Treasures

P 3434 A quality decision.  

/ DVH

“Christ’s resurrection is your resurrection too. This is why we are to yearn for all that is above, for that’s where Christ sits enthroned at the place of all power, honour, and authority! Yes, feast on all the treasures of the heavenly realm and fill your thoughts with heavenly realities, and not with the distractions of the natural realm. Your crucifixion with Christ has severed the tie to this life, and now your true life is hidden away in God in Christ.” Colossians 3:1-3 TPT.

There is a way we all need to go … Proverbs 22:6, I think a description of that way appears in Colossians 3:1-3. That way means we don’t just die to self – we live this life resurrected, striding into a brand new life, where Jesus rules – right here, right now. This happened to each one of us when we gave our lives to Christ. He has kept His part of this covenant, and now it is up to us to keep our part.  Our part is an assignment. We choose to take Him with us wherever we go. 

His part will stand forever, whether people acknowledge it or not. Ours depends upon us believing what He said and acting accordingly – using our faith. Everything we read in the bible points to this brand new life that is ours for the taking – Jesus gave it to us when He died in our place. Why live in the defeated ruins of an old life, when the new life He died to give us is ours for the taking?

Our daily need for His help, and His freely-given input, turns into a yearning that encourages and motivates our faith to keep on pressing on, and in. We want Him. Not rules, not religion, but Him. Anything else pales into insignificance. There can be times we feel listless, plagued by an unwillingness to yield to Him, and we sometimes give into it. That stuff isn’t just disobedience — it comes from a lack of real focus about what is actually going on... God Himself is wooing us! This is the next part of our chosen adventure with Christ. He stands at the window, oil dripping from His nail-scarred hands, waiting to be asked into each and every moment.

We cannot afford to ignore the things Jesus said, they are our life-blood. Our spiritual life and health depends entirely on what He did for us, and our choice to believe the things written in His book are true. Otherwise we will pick and choose what we want to believe, and be led about by all sorts of distractions that will tickle our ears, and continually lead us nowhere. We might even become faddish, and look ridiculous to the world around us. 

Whenever God is truly present, conviction has to follow because His holiness challenges our humanity. Conviction is not about yelling at people for being sinful, and threatening them with a ghastly final destination – it also not just about going the wrong way — conviction means we are wrong! We can’t be right without His input. Deep down most people already know that their way of life is broken – they either don’t care, or don’t want to change, or they don’t know how to change. 

The reality of the Presence of God Himself, and His holiness, will convict many people of sin. As Christians, we simply have to do our bit, and release His love everywhere we go. Without the Holy Spirit’s leading, and His comforting Presence and help, God’s people can easily slide toward defining  themselves by their ability to keep rules … or not. Only very honest souls will own their inability to reach the Christ-like goal. The reality of the Presence of God Himself, and His holiness, will convict many people of sin.

As Christians, we simply have to do our bit, and release His love everywhere we go. Without the Holy Spirit’s leading, and His comforting Presence and help, God’s people can easily slide toward defining  themselves by their ability to keep rules … or not. Only very honest souls will own their inability to reach this Christ-like goal.

The Holy Spirit revives our faith as He leads us. Our faith was not design to drag along behind – always waiting for a sign, or proof, or some sort of approval. What matters in this process is the room we give Him in our lives. Some people can spend 60 minutes quality time with the Lord day by day, and it is enough to fuel their ministry. Others progressively fall in Love with A PERSON and they refuse to let Him out of their sight! The Holy Spirit longs to draw us into the same sort of depth we see in the Apostles in Acts.

We are all in the same battle. We daily fight to let Christ be everything to us, instead of simply our back-up in times of trouble. Freely loving Him is our reward – we don’t care what this world offers us, or what we think we might gain in the next. Jesus wants to reside/live/inhabit our lives, today. Imagine the honour! The King of glory quietly calls us to walk with Him. His Presence is not a merit badge tribute to our spirituality, He is our beloved Lord and Saviour – Who is closer to us than our heartbeat.

But we must deal with our own pride, our need for autonomy and self-importance. And make a quality decision to live in His resurrection life, listening to Him and loving others. Bye 👋.

P 3361 Stay connected.

/ DVH

Our connection with Jesus is not about some sort of posture or even a pre-set programme. It is not a performance, or merely a very nice idea. It is our daily quest, our bread to eat, our light for the coming day, our very personal breath of God from heaven.  We are aiming to do everything we do, with Him, and that requires connection. That’s what the disciples did! They lived with Jesus. They asked questions when things  came up, but there was nothing formal about it. They simply  lived their lives with Him. They didn’t need a special interview with the Lord — He was right there! Let’s aim at that!

Jesus went back to heaven, but we know that He did not leave us alone. He sent back the Holy Spirit Who is as close as our breath. Our aim now is to stay connected to Him, even if we feel like a mess. Hmmm…change that to especially when we feel like a mess! However, coming to the Lord without any pretence is never an invitation to stay the same — it is always an invitation for growth. As human beings, we can sometimes suffer from what I call, the Adam and Eve tendency … we like to hide! 

