Wind

P 2463 Faith verses doubt.

/ DVH

James 1:5-8 “If any of you lacks wisdom [to guide him through a decision or circumstance], he is to ask of [our benevolent] God, Who gives to everyone generously and without rebuke or blame, and it will be given to him.  But he must ask [for wisdom] in faith, without doubting [God’s willingness to help], for the one who doubts is like a billowing surge of the sea that is blown about and tossed by the wind.  For such a person ought not to think or expect that he will receive anything [at all] from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable and restless in all his ways [in everything he thinks, feels, or decides].”

How cool are these verses! Sadly, this is also the place where we can become unstuck. Under pressure we can start to doubt God’s goodness and that erodes our faith in Him. And by pressure, I mean that we’ve forgiven others and done everything we know how to do, and still our bad circumstances have not changed. Sometimes circumstances don’t change! Why not? I dunno! I would not even remotely dare to explain the way Almighty God thinks and acts. I have not got a clue. I just know that in those moments our faith level comes under pressure. Now we can learn something about ourselves.

We need to ask ourselves what is my faith actually IN? Is it in my circumstances — or in God Himself. At these times we have been plunged into the perfect place to revise what we actually think, and what that is based on. However, our thoughts dare not rest on His performance because we are not wise enough to understand all the things He does. We must rest in His proven, revealed character in the book! 

BTW resting is not begrudgingly parking, sulking, or dismissive. Resting is a positive God-appointed action that is deliberate —- it has a purpose. The purpose is to quiet our busy minds and hearts and simply be still before Him. Those other things are mere reactions – they need repentance. Like I said yesterday, our faith is to be founded in Christ alone because God did not spare His only Son to have us for His own family. This is how and why we know His purpose is always greater than ours, and that His goodness is irreproachable. He sacrificed Jesus. We dare not move away from that.

When we need wisdom from God: “we must believe that HE IS and that He is a REWARDER of those who diligently seek Him.”  (Hebrews) That’s what true faith is … it is not about US or even our ability to believe, it is about the truthfulness of the One we believe in. That is why Jesus said any one of us can have faith as small as a mustard seed and it will still grow a huge tree! Because our faith is in SomeOne’s Else’s incredibly reliable nature, and that faith can be teeny tiny and it will still grow and work.

Therefore we need to guard our hearts against letting in doubt. We dare not doubt His willingness to act in our behalf …because we have proof! Christ is our proof. Whether the answer is yes, or no, is irrelevant. God is for us. So NO is the right answer if that is what we get. Remember, doubt is the thought that God is not good and not trustworthy – that His thoughts and actions are not FOR us. When we pray we are looking at the nature of the Person not at the answer to our prayer.

That’s what happened to Adam and Eve in the garden. satan used their careless knowledge of God’s overwhelming goodness, against them, and caused them to doubt His truthfulness. Faith is never about our circumstances, or what we have or what we don’t have — faith is in a Person. Christ Himself. It is up to us to make the decision that we will not doubt this Person as He is described in the bible. “I know You and I trust You.”

So when we need wisdom, we go to the source of all wisdom, God Himself, in prayer, and ask for it. Then we wait. We rest in the knowledge that His bible says that we will gain strength while we wait! Win win! We rest in the fact that He will give us His wisdom because He says He will … in James1: 5-8!! It has nothing to do with us, or our thoughts or lack of them or even our behaviour. Our faith is always in God’s faithfulness, which is revealed in His book and His faithfulness is gloriously demonstrated in Christ. I am now following Christ’s example – I do things the way He would.

When I gave my life to Jesus, He took it. Jesus trusted God with His life, and if I want to grow to be like Him and follow Him, I need to learn to give my life to Him and trust in God’s faithfulness, too. Trust comes when I believe what He said over what I feel or think, or even what other people feel or think. This means I am now occupied with making His thoughts my thoughts. (Renewing my mind!) We become double-minded when we entertain the idea that trouble and circumstances are ruling our lives. When I ask Him for His wisdom, I am asking for His thoughts. 

