Vision

P 2998 Thankfulness, the gift that keeps on giving.

/ DVH

This morning at 2.00am hubby had some thoughts that were so good, I have repeated them here today.

“We can be so busy obsessing over what we don’t have, or what we’ve lost, that we fail to be grateful for what we have been given. It is a fundamental tactic of the enemy to foster the seed of discontent in us, to steal our vision and the purposes that God has prepared for us. However, living in discontentment means that we are inadvertently saying … we don’t know Him – Who He is, the fact that He is good. Gratitude matters. It pulls our focus back on to Jehovah Jireh, our great eternal Provider.

We are also saying, when we indulge in our fears, that we are still in charge of our lives and destiny. By refusing to give the reins of our lives to God we are saying something about the way we regard Him. We are saying we don’t trust Him to be good to us. At its foundation there is rebellion, but satan colours those feelings of self pity and despair, in order to build a framework through which we can see this world. How to break this framework…? Repent of rebellion and start trusting God to be the Master of your life and begin to be thankful and grateful for what He has provided and expect Him to take care of you.”

Over to me and my thoughts now … As I reflected on what hubby said, I saw that we can’t afford the luxury of choosing what we will obey, and what we will not in this battle we call life. Even the little things matter. As soon as we refuse God’s ways for us, we are giving satan access into our minds and lives and then we can become double-minded. At worst we can be easily deceived! 

It is good to remember when Jesus was tempted He responded with the scripture. He did not pit His will against His tormentor, instead He declared God’s word to satan as His shield. Jesus is our example of how to fight, when discouragement strikes, or when we think we need to postpone using our faith, and that overtakes us. We must constantly be using and strengthening our faith, or it can be weakened by adverse circumstances, and life’s testing times. God’s truth is our shield, even when we don’t like what it says. Instead immediately look for things to thank Him for!

“At each place they (the Apostles) went, they strengthened the lives of the believers and encouraged them to go deeper in their faith. And they taught them, “It is necessary for us to enter into the realm of God’s kingdom, because that’s the only way we will endure our many trials and persecutions.” Acts 14:22 TPT. Did you get that? What helps is to look at our circumstances and decide if it is “kingdom material” – or not! Having a kingdom mindset and using it as a yardstick in our lives, protects us from the things of this world that are constantly battering at our lives to demand our attention, trying to drag us under. However, even when we don’t feel like it, we need to give thanks.

A thankful attitude can be cultivated under fire. We can’t afford to think; “I’ll learn about that stuff later.”  satan is a snake who uses discouragement and despair – which are normal human emotions – against us. he will hand us so-called evidence that God is not good, that we cannot manage whatever is going on – in order to sway our attention, loyalty, and devotion away from the Lord and onto ourselves. satan will focus our attention on our feelings instead of God’s word. If we can’t think of anything to thank God for in our pain, then let’s thank Him that He saved us, so we can always ask for His help! “God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.” Psalm 46:1.

We dare not even attempt to fight any kind of destructive fight ourselves, we need the Holy Spirit’s discernment and wisdom to clear away the cobwebs of deception and shine a light on the real truth. It is hard to find something to be thankful for if you feel like the world is on top of you. The secret is to quickly recognise that our feelings come from provocation from our enemy. Then we can start rebuking them. And that’s another reason to thank God – because  He has given us power over our enemy! “Listen carefully: I have given you authority [that you now possess] to tread on serpents and scorpions, and [the ability to exercise authority] over all the power of the enemy (Satan); and nothing will [in any way] harm you.” Luke 10:19.

Here’s another great verse to be thankful for: “Trust in the Lord completely, and do not rely on your own opinions. With all your heart rely on Him to guide you, and He will lead you in every decision you make. Become intimate with Him in whatever you do, and He will lead you wherever you go.” Proverbs 3:5-6 TPT. God is the only reliable Person in this world, and ever-so-fortunately for us … HE IS GOOD! The Lord sees our hearts are toward Him, and His loving heart and goodness cannot help but reach out to us in our bewilderment and sorrow. Yet another reason to thank Him!! Our help and hope is in the Name of the Lord. He is THE strong tower we run into when we know we need help. And thank God for that tower!

