Training

P 2491 We are being trained.

/ DVH

When life is on top of us and we are struggling to take the next step, we must always remember He will never leave us, instead, we need to remember that we are a people in training. People who are in training work hard for a purpose. Our God is preparing us for those greater works Jesus talked about. We gave away our right to live this life the way we want to, now, we are learning obedience. Sometimes through suffering. I find looking at things in the natural world, helps me to understand spiritual ones. Jesus did this a lot in the Gospels.

Because I gave my life away — my reference point can no longer be what I want, feel or know! Actually I can’t do what you want either, I left pleasing you behind, when I left pleasing myself behind! Now, my reference point has to be what does Jesus want? I believe He wants us to continually learn to love other people – it is a life-long lesson. Our current society thinks it is successful if we keep all the unhappy people around us happy. 

Happiness is fleeting, and many people are kind of whimsical, so what suits them one day doesn’t the next! Aiming at keeping others happy is just a different kind of self-centredness, because if you are happy with me, then of course I’m going to feel better – the atmosphere around me will probably change if you are happier.  However, I am still inadvertently looking after me when I try to keep you happy!  My focus is wrong. I need my eyes to be on what He wants.

When we live His way, we need to actively learn to be humble in all things, because next time it could be our turn to be a pain! However, I won’t be concerned about who did what and why … when I am following Him, I am simply focussed on following the Leader’s instructions. Jesus spoke to twelve very different men and said: “Come and follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.” Matthew 4:19. And the church has been stuck squabbling over fishing methods and rights ever since! Instead of gathering all His people into His delegated green pastures, and letting Him sort out the sheep from the goats – we fight for our own little bit of paddock.

That reminds me, in all our travels we have seen many paddocks and properties that run cattle and sheep, and these properties often use dogs to control their herds and flocks. Although on really vast properties they also use helicopters and quad bikes! Today I want to talk about this kind of dog –  they are called cattle or sheep dogs. These smallish bundles of totally focussed energy, have one task in their little brains. “Do what the boss tells you to do.”  This dog adores its master and his master is always the boss. 

In our new life, the Holy Spirit is our Boss, but He does not enforce the rules, He wants us to willingly obey Him, using the bible, and He personally leads us. And just like the cattle dog does, He wants us to obey Him because we love our Saviour Jesus. I’ve watched these incredible dogs, they are a great example. They pant their little heads off, sitting quietly beside their master, looking at the boss to see what he wants next. This dog would no more run about chasing butterflies, or a ball, than I can fly to the moon.  It has been trained. That training produces incredible obedience. Sometimes the master just gives a whistle and a look, and off goes the dog, because he knows the man so well.

Our God is teaching and training each one of us, with His wonderful Eye upon us, what will be good, right, and profitable for our own lives. He knows what we need to know so we can get through whatever comes next. Many times in my Christian faith I have felt like my foot was nailed to the floor and I was going round and round. I couldn’t seem to get anywhere. I asked the Lord …why is this happening? He said: “I’m teaching and disciplining you, but you are not listening to Me. You cannot go onto the next stage of your life without the lessons I want you to learn right here and now. It is My kindness to you to keep you where you are, if you do not learn, you will not make it through what comes next.”

That is why I called this blog – first floor messages – because I think the church at large has been stuck on the ground floor, spiritually speaking, for many years. Most churches are all still stuck on which one is more right than the other one! It is not good to compare churches. It is like comparing kiwi fruit with bananas, they are both fruit but they are still very different. We can all belong to Jesus and still be, and look, different! He’s simply that BIG – big enough to love us all! I believe that, right now, the Lord is looking for us to rise up to look like Him. Our God is much more interested in us spreading His message of love and reconciliation, then He ever has been in our theologies, ministries, comfort and so-called happiness.

To get there, we will need to stop looking after our own interests and be like that sheep/cattle dog, obediently waiting for what He wants US to do next. He is our reference point … not the circumstances or whatever is happening all around us. We are in training. What does He say in His book? Are we doing it? If not why not? We must stop “straightening each other out so other people will think like I do,” and simply get on with the job of learning to love others. Bye 👋🏻

P 2401 It’s good for us, but sometimes we fight against it.