Double-minded people are like yo-yos. They are up, they are down. They get stuck, plus they get tangled up in their own ideas. They have a continually moving focus that depends on what is going on around them. Single-minded people look at Christ and tell themselves: “Jesus died for me. My faith is in Him. God is not deaf, and His arms aren’t short. If nothing is happening then it is because He has a better plan, or I will gain something by waiting.”  That’s faith. 👋🏻

P 2403 Step away from religious ritual.

/ DVH

“I suspect you would never intend this, but this is what happens. When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ, you fall out of grace. Meanwhile we expectantly wait for a satisfying relationship with the Spirit. For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is somethingfar more interior: faith expressed in love.” Galatians 5:4-6 MSG

I like this version of those verses, because most people don’t intentionally set out to become religious. We are initially attracted to the welcoming, living, breathing,  redeeming Saviour — and then time, and a lack of inspiration wears us down. Pretty soon, unless we address the idea that church is meant to be there for me, to help me, and teach me… religious duty will take over. We can’t blame the pastor! Our own expectations when we go to church matter. I exhort you, go to church to be with Him and the Body of Christ.

Perhaps at times we are speaking for the Lord, but not listening to Him. The Holy Spirit knows how to have church, the early church waited for Him because Jesus’ instructed them to wait, but the good news is this — we don’t have to wait for Him, He’s already here!! He never left. We simply need to constrain Him to come and stay with us, collectively. Our desire to be with Him will attract Him. Instead of blaming the leaders, let’s you and I go to church hungry for Him, more of Him.

I don’t think this means we need to put on a better show than Radio City Music Hall, or a some sort of Rock concert – that’s just window dressing. I think we resort to window dressing because a lot of the church is addicted to feelings. The real truth is, we want Him to come and be with us all… Like the men on the road to Emmaus we need to urge the Lord to come further with us, eat with us, and be with us. We need to change our expectations of why we go to church.

What we need to know, more than anything, is how to make Him our priority.  If wooing the bridegroom is not paramount in our thoughts and actions … then there is a chance we are being religious. When He comes to our gatherings people are convicted, healed, transformed, built up and encouraged into action – because He is present. The bible totally proves that our God loves to be around mankind – He created opportunities to interact with us. However, we have become so addicted to having our own needs met, we’ve left behind the thought that church is about Him.

I am also not talking about prophetic utterances or words from the Lord. Prophetic utterances are often for US. We spend so much time trying to build us up that we’ve forgotten to make the One person Who can do it in a heartbeat – welcome! The Holy Spirit needs to be our new Best Friend. You and I meet with Him daily, in our own homes, and circumstances, but when we get together that is our opportunity to become part of a collective longing.That longing is not about knowing about Him – we want to be with Him because He loves to be with us.

A good sailor will tell you that they watch to see what the wind is doing because they know they need the wind to fill the sail so they can progress. We need to watch and see what the Holy Spirit (the Wind) is doing and then do that. Following Jesus is not some sort of chore. It only seems to be a chore when we get stuck on ritual. Religion is not what we are aiming at, unless it is pure religion. James talked about that … looking after widows and orphans, plus keeping a watch over our tongues.

Church is about meeting with Him and not simply about making us feel good. We go there to learn how to love Him with all our heart, mind, soul and strength – and our neighbour as ourselves. But God comes first, because … “without HIM we can do nothing!” So, I go to church … not just for my needs, but for HIS and yours. Church should never just be a weekly activity. But please don’t quit going there–just change the reason you go!

I don’t think Christians are being religious on purpose. But His Grace is not prevalent or present, when we leave Him and His wishes out. The key to this passage is at the end of it – faith expressed in love. I love Him and that means I love you. No matter what you wear or how you sound, I am more concerned about you than me. If love is not present, the Lord is not present – because LOVE is a hallmark of His Presence. Bye. 🤗 

P 2395 Talking to other people.