I exhort you to give everything that comes up to oppose you, to Jesus, and leave it with Him. Trust Him to guide you out of whatever happened to you. Hold fast to the fact that God is good… all the time, because He is. Thank Him for His incredible goodness!  God’s Grace enables me. It enables me to give my situation to Jesus and watch what He will do with it. Having Him as my back-up also makes me thankful! Thankfulness is the gift that keeps on giving. Bye👋

P 2938 The benefits of walking with God

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“God will continually revitalise you, implanting within you the passion to do what pleases Him.”Philippians 2:13 TPT.

“Above all, constantly echo God’s intense love for one another, for love will be a canopy over a multitude of sins.” 1 Peter 4:8 TPT. “You were God’s expensive purchase, paid for with tears of blood …” 1 Corinthians 6:20a.

The bible itself urges us ‘to forget not all His benefits.’ in Psalm 103:2. Anyone can see what’s wrong with this world, but the people with real vision, His vision, can see the potential to do good in the midst of the chaos. What a benefit that is! We’ve personally discovered in our travels, that all this trouble and strife has opened up other people’s hearts to a point where they are happy to share their sorrows, suffering and disappointment with complete strangers. So we get to pray with them … what a benefit!

Our God is so precious, as we go along through this life choosing to walk with Him, living His Way instead of our own  — our wrong way of thinking, even our superficial thoughts, fall off. It is as if we switch focus, and we start to become singular in our devotion to Him. That does not mean we exclude others, like we are in some sort of exclusive club — it means our hearts are stretched and pummelled by the Word of God into a bigness we never even dreamt about! His servants don’t have to try to be better, kinder, nicer – they just are! Now we look for the good in others because it delights us to find it. That kind of observational skill benefits everyone!

People who live like this wouldn’t dream of wasting their time on pettiness, or hiding their faults from others to save face. Imagine the energy someone wastes trying impress others, when we all know full well, WE aren’t all that. Self realisation is a huge benefit! Yet another benefit of walking with Jesus every day, is humility. I stop being afraid to tell you I’ve failed, or I can’t do it, or I have no idea what to do next … instead I ask you to pray for me! Sometimes I pray:  “I can’t wait to see what You are going to do with this mess I’ve made Lord! Because I know You make all thing new.” Sadly, sometimes our level of pretence is preventing us from going deeper with Him. But we have the incredible benefit of His ongoing forgiveness covering us, because Love Himself adopted each one of us. The benefits abound!

Often human beings are the sum of their choices and history. But, we aren’t stuck there. Instead we daily benefit from walking with Jesus. And that means we become more and more honest – because we are living in proximity to honesty Himself, and His goodness rubs off on us. So if someone corrects us, or points out a fault, we have the inner freedom to be grateful because they have given us the opportunity to look at ourselves through their eyes. But what if what they say is not true? My advice is to let God fight for you. Our King cares about what we care about, let Him take care of you. Now there’s a great benefit to thank Him for!

Our feelings make a very poor, inaccurate guide – the benefit of reading His book is that it diagnoses our inaccurate world view every time we read it. He gives us His wisdom so we know how to avoid pitfalls. Wisdom is an incredible benefit. Over the years, I’ve met so many people who underestimate who they are IN God. Anyone who is prepared to live acknowledging their lack, can have wisdom. Just ask Him! Wisdom is a benefit with eternal ramifications. I don’t have to try to give God glory for what He does in my life, because I spend my time watching Him snatching me out of this trap and that stupidity! I am eternally grateful that He continually saves me from myself. 

Before I met Him I had nothing worthwhile to give to others. This is another benefit I’ve learnt – God gives us gifts to use to benefit other people. We are living beneath our heavenly calling when we verbally pull other people apart like wild dogs snarling over their breakfast. God’s gifts to men are to benefit others not to pull them down so we look equal to, or even taller than they do. We dare not use His gifts to benefit ourselves. What do we have that He didn’t give us? And when you have Him you have everything you will ever need. Maximum benefit right there!

