Way of life

P 2693 A new perspective on Giving.

/ DVH

“Give generously and generous gifts will be given back to you, shaken down to make room for more. Abundant gifts will pour out upon you with such an overflowing measure that it will run over the top! The measurement of your generosity becomes the measurement of your return.”” Luke 6:38 TPT.

Hubby and I have seen the truth in this verse, personally. The more we give away stuff – time, money, kindness, love – the more we are given back by God Himself. Then that interaction psychologically helps replenish our potential supply of stuff to give away next time. Meanwhile, we get our motivation to give from the Bible as well as the Holy Spirit. After a while, giving becomes a way of life. The thing is, we need those enlightened eyes I talked about yesterday, so we can notice the return waves of blessings from the Lord. Otherwise it can be too easy to miss whatever He is doing, because we are distracted by the busyness of this life. 

Here is what I’ve learnt over the years, which might help you: God does not always reciprocate in kind. In other words, perhaps you gave away apples, but the Lord may simply give you the strength to be kind in the face of someone else’s nasty disposition. The return wave of blessing, won’t necessarily contain the same thing you sent out. This is yet another opportunity to get to know His Ways even more. We can learn a lot about the Lord by the way He meets our needs, as well as the way He blesses us.

Which is why we need those enlightened eyes! Otherwise we won’t relate one thing to the other and we will miss what He is doing entirely. God gives us what He values, that’s how we get to know His Way of doing things – by taking note of what He values. This works when we are reading the bible, or we are using our enlightened eyes. It’s our generosity toward others that opens that particular flood-gate. He is such a giving God and it makes sense to me that the Lord would want His kids – who are re-presenting HIM – to be that way too. Encouragement is a great form of giving.

We can partially hinder the ever-expanding floodgates of His loving kindness toward us, by missing the blessing of giving. Giving is not just about things or money. He is always giving. In my limited opinion, God’s nature is so beautiful, He cannot help Himself! He gives because it is Who He is. Stepping into living a giving kind of life is one the ways I have found that we can ’taste and see that the Lord is good.” Many times we can pin our thoughts and hopes on Him answering our prayers. We think those things  are the only kind of blessing, but He has a myriad ways to give us Himself – I have even seen Him stretch time.

TIME is the most valuable thing we have …You and I woke up this morning, but some people didn’t!  This means our God has given us another day. Praise Him! That day is filled to the brim with opportunities and possibilities for change. We can choose to fix the things in our lives that are broken — EG:  we can choose to be reconciled, no matter who did what! And we can start dying to self, one step at a time. Dying to self is a process — it starts with taking one deliberate step after another. When our time runs out we won’t be able to do that, anymore. Today, I want to call our attention to the fact that there are so many places we can be generous to others.

So we choose not to give an angry answer – and instead we take charge, and take personal responsibility for a moment – instead of retaliating badly. We choose to say nothing, or give a soft answer instead. I have found nothing diffuses somebody else’s grumpy attitude better than apologising, even if you don’t think whatever it is was your fault! And yes, that means with some people you are always going to be the one who apologises, but this life is not a competition – we lose when we live that way. This life we now lead we lead by faith. We walk in another realm, a realm where giving away undeserved GRACE away flourishes.

Christians are not meant to walk around dishing out judgment. We died with Him, and we are now living a new life, filled with His power to overcome the old ways. When we get into how right we think we are and how wrong the other person is … even if that stuff is only going on in our thoughts, then sadly, we just hit judgment! That junk is going to come out of our mouth, today, tomorrow, a year from now. Judgment, when it is not dealt with, does not have a shelf life – it will pop out of our mouths at the darndest times. But blessing others becomes a way of life.

Leaving judgment to the Lord is another form of giving. We are giving away what He freely gave us. We have a personal responsibility to live like Christ did, and He lived a giving life. If we think about giving as simply sending out money or things, we’ve missed the greater revelation. JESUS LOVED, HE GAVE. Then giving becomes our way of life. Now we love, and we give – no matter what comes back at us. It’s His way to live. I think it is also part of that narrow gate, Jesus mentioned  – be warned …. few find it. 👋

P 2645 Faith is our way of life.