/ DVH

There was a time when I had to sort of prime myself into speaking to someone else about the Lord Jesus. Fear of rejection and disapproval from them… as well as thoroughly annoying someone else to the point where they might punch me on the nose …  held me back! However, the Lord has been teaching me that when my focus is on how I feel, or what is happening to me etc. I am not walking in, or focussed, on His Love. Actually I am probably more focussed on self-preservation! His Love is ‘other’ centred. My faith needs to be focussed on the other person – not how I feel. That’s what witnessing is about.

It is my opinion that many people do not witness because it IS scary and it seems intrusive. In today’s PC world, proselytising is a big fat no-no. Now that’s a word you don’t see very often any more – proselytising – it means: convert or attempt to convert (someone) from one religion, belief, or opinion to another. That is not our aim. Our aim is to release the love of God, Who we know personally, into someone else’s life. 

When I witness, I want to do so in a natural fashion, telling others about what Jesus means to me. That’s it. We are not trying to change someone’s mind, we are introducing them to a whole new world they don’t know about. That thought is this – people are precious to God, and He personally did something about the things that stop us from enjoying His love. ← And that would be a full stop right there!

We don’t have to give other people the 24 spiritual laws, or argue them into His kingdom. Most times if we argue with someone we are talking to their mind, or their emotions. What we want is to release the kindness, love, compassion and wisdom of the Holy Spirit INTO their lives – so He can do what He does far better than we can!  I’ve personally watched the Holy Spirit go right round someone’s brain and hit them in the heart. Countless times. How does that happen? I simply say or do, what He tells me to say! And, big clue here, what I say is hardly ever complicated. “He loves you” is not complicated! 

Our part in this kind of life is to stay close to the Holy Spirit! He’s the Wind! He knows when to blow on someone else’s life – or not. Sometimes we may not need to say anything. Just living an ordinary laid-down life of love says it all. What do I mean by that? It means that I live my life believing that He is exactly Who He says He is, and I put Him and His wishes first. He is in charge of everything about me, because I asked Him to save me. I gave up my right to run my own life my own way when I said: “Yes.”  Now my only aim when I talk to other people, is to let the Love of God shine through me, however HE wants to do it. That love comes from Him, through me, to them.

The second thing that always helps me to talk to others, is this – learn to listen. When you are talking to someone because the Lord set it up – our life experiences often don’t matter. Let them talk about theirs. Just listen and don’t sermonise or judge. Let Love rule! Learn to listen with your heart not your head. Talk about Jesus as you know Him, personally.   

I know this sounds a bit daft, but talk about the Lord like you and He just had a coffee, and you were chatting together. Hopefully you have actually been just chatting with Him, because you were praying and studying the bible today!  Be reverent and respectful, about Who He is and what He did, but let people see your own personal relationship with Him. He’ll tell you what to say and what not to say. If I were talking to someone else about any friend of mine I might say: “Oh my Friend Jesus said this to me the other day.” That’s what I mean by natural.

Most people in this world think Christians follow rules that other people can’t, or don’t want to follow. They have no idea that we have a relationship with the greatest Person in the Universe and beyond. They need to know that our relationship with Him is personal – He is the God Who is always there. Sometimes, when I am giving away my bookmarks, I say: “Jesus asked me to give you this. He picked this one for you.” Because He did! He told me give that particular person that bookmark. Time and time again I am amazed at the other person’s response.

When we sow an earthly seed, we poke it into the ground and walk away. The same thing is true spiritually. All over this world seeds need to be sown. The Lord told me once: “You can’t have a harvest if you don’t sow seeds!” Witnessing is simply sowing seeds. Most earthly seeds are pretty insignificant. They often bear very little resemblance to the final product. But that seed has potential. Talking to other people in a natural fashion about what you believe is planting a seed with potential. 👋🏻

Acts 1:8 (NIV) “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

P 2390 Spiritual hitchhiking.

/ DVH

“I hear the Lord saying, “I will stay close to you, instructing and guiding you along the pathway for your life. I will advise you along the way and lead you forth with My eyes as your guide. So don’t make it difficult; don’t be stubborn when I take you where you’ve not been before. Don’t make me tug you and pull you along. Just come with Me!”” Psalms 32:8 TPT

Now this has totally got to be the safest ride on the planet! Fancy hitching a ride with the One Who always knows where He is going! How do you do that? Well, speaking for myself, I run toward the Lord calling out His Name. He’s so close to us. Like I said …He loves us dearly! It is way too easy to think that peace etc. will come when we are dead. Faith lives in His peace NOW.