So, I urge all of us to talk to the Lord as if He were present in the flesh with us. PS He is! Jesus will not push His way into our lives, but He loves to be included. We can’t even overcome sin on our own, but He has promised to give us His strength, right in the middle of our weaknesses; His directions when we get lost; and an exit when we feel trapped.

Hearing Jesus, first and foremost, consists of knowing what He sounds like — and the very best way to know what He sounds like is to listen to His Words in the bible. Then we put what you read into practice. Take what you read as Him speaking today to you. We need to note the way He talks to other people – His disciples, the people He prayed for, and the people who were in charge. Plus the people their society rejected!

I recommend that people who want to learn how to hear the Lord should read a version of the bible that is easier to comprehend. The Message bible, The Good News, The Living bible, any translation that is in ordinary everyday language. Otherwise we can get hung up on the sometimes inexplicable, very old fashioned style of biblical writing. We need familiarity, so we don’t stumble over the words. By all means still read your favourite older or more complicated versions as you learn His Ways, but learning to hear His voice can be greatly improved by using the simplicity of a modern version of the bible.

When we study His word, let’s remember that Jesus doesn’t ‘do’ ambiguity – although He really does love to tell one parable after another to make a point! Yet everything He says is full of pertinent meaning for each one of us. He wants us to engage with what He is saying, not to passively listen, but to actively ask Him where our reading applies to US. Whether it is about repentance, which involves more than “I’m sorry”- repentance has fruit!  Or He showers us with praise which warms our hearts and lifts our spirits.

When we read to get to know Him, we are not looking to prove a point, we are looking to become familiar with the Way He thinks and acts — His Ways aren’t our Ways so we need to learn His Ways. So we know His attitudes toward normal things, and that invades our own daily way of life. Next, if you are reading to hear His voice and what He wants to say to you – it’s good to take note of what He has said to you. How would you apply what you have just read into your own life?

The more we know Him and the way He thinks, the easier it is to talk about Jesus to others. There is no need to ‘set out’ or ‘try’ to talk about Him with others. When Jesus has first place in our lives, it becomes natural. So we will speak easily and naturally about Jesus our Best Friend, like we would tell a happy story about our earthly family and friends, simply because we are as familiar with His thinking as we are with our own.

The next step is to rely upon the Holy Spirit to help us. We don’t have to find our own way, we have a Helper, Who counselled Christ in His earthly walk. He knows Jesus, and He knows us! This is the beauty of walking with the Lord. We have our own Personal Advisor Who can guide us through what we are reading, to the Lord Himself, and His truth. The Holy Spirit is utterly reliable. Our own ideas pale into insignificance beside the treasures the Holy Spirit shares with those who take the time to listen, obey and cherish what He says.

My rule of thumb is this: ‘If it glorifies me, or anybody else other than Jesus, then what I am hearing, is not from Him.’  “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify Me because it is from Me that He will receive what He will make known to you.” John 16:13,14. 

We can trust the Holy Spirit because He does not have any agendas. He simply lives, and loves, to glorify the Father and the Son. I would advise anyone who wants to hear His Words to them, to do whatever it takes to get connected, and stay connected. Bye. 👋

P 3175 Piece of cake!

/ DVH

“Christ is our message! We preach to awaken hearts and bring every person into the full understanding of truth. It has become my inspiration and passion in ministry to labor with a tireless intensity, with His power flowing through me, to present to every believer the revelation of being His perfect one in Jesus Christ.” Colossians 1:28-29 TPT. 

“Christ’s resurrection is your resurrection too. This is why we are to yearn for all that is above, for that’s where Christ sits enthroned at the place of all power, honor, and authority! Yes, feast on all the treasures of the heavenly realm and fill your thoughts with heavenly realities, and not with the distractions of the natural realm.” Colossians 3:1-2 TPT.

We can waste a lot of our God-given time reflecting on where we’ve missed it, and end up living in the land of regret. It is good to be aware of where you’ve fallen short of the mark, but not to the point where you can’t even see the mark anymore! That mark is this – Jesus’ sacrifice and His wonderful love for mankind. We have all been given a priceless gift …total reconciliation with God. Yes, He knows what we are like;  yes He knows we fail;  but our wonderful Father, God, is far greater than we can ever imagine. Right here. Right now. He sees us complete in Christ. That’s because of Who He is, His nature – not our spirituality.   

The best news ever, is this… Jesus did not fail. He was tempted in every aspect of this life, just like we are, He got tired, just like we do, He had responsibilities, just like we do. Listen to this particular responsibility!  “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” Luke 4:18&19. Howzat for hard? 

Yet Jesus quite naturally walked and lived with SomeOne that we need to learn to walk with, minute by minute, day by day — the precious Holy Spirit.The good news is this – I don’t have to be all that – Jesus already did it for me. Our hearts need to be awakened all the time, to the reality of His truth – by reading and acting on the stuff that is written down in His book.

For instance, the bible says: ‘agree with your adversary quickly.’  Matthew 5:25. We’ve been lied to by our enemy who told us: ‘There is no way you can ever be like Jesus. After all, you did this and that. And something much worse, yesterday!!’ So I agree with the enemy when he accuses me, but then I refer him to the bible, because that is what Jesus did when He was tempted.  I point to the cross because I know I have nothing else but His Grace to commend me.