God’s Word has also been given to us to diagnose what’s wrong in our hearts and lives, and His Word pulsates with the power to heal. It has not been given to us to accuse ourselves, or others. That’s how the other guy operates. We are to build one another up, and we exist now, to live this life for their benefit, like Jesus did. To do that we will have to see them through His eyes. Because our eyes and ears have been trained by trouble, strife and sorrow in this world – we can do so many unnecessary things to protect ourselves. However, when Jesus came and died, He threw His living body/blanket over each one of us, just like Boaz protected Ruth when she was vulnerable. I can’t afford to take my eyes off everything He has done for me. He sustains me in difficult times.

Our cup is full of His benefits, pressed down and running over.Psalm 103:1-2 “Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy Name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits:…”  Bye. 👋

P 2716 Let’s practise fixing our eyes.

/ DVH

”Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”2 Corinthians 4:16-18.

Speaking of opportunities to lose heart …  hubby’s back has been just plain awful. Yet, off he went, a minute ago, to talk to the lady who took the booking for our accommodation. He will come back in a little while, cheered up no end! Like I said yesterday, we need to look for the joy. As His kids we need to continually pray for eyes to see whatever He is doing … because this funny old world is rapidly going down the plug hole – singing “we shall not be moved” all the way down!  And this world’s view of life can take over our vision. 

Almighty God hasn’t told us to “fix our eyes” on the unseen, just because He’s waiting to see if we pass a test or not! He told us that so we can have a way through whatever it is that is attacking us! Day by day we are seeing the things in this world that we thought were permanent, fall apart. It has become obvious that there is no hope in the temporal any more. Life is like a leaky sieve – it simply won’t hold water. But you and I have water, lots to drink and loads to give away. The Lord will always help us!  Perhaps there is a possibility of harder times coming, so that means these times that we are living in right now, are our training camp. However, we will lose heart if we look to the things of this world to comfort us.

Even the people that we love sometimes betray us, accidentally, or on purpose! My advice is – trust Jesus first, then let everybody else line up behind Him. We have been reborn, re-designed to have eternity in our minds and hearts. We are not the fictional mole people grubbing about in the dirt trying to eke out a living and survive. We are the people of God! When we look up we can see the sky, the birds, the butterflies, rainbows, sunshine and the beauty in each ordinary face that we speak to, or pass by ...  that is what Jesus did. And He died to change our focus.

The Lord cares deeply about ordinary people. And He went around taking the kingdom of God with Him wherever He went. That’s our job description, to daily take the kingdom with us wherever we go. To do that we need to focus on the love of God, first. I’ve looked long and hard at myself. Trust me … I was never worth what He willingly did for me! After that realisation it’s easy to be real, kind and generous with others.  His love is toward everyone. Our job is to let His love out, through the way we speak, whatever we do, and especially the way we think about others.

Our mouth can easily follow our thoughts! I have found that angry, grumpy, irritated thoughts are like a snowball rolling down hill, picking up additional bits of hopelessness, nastiness and anger. That stuff adds to its impetus and weight. The more we think those thoughts, the more we”ll add to our discontented pile. Renewing our minds, means we get to think like the Lord Himself thought. Jesus Christ never saw obstacles, He saw possibilities for Our Heavenly Father to be glorified.

Thank God we have a book filled with all kinds of God-interactions to cheer us on. Owning my thoughts, and revising them, helps me to keep my focus on ‘what is good right and profitable.’ When I ‘let my mind dwell on those things’ it is becomes easier to follow the Lord. I start to see Him everywhere. Jesus had such joy in serving His Father in the middle of this world’s chaos!! Joy is our portion. We will lose it when we fix our eyes on the things of this world. The Holy Spirit knows the way through anything, we just need to ‘lay aside those things that so easily weigh us down…”

My darling hubby can barely move when he wakes up – his back is not good sleeping in bad beds. And my arm is painful too, plus my body is tired of fighting all kinds of symptoms in this life – yet we just need to switch our focus and see the Lord Himself as our daily bread. Then I look at the person in front of me, and the cloudiness of discontent and my selfish fearful, painful attitudes, evaporate. I have a purpose. You have a purpose. Almighty God called US here. You and I probably won’t change the world, but we can bless it one person at a time. 

Here is my best advice for every single day you face:“LOOKING UNTO JESUS, the author and finisher of our faith; Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2. Look at Him, fix your eyes on Him, trust Him to order your steps, and learn to lean on Him. Bye 👋

P 2673 Who or what has your heart?