If you are broken-hearted …. that means He’s even closer. (Psalm 34:18) The broken-hearted simply have to turn their eyes to Him. If that’s you, then right now, please just take a few minutes to sit where you are, and remind yourself  … HE’S CLOSE to ME. Pause. Breathe – in and out, in and out. Sometimes, when life has knocked us flat, it takes a little while to let go and remember that He doesn’t ever change. Be kind to yourself. The Psalms tell us that ‘He makes the clouds His chariot and rides on the Wings of the Wind.’ (Psalm 104:3) The stuff that happens to us doesn’t surprise Him.

In difficult times we need to quiet our hearts and rely upon what He has said in the book – because He tells the truth. (Numbers 23:19) We don’t have to live our lives on hyper-alert. After all, no matter what is going on, all around us, we don’t have to rely upon our own eyes, our own eyes can deceive us because fear clouds our judgment.  But now we are relying upon His eyes. The Good News is this: He hardly EVER sees stuff the way we do! Which is why many of the things that happen to us don’t make sense. It’s because His plans are higher than ours. We don’t look at this life the same way He does. It is also the reason why we can sometimes pray ‘please make this go away’ …. and nothing happens. (Proverbs 16:4)

In those moments I tell myself ‘He’s got a bigger plan. Always remember, our God does not cause these things, but He isn’t fazed by them either, He will guide us through them, comforting us all the way. The secret is to go with the flow of the Holy Spirit. You will recognise His work very easily – He’s so kind. He does the most amazing things and no-one gets hurt. Things might get challenged… but His gentleness opens doors, it simply does not bash them in.  

This is why we need to learn the art of stilling our souls … so we can listen and follow Him through things.. What does that mean? It means my mind, goes at about 900 revs a minute darting here and there, and I must sit and let Him be God… because, no matter how clever I am … I am not! In these moments I choose deliberately not to be distracted by whatever is going on around me. This is how we renew our God-given (… Jesus paid for that )… strength. That happens when we wait for Him and take a ride with Him into peace.

In our pain, it is very easy and it almost seems normal to pray that God will take whatever it is that is hurting us or confusing us away …  but He has a plan for our hope and our future and sometimes that includes us going through the fire, (Isaiah 42:3). This is where we learn to hold on tight to Him, relying upon Him, believing that we cannot be burned or drowned. Our times are always in His hands. (Psalm 31:15) And nothing can ever snatch us away from Jesus. (John 10:21).  He simply has a bigger plan than we can see right now.

You know, the Lord Jesus even went after the people who had died before He came to earth, these people died believing God was going to send them a Messiah. Be assured, He will not and cannot ever forget you! 1 Peter 4:6. He simply can’t! Those wicked nails carved you and I into the palms of His hands. Every time He looks at His hands He remembers us. That’s why it’s good to go to the cross daily, and remember Him.

The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit ride on the Wings of the Wind. I just love that picture. Forget Theme park rides! Sometimes we must put everything down, just breathe, and take a ride with the Trinity into peace and safety. Human beings are frail —  we are not God! This means we do not have to succeed at everything. Let Him be God and you be you, and enjoy being cared for. He loves doing it.

Jesus has asked each one of us to choose Him and His way, in every situation and circumstance, and that seems fair to me … because He chose us first.. When Jesus was tired, when He was hungry, when He was persecuted, and abandoned, by God and men – He chose us. The fruit of the Spirit comes from abiding, not striving. Hitch a ride with the Lord, and let Him do what He does best… be GOD. 🙌

P 2342 Learning to catch the wind.