/ DVH

In many churches today we have grown to think of evangelism as outreach.  That brave, but weird guy who stands on the corner preaching is kind of embarrassing – so we secretly hurry by him. We don’t like to confront people, instead we invite a ‘special’ person with an evangelistic gift come to our church. Now our job is to ask everybody we can think of to those services so the man with that precious gift can present the Lord to others. Hey! That’s great – do it!…  BUT!! … … you just knew there was a ‘but’ coming eh?… What about the guy who sits in the next cubicle at work, or the person you see daily on the bus, or the parent you meet every day by the school’s gate??? 

When we think about reaching out to others perhaps we feel that we have no spare time to prepare ourselves? What with the kids, our spouse, our church, our job, our extended family, our friends, the gym, and our pets! Here’s something I have learnt. Don’t pray for anything unless you are prepared to be a part of the answer! God loves participation, He loves to do things with us. Everybody gets to join in. WE are His part of that answer to our prayers for the guy at work, or the person on the bus, or little Jimmy’s mum at the gate. 

We’ve forgotten that Jesus goes with US, everywhere we go …even to the school gate. Christ won’t ever leave us or forsake us — the bible says so! He is already standing right by the throne, praying for the person in the next cubical to ours, and the cubical next to that one etc.etc. He also knows the NAME of every single individual on that bus, or train. He knows Jimmy’s mum, and everything that happens at her house. He is limitless.He just needs an interested, available conduit to both pray AND speak.

“But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect …” 1 Peter 3:15. Our job is to be ready to speak at any given moment. Hubby and I have found a fascinating thing, when we speak to one person, other people often ‘hover’ about eavesdropping around the edges! Jesus Christ is a great fan of ‘as you are going’ … He lived that way. Witnessing is a state of mind, a way of life, not a spiel we have memorised.

It kind of works like this: …you are praying for Jimmy’s mum and you meet her at the gate. She starts to tell you how Jimmy’s been a right pest lately and she is nearly insane trying to deal with his rudeness, and constant obsession with the internet, plus his grumpy moods, etc. etc. She says: ‘How do you get your Johnny to co-operate?’ You shrug your shoulders, roll your eyes, and say: “I have to pray about that all the time. Jesus helps me.” “If you confess Me before men then I will confess you before My Father.”You don’t have to go to that gate all primed up to speak to Jimmy’s mum – you just truthfully answer her questions.

After that I would leave that remark lying out there. Just tell Jimmy’s mum in your own words that you can’t manage Johnny or your life without God! And then leave it alone. It would be good to volunteer to pray for her and Jimmy if she wants you to. BTW the previous remarks are my suggestions to illustrate simplicity  – they are not a script anyone is meant to follow. The REAL secret is, don’t leave the Lord out of anything!  Tell Him you are on deck for what He wants at any given moment. We need to use our faith to be available to love on people, help them and tell them about the SOURCE of our help! 

Our faith is not meant to be a privacy issue … that’s this world’s idea of faith. Active faith is about the way we live. We simply need to be upfront and honest about what we believe. As we go along, other things will be added unto us, which means some stuff happens automatically when our faith is alive, active and central to everything else. That’s what seeking His kingdom first means. A part-time faith leaves room for confusion – you never know whether you should speak or not. That’s why it is good to always be ready to give an account of the faith that is within you.

For years Christians have been taught, and encouraged to think, that they have to be a perfect witness to the society around them. They have to look right, sound right and behave well everywhere under all circumstances. Good luck with doing that, without the Holy Spirit helping us! Sadly when we pretend with others, it actually becomes more difficult to be real with the Lord. Hiding becomes a habit. We stop talking to Him about our failures.

Meanwhile it is highly likely that other people can see through our pretence anyway!. And if they live next door to us, they probably hear us shouting at each other or the kids – on a very rare occasion, of course! 😂 Our whole life’s focus is Christ, what He did for everyone, and that cannot be a part-time pursuit. Faith is not just about salvation, it is the way we live now. “The just shall live by faith.”  Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38.  Bye 👋

P 2635 Obedience is everything.

/ DVH

“Great is the Lord’s anger that burns against us because those who have gone before us have not obeyed the words of this book; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written there concerning us.” 2 Kings 22:13b.

I’ve been reading through the bible, from the beginning again, and so far I am up to the book of 2 Kings. I gotta tell ya, some of these stories are kind of tedious to read. Stuff like:  this king didn’t do what God said — he didn’t get rid of most of the idols and accoutrements;  and that other one didn’t get rid of any at all — and another king with an unpronounceable name got rid of the weird sounding idols, but he left a few stragglers behind. These guys all flunked their obedience tests big time! The bible says that they left some of the idols in the ‘high places’— so maybe their kingly horses didn’t like mountain climbing. Perhaps they thought obedience was optional back then.