/ DVH

“When you pass through the deep, stormy sea, you can count on Me to be there with you. When you pass through raging rivers, you will not drown. When you walk through persecution like fiery flames, you will not be burned; the flames will not harm you,” Isaiah 43:2 TPT.

The above verse is mentioned today to comfort to anyone who is in a very dark place. It promises us that God’s Presence is never absent despite our circumstances. The thing is, we must remember that this verse and others like it, are faith verses. Almighty God said it, and He means it, so we need to embrace it. However, in those hard times we may not feel a thing! We may dearly need to feel better, but our feelings have nothing whatsoever to do with His Grace in our lives! Even our disappointment could be seen as judgment against His ability to use everything to help us.

The lack of change can sometimes be the reason we are strongly tempted to think that He is not with us, because we have a great expectation that He will deliver us … but sometimes things can even get even worse!!  So what happened? Is it sin in our lives? No! Sin went on the cross. Does God not care that we feel overwhelmed by our circumstances? Of course He does, but we must remind ourselves that He says “I will be with you” — He does not say – you will FEEL Me with you! Yeah, I know, that seems to be splitting hairs, but let’s remember that now we are in His kingdom, where He is King. We chose to come under His rule, and we will need to trust Him to do what He has promised.

“God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”Numbers 23:19. In our society today, people are judged or exalted or rewarded because of their actions. As Christians we need to remember that Almighty God does not do things to meet mankind’s expectations. He does not answer to us. In other words, our societal attitudes don’t feature in His decision making processes. Whatever His answer, action, or lack of! … the real point is – His ways are perfect. So, if there is no answer, or corresponding change of circumstances, then we need to remember that He is sovereign. We must always leave our heart with Him, that is the safest place for it.

“No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; He’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; He’ll always be there to help you come through it. So, my very dear friends, when you see people reducing God to something they can use or control, get out of their company as fast as you can.” 1 Corinthians 10:13-14. MSG.

Personally, I have discovered that I can set my pain and strife limits a bit too low – I can probably move and change much more than I think I can! I get side-tracked because I am not all that excited about stretching — old bones, etc. Everything creaks when I am stretched! In those moments, it is good to remember that this life is the only one I’m going to get, and it is about growth and change. That’s two more things older people don’t like much!! I have to remind myself over and over again, that the Lord is bigger than my circumstances, and if they remain the same, after I have prayed … then He has a purpose I can’t see yet! Good place to pray: “Teach me Your ways, Lord, so I can walk with You.” Amen.

“Even when Your path takes me through the valley of deepest darkness, fear will never conquer me, for You already have! Your authority is my strength and my peace. The comfort of Your love takes away my fear. I’ll never be lonely, for You are near.” Psalms 23:4 TPT.

This verse from the 23rd Psalm is a great clue to the solution to my problem and it diagnoses the heart of what is really going on. Who or what has my heart? Does fear rule me when the going gets tough, or does He? We must always remember that “there is no fear in love,” as well as,  “what time I am afraid I will trust in Thee.” When I finally catch on to the fact that I am feeling afraid, it can take a while, but eventually I have an ‘AHA!’ moment. That’s when I realise that I have let circumstances fill my vision, instead of WHO He is. Rookie mistake. I’m back thinking that He’s there to make my life better, I’ve totally forgotten I am here for His purposes.

After repenting, my next move is to ask the Lord, “Who can I bless?” ‘ That’s because ‘it is in giving that we receive!’  And in those difficult times, my receiver seems to have gone off-line. Sometimes doing that simple thing leads to a fresh revelation about Him. And sometimes it leads to a fresh revelation about me. I need both! I have found that taking my focus away from the difficulty, and caring for someone else, eventually gives me a chance to view things from another angle. As I bless others, I remember that my heart belongs to Him, I gave it to Him. 

He won’t ever ‘leave me or forsake me or give me up.’ Switching focus clarifies what really matters. 👋

P 2129 Tick tock.

/ DVH

Ephesians 3:14-21 TPT “So I kneel humbly in awe before the Father of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah, the perfect Father of every father and child in heaven and on the earth. And I pray that He would unveil within YOU the unlimited riches of His glory and favour until supernatural strength floods your innermost being with His divine might and explosive power.” 