Sometimes I think we’d rather hide in the wine press, like Gideon did, than be seen! The bible says the people recorded in the Old Testament are there ‘…as an example to us.’ 1 Corinthians 10:11. Let’s not hide like that young man did. Instead let’s remember God has a plan and we are already in it! Our problem is we need to maintain our faith in His goodness, His promises … not just focus on our sins. We have weak wobbly faith in a tiger-pouncing world! It’s time to get up off the mat and get back into doing what we’ve been destined to do …telling and showing everyone around us how much Jesus loves them! 

A lady came here yesterday and in the course of our conversation she mentioned that she didn’t go to church but she did talk to God. She said this like she thought it was a bad thing. Like somehow she was sneaking into a rock concert without a ticket! We assured her she didn’t need a ticket, because God heard every word she said. Then we went on to reassure her that Christianity is not a club you join, it’s a Person you meet, so we don’t have to shout out our number as we go through the door! She laughed, and said: “You should tell people that more often!”  We need to remember …’it is the kindness of God that leads people into repentance.’  Romans 2:4. The-people-who-haven’t-met-Him-yet are often more happy to hear the truth than we are to give it to them!

However, we all know that sometimes witnesses can be quite reluctant. Cop shows on TV taught me that!! There is no such thing as getting it right, there is only obeying Him, or not. He’s a Redeemer! He can take the mess we’ve made of our lives, and turn it into something more wonderful than we can imagine. At the same time the Holy Spirit knows our frame. He also knows our weaknesses …but when we give them to Him, He will give us His strength in exchange. We don’t have to give someone else a 20 course dinner about what the bible says, in our testimony – we just give them the fresh bread He gave us this morning when we read the bible! 

There is the saddest parable told by Jesus Himself, about a rich man and a beggar. Luke 16:19-31. As the beggar talks to the rich man he says: “And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.” Let’s choose to take the time to tell others that–SomeOne, God Himself!–came here and made Himself that bridge between what people think they know about Him and Who He really is. Tell them Jesus is everyone’s bridge back to God.  Our testimonies are powerful, because the Holy Spirit handpicks the people He sends us to.

Revelation 12:11 –“And they overcame him (satan) by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”  You and I don’t have to be the whole band – but … you can be the banjo Jesus plays on… OK!… Let’s not be picky … you can be the flute instead! Piece of cake. Bye.👋

P 3155 “Behold the NEW has come.”

/ DVH

“My OLD identity has been co-crucified with Christ and no longer lives. And now the essence of this NEW life is no longer mine, for the Anointed One lives His life through me—we live in union as one! My NEW life is empowered by the faith of the Son of God Who loves me so much that He gave Himself for me, dispensing His life into mine!” Galatians 2:20 TPT.

Right here, in this scripture, we can see the benefit of living that new life we have been given – ‘in Christ.” IN CHRIST always means He is IN CHARGE. It also means because it is IN Him – then it is NOT in us. However, we can get the benefit, by simply acting on what He says. Despite our unrealistic hopes and expectations, this is not an automatic thing!  It will not fall on us, the Lord wants our ongoing permission, so we must choose His Way, every single time.

Our free will needs to be yielded to the Lord out of love and trust in what He has already done for us. This our gift to Him. It consists of daily, progressive choices, to yield and die to self, and live for Him instead. “In Christ”  means His Grace is in action in our lives and the lives of others around us. We are learning, first-hand, from Jesus things like ‘how to stop judging others from our flesh.’ At the same time we also realise this world hasn’t got anything lasting to offer. But now we can start seeing others through the Holy Spirit’s eyes. We are honouring the consistent pursuit of what Jesus calls “good.”

Let’s be clear, everything we need in this life to walk with Jesus, is already in our “heavenly account.” It was deposited there 2,000+ years ago. Now we simply exercise our faith to step into what is already OURS. We quite literally go into our heavenly bank account and make withdrawals over and over again — using that faith He already gave us. Because God says I can love the unlovely, that means I can step out and ask the Holy Spirit to show me how to love the person in front of me. I simply follow His instructions using my faith.

In our past, these blessings were presented with trying harder as a subtitle. And so we did our best to try to be nicer. We’d try to be the kind of person Jesus would be proud of, and we would try to persevere, etc. but in the end our soft, flabby flesh, outweighed our ability to try to push through. We need ongoing daily faith. In the try harder system, we learnt to give up, and go back to hating ourselves for getting it wrong, or we became proud and superior, because we think we got it right! God never meant for us to be frustrated by a system. Instead we are to be drawn into an incredible relationship where we follow HIM, step-by-step into a new way of living this life. 

We cannot continue to use the systems of the past to usher in whatever our God wants to do next. Jeremiah tells us that any system we can devise will spring a leak! “For My people have committed two evils: They have abandoned (rejected) Me, The fountain of living water, And they have carved out their own cisterns, Broken cisterns That cannot hold water.”Jeremiah 2:13. This scripture shows us, that Almighty God requires our loyalty … not just our lip-service. Our hearts need to change and when we obey His will, His way, the Holy Spirit writes that onto our hearts. You don’t forget those lessons!  Jesus came here to be an illustration of how God’s Way works. He even modelled dying to self right up to the end of His earthly life. His kind of faith moves away mountains of doubt and unbelief. 

