Total commitment

P 3395 He is faithful.

/ DVH

“For we have already experienced “heart-circumcision,” and we worship God in the power and freedom of the Holy Spirit, not in laws and religious duties. We are those who boast in what Jesus Christ has done, and not in what we can accomplish in our own strength.” Philippians 3:3 TPT.

We need to learn to use our faith in His goodness, no matter what is going on around us. Heart circumcision occurs when we allow the Holy Spirit to cut away all those things that will make us stumble, lose faith, become discouraged, or forget what Jesus died to give us. We are exhorted to worship God in the Holy Spirit’s power and the freedom we have already been given. We can stay in our old-life chains by choice, but those chains cannot actually bind us anymore! We must push against them using our faith. What binds us is our perception. It simply feels like we can’t do it. Remember satan always wants to illegally imprison us. 

It is always our choice to totally rely upon what the Lord Jesus said and did – despite the hard things we will face as we choose to live that way. Like a butterfly struggles to be free of its cocoon, you and I need to struggle against those whispers that run about our brain telling us ‘following Jesus is futile … it’s all too hard.’ All that ghastly stuff our enemy whispers to us in our darkest moments. Even our day-to-day circumstances can seem to conspire against us.  Like Paul said very succinctly in 2 Corinthians 4:8-10. 

“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.” 

What does this faith walk look like in real life? It looks like these verses describe — daily death to self, and complete surrender. We will have times of despair when we stretch and use our faith to live for Him. It is normal! Jesus suffered that way too. And living a life of love in this unloving world can be hard. But because we don’t just want to pay lip-service to God, then we must, with His help … conquer those things in our lives that want to cloud our view of Him and His will. 

Overcoming is not just about standing somewhere, looking victorious, with our flag lifted high, and light flashing off us everywhere!  It’s far more about that person who is bloodied and bruised and on their knees, weeping before their King. You can tell a seasoned saint, their love is more than skin deep. You and I may not always initially conquer stuff – but now we know where to go! This means we will fight our own thoughts, other people’s comments, our old tendency to sin, and circumstances. Plus other people’s sins against us.

As I have said before, God’s timetable and ours may not be the same, but the secret is to not quit, just because His ways are far above ours. His plans are already in place. When we defer to Him, we will be blessed to see Him do what He loves best – loving on people and setting them free. That includes US! Let’s remember what the bible says – first, last and always. The Holy Spirit’s goal is the total transformation of our hearts, souls, minds and bodies, so we can be in this world like He was.

“Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.” 3 John 1:2. Amen!

The reality is, our faith in His goodness will be stretched. Faith needs to be exercised, but just like physical exercise, it ain’t always fun! We can’t afford to skip reading the bible, praying, or living this life with Him centred in our thoughts. Our aim is to do what He says, so we purpose in our hearts to know and trust Him, no matter how things look. That is the place we choose to stand. And if I flop over, or you flop over in despair occasionally, there will be no judgment. We may have to wait to see what He will do, but in reality, our opinions aren’t worth a bean, be-cau-se … He always has a far better plan than we can imagine.

There can be times when we can’t find the Lord, or hear Him well enough to follow Him, and that is simply because our souls aren’t prospering. This has nothing whatsoever to do with how we feel, even though our feelings may be jumping up and down and shouting at us. Instead it has everything to do with Who and what we are looking at. We’ve been told to fix our eyes on Jesus – He’s the Author and Finisher of our faith. Disappointed eyes see so much less than faith-filled eyes can see. We are to live this life, cherishing His character and what He has done, and we refuse to budge.

Total commitment is essential to survival. Almighty God is not SomeOne Who serves us – it is the other way around – we serve Him. Our Christian walk is all about faith because: “…without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6. Remember Peter was looking at Jesus as he walked on the water, then he looked at his circumstances – and his faith fell over and his body started to sink. 

In the darkest of times we must “hold fast to what …(we know) …is good …” 1 Thessalonians 5:21. GOD IS GOOD, hold onto Him!  With all my heart I believe that there is true spiritual breakthrough in front of each and everyone of the members of His body. Let’s practice using our faith no matter what is going on around us. “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for ”HE WHO PROMISED IS FAITHFUL.” Hebrews 10:23. Bye 🙏.