I think these verses are a fantastic prayer to pray for yourself and all the people around you. This is how we need to live – when things are good, as well as bad. We all live on the other side of the cross. Even if we don’t know Him yet, we can ask the Lord Jesus to reveal Himself to us. He has already given this world everything – total forgiveness, plus He poured out eternal His love, and He gave us the power to learn about Him and walk with Him. Our God hasn’t left mankind alone. The Holy Spirit is God and He is here. He came and He never left! And our task is to cherish His Presence and follow Him – the same way Jesus’ disciples followed Him. Using our faith.

You know, the disciples didn’t go on holidays, or have a slouching-about-the-house-day, in those three and a half years of intense ministry? They simply walked and talked with Jesus, each other, and anyone else who needed something. It takes faith to do that when the immediate stuff of this world presses in on us. These men woke up with Him, they ate with Him, they walked dusty roads following Him. I don’t think we can begin to understand the blessing of living, walking and talking with Jesus Christ, every single day. Christianity does not work part-time. We need to constantly use our faith for something else other than excusing our bad behaviour.

Back to Ephesians: “Then, by CONSTANTLY using your faith, the life of Christ will be released deep inside you, and the resting place of His love will become the very source and root of your life. THEN you will be empowered to discover what every holy one experiences—the great magnitude of the astonishing love of Christ in all its dimensions. How deeply intimate and far-reaching is His love! How enduring and inclusive it is! Endless love beyond measurement that transcends our understanding—this extravagant love pours into you until you are filled to overflowing with the fullness of God!”  WOW!

There is one thing we need to know above everything else – our Heavenly Father is looking for a resting place – a habitation – and He wants US to be that place. God is holy and we are not.  But Jesus Christ made this utterly impossible thing – walking and talking with God Himself –  possible for us, in our lives, before we were ever born. I cannot give anyone some formulaic system on how to walk with Jesus minute by minute. My only solution is to make Him the centre of everything you know, and then go out and live for others while we are doing that. This means simple things like – in a conversation with someone else – what they have to say is more important than what we have to say! We need to intentionally reverse the selfish polarity that is dominating this world – and that has to be done prayerfully, and on purpose, through our own choices.

Here is the last bit today: “Never doubt God’s mighty power TO WORK IN YOU and accomplish all this. He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream, and exceed your wildest imagination! He will outdo them all, for His miraculous power constantly energises you. Now we offer up to God all the glorious praise that rises from every church in every generation through Jesus Christ—and all that will yet be manifest through time and eternity. Amen!”  

We cannot know what we have been given, unless we make an effort for ourselves to find out and seek Him. Somebody else can’t give this to us – even the most anointed man or woman has to choose to pray when they have other matters pressing in on them. We need to ask for a revelation of the importance of our lives for His kingdom’s sake. Otherwise spiritual things just stay as words on a page, and eventually they become interesting information.  

But the reality is, we are all destined to be citizens of heaven, our names are written in His book, the book of life, forever. How sad it would be if we won some super prize in a lottery and we didn’t go to pick up the prize! JESUS IS OUR PRIZE – His nearness from day to day is our greatest blessing, whether we feel like it or not. And most days, at my house, I live with ‘OR NOT.’ We must pray for His power to overcome the seemingly unimportant every day things that hold us back from living our Christian lives in victory!

Everything depends on how you look at this life you have been given and what you cherish most. Whatever we make our priority, will fill our vision. I love that old hymn, “Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart…” If living this life from day to day, is all about finding the rent, going to work, or paying the mortgage, and raising our kids then that will be the main priority of our lives. Ask the Lord to help you to focus on Him above everything else. satan does not have to corrupt us in order to render us useless, and stop us daily living in God’s kingdom. he just needs to lull us off to sleep with our everyday humdrum lives, lurching from one financial or moral temptation to another.  

The Lord has some people in this world, who dearly love Him yet they live under a constant barrage of fear and danger, as well as a huge need for food and shelter. They don’t have a problem focussing on God! He fills their thoughts. Our biggest danger in the Western world is apathy and human busy-ness.  It takes focus to walk with Him and live our lives acknowledging His ways, because this life we live from day to day, crowds our thoughts of Christ and what He did for us … OUT. If not now, then when? Tick tock. ⏰ 👋🏻