/ DVH

“In this all-out match against sin, others have suffered far worse than you, to say nothing of what Jesus went through—all that bloodshed! So don’t feel sorry for yourselves. Or have you forgotten how good parents treat children, and that God regards you as His children? My dear child, don’t shrug off God’s discipline, but don’t be crushed by it either. It’s the child He loves that He disciplines; the child He embraces, He also corrects.God is educating you; that’s why you must never drop out. He’s treating you as dear children.

This trouble you’re in isn’t punishment; it’s training, the normal experience of children. Only irresponsible parents leave children to fend for themselves. Would you prefer an irresponsible God? We respect our own parents for training and not spoiling us, so why not embrace God’s training so we can truly live? While we were children, our parents did what seemed best to them. But God is doing what is best for us, training us to live God’s holy best. At the time, discipline isn’t much fun. It always feels like it’s going against the grain. Later, of course, it pays off big-time, for it’s the well-trained who find themselves mature in their relationship with God.” Hebrews 12:4-11 MSG

… So that thing we’ve learned to love/hate, isn’t actually … tying our shoes … it’s Father God’s discipline! This scripture in Hebrews is food for thought. I really like the way the Message bible puts it … it is so clear and comforting. These verses reinforce that the difficult stuff that happens to us isn’t punishment – it’s training. Ya might want to sit and think about that thing that has been driving you batty. Maybe you are not being persecuted or driven nuts by someone else. Maybe it is part of growing up in God!

I can still remember teaching my children when they were little how to tie their shoes, over and over again. I know, nobody does that anymore because we all live in the land of velcro! But back in the ark, it was expected that by the time your little darling landed in kindergarten – he or she would have learnt how to tie their own shoes … as well as take themselves to the toilet. Shoe tying tried my patience heaps.

You know, sometimes I wish I could go back to those days for a do-over? It is a real shame how much easier it is to develop patience, and long-suffering, when you aren’t under pressure to run out of the door and deliver three kids to kindy or school. Especially if you are on foot.  Maybe one of your kids is a Dilly Daydream with their nose in a book, and they wouldn’t hurry if they were chased by a shark!

As I’ve gotten older, patience has become a bit more accessible to me. I’m much slower now, so I have had to learn to be patient with myself! Back then? Not-so-much. Sigh. I can remember recently talking with my now grown-up son many years later, discussing parenting styles. He was being very kind to me considering how little I knew about what I was doing back then!

A-n-y-way, my son laughingly made this remark about a question I asked him when I was fed up and he was younger and being naughty. I used to say: “Do you want a smack??” His comment was: “Honestly Mum, can you imagine any sane kid saying yes to that question??”… “Oh, yes please, Mum I’d love one!?” 😂 I’m so blessed that we’ve been able to laugh over the some of the stupid stuff I did and said. He has kids of his own so now there’s a lot of understanding between us. 

I just want to assure you if you have little kids at your house, hold on … they will grow like weeds and then one day sooner than you think, they will be gone. However, teaching them stuff they are going to need later on in life is extremely difficult, because not every kid is compliant … the little darlings. That means that parenting is not a whole lot of fun. Meanwhile, I am soooo totally over those ads with fake happy families in them. The idea that 4-5 people of various ages, are all outrageously happy at the same time, just because you fed them some fancy chicken, or pizza, is lunacy. Advertising is lying for profit!

Right now, I want to pause and just try to get my mind around how patient the Lord is with all of us. Some things in my life have come up over and over again, and I promise myself each time that I won’t do this or that … but then provocation happens, or it’s a bad day and I fail. I am so grateful to Him. I need to be reminded over and over again that the Holy Spirit is my teacher, and He is incredibly patient with me. He won’t withdraw His love and approval, ever. 

Some days I just can’t seem to get my heart and mind around the fact that trouble in my life is not punishment.

The Holy Spirit will not fail any of us … because He cannot fail. I’m praying I will stop fighting against His wise counsel because I know His discipline is good for me. Bye … 👋🏻

P 2154 Time to step up our training.