In the past, the church centred itself around men and women who we saw as ‘specialists.’ They were God-gifted, and God-appointed, and they seemed to have a better hold on how to operate in the Holy Spirit than most lay-people did. They grabbed hold of His promises and operated in their gift by using their faith. But our God did not mean for His promises to be relegated only to specialists – He wants us ALL to walk in faith. The Holy Spirit is here to lead us into this kind of obedience.

When the bible says we are dead to the things of this world, it is not just a hope-filled saying … that saying has a whole lot of power attached to it! It is an absolute concrete reality. But living in that reality is not something the average church goer understands. We have no idea, that despite our age, or injuries, we are all elite runners who are spiritually fit for the journey ahead of us. What Jesus did for us, made us fit. Now we need to believe and ACT on whatever He says in the bible.

We have accidentally accepted a level of unbelief that is not biblical! We need to know His voice because Jesus Himself said: “My sheep know My voice and they follow Me.” John 10:17. In some versions it says:“My sheep LISTEN to My voice …”  Listening is every bit as important as hearing – we have to give HIS truth our attention!

“Since we are now joined to Christ, we have been given the treasures of redemption by His blood—the total cancellation of our sins—all because of the cascading riches of His grace.” Ephesians 1:7 TPT.

We were given something of incredible value and it is now up to us to choose to enter into it. Let’s take the time to comprehend what we have been given, so we can co-operate with the Holy Spirit, and give it away to others. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away; behold, the new has come into being.” 2 Corinthians 5:17. The new is already here, because the old has been gone for 2,000+ years! Bye👋.

P 3132 Don’t let money blind you!

/ DVH

“Instead, stockpile heavenly treasures for yourselves that cannot be stolen and will never rust, decay, or lose their value. For your heart will always pursue what you esteem as your treasure. “The eyes of your spirit allow revelation-light to enter into your being. If your heart is unclouded, the light floods in! But if your eyes are focused on money, the light cannot penetrate and darkness takes its place. How profound will be the darkness within you if the light of truth cannot enter!“ Matthew 6:22-23 TPT. 

Well, that all sounds pretty serious to me. Nobody wants to be that blind! Yet money is an issue for all of us – except the billionaires! Just in case someone might think that this scripture’s severe response is just the Passion Translation – here’s another one from NIV …“But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”

This is my take on all of that:  we can put our money under our mattress, in a bank, or even in stocks and shares — nothing wrong with that – those things will give you interest. But they can also go belly-up and you could lose your investment. These words from Jesus are so appropriate. Investing in His kingdom produces eternal results. I love that word ‘stockpile.’When we give to the Lord, we are storing up blessings that can’t be pinched or eaten up by inflation.

And if you have ever lost your money because of adverse circumstances, then I think the word ‘thief’ is the first one that comes to mind! But when we put that money into the Lord’s work, we are putting it outside the reach of this world, into His kingdom, and at the same time we are releasing His kingdom to bless others. I like that. God’s bank contains multiple points or avenues for blessing, that this world can’t touch.

Meanwhile, who knew moths and rats and rust like to eat money? Not me! I do know rats and squirrels like to gnaw on wiring, now there’s another strange but true – and totally irrelevant fact! But the important bit is this …what we do with our money can have big ramifications on our spiritual lives. It can lock us in, and prevent us from letting in the very light that will transform us. But holding back is not good, you might even say it is like trying to see with your own hands over your eyes.

Revelation sometimes needs the right circumstances to flourish, and generosity is one of them. It takes faith to let God manage your money, and that faith opens our spiritual eyes to even more revelation about His loving kindness, goodness and mercy toward us, in other areas and arenas of our lives. It helps us focus on His kingdom, not this world.

This thought directly points to something Jesus said:“I have given them Your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.  My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that You protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth.” John 17:14-17. It is part of Jesus’ directive to be in this world not OF it, so what we do with our money matters.

As you can see Christianity is not meant to win popularity contests – instead it is a totally different lifestyle. A new way of thinking. Things like giving to the Lord’s servants, His pastors, missionaries, teachers, evangelists;  plus helping and caring for the poor – including widows and orphans. God counts all that as giving to Him. He has taken up the cause for the poor, and He wants us to take it up too.

When we do that with our hard-earned money we won’t lose it. The Lord promises to return it to us in many, many other ways. In our household we’ve found that money comes back toward us to help us in a time of need. It also ushers in revelation from His Word when we read it or need it. Giving in faith releases a deeper understanding of what Jesus wants from us and for us. It’s a kingdom activity.

Giving away money that we rely upon, means we are making a choice to focus on His kingdom, His priorities, and His Way of thinking. It is another way to learn how to walk by faith. I have a fun thing to share that we do  about this subject. Before hubby and I go to the shops, even just to walk about, we always pray: “Dear Lord, help us to walk away from anything we do not need, and to find the things we came here for, and not to waste any of YOUR money.” Amen.

Every single time we come home we find that either we have spent no money at all – or we only bought what we went there for! It’s hilarious. At the same time we end up having God-encounters with people. Talk about spending money being a distraction! Whether we have lots or none, money can take up way too much of our thoughts.