/ DVH

This morning I thought about three different scriptures I’ve read recently that touched my heart … but none of them seemed right for today’s blog. Some days I have no idea what I want to write about. So it was utterly amazing that I came up with three extremely different things on the same day! You’d think that gave me heaps of choices… but NO! … not one of them seemed right. In the end I gave up trying to bam a square peg into a round hole and wrote this instead.😂 

We can get so intensely fixated upon a task that we forget: “His yoke is easy and His burden is light.” My immediate response to that thought is – if it ain’t easy then it ain’t God! And today, with those three different thoughts, none of them were simply right for now! We are not bull-dozers, we follow the wind. His Presence is in that task, and He lifts the weight or the burden for us. 

Today I want to talk about the similarities between writing this blog and witnessing. Facing a blank page is daunting, knowing that tomorrow total strangers are going to read it, and hopefully understand what you have written. And facing a total stranger and talking about your faith is also very challenging. You feel you must get it right or you will fail the Lord, and mislead that person so badly you will put them off Jesus forever. 😱No pressure of course!!  But that moment also clearly diagnoses that we are trying hard again. We do what we do because we love people, there is no pressure.

So here’s what today’s lesson showed me – when I feel the weight of responsibility to get whatever I am doing right – then I need to back up and …WAIT. I am waiting for Him to prompt me, or until I see an opening I can drive a Mac truck through. I’m waiting for HIM, I’m not waiting for feelings, I’m waiting for some sort of clarity. Sometimes that could be just one word so I go with that. I could look at someone and see anger, or sadness, and I ask them how they have been doing lately. These things, unfold, sometimes one sentence at a time.

Meanwhile, I figure things like witnessing probably will be scary because I am dying to my carefully cultivated life of self-preservation!! In these past few months I’ve noticed an opportunity to talk about what I know about Him, with strangers, a number of times. Those people asked me questions. I like that, it seems way easier than being obedient when He asks me to bring up something He gives me to say.  At those more difficult times I have a clear choice to obey or not …and I don’t always make the right one! Just being truthful …😶

Witnessing is not a rigid thing, it is fluid. In the past few weeks, practitioners in the health profession have asked me what I write about in this blog. I figure they are checking me out, since I fell downstairs quite badly, and they want to make sure my marbles aren’t scrambled, or broken or lost! The first time I simply told the person that it is a Christian blog and then they asked all kinds of questions, and I answered them as clearly and carefully as I could. We had a lovely talk together, and then we went back to my health again. The next time the new person asked exactly the same question and I thought ‘here we go again!’  Except we didn’t. They said “Oh, OK,” and they went straight back to asking health questions.

‘There is no system.’  Seriously, witnessing is a ‘fly by the seat of your pants, always relying on the Holy Spirit’  kind of thing. The Lord is always in charge, and right after His leading, comes the other person’s curiosity. Our job is to remain a safe place for them to ask questions. We are planting seeds, not restructuring their lives! Be prepared to stop in the middle of the most intriguing opportunity ever, to let the whole conversation slide. Even though you might badly wanna shout: “Dag-nab-it we were nearly there!!” We must leave it to Him to turn that conversation around again – if He wants to.

The Holy Spirit is gentle, HE Leads, He does not push – so no shoving please. He is the wind, we are just weather vanes turning to and fro as He blows on us. That’s all for today, maybe I will write about those three things I mentioned another time. Who knows, I’m just trying to catch the wind.👋🏻

P 2115 A word for thought.

/ DVH

 Many times in Christianity’s history, churches have prayerfully and sincerely slipped into the flow of what the Holy Spirit is actually doing and saying. We call that revival. I have seen a number of these revivals in my lifetime and they have fascinated me … because they rise… and then they eventually fade and disappear. I have a  theory about it to share with you this New Year’s day. 

The Holy Spirit loves the unity that is created by Him in these unfortunately, all-too-brief moments of heaven on earth. The Father, Son and the Holy Spirit live in perfect unity in eternity and They love to see us live that way too. Sadly, I think that that is the place where we need to be more interested in loving and pleasing Him, than in the supernatural stuff that is happening. If we are not careful we can focus so much on the miracles etc. at those times, than we do on the One Who is touching us!  Man’s personal agendas creep in.