/ DVH

“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:18). When the bible says we are being transformed, that means right here, right now. However, more responsibility in this new life of ours, can mean we will face even more opposition … that’s also something that we need remember as we go along. BUT the Lord is way too kind to let us move from one glory into the next without Him personally preparing us. HE WANTS US TO WIN. Our God is really great at resistance training! 🤣

If you feel you have been called to do this or that, or whatever;  then you need to know that there will be opposition facing you. The upside is that the Lord knows you can go through whatever it is. Jesus will walk us each step of the way, just like He did for Peter when he was walking on the water. Christianity is not for the faint-hearted. However, we must remember, that it is always filled to overflowing with His kindness, mercy, love and grace for the timid, inept and weak. Keep praying for eyes to see these things! Our God is so incredible. Stretching our faith means developing spiritual muscles. If you read the book carefully, you will see that happening in so many lives in the bible.

Philippians 2: 3-4 “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”Now there is a great verse to remember. I urge anyone to exercise great caution when talking about the things the Lord has said about your future. Our opponent knows very little about us, unless we open our big mouths and tell him – he’s not omniscient or omnipresent like our Father. You and I must learn to strengthen our feeble knees and wobbly hands by fighting his opposition daily – through the immediate situations we face, and how we decide to face them. God trains us for this war through these day to day seemingly ordinary difficult situations.

He allows these things every day, so we can willingly learn to choose His ways – for His sake. For things like humility, preferring others, speaking well of others as well as living our lives for His Body’s sake. Our God will not let us move on to what comes next, without learning these lessons. So, sadly, some people go round and round like an eddy in a little pool, because they have not yet learnt what they need to know so they are unprepared for what comes next. That would be me with my hand up BTW. I’ve gone round and round so many times I got giddy. 😵‍💫 Then I asked Him why I was stuck … and He told me!  We prepare for WAR by fighting our daily battles.

It took me a while to understand that I actually was hobbling myself by refusing to learn His ways. We have such a good good Father. Remember He will never send us out unprepared. He also does not make a private strategise the next move on the battlefield – that task belongs to a general – that’s why we need leaders. My advice? Learn to be happy where you are … let Him arrange what comes next. Do what you can, and then turn it all over to Him and leave it there. We cannot afford to ignore any tests He sends us. Each one is building a muscle we will need when we step into what He has for us NEXT.  

Jesus came here to serve us, and when we follow Him we will always lovingly serve others. The most fun you will ever have, trust me, is when you are led to serve someone who hates you – and go and you do whatever the Lord tells you to do, and it messes with their mind. I’ve seen people ‘lost at sea,’  literally, because they do not have a pocket to put my kindness toward them in. It’s hilarious. BTW you don’t do these things as revenge, you are just following the Leader. But it still can be a tad funny!

Our God loves oxymorons. These are the things in the bible that are put together in a harmonious way, but they are actually in direct opposition to one another. So he sends a coward to fight without number, and a hater to save a particularly hated city. Plus He brings His Only precious pure Son through the lineage of a couple of prostitutes. He tells us clearly in the book, that when we are weak then the potential exists for Him to be strong IN us etc. Jesus even told us we are blessed when we mourn! So when God tells us to rejoice always you can be pretty darn sure that this life is going to give us opportunities to have that particular mindset challenged. Nothing is wasted. Opportunities will only be wasted if we don’t rely upon His word.

The bible is a road map to His heart, and His Ways. We cannot afford to lean on our own understanding, instead we need to faithfully, and progressively learn to know and lean on HIS. But, because His Ways are higher than ours, they won’t always seem fantastic, instantly, to us! There is so much more ahead of us, if we don’t waste the life we have feathering our own nests! Instead we need to progressively learn how to live for His kingdom and put that first. Training is hard. It means putting down what I want, and doing something I don’t want to do – especially not repeatedly! The benefit of this, is that as we learn His ways, we are changed, and then His Ways not only make sense, they become extremely beautiful to us.  Praise the Lord! 😂