It all kind of reminds me of an illustration I heard once… What if I were to give you a nice clean glass of water and I put one teeny tiny drop of poison in it? Would you still drink It? Me neither!! But the one thing that these two books of Kings have taught me is that we all can tolerate a level of indifference to the things of God and what He wants, especially while we are doing other things we like better! Meanwhile, although nobody says it out loud, sadly, we are counting on the blood of Jesus to make the difference! It’s not deliberate disobedience, it’s careless disobedience.

I mean, I’m convicted just writing this blog this morning! Near enough definitely ain’t good enough. Whenever we read the bible, we need to pray over it and ask Him how to do whatever it says. The long winding road through those two books of Kings has taught me that, and Chronicles still lies ahead! There are lessons upon lessons in the bible.

Along the way, I picked up the clear idea that blaming the guys who went before us;  like our parents, our grandparents, our great grandparents etc. etc. does not work! My disobedience is MY disobedience. We can’t wiggle out of obeying by trying to sneak back through a generational door!! This subject is too important. It is even disobedience if we know to do good – and don’t do it. One king ripped his clothes and threw dirt on his head when he discovered what the book of God said when he read it. People were so careless with it, it was found dumped like an old rag in a cupboard … I wonder where I left my bible again???

The bible says: “obedience is better than sacrifice”(1 Samuel 15:22) But what I have found is that obedience requires sacrifice. Those two things go together. One thing leads us to the other. At the same time, obedience is the best way I know to make friends with the Holy Spirit. That’s because I can’t do things without Him. If I try to, then half the time ‘I don’t want to’ catches me by the throat and I end up quitting before I start. I need help, all the time – and He is my all-the-time loving Helper, praise God. Through practising obedience I am learning to know and rely upon Him. 

I also try to do my best to pay very little attention to my own understanding, because my understanding is always looking for a back door to wiggle out of doing anything difficult!  Obedience is often about doing hard things BTW, but after a while, living to obey Him becomes a way of life. There are times when I think to myself, what does Jesus have to say about that? Trust me … He has a whole lot to say about many things!! 

The Lord is not really keen on people pretending to do the right thing, while they are slicing and dicing others up in their minds either. He calls that hypocrisy. But He loves the guy whose heart is set to please Him. The good thing about obeying is once you’ve done whatever He asked you to do, you can just walk away and leave the results to Him. I like that bit!! Obedience is just like honesty – don’t leave home without it. People may get a bit startled when you start to live this way, but the results are straight out of heaven. 

EG: in the past, I had to tell somebody in faith … somebody who actually drove me clear up a wall (!) — “I love you” for a very long time … before it made a difference. But over time, my decision to obey sunk into the mud of my well-established-disobedience and transformed me. That other person hasn’t changed much at all, but my own attitude has changed HEAPS. Now I can say “I love you” with agreement and conviction, because I really do love them. 

All the glory goes to Him!! He helped me stick at it. The Holy Spirit’s Ways are so much better than our own ideas of avoidance and pretend. I remind myself that He took chaos and darkness and made this world. Trust me — there is nothing He can’t transform into something beautiful. Obedience IS everything. 👋

P 2622 Though none go with me …

/ DVH

Here’s a fun(?) fact no-one will like. Even in good relationships or bad ones – eventually, we all die alone. That’s a spiritual truth, as well as a natural one. When someone else we dearly love is not interested in walking in the Way with us, it is very disappointing. We can start to feel like changing stuff is too difficult, because of those other people who are deeply involved in our lives. For example, living this new life of ours exhibiting a spirit of generosity, could threaten someone else’s security levels.

First of all, I want to say that God’s expectations of each one of us is always good. He has the last word, we don’t. We must remember at all times, that HE DELIGHTS IN DOING THE IMPOSSIBLE. He can change anyone’s focus in a split second. Hallelujah!! But what He seems to prefer is that we work together with the Holy Spirit in order to change. (Read the book!) We choose to change the way we live today, because we want to please the Lord Jesus, not necessarily anybody else. We want to live differently because of our own convictions, for His sake, not theirs.

