a theme. My life is built on Christ, and doing what He says in the bible.

When I was a brand new Christian I couldn’t get enough of His book. I knew that my God, my Lord, my Best Friend, and the Way He thinks, is in that book. And boy did I want to know Him!  Insight is a gem-finder – it throws new light on what you are reading. ASK FOR IT before you read. Many years ago, I attended a church with an enthusiastic bunch of folk who were crazy about Jesus. However, bible studies weren’t part of their make-up, instead they were a bit more experience-based. They loved worship and were content to be fed by someone else’s interpretation of what the bible said. Serious bible study took a back seat, and it was done by those who went to bible school.

I believe that Christianity is a hands-on experience. That’s what separates us from religion. If we don’t do what the bible says, then the ones-who-don’t-know-Him-yet can’t see the reality of what we preach! Our new life in Christ is not about going to heaven – it’s about living this life down here for Jesus Christ’s sake – here and now. We are meant to demonstrate His love for others by the way we live. I have learnt that nothing else will stimulate faith more than taking a big breath, doing what the bible says and trusting God will help you. That’s what faith is all about … ACTION. 

This means we read His book, looking for things to do. It shows us where we need to change. Experiences are great! There are loads of stories in the bible about people who had them …BUT … we need a plumb line. Otherwise we can get caught up in all sorts of weird stuff and lose our way. Let’s watch what happened to this guy in Acts 8:9-19. (bits of it)

“Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. …But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptised, both men and women. Simon himself believed and was baptised. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw. When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” 

Yeah. Simon got caught up in what he saw – not with transformation. He used his previous way of life as a yardstick. We can’t do that! Jesus Christ is God’s Living word, and it is our God-given task to read, and watch what Christ says, and does — and let it transform our hearts. He’s our yardstick now and the Holy Spirit will help us. That’s when we become the Lord’s visual aids for other people. Meanwhile, Simon had no respect for the One Who gives us the gifts. We cannot use the world’s ways to understand God – we need to connect with the One Who knows Him and let Him teach us. He’s a Person, He is a glorious Being, not just a concept on a page.

You know I have heard sermons about Simon, they go over and over the fact that this verse proves we all need the Holy Spirit and we do! But I have never heard one sermon that talked about the seriousness of disrespecting the Holy Spirit. We can be selective about what we think, and that’s dangerous. We cannot understand the Holy Spirit’s Ways using this world’s methods.

The bible is our personal gem-finder, because the Holy Spirit speaks to us through its words. There are times when the gems I have found will not minister to you and I think that’s a good thing! My purpose for writing this blog is not to feed you what I’ve seen, it is to encourage you to go and look for precious gems — for yourself. Those hard-sought gems will help you grow personally. They are God Himself speaking from His heart, to your heart. Living like this takes time, and dedication. However, Christians were not designed to be tumbleweed. We are standing and building upon the Rock Who is Christ Jesus.

We can’t build our own spiritual houses with someone else’s bricks or gems! We need to show God our dedication to His Ways by going into the Word and digging for ourselves. Then all of us need to take the time to act on what we’ve read. Personally, I refuse to read the word ‘repent’ in His book without asking Him to ‘please remind me what I need to repent from? Who am I mad at? Who have I offended Lord?’ The bible is not just a study book, it is a manual for our new life in Christ. It’s a gem-finder. 👋