I want to urge everyone reading this today to take the Lord seriously when He talks about money. It doesn’t have to be a lot of money. I realise many people have very little available finances, but I cannot recommend sacrificial giving more highly, as a way to learn to walk by faith. Don’t let money blind you! Bye. 👋

P 3101 Life happens!

/ DVH

Just recently we had someone try to pinch all our financial details. So, we grudgingly packed a cut lunch and then hubby picked up the phone and settled in for the long haul, which means we had to connect to someone in the bank so we can inform them what happened. THAT is a whole day job! We entered the long and dreary world of guess the right extension bingo! Actually we went round and round for a bit, but eventually we found someone who didn’t just want to transfer us somewhere else. I think some people want you to hang up because you are too hard for them, but they are too nice to tell you that. 

An-y-wa-y … finally we gave a real live person our sad little story and the nice person on the other end was prepared to take responsibility to help us fix the ending. It appears someone cloned hubby’s voice. As this never-ending saga gobbled up most of that day, I started to think of clever ideas to stop your voice getting cloned to prevent the whole thing from reoccurring. At the same time we also prayed for the people who thought stealing is a legitimate job! I wonder if they do tax returns? So today I came up with daffy ideas to cheer both of us up.

I wondered if buying a voice-changing device would be a good idea? Good old Amazon has loads of those. You can sound like Darth Vader, or Daffy Duck, or a lady might sound like a man … stuff like that. It could be a bit expensive, we are pensioners after all! But then came bright idea number 2. Buy a helium balloon and breathe in some gas. Um … I’m not quite sure of the long term results of breathing in helium, I’ve been assured it isn’t deadly, but that did seem a bit extreme. I mean, how many people have helium balloons on tap, waiting for a thief to phone up so they can use them? 

So now we’ve hit upon a capital idea. Hubby says his first name and then he waits – the rest is up to the other guy on the other end of the phone. Some people do think they can out-wait you …but they could be wrong! … And so far they have been. Thank God some semblance of order has been restored to our financial situation. We could of course, take our savings and stuff them under the mattress — but then we just might run into another kind of crook, who breaks into your house and wants to make your stuff – THEIR STUFF. 

In the past – long before Jesus and I discussed Who really owns everything we have, when I went on holidays, I hid all my dearly loved items in peculiar places. Not in the freezer! …cos I have it on good authority that thieves look in there! But in totally idiotic hidey holes around the house. There was only one teeny tiny problem with that. By the time I got home again, I had forgotten wherever my precious treasures were hidden and it took me AGES to locate them again. So the Lord kindly reminded me I was hiding my treasures in the wrong place. “Store them up in heaven,” the Holy Spirit said. ‘That’s a great idea.” says I, “where do I find a l-o-n-g ladder?”   

It seems to me that Father God has a great sense of humour and He always has a much better slant on any situation we find ourselves in. I think that’s why Paul said … “all things work together for good.”  He did add,“according to His (the Lord’s) purposes “.. but most people skip that bit because they aren’t quite sure what it means. They just like the beginning of the verse — the ending not-so-much. I decided to think on the phrase according to His purposes more thoroughly. 

This is what I came up with – God’s purpose and our purpose may not always be the same. He wants to save thieves, and we want them to GO DIRECTLY TO JAIL and not pass Go! Like I said, we did pray for them  because they may not have anyone else to do it! Then we asked for the Lord to invade their lives, the way He has invaded ours. After all Jesus had a thief for a disciple, so He knows about stuff like that. Then we blessed them because the bible says to bless people when they persecute you, and despitefully use you. And at the same time we also prayed for our money to come back to us, and, praise God, it did! But that didn’t seem to be the entire point of that phrase… then I found this version of Romans 8:26-28.

“Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.” MSG.

I think this means a couple of things:  we don’t have to pray right, to get the Lord’s attention. We already have it because we belong to Him. After all, Judas didn’t have to jump up and down for Jesus to speak to him, yet the Lord knew he was a wrong-un. The Holy Spirit is always with us, helping us, whether we know what to pray or not! Isn’t He wonderful? He also keeps us present before God.

The Lord’s purpose for this world is clearly stated in John 3:17: “For God did not send the Son into the world in order to judge (to reject, to condemn, to pass sentence on) the world, but that the world might find salvation and be made safe and sound through Him.” His purpose is to save people, even thieves!  And because He is God and He is always good – HE gets to define good!  Bye.👋

P 3035 What eternal love looks like.

/ DVH

“The mature children of God are those who are moved by the impulses of the Holy Spirit. And you did not receive the “spirit of religious duty,” leading you back into the fear of never being good enough. But you have received the “Spirit of full acceptance,” enfolding you into the family of God. And you will never feel orphaned, for as He rises up within us, our spirits join Him in saying the words of tender affection, “Beloved Father!” For the Holy Spirit makes God’s Fatherhood real to us as He whispers into our innermost being, “You are God’s beloved child!” And since we are His true children, we qualify to share all His treasures, for indeed, we are heirs of God Himself. And since we are joined to Christ, we also inherit all that He is and all that He has. We will experience being co-glorified with Him provided that we accept His sufferings as our own.” Romans 8:14-17 TPT.

