Trapped

P 2893 People need to see HIM in us.

/ DVH

Luke 13:10-17 “On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all.When Jesus saw her, He called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” Then He put His hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God. Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.”

The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?” When He said this, all His opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things He was doing.”

Why were these people so delighted? Here’s my theory … instead of rules and regulations, theories and hypotheses about this or that … God’s Love for ordinary people, those who daily lived in pain and suffering, was being acted out in front of their eyes! Suddenly His Love was no longer a theory — it was on display! Something they could see and experience for themselves. People saw His love in action, through everything Christ did. Sometimes I feel that we have failed the Lord, by talking, talking, talking about this idea or that one, but we haven’t actually moved from theory into practice.

Romans 5:8:“But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  Jesus is God’s love demonstrated. Let’s just think about that. He was kind to sinners and saints alike and He healed and delivered people who were trapped in terrible situations. He taught everyone around Him what God is like by the way He treated them. You and I meet people who need these demonstrations of His love every single day. They need His touch, whether it is an encouraging word, or a prayer for healing, or even food or shelter.

Our God chose to come here as a vulnerable infant, He lived among us, and … “Jesus Christ set a perfect example of kindness and love. Throughout His earthly ministry, He showed His love for others by blessing and serving the poor, the sick, and the distressed.” (Thank you Google!) Here’s my question for today – how do WE as in … you and I …choose to demonstrate our love for God to others? If we are not distracted, or weighted down by the cares of this life, and we are living vastly unaware of our personal contribution – we can think that simply avoiding sin meets His requirements. Sadly that kind of stuff will turn anyone into a legalist in a heart beat. Instead of peace flowing like a river … judgment will drown anyone who comes near it!

Here’s a revelation — trying to avoid sin is not the answer. Jesus already dealt with sin at Calvary and He expects us to use the power He bequeathed to us to deal with our own sin in our own lives using our OWN faith! There’s no point in sweeping junk under the carpet … that lump in the middle of the carpet is a dead-giveaway. Other people are bound to stumble over it. Luke 8:17: “For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.” Sooner or later who we really are jumps out under pressure. What we do after that happens, hits everyone around us with a learning curve. Then we can’t continue to pretend that we are AOK, because it eventually becomes obvious we are not.

The people who live around us need God’s love demonstrated toward them – that’s why He has given all of us Grace gifts, now we can deal with this world without hating it, or avoiding it. These Grace gifts change other people’s lives – and awaken faith in His goodness in us. It is consistency that matters – so day by day – we need to choose to  live our lives for His sake. This is how we usher in His kingdom – we follow Him, and we see people through His eyes. Tolerated and/or hidden sin can make us deaf and blind to other people’s needs. However, His love causes our faces to shine the way Jesus’ face shone with the love of the Father. 

Father God knows how to go around other people’s fierce, disinterested faces and attitudes, and bless them with His Love – despite their postures of indifference. We just follow the Holy Spirit and obey His prompts.The glorious thing about God’s loving, fruitful kingdom is that even a little tiny bit of it released into someone else’s life grows. That’s because His kingdom is not of this world – or subject to the junk we tolerate.

Always remember, people need to see Him in us. Every single day we need to use our faith to move beyond this world’s thinking, and start thinking and acting like HE does. My last thought is this, make friends with the Holy Spirit, He knows how to reach people. Bless you. 👋

P 2712 Our difficulties are actually stairs.

/ DVH

The every day obstacles, irritations and difficulties we face can be obstructions to living a new life … OR … stairs leading us up into all Christ’s blood bought for us. When we see things as obstacles, we face them with a different mental attitude. An obstacle must be avoided, or conquered or mastered, and all that involves effort and application. Stairs simply take you from one level to another. They take us from a lower place to a higher one. Today, I want to highlight the thought that the Christian life is meant to be one of progression, while we gain increasing humility, accountability, and wisdom, plus maturity. 