This new way to live becomes firmly established outside of our own normal ‘personal comfort zone.’ That comfort zone is the place where we live every day, and react almost without thinking … because we are not used to being governed by holiness. In every day life we can have good or bad attitudes, so we either expect praise, or we expect to be excused, using our ‘humanity’ as an excuse. But in reality, that’s the way to become lukewarm, and spiritually ineffective. 

It is easy in this life with its many pressures to formulate an image of who we think we are, and think walking with the Holy Spirit is ‘not really for me.’  But as I tackle being changed by Grace, there needs to be a conscious turning away from my old way to live, together with active repentance. I will need to seek the Holy Spirit’s prompting to help me remember that now my priority is walking with Him … not just getting along with you. After all I can easily get along with you if I know you well, and I choose not to bother you! We can all grow very used to letting sleeping dogs lie.

For some people walking that extra mile with a headstrong loved one, can turn out to be a difficult thing, fraught with angst and missteps at ever single turn. However, this is a lifelong way to live and die daily, and we can’t do it hoping the people we care about will get His point quickly. The reality is in order to achieve our new aim of living for Jesus, no matter what happens, one of the biggest costs will definitely be our comfort. Read the book. Comfort was always the first thing to go!!

Sadly, some people we care about may never get the point of transformation because they aren’t even looking at these areas. Why not? I dunno. Not a clue. They just don’t seem to think they are doing anything wrong. Walking in the Spirit seems to be for other, more spiritual people, not them! I have noticed that by the time people reach some age, or milestone, or other life circumstance, they start to think that they cannot change – this is now who they really are. Their perceived personhood has become established. That’s not what the bible says, BTW! Moses started his new life at eighty!

In some other instances, I know that people pray sincerely and constantly about change, but then they just leave it at prayer — and when nothing happens, they assume that God does not have a problem with them about such things and so they just settle back into … being comfortable. We simply must move past agreeing with God’s Word into actively living it out! This is where choosing to deliberately live a life of love facilitates transformation. 

Actually I’d say changing our way of life, from trying harder, to following the Holy Spirit while living a life dedicated to loving others — no matter how they behave — go hand in hand! One thing does not work without the other. When His love starts to flow out through us it is attractive to other people. One of the best things we can do when we decide to live a love-filled transformed life is to ask for His help and fix every single bad relationship we can, and then leave our past behind. If stuff comes up, then we repent, repair and … move on. “If possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”Romans 12:18.

Even if I were on a desert island, all by myself, my walk with Jesus would still be my own responsibility. I don’t have to be tripped up by what you do or don’t do, or what you say or don’t say. My aim is to please Him, and decide to live a life worthy of my own calling. That’s what following Him looks like. Bye. 👋

P 2526 Some thoughts on what maturity looks like.

/ DVH

To begin, I need to say that I do not think the things I have mentioned here indicate a place of arrival, rather they are personal sign posts. I wrangle every single day with all of these things… but I refuse to lower my aim just because these things are hard! Becoming like Jesus to other people means everything to me.Today, I have added in my own thoughts as well, but I think that this is one of those times that I need to let God’s word speak for itself. 

It is also good to look carefully at Jesus in the Gospels to see how God’s Grace operated. How HE took it in and breathed it out. Maturity sees Grace as the coin of the realm, they freely give Grace away and they also receive it in. Romans 8:29: “For God knew His people in advance, and He chose them to become like His Son, so that His Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” Mature Christians have walked way past being dead to sin, that’s a no-brainer! Instead they are so alive they challenge you by the way they live.

Galatians 2:20 TPT “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!”

I think we all have a need to mature in the Western World, because, sadly, immature people follow fads as well as people — not Christ Himself. Ephesians 4:14 ”…so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.”  The Body of Christ will grow in spiritual maturity, by learning to persevere through the trials and challenges of our life. Mature people are humble because life itself and the Word of God has taught them, who they really are, without the Holy Spirit’s help. 

James 1:2-5 “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”  Trials are an opportunity to stretch and grow our faith!

Mature believers seek to live a life that is Spirit-filled — that is, they learn to be aware of and listen to God’s Spirit, who lives within all Jesus’ followers. Romans 6:11-14 says: “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to Him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.” 