These verses in Romans clearly show us the depth of God’s passion for humanity … we are His. Jesus died to remove every single barrier between us and Father God. It’s like Song of Solomon 2:16 says:“My beloved is mine and I am His…”  That fact is irrefutable and repeated over and over again, throughout the bible. When we give our hearts, minds and lives to Jesus, He accepts what we give Him – what a privilege that is! We can only do this because He made us worthy. Don’t be like Esau and let someone, or anything else steal your birthright.

We belong to our Heavenly Father – because of Christ’s death and the choices He made – not by our own feelings or circumstances. Often our circumstances are far from ideal! What Jesus did for us, the price Father God paid, is where our faith needs to be anchored – not in what goes on around us. He paid a high price to call you His! This earthly life, good or bad, does not change what He said — “You belong to Me and you are Mine.”

We were made ‘good enough’ because of what God Himself did, Jesus paid a debt we could never pay. “But when this priest (Jesus) had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God, and since that time He waits for His enemies to be made His footstool. For by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy, the bible says.” Hebrews 10:12-14. I like that last sentence, verse 14, very much. I am “…being made holy…” That means I ain’t there yet, and …neither are you. However, our imperfections are not the feature film here … His great love is! It would be such a shame to miss out on the main feature because we are distracted by the local news’ highlights!

Jesus did more than simply save us from our sins — it was an exchange. He gave us His holiness – His righteousness, His love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. We simply need to take Him at His Word and act on that Word, daily. We’ve been reborn into His family. The fatherless now have a Father. The orphan has been adopted. In the meantime, we need to be about our Father’s business, too. 

There is a short-cut that will help us find out why we are here, and what we have been chosen to contribute for the Father’s kingdom. People want to find out what their “gifts” are – and the best way to do that is to choose to walk the Way of LOVE.  We deliberately choose to be guided by how Jesus defined love. His  Love lasts. It quite simply can’t run out, because now we have entered into the eternal! It doesn’t care if nobody sees it in action, it hopes for the best in every situation – no matter how negative the situation is. The good news is His Love can’t fail. Our gifts will be manifested when we walk in love.

Sometimes I get stuck in my thoughts about the Body of Christ. I look at Jesus’ Bride and I get puzzled about the way we are going. We do not look like a Bride Who is getting ready for a wedding. Instead we seem to be focussing on the here and now, and not on eternity – eternity is the marriage! We are now eternal beings. Let’s look forward to seeing our Bridegroom — even in the middle of all this stuff down here – the stuff is temporary, heaven is not!

When human beings love someone, our thoughts about them are all positive. However, our flesh cannot define God’s Love nor can we define our worth by our standards. The God of all the universe, Who loves His Son … and loves us –– let Jesus be mistreated, badly spoken about and slaughtered! That’s what eternal love looks like! Now we need to live in that greater reality. Right here, right now. These present light infirmities are nothing in the light of what He died to give us. It seems to me that sometimes we really don’t understand the magnitude of what we’ve been given.

We should never even entertain the thought of not-being-good-enough, even for a second … look at the price He paid to buy us all back! Jesus took our never-will-be-good-enough to the cross with Him …“…having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved…” Ephesians 1:5-7. We are dearly loved, and made good enough by SomeOne Else’s voluntary sacrifice – now we live this life receiving, rejoicing, and giving thanks for God’s lavish love. Bye 👋.

P 2900 We pray from a kingdom perspective.

/ DVH

“Yes, feast on all the treasures of the heavenly realm and fill your thoughts with heavenly realities, and not with the distractions of the natural realm.” Colossians 3:2 TPT. There are so many instructional verses in the bible, just like this one, that we could apply one of them every single day and still not get through the book even once in this lifetime! So how do we feast on all the treasures of the heavenly realm while we are still on earth? We live like heaven is our home, not this world.

It’s all about focus. Most people today are focussed on me, myself, and I. My family, and my relatives, and my goods and possessions, my country, and my job or lack of one! In order to have a heavenly point of view we need to focus on what God wants – and fortunately He has told us what He wants – in writing! 

Jesus came here and He actively taught us what a heavenly perspective looks like. Our Father always has a greater plan than we can imagine — praise Him! Jesus was a walking, talking, teaching, healing illustration of God’s plan and His love for each one of us. Then He died to seal the deal, to give us our opportunity to live the way He did. Sacrificially. He didn’t just die to get us into heaven – He died to get heaven into, and flowing out of, US!

Jesus Christ is Father God’s faith in action be-ca-u-se … ‘faith without works is dead!’ Faith has substance – Jesus Christ is the substance of His Father’s faith. This is why without faith we cannot please God – our God is faith-filled! He has invested His Son’s life in each one of us. His kingdom is not just a place, somewhere ‘up there’ — it is a new way to live. The miracles Jesus did were secondary to the carrying out of His Father’s plan.

People could say: “Well being a Christian doesn’t sound like much fun, if God gave me a life  I want to live it, my own way.” And so the Lord steps back and says: “Have at it!” This means right here, right now, surprise, surprise, we are living in a world filled with people who want their own way. Even if what they actually want is a peaceful life, that is still what that person chooses for themselves! We should never be surprised at the mess this world is in, because human beings are in charge. And human beings, without Christ, are susceptible to demonic influences!