Sadly, there are many needy people in this world, and it is easy to become enamoured with signs and wonders and start to try to benefit from His Presence. Things like the Lord blessing the flock, as well as the people-who-don’t-know-Him-yet. When these times of revival and refreshing occur maybe we need to carefully listen to what God wants to DO with what He created, when He brought this group of particular people together in the first place! He has a purpose for the fire that fell on them. It seems to me, that the leaders get so busy trying to spread what He is doing, they cannot see that they are trying to organise Him. And I don’t think we know we are doing it! 

Many wonderful people of God have been given a Grace to even know how to work together at those times. But that is still His Grace in action. We can only give away to each other what He gives us, in the first place. We are receivers first .. distribution happens almost as a secondary benefit – a bi-product … not the main event. On many occasions in church history the Lord Himself brought those sticks, and branches (the people) together to create His revival fire. 

At the same time, satan loves to create situations that cause the unity we have in His Presence to be eroded, broken, or displaced, and one by one those people that lived to love Him and each other, walk or drift away. Maybe they simply want to take the fire of His Spirit elsewhere. We need to remember … the Holy Spirit is the WIND. We cannot micromanage the WIND. You simply go along with where He is blowing! Persecution brought about the disciples’ dispersement in Acts.

At the same time, human beings also seem to be very fond of duplicating existing models that seem to be working. So they use this church’s model or that denominational theory to try to get God to do stuff. Their motivation is to bless people. But the root of God’s Vine is Christ Jesus – not us. Sadly perhaps we have not realised that revival happens in the first place without human help. Just because WE prayed, however we did it, that does not mean that is why revival is here. The thing is at those times of fire and blessing, it looks to me like the leaders try to take control of His fire – that’s when He will take His hands off – because He honours our choices, even when they are NOT GOOD.

And this leader goes over here to start another church – like that person had that fire in the first place! What do we have that was not given to us? Pretty soon, the lives that provided the kindling for that particular blaze – start to become separated. They try to repeat the pattern they thought brought heaven to earth in the first place. We forget that Father God takes the initiative, that’s what Christ’s coming shows us. We respond – GRATEFULLY. We are not the fire starters … HE IS. This is where I’ve seen many people come to a fork in the road. I truly believe it is possible to have two perfectly-right, God-kissed things in front of you… however, we need to know which one does HE value the most? 

It seems to me that we need to show the Holy Spirit far more honour and constantly look to His wisdom and guidance. He loves for us to pause and carefully wait for Him, and not run on ahead. I personally think pausing is extremely  powerful because He values US dying to self, our ambition, our hopes and dreams, above everything else. A  revival is a display of His love and passion for us. However, He is God, He can say more than one thing at once. We pray “Lord send the fire, please send revival” – because we want to see lives changed and souls saved. I think we need ONE aim – our singular aim needs to be to obey, please and follow Him in any season. Everything else, including signs and wonders, is secondary to that aim.

Jesus Himself did all kinds of unusual things in men’s eyes. Sometimes He told the people who were healed to tell no-one. At other times He disappeared whilst the fire of healing and change was burning brightly. WHY??? Why did He do what He did? I dunno, but I have a theory! However, we need to find out by leaning heavily on the Holy Spirit’s wisdom. Personally I think He did those things because His primary aim was to obey and please His Father. Our Heavenly Father HAS LONG RANGE PLANS – we dare not run ahead of them.

I don’t think God cares if we have Mega churches or not – what He is looking for is a people who will take the time to listen to Him, love each other and follow Him in through all kinds of circumstances. It seems to me that He loves people who esteem His approval over everything else. The hallmark of people like this is best expressed by a man who had his head chopped off! John the Baptist said … in the middle of a booming ministry (!!) … “He must increase and I must decrease.” And then he died.

People who value the Holy Spirit like this, lack human ambition, and I am blessed to know them. They would rather someone else’s ministry prosper, because they feel the heartbeat of God on what the other people are doing. Revival does not capture God – HE CAPTURES US!! The Lord is looking for a people who want what He wants no matter what it costs them. These are my thoughts at the beginning of this New Year.  May the God of all hope be praised and glorified among us even more in 2023. 👋🏻