These people Paul talks about understand that sin is a choice and the more anyone gives in to it, the harder it becomes to resist! So they “…present their bodies as a living sacrifice …” instead. They want what the Lord wants. They may not always know what that is … but they will take the time to wait on Him to find out! These people are a generous people. They not only share, but they make sure that their love is demonstrated not just talked about. Their only desire is to please the Lord above everything and everyone else. 

Mature people will quickly admit their faults and their lack, but they also know exactly where to go to repent and be filled again. Ephesians 4:32: “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God has forgiven you.” Forgiveness is never an optional extra to these people, it is a way of life. This means they do not judge others either. They know how to repent and admit that they were wrong, because their aim is Christ’s likeness not vindication. So they always repent quickly, then usher in real restoration, and go back into relationship again. Psalm 15:4:“They keep their promises to their neighbours, even when it hurts.” 

Philippians 4:11&12. “I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.”  These saints have found their contentment in knowing God Himself, and the Lord and His Presence in their lives is all they want. They never have to pray – they simply want to talk to the Lord because they love to be with Him. Maturity will refuse to define what other people’s love should look like, it accepts what the other person gives them with His Grace.

Lastly, in order to grow spiritually and mature in our faith, we must draw near to God, because we cannot mature on our own. Without His personal input into our lives – our works and efforts are worthless.

Bless you and bye for today! 👋

P 2520 Where’s your storage unit?

/ DVH

“But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when His righteous judgment will be revealed.” Romans 2:5. Yeah, this is one of those verses we rush over hoping it doesn’t apply to us, right? 😳 Personally, I think it is important to get the Lord to search our hearts regularly, and make sure we are storing up good stuff, not just clinging to the bad by default. That includes hoarding grudges, other people’s mistakes, plus the things that have been deliberately, even maliciously, done against you. 

Life is too short to live like that. Things can change in a heartbeat —- nothing is certain. Right now, on the other side of the world in Iceland, people’s homes and contents are being incinerated by a rogue volcanic display. They are powerless to do anything about it. My question today is this: what have we saved in our personal heart-storage unit, that is actually being carelessly facilitated by our day-to-day behaviour? Moving on …

“Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.  Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.”

1 Timothy 6:17-19.

I get why some people aren’t thrilled with the bible, it is so totally chock full of absolutes! Things like these verses for instance! However in comparison to a lot of the world we live in today, in our country we are rich. We have somewhere to sleep, food in the fridge or cupboard, and our kids can go to school. God hasn’t asked us to go without these things, however … I believe the scripture shows us that He IS asking us to think about others and SHARE. He calls that, “good deeds.” I am not saying that we shouldn’t own anything, but what I can hear the Lord saying is that NoBody, as in no thing … but Jesus Himself … should OWN US!If we can’t live without it – it owns us!

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.” Matthew 6:19,20. And right here is the reason why it is not good for our things to own us!  This world has many ways of siphoning off our things and finances. Giving to Jesus is storing wealth up in heaven. Plus it is also a fantastic kind of pest control … that way we will eliminate rats and moths – stuff that winkles away our money without us realising it.  We just give everything we have to the Lord and leave it there. Let Him be in charge of our stuff. When we begin to understand that we actually own nothing, then nobody can steal from us.

Just FYI, I think it is important to protect and treat the things God has given us carefully and responsibly. However, this verse is actually talking about storage, where to put stuff … and … where not to put it!  Almighty God is not against us having things — remember He gave the Israelites land they did not plow and houses they did not build! He’s a generous God! BUT …“Speaking to the people, Jesus continued, “Be alert and guard your heart from greed and from always wishing for what you don’t have. For your life can never be measured by the amount of things you possess.”” Luke 12:15 TPT.

Coveting and greed will distract us so fast we can easily forget our calling! Again, the Lord’s focus is talking about the state of our hearts, not our stuff. So many people in this world do not have their basic needs met. EG: fresh water, food, somewhere to safely sleep etc. Just because these terrible things haven’t happened to us, that does not mean we can hide ourselves, or insulate ourselves against other people’s needs … the bible even tells us clearly in Isaiah not ‘to hide ourselves from the needs of our own families.’ Isaiah 58:7.

It is not in our mandate to assess whether people deserve help or not, our place is to simply help those in need. In particular, widows and orphans. Our God is very protective over widows and orphans and the homeless poor. Exodus 22:22; Deuteronomy 10:14-18;  – there are heaps of verses in Deuteronomy! Psalm 68:5-6; Jeremiah  22:1-3;  1 Timothy 5:3-8; 9-11; 16;  James 1:27; and Acts 6:1-4. 