Nobody told me this stuff when I was a baby Christian. I was not taught that Jesus has faced every single obstacle I will ever have to endure, and that He knows the way through them. Instead I was taught to try harder… like it was a Maths test! So I just kept failing, and the harder I tried, the more I failed … I was taught I must somehow, by myself, transform myself into a new person. But Jesus actually died for, fought for and He won that battle for me. The thought that I was personally responsible to be different in my everyday life, nagged at me daily. I was supposed to be a good Christian witness to others, but I could easily end up shouting like a fishwife! 

None of the credit for starting to change my awful attitudes and actions belongs to me. All I ever needed to do was ADMIT that I can’t do any of this transformation by myself, and ask the Holy Spirit for His grace. And then – step up into it, using my faith.There are things that I know I used to do, almost automatically, that I simply don’t do anymore – I don’t even want to do them anymore. I asked for His help.

I wish I could say that when I’ve learnt something, and I’ve seen His grace in action in myself, that this means I will always act graciously! What a sad little laugh that thought is! Instead I have found that I need to practice practice practice trusting in His ability to get me through whatever He is teaching me, at every opportunity. Or I will lose touch with His grace, faster than a gambler can lose his quickly gained bundle of notes! However at the same time I have also noticed my thought patterns are changing too.

As I read the Word, and refused to accept what it said as something I would become some day – He began to teach me to act on it in faith. I started to understand that the things I dismissed as being only human, actually meant that I was not totally sold out to Jesus! Because me, myself and I – still became grumpy and nasty over the stupidest things. 

The Lord is so faithful. He revealed to me through the bible that He has already done all the work … so my part was to believe Him and step up into what He has already done, no matter how I feel.  Those things that accused me, and led me into looking after myself first, are the everyday, niggly little grumpy or sarcastic responses that the Holy Spirit loves to help us master. All we need to do is to step out of that bad mood or irritation, INTO His grace. After all, Peter stepped out of a perfectly good boat when Jesus said – “Come!” He didn’t think about it He simply obeyed!  Living this way is our birthright.

Sadly in the past, I did not have any idea that I didn’t have to live such a frustrated life, pretending to be something or someone, I wasn’t. I found, over time, that  a lot of what I was taught was a lot of theory, as well as unrealistic expectations – heaps of I “ought to be this or that!” It was not practical enough. Yet everything Christ taught was PRACTICAL. Because of what He has already done, my part is to take each attitude as He reveals it to me – then repent, repair and ask for His help. And then I simply followed His prompts, and they helped me escape from the temptation to let fly.

Jesus Christ’s death opened the prison door of sin we were forced to live behind, that place where we were trapped by our own anxious, fearful, unkind attitudes. We can even learn to resist provocation! We are no longer trapped by who we used to be. Freedom is more than a lovely song we sing passionately – it is a faith step. Freedom doesn’t mean I can do what I want – true freedom actually means I CAN DO WHAT HE WANTS!  We believe Him and what He has already said in the bible.

You know, in the natural, I have the worst trouble with real stairs, nowadays. Having fallen down our stairs a while ago, I am a bit intimidated by any stairs that have no railings. And so hubby helps me step up from one step to another, by giving me his arm. This is what the our precious Saviour does for us. We exercise our faith in the Lord’s Word, by taking His arm, as we choose how to respond to the daily irritations of this life according to His Word. We learn to lean on Him! And if we go under, like Peter did – Jesus’ strong right arm will lift us up again.

Psalm 119:133 “Direct my footsteps according to Your word; let no sin rule over me.” 1 Corinthians 10:13 TPT “We all experience times of testing, which is normal for every human being. But God will be faithful to you. He will screen and filter the severity, nature, and timing of every test or trial you face so that you can bear it. And each test is an opportunity to trust Him more, for along with every trial God has provided for you a way of escape that will bring you out of it victoriously.”

If we want to follow Jesus and overcome every day irritations, obstacles and difficulties, as well as entering into our new life in Christ, we need to live this life with absolute humility. At the same time we need to be aware and open about our limitations. Let us not pretend to be someone we are not! Every one of our difficulties are actually our own personal stairs. My advice is to take the Lord’s proffered arm and walk up each step with His help. Bye. 👋 

“Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:3-12.