I think we all do our best to pray for good things, Godly things, things inspired by the Holy Spirit … but many times we pray for change or healing of things on this earth. Please Lord, heal this. Please Lord, change that. Please Lord, help those people etc. We are praying for the things that will one day pass away. Jesus Himself told us what to pray for: “Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; THY KINGDOM COME; THY WILL BE DONE; on EARTH as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.”

In this new reality, we pray for His kingdom, His will to be done, first.. In this prayer that Jesus gave us as an example – God is the centre. Yes we can pray to be delivered from sickness, sin and evil, let’s do it! We sure need it!! But the point of being born again is to live in His new kingdom with His oversight. He tells us how to do that in the book. He even tells us what the fruit of that kingdom looks like … in the book! No fruit – no kingdom!  

Our new life means we have chosen to live in His kingdom, and we are to manifest that kingdom in this life down here …in the middle of wars, trouble, strife, evil, compromise, hatred, murder, lust, lies. That’s why Jesus said “don’t be surprised when bad things happen.” Those things are the fruit of this world!  We are to walk within this world’s worst nightmares, shining with the light of Jesus’ love for every single human being, always praying people will be saved by the truth of what we believe, as it is acted out right in front of them! 

“God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we’re free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ’s. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love.” 1 John 4:17.

Now we pray from our new heavenly position within Christ. ‘Lord I want what You want.” I’ve learnt, from experience, that what HE wants is so much better than anything I can think of or dream about! We have given our lives to Him so He can live through us – we are blessed to be able to release His point of view, His healing, His love, peace, joy, into the darkness. That is not a part-time job, it is a kingdom lifestyle.  We need to learn to pray from a kingdom perspective.Bye. 👋 

P 2703 Even if we die, WE WIN!

/ DVH

Right here, right now, we have been re-born into something new. To start with, we are now risk takers. We take a risk every time we talk about Jesus to someone we care about, or even somebody we don’t know. People have been punched on the nose for less! It’s always a risk. I’ve learnt to do whatever He tells me to do — but, at the same time, I figure if I heard Him incorrectly, Jesus can redeem anything! So I ask Him to redeem whatever I did that missed the mark.  Plus I carry lots of hankies, and bandaids! … only joking.🤣

The bible teaches us to love other people, but the reality is we have no actual guarantee that whoever we love can’t, won’t, or don’t love us back. The best answer to that unfortunate dilemma is to focus on how much HE loves us! Sadly I think most of us are ignorant of that particular fact. We let the fact that other people don’t love us dissuade us from the reality of His eternal, passionate love for us.

So it is good to make that error our prayerful starting place. It is way too easy to start in the wrong place. Sometimes we start by doing our best to love others – but we actually need His power to love others. Sooner or later, everyone is going to annoy us, and there goes love out of the window. Instead, ask Him to reveal to you how much He loves you.

At the same time, it is not good to sit around waiting to ‘feel like He loves you’ to fall on you – instead, deliberately choose to decide to believe the book! Then begin to live this life the way we have been taught by Christ’s own example. One step at a time, always walking with the Holy Spirit. He doesn’t leave us, we may not be aware of Him – but He is there. If we fall down and do something that breaks our connection with Him, then we repent, repair and get up again. The whole point of Christianity is selfless living!  Sometimes, because many of us are needy one way or another, being selfless can be risky. Actually, some days it can look downright stupid!

However, we are now playing the long game, because this life we lead is eternal. We aren’t interested in a quick return on our investment, because we’re choosing to live this life invested in heaven. That’s a long term investment that holds countless treasures beyond our wildest dreams – some we will see here, some we will see there.  It won’t be hard to be nice to difficult people in heaven – it won’t even come up! That’s because we will ALL be changed. Interestingly enough, maybe the people who bug us won’t be changed at all, but WE will! And if that sentence grated on you – maybe you still have issues. PRAY SOME MORE. 😂

Jesus Christ sealed this incredible provision in His blood. He has made it so we can’t lose – the only thing we can do is to default on what we have been given.  We simply follow the precious Holy Spirit’s prompts and be prepared to die to self. Now, that’s the knotty bit … that’s when we find out who we really are, and polite falls off! Here’s a whacky thought, maybe we can’t get along with some people because our unchanged attitudes have corrupted our POV. 🤔 We can say that we will die for the ungrateful, the unkind, the deliberately wicked – BUT!! When that turns out to be somebody close to you … meh! Not-so-much! 

Here’s another thought … when we change our response with His help, then the unhelpful people will be wasting their time. They can say or do whatever they want, but we will have moved! The Holy Spirit is powerful, He just needs our co-operation. This is how we learn what the power of God can do, when we see ourselves leaving stuff behind we thought we had to have, and we step into Christ’s shoes.

It is how we become those people mentioned in Psalm 91:8-10 “Only a spectator shall you be [yourself inaccessible in the secret place of the Most High] as you witness the reward of the wicked. Because you have made the Lord your refuge, and the Most High your dwelling place, There shall no evil befall you, nor any plague or calamity come near your tent.” Every time we choose His Way, over our way – we enter into His protection, His kingdom. That ugly stuff can’t hit us in there. It just kind of lies about on the ground looking pretty silly.