BTW, a widow in the biblical sense is not necessarily someone whose husband has died, she can be a married woman whose husband has deserted her. An orphan can be someone who has an absent father, not just parents who died. Our wonderful God has a heart for the lonely, the downtrodden, and the supposed rejects in our societies. When we care for people like these, we are using the right storage unit. We are storing things up in heaven. God sees what we do and He takes note of these things. Ya might want to Selah that for the rest of your life and let it become a Way of life. Bye. 👋

P 2336 Spiritual stretching exercises.

/ DVH

We dare not ‘play’ at following Jesus, because our lack of spiritual focus will make us vulnerable to the enemy’s wiles. It seems to me that simply agreeing with biblical principles needs to stop and we must apply ourselves to consciously start living them out – with His help. Seriously, our lack of total commitment is nailing one of our beautiful feet to the floor. And round and round we go, debating this and ignoring that …because: ..’that doesn’t apply to me. The bible is an old book and I don’t have to take everything in it that seriously… blah blah blah.’  

Really? I am amazed that people think like that. Have we never heard of such a thing as a BLIND SPOT? I know I have them all over the place. They are things I formed opinions about when I was younger, and those things suited me so I kept them. They were “nice” theology – but they fell short of God’s bigger picture. His bigger picture always includes changing ME … and none of us are exempt from that kind of change. By change, I mean total transformation. Living devoted lives of happy obedience.

Moses, who was pretty ancient at the time, missed out on a blessing because he disobeyed God. He did not go into the Promised land because he banged on a rock twice instead of once like God told him to. The Lord expected obedience from this man. And there is no point saying he was Moses and I am not, ‘because God is no respecter of persons.’ That boat simply will not float. The Lord expected obedience from the Israelites too. It seems to me that obedience is extremely important to Almighty God.!

“From everyone to whom much has been given,  much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.”  Luke 12:48b. When is the last time we saw that saying embroidered on a wall hanging or written in fancy letters somewhere?! Moses could have blamed old age … but he didn’t. He respected the Lord’s response to his disobedience and accepted Almighty God’s edict. He was given much so much was required.. For Moses that meant after dealing with all those impossible people – he missed out! Obedience is part of total surrender. 

Total surrender is actually not an optional extra, it is a way of life! We are currently in a war for the hearts and minds of men, women, and children, everywhere – all the people who live around us. Compromise is not in it. Look at Daniel from the book that has his name on it, he stood up when King Nebuchadnezzar said: “bow down.” Or how about Ruth who decided to follow Naomi home and found a whole new life. Or David who took one look at a giant and said: “not on my watch you don’t pal!” Compromise is the enemy of total surrender. It tolerates ‘ifs’ and ‘buts.’

I have found hands down, total surrender to be the best thing I ever did – apart from giving my life to Him in the first place!  That is kind of the same thing really, but nobody told me that at the time! I remind myself of this surrender every single day. The reason we sometimes struggle with God’s will is because we have one foot in the kingdom and the other in this world. The result is a form of double-mindedness and confusion. Jesus said: “No man can serve two masters…”

Total surrender means whatever problem I have is now His problem, because I no longer have an agenda. He promised me He will order my steps, Psalm 37:23-24, and even if I fall over or mess up – HE HOLDS ME UP. I know it sounds over the top but that is actually the safest place to live. I’ve learnt to trust Him, no matter what happens. He’s in charge and He’s Almighty God so He can take care of it. Then I do whatever He tells me to do, and then … I leave it all alone. And sometimes I cope, and sometimes I don’t – any pressure from outside seems to be my nemesis. 

If I panic or start to worry over things, I repent and go back to leaving everything with Him. It’s not rocket science. If I start meddling or trying to fix things on my own, then I repent, etc. Perhaps it is my age, but simple works best for me. It is the same with prayer, I ask, then I do whatever He says and then I just leave it. 

Total surrender stretches you, because we’ve all been running our own lives for quite a while. But it is worth it –  because when we trust the Lord to look after us, and the things that matter to us, we are opening our hearts up to His Way to live. That’s when the adventure really begins. It is scary and wonderful …all at the same time, and it’s the best spiritual stretching exercise there is! Bye 👋🏻