P 2545 Living this life revitalised.

/ DVH

Read this like the Lord Himself is speaking to YOU! —“My beloved ones, just like you’ve always listened to everything I’ve taught you in the past, I’m asking you now to keep following my instructions as though I were right there with you. Now you must continue to make this new life fully manifested as you live in the holy awe of God—which brings you trembling into His Presence. God will continually revitalise you, implanting within you the passion to do what pleases Him. Live a cheerful life, without complaining or division among yourselves. For then you will be seen as innocent, faultless, and pure children of God, even though you live in the midst of a brutal and perverse culture.For you will appear among them as shining lights in the universe, holding out the words of eternal life.”Philippians 2:12-16 TPT.

Our wonderful Father has not asked us to do those things that are impossible, without Him walking with us. He has simply asked us to follow Christ, and live like Jesus lived. For others. Jesus paved the way by His death and resurrection, for us to be so sold out to God, and everything He wants, that everything else fades away … Instead of using our faith to make our own lives better all the time, we need to begin to use our faith to allow the Holy Spirit to transform us to be like Christ – one faith step at a time. It really is that simple!

As we begin to aim at what Father God wants, we will continually be revitalised. Doing what His Father told Him to do, even when He was exhausted, revitalised Jesus! (The Woman at the well.) Obedience is the key. The Body of Christ must stop listening and merely agreeing with what we read, and start obeying it. So what if we mess up? JESUS IS A REDEEMER. Let’s choose to live our lives dead to what we think we want, and alive to what He wants, as He reveals it to us through His word. All that takes is total commitment. He totally committed to us, now we need to be totally committed to Him.

I have lived this way for many years. I literally cannot “do” my life. Last night I counted myself fortunate to sleep 5 hours. I can’t possibly ‘go on the road’ for Jesus in 6 weeks! It actually got much harder for both of us, when I broke my arm. However, right now, my only aim is to get in that car on the day we leave —- the rest is up to HIM. For all of us to live this way, and go deeper, we will need to value our relationship with Jesus more than we value our own comfort, plans and agendas. Peter, James, John, and Paul had ordinary stuff to deal with too! So did a whole lot of other people whose names we hardly know. We are the generation who are laying the foundations for the people coming after us.

You and I can pray our kids will follow Jesus, but when we set an example by the way we live, that is part of the answer to our own prayers. These young people will need to know Him personally in their own lives to help them through their darkest days, and their hardest choices. They need to see us survive and still thrive under very difficult circumstances … because this world is not getting any easier. People everywhere are daily facing harder stuff than we can imagine. We can’t do any of this without the Holy Spirit’s help … we need Him like we need air. He gives us HIS life. That’s what revitalises means. 

For nineteen years hubby and I have followed the Holy Spirit’s leading. It was sometimes right, sometimes wrong – sometimes fun and some times not!  And we went wherever He said to go. Which means we’ve been some scary places! Places with bars on windows, gangs roaming the street, people hiding from bikies. That is kind of scary stuff for an old lady. I’d rather be sitting knitting in my nice chair, in my nice little house, thank you. We’ve tried to quit, but His love for people will not let us quit. Yet, after I broke my arm last year, we still managed three trips! So many things have happened to us that should have stopped us, but … He simply will not let us quit. Always, always — He says to us; “Who will tell them that I love them?”  

That question breaks my heart. The people who do not know Him are a vast OCEAN. I’m just a little strangely bent teaspoon! I know hubby and I cannot make a dent in those numbers. We can’t afford to look at numbers. Instead hubby and I look back at the faces of those people we’ve already met, who actually heard His voice through what was said. The point of this new life we have been given isn’t just to save US. It is to be a light in the darkness to everyone around us. To do that we have to go, and in go-ing we are always revitalised.

Hubby and I have been privileged to see the light of Jesus dawn on the faces of so many people we’ve spoken to. Suddenly, they know Jesus is REAL. He’s alive – no tomb could hold Him! Our Heavenly Father is their DAD and people know LOVE when they see Him and hear Him. They don’t need platitudes, or rules — they need HIM.  👋