Try it out. The next time someone tells you you are stupid, dumb, ignorant, difficult, grumpy, talk too much – just tell them, ‘ Yes! I know I am. BUT! I have a Saviour and He’s changing me.’ Duck those punches and pretty soon you will start to see them coming, and head them off before they hit you. That’s when you king hit them …. WITH LOVE. His Love is a collectable. It accumulates. The more you partake of it, and freely give it away – the more you have to give. Joy pops up fast on the heels of love. It’s hard to be unhappy when you know He loves you.

I am often astonished at how the Lord can take the worst situation, and He not only changes it – He utterly transforms it into something I’ve never even dreamt about! That’s the power of God in action. We’ve all been reborn to be risk takers – walking with Him means even if we die, we win! 👋

P 2579 Faith that is alive!

/ DVH

Here’s something I have learned over the years –  faith grows when we use it. If we hoard it, or sit about in little groups talking about our faith, without doing anything with it – that faith will rapidly become head knowledge. This type of thing is a major problem in our churches. Many churches have stopped PROCLAIMING THE GOOD NEWS … and that’s what we are here to do. At the same time, faith also gives generously – it never just meets requirements, or gives whatever is left over. That’s what our faith in action looks like. Plus we live to love the people who are mean to us or actively hate and abuse us – that’s also faith in action. And we help those who need help be-cau-se … our faith is seeable.

We are here, today, in 2024, to proclaim and demonstrate to other people what God’s unconditional love and favour looks like. And if anyone thinks that they can do that kind of stuff, by themselves, in their own strength, day in, and day out—- then, please … think again. We all need the Holy Spirit’s wisdom and help. Praise God, He is more than willing to help us! At the same time any time we use our faith, I can practically guarantee you, it will cost us. Sometimes it costs us more than we are willing to pay, but let’s just gird up our loins … so we don’t fall over our own feet  … and have at it! 

Here is another precious secret — KIND EYES ARE POWERFUL. When God’s love stops being a concept and it becomes a reality in our lives, the bonus is this:  we will have our Father’s eyes. Kind eyes. My hubby does this so well. He is so good at it I’d be jealous if it weren’t so beautiful. Me? Hmmm … glad you asked that … I’m still a work in progress. Father God and I are working on it. I’ve learnt that you can’t give away something if you haven’t got it, so now I go after His love every single time I think about it! “Let me see these people through Your eyes Lord. And let them see YOU through me.” Amen. Our Father’s eyes never condemn, judge or compare.  

So here’s my suggestion for today – find a way … your way, under the Holy Spirit’s leadership … to love others. Look, we can be on our best behaviour and look and sound like the nicest person in the world, but; “faith without works is dead!” (James 2.) We are here to demonstrate God’s love to others, just like Jesus did when He was here. So that means we will engage in something called: ‘Risky Living.’ That title comes from a book, sadly now out of print, by Jamie Buckingham. I’d loan you mine but the pages are all falling out. It is one of my great treasures.

This ordinary American journalist is one of my all time heroes in the faith. Nobody has ever made me laugh or cry as hard as Jamie. EG:  “The problem with Christians today is that no one wants to kill them anymore.” … …“A lot of my theology got all fouled up when I started reading the Bible.” … … “The real work of the kingdom of God is not carried on by miracle workers or high profile preachers. The real work of the kingdom is carried on by people like you and me as we go about our daily lives.” … ‘Every place we put our foot God wants us to leave a spring in the desert for others to benefit from”… … “He wants us to trust Him at all times and to carry on regardless of our particular wilderness situations.” See? That stuff is impossible and risky without the Holy Spirit’s help!

First we pray, then we DO.  Being selective about what we will or won’t do, will pull us into disobedience quicker than you or I can say: “Oh dear!” This world is crazy about boundaries, I believe boundaries are useful. BUT, we can’t afford to have boundaries with the Lord!! We need to be like those guys who jump off mountains in a flight suit and let the wind take them wherever it goes. It looks absolutely terrifying, but that’s actually using faith. It’s stupid faith, in my personal opinion, but it IS faith! 

Sometimes Christians remind me of a secret society huddled together behind closed doors. If some poor schmuck or other finds their way to that door and staggers in … not dressed properly, or smelling like a rubbish dump, or confused about their sex, or drunk, or stoned out of their gourds …we can be absolutely guaranteed to find a nice way to shuffle them back outside again … and use the bible to do it! Sigh. The trouble is we want the people who get saved to be nice, neat and well-mannered — we are not thrilled when zombies, or Frankenstein lurches through our doors!

“While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with Him and His disciples, for there were many who followed Him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw Him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked His disciples: “Why does He eat with tax collectors and sinners?” And when Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” Mark 2:15-17.

We need a faith that stands up when other people want to leave the room. A faith that is bigger than the things this world around us spews out. Instead of hiding from ghastly things, we must learn to confront stuff and face it down, armed only with His love, and guided by His book. Using our faith makes us way more alive than simply living from day to day. 👋 

“What’s the use of living if you don’t attempt the impossible?” (Risky Living, 1976) J. Buckingham.